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Dan was the first to snap out of it and greeted Erik.
"You're back. How'd it go?"
Erik nodded.
"Not bad. Took out nearly a hundred vampires in hiding. But I also brought back some bad news."
Stark let out a bitter laugh as he stared at the map.
"Bad news? Like this wasn't bad enough already?"
Erik looked him in the eye.
"While hunting, I found that not all of them were true vampires. Some were turned into blood thralls."
"Blood thralls?"
Dan glanced at Erik, then back at the map.
"Right. From what we can detect, thralls give off a similar signal as real vampires. So this map might actually be showing a lot of thralls instead. And if they're calling themselves the Blood Clan, then that checks out—one vampire might have several, even dozens of thralls. Erik, that's actually good news. Why do you say it's bad?"
Stark nodded in agreement, visibly relieved.
But Erik's expression was still grim.
"Yeah, you're right—this map probably is full of thralls. But that's not what I'm talking about."
He pulled a file from his coat pocket and tossed it on the table.
"This is the bad news: A bunch of high-ranking officials have already turned into vampires. And from this intel, it looks like they chose to become vampires."
"No way!"
Stark and Dan were stunned. Voluntarily becoming vampires? Why?
Stark quickly flipped through the documents. Erik explained:
"For immortality."
"These guys already have power and money. Once they have everything else, the only thing left is immortality."
Dan's face twisted in realization. It was horrifying to think about. When someone has absolute power and limitless wealth, what else is left but the desire to rule it all—forever? And unless a vampire hunter catches them, they really are immortal.
"Tch. No wonder people call capitalists bloodsuckers. Turns out once they've got it all, they really do become actual vampires."
Stark shot Dan a look.
"Hey, man, don't lump me in with them. I'm a capitalist too, you know—I'm not trying to become some creepy sunlight-dodging monster."
"What if they could survive sunlight? You've seen those UV-resistant freaks."
"Uh..."
Stark was speechless. He had no comeback.
"Anyway, just know this—I'd never betray humanity."
Dan didn't say anything. After coming to this world, he'd realized the movies didn't show the full picture. Trust him? Nobody is immune to the temptation of immortality—especially not the old playboy version of Stark before he became Iron Man. Don't trust him? And what then—kill him? That might get him erased by the universe's will itself.
"So what now? If they keep corrupting high-level officials, won't going after the vampires basically mean we're fighting the whole U.S. government?"
The more Dan thought about it, the scarier it got. Even in the Avengers movies, there was never a vampire crisis this serious. This whole situation could be a massive comic event on its own.
"Actually, it's not all bad news. I got some intel from a guy who'd just recently turned. The vampires are planning to strengthen their influence by hosting a ritual for a bunch of powerful people desperate for immortality. They're calling it the Ascension Ritual."
"A ritual? Like a vampire party?"
Stark looked intrigued.
Erik gave him a look and continued.
"No. It's a corruption ritual. They're gathering those people at a place called the Lake of Blood. If the ritual succeeds, they'll all become high-level vampires—way stronger than normal ones. And..."
Dan picked up where he left off.
"And the stronger the vampire, the more powerful their blood thralls, right?"
Erik nodded.
"From what I know, that Clawren we ran into last time was a high-tier vampire. And you saw how powerful his thrall form was."
Dan nodded. Yeah, Clawren's thrall form was by far the strongest one they'd seen so far.
"Hold up, are you guys saying that giant jellyfish from last time was strong?"
Stark looked shocked.
"But Drive took it down with just one kick."
Eric gave him a look like he was staring at an idiot.
"Hey, don't look at me like that."
Stark glared right back, refusing to back down.
Dan quickly stepped in to break the tension and explained:
"Alright, knock it off. To me, Clawren really wasn't that big of a deal. I mean, Drive's way more powerful than Ixa. If we were only dealing with one or two high-level Fangires, it'd be fine, but if there are too many, I wouldn't be able to handle it either.
Not to mention that wolf-shaped Fangire we still don't know when or where it might show up. That thing's way above Clawren's level."
"Dan, seriously?!"
Eric looked at Dan in surprise, like he was blaming him for spilling the beans.
But Dan just shook his head, telling him it was fine.
"So that's how it is, huh."
Stark nodded like he finally got it.
"Then why not just upgrade Ixa? You've got Drive as a template—shouldn't be that hard, right?"
Dan opened his mouth, then hesitated and said nothing.
How was he supposed to explain this to Stark? Like Kamen Rider tech was something you could just casually understand?
Eric didn't hold back.
"We are upgrading it. Honestly, we've been moving really fast. From getting Ixa working to now, it's been less than a month and we've already done several upgrades."
"Wait! It's only been a month since you developed Ixa?"
Stark was stunned.
Dan nodded.
"Yeah, to be exact, it's been just over a month since we started designing it. Actual combat testing? Not even two weeks."
As he listened, Stark's eyes narrowed like he was putting the pieces together.
He looked at Dan and asked tentatively:
"You're the one who developed Ixa, aren't you?"
Dan froze. He hadn't said anything, so how did Stark guess that? Guess that's Tony Stark for you.
He looked over at Eric, who gestured that it was Dan's call to make.
Dan sighed.
"Yeah, I developed the Ixa system. I also built the suit."
"....."