New Game+

Chapter 215 - Faith From Fiction

The single step of Richie caused him to fly at incredible speed and immediately met the Empress.

Richie punched out towards the unprepared vampire's stomach.

A small peal of thunder sounded out, and Richie's fist surprisingly pierced through.

The shocked Richie panicked at the sudden strike. He wasn't supposed to kill the woman. But almost a millisecond passed when Richie retreated as he sensed it.

The woman immediately retaliated as her wings slashed towards Richie.

Richie evaded accordingly, but the powerful slash pierced through the sound armor that was all over Richie.

Richie flew backward as the woman continued to give chase. Blood was dripping from her mouth, but she continued to recklessly charge.

Richie could see that the hole he made was immediately covered by the blood.

The blood around the woman turned darker and darker as she approached Richie.

The woman flew faster and made an exaggerated attack towards Richie. She flew upwards and was using both her hands, which transformed into a claw to slash down. However, her flight and the movement was slower, and it was an opening that Richie could take advantage of.

Surprisingly, Richie retreated and did not retaliate and take advantage of the opening.

Upon moving away from the range of the slashing claws, Richie shouted, and a piercing cry like an Eagle's sound echoed out.

The echoing sound turned into a thunderous force that exploded out on the woman.

The woman's wings immediately flapped and enveloped itself. The woman was thrown back a few meters, but it surprised Richie.

"What was that? It ate my sounds!" Richie was intrigued. 

"You're not half bad yourself. Despite being so near me, I couldn't control your blood!"

"I'm Unlocked. My cells are mine to control. You'd have to be far stronger than me or higher in the Unlocking to do that." Richie laughed.

The vampire frowned as she was unable to comprehend Richie's answer.

"Ah, forget it. I can't wait to suck your blood."

"Those abdominal practices are not pleasing to the Lord. Do you not know that drinking the lifeblood of an animal is wrong?"

The woman was startled at Richie's words.

"What?"

"Oh. Lowengren was right. Throwing off random statements can buy me even more time. If punching or pushing you doesn't work, let's try crushing you."

It was then that the woman felt it. A crushing wave that was much slower than the usual sound was approaching. But because she was bamboozled by Richie's strange words, she was now without escape.

Richie smiled and took a deep breath.

"REPENT!"

The surrounding sounds that had encircled the woman were fortified by Richie's sudden shout, and it pressed hard to crush the woman.

The woman once more used her wings to cover her, but the powerful sounds crushed her and pulverized most of her body as it became blood and gore.

The crushed figure of the woman suddenly changed color as the sound could not crush it anymore. Suddenly, a bloody lance pierced out from the body of the woman.

The sound that covered her was incapable of blocking or hindering the spear.

Richie immediately evaded and laughed as the surrounding sound started to shake.

"Let there be… Light!" Richie gave an explosive laugh as the entire area around the woman exploded.

Richie's breathing became heavier. He hovered further and further and tried to catch his breath.

"You're still alive?"

As the smoke cleared, several blood-red bats continued to flutter around the area of the explosion. They were grouping together, and the figure of the woman once more emerged. She sneered at Richie.

"As if that could kill an immortal." She laughed.

Richie shook his head.

"What exactly am I seeing? And I called Meng a monster."

The wings of the woman turned pitch black as she flew towards Richie.

Richie gave a low hum as the sound produced a strange resisting force.

Water World came to play, but the resistance that the woman met was minimal as her speed only decreased by a few percentages.

Richie retreated and gave a whistle that fortified the sound armor around him.

It was as if Richie was surrounded by several small bubbles.

Richie then rushed forward to meet the attack of the woman.

The woman used her wing, and it gave a deadly slashed as she spun.

Richie used his fist to punch towards the woman.

BOOM!

A trembling explosion rang out, and both were thrown further.

"What are you?!" The woman cursed as she flew once more to make another strike.

"You're asking me?!" Richie complained and sent a powerful vibration towards the Kraken.

The vibrations echoed out, and Richie actually went on the retreat and rushed closer to the Kraken.

Meanwhile, the vampire flew higher to keep her distance as she continued to look down in arrogance as if waiting for Richie to make a move. While she did that, she issued a command that only those who have her blood could hear.

A few seconds later, he found him.

"Sammy! Are vampires real?"

"I deduce you're facing someone with skills similar to a vampire? Otherwise, I don't see how your sudden interest in the occult could be relevant to what's happening. I'm kind of busy here!" Sammy cursed out.

BOOM!

An explosion happened once more as he escaped from his hiding place.

"Quick! Here!" Roselyn called out. She was dressed as a wounded pilot and signaled Sammy from an open door.

"Finally!" He rushed in.

"Anytime now, Sammy. How did vampires exist? She is using her blood in extraordinary ways. I practically crushed her and blew her up, but she's still alive! She could even turns to bats! I thought her strange powers had to do with leukemia! But this isn't clear that!"

"No. You're right, boss. It is leukemia. But I don't think it's just that. She must have a Path!"

"A Path of becoming a vampire?"

"No. The hundred-year tales of vampires and how it has been portrayed in movies is the one that gave her that faith! She took inspiration from that, and that allowed her to become a vampire. Faith made from fiction! Her Path could have been anything, but because it's common in our myths and story. But it's definitely blood! She might not even have a body, but all of her is made of that blood! Think of Lennox! She must be doing something like that!"

"But she can eat my sound! Even my sound armor is not working. It's not thick enough to hit her. My punches don't seem to have any effect!"

"Starting to regret giving me a portion of your powers?"

"No! You are part of my power. So tell me how to defeat her!"

"If it's leukemia, then it has to do with her white blood cells. Her blood must have evolved so much that it can literally eat anything. If Meng's body causes a great desolation around the area, then her blood can eat anything. But it isn't endless! Like how Lennox can be hurt after attacking his lightning, If you keep hitting her again and again, she should soon get hurt. There is only so much sound that she can eat. That apparently endless and unlimited power of hers is only a façade! Just trust your instincts! Oh no. We got caught. Gotta go." Sammy shouted as he stopped talking.

 "So, I guess it's a contest of attrition." Richie contemplated.

After facing Meng, Richie developed a way to further compress his sounds to make a thicker and powerful impact. But such attacks would make Richie use more than necessary and slowly drain his stamina as he would exert more effort in compressing it. Added with the fact that he gave a portion of his powers to Sammy, his skills' prolonged usage would take a faster toll on his stamina.

Sonic booms compressed on Richie's arm. Richie stopped escaping and immediately attacked.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Three shockwaves exploded out in succession.

The entire area was full of blood, but Richie then continued his attacks as a more powerful sonic boom gathered on his arm.

"Falcon Punch!" He cried out.

BOOM!

A terrifying thunder resounded and exploded around the area.

Richie was gasping for breath.

"Oh, Right. I'm an Eagle. Eagle punch sounds dull, though..." Richie then remembered.

The blood around the air slowly turned to bats and gathered to reform the woman. The woman's figure looked terrible. Several wounds could be seen, but no blood leaked out of these wounds.

The woman was also gasping for breath.

"Send me more blood and bring my weapons! Familiars, on me!" The vampire silently cried out.

Up above the skies, a jumbo jet had been encircling the Kraken. As the battle in the Kraken grew wilder, the long-ranged attacks were abandoned and allowed these planes to monitor the skies. Several of them continued to fly around the area.

At that moment, the ringing call in their blood caused them all to immediately move. Several soldiers quickly slashed their wrist, and blood started to pour out of their hands. They each held a container to catch all the blood.

As the soldiers collected the blood, another group of soldiers had already jumped down the plane. It began to freefall towards where their Madam was.

Richie laughed.

"I guess that was too much for you. You can't even put on a façade anymore." Richie was about to rush out again when the woman called out.

"Stop! You said you are one of the Progenitor's seed? Then which family are you from?"

Richie laughed.

"The Belmont Clan! A clan of powerful vampire hunters! Our family has sworn to kill your ilk except for Alucard. He's a good vampire. Do you have kids? You should totally name one Alucard, which is the inverse spelling of Dracula. Kind of like how Nogard is the inverse spelling of Dragon. Greydon's a bit weird, though." Richie casually remarked.

The woman suddenly laughed.

"And I thought I had to waste my time talking. Who'd have thought that you'd go on a rant on your own." 

"Making me have a taste of my own medicine, huh? Still, how can you control your blood from all the way there? You turned them into water droplets and waited for me to inhale it, right?" Richie replied with an innocent expression.

The sound in his body had actually surrounded the blood droplets in the air. It was preventing it from entering Richie's body.

"What?! How did-"

"REPENT!"

A more powerful sound wave crashed. Richie gathered a mightier sound wave that was compressing itself all the time that was happening. By the time the vampire detected it, it had already blocked all escape paths.

The crushing sound grew brighter as it compressed. The vampire ran towards the opposite direction of where Richie was and used her wings to attack. Her arms were no longer black but had an almost white color.

BOOM! 

The figure of the vampire looked terrible as she broke out of the collapsing sound. She flew higher and was already missing a portion of her legs and arms.

As she escaped, several figures could be seen falling from the heights of the heavens. It was a group of ten soldiers, each bearing a pair of bloody wings. They were holding various large flask that had were filled with blood.

The soldiers assumed a formation and held on a large gun connected to a tank behind them.

"Caliphate Dragon Breath." Richie laughed.

"So, the reason you had no tech was to infiltrate the Kraken?" Richie dashed faster to chase.

The soldiers suddenly shot out faster as a massive booster at the bottom of their tank exploded out and gave them a powerful boost in their flight speed. Their wings allowed them to accurately navigate their flight.

As the Vampire went through their formation, they immediately launched an attack.

A mighty wall of dark fire erupted out. Being the nation with the largest oil deposits, the science of how they harness and use oil has transcended the rest of the countries. The blanket of fire that covered about half a kilometer from each soldier erupted out.

"Don't engage! Retreat!" The vampire ordered.

"Yes, Madam!" The soldiers immediately used their boosters and wings to push back along with the vampire.

Richie did not engage. Before him, the flames were not the usual flames but something that even pushed back and disrupts the sound waves he could send.

Richie waited with anticipation. Richie placed his hand over his mouth as if something was protruding. And then he pulled his arm as if unsheathing a sword. A significant amount of his stamina was eaten up with this technique. An invisible sword appeared on his hands as he contained his sound.

"The Word of God is like a double-edged sword. A fitting weapon against a demon like her." Richie smirked.

The wall of flames died out as the Vampire flew straight to Richie.

Her body had reformed, and her wings were far more extensive than what it originally was. Around her body were glowing yellow lines. On her hand were two glowing scissor-like swords.

"Vampires with lightsabers. This looks fun." Richie flew faster to attack the Vampire.

"Die monster!" The vampire cried as she dashed to meet Richie. Her soldiers maintained distance but kept aiming for Richie.

Several kilometers from where Richie fought the vampire, a man was floating over the seas.

"An Eagled-Themed superhero fights a lightsaber-wielding vampire. What an interesting show. But I've got to admit Pridgeon, these people do look powerful. Only Presiders with powerful weapon technologies could fight them. You should hurry. The reports I have from some of our Planteds down there indicate that someone who they believe to be Lowengren is present." The man calmly explained.

"Wait for me! This damned ship is traveling too slow!" Presider complained.

"You should have acquired some techs that emphasize stellar travel."

"I'm not as rich as you, Crostfree. Can you discern whatever techs they have?"

"Very unsightly. Earth's fascination with the occult and their horror movies made them recreate their fantasies. It seems powerful… but I can easily kill them all. You better hurry. If the Emperors make another Invoking, the amount of activated Origin Energy will spur me to action. I'd have enough energy to power another Orbital for a decade." 

"You would dare attack them?!"

"Relax! With all these nations with unknown powers and even human modification, me stealing two Invokings won't alert the world. Still, it's not like the WGP's wariness wouldn't change. Me acting, and me not acting will still garner the same global changes. So why not earn from it? Besides, I have to kill every group represented here. I'm sure that whoever is attacking this Kraken should be the group's leaders. That vampire is, in fact, the family head of those families in our watchlist."

"Just wait for me to get there! I must get that Lowengren alive!"

"No promises. The Emperors are losing. Another Invoking may happen." Crostfree laughed. He then turned his attention to the other side of the Kraken, where huge splashes of waters could be found.

A creature was sprinting above the sea and was headed towards the Kraken.

"Vampires and werewolves. Earthlings are stupid.." Crostfree shook his head.