Vampire's Blood Ascension-Chapter 17: Sanctuary City 08-A

As the hover jet moved towards Sanctuary City 08-A, a miniature three-dimensional holographic model of the city appeared in the center of the main cabin.

The city was round, encased in an enormous wall and an energy barrier that kept it safe from the flying dreadborn. The wall was reinforced with hypergraphene plates with a living infrastructure somewhat better than tier two. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

At the center of it was a pointed spire that seemed to touch the sky.

Outside the city, there were multiple dots, most of which were bright yellow, and a few were dark yellow.

The brighter dots were of the rank 1 terror gates, while the darker ones were of the rank 2 terror gates.

’Nine terror gates... three rank two and six rank one,’ Rudy counted them in his head.

Seeing so many dots, John jumped out of his seat and muttered, "What the hell?! I don’t want to go to such a dangerous place!"

"You don’t have a choice, Cadet toilet attendant," Ray commented with a grin.

John glared at him and shot back, "You—"

"We are about to land." Angelo’s voice echoed within the main cabin.

John scoffed and sat down.

Angelo lowered the hover jet at the left end of the sanctuary and parked it right there.

The control room’s door slid open, and Angelo walked out with his left wrist beside his left ear. "We have reached the location."

His gaze passed through all four of them, and he walked towards the door.

The circle stood up from their seats and followed behind him.

One by one, they stepped out of the hover jet and were finally able to look at the actual city.

The city was full of buildings, skyscrapers, shops, and much more. Every street was alit by neon lights that filled the place; however, even with all of this, it still fell short of the headquarters. There was one reason Rudy didn’t actually dislike it.

’At least it isn’t just red and black.’

A screech came from the left, and all of them turned towards it.

Some distance from them stood an armoured rover with a reinforced white upper body and a heavy-duty black lower frame.

ARO had oversized rugged wheels, a panoramic armored windshield, roof-mounted equipment, and a compact, tactical design built for rough terrain and secure mobility with enough space for six people to sit comfortably.

Its front two doors opened, and two men in gray syndicate uniforms walked towards them.

The one on the left was a young man, seemingly in his early twenties, with styled dark hair and deep oceanic eyes; the older one, presumably in his forties, had short dark red hair, a ducktail beard, and black eyes.

Both of them had balanced builds, but the older one was a bit darker and taller.

The older man stopped before Angelo, offered his hand to him, and said, "It’s great to see you again, Enforcer Angelo."

Corners of Angelo’s lips lifted upwards. He shook hands with him and said, "It’s great to see you too, Enforcer Dawin."

Dawin’s gaze passed through the circle of the four cadets and stopped at Rudy. The corners of his lips curved upwards, and he muttered, "You really brought out the big guns, huh..."

Angelo chuckled. "Let’s move somewhere private."

Dawin nodded, turned his head to the back, and said, "James, take their hover jet to the hangar!"

James, who was staring at Rudy with wide eyes, shook his head, took the card key from Angelo, and walked towards the hover jet while peeking at Rudy.

"Let’s go." Dawin and Angelo walked towards ARO, and the circle followed behind them.

All of them climbed the ARO. It roared and sped towards the syndicate’s base.

Rudy looked outside the window and stared at the passing buildings when all of a sudden, Trina tapped his shoulder.

’Hmm?’ He turned his head towards her and asked, "Is something wrong?"

Trina didn’t say anything; instead, she pointed at his haloband.

His brows furrowed upwards, he clicked on the haloband’s screen, and a hologram appeared above it.

[Cadet Trina Salinas has sent you a follow request.]

[Accept / Ignore]

’A follow request? What does she want?’ He wondered and pressed to accept.

[You have accepted Trina Salinas’s follow request.]

[Now they can call and message you accordingly.]

Just as that message appeared, Trina curled into herself and sent him a message.

[Trina: Aren’t you scared?]

’Scared?’ Rudy blinked a few times and mumbled, "Why should I be?"

[Trina: It would be your first time fighting a dreadborn, no?]

Rudy shook his head and explained, "I fought one in my trial."

Trina’s eyes lit up in understanding.

[Trina: But this time there would be more than one of them...]

"That’s true..." Rudy leaned back in his seat, looked at her with a smile, and said, "Thanks for warning me."

Trina’s eyes smiled, and she messaged.

[Trina: Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you!]

A genuine smile appeared on his face, and he muttered, "I’d be grateful..."

All of a sudden, their halobands glitched, and Rudy looked outside.

Far from them, at the center of the city, stood an enormous, pointed spire, its walls twisting upward like thick, dark roots. Ominous purple light seeped from the broken sections, and at its base, an entrance led to a room brightened by the dim white orb at its center and the purple light falling from above.

Seeing the dark spire, a chill ran down Rudy’s spine, and he mumbled darkly, "Realm spire..."

The area around the realm spire was empty as it disrupted all kinds of wireless signals.

An excited glint flickered in Rudy’s eyes, and he remarked in his head, ’Using that, I can step inside the old realm...’

He fell into his seat. ’But it’s too early... and there would be no point in entering an already discovered area.’

He clenched his fist. ’I’ll wait for a raid gate and, using that, I will enter an undiscovered part of the old realm.’