"Be enchanted by my words, obey my will, 『Hesitate』."
Sachiko sung and the servants who weren't supposed to have their own sentience and relied on instinct, hesitated and with that quick opening, those who were given daggers by Kai pierced it through their hearts.
Throughout the course of the battle, it was revealed that like Fate, Sachiko also held her own innate ability. It was related to singing or at least adding a tune within her voice. It didn't matter how she sung, it was all turned into words that enchanted her opponents. At first, its power wasn't obvious because it only affected the servants but even the vampires felt affected, even though it was just for an instant, it was still dangerous.
If a warrior hesitates, would he be able to dodge the swing of a sword on time?
"Wind, my words are your motivation, so please move into motion,『Rotate』."
The better the tune, sense of rhythm, and intention, the stronger the effect. Other than her starting attack, she had only been doing poetry to recite attacks, it was more efficient than singing.
"Sis, can you-"
"Hah?!"
Iori was going to call out to his sister but hearing his form of address, Sachiko glared at him.
"I-I mean, sister, will you please do the same with my opponents?"
Although they were in the middle of battle, they were quite nonchalant compared to the rest. Iori was fighting the vampires but whenever Sachiko uses her innate ability, only his opponents wouldn't be fazed, even the S-class vampires had to stop for a fraction of a second.
"You're already a big boy, you can handle it yourself!"
"..."
Iori didn't know whether he should laugh or cry. They were both over twenty and only had a year in between their ages but for some reason, she treated him like a child and at the same time, an adult who could fight by himself.
"[Ice Marionettes], [Fragile Step]!"
Erina summoned over a dozen bodies made of ice which all fought against the vampires and used Fragile Step to dodge the attack done by the S-class.
Her movements were quick and refined, as if she was dancing to a tempo, her way of fighting was even hypnotic, some might say. The way her dress fluttered and her magic shone was enchanting, if there were people watching, then they would definitely be attracted to her.
The transformation Kai had done on her face was removed when the ritual started and now, her ethereal face was revealed to all. Thrusting and slashing with her rapier, Erina fought many enemies on her own all at once. Other than those two, the most impressive was Yoko who entered A-class once she woke up.
She's able to stop some of the S-class' attacks and was able to detain the A-class vampires. It was near dawn and the sun had nearly risen, there were many shadows to use in the area and they didn't need to fear civillians, anyone who couldn't fight had long since retreated. The bandits who guarded parts of the inn were ordered to evacuate the civillians and they achieved their goal. About two hours after the fighting began, they began to evacuate civilians because it was getting too intense.
Arata provided some of the best support by stopping the blood attacks but his magic power was too weak to contend against the A-class vampires.
"[Water Dragon]!"
"[Fire Dragon]!"
Kei and Date thrust both of their swords forward and dragons of two elements collided to decimate the remaining servants. By this point, the fifteen minutes had passed but the ritual wasn't over yet, Kai said that he'd finish at dawn but he didn't specify which time, and so the battle continued.
"[Wind Storm]! Be enchanted by my words, obey my will, 『Become Stronger』!"
At first, the wind rampaged and cut all of the enemies apart which wasn't enough but when she enchanted it with her innate ability, even the S-class were forced to block with all of their power. Needless to say, everyone else had no chance to defend.
Judging by magic power alone, it seemed that Sachiko was a level higher than Kai and Erina's father, Duke Hyosuke. How had the kingdom managed to hide a talent such as her?
But it was evident to everyone, though not immediately, that Sachiko hadn't unlocked her innate ability's true power. Right now, she was only using about a tiny percentage of its true potential. Take Fate for example, he didn't need to chant anything. Just one look at his opponent would leave them sweating in fear.
He didn't need to say 『Torment』 once he looked at his opponent unlike Sachiko who needed to say her commands. She might even be able to hum enough to enchant thousands when she unlocks its true powers. It was evident that this wasn't her first time to use her power but she also wasn't used to it.
Take Fate's power for example, one look had paralyzed everyone except Kai. If Kai hadn't been there, then they would've lost the moment they entered the room. It was a miracle that they managed to win in the other life and even Kai didn't know what they did to nullify the eyes' effects.
Fate's innate ability was something honed over his countless years and with just one look, he could defeat an S-class, maybe even an SS-class. If he had his full power, then even an SSS-class wouldn't be out of the question but that was it, Fate, although had a long life, was still a human. He hadn't truly stepped into immortality and the limit of humans in this world were SSS-class but even now, there were no humans like that. Maybe there were one or two SS-class hiding somewhere but the times have changed, ever since a thousand years ago, the time of the kingdom of Eleorid, humans are now one of the weakest major races.
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"Everyone, the ritual is nearly done, only a minute left!"
Sensing the fluctuations of mana and remembering what Kai told her, Erina informed everyone. She had been telling them all every five minutes since half an hour ago about the remaining time left.
The current situation of the battlefield wasn't favorable because of the numbers and the fact that the enemies can only be killed through four of the daggers was quite the handicap. Sachiko was told to help Kai but she wasn't given the dagger nor was Iori. So far, after the forty five minutes of battling, all of the servants were dead, there were a handful of vampires that were also defeated.
On the other side, Arata needed to recover and was out of commission while Kei and Date were on their last vestiges of energy and it wouldn't be long before they would pass out. The final attack they made with the two dragons contained the last of their mana and immediately after, they had to retreat.
Now, there were only four people on the battle against the vampires. Erina, Yoko, Sachiko, and Iori. Still, four on ten was still quite the disadvantage. But...
"[Blizzard]!"
Kai taught her this technique, one he created as a test against Kira. Its evolution, Ice Domain was still out of Erina's abilities with her mana but Blizzard was something Kai could do as a child, even if he had many times more mana than those his peers, Erina at S-class still had more mana.
Sensing the sudden fluctuations of cold air, Sachiko, Yoko, and Iori retreated as far as they could. The vampires tried to charge forward but they were all encased in ice the moment they got near Erina.
Erina stomped her foot on the floor and accompanying that, the sky turned dark and the sky started to produce snow along with a harsh cold wind. It was like a true blizzard- no, it was far stronger than a blizzard. The buildings were being frozen and the walls even began crumbling from the cold accompanied by the frozen ice.
"Well done."
A nonchalant voice filled the air. Following his words, the blizzard dispersed because of Erina's lack of mana.
Each step he took on the frozen floor cracked the ice and instead of losing balance, he was walking like it was a normal floor.
"We can't really have this ice staying here."
He waved his hand and accompanying a blast of hot air, all of the ice in the area melted.
"...Did he seriously get even stronger?"
Sachiko held her head. Kai was already monstrous and even though she had the advantage by being in S-class longer, Kai was still someone she wasn't confident in defeating. In the first place, she wasn't one for battles.
But right after the ritual, it appears that Kai's magic power practically doubled. It barely moved during the past few weeks but the sudden increase left her shocked. Now, Kai had both a wider array of skills and stronger magic power than her.
"I'm going alone this time, straight to the one person who created these new vampires."
Kai glanced at the S-class vampires and snapped his fingers. Dozens of black stakes appeared and stabbed into each of them. If they had come out from somewhere far, the vampires would've been able to dodge easily but they just appeared right inside their bodies.
"Damn it!"
One of the A-class vampires burst into bats but as soon as he did, the stake that was stuck in his body exploded. The explosion was already intense but following that, a gravitational pull took the ashes and then crushed them. It was a fusion of fire and darkness.
"None of you move or else you die... well, you'll die later anyway."
Without listening to Kai, everyone other than the S-class Erina fought all tried to get out which resulted in a simultaneous explosion of the stakes.
"Nobody kill him, he won't be able to move as long as that's in his body. I need to see what will happen if I remove the origin of this anomaly."
The remaining vampire glared at Kai but made no movements or attempted to talk.
"Kai, can't you bring me along?"
Erina worriedly pleaded with him. Kai was heading to where the vampires were and the boss could be an SS-class for all they know.
"Sorry. I'll be frank, having any of you with me will hold me back. I especially don't want to bring you because I don't want you to see what I'm about to do."
Hearing Kai, Erina reluctantly agreed to stay behind. Although his words were cold, they all knew that it was the truth and didn't ask anymore.
He touched Erina's cheek and in an instant, her face changed.
"You're back to being Mio. [Greater Healing]."
Kai waved his hands and a surge of green flames enveloped everyone. It was a strange sensation, to be covered by flames and to not feel hot. After a few seconds, all of the wounds on their bodies healed.
"I'm off, take care of Amelia, she's unconscious in her room."
"...I'll be waiting for you."
"Yeah."
Kai placed a hand on top of Erina's head and gave a smile before vanishing.
----------------------------------------
"Hm?"
A vampire woman sat on a throne in an empty throne room. She narrowed her eyes towards the door but what she actually saw was far past that, she saw through the walls and through the castle to the outside where a man wearing a black trench coat was walking leisurely but around him were burning corpses of vampires.
If they were just burning, then the woman wouldn't have been worried but the flames were different, they were dark. The vampires' corpses quickly burned into nothingness.
"Get him."
After giving out her orders, over twenty vampires shot out from the shadows of the throne room and appeared outside. Their levels were all at S-class, something rarely seen was a common sight here.
"A bunch of fakes aren't even half as strong as a pureblood, and that's giving you a lot of credit."
Because the vampires were sentient, they were immediately angered and charged forward.
"[Hell Flame]."
Black flames ignited on Kai's arms, he swung his arm forward and accompanying it was a wave of the black flame.
"AGGGGGH!"
"WHAT IS THIS?!"
Even the vampires' superior regeneration wasn't a match, in fact, it was torture for them. The black flames burned them faster than they can regenerate but not too much, that meant that each time they regenerate, they burn once more. This happens until the flames finally exceed the regeneration.
Seeing five of their comrades defeated immediately, the rest of them used blood magic.
Blood seeped out of the floor and formed tendrils, tiny pellets of blood, and a giant ball of blood which all shot towards Kai.
"That's all you can do with blood?"
Kai waved his hands and without using the black flames, the blood dispersed as if they were all under his control.
"I'll show you all how to control blood."
"You're a vampire?!"
One of the vampires yelled out in shock and quickly began to create more blood to attack Kai but before he could do so, he found that his body was paralyzed. Soon after, blood began pouring out of his facial orifices in large amounts and soon after, he was turned into a dry husk.
Then, the blood that had just come out from the vampire's body exploded and blew apart the corpse. Kai dropped a tiny spark of dark flame to burn the pieces and proceeded to do the same to the other vampires.
They were all defenseless. Even with their experience with controlling blood for hundreds of years, Kai still managed to outmatch them and control their own bodies. He even used the blood flow to make the vampires attack each other. Kai didn't move anything other than his hands but he managed to defeat 20 S-class vampires in just a few minutes.
Seeing this left the woman on the throne shocked and terrified.