“Bang!
Bang!
Bang!”
Blade fired both pistols simultaneously, the muzzle flashes intertwining into a deadly rain of bullets.
The child hadn’t expected Blade to be so decisive.
Without saying a word, he had immediately launched an attack, causing the child to react a fraction too late.
But his speed was astonishing.
Although his movements had been a step slower, his defensive measures were completed before the bullets arrived.
Thin strands of spider silk shot from his ten fingers, intertwining in midair to form a web before tightening into a cocoon that completely protected him.
The bullets struck the cocoon, sending sparks flying everywhere, yet they failed to cause even the slightest damage.
Instead, the bullets that ricocheted or missed left fist-sized holes in the walls and furniture.
Handgun bullets could have this much destructive power?
An ordinary handgun obviously couldn’t.
But Blade was half-human and half-vampire.
He had inherited all the advantages of vampires—their ageless bodies, superhuman physical abilities, incredible regeneration, and other strengths—without inheriting their weaknesses, such as the need to drink blood and their fear of sunlight, silver, and wooden stakes.
As a result, his weapons had also been modified according to the strength his arms could withstand.
For an ordinary person, even an elite soldier who had undergone the strictest training would break their wrist after firing a single shot because of the enormous recoil.
But that tremendous recoil came with equally tremendous destructive power.
Although they were technically handguns, their firepower was more comparable to hand cannons or anti-materiel sniper rifles.
Yet even such devastating weapons couldn’t cause the slightest damage to a cocoon woven from spider silk.
Blade had never expected this surprise attack alone to end the battle, but the result still came as a major shock.
“Click, click…”
The magazine was empty.
Blade immediately holstered his pistols and charged into the house.
He took three steps in two, jumped onto the coffee table, then pushed off with all his strength and leaped into the air.
As he soared toward the second floor, he grabbed the hilts of the two swords on his back and drew them simultaneously.
Then he swung them downward.
“Clang!”
Both swords struck the cocoon, producing dazzling sparks.
The force of the impact also sent Blade stumbling backward.
“Whoosh, whoosh…”
The spider silk suddenly retreated, and the cocoon disappeared in the blink of an eye.
The child held a tangled web of silk between his hands like a colorful braided string.
With a casual flick of his fingers, the web shot toward Blade, rapidly expanding as it flew.
Blade used the recoil from the previous impact to accelerate his retreat.
When his back reached the railing, he performed a backward somersault and jumped back down to the first floor.
The next second, the spiderweb swept past him.
The railing instantly shattered into pieces, scattering across the floor.
Seeing this, Blade couldn’t help sucking in a cold breath.
A wave of relief washed over him.
If he had been even a moment slower just now, the one torn apart would have been him.
And even with a vampire’s regenerative abilities, there was no way he would have survived being ripped apart like that.
“Your style is quite decisive.
Unfortunately, your strength isn’t enough.”
The child stood at the edge of the upper floor, calmly looking down at Blade.
Blade silently stared at him without responding.
“You’re not an ordinary human…”
The child continued.
“At first, I thought you’d broken into someone’s home to rob the place or something.
But the moment you saw me, you immediately attacked.
Clearly, you weren’t here for money.”
“So what exactly brought you here?”
“Hiding among human society, feeding on humans, constantly taking human lives and trampling on their dignity…”
Blade rarely spoke, but he finally answered.
“Although you’re not a vampire, you’re the same kind of creature.
You all deserve to be wiped out.”
“I see.
So you’re doing this to protect humanity?”
“No.
I’m doing it for revenge!”
Blade placed both hands behind his waist and suddenly drew two spiral throwing blades.
He hurled them toward the child.
Then he followed immediately behind them.
“Revenge…”
The child’s eyes trembled slightly, and a look of interest appeared in them.
As he shot out spider silk and stuck it to the incoming spiral blades, he deflected them back toward Blade.
At the same time, he asked,
“Revenge for whom?”
There was no answer.
Blade leaped into the air again, drawing both swords and knocking the flying blades away.
Then he landed in front of the child on the second floor.
Both swords rose again.
Without hesitation, he brought them down.
“It must be for your family!”
A trace of excitement appeared in the child’s voice.
At the same time, he tilted his body and slipped through the narrow gap between the two swords.
Blade’s heart tightened.
He immediately changed his attack.
But the child moved first.
He slammed his palm into Blade’s chest.
The force behind the seemingly delicate child’s strike was completely disproportionate to his appearance, sending Blade stumbling backward uncontrollably.
Before he could even regain his footing, the child kicked him again.
“Bang!”
The tremendous force launched Blade into the air.
He flew backward like a cannonball, smashed through the wall, and crashed into the adjacent room.
“Only the loss of one’s family can create such overwhelming anger…”
The child casually walked through the hole in the wall.
He found Blade lying amid the rubble on the other side.
His chest had caved inward, while his face and arms were covered in blood.
But in the brief time it took for the dust to settle…
His wounds had already completely healed.
The child looked at Blade as he slowly stood back up.
His expression had become solemn, but the fighting spirit in his eyes hadn’t diminished.
Instead, the child’s satisfaction grew even stronger.
“The stronger your bond with your family, the greater the rage you feel when you lose them.”
“And that rage can make you stronger.”
“Strong enough to exterminate an entire race of enemies.”
The child’s expression became filled with longing.
“How deep must your bond with your family be?”
His words gradually became increasingly deranged, making Blade feel as though he were facing a terrifying enemy.
He had encountered plenty of psychopaths before.
And in his experience, the more unstable an opponent’s mind was, the more likely they were to pull some completely unexpected stunt.
If he wasn’t careful, he could lose the battle in an instant.
“My name is Rui.”
Rui looked at him.
“Will you become my family?”
“???”
Blade froze in his defensive stance.
Several question marks seemed to appear above his head.
“I’ve always longed for a real family.”
Rui spoke as if talking to himself.
“But no matter how hard I searched, I could never find a true family.”
“But you’re different.”
“You can become so furious over losing your family that you want to exterminate your enemies.”
“Your bond is genuine.”
“You’ll definitely become my real family.”
“Haa…”
Blade slowly exhaled.
Then he looked at Rui with pity.
“I don’t know what happened to you, but I can tell you this with certainty.”
“I can’t become your family.”
“That’s fine.”
Rui’s mood seemed to return to normal.
His expression became calm.
“I’m very good at creating bonds.”
“If you refuse, I’ll hang you up first, cut off your fingers one by one, then your toes one by one, and finally…”
“Slash!”
Blade interrupted him with action.
His twin swords transformed into streaks of white light as they came crashing down.
Whether Rui hadn’t expected Blade to suddenly attack or simply hadn’t reacted in time, he didn’t dodge at all.
The blades struck directly against his neck.
But…
“Crack!
Crack!”
The swords struck his neck.
Yet the blades were stopped by his skin and couldn’t penetrate even an inch.
“Impossible!?”
Blade cried out in shock.
Rui glanced at him.
Then, as if he had suddenly thought of something, his expression became one of disbelief.
“Although I didn’t think you’d actually be this stupid…”
“You’ve been constantly trying to get closer to me this entire time.”
“Don’t tell me…”
“You thought that if you got close enough, you’d be able to defeat me?”