Setting up the Zerstörer charges on the gate, Kenji glanced at the unconscious gorgon before walking away.

Before setting the charges on the gate, Kenji made sure that Radreiale wouldn’t escape easily. And for the people who wanted to enter this place after, he walked the hallway out, and pulled the body of the giant Snake monster.

There wasn’t anything he could have used of the body, besides the core inside it. It was a dark blood color, and the size of a melon. The most shocking part to Kenji, was one of the traits of the Core. It could absorb any type of energy, and residue. Which for Kenji, who had the giant corpse of the Volatilion, which by the way, was STILL in Fission. Kenji just had it stored with him.

► Necrotic Magical Core (High Purity) ◄

A Necrotic Magical Core, with the highest purity possible to it.

The trait of the core is to absorb energy and residue. It is capable of absorbing even residue of lost souls, heat, cold, even dirt.

Taking care while fiddling with such core is extremely advised. If the core cracks, all the energy/residue stored on it, will leak, and with the characteristic of the Core being Necrotic, the area where it happens might be lost forever.

With the body being dragged, Kenji also loaded some Zerstörer charges around the cave. And when the body could no longer be pulled, he let it go, and walked outside. On the outside, he saw a man, waiting for him. It wasn’t the same one that he had met before, though.

“You’re Vermivia’s scout.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I recommend to not enter there. Unless, of course, if you want to die.”

Kenji warned the Scout, and as he passed the man, he grabbed the scout, and pulled him away. How is he so strong?! The Scout couldn’t break Kenji’s grip. Of course, that was partially because of Kenji’s Anarchy skill multiplying his strength, so even the Scout, who should be stronger than him, couldn’t break off.

“This should be enough.”

“For what?”

Kenji said, to which the scout asked.

“So that you won’t die from that.”

Turning away from the scout and pointing behind him, Kenji pressed the button on the transmitter. A loud explosion, followed by a high amount of dust and debris came out from the small building Kenji had just walked out of.

Gulping, the Scout glanced at Kenji. I should try not to make him an enemy.

As the Scout looked at Kenji, he had suddenly stopped. Kenji breathed out, and brought a bottle of water he had stored. Drinking from it, Kenji also brought out a fruit and took a bite, finishing it off in a matter of seconds.

“I can escape tiredness, but not hunger and thirst.”

Finishing the bottle of water, and breathing out, Kenji jumped onto another building, and glanced at the direction of the fortress. It was already night, and he glanced at the last gate of the city.

It was like looking at a lighthouse from the ocean. The last vampire will be there. Alright.

“What’s the situation on the battle?” He asked.

“Our troops have advanced rapidly in the beginning, but now, the amount of enemies has slowed us down.”

“Most likely because the girls and Vermivia stopped fighting, and walked to the back lines.”

“Indeed. We would have liked to end this before the night, but it turned out to be impossible. Now, we just need you to finish the gates, and take down Victor ASAP.”

“Ok.” Kenji glanced at a building close to the fortress and the gate. “I’ll be taking a detour, though.”

“Excuse me?” The scout asked surprised.

“I can’t keep fighting like crazy. So, I’ll need to rescue a certain girl.”

“Oh. You mean the Human whom Sirius have kidnapped.”

“Yep. So, you should head out to the battlefield. And quickly. Because I have a bad feeling about it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just go, and you’ll see.”

Activating his mask, Kenji jumped and used his grappling hook towards the building where he felt the location of Naomi. I’m coming, you dunce.

“Is the conflict still going?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Sigh. Why the lord couldn’t bring himself to protect this bit- Urgh! Woman.”

“Because he was tasked by lord Victor to fight against the invaders.”

“Even then! Why do we have to do this kind of job?! She’s perfectly safe! No one would dare to-!”

KABOOOOOM!

As a couple of Vampire familiars were talking with each other, guarding Naomi, who had been taken care quite well while in captivity, they had their conversation stopped by the explosions that they had heard in the beginning of the day.

“That doesn’t seem right.”

“Yeah. Isn’t that where one of those gates that lord Victor has set it up?”

“Uhuh. It is. But who would be crazy enough to do that?”

“Right? Hahahahahahahahaha.”

They all laughed. As the day passed, and they were exchanging words with each other again, they heard another explosion.

“Uh, hey.”

“Y-Yeah. That’s… where the other gate was located…”

“Hey… no one would be crazy enough to do that… right?”

“Nah, might just be some gas or something.”

“Y-You’re right. There’s no way someone would challenge Victor. That guy’s scary.”

“Y-Yeah.”

As they ignored the new explosion, albeit slightly worried this time, they got back to their conversation. This however, did not go unnoticed by Naomi, who started to see a pattern there.

These idiots are afraid of Victor, but after seeing the explosions, they’re faltering. Who is it doing this? Maybe Raiden? Or that idiot Takahashi? Or even Mari?

She started to think that her companions on the capital were here. She would be mistaken, of course.

Right after the Vampires calmed down, they felt the ground shake, and stop abruptly.

“Hm? Hey… Anyone heard that?”

“A woman’s cry?”

“Yeah.”

“Me too.”

“What the fuck?”

They all heard the cry of a woman, who this woman was, is left to your imagination. As they had imagined the cry of a woman, they simply ignored once again(yes, they’re idiots), and started back to their conversation.

“Hey. Dalman. What’s the issue?”

“I don’t know. I have this bad feeling you know.”

“Ha! Again? That bad feeling is just another stomachache.”

“Yeah. When the first time you chug down some bad blood, and then stayed shitting for a week or so.”

“No. Not this time. It really is bad.”

KABOOOOOOM!

Yet another explosion brought them out of their conversation. This time, it was the gate where Sirius had notified them that Radreiale was.

“Hey…”

“That’s…”

“Yeah…”

“No way…”

As they looked at the place that just blew up, another tremor occurred.

“Hey! We have an issue!”

“What?!”

“Someone’s barging on the barrier and main gate!”

“Who would be stupid enough to come to Lord Sirius Mansion?!”

“I don’t know! But he won’t stop trying to destroy the barrier!”

“Fuck! Let’s go!”

“What about the woman?”

“Ah! Dalman! You stay here!”

“What?”

“Don’t -what- me dumbass!”

Rushing out of there, the Vampire familiars rushed out towards the gate, where this unknown person was banging trying to destroy the barrier.

This barrier was made with Sirius Shadow Magic, and covered the entirety of his mansion. Of course, the mansion, wasn’t that beautiful, but it was still Sirius’ mansion nonetheless.

“Who is it?!”

“KNOCK KNOCK BITCHES! OPEN UP!”

“THE BARRIER WILL FALL!”

“THAT SHOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE!”

The person outside the gate charged its gauntlet with energy, and punched once again the gate, and continued to pummel the gate continuously. The vampire familiars above the gate, on the walls that surrounded the mansion glared at the man below.

“MAKE HIM STOP! NOW!”

Magic was being prepared to be tossed at whoever this person was. The man, was about to charge his weird gauntlet at maximum, but opened his eyes wide in surprise, and looked upwards.

“FIRE!”

Jumping backwards, the man maneuvered through the spells tossed at him, jumping to the sides, spiraling through the spells, sliding through the floor avoiding the spells by a hair’s breadth.

The spells caused a huge cloud of dust right below them, making them stop the spell barrage. They couldn’t see anything, however, they were attentive to the sounds that would come from the street right below them.

“Is he gone?”

“Pay attention!”

“What?”

“What’s that crackling sound?”

“What crackling?”

“This one.” - Unknown Man (that you already know who is)

They all turned their head towards the exact place the voice came from. It wasn’t from the street below. It was from above.

“How did he-?!”

“STOP HIIIIIIIM!”

“Boom.”

In the hands of the man, was a strange device, with 3 holes in it. It was big, barely fitting the man’s build.

From that device, three big projectiles came from it. Some Familiars laughed at it, since they thought to be weak. But one of them, who had an Eye of Mana, that could see the characteristics of mana, and the element that was being used had a face of disbelief.

“The Mana-”

He couldn’t finish saying what he wanted to say. From the 3 projectiles, 15 smaller projectiles came out of it, and struck the barrier with extreme force, shattering it completely. The 3 big ones shattered the barrier, while the other 15 smaller ones, struck the men on the top of the walls.

“HONEY! I’M HOOOOOOOOOOOME! Kinda cringe, not gonna lie. BUT WHO CARES! AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!”

The entirety of the walls surrounding the mansion on the front gate, were destroyed, leaving debris and corpses around. Burned, pieces of flesh were littering the place. The ones who survived, would most likely not survive with enough time passing, even though they were Vampire familiars.

The man walked towards the mansion, failing to notice that the familiar with the Eye of Mana was out of the rubble with a skill he had. He whispered to himself.

“I have to take care of him.”

“NO. YOU WILL NOT.”

The man heard a weird robotic-like-voice, and as he glanced to the side, needle-like-bullets pierced through his face, reaching the floor. 5 Strange spheres were floating around. Their light blue eyes scanned through the man’s body, and turned red at the other eye of the man.

“COLLECT. ANALYSIS NECESSARY.”

Kenji had been jumping through the buildings, until reaching close to a mansion. He tried to enter, but hit his head face first on a black-ish barrier that appeared right as he dived. He almost fell with his back to the floor, but was able to twist his body around, and land safely.

“C.L.U.T.C.H.”

“ACTIVATED. YOUR ORDERS?”

“Analyze this entire barrier.”

The 5 robotic spheres analyzed the barrier, and Kenji’s left eye received the entirety of the analysis as they moved around. Soon, the analysis was completed, discovering that the entire barrier was made out of Shadow Magic.

“Sirius is quite the bastard, huh?”

“YOU CAN DESTROY THE BARRIER AFTER CONSTANT PRYING.”

“Meaning?”

C.L.U.T.C.H. looked downcast. It shook it’s head(?) side to side, and resumed to Kenji in a few words.

“PUNCH IT. OVER. AND OVER.”

“Glad to hear that.”

And the result? You already know.

Kenji walked after the rubble of the walls, and C.L.U.T.C.H. floated right by Kenji’s side.

“What did you do? I feel like my Digi-Storage was filled with the bodies of those guys that I killed.”

“FUTURE. PURPOSES.”

Kenji narrowed his eyes.

“I’m not a crazy scientist.”

“NO. BUT THE EYES OF SOME OF THEM, HAVE PARTICULAR CHARACTERISTICS.”

“Do I need them? Isn’t my left eye more than enough?”

“MASTER’S LEFT EYE IS LIMITED. BUT WE CAN IMPROVE IT MORE.”

“Such as? I can already see mana, if that’s what is making you think about it.”

“MASTER SEES MANA IN COLORS. BUT THAT’S IT.”

“Whatever. Let’s just finish this shitty thing first. I’m not happy talking about this kind of thing.”

“AS YOU WISH”

Kenji was in disbelief. Did I create a dangerous AI? Should I destroy it? He thought to himself, but just shook his head, and advanced forward.

“What… happened outside? It’s all quiet.”

“Yaaaawn… Whatever. Maybe they took down the one who was making that much noise.”

Dalman looked at the other familiar that was with him. He’s an idiot. Sighing in disbelief, Dalman had already decided what to do.

With the commotion outside gone, the feeling he had before was pretty much strengthened in his heart. If whoever comes through that door was the one causing the commotion, I’m gonna surrender.

He already had in mind what to do. Going against someone, that fought against several familiars, destroyed the barrier Sirius made, and was even passing through the entire mansion to this place, while surely avoiding ALL traps put in place to ward off intruders that had nothing to do with Sirius. Going against someone like that? No way!

The door opened.

“Huh? Who’s this guy?”

“Ueda!” The girl cried, while smiling widely.

We’re dead. Thought Dalman.

“Hey, Dalman! Take care of him! He’s just a human!” The familiar glared at Dalman. “What? You’re chickening out?! Tch! I have to do everythi-”

KABLAM!

The familiar couldn’t finish his phrase. His head was blown to bits, with chunks of flesh landing on the barrier.

The girl’s face changed suddenly. Her face hardened to the sudden scent of iron, and the chunks that started to slide through the barrier.

“What? What’s the problem, Naomi?”

“MASTER. YOU JUST TRAUMATIZED THIS HUMAN GIRL.”

“What should have I done then? Try to stop him, and leave him alive?”

“YOU COULD HAVE WAITED UNTIL SHE WAS OUT, HOWEVER.”

“Too troublesome.” Kenji glanced at the one this familiar call Dalman. “And what you’re gonna do?”

“I… surrender.”

“Clever boy.”

“Ueda…”

“What is it?”

“W-why?”

“Why, what? Kill him? Sorry to break to you Naomi, but… This isn’t Earth. Some guys won’t think twice to kill another.”

Kenji spoke in a matter of fact way.

“Besides, even Suzuki is doing her best outside to rescue you. Saying that to me, is the same as brushing aside all that she had to decide to come here.”

“And… the others?”

“Others? Oh! You mean our classmates?” Naomi nodded. “They didn’t give a shit about your situation.” He said while shrugging.

Naomi flinched. She lowered her head, and started sobbing, with tears on her eyes.

“Besides. These guys are vampires. I don’t have anything against them, but! If they serve that guy, Victor, they sure need to die.”

“We served Lord Sirius, though.”

“And who Sirius serves?”

“Victor.”

“Good to reach an agreement.” Kenji smiled, but his eyes didn’t, while looking at Dalman. “Now, then. Let’s get out of here. I need to finish things, Naomi.”

“What? Finish?”

“Yeah. I need to destroy the last Nether-Gate, face this Vampire Victor, and rescue teacher… But to do that, I kinda need your help. Just kinda.”

Kenji spoke sarcastically.

“What… do I need to do?”

“Good to see we reached an agreement.” Kenji smiled warmly. “Now, can you like… take down this barrier.”

“Ah! Yes! I can.”

Getting up, Naomi walked through the barrier, and it suddenly vanished. Kenji nodded, and scanned Naomi for any kind of problems through her body, but found nothing. He was surprised when she yelped when the scan appeared though. He almost laughed it off, but was able to hold it in.

“In any case.” Kenji turned to Dalman. “You.”

“YES!” Dalman straightened his back.

“If a man or something appear and ask what’s happening, say to him that Kenji is on the last gate.”

“Yes?”

“Now, if you excuse me.”

“What? AAAAAH!”

“Why the scream?”

As Kenji turned to Naomi, and suddenly started princess carrying her, she screamed out in surprise.

“PUT ME DOWN! I CAN WALK BY MYSELF!”

“No. You’ll be hella slow. So shut your mouth, because or else you might bite your tongue, and enjoy the blur.”

“Blur?”

“Yeah, blur. Because we’ll be moving fast.”

With his Agility Mode activated, Kenji flash stepped to the outside of the mansion, and jumped on the wall, and onto the buildings, until arriving at the last gate.

Meanwhile, at the base of the fortress, Sirius was giving off commands to Victor’s army, when a messenger arrived.

“My lord!”

“I’m busy.”

“But it’s important!”

Rolling his eyes, Sirius glanced at the man, narrowing his eyes.

“Speak.”

“The mansion my lord!”

“What? Impossible.”

The messenger didn’t need to finish saying what had happened. Sirius tried to contact his familiars on his mansion, only to receive nothing in return.

“THAT SHOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE!”

Sirius’ shadows sprung from his feet all around him, scaring most of the army around. After a few seconds, he finally calm down, and glared at the messenger.

“Continue.”

“Yes! He’s heading towards the last gate! With the woman in his arms!”

“So… Donovan will take care of him. If he touches my possession, I’m gonna kill him.”

So Sirius said, but his worries were shifted towards the gate close to the fortress, since the troops of Vermivia were already close by.

“PUSH FORWARD! WE’RE ALMOST THERE!”

“THIS WILL BE THE END OF HIS REIGN!”

The troops, belonging to Vermivia, were already at the gate. The entire fortress that Victor used as his castle, was big enough to house one of the many monsters of the desert. Or more exactly, it could even be compared to the entirety of a building on an airport. (Note: The BUILDING, of an airport, not the entire LAND of an airport… I’m talking bout the airstrip, that does not count for the size comparison)

The troops penetrated through the gates, and were able to defeat most of the troops that got in their way. Until…

“We shall-!”

Shadow streaks came forward, devouring most of the army in one go. Some struggled, trying to escape the shadows tentacles, but it just wasn’t enough to win against the shadows.

“No! WE! WILL NOT-!”

The voices crying to bring forth strength were starting to die out. But before all the voices were muddled by the shadows…

“What?” A voice of surprise echoed from the shadows. “This should have been-!”

“Impossible?” A voice that only the shadows could hear echoed. “If you thought that you were the only one to manipulate shadows, you are sorely mistaken.”

The shadow tsunami was simply stopped, and pushed back. Most of the people engulfed by the tsunami had been injured, but none that a healing spell couldn’t help.

“One of that brat’s bitches! You came here to abide his orders like a little dog, I see.” The Shadow mocked.

“Yes. But so did you, no?”

From the darkness the shadows cast around the place, a wolf sized fox appeared. With 5 tails swaying on the wind, and golden fiery eyes glaring at the shadow. That was Kasumi. The fox advanced towards the shadows, as the shadows answered by becoming an even bigger wave, engulfing everything.

Answering that, Kasumi jumped to the air, avoiding the Shadow tsunami. She stepped on a thin, pale platform she created, and her 5 tails separated around her, focusing a sphere in the middle of them, being red and blue in color.

“Your tricks will not work on me!”

A man surged from the Shadow Tsunami. With his hand, he moved his shadows, shaping them in the form of spikes towards Kasumi. As the shadows approached, the sphere was launched towards them.

The 2 sources touched each other, exploding in unison. Lightning rained from above, as fire surged from the ground, and the shadows started to dwindle.

“No! I should have full control of it! The night is my-!”

“Your tool, no?” Kasumi’s voice resounded coldly. “That is true. But such as every tool, and I say that since Master Kenji also has those issues… a tool breaks.”

“Do not lecture me in my own game?!”

Sirius could not hold in surprise. Just a moment ago, they were in the middle of the courtyard, of Victor’s fortress. But now, he found himself in an infinite darkness, all around him.

“No…” He said in fear. “It can’t be…”

“Absolute Darkness. It is a very useful spell. Well, in my case I always had it.”

“You… WHO ARE YOU?! HOW CAN A MERE HUMAN HAVE A SPAWN OF A GODDESS AS ITS PET?!”

“Oh. You know my mother.”

“You… can’t be…”

Sirius spoke in disbelief.

Throughout his whole life, Sirius learned how to manipulate the Darkness in his favor. He learned to do so, even when there was no Darkness around. All of that, was because his family had pledged themselves to the Fox-Goddess, Yuki.

Yuki was considered to be a goddess of winter. However, she had received several titles throughout her entire life. One of them, was the title of Goddess of the Shadow Sky, or Night. Hence, why she was able to birth Kasumi in the first place.

She would always birth Kitsunes or Vulpes, as she first was called. But with the title of Goddess of the Shadow Sky, she was able to birth Kasumi, and several other Dark Spirit Foxes.

Back to Sirius’ Family. His family pledged themselves to her, and in turn, they received her blessing, and were able to control the shadows as they pleased. This was way before they became Vampires, however.

“Master Kenji does not treat me as his pet.” A voice filled with killing intent rang out. “In fact, we can say that you are treated as a mere pet, instead.”

“No… No it can’t be!”

Sirius was still shocked to discover this. He always thought that Kenji’s companions wouldn’t be much of a problem. Especially the fox. He saw that she had a small blessing, but that was it. Nothing more could be seen from her.

Turns out, that the fox was, is, actually the daughter of the goddess his family pledged his loyalty to. And he fought against her, and tried to kill her.

“Everything is done now, no?” The voice spoke in mockery. “All of that loyalty towards a mere Vampire… look how low you have come?”

A scream was heard from the depths of that darkness, and a wailing echoed through the waves of shadows. In that damp pit of shadows, a single man stayed wailing, crying and screaming in pain and disbelief. Never to be seen again.

“Uh… That’s… Kasumi… right?” Lucy asked.

“Uh, yeah… Apparently so.” And Amara answered.

Right as they were approaching the gates of the fortress, Kasumi had said she would go ahead first. As they passed the injured forces, they saw Kasumi, a fox the size of a wolf, with her 5 tails swaying magically.

“Is he?” Vermivia asked Kasumi via telepathy.

“Yes.” And Kasumi answered calmly.

“I see.” Vermivia breathed in. “We shall- What?”

Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!

As they heard the clap of hands, they turned towards the source of that sound. Above the main entrance of the fortress, a man, dressed in a long, red coat, with legs crossed, was clapping gleefully. He looked to be in his late 20s, with red crimson eyes, and pale skin.

“I must say, I was not expecting Sirius to be defeated. It is certainly a surprise.”

“Victor…” A chilling voice resounded.

“Oh my. My eldest daughter is furious, no?” He said to Ayla in a mocking tone. “Fufufufufu… Where is the brat? I thought he would be with you… Then again, he’s really crazy. In any case, I commend you all for coming here. Now… let the show begin.”

As those words came out of Victor’s mouth, the ground shook. From the fortress left and right side, 2 beings emerged.

From the left, a red skinned monster, with a maw full of sharp, platinum sharp teeth, fours arms with claws that looked exactly like its teeth appeared.

“A… blood fiend…”

From the right, it was one that Kenji had already met. A 4 Meters tall, Minotaur like being, with brown skin, with red eyes, sharp teeth appeared. It stood on 2 hooves, looming over to even where Victor was staying at.

“A… Khnum…”

“Looks like my youngest daughter is quite intelligent. Yes. I got this one back from where Ayla was. I thought the boy had killed it, but it was still alive.” Victor laughed in bliss. “Now then… Show me what you and your little companions have… my dearest daughters. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”