He was standing in what felt like a pocket dimension similar to the one in the dark forest. As far as his Environmental Scanning could reach, the scanning found no living beings. He knew that didn't mean he was alone in the dimension. Once again, he raised his arm spraying the potion into the air to reveal the bloody tracks.

  　　"This place looks freaky" Sarba commented looking around the freaky castle grounds. There were countless skeletons that seemed like giant birds lay on the ground, half-buried in the red sand.

  　　He followed the bloody foot tracks left behind by the vampire to the castle. He had reached the thirty steps leading to the castle yet there were no guards, defenses, or anything for that matter. Michael climbed the stairs showing no signs of fear. Ever since he merged his soul pieces back together, he barely felt any fear.

  　　That didn't mean he was void of fear, he just changed. Before when his soul was split into three, he would have been a little freaked out. 

  　　When they climbed up the steps and saw two statues of soldiers flanking the giant oak door. 

  　　"I sense two life signs" Sarba closed his eyes before saying,

  　　Meanwhile, Michael pushed open the door, revealing the empty gloomy throne hall. As he entered the throne hall, he was welcomed by slim braziers hanging from each of the twelve limestone columns that lit up every part of the throne hall and coat everything in a red glimmer. The humongous chandeliers hanging from the arched ceiling dance in the flickering light while statuettes and gargoyles looked down upon the stone floor of this magnificent hall.

  　　A blood-red rug split the entire room in half and was matched by the thinner ones on either side of the hall while ribbon banners with burnished margins draped from the walls. Between each banner hangs a torch, they've all been lit and in turn illuminated the mosaics of various figures.

  　　Massive, colored glass windows were neighbored by veils colored the same chestnut as the banners. The curtains have been adorned with emblazoned edges and decorating tips.

  　　Regardless of the decoration and the grandeur of the throne hall, it lacked the thing i throne hall shouldn't, a throne. There was no throne in the throne hall. Where the throne should have been was a four feet pillar. Atop the pillar one could see a porcelain bowl.

  　　"Where are the vampires? Are they cocky bastards who think no one would break into their castle or they are dead?" Ayag couldn't help asking after noticing the barren land and the empty throne hall.

  　　"I told you, I'm sensing two living beings. They are down" Sarba informed as Michael walked towards the pillar. 

  　　While he was walking, Ayag looked around for stairs. However, she found none. The throne hall had no other rooms, stairs, or anything that seemed like leading to the other parts of the castle.

  　　"I don't see any stairs" Ayag headbutted Michael on the side of his face

  　　"Because there aren't any" Michael calmly said,

  　　"System, scan this pillar" he willed the system, paying 1000 badass points,

  　　[The host needs the blood of a vampire to activate this lift. Since you don't have any, you have to pay the system additional 4000 badass points to hack the lift]

  　　"Hack it" 

  　　Vedora saw the ground beneath tremble as the ground began to descend.

  　　"A lift, interesting" Michael was amused. Something told me the vampires might be slightly or ridiculously advanced than the rest of the world. This was the first time he had seen a lift in this world.

  　　The lift was descending for almost ten minutes before it came to a halt. The wall before them slowly slid open to reveal yet another gloomy hall lit with torches. Unlike the throne hall above, this hall was darker, gloomier and had one large round table at the end of the hall.

  　　"Where are the two?" Ayag asked Sarba,

  　　"There," Sarba looked near the round table,

  　　"You smell that?" Sarba asked,

  　　"The place reeks of blood" Ayag took a whiff of the air and said,

  　　As they were saying, the place indeed reeked of blood. Too much blood to be honest. Michael could imagine what kind of horrors might have happened here or how much blood would have been spilled for the air to turn like this. If a weak-hearted person entered here, they would have been puking their guts out. 

  　　Even with his mask which was built to filter the air, he could smell the blood. 

  　　"There's a door" when they reached the round table, they saw a metal door on the side of the wall,

  　　Rather than immediately checking out what's on the other side of the metal door, Michael hopped over the round table because that's where the bloody footprints ended and a huge splatter of blood could be seen.

  　　"My guts says it's our greater vampire," Ayag said as Sarba and Cain nodded,

  　　Michael squatted down to check out the dried blood. 

  　　"What are you doing?"

  　　Ayag saw Michael scrap the dried blood off the ground and put chunks of blood into a vial,

  　　"It's possible they had a meeting here and the higher ups in the vampire hierarchy killed the greater vampire for leaving witnesses" Cain saw the chairs around the table and connected the dots. 

  　　Ayag and Sarba nodded as Cain's words made sense.

  　　"Why shouldn't we ask the one there?" Michael pointed at the metal door,

  　　Michael calmly walked towards the door but not before placing Spyder all around the hall and sending a few through the gap between the door and the floor to see what's on the other side. His drones were still flying around the castle grounds to see if anyone was coming but until now, the drones found no one, the castle grounds were empty.

  　　Michael's calm face turned cold as he kicked open the metal door.

  　　Boom!

  　　The metal door flew into the hall on the other side like a bullet revealing a cloaked figure at the end of the hall. Vedora could see another figure tied to a pole in front of the cloaked figure.

  　　"Just in time, I was getting sick of this guardian blood"  the cloak figure's cold voice echoed through the empty dark hall. One could barely see anything in the hall and if it wasn't for the ceiling directly above the cloaked figure letting through some light, the hall would be pitch black.

  　　The figure slowly turned around like a supervillain in a movie. The figure took his sweet time taking off the cloak. As soon as he did, Michael was surprised because he had seen him, way… way before.

  　　"Victor"

  　　It was Victor…the same Victor he saw on the phoenix island where he had a conflict with Lord Julius. At that time, Victor was a Core Strengthening stage warrior. 

  　　On the other hand, Victor had no idea that the man before him was Ghost. Even if he did, Michael didn't think Victor would give a damn. 

  　　"Three-headed hydra…exotic" Victor licked his lips and when he did, Michael saw the vampire fangs sticking out of his mouth. They were longer and more menacing than the ones shown in the movies.

  　　"Not more exotic than a vampire" Michael snickered as the grin on Victor's face turned evil,

  　　"Darkness gives thy blessing!" Victor roared,

  　　The very next moment, Victor turned onto a cloud of red smoke. The smoke vanished as Vedora looked around. Since Victor disappeared, they were able to see the girl tied to the pole. The girl's head was hidden beneath the sack on her head and that was the only part of her body that had some cover as she stood naked. Her body was covered in her own blood. Vedora looked closer, finding that the girl was not tied to the pole but nailed to the pole through her arms, legs, and stomach. She looked like Jesus except she was bloodier, naked, and had several bite marks. It was obvious the vampires had been munching on her like she was some kind of living blood bag.

  　　Seeing this Michael was pissed off.

  　　"Behind us!" Sarba shouted, sensing Victor's presence behind them. 

  　　Victor wrapped his arms around Michael and just when he was about to sink his teeth into Michael's neck, the dark flames shot out of his body.

  　　"AHHH!"

  　　Victor immediately leaped away from Michael screaming in agony. Just a sliver of dark flames was enough to burn Victor's armor to nothingness.

  　　"I thought vampires would be stronger" Michael raised his hand as the shadows surrounding Victor moved as though they came to life and grew limbs. They instantly grabbed Victor,

  　　"You get powers from the darkness. But I am" Michael flicked and pulled his arm as Victor flew right into his arm,

  　　"The Darkness"

  　　SLING!

  　　Michael lifted Victor by his neck in one hand and the hidden blade came out of its sheath in the other hand. Michael swung the hidden blade, cutting Victor's right hand, clean off from his shoulder,

  　　"AH!"

  　　Victor screamed in agony. However, the right arm grew back in a couple of seconds,

  　　"Regeneration " 

  　　Michael's curiosity was just piqued. Victor tried to fight back using his newly grown hand. He cut Victor's hand once again but this time, he used dark flames to burn the shoulder.

  　　"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

  　　"I…want…"

  　　Michael heard a weak voice as Victor was screaming in agony. He turned his head and saw the naked girl moving her feet,

  　　"Him…to…scream more"

  　　Although the voice of the girl was so weak as though she was on the verge of death, it was filled with pain and murderous intent.

  　　"You heard the lady" this time Ayag spoke. Then, she opened her mouth to breathe bright blue flames.

  　　"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Victor was screaming as the blue flames kept burning his body like marshmallows. His body was healing as fast as Ayag burnt him. Still, he screamed in excruciating pain.

  　　"If you expecting backup, don't" Michael raised his hand as Ayag stop burning him,

  　　"I dispelled all the surveillance arrays and runes in the castle" Michael's calm words startled Victor and destroyed his hope. He agreed to be the bait thinking the Elder vampires would come to his rescue when or if things go south. The only way they could know what was happening in the castle was through the surveillance runes and arrays placed all around the castle. 

  　　Even Vedora had no idea when he did that and was completely taken aback by surprise,

  　　"Did you think I will walk into a trap willingly?" 

  　　Michael's evil laughter reverberated in the castle. 

  　　Pulch!

  　　This time, a large needle reached out of Michael's wrist, injecting a powerful knockout potion into Victor's bloodstream. Finally, his screams and body twitching came to an end.

  　　He dragged Victor to the girl by his neck. He then grabbed the sack on her, pulling it away to see her face.

  　　"Peyton"