Raining Blood

-----Kaede's POV

This is so much fun! I have no idea how many I've killed, but I'm for sure not stopping, not until I properly avenge Fleur.

With an ocean of blood around me, I create many tendrils before piercing them into a dozen soldiers before immediately launching them into the air, slamming them back down on another group of soldiers. The ground shakes from the impact, as many soldiers fly in the air from the blast, as if the earth was but a tomato being pulverized by a hammer. Seeing the fear of the soldiers steadily growing only gives me more joy as the only pain I can feel is how much I'm smiling right now.

Suddenly, I could feel a presence of someone rushing towards me. Unlike the soldiers who were still floating in the air as if everything's in slow motion, this man was much faster, almost appearing to be moving at a normal speed. Of course, this man was non other than, Lucien.

With the area around me cleansed of soldiers, leaving hundreds of corpses scattered around me, we finally have enough space to lock eyes with one another.

Lucien: "You?"

Kaede: "Hello, Headmaster."

I go to swing my massive blood scythe at him, but he miraculously dodges it as my scythe slams into the ground, creating a large crack in the earth.

Lucien: "Vampire..."

Kaede: "Yes, now stay still."

His body freezes at my words as I quickly close the distance. But just before I could sink my hands into his body, he somehow manages to move out of the way. So this man can also resist my charm magic? How annoying. At least he's also now showing some slight fear towards me, but not as much as the soldiers around us who are still frozen in time.

He attempts to make a counter attack of his own, swinging his long sword that's akin to a katana. But I easily dodge it while simultaneously creating a blood sword in my off-hand to attack back. And almost as if this is a dance, he manages to step back just in time, causing my swing to miss.

Lucien: "Can't believe you were under my nose this whole time."

Kaede: "Pfft. It was who you allowed me to enter. Pretty ignorant of you."

But I will give him props for making sure he isn't stepping on any blood. It does make killing him just a bit more challenging. Hmmm, actually- let's go with this.

While Lucien was trying to figure out my next move, I move my gaze to the many soldiers around us. My gaze piercing through theirs as I attempt to force them to submit to me. But with how frightened they are right now, I can already feel the effect working.

Kaede: "Kill him."

At my words, all the soldiers in our vicinity begin to charge towards Lucien. "What will you do now, mighty Lucien? Surely you won't cut down your own men?"

Lucien: "You monster."

I figured he would try and avoid them as much as possible, but he slowly begins to take them down. He isn't leaving them with any serious injuring, mainly just knocking them out as they too fall next to their slaughtered comrades. But this just makes it easier for me. With Lucien now pre-occupied with his own men, I take the opportunity to lift all the blood around me, forming countless spears of blood. With Lucien and all the soldiers huddled around him, I can't wait to see what happens.

Lucien: "No!"

Just as I began to rain the blood spears down onto Lucien and all of the soldiers attacking him, he manages to create a giant ball of earth around him and all his men. "Foolish" is what I felt as I thought my blood spears would break through that earth shield of his, but surprisingly, he successfully managed to block my attack. How annoying...

I empower my blood scythe in my hand before easily destroying the earth shield, slicing through countless soldiers in the process, but no sign of Lucien. Not a moment after, I could sense him approaching me quickly from behind. I quickly turn around and just barely managed to catch his sword with my own. It wasn't just me who's shocked by this, but Lucien also seemed bewildered at his surprise attack failing to connect with my neck. I was about to bring my scythe into his side, but he disengaged, creating enough distance from me and my scythe.

Lucien: "You're strong, for a vampire."

Kaede: "And you're strong for a human."

It was genuine praise on my part. This is the first time where I actually feel like I'm trying to win. And just the thought of me potentially losing is giving me all sorts of excitement. But humans lack one important thing that monsters such as myself have. Creating magic through our entire body, not just a vessel. I know that Lucien must have a "limit" to his vessel, whereas I still feel like I can continue fighting like this for days. Wait... is Lucien even using magic right now? He moves fast for a human, so I assume he's using wind magic to enhance his speed. Or maybe it's something given to him by his blessing from forming a covenant with the spirits? Whatever it is, it won't be enough.

I feel my body growing increasingly hot as I focus on Lucien, and in the next instant, I manage to close the distance.

Lucien: "!"

He seems to be a little more slower than before, or maybe I'm just faster? However he still managed to intercept my scythe in time, but the force of my attack did manage to send him flying into the air. I don't waste any time as I leap up towards him as he's still flying into the air. But just as I was about to send him plummeting back down with my scythe, I could sense magic finally growing from his body. I could see fire begin to form around his body, engulfing him almost, but in the next moment, the fire surrounding his body suddenly explodes, causing me to flinch from the sudden blast.

Lucien: "Ghh!"

It was sudden, but it definitely left an opening for me to follow through with the plan. With him now trying to recover from the sudden explosion, I successfully slice into his body with my scythe, cutting a massive slice down his body before sending him straight down to the ground, causing many more soldiers to go flying from the impact. The smell of his blood lingers in the air, he's definitely human alright, but I don't think a human could survive an attack like that.

I take a moment to look back to where everyone else is fighting. There I can see Yui, watching me with her arm in the air. I'm surprised she can even see me, or was it because of that explosion from just before? Sure enough, I realize that the explosion is still there, frozen in place as it lights up my body.

Wait... How am I still in the air? Does my body also take time to fall down? That was when I noticed a very important detail. For a split second, I thought I just accidently used flight magic that Mai was "trying" to teach me, but this was not that. For some reason, I have wings growing out of my back as they flap to my sides, keeping me in the air. But now's not the time to figure this out, right now I need to finish off Lucien.

Looking down, my wings act naturally the way I want it to as I quickly shoot back down to the ground, landing with incredible force as more earth flies from the impact. I naturally retract my wings after landing, but I couldn't see Lucien anywhere. I could've sworn he landed here, and the blow I gave him was quite severe too. I focus more on sensing mana instead, and immediately I could sense Lucien, but... he's running away? And his soldiers are no longer frozen in fear but are now showing determination, almost like they don't plan on letting me past.

Kaede: "Just die."

-----Yui's POV

Alice: "We're leaving! Now!"

Yui: "Fuck!"

I was hoping Kaede would see me waving out to her, especially after I managed to intercept Lucien's magic just before. I was afraid of the explosion that I caused, but it appears that Kaede was okay.

Luna: "Ellen..."

But the same can't be said for Luna. I was hoping Kaede would see me and come over to help, but it appears she's too busy with Lucien right now.

Nick: "Keep it together sis!"

Alice: "Marcus!"

Marcus: "Just one, more!"

We've done what we can, but there's just so many of them. Marcus seems to be enjoying himself though at least, but right now... All I'm focused on is Luna. She was fine just before as we were fighting side by side, but when I heard her scream, and saw blood spill from her, my heart sank. I quickly killed the soldier before he could finish Luna off before retreating back at Alice's call. I would've thought it was just a small cut that managed to slip through, but this cut was pretty bad... Her back now has a massive cut all the way down her back as both Nick and I carry her onto one of the caravans.

Luna: "It's bad, isn't it?"

Yui: "Huh? No. It's nothing major. Just try and drown out the pain."

It's a lie on my part, but I don't want to cause her any worries. Nick and Alice both try their best to stop the bleeding as Luna desperately clings onto my hand. I try my best to put on a smile, trying to say everything'll be fine. But my emotions are getting too much right now.

Luna: "P-promise?"

Yui: "Yes! We'll get you patched up, don't worry."

Luna: "H-ah~"

Nick: "Hey, Luna! Keep your eyes open!"

Luna: "Tired..."

This isn't good, she's lost too much blood. If only Kaede was here, she'd be all healed up right about now.

Alice: "...Let me try something."

Nick: "Huh?"

Alice: "Please."

Yui: "What are you trying to do?"

Alice: "I'm not sure if this is going to work or not. I don't know, I've never tried this before."

Nick: "Just do it!"

Alice: "Yes!"

I'll try anything right about now. Watching the blood spill out from Luna's back, covering everyone's hands as we all try to stop the bleeding, it's too much for my heart.

Yui: "Hang in there."

Luna: "Mmm."