After Murphy finished off Jed, this campaign to wipe out the shameless bastard vampires was also a complete victory. Including Jed, six out of the seven patriarch’s guards were taken out.
The old knight Finoch alone took down two, and the remaining three died in the pursuit by the group of Witch Hunters.
The last one left alive didn’t survive because of luck or him running away.
It was because that guy had already gone crazy due to the Astral pollution invading his brain. He was fighting the Witch Hunters when he suddenly fled, and ended up crashing straight into Lady Tris who was returning to the city. After an exchange whose content is unknown to anyone, that patriarch’s guard named “Bonnie” actually defected on the spot and was casually taken in by the vastly powerful Tris.
The Witch Hunters also chose not to continue pursuing her because of their temporary cooperation with Murphy.
The spoils they obtained in this battle were already quite bountiful.
The heads of six Silver-tier vampires were enough to hold a rite for their fallen comrades. Under the current situation where the Blood Vulture Clan exists in name only, letting go of one who had already gone completely insane was not a big issue.
That Silver-tier female vampire called Bonnie was now standing guard like a model outside Murphy’s tent.
Just like how she used to guard the Blood Vulture Patriarch.
Her eyes were wide like copper bells, with lightning-fast alertness. With her disheveled hair, she leaned on her Tomb Guard Black Blade, fiercely guarding the tent and not allowing anyone not approved by Lady Tris to approach.Because inside the tent, a conversation crucial to the lives of everyone present was taking place.
“Tris!”
Seeing the usually calm Tris suddenly so frightened, Murphy realized something was wrong. He feebly got up and grabbed Tris, who was frantically searching for something, and asked:
“Calm down a bit! Even if we have to run, you should at least tell me what’s going on? I knew about the young lady summoning the Blood Pact Knights last night. Is there really a problem with that? Aren’t the Blood Pact Knights the ‘arbiters’ and ‘protectors’ among the seven major vampire clans?
Even an outsider like me knows that!
As the young lady said, when a clan falls into dire straits, they can seek help from the Blood Pact Knights, who will always do their utmost to respond to such a desperate plea from their kindred.”
“What you said is all correct,” Tris snorted as she threw away the clothes in her hand and plopped down next to Murphy.
She first pushed him back onto the bed to let him rest properly, then glared fiercely at the clueless young lady. After pouring Murphy a cup of blood wine with ice cubes, she sighed and said in a low voice like an elderly person lecturing ignorant youngsters on important knowledge:
“The Blood Pact Knights are indeed the saviors for all vampires in despair. For example, the ‘Holy Blood War’ 811 years ago, the ‘First Night War’ 500 years ago, the ‘Second Night War’ 225 years ago, the ‘Blood Dread Apocalypse’ 200 years ago, and the ‘Wolf’s Calamity’ 170 years ago.
Almost every major event affecting the vampire race on the continent had the Blood Pact Knights intervene in the end to clean up the mess.
That ‘Ancient One’, Lord Vernon Payne Cappadocia, who has lived since the era before the calendar, is indeed the most respected uncrowned king of the entire vampire race.
However!
The most important point is that you naive youngsters have only seen Lord Payne’s lofty prestige and his selfless protection of vampire kin, but you are completely unaware of the other side of the powerful Blood Pact Clan as the ‘arbiters’!
They not only save their kindred who have fallen into dire straits!
For those clansmen who have violated the ancient laws, the Blood Pact Knights will execute them themselves before they can cause greater disasters, without even needing other forces to step in.
Like the Blood Dread Clan.
Did you really think that clan’s extinction 200 years ago was the doing of the Avalon Church?
Don’t be stupid!
The Old Faith believers can only defeat us! Only vampires can truly exterminate vampires!
It was in the year 911 of the calendar, exactly 200 years ago.
The Blood Dread Clan, entrenched in Saxony and the Ice Bay region, was being driven back by the attacks of the Avalon Church. The then Blood Dread Patriarch, Charlemagne Laine Giovanni, took the risk of performing a ritual to summon chaos forces from the sub-astral realm to intervene in the war, but it went out of control, killing 300,000 people overnight and shocking the entire continent!
Seven days later, Lord Payne himself led the three lords of the Blood Pact Knights and 300 Blood Knights out of the Dark Mountains, rallying the elites of other clans for a punitive expedition!
In just one month!
Only one month, the Blood Dread Clan, from the Patriarch down to 37,000 people, was executed down to the last 99, and Lord Payne personally carried out the sun-scorching punishment on the insane Blood Dread Patriarch Charlemagne, who had been driven mad by the sub-astral influence.
At that time, Salrokdar and I, along with the other three Patriarchs and their confidants, were watching.
No one dared to look directly at Lord Payne in that state. Salrokdar and old Edward, as well as Sophie the Patriarch of the Thorn Clan, were trembling throughout the ritual!
It was out of fear.
I saw it clearly.
Of course, I had no right to mock them. At that time, I was so scared that I couldn’t even say a word. It was after that day that I realized my so-called ‘Crimson Witch’ title meant nothing before Lord Payne!
You poor young people truly do not know how terrifying the Ancient One can be when he gets serious.
The last 99 Blood Dread Descendants were exiled from the continent, and as long as Lord Payne still lives, they are not allowed to set foot on the continent’s soil again.
This is a secret of the vampire clans. Everyone thought the Blood Dread Clan was exterminated, but they still exist as the ‘Blood Dread Fleet’, the largest pirate gang in the Misty Sea.
The sea area they operate in is called the ‘Vampire Coast’, the southernmost region of the Dark Mountains where few people tread.
I’m telling you all this just to let you know that Lord Payne’s formidable reputation was definitely not built solely on the monument of saving others. Beneath his crimson iron throne also lies a path of kindred bones paved with blood.”
Hearing this, Murphy suddenly shuddered. He recalled the warning Tris had given him when they left Kadman City, so he gripped her cold wrist and said:
“You told me before that the Blood Vulture Clan violated the Reclusive Laws by participating in the wars between civilizations and kingdoms, so that’s why the Blood Pact Knights won’t manage us?
Was it our mistake first?
But that shouldn’t make them point their weapons at us, right?
After all, the Blood Vultures are essentially extinct now.”
“Silly child, that was just a lie made up to get you to leave,” Tris said, caressing the scars on her neck with a bitter smile.
“We, or more accurately, the sin Salrokdar has truly committed now is far more serious than violating the ‘Reclusive Laws’, even comparable to the Blood Dread Clan’s foolish move back then.
It’s so dangerous that if the Blood Pact Knights catch even a hint of it, it will directly alarm Lord Payne.
Believe me!
That Ancient One will immediately drop everything in his hands, gather the Blood Pact elites scattered across the Dark Mountains, summon the main forces of other clans to form a vampire coalition army, and personally lead them to kill their way to Transia.
It will be the second ‘Punitive Expedition’ in vampire history.
As I just said.
Anyone involved in this sin, whether vampire or human, will be mercilessly slaughtered until the last ripple of this event is buried deep in the ground, until everyone involved is completely forgotten by time.
I dare say that after that war, there will no longer be a name called ‘Transia’ in this world.
You want to know the reason?
Heh, the reason is right in front of you!
The name of that calamity that will bring about the apocalypse to this land is Femis Cecilia Lessenbra! This very unfortunate soul you see as a companion!”
As Tris’s icy words fell, the young lady’s body trembled.
She seemed to have understood the reason for Tris’s panic, all the previous omens related to her now strung together, like a hammer striking her heart, instantly draining all color from the young lady’s face.
She realized she had done something stupid that would instantly shatter all her hopes, and even collapsed to the ground, completely losing all semblance of dignity she had tried to maintain, her voice hoarse as she said:
“You… you knew after all! Tris, please tell me what… what am I?”
Tris remained silent.
This silence seemed to represent a truth so heavy that even a vampire who had lived for nearly 500 years dared not reveal it in its entirety at this moment.
Murphy held Tris’s fingers and said softly, “Tris, tell us the whole truth. Were the injuries on you caused by this too?”
“You can’t know, it will bring you apocalyptic calamity,” Tris said solemnly as she looked at Murphy.
“You must leave now! Take your warriors and leave this forever. That buried foolishness must have someone take responsibility. Salrokdar alone is not enough to appease Lord Payne.
I…
I will also answer for what happened back then…”
“Don’t talk nonsense!” Murphy interrupted her as he sat upright, stating firmly:
“I’m not going anywhere, and I certainly won’t hand you over to anyone! Now please tell me the truth, I have to know where the problem lies so I can think about how to solve it.
Femis is our companion.
Though she is cunning, dishonest, and has different goals from us, she has indeed fought alongside us against powerful foes.
She sacrificed her reputation to help us take down Jed. I promised her I wanted to see true unity, I can’t just turn around and sell her out! My warriors won’t agree to her hasty exit either.
Tris, tell me!
I know you want to protect me, but I’m already in the whirlpool.
You are my elder. If this Lord Payne will truly destroy everything, then after you die, I cannot survive either.”
“Why must you ask! This is something others would avoid at all costs!” Tris shouted angrily, but after shouting she also became dejected.
Murphy was right, from the moment she turned him into a vampire, little Murphy was bound to Tris’s past secrets.
Ah, she really is someone who only brings misfortune to others.
Ah, if only she had drunk herself to death over a hundred years ago!
The tent fell into an anxious silence as Murphy waited. Tris bit her lip, made up her mind, glared at Murphy, then turned to look at Femis, who was also waiting for the truth, and asked a very strange question.
She said:
“Femis, tell me your age.”
“174 years old!” The young lady was very confident in her memory and immediately reported a number, also causing Murphy to look strangely at the rich lolita who clearly only had the appearance of a sixteen-year-old.
His guess was indeed correct, this young lady was an old demoness deliberately pretending to be young!
However, in the next moment, this answer that should have been absolutely correct was shaken and denied by Tris.
She stood up next to Murphy, gazing at Femis with a subtle gaze, as if seeing through Femis’s body to something hidden inside it.
She said softly:
“No! You’re only 30 years old this year. Most of your memories were woven from spirit energy by Salrokdar, and that spirit spell was created by me in my youth.
As you can see, I just used it to create a set of pleasant memories to soothe Bonnie’s madness.
So in fact, the moment I first saw you, I recognized your true identity!”
“Impossible!” Femis scrambled up from the ground, her eyes wide as she shouted:
“Shut up! Witch, I don’t believe it! I clearly have such vivid memories, from when I was first Embraced to when I traveled the Dark Mountains, and the twenty years I spent with Adele, that can’t be fake!”
“Is that so?”
Tris let out a cold laugh.
She stretched out her fair fingers and made a unique casting gesture, guiding her intricate spirit energy to gradually dispel some spell effect placed on Femis.
The Crimson Witch looked into her eyes and said softly in the tone of a psychologist guiding a patient:
“Think carefully again, what was the situation when you first met Adele?”
——
“Swish”
At the edge of the survivor’s camp in the twilight, Lady Adele returned from “hunting”, retracting her Blood Wings and landing silently. Her movements were elegant and graceful, but her spirit pouch now contained six fresh Blood Essences.
She was covered in wounds.
These were the marks left after six consecutive hunts, painful and leaving her feeling weak, but the exhilaration from within left Lady Adele in a pleasant mood.
She had kept her promise to Lord Murphy!
A total of six enemy hearts were now enough to satisfy her elder’s final request, as a perfect farewell to her past life.
As she walked with elegant steps towards Lord Murphy’s tent, Lady Adele touched her protruding chest, then somewhat laboriously pulled out an old silver locket from the snowy crevice pressed by her armor.
Holding it in her hand, she pressed the intricate latch, causing the locket to spring open and reveal the small spirit image stored within.
It was the only image she had with the young lady, taken after being rescued and picked up by her as a child.
It was a memento from their travels in the Dark Mountains.
In that tiny, still vivid image, two young girls of similar age stood hand-in-hand.
One plump, one thin.
One smiling happily, one hiding her expression behind indifference, but their hands tightly clasped together. They wore similar style dresses, and behind them was a human noble lady with a gloomy expression on her face, holding a folding fan and bearing a seventy percent resemblance to the young lady.
“Young lady,” Lady Adele, who was usually silent and barely spoke a sentence a day, caressed the locket in her hand.
She said in her heart:
“As your only companion from childhood until now, I will fight for your safety and freedom at any cost, even if it takes everything I have.
Although I cannot understand why your memories differ from mine, why Lady Cecilia has never allowed us much interaction, why you always forget my half-elf identity no matter how many times I remind you…
But it doesn’t matter.
I’m still grateful to you and Lady Cecilia.
Grateful that you gave me hope in my dark life, grateful that you saw me, always beset by calamity, as your only friend.
You used to protect me.
Now, it’s my turn to protect you!”
At the same time, near the great chasm close to the inner city of the Kadman City ruins, the old knight Finoch stood alone before the fading astral energies.
In his hand was the Desire Fragment that Murphy had previously given him.
He knew this was one of the seven stone tablets of vampire civilization, symbolizing the Blood Vulture Patriarch’s midnight power.
He was now hesitating whether to hand this over to those shadowy figures lurking about, who seemed very interested in such things.
The old knight really was hesitating.
He knew the weight of this thing in his hand.
Especially after personally experiencing the collapse of the Old Faith and the ten-year war that changed many things, he did not know what consequences would arise if he handed this over.
He did not even dare to think about it.
He forced himself to stop considering this matter.
Afterward, his thoughts turned to another matter. Looking at the scene of devastation faintly appearing in the astral mist before him, the old knight’s Great Oak Holy Blade on his back began to hum agitatedly, as if it had caught a whiff of something it greatly detested amidst the ruins.
“Hmm, you’re thinking about those things again,” the old knight said as he took down the holy blade and leaned on it, as if advising an old friend:
“Don’t rush, we’ll soon meet Salrokdar who left you that humiliation. What he owes us from back then will be repaid double! But I’m afraid we can’t get back what the Blood Vultures stole from us.”
Finoch sighed deeply.
He put away the Shard of Desire, grumbling very gloomily in a low voice:
“Who could have imagined that the seed dormant for hundreds of years could actually blossom and bear fruit? And grow into the form of a vampire girl no less. With her ignorant and innocent appearance, who could bear to lay a hand on her?
The poor child has lived her whole life amidst elaborate lies. Quiet now! Don’t howl in my mind! And don’t curse me, you violent and hypocritical thing!
Didn’t you also go soft back in the woods before?
Shut up!
If not for the fact that you are a holy relic of my faith, I would have thrown you into the Astral Realm long ago! What proper holy relic nags its wielder for vengeance every day?
Aren’t you supposed to come from the divine?
Why are you so petty?
Someone insulted you two hundred years ago and you’re still holding a grudge, huh?
Carrying you around has cost me a hundred years of lifespan.
At least!”
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