Vampire Progenitor System-Chapter 168: Fake Meeting Real

Lucifer stood in silence.

His wings were folded tight against his back, their black feathers streaked with dried blood. The horns curling from his temples glowed faintly under the rising dawn. His eyes burned quietly, the irises swirling between crimson and molten gold as they stayed fixed on the broken form lying before him.

Francisca’s body lay twisted in the fractured asphalt. Her silver hair was matted with blood, spreading like pale threads across the stained ground. The wound through her chest was blackened at the edges, burned by Adam’s touch. Her tails lay limp, curled around her legs in silent surrender. Her eyes were closed, lashes trembling faintly with the dying flickers of spirit light fading into nothing.

Ella stepped forward slowly. Her bare feet slipped against the blood-wet pavement as she knelt beside Francisca. Her hands shook as she reached out, brushing pale hair from the kitsune’s still face.

"Francisca..." she whispered, her voice breaking on the name. Tears slid down her cheeks, dripping onto Francisca’s cold skin. "Wake up... please... just open your eyes..."

No answer. No twitch of ears. No flicker of tails.

Just silence.

Behind Lucifer stood Vina and Rey. Vina’s wolf ears twitched faintly in the wind, her claws flexing against her sides as shadows coiled softly around her ankles. Rey stood with his twin daggers reversed in his grip, the black steel reflecting dawnlight in cold lines. His crimson eyes flickered from Lucifer to Ella and back again, reading the silent grief painted across the broken street.

No one spoke.

Then—

A pulse.

Wind rippled across the city. Ash swirled upward, spinning into silent funnels around shattered lamp posts and torn traffic lights. Lucifer felt it before he saw it—a heavy aura descending like gravity itself, pushing against his bones and sinking into the marrow of the world.

Mob landed a dozen meters away. His wings spread behind him, massive and white, lined with flickering silver glyphs that glowed brighter with each beat of his trembling heart. His golden eyes were dull with grief, staring past Lucifer to where Francisca lay. Tears glimmered along his lower lashes but did not fall.

He stepped forward. The cracked pavement lit faintly beneath his feet, glowing with soft blue flowers that bloomed and withered in a breath as he passed. His sword materialised in his right hand, quiet and slender, its blue veins pulsing with divine light that hummed low against the silent air.

"Francisca..." he whispered, his voice trembling with a sadness that pressed the world into stillness.

Lucifer turned to look at him. Their eyes met briefly—Progenitor and Angel. For a moment, neither spoke. There was no need. Grief recognised grief. Rage recognised rage. In the silence between them burned everything unspoken.

Then—another pulse.

A ripple tore through the sky. Dust spiralled upward, caught in a red current that streaked across the morning. From the far end of the broken street, the clone descended. His wings beat softly, each feather edged with flickering blood light. His black hair hung over his eyes, dripping with streaks of crimson. Bare feet touched the pavement with no sound.

He stood there, staring at Lucifer with those black sclera and ruby-red irises. His lips curled into a faint grin, tilted slightly with something that could almost be called joy.

He saw Mob. He saw Vina and Rey standing like silent shadows behind Lucifer. He saw Ella kneeling over Francisca’s body, tears dripping onto the dead girl’s face.

He didn’t care.

His gaze locked onto Lucifer alone. His grin widened. His wings twitched once, sending a ripple of silent power across the broken street.

"Lucifer..." he whispered, his voice quiet and layered with echoes. "I found you."

Mob raised his sword slightly, its blue-white flames flickering brighter in the cold morning air. Vina shifted her stance, claws curling into the cracked asphalt as shadows coiled tighter around her legs. Rey stepped forward half a pace, his daggers lifted slightly, eyes narrowing with silent precision.

Lucifer didn’t move.

His eyes burned deeper as he stared at his clone. For a moment, they were mirrors—origin and echo, progenitor and shadow. The dawn wind whipped their hair around their faces, the silent city catching its breath at their quiet meeting.

Ella sobbed softly. Her shoulders shook as she bent over Francisca, her tears falling harder now.

"Lucifer..." she whispered, her voice trembling. "Please... please stop this... I can’t... I can’t lose anyone else..."

But he didn’t hear her.

His gaze remained locked on the clone. His blood dripped steadily from the gash along his ribs, searing the asphalt where it fell. The runes across his arms burned faint crimson in the dawn light, pulsing in time with his slow, steady breaths.

The clone tilted his head slightly, his grin widening. His wings spread wider behind him, their black feathers flickering with blood-red sparks that hissed in the cold air.

"Fight me," he whispered. "Show me what it means... to be Lucifer."

For a moment, the silence deepened. Even the wind stilled.

Then Mob moved.

He stepped forward, his wings flaring wider as his sword burned brighter. The flowers blooming around his feet exploded outward in glowing dust, caught in the silent gusts sweeping across the street. His golden eyes locked onto the clone, flickering with grief, rage, and quiet, unbreakable sorrow.

"Stay away from him," Mob said, his voice quiet but carrying like thunder across the broken city. "Stay away... from all of them."

The clone turned his gaze to Mob. His grin didn’t falter. He raised one hand, blood gathering around his fingers in silent, writhing threads. The air around his palm warped slightly, rippling with silent heat.

Vina lunged first.

She blurred forward, shadows coiling around her arms as her claws ignited with crimson spirit flame. She slashed upward, aiming for his throat. The clone tilted his head back, letting her claws pass inches from his skin before he spun sideways, grabbing her wrist and flinging her into a half-collapsed shop front. Glass shattered, metal screamed, dust billowed out into the street.

Rey moved next.

He blitzed through the settling dust, twin daggers flashing in silent arcs. The clone raised his arm to block, but Rey twisted, his left dagger slashing along the clone’s ribs, drawing a spray of blackened blood. The clone didn’t flinch. He spun with the motion, his elbow slamming into Rey’s chest hard enough to crack ribs. Rey staggered back, coughing blood onto the pavement.

Mob’s wings spread wider. Light burned along the blade of his sword as he raised it overhead, the blue-white flames crackling with silent fury. He stepped forward once, the glowing flowers blooming under his bare feet before withering instantly.

He swung.

The air split apart, a wave of divine light tearing through the street, slicing through parked cars and collapsed debris as it carved a path toward the clone. The clone crossed his arms, blood shadow coiling into a shield around him. The wave of light slammed into it, exploding outward in silent white flames that consumed the ruined street in a blinding glow.

When the light faded, the clone stood there, his arms smoking, skin burned and cracked along his forearms. He lowered them slowly, his grin gone now, replaced with something darker—silent, quiet rage.

He looked at Mob with empty eyes. Then at Lucifer. Then back at Mob.

And he spread his wings again.

The dawn burned crimson around them as the clone stepped forward, blood dripping from his fingers, wings glowing with silent, murderous promise.

Lucifer closed his eyes briefly. He exhaled, his shoulders trembling with silent grief as he lowered his head. Then he raised it again, his eyes burning deeper, the molten gold flickering with silent, killing light.

He spread his wings.

Mob shifted his stance.

Vina pulled herself from the rubble, blood streaming down her face as her claws burned with shadow flame. Rey wiped blood from his lips, daggers raised again in trembling hands.

The clone stepped forward.

And the silent city waited for the battle of origin and shadow to begin.

Visit freewe𝑏(n)ovel.co(m) for the b𝘦st novel reading experience