Chapter 531: The failure of a demon Duke.
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Looking at the gigantic sun in the sky, Hilda, who was protecting the city from the effects of Violet’s technique, thought:
‘Ahhh… She snapped… It seems I was overthinking.’ She nodded, satisfied. Yes, even Lady Agnes can’t control herself when she’s in that state.’ Hilda thought in relief. If Violet had managed to keep her sanity at that moment, she was sure that tomorrow morning, she would resign; after all, a Baby Vampire achieved a feat that even she couldn’t! It’d depress anyone!
‘But… Supernova, huh?’
When Agnes achieved the Perfect Vampire Count Form that united the First and Second Forms a few years ago, she created a technique.
Gathering all the power of Fire in her body and condensing that power, she would unleash that power around her, creating a devastating technique that would literally blow a city from existence.
‘And to think that her anger fueled her Fire so much that she achieved the necessary power to use this technique.’
Looking at the glow that was starting to fade, Hilda understood something.
‘The power isn’t as strong as when Agnes used it several years ago, but… That doesn’t take away from the fact that she managed to do it as a Baby Vampire…’ Hilda broke into a cold sweat as she imagined Violet in the future.
‘Not only achieving the Second Vampire Count Form so soon but also managing to use a technique capable of destroying a city…’ Hilda couldn’t help but display a tight, proud smile.
‘The Snow Clan has a splendid Heiress.’
The light in the sky began to fade, and everyone could see the being that caused this destruction.
‘Luckily, the fight took place far from the city being built…’ Hilda thought as she undid her transformation and returned to her Maid’s uniform.
As the power around Violet began to plummet at an accelerated rate, and she saw Violet’s transformation unravel, Hilda’s heart nearly leaped out.
She became even more worried when the woman began to fall upside down from the sky.
“Violet!” Hilda disappeared from where she was, and with sheer speed, she arrived before Violet fell too far.
Taking her Master’s daughter in her arms, she saw that her expression was strained; it was as if she had made a great effort.
With just one look, Hilda knew that Violet had suffered internal injuries that had already started to heal slowly. All her power had been depleted, causing an extreme state of exhaustion.
‘You fool, you tried too hard…’ But, despite thinking about it, she didn’t speak out loud or show dissatisfaction on her face.
One thing she’d learned from serving Snow Clan for so long was that… The Snow Clan leaders were always reckless.
Especially when the subject in question involved their ‘beloved’.
This was the third time Hilda had seen a situation like this.
The first time happened to Agnes’ Mother when a Vampire threatened her husband; it is worth mentioning that he was burned out of existence.
The second time was with her current Master, Agnes.
And the third time, it was now with Violet.
‘Like mother, like daughter, huh.’
“Good job, Violet,” Hilda spoke with a slight smile on her face; regardless of what happened, it was a fact that she’d defeated one of the Pillars of Hell; this done at such a young age was a feat that should be commended, not scolded.
Hearing what Hilda said, Violet opened her eyes in shock, and even though she was exhausted, she had the strength to display a beautiful smile that took Hilda entirely by surprise.
“Mm!”
Violet felt on cloud nine; she wasn’t satisfied because she’d killed a Demon Duke or something; for Violet, the man wasn’t even worth remembering.
She was pleased that she made a person who looked at her body disappear and that Hilda recognized her.
Her Maid had said ‘good job’; she understood that.
And that made her extremely happy.
A plague that targeted her body has died, and her Maid, who had been alive since her grandmother’s time, had recognized her.
Suddenly, the pressure skyrocketed throughout Nightingale, making the two women narrow their eyes.
“Darling!” As if all her exhaustion was a lie, Violet looked at one spot with a big smile on her face.
Seeing this, Hilda couldn’t help but sigh:
“Haaah…”
“Seriously, the women of this Clan…”
‘They love very intensely’ Hilda told herself internally.
A portal appeared near the territory; from it, Agnes and Natalia exited.
And it was worth mentioning that when Agnes came out of the portal, she just looked around in shock.
Natalia was also in shock; despite being in the Snow Clan when the whole invasion happened, she was busy using her powers to transfer any citizen or important person away from the conflict. So she didn’t get to see the battle happening.
She only stopped helping when she felt the King’s presence and understood that the Countesses had returned, and quickly she went to them along with her father.
Victor and Natashia disappeared, leaving trails of Lightning, and went to Clan Fulger; Natalia opened a portal to Clan Snow and came with Agnes.
And her father opened a gate to Clan Scarlett territory for Scathach.
“…Everything is burned-…Violet!” Seeing the state of her daughter, Agnes wasted no time and flew towards them.
“Oh my god, Violet, look at these wounds; your energy is completely drained!” Agnes held Violet and began checking her entire body.
“Ugh, stop me-.” She didn’t have time to say anything because Agnes interrupted her.
“Haaah, good thing, the damage wasn’t serious.”
“Of course not… Darling’s armor protected me.” She spoke in a tired tone but with pride on her face.
“….” Agnes looked at her daughter’s armor, and a faint glint of envy appeared on her face.
‘Will he give me something personalized like this in the future?’
Sensing her Mother’s emotions, Violet flashed a shit-eating grin at Agnes while huffing a little; even tired, she wouldn’t miss a chance to tease someone.
‘This bitch…’ A vein bulged in Agnes’ head.
“Haah.” Agnes sighed and let it go: “I wonder who you learned to be like this from.”
“….” Hilda desperately held back the urge to comment. God, only she knew how much she’d held back at this moment.
But that was not to say she didn’t comment internally:
‘She learned from you! You! You made her like this! You and your crazy genes!’
“Ugh.” Only Hilda knew how much she had complaints about Agnes and her daughter.
‘Calm down, don’t get off script; keep the poker face.’
Still holding her daughter in her arms, Agnes looked around and asked curiously:
“Where are the invaders?”
“Lady Violet killed them. Duke Sitri attacked the Snow Clan and was reduced to atoms, leaving nothing to tell the tale.”
“…Eh…?” Agnes looked at her daughter in shock.
“Umu.” Violet flashed a proud smile as she huffed; seeing her Mother’s shocked face was very satisfying.
“Y-Y-You killed a Demon Duke, and even more, Sitri?”
Natalia, who had just arrived, looked at Violet in shock, she hadn’t heard about that!
“Humpf, that worm dared to try to stain my body; my Darling is the only one who can do that.”
“Oh… Make sense.” Agnes spoke in a tone that seemed to understand many things.
‘Now I understand why the landscape has changed; if it had been me… The destruction would have been greater.’ Agnes didn’t ask for much explanation; that was enough.
She knew how the Snow Clan bloodline worked, and for someone like her daughter and herself, there was no greater trigger than anger and love.
‘WHAT?! How does that make any sense at all?! A Baby Vampire killing a Demon Duke?! Huh?! Ask for explanations, woman!’ It was worth mentioning that Natalia had many questions about what had transpired.
But, as it would be disrespectful, she kept quiet, but… Of course, that didn’t mean she wouldn’t question Violet later.
‘How did she get strong enough to defeat a Demon Duke? And the 12th Rank, no less?’
“Let’s return home; my daughter needs to rest. Spread the word; my daughter killed a Demon Duke.”
“Are you sure, Lady Agnes?”
“Yeah…”
Agnes and Violet’s eyes went lifeless.
The Mother and Daughter could clearly feel Victor’s anger and pride from a distance; he was furious, and they both clearly knew the consequences of angering someone with the personality the three of them shared.
If Demons weren’t enemies of the Noble Vampire before…
Now, they definitely were.
“Spread the news.”
“…Yes, Lady Agnes.”
…
Unknown place.
A being over two meters tall wearing completely black armor with shades of red walked through some winding corridors; the aura of this being was heavy, and its helmet only left its eyes completely white on display.
Behind this being hung a large greatsword, a gift.
Opening a gigantic door.
“My King.” The being bowed as he removed his pointed helmet, letting his long black hair that looked like it was covered in embers of fire float around as if defying gravity.
“… What’s the matter, War?” Diablo, who was looking at what appeared to be a cocoon with neutral eyes, spoke in a neutral tone.
“Duke Sitri has died.”
“….” Diablo stopped looking at the cocoon and turned to the man.
“What happened?”
“As you predicted, Sitri was provoked by the Snow Clan.” A black Miasma with hues of red came out of his hand, and a projection appeared in front of the man.
And the events in the Snow Clan began to play out.
A few minutes passed, and finishing seeing the image, Diablo’s eyes lit up slightly.
“Fool. Even after I warned him, he still made that mistake.”
“….” War just remained silent. Even though he didn’t show it, it was pretty visible that his King was angry and disappointed.
But with a show of self-control, that emotion only lasted a few seconds, and then the suffocating pressure in the air went neutral again.
“What happened to the other territories?”
Another three projections appeared.
“Phoenix carried out your orders and wounded the Heiress of Clan Fulger.” Seeing all the events up until the moment when two Vampires appeared.
A black-haired man and a blonde-haired woman who were at the meeting.
‘Alucard… Annastasia Fulger.’
Diablo watched in mild shock as the man looked around, and suddenly, his vision turned toward him, and an annoyed expression appeared on his face.
“Sneaky, they’ve left little Demons to lurk around.”
“I will work it out.” Soon the recording ended when the sound of a Thunderbolt was heard.
“… Interesting.”
‘An observation skill… that or his senses are extremely acute.’ Diablo was betting more on the second option; the Progenitors always had an extremely high sensitivity to their surroundings.
And an observation ability had never appeared before in Vampire Progenitors, which proved it was not in a Progenitor’s nature.
‘Although this Progenitor is an irregular, even Vlad does not exercise dominion over other powers than blood.’
Snapping his attention from the Clan Fulger projection, he looked at the Clan Scarlett projection.
“My King, what should we do about Vampires?”
“Due to the failure of Phoenix and Sitri, Vampires will become our enemies.” War explained.
“Initiate the contingency plan; Vampires intruding won’t make me change my plans.”
“Yes, My King.”
“… About the punishments.”
“Remove Phoenix’s properties; that should motivate that sluggard to improve his work. As for Sitri…” A red pressure started to descend around; the whole place began to shake like an earthquake.
Diablo raised his claws, and a dark red power began to condense in his right hand.
Soon a Dark Blue ‘Fire’ appeared in Diablo’s right hand.
Diablo raised his left hand, and a large, gentle White Flame was present. If the Gods responsible for Life saw what Diablo was doing now, they would curse Diablo with every name available to them.
After all, he was about to commit the greatest sacrilege that a God of Life couldn’t bear to witness.
Diablo’s eyes glowed slightly while looking at these two flames, and a small fragment of the White Flame came out and flew toward the Dark Blue Fire.
‘By joining the Souls of thousands of innocents with that of a corrupted Demon… A sacrilege disapproved of by all the Gods of Life and Death will take place.’
The Dark Fire began to grow, and Diablo threw that Fire to the ground as the Soul of his left hand disappeared.
‘The Demon who had his soul thrown back into Hell can ignore the time of several thousand years for him to be resurrected, and he will resurrect directly in front of the King.’
Sitri appeared in his Demonic Form and looked around confused, but when he saw Diablo’s face, he quickly knelt and shouted:
“I’m sorry, My King.”
‘A privilege only the King of Hell, who had full control of Hell, could exercise.’
Looking at Sitri with neutral eyes, War thought:
‘And with that small gesture, my King used thousands of innocent Souls to resurrect this worthless one.’
“… Sitri.”
“Y-Yes!”
“I don’t want excuses.”
“…” He swallowed hard.
“I want results.”
“And you failed… You had only one job, to slow down the Snow Clan and mess up the minor chain of command by killing the non-Snow Clan members.”
The Snow clan was huge. If their smaller chain of command were to break, they wouldn’t take damage, but it would take time to organize everything, and that was what Diablo wanted.
And by explicitly attacking the lower chain of command, he wouldn’t provoke the Snow Clan, and the Vampires wouldn’t become his enemies.
“… And even with that simple job, you failed.” Diablo’s tail swished around, causing a horrible sound all around; he was dissatisfied.
“….”
“Sitri’s rank will be lowered.”
Sitri’s body visibly trembled as he lost his Rank; he would lose the legions given to him by the King, the riches he had acquired over eons, and most importantly, his reputation as the Rank 12 Duke, which was a big no to Sitri.
“Please, My King, give me one more chance; I promise to carry out any order you order me to.”
“…” Diablo’s eyes glowed slightly red.
But Sitri kept looking at the King. Despair could be seen in the Demon’s eyes, and the Demon King could use that.
A terribly long time of silence passed, and soon the King’s monstrous voice was heard:
“Destroy the Vatican.”
“… E-Eh?”
“Alone, I want you to destroy the Vatican. Kill all of The Inquisition’s Generals.”
“But that is the territory of Angels…”
“Didn’t you say you would do as I ordered?”
“…Yes.”
“So do it.”
“I will give you two more legions of 2 million Demons and some elites.”
“I want the servants of the Angels dead, and you will be my executioner.”
“Y-Yes, My King!”
“And don’t forget. Do not die; I have no resources to waste on the useless; this is the last time.”
Sitri swallowed again; he felt small in front of the Elder Demon.
“Now, get out of my sight.”
“Yes!” A Magic Circle appeared under Sitri, and he disappeared from the room.
“…War.” Diablo returned his gaze to the projections.
“…” The knight’s full attention was on his King.
“Change of plans. Retrieve the Demons preparing to march on the Vatican and bring them back to our territory to replenish the numbers.”
“Order the Demonic troops of the Aztec Pantheon to return and bolster our defenses.”
“Pass my order to Asmodeus; I want the factories to use our Supernatural prisoners to make more Demons.”
“Will we no longer use Humans?”
“The quality of a Human who becomes a Demon is not satisfactory for my future plans. Utilize the Supernatural beings and the Lesser Gods we captured.”
“Use Sitri as bait; let him take the attention of the Angels.”
“Take your brother, Death, and take my mount if you feel it necessary.”
War thought of the Dragon that was flying around, causing chaos.
“I want Alexander and his Generals dead… Permanently this time.”
War bowed, and a slight predatory smile appeared on the man’s face:
“…Your wish is my will, My King.”
…..
