Chapter 203: 203

“Open this gate, now-!”

“If you wish to escape from this hell, do not resist!”

The Vampire nobles spat out some words in Spirit Speech that were filled with demonic energy .

“We promise that whoever decides to open the gates shall be spared!”

That was a lie .

Not a single one of the measly humans in this city would survive the night . They would all die after their blood was sucked dry .

However, humans were animals that allowed their emotions to make decisions for them . There was no doubt that they would struggle pathetically in order to survive after failing to hold onto their reasoning in this extreme situation .

It was right then – the castle gates actually opened up .

“Ahaha, as expected, they have given up . ”

“But of course . They might as well throw open the gates wide and welcome… us…?”

Just as the triumphant Vampires shifted their gazes to the front…

The darkness enveloping the palace was suddenly dyed in bright light .

The Vampire nobles hurriedly shielded their eyes . But the undead army behind them had already stared into the light, and thus they began screaming in torment while clutching at their burning eyes .

The entirety of the royal palace was bathed in the blinding light . At the same time, waves of divinity reverberated and spread out everywhere .

-Ah, aaaaah!

A sacred hymn echoed throughout the palace and golden rune letters were engraved on the structure .

The Vampire nobles hurriedly shifted their gazes back to the open castle gates .

One thousand Paladins kitted out in silver-hued armour and pure-white capes were emerging from the bright light while holding sturdy shields and brandishing their holy spears up high .

And one individual firmly stood in front of them all .

“Welcome, welcome . ”

It was none other than the Seventh Imperial Prince of the Theocratic Empire .

“I’m sure this is your first time being in heaven, am I right?”

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Allen Olfolse…

He was smiling broadly at the Vampires .

**

“Under the grace of the Saint, Lord Allen Olfolse-!”

The golden-coloured rune letters began gushing out pure-white aura . The white energy strands began entering the Paladins’ figures .

The divine blessing permeated their spears and shields, their physical bodies, and even their souls .

They slammed down the rectangular shields hard on the ground .

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BANG-!

Their eyes under the helms seemed to glow sharply as they pointed their blessed holy spears at the Vampires before them .

“The Heavenly Army is now ready to engage in combat-!”

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The voices reverberating in Spirit Speech caused the undead creatures to block out their ears .

“…W-what is the meaning of this?!”

“These bastards, what are they…?!”

All of the Vampires stumbled back while glaring at the Paladins . Even though the human holy knights were wearing helms, their burning spirit could still be sensed .

They were all… grinning .

Their rough, heavy breathing which was stoked by the excitement, could be clearly heard .

These ones were quite different from the army of livestock that the Vampires had been expecting to fight today . As a matter of fact, these beings were the complete opposite .

They were ‘hunters’ who had been hunting Vampires down for the past several thousands years .

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“Hiiiieeek?!”

“D-do not be frightened . We are still in an overwhelmingly advantageous position!”

The forces of the undead had ballooned by now . What started as an army of five thousand was now closer to ten thousand in numbers . And then, there were Vampire nobles present as well .

With these kinds of numbers on their side, they should be able to kill off all these holy men tonight without much trouble .

After all, the Paladins only numbered a thousand .

Those Imperial Family bastards had been ruthlessly hunting down their fellow Vampires . But now, it was time to avenge all…?!

It happened right at that moment .

Blinding rays of light flashed up in the sky .

One of the Vampire knights pointed up and cried out, “W-what the hell is that thing…?!’

The Vampires urgently looked up .

“It must’ve been terribly tough for you all to get here . ” The Seventh Imperial Prince thickly smiled . “As such, I should roll out the red carpet treatment for you all, right?”

A massive sword created out of amassed divinity was currently floating in the sky .

And that was…

“The Heavenly Sword?”

One of the Vampires, who had combed through the intel on the magic attacks of the Theocratic Empire stored in his memories, gasped out in shock .

That was a wide-scale magic attack cast by many Priests working together – a divine sword of retribution materialised in order to destroy all evil .

“This is your judgement, fellas . ”

With that snarky sentence from the Seventh Imperial Prince, the massive sword of light began descending towards the ground below .

There was no stopping it, just like how no one could stop a falling meteor .

“R-retreat-!”

The Vampires tried to run . But by then, it was already too late .

The humongous sword plunged into the ground, and a gigantic explosion went off . All the undead creatures that were sucked into the blast got instantly pulverised out of existence while scattering away into ashes .

The sword shattered apart and the divinity forming it spread out in the surrounding air .

The undead that breathed in the divinity-infused air began vomiting out blood, and for those with open eyes, their eyeballs suddenly caught fire and burned away .

“Uwaaaahk!”

The Vampires barely managed to re-open their burnt eyes and hurriedly looked around their vicinity . And that’s when they witnessed it .

“Under the grace of his highness the Imperial Prince-!”

They witnessed the marching Paladins in their resplendent silver armour and capes flapping magnificently in the wind .

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“We shall hunt down all of the Vampires-!”

They began wielding their lengthy holy spears in the next moment .

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**

(TL: In 1st person POV . )

The Aztal Rune was unstable .

The time needed to prepare it was around thirty minutes, while its duration was only around twenty minutes, tops .

During that time, this royal palace would become a divine temple, while the area surrounding it would turn into a holy sanctuary .

Those Vampires were putting up some fierce resistance, though .

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They deployed their undead army to fight against the Heavenly Army . But too bad for them, that wasn’t going to be enough . Even if a Paladin was gravely injured, their wounds would instantly heal back in just a moment .

Despite the Vampires’ claws being full of toxins, despite their fangs carrying deadly curses… Under the power of the divine blessing, all those things would end up being neutralised .

Actually, those that tried to bite the Paladins had their mouths melt down instead . And the ones trying to stab with their claws would see their hands burn away in holy flames .

There was not a single casualty on the human side . And the one-sided massacre dished out by the Paladins continued on unabated .

A short while later…

“What the hell happened here?!”

An unfamiliar voice resounded out .

I settled down on the throne that the Heavenly Army had prepared for me . I was right in front of the palace gates as if to block the entrance, and the Paladins were standing tall all around my sitting figure .

I drifted my gaze to my front at that voice .

The heads of countless undead creatures and Vampires were impaled on a thousand holy spears and were put up as ‘display’ . I spotted a couple more Vampire nobles leading forth another undead army through the gaps of these impromptu stakes .

The Vampire leading them all was a ‘knight’ kitted out in a set of flashy armour which boasted a blood-like crimson colour scheme .

That was the Vampire Marquis who the people of Lome used to call the dragon slayer . With a hardened face, he stared at the severed heads of his fellow Vampire brethren that had been hunted down .

“Raiden Behemoth . ”

That was the instigator, the ringleader of this event . This whole mess should come to an end after I get rid of that bastard .

I pulled out Amon’s skull before putting it on . Next up, I opened Amon’s grimoire in order to perform a certain summoning spell, and then slung Amon’s staff over my shoulder .

I called out to Raiden, “I’ve prepared this stage for you . So, why don’t you…”

I had already uttered out the activation phrase for the grimoire by then .

The Aztal Rune was explosively amplifying my divinity . On top of that, I had the skull on and even held the staff, too .

Everything was perfectly ready .

And now…

“…Show me how your legend of slaying a dragon has come about?”

All I had to do now was to summon an existence that suited a lofty Vampire like him .

I shouted out the spell activation phrase before slamming the staff down, hard .

The pages of the grimoire flapped open angrily .

The ground below powerfully quaked and the aura of divinity loudly resounded out .

Raiden’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets .

The land began splitting apart .

Holy water rose up from the cracks on the ground, shooting up to the sky .

Ba-dump…

A portion of the royal palace’s outer walls crumbled down from the tremor . However, the one thousand Paladins didn’t even budge an inch and maintained their formation .

In the meantime, massive front limbs made out of bones rose out from the ground before securing themselves on the solid surface to stabilise the body attached to it .

Ba-dump…

The one rising up was a creature from the legends, a lifeform acknowledged as the strongest in the world .

Every time this creature’s heart powerfully pulsed, an incredible wave of divinity rippled and spread to the surroundings .

That heart was covered by its expansive ribcage, providing it with protection .

A pair of wings protruding out from its back…

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A long, elegantly arched spine and a tail attached at the end…

Its bony body, gleaming in the ivory colour, slowly pushed itself up .

And finally…

The maw of the dragon opened up wide to howl out a monstrous roar containing Spirit Speech .

-KU-OOOOOOOOOOH!

Raiden’s expression froze up as he ungainly stumbled back .

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He hurriedly raised his head and stared at this creature .

…The bone dragon .

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The legendary creature revealed its magnificent splendour .

Fin .