"And it's very likely that the Holy Knight, who grants longevity and allows me to effectively shorten my growth time, was cultivated using the so-called flesh and blood of God!"
Norton thought about it more and more and it made perfect sense.
Otherwise, why is it that nothing else can shorten its growth time, except for the Holy Knight?
" The Church says: Holy Knight are knights who have been touched by the holiness of God... Therefore, these Holy Knight may very well have been close to the flesh and blood of God that the Church has sealed away... if so."
"In that case, will consuming this flesh and blood of God allow me to advance to the next level?"
Norton waved his hand without turning his head.
However, Abraham, kneeling behind him and sobbing softly, understood the meaning of his ancestor's words.
This means he's fired.
Abraham breathed a sigh of relief, then carefully backed away from his knees until he was out of the room. Only then did he stand up and jog out of the palace.
For some reason, he felt that the aura emanating from the Primordial Emperor's body had reached a certain peak, a level that seemed to have reached its absolute limit.
This feeling was quite mysterious, like His Majesty's extraordinary power had reached a dead end.
In fact, his feeling was not wrong.
Norton is now truly at his wit's end.
Norton, dragging his long, blood-red royal robes, sat back on the cold golden throne. He then picked up the New Faith relic on the table, feeling the burning sensation emanating from it, his expression growing increasingly grim.
"Months ago, my body began to show signs of abnormal change, with no more sense of evolution. Ever since I became Vampire, the energy that had been helping me evolve suddenly disappeared, getting stuck at the very last moment of advancement. During this time, no matter how much blood I drank, there was no chance of further evolution... The Vampire research in the Papal State was indeed correct; it seems that all Vampire from the old era have had their path to advancement blocked!"
This kind of blockage is somewhat like a suppression of Existence Level!
Just as other Vampire can only truly advance after Norton advances.
There were people stuck at the top of the old-time Vampire Existence Level, which is why Norton was unable to reach that final First Stage!
Even when Norton used his so-called otherworldly soul to fantasize about breaking through the Third Stage limit and achieving the Fourth Stage, it was all in vain.
This restriction seems to be an oppression at the level of life itself, and a prohibition at the level of Existence Level.
Then who else could possibly stop Norton's advancement...?
Norton's face grew increasingly grim. Without even thinking, a familiar name popped into his mind.
" Kuba isn't dead?"
As this thought arose, even though Norton was the Blood Clan Progenitor and sat high on his throne, he still felt a sudden panic in his heart. If he had a cold sweat, it would be soaked through his back by now.
Even though he wasn't sweating now, his fear and suspicion remained just as strong, and were even growing stronger.
If the resurrection of Yalian III and the Church only angered him, then the fact that Kuba was not dead, based on mere speculation, truly terrified him.
Putting everything else aside, for Kuba, Norton was no different from the Fourth-Generation Vampire.
"No, no, no, impossible! If Kuba wasn't dead, there would be no trace of the birth and existence of Vampire from the old era, so Kuba must be dead!" Norton denied his own guess one after another.
But if Kuba is dead, then who is alive and preventing him from advancing in Existence Level?
Could it be... God?
Because God, as the creator, did not ascend to a higher rank, Norton, as the creator, could never reach the highest rank... Just as mentioned earlier, only when Norton ascends can the other Vampire ascend in the same way?
"Crunch!" Norton crushed the golden New Faith symbol in his hand into a lump of gold, exuding an extremely dangerous aura.
He was in a very bad mood...
The Papal State' resurrection and the obstruction of his own path to advancement—these two pieces of bad news combined were not as embarrassing as his final guess.
God cannot die; after all, even death is something He detaches from the body, so how could God possibly die?
However, he may not exist in this world, because Church books record that Shenyin separated Garden of Eden from Heaven because He hung his corpse high above it!
Since God's consciousness has already returned to Heaven, how could God possibly appear in the Garden of Eden?
The only thing that can be linked to God is that hanging corpse of a deity!
Norton's eyes narrowed slightly, sensing that his suspicions were becoming increasingly dangerous.
If what he thinks is true, then it is very likely that what is hidden inside the Holy See is not just a piece of God's flesh and blood, but an entire corpse of a god!
The golden New Faith symbol in Norton's hand was deformed from his grip, and as it lost its symbolic form, the burning sensation attached to it also disappeared.
But this only made Norton feel even worse.
He altered New Faith doctrines, replacing God's name with Norton, yet his religious ornaments still possessed the power to burn Norton, which is somewhat chilling.
God is truly a conceptual deity!
This means that any word that refers to God will point to God!
Therefore, whether the Old Faith is destroyed or not, it cannot erase the true wound that God's holiness inflicted on Norton!
"Ah!!!" Norton roared, slamming the gold coin in his hand into the table. His tall body then slumped onto the throne, his face completely drained of color.
"Destroy it all, I'm out of options!"
Norton is truly out of ideas!
If the Old Faith fall, there New Faith; if New Faith fall, there are others. As long as it involves God, faith, or deities—and directly refers to God —its symbols can harm Norton. Does that mean all the impure things Norton has done over the years have been in vain?
Now, not only can the holiness of God, which can harm him, not be destroyed, but even he himself can no longer ascend to higher levels.
Moreover, the original Old Papal State were plagued by internal strife and external enemies, so they couldn't focus all their attention on Norton. They needed to find a place for him to hide.
Now that Yalian III has inherited the papacy, Papal State have been pacified by the old Pope Adam Ninety Years ago, plus he is the popular choice of the Boya Empire, all internal and external conflicts are gone. All that's left is Norton, the Vampire Progenitor. So, won't Yalian III go after Norton relentlessly?
Being single-minded can lead to being stuck in two directions; isn't that just incredibly frustrating?
Besides, there's even a very real divine corpse within the Holy See, which makes Norton's game completely hopeless!
" Vampire are ultimately unclean creatures, truly unclean!"
Norton lay back on the throne, his eyes vacant, like a woman who had been violated and was in a state of utter confusion.
Fortunately, his ten years of living as a beggar had forged a strong mentality in him.
After indulging himself for a moment, Norton's eyes regained their clarity.
"Now that things have come to this, it seems there is only one way for me, Norton, to advance to the Fourth Stage... If the Holy See has a divine corpse, then I will definitely enter the Fourth Stage rank after I devour it. After all, New-Type Vampire can also achieve cross-rank growth by directly infusing the blood of the True Ancestor."
If there's no divine corpse, then all my guesses are wrong... In that case, I could try absorbing the blood of the Holy Knight of the Papal State to seek an opportunity to advance my rank!
"I have a premonition that only after reaching the Fourth Stage will I enter a completely different world, where nothing can bind me anymore!"
Norton was adept at deceiving himself, but that was also the source of his courage.
Norton rose from his golden throne and stretched out his slender, pale arm behind him.
"Sizzle..."
With a sickeningly painful sound of flesh being torn apart, the tattered skin that bound his pale wings on his back was ripped apart.
"Call!"
As he tore apart the flesh on his back, two pale wings, already showing their initial shape, emerged outwards like insect twigs, gradually stretching out.
As it protruded longer and longer, a pale membrane, resembling a bat's wing membrane, slowly unfolded as the wing joints popped out.
A huge, pale, bat-like wing emerged from Norton's back, its fleshy membrane extending from beneath the wing down the outside of his thigh, just like a real bat wing, all the way to his ankle.
Although the tattered flesh on his back had begun to grow back, his wings had fully developed and could now be forcibly extended from his body.
"Aaaaaah!!! I'm so close to Fourth Stage, and I'm stuck here? I can't accept this!!!"
Norton stretched out the pair of pale membranous wings on his back as if by magic. Every part of the pale wing bones that touched the wings was cut in two, clearly indicating that the wings not only possessed enormous strength, but also had extremely sharp edges.
"Boom!!!"
With the flapping of its enormous, pale wings, the rising air currents even produced a piercing roar.
Norton's slender, tall, and strange body was lifted off the ground by this airflow.
"Now that I can fly, I can fight even a group of Holy Knight. Since you, Yalian III, are determined to be my enemy, I will anticipate your moves and take the initiative!" Norton's wings flapped and roared, and all the items in the room were swept away and scattered on the ground by the huge airflow.
His pale, slender, and tall body flew out of the window like a terrifying bat, hurtling towards the direction of the Holy See.
A giant white bat flew out of the palace, an unusual sight that attracted the attention of the Vampire that roamed the imperial city.
"My God, what is that? Is it another True Ancestor? But its size looks completely different from other True Ancestor!"
"Do you want to die? That's His Majesty the First Ancestor! Damn it, can't you see His Majesty the First Ancestor's slender and graceful figure?"
"The progenitor has grown wings!"
"Damn it, His Majesty Norton has been living in seclusion in the palace for so long. This sudden appearance is probably going to cause some big trouble!"
The Vampire slaves and Vampire nobles in the imperial city were talking amongst themselves; some Vampire looked terrified, while Vampire were filled with hatred.
While Norton's existence is mystical and his actions are touted as a major historical trend, when applied to each individual, it amounts to nothing less than naked oppression, exploitation, and even the destruction of families.
Therefore, not only do humans feel no gratitude or goodwill towards him, but even Vampire have no sense of thanks towards him.
But this only made the Vampire even more terrified.
The sudden appearance of the progenitor Norton, who had long resided deep within the palace, was far more terrifying than if he had remained there all along!
Each time it appears, it either signifies the start of the construction of a wonder or the preparation for a new battle. This time, it has even grown wings, which makes these Vampire dare not even imagine how big this matter will be!
This is the reputation Norton has today!
The Pale Progenitor spread its wings and soared into the sky, like a giant bat.
As it flew further and further away, dozens of roars echoed around the palace, followed by the piercing whistling of wings and terrifying howls.
"Hiss..."
The massive Coal Ball spread its wings and soared into the distant sky, chasing after Norton's figure.
Behind Coal Ball, a massive army of fifty Gargoyle, trained by Norton over the years, roared up one after another, forming a straight line in the sky, following closely behind them.
As the Gargoyle unfurled their ferocious and enormous wings in the sky, following the figure of the progenitor as they flew into the distance, this grand scene completely ignited the emotions and public opinion of the Vampire in the imperial city.
"Damn it, what exactly does His Majesty the Progenitor want to do? Why is he flying in that direction?"
"I remember that was the direction the army was heading, which means His Holiness Norton wanted to fly to the Papal State!"
"It's over, the Boya Empire is finished! It must be His Majesty the Yalian that angered him! A flying Vampire, how is His Majesty the Yalian going to survive?!"
A group of Vampire slaves watched the terrifying figure soaring in the sky, feeling as if they had entered a complete dark age.
This progenitor was already difficult to deal with when he couldn't fly, but now that he can fly, who can defeat him?
In this age of limited technology, flying is absolutely invincible!
Not only were the Vampire slaves terrified, but even the two Blood Clan dukes, Abraham and Elizabeth, outside the palace, were filled with panic.
Because this scene is so familiar!
As Abraham watched Norton soar into the sky, almost leaving the capital, and the large group of Blood Clan True Ancestor following behind him, he felt like an abandoned child, utterly alone, and filled with a sense of despair at being ignored.
"No!!! Your Majesty, why aren't you calling me again?" Abraham cried out Norton's title, running out of the imperial city in a panic, trying to catch up with Norton's figure in the sky.
"Your Majesty, you forgot to call me again! Your Majesty, this old servant can't run fast enough!"
The fear in his heart had completely suppressed his desire for power and his idea of sealing away the progenitor.
In an attempt to catch up with Norton, he even transformed into the appearance of Vampire Lord, scaling houses with both hands and feet, trying to follow behind Norton.
This scene was all too familiar to Abraham! Back in Lino City, His Holiness the First Father had escaped silently to the only escape route in the same way.
Now that the Holy Lord Church has been taken over by Yalian III, who also calls himself Pope, there is no doubt that the Vampire will face an attack from the new Pope!
At this point, Norton's escape was perfectly timed. Leaving Abraham here as a false patriarch was a lesson learned from past mistakes; Abraham understood this all too well!
Last time, they just ran away with Prince Coal Ball.
This thing definitely wants to use Abraham as a target here!
Elizabeth, who had run out of the palace, had already transformed into a female version of the Great Queen. However, she did not follow Norton but instead watched in panic as the vast, bat-like figures in the distant sky gradually disappeared into the distance.
"Your Majesty, don't you want me anymore?"
"Chirp chirp chirp..." Only the ever-growing bat family in Norton Palace remained hanging motionless from the ceiling.
This finally allowed Elizabeth to relax a little.
Everyone knows that Batman is His Majesty Norton's favorite. As long as Batman is still around, His Majesty shouldn't abandon them.