Heavy rain was pouring down, and dark clouds covered the sky.
A knock sounded amidst the rain; though faint, Abraham, in his Vampire form, heard it clearly.
" New Faith," the person outside announced after knocking.
Come in!
Abraham's gaze turned towards the doorway, his expression now carrying a hint of scrutiny.
As he spoke, the bamboo door was slowly pushed open, and a man who appeared to be slightly hunched over walked in. He was wearing a black hood, so Abraham could not immediately see his face.
But the sensation of his Vampire blood made him sneer, "I never thought that the Protestant New Faith, which flies the banner of the human camp and claims to be the benchmark of humanity, is actually a hypocritical empire that hides filth and is two-faced. Just because you're wearing a tattered hood, you think I wouldn't recognize your Vampire identity?"
Indeed, Abraham had arranged to meet with members of the New Faith today.
The progenitor Norton was imprisoned on the cross, and Abraham was no longer weighed down by anyone; this freedom filled him with ecstatic joy.
However, Norton's seal also posed a thorn in his side, as he constantly felt the fear that the progenitor Norton might break free at any moment.
In order to prolong his freedom and to keep Norton sealed on the cross for as long as possible, Abraham thought long and hard and finally decided to cooperate with the New Faith to strengthen Norton seal between the Vampire and human factions.
What he didn't expect was that the New Faith member who came today would actually be a real Vampire!
Upon hearing Abraham's cold laugh and contemptuous words, the newcomer did not speak, but slowly raised his hand and removed the hood from his head.
A face that was very familiar to Abraham appeared before him.
" Duoxia!"
Abraham, who had just been sneering, suddenly stood up from his chair, staring incredulously at the Second-Generation Vampire in front of him with two long, sharp front teeth like rats and scarlet eyes, and exclaimed in shock.
That's right, the representative of this New Faith was none other than Archbishop Duoxia, whom he hadn't seen for many years!
The last time they met was when he overheard Duoxia and Yalian III plotting.
He had assumed that Duoxia had died quietly somewhere long ago, but to his surprise, this old man was still alive and had even managed to move from the Old Faith New Faith, and was now even under the Pope's command!
Abraham was utterly shocked.
He thought he, Abraham, was tough enough to survive; whose general was this?
Of all the Vampire from Lino City back then, only Abraham is left alive. The others were either wiped out by the Church, burned to death by the sun, or are now being wiped out by the New Faith. Abraham has always thought that he was the one who survived the worst.
As a result, you, Duoxia, are even more incompetent, New Faith under both the Old Faith under the Pope?
Abraham was not too shocked by Duoxia's survival, but he was most shocked that Abraham was a New Faith representative who came to discuss the most confidential and serious matters.
"Are these two popes all idiots? Hanging out with a Vampire every day?"
Seeing Abraham standing up in shock, Archbishop Duoxia smiled quietly. Although he also had long, sharp teeth and scarlet eyes, resembling the lewd appearance of a former First-Generation Vampire, his face and temperament were exceptionally gentle and kind. Even with his terrifying face, he possessed a certain approachability.
Archbishop Duoxia looked at Abraham, the Vampire prince whom he hadn't seen for many years, the one who had Embrace him into Vampire, and couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic and sentimental.
" Father Abraham, it's been a long time. I never imagined we'd meet again. Time really flies."
Listening to Archbishop Duoxia's lament, Abraham frowned deeply, his face contorted with disbelief. " Duoxia! It's you again? I was already amazed that Adam of the Old Faith didn't kill you back then, so why are you still by the Pope's side even now that New Faith has been established?"
"It is sincerity, Abraham."
Archbishop Duoxia, seeing Abraham's shocked expression, was deeply moved. "From beginning to end, Duoxia only pursuit has been the eternal existence of the Church. In the past, His Holiness Adam knew of my loyalty to the Church, and therefore kept me. Today, His Saint Peter also knows of my loyalty to the Church, and that is why he has taken me as his confidant."
"But everyone knows that you betrayed Adam twice. How could he possibly consider someone as treacherous and fickle as you a confidant?" Abraham pointed at Archbishop Duoxia's nose and cursed him, showing him no kindness whatsoever.
However, Archbishop Duoxia showed no anger at Abraham's sarcasm. Instead, he earnestly explained to Abraham, "My ultimate purpose in betraying Abraham was only to ensure the continuation of the Church. When the miracles failed to occur, I, Duoxia, believed that the best way for the Church to continue was for the Holy See to relinquish its ruling power and embrace divine authority. Therefore, I betrayed His Holiness Adam twice because I believed that his methods were too cruel, that they stigmatized the Church, and that they were detrimental to the continuation of the religion."
But even now, I still know all the mistakes. Perhaps you don't know, but the corpse of a god has actually been sealed away in the back mountain of the Holy See... This is the fundamental reason why His Adam was so brutal back then."
"A divine corpse? What divine corpse? Isn't His Holiness Norton currently imprisoned in the back mountains of the Holy See?" Abraham frowned, his heart beginning to pound.
Although he heard Kuba's cries, he was unaware that the divine corpse was originally sealed away in the back mountain.
He had originally thought that Norton was the only supreme oppressor in the world, but now it seemed that there were even greater oppressors!
But it touched upon God... such a terrifying concept made Abraham dare not even think about it.
"After the establishment of New Faith, His Saint Peter led troops to blockade the Holy See. The scholars that Yalian III had sent to study the corpses in the caves came to us and told us the news. In fact, we were also very surprised by this."
If we consider the shouts that resounded across half of the Southern Continent during the transit of the Holy Light, we estimate that the cave sealed in the back mountain of the Church should have contained the true Vampire Progenitor, ' Kuba ', as recorded in the Church's scriptures!
Even the Holy Knight was created using Kuba's blood...
However, now only His Majesty Norton's body remains in that cave, nailed to a bone cross imbued with profound holiness... Therefore, the scriptures of the Holy Lord Church may not only be classics that deceive the world, but also historical records from that time.
Therefore, if Kuba exists, then God must also exist, which corresponds perfectly with the miraculous scene of the sun's rays shining through the heavens several years ago.
This is also why His Saint Peter sent me here.
God has retreated, and all supernatural powers should disappear with him; this was also what Kuba said that day.
I know that you do not crave power; your pursuit of power stems from a desire to no longer be oppressed. Therefore, the closure of Norton is not only a great blessing to all people, but also a joyous occasion for you, Abraham. However, it is not dead after all, and with the current methods, it is difficult to harm it.
Sealing Norton is a shared desire of your Vampire clan and my Church.
But Norton was ultimately impossible to kill, and the Vampire race was ultimately impossible to truly eradicate, so... His Saint Peter accepted your proposal and decided to cease pursuing you Abraham and Elizabeth.
From this day forward, the Church will no longer target you, and your name will be completely erased from records with the death of this generation. However, the Blood Court must perish. An excessively large Vampire clan is not conducive to your rule, after all, you do not possess the level of the progenitor. Norton's existence must be consigned to the annals of history.
His Saint Peter will also bury Norton's body underground, and will not repeat the method of sealing it up used by the Holy Lord Church.
This is a world created by God. Vampire who cannot bear the holiness of God can only live in the shadows.
But even so, I think it's already a rare kind of freedom for you...
The Vampire race is difficult to truly eradicate. Their abnormal and uncontrollable reproductive ability means that killing one will only lead to the reproduction of many more. Therefore, His Holiness Saint Peter has long since given up on the idea of exterminating Vampire. Moreover, the progenitor Norton has yet to find any way to harm him. Thus, the Vampire race is fundamentally difficult to truly eliminate.
Instead of wasting a lot of manpower and resources trying to exterminate Vampire, only to have those monsters scattered everywhere, like a pile of shit exploding into stars, it would be better to use a more effective method to make Vampire restrain themselves from within.
As Duoxia said, Abraham did not have the same control as the progenitor, so the large number of Vampire was actually difficult for him to manage. Therefore, if the Church did not hunt down Abraham, Abraham himself would limit the number of Vampire for better management and safety, thus achieving the result of the Vampire race limiting itself.
An orderly Vampire family is far safer than a large number of Vampire scattered around the world.
The former Lino City is the best example.
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With the establishment of New Faith, the living space for Vampire has been shrinking.
Although Vampire are said to possess extraordinary power, their overly mechanical nature makes them utterly powerless in the face of God's holiness.
In order to give Vampire one last chance to survive, Vampire Duke Abraham gathered all Vampire in the frigid land of the Blood Court to pool their strength and fight against the New Faith, thus securing a chance for the Blood Clan race to reproduce.
But he always kept the progenitor in his heart, and at all times wanted to rescue Norton, who was imprisoned in the Holy See, from his cage.
His loyalty was so unwavering that he deserved the praise of dedicating himself to the cause until his dying breath.
So Abraham and another Grand Duchess Elizabeth, gathered the Blood Court Vampire and, through brutal means, forced the remaining hundreds of thousands of Vampire to don armor and take up weapons for a final charge against the Church, hoping to rescue the First Father.
However, it was not the progenitor and did not possess the means to overpower all others.
Although the Vampire race was descended from Abraham and Elizabeth, they did not possess the immense power that Norton had to control the life and death of Vampire with a single thought.
Therefore, under such heavy pressure, some members of the Vampire clan rose up in rebellion, and within just a few years, the situation was completely reversed.
Abraham and Elizabeth fled the Blood Court and disappeared without a trace.
Even Norton, the progenitor of Vampire, was nailed to the pillar of shame.
All the Vampire were like freed slaves, truly beginning to rule as their own.
In an instant, the Blood Court's order was completely in chaos. A large number of second and Third-Generation Vampire were not much different in strength, and none of them would submit to the other's rule. Many Second-Generation Vampire established their own clans, wanting to use them to become kings and ancestors. This phenomenon undoubtedly confirmed Archbishop Duoxia's previous guess.
With the long-awaited clear skies, the Blood Court, which had gathered the vast majority of Vampire and was already in chaos, finally faced a siege from the New Faith.
This war was known as the ' War to Subjugate the Unclean '.
The New Faith methods were not numerous. They did not have Church knights who wore heavy armor and underwent decades of special training like the Old Faith, nor did they have Holy Knight who had absorbed the blood of the Kuba and possessed extraordinary power. They only had peasant soldiers who had just been conscripted into the army, and they did not even have secondary armor or weapons. They only had religious ornaments hanging on their bodies and pictures of God.
However, this rudimentary equipment allows it to deliver an absolute special attack against Vampire.
Instead of immediately besieging the city, the New Faith soldiers first painted religious images on the border cities of Blood Court, using walls, rocks, and even wooden stakes as canvases to paint the images. They used these materials to burn away the Vampire ' holiness and completely surround Vampire within Blood Court.
Only then did they launch their real attack.
These soldiers do not advance at night, but rather surround without attacking. During the day, however, they launch fierce attacks, using religious relics or demolishing houses to hunt down the Vampire within the Blood Court.
When Vampire are bathed in the holy light of God, their supposed transcendence becomes a complete joke.
Perhaps because God has just manifested His power, the heavens and earth are now filled with a holy and profound atmosphere, which is why the effects of all religious objects and images of God far exceed those produced during the great holy wars of the past.
As a result, the Vampire were slaughtered, falling to their deaths and utterly powerless to fight back.
Although some vampires inevitably escaped due to the vast territory, the majority of the Vampire army was completely eliminated. The few who escaped were unlikely to cause much trouble, as they were naturally gathered by Grand Duke Abraham and either punished or placed under new management.
From this perspective, His Saint Peter's methods were indeed quite effective.
This also shows that this guy is really intelligent.
However, its most commendable point is its idea of burying Norton's body deep underground.
In the past, the Holy Lord Empire, in order to seal away the divine corpse, hid it in the back mountain of the Church for thousands of years, diligently slaughtering the royal families of various countries every hundred years to ensure that the surrounding countries would not make any moves and to ensure the safety of the divine corpse.
While this method is effective, it relies entirely on the extraordinary abilities of the Holy Knight cultivated from the blood of the divine corpse.
Although Norton's body on the back mountain can still shed decaying flesh, Saint Peter has no intention of using it as a culture medium to try to cultivate new extraordinary martial arts.
Instead, they planned to completely bury the cave, letting time erase all traces of Norton's existence.
After all, who knows whether the product nurtured from the flesh and blood of the progenitor Norton will be Holy Knight or a new Vampire?