Surely they haven't done a single bit of investigation?
That can't be...
Phaga's lips twitched involuntarily, his expression turning peculiar.
Lycaon pinched the bridge of his nose beside him, sighing helplessly.
"Khors, we can save the pleasantries for later. Let's get straight to the point—what exactly do we need to do?"
"Oh, right, just remembered... Come on over."
Khors scratched his head, then cleared his throat and turned to walk toward one side.
The others silently watched him head in that direction, where a large glass tank stood filled with high-concentration formalin, used to preserve a half-crippled Sacrifice.
"Is this the sacrifice the vampire clan sent to hunt you down back then?"
Ellen tilted her head, peering at the grotesque creature inside with confusion.
"But I remember that sacrifice was sealed inside the monument."
"Of course not."
Khors shook his head, sighing as he walked back to the tank.
"I never had time to retrieve that sacrifice back then. What you see now is merely my crude imitation. I lack the ability to create it in its entirety... Look at this."
Soon, Khors picked up a stack of bound manuscript pages from the desk beside the glass tank, weighing them in his hand.
At Phaga's prompting, he immediately took it. After receiving Khors's nod of tacit approval, he began flipping through the pages.
Ellen and Rina instantly gathered around, one clinging to Phaga's arm while the other hovered behind his head.
As the pages rustled open, lines of text flashed rapidly before their eyes. They seemed to witness an era—an elderly man, far from home, forging a path through hardship for the sake of an obsession.
Suddenly, Phaga's fingers paused mid-flip, his brow furrowing deeply.
The first half of the manuscript analyzed the abilities and structure of the Sacrifice, speculating on the materials and codes required to create them.
Phaga only skimmed this section, finding it of little use to him.
After all, he himself had consumed Sacrifice No. 2, fused with Kunmutu. He knew its capabilities all too well.
But the content that followed sent a chill down Phaga's spine, causing his fingers to twitch involuntarily.
The handwritten text on the manuscript suddenly became wildly cursive, every stroke betraying Khors's intense excitement at the time. Even the accompanying diagrams were crooked, exuding sheer individuality.
And at the very top of the manuscript, in bold letters, was written:
Sacrifice Destruction Reagent!
"This is..."
Phaga instinctively looked up at Khors, his Adam's apple bobbing like an olive as his voice trembled uncontrollably.
It was precisely because he possessed a Sacrifice that Phaga understood all too well how incredibly difficult these creatures were to kill.
Take the Sacrifice that once roamed Memorial Square, for instance.
Buried beneath rubble for years, it emerged still brimming with vitality.
Once it found an Ether Being to fuse with, its energy surged anew. Even Phaga himself had to exert considerable effort to subdue it.
Yet across all of New Eridu, how many agents possessed combat prowess comparable to Phaga's?
And now, unexpectedly, he witnessed the reagent capable of utterly annihilating Sacrifice!
Khors beamed with pride, surveying the room with relish as he basked in the astonished gazes.
"Indeed. Though I couldn't fully develop the Sacrifice, I discovered the means to destroy it during my research!"
"The Sacrifice's surface Defense is high, capable of withstanding high-speed impacts from hundreds of tons of mass. Its offensive capabilities are slightly weaker, but once fused with Ether technology, that becomes irrelevant."
"Thus, the Sacrifice's sole vulnerability lies in its integrated Ether technology. As we all know, once Ether is fused, its weaknesses invariably relate to Ether."
With that, Khors turned and pulled open a desk drawer, retrieving a pistol and a single bullet.
"This is a common homemade pistol, easily purchased from rebels. The key lies in the bullet."
Khors weighed the bullet in his hand before tossing it to Lycaon without hesitation.
Lycaon caught it effortlessly, cradling it in his palm.
"Such a potent ether concentration!"
The Ether Bullets rolled back and forth in his palm as the two little Bangboo, Drusilla and Anastella, played with them. Everyone's expression grew tense.
Lycaon was particularly astonished, letting out a soft gasp.
Phaga flipped through the manuscript and quickly located the bullet's description:
[Ether Crystallization Restraint Round]. Upon striking a Sacrifice, it releases an extremely high concentration of Ether, causing the Ether on the Sacrifice's surface to dull and crystallize, binding the Sacrifice.
"Due to this ether dullness, the sacrifice lacks the ability to independently shatter the ether crystals and escape. Moreover, the dulled ether renders its surface extremely fragile—even a nearly depleted Bangboo could wield a kitchen knife to slay it... Seriously?"
"Absolutely. I've tested this countless times. There's no mistake."
Khors shrugged noncommittally, smiling easily.
Clearly, Phaga's skepticism did nothing to shake his confidence—if anything, it excited him.
After burning the midnight oil for so many years, achieving this without showing off would be like doing it all for nothing.
"And that's not all. Let me tell you, I have even more plans I haven't had time to execute yet. They're all in my head. Given the time, I'll make them all happen!"
Still bragging. Khors is still bragging!
"As long as I live, I'll make life miserable for the vampire clan!"
His resolve was firm, his words ringing out with conviction. Even Phaga, a vampire, couldn't help but applaud him.
But—
"But couldn't the vampire clan destroy all this anytime they wanted?"
Ellen's sudden, blunt remark caught Khors off guard.
And Ellen, completely unaware she'd said anything wrong, continued muttering under her breath.
"Besides, why haven't the vampires come after you all these years? It should be easy for them to track down your address."
The thought struck Ellen, and she snapped her head up.
Her crimson eyes blinked rapidly, staring intently at Khors.
Khors broke out in a cold sweat.
This shark's disdain proved far more useful than the vampire's earlier skepticism.
It was as if it were saying: everything Khors had done was insignificant; the vampire clan simply didn't care.
"Well... fine. I admit my personal efforts are too insignificant for the vampire clan. So many years have passed, and it's as if they've forgotten me entirely."
Khors looked melancholy. Nothing saddened him more than being ignored by his mortal enemies.
But quickly, his fighting spirit reignited. Clenching his fists, he declared, "But it doesn't matter! I'll make the vampire clan realize that ignoring me will be the biggest mistake of their lives!"
"They'll regret spending their energy elsewhere!"
Hearing this, Phaga tilted his head.
"Elsewhere? What do you mean?"
"You guys don't know?"
This time, it was Khors' turn to be surprised. He quickly pulled out his phone, swiped through the forum, and pointed at the trending topic.
"Look, the vampire clan's attention has been entirely on TOPS. Just today, they filed a lawsuit against TOPS over the Perlman incident."
"Huh?"
The entire Victoria team froze, frantically pulling out their phones.
There was no need to search. Right at the top of the trending list was a headline related to Perlman—
"Shocking! Perman, the Criminal with the Sky-High Bounty, Was Actually Innocent! Returns to His Homeland to Seek Justice with the Vampire Clan's Help"