The Dhampir Nun, Part 6
Swoosh!
Bastards.
I told them to bring it on, and they actually rushed me all at once.
They were different from the half-beast bastards I had faced on top of the train.
These were the swords of properly trained knights, dancing wildly from all directions.
Clang!
In the midst of the chaos, I stomped down on a blade aiming for my lower half, pinning it to the ground.
"Urgh!"
I tried to counterattack the bastard struggling to pull his sword free, but reality isn't like the movies.
Slash! Slash!
Blood splattered across the spot I had just hastily retreated from, using the pinned sword as a stepping stone.
Had I pressed the attack, I might have crushed his head, but I would have lost my own limbs in the process.
"A-Argh! My eyes!"
Bingo.
One of them had been hit by the stray droplets of my blood.
As they momentarily faltered at their comrade's scream, I dashed behind one of them.
Tap.
"Gasp!"
Boom!
A light touch, followed by the muffled sound of an internal explosion.
The devastating impact of a one-inch punch ruptured the vampire's insides. He died spewing the very blood he loved so much from every single orifice.
Splatter!
"Scatter—urgh!"
I wrapped my unraveled cloth around the arm of the one who seemed to be the highest-ranking officer besides Hector.
Leaving behind the others who were dispersing into bats, I pulled him close. The look on his face as he faced me alone was priceless.
"You hard-to-kill bastards never prepare yourselves for death, do you?"
"Aaargh! You filthy livestock...!"
Squish.
I felt the sensation of my fingertips, straightened like sharp spears, piercing deep into his neck.
Crunch.
I grabbed onto something hard inside and ripped it out.
Thud.
As a mess of unidentifiable flesh and white bone came loose in my grip, I shook my hand and carelessly tossed it to the ground.
"You...!"
"What?"
"The Butcher! How dare you mock us!"
They had finally realized.
They must have smelled blood, but they were too slow to realize the holy power infused within it.
Since it had been ages since the Church of the Thousand Days last fought vampires, they probably assumed I just had some artifact suppressing my transformation.
"By the way, how did you know I was the Butcher?"
For the disciple of someone who had slain a Vampire Lord, I barely had any history with vampires.
I had killed a few runaways here and there, but that was it.
"There is only one piece of trash who possesses not a single shred of the dignity of the Sun's Sword!"
"Dignity, my ass. You clearly don't know how that bastard fights when he's actually pissed off."
I'd feel guilty calling myself sane, but calling other holy power users normal is an insult to me.
"I will hold him off! The rest of you, find the stain and erase her!"
"Even if you find her, you won't be able to kill her. She's already in the embrace of the Sun."
"What...?"
"She's currently training to be a nun, you idiots."
Yeah, I bet you're shocked.
I find it just as absurd, so I won't use it to taunt you.
"Ever since your First Ancestor was abandoned by the Sun in the past, churches became places vampires could never enter."
The first vampire.
A monster whose very name was forbidden to speak.
The First Ancestor was the beginning, and the Progenitors were ultimately its first children.
"Make your choice. Go to the cathedral, stand around like idiots, and get incinerated by the Sun, or fight me here and die a glorious death—or win."
Clack.
They were finally forming a proper line.
Two marksmen and four swordsmen.
A well-balanced composition.
If they hadn't wasted time trying to show off their noble grace at the start, I would have had to deal with the coordinated attacks of all ten of them.
"O Sun."
"Attack!"
Bang! Bang!
Light enveloped my body, and fire wrapped around my fists.
Ping! Ping!
My body, coated in holy power, easily deflected the petty ranged attacks of the wicked vampires.
"That fire...!"
How was the monster whose name was forbidden to speak killed?
"We shouldn't fight him head-on...!"
One of the first holy power users.
The one who carried the fire of the Sun burned the First Ancestor to death.
Of course, they say he died in the process, essentially a self-destruction, but this fire burned demons and monsters alike. Its very root was pure malice directed at those who had abandoned the Sun.
Swish.
My palm lightly brushed against a blade.
Deflecting the trajectory of the swords as fluidly as water, I forced the two lunging swordsmen into a single clump.
Thwack!
My fist slammed directly into a face.
"Aaargh!"
"G-Get away!"
The swords, which knights were taught never to let go of even in death, were already flying through the air.
Because I was channeling the light, the impact was stronger than expected even though I had held back, but the real issue for them seemed to be the fire.
"I-It's the fire that burned the First Ancestor!"
"H-Hieee!"
The bastards, who had barely reacted to the deaths of their comrades, were finally showing genuine terror.
Crunch!
"Even if the Sun itself descends, we will not abandon our goal! Even if we must kill the Butcher and burn down the cathedral, we will complete our mission!"
Hector shouted, slicing the throat of one of the retreating marksmen. At his words, determination returned to the eyes of the terrified survivors.
"Everyone, raise your guns!"
The one holding the Black Gold Iron shield charged at me alone.
Crash!
"Hup!"
"Tsk."
I threw a punch at the charging shield, but as expected, it didn't burn.
The damn Black Gold Iron was slowly absorbing the light I channeled, and it possessed high resistance to fire.
"This shield was originally crafted to counter the Sun's Sword! But by killing the one who carries the fire that slew the First Ancestor, I shall become a new Lord!"
It sounded like nonsense, but it was actually possible.
Of course, I had absolutely no intention of dying.
Grip.
"Urgh!"
The moment I grabbed the shield to pull it aside, his one-handed sword aimed precisely for my fingers, forcing me to hastily retreat.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Damn it!"
Since I was using holy power, I wouldn't get hurt by those ranged gunshots, but the problem was that they were persistently aiming for my eyes.
I wasn't Superman; my eyeballs weren't bulletproof.
I might be able to block them with my eyelids, but I had no desire to test that theory.
Boom!
"Ugh!"
The moment I covered my eyes, he didn't miss the opening and executed a shield charge.
I blocked it quickly enough to prevent my ribs from shattering, but there was nothing I could do about my body being launched into the air.
Screeech.
"...?!"
The sword he thrust forward failed to pierce my abdomen.
It seemed concentrating my physical reinforcement on my abdomen in that split second had worked.
"Aaargh!"
Crack!
The moment I grabbed his arm, he used the edge of his shield to sever his own arm to escape.
"Pant! Pant!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Now that the guy in front of me was incapacitated, the gunfire from afar was no longer a threat.
"Stay back! Stay back!"
Stomp!
I stomped on the pathetically fallen bastard, pinning him down so he couldn't escape.
Click.
"Aaargh!"
He cried like a baby. Pureblood, my ass.
Bang!
I blew off the screaming bastard's head with Horizon.
"Alright."
If nothing else, I made sure to take this damn shield.
But seriously, why the hell hasn't a single cop shown up in this situation?
"You there! Stop right there!"
"...?"
I instinctively turned my head at the familiar voice.
I saw a girl with black hair tied in a ponytail and dark eyes, who had just begun to blossom into a young woman.
"E-Exorcist?"
"What are you doing here?"
For a student, it was long past the time to be asleep, regardless of studying.
Leona stood before me, holding a single sword.
"I burned those strange drugs, and thanks to that, I got assigned to the night watch!"
"Sigh. Let's walk for now. We need to get out of here before people start gathering."
She was smiling.
Well, at least she was happy.
Burning the drugs was a good thing, but if those four had only sold them to students, the professors wouldn't have stayed quiet.
It was obvious that the professor—or professors—involved had pushed Leona out to prevent her from causing any more trouble at the academy.
The truth was a bit harsh, but there was no need to spit on a smiling face, right?
"So, what happened here?"
"I fought some vampires. It'll be quiet for a while. More importantly, go back, you brat!"
"You're hurt, so I'm staying with you!"
"Then come with me to the cathedral."
"The cathedral?"
"I'm the new priest there. Don't go making a scene inside the academy grounds, though."
When I revealed my current identity, Leona, who had been staring blankly, gasped in shock and leaned in close.
"T-That decadently handsome priest?"
"What do you mean, decadent? I just changed my hair and eye color."
"The priest that the first and second-year girls say they want to devour the most was really you, Father?"
"...Devour what?"
"Y-You, Father."
Ah, this godforsaken city.
It seemed the reason the new priests and nuns ran away wasn't just because of the head priest.
"You're not hanging out with people who say things like that, are you?"
"No. I'm too busy hanging out with people who train diligently. And..."
"And what?"
"A-Are you living with that nun whose hair color is said to match the color of her... n-n-nipples?"
"...What?"
"I-I asked if you're living with that nun."
Oh, Lord Sun.
Why do you bestow such garbage trials upon me?
This crazy girl claimed she didn't hang out with them, yet she seemed to have heard absolutely everything.
"First of all, yes, we live together. What of it? I'm a priest, and she's a nun. Well, a nun-in-training, to be precise."
"R-Right! Priests and nuns are forbidden from marrying, after all."
"I would highly appreciate it if you kept that in mind."
"But is her hair color really the same as her—"
"Shut up."
"Yes, sir..."
Rugenia, a kingdom ruled by a coalition of Vampire Lords.
Though human kings and nobles existed there, they were ultimately mere puppets of the vampires, committing heinous deeds just to receive a false, extended life at the end of their natural lifespans.
"Damn it! I even gave him a shield made of precious Black Gold Iron, and he still failed, Hector?!"
Albaros, who had dispatched Hector and his squad to bring back Luna—dead or alive—after she fled into the heart of the Empire, felt one of his connecting lifelines snap.
"If only I had the blood of that stain, I could have trampled over the other Lords...!"
Although most of the Vampire Lords, including Albaros, targeted Luna, Albaros was the only one who had managed to infiltrate his subordinates deep into the Empire.
"Wine! Bring me wine mixed with well-aged blood this instant!"
Albaros's shout, born of a need to suppress his rising anger, echoed quietly through the castle.
But when even the blood bags, who should have reacted instantly to his command, remained silent, a sense of unease washed over him.
No one has died.
If any of the servants in the castle had died, he would have known.
Yet, he felt nothing. The last connection he had felt severing was Hector's death.
Clop.
His bedroom was located at the highest point of the castle.
It was a place filled with vanity and a love-hate relationship with the sun, built high up in a desperate attempt to get closer to the sky they could never face.
"N-No way..."
A sound that should have been impossible to hear reached his ears.
Clop.
The sound of horse hooves.
Clop, clop.
Rattle.
A bedroom at a height that even birds struggled to reach.
Along with the alternating footsteps of horses, the unforgettable sound of a carriage drew near.
"Master. We have arrived at the castle of Vampire Lord Albaros."
A carriage drawn by four horses with blood-red eyes, just like vampires, had arrived.
The coachman was a werewolf with beastly eyes and sharp claws.
And there was only one person who traveled in a carriage that soared through the sky, employing a werewolf—a natural enemy of vampires—as his coachman.
"T-This humble Lord greets the Progenitor!"
A waist that seemed as though it would never bend for anyone bowed low, and knees hit the floor.
He slammed his head against the bedroom floor hard enough to crack it, but he didn't show a single hint of discomfort.
Click.
Beyond the door that opened automatically without anyone touching it.
A figure stepped down from the pitch-black interior of the carriage.
Step, step.
Unlike the old-fashioned Lords, he wore a perfectly tailored modern suit. He possessed blood-red eyes and matching blood-red hair.
"It has been a while, Lord Albaros."
"Y-Yes, my Lord..."
The Progenitor, Cain Ashborn.
"I hear you targeted my daughter?"
He was the only Progenitor who wished to live among humans, and he was Luna's father.