Building A Human Empire By Creating A Clan [EN]: Chapter 63

The battle was short.

Few of the Blood Clan were unscathed, and the Familiars were too numerous.

There was no way to win against the horde that charged in, ignoring all damage.

Overwhelmed, Vlad and the Blood Clan were driven back.

“Kuh, huff!”

Vlad coughed up blood.

His exhausted body breathed heavily, causing blood to flow in reverse.

“You vermin…!”

He looked around.

The only Blood Clan member standing beside him was his eldest, Konrad.

“Cough, cough!”

Konrad’s condition was even worse.

Arrows, swords, and spears were embedded all over his body.

He was only standing because a spear piercing his chest was stuck in the ground.

Leaning against the spear, he continuously dribbled blood from his mouth.

Vlad caught his breath and reached out to Konrad.

“Father… are you alrigh, huff!”

Sharp, white, and long fangs bit into Konrad’s neck.

Gulp, gulp…

Vlad sucked Konrad’s blood with all his might.

Konrad made sounds like, “Uh, uh,” and rolled his eyes back.

His strength depleted, he couldn’t even resist and trembled.

His skin instantly dried up like a mummy, clinging to his bones.

In contrast, Vlad’s body began to heal rapidly.

Thud.

When no more blood came out, Vlad let go.

As he let go, the spear supporting his body tilted to the side, and he collapsed.

Konrad’s body, hanging like dried fish on the spear, disintegrated into salt crystals before touching the ground.

“Hoo—.”

There was no pity on Vlad’s face.

A satisfied expression, as if he had quenched an extreme hunger.

He even burped loudly.

“Is the family game over?”

Edar asked, watching the scene.

His eyes were very cold, as if seeing something obvious without any surprise.

“He was going to die anyway. If so, he should know how to sacrifice himself for his father.”

“Was that just a sacrifice?”

Vlad closed his mouth and glared at Edar.

As his wounds healed, his depleted energy was returning.

He breathed evenly, straightened his bent back, and extended his nails.

“······.”

Calliope stood before him.

His eyes trembled as he looked at her, who had killed half of the Blood Clan.

As she took a step forward, he took a step back.

However, he couldn’t retreat on the second step.

The Familiars were surrounding him.

Even if he retreated, he couldn’t create distance.

“Damn it….”

Black mist rose from Vlad’s feet.

He leaned his upper body forward, baring his teeth.

The moment he postured as if to pounce on Calliope,

he turned his body and reached out to Edar.

“Edar Lundringen!”

Magic surged from his right hand with fury.

“You’re the only one!”

The magic gathered at his fingertips was fired.

The magic shot out in a straight line towards Edar.

“Ugh!”

Griff and Pasimea urgently raised their magic.

A transparent barrier like a shimmer formed in front, colliding with the magic.

Crack, a cracking sound was heard, and some of the magic penetrated through the gap.

Swish!

“······.”

Edar stroked his neck.

A long cut marked where the magic had grazed.

The wound wasn’t deep, but something had been severed as his neck was cut.

Thud—

The pendant with its string cut fell to the ground.

“······!”

The jewel embedded in the center of the pendant.

The jewel containing Tiamar’s soul.

Vlad trembled violently as he saw it.

“That is….”

His eyes bulged as if they would burst.

His mouth opened as if his jaw would fall off, and he made foolish noises like, “Uh, uh.”

“You… how did you…?”

Edar didn’t answer.

He simply bent down, picked up the pendant, and smiled at him.

That smile was the expression he made when his scheme had worked, but Vlad, trembling in shock, didn’t notice it.

Those whose souls were corrupted by Tiamar’s temptation couldn’t recognize it.

“Why is that in your hands—!”

A scream close to a shriek.

At the same time, Calliope charged.

The blade reached out, aiming for Vlad’s neck.

He tried to let the blade pass by turning into mist.

However, Pasimea reached out first.

Her magic prevented him from turning into mist.

Swoosh!

Vlad’s head rolled on the ground.

“——!”

The head, not shedding a single drop of blood even after being cut off, screamed.

It was clearly saying something, but no sound came out.

Its gaze was fixed on Edar, no, on the jewel, revealing its desire.

Crack!

Calliope’s foot stomped on the head.

The head became salt crystals and scattered in all directions.

The body, having completely lost its life, also disintegrated.

And from the disintegrated body, faint magic arose.

The magic that should have scattered when death came was gathering.

Pasimea felt this and flinched.

“Edar, wait—”

“You think Vlad isn’t dead?”

Pasimea nodded heavily.

“I know.”

“When he decided to leave only his Blood Clan, there were countless resistances and he faced life-threatening crises. At that time, he made arrangements to be resurrected even if he died.”

Edar looked at the sunset sky.

Pasimea felt the flow of magic with her senses.

In his eyes, it appeared as a translucent soul.

The soul screamed and gradually disappeared.

“He will soon borrow the body of a Blood Clan member in the Empire and rise again.”

“He’s coming back to life? After all this mess?”

“There’s nothing to worry about. He has to protect me now.”

He put the pendant in his pocket.

“I showed him that Tiamar’s soul is with me.”

As he spoke, he reached into the crystals Vlad had left behind.

He grabbed a ring.

A ring with a ruby-like red jewel in the center.

“His fragment is here.”

Pasimea narrowed her eyes as she looked at the ring.

“Fragment? Tiamar’s soul, something like that?”

“Similar.”

It was similar to the jewel containing Tiamar’s soul, but different.

The jewel in the pendant was just a jewel no matter how closely you looked at it, but magic was leaking out when you got close to the jewel in the ring.

“Ominous.”

“Because it contains a part of the soul that was fragmented for immortality. It’s also a ring with a bit of will. In other words, someone with a weak will could have their body taken over.”

“Then that….”

“But it’s useless to me.”

Edar put the ring on his index finger.

For a moment, magic rose from the ring and enveloped him.

However, the magic only enveloped him and didn’t permeate him.

The magic soon subsided back into the ring, and he raised his hand.

He stretched it forward so that the jewel reflected the sunset and whispered.

“Servants on this land. I, the master of Vlad von Holstein, speak. Return to ashes.”

Then the ring emitted a red light, and silence fell over the city.