Vampire, Arrival (1)

“It should have started by now, right?”

Yona looked up at the sky.

In the bright, clear weather, the sun had risen high in the sky, signaling noon.

The time she had promised Bigrind was approaching.

“Will you be alright?”

“What wouldn’t be alright?”

“I’m just worried about you going alone.”

Yona chuckled at Alec’s words.

Not a bad feeling.

Being on the receiving end of concern when she was usually the one worrying about Alec — no, come to think of it, she seemed to have received a lot of concern before.

It’s strange that it feels like a vague memory from a distant past.

“It’s nothing much. I just need to show up with Berbaria, laugh at them to my heart’s content, and come back. After that, the shri— no, Big said she’d take care of everything.”

“Will the Saint be able to do it?”

Yona didn’t readily answer Alec’s question.

Although she was small, she did have some guts, but somehow since becoming a Saint, Bigrind had been behaving more demurely for some reason.

Still, since she had her original personality, it would probably be fine.

“It’s fine. When Bigrind says she’ll do something, she does it. You can trust her.”

At least she didn’t show hostility to me even in that situation, so she should be trustworthy.

Swallowing those words, Yona changed into her Saint’s robe.

It’s always an amazing sight.

The letters covering her right arm seem to melt and flow down, wrapping around her body, and eventually becoming the Saint’s robe.

After changing clothes in an instant like that, Yona called for Berbaria with a stern expression.

— More precisely, she was about to call.

【Saint.】

Berbaria appeared before she could call.

A huge shadow fell over Yona, Alec, Kaia, and James as Berbaria suddenly appeared.

Until now, whenever Berbaria appeared, dark clouds would gather in the sky, and Berbaria would make a grand entrance as those clouds parted, but this time Berbaria appeared without any sign at all.

“Ah, aoh! You scared me!”

Yona lost her temper, pushing away Alec who had been quite startled and had taken out his shield to protect himself.

She had told Berbaria so many times to only appear when called, but appearing suddenly like this was bound to be startling.

【He has appeared.】

“I’m sure. You just appeared, didn’t you?”

Even so, Yona looked at Alec.

She wasn’t sure whether to find it endearing or what, that Alec had immediately raised his shield to protect Yona first, despite Berbaria’s sudden appearance.

While Yona was feeling these mixed emotions, she looked up at Berbaria with a blank expression at his next words.

【This is no time for jokes, Saint. Grand Duke Damian has revealed himself.】

“…Grand Duke? A demon Grand Duke?”

Berbaria’s bright yellow eyes looked down at Yona.

Although his expression was unreadable due to his snake-like face, somehow Yona could tell Berbaria’s expression.

His face was tense.

Berbaria was looking down at Yona with heightened tension.

【Demon Grand Duke, Damian. He is one who became a demon Grand Duke with a human body, not a demon.】

“Do not come any closer—!”

Bigrind let out a sharp shout.

In front of her stood a transparent barrier tinged with golden radiance, and not only that, but the white barriers emitted by others, including Bishop Povi, were also lending their strength.

“Saint! Are you alright!”

At Ludvic’s cry, Bigrind nodded and once again formed hand seals.

Then, golden patterns appeared around Ludvic and burst with a booming sound.

Ludvic was keeping Damian in check, pointing his spear at him.

Damian, who had already absorbed the lives of a considerable number of knights and priests, was still quietly glaring at Ludvic with that gloomy face.

“She.”

Damian, who had been glaring at Ludvic for a moment, suddenly spoke to him as if he had just remembered something.

Ludvic, for his part, was glaring at Damian without answering, spear pointed.

“Is she, someone precious to you?”

“There’s no reason for me to answer. What reason does a Hero like me need to protect her?”

“She is precious to me.”

Ludvic’s eyes widened.

Damian, the king of a ruined country and the slaughterer of a prosperous country, is one who has lived for an incalculable amount of time.

The last king and the mad king of an ancient kingdom said to have been far away in the Great Desert.

It was incomprehensible that he now sought to obtain Bigrind like this.

“She is the one who will bring death to me. She is the one who will finally fulfill my long-cherished wish. Therefore, I will not allow any interference.”

Damian stretched out both arms.

The tips of his pale fingers drew indecipherable characters, and the speed kept increasing.

With each movement of his fingers in the empty air, black lines were drawn along with them.

Incomprehensible letters.

Letters not used in the current world.

With each movement of the black lines, one letter was being drawn.

“Rise. Rise and obey my command. Clear away those who stand in my way.”

The letters intertwined with each other and flew up into the sky.

Those densely intertwined things, appearing only as black lines, finally created a single character in the air.

A character Ludvic couldn’t recognize.

A character difficult to understand.

But one thing he could understand:

That character was extremely ominous.

The character began to melt.

The melted character eventually became black water, and as soon as that black water touched the ground, it spread widely, widely.

• • Grooooo—!

And from within it—

An unidentifiable cry rang out.

A cry echoing from within the black water.

And then, a large black hand suddenly shot up from the water.

Just as the hand emerged, an arm followed.

Then another hand emerged, followed by an arm stretching out.

Both hands planted on the ground.

Huge hands, even larger than Ludvic.

Those hands planted on the ground and—

• • Graaaaaah—!

With a monstrous roar, a black human slowly revealed itself, starting from the head.

That completely black thing looked as if a human shadow had directly become a giant.

No eyes or nose were visible.

Only the widely open mouth, spewing out monstrous cries, continued to roar, fully revealing its red interior.

Even just the revealed part was already three times larger than Ludvic.

Such a huge black giant was revealing itself.

• • Grooo, graaaaaah——!!

“Shut up—!”

Ludvic let out a roar and kicked off the ground.

The black giant, which hadn’t yet fully revealed itself, had its hands planted on the ground, and Ludvic, who had sprinted using those hands as footing, eventually rushed up to the giant’s shoulder.

“Begone, foul thing—!”

From the light spear held high, white radiance gushed out without restraint.

That extremely sharp spear tip struck down directly on the giant’s crown, and at that moment, the giant’s monstrous cry also stopped.

Ludvic was certain from the sensation he felt in his hand.

There was definitely a feeling of piercing and digging into something, and even if this was a strange life form, there should be no way to survive if the head is destroyed.

When he pulled out the spear that had pierced the head, black blood spurted out with a hissing sound.

That blood also splattered on Ludvic’s body, and as he roughly wiped off the blood that had splashed even on his face, Ludvic glared at Damian and said:

“Vampire, stop these useless tricks.”

“Useless tricks, you say.”

As Ludvic had said, the giant seemed to be slowly collapsing.

The monstrous cries had stopped, and its movements had also ceased.

Ludvic, standing triumphantly on the giant’s head,

“I have lived for countless years. Do you think there weren’t beings like you during that time?”

“What…?”

It was then.

When Damian snapped his fingers, the black blood that had splattered on Ludvic’s body suddenly began to spread.

That blood, which had splashed on his clothes, body, and even his face, began to spread more and more, starting to cover Ludvic—

“Hero—!”

With Bigrind’s piercing scream, the golden radiance she emitted became a huge hammer and struck down on the black giant.

• • Kwang!

 

• • Bang!

 

• • Kwagwang!

With a thunderous roar, the holy hammer continued to strike the black giant repeatedly.

Not only that, but the radiance itself was pouring down, trying to purify the black giant.

However, as if even her efforts were meaningless, Ludvic’s entire body was covered in black blood.

That which was covered so black that his original appearance could not even be seen, eventually seeped into the giant’s body—

And disappeared completely.

However, as if not caring about such a sight, Damian muttered while watching the holy hammer that was incessantly striking down on the black giant’s head in an attempt to save the hero:

“Such strong holy power. Truly worthy of being called the agent of the Celestial God.”

“Shut up—!”

With Bigrind’s cry, holy power also poured down on Damian.

The holy power poured out by other priests, even Bishop Povi, also directly hit Damian but disappeared like smoke without causing any damage.

Only Bigrind’s holy power was raising acrid smoke every time it poured onto Damian’s body.

However, as if even that pain was welcome, Damian rarely curled the corners of his mouth and smiled.

“Pain, it is pain. How long has it been since this body felt pain? Yes, that’s it. Do it like that. That’s how it should be done.”

Every time Bigrind’s holy power directly hit him, dozens of lives flew away.

They recovered quickly, but nevertheless, lives were being steadily chipped away.

If he were to absorb that holy power directly, and if it were to circulate inside his body.

How painful would that be in itself?

As long as he’s alive, that holy power raging inside his body will undoubtedly rapidly chip away at Damian’s life in reverse.

In the end, it will undoubtedly take away even the last remaining human life of Damian.

Ah.

It is coming.

At last, death is coming to me.

Damian laughed madly.

Behind him, the black giant, now emitting an even stronger energy, had completely risen to the ground and roared mightily.

• • Grooooooooo————!!!!!

Despair spread across Bigrind’s face as she looked up at that sight.