This Third Reincarnation Should Not Be Wasted Chapter 71-81

Chapter 71: A Time of Peace

Life can be like a calm lake for a while after days of pressure and war, Vlad enjoyed the time he spend with Seira attending school, practicing the s.p.a.ce rift technique in the afternoons, stargazing with Seira at night and the occasional excursions around the world trying to find the best ice cream.

It had been 3 months since he started attending Yeran High School and his progress was not disappointing, he had managed to maintain the s.p.a.ce rift for 3 seconds before losing control. He estimated that in another 3 months he would be able to reach his first goal and keep it for 5 seconds to start practicing without his soul weapon.

But today was a sat.u.r.day and Vlad had taken Seira in search for ice cream, his target was Italy and had great hopes from this place. He had searched already in France where food was famous and Switzerland where desserts are recognized around the world but had not found anything special regarding ice cream.

Seira and Vlad walked calmly on the streets of Venice enjoying the fresh of the early night, there were many people exploring the small city but most of the traffic on the ca.n.a.ls had already disappeared. They walked to a place that was famous for its gelato and bought two servings, Vlad smiled in antic.i.p.ations as he appreciated the fragrance and felt his expectations growing while Seira was smiling while looking at him. After tasting he felt the world stopping and now clearly understood that love for food was a real thing.

Seira was slightly speechless after noticing his reaction and cautiously took a small taste of her gelato, her eyes grew wide as she stood frozen for a while. People had already noticed the young couple holding hands while staring with eyes full of desire and love, but they were not looking at each other... they were looking at the gelato in their hands.

That night after dinner Seira gave everyone a serving of the gelato that they had bought on Italy and while the human children enjoyed it, it was Raizel, Edian and Regis who seemed to have found a new reason for living while looking at their empty coups with sadness.

Frankenstein was trembling slightly in resignation while directing hateful look at Vlad and Seira who seemed to find to ceiling extremely interesting tonight, and soon his fears were rewarded as he felt that his Master was looking at him with hopeful eyes... 'it seem that I need to go back to my experiments' Frankenstein thought while releasing a sight and Tao, Takeo and M-21 felt shivers as they realized that they would be partic.i.p.ating in trials for ramen flavored gelato and also sighed in resignation.

Another three months had pa.s.sed and Vlad was seating on top of a boulder outside the city, his black wings seemed oblivious to the wind as he focused his attention on top of a rock. suddenly a small black hole appeared above the rock while the suction grinded the rock into dust and swallowed it. The spatial rift had only been the size of a tennis ball but it had lasted 5 seconds. He was sure that it was enough to destroy half the body of a werewolf warrior at the family leader level and, unless the regeneration could reach the realm that Maduke had showed before dying in that terrible battle, it was a killer hit.

Vlad smiled and felt exhausted, he looked at the stars and sighed. He had enjoyed the last six months here but Regis had completed his coming of age ceremony a week before and it was time to return to Lukedonia. Only Edian would remain with sir Raizel.

He smirked as he remember that Frankenstein was still running trials for the ramen flavoured gelato as the obtained results were not to his complete satisfaction, he was not particularly found of ramen but he had some expectations for this one.

He sighed and forced himself to empty his mind of distracting thoughts, he had already found a fighting style that suited him and the modification he had made to Sombra were no longer needed, he depended completely on his mind powers and blood energy for defense and attack making the wings unnecessary as he no longer depended on speed for battle.

He had decided to modify Sombra again to maximize the control of both mental power and blood energy, but what form should his soul weapon take? The wings were no longer needed and the coat that he once used was not an option since he needed to concentrate Sombra into a smaller shape to concentrate its abilities. 'A staff? A wand? Rossaria uses a staff to amplify her magic, but it is not really necessary as I have never tried used a weapon of the sort... a sword?' His eyes sparkled for a moment and hesitated. 'I trained enough with a sword to use it proficiently... I might not have the talent to excel on sword play but what I need is a weapon that allows me to amplify my energy control and a sword could be used the same as a wand or a staff for this purpose I guess. The only difference is that I could also use it as a weapon in close combat during an emergency.'

He sighed, he had not forgotten how he enjoyed training with the sword on his early days... if he had not been aware of the battles that were to come he might not had abandoned it even if he lacked the talent. Perhaps it was a good idea. 'I shall ask Edian for advice before returning to Lukedonia at least she is not as savage as the Lord when training with others...'

He moved his head in negation and started making his way towards Seira who was with the children playing video games and started thinking of the wonderful delicacies that they might have for dinner tonight. He would have been reluctant to return to Lukedonia as life here was good but he had come for Seira and she was returning with him so he smiled and started thinking on how life at Lukedonia with Seira would be.

Chapter 72: A New Sombra

Seira and Vlad were floating over the sea while moving at regular speed while Regis and Rael were following a few meters behind, they were not in a hurry and took the time of their travel to reflect on the experiences they had during their time attending at Yeran School and living among humans.

Rael had some mixed feeling as he was the one who had changed the most, now he looked calm and even smiled from time to time. He did not want to admit it but he was going to miss the children and specially the members of the RK.

Regis on the other hand was slightly nervous as he was going to inherit the position of family leader and wanted to make his grandfather proud, he was the youngest and weakest of the family leaders and would have to spend most of his time training during the following years he smiled motivated by the challenge.

They arrived at Lukedonia and felt relaxed, they were home again. The island had not changed much but the main difference was that there were not only n.o.bles and the atmosphere seemed to feel less solemn. 'It seems that the two races are starting to balance each other already'. Vlad thought while smiling.

Soon they were greeted by the werewolf twins that were in charge of security and customs today, they were wearing uniforms of the Knights of the Central Order but they kept their free att.i.tude of teasing each other as if they were lovers instead of sisters.

Vlad smiled and greeted them. "Urne, Mirai it seems that you are doing fine. I would have to trouble you to help us with the arrival procedures".

The green haired woman said. "Urne I think he is teasing us, he could have easily teleport all of them but he came through the gates to make us work". The blue haired woman smirked and said. "Why Mirai I think you are right he just want to makes us work, or perhaps he knew that it will be us in customs duty today and he wanted to see us. He is kind of cute". The green haired one smiled mischievously and said. "I know. We should play with him, don't you think?"

Vlad smiled and said. "Ladies please stop joking, I am too young to die and it seems that my wife is starting to plan how to murder me". He could feel the cold aura that Seira was releasing but it was mainly directed at the two werewolves. Urne smirked and said. "Ohh... isn't that the girl that almost killed you Mirai? I haven't noticed that she was here... such a shame. Very well let go, should we?"

Vlad felt cold sweat on his back and thought. 'Women are dangerous, regardless of race they all are vengeful creatures...'

Seira had been kidnaped by Vlad's mother as soon as they arrived and he knew that they would spend a long time talking at the library, he smiled and make his way to one of the fountains on the garden and seated on the gra.s.s relaxing under the shade of a tree.

He had decided to change Sombra into a sword, well a mixture of magic staff and sword, it will be a significant change to his soul weapon and he did not want to force it into a short sword for the moment to avoid complications. 'I still will have the opportunity to try other form it needed'. He thought.

Black wings grew from his back and his eyes were covered by black energy as he started communicating with his soul weapon, after expressing his intention Sombra seemed to hesitate for a moment before his wings started to melt and the dark energy flowed towards his right hand and slowly took the shape of a great sword.

As time pa.s.sed the details of the sword were more apparent and clear, the sword from blade to hilt was close to 2 meters long, the hilt was long enough to be wielded by two hands and the guard took the form of extended black wings 10 centimeters each. The end of the hilt took shape as a red sphere, of the size of a tennis ball, which was where the 'blood energy battery' was contained and below the guard seemed to be another hilt, that would allow the great sword to be wielded as a magic staff, before a long double blade of a 1.5 meters completed the body of the soul weapon.

The blade and the guard where completely black while both hilts were of a dark red color and finally the sphere at the end of the hilt was of a bright red color.

Vlad watched the new Sombra with a smile, he had not directed the process but only provided his intentions and was surprised at the shape his soul weapon took but it seemed to be in complete compliance with his expectations.

He stood up and hold Sombra as a magic staff with the blade pointing to the ground, he felt his soul resonating with the great sword as soon as his hand touched it and suddenly understood that his soul weapon was finally completed it had obtained the shape that was most suitable for him while amplifying his strengths. Sombra started to slumber as it expressed happiness and soon his soul weapon was no longer awake, he knew that it will only recover sentience when the time to join one of his descendants arrived.

He could feel that his control of mental energy and blood energy had increased significantly and with time he might even be able to reach the level of blood field but that would take a few centuries. He smiled with satisfaction as he felt he had found his true partner and the correct path for his future growth.

He unsummoned Sombra and started to make his way to the mansion as he realized that night had already arrived. He stopped in surprise when he found that Seira was there looking at him with a gentle smile and he smiled back while holding her hand.

Chapter 73: 5 Years

Life at Lukedonia seemed to be unrelated to time itself, the people inhabiting the island had extremely long lives and the years could be considered as days for some of them, especially the oldest among them.

Vlad was considered among the youngest on the island and time seemed less stagnant to him but its pa.s.sage blurred as he adhered to his routine. He had been practicing the black hole technique and after 5 years of hard work he had managed to obtain the same results without using his soul weapon, today it will be the first time he will try to use the black hole wielding Sombra since it gained its final form.

He was outside Lukedonia floating over the sea, even it the damage caused by the s.p.a.ce rift might not be too great there was no need to cause damage to the island and much less to his mother's garden. Seira and the twin werewolves were floating not far behind him, he released a sigh as he found the situation between amusing and annoying.

The twins did not really care about him but seemed to enjoy teasing him to annoy Seira and she was indeed annoyed at the beginning but started to ignore them after a couple of months. Somehow the twins decided that it was still fun to tag along with them while embracing each other and talking among them as if they were alone.

Shaking his head slightly to clear his mind from distracting thoughts he summoned Sombra and hold it with his right hand as if it were a magic staff, he pointed his soul weapon at the distance focusing on a area 5 meters above the surface of the water and started creating the black hole.

It took 2 seconds for a black hole with the size of a human head appeared and started devouring the water and air in 10 meters around it, he paid attention to how much energy he was consuming while maintaining the s.p.a.ce rift and found that he could hold it for 15 seconds by only spending half of his blood energy reserves. This attack alone was enough to kill a Lord level figure if used at the appropriate time and conditions, it was enough to kill Maduke if he was hold still by others for 3 seconds or if caught unprepared.

He interrupted the flow of energy and the spatial rift healed itself immediately, he did not feel as tired as he normally did while practicing this technique without his soul weapon and felt that his power had grown near the Lord realm, but he knew that he would only be able to truly enter the Lord realm when he managed to deploy the blood field and even using his soul weapon that realm was still far in the future.

"Mirai did you see? It seems that the kid has grown... perhaps he could handle us both?" One of the twins started her teasing while the other smiled with glee holding her sister in a seductive way. "Indeed, we need only worry about the scythe girl... perhaps if we tame her ourselves then we could have fun together".

Seira looked at them and sighed she had grown used to ignore them but she still could not completely pretend they were air when they start their games. She shaked her head and concentrated in the task ahead while summoning her soul weapon. "Mirai, Rune are you ready to start?" her voice sounded bored but the twins smiled while preparing for battle and a moment later the three of them were surrounding Vlad who was calmly waiting for them while holding Sombra in a relaxed fashion.

"Well ladies, lets start". Vlad said smiling but his eyes were extremely sharp he knew better than underestimate either of these three women, they had been fighting like this for nearly 5 years now and it was only a year ago that he started gaining a clear advantage against the three.

Mirai and Urne disappeared and a moment later they were attacking from behind on each side while Seira's scythe approached from the front, he smiled and released his telepathic attack startling them for a fraction and said. "Ladies there is no need for you to stand". A moment later both Mirai and Urne fell into the water with annoyance written on their faces while Seira stumbled half kneeling on the air for a second before recovering.

Vlad took the chance and raising his soul weapon while the three women reached to her own necks as they felt something constricting them and pulling them in the air a moment later the three of them were floating together side by side and he only needed to release the black hole 20 meters from them to avoid hurting them but making a clear end for the battle.

He was about to release his final attack when Seira turned into a shadow and a giant grim reaper appeared on her place while the twins released all her energy at the same time creating 2 energy wolves with each of them as the center of one and the three of them attacked together.

Vlad smiled at how well coordinated the three of them were and wielded his soul weapon as a sword releasing a giant dark arc of energy to contain their joint attack while two blood-runic-arcs appeared and started rotating, one around him and other behind the three women.

A moment later his energy attack was defeated but he was no longer there, he was floating behind them pointing at them with his sword while several dark chains appeared piercing the grim reaper and the two wolves that dissipated after a moment revealing the three women binded by chains as he released another mental attack. "Ladies is time to sleep". They had spent most of their energy breaking free from the telekinetic bondage before and the previous attack left them almost at the end of their endurance, so his words seemed magical as the three of them fell into slumber.

He smiled and released a sight, he had managed to defeat them without using his energy reserves... it was not elegant but it was effective. He released the chains while holding the three women with his telekinesis and extended his arm to repair their clothes, they wake up a couple of minutes later. The twins had frustration and anger written on their faces while Seira seemed annoyed but couldn't stop her lips from forming a light smile of pride.

Chapter 74: Calm Before The Storm

Vlad and Seira were floating over the ocean side by side while making their way towards Lukedonia, the twins followed behind while their teasing increased perhaps due to the frustration of being defeated again. "Urne do you think he did naughty things to us while we were sleeping?" Her melodious voice seemed to hint expectation. "Mirai that would not be the case but he should had kept the scythe girl sleeping so the three of us could have some fun before returning."

A furious glint seemed to be forming on Seira's eyes and Vlad felt cold sweat covering his back so he held Seira on his arms while a blood-rune-arc started rotating around them both and he could hear the delighted laugher of the twins as they both teleported away.

A moment later they were on his mansion garden and noticing that Seira was angry he murmured on her ear. "Wife do you think I should leave them sleeping next time while we do naughty things by their side?" Seira face turned red and directed her anger at him but she had no energy after the sparring session so she could only ignore him while he keep her in his arms.

Muzaka was seating on a boulder looking at the distance, the desert extended beyond what sight could cover and the peace he felt from the burning air seemed to calm his heart. He was thinking of the last time he had visited this place and felt marveled that this place had not changed after nearly thousand years, everything else had changed... even him had changed and he was not sure he liked that.

"I think I'm starting to understand why you like to wander alone to places like this, the peace of this place seems calming like ones mind could stop and the pain and worries are no more... I like this place". Garda voice carried a trace of pain that disconcerted him, he was not use to see vulnerability on this strong woman... 'she had changed as well'.

He jumped down from the boulder and gently hold her from behind as they both keep staring at the calming desert while their hearts seemed to heal slightly even if it was only a little.

Raizel was enjoying the feeling of the air entering through the window as it played with his hair but his face remained expressionless as he looked to the garden. This was a different garden as he was no longer seating at the cla.s.sroom within Yeran High School.

Just like the children who graduated three years ago he followed them to college, not that he cared much about education it was just that Frankenstein said it might be suspicious that he remained behind and he had prepared scholarships for the children on a prestigious university where he had taken over as Head Master and even the RK had followed along as they become the security team on the university campus.

Raizel felt content as he keep enjoying the life he had come to like so much, he was grateful to Frankenstein for it... suddenly he noticed that Edian was looking at him just like he looked at the garden and a hint of blush appeared on his face that was immediately replicated by her.

Crombel was seating on his favorite chair while resting his chin on his hands, his gla.s.ses seemed to reflect the light blocking his eyes. He felt he had waited long enough, he still had no reference on how strong was the 1st Elder but he did not put in his eyes the 4th and 9th Elders.

He had fixed spent this five years cultivating five automatas that had power near the Lord level with regeneration at the level of those modified werewolves, he knew that these five were not enough to face even one of the Lords at Lukedonia but they should be enough to help him take control of the Union. But his greatest reliance was that he had collected enough despairing souls from human wars and sites of conflict to complete his Dark Weapon, he felt proud of how he had managed to tame it into complete submission and wipe out any sentience from it, he suspected that he had surpa.s.sed his mentor '-F' and couldn't help but smile with satisfaction.

But this was not enough... since the 9th Elder was still alive he did not received access to the most important research of the Union and he had made no useful entry on his research on the blood stone, this was important as he felt that it was the only way that he and his automatas could reach the Lord level and destroy Lukedonia to start a new era under his name.

His smile turned into a smirk of frustration as he did not understand the full power of the Union and the 1st Elder in particular was an unkown existence as he had realized a couple of years back that the one he had thought was the 1st Elder was only an automata receiving orders form someone else. And even worst, he suspected that this automata was no inferior to the ones he created thus the real 1st Elder should have more of them as reserve in preparation to respond to his call.

It was a bet, but he could not help but taking it. Unless the 9th Elder dies he would not be allowed access to the information on the blood stone so there was no other choise but to kill him and hope that the 1st and 3rd Elders did not respond immediately so he could go into hiding to study the 9th Elder research.

He did not want to think on the possibility of failure as he knew he would be hunted down and he might not be able to escape. "What would you do '-F'? You certainly would not wait seating doing nothing... you will certainly take fate under your own hands and I shall do the same." He murmured to himself as determination steeled his heart.

Chapter 75: Crombel's Rebellion

On a deserted island within the archipelago of Hawaii a metal building was surrounded by jungle, this was the Scientific Headquarters of the Union and home to the 9th Elder, he felt completely safe here as he was the only living been with free will in the whole island and he had never brought anyone here. He had not spent much time on this place within the last hundred years as he liked to work with that girl Ignes, he was aware that the girl was a maniac but she was also a genius.

He sighed remembering that the girl he considered his disciple was dead and continued perusing the information on the screen, since the conquest of the Werewolf Kingdom the 1st Elder had insisted in focusing the experiments on the power of the blood stone as the might shown by both Maduke and Lagus forced the n.o.blesse to a corner and that power was currently out of reach for them.

He had managed to create a couple of fake blood stones during the last five years but they lacked samples or data as they had not been able to gain anything from the two t.i.tanic battles, one of the monitors blinked as the video conference started.

"Greetings 1st Elder, 3rd Elder" The voice of the 9th Elder seemed to contain exhaustion. "Greetings 9th Elder, please proceed to report the status of your research". The voice of the 3rd Elders was neutral and void of feelings. "After 5 years of research we finally managed to create 2 fake blood stones that should be similar to what Lagus used during his failed invasion to Lukedonia. However we have not performed any test yet, I would recommended to use one of the automatas and a average modified specimen to obtain as much data as we can..."

Suddenly the video conference was interrupted as several drones released electromagnetic pulses around the island blocking all communications, without affecting the building to avoid damaging the computers, and the alarms started going crazy on the Scientific Headquarters. The 9th Elder was alarmed and took the two fake blood stones with him preparing to scape, he was a scientist not a warrior. A moment later he observed on the monitors that 5 automatas with silver helmets covering their heads broke through the main gate and started destroying the monitoring equipment.

"Crombel!" The 9th Elder felt furious as he realized that Crombel was betraying the Union and wanted to swallow his research before confronting their main power, he did not hesitate and activated the 5 androids he had prepared for eventualities. Each of this androids had the power of an Elder and should be able to delay the intruders giving him time to escape. "Go and contain the invaders. If you are overwhelmed proceed to self-destruct immediately".

He then activated a hidden mechanism and his chair slided to the side revealing an underground pa.s.sage, he did not waste time and entered blocking the tunnel and securing it from the inside. This pa.s.sage was not recorded or connected to the computer systems and it would take a while for them to find it, time that they did not have as the self-destruction protocols were activated already. Then several metallic spider legs grew from his back and started moving at high speed through the tunnel activating several trap doors as he made his way though the darkness.

Within the Scientific Headquarters the 5 androids were being supressed by the automatas, their fighting power was similar but the regeneration of Crombel's automatas was at a higher level, still it was enough to delay time and a few minutes later the 5 androids exploded engulfing the automatas in fire and completely destroying 2 of them. This caused Crombel to became furious as he had lost part of his main battle power at the very beginning of his upheaval, after the outer perimeter of the facilities were secured another 3 automatas appeared. This new automatas were wearing lab coats and silver helmets blocking their heads, they had no fighting power but were programmed to perform research and computer activities to highest level.

Crombel entered the building and started making his way towards the main area where the 9th Elder should be, he was preparing to give the old man a chance to submit and joint his new world after all talents should not be wasted, but his face darkened as he realized that the 9th Elder had already escaped and soon the Union will know of his betrayal.

"Sir, the computers had been breached and the research files are complete. We should live this place immediately as the facilities will self destruct in 50 seconds". The emotionless voice of one of the a.s.sistant type automatas gained Crombel attention.

"He should not be far! He would only delay the self destruction to avoid been caught in the explosion. We are leaving, number 1 to 3 you will pursue the 9th Elder and capture him if possible, kill him if things get complicated".

Then he smirked as he made his way out of the island followed by his automatas and ready to go into hiding as he had become the main enemy of the Union, but soon he would have the power of the blood stone and the complete conquest of the Union will not be far from his reach.

A few minutes later the 9th Elder was seating on a small submarine traveling under water, he was calm and proceeded to activate the secure communication channel. "9th Elder what happened?" The 9th Elder felt relieved as he hear the voice of the 3rd Elder.

"Crombel attacked the Scientific Headquarters with 5 powerful automatas of similar level to the ones that serve as personal guards for the 1st Elder, I managed to escape sacrificing 5 androids and activated the self-destruction protocols but I cannot guaranty that the research data was destroyed before Crombel gained access to the computer systems. I brough the backup data with me along with the two fake blood stones." He took a deep breath and continued. "I require support as I'm sure they would be persuing".

The face of the 3rd Elder darkened and the voice of the 1st Elder sounded furious. "Three automatas will be send to pick you up. Third Elder proceed to activate de satellites and destroy Crombel's known bases as well as the Scientific Headquarters then start tracking his whereabouts and as soon as he is suspected to be found activate the satellites and attack."

Silence remained for a moment before he continued. "Send a message to Lukedonia and a.s.sure them that the attacks will not cause innocent human sacrifices in our hunt for the traitor."

Chapter 76: Understanding Blood Field (Part I)

On a dark room where the only light came from a monitor the sound of fingers tapping against metal seemed to fill the room, Crombel was looking at his monitor annoyed and his rising fury was growing to the point of that the monitor seemed to tremble. Not long after the explosion of the Scientific Headquarters a powerful laser beam that descended from the sky had destroyed two of the three automatas that had survived his attack against the 9th Elder.

A few minutes later the same phenomenon started repeating on all his operational bases, even those that were supposed to be unknown, only leaving two of them and he did not dare to go there as it could be a trap. He had seriously underestimated not only the resourcefulness of the 9th Elder but the power of the Union and his mistake was almost lethal.

His first mistake was that he could not prevent the 9th Elder from escaping as the old man never allowed another soul to enter the Scientific Headquarters not even Ignes Kravei had been allowed there, thus he could not have predicted a well prepared secret pa.s.sage for his escape.

His second mistake was that he never imagined the full power of the Union and how decisive their response would be, he thought that they would refrain to great scale action to maintain the facade against Lukedonia but they had already destroyed 80% of his acc.u.mulated resources. He had been lucky to be delayed, when in his fury for the lost of another two automatas the helicopter had been damaged, as his original destination was one of the destroyed bases that he had prepared as a hideout.

Now he only had with him one automata to act as a bodyguard and his Dark Weapon, the a.s.sistant type automatas had already outlived their life span that he had reduced to two months to maximize their productivity and intelligence. The only consolation was that he had obtained the research on the blood stone, but it seemed to be useless as he would require to sacrifice many living beings to form one and he was forced to lay low for the time been as the Union would surely be hunting him now.

He would have to wait for a few months to see if those bases were compromised as he needed the facilities, hopefully he would not need to start again from nothing. 'I will be patient even if it takes years... I will find an opportunity. But for the moment I need to lay low and hide, perhaps I should go to one of the places that they think I would not go... Korea is not an option and Lukedonia would mean death... the werewolf kingdom? Perhaps I could hide underground there... or the home of one of those n.o.bles who joined the Union...'

Lately Raskreia had found that she enjoyed how the light on the Throne Room would hide her face at this time of the day, she felt like there was no need to control the expression on her face while facing the family leaders as long as the shadow kept covering he face. But suddenly she started wondering when did she became conscious of needing to control her expression. 'I certainly didn't do that 10 years ago'. She turned her eyes to Vlad as she felt that somehow it was his fault that she felt the need to control the annoyance on her face since that time when they sparred along with the rest of the family leaders. 'Who gave the kid the confidence to try to scrag me? And it seems that he had done the same to those girls when they fight...'

She then realized that Gejutel was still talking and a faint blush appeared on her face as she had been distracted for a moment and thanked the shadow that was covering her face.

"... the Union a.s.sured that these attack would not claim any innocent bystanders, but why would they be so adamant in their hunt for this traitor Crombel?" Gejutel voice paused as he seemed lost in thought.

Lunark spoke at this moment. "It should be that he stole important information that put the Union in danger, it might be information of a powerful weapon or records of an event that the Union does not want others to know." She paused for a moment to arrange her ideas and continued.

"When I was an Elder at the Union I found that only the inner circle had access to the core information, this inner circle consisted only of the 1st Elder, the 3rd Elder and the 9th Elder. The other Elders were left to fight for resources among themselves or paid something of equal value to obtain what they needed. Crombel seemed to be specially good at devouring his compet.i.tion as most of the events that led to confrontation against the n.o.blesse in Korea were orchested by him to weaken the other Elders".

Lunark voice then gained a confused trait as she continued. "I guess that after the battle on the Werewolf Kingdom only four Elders remained and Crombel was still left out of the inner circle and having no one else to devour to increase his power... he might have attacked someone of the inner circle, most likely the 9th Elder to steal his research. But the technological modifications that Crombel had managed himself were no below to what the 9th Elder had achieved... so he should had been looking for something else..."

After a moment of silence Raskreia bored voice redirected their attention to her. "The Union is fighting against their own but whoever results victorious will become stronger and we are well aware of human greed. This battle will take time and we should not remain pa.s.sive, increasing our own strength to protect our people is what we should do".

Vlad sighed as he was confused as well, until the war against the Werewolf Kingdom he had enjoyed the advantage of knowing what would happen but from that point onwards he was just like anybody else and could only work hard to become stronger and protect the people he cared for. He sighed unwilling as the only thing he could do now was to ask the Lord herself for training in hopes of understanding the blood field and he had not dare to fight against her since the last time the family leaders had sparred against her. 'I could swear that she sometimes look at me as if she want to hit me... well I guess she will have the opportunity now'. He released a sigh and muttered. "The things I do for my people..."

A week later Vlad was floating over the sea facing Raskreia who seemed extremely determined to obtain victory making him feel as if he was going to be punished for something he did not know he did. Pointing Ragnarok at him Raskreia released a blood whirlpool that approached producing extreme pressure over him.

Vlad was wielding Sombra as a sword and also used his telekinetic powers to create an inclined barrier resting over his soul weapon to receive the impact, soon the whirlpool made contact with the barrier while his sword parried supporting the barrier and forcing the whirlpool to pa.s.s by his side. His attention was completely on trying to figure out how the blood field was different from normal blood energy control.

'Where does that energy come from? Sir Raizel uses his life force as fuel and amplifier but how does she do it? Is it only because of Ragnarok?' These ideas kept pa.s.sing through Vlad's mind as he struggled to understand the blood field. After the blood whirlpool pa.s.sed by, another soon was released and he was forced to create another telepathic barrier and then push it out using his sword to deflect the attack.

At this moment he had an idea, 'the blood whirlpool seems to be projected but not controled after its release... if it only maintains the direction in which it was released... then...' Vlad smiled as he saw another incoming blood whirlpool but this time he did not try to deflect it, he concentrated imagining that the blood whirlpool was free energy already released and he only need to take control of that energy.

He directed his sword at the blood whirlpool and felt a small connection to it through his soul weapon, he moved his sword in a fluid slow fashion to the side and the blood whirlpool was redirected without harming him and this time he did not consume as much energy as the last two attempts. Raskreia seemed surprised but could not find what he had done just now and decided to try again this time releasing two blood whirlpools.

Vlad frowned but accepted the challenge this time creating a connection with the two incoming blood whirlpools was slightly more difficult but he still managed and moved his sword upwards while the two blood whirlpools followed pa.s.sing half a meter above his head, he smiled as his progress was rewarding. "Are you not going to fight back?" Raskreia bored voice seemed provocative and Vlad noticed that she kept her soul weapon blocking in front of her as if protecting her and he understood that she was guarding against being held by her neck under his telekinetic attack.

"As you wish". His amused voice did not escape Raskreia attention and frowned for a moment, soon she saw that Vlad released a dark energy arc with his sword very similar to what she would do with Ragnarok but weaker and when she was preparing to release her own attack she felt that her right foot was pulled backwards and then up forcing her to do an uncomfortable pirouette to the front losing her bearings in surprise and forcing her to receive his attack in an awkward position while her foot remained pulling her on a different direction.

She was angered at been tricked as she had expected the attack to be directed at her neck and was suddenly forced to fight with her head facing the ground while the attacks kept coming without giving her the opportunity to regain her footing. Soon her anger reached a new level when she found that Seira and the werewolf twins were looking at the battle from afar, Seira's face seemed full of guilt while the other two had delighted surprised smiles as they hugged each other.

Raskreia aura was released forcefully freeing her for the telekinetic pull and 10 blood whirlpool descended from the sky forcing Vlad to release a black hole in front of him while urging the blood whirlpools towards it feeling as if he was fighting nature itself, he doubted that the 10 blood whirlpools would be completely devoured and willed a blood-rune-arc in preparation for his escape under the cover of the blood whirlpools colliding against the black hole... 'why is this woman always so overbearing?'

Chapter 77: Understanding Blood Field (Part II)

After a few days from his training session with Raskreia, Vlad still could feel the pain from being hit by the blood whirlpool before Raskreia accepted to end the match. 'Why was she so angry? She was the one who asked me to attack...' Vlad though ruefully while resting on the gra.s.s under the shade of a three enjoying the view of the pa.s.sing clouds.

On that day he had touched the entry to the blood field, but only in terms of understanding as his blood energy reserves were insufficient. 'Perhaps I will be able to use my blood energy battery to release the blood field for a short time and unlike the black hole... perhaps part of the energy could be recovered?'

He keep visualizing an approaching blood whirlpool and how it he could connect with it through his soul weapon. 'Sir Raizel said that the first level of the blood field was to release the blood energy around me creating the mentioned field and that it would allow me to gain control of any living being, with blood flowing through its veins, within my reach.'

"It seems that I need to keep practicing with Seira and the twins for a while focussing on using the blood field... but I should wait until I managed to release the blood field and recover as much energy from it before challenging them again". Vlad muttered amused planning the next stage of his training and thinking of paying a visit to his mentor, in the near future, to get further advice.

"Are you alright?" Seira concerned voice distracted him from his thoughts and smiled at her. "Yes, I'm just enjoying the calm of the day while thinking on how to train. Care to join me?" His nonchalant voice accompanying his smile seemed to convince her as she lay next to him and joined him in his study of the pa.s.sing clouds.

"After a few days I think will pay a visit to sir Raizel to ask for advice on my training, would you like to come with me wife?" He said as his attention rested on a cloud that seemed to faintly resemble a bird. "We could take a few days and visit that lake on France and then go for a short visit to Italy, what do you think?" This last comment seemed to form her resolution as she jolted to a sitting position. "Can we get gelato?" Her innocent answer took Vlad unprepared and busted into laughter, he seated as well and took Seira in his arms seating her on his lap. "Yes, we certainly will".

A few days later Vlad was seating on his garden while a dark fog was acc.u.mulating around him forming a circle of 3 meters in diameter. He held Sombra on his right hand while the blade rested on his crossed legs, suddenly the fog seemed to lose density and a dark dome was created around Vlad.

The black dome was translucent so everything inside seemed to be under a dark filter, it required all his concentration to maintain its form and sweat drops started to form on his forehead. During this short time he was conscious of the insects and plants that were within the dome but as keeping the form of the dome required most of his attention he could not experiment much with this.

Then the dome turned into dark fog again and receded to the jewel on Sombra's hilt, the process was slow and not efficient as he was only able to recover a third of the energy he had used to create the dome before it started dissipating. After the dark fog was completely gone he felt exhausted and slightly faint but a smile formed on his lips. "I will call that a success... still to far from been useful but that was certainly an entry to the realm". His voice could hide his growing excitement.

He used a little energy to evaporate the sweat on his body and started making his way towards his mansion, he smiled as he imagined his mother talking with Seira about her adventures on the human world before he was born. 'Perhaps it would be a good time to marry Seira? I do not know what would happen in the future... so perhaps I should do as humans said and enjoy the present and not only concentrate on training... I shall ask her thoughts on this'.

Crombel was seating in front of his monitor waiting, in the past days another of his two remaining bases was destroyed but it seemed that the last one will survive the hunt from the Union as he himself had never paid much attention to it. He smirked for a moment remembering that it was precisely that place were M-21 had undergone his heart transplant nearly 20 years ago.

He was surprised when he found that 5 years ago M-21 had reached a level in strength tha would have gained him a position as an Elder of the Union, he also understood that he had not undergone more experiments and only received help to stabilize his body while he adapted to the werewolf heart. He had lost the opportunity to keep a good tool due to his eagerness to create trouble for the other Elders, but perhaps keeping M-21 with him would have proved a wiser choice.

His last automata was making its way towards the his last base as he was immersed in his thoughts and after a few minutes he was startled when the monitor activated initiating a video conference with a newly awakened a.s.sistant type automata that was activated by his bodyguard.

"Report" Crombel voice was tense but a bit of hope remained as he waited. "Sir, the base is functional and completely out of the Union communication grid. The resources are limited but should be sufficient to create two more battle automatas".

Crombel smile seemed relieved as his luck was picking up. 'It seems that fate has not abandon me'. He thought with new found excitement. "Good, start production immediately. How many a.s.sistant type automatas are available? What are the most pressing resources needed?"

The silver helmeted automata started checking his tablet and answered. "Sir, there is only two a.s.sistant type automatas with two months of life span each same situation as me. There are no subjects to create more a.s.sistant type automatas so capturing human subjects would be a priority for now."

Crombel frowned. 'Things are not as simple as I thought'. "Send number 3 to collect adequate subjects after stabilizing the situation there. I believe there is a University Campus a few kilometers away. Make sure to capture a few students and stay away from Yeran High School I am not ready to start the conflict with the n.o.blesse". He felt worried as the last base was located in Korea and he released a sigh 'I should go there myself as soon as possible before the Union catches up my trail. Korea is dangerous but if I do not touch the n.o.blesse I will be fine... he might even serve as a shield against the Union".

Chapter 78: Understanding Blood Field (Part III)

Four days had pa.s.sed since Vlad was able to successfully deploy the blood field and his improvement was satisfying as not only the range of deployment increased to a radius of 10 meters, he also managed to improve the recycling of the blood energy to a 60% and he no longer needed to focus completely on maintaining the blood field as some sort of innate memory was awaken within Sombra helping him increase his control of energy. 'I guess that Ragnarok works on a similar way... If the Lord need to focus in maintaining the blood field she would be limiting her fighting power. But how does sir Raizel do it? Is his control ability above ours to such a level?'

"You seem to have improved again? How does it work?" Seira voice carried a hint of pride as she looked at him just outside the blood field. "Well, every time I deploy the blood field I can feel as if Sombra was learning and improving its connection to it. The first time I deployed the blood field I could barely maintain its form but now I can already fight while keeping it active... I will be quite limited still, but I can already see its potential". Vlad voice was excited and the fact that he could maintain a conversation without dissipating the blood field showed how much he had improved in these few days.

"How so? Will you become much stronger once you are able to control it proficiently?" Seira was curious as the only ones that used the blood field until now were the Lord and sir Raizel and both of them seem to use it in a similar way.

Vlad arranged his ideas before speaking and a smile slowly appeared on his face. "I think that all my attacks will almost reach the Lord level once deployed inside my blood field... for example if I were to use telekinesis or telepathy on a target inside my blood field the effect of my attack will increase... perhaps 10 times? Imagine if I deploy the black hole within my blood field... I guess that everything inside my blood field will be devoured instantly, except myself of course as the blood field would bypa.s.s me as it a.s.sist the black hole attracking anything else". His smile grew as he thought of the possibilities and then said.

"But I'm still limited by my reserves of blood energy and it will take a while to reach that level of control. I think it is time to go and visit sir Raizel again... Wife are you excited to see those children again?" A gentle smile appeared on Seira's face as she thought on the years she spent with them in high school.

"Why are they coming with us again?" Seira's voice was a little annoyed as she saw the twins approaching. Vlad sighed and said. "They were around when I told the Lord of our trip to Korea and they said that they wanted to see M-21 and promised to behave if they were allowed to come... I think that they like M-21, but with them is hard to tell if they are serious or not".

Seira imagined the serious M-21 panicking under the attention of the twins and couldn't keep avoid a smile forming on her lips. 'That would be something worth seen'. The twins arrived and they seemed excited to visit Korea making Vlad chuckle before warning them. "Remember, no bullying humans and keep your manners we are visiting the home of a very dangerous man who has great love for his material possesions".

Mirai and Urne trembled slightly remembering the blond madman and nodded their heads while keeping their mischievous smiles as if they could not wait to start making trouble making him feel a bit of apprehension. In the end he sighed as the blood-runic-arc started rotating around them.

M-21 was calmly performing his patrol on the campus gardens and not far from him a group of young women keep looking at him while seating on the gra.s.s chatting among themselves causing occasional giggles to erupt from time to time.

Suddenly M-21 tensed but before he could react he found that two women had caught his arms, Mirai and Urne where each holding one of his arms while pressing them against their b.r.e.a.s.t.s looking at him with shinning eyes why they started talking among themselves causing sweat drops forming on M-21's forehead while the group of girls stared with their mouth open as disappointment formed on their faces.

"Urne, this evil man did not come to visit us even once after he did all those thing to us!" Her voice was full of grievance as if she was about to erupt in tears. "Yes Mirai, I remember that we end up naked and barely able to move... yet he did not call even once! How should we punish him?" Urne had tears in her eyes as she refused to let go of the panicked M-21 while Vlad and Seira could help but appreciate how funny the twins were when they were not their target.

Vlad decided to ignore the predicament of the RK that had already arrived at the scene and stayed frozen with their mouths open as if wondering when did M-21 had mistreated the two women, they seemed to be about to choose to ignore his companion and continue with their patrol leaving a panicked artificial werewolf to be devoured by the twins.

A few moments later Vlad and Seira found the kids that were about to have lunch with Rai and Edian, the two girls jumped and almost tackled Seira as they hug her making her smile as Vlad approached the two n.o.bles and bowed with his hand over his heart. "Sir Raizel, Lady Edian it is good to see you! I hope you will not mind if my wife and I join you for lunch..." His voice was calm and happy as he could feel that Seira was already having fun just for meeting the kids.

Raizel was looking at Vlad surprised as he noticed that he had touched the realm of blood field and understood that his disciple had come to ask for advice, he decided that if his progress was good enough he would ask Frankenstein to prepare ramen flavoured gelato to celebrate... 'his progress better be good enough' thought Raizel.

Chapter 79: Understanding Blood Field (Part IV)

Under Frankenstein's house existed many underground levels, some were storages, other were laboratories, even a bomb shelter could be found in there. Vlad was seating in one of those underground rooms that was designed for training, around him a black translucent dome extended to half of the room.

Raizel was standing outside the blood field while Edian and Seira were not far behind him, at this time Vlad did not require much effort to maintain the blood field and a relaxed smile appeared on his lips. 'It is amazing how much Sombra helps me, its trait of increasing my control over blood and mental energies adapted perfectly to the blood field'. His thoughts were interrupted when sir Raizel voice reached him and he forced himself to eliminate all distracting ideas and focussed on his voice.

"The blood field could be an extension of your psyche and your control within is absolute... imagine it as a lucid dream, in it your will is absolute and while your power within the blood field is still limited to your energy reserves the same concept applies..." Raizel voice was calm and his speech paused from time to time to give him time to digest his words.

"You should already found out that your blood energy control and your mental energy controls grow exponentially while inside the blood field. Remember that telekinesis allows us to create matter out of thin air that we usually apply for common tasks as fixing or modifying our clothes but this concept can also be applied to healing as within the blood field you can create organic substances that could replace what your body lost and force a fusion to it that would work as regeneration comparable to the one werewolf warriors possess."

This concept was a surprise to Vlad as he knew that telekinesis could improve healing by stimulating the environment into the adequate conditions and forcing the cells of his body to overwork but the concept of regeneration meant that he could replace a missing arm like werewolves can do.

"To reach that level you need to meditate within your blood field and understand your own body, the more you understand the easier it will be to heal your wounds and even regenerate parts of your body like missing limps. I would not use this technique unless I'm facing an extreme situation as my blood field consumes my life span but your situation is different and thanks to your soul weapon you could use your energy reserves to regenerate without experiencing secondary effects."

Vlad heart was pounding fast as he understood how important this exercise would be, although it will be limited to him as he need to understand his own body to near perfection to be able to regenerate... perhaps Seira could be included... Vlad shaked his head and forced down the distracting thoughts.

"For now your training will consist mainly in meditate within your blood field and you can do that on your own without wasting much energy as I understand that you could recover most of the energy you used to deploy the blood field. What we will be practicing in the following days is how to project your blood field into a whirlpool and see if you can recover part of the energy you use on it... otherwise it will not be advisable to practice the blood whirlpool for now if you plan to use it for battle as it would drain your energy reserves almost in an instant."

It was dinner time and Frankenstein' home had a few more guests than usual, M-21 would normally be on washing dishes duty but somehow he was forced into the living room and was seated between two beautiful women who apparently had not let go of his arms since they met at lunch time today.

The two girls were quiet for a change just enjoying how uncomfortable M-21 looked while the children did the teasing. "Big brother I did not know you had a girlfriend and never would have imagined that you captured two beautiful sisters... you have to give advise!" The happy voice was interrupted by a blue haired girl. "Shinwoo... and why would you require such advice?" The red haired boy felt the room turning ice cold and started trembling.

Vlad could not help but laugh while holding Seira in his arm, 'this house is so fun to visit'. Seira had a gentle smile on her lips as she enjoyed the moment and happy that they would be staying for a while... 'perhaps we should also join the University for a while, that would be fun'.

Tao and Takeo were wondering how did the twins managed to tame M-21 so quickly as, besides the annoyed look and his refusal to speak, he seemed completely resigned to his fate.

In an underground facility Crombel was reviewing the manufacturing progress of what would be the two new battle automatas that would be ready to operate in a couple of weeks. 'It seems we have enough time as I still have two a.s.sistant type automatas, once this two are ready I will send them to collect enough specimens to create more a.s.sistant type automatas in order to be able to run this base in an efficient way. It is vexing that I need to remain hidden and avoid all communication equipments to escape the Union probes, remaining blind to what is happening outside is disturbing... 'how did they manage to find all my spies?'

"Sir the manufacturing process shows no deviation and the two battle automatas should be of the higher quality... if we would be able to acquire a few werewolf specimens the results should be much better due to their high regeneration". The mechanical voice of the silver helmeted automata distracted Crombel from his grievances.

"I agree but capturing werewolves seems to be impossible for the moment, we will be lucky to find adequate humans as it is... the 'recruitment' process will be moved after two weeks, by that time this two battle automatas should be ready and the danger of exposure would be minimized". Crombel's voice did not betray his apprehension as he seemed to be regaining his confidence due to his good luck streak during the last few days.

"Understood sir, are there any plans for the study for the blood stone?"

Chapter 80: Understanding Blood Field (Part V)

A week has pa.s.sed since Vlad started his meditations under the blood field trying to memorize the const.i.tution of his own body and found that the more he improved in this understanding he seemed to gain better control of the blood field as if he was fusing into it.

'When a high-ranking n.o.ble dies the body turns into blood particles... does that means that at one point the blood energy nurture the body to the point of turning it into saturated blood energy? Would that mean that I could sacrifice an arm to gain blood energy and regenerate it later when my blood energy reserves are filled again? I shall ask sir Raizel about this.' Vlad realized that his thoughts had diverged from the purpose of his meditation and returned to use his mental powers to memorize every cell of his body.

He had started with his right arm and after three days he had completely memorized its composition and turned his attention to his left arm. Due to the similarities it only took him a day before he completed his a.n.a.lysis and moved his attention to his right leg. By the speed in which he was progressing he would be able to complete the process in a couple of months as the organs were more complicated but in a couple of days he would be able to regenerate his arms and legs at will if needed.

After half an hour he stopped his meditation and found that sir Raizel was already there to start their practice, Vlad was determined to be able to form the blood whirlpool today and smiled thinking that this might be a turning point for him. If he was successful he would be have technically reached the Lord realm, but the limitations of using storaged energy instead of the energy contained within his body would prevent him from actually be able to compete with a Lord. Still he might as well become invincible below the Lord realm.

"Release the blood field". Raizel calm voice forced him to focus on the task at hand and soon a black translucent dome appeared surrounding him. "Now visualize the blood field condensing into a ma.s.s of blood energy with the highest density you can control without overexerting yourself." Vlad took a deep breath and sweat drops appeared on his forehead as the blood field turned into a formless black ma.s.s, that seemed highly unstable, floating in front of him.

"Good, the compressed blood field is unstable because the great raw power it possesses, a good form to facilitate the control of the condensed blood field is to force it into a whirlpool, that would make easier maintaining the density and its control. Start slowly and try to find the right speed, you will know immediately as the pressure you feel due to maintaining the rotation and the density of the blood field will reduce significantly."

The formless unstable black ma.s.s in front of Vlad started rotating on an imaginary vertical axis, the rotating speed was slow showing how difficult the task was. The speed started improving little by little as the perspiration on his forehead increased and even a vein was clearly visible from the increasing pressure he felt for maintaining the density of the condensed blood field and the increasing speed.

He felt he would lose control any moment now as it was increasingly difficult. 'Just a little more! If I fail now I would lose all my energy reserves and I would not be able to train for 4 days! a... little... more!' His thoughts became motivation and he managed to improve the speed a little more. Suddenly he felt as if he was floating as the pressure almost disappeared, the sudden release was so unsettling that he almost lost control of the new black blood whirlpool in front of him, he could feel his connection to it through Sombra and also felt how his soul weapon was memorizing the conditions needed to maintain the blood whirlpool.

'It seems that the next time I practice it would not be so difficult... Sombra's help in blood energy control seems heavenly defiant'. Vlad was beyond euphoric from both his progress and how powerful his soul weapon was. "Well done, how long can you keep it?" Raizel voice brought him to the moment again and focused trying to understand his own realm.

"At this point the energy consumption is almost null, but it took most of my energy to achieve this steep. However I feel that next time I might be able to do it almost instinctively, I mean changing from blood field to blood whirlpool". Vlad could not hide his excitement as he responded.

"Good, now what you should do is to try to recover as much of the blood energy as possible." Raizel instructed and waited as Vlad closed his eyes. 'Should I stop the rotation of the blood whirlpool and turn it back to a blood field before I try to recover the blood energy?' Vlad hesitated a moment as an idea crossed his mind and soon lost himself in calculations.

Raizel noticed that he had some inspiration and decided to wait but he frowned slightly as he prepared himself to interfere if needed. Vlad was calculating how resistant the rune arrays of his blood battery were and after 10 minutes of calculation he felt a.s.sured of his idea. The blood whirlpool did not dissipate but the lower end reduced its diameter drastically transforming the whirlpool into a slightly unstable tornado.

He extended Sombra pointing the gem located on its hilt toward the lower end of the black tornado as the blood energy battery started absorbing it, Raizel was surprised but understood what he was doing and smiled slightly reading himself to interfere if anything seemed to go wrong.

Soon the tornado disappeared but Vlad remained in the same position while examining the interior of the blood energy battery and the arrays that formed it. After a few minutes his lips started turning into a satisfied smile, the energy within the blood energy battery was stable and compressed with barely any loss from the recycling process.

He had the suspicion that if he added more blood energy it would be automatically compressed to fit with the energy already stored, this had many benefits as the quant.i.ty of blood energy he would be able to storage will grow nearly a 100 times and as long as a little of the compressed energy remained withing the battery he would not need to repeat the process.

If he take the energy without willing it to remain compressed, it will decompress automatically to feed a general use... like creating a blood field or recovering his own energy. 'T-this means t-that after my battery is filled again... I'm a real Lord level combatant!' Vlad eyes showed his unbelief at the results of a moment of inspiration accompanied for 300 years of hard work.

"Congratulations! But your training is not over... we will continue as there are still many things to learn from the blood field". Raizel voice had a touch of happiness that only those who had spent a long time with him would be able to detect... like Edian who, as always, was not far from him watching the whole process with a brilliant smile on her lips.

Chapter 81: Understanding Blood Field (Part VI)

After a week of hard training Vlad was able to release the blood whirlpool immediately like the Lord and sir Raizel as the blood energy was already compressed within his blood energy battery and his manipulation of blood energy had grown to an amazing level due to the advantage that Sombra provided.

He would need at least another three weeks to fill his blood energy new limit of storage and it will be at that moment when he could formally step into the Lord rank. Vlad had not stopped his meditation within the blood field during this week and was already able to regenerate all his limps in case of need and accelerate his own healing on organs as long as they were not completely destroyed, he figured it will take him 10 years to reach the realm of being able to regenerate his hole body as long as his head remained intact.

Today was the final lesson regarding the theory of the blood field and he would have to train on his own from this point onwards. Raizel voice was calm as he explained the highest level of blood realm he knew.

"You have witnessed that the most powerful attacks of several family leaders take the form of an animal when they release their blood energy, similar to the werewolves vitality taking the form of a wolf to exert their maximum power." Raizel took a moment before continuing as he usually did to allow Vlad to digest his words.

"The highest level of blood field is related to some degree to these two forms of attack, but the blood field do not only take the form of an animal... it also becomes alive for a moment. You have already realized that the body of high ranked n.o.bles is saturated with blood energy to the point that it might be impossible to extract the blood energy without causing damage to their bodies. Thus the blood energy can simulate life for a short moment and if you infuse your will into the blood energy construct it will not be different from a real life form within a short period of time."

Vlad was stupefied for a moment as the meaning of these words revealed a whole new level of understanding of the blood field and remembered that sir Raizel usually transformed his blood whirlpool into a phoenix increasing its power tremendously, the power was not as overbearing as the black hole but the energy required was much less...

"You seem to have figured it out, my only advice is to find a form with high meaning to you as it will help your control... in my case I chose the Phoenix as it is a mythological creature that is reborn after its vitality is depleted, a hope in my younger years". Raizel voice was calm and free as thousands of years had pa.s.sed since he had made peace with the nature of his powers and embraced it completely.

Vlad was lost in thought now. 'Is there a form that had particular meaning to me? I think I need to find out before I start this stage of my training'. He sighed as he realized that his time meditating will increase in the following days.

Vlad was seating on the rooftop holding Seira from behind while both were gazing at the starts in silence, each lost on their own thoughts. Seira was enjoying the moment of peace feeling the air caressing her hair while Vlad was trying to understand himself, he was recounting every moment of his life trying to find the traits that would better represent his will, his hopes and dreams.

He remembered the fussy early years where he could not understand the language his parents used but he knew another language and the constant worry and fear as he felt his memories vanishing until he forgot everything and only his soul memory palace remained as evidence that he had experience another life before reincarnating as n.o.ble.

He smiled faintly as he remembered his obsession with the anime and the books that were stored within his soul memory palace, perhaps trying to make sense of a life or lives that he had forgotten and how this had created strange ideas in his young mind. He felt guilty as he remembered tricking Seira into wearing cat ears and the strange motivations that prompted his studies.

He remember his training on the early days and his unconscious reluctance to accept that he was living in a world whose fate was partially recorded on a comic strip within his soul memory palace, he was unconsciously afraid of the battles to come and refused to entirely believe it and how everything changed when Seira's entire clan was ma.s.sacred as the comic strip said it would, he remembered the guilt he felt for letting that happen. He knew that there was nothing he could have done without appearing like a madman and having his memories examined, but he had not even tried to stop it.

Then he remembered his determination to grow stronger and how he had started to change the preordained fate while capturing the Kravei duo and opening the reconciliation path between the Lord and the n.o.blesse, the rescue of Edian and how he had managed to secure that not a live were to be lost during the invasion to Lukedonia. He had helped sir Raizel in recovering to his peak condition...

He started to understand himself now, his reluctance to believe out of fear of the future events as well of the possibility of being crazy and how much he had depended on the knowledge of future events to plan his actions, creating a feeling of panic when the current time catched up to the recorded events leaving him blind to the future as everyone else.

But he also remembered his own efforts, his training with the sword, the years he spent training his control over blood and mental energies, his research on runes and science and finally the creation of Sombra. His soul weapon had changed everything for him as it gave him the power to protect the people he loved and increased his potential to what he could not even imagine on those early years were fear pressed his soul.

And suddenly, a creature was taking form in his mind... it was still blurry but, with every memory he recounted and with his struggles to better understand himself, it seemed to become more defined and soon he could see it. He started feeling peace as he came to terms with himself and his existence as if he had came to know who he truly was for the first time in his life... perhaps for the first time in all his lives.