Chapter 1379: Blood Relations (Part 2)

According to a long-standing rule, the internal affairs of the vampire race would be handled together by active primogenitors. Those who weren’t primogenitors would have to be assigned such authority by the Queen of the Night even if they were a great dark monarch. Even though Habsburg had illuminated a blood seal, it was only after Lilith’s personal recognition that older great dark monarchs like Medanzo had nothing more to say.

There were two active second-generation primogenitors in the race. First was Medanzo, but there was clearly something wrong with him. The other one was Habsburg, but as the person in charge of the holy war, he had always worked closely with the council. It was currently difficult to say who was a friend.

There was recent news of Dark Gospel Howard’s awakening. He was different from the Azure King in that his lifespan wasn’t at its end yet. Being able to wake up on his own meant that he could still act independently for a period of time.

Howard and Medanzo had never seen eye to eye, so much so that the former didn’t appear in public this time. If Howard had gone back to light slumber, it was likely that the demonkin would see him as an objective to attack. That was because Howard was a second-generation primogenitor who could wake up at any moment, and he also possessed the ability to awaken Lilith, a difficult variable to control.

At the thought of this, she found answers to many questions she had in the past. The demonkins’ actions on Twilight Continent almost seemed crazy, but their likelihood of success was quite high.

They were using the council’s investigation into wartime misconduct as an excuse to persuade the werewolves and arachne to join their operation. Those two races wouldn’t refuse this opportunity to weaken the vampires, destroying their altars and capturing their blood ponds. The werewolves might be even more proactive since they had suffered greatly in the centuries of war.

This operation was probably commencing on various fronts at the same time, using various methods to destroy all methods of communication with the Queen. The Azure King had passed, and Medanzo and Hasburg’s stance was unclear. Under such circ.u.mstances, it was all too easy to make sure that sleeping second-generation primogenitors would never wake up. Ordinary vampires would never even realize what had happened.

By the time the Queen of the Night woke up one day, everything would be too late.

Nighteye was filled with killing intent after realizing these things. She was just about to kill Marquis Lynch when Qianye stopped her. “What’s this new order you speak of?”

Lynch said, “The Demon King believes that the vampire race has been slowly leaving the darkness origins since the Daybreak Rebellion. He says our bloodlines have been tainted, and that’s a sin. The River of Blood’s recession is the best proof of this. The vampire race must wash away our sins and return to the darkness origins to be reborn.”

“Nonsense!” Qianye was furious.

“Yes, yes!” Lynch nodded repeatedly.

Qianye was in no mood to keep asking. Thoughts were a strange thing—whether Lynch’s betrayal was due to a fear of death or if he truly believed the demonkin’s words was fairly difficult to discern from words alone. Even the man himself might not be able to say for sure.

Qianye glanced at Nighteye and saw the chill in her countenance. He exerted more force, sending a thread of blood that crushed Lynch’s blood core.

“You guys said… you won’t kill me…”

“Did I? I’ve forgotten.” Qianye tossed the marquis’ corpse away. He then jumped out of the window with Nighteye and eventually vanished into the night.

The duo traveled through the darkness after leaving the castle, crossing mountains and rivers across great distances.

Qianye suddenly asked, “What do vampires feel about family? Why would Marquis Lynch submit to someone who cut off his father’s blood supply.”

“This is unrelated to the race. Long-lived races might be less sentimental, but they do have feelings. The greater reason would be power and benefits. I have zero impression of this person in my knowledge about their family, which means his siblings were much more talented than him. And yet he had become the head of the family. I’m sure humans also see cases of fratricide for power.”

Qianye felt a bit better after listening to her explanation. “Am I considered a vampire now? Why do I feel nothing different?”

“Of course you’re a vampire. Your human part is now at the bottom of the Book of Darkness, Reynold cannot be wrong.”

Qianye said gloomily, “Why did my body become fully vampire?”

“Reynold said your human body was too weak. You were technically already dead back then. Only a vampire constitution can be repaired and thus allow you to come back to life. Also, only a vampire could use his Pond of Azure Darkness.”

Qianye had already guessed even without Nighteye’s explanation. He shook his head with a sigh.

All of a sudden, they saw a pillar of fire burst into the sky. The blaze illuminated a burning ancient castle. The ferocity of these flames meant that the fire wasn’t natural.

Qianye and Nighteye exchanged glances. “This is the third castle now. Aren’t we already quite a distance away from the Mueller’s Castle?”

Nighteye narrowed her eyes. “Clearly, not every family is willing to give up.”

“What do we do? Shall we help them?”

Nighteye clenched her teeth. “No! We must hurry to the Byrne Clan territory!”

Qianye glanced at the burning castle. “Those are Monroe lands.”

“I know… we’re not saving them.”

Qianye spoke no more and merely followed Nighteye toward their destination.

They still had a long way to cover before reaching the Byrne clan’s core territory. At one point along the silent journey, Nighteye said, “Do you think I'm cold-blooded for not saving my clan members?”

Qianye said honestly, “Imperials would probably stop to help.“ Howard’s potential danger was still a conjecture at this point. What they had seen before them was true peril and death. Only on the battlefield did one have to face such choices.

Nighteye said after a while, “Long-lived races have different perspectives when it comes to these things. A human heavenly monarch can ensure a hundred or so years of peace at most, but crown princes and great dark monarchs can protect a race for hundreds if not thousands of years. Throughout the passing years, rank differences become more important than anything else. It can be said the Dark Gospel is more important to the vampire race’s fate than all the other marquises combined.”

Qianye said, “Very well, I’ll try to digest this.”

Nighteye came to a stop so sudden that Qianye almost ran past her. He barely managed to find his footing beside her.

Nighteye looked into his eyes. “You… should go.”

“Where?” Qianye was puzzled.

Nighteye sighed. “The neutral lands or Fort Continent, there are many places you can go to. Just don’t go back to the Empire or Twilight Continent.”

“Then how about you?”

“I must go to the Byrne Territory.”

“Then I’ll follow you of course.”

Nighteye shook her head. “No, this is not your war. You’re not a true vampire. This enmity between the vampires and demonkin, we will resolve it ourselves. But, you have to promise me not to return to the Empire. You’re already a full vampire now, so there’s no telling when they will stab you in the back.”

Qianye looked serious. “Did you sense something?”

“We’re already on the verge of defeat right from the very beginning. We’ve passed by five marquis castles along the way, belonging to three different minor families. Three of them have been destroyed, while the remaining two have probably turned into traps. I think a real battle awaits us at Howard’s castle.”

Qianye said, “Since you’re joining this battle, I shall fight as well. Are you worried that I’ll feel prejudice toward the vampires?”

“There’s a lot of past enmity between your race and mine.”

Qianye went silent for a moment. In truth, there was something he never mentioned. When he heard Habsburg’s name a while ago, there was a sharp pain from his heart followed by an insuppressible killing intent.

Back when Zhang Boqian had gone to observe the battlefield, he merely said Lin Xitang had fallen in the Demon King’s domain. The council also kept a tight lid on this matter, making no announcements regarding this matter. There were of course bits and pieces of information still—for instance, it was confirmed that the spoils of war and contributions had gone to the vampire race. The one overseeing the war on the Evernight side was Prince Habsburg.

Qianye didn’t know whether Nighteye had noticed his loss of composure, nor was he certain he could stay his hand after coming face-to-face with this legendary Flaming Crown.

A good while passed by as the two gazed at each other under the starlight.

Qianye eventually said, “I have a lot of problems with the werewolves as well, but on Fort Continent, I came to understand that there’s no such thing as irreconcilable hatred between factions, let alone races. War is war... even if there is hatred, that’s something between experts. It has nothing to do with commoners.”

In the end, he said, “In short, I’m not leaving.”

Nighteye didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry at his childishness. “You never listen, let’s go then.”

The two sped along afterward. By the time the sun was starting to rise, they had traversed nearly half of Twilight Continent to arrive near Castle Midas.

Midas was called a castle, but it was so big that it looked more like a giant fortress, or even a big city.

The castle was constructed atop a lone peak with buildings dotting the sloping hillside. The other side was a precipitous cliff that dropped into a ravine thousands of meters deep. The bottom of the valley was filled with flowing dark-red lava.

The scent of earth-fire was something the vampires and dark races hated the most. This flaming valley made for an excellent natural barrier for the castle’s rear. Only top experts could enter the stronghold via this route. Troops would never be able to launch a sneak attack from here, not even the council’s forces.

The Byrne clan had never encountered a gap in primogenitors. Hence, they were able to build Castle Midas into a true fortress over the years. Every building and window was designed to spit out flames of death.

The castle before them was currently in a true state of battle.

It was hard to say just how many cannon turrets there were inside. Hundreds of fiery streams could be seen shooting into the sky every second, blasting at the swarm of airships above.

The outermost walls below the castle had mostly collapsed. The battle was already unfolding around the second layer halfway up the mountain. The explosions happening behind this checkpoint went to show that it was also on the verge of defeat.

There was a series of flames in the distance as groups of giant transports hurried to the scene. These airships were fast, stable, and easily recognizable as the council’s direct forces. Needless to say, they weren’t here to help Howard.

The Evernight Council’s troops had already set up a temporary camp outside of the castle, their supplies piled up into mountains. Their soldiers could be seen lining up in the field before charging into battle.

Only at this point did Qianye fully realize the meaning of war.

...

On one of the upper continents, the Eternal Hall of the Evernight Council.

The sky here was an eternal night. The seven totems of the founders hung above the main doors. There wasn’t the slightest sign of decay on them. These totems were eternal, unlike the races they represented.

Living creatures were nothing more than a speck of dust before this land of miracles.

Habsburg stood in the sky, gazing at the void fortress that shouldn’t have appeared here. To be precise, it was the projection of a fortress-like city. The city itself was semi-dimensional and fixed to those coordinates, only revealing its giant mirror image in this world.

The city was dotted with combat-type buildings, sporting high walls and small windows. With Habsburg’s eyesight, he could even see the soldiers of varying races on the streets and in sentry positions.

The soldiers looked different from the dark races of today. The vampires were taller and fiercer, while the arachnes’ slim frames were full of power. The soldiers stood still in different positions—they looked as if they had been frozen in time but also as though they would rush into battle the very next moment.

That was the demonkin superweapon that only existed in legends, a semi-dimension of war.

The council chairman appeared beside Habsburg and proceeded to observe this majestic instrument of war together with him.

After a while, the chairman said, “Your Highness, it’s time to set out. The advance forces left three hours ago. They will have completed the beheading operation by the time you arrive on Fire Beacon Continent.”

Habsburg said, “Lord Mark, can you tell me the real objective of this operation? Why mobilize such a weapon? The council didn’t bring this out even when the void colossus Sky Demon appeared around the lower-continents.”

“Void colossi usually don’t attack inhabited continents. Why risk angering it?” the chairman said. “You’re overthinking it. Our targets are the two human provinces there.”

The chairman said after some thought, “If you must ask why the number of soldiers the council can dispatch is limited this time, just enough for a beheading operation...” He looked up at Habsburg’s expression and laughed. “Ah, you don’t need to worry. There’s no need to maintain order. We don’t need the resources and populace there, so you can simply level the place with the ‘City of Eimer.’”

Habsburg understood the chairman’s meaning. “Even though the two provinces have already broken off from the Empire, doing so might cause the heavenly monarchs to interfere. The council is...”

The chairman nodded. “Yes, we do not exclude the possibility of an all-out war.”

Habsburg frowned upon hearing these words.

Even with the council’s authority, recklessly upgrading the battle to a national war was overstepping his bounds. Slaughtering two human provinces in front of the Empire would inevitably lead to this upgrade.

The chairman said, “In truth, the heavenly monarchs will have to think about their territories after seeing the City of Eimer. The city can attack more than once, after all.”

Habsburg finally understood the plan. The council had mobilized this semi-dimensional weapon in order to intimidate the Empire. “Lord Mark, I think the council should ask that great dark monarch to oversee the operation.”

The chairman said, “His Majesty Kane has ordered that you will have full authority to command the City of Eimer. If a human heavenly monarch insists on witnessing its power, they’ll be in for a big surprise.”

Habsburg couldn’t help but laugh wryly. “The Demon King thinks too highly of me.”

Wielding the City of Eimer would give him the ability to contend with a heavenly monarch. Habsburg wasn’t too worried about escaping from one, but this authority did go to show that the council wasn’t going to use him as cannon fodder just yet.

The chairman watched as Habsburg departed before donning his hood once more. He landed on the ground and walked step by step toward the Eternal Hall.