Much like humans, the vampires also followed a social hierarchy construct, albeit theirs was a bit archaic.
However, unlike humans, their society is based on power. So, in a sense, their titles are also a symbol of the strength they possess.
For example, Common Vampires are the least feared and less powerful. Above them are Noble Vampires. They are ruled by Seven Vampire Kings. And the one who rules them all is the one who was in slumber for the most part of the novel— The Vampire Monarch.
Most of the Noble Vampires are elite soldiers of the vampiric army.
These abominable fiends are seen as the Harbingers Of Death and for a very good reason. After all, they are the second most dangerous beings their species has at their disposal currently.
So, naturally, seeing around forty or so of these harrowing bloodsuckers stepping out of the shadows and appearing before them was a dreadful sight for the cadets present in the audience.
Before those poor souls could even summon their weapons or ungracefully run away, the Vampires clad in lusterless black armor jumped at them and slit their throats with their sharp, obsidian claws or simply ripped their hearts out.
In mere moments, several cadets were killed after the appearance of these vile creatures of the night.
An iron stench of blood filled the stand as the warm, crimson liquid flooded between the rows of seats down like water or splattered down like rain.
After around a dozen deaths, the petrified cadets came to their senses upon seeing their comrades being ripped to shreds and quickly summoned their armor and weapons.
Nero, however, seemed to be frozen in place. He tried to move, but his body just refused to register his command.
His eyes widened and his shocked gaze was fixed on the massacre happening all around him in the audience stand above him.
"Wh-What the…?!"
Before he could even process anything, Nero saw around eight to ten gaunt figures of humanoid creatures jumping down from the boundary of the audience stand to the concrete field.
Their figures were just a silhouette covered in the dark veil of night right now, but it was easy to imagine that these grotesque abominations were obviously vampires.
They moved with breakneck speed and ran toward Nero like bullets. Slowly their harrowing figures became clear and the crimson blades of the swords in their hand gleamed with a murderous zeal under the dim glow of the moonlight.
Nero tried to move, but he couldn't. He was stuck in place. All he could do was stare at the incoming horde of vampires who seemed to have possessed a beasteal glint of madness in their eyes.
Nearing him, one of the abominations swung its crimson sword at Nero's neck, intending to sever his head like dropping the blade of a guillotine on him while his head was locked in stock.
Clang—!!
However, before the crimson blade of the Vampire's sword could bite into his neck, a radiant azure arrow whistled part Nero deflected the bloodsucker's attack.
Without stopping, several more Vampires lunged at Nero and bared their fangs with the intention of ripping his throat apart.
But before they could even touch him, a stream of water rose from the ground, and in the next second, the water molded into a shell and encompassed Nero in a protective embrace.
The Vampires stopped, but only for a split second. One of them jumped forward and immediately unleashed a devastating slash of his sword.
The crimson blade of the vampire's sword traveled in an arc and broke through the water shell protecting Nero, dispersing the water in a splash of rain.
As Nero was once again left vulnerable, several vampires pounced on him again, but this time, a number of iron shackles shot out from behind him and wrapped themselves around Nero's waist.
In the next instance, the iron shackles jerked and pulled Nero back with them.
It was Anastasia, Aster, and Elijah who had saved Nero using their spells right now. Elijah commanded his chains to bring Nero to them, and they did exactly that.
As Nero landed among them, Anastasia moved in front of him and drew back the string of her bow before asking, "Are you okay?"
Nero tried to nod his head, but once again, he found himself unable to move. After a bit of struggle, he managed to force out a few words, "I'm fine but I can't move!"
Anastasia frowned, turned to face him, and scowled. Her crystal-like golden eyes were shining under the night sky like a pair of stars adorning her alluring face.
Despite her beautiful visage, the look on Anastasia's face was ugly. She hesitantly dismissed her bow and moved closer to Nero.
She had activated her Gift, God's Eyes. It allowed her to perceive the world in a way that no mortal could ever hope to fathom in a single lifetime.
Currently, she could see inside Nero's body, not the physical one that was already before then but the spiritual one.
She saw a large, radiant nexus of glowing ethereal strings in Nero's abdomen with several trails of light extending inside his body like some sort of a network.
They were the Mana Pathways.
In simple words, they were roads through which mana traveled inside a person's body.
However, that wasn't what Anastasia was concerned with. Moving her gaze up, she saw a black patch of darkness blocking some of the trails of light inside Nero's head.
"A mind hex," she muttered to herself.
It was a known fact that the Vampires' main choice of magic attacks was darkness and soul or mind spells.
Mind magic was, in more ways than one, different from soul magic.
While soul magic was mostly related to TrueDamage, i.e. a form of attack that can't be stopped since it affects the soul rather than the physical shell of a human, mind magic was related to hexes like hypnotism, compulsion, and so on.
Dismissing mind hex was supposed to be almost as difficult as blocking soul attacks, meaning borderline impossible.
Yes, warriors with years of experience in combat and magic arts could achieve both of those borderline impossible tasks, but even for them, it was difficult.
For normal people, being targeted by soul or mind magic might as well mean death.
After all, that is the reason why Liz was so feared amongst the high military circle despite being so young in age compared to most of the great veteran warriors.
She was the Witch of Soul Harvest.
Luckily, Anastasia was not a normal person either. She was capable of seeing through the Realm designed by Gods, after all.
Channeling mana into her fingertips, Anastasia pressed her hands gently against Nero's head.
Strings of ethereal blue light, invisible to everyone around them, entered Nero's head and ripped asunder the black patch inside his skull.
And with that, Nero was able to move again. He drew a heavy gasp and swayed a little before regaining his balance.
He wanted to ask Anastasia what was that, but clearly, they had more pressing matters to focus on.
Besides, the grim look on Anastasia's face did not exactly sit right with Nero. Aside from the incoming horde of Vampires who were rushing at them with bloodlust, Nero had a gut feeling that something more deadly was coming.
He was right. Anastasia did not scowl earlier because of the mind hex. She was worried for some other reason.
The mind hex that petrified Nero was a high-level spell. A spell that couldn't be cast inside another person's body without at least coming in contact with them.
However, the Vampires just appeared a few minutes ago. That only meant one thing: The caster of that spell placed that mind hex on Nero from a distance.
A powerful being like that who could defy common sense so easily was beyond anything that they could handle.
"We should run," Anastasia uttered, trying to calm the extreme feeling of unease in her heart.
She quickly turned around toward the VIP stand and continued, "I don't think we are ready to fight whatever it is that–"
Before she could complete her sentence, the entire concrete field was plunged into a dark, ominous aura.
In front of Anastasia's gaze, a harrowing figure of a vampire noble appeared. This one, however, was different from his other companions.
This was a man, or at least looked like one, with shining blood-red eyes and hair in the darkest shade of black.
Instead of metal, he donned an intricate onyx armor littered with all kinds of glowing red intricate patterns.
The vampire's skin was ivory pale and his figure was shrouded in a veil of darkness that seemed to absorb the light around him.
Despite his unsettling handsome face with perfect, sharp features, it was easy to tell that the air he carried was foreboding.
He was, without a doubt… a high-vampire of true noble blood origin.
