211. It's Over
I went out and called over a major. "Could you please do me a favor—retrieve all the documents related to the vampires under surveillance near Vancouver."
There's no such thing as a free lunch in this world—you can't expect to eat without doing the work.
"Yes, sir!" The major stood at attention, his hands firmly clasped in a salute.
Anyone with eyes could see that changes were coming to Vancouver, and this young General Kane was clearly preparing to replace General Grant.
He asked in a hushed voice, "General Kane, do you need me to notify your staff to return for debriefing?"
"No need." I shook my head.
All of Blood Moon's vampire lords had been elusive since the Ascendant King was ambushed, but those like the Toad Lord of Black Stone Spring—who were hiding in their lairs and under surveillance—were essentially sitting ducks.
Since I'm going to be idle anyway, I might as well make what profit I can.
… …
Stone Gate Cliff, Vancouver.
Johan Bergstrom wore a fierce wolf cloak with full moon patterns embroidered at the collar—someone who should have been an imposing deputy commander.
At this moment, accompanied by numerous officers, he stared blankly at the cliff ahead, looking like a fool.
The great vampire here excelled at tunneling, having hollowed out the entire mountainside and occupied this place for centuries. No one had found an effective way to deal with it.
Boom!
The young man in dark robes hovered in midair and shattered the cliff face with a single punch.
A blinding cyan light flashed, cutting open the mountain behind and revealing a maze of tunnels.
He closed his eyes and briefly sensed something, then his body exploded into motion, delivering a whip kick to another section of the mountain.
Under that terrifying force, a vampire about a hundred feet long frantically burrowed out, its body covered in scales. It had barely shown its head when a fierce fist wind pulverized its skull!
[Slain a Crystal Realm Armadillo Vampire, total lifespan 4,300 years, remaining lifespan 760 years, absorption complete]
I clutched the vampire's corpse, returned to the crowd, then took out a document and began flipping through it.
After a moment, I asked with slight confusion: "That's all?"
The officers remained silent, while Johan Bergstrom responded numbly: "That's all."
In just over ten days, General Kane had visited eight locations. Apart from those that fled in advance, all five remaining great vampires had been vanquished... not one lasted beyond the second strike.
This was Vancouver! The vicinity vampires loved to inhabit!
Now there truly wasn't a single one left.
"What about the Wave Realm ones?"
I glanced sideways: "Help me gather that information and send it back to H.A.R.M. General's Mansion."
Five Crystal Realm vampires had yielded just over 2,000 years of lifespan between them. Each one seemed more clumsy than the last—one had even failed to break through to the harmonizing stage despite having only sixty-some years left, which was far inferior compared to the Ascendant King.
Hearing this, Johan Bergstrom couldn't help wiping away his sweat: "Most of them have fled... I will investigate at once."
A general personally hunting Wave Realm vampires—perhaps Treasury was short on funds lately? He couldn't shake the feeling he was about to be laid off.
I nodded and soared back across the sky.
I stopped at a desolate place, tossed down the corpse of the armadillo, and then pulled five other vampire corpses from my silver pouch and threw them on the ground, including the Ascendant King.
Opening my mouth, a surge of blood plasma instantly condensed, transforming into vampire blood that I swallowed.
Five vampires, and they had barely yielded a single drop.
The eighty-foot-tall bull vampire was the smallest among them, yet it yielded the most abundant harvest—totaling eight drops.
I gathered the five vampire cores and swallowed them whole.
With practiced ease, I opened my system panel and activated the Cosmic Devouring Crystallization.
At the cost of just a few years of vampire lifespan, the vampire blood and cores—which would normally require years to absorb—were instantly devoured by my Infant of Love.
I settled into a cross-legged position and descended into internal vision.
As I directed my consciousness into the Infant of Love, my field of vision transformed. Once again, I existed as the Infant within the crystal core.
Feeling the abundant energy coursing through my body—now much stronger than when the Infant had first formed—I raised my fist and struck at the wall of the core!
Bang—
The crystal core vibrated.
"So hard?" I rubbed my chubby wrist. Breaking this internal core would allow breakthrough to the Fourth Realm and become a Ward of Nature.
Clearly, my current accumulation of power was still insufficient.
After pondering for a moment, I turned to look at the trembling Redeemed Spirit nearby. "Why are you just sitting there? Get up and help."
After days of intimidation, the Redeemed Spirit had obviously become much more obedient. He quickly stood up and gently touched the shell with his palms, dissolving the internal core through an alternative method.
Many hands make light work.
Soon, a crisp crack echoed from the Cosmic Devouring Core, and a fine fissure appeared on its smooth shell.
The Infant of Love lay panting, directing the Redeemed Spirit to use devotional energy to massage his arms.
This was merely an experiment. I hadn't actually considered using the system panel to force a breakthrough.
The purpose of breaking the crystal core was to increase the Infant's strength. Forcing the core to break prematurely... that would essentially be like an early delivery, wouldn't it?
... …
Admiral's courtyard, H.A.R.M. Cascadia.
Chloe sat cross-legged on a chair while Theodore Montgomery stood with his hands behind his back.
Both of them stared at a white dove on the table.
The dove was formed from celestial essence, a Will Embodied object that could fly a thousand miles without dissipating, with a small silver bell hanging around its neck.
"Aren't you going to take it?" Theodore glanced at her, recalling how arrogant she'd been when they returned to Seattle earlier.
"Ahem." Chloe coughed twice, gritted her teeth, and reached out to remove the silver bell. The white dove silently evaporated.
She channeled her energy to extract the contents from the bell.
There were only two items: a gilt-edged envelope clearly from the Abbey and, beside it, a piece of pristine crystal about two fingers wide.
"One item each," Chloe announced, snatching the envelope with lightning speed.
Despite having prepared for the worst when slaying the Ascendant King, now that the moment of truth had arrived, her breathing quickened.
In contrast, Theodore Montgomery remained much calmer.
Once he had completely lost control of the situation, he could only accept the outcome, whatever it might be.
Quickly, Chloe retrieved the letter. It contained just one sentence.
"Vampires Valley, Blood Transformation Vampire Emperor."
Those few words instantly froze Chloe in place. Despite having mentally prepared herself, when the answer finally appeared before her, just that single title was enough to leave her breathless.
Vampire Emperor was what vampires called their Fifth Realm tyrants. To think that lowly Cascadia had managed to offend such a powerful Vampire Emperor—comparable to a Vessel of Redeemer—must have been quite a shock to the Martial Abbey.
A flicker of dejection passed through Theodore Montgomery's eyes, but he remained silent, simply picking up the piece of crystal.
He channeled his essence into it.
Chloe asked nervously, "Is this from Mount Olympus or Red Party?"
After a moment of inspection, Theodore Montgomery said softly, "Mount Olympus."
As his essence filled the crystal, a somewhat cold voice emanated from within.
"It's busy. I'm in the middle of beating it up."
The voice cut off abruptly, as if the speaker couldn't be bothered to waste another word.
Theodore and Chloe exchanged glances, both falling into silence.
After a long while, Chloe suddenly leapt up and collapsed onto the table, clutching her stomach with laughter. "It's over! It's finally fucking over!"
Theodore Montgomery watched her helplessly as she jumped off the table and bounced toward the door, calling back, "Alright, I've got things to do!"
Things to do? Like being all lovey-dovey with Samir Jabal?
The voice's characteristics were so distinctive that Theodore identified the speaker without a moment's hesitation.
One of the twelve disciples of Mount Olympus, who had attained Fifth Realm through the Path of Nature.
The legendary Silence of the Sword, Kardas Vilkas.
Even within the Martial Orders, he was a figure who made other disciples keep their distance.
Even at his peak, the Great Paladin would have struggled to gain any advantage against him.
"..."
Theodore Montgomery sat back down, clutching the crystal tightly in his hand.
Had their fortunes finally turned?
None of the arrangements he had made over the years had come to fruition. The devil had sent an Ascendant King, but God had brought Aisha Patani and John Kane to Cascadia. Hell provided the Ascendant King with an impressive background, yet—as if by divine intervention—Silence of the Sword was sent to hunt its father.
A Vampire Emperor under Mount Olympus's surveillance would hardly risk venturing into a place like Cascadia.
As long as they didn't venture out, it seemed this matter was truly over.
At this thought, Theodore Montgomery rubbed his brow and carefully put away the crystal, his movements gentle and cautious, as if what he held was not a crystal, but his beloved Cascadia.