Afraid of Being Weak

Carrying the unconscious Vampire, Kyros managed to reach inside the temple.

[Enemy detected. Limiting undead powers.] A prompt appeared.

The moment the two entered the temple grounds, the vampire felt a terrible force attack him, and he began to squeal in tremble in pain.

Kyros looked at the notification and sighed in relief.

"Good. I don't have to program the temple to do this. Looks like it can sense my will and heal the allies it detects and attacks the enemies." Kyros moved and reached the area where he once sealed.

Kyros tossed the body of the vampire near one of the pillars. The chains that once bounded Kyros had been tied by Kyros neatly to the side to hide the fact that the pillars once sealed something. Using the chains, Kyros tied the vampire to hide it.

"This was a good day. I can't wait to check on the spoils. Those vampires brought a lot of stuff!" Kyros smiled.

Soon, Aron entered, carrying two of the fallen vampires.

The three slaves also followed and walked inside, each carrying one vampire. Despite their size, these Dhampirs were stronger than regular humans.

Behind them were the knights who also arrived. They were now slowly carrying the corpses into the temple.

The moment the slaves entered the temple grounds, they rushed towards where Kyros was.

The three gave a respectful bow.

"Thank you for saving us!" The three respectfully saluted.

The knights were curious and drew closer. They abandoned the corpses that were piled outside the room and took a more curious look at the slaves.

"They're dhampirs, right?"

"Poor kids. Look. They still look human. They must have been turned a few weeks ago." Another knight sighed.

"It's alright now. You kids can cry. We won't make you slaves and will try to help you live good lives. Our family is in need of vassal knights. Given that you have such strong vampiric powers, you'll be a good help to our team!" Kyros smiled.

The three were stunned at what they heard.

They looked at Kyros with a bewildered look.

"You three are dhampirs. I noticed that the bite mark is just recent. Did you belong to the nearby towns? They must have turned you to carry their belongings. Poor things. Are your families dead? If so, don't worry. We can be your new family. For now, feel free to mourn your loss of family and childhood."

Aron and the knights heard Kyros and looked at the pitiful three slaves who were now crying.

Ever since they were turned, they were forced to do various tasks and were bounded by their masters to not cry. Whenever they did, a great pain in their hearts would erupt, and so they couldn't even mourn or process the pain of their loss.

The three cried their heart out.

"How did you free them?" Aron wondered.

"I thought that if you kill a dhampir's master, it will kill them."

"Depends on the type of curse. That's why I stabbed the heart. This sword. It can destroy dark magic circles. I knew that that would where the bonds are." Kyros revealed the Sword of a Thousand Grudges.

"Just what sword is that?"

"My family's benefactor told us of this sword, and this is why we sought after it. He called this the Sword of a Thousand Grudges. It was a sword belonging to someone on the Higher Planes." Kyros explained.

"The Higher Planes?!" Everyone reacted.

"Yes. But he says this was weakened. That's why my Benefactor, Calamidy taught me how to be a Dark Artificer."

"Where is this Benefactor now?"

"He was killed by... Cracky Batcheeks the Naked Offender."

"Cracky Batcheeks the Naked Offender?" Everyone chorused.

"That's right. Uncle, when we are done here, please help me exact vengeance if possible." Kyros begged.

"What an odd name. But if he managed to kill your benefactor, who has deep knowledge and outstanding capabilities, I doubt the current Steele can. But rest assured, we will." Aron vowed.

"Anyway, we all had a terrifying day. I suggest we call an end to it. I think the kids need to rest. We could go swimming right after we bring these vampires and offer it to the temple."

"You... do know you're a kid too, Kyros." Aron laughed.

"And that's why I want to swim!" Kyros laughed.

"Boss, what about these corpses? I know we plan to store them for later, but these vampires might turn into ghouls!"

"Let's just gather the experience from them. If the Temple can convert lizards and golems, it should be able to do so with vampires!"

"Ironic. The vampire masters of these slaves will be used to make the slaves stronger." A knight laughed.

"But wait... Don't vampires level up differently?" One of the knights suddenly asked.

"That's right? What do we do?" Even Aron didn't know what to do.

"Let's just see what it can do. The temple converted those golems who were made of darkness. Let's see if it can give these kids a level up." Kyros suggested.

But Kyros was curious as well. He knew that the temple allowed Kyros to level up both through Light and Darkness. The light level-up method was through the conversion of all souls and bodies to become light energy which was used to level up. This was how most of the human empires did their level up. But those of the darkness could level up in a simpler method. They didn't need to purge or convert the souls and bodies but merely devour them.

"Whatcha doin' kid? Why did you reveal Cracky Batcheeks?" Calaminus frowned.

"The enemies will soon be making their move to look for a person with that name. If we spread the news and make it look like we have a grudge with Cracky Batcheeks, the gods and fallen may try to help my family."

"Oh... I get it. Good plan. But what if they know about that name being fake? What if they know that that was a fake name and end up targeting your family?"

"I'm curious as well. That's why I did that to experiment. Right now, I don't understand how Fate works since there are two conflicting natures of it. There is the design of Fate that arranged things to happen from our meeting to my rebirth. Then there is the curse of Fate that affects my body and soul. I'm guessing that the curse of Fate is something that happens together with the first arrangement? This means that there is something that we have yet to understand with Fate. We see these two sides of Fate and categorize them as curses or blessings. But what if, in Fate's eyes, both are the same! The curses and blessings are designed to help me!"

"Hmm... I never thought of it that way. Your Fate Comprehension really is working!"

"If you think about it if Ancient Fate had used her power to help me, why couldn't it just totally destroy the curse that I am sealed with? She could have used her power to weaken my curses, but this isn't the case. So I believe on her death, it fixed my Fate to meet you. But my Fate is also designed to have these curses. She may have known about me, Calaminus..."

"I know. It's rather obvious that she knew of you before. The curses you have can only be given by her."

"Because of this, I'm not afraid of the curses of Fate. She might have used this to force me to grow stronger. What I fear is being stagnant. I fear weakness. And I'm sure these three slaves also have that feeling."

Kyros led the three slaves into the Temple and wondered if the temple will heal the vampires.

As the three slaves went in, a notification appeared.

[Allied Creatures of Darkness detected. Temple effects not applied to them.]

The group finally placed all the dead vampires in the temple.

Kyros saw the notification.

[Blood Borne Vampires detected. Assimilate to the temple and disperse experience points?]

Kyros selected yes. But instead of a bright light, a set of notifications appeared.

[Vampire Master of the Dhampir slaves has been slain and offered to the temple. Bestow true blood to Dhamphir allies or purge the power and cure the slaves?]

Kyros saw it and was confused.

"Oh? So this is what your Fallen side can do."

"You didn't teach me these things." Kyors sighed once more.

"For a god who had years to teach me, you missed out in a lot of lessons."

"Give me a break! You're so freaky and could do stuff that mortals and even saints can't do! I can only guess what this temple is asking you. You killed the vampire who is the masters of these dhampirs. From the looks of it, these dhampirs are the weakest kinds. Dhampir Ghouls, if I recall. You know that vampires create bonds to complete their dark contracts. This slave contract still binds the vampires to their slaves. But with this temple, you can either use it to purge the vampires and cure them or bestow the bloodline of the vampires to them."

"I see. Because they are bounded to their master, the temple could use its mysterious powers to either release them from this contract or turn them into a stronger vampire."

"Exactly."

"I wonder what the slaves want."

The knights were waiting excitedly. These were vampires! These were feared creatures, but now they had nearly ten of them being offered! But the temple didn't do anything.

"What's going on?" Aron frowned. He was afraid that the temple had run out of power.

"Uncle. We know that this temple is smart. It knows when to heal us and when to cure us. Maybe it's not moving because of them." Kyros pointed at the three dhampir slaves.

"We- we can immediately step out!" One of the slave boy suddenly reacted.

"No. That's not what I meant. I think the temple doesn't know what to do with you. Look." Kyros pointed at the place where he tied the vampire noble. There was a strange power surrounding him.

"Lord Zid Blood Blade!" One of the dhampirs cried out in shock.

They could see that the strange power was burning and attacking this vampire noble.

"The moment I stepped in this temple, the temple kept attacking him. But you three weren't attacked. It as if the temple knew that you are our allies." Kyros explained.

"That's right. Then what is going on?"

"I think the temple doesn't know whether to curse you and turn you back to humans or help you level up as vampires."

"This temple can turn us into humans?" One of the slaves was stunned.

"Probably. We did bring your master's dead body here. Aren't they the Prime Bonders in charge of your curse? Although my sword weakened the curse and didn't kill you when I killed them, maybe this temple has a way of healing you." Kyros explained as he stood over the dead bodies of the Dhampir's master.

"What do you guys want? Maybe if you call out to the temple, it'll know what to do. Do you want to be healed of this dark contract? Or do you want to stay as dhampirs?" Kyros asked.

The slaves still had surprised looks, and the three looked at each other.

"Of course, they want to be healed!" Aron frowned.

"Really? Uncle. You don't understand them. They lost their family. They hate their weakness. I know that feeling. If I were in their position, I would strive to get whatever power I can in order to survive!" Kyros declared.