In his mind, he had already assumed Aiden to be dead, or at least damaged enough not to be able to stand back up, for even with his enhanced eyesight, he had failed to keep up with its speed.

But when he turned around, he froze in disbelief.

"Impossible..."

The moment the attack was about to land on Aiden, his figure blurred out of existence before rematerializing back in place.

Julian had missed.

A thin layer of sweat covered his skin as he concentrated on using his talent one more time.

Aiden’s eyes remained locked onto Julian, observing whether he would activate it again.

And the moment he saw him do it, Aiden didn’t hesitate.

He activated his talent, Harmonic Shift, causing his figure to disappear out of everyone’s sight before continuing his advance.

But what truly surprised the others was what happened next.

Just as the punch aimed straight at Julian’s chest had almost landed, a thin layer of condensed blood armor suddenly formed around his body.

Compressed blood hardened above Julian’s skin in multiple layers, absorbing nearly all of the impact from the attack.

The blood red armor acted like an impenetrable defense that pulsed like a living creature from the myths, followed by a wide, evil grin on his face.

Cracks spread around it before repairing themselves almost instantly.

Aiden’s pupil shrank, and by the time he tried to pull back his arm, a hand gripped his throat and slammed his figure onto the floor.

"So you can become invisible? No, that’s not it. What even is your pow—?"

Just as he was muttering in confusion, Aiden once again vanished like a phantom.

"Wha—?"

At once, a foot slammed down on Julian’s back and pinned him down.

"You talk too much." Speaking, he pressed down with his boot and increased the pressure on his neck.

"Y-you can phase." He spoke in horror as only now did the half-vampire realize his true ability.

Till now, he had thought invisibility was his main power and the reason Aiden had created distance despite using his ability the next second.

It finally dawned on him that he had widened the gap between them just so he could react, as the speed of his ability was far too deadly.

"Farewell."

Without explaining any further, Aiden was about to finish him off when Julian started to scream miserably like a pig that was going to be slaughtered.

"NOOO. I will tell you everything, just don’t kill me. I can work for you and provide you with all the details about the hierarchy and power struggle."

Tears fell from his eyes and mixed with his snot, but the man — or the half-vampire couldn’t care less about his image.

"I have heard a very famous line, a man’s true nature is revealed when he stands at death’s door."

With a slight smirk, Aiden let the man spill the beans.

Apparently, all the nearby connected buildings were managed by kings, a title given to the monsters who had managed to awaken powerful talents capable of flipping the battle without half as much effort as the others.

Or maybe they’re just more compatible with their talent and became powerful right after awakening.

Thinking, Lucien grabbed Evelyn’s hands, pulled her back, and muttered something in her ear.

Meanwhile, after mentioning all there was he knew about the matter, he tried to turn his head and plead for his life.

Yet what he didn’t know was that Aiden never had the intention of letting him go.

He closed his eyes, and with a sudden force, snapped his neck with a stomp.

So they are trying to become the order of the new world, huh?

Thinking, Aiden glanced back at Clara before turning his gaze around the floor, looking at the horrified and pale faces of every non-awakeners.

In his eyes, they were nothing but ants.

None of them even dared to meet his gaze.

Yet these ants also had a slight chance of awakening very powerful abilities that could help him a lot, especially now that he had found out the existence of idiots who proclaimed themselves as kings.

And this was the sole reason he needed them under him.

Pathetic fools can’t even control a locality, let alone a district or a city, and yet they dare call themselves kings.

A woman who clutched her son collapsed to her knees and bowed at him with a trembling gaze.

Thud. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

A teenager seventeen years of age also kneeled, submitting himself.

One by one, people started to accept the reality and decided to follow him, for they all had heard what the half-vampire had said before his death.

If any one of those kings managed to take control of this building, their lives would turn to hell.

They rap*d women like they were nothing but objects made for relieving their stress, while the women awakener’s knows as queens turned a blind eye to it as they didn’t want to fight every king.

Strength was the only way to survive.

And for those who didn’t have any, they needed to latch onto those who did.

Before everyone started to swear loyalty and pledge their allegiance to him, Lucien and Evelyn turned around and started to head back up.

Tch, there goes my chance at inspecting the half-vampire.

A little frustrated, he was ready to return when a voice stopped him.

"Wait." Clara had long been suspicious of the man, for she didn’t know anyone with white hair in their building, not to mention the ethereally beautiful woman standing beside him, who could attract anyone’s attention.

And she did recognize the woman as she was the only one who always made her feel inferior and jealous.

Her words made everyone turn their attention to the duo, including Aiden.

Fuck me.

Cursing, Lucien slowly turned.

—

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