The sky over the Carmilla territory was no longer a canvas of grey and white of Zenith Tempest's cloud.
It was a bruised pulsating landscape of deep dark crimson, black and gold.
Marius Tepes stood suspended in the air, posture relaxed and arms slightly spread as though welcoming the battlefield beneath him. His enormous presence anchoring the flocks of reinforced Tepes Vampires that followed him in this twilight march.
His regal long platinum hair flickered in the wind like a dying flame, and his eyes fueled by the malicious arrogance of the Grail, swept over the battlements with cold predatory amusement.
'All of this will be mine soon… and Queen Carmilla will bend the knee, whether she wants to or not. That proud woman.'
"Kill them all!"
With his declaration, the dam broke.
Thousands of Tepes vampires surged forward in a single, monolithic wave.
These were not the starving frenzied fledglings thrown into the initial vanguards.
These were Reinforced Warriors, elite vampire nobles whose physical capabilities had been pushed far beyond the natural limits of their species. Even their inherent weaknesses had been erased that even Church's exorcists' holy magic slammed into them only to dissipate harmlessly, unable to leave even the faintest mark.
"ARGHH!!"
"Stop th-!"
SPLURTTT
The front lines collapsed almost instantly.
The Tepes legions charged without hesitation or restraint, their ranks crashing into the combined forces of Carmilla's vampires and the Church.
Formation, discipline, desperate prayers, in front of these reinforced Vampires none of it mattered.
They butchered everything in their path, tearing through armor, flesh, and sanctified barriers alike with their darkness magic and blood manipulation.
Under the golden radiance of the Sephiroth Graal and it's power to govern the concept of life, their bodies were transformed.
Muscles hardened like stone, their reflexes sharpened to a lethal edge, and their movements precise and merciless.
Blades were caught mid-swing. Spells were dodged before their chants were finished.
A heartbeat was all it took for a warrior to close the distance and turn the Church's exorcists and Carmillas into a fountain of blood.
Screams filled the battlefield as human, vampire, and priests drowned beneath the thunder of advancing footsteps and flock of fluttering cloak.
The battlefield fille with the wet sound of slaughter.
A complete domination.
"HAHAHA! YES, YES!" Marius yelled, laughed, in an almost disgusting orgasm way.
They crashed into the battlements with the force of a tidal wave. The sound of metal meeting flesh and the screams of the dying filled the air.
Meanwhile Griselda Quarta stood at the center of the defensive line, her blade a blur of silver and golden light of holy energy as she cut down a Noble that lunged for her throat.
SHIIING
She carved a deep lethal gash across its chest, but as the vampire fell back, her eyes widened in shock.
The wound didn't just stop bleeding.
It hissed like the flesh knitting itself back together with an abnormal speed.
An almost instant Regeneration.
Within a single heartbeat, the skin was smooth once more leaving only a tattered black cloak as proof that the strike had ever landed. It was a sight of unimaginable horror.
"What is this?" Griselda hissed, parrying another blow.
CLANK
She knew that a Vampire shouldn't be able to do that.
Though some high-tier nobles do possessed unique healing factors, but even they usually required some time to heal themselves.
And for the normal Vampire it's even worse as they needed some sort of sanctuary in a coffin or prolonged rest inside a tight space to recover from a wound, let alone a holy energy slash.
This was something out of a horror book.
The situation was rapidly devolving into a massacre.
The Church's standard exorcists and the Carmilla defenders were being overwhelmed by the durability of their attackers. For every Tepes vampire they managed to wound, the enemy would bounce back within seconds, stronger and more frenzied than before.
"KUHAHAHAHA! I didn't know exorcists were this weak."
The Tepes vampire laughed as he held a female exorcist aloft, her body impaled through the torso while her blood pouring down his arm. Her trembling hands clawed uselessly at his wrist.
Then he lowered his head.
His fangs sank into her neck.
She didn't even have time to scream.
In seconds, her struggles ceased as her blood was drained completely, her body withering in his grasp until nothing remained but dry skin clinging to bone. He let the corpse fall like discarded refuse.
-
On the other side of the battlefield,
"Kyaaaa—!"
SPLURT
Another Carmilla vampire was erased in an instant, her body torn apart before she could even comprehend her death. A pack of Tepes vampires descended upon the remains, laughing and snarling as they defiled the corpse, doing some necrophilic activities to her dead body before ripping it apart, crushing her bone, and staining themselves in blood like beasts reveling in slaughter.
No mercy.
No restraint.
The horror spread across the battlefield like a plague.
From afar.
Marius laughed like a maniac from his throne in the sky, his voice echoing across the mountains.
Kill them! Kill them all!" he screamed, his face contorted with madness. "Rape! Kill! Destroy everything! Break their spirits before you break their necks!"
'This is fun!' He thought unironically.
Mirana, standing near the inner gate, watched the scene in a state of catatonic terror. She saw her sisters being dragged down, their screams lost in the roar of the war.
She watched as the nobility of the Carmilla faction's vampires was stripped away, revealing a core of pure unbridled malice beneath. To think that those she had been fighting against just moments ago were the very ones she had sympathized with.
But suddenly the air grew heavy with static.
The clouds above the fortress began to swirl, darkening into a deep bruised grey again as a thunderous groan shook the earth.
Lightning flickered in the shadows, and then with a sound like the world tearing apart, dozens of bolts struck the front lines.
Dulio Gesualdo floated into the air as rage filled his handsome face. His blonder hair flared just by his aura alone. The Zenith Tempest roared around him, the weather responding to his every whim.
"Get back!" Dulio screamed, his voice carrying the authority of a Saint.
He thrust his hands forward and a massive pillar of lightning descended from the heavens, incinerating a dozen vampires in an instant.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Each thunderous strike followed like divine judgment and every time lightning fell, dozens of vampires were reduced to charred remains, their screams swallowed by the roar of the storm.
Dulio stood at the heart of the devastation, wreathed in crackling arcs of electricity as an undeniable beacon of destruction.
But the Tepes nobles soon took notice.
Recognizing Dulio as the primary threat, a flock of Tepes warriors abandoned the battlements without hesitation and surged toward him, their killing intent sharp enough to be felt across the battlefield.
They moved with unnatural speed, but Dulio was one of the strongest exorcists for a reason for a reason despite being so young. He unleashed a barrage of light blasts, each one a miniature sun that vaporized the vampires before they could get within ten meters.
However, the Grail's influence was insidious.
Three vampires erupted from the shadows cast by the falling debris, moving through the blind spots in the light.
But before they could reach him, a flash of golden light cut through the air, decapitating all three.
It was Griselda.
Seeing his mentor here to help him, Dulio didn't hesitate.
He followed the slash with a burst of light magic, annihilating their bodies before the regeneration could take hold.
To kill them completely, he had to leave nothing behind. But still,
"It's too much," Dulio muttered, his brow beaded with sweat.
Even as his thunder wiped out hundreds, it still not enough.
Those hit by the thunder who weren't instantly vaporized were regenerating. They would lose limbs, have their torsos charred and then crawl back to their feet as the golden light from Marius washed over them.
High above, Dulio saw the "God-King" of the Vampire laughing at the desecration.
He saw the pain of his people as they are being killed and crushed by those filthy creatures.
And a cold anger began to build in his chest, a pressure so great it threatened to crack his very soul. His mana erupted violently, the weather around the castle turning into a literal apocalypse of thunderous destruction.
Dulio then looked at Marius with a gaze that promised nothing but annihilation, as a whisper left his mouth.
"Balance Breaker,"
His voice trembling with killing intent.
"Speranza Bolla di Sapone."
***
Inside the Queen's chamber, the horror was visible through the great balcony windows.
Queen Carmilla, Michael, and Gabriel stood frozen for a split second, their faces turning grim as they witnessed the total breakdown of the battlefield.
"Marius has lost his mind," Carmilla whispered, her hand gripping the railing until the stone cracked.
Michael stepped forward, his wings beginning to unfurl, his golden aura intensifying.
"We must intervene. If this continues, there will be nothing left to save."
But before they could move, a malicious terrifying presence materialized behind them. The air in the room suddenly felt cold and thick with the pressure of devils aura.
A carefree and playful voice then drifted through the chamber.
"Now, now. Why don't we just stay here and watch our pawns do their thing? It's far more entertaining from up here, isn't it?"
The three leaders spun around. Walking from the darkness inside the Queen's chamber was a man with silver hair and hazel eyes that sparkled with a terrifying childish spark.
He was accompanied by another silver-haired man in a suit behind him whose midsection was heavily bandaged and whose eyes burned with a humiliated rage.
Michael and Gabriel recognized him instantly. He was a shadow from the Great War, a coward, a man who had hidden like a rat while his brothers died during the Great War.
"Rizevim Livan Lucifer," Michael said, his voice dropping into a dangerous low voice.
Rizevim offered a mock bow as a wide insufferable smirk appeared on his face.
"Long time no see, God-pretender. And you, Gabriel-chan still as radiant and charming as ever."
Rizevim said with a mocking grin, his words deliberately tainted with malice. The taunt drew forth a wave of pure, seething disgust even from the normally kind-hearted Gabriel.
The three of them, the Leaders of Angels, the Seraph, and the Queen of Vampires now faced the true Son of Lucifer.
The real architect of the chaos had finally stepped onto the board.
***
"Speranza Bolla di Sapone."
After that whisper came out of his mouth.
Rings of radiant light formed around his fingers, rotating slowly as energy condensed within them. From each ring, a glowing sphere emerged. One became ten. Ten became hundreds. Hundreds became thousands.
The bubbles drifted forward, floating gently across the battlefield each one shimmering with myriads of colors.
The first vampire struck by one froze mid-charge.
The bubble enveloped him.
Inside, light flickered.
Images appeared.
A crumbling castle bathed in moonlight.A woman waiting by a window.A memory of laughter long forgotten.
The vampire's eyes widened.
"No… that is… impossible…"
His claws loosened. His posture slackened.
Around him, the same thing happened again and again to the other Vampires.
Vampires were trapped within the spheres, suspended in the air as visions unfolded before their eyes. Some saw their families. Some saw the nights before blood and war consumed them. Others saw moments of pride, loyalty, or love buried beneath centuries of slaughter.
The battlefield slowed.
Screams faded.
Weapons fell from trembling hands.
The will to fight vanished. The reinforced warriors became nothing more than statues of flesh. Dulio did not waste the opening. He raised his hand as the clouds groaned in response.
"Perish in your dreams," Dulio commanded.
Dozens of thunderous strikes descended from the heavens, striking the immobilized vampires.
Because their minds were cleared, their defense wavered just enough for the holy lightning to vaporize them instantly.
For a brief moment, it looked as though the tide had turned.
However, the sheer numbers of the Tepes faction were overwhelming.
Even as hundreds were annihilated by the combination of the bubbles and thunderous strike, thousands more surged forward.
They surged toward Dulio like a sea of bats, their sheer numbers threatening to smother his light beneath an endless tide of wings and shadows.
He unleashed thunder again and again, lightning tearing through the sky and annihilating dozens at a time, yet it was not enough. They were too fast, too many.
The golden light of the Grail pulsed once more, flaring defiantly as the vampires hurled themselves forward without hesitation, a living storm of bodies charging straight into the thunder. Even as some were erased by the lightning strikes, the flock did not slow, nor did it waver.
Griselda Quarta moved without hesitation.
She stepped in front of Dulio, placing herself between him and the oncoming tide, her grip tightening around the hilt of her holy sword with unwavering conviction. The blade answered her resolve, burning with a fierce golden light.
She could not allow her student to die before her eyes. Not while she still stood.
Her blue eyes met the charging horde of reinforced vampires without fear. There was courage there. And strangely, relief.
A hundred elite nobles descended upon her position, their killing intent crushing, suffocating. Her mana reserves were nearly spent, her breaths coming in ragged gasps, her body screaming for rest. Yet she did not bend. She stood tall, alone, holy light flaring against the encroaching darkness as if daring it to swallow her.
She understood then. This was the end of her path.
In that fleeting moment, her thoughts returned to the girl she had raised with her own hands.
'I am sorry, Xenovia,' she whispered within her heart.
I'm sorry i could not watch you grown into a beautiful woman, i'm sorry
But as the flocks vampire reached out to tear her throat, a whisper echoed from the air beside her.
"Cleave."
SHIIING
A violent purple slash from the Heaven-Severing Sword manifested in the air. It tore open the fabric of space itself, a jagged wound of violet light that erupted from within the vampire formation and cleaved the entire flock apart in a single, merciless instant.
The next heartbeat, sparks of purple embers spilled from the ruptured reality. Those who survived the initial spatial severance were swallowed by violet flames that burned hotter than the sun.
Their screams never fully formed.
Bodies, souls, and their whole existence were reduced to ash, the remnants scattered and carried away by the freezing autumn winds of Romania.
Dulio and Griselda widened their eyes at the sudden violent shift in the atmosphere.
A young man appeared from the shadows beside Griselda.
He stepped forward with a heavy rhythmic gait that seemed to command the very earth to be silent.
He leaped onto the railing of the battlement, standing tall against the backdrop of the gloomy sky over the Carmilla territory.
In his right hand, he held a jet-black blade engulfed by blazing purple flames. While in his left, he gripped a silver blade that crackled with ancient, rhythmic lightning as the runes etched on his blade glowing in a bluish hue.
His black coat fluttered violently in the wind, a dark silhouette against the golden light of the Grail.
"Illya-san..." Dulio said, his voice filled with a mixture of relief and awe as he recognized the man.
Griselda looked at the back of the man in front of her with a complicated expression.
This was the Scorch Magian of the East, the wielder of the Incinerate Anthem, and the Godslayer of this generation.
But most importantly, she recognized him as the man who had saved Xenovia during her mission months ago.
Jay scanned the battlefield with a cold, empty gaze.
The Tepes vampires below faltered as a prickle of primal fear creeping into their hearts.
They had been told they were invincible under the Grail, yet they witnessed their comrades had just been erased by a purple flame that felt far more dangerous than any holy light they have seen.
As fear started creeping inside the heart of the creature of the darkness.
Jay raised his left hand toward the sky, his eyes reflecting the lightning of the blade in his grip.
'Let me borrow your clouds, Dulio,' Jay thought.
CRACKLE
GROWL
Jay could not summon a storm from nothing like the God of Storms. But Dulio had already laid the foundation.
Reaching outward with his mana, Jay seized control of the Zenith Tempest's storm clouds hanging over the battlefield.
The heavens answered immediately.
The swirling clouds above twisted and collapsed inward, forming a colossal vortex. Black and violet bled together as the sky transformed into a churning sea of thunder and shadow, its presence pressing down on the battlefield like the gaze of something ancient and divine.
The soldiers on the ground stopped. The vampires in the sky froze. They looked upward as if they were witnessing the arrival of a primordial deity.
"Oh, Dracula..." one of the Tepes nobles whispered in terror.
From the heart of the vortex, a colossal lightning Qilin manifested, its body composed of pure silver-white lightning.
Coiling around it was a storm dragon made of condensed dark clouds and rainstorm. The two entities towered over the entire battlefield as their presence causing the heavens and the earth to shake in their slight movement.
On that gloomy morning,
He who judged humans, evils, and gods alike emerged.