Elio exhaled a long breath of relief when he didn't sense any more vampires around him. However, he still felt so confused as to what exactly happened. A split second before the vampire could attack his grandmother, it vanished from sight.

It was clearly deliberate and not merely a coincidence of sorts.

"This place is cursed…" Emilia muttered. "Unbelievable. Also, you should've run when you saw them, Elio. Your life is far more valuable than mine. You're an idiot."

"I would never run and leave you behind, Grandma. Your life means the world to me. I would rather die than escape and leave you behind." He said with a serious tone, not caring that his grandmother was upset with him. This was simply a line Elio will never cross. He was weak and pathetic, he was clueless and naive, but he never wanted to be labeled as a coward who valued his life more than the people he cared about.

His life was worthless if what he stood for became a secondary thing to his own life. Death sounded a lot more bearable than living with the guilt of leaving his grandmother behind.

Hearing those words, Emilia was stunned. For a second, she saw her own son talking to her, overlapping with her grandson, and she was completely speechless.

'...'

"I will always stay. Even if I can't do anything, I will die here." He said as he turned around and walked to the window to check the situation outside. Meanwhile, his grandmother just stared at him, unblinking, before she sighed.

'He's just like you, isn't he?' She muttered. 'Your son is growing to be exactly like you.'

Those thoughts warmed her heart. She could see what Elio wants to be and what his heart is set on, and that was more than enough for her to feel at ease. Her grandson will honor his parents' legacy, and she was certain of that.

'No, he won't just honor it… He will change this world.' She thought to herself.

"Hmm, it seems this only happened in here. The situation outside is still relatively the same."

Elio noticed that the number of vampires was decreasing noticeably with every passing minute, indicating that the Hunters were slowly taking control of the city again. This was naturally an expected outcome.

Nobody thought such an invasion would destroy Vaylor and the rest of the clans, but it was surely going to deal a lot of damage to them, damage that would take a long time to fix. Whoever did this knew that very well, and their plan, if that was their goal, had already succeeded magnificently.

That raised another question… Who made the vampires disappear there?

Elio slowly started to realize the possibility as a small smile appeared on his face. Of course, it was that person, who else could it be?

Looking up, he scoffed.

'Thank you, Melissa.'

***

"Geez, my Elio is still the trouble magnet he always is. I almost didn't make it in time." Melissa crossed her arms as she floated high above the clouds, watching the scene with a calm smile on her face. "I guess he already figured that it was me. Smart."

She sighed as she looked down. "Now, let's see… It seems those idiots have gone ahead and done it. I never thought they had the balls to pull this off. I guess I underestimated how truly stupid they are."

Even though this plan had worked out in Melissa's eyes, she knew that the repercussions from this on the masterminds of this invasion would not be easy. The last thing they should've done was underestimate Vaylor.

This was no mere attack; this was a call for war, and Melissa knew better than anyone else what Vaylor is capable of doing.

'This is going to be fun to watch. Perhaps it will give me an opportunity… A very nice one.'

For a second, a wicked smile appeared on her face, and her eyes shifted for a second. A plan was slowly forming in her head at that moment, and it only made her feel even more excited for the future.

Finally, something exciting to witness after all these years. Things are finally starting to move, and the gears are starting to shift.

***

"Elio! Elio! Where are you?!"

After running for a bit, Fiona realized that Elio wasn't near her. The chaos was far too big for her to stop and check her surroundings, especially with all the vampires she was killing with every passing second.

'Did he get lost in the crowds?' She clenched her teeth as she looked around her. Vampires were rushing toward her, attacking her from every angle. She couldn't even take a single breath before she had to move again.

It was like the vampires realized she was the biggest threat and tried to neutralize her quickly before she eliminated them.

However, that was far easier said than done. Each vampire who got within her vicinity got sliced into pieces without any mercy; not even a single one could approach her. In a matter of minutes, Fiona killed dozens and dozens of vampires and cleared a path for many people to run.

Luckily, nobody seemed to even care about what was happening. All they cared about was running for their lives and finding shelter before they got eaten.

"Fiona!!!"

As she was standing there, she heard someone calling for her. 'Elio?!' Her eyes lit up with hope when she heard that voice. However, upon turning, she saw Alex.

"There you are!! I finally found you! I heard from the other squad that you came to the city plaza!" He said, looking rather perturbed. "What the hell is going on?!"

"It's a citywide attack. It seems all, or most, vampires have turned rabid at the same time. We still don't know why."

"Where is your dad? Is he aware of all of this?"

"I don't know. He is most likely somewhere trying to take control of the situation." She said.

"We need to get to the estate. The situation here is utterly chaotic."

"No, we need to stay here and clear the area. The other squads are being overworked. We will take control of the city center so we can expand quickly." Fiona explained. "I also need to find Elio. I can't leave him alone."

"Where is he?"

"He probably got lost in the crowd. I will find him. He should be fine."

Fiona believed in Elio. He had trained hard and gotten much stronger. He should be able to take on most challenges he would face. However, that didn't stop her from worrying deeply.

A million thoughts crossed her mind, and she didn't want to think about them. For now, she has to take control of this place and find Elio, those were her main goals.

"Let's go."

With that, Fiona and Alex started moving again to join the other squads.

The elimination process was tedious and brutal. Such a scale not only made fighting worse because of the mass panic, but also finding vampires as they ran rampant everywhere was very tricky.

Still, Vaylor didn't gain their reputation for nothing. They were the strongest clan in the world and the ones with the most influence on the world. No threat could truly risk toppling this behemoth of an entity.

This was, in their books, a hard challenge, but nothing they couldn't handle. That became apparent very quickly.

Merely 30 minutes later, everything started; thousands of vampires had already been killed, and entire sections of the city were fully cleaned. The Hunting squads took care of killing, while the cleaning squads did everything they could to erase the presence of all vampires from the area.

It was impossible to do that since these events have already been aired on TV across the nation and in other nations, so the secret was blown out. Luckily, nobody knew why these seemingly normal humans suddenly started attacking people.

The world watched in horror at the scenes of destruction. It became global news almost instantly, taking over every news channel and every headline on the internet.

Meanwhile, within one of the many buildings, Elio and his grandmother were still stuck inside. The vampires have invaded the building, not that long after they got in. Since they were chasing humans and this building seemed rather intact compared to the rest, it naturally caught their attention.

They luckily hid within one of the rooms and waited silently. Meanwhile, the creatures outside continued their massacre. The cries of people, the despair, the smell of death and blood, filled Elio's senses, and he couldn't do much about it.

He cannot fight that many vampires on his own. He also can't leave his grandmother on her own.

Sitting there, they were forced to listen to the innocent people dying. Elio's heart kept breaking, and his urge to just stand up and pick up his sword only grew with every passing second.

However, each time, his grandmother would hold his arm and shake her head.

"Your time to help will come, Elio. Wait."