The manor house burned.
Dante stood in the courtyard, watching as flames consume the eastern wing where Duke Morven's private chambers had been. Guards lay dead around him. Twelve of them. Their blood painted the cobblestones black.He flexed his hand. Blood dripped from his fingers, and it was already drying it was The Duke's blood. The man had tried to run when Dante appeared in his bedroom he tried to scream for help but Failed at both.
"Four hundred and seventy three," Dante said to no one.
The number sat in his mind like a stone. There was no satisfaction in saying it, no relief. Just the cold acknowledgment that one more name had been crossed off a very long list.Duke Morven had begged in those final moments. Said it wasn't personal. Said he was just following orders. Said he had a family too.Dante had stopped listening after the first excuse.
The fire roared higher,somewhere inside, servants were probably trying to save furniture, paintings, things they thought mattered. Let them. Dante only cared that the Duke's body would burn beyond recognition. The nobility would call it an accident. A tragic fire. Another wealthy fool who kept too many candles near his curtains.They wouldn't know the truth until it was far too late.
A notification appeared in his vision, visible only to him. Red text floating in the darkness like blood in water.
[BLOOD DEBT SYSTEM]
KILL CONFIRMED: Duke Alaric Morven Role: Council Voter, Estate Arsonist
Crime: Set fire to Asheron Estate, voted for family execution
Threat Eliminated:B Rank
[BLOOD DEBT PROGRESS: 473/1,000]
Remaining Targets: 527
Next Evolution Threshold: 600 Kills (Elder Class)
Current Progress to Evolution: 127 kills remaining
POWER ABSORPTION AVAILABLE:Fire Resistance (Minor) [ACQUIRED FROM TARGET]
Accept? [YES] / [NO]
Dante selected yes without thinking about it. A warm sensation spread through his chest for half a second, then faded. Fire resistance. Minor. It would help against the next fire user on his list, though he doubted it would matter much. Most of his targets died before they could use their powers effectively.
[SCANNING FOR PRIORITY TARGETS…]
[15 HIGH-PRIORITY TARGETS DETECTED]
Location: The King's Academy
Distance : 47 kilometers northeast
Estimated Travel Time: 2 hours
DISPLAY TARGET LIST? [YES] / [NO]
Dante dismissed the screen with a thought. He'd review the details later. Right now, he needed to leave before the kingdom's investigators arrived. They were getting faster at responding to noble deaths. Another decade and they might actually catch him mid kill.
"Clean work."
The voice came from the shadows near the gate. Dante didn't turn. He'd sensed her approach three minutes ago. Kira had a habit of walking loudly on purpose, as if announcing herself would make him more comfortable. But It didn't.She stepped into the firelight.Her dark hair, darker clothes, a bow slung across her back. Kira Shadowveil had been following him for eighty years now. Sometimes he forgot why she'd stayed. Most days he didn't care enough to ask.
"Guards will be here soon," she said, glancing at the bodies. "We should move."
"I know." Dante responded
"The Kings Academy? Fifteen targets." Dante finally looked at her. "Seven days."
Kira's expression didn't change, but he saw the slight tension in her jaw. She thought seven days was too aggressive. She was probably right. The King's Academy was one of the most secure locations in the kingdom. Dozens of high class vampire professors. Hundreds of Knight class students. Enhanced wards, surveillance constructs, emergency response teams was there.But Dante had killed in worse conditions.
"They'll notice the pattern," Kira said.
He responded "Well Let them notice."
"And when they mobilize against you?"
"Then I kill faster." He said.
She sighed. After eight decades, she should have been used to his answers. Apparently, she wasn't.Dante walked past her toward the tree line. The forest would hide them until they reached the main road. From there, two hours northeast to the Academy. Maybe less if he pushed his speed. The sooner he arrived, the sooner he could begin.
He made it three steps before the memory hit.It came without warning, sharp and unwanted. The Duke's last words echoed in his head, I have children too.And suddenly Dante wasn't in the courtyard anymore.
He was in a garden, sunlight, white roses. The sound of children laughing.
"Papa, watch me"
A little girl with black hair and his eyes, spinning in a white dress. Her sister, younger, trying to copy her movements and stumbling into the flowers. Both of them giggling.
His wife sitting on a bench nearby, smiling at him with that look that said he was supposed to be paying attention.
"Seraphina, don't spin so fast. You'll make yourself sick." Dante said
"But Papa, I'm practicing to be a dancer"
"Then I'll build you a stage. The biggest stage in the kingdom." Dante responded with a smile on his face .
"Promise?"
"I promise, my little star."
The memory shattered.Dante's jaw clenched. His fists tightened hard enough that his nails cut into his palms. Blood welled up, warm and immediate, but he barely felt it.
He forced the image down. Crushed it. Buried it so deep it couldn't resurface. There was no room for that. No space for warmth or laughter or promises he'd never been able to keep. But There was only the list, the names, The blood debt that needed paying.
When he opened his eyes again, Kira was watching him. She saw too much sometimes. Understood things he wished she wouldn't.
"Dante" she called out
"We're leaving," he said, his voice flat.
He walked into the forest without waiting for her response. She followed after a moment, silent now. And it was good.He didn't want to talk,Didn't want to explain and she knew better than to ask.
The trees swallowed them both, and the burning manor faded behind them like a bad memory.They moved through the forest in silence for the first hour. Dante's mind was already on the Academy. Fifteen targets. He'd reviewed their dossiers weeks ago. Memorized their schedules, their routines, their weaknesses. The system tracked them automatically, but Dante preferred to know his prey the old fashioned way.
Marquis Valen Drakos would be first. Combat instructor in the East Wing. B-Rank vampire with enhanced strength affinity. He'd voted for the execution in the Council chamber, then bought up Asheron family lands at auction for half their value. Profited from murder and theft. Dante had waited a hundred years for this man.
Seven days felt too long.
"You're planning something reckless," Kira said from beside him.
"I'm planning efficiently." He said
"There's a difference between efficient and suicidal." Kira starred at him as she walked.
"If I die, the debt goes unpaid."
"Exactly my point."
Dante glanced at her. "Then trust me not to die."
"I've been trusting you for eighty years. You keep making it harder." She replied.
He almost smiled and then said "Then stop trusting me."
"Can't. You'd get yourself killed within a week." Kira said
This time he did smile, though it didn't reach his eyes. Nothing reached his eyes anymore. They'd been cold for a century.They reached the main road as midnight turned to early morning. The King's Academy sat northeast, built into the mountains where the old kings used to summer. A fortress disguised as a school. Gothic architecture, blood red banners, walls thick enough to withstand siege weapons.
Dante had no interest in sieges. He'd prefer walking through the front door.
"We'll need false identities," Kira said, reading his thoughts. "You can't just kill your way through security."
"Why not?" Dante replied her boldly
"Because you'll alert all fifteen targets, and they'll scatter." Fair point it was, Dante pulled up the system interface again.
[THE KING'S ACADEMY - TARGET ROSTER]
PRIORITY TARGETS: 15
NEXT TARGET
Name: Marquis Valen DrakosRank: B-Rank
Affinity: Enhanced Strength
Position: Combat Instructor, East Wing
Crime: Council voter, land seizure, profit from execution
Threat Level: MODERATE
Location: East Wing Quarters, Room 347Optimal Elimination Window: 2:00 AM - 4:00 AM (alone in quarters)
HIGHEST THREAT:Name: Professor Aldous KainRank: A-Rank
Affinity: Illusion Crafting (Master-Level)
Position: Headmaster of Studies
Crime: Fabricated false evidence against Asheron family
Threat Level: EXTREME
Location: Academy Central Tower, Floor 7
Dante studied the Headmaster's entry. A Rank, it was Same level as him. Illusion affinity. That would be irritating. Most illusions were useless against blood sense, but a master level user could bend perception itself. Kain would be a problem.
Which meant Kain would die last, after the other fourteen were already gone.
"I'll go in as a visiting noble," Dante said. "Inspector from a distant kingdom. You'll infiltrate as assistant"
"And when they check your credentials?" Kira responded
"The system can forge documents." Dante responds to her.
"And when they verify those documents?"
"Then I'll already have killed half of them."
Kira rubbed her temples. "This plan has more holes than a training dummy."
"Then we'll improvise."Dante said
"Your improvisations usually end with buildings on fire." She replied him again
"Only sometimes." He said
They climbed a hill, and the Academy came into view. Massive ancient beautiful in a cold, militaristic way. Torch lit windows dotted the towers like eyes watching the forest. Dante could feel the wards from here, humming with defensive magic. Security constructs patrolled the walls. Students moved between buildings, unaware that death was coming.
Fifteen people inside those walls had destroyed his family.Soon they'd understand what that felt like.
"Some of them are innocent," Kira said quietly, following his gaze. "Students. Staff. People who don't know anything about what happened."
"Fifteen aren't innocent," Dante replied. "That's fourteen more than I need to care about."
His eyes flashed red as the system activated hunt mode.
[HUNT MODE: INITIATED][TARGET LOCK: ACTIVE][ESTIMATED COMPLETION: 7 DAYS]
Dante stepped forward, his form blending into the shadows. Kira followed without another word. She'd learned long ago that once he locked onto targets, nothing would stop him. Not guards, not wards, not moral arguments about collateral damage.
The Academy sat peaceful in the predawn darkness. Students slept. Professors prepared lessons. Life continued as normal.
But tonight, that peace would end.
Prince Dante Asheron, dead for a hundred years, had come to collect what was owed.
And the debt would be paid in full