Chapter 333: Reaching Heaven in a Single Step

Instinctively, the Vampire Count sensed the danger contained within the black object and moved to stop it. However, guided by a Shadow Spirit he had beaten half to death, the object seemed to come alive, deftly dodging his interception and melting into an inky black liquid in the mouth of another half-dead Vampire Descendant.

"What did you give her—"

Before the Vampire Count could finish, a terrifying aura erupted from Silvia. As the Count tried to approach, he was instantly swept aside by a force even greater than his own. The Vampire Descendant struggled to her feet, and beneath her, the layers of the Array shrieked and cracked, unable to bear the strain!

"No!" the Count screamed in terror, but there was nothing he could do. He could only feel all the energy within the Array, the power that should have been his, being drained away by Silvia! What was even more appalling was that this creature—neither fully Undead nor fully alive—was perfectly absorbing the immense power that even he had to handle with the utmost care!

'Just moments ago, she was on the verge of being utterly obliterated!'

'The only explanation was the most impossible one… that black stone!'

"I... I've never felt so close to power!" Silvia stared at her hands in disbelief. She once again felt what she had that night in the cemetery: the power over life and death—only now it was several times stronger!

'After all, that night she had only possessed a fraction of the Count's power. Now, she was probably far stronger than the Count himself had ever been, even at his peak!'

The Vampire Descendant's muscles, bones, and even nerves were repairing themselves at a speed that defied logic. She didn't have to control it at all; she simply had to stand still as life force welled up endlessly from within her.

For a moment, Silvia felt as if she had shed her status as a Half-Vampire. It seemed she could choose freely between two paths: to become human again or to become the purest of the Blood Race!

By now, the Count completely understood his failure. The fruits of his victory had been stolen by a foreign commoner! He had already sacrificed everything. If he failed to obtain this power, that entity would cut off all dealings with him. He would be left with nothing, a complete laughingstock.

The Count let out a furious roar and transformed into a swarm of bats, shrouded in a crimson mist, as he lunged at Silvia.

"Silvia! Don't just stand there!" Ron and Yelena's shouts snapped Silvia, who had been lost in her newfound power, back to her senses. With a single thought, a Longsword formed entirely of blood materialized in her grasp. A flash of the crimson blade split the encroaching swarm of bats asunder!

The barrier of the Array had vanished. Thirty to fifty meters away, the battered Vampire Count reformed into his human shape. A gruesome gash running from his shoulder to his thigh nearly cleaved him in two—an injury even a Vampire couldn't heal quickly. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, his expression a bizarre mix of laughter and tears.

"I've failed! Hecate, Mary! In the end, I've failed!" the Count screamed maniacally, fleeing into the distance without a second glance. "But I also succeeded! Imlefatariotel! I finally obtained your power!"

"He… ran away?" Ron stared blankly at the spot where the Vampire Count had vanished in the blink of an eye, his mind struggling to catch up. He turned to see Silvia standing frozen, her hand at her neck, seemingly lost in thought.

"Silvia, you're hurt!"

"Hurt? Yes," the suddenly all-powerful Vampire Descendant said, pausing for a moment before giving a wry smile. "The Count bit me. It's not a pleasant feeling."

"That's the bite of a true Vampire. Besides simply drinking blood, they inject venom to turn their victims into Derivatives," Yelena said, then suddenly collapsed to the ground with a pained cry. "—My Lady!"

"Did Gracia just take over?" Ron asked, quickly pulling a Healing Potion from his bag to treat Yelena. The Shadow Spirit's injuries were far too severe, and her earlier, unnatural movements had only made them worse.

"Take… what? Yes, the Sect Leader suddenly took control of my body—Gah!"

Yelena gritted her teeth, trying to push through the pain with sheer willpower, but it was obviously impossible. By the time Ron uncorked the fifth Healing Potion, the poor Shadow Spirit had fainted from the agony.

"That must feel awful…" Silvia glanced sympathetically at the Shadow Spirit on the ground. 'Her own injuries had been just as severe as Yelena's,' she thought, 'but with this new power healing her, she would only become stronger than ever before.'

"Her injuries have stabilized. Just let her recover slowly," Ron said, putting down a sixth Potion. He stood and turned to Silvia. "What about you? Yelena mentioned Vampire venom—"

"It's no problem. His rank is even lower than mine now, so his so-called venom can't even enter my system," Silvia said with a wave of her hand. "He's the one in trouble, actually. He drank some of my blood, and it contains a portion of this new energy. Should I go drag him back? If we let him absorb it all, he might come seeking revenge."

"Don't forget about the thing in the sky," Ron said, glancing worriedly at the setting moon. "Let the Count run. We can't afford for anything to happen to you."

"That's true," Silvia said, glancing down at her tattered clothes. She noticed Ron's gaze, which had been darting away and then back again, and the Vampire Descendant chuckled. "Look at me, my savior. I really regret not taking your advice a few hours ago. I must seem like a 'bad girl' to you now, huh?"

"Don't say that…" Ron turned his head away. "We'll always be companions, of course. If it weren't for you, we all would have died here."

'Honestly,' Ron thought, 'if the Vampire Count had used some other stranger as his medium instead of Silvia, wouldn't we have been invited to stay and watch the spectacle? And wouldn't we have intervened after discovering the truth anyway? Allowing a neighbor just one mountain range away to become so powerful was completely unacceptable, for both practical and personal reasons.'

'If anything, the Count choosing Silvia might have actually been a good thing.'

"Thank you for thinking so," Silvia sighed. "Otherwise, making you all take such a huge risk for my sake… I don't think I could have ever forgiven myself…"

"But now," the Vampire Descendant said with a sudden, mischievous grin, "while they're still unconscious, how about you call me Lady Countess, just so I can hear it?"