Chapter 5: Duel (2)

Marvin was glaring at Keith from the moment he set foot in the arena. He couldn't believe that the old man gave him the inheritance. From what he heard from his father, the old man claimed that Keith became a baron. So his father challenged his claim by setting up this duel.

" What a joke. A cripple like you wants to get the position of the leader by the old man's favour."

Keith didn't speak as Marvin spoke profanities at him. He smiled casually and didn't move from his spot.

"You have the gall to smirk at me. Did you forget that happened? How I crushed you. How I turned you into a pulp?"

Marvin almost slipped his tongue but he changed his words at the last second. He did try to kill him back then, and he succeeded. But he didn't know that the Keith in front of him was not the same as before.

Marvin saw that Keith wasn't responding to his provocations. He was so angry that his face turned red. He never thought that this cripple would be so brave.

He decided to teach him a good lesson. After the overseer announced the start of the match, Marvin strode across the arena and ran straight toward Keith. It only took a couple of seconds for Marvin to reach Keith, who was standing still.

Marvin swung his arm towards Keith's face. As the accelerating hand approached Keith's face, Marvin gave him a smirk. The fist was almost in front of his face, but suddenly something stopped the fist from moving forward.

"What ?"

Marvin looked at his arm that was grabbed by Keith's left hand. He tried to shake it off, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't take his arm out of his grasp.

" How can you have such strength?" Marvin asked in disbelief.

" This is for yesterday" Keith didn't want to waste his time with him, So he clenched his fist and punched Marvin in the abdomen.

He didn't use his full strength, but it wasn't a light punch either. He used half of his strength in that punch. As the punch connected, Marvin was sent flying out of the arena and crashed into a nearby pillar.

" WHAT?"

" Noooooo"

..

..

Shouts erupted as the spectators all watched the unbelievable scene in front of them. They couldn't believe that a boy that was cripple a day ago and seriously injured, was able to defeat a seventh blood condensing stage vampire in a single punch. Everyone was looking at the arena with their eyes wide open.

"You.. you tried to kill him in a friendly spar." Rufus immediately went to check on Marvin, who was lying unconscious with blood flowing out from his mouth.

"Oops sorry. Forgot to control my strength. I just condensed a blood core, so my strength is not stable."

Keith smirked as he said that to Rufus. This made Rufus really mad, as he attacked him immediately. Before he could reach Keith, Lex appeared in the middle and caught his hand.

" Don't go overboard, Rufus. He didn't use his full strength. Or else you would've lost your son today." Lex pointed his hands towards Marvin.

"Hmph" Rufus turned back and walked towards Marvin.

" I don't know what forbidden ritual you used, but you can't keep that forever, I promise you."

He picked up Marvin and left the arena. All the spectators watched as Rufus carried the unconscious body of Marvin and took his leave. The fight ended just like that.

All the expectations were shattered. People who betted against Keith were angry beyond belief. They lost a good chunk of their savings because of this.

"Damn.. that Marvin got his ass handed to him just like that. What a weakling."

People started to berate Marvin for the loss, and how they lost their money because of it. There were some vampires that were on the side of Marvin, who accused Keith of using unfair methods.

But nobody denied the fact that Keith indeed got a blood core. Every old member of the family checked with their own eyes. They couldn't believe how Keith condensed a blood core so fast.

Now that Lex has declared that Keith will inherit the Count title, nobody could do anything about it.

Keith bowed to Lex and expressed his gratitude. If it wasn't for him doing the ritual, he might not have gotten this body.

If not for him, he wouldn't have access to the blood pool, which accelerated his growth and helped him condense his blood core as he ascended to the rank of Baron.

" Thank you, Grandpa.."

He said with a look of gratitude shown on his face.

" It's alright, boy. I always felt that you had the potential, just like your father. I hope you take our family to more heights." Lex patted Keith's shoulders.

" I promise.." Keith didn't know why he felt so much affection towards his grandpa, even though he met him yesterday for the first time.

This was also true with his calmness after he arrived in this world. After the memories of Keith mixed with his own, the feelings, the closeness, everything assimilated. The previous Keith became a part of him. His memories, his ambitions were all transferred to him.

Even though Keith's memories affected him, it didn't mean he disliked his ambitions. Even when he was on earth, he read novels about transmigration and he always wanted to travel to different worlds like that.

But as he got older, he threw that wish to the back of his head. After he came to this world, his wish got fulfilled, and he wanted to explore the world and what better way to start this than being a vampire noble. Still, he missed his family.

He did not consider leaving his family when he was on earth. But now it hit him hard when he remembered them. Only Lex, his grandpa was the closest person to him in this world. He felt deep respect and gratitude towards him, as well as a familial bond courtesy to the late Keith's feelings.

Hearing Keith's resolute response, Lex nodded his head. He felt so proud at this moment that words could hardly describe.

"Now go, rest for the day. I will explain to you about the inheritance tomorrow."

Keith nodded his head and left the arena.

While he was passing by the pillar, where Marvin crashed before, he felt his purple tendrils were trying to move him towards that place.

' What does it want?'

He walked to the pillar and touched the place where Marvin hit his head. The blood was already dry. When he touched the spot, his purple tendrils moved to his fingertips and struck out like small tentacles. Keith looked around to see if anyone noticed, but they passed by him without noticing anything.

' Am I the only one who can see this?' He wondered.

While he was looking around, the purple tendrils sucked the blood out of the pillar and absorbed them.

[ Bloom essence absorbed : 1 ]

Suddenly, Keith saw a hologram in front of him.