"Okay, so what did you want to talk about, Vampire?" I inquired with intrigue.

"Just call me Atticus."

​​

"Fine, so what did you want to talk about, Atticus? Man, this is weird, you look and sound just like Fuo, it's almost like she's playing a character or something."

"Hey, don't make fun of me!" He, or maybe she, snapped, before her, or I guess his, expression mellowed out again, "Tch, did she really have to take back control just to say that? Such an emotional human, how troublesome."

"This is confusing, I'm not sure if I should refer to you as he or she...by the way, haven't you two had any trouble with sharing a body, you know, since you're both different genders," I asked curiously.

"No, I have not had any particular issue with it. And simply refer to us as 'they', that should simplify things, yes?"

"Oh, okay. Wait, no, who cares about that, why are we even talking about-? Well, anyway, I guess my main concern is your allegiance."

"Understandable, but it is as Fuo said. I may have been one of the most powerful Vampires in existence, but I no longer feel a sense of loyalty towards the king. There is no reason to lie, it would not benefit me as Fuo has full control over this body."

"I see. And you don't hold any resentment towards the emo ice queen for trapping you in her body?"

"Tch, what did you just call me!?" She snapped, before giving control back to Atticus.

This was both amusing and a little annoying at the same time.

"Ahem...no, I do not hold any resentment, though I admit I was quite surprised by that as well, I expected to despise being trapped like this. But, much to my surprise, I have actually found it quite pleasant."

"Pleasant? I'm not sure I follow," I replied with a puzzled look.

"Well...I do not actually feel trapped, even when Fuo is in control, it still feels like it is my body, we share both physical and mental stimulation...for instance, when she walks, it feels like I am walking, but without expending any actual effort. I quite like that, I feel relaxed and active at the same time. And when she feels joy, I too feel it, I find it enjoyable. Of course, I also share in her pain and physical emotions, but it does not bother me all that much. Pleasure is the most enjoyable sensation, she pleasures herself quite oft-...h-hey, what the fuck do you think you're telling him!? A-and you didn't tell me you could feel everything that I feel, you perverted bastard!"

Well, uh...this was awkward. I was watching one body having a two way conversation, it was annoyingly fascinating. I should change the subject.

"Well, then, uh...moving on. You said earlier than you were one of the strongest Vampires, that raises a lot of questions. For starters, how many Vampires are there, and in what ranges do their power levels vary? Do you guys have ranks or a hierarchy?"

"Yes, that is correct, the Vampires do have a hierarchy amongst themselves. To answer your first question, excluding myself, there are currently six hundred and sixty-five Vampires. As for the hierarchy, there are four ranks under the king. First, are the Evil Numbers, the absolute elites after the king, there are five of them and are each addressed by a specific number. Second, are the Vampire Knights, which used to include me. Like the king, all Vampire Knights have two names, and they are the only Vampires that do. With me gone, there are now thirteen Vampire Knights. Next are the Vampire Generals, they all have one name each, there are forty of them. The remaining five hundred and ninety-six are all nameless, collectively known as the Vampire Minions."

Huh, when he spoke about the Vampires, he didn't include himself as part of them, seems like he really didn't feel any allegiance towards them after all.

"So including you, there were six-six-six Vampires, huh...talk about fitting."

"Hm? I do not know what you mean, but one of the members of the Evil Numbers is named Six-Six-Six."

"Oh, good to know, I guess...so, exactly how strong are the Vampires? Like, how does my Vampire Mode measure up against them?"

"Ah, you refer to your transformation as 'Vampire Mode'? I think I shall as well, I quite like the sound of it-," Began Atticus, before their expression changed, as Fuo took over, "...er, do we have to call it that?"

"Do you have to discuss that now?"

"Ahem...to answer your question, I will first need to see exactly how strong you are in that form. Would you mind transforming, we do not need to fight, I will likely be able to gauge your power level when you transform."

"Oh, uh...sure, I guess. Here goes...," I replied, entering Vampire Mode.

"Well, now...how fascinating. You only received a fraction of the king's Dark Magic, and yet you are this powerful? Hm, the Vampire Minions should pose no threat to you whatsoever, and the Vampire Generals are unlikely to challenge you too greatly either. As for the Vampire Knights, I would say that you are on par with or perhaps even marginally stronger than they are. The Evil Numbers are stronger than you are, but I would not say that it is impossible for you to defeat them. The king is well out of your reach, from my knowledge of his capabilities, you do not stand a chance against him."

The last part wasn't great, but overall, that was a lot better than I'd imagined.

"Based on what I'd read about Vampires, I was expecting them to be more overwhelmingly powerful overall," I remarked with a raised eyebrow.

"Over two hundred years ago, before the Vampires were sealed away, the king made a habit of having the stronger Vampires display their strength to humans, therefore making them believe all Vampires were that powerful. But in reality, it is only a small minority of Vampires that can single-handedly overwhelm multiple competent humans."

"Hold on, that doesn't make any sense...I read that humans were driven to the brink of extinction by the Vampires, so-."

"Ah, yes...most of the written information on Vampires is false. I have already explained this to Fuo, but it would have been ridiculously foolish to kill all humans, considering that they are the Vampires' most nutritional option for sustenance. No, we simply ruled over the humans, and I believe we were fairly just in our treatment of them. Of course, many of them did not like being lorded over, and conspired to seal us away, which they succeeded in doing. I imagine they fabricated the details in the history books since some could have interpreted the humans as being in the wrong."

You don't say...

"Back to the Vampires' power levels...how strong are the Minions in comparison to the average S-Rank Adventurer?"

"Hm, I would say that most Minions are stronger, but in Fuo's memories, I have seen some Adventurers capable of defeating a Minion fairly easily, and perhaps even a General or a Knight. The one she greatly envies with Water Magic, another with Fire Magic, and one with Wind Magic...and several others that are capable of fighting on relatively even terms with a Vampire Minion. Although, just like your Adventurers vary in strength, some Vampire Minions are stronger than others."

Someone she 'greatly envies with Water Magic'...clearly Az, the second one he mentioned was Ekai, and the third was probably Persia. Hm, in that case, the Retribution Tier members of The Empire could probably defeat the weaker Vampires pretty easily.

"Naturally. So, do Vampires have different Elemental Magic types and stuff?"

"No, not quite...all Vampires use what they call Blood Magic, which, in its simplest form, is a destructive red beam of light that leaves painful and toxic burns on humans, if the burns are left untreated, the afflicted human will grow weaker and weaker until they die. The more powerful Vampires can use Blood Magic in more complex ways. Oh, I should clarify, the magic has nothing to do with our blood, it simply happens to be of the same color."

"Oh, like how my lightning turns red when I'm in Vampire Mode."

"Indeed. Blood Magic is a trait that is common amongst all Vampires, to varying degrees of power. Then there is an ability that is unique to every individual Vampire, known as Crosses. The king's Cross lies in his eyes...he has the ability to compel others to do as he says, though it can be resisted with a strong enough will. Incidentally, my Cross was the ability to trigger horrific illusions and hallucinations in a human if I make eye contact with them within ten meters...however, this body is currently incapable of using that ability, though it is possible that may change in the future."

"Crosses, huh...I know the answer to this is probably a no, but by any chance, could I be able to use Lazarus's cross?"

"Possible, but highly unlikely...I doubt the small fraction of Dark Magic he bestowed upon you will ever manifest his Cross, the Eyes of Compulsion. In case you were wondering, my Cross is called the Nightmare Gaze."

"...question, do you guys name your Crosses yourselves, or...?"

"Hm? Yes, that is correct, each Vampire individually come up with a name for their own Cross. I should mention, there are several Vampires with rather useless Crosses, while some have Crosses so powerful that it is just...unfair."

"Jeez, sore loser, much? What about weapons, do Vampires use them or do they fight bare handed?"

"The weapons they used to have long since rusted away. I imagine they will look for replacements eventually. I used to wield a spear myself, though I am enjoying the experience of using a bow and arrow in this body, I quite like the satisfaction of hitting my target perfectly."

Huh, I wonder if all Vampires feel emotions like that or if that was just something he felt since he was in a human body...better not bring it up, if they do have emotions I'll find out soon enough, and if they don't, then he might feel like these aren't really his emotions or something and act out...maybe I'm overthinking it, but better safe than sorry.

"Well, I guess that's all I want to know, for now anyway. Could you write up a list of the names and abilities of the Vampires we should be especially vary of? I'm particularly interested in their Crosses, it sounds like there could be some pretty troublesome abilities among them."

"Very well, I do not mind. Now I have a question for you...how do you plan on dealing with the Vampires if, or rather, when they attack this nation?"

"Well, that's not really my call, but I would suggest evacuating all non-combatants to the south end of the Rustlands effective immediately and fortifying the fuck out of the north end. You can sense Vampires right, that's how you knew the Forbidden Zone was down...can they sense you?"

"Possibly, but unlikely. I can barely even sense my own existence now, I do not believe I qualify as a Vampire anymore."

Well, he was in a human body, so that could be true, but for now, I'll have to keep in mind the assumption that they could sense him...

"Anyway, as I was saying, we fortify the north end and then it's a waiting game...I expect we'll have to rely on you, mind letting us know if and when the Vampires move in this direction?"

"But of course, I thought I already made it clear that I wish to preserve my own existence. I cannot flee since Fuo retains primary control over this body, so I shall do everything I can to ensure that my odds of survival are maximized."

"Cool. Once you give us the signal, we'll set up an ambush, something designed to wipe out as many Vampires as possible in a single attack. Speaking of which, the Vampires survived for two hundred years in the Forbidden Zone with no food or water...so my question is, how do we kill them?"

"Piercing their hearts or decapitation...will not work, they do not have any vital spots and can regenerate from any injury whether we want to or not. Their weakness lies in their cores, a small orb that they can freely move around in their body, but if it gets destroyed, the Vampire will go up in flames and die."

Ah, a 'destroy the core' kinda deal, huh.

"How strong are their cores?"

"Quite brittle, actually. If you can completely blow apart a Vampire's body, you will likely break the core as well, and if you fail to do so, once the core is exposed outside the Vampire's body, any normal human could break it with a simple stomp."

"Well, that's convenient. Alright, we'll set up an ambush with that in mind. In the best case scenario, the Vampires attack us last, and hopefully attack Platinberg and The Valaque Empire first. Ideally, The Empire and the Vampires can kill each other off and we don't have to face either of them, but maybe that's overly wishful thinking on my part."

"Hah, I like the way you think, human. But the Vampires do not intend to kill all the humans, they simply plan to rule over then. So 'attack' is not quite right, 'take over' is more accurate. Of course, they will kill any humans that they determine to be a threat."

"I see...well, you'll be able to tell which nation they're going to try to take over first by sensing which direction they move in, right?"

"Correct. Though I suspect that they won't move for a week or two at the very least, they will need time to establish a solid grip over the ruling of Silvland. They were definitely successful...from what I can sense, it would appear as though the only casualties on the Vampires' end are eleven Vampire Minions, nothing more."

That was it? That's all the Silvland Adventurers were able to kill? Presumably, all or most of those Adventurers were probably dead. Well, they had been caught off-guard and likely didn't know about the Vampires' weakness, so the low death toll on the Vampires' side wasn't exactly surprising now that I think about it.

"So their numbers are basically unscathed. A few hundred Vampires doesn't sound like much when compared to five nations worth of humans, but now that I think about it, the Vampires probably greatly outnumber the number of humans that are actually strong enough to put a fight against them. Huh, that's a bleak realization. Well, nothing we can do about it but prepare as best we can. Guess I'm done with the questions, I think that just about covers everything."

Whew, it felt like I'd been talking for ages. I sure had learnt a lot though.

"Hm, that is a lot to take in, but we do not have any time to waste...I shall arrange for the evacuation and fortification immediately," Said Erhtaph, writing in a notebook.

Huh, I had totally forgotten that he was here...even though we were in his house.

"Tch, that took forever," Grumbled Fuo, taking back control of their body.

"Alright, then...guess I'll be heading out-," I began, when suddenly a loud buzzing interrupted me.

"It appears that I'm getting a call," Remarked Erhtaph, picking up a Call Spell Card on his desk.

Oh, right, I forgot to mention. The Call Spell had been mass produced and were in widespread use now, it had a fifty kilometer range so was super convenient, though a single Call Spell Card could still only be linked with and contact one other card, so if you wanted to be able to contact multiple people, you'd need multiple Call cards.

"Advisor Erhtaph, I have urgent news! A group including the prince just returned from Silvland, they claim that the Vampire Forbidden Zone is down and the Vampires have attacked Silvland!"

...well, it looks like I wasn't heading back home just yet.

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