Chapter 7: Completing the quests

"I can't move"

I complained as soon as I woke up. I wanted to get up but got stopped by several bodies holding me down.

I looked around and found Ophis, staring at me with her empty eyes watching me sleep creepily just like usual with Lily hugging her from behind.

I looked at my left side and found Asia sleeping soundly with her left hand on top of my chest.

"Don't tell me the girl in top of me is Kuroka"

I said while looking at the huge bump on the blanket.

"Give me a break"

(Timeskip)

"Ophis, can you stop staring at me while I'm sleeping"

"I won't, stop"

"..."

"Aren't you already used to it nya?"

"I doubt anyone will get used to someone watching them in their sleep"

"Master, can you tell us more about the quest?"

Lily asked as everyone started to get serious (except Ophis) while waiting for my next words.

"We don't have that much information about the rescue quest. We just know that Valerie is a dhampir, a descendant of King Tepes and an unknown woman"

"Because of her being a half human, she was discriminated by the other vampires and was thrown together with the other dhampirs of their faction, is what I assume to be the case"

"We don't know what she actually look like, and we don't know where she is in the faction"

"We are actually lucky that her sacred gear hasn't awakened yet, if it did, the Tepes Faction will do everything they can to keep her inside the faction. Right now, even if we do get her out of there, the Tepes Faction won't make a huge fuss about it"

"Then, our first task is finding her..." (Yami)

"Yep, Lily, Yami do your best an not let yourself be seen, I don't want you to get a bounty on your head. Even though they won't make a fuss from a missing dhampir, they will still put a bounty on you if your seen for trespassing their territory"

"Then how will we get information about her whereabouts?"

"Capture and interrogate any weak vampire from that faction, and kill them once your done"

"To get out of their, use the ability of Hermes Boots and create a portal that connects to the Mansion"

"Understood"

"For the 3 of us, I wanted Kuroka to join me since you can control time like her. To differentiate her from her clone, the main body is the only one that can use her time manipulating abilities. So if we can trap the main body in an instant dungeon I want Kuroka to stop the time around her, after that I'll do the rest"

"What will, I do?" (Ophis)

"If she retaliates, I want you to fight and immobilise her"

"I understand, but I want, more donuts, after it's done"

"I'll buy you as much as you want"

I smiled at her while patting her head which caused a flash of emotion to show on her face, but it was only for a few milliseconds before she returned to her usual expressionless face.

That's new she never showed any emotion ever since she joined us.

I thought while I continued to pat her head.

"Master, Yami and I will go now, we only have a few days left before the limit"

"Be careful and don't push yourselves too far, okay?"

"We will"

Lily answered before leaving the mansion.

"Asia, I want you to maneuver the flying mansion towards Romania, so you'll be able to easily contact them during their task"

"I will, Lucias"

3rd POV (with Lily)

"Lily, the Tepes Faction is ahead"

Yami informed Lily while they were running at full speed towards Romania, where the Tepes Faction is located.

"Yami, both of us will go in stealth, I doubt that they will allow me to enter so I'll just break myself in and reveal myself once I'm inside"

"Understood"

She answered as both of them entered stealth as they ran towards the isolated medieval castle.

As soon as they arrived close at the entrance, they stopped and surveyed the guards on the entrance of the castle.

"They are both mid-class vampires, try to avoid them as much as possible, we can't enter the gate, it's far too heavily guarded, Yami can you check the walls"

"Mn"

She responded before jumping and using her hair to climb the top of the wall.

On the top she saw multiple guards patroling inside the castle, most of them were at least low-class vampire in terms of strength. What intrigued her was that there was not a single female vampire in sight.

She went back to Lily and reported everything she saw. Lily who heard every detail of what she has observed inside climbed up the wall along with Yami to get inside the castle.

They silently landed down to the ground trying not to alert the nearby guards patrolling the area before hiding at a dark corner inside the castle.

"What's the plan?"

"We will have to capture one of the guards patrolling the area. Yami you can change your appearance right? Once we interrogate and kill him, you will have to transform your appearance similar to him, you will be the one to lead us to the dhampir's location"

"Understood"

They both waited in the dark corner in stealth as they waited for a nearby guard to come towards their location.

After a few minutes of waiting. A man with pale skin and dark blue hair and eyes went closer to them while patrolling the area. Yami quickly used detection to see if any other guards are nearby before wrapping her hair around the guard and pulling her towards them as Lily created a portal towards the mansion.

"MMNNN, NNMMM!"

The guard shouted as his mouth was covered shut by Yami's golden hair pulling him towards the mansion.

As they went inside, they saw no one but Asia who was reading a book. Yami then cut off the tendons on the vampires limbs before releasing him from her hold.

"W-who are you people?"

The male vampire asked with fear as he couldn't move her limbs due to his tendons being cut. Lily brandished her claws and pointed it at his neck before asking a question.

"We have a few question, if you can answer them honestly we'll let you go, don't think about lying since we have a way to know if you're lying to us"

The man nodded his head fearing for his life as he saw the sharp claws pointed at his neck.

"Where are the dhampirs located?"

"T-they are l-located at the lowest floor of the castle!"

He instantly answered them trying to trick both of them to enter the chamber of the undead.

"You really underestimate us"

Lily said before tearing off his right arm from his shoulder causing him to scream in pain that echoed throughout the mansion.

"Talk"

"I-I-I-"

He stuttered before Lily tore his leg off of his body causing another wave of excruciating pain

as he started to slowly pass out.

"Asia heal him"

"Hai"

Asia immediately went towards the vampire, reattaching his limbs back to his body causing the pain that the vampire felt to ease up.

"Wake up!"

Lily shouted before kicking him at full force while Yami held him down on the floor so he wouldn't fly across the room and destroy the walls.

"ARGHH"

"Prepared to talk now?"

Lily asked again as she let her killing intent out, focusing them on the vampire causing him to tremble in fear from her presence.

"I-I-I'll talk j-just please don't kill me"

"Good, now tell me where are they?"

"T-they are at the a-abandoned dormitory located at the west side of the castle"

"Good job, vampire-kun"

Lily said with a bright smile as she knew that the man in front of her told them the truth.

"R-really?!? T-then can you p-please let me go"

"Of course"

Lily positively responded causing the man to brighten but froze when he felt intense pain coming from his neck, before dying in an instant.

"Yami, copy his appearance"

Yami nodded as she used her ability to slowly change her appearance. Her petite figure changed and transformed into a mascular body of a male. Her height slowly increased as her face deformed until turning into a middle aged man. Her long golden hair retracted as it changed color to that of dark blue. Finally her appearance completely change to that of the man they just killed a moment ago.

"Let's go back there shall we"

Lily created another portal back to their previous location, but now Yami came out in stealth as she made her way inside the castle.

She opened the gate without hesitation but stopped when she heard a voice call for her at his side as she entered the door.

"You aren't suppose to be here"

A man with black hair and red eyes said as he walked towards Yami who came inside the castle.

"You'll need to go back to your station, if those guys find you your dead"

The man warned while pushing Yami out of the door but suddenly his vision darkned as he felt something sharp pierce his throat causing his blood to squirt from the giant slice on his neck.

Lily came out of the corner and placed the body of the guard on her portal teleporting it to a random location while Yami changed her appearance again to that of the young man that stopped her.

Yami continued walking inside the castle, killing and copying the appearance of whoever stop her as she made her way towards the abandoned dormitory.

"Yami, stop there is a high-class vampire coming your way"

Lily warned her as she felt a powerful aura coming their way. Yami immediately went stealth to avoid the man, waiting for him to leave before appearing once again.

She then continued walking with a deadpan expression of her face arriving at an old broken wooden door.

"There are no more guards at this area, I can't pick up anything from my detection so either they are ridiculously good as stealth like we are or there is just no one guarding this place, but be careful"

Lily warned while in stealth causing Yami to put her guard up before entering the old wooden door. What greeted her is a slum where various children wearing tattered clothes are found. The houses were somewhat broken and barely keeping itself together.

"This is worst that we thought"

Lily commented while looking around the abandoned dormitory.

"If Lucias Frey didn't find us we might have lived like this"

Yami muttered to herself before making her way towards the dormitory. The children who saw her hurriedly made way, avoiding her with fear visible in their eyes.

"Yami, let's go back, they are searching for us, let's go back tomorrow once the situation calmed down"

"... Alright"

Yami nodded as they entered the portal created by Lily back to the mansion. As they returned Lily immediately relaxed as she stretched her back while looking at Yami who had a frown on her face.

"I know what you're thinking, but bringing them with us is far too risky. We'll just bring them food and clothes by tomorrow to elevate their living conditions"

"I know... I just felt distressed"

"... We have nothing much we can do, the sudden disappearance of many members of their faction will alert them even if they are dhampirs the are still has some use to the vampire. We already made a big fuss in their faction from the sudden disappearance of several guards, we can't fail this Yami"

"I know"

She responded as she closed her eyes, trying to calm her emotions down before going back to her room.

"I hope master can help us with this"

"I can actually"

She heard a familiar voice behind her causing her to jolt before turning around and seeing her dear master standing at the entrance holding a unconscious teenage girl with long black hair tied in a twin tail wearing a black and red gothic Lolita outfit.

"We can help them, since you girls already made a big commotion at the Tepes Faction, we might as well bring the kids under our care"

"I'm sorry master"

"It's okay, at least you were not seen, so I guess they'll just assume that the vampires have gone astray if they found nothing, tell Yami to bring back the children to the mansion, I already got the rewards for the other quest so I can just buy another floating mansion where they can stay at"

"Thank you, master, I'll tell her immediately after she calms down"

Lily gave her master a bright smile as she thanked her master before leaving towards Yami's room.

Lucias smiled at her but froze when he heard a familiar notification echo in his head.

[Congratulations! You have unlocked a hidden quests!]

[Hidden Quest: You'll need strong allies for your future battles and to prove your worth to the other faction, you must create your own.

Reward: 50 Shop points per recruited ally.

Limit: None

"At least it doesn't have a penalty"

Lucias then placed the woman in her arms down the sofa, waiting for her to wake up as Ophis and Kuroka came back together with bags of donuts.

"We're back nya!"

Kuroka immediately pounced at Lucias as soon as she came back, giving the bags of donuts to Ophis.

"Thanks for the help Ophis, we would have died if it weren't for you"

Lucias thanked her while remembering the battle that they had with Kurumi. They didn't expect that Kurumi had the strength of an ultimate-class, if it weren't for Ophis interfering, both of them could've died in her hands.

(Flashback)

"Zafkiel Seventh Bullet: Zayin"

Kurumi shouted while pointing her flintlock at the 7'o clock position of the giant clock behind her and firing it at Kuroka who froze the time of the original Kurumi who was killed by her past self.

"This is, tricky"

"I know"

Lucias rushed towards Kurumi who was now pointing her flintlock at the 3'o clock position before firing a bullet at my location.

"Zafkiel Third Bullet: Gimmel"

I quickly used blink to dodge the bullet causing Ophis to get hit by the bullet, but what surprised him was that nothing happened to Ophis as she just stood their before pointing her finger at Kurumi realising a purple beam of concentrated mana towards her.

"What!?"

Kurumi shouted before entering her shadows to dodge the beam of mana.

"Weird, I felt a, bit older"

Ophis muttered to herself before releasing large amount of Mana spears that she copied from Lucias, firing it at the countless clones of Kurumi.

"Zafkiel Seventh Bullet: Zayin"

Kurumi then shot Ophis with the same bullet that she fired at Kuroka causing Ophis to momentarily freeze before breaking it due to her sheer power.

"Why is nothing working on her?!"

Kurumi shouted from distress before she deciding to escape since she knew she couldn't beat her with her current powers, but to her surprise she was unable to leave as a notification window popped up in front of her.

[Unable to leave the Instant Dungeon]

"I knew this ability would come in handy"

Lucias said behind her as he stabbed the Contract Dagger in her back causing black chains to sprout from the dagger enveloping Kurumi before she was shot dead by another clone that came from the past.

The dagger fell on the ground as it's target died before returning to his inventory.

"Fuck me"

(Flashback end)

"No problem"

Ophis replied with her usual expressionless face while carrying the bag of donuts in her hands.

"Ugh..."

The woman woke up while holding her head with her right hand as she slowly sat up the sofa.

"You woke up pretty quick"

"You are..."

The woman asked while looking at Lucias with blushed cheeks due to the effects of the Contract Dagger.

"Lucias Frey, I want to ask a question if it's alright with you?"

"It's fine Lucias-san, please ask away"

"Why were you aimlessly killing and devouring humans, devils, and fallen angels in Europe?"

"I-I needed it"

"For your angel right?"

"Yes, the only reason that I was desperate to obtain as much life force as I can is to gain more power to free the others"

"What?"

"You see, I once was sealed in the Tree of Life along with the others, we just woke up from our slumber but found that we were trapped inside an unbreakable cage and I am the only who could escape the cage through our combined efforts. I tried to use my ability to free the others but it was futile, so I tried finding another way. I found a giant crystal at the heart of the tree of life that connects to all of the cages that trapped the other spirits, I tried destroying it but none of my attacks worked on it. So I escape and hunted down all beings that I encounter to absorb their lifespan to fuel my angel"

"Won't the Tree of Life die if you just destroy the crystal?"

"According to Honjou, the crystal itself is a separate entity to the heart of the tree. So destroying it won't to much destruction to the tree"

"..."

Lucias kept silent while keeping his face down, deep in thought from what Kurumi has revealed to him. He knew she will not lie to him since she was already binded by the Contract Dagger, she wanted to help her but if even someone like her can't get them out. What can he do?

"Kurumi-"

[Hidden Quest unlocked!]

[Hidden Quest: Free the other 9 spirits from the Tree of Life in Asgard.

Difficulty: SS

Reward: ???'s, ???'s, ???'s, ???'s, ???'s, ???'s,

???'s, ???'s, and ???'s Loyalty, Map of the seals on the ancient demons.

Limit: 1 month

Failure: Contract Dagger inside Kurumi will disappear.

Tip: The crystal that binds the spirit to the Tree of Life can be opened using the Contract Dagger]

"... I'll try my best to help you out"

*Damn it!*

-With Lily- (Morning)

"Yami"

Lily called out for her while knocking on the door of her room.

"It's about the children"

"What about them?"

Yami instantly asked after hearing about the children, she hoped that Lucias would consider saving them, if not the kind image that she has on Lucias will instantly collapse.

"Master said we can bring them back here"

"Really?!"

Yami slammed the door open surprising Lily who was standing in front of her door while looking at the excited Yami in front of her.

"Yes, master said we can bring them back since we already made quite a commotion in the Tepes faction"

"T-then we should hurry and bring them back!"

"Of course, but we need to be more wary since vampires are more active at night. You will keep watch while I transport them using my portals. Will that be okay?"

"Alright"

"I want to join nya!"

"Kuroka?"

"Master called me to join you two in your task nya, since master have something to do with the...uh 'Three life' or something"

"Thanks Kuroka" (Lily)

"No problem nya, we are all family"

"Family..." (Yami)

"Yeah, Lucias said we are all family nya"

"Sounds like him" (Lily)

"Your right" Yami said with a slight smile on her face as she looked at the two of them.

"Shall we go?" (Lily)

"Let's go" (Yami)

Lily then created a portal that connects back to their previous location before disappearing in the mansion.

-With Lucias-

"Uh... Kurumi"

"Yes?"

"You didn't say that we have to infiltrate the territory of the Gods of Norse mythology"

"The entrance to the tree of life is located at Asgard, but no worries I can just transport us using my shadow manipulation, but we can only travel at the entrance since I can't directly transfer us inside it"

"... Then how did you escape?"

"That is through the combined efforts of the other spirits in transfering some of their powers to me so I can momentarily overpower the seal placed in the tree of life"

"... I hope nothing bad happens" Lucias sighed before Kurumi used her ability to transport them to the tree of life.