It’d been 2 months since Soma revealed that he and Mina had begun dating. Zero had been busy cheating at school with test answers, Training with Hikaru 4 times a week in his human form, and as a dhampir hunting creatures of the night whenever one appears in the city. There were 40% fewer murders in Hirosaki City because of this reason. Having done this Zero had become adjusted to his new dhampir body and could now control his strength without any difficulty.

It was now during the weekend and Soma had decided to come and take Mina on a date. Yuto had some business in the city so he left earlier in the morning leaving only Zero at home for the next 3 hours or so. As he was relaxing today Zero received a call from Hikaru. “Master I have urgent news. The man you wanted me to continue tracking Graham Jones has arrived in the city today,” said Hikaru

“Where is now?” asked Zero

“Based on his movement it seems that he’s heading to Hakuba Shrine. He will arrive in 30 to 40 minutes,” said Hikaru

“Okay, then you can pull your men off him now. When he arrives here seal the area around the shrine. Make sure that Soma and Mina stay away from here too,” ordered Zero

“Yes, I understand Master,” replied Hikaru

Getting up from the couch Zero walked into his room and got prepared for his new guests’ arrival. Grabbing his sword he went to the front of the shrine took a seat and waited for Graham’s arrival. Zero was nervous because this would be his first real battle and he was not sure if he could defeat the human.

After 35 minutes a gray hair, gray eye,d and a handsome man appeared. He had a slight smirk on his face when he arrived. He also wears a white suit with a purple tie, ceremonial scarf, and a charming aura. Walking he approached the sitting Zero and asked “Hello are you the one in charge of this shrine?”

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Name: Graham Jones

Race: Human

Soul: Corrupted Human Soul

Soul Rank: D-

Level: 45

Attributes: Dark

Strength: 210

Speed: 200

Magic energy: 5600

Vitality: 1500

Skills: Dark Magic Mastery, Teleportation

Spells: Dark Inferno, Hellfire, Dark Contract

Dark Magic Mastery: Able to learn any form of dark magic easily

Teleportation: Transfer of matter or energy from one point to another without traversing the physical space between them. Allows the user to move to any previously visited location. Requires 100 magic energy to use.

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Due to the system settings being changed, Graham was instantly appraised without any order from Zero.

“Yes, currently I am,” answered Zero

“Good, then I can get straight to the point I’d like to buy this property,” said Graham

“Sorry, it’s not for sale,” said Zero

“I insist you reconsider my proposal,” said Graham losing his charming air

“I have a proposal for you instead,” said Zero

“What is it?” asked Graham

“Fight me and if you kill me you can take this place,” said Zero

“Kill you? What a strange thing for a young man to ask of another person,” said Graham no longer smiling, having grown suspicious of this young man.

“No need to look at me like that. I know what you want here and I’m willing to give it to you,” said Zero

“You have no idea what I want,” replied Graham

“You want to own this land which Dracula’s castle is sealed in order to awaken as the dark lord,” said Zero catching Graham off guard. He looked visibly shaken by the word that had come out of Zero’s mouth. His face grew cold and showed an ugly expression,

“Who are you!?” demanded Graham

“That’s not important. Do you want to take my deal or not? You need to kill me anyway to silence me,” said Zero

“How can I trust anything you say?” asked Graham

“You don’t have to, just use the Dark Contract magic,” replied Zero

This made Graham very nervous as he looked at this young man who seemed to know everything about him. He had to know what this young man knew and kill afterward to make sure no one else found out. Luckily he sensed no mana from the young man so he was very confident he could kill him. Meanwhile Zero was already aware of what was going through Graham’s mind and he looked at him with killing intent.

“Okay, what are the terms you wish for this contract?” asked Graham

“Simple we fight on here at this shrine until there’s a winner. If I win I get to do as I please with you and if you win you get to ask me any questions you want, kill me, and then gain this shrine. We shall be confined to the Hakuba shrine ground unable to leave until a winner is decided.” said Zero

“That’s a very thorough contract for one so young,” said Graham as he didn’t see any part of the contract he could manipulate. He however didn’t see any trickery within the contract so he saw no reason to make any changes.

“Graham Johns do you accept this contract?” asked Zero in an intimidating manner.

“I do,” said Graham as he used the dark contract spell. A dark dust-like fog formed and spilt in two and began to swirl around both individuals before gathering between them. It then formed a black sphere and flew into the sky when it reached high enough the sky began to darken. This was a barrier created by the contract so that neither could leave or escape until the contract was fulfilled.

Zero smiled when he saw this and there was no longer any need to worry. Zero was happy that Graham had not seen through the terms of the contract. He made sure to choose his words very carefully. The first thing Graham had overlooked was the fact that the terms for each side were vague. Graham wanted to defeat him and ask him questions before killing him and Zero could just outright kill him and get what he wanted. It was much more difficult to fight someone without killing them.

The second mistake was probably the biggest mistake that Graham could have made. Zero had been worried when he saw the teleportation skill on Graham’s status. He knew that Graham could teleport from the game but the skill described was a bit more overpowered than what was shown in the game. With that skill he could easily run away from the battle whenever he wished and appear anywhere in the world he previously visited. This meant he could leave the country whenever he desired making tracking almost next to impossible and could appear at the shrine whenever he was ready to counterattack. Zero made sure to include the terms that he couldn’t leave the shrine until a winner was decided effectively clipping the man’s wings.

He knew that Graham’s stats were half his own so he wasn’t too dangerous physically. The real trouble would be the Dark Inferno and Hellfire spells. Zero knew that the spells were some of Dracula’s most powerful dark spells so he would need to be careful of them. The teleportation ability while nerfed could still be troublesome too. While Graham couldn’t use it to escape it from the shrine ground it would make attacking him difficult.

All in all, Zero felt that this was the best chance to kill Graham that he could get. He felt like he had a 77% chance of victory and he was going to succeed.