In the midst of a battlefield where the air trembled and scorching heat raged.
“Kahahaha!”
Kwaaang!
Another shockwave burst out along with Harley’s ferocious laughter.
Those opposing him kept shouting as they tried somehow to break through the situation, but before they could even do anything, matters continued to worsen.
The only thing they had been relying on was the possibility that reinforcements would arrive from elsewhere while they held out as long as possible, but…
Rumble, rumble, rumble.
—With the explosions that had been continuing at the outskirts of the forest for some time now, they had no choice but to abandon such hopes.
Unlike the battle at the center, the aftermath of that firefight unfolding over a wide area clearly showed, no matter how one looked at it, that the uninvited guests had the upper hand.
And all of that was a situation one person had been aiming for from the very beginning. ‘It’s going smoothly.’ In truth, it was only natural.
That was why both Harley and Harris had been called here.
The enemy’s forces were by no means to be taken lightly either, but the power mobilized on this side was plainly above them. ‘Even among transcendents, there are bound to be differences depending on their level.’ And the same was true of the last avatar on the scene, Heinz II, the Vampire King who longed for the completion of blood.
Skak—
—Clang!
A short distance away from the place where Harley and the members of Beoncheonhoe were fighting.
Along with the sharp sound of a collision, the aftershock overturned the surrounding vegetation.
“Keuk! How dare you…!”
The Duke, who had barely blocked a strike that tore through space with a long spear of blood, gnashed his teeth and vented his fury.
As if he could not possibly tolerate the situation currently unfolding.
But Heinz, paying no mind to his opponent’s reaction, simply continued the attacks he had been making in silence and steadily analyzed him. ‘His senses are sharp. As expected, attacks that use causality don’t work well against a high-ranking opponent.’ The first attack that had pierced his side had only worked because it had taken advantage of a surprise attack.
Once the Duke began properly guarding against him, it failed to show much effectiveness and was blocked time and again. ‘Well, I didn’t think I’d be able to end it that easily from the start.’ Not much time had passed since he had begun a one-on-one battle with the Duke again.
Since Harris and Harley were doing well, there would be no more interference.
Of course, someone outside might grasp the situation inside the barrier and send additional reinforcements, but… ‘That much time is enough.’ Heinz, gripping the two greatswords of blood that had appeared in his hands at some point, lowered his body and took a step forward.
Sssssk—
—For an instant, all sign of him vanished, and his body accelerated rapidly across space.
Then, having moved behind his opponent, he swung the greatswords in both hands, but—
“Not a chance!”
A new massive spear that had appeared in midair behind the Duke blocked the attack, and he immediately counterattacked by swinging the weapon, which had grown thicker than before.
Containing the same tremendous destructive power Heinz had felt in their first clash.
Kwaaang—! ‘As expected.’ Heinz narrowed his eyes as he felt one of the blood swords he had created shatter from the impact.
No matter if it was a weapon made from liquid and therefore somewhat lacking in durability, it had been made using the 「Refined Blood Crystal」, no less.
It made no sense for it to crumble after a single collision, and it was even more absurd that his opponent’s weapon remained intact afterward. ‘It’s an ability that interferes with blood itself.’ It seemed to be an innate skill that had been enhanced to a fairly high level.
He still did not know whether it had originally been an ability to manipulate blood freely, or one that used blood as a medium to exert some special supernatural power, but for vampires, to whom blood was power, it could be called an ability tantamount to cheating.
Surely that was the greatest contributor that had elevated the Duke to his current position.
Swiik—
—At that moment, a crimson point flew toward Heinz’s face.
The tip of the massive spear formed from blood.
Fired in the blink of an eye, it ignored the distance and pierced through space at once.
Then, chasing after Heinz as he rapidly moved to evade, it clung to him as if it possessed a will of its own and thrust its head forward in irregular movements like a snake.
Two, then three of them… They continued increasing in number, tightening around him from every direction. ‘This won’t do.’ Realizing at last that evasion was not the answer, he twisted his waist in midair and brought the blood greatsword to his side.
The lines of fire of the spears observed through 「Insight」 within his accelerating thoughts.
And when all of them finally entered a single line—
Swaaak——
He used 「Rapid Acceleration」 and slashed broadly with his sword as if drawing a half-moon.
Pagagagak! Kwaaang—!
With the collision between the things that had been spears and the blade tip that stretched out like a whip beyond hypersonic speed, the weapons on both sides shattered to pieces.
Since things like those were merely expendables that he could create at any time, Heinz’s expression remained calm, but the Duke’s expression grew stiffer and stiffer as time passed.
“What in the world are you…?”
An inexplicable sense of incongruity.
The strange sensation the Duke had felt ever since the fight began in earnest was growing stronger and stronger.
Together with an ominous intuition that no matter what he did, he would not be able to defeat his opponent, in practical terms as well, the consumption of his power was greater than usual, while its effects had instead decreased.
No matter how free he was in terms of energy thanks to his innate skill, this was by no means a good situation. ‘What kind of ability is it? An innate skill? Or else…’ It was not simply a reduction in power caused by something like a debuff, but the operation of some concept occurring on an even higher level.
Even for him, who had handled this power for decades, it was a phenomenon he could not understand at all. ‘This is dangerous.’ And that forced the Duke into an extreme choice, one with no turning back.
Since his detection range was far from ordinary, he had already grasped the situation well enough.
If he had been an idiot who felt nothing from the presences of his allies dwindling one by one due to the sudden intruders, he would not have survived until now.
But once his allies were annihilated by them, what would happen to him next? ‘In effect, this is my last chance.’ Whether he left this place immediately or gathered his surviving allies again.
Everything depended on how quickly he could deal with the enemy before his eyes.
In truth, it would have been proper to first worry about whether he could really defeat his opponent, but he deliberately did not even bring such weak thoughts to mind.
Because through long experience, he knew that such a way of thinking was of no help whatsoever to survival.
Even if it ended up being nothing more than a desperate struggle. ‘Now that it has come to this, I should give up on returning unscathed. I’ll accept a certain degree of loss.’ Any act that disregarded means and methods came with risks to match.
The Duke, who had drawn out more than a dozen spears of blood and had been bombarding the area, finally seized an appropriate opportunity and put his plan into action without hesitation.
Goooooo—
In an instant, the blood flowing inside his body went violently out of control, and an enormous amount of energy burst forth.
Kwaaang—!
“Keuk?”
Heinz, who had been flung far away despite hastily defending against the sudden burst of vast blood magic, steadied himself again and frowned.
“…What is this?”
“Krr— This is thrilling—!”
Crack—
—Creak!
A phenomenon that occurred along with the sound of something twisting.
The Duke’s face, once that of a handsome middle-aged man, turned pale and became gaunt in an instant, while in contrast, the suit he was wearing was torn to shreds by muscles that swelled as if they were about to burst.
Wooooong—
—Wooooong—
—Wooooong—
More than anything, the greatest change was the number of spears made of blood lined up around him.
Dozens of crimson thorns stood solemnly in formation, their sharp tips pointed toward the sky.
As the explosive energy generated by the potential within the blood being released all at once warped the space around him, the barrier surrounding the forest began to shake.
“…This feels somewhat familiar.”
At the situation that was plainly far from normal at first glance, Heinz narrowed his eyes and glared at him.
Putting aside the phenomenon itself, he felt a strange sense of déjà vu from the force emanating from the Duke.
It felt as though he had experienced it once before…
“…Ah! I see. So you were involved back then with Alpha as well?”
And he soon realized the cause, nodding in involuntary understanding.
The energy he felt from him was strangely similar to what had leaked from the body of Alpha, the leader of the Blood Alliance hardliners who had run wild in the middle of Seoul long ago.
At the time, he had only been able to determine that the man had ended up that way due to some sort of research, but if the Duke had been involved in that, it certainly made sense… ‘Wait.’ At that moment, Heinz stopped thinking and frowned without realizing it.
The events that had happened from Alpha’s terror attack in Seoul until now, and the information he had collected during that time, flashed through his mind like a panorama. ‘I see.’ And after a fleeting instant passed, he was able to gain a certain conviction about the current situation. ‘…Doctor. Doctor is here.’ That one of Beoncheonhoe’s highest-ranking executives, Doctor, was somewhere not far from this place.
That intense intuition rang an alarm bell in his mind. ‘Was it to capture me? In any case, this is an opportunity.’ Even after obtaining the Lawkeeper’s memories, Doctor’s residence had not been clearly revealed.
He knew that Doctor basically stayed in Europe, but because he possessed the ability to build the necessary laboratories anywhere, even that was not fixed. ‘…If I can capture him.’ Naturally, that man would know more than the Lawkeeper or the Duke.
Not only about the organization called Beoncheonhoe… but also about the Master of Beoncheonhoe.
“I’ll end this quickly!”
While Heinz had been briefly lost in thought, dozens of enormous blood-colored spears flew in all at once along with a rough shout.
At a speed clearly faster than before.
Accordingly, a violent torrent of energy arose, and space twisted this way and that along the trajectory of the attack.
“We’re of the same opinion, then. I agree.”
It was an attack that was, at a glance, nothing short of overwhelming, but to the current Heinz, it was merely a troublesome obstruction. ‘After I deal with this guy as quickly as possible…’ A new objective that had appeared when he was right on the verge of achieving the purpose for which he had come to Europe.
But to do that, he first needed to handle the matter directly before him with certainty.
Heinz, who had raised his momentum to the utmost, accelerated his thoughts and once again looked at the world through 「Insight」. ‘The scale of the energy is certainly extraordinary. Did he amplify the power dwelling in his blood once more? Even so, for it to be this much… Perhaps he, too, increased his strength through cannibalizing his own kind in his world.’ It was an immense amount of energy, difficult to explain otherwise.
Since his innate skill was also presumed to be related to blood, it was not an entirely impossible hypothesis.
Compared to the risks of coming to Earth and devouring vampires of a completely different system, overcoming it while still belonging to the same system was something that happened from time to time. ‘But.’ In truth, if it came to that, he himself could be called the best in all dimensions.
Whatever anyone said, was he not a body that had inherited all the bloodlines of Auterica, and even after coming to Earth, had never stopped collecting various vampiric factors and continuing to devour his own kind? ‘Hoo, I’m not used to drawing out this much power. Still, it wouldn’t be bad to adapt to it while I’m at it.’ He had finished grasping the variables regarding his opponent to a certain extent.
Now all that remained was to use that information and properly settle the matter.
Within time accelerated to its limit at the cost of overflowing energy, Heinz rode the flow of causality and slowly took one step forward.
Thud—
The blood magic flowing in from his heart, as well as from the essences of sacred blood implanted within his body, spread throughout his limbs.
In a world that seemed to have come to a standstill, Heinz’s and the Duke’s burning gazes collided head-on.
The second step.
He drew out blood greatswords in both hands and struck away the crimson spearheads that had approached within a hair’s breadth.
When the weapons broke, he created them again and repeated the process several times.
Amid the blood mist scattering like fragments, he could clearly realize that the advantage in “time” still lay with him.
The third step.
It would have been a waste to simply leave alone the thick blood mist formed in the process of striking away the spears.
So Heinz used 「Blood Mystery」 to create numerous blood swords that moved automatically in midair.
They soon collided with the spears like fighter jets contending for air superiority, repeating destruction and regeneration.
The relative exchange ratio was not very good, but since they were merely a bonus anyway, it was not a bad result for buying a little time.
The fourth step.
He had completely stepped into the Duke’s domain.
At this point, even the 「Existence Denial」 he had used from time to time no longer had much effect.
He could feel the sensation that the entire space within the surging energy was hostile to him, but that much was something he had already steeled himself for.
With weapons drawn in both hands, Heinz advanced without hesitation.
The fifth step.
The deeper he entered the opponent’s domain, the more the “time” in which he had held the advantage gradually regained equilibrium.
Naturally, moving forward continued to become more difficult, and the wounds left on his body continued to increase.
Of course, since they all regenerated before long, they had no particular meaning.
Thud—
And at last.
“Y-you bastard…! How…!”
“I’ve waited a long time.”
Having taken the final step, Heinz smiled gently as he faced the Duke’s gaunt, wretchedly distorted face.
As if facing a lost half of himself. ‘Mm, that’s not exactly wrong, either.’ After all, they would soon become one body.
He naturally reached out and seized his opponent by the neck.
It was the moment the hand of Heinz II, who had longed for the completion of blood, finally grasped that final piece.