Beyond the Bloodline

[…Would you lot mind explaining to me why you decided to wake me up?]

His gaze went from the vampires to the restrained werewolves, and the moment he looked at them, the magical restraints on them all shattered to pieces.

[I want to hear both sides of the story, and there shall be no interruptions.]

Seeing him on the throne, they all felt a sense of command that cast a regal shadow across the hall radiating from his form.

Jamie turned to the Vampires, gesturing for them to speak first, and for a moment, Davina felt his gaze linger on her for a few more seconds before turning to Wanette when the Runemaster began speaking.

‘There’s no doubt, that girl has RhD negative…’

Such a thought flashed through his mind as he listened to Wanette explain the reason why they had come to awaken him.

When they were done, Jamie blankly stared at both groups in silence for a few seconds, before heaving an exasperated sigh.

“So, you both want to overcome your racial weaknesses without obtaining the racial factors of the other race?

A tad too greedy, don’t you think?”

As he spoke, there was a shift in the atmosphere of the hall. The air seemed to thicken, carrying an undercurrent of power that emanated from the Hybrid’s being.

None of them dared to meet his eyes.

There was something about those piercing blue eyes, carrying a glint of ancient wisdom and raw strength that made them instinctively lower their gaze.

This time, the Vampires also felt what the Werewolves did earlier, as if Jamie’s gaze bore into their very souls.

Wanette took a deep breath to psych herself up, before speaking up, her eyes looking everywhere but at Jamie’s.

“…i-if you’d follow us back and speak with the Higher Ranks-”

“And what makes you think I’m going to agree to that?”

Silence pervaded the hall as Jamie’s words cut Wanete short. Even the werewolves who were dissatisfied at her trying to pull the Hybrid to her race’s side also went silent.

“What if I decided to follow these Werewolves over there?”

The faces of the werewolves brightened visibly at the sound of his words, but Jamie ignored them, looking straight at the Vampires with his gaze seemingly asking them ‘What can you do about that?’.

“Ancestor, we would-”

“Lay off with the ‘Ancestor’ title, I have a name. It’s Jamie.

Jamie Westley.”

The moment they heard his last name, the werewolf who called him ‘Ancestor’, along with everyone else in the room blanked out momentarily.

“…W-westley?!”

Wanete’s expression turned dark, in contrast to the bright smiles on the faces of the werewolves.

Though they knew Jamie was a Hybrid, their records never dictated which one of the two races he was from originally.

But hearing the last name ‘Westley’, that question was finally answered.

“You were a Westley Clan Werewolf!”

“Hmm? Those guys are still around?

Well, that’s only natural considering how powerful I made the Clan last time I was awake.

I wonder if any one of those little wolves is still alive by now given how much time has passed.”

The last part of his statement was mostly a mutter to himself, but there was no way the ears of the supernatural beings in the room could miss it.

For the Werewolves, they instantly knew that the ‘little wolves’ he was referring to, were most likely the current powerhouses of their race.

Just as they were about to begin celebrating that Jamie was going to come along with them, the Hybrid casually uttered a set of words that broke their hearts.

“Seeing as I was with Werewolves last time I was awake, I’d be going with the Vampires this time.”

“Huh?”

“Wut?!”

Both sides were surprised by his words, and the werewolves were clearly not pleased with his nonchalant decision.

“Ancestor, please reconsid-!!”

The Werewolf who was talking abruptly went silent mid-way as Jamie’s cold gaze fell upon her, sending a shiver down her spine.

“My decision is final. No take-backs.

I’d be going with the Vampires this time. But this does not mean I would not contact you werewolves, considering I have relations with you guys, but that would be at my own discretion.

If you have a problem with that, then that’s your business, not mine.”

His tone left no room for arguments, leaving the werewolves no choice but to agree despite their misgivings.

“Anyway, what about the guys next door?”

“…Next door?”

“Yeah. The next facility just like this one that’s right next to this one.”

In response to Jamie’s question, the Vampires and Werewolves looked at each other in confusion before turning to him and replying.

“There’s no facility beside this one.”

“Huh? What the heck do you mean?”

“Um…this ‘facility’ is over 5000 metres below sea level. There’s nothing around it but ocean water.”

“….What?”

This time, it was Jamie’s turn to be confused as in his memory, he most certainly was not supposed to be underwater.

“That does not make any sense. I know we weren’t all placed together, but at the very least there should be two others with me.

Exactly where are we on the map?”

“An unnamed island on the Arnmouth Ocean.”

[“Arnmouth??!!”]

Jamie’s sudden shout made them wince in pain as his voice also resounded in their heads. But when one considered the situation, he could not be blamed for his reaction.

“Arnmouth is close to the Human continent…I’m an entire continent and an Ocean away from Estudiam!”

The Hybrid’s gaze narrowed as he quickly arrived at the only conclusion for why he was currently in a totally different location from where he was supposed to be.

‘Someone moved me…but why?’

While he was thinking this, Wanette quickly navigated across the cracked screen of her tablet, pulling up a world map and panning across 13 Continents, quickly locating the Neutral Continent and zooming in on a particular area.

‘Yes!’

She internally pumped her fist before holding up the tablet towards Jamie and saying.

“The City named Estudiam is under the Vampire’s Region of the Neutral Continent.”

Hearing her words, Jamie’s gaze moved towards her, and then the tablet in her hands. For a moment, a part of him was curious about this magi-tech device, but he pushed that curiosity down and looked at the map of the Continent that was displayed on it.

‘The Continents are still the same, meaning no Transcendents went crazy in the past 12,000+ years and made a repeat of the incident that created the Cresway Isles.

But it seems the Continent is now considered the ‘Neutral Continent’ and from her words, the Vampires are in charge of the Fransokyo Region, huh?

Guess she’s trying to give me more reasons to follow them…’

The Hybrid figured out the reason why Wanete showed him this, as she was worried that he might change his mind and decide to go off on his own.

“Someone moved me and separated me from the others. Separated me from…”

For some reason, none of them could hear the last word he spoke, but they considered it something personal and didn’t bother asking.

Taking a deep breath, Jamie got up from the throne and spoke.

“Very well.

I assume the Continent the Vampires reside on is still the same, no?”

“Yes. Our home Continent has not changed in the past 100 millennia.”

“Then good. Lead me there.”

Internally jubilating that their mission was a success, the Vampires did as he said, leading him out of the ruins and towards the area where they had hidden their mini-submarine.

Of course, they didn’t forget to poke fun at the Werewolves who were most definitely going to be berated by their Elders when they got back to their own Continent.

The trip back to the surface was as uneventful as could be, and they arrived at the unnamed island they had departed from within the hour.

Upon resurfacing, they docked the submarine and got on land, entering the vehicles that were already waiting and driving towards the base hidden within the forest.

Luckily, it was already late evening, and the sun had gone down, sparing the vampires the torture of being reduced to 20% of their overall power.

Even though they had special artifacts to reduce this weakening effect, they were only active for a limited time and usually came with drawbacks.

Besides, even with them, sunlight was straight-up uncomfortable for Vampires.

The Vampires who were at the dock all regarded Jamie with looks of curiosity, having figured he was most likely the ‘Legendary Hybrid’ they had all heard about recently

As they moved in the vehicles, Wanete made a situation report to the Higher Ups back on their Home Continent, while Jamie navigated across the broken tab screen, noting all the new countries and islands that had popped up over the past dozen-plus millennia.

“I see, Cassarean still goes by the same name, huh?”

“Yes. The large ancient Cities and Countries don’t really change much. Their leaders are mostly old and powerful people who like to keep things like that the same.”

“Yeah. Typical ‘Antique’ behaviour.”