Liz let out a stifled pained grunt. She was unable to see much of what was unfolding below due to her position.
A massive spike had pierced her abdomen from beneath, causing her to face the black expanse of the night sky.
With another grunt, she tried to move her body from its core, despite the gaping hole in her stomach from which the giant spike was protruding out, desperately hoping to look downward.
Down there, in front of the massive spike on which her body hung, Kl'Drog stood callously.
The high-vampire commander's open palms aimed at the helplessly hanging body of the human woman, clearly ready to cast a devastating spell.
Liz had absolutely no illusion that she would survive an attack in her current condition. In reality, she should have already been dead by now.
Her grip on life was tenuous at best. If someone could just pull her down from this spike, perhaps she could recover in time.
…No, even then, full recovery would take weeks, maybe months, and she'd still be at death's door.
The vampire truly got her good.
Letting out a resigned sigh, from her peripheral vision, Liz spotted a young silver-haired boy locked in combat with a high-vampire.
The boy wore an intricate, lightweight golden armor that did good to not hinder his movements, and he wielded a gleaming red spear.
'What is that fool trying to do?'
Liz knew this boy well. He not only was a cadet in her class but also emerged as a finalist in the King's Tournament, just like her own disciple.
Without a doubt, that boy was Lucas.
'He's going to get himself killed.'
At this rate, he would really die...
'Huh?'
As she pondered this, Liz watched Lucas kill the vampire attacking him and charge toward Kl'Drog.
'Wait... What's he doing?! Why isn't he running... Could it be?'
Liz's eyes widened and the utter absurdity of the situation struck her. Was the boy trying to rescue her?! He was going to get himself killed!
Although the academy's defense system was set to activate within minutes, Lucas would likely die long before then.
After all, the commander of a platoon of high-vampires wasn't someone that a mere cadet could hope to kill. At least not on the cover of the night!
As this thought raced through her mind, another high-vampire jumped in front of Lucas, blocking his path.
'Run! Run, you fool!'
But the boy didn't run.
Instead, he started fighting the vampire, and just as the blood fiend was about to strike Lucas with its sword, something strange occurred.
Several red streaks of bright light flashed, obliterating the vampire and reducing its body to bits as if it was thrown into a meat grinder.
Witnessing this, a glint appeared in Liz's half-dead, glassy eyes. Color returned to her face as she began to laugh hysterically.
…Or at least she tried. Her attempt at laughter devolved into wheezing and pained coughs, accompanied by spatters of blood.
Kl'Drog, in the midst of conjuring a devastating spell aimed at the woman impaled upon the blood cross, furrowed his brow as he observed the witch's erratic behavior.
Had she finally lost her mind? Was the approach of death causing her will to break?
...No! At that very moment, a slight tremor coursed through Kl'Drog's hands, and an icy chill ran down his spine.
Suddenly, an unsettling sensation of cold dread settled within his heart, as if his vampiric instincts were screaming at him to run.
The sudden urge to quickly abandon his soldiers and escape as soon as possible grew overwhelming, prompting him to run as fast as he could, as far as he could.
The intensity of this urgency was beyond his comprehension, yet he was able to grasp one undeniable truth: if he stayed here for too long, he would definitely die tonight.
The night's embrace, typically warm and comforting for his kind, now felt like a shroud of impending doom.
'What is happening?' his mind raced.
He didn't have to wait long for an answer. Soon, high-pitched screeches from his own kin reverberated throughout the arena.
The atmosphere shifted, and Kl'Drog frantically swept his gaze around, trying to search for the source of the object of his sudden terror.
All he saw instead was his fellow vampires being slaughtered, one after another, by an unseen force.
Red streaks of radiant light slashed through the air, cutting down the figures of the vampires into heaps of mangled remains, as though a relentless tempest of sharp blades was unleashed upon his kind.
S-Something… Someone was killing them!
But who or what?!
He couldn't see anyone, and the carnage was spread out, not confined to a single location. His soldiers were being chopped all around the arena.
It was as if a natural force rather than a person was raining destruction upon his kind.
"C-Commander, what's going on here?!" a high-vampire standing guard right next to Kl'Drog asked, its eyes wide with shock as it observed the massacre happening all around.
Instinctively, Kl'Drog took a step back and slowly shook his head. "I-I don't know..."
In that very instant, a burst of eccentric laughter reached his ears from above. It was Liz. After a short struggle, she managed to utter a chilling chuckle.
"Why do you laugh, witch!" Kl'Drog raged furiously. He actually wanted to let out an imposing tone but ended up sounding a little agitated instead.
Despite a wince of pain causing her to halt her laughter, a smug smirk remained on Liz's face.
Suppressing the strain and keeping her voice from breaking down, Liz spoke:
"Oh, remember what I warned you about earlier? You won't live to witness another night, bloodsuckers. You don't know what is going on? Allow me to enlighten you… God is here, you fool! Brace yourselves for his judgment!"
Kl'Drog furrowed his brow at Liz's words, and the noble vampires standing by his side mirrored his confusion.
Only one high-vampire showed a different emotion. His face quickly contorted and an expression that seemed remarkably close to fear instead of hesitation appeared on his visage.
Kl'Drog was about to respond, but the high-vampire under his command spoke up first instead, his voice quivering with nervousness:
"Th-The Sword Saint... Is she referring to the Sword Saint?"
Liz, her voice strained to hide the pain wracking her body, only emitted another chuckle in response.
"Dias, do you understand what this witch is saying?" Kl'Drog directed his attention to the high-vampire who had spoken.
The high-vampire named Dias nodded, beads of sweat gathering on his broad, pulsating beast-like forehead.
"Y-Yes, commander," Dias stammered, his tone quivering. "I advise you to flee. Let us stall the Sword Saint and grant you time to escape."
Kl'Drog's brows knitted in a mixture of anger and disbelief. "What?! Are you out of your mind, Dias!? Why would I, Kl'Drog of the Blood Blossom family, flee? And from whom?"
Gritting his fangs, Dias persisted, trying to convince his commander while there was still time.
"Commander, you fail to grasp the gravity of the situation! I have seen all this before! It's the Sword Saint! Our informants said that he wouldn't appear tonight, but they were clearly wrong. He's here, and that just means we are all going to die! There is no other way to do that! So, please, I ask you to run! At the very least ensure your own survival, commander!"
Kl'Drog's eyes widened. He had never seen his second-in-command so overtaken by fear.
After all, he was a high-vampire. What in the whole wide world could scare him to this degree?!
After a moment's consideration, Kl'Drog shook his head resolutely. "No, I won't flee. It's merely a single human. Do you truly believe I could be defeated by a single human? We were entrusted with a mission and we shall accomplish it before finally fleeing from this place together!"
Dias clutched his head in frustration at his ignorant commander's nonsensical response and shouted:
"No, you don't understand, commander! Three years ago, I encountered the Sword Saint on the battlefield. My squadmates urged me to retreat, but I didn't heed their advice. I didn't think that a single human would pose a threat against our squad of noble vampires."
Dias paused, taking a moment to steady his ragged breath, while Kl'Drog looked at him with rapt attention, prompting him to continue.
"However, by the time I finally realized, it was already too late! Our opponent was no ordinary human. It was not even a living being! It was, in a way, akin to a deity! The humans call him the God of War, but that title is inadequate, commander! He's more of a demon than a God! My squad was utterly destroyed by him... In the blink of an eye, seventeen elite vampires were obliterated! I survived solely because I fled. That demon didn't give chase because he didn't even consider me a threat!"
Kl'Drog's expression was a complex mix of emotions as he listened, his words stifled by uncertainty.
In the end, he found himself unable to respond, allowing Dias to continue:
"Please, commander! I implore you, run! Escape for your life! Facing that thing is unthinkable, for anyone! Maybe, only maybe, if all the Vampire Kings united, they might stand a chance of killing him! But no one else, and certainly not mere high-vampires like us! I beseech you, flee while we try to stall him! At least ensure your own survival!"
Dias was, in no way, exaggerating.
More than anyone else here, he knew the sheer dread of facing the Sword Saint… the futility of it. He had survived that day by sheer luck alone.
He wasn't a priority target for the God of War during that encounter. Had he been, he would not have escaped with his life.
Kl'Drog, his commander, was oblivious due to the Sword Saint's primary focus on the border. And since Kl'Drog's unit excelled in scouting and infiltration, they weren't well-versed in deep border affairs.
The vampire forces on the border had to revise their tactics drastically due to the God of War's intervention on more than one occasion.
A single human's involvement in war led them to change their whole strategy! Only Vampire Kings were that big of a threat!
During his time on the border, Dias had heard one piece of advice over and over again: "If you ever encounter a human clad in red, holding a sword in his hand, then turn around and run."
He had only disregarded that advice once, and the price was paid with the death of his comrades.
Dias was not going to let history repeat itself again. Not today, at least!
Gritting his fangs, Dias tried to yell once more, "Commander, you must listen to me and–"
However, before he could finish, a shiver coursed down his spine.
From his peripheral vision, Dias glimpsed a figure adorned in red armor, wielding a sword, slowly advancing in their direction from a distance.
No... It was too late to escape now.
The God of War had descended upon them to grace the impure mundane world with his presence… and only destruction was going to follow.
