My Ultimate Sign-in System Made Me Invincible

Chapter 768: The Great Houses Gather

The four moons hung high over the inner city, casting cold silver light across the empty black avenues. After Lord Mortimer fled, the quiet on the east side of the city did not last long.

Heavy iron gates swung open across the distant hills. Hundreds of armored guards poured down the stone roads in tight, disciplined ranks, their boots making no sound on the black stone. At their head walked men carrying long flags stitched with silver thread, each one bearing the crest of one of the realm’s oldest bloodlines.

Within an hour, the wide street outside the Hale estate was completely surrounded.

Dozens of noble lords and ladies stood at the front of the formation in long velvet coats and high-collared cloaks over black breastplates. Their pale faces were as hard as stone, and their crimson eyes were fixed on the carved walls of the Hale estate.

Inside, Felix stood near the front window with his jaw clenched so tight his teeth ached. Beside him, Clara kept her back straight, but her fingers gripped the edge of the heavy wooden sill.

"That’s House Sterling, House Corvus and House Burke," Felix said with a low, strained voice. "The other three are behind them. Six of the great houses came out in full force, and they brought their personal guards."

Clone One stood a few paces behind them, finishing a cup of warm tea. He set the porcelain cup down on a side table and stretched his shoulders.

"Looks like Mortimer stirred up the whole nest," Clone One said.

Clara turned toward him with sharp concern in her crimson eyes. "Liam, these aren’t Mortimer’s household guards. The heads of six great houses are standing out there. If you go out alone, they won’t fight you one at a time."

"Good," Clone One said with an easy smile. "Stay inside with your brother, Clara. Keep the doors shut."

Before either of them could argue, Clone One walked out of the sitting room, opened the heavy front doors and strolled down the stone path of the courtyard.

He stepped out through the gates of the Hale estate and stopped in the middle of the moonlit street.

Every head in the crowd turned toward him at once. Hundreds of crimson eyes locked onto the lone human standing on the flagstones in torn, dusty robes. Nobody made a sound.

An older vampire with long white hair stepped forward from the center of the noble line. Behind him stood Lord Mortimer in a new crimson cloak. His wounds had already healed, but his face was twisted with bitter hatred.

"There he is!" Mortimer spat, pointing a pale finger at Clone One. "That is the stray who broke through my walls and murdered my hunter! Look at him! He wears the rags of a slave, yet he dares to walk our streets!"

The white-haired lord raised a hand, and Mortimer fell silent at once. He looked at Clone One with cold, measuring eyes and spoke in a clear voice that carried off the surrounding buildings.

"I am Lord Sterling," the white-haired vampire said. "By the laws of this realm, no human walks free without a master, and no human raises a hand against a noble. You have broken both laws tonight. Kneel, tell us where you came from, and accept our judgment."

Clone One stood with his hands in his pockets, looking across the sea of pale faces and black armor.

"Kneel?" Clone One said. "I don’t think so."

"Insolent dog!" a broad-shouldered lord in black plate growled as he drew a long sword. "Take his legs off!"

At his command, fifty elite guards from the six houses lunged forward together. Their blades flashed in the silver moonlight as they closed the gap in a fraction of a second.

Clone One kept his hands in his pockets. He took a slow breath and let his Primordial Essence roll outward.

Boom!

There was no flash of light. A crushing weight dropped out of the starless sky like an invisible ocean.

The flagstones under Clone One’s boots split down the middle. The wave of pressure swept across the street in an instant and slammed into the charging guards and the ranks of nobles behind them.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The fifty guards hit the stone face-first before they had covered half the distance. Their armor buckled under the weight, and their swords clattered across the stones as their bodies were pinned flat to the ground.

Behind them, the heads of the great houses gasped in shock.

Lord Sterling’s eyes went wide as the force hit his chest. Crimson mist burst around his shoulders as he tried to push back with his blood power, but the pressure crushed the mist back into his skin in an instant. His knees hit the stone with a sharp crack.

One by one, the proud lords and ladies of the six great houses were forced down. Within three seconds, every vampire on the street was kneeling on the hard black rock. Even Lord Mortimer collapsed onto his hands and knees beside Sterling, his whole body shaking as the pressure ground his shoulders toward the stones.

Silence returned to the street, broken only by the strained breathing of hundreds of nobles struggling to keep their heads off the ground.

Clone One walked forward until he stopped a few paces in front of Lord Sterling.

"You talk a lot about the laws of your realm," Clone One said with a flat, calm voice that carried to every corner of the street. "And I’m guessing you all think this world has been sealed off from everyone else for a very long time."

Lord Sterling gritted his teeth and fought the weight on his back just enough to glare up at him. "The seal cannot be broken! You should not be here!"

"Should not be here?" Clone One chuckled and pointed his thumb at Lord Mortimer, who was pressed against the stones nearby. "Why don’t you ask your friend Mortimer how I got in?"

Mortimer’s crimson eyes widened in panic. "Shut your mouth, human! Lies! He speaks nothing but lies!"

"I was in a canyon in my own world when a blood-red portal opened right in front of me," Clone One continued, ignoring Mortimer’s shouting. "Mortimer’s men stepped out of it. There was a giant stone beast in that canyon that kept everyone in my world away, and they used it to hide their crossing."

A ripple of shock ran through the kneeling nobles. Several heads turned toward Mortimer, their eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"He lies!" Mortimer yelled with a cracking voice as he tried to push himself up against the pressure. "He is trying to turn us against each other!"

"If you don’t believe me, go look inside his manor in the basin," Clone One said with a cold voice. "Break open the iron doors under his courtyard. You’ll find dozens of humans locked in his cellars right now, and they all don’t look broken like those that had been here for long. He’s been taking people through a crack in your seal for who knows how long."

The street went dead quiet.

Lord Sterling stared at Mortimer and searched his panicked face. Every noble present knew how closely Mortimer guarded his manor in the basin, and how rarely he let visitors past his outer gates.

"Mortimer," Sterling said in a low, dangerous whisper. "Is this true?"

"I did it to bring fresh blood into the realm!" Mortimer stammered as his composure broke under the stares of the other house heads. "The humans in the lower quarters were growing weak! I was going to share them with all of you once the crossing was safe!"

A low, furious murmur broke out among the kneeling lords.

Mortimer had broken the oldest law of their realm. He had put the seal at risk for his own gain, and he had kept it from every other great house.

The great houses turned on him where they knelt. Lords glared at Mortimer with open disgust, and several guards turned their blades toward Mortimer’s own men instead of the human standing in front of them.

Clone One eased his pressure back just enough for the nobles to breathe without their ribs cracking. None of them dared to stand.

"I came here to settle things with Mortimer and get those people out of his cellar," Clone One said, looking over the silent crowd. "Once the door opens and they go home, I’m leaving. Stay out of my way, and we won’t have a problem."

Before Lord Sterling could reply, a new group appeared at the far end of the street.

A tall, slender vampire stepped out from the shadows of the main avenue, flanked by four guards in spotless white-and-gold armor that shone under the four moons. Unlike the dark clothes of the great houses, the emblem on their chests was a silver crown resting above four moons.

The kneeling nobles lowered their heads at once and pressed their foreheads closer to the stone.

The figure in white and gold walked past the kneeling lords and stopped ten paces away from Clone One. His hands stayed empty at his sides. He looked at Clone One with calm eyes, then gave him a polite, formal bow.

"Traveler from beyond the seal," the royal envoy said with a clear, steady voice. "Word of tonight’s events has reached the palace. His Majesty, the King, has heard of your deeds and of Lord Mortimer’s crime. He invites you to the royal palace at once to speak about the crossing."