Chapter 4: Sudden Duel Request

Anyway, that's what led to the two races having no choice but to resort to sending the younger generation, and said the younger generation naturally had great expectations of the Hybrid's power.

Seeing him emerge from the coffin, with zero energy fluctuations or even an iota of power coming from him, they were dumbfounded.

Nevertheless, they understood that this made sense after a moment of deliberation, considering he had been desiccated for heaven knows how long.

It made sense for his energy to be drained out, however, what didn't make sense, was the 'maximum' amount of energy that they could sense from him, and his existence realm.

If it was just a case of him having his energy drained out, then there should have not been any changes to his existence realm as it was only his energy reserves that had run out.

But the existence realm of the Hybrid standing right in front of them was lower than the Vampire quintet, and the Werewolf sextet.

From what they could sense, it was a whole realm of existence lower than theirs.

And that meant that the 'maximum' energy he could recover, was around that level too.

"You gotta be fucking kidding me…"

Such were the words that escaped the lips Nelo's lips as he looked at the being standing not too far from him that was looking around with a lightly confused expression on his face.

At that moment, he was a hundred percent sure, that he and every other person in the room all had the same thoughts.

'He's weak ASF!!'

A series of emotions ran through him, ranging from disappointment, anger, and eventually plain disgust.

His facial expression contorted, as before Wanette could say a word, he pointed at the Hybrid and spoke.

"You're the Hybrid? The Legendary Hybrid everyone's been running crazy about?!"

"Nelo!!"

Wanette called out to him but he didn't answer her and instead continued talking.

"Why the hell are you so weak?! Desiccation should not weaken the target; it should only drain them of their energy and blood, before stopping their hearts.

Meaning you were this weak before you were desiccated!"

He spoke based on his understanding of desiccation and the results of when it was applied to Vampires.

"Is that so?"

The Hybrid tilted his head to the side as he spoke, his eyes seemingly flashing with a faint light as he continued.

"Then do you want to fight me?"

"Huh?"

"What?"

"??"

"Pardon?"

Everyone in the room either let out voices of shock or showed their surprise by another means.

"If I'm so 'weak' then you should be able to easily beat me, should you not? Or are you scared?"

His tone of voice was calm, without a single fluctuation in it as he straight up taunted Nelo.

Wanette, David and Davina, all gave him confused gazes when they heard his request. Even the younger generation werewolves who had been knocked unconscious, and had woken up earlier and seen the whole scenario transpire, were also confused as to why he would willingly challenge someone an entire realm higher than him.

But seeing how calm he was, they also calmed down and analysed the situation properly.

This person was not a normal Vampire or Werewolf, but the Legendary Hybrid they had heard myths about.

They highly doubted that someone who had lived as long as the myths said he had—before he was desiccated—was going to propose a duel in the current situation without a reason behind it.

At the very least, Wanette and the other Vampires wanted to know what it was first before making a decision.

With the exception of Nelo, of course.

"I accept!"

"Dude, Chill!!"

"Okay, now you're going too far, Nelo."

Wanette reached out to could grab onto Nelo's shoulder and pull him back, but he slapped her hand off before speaking.

"Aren't you all annoyed about this whole situation? If you aren't then I sure as hell am!

I've always been annoyed about the fact that the Higher-ups had been going crazy over this Hybrid, spending centuries searching for him.

In fact, I feel it'd be better if we just left him to those dogs."

The werewolves present had misgivings about being called dogs but Nelo glared at them and flared his aura, pressuring them before turning back to the Hybrid and continuing.

"Our great Vampire race does not need the help of some ancient weakling who's not even fully a Vampire, to be able to conquer our natural weaknesses.

We can do that without his help, and yet the higher-ups don't seem to understand this.

Instead, they sent us here and made us spend valuable days we could have used to train, get stronger or acquire new skills, having to deal with those dogs, and in the end, the being they told us to find is a weakling!

No way I'm standing for that."

The teenager had a livid expression on his face as he spoke, and Wanette started regretting not slugging him in the face to shut him up earlier.

"Mehn, why did we let him cook?"

Davina glared at David who made that little quip, before turning to Nelo and trying to speak to him.

"Sure, you don't stand for it and all, that's on you.

But how about you stop ranting like a kid and make those complaints to the higher-ups when we get back?

Or rather why didn't you simply opt out when they summoned us for this task?"

Nelo's face contorted when he heard her words, and he went silent, definitely not ready to admit he didn't say anything because he was scared of falling out of his Clan head's good graces.

Especially since he was not a direct member of the main branch but a son of a concubine, something he had grown to be very insecure about.

*CLAP!!

A loud clapping sound cut into the tense atmosphere, drawing their attention towards the Hybrid who was responsible for making it.

"You guys can have your little spat later. For now, let this young man and I have our duel, okay?"

Despite the fact that he was speaking normally, the four Vampires felt like there was some sort of commanding force in his voice that made them step back from Nelo.

Seeing this, the Hybrid then turned towards Nelo and continued,

"Now then, young man. Are you sure you want to fight me, you could die, you know?"

"Die?"

Nelo snorted as he roused his energy and flared it wildly as if trying to intimidate the man.

"I'm one of the Vampire race's most powerful younger generation members, no way I can die to a weakling like you."

Hearing his words, the Hybrid's facial expression turned strange for a moment as he glanced at the other four and muttered something to himself.

"Superior Grandmasters are the most powerful now?... Anyway, Mr Most Powerful. Your name is Nelo, right? Do you accept my; Jamie's, duel request?]

"Didn't I say it earlier, I accept."

The moment the last two words left his lips, a string of red light appeared in between Nelo and the Hybrid, who identified himself as 'Jamie', surprising all the others present.

The ground suddenly trembled and the other four Vampire teenagers, along with their nearby subordinates were pushed back by an invisible force, creating a 200 by 200-metre open space with just Nelo and the Hybrid in it.

"Thank you. For a moment, I was actually worried you might suddenly change your mind."

Jamie thanked him for accepting the duel, tacking on a polite bow, an action that surprised everyone present for the nth time.

"I'd like us to have no interferences."

Right after speaking, Jamie snapped his fingers, and Wannette who had stepped into the open space was suddenly flung out by an invisible force.

The others who tried to enter were also pushed back, unable to even take a step into that space.

'This…a barrier!'

Jorin instantly identified the reason for this phenomenon, and his suspicions about the Hybrid having some ulterior motive in proposing that duel only grew even more.

"Nelo, surrender!!"

"Never!"