Blade sprang upward, intercepting Rehart's attacking knee with a fierce punch. The sound of bone hitting bone was sickeningly crisp.
In this raw contest of strength, the pure-blood Vampire, Rehart, was utterly outmatched. The punch instantly swelled his knee and dislocated the joint, but more critically, it destroyed his mid-air balance. Rehart spun forward, helpless.
Blade, anticipating his trajectory, moved like a predator. Before Rehart could even hit the ground, Blade grabbed his arm, not in a gesture of camaraderie, but with malicious intent. Gripping the arm with both hands, he slammed his weight down, twisting Rehart's limb into a grotesque, painful angle. A shriek of agony tore from the Vampire captain.
In mere seconds, Rehart was disabled, a clear demonstration that their opponent was vastly superior to their expectations. However, the Blood Clan Guard was a unit, not a lone warrior.
The moment Rehart screamed, Light Axe—whose mind was as heavily muscled as his body—reacted first. He was the only Vampire bold enough to interfere. Ignoring the others' stunned hesitation and disdain, Light Axe swung his massive battle axe down toward Blade.
Blade had only two choices: drop the hostage and dodge, or attempt to take the hit while holding Rehart. He wanted to do neither. He chose a third option: call for backup.
Backup arrived instantaneously. A figure in a black cloak and full black armor materialized, intercepting the descending axe blade.
Light Axe, a creature of pure brute force, had no intention of slowing down. He revealed a bloodthirsty, excited smile, his pupils contracting with impatience for the imminent carnage.
Just as the axe was about to connect, an internal warning registered in Zhou Yi's suit. The Dawn Armor Type II, with its 7,400 pounds of impact resistance, was vulnerable to this barbaric attack; the combination of a Vampire's powerful arm and a heavy cold weapon was enough to breach the plating.
But the armor was merely a shield. Zhou Yi, the user, never relied on it. He reached out and gripped the massive axe blade directly. The metal sparked fiercely as it scraped against the reinforced gauntlet, the edge biting deep into the armor, just touching his skin—but that was all.
His augmented body was tougher than his suit. The momentum of the massive weapon was killed instantly, the axe fixed in his grip as if rooted in stone. Light Axe strained, desperately trying to move the weapon, but it was useless. He watched in horror as the axe blade—hardened steel—began to twist and deform like soft clay in the hand of the man blocking him.
In that horrifying instant, Light Axe realized his mistake. Using a leverage principle that defied common sense, Zhou Yi applied force to the axe head and lifted the massive Vampire entirely off the ground. Before Light Axe could even scream, Zhou Yi hurled him, man and axe, into a nearby vintage car.
The heavy body, combined with the launch force, utterly totaled the classic vehicle, smashing the roof and buckling the chassis. The bloodied Light Axe looked remarkably more intact than the ruined machine.
Blade, still holding the writhing Rehart, pulled out a delicate device: a sharp hook on one end and a miniature signal receiver on the other. He slammed the hook onto the back of Rehart's head, the barb digging deep into the flesh.
"This is an explosive device," Blade announced grimly, twitching as he displayed a tiny detonator button to the restless Vampires. "Inside is silver nitrate. I'm very curious whether a pure-blood Vampire whose head is blown open and then doused with silver nitrate will die. You can help me test it. If I press this button, or if any of you tamper with this little thing, it will..."
He finished the sentence with a theatrically gruesome explosion gesture. Rehart, whose hand had reflexively gone to the back of his head, froze. He glared at Blade, twisted his thigh to reset his dislocated knee, and stalked back toward the Vampire squad.
Round one clearly belonged to Blade and the Dawn Knight.
Watching Weilian and Priest jointly pull Light Axe from the wreck, Blade walked toward the Dawn Knight, his voice a low, grim whisper.
"That was my favorite car. I always treated it like my wife!"
"My apologies!" Zhou Yi said, genuinely surprised. "I'll compensate you. Send me the bill for a replacement you like."
"I'll remember that," Blade confirmed, accepting the deal and walking away without fanfare. The Vampires watched the two whisper, completely unaware that a transaction involving a vintage car had just taken place, believing instead that the hunters were gloating over their victory.
Misunderstanding, however, had its benefits; the Vampires were now subdued and cautious. The joint show of force had humbled their arrogance.
Blade silently curled his lips, then turned to Nysha, the official leader.
"How exactly do you plan to find these Alien Species? Are we just going to walk into an alley with a sign that says, 'Come eat me'?" Blade, ever the verbal aggressor, didn't temper his words.
"Last night, I searched all the red-light districts of Manhattan and those other places that never see daylight," Zhou Yi chimed in, subtly helping Nysha by framing the situation academically. "I found only traces of attacks. They have a unified strategy, a unified command. When they're not hunting, they completely disappear. If you can't find them, this whole effort is futile."
Nysha gave Zhou Yi a long, considering look, then revealed her plan.
"To catch a hunter, you must start with the prey. Although these Alien Species are not picky—both Vampires and humans are food—Chadnomah's behavior suggests he prioritizes dealing with Vampires. Therefore, Vampires are the preferred target."
"My father has ordered all clans to abandon their usual feeding grounds, leaving only one open for their use. Unless they choose to starve at home, any Vampire wanting a feast must go to this single location. That location will become the only place in New York where a large number of our kind will appear."
"They will be drawn there," she continued. "Only that large a concentration of prey can satisfy the terrifying appetite and reproductive demands of these spreading Alien Species."
"Very good!" Blade clapped his hands once. "What's this place called?"
"House of Pain."
The two Vampire hunters and the Vampire team quickly arrived at the dilapidated apartment building. It was completely boarded up, looking derelict and long uninhabited.
"No sign, no statues, no Vampire symbols," Blade noted, confused. "This is your biggest blood nest?"
"Because of you, we have learned to adapt," Nysha stated, handing him an infrared imager. The device revealed a subtle, glowing symbol only visible under infrared light.
"Very good, House of Pain," Blade grinned. "I'll definitely be a frequent visitor in the future."
Nysha ignored the fresh threat and turned to Zhou Yi. "Dawn Knight, you can't go in looking like that." She gestured to his conspicuous armor. "Your appearance will expose our existence."
"Are there no cross-dressing Vampires?" Zhou Yi asked, looking down at his armored hands.
Nysha rolled her eyes, but Blade answered with relish: "Pal, trust me. There are no cross-dressing Vampires as cool as you; their taste is truly appalling."
Zhou Yi shrugged, pulled his cloak tighter, and with a subtle flicker of light and shadow, his armored figure completely vanished from sight.
"Cool! Optical Camouflage Stealth System," Josh, the techno-enthusiast, blurted out. "I thought that technology was still strictly military budget. There's a finished product already? Pal, your skill is incredible!"
"You flatter me," the Dawn Knight's low voice came from directly behind Nysha, his invisible presence amplifying his fearful reputation.
"Let's go," Zhou Yi chuckled. His laughter, a disembodied whisper, sent a ripple of anxiety through the Blood Clan Guard. For now, they were allies, and that was good enough.