Q: What is the possible source of Ward?

A: It likely came from Ishtar.

- - -

Meanwhile, Lorne alone was battling against the vampire lord with a bare sword.

"You sent away others," the bloodsucker said casually, as his claws elongated into a scarlet dagger-like. "Do you think they can stop Xion? Or do you think you can stop me and still have time to rescue them? The stars on your sword show you have not reached the level of Grand Knight yet. Far from it from the aura I am seeing. Can you even put up with a couple of my attacks?"

At the noble words of the bloodsucker, Lorne uttered nothing, and with a stony look on his face, he advanced towards the bloodsucker, rushing with his top agility, eyes narrowing, gripping the hilt tight.

The fiery sword blazed in the ever-grandeur of the scarlet flame as he swung it right at the chest of the vampire.

The vampire moved effortlessly to dodge his attacks with always the arrogant, aloof, noble smile on his lips. He swiped both of his claws towards Lorne as a bloody aura released from him and assaulted Lorne. It was a force of its own, murky and deadly as it loomed towards Lorne.

The knight swung his sword in arcs around him to block all the deadly blows. Of all things, the sword of Emberheart specialises in condemning evil, and the undead go straight to the top of the list of evil.

"Impressive," the Vampire Lord said. "Stop this then."

Then the bloodsucker rushed towards Lorne like a bolt of lightning while he swiped his dagger-like claws all over to assault Lorne.

Lorne dodged and blocked most of them, yet a few of them still got some skin of him. Wherever it touched, it broke his old armour easily, and when it touched his raw skin, it left burning indignation there.

Lorne was regretting not bringing his Ward with him. Though it was slightly damaged and might get even more damaged if he used it, he could use it here. But he would not mind getting it damaged here at all. Not at all, it seemed.

The vampire was not just fast with his mouth; even his legs were slightly faster than Lorne's. Even after supplying spirit force to arm it, his armour was nothing but ragged leather against him. But it can't be like the Ward and never will be.

Wards can save your life in battle because they are lighter on your body and provide far more security as long as you fuel them with enough spirit force. Here, the vampire lord was in his own league, slicing his poor armour to nothing more than rags.

The armour was not the only of Lorne's worries, though.

The fire sword of the House Emberheart was quite demanding, especially for anyone who was not related by blood to the Emberheart. Lorne only got this sword a couple of months ago after making many achievements for the house, and he still has not adapted well to such a power-hungry sword.

It was even sucking spirit energy from his defences, so anyone could guess how unruly the sword was. But even with that disadvantage, there was still a striking advantage.

He needed one blow, and only a single blow, to deal a serious injury to the vampire. Without a second of pondering, he enabled his dominion, as his blue eyes glittered in the dark. Strange things, these dominions.

As far as his knowledge goes, there were five types, and each of the five held five unique powers. Even among the elite knights, the Dominion was scarce. Only after his accomplishments in the military was Lorne awarded this one. He got it after paying with his blood.

The dominion he held is called the dominion of the Seer—it lets him see the flow of force in his opponent's body and hide his own flow. It did not have any offensive skills, but with his swordsmanship, he could use it with extreme precision and know the next moves of his opponent.

Unfortunately for him, the opponent he was fighting today was way over his league. He was even having a problem reading the energy flowing through the bloodsucker's body.

"Ah, the dominion of a seer, ye?" the bloodsucker commented with evident contempt in his eyes. He had lived a couple hundred years and surely he had seen this before and learned to avoid it, too.

They had exchanged over a dozen blows in the quick encounter, and somehow he felt he was not the only one who was thinking of shortening the battle. The bloodsucker was coming at him with vicious blows one after another while he blocked most of them but still suffered from a few of them.

The tall undead withdrew for a moment and looked at the blood on his dagger-like claw. It was Lorne's blood, and the bloodsucker tasted it, running his tongue over the claws.

The bloodsucker's eyes glowed with delight, and his face twisted even more."Ahh, what a delightful taste," he said. "Perhaps I am too hungry to even judge it."

But at that very moment, Lorne picked up his pace, and his speed was even further boosted compared to the vampire. He could become a little faster than even now, pumping extra spirit force, but that needed to wait. He needed to wait for the opportunity.

He crept right before the vampire lord and swept his fiery sword through the lower body. His opponent dodged, somehow twisting his body inhumanely, but Lorne came with the sword again. This time, it was aimed squarely at the arrogant, handsome face.

The vampire lord jerked his head to a duck, but the sword twisted in the path and came at him again.

This time, the undead could not dodge anymore, as the blade made a bloody wound on his shoulder. The vampire tried to fling himself away to minimise the impact of the blow.

But Lorne did not want to let go of his target so easily. He took advantage of the situation and dashed towards the vampire, who was on his way to collapsing on the ground.

But he did not. With a swift somersault, the vampire stood up, and luckily, Lorne saw through it with the power of the seer.

A sword greeted the bloodsucker at his throat, warping the spirit force in a slow roar. The undead stepped sideways for a dodge, but the fiery sword made a feint, and the flame burned even further at that very moment.

The slow roar of the spirit force warped away, fastened as it approached the undead.

Lorne put everything on that attack and if this connects where he intended, then it may very well be the deciding blow.

The sword was about to pierce the gut of the vampire when the undead put up their freaking knee as a block against the sword. The sword easily broke the defence and cut off the limb entirely.

Before the leg could even fall on the ground, a twisted smile appeared on the face of the bloodsucker, and a sudden dark force was released from his body in such an utter fashion that Lorne was flung away a couple of dozen metres away from the impact.

He was not the only one who was looking for the opportunity it seemed.

Lorne dropped to the stony ground pathetically. Blood bubbled out from all over his body, not just the exposed part of his head. The leather armour he was wearing soon turned bloody, as he coughed out more blood from his mouth and nose.

The impact first broke a few of his bones, then messed up his spirit force channelling system, and then blew him away. But worse, he lost his sword.

No amount of brute force could do it like this, invade the body, and destroy it from within. It needs practice, talent and high control over the art. There sure was a force to reckon with in the attack, but the blow was far more vicious than Lorne could even have thought.

"Do you think you are only battling a regular vampire?" the bloodsucker said in a similarly raging and contentious voice.

His left leg, which he used to block the fiery sword, was cut off from the knees, yet no blood was oozing out of the wound. He restricted it with some kind of method. He then looked towards the cut-off leg a couple of metres away. His gaze concentrated on it, and the leg seemed to shake a little at first.

"See this?" the vampire said again, and the cut-off leg flew towards him. "This is the art you humans are so proud of. In the couple hundred years I lived, I picked a few sorceries from humans myself. And it is truly a delight to crush humans with their own making."

Lorne was in a messed up state to worry about what the Vampire was saying. He made a great blunder this time. He should have thought this bloodsucker was similarly skilled in sorcery or else how could he put down someone like Professor Ranyan.

At first, Lorne was cautious as he had never battled someone this powerful, but at the same time, he was worried about the kids as well. And with that fear in mind, he fell into the scheme of the vampire.

The vampire seemed to be in the mood to enjoy his first meal today, as he did not make haste to kill Lorne. He put the cut-off leg on and tried to paste it on the stump which had once been his left knee. Some bloody glow came from the wound, and it solidified with the cut-off leg. It was certainly not like before, but it was definitely an overpowered ability to heal an injury of such a level.

Lorne crawled towards the sword a few metres away. He could not use sorcery as the vampire did with his lost leg, so he had to work for it physically, crawling.

That was not all. He was trying to fend off the dark, deadly aura that had infected his channelling system. It proved to be quite difficult, but he still got his hands on his spirit force again.

"All this fighting and moving and fighting, again and again, has made me hungry, very hungry," the bloodsucker said. His face had lost its handsomeness and dignity a long time ago. It was now the face of a savage, a predator, who was looking at his prey.historical

"Usually, I prefer humans of a younger age, but it seems I have to make up with you for now. Those groups of girls looked tasty as well. So I've decided to satisfy my hunger and then enjoy them for a longer period of time," said the vampire with a twisted smile.

Anger rose in Lorne's heart, and he surged through the spirit in his channel again, ignoring the deadly aura in his system. He was only a couple of arms away from his sword when the deadly dark force came at him again. This time it was not so overwhelming, but still deadly enough.

Fortunately, he was prepared for it. The seasoned knight burst out of spirit energy from his lower body and rolled on the ground swiftly. In between, he had gotten hold of the sword.

"You still have the strength to fight?" The vampire seemed a little surprised.

"Well, it doesn't matter. The deadly force of the undead will consume your life force gradually. Maybe I should give another hand and savour the feast. It has been quite some time now that I have controlled my hunger."

_________________________

For those who are wondering about the Ranks of Knights here.

-Knight Squire: On the path to become a knight.

-Knight: Taken an oath to protect the chosen Lord.

-Grand Knight: A seasoned Knight whose achievement and skills speak for themselves.

-Royal Knight: It is not just the lordship that the Royal Knight Protect, but the entire Kingdom.

-Radiant Knight: They are the protector of the realm.

Another thing to add, a magus majoring in battle is far more powerful than a Knight within a similar realm. Other than Knight and Mages, there are other systems as well, it will be introduced later as in the mainland these two are the main conventional path.