Ascendant Path of a Lustful Vampire Chapter 568: Layering defensive measures

"We need to get out of here!" Kaya gasped.

"Where will we go?" Eloise asked, "The Sealing Cube is still active."

"Maybe Nyx could help us out," Aylin said with a glance at Delia.

Delia frowned.

"Even if I could stomach hearing her voice again," she said, "She’s not exactly quick to the uptake. That thing might go off before she finally loosens her lips to say a darn word!"

"Aether?" Aylin asked, looking at Aurelius who shook his head while his eyes, wide with horror, were still on Klever.

"We still have the Death Ordinance..." Aylin pointed out.

"The aspect we share is more offensive than defensive," Delia shook her head, "It won’t help here."

"So, a standard defensive spell is all we have then," Kaya said and pulled away from Aylin to stand in front of the group, putting herself between them and the priming detonation.

"You can’t do that," Aylin said with a hand on Kaya’s arm. Eloise grabbed the other arm and together, they made to pull Kaya back.

But Kaya had regained some strength in her body and resisted.

"I have to," she said.

"It’s too strong to be blocked," Aylin insisted.

"Maybe not," Delia chimed in then and when Aylin wheeled around to glare at her, she saw Delia was holding a vial of Mana Amplification Potion.

Kaya, who had turned her head around and saw what Delia was holding nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, that should work," she said and retrieved her vial from her storage ring.

"Not even that will be enough. And I should know since I brewed them," Aylin insisted still, "You’re not doing this."

"Gods, you sure are being overprotective today," Kaya said wearily and with a hint of jest despite the direness of the situation.

"I’ll do it!" Aurelius said then and he tossed aside the empty vial of Mana Amplification Potion. He had drunk it already in case anyone wanted to protest his decision.

"Or we could all just do it together," Eloise said then with an exasperated sigh as she was growing tired of the suggestions of self-sacrifice.

"There’s an idea," Aylin mellowed in her resistance.

Kaya didn’t protest. She wasn’t stupid enough to think she could have kept them safe on her own and admitted their best chance of success was a joint defensive attempt.

They all downed Mana Amplification Potions.

The quality of their Mana swelled artificially, crossing into the Fifth Circle and they pumped every bit of reserve they had left into their strongest defensive spells;

In seconds, pillars of ice rose, interlocking into a cone and exuding an intense chill whose Aura spread in a dense protective cloud.

The cone became wrapped in thick vines that swelled and hardened into what appeared to be tree roots, creating encircling trunks that were instilled with every bit of Nature Energy Kaya had in her body and could siphon from the bits of nature she could real within the Sealing Cube.

Musical notes stamped against the structure next, connecting to create a brilliant musical encasing boasting impressive defensive might and releasing thrums of vibrations to repel both the physical and metaphysical effects of the coming attack.

A rushing wave, crackling with lightning and exuding spine-tingling chaotic might of a storm revolved around the dome of ice pillars and thick vines stamped with musical notes, infusing its magic into the structure and heightening defensive capabilities.

And to top it all off, Mandalas appeared—five of them, the most Aurelius could cast at a time—and were connected by fine threads woven from divine light and also superimposed onto a golden pyramid that encased the structure of ice pillars, vines, protective storm, and musical notes that had been conjured by the ladies.

And in the center of all the defensive measures—holding their spells in place1-were the five godlings, who said silent prayers and hoped thing hardest that their defensive measures would prevail.

Barely five seconds after the final touch was placed on the defensive measures, the crackling of demonic energy around Klever built to a crescendo and detonated in a ground-shaking boom. The resulting tremor was felt in the entirety of Aristide Manor and miles beyond.

The spark that kickstarted the explosion was the end of Klever’s life and since l Hell’s challenger had fallen, the challenge was over and there was no longer a need to keep anyone away from the challenge ground, causing the Sealing Cube to deactivate.

As such, the explosion was not sealed in by the borders of the Sealing Cube. The collection of Aristide Mages and Mage-knights standing around the Cube were struck by the blast as well. Some were quick to ground themselves while casting defensive spells and were still forced away. Others were violently sent flying tens of feet away.

The explosive force and the intense hellish heat of the explosion obliterated every stone structure within Mason’s Haven. It also carried a bright flash of blue-black energy that even mages at the Eighth Circle found blinding.

It was a spectacle.

The dust cloud, mixed with crackling blue-black explosive energy, that erupted from the explosion was so great and so tall that it could be seen from a hundred miles away from the Aristide Manor.

The explosive cloud was like a tornado of oppressive demonic energy, unleashing a continuous repelling and explosive force— an intense series of shockwaves that stopped anyone brave enough to try and walk into it.

The least affected by the explosive blowback was Lady Victoire; she was no longer levitating and her feet were planted on the ground but she remained in place, one hand in front of her face, magical energy thrumming from her body to contend against the explosive shockwave.

"Lincoln, with me!" She called over the roar of the explosion and she began to walk.

"Yes, My Lady," Lincoln answered.

While his sense of self-preservation was telling him to stay where he was or even get as far away from the explosive cloud that was still crackling with tyrannical demonic energy, Lincoln would never deign to not listen to Victiore Du Aristide.

For her part, Lady Victoire led them well through the Explosive cloud; with one hand raised over her face, she pointed her other hand straight ahead where it conjured an arch of water that created a divide through the cloud and cleared the path for every careful step they took.

The further in they got, the clearer it became that the explosive cloud was spiraling outward. Soon, they broke through into its very center which was considerably calmer considering the chaos the explosion was causing to the Aristide Manor compound.

There was a deep depression in the ground— a crater nine feet deep and ten feet wide. There stood the five, dust-covered, looking weary and sapped of energy. Their hands were raised to support a spell that had long fizzled out.

"We... made it!?" Eloise Nightingale—as Victoire and Lincoln knew her to be—asked in a weak voice, seemingly surprised at their survival.

Aurelius turned his head towards the movement and saw Victoire standing there. The dust of the explosive cloud she had just walked through was nowhere to be seen on her.

"Mother..." he said weakly.

The energy of the explosion had been overwhelming. It had sapped his energy, both magical and divine, reducing the time limit of the Mana Amplification Potion from twenty minutes to two. He shared Eloise’s surprise that they survived because he had barely any memory of successfully keeping the defense up all the way.

The others turned to see Lady Victoire and that seemed to be their limit of physical activity, as well as their limit of consciousness because, as one, including Aurelius, they all slumped onto the bottom of the hole. Unconscious.

Lady Victoire’s lips were set. Some of her worry had mellowed now that she saw her son was alive. He looked battered, his clothes ripped, multiple bleeding cuts and deep gashes, but he was breathing.

She murmured a spell with her hands clasped close to her lips and when she pulled her hands apart, a spell circle appeared. Bulbs of water, each of about two centimeters in diameter, trickled out of the spell circle and floated onto the depression.

Seven bulbs of water were apportioned to each person. Two lifting their legs, two lifting the small of their backs, two lifting their shoulders and one lifting the head so that they were essentially lying on bulbs of water.

While it didn’t look it, the spell was very comfortable. None of the five were jostled as they were lifted out of the depression and followed Lady Victoire out of the center of the explosive cloud.

Lincoln felt a bit useless but once Lady Victoire had taken initiative to retrieve and carry the kids, he couldn’t very well suggest that she leave it to him then.

Lady Victoire had actually brought Lincoln along because she expected trouble. She had no idea what she would find here and was getting ready to fight to retrieve her son. As relieved as she was that her son was alive—if injured—not finding anything to fight left her feeling antsy.

"Lincoln, send a message ahead to the Manor," Lady Victoire said as they began to leave, "The kids will need checkups and treatment."

"Yes, my Lady," Lincoln said, a Loqui-link out to obey the order.