Hero's Fall

Luciel felt nauseous at the sight of the ugly creature, standing on the pile of corpses.

Not only that, he knew that he had to fight this thing while trampling down on his own people.

"I still have to see a rabbit winning in a fight against a wolf." The vampire king, Alukah, said with a sinister voice, holding the last hunter alive by her neck. She was from the previous party that was fighting against him.

Alukah raised his hand, ready to pierce through the hunter.

"No!" Luciel screamed, watching the scene and quickly flew down.

He held his sword and cut the arm of the vampire, saving the hunter that almost met her doom.

"Huh," Alukah didn't look surprised at all. He lifted his arm that had been sliced and watched how it quickly grew back.

Not even a minute passed and he already had a new arm. "Well, would you look at this, one more rabbit joined the fun."

"Ready to see the birth of a new world? Where vampires rule the world, feasting on your blood? It's only right that we set up farms for raising humans as you do with sheep!" There was a wicked laugh coming from Alukah that echoed across the battlefield.

Luciel clicked his tongue as blood was boiling inside of him.

He put the young woman down after making a safe distance.

Luckily she was alive with nonfatal injuries and as for her mentality…

She was conscious, but it looked like any communication was impossible since she just continued to stare at one spot, barely blinking.

Her mind has been broken after witnessing the horror that happened here. Luciel was late.

The gold and white wings on Luciel's back dispersed into millions of tiny particles.

Their time was up and unfortunately, he won't be able to summon them any time soon again.

He looked over his shoulder and saw Alukah on top of the corpse hill.

His skin looked dry like it was wrapping around his body.

It had pointed ears and blood-red eyes that would make an inexperienced hunter pee their pants.

Its nose was also deformed, looking more like that of a bat and when he laughed, one could see two large fangs on a display, having traces of blood on them.

Its large bulging muscles were showing since it had no shirt, there was only a small piece of cloth around his private area which probably used to be its pants.

The fingers on its hand were elongated with large claws while its feet resembled those of a bat.

'That thing can't even be called a vampire at this point.' Luciel thought while being grossed out.

"Oh yeah, I am ready to see the new world and it will start right here and now, with your head on the ground." Luciel finally replied, turning towards Alukah and making a stand, pointing with his finger towards the earth before making his first step towards the corpse hill.

"O lord, please open up a path and lead me through evil. Make sure no harm comes my way. Give me the strength to defeat those that stained your name." He prayed and could feel a newfound strength surrounding his body that was not here before while his sword lightened up, giving off a faint golden glow.

"Divine arts, how cute." Alukah snickered while he waited. He didn't feel threatened by the one that had arrived, after all, humans were just ants to him, nothing more, nothing less.

Luciel started to climb the corpse hill, trying not to look down, trying to ignore the fact that he was stepping on human bodies, but whatever he did, he couldn't stop himself from thinking about what he was walking on. He didn't want to do it but had to.

As he walked, he could hear the cracking of bones, feel the thick liquid beneath his foot, and sometimes a soft sensation if he would step on someone's abdomen.

Nothing could replicate this sensation, not to mention a horrible smell since many corpses weren't just from today.

Luciel finally climbed to the top, almost tripping on his way up a few times.

He raised his sword which was still shining and without waiting, made a first horizontal cut toward the vampire's head.

It was a fast swing, but Alukah was able to dodge with ease and went straight towards Luciel's heart with a big grin on his face.

Seeing this, Luciel quickly changed his stance and jumped back before thrusting forward, slicing Alukah's arm right below his elbow once more.

"You think you can win this? Don't make me laugh!" Alukah stepped back as his arm quickly regenerated.

The two blows that got exchanged were simple attacks meant to test the waters, but a real fight was about to start.

Alukah raised both of his hands in the air and moments later, blood that had been splattered all around started to rise from the ground and spiral in the air, but of course, Luciel didn't plan to just stand there and started chanting another prayer.

As he was chanting, there was a small magic circle that emerged above him and behind it, four more appeared, each being twice the size as the last one.

"Let's see you survive this!" Alukah moved one of his arms forward, pointing at Luciel.

The blood that Alukah gathered soon turned into millions of blood spikes that now went rushing toward his enemy.

At the same time, Luciel finished with his main spell and quickly chanted another, making a big yellow circle on his forearm to appear as he ducked on one knee, raising his shield up in the air.

He gritted his teeth, he could feel the force behind every hit on his shield as the spikes continued to infinitely rain down on him.

The cracks started to appear on the shield and just as he thought that it was over, the bloody spike rain had stopped and all remaining barbs turned into ordinary blood as it fell down.

The previous divine art that Luciel summoned finally activated and it sent a huge ray of light towards Alukah.

It was so bright that Luciel had to close his eyes and turn his head away, but it was concerning that no screams had been heard.

After a few moments, the beam had disappeared and there was a smell of burning flesh in the air, mixing with already disgusting odors that were present.

Opening his eyes and looking forward, Luciel could see Alukah with black scorched skin as his veins turned orange like fire, but instead of collapsing, the burned skin started to crack and fall down, revealing healthy skin beneath. Alukah seemed unharmed, at least on the outside.

"That hurts," Alukah said before the two sides continued to clash as an intense battle was taking place.

Many humans and vampires that were battling before had stopped fighting, getting close enough to be able to see the unfolding conflict that could mark the new era.

The two parties were going all out, not leaving any room for the other to take a breath.

The fight was going on for hours and while it seemed like the vampire king could go on, Luciel was on the verge of exhaustion.

Before falling down in battle, Luciel started to chant his final prayer, the strongest that is currently known to mankind.

He avoided using it till now because it will make him unable to move right after. In addition to that, it will also take five years of his life.

Once he finished praying, a large holy sword appeared above the vampire king and went straight towards him, but instead of splitting him apart, it went straight through him.

The sword of judgment. It will pass through a target and in that moment decide if they are guilty or innocent. If guilty, they will take all the life force one has with it.

Both Alukah and Luciel fell to their knees as the battle finally reached its peak.

Luciel was breathing heavily, not being able to move while Alukah started to turn into ash.

Seeing this, the remaining vampires started to flee while humans cheered at their victory, but it was still too early to celebrate.

While on his deathbed, Alukah gathered the last remains of his strength and crawled towards Luciel.

"I pass this torch to you." He laughed, making a cut on his palm before reaching for Luciel's mouth, forcing it open.

It didn't take long for the blood to fill Luciel's mouth before he swallowed it and the vampire king turned to ash.