Chapter 653: Who's Right? Who's Wrong?... In the end, it doesn't matter.
Two lone knights stood atop the high walls of Warfall, the City ruled by the Clan Adrastella.
At the moment, Warfall was experiencing an unprecedented invasion. Something that hadn't happened since the City's founding.
Hundreds of thousands of monsters were swarming in waves. Adrastella Clan's defense systems worked in overdrive while its warriors fought like never before.
Wherever you looked outside the walls, all you would see were monsters of various sizes and species.
Behemoths, Onis, Predators, Wyvern, Minions, and even two damn Alphas were present.
A war was going on.
And casualties were cropping up on both sides.
Although it was obvious that the casualties were more severe for the monsters, what was the cause of these casualties?
Eight women.
Looking further ahead on the battlefield, a section devoid of the regular army soldiers could be seen. This was a 'forbidden' area due to the sheer destruction caused by these eight women.
Leona Elizabeth Lykos, an Alpha of the renowned Clan Lykos, a Clan that had produced several Generals to the Werewolf King in Samar's history.
Demonstrating why her Clan was renowned for creating Generals, she slashed and mutilated all monsters in her vicinity with sharp gauntlets made for close-range combatants. Her physical strength was unreal in her Hybrid Form, evident by how she tossed around a damn 20-meter-tall Behemoth without breaking a sweat.
Leona looked at the other group of monsters, and white energy began to gather in her mouth, and with a voice like a roar, she screamed:
"Die, worms!"
A beam of energy erupted from her mouth and 'evaporated' several Behemoths in the process.
"Leona, don't waste energy on attacks like that! You know they don't die permanently!"
"Tsk, I know." She snarled as her ears twitched, and that strange stench rose again.
"Behind you, Violet!"
Violet covered her body with Fire, raised the bastard sword in her hand, and defended the attack.
Seeing that it was one of those monsters that could turn invisible, she snarled in disdain: "Sneaky bastards!"
Her sword caught fire, and with one swing of her blade, the monster disappeared.
Who was this woman who looked like Leona?
She was Violet Snow, Heiress to the Snow Clan, a Clan of seasoned politicians and diplomats, wielding a Bloodline that struck natural fear in all Vampires Nobles.
"Sasha!"
"I'm on it!"
Rumble, Rumble.
Trails of Lightning arced across the battlefield, and seconds later, slashes appeared on every monster the arc passed through.
This golden-haired woman was Sasha Fulger, Heiress of Clan Fulger, a Clan that mainly dealt with internal affairs and 'food production' that every Nightingale citizen consumed, a Clan that was extremely wealthy due to the nature of its business, a Clan that had the dreaded Fulger Lineage that raised the individual's speed to absurd levels, not counting the Power of Lightning itself.
"Sisters." A redhead spun her spear several times and slammed the butt of it into the ground.
Soon the entire battlefield froze.
"Destroy everything; no monster shall come back alive."
"Yes!"
The redhead was Ruby Scarlett, the blood child of the Strongest Female Vampire, Scathach Scarlett. She was someone who had the most potential to be one of the strongest women of the Vampire Noble Race alongside her mother.
And the women who were behind her were:
Siena Scarlett, the adopted eldest daughter of Scathach. She was a woman renowned for her ability to lead, who boasted incredible power, which was expected of a daughter of Scathach.
Lacus Scarlett, another adopted daughter of Scathach, who, despite her short stature, was considered extremely deadly due to her 'mist' Power which made her a fearsome assassin.
Pepper Scarlett, the youngest adopted daughter of Scathach. She was a woman with the innocent face of an angel... But make no mistake. If you found yourself on the end of her fist... You'd be in for a world of hurt.
None of the daughters of Scathach were considered normal, the proof which being the spectacle that the four of them were causing now.
And last but not least,
Eleonor Adrastella, the Fourth Countess of Vampires, the Leader of Clan Adrastella, and Ruler of Warfall.
"Big targets must not approach the city; this includes Centipedes, Ogres, and Behemoths over 20 meters tall!" Eleanor shouted orders.
"Eleonor, in front of you!" Leona warned away.
"I know…" Eleonor turned away, her face instantly changing to its monster features.
She reached up and grabbed the monster by the neck.
"Disgusting creatures, you will pay for what you did to him!" Green flames burst from her hand, burning the monster's entire body.
A deafening scream screeched out of the monster's mouth, proving the point that her attack dealt significant damage. It seemed even an 'immortal' monster could scream like a bitch.
When the monster turned to green ash, she ordered:
"Everyone jump in the air now!"
Wasting no time, all seven women jumped into the air and began to float.
Eleonor clapped her hands together:
"A Thousand Hands Of Creation."
Quake, Quake, Quake.
The whole earth around began to shake as if an earthquake were occurring, and the next moment,
Thousands of hands made of stone, earth, and all matter contained in the ground, began to rise toward the sky. The hands caught the monsters breaking out of formation and threw them back. They smashed several monsters and pushed them further away from her territory.
Alone, Eleanor managed to fend off hundreds of thousands of monsters.
This was why Clan Adrastella was the Ruler of Warfall and Nightingale's first defense. Only they could handle such a job.
"That Power is ridiculous." Leona can't help but comment.
"Yes, but it's very exhausting..." Violet spoke as she looked at Eleanor, who was evidently more breathless than before.
"What are you waiting for? Kill those bastards!" She ordered with audible hatred seething in her tone.
A hatred that was shared by all the women present.
The eyes of all the women present glowed blood red, and soon they jumped towards the monsters.
These eight women were causing literal chaos on the battlefield.
That fact wasn't all that surprising given the origins of the women. They each had more potent Bloodlines than today's run-of-the-mill Vampires could offer.
But... What was this hate? What was with their angry expressions? What was this massacre?
What the fuck was wrong with these women!?
"… Just what pissed those girls off…?" A knight asked.
"Don't ask me; they didn't say anything to me."
"Aren't you responsible for the Walls?"
"I am still a subordinate. The Valkyries and Sir Walter, the steward of Clan Adrastella, lead the army..."
"BASTARDS! Don't run away from me! Let me see your faces in pain!"
"..." The two knights looked at Violet Snow and her firepower, causing a literal hurricane of Fire.
"Hahahahaha~"
Anger, madness, and hatred were seen in her eyes. She was clearly taking out her frustrations on the 'poor' monsters.
"… Is it wrong for me to feel sorry for monsters?"
"..." The Leader of the Walls remained silent at his friend's question because he was also feeling the same.
"Just what in the name of all the dick-up-the-ass Gods out there could have made them so pissed off! Even the Valkyries are not in a normal mood." He grumbled as he looked at the Valkyries ordering the surrounding troops.
Even Rose, who was observing the battlefield not too far away from him, was in a very bad mood, and she was a woman who was usually very calm.
"..." That was an answer the Wall Leader wanted to know as well.
"Commander Rose, monsters were coming from the west too!" Dorothy, who was taking the role of scout, reported.
Before Rose could say anything, she heard:
"I'll take care of it; focus the Valkyries elsewhere."
Soon someone ran past her, jumped towards the west wall, and began floating in the air.
"ORDER!"
"..." The two knights looked up towards the voice that shouted and saw a woman of oriental origins. She was wearing full leather armor with an Odachi on her back. The woman was floating in the air, with eight talismans glowing in different colors in front of her.
"Susanoo, it's time! Today is the day! The day of the promised war has arrived! Take my faith, and in return, aid me to kill an army of corruption!"
Rumble, Rumble, Rumble.
Storm clouds started to be created, and torrential rain fell from the skies. Everything was very unnatural because only that area was raining.
Several bolts of lightning thundered in the clouds, and they started to fall toward the enemies, electrocuting all the monsters present. Then the tiny drops of water falling from the sky began to grow exponentially.
And soon, those water droplets grew to a sphere of water two meters in diameter, and all that water was flooding the entire battlefield at an alarming rate.
"Wrath of The Heavens!" By the time the woman finished the incantation,
The water that had scattered across the entire battlefield began to gather and formed eight 20-meter-tall giants with samurai armor from ancient times, and each of the giants carried different weapons. One of them was even carrying a rifle, a damn rifle!
The woman drew her Odachi from its sheath behind her and pointed the blade forward.
"Assemble."
ROAAAAAAR!!!!
With deceptively fast speed, a giant wielding two katanas jumped into the middle of the monsters and started slashing them all.
Then the giant carrying the rifle aimed at a 20-meter-tall Behemoth and pulled the trigger, sending out a concentrated beam of water that flew towards the Behemoth, obliterating it from existence.
Another giant with a bladed spear jumped behind the group of monsters and started fighting a giant centipede.
"Holy Jesus Christ, what the fuck!? That human is insane!"
"... The monsters aren't coming back..." The Leader of The Wall spoke.
"… Huh?" His companion looked at the dead monsters and realized that it was true.
"H-How?"
"If monsters just die with a certain type of property, it's pretty easy to apply those properties to spells."
The two men felt a chill run down their spines and quickly jumped back while grabbing the sword in their sheaths. They looked back and saw a strangely transparent old man.
Ignoring the state of the two men, he pointed to the woman's blade in the air: "Look at the Odachi's blade."
Rose, who was nearby, looked where the old man was pointing and saw that the blade was covered in several talismans.
"This is a blade that Lady Eleanor lent to Mizuki. She's using the Odachi as a catalyst to charge her spells. Think of the Odachi as a Wizard's wand, not a weapon, and voila, you've got the desired result."
"...I see. As she's using the Odachi as a catalyst, her power naturally flows through the blade and carries the blade's characteristic to all of her spells."
"Correct." Abe-No-Seimei laughed with the fan open before him; he couldn't help but look at Mizuki.
'Even at my peak, I could only maintain this Magic for a minute; meanwhile, my disciple can maintain it for more than half an hour... That incident with Victor's blood helped her immensely. She can reach new heights as a human, and that couldn't make me prouder,' he thought.
"Is that the power of an Onmyo mage? Holy fuck, no wonder Alucard likes her so much." Dorothy spoke.
'Well, Victor doesn't like her because he knows about these Powers. He likes her for who she is...' Abe-No-Seimei thought, but he didn't refute Dorothy, but he still said something:
"Mizuki is special even among Onmyo mages, that kind of Power is not normal for us."
'I knew of only one man who could do something similar: Ashiya Dōman.'
...
Across the battlefield, the two Alphas looked down at this chaos on top of a Wyvern.
"Do you understand now, Ken? That's the power of invaders."
"... They are killing all our weapons like it's no big deal... Especially those women. They are very dangerous." Ken spoke in disbelief.
"The intelligence of our Gods identified them as Scions of the most important Clans of the Race of invaders."
"And the one who summoned those humanoid monsters, she is a 'Human', a weak Race native to their original planet."
"... For a weak Race, she has a lot of power..."
"She is an anomaly," Kal replied.
"It's not uncommon for weaker Races to ask stronger Races for support. Beings like our Gods exist on their planet too."
"Impossible, our-."
"Do not be blinded by prejudice and fanaticism."
"...." Ken closed his mouth at his older brother's harsh reprimand.
"I understand you clearly, Ken. I had the same thoughts in the past, and I will repeat what our father said to me."
"Our Gods are powerful, but they are not omnipotent. Faced with an enemy with the same kind of support that our Gods give us, it is understandable that the invaders have so much power."
"...."
"This is a lesson for you to keep an open mind for strange events and know how to deal with them appropriately. Only then can we drive these aliens out and reclaim our planet."
"It is for this reason that our Gods commanded the Village Leaders to learn their language, culture, and history."
"The more we know about our enemies, the less our family members will have to die in this war because we will be prepared for them."
"Know yourself and your enemy. That way, the chance of losing a battle will drop significantly."
"Information is important; never forget that when you inherit my position one day."
"...." Ken bit his lip when he heard that. He knew that the day he inherited his brother's position was the day his brother would die.
"You understand?"
"Yes, Brother," Ken replied with a shaky but determined look.
.....
