The next morning, after having finished our breakfast, I stored Vollstrecker and moved outside of the city. Upon reaching the gate, the Attendant, who had some bandages on his face, was looking really sad. Can’t blame him, haha! As I passed by his side, he followed right beside me, and as we left the city, he began to speak.

“I’m here do deliver a message from Kaddrad-Sama.” He said, with conviction. “The Sheikh, apologizes for its harsh actions, and send his regards.”

“Uhum. Anything else?”

“He asks: Why would you go, if I wasn’t able to tame the Sand-Whale yet?”

“Because I want to. Bye. Let’s go!”

Bringing Vollstrecker out, the girls entered on the back, and I on the driver’s cabin. Lowering the window, I looked at the Attendant, and waved my hand.

Vollstrecker’s engine sound made some of the guards aware, thinking that a monster was about to attack the city, but after seeing what made the sound, they got more relaxed.

“See ya.”

I started the car and then we got out of there. To tell you the truth, holding Vollstrecker's steering wheel gave me an amazing sensation. This is the first time that I drive a car, but as incredible as it may seem, I can drive without any problem. Might be because of the skills, I don’t know.

Traveling with Vollstrecker, I felt so good. I could feel the bumps while driving, but for the girls in the back, they didn't even complain. Might be because of the space. Gotta learn Space Magic, or better, Space Manipulation. I don’t wanna ask for the help of others when it comes to create something.

I have no problem asking for help, but when it comes to the things I create? Not worth.

“Wow. There’s a lot of bumps here, huh.”

Glancing to my left, I see that Suzuki was at the passenger seat.

“Yeah. So, what you want?”

“Nothing, really. I just wanted to be here.”

“You lost in the game, right?”

“Yeah, I lost in the game.”

I made some card games. Like French-Suited cards, Mahjong, Dominoes, Memory Game cards(with some images based on the monsters), and Chess. Suzuki started winning in the beginning, by the girls voices, but looks like things turned to the worse, since she looked dejected.

“Lost in what?”

“Uh… Chess, and Memory Game.”

“Really?”

“I mean, they know the monsters, I don’t.”

“That’s a nice excuse.”

“Hey!”

“But really, what you want to talk?”

She glanced at me, and then sighed.

“What you think is the objective of the Emperor? You said that he’s fishy, and it involves us, right?”

“Hm. I spoke with Ayla some time ago.” I started talking about the Heroes, and all of that. “Basically, we weren’t suppose to be here.”

“And… The emperor has something in mind?”

“These, Heroes, that came before us. I don’t know much about them, and I don’t really care about their lives, but… there’s no information about them.”

“Like, someone has been wiping any information about them?”

“Basically. Everything related to heroes, and such, are scarce. There’s no history books talking about them. Even the Sheikh didn’t knew the name of the Hero that was buried on the Pyramid.”

“But… you gone there, right? Did you saw a coffin or something?”

“That’s the thing, Suzuki. There was no coffin.”

She looked at me with wide eyes.

There was no coffin at the Pyramid, neither at the Sphinx. When I entered, the first thing I did, was use Scan, and search for a tomb or something. There was a tomb. But no coffin.

“Every single room I had found, were empty. The only thing I’ve found in there, were some relics and artifacts, and that room with a map.”

“And the other dungeons?”

“Nothing at all. There were arenas, some small rooms for monsters, but no coffin. And I think it’s here.”

“Here what?”

“The Sand-Whale.”

“WHAT!?”

“Hold tight.”

Our conversation was cut short cause of the Sand-Whale roar and rumble right at our backs. Looking on the side mirror glasses on the door, I could see the sand being tossed upwards. And some teeth.

“She’s not happy, huh.”

“CAN YOU ACCELERATE THIS THING?!”

“I’m doing my best.”

Pouring more mana, the boost activated, and we got to escape the jaws of the Sand-Whale, right as we were about to be eaten.

“I think the path, is around~ Here!”

Together with the build of Vollstrecker, I also made some screens on the driver’s cabin. There was one at the console, right in the middle of the driver’s cabin, at where the music player on some cars would be located.

The screen was showing a map, not like those of maps apps we see on phones though. Mine was… how should I say it? Crude. I didn’t had a satellite, so I couldn’t replicate something like those maps. My best bet, was making like a sonar or something.

So, the map appear more like a graphic like image on the screen, with Vollstrecker right in the middle, and everything around of it, will be showing a different type of color. Passive life signs will be shown as green, aggressive life signs will be red, and anything else, will be in yellow.

For terrains, it’s a bit different. There is another screen on the vehicle, or better, 2 other screens. They’re smaller than the one from before, and are located right above the one I just mentioned. They show a camera on the back, and on the front.

I used the same principle of my old MPD, which is my left eye now. The sonar, would be launched, and again, a graphic like wave would be launched from the vehicle ahead, and behind it, showing the terrain structure.

Gotta say, it was pretty handy. It was the best thing I could have made. Or that I thought. Since, well, it also made a graphic like thingy upwards too. And that took time to finish, so to use it again, took a few seconds.

“We’re safe for now. So… Where were we? Oh yeah! The tomb, that should had a coffin, but it didn’t.”

“This is crazy. Why did I came with you?”

“Haha! But yeah, Suzuki. Like we’re talking, there is no recollection of what the heroes had done in the past. Or better, someone, worked hard to not let people know about the heroes.”

“But why? It doesn’t make sense.”

“That, my lady, I think it’s gonna be answered in the future.”

“Didn’t answered my question though.”

“Well, we’ll be reaching some towns on the way, so be ready soon.”

She got on the back part of Vollstrecker, and I continued driving through the sands. We had other 2 attacks from the Sand-Whale, but other than that, no other problem arised.

We reached a village right before nightfall, and slept until morning. Again, not me. I got up, and reached the rooftop, looking to the direction where the coast would be located.

“Again. This isn’t a normal aurora. It has something… eerie, about it.”

As of again, strange lines on the skies appeared. This time though, they were all Dark-Blue, and had more of an Aurora kind of appearance. The entire sky was lit under it, but for more beautiful it looked, like I had said, it gave off more of an eerie feeling than anything else.

I decided to watch it for the entire night, and just after about 3 hours later, did the entire thing vanished from the skies. It’s not morning yet. What the blast is producing these, anyway?

As morning came, I got down, and we prepared to keep moving. We got out of the Village, proceeding towards the north even more. While doing so, Lucy made some food for us to eat. I stopped the vehicle, and we ate together.

After a few hours, we reached the last Village, right at the front of the fortress. It was a strange place though.

First of all, when we were getting close to the village, clouds started gathering. The entire sky was almost black, with dark-gray clouds all around.

Second, the village was in a state of alert all the time. When we entered, I could feel a lot of glares. Even though there were children around, they weren’t playing. Rather, they were training.

And lastly… There were Vampires on the village. Behind bars, but they were there nonetheless. They were being executed. There was a small pool of glimmering crystal clear water, and the vampires were being tossed inside such pool.

“DEATH TO THESE MONSTERS!”

““YEAAAAAAAH~!””

While a man, dressed in black, holding a mace in hands, was tossing the vampires on the pool, the crowd around them cheered in pleasure. Oh, that’s holy water, huh. No wonder only the collars remained. SHOCK!

Seeing the Vampires being tossed, I instantly glanced at the Executor. He had a skill, called [Species Detection]. It simply checked the people the guy looked at, and would tell him which they belonged to. Needless to say, the guy glanced at Ayla.

He was confused, actually. Cocking his head to the sides, he wasn’t able to tell what species she was. Oh! She can change between Species! It’s only Oni, now. Now that I see, some people around have horns, much like Ayla. They’re Onis too!

The Onis around, actually glanced at Ayla, and widened their eyes. Some of them rushed to the main building, right after the pool of Holy water, and after a few minutes, an elder man, using a cane, came out, and glanced at Ayla.

He gave one step ahead, but stopped. When I glanced at Ayla, she simply put her hand up, like saying: Stop. I’ll come to you. The elder stopped, and murmured something to the man on his left, and the guy disappeared inside the building.

After walking to the man, Ayla spoke her words to the man.

“Glad to be back… Grandpa.”

“Yes. Thanks for coming here, first.”

(Kenji-Sama? Who is he?)

“Her grandparent. Probably her mother’s father.”

They didn’t said any words, and the elder invited us inside. There, it had a table, full of food, and lots of chairs. By the way, there were chairs for even Amara, and Kasumi.

“I saw your… companions, and noticed, 2 of them weren’t normal.” He glanced at Amara and Kasumi. “So I prepared seats for them as well.”

“Much appreciated.”

Ayla coldly answered.

Things aren’t really nice, huh? I eyed the food a little discovering that lots of it, actually had poison. First of all, there is no… Actually… I see. Me eyeing the food, made the elder gesture for us to seat and eat. Of course, none of us actually did.

“Really? Poison?”

The elder widened his eyes, and some of his, cohorts, let’s call them that, tried to grab their swords. Before they could, however… Ayla grabbed her Katana, and Wakizashi, severing their arms in one single motion.

2 others tried to run to the door, but before they could, Suzuki and Lucy knocked them out.

“Tch!” Did this old man just clicked his tongue?

“It is interesting to see that you still relies on that slithering snake.” – Ayla

“So you noticed… She didn’t said you would notice.” – Elder

“You know, it’s funny seeing some people still having problems with you, Ayla.” – Kenji

“Shut up, Kenji!” – Ayla

“And you brought the sacrifice for our lord, I shurgh!” – Elder

Before he could finish his words, Amara punched him. Wow! Nice one! She was glaring at the old man, while holding her fist for another punch.

“Careful with your words. They don’t like it too much.” – Ayla

The old man got up, clearing the blood that came out of his nose, and glared at Amara. She simply stared at him, and was about to give another punch, but I stopped her.

“Kenji-Sama?”

“This won’t get us anywhere.” She lowered her arm, and the old man chuckled. I approached him, clenching my right hand, and put on his left leg. “Shut up.”

With a ‘Kitsin!’ sound, the blade came out, piercing his leg. He held a scream, and I retrieved the blade.

“Anyway. Let’s get to business, shall we?” I said so with a grin.

Prior to us reaching this village, Ayla mentioned that we might be led to a trap.

“How so? I don’t get it.” – Kenji

“Did any of you, by chance, fought a Gorgon, or something?” – Ayla

“I did! She had powerful magic! And none of my attacks landed on her! It was like she could see my attacks!” Lucy motioned with a kitchen knife.

“What’s this Gorgon have to do in this conversation?” – Kenji

“She’s Radreiale. She’s Victor favorite.” – Ayla

“And?”

“She can predict the future. In other words, she has [Clairvoyance].” – Ayla

“Let me guess: The village we’ll be reaching… Is controlled by Vampires?” – Suzuki

“No. It is controlled by Onis.” – Ayla

“And they’re loyal to Victor, right?” – Kenji

“Yes. I think the elder of the tribe, is still my Grandfather. But I bet he doesn’t care about what happened to his daughter.” She clenched her fists. “He never liked his daughter anyway.”

“Why’s that?” – Kenji

“Onis prefer to have men over women. They say men are stronger, and more durable than women, and that women are made only to give birth to stronger warriors.” – Ayla

“What a surprise in a fantasy world.” – Suzuki

“But…”

(Your mother broke that usual pattern, right?) – Kasumi

“Yes. She was not only able to best my uncle in combat, but was also able to beat the general, who is my Grandfather’s brother in combat. I still have that scene in my head.” – Ayla

“So, what you’re saying is. Your grandfather, will receive an oracle from this, Radreiale woman, and will make a trap for us?” – Kenji

“Yes.” – Ayla

“What about the rest of your family? Won’t your uncle, and your Granduncle do something?” – Suzuki

“I doubt. They’re pals to Victor. Probably part of the warriors on Victor’s right hand’s army.” – Ayla

“Yay. No pressure at all, huh.” I say so, while cracking my neck. “What?”

“You’re making a nasty face.” – Suzuki

“What? I can’t have some fun, with powerful people? Up till now, I didn’t had battles where I could fight them fair and square. I had help, several times.”

“Even then, you should be careful with Victor’s right hand man. His name is Sirius.” – Ayla

“If I remember correctly, he can use shadows. It’s like Kasumi-San powers.” – Suzuki

“Guess you have a target to take down, Kasumi.” – Kenji

“So! Why are we heading towards the monster’s den?”

I ask to Ayla, who is currently jumping over some buildings ahead of me.

After finishing up our little rant on Ayla’s Grandfather, we started talking about a few things.

First of all, the state of the fortress. There was a huge city, with the fortress itself, acting as a castle. The city was prospering, for how much strange that could be.

Most of its citizens, were either Human slaves, Half-Vampires, much like Ayla, and other species as well. I could see some Beast-Kin, and some… people with strange marks on their bodies. What? Those are Psys! Those with Esper powers!

They had light blue marks on theirs bodies, specially on their left arms. Some of them were shirtless, and so, I could see some patterns on their bodies as well. The left side of their bodies, were full of light blue patterns.

“Nice.”

“We’re almost there.”

We talked with Ayla’s grandfather, asking about the situation on the city. Honestly, though? This was a really good time to attack.

By the looks of it, the city was under watch. Some of the many citizens of this place, were really unhappy with their lives situation. Food was terrible(for anyone who isn’t a vampire), anyone is treated badly(for anyone who isn’t a vampire), and social order is awfully bad.

A lot of the citizens, are trying to make it less worse, so they tried to appease to their Lord, who is Victor. But of course, he didn’t cared. He simply ordered the Oni tribe members, under Sirius command, to arrest, or just make them understand the message.

Even then, the citizens didn’t gave up. And that! Was thanks to a bigger figure, someone who knew where to hit on Victor, where it was harder. If, Victor had any weakness.

“We’re here.”

So, we we’re about to have a plan, when Ayla simply rushed out, and started going towards the fortress.

Sighing, I gave orders to the girls, saying to them to investigate the citizen and its bad spots. Hearing about bad things, and find a place where we could stay, while on the city.

“Kasumi?”

(We find a place, Kenji-Sama. It’s not the best, but we can hide here. Someone helped, after that Suzuki talked with them. Also… looks like they want to talk after you return.)

She sounded troubled.

“I’m gonna be back as fast as I can. See you in a bit.”

Ayla and I moved through the castle, avoiding most of the guards, and we reached the throne room. Ayla had the [Mist Form] skill, so she avoided most of the guards easily, while I used my [Cloaking].

And when we opened the throne room’s door-

“Well, well… It is good to see you after a long time. My daughter.”

A man, with red eyes, pale skin, and beautiful figure, clad in pompous clothes(like any vampire on movies), glanced at us. He had jet-black hair, reaching his chin, and, of course, a glass full of a red liquid. Yes, it was blood.

“You seemed eager to see me. Can’t believe you would fall right under my trap.” – Victor

“I’ll kill you.” – Ayla

Ayla simply drew her blades, and rushed towards Victor. With a stab motion, her Katana pierced right where Victor’s head was. Or, was that what should have happened.

Victor was leisurely drinking his Glass of blood, while with his head tilted, and avoided the blade’s trajectory.

“Really? A stab? You’re just like your mother.”

Ayla’s blood lust simply gushed out, and she motioned her blade to cut Victor’s head, but he avoided again, but this time, he was right on the tip of the blade. And when I said, ‘right on’, it meant he was above, exactly, the tip of the blade.

“Wow. He actually did the same thing as on those anime, huh?”

He was above the blade, with one foot on the back and another at the front. He finished his glass of blood, tossing it to the side, and kicked Ayla on her face, sending her to where I was standing. Yeah, I was simply standing still, glancing at the situation.

“Guh! WHEN YOU’RE GONNA HELP?!”

She shouted to me, rushing again towards Victor. I blinked, and when I saw, Victor gave a punch to Ayla’s face, sending her again backwards. Then, he produced several blades of wind, aimed at Ayla. I activated Agility Mode, and Flash Stepped to where she was, activating my shield, and defending against the blades.

“Guh! What?!”

As soon as the blades collided with the shield, I felt an intense pain all over my body. Thanks to [Pain Nullity], I was still able to move. But man! Did this hurt.

“Hou~? That’s an interesting- Hm?”

Victor started talking, but stopped, when he saw the motion I was making. I was plainly open to an attack, but he got curious, and waited for whatever I would do. Yes, I would deliver the Kinetic energy that the shield absorbed from the Wind Blades, back to him.

Noticing something, Victor crossed his arms, and when the impact reached him, he slid across the floor, reaching the throne where he was sitting until now. I deactivated my shield, and got brushed aside again by Ayla, who tried to slash at the Vampire Lord again.

He grabbed, yes, he grabbed her blades with his bare hands, headbutting Ayla. She let go of the blades, and when she tried to approach Victor again, she was met by a flurry of punches, and kicks. I barely saw what the guy was making to her.

And after a few more punches, he kicked her away. Ayla was in complete tatters. Her face was swelled, but it was getting back to normal pretty quickly, thanks to her Regeneration. I couldn’t say the same for her stamina though. Her breath has ragged, and she tried to get up, only to fall again.

“Hm… Just like your mother. Careless, and never caring for your allies. You keep even using this stupid blades.” Victor, with the 2 blades in his left hand, broke them on the ground. “You and your mother are exactly like these blades. Fragile.”

“C’mon. I took my time in repairing them!”

The entire aggressive mood, was completely shattered, like those blades(Ha!) by my statement. Ayla didn’t cared, and tried to get up.

“I’M GONNA-! KH!”

As she tried to get up, however, I hit her with a Karate chop, right on her neck. She lost conscious, and I hosted her on my shoulder.

“What are you doing? Weren’t you here to kill me?” Victor asked, with a confused expression.

“Kill you? I mean, yeah! That’s my objective! Today, however? Nah! I just came here to see your ugly face.” Shocking bishounen!

“And why, is SHE, here?”

“Oh! Ayla? She came here to kill you. Alas, was kind stupid. Since she didn’t knew any info about you.”

“So, you’re saying that… Your objective, was to find information about me.”

“Yep!”

“And what will you do now?”

“Me? I’m getting the blast outta here.”

“And you think I’ll permit it?”

“Actually, I never asked.”

Saying those last words, my mask activated, and I put my hood, vanishing from Victor’s sight. I was still at the room, though.

“What? This… Isn’t Stealth. I can sense anyone who uses. This is different. You’re still in the room, aren’t you?”

“Of course I am! I’m just messing with you!”

I appeared in the center of the room for a split second, and motioned like I was about to jump to the window to the left of Victor’s sight. He appeared right at the window, but got nothing.

“Bye bye!”

I appeared again, this time on the opposite side window, and jumped off of it. I still saw him smile, like he was having a fun time, though. Don’t know why.

“Kasumi, I’m heading your way. Can you pass me your position?”

After jump through several buildings, I finally reached where Kasumi was. It was close to a clock tower, and some taverns around.

The building she was… was quite sturdy, though. It was made out of stone bricks, and had quite the defensive spells on it too. The entrance, was guarded by a guy, a Oni. I avoided him, going through the back, where a window was located, on the very lower end of the building.

I pin-pointed Kasumi location, which was in the same room of that window, and entered through it.

When I did, however, 2 people were there, seated on a rectangular table. A girl, in her late teens, and a man, around on his late 20s. They both looked to the window, and got on guard.

“Did that window just… Opened?”

“Yes, milady. But what could have done that?” As the man got up, he was about to approach the window, when Kasumi got on top of the table. “Hm? That small fox?”

(Kenji-Sama? Did you entered by the window?) I got caught!

Appearing in front of the couch on the room, I put Ayla on it, and stretch myself.

“Sup. So? Who the hell are you guys?”

The man and woman were staring right at me. I already used Scan, finding out the man was a Pure Vampire, and the girl was a Gorgon-Vampire Hybrid.

Names? Sirius, and Vermivia.