Previously on The Watcher of the Infinite Earths...
I fell in love with a human. Now, she is in grave danger. I vowed to myself never to fight again or shed another drop of blood because I lost my loved one in a brutal war. But to save her, I realized I must break my oath. To protect her, I must shed blood.
To see me rise as Dracula, vote with your Power Stones to give me the power to fight the Lycans! And if you haven't added this book to your Collection yet, you are hindering the dark moon from overpowering me!
Let the battle begin. I am Dracula Untold.
Chapter 44: The God of the Blood Moon
The atmosphere surrounding the fortress was heavy, thick with the scent of wild sage, red clay, and the incoming storm that brewed in the valleys below. This wasn't just any mountain; this was the jagged peak of the Rift, a place where the earth had physically screamed as it tore itself open eons ago. The air was biting and thin, carrying the sharp chill that only swept down from the high, unforgiving moorlands. Below the obsidian walls, the vast, dark canopy of the indigenous forest stretched like a sea of shadows. Normally, the Kenyan night would be alive with the rhythmic, pulsing chirping of crickets and the distant, laughing call of hyenas scavenging in the plains, but tonight, an unnatural, suffocating silence had smothered the land.
Even the wind seemed to hold its breath, afraid to disturb the static tension hanging in the courtyard like an executioner's axe.
The massive iron gates, forged from metals salvaged before the Great Convergence and tempered in dragon-fire, groaned in protest as I forced them open. They scraped against the volcanic stone floor, sending a shower of white-hot sparks flying into the dark. I stepped out, my heavy boots grinding against the red dust that covered the marble.
Elagra was right behind me. I could feel the heat radiating from her body in the cold mountain air—it was a pulse of pure life in a place of stone and death. She wasn't holding back or trembling. Her jaw was set in a hard line, and her eyes flashed with a fierce, warrior's pride that I hadn't seen in two thousand years.
And there he was. Standing in the center of the killing ground, illuminated by the dying, sickly white light of the fading moon, was the Alpha Lycan.
He was a mountain of pure, savage malice. Standing nearly nine feet tall, his frame was a terrifying display of biological evolution gone wrong. His fur was a chaotic mess of silver and pitch black, matted with the dried, copper-scented blood of previous kills. His muscles didn't just bulge; they rippled and shifted under his skin like coiled pythons, stretching the limits of his supernatural anatomy. But it was his eyes that truly showed his terrifying progression. They were no longer the typical predatory yellow of his kin. They were a violent, glowing crimson, burning with a corrupting, "Glitch" energy that bled into the air around him like radioactive steam.
A heavy, low growl vibrated from his chest, a sound so deep it made the very loose stones at my feet chatter.
"Well, well," the giant rumbled, his voice like grinding boulders. He stepped forward, his massive claws gouging deep tracks into the volcanic rock with every stride. He looked down at us with pure, unadulterated arrogance. "The coward king finally decides to show his face. And he brought his human pet with him."
He paused, sniffing the air with a wet, black nose. A twisted, sadistic grin stretched across his jowls, revealing rows of teeth as long as daggers.
"Tell me, Dracula Untold... who should I kill first? You, or the woman?"
I didn't hesitate. I stepped directly in front of Elagra, throwing my broad, tattered royal cloak wide to shield her from his predatory gaze. The fabric whipped in the sudden, cold mountain breeze like the wings of a giant bat.
"You will not lay a single claw on her," I said, my voice dropping to a low, dangerous frequency that echoed off the high stone walls. "I swear it on the blood of my fallen brother. I have avoided the path of the butcher for centuries, but for her, I will walk it again."
The Alpha threw his massive head back and laughed. It was a guttural, mocking sound that tore through the silence of the night, sending a flock of terrified night-birds screaming from the parapets. He looked at me, his glowing red eyes full of absolute disdain.
"Ati unajidai hero? (So you think you're a hero?) You want to be a romantic hero? Wewe ni fala sana! (You are a huge fool!)" he sneered, mixing the harsh, gutter tongue of the streets with his deep, primal growl. "Unakaa fala kabisa (You look like a complete idiot). It is so pathetic. A vampire trying to protect a human. Let me end your misery and show you what real power looks like!"
He didn't wait for a response. He lunged.
For a creature his size, the speed was mind-breaking. He compressed his massive legs and leaped, his weight cracking the stone courtyard beneath him. He sailed through the air, blocking out the sky and the stars above us. One giant, clawed hand came sweeping down toward my skull in a vicious arc, moving with enough force to decapitate a bull elephant.
I didn't flinch. I didn't even raise my hands to block. Instead, I kept my eyes locked onto the massive clock tower overlooking the courtyard. I counted the heartbeats. One. Two. Three.
The heavy iron gears clicked. The giant hands struck 12:00 AM. Midnight.
Instantly, the world changed.
The pale white light reflecting off the mountain snow vanished as if snuffed out by a giant hand. A colossal shadow swallowed the moon, and then, slowly, a deep, terrifying crimson began to bleed across the lunar surface. It wasn't a gentle shade; it was the color of fresh arterial blood, painting the clouds, the fortress, and the dark forest below in a hellish red hue.
The Blood Moon Eclipse had begun.
Mid-flight, the Alpha's eyes went wide. The arrogance evaporated from his face, replaced by a sudden, paralyzing shock. His massive frame slammed into the marble floor, but instead of crushing the ground with a show of force, he stumbled. His legs buckled beneath him. His bulging muscles visibly deflated, rippling as the divine lunar energy his species relied on was choked out by the earth's shadow.
"What... what is this?" the Alpha gasped, clawed at his own throat as if he were suffocating. His voice, once a booming roar, was now a strained, rasping wheeze. He looked at his shaking, clawed hands, watching the violent red light sap the kinetic energy right out of his bones. "The moon... it's bleeding! My strength... where is it going?!"
I stood straight, stepping out from the shadow of the balcony and into the center of the courtyard. The red moonlight didn't weaken me. It fed me. My pale skin absorbed the crimson rays like a sponge, and the dormant, ancient Sanguine limiters in my core shattered.
Suddenly, my vision was flooded with a blinding, golden light as the system inside me reacted to the celestial alignment.
[RAW SYSTEM INTERFACE: CELESTIAL ALIGNMENT DETECTED]
CURRENT EVENT:BLOOD MOON ECLIPSE (11TH YEAR CYCLE)
HOST STATUS:VAMPIRE PROGENITOR TRUE FORM ACTIVATED
[CORE ATTRIBUTES]
HP: 50,000 / 50,000
MP: [ERROR] DISSIPATING LIMITERS... INFINITE FLOW ENGAGED
STRENGTH: 4,500 (+500% BLOOD MOON BUFF)
AGILITY: 6,000 (+500% BLOOD MOON BUFF)
[ACTIVE BUFFS]
God of the Crimson Night: All dark-element and blood-manipulation skills require zero casting time.
Limiter Shatter: Physical damage ignored for the duration of the eclipse.
Sanguine Sovereign: Command over all biological fluid within a 100-meter radius.
SYSTEM NOTE:The nature of the world has bent to your will. Host pulse synchronizing with the cosmic core. Eradicate all threats.
The heavy weight of my tattered royal cloak suddenly felt as light as a feather. I looked down at my hands. They were glowing with a faint, crimson aura. The infinite MP flowing through my veins felt like a rushing river of fire, begging to be unleashed.
I looked up at the Alpha, my own eyes reflecting the bloody sky as a dark, familiar power surged back into my veins. This was the monster my ancestors had feared. This was the king who had conquered the first age.
"You called me a coward," I said, my voice resonating through the courtyard like the tolling of a funeral bell. It carried a heavy, supernatural weight that forced the weaker Lycans scaling the outer walls to freeze in terror. "You called me a pathetic romantic. But you forgot one simple truth about my kind, beast."
I raised my right hand, palm facing the sky. The shadows pooling at my feet didn't just crawl—they erupted. Hundreds of liquid obsidian blades shot up from the ground, hovering in the air around me. They vibrated at a frequency so high they hummed like a swarm of angry hornets.
"We do not need the sun. And tonight, the moon belongs to me."
The Alpha, desperate and terrified, let out a panicked, cornered roar. He forced his heavy, trembling legs to move, drawing on the last reserves of his corrupted energy.
"Ati unadhani hii itaniacha nikuogope?! (You think this will make me fear you?!)" he yelled, his voice cracking. He lunged forward again, swinging a heavy, desperate claw at my neck.
I didn't even need to use my god-like speed. I sidestepped his swipe with inches to spare, the air whistling past my face. As his massive, silver-furred arm passed me, I reached out and grabbed his wrist. My grip, fueled by the infinite strength of the Blood Moon, crushed the hard bone of his forearm like it was made of dry twigs.
CRACK.
The Alpha screamed, a guttural sound of pure agony that echoed off the mountain walls and carried down into the valleys. He dropped to his knees, clutching his broken arm, looking up at me with eyes that no longer held arrogance—only pure, unadulterated terror.
"Acha kuringa (Stop showing off)," a voice called out from behind me, sharp and full of defiance.
I glanced back over my shoulder. Elagra hadn't run to the tunnels. She hadn't retreated. She was standing there in the middle of the courtyard, holding a long, silver-tipped spear she had grabbed from the weapon rack by the heavy doors. Her breathing was steady, her stance wide and practiced, her eyes fierce.
"I told you I'd watch your back, Dracula! Tuko pamoja (We are in this together). Now finish him!"
I smiled, my fangs extending fully as a dark chuckle escaped my lips. I looked back at the crippled giant kneeling before me.
"With pleasure," I whispered.
The shadows around me coalesced, forming a massive, six-foot blade of pure, hardened blood and obsidian. The battle for the mountain had only just begun, but the Alpha had just realized he wasn't hunting prey anymore. He was standing in the presence of a god.