The Crusaders were getting ready for the Sloth’s siege. Gladius was polishing his sword. Udania was meditating, managing her mana. Dantenium was sitting on the couch, reading a book. Laudis was preparing his bombs. And Solisia was observing him.

  “What are you doing?” the girl wondered, looking at him sawing.

  “I’m trying to make bombs, but it’s harder than I thought. How much time do I have, Gladius?” the youth muttered, trying to finish the first one.

  “About five minutes.”

  “To hell with that!”

  The boy threw the roughly stitched leather into a corner.

  “Was Omar in his office?” asked Dante.

  “No. I think he left the city not so long ago. For two days, I’ve been trying to contact him with no success. He’s likely working with the Vampire Empire,” the paladin answered, feeling suspicion.

  “Are you ready?” he continued, glancing at them.

  “...”

  “Just as a reminder, I’ll go with Udania. Laudis, Dante, and Solisia will go together. Remember, we have two goals. The first is to protect as many people as you can. The second is to find and kill Sloth. If the first goal is in the way of the second one, forget about it,” the knight stated, opening the door.

  Their unsynchronised footsteps filled the staircase of the hotel. The receptionist was quite surprised by them. After all, he only saw them in Carolan attire. The Crusaders went outside, waiting for the conquest.

  ‘Ha! It sounded like I was a patriot. Who am I fooling? That’s not the real reason. I’ve given up on searching for Liquid X. Every time I thought I was close, something went wrong. Maybe it isn’t obtainable for me.’

  Denir stood up, stretching himself.

  ‘With my rough calculations, my body will die in a week. I should have one year to live, but the Darkest Cloak drains my flesh also. The combination of them both shortened my life to one year. Not that I care much. After all, I’ve got no friends, family, or real reason to live. I want to be remembered as a man who killed the most vampires in one night. I care not whether they conquer Carola. The only thing that matters is the everlasting title I will be given. The so-called killing of every Carola enemy was a prosaic justification for it. However, I don’t need to justify myself before anyone. Why have I thought of it? Oh, the time’s up. The portals should open in a moment,’ the butcher thought, watching as the hands of the clock moved to the right time.

  And he was not mistaken. Many portals appeared in various places throughout the city. They were glowing in shades of yellow and orange. Slowly but surely, armoured vampires were stepping out of them. Their armour and weapons varied greatly. Some carried axes, others swords, or even maces. Most wore chainmail and tunics; only a few had regular armour sets. They resembled a band of mercenaries, rather than an organised army. The undead warriors were tall, with even paler skin than the regular ones. Six sorcerers against a thousand vampires. That was the harsh reality, and the reason Gladius had set the two rules. Denir went into a dark alley, tailing some vampires. He carefully took out his deep orange poison and spread it on his daggers.

  “The Darkest Cloak invocare,” the whisper caught their attention.

  “You heard that?”

  “Not really.”

  “Oh, I must be imagining things—”

  As the warrior was ending his sentence, his artery had been cut open from both sides. The blood burst out of his neck. The wall was stained red, and his comrades were in shock. They tried healing him, but it was too late. In a few seconds, the devil was dead. Thuck! The neck of the second undead warrior was pierced, once again through the artery, and from both sides. The last one stood, trembling in fear. He dropped his weapons, knelt, and closed his eyes. In a moment, he was also dead by the slashed throat. Moodeen sat down on one of their bodies, breathing heavily. The man cleaned his blades of blood, and the poison remains with their tunics.

  “Woah. I knew their skin was stronger, but I really had to push the blades hard. My poison makes the action harder because of greater friction. Still, it damages their nervous system in some way. The first killings were rather easy. In some time, they'll catch up to my technique. I need to rest for a while; two minutes will be enough. Good that I brought that watch with me, but that coat is a pain in the ass. I have to extract that fur and place it around my neck to make my VNA work at its fullest,” muttered Denir, cutting his coat.

  “I’ve got it. I can use my poison as a glue. The only downside is the citrus scent. I have to use their blood on my armour to mask it and mask my smell. The Darkest Cloak hides fragrances, but I won’t maneuver with it. I don’t have that much mana,” he continued, smearing their body fluid on his armour.

  The Crusaders split up. Dantenium, Solisia, and Gladius were standing in a narrow alley. They were observing the situation. Vampires started their attack. Some houses were set on fire, and others had their walls demolished. The stench of burnt wood mixed with sulfur caught their attention. The Fire sorcerer, supported by the wall, yawned in boredom.

  “Okay. We’ll split,” announced Dante, glancing at them.

  “What?” they replied together.

  “You know, I’ve got a personal issue with one of their generals. I won’t force you to go along with me, so we’ll split now. I’ll pay you up some day,” he replied, running away from them.

  “Wait!”

  The youth tried stopping him, but he was too fast. The Warrior of Hades vanished in the shadows of the night.

  “Great…” the boy stated with a frown.

  “Hey, it’s not like I wanted to do this with you alone…”

  “Do you want to go around the city with sewers?” he wondered, observing her apathy.

  “Hell no! I don’t want to smell like shit.”

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  “Understandable. Would you rather fight against them on the surface?”

  “You’re really a fool, you know?” the girl responded, punching his shoulder.

  Crimson Eye, somewhat surprised, showed her the way to the sewers.

  Somewhere else, Gladius and Udania had been fighting for quite a while.

  “I.I.,” the Water sorceress said, trapping the enemies in ice.

  “Longus!”

  Tshh! The paladin’s sword extended, piercing through the undead’s heart. The devil died almost instantaneously, quickly ending their agony. The blood was trapped in the frozen state, blocking its leakage from the structure. The knight retrieved his stained red blade. The captain cleaned it off using his tunic. After all, the clean blade was an important thing to uphold. Heart of Ice turned her head away, trying to hide her shaking body.

  “He’s dead, you can turn back,” the man stated, touching her shoulder.

  “Oh, okay,” the woman responded, gaining some courage.

  “You know that I never told anyone that you haven’t killed a vampire, right?”

  “Yes, thank you. Honestly, I can’t bring myself to kill even a vampire.”

  “Yeah. It’s not like you’ve frozen one hundred of them and left them to die in the sun,” he whispered in irony.

  “Hey! You know that I didn’t want to do this. I—I didn’t understand magic yet. Who would have thought that vampires die in the sun?”

  “Anyone?”

  “I was nine. Gladius, we didn’t have problems with vampires in Terminara.”

  “Yeah. Also, when did you learn shortened incantation?”

  “Dante taught me. Honestly, they aren’t that hard. Too bad they don’t work on blessings.”

  “I guess…”

  Both of them headed North, leaving a dozen bodies frozen in ice. Underneath them, the Laudis and Solisia were maneuvering in sewers. They were kept in circular shapes, but with walking space to fix emergencies. Thus, they didn’t have to walk in the impure fluid. Its level was quite low. Perhaps it was Omar’s help to the Vampire Empire. Nonetheless, the lamp that the boy held illuminated the filthy corridors. Their usual stench was strong and off-putting. They had to put material around their mouth just to move around. The boy heard screams coming from the surface, but he played them off, not to scare his companion.

  “That’s strange,” muttered intrigued Laudis.

  “What’s that?” replied Solisia, annoyed by her current situation.

  “We should encounter vampires by now. Aren’t they using sewers?”

  “You know, sometimes you just have to accept some positives in life.”

  “Wait!” he shouted, halting her.

  “What—”

  The youth put his hand on her mouth, muting her. She soon realised why he did that. Not so far away, slashing sounds echoed through the narrow space. Then, the sound of falling bodies made them flinch. There were six of them. They heard heavy footsteps, and they were getting closer. A blurry, black silhouette was approaching them. Laudis grabbed his sword, and Solisia prepared to use magic. Suddenly, they disappeared, and with them the footsteps. The Crusaders glanced at each other, trying to understand what had happened. The youths went to the source of the sounds. They saw a rather alarming image. They found six dead vampires. They had their necks massacred, each in a different way. The first had her neck pierced from both sides. The second had his neck cut and twisted 180 degrees. The third had his neck cut all around it. The fourth had a vertical slash opening both arteries. The fifth had her neck cut and detached from her body. The last had his neck cut from one side and pierced from the other. Almost like the killer played with their victims. The huge puddle of blood mixed with the sewage caused the girl to throw up. The boy carefully carved the view in his head. After all, he found it important to know where to cut their necks. He glanced at Solisia; she was quite shocked that the youth wasn’t bothered by it.

  ‘What’s she making all the fuss about? A few vampires died, a big deal.’

  Crimson Eye faked fainting. He grabbed the nearest wall, avoiding eye contact.

  “You know that I don’t care if that image doesn’t disturb you? I don’t know what you went through, so you can have a different reaction from me. That’s not a big deal,” she responded, touching his left arm.

  “Oh. Thank you for your surprising compassion,” he replied, bowing mockingly.

  “Yeah, yeah. Just keep going.”

  After a short while, they left the sewers near the butcher's shop. Solisia quickly took off her mask, and Laudis followed her. The windows of the building were broken, and the smell of raw meat came from it. Pork and chicken were thrown all around it. Some of them had bite marks, yet not a single one of them was fully eaten.

  “They lacked blood,” muttered Laudis, picking up a bitten chicken leg.

  “What?”

  “I’ve said that they lacked blood. Full-blood vampires tend to eat their prey with blood. The tales aren’t that far from the truth. They crave blood, but with the flesh. That’s why not even a single one of them was eaten by the devils.”

  “Right…”

  “Huh? Do you see this?” the girl continued, pointing at the nearby house.

  Three silhouettes were barging into the flat. They were taller than an average Carolan, and they had weapons in their hands. Thuu! The door was kicked out of the hinges. They rushed into the building. A loud, high-pitched sound came from it. The girl rushed after them without thinking twice. On the other hand, the youth stood frozen. That sound reminded him of his past, the forgotten past. Phoo! A body of a man fell with an impact.

  “Sword Technique No. 0: Heart’s Arson, one hundred percent!” he shouted, running behind Solisia.

  When they entered the house, the two of them were left in disbelief. The whole family was slaughtered. The husband was in the front. He was protecting his wife and two children. Behind him was his wife. She was protecting their children. The son protected his sister. Still, it was pointless. The four bodies were lying in a deep red puddle. The whole living room was stained crimson, and the stench of fresh blood was awful. Laudis, witnessing the scene, went berserk. Before even the girl had the chance to use her flail or to cast a spell, the three devils were decapitated. The only thing that she noticed was a silent voice.

  “Sword Technique No. 1: Voice Creation.”

  The air vanished in an instant, and the three heads of the three devils were cut. One of them was trying to cling to him, but he was quickly finished with a strike to his heart.

  “We were too slow…” whispered Solisia with glazed eyes.

  The boy wiped her tears. Then, he made her smile with his two index fingers. He forced a smile on his own. The Earth sorceress knew it was fake to the bone, yet she was glad to see it.

  “They were avenged. That’s the least we could do. Don’t cry, the worst remains for us,” he replied, trying to comfort her.

  “Y—Yeah, you’re probably right. What should we do with their bodies?”

  “I have a plan, just leave the house.”

  “Okay...”

  Crimson Eye took out the paraffin that stood next to the lamp from their cabinet. He put their bodies together and soaked them with the liquid. He took out a lighter and lit them up. The fire was about one and a half metres tall. The flame was yellow with a hint of orange. The girl noticed the smell of charcoal, but trusted him. Laudis brought out the decapitated devils in front of the house and joined her.

  “Why did you set them on fire?” she wondered, suppressing her anger.

  “No vampire will eat them. That’s the most I could have done for them. These bastards will do as a warning for the rest.”

  “I see…”

  Not so far away, Denir was resting on a pile of dead bodies.

  ‘Forty-nine, I’ve killed forty-nine vampires. That’s not bad for half an hour. I’ve used around a tenth of my mana; that’s quite nice. What’s not nice is that I’ve got to be a coward and kill them while being invisible. Furthermore, I do it by cutting their necks. I’m really hopeless… Huh? What’s that? One vampire is coming to the house, and the second one is coming out of it? That’s strange, really strange. It’s better if I take a closer look at the situation,’ thought Moodeen, cleaning his daggers.

  “The Darkest Cloak, activare.”