Blood Awakening: The Strongest Hybrid and His Vampire Bride

Chapter 719: The Oath Begins to Fade?!

"I cannot break my oath further..."

The red sigil carved into Vladimir’s chest pulsed beneath the rain.

Ivan stared at it for several seconds with his claws still extended and wet silver hair hanging against his cheek. The burning warehouse crackled and spat black smoke across the harbour, masking the wind.

Even the pier beneath them groaned as it began to collapse.

"I never thought you wouldn’t seek help, Vlad..."

"Heh, what do you mean? When have I ever asked for someone’s help? I must achieve things through my own efforts. That is the way of the Tepes clan and shall never change, even with my daughters."

Vladimir closed his coat slowly before adjusting himself.

"Let us not dance around half-truths. I was not forced to beg them for help; it is the one moment of my life I regret more than anything. A stain on the man named Vladimir Tepes, one I must rectify right this moment."

Dimitri stepped out from the wreckage of the loading crane, golden light still crawling over his shoulders. His coat was torn, one sleeve hanging loose, but his grin had vanished completely.

"Stand aside, Vlad."

"I cannot."

"Then I’ll just have to move you!"

Selina’s red eyes shifted toward him.

Dimitri stopped moving for half a breath from the instinctive danger of Vlad’s wife.

Nagisa noticed immediately and clicked her tongue. "Honey, don’t rush in like an idiot twice."

"I wasn’t rushing."

"Yeah, okay then. I’ll deal with the hussy, you can fight the idiot."

"I guess I’ll take Claudia?"

Elizabeth stood beside Ivan, her gaze faintly unfocused as possible movements flickered behind her pupils.

Her expression tightened as she faced the strange vampire.

"Darling."

"I know."

Ivan had already seen it.

Vlad was not aiming to win.

He was aiming to delay them.

’But why?’

The destroyed supply line burned behind Ivan’s group, but the route to the sea remained open. If they broke through quickly, Nikolai’s path stayed clean. If Vlad held them here, even for ten minutes, the island would have time to adjust.

However, Ivan didn’t believe this was the reason.

Ivan exhaled while tightening his muscles.

"Elizabeth, Nagisa. Keep Claudia and Selina occupied."

Nagisa’s black foxfire gathered around her fingertips as she shruggled. "Well, I guess that’s fine, let’s listen to Ivan for once."

Elizabeth smiled faintly. "We always do..."

Ivan looked at Dimitri.

"Do not die."

Dimitri’s golden aura exploded as he grew into a massive werewolf, completely transforming.

"You too, bastard!"

Vladimir’s eyes shifted between the two men as his wives dashed forward.

There was a slight hesitation in the depths of his eyes, and yet, he still remained prepared as purple flames coiled around his fingertips. Ivan lowered his stance, while the rain answered the gloomy battle with its strong hiss.

And yet Vladimir moved first.

Purple flame snapped from his fingertips and spread across the rain in thin, burning threads. Each line curved through the air with strange elegance, creating a claw of fire that raked at Ivan and swept towards Dimitri’s face from multiple angles.

Ivan stepped forward.

Dimitri charged.

The difference between them was obvious.

Ivan slipped between the flames with controlled footwork, cutting through two burning threads with his claws before they touched his coat. Dimitri simply smashed through them, catching his golden fur on fire for a second before extinguishing them.

"Still flashy as ever!" Dimitri barked.

Vladimir’s expression did not change.

"And you’re still a mindless fool! EXPLODE!"

Snap!

Vlad snapped his fingertips and jumped back.

The embers and faint smoke from his attack suddenly rekindled and burst across Dimitri’s face.

Boom!

A chain of purple explosions crawled over his body, each blast cracking against his golden fur like thunder trapped beneath the skin. Dimitri’s charge broke for a single step as his massive frame staggered sideways, smoke rolling from his arms and chest.

"Dimitri!" Nagisa snapped.

"I’m fine!"

"You’re on fire!"

"I said I’m fine!"

Ivan didn’t look back.

The moment Vladimir’s fingers snapped, he used the gap between explosions to rush beneath the next burning thread. His claws carved toward Vlad’s wrist, aiming to sever the hand before he could cast again.

Vladimir twisted his arm away.

But not far enough to avoid any damage.

Ivan’s claws sliced across his forearm, tearing through sleeve and flesh.

A spurt of blood scattered into the rain, but before it reached the ground, it froze midair into crimson needles.

Elizabeth’s eyes clouded over as a fist barely missed her face.

"Ivan, jump back!"

He obeyed instantly.

The needles shot through the space around him, piercing concrete, steel, and burning crates with sharp little cracks.

Dimitri roared and slammed both fists into the ground.

The impact shattered the pier beneath the needles, breaking their angle as he forced himself forward again. Black smoke rose from his fur. Patches of gold still burned bright beneath the charred edges, making him look more beast than man.

Vlad’s gaze flicked to him.

"Haha, you’re still standing? Damn brute..."

Dimitri bared his teeth and smashed Vlad in the abdomen with a brutal left hook.

The impact folded Vladimir’s body around Dimitri’s fist.

A dull crack rolled through the pier as Vlad’s boots skidded backwards, carving two long grooves through the wet concrete. Blood burst from his mouth, scattering across Dimitri’s knuckles before the rain dragged it down.

Dimitri didn’t let him breathe.

His right hand came next.

Vladimir raised his arm, and blood-red ice formed over his forearm like a shield. Dimitri’s punch smashed into it and shattered the ice apart, but the force still carried through, throwing Vlad sideways toward a broken cargo crane.

Ivan moved at the same time.

He cut across the left, using Dimitri’s body to conceal his aim, aiming for Vladimir’s knee.

"W-What!?"

Vladimir gasped as his eyes widened.

In a desperate attempt to fight back, Purple fire burst beneath his feet.

The explosion lifted him just enough for Ivan’s claws to miss the joint and tear through his calves and boot instead.

"You’ve always been like this, Ivan!" Vladimir landed on the side of the crane, one foot against warped metal, body horizontal for a heartbeat before he pushed off and sent three spears of red ice toward Ivan’s face.

Elizabeth shifted before the attack fully formed, her head dodging the blow of Claudia by an inch as she gave Ivan another prophecy.

"Ivan, above you!"

Ivan dropped.

The first spear passed over his head.

The second struck Dimitri’s shoulder and broke against his golden aura.

"Wench, don’t think I don’t know your powers!"

The third curved.

Elizabeth’s pupils dilated.

She twisted her body, but the spear still grazed her side, cutting through fabric and skin.

"ELIZA!?" Ivan screamed.

"I’m fine.... Ivan, focus."

Vladimir used that instant.

He landed behind Dimitri and pressed his palm against the werewolf’s back.

"Burst."

The purple flame detonated point-blank.

Dimitri roared as the blast slammed him forward, smashing him through a stack of steel containers. The impact flattened the nearest one, and burning fuel sprayed into the rain around him.

Nagisa’s expression changed.

"Honey!"

Selina stepped in front of her before she could move.

"Your opponent is me."

Nagisa’s black flames burned violently around her shoulders, like a radiant mantle. "Move! You stuck-up, flat-chested bitch with fake tits!"

Selina stopped in place, her mouth wide open.

For the first time since appearing on the pier, the elegant vampire bride’s calm face cracked. Her red eyes widened by a hair, then narrowed so sharply that the rain around her seemed to freeze midfall.

"Flat...?"

Nagisa’s ears twitched.

"Oh? That one hurt?"

Selina’s lips trembled as she desperately glanced towards Vladimir.

"They are not fake, honey, I swear it! Look at Selene, she’s so huge... and bouncy!"

Vladimir’s elegant movements shattered as blood spurted from his mouth, his sharp gaze directed to his wife, then to her breasts.

"Woman... do not mention our daughter’s chest so lightly...!"

However, he’d left himself open—a husband’s instinct. A stupid, natural reaction to his wife suddenly losing composure over the most childish insult possible, and Ivan saw it a mile away.

"Now!"

Dimitri moved like a train, ramming his massive body into Vlad’s flank to ruin his footing.

While disoriented, Vladimir snapped his eyes back to the battle far too slowly. Purple flame burst from his fingers, but Ivan was already beneath his jaw, his muscles primed with a low, devastating uppercut.

The punch slammed into Vladimir’s chin with a sharp, ugly crack.

His head snapped back, purple flame scattering from his fingers in broken sparks. Dimitri did not let him recover, his massive hand clamping around Vlad’s shoulder before driving him down with raw Fenrir strength.

Vladimir’s boots tore across the wet concrete.

Ivan stepped in again.

This time his fist buried itself into Vlad’s abdomen, directly beneath the ribs, folding the vampire lord forward. Blood burst from Vladimir’s mouth and splattered across Ivan’s sleeve, hot even beneath the rain.

The red oath mark beneath his coat flared violently.

Vlad gasped.

For a moment, his knees refused to bend.

Then Ivan’s elbow crashed down between his shoulders.

Bang!

The pier cracked under Vladimir as he dropped to one knee, one hand braced against the ground while the other clutched his chest. Purple flame trembled around his fingertips, unstable and thin.

Ivan stood over him, claws hovering beside his throat.

"You still love your wives and family too much..."

Vladimir coughed, then laughed bitterly through the blood dripping from his lips.

"And you’re still... a shameless bastard."

Behind him, Selina’s face had turned completely crimson.

"My chest is real!"

Nagisa wiped blood from her lip and grinned.

"Prove it later, hussy. Look, your little twink husband’s losing; go help him."

The battle was all but over, as Nagisa and Elizabeth suffered a slight grievance. Claudia wasn’t to be trifled with as she quietly appeared beside Vlad.

"She’s kinda scary..."

"Ah, that girl isn’t normal. No wonder Anya is so cute."

When she pulled back Vlad’s coat to check his wound, her voice suddenly caught everyone’s attention.

"It’s fading! The mark... It’s starting to disappear!"