Libertas stood in a clearing, waiting. A bloody hole was on his clothes. However, his skin under his clothes was perfectly fine. Bored, he played with a crimson pearl in his hand as he gazed at the stars. Melancholic, he whispered to himself, "Sister, just where are you?"

Later, the armoured troop arrived and quickly surrounded him. The archbishop stepped forward. His gaze puzzled before an enlightened expression surfaced on his face. He raised a hand to signal the others not to attack, then he asked, "I should have immediately attacked to kill you, but I didn't. Do you know why?"

Libertas' turned around to the archbishop before he bowed. Following, after he stood straight again, he replied, "I am thankful, you didn't do it. You have my gratitude. However, I don't know why you didn't attack, but I can guess! Maybe you thought this is a trap? An ambush? Or something like that?"

The archbishop nodded his head, "Yeah, you are right. I indeed thought of that, but later I discarded the idea. It would be stupid of you to ambush us in a clearing. However, this isn't the reason why I didn't attack. The reason is, I have a request. It may be strange and weird for me to ask you, but may I?"

Libertas smiled, "Yes. Go on."

"The city lord of the City of slaves, he isn't any longer human. He is a vampire and a puppet. In his greed for power, he had hidden a heavily injured vampire from the royal descends. Foolishly, he took on the blood of the vampire at the cost of his humanity. However, he indeed gained power, but at the price of lifelong slavery."

Libertas shrugged his shoulders, "What can you do? Humans are from nature foolish. We aren't made to be smart. Besides that, you haven't told me your question yet."

The archbishop sighed, "Be patient, the question will come soon. As for your statement, perhaps. Maybe you are right, but at least we can try to do our best, don't you think so?"

Libertas shook his head, "Even if we try our best, it doesn't change anything. A failure remains a failure at the end. The only thing… Sigh. It doesn't matter here if it changes anything or not, right?"

"Yeah, it doesn't matter now. You need to know that every transcending vampire can turn others to a vampire of their bloodline. The benefits vary due to different factors. For the examples, the imparter's own cultivation or the vampire blood concentration. Furthermore, there is a moderate chance for a mutation, creating a different type of vampire aside from the typical one."

"When will you mention the negative side to be a vampire? Or do you thinking of skipping it?"

"No, you don't need to worry. I don't plan to skip it. It comes now. In return for all the benefits, the vampires are forced into a strictly hierarchical system. With other words, other vampires with a higher rank as you can command you as they wish. Nevertheless, you can do it too. Even though it is only with other vampires of a lower rank than you."

Libertas waved his hand dismissively at the archbishop, "Don't you need a bit too long to request something from me? Let me guess, and if I am wrong, you can continue. Is that okay with you?"

"Alright. Let us do that."

"Do you want to request my assistant in controlling other vampires? As you can guess, I should be pretty high in the ranks."

Stunned for a moment, then the archbishop shook his head, "I am sorry to say, but you are wrong. Although I must say, it was pretty near the right answer. As you can see, the night is almost over. I shouldn't dally any longer. I believe you are only a victim of the royal vampire and the city lord. You may now be a vampire, but I believe you remained pure at heart."

The archbishop stopped to speak for a second to bow. Then he resumed speaking with a straightened back, "Furthermore, I can see the remarkable willpower in you. Usually, the law would have long ago twisted a personality by now. However, you still remained yourself. I truly respect this side of you. For that, I have bowed to you. Only a few could have done such a feat like you. As such, as long as you withstand the allure of the law, I will protect you. However, if one day the law corrupt you, I shall slay you with my own hands. Do you understand?"

Libertas smiled, "You don't need to worry. Such a law won't ever be capable enough to twist me."

The archbishop's voice turned solemn, "I really hope, you have spoken the truth. I, the Archbishop Franken Stein of the Holy Church, hereby invite you to join us! Do you accept?"

Libertas starred baffled at the archbishop before he quickly regained his smile. He replied as he shook his head, "I am sorry, but I have no intention of joining your church."

The archbishop wrinkled his brow, "You must know, if you don't join us, I am obliged to kill you. Are you sure that you won't join us?"

"Yes, but do you have to kill me?"

"I am sorry. I am obliged to kill any vampire roaming free and are a possible danger for the others in this world. It was nice knowing you."

Libertas shook his head, "Then you don't need to kill me. I am not a vampire. I am the same as you, a human."

Similarly, the archbishop shook his head, "It doesn't matter what you will say now. Your demonic aura tells it all. It impossible that you are still a human. You can only be a demon now. I truly can't let you live. I am sorry."

"Even if you can't sense it any longer?"

"Yeah, it was already recorded down."

Libertas' sighed, "It seems I was foolish, once again."

He didn't reply, only his raised hand dropped. Countless arrows shot up towards the sky. Libertas gazed into the sky. A rain of arrows descended at him. He spoke one last time before the arrows fell upon him, "It was indeed nice knowing you. Goodbye."

The crimson pearl shattered under the hand of Libertas. The fragments scattered into crimson steam. However, the steam didn't float away. Instead, it wrapped itself around Libertas. The arrows pierced the ground and blasted dust clouds to the sky. The archbishop, raised his hand as he shouted, "Prepare the arrows! Shoot!"

Another rain of arrows began descending to the ground, but before they could reach the ground, a strong gale blew them all away. With it, the dust cleared, revealing the hidden sight inside it. Libertas stood there, unharmed. The crimson steam vanished. However, over a dozen aquamarine sword manifested. He held one in his hand, while the others floated over his head. The archbishop wrinkled his brow as he spotted in each one of the swords several crimson dots. A bad hunch overcame him as he saw Libertas smiling at him.

In the next second, the floating swords clashed with the archbishop and his troop. Using the short moment of confusion, Libertas turned around to pounce at an armoured man obstructing his way out of the encirclement.

The archbishop smashed with his hammer at a sword, crushing it. He glanced swiftly at Libertas, only to nearly curse. Nevertheless, he had no time for idle thoughts. A further floating sword dashed at him. Again, he crushed it swiftly before he rushed to Libertas.

Libertas had stabbed an armoured man, and instantly the man exploded into a bloody rain. A white crystal fell into his hand. Immediately, Libertas crushed it without a single hesitation. A white cloud warped itself around him before it quickly changed to aquamarine swords with white dots. Soon, they too caused disorders to the subsiding chaos.

After he killed the third one, Libertas stepped out of the encirclement. Without looking back, he crushed another crystal. Similar to the last time, he sent the new manifested swords into the chaos. All of a sudden, his expression distorted, and he coughed up blood. For a moment, he gasped painfully after the air before his distorted expression eased. He smiled bitterly.

At this time, a powerful force hit Libertas from the back, sending him flying. Quickly glancing back, he saw the archbishop fighting several swords off. With a single thought, the swords suddenly exploded and blasted the archbishop away. Then Libertas smoothly rolled off the ground and continued rushing further into the forest.

The archbishop crashed against a tree. After standing back, he gazed at the departing back of Libertas. He sighed in relief as he saw the occasionally appearing bloodstain near Libertas. However, he didn't immediately chase after Libertas. Instead, he firstly turned around and ran back to his troop to smash the swords to pieces.

Soon all the floating swords were destroyed. The archbishop looked around. More than half of the group died, and not all survivors could immediately fight due to their wounds. He sighed, then shouted, "We have no time. We can't let the demon escape. We must immediately chase him. Be ready! The serious and critical wounded stay here takes care of each other. The rest follow me now!"

The archbishop panted, at the far distance, he could see Libertas. He cursed softly, "How could be this fast, even with his injury?"

His eyes brightened all of a sudden, then he shouted, "Faster, just a bit longer, and we have caught up to him."

Libertas stumbled and tripped over his own feet. His vision blurred, and his hand touched something wet. Gazing at it, he sighed in relief. It wasn't blood as he had thought at first. Unexpectedly, it was instead plain water. There was a river. Arduously he stood back up on his wobbly feet, then he muttered, "Isn't this body too weak?"

Swiftly glancing back, Libertas saw the archbishop catching up to him. He was lost in his thought for a moment, then sighed, "It seems that I couldn't evade sleeping right after waking up. How long would it be this time? A day? A week? A month? Or a year? Maybe even years? I hope it wouldn't be too long. Sigh."

Libertas stepped on the river. Under his feet, a faint aquamarine glow emerged. Steadily, he took a further step, again, a faint aquamarine glow appeared under his feet. A crystal dropped into the river and he quickly transverse the river.

Shortly later, the archbishop reached the river too. The archbishop spread his wings and flew up. However, he didn't immediately cross the river. He instead turned around to his troop and swept his gaze over them. A white light appeared all of a sudden beside each one of them. Then he commanded quickly, "Drop the armours and swim to the other side. I will chase first! Quickly follow the light."

Turning around, the archbishop swiftly chased after the demon. Soon he reached another part of the cliff. Alarmed to see Libertas at the edge of the cliff, the archbishop raised his hammer and jumped toward him. Soon the archbishop would smash him into a paste, succeeding his mission like always. However, this time, he was too late, too slow. Libertas smiled at him, "Congratulation, you survived. If we had met in a few years, you wouldn't have survived. However, we didn't and as such, see you next time."

Libertas coughed up blood. His face was visibly pale. An aquamarine sword swiftly manifested beside him. While at the same time, another aquamarine crystal was gradually swallowing him. He jumped down the cliff, and the sword shot forward.

The hammer of the archbishop clashed with the sword, shattering it. The fragments instantly exploded, lighting up the world in a bright flash. The archbishop wiped his mouth. Blood had smeared his hand. He just stood there silently as he looked down, high up from the sky. His hand slightly shivered. Dully he gazed around, Libertas had escaped.

It was the first failure after a long time. Since the archbishop had achieved his rank, he had never failed before. A bit lost in what to do now, he continued to look dully around. An icy wind blew coldly in his face as the time gradually ticked away. The sun finally stood again up in the sky. Emptiness filled him as he walked back to search after his troop. They have never arrived.

All of a sudden, there was a heaven shattering cry, "Curse you, demons! Fuck you, why did I ever believe in you? Holy goddess, I swear on my name to kill every demon! There is no need for mercy! They deserve death!"