Weilian was consumed by regret. She regretted not noticing the subtle changes in Light Axe, regretted this insane hunt, and regretted ever joining the Blood Clan Guard. Regrets flooded her mind, but they were useless. No amount of money could buy a remedy for regret, not even for a Vampire.
Light Axe's monstrous hand clamped around Weilian's neck, lifting her effortlessly. Weilian cried out her former lover's name, hoping for a flicker of recognition, but her calls were met with silence. The Alien Species' virus had burned away Light Axe's mind; to him, Weilian was just sustenance. The craving for blood was his sole motivation.
The hideous proboscis descended onto Weilian's neck like a grotesque kiss. It brought not pleasure, but profound, spiritual anguish. For a female, being killed by the man she loved was the ultimate pain. She didn't want the suffering to continue, neither hers nor Light Axe's.
As Light Axe drank greedily, Weilian didn't resist. Instead, she silently triggered the device in her hand. It was the control for the Vampires' final defense: ultraviolet optical bombs. These devices should have been deployed on the battlefield, but Light Axe's sudden betrayal had prevented their use.
Weilian's final act was to detonate them, reducing everything in the vicinity to dust. With her last ounce of strength, she touched Light Axe's cheek.
"Darling, if there is a next life... let us be human again."
The counter on the device hit zero. An overwhelming burst of light erupted. Weilian and Light Axe, locked in their final, terrible embrace, turned to ash. The blinding light continued to surge, flooding the narrow castle corridor.
Rehart violently ripped off his earpiece. The moment he lost contact with Chuba and the others, he knew something awful had happened. Watching his remaining Guards steadily retreat, with Chadnomah's Alien Species tearing through their last defensive position, his premonition solidified.
He instinctively looked back to their Master, the Vampire Grand Duke. The Grand Duke was gone. All Rehart saw was Snow Man silently guarding Makinos private elevator.
Rehart knew Snow Man was Makinos personal warrior, pledged only to the Grand Duke, a confidant placed within the Blood Clan Guard. Snow Man's current actions confirmed Rehart's darkest suspicion: Makinos, the self-proclaimed Grand Duke, had abandoned everyone loyal to him and fled.
Rehart wanted to burst into bitter laughter. Everything he and his subordinates had done—the dedication, the suffering, the loss of comrades—had been for a decrepit tyrant. They had sacrificed everything for a delusion, truly deserving of death for their foolish loyalty.
But Rehart wasn't ready to die. He looked at Chadnomah, who was about to breach the final defense line, and let out a mocking smile. He was done playing games with this despicable father and son duo.
Chadnomah finally tore through the last defense, only to find the area empty. Machinos was gone, having fled with his favored daughter earlier in the fight.
The discovery drove Chadnomah to the brink of madness. He couldn't allow Machinos to escape his long-planned vengeance. He had to plunge the dagger of revenge into his heart before he left. Now, only a single warrior stood in his path.
Chadnomah glared at Snow Man, whose face was calm and steady, wielding a long saber.
"Tear him apart," he commanded. The Alien Species howled, rushing toward the lone figure by the elevator like uncaged hounds.
The Vampire Grand Duke was moving as fast as his aging body would allow toward his private, hidden hangar. His top speed was barely faster than a human's brisk walk. He resented his frailty, but it was the necessary price for maintaining his grip on power. All his genetic research, he admitted, was merely an effort to restore his lost vitality while clinging to his throne. It was never for the Vampire race, only for himself.
Faced with death, he instantly abandoned the grand narratives he had woven. Survival was paramount. As long as he lived, he was still the ruler.
Suddenly, his steps froze. A black figure had materialized before him.
"Dawn Knight!" Alida Makinos snarled, grinding his teeth.
Zhou Yi stood in his path. Just as Chadnomah could not tolerate Makinos escape, Zhou Yi would not permit this kind of antagonist to slip away.
"Go back, or come here and die. Makinos, you have no other option."
Alida Makinos glared at Zhou Yi, then turned to his daughter. "Nysha, stop him!"
Nysha stared at her father in disbelief. She had suspected the truth, yet a tiny, naive hope had kept her silent, following him. Her father had just crushed that hope completely. She finally saw him for what he was: a man who would sacrifice anyone and anything for his own power.
Ignoring her visible shock, Alida, frantic with fear of Chadnomah's imminent arrival, harshly questioned her.
"What? Are you going to resist me too? Are you going to betray me?"
Nysha didn't answer. She rushed silently toward Zhou Yi. In that moment, her heart held a single resolve: to execute her father's final command and use her life to destroy the corrupt bloodline that flowed within her.
Alida had sacrificed his daughter for a sliver of time, a desperate, cunning move. But he miscalculated Nysha's strength. The Dawn Knight was entirely beyond her capabilities.
Nysha threw a punch at Zhou Yi's helmet. Her fair fist struck the rigid metal, not even producing a tremor. Even without his armor, Zhou Yi's natural defense far outmatched a Vampire's physical strength.
Nysha had no chance to follow up. Zhou Yi caught her wrist and forcibly twisted her body, pinning her securely in his embrace. All this happened before Machinos had moved twenty meters.
A whistling stream of air tore open the floor in front of Machinos. The Qi blade generated by Zhou Yi's supersonic hand strike instantly froze the Grand Duke.
Zhou Yi walked toward the stiff, terrified Vampire. "At first, I merely found your body repulsive and decayed. Now, I see your inner self perfectly matches that body. I have never felt such an urgent desire to kill someone. You are the first."
Alida's calculated familial betrayal had touched Zhou Yi's fundamental boundary. Abandoning family, regardless of the reason, was unforgivable in his eyes.
Machinos looked up at Zhou Yi's raised hand, surprisingly composed.
"Dawn Knight, you cannot kill me. If you do, you will regret it."
Zhou Yi paused, his arm still raised. He waited to see the final, desperate trick the old schemer had up his sleeve.
Alida Makinos knew he was out of time. He ripped off his shirt, revealing a device half-embedded in his chest.
"For over ten days, my body has been failing. My heartbeat is weakening. This device supports it and monitors it."
"The monitoring data is fed to the one person I truly trust. Have you noticed anyone else missing from my side, Dawn Knight?"
Zhou Yi thought back. He hadn't seen the Vampire butler, the one he had previously injured. Given a Vampire's regeneration, the Giant should have been here.
"I see you've guessed it. My most loyal butler is currently on a flight to London. And in his possession is the instrument that monitors my heartbeat. This device is impervious to electromagnetic interference and does not interfere with the plane's systems. If my heartbeat stops, he is programmed to release the most deadly airborne substance on the plane. As a superhero, you would never allow hundreds of innocent people to die simply because you killed me, would you?"
Alida Makinos tactic was despicable, but devastatingly effective against Zhou Yi. He couldn't kill the Grand Duke for a moment of justice at the cost of hundreds of civilian lives. The venomous snake, desperate for survival, had backed Zhou Yi into an impossible corner. He was forced to admit that the Grand Duke was a master manipulator, a sinister being whose entire existence was a conspiracy.
"I promise to let you and your daughter go. Contact your butler and stop this evil plan!" Faced with the hostage threat, Zhou Yi compromised. This was the first time he had bent to a threat, not against himself, but against innocent lives.
"No, I don't trust you," the Grand Duke responded stiffly. A villain of his caliber would never believe a hero's promise.