Masked Knight

“Come out! Come out, quickly!” Sky spoke lazily.

“Still don’t want to come out? If you do not come out, I will not be polite anymore! Do you think I can’t catch a small bat?” Sky pursed his lips and sat down.

“I will count to three! One!”

“Two! You still don’t want to come out?”

“Really don’t want to come out? Alright! Three!” Sky stood up, and he was becoming impatient.

“Are you anxious?” A clear voice sounded from the depth of the woods. “Going for a walk on such a beautiful night is truly pleasant.”

A tall and slim figure appeared from behind the trees. He was wrapped in a long black cloak. His face looked delicate and pale like a sickly person. When the moon shined on him, there was a very long shadow. He looked very relaxed and comfortable under the moonlight.

“You should be grateful to me. If I did not bring you so far away, how could you enjoy such a beautiful night scene?” He gently smiled.

Sky shook his head and replied, “Forget it. How far have you taken me? How long was it? We have run for more than a hundred miles. Where is there such a walk? At first, I was quite interested in toying with you. However, now... I am getting impatient.” Sky waved his hand and continued, “Come on, after dealing with you, I am going back to sleep.”

The man gently shook his head and lightly said, “Dealt with me? Sigh. You... It is such a beautiful and elegant night, you must not utter such murderous words... Look...” The man stretched out one of his pale and almost transparent fingers. “Look at those flowers, they are so afraid of your murderous aura that they wilted.”

Sky was not agitated at all but instead waited for the other party to finish talking nonsense. He then laughed, “You, little bat. Didn’t you bring me in circles, the whole night, to draw me away? Now that I have already accompanied you for the entire night, you would no longer be able to escape even if you could fly.”

“Oh, is that so...” The man laughed, “You knew I was drawing you away from your companions! Aren’t you worried that our people would hurt them?”

Sky froze for a moment and then he laughed. “Hahahaha...”

That man frowned and asked, “Is it very funny? Fatty, it is really rude to laugh at others like this.”

Sky continued to laugh loudly and then asked, “Do you really think that the few of you could hurt that boy?”

That man shrugged his shoulders and answered, “Isn’t it so? He is just an ordinary mortal. Even if he is a high ranked warrior, so what? It is currently night time, and the night is our world...”

Sky shook his head. “Wrong! You are wrong! Do you think that I am so stupid to just follow you running around? Let me tell you. I am extremely confident of that boy. Not to say only a few of you, small bats... even if the old bat was here, he could not even hope to injure that boy. Now even I do not have the confidence of getting rid of that boy.”

“Oh?” The man froze in surprise for a moment before laughing.

“Little bat, what are you laughing at?” Sky glared at him.

“Why can’t I laugh?” The man closed his eyes.

He then showed an intoxicated expression and continued, “This is wonderful ... That fool is finally going to die... but I do not even need to bear any responsibility. Is there anything more wonderful than this in the world?”

“Uhh, lunatic...” Sky sighed. “No wonder people said that your clan is crazy. Looks like they are right.”

“Crazy, so what...” After another soft sigh, the man’s voice sounded peculiar, “There are a lot of crazy people in this world, not to mention us, who are half man and half ghost. Fatty, even if nothing would happen to that Duke of the Tulip Family, he definitely would not be able to fight so many of us. Even if he does not die, the same cannot be said for his men.”

Sky shrugged his shoulders and replied, “What has this got to do with me? Their lives have got nothing to do with me. The earlier one dies, the earlier he gets detached. What is the difference if one dies a few days earlier or a few days later?”

The man sighed softly. “Looks like I was wrong. You are even more cold-blooded than me. However, you may have forgotten. Those that were bitten by us will not die. Instead, they will...”

“Stop! Stop!” Sky shook his head. “The more you speak, the more I feel like vomiting! I do not want to think about those fangs of your clan... At least, I will try not to think about it...”

“Alright...” That man’s voice gradually became warmer. “Strange fatty, let’s find a way to enjoy this wonderful night.”

“Uhh.” Sky sighed. “This is really preposterous1... Oh, not right, you are really a vampire. I saw that you are quite skilled. At first, I wanted to get rid of you along the way. However, you have actually learned how to use ‘Blood Escape’. So, I wanted to see what kind of genius your clan has... Hey, I guess you are about two hundred years old? You actually learned ‘Blood Escape’. That is extraordinary. However, I am disappointed because you are like the rest of the elders in your entire clan— outright crazy.”

“Oh!” The man smiled and asked, “In that case, what do you want, fatty?”

Sky glared back coldly and replied, “What do I want? I want to twist off your neck!” After that, his body suddenly dashed out. In the dark, there seemed to be an oppressive shadow pouncing on the black- clothed man.

The man seemed to have already taken precautions. He gently rolled his cloak, and his figure then disappeared from the place.

Sky immediately stopped and cursed, “Little bat, do you have any more new tricks? Why are you using this ‘Blood Escape’ again? Do you really think I cannot catch you? Obediently stretch your neck over, so that I can twist it off. This will save us all the trouble! Hmm!”

Sky suddenly laughed as he pointed at his ears. “Little bat, did you notice? In just a short while, four of your companions had died. No... it was five of them. Haha... Are you feeling anxious now?”

A black figure suddenly appeared from above him. The figure, wrapped in a black cloak, was hanging upside down on a tree like a large bat.

“Why should I worry? After all, those who died were not my subordinates. It is better that they died. Let your Duke of the Tulip Family kill them all. Why should I bother? ”

Before the man could say anymore, Sky’s eyes lit up; he stomped his feet and launched himself towards the figure.

The man gently smiled and his body disappeared again. Sky hit the tree branch above him with his head. The branch slowly fell to the ground.

“Damn, you used this trick again! Do you think your clan’s ‘Blood Escape’ technique is really invincible? Do you really think I have no other way to attack you?”

“That’s right, fatty. If you have any other methods, you would have killed me on our way here!” The voice came from a branch a few meters away. The man smiled as he stood on a branch that was as thick as a finger. As the wind blew, his body swayed together with the branches and he looked like a ghost.

“How irritating!” Sky coldly said, “Initially, I wanted to take it easy but it seems you will not be convinced unless I get serious.”

Sky suddenly closed his eyes and his lips moved a bit. After that, his obese body also disappeared.

“Oh! Is this your method to catch me? An invisibility technique?” The black-clothed man laughed and continued, “Do you think stealth is enough to catch me? Did you think that the Blood Clan’s ‘Blood Escape’ is just a stealth technique?”

Sky’s voice sounded in the darkness. “I don’t care what you say! Isn’t this fair? We both cannot see each other.”

“Hahahaha.” The black-clothed man smiled. “Humans are truly humans. They are actually stupid! I admit that your stealth technique works as I cannot see you. However, the moment you talked, you were exposed... Ah!” Towards the end of his sentence, the man suddenly exclaimed.

The man forcefully fell off the branch, head first. He screamed as his body started to give out a black smoke. Before he landed, he already turned around and stood up in midair again. However, his elegant expression was gone.

“You actually dare to trick me?” His eyes gradually turned red, and his mouth had a trace of blood. “Despicable human!”

Sky laughed loudly and his body finally appeared beneath a tree. “How? If you can lie to me, why can’t I lie to you? You, little bat... This is just a simple stealth technique, together with a duplication technique, and you already cannot cope already. I heard that those who could master the ‘Blood Escape’ within two hundred years are geniuses!”

“Hmph, I am certainly a genius!” The man smiled and spoke in a low voice, “Have you felt it? The human’s aura is becoming bleak... Fortunately, there is no full moon tonight. Do you want to go back and take a look?”

“Huh? You are really not afraid that I would wring off your head!”

1见鬼 Jian gui, Can mean preposterous or something like ‘What the hell’. Individually, the word Jian would mean meet and Gui would mean ghost. On the other hand, xi xue gui 吸血鬼 vampires, could mean blood sucking ghost.