After leaving Fabia's laboratory, Saber headed straight to the main hall, where the other Elder vampires were waiting for him. Among the ten seats around the stone table, only three seats were taken. Trista, Lenora, and Ingram welcomed Saber with a nod. Saber slowly pulled his stone chair back. The chair made a creaking noise.

(read chapter 474 to refresh your memories about the vampires)

"Have you found Hacan's killer?" asked Lenora.

Ingram and Trista turned their gazes to Saber.

"Not yet," Saber simply shrugged. He didn't share the letter he received from Harriet when he was in Awor.

"Elder Ingram, you wanted to talk about something," Saber ingrained the two lady vampires and turned his gaze to the oldest Elder vampire among them, Ingram.

"How prepared are we to face the Dark Lord?" Ingram asked. He was always the quiet one, but when he asked this question, there was gravity in his voice.

"Why are you asking this so suddenly, Elder Ingram?" Trista asked. Among all the vampires, they only called Ingram 'Elder' due to his age and power. To this date, the vampires didn't know Ingram's cultivation stage. He kept his powers well hidden. Because of that, Ingram was the most feared and respected.

"Haven't you heard what happened to the holy church in the Royal land?" Lenora quickly asked Trista.

"Of course, I heard about that. My question is, what does that have to do with us? If you ask me, the destruction of the holy church works in our favor," said Lenora.

"It has everything to do with us. The Dark Lord is hunting down everyone he deems evil. I think we qualify to be called evil all the way," chuckled Trista.

"Elder Ingram," unlike Lenora and Trista, Saber didn't take the threat of the Dark Lord lightly.

"According to what I heard, we aren't strong enough to fight the Dark Lord. If he decides to hunt us down, we will have a problem," said Saber.

Silence fell over them for a few moments.

"We may have to call upon all the elders, at least those who are alive," Ingram calmly said. His words shocked everyone. Why? Because it had been almost a hundred years since all the ten elders gathered in one place.

"Elder Ingram, are you thinking of waking up a blood prince?" The words sent shivers down Trista and Lenora's spines. The blood prince was one of the ancient vampires. They were the first creations of the Vampire Lord. However, due to their violent nature and long life span, the blood princes entered a state of slumber thousands of years ago.

No one knew how many blood princes were in this world. Their records were lost in time. For now, the elders had access to one blood prince. Only through a special ritual could they wake up a blood prince. But waking up a blood prince had several drawbacks. One of them was that the elders would have to listen to the blood prince until the blood prince entered the slumber state. Simply put, They would take over the deathless clan.

"Hmm," Ingram nodded.

"But-" Trista's words were cut short when Ingram raised his hand,

"I saw the Dark Lord slaughter the holy guards. It wasn't a battle, as the mortals claim. It was a one-sided massacre. He killed several Soul Refiners within a snap of time. In my eyes, he wasn't even using a fraction of his true power,"

The words startled Trista and Lenora. In the night, they all could reach the Fusion stage level 8. That was their base cultivation power. Coupled with immunity to spell attacks, regeneration, and inhuman speed, the vampires, turned into a terrifying force of nature. A typical Fusion stage cultivator would not be able to defeat the Elder vampires. Unless one had a Primordial flame, defeating an Elder vampire was nearly impossible.

"We are not prepared to face him. That's the truth," Ingram's gaze swept across the other three.

"Waking up a blood prince may be our only way to end the threat before it ends us all," said Ingram. His voice sounded more grave than usual.

"Elder Ingram. We have to think this through before we act. Waking up a blood prince isn't that simple. He or she would take over the clan. They would order us around. And think about our current state. The entire world knows we exist. What if the blood prince decides we are not capable of leading the clan and choose new elders?" Lenora panicked.

Her words had some merit. Saber knew this. To be honest, even he wasn't entirely on board with waking up a blood prince. As far as he was concerned, waking up, a blood prince had more drawbacks than benefits. However, if Elder Ingram decides to wake up a blood prince, they would have no choice but to follow him. Forget about the blood prince, if they disagreed with him, Saber knew Ingram would kill them all and replace them with new elders. Unlike Trista and Lenora, Saber witnessed Ingram slaughter a group of vampires mercilessly in the Ozer continent almost a hundred years ago.

They were all elder vampires created by Ingram himself. Although they possessed the title of elders, they were all inferior to the elders at the round table. Those elder vampires were tasked to eliminate all the kings and queens in Ozer at that time. To their bad luck, they failed, almost exposing the vampires in the process. As a result, Ingram slaughtered every single elder vampire without a shred of mercy. Despite his calm composure, Saber knew how cruel Ingram really was. The entire deathless clan thought Saber was the most terrifying, but Saber himself was terrified of Ingram. Even if Trista, Lenora, and he teamed up, they would stand no chance against Ingram. Hence, Saber didn't want to go against Ingram's wishes.

"I lived longer than the three of you combined. I know a threat to us when I see one. The Dark Lord is a threat. Don't make me repeat my words," Ingram creased his brows. The room became colder to the point that they could all see their breath escaping their noses. His eyes glimmered with intense killing lust.

"We will do as you wish, Elder Ingram," Saber quickly exclaimed before the situation escalated further.

"But we have one tiny problem. We only have nine elders," said Trista.

"No, we have ten," said Saber. But, except for Ingram, the other vampires didn't have a clue about the tenth vampire.

Saber just clapped as the open space in the table's center slowly opened as a figure emerged from the ground. Upon seeing the elders, the figure dropped to one knee and removed his cloak.

"I turned him, and if we all agree, he can be an elder at the table," said Saber. Trista and Lenora stared at the red-haired human for a few seconds.

"Why do I have the feeling I saw him somewhere before?" Trista rubbed her chin.

"Wait a minute," Lenora recognized the scar on his face. Then she had a light of realization.

"You're the duke of Flamefair," exclaimed Lenora. She was surprised, and it was visible in her tone. As Trista heard Lenora, her eyes went wide. She wondered when Saber managed to pull a Duke to the dark side.

"Duke Avon Gilkes, raise your head," Saber ordered as Duke Avon lifted his head to look at the elder vampires before him. Although Avon looked calm, his heart was pounding. A few months ago, Avon didn't even know the vampires existed. But thanks to Fabia Viridius, whom Avon knew as the black one, he was able to meet Saber. To his astonishment, Saber offered him the chance to become one of them. A typical man would have freaked out or outright rejected the offer, but Avon was no such man. He lusted for power more than anything. That was the reason why Avon allowed Fabia to open secret dungeons to experiment on the cultivators in the first place.

With Saber behind him, Avon went to open war against not one but two duchies at the same time. Not only that, but he also ordered his men to steal Ghost's potion and pill shipment. Even the kings and queens of Elon dared not to go against Ghost, but to Avon, Ghost was just a mortal he could kill in a snap. After all, Saber granted him all the powers of a greater vampire. From what he had seen, no mortal, whether they were prodigies or freaks of nature, stood no chance against a vampire.

"Why did you choose him?" asked Lenora.

"Isn't it obvious? He is a duke," Trista rolled her eyes.

"But not only that, he was helping my servant for quite some time. This is just me rewarding his diligent support for us," said Saber.

"If we made him the elder, he would win the war against the Pentown and Icefair. We can control the entire Kingdom of Kethen in a few months, " explained Saber. Trist and Lenora turned their gazes toward Ingram. After experiencing the cold killing intent from Ingram, they did not want to cross him again. Besides, Saber was right. Controlling the duke meant controlling his duchy. Once they could control the three duchies, the entire kingdom would soon be their hunting ground. They could hunt, recruit more subordinates, spread their influence, and much more. Simply put, the possibilities were endless.

After contemplating for a few moments, Trista and Lenora nodded, agreeing to turn Avon into an elder.

"I, Lenora Beatrix, agree to turn Avon Gilkes into an Elder of the deathless clan,"

"I, Trista Nevada, agree to turn Avon Gilkes into an Elder of the deathless clan,"

Saber nodded,

"I, Saber Byron, agree to turn Avon Gilkes into an Elder of the deathless clan,"

Finally, Ingram rose from his stone chair.

"I, Ingram Dregan, agree to turn Avon Gilkes into an Elder of the deathless clan,"

In a blink of an eye, Ingram disappeared and reappeared behind Avon. Before Avon could realize what was happening, Ingram grabbed Avon's head, tilted it to a side, and sunk his fangs into Avon's neck. Blood spurted out as Avon's body twitched. One by one, the others sun their fangs into Avon's neck. When they were done, Avon collapsed onto the ground. His body went through several changes. Finally, after approximately two hours, Avon woke up at his mansion as an Elder Vampire.