Masked Knight

Bayan’s father, Prince Barond, lives in a mansion located at the western side of the Imperial Capital.

That area was where all the rich and powerful families in the Empire live. They were unlike the common nobles and ministers of the Empire. Those families all had many kinds of connection with the Imperial Family.

The law for inheriting the titles of the nobles in the Radiant Empire was strict. The nobles could not inherit their titles if they were incompetent. That was something proposed two hundred years ago by the Sage Dandong to ensure that the people working at the upper class of the Empire did not rapidly degrade. However, that also left Dandong with many enemies.

Almost all the nobles considered Dandong their biggest enemy. That was the case when he was alive, and even after his death, he was still hated.

Of course, like all things, there were nobles who were happy and those who were unhappy. That law that Dandong implemented was hated by the common nobles, but it was like a wonderful dream to the Imperial nobles.

Why?

That was because the inheritance law only applied to the ordinary nobles and did not apply to the Imperial nobles.

In other words, the Imperial nobles were not within the jurisdiction of that law. The inheritance of the Imperial noble titles were unrestricted.

In the Radiant Empire, there were numerous noble families that fell because the family had given birth to two generations of useless children. That law was implemented to ensure that the Empire’s center of powers would have a healthy renewal and to ensure that the empire’s power was not dominated by any particular powerful family and thus, affect the dignity of the Imperial powers.

Similarly, to work as a senior official in the Empire, one must have an equally powerful title. For example, the Finance Minister was an Earl, the Military Minister was a Marquis, and the Commander was the Duke.

Officials without titles were minorities, and most of them were only low ranked officials.

Without any title, a person would be unable to enter the high ranks of the Empire. Although it was not written in the law, it was something understood by all.

The existence of that law greatly limited the opportunity for the ordinary nobles to obtain power and authority in the Empire. On the other hand, the Imperial families were not restricted by that law. As a result, the Imperial families of the Empire flourished faster than the Imperial families of other countries.

In fact, when Rody was training to become a Duke, Andy had also secretly complained that Abbas the Great also hoped to use this decree to preserve the Imperial families’ power and limit the development of the other nobles.

As a result of this, they were more particular about the residential zoning of the nobles.

The ordinary nobles lived at the East of the Victory Square while those with relationships to the Imperial Family lived at the West of Victory Square.

Rody was walking through the streets at night. The streets were wide enough to accommodate four to five carriages side by side. Those belonged to the rich and powerful families. Occasionally, he walked by a few large doors. Those doors were decorated with their families insignias. Unlike the ordinary nobles, those insignias were golden. They were symbols of the Imperial Families’ honor.

In the Empire, only the Imperial Families could use a golden insignia. The only exception to that was the Tulip Family. However, if the Emperor were to really marry Nicole, then the Tulip Family’s golden insignia would be worthy of its name.

Prince Barond was the Emperor’s younger brother from the same mother. Naturally, he would be extremely respected. Although there were other princes and uncles in the family, none of them had as much influence as Prince Barond.

Besides that, Prince Barond was ambitious and had secretly gathered a lot of support from the other nobles. Prince Barond already had his own wings. Naturally, the only person who did not know that was the stupid Emperor. He tried too hard to suppress the Tulip Family that was stealing the limelight. As a result, he did not expect the biggest threat to be within his own family.

“Let me help that bastard Emperor...” Rody gently sighed. He was already standing in front of the door to Prince Barond’s mansion.

Prince Barond’s mansion in front of him was luxurious beyond Rody’s imaginations. The building was really not just a mansion - it was actually a small castle, a small palace!

It had a tall fence with a huge gate made of iron and wood. The golden insignia hung on the gate. It seems that the insignia was cleaned every day. As a result, it shined brightly even in the night.

Not far from the gates was the small castle painted in gold. Although it was very luxurious, Rody, as a soldier, could also see that the small castle played a militaristic role.

The small castle was built with large rocks and was painted gold. Rather than calling it a luxurious residence, it would be more appropriate to call it a golden military fortress.

Rody shook his head and sighed. “Such an obvious move, yet the Emperor could not see it. Why else would a Prince turn his home into a military fortress?”

Based on a general estimate, Rody was sure that, previously, if he wanted to capture this place with his elite Wolf Fang soldiers, he would need several months. That was assuming that there was enough provisions inside the castle.

The strong and bulky rock was not something that could be destroyed by ordinary arrows and catapults. Besides that, arrow crenels was built on the surrounding of the castle.

Rody jumped over the walls from outside.

After he landed, he realized that there were almost no guards on patrol. However, he also noticed that by standing in the room on top of the castle, the surroundings could easily be seen.

The outside was lax, but the inside was strict. No wonder there was no need for patrols.

Rody did not bother to hide himself and walked straight to the castle.

On one side, not far from the castle, was a large pond. Like all the other noble mansions, there were a lot of ornamental plants and fishes in the pond. However, with just a glance, Rody found a problem.

Surrounding the castle was a deep trench. A row of a kind of tall, flowery plant was planted to hide the trench from public eyes. The entire castle appeared to be surrounded by an ocean of flowers. However, if something happened, they could dig open the pond, and the pond water would flow into the trench and turn it into a natural moat.

“It is certainly not so simple.” Rody sighed. “The person who designed this castle must be a powerful guy with good military talent. They probably had already planned to usurp the throne when they started constructing this castle.”

As Rody walked forward with both his hand behind him, he heard a sharp whistle. Two groups of soldiers rushed out from the sides of the castle. With swords in their hands, they charged at Rody.

Rody then heard a loud rebuke and suddenly laughed. He looked at the surrounding flowers and lightly said, “I wonder what will happen when these flowers are covered in blood...”

Bayan had returned very early that night.

He had immediately left the moment he was eavesdropped on at the brothel. He was extremely confident of Madam Sophie.

This person needed to climb the wall to eavesdrop and is likely to be someone without ability. But why hasn’t Sophie returned?

Rody, the Vampire Sophie and the Elder of God’s religion had fought far away from the city. That is why even though the battle was earth-shattering with thunders and lightnings, the people in the city did not notice. At most, they only thought that the weather was weird. The good weather suddenly turned bad. There were a few flashes of lightning before the weather turned back to normal.

Bayan held a glass with one hand and a pretty maid in the other hand. His hand did not stop stroking her face.

However, his heart seemed to have a fire, and he constantly thought of that person in the brothel. I will go there again tomorrow. This time, I will not let her escape!

In front of Bayan was a grumpy vampire. The vampire was also holding a glass filled with red liquid. However, this was not wine...

The vampire licked the blood from his mouth. His blood red eyes continued to stare at the maid in Bayan’s arms. Bayan smiled coldly before he suddenly stood up and forcefully pushed the maid in his arms to the vampire. “Take it!”

Having said that, Bayan leisurely walked out, still holding the glass in his hands. He then heard a short and miserable cry from behind him.

Bayan held the glass as he stood at the corridor and looked at the sky. His heart felt weird.

Why am I so jumpy tonight? It feels like something is about to happen...

He then looked at his surroundings and laughed. This place is extremely well guarded. There are a large number of guards and even strong vampires. What am I afraid of? This place is even safer than the Imperial Palace!

Just as Bayan was thinking about that, he immediately saw something that surprised him.

He saw a figure lightly jumping over the nearby fence into the castle, dropping like a leaf into the prince’s residence.

The figure then leisurely walked around the pond and looking at the flowers as if he was walking in his own garden.

The surprising thing was that the silhouette looked familiar.

What the hell are the guards doing?

Bayan was about to scream. However, the guards were loyal to their duties. The guards at the top of the castle walls had immediately noticed that someone had trespassed.

It was strange as this was the Prince’s mansion. Who would be so daring as to trespass that area?

Two groups of guards immediately rushed out.

Bayan tightly held the glass as he watched the situation under the castle.

However, soon, he was unable to hold his glass of wine steadily. He obviously felt that the wine in his glass had spilled onto his clothes. That was because his hands were trembling.

That intruder looks like... No, he is simply a ghost!

There were about a dozen guards holding sharp swords in their hands. In ordinary times, they were vigorous like ruthless wolves and tigers. However, in front of the intruder, it was as if they were made of paper. They fell the moment the intruder bumped into them and were no longer able to stand back up.

With every burst of blood, there were short and horrible screams.

Bayan dropped his wine glass. It fell to the ground and broke into pieces.

Hearing the screams, the vampire finally came out. His mouth was full of blood as he smiled, revealing his white fangs. “I smell blood. What happened?”

Bayan swore to God that he had never realized that the vampire could be so cute.

“Down there! There is an intruder!” Bayan shouted out without bothering about his dignity.

The vampire narrowed his eyes as he looked at the scene below the castle.

About a dozen guards had fallen to the ground. There was a tall man standing there, looking at his bloodstained hands.

The vampire screamed and suddenly jumped out. His body flew out from the corridor, and then he spread his wings in the air. With his sharp scream,there were screams from several windows in the castle, as if responding to him.

After that, more vampires flew out from those windows.

“Go! Drink his blood dry!” The vampire arrogantly shouted.

Hearing that order, the other vampires returned to their original form and rushed towards Rody on the ground.

Rody stood there and looked indifferently at the group of vampires rushing towards him. He coldly said, “So, you have finally appeared?”

He stretched his hand as if he was grabbing the air. After that, he heard one of the small vampires scream. In mid air, the vampire’s body rolled into a ball and exploded.

Rody grabbed a few times, and the screams continued. The other small vampires also started to fall from the air like birds with broken wings.

Rody looked at one of the young vampires near him. The vampire was evidently much smaller sized compared to Sophie. At that moment, she had not died but continued to twitch on the ground.

Rody laughed bitterly and stretched out his hand to grab the vampire from the ground. He watched the vampire struggle in his hand and lightly said, “Remember not to be a vampire again in your next life.”

He tightened his grip and blood shot out from the throat of the vampire. Rody broke the vampire’s neck, and it finally died.

“Ah!” The large vampire in the air screamed in grief. He then slowly descended in front of Rody and screamed. “Who the hell are you?”

Rody ignored him as he looked at his bloodstained hands. He shook his head and sighed. “Now my hands are dirty...” Ignoring the violent vampire in front of him, Rody bent down and picked up a sword. He then gave a wry smile. “I heard that a vampire’s body is stronger than a human’s body. Normal weapons are unable to hurt you vampires. So, how about we test it out...”

Bayan could no longer stand. He turned around and shouted, “Come, men! Call everyone! Call them out!”

Bayan no longer had time to watch the battle below the castle. He went into his room and grabbed a sword. He then rushed out of the main door and found that hundreds of guards had already lined up there. Some who were faster had already rushed out of the castle. However, they were standing behind and were watching the vampire fight with Rody.

It was not that the guards refused to fight. It was because the scene was too scary.

They were all Prince Barond’s death soldiers and were extremely valiant. However, with that scenario in front of them, none of them stepped forward.

Courage was one thing. Being sent to death was another matter entirely.

Bayan and a large number of guards rushed out the castle gates to see a burst of dazzling light. The light blocked everybody’s view. The radiating energy also blew at everyone and made it difficult for them to open their eyes...

Suddenly there was a muffled ’chi’ sound...

All that dazzling light drew back.

Bayan saw something bloody flying in the sky. The bloody object changed direction and flew towards Bayan, causing him to take a few steps back in fear.

A ferocious-looking and badly mangled head severely smashed on the ground in front of him. The blood red eyes seemed to have lost their demeanor but still had a look of despair and fear...

The vampire’s body remained standing in front of Rody. His blood sprayed all over Rody’s face and body. His entire body was covered in blood as if he were a blood-man.

“Ah! Ah!” Bayan could no longer stop screaming. He shouted, “Kill him! Quickly kill him!”

The guards immediately rushed up. There were also magicians that floated in the sky and started to throw fireballs at Rody. The fireballs flew towards Rody with a whistling sound. Lightning also struck, and countless screams could be heard.

Rody was like an ancient demon covered in blood. The spells the magicians had casted were all deflected away from Rody. Some had even deflected back to the magicians in the air and shot them down.

Rody raised the sword in his hand. Immediately, several heads flew away. Their blood shot out of their bodies like fireworks.

The guards were finally frightened. They screamed, dropped their weapons and ran in different directions.

Rody also did not chase them. He gently wiped the thick blood from his face. The sword in his hand was also dripping in blood.

He then slowly walked forward, step by step, towards Bayan who was paralyzed in fear on the ground.

Bayan tightly held the sword in his hand as if he was holding the last thing that could save his life.

How is this possible! How is this possible! Eight vampires, six magicians, and hundreds of guards! How could they not even defeat one person! Who is he? Is he Master Autumn? No! Is he an assassin sent by the Emperor?

Rody looked at Bayan coldly as if he was looking at an ant.

At that moment, the sky had started to turn bright as the rays of the sunlight appeared. It was almost dawn.

Rody looked at the sky and murmured, “The sky is turning bright... Not much time left...”

“Vampires, magicians and warrior guards... are there any powers that you have not used?” Rody then raised his sword and pointed it at Bayan. He then spoke in a very arrogant and impatient tone, “Quickly pull out your sword! I am in a hurry!”