My Horny Stepmom Turns Me into Her Vampire Slave

Chapter 175: Ghost from the past

The metallic clang of Chris and Leon’s blood weapons echoes through the night in the hills behind Tama.

Not far away, Mia and Isabelle are training too.

Ren, Zaira, Yuzu, and Iris stayed home instead. It’s Iris’s twenty-fourth birthday, so they took the night off to celebrate.

Once training is over, Chris and the others are supposed to join them.

Ren did tell them to give him plenty of warning first, though.

He never said why, but he didn’t have to. Chris already knew exactly why.

"You’ve gotten a lot better, Leon," Chris says as they trade blow after blow with their swords.

"Yeah, but it’s still not enough! I need to get stronger. A lot stronger. If I want to avenge my parents, I have to!"

"If you keep this up, I’m sure you’ll do it someday! But before you start thinking about beating your brother, you should focus on beating me first!"

With one sharp strike, Chris knocks Leon’s rapier out of his hand.

A split second later, he sweeps Leon’s ankle, sending him crashing onto his back, and levels the tip of his katana at his throat.

Leon immediately raises both hands in surrender.

"Ugh... I give up, I give up. Damn it, you got me again. I still can’t believe you were just a human a few months ago... how the hell did you get this strong so fast?"

"It’s all thanks to my amazing training!" Isabelle chimes in as she walks over, helping an exhausted Mia stay on her feet after their spar.

Normally, Mia never uses the Tear of Azkarith’s powers during training to avoid inflicting fatal injuries.

But Isabelle is the one exception. She’s the only one among them who can withstand the unstoppable flames of that divine artifact.

Mia pushed that power to its limits just to keep up with her opponent.

Even so, Isabelle still looks as fresh as if she hadn’t fought at all.

"Now that you’ve mastered your Innatus, I’d say it’s time for the next step," Isabelle says, giving Chris a pat on the back so hard it nearly knocks him off balance.

"The next step? What’s that?" Chris asks, sounding more than a little concerned.

"Refining your Innatus. What you’ve got now obviously isn’t its final form. It’s just the starting point."

"So... it’s basically like an Innatus in its base form?"

"Exactly. Take Levreeshka Dulcar, for example. At first, she could only summon and control a single Primordial Vampire at a time. Then, after years of training focused entirely on refining her Innatus... well, you’ve seen what she eventually became capable of. So get ready, Chris. From now on, your training’s only going to get tougher."

"Of course! I’m ready for any training you’ve got, no matter how brutal!" Chris replies, fired up by the thought of becoming even stronger than he already is.

"Then... I want the same training Chris gets too! You’ve been taking it easy on me this whole time. That’s why I still haven’t improved as much as I wanted. I’m sure I’d get crazy strong if you trained me as hard as you train him!"

"Someone like you doesn’t need training to get stronger. He needs a miracle from the gods," a male voice sneers.

It comes from the trees surrounding the clearing, a patch of land carved out by months of violent training.

A voice Leon doesn’t recognize right away.

Partly because he hasn’t heard it in years, but mostly because it was the last voice he ever expected to hear.

Even before he realizes who it belongs to, his body starts trembling on instinct.

He immediately turns toward the sound.

And there he is. Zayn Thzraneel steps out from behind the trees at an unhurried pace.

Beside him is Raelor Valraen.

"Y-You... you..." Leon stammers, his voice shaking with fear and rage.

"Leon? What’s wrong? Who’s that guy...?" Chris asks, worried.

He narrows his eyes and studies Zayn more closely.

"Wait... now that I get a good look at him, you two really do look alike... don’t tell me...?"

"That’s right. He’s Leon’s brother. Zayn Thzraneel," Isabelle answers as she immediately steps up beside Chris and Leon.

"Long time no see, little brother. Honestly, I’m surprised a worthless loser like you is still alive," Zayn says with a smug grin.

Meanwhile, Raelor silently watches the four of them.

Both Mia Valakys and the Platinum Death are here... but Princess Zaira Narkhalis isn’t with them. Still... she left the Kingdom of Ravessia just to stay by Mia’s side. So where the hell is she?

Then a thought suddenly hits him.

Tokyo... of course. This is the city where Eliss Narkhalis and her children used to live... could it be...?

Two massive purple wings burst from Raelor’s back, and he immediately takes off, shooting into the distance like a bolt of lightning.

"Hey, Raelor! Where the fuck are you going?! Don’t tell me you freaked out after running into the Platinum Death and decided to bail!" Zayn yells.

But the incubus is already too far away to answer.

The same thought crosses Mia and Chris’s minds at the exact same time.

Raelor... did he just call him Raelor...? Don’t tell me... he’s the Raelor who killed Ren’s parents?!

"Ah, whatever. I can wipe all of you out by myself just fine!" Zayn says with a wicked grin as he rolls his shoulders and cracks his arms.

"That’s pretty arrogant of you, Zayn Thzraneel. If I remember correctly, we fought several times back when you were still with the Crimson Requiem. I’ll admit it—you were a remarkably talented young man. But you never came anywhere close to giving me a hard time."

"It’s been years since then. You might be surprised by how strong I’ve become!"

Zayn shapes his blood into a saber, and at the same instant, Isabelle summons her massive sword.

A violent crimson aura erupts around them, raging so fiercely that Chris, Mia, and Leon are forced to step back.

"Bring it on, Platinum Death! It’s time to settle once and for all who’s the strongest vampire in the multiverse!"