Count Arcus stood at the shattered threshold of Camilia’s chamber, framed by drifting dust and the burning crimson glow of the Blood Eclipse Array outside. The sigil burned like an ominous brand upon his forehead—its shape a miniature, twisted version of the eclipse that now stained the sky over the Crimson Citadel.

  Behind him, ten Royal Ones—all once part of the upper echelon beneath the Duchess—now revealed themselves as co-conspirators. They wore the same sigil, carved into their skin with blood and shadow, pulsing like a heartbeat that didn’t belong to them.

  A traitor’s rhythm.

  Arcus grinned.

  Not politely.

  Not pridefully.

  But hungrily.

  A twisted, starved smile that belonged more to a beast than a noble.

  “Shadowborn,” Arcus said slowly, mockingly and insulting, “you are a hindrance. And your existence beside Lilith is a nuisance.”

  Kevlar didn’t flinch.

  Neither did Draculius.

  Lilith’s expression curled into disgust. Camilia’s aura flickered like an unstable volcano threatening to erupt.

  Arcus chuckled, taking a step into the room as cracks spidered along the floor beneath him—not from strength, but from arrogance that leaked off him like a poison.

  “Let me make this simple,” he continued. “Everything beneath this sky belongs to us. The Blood Eclipse Array has made us worthy of ascension.”

  Kevlar raised a brow.

  “Worthy?”

  “How adorable,” Camilia muttered.

  The sigil on Arcus’ forehead pulsed, responding to the swell of his ego.

  “Yes, WORTHY!” he shouted. “We—marked by the Array—have become the peak of our race! The old ways, the old hierarchy, even the sacred bloodline of Draculius himself—” he sneered, “—are irrelevant now. Obsolete.”

  The ten Royal Ones behind him murmured excitedly, drunk on the power surging in their veins.

  One of them boasted, “With the old system gone, we can evolve. We can rise as a new order!”

  Another shouted, “A world ruled by strength, not birth!”

  Another laughed, “This is the true evolution of vampirekind!”

  Kevlar glanced sideways at Draculius.

  The ancient vampire lord was quiet—too quiet.

  His expression unchanged.

  His aura still controlled.

  But his eyes…

  His eyes shimmered with ancient fury, buried deep and waiting for its moment.

  Arcus continued.

  “And when the Citadel falls, when the old lineage is uprooted, when Lilith is mine—”

  Lilith’s eyes flashed crimson death.

  “—I will unify our race under ME,” Arcus finished with a triumphant flourish. “The new sovereign. The new pinnacle. The one vampire history will remember as the evolution of our kind.”

  He extended his arms dramatically.

  “Count Arcus, First of His Name—”

  Kevlar rubbed his temple.

  “Oh for god’s sake,” he muttered, “he’s monologuing.”

  Camilia snorted.

  Lilith rolled her eyes.

  Draculius exhaled—long, tired, and disappointed.

  Arcus froze.

  “H-Hey… what is with that reaction?”

  His bravado wavered. “You should be trembling. Afraid. Despairing! I BROUGHT THE END OF YOUR REGIME!”

  Kevlar tilted his head.

  “I just don’t get it,” he said casually. “What makes you think the Array affects me?”

  Arcus blinked.

  “…What?”

  Kevlar tapped his chest.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  “I’m not a vampire.”

  Silence.

  The rebels stared.

  Then Arcus burst into laughter—loud, wild, unhinged.

  “HAAHHAHAHAHA—oh, this is marvelous!” he shrieked. “Are you truly this foolish? You think being a different race saves you?”

  Kevlar shrugged. “Kind of.”

  Arcus pointed at him with a trembling finger.

  “You fool! The Array drains everything that isn’t MARKED! Whether human, beast, vampire—it matters not! Anything outside my circle of chosen will be weakened!”

  Kevlar raised his hand.

  “Yeah. Except—”

  He released a sliver of his aura.

  Just a sliver.

  A pebble-sized drop of ocean.

  BOOM.

  The entire Citadel shook.

  The windows shattered.

  The ground cracked.

  Three traitor Royal Ones collapsed instantly, coughing blood.

  Arcus’ voice caught in his throat.

  Kevlar ended calmly:

  “—the Array only works on things with limiters.”

  And Kevlar Callus, the Shadowborn, the anomaly birthed by fate and chaos—

  had none.

  Arcus stumbled back.

  “No… no, this is impossible—WHY AREN’T YOU WEAKENED!?!”

  Kevlar shrugged again.

  “Guess your toy isn’t built for me.”

  Draculius chuckled for the first time.

  Camilia grinned viciously.

  Lilith leaned on Kevlar’s shoulder, smug as a cat.

  Arcus’ eyes shook violently as if his entire worldview had cracked.

  “Th–This isn’t right! The Array should suppress ANYTHING! Even beasts! Even humans! Even—”

  His voice died when Kevlar took a single step.

  BOOM.

  The floor cracked again.

  “Alright,” Kevlar said calmly, as if discussing tea.

  “Enough talking.”

  Arcus snarled and flicked his wrist.

  “DON’T LET HIM MOVE! ATTACK!”

  The ten traitor Royal Ones surged forward—faster than arrows, stronger than any normal Royal One, their bodies enhanced a hundredfold by the Blood Eclipse Array.

  Their claws elongated.

  Their fangs sharpened.

  Their bodies pulsed with crimson light as they aimed to tear Kevlar apart.

  Kevlar sighed.

  He didn’t even draw his twin blade.

  He simply lifted a single finger.

  CRACK.

  The first Royal One’s skull twisted sideways at an unnatural angle.

  THUD.

  The second was blown back into the wall, embedding into stone.

  BOOM–BOOM–BOOM.

  Kevlar flicked his finger lazily three more times.

  Four Royal Ones caught on violet flame and exploded into dust.

  Arcus froze.

  His army—his “new era”—was disintegrating like sand.

  “STOP HIM!” Arcus screamed, panic rising.

  “HE ISN’T A VAMPIRE—THE ARRAY WILL STILL—”

  Kevlar turned his head slightly.

  “Let me clarify something.”

  He walked.

  No—he vanished and reappeared before Arcus in less than a heartbeat.

  The room warped under the pressure of his presence.

  “Your Array suppresses physical and spiritual flow in beings with structured mana systems.”

  Kevlar leaned close.

  “But I don’t use mana.”

  Arcus’s pupils shrank.

  Kevlar whispered—

  “I am the system.”

  Arcus swung his arm desperately, claws infused with enhanced blood power.

  Kevlar caught his wrist with his hand and grip a little harder.

  The bone cracked instantly.

  “AAAAAAAAARGH!!!”

  Arcus dropped to one knee, screaming.

  Lilith folded her arms, unimpressed.

  “You dared court me? With THAT strength?”

  Camilia scoffed, “Even as garbage, he disappoints.”

  Draculius sighed.

  “This generation is really lacking discipline.”

  Kevlar lifted Arcus by the neck, expression calm, almost bored.

  “You terrorized your own people. Attempted a coup. Threatened Lilith. Destroyed your loyalty to Camilia. And worst—” he tightened his grip, “—you messed with my patience.”

  The remaining traitors tried to rush Kevlar.

  They didn’t even reach him.

  Lilith flicked her finger—

  A wave of shadow spikes erupted from the ground.

  SHRRRRK—SHRRRK—SKRRR!

  Five heads rolled simultaneously.

  Camilia smiled sweetly as she twisted her palm.

  BWHOOOM.

  Crimson blood erupted into a cyclone, shredding another traitor to ribbons mid-air.

  In seconds—

  The only one left was Arcus.

  Dangling from Kevlar’s grip.

  Blood dripping.

  Sigil flickering.

  Eyes wide with terror.

  “W–Wait!” he screamed. “Listen to me—LISTEN! I did this for evolution! For our future! For prosperity!”

  Kevlar raised a brow. “Prosperity? You mean your ego.”

  “N–NO! You don’t understand! I saw it! The rift! The awakening thing beneath the Shadow Realm! I saw its vision—its hunger!” Arcus’s voice cracked. “You need power to face it! You need to evolve! And if the royal line won’t—then we must!”

  Kevlar narrowed his eyes.

  “…You saw the ancient being?”

  Arcus nodded frantically.

  “YES! The Blood Eclipse revealed glimpses! That abomination is awakening—something older than time! We need strength—desperate strength!”

  Kevlar tightened his grip.

  “And your solution was to kill your own people.”

  Arcus shrieked, “THEY WERE IN THE WAY!”

  Camilia’s aura flared violently.

  “Enough,” she said coldly.

  “Kevlar. End him.”

  Arcus panicked.

  “No—NO WAIT—if you kill me, the Array will—will—”

  Kevlar glanced at the trembling sigil on Arcus’ forehead.

  “Good.”

  CRACK.

  Kevlar crushed Arcus’ skull with a single squeeze.

  The sigil shattered like glass.

  The corrupted energy of the Blood Eclipse flickered violently.

  And outside—

  the entire Array trembled and imploded.

  BOOOOOOOM.

  A pillar of crimson light shot into the sky.

  The Citadel shook from the backlash.

  The red eclipse cracked like a broken mirror, dissolving into tattered streams of blood energy sucked back into the earth.

  Silence fell.

  The air stilled.

  The chamber door, half destroyed, swayed and creaked.

  Lilith broke the silence.

  “…You know, Kevlar,” she said, resting her head against his shoulder, “every time you handle things, it’s so… straightforward.”

  Camilia chuckled.

  “And satisfying.”

  Draculius nodded thoughtfully.

  “A clean end to a foolish child.”

  Kevlar sighed and wiped Arcus’ blood off his hand.

  “That’s one mess cleaned up.”

  But then—

  RUMBLE—

  The Citadel trembled again.

  Not from the Array’s collapse.

  Not from battle.

  But from something far deeper.

  A pulse.

  A vibration.

  A heartbeat.

  Ancient.

  Ominous.

  Awakening.

  Kevlar’s eyes narrowed.

  Lilith’s expression turned serious.

  Camilia froze mid-step.

  Draculius looked toward the north—toward the Shadow Realm.

  “…It seems,” Draculius whispered, “that the ancient being… has just woken up.”

  Kevlar clenched his fist.

  “Then this rebellion… was only the beginning.”

  And far below the realm’s surface—

  from the eternally slumbering depths—

  an ancient, forgotten roar echoed through worlds.