103 Chapter 103: True Vampire (1/2)

As the blood around my body bubbled, I smiled despite the blood leaking from my lips.

”…?!”

Seeing my expression, which was amused despite the supposedly hopeless situation of utter despair that he believed he had forced me into, Bradley and his doppelgangers instinctively took a step back.

”All right. I'll recognize you as a powerful vampire.”

”…what?!”

”Class 1 Vampire…therefore I'll be removing all the seals…down to level 0.”

”What the fuck are you talking about?!”

Adaptative Mutation. No, of course not. I was just ripping off Alucard from Hellsing Ultimate.

However, Bradley Kreuger didn't know that. All five copies of him watched, aghast, as the blood around me swirled and my body disappeared into it.

”What…”

All of a sudden, they were all wiped out, dragged, screaming into the pool of blood. One of them managed to escape, but at the swing of my sword that emerged from the red sea, his legs were severed just beneath his knees.

”Ah…aaaaah!”

Bradley sprawled on the ground and floundered helplessly. It was his turn to feel how it was like to lose his limbs.

Rolling on the ground, he struggled to get up on his knees. As he did so, he turned around, only to stare wide-eyed at me.

My black, shifting form was emerging from the sea of blood, my physical shape seeming almost too fluid to be captured by his vision.

”You…you monster!”

”Well then!” I laughed and spread my newly regenerated hands. ”Let's fight! Let us fight as how vampires should! The ultimate battle between two of the strongest vampires in history! Well! Let us enjoy ourselves!”

”Ah…ah…!”

His jaw dropping, the lone surviving doppelganger of Bradley stared at me, and then backed away. He swung his Azreal Drakkan at me, unleashing a blood spell, but I merely held up a hand and absorbed the blood.

”Hmm, pretty lackluster. I'm sure you can do better than that.”

”No…no way…impossible!”

Screaming, Bradley stumbled and fell back into the sea of blood, splashing wildly and thrashing about.

”What's the matter? Didn't you say you're on a completely different level from all the enemies I've faced? Aren't you the strongest vampire, the one whose shoulders the fate of Morten rest upon? Weren't you the ultimate hero who was supposed to save Restia? Come then! Show me the full extent of your powers!”

”M…monster!”

Bradley shrieked and tried to kick away with his severed legs. I merely stared down at him condescendingly.

”What are you waiting for? Regenerate your legs right away. Transform into bats. Summon your famliars. You can do at least that much, right?”

”Don't come near me!!!!”

Too slow.

”What a disappointment.”

”?!”

With a swing of my Blood Dragon Sword, I left a massive gash on the shrieking Bradley, almost opening his back and severing his spine. He crashed down, paralyzed, wailing in pain and rolling about in the puddle of blood.

”I…impossible! There's no way….!”

”After all that bragging, I thought you still had something up your sleeve.”

I slowly walked over to his flailing body and shook my head bitterly.

Thanks to Adaptive Mutation, it seemed that I had powered up tremendously. It was a pity. If Bradley had chosen to kill me instead of letting me live (albeit painfully) in order to torment me longer, he would have won. The Adaptive Mutation ability wouldn't have kicked in, and I would have died permanently.

But I knew his character. I knew how he would act, and so I gambled on it. After receiving the hint from Chronos, I had devised a plan based upon how I knew he would act. Just like every other cliché antagonist who decided to play around with the protagonist instead of killing him once and for all. Basically the same mistake I refused to repeat against my fomer classmates.

This was why I killed my former classmates immediately instead of trying to make them suffer. It was stupid, it was risky and it wasn't worth it, especially if they escaped and turned the tables on me. I wasn't going to give them that chance.

Hmm, let's see…this is interesting.

At the corner of my eye, I could see my updated information.

Name: Tanaka Tomoyuki

Species: Undead

Job/Rank: Gravekeeper/Vampire King

Title: Hero Slayer

Special Abilities: Adamantium Will, Rapid Regeneration, Lord of Darkness, Absolute Appraisal, Summon, Sword Saint, Adaptive Mutation, Blood Thralls, Blood Magic, Enhanced Attributes, Nightmarish Hypnosis

Initially, it didn't seem like there was any difference, but I realized that I had been promoted from Vampire Lord to Vampire King. Furthermore, I didn't receive any new abilities except Rapid Regeneration, which was more of an improved version of an already existing one.

Oh well. That was better than nothing. No wonder I was instantly growing back amputated limbs.

”But it seems like the match is already over.”

”Ah…ah…!”

Bradley was staring at me, his eyes wide in shock and fear. My shifting, misshapen form almost looked like a window into the immaterium. Countless eyes opened and blinked, staring at him from behind the screen that was my body and fixing him under a chilling gaze with their bloodshot pupils. A hallucination, an illusion…but one that felt so real to Bradley that he was practically pissing himself from sheer terror.

But the dragon's head that I had summoned was real. A familiar…the undead dragon that I had enslaved after killing it. Its slavering jaws snapped as it reared over the trembling Bradley.

”…hmph. You're not even worthy enough to be dragon's food.”

”…ku! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

As if something inside Bradley had snapped, he burst into hysterical laughter, his eyes taking on a crazed gleam. Pushing his hands off the ground, he forcibly leaped back and wore an ugly grin that bordered on insanity.

Raising his sword, he fired a single spell into the air – a flare that exploded and emitted a shrill shriek.

”Uh…what's that supposed to be?” I rolled my eyes.

”Ku ku ku! It's just a signal. To my private army! My subordinates, the retainer knights of House Kreuger, all of them deployed and scattered across the surroundings from the start! They'll be here within seconds!”

”…does this mean you've planned all this from the very beginning?”

I remained calm as I questioned Bradley.

Since Claire McAlterize had already consciousness, there were no eyewitnesses. If he disposed of me, he could easily cover it up by claiming it was an unfortunate accident. Moreover, he could threaten Lilith to keep her quiet.

Or so he thought, but there was no way in hell Lilith would keep quiet. The moron was obviously underestimating her.

The main point was that he had prepared the venue for the duel with the intention of having his subordinates cover the place from the start.

”This is also a brilliant strategy, Hero Slayer. Such is the nature of duels…you should know that! The third-ranked vampire knight and heir to House Kreuger can't afford to lose! Surely you, the hero of demons, should understand?”

Bradley was smiling triumphantly.

Apparently he believed that I was close to my limits after dealing terrible damage to me, and Lilith was clearly no longer able to fight.

If everything didn't go according to plan, he knew he would at least be able to weaken me enough for his private army to finish me off with sheer numbers. This was his last resort, a contingency he had in place in the unlikely event of his defeat.

Or so he thought, but…

”I know. I kind of expected that, so I brought my own battalion along.”

”…eh?”

Gunfire and cannons exploded in the air, and the night sky lit up as surges of plasma beams and las-fire lanced through the surroundings. Shrieks and screams of men were drowned out by the thunderous roar of tanks.

The vox-bead in my ear crackled.

”Sir, we've engaged the enemy. Also battalion sized, but they have no heavy armor. They're dug in pretty tightly, but we're pummeling them hard. I estimate we'll be able to break their lines in ten minutes.”

Daniel's voice hissed over the comns system. Another explosion resounded in the distance, and someone wailed in the background.

”Uh, make that eight.”

”I'll be done by then too.”