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As the disciples hid within the red mist, someone crept toward them with slow, deliberate steps.

"Quite the interesting red mist you've got here. It somehow makes me really strong... I like it."

"...Huh?!"

Their eyes widened as a striking red-haired Vampiress appeared out of nowhere, dressed in tight crimson pants, a white blouse, and black boots. Her short hair and psychotic smile radiated a deadly, intoxicating charm.

Two spears materialized in her hands, while wing-like red bone arms sprouted from her shoulders, overflowing with blood energy.

"A-A Vampire?!"

"Wait, hold on!"

"We're on your side! Aren't you our benefactor?!"

Partner smiled at them—warmly, but with a forced, unsettling grin.

"Yes, I am your benefactor. Now sit down while I kill you~ I'm not as nice as that goody-two-shoes."

FLASH!

She lunged forward, leaving behind a blur of red blood energy and black shadows. The three disciples reacted quickly, leaping away as her spears struck the ground.

CRAAASH!

The underground chamber of the palace erupted, black and red flames exploding outward.

RUMBLE!

Citizens around Kunlun City panicked, staring at the palace in disbelief.

Meanwhile, the three disciples activated their Blood Arts, weaving threads around Partner in an attempt to restrain her.

"{Blood Thread Arts}: {Crimson Mist Cage}!"

They combined their White Mist Technique to form a pseudo-formation, trapping Partner in a fog that dulled her senses and drained her Ki.

However—

"Hmph. Who the hell do you think you're fighting?"

BOOOM!

The formation exploded as her aura surged, taking the shape of a massive swarm of bats formed from shadows and blood energy.

Caught off guard, one disciple was impaled through the chest and heart by her spear.

CRASH!

"Gaaaahhh!"

He vomited blood as Partner grinned, opening her jaws unnaturally wide and biting into his neck. She tore through his arteries and drank the blood like a fountain.

"A-Ahhh!"

"A real Vampire!"

The remaining two disciples were frozen in shock. They had pretended to match their benefactors' strength, but now, faced with true vampiric brutality, they were overwhelmed by fear.

"Hm~ Who's next?" Partner asked, licking her lips as she dropped the drained corpse, now resembling a dried-out mummy.

"Blood Beasts!"

"Defend us!"

Panicked, they summoned a blood beast from the mist—only for it to be revealed as a severed head Jonathan had been carrying, which he dropped onto the floor.

"Turn off that lantern. No more of your beasts are coming out."

Jonathan's glowing blue eyes and Partner's savage demeanor terrified them. They quickly conjured white mist around themselves, attempting to escape using the White Mist Step technique.

"We have to get back to our master!"

"R-Run!"

As they ascended into the sky—

An Elder appeared before them, his bald head gleaming under the moonlight.

"Where do you think you're going?!"

Yoomyung's Aura surged, pure and untainted by the Shadow Blood Arts. The White Mist around him shifted, forming a massive serpent coiled around his body, its eyes glowing purple.

"{White Mist Serpent Fist}!"

Without hesitation, the old master unleashed a flurry of strikes. The mist enhanced his speed and precision, each blow like the fangs of a serpent—piercing nerves and shattering meridians.

CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

"Guuaaaaggh!"

"S-Stoooop!"

Despite their newfound powers, the disciples couldn't bridge the gap between themselves and an Elder. They crashed into the temple's ceiling and fell directly into Partner's arms.

"A-Ahhh!"

"Noooo!"

They screamed as Partner, without asking permission, bit into their necks and drank their blood. The red mist had made her even more impulsive and wild.

"Oh my, she ate them. Sorry about that—were they your dear disciples?" Maria asked, watching Yoomyung descend. His face had gone pale.

"I knew them, but they were under Fang Sheng's tutelage..." Yoomyung sighed.

Maria approached the red mist, inhaling its essence and absorbing it into her aura. She then picked up the lantern, tapped it to deactivate it, and began analyzing it as the skies trembled from the clash between Fang Sheng and Lucifer.

"What's that, Mama?" Nyx asked.

"It summoned weird monsters!" Celes added.

"Hm, it smells like blood... I like it," Arachne smiled.

"Ah, don't touch this, children. It's a Cursed Artifact," Maria said. "Its craftsmanship seems to blend Murim and Umbralheim styles—how fascinating. It summons Blood Beasts based on the amount of blood and souls offered. It also empowers Vampires or those who wield their power, while the mist consumes light and drains Ki and Mana. Very interesting."

Maria pocketed the artifact into her Inventory without asking permission, considering it compensation for having her dinner interrupted.

RUMBLE!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

"The battle's still raging... Just how powerful is Fang Sheng?!" Elder Wu exclaimed, checking on his disciples, who were being healed by Alma and Emeraldine. "He definitely has the Blood Arts from the Umbralheim Vampires! But how?! The Murim Alliance wouldn't have allowed it..."

"Maybe the Murim Alliance isn't as righteous as you think," Emeraldine said with a gentle smile. "In our world, there's an Empire of Light and a Church of the Gods. They claim to be the ultimate enforcers of justice, yet they're all corrupt. They use resources from Vampires and collect cursed fragments of the Evil God to empower themselves."

"They've built a web of lies about Yggdrasil's origins and its current gods," Maria added, stepping into the conversation. "Most mortals live inside a fabricated world. No one knows the truth—that the Gods are Players who came from the Tower, killed Yggdrasil's original deities, and stole their Divine Thrones."

"T-That's horrible..." Yoomyung muttered. "And yet... it doesn't feel far off from how our world works."

"Don't worry about your disciples," Maria said, tapping their corpses. She seized their squirming, agonized souls and forced them back into their bodies, even as they longed to pass into the next life.

"Aaaagh..."

"Ugh..."

"Raaaarrgh..."

They groaned as they rose, their skin pale blue, hands transformed into clawed monstrosities. Long fangs protruded from their mouths, their eyes turned ghostly white, and cursed paper talismans marked their faces—etched in red and blue Ki.

"Oh? A new type of Undead?" Maria mused, her crimson eyes gleaming with childlike wonder at the discovery of a unique undead species native to this world.

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