Chapter 1330 - The List It certainly was a strange sight to behold. Neither the Royal Knights nor a single Royal Guard was by the King's side. For him to appear on his own and in the pooling area of all the places to be and to protect, it surely was a historic moment. Still, for the vampires whose standing had been on the bottom of the barrel, his being there had instantly won over their trust and respect, especially since they had believed their lives to be over. The fifty or so Dalki that had attacked the first time had returned, only this time they had brought along a four spike. "Bring out the one I want!" King Bryce demanded as he pulled his sword out of his cane and threw it into the air. It looked like it was levitating in place. However, if one was to look at it closer, they would see that the sword had been laced with blood, allowing him to use his Absolute Blood Control to keep it there. What's more, blood started to gather around the sword itself, increasing its size by three times. The four spiked Dalki charged forward at a great speed, yet the Vampire King remained calm, and at the right moment he hurled his weapon at him. With his blood control he was able to make the blood sword move at a speed that was too great for the Dalki to react. Whatever defences the Dalki had proved to be useless against his attack, bisecting the creature from head to toes. The blood sword only stopped once it struck the ground. Lifting his hands up once again, as if he was pulling two things apart, Bryce made his next move. The blood covering the sword immediately broke apart, creating waves of blood that crashed into the Dalki around it, injuring them all. Some of the weaker ones fell to the ground, dead. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖 "These creatures are nothing but beasts! They're hardly stronger than humans, so there is nothing to fear!" Bryce announced loudly. Hearing his words, some of those that had been hiding in their homes started to come out on the streets and began to attack the Dalki together. "If the King is willing to fight, we must not be afraid and fight alongside him!" They shouted. The battle between those in the pooling area and the Dalki began in earnest. Despite his claims, the vampires weren't faring any better than they had done the last time, but every once in a while, when he saw them struggle, King Bryce would help them out with his skills, reigniting their will to continue fighting. 'Yes…the more blood gets spilt, the more effective the Absolute Blood Control becomes. Fortunately, even the blood of those lesser beings has a use. Arthur… I know you're here, but suit yourself. The longer you wait to show yourself, the stronger you allow me to become.' Bryce thought confidently. It was at that moment that something strange appeared over the skies. "On a planet that is in complete darkness for eternity, my shadows are able to thrive. You might get stronger based on the amount of blood, but there is no limit to the shadows I can use." A dark shadow stretched over all the castles in the Vampire World, from the King's castle over the tenth's castle and even including the fourteenth's castle. What light they had allowed to be reflected from the moon was now gone. Only the lights from the beast crystals in the street remained. "This is not that brat's doing, there is only one person that has this much power." Bryce uttered to himself, as he started to gather blood from the injured vampires in the pooling area. The next second, more Dalki fell from the shadow above in the clouds, but they weren't alone. On their back there were human figures who wore black masks over their faces. The problem was that those falling from the sky weren't just headed for the pooling area, they were landing all throughout the settlement. All of the vampire leaders had come out from their castles to witness the strange occurrence, and even they couldn't believe their eyes. "An attack from the sky!" Lee recognised from his balcony. Looking down, he saw all his people who had considered themselves safe inside the wall, stare up and do nothing. "Everyone, prepare yourselves for battle!" Lee shouted. He prepared his red string, throwing it out towards two of the Dalki, then standing on the balcony Lee pushed off, leaping in the air, and pulling himself forward. The string wasn't able to be retracted like a certain spider, but he knew the Dalki would try to resist being pulled down, so it allowed him to close the distance. Instantly, he saw one of the masked men use their red aura sending out a blood swipe. For Lee this was simple to deal with, he had hardened his own hand with blood, and was able to smash through it, landing on the Dalki's back before they had landed. The three kept falling, making it hard for them to see what was happening, and soon all of the Dalki with the Masked had come crashing down into each of the castles and their inner areas. When the debris and dirt disappeared they could see that Lee had finished off the Masked, its head having been sliced off and the two spiked Dalki on the ground had a clear wound through its chest. The others would have been amazed at the work of their leader, who seemed to continue getting stronger unlike the other leaders, but the whole area had fallen into chaos. It was true, the thirteenth leader Lee had fortified his training. After nearly losing his son, and fighting against the first leader, he had acknowledged that the peaceful days of the vampire settlement would come to an end eventually, so he needed to grow stronger. But could the same be said for the other castles? "Everyone!" Lee shouted loudly so all his vampires in the area could hear. "Now is not the time to worry about the others finding out about our secret. I know some of you are worried what the King will do to us once they find out what will happen to our family, but I want you all to fight with your full strength. Activate your Inner Blood weapons!" Thanks to a certain special vampire that was no longer in the thirteenth family, they might just pull through this battle better than any of the other families had expected. ——— Over in the tenth castle, Paul too was worried about what was happening. He had been prepared for another Dalki attack, though he hadn't accounted for them to be accompanied by the Masked. Xander, and Timmy were in the inner castle area, while Ashley was stationed at the gates. The gates were more fortified compared to the rest of the camp and Paul imagined this would be the same for the other castle, since none had assumed that an attack would happen from above. What Paul didn't expect though, and it seemed like neither did the enemy, was the special towers that Quinn had implemented. There were two towers each stationed at the three entrances and also two towers right in front of the castle gate. As soon as the Dalki got within a certain area falling from the sky, the towers immediately started to fire off. Due to them being airborne it was nearly impossible for them to move out of the way. The Masked that were on top of the Dalki, started to fire off their red aura skills, but there was a clear winner among the two powers. The tower shots were just too much and eventually ended up hitting the Dalki. This time, unlike those that had entered the pooling area, there were many one spiked Dalki among those falling from the sky, and with a single hit from the towers, they fell to the ground, never to get back up again. 'Quinn, even when you aren't with us, you are still helping us.' Paul thought, while observing everything from the castle, ready to go down. However, before he did, he needed to contact the Cursed base. He tried to use his communicator, but just like when the Dalki had attacked the other planets, their communication devices seemed to be jammed. 'If I turn on the teleporter, I can send someone through quickly, and they can inform the others about what is going on.' As if the world was telling him not to, Several of the Dalki and Masked managed to come crashing through into the castle. Not much damage was done since even the castle itself was more fortified compared to the others but there was one worry going though Paul's mind. "The teleporter!" ——— Bryce, who had entered the inner pooling area, saw the chaos unfold around him. With all of them under attack, he didn't know which castle to go and aid. Perhaps he should turn around and enter his own castle. However, despite Bryce's strength, the strongest Dalki in the attack, were currently in front of him, and they weren't going to let him do as he wished so easily. One of the vampires was picked up by another four spike, and was hurled directly towards Bryce. Grabbing his sword, Bryce had no hesitation slashing though the vampire that blocked his site. "Arghh!" Bryce yelled in frustration. "Arthur!!!" ——— "Don't worry young one, I have a list to go through, and I will be saving you for last." ****** Many of you might have noticed that the number of typos has gone down and the quality of my writing has improved in recent months. I have my editor, Devils_Advocate, to thank for that. I'm calling him out today to thank him for his work and to congratulate him on his birthday. If you also appreciate his work, consider sending him a small donation through his ko-fi. ko-fi/devilsadvocate