It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, and do come sit at the table.

The world around me had virtually come to a standstill, and I set out to confront the beast. My objective was to subdue the monster, and for this purpose, I employed specialized spatial enchantments — meticulously crafted modifications that allowed me to instantaneously teleport to any point within my line of sight through hyperspace. Employing these spells, I positioned myself several meters from the humanoid creature.

I prepared to engage the monstrous foe by swiftly transforming my hands into twin basilisk mouths, while simultaneously creating six identical physical illusions at my back. The true nature of the creature was revealed to me through its soul essence. My spiritual sight allowed me to perceive it as a savage and formidable being, yet not without reason. Yet, moments ago, it had clearly been human.

A creature driven by a predatory instinct and a demented human mind, its second nature, hypertrophied to the point of prana-producing, endowed it with incredible power, making it a formidable opponent.

This creature possessed an incredibly robust physique, superior physical conditioning, and almost absolute resistance to magic. These attributes were due to its dragonic ancestry in its bloodline, and secondarily, to the vast reservoir of prana that coursed through its veins.

We could not remain in the ballroom with this creature amidst a crowd of people; our battle would be catastrophic. In the blink of an eye, I formulated this idea and exerted an extraordinary amount of force, tearing the monster from the ground, which had only begun to react to my movements. Then, I leapt with it out of the palace, crashing through a massive stained-glass window with its bulk. I found myself on the square before the palace.

Our arrival immediately caught the attention of both the guards and the onlookers. It was evident that a window of the palace had been shattered, with two figures flying through it and landing in the center of the square. The commotion drew the attention of those who were present.

"So this is the one who has succeeded me as the Master of the Order," I thought to myself. The creature had now recovered from its initial surprise at my swiftness and strength, and was regarding me with curiosity. At the same time, its gaze lingered indecently on George's necklace, which had transformed into jewelry, serving as the regalia of the Master's authority.

It began to extend its arms in a deliberate manner. My own strength proved woefully inadequate in restraining Dracula, who turned out to be the creature. The most astonishing aspect was that the venom of the ancient basilisk, which I had injected into him, had only had a minor effect. My adversary appeared to be almost completely immune to the poison.

Throughout the duration of Vlad's questioning, he persistently endeavored to circumvent my mental shields and breach my consciousness. In this intellectual duel, we remained at a stalemate: neither he could breach my defenses, nor could I ultimately expel him from my psychic realm. It is a formidable predicament!

Dracula, having lived for over two centuries, is a seasoned opponent, while I, at the tender age of six, possess an extraordinary mental prowess. The prospect of contemplating what this entity might evolve into after a few more centuries is daunting.

As the Archmage, I have only been able to maintain my mental fortitude. All my mental resources have been devoted to resistance, rendering a counterattack impracticable.

Moreover, his immunity to my toxins is absolute. Given his extraordinary second soul shield, it is physically and magically impossible for me to eliminate him, unless I were to level Venus with spells of the utmost order.

Well, would you care to engage in mental discourse with me? Consume this! And with this thought in mind, I dispelled the illusion from my vision. Harnessing all my mental might in a single blow, I rammed my adversary's consciousness to the point of collapse.

In the square, the guards and local sorcerers had already assembled, with Marco and Vencenzo at the forefront. The two hastily erected a protective barrier around the square, shielding it from harm. Without resorting to more advanced forms of magic, my foe and I had stripped away the veil of our powers. Our auras shone with a brilliance discernible even to mortal eyes.

It only took a few moments for them to grasp the potential consequences of a confrontation between two of the most powerful sorcerers in the heart of the Austrian capital. None of them desired to face the aftermath of such a clash.

The surroundings were bathed in the glow of the magical shield that Marco and Vencenzo had conjured around the palace square. Dracula, still recovering from the devastating assault on his mental defenses, found himself encircled by this protective barrier.

In that moment, I employed my own weapon, my anti-daemonic chains and Georgi's, which wrapped themselves around my adversary like two serpents, seeking to rend him asunder. Georgi's chain managed to pierce the vampire's skin, embedding itself deep within its flesh, but the anti-vampire chain could only inflict minor scratches.

The outcome was uncertain. I knew that all my success thus far had been due to the element of surprise and my immediate actions against Tepes, but I understood that the true test lay ahead once he regained his composure.

A thought flashed through my mind, a siren-like call demanding immediate action. It was as if a phantom hand had emerged from the depths of my being. I wielded a blade forged from one of the seven tails I had claimed from the kitsune. With unparalleled speed and strength, I struck at the first vampire, but the blade sank only a few centimeters into its neck.

With great effort, I managed to withdraw the sword, only to find that its blade was stained with a peculiar substance. What was this blood? It resembled molten iron, radiating a golden glow and emitting intense heat. Standing in the presence of Dracula felt like being in a forge, but my observations of the vampire's anatomy provided no insights into its vulnerability.

And things were becoming increasingly dire. The creature was almost fully recovered. It now spread its limbs and body with sheer physical strength, without relying on any magical energy or spells. The vampire seemed unconcerned by the resistance of my illusions; real hands transformed into basilisks and chains, attempting to bind it.

My only remaining weapon at my disposal was the staff of my Archmage! However, if I were to summon it and brandish it before Marco and Vencenzenzo, it would dispel any doubts or speculation about my power and threat. They would be able to perceive and recognise one of the primary attributes of an Archmage's might. An Archmage may be an Archmage without a staff, but a mage wielding an Archmage staff is always an Archmage! And an Archmage with a vast reservoir of knowledge and abilities, not merely an almost limitless well of mana and other energies.

There was no time for doubt or worry; Dracula's bloodshot gaze was fixed on me, promising me all the torments of Hell and the Underworld on Earth. A monstrous surge of prana emanated from him in all directions, as he transformed into a creature resembling an anthropomorphic dragon: a massive head crowned with spikes and twin pairs of horns, a fanged, slightly protruding maw, legs transformed into paws that had become slightly shorter, arms that had grown larger, now matching the length of the legs, ending in formidable claws, and behind his back, enormous leathery wings. His entire body was clad in ash-black scales, like a dragon. What a sight!

By the gods, it was frightening! He gave a slight shrug, and my chains flew from me, the illusory snakes dispersed, and my arms almost tore free. I was quick to react, managing to unclench my limbs just in time, narrowly avoiding having my limbs torn off.

Once freed, Dracula soared into the skies. He now hovered above me, ten metres above the earth.

We must act, or the city will be destroyed. I must reveal myself as an archmage.

"I shall devour you!" he cried, "You will pay..." His words were drowned out by a painful scream as I unleashed a massive pillar of divine light upon him. The power of this attack could have devastated the area and everything within it for miles. I did not hold back in my assault. The maximum amount of sacred energy my body could channel, serving as a conduit between the realm of Yavi and the egregore of the One, burst forth into the physical world.

At that moment, I had already mounted my steed, the Great Spirit White Horse, and my battle chains were coiled around one of my arms. Both my hands were covered in a mixture of Dracula's blood and my own. The monster had succeeded in tearing my palms open with the strength of its basilisk jaws when it broke free. In my right hand, I held the snow-white staff of the Archmage, wielding it like a spear before me.

With a swift movement, I positioned myself before Dracula, exposed to the divine light that tormented him. With a powerful blow from the heel of my staff, I aimed for the spot where my basilisk fang's tip and the demonic god I had slain's horn were embedded. My strike pierced the creature's chest, leaving behind a trail of blood and pain!

The roar that followed reverberated through the neighborhood, sending those nearby falling to the ground with their hands pressed against their ears, their eardrums shattered by the intensity of the sound. Glass shattered within a radius of several kilometers as the sound wave spread.

My staff penetrated Dracula's breastplate, the tip of it striking his heart. With Herculean efforts, I endeavored to breach and contain him. To this end, I secured him to me with my shackles, leveraging their strength to draw us as close as possible for the purpose of impaling the creature.

"Die already!" I exclaimed in exasperation, realizing that there was no way for me to kill it and extract its soul, imprisoning it within my staff.

Without any regard for my own safety or privacy, I acted without hesitation. It was a matter of which of us would survive until dawn. I could no longer use any more powerful spells or magic. My focus was solely on maintaining the constant flow of divine power that tormented the creature's flesh and spirit, keeping it in a precarious state, unable to reach me or snatch my staff.

My only course of action was to create two clawed appendages through metamorphosis and insert them into the wound on Dracula's chest, where my staff had made contact.

With my fingers barely penetrating the wound, I attempted to expand it and tear his chest open, desperate to reach his heart.

My talons, now embedded in Tepes' flesh, felt like acid as I clenched my grip on his ribs, attempting to rip his chest open. The basilisk scales that protected my limbs had nearly dissolved, and soon the acidic, searing blood of the first vampire would touch my own flesh. I did not want to find out what it might do to me. Thus, I pushed my body to its limits, not by a hundred but by a hundred and twenty percent, in a desperate attempt to overcome my adversary.

With a mighty effort, I managed to tear through the sternum of the howling creature, revealing its heart, a massive organ the size of a volleyball, pulsating with a concoction of mental energy and prana. The energy within it was so potent that a thick haze of Dracula's corrosive vital force enveloped it. Throughout this ordeal, my mental defenses were assaulted by my opponent, but it did nothing to shatter my resolve to vanquish him. Once the vampire's heart was within my grasp, I seized it with both hands and ripped it free from the creature's chest.

As soon as the heart, the very nexus of power, was in my possession, a tempest of force erupted around us — a tempest composed of Tepes' mental prowess and his second skin. They began to lash about us with thousands of stinging lashes of force, shattering the flagstones and nearby structures, rending the bodies of those within the protective sphere that Marco and Vincenzo had conjured up in the heat of the battle nearby.

The most astonishing and perverse aspect was that Dracula's body did not even consider collapsing or ceasing its resistance after losing its heart. It merely sagged slightly in physical strength. Meanwhile, the tempest of his strength only grew, threatening to accomplish what I sought to prevent. If the tempest continued to escalate, the shield would crumble in a matter of half a minute, bringing about the destruction of all around it.

It was imperative to relocate to a deserted location immediately, and I knew of one such place.

The momentous decision was taken, the whole square was bathed in a brilliant flash of blinding light. Those few who were unaffected by the roar of the beast and were witnessing the battle between the knight on a snow-white steed with a lance that exuded elegance and light, and the enraged dragon, whose bloodlust and desire to consume all here were felt by all spectators, saw the square turn upside down, leaving no trace of either the monster or the warrior.

I managed to pull Dracula through the hyperspace vortex with great difficulty, transporting him to the Alps, to one of the most remote peaks of the local mountains. My secret hideaway was literally thirty kilometres away. This location had an anomaly, with the summit of the mountain hidden by optical illusions, making it impossible to see from afar, requiring one to stumble upon it by chance. Thus, I was not concerned about anyone discovering us here, nor about the power storm potentially harming anyone.

What a tenacious being he is! The deprivation of his corporeal heart did not shorten his existence, so I cannot yet claim his spirit for my service. It is a concept beyond my comprehension. I have never heard or read of anything like it. The loss of the focus of one's energy, capable of manifesting and incarnating in a physical form, invariably leads to death, for the damage extends to the very essence of the soul. Yet he appears unconcerned by its absence!

Even as I held his heart in my own hands, I sensed it sharing its vitality with his body, now some dozen meters distant from us. We must act swiftly! But first, I must apprise Witold and Olaf of my impending absence.

Summoning my patron, I commenced dictating a message to them:

Witold, Olaf, this is your sovereign and master speaking. I shall be unavailable for an undetermined period of time. No one outside of the council of the order shall be aware that I have communicated with you. To all others, I am a missing person.

Furthermore, I have slain Vlad «Dracula» Tepes today, which means that this accursed tribe is now without its primary source of strength. This presents an excellent opportunity for you to display your prowess and utility, thereby ingratiating yourself into the ecclesiastical power structure with distinction and gravitas.

Therefore, I order you, Witold, to conduct a swift incursion into the territories of Transylvania, Romania, and Hungary, and thereafter eradicate all of the vampire dens within those regions.

As I dictated a message to my Patronus, a tempest of power swirled around me, slowly beginning to abate. From Dracula's heart, still in my grasp, thick tendrils of incandescent blood erupted, embedding themselves into his body, which now lay nailed to the stone slab a dozen meters away with my staff. These tendrils began to tug at the heart in my hands, striving to wrench it from my grasp and rush it to his body. Alternatively, they sought to drag his body towards me, but the spear had firmly secured it to the slab, and my hands held the heart no less firmly, preventing it from moving.

For a full half-hour, I stood atop the mountain upon which Dracula was pinned, awaiting the tempest that his heart still sought to return to its body. This tempest was the result of his struggle, and it only subsided when Dracula succumbed to exhaustion.

Throughout this time, Dracula resisted the divine light that I channeled into his body, but my own chains played a crucial role. Georgi's chains, adorned with silver thorns, prevented his wounds from healing, allowing their counterparts to reach Dracula's blood. It was a source of great satisfaction for the vampire, as he continued to weaken his victim through its consumption.

My chains interwove themselves like a braid, forming a cohesive unit that tormented and drained Dracula.

I remained atop the mountain for an additional half hour, distant from Vlad's corpse, anticipating a response from my adversary. Naturally, the gravitational forces exerted by Vlad's heart and body had diminished, rendering them virtually imperceptible to me. Even an ordinary individual would have been capable of preventing their reunion. However, what if this was merely a ploy, and he was biding his time for the opportune moment to strike?

Nonetheless, his body no longer exhibited signs of conscious volition, despite its continued existence, with his heart continuing to pulse with a slow and powerful rhythm in my grasp. Now, I could proceed to my secret refuge.

Extracting the staff from the rock, upon which Tepes's form was still pinned and now suspended in the air before me, I transported us to the chamber dedicated to the performance of my ritual of empowerment.

Many magical creatures, such as fae, can acquire the power of their defeated adversaries by consuming their energy focus, which is manifested in the body as a specific organ. Typically, this organ is the heart, although there are variations, and in some exceptionally powerful beings, it may be the liver, brain, or some other unique body organ specific to that species. I, as a naga, possessed this ability, and I had previously utilized it by consuming the heart of a kitsune. However, now I was faced with the task of consuming the heart of an entity that, although not as powerful as the kitsune, was still spiritually stronger. The level of its second soul shell was beyond my imagination. I suspect that it corresponded to the rank of a high yogi magician.

The standards for assessing the strength levels of different soul shells vary greatly; they employ entirely distinct criteria and characteristics.. However, when we compare the intricate fabric of the mystical noesis of Khokhnan, the supreme sorcerer, with Vlad's secondary prana shell, it becomes evident that their complexities, architectural intricacies, and the extraordinary nature of the processes involved are roughly equivalent.

Having deposited Dracula's form, which still bore the semblance of an anthropomorphic dragon, within the seal, I proceeded to the repository of potions, retaining my staff in hand.

My intuition whispered to me that I might be able to handle the task I had set myself, but it would not be an easy feat. I therefore immersed myself in a dozen near-priceless elixirs crafted from rare ingredients, some of which I obtained from Alfonso through intermediaries from the infernal planes. The rarity of these elixirs lies not only in their ingredients but also in the fact that the number of mages capable of creating them on this planet can be counted on one hand. I may well be the sole such mage, for I have no idea of the number of other mages with my power and knowledge on Earth. Certainly, in Europe, I stand alone.

And when all was prepared, including my own state of mind, I brought the heart of Dracula close to his face. The creature sensed its impending demise, but was powerless to act, for its body now lay in the seal, and my shackles continued to torment its flesh and drain its blood. I quelled my doubts with a brief glance at the menacing throbbing of the heart and the dread emanating from the vampire.

"Well. Enjoy your feast!"

And with those words, my incisors, transformed into those of a nāga, sank into the heart, ripping off a fragment with great effort. It was like biting through a car tyre. My mouth burned with the hot, viscous blood as I gnawed.

Then began the ancient rite, long written in the genes and essence of countless races of faerie and magical beings: "consuming the heart of one's vanquished foe and claiming their powers."

After the third morsel, I swallowed it, and my consciousness retreated from my body's control, sinking into a peculiar trance that was not present when I consumed the heart of the kitsune. Whether it was due to Dracula's evolutionary superiority or his unique connection with blood magic, I cannot say for certain. However, now I must revisit Vlad Tepes' life from the moment of his self-awareness and intelligence. From his childhood in Transylvania to his studies with tutors, I relived every day of this future vampire's life.

As a four-year-old, young Vlad experienced his first magical outburst in childhood, which brought great joy and celebration to his family. His two elder brothers were both squibs, and his father, Vlad II Tepes, and his consort, Vlad's mother, were both weak mages. This was due to the fact that the cult of blood purity had flourished for five centuries by that time.

In ancient Greece, some two millennia before the birth of Christ, there existed an enigmatic figure known as Asclepius, an archimage. His contributions to the field of eugenics, specifically focusing on the hereditary traits of the intellectually gifted human race, were monumental.

In his seminal work, Asclepius delved deep into the intricacies of selecting suitable partners for procreation, aiming to ensure the conception of strong and gifted offspring. His treatise encompassed a wide array of techniques and methodologies, including rituals designed to assess partner compatibility, rituals aimed at enhancing the transmission of genetic gifts to the child, and even rituals that aimed to solidify these gifts within the offspring.

Asclepius drew upon a vast reservoir of knowledge, spanning fields such as numerology, potion-making, alchemy, astrology, ritualistic magic, and blood and life magics, to underpin his scholarly exploration into eugenics.

Salazar did not peruse his own works, but rather delved into the later writings of scholar-magicians that were built upon the foundations laid by Asclepius. However, this was not necessary, as the magi of the East had their own similar investigations. Among the most renowned works is "Ayurveda", authored by Sushruta, the archimage of life magic and yoga, who lived in India during the ninth century BC.

On the contrary, I perused Asclepius's original work, which fell into my hands thanks to the donation of artefacts to the Vatican libraries. I was also well-versed in the knowledge of Morgana and Salazar, and had already acquired a substantial amount of knowledge on the path of healing. Now, I pondered how Vlad "Dracula" Tepes could have been born a mage.

Tepes's birth as a mage was a matter of a true miracle. After all, Vlad was already a degenerate — the product of insane inbreeding among many generations of his ancestors. In order to conceive a healthy child, even with a small chance of becoming a mage, Tepes would need to father a child with at least a firstborn magess, also known as a foundling. Alternatively, he could conceive a child with a faerie. But this was even less likely than encountering a gifted woman from the first generation.

On the contrary, his mother was a Squib, capable only of producing a single Lumos spell. Judging from her appearance, the cursed spiritual entities that had taken hold of her had already manifested themselves in her physical form and were ingrained in her very genes. Were it not for the remarkable resemblance between father and son and the existence of a magical union that precluded the possibility of unfaithfulness, I might have mistaken Dracula for Vlad's unborn child.

In his family, there was little anticipation regarding the possibility of their third son's exceptional abilities. However, one day, in front of his father's very eyes, the boy performed a remarkable feat. He effortlessly dispelled a rat that had leapt from a small alcove in the wall, alarming the child as it approached his father. This event sparked a week-long celebration in Transylvania, marking the arrival of a powerful wizard into their midst.

Upon realizing the significance of this occurrence, Vlad swiftly engaged the finest tutors in magical arts to guide his son. It was no surprise, considering that Vlad himself had only discovered his own magical abilities at the age of thirteen and possessed only a limited range of spells.

With an inherent talent for blood magic and a profound affinity for life and fire magic, Vlad's abilities were truly extraordinary. The knowledge of his prowess in blood magic remained a secret shared only among himself, his father, and his initial mentor. Upon the completion of the ritual to determine the extent of his magical abilities, the mentor took an oath to maintain secrecy.

Vlad was a highly inquisitive, industrious, patient, and diligent young man, which allowed him to assimilate knowledge of magic and other secular disciplines with remarkable alacrity. His teachers never ceased to extol his abilities before his father, who took great delight in his son's accomplishments.

By the age of fifteen, Vlad had already become a formidable adversary to most mages in Europe of that time. At sixteen, his father brought him and his heir to the Order of the Dragon as a knight, with the Master serving as his father.

As a member of the Order, Vlad gained access to their resources and library, which were already extensive and boasted numerous treasures. Among these treasures, he discovered an object of unknown origin, without any record of its acquisition by the Order. Its history remained a mystery, but Vlad was determined to explore it further.

The object was a solidified drop of black substance, roughly the size of a human fist, emanating magic of the darkness spectrum.

With a natural aptitude for blood magic, he secretly cultivated his knowledge, even concealing it from his own father. His clandestine pursuit of the arcane arts as a blood mage saw him make remarkable strides. In those days, mages of his ilk were not merely shunned but actively persecuted and exterminated. Thus, all his endeavours were conducted in secrecy from his family and associates.

As it later transpired, his research into the bloodlines of ancient magical beings spanned decades. Having ascended to the position of master of the order, he married and buried his parents only after he could access the memories of the dormant blood, giving rise to the very first vampire on earth.

The blood that Tepes had been studying for so long belonged to an ancient dragon that predated the emergence of human civilizations on Earth. This creature dwelt in the mountains that are now part of Switzerland, residing in perfect harmony with its surroundings. The dragon terrified everyone in its vicinity, devouring Cro-Magnons within a radius of a hundred kilometers from its lair. Had it not encountered the Sids, it would have continued its existence undisturbed.

Upon encountering the Sids for the first time, the dragon managed to eliminate the first group of these unusual, intelligent beings. However, subsequent encounters with the Sids left only pain and madness in the dragon's mind. Captured rather than killed, the dragon was used as a source for rare ingredients. Its body was dissected, its internal organs removed, and its blood drained, all without the use of anesthesia. At best, the Sids provided an elixir to keep the dragon alive and aid in its regeneration, but they showed no concern for preserving its mental state.

This cycle of events persisted for millennia, spanning the entirety of the Sith's presence on Earth. With each regeneration, the dragon was subjected to further torture and dismemberment, and the relentless agony drove it to the brink of madness.

However, there came a day when, after yet another dismembering for the sake of obtaining ingredients, the Sith did not return. They did not come that day, nor the following year, nor a century later, nor millennia hence, and the dragon's madness only intensified.

The situation changed in the early third century AD, when ore miners of the Roman Empire discovered a cave that had once held the dragon as a prisoner. Upon realizing the involvement of magic, they summoned George, a renowned Roman magician hailing from Cappadocia. George's arrival marked the moment when he broke the seals, liberating the enraged beast from its confinement.

The confrontation between George and the dragon was a cataclysmic event. The mountainous terrain that once concealed the dragon's lair was reduced to rubble, with George emerging victorious in the struggle. His triumph was not merely due to physical prowess, but rather a testament to his unwavering faith in the divine.

Equipped with a consecrated chain and a sacred spear, George managed to momentarily subdue the dragon, ultimately piercing its heart. This act sealed his reputation as the Victorious One, a moniker bestowed upon him after this fateful encounter.

Recognizing the significance of this blood, Vlad Tepes, a resolute adherent to the One God's teachings, embarked on a ritual aimed at harnessing the inherent power within it. Such a ritual was reserved for those possessing an innate magical aptitude known as "blood magic," a gift bestowed by the deity.

Had it not been for the fact that Vlad was a master of the Order of the Dragon, and had the chain of battle not hung around his neck, all would have gone smoothly for him. After all, it was with the help of this chain that the Victorious One managed to defeat the dragon, and it was at that moment that the chain acquired the status of a divine artifact.

As the ritual commenced, and Vlad's body started to absorb the power from his own blood, transforming his physical form, the chain responded to this action, sensing the emanations of power from its first adversary. Through the act of slaying this opponent and the unwavering faith of Georgi, the chain transformed into an elemental divine artifact.

The chain, being devoid of sentience, obeyed only the tenets and directives that governed the egregore of the All in our realm. It was composed of the belief of millions of adherents and their comprehension of the cosmos and its principles.

As soon as the chain detected its current bearer acquiring the attributes and characteristics of her primary adversary, it began to oppose Vlad's transformation. However, it could not fully resist, and thus, it turned to the egregor of the All. But it was too late. The rite was nearly complete, and there was no way to reverse the process.

Having recognised the futility of further resistance against Vlad, who had nearly become a supernatural entity, the egregore anathematised its former guardian and protector of the faith.

Lacking its own intelligence and subservient to the collective will, the curse took shape from the fears of both Vlad himself and a substantial portion of the faithful. Vlad had long harbored a dread of falling into the abyss and becoming a dark sorcerer. Trained by magicians closely affiliated with Rome and the church, he was well aware of the dangers. However, his conviction in his superiority and refusal to succumb to darkness drove him to delve into all forms of magic, despite his beliefs.

This very conviction ultimately worked against him, allowing the egregore to cast a curse that embodied all of Vlad's deepest fears. Thus, Vlad Tepes transformed into a bloodthirsty monstrosity.

Upon the completion of the ritual and the imposition of the curse, the shackles relinquished their former master, returning to the tomb of St. George the Victorious. And thus, Vlad was consumed by a state of bloody frenzy. He was plagued by an insatiable hunger that transformed him into a feral, ravenous, and powerful entity driven to devour all that lay before it!

That day, Dracula drained the lifeblood of all the inhabitants of his castle, as well as the citizens of the nearby city and the settlements adjacent to his fortress.

Over ten thousand intelligent beings perished in Dracula's clutches that day. Only the following day did consciousness begin to return to him, but he no longer cared for the people whom he now viewed as mere cattle. His perspective had undergone a complete transformation. What he once deemed unacceptable was now desirable.

Thus, the first vampire on this planet came into existence. And then he discovered that he could transform other sentient creatures into his kind by sharing his own blood. This marked the beginning of a five-year struggle between hordes of deranged undead and the Church, which also included the witches.

It was fortunate for me that Dracula was unaware of yoga and other magical practices that directly interact with prana.

Blood magic, of course, bears a close relationship to prana, yet it operates by directly manipulating and interacting with this life force through the medium of blood. It is not pure prana that is at work here, but rather the vital energy of life itself.

Had Dracula been able to exert his influence on reality with his own prana while outside his physical form, he would have crushed me in an instant. This is the reality we face. I prevailed over him, subduing and consuming him, rather than the other way around.

Knowledge truly is power!

As the review of Vlad's existence drew to a close, I began to emerge from my trance-like state. It was time to awaken and confront the full consequences of my epic confrontation with Dracula, which took place in full view of the city of Vienna.