Eternal Night – Part IV [Fifth Vampire Lord, Nicholas Reiss]

In some corner of the Ahrsei Empire—.

-Evacuate the civilians, we need the area cleared as soon as possible, unnecessary casualties will be a problem later!

Men dressed in dark-as-night suits and plague masks organise the citizens of a small town to leave as soon as they can.

These individuals are connected to the Church of Kýena. They are in charge of the safety of the people in the event of a vampire attack.

Despite having been trained since childhood, most of them have never seen or even faced a vampire. They are the corps of [Vampire Hunters].

Now that the [Eternal Night] is a fact, the great institutions moved to start the hunt as soon as possible, evacuating also those who cannot defend themselves from the attacks of those beasts.

And leading this team of hunters is a girl at the front.

Leaping from rooftop to rooftop, while being chased by shadows that only seek to kill and feed on her. This hunter so skilled in mobility has an open wound on her left hand, from which blood is overflowing.

Blood for which the vampires feel crazy, and have a feeling of need when it comes to pounce on the girl.

She is the younger sister of Olivia Cross, Amelie Cross.

At just 18 years old, she was sent by her family to protect this town on the outskirts of the capital, as it is one of the closest points to Maxwell's Dungeon.

Evacuating the townspeople is vital to prevent the vampire population from exploding in the surrounding area. But it is almost entirely inevitable that more than one will get bitten.

To be the first line of defence of the Ahrsei Empire, different members of the Cross Family were sent to different points of the border in order to eradicate as many as possible.

A single member of the Cross Family is the equivalent of a platoon of magical artillery, of course, leaving aside Olivia who could effortlessly sweep the capital from head to toe.

Of course, this explosive potential is squarely in the family, so Amelie is arguably on the same course as her older sister.

In response to the trail of blood that had gathered all the shadows in the place, Amelie takes one last leap, with which she skilfully turns in the air in their direction.

And from her rosy lips, she only whispers something:

-Røde Død.

And at that very moment, from the wound in her right hand, a flow of blood turned into a scythe that pierced through all the bodies.

It is already well known that the Blood of the Cross is a destructive weapon for vampires, and Amelie has been a dedicated student of blood magic to use it as a weapon.

Amelie believes that it is better to slay multiple enemies in a single attack than to take the time to engage each one.

So Amelie gathered them together, and killed them all in a single attack.

Upon returning to land, Amelie pulls a worn notebook from inside her hood. This book has seen better times.

She reads aloud:

-"Nicholas is very slippery, he hates getting hurt. In fighting against him I was almost suppressed by his ability to attack me from my blind spots".

The fragment of what Amelie is reading is from an old diary written by her ancestor, Gulliver Cross.

-"It devours in the shadows. Attacks the weakest individuals and waits only for the moment of susceptibility. A great coward."

(I guess by this point, there's no one left but me. It knows it can't eat me). -. Amelie thinks to herself.

Amidst the darkness, a new set of shadows emerges.

Shadows that group together to form the figure of a man in a top hat. Dressed elegantly even. As if he wanted to look like the owner of some land.

-Brilliant of Olivia. Sending her younger sister to such a backwater village. I didn't think she'd be so careless as to do that.

The man says in a mocking voice, as he reveals his pale face in the moonlight.

This is the Aristocrat Nicholas Reiss, a deceitful and greedy man who sacrificed his humanity in order to gain greater power.

He was one of Enigma's first victims, and thanks to the moment in which she was assimilating Redhart's death, she gave him a little more of her blood when she bit him.

This allowed Reiss to gain an advantage over other vampires, and to name himself the "Fifth Vampire Lord", under the nickname "Shadow Hunger".

-I've killed people in your family before, a pity I couldn't devour them for the blood in their bodies.

After Reiss said that, Amelie pulled a wand from the sleeve of her uniform. A wand as light blue as the sky itself.

She pointed this wand at Reiss, and said:

-I'm not a fighter like my sister. She was able to gouge out your eye, bastard. You couldn't regenerate it no matter what. I just came to finish the job.

-Ha! And what's a sad little sorceress to do? Humanity has fallen far behind in terms of magic.

Amelie, looks up to meet Reiss' eyes.

What the count didn't expect was that Amelie's expression was grim. As icy as ice itself.

A shiver ran down Reiss' spine by the time he heard the next words:

-You are already dead, Nicholas Reiss.

In the vampire's vision, a red cloud surrounded him completely. Not understanding where it had come from, Reiss begins to look around for a way out.

There was nothing.

Everything around him has turned red. This crimson miasma is all around him.

-Your method of murder is too heinous. Devastating even. If I were not of the Cross bloodline, you would have devoured me effortlessly.

-What the hell is this, child?! I can't see anything here! What have you done?!

-Oh, Count. You are about to pay for all the lives you consumed for your selfishness. Your victims were but poor innocents who did not deserve to suffer at your mercy.

-I... I can't go up in smoke! What the fuck is this shit?!

-You have sinned, Reiss. We all must pay for our sins. Tell me, are you still able to remember Hildegard?

-Who the hell is that?! Of all the people I ate, I don't care about any of them! I'm going to kill you right now!

Reiss despairs, launching attacks into the air, unable to touch anything.

Amelie continues:

-If you don't even remember your poor wife, you can go to hell for all I care, Reiss.

In a brief moment, Reiss begins to feel a severe pain in his throat. He is not able to understand what is happening, but this is too simple.

This red gas is nothing more or less than Amelie's blood turned into smoke. She has been thinking about this ever since she saw the shadow creatures attacking the citizens.

Amelie is not a fighter like her sister, she is someone much more cunning and intelligent for in her own weakness in combat she knows how to take advantage of any opportunity.

She was trained by the best mages in the kingdom to such an extent that she knows how to handle all types of sorcery and if there is one she does not, she is able to analyse it and perform it in her own way.

And she decided on this method of assassination for one simple reason...

It is sad when a sorcerer who has lived longer than others is stuck as a one-trick pony.

Amelie showed herself once more in front of Nicholas, who was no longer able to stand so he fell to his own knees.

The white-haired girl glared at him as he writhed in pain from inhaling Amelie's blood.

To Reiss, Amelie's eyes showed hatred.

Hatred that... he hadn't seen in centuries.

Of course Reiss would never forget him, his first victim. His wife. The one he violently killed by ripping her throat out in one go.

Hildegard's expression at the time, the same as Amelie's.

Hollow—.

As if she were dead inside. Wanting to drag to hell anyone who made her angry or turned against her.

He regretted it more than anyone... and that's why he chose to become stronger, to have even a chance to get revenge on Enigma for turning him into that monster.

A resounding failure—.

Now, without even being worthy to see Enigma face to face, Reiss has breathed his last miserable breath on these lands. And with his death, all those who were turned into vampires by him have died as well.

For centuries, the Cross Family has been hunting the "Vampire Lords", having very little success in doing so. They are vampires so strong that they could bring a nation to its knees.

The fog lifts, and Amelie takes out her ancestor's diary once more, and with the light blue wand, draws an "X" with her blood over the chapter that speaks of Nicholas Reiss.

Symbolising that he is now dead.

It has been a victory for the Cross family as this vampire was overconfident because of Amelie's youthful appearance.

It is going to be a long process, which will not end until Enigma has been defeated. Amelie looks up at the moon.

And the white-haired girl can only sigh with bitterness. As she walks, to look for wooden planks with which to create a tomb for the hunters fallen in battle, so that no one's sacrifices will be forgotten.