It was in moments like these that Cao Cao thanked himself for learning various magics with Alexandre, using one to be able to ignore the absolutely frigid environment of Romania.
Or at least, the vampire territory they were in now.
Due to the general weakness to sunlight that all vampires, except the rare Daywalkers, possessed, the dwellers of the night from the distant past gathered their power to envelop their territory in eternal night and winter.
Recharging that spell was probably the only occasion when the Tepes Faction and the Carmilla Faction regularly worked together.
It wouldn't be good if the spell suddenly ended in the middle of the day in summer, and the vampires had the misfortune of being outdoors at the time to be reduced to ashes as a result.
Alexandre and his group were currently on the edge of a cliff overlooking the city that was the heart of the Tepes Clan, a massive snowstorm raging above, making their vision difficult.
"So, what should we do, Alex?" Mitsuya asked the leader of this small entourage.
"…Well, they probably already know we're here, considering this is the heart of their territory. Originally, I wanted to undo the spell they're using to perpetuate this eternal night and winter…"
"Not a good idea," Alexandra Yeva approached along with some of her subordinate vampires.
For a battle like this, quality over quantity was better.
"That will affect even the Carmilla Faction," the Queen said casually. "Besides, remember, Alexandre Ikuse, the vampire known as Marius Tepes is my prey!"
"Be my guest."
The Hakuryuukou did little to stop the Dhampir.
Alex looked at Kuroka: "Did you find her?"
"A Dhampir, correct? She's in the castle's basement, with four guards."
"Can you get her out and retrieve her without being seen?"
"No problem, nya~."
"Le Fay, you help her."
"Understood, Lord Alexandre."
Nodding, Alexandre raised his right hand, summoning his purple mist.
"Dimension Lost…"
The mist intensified even more before everyone, enveloping the entire large region governed by the Tepes Faction.
"Balance Breaker."
The original Balance Breaker of [Dimension Lost] was called [Dimension Create].
It allowed the user to transform the mist into a barrier that traps people inside a pseudo-space, all maintained using stabilization devices. The more powerful the mist, the fewer devices needed.
The wielders are capable of creating different spaces with varied effects, ranging from preventing communication with the outside world and dispersing attacks to completely nullifying their enemies' powers or using the mist to subtract their power.
Even in Balance Breaker, the wielders can still use the Longinus normally, blocking attacks and teleporting wherever they want.
Depending on the user's power, these barriers are not easy to break, and while beings with great mastery of magic could enter, it's almost impossible to escape. But beings of God-Class or those truly powerful could destroy the mist through brute force or by destroying all the devices; it's also possible to usurp control of the dimension, but that requires truly supreme mastery over magical space-time, which only primordial gods or mages of Alex's caliber could achieve.
An extremely powerful individual like Alex can create dimensions that don't use devices and from which escape is impossible because the mist is sentient and won't let anyone leave the dimension alive.
Using the power of the Longinus, moving the entire Tepes Castle region to another dimension to prevent escape was an easy task.
"The plan is simple. Me, Arthur, and Mitsuya will attack head-on. Kuroka and Le Fay will go after Valerie Tepes, while Arlecchino stays in the rear and takes care of the remaining enemies."
"I'm going straight to the castle; my subordinates will attack the rest."
Yeva didn't even wait for Alexandre to finish before giving her orders, making the Hakuryuukou shrug.
"Well then, let's start with a little greeting, shall we?" Alexandre said while looking at the city below, where small specks began to move, likely the Tepes Faction responding to their presence.
The mist enveloped everyone, spreading them within the barrier surrounding the city, and thus began what would soon be known as the Tepes Faction Massacre.
"Stop them, don't let them get close—Aaaaagh!?" A vampire screamed as he was vaporized by a massive spear of holy light.
With each member sent to different key points within the barrier created by Alexandre, the Hakuryuukou advanced without care.
While the area governed by the Tepes Faction was the size of a small city, Alexandre sent everyone else, except himself and Arlecchino, to the castle area.
Meanwhile, Alexandre and Arlecchino walked directly through the city.
The Tepes Faction was sending their fighters en masse, but each quickly met their end.
Alexandre raised his hand, summoning his magic, and soon they were torn apart by the absolute gravity of the small black hole he had created.
It was a testament to his masterful level of control that he was able to prevent the supergravitational singularity from devouring everything around it and only targeting the vampires, an even more incredible feat given that gravity was one of the most advanced branches of magic, with only a small handful of magic users, human or not, capable of claiming to be masters, Alexandre Ikuse being one of them.
"How dare you do this?!" One of the vampires shouted, a gigantic aura bursting from his body, large enough to be classified as Ultimate-Class.
"I am a nobr—"
The vampire's words couldn't be spoken, as in an instant Alexandre had already passed by him, his holy sword in hand as he sliced off the vampire's arms and legs.
"O monster that feeds on humanity, fall," Alexandre turned to him indifferently, pointing his finger at the vampire: "Ark!"
A sphere of holy light enveloped the vampire, who was soon consumed by the light.
[Ark], a magical power that creates light particles, used by the Goddess Clan. It can be used in different ways, such as forming energy beams, explosions, energy blades, barriers, myriad effects, etc.
A lethal power against beings of darkness, capable of destroying them easily.
"Kind of cliché, isn't it? The big bad bosses stay in their castle while they send their pawns to do the dirty work. It always ends with them getting a beating," Alexandre said jovially, even as he continued to attack in a strangely violent manner.
"Then let's play the heroes and kill the villains."
The shadows around Arlecchino began to rise with her words, and when they finally grew to three meters, the shadows unleashed in the form of ten three-meter-tall monsters, each enveloped in a deep aura of light.
Seeing the Beasts emerge and soon fire large lasers of holy energy that annihilated hordes of vampires, Alexandre could only remain silent at the sight of Arlecchino's power and her Sacred Gear.
[The power of that Longinus remains outrageous], Albion commented in Alexandre's mind.
"Annihilation Maker, one of the Four Strongest Longinus, and one of the most powerful and feared, of course, if you can create monsters using imagination, even gods can be killed."
While watching the woman in front of him create monsters relentlessly, Alexandre could only admire the power of the Longinus he considered the most dangerous.
All Longinus were dangerous in their own way; his [Divine Dividing] could halve the enemy's power, [Regulus Nemea] could split the earth in half, [Dimension Lost] could destroy countries by sending them to the Dimensional Rift.
In contrast, that Longinus could create an army of monsters capable of steamrolling an entire country in a few hours.
What was frightening wasn't just the power of the Longinus, which, with a wrong thought, could create a mountain-sized monster running loose, but its wielder.
The girl who long abandoned her name, whose eyes were terrifying.
Her eyes showed nothing but emptiness, an unfocused, dreamy, and dazed expression. Obviously, something happened to Arlecchino in the past, something horrible to make her this way; she couldn't have been born like this, something twisted her into this state.
Such an unstable Longinus user… Obviously a danger to the world… With her power, this power at her disposal… Thousands of lives in danger… Millions perhaps precisely in danger. And not just for humanity, but for all mythological creatures.
A woman with no attachments with the power to break the world's balance.
Among all the possessors of [Annihilation Maker], Alexandre Ikuse was absolutely certain that Arlecchino was the most powerful and the one who had taken the Longinus the furthest.
Her actions showed it; in a span of five seconds, she had created ten monsters capable of rivaling High-Class demons in power.
And they were [Anti-Monsters], special creatures created focused on their enemies' weaknesses, in this case, with the enemies being vampires, each creature wielded holy energy in a way Alexandre had seen few times in his life.
She had created ten [Anti-Monsters] in five seconds, but in the next thirty, the creation became irregular.
A small army of over one hundred and fifty [Anti-Monsters] with High-Class powers specialized in killing vampires stood behind her.
Alexandre knew very well that Arlecchino could create much stronger monsters, but creatures of this High-Class level she could make in seconds, so she was choosing quantity over quality.
It was because of her power that Alexandre was certain they wouldn't be cornered in this mission.
While watching the army of creatures created by Arlecchino, Alexandre's attention was immediately drawn to the sky.
From the sky, a massive toxic cloud of poison descended, everything it touched rotted and was destroyed instantly.
"Ark!"
Once again summoning the power of light, Alexandre purified the attack, preventing the destruction caused by it.
[I never imagined seeing that being here.]
Albion's voice echoed in Alexandre's mind as he looked at the one responsible for the attack.
A black-colored Eastern dragon. It was described as having a large body about 20 meters long and an ochre belly; despite its snake-like appearance, it had four limbs and four wings.
"I knew they would revive Evil Dragons with the Holy Grail, but I didn't think it would be so soon… no, if my guess is correct, this dragon wasn't revived through the Holy Grail, but through its own power."
Evil Dragons are a group of dragons known for their particularly vicious temperament, as the cruelest and most brutal among all dragons. Most of them are dangerous battle maniacs who want to destroy everything, including themselves, earning them the name "Broken Dragons."
Moreover, the Evil Dragon before them was famous throughout Europe, mainly due to its ability to resurrect itself for when Ragnarok occurs.
It was likely that this dragon resurrected itself and was recruited by the mastermind of everything.
[-Níðhöggr]
After hearing Albion's voice, the Evil Dragon deepened the smile on its ugly face.
"You there, you're Albion? Guhehe, it's been a long time since we've seen each other; you really have gotten a bit small."
Alexandre narrowed his eyes; despite this Evil Dragon's form, its power surpassed that of a Dragon King.
"Don't worry, Alexandre, continue your path; I'll take care of him."
Hearing Arlecchino's monotonous voice, the Hakuryuukou nodded and quickly disappeared into the purple mist.
The ugly eyes of the Dragon turned to Arlecchino, who took a few steps forward.
With each step, dozens of creatures emerged from her shadow.
"I will be your opponent."
With Cao Cao-
The Tepes Castle, once a luxurious structure that rivaled the greatest Romanian castles, had aged poorly. Damaged by the unstoppable force of time, it had become a kind of beautiful ruin.
Sent there, Cao Cao wasted no time infiltrating the grand castle until he encountered the first vampires.
Before they could react, Cao Cao attacked, his Holy Spear in hand, killing one instantly.
The other was so shocked that he stopped moving completely; he could recognize the use of holy light if his panic-filled face was any indication.
Before they could react, Cao Cao had already decapitated him with his spear, the holy light burning his existence and leaving only ashes behind.
It didn't take long for dozens of vampires to sense the attack and head toward Cao Cao to attack him.
However, the wielder of [True Longinus] was relentless, firing dozens of beams of light from his spear that pierced the bodies of High-Class vampires, killing them effortlessly.
Several of them tried to fight back by sending their shadows, but it was useless, as the aura of light was literally burning the darkness.
Even those using magic were easily cut down by the holy spear.
And despite all this, Cao Cao hadn't taken a single step.
He watched impassively as the vampires' bodies littered the castle, while he could feel even more vampires approaching, these with a slightly higher power level.
Cao Cao could see several vampires literally transforming into reptile or insect forms and coming at him with fury in their eyes.
"So, this is the vampires' metamorphosis ability," Cao Cao pondered, watching the vampires destroy everything in their path, not caring that they were destroying several Low-Class vampires with their actions.
When they finally reached a certain distance, ready to tear Cao Cao apart, he released the aura of his Longinus, creating a toxic aura of light in the air.
Vampires have an overwhelming disadvantage against Cao Cao. They are even weaker to light than demons, and the boy wielded the strongest holy weapon in the world.
A single slash from the Spear of Destiny would kill them instantly, no matter how durable their bodies were.
They were outmatched in every sense of the word.
Finally, it seemed the vampires realized who they were fighting against, if the fear in their eyes and the burning skin caused by the Holy Light released by the Spear of Destiny were any indication.
Cao Cao quickly cut down several vampires with his spear, releasing waves made of Holy Light.
Looking back, Cao Cao could see the vampires staring at him with horror and fear as they tried to flee; however, all he did was point his spear at them.
A holy sphere emerged at the tip of the spear and grew exponentially.
A barrage of white beams shot out from the sphere and bombarded all the vampires mercilessly. The attack was ruthless, tearing apart anyone who tried to resist or flee.
Every single vampire that tried to approach Cao Cao was annihilated, to the point that the death toll had already surpassed hundreds.
The Holy Aura he was releasing, both from his body and the spear, was becoming more oppressive to the vampires. So much so that they couldn't even get close to him without burning.
"You dare, you mere human!!??"
A single vampire shouted, his aura unquestionably greater than the others, reaching the Ultimate-Class realm.
Next to him was another vampire, also boasting an overwhelming aura as great as the first.
Two vampires with Ultimate-Class power, and from what Cao Cao could assume by their appearances, both were the eldest sons of the King of Tepes.
The first advanced, manipulating the darkness to try to cut Cao Cao's body.
Keyword—trying.
Before he could touch him, Cao Cao surrounded the blade of his spear with blazing holy light and thrust it at the opponent, impaling him in the chest. The crown prince looked at the mortal wound in disbelief, and a second later, he burned to nothing more than ashes.
The second, in shock, tried to attack, but…
"──Slow."
Cao Cao bathed him in countless stabs, riddling the vampire's body with holes.
In the next moment, due to the effect of the Holy Spear, the vampire with immense aura turned to ashes.
As he walked, turning dozens of vampires to ashes with his strikes, Cao Cao felt an extremely powerful aura.
One that was not that of a vampire.
The ceiling above him was destroyed as a gigantic being fell in front of him.
It was what could be described as a combination of a dragon and a tree.
Cao Cao's eyes didn't even know how to express his surprise at this.
"To think I'd have the chance to face the Holy Spear. Sleepless Dragon—Ladon is my name. I'm mainly in charge of barriers and protective walls."
The legendary dragon recorded in Greek mythology focused its eyes on Cao Cao.
"I will be your opponent."
In another corner of the immense castle, a young man wearing futuristic clothes walked through dozens of vampire bodies.
All of them were destroyed and dead, even the vampires' regeneration was nullified by the light sword he held in his hands.
It wasn't a Holy Sword, just a simple light sword he had borrowed from Alexandre before the invasion began.
However, as Mitsuya Kanzaki advanced, two people stood in his way.
The first was a man with sleek, light silver-gray hair, red eyes, regal features, dressed in noble clothing, holding a simple spear.
The second was a woman with blonde hair and matching eyes, dressed in an elaborate black dress, also holding a spear similar to the man's, only shorter to suit her size.
Seeing the two, and especially feeling the overwhelming aura of both, which just barely reached the Maou-Class realm, Mitsuya smiled.
"So, my enemies are Galliard Vladi, the Leader of the Vladi Clan, and Priscilla Galnstein of the Galnstein Clan."
They weren't ordinary vampires but those who had fought in the first Vampire Civil War, and they were certainly among the five strongest in their Faction.
"How presumptuous for a human," Priscilla mocked.
"Don't let your guard down," in contrast, Galliard was fully alert: "Sometimes, a human's curse can be more dangerous than that of the gods themselves."
"First Darkness, this man before us could possibly reshape the human world. This guy is the unexpected person who achieved the Balance Breaker of the detestable thirteenth Longinus, [Telos Karma]."
Even hearing the Vladi's words, the woman scoffed.
"Even if it's a Longinus, he's a mere human; I'll suck him dry."
Mitsuya raised an eyebrow at the double entendre of the phrase.
"Sorry, but I'll have to decline."
Kanzaki extended his hands, showing his two gauntlets while smiling.
"Everything is for the sake of [Innovate] and [Karma], after all."
Upon arriving at the grand castle, Arthur immediately began working with practiced efficiency.
Arthur rushed at the nearest vampires with Excalibur Ruler, splitting one in half.
With unmatched agility, the Pendragon heir shot through the battlefield, destroying all enemies he encountered in a flurry of strikes.
Carving a path of destruction through the digital creations, the Pendragon heir was a fencing force that no common infantry soldier would dare challenge. No wonder, once he made his presence known on his warpath, a high-ranking vampire came to him.
Towering over Arthur was a colossal vampire, about three meters tall with an extremely strong body, black beard, and hair.
The aura he emanated was comparable to Ultimate-Class, perhaps reaching the Maou-Class realm.
"Your advance stops here, human. I, Izraf, will stop you."
Hearing the vampire's words, Arthur merely adjusted his glasses, Excalibur Ruler ready in his hand.
"I'd like to see you try."
Entering the Tepes Castle was easier than Alex expected, as was reaching the throne room.
It wasn't as if any vampire had managed to stop him; the holy aura emanating from him and the holy sword in his hand were enough to annihilate anyone in his path.
Arriving at the throne room, Alexandre noticed the large doors destroyed, showing that someone had arrived before him.
In the center of the hall were three people.
The crimson-haired woman—Alexandra Yeva.
The others were two men, both blonde with red eyes; the difference was that one was clearly older than the other.
If Alexandre had to guess, the older one was the current King Vlad Tepes IV, while the other was his son Marius Tepes.
"So you finally dared to attack us, you half-breed, and you bring a human with you."
The King of Tepes growled, but Yeva's attention was entirely directed at Alexandre.
"You took your time."
"Sorry, I got lost on the road of life."
Alexandre had to dodge a blood spear that nearly hit his head, courtesy of Yeva.
The woman could be difficult, but by Almighty God, Alexandre knew how good she was in bed.
"You're losing focus."
"True, we can deal with that later."
Setting his thoughts aside, Alexandre turned to his two enemies.
Not just two, the figure of at least hundreds of vampires blended into the darkness emerged, and in front of them, two beings.
One was a tall man with disheveled gray hair, a matching beard, and red eyes, dressed in black armor heavily stained with blood, holding a similarly blood-stained spear, giving him a much wilder appearance.
Next to him was a woman, this time with silver hair and blood-red eyes, wearing a rather sensual battle armor set that did more to show off her assets than protect her. Unlike the other, she didn't wield a spear but a staff.
"Let me introduce—the first King of Tepes, Vlad Tepes I, and the Queen of his Faction, Carmilla I."
"That's impossible; both should be dead!"
Seeing the two figures of legendary power, even Yeva couldn't help but be shocked.
"Both must have been revived by the Holy Grail," Alexandre said in a mutter.
"Then let's send them back to the coffin!"
Alexandra Yeva announced, stepping forward.
The air around her shimmered as magic began to distort reality itself, and more distant circles began to materialize, ready to unleash their deadly payloads at a moment's command.
Seeing such a display, Alexandre merely smiled.
"Very well. O Holy Cross, manifest."
Exploding behind Alexandre, bathed in an overwhelming holy aura, a massive cross made of purple flames emerged.
For an instant, it was possible to see fear in all the vampires in the room.
And, seeing that fear, the human smiled.
"Let's begin."