Chapter 392 Hidden History

"My name," the man in white said with a calm smile, "is Mirov."

Liam didn’t care. Not even a little. He wasn’t in the mood for introductions or polite exchanges. He just wanted to rip the man apart. His hands twitched slightly, ready to move, ready to kill.

But before he could even take a breath, Mirov snapped his fingers.

It happened so fast that even Lilith, who was watching closely, didn’t see it clearly. One second, Liam was standing there, wings half-spread and eyes sharp. The next, he was gone. Completely gone.

Everyone froze.

The world around them went quiet. Only the faint wind moved through the empty streets.

Lilith blinked, confused. "Where did they go?"

She tried to move, to sense Liam’s presence, but she felt nothing. Nothing but emptiness. She looked at Lana, hoping she would have an answer, but even Lana looked lost.

"I don’t know," Lana said, voice low. "They just... vanished."

Kelly and Seo Yeon exchanged worried looks. Dickson cursed under his breath, clenching his broken arm. "What the hell just happened?"

No one spoke after that. The silence felt heavy, almost pressing.

The only one who didn’t look surprised was Blake.

He stood quietly, hands behind his back, eyes half-lidded as he watched the group. He didn’t even flinch when Liam disappeared. Instead, he smiled faintly, a small, knowing smile that made everyone uneasy.

He tilted his head and said softly, almost to himself, "It’s starting."

———

Meanwhile, far away from the chaos, Liam’s vision blurred for a moment.

A rush of dry air hit his face. His boots touched rough ground, sand crunching under his feet. He blinked twice, eyes adjusting to the blinding light around him. When he opened them fully, he realized he wasn’t in the city anymore.

He was standing in the middle of a desert.

The heat was brutal. The horizon stretched endlessly with golden dunes, the sky a pale, cloudless blue.

He closed his eyes for a second, steadying himself from the sudden teleportation. Mirov hadn’t even touched him. Just a snap of his fingers, and here they were.

(Ding!)

A digital screen flashed faintly in front of Liam’s eyes. His system map glowed blue, marking his location clearly.

[Current Location: Egypt]

Liam frowned. Egypt?

He turned slowly, the sand shifting under his boots. "You brought me to Egypt with a snap?"

Behind him, he heard Mirov’s voice, smooth and relaxed. "It’s cool, right?"

Liam turned his head slightly, catching Mirov’s smirk. The man stood a few meters away, hands still clasped behind his back, white suit spotless even in the heat.

Mirov’s expression was unreadable, calm in a way that almost felt wrong. "I know you’re amazed by my power," he said casually.

Liam rolled his shoulders, stretching his arms out slowly as he spoke. "Maybe." His voice was calm, low. "But that’s not what I’m thinking about right now."

"Oh?" Mirov raised an eyebrow. "Then what is?"

"Why did you bring me here?" Liam asked.

The question hung in the hot air.

Mirov’s smile faded. He stepped closer, his white shoes sinking slightly into the sand. His face turned serious. "See," he began, "I don’t want to fight you. In fact..." He paused, choosing his words carefully. "We want to help you."

For a second, Liam just stared at him. Then, slowly, a grin started to form on his face.

At first, it was small. Then it grew wider, until a low laugh broke from his chest.

It wasn’t the kind of laugh that carried humor. It was disbelief.

"You want to help me?" Liam repeated, his tone mocking. "Seriously?"

Mirov tilted his head slightly, frowning. He didn’t understand what was so funny.

Liam laughed louder, clutching his stomach for a moment. The sound echoed through the open desert, wild and sharp.

When the laughter finally died down, Liam’s smile vanished completely. His face hardened, his eyes turning cold.

"You came to my city," he said slowly, voice flat and heavy. "You took my people hostage. You threatened to kill them if I didn’t show up."

He took a step forward.

"You almost killed my friend."

Another step.

"You hurt my women."

The air between them tightened. Even Mirov felt it. The heat of the desert mixed with something heavier, darker.

Liam’s wings unfolded slightly behind him, light glinting off their edges. His gaze didn’t waver.

"And you say you’re here to help me?"

The words came out quiet, but they carried more weight than any shout could.

Mirov didn’t move. He didn’t speak. The wind blew softly across the sand, the only sound left between them.

———-

Mirov let out a tired sigh, rubbing his temple as if he was already exhausted by the conversation. "You’ve seen what I can do, Liam," he said quietly. "If I wanted to hurt your women, do you really think they’d still be alive by the time you showed up?"

Liam’s expression didn’t change. His eyes stayed locked on Mirov, sharp and cold. He didn’t believe a word of it.

He stepped forward slightly, his boots crunching on the sand. "Then what about the two guys that Lana killed?" he asked, voice low but edged with anger. "If she hadn’t burned them alive, they would’ve killed Dickson and the others. You want me to believe you didn’t plan that?"

Mirov shook his head slowly. "No," he said. "I ordered them not to kill anyone. They must have ignored it. But it doesn’t matter anymore. They’re dead. There’s no use talking about the dead."

That answer only made Liam smile, but it wasn’t a friendly smile. It was that kind of smile someone gave when they were too angry to shout anymore.

"Really?" he said with a light chuckle. "Then how do you explain what you did to Lilith?"

Mirov shrugged a little, almost casual. "She’s too cocky. I just wanted to put her in her place."

Liam’s grin faded again. The silence stretched between them, carried by the desert wind.

Mirov turned his gaze toward the horizon for a moment before he spoke again. "We don’t have much time," he said. "And I didn’t bring you here to argue."

Liam crossed his arms, still watching him. "Then what did you bring me here for?"

Mirov took a deep breath. "I’m sure you’ve heard of the Solokov family."

The moment that name left his mouth, Liam’s jaw tightened. His eyes narrowed slightly. He remembered that name too well. The Solokov family. The royal bloodline of ancient vampires from Russia. The kind of monsters people told stories about in the dark and never truly believed existed.

He hated them. Every last one.

"What about them?" he asked quietly.

Mirov’s face grew more serious. He folded his hands behind his back again, his posture straight and composed. "They’ve stayed hidden for hundreds of years," he said. "But now... they’ve decided to come out."

Liam didn’t reply right away. The heat pressed against them both, the wind brushing across the dunes as seconds passed in silence.

Mirov looked at him, studying his reaction. "You don’t understand how bad this is," he continued finally. "If the vampires come out in the open, there will be blood everywhere. They’ll feed on countless innocent people, and every drop of blood will make them stronger."

Liam’s eyes darkened, his jaw flexing slightly.

"You’re exaggerating," he muttered, but even as he said it, he didn’t sound convinced.

Mirov shook his head. "I wish I was."

He walked a few steps forward, his shoes sinking into the sand. His voice grew heavier as he spoke. "Seven hundred years ago, they did the same thing. They came out of hiding, hungry for power. Back then, the world wasn’t ready for them. Entire cities were drained dry. Armies vanished in a single night. The sky turned black with ash and smoke."

He looked back at Liam, eyes hard now. "The witches of that time had to unite. Every coven, every bloodline. They cursed the vampires and forced them back into the dark where they belong."

Mirov paused for a moment, as if remembering something he’d rather forget. "When it was over, the witches erased everything. Every trace. Every record. They wiped the history clean so no one would ever know what really happened."

Liam’s frown deepened. He didn’t say anything, but the weight of what he’d just heard was clear in his face.

Mirov took a slow breath, looking at him again. "Now they’re coming back. And if they succeed this time, it won’t just be one country or one continent that suffers. It will be the entire world."

The wind picked up again, hot and dry, blowing sand between them. Neither of them moved.

Liam finally looked away, his eyes scanning the endless dunes. He didn’t trust Mirov, not even slightly. But the way the man spoke... there was something about his tone that didn’t sound like a lie.

He stayed quiet, thinking, and Mirov didn’t press him for an answer.