The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

"Ah!"

The Sky-Cleaving Greatsword pierced into the heart, and Tuobert let out a sharp, agonizing scream.

His body exploded instantly, and though many blood-colored lights were burned by the flames created from his Dragon Dou Qi, preventing him from transforming into a bat, many still turned into bats and flew away in all directions. However, in the next instant, Liszt already had the Bloodlight Web out.

He cast it over his head.

It almost captured all the bats in one sweep. When the blood-red web touched the bats, it sizzled, scorching them while they shrieked and thrashed about, desperately trying to escape but failing, only to be left burning in the lingering flames.

The duration of the Dragon Dou Qi was becoming increasingly longer.

"Viscount, three bats have escaped!" Elizabeth cried out from the ground, pointing and shouting loudly in three directions.

Liszt had already noticed without her reminders.

He stood still, and at some point, the Swift Shadow Bow had found its way into his hands. Three arrows were swiftly nocked and shot out. They circled in a triangular formation, flashed by, and struck one of the bats, causing a tremendous explosion. The bat was obliterated into nothingness.

He turned and shot out three more arrows, causing another bat to burst.

The last bat had already flown far away, but Liszt quickly shot three arrows, then rapidly drew three more arrows and continued to shoot. The second set of arrows quickly caught up with the first under the guidance of Dou Qi and collided with each other, tracing a peculiar arc and instantly catching up to the bat.

Boom!

The arrows hit and exploded, sending a firework slowly drifting down from the sky—"Multi-Arrow," the Ultimate Mystery Technique - Multiple Phantom Arrow, a failproof skill.

Less than five seconds had passed since Elizabeth had called out the warning.

Watching the three fleeing bats being successively shot down, the female vampire swallowed hard, shaken, and at the same time, immensely relieved she had made the right choice. The young Sky Knight before her was no ordinary Sky Knight; his strength was unbelievable.

"With such power, at such a young age, if he were in the Eagle Kingdom, he would definitely qualify to be selected by the Royal Family as a candidate for Dragon Knight, and eventually, like Prince Alonso Xenkelai, become a serving Dragon Knight!"

The Royal Family didn't always produce offspring with natural talent.

To demonstrate their combat capabilities, the Kingdom's dragons needed Dragon Knights. Thus, being a candidate for Dragon Knight became a contest for the talented.

Whoever emerged victorious among the candidates would become a true Dragon Knight and serve the Kingdom.

It would be easy to earn military honors and be knighted.

In fact, as long as one successfully rode a dragon, they'd be knighted as an Earl; with sufficient military achievements, one would quickly be promoted to Marquis, and with continual accumulation of combat achievements, it would be easy to eventually become a Duke. Although one would retire due to age and the dragon would be taken back by the Kingdom, and the title of Duke would be revoked, the descendants could inherit the title of Marquis, continuing the lineage unbroken. Continue your journey on My Virtual Library Empire

The Duke's title was reserved for the sovereign, and the regulations of the Kingdoms didn't allow for it to be conferred lightly. Only those Dragon Knights who raised their own dragons could create a Grand Duchy with the title of Grand Duke—if the descendants fell into decline for a long time, they might be reduced to a mere Duchy, or even demoted to ordinary Nobility.

The idea of becoming a Dragon Knight echoed in Elizabeth's mind.

She even suddenly felt a tinge of pity for Liszt—pity that Liszt didn't live in the Eagle Kingdom or the Steel Ridge Kingdom; his astonishing talent was destined to be unconnected with the Dragon Knights.

...

Of course, Liszt wasn't aware of Elizabeth pitying him for not having the chance to ride dragons.

After he had shot down the three fleeing bats, he had painstakingly squeezed and burst each bat captured by the Bloodlight Web. Ultimately, these bats reverted back to their original form, the blood-red Magic Power coalesced, and Tuobert Black Knight, a Pureblood Vampire, emerged, bleeding from all seven orifices.

"Er, er, er..."

Tuobert was immobilized, his bones seemed to have been crushed to dust, or perhaps it was the suppressive effect of the Dragon Dou Qi that caused a problem with his physical restoration, leaving him limp like a pile of mud.

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Muffled, indecipherable sounds came from the throat, yet not a complete sentence or even a full word could be uttered.

The gaze was also somewhat scattered, unable to focus.

"What's wrong with him?" Liszt turned his head and asked Elizabeth, who was still in a daze, "I've hardly made a move, why does he look like he's about to die?"

"Ah," Elizabeth came to her senses and stammered, "Maybe, maybe Viscount, you struck too hard. Looking at his condition, it's very likely that the Blood Magic - Bat Incarnation was forcibly broken, causing a backlash of magic power, unable to maintain the normal functioning of his body."

A vampire's body can switch freely between bat and human form, relying on Blood Magic - Bat Incarnation.

If the spell is forcibly broken, it can easily cause a backlash—though unless it's an attack powerful enough to kill in one blow, even killing many bats won't break the Blood Magic. Tuobert just needed to escape as an incarnated bat, and he could revert to his human form while only losing a bit of blood magic power.

Those crushed incarnated bats would revert back to blood magic power and return to his body through some unknown means—Liszt guessed it was an application of the Magic Web.

The transmission of magic power regardless of distance.

Anyway.

Tuobert had fallen, and it seemed he wouldn't live much longer.

Elizabeth approached excitedly, with a not-so-obvious slap mark on her face, her eyes unable to suppress the longing as she stared at Tuobert: "My lord, extract it before his heart stops beating, and the blood magic power can be collected without losses. And his personal belongings, there's a blood casket inside, containing my heart!"

However, she was still rational enough to know to ask for Liszt's permission: "Please allow me to retrieve it for my lord!"

Liszt nodded, signaling Elizabeth to proceed.

Next.

Elizabeth crouched down, cast a spell with both hands, and a cluster of blood-red light emerged, enveloping Tuobert, who was not yet dead. The blood magic power made contact, causing Tuobert's blood to flow backward surprisingly quickly back into his body, gradually converging toward the heart.

"Er, er, er..."

Tuobert, like a stuck tape, repeated a syllable that he tried to emit.

Amid his stuck syllables, Elizabeth violently tore open his chest with her hand, reached in, and brutally extracted a heart no longer beating, glowing red.

This heart wasn't like flesh and blood; it was as crystalline as blood jade, semi-translucent, with veins clearly visible, slowly bleeding out.

As soon as this heart of blood jade was extracted, Tuobert's unfocused eyes suddenly flashed, and his mud-like body muscles twitched, slowly lifting an arm as if trying to stop Elizabeth from taking his heart.

But this was merely a fleeting revival.

It had barely lifted halfway when the muscles relaxed, the arm fell down instantly, and he was dead for good.

Immediately after the heart was extracted, Elizabeth's actions didn't slow down for a moment. While the corpse was still warm, and blood magic power lingered in Tuobert's body, she continued using blood magic. From the pocket inside Tuobert's coat, she miraculously produced several personal items.

Finally, she slowly pulled out a long, box-shaped object.

She opened the box eagerly, and instantly, blood-red light flickered. Five hearts like blood jade were arranged inside the box.

Just as she was about to reach in for her own heart.

A slight cough sounded from behind.

Elizabeth froze in place, turned her head, and with a sheepish smile said, "My lord, this is... my heart."

Liszt nodded, "I know, hand it over."

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