Chapter 90: 89. A Vampires Pride

There are countless ways to enrage a Vampire. 

Damien sat crossed-legged on his bed, with Fay sleeping peacefully by his side. It should have been a night like any other, Damien would cultivate while searching through his memories. Combining many centuries' worth of interactions was tedious, but the occasional memory reignited a little bit of Damiens instincts.

And through these memories and increasing his Blood magic, Damien knew Vampires were extraordinarily territorial and prideful beings, which explained his frown when his perception field detected five humanoids moving toward him at an insane speed. They also reeked of blood.

Damien paused his cultivation and stood up. His movement caused the ever-attentive Fay to awaken, "Damien... where are you going?" she said while rubbing her eyes. 

"Just for a night walk." A black silk gown dropped from a portal and coved his naked body, "I will be back soon."

Fay yawned and hugged his pillow, "Come back soon~."

Damien chuckled and kissed Fay on the forehead as she fell asleep.

Before leaving, he grabbed a wine glass from his nightstand and poured himself red wine from a fancy-looking bottle Beldroth had brought from the capital. 

Damien left the bedroom through the balcony; he glanced casually at the bare courtyard before heading to the lake with levitation.

The massive moon reflected on the calm lake surface as Damien stood barefooted on the lake and sipped with a content smile from his wine glass. "This is some good stuff!" Damien took another sip as he enjoyed the nightly wind and peaceful atmosphere. "A shame some ill-mannered fools will ruin this lovely night."

After finishing his glass, he dropped it, and a rift in space appeared before it hit the lake. He then put his hands behind his back and patiently waited for his guests to arrive.

The smell of old blood and death climbed the hill.

'It feels odd to confront one's death so calmly. These intruders are here to kill me, yet I feel nothing but insulted at having my territory and authority challenged.' Damien faltered as a sudden realization hit him, 'Do I have pride now? Have I truly become a Vampire? Logically I should call for assistance from Richard or Emilia, but the very thought of it revolts me.'

As five vampires with black eyes and red hair appeared on the lake's perimeter, Damien decided he would contemplate his lack of logic another time. 

Damien calmly spoke, his voice flat as if reading the weather, "House Thornvlad dares to arrive unannounced in Nightshade territory?"

All five of the wannabe assassins freeze up when they see Damien standing in the middle of the moonlit lake.

Despite his arrogance, Damien was slightly worried. The tallest amongst the assassins smelt dangerous, perhaps around B grade, and surprisingly he was a Noble Vampire. The rest were around C grade and were normal Vampires by their slightly off smell.

This is the first time Damien has smelt another Vampire but his instincts from being a Noble Vampire for centuries helped him differentiate the strong from the weak. 

The tall Noble Vampire stood before his lackeys and sneered, "Little Prince, you ran from home to play King in the human realm?" Redhead sighed as if he was talking to a child, "Your Brother tasked us to end your pathetic existence here and now."

Damien was amazed that the Noble Vampire that was supposed to be an assassin arrogantly stood before him and declared his employer's full intentions.

'Ah. He's a Noble Vampire... A sneak attack would go against his pride. But, wait, aren't I doing the same? If I knew assassins were coming, shouldn't I prepare an ambush or hide away instead of standing in the most obvious and open space possible...'

Damien looked around with a frown, 'It just felt right to do so. A mere Thornvlad Noble dares to arrive unannounced at my front door, and I should hide away? Run? Flee? Ambush? Ridiculous! That would be truly uncouth of me!'

Readhead arrogantly smirks at Damien's frown. "Kill him but keep his corpse in good condition as per the Daywalker's conditions!"

The four Vampire lackeys surrounding him snarl in agreement with their master's orders. But before the lackeys can even figure out how their master plans for them to walk on water-

A rift in space opens above their heads, and a silver dagger controlled by Psychokinesis brutally impales their skulls. They screamed and howled, but Damien didn't stop his assault. Instead, many silver-edged cards swarmed around the Vampires like a life-sized blender, turning them into meat paste.

The attack took two seconds, and the Readhead Noble seemed deeply intrigued.

Damien didn't interrupt the Readhead Noble's inspection of the piles of meat and bones and patiently waited for his verdict. It simply felt polite to do so.

The Readhead inspected the air where the portals had appeared with great interest; he then picked up one of the silver cards from the ground and ran it between his fingers while mumbling something.

While he waited, Damien decided to drink some wine as the Readhead went about his business. 'As Vampires, we have all the time in the world. No need to hurry things along... Yes. This is how things should be.'

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"Truly interesting! Did you perhaps learn Human magic? I always thought it was rather weak and complicated, but this mastery... these results... You only smell at the level of a weak Vampire, yet you dispatched four of them in a mere second!" Readhead nods as he struts around, "Although Blood magic is strong, it lacks certain applications... Strength? Speed? Tracking? Not a problem but manipulation of weapons? Now that's something new!"

Damien just silently sipped his wine, he was starting to question this Readhead's sanity, but from his memories, he remembered that Thornvlad's well known for being arrogant and eccentric. Especially those twins that kept appearing alongside Vanity in his prison cell...

"Readhead!" Damien shouts when his wine finally runs out, "Although the Night is long, I have a wife waiting for me back in bed. Shall we continue this tomorrow or now?"

"Oh! My apologies." 

Readhead doesn't look apologetic at all.

'This is the most chill assassination I have ever encountered.' Damien thought to himself as he prepared for combat, 'I kind of like the way Vampires handle things.'

This thought vanished as a claw of sinister black smashed into his face. Readhead was on the lakeside one second and in his face the next.

Damien activated his Phantom Form to avoid the claw that would detach his head from his shoulders and then quickly manoeuvred away with Spatial Movement. 

"Marvelous!" Readhead shouts from the lakeside. "You have grown into a fine Vampire since I last saw you."

Damien blinked his eyes in confusion. How did Readhead move so fast? Unfortunately, Damien's question was answered as Readhead stepped forward with a single foot and appeared before Damien again with a rush of air. This time a scarlet blade materialized and impaled Damien's heart. It barely missed since Damien used Hemokinesis to manipulate the blade's tip just in time.

At this moment, Damien realized how terrible of an idea listening to his pride was. His life had almost ended by a mere millimetre. Readhead appeared somewhat friendly, but those who can witness death with a grin and interest are the most dangerous.

Readhead appeared back on the shore, seemingly bored. His black eyes wandered down his slightly bent blood sword. "I would smash you into a blood mist, but your brother requires your body for something. Any ideas?" Readhead dismissed the sword and took a casual stance as if he asked Damien about his favourite season.

Damien was busy debating his life decisions and was in no mood to dwell on his insane brother's plans. 'Can I call Emilia or Richard in time? Could they even help? This Readhead is a B grade Blood mage and a Noble Vampire on top of that. It's a scary combination.'

Suddenly a fantastic idea occurred to Damien. 

Damien calmed his mind and responded in a bored tone, "You're rather arrogant for mere devil spawn. Refer to me as Your Highness and leave this land at once." He then unhurriedly turned his back on the Readhead and began to cross the lake back to his castle.

To say the Readhead was livid would be an understatement. "Respect is earned! You a mere fledgling dare to disrespect me?" 

Damien casually waved his hand and continued leaving.

Redhead's previous leaps across the water caused air to rush, but this one caused a sonic boom. If Damien hadn't been anticipating the attack using his perception field, he would have died before he could even blink. 

As Redhead's claw passed through his skin and obliterated his ribs, Readhead heard a light hum originating from Damien's chest. His hand exited the other side but was empty apart from blood and a rib bone.

"Arrogance leads to death," Damien said as a dagger emerged from the lake below and impaled Readhead through his arse. Then, three portals opened, and daggers poured out, turning Readhead into a pin cushion.

"H-how?" Readhead asked as he spat up blood.

Damien didn't answer and put his hand on the Noble Vampires' face.

"Burn." 

Flames erupted out of Damien's hand, and the smell of burned meat filled the air. Unfortunately, this included Damien's hand, which became a smouldering mess, but he paid it no heed.

"A famous man once said; You must be shapeless, formless, like water." Damien monologed as he cancelled the Phantom Form spell on his heart and pulled Redhead's arm out of his chest. "When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup; when you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot."

Damien sunk his fangs into Readhead and drank deeply; the blood was intoxicating, filled to the brim with mana and vitality. After devouring his kin, Damien looked at the corpse with regret. "Water can drip, and it can crash. You lost because of your unwillingness to adapt as the situation demanded. Your overconfidence and arrogance gave you a false sense of security and made you believe I was defenceless, despite witnessing how your subordinates perished mere minutes ago."

As Readhead's body crashed into the calm lake below, Damien watched the water turn red with a solemn expression. "Become water, my friend."