Huh, this church looks pretty much the same as the churches of my old world, with all those rows of benches and stuff. I don't sense any Vampires nearby, and the four people I sensed were all above us. There was a staircase leading up, Persia and I headed for it after entering the building.

  Hm, I guess I can take down my Stealth Barrier now. If I sensed any Vampires approaching, I could reactivate it in an instant, so all's good. I deactivated it and walked up the stairs, Persia right behind me. As we reached the first floor, I glanced around……Valaque was here, along with Lagusa, Azeria and Instructor Tabbs.

  "Hah, you claim to be the strongest person in this world, and you arrived here fourth? I arrived first, by the way!" Declared Valaque with a triumphant grin……

  who cares? Also, check your math, dumbass……I'd arrived here fifth not fourth, guess he forgot to count himself.

  "Good for you, what do you want, a medal?" I replied with disinterest.

  "I'm glad to see that the two of you made it," Greeted Instructor Tabbs, before looking at Persia with surprise, "Persia, what happened to you……you look different."

  Oh, right, the red streaks in her hair and her red eyes. Plus her canines were a bit longer too.

  "O-oh, uh……stuff happened," She replied, averting her gaze with an awkward smile.

  I gave Instructor Tabbs a meaningful glance, telling her to drop it for now, she seemed to get what I was trying to relay, and didn't press the issue.

  "Yeah, it's not important. Anyway, we have about five hours remaining. And there's still twelve more people left to arrive," I remarked, before sitting on one of the benches, Persia taking the spot next to me.

  "Hey, aren't you going to ask how long it took me to get here?" Inquired Valaque expectantly.

  "Nah, I really don't care at a."

  "It was just twenty hours! How's that!?" He exclaimed smugly.

  He must have rushed here with barely any breaks. What is wrong with him?

  "Yeah, sure, great," I replied half-heartedly.

  He stood up with a huff and walked over to me.

  "Why you gotta be such a wet blanket, huh?"

  "What is you deal……hang on, " I said, as I faintly picked up a familiar scent, "Did you……kill any people today?"

  The smell of blood was on him, it was faint but enough for me to notice. I didn't particularly care whether or not he'd killed someone, but I was curious as to why he did so in this situation……

  "And I've been picking up a weird burnt scent this whole time, it's stronger now," Added Persia, her nose twitching.

  "Uh, well……fine, you got me, I killed a few people, including burning one to death, but they all deserved it!" He admitted with a shrug.

  Somehow, I doubted that. But I wasn't about to criticize him, there was no point. It's not like that'd make him a better person or something, and considering that I plan to kill him after this is all over, it'd be hypocritical.

  "Well, whatever……," I dismissed it with a shrug.

  Five hours left, huh……might as well rest up and recover as much energy as possible. At the very least, until Fuo and Atticus arrive, so that we can get an update on how things are progressing, Atticus will be able to sense how many Vampires have been killed so far. The other Vampires must have noticed by now that their numbers have thinned out, but unless they already knew the exact locations of all the Vampires that have been killed so far, they wouldn't know where each kill happened……well, unless a Vampire got killed right as another Vampire is using their sensory skill.

  "Did you encounter many Vampires on the way here?" Instructor Tabbs asked Persia, sitting on the bench in front of us.

  "Not many, just eight," Replied Persia.

  "I would not call that 'not many', I only encountered three," Said the instructor with a look of surprise, "And at times it seemed like I might even get here without running into any at all."

  Just three? I guess that wasn't surprising, but I'd have preferred it if each of us had at least managed to take down, say, five each……oh, wait, since Persia and I didn't move separately, we took down four each on average, never mind.

  "Hold up, eight and three!? That's so not fair, I only got to kill one!" Whined Valaque with a look of dismay, before turning his attention to the other two, "Arturo, Azeria, how many did you two encounter!?"

  "I fought two," Answered Lagusa.

  "Three."

  So, seventeen between the six of us that were currently here huh……just under three per person on average. Far from ideal, I'd have preferred a bit more……hopefully one of the others took out more of them.

  "So, then……I fought the least number of Vampires? That's……so unfair! At least if it'd been a strong Vampire, I wouldn't be complaining so much, but it was a weak one!"……

  I'll hold off on mentioning that I fought two Generals and a Knight. I can't believe the leader of a nation was throwing a tantrum like this, it was hard to believe that he was responsible for the deaths of millions.

  Anyway, the next person to arrive was Rion, who had fought four Vampires. A few minutes after he showed up, Vi got here, she'd come across two Vampires. Next was Ekai, and he'd encountered three. And by the twenty-nine hour-mark, the rest arrived in the following order, Rex, Hacte, Presde and Gela, with Fuo, Kuua and Az yet to arrive.

  Rex had also encountered just one Vampire, Hacte hadn't run into any at all, Presde fought three, and as for Gela……she took out the most by a significant margin, a grand total of ten. Which took the collective number of Vampire kills between all present company to forty……yeah, Gela alone accounted for a quarter of the current number of kills between the thirteen people who had arrived here. Her armor was pretty torn up, so she must have taken some damage with that many fights, but then, she enjoyed receiving pain just as much as she enjoyed inflicting it, so she had the time of her life today.

  "Hold up, how did you come across TEN!? I only ran into one!"

  "Well, I did go looking for them……," She replied with a shrug, before adding with a flushed grin, "I knew it was starting to get late, but I……I just couldn't help myself."

  "I'm hardly surprised, but still, show some restraint," Sighed Vi with a frown, lightly tapping the top of Gela's head with her knuckles.

  "But where's the fun in that?"

  "I doubt you finished any of your fights quickly, so I'm skeptical about whether or not you actually maintained your cover," I remarked with a sense of exasperation.

  "Oh, don't worry……I was extra careful not to be spotted, after all, if I got caught then I wouldn't have been able to have so much fun!"

  Her thought process was hard to figure out sometimes. But I guess that works……kinda.

  "You have issues, Gela," Said Vi, shaking her head as she patted her head sympathetically.

  "So I've been told."

  "Well, anyway……there's less than an hour left, and we're still waiting on three people, one of which is crucial to the success of the next phase. Not sure we can proceed without Atticus if they aren't here by the thirty-hour mark……going into the castle blind is far from ideal," I surmised with a frown.

  "Azyl is yet to arrive as well," Chimed in Instructor Tabbs.

  "He's probably fine, he's just not in any hurry," Shrugged Persia.

  "Yeah, for sure, there's no need to worry about him," I responded in agreement.

  Az would definitely be taking his time, and he wasn't the type to take on any risk if he could avoid it, so he should be just fine. That said, I couldn't help getting a bit worried as the remaining time dropped down to less than half an hour. He then finally showed up, with about twenty-five minutes to spare.

  "Oh, I thought I'd be the last one here," He remarked in surprise.

  "Yeah, we're still waiting on Fuo and Atticus, as well as……uh……wait, who else is missing?" I inquired, looking around.

  "It's Kuua, but she's probably fighting a Vampire somewhere and completely forgotten about what she's supposed to be doing," Said Rion with a carefree laugh.

  "Someone ought to have gone with her," Frowned Lagusa, exasperation is his expression.

  "Oh, I'm sure she'll be fine!" Waved off Valaque, without any concern.

  "We should have thought this through. There's a good chance that she's blown her cover," Muttered Azeria with a grimace.

  "Definitely," Added Presde in agreement.

  "Tch, how dare she take so long, this is an affront to Lord Valaque!" Snapped Hacte irritably.

  Huh, he'd been pretty quiet for the most part over the last few days, I almost forgot about him. He'd lost his right arm when the Vampires attacked The Empire, so I figured he must have been sulking this whole time……but now that I really focused on him, I could feel a ton of animosity……I see, he must have been really against this truce thing. Since I hated him, I'd been mostly ignoring him this whole time, so I didn't really notice till now, or rather, I willingly ignored it. Still, he won't disobey Valaque, he's clearly obsessed with him, to a kinda creepy extent.

  "Man, you're such a kiss-ass, it's kinda unsettling. Well, I'm just stoked about the fact that I got here before three of the other Retribution Tier members, despite being the lowest ranking one," Stated Rex with a huff.

  "Still, I have to wonder……what is Kuua doing?" Inquired Lagusa with furrowed brows.

  I then noticed Az's eyes widening, as if he'd just realized something.

  "Oh, she's already here……sorry, I kinda forgot," He spoke up, taking out a Spell Card……an Extract spell?

  He activated it, and a large chunk of ice appeared……Kuua was encased inside it.

  "Wha-!? Is she……alive?" Asked Valaque, walking over and tapping the ice curiously.

  "Yeah, I just trapped her. I ran into her and she was about to start a fight without even bothering to use the barrier……so to be safe, I did this."

  He then snapped his fingers and the ice shattered, Kuua falling to the ground with a yelp of surprise.

  "Huh, what the……woah, where am I? What just happened?"

  It took a few minutes before she finally settled down and understood what had happened as Az explained what went on when he ran into her……she wasn't too happy about it.

  "Still, I am surprised that you were trapped so easily," Said Lagusa skeptically.

  "Actually, this guy is like, super strong! He killed those two Vampires instantly with just a single touch! Oh, and then, the best part……," Explained Kuua, before putting on a blank serious expression and muttering in a deadpan tone, "He went 'now, then……Shatter', and snapped his fingers, and then both Vampires, well, shattered! It was so cool, no pun intended!"

  "I regret everything," Muttered Az quietly, his face turning red with embarrassment.

  As Kuua continued to heap praise in awe of Az, he looked like he wanted to disappear since everyone's eyes were on him. Suddenly, his eyes were filled with relief, as everyone's attention diverted elsewhere……Fuo had just appeared. With just over fifteen minutes to spare.

  "Cutting it kinda close there, huh, Fuo?" Greeted Vi, walking over to her, "Or, wait, is it Atticus?"

  "No, it's me for now," She replied with a sigh.

  "Hm, did something happen? It is hard to explain, but you look a bit less……angry than usual," Observed Ekai, staring at her with narrowed eyes.

  "I feel like I've said this a lot today, but……shut up."

  Alright, everyone's finally here, and we barely have any time left to spare……time to strategize. Fortunately, though I hate to admit it, Lagusa was thinking the same thing, and it didn't take long to get everyone involved. We agreed that we could afford to take a few minutes past the thirty-hour mark, in order to give the Vampires some time to react to and get drawn into the attacks that would launch at the east and west.

  "Before we start strategizing, first things first……Atticus, give us an update on the Vampire numbers," I requested, as he nodded and relayed the info.

  When we started, there were three Evil Numbers, five Knights, thirteen Generals and a hundred and seventy-eight Minions in Silvland. The Evil Numbers were all still alive, but one Knight, five Generals and ninety-seven Minions had been killed. Huh, so besides the two I had captured, three other Generals had been taken out, huh? And just eighty-one Minions were still left.

  Atticus then surmised that the Vampires had definitely noticed what was going on, because of the way they had started to move about four hours ago. And he also sensed some irregular movements, and assumed that they were using humans to teleport them to get around faster. The remaining four Knights and three Evil Numbers were in the castle with Lazarus, while the remaining eight Generals had been spread out evenly around the castle, each about ten kilometers ahead of the castle.

  Some of the Minions seemed to be backing up the Generals, while others seemed to be on their own, moving about randomly……well, it's not like they had a communication system in place, so a bunch of the Vampires probably still had no idea what was going on. As for the positions of the Vampires in the castle, Lazarus was in the center, while the rest were evenly spread out.

  "I believe that our best bet will be to wait for them to react to the diversionary attacks from the east and west, if they spread their forces in those directions, we will be able to easily get to the king through the north entrance of the castle," Suggested Lagusa.

  Yeah, that was a sensible suggestion……except that I wouldn't be able to get any fuel, aka Vampires to consume life force from, otherwise I won't be able to take on Lazarus. Atticus met my gaze, understood, and spoke up.

  "Hm, knowing the Vampire King, he is hard to predict and will often opt for the strategy that will give him a greater challenge than the strategy that will give him a greater chance of victory. There are only a few minutes left, I believe we should wait to see how they react to the attacks from the east and west before settling on a plan," Replied Atticus, to which the others agreed.

  And so, the waiting game began……as the thirty-hour mark arrived, it didn't take more than a couple of minutes before Atticus remarked that more Vampire Minions were dying. He then sensed a couple of the Minions, from either east and west, teleporting towards the castle, each stopping by the location of a Vampire General.

  The Generals then teleported to the castle, and made their way to the center where Lazarus was. Ten minutes later, the Evil Numbers and Vampire Knights seemed to be shifting their positions. Let's see how they react.

  "No, what is this……I do not understand, how could he know……," Muttered Atticus with a frown, before trailing off and remarking in a serious tone, "All of them, the three Evil Numbers and four Knights……they are all about two hundred meters inside the north entrance of the castle."

  "Woah, how'd they know!?" Exclaimed Valaque in surprise.

  "No, I think I get it……they must have sensed at least some of the Vampire deaths in the north, while noticing that not a single Vampire would have died in the south……on top of that, if they figured out that the attacks to the east and west are just diversions, then……this makes sense," I surmised, gritting my teeth.

  Lazarus's tactics often seemed to deliberately handicap his side, but it looks like he knows what he's doing when he wants to……

  "Indeed……perhaps we should go around to the east and west entrances?" Suggested Lagusa, though he didn't look too confident in that suggestion.

  I mulled it over for a bit, as everyone argued over the best course of action. Should we all put on the Stealth barriers and just sneak past them straight to Lazarus? That was an option, but I wouldn't be able to consume any Vampire life force except for the two Generals I had used Store on, but that definitely won't be enough. Alright, I think I've got it, but I'll probably need Atticus to back me up if the others were to be convinced. Here goes……

  "How about this……we split up into two teams, one team uses the Stealth barriers to head straight for Lazarus, while the other team just walks straight through the north entrance and takes on the Evil Numbers and Knights. Now, we could all use the Stealth barriers and attack Lazarus at the same time, but you know what they say about too many cooks……sixteen people who are each unfamiliar with most of the others' fighting styles are bound to accidentally get in each other's way."

  "Not bad……yes, I believe that is the best suggestion we have gotten so far. But how do you plan to split up the groups?" Inquired Lagusa skeptically.

  By using you and your side as my pawns……

  "Simple……the eight of you, Valaque and the Retribution Tier, go after Lazarus, and the remaining eight will play the decoys and get the attention of the other high-ranking Vampires. After all, they might be thinking that you guys are all dead, considering the fact that the first diversionary attack was carried out by your lapdogs donning your physical appearances. Therefore, if any of you guys fight the Evil Numbers and Knights, they might figure out what's going on. But if I fight them……well, they probably consider me their biggest threat, so there's no way that I could be a simple decoy……or so they'll think."

  "You're pretty sneaky, huh……but wait, why are you their biggest threat, what about me, huh!?" Interjected Valaque in protest.

  Seriously? Now? Fortunately, I have an explanation that'll appease him……

  "Hm, what do you mean, I just mentioned the reason……they think you're dead. With you gone, I'm the next biggest threat, and since they think they already killed you, I'm the biggest threat by default in their eyes. Why don't you try imagining the Vampire King's face when he's only expecting me, but then you, the much bigger threat, shows up instead?"

  I might have laid it on a bit too thick there, some sarcasm definitely slipped into my tone……

  "Holy crap……you're absolutely right! Gotta say, I like this plan! Alright, The Empire will strike and kill the king, while you people serve as our decoys and kill the other strong Vampires! I'll be the one to kill the king, the strongest Vampire!"

  Oh, wow, it actually worked……Lagusa was staring at Valaque with a look of exasperation, while the other Retribution Tier members had similar expressions. Well, some of them did anyway, Presde looked indifferent, Hacte just looked like a brainwashed sheep, staring at Valaque in awe, and Kuua just looked excited.

  "What are you upto?" Frowned Lagusa, narrowing his eyes at me, before turning to Valaque, "Something is not right, this is what he wants, perhaps he ought to be the one to fight the Vampire King instead."

  Tch, he's as sharp as ever, but Valaque was so excited about fighting Lazarus that it shouldn't really matter……

  "Watch what you say, Arturo Lagusa, are you implying that Lord Valaque is weaker than this fool!?" Snarled Hacte.

  I didn't appreciate being called a fool, but for once, I was glad that he spoke up.

  "Huh? Is that what you're saying, Arturo? You think he has a better chance of beating the king that I do!?"

  "Well……no, never mind, it's nothing."

  Wow, he sure caved in fast.

  "Yeah, that's what I thought!"

  Got him.

  "Kuro, when you said that we would just walk straight in through the north entrance……do you mean that we will not use the Stealth barriers?" Inquired Instructor Tabbs.

  "Yeah, that's right……we can't let them know about our Stealth barriers, if we do, they might realize that some of us went on ahead using the barriers. So, yeah, we just walk right in and keep the Vampires in the dark about this particular spell. On that note, when you guys appear before the Vampire King, it'll look like you materialized out of thin air……he probably won't, but if he does ask, just tell him you teleported or something."

  After that, we took a few minutes to work out the finer details of the plan, and before long, we were ready to go. Alright, then……phase two of the counterattack begins now……

  _____________________________________________

  Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

  Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.