The berserker hero stared at Ark, and the alchemist stared right back.

“Alchemist…” His voice was deep and powerful, his crimson eyes showing violence behind them.

“Edgy boy…” The potion brewer’s eyes seemed to hold very similar violence behind them.

The two stood in silence, tension getting so thick within the unspoken moments.

“The royal court requires you, so you either come with me or else I’ll drag your barely conscious ass to them,” The hero spoke.

“My barely conscious ass? Are you implying something intimate?” Ark rose his brows with a smug grin, crossing his arms, “Oh my, are you fancying me? Sorry but I don’t-“

He was punched in the face by the hero’s right hand before being hoisted over his shoulder and carried out of the alchemy shop.

“Hold up! At least let me close the shop!” The alchemist yelled, trying to escape, failing his arms at the shop’s entrance.

“No,” The berserker replied monotonously, not paying a second glance.

Ark kept trying to shake and free himself, kicking and yelling as he was carried to the castle. And away from the shop.

“Ark stop acting like a child,” The hero demanded, stopping in the entrance of the magnificent structure.

“Relziem, you’ve just essentially kidnapped me and dragged me to the castle, I have a right to act like a child if I want to,” The potion brewer responded, “And on top of that you’re carrying me over your shoulder, making my ass look dummy thick,”

The hero sighed, pinched his nose with his left hand and tuned out the alchemist’s voice, walking straight to the council area.

The castle looked like a standard castle, except it was much bigger and chock full of magic and magical items, there was even an ancient portal located in the arts section of the castle, where the public could go and observe.

The hero walked right past that section, and various other sections. Much to Ark’s displeasure.

Soon they got to the door leading to the council room, the muffled shouts of the Christmas eyed brewer could be heard from the council members within, some whistling in surprise.

“Ark calm down…”

“Don’t tell me to fucking calm down when-“

The door was opened, and the council saw the berserker hero holding their requested person over his shoulder.

“Is it just me or did we pick the wrong hero for the job? No way does that ass belong to Ark,” A council member whispered to the person next to him.

Relziem flopped Ark onto the ground and took his spot next to a particular young woman, a few people making ‘ahh’ sounds once they saw his face.

“Huh, seems it was merely the way he was held which made his rear look… Intellectual,” Another council member said under his breath.

Ark stood up and looked at the 8 council members, 5 males and 3 females were what made up the council of Unitos, quite reasonable in his opinion.

“Aight, why am I here, and none of that glossing over either, I want it straight and simple,” He demanded, crossing his arms, “And if it's about having breakfast at twelve this morning then I quit,”

A council member to his right coughed a bit.

The room held an elevated sat of chairs and a table in a half circle which surrounded whoever was currently in front of them, a door was off to the side, presumably being the entrance to the high seats.

“This has nothing to do with that, but rather, the group which attempted to rob you today,” The council member in the centre of the elevated seats explained.

The alchemist furrowed his brow and began to think.

“Let me guess, other stores were robbed as well?”

The council member smiled and nodded.

“I see you're not as dumb as you look,”

‘You utter fool! I guessed it!’ Ark internally yelled, hiding a smile of victory.

“We want to question whether you know anything about them, everything from their words to how they fought, with the alchemy competition coming up we want to learn everything about them so we can predict when they’ll attack next,”

The potion brewer then retold his story of going through the door in an attempt to scare his sister and getting her to believe he had died, he described the fighting style they used, he showed them how he broke one’s back and eventually, after around 5 minutes of explanation he finished.

“Any questions?”

“No, none,” A council member with a scar on his hand replied, “You are free to go,”

“Aight then, see ya,” Ark waved and walked out, a discussion immediately following as soon as he was out of the castle. A very heated discussion.

“Well, he seems capable of brewing odd and unique potions I’ll give him that,” A female council member sighed, the hero standing next to her rose a brow.

“He’s too chaotic and unrestrained, if there wasn’t a demon lord currently razing this world then I’d have thrown him into the dungeon already,” The berserker hero scowled, “People like him need to be kept in check or else they’ll destroy everything others have built up, don’t forget how many…. Incidents he’d caused,”

“Relziem, we all know about your grudge against him but we’re currently going through a tough time, with vampires and Spite, not to mention the alchemy tournament that’s coming up, we can’t afford to imprison someone who has the potential to be one of our greatest weapons,” A council member with a satchel of his own said, he wore a blue overcoat and black pants.

“Greatest weapons?!” The hero boomed in sudden anger, “ You have two heroes, you have an unrivalled military, you have a woman who can see into the future and you say you want to weaponize a guy who almost broke the magical barrier protecting Unitos?!” The berserker hero yelled, “Are you insane?!”

Some of the council kept their gazes while others gave looks of surprise at the sudden outburst.

“We understand your anger, but we don’t understand the reason behind that anger. And as you said, he’s managed to almost shatter the barrier, a feat completely out of the league of heroes and demons,” A council member with a blindfold over his eyes mused, “Power like that, as you said, needs to be watched and regulated, and unless we get his recipes we can only try and put restrictions on him,”

Relziem scowled before going down to the door, his giant blade glowing ominously as he opened it.

“I’m going off to release my anger, you know where to find me and my trait,”

Then he left the room, some of the council members sighing in relief.

“You know, it wouldn’t be so hard if Revile was here,” One member groaned, her discernible features being two fox ears and three tails, “He’d work with Atra and this whole vampire business would be over,”

The member with the blindfold agreed.

“Yeah, though I’m sure you know to call him by Rekiel, his true name brings terror to most of the populace of this continent, a reason why he’s done jail time,”

“This all just gets harder and harder, Atra’s unable to find any clues, we have a cult trying to sabotage the competition and to top it all off, Ark will most likely find some way to piss of Relziem and we’ll have to clean up his mess… Again,” The council member with the satchel huffed, laying forwards, “Being part of the council is great and all, but the king is getting old and I don’t want to have to be there when he dies, I hate getting emotional,”

“Well we have a while before then, but in all honesty, I just wish we didn’t have this whole ordeal. It’s just too much,”

“Well then, I am leaving to continue my research,” The council member in the centre got up, over his left eye was a large scar, “I have business to attend to so goodbye,”

“Yep, I’m leaving,”

“Why not, I gotta get something to eat,”

“Sure,”

“See ya,”

“Hopefully something happens that’s good for once,”

“Bye,”

Soon all but one council member remained, she sat at the elevated seats and sighed before getting up herself.

“You guys,” She huffed in annoyance, remembering the small detail on Ark’s file, particularly about poking his nose into the business of other people when he was intrigued by it, “You just gave us extra work…”

Then she too left, the room being empty and quiet.

…

“You want me to what?!” Atra asked, eyes wide in disbelief as she kneeled before the Queen, looking up with surprise etched onto her face.

“I want you to contact your brother,” The Queen answered, letting the royal alchemist stand, “We need his trait and intelligence in a time like this,”

“B-but why?! Aren’t I enough to solve the case? Haven’t I always carried through?!” The female alchemist questioned; she was clearly distressed.

“You have, but in this instance, I can see you need the help. I understand your older brother shadows you by a lot but in this case, we need him,”

Atra resisted the urge to speak up, the Queen was like a second mother to her, having raised her ever since she was 12.

Instead, she sighed and nodded.

“Anything else you need to tell me?” She asked through her teeth, looking the royal female in the eyes.

“Ark, the man who fancies you,” Atra cringed while the Queen said that, “My daughter will most likely seek him out if she hasn’t already, and she may choose to court him if you don’t lay your claim on him first,”

She immediately shut down the statement made by the monarch.

“She can have him,” The royal alchemist replied, pinching her nose, “Ark’s not my type, he’s too brash and hyper, he’s unhinged and does whatever he wants,”

“Is that so? Last I recall you hated him because of that fight when you two first met,”

Atra narrowed her eyes as if the Queen insulted her.

“Don’t speak of that, not at this time,” She warned, her fists balling up.

The royal nodded and kept her face calm and collected.

“I wonder if Ark is going to take this matter into his own hands, even though my husband has the heroes, I still have faith in the alchemist, even if you say he’s brash and wild,”

“Your highness, I’m sure your faith is misplaced, as well as your daughter’s love,”

The Queen laughed at the words used.

“Your highness…? I remember a few years ago when you would call me mother,”

Atra’s face went into an irritated expression, flushing up at the same time.

“That’s because you were the closest thing to a mother when I was twelve onwards! And I stopped calling you that at eighteen!” She said loudly with a strain, the Queen laughing.

“Is that so? I do recall you slipping up a few months ago and you accidentally addressed me as mother… Or was that on purpose...?” The royal smugly grinned.

“Now I know where Resia got her behaviour from,” The alchemist sighed, facepalming, this made the Queen laugh even more.

“My father used to say the same thing! Though it was me who got my behaviour from my grandmother!”

The Queen kept laughing until she calmed down.

“Anyway, it's up to you whether you want that alchemist fellow or not, as for Spite, I have a plan to deal with them,”

“Let me guess, Ark?” Atra asked sarcastically. Her question was met with a nod.

“As you said, he’s a loose cannon and a high risk to both sides, meaning only a few people can control him, and none of those people work for Spite…” The Queen explained, “And unless his sister is a traitor working undercover, we should be reasonably safe,”

“How can you be so certain he’s going to help us though?” The royal alchemist pressed, unsure of the method and path the Queen was going to use.

“Sweetie, I’m the Queen of Unitos, you should be saying how he wouldn’t be a help,” The royal mistress laughed, “Now go off to your own thing, I have many preparations to do,”

“Yes moth- Your highness,” Atra stumbled over her words before running out, the Queen sighing in contentment and amusement.

“Ah Atra, you used to be so serious before you met Ark, I can see his effect brushing off on you,”

….

Ark sat at the counter, reading the book Armi had purchased for the past few hours, not understanding any of the ‘magic theory’ used in it, wasn’t magic just some sort of weird cell generated in the brain which could chemically amplify anything which went through it?

Like lighting spells, for example, they were just the cells’ reaction to a shock sent through them, a shock which was amplified into a lighting bolt… Either that or it was just something that defied science altogether.

“Lemme see, a magic array sends out magic, this can be for most spells and can be drawn with anything, imprisoning spells are the most used spell type for magic arrays, with banishment being second to that. A magic source is required to power the array however, this could be the nearby mana streams, a dungeon’s core or even the target’s soul should the right circumstances be in place… Interesting…” He hummed, looking through pages for what looked interesting.

“Excuse me, what does this store sell?” A girl who looked to be a healer asked, the alchemist peeking past the book.

“Potions of random effects and variety, other alchemy stores sell the basic potions, but we sell potions which have absolutely no combat use and potions which have full combat use, we’re a potion variety store,” He explained.

“Um, do you have something which could cure an ailment?” She asked nervously.

“What kind?” Ark was lax with this customer; they were usually high strung because it was their first day of adventuring, or they were just nervous.

“The kind which cures vampirism,” The alchemist stopped and looked her directly in the eye.

“Ex-fucking what?”

“I, uh, one of our members was attacked by a vampire and we need a potion which cures vampirism before he turns,” The healer was nervous as Ark rose from his chair.

“Why aren’t you at the church...?” He asked, raising a brow.

“I did go to the church! They insisted I look for some sort of potion and I saw this shop first, so I asked you!”

Ark leaned back and groaned, putting both hands over his face in anger and irritation before he looked over to her and pointed at her.

“Go find a shop called ‘The Medical Remedy’ and see if they have something, it's in the same district as this, down south. If you can’t find a potion which can help there then find the royal alchemist,” He ordered, putting the book under the counter, soon hopping over it.

“But what about you?” She questioned.

“I need to interrogate your teammate,” He replied, selecting potions from the shelves to put into his satchel, the slight zapping of an electrical arc on his hands signalled the spell recognized him as an owner. Allowing him to take the potions.

He ran out of the store, letting the healer leave before he locked it and ran straight to the direction of the church, the air making his hair flow back due to the running speed of the alchemist.

“C’mon! I don’t have a fifty in agility for nothing!” He yelled, running down the street with great haste.

He soon arrived at the large church and went inside, panting.

[{Status: Exhausted}]

“Fuck you stats,” He huffed, holding his hands behind his head to open up his lungs.

He walked in and immediately saw priests and priestesses running around, pouring holy water over an adventurer who was stripped down past his underwear. His entire package was visible and although Ark would’ve made a joke, he could see the man was in great pain.

A large blackening mark was on his neck, it looked like a large set of black vines were under his skin, the wound was visible still, but it was horrifying to look at. They were reaching out and spreading every few seconds or so.

“You there, who are you?!” A priestess asked, looking at the alchemist like he was a criminal.

“Uh, I’m just an alchemist who came in to pray for my friends…” He tried to appear as innocent as possible while being non-suspicious.

“Oh, go into the next room then,” The screams of the adventurer dulled out the priestess’s voice, but Ark nodded and went into the next empty room, one would usually pray in the main area but for obvious reasons they seemed to have moved it to the smaller rooms.

It had a wooden bar for praying as well as several shrines dedicated to various gods and goddesses. Candles were everywhere and he felt like he was being watched even though he was alone.

He pulled out a potion and drank it, his mana quickly becoming empowered while he drew out a magic array.

Soon a figure of him popped up and began to silently pray while he drank yet another potion and went invisible, invisibility potions were rare, but he knew a secret recipe… He always did…

He needed the magic boost though, several minutes wasn’t long enough for him to observe a wound, he needed more mana to last him around an hour at most, and he had quite a few mana potions in his satchel.

Ark quickly left the room, his clone still praying silently while he made his way past people, manoeuvring his path around them.

The adventurer was now covered in holy water, being in a literal pond of it to no avail.

“How is he still in danger? Holy water should be killing the infection, but it’s not!” A priest said in horror, “What kind of vampire bit him?!”

“A new kind obviously, holy water has been a pain for centuries, so they finally found a way to adapt to it,” A priestess sighed, “Just like they did to the goddamn sun…”

‘They’ve adapted to the holy water? Isn’t that blessed?’ Ark thought, observing the adventurer without getting too close.

“But our god of light hates the vampires! His holiness should counter the bite!” Another priest yelled.

“The gods of darkness made a vampire that can’t be killed by holy water, I do expect its vulnerable to sunlight though,” A more adorned priest with glasses seemed to be making a restrain spell over the adventurer, “But we only can restrain him overnight to see, let only the higher-ups hear of this. If it's true that a boy can be turned into a vampire in broad daylight and that an adventurer can’t be cured of vampirism by holy water then the structure will fall in this capital,”

“Yes, Arch-Bishop Gerald,” All of the priests and priestesses left, leaving only him and the invisible alchemist.

Gerald, the Arch-Bishop, looked to be in his fifties and had some greying hair.

“I don’t applaud spying on important cases,” Ark’s eyes went wide at the Arch-Bishop’s words, “But I trust that you will be able to help us. Come, walk with me,”

The alchemist was still until the priest nudged him, proving he wasn’t merely bluffing…

Soon Ark, who was still invisible and Gerald, who had his hands behind his back were walking around the back yards of the church.

“I know you exist there, but I cannot exactly see your features, though I can say that you are youthful,” The Arch-Bishop smiled.

“Yeah, I guess,” The alchemist replied, rubbing the back of his head.

“What do you know of vampires?” The potion brewer seemed to think, the open air was nice, and it was around 4:53 PM, the sun was shedding soft yet warm rays on the kingdom.

“Not much, they’re undead, they have little empathy for humans, and they die in sunlight, the usual stuff in books,”

“I see,” Gerald nodded lightly, “Though you seem to be quite curious about them, what is it you seek?”

“I want to know what vampire did that to him, sure I may have just gone off this healer’s words and have overreacted but holy water is the one thing that kept them from biting everyone, why would a wound not simply dissipate now?” He answered, the rays of sunlight going through his body, though they looked a little bent.

“Well, I expect someone like you would go and find the answers, after all, it is getting late and that light going through you won’t last forever,”

Ark looked over to the sun, it would be setting soon, and he had a bad feeling the bite meant something was going to happen when the sun was gone.

“You have a bad feeling something bad is going to happen as well, I can feel it coming from you,”

[Gerald the Arch-Bishop]

[{Trait: Empathetic}]

[Can feel the emotions of those around him, allowing him to comfort and reduce their stress as well as share a singular emotion to many people]

“It’s just, vampires are virtually unkillable unless you have the right tools,” The alchemist sighed.

“So is every other creature,” The Arch-Bishop reasoned, taking in the afternoon light, “You can stay the night if you wish, I can tell you’ll need to,”

“What?” Ark turned to the holy man, “What are you talking about,”

Gerald sighed, shuffling his shoulders and looking down.

“Sometimes a vampire lets a victim go and then stalks them down as a sport, and while I would usually close the church and alert the guard, I expect you would take it upon yourself to ease that aura of guilt around you,”

The invisible adult tensed his eyebrows while making an uncomfortable expression, gulping in nervousness.

“Are you saying I’m going to fight a vampire? Out of… Guilt…?” He asked, slightly concerned.

Gerald shrugged, letting his two hands meet behind his back.

“If you want, all I can see from your emotional aura is that you hold some sort of personal responsibility with vampires… So, if you want to go hunt a possible hunter then I won’t stop you,” The Arch-Bishop smiled, walking away from the alchemist before turning and looking back.

“Oh, and I won’t hold anything against you if you use… Unnatural… Means…”

Then he went into the large church, Ark standing alone, the invisibility starting to wear off as his figure gradually faded into reality.

Suddenly the healer ran out form the large church’s back door, huffing and puffing as she held up the potion with victory despite being hunched over from fatigue.

“I GOT THE POTION!” She yelled in success.

“Too late, the potion won’t work,” At these words from Ark, the healer just froze and stood blankly, emotionless expression on her face.

“Oh… I’ll just… Leave then,” The healer then left defeated, slumped over gloomily while the now visible man pondered…

“… Unnatural means…” The alchemist seemed to let the words sink in for a moment before an idea hit him, a very dangerous idea.

…

The adventurer laid naked in the warm holy water, soothing but not stopping his bite wound on his neck. He was breathing heavily and was unconscious due to the constant pain and fatigue.

The moonlight from the sky shone down on Unitos and the guards were about, carefully looking for any suspicious activity… Though there are only so much a mortal’s eyes can see.

A figure wrapped in cloth entered the church, though their breath barely made any vapour and they looked athletically built, they walked with a stride of superiority as if they were a god among mere ants.

The figure entered the main area, where the adventurer was, they seemed to hum in pleasure as they took off their cloth and revealed a young brown-haired female with red eyes. Two fangs in her smiling mouth, her tongue moving over her fangs.

She took a step forward before her eyes closed and she sniffed the air.

“I wasn’t aware that any other vampire was in Unitos before me,” She spoke, turning to see a figure at the back, their head hanging low.

“Are you here to see what I’ve created for the vampire king? Are you here to help me find him?” The vampire asked, smiling with glee as the figure breathed in and out as if they were debating a hard choice.

The vampire sniffed again.

“Wait… No… You’re human, yet you have a sort of vampire-ish smell about you…” She frowned, observing the figure, “Hm, means nothing to me… You are mere ants after all,”

The figure looked up to reveal a red and green set of eyes, a fire in them.

“You know, I often wondered what would happen if I was ever bitten by a vampire… Though now I guess is a perfect time,” He said, taking out a potion which held a familiar dark glow of crimson.

“The perfect time for what?” The vampire sneered, “To get holy water in your body so I can’t bite you without taking damage? To be protected by the nectar of the gods who you so trust?”

Her red eyes held power in them as her smile grew wider.

“Don’t you realise that the gods are powerless before the inevitable darkness?! That we vampires overcome everything?! Is your faith in your pitiful holy water that strong?!” The vampire spoke in a jesting tone, mocking Ark who paid little attention to what the vampiric female said.

“Well, I guess I’ll overcome you then,” He popped off the cork on the potion and took a massive gulp, his body slightly convulsing and his veins lighting up with power.

“I’ll shred you and your holy water to bits!” She blasted forward with intense speed and sent her arm straight through Ark’s stomach, blood gushing forth.

The alchemist grew pale and he twitched, the vampire pulling a shit-eating grin… A grin that lasted until her nose picked up a scent.

“Wait… A vampire-“

She was cut off as an arm was driven through her stomach, coughing up some blood.

“W-what…?” She turned to see Ark look at him… With two deep crimson eyes of his own, “H-how…?”

“I had a hard time brewing a potion with no cauldron of my own… Hopefully, Terin doesn’t mind that I made a blasphemous concoction,” The potion brewer said to himself, apparently disregarding the gaping hole in his stomach.

“W-what?!” She suddenly had the arm in Ark’s body cut off with a swift chop, making her recoil back and scream in more pain.

“I guess what I’m saying is that I made myself into a vampire… A vampire which heals much faster in moonlight…” He stepped forwards into said light and his wounds fixed themselves almost instantly.

The other vampire watched in pure horror before a realization hit her and she rejoiced, a complete 180 turn in attitudes, one that made Ark step back a little.

“Y-you’re the vampire king!” She yelled in joy, stepping forwards into a kneel, “Your highness I apologize for attacking you, I thought you were a human!”

Ark, after blinking a few times, frowned and tilted his head, his two hands up and ready to fight.

“Vampire king? Aren’t we going to fight?”

“Your majesty! My name is Emthrall, I would’ve never fought you if I knew you were the one responsible for converting a boy in broad daylight!” The vampire bowed, her wounds fully regenerated.

“What…?” The alchemist now vampire asked in confusion.

“The boy you turned into a vampire in broad daylight! Around a week ago! Don’t you remember?”

Ark suddenly snapped his fingers in realization.

“Oh right, I did turn a boy into a vampire, albeit accidentally…”

“Sir… How do you accidentally convert a child…?” Emthrall asked, looking up in question.

“Um, don’t tell anyone but I accidentally made a potion which turns people into vampires and the boy made me spill some of it into the water which he drank, causing him to be converted in daylight. I’m using a modified version of that potion to fight you right now,” Ark casually said, the two in silence before the vampire laughed.

“Haha, that’s a good one, my lord,” The vampire laughed as she wiped a tear from his eye, though the other vampire stood in awkward silence.

The silence soon took its effect.

“Y-you’re not joking…?” Emthrall’s question was met when a potion as chucked to her.

[{Vampire’s Menacing}]

[Desc: Throw away your humanity and become one with the light of darkness, as a Moonlit Vampire you have 3x greater physical and magical constitution than other vampires and being in the moonlight will greatly empower you, but you must also be in moonlight to restore mana and health]

[Duration: 30 minutes]

The potion-making vampire stood with a weak smile while the one who was bowing seemed to suddenly fill with rage and anger.

“You… Y-you!” She seemed to scream in fury only rivalled by a certain alchemist’s sister, “I’LL FUCKING RIP YOUR USELESS SOUL FROM YOUR FUCKING BODY!”

“Wait what-“ Ark suddenly had the female upon him, a fist being driven through him once more.

“Oh… GOD!” the potion brewer chucked up lots of blood, seemingly finding dirty humour even in this situation, “I just… Got fisted…”

“GO TO HELL AND ROT IN THERE!” The vampire screamed, kicking Ark into the darkness and out of the moonlight as well off her fist.

His gaping hole in his body stopped healing and he stood there, unfazed.

“You’ll have to try harder next time~” He flirted before a chop tore his right arm off.

“YOU BLASPHEMOUS DECEIVER!” She shrieked.

“All the vampire race after getting in a room with a person who trusted them,” Ark commented, backing away from the angry female vampire.

She slashed and attacked him with great speed and power, but Ark knew how she worked.

Besides from having different abilities and weaknesses, vampires also had a natural stat advantage and disadvantage for each race, those who had special conditions like only being able to heal in moonlight like Ark were usually the strongest stat-wise while those who could resist sunlight and such had to rely on advantages in numbers due to a crippling deficiency in one or more stats

And while she easily caught up to him in strength and speed, there was a critical flaw in her build.

Emthrall was a glass cannon, she could give and dish out damage, but she would fold like paper should she be hit by one of his attacks.

And he planned to either hit her or use the church to his advantage.

He jumped back into the moonlight and let the hole in his chest regenerate while she dashed towards him, and Ark, as a vampire with someone about to attack him while getting closer had an urge to say something.

“Oh? You-“ He felt a set of strikes carve into him, several wounds in the shape of holes immediately appearing as he was launched over the pond the adventurer was in and onto the floor past him.

“Y’know, this is kinda peaceful,” He sighed, the figure of Emthrall above him suddenly appearing as she launched a fire-based spell.

He rolled over as the spell hit the floor and exploded, creating a large set of flames like a large bonfire, Ark whistled, the holes in his body continuously regenerating with the moonlight’s effect.

“Your greatest strength is your greatest weakness! You may be a vampire now, but I just have to wait it out!” Emthrall yelled, slashing at him with astonishing speed and power, creating large claw marks on the walls.

“Wait a minute, Vampires have claws?” The potion maker wondered, accidentally hitting a wall in the process of jumping back.

The female vampire abruptly appeared in front of him and he braced as best as possible, crossing his arms in an X while he was sent through the wall he was backed up against, the cement bringing up dust as it crumbled under the overwhelming power of the vampire.

“You can’t heal while in darkness, ironic isn’t it?” She sneered at him; a shuffling sound being made in the large cloud of dust.

Suddenly a marble statue of a half-naked man was sent straight at her and she jumped to the side and pressed herself against the wall with agile movements, the statue shattering once it hit the floor, gaining her attention.

A hand speedily busted through the wall and grabbed Emthrall’s shoulder before pulling her in and through it.

She hit the floor on the other side before a hail of statues were smashed on her while Ark screamed, throwing and hitting statues onto and at her as well as other things he could grab within the room.

Though his attack only lasted for so long before the statues were shredded to mere rubble by the female vampire who looked incredibly pissed off, he had lost his edge in surprise by now.

“Uh, wanna redo?” He offered with an awkward left hand out, said hand was sliced off before he finished extending it, soon the rest of his arm followed, and he screamed in pain before being grabbed and pummelled into the floor.

Fists and claws beat and dug into his flesh as Emthrall looked on with a gleam of pleasure in her eyes, she was enjoying this with a large smile on her pale face.

“You thought you would be able to rival me?! You’re merely cattle to us vampires!”

She tore into his chest and with a brutal and bloody scream, Ark had his heart torn out before he was ripped in half, his torso and legs being chucked into two different directions while she licked the blood off her fingers and savoured its taste.

“You should’ve just lied about being the vampire king, at least you would still be alive by now…” She shuddered, walking over to the alchemist’s upper half.

“And you…. You should’ve paid more…... Attention to your surroundings, particularly which Room you’re in,” Ark coughed, blood coming from his mouth.

Emthrall rose a brow before a massive blast of light blinded her and she felt chains wrapping around her limbs and body, restraining her.

“WHAT?!” She screamed, the chains formed locks around her body, and she struggled to even move at all, they glowed with radiant holiness.

“Fun fact about the church… It has rooms to…. Imprison undead,” Ark wheezed, his lungs had a hole in them, and he was struggling to breathe.

Though he quickly reached around his back and opened his satchel, drinking a potion which went down his throat and onto the floor where his stomach now lay, the mutilated organ slowly healed itself and through a harsh yet small crawl across the floor, Ark managed to fully regenerate his body, though a scar ran across his stomach.

The restrained vampire screeched at him.

“WHY AREN’T YOU RESTRAINED THEN?!” She screamed in anger, writhing, and shaking in her chains to try some attempt as escaping.

He smiled as if it were obvious.

“Because I activated the room to only affect you, not me,” He replied, Emthrall falling to her knees and sighing in defeat.

“Fine then, kill me,” She hissed, “You false king of vampires,”

“False king of vampires? I thought I was just cattle,” Ark replied, smirking as he kneeled to her level, “Speaking of which, how much ruckus did I kick up in the vampire world?”

The vampiric brunette looked at him with hate and rage in her eyes, though he could see a satisfaction behind them.

“You completely overturned it, half of all the vampires in this continent know about the boy, and half of them are already in the city,” She smiled devilishly, “And with the alchemy competition coming up, tourists are going to be flocking here left right and centre, your pitiful guards won’t know who’s real and who’s not,”

The alchemist thought for a bit then shrugged, standing up and facing away from her.

“Eh, I’ll just have you killed then with the potions I’ll assume the identity of the vampire king, I’ll overthrow the monarchy and then I’ll rule over all of Unitos as an immortal and invincible overlord,”

This made Emthrall laugh.

“Really? You’re so consumed by this power that you’d kill your race? You really are a bloodsucker,”

“Of course, before that, I’d have to have your soul imprisoned,” Suddenly the laughter stopped and she looked up at Ark, paler than before, the phrase ‘soul imprisonment’ was a very dangerous one.

“W-wait, s-soul i-imprisonment…? Isn’t t-that illegal...?” She stuttered, her pupils shrinking in fear.

“Only to us cattle, but to you vampires,” Ark looked over his shoulder and with a smile resembling her own, spoke with a hint of mockery, “It’s quite encouraged…”

Soul imprisonment was way worse than it sounded, the victim’s soul was trapped into a crystal and depending on what the crystal was designed to do, the soul could either simply float around aimlessly and alone or be constantly ripped and torn to shreds before being reassembled and ripped again. For human souls, it was well and truly banned, but for vampires, a race that hunted and persecuted humans, it was encouraged to send them into a soul prison for as long as time itself lasted.

“Y-you wouldn’t…” Emthrall slightly sweated, her composure was slightly breaking.

“Oh? Are you doubting me?” The alchemist smiled maliciously, pulling a small vial out from under his shirt collar.

The vial was tiny, barely an inch long with a small dark blue fluid inside of it that swivelled around a small bit when shaken.

“What… What do you plan to do to me...?” She looked at him with fear, anger, resentment, and a hint of betrayal.

“Well I wondered how potent and effective a tranquillizer from the Thieves guild was, so I snatched some from the girl currently balled up and did a bit of experimenting,” Ark said, ignoring her question, “I discovered how potent it truly was, a simple dip of the stuff can knock someone out for a few minutes while a dosage lined along the blade has the capacity for a few hours of nap time,”

“Answer me!” The vampire screamed in anger and fear, the chains preventing her from leaping at him and tearing his body to pieces.

“So, in saying that,” He disregarded her emotions and took the lid off the vial, “An entire vial’s worth should kick you out for at least a couple of days… Though that’s not the plan,”

Emthrall watched the potion-maker take out a small toothpick from his satchel which had somehow remained intact this entire time before he dipped the wooden pick into the vial and approached her.

“Now, hold still,”

The vampire’s screams echoed through the church before suddenly being silenced while adventurer’s unconscious figure suddenly becoming conscious as he stood up and hit his head on the barrier spell, his blackened parts slowly returning to normal.

“Huh? Where am I?” He questioned, looking around, before remembering he was in the church, in a pool of holy water that wasn’t working. He remembered blacking out at some point.

He soon noticed the dark of a male figure walk out from a room, holding a body over his shoulder with two red crimson eyes turning to face him.

“Hmm, seems the vampire’s effect wears off once she’s knocked out, a serious flaw indeed,” He spoke.

“Wait!” the adventurer called out, “Who are you? How did you stop the infection?!”

He could tell this figure wasn’t the Berserker hero’s figure nor was it the Paladin’s, he needed to know who had brought him from the brink of collapse.

“I killed the vampire which caused your infection,” He answered with a deep voice, “That’s all you need to know,” He resumed walking to the exit of the building.

The adventurer attempted to get free to get a closer look at the mysterious figure who had saved his life, though they soon disappeared into the darkness and he remained there. Stunned and awestruck at what he had been answered with.

‘I killed the vampire which caused your infection, that’s all you need to know,’

“Someone killed a vampire…?” The adventurer looked at his hands in disbelief, “A mere man killed a vampire…?”

The clouds over Unitos soon cleared out and a full hit of moonlight sprayed into the church, showing the various broken walls and marks, he could even smell a hint of fire.

This area had been a battlefield mere moments ago, mere moments ago that man had probably thrown the vampire through walls and charred it. The very same vampire which his party had almost been killed by, that man had effectively soloed without a hint of injury or fatigue in him…

‘Wait… It couldn’t be… A vampire hunter...?’ The adventurer thought, vampire hunters had been wiped out hundreds of years ago by various laws and the absence of said prey, but that was the only explanation he could think of. All the S and A tier adventurers had been sent out to fight the demonic threats and that man didn’t have the intimidating figure of the heroes.

Additionally, he remembered a boy had been infected in broad daylight and that it was said to be the work of a new kind of vampire… A new kind of vampire to hunt…

Vampires were unkillable existences to B class adventurers like himself, but to a vampire hunter, they were mere creatures. To a vampire hunter, even turning into one wouldn’t stop them and their hate for the bloodsuckers.

He soon laughed and pumped his hands into the air with victory.

The gods had seen their terror and problems, and they had answered it with something that would instil its own terror into those problems. In this midst of a crisis with a new vampire, they had given the mortal realm a vampire hunter.

Or so he thought.

That ‘vampire hunter’ was walking on the street, scolding himself internally.

‘I killed the vampire which caused your infection? Really Ark? Could you even get edgier? Oh well, at least they won’t know it's me… Other than Gerald of course,”

Emthrall wasn’t even dead either, she was asleep, and in deep too. He looked shady as well, carrying her over his shoulder at night, though usually, one wouldn’t give a glance at all. Often the guild would call for the capture of evil or corrupt nymphs and shapeshifters to help try and either purify them or use them as a study of sorts.

He could hear the mutterings of people around him and he frowned, if the guards were called in on accounts of a weird guy carrying a young woman over his shoulder then they’d see his two red eyes and instantly assume he was a vampire, which wasn’t far off. Plus why were they even questioning him? He was in the adventuring district! It was common to see bodies over shoulders!

He needed something that would conceal his face from others… A hat! A hat with a seemingly normal look or a hood and a mask. Though a hood and mask would attract more attention than a hat… But what hat would help-

Ark’s eyes suddenly met a hat on a stand just to the left of a blacksmith, it was equipped with a brim that folded over the top yet still hid the side it was on, it was a simple hat that he’d seen many times in stories before.

“A black musketeer hat… Just what I need,” He spoke with a smile, silently saying thanks as he went up to the store.

It was a stand full of clothing items one could buy, several adventurers and merchants had set up stalls despite it being night… He was in the market district… A place full of guards…

Now everything made sense, the looks, the horrified faces. Nobles and dukes, officials and leaders were all in this area, most of these guys hadn’t seen such a sight unless it was in theatre or shows. They all probably thought he was some kidnapper or murderer, hell, some of them looked so scared with their knees knocking. Showed how privileged the nobility of Unitos were.

Also how the fuck did he not notice he was in this district? The roads were perfectly paved and there were street lights lit up with magic, the adventurer’s district was nothing like this!

The alchemist immediately dashed at high speeds, throwing a group of coins at the stall’s owner before grabbing the black musketeer hat and what appeared to be a grey overcoat under that. He scaled a wall, still holding Emthrall over his shoulder before getting out of sight and sitting against a concrete block.

To put it straightforwardly in Ark’s view: He walked into a nobility district thinking it was the adventurer’s district where he lived, he gained suspicion with a girl over his shoulder, he grabbed the hat but also the overcoat underneath the hat on accident & he chucked probably the wrong amount of coins at the vendor.

To make things worse, he could hear the shouts of guardsmen arming themselves and using magics to track him. He didn’t know all their traits either, his analysis trait could only do one person at a time and he wasn’t fast enough to avoid a hail of status crippling spells and effects.

“Fine, looks like I’m gonna have to improvise,” He huffed, putting the hat and overcoat on, “The guards are going to chase me no matter where I go, so I might have to break into a few stores… Oh boy…”

The alchemist then got up, stretched a bit, and shook himself down.

He had 3 greater healing potions, a potion of Body Temperature Augmentation, 2 potions of Vampire’s Menacing, a vial of that sleeping fluid, a potion of potion amplifier and a bottle of whiskey in case things got tough.

Ark eyed the whiskey before shaking his head, he was not getting drunk at this time nor was he ready to become an alcoholic again… Never again…

The main goal he needed to achieve would be to convince the guards that he wasn’t Ark in any way, he would also need to escape at some point, either away or inside the adventurer’s district… Though he had a plan on how to carry out this process… A very scuffed plan.

“Right then, let's do this!” He yelled, taking another swig of the Vampire’s Menacing.

He felt the dark power flood his veins and he gained a slight thirst for blood… He would have to definitely act fast if he wanted to get to his shop.

He filled his legs with strength and took a jump, a slight ray of moonlight empowering his body.

Ark’s body launched itself from the top of the building and he slightly glided, judging from how high he was, the alchemist estimated he could cover 20 to 27 meters with each leap, more if he used different magics.

“There! In the sky!” He heard voices yelling as he leapt, suddenly spells and arrows were being shot and fired at him, he did his best to avoid as many as possible and yet he found several arrows in his back.

He easily healed those wounds that were inflicted onto his temporarily immortal body, though it wasn’t as easy to avoid the cause of the injuries while in mid-air. The now many arrows in his back spoke for themselves on his air control.

He leapt from building to building with relative ease, still receiving the brunt of the arrows while Emthrall’s unconscious body received nothing as if the arrows dare not sully her sleeping form.

“Fine! If I can’t take the goddam sky, then I’ll take the alleys instead!” He screamed from his gnashed teeth.

Vampires still felt pain, although it was reduced a bit due to regeneration, they still felt pain. And as of currently his back was screaming in pain as it was pumped full of arrows from the highly trained guards.

“Freeze or we’ll have to use lethal force!” A presumably high-ranking guard yelled.

“You already are!” Ark yelled back, now going into an alleyway to start running, “You fucking destroyed my back!”

The alchemist had rarely gone to the market district, sure he went several days ago but nobody remembered his voice at all. They were always stuffing themselves with food and luxury or they were training to protect the market district.

Speaking of nobles, the vampire was sent through a wall by a gauntlet covered fist, having attempted to bounce off said wall, causing a cloud of dust to spring up.

“Well, what do we have here? A thief? No… A kidnapper? Possibly,” Ark heard a familiar voice speak, a voice that he did not want to hear, not at this time.

“Although a regular person would have been knocked out from that punch… Just who and what are you?” The dust cleared and there stood Relziem, in all his edgy and kinda badass glory.

The alchemist scowled underneath his musketeer hat and stood up, he had been punched inside a local pawn shop and he shifted his jaw back into place from the said punch.

“Hmm… You carry yourself with some demeanour, though you seem to be missing something,” The hero smirked and revealed the unconscious female vampire, “I wouldn’t put it past you to be involved with Spite,”

Ark stepped back a bit, not because of the accusation but rather the fact that he had the woman stolen from him and he didn’t notice… Truly how oblivious was he?

“I was right,” The Berserker hero chuckled darkly, “So… What will it be then? You come at me and I beat your ass, or will I have to chase you?”

The alchemist sighed with the best gruff voice he could put on and straightened his hat before a red-eye shined from underneath his gaze.

Red eyes were fairly rare, but this one seemed to literally glow, unlike his normal red eye colour. Additionally, it was a darker shade and he had a green eye as well, plus he was sure the red-eye was on the wrong side of his face.

In various circumstances, an eye flashing meant something badass was about to go down, for our disguised alchemist though, it now meant he was blown down the street with blood pouring from a caved-in skull.

“Seems you chose the hard way for yourself, though I have to say it’s the easy way for me,” Relziem dashed down the street, wielding his powerful blade of legend.

Ark quickly landed and rolled over, using a hand to tear up pavement and stop his movement, he carefully studied the hero coming towards him at breakneck speeds.

‘Relziem, you may be powerful physically, but that power has a critical flaw!’ The blade was swung at him and the vampire dodged with ease by kneeling and sliding forwards.

‘Your strength allows you to move fast and kill most enemies in one hit!’ He wound up a punch as the hero’s pupils dilatated, try to back away but he was too slow.

‘And that’s your flaw! You’re too predictable with attacks because you're so used to killing everything in a single blow!” The fist collided with Relziem’s face and he was given a taste of knockback, being blasted down the opposite end of the street.

The alchemist quickly stood and took the amplifier potion out of his satchel then chugged it, some of the moonlight reached a bit of his neck under his hat and he quickly recovered all fatigue and injury inflicted onto him.

[Potion of Potion Amplification]

[Desc: Amplifies and multiplies the potency of various potions, though by how much varies on how well the potion is indigested by the consumer, this potion cannot be amplified by other amplification potions]

[Duration: As long as the amplified status lasts]

“I have twenty-six minutes of this vampire body left, twenty-six minutes to finish this,” Ark gasped as the potion took effect and amplified his vampiric powers.

The Berserker came blasting down the street at even greater speeds than before, throwing a punch that would’ve killed Ark with its sheer wind pressure.

But of course, it was met with a blow of equal power, causing the area around to immediately erupt in a massive blast of pressurized air, forcing everyone back in one big burst.

“You… What the hell...?” The hero stood in shock for a second, seeing almost no damage on the mysterious figure from a punch that had taken down countless foes.

The alchemist remained silent and another punch was thrown at him. The second punch being immediately countered like the first, though it possessed more power and thus, had a heavier wind blast than before.

Ark had to try to keep his hat on while more punches were thrown his way, it didn’t help that they were fast and precise, but they were still predictable and he managed to move out the way of each hit.

Though he could tell that the hero was trying to change up his style of fighting, the attacks becoming irregular and erratic yet somehow coordinated and detailed. For anyone else fighting, they would have already been wiped out, for Ark though, he had planned this and expected it.

He dodged to the left milliseconds before the right punch came, weaving his way closer to the Berserker who grew more frantic, what use were attacks when they were predictable? What use were the most powerful blows when an enemy could see through them?

To onlookers, a mysterious figure was dodging every single attack from a man who had killed essentially unbeatable existences like the demon generals. To them, the heroes were rivalled only by each other, yet this unnamed man was dodging attacks from the most physically powerful hero with relative ease. A clothed figure who simply just appeared was fighting on an even level with the most physically overpowered hero.

The mere thought was terrifying, yet they all backed away in fear as the mysterious figure‘s attacks contacted with the hero and sent him into the ground, the Berserker being pummelled over and over by him.

‘Remove his weapon!’ An attack threw his sword aside, ‘Then pummel him before jumping off!’

Ark pounded Relziem into a crater in the pavement and then jumped back, he didn’t plan to debilitate or kill him, he just needed to stun him. Though the existence of someone who could get past his attacks would be enough for him to be pursued, most people failed not because they couldn’t predict his attacks but rather because the attacks were too fast for them to see.

Sure enough, the blade of the Berserker came flying his way and he tilted his head to the side and avoided it before it came flying back and he rolled under it. He could feel the hero’s angered scowl on his neck, and he smiled, it was so fun to get him worked up.

Too bad the potion didn’t give him the skills and spells of a vampire, only the physical ability, though if he did some tinkering, he could maybe whip up something that could even make a vampire a human again. Now THAT would be a potion.

‘I wonder if I did anything with the reverse potions,’ Ark wondered to himself, sensing a presence catching up to him.

“You bastard!” He could hear Relziem yelled, “What kind of backing do you have?! Who gave you the ability to penetrate my defences?!”

The alchemist in disguise turned around for a moment mid-dash, his heels off the ground as he gave the hero the middle finger and resumed dashing down the street.

‘What? What was that? Did he just flip me off?! Is he that certain of his escape?!’ The Berserker thought, ‘No, he’s just bluffing, I’ve got him cornered and there’s no way he can escape!’

Then the most stupid thing to ever happen happened, Armi, the Princess and the prince appeared. The two girls seemed to be discussing something while Wilford was carrying all the baggage with ease and a smile.

“It’s extremely late, you should be in bed by now,” Armi suggested, clearly tired from a day of running around with the two.

“Nonsense, it’s only ten twenty-six,” The Princess laughed, “Besides, we haven’t even gotten to the prize of us thanking you,”

The female alchemist groaned with her face in her hands until she heard yelling and looked up.

There, coming straight towards them was her brother in a musketeer hat and overcoat with Relziem yelling at him, wielding his blade. Usually, with clothes like that and the current posture he was taking, nobody would know it was him but she knew… She always knew…

“Ark what did you-“ She was cut off as he dashed past her and swiftly put something in her hand with the hero in tow, causing her hair to flow with the wind that followed them after.

She looked at what he placed in her hand, it was a piece of paper with the words ‘Go down the street and find an unconscious girl, then bring her back to the shop, but do it discreetly,’ scribbled messily n it.

‘Ark, I swear if you’re trying to get me to disown you then you’re doing a fine job of it!’ She internally snarled, pocketing the note and turning to the royal duo.

“Sorry but I’ve gotta go, and no I won’t accept a reward!” Armi yelled, quickly running down the street.

“Wait but- Oh she’s gone…” Resia pouted and huffed.

“Fine! Wilford lets go, I’m in a bad mood now…” The prince nodded and with a cheerful expression, followed his sister back to the castle.

Now, how Ark managed to lose the hero was simple, he set fire to a massive haystack in the adventurer’s district and used the smoke to hide… Inside the haystack.

Relziem passed over and frantically searched for the figure but found nobody except Ark in an alleyway who, at his point, had burned his musketeer hat and overcoat within the haystack, he smelled a little of smoke but he passed that off as making a fire resistance potion.

He then went into the shop, stretched, and sat down in a chair, his vampirism was about to wear off and his green pupil was starting to fade into the red.

“So, mind telling me why we now have the unconscious body of a vampire in our shop?” Armi’s voice asked, and from the depths of Ark’s fear, he turned to see her gentle smile of death, “And why you are a vampire?”

Yeah, she saw the fangs… And now he was in deep shit again…