Born in Blood

Chapter 417 Enough

There was no grunt of pain, nor panic or shock. Just clear, steady action that followed.

As soon as the spikes dug into his body, the Emperor could sense them wriggling deeper and deeper, intent on inflicting the most damage.

It was as though the blood had a mind of its own. Either that, or Alucard himself was manually controlling it.

But they barely went half an inch deep, while the crystalized, marble armor simply denied entry.

Flames swirled through the Emperor's muscles, melting away the bloody substances from his body.

Up.

Alucard was above now, releasing a torrent of condensed blood bullets heavily raining down upon the earth.

The pair of titanic flame arms rose above the Emperor to protect him, casually melting away the countless bullets before they could cause any real harm.

But the blood monsoon didn't stop. It was pouring over the entire island, harsher than a thunderstorm.

A small portion of Abominations had remained behind as the armies fled from the Dual Empire. They were either too big to bring along, or they were untamed.

Nothing survived.

The lands were now overflowing with rivers of red.

The Emperor's gauntlets produced a metallic chime. A moment later, he kicked his feet and swung with both arms at Alucard's unsuspecting back.

A thicker wall of crystalized blood formed between them once more, but the Emperor was faster.

All four of his swings exploded forward, crushing the sturdy wall, eviscerating part of Alucard's body, while incinerating the rest.

Just like last time, bloody matter burst outward, while his remains shot past like a broken ragdoll. Ashes fluttered in the wind like snow.

But even as he flew the distance, Alucard's body rapidly reformed.

The Emperor's features twisted in anger.

What followed was painful to watch.

Roaring furiously, the Emperor performed a series of brutalizing attacks on Alucard, giving not a millisecond of respite.

As soon as a punch would land, he'd teleport to Alucard, and he'd punch again. Rinse and repeat.

However, whenever a major fire attack was about to land on him, the Pashah would erect a barrier of ichor to protect himself — even when he was reduced to splashes of blood.

This meant two things.

Fire was the vampire king's weakness. And his Nexus was definitely somewhere in his body.

The Emperor knew what Alucard was trying to do.

Vampires had amazing abilities, but with them, came glaring disadvantages.

Their way of attaining strength was largely different due to their centers of power.

To them, power literally equaled time.

However, hard work didn't pay too big of a part in determining their abilities.

After all, just sitting idly and doing nothing slowly but steadily made them stronger.

Sure, consuming the blood of a higher ranked creature benefited them greatly to an extent.

But it was barely a boost.

The liters of blood and kilos of flesh required for a Higher Vampire to make a significant breakthrough was stupidly high, which is why they didn't bother. Nor were powerful humans in high stock.

Regular human meat was reduced to a delicacy for this reason.

Cultivators, on the other hand, had to earn their progress with blood, sweat and tears, but the gaps in between ranks were not as vast.

A vampire's reflexes, bodily strength, speed and overall strength largely depended on the power of their blood.

But all their physical and mental aspects paled in comparison to a human's, since they weren't dedicated to each of them.

In broad terms, it was like having a factory dedicated for several items, versus having a specialized factory for just one thing.

The qualities were different.

The sea of consciousness was a powerhouse of a thing.

Though vampires were immune to mental attacks — due to them not having any mental sphere — their thinking speeds were abysmal compared to a human cultivator.

But their regeneration… their regeneration was out of this world.

In short, Alucard was simply biding time until he understood the Emperor's fighting style, relying on his incredible healing factor to do so.

But the Emperor could not afford to take his enemy lightly.

Alucard was an enigma, judging by how he broke the Emperor's gauntlets with such ease.

Such physical strength was not common among even the strongest of vampires.

Why was he not attacking then?

Fear of fire?

Alucard was suspiciously protective of his groin area.

But he'd turned that place to ash already.

The Nexus was somewhere in his body.

Where, though?

All the while, the fierce, crimson, needle-like droplets of blood continued to shoot at him, puddling below the earth.

Enough.

Hundreds of sparks sputtered below the Emperor's feet. Each little spark then swirled, growing, blazing, expanding, forming a series of titan flame-arms.

If two suns were bad, now there were a hundred.

It was blindingly bright, and several countries bordering the Dual Empire thought it was the end of the world.

Like inverse meteors, hundreds of those mountain-sized arms roared over the sky.

There was no place for Alucard to escape.

Ever so slightly, the vampire's eyes widened. A spherical barrier of crystalized, ruby-like ichor encased his body as the spells closed in on him.

It felt like the end of the world. Like two stars had collided, and the earth had to suffer its consequences.

More than five thousand meters away, a strip of Liam's skin had been swiftly melted off, followed by his eardrums bursting apart, and his insides bleeding.

The air rumbled, the ground rumbled, the seas rumbled. Temperatures skyrocketed, and dozens of earthquakes were shooting to different areas of the world.

Slowly, the world stabilized.

The Emperor smashed his gauntlets together, causing a powerful shockwave to sweep away all the debris and smog from the skies.

The Emperor scanned the sky with hard eyes.

Ash fell like snow.

He flew a little higher, then looked below. The lands were leveled to the ground, with an ocean of red blood flowing through its ravaged corners.

"No way you died from that alone." the Emperor said to himself, frowning. "I'm not stupid."

The red ocean churned.