C18: Beginning of Conflict

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Finally, the Magic circles finished, and out came over one thousand magicians and a silver-haired man at the front with eight strong people behind him. The nine people in the front of the army were all of the ultimate class at least and I could tell they had fairly powerful Magic items with them.

So it seems to be a fairly even fight. On one side we have around 100 or so of the strongest vampires and about 10,000 common people watching vs 1000 decently strong mages and Euclid Lucifuge and eight of the strongest mages I've ever seen, not like that means much since I've barely seen a mage before.

However, their generals couldn't be compared to mine. Let's do a headcount, shall we? Sirzechs Lucifer a superclass being, Serafall Leviathan a satan class being, Grayfia Lucifuge a satan class being though on the weaker side, Azazel a satan class being, Michael a close to superclass being but still a little weaker, Gabriel a satan class being, Rufus a satan class being, and Alaric another satan class being. Compared to nine ultimate classes I'd say we win even if we have equal numbers.

However we do have to be slightly cautious since mages are notorious for being sly and difficult to deal with even with a decent difference in strength, I wouldn't put it past them to have magic specifically made for this scenario.

"I am Euclid Lucifuge, the leader of Nilrem, a stray magician organization allied with the terrorist group Khaos Brigade. I have come to take the head of the 1st Progenitor Ashera Tepes." Euclid said with a confident smile on his face as if everything was already within his grasp.

"Brother?! I thought you were dead!" Grayfia screamed as most of the people besides me looked at him shocked since he was presumed dead for hundreds of years. Still, none of that mattered to me.

"So you've come to take my head have you? How do you plan to do that?" I asked with a confident grin on my face since I doubt they'll be able to actually take my life even if I stuck out my neck for them.

"Of course, we have a plan, why don't we show you?" Euclid said with the same smile as before while a magic circle appeared in the sky but this wasn't a normal Magic circle.

The Magic circle covered the entire area of the artificial space and was a mix of three different colors with each having its own aura, each one I could recognize.

The first color was a bright golden that radiated an intense holy aura that made it difficult for me to look at it without burning myself. Since it's so intense I had to up the barrier defenses a ton against holy aura and objects. From what I can tell it originates from a dirty old book on one side of the magic circle.

"Is that the first bible that god personally wrote and created?! Why do you have something like that!" Michael essentially shouted and had to hold himself back from rushing up and grabbing it. I guess he would be angry about his father and creator's item being stolen but still, that's shocking.

The original bible that was created and written by god himself, a holy item with more holy energy than even the true longinus, sadly it doesn't have any combat ability but just having it is important since the meaning to the church is immense, and having it will strengthen their follower's belief in god.

Everyone around me went wide at Michael's statement and rightfully so. The original bible was missing for hundreds of years and was assumed to be destroyed during the Great War but obviously, that was wrong, Rizevim had it. I guess my knowledge of the story isn't as helpful as it used to be if something like this was added to the mix.

The second color was a deep black I would recognize anywhere since he's so insistent on annoying me, it was a deep pure black that seemed to pull in light and radiated an intense feeling of disgust and any other negative emotion at anyone who saw it. Once again I had to increase the barrier this time towards demonic energy. From what I can tell it is coming from a cross that church members use that was dyed pitch black that was even darker than the aura it was releasing.

"Lucifer's cross?! Where did you find that!" Azazel shouted out, shocking everyone once again. It seems Rizevim is really breaking out his collection huh? Still, the cross that the original devil isn't to be underestimated.

It may be the weakest of the three objects but it's still the cross that Lucifer wore all his life and was tainted with his corruption over time, eventually turning into the strongest demonic item in the world that was once again thought to have gone missing during the Great War but it seems like Rizevim stole this one from his father. Is he a collector now?

The third and final color was an intense purple-black mist that I've seen before, after all, it's the power source of Arce Noctis. The purple mist didn't really have an exceptional aura that made it terrifying, instead, it radiated an intense amount of magic that was growing by the second. This aura obviously is from Ophis' scale.

I'm curious about where he got it but honestly with how innocent Ophis is he probably just got somebody to ask with the thought of sacrificing them to see if it would work and obviously it did. Still, I'll have to tell Ophis not to do that again, or else I'll have to take away her snacks for a while. I don't want to have to do that but if everyone was running around with Ophis' scales a castle like Arce Noctis would be the least of the world's problems.

All three of the objects made a triangle in the magic circle and seemed to power all of it along with some help from the mages. From what I could tell it was a powerful magic circle but I won't be destroying it.

Once a magic circle is in play unless you have absolute confidence breaking it isn't a great idea, especially right now. When a magic circle is destroyed mid-deployment all the energy it's gathered is thrown out in an explosion and Ophis' scale is generating a lot of mana so I would rather not.

"Be honored, this is a magic circle created just for you all and is the epitome of current magic. You have the honor of dying by our hands and creation so be proud of yourself in the underworld. You will be a stepping stone for our goals and show what a true devil should be." Euclid declared with an almost fanatical belief in his voice, though he hesitated slightly when looking at Grayfia. "Activate the circle."

As soon as he said that my power was cut in half, reduced to about the level of an ultimate class being. My power wasn't gone, instead, it was hidden behind several locks and seals that meant I wouldn't be able to return to full power anytime soon, at least not during this battle. I would guess that this is possible only because of the overwhelming amount of mana that Ophis' scale brings.

Now that my power was brought to the level of an ultimate class being I could feel myself being weakened even further by the holy attributes from that old book while I could tell the same was happening to the angels, and Azazel to a smaller degree, from the cross.

"That should even the playing field hm? Begin the battle!" Euclid shouts over his shoulder as the stray magicians start preparing their magic circles making the vampires behind me tense.

"Don't fear some mere stray magicians! Show them the might of the vampires!" I shouted out towards my forces as they flew up into the air behind me while Ulva and Ferid and some other vampires got healed. The battle was finally beginning and I have no thoughts of losing to this group of rabble.