686 The Aftermath of WW 3
Outside the Imperial Palace, Vlad continued to relentlessly pursue Lucifer's soul. Lucifer had nowhere to hide, as his soul constantly emitted a unique energy signature. Sensitive beings like this powerful vampire could imdiately detect his location, no matter where he attempted to conceal himself.
Unless… he could find a corpse, a freshly dead body to inhabit and control temporarily. However, this would co at a cost. He would need to remain in that body for a significant amount of ti until he regained enough strength to separate himself and transfer into a more suitable human host.
Ideally, he wanted a human body, one that had died no more than two or three hours ago. Even better, it should be a child. A child's weaker body would make it easier for him to control.
But where could he find a freshly dead child's body around here?! Damn it! Why didn't this cursed city have any people around?!
Lucifer fud inwardly as Vlad, still in his mist form, pursued him relentlessly. The vampire was getting closer and closer. Lucifer's ti was running out—if Vlad got any nearer, escape would be impossible.
"Arrrrrrrrrrrrrggghhhh!" Lucifer roared in his mind. At this point, any corpse would do! Otherwise, if Vlad caught him, he could kiss his existence goodbye.
Just then, Lucifer's vision caught sothing—a corpse! A small, freshly dead body. He couldn't make out what it was, but that didn't matter now. He needed it!
Burning what little soul power he had left, Lucifer pushed himself to move faster. His soul sped toward the corpse, vanishing just as Vlad neared him.
Vlad quickly shifted back into his vampire form, scanning the area. He rembered precisely where Lucifer had suddenly accelerated and disappeared from sight.
They were in a slum, a labyrinth of decaying buildings and heaps of garbage, the remnants of an unsanitary existence. Despite the chaotic environnt, Vlad's keen senses shouldn't have failed, especially now, with no humans in sight to muddle the scents.
Entering house after house, he searched tirelessly, but there was nothing. The sulfuric demonic energy scent of Lucifer's soul had simply vanished. There had to be an explanation, and Vlad could only think of one: Lucifer's soul had hidden itself within a body.
No humans were around, and any animals capable of fleeing had already done so. This could only an…
Vlad's eyes shifted, changing to the hunter's vision he used to detect signs of life. And there, amidst his enhanced sight's grey and lifeless world, Then... he saw it. A faint glow mixed with crimson and black deep within the darkness. It was a soul, unsettled and not yet fully bonded to its host.
Following the glow, Vlad found it. Beneath a bamboo chicken coop, a proud and handso rooster stared at him fearfully, its beady eyes wide with terror.
"Found you~," Vlad crooned in a singsong voice. He reached out and seized the rooster by the neck, preventing it from escaping.
"I wonder if Lord Emberweave would enjoy the thought of chicken soup," Vlad mused, humming to himself as he carried the rooster out of the dilapidated courtyard where he had found it.
—
Beep Beep Beep
On Daniel's side, he received a call from Nexus Pri.
"Huh?" Daniel was curious, as Nexus Pri usually didn't contact him unless there was sothing urgent or very important to discuss.
[Sir, there's been a strange movent in the Alpha Centauri space observation. You should co and see,] Nexus Pri reported.
"Got it… I'm on my way," Daniel replied, revving the handle as he sped his speeder to New Atlantis to use the teleportation portal there.
— Elpis - Space Telescope Station —
In a vast laboratory filled with advanced equipnt and technology for space observation, this facility was not open to the public. It was dedicated solely to monitoring space due to Daniel's paranoia after the spike in energy detected when Oceanos fired a powerful beam into the sky during their battle against Scylla.
Daniel arrived and reviewed the records Nexus Pri had prepared for him. He examined the data to determine what had gone wrong.
There it was... a trail of shadow stretching from Proxima Centauri B toward Earth. The sizeable shadowy trail shifted positions week by week.
"Pri, is there any cot or teor nearby?" Daniel asked. He had a suspicion but wanted to confirm it wasn't just his paranoia.
[No, sir. There are no cots or teors recorded in the sector where this image was captured,] replied the advanced AI.
"Tell the likelihood that this is a trail of extraterrestrial forces and not so kind of glitch or unusual cot," he asked again.
[The probability that this is a trail of extraterrestrial forces is 87.41%, sir. This conclusion is based on repeated calculations, which is why I decided to alert you.]
"How much ti do we have?"
[Approximately 10 years, sir. It may be a little longer but will not exceed 12 years. The trail is traveling at about 0.4 to 0.5% of the speed of light. I'll need more ti and additional data to provide a more precise calculation,] Nexus Pri explained.
"God… Could you please give a break? I've just dealt with the demons here!" Daniel complaint.
— A Few Weeks Later —
After the destruction of Hell's Gate, the war finally ca to an end. This conflict has been recorded as the shortest world war, yet its casualty count surpassed half of World War II's, including civilians, in just a few days of this short war. Most of the casualties ca from the Allied forces, particularly the Qing Empire.
The grand army of the Qing Empire was decimated, with more than 95% of its soldiers either killed in action (KIA) or missing in action (MIA). The survivors were only a select few lucky individuals who happened to be in the right place at the right ti, narrowly avoiding the massacres.
Pride had successfully deciphered the magic circle ritual and dispelled the lingering magic that was still affecting the Qing Empire soldiers.
After the spell was broken, the people of the Qing Empire demanded accountability for the disastrous consequences. However, the individuals genuinely responsible for this ss were either dead or had gone into hiding, leaving the public thirsting for soone to bla.
As a result, the burden of responsibility fell on the heads of an unlucky family that had supported the reign of Crown Prince Tianhao Zhisheng. Their family was ruined, and so mbers was executed during the trials orchestrated by other powerful families who needed soone to take the fall. Otherwise, the people will not calm down.
But that wasn't the end. A few days later, people discovered several headless corpses, with so of their internal organs missing. This case quickly beca one of the hottest news stories around the world, as all the victims had one thing in common.
They were powerful and influential individuals, well-known to insiders and elitists as staunch supporters of the war effort.
This incident sent a wave of fear through the global elite and nobility. It is clear that New Atlantis might have already identified those who were truly responsible for inciting the war from behind the scenes. If that were the case, there would be no safe place for them in the world!
This realization forced troublemakers and greedy politicians to imdiately fall in line and understand their place.
Zhuge Liang returned to the Qing Empire after a fruitless journey to Europe. He had failed the late emperor's final task of bringing his youngest son back to the empire.
Upon arriving in Europe and seeking out the late emperor's youngest son, Zhuge Liang discovered that the boy had already been assassinated by his older brother.
As a result, there was no one left to take the reins of the Qing Empire. With the royal bloodline extinguished and no clear leader, many influential and powerful families in the Qing Empire beca restless.
All of these families laid claim to the throne, asserting that their bloodlines were distant cousins or descended from ancestors with royal connections, making them eligible to rule.
In this war, the Allies lost, and the Axis powers erged victorious. The main Allied nations, such as the Qing Empire, the United States, and European countries, were forced to travel to New Atlantis to negotiate surrender terms. Daniel delegated this task to professionals like Guo Jia and Albert.
Albert, in particular, played a key role in securing the terms. He t with several mage families and swiftly brought them to fall in line. Being a morally flexible individual, Albert used thods that Daniel deliberately chose not to include in the reports. Daniel preferred to preserve his peace of mind and get a good night's sleep. However, he couldn't ignore the fact that after Albert returned from Europe, Jack the Ripper appeared unnervingly giddy, as though he had thoroughly enjoyed himself.
This unsettling developnt left Daniel's paranoid mind disturbed for several days.
During the negotiations, the Allied representatives wore expressions as though they'd been forced to eat sohting foul for breakfast. Not a single one of them smiled.
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