Zhou Yi offered a silent prayer of thanks to the Earth, which, in its wisdom, revolved around the sun and spun on its axis. Beyond the beautiful rhythm of day and night, this created the essential phenomenon of time zone differences.
This miraculous divergence was his lifeline.
While it was already past sunrise in London, casting the final light of dawn, across the vast Atlantic, New York remained deep in the shroud of darkness, the true dawn still hours away.
This was exactly what Zhou Yi required. Allowing a monster like Makinos to live long enough to see the sunrise would be the ultimate irony, a fate he refused to grant him.
The boundless ocean could not impede his journey; in just over ten minutes, he would deliver a taste of his righteous fury to Makinos.
But did Makinos truly have that much time left?
Inside the castle, Snow Man was fighting a desperate battle, tirelessly guarding the critical elevator access. Though his swordsmanship had reached a peak of mastery, facing the endless siege of Alien Species, his body was failing, his spirit pushed past the limit of human endurance. Even the fiercest lion cannot defeat an entire pack of ravenous hyenas, and these creatures were far more lethal.
His long blade swept fiercely, severing an Alien Species' throat, neatly cutting off the poisonous weapon before its disgusting tongue could strike. Simultaneously, Snow Man closed the distance with another creature, using the explosive force of his shoulder and back to slam it against the cold stone wall.
The pinned Alien Species instinctively thrashed its arms, believing that any touch meant instant death for its prey. But Snow Man ignored the frantic claws, rapidly drawing the short blade from his waist. The blade slipped into the creature's armpit gap, plunging directly into its heart.
Having deciphered the Alien Species' vital weakness, a one-on-one fight was trivial for a Great Master of the blade. However, he was facing a pack of focused hunters.
An Alien Species behind him ignited into blue flame, but before it turned fully to ash, others rushed forward, their arms outstretched. For these creatures, short of critical damage to their vital organs, the possibility of being stopped was almost nonexistent. For Snow Man, even the slightest injury inflicted by them could be fatal, and every drop of physical exhaustion was a measured step toward his grave.
Yet, this was his sworn duty, a choice he couldn't avoid. There were lords who abandoned their warriors, but never a true warrior who abandoned his lord.
The long blade swept again, its gleaming edge easily tearing open the chest of an Alien Species that lunged at him. The damage was superficial, failing to reach the shielded heart.
He withdrew the blade, using it to parry another creature's arm. His short blade seized the opening, stabbing upward through the jaw, the sharp edge piercing flesh and bone, scrambling the brain matter. Even if it didn't kill the monster, it rendered it functionally unconscious. A brain-dead Alien Species was useless.
Snow Man violently kicked the stumbling, incapacitated creature away. As he prepared for the next opponent, a sudden, debilitating weight settled upon him. A small, agile Alien Species had leaped onto his back.
He had been fighting too long. The continuous, intense combat had blurred his senses, and he had lost his perception of the surrounding space—a fatal flaw.
The Alien Species on his back darted its blood-sucking tongue, firmly latching onto Snow Man's neck.
Snow Man roared, bringing his short blade to his own neck. The cut sliced through half his ear and, crucially, severed the Alien Species' tongue.
The creature shrieked in pain, throwing its head back. Snow Man plunged his long blade into his own ribs, driving the tip deep into the monster's chest. The hard bone plating resisted, but Snow Man gritted his teeth and shoved the hilt.
The long blade began to emit a faint shimmer, and tiny hairline cracks appeared on its surface. The tough bone armor gave way. The cold steel broke through the defense and embedded itself deep into the pulsating heart.
The Alien Species immediately burst into flames. The long blade in Snow Man's hand hummed softly one last time before snapping in half.
He touched his neck. The wound was still bleeding profusely, but he felt no pain. His heart sank: the Alien Species' virus had entered his bloodstream.
Looking around, he saw creatures ready to pounce everywhere. In the center of the surging pack, Chadnomah watched him with unconcealed disdain.
"My father's loyal dog, how does it feel? Soon you will be my descendant, and then I want to see if you can still maintain your precious loyalty to my father!"
Chadnomah waved his hand.
Hordes of Alien Species surged past the weakened Snow Man, charging the elevator doors. The doors buckled under the monsters' combined prying, revealing the dark, deep shaft.
Snow Man gripped his broken blade, desperate to stop them. But the profound weakness in his body meant he couldn't even lift the weapon. His path had ended.
He looked at the broken blade in his hand and resolutely plunged the fragment into his own heart.
Flames quietly consumed him. Watching Chadnomah's expression twist into fury, he uttered his final vow: "I will only die as a warrior, never live on as a monster."
Chadnomah felt a searing rage in his chest, the scalding pain making him roar. Hearing his rage, the Alien Species moved even faster, squeezing into the elevator shaft, chasing the direction Makinos had gone.
At that moment, a blinding light erupted in the passage.
It was brilliant, surging fire. Packed into the narrow shaft, the light rushed through the passage like steeds galloping from the sun, spreading its merciless radiance over all things.
The light produced by the optical bomb detonated by Weilian before her death, finally served its true purpose.
The Alien Species simply froze. The light was too fast, giving them no time to react.
Chadnomah felt the sudden light emanating from the shaft, a scorching sting across his body. He instinctively shielded his eyes. A few intense rays that struck him made him feel as if he were tossed into a raging inferno.
When the light faded, he ignored his severe burns and rushed into the shaft. What he saw made him roar in absolute fury: not a single Alien Species remained. They had all been reduced to swirling blue flames and ash by the magnificent flash.
"This is impossible! Absolutely not!"
He smashed his fist against the wall, pulverizing the castle's ancient bricks, leaving stark marks of destruction. He quickly shook off the negative emotion.
Looking up into the shaft, he bared his monstrous teeth. "Do you think this can stop me, Father? Even if it's just me, I will still reach you. Just wait."
He rushed into the shaft, scrambling upwards using both his hands and feet. He had committed everything. Death was not terrifying; what was terrifying was the possibility that his revenge would remain a mere fantasy. Revenge was his life's single purpose.
Chadnomah was frantically climbing toward his goal, while Makinos was desperate to leave this place that promised his death.
Hiding in the back of the parked plane, Makinos anxiously scanned every possible point of entry for the Alien Species, repeatedly urging his daughter.
"Nysha, Nysha! Faster! We must leave this place immediately!"
But despite his frantic pleas, Nysha did not appear. The autonomous aircraft was a useless scrap of metal without her piloting it.
Unable to wait, Makinos cautiously climbed out of the plane and looked up. He saw a massive metal cover slowly descending—the defensive facility for the aircraft's takeoff platform. Once closed, the plane was grounded forever.
"How can this be? Who is doing this?" Makinos looked like a cornered demon.
"It's me, Father."
Nysha slowly emerged from the shadow. She walked toward Makinos, her gaze calm, indifferent, as if looking at a stranger.
"Nysha?" Makinos roared, aghast. "Do you know what you are doing? Are you insane? You're trying to murder your own father! We will all die here!"
"Father, even now, are you still unwilling to admit it?" Nysha ignored his panic, her gaze distant. "Admit all the terrible mistakes you've made?"
"That is my right!" Makinos was enraged. "I am the master of all this! I have the right to decide what I do, and you have no right to question me. I am the supreme dominator of the Vampires!"
"Perhaps." Hearing a dragging sound from the ceiling behind her, Nysha dropped the argument. She quietly stepped aside. "Then let your son, my brother, hear your explanation."
The moment she moved, a figure leaped down directly in front of Makinos. The impact shattered the floor, and a cloud of pervasive smoke and dust instantly obscured everything.
As the dust settled, Chadnomah's ecstatic, furious face appeared before Makinos.
"Father! I finally found you!"
"Chad?"
Seeing his long-lost son, Makinos felt no joy, only terror. His aged body retreated slowly, his frantic movements nearly tripping him. Trembling, he called out his son's nickname, desperate to soothe the venom in his heart.
"You must understand that what happened to you was a terrible tragedy, and it has caused me great pain. It was an unforgivable mistake."
"Is that so, Father? Have you truly realized your mistake?" Chadnomah moved closer, his turbid white eyes fixed on his father, a gaze that felt like a searing burn.
Driven by the instinct to survive, Makinos trembled as he reached out to touch his son's grotesque face. Chadnomah dodged his fingers, but Makinos persisted, using words as his shield.
"Everything has taken a turn for the better now! We are close to success. Come back to my side, my son. We will find the antidote. You are still my son, and I will restore you to your rightful position!"
He finally embraced his son, his voice shaking. "You will be the Prince of my Empire, the sole heir to my great dominion. Let us conquer this world together!"
Hearing this, Chadnomah no longer evaded the contact. He wrapped his own fierce arms around his father.