Apocalypse: King of Zombies

The two guards up ahead had already entered the castle. The first thing they passed through was a long corridor, brightly lit with warm, flickering lights. maids bustled back and forth, most of them strikingly beautiful, dressed in classic black-and-white maid uniforms.

They bowed respectfully as the guards passed, heads lowered, eyes averted.

Clearly, in this place, they were at the very bottom of the food chain.

The two guards, each carrying containers of fresh blood, walked straight ahead until they reached a large refrigerated storage room. The area was heavily guarded by vampires, a clear sign that this was a high-security zone.

”How was the haul today?” one of the vampire sentries asked.

”Not bad,” one of the guards replied casually.

”Man, I envy you guys. I’m stuck here all day, bored out of my damn mind.”

The sentry chuckled. ”Then you’d better step up your game and get Lord Lucien’s attention.”

The guard smirked, clearly proud of himself.

With a loud clunk, the heavy cold room door swung open. A wave of icy white mist rolled out from the gap, chilling the air.

The two guards stepped inside, still carrying the blood.

The interior was spacious, lined with rows of metal shelves. Each shelf was stacked with glass jars, all filled to the brim with thick, crimson blood.

Under the bright fluorescent lights, the entire cold room glowed with an eerie red hue.

The two vampires stared at the blood jars like farmers admiring a freshly harvested crop—faces lit up with satisfaction.

”Damn, this is beautiful. Too bad... half of it’s gotta be handed over.”

”Quit whining. What the higher-ups do isn’t our business,” the other vampire muttered as he stepped forward and began placing the jars onto the shelves.

”Let’s go.”

Once everything was in place, they turned to leave.

But then—something strange happened.

One of the jars they had just set down vanished. Gone. In the blink of an eye.

”Huh?”

Both vampires froze, blinking in confusion. They rubbed their eyes and looked again.

The shelf was empty.

”What the hell? I swear I just put it right here!”

”No clue...” But the missing jar was only the beginning. One by one, the jars on the surrounding shelves began to disappear—vanishing into thin air.

Within moments, the once-bountiful ”granary” was nearly empty. Then completely.

”What the...?” The two vampires stood there, stunned, jaws slack.

”Something’s wrong! Quick! Go get the guards outside!”

”R-Right!”

One of them nodded frantically and bolted out of the cold room.

The other stayed behind, frowning deeply, eyes scanning the room, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of something—someone.

A figure in white.

He hadn’t heard anyone come in, but there he was, walking straight toward him.

”You—” The vampire’s face twisted in shock, just starting to speak.

But Ethan didn’t give him the chance.

With a flick of his wrist, his tachi materialized in his hand. One clean slash—and the vampire’s head split in two.

The body collapsed with a heavy thud, blood and brain matter splattering across the pristine white tiles, leaving vivid, jarring streaks.

Ethan didn’t even blink.

He glanced down at the corpse. These kinds of vampires were infected with a mutated virus—completely inedible. No point in storing the body in his spatial ring. Not worth the space.

At that moment, the other vampire had already sprinted out of the cold room.

”Something’s wrong! You guys need to come see this—the blood in the cold storage just vanished into thin air!”

”What? Are you messing with me? You know how bored I am out here—trying to screw with me for fun?”

The guard clearly didn’t believe him. It sounded way too ridiculous.

”I’m serious! The blood’s really gone! I’m not joking!” the vampire insisted, his face tight with urgency.

”Pfft! Gotta admit, you’re really selling it,” the guard chuckled.

”Damn it, I’m telling you again—I’m not joking!” the vampire snapped, pounding his fist against the wall in frustration.

”Alright, alright, calm down. We’ll go take a look.”

”Good! Hurry up!” The vampire spun around and rushed back toward the cold room.

The dozen or so guards nearby, curious despite themselves, followed after him.

A whole group of vampires stormed into the cold storage.

The moment they stepped inside, their eyes swept across the room—and nearly all of them froze in shock.

The shelves, once packed with blood jars, were completely empty.

”It’s... really all gone?”

”See? I told you I wasn’t lying!” the vampire said quickly, then suddenly remembered something. ”Wait—where’s my partner?”

A faint metallic tang of blood hung in the air.

They rushed forward a few steps—and there it was. A corpse, sprawled in a pool of blood, head split clean in two. The kill had been swift, brutal, and merciless.

”He’s dead?” The vampire’s face went pale. It was his partner.

One of the others quickly put the pieces together.

”Something... something must’ve snuck into the cold room!”

”What kind of thing?”

BANG!

Before anyone could answer, the half-open cold room door suddenly slammed shut with a deafening crash.

All the vampires jumped, spinning around.

Standing in front of the now-closed door was a figure in white—tall, calm, and cold-eyed. His gaze swept over them like he was already looking at corpses.

”Die.”

Ethan’s eyes flashed red. The power of the Domain of the Dead surged outward.

The vampires instantly felt their bodies sink, as if a mountain had dropped onto their backs. Bones cracked and popped under the pressure.

”Raaagh—!”

They screamed in agony, veins bulging across their faces as they struggled to resist, unleashing their true vampire forms in desperation.

But it was useless.

The Domain of the Dead crushed all resistance.

One by one, the vampires collapsed. Some burst like overfilled water balloons, their screams cut short in a wet, sickening silence.

The cold room became a slaughterhouse.

And thanks to the Domain’s suppressive field, not a single sound escaped.

Outside, everything remained eerily quiet.

Even if other vampires or humans passed by the door, they wouldn’t have noticed a thing—just a strange, nagging feeling.

”Where’d the guards go today?”

”Maybe they got bored and ditched their post?”

”...”

A few minutes later, the massacre was over.

As a group of human maids passed by the cold room, Ethan slipped out, using the Domain’s power to phase through the wall like a ghost.

”Blood’s not that useful,” he thought to himself, eyes scanning the corridor. ”What I really need are crystal cores.”

Still cloaked in stealth, Ethan moved through the castle like a shadow, using the Domain of the Dead to pass through walls and doors without a sound.

It didn’t take long for him to get a sense of the place.

This castle belonged to a vampire family—at least a hundred of them lived here.

And the head of the family? Lucien Ashbourne. Also the mayor of the nearby town.

Soon, Ethan picked up on a concentration of human presence in one area. With a flicker of movement, he appeared inside a large room.

It was a dormitory-style space, clearly where the maids and servants lived. Many of them were in the middle of changing clothes.

At the front, an elderly human man was barking orders.

”Move it, move it! Hurry up! The Ashbourne family banquet is about to start!”

...