You had to admit—Blade truly was fate's chosen one.
As a half-human, half-vampire hybrid, he possessed every strength of the vampire race, while his human blood had purged all their weaknesses. In short, he was a perfect being—just like Dracula himself. He could walk freely under the sun, had no maddening thirst for blood, yet retained all the supernatural power of his vampiric lineage.
Inside the nightclub, chaos reigned.
Depravity and hunger filled the air—vampires had cast off their human masks, letting pure animal instinct take control.
The pounding bass and writhing bodies all around made Blade frown as he climbed to the second floor.
From a dark corner, a man the size of a small truck stepped into his path.
"You can't go in there."
The man's black suit looked painted onto his massive frame—his arms thicker than a normal man's thighs. He was a walking fortress.
Blade silently handed him a card.
The giant glanced at it, then nodded and stepped aside, opening the door behind him.
"Ohhh, the famous Daywalker…"
A deep, hoarse voice echoed through the room. "Didn't think you'd come looking for me. Should I be honored?"
At the center of the room lay a mountain of flesh—so massive she nearly filled half the chamber. The creature—technically a woman—had to weigh at least seven or eight hundred pounds.
Her enormous, bloated body sank into a bed creaking under the strain, surrounded by monitors and computer rigs that blinked and hummed in the dim light.
The woman's short, stubby arms reached for a keyboard. She tried to turn her head toward Blade but couldn't—her face was buried in her own flesh, trapped by her own body.
Blade didn't bother moving closer. He pulled out a memory card and tossed it toward her.
"I need you to decrypt the data on this."
The woman let out a wheezing laugh. "Wow~~ the legendary Daywalker actually asking me for help? Now that's rich!"
Blade's face didn't change. His next words wiped the smirk right off hers.
"It's a fragment of the Book of Truth."
Silence.
The mocking grin froze on her face, replaced by raw astonishment.
Among vampires, the Book of Truth was akin to humanity's original Bible—an ancient, sacred text. Everyone had heard of it, but few had ever laid eyes on it. No one truly knew where it came from. Some said it was written by Eve, others by Cain—or even by Dracula himself. Whatever its origin, its existence was undeniable.
There were very few vampires left who could read it—and this grotesque woman was one of them.
Blade already knew she worked for Deacon Frost, which was precisely why he'd come. She couldn't refuse.
After a few moments of silence, she finally spoke.
"Come back in three days… and I want five hundred thousand."
Blade nodded once and turned to leave. He had no interest in staying in that stinking room—the stench of sweat and rot made his vampiric senses ache.
As soon as he was gone, the woman pressed a button embedded in her rolls of flesh.
Moments later, the burly guard from before entered.
"Tell Deacon Frost what happened," she ordered coldly. "Inform him I'll need three days to decrypt it."
"Yes, ma'am."
The man bowed slightly and left.
"Daywalker…" the woman croaked, a wicked grin spreading across her face. "In three days, it'll be your death day…"
Her laughter filled the room—ugly, guttural, toadlike.
Outside, Blade took a deep breath of fresh air, pulling out his earpiece. He'd heard every word exchanged between the woman and her bodyguard—word for word.
The moment he entered her chamber, he'd planted a listening device just a few feet from her bulk.
"Yeah," he murmured under his breath, straddling his motorcycle. "Three days… That's when you die, Frost."
The engine roared as he sped off into the night.
Three days.
That was all the time Karen needed to finish the serum. When it was done, the final confrontation would begin—and only one of them would walk away alive.
---
Meanwhile, Lucas had returned to his apartment. Without hesitation, he entered his Chocobo space. After harvesting a new batch of Saghir Greens, he sank into the warm onsen, his thoughts drifting to the coming days.
He remembered that Frost's ritual took place in a castle-like fortress—inside a circular tower where the vampire elders' blood was used to summon the so-called Blood God.
In his past life, the movie version had made that "Blood God" look pathetically weak—battling Blade evenly, even overpowering him at first, only to be killed by a few doses of serum. Lucas knew that portrayal was nonsense. A being like that should have been far stronger.
What puzzled him was why the system hadn't issued a mission for this event.
Was the Blood God Ritual not part of the official "Marvel major events" timeline?
The warm water made him drowsy, and before he knew it, he had fallen asleep right there in the onsen.
He ended up spending the night in the pocket dimension, only waking up when Skye's voice called him the next morning.
When he arrived at the agency, Natasha and Coulson were already sitting on the couch, waiting.
Lucas scowled. "What does Fury want this time? You know my fees aren't cheap."
Natasha rolled her eyes and said nothing, lounging lazily against the sofa.
Coulson sighed, offering a wry smile. "We've received intel that the Vampire Council has been imprisoned. A new leader has taken control—and they've torn up the peace treaty. It looks like the vampires are preparing to go to war with humanity."
"And that's my problem because…?" Lucas arched a brow. "I'm not a vampire. Shouldn't that be your job, Agent S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
Coulson rubbed his temples. "The issue is, we don't have much intel on them. We were hoping you could share what you know—you've fought them before."
Lucas shrugged. "Why not ask Frank? Fury loves pestering him."
"We did," Coulson said with a helpless chuckle. "Frank told us you know more than he does. Fury insisted we ask you."
Lucas muttered something under his breath about Fury's shamelessness, then waved a hand dismissively.
"I don't have any solid leads right now. We're looking for the new vampire leader too. When I have something, you'll know."
And with that, he turned away—because, honestly, if Lucas had any real intel, Blade would already be on the move.
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