Nishikata Shiki, another member of the occult research club, stepped forward from the corner of the room.

He was a quiet, pale-skinned boy with messy black hair that fell over his eyes.

He adjusted his glasses slightly before speaking in a calm, almost detached voice.

Shiki explained his powers without much emotion.

His ability allowed him to summon the undead. If he witnessed a dead corpse or arrived at one that had died no more than five to ten minutes earlier, he could bring it back under his control.

However, the corpses he summoned were never fully restored.

Their souls were incomplete — only partially pulled back from death.

Because of this limitation, the revived bodies moved with a hollow, mechanical obedience.

He demonstrated by raising his right hand.

A faint, dark purple energy gathered around his fingers. He described how, during actual fights, he could call upon these corpses to battle for him.

So far, he had collected and maintained over thirteen different corpses.

Each time he used them in combat, they grew noticeably stronger, evolving gradually the more they were deployed.

The first few times they rose, the corpses looked like classic zombies — stiff, shambling movements, rotting flesh, and completely black, lifeless eyes.

But with repeated use, they began to change. Their bodies became more durable, their movements smoother, and their strength increased dramatically.

Three of his thirteen corpses had already evolved into full vampires.

These three were all beautiful-looking ladies with long flowing hair and striking red eyes that glowed faintly in dim light.

They no longer shambled.

Instead, they moved with graceful, predatory elegance. These vampire corpses could summon powerful vampire winds that howled through the air like razor-sharp blades, perform telekinesis to lift and throw heavy objects, use echolocation to sense surroundings even in total darkness, and wield various other classic vampire abilities.

Another five of his thirteen corpses had reached a high-level zombie state, already entering what Shiki called "ghoul mode."

These ones no longer acted like mindless shambling undead.

Their movements had become more composed and fluid, almost human-like in precision, though their eyes remained pitch black and their skin carried a deathly pallor.

Despite their increased intelligence and power, they still only acted when Shiki gave direct mental commands.

He controlled them like remote puppets.

Most impressively, Shiki could see through their eyes simultaneously — whatever any of his corpses saw, he saw in real time, giving him a powerful multi-angle battlefield awareness.

As Shiki finished explaining, the club room remained silent, the weight of his words sinking in.

Several members glanced at him with a mix of awe and unease.

Dracula, who had been standing quietly beside Rin with his usual elegant posture, finally spoke.

His rich, accented voice carried a faint note of amusement as he looked at Shiki and said, "That’s some weak vampire you got there."

The comment was clearly made while comparing the summoned vampire ladies to his own legendary strength level.

He paused for a moment, then added with a small, aristocratic smile, "But I’m impressed a human can do something like that."

The words hung in the air. Shiki adjusted his glasses again, showing no visible reaction to being called "weak" by the tall, silver-streaked man.

The three beautiful vampire corpses that Shiki kept stored somewhere nearby were powerful by human standards, capable of dominating most fights with their vampire winds, telekinesis, and echolocation.

Yet to someone like Dracula, they were still fledglings — pale imitations of true vampiric might.

Rin continued to maintain his act of surprise, nodding slowly as if processing brand-new information, while internally he found the entire display mildly entertaining. The club room felt heavier now, the revelations about real powers, undead summoning, and secret connections to the Hero Association shifting the atmosphere from curious occult hobby to something far more serious.

Hanako and Akane watched the exchange closely, their earlier argument about who would protect Rin completely forgotten.

The other club members whispered among themselves, some excited, others visibly nervous about the true nature of the club they had joined.

Dracula’s faint smile never left his face as he continued to observe Shiki with polite but clearly superior interest, while Rin stood beside him, pretending to be just another clueless student discovering the hidden world of the occult research club for the first time.