Sixth Bloodline [BxB]

CHAPTER 10: A SPELL-CASTER [REPAIRING THE BARRIER]

cHAptEr 10:

A spELL-cAstEr

[rEpAiring tHE bArriEr]

   "SAY, SAY, Mikhael, you are supposed to be super awesome with magic, isn't that right?" As Mikhael sat on the chair cleaning his weapon, a boy who looked no older than eight asked him.

His curious gaze didn't waver at all despite the glare Mikhael threw back in response.

It was just a kid, and under the normal circumstances—  Mikhael would have no reason to be wary of him. He lived for almost eight centuries provoking all kinds of disasters and always managed to get away unscratched.

No matter how you looked at it, there was simply no reason for him to be on the edge around a little child.

But the truth was that he was. Even more than he'd like to admit to himself.

The boy had black hair that was neatly combed like an adult's, which really didn't suit the warm little cottage he was in. His cheeks had a bit of baby fat remaining and he was dressed like someone from a noble family in the eighteenth century.

Another point that made him look out of place.

In his hand he held a pitch black staff with a raven head on top. Mikhael knew what it represented, so it hurt his eyes every time he looked at it.

It was quite worthy, after all.

And  it took a lot of his willpower to hold back and not steal it.

Although the kid looked completely harmless by simply glancing at Mikhael with curiosity, be it his bearing or his clothes, they told a completely different tale. After few months of knowing him, Mikhael was no longer wary of him as he was at the beginning, but he still never allowed himself to lover his guard in front of this kid.

Or that annoying raven staff.

   "I suppose, why do you ask?" he sighed, replying anyway. He finished cleaning his twin guns before putting them on the table next to him. The fire behind him cracked and danced like alive, warming the house filled with children Mikhael was taking care of.

Children of Night.

No one liked someone they can't control or who could go crazy at any given moment like those young vampire children.

Children of Night were hunted by both vampires and humans and they all agreed that they can't be left alone in peace — but Mikhael had more compassion for them than those cynical adults.

In any case, he was strong enough to subdue them  if they happen to lose control and was capable enough to create a proper protective warden to keep them safe.

   "Then, can I hire you?" The kid ignored the wary look Mikhael had as he got closer to him, putting his hands behind his back — which only made him look less dangerous. Gently smiling, he stared at Mikhael's weapons in awe.

   "As expected as someone like you, a Half-blood — you can even use something as amazing as those guns," he nodded to himself and Mikhael sighed.

That's what he gets for saving random kids, alright.

   "What kind of a job? It will be expensive, you know?" he stood up to add woods to the fire, "Moreover, shouldn't you hate and curse me, boy? I killed your kin."

Well, he could simply use mana to create fire or use technology to heat the room, but as a vampire who spent half of his life using woods to create fire, he still preferred this method to seek warmth.

The boy only smiled at him.

   "They probably deserved it. After observing you for a while, I realized that you don't kill indiscriminately..." The boy casually replied as he touched the gun. Mikhael felt a bit of distress as the boy's hand began to burn the moment he touched the weapon — yet there was no trace of pain on the boy's face.

His black eyes flickered with red glow, like a crimson sea circling around his irises before fading away in silence. The little boy didn't look dangerous at all. He didn't...

But Mikhael knew better.

   "I know, how about my blood? I shall pay you with my blood in return for your services," he boldly stated as if it was an excellent idea, "Or, I can trick a sibling of mine to offer some. You should probably prefer the older blood."

   "..."

A vampire. The boy was a vampire, but there was something different about him compared to those Children of Night.

   "Oh?" So he raised an eyebrow, feigning ignorance, "But indeed, it is so. Old blood is more powerful than... Well, you can't even be considered a baby with your age in the world of vampires."

A chuckle escaped his lips as the boy frowned, letting go of Mikhael's weapon.

   "How rude, I'm twenty-five this year," it was followed by a slight shake of his head, as if he heard a funny joke.

A Pureblood.

This boy was the youngest of the seven Purebloods and probably the only child in the world no vampire or Hunter would dare to attack.

Since they'd just be seeking death if they did that.

Youngest and weakest, with his bloodline still sealed — a single missing hair from this boy's body would make the entire race of vampires declare war on the one that hurt him.

   "Whatever. I'm interested in your deal."

So, he should have some good things to offer. Someone as protected as this kid.

   "Really? You won't ask what I want in advance?" The boy sat back on his chair, cheerfully swinging his legs that were too short to reach the ground.

   "..."

Once again, he really made Mikhael believe that he was harmless. And to think that he talked about a deal involving blood of the Purebloods with a midget...

   "It doesn't really matter to me, I'll do almost anything if I can get paid enough," he glanced at another child that happened to run inside the room and then climb on Mikhael's lap like it was the most natural thing, "Besides, those kids need your blood more than you need my help, so I'm not really going to complain."

The child's red eyes curiously glanced between the two before eventually yawning and falling asleep in Mikhael's embrace. He pulled a little blanket from his void and covered the child and then faced back the little Pureblood.

   "I see, so this is what being an adult means!" As he clapped his hands in realization, his eyes straightforward and bright — Mikhael only rolled his eyes.

Kids!

   "So... who do you need me to kill? Don't tell me an older sibling of yours stands in the way of some world-domination plan you devised and now you want to get them out of your way?" Purebloods and their world domination plots were no longer secret. They've been openly fighting to see who will come on top, but because they always got in each other's way — they never decided on a clear victor.

   "No way, I'm not that stupid to bother with those crazy ideas, I don't want you to kill anyone," he shook his head before sighing. At the same time, he looked at Mikhael like he was crazy. Who would even think about hiring someone to kill a Pureblood? They can't die, ah!

   "Eh? What do you want then?" Mikhael, who originally expected a boorish outcome like that became a bit more interested in this conversation.

   "How proficient are you in making barriers?"

   "Barriers? What kind of barriers?"

   "Something that can keep a group of vampires sealed within a special area, I think."

   "Oh? Just that? Those are quite simple!"

To begin with, there are many places that sealed vampires seeing as even most older vampires used that method to punish their younglings who were too naughty. They usually had some kind of a seal or barrier installed, or domains from familiars to prevent the punished ones from escaping.

Mikhael too, would prefer to trap his prey inside of a barrier and then kill them — it was easier to hunt when they can't run away... So, he was quite confident when it comes to those things.

   "So, how big do you need it to be? Enough to cover your castle?"

The little Pureblood probably wanted to either design a prison or protect his home.

   "No," the boy brightly smiled — but for some reason, that smile sent chills to Mikhael's spine, "Enough to cover an entire city... or a state."

   RECALLING THE conversation from the past, Mikhael raised his head to look at an enormous pillar reaching into the sky, around a mile tall. There were eight of them scattered around the edge of Eden and they were the source of barrier's power.

It had a pure white body made of some unknown material, and other than its clean exterior; there wasn't anything unusual about it. It had no dangerous aura, no guards, emitted no pressure... Basically, it looked like it was thrown here randomly just because of its cool appearance!

But this seemingly ordinary pillar in other people's eyes appeared completely different to Mikhael's eyes.

He didn't take a good look at them the last night since his view was obstructed when he was brought in this city, but now that he stood few feet away from the pillar...

   "That kid was a scammer," he grunted to himself.

Mikhael really felt like crying right now.

   "Who would think that I'd one day get trapped within my own creation... I sure do shame my profession as a spell-caster."

He dug himself not only deep, but also a really grandiose pit this time!

If any other spell-caster learned of his situation, they'd probably laugh so hard that they'd die from it in the end.

Spell-caster who gets rebounded by their own spell or an armament is a complete noob in their society. If he really has to explain it in a more simple way; Mikhael was currently like a millennium old vampire who doesn't know to drink blood!

   'I did wonder where this thing went back then. If I knew it was in this city, I wouldn't have avoided it in the first place...'

...since he could just sneak in and move unnoticed and then run away once he got in trouble.

And considering how it was something he made in person, it should've been possible.

   'But now...'

He glanced at his wrist where a pitch black wristband rested, pulsating with an odd glow only his eyes sensitive to mana could see.

   'Since someone else tempered with it and added this weird thing, it will be a bit difficult.'

But then again, he was a bit reluctant to leave now.

This city shouldn't be that bad of a place to stay in — in fact, it might even be the perfect place to hide for him.

   'Those guys shouldn't have much of an influence in this city, no? Even if it's someone like me, it will be difficult for them to hunt me down in here...'

Was his arrest a good or bad thing, in the end?

   "Honestly," he glanced at the coffin, "He was your younger brother, you should have taught him not to make deals with someone as fishy as me."

He always felt like the kid scammed him, be it now or twenty years ago.

Grunting as he pulled out his gun, Mikhael aimed it at a random direction before pulling the trigger. No sound nor action were made, but in the next instant — someone in that direction let out a gut-wrenching scream before it got silent once again.

   "Seriously, they are still sticking to me?" Aren't they a bit too persistent?

Honestly speaking, Mikhael was prepared for obstacles on his way, but after the commotion he caused — he hoped that he would scare some people and allow him to breathe freely, for once.

Unfortunately, those guys kept chasing after him like he carried a Holy Grail on him or something...

Which, to be honest, he did.

But it was an useless artifact — myths lied.

   "Now, this pillar seems okay," he began, analyzing the pillar in front of him. His eyes turned blood red as he observed every detail, no matter how minuscule. Beyond the outer shell of this pillar, he could see countless runes and spells stacked together, then compressed into a tiny grain-like groups which were further scattered through the entire body of this pillar.

Those were invisible to humans, but those sensitive to mana could perhaps see the little grains — but not what they were made of. Still, with his eyes, Mikhael could.

   "There are cracks on three places and little scratches on fourteen; but in the end, those are just external damages. This pillar is as good as new, so it's unlikely to be the problem," he finished musing to himself.

Well, even if the outer part got damaged, once it reaches a critical damage — over six million runes would activate and repair it all.

He then glanced in direction behind him, or to be more precise, in the horizon on the opposite of part of this city. Above, in the clear blue sky, he could see the faint — almost illusory — lines moving constantly all over the surface of the barrier.

   "The runic line connecting it to its antagonist is in perfect condition, so the one on the other side should be fine as well. Two done, six left to go," If someone heard him speak like this about this barrier, they'd certainly call him an i***t.

How can he decide on something so important by simply watching one pillar?

However, this was his creation. He spent more than hundred and fifty years of researching the dark mana and then two more decades to imbue all that knowledge within this single armament set. If he couldn't do something as simple as figuring out the faults when it comes to his own creation — he might as well just ram his head in that pillar and end his own life then and there!

   "Let's go," he grabbed the coffin, putting it on his shoulder again — and was just about to move toward the next pillar when he found himself surrounded by another group of people in white.

   "So they caught up... no, wait, this guys aren't the same as the group from before," he stopped himself from reaching out to his gun.

One of those guys stepped out with his red eyes glaring at Mikhael and his coffin before announcing.

   "You are under arrest for disturbing the peace of this city. Walking around naked and threatening people, you can surrender willingly or die resisting."

Mikhael: "..."

In the end, what's the difference?

   "Look, there might be some misunderstanding here, everyone," he raised his other hand in defeat, while still holding the coffin with his other one.

   "Misunderstanding?" The guy raised an eyebrow, "Did you or did you not self-immolate yourself naked in that street and threatened a girl passing by few minutes ago?"

   "..."

Well, to be honest, he probably did.

It happened a bit after he called out his familiar. Since he was drenched in the Pureblood's blood which vampires are sensitive to — Mikhael got into a random corner to take out his clothes. He also put a spell around him to prevent the scent of Ethan's blood from being spread.

One can feel even a drop of their blood, forget about this entire river he bled out!

But precisely because Ethan bleed a lot; be it Mikhael's shirt, his pants, socks or even his underwear — they all got soaked with his blood! Still, it was a Pureblood! Their blood is really too precious for Mikhael to give up on, ah!

But on the bright side, if he tried to extract all that blood, he'd certainly get a decent amount to use later on!

So he stored it inside his void, which would keep the clothes freshly stained forever, and began to cut his skin where it got dirtied with blood so his wounds could soak in Ethan's blood easier.

Vampire blood is greedy. The moment he made wounds, every last bit of Ethan's blood moved towards it and mixed with his own.

At that time, some random vampire girl happened to pass by and saw this scene.

She was only one step outside of the spell boundary he set up, and if she got in — she'd smell Ethan's blood. And so Mikhael had no choice but to chase her away, and even used threats, all while remaining naked.

   "..."

But to think that she'd snitch on him, he really didn't expect this outcome! Anyway, Mikhael saw quite the number of couples in similar alleys doing adult things and barely found an empty one to take off his clothes! So he used a somewhat similar talisman to the one for masking the scent of Ethan's blood on his body, but it instead worked on the alley he was in.

And who told that girl to pick the same alley as him?

So being found by those guys was really outside of his expectations. But he had no idea about Amelia's request to chase suspicious individuals, so he remained there until he finally got rid of all that blood and put on a new set of clothes.

   "A suspicious person like you wandering in this city and... openly showing his allegiance. We'd rather kill an innocent than let perpetrators get away," one of them walked in front, holding his hands behind his back. It was the same Elite who confronted Amelia and others earlier.

   "..."

   'What allegiance?'

Mikhael glanced down at his yellow shirt, just like the one from earlier —but this one said "I HATE HUMANITY!!" before loudly exhaling so he doesn't curse out loud.

They can't possibly be thinking about classifying him into the enemy camp because of this single shirt, right?

   "I have no allegiance. I simply hate everything."

   "Do you really think we're going to believe you? What is with that shirt, then?"

   "It was buy five, get one free, with all colors of color spectrum. I naturally bought them all."

One for vampires, one for humans, one for werewolves, one cursing witches, one cursing Vatican and one mocking ghosts. There were few different designs, but they all sent out the same message — so Mikhael who really hated everyone thought that they looked a bit cute and bought the entire stand.

   "..."

   'Is this brat messing with us?'

   'Does he think we're all retards?'

   'Just because he has a nice face, does he think that we'll play along his nonsense?'

   'Like hell it's buy five, get one free!! Who the hell sells something as stupid as that in the current era!?'

   "No, like I'm saying, this is all just a misunderstanding, I'm on your side!" Mikhael put his hand above his heart, feeling an incoming headache.

   "If that's so, then can you explain what is inside of that black coffin? Coincidentally, my ability allows me to see through things and people's emotions, but I can't see anything through that coffin nor you," he stated, staring with his red eyes at Mikhael.

   "..."

   'Why is it my fault that you're so incapable?'

   "Ah, that. It's my bed. I hate noise so I make sure to put a proper isolation inside my coffins. It's only natural you can't see a thing."

Mikhael bluntly spoke. It actually was true, in some sense — since he did intend to sleep in there and made all those countless protective spells just for the sake of isolating himself from outside world.

Mikhael couldn't just go and say; "Oh, it's just your precious Sixth Pureblood, but it's no big deal! Fear not!! I only drained him of blood and threw him inside to sleep, but the thing is that the coffin won't open unless he wakes up on his own which will take like... Few days at least!!!", can he now?

It is no different than admitting that he harmed their leader and since he can't open it to prove his innocence and goodwill, it was a certain death sentence for him!

   "Really? Then, you won't mind opening it so we can take a peek inside, will you?" he asked, with a smile on his face.

   "..."

   'You didn't joke when you said that you can read through people, did you?'

From his past experiences, Mikhael knew that smiling vampires were the worst kind of vampires, so he subconsciously gulped.

The Higher Noble didn't even try to assume that this person in front of him is the same guy Amelia told them about. His shirt did provoke, but not vampires. And all vampires who want to escape this city hate humans as well.

Since they had to live behind the barrier because of those mortals.

Not to mention... His hair was white. And he had a very suspicious coffin.

   "Hoho, now would you look at it, it seems to be stuck and I can't open it," he weakly smiled, "I actually came here to get it repaired, hoho."

   'Gimme a break, I'm trying to save this city!'

   "Really, what an odd coincidence."

   'Yeah, because coincidences seem to love me those last few days.'

   "You surely don't happen to have some dangerous weapon inside that could... I don't know, threaten this city or something, do you?"

   "..."

   'Are you f*****g kidding me? This Pureblood alone could blow up the entire Crimean Peninsula, much less this little city, what can I say to that!? He's more dangerous than any weapon you guys can possibly imagine!!'

   "No way, where could I get something so dangerous. The W.E.R.P. does their job properly, how can I possibly smuggle a dangerous weapon in this city?" Mikhael nonetheless smiled back as he cursed on the inside.

   "But if you have an old vampire with a void to help out, then you can. Not to mention... Where did you get that 'buy five, get one free' shirt? I'm sure no one in city sells them."

   "..."

   'What the f**k is wrong with this guy's imagination? Can't he assume I filled it with flowers or something?'

   "But if you bought it outside and stored it inside your void, then it's only natural that you can take it out and dress up whenever you want..."

   'Why did this guy listen carefully to my every word?'

   "..."

   "..."

A moment of silence followed. Neither side said a word after that as Mikhael and the other guy only smiled at each other, immovable like two mountains — they didn't even blink nor twitch a muscle. Only a gust of wind passing through the cracks of buildings proved that the time didn't freeze between them.

   "Men, get him!" The Higher Noble suddenly exclaimed as Mikhael cursed Ethan and ran in direction of the next pillar as fast as he could.

It was all the fault of that f*****g Pureblood!

He suddenly felt decrease in the temperature and frowned. Turning around, his eyes almost popped out of his sockets as he saw ten fifty meters long icicles heading his way.

   "What the fuc—!" He didn't get to say anything else before he shielded himself with the coffin. Hiding behind it, his feet caved into the ground as icicles slammed into the coffin, dragging him forward for few more meters. Only the part with two dented lines remained following the path where he moved.

Still, there wasn't even a single scratch on his coffin nor him as the dust settled down. Nor were his shoes damaged, since he added few special spells to his clothes, for situations like this.

It's really nasty when your clothes tear, especially shoes. Vampires who fight and run fast often suffer from this problem.

   "Holly s**t, I really am a genius beloved by Heavens!" He gloated to himself as he threw the coffin back on his shoulders and continued to run away, laughing like a maniac.

   "Catch me later, suckers! This Ancestor could reflect Vatican's Holly Sword Formation with ease, forget about some little ice toothpicks like these!"

Did you ever get hit by a mile long sword made of light? Mikhael did, and he still got away — so this attack really didn't pose much threat to him.

Though, he was prepared back then unlike now where he could only use a single coffin as a shield.

The Higher Noble who used his powers to create those ice spears only stared at Mikhael's running figure with dropped jaw. He, just like any other Higher Noble, had the same white hair, only his was short, around an inch or two. He had a heavy smokey make-up around his eyes as well as a black piercing on his right ear.

And unlike the other guys, his clothes were pitch black. He really stood out like an emo in the crowd.

   "Oh? Dimitri, since when have your powers grown so weak that you can't even break a single coffin," the Higher Noble who spoke earlier with Mikhael asked.

   "Shut up, Estefan, I used over forty percent of my power on that attack," he replied with a grunt, "Something is off with that coffin. You can't see through it, and I can't break it. This guy isn't your normal character."

   "He might as well be the leader of those who attacked the Pureblood and Hunters earlier, he does have some skill. Unfortunately for him, he won't be able to defeat our Lord Pureblood with that power alone."

   "Most likely, their goal is to take down the barrier, so what he holds should be the weapon that can destroy it... But now that you mention it, is there still no word from our Lord Pureblood?"

   "He probably took another route with the weakling he has to protect. It might also be that he was held down by someone..." Estefan frowned while Dimitri copied his reaction.

   "It's not that Fifth bastard again, is he?"

   "..."

   "What, he IS a bastard!"

   "..."

   "And our faction and his faction are constantly at war. If he's not a bastard, then what is he?"

   "He is, but we shouldn't curse Purebloods..."

   "He only brings trouble for our Lord Pureblood whenever he appears. He's not even a bastard — but a pest, instead," Dimitri acted like he didn't hear Estefan earlier, "But with the current situation, we can't do this alone, we might need some help."

Estefan loudly exhaled after hearing those words. They really can't fight that Fifth bastar— Pureblood, on their own.

   "I'll call for reinforcement, if this guy wants to take down the barrier, he'll most likely aim for 'that damaged pillar'. Instead of chasing after him and having casualties on the way, let's just wait for him at that place and end him before our Lord Pureblood arrives." Dimitri instructed, looking in direction opposite of the one Mikhael ran to.

   "You... for once said something smart."

   "..."

   "What, I'm praising you!"

   "Why does it sounds like you're degrading me instead?"

   "..."

   "..."

   "Anyway!" realizing his mistake, Estefan chose to change the topic, "I understand our Lord Pureblood, but what about that blonde Hunter. There's no sign of him either. It can't be that he died already or something?"

   "I hope not, we'll lose the support from Hunters if he did. Why did our Lord Pureblood have to protect a stupid weakling...?"

   "Really, why...?"

Mikhael, according to Amelia's description — is a blonde brat with active taunting skill that would make any vampire want to beat him up, as well as really weak and ugly.

While Mikhael they just met is extremely suspicious, handsome, powerful, and nymphomaniac that hates humanity!

So of course those two Higher Nobles would never think of the two of them together.

After all, they are searching for "suspicious vampires" — and Mikhael, at the moment — fit their description the best.

   "Notify that woman as well, it seems like she is quite capable — but then again, she IS an Immortal Seat, I guess..." Dimitri mused to himself.

   "... You mean, one of THOSE seven?"

   "Second, at that," Estefan widened his eyes at those words. He just held someone who could easily kill him by her neck!

   "How do you know that?"

   "Who doesn't know the dashing Second Immortal Seat that lives in Paris and often chases some kind of retarded Casanova or something that likes to cheat on her?"

   "..."

   "..."

   "Dimitri... next time, tell me those things in advance."

He seriously could've lost his life earlier because of this silent emo moron!

   WHILE THE two jointly declared Mikhael to be the ringleader of the bad guys, he had already escaped far away from them.

He used the best speed he could muster in order to settle everything properly before even more guys came after him, so he didn't have time to stop and chit-chat.

His enemy was another Pureblood, after all — so he always had time to clear up the misunderstandings once he's done with his work.

Not to mention that once they see him doing his job and repairing the barrier, they'll realize that he's the good guy and maybe reward him or something? Ethan might even praise him and allow him to dig a tunnel underneath his castle, as well!

But boy was that kind of thinking naive as hell!

Higher Nobles did not take the safety of this town as a joking matter. When it comes to Eden, their call for reinforcement meant mobilizing the entire city in case their Pureblood wasn't in control — and they could even order W.E.R.P. around. Not to mention that they were quite fast in their work, and their speed while running around was almost equal to teleportation in this city.

Hence, by the time Mikhael crossed another ten miles, he already got himself surrounded from all sides. Especially since he had no idea where to go, with those streets being as messy as they are. While the other guys knew this city like the back of their pockets.

He really wanted to curse the bastard that designed this city!

   "f**k!"

Half of the people that surrounded him were agents of W.E.R.P. while the other half were Nobles — and both of them were more than proficient when it comes to dealing with aggressive vampires.

   "Seriously?!" Mikhael grunted before he kicked off the ground. He crouched down for a split second, and in the next instant — he appeared fifty meters away from that spot.

Using the ground as his starting point, he jumped all the way to the building in front of him, and then used the buildings on the both sides of the street while zigzagging through the horde of enemies who had no time to react to him at all.

Won't normal people stop and try to negotiate when faced with barricade like this? Why did this guy just continue to bulldoze his way through?

Although Mikhael could call out his familiar once more and get rid of them — those guys weren't really his enemies. And he was certain that if he hurt them and Ethan found our about it later — which he certainly will — he might really kill Mikhael!

Knowing Ethan, the guy was crazy enough to chase Mikhael all the way to another planet, much less let this misdeed of his slip past unpunished!

Mikhael almost never feared anyone, but he got chills just by thinking about this crazy Pureblood with more than one mental problems!

Of course, these guys weren't really here to stop him, since those two Higher Nobles knew that it would be hard to do that with just their level of power alone.

They were actually sent after Mikhael to slow him down and buy time for them to mobilize their defenses around the damaged pillar.

If Mikhael knew that it was all due to Amelia's request, he'd kill her. And once he learned that he was targeted because his hair was no longer blond, he'd cough blood before killing Ethan and then himself as well!

Unfortunately, none of those three mentioned above is killable!

But Eden wasn't a small city at all.

Distance between each pillar was around five hundred miles and Mikhael had to check at least four of them to know which one was the damaged one. Not to mention that the fourth he'll check won't necessarily be the damaged one — but the one on the complete opposite side from it.

   "Why do I have to run so much for the sake of this asshole? It's all his fault, can't he have told me where to go in the first place? f**k, you complain and apologize and threaten and promise stuff and then faint, but can't even tell me directions!? So useless! And he's even a Pureblood! Ha, more like Pure-moron! Dumblord!!" Mikhael continued to grunt about the whole situation.

Despite the city being so big, Mikhael's speed was by no means slow. In fact, it should've taken him around five minutes to reach the next pillar, were the streets less complicated. It's not like he had zero sense of direction, but he was almost there when it came to places he was unfamiliar with.

Thirty minutes later, he had arrived at his destination, and it was only because he gave up on strolling the streets after few brawls with vampires and decided to run on top of the roofs instead. Even there, he got snipped, so he had to evade attacks endlessly. And on top of that all, he entered homes of some Nobles and Higher Nobles who felt provoked and joined the hunt for his head.

Still, since it was him that made the barrier, Mikhael could approximately guess where the pillars are located, so it wasn't that hard to reach them once he had no buildings to confuse him.

Well, it's not like pillars were hidden or something, they were quite noticeable seeing their size. But they were too f*****g far away, and the buildings were taller than them, so it's hard to see them unless one climbed really high!

   "As expected," he mused as he saw even more agents and vampires around it, "Having this guy around truly brings misfortune."

To be honest, ever since he met Ethan, he got caught up in trouble after trouble.

   "You're really the bane of my existence!"

Stupid Dumblord!

He didn't need to get too close to the pillar to check it, if nothing else. And he was at distance where the pillars won't affect his wristband. He only paid attention to the pillar, then looked at the horizon again for only a split second before sighing.

   "This one seems to be fine too," he immediately turned around before proceeding towards the next one, avoiding his pursuers like a plague, "But those pillars are really sturdy and strong... Although the damage dealt to them seems minuscule, it isn't something a normal attack could do."

It was more like a bunch of Nobles throwing in their familiars to the mix and then attacking. Mikhael originally wanted to make them durable enough that not even a Pureblood could scratch them, so he's wall aware of their defense and durability.

So he glanced at the coffin.

   "Seems like this city isn't as peaceful as you make it seem to the outside world."

There's no mentions of rebellions outside of Edens, but from the looks of those pillars, it was a completely different story.

   "In that case, just who did damage that one pillar to make the barrier weaken so much? How... powerful does an individual or group need to be in order to breach it's defense... And not activate the runes meant to repair it?"

It was almost like they knew what they were doing.

Is there something more complicated happening in this Eden no one knows about?