In an unknown location, inside a dark room, a throne made of what appeared to be bones stood.
A beautiful lady with smooth skin and long hair, a mixture of red, blue, green, and black, sat on the throne.
Her purple eyes gleamed menacingly as she stared forward, seemingly staring into space.
Suddenly, she furrowed her brows slightly as if she sensed something and began tapping her fingers on the armrest of the throne.
A few seconds later...
A bright flash of blinding purple light suddenly appeared in front of her.
The lady didn't seem quite surprised, though her brows were still furrowed.
The light finally died down, revealing the individual who had just arrived.
It was a girl. She had long purple hair with a fringe that covered her right eye, and she also had purple eyes just like the lady.
Though, her eyes held a certain kind of shock, making a slight frown appear on the lady's face.
With her hand resting on her cheek, the lady asked, "What is it, Kiara?"
Kiara instantly went down on one knee, with her head lowered. "I greet the Queen."
"Answer my question," the lady said, her eyes fixated on Kiara. "Why are you back without my son? Did something happen?"
Kiara was trembling slightly, but she managed to keep her cool and say something.
"Uhm... My Queen," Kiara began, "there's a serious issue. I just made a disturbing discovery."
The lady's frown deepened, her eyes never leaving Kiara. "Tell me what happened..."
Kiara instantly nodded and began explaining.
"Thanks to the ring you gave me, I was able to conceal my Draconic Energy and also pinpoint his exact location.
"And infiltrating the Academy also went more smoothly than I expected. And when I arrived in the classroom, I found out that I happened to be in the same class as him."
Before Kiara could continue, the lady suddenly shot her a look, as if telling her that she should speak faster.
Understanding this, she continued.
"I didn't get the chance to speak to him personally for a while because of the Academy activities and because he always seemed to disappear once classes were over.
"But I finally got the chance to speak to him because there was a commotion, and the buildings were being destroyed.
Kiara paused, as if thinking of a way to say what she was about to say.
The lady squinted her eyes, staring at Kiara with so much intensity. "But what?"
Kiara closed her eyes for a second, and when she opened them, they were filled with anger.
"When I saw him, he was part of those causing the commotion, but most importantly, th... there was something different."
The lady remained quiet, waiting to hear what Kiara would say next.
Kiara was still struggling to speak, so the lady decided to help her out.
"The seal got broken?" she asked, her brows raised.
Kiara shook her head. "N... No."
She gritted her teeth in anger before she finally mustered the courage to say the words.
"T... Those damn leeches..." she muttered.
"Hm?" The lady's purple eyes glinted. "Those leeches? What did they do?"
She still had a slightly calm expression on her face and seemed like she wanted to know what happened, but deep down, Kiara knew that she had already realized what was going on and just wanted to hear her say it.
"Uhm... Those leeches," Kiara muttered, stuttering slightly, "they turned him into one of them."
Immediately after Kiara finished talking, a certain kind of unsettling silence filled the room... A kind of silence that seemed to be louder than words.
Kiara remained kneeling and just continued staring at the floor, not even daring to raise her head.
Meanwhile, the lady was still in the same position, not saying anything.
Though, by the second, the tension was increasing drastically, making Kiara shiver.
Suddenly, the air in the room felt heavy, and at that same moment...
A heavy wave of energy instantly exploded from the lady's body, pressing down on Kiara.
Kiara's eyes widened. "Uh... Ah... Ah..."
Her raised knee instantly fell, making her kneel down on both knees. She clenched her right hand, and the fingers on her left hand scraped the floor as she struggled with the sudden pain she felt in her heart.
All of a sudden, it was hard to breathe.
'Such pressure...' she thought. 'Shit... Even if I hadn't said anything, the same thing would have happened.'
The lady's eyes were now glowing as she glared at Kiara. "Since you only sensed it before you returned, you're trying to tell me that he recently got turned into a leech, huh?"
Kiara wanted to answer, but she couldn't because of the lady's immense energy.
Realizing this, the lady made it disappear so that Kiara would be able to respond.
The pained expression on Kiara's face began disappearing as she replied. "There's a high probability that he recently got turned into a leech because I couldn't sense anything from him until before I returned, but..."
She paused as she raised her head slightly.
"There's also a high chance that he has been turned for a while now and is able to hide the energy of those leeches," Kiara said.
The lady's eyes widened slightly. "If that's the case, then that means he has been with those leeches for a while to be able to hide the energy."
Kiara nodded her head nervously. "I think that's the case..."
The lady's eyes instantly turned sharp as a certain aura suddenly enveloped her.
"Those vampires... Nothing has really been going on between us and them," she muttered as the aura increased. "But they have stepped on a line they shouldn't even have gotten close to..."
Her eyes flickered. "And for that, they'll pay the price..."
Kiara's eyes widened as she stared at the look in her Queen's eyes.
"...I'll make them regret ever laying a hand on my son."
Arin had unknowingly created another chaos.
"Tch... I'll show them... I'll show them just what I'm capable of," Vaelric muttered to himself as he walked on a paved street in the Vampire Kingdom.
His cloak fluttered behind him as he ignored the crowd of vampires also walking in the street and bowing at him.
He was the only one among all the Progenitors who never had a smile on his face and was always ignoring the vampires bowing, so they weren't even surprised that he was ignoring them.
Well, it wasn't like they had any other choice. If they even decided not to bow, it would be a serious issue, and he wouldn't take it easy with them.
Vaelric finally reached a wide gate that led to something like a different city entirely.
With one glance, it was obvious that this place was isolated from the other places.
Three moons settled in the sky, illuminating the deep darkness of the Vampire Realm.
Vaelric opened the gate and walked in, arriving in the city that was nothing short of quiet.
Only a few people were walking in the streets, and the others were inside their houses. Immediately, those who were walking in the street saw Vaelric, they instantly dashed into their homes.
Vaelric frowned. "Ugh... Stinky humans!"
Yes, the people living in this city were humans!
In the war between humans and vampires, the vampires were able to capture a good number of humans and bring them to the Vampire Realm with them.
It was at that moment the former King was put to sleep because he was too old. Thalos then took over from his father, but he ordered that all the humans that were captured shouldn't be rough-handled, angering most of the vampires.
He even went on to build a separate city for them and ordered that blood would only be taken from them once every two weeks and in small amounts.
This was more than enough to make some of the Vampires furious, but what could they do? The King had given his order.
The Beasts in the Vampire Kingdom were edible, so the humans were able to survive, and their numbers had even increased drastically due to reproduction.
At this point, the humans occupied one full city.
Vaelric was among the Vampires who were angered by Thalos's order, but now, he could no longer take it anymore.
Vaelric arrived in front of a house and instantly barged inside.
The old man inside the house almost jumped out of his chair in shock.
Vaelric sat down, staring at the man. "Old man, any update?"
The old man sighed as he leaned back in his chair. "You might have scared the update out of me."
Vaelric leaned forward, his eyes sharp as he stared at the man. "Don't mess with me..."
The old man chuckled as he stroked his beard. "Okay, yes, I've found the solution."
He stopped chuckling as he stared at Vaelric. "I've found a way for vampires to utilize mana..."