Chapter 569: A troublesome power.
Yeah, do you remember when Emily said that she would not fall into a trap, that she understood the dangers of 'charm', that her mother was supposed to trust her, and that she would not fail?
BOOOOOOM!
A hole was formed in the wall, and a tall man with long black hair was soon seen.
"Hey, troubled woman, I came to save you."
"A-Alucard!?" Lilith screamed in shock.
Looking at the ridiculously handsome man in front of her, she realized that the image on a device couldn't compare to the real thing.
He was handsome... Wrong; it would be an understatement to try to put an adjective to describe this man's appearance. He was beyond the concept of 'handsome' or 'attractive'.
He was preternaturally alluring in her eyes.
'Mm, that's an appropriate adjective.' She thought to herself, unaware of her own thoughts due to her state of shock.
And she also realized something, for the first time in her 12 years of existence, Emily had failed at something.
And it wasn't a small failure. She failed utterly and spectacularly, a failure so big that she felt like burying herself in a hole and never getting out of it.
Only omniscient beings knew how ashamed she was now for having said those words.
Bandup, Bandup!
The proof of this shame was her heart beating wildly and her face glowing red.
'N-No w-wonder my mother said that to me... H-He didn't even talk to me, and I'm already acting like this... Can I make him become my father?'
Evie quickly shook her head several times and erased the last thought, but she couldn't stop her clever head from imagining a scene of her mother together with that man.
'STOP!' She shook her head more often, and her twin tails were unintentionally hitting Thomas and irritating the boy.
For better or for worse, Evie was a girl with a very potent imagination, and that was where her capabilities in magic came from, a genius that was amazing even by witch standards.
But despite being a naive girl with an overactive imagination, she was still a disciplined girl, and she didn't forget her mother's warnings.
Quickly using the magic on the dress, she activated the rest of the protection she had on the dress.
And she waited for the magic to take effect.
At that moment, the two demons entered the room and stared at the man in front of them.
"A-Alucard!"
The demons quickly overcame their shock and tried to do something, but...
TINK.
The sound of a weapon being sheathed was heard.
"Too Slow." Victor's image that was in the hole began to disappear as if it were a mirage, and the man appeared in the middle of the room.
Only now did everyone realize the ridiculous blade he was holding.
The moment he said that the world seemed to register his movements, and the demons' bodies were cut into several pieces.
"...." Absolute shock fell on the faces of the three children of the most prominent figures in the supernatural world.
They couldn't see anything! Nothing! Two high level demons just died that easy!
Lilith, Thomas, and Emily knew those demons weren't weak since they were put on guard for a reason.
Looking at that man's neutral, disdainful face for dead demons, Emily's small heart fluttered:
'... When will the magic work!? Is my mother's enchantment defective!? Why isn't it working!?'
At that moment, Victor turned to Lilith.
Gulp.
Unconsciously, the woman gulped when she saw Victor's gaze. Her heart was pounding, it's been a while since she's seen the man, and somehow he was even more handsome!?
What the fuck!? How does that work!? She didn't doubt that Victor was better looking than she was now!
Although small, she still had the blood of a succubus, and she had the blood of a progenitor, so she was obviously beautiful, you know!?
But it seems that hateful man was on a completely different level.
"How long are you going to watch me? We need to go."
"… Huh?" Lilith woke up from her stupor, "H-How-...Why...-" Her feelings were utterly in chaos, and several questions were being asked in her head now.
Unfortunately, she didn't have time for that.
Four figures entered the room and looked around in concern until they saw the boy sitting up, looking at the vampire in shock.
The four figures of chocolate-colored men approached the boy and said:
"Your Highness!"
"… Huh?" The boy woke up from a stupor as well and looked at the kneeling men, and understanding dawned on his face as he noticed the familiar faces of the assassins led by his mother.
"Boys!? Are you with the vampires!?" Thomas asked, but unfortunately, they didn't have time to say anything because Alucard's voice dropped again.
"How's the situation out there?" A simple question, but one that held an authority even these seasoned wolves didn't dare ignore.
They saw the fate of the people who went against this man, and it's worth mentioning that it wasn't a pretty fate.
The four men ignored Thomas, to the latter's surprise, and looked at Alucard:
"Anderson, the Lykos brothers, and our other companions are facing the demon hordes along with the human."
'My brother is here!?' Thomas thought, a little surprised.
"The two vampires are dealing with 29 Solomon's Key, Astaroth, and 24 Solomon's Key, Naberius."
"...." Victor narrowed his eyes. Before he invaded this place, he felt a gigantic malevolent presence. This demon seemed to be on the same level as Baal, and it was strange that this demon hadn't intervened yet.
'Actually, this presence mysteriously disappeared completely.' Victor reflected.
"Get your prince. We need to get out of here now." He ordered, and because of his natural charisma and attitude, the werewolves unconsciously responded:
"Yes!"
This wasn't unusual in the supernatural world since all that mattered was strength, but... Were these werewolves who didn't answer to anyone but their alphas acting this way towards Alucard?
Werewolves who were 'PERSONALLY' trained by the queen werewolf.
Trust Thomas; he knew how scary his mother was.
Damn it, not even Volk Fenrir, his father, could make those warriors act like that! And he was the goddamn king of the werewolves!
Those murderous werewolves were loyal only to Tasha, only her!
Seeing his mother's subordinates acting like that towards Alucard made the boy unconsciously place Alucard at the same height as his mother.
This demonstration only made Emily even more embarrassed and with her cheeks flushed, she was looking helplessly at that vampire.
Realizing what she was doing, she shook her head again to get those thoughts out of her head.
She pumped more mana into her suit, but... It didn't work.
'... Hmm? Magic? Hello? Are you broken? Why isn't this working!? Damn it!'
Little did Emily know, the magic was working, even if Aphrodite was here now and trying to 'actively' charm Emily to control her…
It would be an arduous task to achieve.
But as her mother said, the 'charm' was much more than a way of 'controlling someone's mind'. It was not a skill but a fundamental aspect of socialization and of the world.
A person could look at an exotic diamond, find it beautiful, and think that there was a 'charm' to that stone.
As a little girl who had never seen anyone so handsome before, she was completely taken aback, and when she saw his 'dominant' side and acting like a 'prince charming' who rescued the damsel in distress.
The girl's wild imagination ran crazy.
"I'm sorry, your highness." A large, muscular man approached the boy and held him in a princess carry.
Thomas's face immediately showed annoyance and embarrassment.
"Put me down-!" That was the last thing they heard from the boy before the four werewolves disappeared.
"Vic-." Lilith looked like she was going to say something, but before she knew anything, she saw her vision change, and she was now being moved away from where she was by Victor.
And all she heard was the sound of something breaking and two hands appearing where she was.
From Emily's point of view, she only saw streaks of lightning, and suddenly Lilith was somewhere else, proving that the speed Alucard used now was much faster than what he demonstrated before.
"Tsk, I forgot how troublesome it was to deal with someone who had Fulger Clan powers." A voice echoed around where the demonic hands were.
Slowly the man's body began to appear, and soon the appearance of the demon that had come for Emily earlier appeared.
"Second key of Solomon, rank 2, Agares," Alucard spoke with narrowed eyes.
"... Hmm? Unexpectedly, few people know this form of mine."
[Kaguya, take care of her for me.]
[Yes, leave it to us, Master.]
"Few people have a former demon general as a friend who happens to know all the top demon dukes."
Before all this started, Ruby and Victor took Morgana to the human world, specifically the witches underground that Victor had been harboring with Esther, and asked them to take a 'specific' memory of Morgana. That memory was the appearance of all the demon dukes she's seen.
Soon after, Scathach asked Morgana to make a detailed report on what she knew of each demon duke.
Victor made a point of memorizing all this information in his head.
"Oh, that's true; she's still alive somewhere, huh." The demon spoke while touching his chin in a gesture, and in the middle of that movement, his hand disappeared and appeared behind Victor, but all he managed to reach were trails of lightning.
"You have a troublesome power, Demon."
He turned his face calmly towards Victor:
"…I can say the same for you-…Oh? Where is the princess?" He raised a curious eyebrow.
"Who knows?" Victor shrugged.
"Looks like I have to ask you a little rudely then." The demon's eyes flashed brighter, and he suddenly appeared at Victor's side.
Victor placed Junketsu in front of him and heard the sound of two metals colliding.
A blast of air that originated from the meeting of the demon's claws and Junketsu's hilt colliding spread throughout the room.
"The ability to interact with and walk on another plane of existence. Indeed, a very troublesome power."
"Tsk, can't that woman avoid giving spoilers about others? Usually, that's the part where you're surprised."
"Believe me, I am." Blood began to cover Victor's sword.
Seeing this, the demon withdrew his hand since he knew what would happen when he interacted with the power of the blood of a vampire's progenitor.
At speed unseen by the naked eye, Victor put his hand on Junketsu's hilt, cut towards the demon, and quickly sheathed Junketsu again.
Several red slashes were seen in front of him, but the demon had already disappeared.
"Tsk, troublesome."
[Master, just attack him! Kill that demon and eat its existence!] Roxanne exclaimed with murderous intent.
[Okay, we need her to calm down, she is very excited.] Bruna commented.
[Just ignore her bullshit, she's drunk.] Big Guy spoke.
[...Drunk?] Maria looked at Big Guy like the gorilla had grown a second head or something.
[Victor absorbed a lot of demon blood and souls, things that are very delicious to her, and due to her connection with Victor, she felt it too, she drank too much of her favorite drink, and now she's drunk.]
[...It's the first time I've seen a vampire get drunk from drinking too much blood...] Eve spoke.
[Well, she's not just a vampire.] The gorilla said. 'If you put it into words, Roxanne was more like a Dryade/Vampire hybrid?'
Due to Roxanne's special nature and the gorilla, it was hard to tell, but even though Roxanne was right there in front of them, she could interact in the real world with the 'meat'.
The gorilla knew this was not Roxanne's real body but only something like an avatar of her humanoid form.
The gorilla himself couldn't even be considered 'alive' in the proper sense of the word. He was a guardian spirit that was born along with Roxanne to protect her.
He could project flesh and body into the real world just like Roxanne, but his true appearance is that of a guardian spirit.
[... Where am I?] The Maids and the gorilla looked at Lilith, and there was a moment of silence until Eve took the initiative along with Bruna and started explaining to her the basics saying that she was in Kaguya's 'shadows'.
Although Victor seemed to have a troubled expression, only he knew how serious this was. This was a Rank 2 demon, a demon capable of walking in other planes of existence.
That was a power that made a person a perfect assassin. Even though this power had an obvious weakness, it was still troublesome to deal with.
'He and I can't attack each other until he 'appears' on this plane of existence. That's the weakness Morgana spoke of.' He really thanked the former general since facing this kind of enemy blindly is pure stupidity.
Even with his speed, he barely managed to react to the previous attack.
'This is more problematic than teleportation.' Teleportation moved a person from point A to point B, but this type of power only camouflaged the demon's entire existence on another plane, and because of that, when he attacked, there was not a small 'pause' as there would be in the case of a teleport.
Agares looked at Victor. From his point of view, he was in a black-and-white world; in this world, there was no up or down, left or right. This was a world that, if he hadn't gotten used to it, he would easily have gotten lost here.
In this world, all that existed was the white of existence and the color 'black', which were the very existence of individuals.
'Let's kill him quickly and quietly.' Agares stepped on 'nothing', and with the momentum, he flew towards the dark individual. His right hand was completely demonic and had sharp claws with a black miasma coming out of it.
Everything was so unnecessarily slow; the 'speed' didn't interact like the real world in this place, and when the claw was about to 'reach' the black spot, he used his power again.
Victor's senses that were on high alert roared, the world around Victor slowed down, and he quickly fell backwards to the ground.
He looked up and saw a demonic claw appear out of 'nowhere' in space.
He watched this phenomenon for a few milliseconds in an attempt to make sense of something until the claw suddenly descended towards him.
Rumble, Rumble.
Victor disappeared again and appeared away from the demonic Duke.
Victor looked at the Duke with a dangerous look.
'His speed isn't bad either. Of course, he's slower than me, but still not bad… Which is worrying and fun. After all, he's not using his true form and all his power.'
"…No wonder Morgana hates fighting you, Demon."
"I'm getting that same feeling from you, Vampire."
The two beings faced each other with visible tension in the air. Victor could not take the offensive because if he attacked, the demon could place some part of his body in another plane of existence and attack him in a way that he would not notice until the last minute.
The demon couldn't attack carelessly because it was quite clear that his enemy had information about him other than that... He looked at the sword covered in blood.
If it was any other enemy, he would attack as usual without a care in the world.
But when you were fighting someone capable of destroying your soul, attacking carelessly was foolish.
This stalemate continued until Victor heard a small noise coming from a device in his ear. This was a code, a code that said:
"Mission Accomplished."
And that was all Alucard was waiting for.
"Thank you for your hospitality, Duke Agares, but I have to go now."
"… Do you think I will allow you to escape, Vampire?" He growled with visible annoyance.
"... Do you know? Magic is a wonderful thing."
"Before, I hated Magic, but I realized I hated it because I couldn't use it." A black magic circle appeared in Victor's hand.
"Ehhhh!?" Emily screamed in shock as she looked at the black magic circle in Victor's hand. The fact that Victor used magic shocked her more than the fight itself!
After all, she couldn't see the fight!
'I knew he could use it because of my grandmother's blessing, but... But... This is still ridiculous! This is bullshit!' Seeing a stranger say that he had his grandmother's blessing was one thing, now seeing the supposed man who had his grandmother's blessing use magic, magic circle and all, even if she had known about it before, was shocking!
After all, only witches could use magic!
"But these days, I've changed my opinion of magic."
"Dude, I fucking love magic." Victor's smile grew, and he pointed his hand at Agares.
The magic circle expanded widely, and immediately Agares went on guard. A magic circle that size, something big, was coming.
"Die." The magic circle expanded even further.
'Lumos.'
A large ball of light suddenly appeared, illuminating the entire place and temporarily blinding Emilly and Agares, who were watching Victor's movements.
"My Eyes!" Emily screamed as she put her hand to her face.
Agares, who had been temporarily blinded, quickly disappeared into another plane. He wasn't going to miss this chance! He quickly appeared behind Victor, something the man proved, he knew Agares would take the chance he was given, and that's what he wanted the demon to do.
Just as Agares' hand was about to pierce the back of Victor's head, Victor ducked, and the demon's attack missed.
Sounds of lightning were heard, and the vampire had disappeared from the scene... taking Emily with him.
Appearing in the real world with an annoyed expression, Agares looked at the 'supposed' attack. Seeing that it was just a ridiculously large light spell, he felt humiliated for being tricked.
He spins his hand in the air, and the supposed attack is destroyed.
"Tsk, I foresee Baal teasing me about this incident. I should have used my full strength from the start… But he wasn't using his strength either, and if the battle escalated too much, Emilly would be in danger, and if the daughter of the witch queen was harmed, the king's plans would go down the drain."
After reflecting a little on the fight, Agares snorted and decided not to think too much. Losing Lilith and Anderson was a bad thing, but it's not at all a problem. After all, Diablo put a countermeasure on the two heirs in case something like that happened.
.....
