The Discovery
09:00 - Castle Sant'Angelo, Tepes HQ
The morning sun, filtered through thick, UV-protective glass, cast a sickly yellow pallor over the private chambers of Marius Tepes. The usurper head of the Tepes Faction stood with his back to the room, looking out over the Tiber River.
"Report," Marius said, his voice as dry and brittle as old bone.
A subordinate, a young vampire knight in a modern suit, bowed low. He was trembling. "My Lord... we have discovered a situation at the Appian Way property. Manager Silas is dead."
Marius didn't turn. "Dead?"
"Ash, my Lord. The villa is empty of life, save for a single receptionist. She was found bound and traumatized." The knight swallowed hard. "She recounted everything. A man named Ben Rudolf entered the home. He killed Silas. The man had slate for manji clan account , in morning ... Silas transferred the entire Manji Clan account. We have lost a client of immense value and worth. The funds are gone. "
Marius finally turned. His face was a mask of cold, imperious disdain. He felt nothing for Silas. The man had been a greedy fool, a relic from his father's era who had changed allegiances only when the wind shifted. His death was of no personal consequence.
However, the optic... the optic was a disaster.
Marius's eyes narrowed. "A high-ranking manager murdered in his own home? In the midst of a civil war?"
He paced the room. The Carmilla faction was watching for any sign of weakness. If this went unanswered, it would signal that the Tepes Faction was vulnerable, unable to protect its own. It required a brutal, public response.
"This cannot stand," Marius declared. " He will die at anycost."
Valerie's Plight
09:30 - The Basement
Deep beneath the ancient foundations of the castle, the air was cold enough to freeze breath. The dungeon was a damp, stone box, sealed with high-level wards that hummed with a oppressive, magical frequency.
Valerie Tepes, the Dhampir princess, lay on a bed. She looked pale and broken, her eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. She was not a sister here. She was a tool. A battery.
The heavy iron door groaned open. Marius entered, flanked by two guards.
He didn't ask how she was. He didn't offer a greeting.
"Valerie," he commanded. "Use the Graal. Pull the soul of Manager Silas from the otherworld."
Valerie sat up slowly. She didn't argue. She obeyed, as she had been doing for years. Resistance only brought pain. She summoned her Sacred Gear.
"Sephiroth Graal."
A golden chalice materialized in the air before her, glowing with a soft, holy light that seemed alien in this place of darkness. The air grew colder, heavy with the scent of ozone and graveyards. Valerie acted as the medium, her eyes rolling back as she reached into the void.
A spectral mist began to coalesce above the chalice. It swirled and thickened, forming the vague, wailing visage of Silas.
"Silas," Marius said, his voice cutting through the ghostly moans. "You lost the account. You died like a dog. You are a disgrace."
The soul wailed, a sound of pure misery. "The human... the monster..."
"Your failure is irrelevant now," Marius snapped. "You are dead. But you were Tepes. I will keep our clan's honor intact. Who did this?"
The spirit of Silas began to laugh. It was a distorted, scratching sound, like nails on a chalkboard. "I am... attached... I am haunting him... I have been with him till now... I see the room..."
Marius stepped closer, intrigued. "You are bound to him?"
"Yes..." the soul hissed. "My vengeful spirit... it clings. I can see him. He thinks he is safe. He is drinking... whiskey..."
"Give me a name," Marius demanded.
"Ben Rudolf," the ghost spat. "He is wearing a grey hoodie... dark cargo pants... he is at the Hotel Hassler... room 402..."
Marius smiled. It was a cold, cruel expression. "Good."
He turned to his attendant, who was waiting by the door.
"Send the Daywalkers."
====
12:00 - Hotel Hassler
The vampire were like constrictor snake.
Jin was in his room, wiping down the blade he had used the night before, when the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. It wasn't a sound. It was the oppressive, crushing weight of killing intent.
He moved to the window, peering through the gap in the curtains. The street below was bustling with tourists, but his eyes, honed by survival, picked out the anomalies. Men in suits standing too still. Women checking phones that hadn't rung. They formed a perfect perimeter.
He sensed their energy. These weren't the Ghouls he had slaughtered yesterday. These were Daywalkers—rare elites of the Tepes bloodline who had conquered the sun. There were twenty of them circling the hotel, each one radiating a power level dangerously close to his own , making there way to hotel slowly.
Twenty High-Class equivalent, Jin calculated, his grip tightening . In their territory. In broad daylight. Fighting here is suicide.
He made his decision instantly. Escape was the only option.
He performed the hand signs—a blur of motion. Transformation Jutsu. His features shifted, his body shrinking slightly, clothes morphing into the uniform of a hotel housekeeping staff. Then, he channeled chakra into his legs. Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker).
The door to his room burst open, splinters flying, as three Daywalkers rushed in with supernatural speed.
They found nothing but an empty room and a window swinging gently in the breeze. Jin was already three floors down, flickering out of existence and reappearing in the service stairwell, a ghost in the machine.
14:00 - The Market (Trastevere)
The afternoon sun beat down on the cobblestones of Trastevere. The market was a riot of noise and color, the air thick with the scent of ripe tomatoes, cured meats, and unwashed bodies.
Jin moved through the crowd with a slow, shuffling gait. He was now a short, elderly Italian tourist in a bucket hat, clutching a map with trembling hands. His chakra suppression was absolute. To the naked eye, to a magical sensor, he was nobody.
He stopped at a fruit stall, pretending to inspect a melon. He smelled them before he saw them. The sterile, metallic scent of ozone and preserved blood cut through the organic rot of the market.
Three men in casual clothes were moving through the crowd. They didn't scan the faces. They didn't look at maps. They walked in a straight line, pushing people aside, heading directly toward him as they have identify him.
How? Jin thought, his mind racing. I look different. I smell different. My energy is zero.
One of the vampires locked eyes with him. There was no hesitation, no question of identity. The vampire smiled, revealing fangs, and lunged.
Jin dropped the act. He exploded into motion, flipping the fruit cart to create a chaotic barrier of rolling melons and wooden crates. As the vampire smashed through the wood, Jin met him. He didn't use a weapon; he used a palm strike infused with dense Touki.
The impact sounded like a cannon shot. The vampire flew back, his chest caved in, screaming as the life-force energy began to boil his "impure" blood. But the other two were already flanking.
Jin gritted his teeth. He couldn't fight a battle here. He used the chaos of the screaming crowd to trigger another Shunshin, vanishing into an alleyway before the other hunters could close the net.
17:00 - The Sewers
The air down here was foul, a miasma of sewage, rust, and chemical runoff. The darkness was absolute.
Jin waded through the knee-deep filth. He had changed again. Now he was a young punk rocker with a neon mohawk, his clothes stained with grime. He had doused himself in the vile water, masking his scent so thoroughly that even he could barely stand it.
Tech? No. They found me in a dead zone. Scent? Impossible. I smell like shit . No way they found me . Visual? I've changed faces three times.Magic?
He stopped, listening. The dripping of water echoed in the tunnel. Then, a splash. Not a rat. Footsteps.
They were at both ends of the tunnel.
"Found you," a voice echoed from the darkness.
The vampires attacked. In the confined space, there was no room for evasion. Jin had to fight.
He unleashed his Touki, his body glowing with a white-hot aura in the dark tunnel. The fight was brutal, ugly, and exhausting. These Daywalkers were durable. He had to pour massive amounts of Touki into them to put them down permanently. He tore through them, ripping limbs and crushing skulls, but for every one he killed, he felt his reserves draining. they take there part of flesh from him in return .
He killed the pursuers, leaving their bodies to rot in the filth, and climbed up a maintenance ladder, gasping for air.
Feeling other smell now in open air , he make his way out.
20:00 - The Highway
Night had fallen. The cat and mouse game was over. Jin knew it. Hiding was futile. They always seem to find him.
He stood in the shadows of a parking garage, looking at a sleek, black Ducati motorcycle he had just hotwired.
If I can't hide, Jin thought, his eyes hardening into a cold, diamond-like focus, then I stop running.
He straddled the bike and revved the engine, the roar shattering the quiet night. He wasn't trying to be stealthy anymore.
He tore out of the garage, hitting the highway leading out of Rome. He pushed the bike to its limit, weaving through traffic at breakneck speeds.
In the rearview mirror, headlights appeared. Not police. A convoy of high-performance sedans and SUVs, moving in a formation.
He counted them.7 vehicle , probably Twenty-four. with addition reinforcement .
They were relentless. They had to be. They were bound by a blood pact to their liege, Marius. To return without Jin's head was a death sentence far worse than anything Jin could do to them. They were a hammer that would not stop swinging until it broke the anvil or shattered itself.
But Jin wasn't an anvil.
As the city lights faded behind him, replaced by the dark, open stretches of the countryside, Jin's mindset shifted. The frustration of the day, the constant evasion, the feeling of being cornered—it boiled over into a irrational fury. He was done playing softgame .
He checked the fuel gauge. Full. He checked his internal reserves. Recovering.
He twisted the throttle, speeding toward the desolate industrial zones outside the capital. He wasn't escaping. He was leading them to the slaughterhouse.He is going to kill every single each of them.
A group unwilling to back down was about to crash headlong into an individual who, when cornered, has a history of crashing out.
The battle was coming.