To the nobles, blood was so important that it was called the very essence of the soul.

And.

The more powerful a noble became, the larger and purer that essence grew.

As a noble's power increased, no amount of low-quality blood could satisfy its hunger anymore.

Once one stepped beyond the realm of a great noble, from that point onward, even if the blood of mediocre monsters were poured in like a river, growth would be impossible.

'If we're talking about a Grand Duke, the head of a bloodline.'

Even for a race famed for recovery so powerful it bordered on the absurd, to achieve even minimal restoration, it required high-quality blood—

and a tremendous quantity of it.

All this time, Jinlei had offered up the blood of countless miscellaneous humans, and through that blood, many of the bloodline had been restored.

But.

Most of those had been nothing more than lower knight-class troops.

"Haa..."

Now, that was no longer the case.

"Blood tasted after such a long time... truly does have a rather special flavor."

Vitality returned to the skin of the giant who had collapsed in the corner, and as its body gradually shrank, it transformed into the form of a beautiful, muscular man.

"I apologize for fouling your long-awaited meal with inferior blood."

"What of it. Didn't I tell you? Hunger is the finest seasoning."

It was the moment the Grand Duke of the bloodline revived.

"Thanks to you, I was at least able to somehow quell my hunger. Your effort is considerable."

Of course.

That revival was far from perfect.

It was only now, at last, at the level where it could barely breathe again.

From here on, it would have to hunt many monsters and gradually recover its power.

"If there is one regrettable thing..."

Jinlei had spent a long time gathering the highest-level awakened to offer them to that Grand Duke.

And among them—

"If only I had gotten the blood of the last one as well, it would have been a little better."

"..."

There had been exactly one person who had not become the Grand Duke's meal.

"I'm sorry."

At those words from the Grand Duke, Jinlei lowered his head with a grimace of genuine shame and said,

"I was so focused on spilling the blood of the others that I failed to notice that one's escape."

"Hm."

"It was due to my own lack of ability. Because of that, your recovery will take a little longer, Grand Duke... please reprimand me."

At that, the Grand Duke looked at Jinlei with an odd gaze, then said,

"Lack of ability... is it?"

Soon after, it shrugged and spoke in a merciful voice.

"Well, leave it be. Thanks to your efforts, I was able to ease my hunger this much. Does that not make your merit all the greater?"

Outside, it was daytime, with the sun still up.

It would not be able to chase down that fugitive.

There was nothing more foolish than clinging to an enemy one could not catch.

"More importantly, from this point on, things will be busy."

All blood of the bloodline originated from the Grand Duke, the head of that bloodline.

Hooook...

As Grand Duke Valarak began breathing once more, the Melchiorn castle, which had been filled with nothing but death and silence, began to stir.

The bloodline filling the castle had begun breathing again.

"For now, according to plan."

The moment the sun outside sank and night arrived, the knights who had been revived through sacrifice would become the vanguard and head out to hunt.

Through that hunt, the nobles would slake their thirst, and then they would lead the knights out and begin gathering even more of the bloodline.

And before long—

"Shall we swallow this nation whole?"

—the great kingdom of the old night would descend upon this land once more.

***

When the battle between Jinlei and the generals began, Kaio turned around without hesitation and fled the castle.

He had suffered far too many injuries in the battle against the generals.

Some of them were fatal wounds that, no matter how awakened he was, could never be erased for the rest of his life.

'I've gotten weaker.'

Holding on to his fading consciousness, Kaio squeezed his mind as hard as he could and thought.

'In that fight... there isn't a single one on my side.'

The generals and Jinlei alike.

Whatever differences there were between them, both sides were the same in one respect—

they were all people who had betrayed humanity and meant to sell it out.

There was no meaning in choosing one side and fighting for it.

If so—

'I have to run.'

He was so gravely injured that brain matter was leaking out of his head.

As blood that had lost its way ran down across his skin, the harder he strained his mind, the worse the headache became.

His brain, unable to receive enough blood, screamed in agony.

And so, slowly, he began to die.

A wound that by all rights should have led to brain death.

But.

'I have to fight.'

Kaio endured that injury through sheer will and carved a resolve he would never forget into his mind.

'I have to tell them.'

That down below there lurked something whose very order of existence was different—

something that would see humanity as little more than toys, and that before long, it would begin to move.

And he himself—

'I have to prepare.'

Not only that mighty giant, but also... the one who had declared he would offer all of humanity to it.

'Jinlei.'

That traitor—

'I have to hunt him down.'

***

Tap.

And so.

With nothing left but that resolve hammered into place by will alone, his outstretched fist struck the enemy's chest.

"...I felt it last time too."

But.

"It seems you injured your head quite badly back then, General."

"Grrk..."

Unfortunately, the power in Kaio's fist had long since vanished.

He had been severely wounded from the start.

Even if he squeezed out the tiny scrap of remaining vital force and swelled his strength with it, there was no way it could last.

"Trai... tor..."

Even so, Kaio clenched his teeth and poured power into that fist.

Paaaaak...

Light burst from it.

A power that made vampires feel as though their entire bodies were burning with extreme pain from mere contact, and the stronger the vampire, the more fatal the wound it inflicted.

Even while his mind had been veiled in a haze, he had somehow managed to master it through a single-minded determination to oppose those enemies.

Only three humans in all mankind had succeeded in learning it.

And among them, the fastest and most gifted by far had been Kaio.

But.

"...If it were the old you, you never would have done something this meaningless."

Even though that light touched him, Jinlei showed not the slightest pain.

'Ah...'

His body heated from the fever of battle, and as blood reached his head, his half-dead brain slowly began to reactivate.

'Right... is that it.'

Recovering even a fragment of his reason, Kaio blankly raised his head and looked up at the sky.

'The sun is up.'

Something he had failed to realize through his fogged mind.

A light far more brilliant than the one he was giving off was already pouring down from the heavens.

'But if that's the case...'

And yet.

Flap...

Bat wings beat, a mighty power covered the body, and even long-grown claws—

'Then how is that... possible...?'

Jinlei was using the power of those vampires as though it were nothing.

"A man once famed more for strategy and intellect than raw strength. To think you've become a beast that can't even notice something this obvious."

Just as he said, the power Kaio had mastered—

the very force that should have been the vampires' nemesis—

had already been proven meaningless the moment Jinlei stood here.

And that wasn't all.

"Last time, I wondered how you'd managed to become such a beast."

Jinlei moved his hand slightly.

Kaio's spilled blood flew toward him.

Sluuurk...

The blood melted into his body.

Jinlei briefly closed his eyes, as though focusing on the sensation in that blood, then opened them again and said,

"Thanks to the Marquis, I came to understand."

Soon after, he spoke.

"This must be the reason."

As he stretched out his hand, from there—

Paaaaaaak...!

A faint golden light took shape.

'...Ah?'

Kaio's eyes, seeing that, flew wide open as though they might split apart.

And for good reason.

"That's my—!"

That was—

the result of the training he had poured in blood, sweat, and effort to learn, even in that hazy state of mind.

"Did you really reduce yourself to that state just to master a power this trivial?"

It was the very sunlight he had honed down to the bone for the sole purpose of stopping Jinlei.

"Isn't it laughable?"

Jinlei looked at his glowing hand and laughed.

"A race from another world. Even if they happen to look somewhat similar, the odds are higher that, at the chromosomal level, they're a completely different species from us... and yet the things they do are this alike."

"How...?"

"I find it hard to believe myself. It seems the human race is the same no matter where you go."

But.

Though the corners of his mouth were tilted upward,

"Teaching sacrifice to others as though it were something noble, then forcing them to burn away their own souls ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) to protect everyone else."

"..."

"While the overwhelming majority do nothing but enjoy the sacrifice of that tiny few..."

his eyes alone had turned frighteningly cold.

"How selfish and ugly can a species be?"

Once he finished saying that, the light in his hand faded.

"You know it too, don't you, General."

"Grrk...!"

"If you hadn't tried to master power like this and had simply received ordinary treatment, then no matter how severe the wound to your head had been, by now you would at least have recovered to the level of ordinary intelligence."

He looked at Kaio with a strange gaze, then said,

"...What a shame, General."

Letting out a sigh, he began walking toward him.

"You escaped so well back then, and yet in the end you've reappeared before me in a state like this."

He paused for a moment, as if lost in thought.

Then he raised his hand.

"If you were only going to end up like this, you should have hidden yourself away somewhere alone."

"Hooook, huhk...!"

"If you had... then at least I wouldn't have had to cut you down again like this."

His nails began to grow long and sharp.

"What a real shame this is."

And then.

Jinlei, who had held onto that strange hesitation until the very end, finally resolved himself and was about to swing those claws—

"General!!!"

At that exact moment.

Bang!

An attack that flew in from somewhere struck Jinlei's hand aside.

"Are you all right, General Kaio!?"

"The one attacking the General was—"

"General... no!"

As they turned their eyes that way, what stood there was—

"It's Jinlei the traitor!"

Filled with fury, countless awakened were charging in with weapons in hand.

***

"Traitor Jinlei!"

The fight with Kaio had dragged on.

If Jinlei had truly wanted to, it could have ended quickly.

But...

whatever the reason may have been, the result was that the battle had no choice but to turn into a lengthy disturbance.

'They say hesitation is poison.'

That barrier of shadow set up in the distance.

Even those who had been focused on the fighting inside it had been able to notice the battle raging behind them.

"Grand Duke's whore!"

The ones heated up from the battle inside that shadow came rushing over without hiding their excitement.

"General Jinlei. I... I trusted you!"

"Trusted my ass!"

"There's no need for words with a traitor. Kill him!"

They were the same people who had been overwhelming the fight on that battlefield.

And their momentum now was more ferocious than ever.

Even Jinlei had no choice but to click his tongue at that overwhelming force.

'If their momentum were lacking, that would be one thing. But with that kind of momentum, and that many of them...'

Even under this sun, he could still wield the power of the nobles.

For all practical purposes, that meant he no longer had the weakness other nobles possessed.

'I can't do it alone.'

But.

The same would hold true even if other nobles lost their weakness as well.

No one could defeat a group with that kind of force by themselves.

'...All because I saw a face I shouldn't have.'

In the end, Jinlei withdrew the arm he had been about to bring down on Kaio, clicked his tongue, and had no choice but to carry out what he had originally planned.

Pahk!

'Come!'

As he stretched out his hand, the blood spilled there drew toward him.

The sun's light was fatal to them.

But put differently—

'So long as that light is removed, there is not a single reason the bloodline should lose to humanity.'

Unlike the other nobles, he knew that there was a being responsible for creating that sun.

That knowledge had seeped into his brain.

The reason he had come here was to kill the one who had created that sun, now carelessly standing beneath it.

'Remove the sun, then call in my thralls.'

The thralls bestowed on him directly by the Grand Duke were strong.

Even if those people still wielded that light, unless there were ten more people on the level of General Kaio, breaking through those thralls would not be easy.

'After the sun disappears, the thralls of the other nobles will come swarming in too. Then I just finish them off together with them.'

Thinking that, he began drawing the blood spilled across the floor toward himself—

and then, at that exact moment.

'...No, wait.'

He.

Had the feeling he was forgetting something.

***

He had been so shaken by seeing General Kaio's face, and then delayed while dealing with him, but—

'Surely.'

Setting that aside, even before that general had appeared, he had already sensed that something was off and stopped moving for a moment.

But.

In the middle of a fierce battle, no one could be expected to remember such a trivial thing.

The battle with Kaio.

And the hesitation right before killing him.

During that time, with his mind focused on Kaio, Jinlei had ended up forgetting all about that sense of unease.

"Die, General Jinlei!"

...The enemies rushing at him at tremendous speed left him no room to calmly recall that earlier discomfort.

'I refused to absorb this blood...'

Sluuurk...

'It feels like there was a reason...'

But unfortunately, he realized it a little too late.

Tap.

The blood scattered across the floor touched the tips of his fingers and seeped into his body.

"...Ah."

The blood had already been absorbed into him.

As Jinlei flinched while staring at it—

"So you ate it."

At the same time, a voice rang out from somewhere.

"...!?"

The man who had gone down to the floor in pain

from Jinlei's very first blow—

the man Jinlei had been certain was already subdued—

the man radiating that intense sunlight—

"My carefully prepared dish..."

was getting to his feet with an ominous smile on his face.

"...you went ahead and ate it?"