Chapter 37 - Fall of the Tepes Faction

After the sword fetus was stored in my inventory I looked over at Seriyu and my shadow soldiers. On the ground below them were some vampire elders struggling to get free from the bindings there were in. I gave them a single glance before I looked back at Seriyu who was awaiting my next order.

Yu - Seriyu return to the battlefield outside and tell the remaining enemy soldiers that their faction has fallen and to surrender. Those who surrender will have a chance to enter Haven those who resist.. well you know.

Seriyu - It will be done.

Transforming into his dragon form he soared back to the outside battlefield leaving me alone within the ruble. Looking at his shrinking figure I released more of my shadow soldiers and scattered them throughout the castle in teams of 5. With this, I'll be able to capture any stragglers that got away earlier.

When the shadows left I spread my domain and scanned the area for any abnormal presence signatures. After a minute I picked up one strong presence deep underground with a weaker presence next to it.

The other signatures in the castle didn't amount to the signature underground so I decided to use earth magic to burrow underground.

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Making my way towards my destination I was stopped by a restriction barrier. It wasn't as tough as the one I broke early it was only 2 grades below it. Releasing my spirit flame once more I infused all the elements I could use in it: Fire, Ice, Earth, Wind, and Space.

The result was a multi-colored flame that wielded high destructive power. The only downside of using this was that it required a lot of focus to make. I may have a lot of control over combining elements but 2 was my limit for easy combinations. 5 elements would take a while but in the end, I did it.

With my flame in hand, I waved my hand and the flame in it hit the barrier destroying it and the wall blocking me. This process didn't make much noise but where there is a barrier there is a master overlooking the barriers condition.

All of them were unconscious with their mouths sealed with breathing machines. On the other side of the room was an operating table with a girl lying on top of it, next to the table was a desk with a young man glancing over some vials with headphones in his ear.

Scattered on the ground were papers, blood, and some dried body parts. Ever since I saw the laboratory in the Naberius Manor I've hated research like the one I saw that day. The youth who seemed to not have noticed his barrier was destroyed continued to hold the vials while writing something on a piece of paper.

Returning my gaze to the girl I saw that she has nothing but a bra and undėrwėȧr on. Her arm was an ivy filling her system with drugs or something like that. I saw from her pale face and dilated eyes that she wasn't fully conscious.

Unintentionally I released my killing intent and alerted the youth. He turned around and looked at me with both shock and caution.

Marius - Who are-

*Swoosh*

Marius - Argh!!!

I didn't want to hear him speak so I summoned my sword fetus threw it at his direction and cut off his arm. He didn't have a strong body like his father so I didn't need a strong sword to hurt him. Using my spirit flame to seal the wound while also making sure he can't regenerate his arm I knocked him unconscious but not before hearing his cries of agony from losing his arm.

Creating chains to bind him in place I went over to the girl who I knew was Valerie Tepes one of the 13 Longinus users. Taking the ivy out of her arm I sent some life force into her system to expel the drugs from her body. After 7 minutes her system was clear of any drugs but she still had empty eyes.

I couldn't find out what's wrong with her before I remembered what happened to her in the novel. She overused her sacred gear see was broken in both her heart and soul.

Yu - [Damn has her soul already been broken by that bastards experiments?!]

*Ding*[Negative it is not a simple as Host thinks]

Yu - [Huh? what do you mean??]

*Ding*[While the female's soul is damaged it is not broken yet. The female has currently experienced extreme mental pain and thus cannot function properly due to temporary immobilization of having her soul injured.]

Yu - [She's only immobilized at the moment is what you're trying to tell me.]

*Ding*[Correct this is most likely the first time her soul has been damaged since the more it happens to more the victim can withstand the pain. However, this isn't advised because the end result will be a broken soul that will be near impossible to heal.]

Yu - [So what should I do now?]

*Ding*[Host can only wait for her to awaken by herself. After that, it is advised to feed her spirit fruits and other nutritious food that will repair the damage on her soul. This process must be done for a year at the latest or 3 at the most depending on the damage.]

Yu - [Spirit fruit but I don't have any spirit fruit on me or in my herb garden. How will I even-]

*Ding*

[How to guide on planting spirit fruits and herbs] - 5000 System points

[Spirit herb and fruit seed set] - 8500 System points

Looking at this my mouth twitched a little before I gritted my teeth and bought them bringing my stockpiled system points down to 52. This caused my heart to bleed a little before I looked at Valerie once again and the pain went away.

I'd have to wait to plant these seed back in my herb garden, so I left them in my inventory for now. I wrapped Valerie in a blanket as I carried her in my arms out of the laboratory. Behind me, I summoned a shadow solder to drag the chained Marius against the hard uneven ground.

As we walled I kept circulation life force throughout Valerie's body until we reached the surface. Along the way, I found a mountain of blood diamonds in the castle basement. These weren't normal blood diamonds though, they were made by vampires and could be used to make mana containers. They were pretty rare so seeing this mountain greed filled my eyes.

Since I had basically destroyed the faction I took all the diamonds into my inventory before resuming my journey to the surface.

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When I finally got out of the underground tunnel I was greeted by at least 1-2 hundred kneeling vampires. The men seemed to be in bad shape but the women seem to be fine. I had previously ordered the shadow soldiered not to hurt those who were cooperative.

Yu - Listen, all of you! The Tepes faction is no more, the reason they showed hostility towards me and my people! I am not a cruel person that would kill innocent people, but I will always kill my enemies. The Tepes Faction became my enemy and now it is no more, you are all that's left of the Tepes Faction.

My words caused many to go pale, some women started to cry and men started to lose the light in their eyes. I planned to have these guys work for me so I couldn't let them despair now.

Yu - I will say this once throw away your previous affiliation with the Tepes Faction and join me, I treat my people fairly. As long as you swear fidelity to me you will have a second chance at life in a better environment. However, you must cooperate with the previous inhabitants because I value unity. As a test of your loyalty.

I snapped my fingers and I had a shadow soldier throw Marius in front of the crowd. He had already regained consciousness and tried to speak but I had already sealed his mouth with sealing magic.

After he hit the ground another soldier made him kneel on the ground, while stabbing a sword in the ground. Then many other soldiers began to place swords before them.

Yu - This man here is the cause of today's destruction, if it wasn't for him I would not have come here and caused so much destruction and bloodshed. The swords before you are your test. You have 2 choices take the sword and stab this man, or discard it and fall with him. By doing so you will have decided your own fate.

This choice caused many to have complex expressions, many didn't move but in the end, one did. He was a thin man, he seemed to have been malnourished. Behind him were a woman and a baby boy. They were in the same condition.

The man walked forward carrying all three swords. He stopped 2 feet before Marius and looked at me.

Yu - You may.

??? - *Inhale* *Exhale* My name is Esau Damian, I have been imprisoned by the Tepes royal family along with my family. In exchange for my loyalty will you make sure my family is well fed and doesn't starve. I ask of this as my only request.

Widening my eyes I couldn't help myself from admiring him a little. He could have just stabbed Marius and be done with it, but he pleaded before me for his families well being rather than his own. Something like this takes a lot of courage since I could tell he wasn't even a mid-rank fighter.

From what I could see they did seem to be prisoners by the looks of their ragged clothing and malnourished bodies. I wanted to accept his request but I first had to ask.

Yu - Why were you imprisoned, before I let you into my faction I must know?

Esau - My family went against the ideals of the royal family and were thus targeted and driven to poverty. In order to find a better life for my son, I tried to sneak out of the country with my wife and son but were captured at the border.

I saw no signs of him lying the entire time he talked so it seemed he was telling to truth. Nodding my head I said.

Yu - Prove your loyalty and I promise you not only your families safety but also a position of power to maintain their safety as well.

When I said this he sighed in relief and stabbed Marius in the gut cutting them open. When he was going to use the other 2 swords I motioned him to stop and brought him over to Seriyu's side with his family. He proved himself already, to go so far for his family he deserved my respect.

Healing Marius's wounds more vampires began to prove themselves as well. Some men tried to advertise themselves to try and get some benefits, and some women tried to seduce me into taking them into my household but I denied them without a thought.

I saw the greed in their eyes of most of those vampires, some seemed to be scheming something while others had malice in them. I didn't want those kinds of people in Haven so their chance was revoked.

When this was over 83 vampires joined Haven, 29 had their chances revoked, and 58 refused my deal and chose to die with their faction. So I sent the 83 with Seriyu, and when they were gone I killed the remaining 87 as a precaution. I couldn't let the seed of revenge bloom or it might cause trouble in the future.

As for Marius, I burned him after I impaled his heart and the light left his eyes. Watching his ashes I felt that he got off easy but I soon forgot the idea because the deed was already done.

Holding the still unconscious Valerie in my arms I took one more look over the ruins of the Tepes faction before I disappeared from earth and returned to Haven.