Okay, so I get that the situation is urgent and all, but man, talk about crappy timing...just as I got back home from a long meeting, I had to almost immediately arrange another one. So here I was, back at the Ragiu mansion a little over an hour after Fuo called me.
Erhtaph was here too, of course, along with Fuo, Aurich and the princesses of Silvland and Bronztan. Bronztan had stubbornly sat out of the previous discussion, but they swallowed their pride this time. The queen was still absent though. When I came to this world, I read that Bronztan had a class system, but they had outlawed slavery and frowned upon treating their lower class citizens poorly, but there was no mention of the fact that they were a matriarchal nation and that they favored women over men so much. Anyway, that wasn't important right now, we had bigger things to worry about...
"Alright, Fuo, switch with Atticus. We need all the details regarding the Vampires' movements," I requested with a sigh.
"Fine...," Replied Fuo, before her expression changed as Atticus took over, "Hello again, Kuro. It would appear as though the wait is over."
"Hold on, what is happening, I am rather befuddled-," Began the princess of Bronztan.
"Okay, first off, drop the act, just talk normally...and second, you wouldn't be confused if you'd been here at the last meeting, so just be quiet and listen instead of wasting everyone's time," I interrupted her with a sigh.
She grumbled something under her breath but didn't say anything else.
"Let's get straight to the point. Atticus, you can sense the Vampires moving right, so which direction are they headed?" I inquired, turning my attention to him.
"Well, it is quite interesting, I must say that I did not expect this, although it does not surprise me very much...a little under half the Vampires have split into two groups, one is heading north and the other is heading east. As for the remaining half of the Vampires, from what I can sense, I believe it is safe to assume that they will split into two groups and head west and south, perhaps by tomorrow," He informed us, closing his eyes and concentrating.
"Before I process all that...you're sure that they can't sense you, right? Cuz I mean, you can sense them so accurately from such a distance, how do you know that doesn't work both ways?" I asked skeptically.
"Because the specific signal that I sense emanates from their cores...however, I no longer have my core, I am only being kept alive by the human life force in this body. Additionally, I cannot sense your presence even though you have a Vampiric essence in you, though I can get a fair estimate of what you are capable of just by looking at you, which is something I expect the Vampires will be able to do so as well."
The way he referred to them while excluding himself, he really doesn't consider himself a Vampire anymore, does he?
"Okay, I'm convinced for now, but I can't deny that a part of me is still kinda skeptical...setting that aside for now, if you're right about their movements, then that's great news that they're splitting up their forces...the two groups that have already set out, how many of each type of Vampire are in each group?"
"Both groups are each being led by one of the Evil Numbers, three Vampire Knights, and nine Vampire Generals. As for the Vampire Minions, I would approximate somewhere between a hundred and twenty to a hundred and thirty each...we can expect similar numbers to attack the west and south here, the king always did like to split up his forces evenly. And these numbers make it clear that a handful of Vampires will remain in Silvland, which is likely to include the king himself."
"It probably still won't be an easy fight, but it's a lot better than having to face all of them in one go...this really isn't the best option for the Vampires tactically speaking, and I can think of two reasons...one, the king is a bad strategist. And two, he's doing this deliberately because he doesn't want a one-sided conquest, which I think is the more likely explanation, given the way he acted when he gave me my Vampire powers," I mused while going through the details in my head.
"Indeed, you would be right about that. In fact, before the Vampires were sealed in the Forbidden Zone, many Vampire Minions did not like the king's tactics since they were put in the most danger...granted, the Vampires never suffered significant casualties, but some did die directly due to the tactical decisions of the king. A few casualties will not deter him, in fact he enjoys watching humans struggle...actually, his preference for roundabout tactics played a rather big part in giving the humans the opportunity to seal the Vampires in the Forbidden Zone in the first place."
"Interesting, we will definitely have to exploit that as much as possible...though the Vampire King is likely to be expecting that," Erhtaph muttered with a frown.
"I have a question as well...how long will it take the Vampires to reach their targets?" Asked Aurich.
"I would estimate two days, three at the most. The groups that have already departed from Silvland are moving at a fairly quick pace. The rest are still in Silvland, but most of them are starting to congregate by the south and west ends of the nation. I believe they will head out by tonight or tomorrow morning at the latest. In other words, they will likely be upon us within the next three days."
That soon, huh?
"Okay, continue to keep track of their movements, especially the group that headed east to Bronztan, there's no telling how they'll react when they come across an empty nation," I said with a nod.
"On that subject, there is a matter we must discuss...the south end of the Rustlands was already rather cramped after we had all our civilians evacuate there...but with the addition of the Bronztan population, things are starting to get out of control, there have been frequent reports of brawls and disagreements on the streets. I believe we should expand the evacuation zone significantly to rectify this," Suggested Erhtaph with a frown.
"That shouldn't be much of a problem, expand the evacuation zone outwards to the east and west, but don't expand it any further north...though at the end of the day, it doesn't make that much of a difference, if the Vampires do make it past the north defense, it won't really matter whether the civilians are huddled in one spot or spread out."
"True enough, but do you have to be so pessimistic about it?" Sighed Princess Agatha with a raised eyebrow.
"I think that's more realistic than pessimistic, but either way, that's the situation we're in...being optimistic isn't going to help, with the odds so heavily stacked against it, I think it'd be more prudent to brace ourselves for the worst and prepare to respond when it happens."
"Getting back to the matter of how the Vampire forces are being divided...Atticus, regarding the more powerful Vampires, will you be able to tell exactly which of them are headed where?" Asked Aurich with a furrowed expression.
"No, I cannot...I can differentiate between the ranks, but not between individuals."
"Hey, that reminds me...totally slipped my mind, but weren't you supposed to compile a list of the names and abilities of the higher ranking Vampires?" I suddenly recalled.
"Ah, well, regarding that...I have not been able to do so since Fuo has been busy constantly training during the last few days," He replied with an apologetic sigh.
"Well, in that case, mind giving us a quick rundown on the strongest Vampires?"
"Very well, then. I believe I have already informed you of the king's abilities, yes? Let me reveal the abilities of the Evil Numbers. First, the strongest of them, Six-Six-Six. His Cross is extremely powerful, allowing him to see into the future upto five seconds, it is called Foresight. In other words, catching him off-guard will be a near-impossible feat to accomplish, and if you fight him, he will be able to see all of your moves coming. Unless your speed is significantly greater than him, he is an opponent that may as well be impossible to defeat."
"Woah, that ability is no joke...," Muttered Princess Agatha with a look of concern.
"Yeah, it's way too powerful...does it have any limits, like can it only be used under certain conditions or can he only use it a certain amount at a time, or any weakness at all?" I inquired hopefully.
"I am afraid not, and that is what makes his Cross arguably the strongest amongst all the Vampires. Most Vampires have activation conditions and limitations when it comes to the use of their Crosses, but he has no such weakness."
"Well...that sucks. So, what does he look like?"
"He has long spiked up hair, white in color with six red streaks...beyond that, he looks no different to any other Vampire. I should clarify that, every single Vampire will appear to be around the same age to humans, they will all look like humans who are in their mid-to-late twenties. And since Vampires do not age, it means that they are permanently at what humans would call their 'prime'".
"I have to ask, does that mean the Vampires were kids at some point, and then stopped aging when they reached their prime, or is that not how it works?" I asked curiously.
I know this wasn't an especially important fact to the current situation, but my curiosity got the better of me.
"Actually, the true origin of us Vampires is unknown even to the king himself...over fifteen hundred years ago, we came into being with no prior memory, and all of us were already fully grown...at the time, this world was dominated by the other monsters that are currently sealed away in Forbidden Zones, humans were very much at the bottom of the food chain. I must admit, it has been so long that I cannot fully recall everything...but I do remember that there were other non-monster races as well, not just humans. Let me think, what were they called...ah, yes, I believe there was a race of powerful magic users known as Elves, another race of small creatures called Fairies...and there were a few others as well, along with a destructively powerful leader that was dressed in all red...hm, but I cannot remember what they called him. These races had naturally superior magic to humans, since they were the ones that taught humans how to use magic in the first place. And-."
"Woah, slow down a sec! Elves and Fairies, seriously!? Hang on, I haven't seen any races in this world besides humans and monsters, so where-!?" I exclaimed in surprise and disbelief at this sudden revelation.
"Yes, those other non-monster races are no longer here, but I do not know if they died out or not. Let me continue. In order to fight off the monsters, those races formed an alliance, which they included humans in as well. Individually, each of those races would have been no problem for the Vampires or the other monsters, but together, they had the power to overwhelm us in a head-on battle. If the most powerful monsters had also formed an alliance, then those races would not have stood a chance, but at the time, the different types of monsters were fighting each other for supremacy, so that was out of the question. However, after the humans were taught how to stand on their own feet, they began to feel uneasy since they were the weakest race in the alliance...and so, they betrayed and attacked one of the other non-human races, with the aim of interbreeding with them in order to create more powerful human descendants...the result of this interbreeding is what you refer to as 'Animas'. Ah, yes, I believe the race that the humans betrayed and enslaved, before killing them off after they produced an adequate amount of offspring, they were called...Demi-humans."
...man, what is it with fantasy worlds and Demi-human abuse? Talk about a dark past...
"The other non-monster races did not opt to either kill the humans or save the Demi-humans...no, in fact, they simply vanished. That was over a thousand years ago, and no one ever understood what happened to them or where they disappeared to. Many of those races had highly advanced magic, so whatever may have happened may as well be beyond our comprehension. Like I said, it has been over a thousand years since they disappeared, and there is every chance that they are dead...but I believe that they are still out there somewhere, though I cannot prove that claim. After that, humans continued developing, their population increasing so much that they outnumbered what the total population of the non-human races had been before they disappeared combined, and eight hundred years later, sealed all of the strongest monster types in the so-called Forbidden Zones...that was two hundred years ago."
As he finished his history recap, all of us were silent, as the information we'd just heard began sinking in.
"If all that is true, that means our ancestors committed horrendous atrocities, betraying those that empowered them and enslaving an ally...there is very little in the history books regarding the events of before two hundred years ago, so we cannot dispute your claim...but I do not want to believe that it is true," Frowned Erhtaph with a grave expression.
"Actually, I can definitely believe that...the people of this world suck at keeping records of its their own history, but my old world was different...and if there's one thing I've learnt from history, is that deep down, pure human nature is malicious and violent, disastrous wars waged over trivialities like differing religious beliefs, border disputes, greed for land and resources...yeah, this world may be a lot different to my old world, but humans are still humans," I replied with a grimace, "You could say 'not all humans are like that', but I don't think that's true...even an absolute saint could become a psychotic murderer if put under the right conditions."
"That was a kinda emo way of putting it, but...I see your point, and I can't disagree with it," Added Princess Agatha.
"Yeah, people suck, they only maintain their so-called 'humanity' when they're happy with their life as it is, but they won't hesitate to throw it away when life goes to shit...don't most of the Retribution Tier members fall under that category? Some of them don't actually seem like bad people, but they have no problem with mass-murdering an entire nation since they've suffered too-...o-oh, um, sorry," Selesa began, before apologizing to Aurich as his expression soured at the mention of the Goldway massacre.
"Uh, is it just me, or is the mood in here getting really heavy?" Princess Cusnai spoke up awkwardly.
Crap, she was right, this was all big news and whatnot, but it wasn't our priority right now...
"Right, we can bemoan how awful the early humans of this world were later, for now...we need to focus on the immediate threat. Sorry, guess it was my fault that we went off-topic in the first place. Atticus, mind getting back to describing the Evil Numbers?"
"Very well...I believe I was done with Six-Six-Six, so next I shall move on to Eighty-Seven. She too is a very formidable Vampire, and her Cross is known as Absolute Defense, she is capable of forming defensive barriers that are effectively impenetrable, but they disappear after five seconds. She is capable of forming them so that they last longer, but if she does so, then she will be unable to use her Cross for twice the extra time. For instance, if she were to form a barrier that lasted for twenty-five seconds, that would be twenty extra seconds, and after forming it, she will be unable to form another barrier for double that time, or forty seconds. The longest she is capable of maintaining a barrier is thirty seconds. Six-Six-Six and Eighty-Seven pose the biggest threats to your ambush plan, the former will be able to see it coming if he happens to use his Cross, and the latter will be able to nullify much of the impact using her Cross."
Those were going to be some seriously troublesome abilities to go up against, and there were three more Vampires ranked in the Evil Numbers...
"Well, that's not good...but hey, not too long ago we were expecting to have to face the entire army of Vampires, not less than a quarter of them, so there's that," I replied, before adding, "Anyway, keep going, we have a lot more Vampires to talk about. Oh, right, what does Eighty-Seven look like?"
"Indeed. Her appearance consists of long straight black hair with a wide horizontal red streak about two-thirds down the back, I cannot think of any other especially discerning features. Let us discuss Thirteen now. She is one you must keep your distance from, do not get close to her...her Cross is known as Kiss of Death, and is quite self-explanatory. Specifically, when she makes oral contact with a human, she can choose to either have them drop dead instantly, or fall under her control...in the case of the latter, a human with a strong enough will may be able to break free. However, she has seldom opted to use the latter option. As for her appearance, she has long wavy black hair that she grows over her right shoulder, the end of it is red."
"Huh, I'll wear a face-mask if she shows up. Hey, so far, as far as appearances go, you've just been describing their hairstyles...couldn't they just get haircuts or style their hair differently to make themselves unrecognizable?"
"That is unlikely to be a concern. This may not make sense to humans, but there is no point in cutting a Vampire's hair, it will simply grow back almost instantaneously. They could theoretically comb their hair differently, but I doubt that...a Vampire's most discerning feature is usually their hair, and every Vampire, from the king himself to the weakest of the Minions, greatly values their own individuality. After all, Vampires cannot get scarred, and they all have the same fangs, claws and eyes in terms of appearance. Even variations in height and build are relatively minimal. If you were to take the tallest Vampire and the shortest Vampire, there would only be a difference of four to five inches at most. It may sound strange to you, but to that end, there are many things about humans that Vampires find strange."
Right, just because the Vampires were physically humanoid definitely didn't mean that they had anything in common with humans.
"That leaves two more members of the Evil Numbers...I shall discuss Five next. His Cross is probably the least dangerous amongst the Evil Numbers, but it is still quite powerful. His Cross is called Quintuple, which allows him to split himself into five identical copies...however, his power is also divided by five and evenly split between the five copies. Each of the five will have their own core, if you kill four of them, the remaining one will regain his full power and will not be able to use his Cross again for an hour, and if you manage to kill all five, then he will be dead. Naturally, when you kill one of them, his power will be evenly divided between the surviving copies. He has medium-length straight black hair that covers his forehead, along with five vertical red stripes."
Hm, this one's Cross didn't sound too bad, but I definitely can't afford to underestimate it...
"That leaves one more member of the Evil Numbers right?"
"Yes, Zero. His Cross is also named Zero, when he activates it, anyone who comes within fifty meters of him will be unable to use their magic at all. You should be able to use your Vampire Mode, but the power up you use with Dark Magic will be negated if you get within his range. Ah, but once he activates it, it will last for fifteen minutes, after which he will need an hour before he can use it again. If he had a larger range, I would have considered him the greatest threat to the ambush. He has long straight white hair that covers his right eye, and the part of his hair that covers the eye has a red mark in the shape of a zero...he is probably the easiest one to identify thanks to that unique feature."
"In other words, the only real way to defeat him is for me to fight him using my raw strength in Vampire Mode? Oh, and you too, I guess."
"Actually, I do not believe I have enough power in Fuo's body to fight one of the Evil Numbers and win...her Vampire Mode is effectively only about two thirds as powerful as yours is, and that remains the same regardless of which of us is controlling her body...I can extend her time limit with the form if I'm in control, but only by a few seconds. We may be able to defeat one Vampire Knight, but we do not stand a chance against any of the Evil Numbers."
"Good to know...speaking of the Vampire Knights, tell us all about them."
He went on to tell us the names, Crosses and appearances of the Vampire Knights and some of the Vampire Generals as well. All said, it took a few hours before he was finally done. By the end of it, we were a lot better informed about the Vampires, but that didn't make us any more confident...in fact, it was the opposite.
We now had a much better idea of the massive threat we were up against, even with Lazarus's tactics essentially giving us a major handicap, there was no doubt about it, we were still very much at a disadvantage here. I had fought hundreds of monsters since coming to this world, and none had been especially major threats so far, but this time, it was different...we weren't up against any weak, mindless monsters, no...this time, we were facing the real deal...
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