Chapter 609: Fairy Princess vs. Vampire Prince (2)

The young girl and the young boy quietly glared at one another. Boasting fair-skinned, beautiful features that both harbored the *Charm* trait, they might have looked like siblings when paired with their long blonde hair.

However, the powers they wielded were close to complete opposites, and the desires locked deep within their hearts were completely contrary as well.

“Meteor Striker—Irradiation Burst.”

Lily took the initiative.

The god of vampires, *Fresh Blood Archduke Loa*, possessed an entirely unknown set of capabilities whose name she had never even heard. Quite literally, a probing attack was required.

What she unleashed was a beam fired from the Meteor Striker gripped in her right hand, accompanied by the bonus addition of countless *Lux Sagitta* arrows.

Against an ordinary undead, it would be a sacred light overkill that wouldn’t leave behind a single scrap of flesh, but Rudra had already blocked a *Full Burst* from her twin pistols completely unscathed.

Lily wanted to determine exactly what method Rudra was using to block light magic.

“Be dyed in vermilion—*Dominion*.”

The moment he chanted—or rather, the barrier must have already been established beforehand.

A slushy, blood-like water surface had spread beneath Rudra’s feet before anyone noticed. The circular pool of blood, spanning a radius of about five meters, was recognizable at a single glance as a barrier born from a divine protection, identical in nature to Lily’s own *Oracle Field*.

The important part was how much defensive power it could exert, and whether it possessed any specialized magical effects.

The answer was quickly delivered by the beam plunging forward at the speed of light.

“It disappeared… No, it diffused the light.”

The beam that plunged into Rudra’s *Dominion* seemed to have its brilliance grow faint, and in the very next instant, it vanished completely.

It was likely the same principle Fiona used to block light magic with her *Mugen Hojo*. That barrier was entirely filled with a mechanism that absorbed light just as much as, or perhaps even more than, a smokescreen of black magic.

As expected of a vampire vulnerable to light, his preparations appeared flawless. She presumed that because it was specialized for defense against the light attribute, its physical defenses would be weak…

“Devour their flesh and blood, my servants.”

While completely neutralizing Lily’s rushing light magic, Rudra raised his hand and commanded.

The pool of blood acting as his barrier bubbled and churned as if boiling—and from within, bright red wolves began to manifest, raising loud, distant howls.

It wasn’t just one or two. Like a starved pack rushing a quarry, they leaped out from the red surface one after another.

And wolves were not the only things that appeared. Behind the more than one hundred starving red wolves, an immense number of wingbeats played out, sounding like a flock of birds taking flight all at once. They were neither birds nor beasts, but bats possessing both wings and fangs.

In the blink of an eye, a massive pack of wolves racing across the ground and a wave of bats seemingly ready to blot out the sky materialized. Every single one of them recognized Lily as their sole target, rushing forward as a chaotic, single mass.

“Hmm, what a thoroughly classic vampire ability.”

Rather than a summon, these were servants created out of his own magical energy. Their presences were entirely identical, and no sense of self could be felt from them. It could be called a highly advanced, autonomous type of magic that perfectly retained the sensory and locomotive capabilities of the original animals.

For Lily, the best she could do was add a homing performance to her light magic to automatically pursue enemies. It was precisely because of his traits as a vampire—the extra magic inherited by his race—that he could attain the ability to create and manipulate wolves and bats.

Despite being advanced magic, what it manifested was an overwhelming violence of numbers.

Against Rudra’s servants rushing from both the ground and the sky like a crimson tsunami, the approach Lily chose was a direct, conventional frontal assault.

“Surely such a mere distraction isn’t the true power of a True Vampire.”

A surging torrent of light burst forth. Against the countless enemies, Lily countered simply with countless light strikes of her own.

The thick beams irradiated from her ancient twin pistols swept across the earth, erasing the bared fangs of the wolves all at once.

Against the massive swarm of bats that blanketed the sky like a large cloud, she detonated brilliant lights as if to completely clear a darkened sky. The *Lux Sagitta* arrows unleashed were comparable in number and momentum to a downpour of rain running in reverse.

The moment they were pierced by the arrows of light, the bats formed from the power of darkness were instantly purified and destroyed. Furthermore, the *Lux Sagitta* arrows Lily fired far exceeded normal power; the glowing arrows triggered explosions the instant they pierced their targets, demonstrating that they could wipe out the surrounding, swarming bats along with them.

Neither the wolves nor the bats amounted to anything before Lily. Truly, they were nothing more than a “distraction” that could be easily brushed aside.

“—I have no intention of holding back against you.”

They had already long passed the stage of underestimating or testing each other’s capabilities. Rudra, having personally experienced Lily’s power, had accepted from the very start that setting these servants upon her would be perfectly sufficient as a mere distraction.

The exact moment Lily cleanly swept away the obstructions, Rudra had already closed the distance directly before her eyes.

No sound. No presence. Despite being the master of such a sinister and mighty magical energy, that absolute silence was precisely because he was a vampire—a monster feared for appearing and disappearing unpredictably in the dark of night.

What entered her sight was a crimson tornado. The swirling red aura of Loa was being emitted from the cursed katana Rudra had swung upward.

It was not a sharp technique born of refined training, but a manifestation of pure power. As if mocking forty years of discipline, the mightily swirling power of divine protection transformed into an absolute destructive force and slammed into Lily.

“Star Sword—!?”

The blades of light—which had previously intercepted, deflected, and occasionally even launched counterattacks against the blades of the three swordsmen numerous times—shattered. It wasn’t that she had underestimated him; as proof, she had deployed two blades instead of one, intending to catch it in a crosswise block.

However, the instant the flashing blades of white light touched the vortex of crimson aura enveloping the cursed katana, they shattered as brittlely as glass.

Seeing that power, Lily finally realized.

The divine protection of Loa didn’t simply raise resistance toward the light attribute, which was the weakness of the undead. This was actually a power meant for attacking rather than defending.

This sinister, blood-like aura possessed a specialized effect that extinguished light. The light that was supposed to illuminate the darkness was easily painted over by Loa’s blood-color. In other words, it inverted the weakness relationship between the light and dark attributes.

For Lily, who had mastered light magic, Rudra as a vampire was originally an opponent with the absolute best compatibility. Her advantage should have been absolute. Even if he raised his output slightly through the power of divine protection, overturning that weakness should not have been easy.

Yet now, before the power of Loa which specialized in destroying light, that compatibility was reversed.

“…I never would have thought my Oracle Field could be sliced open so easily.”

Lily immediately aborted her guard and executed an evasive maneuver.

Fortunately, Rudra himself had not yet completely controlled the immense power of Loa. Using it for the first time in forty years meant it had become even stronger than it was back then, so his inability to fully master the reins was unavoidable. His execution of a second strike was delayed by a fraction of a moment.

The single strike Rudra unleashed shattered Lily’s *Star Sword* and further tore her *Oracle Field* to shreds, and just as the blade was about to reach her person—Kurono saved Lily.

Through the instantaneous activation of *Oversky*, she escaped the light-devouring cursed blade at an ultra-high speed that gave the illusion of teleportation magic.

“That complacency will cost you your life. Just as it once did mine.”

Lily had escaped the reach of his katana. The torn Oracle Field was immediately repairing itself, and Rudra surmised that she was likely beginning to formulate some sort of countermeasure.

However, seeing how she still hadn’t thrown her entire heart and soul into the encounter, Lily was still not serious even now.

For Lily, a fairy specialized in the light attribute, the power of Loa carried the absolute worst compatibility. She must have understood that meaning long ago. No, it was precisely because she understood it that she maintained her composure. If she truly was a fairy princess worthy of being called a monster by Zeldras, she might even overturn a compatibility that had been inverted by superficial techniques.

And yet, that very thought was complacency. A carelessness that would miss the chance for victory.

“Behold, this is the true power of *Fresh Blood Archduke Loa*.”

The fresh blood barrier that protected his body. The servants of wolves and bats welling up in countless numbers. The crimson aura that destroyed sacred light. All of them were nothing more than bonus capabilities. If it was a vampire harboring a divine protection, they would possess at least one capability of this level, and among higher-tier experts, it was not rare to possess them all.

Why was Zeldras van Belmont hailed as “loved by the gods”?

This was the reason.

“Manifest through my blood—*Loa Avatar*.”

It was a massive skull. It appeared soundlessly and waveringly, like a shadow puppet being projected.

The skull, massive enough to look up at, was equipped with two large fangs identical to a vampire’s cranium. A light of crimson aura was lit within its dark eye sockets, emitting a sinister brilliance that felt as though it would suck out one’s soul if stared at.

Only the upper half of its body materialized. Yet, upon the skeleton’s body—which was as massive as it was stained and dirty like an ancient, bleached corpse—it still wore a pitch-black mantle as if to symbolize a high level of pride.

Spreading its mantle like a dark night, the massive skull floated quietly behind Rudra like a ghost, like a guardian spirit.

An illusion.

Nay, it existed in this world with a distinct mass.

“Could it be, an incarnation of a god—guh!?”

As if to make its presence known, the *Loa Avatar* in the form of a massive skeleton extended its elongated arms equipped with sharp claws and captured Lily. The manner in which it grabbed her entire spherical Oracle Field was done with the casual ease of holding a ball.

“Yes, what stands here is precisely the incarnation of a god. Through my power, I have projected the form of the god who slumbers far beyond the abyss into this world.”

It was merely a shadow. However, it was the shadow of a god.

A divine protection was obtained through the gate of the soul that connected with a deity. From the perspective of a god, it was said to be nothing more than a faint connection—narrower than a pinhole, so tiny that if lost from sight even once, it would never be found again. Because the difference in existence between a god and a human was simply too vast.

With nothing more than such a tiny connection, humans could wield such tremendously mighty power in reality.

That being the case, even if it was merely a shadow, if one could project the shadow of a genuine god—

“You are not the only one loved by the gods, Lily.”

“Kuh…”

For the first time, a shade of impatience surfaced on Lily’s face.

Trapped within the grasp of a god, Lily no longer had any method of escape.

Even by activating *Overdrive*, she would only barely manage to achieve an equilibrium. Both forces were, after all, the physical might of a god. The power of a Demon King no longer held an advantage that could unilaterally overturn the situation.

The same applied to *Overgear*. With that defensive power, even the strength of the Loa Avatar could not crush her in a single breath. However, a defense like a hard stone was only effective while it was actively maintained. If the compression continued, that defense would inevitably break eventually.

Escaping with *Oversky* was even more out of the question. Lily was already completely within the palm of its hand. There simply did not exist a gap through which she could escape. Ultra-high speed was meaningless; if she intended to escape the palm of a god, she would have to use something like teleportation magic that could leap through space.

She could not break through by brute force, she could not maintain her defense to the end, and she could not run. Furthermore, there was no time.

The palm of the Loa Avatar was, naturally, clad in the crimson aura that extinguished light. Even for her sturdy and all-powerful Oracle Field, it probably wouldn’t hold out for another ten seconds.

“You underestimated the power of a vampire, and that is your defeat.”

“…Underestimated? Surely, after being shown such immense power, it is impossible for me to underestimate you.”

Lily smiled.

Despite the fact that not even a few seconds of time remained for her.

“I offer you my respect, Zeldras van Belmont. You are loved by the gods just as much as, or perhaps even more than, I am. Therefore, since it is you, I do not mind granting you this.”

It was Lily’s trump card, which she had failed to deploy against Fiona and had held back from using even in front of Kurono.

“Awaken, Knight Frame *Spriggan*.”

Lily’s magic circle expanded as if bursting open. Charging out from within were a pair of massive, steel arms. They were the arms of a knight, clad in brilliant blue armor over silver-white steel.

And the duty of a knight was to protect their master.

To protect the beautiful fairy princess, the twin arms of the knight seized the arms of the evil vampire god.

“Impossibility… This form is—”

Rudra’s eyes went wide with astonishment.

The figure of a massive knight—grabbing the arms of the *Loa Avatar* and pushing them back by brute force—completely emerged from the magic circle.

Exactly what kind of fierce battles had it braved? The appearance of the knight, with its refreshing white and blue color scheme, was terribly soot-stained and filthy. The armor in various places was dented and gouged, demonstrating that it had been exposed to attacks severe enough to deform thick steel defenses.

Despite such a battered appearance, the massive knight—yes, an ancient, giant humanoid weapon that should be called an Ancient Golem—stood up powerfully.

“This is on a completely different scale compared to Galahad’s Power Loaders. For this Knight Frame is a genuine weapon utilized in ancient times.”

The Knight Frame *Spriggan* that Lily had summoned was the sole unit that had remained in an operational state, a loyal knight—or rather, an automated weapon—that had continued to guard the crashed Sky Battleship Shangri-La here for thousands of years. To be precise, it was currently in what should be called an automated piloting mode.

Presumably, Lily was not the first person to set foot into this uncharted territory containing Destiny Land. However, the reason no information regarding this place had existed within the Avalon Adventurers Guild over the course of centuries was because every single person who came here had been ruthlessly eliminated by this weapon, which faithfully upheld its ancient commands.

Lily had recognized that defeating the *Spriggan* protecting Destiny Land and Shangri-La to claim this land was part of her trial of love; she had challenged it and emerged victorious.

And this mighty Knight Frame, which had functioned as a sort of boss, had become her trophy exactly as it was.

Her experience piloting the *Taurus* during the Galahad War had borne fruit. Although it was a Knight Frame that served as a main battlefield weapon of antiquity, the technology utilized within it was identical. With Lily having already studied the basics of ancient magical technology, and possessing the mothership Shangri-La which held the facilities required to operate a Knight Frame, combining the two meant that reusing the *Spriggan* she had once defeated was by no means impossible.

Of course, this was entirely contingent on the outcome of her previous battle, where Lily had driven the machine into a functional halt without destroying it beyond repair, operating from the very beginning under the assumption that she would use it later.

“To think she could even resurrect and manipulate a Knight Frame. Is her true terror not the power of divine protection, but her intellect—guuu!?

As if letting out a roaring battle cry, the Spriggan spewed a thunderous, bluish-white phosphorescence of magical energy from its main boosters on its back, forcing back the incarnation of Loa.

The shadow of the god and the ancient humanoid weapon were, by a strange twist of fate, identical in size. The composition became exactly as if an evil undead monster and a holy knight were engaging in a head-on, physical grapple.

Naturally, their massive figures—many times larger than humans—scattered the aftermath of a destructive power corresponding to their size into the surroundings.

“My strongest servant, I shall give it to you!”

As if responding to Lily’s fighting spirit, the Spriggan’s boosters roared even louder, doubling their output.

The armor across its entire body rattled and shook, looking as though it might fly apart at any second. Deep within the heavily cracked fissures, the same blue light as the boosters leaked out. Already battered all over and merely functioning by a hair’s breadth through repairs, the Spriggan—as if understanding that this was its final task—launched itself upward.

“U-Urgh… This… power…”

Toward the red sky covering the God-Devouring Realm of Avalon, a beautiful pillar of blue light struck upward. The Spriggan, which had launched vertically, continued to rapidly ascend in altitude while keeping its hold on Rudra, who bore the Loa Avatar on his back.

Danger.

Without even needing to think, Rudra desperately attempted to escape.

Squeezing out every last drop of his own magical energy, he forced the Loa Avatar to move, pummeling the Spriggan. It was hard. But it was not to a degree that could not be destroyed.

Striking it a second and third time, the Spriggan’s left arm shattered completely from the shoulder down. However, its single remaining right arm still maintained its grasp on Loa’s body.

A crimson flash. Utilizing his own swordsmanship, Rudra slashed through the fingers of the Spriggan’s right hand, finally breaking free from the restraint.

And that was where his time limit expired.

“Three, two, one, thank you—Self-Destruction Formula: Uroboros System, Release.”

A massive explosion that drowned out Lily’s whisper bloomed in the sky of Avalon.

The Spriggan—or rather, presumably every Knight Frame—was equipped with a self-destruction function. By shifting the flow of magical energy generated from the Magius Drive, which served as its heart, to close entirely within the internal mechanisms in a figure-eight pattern rather than sending it throughout the machine, the massive volume of magical energy used to move the giant weapon could easily be transformed into a single bomb.

The exceedingly simple self-destruction formula was remarkably convenient to use.

Furthermore, Lily had concluded that to effectively utilize the Spriggan, which was already so battered that long-term operation and precise combat movements were impossible, discarding it via self-destruction was the best approach.

“Kuh, hah, aah…”

The self-destruction attack of the Spriggan looked exactly as if a blue sun had manifested. Even after taking a direct hit from it at point-blank range, Rudra remained alive, as if embodying the very definition of immortality.

However, he was doing everything he could just to stay alive. The destructive power was simply too massive to be received by a naked body. If the Loa Avatar hadn’t shielded him at the cost of its own existence, he would have suffered a complete annihilation without a single speck of dust remaining, entirely devoid of any possibility of resurrection.

Receiving the full force of the massive explosion, the shadow of the god was completely blown away. Rudra’s consciousness was currently hazy; even the few clothes remaining on his person had been blasted to nothingness, leaving him falling upside down through the air completely naked.

Even so, his hand remained clamped around his katana, never letting it go.

The sensation of his favorite blade in his grasp barely managed to tether Rudra’s consciousness.

“I am…”

As long as his sword remained in this hand, he could still fight.

“No, this is the end—*Gungnir*.”

What pierced Rudra just as he was about to regain his consciousness and fighting spirit was a pitch-black blade.

Thundering with black lightning and an eerily loud resonance of thunder, it flew forward at a speed invisible to the eye—an ultra-high speed where even the sensory capabilities of a True Vampire would nearly lose sight of it: a cross-shaped spear.

“Gah, aaaaaaaaaah!!”

A sharp electrical strike coursed through his entire body. An impact that felt as though he would be blown into separate pieces. Yet, the most intense agony was the wound that had pierced him.

The blade had accurately shot through his heart.

With the thunderous roar of a boom rushing past his ears as the final sensation, Rudra’s consciousness was finally closed into absolute darkness.

“Phew, it felt like my shoulder was about to pop out. I never want to use a technique like that a second time, Sariel.”

The finishing blow delivered to Rudra had been executed utilizing a weapon and martial art borrowed from Sariel. To finish off a vampire after all, it was necessary to accurately pierce a vital organ. If light magic would not pass through due to Loa’s aura, there was no choice but to stab him with a blade.

And to accurately pierce the heart of a True Vampire with a blade, Sariel’s miraculous, god-like spearthrowing martial art was the most appropriate method.

Although borrowing the technique from Sariel via her *Regalia* armor was well and good, the backlash upon her body was more severe than anticipated, causing Lily to involuntarily grimace.

“But with this, things have finally become quiet.”

As if nod-nodding to herself in agreement, Lily looked up at the chalk-white castle that stood symbolically at the center of the land.

The highest roof of its keep. There, Rudra lay crucified by the cross-shaped spear.

The power of his blood had likely bottomed out completely. The body of the beautiful boy was transforming back into the appearance of a heavily emaciated, severely ill person once more.

Lily felt it was a state perfectly fitting for the end of a vampire, a terrifying monster.

“Ah, yes, that’s right. Because an unexpected interruption came in, I almost forgot completely.”

Lily’s body lightly floated into the air.

She could fly.

That meant, in other words, the heavy shackles of gravity that previously bound her flight capabilities had long since vanished.

“Now then, you are the final person, Selis.”

Alighting upon the top of the Ferris wheel like a feather, Lily wore a carefree smile characteristic of a fairy as she looked down at Selis, who had collapsed after reaching the absolute limit of her strength.

End of Chapter 609