()23：06。

There are only 4 minutes left until the death knell strikes.

"What are you doing this, princess?" asked Sophia, eating.

"Didn't I make it clear enough?" repeated the vampire prince Della tirelessly, "you will replace me as the new master of Dawning Heights and become the next leader of the Bloodline." ”

"Why did you choose me?"

"The history of our blood clan, the era of the blood-sucking elders has lasted for more than 200 years, and the era of the blood-sucking prince has lasted for 1,700 years, and now it is time to change the dynasty, and the most qualified person to inherit all my people is only you, who are related to me - Korista. ”

"I'm not Korista, I'm Sophia. And I don't want to be a vampire princess or the new leader of the Bloodline. But as long as I can save my fellow citizens and citizens, I don't care what will become of me. Sophia stood up, turned to face the Prince, and said the words that could not be turned back, "I...... Promise you. ”

"Good! ”

A smile appeared on the corner of the prince's mouth, and with a slight shake of his fingers, the slight vibration and murmur of the death knell immediately stopped, and the "T" shaped magic array reappeared, and the death knell returned to the magic circle and disappeared.

The storm of dark magic that bound their companions suddenly disappeared, and Joika, Ray, and Dani, who had regained their freedom of movement, fell to the ground one after another. They held their necks and gasped for air, the storm had nearly suffocated them.

"Let's go, Korista, and come back to Dawning Heights now. ”

The prince grabbed Sophia's hand and dragged her to the center of the palace foreyard - the remains of a statue of a cherub and a fountain.

Two pink spatial teleportation magic rays appeared on the left and right sides of the prince. Leon and Melissa, who have been out, reappear at the call of their master. Leon's severed hands from Joeyka have not yet recovered, and Melissa's left arm, wounded by Ray's steel gun, is still hanging low.

Leon, the vampire pro-dynasty, glanced at it, Leon understood, and his arms that had lost his wrists were raised high, and a huge spatial portal with a diameter of more than 20 meters opened behind him.

More than 800,000 bats from all over the city surged again, gathering in the same direction - the front yard of the palace. The bats swarmed into the portal and disappeared to the other side.

Leon, Melissa, the Vampire Prince, Sophia, the four of them walked over one after another, and walked towards the giant portal.

"Sister Sophia!"

"Don't go ......"

Ray and Dani roared in hoarse voices.

"Bastard, bastard......"

Joyka raised her bow and aimed it at the back of the prince who was about to step into the portal, but his body was sucked away by the dark magic storm, and his hands trembled, and he didn't even have the strength to pull the bowstring.

There is no way to stop it.

The three companions watched as Sophia was brought into the spatial portal connecting the Blood Mountains by the Vampire Prince.

Sophia turned her head to look at everyone one last time, a tear running down the corner of her eye.

......

April 16, 1687 at 00:02 AM.

Hansar City, which had been temporarily restored to calm by the closure of the giant portal, was once again lively.

The world's dominant dragon descended from the sky, and with a brilliant silver luster, a huge silver dragon landed in the front yard of the palace, which had long been in ruins after the war.

Two figures, one thin and one fat, jumped off the dragon's back one after another.

"Ray!" The first thing he saw was his brother lying on the ground, and Cassius rushed towards Thunder in three and five steps, despite the discomfort caused by the long flight and the high oxygen and cold. "Ray, wake up, wake up...... Huh, Joyka, Dani......? What the hell is going on here?"

"Looks like we're late. ”

Owen looked up at the top of the tower of the main building of the palace. From this angle, you can't see anything at all, but there is a king standing there.

The next day at noon.

St. Papal Island, Papal Palace.

"Your Highness the Pope, the Knight of Rousseau is waiting outside. ”

The voice of a priest came from outside the Evening Hall.

"Let him in. ”

"Yes. ”

The door opened with a "babbling" and then closed with a "babbling" sound.

"You've finally figured it out. I knew you would come sooner or later. ”

Sitting on the throne, the man in the white bishop's robe and silver mask spat out a flat, but suffocatingly holy voice. And about 20 meters below the steps of the throne, a young knight stopped.

La's beard had been shaved, and his decadent drunken eyes had become glittering tiger eyes, his body could no longer smell the smell of wine, and his rebathed body exuded the scent of roses, his tattered clothes had been replaced by shining knight's armor, and the wine bottles were no longer pinned to his waist, but two sharp swords that could not hide their edge even if they were tucked away in scabbards.

One of the swords was pitch black below the hilt, and from within it there was a faint mysterious magic that awe-inspiring the heart. "Tears of Repentance" - Julian only learned yesterday the name of this new weapon he had obtained from the top of the Tower of the Seven Sins. It is a sword that can talk to people. Once again in the presence of the Pope - also the result of his discussions with the sword in the past few days.

Julian didn't talk much nonsense and went straight to the point: "I came here today in the hope that the Pope can help me with something. ”

The Pope did not speak, he waited for Julian to make a request.

"I beg the Pope to tamper with Frey's memories so that she doesn't remember the family's tragic past. Speaking of which, Julian thought for a moment and corrected, "No, there is no need to tamper with her memory, it is enough for her to forget this memory for a while, it will only take a few months." ”

Julian is confident that it doesn't matter if Frey can't remember what she shared with him, as long as he can start over with her and go through it together for a few more months, even if Frey's painful memories are restored, the relationship between the two can resolve the hatred between the two families.

"It's not an easy task to control people's memories. I can help you, but you have to do one thing for the God of Light first. Unexpectedly, the Pope offered his quid pro quo.

Li'an smiled bitterly and agreed, "I don't know who is unlucky this time?"

"You misunderstood, Julian. I'm not asking you to kill someone, or deal with anyone. Just want you to find one thing. ”

"Something missing?" Julian blinked, he didn't expect the Pope to give him such an unexpected answer.

Kingdom of Pole.

The royal capital is Hansha City, the imperial palace.

The city ban has been lifted, and citizens can return to their normal lives. But their hearts were still uneasy, because on the night of April 15, 1687 in the Age of Light, the inhabitants of Hansar City experienced strange phenomena never before seen since the city was founded: mysterious bells, eerie swarms of bats, ruined neighborhoods, burning churches, inexplicable slumber, strange lights, silver dragons...... All the incredible qiē happened in one night, and what does this have to do with the harpy attack half a year ago?

People unconsciously compare this series of events to the "Hansha Rebellion" 13 years ago. Many people were skeptical that King Duris would be able to protect them, and some dignitaries even considered moving out of the palace.

King Duris I stood by the window of the Imperial Study, watching the soldiers and workers sweeping the untamed front yard of the palace.

On the desk behind him lay an endgame consisting of a crystal chessboard and a number of ivory chess pieces.

"Your Majesty, the guests in the courtyard ask to see you. The voice of a guard was heard outside the study.

"Please come in. ”

The same sound was repeated as the door opened and closed.

"Your silver dragon friend has already returned, is it appropriate that such a powerful force should not be pursued by it?" Duris did not need to look back, knowing that this visiting guest was one of the two who had arrived late last night, and since Cassius was in a hurry to tend to his seriously injured companion, it must have been Owen who had come to the imperial study.

"I promised Bingyus that we would only need to send us to our destination and we could go back, and I couldn't break my promise. Owen replied calmly.

"I deeply regret what happened to that little girl. But your table xiàn is also too calm. ”

"If you want to be calm, how can I compare to your majesty as steady as Tarzan?" Owen teased, "Actually, you already know that although last night's incident was extremely dangerous, there will never be another death in the end. Because this is a script that you and the vampire prince have already hammered out, including Sophia's abduction, and it is also a plot in the script. Am I right? ”

"Huh?" Owen's words made Duris turn around, "You mean that I have been in cahoots with the Vampire Prince?"

"Originally, I didn't think so, but when I came into this study and saw that side, I understood. Owen said as he pointed to the endgame board on his desk.

"Yes, it's a pity, he left before the game was over. Duris said this, which is equivalent to confessing to Owen about his relationship with the Vampire Prince, and then he changed his words, "But when you think about it, it is actually not bad. Vampire Princess? That's a big man who can rule the entire vampire clan, much more prominent than the king of a human nation. ”

Wen shook his head and said, "Sophia must have a fate that she can't avoid, but the vampire princess is definitely not her fate. ”

"Fate, hehe, you became a soothsayer after a trip to the Snowy Federation?" I remember that you used to talk about 'fighting against fate' and so on, why are you resigned to fate now?" said Duris with a laugh.

Owen shook his head again, denying the meaning of Duris's words: "I am not resigned to fate, but before I can rebel against fate, I must first understand fate. It's the same with marching and fighting, right?"

"When it comes to philosophical theories, I'm going to bow down. Duris waved his hand and said, "But are you only here to discuss philosophy?"

"Of course not. I have come to bid farewell to His Majesty. ”

"Resignation again?"

"Hmm. I'm going to pick up where you left off. With that, Owen raised his hand, and a statue of the Valkyrie appeared in the palm of his hand.

......

After sending Owen away, Duris's expression became solemn.

The vampire havoc in the royal capital, this little episode seems to have passed...... Yes, it may be a big deal for his friends, but it's just a small episode for him...... Now, the major event that has been delayed by the vignette for seven days is even more urgent.

Duris walked over to the desk, but he ignored the endgame on the crystal chessboard, and instead pulled open the drawer and pulled out a red-paper from it: it was a top-secret report on the collapse of the spy network "Woods".

"Pope, don't underestimate me. A dark sneer appeared at the corner of Duris's mouth, "There is no 'wood', and there are 'fish'. ”

He picked up a quill pen and wrote down the reply of the sloppy numbers below the report of the red paper:

"The fry hatch and the fish go out to sea. ”

(End of Part VIII)