The Bloodpack had balls, you had to give them that. Their base sat on the outskirts of the city like a middle finger to every hunter who'd ever dreamed of wiping them out.
Mario hovered in the night sky, studying the compound below. Lights blazed from every window, security patrols moved, and the whole place looked more like a military installation than a vampire nest. The perimeter was crawling with heavily armed guards, and teir equipment rivaled that of special forces units. These weren't thugs with Saturday night specials. Someone had invested serious money into security.
He licked his lips and pulled the minotaur axe from his inventory.
"Let's crash this party."
Blade didn't waste words. His combat armor's jets ignited, and he shot forward. The armor was designed primarily for close combat, but that didn't mean it wasn't packing heat. Small missiles launched from shoulder mounts while integrated machine guns opened fire.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Explosions tore through the outer defenses. Guards scattered, shouting into radios and returning fire with everything they had.
Mario took a more direct approach. He dismissed his flying platform, pulled out the battle sign, and held it in front of him.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Bullets rained down on him, but they might as well have vanished into the void, not even the faintest ripple appeared.
Instead, every guard who fired at him dropped dead on the spot, without a single visible wound.
The reinforced metal gate loomed ahead. Someone fired a rocket launcher. The explosion engulfed him in fire and shrapnel, and accomplished nothing. His health bar didn't even flicker.
He switched to his diamond pickaxe and started mining the gate. With his current digging level, even reinforced alloy broke apart in seconds.
He carved out a two-by-two entrance and stepped through. The interior guards were different, no human security forces here. These were vampires.
He grabbed Pearl, who'd been hiding behind him since they landed.
"You're up!"
Pearl barely had time to squeak before Mario hurled him into the cluster of vampires. But the bat recovered mid-flight, after all, Blade had thrown him into combat situations dozens of times. He knew how to land.
"Careful! It's the Bloody Bat!"
Mario's eye twitched. "The Bloody Bat? What kind of nickname is that?"
At least mine's just "Butcher of the Night." Could be worse. And once all these bloodsuckers are dead, nobody will be left to use either name.
THUMP.
Pearl landed right in the middle of the vampire pack. Their reaction wasn't what Mario expected, instead of attacking, they scattered like roaches when the lights came on, diving behind cover and furniture.
Pearl's reputation had clearly preceded him. Unfortunately for the vampires, they only knew half the story.
He vanished and reappeared next to a cowering vampire. He extended one stubby wing, and blood erupted from the vampire's body like a broken fire hydrant, gathering in Pearl's grasp.
The blood condensed into a dark red orb that shot toward the vampires behind cover.
BOOM.
The blood orb exploded, scattering crimson droplets everywhere. Every vampire touched by the spray was instantly impaled, their bodies riddled with holes as the liquid hardened into projectiles.
The Dark Blood Projectile was a high-level vampire skill, area-of-effect damage that could wipe out groups.
"Pearl can finally hold his own. I wonder if he'll... what the fuck?"
Mario couldn't help but shout. Pearl had stood up on his stubby legs and was actually running. Fast.
The sight of that massive body barreling forward on short legs might have been funny under other circumstances. The vampires didn't think so. All they felt was the raw pressure of half a ton of muscle and fat bearing down on them.
"Fire! Fire!"
Gunshots rang out in a barrage. But Pearl dodged, his body weaving between bullets like he'd been training for this his whole life. At Level 10, his physical stats had transcended normal vampire capabilities.
He appeared in the center of the vampire formation. A silver longsword materialized in his wing, except the blade glowed blood-red instead of metallic silver.
He raised the weapon and drove it into a vampire's back. Then another. And another. His movements became a blur.
The Heartseeker was an exclusive vampire weapon that increased attack speed with every kill.
"Begone! Death is your only salvation!"
Pearl's face was twisted in ecstatic violence, like a religious zealot purging the unworthy.
Mario turned to Stacy. "Since when did he get this theatrical?"
Stacy tilted her head thoughtfully. Her blonde hair and blue eyes gave her an innocent appearance that completely contradicted her nature. "Hmm, I don't think so. He seems pretty normal to me. May I go help him?"
She shifted from bat form to humanoid.
Mario nodded. "Go ahead."
Stacy teleported into the vampire pack and raised her hand. Blood began flowing from multiple vampires simultaneously, drawn toward her.
"Repent... and then die!"
Mario stared. "..."
Now he understood where Pearl had picked up the dramatics. Apparently spending months training together had rubbed off on both of them.
Blade arrived through the entrance, jets cooling as his armor touched down beside Mario. "All external resistance has been eliminated. Most of them were human collaborators from various underworld clans."
Mario didn't seem concerned. "Traitors deserve what they get. Have the logistics team arrive in thirty minutes to clean up."
The Hunter Association had grown beyond simple combat operations. They now had full support divisions, personnel who handled supplies, battlefield cleanup, body disposal, and asset liquidation. Plenty of people wanted to help kill vampires but couldn't hack the combat side. Logistics gave them purpose.
Blade said nothing more. Fire erupted from his armor's jets as he launched forward, joining Pearl and Stacy in slaughtering the remaining vampires.
With his assistance, the cleanup accelerated. Within minutes, every vampire that had rushed to defend the entrance lay dead.
"Are you trying to start a war?"
A hoarse voice echoed through the corridor. It was the voice of a vampire who looked one foot in the grave stepped into view. He resembled the reapers they'd encountered, but maintained enough control to seem human.
This was Eli Damaskinos, leader of the Bloodpack and one of the oldest vampires still active.
Behind him stood a dozen vampires with distinctly different energy.
Blade twirled his silver sword. "The war never ended. You just stopped paying attention."
Mario studied Damaskinos from a distance and shook his head slightly. The ancient vampire's appearance proved one critical fact, vampires weren't immortal. They just aged slower than humans. Eventually, even they withered.
Damaskinos stared at Blade's steel armor with mixed feelings. A Daywalker embracing technology? What's next, vampires attending college?
Though he couldn't exactly judge. He'd been experimenting with genetic engineering for decades.
"You wanted to cooperate?"
"I don't cooperate with food," Damaskinos replied coldly. "And I don't like working with prey."
"The Butcher of the Night... I didn't expect you to appear as well. So the rumors are true. Blade isn't the real leader of the Hunter Association. You are."
The ancient vampire took a step forward. When it was just one Daywalker, the damage to his vampire empire had been painful but manageable. But ever since Mario founded the Hunter Association, every vampire could feel the noose tightening.
Mario started walking forward to meet him. Damaskinos was the strongest vampire he'd ever encountered, even more powerful than Blade.
"Butcher of the Night," Damaskinos said, "right now we share a common enemy. Nomak has gathered hundreds of infected beings. If we don't eliminate him soon, not only vampires but humanity itself will be endangered."
Mario chuckled. "Did you happen to mention to your subordinates that he is your son?"
The vampire elites behind Damaskinos stirred uneasily. They'd lost countless warriors fighting the reapers. Learning their own leader had created the threat shifted the atmosphere instantly.
Nyssa stepped forward, her expression conflicted as she moved beside her father. She wanted to speak but with everyone watching, she held her tongue.
Damaskinos' face darkened. "He is now the enemy of vampires and humans alike."
Mario's phone buzzed. He checked the message and smiled. [Large numbers of reapers are moving toward the base. Please be careful...]
He pocketed the phone. "Your son just heard you were under attack. It seems he can't wait to come home and ask why you turned him into a monster. He probably plans to send you off personally afterward."
Tonight was destined for chaos. The moment Blade attacked, Damaskinos had started summoning his forces, and apparently Nomak had received the same alert.
"If you're willing, I'll personally transform you into a vampire... and even have my daughter marry you, making you my successor."
He gestured toward Nyssa, who obediently stepped to his side. Mario looked her over. Beautiful, and exotic features. Under other circumstances, she might be tempting.
He shook his head. "That's a real shame."
Nyssa frowned slightly. "A shame? What's a shame?"
"It's a shame that if I ever became a vampire and ended up looking like you decrepit fucks, I'd rather eat a bullet!"
Without warning, Mario pulled out the minotaur axe and swung it at Damaskinos. On his mini-map, the compound's perimeter was lighting up with red dots, Nomak's reaper army was approaching fast.
Damaskinos reacted instantly. One hand reached for the axe while the other struck toward Mario's heart. His fingernails were unnaturally long, getting impaled by those would definitely ruin your day.
When the axe connected with Damaskinos' claws, the sound of metal on metal rang through the room. The nails shattered under the impact.
The axe bit deep into Damaskinos' palm, though the blow lost most of its force. At the same time, the vampire's other hand punched straight through Mario's chest.
THUNK.
The impact drove Mario back several steps. He glanced at his health bar. 12 HP lost. Considering normal guns did maybe 1 point of damage now, Damaskinos was dangerous.
He switched weapons. A massive cleaver appeared in his grip. Compared to other weapons, he preferred this simple, brutal blade.
He swung it toward Damaskinos. The vampire couldn't dodge in time. Fortunately, Nyssa reacted instantly. She drew twin swords from her waist and crossed them to block the strike.
She immediately regretted it.
BOOM.
She was sent flying backward, slamming into her father. Both vampires tumbled across the floor.
CRACK.
One of her swords snapped in half, the blade clattering away. Her arms trembled from the impact. She'd underestimated his raw strength.
The other vampires opened fire.
Mario calmly raised his battle sign. To his surprise, the vampires immediately froze and stopped firing.
"Well, I'll be damned. They're not completely stupid after all."
Several sword-wielding vampires charged forward. He shook his head, gripping the cleaver in one hand and the battle sign in the other.
He wasn't planning to end this quickly. If he really wanted speed, he'd pull out his magic wand and blast them all into paste. But where was the fun in that?
Slash.
An arm flew through the air, still clutching its sword.
He flicked blood off the battle sign's edge and grinned. "Who says you need a blade to kill someone?"