It was truly intriguing how old Zhan could be serious and philosophical with the presence of an experienced elder in one moment, only to ruin it completely by cracking a silly joke, in the next.

To make it worse, it appeared that the old butler actually expected an answer from him.

Fortunately, before Miles was forced to quantize his embarrassment on a numerical scale, Jimmy raised his head.

His gaze burning into Miles, he began to roar out, “IT WAS YOU! YOU DID THIS! YOU MONSTER! WHO THE HELL DRINKS BLOOD? HUMAN BLOOD?! YOU’RE A FREAK!”

Miles raised an eyebrow. Monster? Freak?

He didn't care.

The occasional urge to drink blood, and perhaps some more disadvantages, in return for the powers of a Kindred. Not too shabby a deal.

Sure, he had some fear about losing control to the Beast Within and becoming an inhuman creature, but... he would handle himself just like before.

And fortunately for Jimmy, Miles was not overwhelmed with rage this time.

The reason was simple. He could understand the emotion behind Jimmy’s outburst. Worry for a friend.

These thieves had honor among them. And he respected that.

Unaware of his thoughts, the straw-haired youth continued to shout, holding onto the unconscious Luther, “LOOK AT MY FRIEND! LOOK AT HIM! HE'S BARELY ALIVE! DO YOU SEE WHAT YOU'VE DONE?! CAN YOU EVEN CALL YOURSELF HUMAN?”

Miles’s eyebrow raised even further.

‘Does he even realize how much of a hypocrite he is? They are thieves. They attacked first. They went in for the kill! And I can’t call myself human, just because I drank some blood? I mean, kind of true. I am Kindred now. But f*cking hell!’

However, it was also true that Luther did look rather worse for wear. The knife was still embedded in his bloodied shoulder, his skin was pale, his figure perhaps even a bit thinner. Reasonable, considering he had lost close to half of his blood.

Still, Miles was fairly sure Luther would be fine with a few days of rest. Even if worse came to worst, even if Jimmy had finally decided to grow a spine, the bomb was fake. These thieves no longer held any power.

He had nothing to worry about.

Confident in his conclusion, Miles pointed at the skin-like corpse of Xavier and spoke out with a smirk, “I am kind of sorry about that, but your friend deserved it. Besides, you should be thankful he didn’t end up like the other thief, like… uhh… What was that name? Master Jonn? Yeah, that was it. Not to mention the fact that I ain’t afraid of fake bombs.”

Pointing out the horrific remains of Sir Xavier, despite having very little to do with it, was Miles’s attempt to scare Jimmy.

Revealing the fact that he knew the bomb was fake was simply icing on the cake.

Without a bomb, there was no longer a need to negotiate. This was just a rather petty attempt to get some payback, for having been made a fool of by a fake Fae bomb.

But his ruse didn’t have the intended effect...

Instead of becoming worried or stuttering over his words, Jimmy simply inhaled, and exhaled, visibly calming down.

Miles was intrigued. Perhaps the fake bomber had been listening in to Zhan Shen's lecture? About breathing?

He began to speak and for the first time, his voice was confident and steady, “So that really was you?! I assumed... but I hoped differently.

Master Jonn didn’t deserve to die like that, to be reduced into something that is barely a corpse. No one does! I suppose you never had any intention of negotiation either.

Well, you have left me no choice. See if it is fake or not for yourself!”

Instantly, Jimmy’s hand pulled back, and his grip on the Fae bomb loosened. The vertex on the cube popped out, as the supposedly fake bomb flew through the air.

Miles’s eyes widened in surprise.

‘He actually threw the bomb?! The way he’s acting, it’s almost as if it is real... Could I have been wrong? Could it actually have been a real Fae bomb?’

But that didn’t make any sense!

Sure it had ozone, sure it had seemingly genuine dwarven engravings, but Zhan Shen had confirmed it had no detectable energy!

All Dwarven bombs were from the first century. And a first-century Fae bomb that didn’t constantly release traceable energy was an impossible existence!

Even in the unlikely case it was possible, it surely wouldn’t be in the hands of some random thief!

Unfortunately for Miles, it seemed that the impossible was indeed possible.

A blinding light flashed out from the bomb lighting up the entire safe house, as the destructive energy of plasma rushed out.

Miles could feel the heat of the bomb, expanding the air in an instant, warping the air currents he could sense.

‘I was wrong? No way...’

BOOM!

The Fae bomb exploded in a burst of plasma fire.

Just as it did, just as Miles’s skin and flesh began to burn up, to sizzle, something grabbed him from behind.

Whatever it was, it didn’t feel like a hand, rather a claw or a paw. Before he could look at who or what it was, everything blurred.

His body, the room, the explosion, everything seemed to mix and merge in his eyes, making it impossible to distinguish anything from anything.

The random swirling of his eyesight made Miles feel extremely queasy and groggy. Almost like an extreme version of motion sickness.

Perhaps due to his Kindred Senses, he was still able to realize he was moving. Moving, at an incredible speed, dragged along by whoever had grabbed him.

But before he could figure out anything else, something crashed into his body with immense force.

CRACK!

Several of his bones snapped instantly, one even stabbing out through his skin, causing Miles to scream out. But the sound of his voice was distorted, ending far sooner than the duration he screamed for.

Miles could just barely recognize a series of notifications popping up.

[HP 3/10]

[External and Internal Bleeding detected. 1.7 BP lost.]

[2.7 BP lost.]

[1.3 BP lost.]

[Conditional Undeath activated.]

And everything went dark.

***

SNAP! SNAP!

Before long, Miles regained consciousness, awoken by a strange snapping sound.

“F-F*CK!”

That was when the pain hit him. Mind rending pain from all over, and inside his body. Miles could vaguely feel it, his cracked bones mending themselves, snapping back into place. And damn did it hurt.

Fortunately, a few moments later, it stopped. It seemed he had healed completely and all that was left was a slight ache.

Ding!

[All wounds healed. HP: 10/10

Total Blood Points lost: 5.7 BP ≈ 6 BP.

Personal Blood Points remaining: 4 BP.]

Ding!

[Personal BP refilled: 10/10.

Remaining BP in Ripae Sanguine(Blood Bank): 6/100]

Energy swelled within him, returning him back to top form. There had been a light stirring, a desire for blood, but it vanished along with the notification.

Miles was intrigued by the automatic refilling of his Blood Points, but he was too confused about what the hell had happened.

Looking around with the use of his senses, he quickly found his bearings.

He was outside, right next to a closed steel door, seemingly the entrance to a rough, unpainted concrete building. A tall wall armed with barbed wire spread around it, placing Miles in between the door and the wall.

‘Is this… the safe house? Did I even own anything this ugly? And why the hell does the wall have barbed wire on it? I may have lost my place in Lykaon Industries, but I can still afford decent security!'

Why could Miles not recognize his own safe house, you ask?

The reason was simple. He owned multiple Safe Houses. And by multiple, he meant multiple.

The Lykaons owned so many that he hadn't really had the time to visit most of them. It was only logical to not know where the hell he was until he actually got out and looked.

Heaving a sigh, Miles realized that the air outside was rancid and heavy. He didn’t need a Kindred's sense of smell to realize the air was heavily polluted.

Frowning, his eyes gazed upwards.

He could see nothing but an ordinary night sky. Stars littered the sky, as a half-moon illuminated the darkness.

Miles’s frown grew deeper.

With the invasion of the Orcs, Central City Command should’ve activated the energy barrier over the Inner City. They couldn’t afford the cost to keep it active most of the time, but times of invasions were an exception. That’s what most of them paid taxes for after all.

Which could only mean one of two things. Either the Orcs had already been taken care of, or Miles was not in the Inner City.

Barely a couple of hours had passed since the beginning of the invasion, and Miles knew for a fact that the Orcs wouldn’t be defeated in such a short time.

Since it was only a wandering tribe, the soldiers that would be enlisted were the less experienced and new cadets. Thus the battle would last at least a few days.

All of this, the absence of the energy shield, the rancid air, the cheap defenses of the concrete safe house, everything pointed to a single conclusion.

He was in the Outer City.

‘No wonder we were attacked by thieves. It’s the outer city! The land of thieves and looters! But why would Zhan Shen bring me here? Why not a safe house in the inner city?’

Speaking of Zhan Shen, Miles suddenly spotted the old butler just a few meters away. He was seated on the ground in a lotus position, meditating.

For some reason, he hadn’t been able to sense his presence until now.

‘Huh? Wonder what that’s about? Did old Zhan overexert himself, requiring meditation to recover? And most importantly, hadn’t the Fae bomb exploded? Why is the safe house still intact? Was it a fake all along?’

Almost as if he had read Miles's mind, the elderly butler spoke out, opening his eyes, “Yes, it was not a genuine Fae bomb. You were right in your conclusion, Master Miles.

However, I must admit, it was extremely similar to the genuine article in how it exploded, perhaps even identical. Enough to trick even me. But the explosive power was lacking, barely reaching the maximum strength of an Epsilon.”

Miles fell into thought. That explained it.

He himself was confident the exploding process of the bomb was identical to a genuine Fae bomb. But the fact that the safe house survived, proved its power was insufficient.

Even the worst of his safe houses, this one was definitely at the bottom of the list, could survive any attack from an Epsilon.

Xavier who had almost brought down the building… Well, that was an exception.

However, this didn’t explain how the hell Jimmy had gotten his hand on that bomb, a fake Fae bomb, good enough to trick both himself and old Zhan.

But, he doubted old Zhan knew the reason either. So instead, Miles asked a question he would know the answer to.

“Then was it you who grabbed me? What… was that? Why was I so injured, enough that my bones shattered apart?”

Miles had an inkling of an idea, but he felt it was better to ask rather than guessing on his own.

Old Zhan lowered his head, his eyes revealing a hint of guilt, “My apologies Master Miles. I made a wrong call. Under the assumption that it was a genuine Fae bomb, I used a… ability that enhanced my Agility. Beyond the Epsilon level.

Without an equal Agility attribute for yourself, your body would not be able to handle the ensuing air pressure and shifts in gravity. If you hadn’t possessed Conditional Undeath, I would have had to choose a different path. But that was the most efficient I could think of at the time.”

Miles nodded in understanding. This was what he had guessed. Agility so high, his body had been unable to handle the ensuing reaction forces.

But… was it really just beyond the Epsilon level?

That was a speed sufficient to blur everything he saw, meaning it had been fast enough to affect light.

Keeping the thought to himself, Miles simply shrugged, “No worries, old Zhan. Apology accepted. Everyone makes mistakes. I don’t believe anyone could’ve realized that the Fae bomb was fake once it began to explode with plasma fire.”

Besides, it was just a couple of broken bones and 6 Blood Points that was lost. He had already healed his wounds, and as for blood, he could always get more.

Even so, Miles couldn’t stop himself from taking it a bit further.

“But, wait a minute. Doesn't this mean that the great Zhan Shen went all out against a weak attack? You exerted yourself so much that you had to meditate just to recuperate!? Just because of a fake Fae bomb from a ‘paper tiger’? My word!

On a scale of 1 to 10, how embarrassed are you?”

Hearing his own words being thrown back at him, the old butler scowled in anger, finally spitting out a single word, “Bah!”

Miles grinned widely.

Ahh, payback sure was sweet.