At this very moment.
Deep within the Eternal Night Palace lay a massive cylindrical chamber, dozens of meters deep.
At the very bottom stood a circular platform resembling an altar, covered in strange runes. Twelve stone pillars, each also engraved with runes, surrounded it.
Twelve vampires were bound beneath the pillars. Without exception, they were pureblood vampire elders.
"Let us go!"
"Frost, we're purebloods! How dare you treat us like this!"
"You bastard, Frost! You'll regret this!"
The vampire elders cursed and shouted.
They'd been sleeping peacefully in their own coffins when Frost suddenly showed up with his men and flipped open their lids.
The vampire elders flew into a rage and immediately fought back.
Then they went down on their knees.
There was no helping it. The vampire elders had lived too long, and their thinking was hopelessly outdated.
While they were still using the traditional vampire method of biting and tearing at their enemies, Frost and the other young vampires had already moved on to guns, proving just how fast and accurate a gun could be within seven steps.
And these young vampires played dirty, too.
They were even using silver bullets!
Frost had simply scoffed and asked, "Who says vampires can't use weapons against other vampires?"
But no matter how loudly the vampire elders complained, Frost, standing in the very center of the altar, remained unmoved.
He gazed at the blood gradually gathering beneath the dome, excitement showing on his face.
"The moment has finally come!"
According to ancient vampire texts, there was a forbidden ritual known as the Blood God Ritual.
Using the blood of a half-human, half-vampire as a medium, it gathered the power of twelve pureblood vampires into a single vampire, granting him power far beyond that of any ordinary vampire.
Many years ago, Frost had specifically sought out a pregnant woman who was about to give birth, infected her with vampirism, and had her deliver a half-human, half-vampire child.
Needless to say, that child was the unfortunate Blade.
Frost had spent a long time preparing for this ritual, devoting an unknown amount of effort and thought to it.
"Once the ritual is complete, I'll become the god of vampires and rule the entire world!"
Frost spread his arms wide, his expression crazed as he welcomed it.
Soon, the blood beneath the dome gathered into a single mass and, carried by its own momentum, dripped onto Frost's forehead.
Outside the Eternal Night Palace, the night sky suddenly changed.
Clouds gathered above the palace, and thunder rolled within them.
BOOM!!
In an instant, a massive bolt of lightning struck the Eternal Night Palace!
The terrifying power of the lightning surged down the twelve rune-covered pillars and slammed into the vampire elders bound beneath them!
"AAAAH!!!"
The elders let out heart-wrenching screams!
Amid the wild flashes of lightning, their bodies rapidly disintegrated into ash. Twelve gray skeletons with bat wings sprouting from their backs broke free of the ashes, like undead creatures from Hell, flying wildly around above the altar!
What the hell was that?!
At the horrifying sight, the vampire underlings guarding the edge of the altar couldn't help but hunch their shoulders.
They might be vampires, but that didn't mean they weren't afraid of ghosts.
After circling through the air a few times, the gray skeletons seemed to be drawn by some invisible force. They abruptly changed direction, surged toward the center of the altar, and plunged into Frost's body!
Frost's eyes flew wide open. His pupils and the whites of his eyes were instantly flooded with a deep crimson, making him look terrifying.
"Frost!!"
A furious roar, brimming with boundless hatred, rang out!
Blade dropped from the sky and crashed onto the edge of the altar, glaring furiously at Frost.
Frost had already been his sworn enemy. Now that he was also his stepfather, Blade's desire to kill him had reached a fever pitch!
Blade had already recovered his gear. Gripping his silver sword, he charged at Frost without a word!
"Damn it, it's the Daywalker! Stop him!"
The vampires were startled by Blade's arrival, then immediately rushed to block him and clashed with him.
At the same time, some vampires on the platform above the altar raised their guns and aimed at Blade, ready to pull the triggers.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Silver bullets burst forth, instantly punching through the heads of several vampire gunmen.
Next, several Concentated Garlic Grenades were tossed from even higher up, arcing down toward different parts of the platform!
Hiss—!
A dense cloud of yellow smoke exploded and rapidly spread!
The vampires caught in the garlic mist shrieked as their bodies hissed as though they'd been doused in acid. In the blink of an eye, they turned into heaps of charred ash!
"He's up there!"
A sharp-eyed vampire spotted where the attack had come from and pointed at Du Mu, who was standing upside down on the ceiling at the highest point of the chamber.
What the hell was that supposed to be?!
The vampires were dumbfounded.
First there were ghostly skeletons, and now there was a human hanging upside down from the ceiling.
Compared to that, they were starting to seem perfectly normal.
They came to their senses and hurriedly swung their guns around, firing wildly at the strange figure on the ceiling!
With his Gravity Boots, Du Mu moved freely between the ceiling and the vertical walls like a ghost. He dodged while firing precise shots, taking out every vampire in sight one by one.
It didn't take long for him to clear the platform.
Du Mu looked down and saw that Blade was still locked in a fierce fight with more than a dozen vampires.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Five crisp gunshots rang out!
The heads of several vampires about to pounce on Blade burst open, and they instantly turned to ash!
"I've already cleared my side. How come you still haven't finished them off?"
Du Mu executed a textbook superhero landing, touching down steadily in front of Blade.
Blade cleaved a charging vampire in two and insisted, "Give me a few more seconds and I'll finish them off!"
At the sight of Du Mu and Blade closing in together, the remaining vampires backed away in terror until they reached the center of the altar.
Suddenly, a deathly pale hand gently came to rest on one vampire's shoulder.
The vampire underling turned around. The owner of the hand was Frost.
Frost's appearance had changed completely. His face had taken on a ghastly, inhuman pallor, his eyes glowed crimson, and a chilling, eerie aura emanated from him.
The vampire underling exclaimed delightedly, "Boss, did you do it?"
A sinister, eerie smile curled Frost's lips. "I did. But now I'm hungry. Very hungry..."
"I'll find you some fresh blood bags right away!" the vampire underling said hurriedly.
"No need to trouble yourself."
Frost's crimson eyes fixed on the vampire underling. "There's... plenty right here!"
With that—
Frost suddenly lunged forward, moving too fast for the naked eye to follow. His sharp fangs sank into the vampire underling's neck!
"Ugh!"
The vampire underling barely managed a short cry before his body rapidly shriveled before their eyes!
In less than half a second, he had become a dried-out corpse, skin stretched over bone.
"A vampire biting another vampire?"
Du Mu looked rather perplexed.
Some time ago, he'd been curious enough to ask Blade whether vampires could drink the blood of other creatures.
Blade had told him that while blood was a vampire's only food, they only drank human blood, whether fresh or refrigerated.
As for the blood of their own kind or of animals—
To vampires, it tasted and felt about as appealing as eating shit.
Frost's actions now were clearly a repeat of the Old Eight's stunt back in the day. All he needed was to shout, "Oh yeah!"