The Azure King had fallen?
Nighteye’s blood core started beating faster upon hearing this. Qianye roared with a dark expression, “The fall of a great dark monarch is a matter of great importance. How dare you make personal judgments? Speak the truth or die.”
Shocked out of his wits, the demonkin marquis cried out, “I’m not lying! I swear to the darkness origins, I’m not lying! As a Jeruson family member with duke potential, I’m privy to this much information! The Azure King has fallen. A blood relative elder told me personally.”
Qianye softened his tone. “Since you’re from a famed demonkin clan, you should know about the connection between vampires. Why would other vampires not know about the fall of a great dark monarch?”
“That…” The demonkin’s eyes shifted about. “I know some inside information, but will you spare me if I tell you?”
“Speak!”
The marquis didn’t dare bargain anymore. “I heard the Azure King’s blood core is still intact… cough, cough, that’s why the secret connection wasn’t cut off entirely. That might be the reason.”
Nighteye’s body swayed weakly for a brief moment. She then said through clenched teeth, “Ask him who killed Reynold.” Seeing as they could tell that Reynold was dead and that his blood core was intact, the demonkins’ role in this matter was self-evident.
The marquis explained without Qianye having to ask, “I heard the Eternal Flame and Progia went with the Sable Blessing.”
Nighteye shook her head. “I know Reynold’s strength very well! Those two can’t take him down. Reynold… fought to the end for us.”
A fight between great dark monarchs was beyond Qianye’s knowledge. He had no idea how to console Nighteye, so he simply reached out and touched her hair.
Nighteye composed herself, saying, “Looks like the demonkin are ready for an all-out war. I just wonder why they choose to do so at this point.”
Qianye took things one step further. “How many blood ponds are included in your operation? How many clans have been affected?”
“I don’t know about the others, but the Jeruson family was assigned fourteen blood ponds. Three of them belong to the old clans,” the marquis said obediently.
Nighteye and Qianye exchanged glances.
There was still no telling whether these missions were the council’s actual decision or if the demonkin were issuing fake orders for personal gains. Even with the most optimistic calculations—assuming only the seven major demonkin clans were leading this operation—the number of blood ponds being captured was well over a hundred.
The vampire realm might be big, but even counting lower-grade ones like the Mueller family’s, the number of true ancient blood ponds was fairly small. The demonkin were capturing over a hundred of them, which was at least one-third if not half.
The blood ponds were the vampire race’s true strategic resource. Vampires at the end of their lives required them to extend their life. They also needed them to restore themselves after awakening.
The blood ponds required time to acc.u.mulate. Many of them needed hundreds of years to acc.u.mulate enough blood energy for a duke’s slumber—this was the definition of an ancient blood pond. The vampires, without blood ponds, would be comparable to a shortage of grains for humans. The entire race’s foundations would be shaken.
From the scale of this operation, this was likely an all-out war.
Seeing that there was nothing else the marquis could tell them, Nighteye slashed the man in half with her dark golden blood energy.
Qianye frowned, but he didn’t say anything.
Nighteye understood what he was thinking. “Burning at the stake is to the vampires, what blood feasts are to humans. It’s a humiliation and provocation that cannot be endured. What they did here just now is enough for all the old clans to declare war on the Jeruson clan.”
Qianye touched Nighteye’s head. He didn’t say anything and merely followed her to the castle grounds. A group of sobbing vampire ladies and some young vampire barons were standing around an old man. The man looked rather weak as he sat leaning against a stone pillar, half of his body charred black.
Seeing Qianye and Nighteye appear, Marquis Mueller struggled to kneel on one knee. “Thank you for the help, Your Majesties. I am dying, but these children still have a future ahead of them. We offer you eternal loyalty, this territory we’ve owned for two thousand years, as well as the castle and blood pond! All I ask is the continuation of the Mueller family’s bloodline.”
He wanted to become a vassal to Qianye and Nighteye.
Nighteye said, “Where is the Carlton Clan Lord?”
Marquis Mueller said, “The current lord of the Carlton Clan is Grand Duke Ronnie, and the elder assembly consists of four dukes and a prince. The old prince has been asleep for three hundred years and never ignited a seal in the River of Blood. Duke Ronnie is also asleep fairly often, only waking up every three years.”
Even Qianye was frowning by this point.
It would seem the Carltons had fallen quite far as a member of the major vampire clans.
There were two types of slumber—one in which the person could wake up on his own, and one which required external stimuli to awaken. The former was mainly undertaken to communicate with the River of Blood and improve one’s strength. The latter was to enter a state of stasis and conserve energy, requiring large amounts of resources.
The Carlton clan’s prince had been asleep for three hundred years. He would be near the end of his life even if he could be awakened. Moreover, an uncrowned prince like this one might not be all that strong compared to a duke in his peak state.
Nighteye said, “The Carlton clan’s strength has been on the decline since a long time ago, but some of the higher-ranked clans have been giving them help and offering protection for their lands. That’s because those of the Carlton bloodline have the highest chance of igniting their blood seal.”
Qianye realized the reason after this explanation.
Half of the seals in the River of Blood were dim. Protecting the Carltons was akin to saving an opportunity for the vampire race to light up another seal. This was also why the twelve major clans never lost their inheritance despite the infighting.
Perhaps one day, the Carltons would produce a young genius who could light up their blood seal. He would be able to lead the entire Carlton family to glory, just like Habsburg.
Qianye could venture a guess by now. “Since the demonkin are targeting three of the major vampire clans, are they trying to cut off their inheritance?”
“Perhaps.”
This was a move to uproot these families. As a peerlessly powerful being, why was the Queen of the Night ignoring this? Why did she allow such a plan to pass? Things didn’t make sense at all. The werewolves would be all too happy that things were playing out this way, while the arachne were probably unconcerned. But what of the vampire powerhouses?
What Qianye could think of, Nighteye could as well. “We should head to the Perth clan. We must let her know what has transpired here.”
“Okay.” Qianye was curious about Nighteye’s stance toward Lilith. There was a basic level of courtesy at the very least.
Nighteye turned back toward old Mueller. “Summon all your descendants with potential.”
The old marquis issued the order. A while later, a total of eleven young vampires were kneeling before Qianye and Nighteye. There were men and women among them, the strongest being a viscount and the youngest one, a knight.
Nighteye’s blood energy condensed into a map, saying, “From today, you are my vassals. Pack up your resources and your blood pond, then head over to this location and hide. Repair the castle there while waiting for my next orders. Go prepare.”
The eleven young vampires remained kneeling on the ground. Each of them cut their wrist, splashing blood onto their vampiric blades as they swore loyalty to Nighteye.
The entire process was short and solemn. Only after the ceremony was complete did the Mueller descendants leave to complete the move.
Marquis Mueller’s eyes were full of emotion and pain. “From now on, the Mueller family is no more. But to be able to continue our line under your protection is somewhat of a relief to my guilt.”
The old marquis sat down and closed his eyes, his life force dissipating as he did so.
While Nighteye was making arrangements, Qianye walked around the castle and observed the surroundings. There were traces of battle in many areas, as well as badly mutilated corpses that hadn’t been cleared away. Apparently, the vampires had suffered a fair bit of humiliation and abuse before their passing.
This wasn’t a war, but rather a one-sided massacre. The Mueller family wasn’t strong, to begin with, and had no chance against the overwhelming forces of the Evernight Council. Of course, another reason was that the demonkin had entered the castle in the name of the council. This allowed them to bypass all defensive measures.
The commander of this operation could be considered rather moderate in nature, but his second-in-command was apparently not so. This person, a werewolf, had already fallen to Nighteye’s blade. No matter the point of view, it was clear that the demonkin marquis wasn’t going to restrain his subordinate.
There were also quite a few corpses that belonged to the warriors of the council, many of them arachne and werewolves. The execution wasn’t limited to the plaza, either. There were also stakes in the rear courtyard.
After Nighteye killed the council warriors in fury, the surviving vampires quickly extinguished the flames and released their kin from the stakes.
Qianye came to a stop before a petite corpse. It belonged to a vampire girl who hadn’t even reached a.d.u.l.thood. Her small, pale face used to be pretty, but now, it was distorted in an expression of pain—her eyes wide open and the corners of her lids torn as she screamed silently.
Perhaps because she was too young, her beautiful face remained untouched even though her body was mostly charred. A lingering wisp of demonic energy proved that one of their experts had protected her face. This wasn’t out of pity, but rather so that they could see her agonized expression more clearly.
Several more corpses were being moved over and covered in scarlet cloth.
Qianye trembled as he sank into that girl’s pain and her expression that had remained frozen at the peak of agony. He could almost feel himself being burned at the stake.
Qianye sighed deeply. He realized that this was war, a hatred that extended tens of thousands of years. The dark races’ infighting was not at all inferior to the wars between the Empire and Evernight.
Some of the survivors looked sad, some looked numb, and others sobbed quietly.
Glancing at those faces, Qianye suddenly realized that he had seen such faces a long long time ago. It had been fairly long since he last witnessed a blood feast, but the scenes from Evernight Continent remained deeply imprinted in his memories. Even though their faces had already turned blurry, the pain and desperation still lingered in his mind.
At this moment, the misfortune that stemmed from racial issues came to overlap in his mind. The vampires’ situation before him wasn’t that different from the plight of the humans back then. Everyone’s reaction to tragedy was similar to that of ordinary people.
Not every dark race member was born a warrior. Even the long-lived races would die and grow weak. They would feel pain at losing relatives and kin.
Because of his blood core, he could vaguely sense the emotions of the vampires around him. This was supposed to be his advantage as a superior expert, yet he felt drowned in sadness.
