54 Chapter 54: The night before departure

For the first time in a while, Haemorage was quiet.

The city seemed to sleep in the darkness, which was ironic when I considered that its residents were vampires. Normally I would expect nocturnal creatures such as vampires to be active at night, but I suppose the recent skirmishes had taken a toll on the citizens. Now that we had finally driven the human army off, and the main bulk of Lilith's forces had returned to defend the city, the residents of Haemorage could finally rest.

I strolled back to the barracks after my conversation with Kracauer. He said that everything had fallen apart for the human nations after Kobayashi took command, and I found his statement intriguing. It seemed that not all humans worshipped the heroes as…well, heroes. Perhaps I could use this to my advantage somehow, but I wasn't sure how I could go about doing so. After all, I had thrown my lot in with the demons.

There was no way the humans would listen to some random guy fighting on the side of the demons.

Then there was the rebellion. Hoshizaki had mentioned that her group had decided to take up arms and go against Kobayashi's tyranny. The guy had to be pulling off all sort of dick moves if his own classmates and allies resorted to defying him.

Defying him, huh…?

I shook my head with a smile. It was almost as if I was treating him like a king already. Knowing Kobayashi, he probably thought of himself as one, that the position of ruler was rightly his. He was always the self-entitled bastard.

I really had to find some way to take my revenge on him.

Clang!

As I walked, I suddenly heard a sharp, metallic sound piercing through the air. Raising an eyebrow, I glanced around. The courtyard of the main castle was empty, with most of the soldiers having returned to the barracks for a well-deserved rest. The place was deserted, almost eerily, with no sign of life or the undead.

Yet, I could hear a series of metallic sounds as someone swung a weapon across the air and mimicked battling. Curious, I began making my way toward the source of the noises.

"…!"

I paused when I caught sight of Lilith standing alone in the middle of the marble-paved courtyard. She was spinning around, twirling her twin spears as she slashed the air and executed a series of graceful maneuvers and attacks. Occasionally, her twin spears would cross and gently slide against each other, making the metallic, clanging sounds that caught my attention earlier.

Or I was just bullshitting because for all I knew this could just as well be a new, recently created martial art. Yeah, whatever. Give me some narrative license, would you?

After spinning around and dancing across the length of the courtyard with a series of graceful slashes and strikes, Lilith finally came to a stop to seemingly catch her breath. Lowering her twin spears, she placed them on the ground and glanced in my direction.

"Enjoying the show?"

"Ah…no. sorry. I just didn't want to interrupt you."

Lilith laughed, her sweet voice ringing melodically in the air. Wiping perspiration from her brow, she shook her head.

"Don't worry. I'm not angry. I'm just not used to having an audience."

I swallowed and nodded. Hesitating for a while, I finally decided to inquire before the atmosphere could get too awkward.

"Is that…some sort of martial art?"

"Hmm?" Lilith raised one of her spears and studied it before returning her gaze to me. "I guess you could say so. It was passed down the royal vampire lineage of Haemorage for generations. I have no idea how old it is."

Knowing how old vampires could grow to, I wouldn't be surprised if it was millennia old. Even then, it must have undergone a lot of changes throughout the centuries. Now that I thought about it, I had no idea how old this world was. From historical records preserved in the Library of Eden, I roughly knew that there were only three millennia of history, almost four.

While I nodded, Lilith brightened.

"Say, do you mind sparring with me a little? It gets boring practicing by myself after a while."

"Huh? I don't mind, but…" I stared at Lilith, baffled by her request. "If it does get boring, couldn't you ask one of your soldiers or guards to spar with you?"

Lilith smiled ruefully. "It's not that I can't, but…none of them can match my skills. After a while, none of them dared to challenge me to a duel because of how one-sided it is. Aside from when I was fighting two of Evelyn's Chosen, I haven't been able to go all-out in a long while."

Ah…the age-old problem of finding an appropriate opponent when you were too strong, huh? It was unfortunate, but that was something I could never relate to.

"Are you sure you're fine with me? It'll probably be one-sided as well. I doubt I'm any better than your soldiers."

Lilith snorted. "Don't be modest, you almost seem sarcastic. I've seen you fight against both warriors from Evelyn's Chosen. You should be on my level or at the very least close to it. I wouldn't be surprised if you're actually stronger than Evelyn's Chosen, given how you've clearly killed quite a few of them."

I shrugged. "You took one of them down yourself."

Lilith half-smiled at that. "And you slew five of them by yourself. In terms of Evelyn Chosen slaying, you have me beat."

Sighing, I nodded and stepped forward. "If you're fine with me, then…"

"Yes, I am."

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and relented. The two of us stopped a short distance away from each other, and I reached for my staff, retrieving it from the mystical inventory that stored it in a separate spatial dimension.

The moment I readied my stance, Lilith launched herself at me.

"!"

I barely managed to block her first thrust in time. Gritting my teeth, I dug my feet in and stood my ground, raising my staff to block Lilith's next attack. Her second spear slashed at me from my side and I twirled my staff around to parry it. I then twisted my body to avoid a fatal stab from the first spear, before lashing out with a kick to drive her back.

Lilith hopped back before she surged forward with another vicious thrust that would have ripped my heart out had I not deflected the barbed point of her spear. Spinning around, Lilith's other spear came from an unexpected direction, but I bent my neck and just managed to dodge the tip of her spear, which left a thin line of blood on my cheek.

Spinning my staff, I knocked Lilith back before jumping a few meters behind to put as much distance between us as possible. The wound on my cheek was already healing, leaving no trace of the injury.

"You…really are an undead, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I supposed so."

I shrugged as Lilith studied me, impressed.

"But still…this isn't what I want to see."

"…!"

I was completely taken by surprise by Lilith's next attack, which sent me flying backward. Grunting, I tried to straighten myself, only for Lilith's spears to lance toward my face. I managed to block them both, but the tremendous impact ripped the staff out of my hands and sent it spinning helplessly into the distance.

"Guh…"

"Not bad…you managed to block those attacks, but you're now unarmed."

Quickly withdrawing to a safe distance, I kept a wary eye on Lilith and her twirling spears. It was true that she had disarmed me and she now possessed the advantage. With a sigh, I raised both my hands to surrender, but she narrowed her eyes.

"Don't joke. I know you're not done yet."

"How do you know?"

Lilith glared at me before pointing one of her spears at my chest. "I wasn't challenging you to a duel of arms. I want a fight where both of us can go all out. I know your strengths lie not in your melee skills but in your summoning spells and techniques."

"You sure you want me to use those?"

"Of course." Lilith smiled deviously. "Otherwise you might die from an accident, you know?"

Before I could react, she launched a series of spears at me. Dozens of blood-red spears materialized in the heavens above her and she swung her hand down, pelting me with a cruel barrage of blood lances.

"Ugh…"

Gritting my teeth, I raised my hand and caught the first spear. The rest of the blood-red spears rained down on me, but they failed to pierce the foremost protective layers of my Redwood Robe, merely leaving violent ripples across the enchanted barriers.

"That's impossible."

The vampire queen was astonished by the sight of my unscathed figure by the time the rain of spears halted. I merely shrugged and tossed away the spear I had caught, then dusted off my shoulder. The barrage was certainly powerful enough to perforate even those armored tanks commanded by Daniel, but the Redwood Robe's protection was more formidable than even a fortress's. It would be difficult for Lilith to break through it.

Not that I was going to tell her that.

In any case, it seemed that Lilith had figured that out on her own.

"I see…some kind of protective enchantment, huh? Is it that jacket you're wearing? Not bad. It appears that I'll have to break through that barrier in direct combat…or use curses to bypass that formidable defense of yours."

"You're welcome to try."

"Are you sure about that?" Lilith smirked at my bluff. "You can't beat me in close combat. Your only chance in victory is through your magic."

Lilith was right. There was no way I could beat her in terms of combat techniques. She was physically stronger and faster, as well as more skilled in melee and close combat. If I were to stand a chance, I needed to start casting spells and summoning stuff.

But what could I summon?

"!"

I wasn't given any time to consider my options. Lilith was already upon me. I barely managed to summon twin swords to block her twin spears, crossing them and deflecting the deadly spearheads away from my face.

"Doombolt!"

I fired off a black bolt of energy at Lilith, but she slashed it with one of her spears before countering with a riposte that forced me to block with my next sword. As we locked blades, she closed in and made use of her superior strength to pressure me. At the same time, I seized the opportunity to unleash my more powerful magic.

"Shadow Lunar Fang!"

"!"

Lilith tried to jump back, but she was engulfed by a black wave of magical energy. Tumbling over, she staggered to her feet, blood streaming down her face and arms. Fortunately, her vampire abilities had already kicked in, her wounds healing almost immediately.

"Don't forget that I'm the same as you…an undead."

With a smile, Lilith lunged at me.

"Kuh!"

I barely managed to keep up with her next series of attacks, and she smashed the sword in my right hand. Even as I warded off her next few blows with the sword in my left hand, I summoned a new sword for defense. Just in time, too – she managed to shatter the sword in my left hand. I continually summoned new weapons to block Lilith's relentless assault, but she continued to press on. Occasionally, her blades would slip under my defenses and leave scratches on my arms, shoulders and chests, but my injuries would heal.

Still, I knew I couldn't last at this rate.

Clang!

We sprang apart in another vicious clash that sent sparks scattering over the courtyard.

"…I don't understand."

Lilith was studying me, an intrigued expression on her face.

"You still aren't intending to use your summoning magic?"

"I haven't had the time. You're pressuring me way too much before I can cast a proper summoning spell. And stop pretending – you're doing it on purpose, aren't you? You're deliberately preventing me from summoning anything."

"Hmph…so you've seen through my actions." Lilith smirked. "Of course I'm not going to make it easy for you. The moment you summon something, the battle will swing toward your favor tremendously. And besides, if this was a real battle, do you think your opponent would sit back and allow you to amass such a ridiculous advantage? If you're unable to activate your strongest techniques while under duress, then you're only of that level. It doesn't matter how powerful your magic or summons are. As long as your enemy stops you from casting your spells, you lose."

"Why, thank you," I replied dryly. "But I was never expecting you to make it easy for me or allow me to summon my stuff."

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Plus…I was bluffing. I could have summoned lots of stuff, but I didn't because I knew none of my summons would help against an opponent of Lilith's caliber. She would have mowed down any zombies I summoned very easily.

No, I needed something much more durable…something strong enough to withstand Lilith's attacks. I doubted boosting my summoned zombies with Thousand Astral Graves would help, not with Lilith's anti-army Noble Phantasm…I mean anti-army attack where she cast down hundreds of blood-red lances over a wide area of effect.

"Well, I'll give you credit for lasting this long against me in close combat despite it not being your specialty. But…your time is up."

Lilith retreated a step and lowered one of her spears, clutching it with both hands while dropping the other to the floor. Vast amounts of mana swirled around her before being sucked into the spear, which seemed like a vortex.

"That's…"

I narrowed my eyes, recognizing it as the curse she casted on her spear when fighting Sakaguchi Seiji, to bypass his Divine Defense and hit his heart. Instinctively sensing the danger, I quickly retreated as far back as I could.

"…you…!"

Lilith dismissed the magic she casted on her spear and glared at me when she saw that I was now at a safe distance. I shrugged.

"You recognize the nature of this curse?"

"It certainly is a terrifying curse," I agreed warily as I raised both my summoned swords defensively. "But as long as I stay out of range, it won't hit me. Sure hit, sure kill, isn't it? Unavoidable and guaranteed to be fatal. However, it's restricted to certain conditions, such as range and distance. As long as I understand what those conditions are, I can negate it before you even execute it."

"Where did you learn that from?"

"From an anime that's adapted from a visual novel. And from an interview with the writer of the story for that visual novel."

"…"

Lilith looked exasperated, as if she didn't know if she could take me seriously or not. I was actually telling the truth, but I guessed there was no point insisting on that. She wouldn't believe me anyway, and I had more pressing matters at the moment.

"Well, you're right. But you know…spears can also be used in this way."

"?!"

Lilith jumped back a few steps and then dropped into a crouch. She then sprinted forward. I was about to retreat, but then I understood what she was doing. Halfway between us, Lilith skidded to a halt and jumped high into the air. Arching her back, almost like a bow, she pulled her arm back as far as possible even as tremendous amounts of mana swirled into her crimson spear. With a single, fluid motion, she hurled her spear at me.

Yeah, the exact same thing from the visual novel I mentioned earlier. I knew that this was an anti-army technique that sought to crush its target with sheer brute force. There was no way to avoid or escape it. Blocking the spear was the only way.

With a huge sigh, I raised my hand.

BAM!

The spear collided with my hand and exploded. The courtyard turned into a blinding flash of light as a conflagration mushroomed upward, almost resembling a nuke. The marble pavement disintegrated from the sheer force, leaving a huge scorched crater in the ground.

At the epicenter of ground zero, I heaved on my knees, my right arm completely erased by the spear. In the distance, Lilith landed gracefully, her expression grim and mired in disbelief.

"How did you…?"

"How did I what?"

"…survive that?"

"You call this surviving?" I gestured at my right stump with my left hand. "You blew through all 12 barriers of my Redwood Robe and completely obliterated my right arm, which is my master hand. You've effectively won this match."

"…it's not over yet, is it?"

I sighed. "You're really a tough customer, aren't you? Not satisfied with your victory?"

Lilith snorted. "Do you think I'm stupid or something? I can sense what you're trying to do. That attack didn't kill you…you planned to take it from the very start. You were planning something this entire time and had me dancing in the palm of your hand."

"Oh…so I was found out?"

My lips curled into a smile as I shook my right arm, which was rapidly regenerating. In less than a minute, my right arm was completely restored as blood, tissue and muscle grew, elongated and reshaped itself. Flesh then covered the regenerating limb, and I clenched my fingers, testing my newly regrown hand.

It was working just fine.

Lilith studied me, but she had managed to pick up both her spears sometime during the battle and was watching me warily. That was wise of her.

During the battle, I had lost a lot of blood, especially when I withstood her anti-army technique. When I lost my arm, I had bled a lot, my blood spraying across the crater. Right now, that blood was curdling, moving and shaping itself into a horde of blood ghouls.

"?!"

Detecting the irregular movements out of her corner of her eyes, Lilith spun around and saw the moaning blood ghouls rising from the pools of blood. Formless, featureless blood-red phantoms with nothing more than mouths, hands and legs, the creepy horde closed in on her.

"Do you think this can stop me?"

Lilith raised her hand and launched a bunch of crimson spears from the heavens. The lances streaked through the horde of blood ghouls, splattering them into puddles of blood and undoing their fluid forms.

"Maybe."

While Lilith was mowing down my new summons, I was still testing my arm. It wasn't just my arm that had regenerated. My Redwood jacket, which had lost its sleeve in the earlier exchange, was now regenerating and repairing itself at a rate slightly slower than my arm. Before long my formerly bare arm was wrapped in the protective embrace of the Redwood jacket's sleeve. With a shake of my hand, I tested it and was satisfied to see it restored to its original condition.

Like master, like equipment, huh?

"What…!?"

Lilith sounded shocked, but it wasn't because of my Redwood Robe's restorative abilities. Rather, she was staring at the blood ghouls, who had reformed themselves after her huge bombardment. The closest of them lunged at her and she slashed it apart with her spears, turning it into droplets of blood. However, the blood ghoul merely regenerated and reformed itself.

"What are these things?!"

"Blood ghouls," I replied. "You're a vampire, aren't you? You should know about them. Familiars created out of blood. They might not look much, but they're pretty much impossible to kill with physical attacks."

"I see."

Lilith clicked her tongue, and then she slammed the blunt end of her right spear against the ground. Blood-red spikes lanced out of the ground and through the blood ghouls, impaling them. as they hung lifelessly, she smiled.

"So they're vulnerable to blood magic, huh?"

"Probably. Except that you're forgetting one thing."

"…eh?"

The blood ghouls were melting away from the blood spears that had impaled them and were coalescing into a gigantic form. Lilith launched another series of blood spears, but the vicious attacks were mercilessly drawn into and devoured by the growing blob of blood. Even the blood spears from earlier were consumed, melting into liquid blood and flowing into the expanding sea of blood that rose over Lilith like a tidal wave.

"You…!"

Lilith growled and thrust her spear into the bloody blob, but she only managed to put a small ripple in the surface the same way a spearman would try to cut water in a lake. Ignoring her futile attacks, the bloody blob began to shape up into a colossal humanoid. A titanic blood ghoul, if you would.

"It's not like my Titanfall, but it should work just as well."

The bloody fist hardened into an iron sledgehammer and slammed Lilith into the ground. Before the vampire queen could react, the titanic blood ghoul raised its hardened fist and pulverized her into the ground again.

Despite her regenerative prowess, the blood colossus repeatedly hammered down on her, refusing to give her a break or breather to recover. Lilith cried out even as the ground beneath her body gave way and shattered, even as the bones in her body broke and struggled to mend themselves, even as pain burst through her body. Even as she blacked out, only to regain consciousness because of her vampire healing ability, the blood colossus mercilessly hammered her over and over again.

The incredible regenerative ability of the vampire race had become more of a curse than a boon.

"I surrender."

Even as the titanic blood ghoul continued to smash her into the crumbling earth, Lilith's voice rose hoarsely from the ruined courtyard. With a nod, I mentally commanded my blood colossus to cease. Crossing the courtyard, I glanced down at Lilith's ruined body, which was slowly healing. Noting that she wasn't regenerating as quickly as before, I suspected that she was running low on mana. Lilith must have known that too, so she had decided to surrender.

I offered her my hand, and Lilith gripped it. Pulling her to her feet, I helped Lilith steady herself even as she tried to fully heal herself.

"I'm amazed."

Lilith smiled as she shook her head, impressed. She then looked at me seriously.

"This is the first time someone has truly bested me in a duel."

"First time? Really?"

The vampire queen chuckled as she turned away to look at the skies.

"I haven't lost in a very, very long time."

Knowing vampires, when they said a long time, they really meant a long time. Like centuries, or even a thousand years.

As if reading my mind, Lilith glared at me and sulked.

"I'm not that old, you know."

"No, I don't know." I hesitated to ask her for her age because I knew girls could get sensitive about this. But Lilith told me anyway.

"I'm just about 50 years old. Probably several times your age, but in vampire terms, I'm not that old."

"Only 50? Yeah…that's pretty young."

Considering that I had considered the Vampire Queen to be at least centuries old, for her to only be half a century old was a surprise. I nodded blankly.

"I only recently achieved the throne about 4 or 5 years ago. It was held by my mother before me, and to be honest, the title is just for show. The real rulers of Haemorage are actually the vampire elders in the old capital of Haecient."

"What are they doing there when the city is under attack?"

"Oh, don't misunderstand. They're not cowards or anything. They're just…not as strong as the soldiers. They're politicians, not warriors. Which reminds me…"

Lilith groaned and rubbed her forehead, as if she had recalled something incredibly unpleasant. She bit her lip.

"I still need to address that issue of political marriages. They've been pressuring me for a while."

"That's tough."

I sympathized with Lilith somewhat, but having been born as a commoner, I certainly couldn't understand the angst and frustrations of the rich, the nobility and the royalty. And I didn't want to understand them either.

However, Lilith brightened when she turned back to me.

"That said, I did set a condition for marriage quite a few years back…"

"Oh? What was that?"

Lilith shrugged casually. "I was young and reckless at that time…and probably very arrogant. Then again, as I said, I haven't lost a duel in a very long time, so I wasn't thinking clearly. But I said that I would only marry someone who is stronger than me…someone who can defeat me in a one-on-one duel. I received challenges for a few years after that…but after I beat up all the contenders, no one bothered to challenge me again."

"…"

Wait, didn't that mean…?

"Don't worry about it." Lilith smiled and waved her hand to assure me. "I won't force you into anything. I just want to make a request, though."

I sighed, knowing what that request would be. I had read way too many light novels that there was no way I wouldn't know where this was leading toward. Even so, I was too polite to turn her down immediately. I should at least hear her out.

"…what is it?"

"When the elders pressure me about marriage again, I would like you to at least pretend to be my fiancé or lover. There's no need to commit to anything, but I would appreciate it if you could just pretend."

It was clear that Lilith wasn't intending to marry, and by using me as a shield, she could somewhat stave off the pressure from the elders regarding political marriages. Furthermore, as her accomplice, I would understand her circumstances and could help her indefinitely postpone the problem for as long as she needed.

"Well…"

"I'm sorry for making such an unreasonable request. Of course you're free to refuse. Especially if you already have a fiancée or lover of your own…"

"No, I don't." this sounded troublesome, but I didn't have much to lose anyway, so I decided to help her out. "I understand. I'll help you as long as it's within my capabilities."

"Thank you very much. That's more than enough for me."

Lilith bowed gratefully, her eyes twinkling in relief and joy. She then straightened up and tilted her head a little.

"I'll get going then. You should too. Tomorrow will be a hectic day, I believe. We'll be talking to Emperor Regis first thing in the morning."

"Uh…yeah. I know."

I watched Lilith return to the castle, her pace weighed down by exhaustion and battle-weariness. Despite completely healing from our duel, it was clear that the battle had taken quite a toll on her. Speaking of which, I was also feeling a bit drained from the enormous expenditure of my own mana. I needed the rest as much as Lilith needed.

Taking a deep breath, I turned toward the barracks and headed for my room to rest for the night.