Although they were a race known as the strongest among the demon clans, there were still disparities in power between vampires, and some of those disparities were as vast as night and day.
Generally speaking, as immortal beings, the strength of a vampire was primarily determined by the years they had lived.
This was because vampires could accumulate strong emotions and desires, thereby obtaining increasingly powerful strength.
To put it more simply, the more memories a vampire accumulated, the stronger their power became.
And this power was stored in their blood, known as the "Blood Memory."
Blood was the source of a vampire's magical power. It served as both the medium for summoning their familiars and the foundation of their existence.
The longer a vampire lived, the more blood they absorbed, the more memories they seized, and the more magical power they could accumulate.
Therefore, as the progenitors of the vampire race, the True Ancestors possessed unmatched power, having lived far longer than any other vampires and accumulated far more powerful Blood Memory than any other bloodline.
As an artificial vampire, the Fourth True Ancestor required the holding of an event like the Blazing Banquet during their awakening. One of the purposes was to seize a massive amount of memories, thereby increasing their inherent accumulation time and constructing a powerful Blood Memory to obtain magical power on par with any vampire.
In view of this, vampires from the old generation—generally those over two hundred years old—possessed far greater strength than the younger generation, and the familiars they had were also stronger and more fearsome.
Of course, this was not absolute.
If they were the descendants of powerful vampires, then even as part of the younger generation, they would inherit a portion of the Blood Memory from the previous generation, and be born with power far exceeding that of ordinary young vampires.
For example, the Second Generation vampires—namely, the offspring of the current three True Ancestors—were born from True Ancestors and their partners. By nature, they possessed powerful Blood Memory and familiars. Even if they were younger than the old-generation vampires, they were still stronger than many of them, and depending on the individual, some could even display special abilities capable of rivaling a True Ancestor—completely incomparable to vampires outside of that lineage.
Slightly inferior to these Second Generation vampires were the Third Generation vampires. These were generally people acknowledged by the True Ancestors and granted their "blood." Though not necessarily biological offspring, they still possessed power close to that of the Second Generation, and some were even stronger.
If the Second Generation were considered royalty, then the Third Generation were elders—nobles who could receive titles and serve important roles in the three major Night Empires.
The elders of the Third Generation would continue to have descendants, and their offspring would also possess considerable power. Even distant descendants had the potential to become nobles, not inferior to some ancient old-generation vampires.
And if someone was originally a noble of the old generation, even if they couldn't compare to the Third Generation elders, they wouldn't fall far behind either.
As the instructor of the Special Zone Guard on Itogami Island, Minamiya Natsuki not only held the title of "Witch of the Void," but had also once been known as the "Demon Slayer."
She had once rampaged across Europe, capturing and even slaughtering demon criminals, and to this day remained a figure of dread among Europe's demonic offenders—a true Strike Mage.
So, don't be fooled by her petite figure and assume she was just an ordinary Strike Mage. Her strength was definitely not inferior to some old-generation nobles, and even Second Generation royals or Third Generation elders wouldn't dare underestimate her.
Given that she said a troublesome existence had arrived from the War King Domain, Kaiser speculated that the other party must at least be an old-generation noble.
But unexpectedly, Minamiya Natsuki said this:
"Someone even more troublesome than the average noble?" Kaiser had some suspicions in his heart, but on the surface he feigned ignorance and asked, "Could it be a Third Generation elder, or even a Second Generation royal?"
To this question, Minamiya Natsuki responded like this:
"You'd best regard him as such an existence—or even treat him as someone more troublesome than that." Minamiya Natsuki said expressionlessly, "In any case, I've given you the warning and reminder. If you're not afraid of dying, just pretend you didn't hear it."
With that, Minamiya Natsuki began unceremoniously ushering him out.
Seeing this, Kaiser didn't continue to ask questions. He waved his hand and decisively turned to leave.
Staring at Kaiser's gradually receding figure, Minamiya Natsuki was silent for a long time before opening the laptop beside her and clicking on a video being played.
In the video, a girl with an icy familiar capable of destroying the entire Itogami Island appeared behind her. After exchanging a few words with the boy in front of her, she suddenly launched an attack, commanding the icy demon bird behind her to strike.
However, faced with an attack strong enough to crush an entire street, the boy remained completely unfazed. Instead of retreating, he advanced, charging forward while letting the attack fall on him—and then deflecting it with a loud blast.
Afterward, the boy casually slapped away the terrifying familiar.
"Clack."
Minamiya Natsuki pressed pause, stopping the video.
"He can ignore even a True Ancestor's familiar... and casually slap one away at that..."
Minamiya Natsuki clicked her tongue in a heavy tone.
"Just what kind of monster has the Lion King Agency raised?"
Minamiya Natsuki could already foresee just how lively this island was going to become.
"Seriously... what a pain."
...
On the other side, having left the faculty building, Kaiser was walking through the corridor toward the high school division's classroom building.
"A noble from the War King Domain, huh..."
Kaiser walked while contemplating.
"Avrora just started to show signs of awakening, and I only just arrived on this island—and they're already impatient to show up?"
As for who would do such a thing, Kaiser could only think of one person.
"Tch, what a pain."
Kaiser muttered the same words Minamiya Natsuki had.
No helping it.
"Even in this world, I still can't get away from those battle maniacs."
Kaiser felt a little helpless.
In the previous few worlds, Kaiser had encountered one battle maniac after another, but in this world, perhaps the number of battle maniacs was even greater than before.
The reason? Simple. Vampires were simply too bored.
Being ageless and immortal, once they had lived through long years, most lost interest in all forms of entertainment and things, suffering torment from boredom.
If they were just ordinary vampires, it might still be okay. Though exaggerated as ageless and immortal, vampires weren't truly indestructible. If their magic-controlling brain or heart responsible for blood circulation took serious damage, even old-generation vampires could die. But if it were Second or Third Generation vampires, whose power was close to that of the True Ancestors, then even with brain or heart damage, they might still survive.
As for the True Ancestors, there was no need to even mention them. Even if their brains were smashed and hearts pierced, they could still resurrect—eternal beings living in solitude.
Such beings had basically lost interest in the outside world, and only in battle could they find stimulation and entertainment.
In other words, most vampires from the old generation upward were likely to be battle maniacs.
Especially the True Ancestors, each and every one of them was a full-on thrill-seeker, a hedonist. Just imagining scenes of encountering them gave Kaiser a headache.
If the noble from the War King Domain taking action this time was who Kaiser suspected, then it was indeed as troublesome as Minamiya Natsuki said—perhaps even more so than dealing with Second or Third Generation vampires.
Because that person was a pure battle maniac. Once they had set their eyes on prey, they were harder to shake off than Vali, Kenpachi Zaraki, or even Doni.
"Seriously, with so many types of entertainment in the world, why must they seek stimulation and pleasure only from battle?"
Kaiser, having lived for nearly a hundred years, truly couldn't understand these people's way of thinking.
"Could it be that Athena said I would change in the future because of this?"
Kaiser suddenly thought of this.
Kaiser tried imagining—what would he become if he lived for hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, even billions of years?
"Probably wouldn't change much, right?"
Kaiser murmured to himself.
After all, he was different from others—not only had he lost all concept of age, but even his mindset and mental state had remained forever fixed at the age when he first entered the Fantasy Library.
Perhaps in the future his views might change slightly, and he might mature more with experience, but at least his mindset and spirit would remain unchanged.
So, he could say with certainty...
"Even if I don't hate fighting, I'll never become a battle maniac who lives only for it."
He did have interest in battle, and found it enjoyable, but at the same time, he also liked food, liked travel—and without the pressures of daily life, he even faintly enjoyed flirting with girls.
Thinking back on a few of his previous "uninhibited" experiences, Kaiser even had a new idea.
"Maybe it's about time I fell in love and shook off this lifelong single status?"
With that thought, Kaiser arrived at the high school building, went to Class 1-B, and stepped into the classroom.
But the moment he stepped in, Kaiser realized something was off.
He saw the students, who had been chatting noisily just moments ago, suddenly fall silent, all casting strange looks his way.
In those gazes were curiosity, puzzlement, oddity, scrutiny—and even envy, jealousy, and resentment.
The latter mostly came from the boys in class, while the girls' gazes held more of the earlier emotions.
"What's going on?"
Kaiser was immediately puzzled.
It wasn't until he returned to his seat that someone spoke to him.
"Yo, Classmate Kaiser, you finally showed up."
Sitting in front of Kojou Akatsuki, Yaze Motoki turned around with a frivolous smile, greeting Kaiser.
"Morning."
Aiba Asagi, sitting on the other side of Kojou, didn't even turn her head as she greeted Kaiser while busily tapping away at her laptop at lightning speed.
"Hmph..."
Kojou seemed to still be sulking, showing no good attitude toward Kaiser either.
"Morning to you all."
Kaiser nodded toward the three of them.
"What did Natsuki-chan call you over for? Don't tell me it was a lecture?"
Yaze Motoki asked with a smile, acting casual, but in fact subtly fishing for information.
As a High Adaptability Type, Yaze Motoki's ability was quite rare—it was control over airflow.
Through manipulating air currents, Yaze Motoki could do many things, like amplifying vibrations in the atmosphere to gather and absorb sound.
This made his ability extremely suited for surveillance activities, and he often used the headphones around his neck to assist in eavesdropping.
He could even amplify his hearing to a level rivaling precise radar, allowing him to observe sounds just like visual perception.
This ability, based solely on listening to reflected sound, didn't cause any interference or disturbance to the surroundings, so even the most sensitive individuals couldn't detect Yaze Motoki's eavesdropping.
And his surveillance range covered the entire Saikai Academy.
He had set up a surveillance net covering the entire academy, constantly monitoring every move on campus.
Unfortunately, though his ability was hard to detect, it couldn't deceive someone as thoroughly familiar with him as Minamiya Natsuki.
Therefore, Yaze Motoki never dared to eavesdrop on Minamiya Natsuki's office—for fear of the consequences.
Because of this, he had no idea what Kaiser and Minamiya Natsuki talked about or did in the office.
So naturally, he had to probe Kaiser.
Too bad for him, Kaiser was just as thoroughly familiar with him.
"Nothing much, just some transfer procedures that needed to be finalized." Kaiser casually brushed him off, then immediately changed the topic. "What's up with everyone in class? Why are they all looking at me like that?"
The one who answered wasn't Yaze Motoki—it was Aiba Asagi.
No, actually, Aiba Asagi didn't really answer Kaiser's question.
"Do you have some kind of relationship with the Saint of the Middle School Division?"
Aiba Asagi stopped typing, turned to look at Kaiser, and asked with great interest.
The other classmates had been secretly paying attention to them the whole time, and the moment Aiba Asagi asked, everyone perked up their ears.
"The Saint of the Middle School Division?" Kaiser blinked, surprised. "You mean... Kanon Kanase?"
"Who else could earn such an exaggerated title?" Aiba Asagi shot a glare at the boys in class, then said, "From the look on your face, you really do know that girl, huh?"
"If it's just knowing her..." Kaiser asked puzzledly, "What about her?"
Only then did Aiba Asagi answer Kaiser's original question.
"She just came looking for you."