Child of Destiny

……

Grimrace watched the scene of his opponent falling into his trap with great satisfaction while giving them a mocking smile.

Seeing that expression on his face, the three vampire marquesses couldn’t help but become even more enraged. The already boiling blood within their bodies boiled more violently, flaring up their emotions more.

Boom!

After that, they underwent another transformation. Their rank was a level higher than the two vampire earls who fought Blackie earlier, so they supposedly be stronger than those two.

Their real strength might be being suppressed by Dracula to make the battle fair Grimrace, who challenged to fight the three of them altogether.

They might not have their peak forms, but they could still use the next level of their blood transformation and show Grimrace what he was looking for.

Boom!

An outburst of power quickly exploded when the three vampire marquesses simultaneously underwent their second blood transformation.

Marquess Roman donned a blood armor with glowing runes swimming on its surface as a knight’s helm suddenly formed and completely covered his head.

At the same time, the crimson blade of his sabers turned deeper in color, making its appearance more threatening.

On the other side, Marquess Clayman turned into a hideous-looking monster. His crimson eyes turned colder, releasing a dangerous glint from time to time.

His hair grew longer and reached the back of his knee. It swayed in a misbehaving matter alongside the airflow surrounding them.

His torso was covered by sanguine flames that were violently swaying left and right. There were also some flames coming through the joints of his claws, making an illusion of his hands were burning violently and spreading toward his arms.

In the meantime, Marquess Valdez grew a pair of crimson wings behind him while his sanguine armor became filled with golden runes engraved on it, releasing a dim glow rhythmically.

The crimson rapier on his hand was releasing sanguine flames, making it leave a blazing trail in the air whenever he moved it.

Seeing that his opponents were now taking him seriously, Grimrace licked his lips while looking at them excitedly. “Finally!”

After that, he also underwent his own transformation.

‘Elemental Spirit Transformation: Yaksha Transformation’

Grimrace’s body suddenly emitted a black smoke as his eyes turned crimson as a black glow continuously flowed at the corner of his eyes.

There was not much of a change in his appearance, but the suffocating pressure that was coming from his body was so heavy that it could even affect the three vampire marquesses a few distances away from him despite their current forms.

At the same time, a large group of shadow daggers appeared behind Grimrace and hovered in the air while a pair of daggers with fancy designs appeared on his hands, emitting a dense shadow elemental power.

Seeing his transformation, the three vampire marquesses finally understood that their current opponent really had the strength to back up his words.

They were wearing a heavy expression on their faces while glaring at Grimrace before making their respective moves.

Bang!

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

The three charged forward, launching themselves towards Grimrace.

It only took an instant for Marquess Valdez to arrive right in front of the elemental spirit, thrusting his rapier forward and heading straight to the latter’s chest.

Cling!

But before the tip of the rapier could even reach its target, it was immediately deflected to the side by a shadow dagger, changing its course.

And right after deflecting it, Grimrace quickly swung his dagger straight at the throat of Marquess Valdez.

Grimrace movements were quick and decisive which was completely different from how he fought earlier. And due to how smoothly it was executed, the vampire marquess was caught a little off-guard.

Fortunately, the crimson wings behind Marquess Valdez gave him additional mobility, helping him to get away from that predicament. He propelled himself backward with a simple flapped of those wings, making him dodge the sweeping daggers directed at his throat.

Coordinating with Marquess Valdez, Marquess Roman quickly stepped forward and brandished his sabers at Grimrace, who was currently in an awkward position due to missing his previous attack.

Swoosh!

Cling! Cling!

Unfortunately, just like earlier, an invisible wall blocked his sabers and prevented them from touching Grimrace’s body.

Seeing that happened, Marquess Roman quickly retreated away, fully aware of what was going to happen next if he continued to linger in that position.

Taking over, Marquess Clayman suddenly appeared behind Grimrace, currently ducking forward and in the middle of swinging his blazing claws toward their opponent.

Swoosh!

His timing was perfect as it didn’t give Grimrace the time to set his psychic wall in time. But it didn’t mean that he would leave himself vulnerable as shadow vines suddenly shot out from the ground and wrapped themselves around the vampire marquess’ body.

Marquess Clayman managed to rip some of the shadow vines wrapped around him but he still failed to regain his freedom from the rest, making it hard for him to move.

Taking advantage of that situation, Grimrace quickly swung his daggers multiple times, trying to deal as much damage as he could at the vampire marques.

Shing! Shing! Shing!

Cling! Cling! Cling! 𝗯𝗲𝐝𝐧𝗼𝐯𝗲𝐥.𝗻𝗲𝐭

But before he could even land a clean hit on Marquess Clayman, Marquess Valdez immediately stepped in and stabbed his rapier repeatedly, creating a series of flashes in the air and blocking the attack from Grimrace.

Seeing that, Grimrace took a quick step back before snapping his fingers and letting the shadow daggers hovering behind him pour down at the two.

Swoosh!

This time, Marquess Valdez quickly held his rapier in front of him in a vertical manner, infusing his blood elemental powers into it. And with a powerful horizontal swipe, a sanguine energy wave was suddenly released and swept through the shadowing daggers raining down at them.

These quick exchanges continued as Grimrace showcased why an Elemental Spirit was chosen by the Transcendent Races to be their partner in battle.

Despite being besieged by three powerful opponents from different angles, he was still able to hold his ground without showing any kind of weakness.

Even if the three vampire marquesses had the advantage in numbers, they still couldn’t suppress Grimrace. They couldn’t even find an opening that they could use to take over the battle.

Since the start of the battle, they were unable to snatch the tempo from Grimrace’s hands. He was the one who was dictating the flow of the battle since the very beginning. Even with the help of the second transformation, they still couldn’t find a window to take it away from him.

The state of the battle became even harder for them when Grimrace underwent his ‘Yaksha Transformation’. Not only his magical powers increased greatly, but even his speed and strength escalated to another level, surpassing the three vampire marquesses in different areas.

The shadow daggers, shadow vines, and psychic powers were already giving the three a lot of trouble, but when his speed and attack power increased drastically, his threat level already reached the state where defeating him became hopeless for his opponents.

The crafty methods that he had increased while the hidden schemes behind each of his attacks became even more troublesome to deal with.

The three vampire marquesses tried to use their combined magical powers to suppress Grimrace, but since they were not proficient in that area, all of their efforts were completely in vain.

Moreover, Grimrace’s Shadow Elemental Power reinforced by his Psychic Powers greatly suppressed the three vampire marquesses in every aspect.

Even if the intensity of the battle was reaching its peak, anyone could tell that the result was already been decided.

Grimrace might be a nutjob, but unfortunately for the opposing side, he had the strength to back it up.

The vampires spectating the battle were gritting their teeth as they watched the three marquesses get suppressed by a single opponent, completely upset. Worst, it was someone who insulted them in their king’s presence.

Even the vampire duke who was watching them from the side couldn’t help but squint his eyes and clench his fists, unable to do anything.

On the other hand, their king, the Vampire Primogenitor Dracula seemed to be completely unbothered by the result. He was even wearing a mysterious grin the entire time he was watching the battle.

It was disappointing to see his subjects lost to a mere Elemental Spirit, but his blow was more than enough to arouse the sleeping fighting spirit that they had in their hearts.

They had been trapped in this place for a very long time already, so he was sure that their hunger for battle was long forgotten. They might even forget how to fight properly after being sealed in their coffin beds.

He wanted to take advantage of this current situation to awaken the sleeping fighting spirit that they had. And from what he could see, it looked like he succeeded.

All he had to do was to wait for them to hone it again and reached the ideal state that he wanted.

After he lifted the curse cast upon the Frozen Kingdom and break the contract that he had with the Great Demon King, they would finally reclaim their freedom.

Even though they could no longer able to go back to what they used to be and continued to become the monster that they were now, they would be able to completely sever their connection with the Great Demon King.

As for the lineage of the Dragon Worshippers, it was going to be inherited by citizens that he sealed under the city alongside the guardian dragon, so he was not entirely worried.

After recalling the plans that they had prepared, Dracula turned to the vampire duke standing below the throne steps and smiled. He could see the burning fighting spirit that the latter had.

“What is left now is to let it explode and continue to burn,” he muttered with a mystifying tone.

…