Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

In the main world, soon after One arose from her state of dormancy, Loimos naturally arrived to check on what had changed about her, the conditions had been perfected so that the chances of something happening to her were maximised.

Vampires, unlike what many might believe, were not weak to sunlight in the strictest of senses, vampires actually absorbed light to strengthen themselves, that process was automatic and could hardly be controlled, and since sunlight was potent, a vampire that stepped into the sun would overflow with energy and strength, to the point of bloating and turning to ashes, barely anything would be left of them, they might even explode in certain circumstances.

Of course, when there is a rule, there are exceptions, Sunwalker was the first to overcome that limitation, but as it turned out, it was most certainly due to his true identity as Thanatok Ynigós that had granted him such power, and due to that identity, he never truly went ahead and tried to spread his vampiric blood, resulting in only a handful of sun walking vampires being left in today's Empire, and none of them shine thanks to their vampiric powers, if they are strong, it is because they poured their focused toward a way of power or at least, something that had nothing to do with the blood within them.

One, for example, was certainly not a weakling, being a competent warrior and alchemist, but ultimately, she was held down because it was a sun walking vampire that had turned her into an undead, and that vampiric lineage had basically no future unless one of the few remaining vampires of its midst rose up and seized the position that Sunwalker once held.

This was something that One would never do, for she had awakened her own, unique vampiric blood, something which was not supposed to happen once you held the blood of a vampire lord, either One was more special than it seemed, or the fact that the lord was gone had made it possible…

In terms of appearance, One had not changed much at all, the only difference is that her eyes had become a bright pink, seemingly glowing even- Furthermore, her blood had become pink as well, and whilst the colour of blood varied greatly between the different vampire lords, such a bright, colourful pink was not something anyone would expect a vampire to possess.

In any case, looks were of little importance next to the real capabilities of the blood she awoke, and the power of a vampire's unique blood could be somewhat unpredictable…

Dracula possessed a fiery, dark red blood, sometimes referred to as the 'Fire Of The Blood' putting more emphasis on the flames than the sanguine substances itself, Dracula was not called 'Son Of Dragon' for no reason, that was because his father was said to have been a dragon, whilst his mother, a human.

Even as a living, Dracula had possessed draconic powers, which had made him a prominent and feared warlord during the dark era he had lived throughout, he had been a frightening swordsman with strength unparalleled, and the ability to spew flames so powerful, that the sheer impact of being struck by them could kill an armoured knight instantly before the heat even got to them.

When he became a vampire and awoke his vampiric blood, it seems like the draconic bloodline within him was also stirred greatly, and he even got access to memories, so not only did he become capable of transforming into a genuine dragon, but he also learned that his father's bloodline hailed from Dragonnerie.

Vespertillo and Atsalinopalo became vampires at the same time, the two brothers resembling two sides of the coins in their abilities…

Vespertillo possessed 'Beast Blood', allowing to absorb the capabilities of creatures which blood he drank, whilst Atsalinopalo possessed the 'Blood Of The False Life', which granted him the ability to do the same thing as his brother, only with the inanimate, paving the way toward his metallic transformation and dozens of hidden tools scattered throughout his body.

Of course, not everything could always be a perfect match, and despite his status was the strongest gravelord, Nosferatu's vampiric blood wasn't actually that great for him, the 'Foetid Blood' was deeply corrosive and toxic, and that was pretty much it, Nosferatu rarely made use of the unique capabilities of his blood when fighting, standing as proof that one's vampiric blood was not the be-all end-all for vampires.

Which was why Nosferatu was not disappointed in the least when the three vampirelings he chose to nurture demonstrated rather weak unique bloods.

Mangelanetwas had no real power, as his vampiric blood manifested in a total lack of physical traits that could make him appear as a vampire, or even as an undead in general, you could place him in a crowd of livings, and visually speaking, no one would be none the wiser.

Murcielago, fittingly resembling a bat beastwoman, had the ability to turn into a bat, which did not seem like much right now, but there was always room for improvement for when she got stronger, the vampiric blood might still grow with time.

And Simplex seemed like a rather unfortunate one, as the list of weaknesses he had was lengthy, not to mention that some of them were actually quite ridiculous, but those weaknesses seemingly allowed for him to not only pick on blood manipulation at an exceptional swiftness, but also, his vampiric blood had no limitations or shortcomings when it came to who or what he could infect.

Dracula was limited to humans and dragons mostly, Vespertillo to beast-like beings, Atsalinopalo to beings that lacked life force, such as pure spirits, and Nosferatu, whilst not limited as strictly as the others, the sheer power of his blood made it very unlikely for any infection from him to work out.

And also, those who managed to go through the ordeal tended to be those with rather odd personalities and habits, for example, a lot of the spearheads were vampires of Nosferatu.

Figuring out the powers and infective capabilities of One was to be done quickly, not because it was particularly urgent, but simply because there was no reason not to investigate.

So the usual trio set off to find guinea pigs to test things out, and since efficiency was part of an undead's way of being, they also went for an unclassified realm, killing two birds with one stone.

The realm chosen was nothing special, merely an environment that was easily found in the main world, this place merely separated and enclosed in its own bubble, the level of civilisation demonstrated by the sapients was about equivalent to what it had been on Viridis overall…