Child of Destiny

The battle continued to intensify as Grimrace was besieged by the three vampire marquesses. He might have a lot of tricks under his sleeves but after fighting him for such a long time, his opponents tended to become more familiar with his fighting style.

They were still having a hard time dealing with Grimrace’s shadow elemental powers and psychic powers, especially the power of his telekinesis.

But at the very least, they were getting used to his tricks which was making it easier for them to avoid falling into his traps again.

They were slowly getting the upper hand in this battle. But despite that being the case, they still couldn’t shake off the feeling of anxiousness deep in their hearts. It was as if a great disaster was going to fall on them if they didn’t end this battle as soon as possible.

They increased pressure on Grimrace by throwing more powerful and coordinated attacks at him. But no matter how hard they tried, they still couldn’t push Grimrace into a corner where they could finish him off.

And during the entire process, they found that the advantage that they were getting not only stopped increasing but also seemed to get away from their grasp.

Sensing the silent change in the flow of the battle, the three started distancing themselves away from Grimrace and chose to throw the skills that they could use in the distance.

The three vampire marquesses maintained a considerable distance away from each other while taking turns attacking Grimrace. They didn’t want to get caught in a trap set up by their opponent. Leaving one of them away from the other two would give them a free person that could save the two if something went in their favor.

This move from them made the flow of the battle at a much slower pace, giving Grimrace enough breathing space while fighting the three o them.

When the three vampire marquesses realized that it might be the reason why Grimrace was trying to keep a hold on his footing. He was trying to create a space between them and himself to set up more of his traps.

Thinking about that, the three vampire marquesses quickly adjusted their plan and launched an even more aggressive series of attacks. But at the same time, they also didn’t dare to let their guard down, constantly keeping an eye on any kind of traps that might try catching them off-guard.

They practically paid more attention to the shadows under their feet as well as the one below Grimrace since they were well aware of his Shadow Elemental Powers.

“Idiots!” muttered Grimrace mockingly, sending a sudden chill on his opponent’s backs right after they heard it.

They quickly tried to distance themselves away from Grimrace at that moment, but it was already too late for them to escape as he was done with all of the preparations that he needed for the final performance.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

He threw three shadow daggers toward the vampire marquesses, targeting the shadows under them. And when they saw that, they did their respective means to get away from it, avoiding the daggers to hit their shadows.

They didn’t know what it was or what it could do, but they knew that they couldn’t let those daggers touch their shadows, or else, something terrible was going to happen.

Shu! Shu! Shu!

Ta-ta!

The three vampire marquesses avoided the daggers that were trying to pin down their shadows in place. And when their feet landed on the ground and saw that nothing happened, they couldn’t help but sigh in relief.

“As I said you are all idiots,” but at that very moment, they heard Grimrace’s mocking voice once again, pulling them back to their senses.

They looked confusedly at Grimrace when they saw that there was nothing strange going on. But when they saw him point at the ground and let them sweep their gaze at the surroundings, they realized that the entire area was filled with shadow daggers.

Those daggers were the ones that they either avoided or deflected during the early exchanges. At first look, there was nothing wrong with them, but upon closer inspection, they realized that the shadow daggers were actually forming a huge magic circle.

As for the three shadow daggers that Grimrace had thrown just now, they were the final pieces needed to complete the entire formation.

Realizing that it was the reason why they were getting anxious during the entire battle, the vampire marquesses wanted to fly up in the air, trying to get away from it.

Unfortunately, it was already too late as they had fallen deep into the formation and it was impossible for them to escape.

Boom!

Then a powerful pressure suddenly descended from above and pressed on the three vampire marquesses, preventing them from moving. ｂｅｄ𝚗ｏ.

Now that Grimrace had locked them in place, all he needed to do was to pull out his final card and wrap up everything.

Spreading his hands wide, a large group of shadow daggers suddenly materialized behind him. Each of the daggers was carrying a pure elemental power, signifying the might that they had.

The shadow daggers pointed at the three vampire marquesses, who were glaring sharply at him. Enjoying the current expression that they had, Grimrace gave them a mocking grin before waving his hands leisurely, sending the shadow daggers at them with an unimaginable speed.

‘Elemental Spirit Skill (Shadow): Shadow Carnival’

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

The shadow daggers flew straight to the three vampire marquesses, targeting all of the weak points that were now fully exposed due to their unable to move.

Boom!

“That’s enough!” But before those daggers could even reach their targets, Dracula’s words suddenly rang in the now silent throne room followed by an invisible force that descended into the arena.

Due to that pressure, the shadow daggers stopped an inch away from the bodies of the three vampire marquesses.

There was even a tip of a dagger right in front of Marquesses Valdez’s cornea, very close to touching it.

Seeing that he lost his control over his shadow daggers and the formation that he had set up, Grimrace clicked his tongue, fully unsatisfied. “Tsk!”

And with a quick snap of his fingers, all of the shadow daggers floating in the air and stabbed on the ground simultaneously disappeared, signifying the end of this round.

Wearing an unsatisfied expression on his face, he turned at Dracula who was sitting haughtily on the throne before casting his gaze at the vampire duke standing below the throne steps.

Seeing the overwhelming fighting spirit coming from the vampire duke, Grimrace couldn’t help but have the urge to fight him. He still hadn’t gotten his fill even after fighting the three vampire marquesses. He was looking for more action.

But that thought only lasted for a moment before he fully erased it inside his head. He already agreed to let Vladimir take care of it, so he could no longer continue the challenge.

The reward that he was going to get from Vladimir after the battle was much more alluring in his eyes than experiencing a battle against such a powerful individual.

Thinking about that, Grimrace shook his head and looked at the vampire duke, who was glaring at him sharply, one last time before turning around and taking the initiative to go back to Shin’s side.

He transformed into a black speck of light at floated toward Shin and circled around his body.

Shin was slightly taken aback at his actions as he didn’t expect that the nutjob would take the initiative to return. “Is this crazy guy finally maturing?”

After observing Grimrace a little, Shin turned his attention back to the opposing side and saw that the vampire duke was already making his way toward the arena.

They already had no other contenders to send, so it was already obvious who was next person that would fight.

Observing the actions of the vampire duke, Shin could feel how powerful this particular vampire was. Unlike the other vampire nobles who fought earlier, this vampire carried the bearing of an expert who went through countless battles.

Based on the demeanor that the other party was carrying, Shin could tell that the next battle was going to be a very intense one. “This guy is probably at the level of a royal knight or higher when it came to combat experience.”

Shin also didn’t have to continue this so-called competition since they basically won it already. There was no need to send Vladimir and look for trouble.

But after realizing that Dracula might have another reason behind it, Shin wanted to continue. Moreover, he no longer had anything to lose in this battle.

Even if Vladimir managed to win or suddenly lose, they already won the entire competition, so it would not hurt if he let the blood elemental spirit have his part in it.

Thinking about it, Shin turned to the current information panel that Vladimir had, without the stat augmentation from the system.

—————–

Spirit Name: Vladimir

Status: Reaper’s Retainer – Crimson

Race: Elemental Spirit

Bloodline: Noblesse Crimson Spirit (Blood)

Purity: Monarch

Transformation: Blood Sovereign

Ability Status: Temporarily Sealed

Tier: 3

Level: 300

—————–

With the previous awakening, the strength that Vladimir had should be on the same level as Grimrace. And if Shin summoned him now, he would temporarily reach the peak of tier 3 and had his abilities to be partially lifted.

His stats should also be roughly the same as Grimrace’s. Or it might even be on a slightly higher scale due to the condition of the ‘Blood Ghost Quest’.

Since they basically won five battles in a row, the boosts that Vladimir had gotten should be very huge, so his current stats should be a little higher than the limit of tier 3.

With that, Shin finally summoned Vladimir and let him walk toward the battle arena. Little did he know, something unexpected happened right after the elemental spirit revealed himself.

……