Dota 66
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-Misaki Town,
3rd POV*
Altrouge stared in interest as her pet was brought down by a weird item, she gazed at it seriously wondering how effective it was. Whether it will work on her was a question she doesn't want an answer with. It seemed formidable enough if it could even put the rank 1 in 27 Dead Apostles with just a scratch.
With Primate Murder put to sleep, everyone regained their calmness. There was no threat anymore and only Nrvnsqr was left. He was no worries for them as he is weak as hell, there is no need to be concern about him.
Anastashia sighed in relief when the fight finally ended, she looked at her own body and was infuriated to how messy she became. All of it because of one simple opponent! "Umu! Simple as that. As expected of me" Nero on the other hand just nodded in praise to herself. She judged that she contributed the most in the fight and Anastashia was just grumbling all the time.
The two shook their heads and erased those thoughts out of their heads, they turned their attention towards Lawrence searching for explanation to what just happened. However what greeted them was Arcueid facing a young girl who looked like 14 years old.
Altrouge Brunestud was born a hybrid between Dead Apostle and True Ancestor. She was the first True Ancestor ever to hold the title Brunestud, so she could be called Arcueid Brunestud's older sister. Altrouge was born from Crimson Moon's machination in searching out other methods for preparing a body of proper purity for his revival due to no regular True Ancestor coming to possess his level of power.
Despite being a Brunestud and possible successor of Crimson Moon, she is hated by Crimson Moon's servant such as Merem Solomon and Gransurg Blackmore. They claim that she is an impostor and they will only serve Arcueid Brunestud as their master. They wanted her dead yet do not possess the power to do so.
This is the reason why Arcueid was quite baffled seeing her supposed to be 'sister' here. "Altrouge! For what reason have you come here?" Arcueid asked unusually serious taking Nero and Anastashia by surprise. She is always jolly when she is with them and Arcueid never showed a serious expression like this before.
Altrouge did not look at Arcueid and instead just gazed directly at Anastashia. "Just testing the new Brunestud. It would be disappointing if she can't reach our level of strength" she said maintaining the emotionless look on her face. Her words did grabbed the attention of everyone, they stared at Anastashia who was equally confused.
She did not know anything about this. "What is that blade?" Altrouge changed the topic and leaded it towards the blade that Nero was holding. "Umu! This? It is a special blade that Master gave me! It can-" Nero could not finish her explanation as Anastashia blocked her mouth. "What are you doing?! Explaining to a potential enemy!" Anastashia reprimanded Nero.
Upon hearing the mention of master, Altrouge looked at Lawrence who is in the middle of snuggling Shiki. He was ignoring everything and was more focused on huddling Shiki. He just stopped when Shiki pinched his sides, embarrassed from the attention they were getting. "Eh? Oh… what's up?" Lawrence asked finally realizing the situation.
"This is the master?" Altrouge only asked that but from her tone, it was clear that she was disappointed. Perhaps the reason for that is because she has only been observing them for a few days and in those days, Lawrence never had the opportunity to use his powers. Why would he when the girls volunteered themselves to take care of small matters.
What Altrouge didn't know was that her disappointment became a fuel of anger for the girls. Of all things they hate in the world, one of the most dangerous line is that one must never insult Lawrence. Shiki was the one who placed that rule unto them and the girls did not even hesitate to accept it. They swore that they must kill the person who did it in the most brutal way.
The girls just stared seriously at Altrouge because that was just a simple disappointment, they could never kill her for that. If that really happens then every day, thousands of people might die. Altrouge noticed the changed in atmosphere, and as an experienced person living a long life, she immediately understood the reason.
"Pathetic. Lady Anastashia, won't you come with us? Your will be more luxurious once you accept your status in our world" Since she is also interested in the powers of others, Altrouge did not hesitate to tick them off.
That was the turning point for the girls, Bea appeared behind Altrouge dropping the heavy Monkey King Bar on her. Altrouge was plummeted to the ground as she stared at the weapon in surprise. Bea moved from the way as Anastashia dropped thousands of beams towards Altrouge breaking her strong defense on the process.
Nero arrived with the three orbs on her body dancing around. It was three exort. Nero snapped her fingers and just a second after, something dropped from the sky close to the speed of light. Altrouge who was nonchalant all the attacks shivered from this one particular attack, her instinct which she honed for hundreds of years rang all around so she disregarded any dignity she has and crawled away from the scene.
The SunStrike descended narrowly missing Altrouge who stared at it with heavy face. Do know that Dead Apostles ranked 10 and above are immune to death, they are monsters who are close to illusion rather than beings. So if one wanted to kill them, they must need either a much stronger illusion(conceptually) or… Magic.
"Magic… you're a magician?" her view towards Nero changed, she now consider her a greater threat than Anastashia herself. She know how frightening a Magician is because she experienced the horror of fighting one. Zelretch's face appeared on Altrouge's mind before it instantly vanished, now she can't be casual anymore as she might really die.
Unfortunately, this thought could not come true as the girls opened their way for another person. This formation of them confused Altrouge because it will definitely make it easier for her to escape. No words was exchanged between the girls as Shiki's slow step rang through the silent area.
Altrouge stared at the girl as she suddenly became anxious. She doesn't know why but she feels like she is being stared by a dangerous entity right now, much scarier than Magicians or her Father itself the Crimson Moon. Shiki did not speak and just menacingly stare at Altrouge, her eyes glowered eerily as they revealed their existence to the vampire.
"Mystic Eyes…" Altrouge muttered, it was out of her but this eyes gave her a dreadful feeling. Shiki's eyes gazed at the numerous Lines of Death Altrouge possessed, this is only possible because the current person holding the body was Void Shiki itself. Shiki deemed it necessary to take care of this matter by using her real consciousness leading to this situation.
Shiki raised her hand in a slow-motion but to the perspective of others, a giant guillotine was already hanging above Altrouge's head. Arcueid who was watching everything could not take it anymore, "Wait! Please don't kill her!" she shouted gathering all attention to her. They waited for her next words, seemingly asking the reason for stopping them.
Arcueid gulped from that, she knows that all of them are scary and could defeat the current her, she carefully chose her words so that it won't lead to a bad end. "Altrouge is part of a faction within the 27 Dead Apostles! If she dies then those who are being handled by her will undoubtedly rampage, it would lead to a genocide" Arcueid said surprising them by her logic.
They started thinking about it and had to admit that it was acceptable, Arcueid was happy seeing their reaction but it only lasted for an instance. "Do we look like we care for such petty matters? You said it yourself, we are not humans. We are monsters, so why should we care if millions of humans suddenly die in a single night?" Anastashia asked narrowing her eyes.
Nero, Bea and Shiki silently affirmed her words, and it became an even harder job for Arcueid. "Haha, stop guys. It is enough" Lawrence who stayed quiet throughout the whole fiasco finally intervened. He has his fair of amusement so he thought it would be time to stop this. Just like Arcueid said, a genocide will really happen if Altrouge die.
As a human, albeit a questionable one, he had to prevent that. "Lawrence?" Arcueid turned to him as if seeing her savior. The girls who heard Lawrence's instruction instantly backed down with no thoughts of continuing the matter, he already said his decision, they won't disobey it. "Altrouge Brunestud, fascinating meeting you today. Let's return girls" Lawrence said as they quickly left the place leaving one unconscious dog, a defeated vampire and a still kneeling chaos.
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(A/N: I know this Altrouge is weak as hell but there is a reason for that. It would be explained in later chapters)