Youngest Son of the Emperor

As he walked towards the group, the crowd parted like the red sea, their gaze fell to the ground as he strolled past them. Every move he made was filled with vampiric grace. With one look, Eric could tell that he was one of the True Vampires. True vampires were descendants of the bloodline of the Original Vampire. Many of them perform incestuous acts to keep their bloodline pure and noble, they were born vampires that was not tainted by human blood. The power and grace he gave off for his age was an indication that he was a pureblood. Now Eric was even more curious of who he was, even Anastasia knew him from the look on her face.

**

The Vampire Hierarchy in the Bloodcrest Empire:

-Thrall

-Dhampyr

-Vampire

-Noble Vampire

-True Vampire

-Vampire Lord

**

Ignoring the current atmosphere, Eric stepped in front of him, stopping him in his tracks.

"Who might you be, vampire?"

There were a few shocked gasp in the pub as they could not believe the way he addressed the vampire. The vampire stopped in his tracks and lifted an eyebrow. He scanned Eric up and down like he was a bug in his eyes. Deciding that Eric was not worth his time, he put a hand on his shoulder and tried to shove him away, but Eric did not budge an inch.

Thinking that he did not use enough strength, he tried again, but Eric's feet were planted firmly on the ground. This peaked the vampire's curiosity a little.

"Oh? You dare stand against me? Do you know who you are speaking to?" The vampire said haughtily.

"Well..." Eric looked around, as if he could not believe what he just heard. "That's why i asked, you dimwit."

This elicited another round of gasps from the crowd.

"What?" Eric looked around in confusion.

It looked like he struck a nerve, as the vampire's aura grew even darker.

"Please calm down! He is new here!" Nivelet immediately tried to placate the vampire.

"How dare he insult me, the son of the emperor, Evagoras Nox Tepes!" He screamed as bloodlust exploded out.

"There you go, that wasn't so hard after all. Wait... you are-"

Eric did not get to finish his sentence as a fist came flying towards him.

"Stop." Eric's eye glowed deep blue and a little bit of dragonic aura leaked out.

As if the world froze, the entire pub stopped moving and stared at the incredulous sight in front of them.

With one word, Eric had rendered Evagoras motionless. Using Evil Eye, Eric had ceased all movement within his body. Everyone knew that Evagoras was not one to listen to orders easily, that meant that Eric had an ability so powerful he was able to stop a True Vampire.

All eyes were now on Eric, even his friends were looking at him shell-shocked.

Eric had a calm look on his face, but on the inside, he was struggling.

'Shit, the mana consumption for using evil eye is just too great.' Eric had expanded half of his mana just to stop him for a few seconds.

Releasing Evagoras before his mana ran out, Eric made a relaxed pose showing that stopping him was not a big deal at all. Inside Evagoras mind, the image of Eric in front of him was that of a monster. He rethought everything that he was planning to do to Eric and stepped back warily.

Eric actually wanted to scare him with the act but instead, Evagoras grew even more excited.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, finally a strong opponent! I can finally look forward to this year's tournament, unlike last year's trash. You better not disappoint me." Pointing at Eric, he turned his back and left.

Everyone let out a collective sigh. The pressure in the room had eased drastically.

'So that is the guy sensei wanted me to kill, he seems really strong, better watch out for him.'

"Damn are you crazy? Why did you do that? Almost got yourself killed there." Nivelet came up to him and said.

"Welp looks like the mood is broken, I'll be heading back now, see you guys at the tournament." Exchanging goodbyes, they went their separate ways.

---

A few hours before the Inter-Kingdom Tournament starts, the combatants were called to gather under the grand stage. It was a wide area that could hold a hundred people easily.

After the last participant arrived, the overseer of the tournament told everyone to warm up and prepare. No fighting was allow before the tournament start. The vampires were in a bunch apart from everyone. The elves and humans were mingling with each other.

Eric spotted the high elves and walked over to them. They were in a sitting position with their eyes closed.

"What are they doing?" he asked Anastasia.

"I heard it's called image training, something the elves came up with. It is a form of training to imagine themself combating against an imaginary foe. The ones that they fought before could be put into this space, after that they can simulate a battle between said foe and it would help them."

"Interesting, i'll leave them to it then."

Across the room, there were many verbal fights going on. They were combatants that knew each other from the previous tournament and wanted a piece of one another.

Looking around, Eric realized that everyone had high grade armor and weapons. Looking at his own equipment, it looked really bad compared to theirs.

'At least my sword is mid grade,' Eric held it up, examining it under the light. Many of the contestants were looking down on him, in their minds Eric was as good as dead once he entered the arena.

**

All weapons and armors were separated into 6 tiers:

Low grade

Mid grade

High grade

Epic grade

Legend grade

Divine grade

**

Suddenly, a voice was heard behind him. Seeing the people around backing away from him, Eric knew there could only be one person that would have this effect.

"Fight me human," Evagoras stood in a fighting pose.

-I thought he was trash, why is the prince talking to him?

-He must be hiding something, I have to find out.

"I thought fighting wasn't allowed before the tournament?"

"I make the rules here," Evagoras said with a smirk.

"You sure as hell don't, why don't you save that energy for later, i'm too lazy to fight."

"Hrmph," he walked away.

This became a hot topic amongst the combatants. As the first person to make the Crimson Prince back down, everyone was scrambling to find the identity of Eric. Even the vampires themselves were surprised.

There were a few dark elves that stood out from the elves. They wore dark cloaks and were separated from the others. The high elves said that there were no discrimination, but apparently not everyone shared the same views.

On the vampire's side, there was no other True Vampires apart from Evagoras. That made Eric relax a little. The other vampires were Noble Vampires. They were not True Vampires as their blood are tainted, but they're just a rank under in terms of status and power and not to be trifled with.

---

In the broken castle far away, a king stood facing his army.

"THE REBIRTH OF THE SHADOW ARCHON IS COMING, RAISE YOUR WEAPONS, ITS TIME FOR A REVOLUTION!"

Looking at the picture of Parzival in his hand, he smiled ominously.