They were telling the truth. The Iron Maiden was the one true religion they’d been looking for all this time!

Arthrax slapped his own forehead. He couldn’t believe that he doubted their words for even a second. He was even planning on getting out of New Sparta because he didn’t think that they were telling the truth!

If that had happened, he would have missed out on the greatest thing that would have happened to his life.

Not only did they find Gaia, who turned out to be the Iron Maiden, but they were also introduced to the Progenitor of the Vampire Race! The Original Vampire herself!

When she disappeared some thousands of years ago, many people thought that she died. Even the other Vampires have come to terms with the fact that their Progenitor had been killed alongside the disappearance of their religion.

But as it turned out, she was here! Any Royalblood Vampire would immediately be able to recognize her. It was built-in to their very body.

Arthrax immediately felt a cold shiver run down his spine.

It wasn’t because of Fudge’s words about them being his servants. It was because Arthrax almost performed an even greater sin.

If Fudge hadn’t made that bet with them and forced them to come to this place, then they wouldn’t have found out the truth. They were lucky that being servants was their only punishment. In fact, after knowing that the violet slime was telling the truth, they were now very happy serving the prophet of Gaia with no reservations in their heart.

"Now let us introduce you to the rest of our religion."

Lilith, Fudge, and Kuno led the Royalblood Vampires through the Cathedral, espousing the history of the Iron Maiden as well as their teachings.

It wasn’t long before Arthrax and his pack of Vampires became incredibly obedient towards Fudge.

"We are at your service," they said, kneeling on the ground. "We will do whatever we can to help spread the ideology of Reborn."

They were also told about Reborn’s connection to the church, as well as the importance of their nation and business.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Fudge laughed maniacally. "Very well. For your first order of business, you must introduce me to your other Royalblood Vampires. They must become my servants too!"

...

...

...

Michael was quite disappointed with Jaku’s result. He wasn’t mad that the lazy Dragonborn won. He was mad at how easy he had it.

He thought this competition would finally make Jaku open his eyes to practice. Yet, it had done the opposite.

With how easy he had it defeating his opponents, it only veiled his opinion that practice didn’t matter, only sleep matters.

Michael had a bad feeling that Jaku was going to breeze through this competition without much problem.

What the hell, I thought this competition would bring out the best youthful talents from all over the globe?

Of course, those swordsmen really were talented. Jaku was just better.

"Hopefully, Jaku would face a little bit of trouble in the top 16."

The next round eventually commenced, pitting those 16 swordsmen in a single elimination bracket.

And as the first fight started, Michael was suddenly contacted by one of the Shadow Orc Chiefs.

"Narito, what’s up?"

The Orcanine Chief pumped his muscles and banged it with his fists with rhythm. "BU TO TO! We have some movement, boss."

"The Ersatz?" Michael asked gravely.

"No, boss. We have seen a few humans stalking around the place where the Ersatz members disappeared off to."

It seemed that they weren’t the only ones tracking the Ersatz movement.

"Who were they?"

"They seemed to be from the Order of the Heavenly Knights, boss. They bore that emblem on their armor."

Narito gave Michael a printed picture of the supposed Knights tracking Ersatz.

Michael immediately noticed that they weren’t like the Knights he saw here in New Sparta. These Knights wore minimal armor, seemingly prioritizing their mobility rather than defense.

On their backs were bows and crossbows.

[They seem to be Knights from the Way of the Shooter.]

ChatJK6 gave him a brief description about this faction of Knights. It seemed that they used long-ranged weapons as their main weapons, with a reputation of being stealthy hunters.

"Do you know their mission? Are they here for recon or infiltration?"

Narito kneeled in repentance. "Apologies, boss. We are far too weak to figure out the truth. They are being protected by a powerful figure that we dare not cross. Just taking a picture of them almost blew away our stealth.

We have reason to believe that they are being led by a Heavenly Knight himself."

Michael’s eyebrows raised as he heard that. A Heavenly Knight from the Way of the Shooter.

He did hear that there were more Heavenly Knights in New Sparta because of the exhibition. But it seemed that they were also here for a completely different reason.

"Good job. Don’t disturb them and don’t come close to them," Michael said to Narito.

Although they were after the same enemy, that didn’t mean that they were allies. At least, not yet. Not when he didn’t know their purpose. He also didn’t want anyone else knowing that they were hunting after the Ersatz.

But just as Narito was about to descend down into the shadows, a completely new shadow emerged right next to him.

It was Sasuki.

The Orcupine Chieftain kneeled at Michael with a worried expression on his face.

"Boss. We may have a problem," he said.

Michael was immediately alert. Did the Ersatz faction move? Did they discover their involvement in the Stronghold siege? Were they attacking Reborn?

"What is it?"

"The Knights were approached by some people," Sasuki said.

"And?"

Sasuki’s face turned awkward. "And... I think you should see them for yourself."

Michael followed behind the Shadow Orcs as they teleported out of New Sparta and into a forest perched atop a cliffside.

They were at the very edge. And down below, Michael saw the Knights interacting with a few other people.

They were Vampires. And a little violet slime.