Regarding the establishment of foreign policy due to the blood alliance’s entry into the entertainment industry.
Heinz slowly nodded his head as he received Jin So-Ran’s report from Romania.
‘If it goes as planned, it’s not a bad way.’
After all, people are instinctively influenced by appearances.
Isn’t it true that most vampires being beautiful men and women is a blatant attempt to attract prey?
This means that having an appealing appearance is advantageous in luring victims.
‘There’s no need to refrain from using existing weapons.’
Of course, he would have to endure various constraints and watchful eyes along the way, but that was something he could accept.
‘There are probably quite a few who want to step into the light like that.’
They were only holding back due to realistic problems; there’s no way every vampire was satisfied with their current life in the shadows.
If you think about it, the current operations head, Jin So-Ran, could be seen as just that kind of case.
So, Heinz entrusted her with full authority in that regard.
Just like he had until now, he told her to handle everything on her own.
‘… I’m busy enough as it is. If I truly need something, I’ll speak up.’
He felt a little guilty, but there was no other way.
But given the treatment she was receiving, she should understand, right?
He had too many things to focus on right now.
“Still, nothing new. I was hoping for a change.”
Heinz shook his head as he carefully examined the place where the Doctor’s hideout once stood.
While investigating the materials and equipment inside, he returned for another check hoping to find something useful, but there was nothing additional to be found.
‘How can I just sit by when there’s such blatant foreshadowing?’
A slight frown crossed Heinz’s face as the Doctor’s last words flashed through his mind.
– “… Then I hope to see you again next time! I want to see you, of course, but also all your friends! Hahaha!”
It was for that reason he was enduring this hassle.
That kind of words coming from someone who sounded like they’d die at any moment was bound to leave a bad taste in his mouth.
“Hmmm, it’s certain that guy died.”
That much he could be sure of.
Heinz II was a vampire who claimed others’ lives to build his power and prestige.
He was one of the highest-ranking beings among them.
There was no way he’d not notice whether his opponent was a true human or a fake one artificially made!
Life responses and the flow of cause and effect all proved he was the one in question, and he had confirmed with his own eyes that he had indeed met death that time.
So, he had taken the Doctor’s last words as a curse of sorts—a promise to meet again in the afterlife…
‘But it doesn’t seem to be the end after all.’
But as time passed and he gradually grew accustomed to new sensations, the feeling that he would meet that guy again soon began to rear its head.
He had no solid evidence, but the intuition of a being at Heinz’s level had a penchant for brushing against precognition, making it impossible to ignore.
“… There might be some other means of resurrection.”
Indeed, that hypothesis was the most convincing.
Even on Earth, they could create dungeons running under separate laws.
If someone with such abilities easily accepted their death, there must be a separate countermeasure in place.
‘Hold on.’
At that moment, a thought popped into his mind.
After all, didn’t he himself possess the resurrection perk called “extra life”!
‘That was an ability he received when Hans had become regarded as an enemy by more than half the intelligent entities of the world.’
But what if that guy had something the same or similar?
Then that shameless attitude would be thoroughly explained.
“Tsk, this is troublesome.”
Even after rummaging through the materials left behind, he found no hints related to resurrection.
But fortunately, it wasn’t as though there was no way to intervene.
Suuu…
A single drop of blood slowly oozed from the tip of Heinz’s outstretched finger.
It began to vibrate faintly, swirling with a mysterious wave.
‘Lucky I kept that on hand.’
That was the blood of the Doctor, collected due to an uncomfortable feeling he had.
The blood he had spilled while attempting suicide had vanished together with his corpse, leaving only this behind, but in fact, this was enough to achieve his purpose.
Uuuu…
A strangely floating sensation spread through the waves emitted through the blood.
It reached outward in all directions like ocean currents, reading information about specific conditions within a radius of hundreds of kilometers.
Even if he switches bodies and his flesh changes, it won’t matter. Blood is not merely a body part, but a medium of both spirit and flesh.
And he was a being at the pinnacle of handling blood and blood magic.
Although he was still struggling to get accustomed to this power and had many deficiencies, he was continually adapting and growing.
“… Nothing in this vicinity?”
Heinz’s keen eyes gazed intently at the droplet of blood on his finger.
After a few vibrations, he shook his head while reclaiming the droplet, which remained silent and unresponsive.
The range he could currently ascertain was just short of a radius of 800 kilometers.
That vast area stretched from Bucharest, the capital of Romania, reaching even the edges of Greece and Italy.
Yet not finding anything meant…
‘Either he resurrected outside this range, or he hasn’t resurrected yet, or perhaps he used that technology to hide deep somewhere.’
Yet regardless, there would be no way to evade his eyes forever.
He was still adapting quickly, and his ability to detect would continue to improve.
Ultimately, tracking him down was merely a matter of time.
‘Just right, with the power of pureblood, I planned to properly control the vampires across Europe; this works out well.’
For the time being, he intended to tour Europe, taking a general look around.
Then he would likely get a clearer picture.
‘Next time, I’ll take him down for sure. Even if it means calling Hans if necessary.’
To leave no room for possibility.
With cool eyes, Heinz scanned the room again before turning to leave.
He still had plenty of work ahead of him.
*
The city of Aberdeen in northeastern Scotland, UK.
In the basement of a rather large and secret research facility, which remained unknown in purpose, a mysterious research lab existed that had been handled with utmost secrecy since its inception, with almost no one aware of its existence.
Recently, however, a change occurred in that space, which had been almost left unattended.
Wiiing…
The fully automated system, usually in sleep mode, began to draw electricity again and gradually woke up its functions.
Bubble bubble…
In an incubator fixed to one wall, filled with fluorescent green culture solution, bubbles began to form continuously.
Then at one moment.
Bubble bubble— Kwoong!
A large bubble burst from within, and at the conveyed impact, the incubator shook violently.
Thud! Kwoong! Bang!
From inside, it sounded as if something was causing a ruckus, gradually producing loud noises at shorter intervals.
And finally—.
Kwaaang! Crash—! Kwuuhh—!
After accumulating impacts, the problematic incubator shattered, and the being inside fell to the ground with a thud.
The male figure, covered in fluorescent green liquid, writhed intermittently on the floor.
Cough, cough—
After a while of crawling on the ground, he coughed up a significant amount of the contents before taking a deep breath.
Huuuh—
A strange sense of reverence emanated from his actions.
As if he were someone taking his first breath after birth.
Time passed.
After regaining some composure, he staggered and slowly lifted his upper body.
His hair, drenched in the culture solution, clung to his face, but he focused solely on his breathing and gradually raised his head.
“Phew— did it succeed?”
A laugh escaped his lips as he spoke, accompanied by a voice that cracked like a tiny mechanical sound in the quiet lab.
The corners of his mouth, curled upwards, were clearly visible beneath the hair covering his face.
“The loss rate is… Hmm, I can’t tell yet. I’ll have to check it out step by step later…”
After trying to rise again but falling back to the ground, he comfortably lay down, starting to laugh once more.
The significant loss left him feeling a profound emptiness due to losing his energy and various abilities, but he paid no mind to such trivialities.
The key point was he still had a body to experiment with, his genius mind, and the unique skills to support it.
“Phantom… and Masquerade…”
Two words tumbled from his lips.
Desires and longings ignited greedily in the eyes of the man known as the Doctor.
“Hee hee hee hee!”
And for quite a while, the sound of madness echoed softly within the thoroughly soundproofed research lab.
*
While the turmoil in Europe was pushing the global situation in unpredictable directions,
A woman in Auterica found herself in a circumstance she had never imagined.
“Uh, what? What did you just say…?”
Isea blinked in surprise as she unintentionally repeated the unexpected words spoken by the party concerned.
Her sharp mind and perception understood the moment she heard the other person’s words, but the content was too absurd to easily accept.
“So… you are saying you’ve been to Earth? To the place known as Korea, which is the homeland of you and Hesperon?”
“Exactly. It’s a place tied to you two. It seems the connection greatly influenced me.”
“… How so?”
“Hmmm, if you’re asking how… I can only say that it was guided by the Holy God. I’m merely His sword.”
Isea stared at him blankly at that confident answer.
After a few moments of opening and closing her lips, she finally nodded in silence.
In truth, that alone didn’t explain anything nor could it be accepted, but the answer of ‘divine will’ offered by a sincere saint was like a sword of righteousness.
“… This is quite perplexing. I’ve never even considered such a situation. I’ve never heard of such possibilities existing until now.”
“I’ve heard the same. Perhaps that’s why there were many who couldn’t believe it, even on Earth.”
Isea nodded gravely at those words.
In fact, she still couldn’t believe it, but there was no reason for him to lie to her, so it must be true.
For a moment, the thought of ‘What if Saint Heinrich was originally from Earth?’ skimmed across her mind, but even considering that, the notion of traveling freely between Earth and this world was equally absurd.
Given that she had firmly believed he was a being from this world up until now, it wasn’t easy to suddenly shift her thinking.
“So, the reason you’re telling me this is…?”
“I believe I can assist you in various ways, Isea. Haven’t you been troubled lately?”
“… How do you know that?”
“Because we’re companions. It hasn’t been too long since we’ve been together.”
Heinrich smiled gently with a friendly face.
In that moment, he showed no hint of the deception that had become his everyday life.
‘Perhaps Heinrich’s persona encompasses quite a bit of a con artist trait, too.’
To look deeper, it stemmed from his foundation of ‘almost fanatical belief.’
Once any words left his mouth, even he would believe them as truth, so calling his very existence a con artist wouldn’t be an exaggeration.
It was likely that even lie detectors or powers like “Eye of Truth” would reveal his words as absolute truth.
Thanks to that, their conversation proceeded exceptionally smoothly.
Isea expressed her gratitude for his thoughtful consideration while Heinrich laid the groundwork for later using her.
However, that calm didn’t last long.
Just at the moment they were deeply engrossed in a cheerful conversation—.
[“Saint!”]
The sudden exclamation of Saint Liesta echoed in his mind.
[“It has begun!”]
His soft expression tightened abruptly at her words.
What she was rushing to convey could only mean one thing in this situation, right?
[“Through the seal of the abyss…!”]
Before her words could finish, his body dashed away like the wind.
To prepare to welcome the uninvited guest as grandly as possible.
