How Was He Different from Cannon Fodder?

In private, Blade asked Mike, "Did you deliberately provoke the Bloodpack?"

"Yeah."

Mike did not deny it. "Immune to silver and garlic extract... Reapers were not naturally evolved mutants. It was obvious they were the result of Vampire Kingdom research meant to eliminate vampires' weaknesses. They just lost control of it. That so-called High Regent probably wanted you and Chad Norma to fight to the death, preferably taking each other out."

"I know."

Blade fell silent for a moment. "But as time passed, once the number of Reapers rose sharply, humans would eventually get dragged into it too."

Mike glanced at Blade.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I didn't expect you to be so... noble." Mike could not think of a fitting word and ultimately chose one usually used to describe superheroes.

"Suppressing the bloodlust isn't easy. Once it flared up, it was ten times stronger than a drug addiction. You needed something to fight it with—revenge, ideals, things like that. So... my nobility isn't as noble as you imagined."

Blade was very candid.

Simply put, it was like hypnotizing himself to resist the urge for blood.

"What would you do if it were you?" Blade asked.

"Ah, you're asking me?"

"I'd wait until the Reapers had wiped out most of the vampires before making my move." Mike explained with a sinister smile, "The reason vampires could live so comfortably had a great deal to do with compromises from humanity's upper ranks. Between short-term pain and long-term pain, those people chose the long-term pain that better served their class interests, and eventually both sides reached an agreement. Reapers were like ravenous beasts; there was no basis for an agreement with them."

"Use the enemy of your enemy to eliminate your enemy. Then, in the end, the enemy of your enemy becomes an enemy you have to face with everything you've got," Mike added.

In Mike's view, there were two ways to eliminate vampires. First, eliminate Dracula, the source of modern vampires. Second, use biotechnology to make human blood unsuitable for vampires to consume, or even turn it into poison, starving them to death.

In the comics, Dracula possessed an immortality that even the five cosmic Gods could not kill. For humans to kill him completely would be difficult! Exile or sealing him away would be the better methods.

In the movie universe, Dracula was not that monstrous, but he was still hard to kill. At the very least, he was at the level of regenerating from a single drop of blood.

By comparison, removing humans from the vampire menu was more reliable, provided the vampire problem was brought into the open and drew the attention of all humanity.

Mike said, "I don't think we can follow the High Regent's pace. Otherwise, we'll easily end up on the back foot."

Blade said, "What do you have in mind?"

Mike rolled his eyes. "I'm just a mercenary, like an office worker. You're the boss. You can't make your employees do everything, or what do you need a boss for? By the way, what are you planning to do with Scud?"

Blade asked, "You know who he is?"

Mike said, "A Vampire Cultist. He reeks of vampires."

Blade said, "I originally wanted to use him to dig a big pit for the vampires, but I haven't found a good opportunity."

Mike said, "Then hurry up. Otherwise, I won't be able to stop myself from chopping him down. He's too disgusting."

Mike had an extremely poor impression of Vampire Cultists. He could even bring himself to kill women without hesitation, let alone a slovenly young man like Scud.

More hateful than enemies were enemies from within—traitors.

Elsewhere.

Scud found an opportunity to report to Reinhardt.

"That Mike really isn't human. He isn't human..."

Whenever he thought of Mike slaughtering Reapers and killing more than a dozen vampires as easily as crushing ants, Scud's heart still pounded wildly.

So-called traitors were either greedy for life and afraid of death, opportunists, or more often both. Yet when he discovered the powerful backer he had clung to was not as formidable as he had imagined, panic was inevitable.

"Not human? Then what, is he a vampire too?"

Reinhardt did not care. His understanding of strength was narrow-minded; he thought, no matter how strong someone was, how strong could they really be?

Honestly, after two years of training, he felt he could probably fight Blade to a draw.

That was why Reinhardt was somewhat dissatisfied that Makinos had brought in Blade.

Schemes?

Before power, they were unnecessary! After dealing with the Reapers, they could deal with Blade. Why make things so complicated?

All that could be said was that he had some misconceptions about power.

Scud was in despair. He realized his backer was not only less powerful than expected, but also a little stupid.

What else could he do?

Run.

A traitor... if he betrayed you today, what was so strange about him betraying someone else tomorrow?

Meanwhile, Whistler was preparing Sunlight Bombs when Mike stepped forward and whispered a few words to him.

"Are you sure?" Whistler asked.

"Yeah."

"Fine."

By now, Whistler trusted Mike quite a bit. That trust stemmed from a particular understanding—Mike was strong. If he wanted to harm Whistler and Blade, he did not need underhanded schemes.

At noon, when the sunlight was at its fiercest, vampires and Reapers were at their most sluggish.

The Bloodpack entered the sewers.

New York's sewers were famous worldwide for being labyrinthine. They could even be said to form an underground world where filth and corruption festered.

Using the sewer where that Reaper had been trapped as their starting point, they spread out to search.

Reapers displayed a stricter hierarchy than vampires. Chad Norma was like a queen bee, while the other Reapers were worker bees. Their advantage was coordinated group action and absolute obedience to Chad Norma's orders. Their drawback was a lack of individual intelligence; they acted on instinct.

Vampires and Reapers had Night Vision, especially the latter, who had almost completely adapted to darkness.

Whistler had prepared Night Vision goggles for Mike.

Mike accepted them without ceremony, then tossed them into the System Space. They might be useful later; if not, he could sell them. As for the current situation, Observation Haki was simply too useful.

As the "hosts," the Reapers quickly detected the presence of their "guests."

The instant the two sides came into contact, battle erupted.

After killing several Reapers, Mike encountered Chupa of the Bloodpack in the sewers.

"I'll go east."

"I'll go west."

Before the words had even faded, Mike's figure crossed past Chupa. Chupa had just turned his gun muzzle, and the grenade in his hand had not even had its pin pulled.

One Sword Style: Iai: Lion's Song!

"Idiot!"

Mike sheathed his sword. "Your heart's beating so fast, it's like you're afraid people won't know you're about to launch a sneak attack."

Chupa died.

"Excellent swordsmanship!"

Snowman of the Bloodpack applauded.

For this vampire who bore a seventy-percent resemblance to Yuzhou Dan, Mike took the other sword off his back.

"The more swords you use, the stronger you get?"

"Perhaps."

Mike fastened both swords, sheaths and all, at his waist and assumed the stance for an iaijutsu slash.

"For reasons you could never possibly know, I feel that using two swords to distinguish you from ordinary cannon fodder better suits my mood."

"Well, thanks for that." Snowman drew his sword as well.

Two Sword Style: Iai: Rashomon!

Clang!

The katana in Snowman's hand snapped into two. He looked down at the wound on his chest and said, "So in the end, I'm just cannon fodder too, huh? By the way, what's the most swords you can use?"

"Nine."

"Nine?" Snowman could not imagine how a person with two hands could use Nine-Sword Style.

"Thank you." This time, Snowman meant it sincerely.

Then he turned to ash.