Vampire's Blood Ascension-Chapter 38: Seraphel Thessyne

The night passed, and Rudy made his way towards the next giant bone rather than the flickering light. He had decided to do so because he hadn’t achieved his goal of a hundred essence shards.

After killing the deviant demon Noon Scorpion, he stayed away from other deviant demons. He had only fought deviant fiends and beasts, but because of the interruption from the latent dreadborns, he was only able to kill eight deviant fiends and eighteen deviant beasts.

Which was in no way a low number.

In fact, it was something only the most talented of deviants could achieve with a core completely saturated by a thousand essence shards, and Rudric Ironwell had done it.

In contrast, his core wasn’t even a quarter saturated.

×××××××

Name: Rudric Ironwell

Moniker: Crimson Saint

Path: [Blood]

Rank: [Deviant]

Attribute: [Scarlet Scion]

○ Grade: [Apex]

○ Description: [You are the last child of the Blood God]

Traits: [Divine Blooded], [Cold Headed], [Lesser Vampire], [Blood Expert]

Skills: [Scarlet Sight], [Blood Manipulation], [Crimstone Construct], [Blood Usurpation]

Artifacts: [Dark Spatial Ring #15692], [Haloband #17394738]

Essence Shards: [61 / 1000]

×××××××

’I would be able to fill it by hunting for one more night...’ he remarked inwardly and trudged towards the next giant bone.

Sweat rolled down his face and splattered onto the pale dust that gleamed like tiny diamonds under the bright sunlight.

His eyes stayed locked towards the direction of the flickering light as he wasn’t sure if an irregular had produced a fire or if it was a trap set by this wretched realm, and knowing which one it was could save him a lot of trouble. Still, it seemed that wouldn’t be possible as there was no way any irregular would step out of cover.

"Only a stupid person would do that," he mumbled under his breath and stopped in his tracks. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

He narrowed his eyes and muttered in disbelief, "What the hell?"

Far away, toward the light, atop a short dune, a woman waved her arms toward him.

She was almond-skinned with golden eyes and long golden-white hair cut into a sharp, blunt fringe, dressed in white tactical attire trimmed in gold. A gold crest gleamed at her chest.

She was stunning in every way, but what attracted Rudy’s attention wasn’t her enchanting beauty or stupidity; it was her attire. He knew it well.

"Dream church," he mumbled.

It was the attire of the priest of the Dream Church, a religious organization no less powerful than the Shadow Syndicate or the Moon Weavers. As for what they were devoted to, it was none other than the Final Will.

Seeing her, Rudy remembered, ’Those who walk the path of dreams have prophetic dreams, and their essence grants them foresight.’

’Did she foresee me coming towards her?’ he thought as he waved back at her.

If it were anyone else, Rudy would have ignored them, but as she held seer-like powers, he would be able to find the return beacon way more easily.

Seeing him wave, she gestured for him to come to her.

"Just my damned luck," he spewed with gritted teeth and walked towards her.

After an hour, he neared her, and his gaze fell on the ruined stone chambers a few hundred meters down the dune.

She studied him, and her smooth, unhurried voice drifted into his ears, "Vlad Belmont?"

’Just as I had thought, she knew of me,’ Rudy noted in his head and looked at her with a drained expression as he nodded.

"Have... we met before?" he asked, confused.

She turned around and answered, "Don’t worry about it."

He stared at her back with a sharp glint in his eyes and thought, ’She is being vigilant of me... did she see me fight the dreadborns?’

He trudged behind her.

Both walked, ignoring the heat and fatigue, as if being vulnerable would cost them their lives, which it would; they didn’t know each other’s thoughts. Their lives rested in their hands, and depending on which one of them was more powerful, the other would die...

"Who are you?"

She looked at him from the corner of her eye and answered flatly, "Seraphel Thessyne."

’Thessyne... that’s the family of the dream pope. Is she his daughter or granddaughter?’ Rudy wondered and spewed with an annoyed expression, "Why the hell are you acting so cold after calling me here?"

An amused bell-like chuckle escaped Sera’s lips, and hearing that, Rudy’s expression turned furious. "What are you giggling for?"

They slid down the dune, and once they reached the base, she looked at him as if she was looking at some toy and stated,

"Acting cold? Do you think you are worth it for me to act? Ha. Don’t amuse yourself, giant. I’ve only called you because you are useful."

Rudy stopped in his steps, his fury went up in smoke, and his lips dropped into a frown.

He watched her take a few steps towards the stone chambers and spat, "Why would I help a bitch like you?"

Sera ignored the barb and offered her explanation, "You can deny, but what will you gain by doing that? This area has the fewest dreadborns. Do you not know the basics, giant? None can survive the old realm alone."

As they neared the stone chambers, he laughed loudly and stated, "I don’t see you being much helpful."

She stepped inside the chamber. "Do not worry, I know how to keep my emotions and my duty separate."

"I hope you do," he commented as he also stepped inside.

Just as he went inside, he no longer felt his essence drain.

’That’s where I saw the fire.’ He looked around.

The chamber was empty with dark stone piling near its walls and corners.

He walked over to a dark rock, sat on it, drank some water by taking out his bottle, and saw Sera staring towards him with her usual impassive face.

’Does she not have water?’ he wondered, and all of a sudden, another thought appeared in his head,

’Wait a minute... Why is she in the old realm?’