"Grandpa, why don't you save my brother?"
Valen looked at his grandfather, who remained motionless, coldly observing the battle taking place below them. On the battlefield, his younger brother was desperately fighting to survive against one of the council's grandsons.
The fight was not fair at all. His brother was not yet fifteen years old and was facing someone older, the same age as Valen, while each blow he received made the anger grow inside him. Valen clenched his fists and prepared to jump, determined to interfere in that fight, but before he could take a step, he felt something restraining his body.
"Valen, where do you think you're going?"
Blood chains wrapped around his body, preventing him from moving, while hands formed from the same magic held his arms and forced him to remain in place. Valen tried to break free, but he could not even cover his own eyes. His grandfather wanted him to watch that fight until the end.
"You need to learn. The weak do not deserve to be part of our family."
Valen widened his eyes.
"This would have happened to you last year if you weren't strong enough. You need to understand that, in our family, the weak do not deserve to live."
His grandfather showed no emotion as he said those words. To him, it was nothing more than a lesson Valen needed to learn. And then, before his eyes, his brother was killed.
Valen remained completely motionless, unable to do anything. He could not even give his brother a chance to survive. When the fight ended and the chains finally disappeared, Valen ran to the body and fell to his knees beside him, beginning to cry while the bastard who had won remained laughing. His grandfather simply cast one last cold look at the scene before turning around and leaving, without even looking back.
It was on that day that Valen began seriously thinking about trying to change the vampires. Before that, he already carried bad feelings toward the way his race lived, but he had never been able to express them. Now, however, everything had changed. The problem was that, if he tried to speak against that society or looked for another vampire to ask for help, he could be discovered and killed by his own grandfather.
"So you would like to join the rebellion?"
Some time later, another vampire contacted him to try to recruit him. Valen remained silent, thinking about the proposal, and for a moment he was truly about to accept and join the rebellion. However, before he could make a decision, Sylas appeared and revealed that Belthar had returned.
Valen was frightened upon hearing that name and even more so when he discovered that Belthar was a Tenth Circle user.
'Am I really that cowardly?'
At that moment, his hope seemed to disappear until Sylas revealed that Belthar would actually be an ally.
If Belthar was truly on the rebellion's side, perhaps there would be no need for his help. Then Sylas \[gave him\] that incredible blood. After receiving and consuming a small amount of it, Valen immediately realized the potential it possessed. If he could count on that power, he was certain that the rebellion would have a real chance of winning and, besides, Belthar was supposedly on their side. That was enough to make his determination return.
"You really betrayed us, Lord Valen?"
Three vampires stood before him. One was Morvus's grandson, another was a new servant who had been placed under Valen's command, and the third was precisely the vampire who had killed his brother: the grandson of another councilor, a bastard named Kaldrick Vorath.
Valen did not answer the servant. Instead, he looked at Kaldrick.
"Don't tell me you did this to avenge your brother? Please, it's already been three months..."
With great speed, he advanced, and his fist struck Kaldrick's face before the vampire could finish speaking. The blow made him retreat, but the other two immediately advanced to protect their companion. Valen raised both arms and blocked the simultaneous attacks: on one side there was a hammer, while on the other came a chain wielded by the servant herself.
"Lord Valen, give up."
The vampire beside him seemed irritated.
"What are you talking about, Lucindra? Traitors have to die."
Valen pushed the two away with a sudden movement and assumed a combat stance.
"This is going to be annoying. So I'll take care of you two first."
His hands transformed into claws. When the two advanced again, Valen grabbed their weapons before they could retreat and squeezed his fingers tightly. The metal and blood that formed the weapons broke beneath his claws, leaving the two completely disarmed.
They were surprised for a moment, but Valen gave them no time to react. He grabbed both of them by the head, concentrated magic in the palms of his hands, and slammed them against the ground with violence.
The impact produced a powerful gust of wind that spread throughout the area, knocking over objects and pushing Kaldrick away. The two became unconscious. They were only Second Circle users, while Valen had evolved to the Fourth Circle.
He stood up and walked toward Morvus's grandson. For a moment, he looked at Lucindra, who remained lying down, and then turned his eyes back to the other vampire.
'I can leave her alive. But this other one could interfere with my master's plan.'
Valen raised his hand, and his claws pierced the vampire's chest, ripping out his heart. Without showing any emotion, he simply threw it aside.
"So you've reached my level, Valen?"
Kaldrick's voice caught his attention.
Valen turned around in time to block a blood blade with one of his claws. The impact made his feet slide a few centimeters, but he tightened his fingers and broke the blade. Without wasting time, he advanced against Kaldrick, who immediately slammed his foot against the ground.
"Blood Abyss!"
A pool of blood quickly spread across the ground, growing until it formed a circular field. The area began to spin like a huge whirlpool, slowly pulling Valen toward the center. Kaldrick took advantage of the domain's effect and appeared before him, delivering a blow with his blood blade. Valen tried to dodge, but the tip of the weapon still managed to cut his face.
He ignored the wound and jumped upward, attempting to land a kick.
Kaldrick blocked it easily, and the impact sent Valen back into the pool. As soon as his feet touched the blood, he realized that something was wrong.
'This field is making my attacks weaker.'
The strength of the whirlpool increased, and Valen began to sink. When he looked down, he realized that his legs were already partially submerged. Without wasting time, he concentrated magic in his legs and propelled his body upward. The jump was so powerful that he almost reached the ceiling, but at the last moment, Valen used his claws to grab onto a structure, changed his trajectory, and landed on a chandelier.
The ceiling would not be destroyed even if he hit it. Angela's domain was too strong to allow people at that level to damage the structure or the others involved in the battle.
Valen took a deep breath before concentrating his magic.
"Wolf Shadow Magic: Pack Whispers."
Several lupine blood specters appeared around Valen. Kaldrick could not see them; only Valen could perceive them. The creatures advanced together like an invisible pack, attacking the vampire from different directions. One after another, they began biting his body, and the bites appeared in different places, making it extremely difficult for Kaldrick to discover where the attack was coming from.
"Aaah!"
He tried to drive them away, but he could not find what was attacking him. Then he noticed something even worse: his strength was being drained. His mana was gradually decreasing, while his body also began to lose energy.
"This magic..."
Kaldrick tried to remain calm. He had already seen that technique before. Creating several blood blades around his own body, he launched them at the places where he felt the bites.
'I need to make them disappear before they hit me.'
He expected that, upon being struck by the blades, the specters would disappear. But that did not happen. The creatures continued biting and, in fact, seemed to tighten their teeth even more. The blades pierced through Kaldrick's body, making his eyes widen.
"Weren't they invisible summons?"
Valen was kneeling on the chandelier, breathing with difficulty.
"Huff... huff... When I evolved to the Fourth Circle... huff... I improved my magic to a new level."
The specters began to change. Until that moment, they had only been forms invisible to Kaldrick's eyes, but now they began acquiring a more defined physical form. Their fangs remained buried in the vampire's body, while some of the creatures bit the very blades that pierced through him, without interrupting the attack.
"Now that I'm a Fourth Circle, I added a third ability to my magic."
Valen took a deep breath while observing the enemy. Wolf Shadow Magic could be continuously enhanced, and the more he evolved, the more he could develop his magic. However, there were two limitations: the amount of mana required and the fact that he could only create a new ability every two Circles. That third ability should have appeared only later, but the blood he had received had altered his development.
"Even so, how did you improve this magic if you were still missing a Circle? It should only be developed at the Fifth Circle."
Kaldrick tried to remain standing, but his eyes were already beginning to lose their brightness. Valen did not answer. He simply remained watching as Kaldrick's body finally collapsed to the ground with all his vitality fading away.
The vampire was dead.
Valen then lay down for a few moments, catching his breath after spending a large amount of mana. That evolution in his own magic had only been possible thanks to the blood he had drunk, and now that he knew what that power could do for him, he wanted more.
'I want more.'
Kaldrick had made the wrong choice by asking for that explanation. Valen had no intention of giving any answer to the vampire who had killed his brother. He preferred to remain silent and think about good things while recovering his strength.
'I hope Sylas tells me who my master is soon.'
A small smile appeared on his face as he licked his lips.
'I can barely wait from all the anticipation.'