"This is...! An extremely original magic formula has been woven in—but there's no mistake, it's meant to extract the Sacred Gear Longinus from its wielder!"
Professor Azazel dashed to the window, glancing at a part of the magic circle inscribed there. From just a fragment, he instantly grasped the entire structure, his voice filled with bitterness.
"Damn it! I heard they'd make a move soon, but they've already started?!"
"The Carmilla faction's troops, having sensed the activation of this ritual, will likely attack the castle soon. You should evacuate immediately."
"Even now, you're still trying to keep us from interfering? You do realize we're out of time, right? If we don't act, vampires will cease to be vampires."
"Yes, this is a matter for vampires to resolve... or so we believed. However, our Queen has granted you permission to assist and guard Gasper Vladi to a limited extent."
How can they still be saying stuff like that when we're already on the edge?
...Whatever. That can wait. At least now we've got formal permission to raise hell.
All that's left is to rescue Valerie and get the hell out of here. Since Elmenhilde had no reason to stay with us, she had Bennia teleport her to the Carmilla faction's outside base. She fell through a teleportation magic circle that opened at her feet like a trapdoor... but that's a minor detail.
Everyone else quickly regrouped after sensing something was off.
But Ikki and Kuroka weren't among them. Two days ago, after Ikki recovered, he vanished, saying he'd be away for a while.
Even the vampire guards only realized they were missing long after the fact and panicked.
Then again, those two are master tacticians with demon lord-level power—if they wanted to leave unnoticed, they absolutely could.
I was asked where they went, but I honestly had no idea—and didn't feel like explaining anyway. I just said, "Maybe they went sightseeing?"
"Professor, any word from Ikki or Kuroka?"
Azazel apparently knew what they were up to, but he hadn't shared the details.
"They're handling a mission just as important as rescuing Valerie. Honestly, I don't know if they'll make it back in time. For now, we're heading in ourselves to stop the Holy Grail from being extracted—and to save Valerie."
Are you serious?! What kind of insane mission are they on that they can't even respond during this crisis?! No... I'll trust them. If anyone can handle it without us lifting a finger, it's those two.
If they're keeping other troublemakers off our backs while we rescue Valerie, I couldn't ask for anything more.
Apparently, the ritual to extract the Grail is happening underground, so we head there immediately.
Outside, we can already hear the sounds of battle between Carmilla and Tepes faction troops. Still, I have a feeling the stronger vampires are guarding the underground.
After all, once the Grail is fully extracted and usable, they'll have a near-perfect immortal army. Even if the Carmilla side gains the upper hand early on, they're more likely to reinforce the castle's defenses above all else.
If we have to break through those guards, we can't waste a single second.
As we descended underground, we reached a large hall filled with enemy vampire soldiers—at least a hundred, easily.
"Alright, who wants to go first?" Azazel said, conjuring a spear of light. "They've only got numbers, but being vampires, they're tough. On top of that, flashy attacks are hard to use underground. Time is critical—better to split up. A few hold them off, the rest push forward."
Two new members of the Sitri peerage stepped forward.
"No problem."
"We'll handle things here. You all go on ahead."
I was worried about them taking this on alone, but Bennia dashed forward at high speed and began slicing through the vampires one after another with her death scythe.
Meanwhile, the other—Loup—transformed into a werewolf. Before we could even recover from our shock, he closed the distance with powerful, agile movements, conjuring flaming magical circles on both arms. With blazing fists and claws, he tore through the enemies effortlessly.
"Loup's a hybrid," Bennia explained. "His dad's a high-level werewolf and his mom's a famous witch. Dude's a cheat-level Wolfman. Not that I can really talk either, though."
Now that I think about it, when the witches attacked, President Sona noticed how Bennia looked just like a shinigami, and told us she's actually the daughter of a top-tier Grim Reaper named Orcus and a human.
Maybe her mom's impressive too? Not that it matters—she's already crazy strong either way. Of course, bloodlines don't guarantee talent, but still...
"This area is secure. Let's move," Rias instructed.
Leaving the battle to them, we moved ahead and reached the second chamber.
According to a stolen map Azazel acquired over the past two days, the lowest level has four large chambers, including the ritual site. This was chamber two.
Inside, we found three vampires far stronger than the ones above, dressed in noble clothing and radiating serious power.
"They're here. Just as our master said."
"Must be the Gremory peerage we've heard about."
"They'll make excellent test subjects for our enhanced abilities."
Only three of them, yet they're so smug. Guess they think they can't die.
Should we all charge together? With just three enemies, we might be able to finish this fast.
"You're in the way."
"Gyaaaaahhhhh!!"
Before we could make a move, Shirone launched a fiery chariot wreathed in white flames, and in an instant, the vampires were reduced to ash—total annihilation. That wasn't a fight, that was a punchline!
"The flames of a Kasha draw the souls of the dead to the afterlife. Vampires—being classified as 'living corpses'—cannot resist such purification. No matter how strong their resistance, unless they alter the core concept of being dead, the flames will burn them to ash."
Purifying flames... or rather, Kasha's flames? I had no idea they had that effect. That's literally the perfect anti-vampire weapon! Shirone might be a Youkai by origin, so maybe this power is meant to target ghosts—but in this case, it's exactly what we need!
"Hm. I didn't even get to try the tactic Ikki suggested. Well, maybe for them, turning to ash in a flash was the better outcome," Kiba said with a wry smile.
Right... his plan was to trap them with the Holy Sword Knights and burn them with sacred fire and lightning. Given their durability from the Grail's power, that would've been... gruesome.
Best not to picture that. Time to press on.
In the next chamber, we ran into the same group of warlocks who attacked Kuoh Town recently—along with Grendel, the evil dragon who was with Euclid.
Built like Tannin and wearing that same twisted, battle-hungry grin.
"Well well, I've been waiting! That brat from last time isn't here, huh? No matter. Ddraaaig! I've been dying to fight you—though I hear you've gotten a lot smaller. Sealed inside a Sacred Gear, huh? How pathetic. For all the hype about Heavenly Dragons, turns out you and I aren't so different. Though I've returned with a body, and you're stuck in a cage."
'Hmph. It's true—Albion and I went berserk in the past, causing massive destruction and ending up sealed. To the world, evil dragons and heavenly ones probably looked no different.'
Take a good, hard look at yourself, Ddraig. Just saying—if we're judging based on collateral damage, you might've actually been worse than the evil ones.
'But now, I've learned about more than just violence. I won't be lumped in with someone still grinning like they were back then.'
"Ha! So not only are you tiny now, you've gone soft? Dragons live for battle! If you've forgotten that, I'll remind you—let's kick off this lovely little deathmatch!"
With that, he let out a massive opening breath attack.
Already armored, I launched a Dragon Shot to reduce the blast's force, while Rias and Akeno blocked the rest with magical barriers.
Their defensive power has seriously leveled up. Even though both helped block it, one of them alone probably would've been enough.
Seems like they're better suited to magical defense than raw power.
"Issei, Crom Cruach and Rizevim may be waiting ahead. Don't use the Cardinal Crimson Promotion yet. We'll take this dragon down together. Save your power for rescuing Valerie and escaping."
"Got it!"
Yeah, we can't afford to take on everyone at once. Beating Grendel and securing an exit while rescuing Valerie—that's the plan.
Once the objective was clear, there was only one thing left to do: charge.
I ignited my boosters and launched a head-on assault at Grendel.
"Ohh! Coming right at me?! That's the way! Bring it on!"
I ducked under his massive punch, closed the gap, and delivered a full-powered strike.
"Sorry, but we don't have time to waste—this'll be over fast!"
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100 Power Stones = Bonus Chapter
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