章 20: Rite Of Passage V

Damnit I knew it!

How can he give it up so easily?

I knew that he was scheming the moment he gave the dagger to me instead of Echo who is already in possession of one. He knew from the start that anyone who has the two daggers could immediately teleport and escape out of the dungeon thus becoming the new Champion.

"But… there is something I am interested in. I wonder if you two are willing to help me?" inquired Fritz.

Both Vlad and Echo's lips twitched in annoyance yet their faces still held their previous respectful expressions as they wanted to avoid any altercations between them and Fritz if possible'

"Your wish is my command Your Highness" said Vlad.

Echo replied, "Anything for you, Your Highness."

Fritz smiled at their answers as a deep and cunning flash appeared deep inside in his eyes.

"Haha then I won't be courteous. You see I have a very special eye that allows me to see beyond the ordinary allowing me for example to observe those favoured by fortune and you two are such people."

"Anyone that is favoured by fortune is always someone incredibly talented and meant for great things and I have a need for such individuals."

"How about you two follow me?"

Their faces contorted in anger as they furiously stared at Fritz.

Vlad fumed, "Impossible!"

Echo hissed, "No!"

Fritz remained unbothered by their deathly glares as he smiled calmly his aura becoming oppressive with each step he took towards them. His aura flared dominantly as a prominent gold halo flared behind him as it grew from a small halo to a thousand meters in radius enveloping everything in its vicinity.

Fritz's figure becoming peerlessly divine.

[OMNIARCH: Dominators Deification]

It released a holy aura seeking and urging any who basked in its splendour to glorify and worship Fritz as those in defiance would feel their powers suppressed as long as it existed and also their origins being corroded until they submitted to Fritz the more exposed to it they were.

"You see even though I was asking it isn't that you ever had a choice. I wanted this to be done the easy way but you too are stubborn. The hard way it is then."

Vlad and Echo's auras surged powerfully as Vlad became enveloped in a menacing blood red aura as Echo emitted a bone chilling silvery aura. Their gazes met flashing with sharp glints of light as they dashed at Fritz together.

"Why bother?" nonchalantly asked Fritz looking at the two rushing at him.

[Spatial Queen: Dimensional Cut]

Echo raised her hand as a wave of sharp void essence gathered above her fingers forming into ten massive silvery swords. Pushing her hand forward she hurled the ten massive swords at Fritz as they teared through the air as they rushed towards Fritz.

"Erase!" muttered Fritz as the threatening sword attack dissipated into thin air. This was his domain and within it his word law yet Echo wanted to manipulate the space under his rule to attack him.

How futile.

"Don't be surprised Echo, ever heard of natural nemesises. I am yours."

Fritz instantaneously disappeared from his position occurring right before Echo his hand surging with scalding red energy. His hand shooting straight towards her neck.

[Spatial Queen: Void Teleport]

Echo frighteningly teleported a dozen meters away from Fritz yet the same familiar scalding hand appeared still aiming for her throat. She casted her ability several times escaping his grasp yet she still could shake him off as wherever she teleported to he was there.

He was just like her shadow that she could never outrun as ultimately she was caught.

"I told you it was futile" smirked Fritz.

"Hel-" shrieked Echo as her face lost her frigid expression trembling in fear.

Fritz attacked.

A powerful chop to her neck.

Then a burning hot punch straight to her solar plexus.

Two attacks to seal the deal as her body buckled to the floor adopting a kneeling position at his feet. Her body writhing in pain and shortness of breath.

[Monarchial Blood Manipulation: Blood World]

Despite being shocked and frightened by Fritz's power Vlad regained his calm swiftly as surging waves of blood rolled out of him enveloping everything a hundred meters of him.

"Interesting but still not enough!" remarked Fritz leisurely. He waved his hand as all the blood solidified before crumbling into pieces of dust at his command.

There existed differences in power even among Domains.

With the power of Fritz's domain, he could easily disperse Vlad's as it had even been casted on top of his. Yet instead of despairing Vlad unleashed his domain to an area of one meter around him making it more sturdy and resilient to Fritz's domains influence thus granting him freedom inside the [Dominators Domain].

[Monarchial Blood Manipulation: Blood World], [Monarchial Blood Manipulation: Blood Armour]

Vlad's figure bathed in a pool of blood that slowly crystallised into an exquisite and devilish blood red armour.

[Monarchial Blood Manipulation: Blood Guardians]

Vlad wasn't done yet as around him appeared three round blood orbs possessing different essences that morphed into three different creatures. Two of his blood orbs transformed into a tiger like monster and another a four handed monkey like monster.

The last blood orb transformed into a human avatar.

"Attack!" barked Vlad who stood at the back as their commander.

Fritz scoffed, "Still not enough."

Circulating half of his ichor throughout his body and directing it to his hands, Fritz arms became coated with Orange then Yellow and lastly Blue flames. With each change in the color of flames his flames temperature increased. His hands bubbling in hot flames that burnt the surrounding moisture in the air producing steam around his arms.

The four armed monkey avatar lunged at Fritz swinging its fists brutally.

The tiger avatar sent sharp claw attacks at Fritz.

The human avatar merged with Vlad boosting his attributes tremendously.

Fritz disappeared.

BAM! BAM!

Two explosive sounds occurred as the two monster avatars exploded into a mist of blood from Fritz's burning fists. Without wasting time he shoot straight at Vlad at the speed of sound rendering him unable to react.

Fritz unleashed a fist barrage on the defenceless Vlad destroying his defences.

Vlad only reacted a few seconds later trying to swing his scythe at the nearby Fritz before his body was rendered motionless by a wave of heart wrenching and agonizing pain throughout his body.

Pfft!

Blood spewed out from his seven orifices. The pain so unbearable that he nearly lost consciousness but he held on and used the last shred of his will he called out.

Below him a pentagon runic formation occurred releasing horrendous waves of unparalleled power yet before a quarter of the runes lit up Fritz sent a powerful chop down on his neck knocking him out.

"What a pity. Young one we shall meet in the future!" a deep empirial voice spread out from the disappearing formation.

Fritz senses perked up preparing for combat from the aura permeatimg from the formation was powerful enough to that he felt threatened by it.

"This is a lesson to me that every time I meet a reincarnator I must be careful and suppress them immediately before they use their trump cards" murmured Fritz.

Vlad just like Fritz was a REINCARNATE!

Two hours later Vlad and Echo prostrated before Fritz calling out, "Master!"

"Excellent. Let us wait for two more days to give the chance to the other participants to make their own merits before leaving and as for whom the Champion would be you sort it out amongst yourselves" excitedly spoke Fritz.

…

Three days have passed since the beginning of the rite of passage ceremony and all the attending members of Hellsing remained gathering inside the valley waiting to witness the birth of a new Champion.

Hushed excited discussions filled the entire valley as vehement discussions and predictions made about who the next champion would likely be. Throughout all the discussions they all wished that the trial be live broadcasted as it would help them make their predictions as well as cure their boredom.

For the past three days' occasional flashes of light occurred on the stage previously occupied by the trial takers. These flashes of light representing the return of eliminated participants of the ceremonial event as they were teleported out of the dungeon.

All the returning eliminated participants had two particular things in common.

Despair!

Fear!

These two emotions vividly expressed on their faces representative of the hellish experiences that they went through inside the dungeon. Their bodies shaking frantically as their shaking movements sprayed their soaked sweat onto the ground.

After a few moments of calming down their faces brightened with hope and happiness because they have survived when they were sure that they had perished. Inside the dungeon the only way that all the participants could be teleported out was by the trial ending or death.

But for them it was the latter.

Crimson Dagger sat on his throne eyes closed yet with each flashing teleportation light would open from time to time because with his powerful cultivation he didn't just rely on his eyes to see. A false smile hung on his face with an irritating thought on his mind about how time seems to move slower these past days.

Another silver light occurred on the stage from which came out a young man with his back facing the seated people showing his dazzling silver waist length hair. To the rest of the members of Hellsing he was just another one of the unfortunate participants but to Crimson Dagger his appearance meant so much more to him.

His eyes became vacant with his chin lowering into his chest as he couldn't believe that despite all his relentless efforts he would still fail. He felt pained, depressed and defeated.

But before he could wallow in self-pity and mockery thousands of brilliant lights appeared at the same time brightening the entire valley. On the stage thousands of people appeared as they had just been teleported out of the dungeon.

Thus marking the end of the rite of passage event.

Raising his head Crimson Dagger's eyes widened as just right behind Fritz he saw his hope, his son Vlad standing there proudly and in his possession two crystalline red and black daggers. An uncontrollable grin appeared on his flushed face.

'I can't believe it he has done it. Hahaha he did it!'

Sitting beside him Silent Night and Sky Reaper amusedly laughed at his foolish expression but they didn't mock him as they could understand his mood right now. All these years spent together they have come to know and understand what kind of person he is, his dreams and values they knew all too well.

They were even a little happy for him.

Layla wasn't interested in these three below her rather what piqued her interest the most was her dazzling son. She was interested in the way that the two, Vlad and Echo behaved around her son.

They seemed a little subservient!?

Sky Reaper stood up from the stand as his mechanic voice congratulated all the participants of the event and discussing further how everything would be handled after the successful tallying of each individual's performance, their rewards and most importantly their induction into becoming full-fledged members of Hellsing.

A few hours later Layla and Fritz made their way towards their home marking the end of this year's Rite of Passage ceremony.