As the azure mana and blood-red mist cleared, Silvia caught sight of Virginia's stupefied expression. Frozen blood crystals shattered around the both of them, the acidic fluids having been transmuted into crimson ice by the extreme temperatures and its corrosive properties nullified. No, the potent acidic blood had been destroyed at the molecular level.
"What are you so surprised about?" Silvia asked coldly. "There's no way an ultimate spell wouldn't be able to stop another ultimate spell, right?"
She then blasted the stunned Virginia with a shower of icicles, but the Blood Queen responded on reflex by throwing up a blood shield. Even though this ice was formed from Absolute Zero and destroyed everything on the molecular level, the Blood Armageddon Barrier was also an ultimate spell on par with it.
As such, it was not so easily countered.
Blood and ice cancelled each other out, turning into blue and red mist that hung over the space between them. Overhead, the Blood Barrier pulsed, half of its sphere-shaped structure frozen solid. Icicles hung down from its curved surface like stalactites, all pointing threatening toward Virginia. However, the Blood Queen had her own tide of corrosive blood surging upward to wash away the extreme frost.
As powerful as she was, Silvia knew that there was no easy way of winning the battle. Even so, she didn't give up and countered the deadly tsunami of acidic blood with another wave of Absolute Zero. While she did so, she glanced at the corner and nodded almost imperceptibly.
Blood froze into red ice between them and all around them. Virginia scowled and prepared to cast another spell, but while her attention was focused solely on Silvia, the archduchess almost didn't hear the cracks behind her.
Even though she caught whiff of the noise, she couldn't turn around in time to defend herself.
The wall of ice behind Virginia shattered and Stella burst through it to swing her glowing crimson sword at the back of her neck. It was an exquisitely skillful stroke, and would have easily decapitated the Blood Queen in a single strike, especially as caught unaware as she was.
However, a gem-shaped blood shield sprang to life and blocked Stella's deadly attack, shimmering brightly and stopping the full force of her lethal blow. Stella gritted her teeth and tried to cleave through it, but the blood shield withstood her strike.
"The back of one's neck is always the greatest blind spot of any living creature," Virginia explained with a smirk. "Did you really think I would participate in this battle without any form of countermeasure?"
"…what are you, some overpowered Shinigami now?" Silvia scoffed. "Trying to act like some final boss of a manga series?"
"I'm surprised you can still remain so calm even though your plan failed." Virginia turned to regard Silvia suspiciously. The Witch of Winter merely smiled icily.
"Who says our plan failed?"
"What…?"
Stella suddenly shattered into a few thousand fragments of ice, cutting Virginia's skin and leaving countless cuts. The Blood Queen hissed in pain, but her regenerative ability kicked in, her bleeding stopping and her wounds closing up and healing almost immediately.
"Ugh! A doppelganger made from ice?! But such shallow cuts won't do anything…!"
Virginia hadn't even fully turned around to confront the broken ice sculpture of Stella when the young vampire knight burst out of another red sheet of ice, breaking it apart. Before the Blood Queen could raise her lance to defend herself, Stella's crimson sword flashed and sliced through her throat.
For a moment, Virginia staggered in disbelief, her eyes wide. Then she reached up to clutch at her neck, gurgling as a thin line of blood appeared. Her head then fell off, followed by her headless corpse that toppled over in an undignified manner.
All around Silvia and Stella, the Blood Armageddon Barrier crumbled into nothingness, exposing them to the outside world once more.
"M…my lady!" Veronica screamed when she both saw and sensed the fate of her mistress. She fought her way past the two-headed zombie and Kelvin, lashing out with her spear and almost cutting the Miranda-Mikhail merged being into half. Blood splattered across the ground and the experimental undead wailed incoherently, stepping back in reflex.
"Kuh!"
Kelvin grunted as he parried Veronica's lance, and he was hurled a few feet back. While he fought to regain his bearings, Veronica seized the opening to rush toward her fallen mistress. She cast a glare at Silvia and Stella.
"You will pay!" she shrieked. "I'll kill you! I'll kill all of you!"
Stella leveled her sword and met Veronica's charge, fending off her spear in a single strike. They traded several blows, Veronica's rage lending her an edge and driving the younger vampire knight back. Exhaling from exhaustion, particularly after her exertions against a foe as formidable as Virginia, Stella found herself on the back foot.
Even so, she countered Veronica blow for blow, standing her ground and engaging her in her usual determined and disciplined fashion.
"All Crimson Tide, heed my orders!" Veronica shouted. "Especially the Vampire Valkyries! Our lady has fallen! We will avenge her! We shall fight until death!"
In a single, unified yell, the predominantly female vampire army announced their compliance and fought in a suicidal manner. With nothing to lose, they unleashed their fury upon the undead, orcs and kobolds who were struggling to hold the tide of crimson-armored vampires back.
"Fall back!" Silvia ordered, seeing that the lines were about to collapse. She left Veronica to Stella and proceeded toward the remaining Crimson Tide, unleashing her ice spells and freezing large swathes of female vampires. The orcs, kobolds and undead then proceeded to smash the frozen and vulnerable vampires into pieces, killing them once and for all.
"I'll never forgive you…!" Veronica snarled and slashed at Stella. The latter skillfully fended off her attacks, parrying and intercepting each stroke calmly. Then she whirled around, allowing Veronica to plunge her spear into chest.
But that was a feint. In a single stroke, Stella cut off Veronica's arms. The female vampire knight shrieked and staggered, blood fountaining from her two stumps. Nonetheless, her regenerative abilities were already kicking in and Stella could see the threads of blood connecting the stumps to the disembodied arms, drawing them back together to fuse them into whole limbs once more.
Without missing a beat, she swung her sword and beheaded the hapless Veronica before she could recover her arms and spear, thus finishing her once and for all.
Then she heard a stampede. Looking up, Stella saw a line of chrome and gold armored vampire knights charging their position. She steeled herself, recognizing them as the revered Golden Legion of the Berserk King.
To her surprise, they ignored the black and red armored vampire knights, and the blue and white armored orcs and kobolds, instead descending upon the Crimson Tide and finishing them off once and for all. Her jaw dropped when she saw who was leading the charge.
Her lord, and fighting beside him was Archduke Stryker.
*
"If they refuse to surrender, then kill them!" I commanded, swinging both of my swords and beheading a screaming female vampire knight in red armor. Whirling around, I stabbed a second female knight in the chest with Blood Angel, causing her to gurgle. Being a vampire, she survived, so I obliterated her head by punching Nocturne through her helm.
The fanatical followers of Virginia had resolved to fight to the death, having lost their commander. It was a pity, but I had little option but to clean them up. On the bright side, there was very few of them left, the Crimson Tide having sustained horrendous losses when caught between my army and that of Stryker's.
"You heard his majesty!" Stryker bellowed at his gold and chrome warriors. They attacked with gusto, surrounding the numerically inferior red knights and cutting them into pieces. Even vampires wouldn't be able to survive that.
Then a fresh wave of vampires burst from behind the fortress. They were predominantly clad in armor of midnight black, though I could see a small core of swordsmen in white armor and black greaves.
The elderly form of Baron Valencia reached me in a few seconds, his sword lashing out to decapitate a female knight in red before she could attack me from behind. I nodded at him gratefully.
"The underground passage has been secured." Valencia smiled ominously. "Duke Gregory lies dead. I have his head if you want."
"Oh, thanks. But that will have to wait until after the battle." I glanced at the small knot of swordsmen in white. "How about your men? Are they all right?"
"Thank you for your concern, my lord, but we are fine." Valencia grimaced. "We did suffer heavy losses fighting Gregory's elite regiment, though. Fifty of our men for four hundred of theirs. The good news is that many of the casualties should survive, but they are in need of blood."
"And they submitted to you?" I glanced at the knights in midnight black. As if on cue, one of them fought his way toward us, just so he could kneel before me.
"Larson, at your service, my lord." the young, handsome knight lowered his head, his pale features showing through his damaged helm. "By the instructions of my lord, the late Duke Gregory, the Dark Night regiment will serve under your command should our lord fall in combat."
"He was a worthy foe," Valencia grunted. I glanced at him and saw that he was limping a little, his injuries sustained from the previous battle yet to fully heal. "And his knights are full of honor. I can attest to that."
"I will believe you." I nodded and turned back toward the diminishing Crimson Tide. "Let's annihilate the foe before we discuss this further."
It didn't take longer than thirty minutes to mop up the remnants of the Crimson Tide, and in the end, there was a significant number of the formerly massive regiment – originally ten thousand strong – who surrendered. Without the leadership of Virginia or the fanatical zeal of her second-in-command, Veronica, they had lost their will to fight. In all, we rounded up two thousand and five hundred of their number.
"The battle doesn't seem to be over yet," Stryker remarked, glancing back. I followed the direction of his gaze and saw two large armies having gathered atop the hills.
"More enemies," Stella hissed, drawing her sword and standing protectively in front of me. After having subdued Veronica, she had returned to my side, insisting that it was her job to guard me.
"Wait," I told her, holding up my hand. "They are sending out…envoys?"
My glasses whirred, the enchanted lenses magnifying the two solitary figures who rode down the hills and toward us. Marquis Mallory and Marchioness Eleanor. The former had slick, dark brown hair and handsome features, while the latter possess long, blond hair. They were mounted atop fierce but obedient nightmares, and approached us confidently.
Sheathing my swords, I whistled for Wolfe. My dire wolf practically flew out of the gates and I hopped onto his back. Holding his reins, I directed him to meet the two warlords. Stella and Silvia joined me by casting an ice spell that formed a bridge that connected here and there, as did Stryker atop his nightmare.
When they saw me, Mallory and Eleanor dismounted and got onto their feet. I did the same, hopping off Wolfe and approaching them. Aware that Stryker, Stella and Silvia were behind me, watching the duo carefully, I met the gazes of the newcomers.
"What are you here for?" I asked, glancing warily at the armies they had mustered atop the hills.
To my surprise, the both of them knelt and lowered their heads humbly.
"To pledge our fealty to you," Eleanor replied.
"We recognize you as the Demonic Emperor," Mallory agreed. "You are my king."
Behind me, Stryker snorted, and I intuitively knew he was glaring at the two armies overhead. I wasn't stupid. I knew what they signified.
Mallory and Eleanor clearly had the option to attack me, and they had no lack of strength. They had been watching the battle this entire time and could capitalize on this moment, when my forces were still reeling from the earlier assault and exhausted, but they chose not to.
They were essentially telling me that they were doing me a favor, and warning me that they had the power to usurp me at any time.
Unfortunately, I was a realist and I knew that we probably wouldn't be able to withstand another siege, so I swallowed my pride and nodded.
"I wish to express my gratitude to the both of you," I said, inclining my head ever so slightly. "For your compassion and foresight…for recognizing that further bloodshed is meaningless."
My words rang a little hollow, but Mallory and Eleanor responded with warm smiles.
"Then…shall we?�� Eleanor gestured toward Claude's castle. "I believe there is many matters that we must discuss."
"Understood. Please wait while I inform Count Claude." I took a deep breath and summoned a bat, dispatching it back to the command center where Claude was no doubt monitoring the situation. I was probably hoping he would understand what I was trying to do and I could buy enough time for him to set up proper defenses before allowing two fresh armies to march through the gates.
After all, I wasn't able to shake off the feeling that these two might be leading a couple of Trojan Horses right into the count's estate. And unlike the Trojans, I was going to ensure that my forces weren't going to get caught off guard.