The Fallen Vampire

Chapter 177: Too Late to Turn Back

Getting married for the first time wasn't anything like Inadu thought it would be.

Likely because she had a lot of alone time in what was supposed to be her honeymoon period.

But she was not upset with her husband for leaving her.

In fact, quite the opposite.

She was glad to have this time to mediate, put herself back together, and even gain some weight back.

Though it took some effort at first, she was eating three full meals a day now.

She was still a skinny young thing, but now at least she no longer looked like she was going to be blown away by a wayward gust of wind.

'I'm eating as much as I can, but…'

Inadu looked down at the two noticeably larger mounds of flesh on her chest.

This seemed to be where the bulk of the weight she gained went.

She honestly was not quite sure if she would begin to experience back issues at some point or another and require the aid of a masseuse.

'I wonder if my husband would be willing to comply… ehehehehe..!'

Inadu soon began kicking her feet as she lapsed into a small giggling fit.

As her laughter died down, she smiled faintly at her own drawing of Taira that she had been working on ever since he had left.

'I miss you more and more each day, my husband. I hope that you will hurry and return quickly to see the new woman who will be waiting for you.'

-

Taira sailed through the clearing until his head struck a tree and collapsed in on itself.

It took a few seconds before his head healed and he was able to stand back up.

This creature was easily the most daunting thing he had ever come across.

Laying waste to his forces was a forty meter hooved beast with the head of an eastern dragon, the body of a tiger, and silver armor-like scales.

With a single stomp of it's hooves on the ground, it's antlers generated thick sheets of ice that formed either jagged blades of ice or sculpture-like warriors.

Taira was incredibly annoyed.

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His memories of enemies who used ice were shit, so that had served to put him in a very foul mood.

Not only was this creature big, nimble, and overflowing with magic power, but it had repeatedly displayed intelligence as well.

Goring through the little creatures who were trying to attack it wasn't it's plan.

It was crippling them.

The qilin took one step and vanished in a gust of wind.

It reappeared behind two of the tribesmen and ran straight into them with it's antlers tucked downward.

Instead of it's appendages being dangerously sharp and pointed, they were flat like they'd been filed down.

Because the goal was not to pierce, but to strike.

More specifically, it targeted the small of their backs where their core was most vulnerable.

After connecting with a direct hit, it dispersed an energy through their bodies that imploded their cores immediately.

Once their bodies were no longer powerful and they were not so full of vitality, the qilin ate them in quick succession.

It was akin to heating up food to soften it before consumption.

And the feast had barely even begun.

"WOOOO-HOOOO!! GLORY BE TO BLOOD!!"

Flipping through the air were the ever inegmatic siblings Vaal and Tiche.

The older sister was as cool as the ice around them.

Her younger brother was noticeably more… energetic.

In this secret realm, beasts and monsters can only be killed by spirit weapons.

However, they are no less rare here than they are in the lands above.

It is the reason why the beasts here grow so well and develop a myriad of unnatural abilities that are not derivative of their species.

So for those who are born with those unique and highly prized gems- they are fated to become important existences in the secret realm.

And the asanbosam siblings just happened to each be born with a gem implant at nape of their neck.

In a flash, the pair summmoned their prized weapons together.

For Vaal it was a inhumanly large war axe that no man should ever attempt to carry.

And Tiche wielded a razor-thin blade that was as long as a broomstick.

Just before the two could engage the creature, it sensed their overwhelming bloodlust and reacted accordingly.

The creature did a massive leap in the air until it was far above their heads.

It unhinged it's jaw impossibly wide and spewed a literal blizzard from it's maw.

What should have been inconsequential flecks of ice were instead jagged darts sharper than either of the twins' weapons.

Because of the timing of the attack, the pair of siblings were left with little opportunity to adjust their movements.

It seemed like the two of them were in for quite the rude collision when suddenly a shooting star tackled them to safety.

"Are you guys alright?!" Vermeil asked.

"This is glorious!! Woo!!" Vaal pumped both arms in the air in excitement.

"I-I didn't need you to save me, human! Do not touch me!" Tiche slapped Vermeil's hands away as she picked herself back up.

"Are you serious! I'm only trying to help you here!"

"Your kind's 'help' always ends up doing more harm than good!"

"I'm not even-"

"Stop."

Taira appeared like a ghost and separated the two women in an instant.

His glare was particularly unkind towards Tiche.

"Let's get this done. The girls are already in position."

"Brother, do we have to end this already..?" Vaal whimpered.

"…" Taira's words were non-existent, but his gaze unkind.

"… Fine. But I am reversing positions with my sister!"

"I don't care, let's just get this done."

"Glory to blood!" He cheered.

Taira sent Aveena, Lucia, and Keran a mental message.

'We're ready to begin. Start the show, my loves.'

Across the frozen battlefield, Aveena tightened the bandages on her fists and steeled herself for the start.

Like Taira, she was also having lousy memories of today.

The loss of Abbess Setsuka, as well as all of her junior and senior sisters was something that haunted her every year.

She spent every anniversary of their deaths contemplating things she could have done differently to save their lives.

But no matter what she fantasized about, that opportunity was never coming.

So all that she could do was keep living with their memory and bettering herself on a daily basis.

And perhaps now she was closer to that goal than ever.

She was a Sect Leader!

Her sect didn't have any members and they had absolutely no prominence to speak of, but still!

In every action that she took from this day forward, she would do it with the honor and memory of all of her lost loved ones on the line!

Aveena's dark red aura flared to life and stole the attention of the icy qilin wreaking havoc on the entire field.

Aveena's excitement soared as a fearsome smile broke out across face.

"Demonic Agony Fist Art: Anger of the Departed!"

Aveena threw out a single red punch.

The destructive aura of her punch not only destroyed the icy ground, but it also created ghastly images of wailing souls.

They grabbed hold of the qilin quite easily and held onto it like their afterlives depended on it.

Naturally, the majestic creature started to break free, but out of nowhere a giant green dragon fell from the sky.

It wrapped it's serpentine body around the creature to restrain it's movement and prevent it from making any more of those unnaturally big jumps.

With it's movements limited, Aveena's fist constructs were better able to grab hold of the qilin and stop even more of it's movement.

The beast roared loudly as it started creating more constructs out of ice to free itself.

Lucia exhaled her own bright green flames to melt down the murderous ice sculptures before they could do any further damage to the rest of the hunting party.

As Aveena's constructs continued to strike the legs of the qilin, Keran fired arrows of pink flame at it's knees until they finally buckled.

When the creature finally crashed to the ground, it was finally Tiche's turn.

She pointed her weapon towards the sky and the blade became a sickly red color.

'Arcane Blood : Worldbinding Chain.'

A net comprised entirely of metallic red blood fell from the sky on the head of the qilin.

The hunting party grabbed hold of the ends of the net in a star formation.

Using their combined strength, they pulled downward and brought the qilin even lower to the ground.

Now that they were nearing the end, Vermeil unslung her sai from her waist.

She hurled the weapons into the sky and they split apart into a series of glowing yellow duplicates.

They fell from the heavens like a hail of giant shooting stars.

Their goal was to act as screws to help bolt down the chains held by the rest of the party and locked the creature firmly in place.

Or… halfway firmly.

"You need to go now, babe! I'm not sure how long this setup is going to hold!" Vermeil was already beginning to break out into a sweat as she tried to keep the beast down.

Taira summoned Yasuke into his hand in the form of a large gold and red scythe.

Vaal was already shuffling back and forth on his feet like a child who had to pee.

"This will be wonderful, exemplary, grand, exciting, beautiful, magnani-"

"Vaal. Calm down and let's go."

"Right! Ok!"

Taira and Vaal leapt into the air together.

Each of them raised their weapons and began gathering qi around the blades.

This drew the attention of the restrained qilin; causing it to raise it's head to the sky and roar.

Vaal smiled madly as his own excitement started to take over his body.

'This will be glorious!'

Even though he was excited, Taira wasn't.

Because he could already feel in his bones that he was about to make a massive mistake with serious repercussions.

But it was too late to stop now.

'Immortal Harvesting Scythe Art : Dead Moon.'