Chapter 216: For Elize (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 216: For Elize (1)
A blood-red moon hung in the sky.
Black clouds swam leisurely across it.
Beneath them, the Holy Kingdom of Kassilon was shrouded in a dark red mist.
The sharp, piercing stench of blood filled the air.
The Holy Kingdom, once a harmonious balance of black and white, was now stained blood-red.
Swarms of bats occupied the kingdom's sky.
On the ground, clergy with red eyes roamed about.
The great temple of Kassilon.
The sanctuary said to be closest to God.
In that very place, known for allowing one to hear the voice of God, Elize was praying peacefully.
Saint Elize.
Elize the vampire.
The very person who had plunged the world into chaos.
The saint who had rewritten the order of a Holy Kingdom that prided itself on its long and storied history.
She had intercepted the faith of the believers that was meant for God. She had ordered them to attack people.
In doing so, the believers, who had pretended to be so pure, became just like her.
She made them drench themselves in blood, and those they attacked also became her minions.
Faith was power.
The source from which God was formed.
The faith of well over a hundred thousand believers flowed into Elize. She was no longer some manufactured saint.
A god.
It would not be an exaggeration to call her so.
And yet, Elize continued to pray.
The voice of God was still not heard.
Even as the world's balance crumbled and fell into chaos, God did not appear. Even as the believers prayed desperately for salvation, He remained silent.
“Haa…”
An irrepressible, bitter laugh escaped her lips.
Even after I've done all this.
What more do I have to do?
…
There was still one thing left.
The perfect balance Marcenus had spoken of. He had said that the true power of the saint would manifest when black and white achieved a perfect balance.
Elize had removed her ring, unleashing her suppressed vampiric nature, but she still hadn't consumed any blood.
Her bloodthirst had reached its limit, and a fierce, bloody light flared from her already red eyes.
—How long do you think you can endure it?
A man's voice echoed in her head.
It was the voice of Demian, a voice that felt like it would turn her into a traitor just by listening.
“How are you still alive?”
—Didn't I tell you? As a father, I could not leave my daughter behind. As long as my daughter exists, I will not die.
Demian's body had been destroyed, but the familiars he left behind in the world remained. As long as someone who carried his blood existed, Demian would not die.
This was an ability of Demian's, born of the Progenitor's bloodline.
“Moving from one place to another just to stay alive… a truly bat-like ability.”
It wasn't just his voice she heard. Demian was constantly trying to interfere with her consciousness.
Because his blood flowed through her veins, she couldn't get rid of him.
Yet, Elize stubbornly endured.
It was ironic. The sight of Elize hesitating now, after she had driven the world to this state with the sole intention of hearing God's voice.
Elize herself didn't know what she was hesitating about.
She just had a feeling.
A gut feeling that the moment she drank blood, there would be no turning back.
But the time to choose had come.
“We have guests.”
Powerful presences could be felt outside the Holy Kingdom.
It seemed they had come to pass judgment on the evil that had thrown the world into chaos.
Angels?
Or earthly agents of divine punishment?
Whoever they were, Elize had no intention of backing down yet.
She had not yet heard the voice of God.
*
The splendor of the Holy Kingdom had set behind a blood-red sky.
The city gates, once bustling with people from dawn till dusk, were now firmly shut. Kassilon had become a cursed city.
Four people were walking toward it.
“I can feel an immense power from inside.”
One was a girl.
A girl in a navy pointed hat and robe, carefully clutching a silver staff. She looked like a lovely girl dreaming of becoming a mage, but she was one of the witches the world once feared.
She had many dazzling titles—Hand of the Death God, the Witch of Judgment, the Magic Tower's Elder who was king of all mages—but what the girl liked most was her name.
She liked it best when she was called by the name her daddy, her master, had given her: Mirabelle.
“Maybe it's because I've lived in the forest, but seeing all this red hurts my eyes.”
Another was an elf.
Blonde hair and green eyes, a golden-ratio physique, and beautiful features. These were physical traits any elf would have, but a laurel wreath adorned her head.
Alfia, the strongest elven warrior and winner of the Elven Dance Festival. She was aided by a bow made from a branch of the World Tree and by Servants, higher beings than spirits.
“Ugh. The smell of blood is intense.”
The other was a small pink fox.
She, too, was a young girl like Mirabelle, but no one dared to disregard her.
Because she had nine tails.
The fox who twists fate.
Rin, the Gumiho.
Each one was a being capable of threatening the world, but ironically, all of them were slaves.
“Now, everyone. No acting rashly, okay?”
The man had been cautioning his slaves for a while now.
He had no power whatsoever.
He'd lose a race against a neighborhood girl.
If such a man had any distinguishing feature, it was that he was the master of these women.
Karami, the Slave Reaper.
These four had come to Kassilon.
“Mastah, what should I do? Should I go smash everything?”
“What have you been doing all this time with me? Do I look like someone who just smashes things? And you're heavy, so could you please get down?”
Mirabelle and Alfia were walking on their own two feet, but Rin was stuck fast to Karami's back.
It wasn't that Karami was giving her a piggyback ride.
Rin was clinging to him with sheer force.
“Rin is a baby. You have to protect babies.”
“Mirabelle is walking just fine on her own.”
“What's wrong, granny? Are your legs tired?”
“Who are you calling a granny?!”
Her trigger well and truly pushed, Alfia couldn't hold back her shout. The war of nerves that had been going on since the start of their journey ended in Rin's victory.
Karami, who had been watching silently, tilted his head.
“Rin, you're quite old yourse—Gack!”
Rin wrapped her arm around Karami's neck.
“That mouth. It would be best if you didn't open it again, Mastah.”
“Alright, I get it, so this arm…”
Rin released her arm, and Karami gave a dry cough, swallowing hard.
“Haa… Who's the slave and who's the master here?”
Caught between the two, Karami was completely drained. Mirabelle, who just loved all the lively energy, beamed brightly.
They decided that was enough fooling around.
The city gates opened, and clergy poured out.
A legion composed of priests and holy knights.
Mirabelle watched them closely.
“They're not being controlled.”
That's what made it so bizarre.
It felt like it was their own will, and yet not.
Their faith seemed to have been tainted by madness.
“I think that red moon is giving the believers power. I can see threads connecting them.”
Mirabelle's navy pupils shimmered with magical light. There was no deceiving the eyes of the Magic Tower's Elder, who was versed in all manner of mysteries.
In that case, the first thing to do was decided.
“Rin, that ominous moon. Get rid of it.”
“I was hoping you'd say that!”
Rin placed a hand on Karami's shoulder and leaped over him in a somersault.
Whoosh!
When she landed, it was not a child but a mature gumiho.
Rin's true form, her shapeshifting undone.
The gumiho, a fox spirit feared by the heavens.
Rin grinned, her lips splitting wide.
She brought her hands together, formed a sign, and chanted.
“Dawn.”
The sun, the natural enemy of vampires.
They weren't vampires, but they were receiving power from one.
Rin's Solar Eye, which reveals hidden fates and drives out evil, began to shine.
A golden light cast itself over the red sky.
A golden sun drove away the red moon, bathing the earth in light.
“Kuaaaargh!”
As if they were subterranean dwellers exposed to the sun, the clergy shielded their eyes with their arms.
Their bodies didn't burn away.
They were, after all, clergy, not vampires.
But their momentum had clearly diminished.
Alfia, who had been watching Rin's display, shouted accusingly.
“You weren't a child!”
“Why are you being so petty about something like that? It's not like you're a kid. Right, Master~?”
“Let's talk later. Alfia, open a path.”
“Tch. You just wait.”
Alfia gripped her bow.
Fwoosh!
A fresh breeze blew as a green light enveloped the bow.
“Darling. I think I'm having withdrawal symptoms, my hands keep shaking. I don't think I can shoot my bow like this, so hold my hand for me.”
Alfia said, holding out her hand.
Her smiling face was not that of someone suffering from withdrawal. Karami, though dumbfounded, was about to obediently take her hand when—
Sway~
A pink tail with a white tip rested gently on Alfia's hand.
“If your hand is shaking, Rin will hold it for you. How is it? Fluffy, right?”
“I asked for a hand, not a tail, didn't I? Darling, I think you need to retrain your pet. It can't even understand simple words.”
“These are fox ears, not people ears.”
Provoked by Rin's teasing, Alfia squeezed the tail—hard!
“Kyaaang!”
Rin leaped into the air. She blew on her tail, which was now indented with a handprint, and stroked it gently.
She growled at Alfia.
“Where do you think you're grabbing?! This is Rin's tail, the one Master praised for being pretty! Are you going to take responsibility if it gets hurt?”
“You have nine of them. Wouldn't it be fine if one disappeared?”
“All nine are precious, you know! You stupid elf!”
Karami sighed at the two of them bickering even in a situation like this.
“Sigh. Miss Mirabelle.”
“Yes.”
Mirabelle aimed her staff.
Space wavered, and a portal appeared.
“I can heal them, so just deal with them appropriately and make sure no one dies. That is all. I'll see you when it's over.”
“Master?”
“Darling?”
Leaving the two behind, Karami disappeared through the portal with Mirabelle.
Rin and Alfia were left all alone.
Before them, the clergy, having regained their senses, were forming ranks and preparing to attack.
“Master left without petting me because of you!”
“If you hadn't been fooling around, he would have nibbled my ear. Ugh, forget it. What's the point of talking to a beastkin?”
Alfia nocked an arrow to her bowstring and fired.
Flash!
A flash of light erupted, and half the legion collapsed.
There wasn't even a tremor in her hands.
“I'll just take down more than you and ask Darling for a reward.”
Rin didn't just stand by and watch, either.
She moved her fox orb.
The charging group of clergy collapsed one by one as if struck by dizziness.
Rin had used her illusion magic to make them see things.
“Hmph~? More than Rin? You must be daydreaming with your eyes wide open.”
“I know something that can give you a very pleasant dream. Want me to give it to you?”
“No thanks~ Rin only needs Master~ You can have it all to yourself.”
The two, who had been staring into each other's eyes without yielding an inch, shot forward as if on cue.
It wasn't a battle, but a competition.
The one-sided hunt had begun.