Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 498 - 460: Fulcrum

The sound of shattering echoed continuously in the empty hall, where Lyle sat on the throne once belonging to Delaries, and Nia climbed up the stained glass window, extending her tentacles in the air like a cluster of mangroves, plunging her numerous tendrils deep into the water.

What used to be the dining area was now flooded enough to submerge the heels of shoes, and Lyle watched the liquids with surprise, even though they all came from his own slit wrists.

"Incredible," Lyle lifted his left hand, looking at his wrist that still bled like a fountain, "How much blood have I lost?"

"The total blood volume of sixteen adults. The journey of the Rule Breaker has already begun, welcome to the abnormal."

"There’s no discomfort from blood loss, my body shows no abnormalities, as if this blood isn’t mine, as if my wrist is connected to another dimension. Is this the inexhaustible vein?"

In the moment of thought, the scars on his wrists had already scabbed over according to his will, and the dark red fragments soon fell off, revealing skin as smooth and new as ever. Lyle moved his hand, watching all the liquid in the pool of blood follow his gesture, like a guided school of fish.

"I could even make them dance a ballet in the blood, such a marvelous power."

"This is Serio’s help, he has made you stronger. These fresh blood, you will lose control over them in a few minutes, they will be deemed as bodily waste we discard, becoming the ’Divine Blood’ for vampires."

"Thank you, I’ve lost my curiosity about this power. Let’s go back, Beatrice must be close to going mad from the torment by now."

"Nia."

"Alright!"

The tentacles that probed into the water turned into conduits, siphoning off the blood from the pool, yet Nia’s body showed no sign of swelling. Amidst Lyle’s confusion, Nia patted his head.

"Silly Lyle, how can you get full by eating yourself?"

Lyle shrugged his shoulders and walked out of Loshutar’s dining room, crossing over a floor covered with dark red filth.

The dim candlelight cast his distorted shadow on the stone walls, turning it into a terrifying portent.

"Although my power is now enough to lift this seal, and Beatrice will regain her strength after drinking my blood, thanks to the capabilities of the Divine Blood, both of us are too weak, we need outside help. The power of the Andrei Ring is not inherent, and our means of communication are still sealed."

"If there were a being as powerful as Mr. Raymond, he could certainly lift this seal. But to summon aid from Andrei, we must first break the seal, all of a sudden it feels like regaining strength is of no use."

Just when Lyle felt that doing anything was less practical than going back to be Beatrice’s blood bag, Nia’s tentacles suddenly shattered the windows, and scattered wood chips, deformed metal frames, and broken glass fell to the ground.

"Nia, this is a vampire castle, not the Castle of Naslan or Andrei Academy! Can’t you keep it down?"

Nia shrank her head during Lyle’s scolding, laying on his head, her tentacles carefully pointed at the sky through the broken window, weakly saying, "Nia didn’t do any harm, grapes, grapes are outside."

Grapes? Lyle looked through the gap up at the night sky, under the blood moon, the tiny black shadow was flapping its wings, hovering around like a moth.

Although Lyle had no idea how Nia distinguished grapes from ordinary bats, looking at that little black figure, all Lyle could do was to hope for the best.

"Grapes, come down, come down quickly." 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

The black bat didn’t obey Lyle’s words, maybe it didn’t understand, it hovered anxiously in the air, its frightened small eyes watching Nia’s tentacles.

As a magical creature, the Light Bat had also been affected by the seal; it lost its ability to glow and its intelligence, reverting to the primal form of a common bat. Fortunately, it had the unique black characteristic of the Light Bats, which led the patrolling vampires to mistake it for a regular bat and let it in.

"Nia, retract your tentacles, she is scared of you."

With a hint of grievance in her tone, Nia hummed and completely withdrew into Lyle’s shadow, "Bad guy, you’ve tasted Nia’s fresh cheese before."

With the overtly threatening presence removed, the little bat became much more active. After ascertaining that Lyle was simply observing her, Grape landed on the windowsill from the corner of the entrance, stopping less than half a meter away from Lyle. While scratching her head with her front paw, she watched Lyle with her little eyes.

The seal had not erased Grape’s memory; she must still remember Lyle, but the bat’s own brain couldn’t help her understand the significance. Confused, she still followed the familiar scent to Lyle.

Lyle smiled, "Kevin, you always manage to surprise me."

At the right place, at the right time, such timely appearance was almost like an arrangement by Fate, this man blessed by the goddess of luck.

Grape was the key, a key, a fulcrum, the point to leverage the entire situation.

And Lyle, he needed to seize her.

This was easier said than done; those little wings were definitely more dexterous than his own hands, and even the most docile wild animal has instincts far stronger than those of humans. Lyle encountered trouble on how to capture Grape without harming her.

A simple head-scratching gesture from Grape gave Lyle a spark of inspiration.

The Light Bats were a part of Andrei Academy, they were professionals, and were among the most well-mannered of intelligent creatures of Andrei. No offense meant, but the Andrei liches indeed represented the lowest standard of the entire academy. These well-mannered little ones, even if they had lost their former intelligence and humble hearts, those etiquettes would become muscle memory, branded into their bodies.

Thus, Lyle bowed gracefully to Grape.

"Come on, little one, respond to me, as in the past, show the most elegant manners of Andrei."

In Lyle’s anticipation, Grape first seemed confused for a moment, then spread her right wing completely, placed her left paw on her little belly, and slowly lowered her tiny head, performing a perfect bow, following her memory.

And just as she was bowing, Lyle rushed forward, grabbed Grape, and held her in his palm like an ear of corn, her eyes filled with fear as she screamed continuously.

"I am a prestigious Andrei lich, Grape," Lyle said while holding Grape’s hind paws, inverting her as her wings flapped wildly, he removed his Andrei ring.

"I must apologize to you, dear Grape, for my rude behavior just now and for what I am about to do."

"The first time I plant a psychological suggestion in a living being, and it’s on a friend."

"And it’s the sinister fear control, no less."

"I’m sorry, Grape."

The writhing tentacles crawled back up onto Lyle’s shoulder, and the deep shadows gathered on Lyle, completely swallowing up the light of the moon and candle.

Grape watched in terror, those eyes filled with malice and fear.

"Fear descends."