231. Cascadia's First Ward of Nature
A Redeemed Spirit without a physical body is akin to a wandering ghost.
With nowhere to dwell, it can only await its demise.
There is a solution—breaking through to the Vessels of Redeemer and condensing a golden form of worship as a substitute for the physical body.
But clearly, having lost Cascadia, Theodore Montgomery no longer possessed this resource.
Therefore, he had no way out.
"Go fight to the death," said the Blood Moon Vampire King with a playful smile as he slowly retreated from the county.
Having faced off with each other for so many years, he thoroughly understood the character of his opponent. No matter how arrogant he himself might be, the man before him would only be concerned with defending Cascadia.
Compared to this dispensable border county town, Seattle was naturally more important.
Provoking his opponent step by step was merely to ensure that Theodore Montgomery would later fight without reservation—with greater urgency and ferocity!
The Wolf King stood at the edge of Cascadia, curled his fingers, and blew a sharp whistle!
Then he laughed, "If you return to Seattle quickly enough, you might still be able to defend part of it."
The whistle was piercing.
Time slowly passed.
However, the three overwhelming vampiric powers that should have appeared remained mysteriously absent.
Theodore Montgomery silently watched the Wolf King, gripping his sword tightly.
The Blood Moon Vampire King frowned and blew another sharp whistle!
...
Outside Surrey.
Led by the elephant vampire, three harmonizing vampire lords stood ready, weapons in hand, waiting for the whistle.
Sinister smiles curled at the corners of their mouths.
The elephant vampire, most eager of all, took a step forward. Its mighty body suddenly leaped more than ten feet into the air, with the other two preparing to follow closely behind.
The next moment, a muffled, tremendous boom exploded in their ears!
The elephant vampire was blasted backward, crashing straight through half of a cliff.
The remaining two harmonizing vampire lords froze momentarily as a crimson cloud suddenly materialized before their eyes.
The surging crimson mist rapidly dissipated.
A tall figure descended from the sky, his crisp black clothes fluttering in the breeze.
"Who are you?!"
The golden-furred leopard vampire clutched two long sabers and instinctively roared, "I am—"
A whip-like kick sliced through the air.
The kick cleaved through both sabers in the leopard's paws and shattered its chest bones.
"Be quiet, I'm in a hurry."
I grabbed the leopard vampire by the neck. My Infant and eight transformations of Sanguine Resurrection emerged simultaneously, unleashed without restraint. With a sickening squelch, the leopard vampire's head was torn clean off.
The elephant vampire had just risen from the ground when it witnessed the young man open his mouth as its leopard brother completely dissolved into blood, sifting down the man's throat.
The ghastly scene rendered the young man's calm face inexplicably terrifying.
"..."
I casually caught the vampire core, placed it in my mouth, and rushed toward another vampire.
The goat vampire, staring in shock, turned to flee when a fog-wrapped long blade shot toward it, piercing straight through.
I followed closely, swiftly extending my slender fingers through the wound, shattering bones and crushing its heart with a single motion.
Once more, I opened my mouth to consume its flesh, which transformed into sangrith blood.
Just as the previous vampire core was fully digested, the second one immediately followed.
"I…" The elephant vampire shook its head, desperately trying to activate its blood gift.
In all its years as a harmonizing vampire, it had never witnessed such a terrifying scene!
"Shut up!" I transformed into a light breeze, landed beside it, and swung my palm toward its head.
A muffled crack resonated through the air.
The elephant vampire's skull immediately split open. I frowned slightly, delivered another palm strike, and completely shattered it.
The elephant vampire's flesh likewise transformed into sangrith blood and flowed into my stomach. The three vampire lords yielded a total harvest of nine drops of sangrith blood. With the panel's support—at the cost of over ten years of lifespan—the vampire cores and sangrith blood were all absorbed by the Infant of Love.
Facing the nearly perfect Infant and the Eighth Transformation Sanguine Resurrection, this group of harmonizing vampires, with strength exceeding that of the Nemean Lions, had no ability to fight back. The elephant vampire might have been stronger, but that only meant one more strike was needed.
Without hesitation, I sat cross-legged and entered a state of deep introspection.
At this moment, the vampiric power within the crimson Infant had begun to overflow, appearing encased in thick blood plasma.
I merged into the Infant of Love and quickly rose to my feet. Empowered by magnificent vampiric energy, I examined the smooth shell wall beside me and, without hesitation, struck it with my fist!
CRACK!
Dense cracks instantly spread out.
Under the envelopment of vampiric power, the Redeemed Spirit huddled in the corner, not daring to move: "..."
The Infant delivered another powerful punch!
The already cracked crystal core completely shattered. The Infant reached out to split it forcefully down the middle, then devoured the fragments in huge gulps!
The Redeemed Spirit watched greedily, reaching out to grab some fragments nearby.
As soon as its hand reached out, the Infant stomped over. Although it couldn't physically step on the Spirit, the Spirit immediately withdrew its little hand upon sensing the Infant's ferocious gaze.
After consuming the entire crystal core, the Infant looked up at the dark red nadi above and casually waved its hand, casting all suppressive force onto the Redeemed Spirit. "Stay put."
The next moment, the Infant's body suddenly expanded until it matched the size of my physical body, like a second skin perfectly overlaying the first.
"..."
I slowly opened my eyes, my refined skin—like white porcelain—faintly emitting a rosy glow.
I maintained my consciousness within the Infant instead of returning to my original body. At this moment, my physical body and Infant had completely merged—they were now one and the same entity.
Crimson mist filled my eyes, yet without the previous ferocity; this was pure vampiric power.
The Blood Moon.
I stood up and looked toward Cascadia.
No longer needing to use the Whispering GaleTechnique, I stepped forcefully, my form flashing through the sky. Crimson filled every space I passed through, like a dense sunset glow blanketing the heavens, casting everything in sight into a boundless inferno.
...
Outside Yakutat county.
The Blood Moon Vampire King abandoned his attempts to summon those three fools and gradually retreated from Cascadian territory.
He coldly stared at the sword before him, wondering what madness had possessed this Seeker of Redeemer to follow him so persistently today.
As they moved further and further away from Cascadia, Theodore's strength grew weaker and weaker. Eventually he would be no match for the Vampire King—but Blood Moon didn't want to fight. After all this preparation, he wasn't here for a death battle with Theodore Montgomery. Even if he suffered the slightest injury, he lacked confidence in surviving against that lady from the Vampires Valley.
"Has your brain been damaged? Someone is attacking your Seattle!"
"..."
Theodore Montgomery looked back toward Seattle, a bitter smile appearing on his face.
Having always been too afraid to venture out before, now that he had truly stepped forward, it seemed he hadn't encountered any difficulties.
A single Seeker of Redeemer couldn't defend against two Vampire Kings, especially when one of them came from the Vampires Valley.
He couldn't even comprehend how the opponent had silently traversed several counties all the way to Seattle, then infiltrated both H.A.R.M. and his own courtyard.
And he hadn't received even a single warning.
He only knew one thing...
Seattle was gone, his Cascadia was gone...
Under these circumstances, Theodore's smile grew increasingly gentle, yet in Blood Moon's eyes, it appeared terrifying. Despite having confronted Theodore for many years—and now standing in his own territory—Blood Moon had never felt so uncertain of himself.
"With sword in hand, protect those before me." Theodore Montgomery gently stroked the blade with two fingers, then turned his gaze back to Blood Moon.
In that instant, crimson flooded the sky, and a black-clad figure landed with devastating force.
Theodore Montgomery flinched slightly, while Blood Moon's eyelids twitched nervously.
The black-clad youth slowly stood upright, glanced at the Redeemed Spirit hovering in the air, and said calmly, "Return."
The radiant glow on his skin wasn't sharp, yet it brought sudden moisture to Theodore's eyes.
As a Redeemed Spirit, he couldn't perform many physical actions that humans could—such as shedding tears.
After extreme misfortune comes good fortune—Cascadia finally had its first Ward of Nature!