Ancestral Lineage - Chapter 481

Chapter 481: Movement
It was almost time for the much-awaited ceremony of the twins, and the empire was livelier than it had been before, but with this came other matters, and the empire was aware.

Travelers from different kingdoms, both known and unknown, came to witness the ceremony, which was very much hyped all over the world.

For the first time, the citizens of Anbord saw a variety of races that they didn’t even know existed. Some races, they knew of but had never seen or had just a glimpse of them, and that was all.

True fairies, dragons, dragonoids, merfolk, true elves, and even the mythical demons. Yes, demons were known as myths, even though there were hybrids around. After all, Helheim, the demon realm and empire, was in a different dimension and was very difficult to find. So seeing the mythical demons and the legendary dragons in one place was very, very shocking for them.

They had one empress who was a dragon and one high sovereign dragon too, but seeing about eight dragons in one place was shocking, to say the least.

Banners, projections, and fliers of the twins were all over the empire and its various kingdoms. Threads and posts of the ceremony outline were shared across the net to everyone.

There were even large portraits of the children of the emperor sleeping; the one Ethan took of Regnare in his dragon form coiled around his siblings. These portraits were being sold for huge amounts of credits, even crossing the 100 million credit mark.

While there was a good side to all this, there were also bad sides to this, and that was very true with what was currently happening in an alley of a large six-story building in the capital, Antrim. The building was one of the few that sold the portraits of the “Celestial Siblings”, as they have named it.

A group of 15 was huddled together with a holographic map displaying a certain place in the capital, marked in red. They all wore dark clothes covering them from head to toe.

“Make sure you plant the Claspers well. We can’t afford any mistakes. It must be swift and devastating! Do I make myself clear?” One of them spoke. He was shorter than they were, but had a very dangerous aura to him. His deep yellow eyes glowed from his dark mask, and his voice was dangerously deep.

Behind him was a long black tail with a crooked tip, like a scorpion’s, but the tail belonged to a feline.

“But the imperial family is very powerful. Do you think the twins can be abducted with all the protections?” Another spoke, this time with a feminine voice. She was the tallest among them with a muscular build, but her presence didn’t lose out to the feline man. It was even a bit scarier than his.

“True, but our contractor assured us of the legibility of the Claspers. Even the emperor would have his powers sealed for some time, though not very long. That’s why we must move fast. We must be very swift!”

“I see… but I don’t feel very good with this.”

“Me neither, but we’ve got no choice…”

“You have a choice. Tell us of your contractor and live or die. But we will know your contractor anyway after prying through your minds.” A soft yet dark voice sounded from the deepest part of the alley.

The sudden intrusion shocked them to the core, and they couldn’t react for a full thirty seconds.

“W-who?”

“Are you dumb?” The voice said again. This time, they pinpointed the location, and what they saw shocked them so much that two collapsed outright from fear.

A pair of red and silver mismatched eyes, glowing with a dark intensity, stared back at them from the darkness like the devil was staring at them from hell.

“Now, are you going to tell us, or should we force you? You are already two members short, and we haven’t even moved.” The voice spoke, making them realize that they were surrounded, but they couldn’t see anyone.

“N-no! NO WAY!” The muscular lady suddenly screamed, taking a few steps back, her eyes widened in shock and extreme fear.

Her scream alerted the others to look at where she was looking, and what they saw made them shiver from non-existent cold.

Cold silvery-red eyes, grey hair, short horns that looked draconic and demonic at the same time, very slim statures that made them appear malnourished, and their long yet thin tails.

The Silverbanes. The dark protectors of the empire, led by the notorious de-primogenitor, King Jerry Silverbane, and his brother, Thomas Silverbane.

They knew, they had fucked up…

“Turn on the Claspers… Now!” The feline man commanded, his voice sounding tense. And he was right to be tense, not with the unfeeling killers surrounding him. They were the only hybrid race of vampires who could pose a real threat to a progenitor. After the ghouls, who were 80% immortal and didn’t fear death, were the Silverbanes. Even their kingdom was the most feared in the empire because there was almost no crime.

You wouldn’t even know when or how you died.

The feline man’s claws trembled as he fumbled in his cloak, pulling out the Clasper, a sleek, palm-sized orb of blackened metal etched with pulsing blue runes that hummed like a trapped storm, its crystal core crackling with stolen arcane energy. It looked like a cursed relic from a forgotten apocalypse, veins of electric blue light spiderwebbing across its surface as if ready to explode.

“Do it… NOW!” he roared at a wiry elf-hybrid, who slammed his thumb into the core with desperate force. A deafening whine pierced the alley, escalating into a thunderous crackle that made teeth rattle and eardrums throb. The air warped and shimmered like heat off a forge, unleashing invisible shockwaves that slammed into the Silverbanes.

Their demonic auras didn’t just flicker… they shattered, horns cracking audibly, tails whipping wildly before going slack, and those glowing eyes dulling to haunted mortal glares in an instant. Power stripped away in a brutal pulse, leaving them exposed, vulnerable… human-like.

The counter-amulets of the feline’s group vibrated under their collars, shielding them, fueling a wild surge of adrenaline-fueled triumph.

But from the abyss of shadow, those mismatched eyes, red and silver, now raw and unyielding, pierced through the chaos like daggers. A guttural, disdainful laugh ripped from the darkness, echoing off the walls with mocking venom.

“I don’t need my powers to destroy you all. And you wanted to attack our home with this shit? Pathetic.”

In the blink of an eye, he exploded into motion. Not supernatural, but a feral storm of honed lethality, his slim frame coiling and unleashing like a whipcrack. King Jerry Silverbane (or was it Thomas? The terror blurred it all) surged forward, the air whistling around him as he closed the gap in a heartbeat. His claws didn’t flash; they sang through the night, a silver blur that severed the elf-hybrid’s hand at the wrist mid-scream, the Clasper tumbking in a spray of blood before he caught it mid-air and crushed it underfoot with a sickening crunch.

Panic detonated like a bomb. The group of thirteen erupted into a frenzied chaos, spells and abilities hurled wildly, blades swinging in desperate arcs, claws slashing at shadows. But he was a ghost in the maelstrom, dodging a fireball that scorched the wall behind him, his boot slamming into an orcish thug’s knee with a bone-shattering pop, followed by a vicious upward palm strike that caved in the brute’s jaw, teeth exploding outward in a bloody mist.

He twisted, fluid and savage, grabbing a fox-kin by the throat mid-leap, slamming her into the ground hard enough to crack the pavement, her ribs crunching under the impact as he drove his elbow into her sternum.

Once. Twice… until she went limp in a gurgling heap.

A burly werewolf lunged next, claws raking air where he had been a split-second ago; he countered with a spinning kick that snapped the werewolf’s arm like dry wood, then finished with a throat-punch that crushed the windpipe, leaving the wolf choking on his own blood.

Bodies dropped like dominoes in the frenzy, guts spilling from a gutted rogue who got too close, necks twisted with wet snaps, one impaled through the eye on his comrade’s discarded sword after a brutal redirection. Screams tore through the alley, mixing with the metallic tang of blood and acrid burn of failed affinity usage. He was relentless, a whirlwind of calculated fury, sparing the one who crumpled in terror, weapons clattering to the ground as they begged incoherently.

In seconds, seven lay mangled and lifeless, entrails steaming in the cool night air, four huddled in quivering submission, and the two unconscious ones finally stirring to the nightmare.

The muscular lady and the feline man pressed against the wall, weapons trembling in sweat-slick hands, faces pale masks of horror as they realized this wasn’t survival. It was judgement!

The alley pulsed with heavy silence, broken only by ragged gasps and the drip-drip of crimson pooling on cobblestones. He straightened, flicking blood from his hands with casual disdain, his mismatched eyes locking onto the leaders like a predator sizing up prey.

“Now,” he growled, voice a low rumble that vibrated in their chests, “let’s talk about that contractor. Spill it, or I’ll make this look like a warm-up.”