"Who are you?"
Abraham's voice carried a rare edge of shock as he stared at the man standing ahead of them. Locke had his back to the group, his posture relaxed yet impossibly steady, as if the chaos surrounding them meant nothing at all. Even Yin Fu and Nora tensed instinctively, their eyes filled with both awe and caution after witnessing his sudden appearance.
That speed—no human could move like that.
"Now's not the time for introductions," Locke said calmly, his gaze fixed on the direction Aihorst had fled. His tone left no room for argument, cold and focused, as if everything else was irrelevant.
The next second, he moved.
A blur shot forward, cutting straight into the advancing vampires. Aihorst, desperate to escape, had driven the creatures forward like expendable shields, sending them directly into Locke's path.
It didn't matter.
Under the stunned eyes of everyone present, heads began to fall.
One after another, they were severed cleanly, spinning through the air before hitting the ground. Flesh-tendrils lashed out wildly, stabbing toward Locke from every direction, but they never even brushed his clothes. His movements were too precise, too fast, as though he existed a step outside reality itself.
The silver blade in his hand shimmered under the faint, dying light of the eclipse, flashing like lightning across the battlefield. Each strike was sharp, efficient, and absolute. Every thrust, every slash carved through monsters that moments ago had seemed unstoppable.
If Abraham's technique was simple and brutal, Locke's was something else entirely.
It was art.
Blood sprayed through the air in crimson arcs as the vampires fell in droves, their grotesque forms collapsing one after another. The entire scene unfolded like a one-sided massacre, a storm of steel and motion that left nothing standing in its wake.
"…Oh my God…"
Yin Fu's voice was barely audible, his face drained of color. Nora stood frozen beside him, her hands trembling as she struggled to process what she was seeing.
Even Vasily, who had witnessed Locke's abilities before, felt a flicker of unease rise in his chest.
The way he killed… it was too clean, too effortless.
"Move! Stay on him!" Abraham suddenly barked, snapping everyone back to reality. Without hesitation, he surged forward, chasing after Locke's retreating figure.
Just moments earlier, he had secretly angled the ultraviolet lamp toward Locke, testing him.
There had been no reaction.
That alone changed everything.
Behind him, Yin Fu and the others followed, though their minds were still reeling from what they had just witnessed.
Ahead, Locke's lips curved slightly.
He sensed them.
His speed increased instantly, his figure splitting into afterimages as he surged forward through the streets. Vampires that tried to intercept him were cut down before they could even react, their bodies collapsing in pieces as the silver blade danced through the darkness.
One creature broke away, fleeing in desperation.
It didn't make it far.
The sword left Locke's hand in a blur, piercing straight through the back of the vampire's skull. In the same instant, Locke vanished from his previous position and reappeared beside the falling body, pulling the blade free in one smooth motion.
Then he was gone again.
"Wait!"
Abraham shouted, his voice echoing down the street.
But Locke had already disappeared into the night.
"Help! Help!"
A frantic voice broke through the tension as a woman burst out of a damaged storefront, her blonde hair wild and her heavy makeup smeared. A vampire lunged out behind her, its mouth splitting open as a tendril shot forward.
Vasily moved.
He stepped past the woman without hesitation, meeting the creature head-on. The moment its tendril extended, his spear thrust forward with precision, driving straight through its mouth and out the back of its skull.
The roar died instantly.
Vasily stepped forward calmly, planting his boot firmly on the vampire's head. With a sharp pull, he yanked the spear free, leaning back slightly to avoid the dark fluid that splattered outward.
"Hey… you're pretty good," the woman said, her tone shifting instantly from panic to admiration as she looked at him.
"Have you been hiding in there this whole time?" Vasily asked, frowning slightly as he glanced at her.
"What choice did I have? The streets are crawling with those things," she replied with a shrug, showing no shame at all for staying out of the fight.
"Enough," Abraham said sharply, though his gaze lingered on the direction Locke had vanished. There was something new in his expression now—something thoughtful, almost calculating.
"Let's move."
They didn't stay any longer.
Soon, the group returned to Abraham's basement, the reinforced space offering at least a temporary refuge from the chaos outside.
"Whoa…"
The woman—Daqi—stared wide-eyed at the massive crossbow mounted on the wall, her curiosity instantly overtaking her fear.
"That's for hunting vampires," Abraham said quietly, though his tone had changed. Tonight had shifted something. Locke's appearance had planted a seed in his mind, one that refused to settle.
He turned to Vasily, urgency creeping into his voice.
"The man from before. Do you know him?"
Vasily hesitated for a brief moment before nodding.
"I've only just met him myself. But he's after the Blood Ancestor too."
Abraham's brows furrowed deeply.
"Strange… someone with that level of speed, and I've never encountered him in all these years?" he muttered, disbelief evident in his expression. "He moves like a high-level vampire… but he isn't one."
Vasily's gaze shifted slightly as he spoke again.
"He told me the Blood Ancestor might be hiding in the sewers."
The effect was immediate.
Abraham's eyes lit up, a sharp intensity replacing everything else. His entire posture changed, as if he had just been handed the answer he'd been chasing for decades.
"Let's go."
Without another word, he grabbed his cane and headed for the exit, his urgency impossible to hide.
Nora stepped forward quickly, grabbing his arm.
"You're going after him now?" she asked, her voice tense. "You're really going to hunt that thing tonight?"
"We can't let him escape," Abraham replied, his voice firm and unwavering. For the first time, even Locke had been pushed out of his mind. The Blood Ancestor was all that mattered.
"Crazy old man," Daqi muttered under her breath, shaking her head. To her, survival meant running—not chasing monsters into their own territory.
"I'm coming with you," Vasily said, his tone steady. There was no hesitation in him. Ending this nightmare had always been his goal, and this was his chance.
What none of them realized was that this had all been part of Locke's plan.
He already knew the Blood Ancestor was hidden somewhere in the sewers, but locating it precisely required more than brute force. That was why he had maneuvered things carefully, allowing Vasily to cross paths with Abraham.
He needed them to follow the original path.
To find the target.
To shorten the timeline, he had even gone as far as planting the information directly.
Locke wasn't here to struggle.
He was here to end it.
…
In the Red Hook district of New York, a lone figure approached a heavily guarded building. The structure loomed in the darkness, its presence imposing, almost oppressive.
Locke stopped briefly, his eyes drifting toward the engraved stone plaque beside the entrance.
Stoneheart Group.
His expression didn't change.
He walked forward without hesitation.
Two security guards in suits stepped in his path immediately, their posture tense as they raised their hands to stop him.
"Hold it! Who are—"
They didn't finish.
In the blink of an eye, Locke's hands shot forward, gripping both men by the throat. The force behind it was overwhelming, lifting their heavy bodies clean off the ground as if they weighed nothing.
Inside the lobby, employees froze as chaos erupted.
"I want to see Eldridge," Locke said calmly, his voice carrying across the room.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out.
The two guards dropped instantly.
Locke's figure blurred again.
In a single heartbeat, he crossed the distance and appeared beside the employee who had fired the shot. Before the man could react, Locke's leg snapped out in a brutal kick.
The impact was devastating.
The man's body flew backward like a projectile, slamming into the marble wall with enough force to crack it. Blood splattered across the surface as he collapsed, barely conscious, his body broken from the collision.
Silence fell.
Locke's gaze swept across the remaining employees, who now stood frozen in terror. Not a single one of them dared to raise a weapon again.
....
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