Chapter 111: Finale

Dracula's laughter stopped abruptly.

He thrust his hand into his own chest, blood spurting out, drawing a tragic, beautiful arc in the moonlight.

Bang!

With a muffled thud, the heart that had beaten for hundreds of years burst in his palm, turning into a blood mist filling the sky.

Strangely, these blood droplets did not fall but hovered in the air, flashing with an eerie red light.

"*****, *****, **..........."

Dracula chanted some ancient incantation, his voice turning hoarse and terrifying.

Suddenly, a massive blood-colored hexagram appeared beneath his feet, its lines writhing like veins and spreading at astonishing speed across the entire city!

Though it seemed to take a long time, it actually happened in an instant!

"It's you who forced me!"

Dracula's face twisted and deformed, his fangs elongating: "Half the city's vampires—let's see how you deal with that!"

His laughter laced with madness: "Do you really want to kill them all? They're all innocent! Then you'd become the butchers you call yourselves!"

"You will go to Hell, forsaken by the Lord!"

Benson the Grand Archbishop's expression changed abruptly; he immediately took out a Holy Bible:

"Stop him!"

"Yes!"

Several strands of holy white light shot from the bishops' hands, like swords piercing the hexagram!

The blood-colored lines began to fade in the holy light, the formation's range shrinking at a visible speed.

"Damn it! Sacrifice! Sacrifice them all!" Dracula shouted hoarsely.

The surrounding vampires hesitated not, thrusting their hands into their chests; each heart burst into blood mist.

The next moment, the hexagram's light suddenly blazed, actually breaking through the holy light's suppression!

"Summon the Holy Knights!" Benson shouted.

The Knight Order chanted the ancient prayer in unison.

In the void, several figures clad in silver armor gradually solidified—legendary Holy Knights who had walked out of the flow of history. They joined the battle with light swords, and the hexagram was suppressed once more.

Although it seemed they were evenly matched at first glance, in fact Dracula was clearly at a disadvantage!

Just as the stalemate continued, just as Dracula refused to accept defeat, a golden light suddenly flew out of Feiluo's pocket!

"This is.........." Feiluo hadn't even had time to react when the golden bead shot toward Dracula like a meteor.

The bead's golden coating melted on contact with the blood mist, revealing the bewitching blood droplet inside.

Dracula instinctively opened his mouth, and the blood droplet flew straight into his throat.

In that instant, the flesh around his chest wound writhed, and a brand-new heart began to regenerate at astonishing speed!

"What......?!" Dracula stared in disbelief at his restored chest, feeling the surging power within him.

His eyes turned completely blood-red, and his whole body began to emit a suffocating pressure.

"I lack nothing now! Come again!"

Dracula once again pulled out that heart and crushed it with a bang!

This time, it was not a blood-red mist but pure black, a darkness that seemed able to devour everything!

Like a living thing, it writhed and quickly merged into the hexagram.

The originally blood-red formation instantly turned pure black, exuding a bone-chilling evil aura!

The formation's lines spread like a spiderweb, covering half of London in the blink of an eye!

Boom—

An invisible shockwave swept across.

Benson and the Knight Order were shaken back repeatedly; the holy light barrier cracked under the black formation's erosion, and those holy knight phantoms shattered and dissipated outright!

Throughout the city, countless citizens who had drunk the "free water" suddenly woke from their sleep.

They painfully curled up in bed, letting out heart-rending screams.

Veins bulged beneath their skin, and their nails lengthened and sharpened at a visible speed.

The whole city seemed to instantaneously become a hell on earth, wails rising and falling one after another!

"As expected, I have to step in." Yu Lin shook his head, about to act, when an abrupt change occurred—

"Hum!"

A pure white light suddenly burst from the city center, like the rising sun.

Wherever the light passed, the black hexagram melted like ice and snow, and the evil aura was completely purified.

The transformed citizens stopped screaming and peacefully fell back asleep.

Dracula staggered back a few steps, his face filled with disbelief:

"Impossible! This is..........."

Everyone was puzzled—what had happened now?

On the contrary, Yu Lin's lips curled up slightly.

He sensed that the source of that purifying white light—was precisely the silver coin he had given Jonathan.

At that moment it hovered in midair above the city center, emitting a soft, holy glow.

Until all anomalies vanished, its light faded as well.

It landed in Jonathan's hand, leaving a scar on his palm.

Jonathan looked at the silver coin in his palm: "I, I didn't die?"

The silver coin that even Dracula feared landed in his hand, and he, a vampire, actually didn't die?

And he faintly sensed that this scar was a backup plan left for his future, but he had no idea what it was for..........

However, he knew he now had to return the item to its rightful owner.

Jonathan raised his head and looked toward a certain place.

The next moment, wings sprouted from his back, carrying him flying toward where Yu Lin was.

Wait for him to arrive.

Benson originally thought he had come to help Dracula, was about to act, but was stopped by Yu Lin.

Thus, under Benson's puzzled gaze, Jonathan landed, returned the silver coin, his face full of apology:

"Mr. Yu Lin, I'm really sorry for doubting you earlier."

"Now ending up as a vampire is also my own doing."

"Thank you for your silver coin."

He returned the silver coin.

Yu Lin took it, instantly understood Jonathan's situation, put it back around his neck, and smiled: "No need to apologize; it's normal for you to suspect me when we first met."

"Also, don't worry about becoming a vampire; from now on you don't need to drink human blood, but only animal blood."

"Go back; tonight's business is no longer your concern."

"Yes, thank you again." Jonathan said, upon hearing this, he thanked again.

But as he turned away, his gaze lingered a moment on Dracula's withering corporeal form, his lips twitching a few times, yet in the end he said nothing.

Instead, Dracula said to the departing him:

"Sorry."

Both knew why he said "sorry."

Until Dracula completely lacked the strength to stand, he slumped to the ground, watching Van Helsing approach, and forced out a laugh:

"Hahaha, Mr. Van Helsing, I never expected........ that in the end, it would be you, the exorcist I first met when I came to London, to kill me!"

"Get on with it!"

Van Helsing held a silver dagger in his hand, looking at him, not rushing to act, but asked:

"Is it worth it?"

"You could have lived forever in this world."

Dracula lowered his head: "Worth it."

"I never wanted to live forever in this world."

"Perhaps I should have faded away with Wallachia in history; the dead ought to stay dead."

"Rather than become like this.........."

He lifted his head and locked eyes with Van Helsing:

"Get on with it, I should go back."

Van Helsing took a deep breath and slowly drove the blade into Dracula's chest.

Sizzle——

The moment the blade entered his flesh, Dracula's body began to weather at a visible speed.

Ashen dust began to drift from his fingertips, gradually spreading over his entire body.

Yet his face showed a smile of relief, his clouded eyes gradually clearing.

In a daze, Dracula seemed to have crossed hundreds of years of time.

He stood at the highest point of Wallachia Castle, sunlight spilling onto the ancient walls.

On the streets below, vendors set up stalls and children chased each other in play.

From afar, the church bell rang melodiously, as farmers drove their flocks through the gate.

A breeze brushed his cheeks, carrying the distinctive scent of his homeland's earth.

Dracula opened his arms, letting the wind whip the dragon-embroidered cloak.

"Wallachia——" his voice boomed with power, echoing through the city:

"Your king has returned!"

The townspeople all looked up, and upon seeing the figure on the castle, they burst into thunderous cheers.

Women lifted their skirts in salute, men tipped their hats and waved, children hopped and shouted:

"Son of the Dragon! Son of the Dragon!"

Dracula's eyes welled up.

At this moment, he was no longer a bloodthirsty monster, nor a wandering spirit of a hundred years.

He was merely Vlad III, a child of this land, the king who guarded his homeland.