Chapter 187: The Dark King’s Servants

Chapter 187: Chapter 187: The Dark King’s Servants

On the other side of the portal, the World Government facility in London — the capital city of the United Kingdom — was chaos.

The city itself was under simultaneous attack. Dark Order operatives had launched coordinated strikes across London — bombing government buildings, attacking Hunter Guild outposts, and engaging World Government forces in the streets. Explosions echoed across the city skyline. Smoke rose from multiple districts. Sirens wailed without pause.

The facility — a fortified underground complex beneath the UK’s central administrative building — was functioning as an emergency evacuation center. Medical staff rushed between cots. Soldiers guarded every corridor. Command officers barked orders into communicators that mostly returned static.

The portal’s exit point was in the facility’s main hall — a large, reinforced chamber where students emerged one by one from the swirling blue gateway. They stumbled out, coughing, crying, clutching wounded friends. Some collapsed the moment they cleared the portal’s threshold. Medical teams swarmed each new arrival.

Rose and Ryan stood near the portal exit.

They watched each student emerge scanning every face. Checked every figure that stumbled through the blue light.

Minutes passed. The stream of students thinned — from dozens to a trickle. The portal’s blue light flickered. The technicians on the academy side were running out of mana to maintain it.

Rose’s hands clenched at her sides. Her eyes scanned each new face with growing desperation. Ryan’s expression grew darker with every passing second. The hope in their eyes — dimming. Fading. Entering the realm of despair.

Back at the academy — Research Department.

Lucian, Clara, and Lemora stood before the portal. The last group of students had just passed through. The blue gateway flickered — unstable, weakening. Two technicians channeled their remaining mana into the array, their faces pale, their bodies trembling.

They were next.

Lucian stepped forward. Clara moved beside him. Lemora behind them.

Then — Blood Sense screamed.

Every nerve in Lucian’s body fired simultaneously. His instincts erupted with a single, overwhelming message.

DANGER.

Lucian didn’t think. His body moved on pure instinct.

He spun as he hand grabbed Clara and blasted her directly into the portal.

FWOOOOM!

Clara’s eyes widened, full of shock and confusion as the force of Lucian’s light blast launched her backward through the blue gateway. Her mouth opened to scream his name. The portal swallowed her.

The portal collapsed behind her. The blue light died. The gateway vanished.

One second later, the Research Department building exploded.

BOOOOOOOM!

A shockwave so powerful that the building didn’t just collapse. It disintegrated. Walls. Ceiling. Floor. The portal array. The two technicians. Everything within fifty meters was vaporized instantly.

Lucian moved. He grabbed Lemora — pulling her against his chest, wrapping his body around hers. He activated Light Armor and Crimson Vessel simultaneously, layering every defensive technique he had over both of them. The crimson sheen and golden light merged into a single barrier.

The shockwave hit.

They were thrown. The ground itself ruptured beneath them. Stone and metal and debris flew in every direction. Lucian’s body crashed through rubble, tumbled, crashed again. Each impact broke something — ribs, arm, collarbone.

Then silence.

When the dust cleared, the Research Department was gone. In its place — a 30 meters wide and 5 meters deep crater. The edges were still glowing with residual heat.

Everything inside was ash. The hundreds of students who hadn’t made it through the portal — gone. The Early Grand Core research staff — gone. The technicians — gone.

In the center of the crater, a burnt figure stood up.

Lucian’s body was charred. Third-degree burns covered his torso, arms, and legs. His skin was blackened and cracking. His silver hair was half-burned away. His face was a mask of scorched flesh.

Lemora hung over his shoulder — unconscious, her body similarly burned, her breathing shallow and fading.

His regeneration worked as the burns receded layer by layer. Pink flesh emerged beneath charred skin. His hair regrew — silver strands pushing through the scorched stubble.

He dropped Lemora gently onto the rubble. Her breathing was barely perceptible. The burns covered 60% of her body. Her vampire regeneration was trying to work, but she didn’t have the Blood Energy to fuel it.

Lucian bit his finger. His fangs punctured the skin. Blood welled — dense with Ancient Vampire bloodline energy. He pressed his bleeding finger to Lemora’s lips. The blood seeped into her mouth.

The effect was immediate. Her body seized — then relaxed. The burns began retreating. Her breathing steadied. Her color returned. The Ancient Vampire blood in his veins was potent enough to jumpstart even a True Born vampire’s regeneration.

Two figures dropped into the crater.

They descended from the sky. The first was a tall man with wild eyes and facial tattoos that covered half his face. The second was leaner, composed, with sharp features and an expression of cold amusement.

The scarred man looked at Lucian. "As expected of the prophecy child. Your regeneration is on another level."

Lucian recognized him immediately. Hassan. Hassan El-Masri. The rogue awakener from Egypt. The one who had been working with the Khamsin family. The one who had tried to start a war through blood sacrifice.

The second man — Lucian didn’t recognize. He activated Primordial Sight.

[Primordial Sight Analysis]

Name: Hassan El Masri

Race: Human

Realm: Mid Grand Core

Ability: S-Rank Explosion

Name: Declan Rhys

Race: Human

Realm: Peak Grand Core

Ability: S-Rank Teleportation

Lucian’s frown deepened. Mid Grand Core and Peak Grand Core. Hassan’s S-Rank Explosion was self-explanatory — he’d just leveled the Research Department with a single blast. But Declan’s S-Rank Teleportation was the real threat.

Lucian’s mind raced — calculating options, evaluating escape routes, assessing his remaining resources. His mana was partially restored from the recovery pills. His Blood Energy was refilled from Rose’s blood flask. But he was injured, exhausted, and facing two Grand Core cultivators after fighting Rashid to the death.

Before he could formulate a plan, Declan was in front of him.

One moment Declan was ten meters away. The next, his hand was around Lucian’s face.

"What are you thinking about?"

Declan slammed Lucian’s face into the ground.

BOOM!

The impact cratered the rubble beneath Lucian’s skull. His vision blurred as blood sprayed across the broken stone.

Declan stepped on Lucian’s chest. His ribs groaned.

"Disappointing," Declan said, his voice flat. "I expected more."

Lucian raised his hand. "Light Bolt!"

FWEEESH! The concentrated beam fired point-blank at Declan’s chest.

Declan was gone. The beam struck empty rubble. BOOM. A crater formed where Declan had been standing. But Declan had already reappeared five meters away.

Lucian stood up. He spat blood onto the rubble and activated Light Armor and Crimson Vessel simultaneously. The golden light and crimson sheen layered across his skin.

Blood Eclipse Art ignited in his veins to boost his spell power and mana circulation.

Hassan watched the display with a mocking grin. "Does he really think that will stop us?" He stepped forward, his scarred face twisting with irritation. "You did ruin part of my plans for Egypt. For that —"

His hands ignited. Condensed, controlled detonations formed in his palms with sharp, concussive cracks. POP-POP-POP.

Hassan’s body launched forward. The explosions boosted his speed — detonating behind his feet, propelling him like a rocket. BOOM-BOOM-BOOM. Each step was an explosion, each movement accelerated by concussive force. He crossed the distance to Lucian in a blink.

Lucian raised Light Shields.

KRRRAK! The first shield shattered on Hassan’s explosive-enhanced punch. KRRSH! The second dissolved. Lucian dodged the third — Hassan’s fist cratering the ground where he’d been standing. BOOM!

Hassan launched again — explosions trailing from his palms, his feet, his elbows. POP-POP-POP-BOOM! He was relentless. Each explosion boosted his speed and power simultaneously. His fists left trails of concussive energy. Each miss detonated against the rubble, sending shrapnel flying.

Lucian moved. Light Steps carried him between Hassan’s strikes as he barely dodged. The explosive shockwaves caught him even when the fists didn’t. Each near-miss sent a wave of concussive force through his body that rattled his bones and blurred his vision.

He countered. Blood Chains erupted from the ground — wrapping around Hassan’s legs. Hassan didn’t dodge. He simply exploded. BOOM! The chains disintegrated in the concussive wave. Hassan stepped forward through his own explosion — completely unharmed, his body adapted to the shockwaves.

Blood spikes materialized from the air around Lucian — condensing from his Blood Manipulation and launching toward Hassan from six directions. Hassan’s palm ignited. A single concentrated explosion detonated in front of him — the blast wave deflecting all six spikes simultaneously. POP-BOOM!

Hassan appeared beside Lucian. An explosion boosted his elbow into Lucian’s ribs. CRACK! Lucian flew sideways, tumbling across the rubble. He coughed blood.

Lucian rolled to his feet.

Declan watched from the side with crossed arms.

Hassan cracked his neck. "Not bad, prophecy child. You’re still standing." His grin widened. "But not for long."

Hassan launched forward — explosions boosting his speed with each step. BOOM-BOOM-BOOM! His fists trailed concussive fire as he closed the distance. Lucian met him with Light Blades — SHK-SHK-SHK — but Hassan detonated the air around himself, dispersing the blades in shockwaves.

Lucian raised his hand. Light mana gathered.

"Light Judgement!"

A sustained beam of pure radiance screamed from his palm. FWEEEEEESH! The beam struck Hassan directly in the chest.

"ARGH—!" Hassan screamed as the beam burned a hole through his shoulder. Blood sprayed. He staggered backward — clutching the wound, his face twisted in agony and fury.

"You little —" His eyes blazed. Blood dripped from the wound, sizzling on the hot rubble beneath him. "You actually hurt me!"