Marvel: I Am The Lord of the Shadow Dimension

Over the next two days, Luke led his shadow army and successfully conquered three more micro-dimensions. Unfortunately, he failed to find any high-level artifacts that contained multiversal coordinates. 

The Lords of these tiny realms rarely carried truly powerful equipment. If they brought high-tier items into the Dark Dimension, the incredibly corrosive ambient dark energy would gradually degrade the artifacts unless the Lord constantly expended their own energy to protect them. Instead, the Lords relied on massive stockpiles of low-tier, mass-produced gear to protect their foot soldiers from assimilation. 

As a result, Kamar-Taj's armory was currently overflowing with low-level magical equipment. While Kamar-Taj definitely possessed high-tier artifacts of its own, Luke was already in the Marvel Universe; he didn't need Earth artifacts to act as coordinates. 

Sighing, Luke flipped through the Ancient One's ledger. There were barely any coordinates left. 

The dimensional gaps contained an infinite number of realms, but only a fraction were observable from Earth. Kamar-Taj was primarily focused on defending against massive, apocalyptic threats like Dormammu, so they didn't invest much time scanning for harmless micro-dimensions. This meant Luke's list of grindable 'dungeons' was rapidly shrinking. 

'I need to find a way to detect other Dark Dimensions myself...' 

Luke sighed. Since Kamar-Taj's dimensional observation tech was lacking, he could only hope one of the remaining micro-dimension Lords possessed some sort of tracking method. 

Despite the lack of multiversal coordinates, the two days of grinding had paid off. Luke had significantly bolstered his army's strength, increasing his base Shadow Ninja count to 3,000, along with proportional increases to his elite units. 

But he couldn't just sit around and wait for his current mines to run dry. Maybe he could wait for the Thor plotline to start and ask Odin? 

That was actually a viable plan. Asgard was incredibly proficient at spatial observation; even Loki could easily detect hidden dimensional rifts from across the cosmos. 

Deciding to pursue that route, Luke resolved to call Coulson every day once Tony finished his new Arc Reactor, just to see when S.H.I.E.L.D. found the hammer in New Mexico. 

Speaking of Tony, Luke decided to give him a call. 

"Tony, how are things with Pepper lately?" 

"Luke? What are you talking about?" 

"Uh... Pepper?" 

Luke winced. Pepper had actually answered Tony's phone. 

"Uh... Hey, Pepper. Where's Tony?" 

Pepper glanced over at Tony, who was busy rearranging the living room furniture. "He's picking out furniture. He wants to install some heavy gym equipment in the house." 

"Really? Doesn't he have the Iron Man suit? Why does he suddenly want to work out?" 

"Who knows? But exercising is good for him. Do you want to come over and take a look? I can send a car to pick you up." 

"Uh, no thanks. I'm good for now." 

Luke hung up the phone, smiling. It seemed Tony's situation was improving. The Palladium poisoning must be under control for now if he had the energy to build a home gym. 

Just as he put his phone down, it rang again. He looked at the caller ID in surprise. It was Coulson. Why was he suddenly calling? 

"Hey, Coulson. What's up?" 

"We need your help, Luke!" 

"Uh... with what?" 

Leaving New York City behind, Luke took a commercial flight and landed in Los Angeles. Stepping out of the airport, he spotted a highly stressed Coulson waiting by the curb. 

"So, what's going on? You wouldn't say anything over the phone," Luke asked, tossing his duffel bag into the trunk. 

Coulson quickly ushered Luke into a sleek black sedan. He drove off, making several convoluted detours and checking his rearview mirror constantly to ensure they weren't being followed, before finally pulling into the hidden garage of a S.H.I.E.L.D. safehouse. 

"Why so paranoid? Come on, you're starting to freak me out," Luke said, watching the usually stoic agent double-check the locks. 

"What do you know about vampires?" Coulson asked quietly, his expression dead serious. 

"You mean the monsters from European folklore? Drink blood, live forever, hang out in creepy castles in the mountains?" Luke looked at Coulson, thoroughly confused. 

"Let's assume for a moment that the vampire species actually exists. Do you think you could beat them in a fight?" Coulson asked, leading Luke toward the basement door. 

"I don't see why not. My ninjas don't have blood to drink." 

"That's exactly why I called you. Come inside." 

Luke already had a rough guess, though he was genuinely curious. He hadn't realized the Marvel Cinematic Universe actually had vampires yet. But even if they existed, they barely had any screen time in the main films, meaning their overall threat level probably wasn't that high. 

Following Coulson down into the reinforced basement, Luke's eyes widened. Chained securely to a heavy steel table was a feral-looking man. The man had a massive, gaping hole in his stomach, his intestines spilling grotesquely onto the floor. 

Despite missing half his internal organs, the man was incredibly alert. As soon as Coulson entered, the man glared at him with pure, murderous intent, straining against the heavy steel chains so hard they creaked dangerously. 

Having lived in Hell's Kitchen for a month, Luke had seen his fair share of gruesome crime scenes, so he remained unfazed, though the stench was definitely ruining his appetite. 

"This guy is a vampire? He doesn't look like much," Luke remarked in disgust, glancing at the spilled intestines. 

With a thought, a Shadow Ninja materialized from the darkness. Without hesitation, the ninja drew its katana and smoothly decapitated the struggling vampire. 

Instantly, the decapitated body crumbled into a pile of fine ash. 

Seeing the vampire completely neutralized, Luke chuckled. "I thought these guys were supposed to be tough. Turns out they still die if you chop their heads off." 

Coulson exhaled heavily. "Their true strength lies in their stealth and incredible speed. Furthermore, they can rely on blood consumption to rapidly regenerate from almost any physical trauma. The bigger problem, however, is that many wealthy elites desperately desire their immortality. These elites act as their human collaborators. We usually call them 'Familiars'." 

Luke nodded. He wasn't particularly worried about the vampires' stealth or speed—his Shadowkhan were literal creatures of the dark. What caught his attention was the mention of the 'Familiars.' 

"Are there a lot of these Familiars?" Luke asked. He didn't want to get bogged down fighting endless waves of rich human enemies. Fighting wasn't the issue, but if some stupid billionaire Familiar accidentally discovered and ruined his secret stash of cash back in New York, he'd be incredibly annoyed. 

"There are quite a few," Coulson admitted, rubbing his temples. "As you can imagine, for the ultra-wealthy, money can buy almost anything. But true immortality is the one thing they crave above all else. They'll do anything for the promise of the 'Bite'." 

Coulson sighed. "However, these Familiars are incredibly cautious. They operate entirely in the shadows and don't dare expose themselves to the public. As long as S.H.I.E.L.D. is watching, they won't make any reckless moves. You don't need to worry about annoying flies." 

Luke nodded, feeling relieved. But looking at the pile of ash on the table, he couldn't help but ask, "Why hasn't S.H.I.E.L.D. reported their existence to the government? Why involve me? Shouldn't you just notify the military and have them carpet-bomb the vampire nests?" 

Coulson shook his head grimly. "That's exactly the problem. Vampires possess the ability to rapidly mass-convert normal humans into mindless blood-thralls. While these thralls aren't particularly strong, they completely lose their sanity and are highly infectious. Since vampires are masters of stealth, the World Security Council has no idea where all their nests are hidden. If we declare open war, the vampires could instantly trigger a thrall outbreak in major population centers like New York or Los Angeles. The civilian casualties would be catastrophic." 

Coulson paused, his face darkening. "Therefore, years ago, the highest levels of the World Security Council reached a secret armistice with the Vampire Council of Twelve. We coexist." 

Luke stared at Coulson in utter disbelief. "These freaks literally treat us as livestock! And your bosses signed a peace treaty with them?!" 

"We didn't have a choice. The risk of total annihilation was too high. Until we find a permanent solution, the Council decided to maintain the status quo. However, the official agreement states that vampires are strictly forbidden from hunting humans; the government supplies them with synthetic blood banks to survive. If a vampire breaks the treaty and kills a human, they are classified as rogues, and S.H.I.E.L.D. is authorized to dispatch extermination squads. We have an entire covert division dedicated to hunting vampire criminals." 

Luke sneered. "And you seriously believe they don't hunt humans in secret? Bullshit. Anyway, if S.H.I.E.L.D. has a dedicated vampire-hunting division, why did you call me here?" 

"Recently, a massive number of people have vanished in Los Angeles," Coulson explained. "We've found multiple crime scenes completely drained of blood. It's undoubtedly the work of a rogue vampire coven. However, because we lack definitive, undeniable proof, S.H.I.E.L.D. cannot deploy official military assets without risking a diplomatic incident with the Vampire Council." 

"Ah, I see. So you need an 'unofficial' asset to do the dirty work?" Luke nodded, fully grasping Coulson's intent. 

"Exactly." 

"Alright, I'll take the job. I'll act as a freelance, vigilante vampire hunter and wipe every single one of those rats out of this city. I've been incredibly bored lately anyway." Luke cracked his knuckles, finally glad to have something to punch. 

"But what about my compensation? This is technically a private mercenary contract, right?" 

Coulson nodded. "Director Fury considers this operation a top priority. The vampires have been getting far too bold lately, and he wants to send a very clear, bloody message to the Vampire Council. The pay is extremely generous: One thousand dollars per confirmed vampire kill." 

Luke pursed his lips. 'Fury is such a cheapskate. These are rare magical creatures; there probably aren't even that many of them. A thousand bucks a pop won't make me rich.' 

Suddenly, something clicked in Luke's head. "Wait... You said 'send a message to the Council.' This isn't just about Los Angeles, is it?" 

Coulson smiled thinly, giving Luke a knowing look. 

Realizing he was basically getting a license to farm vampires across the entire country, Luke excitedly prepared to head out. But Coulson held up a hand. 

"The vampires have a massive network of Familiars and informants in this city. Every S.H.I.E.L.D. investigative team we've sent here recently has been ambushed and killed. That's why I had you fly commercial instead of taking a Quinjet. You need to be incredibly careful while operating here." 

Luke nodded, finally understanding why Coulson had been so paranoid at the airport. 

However, what Coulson didn't know was that the data S.H.I.E.L.D. currently had on Luke's combat capabilities was laughably outdated. The vampires were in for a rude awakening.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!