Chapter 117

A/N: I just had too upload this one early as well, this chapter is too good for me not to do it, 1.7k words

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[Third Person's PoV]

Shadow slowly walked through a dark corridor with heavy steps, causing the vampires to run in fear.

"Iron, take care of them for me," Shadow commanded coldly. With a battle cry, the surrounding vampires all charged towards Iron as he provoked them with his ability, making him the sole target.

Iron blocked with his shield as the vampires tried to attack him with their long claws before he swung his axe, splitting them in half. A large smile adorned Iron's face as he swung his axe and bashed his shield wildly, causing body parts and blood to fly everywhere.

While Iron was having his fun, Shadow was enjoying himself as well. "Even though I don't need it, it's always nice to see treasures safely tucked away for me to simply take. So, don't mind if I do," Shadow smirked before engulfing the mountain of gold coins and jewelry.

After he finished packing everything into his shadow, Iron knelt down by the door entrance, presenting Shadow with a mountain of corpses and body parts.

Shadow immediately understood and patted Iron's shoulder. "Thank you for your offering after a great battle. I appreciate it."

Iron beamed and started rubbing his eyes with his forearm as he shed manly tears, happy to be praised by his lord.

"Arise," Shadow commanded in a deep voice. Shadow beings wearing suits with bat wings tucked away behind them appeared and knelt down in small groups before sinking into his shadow.

Shadow slowly walked towards the top of the tower where he found Crimson, a man with blood-red hair, the leader of the tower, talking to himself while looking out the window.

"The time has finally come. The moon is dyed a beautiful red. I can feel my strength rising. The sacrifice preparations are complete. Taking the only piece of hers that hasn't died, her heart, and implanting it into a fresh body. The strongest progenitor, Elisabeth, shall be revived!"

'Beru, I promised you a fight before, right? Then your time is here. Enjoy yourself.'

"SSSSSKKKKKRRRRRRR!" Beru yelled out from the shadow, startling Crimson as he wasn't expecting Beru's cries.

'Thank you, my liege, for this wonderful meal you have bestowed upon your servant!'

Before Crimson had a chance to say anything, Beru started slashing his claws all over Crimson's body.

"Wait!" He cried out desperately as his regenerative abilities tried to keep up with Beru's assault.

Beru's swipes were so fearsome that the walls behind Crimson started breaking apart, exposing the outside due to Beru accidentally generating slash marks from the force.

To end it all, Beru disappeared and reappeared behind Crimson, his claw exiting Crimson's chest while holding his heart.

Beru then opened his mandibles and ripped Crimson's head off his neck, not giving him a chance to cry out in pain or for help.

"Arise," Shadow commanded once more, causing a much buffer vampire compared to the others to appear. He appeared more sophisticated as he knelt on one knee with a hand on his chest, awaiting Shadow's order, while his former vessel crumbled into a million pieces and scattered across the wind.

"I'll name you Guy," Shadow smirked, knowing he would probably be the only one who understood his reference.

Guy bowed his head in acceptance before sinking into Shadow's shadow. Shadow then recalled Beru before completely erasing his presence. Not even the girls who were connected to him would be able to detect him unless he wanted them to.

He watched as the heart implanted into the sacrifice started pulsating with power before hearing the door slam open with a large thud, inwardly sighing at the way Adelphi did things.

Mary was shocked and worried by how unworried Adelphi was towards her surroundings and opponents. They both then realized that they were alone in the room, confusing them both.

"Did he already take care of everything else?" she muttered before turning towards Mary and sighing, "It looks like we came for nothing."

And like always, Adelphi failed to take notice of her surroundings as the sacrifice suddenly rose from the ground and plunged his hand into her chest, taking her by complete surprise.

'Doesn't she ever learn? This has been a weakness of hers since she was little. She had grown too confident it seems after beating Juggernaut and believed that I would save her if something happened to her, which she isn't totally wrong. But still, that doesn't give her the excuse to be reckless... Oh right, she's immortal now. I guess that's why she's being reckless, but I still stand my case. That's no excuse for her to be getting injured, Shadow inwardly reprimanded.

The sacrifice's body was soon surrounded by the heart's power, causing it to dispel, exposing Elisabeth.

(Image)

Elisabeth levitated Adelphi's body, even though she's immortal, she was unconscious due to the shock of having a hand run through her chest. Elisabeth plunged her fangs onto Adelphi's neck and started siphoning blood.

Beta appeared from behind Elizabeth's shadow and cut off her head, causing it to spin in the air and release Adelphi, whom Rose, also known as number 670, caught. From Elizabeth's neck, blood shot up and grabbed hold of her head before bringing it down and reconnecting it to her neck.

They made sure Adelphi was okay and realized that she would wake up in a few seconds as her wounds were already starting to close.

Beta gathered wind mana around her sword, making it faster and sharper, creating more cuts on Elisabeth's body. Elisabeth grew enraged and conjured a ball of blood, which she used to create sharp needles and sent them flying everywhere.

Beta rushed towards everyone and created a wind barrier around them, blocking the needles.

"She doesn't seem too hard to defeat," Beta said casually before transforming her sword into a bow.

"No," Mary muttered, "It's impossible. She gets really cranky when she's woken up. She's going to be much more difficult to beat."

Beta didn't say anything and just gave her a side eye before ignoring her. Elisabeth then started controlling the blood and created a dress made from it, creating a grotesque but undoubtedly beautiful image.

"Hope I'm not too late to the party," Yukime said, announcing her presence with a smirk as she hid her face behind her fan.

Beta ignored them and conjured an arrow made out of water, with the tip spinning to appear as a drill. As she shot it towards Elisabeth, she conjured a shield made from blood and tried to block it, but the shield soon began to crack due to its rotation.

As the shield cracked, Elisabeth moved out of the way, dodging it, before dodging three more arrows made entirely out of flames. Rose then appeared and started swinging her sword with precision. As she cut her, Elisabeth turned into a blood-red mist, causing them to not do any damage.

Yukime then approached from the air, hiding herself using illusions, and tried to injure Elisabeth using foxfire, which Elisabeth blocked with her blood. She then gathered more blood and compressed it while making it longer, causing Mary to scream, "DODGE IT!"

meanwhile…

Claire appeared in a white room with no space and saw a woman with dark violet-purple hair. She wore a black and purple dress and softly massaged her bulging stomach as she approached her.

Claire groaned as she felt a sting from her hand, "What's this? Am I suffering from possession again? I thought Cid cleared it?"

"And he did," Aurora responded with a smile. "What you are experiencing is different from possession. You have three different types of blood flowing through your system right now, which is making it difficult for you to control. Here, let me help you," she said as her finger glowed with her magic power.

She drew a magic circle that appeared on the back of her palm. "This shall help you until you learn to control it on your own. Due to this blood flowing through you, nothing life-threatening should happen, but you will always be in constant agony, which I doubt is something you want."

"I see… thank you," Claire said.

"Things are getting pretty interesting out there. I want to participate myself, so I'll be borrowing your body for a bit if you don't mind."

"Just who are you, and why are you helping me out?" Claire asked with a serious expression.

Aurora simply rubbed her stomach and smiled, "You can say I'm your sister-in-law in a sort of way."

Claire's eyes bulged out of their sockets as her mouth hung open.

"WHAAA—"

…

As soon as Aurora took over Claire's body, her stomach started bulging even though there was nothing inside. Suddenly, they all felt a pressure that forced everyone to kneel and start breathing heavily, except for Aurora, who started pouting upon realizing what happened. Even Elisabeth was on her hands and knees in confusion, unsure.

But they all knew one thing: whoever was doing it was angry, as indicated by the darkening clouds and the sound of lightning.

Even Beta was on one knee, breathing heavily. 'Master… Master is angry. Who could have done it? I haven't seen or felt Master so angry before. I can even feel it through our connection. Is it because I failed to keep Claire safe, or is it because she's hurt?'

Beta wasn't the only one who felt his anger through their connection; the others felt it too. They immediately dropped what they were doing and all dropped to their shadows with their utmost serious expression. When they appeared, they felt their Master's anger and power pressing down on them, causing them to shake and kneel as well. They were too scared to look up.

They all just had one thought that they shared together.

'Just what could have made Master this angry?'

"Aurora…" Shadow's deep voice resounded throughout the area, in a low and slow manner, but everyone could detect the hidden fury behind them.

"Did you seriously plan on fighting while carrying our child in your stomach…"

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All seven of the original Shadow Garden members snapped their heads up towards them with widened eyes and a look of disbelief, while their mouths slowly opened.

"WWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!" All seven screamed, with the others not being far behind.