This Third Reincarnation Should Not Be Wasted

Chapter 82: Graduation

Seira had being enjoying the cold air along with Vlad"s warm embrace but she noticed how he seemed to be troubled by something and as the minutes pa.s.sed he become uncomfortable and then slowly started to relax as if he had found the solution to a problem that had accompanied him for a long time.

After a moment he seemed more confident and she couldn"t help but feel curious and wondered what had happened in this short while, she was looking at him waiting for the moment when she felt sure that his thoughts were again with her and asked. "Are you alright?" Her voice showed concern and curiosity and he responded with a smile and then approached slowly and kissed her forehead.

"I think I have never been better". His voice seemed calmer than usual and kinder, she did not understand what had happened but felt that she liked the change and a gentle smile formed on her lips as she cuddled deeper into his arms.

For the first time in a long while Vlad was no longer rushing, he started taking time to enjoy the moment as Seira usually did, so they spent more time together in the following days. Still he dedicated time to his meditation while increasing his understanding of the blood field and the composition on his own body, he seemed to be improving at a faster rate than before.

In both situations Sombra seemed to memorize the gains he obtained with each meditation and help him to reach the same level at the beginning of next meditation as if it had become second nature for him. Raizel had noticed the change and smiled while remembering his early days when he first had understood himself, he had been not much older than his disciple. He had been puzzled as he could feel that Vlad had carried an unkown weight with him and wondered what kind of problem someone so young could have, but that seemed gone as the exercise he had prepared for him produced good results almost the very next day and he would be able to continue his growth on his own from this point onwards,

Vlad was currently seating on the training room remembering what he had visualized a few days ago and smirked, he understood now that the "creature" he visualized had a meaning before he understood himself but now it was irrelevant. Just like in sir Raizel"s case, the him now would not hesitate to use his powers at the cost of his life span but before he came to terms with his situation he had aspired for a rebirth like the Phoenix symbolising his reluctance to die. After he came to terms with the nature of his powers, the Phoenix had turned into a reminder of his conviction and determination, the reason he mentioned his own experience to Vlad was to help him realize that a person could change and whatever defined a person was never permanent.

Vlad smiled as his blood field turned into a blood whirlpool without any effort and then it turned into a pair of ravens each with a wing span of two meters and they flew while spinning together around and imaginary axis never touching each other. He did not understand entirely what this pair of ravens symbolized but he knew instinctively that they were a representation of Huginn and Muninn, which were norse for "thought" and "memory", and they were the messengers of Odin. He vaguely understood that they represented the events recorded on his memory palace that had guided his footsteps for most of his life but now, just as these pair of ravens, it was completely meaningless.

Still gaining this understanding helped him to achieve entry into the highest realm of blood field, he even surpa.s.sed Raskreia in pure understanding though her raw power was many times above his and defeating her would be near to impossible.

The two ravens impacted the wall causing great damage to it as he lost control of the blood field and it dispersed after the impact releasing an overbearing aura, he sighed in frustration as it had costed him half of his energy reserves and after the impact he only managed to recover 20% of it, he still had a long way to go before mastering the blood field. He smiled as he started using his telekinesis to repair the damage to the wall as both Raizel and Frankenstein appeared at his side.

"Sorry about that, I lost control of the blood field construct. Did I cause damage to the house?" Vlad voice was concerned as he knew how much of a maniac Frankenstein could be, but felt relieved when he shaked his head in negation. "Just a small tremor but the aura released by the impact was heavy... a few people on the surroundings might have fainted due to the pressure but not serious damage was done". His voice seemed to contain a warning but not much interest as his house was not damaged and he was already repairing the wall. "At least he is responsible and not like those children that used to destroy the school and expected to be paid for repairing it".

"Since you have already managed to create a blood field construct your training should be done in a open area, that way even if you lose control over the blood field you can recover most of the energy you used. Gaining control over the blood field construct will take time but been able to release it is already a powerful option for battle and this is the realm That I currently possess as training any further would consume my life span and there seems to be no much gain for such trade." Raizel voice was calm and expressed pride on Vlad"s achievement shocking Frankenstein as it implied that there was not much he could teach the kid.

"I understand sir Raizel, I really appreciate your help and will continue to practice... perhaps one day I would be able to master the blood field and then we both will know if there is another realm above this". Vlad voice was self mocking but also hopeful, he would one day become one of the main guardians of Lukedonia. He finished repairing the wall and felt extremely tired and made his way up towards the house wondering what would they have for dinner.

"Seira enjoys her time here so we can stay a couple of weeks as I can teleport to the desert to train and come back without much trouble. After that we should go to France and Italy as I promised". Vlad smiled thinking on how happy Seira had looked this few days.

In an underground laboratory Crombel was standing on an empty room as his whole body, except his head, was covered by a black substance and even formed into a katana that he held on his right hand. He smiled satisfied at the control he had gained over his Dark Weapon and waved his katana creating a dark energy arc that impacted the wall cutting it deeply and then eroding the surroundings.

He was examining the damage when a voice coming from the communication equipment on the wall behind him sounded with the mechanical trait of his a.s.sistant type automata. "Sir the two battle automatas manufacturing process has been completed and they should be able to work properly after two days for calibration. My expiration time is approaching so I will recommend to obtain the required raw materials as soon as possible to avoid the base becoming unoperational".

Crombel looked pensive for a moment and then said. "Understood, after the calibration is done the "recruitment" will start. Be sure to make preparations to start manufacturing as soon as the raw materials arrive". A mechanical voice responded. "Understood sir".

Chapter 83: Moments of Enlightenment

During the next two days Vlad divided his time to spend time with Seira, joining Raizel"s family for dinner and training the blood field on a far away desert. He dedicated most of his time to training the blood field not because of urgency for the unknown but because he liked the feeling of improving and, thanks to his soul weapon, every training session showed remarkable results.

On the first day he managed to get full control of his two blood field ravens as due to been on a desert without anything around besides sand, he could recover his connection with the blood field ravens before they went to far or dissipated. After every time he lost control he recovered the blood field ravens into his blood energy battery and released a blood field dome to meditate on what he had experience.

Sometimes he had moments of inspiration as the first day before he was going to end his training for the day, he remembered that old high-ranking n.o.bles would have his bodies saturated with blood energy. "Can the process be conscious? Since I have the blood energy battery I could try saturating my body with blood energy within the blood field and recover any loss of energy by storing the leaked energy back into the blood energy battery..." He stood there for a moment before sitting down again and releasing the blood field dome while forcing the blood energy as gently as he could to start flowing through his body.

The process was slightly painful but very uncomfortable as if thousands of tiny worms were drilling into every part of his body almost making him lose control over the blood field. He persisted for five minutes before pausing the process and started aiding his own healing while observing his body.

An almost maniac smile, that would make Frankenstein proud, appeared on his face as he detected that his the blood energy saturation on his body had increased slightly and soon lost himself in calculations. "It seems that if I follow the way everyone else goes about this... my body would be saturated with blood energy within a thousand years. But if I add this exercise to my daily routine... the process could be completed within a hundred years?"

His smile suddenly turned gentle as his thoughts continued on a different path. "I need to start working on a blood energy battery for Seira... I wonder if I could use one of those blood stones as crafting material for that..."

The second day was specially rewarding, first he noticed that the blood energy limit that his body could contain grew slightly and he related this occurrence with the increase of blood energy saturation excercise. Second, due to the amazing memory of Sombra regarding blood energy control he did not lose his connection with the pair of blood field ravens at all within the training session.

So he was allowed to experiment and realized that his blood field energy ravens had a strange limitation that required both to be circling each other along an imaginary axis making his attacks follow straight and curved paths but making a quick change of trajectory impossible. He was slightly frustrated by this for a moment before realizing how greedy he was behaving and accepted the nature of his blood field constructs and then it happened.

One of those moments of enlightenments that have happened a lot on the past few weeks. "spinning along an imaginary axis... but do they need to move forward? Or could they just spin around a single point?" He remained frozen for a while as he directed all his concentration while pointing Sombra to an imaginary point a hundred meters in front of him.

The two blood field ravens made their way fast to that point while spinning as if dancing with each other, the moment the reached the point they trembled and he lost control of them for a fraction of a second but before they could start dissipating he focused all his might into Sombra and connected with both again with both of them and forced them to circle around the imaginary point following each other while always maintaining an equal distance from each other and quickly stabilizing.

He could feel how Sombra seemed to be calibrating with the new pattern as the pressure he felt started reducing, he was suddenly conscious of being covered in sweat due to the previous effort but he smiled and continued with the most difficult part of his experiment.

The blood field ravens started increasing their speed as they pursued each other without gaining any advantage in shortening the distance among them, after a few seconds the blood field ravens were no longer visible due to their speed and to him they seemed to have transformed into a blood ring while the s.p.a.ce contained inside started to tremble.

Vlad maintained the situation for a while allowing Sombra to calibrate and memorize the current situation before increasing the speed again causing the s.p.a.ce contained within the blood ring to crack and immediately transform into a black hole with a diameter of 5 meters causing the sand to fly at hight speed towards the black hole disappearing from this world. In only a couple of seconds the giant black hole had created a hole 40 meters dept and Vlad could feel how the air seemed to force him towards the black hole as his body started to slowly being pulled forward while his feet created paths on the sand.

He suddenly felt an urgency to laugh like a maniac but ended only smiling from ear to ear, he willed Sombra to reduce the rotating speed of the blood field ravens and the black hole disappeared and soon the two blood field ravens were visible again but he noticed that their size had been reduced about 20% from what they originally were. He dissipated the blood energy constructs and stored the blood energy before it dissipated, he had become extremely efficient at this as he found that barely any loss was produced during the process.

He suddenly felt extremely tired and sat down cross-legged on the sand to mediate as a small blood field dome covered his body, after half an hour he felt he had recovered enought and teleported to Frankenstein"s house. He found Seira on the balcony gazing at the stars as night had already covered the land and he realized he had missed dinner, he walked towards her and embraced her from behind while joining her.

"I missed you at dinner". Her gentle voice carried disappointment and he chuckled while tightening his arms around her. "I was caught with my training that I didn"t realize how late it was... but it was worthy. Your husband has become very strong now". His voice was so confident that made her curious. "But I think I could use a little rest... how about I stay with you for a couple of days here before we start our travel?" His voice had turned gentle causing Seira to smile and said. "I take that as a promise".

Chapter 84: Recruitment Session

The next morning Vlad joined the family breakfast enjoying the peaceful atmosphere that even the twins seemed to respect by being quiet but not letting go of M-21"s arms making Vlad wonder if he had managed to eat anything during these days, his question was answered as the twins took turns to feed him while he accepted the food with a resigned expression under the envious expressions of Tao and Takeo and Vlad could not help but chuckle breaking the silence and smiled embarra.s.sed with a hand behind his head when everyone turned to look at him.

"Sorry, I"m just excited at the thought of joining you guys for a couple of days at the university". M21 looked resentfully at him as if saying that everything was his fault making him chuckle again. Vlad looked at the twins and asked. "Urne, Mirai are you both joining cla.s.s? Or are you part of the security team?" He was curious as their identical outfits did not match for either purpose, they were wearing light brown martial arts training outfits.

The green haired girl said. "Neither, we are on an important mission. Isn"t Mirai?" She said proudly while the blue haired girl answered. "That"s right Urne, our mission is to keep those students away from our toy. You would not believe how many human girls are paying attention towards our little half-wolf". Vlad chuckled again thinking that he had missed so many fun moments during his days of training, he evaded the aggrieved look of M-21 and continued with his breakfast.

An hour later he sighed nostalgically as college students were not required to wear uniforms and introducing new students to the cla.s.s was not required, so he simply joined Seira enjoying the peaceful atmosphere while chuckling at the antics of Shinwoo and the other kids. He was happy that they still enjoyed ramen at lunch, as tradition dictated, and joined Rai and Seira waiting for his ration to grow under Shinwoo"s annoyed look.

After cla.s.s the kids went to play video games while M-21 and the twins kept watch a few dozen meters away, Vlad took Seria for a walk on the park which they have not done for a while. They both enjoyed calm moments like this while simply accompanying each other in silence.

Shinwoo and the kids were making their way towards Frankenstein"s house to join Rai for a late gaming session as he had not joined this time, they walked calmly while joking among themselves when a pair of muscular men covered on white cloaks blocked their way. "Hey uncles you are scaring us... can you let us pa.s.s?" The red haired kid said with his hand behind his head and a smile on his face but the only response he got was a sudden feeling of pressure that made them faint and fell to the ground.

M-21 made his way at high speed sending one of the two men flying with a kick while the other one caught him by the neck with incredible reaction speed. The man that was sent flying was on his feet on an instant but his cloak no longer covered his face and M-21 could see the soulless eyes and the expressionless face of the man. Understanding the danger he immediately transformed and released his werewolf aura freeing himself while Urne and Mirai appeared on each side of him while guarding the unconscious kid behind them.

M-21 touched his ear while keeping his guard. "Tao we are under attack by two..." His speech was interrupted as one of the men attacked him managing to break the ear piece with the impact and forcing M-21 back while Urne a Mirai were flanking the still cloaked man, they had already released their aura and transformed as they attacked from different directions at the same time. They were surprised when the man did not evade and let both of them pierce him with their claws making him lose an arm while he caught Urne"s hand, that had pierced his chest, with his remaining arm releasing a high voltage attack paralyzing her and burning her until she lose consciousness due to the damage, Mirai panicked as she found that Urne"s wounds were not recovering at the usual speed.

"d.a.m.n you!" Mirai cursed and released another attack that was evaded this time but she felt sweat on her spine as she saw that the man had already regenerated his arm and all the wounds had recovered but at that very moment the other man crashed into him with many bleeding wounds that were regenerating at incredible speed.

"Mirai, escape now... they will need your help for tracking them later. They are trying to capture not to kill I will hold them for a moment." M-21"s voice was firm and made Mirai tremble in anger but she nodded and escaped while M-21 attacked with a myriad of claw shadows holding both men for a couple of minutes before he was electrocuted in the same way as Urne and everything became darkness.

The two men looked around and finding no trace of the blue haired woman they took M-21, Urne, the red haired kid and the kid with gla.s.ses on their shoulders and disappeared at high speed. A few minutes later Tao and Takeo arrived along with Mirai finding the two unconscious girls while a distressed Mirai was already looking for traces to follow after the kidnapers.

Soon after Vlad and Seira arrived and Mirai hold on to his arm in desperation. "They have Urne and M-21... we have to follow them!" Her voice was distressed and she was not even trying to hide her fear, Vlad nodded and said. "Seira, Mirai and I would follow. You let Sir Raizel and the others know and take care of the girls". He did not wait for their acknowledgement and took off with both women while Tao was already trying to reach Frankenstein with his phone.

A few minutes later Crombel received notice that the two battle automatas had returned with four specimens but frowned when the report said that two of them were werewolves, he remained frozen for a moment and then ran towards the laboratory to find M-21 unconscious next to a green haired woman that he recognized from the files he had read before betraying the Union.

He stood there frozen in disbelief as he looked with empty eyes at the metallic roof while muttering. "Not only Lukedonia but the n.o.blesse as well..." He reacted and was about to escape and order the retrieval of the important research data when the whole facility trembled and the main door was destroyed by a blue haired female werewolf accompanied by two of Lukedonia"s family leaders, one of them being the one Crombel would have liked to avoid at all cost. Crombel sighed in frustration and made his way towards the main entrance with his three battle automatas while he cursed these mindless tools and reminisced of the days when Yuri was his trusted right hand.

Chapter 85: I Have Come Back... Brothers

Vlad looked at the underground facility wondering who was responsible for the kidnapping, if it was the Union then this most likely be a trap to test a new weapon against the n.o.blesse, but were they really ready to fight Lukedonia? Vlad shook his head and muttered. "It is most likely a third party, but who?"

They made their way following Mirai"s lead as she traced her sister"s essent, and they soon met with Crombel and three muscular men. Mirai muttered to Vlad and Seira. "It was those two who took Urne and M-21 they are strong and use high voltage attacks that restrain werewolf regeneration... and their own regeneration is even higher than mine". The fury contained in her voice was suppressed by the worry she felt for her sister. Vlad felt relief as he found out that it was Crombel who had captured the kids probably by the mistake, he realized that the three muscular men were no longer sentient... they felt soulless and lacked even basic instincts.

Crombel was still unable to believe what was happening to him and he started speaking. "This must be an unfortunate mistake, my..." But his words were stopped as a translucent black dome covered all 7 of them and Vlad voice seemed to echo in his mind. "Gentlemen there is not need for you to remain standing". As soon as his words ended the terrified Crombel found that he was kneeling on the ground unaware of how that had happened and noticed that the three battle automatas were on the same position, he frowned trying to force his body to respond.

"Mirai, Seira you two should go on and find our companions... you can destroy anything that hinders your way. I will deal with these people". His voice was confident due to his new-found power, Mirai nodded while Seira just muttered "be careful" before disappearing along with Mirai.

Crombel was finally able to free himself by releasing his Dark Weapon, his body was covered with a dark substance forming a body suit only leaving his head exposed. His aura wan near the Lord level and smirked as he regained his confidence thinking of killing the uninvited guests and escape as soon as possible. The three battle automatas seemed to grow in size as their muscles bulged into humanoid headless things and stood with difficulty.

Crombel"s heart was bleeding as the automatas would die after a couple of hours due to the excess of energy they were forced to release to nullify the blood field influence on them. "How is it that this demon can use the blood field?" Crombel thought unwillingly as Vlad"s next words froze him in disbelief.

"Oh, is that a second hand copy of Frankenstein"s Dark Spear? It looks the same but it feels like an empty sh.e.l.l compared with the original, such a shame... if you had a better copy of the Dark Spear you might have entertained me a bit longer". Vlad shook his head in disappointment as Sombra appeared on his right hand and pointed the blade towards the three battle automatas that advanced at high speed towards him.

"F-Frankenstein"s Dark Spear?" Crombel was dumbfounded as he witnessed a dark blood whirlpool growing out from the young n.o.ble"s blade grinding the three battle automatas into pieces in an instant. Crombel felt sweat appearing on his back as he realized that the power of the youth in front of him was greater than he had thought, the worst part was that the n.o.blesse could arrive any moment now. "d.a.m.n it! Just when I finally found a clue to the ident.i.ty of my mentor and I"m forced into a complete disadvantage". Crombel"s thoughts were confused due to the sudden change of plans and the notion of finally finding a clue to the very origin of his power.

Vlad watched with curiosity as the body parts regrouped and rea.s.sembled together, soon the three bodies seemed to have recovered completely. "Fascinating, even if they are soulless and mindless puppets their regeneration is indeed worthy of Mirai"s praise and I can see their value as cannon fodder. But then again... it is useless against true power." Another dark blood whirlpool turned the three battle automatas into pieces again, but this time a small black hole appeared over the already regrouping body pieces and devoured all traces of the battle automatas under Crombel"s horrified eyes.

"H-How is it possible?" Crombel was terrified now as he understood well the capabilities of his Dark Weapon and there was no way to escape the black hole that the demoniac youth had created as if on a whim. "Well this is really disappointing but as you seem with no intention of fighting back I guess I will just end this and go look for my wife and my companions". Vlad"s voice was cold and bored, he had expected more from Crombel and was truly disappointed but it was also a facade as he had learned, from his mock battles with the Lord, how disturbing than sort of voice could be when coming from someone stronger and how that person seemed to turn into giant while using this trick.

Vlad raised his sword and pointed it at the still stupefied Crombel releasing another black whirlpool from his blade but this time it turned into a pair of blood ravens that circled each other as they charged towards the stupefied Crombel, the aura emitted by the blood ravens was so terrifying that Crombel finally snapped out of his thoughts and willed his Dark Weapon to take the form of a blade releasing a highly concentrated dark energy arc in direction of the incoming blood ravens.

The blood ravens destroyed the dark energy arc without even slowing their charge and Crombel was forced to protect himself with the blade he had just created and this time even his face was covered with the Dark Weapon his eyes shining red as if expressing his madness and his will to survive. The resulting explosion made the whole facility tremble and even the people on the surface thought that a small earthquake had occurred. For Raizel, Frankenstein and Edian that were on their way, the aura released by the blood field and the explosion served as a beacon shinning in the darkness, and they increased their speed rushing towards the underground facility.

The dust settled after a moment and Vlad"s voice carried surprise. "Well, that was unexpected. You are little more resistant than expected". His voice was still cold and bored as he started walking slowly towards Crombel who was missing his right arm and bleeding from his mouth, nose, eyes and ears. Unbelief was written on his face as he forced himself to stand again and willed his body to start regenerating without being able to stop his body from trembling.

"There is no need to look so concerned, those wounds WILL NOT HEAL". Vlad"s voiced sounded like a curse to Crombel and the last three words seemed to pierce his soul. To Crombel"s absolute despair he felt how his wounds healing rate was reduced to a minimum and his arm stopped regenerating completely. "N-no, this is not p-possible. H-How?" Crombel was trembling in fear and anger.

"Oh right, in your human movies and stories the enemy would stop to explain what is happening and how is it that his attack works, isn"t it? Sorry, but I have no interest in explaining my abilities to a madman like you". Before Vlad"s cold voice ended his speech, he had already extended his left hand and used his telekinesis powered by the blood field to fix him in place as several dark chains materialized piercing Crombel"s body while binding him.

Crombel tried to resist and willed his Dark Weapon to destroy the chains making Vlad frown for the unexpected resistance, but soon he smiled again and stabbed Sombra into Crombel"s chest while connecting the dark chains to different parts of the Soul Weapon. "N-no! T-this... no!" Crombel mumbled as he felt his eyes closing and his telepathic connection with his Dark Weapon started to blur, soon he was unconscious and floated next to Vlad as he started making his way towards Seira and Mirai.

Crombel last thoughts before losing consciousness was that he had not even had the chance to study the blood stone that he had spent so much effort for and even sacrificed everything for it. "It seems that I lost the bet". Then everything became darkness for the unwilling Crombel as the dark substance protecting his body vanished leaving him riddled with wounds as he floated like a puppet held by strings following as Vlad made his way towards the laboratory.

"I was expecting more from the "last boss" of the story, but then... I should be thankful that there was not much trouble". Before he managed to walk long he stopped and locked behind to find two men and a woman almost materializing in front of him. He smiled and half bowed with a hand covering his heart.

"Sir Raizel, Lady Edian, Frankenstein... Seira and Mirai should have already found our companions, shall we?" He said as he looked in the direction where he could feel Seira, then he looked at Frankenstein and said. "Frankenstein... this one used a weakened version of your Dark Spear... without consciousness, without danger of being eaten by it I guess. It might be of use to you..." Frankenstein blinked and looked at Crombel frowning under the heavy look of Raizel. "Perhaps the Union managed to recreate another Dark Spear? We will know when we search this place and things will much easier since you captured him alive " Frankenstein was sweating under Raizel gaze and cursing his luck for not taking better care of his journals when he was younger.

They soon found Seira and the others, and not far from them was a dismembered human with a severed head covered in metal, the wounds had clear claw marks. "The kids are fine but something is preventing Urne"s and M-21 from recovering" Seira said with concern.

Vlad released his blood field again and closed his eyes concentrating in Urne and M-21, soon a dark substance seemed to evaporate from their bodies and they started healing as they normally would. Vlad opened his eyes and extended his hand reconstructing their clothes, at this moment Vlad felt tired and sighed thinking how far he still was for the real Lord level. A few seconds later M-21 opened his eyes and looked around in bewilderment while muttering. "So I have come back... brothers..."

Chapter 86: Secrets of the Union (Part I)

Tao was sitting on comfortable chair facing four monitors as his fingers danced on the keyboard as he was looking for information, he was slightly uncomfortable by how dark the room was and wondered why those high-ranking members of the Union had a preference for dark rooms.

Vlad and brought him to the underground laboratory through his teleportation runes creating crazy ideas of the things he could do if he managed to master the use of runes, he smirked and forced himself to focus on the task at hand.

In a room not far from where Tao was working with the computers, M-21 stood with soulless eyes as he stood on a room with many crystal containers, this was the place were his earliest memories took place, and he remembered the faces of those unfortunate brothers of him that had not survived the cruel experiments that were carried on them. Mirai and Urne were standing at his side embracing his arms as they usually did, but they kept quiet as if accompanying him on his mourning.

The sound of fingers clashing against the keyboard was joined by a voice startling Tao. "I think that you should focus on copying the database and take the hard drives if you can. The battle here was noisy and the Union might arrive at any moment, I guess they will still consider this place their property." Vlad"s voice was calm as he was not afraid of the Union, but he would rather avoid conflict with them if possible.

Tao sighed and started looking for hidden hard drives preparing to evacuate the place, after 10 minutes the group left through teleportation carrying with them all the hard drives for further research. Tao went to one of the levels below Frankenstein"s house to continue his research, his goals were three: find M-21 and his brothers real names, identify Crombel"s purpose and finally, gather intelligence on the current power and structure of the Union.

Vlad joined Seira in her way towards the infirmary to check on the two human youths that seemed to be sleeping peacefully, they found sir Raizel and Edian waiting for Frankenstein"s report on their conditions. "Everything is fine, they seem to had been overwhelmed by spiritual pressure and there are some drugs in their systems that mainly force them to sleep. There will be no problem with them and they will be waking up in half and hour." Frankenstein"s report seemed to calm Raizel who had a slight frown as he watched the kids.

Vlad joined the conversation gathering the attention of the three people. "Tao recovered all the hard drives, and he is currently working on researching whatever information he can get on M-21, Crombel and the Union. M-21 seems a little upset but I think he will be fine." Vlad smiled when he added the last comment as he had seen that neither Mirai nor Urne seemed to have the slightest intention of leaving him alone... ever.

A group of mercenaries wearing black gear entered the underground facilities as a man with long silver hair walked calmly among them, he made his way slowly and stopped to examine the destroyed main door and muttered. "Werewolves..." He then continued his way and stopped again focusing on the destruction caused by Vlad"s battle against Crombel and the automatas, he frowned while the mercenaries waited patiently.

"This was not done by werewolves... n.o.bles? Well it actually makes sense as both werewolves and n.o.bles are the same group..." He instructed some men to collect samples from the blood stains on the floor and observed careful the marks on the walls and the different patterns created by the battle.

"A powerful n.o.ble, perhaps even a Lord level... and fought Crombel here but why?" The Third Elder was interrupted from his thoughts as another mercenary approached to report. "Sir, we have found the remains of some automata that seemed to had being dismembered by a werewolf, and we also found the last entry on a tablet not far from the corpse." The Third Elder waited for the man to regain his breath as he imagined that him mentioning the tablet was important.

"The last record was the arrival of four samples for processing, two male humans that would be processed into "a.s.sistant type automatas", we a.s.sume that the dismembered corpse was precisely that, and two werewolves to be processed into "battle type automatas"." The man completed his report and waited for further instructions while understanding dawned on the silver haired man.

"So either Crombel tried to use werewolves as raw materials for his "battle automatas" and Lukedonia responded with overwhelming force capturing or even killing Crombel... or this is just a smoke screen hoping that we face Lukedonia and end up in conflict". The Third Elder did not know what would be worst, Lukedonia capturing Crombel would expose many of their secrets, and if they started negotiations or conflict with Lukedonia, Crombel would gain time to recover his strength and become an ever greater treat to the Union.

He was interrupted again by another mercenary. "Sir, all the hard drives are missing... there is nothing here". The Third Elder sighed and ordered a complete search of the place while he went back to report to the First Elder.

Vlad was standing along with Seira in front of the Lord and the family leaders while Crombel was unconscious and restrained by rune engraved chains. They all felt upset by different reasons, the n.o.bles were disgusted by how this man used unaware people as raw material to create tools while the werewolves were enraged at the thought of this human trying to turn Urne into a mindless tool.

Raskreia was frowning and took a moment before speaking with her familiar cold and bored voice. "Gejutel, tell the Union that Crombel attacked people of Lukedonia and was captured. He will be executed for his crimes against the people of Lukedonia". She looked at Vlad as she could feel that he still had something to say.

"Lord, I think that before executing him you should probe his mind... we need to understand his purpose and the real power of the Union. One of the n.o.blesse"s knights is working to find out this from the information we gathered at the place of battle, but it might take a while." Vlad"s voice was reluctant and caused the other family leaders to murmur and talk among themselves.

After a while Dorian looked at the Lord and said. "Lord, I agree with this proposal... we have always felt that the Union has a hidden agenda and the weapons of ma.s.s destruction they used to hunt Crombel made an impression on us". Lunark and Kentas agreed with Dorian.

Seira hesitated for a moment and she also spoke. "While these weapons of ma.s.s destruction might not endanger Lukedonia... it would not be the first time that the Union used innocent people as hostages or shields. The real purpose of these weapons might be to force us back with the treat of attacking the human population with those very weapons."

The n.o.bles frowned in realization and shook their heads while Raskreia sighed and approached the unconscious Crombel placing her hand over his head.

As he walked though the door, the Third Elder eyes focused on the big chair at the very center of the room noticing the many tubes and cables that seemed to grew out of it and extended to different machines on the room. The blond man sitting on the chair opened his eyes and looked at the new arrival waiting for his report.

"First Elder, we received a message from Lukedonia. They said that Crombel had tried to use their people as raw material to manufacture weapons, he was defeated and captured, and he will be executed for his crimes against Lukedonia." His voice had a trace of concern but waited for the First Elder to speak.

"Well, this is troublesome. If it were the original Lukedonia this might be the end of the matter, but now that Lukedonia has those treacherous werewolves as citizens they might use Crombel to gain information on us before killing him and that we cannot allow. Let"s request them to deliver Crombel to us, and offer to hold a public execution". The voice of the First Elder was calm and cheerful, he was even smiling calmly as the a.n.a.lyzed the situation and gave his instructions.

"They had made it clear that there will be no negotiations on this matter as Crombel was also responsible for most of the conflicts started in Korea involving the n.o.blesse". The Third Elder was uncomfortable and seemed unwilling for what he knew was coming.

"Then we have no choice but to go to Lukedonia and kill Crombel ourselves, prepare the satellites and aim at Korea and other highly populated areas". His voice was unwilling and his eyes clouded with shame as he gave that order... he, the King of humanity, was forced to use his own people as shields just to be able to speak in equal terms to the ruler of Lukedonia.

Chapter 87: Secrets of the Union (Part II)

On an underground level below Frankenstein"s house, the sounds fingers clashing against a keyboard created a rhythmic melody but Tao was oblivious to it as he was listening to music in high volume while his full attention was on the three monitors in front of him. He had already forgotten that his original purpose was finding M-21"s real name, he could feel cold sweat on his back after finding a few hidden secrets the Union had kept final options and that even Crombel did not completely understand as he had not digested the information stolen from the 11th Elder.

Tao stopped the music and tried to reach Frankenstein by phone while he kept working on the computer. "Boss, this is Tao... I have bad news. Apparently the Union has 11 satellites floating in orbit and each of them can release a laser beam strong enough to destroy a city. Remember the sudden explosions that the Union claimed were caused by their hunt for Crombel? I think those were created by those satellites. That is not the worst part, these satellites are under the control of the First Elder, and he can activate them at will." Tao"s voice was lacking his usual cheerfulness and ended his report waiting for instructions.

"Yes Boss... I will send this information to Lukedonia right away." Tao sighed and started working on tracking the satellites following the information available, he realized that only 1 satellite seemed to be activated for the First Elder to use immediately while the others would require preparation before they could be used to attack.

Raskreia retracted her hand from Crombel"s head and frowned. "They are trying to replicate the blood stones, they had already made several attempts managing to create two defective products. Their conflict was created because Crombel craved for that power, but he was denied". Her cold voice contained anger as she knew that the sacrifices used to obtain the blood stones where innocent people with no relation to the Union at all.

A knight entered the Throne Hall and bowed to the Lord before delivering a message, Raskreia received the piece of folded paper and read the message while a frown was starting to appear on her forehead and sighed. "The Union has 11 satellites in orbit that can be used to attack at any moment... they might be useless against the defenses of Lukedonia, but their purpose seems to be as Seira said... to threaten us by using innocent humans as collateral. Raizel"s knight is trying to locate the satellites as we speak".

The silence in the room was heavy and Vlad frowned while looking at Crombel, he sighed and said. "Lord, I think that we should prepare ourselves for invasion again. The Union will not want us to know that they are trying to replicate the blood stones and might attack trying to retrieve Crombel even if it takes a great cost for themselves... and I think we should make a decision on how to deal with the Union using humans to threaten us... Lukedonia is no longer a nation of n.o.bles, and while the werewolf family accepted to ignore humanity I don"t think that they would be willing to bow their heads to such a threat". Vlad felt extremely uncomfortable while speaking his mind, and he could feel the heavy glare Raskreia was giving him.

"What would you do then?" Her bored voice was more imposing than usual but before Vlad could answer, Lunark"s voice sounded not far from him.

"Kill them without a second thought the moment they make such threat, yes many innocent humans might die... but that is humans killing humans and it had nothing to do with Lukedonia. Let them know that such a threat has no power over us, and they would not try to use it again." Her murderous voice seemed to hold against Raskreia"s cold voice and the Throne Hall was filled with rumors.

Vlad sighed as he said. "I don"t like it... but I agree that is the most straight forward and logical action that we can make. If we allow them to use such a threat to hold us down we are abandoning the rest of humanity to their control and abuse... perhaps sacrificing innocent people this time might prevent even worst sacrifices on the future". He felt the looks of every family leader resting on him as he spoke and forced himself to avoid reacting.

"I agree with him, but we might not need take such a heavy measure. We should be prepared for the worst but with hope that Tao will manage to find and deactivate the satellites... or at least identify the most probable target to protect the people there before the Union is forced to stand down". Seira"s voice was hesitant at first but gained strength as she kept talking.

"Hey little brother are you sure you are up to the challenge? The first one that finds a way to crack the system and locate the satellites will have to pay dinner for the whole crew". Tao"s voice was cheerful as he sat next to a hospital bed where a rather short young man wearing thick gla.s.ses was smiling with pride.

"I will defeat you... just wait and see!" His voice was determined, and he did not realize that Tao was using him while pretending to play with him. Shinwoo who was on the other bed was already imagining the things they would eat at his friend or Tao"s expense. Even the two girls were cheering on him. "Ik-Han you better not lose, or we will not have mercy on you!"

Ik-Han felt cold sweat on his back as he saw his ruthless friends smiling devilishly at him and his fingers started dancing against the keyboard while Tao smiled and started to work as well.

The cold air seemed to dance with the leaves on the seemingly endless gra.s.sland while Muzaka was resting his head on Garda"s lap, he could not believe that he could enjoy such a relaxed life and for the first time for as long as he could remember he felt free. Garda was looking at the distance with a gentle smile on her face as if unwilling to break the moment, but soon both of them frowned as a blood-rune-arc appeared not far from them and started rotating to reveal a young couple. The beautiful girl with silver long hair seemed shy for having disturbed what looked like a special moment while the young man smiled without shame as they approached them.

"Sir Muzaka, lady Garda... it is good to see you are doing fine, I must said that I"m a bit jealous of the way you are enjoying life... wife, would you like to travel the world leisurely with me once this trouble is dealt with?" He smiled at the now blushing Seira who seemed to be caught imagining such a life and nodded before knowing it only to react a moment later giving him an angry glare which make Muzaka laugh out loud.

"Well kid, it seems that you have come to make me work? Was is it this time?" Muzaka sighed with resignation, but he smiled a moment later... at least he no longer needed to lead, life was much better now. He was suddenly awakened from his thoughts as something hit his head, and he sat up looking at Garda.

"G-Garda? Why?" His voice was confused as he looked at the beautiful woman who was frowning. "You were thinking that since you are no longer leading you can have a lazy life! And it is true... but had the sudden urge to hit you!" She said blushing while looking away making Vlad laugh while thick sweat drops appeared on Muzaka"s forehead.

Chapter 88: The Final Conflict (Part I)

Two young women were celebrating next to the hospitals beds where Shinwoo had caught Ik-Han in a hug while yelling. "I knew you could do it buddy!" The group soon started making plans on what they would be eating at the expense of Tao while Tao himself was talking on the phone.

"Boss, we found them... we know that there are three targets selected for attack right now and the command could be given at any moment. The locations are Lukedonia, New York and... your house". He said the last part in fear and apprehension, and he could feel the temperature going down even if he was far away from Frankenstein.

"I cannot deactivate them simultaneously, and they would realize we had access to their systems as soon as I start, but I can create a malware and implant it without detection... it would cause a self-destruction routing on all the satellites after anyone of them released an attack... sorry Boss, but it is the best I can do".

"Right... right... I will send the information right away... right... wait! Boss, I have to hire a consultant for the task so you will be charged for his services... who?" Tao could feel sweat drops forming on his forehead but his smile brightened as he answered while taking a glance at Ik-Han. "The consultant is called I M P, yes that"s right... the imp consultant helped me to break their firewall".

Ik-Han who was still celebrating with his friends sneezed suddenly and looked around curiously but ended shaking his head and returning to the conversation to support Shinwoo in banning ramen for the celebration.

A blood-rune-arc appeared within a desolated spot at Central Park in Manhattan and after a whole revolution two couples appeared under the shadow of a great three. "So my mission is to defend this place if a laser beam falls from the sky during the next few days?" Muzaka asked in disbelief while Garda looked at the park with curiosity and felt she that spending a few days in this place would be a nice change of pace.

"Yes, we believe that the Union will attack this place along with Lukedonia and Korea, sir Raizel will deal with Korea while the Lord will protect Lukedonia. To be honest the attack might not come at all, and we are just taking precautions... but if the attack came you will only need to contain the laser beam a single time and Tao will make sure to destroy the satellites." Vlad explained calmly while Muzaka"s nose was already twitching as he perceived the fragrance from a hot dog vendor car a hundred meters away.

The First Elder was smiling as he flew towards Lukedonia, he was wearing a blue suit making him look completely out of place if compared with the four people who was following him. The Third Elder and the three battle automatas were wearing the simple white cloak of the Union as they traveled in silence behind the First Elder.

They soon arrived near Lukedonia and the First Elder frowned as he could not see through the glamour protecting Lukedonia, he knew the island was there, but he could only see the endless sea. "I thought you were exaggerating when you described the power of their runic shields and stealth arrays... it is impressive. It seems that we would not be able to enter undiscovered, perhaps it will be better to knock". The cheerful tone that the First Elder used to talk, while keeping his hands in his pockets, seemed to calm the apprehension that the Third Elder was feeling. But before the First Elder could order one of the automatas to attack a cold and bored voice that seemed ancient resounded on the area.

"Elders of the Union, you were not invited to visit Lukedonia. For what reason have you come to his land? And were you just talking about sneaking into Lukedonia?" The First Elder smiled as a beautiful young woman with black long hair that was kept tied in a ponytail appeared in front of them. "Little girl, we have come to..." His voice was interrupted as the Third Elder moved forward and started whispering in his ear.

The First Elder turned serious and bowed slightly while saying. "Apologies Lord of Lukedonia, it is a pleasure to finally meet you. I am the First Elder of the Union and King of Humanity. The reason we are here is that we cannot allow Dr. Crombel to die before paying for his crimes against the Union and..."

His voice was interrupted by the Raskreia"s cold voice. "Our position on this matter was made clear to you and the fact that you came with the intention to attack Lukedonia makes any sort of discussion useless. Leave now human". While Raskreia was talking a few people started appearing behind her.

Kei and Rossaria were standing on each side of here just a couple of steps behind, soon Lunark and Kentas appeared with the rest of the family leaders, except for Ludis and Regis who remained inside the barrier, releasing a powerful aura locked on the four unwelcome visitors.

The First Elder frowned. "We don"t want to start a conflict but if you do not release Crombel you will have to take responsibility for the consequences". His voice seemed unwilling but firm as if he was trying to convince himself from something.

Raskreia smiled amused. "And what can you do? Do you really think that you claiming to be the King of Humanity and bringing one of your retainers along with three mindless puppets can be considered a threat to Lukedonia? Leave now, I will not repeat my warning a third time." His voice seemed ancient giving the First Elder a feeling of inferiority.

He frowned and said. "You leave me no choice... I will order an attack that would destroy a major city while also attacking this place and the n.o.blesse home. This will teach you what happens when you do not listen to the King of Humanity!" His voice was angry and unwilling... he had to kill humans to threaten Lukedonia, but a King could not hesitate.

The family leaders looked at each other with eyes full of meaning as they were preparing for the battle to unfold, Raskreia sighed full of unwillingness and looked at the First Elder waiting for his move. "I will trust my people and their decision". She thought suddenly feeling calmer.

The First Elder frowned as the n.o.bles did not make any comment about their threat, and felt that something was wrong... "Perhaps the influence of the werewolves, but they will surely come back to their true nature after the demonstration". He thought steeling his determination as a blue electronic light shined on the First Elder"s right eye as he instructed the three prepared satellites to attack, he was sure that even if a Lord were to receive the attack it would suffer from it, and he knew that the n.o.blesse was in Korea while Muzaka and Garda were seen in Africa just the day before.

Soon a pressure was felt on the area as the n.o.bles and werewolves looked at the sky, they could see a laser beam approaching at incredible speed. Raskreia floated a few meters and summoned Ragnarok releasing a blood field dome protecting the family leaders as she braced herself for impact while the three battle automatas took position in front of the First and Third Elders.

But before the laser beam reached the blood field, a second blood field created a dark dome that seemed to melt with the one released by Raskreia. Raskreia and the First Elder looked in surprise as Vlad held Sombra while pointing its blade towards the incoming laser beam. The laser beam was contained by the two blood fields without creating any damage except the strong air explosion that destroyed the cloaks covering the battle automatas.

After a moment the First Elder was able to see that no damage was caused and sweat started forming on his forehead, he didn"t even notice that the blue electric light on his eyes suddenly disappeared. But the worst was yet to come as she heard Raskreia"s cold voice. "It seems that the children were right... The Union uses humanity as livestock and tried to threaten us with human genocide. I was hesitant, but I agree with their view now. Humans killing humans is not our problem and would never hold us back again". She then turned to look at the family leaders and commanded. "We kill the invaders and then destroy the Union... humanity will be free after this war".

The First Elder stood there frozen in terror refusing to believe what was happening.

Chapter 89: The Final Conflict (Part II)

As soon as Raskreia"s words ended a new translucent black dome covered the area while Kei, Lunark and Kentas had engaged in close combat with each of the battle automatas forcing them back. At this moment the First Elder managed to wake up from this disbelief as he was attacked by Dorian on his left flank forcing him to wield a black blade to receive the attack and ended being propelled backwards for a few meters.

The Third Elder tried to create distance while using his "explosion" eyes but to his dismay the explosion occurred a few centimeters in front of his face blinding him momentarily, the blood field had affected his powers and ended injuring himself at the first attack. The suddenly felt his body forced to a straight position while his arms were forced close to his torso and a something that felt like chains was binding him in place, after a moment he felt those chains piercing his shoulders, and he fought to keep his consciousness as he felt a strong compulsion to sleep.

Vlad was still pointing his sword at the Third Elder when he turned to look at the First Elder that have turned into a muscular man twice the size of his original form while half of his face and body was covered with metal, and he a.s.sumed it should be nanotechnology working along body modifications. Dorian was enough to keep him pinned while the three automatas were being destroyed by Kei, Lunark and Kentas, but their regeneration seemed to make them impossible to kill.

Vlad turned to look at Raskreia, who was waiting calmly while observing the battle, and he said. "Lord, I have fought those type of creatures before. They have no sentience and no matter how much they are hurt they would recover and keep fighting unless destroyed completely in a single instance".

Kei and the two werewolves heard this and frowned, they understood that he was asking for permission to end the battle and sighed with frustration before jumping back to their original positions. Raskreia noticed their response and looked at him. "Kill them then".

Vlad focused his attention to the three almost completely regenerated battle automatas and a small black hole appeared on the chest of each of the creatures. The three creatures did not seem to feel pain but their weird moves trying to advance to keep fighting make the influence of the black holes clear, and soon the three creatures disappeared without leaving any residue behind.

Lunark and Kentas looked at Vlad while frowning, the last time they have seen him fight was during the battle against Maduke, and he seemed to have a similar level of power than them, but now... only a few years after that he had reached another realm in which they could not compete at all. They seemed depressed, but soon a new light of determination was shining in their eyes as they decided to become stronger.

The First Elder noticed that his companion and his bodyguards were defeated and felt shocked, he had come to force Lukedonia and even sacrificed millions of lives to make his message clear but all ended in the worst possible direction. "We should not have start researching the blood stone... this battle would not have happened." He steeled his heart and decided to use the satellites to attack and create an opportunity for him to escape, but his heart turned into ice when he realized that his connection to the satellites was interrupted.

"Crombel". He muttered, they knew about the satellites and were ready for it, but they had waited for them to use them before destroying them. He had started a war that could not be won, and they made it clear that using innocent people as shields will not stop them anymore. "Humans killing humans had nothing to do with us..." Her words resounded in his head, and he trembled. All the responsibility of those deaths has always being his... he had never deluded himself about that, but it was useless. "All those lives that I took were useless". This thought burned in his mind and soon was being overwhelmed by the blond werewolf.

The Third Elder struggled to remain awake but it was difficult, his power had always being focused on his "explosion eyes" and they could not be used now. He realized that the situation have turned for the worst and his only option was to use the most shameless tactic, he sighed and said. "If you kill him... the satellites will attack random highly populated areas, as soon as his heart stop beating".

Raskreia"s eyes turned even colder, she felt disgusted about this "King of Humanity" and she turned to look towards Lukedonia as if waiting for something. Soon a voice reporting a message destroyed whatever hope remained for the Union. "Lord, the n.o.blesse"s knight, Tao, just reported the successful destruction of all 13 satellites. Korea was protected by the n.o.blesse while New York was protected by sir Muzaka. Not a single life was lost by the Union"s attack. He also reported that he is working to disable the nuclear weapons in control of the Union with someone called... the IMP consultant".

Vlad almost laughed aloud at that imagining that the short wearing gla.s.ses kid would not be happy with his code name. Raskreia nodded and turned to look at the Third Elder. "Still, it would not hurt to gain more understanding of our enemies". After her cold and bored voice reached the Third Elder"s ears he felt a cold hand was placed on his head as he felt as if needles were piercing his brain before he lost consciousness.

Raskreia had her eyes closed while examined the memories of the Third Elder, finding the location of many bases and nuclear weapons that the Union had prepared. The First Elder heard what the newly arrived green haired young n.o.ble reported and understood that "humanity" had lost, all the efforts of thousands of years were lost for his foolishness. He screamed as his body increased again in size and this time it was completely covered in a metallic layer making him look like a battle cyborg.

He managed to repel Dorian and charged towards Raskreia who had her eyes closed as she examined the memories of the Third Elder. But before he could even approach, a black whirlpool appeared in front of him and turned into a pair of black ravens that charged at him while rotating as if they were dancing with each other. Due to his own charging speed he only managed to block by crossing his arms in front of him.

A moment later his head was doing circles in the air and his managed to see that the lower part of his body was already falling to the sea, then everything become darkness. Vlad had destroyed the First Elder arms and torso in a single attack, killing the "King of Humanity".

Raskreia did not bother to open her eyes as she continued with her work, she did not feel that this "King o Humanity" deserved her attention at all.

Chapter 90: The Final Conflict (Part III)

Raizel was sitting on his usual place in the cla.s.sroom while looking through the window, he was surprised that using his powers to defense of the city did not cause a great toll on him. He had not felt this healthy since that ominous battle against his brother, and he did not know how to feel about it.

Suddenly his eyes opened a little more than usual due to the surprise he felt a familiar aura not far from this place was calling to him, he looked at Edian who was frowning slightly and smiled before disappearing from the cla.s.sroom without any of the human noticing.

Raizel soon arrived at Frankenstein"s house and found that Raskreia was sitting on the living room while Rossaria stood behind her. "Cadis Etrama Di Raizel, I"m sorry to have entered your home without a previous warning and to call you out of your activities with such urgency". Raskreia"s voice was as boring as usual, but he could feel a little doubt in it. He frowned thinking that it had been a long time since she had used his whole name to address him and wondered why did she feel the need to be so formal.

He took a seat in front of her while Edian decided to take Rossaria"s example and stood behind Raziel. "You are welcome here as always Raskreia, please speak your mind". Raskreia seemed to hesitate for a moment before starting to speak.

"I"m going to destroy the Union". Raziel frowned when he heard her statement but waited for her to continue while releasing a sight... "It seems that my duty never ends". Raskreia continued her speech with a calm voice. "I do not plan to conquer humanity, nor do I intent to make humanity aware of our existence. But the Union is not only a threat to Lukedonia but humanity itself... They are used as shields by the Union to force us to step back, they even had the courage to try invading Lukedonia threatening to destroy several highly populated areas if we did not obey their demands. This cannot happen again".

She released a sigh of frustration and then said. "If the Loyard clan had not surrendered to protect the humans that were taken as hostages... how many lives could they have saved if they were still alive? Surely more than those they saved by walking willingly to their deaths. I refuse to let my people die to protect humans, if the sacrifice is worthy I will take it myself".

Raizel was surprised not only for the reason she provided, he smiled at the determination and conviction he felt in her voice. "Yes, I have made that sacrifice myself and two times was worthy... but is it really worthy to reduce my life span just for a few lives? Wouldn"t I be able to save more if I do not interfere in every single battle?" He started questioning his own decisions, but then he smiled. "I am who I am... perhaps I am too old to change, but I can appreciate the change on those around me with an open mind".

He looked at Raskreia and said. "I will be going with you... I agree with you destroying the Union and those guilty of genocide, but I will do my duty if the boundaries are broken". Raskreia looked surprised for a moment and then nodded.

The main base of the Union was located on a small island near New Zealand, many scientist and mercenary-like people were moving around making the place look like a bee hive. The 11th Elder looked at them with indifference, thinking. "These fools do not understand the danger... The First Elder is death and our weapons of ma.s.s destruction are lost. And I have the feeling that the worst is yet to come. First was that b.a.s.t.a.r.d Crombel and now Lukedonia... is it all due to the blood stone?" He sighed unwillingly, but returned his attention to the two battle automatas that he had just created.

They contained all the technological knowledge that the Union had gathered and mastered through thousands of years. The body modifications were superior to those used by the First Elder, complemented with the most advanced nanotechnology they had and finally, the two incomplete blood stones were placed on them.

These two battle automatas might not live long after their full power was activated, but by absorbing the life energy of all the ants working on this base... they would be able to last for a few hours and buy him enough time to disappear from the raiders sent by Lukedonia.

"I will go into hiding and recreate the Union... no matter how long it takes. Humanity will prevail... I will prevail". His muttering had a maniac trait to it, but no one noticed this as all the workers were busy with the battle preparations without knowing that they would die by the hand of whom they were trying to protect.

The alarms gained life and roared creating a momentary lapse when everyone stopped for a moment to look at the main monitor to find that a young woman wearing the formal attire of Lukedonia, the n.o.blesse, Muzaka, Garda and the young n.o.ble he had feared most were standing together looking down at the island.

The 11th Elder frowned in disbelief. "This is no raid, this is extermination..." he muttered to himself as he suddenly understood that even the two battle automatas will not be able to content with the enemy even activating the blood stones.

In his crazed state he activated the protocols and smirked as two crystal like stones raised from the chest of the two battle automatas while all the personnel on the island fell to the ground screaming as their life force was being absorbed by the blood stones. Then he gave them the command to destroy the invaders before moving towards the prepared escape tunnel.

His maniac laughter echoed in the metal tunnel hoping that his two creations would be able to kill at least one of the Lord level monsters, but suddenly his feet stopped as he looked in terror at the two blond young men that looked like siblings blocking his path.

"By the command of the Lord, the Union is to die today. Let it be known that you are dying under the blades of the Kertia Clan". The two blond n.o.bles seemed to turn into bats and a second later the 11th Elder was cut into several pieces without even managing to understand that Raskreia had blocked all the escape paths she had found while reading the Third Elder"s mind.

Chapter 91: The Final Conflict (Part IV)

Raizel and Raskreia were frowning while looking down at the last stronghold of the Union... they suddenly refused to think of it as the last stronghold of humanity, they do not qualify to address themselves as humans.

Frankenstein sported an amused smile, he remembered his time working with the Union and their betrayal. Now they had fallen to this extend, and he could only shook his head in disappointment.

"It seems that you were right Raskreia, the Union even sacrificed their people on a ritual to create a couple of chimeras that would not live more than a few hours in hopes to destroy us". Raizel"s voice was low and tired, he knew that the Union was partly responsible for the events 800 years ago, but he had decided to ignore that and let the matter rest.

Now he knew it was a mistake and could not help but think in his brother with sadness. "Is this what you saw on them brother? Is this why you wanted to kill them all?" His thoughts were interrupted by the voice of his loyal follower.

"Master, I think is too late to stop the ritual... perhaps we should destroy the chimeras before they start attacking?" Frankenstein wanted to end this business and return to his quiet life and their victory was guaranteed as long as Raizel or any of the other Lord level combatants decided to start fighting.

Raskreia frowned and said. "I think that we should allow the family leaders to give it a try, I hope that events like this would not happen again... but letting them obtain experience in dealing with these monsters would be good for their growth. We would just need to make sure that none of our people suffer lasting damage, and we will destroy them after the purpose is met".

Raizel and Muzaka nodded and prepared themselves to rescue the family leaders in case of danger. Raskreia looked at the family leaders and said.

"Seira, Kentas, Lunark and Rossaria you will form a unit and destroy one of the chimeras. Kei, Dorian, Rajak and Karias you will deal with the second one as a team. Be careful, although your strength when working together would be enough to face those monsters, their regeneration and their mindless battle instincts would force you to your limits".

The eight family leaders bowed slightly and moved towards their targets. Vlad looked at Seira with concern and prepared himself to take part on the battle in case of her being in danger. Raskreia looked at him with a light smile and chuckled.

Rael appeared behind them and bowed while placing a hand over his heart. "Lord, all exits were blocked but the only one who tried to escape was the 11th Elder. He is dead." Raskreia nodded and with her characteristic bored voice, she said.

"Well done Rael, stay and observe the battle. It would be a good experience for you". Rael nodded and stood next to Vlad who smiled at him before concentrating on the battle.

Kentas and Lunark were on their werewolf forms taking the brunt of the battle, due to their higher strength and regeneration, while Seira supported them just a step behind. Rossaria worked with arrays and magic to give them time to escape attacks that could have caused major damage, but the group was being thoroughly suppressed and would eventually fail.

The four family leaders were surprised, this creature seemed not weaker than Maduke at his highest moment. But this battle automata attacked without regard for his life and tried to kill them with every move it made creating great pressure on the four family leaders.

The battle automata had originally being a black man with gray hair, but after activating the blood stone along with the several body modifications, his body had grown three times in size and was covered by a thin metallic armor of nanotechnology without leaving a single part of his now blood-red skin uncovered.

Not far from them, Kei and Dorian received punishment from the other chimera while Rajak moved at high speed trying to disturb his movements, but his attacks seemed completely useless as the wounds closed in less time than it took for Rajak to create them. Karias used his arrows trying to bought time for the other three family leaders and allow them to avoid serious injuries, but they all knew that it was just matter of time before they found themselves overwhelmed.

After a few moments, Raskreia said. "I think that this is enough, they had already understood the power of the creatures they are fighting and extending this any longer would only increase the probability of them getting hurt".

Raskreia was ready to move and engage in battle along with Raizel, but Vlad said. "Lord, if you don"t mind I think this would be a good opportunity to test my latest technique... I would only need sir Raizel to hold them with telekinesis for a few seconds while the family leaders retreat." Vlad"s voice was eager, but there was a little doubt that made Raskreia frown.

"Did you already manage to reach a new realm?" Raizel"s curious voice surprised Raskreia and waited for the answer. Vlad blinked and said. "I would not dare to said that it is a new realm... but perhaps just a clever application? But I think you will like the result". His smile showed his expectations and Raizel smiled lightly and nodded, after a moment Raskreia nodded as well.

A pair of blood wings appeared behind sir Raizel, and he extended his hand forcing the two creatures to be frozen in place while the family leaders unwillingly retreated under the orders of Raskreia. Raizel and Raskreia looked with curiosity at Vlad who pointed his soul weapon in direction of the two monsters releasing a blood whirlpool that soon turned into a pair of blood ravens, they seemed to pursue each other without managing to made contact as they moved at high speed and soon reached the s.p.a.ce between the two monster that were struggling to break free of the telekinesis holding them in place managing to create pressure on sir Raizel.

The two blood ravens stopped for a moment before they started circling above the two creatures, but this time they were not advancing and remaining on the same place while performing their dance. Soon they increased their speed and seemed to turn into a blood ring that made the fabric of s.p.a.ce contained inside the blood ring to tremble and a moment later it broke as a mirror would.

An incredible suction was created forcing the whole island, along with the two creatures, into the black hole contained by the blood ring. It only took a couple of seconds for the island to disappear completely from this world along with the last remains of the Union. From this moment onward, the organization that had managed to stand at the same height that Lukedonia and the Werewolf Kingdom... was no more.

Raizel and Raskreia watched with wide eyes as the black hole disappeared and the blood ring turned into a pair or blood ravens that were only half their original size. The pair of blood ravens returned to Vlad before dissipating and returned to his blood energy reserves.

Raizel was surprised with the powerful display and understood how to do it, but the price for him would be heavy if one day he decided to use this technique, he also found himself amused as he saw for once that Raskreia"s bored face was broken and stood there with wide eyes and her mouth slightly open, he could help but chuckle waking her from her stupor and blushed before composing herself.

Vlad was tired, but happy at the successful display. Still, he found himself scared at how powerful that move was as he had not expected to destroy the entire island. He sighed and shook his head, it didn"t matter... the battle was over, and they will have peace for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. He smiled and looked at Seira who was still shaken by his display of power, but smiled back at him after noticing his gaze.

And Vlad knew it then, as he found himself lost in her smile... every effort he had made to reach this moment... was completely worthy.

Chapter 92: EPILOGUE

It was night and the chilly wind seemed to dance with the leaves next to the lake on a small town in France, this was the place where several special moments had become cherished memories for the young couple who snuggled together while gazing at the stars sitting by the lake.

The young woman had silvery long hair and red eyes that added mystery to her beauty, she rested her back on a young tall man with dark hair who used his arms to keep her warm while both keep their attention on the beautiful sky afraid to make a noise that would break the peaceful moment.

A giggle startled the young couple and turned to look at what looked like a 3 year-old little girl with silver hair running out of the shadows toward the couple, a moment later the little girl threw herself into the young woman"s arms.

Seira looked at the girl with a kind smile while stroking her hair gently, and asked. "Did you escape from your room little one? It is too late for you to be exploring, you know?" Her voice was gentle but there was a trait of reproach that made the eyes of the little girl become moist.

"But Mommy... I wanted to look at the stars with you and Dad!" Vlad chuckled and the little girl smiled in victory as she sat on her mother"s lap who just sighed with amus.e.m.e.nt. Not five minutes had pa.s.sed and the little girl was already sleep comfortably in her mother"s arms, allowing the young couple to return to their peaceful moment.

Vlad smiled and kissed Seira"s forehead while looking at the cute little girl sleeping without a care in the world.

A certain divine ent.i.ty frowned as he entered a hall where a three High Level Judges were discussing something in annoyed voices as the soul of a gray bearded man wearing round eyegla.s.ses looked in disbelief as if he could not understand that there was a life after death and seemed specially worried about being judged.

The new arrival watched curiously at the gray bearded man and felt that something was wrong, he wondered why was he called here and was about to ask when a few chains seemed to flow from the floor and pierced his body sealing his powers completely. The divine ent.i.ty screamed and looked in disbelief at the High Level Judges that seemed to be covered in shadows.

"The name of this soul is Crombel, and according to the Book of Life... his soul was supposed to be devoured by an ent.i.ty known as the Dark Spear. A low level p.a.w.n this man was, but he was meant to be an important piece to start the closure of World 9998888345 where humanity is greatly out powered by two other races". A female ancient voice said while every word seemed like a knife for both Crombel and the divine ent.i.ty that was now in chains.

The divine ent.i.ty was confused and frowned wondering how this was related to him but before he could ask, another ancient voice continued. "You misused your power to punish a soul without reason and forced him to witness two short lives before reincarnating without returning to "Purgatory", the odds being as low as they were... he managed to retain memories of the future events after his rebirth as a member of one of the races that was to be weakened to start a process that would have destroyed this world within a thousand years completing the karmic cycle, your actions changed this completely".

The divine ent.i.ty was trembling now... who would have thought that a little joke to amuse himself in a bad day had gone so terribly wrong?

"World 9998888345 achieved balance and extended the karmic cycle for time unknown. To balance the damage you caused to the multiverse we either need to destroy that world or obtain karmic value of equal magnitude... it is just convenient that your divine power can be converted to the quant.i.ty needed to solve this mess. You will lose your divine status and reincarnate as a mortal on World 118888222203".

Without waiting for an answer, the divine ent.i.ty screamed as he felt his power being drained by the chains and everything went dark for him. He was no longer a divine ent.i.ty, and he would start a mortal karmic cycle without any memories of what he used to be.

Crombel trembled in fear as he witnessed these events, but felt a small satisfaction knowing that the one who had sent that demon who destroyed his plans suffered punishment. After a moment, he felt cold sweat on his nonexistent back as the eyes of the three high level judges focused on him.

AFTERTHOUGHT

I want to thank you all for accompanying me through this first attempt at writing a novel. I know that some of you wanted to continue the adventures of Vlad in other worlds or see what could happen with his life in the future.

Vlad was raised as a n.o.ble in Lukedonia, even if other n.o.bles might think of him as an odd one... he had no desire for power or the curiosity to explore the unknown. He just wanted to have a calm life with his family and had never wished for dangerous adventures. Vlad was not a character that was meant to explore other worlds.

Perhaps it could be easy to continue telling the story of his life in the n.o.blesse world, but to be honest... the great amount of hate that I received through most of the novel killed most of my motivation to the point that I plan to delete this novel in a couple of weeks. I really struggled to even reach this far.

Still, I feel that my writing improved greatly through this story and I sincerely thank you for your support. I had planned to write another n.o.blesse story, but I think it will be wiser to move on to another "world" for a while. Perhaps next week I will start with another story.

Again thank you and see you guys around!

_Vlad_