Chapter 394 – True Ancestor August

As I faced August and took my stance with Ouroboros, he narrowed his eyes and shook his shoulders.

“There’s no need to be so hasty. I’m interested in you as well. Since this will likely be our first and last encounter, surely we can exchange a few words before we fight?”

I furrowed my brows, but August spread his arms wide and laughed.

“…Watching you and that girl reminds me of her parents. A wolf and a sheep can never truly join hands. No matter how much you suppress your impulses, destruction will inevitably come in some form. Since there’s no turning back, wouldn’t it have been easier to decide to live eternally with us alongside your beloved wife?”

“…If that’s what you think, then why did you only turn Count Flamsteed into a vampire?”

His methods are notably risky. If his goal was to make them give up, he should have turned both of them into vampires from the start. The correct approach would have been to turn them both and then make them submit.

“Kuku. You probably wouldn’t understand, but when you live as long as I have, such playful whims become necessary.”

“So essentially… you were using them for entertainment.”

“Thanks to that, I haven’t been bored lately. Allying with demons, creating bases like this, watching my subordinates play at conquering kingdoms…”

…Just look at his inner circle. Gathering subordinates, pretending to be a ruler before them while claiming to seek a peaceful land. To him, it’s all just amusement.

Someone who should have died long ago, strutting about acting like a lord. There’s no saving him.

When I scowled, he bared his fangs and laughed.

“No need for such a frightening expression. One could say I actually helped him that day. Someone born in the house I built, who lived thanks to my blessings, dared to defy me. If I didn’t punish him somewhat, my subordinates wouldn’t stand for it. Though personally, I don’t consider transcending humanity to be punishment… But they refused to abandon their humanity and ran away. I suppose our values differ – I who became noble through my own cultivation.”

His way of speaking. The crimson aura enveloping his body… So this is one of those called True Ancestors, those who became vampires through their own demonic arts. As if sensing my understanding, August deepened his smile.

“But well, their escape wasn’t entirely wasted when I consider today’s reunion. I’m looking forward to seeing how the blood of a Dhampir who’s gained such power will taste as fine wine to nourish me. That’s why I showed myself before you.”

“…Enough. Shut up.”

I feel like vomiting. I won’t let this bastard do anything more, and I won’t let him live either. I concentrated magical power into Ouroboros as it emitted a low growl.

Kicking off my shield, I charged straight in. August’s eyes widened as he bared his fangs and pulled his right arm far back. His hand formed as if grabbing something. A radiance was born from it.

It was like a sword… no, that’s not right. Not a sword. An inverted cross glowing with purple light. It wasn’t a weapon formed from blood either. It seemed he was using magical power as a weapon.

Gripping the intersection of the inverted cross, August swung it to meet Ouroboros as it came crashing down. At the moment of impact, spark light scattered in all directions and our weapons were deflected.

The inverted cross spun like a windmill. Shifting from a reverse grip to a standard one, it clashed with Ouroboros once more. A heavy impact. The power was enough to obliterate flesh upon contact.

But perhaps because a repulsive force was generated each time our magical powers collided, I managed to avoid taking the vampire’s full strength head-on. Using Ouroboros and my shield, I parried the inverted cross swung at speeds approaching Grace’s slash attacks, then moved in to strike.

The hem of his coat transformed into black wolf heads that lunged forward. Nemea leaped out from my Chimera Coat and tore the wolf heads apart.

A sweeping slash attack came at me. I blocked it with my shield. It slowed me for just a moment, but the impact shattered the shield to pieces.

I had intended to gauge its power—but indeed, even in terms of pure physical strength alone, it was considerable.

“Solid Hammer!”

Cartwheeling to avoid the slash, I smashed a giant rock against his head. A direct hit. But August showed no sign of faltering as he swung the cross. He tried to cut through both the rock and me. Using Levitation and Air Blast to shift my entire body, the slash attack swept through the space I’d just occupied.

If I could shake his consciousness, I could land a sealing technique—but had he taken some magical countermeasures?

Moreover, I needed to be careful of his attacks as well.

Trying to stop his slashes head-on with a shield would be a poor strategy. Either deflect it at an angle… or perhaps for the inverted cross’s slashes, it would be better to wrap Ouroboros in circulating magical power to cancel them out.

Then—more. Pour more will into my magical power, sharpen it further. Let it become both shield and spear.

Tiny fragments of purple light were released from his palm. Following my intuition, I leaped backward. A moment later, as if the light fragments exploded, glowing inverted crosses appeared.

August flew after me as I leaped back. Countless light fragments were released, drawn toward me as they approached.

Cartwheel, cartwheel. Each time I shifted forms in midair, inverted crosses filled the space I’d just occupied, exploding and expanding. I launched a fireball to detonate it before impact, blocking his vision with the resulting flames, then seized the momentary gap to leap out. Kicking my shield right, left, I charged in while tracing sharp-angled trajectories.

Not missing me as I emerged from the blast’s shadow, the weapon in his hand roared as it approached. Using my shield to deflect it diagonally, I swung Ouroboros through. No resistance. He had instantly turned to mist and evaded Ouroboros.

The mist split and gathered, becoming a swarm of bats that surged forward. Deploying my shield forward, I charged through the bat swarm. Impacts similar to when I’d blocked his slashes transmitted through my shield repeatedly. Were those slashes from their wings or fangs? If I were swallowed by the swarm unprotected, I’d either be torn to shreds or have all my blood sucked dry in moments.

“Thunder Cloud!”

Deploying a magic circle behind me, I radiated lightning strike clouds as if placing them. Bats trying to circle around and attack from behind plunged into the expanding cloud curtain, burning and falling, but their numbers were overwhelming. I couldn’t tell if I was dealing damage or not.

“Kukuku!”

When I turned around, August’s body had reformed into one. The bat corpses I thought I’d burned and dropped were also scattering before being drawn back into his body.

I could see burn marks from lightning strikes on his cheeks and such, but when I closed the distance and attacked again with my Dragon Staff, they had already returned to normal.

Compared to other high-ranking vampires, his regeneration speed was terrifying. But I’d learned that whether he turns to mist or bats, if I burn them all together, damage gets through. Next time, even if he turns to mist, I should be able to damage him.

Whether it’s regeneration or whatever, it can’t be limitless. Without a doubt, he’s consuming magical power as a substitute for taking damage.

Light fragments were scattered everywhere. Slipping through the forest of inverted crosses that exploded and stood everywhere using Nemea and Capella’s leg strength, I closed in. At the moment we passed each other, Ouroboros and the inverted cross clashed.

Reversal and rotation. Blue magical radiance and purple radiance left afterimages in the sky as they intertwined and collided. Two, three times we crossed, slipping through slash attacks. From point-blank range, I launched a water blade that severed his bat wing.

Though he lost one wing, he didn’t fall. Using Levitation to regain his posture, his wing had already regenerated completely.

The severed wing became a black sphere in midair before transforming into another beast. It became a black wolf with wings that lunged from behind. Meanwhile, August himself bared his fangs as he approached from the front.

But the wolf’s fangs never reached me. Because Balor, who had been waiting at high altitude, pierced through the wolf’s back as a light bullet. That didn’t kill the wolf, but I left the separated part for Balor to handle.

Deflecting the roaring inverted cross with Ouroboros while deploying my shield, I flew into his guard. Normally, even this distance would be within Energy Drain’s range—but since I have the blessing, I don’t need to care.

I slammed a magical shockwave into him as if to pierce his heart. He didn’t stop. A hand chop was swung as if to decapitate me. Bending my upper body, the storm-like strike swept just above my head.

“A technique identical to Gardinis’s ultimate move!”

A bizarre transformation that seemed to explode in all directions. A giant beast’s maw pressed forward as if to crush me.

“Repel Burst!”

Using fire magic to release a blast around me, I stopped the massive jaws, then immediately used Nemea and Capella’s strength to kick off my shield and fly directly backward. The sound of the huge jaws closing with a crunch, teeth clashing, echoed.

Instantly reversing, I smashed the beast’s jaw with Ouroboros. As the beast’s jaw withdrew, the inverted cross was swung as if to replace it. Deflecting with my Dragon Staff, I stepped in to point-blank range. Countless blood spears shot out from within his body. Using Nemea and Capella to scatter them, we exchanged blows at close range. The sensation of slicing through his cheek. A flurry of countless slashes and strikes.

Refining my magical power, wrapping it around my body, raising it higher. Not yet. It’s still not enough to kill him. More. More and more—!

Hook-like blood blades rotated in from behind my body. Whether it’s the beast’s body, or blood spears and blades shot from his body—unless the attack carries his main body’s physical strength, the destructive power is far inferior. Blocking with my shield, I knocked up Ouroboros and destroyed his elbow. Before he could regenerate, I countered and blew off his head from the temple.

But even that didn’t stop him. His entire body lost form as if dissolving in water, and the head I thought I’d shattered grew from his flank. Or rather, should I say he used transformation to reconstitute his body’s position? Even his limbs were in different positions. A downward swing from a high stance approached with a trajectory that would bisect my body. A position and distance impossible to evade. Deploying multiple layers of shield infused with magical power, I stopped it, but still a heavy impact pierced through my ribs.

So he used transformation… to reform his body. Then his heart’s position might not be in the correct place either. So shaking a decoy head wouldn’t deal damage. Then, is there even a heart inside the body I’m fighting right now?

Balor, who should have been swallowed by the wolf doppelganger, exploded the wolf from within. But he turned to dust and burned away completely. He didn’t—return to the main body.

While crossing blades with the inverted cross using Ouroboros, I pondered. What was different from the bats earlier? Ah—. Distance from the heart, perhaps? Then indeed, somewhere inside this bastard’s body, there must be a heart or brain.

I also understood why he hadn’t been using mist or bat transformation to avoid my attacks. Because I have cards like lightning strikes that can burn large areas together. If he carelessly uses transformation to evade, he might instead take significant damage.

Did he judge that power would be more effective than techniques like transformation to kill me? He created inverted crosses in both hands and swung them vertically and horizontally. Avoiding one, blocking the other with my shield.

Even though I’m deflecting the force, still a grinding impact and pain pierce through. If I keep taking this, it will affect both offense and defense. Did he think he had the advantage? He laughed. I laughed too.

While crossing blades, I converted the magical power I’d accumulated and refined until now into spell formulas. Covering my body with multiple layers of wind and steam defensive fields.

“I’ve decided—how I’m going to kill you.”

“Wha,t?”

Simultaneously, I channeled the magical power wrapped around my body into the magic circle. Using the magical power refined within my body, I constructed the spell formula using my own flesh as a catalyst.

August’s eyes widened at the scale of the expanded magic circle. Matching his movement to disengage, I used Compact Leap to teleport to where he was heading. Swinging Ouroboros down toward August’s body as it flew toward me. While shattering his flesh, I activated the magic.

“Burn to ashes—!”

Fire-wind composite, 9th-tier magic Turbulence Flare. A white-hot fireball swelled up right behind him. Wind flowed into the fireball, raising its temperature limitlessly while making it expand.

“Guh, o—oooooh!?”

He burst into flames. August’s entire body burned. Even when his wings burned away, he didn’t fall. Surrounding him with shields on all sides, I wouldn’t let him go anywhere.

The heat reached me too. It reached me, but I wasn’t exposed to the same heat intensity as August who had the heat source right behind him. Deploying defensive fields against blazing heat like when I fought Zevion, and further reducing heat with Tephra’s Blessing. Still, I felt scorching heat waves that seemed to burn me slowly.

But so what? What does it matter that he regenerates? What does it matter that I don’t know the position of his brain or heart? Faster than he can regenerate. I’ll burn everything together without leaving a single trace, killing him completely until he dies—!

“Giiiiiiiaaaaah!”

August, burning in the blazing heat, screamed madly as he swung the inverted cross toward me. I didn’t avoid it. Blocking with my shield infused with magical power, I knocked it away with Ouroboros, pushing him back further and further. His limbs burned, turning to charcoal, yet August didn’t stop. Burning the beast’s face, incinerating the blood spears—eventually, August’s movements ceased. His consciousness—cut off.

“Scatter”

Light magic 6th-tier—sealing magic Sealing Wedge. I slammed it into the charred August. What I’m sealing is the corrupted curse magic engraved upon his soul. In other words—I’m destroying the very foundation of what makes him a vampire.

The light wedge was absorbed into the carbonized August, and thorns entangled his body. The next moment, his magical power completely vanished, and he burst into flames from within rather than without, turning to dust and disappearing. After confirming this, I clenched my fist, shrinking and extinguishing the raging inferno ball.

With August’s disappearance, the night barrier also began to dissolve. Bright sunlight poured down upon the dim ruins of the city, and the few remaining vampires who were Kahar’s forces also returned to dust. All that remained was a clear blue sky without a single cloud.