Chapter 53 Intruders In The Realm (1)

“Have they noticed anything?”

Four shadowy figures hid perfectly in the dark in a remote part of the Moonreaver Dimension. Their bodies were wrapped in a mysterious cloak, one that blended them into their surroundings. Even the best of magicians wouldn’t be able to notice their immediate surroundings, no matter how hard they tried.

“There’s no movement from the Moonreaver House,” one of the figures replied to his leader’s question. “We should be in the clear.”

“Keep monitoring their signals. We can’t afford to screw up this mission.”

There was no room for rest or jokes. The four individuals were strictly here for business, and their demeanour highlighted that. Moving slowly to not make a sound, the four intruders edged ever so slightly around the outskirts of the Moonreaver Dimension. Naturally, their location was so remote that most guards didn’t even bother patrolling. Yet, they were being as careful as can be.

“This is the North-West reaches of the Moonreaver Dimension, right?”

“Yes, sir! Other than some residential areas, there’s nothing but forest here.”

“Residential areas, huh? Do you know of any True Vampires that we have to be on the lookout for?”

“Negative, sir. Most of the Moonreaver’s strongest fighters live at the heart of the Dimension. Even the hibernation citadels are centred near the centre.”

“Hoh… I don’t know if that is good or bad news.”

The leader of the reconnaissance team broke into a frown. Their objective was their ancestor’s lost artifact, and there was no way that the Moonreaver House would place such an important object in the outskirts of their dimension. If their intelligence was correct, their objective lay deep within the heart of the Moonreaver House.

However, having no significant threats on the outskirts did prove beneficial at the moment. If there was a monster sleeping just a few hundred metres away, there was no chance that they could enter with such ease.

“How much have we mapped?”

“Except for the central location, we have mapped ninety percent of the Moonreaver Dimension, sir! With this last mission, we should be able to clear the missing parts.”

“Good… Speaking of which, this remote location does seem easy to breach. Would this be the best place for our landing party?”

“That’s not for us to decide,” the leader snorted. “Focus on the mission. Any distractions can result in failure.”

“Yes, sir!”

The four cloaked figures took out their mapping devices and slowly walked around the area. For secrecy purposes, the devices in their hand could only map their immediate surroundings. And if there was even one Moonreaver nearby, their entire plan would be foiled. That’s why they took the painstaking task of spending months just to map out one region.

And now, they were nearly at the finishing line.

Being true professionals, they stayed true to their craft. Spending every second as carefully as they can. They were on an infiltration mission, and getting discovered was practically a death sentence. Which was why, even though there was no one around, the tension amongst them was exceedingly high.

“How much longer?”

“… We should pack up for the day. Fully mapping the North-West region will take more than just a night. We can come back tomorrow and-… WATCH OUT!!!”

Just as they were about to complete their mission, the leader shouted at the top of his lungs. All three of his subordinates turned around, only to see a massive chunk of ice hurling right toward them. It was moving at a rapid speed, but it wasn’t a velocity that four experts couldn’t deal with. They scattered disorderly, allowing the ice shard to crash violently on their previous positions.

‘Did we fail the mission?!’ The invaders thought at the same time.

They snapped their heads in the direction that the attack was shot at them and found something that went beyond their wildest imaginations. Their perfect mission record, the many months they spent fooling the best magicians from the Moonreaver House… was foiled by the young black-haired Vampire that was floating in the air with a triumphant expression.

???

‘There really were intruders!!!’

I smiled like a teenager who had been given the reins to their parent’s car for the first time. At first, I’d thought that the ripples in Spacetime were nothing more than the Moonreaver Dimension fluctuating as an imperfect construct. However, Lilith had said that the Moonreaver Dimension had stood for over a hundred years, with no signs of any collapse. In fact, it was just as stable as our own reality in the regular world.

And so, if the Moonreaver Dimension was stable, that could only mean one thing.

There was foul play involved.

And sure enough…

‘There are four of them… Although they are hidden visually, and their magical signatures are faint, I can vaguely sense their location.’

Thanks to my control over Spacetime, I could ‘see’ the camouflaged silhouettes of the intruders. They were making a significant dent in the fabric of Space that I immediately dialled my wariness to eleven.

There weren’t many individuals that could make such a large indentation in the fabric of Space. Usually, the larger your magic pool, the more dense your imprint was. So far, the most prominent imprints I’d noticed were from Matriarch Innocence and that bastard Sirius Moonreaver. Those were akin to black holes that seemed to suck every form of life in.

On the other hand, while these bastards couldn’t compare to those two freaks of nature, their imprints were quite respectable. I would say these four trump Irina and Lilith in terms of pure magic power.

‘Luckily, I told Lisa to get Lilith… And judging from the distance, she would take a few minutes to arrive.’

I looked over my shoulder and saw Lilith’s estate in the far distance. By my estimations, it should be around twenty to thirty kilometres away. For Lisa to reach, wake Lilith up, inform her of the situation, get her changed and eventually reach my location… Yeah, a few minutes seems about right.

In the meantime…

“Although it might not be in my place to ask, what’s your affiliation?” I politely asked, contrary to my rough welcome gift.

While they clearly looked like intruders, I could be misunderstanding the situation. Perhaps they were even part of the Moonreaver House and were doing some forest clearing?

“… How did you notice us?”

The four Vampires removed their weird-looking cloaks, revealing their stern expressions. All four of them were male, roughly between their twenties and thirties. But as it is with every Vampire, their actual age was far beyond their looks. All of them were well-built and tall, and there were even prominent scars on two of them.

Given that Vampires could heal whatever wounds they had, those were likely combat scars. A mark that was a pride for Vampires with a warrior mentality. They didn’t emit a single ounce of magic power, and yet, I could feel tremendous pressure mounting.

Hoho? Now that’s a good sign. If they were part of the Moonreaver House, they would instantly try to resolve the misunderstanding. So if they were clearly intruders…

“I have no obligation to answer,” I replied while magic power gathered on my right hand. “And if I’m correct… You probably won’t answer any of my questions, right?”

The four intruders remained silent and glared at me with eyes that could kill.

“I thought so…”

Now that I had confirmed their identity, it was time to come up with my next course of action. Judging by their overwhelming presence, these four weren’t the small fries I’d come up against. They were in a whole other league. Battle-hardened, magically inclined and their thick bloodthirst that I could feel even dozens of metres away.

They were, by far, the most powerful opponents I’d ever faced; monsters like Sirius and the Matriarch don’t count, given that I didn’t even fight them once.

The sensible thing to do was to run away. I wasn’t part of the Moonreaver House, and I was most definitely not going to put my neck on the line for no charge. In fact, whatever these four were planning didn’t affect me in the slightest. As long as Lilith and Irina were safe, I don’t care what kind of sabotage occurs in the Moonreaver Dimension.

And so, the intelligent thing to do was to retreat, wait for assistance, and let the Moonreaver House do the cleanup.

But…

“A chance like this doesn’t come often, does it?”

I couldn’t see myself, but if I were to look in the mirror, I would most definitely see a maniacal smile. Against these overwhelming odds, where it was one versus four, and I was at a significant disadvantage in terms of magic power, battle experience and drive.

But that didn’t matter.

Magic power gathered in my hand as I summoned my Soul Armament out. In a disadvantageous battle, the one who strikes first takes the initiative. Firstly, I sent out a warning shot of numerous thunderbolts to strike the four intruders. There were two reasons why I chose to use lightning first.

Lightning bolts were exceedingly quick and hard to dodge. This means the intruders would be taken aback and might unwittingly use evasive measures that would reveal their identities. Secondly, I wanted them to think that I was part of the Moonreaver House, given that their speciality involves using lightning.

And that was a wise first move.

“He’s part of the Moonreaver Bloodline! We need to silence him!”

While I wasn’t able to identify their movement ability, they did manage to fall into my deception. The four intruders moved at speeds that I could barely follow, leaping around like circus performers and blending into the forest. If not for my spatial recognition abilities, I would unquestionably lose sight of their positions.

“A Moonreaver that specialises in lightning… This is going to be annoying.” The leader spat in annoyance. However, he never once lost focus. “Surround and besiege him from all sides!”

Do you really think that it’s going to be that easy?

I raised my middle finger and channelled my ability to control space. Almost instantly, I ‘grabbed’ hold of the four intruders and froze them in space. And while taking advantage of the time they were shocked, I summoned a tremendous lightning bolt to deal with the four.

Unfortunately…

Bzzzzzzzztt!!!

The lightning bolt struck violently, breaking into the ground and splitting trees in half. It was powerful enough to send even the most seasoned of Hunters into temporary stasis. But, the four Vampires were completely unharmed. They regrouped together and stood there without a speck of dirt on their clothes.

“Telekinesis, huh? We can’t take you lightly, it seems.”

… Was this the first time?

Yeah, it was.

This was the first time I couldn’t stop my opponent for more than a second. They broke free of my spatial control before I’d even noticed. Ever since I’d first awakened my control of Spacetime ability, I’d breezed past opponents simply by locking them in place. Alas, as the calibre of my foes improved, I couldn’t rely on such a convenient ability anymore.

One of the intruders sped up faster than I could react, reappearing behind my back. Three exquisite daggers flew out from his sleeves. They flew haphazardly, bypassing all the laws of physics in the process.

‘Telekinesis… They have it as well…’

I’d heard from Variel that once a True Vampire ages and becomes powerful enough, they would gain the ability to control objects with just their magic power. That was the reason why Variel wasn’t impressed when he misunderstood that my control over Space was merely Telekinesis.

‘Tsk, they’re a little too fast.’

With no option to evade, I bent the fabric of Spacetime around me, allowing the flying daggers to warp from my right hand to the left. Unfortunately, the daggers didn’t pierce the hearts of the other intruders and instead returned to their owner.

“Dimensional magic as well! He must be someone from the main bloodline!” The intruders instantly changed their tune. They seemed to have further deepened their misunderstanding, which was quite convenient for me.

“There’s no other choice then…”

Dense magic power enveloped the area as the four intruders’ eyes were dyed a soulless red. A retching feeling of bloodlust overwhelmed my senses, and the world around me started to spin. I smelt blood.

And not just any blood. A thick, nauseating flavour that I could never hope to enjoy.

I watched as the four intruders cut open a flesh wound, turning their disgusting blood into weapons and auxiliary powers. One created two pistols which seemed capable of firing an infinite amount of bullets. One created a mist of blood that strengthened his companions while weakening me. One made a two-metre-long scythe with a tip that could pierce diamonds.

And finally… The leader summoned out a Katana that was dyed the densest blood red I’d ever seen.

Those weren’t the Blood Arts that Blood Servants used… No, they were a thousand levels above that. Those weapons harboured dense magic power, which Blood Servants couldn’t possibly possess.

“You guys are…”

And that was when I remembered.

I once asked Variel how the Blood Servants came up with using their own blood as weapons. And that was when the butler told me the horrifying origins of Blood Arts.

Long before the days of the Ten Guardian Houses, there was only one Noble House. No, it was a Royal House. All Vampires, be it True Vampires or Blood Servants, bowed down to that one lineage. The lineage that used their own blood to suppress and dominate over the Vampiric World.

They fought primarily by using their inherited blood which had a natural deterrence against all Vampires. Through their brutality and ruthlessness, they’d reaped millions of mortal souls and annihilated dozens of Vampire clans under their tyrannical rule.

They once stood at the apex of the World. Using the power of their blood, they piled bodies by the mountains and bathed in the river of blood that followed.

They were the inheritors of the Vampire Progenitor and were once the true masters of the World.

“The Bloodborne House.”