Because of Ciel's sudden arrival, the bodies of the Nosferata hidden beneath their black clothing tensed slightly.
They knew Ciel. Before the plan began, they had collected information on her and understood that she was a powerful enemy.
"15:24:43—The surprise attack plan against the designated target has failed. Operation discovered by high-risk target. Shifting to direct combat."
"Not planning to answer my question? Fine. I don't have much to discuss with filthy vampires anyway."
Her joking, weightless tone ended there.
Ciel's eyes turned terrifying, killing intent surging and gathering within them.
Only when facing vampires would the killing intent of the Ciel part become so fierce that even Fenghuang Yu found it difficult to suppress.
Although the Nosferata were not acknowledged by vampires as kin, they were indeed vampires as well, and because they could not summon Beast Vassals, they were closer to the vampires Ciel knew.
When facing Avrora, she still had to focus on restraining her hostility, but this was different.
These people were enemies. Those cannon muzzles gathering magical power could not kill her, nor could they kill Avrora, but they could kill Kanon Kanase.
Their bodies carried the nauseating stench of blood, unlike Avrora, whose soul was as pure as ice and snow. These people drank human blood and had committed murder.
Abandon mercy. Against these people, there was no need to hold back...
SPLURT! SPLURT! SPLURT!
The sound of flesh tearing suddenly rang out from the Nosferata's bodies.
The magical armaments hidden inside them burst out through their flesh.
Weapons emerged one after another all over the Nosferata's bodies.
Some of those weapons were blades, some were firearms, but without exception, all of them carried magical power.
These weapons were all magical armaments, specially made weapons that could help ordinary humans without special abilities kill demons.
The gruesome sight of flesh being forcibly torn apart as weapons protruded from their whole bodies was honestly rather frightening. Almost no demons would undergo such dangerous body-modification surgery. Only Nosferata would do such a thing.
It was also through this method that the Nosferata had managed to occupy Caruana's territory and establish a nation belonging to the Nosferata. Before that, they had possessed no ability to oppose vampires at all, and in the eyes of vampires, they were nothing more than filthy maggots.
The Nosferata silently adjusted their positions, surrounding Ciel in the center.
They had not collected many recordings of Ciel's battles in advance, but from those recordings, they had drawn several conclusions. During combat, the surface of her body was always covered by a layer of high-density magical power, giving her considerable resistance to both physical strikes and magical bombardment.
Very well.
They had not thought that the source of that magical power was Ciel herself, only that she might be using some kind of defensive magical armament.
For that reason, the Nosferata had deliberately prepared expensive, specially made armor-piercing bullets.
BANG!
A sudden impact.
The Nosferata had only just taken formation, so the explosive sound was not caused by them firing.
Aside from the attacker, no one present had time to react before the throwing sword struck the chest of the leading Nosferata.
The throwing sword was known as a Black Key, a heretic-interrogation tool used exclusively by Executors.
Normally, only the "hilt" existed, and its blade could be manifested through Sacraments, allowing it to be used as a sword.
Although Black Keys were swords, they were mainly used for thrusting and throwing. In other words, they were not meant for slashing, but were bullets that pierced vampires from afar.
However, when Executor Ciel focused on using one, she could strengthen it to a force comparable to a cannon.
This was the product of extraordinary bodily control, stopping and driving force in millimeters, gathering dispersed power into a single point and throwing it. It could magnify the power of a Black Key to ten times its original value.
This was a technique of human movement, not magecraft or Sacrament.
It was the pinnacle of humanity woven by a certain fanatic over hundreds of years.
One of its achievements was sending Arcueid tumbling from one end of a park to the other.
The Burial Agency called it the Iron Plate Effect.
It was like being struck by a high-speed train... No, more than that!
It was like being rammed head-on by a mad demonic boar.
The one struck—the Nosferata leader—lost three-quarters of his body in an instant, minced flesh and fragments of magical armaments mixing into the raging wind.
The Nosferata standing behind him were the unluckiest. After pulverizing the leader's body, the Black Key's power had barely diminished. Not a single Nosferata struck by the Black Key had an intact corpse.
The Nosferata who were not struck head-on but had been standing close by were not much luckier. The blast of residual force struck them like a heavy hammer, sending them flying as they violently spat out mouthfuls of blood and bits of internal organs.
The perfect formation surrounding Ciel was scattered by a single blow.
The Nosferata grazed by the aftermath only looked badly injured. The greatest racial advantage of vampires and Nosferata was how difficult they were to kill.
But the ones who had been struck head-on by the Black Key and turned into chunks of flesh were different. Leaving aside the fact that Black Keys were their natural enemy, although the vampires of this world were said to be ageless and undying, the brain that controlled their magical power and the heart that controlled blood circulation were still their fatal weaknesses. Injured to such a degree, they were already beyond saving.
"Come on... Let me trample a few of you."
Ciel stood in place without moving.
Her utterly composed posture made it seem not as if the Nosferata had surrounded her, but as if she alone had surrounded all the Nosferata.
At that moment, Ciel seemed more like an inhuman monster than the Nosferata did.
The chill spreading through the air deeply stung the Nosferata's skin.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
There was no order from their leader. The Nosferata merely acted on pure instinct.
In the next instant, countless bullets tore through the air.
"Hah!"
Ciel took out Black Keys once again.
Not to throw them. She held them between her fingers, and as sword light interwove, every incoming bullet was deflected. Not a single one landed on Ciel's body.
The dazzling rainstorm of bullets was knocked away in its entirety by the Black Keys she swung. Some bullets fell to the ground, some flew into the sky, and some struck the Nosferata themselves.
"15:26:55—Enemy threat level judged to have risen beyond expectations. Long-range combat has produced minimal results. Revising operation plan. Beginning retreat."
A mechanical, inorganic report rang out.
Their leader had been killed by the enemy in a single blow just now.
The special armor-piercing rounds prepared for this battle had not achieved the slightest effect.
The fact that they did not scatter and flee in terror already proved that these Nosferata were well trained and had excellent mental composure.
Part of the Nosferata stayed behind to restrain Ciel, this powerful enemy, while the rest withdrew their weapons one after another and prepared to split up and retreat.
"You came here, and now you want to run?"
Ciel's figure vanished from the Nosferata's sight like a ghost.
The next instant, countless Black Keys dropped sharply from the sky.
SPLURT! SPLURT! SPLURT!
Not a single Black Key was wasted. Not one missed.
Every Nosferata was pierced from the top of the head by a Black Key, the long, slender blades running through their brains and hearts, pinning them dead to the ground.
Anyone who did not know better would have thought Vlad III, who had once loved impalement, had returned.
The complete annihilation of the Nosferata, the end of the battle—all of it happened in the blink of an eye.
"Trying to save them? Too bad. You were one step too late."
Ciel did not completely relax just because all the Nosferata had been eliminated.
Quite the opposite. The presence around her grew even thicker and heavier than before.
Three Black Keys were held between her fingers, ready to be thrown at any time.
"Not answering? You think what I just said was a bluff?"
Ciel found it rather funny.
That vast magical power was like a lighthouse in the dark night. It was not good at hiding itself in the slightest.
That person seemed to realize Ciel was not someone to provoke and prepared to flee.
Ciel immediately threw the Black Key in her hand.
A small Black Key, once thrown by Ciel, became as heavy as a cannon shell, containing a terrifying impact force.
The Black Key shot past that person's side, piercing through a large tree like it was rotten wood, then continued flying off without losing momentum.
At this point, how could the mysterious person skulking in the shadows not understand that Ciel really had discovered her, and had not been bluffing?
"Let me leave. I am not with these Nosferata. I was merely drawn by the commotion here and became somewhat curious about their target."
"Your purpose has nothing to do with me. If you can come and go as you please, people will think I'm easy to push around."
Ciel stood on the branch of a large tree, her tone forceful.
"Even passing geese get plucked, and beasts leave their hides behind... You want to leave without leaving anything behind? Where in the world is business that cheap?"
"...I can pay."
"What you have to pay changes according to your status. A single word from someone of great status can outweigh ten thousand taels of gold, while someone of low status may not even have the right to enter the venue."
At the end of Ciel's gaze, the mysterious person's true appearance was that of a petite girl with golden hair cut as short as a boy's. Her eyes shone with a bluish-white light like flames.
Her whole body was clad in platinum armor trimmed in gold, clearly an outfit meant for battle.
Most importantly, this girl's appearance was identical to Avrora's, as if they were twin sisters.
Bluish-white arcs of electricity flashed over the girl's body, which endured tremendous pressure. She narrowed her eyes, her expression grave as she met Ciel's gaze.
"So, what do you want?"
"Prove your value."
Ciel leapt down from the branch and landed in front of the blond girl.
"If you're a person of extremely high status, you can leave after paying a little insignificant money. But if you have nothing, then the only thing that can serve as payment... is yourself."
The blond girl's expression turned very ugly.
To prove her value... There was naturally only one way.
BOOOOM!
The girl raised her head, her small body erupting like a volcano as terrifying magical power burst forth.
It was magical power enough to shake the sky.
It was demonic force enough to move the earth.
Just releasing her magical power sent the aftershock spreading across all of Itogami Island.
"Come swiftly—!"
The blond girl shouted loudly.
The electric light around her swelled to its limit, then shot into the sky as if breaking free of some shackle.
The sky was covered by dark clouds, brewing lightning filled with destructive power.
"[REGULUS-AURUM]!"
In response to the girl's call, a lion whose entire body was golden and trailed lightning tore through the overcast sky.
Its majestic form was more than ten meters long, and even gave the illusion that it filled the entire sky.
The overflowing lightning shattered rocks, and massive trees were reduced to ash from only being grazed.
"ROAAAR—!"
The golden lion walked through the air, roaring at Ciel from afar.
Ciel's guess was correct. The mysterious girl before her, like Avrora, was one of the Fourth Primogenitor's vessels.
Moreover, the star Beast Vassal dwelling within her was the one Ciel was most familiar with, Regulus-Aurum.
Her opponent was a Primogenitor's Beast Vassal. She could not use the methods she used on small fry.
"I SWEAR IN THE NAME OF THE LORD—COME FORTH, O THIRD CAUSE OF DEATH."
Ciel chanted to herself.
Black Keys were only the most basic tools, something every Executor could possess.
What would bare its fangs next was the armament unique to the girl herself.
"ROAAAAR—!"
The lion's roar, which had echoed through the sky, became a death cry.
"!!!"
The blond girl, the fifth vessel, widened her eyes as though she had witnessed something terrifying.
The golden lion, its majestic form like a work of art... was cut to pieces.
Seventeen horizontal slashes, swift as lightning, cleanly sliced open the lion in the sky, severing even the bluish-white lightning it commanded.
They cut it to ribbons.
The golden lion that had possessed such dignity, like the incarnation of a natural disaster, had now been turned into scattered pieces of a corpse.
"...!"
As if she had suffered severe internal injuries, the fifth vessel's body suddenly trembled. She clutched her chest with a pained expression, and only by leaning against the large tree behind her did she avoid falling directly to her knees.
She raised her head, pupils shrunk to pinpoints and filled with terror and wariness. Her gaze did not dare leave that terrifying weapon for even a moment.
It was a segmented sword like a centipede, formed from several overlapping guillotine blades.
Bearing the name "Seventh Holy Scripture: Exsanguination" it was over two meters long, and when extended to its limit, it could reach thirty meters. It possessed an enormous mass capable of crushing enemies.
This gigantic chain sword held in Ciel's hand was her armament... or rather, one part of her armament.
Burning death, death by illness, death by blood loss, death by impact, mental death, death by torture, and Death by Original Sin... These were the seven causes of death established for mankind by law.
These crystallized causes of death became weapons, turning into the Seventh Holy Scripture.
A secret holy relic created by the Holy Church to display the Lord's glory, one that had lacked a wielder for a long time; a man-made manifestation of miracle.
This heavy, gigantic weapon, which humans could not even lift, let alone swing, had been swung in Ciel's hands to unleash seventeen consecutive godspeed slashes so fast that even the fifth vessel could not react.
In an instant, it had eliminated the Regulus-Aurum she had summoned.
---
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