Book 3: Chapter 5 (8/8)

Kain expected Arthur to be very hostile against him but that didn’t happen. Upon seeing Kain, Arthur smiled and said, “Kain, long time no see.”

Sitting on his Supreme Leader Throne, Kain also smiled and said, “Arthur Castillon, what is your purpose for visiting me?”

“I just came back to Toria Continents and heard of how you declare yourself as the Supreme Leader of the Dryardian Empire. I also learned of your true identity as a Blood Mage. I wanted to come to visit you once before officially declaring you as my enemy.”

“I see. Aren’t you afraid that I will kill you? I am a Blood Mage. As you have known, Blood Mages are evil.” Kain mockingly asked.

“You won’t kill me. At least not at this time. Despite that you have lied to me about the fact that you are a Blood Mage, I genuinely believed that our friendship was real. Kain, even though you are a Blood Mage, I am very happy to know that you are still alive."

Kain stared at Arthur without blinking. He began walking down from his throne as Arthur raised his guard assuming Kain was about to fight him. Standing three feet away from Arthur, Kain put his right hand out. Needless to say anything, Arthur shook Kain's hand as they laughed together.

Using his left-hand slapping into Arthur's right arm, Kain said, “Weakling, come with me.”

Without asking any question, Arthur followed Kain to a room where he was met with Jaane. Arthur was happy to know that Kain and Jaane were married and have two children. After speaking with Jaane for about an hour, Kain walked Arthur to the rooms that belonged to his two children and introduced them to Arthur. Arthur was surprised to see Kain’s children were already older than forty years of age. Both of the children looked even older when compared to Kain. After introducing his family to Arthur, Kain told Arthur to follow him outside of Benil city. Kain flexed his Vampire Wings to start flying while Arthur conjured the Red Dragon again to carry him flying behind Kain.

After landing inside a forest, Kain concealed his Vampire Wings as Arthur banished the Red Dragon back inside his planet. Kain said, “After becoming the Vampire Mutant, my senses have incredibly increased. I sensed powerful energy coming inside you and know that you aren’t weak. I know you won’t reveal the true power you possessed to me because that would put you at a disadvantage when our real battle comes. I could sense your physical strength isn’t weak either. How about a friendly spar using physical strength only between you and me?”

Arthur gladly accepted, “Sure. Let me give you a heads up, I am not just a regular warrior but an Eleventh Stage Saint Dark Knight.”

“Dark Knight huh. I’m not just a regular warrior either. I will use the strength of my Vampire Mutant to fight you. No worry, I won't use my Vampire Wings so you don't have to be at a disadvantage.”

“Kain, I wanted you to use your Vampire Wings in our physical strength fight. If not, you will be the one at a disadvantage.”

“Haha… Weakling, your bluff amused me. This is a friendly spar between you and me, so I won’t kill you. Even so, I will not hold back.”

“Same here. I won’t hold back either.”

Kain flexed his Vampire Wings, unlocked his Storage Ring, and took out his Soul-Bound Magical Diamond Ice Spear. Kain didn't fly toward Arthur because he wanted Arthur to have enough time to prepare. To Kain's surprise, Arthur was the one that waited for him as he smiled and asked, "Ready?"

Kain laughed and said, "I am ready. How about you?"

"Me too."

In a blink of an eye, Arthur’s magical robe became a black color shiny armor as his left hand was holding a black shield and his right hand was holding a black sword.

Kain quickly glanced at Arthur’s armor, shield, and sword, then thought to himself, “I can’t figure out what materials his armor, shield, and sword are made out of.”

Kain flew toward Arthur and strongly struck his Ice Spear into Arthur’s helmet, but Arthur vanished and reappeared behind Kain as he slashed his sword toward Kain’s back. Kain used his Vampire Wings to block Arthur's sword slash while turning around and struck his Ice Spear again but this time was aiming for Arthur's heart. Kain wanted to test the durability of Arthur's armor to see if it was stronger compared to the ultra-rare crafting materials that he had. Arthur didn't vanish this time, he used his shield to block Kain’s spear strike and repeatedly slashes his sword at Kain while still using his shield as the cover and pushing Kain going backward. Kain then used his Ice Spear to block Arthur’s sword attacks while using his left leg to repeatedly deliver powerful kicks on Arthur's shield to stop it from continuing to push him back any further.

While blocking Arthur’s attacks using his spear, Kain asked, “Weakling, so Dark Knight ability is just like Ghost Warrior of Norelf Continents huh? That kinda sucks. I expected much more than that.”

“You are wrong, Kain. Dark Knight has no similarity compared to Ghost Warrior because all abilities work very differently.” After saying that, pure darkness of aura released from Arthur and surrounded a hundred thousand square feet.

Kain smirked and said, “The way you vanished before was just like a Ghost Warrior. But you are right, you didn't reappear at the old location as Ghost Warrior would. About this darkness aura, did you forget that I am a Vampire Mutant? The more darkness there is, the better my senses and physical strength will become. Seems like this Dark Knight’s ability is going to benefit me as well.”

Arthur once again vanished. Kain’s cocky attitude quickly changed when he suddenly felt hundreds of swords were striking him from all directions of where he was standing. Kain quickly used his Vampire Wings to protect himself by blocking all the sword strikes then flew up high two hundred feet above the ground to get away from those sword strikes. Just when Kain was looking down to see where those sword strikes came from, Kain quickly realized there was a black hole that was sucking him back toward the ground where Kain could clearly see at least three hundred Dark Knights wearing black armor, black sword, and black shield just like Arthur were waiting to attack him.

Kain thought, “A black hole that can suck me toward it? Did Arthur use magic? No, not likely. I didn’t sense any magical power being released from him at all. And where did those Dark Knights appear from? It wasn’t just an illusion because their attacks scratched my Vampire Wings. Is it one of the Dark Knight’s abilities? If that is true, then the Dark Knight is far more powerful compared to Ghost Warrior and Dragon Knight or any other warrior classes I have known.”