The Fallen Vampire

For cultivators, cultivation is a lifelong practice that promises to claim an exorbitantly large amount of time from one's life.

The mortal and beast realms are usually advanced through quickly without much issue, but from the overlord realm onward things become more… difficult.

Within the overlord realm, the qi accumulated in the body from various breakthroughs is condensed, refined, and cleansed of impurities to give the cultivator a surface level talent to draw power from the heavens and earth.

They gain the ability to fly on their own, use telekinesis, and can manipulate and generate any of the five pure elements; albeit to a lesser degree than those who are born with them.

Generally, the time required to gain total understanding of the overlord realm and break through it takes around 250-450 years.

The venerable realm focuses on the utilization of qi; the life energy that courses through all things.

In this realm, cultivators learn how to solidify and shape their qi to form various tools, items, and even weapons.

Breaking through the venerable realm requires anywhere from 800 - 1,000 years of cultivation, and there are a great many who reach an inescapable bottleneck and their journey is cut short.

But for those who are so talented and lucky, they are able to take the first true steps toward comprehension of Mahayana- the formation of a dao heart.

The amount of time it takes one to do that… we no longer know the answer.

Evidently, it has been so long since anyone in Tayar has risen past the sovereign realm that no one is quite sure of the requirements to climb farther up the ladder anymore.

Save for Ja'Zaki Ssri, who still sits on the first level of the quasi-god realm even after 1,900 years- but even he is unable to move up even a single level more.

However, The Heavenly Demon Kyoen Jiraigumo was more than confident that he would be the first to reach the hallowed realm in centuries and continue the climb.

For all intents and purposes, he was an unseen prodigy in the fallen race on the same level as the heroes.

After only 780 years of cultivation, the leader of the demon race had achieved the feat of moving to the second level of the sovereign realm.

This has only sparked widespread praise and acclaim from his followers, as demons are famously a race who follow and value only the strong.

Why would they not be elated to have a leader who now holds power that only a few in this world still posses?

He was already capable of fighting one level above his realm before, but now surely his feats would be even grander!

As such, you could say that the demon ruler had grown a bit of a big head.

And currently, Ayame and the other three heads were at the receiving end of it.

"I tell you, I find this meeting to be unnecessary! Now that I am sitting firmly within the sovereign realm, I could crush all of the heroes on my own!"

Ayame opened her one good eye and stared at the prideful and arrogant demon.

He was a very handsome and young looking man with dark skin and long dreadlocks that travelled all the way to his feet.

His eyes were entirely black, and there were six dotted markings stationed around them that seemed to be both functional and ritualistic.

He wore dark brown robes interwoven with golden fabric with the insignia of a large spider across the back.

At his waist hung multiple scimitars with pitch black blades and unrivaled sharpness.

Silently, Ja'Zaki and Ayame passed a look between them as they sipped their tea.

'Do you want to deal with this...?'

'....No.'

Their agreement forged, the two of them put their heads down and continued to sip without acknowledging his boasting.

Kyoen frowned deeply, and took their silence as non belief.

"You think me a needless boaster? We could venture out right now and I would-"

"You would do what, exactly?" A female voice spoke up.

Kyoen dragged his eyes across the body of a woman with dark blue skin covered in mesmerizing black tattoos.

She unnaturally beautiful, with sleek black hair and profoundly deep red eyes that seemed to be lacking in any sort of warmth or empathy.

Silver piercings lined her pointed ears as a sign of rejection and nonconformity- as it is a cardinal sin for elves light and dark alike to alter their ears in any way.

Her black lips were full, seductive, and unsmiling, and they looked to be even softer than a cloud made from dreams.

She was such a remarkable vision that one would be hard pressed to find her equal in any stretch of these great lands.

This was Aja Druj, the Lich Queen and an Arcane user of five stars.

"You are so proud of your power, yet you had one of your strongholds overrun by the Hero of Enraged Land, and now he has a fortified base sitting firmly within the middle of your territory."

"You dare-"

"Face it. You are just as out manned as we against the races of light and their heroes. If you weren't, you would not even be at this meeting. So shut up, drink your tea, and wait for the last guest to arrive like the rest of us."

Kyoen ground his teeth together like an enraged beast as he started to get up from his chair.

"I would ask that you not do anything stupid." Ayame finally said.

"The heroes are having an easy enough time killing us all of as it is. You want us to make it even easier for them?" Ja' Zaki asked.

The spider demon showed some traces of animosity in his black eyes before inevitably sitting back in his chair, his clawed fingers tapping on the wood impatiently.

He stared at the six empty seats on the other end of the table and he sneered inwardly.

"And who is this.. guest who is so impudent as to make us wait for them? If it isn't Astaroth himself I can scarcely see why we have yet to begin without them!"

At that, Ja'Zaki couldn't help but agree.

He placed his cup down and turned to Ayame at his side, seeming equally curious yet less impatient.

"I'd like to know the answer to that myself. I cannot think of anyone else whom you would make these sort of arrangements for."

"..." Ayame continued to sip quietly and said nothing.

"...You're joking. It's him? I didn't think he was still alive."

"He was in seclusion I guess you could say... Although it seemed more like a honeymoon whenever I visited." Ayame muttered.

"...A honeymoon... For fifty years...? While the world burned? ...He is his father's son indeed."

"Might you clue the rest of us in on who you're even speaking about?" Aja asked robotically.

"One of Alucard's boys. His youngest." Ja'Zaki answered.

Both Aja and Kyoen showed a noticeable degree of surprise at that before resuming their stone-faced demeanors.

"I had heard rumors but... I thought them to be false when there were no sightings after several years."

"As did I."

Ayame shook her head as she refilled her cup mindlessly.

"No, he's very much still around. Though his absence from this world has had less to do with frivolity and more to do with preparation. He's grown quite strong in this time. So much so that I hardly recognize him anymore."

Intrigued beyond description, Ja'Zaki sat up in his chair and leaned in close to the unfriendly werewolf queen.

"Tell me... How strong has the young vampire grown in only fifty years, hm? Someone confident enough to refuse my tutelage must surely have done something impressive."

Ayame smirked and glanced at Ja'Zaki out of the corner of her eye.

"If I told you that he now sits at the fifth level of the sovereign realm, and is a five star Arcane user, would you believe me?"

"...No."

"Oh well, I tried."

Ayame continued drinking and seemed determined not to say even a single thing more.

However, not everyone would let her be so quiet.

"Your fables have gone a step too far into fabrication! 50 years to reach the sovereign realm for someone who can't even cultivate?! Are you trying to piss me off?" Kyoen argued.

"Why O' why would I ever care enough about you to piss you off?" Ayame said sleepily. "And it's not just him either... all of his wives are talented but that one is..."

Creak!

The sound of the heavy wooden doors to the meeting room opening drew the attention of everyone inside.

The first to step inside was a tall man of around 6'5 with ashen brown skin that looked like it hadn't seen proper sunlight in decades.

His hair was long and wild, stopping just below his waist and giving him an air of majesty and charisma.

He wore a simple outfit of a black shirt and pants with a golden robe tied around his waist.

A small amount of jewelry adorned his wrists, neck, and ankles; but his feet were bare, almost like he couldn't find any shoes or he wouldn't bother to put any on.

Bold black tattoos covered his arms and the visible parts of his chest- written in some kind of demonic language.

In the center of his forehead, there was a glowing red mark that seemed like some kind of branding or maybe even a symbol.

Behind his back were nine steel grey tails that were equally large and fluffy, and seemed dense enough to put the softest bed in the world to shame.

His red eyes were closed as if he were sleepwalking, and yet he never missed a single step or faltered in his movements.

Behind him, there were five women of varying shapes and appearances in black bodysuits and kimonos who had figures that were to die for.

But there was one among them who did not belong here.

"You brats are late." Ayame said. "What was the purpose of giving you notice about this event two days in advance if you weren't gong to be on time?"

Out from behind one divine fox, another ran out who bore a striking resemblance to the werewolf queen.

"It wasn't our fault, mother! Enyo wouldn't get out of bed again and she turned herself into an elephant seal to keep us all down with her!"

"H-Hey! That was supposed to be our secret!"

Ignoring all of that, Kyoen flung his chair back as he stood up angrily and approached the intruding group.

"You dare bring a human here!? Supreme Fallen or not, you.."

The Heavenly Demon attempted to point a clawed finger at the beautiful human woman who was walking with her arm intertwined with a man.

However, once he got to a certain distance he realized that his hand was missing.

And at some point, he had been surrounded in an instant.

The women who were so light hearted and chattering a moment ago were all around him with various weapons drawn.

'What...?'

Taira opened his unnatural red eyes and they seemed to glow with palpable irritation.

"I'm not a man who enjoys talking... especially to thoughtless people like you. But one second here and I already have to step out of my comfort zone... I hate the outside world so much..."

Taira approached the handless demon lord with silent steps and inadvertently made him shrink back.

"I do not care who you are, and I am not going to warn you a second time. If you raise your voice at my wife again, your head will hit the floor before your unkind words reach her ears. Do you understand?"

From that point, Taira's eyes started to process everything in slow motion.

The gnashed teeth of the spider demon, the twitching of the vein in his forehead and the flexing of his hands all told the fox hybrid what he was about to do.

'Wonderful. I was so hoping that you would give me an excuse to exercise.'