Chapter 146: ¹⁴⁶Lilith Vs Celion

?Valera couldn’t move her body.

She lay on the ground, blood trailing from the corner of her lips. Her bandaged right arm throbbed in agony. Her Zweihander remained embedded in the manor’s wall, entirely out of reach.

Across the courtyard, Kaelia crawled, her fiery red hair completely undone. The flames dancing on her fingertips were dying out.

Celion’s pitch-black claws were still aimed directly at Valera’s throat.

Valera closed her eyes. Waiting.

But the claws never descended.

Tap.

The sound of footsteps. Slow, composed.

"Don’t touch her."

Valera opened her eyes.

Lilith stood a few paces behind Celion. Her maid dress was in tatters. But that wasn’t what made Valera hold her breath.

The aura surrounding Lilith had completely shifted.

A bone-chilling wind swept through the courtyard. The grass beneath her feet withered instantly. Lust Energy seeped from her pores like reddish-black smoke.

Rip.

A pair of dark, membranous wings unfurled from her back. Her nails elongated and blackened, turning as sharp as daggers. The remaining shreds of her dress disintegrated into black ash, replaced by ribbons of dark energy wrapping around her curves.

Her golden-red eyes blazed fiercely.

This was a true Succubus.

Kaelia stopped crawling, her eyes wide.

"Lilith... you were this strong?"

"My Lord doesn’t like it when I break things," Lilith replied without looking back. "So I’ve been holding back."

Celion paused. He turned his head slowly, casually releasing Valera. Valera’s body hit the dirt with a heavy thud. She coughed, greedily gasping for air. Her neck felt like it was on the verge of snapping.

"You..." Celion scanned Lilith from head to toe. "A demon?"

Lilith smirked. Her small fangs glinted.

"Took you long enough."

Celion tilted his head. For the first time, he looked genuinely confused.

"A demon serving a human. I don’t understand."

"You don’t need to understand," Lilith said coldly. "You just need to die."

Lilith lunged.

Simultaneously, her [Lust Domain] erupted. A shockwave of Lust Energy swept across the courtyard in a twenty-meter radius. The corpses of the lesser vampires around them decayed even faster.

Celion tensed.

Inside his mind, whispers began to echo. Dozens of them. Overlapping. Tearing his thoughts in every direction.

"What is this?"

"Your own desires," Lilith whispered. "I’m just amplifying them."

He didn’t have time to process the answer.

Lilith was already in front of him. Her right claw slashed in from the side.

Slash!

Celion jumped back, but he was a fraction too late. Three red streaks appeared across his chest, tearing through his black cloak. Blood trickled down his pale skin.

Celion looked down at the wound. Then back up at Lilith. His eyes flared.

"You made me bleed."

"And I’ll do it again."

Valera was stunned. Up until now, not a single one of their attacks had left a scratch on the monster.

Valera only knew Lilith as the flirtatious woman who constantly teased Ethan. She never imagined Lilith harbored a side like this.

Celion raised a hand.

The blood from his wound levitated into the air, condensed, and shot forward like spears.

Lilith spun. The first spear missed. The second. Third. Fourth.

"You’re fast for a maid," Celion remarked.

"And you’re slow for a Crimson Moon," she shot back.

The fifth spear grazed her right arm. Blood dripped.

Celion stared at Lilith’s blood on the tip of the spear. "Demon blood," he murmured. "It smells different."

Lilith leaped back, pooling energy into her palms.

"[Desire Blast]."

A sphere of dark crimson energy slammed into Celion’s chest. His gaunt frame was blasted backward. His boots carved two long trenches through the dead grass.

But he didn’t fall.

Celion straightened up, wiping the blood from his chest.

"Not bad. But you’re still far from enough."

He spread his arms wide.

The blood on the ground began to ripple. The spilled blood of hundreds of slaughtered thralls flowed together, pooling before rising into a three-meter-high wall that encircled Lilith.

"[Blood Prison]."

Kaelia tried to hurl a fireball from a distance. Celion merely snapped his fingers, and the flame died before it even left her hand.

The bloody walls sealed shut. Lilith vanished inside.

Valera gritted her teeth. She dug her fingers into the dirt, trying to force herself up. Her knees trembled violently.

"Lilith!"

No answer.

Valera stared at the wall of blood. Complete silence from within. Seconds ticked by.

"She’s... still alive, right?" Kaelia whispered.

"She’s a Succubus," Valera replied. "She won’t die that easily."

But her voice lacked the conviction of her words.

Inside the blood prison, Lilith stood amidst a crimson darkness. Blood pressed in from all sides. Suffocating. Draining her energy.

Her bones felt like they were being crushed. But Lilith had been waiting for a fight like this for a long time. Ever since Ethan subdued her, she hadn’t engaged in a real battle.

My Lord... watch me.

Lilith smiled.

"You think this is enough?"

"[Illusion Absolute]."

Illusionary energy erupted from her body, phasing right through the blood walls and sweeping across the courtyard.

Celion froze.

Standing before him was the Vampire Queen. But it wasn’t the majestic figure he knew. Her body was ragged. Her crown, shattered. Her eyes, hollow.

"You failed," the Queen spoke. "You failed to bring him back."

Celion took a step back. "Your Majesty... no, I..."

"You failed."

Blood poured from the Queen’s eyes. Not red. Black. Exactly like Celion’s own blood.

"You are useless."

Celion dropped to his knees. "Give me one more chance..."

Lilith watched him from behind the wall of blood. She didn’t laugh. She knew this illusion wouldn’t hold for long.

Sure enough. Celion squeezed his eyes shut.

"An illusion."

He stomped his foot against the earth.

"[Blood Sense]."

A pulse of energy swept out from his body. The image of the Vampire Queen fractured and faded away. The ruined courtyard came back into view. The blood prison still stood.

"Nice try," Celion sneered. "But your illusions aren’t strong enough."

But something was wrong. From inside the prison, Lilith was still smiling.

Celion realized it too late. His concentration had broken for just a few seconds. And that was all she needed.

"[Life Drain]."

Lilith hadn’t been trying to break the prison. She was absorbing it.

"You—"

Lilith threw her arms wide. The walls of blood shattered, rushing toward her like a torrential river. The blood seeped directly into her pores. The wound on her arm closed instantly. Her golden-red eyes shone even brighter.

Valera watched as the injuries on Lilith’s body healed one by one. For the first time tonight, she felt a glimmer of hope.

"Thanks," Lilith said, licking her lips. "You just served me dinner."

Celion growled. For the first time, he actually sounded furious.

"Enough."

This time, Celion didn’t use magic.

He shot forward, throwing a vicious right hook. Lilith blocked it with her left arm.

CRACK!

The sickening sound of bone colliding with bone rang out. Lilith was knocked sideways, but she landed gracefully on her feet. Celion lunged again immediately. Punch after punch. Lilith dodged, parried, and struck back.

Her claws raked across Celion’s chest. Celion retaliated with a devastating blow to her ribs. Valera heard a sickening crunch from where she lay. Lilith was sent flying, spitting up blood, only to laugh and get right back up.

The claw marks on Celion’s chest slowly knit themselves back together. High-speed regeneration.

Lilith realized a grim truth: Celion wouldn’t run out of stamina as fast as she would.

They fought like wild beasts. No spells. Just claws, fists, kicks, and fangs.

Kaelia tried to stand, but her knees immediately gave out. "Damn it! I can’t help!"

"Stay put," Valera ordered. "If we jump in now, we’ll only be dead weight."

The words tasted bitter on her tongue.

The ground fractured. The walls of the Valen estate cracked alongside it. A massive pine tree toppled over, crashing into the dirt.

Valera watched from the ground, holding her breath. She had never witnessed a brawl this savage.

Celion kicked Lilith so hard she slammed into the stone wall. The masonry spiderwebbed upon impact. Lilith let out a ragged gasp, but her eyes still burned with defiance.

Then she lunged and sank her fangs straight into Celion’s neck.

Celion roared. He grabbed Lilith and hurled her away. Lilith hit the dirt, but instantly scrambled back to her feet. Black blood dripped from the corner of her mouth.

"You..." Celion touched his neck. "You drank my blood?"

"Delicious," Lilith taunted.

Celion finally snapped.

Celion raised both his hands to the sky.

"[Blood Moon’s Requiem]."

The blood scattered across the entire courtyard began to levitate. Blood from the vampire corpses, from his own wounds, from the soaked earth. It all spiraled, spinning faster and growing larger, forming a colossal hurricane of blood.

The crimson gale roared. The stench of iron flooded the air, making Valera gag. She had seen magical storms on the battlefield before, but never one forged entirely of blood.

She shielded her face with her arm.

Lilith threw her hands up. [Lust Domain]. [Illusion Absolute]. [Desire Blast]. She unleashed them all at once.

But the storm was simply too massive.

BOOOM!

The tempest of blood slammed into Lilith from all sides. Draining her energy, pulverizing her defenses.

Lilith screamed.

Forgive me, My Lord...

Her body was blasted backward, crashing into the ground, and this time, she didn’t get back up.

The storm gradually subsided. A gentle rain of blood fell, drenching the dead grass and Valera’s armor. The Valen estate groaned as half of its roof caved in.

Celion stood in the center of the devastated courtyard. His breathing was heavy. His body was riddled with wounds. But he was still standing.

Valera lay helpless on one side. Kaelia crawled on the other, her flames all but extinguished. Lilith remained motionless.

Kaelia dragged her battered body toward Lilith, but her strength gave out before she could reach her. Her hand slumped into the dirt.

"Lilith..." Valera whispered.

No answer.

Lilith was still breathing. Her chest rose and fell incredibly slowly. The Lust Brand on her chest glowed faintly, as if desperately keeping the last spark of her life from going out.

Celion took slow, measured steps toward her. His pale hand raised. His pitch-black claws aimed right for the fallen Succubus’s neck.

"You fought well," Celion commended. "But you still lost."

His hand began its descent.

Then, a light appeared.

A golden-white glow ignited from the doorway of the Valen estate. Bright. Warm. And deeply foreign.

Celion turned his head. His eyes widened.

Standing at the threshold was a blind girl in a woolen nightgown. Her pale brown hair cascaded down her shoulders. Her skin was as pale as alabaster. Her clouded, white eyes stared straight ahead. Pure light radiated from her very pores.

"Elara..." Valera whispered weakly. "Lady Elara, go back inside..."

Elara didn’t hear her. She took a single step forward. The grass beneath her bare feet immediately sprouted, growing taller.

Valera wanted to scream, to tell Elara to run. But her voice refused to come out.

The dead grass surrounding the girl began to regrow. Withered wildflowers bloomed one by one.

"I don’t know who you are," Elara said softly. Her voice trembled, yet she didn’t take a single step back. "But I can feel that you’re hurting them."

She took a deep breath.

"Don’t hurt them."

Celion didn’t move.

Celion took a step back. He didn’t even realize he had done it.

The hand he had raised to strike now froze in mid-air. For the first time since he arrived, something crept into his chest. Something utterly unfamiliar.

Fear.

High above the skies of Astrea, the Vampire Queen opened her eyes.

She felt something. Warm. Foreign. Something that fundamentally shouldn’t exist in this world.

Around her, thousands of black-cloaked figures waited in silence beneath the crimson moon. Not a single one dared to make a sound.

She turned her gaze to the west, toward Valen Village.

Her lips slowly curled into a smile.

"Interesting," she murmured. "Very interesting."