1341  This is Vengeance

Back in the public square beneath the scheming calamities, Arthur watched as a commotion rose in the crowd. He saw a man fighting another, then fleeing while holding something. The figure disappeared into the crowd and then into the alleyways.

“You two can keep monitoring Julia and Li for now,” Arthur told Dia and Oriole. “I want to investigate this.”

“The local police would handle petty theft,” said Oriole, stuffing popcorn into his mouth. “Let’s just relax, okay?”

“I’d like that, but I have a bad feeling,” Arthur replied, smiling at them. “It doesn’t seem like relaxing is for me. We’ll meet later.”

Arthur bid the two farewell and headed out of the square. The others might not have noticed, but Arthur saw something in the man’s expression—he looked too unstable for a mere thief.

“Time to work now?” muttered Arthur as he raised a hand to activate his runes. The mana of creation flowed through his veins but still faced some resistance from the lingering wrath. Arthur had broken the balance he’d achieved with the seal when he lost control the other day. Nonetheless, his rune activated, though it seemed to damage his sight.

[Detect.]

A pulse of mana spread throughout the city of Kera in an instant. Arthur visualized the entire city in his mind and frowned when he noticed something odd. Groups of people were moving in a pattern, like ants following orders. The man he sought seemed to be hiding in an alley not far from where Arthur stood. He bolted through the streets, passing the unaware citizens and leaving only an afterimage. When he reached the alley, it was empty. Arthur stepped into the alley, scanning the area, when he heard a distinct mechanical sound. After looking closer, he noticed that a section of the cobblestones had less dust than the rest. Placing his hand on different stones embedded in the ground, one of them sank, and a hidden door opened.

A dark tunnel appeared beneath him. Arthur frowned, realizing the man from earlier was not a petty thief but something far greater. Without hesitation or fear, he jumped down and landed inside the tunnel.

The underground structure seemed to have been carved out by a mage. The floor was smooth, and the walls were lined with torches. Arthur saw the tunnel split into multiple directions.

[Detect.]

Another pulse of mana visualized the tunnels in his mind, revealing a network of passages. Arthur saw people gathering within them, and he began to understand what was happening.

After running through the tunnels, Arthur reached a clearing. He used the rune [Vanish] to hide, but it caused some backlash to his vision. The burning sensation in his eyes warned him that his time was running out.

In the clearing, a group of people knelt on the ground. The person they were kneeling to sat on a small throne, looking down at them.

“How many have you recruited?” asked the man, cloaked and hidden. The people raised their heads—ordinary citizens, knights, and even students.

“Our numbers increase by the moment. We have at least a hundred thousand members inside Kera alone,” said a middle-aged man rising from the crowd. “Lord Eros will be more than satisfied.”

Arthur’s suspicions were confirmed. The man from earlier stood among the crowd, holding a pendant around his neck. It was the same transmitter of lust he’d seen in Port Marlin. These devices allowed Deluge to cast his hypnosis in a specific radius.

The Calamity of Lust was at it again, brewing another scheme. Arthur felt his wrath boiling, his hatred for the calamity rising. Among those Arthur had met, Deluge was the vilest and most scheming. The only reason Deluge was still alive was because of his follower who could create portals. If Arthur could unlock the secret of how they used abilities under the lunar eclipse, he could prevent it.

Then he could kill Deluge.

“Use the artifacts you’ve been given to recruit more people. Throw yourselves into sin and await his destined arrival. In just a few hours… Kera will be ours!”

“Ours!” “Ours!”

The people chanted with zeal, then began to disperse. Arthur thought about stopping them but decided against it. With a hundred thousand people under hypnosis, freeing a few wouldn’t make a difference. He needed to tackle the core.

Once the minions dispersed, the man on the throne left as well. Arthur followed him unnoticed, his Vanish rune concealing him from the world. The man, unaware, walked deeper into the tunnels.

Arthur was surprised to see him open a hidden door, revealing a portal behind it. As the man stepped through, the door began to close. Before it shut, Arthur jumped through the portal, finding himself teleported elsewhere.

The new location was dim, but Arthur could see due to his perception. He stood in an extravagant hallway where mirrors acted as portals. Countless people entered and exited, all heading in the same direction.

“What is this place?” thought Arthur as he observed the cloaked figures making their way into what seemed like a castle. His rune was still active, but his vision was weakening.

“Prepare for battle! Replenish your blood fuel!” a voice shouted, and the cloaked figures moved as one. Arthur followed, his apprehension growing.

After walking through the palace, Arthur found their destination: a giant courtroom with a circular stage. Above the stage were naked humans, chained and immobile. Their shouts and screams echoed as a crowd gathered.

“The feast will begin in a few moments!” shouted a man atop the stage. “Once you have feasted, the city of Kera awaits you!”

Arthur studied the man. His pale skin and long teeth confirmed it—Deluge wasn’t working alone this time. Kar had joined the fray. Arthur didn’t know where this palace was, but it was filled with vampires ready to use the portals to invade Kera.

But he was here, somehow. Whether it was fate or coincidence, Arthur was glad he followed his hunch to pursue the strange man. At the very least, he hadn’t missed this.

“Close the gates!” shouted the vampire on the stage, and the courtroom’s gates began to close. The people chained above cried, screamed, and begged for mercy. The vampires discarded their cloaks, revealing their true forms.

A group of hungry bloodsuckers.

Bars descended around the stage, presenting the humans to the vampires. There were hundreds of humans on the stage, and the vampires outnumbered them. Soon, the giant courtroom would be drenched in blood.

But it wouldn’t be human blood.

Arthur deactivated his rune, and his form became visible. For a few seconds, no one noticed his slow walk through the courtroom. Nightmare appeared in his hand, letting out a soft cry of fury, feeding off Arthur’s boiling wrath.

“Who are you?” asked the vampire on the stage, the first to notice Arthur and his strange aura. The other vampires turned, their confused faces drooling. “Reveal your face!”

“What good would it do to stare death in the eyes?” Arthur muttered in a whisper, his eyes blazing with fury as they locked onto the vampires. “There will be no feast today, only a hunt. Your pathetic master expects an all-out war on Kera, but he will be sorely disappointed.”

“Intruder!” shouted the vampire, throwing out his arm. “Kill him!”

A hundred or so vampires lunged at Arthur, using their blood arts. None of them could compare to the Blood Queen, Seraphine, whom Arthur had once fought. Even she could not threaten him.

No one could, anymore.

The Earth had been polluted with these scum. Vermin that needed to be eradicated, and Arthur was the only one capable of the task. He was the exterminator of this filth.

Arthur raised his sword, Nightmare, as a hundred vampires attacked at once. His mouth uttered an ancient name that had revealed itself when he summoned the eclipse. A name that once terrorized Devaheim and killed countless gods.

“Godslayer Art, Fourth Stance — Vengeance.”

The vampires froze mid-air. The entire courtroom stood still. The vampires struggled to move, but something held them. Arthur snapped his eyes open, and they were no longer golden. Wrath had overtaken them, turning them into pools of darkness.

Nightmare moved, slow as a snail. As the blade inched forward, wounds appeared on the vampires, slashing their bodies apart, though they remained suspended midair.

“This is vengeance,” Arthur muttered, waving his sword. The vampires exploded simultaneously, transforming into clouds of blood and screams. Their torn bodies fell around him, dyeing the courtroom red.

I wrote this chapter because of the comment that Shaidira made. Montana_Wilson also made me feel ashamed for the lack of upadates. I want to apologize for that, and I realized one thing. I tried to make Level Up Legacy a different novel, one focused on happy memories and easy-going fights. I could never write a story I wasn’t passionate about. LUL was always about struggling, fighting, and losing. It was about moving forward despite the losses Arthur suffered. It kept going no matter the things he lost, and that’s the reason I loved it. It was about moving on. 

Thanks, Shaidira and Montana Wilson for motivating me to write this chapter. MellowGuy

Creator’s Thought