Luke had taken Andy and Rosalia to his house next door, for the time being, as Tres was on the floor. Luke, who had finished cleaning up for Tres, said, "Dude, are you okay?"
Tres looked at him as he shook his head. "Like… I think the Demonic System is having some negative effects on me. Don't you have that?"
Luke, who was washing the blood off his hands, nodded. "Yeah, it does. I mean, I do get some feelings of killing people and… to be frank, I have killed people."
Tres looked at him. Both of them were killers, one way or the other. If the Demonic System is making him feel negative emotions, then… could it be that White Door is actually just blocking me from feeling depressed about it? he thought.
As Luke finished cleaning up, he asked, "What even happened here?"
Tres snapped back to reality and realized that the person he had killed was the strongest in this apartment. Since Tres beat him, that meant he was the owner of this domain now. He opened the message that he hadn't read after killing the elder vampire.
---
[Temporary Domain Claim Activated]
Location: Residential Building (5 Floors)
Status: Minor Domain
Registered Tenants:
Living Occupants: 47 (Human)
Vampires: 11
Dead (Unburied): 53
Environmental Notes:
• High Resident Turnover
• Poor Structural Maintenance
• Low Civic Oversight
Territorial Status:
Current Owner: You
You can now make small changes to the apartment by spending points. Everyone within the apartment has respect for you.
---
Tres turned to Luke as he said, "Luke, can you help me with something?"
Luke nodded as Tres continued, "There are vampires in the basement. We should take them out."
"Vampires?!" Luke looked at the dead body as he said, "Yeah… that's a vampire now that I think about it. I won't ask how you killed it, but are you sure you can kill more? I don't think I can beat vampires alone, even if they're the lowest level."
Tres stayed silent. He knew he would have lost to the vampire elder, but something mysterious had killed him. Tres sank into thought before opening the Vampiric System with a thought. I thought I saw a skill, something like puppe—ah, yes… This will work.
---
[Vampiric System]
Skill: Blood Puppet
Description:
The user extends their blood vessels from their own body like living threads.
These vessels can attach to a dead target, infiltrating what remains of its circulatory system and muscles.
Once connected, the corpse is forcibly animated and controlled through blood manipulation, moving exactly as the user commands, like a puppet bound by strings.
---
"Luke, can you decapitate the head of that vampire?"
Luke looked confused as he stared at the dead body before sighing. "I've done worse at the guild. This much is nothing."
He grabbed the chef's knife from the kitchen, and in a single clean cut, the head and body of Thomas were separated.
Tres looked at the body and turned to Luke. "You might want to walk out."
Even I don't know how bad this will be… he thought.
Luke nodded without looking back, leaving Tres alone as he activated the skill.
From the bottom of the decapitated head, red wires that looked like blood vessels extended outward, helping it crawl toward Thomas's body. The vessels slowly went inside, attaching and connecting the head to the entire body.
---
[Vampiric System]
Skill worked successfully. You have now gained an upgraded version of the skill for unlocking the secret conditions.
Skill: Body Connector
Description:
You can connect your head to any body as long as they are decapitated.
---
Tres got up as he felt taller—slightly taller. The body was pale, but his head wasn't. He clenched his fists and looked around. "Woah… this works a lot better than I thought."
He walked outside and saw Luke waiting. Luke's face looked somewhat confused, but Tres patted his back and said, "Got a new body! How am I looking?"
Luke felt surprised at Tres's easy going attitude after what happened, but sighed. "Looking fresh as hell, dude."
"Then let's go, shall we?" Tres said.
Luke looked at him. "You might wanna change…" he said, pointing at Tres's bloody shirt.
Tres looked down at it and said, "Who cares? The new clothes will get dirty anyway."
…
"Hey, why hasn't Sir Thomas come back?" one of the vampires said, looking at William.
"I don't know either," William replied. He was sitting with everyone else in the basement. He could feel the tension. Everyone there had felt chills a few minutes ago, and suddenly Thomas hadn't returned.
"Should we go and check?" one of them asked.
William nodded. "Yes, we should. We aren't doubting him… it's just concer—"
The door was kicked open.
Luke and Tres stood there.
Luke looked at the vampires, counted them, then turned to Tres. "How the hell did you know the exact number?"
"Like I said, I'm the master of this apartment." He turned to the vampires. "Starting today, you pay the rent to me. Understand?"
The vampires looked at him in shock as they noticed his body. "That's… Thomas's shirt. Why the hell are you wearing it?"
Tres looked down, then back at them. "This is probably a war crime, what I did—but also not one of the worst things I've done."
Luke said without looking at him, "I'm pretty sure taking over someone's body is pure psychopathic stuff."
"Good point. Who cares? They were killing humans anyway," Tres said.
The vampires all dashed toward them.
Luke stepped in front, his fist turning red. "Mountain Mover!" he screamed as he threw a punch into the air.
Despite it never connecting, it blew a gust of wind that distracted them for only a split second—but it was enough for Tres to cut off their necks.
He looked at his body and said, "Quite powerful. His body is a lot more useful than I thought it would be, yeah?"
One of the vampires who hadn't been hurt went for Tres from behind, but Luke grabbed him.
Tres turned and, with his sharp nails, decapitated him as well.
Tres looked at Luke and said, "Dude, I totally don't feel bad."
Luke, who was choking another vampire, said, "I feel bad. But this is the norm. I once had to skin some—"
"I don't wanna hear your gory days, dude," Tres said as he grabbed one of them by the neck and slammed him into the wall.
Luke broke the vampire's neck and said, "You're using the skin of another dude?! That's worse than what I've done!"
"Blah, blah," Tres said as he looked at his status. "Hold on, this skill seems cool."
He cut his hand open and spread blood drops across the entire room. As he snapped his fingers, all the blood drops ignited, burning every vampire and dead body present.
He looked at the skill name.
---
[Vampiric System]
Skill: Blood Bomb
Description:
The skill allows you to make your blood explode with the snap of a finger.
---
"That's helpful for sure… I didn't expect to become an elder vampire just for taking the body of one," Tres said.
Luke, who was still fighting, didn't hear it.
William watched his friends being destroyed, his eyes wide. "No… stop killing them!"
His eyes turned red as he screamed. In an instant, he appeared in front of Tres, his punch slamming into Tres's gut and sending him flying across the basement.
William had awakened into a vampire elder as well, due to the intense emotions caused by the death of his friends.