{Present,Estate of the Carmilla Royal Faction}
—Voltas '56th Legion Commander of Tepes'—
Two hours ago—that was when the siege of the city began.
He was certain that serving directly under Tepes, and commanding twice the army size, would guarantee the plan's success.
The brilliant Tepes strategy had drawn the entire enemy army out of the city, forcing them to protect the outskirts and other directions, while a portion of the population remained inside. Since Queen Carmilla alone was said to be equal to an army, the Tepes faction assumed she would take command of the defense.
And they were right. She was there. He knew he couldn't defeat her outright, but he also knew he could cause enough destruction to the city's infrastructure that the next siege would bring it to its knees.
"Raise your weapons!" he roared. "Cover the sky in blood spears!"
He wasn't fighting to win the battle—he was fighting to win the war.
His battalions stood ready, bows and spears in hand.
"Fire!"
Arrows and spears shot skyward, blotting out the moon. Thousands of spikes filled the sky, and when they fell, there would be nothing left but corpses. Unlike the Tepes, the Carmilla faction had no way to revive their dead. They wouldn't return the way he could.
Grinning, he watched as the blood-imbued spears began their deadly descent. Even if Carmilla stopped them, she'd have to burn her strength to do it.
Unfortunately, hope doesn't always play along.
"I guess I'm just in time."
The unfamiliar voice made his blood run cold. Then, something impossible happened.
The sky. The arrows. The spears.
Everything froze in place.
Instead of falling, the projectiles dissolved into nothing, vanishing before they ever touched the ground.
"What's happening!?" he barked at his soldiers. "Why did the attacks stop!?"
The Tepes vampires looked just as shaken. "W-we don't know, lord! We didn't stop them!"
And then came worse news.
"R-reinforcements!" another soldier cried.
His head snapped toward the shout just as he saw them—magic circles flaring open across the ground, spilling out waves of demonic power. Devils.
Not one, not two. Thousands. Magic circles lighting up everywhere, and from each, figures emerged until at least ten thousand devils stood ready. The defenders' numbers now nearly matched their own.
"Attack!" he bellowed. "Don't let them group up!"
But dread gnawed at him. 'We're only three thousand stronger, but they have the home ground advantage. With that damned Queen, the scales aren't in our favor anymore…'
He ordered another volley, spears and arrows enchanted with blood magic.
But the devils were faster.
"Defend!" one of the older devils commanded. At once, they fell into formation, barriers rising across the battlefield. The rain of weapons struck uselessly against the shields, unable to break through.
They didn't feel the split-second freeze this time, nor did their attacks vanish. Still, they weren't enough to land a proper hit.
He took it upon himself to strike, unleashing a vortex of blood magic—an offensive tornado, raw and violent.
This time, the Queen didn't stay silent. She stepped in herself. The devil boy at her side didn't try to steal the moment; he simply stood back and let her handle it.
Queen Carmilla, descendant of the True Ancestor, wielded blood magic far beyond his own.
And it showed.
"M-My lord!" one of his commanders screamed. "T-the tornado!"
His skin crawled at the sight.
Carmilla raised a single hand, her eyes bloodshot, and in mere seconds the storm he'd conjured turned on him. It twisted, reversed course, and swelled with power—now chasing him and his army, tearing through them with merciless force.
"Shit!" he cursed, struggling to wrest control back. But it was hopeless. The tornado had already smashed through their front line, ripping vampires apart before he could bark an order.
"Move!" he shouted, though his throat was dry.
Then it hit him—that same sensation from before.
Frozen.
His eyes went wide, his already pale face drained further. He couldn't move. Nothing worked but his eyes, darting in their sockets. And with them, he saw the front lines locked the same way.
Frozen.
There was nothing he could do. Nothing.
The first time, the freeze lasted a second—long enough to erase his attack from the sky.
Now, seconds dragged on as he watched his own army butchered by his turned tornado.
By the time he understood the cause, it was too late. The storm was inches from him.
And beside it—he saw the smiling face of that accursed devil boy.
He realized then. It wasn't the Queen. It wasn't the Carmilla vampires.
It was him.
'Fucking devil bastar—'
That was his final thought before the tornado swallowed him whole, bones shattering, limbs twisting into shapes they were never meant to take. His body was ripped apart and hurled hundreds of meters away, raining blood and flesh across the battlefield.
* * *
Each step I took, bodies fell. Ripped to pieces, hundreds and thousands of them. Pieces so small, one could call it mush.
I was far better than the time I faced Katerea. I had experience now.
I alone was enough for this battle. With no Satan-class opponent, not even a proper Ultimate-class, I was a wild bull against a defenseless child.
Absorb made sure I never ran out of demonic power or stamina. Bind ensured not a single enemy raised their weapon against me. Disperse made sure no attack ever reached me. And Sever made sure no neck was left uncut.
I walked over a sea of flesh and blood, like stepping on beach sand with the waves washing in.
"A-Attack!"
The order didn't come from the enemy—it came from my own side.
Both devils and vampires beside me were shaken by the brutality of the scene, too stunned to act. Still, they pulled themselves together and unleashed their attacks.
Demonic power shaped into spinning discs, orbs, and spikes. Blood shaped into spears and blades.
And yet—even kills from them, heads blown apart or eyes pierced, seemed tame compared to what I was doing.
In seconds, the sound of my system rang in my ears, snapping me out of the battlefield's haze.
[Hidden Quest Completed!]
[Quest (Completed): Slayer of Chiliad!
Objective (Cleared): Slay a thousand enemies!]
[Rewards (Obtained): Mirror Mould]
[Mirror Mould: A shapeable material made from an unknown substance. It can take the form of any non-living item you have seen once in your life, perfectly replicating its effects. One-time use only. The item is destroyed after first use.]
I finally paused, admiring the reward and just how broken it was.
By now, I was starting to get used to the system's gifts.
And this moment of restraint gave the queen's army and my commanders the chance to break through, hacking and slashing at the enemies ahead.
A few of ours fell—mostly vampires—but I made sure to bind the ones targeting my devils. I couldn't afford to lose my already small force.
Meanwhile, their army crumbled faster than they could react.
The numbers had finally swung in our favor. A third of their forces were gone, and with devils added into the fight—something they weren't prepared for—their capabilities fell short as well.
I stayed in place, no longer rampaging like before.
The bloodlust, the thrill of cutting them down like cattle, it was new to me. Dark. Dangerous. I couldn't let it consume me. Not yet, and definitely not before I understood it.
"You are…" a voice finally reached me, "…the one Elmenhilde spoke about."
I had sent Elmenhilde ahead hours earlier. She was holding another front with my queen, while my rook fought elsewhere.
Now that the tide had turned and the commanders could take charge, I decided it was time to face the queen.
"It is an honor to meet you, Your Majesty," I said with a small bow of respect. "I am Faiser Valefar-Barbatos, Lord of the noble devil pillars of Valefar and Barbatos."
She was a beauty—no, that word undermined her.
She was stunning. Almost too perfect.
Flawless skin without a single blemish. Blood-red eyes that glowed like rubies in the dark. Silver hair that gleamed under the moonlight. Taller than most women—about the same height as Bova in his human form, and he stood around six feet.
She dressed in colors that matched blood and night, her jewelry clearly artifacts, and carried herself with an aura that never once betrayed distress—even though her army was outnumbered.
"A lord of two pillars… not just one," she muttered in a silky voice. "That is unheard of in the devil world, at least since I have known them."
Me too. I just leaned on my lawyer's tricks and ended up with both titles.
"I'm lucky on a few fronts," I admitted. "And thank you for holding on for so long with a much smaller army, Your Highness."
We both turned our heads to the battlefield. Demonic and vampiric magic ripped through the enemy ranks with ease, lighting up the night sky. A few of our men fell, but for every one of ours, ten of theirs were cut down.
"I heard of the situation from Elmenhilde," she said with a tone tinged with bitterness. "The Tepes faction was always shrewd with politics. I should have known they would forbid the devils from taking part."
"Shall we take this to the sky, Your Highness?" I asked, unfurling my wings. "Victory always looks sweeter from above."
I extended a hand to her, breaking more than a few royal protocols. But on a battlefield, etiquette rarely mattered.
Not surprisingly, despite the calm look on her face, she took my hand. Wings unfurled behind her as well.
Hers were also batlike—fitting for a vampire—but with a draconic edge, a membranous frame tinted black with shades of red. Mine were pure pitch black.
Together, we took to the skies, looking down from above.
The ground below was redder than I had expected with blood pooling into streams. Our army now dwarfed theirs—two-thirds of the enemy already cut down, leaving them with barely thirty percent of what they'd started with.
"A single devil lord can change the tide of battle," she said with quiet frustration. "If only we could have afforded the rest."
I understood her bitterness, but well, I wasn't about to let her lump me in with the other lords.
I wasn't like those stagnant old men.
"Well, to be fair, Your Highness," I smirked, "I'd have been able to take down all of those lords combined anyway."
Including the Baels. None of them reached Satan-class, and aside from Sairaorg—and maybe the Rank One of the Rating Games—none of them were real threats to me.
She glanced at me, a faint smile tugging at her lips.
"Confident, are we?"
She was beautiful. Maybe too beautiful for me to keep a straight face.
"One doesn't become the lord of two pillars without strength," I said. "And as proof… let me show you this."
This was going to be a costly show of skill, and my energy reserves were bound to take a hit—even with Absorb—but I couldn't afford to look weak in front of a beautiful lady.
And so—
Over seven thousand enemy soldiers froze in place, the largest number I had ever used Bind on. The drain hit me instantly, my power being sucked out at a ridiculous pace.
Last time, only around five thousand had loosed arrows and spears, so I froze about that many to Disperse their attack.
This was far costlier.
"I—" the queen's voice trailed, stunned by the display. "Never seen such an ability."
And she never would.
Valefar was one of a kind.
"But," she added with a smile I couldn't quite read—beautiful, but full of confidence, "as queen of the faction, I cannot fall short of the reinforcements, can I?"
By the time I realized what she meant, it was already happening. My soldiers and hers fell back, clearing the field and leaving the bound enemies behind.
That's when I felt it—the sky darkening, a massive shadow falling across us and the ground below.
[Race: Pure-Blood Vampire]
[Rank: Ultimate Class]
Her power hit me in waves. She was definitely only a step away from breaking into the Satan Class.
Then, in a voice as sweet as it was deadly, she spoke—
"Embrace of the Night."
And the whole world turned black.
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{A/N: Got a pat reon named RedLamp01 with 30+ chapters for this story.}