Chapter 2311: Arad’s Hibernation XXIII

Slender Man rushed back, dodging Capsella’s swings one after the other with a large frown on his face. She was getting faster and faster, and her body was getting hotter by the second. Whoever the divine she is getting power from, they are beginning to suspect something. At this rate, the actual divine god might decide to come in person or send a messenger to investigate.

He needed to kill her and do it quick.

He started swinging his claws, and each attack was faster than the one before, putting extreme pressure on Capsella, who was only getting used to her Vampire Lord body. Even with Kossuth’s [Burning Passion], she was still far too slow and weak compared to him, who had been alive for probably close to a thousand years, if not more.

She had to move, and get even faster, so she started to pull more heat from Kossuth’s already fading connection. It felt like she was trying to breathe through a needle’s hole, but she kept pulling more and more, sending even more calls for divine magic.

She blocked Slender Man’s claws with her sword, deflected the strike, and swung at his chest. [Burning Arc]

But he dodged back, only receiving a long wound across his chest, which healed before Kali or Eris’s divine magic could kick in. That had caused Capsella to wonder what was allowing her to draw more power from Kossuth instead of Eris, whom she had more faith in.

Back in the private quarter, Kossuth sat on a white bed in the middle of a massive empty field. She was now inside one of Merlin’s labyrinths, and in front of her was a massive ball of fire where both Gamond and Isdis were locked in and training.

In the back of her head, she was processing millions of divine magic requests and letting even more go to her archons to handle. Billions of souls were praying, and she had to respond to them all. Some were from humans, some from animals, some from mere plants, and there were even a few coming from fellow gods.

And like flames, she was one of the few gods who didn’t discriminate between good, evil, and outright maniacal behavior. Flames don’t care if you’re setting a campfire ablaze or an orphanage; they’ll consume everything. So even while Kossuth herself didn’t even recognize Capsella’s muddled and masked requests that she was receiving among the millions of requests, they still got approved.

But not fully, as due to the way the requests were structured, not that much power could be channeled through them. But the most impressive part is that after just a few seconds and tens of requests, Kossuth started to notice the strange pattern and singled out Capsella’s requests.

She still didn’t know it was her, but the insulting and disrespectful prayers could only make her smile. First, it was coming from an old man who only insulted her with every breath, arrogantly cursed her, and was actively violating a straw doll made in her image.

What caught her attention wasn’t the fact that it must’ve been uncomfortable and painful to do such a thing to a straw doll, but the frequency and notes hidden within the prayer itself. Her mind was slowly catching up to the fact that there was something off about it, but for now, she only found it strange and amusing.

****

Back in the darkness, the clash between Capsella and Slender Man had lasted ten seconds, and the divine light protecting everyone else was already fading, forcing them all to huddle together around the nuns.

"You won’t last long." Slender Man smiled as he started pushing Capsella back, deflecting most of her attacks and even managing to give her several large wounds. Ginger’s plan to risk it all by having Capsella fight directly while she and the nuns use their stored power to maintain the barrier as long as possible didn’t seem like it would work.

Then, with each move, Capsella was starting to feel her body growing heavier and slower. The backlash of [Burning Passion] was finally coming back to bite her. And Slender Man was only getting faster and faster, eventually causing her to go fully on the defensive.

She was running out of ideas, and right now, neither Eris nor Kali were responding to her prayers, and even Kossuth’s divine magic was growing tighter. If she doesn’t find a solution, she’ll be killed in the next five seconds.

But then, her vampiric senses finally started kicking in, but not in a directly meaningful way. She was reminded of one thing. Even if she worships Eris as her goddess and loves her so much... in the end, she’s just another vampire, and all of them are slaves to someone, even Eris.

It was as if time slowed for her, and she could remember every second of when Arad turned her into a Vampire Lord in details. She had spent a total of eighteen hours in pure agony in his arms, getting rebuilt from the scratch by his blood until she emerged as a Vampire Lord.

Even now, she could still feel all of her veins burning and smell him in her blood. At least, if she dies here, she’ll merge back into his blood.

She could feel Slender Man’s claws cutting into her neck as her sword had shattered. This was the end.

As her blood splashed and Slender Man’s claws cut her jugular vein, the splashing blood coagulated into a massive fist, and swung down. "ORA!" Cracking his jaw on the spot.

Slender Man’s eyes opened wide, and he didn’t even have a second to consider what had happened as the massive arm grabbed him by the neck and lifted him. Soon, the arm had turned into a muscular humanoid silhouette of blood and clenched a second fist.

"What... are you?!" Slender Man growled, but the silhouette didn’t bother replying and just swung its massive fist down at his face at blinding speed, crushing his nose into his brain. One fist after the other, a deafening barrage of punches came down with enough force to shake the entire temple and crack its walls.

And when the blood silhouette was done with Slender Man, his head was nothing more than a ball of mushy flesh, bones, and brain matter. As shocked as Capsella was, she immediately felt another sharp sensation as her blood returned to her body. It was commanding her to open her mouth and suck the darkness whole.

Capsella had already figured out what the blood was; it was Arad’s blood. Even if he was hibernating and asleep, that didn’t change the fact that all of his vampires were a part of his blood, making them an extension of him. The same way a vampire spawn can get possessed by their Vampire Lord even if the Vampire Lord is sleeping, Arad was doing something similar.

She, obeying the orders of her Blood Lord, opened her mouth and started sucking the air. At first, it was just like trying to take a deep breath, but then... the pain hit as the darkness rushed into her lungs and tore them apart.

But that pain wasn’t going to stop her. This was the will of her Blood Lord, and as a Vampire Lord, Eris had already taught her that no matter what, if Arad said she had to do something, she’d either do it or die trying.

She was going to absorb it all, even if it killed her. She could make several guesses as to why Arad would want her to do this, but the most likely was that he was using her as a sacrifice to make sure everyone else, especially Ginger, survives.