Chapter 592 That’s One Debt Paid
Dickson landed first, sliding several metres before digging his boots into the ground.
The vampire landed lightly.
Neither looked injured.
Neither looked tired.
They charged again.
This time the exchange became impossible for ordinary eyes to follow.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Every collision sounded like artillery fire.
Dickson’s fist swept toward the vampire’s ribs.
The vampire twisted sideways, narrowly avoiding it before answering with a slash aimed at Dickson’s chest.
Dickson leaned back just enough.
The claws skimmed across his jacket, tearing the fabric without touching skin.
"Missed."
Dickson answered with a spinning elbow.
The vampire barely managed to block.
CRACK!
The force still launched him backward through a ruined barricade.
Before the dust settled—
Dickson was already there.
Lightning exploded beneath his feet.
He drove forward with another punch.
The vampire crossed both forearms.
BOOM!!
The impact blasted him through another section of shattered stone.
He crashed, rolled, and immediately sprang back up.
A grin spread across his face.
"Better."
He wiped blood from the corner of his mouth.
"So much better."
Dickson didn’t answer.
He was already moving again.
His speed had become terrifying.
Every step left arcs of blue lightning dancing across the ground.
The vampire attempted another slash.
Dickson ducked underneath it before driving a brutal uppercut into his abdomen.
BANG!
The vampire folded around the punch.
Air burst from his lungs as he flew upward.
Dickson wasn’t finished.
He leapt after him.
One punch.
Another.
Another.
Each impact echoed through the sky as the vampire’s body was battered higher and higher.
Finally—
Dickson clasped both fists together.
"COME DOWN!"
BOOOOOM!!
His hammer blow smashed into the vampire’s back.
The vampire plummeted like a meteor.
The earth exploded when he struck.
A massive cloud of dust swallowed everything.
Dickson landed a second later.
He smiled.
"...Got you."
Then—
Something shot out of the smoke.
Too fast.
Dickson barely turned before crimson claws tore across his shoulder.
SHHK!
Pain flared instantly.
His body spun sideways from the impact.
He slid backward, boots carving long trenches through the dirt.
Warm blood dripped slowly down his arm.
Dickson looked at the wound.
Then back toward the smoke.
The vampire leader stepped out calmly.
His breathing had become heavier.
Bruises covered half his body.
One eye had swollen.
His clothes hung in tatters.
Yet...
He was smiling.
"You’ve improved."
Dickson flexed his injured shoulder once before grinning back.
"So have you."
Neither man looked away.
Around them, thunder, fire, ice and howling beasts continued to shake the battlefield.
But for these two...
The world had narrowed to a single opponent.
They lowered their stances.
Lightning burst around Dickson.
Crimson energy erupted around the vampire.
The ground beneath both of them began to crack.
Then—
They vanished at the exact same instant.
The instant both of them disappeared, the battlefield erupted beneath their feet.
BOOOOM!!
Their collision sent a shockwave racing across the ruined plain, flattening loose debris and kicking up a curtain of dust that momentarily swallowed both fighters. Soldiers farther away instinctively raised their arms to shield their faces while several younger werewolves were forced to dig their claws into the ground just to keep from being pushed backward.
Nobody could see them.
Only the impacts.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Every explosion marked another exchange. Every thunderous crack meant another punch had landed somewhere inside the smoke.
Then Dickson burst out first.
He slid backward across the ground, boots carving two deep trenches through the broken earth before finally stopping himself.
A thin line of blood trickled down the side of his forehead.
His right sleeve had been shredded from shoulder to wrist.
His breathing had become noticeably heavier.
"...Not bad."
He wiped the blood away with the back of his hand before rolling his shoulder once.
Across from him, the smoke slowly parted.
The vampire leader stepped out.
His appearance was even worse.
One side of his face had swollen badly, his jaw hung slightly crooked, and his once immaculate black coat had been reduced to ribbons that barely clung to his body. Purple bruises spread beneath his pale skin while blood dripped steadily from both hands.
Yet he laughed.
A deep, confident laugh.
"I knew it."
His crimson eyes gleamed.
"You’ve finally become worth killing."
Dickson snorted.
"Funny."
"I was just about to say the same thing."
The vampire disappeared again.
This time there was no warning.
His claws swept toward Dickson’s ribs from the side, fast enough to blur the air itself.
Dickson pivoted at the last possible moment.
The claws tore through empty space.
Without even looking, Dickson drove his elbow backward.
CRACK!
Bone gave way beneath the impact.
The vampire staggered.
Dickson immediately followed with a vicious hook toward the temple.
The vampire barely managed to duck.
Even so...
The force of the punch alone ripped apart the ground behind him.
He widened the distance between them, breathing harder now.
"...Impossible."
Three months ago...
This human hadn’t been able to survive a direct encounter.
Now...
He was controlling the pace of the battle.
Dickson bounced lightly on the balls of his feet.
"What happened?"
"I thought you were talking all that big shit earlier."
The vampire’s smile disappeared.
He exploded forward again.
This time abandoning finesse altogether.
A barrage of claw strikes descended like a storm.
Left.
Right.
High.
Low.
Every slash carried enough force to cut through steel.
Dickson gave ground for the first time.
Not because he couldn’t block.
Because he chose not to.
His body flowed around every attack with frightening precision.
Each step was measured.
Each movement wasted nothing.
The battlefield itself had become his rhythm.
One slash narrowly grazed his cheek.
Another skimmed across his chest.
A third missed his throat by barely an inch.
The vampire’s assault became more frantic.
Faster.
Wilder.
"Stand still!"
Dickson laughed.
"You first."
The opening came naturally.
A single strike drifted just a little too wide.
Dickson’s eyes sharpened.
"There."
Lightning exploded beneath his boots.
BOOOOM!!
He vanished.
The vampire’s pupils contracted.
Too late.
Dickson appeared directly in front of him.
Their eyes met for a single heartbeat.
Then came the first punch.
BANG!!
It buried itself into the vampire’s abdomen with enough force to fold his body around Dickson’s fist.
Before the vampire could even fly away—
A second punch crashed into his ribs.
CRACK!!
Several ribs collapsed inward.
The third struck his jaw.
The fourth his chest.
The fifth his shoulder.
Dickson had completely abandoned restraint.
Every strike landed harder than the last.
The vampire couldn’t defend.
Couldn’t breathe.
Couldn’t recover.
He was simply being overwhelmed.
Dickson stepped in again.
His fist crackled with blinding arcs of lightning.
"You remember what pissed me off the most?"
He didn’t wait for an answer.
"The fact..."
Another punch.
"...that you called jumping someone..."
Another.
"...strategy."
Another.
"...instead of cowardice."
The vampire attempted one desperate slash.
Dickson caught the wrist.
His grip tightened.
The sound of bones grinding echoed between them.
The vampire grimaced.
Dickson slowly smiled.
"My turn."
He twisted violently.
The vampire’s feet left the ground.
Dickson spun once.
Twice.
Three full rotations.
Then released.
BOOOOOOM!!
The vampire’s body became a living projectile, smashing through overturned military vehicles before plowing into the remains of a collapsed building.
Concrete exploded.
Steel bent.
Dust swallowed everything.
Silence followed.
Dickson stood still.
His chest rose and fell steadily.
"...Stay down."
For several seconds...
Nothing happened.
Then—
The rubble shifted.
The vampire staggered back into view.
Barely.
Half his face had regenerated crookedly.
One arm hung uselessly at his side.
Blood poured continuously from countless wounds.
Even standing seemed difficult now.
Yet...
He smiled.
"You..."
He coughed violently.
"...still..."
"...can’t kill me."
Dickson sighed.
"You really don’t know when to quit."
He slowly looked upward.
Dark clouds gathered overhead.
The constant clash between Lana’s flames and Lilith’s frozen storms had filled the battlefield with unstable currents.
Lightning danced between the clouds.
Dickson spread both arms.
Blue-white electricity answered immediately.
Thousands of bolts raced across the sky before converging toward him.
His entire body became wrapped in blinding light.
Even soldiers hundreds of metres away had to shield their eyes.
The vampire finally looked afraid.
For the first time...
True fear appeared.
Dickson lowered his gaze.
His voice became calm.
"This..."
"...is for the people you slaughtered."
The battlefield fell silent.
Every werewolf.
Every soldier.
Every vampire.
Their attention turned toward the two figures standing amid the ruins.
Dickson took one step.
Then another.
Then he disappeared.
Not with speed.
With lightning.
A deafening crack split the heavens.
The vampire barely managed to raise one claw.
Dickson’s fist reached him first.
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
The impact lit up the battlefield like a second sunrise.
The ground beneath the vampire shattered into a crater dozens of metres wide as lightning exploded outward in every direction.
For a long moment...
Nobody could see anything.
Only hear the roar of thunder rolling endlessly overhead.
When the light finally faded...
Dickson remained standing in the centre of the crater.
His breathing was heavy.
His fist still crackled faintly with residual electricity.
Several metres in front of him lay the vampire leader.
Motionless.
The arrogant smile that had never once left his face was gone.
Dickson looked at him for a long second before quietly muttering,
"That’s one debt paid."
Around the battlefield, the remaining elite vampires froze.
Their leader...
Had fallen.