Chapter 650: When Demons Cry. 3
Amazon, Brazil.
When Natashia and Agnes arrived in front of Scathach and began to explain what happened, the strongest female vampire's reaction was frightening.
"... What did you say...?" First came disbelief, then came acceptance, and with acceptance came icy cold rage.
"… They really are growing some balls…" The ice-cold expression with her tone carried murderous intent and made the surrounding air suffocating.
"Bastards." Scathach squeezed her Spear tightly, and runes started to glow all over the Spear due to Scathach's silent rage.
"Let's finish the job here and go home. We need to find a way to get Victor back. We know he's in hell, but we don't know how we're going to get him out." Natashia spoke with an expression similar to Natashia's.
"Victor will come back, even if I need to go to war with Vlad to force Alexios to use his full power; I will make sure to bring Victor back. I won't let him rot in hell." Scathach declared.
"..." Throughout the discussion, Nike and Hestia were silent, not wanting to touch that bee hive now.
Though all the while, a gleam of curiosity was visible in the eyes of Hestia, and the reason was:
'My blessing is shining brightly... It's amazing how strong their bonds are.' It is noteworthy that Hestia had never seen such a strong family bond before. The three women in front of her were more than just rivals, leaders of different clans, or even wives of the same husband.
They were a family.
Practically sisters, although none of them would say it out loud, Hestia could easily see it.
She was the goddess of the home for a reason.
"Why are you waiting out here?" Agnes asked.
"... We are looking for the entrance to the dimension. So much time has passed that all of the nature around us has changed, as well as the entrance."
Scathach just looked at Natashia.
She understood the look from the redhead, so Natashia looked at the goddesses and said:
"How do you identify the entrance?"
"I just need to get close, and the dimension will open automatically. After all, their realm was blessed by me too." The moment Hestia finished explaining, she felt a bad feeling come over her, which intensified when she saw the flash of lightning shine in Natashia's eyes.
"Very Well." In the blink of an eye, Natashia appeared in front of Hestia and, without asking permission or anything, lifted the woman up like a princess.
Fearing what would happen next, Hestia tried to protest, but it was too late:
"Wait-."
Rumble, Rumble!
Trails of golden lightning began to run across the forest, creating a rather unique image.
Those lightning trails only took six seconds, six seconds to find the entrance and go back to the same place they were before.
Six seconds of pure torture for Hestia, the proof of which was that when she came back, the goddess just got out of Natashia's arms, then quickly fell to the ground and started vomiting.
"I found the location; it's underground near a river. I'll take you there."
"…Did you have to be so rude?" Nike asked while patting Hestia's back.
"Get over it. She's a goddess; she should be used to this speed." Agnes snorted in disdain.
"I apologize for my treatment, but we are running out of time here. We will resolve this issue as best we can and return home."Natashia spoke in a gentle tone, she knew what she did was wrong, but she didn't have the empathy to care now. Victor was more important.
"... The best possible way? What are you going to do?" Nike asked.
Scathach declared:
"Use force."
"If the queen doesn't want to come, she will be beaten until she says, Yes."
"If the Amazons are a nuisance, they will be beaten into complete submission."
"If the demons intervene, they will be exterminated."
"If the other goddesses intervene, they will be wiped out too."
"The time for kindness is over."
"Fun time is over."
"..." Nike swallowed hard as she looked at the three countesses with blood-red eyes gleaming dangerously.
At that moment, all Nike could think was:
'Messing with Victor was a mistake... May the primordial chaos have mercy on the souls of those fools because these women sure as hell won't.'
"Nike, carry Hestia. We are going." Agnes spoke.
"... W-Water-... Cough." Hestia coughed a few times in an attempt to clear the queasy feeling.
'Just how fast was I? Everything felt so slow. UgH, I get dizzy just thinking about it.'
"Wait, I can walk by myself. I don't need to be carried!" Hestia spoke as she got up from the ground.
"Again, I apologize for the treatment, Lady Hestia, I shouldn't have done that to a goddess who blessed our family, but we are in an emergency right now. I also apologize for Agnes' behavior... She is just angry and worried, and those feelings are also strengthened by her own power, making her an even more obnoxious whore."Natashia said.
"Oy!"
"It's okay… Just let me know the next time you do that."
"I will." Natashia nodded.
"About the goddesses, I ask you not to kill them yet. If they are there, let me talk to them."
"As long as they don't get in the way of our goal of kidnapping the Amazons, I don't care," Scathach spoke.
'... Kidnap...? Kidnap!? Wasn't the goal to help them!? Huh!? When was the goal changed!?' Nike thought.
It was quite obvious that the three women were having homicidal thoughts now, and the option of 'running away' or being 'gentle' no longer existed for strangers.
'By touching Victor, these psychotic women became even more sadistic and crazy! Ugh, if I find the idiot who did this, I'm really going to curse the idiot who planned all this shit!'
Nike would show why her curse was so feared among the gods.
...
New Dawn headquarters, outdoor area made for visitors.
"Acthingggg"
Nicholas looked at the man with a neutral gaze, "... What was that weird sneeze, James? Did you get sick?"
"I don't know… Someone must be talking about me, I think."
"Hmm, you are probably correct..."Nicholas spoke in a disinterested tone.
Soon the silence fell around them again, and that silence continued until a dark portal appeared near them.
"Finally." James commented with a twinkle in his eye, "I hope I have the Progenitor's body for research~."
"...." Niklaus managed not to roll his eyes. If killing a Progenitor, especially a freak like Victor, was that easy, it would have happened before.
A humanoid monster with a smooth white reptilian tail, a body with black coloring, and small red tribal tattoos stepped out of the portal with a look of rage.
'Yep, they failed.' Nicholas thought when he saw the look of the humanoid being.
"The mission was a success."
The Declaration from the native of the planet of Nightingale brought a smile to James' face and a shocked look to Niklaus.
'Oh...? He died...? Really...? It looks like this is where Victor's journey ends.'
"But, there were complications."
'... Of course, there would be a 'but'.' Niklaus didn't hold back this time and rolled his eyes.
"The target is stronger than you reported. He even took the shot of your 'ultimate weapon to kill powerful beings' at close range and acted as if nothing happened."
"… Huh?" That was the unanimous reaction of the two men.
'Did he resist...? Impossible! This is something not even Vlad would take lightly! And that was a stronger version than what was used on Vlad!' Nicholas thought in disbelief.
A thought that was shared by James.
Seeing the shocked look on both men's faces, the creature understood that they hadn't withheld information on purpose and that even they hadn't expected this result.
"That bastard annihilated three of our members."
"And casualties!? How many died!?" James quickly asked.
"No one from the Progenitor side died."
"… What…?" James couldn't take it anymore and fell to the floor, sitting in disbelief.
'Did he manage to overcome a trap specially made for him and make sure no one died...? Just what kind of bullshit am I hearing...' It's worth mentioning that not even Niklaus was confident of surviving a trap they set.
'This... This is impossible... Just what went wrong?'
"Explain what happened. It must have been Rose Adrastea, right? After all, she has a sword martial art that surpasses even Scathach. She was the one who did this, right?" James was denying reality.
"Wrong, Rose Adrasteia was protecting the group members. Because of her presence, I didn't have opportunities to intervene and kill some of the members."
"...."
"Target Victor Alucard was stronger, faster, tougher, more powerful, and cunning than you said."
"In the final moment, when he killed all my squad members, he used what you guys call 'vampire count transformation' and reached the energy output level of a God King. I theorize that he can surpass that level of energy if necessary."
"His combat prowess level has increased to the level of a mid-level combat god, and due to the bloodline of speed he was using, I predict that only high-level combat gods can handle him in that form."
"My squads didn't stand a chance. They were completely annihilated..." The creature spoke through the creaking of teeth.
"..." The two men just stared at the creature as if he had spoken the biggest nonsense of their lives.
'... This... This is beyond abnormal. He's a monster... He's a freaking abnormality! Just how old is he anyway? How can he be so powerful? That doesn't make sense.' Niklaus completely lost his composure.
Is Vlad powerful? Of course, he is, but the damn Progenitor took millennia to reach his level of power.
Niklaus knew that Vlad was at the level of a God King. He was without a doubt one of the strongest mortals out there, and even the God Kings were wary of fighting Vlad all because of the progenitor of vampires' ability to destroy souls.
And you're saying that someone who isn't even 500 years old has already achieved half of Vlad's results?
Results that took 2 millennia!?
Even if it's just pure energy, it's still… Bullshit!!
Another portal appeared near them, this time darker than the last, and soon Baal, the 1st rank key of Solomon, came out of it.
And his face was completely serious, very different from his usual playful smile, as if everything was under his control.
"You guys need to see this." Baal wasted no time and snapped his finger, and soon a floating screen appeared in front of them; this screen showed the vision of hell.
Literally.
Several hills of corpses, rivers of blood, flesh, and bones of demons scattered around, and on top of the biggest hill of corpses was sitting the Progenitor, Victor Alucard.
Completely covered in demonic blood, he was wearing a bored expression, his head resting on his hand, his long black hair was blowing in the wind, and a weapon that looked like a Katana with a very large blade was stuck in the corpse beside him.
"Alucard!!" James yelled with a mixture of feelings ranging from anger, confusion, and shock.
"Shouldn't he be in hell?" Nicholas asked, trying as much as possible to return to his neutral expression.
"And he is in hell, precisely speaking, he is in the middle level of hell, the place where demonic territories from ranks 20 to 50 exist," Baal spoke, shock evident in his tone.
"Those corpses are..."
"Yes, demon corpses… All the demons are dead, permanently dead."
"...."
Victor's blood-red eyes stared at a gigantic creature. Correction, a female demon with red skin, eyes with black sclera, blood-red irises, large horns, and wings. She was eight feet tall, a giant compared to Victor.
And this giant was kneeling down as tears flowed from her eyes. Her body was thoroughly damaged, and several cuts that didn't seem to want to heal were scattered all over the woman's body.
Victor looked neutrally at the demon, a demon that was only alive because of her combat prowess, the interesting power she had, and why she quickly surrendered when she saw the monster she was dealing with.
She had long black hair that reached down to her buttocks area, she was wearing something resembling red armor, and next to her was a gigantic axe.
"… A demon… Crying…?" James never thought he would see this sight in front of him.
"Have mercy, spare my life. I didn't know a high level demon was here!"
None of the men commented on the irony of a demon mistaking a vampire for a high level demon because the sight they were seeing seemed to cause that misunderstanding.
"... What's your name?"
"This humble demon is called Rank 45 key of Solomon, King Vine, I command 38 legions of demons… Or commanded…" She looked at the corpses around her, corpses that were her subordinates, and some children that she had. Yet, even looking at these corpses, no emotion was seen, only disappointment at losing something useful.
'Humble...?' Baal refrained from rolling his eyes. This woman was the most arrogant demon he knew; even in front of the highest level demons, she didn't control her arrogance, and that owed to the power she possessed. She had the power to control and create storms.
"Vine... I have a proposition for you."
The female demon looked up curiously, and what she saw sent chills through her entire body, the man's face had completely disappeared, and only his eyes and a mouth with a big sharp-toothed smile were visible.
'Is this his true form...? Just what kind of being am I dealing with?'
"What proposal…?"
"First, let me isolate the place. We don't want to spoil it, right?" Victor looked up with his red eyes.
"....." James broke out in a cold sweat when he saw Victor looking at him.
Victor's monstrous smile only grew as if he was aware of his 'watchers' fear, and with a snap of his finger, a dome of pure blood began to be created around them.
"He knew about us...?" Nicholas asked.
"That's impossible. I'm a Rank 1 demon, and my authority in hell is second only to my king right now, not to mention other demon pillars were also watching the place."
"He must have felt them."
"This is not important!" James practically screamed.
"The trap we spent months preparing for this monster just turned into something that can make him stronger! We need to do something and fast!"
"..." A hush fell over the place, a hush that was broken by Baal.
"He is in hell, that place is the territory of demons, and he is completely alone... He is a strong beast, but he is alone. No one survives alone in hell; that is why we make legions of demons."
"The demonic realm is 100x the size of Earth, it is a dimension where the greatest evils in existence are, and my King controls all of these beings."
Baal smiled, "So the solution is simple."
"We're going to call in the Deadly Sins and erase Alucard's existence. Each of them has a unique and troubling ability that even I find difficult to deal with at times."
"... Ohhh! I had forgotten about the Deadly Sins; maybe they can do something."
"...." Niklaus and the creature just stared at the screen with similar thoughts.
'Will that be enough...?'
Niklaus and the creature felt otherwise.
Especially Niklaus, who accepted a small fact.
The fact that Victor's potential was greater than he had previously anticipated.