Zeres followed the sound cautiously, his hand gripping the hilt of his longsword as he let his own senses guide him.

"There it is" his lips lifted upwards when he saw a group of black figures walking awkwardly, some had three limbs, others even have two heads. Their bodily liquids continued to drop on the ground every second.

"Uhh, still can’t get used to this" Zeres pulled his longsword out, his grip tight while he stared quietly at the group of Hollows circling each other, the Hollows movement was weird, they were circling each other in an orderly fashion.

"Let me see it better above" he whispered, then black feathers appeared around him as his figure vanished, replaced by a Raven with crimson eyes.

"I should have use this earlier when going out of Lilith, I just had to forget it when I needed it the most" he sighed quietly, then flap his wings.

"Now let’s see what they’re doing" perched on a dead tree, Zeres watched the Hollows moved for quite a while, but nothing out of the blue happened.

"Maybe I’m just getting paranoid" he click his tounge, ready to land on the ground—when he heard footsteps, a footsteps and a smell of blood completely unfamiliar to him—the blood, smelled rotten despite running inside a body.

’What is this rotten smell? ’ Zeres’ face scrunched, his head snapping towards the place where he can smell a rotten blood.

"Of all times, why do those meddlesome Lunaire Academy have to come! " the figure in black cloak clicked his tounge, then it tilted it’s head slightly

"Ohh, you mean some of you have seen a man with blonde locks with sapphire eyes? Thanks for telling me, Feilres the second prince will definitely be put to good use once I passed this news to his Excellency!" It bowed it’s head at the Hollow, then his robe fell off.

"W-what t-o d-do, I-im t-too exc-cited! " it’s neck was twisted, half of it’s head was not there, it smiled maddeningly, then his shoulders trembled for a moment, and the two of his arms became massive snakes.

What’s happening? this wasn’t mentioned on the book. Zeres racked his brains, searching for informations on his fragmented memories—then he found one. It was a detail written on the book as one of the reason’s the rebelion against the Empire started.

"A dreadspawn" Zeres gulped as he stared at the figure standing on the ground quietly, one of it’s eyes had left it’s own eye sockets to search for it’s target.

Dreadspawn, they were a rank higher than Ravager, they gained skills and their consciousness are more stronger—more importantly, they were born from either a forbidden ritual or the pure concentration of malice and hatred.

It’s not much of a threat, we have a total of four people who can handle such Forsaken of that rank including me—but Feilres won’t be able to defeat it.

Flapping his own wings, Zeres landed down nimbly on the ground, his long white hair fluttered on his back, eyes like rubies staring straight at the figure before him, or a Forsaken one.

"You should change the body you’re using as a vessel, the blood’s already rotten—it’s so bad that I can consider it one of the most terrifying things I’ve experienced." Zeres said calmly, trudging towards the Dreadspawn.

"I-is t-that s-so, then c-can I u-use your b-body? " turning it’s incomplete head, it stared at Zeres, the one eyes remaining on it’s right gleamed as the two snakes on the Dreadspawn’s hand lunged straight at Zeres.

He twisted his torso slightly, he gripped the hilt of the sword tightly, then he swung his sword. The sound of steel meeting fleash resounded as the two head of the massive snakes dropped on the ground, severed.

The Dreadspawn raised it’s hands, the severed snake recovering quickly, he opened his mouth, a foul stench and black smoke emerged, then all of the hollows who were circling mindlessly immediately lunged straight at him. They brandished their claws mindlessly, others even accidentally bit on each other.

"Choose an obedient dog if you’re gonna use them, not some fool like these" he murmured, his voice low as he made a one swift step and a shining blade followed. Immediately, all the heads heads of the Hollow’s were severed cleanly, dropping off one by one.

"D-dont underestimate me!" The Dreadspawn roared, dropping to his knees, his mouth opened in an unbeley size as a massive hand made it’s way out of his mouth. The air stirred as the hand finally managed to get out. It had a black liquid body, but it has a tail, the tail of a scorpion.

"A Ravager? " As if that wasn’t enough, a total of seven ghoul-rank even appeared "I see, this Dreadspawn’s ability is kind control—very nice"

The Ravager moved, his tail immediately enlarged then lunged straight at his neck, the tail oozed of green smoke emanating from the tip—a poison. Then came the Ghouls, they all moved in unison—they all opened their floral heads with razor sharp teeth as pollen engulfed the whole place.

Zeres moved back, immediately making a distance between him and the Ghouls who just oozed a poison out of nowhere. Then his head snapped upwards, the arms of the Dreamspawn which used to be a snake became a razor sharp blade. The Dreamspawn swung it down, spark of steel appeared as they continued to swing their own blade at each others throat.

’Strong’ Zeres clenched his teeth, his hands were throbbing with pain everytime he parried the heavy attacks of the Dreamswpwan. In an instant, his instincts flared as he shapeshifted into a Raven, glancing back, he let out a laugh—the Ravager-rank Forsaken had pierced the abdomen of the Dreamspawn. It was a sight to behold, both Forsakens going against each other.

The Ravager tilted it’s head slightly, then it opened it’s stictched mouth "H-how d-dare yo-u, to u-use me l-like a p-pup-pet! " it growled then it lunged itself straight towards the Dreamspawn.

"Futile" the Dreamspawn spoke quite clearly that even Zeres stared for a moment, then the whole body of the Ravager erupted before it can reach the Dreamspawn clutching it’s abdomen.

’It’s weakened, I should finish this’

Zeres stared at his hand, it was trembling, his grip on the hilt loosening by the second "Damn, I really need a Performance Art, even some Forsaken can deflect my strikes" he hissed, landing on the ground again—he made his mana run wild, he immediately felt all his senses enhanced drastically, he glanced at his hands, it shook quite strongly.

"I should end this quickly" he spoke, his voice was barely heard because of the violent mana surrounding him. just then—the surrounding stilled, the mana he seeped out converged on a single point as a small crimson orb appeared at the tip of his dark longsword.

The Dreamswpwan instinctively called all of the remaining Forsakens he had under command to shield him for what’s to come.

"Smart, but that won’t be enough" Zeres smiled coldly, he had finally did it, one of the techniques the protagonist uses, the advantage of converging mana. Then he swung it, the surrounding flash red as it was immediately engulfed in Zeres’ violent mana.

The Forsakens blocking the Dreamspawn was cleanly severed one after another, their heads falling like dominos, the massive sword slash’s momentum didn’t change—it still went after the Dreamspawn who was running quite quickly.

"This technique sure is handy, but it costs to much mana to be maintained" Zeres leaned against a dead tree, staring how the Dreamspawn got severed into two.

Zeres sighed "I’m in need of a performance art—" just then, he felt something hot course through his chest, he crouched down instinctively, then he vomited a blood, it had a green pus color, and a foul stench coming from it made hin vomit more.

"That was a good show, but you’re quite reckless, is it because you’re not a human? " Zeres’ head snapped towards a dark path of the Blightlands, closing his eyes, he tried feeling the flow and rhythm of heartbeat from that corner.

It was a familiar rhythm

His posture eased as he completely leaned against the dead tree, gazing at the sky, he asked "is it done already? "

"Not yet, we’re the first to finish our side I think" the figure stepped out from the dark corner, Zeres glanced up. Long dark raven hair cascading down her back, eyes like a molten sun and a passive expression, she stopped before him—then she extended her arm.

"Huh? " Zeres tilted his head slightly, unsure what of what she want.

"You’re a vampire, you won’t need such things as potions, you just have go drink a blood to expell the poison out of your body" she said, her expression still as passive as ever.

"I’ll take you up on the offer then" Zeres lifted his lips, his sharp canines showed as he gently bit into her flesh. Saelyz’ body jolted for a moment, her fingers clenching —before she went back on her casual demeanor.