I Am The Game's Villain Chapter 756: [Final Event] [Blood Moon Festival] [38] Anox

"Sancta Vedelia?"

Sirius raised his gaze, eyes catching the faint illumination within the chamber. Toward the distant side, enveloped in gloom thicker than the abyss, perched a solitary silhouette draped in a billowing ebony cloak. The obscurity wrapped around her like a breathing shroud, concealing all but the subtle contour of a feminine form.

It was A-Nox—his mother.

"It is."

Sirius drew in a breath. "May I ask why?"

"Eden has marked that place."

A-Nox replied, drumming a taloned finger on her throne's armrest.

"It’s where he intends to build the heart of his coming forces. Sancta Vedelia will act as a key bastion in the World below. Even Nihil views it... as important."

Sirius dropped his eyes. "So you want me to plant our influence and seed there."

A subtle grin pulled at the edge of her darkness-shrouded features—icy, yet satisfied.

"Do it. No matter how deceptive the Tree of Eden there might be, a Tree remains a Tree. And every Tree holds potential worth for us."

Sirius inclined his head once and departed.

Penetrating Sancta Vedelia.

Securing sway from the inside.

That was the mission A-Nox had assigned to him.

And Sirius had followed through.

Amid the turbulent age of endless conflicts in Sancta Vedelia—more than a millennium ago, when all races ripped one another to shreds over dominance of the so-called Holy Tree of Eden—he stealthily founded the House of Raven. Through a loaned body, he ascended among the vampires and steered them via battle upon battle, broadening their dominion inch by crimson inch.

Over the years, the Raven lineage swelled in might and renown, carved into the annals of time, murmured in awe and dread. Yet Sirius realized it fell short. Not for A-Nox.

Then he discovered her.

The Vampire Witch.

The irregularity of Sancta Vedelia.

He studied her from a distance well before she sensed his presence. He observed the instant the King of Valachia seized her. He saw her essence drained repeatedly until her frame shriveled. He witnessed her fury, her vengeance, her massacres. He noted her disappearance from existence... only to resurrect via fresh hosts, bearing the identical fiendish splendor.

He beheld innumerable conflicts ignite throughout Sancta Vedelia.

He beheld the Holy Tree of Eden shatter, on the verge of total ruin from its own deceptions.

He beheld the Goddess Freyja—one of Eden’s staunchest allies—employed as a tether to bind the failing Tree, offering herself up so Sancta Vedelia wouldn't crumble.

Was it just?

Was it unjust?

He couldn't say.

The further he observed, the deeper his doubts grew about Eden’s virtue. Those who professed sanctity had eagerly offered up the pure. Was that fairness... or deceit?

Decades slipped by. Then centuries. Countless years blending seamlessly until chronology blurred into nothing.

And Sirius started to unravel as well.

Who had he become?

What truly drove him?

With every shift from body to body, each persona he assumed eroded the essence of his former self. Gradually, his identity wore thin, dissolving like mist amid gales.

He turned into a phantom donning masks.

A obligation lacking guidance.

A remnant of the first Sirius.

Until—

He encountered the offspring of Nihil.

The container of Samael Eveningstar.

Amael Falkrona.

***

-BOOOOM!!

Blazes burst forth as Trinity Nihil smashed into Sirius’s sword.

The clash reverberated up my arms like a sledgehammer, yet I clenched harder, determined not to let the weapon budge a fraction.

"So," I snarled, shoving against his force, "what does Lucifer desire, dispatching one of his loyal pups here?"

Sirius kept his face serene.

"What do you suppose he desires?" He countered, slamming his sword down with savage power.

I clamped my jaw as the weight buckled my legs.

I summoned Wrath without delay.

-BAM!!

My punch crashed into his chin before the idea completed. His skull jerked aside, and he slid back, heels gouging furrows in the dirt.

I didn't pause and charged ahead.

Trinity Nihil stabbed out, but Sirius whipped his blade up, unleashing a surge of inky blood that formed a shield in front of him.

"The Vessel of the Sins," I hissed through gritted teeth, "or perhaps he craves both."

Sirius ignored the question. In one instant—vanished. The next—directly at my rear.

-BAM!

His boot hit my blocking arm like a tumbling rock and flung me away.

Breath fled my chest as I whirled.

"Anathema’s Fire!"

-BOOOOOM!!!

Violet blazes ignited fiercely, engulfing him entirely... until a palm pierced the blaze and seized my collar.

His grasp hardened.

-BAM!

My spare hand thrust out, pounding the edge of his throat.

Sirius’s gaze flared for a mere instant—then he smirked.

I invoked Wrath once more, motes clustering around my limb—but Sirius countered swiftly.

-BOOOOM!!

His sword descended quicker than I could track. I scarcely blocked with Trinity Nihil before the power drove me smashing down. The soil caved in below me.

I spun in flight, touching down in a skidding kneel.

"Hollow Sword."

Grains swirled in my free palm and hardened into a weapon. As soon as Sirius appeared, I plunged it toward him.

-BOOOOM!!!

The pale sand spear ripped through the sky and hammered his gut, forcing a gush of dark blood from his mouth.

But he simply grinned once more.

Nearby, golden radiance flickered.

Scores—nay, hundreds—of armaments floated in the atmosphere, every one pointed right at me.

-BOOOOM!!!

They unleashed.

I bounded away, Trinity Nihil a streak as I cleaved the barrage of arms. Some zipped by near enough to nick my flesh. Amunet’s grasp yanked my frame slightly each time, allowing reflexes to outpace thought.

The earth quaked fiercely as blasts ripped it asunder.

Yet another blast wave surged.

-BOOOOM!!!

I slid over the rock, sensing peril nip at my back. I whirled and slashed Trinity Nihil—and my edge stopped a breath from a female ensnared in a Blood Moon curse.

-BAM!

Sirius’s heel smashed my flank.

Agony burst in my torso as I soared and slammed into the dirt, tumbling amid debris and rubble.

I hauled myself upright, hacking blood, gripping my side.

"You won’t endure much longer this way," Sirius remarked.

At his back, hordes of Blood Moon–enslaved folk surged at me, red gazes blazing with craving.

I stomped the floor, launching myself ahead.

Sirius smirked derisively.

"You believe you can—"

"Ring of Vysindra."

The phrase escaped my lips in a murmur as my left hand balled.

The band on my arm throbbed—once—then ballooned outward with fury.

-BOOOOOOM!!!!

A deluge of violet blaze detonated around.

All nearby individuals vanished in the blaze, forms hoisted aloft and flung aside as the fire devoured them utterly.

"Arghhh!!!"

"N–Nooo!!!"

"ARGH!!!"

"Hyargh!!!"

The wails barely registered as mortal. Whether awareness returned in their final throes or not, their howls tore the sky like tormented spirits scorched in eternal blaze. The resonance of torment gripped the surroundings, transforming reality into a blazing pit of suffering.

Sirius’s stare widened briefly.

"You—"

-BAM!

My knuckles erupted from a reflection at his rear, smashing directly into his visage. The blow wrenched his neck savagely and propelled him gliding over the charred terrain. My Wrath-boosted strike pulverized his nose in a sickening snap.

I burst completely from the glass, violet blazes curling about my frame like a ravenous presence. Crimson dripped from my mouth, and I wiped it away with my palm's reverse.

Encircling us, scores of shapes dashed at Sirius—males, females, elders, youths. Everyday dwellers of Sancta Vedelia who, mere hours prior, likely handled tasks, shared laughs with companions, embraced their serene existences.

Now they advanced like haunted souls, frames warped by the blood enchantment.

"Ring of Vysindra."

-BOOOOOOOM!!!

A colossal annular blast of lilac blaze detonated. The realm quivered as the breeze ignited. Those folk scattered like flaming effigies, forms rolling over the square, violet blaze adhering like molten pitch. Each spot the fire kissed the rock, it liquefied into luminous melt.

"Gyargh!!!"

"I—IT BURNS!!!"

"Karrgh—aghhh!!!"

Further cries. Further turmoil. Further forms crumpling, engulfed.

"YOU!!! W–WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!!"

I peered back just enough to spot Claudia gaping at me, complexion ashen, stare bulging with dread.

Milleia lingered nearby, rigid, palm over her lips.

I spared them no further glance.

My focus returned to Sirius. Overhead, that foreboding crimson vault gleamed like a crimson-drenched firmament. My sight darted to it momentarily.

"I see."

Sirius laughed softly, bracing as he reset his hold on his weapon. "Seems you’ve decided, Amael."

He lunged at peak velocity. I surged likewise.

-BOOOOOOM!!!

Trinity Nihil met his edge, and the strike detonated with power enough to hurl us both rearward, soles etching profound trenches in the soil as we glided.

Additional forms—further casualties of the blood curse—lurched at us from all angles, movements spasmodic and eerie.

"You’re truly simplifying this for me," I declared, firming my hold and dashing back at Sirius. Amunet’s unseen pulls accelerated me, spectral pushes at my rear.

Sirius bared a keen grin, lifted his sword—but I bypassed him entirely.

I blurred onward, aiming at one of the soaring obsidian blood spires.

"Sin of Wrath."

Trinity Nihil sliced the breeze.

-BOOOOOOOOM!!!

The spire fractured like decayed timber, bisected flawlessly. A geyser of viscous, pitch-black fluid sprayed upward before melting into a corrosive downpour that sizzled on impact.

I spared no instant.

Jabbing Trinity Nihil into the slab, I pulled Khryselakatos from behind, my golden longbow. It appeared with a vibrating tone, heated and deadly in my grasp.

I pulled the cord taut.

Anathema’s Fire amassed at my digit—a scorching golden shaft shaping, oozing ruinous essence.

I targeted the heights and loosed.

The shaft soared like a shooting star... then fragmented, dividing into scores of tinier golden bolts.

And every one blazed.

They descended on the throng like celestial retribution. Each bolt hit precisely—each cursed form blazed on contact, erupting into violet blaze columns that devoured them entirely.

No cry outlasted a pulse.

I swiftly dropped the bow and targeted forward, spotting Sirius barreling at me, and fired the bolts at him full tilt but a dark blood wall shielded him, nullifying every one.

I stowed the bow and yanked Trinity Nihil a touch tardily.

-Spurt!

"Ughh..." I groaned as his sword pierced straight through my flank and tore free the opposite side, hoisting me airborne.

The surroundings inverted.

I struck the earth, flipped, skidded, rock scraping my spine as I rolled over the terrain. Each inhale stabbed. My sight hazed at the borders as warm crimson flowed down my thigh.

Sirius offered no respite.

-BAM!

He touched down before me, one leg flexed, locks whipping in the wind. His edge wept my essence—yet it refused to drip. It adhered to the steel, tainting it ebony as pitch.

The gash in my flank throbbed.

Dark lines slithered from it, webbing beneath my flesh.

"Blood Art," Sirius murmured, gaze nearly bored. "Inverted Grail."

The tainted fluid within me spasmed. Warmth froze solid. My sinews locked, defying orders, and torment raced my backbone like a thunderstrike.

My digits squeezed Trinity Nihil by reflex.

I hauled air, compelled Wrath outward.

Violet motes flooded my vessels like a razor gale, clashing with the intruding dark fluid. For a moment, my innards howled—then the pitch lines burst, erupting under my dermis in minute violet flares.

-CRACKLE!

A burst of violet cinders sprayed from my injury as the taint incinerated. I lurched erect, one palm still clamped to my flank.

Sirius cocked his head, observing with a subtle, curious grin.

"You purged it," he noted. "At the price of further vitality."

"That’s fine," I rasped. "I’ve got ample to squander on you."

Golden radiance ignited above him.

Scores more armaments materialized from nowhere—lances of varied forms. They suspended in tiered circles about him, pointed dead at my core.

The bloodied and scorched floor quivered.

Everywhere, additional blood-curse victims shambled nearer, gazes aglow beneath that oppressive crimson vault. Males, females, youngsters—countenances wan and jerking, vessels swollen with foul fluid, stumbling at me.

I embedded Trinity Nihil’s point into the fractured slab and crouched.

"Hollow Step."

Reality fractured.

Pale grains detonated from my soles, engulfing my form for a split second. I streaked as a spectral streak, rematerializing beneath Sirius’s defenses.

-BAM!!

My shoulder bashed his torso as I wrenched Trinity Nihil skyward.

Sirius contorted, edge whipping down.

Embers flew between us as metal kissed metal. The force gouged a pit under our stance. The breeze blasted outward in a savage pulse, flinging the nearest cursed forms like puppets.

Yet Sirius held a slight edge in strength.

Our edges jammed. His boot shifted a sliver. Mine burrowed thrice as deep.

"Intriguing method," he stated evenly amid the wail of clashing steel. "You empty yourself to advance."

"I empty myself to end you."

Wrath swelled.

Violet motes swarmed Trinity Nihil’s rim, densifying into a serrated blaze aura. I thrust, fangs exposed, and the recoil flung us asunder.

We struck the ground simultaneously and propelled ahead anew.

-BOOOOM!!

Trinity Nihil collided with his sword in a frenzy of action—thrust, block, dodge, whirl. His edge danced swifter, each arc trailing wisps of dark gleam that decayed the breeze. My blade etched sweeps of amethyst ruin, violet echoes searing against the blood-tinged heavens.

A golden barb whistled by my hearing.

It embedded in the rock where my skull lingered a moment prior and shattered into fragments. Sirius spared no look as the array of gilded arms adjusted, pursuing me from all sides.

He snapped two digits.

-BOOM!! -BOOM!! -BOOM!!

Golden spears showered.

I leaped over one, ducked beneath the next, Trinity Nihil swatting a third as it sought my windpipe. Pale grains exploded from my idle hand, twisting into a bent guard.

The following trio of golden lances hammered the grain wall, exploding it in a cascade of sparkling specks—but that instant sufficed.

I pivoted, plunged my edge down.

"Sin of Wrath."

Violet motes gathered along Trinity Nihil’s rim, swallowing illumination. I bypassed Sirius.

I targeted beyond him.

One of the enormous ebony blood columns towered at his rear—a macabre shaft of clotted shadow, beating and pulsing like a colossal bare organ.

Trinity Nihil slashed the sky.

-BOOOOOOOOM!!!

The column cleaved from crown to base, dark fluid erupting in a nightmarish spray. The atmosphere reeked of corrosion and bitterness as the falling fluid scorched pits into the slab.

The crimson vault above wavered more.

The blood-enslaved commoners persisted. If possible, they intensified, as if shattering the column peeled another veil from their essence. They uttered inarticulate noises and charged from every flank, crushing kin in frenzied pursuit.

I bolted at them.

Sirius blurred to block, dark fluid lashing from his sword in a coil.

"Blood Art."

The pooled fluid on the floor rose, winding about the ankles of the oncoming folk. Their frames convulsed oddly, backs arching impossibly as unseen threads seized command. Their skulls jerked toward me in uncanny harmony.

Then every one vaulted.

Scores of forms, synchronized and far quicker.

I swept Trinity Nihil singly, not toward them—at the floor.

The slab beneath me crumbled into a vortex of pale grains. It blasted outward in a ringed surge, a whirling band that mangled meat and skeleton like a rasping wheel.

-BOOOOM!!

The lead row shredded at once, trunks and appendages torn in a gale of grain edges. But others leaped the slaughter, talons grasping for my neck.

Violet blazes responded.

"Anathema’s Fire."

The blaze detonated, shaping a twisting column of violet inferno. The violet flames bellowed about me, crafting a voracious whirl that ingested the pouncing forms completely.

They twisted, scorched, wailed anew.

"Amael!!"

Claudia’s cry pierced my mind.

I whirled.

She positioned nearby, wand aloft, tresses disheveled, stare vast with terror and fury aimed at me. The forms I torched mirrored in her eyes as contorting shadows.

"Cease this at once!!" She shouted. "They’re blameless! They’re—"

"They’re already gone," I interrupted, advancing through the violet blaze, permitting it to adhere to me.