Ever since Blade came to see Lynn, half a month had gone by. During the day, Lynn attended Midtown High School, and in the afternoons and evenings, he had to supervise work at the Deacon Building.
He had already agreed to Blade's request and had now sent Maria to investigate Nosferatu. However, that would clearly take some time.
News of Maria and her group's failure had already spread among the various blood covenants, leading their entire clan to pull back on their operations and become shunned by the other thralls.
But this actually brought some benefits for their activities. For a clan that had been ostracized by the blood covenant, seeking new opportunities at Nosferatu didn't seem at all out of place.
So Maria's progress was going well. As a high-ranking vampire, it was perfectly normal for her to seek help from the blood covenant, and almost everyone in the building that night was under Carla's control. The outside world had no idea that Maria had already defected.
That made it easy for Maria to return to their old contact point, a completely unremarkable pharmacy in the Bronx.
"I need to see the Lord."
The bald pharmacist at the counter glanced at Maria, clearly not interested in dealing with this blonde bombshell. He coughed a little, then pulled a key from under the counter.
"Maria, where's Deacon?"
"He's dead. Killed by a Daywalker."
"That's a shame. So, I guess you're in charge of delivering the blood packs now? Your recent deliveries have been lagging behind. The Lord wants you to speed it up."
"We've run into some trouble. The damage from the Daywalker was worse than we expected. Just give us a little more time."
"The monitors reported that you've been scaling back those high-profile operations? Good. The Lord repeatedly told Deacon to keep his people in line and stop drawing attention."
"Go on in. The other clan leaders are inside. The Lord has some new assignments."
"Why didn't I get a notification?"
"…"
The attendant glanced at Maria and spoke up.
"The Lord lost your signal and assumed you were dead. You showing up again took everyone by surprise."
"…"
Maria suddenly had a bad feeling. She slowly started heading to the back but made no move to go inside.
"What's wrong?"
"I drove here. I've got some materials for my report in the car. Let me go grab them."
"Hurry back."
As soon as Maria left the pharmacy, three pairs of pupils suddenly appeared on the attendant's head. He turned to another pharmacy employee and said, "She's noticed something. Go notify the Lord."
"Why not just handle her here?"
"You want to try? Or should I? Don't you know Maria is a high-ranking vampire?"
"I'll go notify the Lord."
It was obvious neither of them were high-ranking vampires. Their power was nowhere near Maria's, who served as the area supervisor. Maybe they'd had more training here, but some things just couldn't be made up for with training.
A bit panicked, Maria got in her car, started the engine, and prepared to get out of the Bronx as quickly as possible. If she was considered dead, that meant the Lord was aware he'd lost control of her. Staying here was a terrible idea.
But clearly, someone didn't want to let her go that easily.
Maria could sense two people rapidly approaching her position. It was obvious they meant to capture her and take her back for questioning about how she had managed to sever her connection from the Lord of Nosferatu.
"Damn it…"
BANG!
Something heavy crashed down on the roof of Maria's car. In the next moment, a giant arm tore straight through the body of the car, sending the whole vehicle toppling onto its side.
Another equally large vampire unfurled its wings and landed steadily on the asphalt nearby. This part of the Bronx was close to the outskirts, with few buildings around—a park area, sparsely populated and, as it happened, squarely within Nosferatu territory. Ordinary people had long since been driven off, so the street was completely deserted.
Bloody and battered, Maria crawled out of the wreckage. She looked terrible, but hadn't suffered any real injury.
"Maria, the Lord wants to know how you severed your link. Why did you leave?"
"Cough, cough—why don't you take a guess?"
"You new blood are always so shortsighted. Did you really think you could escape the Lord's notice? Just come with us. Maybe then the Lord will take you back."
Maria spat out a mouthful of black blood and glared menacingly at the vampire opposite her—she knew exactly who he was.
"Silas, you never did know when to shut up. Save the speeches for those vagrants you lead.
"And you, Hoffman. Hiding in the tree like some Amazonian wild man—why don't you just come down? There's no point staying up there. We both know it's impossible to pull off a sneak attack here."
Both Silas and Hoffman were high-ranking vampires, easily detectable by Maria. At their level, sneak attacks rarely worked—neither of them understood black magic, nor could they sufficiently control their bodies to hide the dark energy within.
"You really are just like Deacon, always keeping secrets. The Lord will be thrilled to torture you, Maria."
With that, Silas's muscles bulged, and he rushed in, his true vampiric form fully revealed.
His transformation was far more brutish and powerful than Maria's had once been, his obsidian-black skin etched with coarse patterns.
This was the most common form among vampires, very similar to Maria's old self.
Their main attack style relied on brute strength and instinctively harnessed dark energy, with no special abilities. Both Silas and Hoffman were this type.
Silas's massive claws came swinging for Maria, dark magic condensed around them, creating a pure-black spot in the air.
Hoffman attacked at the same time. The two of them thought Maria, who had always been more administrative, would be easy prey.
Meanwhile, Lynn had been in the building's underground laboratory for half a month, busy developing something even more complex than his beast-soldier technology.
Progress wasn't great—Lynn didn't have enough quality materials to work with.
"The control device is really the core of the whole armor, and it's incredibly hard to manufacture. Ordinary metals don't have the density or energy capacity I need. If I want to synthesize the material I require, I'm going to need more money.
"Whenever the symbiotic cells are connected to the control device, it quickly fails—too much energy output causes losses."
Lynn had run into a bottleneck, but it was solvable—he could lower the output and sacrifice some features, or only provide basic functions…
"Or maybe I need to find better materials, spend more time, or just accept reduced output. But if I cut output, the final product will be greatly diminished."
"Doctor."
Carla entered the lab, apparently with something to report.
"What is it?"
"It seems Maria is in some trouble. Should we send someone to assist her?"
"What kind of trouble?"
Carla closed her eyes briefly and tapped into Maria's senses. She saw Maria brutally pummeling one of the vampires, having already torn off his arm.
But soon after, Maria was struck and thrown aside by another vampire, her point of view spinning wildly before coming to rest.
"Two vampires, attacking her together."
"No need to help. She's already been through the initial adjustments. If she can't handle two vampires, then she's of no use to us.
"Carla, what's the status of the symbiotic cells?"
"They're very stable. All parameters are within normal range."
"Good, then—"
After Maria ripped off one of Silas's arms, he immediately reverted to his original form, retreating from battle, terrified.
Maria's body had changed dramatically. Gone was the old gargoyle-like shape—now her head was sharper, with two giant horns curving out from either side. Her body was covered in exoskeletal armor, with bone spurs jutting from her back, all shielded by a chitinous shell.
Her form was now tall and slender, with a vicious tail for balance, slashing deep marks into the ground with each swing.
The energy within her had become violently turbulent, her mastery over it now complete.
Her shoulders were armored, suggesting some kind of ranged attack. Bio-blades extending from her arms buzzed threateningly, the whole appearance more feminine than before.
"You idiots really just couldn't leave well enough alone?"
She tossed Silas's arm aside, her voice resonant from the energy surging inside her.
—"I did a little experiment on you. That left your condition pretty unstable. Try not to fight too long; some safety measures still aren't in place. I can't guarantee you won't explode in the middle of a fight."
That's what Lynn had told Maria after her adjustments—he'd promised her a body like a normal human, and he meant to deliver.
Afterward, Maria had regained all the advantages of her human days—not only could she walk in sunlight, but she could also enjoy every sensation her body had to offer.
She had been loving it, so long as she didn't get into any fights.
But right now, she could feel the dark energy in her body boiling out of control—if she didn't release it soon, she really might explode.
Unlike the terrified Silas, Hoffman didn't like to talk. He charged in. Even though Maria now looked terrifying, one skirmish was enough for him to see she wasn't invincible.
"I don't have time for this crap."
The chitinous armor on her shoulders contracted, revealing internal bio-heater organs, energy rapidly accumulating within. Before Hoffman could reach Maria—
A massive jet of pure black energy erupted from her, engulfing both Hoffman and Silas, then blasting far into the distance, unobstructed.
It was impossible to tell with the naked eye just how far that energy reached.
In the Nosferatu catacombs, a vampire was performing some kind of dark ritual, a huge tome at the center of the altar.
Blood and magical arrays covered the area; this was clearly a ritual site, filled with animal skulls and blood, black goats most of all.
Using blood as a medium to channel dark dimensional energy, the vampire finally connected to the power of that ancient tome.
A wave of crimson magic flowed out, linking the vampire's long-dead heart to the book, a foul and corrupting power spreading everywhere.
Arcane runes drifted out from the tome, one after another, burrowing into the vampire's bald head.
Apparently, the ritual had succeeded.
"It worked! I'm extracting the knowledge of an ancient creator. He acknowledges me! I am the chosen one now."
He seemed to believe he'd made contact with Sisoen, and after the initial rush, suddenly noticed something.
"It's gone?"
"Zoya, come here."
"You called, Lord Brutus?"
A female vampire in a tactical suit approached, her special-ops mask hiding her face but not her striking figure.
"Have all the thralls arrived?"
"All except Maria, Hoffman, and Silas. But just now, Silas and Hoffman disappeared from my senses. I'm afraid they've failed you."
"Go check the scene. Maria's just a second-generation mutt; there's no way she could have killed Silas and Hoffman."
"Understood."
A few minutes later, a squad of vampires surveyed the site under cover of darkness. A ravine, hundreds of meters long, crackled with lingering dark energy. Something incredibly powerful had fought here, and there was not even a trace of Silas or Hoffman's bodies.
"Ms. Zoya, should we—?"
"Looks like Maria has a little secret. This is a form of ancient, powerful attack magic—only Lord Brutus has used something like this.
"Check the area and call in a cleanup crew."
"Should we use magic, Ms. Zoya?"
"Go ahead. Lord Brutus will allow it."
"I understand. I'll make the arrangements now."
Zoya started giving orders to another vampire.
"Assemble a team and come with me. We're going after Maria. I want to know exactly what kind of secret she's hiding."