Chapter 39: Where The Shadows End

“Is she still in bed?”

“Yes.”

“Well she shouldn’t take Okaa-san seriously at times”

Kuroe replied as she looked out the window of the castle that the Dark Matter had made as their temporary base. Shiro made sure to thank them for all of their work, even as they were chatting they were cleaning the motorcycle that they constructed and refueled it. The night was fair, with the twins staring down at the pair who were training late into the night.

“Do you think we should worry about their level of strength?”

“Nope! I believe they will break their limit soon!”

“I was thinking the same but something just makes me feel otherwise.”

“You worry too much Kuroe!”

“Maybe”

Kuroe knew that Shiro could feel the same way, it wasn’t the level of strength that she anticipated them to be at when they first met but at the same time it wasn’t all that special. Deciding to leave that problem to tomorrow, Shiro decided to go to sleep with Kuroe staying behind just to watch over these two. Arisa was still groaning in her pillow which made her awfully adorable. Yes tomorrow would be the last day they stayed in the country before they headed back to their real home.

The first one to wake up was Cass, it seemed she slept rather properly for the first time in years. However this partially due to the fact that she was not in the place she called her apartment. The chirping of the birds along with the soothing gentle wind made her feel like she had been here for a very long time.

“Ah thou have awoken. Good.”

It was Abyss whose real identity shook Cass at her core, the guild leader of the Night Masquerade. She was wearing casual clothing with a mug of something that smelled nice, she handed it to her and prompted her to drink it.

“Worry not, knight of the order, ye coffee is not poisoned. Have thou no trust to the person who saved thine life?”

“I would like an explanation thank you”

“Ask and thou shall receive”

“……….”

She stared at her for a while and felt that she was too guarded. She sipped the coffee and actually enjoyed its taste.

“May I please know what is going on? Why are you doing this? Why is this the nation you chose to do it to”

“Simple. I am searching for the filth that wants to separate me and mine sisters. Cleaning up the corruption of thine nation is but a byproduct of that goal”

“And my family will they be alright?”

“I have already arranged their escape and they are none the wiser for it”

“Thank goodness”

Cass breathed a sigh of relief, she felt like the interconnected web of corruption and evil would reach her family and she would be left all alone in the world but that was not the case. That means that she had already planned ahead of time, the question was how did she do it? She had alibis, quests and other things to keep her busy.

“If thou have doubts about mine ability, thou must know I have resources to topple nations. I am a vampire after all”

“That explains it. But how come……..no I already know the answer to that don’t I?”

“Of course”

She was a high leveled vampire who overcame her negatives, the sun was nothing to her, water did not burn her skin like acid and holy objects did not deter her movement. Cass felt determined once more knowing that those with strength if they decided to could easily clean the nation of its illness. What she said next shocked Arisa who was recovering from what Yukiyo said last night.

“Please allow me to become a vampire”

“Pffffffffat?!”

She spat out her coffee but not in Cass’ face since that would be rude and disgusting of her. The confusion on her face said it all, this was a scenario that she didn’t anticipate if at all.

“Doth thou know what thee speak of?! Becoming a vampire is a permanent change, one cannot go back to a carefree life once the change is complete!”

“I am completely aware of that”

“Then why?!”

Cass took in the fresh air and says with complete calm and resignation of her fate in Arisa’s hands.

“I have lived in fear ever since I came to the royal capital of my home nation. I thought the views and values that I held back in my parents’ land could apply to the greater parts of the nation however that belief easily died after witnessing the horrors of the underbelly of the nation. I wish to change this nation even if it is in the shadow, I want to……….”

She was hesitant to say what she wanted to say but Arisa urged her on to say it.

“I want to control this nation from the shadows and annihilate all of those who try to make it rot from the inside”

“Well then, thou have ambition lass. I commend thee, fine then I shall aid thee in thine mission for control. I am killing two birds with one stone by doing this”

“Thank you Lady Abyss”

“Mine name is Arisa, I am the Vampire Demon Lord, and from this point forward. Thou art mine servant”

Cass’ expectations of what she was were blown out of the water but she couldn’t back out now that she had convinced herself of becoming something more. She smiled as she accepted her fate.

“Though, thou might be the first to ask me of this. None of the vampires within my territory are mine children unfortunately. Hence why they did this in the first place. Now then, I will say the process of turning into a vampire is more painful than using a thorn filled sword. Best be ready, however thou shalt suffer the pains of a ordinary vampire lass. Thou art the child of the Vampire Demon Lord after all gahahahahahahahahahahaha!”

Arisa laughed all haughty like which made Cass smile at how silly this soon to be vampire parent of hers was.

🦇

He miscalculated. This could be said to be the greatest mistakes he had ever gone through, peer influence can be a terrifying force especially within monster societies like the vampires. He, Edmund Tavlind listened to his faction who saw this as an opportunity to finally kick that young girl and become the official King of the Vampires. Hence the introduction of the giants, he thought that she would take care of them and run away because she didn’t like the attention. But his plan didn’t go as expected, instead her sisters with similar forms of strength and one more cut through the giants with ease. To make matters worse she took the credit for being the leader of their little party and remained in the spotlight.

Then the true horror began, she began to bleed the organizations and nobles that were under their control dry. Day by day they were losing resources, this small nation would become their capital but that felt like an illusion. Edmund who was a handsome vampire who looked like he was in the prime of his twenties looked thirty years older, the stress got to him and he had even more bags under his eyes. This was a complete disaster for him and yet his faction kept on urging him to continue. The better solution was to surrender and beg for forgiveness before the wrath of the Vampire Queen had found its way to them. But he knew that too would spell certain death to him, there was no way out for him and all of his lackeys. Another glass of wine was poured by his servant, Wesley watched his master slowly fall into a drunken stupor.

“GODDAMMIT!!”

He grabbed the wine bottle and threw it at the wall in frustration. The pressure had gotten to him as he rustled up his hair in a death grip, the one thing that he wanted to do was just die. If he killed himself right now she would never find out that he was the one who made moves to prevent her from escaping the darkness. The structure would certainly crumble if Arisa truly abandoned the vampires and things would get a whole lot more worse than the suffering he was enduring right now.

“Calm yourself Master. Clear out your thoughts”

“HOW CAN I?! I AM BACKED INTO A FUCKING CORNER LIKE A RAT WITH NO ESCAPE IN SIGHT?! TELL ME HOW SHOULD I BE CALM IN A SITUATION LIKE THIS?!”

The blinded fury he had was intense that if Wesley was as frail as he looked he would have been taken aback by it but he had a cold stare in his eyes. He stood his ground and slapped Edmund with a gloved hand. The shock seemed to knock some sense into him.

“My apologies. It was the only way to calm you down Master”

“Do not worry about it. Thank you for that Wesley.”

He combed his hair and properly sat the way a vampire noble should. Edmund stared at Wesley who seemed to have an answer for his predicament.

“Now then. What shall we do?”

“I suggest we finally gain the help from one we long abandoned in response to having the Vampire Queen”

“Ah you mean that evil god, I suppose that sounds like a plan. But what would happen if she gained knowledge that we had made contact with such a vile being?”

“We target those closest to her”

“We cannot target her sisters because I for one know those two are abnormal in the greatest sense of the word. The beastkin is a similar case.”

“What of the other pair of twins”

“Now those two we can both manage. Make the necessary steps for us to isolate those two. I will even become bait for a time”

“Master……….”

“It must be done”

“As you wish”

Edmund stood up with clear gaze and determination set in his eyes, he was going to make sure that he came out winning no matter what. That god would surely help them in their time of need.

🌹

They gathered together right before the sun was about to set and the crimson beauty of the dusk was about to arrive. Arisa spreads the map with observant eyes, Kuroe and Shiro stood with a calm that could scare even the mightiest storms, Wynter was sharpening her blade. Liz, Beth and Cass were all preparing what they needed.

“Our assault on this city shall continue, but according to the information we have accessed the royal family is involved in all of this. Initially I did not think that they would be involved in the erosion of the nation but I have been proven wrong.”

Kuroe says with certainty as Cass finally accepts that this nation was doomed from the start. Her eyes glimmer at the hope that she would fix the nation with her own hands. Liz and Beth are not thrilled to hear that the nation they were born in is rotten to the core, but there was nothing they could do about it.

“We will end this little play of ours tonight”

“Does that mean after this you are going back home?”

“We are going back home Liz”

Kuroe says with a slight smile on her face, they hadn’t met their mother just yet but she was very excited at the plan she was going to do after this. Shiro felt the same, they had feelings for the pair and wanted to confess to them after this was over.

“Will thou stay in this nation Cassandra?”

“Um if I can, yes. For a time!”

“I want to train with Lord Odin, Lady Seratta and Bolverk again. We will both train hard under their guidance am I right Cass?!”

“Y-Yes!”

Wynter was excited that she just gained another sparring partner, the more knights the merrier. At this point with how many they were it was going to be an order, if Her Majesty willed it then they would certainly become the most terrifying order of all time.

“Now then with the help of the Dark Matter we should finish this rather quickly.”

“Divine darkness shall carpet the city, by mine hand I shall kill the one who tried stopping us from meeting.”

Arisa made a declaration with all of them nodding to it, this was their final day and they had to make sure that it was going to be a spectacular day. As the night was drawing near everyone were finished with their preparations. Each heading off to a section of the city where several big wig nobles resided in. With final knockoff point being the king himself. Now was the time to act accordingly.

🌹

“Make sure you there is no one approaching the premise! All of you will be beheaded if you fail to do that!”

Their lord was more on the edge than usual which made things harder than easier on them. Lately the security for nobility was tightened up to a degree that it was absurd, top military brass had vanished the other day and came back changed somehow. It was unnerving to think that something in the shadows was vying for power in this small country but with the incidents happening with Abyss’ End lately none of the knights were sure of what to make of it. The full moon was slightly larger than usual but that meant they could see better in the darkness, there was a mysterious allure to it. The patrols were running smoothly and most of the knights had thought that their lord was just worrying for nothing, but just as they had let their guard down a hole appeared from nowhere and that is where their problems truly began. The gloved hand of a knight emerged from the murky darkness and immediately crashed into the gate, before they could do anything to it the hand exploded into a sea of flames. This single explosion was followed by several more occurring all over the royal capital, one being was seen standing behind the flames. They all knew just who was capable of being this flashy, Abyss’ End.

“Awaken from thine slumber of illusions and lies, I have come as The End.”

She spoke with an ecstatic voice as she leapt forwards kicking the head in of the first knight that she meets, it would be easy to dispose of her thought the knights but the following moment made that line of thinking vanishing like bubbles. His body exploded into a red orb that Abyss uses to create a weapon. From this point on they knew exactly why there were no corpses left on the crime scenes, she was a vampire and high tier one at that. She waves her hand forward which sends a sea of blood spears that impale most of them, some dodge right before they are hit by the sharp edges of the blood which increases in volume as it devours even the knights.

“DIE MONSTER!”

“Your arrival is far too late”

Another knight, rather one of the knight captains who had vanished appears overhead with his sword pointed in the air with a volume of blood spears pointed at Arisa who smiles as she parries blood with blood. Shock runs on his face.

“Who does thou think thou is dealing with? I am the Vampire Queen, blood is my very nature. Thine mastery of it is mere child’s play”

He was not even important enough to remember as Arisa turned his blood spears around to impale him instead. She yawns as she crushes the earl’s house with ease. The feeling that something wrong would happen could be felt in her heart even as she noticed that the top brass of this nation had turned into rather high leveled vampires in what would seem overnight.

“Tis most wise I go to the others. Must check up on how they are faring.”

Wynter felt free, under the gaze of her superiors she had to exemplify the way of the sword but Yukiyo had suggested that she should find a way of fighting that suited her alone. And thus this was arranged by the twins for her to do just that. A fury that could be described as visceral hatred for humanity. Descending on the unsuspecting knights like a gentle breeze that unleashed it’s divine wrath upon them all. Right after the rather creative opening that Arisa pulled off the knights who stared at her froze as she watched the flames go up before turning to them with a gleeful murderous gaze.

Her sword was long, long enough for her to drag it on the ground but it was menacing how she slowly walked towards them with the scrapping sounds of the sword and the burning flickering of the flame as the only sounds they could hear. Wynter reached a point where she puts the sword on her shoulder and starts to pick up the pace, each step sounded like audible death. They could hear, feel and even taste their lives being snuffed out by this thing who couldn’t be woman, she was a force of nature that they couldn’t fight against. Her steps started to become even more brisk, death had come for them all. That leap from brisk walk into sprint was what started it all, she swung her sword across the first group of ten knights who were unable to react in time.

The halves of their bodies fell to the ground and their blood flew naturally, she became frenzied. Like the wild beast she is Wynter swung furiously and without a single care in the world. Body parts were sent flying into many places, the knights could only see a white blur as Wynter rapidly approached them with increased speed. She stabs into the helmet and skull of one of them before cutting it his head off and punching it into the skull of another grabbing his headless corpse which she uses to whack five knights into the ground. And like the beast she is Wynter uses her sword like fangs with her free left claws as another weapon, she pounces on the next knight easily piercing his eyes stabbing his throat before slamming his corpse to the ground. She jumps on it and propels herself, putting her sword on her back forward and pointing her sword arm at them. This black gauntlet has an assortment of magic crystals on her finger tips, she pulls the small lever on the side. A blast of raw mana bursts forth reducing her enemies into dust, just as their bodies disintegrate Wynter finally jumps off of the now ground down corpse of the knight.

“You are so unfortunate to be fighting with me, your superior got caught in the line of fire. Dunno whether he is a vampire or not. Aw well, I get to kill all of you anyways.”

In fear the knights all backed off in the face of this murderous intent, putting her sword on her shoulder once more Wynter began to walk towards them once again. Arisa who observes this nods to her head as this is doing pretty well, a bit ruthless of her but Wynter was enjoying herself and that was what mattered. The next on the list were her sisters.

💀

The silence was deafening, the twins were finished with their duties rather quickly, it wasn’t like the transformed vampire knight captains could do anything to them who had mastered their Blood Arts to its fullest potential. Now they were very sure, something was awfully wrong about this situation. As if they were distracted by something, their thoughts had made up the same conclusion: They should check up on Liz and Beth.

“Mine sisters have reached the same conclusion as I. We must make haste.”

Arisa arrived just in time to voice their thoughts out aloud, if the three of them were fine and Wynter was conquering the knights with such a fury that they were backed into a corner of fear. They left behind the ruins of the home of the nobles and started to head towards the royal palace where Liz, Beth, and Cass were supposed to be attacking. The feeling and emotion of uncertainty continued to ring inside of their hearts, the rooftops passed by rather quickly. And without a moment’s notice they had arrived at the broken remains of the gate.

It seemed like the world had gone quiet for all three of them, an expectation was broken. It wasn’t supposed to go like this, they had expected the levels of Arisa’s former subordinates to be lower than their’s which made them believe that they could win this fight but something had changed. Something they did not anticipate, there was a different aura surrounding the trio who faced them. Arisa immediately walked to Cass who was missing her heart, she cuts her hand and makes her drink her blood once more. Arisa’s Demon Lord blood was enough to reconstruct a missing organ, Cass was still weak from the desperate battle they had with these three vampires.

“Speak I need to know what happened to thee?”

Cass coughed as Kuroe and Shiro remained silent, Liz and Beth weren’t any better. They were nearly drained of their blood, they were using nothing but pure human strength on them. It was admirable that they were still clinging to life given how much was taken from them. They tried to make out words but the twins quietly shook their heads, prompting them to open their mouths as they took out vials that contained their blood. Initially they wanted this to be very special to them but they couldn’t afford that at the moment. Both Kuroe and Shiro drank their blood and aided Liz and Beth to drink it via a kiss. Once that was out of the way their focus was now on the three who brought them such pain.

“My name is Wesley Grawillo I am the butler of my Master Edmund. Beside me are Xavier Colmass, and Zack Baker. Knights who have become vampires under the Blood God Rivanis. Vampire Queen Arisa you have abandoned the society in search of your sister and pushed us into a corner. This much is expected, compensation has been met with the loss of resources. There is nothing you can do about the change of the power structure. In the words of the Blood God “Submit and we will forgive your transgressions.” Those were the words of our Lord and Savior Rivanis. Do you acc-?!”

“““Shut up”””

They all spoke at the same time within one unified voice. Their fury, sorrow, despair, and hatred had resulted in a rather unique situation, it had merged their souls into one accord. What was once three became one, a new being stood before them and like that what was supposed to be turning point of the negotiations had become into a disaster. In their place stood a girl with long ashen grey hair, her crimson eyes drowned in an abyss of darkness enveloped in an attire of shadows. The shadows formed a coat, along with an inner gothic dress that ended on her thighs, boots and fishnet stocks soon wrapping up the transformation. The pressure she released was greater than what they anticipated and it made all of them including the butler who gave out those words of oozing pride step back. If the pressure from her mere presence was enough to frighten even them then the following words made it horribly clear how they were going to come out of all of this.

“My name is Haiiro and I will never forgive you. You all going to die brutally, you made them suffer needlessly and for that your pain will be hundredfold. Now taste my wrath.”

She snapped her fingers as a large amount of blood appeared right beside her constructing a weapon in her hands.

“STOP HER THIS INSTANT YOU TWO!”

“R-?!”

She did not even give them the time to even move forward as she controlled the blood within them and brought them forward as she simply walked forwards with a cold flame in her eyes. A sword with blood thorns was in her hands, she released control over Xavier who then swings his sword to cut off her head but is too late as she stands on the blade itself. Haiiro kicks his head in leaving his body to slump forwards but she was not done with him just yet as she stabs his body with blood thorn sword. She turns around to face him and claps her hands together causing his body to burst like a water balloon, blood is leaking from the armor that what was left of Xavier wore. Haiiro easily blocks Zack’s sword, grabbing his head and smashing it into the ground. Before he had the chance to get up he is stabbed by blood spears which lift him up Haiiro creates circular saws that grind his flesh and bone with relative ease. He is cut into many pieces, the thing about all of this was he was still alive whilst she was doing this.

“Any last words?”

“AWAY WITH YOU MONSTER!”

“Is that the way you should be speaking to Your Vampire Demon King?”

In complete silence Wesley seemed to vanish and appeared right before Haiiro who watches him thrust his rapier straight into her heart. He smiles vilely as he thinks that he has won.

“And now you will die for your ignorance”

“Do you think that stabbing my heart will actually kill me”

“GAHABABARA?!”

He screamed incomprehensibly as he backed away in pure fear. Blood swords, spears, daggers and chains chase after him. Wesley out of fear cast tons of spells whilst dodging on being eviscerated by blood that Haiiro led on the march of his doom. She approached him at a speed that he couldn’t comprehend. He was supposed to be ahead of her and yet here she was overpowering him at this very moment. Haiiro cut his arm off just as he was about to back away once again from another clash. For a moment he thinks that he can just regenerate it back but the true terror sets in when he keeps on bleeding. The sword transforms into a large pair of scissors that stops him dead in his tracks. With two snips he is down on the ground staring at Haiiro who walks over him with a smile on her face. In that moment he screams out what he is currently thinking.

“WHAT COULD YOU POSSIBLY ACCOMPLISH WITH YOUR KIND OF STRENGTH?!”

“This”

“No…….it can’t be……..NO!”

Haiiro held out her hand and showed him the glowing orbs that she had collected mid battle. Instinctively he knew what these were, Haiiro crushes them in her hand and gains even more power from it. She had committed the vilest act under heaven, crushing a soul. A feint only evil gods and demon kings were capable of.

“I am so-?!”

“Silence”

She stabbed into his chest with her hand and crushed his soul as well. Not even giving him the chance to finish that sentence and just as she did that, the moon turned red. The fun was only just beginning.

Raven-Frostwing42

Hello there, the next chapter will be done on Thursday, Friday? That will cap off the end of one arc and the beginning of the end. Would you like to see more of the Heroes and everyone else with individual side chapters before we start a rather long arc which starts as soon as Chapter 41?