Chapter 67: The Puppet Progenitor and the Unpleasant Marionette Show - 4
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 67: The Puppet Progenitor and the Unpleasant Marionette Show - 4
At my taunt, Finlay's eyes widened as if they would pop out of his head.
“You bastard!!”
He screamed, veins bulging on his neck as if he were about to cough up blood. The darkness wavered with his fury. Beyond the reach of the light, a legion of thousands upon thousands stirred and began to move.
“I'll show you exactly why the nobles of the night are called the nobles of the night—!”
Just then, the Regressor threw the orb she was holding with all her might. The red orb containing the flames of the earth, the Volcanic Tear, rose into the air of Tantalus. Its immense presence, palpable even while it remained sealed, momentarily captivated every being present.
By the time they realized what was happening, it was too late. When the Volcanic Tear had climbed high enough, the Regressor spread her legs wide, pulled back her shoulder, and aimed Chun-aeng.
Her target was the Volcanic Tear, the treasure that held the flames from deep within the earth. The Regressor shot her sword.
“Skyblade Art. Daybreak.”
Whoosh.
A soft, short sound, like a gentle puff of air, pierced through Tantalus. A clean trajectory cut diagonally through the void.
The invisible sword shot upward at an angle, piercing the very center of the Volcanic Tear as it ascended. In the darkness, the sword’s path glowed red.
In that instant, flames erupted from the crack in the red orb, which held an enormous concentration of energy.
It was the flame that ignites a star.
It was darker than the sun, but it was a crimson flame intense enough to illuminate this narrow land.
The Regressor spoke with confidence.
“The Abyss is a bit dark, isn't it?”
The Volcanic Tear was a bomb that would explode if infused with mana. However, by infusing mana in a specific pattern, it would release a delayed explosion.
What did this mean?
“So I made a pseudo-sun. Not one of those artificial lights the Military State imitates, but a true flame that illuminates the world!”
At that moment, a small sun rose in the Abyss. For the first time since its creation, there was light in the ever-dark Abyss.
As the red light shone down upon the earth, the vampires' blood lost its color. The crimson light in the air seemed to assert that only light itself could possess such a color, burning away all the dark, blood-red energy.
The flame of a star—the natural enemy of vampires.
It would not tolerate anything beneath it daring to glow red.
“Aaaargh—!”
The same was true for Finlay. His skin rippled and gradually darkened as if bruised. If he hadn't been near the Progenitor, he would have crumbled into black ash.
The Progenitor instinctively gathered darkness to block the light, but that alone turned the tide of battle in our favor. The surrounding darkness vanished, and the area became bright.
The nobles of the night were nobles no longer.
The Regressor twirled the crimson-stained Chun-aeng and said, “Tyrkanzyaka was defeated not just because humanity grew stronger… but largely because she was studied and countered for over a thousand years. She was always considered the foremost calamity of the mortal world.”
“Grrrgh! You coward!”
“Cowardly? Hah, that's better than some vile bastard trying to control her heart the moment she's weakened.”
Cornered, Finlay shouted from behind the black mist.
“Progenitor! That orb!”
At Finlay’s command, the vampire reached out. Blood and darkness gathered to form a massive hand. As the vampire extended her arm, the giant hand of blood shot forward as if it were an extension of her own.
The moment its fingertips touched the small sun, the vampire clenched her fist. The bloody hand closed around the small sun.
And then, with a sizzle, it burned away, strand by strand.
“It’s useless. Not even Tyrkanzyaka could completely overcome the sun. With your pathetic level of control, you can't possibly squeeze that much power out of her.”
It couldn't be helped. Finlay desperately gathered darkness to hide his body. Having barely caught his breath, he gasped in pain.
“Urk, you… you possess the original blood! You, who have received the Progenitor’s grace, dare to betray her?!”
“Hm? Since I received her grace, I must repay it. By killing a parasite like you.”
The Regressor, having pushed him to his limit, advanced toward the two vampires hiding in the darkness to escape the sunlight.
“The original blood! How dare you, who possess the original blood, use the sun… The original blood?”
“Now. I’ll make this quick. It’ll only take a moment…”
Just as she confidently stepped into the domain of darkness.
“Haha! Yes, you carry the original blood within you, don't you?!”
From behind the darkness, a low laugh escaped the hidden Finlay. It was a triumphant voice, hard to believe it belonged to the same person who had been groaning in pain just moments before.
The Regressor frowned at his reaction.
‘He shouldn't have any means of resistance left. What's the big deal about the original blood?’
“You don't seem to understand what it means to possess the original blood, little girl.”
Finlay laughed bizarrely and shouted.
“That blood is both a great power and the strongest of shackles! Great power comes at a price. You accepted that blood to gain strength, but it will be the very thing that strangles you!”
“Shit!”
‘The original blood, it’s still inside my body! And that blood…!’
Realizing something, the Regressor quickly cut her own finger with Chun-aeng. At the same time, she pushed her Bloodcraft to its limit, trying to expel all the original blood remaining in her body.
But the original blood had already spread to every corner of her body. She was not yet skilled enough in Bloodcraft to selectively extract it.
When it came to Bloodcraft, Finlay was much faster. He clutched the Progenitor’s heart.
“O Progenitor, stop that woman's heart!”
Again, the vampire’s upper body swayed limply. Then, she reached out her hand. A look of urgency crossed the Regressor’s face. The amount of blood flowing from her finger increased.
But just before the original blood could emerge…
The vampire clenched her fist in the empty air.
Simultaneously, I heard a squeezing sound right beside me.
“Gah…!”
The Regressor’s chest caved in to a bizarre degree before snapping back. Blood spurted from her lips, and her slender body staggered violently….
Huh, wait a minute. Regressor? If you go down, I'm screwed.
I rushed over and supported her.
“Hey! Wait! Trainee Shei! You can't collapse!”
“Kuh, ugh. This… is…!”
“You have to punish Trainee Tyrkanzyaka for me! I'm at a disadvantage against her!”
“Is that… really what you should be saying… to someone in my state?!”
Fortunately, the Regressor wasn't dead. She had protected her heart with her own Bloodcraft and Qi Art.
The ultimate defensive Qi Art, Heavenly Counter Domain, ensured the body’s normal function under any circumstances. Though her heart had stopped for a moment, her body moved as usual, and her heart had followed its rhythm.
“I withstood it…! But.”
The Regressor gasped for air and straightened herself. Her eyes hadn't lost their fighting spirit, but the body doesn't always follow the mind. Staggering again, she clutched her chest and gritted her teeth.
“Right now… getting the original blood out… is impossible…!”
“What? Then what about Trainee Tyrkanzyaka?”
“Just hold on somehow…! Three minutes, just give me three minutes…!”
“Me?”
No, forget three minutes, that vampire could make a meal out of me in three seconds if she wanted to.
The only saving grace was that she was being controlled by Finlay, which dulled her reactions, and with her consciousness blurred, her hostility toward the Regressor and me was faint. The vampire was probably using less than a tenth of her full power.
Of course…
“Urk…!”
That was because Finlay was incompetent.
The vampire’s power was immeasurable, but Finlay’s had its limits.
Controlling the Progenitor with Bloodcraft was far more difficult than manipulating a marionette. It was a method of forcing blood supply by moving her stopped heart with Bloodcraft and issuing commands by slightly awakening her hazy consciousness.
Even this was only barely possible after the vampire had relinquished her own power.
“For a mere retainer… to control the original blood… is it impossible even while I’m controlling the Progenitor…!”
Finlay, whose heart had nearly burst from the backlash of trying to control the original blood, looked to be in as much pain as the Regressor.
But unlike the Regressor, Finlay was a vampire. Pain aside, his heart exploding wouldn't kill him.
“Heh heh. It’s fine. There are more than enough ways to kill you. Do you two know what the Progenitor's nickname is?”
Finlay extended his hand. At that moment, from the areas untouched by the light, things began to crawl out one by one.
They were countless dark knights, clad in pitch-black armor and wielding weapons made of darkness.
“Knight Killer. That was the first nickname given to the Progenitor. No matter how skilled or famous they were, they were swordsmen at best. All who came seeking the Progenitor were swept away and died in her ocean of blood.”
Clank, clank, clank, clank.
Clank, clank, clank, clank.
The number of dark knights was endless. There were so many that I wondered where they were all coming from, if they weren't perhaps being created from thin air.
Their bodies were so black they looked as if they had been stamped from a mold.
But on closer inspection, they were subtly different. The hands that held the weapons, the weapons themselves, their height and build, and even their stride and gait.
Though they all marched in disciplined ranks, each was a different being.
“Because the Progenitor is a legion unto herself.”
Finlay pointed to the dark knights arrayed before him. Although they couldn't use blood energy because of the Volcanic Tear shining from above, this number was enough to easily destroy any city, even without the red life force that burned blood.
Finlay lorded the power over as if it were his own.
“Well now, swordsman. Can you fight a legion and win?”
Impossible.
Confident of his victory, Finlay extended his hand. The thousands of dark knights took a step toward us.
In contrast, on our side, there was only the weakened Regressor and me, who had been powerless from the start.
“Ugh…! That number…!”
A troubled look appeared in the Regressor’s eyes. Still unable to control the raging energy within her, she staggered as she tried to stand.
“Just sit tight for a moment.”
“Gah?!”
I kicked the back of her knee to make her sit down again, then stroked my chin, pretending to think. I heard a gasp from below me.
“You… can’t… win…”
“True, I probably can't win. That's why.”
A legion of dark knights? Just three of them would be enough to finish me. And he wanted me to win against that many? It was out of the question.
Therefore, the course of action I had to take was already decided.
I turned to the Regressor and announced my intention.
“I'm going to call for help.”
“…Alright.”
The Regressor had hesitated to use this, worried that the vampire’s body might be completely destroyed.
But that was better than my own body getting shattered. I rummaged through my pocket. It was all too easy to find what I was looking for in a pocket with so few items.
“Now then. See this? This is what's going to kill you.”
I pulled a bell from my pocket.
It was a small chime bell. The same one I used to feed Azzy. I held the bell high in one hand and shook it from side to side.
Tinkle, tinkle. The clear, small bell sound flowed out faintly, only to be drowned out by Finlay’s ensuing roar of laughter.
“Hahaha! What do you intend to do by ringing a bell? Is that some kind of Divine Bell? Don't make me laugh!”
Finlay mocked me and shouted.
“Garlic pickles, was it? Well, let me return those words to you! I will hang your body upside down and drain your blood! I will crush you this instant, along with that bell….”
“Grrrrr.”
Finlay’s voice cut off abruptly. As if he had just witnessed death itself, he stiffly turned his neck toward the source of the sound.
I shrugged and said, “Alright, Azzy. That bad man is bullying us.”
The sound of the chime bell was faint amidst the encroaching darkness, the splashing blood, and the ominously trembling space.
But it was loud enough for the Dog King to hear.
“Grrrrrrrrr.”
Her once twitching cheeks were now fully drawn back, baring all her teeth. Her fur and tail stood on end, as if her whole body had sprouted thorns. The once gentle and bright face was now filled with nothing but hostility as she glared at the vampire.
The Dog King, Azzy, now stood before me, radiating pure animosity.