Westminster Bank

Anke had stepped out from the barrier, but instead of leaping into the darkness as before, he turned and stabbed one of the Old Race who was looking on eagerly.

He then ordered the Demon Hunters under his command to throw the Old Race’s corpse into the darkness. The tactic successfully drew away some of the eyes in the dense fog.

The Third Elder said, "Hurry, Anke! Drive all these Old Race and Bloodless out..."

BANG! BANG! BANG!

A few shots rang out. Bloody holes appeared on the foreheads of Anke and several Demon Hunters, and they collapsed in disbelief.

The shooter was, without a doubt, the young man protecting the one infected with Demon’s Blood.

The black-haired young man faced the incredulous glares of the Old Blood Nobility, shrugged, and said, "I just wanted to see if Bronze Demon Hunters were bulletproof. Turns out they’re not. What a shame."

The crowd’s silence lasted for only a second before it was broken by a deluge of accusations from the Old Blood Nobility:

"You despicable, lowly Bloodless... Do you know what you’ve just done...?"

"You’re insane!"

The Old Blood Nobility hurled all sorts of vile insults at Baron.

But Baron was unmoved. He instead comforted the nervous and frightened Vivian and her grandfather, Dunbar, telling them that everything would be all right.

Vivian said, "You must be a good person."

"’Must’ is too strong a word, but I’m definitely not a bad person," Baron said after a moment’s pause. The strange feeling that had suddenly washed over him vanished.

BANG! BANG!

The wall of Carriage 1, reinforced with special Alchemy Metal, was slowly being pried open. First, an eye belonging to the Corrosive Demon peeked through the gap, followed by a finger... then two... then three... The gap widened, and it was only a matter of time before the wall would be torn open.

The Third Elder took out a rune-covered, compass-like object from within his robes. It quickly expanded, spreading out to form a large Alchemy Array that shielded the Old Blood Nobility.

It deliberately left all the ordinary passengers outside.

The Third Elder narrowed his eyes and sneered, "I can allow you Old Race to enter, but only five of you. As for which five, you can choose among yourselves."

Tellingly, he made no mention of the Bloodless. To these old-school members of the Old Blood Nobility, the Bloodless were probably worth less than dogs.

At his words, the passengers froze, staring at one another in dismay.

Carriage 1 was a luxury car with room for at least two hundred passengers. The Old Race accounted for half of them—a hundred people. And now, out of that hundred, only five could enter the Third Elder’s Alchemy Array?

Never mind the fact that there was enough empty space inside the array for at least seventy more people!

Wasn’t this just a blatant act of cruelty?

SCREECH.

The crack in the wall widened, exposing the Corrosive Demon’s terrifying, goat-like eyes.

The passengers grew agitated. At first, some shouted for the elderly and children to go first, but someone else quickly shot back, "Why should they go first? Are our lives worthless?"

And so the disputes began, quickly devolving into a savage brawl, like cornered beasts fighting to the death.

Watching the scene unfold, Jack nudged Baron with his elbow. "I know you’re about to do something, but don’t go too far. You have enough enemies as it is, man."

"Don’t you remember what you once told me?" Baron said, pocketing the supplies he’d looted from the corpses. He rose and started walking toward the Third Elder’s array on the other side of the car. "Once you have enough sins, they don’t weigh you down anymore."

He strode through the Alchemy Array and seized the Third Elder in full view of everyone.

The Third Elder’s face drained of color. "You... What do you think you’re doing?"

"Since you enjoy making other people play survival games, I’ll let you play a little one of your own."

"What game?"

"Let’s see how long you can last against the Demon."

"Why are you doing this? You’re obviously not one of the Bloodless... so why?" The Third Elder could see there was more to Baron than met the eye.

After all, anyone who could simply walk through an Alchemy Array, ignoring its restrictive effects, was clearly no ordinary person.

"You’ve misunderstood me. My point is, since death is the final outcome anyway, why does it have to be them, the Bloodless, and not you ’nobles’? After all, according to your own logic..."

Baron hoisted up the pot-bellied Third Elder of the Medici Clan. "If survival is your priority as one of the Old Blood, then shouldn’t death be your priority as well?"

The Third Elder struggled, shouting, "You can’t kill me! I’m an Elder of the Medici Clan! Only I can operate this defensive Alchemy Array! How can you kill me? ...You Demon Hunters, are you just going to stand there and watch? Get him! Save me!"

CRUNCH!

The Corrosive Demon tore the carriage wide open.

Its uncanny and bewitching eyes scanned the uncontrollably trembling crowd, like a child choosing its favorite snack.

The Demon Hunters snapped to their senses and moved to save the Third Elder from Baron’s grasp, but they were too late.

At that exact moment, Baron tossed the Third Elder out of the array.

The Third Elder’s shouts, curses, and pleas were cut short as the Corrosive Demon snatched him up.

"My apologies. I was afraid that I, a mere Bloodless, might sully such a noble Old Blood lord."

Baron sneered as he watched the Corrosive Demon seize the Third Elder.

He then watched as the high-and-mighty Old Blood noble withered into a rotting corpse in the Corrosive Demon’s grasp before being devoured in a single bite.

CRUNCH.

All the Old Blood Nobility in Carriage 1 were frozen in shock. It was only in that moment that they truly understood what it was to be afraid.

Vivian and Dunbar stared blankly at the young man. The little girl’s eyes shimmered and her pupils dilated, making her look like a cute kitten—a comparison made all the more apt by her beast ears.

"You killed the Third Elder, the one who could use the Alchemy Array... You killed Captain Anke, too..." one of the Old Blood Nobility yelled. "What are we supposed to do about the rest of the Demons?"

"We’re all going to die! We’ll be killed by those Demons and Beasts!"

The noble’s words jolted the remaining passengers back to their terrifying reality.

’That’s right. Captain Anke was dead. The Third Elder, who could control the Alchemy Array, was also dead. The train was still a good distance from London. Who could possibly stop the Demons now?’

A sense of despair, even deeper than before, spread through the hearts of the passengers.

Yet none of them dared to direct any harsh words at the young man.

Because this young man was clearly not afraid to kill.

After it finished chewing on the Third Elder, the Corrosive Demon’s gaze returned to the passengers. Behind it, hundreds of orange-yellow Eyes of the Demon lit up in unison, clearly coveting the humans in the carriage.

Its gaze finally locked onto the young man standing in the center of the carriage. It could smell a potent aura coming from him, something akin to the scent of burning.

Although it was more interested in eating the little girl behind him, it didn’t mind having an appetizer first.

"Everyone has to die. It’s just a question of how... So what if it’s a Demon?"

The instant the Corrosive Demon reached for him, Baron suddenly wiped away an inexplicable trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth, then brandished his Spear Sword. "I’m curious to see its blood... to see if its dying screams are any different from a Dragon’s or a human’s."

He crossed his twin guns into the shape of a Cross. As he pulled the triggers, the muzzle flashes lit up his form, making it exceptionally bright against the encroaching darkness.

Everyone was stunned by the sight. The wind whipped his high collar aside, revealing a flashing Golden Eye and a Cross Scar. He met the Demon’s wavering, uncertain gaze with a cold sneer.

"Besides, I can’t stand the smell of goat."

Barbara, the eldest daughter of the Hestia Family, watched this scene, stunned. She took out a Magic Card, looking at the images and news her brother Jill had sent her concerning the recent Dragon Hunting Ceremony.

The image of Baron, the Dragon Knight who had killed her brother Roy in the footage, merged perfectly with the figure of the arrogant, domineering "Bloodless" before her very eyes.

"Baron Constantin," she said in a daze. "So he’s Baron Constantin."

’A strange feeling suddenly welled up inside her. It wasn’t grief or hatred over her brother’s death, but a peculiar, guilty shame.’

’For her, a married woman, the feeling was easy to identify: the thrill of transgression.’

’She thought she had fallen in love with this man.’

...

「Inner London. Night.」

Dense fog shrouded the streets; they were all but deserted.

Baron and Jack, now in disguise, walked down the street, silently watching as a group of grim-faced Lion Knights hurried in the direction from which they had just come.

"What’s this? A stone tablet? Where’d you get it?"

Baron asked casually, glancing at the object in Jack’s hand.

Jack scratched his head. "Remember how we said only one person on the train had a Taboo Item in their pocket? Well... you killed him."

Baron didn’t need to ask anything more. The end result was now in Jack’s hands.