Location: Hell's Kitchen – Rooftop, 2:13 a.m.
The blood smell was thick tonight.
Copper. Iron. Old death.
It clung to the wind like a whisper from the past.
Below, in the alley, a man lay slumped against the wall—his throat torn open, eyes glassy. No blood pooled around him.
Because it had all been drained.
The sixth victim this week.
New York had a vampire problem.
And I had just drawn the Daywalker Template.
Perfect timing.
---
[System Notice: Legendary Template – Activated]
> Template: Blade – The Daywalker
Status: Partial Integration
Unlocked Skills:
– Enhanced Strength & Speed (Night Boost I)
– Vampire Senses: Tracking + Smell
– Weapon Mastery: Silver, Stakes, Edged
– Regeneration Boost (Nighttime Only)
The power settled into me like liquid fire.
Muscles tensed. Vision sharpened.
My hearing filtered layers of sound—footsteps three blocks away, a blood droplet falling from the fire escape.
I leapt silently into the alley below.
It was time to go hunting.
---
Location: Abandoned Meatpacking Warehouse – 3:06 a.m.
They thought they were safe.
Ten vamps. Low-tier feeders.
Gothic trench coats. Bloodstained smiles. Tattoos in ancient Latin.
One had a human tied up like a goat at a blood ritual.
I walked straight through the front door.
Didn't sneak. Didn't hide.
"Who the hell are you?" one hissed, fangs bared.
I pulled my hood down.
"The guy you should've never fed near."
Combat Mode: ON.
---
I moved like Wick.
Fought like Blade.
The katana sliced through the first vamp's neck in one fluid motion—silver edge humming.
Two more charged.
I flipped a stake from my belt, drove it into the chest of one, pivoted, and caught the second with a side-kick laced with lightning from my Thor fragment.
Electricity surged through his body.
He burst into flame.
I didn't stop.
---
By the time I finished, the warehouse was a bonfire of ash and silver.
I untied the human hostage—shivering, terrified.
"Tell no one," I said. "Not SHIELD. Not cops. No one."
She nodded, eyes wide.
And I vanished into the night.
---
[System Update – Vampire Sub-Faction Detected]
> Tag: House of Nacht
Status: Ancient Bloodline Remnant
Goal: Unknown
Threat: Moderate (Increasing)
System Alert: "House of Nacht" has marked you
Figures.
Kill one nest, wake the hive.
---
Later – Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum
Doctor Stephen Strange stood in the shadows of the hallway, cloak draped around him like a living curtain.
"You're radiating dimensional distortion," he said without turning. "Did you absorb a time fragment recently?"
I smirked. "Something like that."
He finally looked at me.
And his eyes narrowed.
"There's more," he said.
"Shadowborn," I answered. "And now vampires. The system is pulling cosmic threads."
Strange frowned. "That's not just some gift or tech. It's sentient."
I paused.
"What?"
He stepped closer.
"The arcane signature around you isn't just magical—it's alive. It reacts to stress, danger, and multiversal proximity. It's learning. Adapting."
I'd suspected it.
But hearing it confirmed by Earth's Sorcerer Supreme?
It made my skin crawl.
---
[System Notice: Direct Communication Protocol Engaged]
A box flickered on my HUD.
Then came a sound.
A voice.
Calm. Neutral. Like a computer crossed with a divine librarian.
[System Message:]
> "Host Victor Wick has exceeded baseline evolution parameters. Initiating Sync Tier Upgrade."
"Unlocking Worldbreaking Module: Soulbound Integration."
"You are now eligible to fuse core traits across bloodlines and templates."
"What does that mean?" I muttered aloud.
Strange looked at me. "What did it say?"
I didn't answer.
Instead, I opened the system menu and stared at the flashing option.
[Fuse: Bloodline + Template = NEW TRAIT?]
I selected Blade's regeneration and the Uzumaki bloodline's vitality.
[FUSION SUCCESSFUL]
> New Trait: "Life-Thread Resilience"
– Hybrid regenerative healing
– Boosted energy recovery
– Prolonged combat endurance
– Minor chakra flow adaptation
I blinked.
I could feel my cells responding faster.
Muscles humming with bioelectric feedback. Chakra intertwining with vampiric endurance.
It was... addictive.
---
Location: Hell's Kitchen – Midnight
The second nest was smarter.
Hidden beneath an abandoned subway tunnel.
Ward sigils lined the walls. Blood runes pulsed like warning lights. And at the center stood him.
Tall.
Wearing all black.
Eyes glowing silver.
No fangs. No theatrics.
Just pressure.
Like gravity folding around him.
[Scan: Initiated]
> Name: Lord Noctis – Commander of the House of Nacht
Age: Unknown
Power Class: Alpha Vampire
Aura: Abyssal Blood Pressure
Trait: Umbral Regeneration + Bloodblade Manifestation
"You've been killing my children," he said softly.
"You've been feeding on mine."
He grinned.
"You smell like everything. Like man. Like magic. Like god. And something… alien."
He flexed his fingers.
"Delicious."
---
The fight was not like the others.
He moved through shadows—phasing like the Shadowborn, striking like a storm.
His bloodblade clashed with mine—steel against red lightning.
My Uzumaki stamina kept me upright.
Blade's instincts guided my reflexes.
Strange's sigils wrapped my strikes in arcane force.
And yet… he still pressed me back.
Until I remembered something:
The Wick template.
The man who never stops.
I threw a smoke capsule, kicked off the wall, drew silver-threaded kunai, and detonated the Aard Sign mid-air.
He flinched.
That was enough.
I tackled him into the light of a burning ward.
He screamed.
The flames caught.
And I drove my silver katana through his heart.
---
He died with a whisper.
"More are coming."
---
[System Notice: Quest Complete – "Blood in the Shadows"]
> Reward: Trait – "Noctis' Shadowstep"
Description: Phase-Shift Short Teleportation (3 sec cooldown)
Bonus: House of Nacht leadership eliminated – Status: Fragmented
I collapsed against the wall, panting.
Burned.
Bruised.
Victorious.
---
Back at the Sanctum
Strange watched me silently as I downed potion after potion.
"Whatever you're doing," he said at last, "it's tearing you apart."
"I don't have a choice."
"You do," he countered. "You can stop."
I met his gaze.
"There's something worse than vampires. Worse than gods. Something that's waking up."
He didn't ask.
He already knew.
---
[System Notice: New Event Unlocked – "The Eternals Stir"]
> Status: Celestial Tectonic Activity Detected
World Threat Class: Tier S
Countdown to Emergence: 94 Days
---