Kingdom of Lhora, Capital.
The influence of the [Eternal Night] was not unique to Ahrsei, as it is well known that vampires travelled the world to wreak havoc.
Those who came to Lhora were probably the most difficult to mitigate a millennium ago, due to the local climatic conditions, which prevent them from fulfilling some of the common functions of adventurers.
In this setting, it is Olivia's father, Mikhail Cross, who has been sent to deal with the threat to the land.
[spoiler][Note: They are always going to be related to her xd].[/spoiler]
Mikhail, as the former head of the family, spent his entire life dedicated to training and improving his physical strength.
However, not being able to inherit the title of [Hero], as he is not blood related to the Cross family, he did not have access to most of the things his daughter did that made her exploit her potential as a warrior.
[spoiler][Note 2: Mikhail married into the Cross family by covenant].[/spoiler]
He is a man of stocky build, his arms look like a pair of trunks, and his body is as massive as steel. Yet all that muscle is no match for Olivia, who, though smaller than him, can easily defeat him.
Covered in a single coat, he finds himself taking heavy steps through the snowstorm around him, unaffected by the violence of his surroundings.
The teleport point was the capital of Lhora.
It seems he was arriving late to what was happening here. For he could find nothing around him but the buildings and the snow-covered streets.
-... Liv, this is your father, do you hear me?
Mikhail stops his steps and brings his hand to his left ear, where a powerful foot is pressed into the corner of his ear.
This stone has long-distance communication magic imbued in it, with which situations can be managed from a variety of locations.
They are only allowed for military use, so Olivia had to use her infiuences a bit to get at least a pair to communicate with her father.
[Loud and clear, father. Report your situation.]
Olivia's voice is heard from the other side, along with the sound of bloodshed.
On the other side of the communicator, Olivia is facing inferior monsters coming straight out of the Dungeon.
She was the first to hear of the casualties on the front lines of the border battle the moment she arrived, and while she mourns the death of her cousins, she had no time to mourn.
In order to keep the line of defence still active, Olivia is slaying every monster that comes out of the dungeon, most of whom would be too high a risk for ordinary adventurers.
But that's not the point now.
-I'm probably too late, Liv. There's no sign of anyone where they sent me.
[It's almost impossible for it to have happened that fast, it's barely been four hours. And according to Gulliver's journal, the top vampires in that area are already dead].
Olivia is right, such an attack force to wipe out the capital of Lhora in that time would have to be on the level of Enigma, who has been nowhere to be seen since the beginning of this event.
-I report to you what I am seeing. There is absolutely no one. Either the snowstorm made them lock themselves in the castle, or they're all dead.
Olivia made a "Hey..." on the other end of the intercom.
And she, somewhat nervously, just says:
[Father. It's not storm season in Lhora yet.]
Hearing his daughter's words, he stops his footsteps, which were about to climb the palace stairs, just by feeling something very thin resting on his throat.
Sharp, it managed to cut through Mikhail's skin with ease. Blood began to fall at his feet.
If it wasn't for what Olivia said, Mikhail would have been decapitated at this very moment.
He has no special blood like his daughter's, so he may be too easy a prey for whoever set this trap.
As if this... thread was part of a magical contraption, the snowstorm ceases, and the clouds dissipate completely.
Mikhail feels a tingling in his ears, produced by... a melody.
A violin, played by very skilled hands, is what distracts Mikhail for a second. A second in which a figure stood at his back and placed a sickle to his throat.
-Ohh, boy, you let your guard down when you heard my sister's song.
The intercom was removed from Mikhail's ear. But...
Undeterred, Mikhail strikes back with his left elbow, managing to knock his threat off balance.
This allowed Mikhail to get out of the wavy area of the sickle, and turn around safely.
But there was no one there.
The moment he turned around, the violin stopped, and in its place, an angelic, opera-like voice began to be heard in the surrounding area.
-Don't move, meat sack, I don't feel like picking up your bits and pieces to eat you.
Now, a huge variety of threads gathered around Mikhail, threads so thin that they penetrated his clothes and skin very easily.
The man was already beginning to doubt what Gulliver Cross had written in his diary.
-[Violinist] and [Muse]... Gulliver couldn't tear out their hearts after all.
Those were the code names used for the [Third Vampire Lord], though that is a title only, as they are two different individuals, who had the misfortune of being a pair of Lhora's sisters who lived a thousand years ago.
Mikhail recalls what Gulliver said in the diary.
"The moment I stopped listening to one, the other would appear."
That style of killing is bound to lead to utter confusion for its prey, who will become disoriented at some point and find themselves dead in that window of carelessness.
[Musa] is a vampire who specialises in close combat, his signature weapon a chained sickle. Gulliver was supposed to have impaled that vampire with a steel cross.
On the other hand, [Violinist] was supposed to have died painfully by being forced to drink Gulliver's blood. She was a vampire who specialised in stealth and long-range attacks with threads. Although she carries a repertoire of projectiles to throw using those same threads.
That's what it said in Gulliver Cross's journal entry, so it doesn't make sense that these women would have shown up here now that [Eternal Night] was happening.
However, by now they must have realised what was going on with Mikhail. Because [Musa's] voice stopped, and she appeared in front of Mikhail.
[Musa]... or as she was known in life, Teressa Noks, is a woman of incomparable beauty, mimicking the appearance of the late Redhart I, she sought on several occasions to be Vivian's suitor after becoming a vampire. To no avail.
Blonde hair, pale skin, and dark clothing, a body-hugging dress that accentuated the woman's curves, and a pair of heels.
It is even beautiful how her shoes do not sink into the snow because of the delicacy with which she poses in front of Mikhail.
On the other hand, her twin sister was a totally different image.
[Violinist] is wrapped up to her ankles, in a peasant-like garb. Her name in life was Minerva Noks, of the sisters, she is the eldest. She has snow-white hair all around her, who with crimson eyes watches Mikhail almost in complete silence.
-You are not related by blood to the Cross lineage, yet you wear their hunter's uniform. How low these new generations have fallen.
Teressa speaks haughtily. She jabs a finger at Mikhail's forehead.
-Teressa. He is an ordinary human. We can kill him any way we want.
Minerva emphasises this to her younger sister in a calm tone. Though it was noticeable that she licked her lips a little after saying it.
-You're absolutely right, Minerva. Hey, boy. Tell me, which one of us do you want to take the first bite?
That's when Mikhail let out a small, mocking laugh.
The two of them were so intent on themselves that they didn't notice the moment Mikhail let go of the strings, and got down on his knees to touch the blood he had spilled.
Of course, for Mikhail to be accepted by the Cross Family as a suitable consort, there had to be something that made him stand out enough for the ringleader before him to gain attention to him.
His name before marriage was Mikhail Balmung, the middle son of an [Archmage of the Court of Hynder]. In his blood he carries a gigantic magical power that was what made him eligible to sire two women.
That magical power was the only thing that this man could bequeath to his daughters, especially the eldest, who shares a contract with one of the most powerful beasts in the world.
-Lend me your fangs, Jörmundgander.
Within seconds Mikhail had created a summoning circle, with which he summoned the mythical beast his family worships.
A pair of portals opened alongside each of the sisters, from which a tooth three times the size of each struck the snow next to them.
They moved just enough to avoid being hit by such a lethal attack.
"Poison for Gods" is what they call what comes out of the fangs of this beast, [The World Serpent, Jörmundgander].
With even a drop of that poison, both would have been turned into a mass of amorphous flesh.
Minerva quickly leaves the scene, leaving only Teressa, who prepares to fight with her sickle.
-I knew it, you couldn't be just any fucking guy! -. Teressa shouts out of excitement.
The violin starts to play once more. Symbolising the start of this fight to the death.
Mikhail pulls himself together, and rushes towards Teressa without any fear, to which Teressa responds by raising her chained sickle, spinning it in circles of ever increasing circumference.
It gets to the point where the sickle is about to strike Mikhail, whereupon the snake responds by covering the impact with its scales.
A vibration is transmitted through the chain, only thrilling Teressa more.
The damn snake's skin is as tough as I expected, no less from a Lucifer-level beast!
Teressa's unhinged grin denotes the excitement she has for fighting against someone who has a contract with Jörmundgander.
Few humans in history have ever had one, let alone those who have the snake's weapons and defence at their full service.
Teressa then changes strategy. She pulls back her sickle, and then chooses not to strike at Mikhail, but at his surroundings.
The impact of those blows shatters the street, kicking up dirt, stone and snow. Things that would serve to obstruct Mikhail's vision.
They worked. Mikhail had to stop his advance for a moment. With his vision blocked, Teressa's chains stretched out to surround him.
She's going to attack one more time... no!
Mikhail puts a foot on one of the chains, the chain was about to return, so it meant that Teressa had chosen to dive straight in.
He's not going to let that happen. The moment the earth dissipates, Mikhail starts up once more.
Armed with a pure iron stake and a hammer, Mikhail thrusts with all his might at Teressa, looking to land a crushing blow.
-You predicted me, I could expect nothing less from a consort!
With Mikhail back in her field of vision, Teressa shouts confidently. However, the vampiress had already predicted that this was what was going to happen.
And it is then that [Musa] begins to sing, disappearing like a shadow in the darkness.
A myriad of threads surrounded Mikhail at that moment, but he had had enough of that stupid sorcery, so he simply set them on fire using his blood as a catalyst.
-That's a fire sorcery I didn't know about... it seems mankind has evolved even in that.
Minerva takes her sister's place in this fight now, the wounds from those threads were quite a lot on this occasion though Mikhail did his best to slow their movements.
But it is not enough for this man to fall.
Without a word to his foe, Mikhail starts running again, he is just under twenty metres away from reaching [Violinist].
-Don't underestimate what I can do to hurt you.
By the time he realised what was about to happen, Mikhail received Minerva's attack, right in the right eye.
A fine-sized projectile hit him, smashing straight into his retina. A single attack had stopped Mikhail's advance.
But despite the excruciating pain, Mikhail manages to pull the projectile, a needle, out of his eye. He immediately realised that he had lost his vision on that side.
The blow was so hard that there was no way to be sure that it would not do permanent damage.
Mikhail sighs from the pain, and remains calm above it all.
There is no doubt that he must kill these two vampires, whatever it takes.
-If you surrender now, I promise I won't turn you into a vampire after I kill you, consort.
Minerva says that, placing a hand on her chest; for vampires, this is a sign of complete sincerity since they are promising with their weak point.
However...
-If I don't kill them here, my daughter will take care of it later. And don't think she's going to be merciful.
-...
Minerva falls silent, fading away just as her sister did.
The violin resumes, and immediately the frenzied fighting resumes as well.
-Who is your daughter that you speak so proudly of what she can do!
The chains impacted with Mikhail's legs, causing him to lose a bit of balance in his stance.
It was an unexpected attack for Mikhail, but he can't let his guard down any more than he did before.
Mikhail leaps backwards, before Teressa slashes his head with her scythe. As he jumps, he throws the iron stake in his hand to drive the main chain into the ground.
-Cheap trick!
Teressa doesn't let that stake be an inconvenience to her, and jumps together with Mikhail to catch him. She is already eager to devour him.
Mikhail is surprised, as Teressa manages to reach him, and instead of attacking him with her claws, she decides to lift him up in the air by pulling his shirt.
"She wants to strike the final blow!" -. Mikhail shouts in his mind.
Teressa manages to fall to the ground, which allowed her to throw her chain in such a way that it would wrap around Mikhail to catch him.
By the time the chain aimed the scythe at Mikhail's throat, Jörmundgander stepped in once more to block the deadly attack by his contractor.
The full force of the attack was rendered null and void, causing the chain to fall instantly. And Teressa can only smile at this wonderful situation.
Mikhail immediately responded to the blockade with a counterattack, propelling himself with wind megia, he launched himself at Teressa from the air.
Jörmundgander would deal with any response from Teressa, so Mikhail need not worry about this dangerous position he threw himself into.
A new stake came out of the sleeve of his coat, so Mikhail prepared to aim it straight at Teressa's falling chest.
-I got it!
Teressa screams, to Mikhail's surprise, she stopped Mikhail's fall by catching him in mid-air.
Not understanding what his enemy was doing, Mikhail panicked.
And Teressa, with a demonic smile, says to Mikhail face to face.
-The Serpent only intervenes if it's an attack that's going to kill you! That's why it didn't protect you from Minerva's attack!
They return to land, and as they do so, Mikhail hastens to drive the stake into Teressa's chest, aiming for her heart.
However, Teressa puts up her left hand to stop the impending attack.
-It's no fun if you want to end things like this, consort. You still haven't told me who your daughter is that you trust so much.
Mikhail raises the hammer in his left hand, and successfully strikes Teressa's temple. That blow was not even capable of hurting Teressa's skin.
-You are finished, Cross. And you're going to die without even being able to see your daughter one last time. Lady Enigma will kill your daughter and anyone who tries to protect her. And if not her, there's already someone who can take care of as many of your family as are put in front of her.
Mikhail, unable to remain silent any longer, asks:
-What the hell are you talking about? There is no vampire on the face of the earth, not even Enigma, who can survive one of the Cross family.
-Let me bring you up to speed, Daddy. The battlefront bordering the dungeon fell victim to that woman, a vampire with a will to eradicate humanity greater than that of Lady Enigma.
-...this woman you speak of killed my nephews.
-And drank their blood. That's the kind of threat I'm talking about. I daresay that monster can give Lady Enigma a decent fight after the fiasco that was the blonde girl.
-I have no idea who you're talking about. But you're not making any sense, there's no way she could have beaten the blood of the Cross Family.
Teressa smiles at Mikhail again, showing her fangs.
-I swear it's the truth, consort. Come on, show that your muscles are not for show.
Unable to trust Teressa's words, Mikhail rips the stake from the woman's hand, and prepares to attack with the hammer alone.
A blow to the jaw lifts Teressa's face, she is surprised at the wonderful blow that was delivered.
Mikhail knows that this is nothing to Teressa, who lowers her head to look at him again. A small line of blood trickles from between Teressa's lips.
-You were the first after Gulliver to make me taste my own blood. And you did it with sheer brute force! I love it, I could fall in love with you!
Without stopping his next attack, Mikhail imbues magical energy into the little hammer in a quest to strike better blows than the last.
But the violin stops, and is replaced by the opera once again. So it was Minerva who received Mikhail's magically enhanced attack.
The impact was blunt in the cheek, with so much force of impact that it dislodged the vampire's jaw with that alone.
For a second, Mikhail heard the opera stop with a cry of "Really?!", only to resume immediately afterwards.
Reaffirming his grip on the stake, Mikhail this time aims not at his target's chest, but at her head.
Minerva, who hadn't quite figured out what had happened, received Mikhail's stake with her frontal lobe, which then finished driving through her hard palate with another impact of the hammer.
Minerva's body falls limply, her brain not quite finished processing that she was attacked.
"I still don't know how these two survived Gulliver... their bodies aren't strong enough for that." -. Mikhail thinks.
The opera stopped, but this time it was not replaced by the violin.
Teressa stepped in between Mikhail and Minerva, before he moved forward to strike the final blow.
-Not so far forward, consort. If you're going to impale either of us, do it with me first.
-... worrying about your big sister...
-It's the least I can do. It's my fault that she became one in the first place... so whatever you want to settle with my big sister, go over my head first.
Mikhail had had enough. If the fight turned into one of attrition, he was going to end up losing since he is a mere human.
He is no match for his daughters, Olivia and Amelie.
But he already had something arranged to end this once and for all.
-Are you really willing to die first?
Mikhail reaches to open his inventory, from which the hilt of a sword is what he grabs to pull out the blade.
It is a silver sword, with greyish patterns. The hilt has an obsidian style, resembling the scales of a dragon.
Teressa takes a couple of steps back, as that sword is not supposed to be in the hands of a man like Mikhail, a consort.
All her cells respond in rejection to that silver leaf. An indescribable fear seizes her at the mere sight of the leaf.
-Why? How is it that a consort is worthy to carry one of Gulliver's weapons?! You'll die just for wielding it, you know!
-I will not. One of my molars has inside it a crystal full of "Ambrosia". So I wonder which will be quicker, your death or mine.
Mikhail raises the two-handed sword, it responds to the wielder, charging with Mikhail's magical energy, almost all of it in his body, leaving him just enough to not fall into Zero Mana.
Teressa rushes to try to lift her sister in order to escape, but as soon as she gets close, a fang of Jörmundgander's pierced into Minerva, preventing her escape outright.
Mikhail's wounds begin to gush with far greater intensity, as his body is breaking apart from the inside just to charge the sword with power.
Olivia Cross's signature weapon.
-I didn't answer you before...
-Stop this! Have mercy on me and my sister, we haven't even killed anyone here, they've all locked themselves in the castle! I swear, consort!
Mikhail, whose blood spleens were bursting simultaneously, before his eardrums burst, enacted loudly:
-This is the best attack that the father of the mightiest of mankind can give!
It was at that moment that Teressa was able to connect it all. Of course.
She smiled one last time, now that Mikhail finally relented in telling her his daughter's identity.
Mikhail noticed Teressa's smile, and no longer hesitated to swing the sword that had already finished charging with magical power.
Nevertheless.
-Father, stop!
Mikhail at that moment, in a fleeting flash, heard his daughter's voice from deep inside his head.
The distraction was more than enough to stop him.
Before he could lower his sword, Mikhail's chest was pierced by Teressa's scythe.
Mikhail immediately vomited blood. For his heart was completely pierced by that attack.
Mikhail's blood ran down to Teressa, who could not stop smiling at the fact that she had been able to survive after all.
However, it was not Teressa who had launched the attack.
It was someone else. It was neither Teressa, nor Minerva.
A third individual.
-You took too long, Patience! Why did you think so hard to kill him?!
Teressa screams towards the person who pierced Mikhail's chest.
"I see... there was a third of them..."
That's what Mikhail thinks to himself. So they were not twins, but triplets.
Because they were blood related before they became vampires, they were cursed in the same way.
Which meant that you couldn't kill any of them unless you killed all three at the same time. That explains why Gulliver wasn't able to kill them at first.
It also explains their number among the [Vampire Lords], being number three.
-Imitating a daughter's voice to deceive a father... what a cowardly way to attack... -. says Mikhail, who can barely stand.
-It is our survival, Lord Consort. We cannot allow less than that. Thank you for saying who your daughter was. Don't be confused. You killed yourself.
The third girl, Patience, is speaking now. She has a quiet voice, compared to her two sisters.
But, Mikhail...
-Ha... ha... haha...
He couldn't help laughing.
-What the fuck are you laughing at?! You're going to die, you bastard. And at the same time you're going to lose your daughter's precious sword.
It is then, that a loud crack is heard.
Mikhail had broken the capsule with Olivia's blood that he had previously prepared, and once again, he is ready to raise that sword that was waiting to be used.
All of his superficial wounds heal, including the one to his eye. None of the three vampires were expecting that.
In response, Patience grabs him by the head and sinks her teeth into his neck, seeking to turn him into a vampire before it's too late.
But it already was.
It was too late.
With his little renewed strength, Jörmundgander responds to his contractor's will, sinking two more fangs, one into Teressa, and the other to trap Patience with Mikhail.
-If I can't kill them, I'll take them with me. -. Mikhail evokes.
Unable to break away, Patience stops biting him, and imitates Olivia's voice again, saying:
-Don't do this, daddy! I don't want you to die!
Hearing those words in his daughter's voice was difficult, but it only renewed Mikhail's determination.
-We'll see you soon, Lillia... -. He whispers, Mikhail, thinking one last time of his late, beloved wife.
-Consort, don't do it! -. Teressa gives one last desperate cry.
The decision was already made.
So Mikhail simply says:
-Scour the heavens and purify hell, EXCALIBUR!
With the incantation of deliverance pronounced, Mikhail lowers the sword, Excalibur, in order to thrust it into the snow.
Moments later, a golden ring surrounded the four of them, from which the beam of light charged with all of Mikhail's magical energy shot out, pulverising everything in the place.
Mikhail regrets not being of more help, but he knows for sure that his daughter will make sure his death is not in vain.
The beam of light pierced the sky, and was so bright that it illuminated all of Lhora. And along with such an incantation, the earth shook due to the immense power of the cataclysm that Mikhail produced.
All that was left was the impact zone, with that sword in the middle. There was no trace of Mikhail or the [Third Vampire Lord].
[Olivia's perspective]
I heard everything through the communicator. My father wasn't able to retrieve it after it was taken from him.
On top of a pile of monster corpses, there was me. Sitting in a ball, hugging my legs.
I couldn't believe what had just happened. I told him to use Excalibur as a last resort, but he was always so stubborn about not daring to use magic to fight...
These five hours have been very difficult for me... first my cousins, and now my father.
How many more people have to die before this stops?
...
I am not able to save anyone.
Why do I have the title of [Heroine] if I can't save the people I care about? What is my purpose?
...
I don't know.
But what I do know is that I can't stand still forever.
This is just beginning. And if it's true that a vampire has managed to overpower my family's bloodline, then...
Then...
I'm going to make sure I kill her. That monster. And the reason for all our problems, too.
I have to kill Enigma.
It's no longer worth waiting for Elise, surely she's not even aware of what's going on and is living a quiet life in the dungeon.
She was always that carefree.
So I don't care anymore.
I'll stop holding back. It's time for the hunt.