Chapter 57 Vampire Civil War (2)

“Miss! The Bloodborne House has begun their attack!”

Lisa rushed into the private chambers of her mistress and caught the two of us in bed together. While we were still fully clothed and there was nothing but cuddling going on, it did feel like we were caught with our pants down. The butler blinked, not knowing what to do. On the one hand, she didn’t want to ruin her mistress’ happy time, but the situation seemed dire enough to throw any caution out the window.

“A-Ahem,” Lilith coughed as she separated from my embrace. “Give us two minutes; we’ll come right out.”

“U-Understood!”

I couldn’t help but emit a dry laugh. There was a reason why I was cuddling on Lilith’s bed rather than training for the duel.

After talking about our future plans and my ambition to live together with the four women, Lilith’s mood started to turn sour. She wouldn’t be as clingy as before, she didn’t talk to me for a few hours at a time, and she had even asked to sleep in a separate bed.

And as much as I wanted to train for the duel and possibly the battle that was about to come, I couldn’t just leave our relationship hanging on a thread.

I thought long and hard about how I could mend the relationship. Fortunately, I stumbled across a godly book that was written by a famous Vampire that lived centuries ago called Issei Seraglio. The book was called ‘How to manage your Harem’, and it was probably the holy scripture I needed the most now.

Issei Seraglio had a harem of over a thousand women, and he had managed to keep them all happy until the day he died. A thousand women! Imagine that! I already had problems holding onto one, let alone a thousand.

Therefore, I studied the sacred book far more extensively than any other paper I’d worked on before. And the book’s first verse clearly states that the most important thing to do to keep your women happy is to spend time with them.

It sounded obvious, I know. But I’ve been training every single day since I’d gotten to the Moonreaver Dimension. Because of that, I’ve neglected my precious development time with Lilith.

Time can change emotions. So what if we had a good thing going from our childhood? So what if Lilith spent fifteen years yearning for me? All of that can change if I don’t pay her any attention. And if I combined the ‘tricks’ that Master Issei taught me…

In the end, I’d spent the past two days nurturing our relationship. Both physically and emotionally. I’d spent most of the time cuddling with her on the bed, talking about things that interested her, whispering sweet nothings into her ear and forcing her face to flush red or her head to spin…

All of these brought Lilith’s love tanks back to where they should have been.

After straightening out our clothes and making ourselves presentable, the two of us walked out of the room and waited for Lisa to report the situation.

“The Bloodborne House has begun their attack, you said?” Lilith brushed her blonde hair as her gaze turned colder by the second.

“Yes!” Lisa exclaimed with an ashen look on her face. “Those bastards had created backdoors in our realm! An army of a thousand True Vampires has infiltrated our Nightmare realm and are currently on the way to the Moonreaver Palace!”

“They sure act fast…”

Lilith’s voice turned flat and silent; fiery wrath could be heard in her tone. Well, it was to be expected. As much as the Moonreaver House was domineering towards her, it was still the hometown that she’d grown up in. She had a certain degree of attachment to the place, and having someone invade greatly pissed her off.

“Should we go and help?” I asked in earnest. However, it wasn’t Lilith who answered my question, but rather the young silver-haired butler that had come to report the situation.

“No, we’ve got orders to stay hidden,” Lisa continued with her explanation. “Lord Sirius has commanded the Young Miss to remain in her quarters and not participate in the battle. Furthermore…”

Lisa bolted her eyes to the side, and as if on cue, a silver-haired young woman, who looked suspiciously like Lisa herself, emerged from seemingly nowhere. She wore a comfortable, breathable battlesuit fitted with metallic guards that protected her vitals. To the side of her waist, there laid a beautifully decorated rapier that seemed to be forged by the elven gods themselves. If it weren’t for the fact that I could ‘smell’ her thick Vampiric aroma, I might have misidentified her as an elusive, elven warrior.

“Young Miss, please remain here. I will protect you to the best of my abilities.”

“Lady Capella! What is an Asterias doing here? Shouldn’t you be on the battlefield?!”

“Lord Sirius has determined that the Bloodbornes might attempt to wreak havoc in the realm. And in the chaos, they might take the opportunity to strike at your person. For that reason, my battlefield is by your side.”

“… That overprotective siscon!”

Lilith spat in frustration, and I shared her sentiments. The Asterias were the Moonreaver House’s best fighting force, each one of them standing at the apex of the Vampire world. In fact, Sirius was the leader of that elite unit. For him to send a member of the Asterias out of the main battlefield for his sister’s sake, it was completely an abuse of power.

But well, I guess I had to thank that siscon this once. We were in the midst of battle, and no one really knew how things would go. If an ancient Vampire showed up to harm Lilith, there was little to nothing that I could do.

And as if it were planned…

BOOOOMMM!!!

A stunningly loud explosion shook the house, and a wave of magic power disrupted the peace and tranquillity of the Moonreaver Dimension. I stared to the South-East, which was where the heart of the Nightmare realm was.

“The battle had already begun…”

We were hundreds of kilometres away from the central location of the Moonreaver Dimension, yet we could feel that devastating detonation. One could only imagine how powerful the Bloodborne forces were.

And while I still couldn’t quite comprehend why the Bloodborne House were so dead-set on invading the Moonreaver Dimension, I couldn’t help but smile.

“Hey, Lilith… They said that we can’t leave the premises, but they didn’t say anything about defending against an enemy that comes to us, right?”

“Jin…”

“Hehe, don’t worry about it!”

Lilith knew that I was keen to go into battle once again, and she was worried that I would do something stupid. However, there was no need for me to do anything at all.

Why?

Due to the five distinct presences that were rushing toward our location.

???

The Moonreaver Palace. A safe haven for all members of the wealthy Moonreaver House. Due to it being turtled within the Moonreaver Dimension, it wasn’t like the Everwinter Estate that had skirmishes with Outer Demons or other Vampire Houses that lived in the material world.

It was peaceful.

It was quite possibly the most peaceful place in the entire Vampiric world. No Outer Demons, no Church Exorcists, no human Hunters, no Alpha Werewolves… None of their enemies could ever hope to break into the Moonreaver Dimension to disrupt their eternal serenity.

But alas… Today, that tranquillity was broken.

Fires billowing with intense smoke erupted from many of the structures. Blood and screams could be heard in the vicinity as roars of battle raged on. Magic power was laced on top of the numerous natural disasters and deaths that occurred on the ground, making it look like a scene straight from hell.

But that didn’t matter to the invaders of the realm. Their bloodthirst seemed to triple every time a comrade fell before their eyes, and the vast majority of them began to launch suicidal attacks. It felt like they had already decided on their graveyard.

And so, even if they were to perish, they would die surrounded by the blood of their enemies.

“Ah… What a blissful sight…”

Floating high above the Moonreaver Palace, a red-haired woman glanced down at the mayhem with a rosy complexion. Even though she was amid the bloodiest Vampiric war in centuries, the woman was dressed in scantily-clad clothing. Her curvaceous body was showcased to any who wished to ogle, but there was barely anyone who had the mind to do so.

After all, they were busy trying to survive this surprise attack that the Bloodborne House had launched.

“How many years has it been since I’ve seen such a river of blood? I have to thank those six children for planning this for me!”

“Your words are wasted on us,” a voice replied to the sultry woman’s monologue, causing her to look down at her touch-screen watch. At that moment, a hologram of a red-robed figure appeared and respectfully addressed the woman.

“We are honoured that the Madam was willing to come out of her hibernation to help us in this matter.”

“It’s a small issue,” the woman laughed heartily. “I’ve slept for thousands of years. I’ll just take this as a post-morning workout. Besides…”

The red-haired woman looked down at the burning Moonreaver Palace, her eyes growing colder than the winters of the North: “The Moonreaver ancestor was one that was loyal to our House. However, after he died on the battlefield with the Lord, they completely turned coat. My Lord was a fool to entrust our future with these ingrates!”

“T-That’s right! Does a mere Moonreaver House think that they can usurp us at the top? They have another thing coming!”

The red-robed executive was elated to hear the woman’s words. Truth to be told, they were unwilling to awaken this ancient existence just to participate in and lead this special operation. While she was unquestionably one of the final trump cards that the Bloodborne House possessed, the woman was just as unpredictable as she was powerful.

It was like dropping a nuclear bomb. While it could annihilate the enemy, she could also spread her destruction far beyond the targeted scope. Therefore, it was imperative to keep her in line.

“Now that we’ve taken the first step, what’s next?”

“Madam, we will need you to keep their leader and elders busy for just an hour at most! Once we’ve located the Progenitor’s arm, we will immediately move to secure it!”

“Why don’t we just charge in and break everything down? If I go all out, we can even destroy this wretched Nightmare realm.”

“Please, refrain from doing so…”

This was the exact situation that the executive feared. If they destroyed the Moonreaver Dimension, the Progenitor’s arm would be gone for good! The executive was wracking his brains on how he could deter the woman from deviating from the plan, but fortunately…

“Ah, speak of the devil!”

The woman’s ears perked up as three contrails of starlight arose from the Moonreaver Palace. Sure enough, Sirius Moonreaver had come to meet the woman as planned and along his side were two of his trusted generals. They held their weapons while desperately trying to contain their fury. Blood dripped from the palms of their hands, and not because they were injured, but because they wished to rip their invaders limb from limb.

“Fifth Consort of the Vampire Progenitor, Guinevere Bloodborne!”

“Oh? You recognise me?”

“Who wouldn’t?” Sirius snorted and glared at the woman, not once tempted by her lustful appearance. She might look youthful, but the woman was easily five times Sirius’ age.

“I’d thought that all of the Consorts had passed on during that battle!”

“Hmph! Not all of my sisters died!”

“… Looks like we’ve severely underestimated the Bloodborne House.”

A wounded dragon was still a dragon. If Guinevere wasn’t the only ancient Vampire still within the Bloodborne House, that spelt trouble for the Moonreaver House. While they had their own ancient monsters ready to fight, they didn’t want to risk a full-on battle, especially against the Fifth Consort.

All of the Progenitor’s Consorts were powerhouses that lived to serve him. For Vampires, the Progenitor’s blood was equivalent to that of a power serum, and just drinking it once could grant mystical powers beyond one’s wildest imagination. Now imagine a woman that had slept by the Progenitor’s side, drinking his blood as and when she desired.

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the Consorts were on par with some of the Guardian House’s most powerful Elders.

“The Moonreaver House demands the Bloodborne House to cease all aggressive actions immediately!”

“The Bloodborne House rejects!” Guinevere immediately answered without even hearing the man’s terms.

“We’ve spent centuries, nay, millennia, biting our tongues while the Moonreaver House became increasingly prosperous. And instead of helping us like the servants you used to be, you went on and rejected all of our requests. You’ve even used my Lord’s relic to power your stupid home! Don’t you think that the Bloodborne House should get its payment?”

“… You’re crazy.”

There was no need to keep up the pretences anymore. Since the negotiations had broken down, the only way to decide the war… was with force.

“Interesting… Aren’t you a little young to face me in combat?”

“You will live to regret those words.”

“Me? Regret? HAHAHA!!! How interesting!”

Guinevere’s body started to glow red as her magic power torrented out from her body. At first blush, it seemed like she’d lost control of herself, but the tempest of magic power continued to grow without hurting her and instead suppressed the enemies that dared to aim at her.

That torrent of energy sent a dense pressure upon Sirius and the two Elders with him. It felt like they were facing a mountain that couldn’t be moved, even though it was coming from a woman that was less than 1.7 metres in height.

With a wave of her hand, Guinevere gathered magic energy into her right hand and winked in a flirtatious manner.

“Boy… Let’s have some fun!!!”