Chapter 347: Hunting Day, Hunter's Day.
Looking at the monitor with a serious look, James felt quite apprehensive about the outcome of the battle.
"... Sigh... This impatient man, he didn't wait for my subordinates... And in the end, he ended up in this pathetic state."
Picking up the phone, he was going to call his friend, but he stopped midway.
'They are Vampires, they'll be able to pick up my voice.' He walked over to a table and picked up a device, put it in front of his cell phone, and then called his friend.
...
"... I have a question." A man who had only half his body left, spoke.
"Oh...?"
'Is he still alive even after the right half of his body disappeared?' Victor looked at the man's severed region. His body was not expelling blood, or vital organs, but a kind of golden energy, as if he was made of energy.
'... Don't tell me.'
The man looked into Victor's eyes:
"Did you use 100% of your power?"
"... What you think?" Victor's smile widened.
"As expected…" He closed his eyes a little while flashing a small smile:
"You are a damn monster."
"That's what people say."
Suddenly the sound of a telephone ringing was heard by everyone.
Ignoring everyone, Leonardo took the phone out of his right pocket, and put it to his ear:
"Leonardo, back off."
"... Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Okay." Leonardo continued to look at Victor.
"It was a good fight, Count."
"Next time, I'll make sure not to hold back, I'll wipe you off the face of Earth."
"Do you think you can run away?" he asked curiously.
"Since when did I say I was here?" He spoke with a smile as his body began to fade into golden light, the only thing left was a phone he was using.
Victor approached the phone, and picked it up, but the moment he picked up the phone, the phone self-destructed.
"..." Victor narrowed his eyes seeing this, and that's when he understood:
'As expected... From the beginning, he was a clone... Because of that, his body felt weird...' Making a mental note about the incident, Victor looked around, and saw that there was no one else, just the Yōkai that was forgotten by everyone… But not by Victor.
"30 seconds." Scathach appeared beside Victor as she warned him.
"Yes." Victor nodded his head, "I'll go get an individual." Victor disappeared, leaving a trail of lightning, and appeared in front of the Yōkai.
"Please give me a quick death... Even if I ask you to, you won't grant my request, right?"
"HAHAHA~."
Sigh...
The Yōkai visibly sighed.
"...Death? Death, this is a blessing for you, I have other plans for you."
"What do you mean?"
"Oh...? Have you already forgotten the fate of your Vampire friend?" Victor's smile grew.
"...F-Fuck." Nura's face darkened.
"Please become my meat bomb, I would be so grateful." Victor spoke with an extremely sincere face, and an innocent voice, but his words were anything but innocent.
"…I have no choice from the start." He spoke in a heavy tone.
"Exactly."
...
Some hours later.
World of the Gods, Shinto Mythology.
A crow dressed in priests' robes was flying to a large mountain in a rather hurried way.
"This is bad! This is bad! This is bad! She is here! She is here!" Arriving at the top of the mountain, the crow ignored everyone and quickly flew towards the structure.
Without showing the least respect for the place, the crow invaded the residence, and knelt on the ground.
"What is happening!?" The voice of a woman speaking ancient Japanese was heard.
"Lady Yomi, Master Tsukuyomi, I'm sorry for my lack of manners, but we have a big problem." The crow spoke as it looked up, and saw only a kind of screen that covered the appearance of two people.
"We know." The woman's voice echoed through the place.
"Scathach Scarlett is here..." A man's majestic voice resounded through the place.
"And she is together with the new Count." The man continued.
"...I'm afraid to say that that's not our only problem." The crow's face darkened. He pulled a talisman from his pocket, and threw it into the sky.
The talisman glowed, and soon the image of the mortal world was seen.
"As we speak, everyone responsible for the incident involving the two children is being pursued."
"…what do you mean by everyone?"
"Everyone, Lady Yomi."
"No one is being spared."
"Witches, Vampires, Demons, Yōkai, Humans, Werewolves, all beings who somehow helped to spread the information, or who wanted to somehow benefit from this situation are being hunted."
The image changed again, and showed a Yōkai's quarters.
Suddenly, two shadows came out of the ground, and two voluptuous women with long black hair appeared and attacked the Yōkai.
When the Yōkai fell into unconsciousness, he was sucked into the shadows, disappearing along with the two intruders.
The image changed again, and this time it showed a group of Humans. Suddenly, a flash of golden lightning appeared, and all these groups of Humans disappeared.
The image changed again.
And a blonde woman accompanied by a woman with demon wings were hunting Demons themselves.
"...." The two beings watched these events in silence.
While the woman was visibly uncomfortable, the man didn't react, it was as if he already knew everything.
"...Tsukuyomi-sama knows something?" the woman asked.
"The Gods tried to trap this group in the reverse world, but they easily escaped with the powers of Clan Alioth... Even without the powers of Clan Alioth, Scathach Scarlett herself could open a rift back to the Mortal World." He replied in a neutral tone.
"..." The woman narrowed her eyes. She realized that when he said 'Gods', he was also talking about himself.
"What should we do, Tsukuyomi-sama?" the crow asked.
"Nothing."
"…Huh?"
"So far, no god has been harmed or will be harmed. The council of gods has decided not to intervene any more than necessary... They judged that a fight with Scathach Scarlett would only end in more destruction than we could handle, after all, she is in our territory."
The Gods weren't afraid of dying. The reason for this is that they couldn't, and according to reports, the gods also didn't hear any news whether the enemy had any kind of God Slayer weapon.
The very existence of weapons like this was a myth in the Mortal World, but the Gods knew they existed. They are scarce, but they definitely exist, and only these weapons are capable of killing an immortal like a God.
And the enemy is not causing chaos in the Human World. They were just targeting Supernatural Beings, and small groups of Humans who were involved with the Supernatural World.
And those small groups of Humans meant little to the gods. After all, Humans bred like rabbits.
"…But you tried to trap them in the Reverse World?" Yomi asked.
"We were buying time to evacuate all the lesser Gods scattered across Japan."
"..." The woman didn't know what to do when she heard what he said. She calmly watched her husband, and saw his usual calm demeanor, but... She could also see something that only she could.
Fear...
He was afraid.
He could hide it very well from his servants, but he couldn't hide it from his wife.
"Fortunately, no God had any direct involvement-..." His face darkened as he realized something.
"... What happened?"
"Inari is directly involved with this incident."
"Did she do something?"
"Not her."
"Her subordinate, a nine-tailed fox named Kurama."
"...So she's safe?"
"..." Tsukuyomi, for the first time, looked at his wife, and said:
"Beings that had no direct involvement are being hunted. What do you think will happen to a being whose subordinate is one of the main people involved in this incident?"
"..." Yomi's face darkened.
"Common sense didn't apply to these beings. His only goal is revenge, and he doesn't care if Japan has to burn for him to get it. There is no mercy or chance for negotiation."
"Hmm...?" She thought he was talking about Scathach.
"Alucard, the youngest Vampire Count in history, and probably the only Vampire Count who has almost the same influence as the King of Vampires himself."
"…is he that important?"
"Genji, Inari's subordinate, went to Nightingale and he came back with his tail between his legs when he visited that man, and you remember the recent incident involving the Yōkai."
"How could I forget?"
"Economic sanctions, despite lasting a few hours, were quite severe for our market." She answered.
"He was responsible for that incident."
"... Wha-..."
"Does he have that much influence? Influence enough to command the other Vampire Counts?"
"..." Tsukuyomi's silence was all Yomi got from her husband.
And his own silence was confirmation for Yomi's questions.
Yomi was silent and started thinking about this matter.
"Tengu, pass on my orders." Tsukuyomi suddenly spoke up.
"Yes!" The Tengu lowered his head.
"Tell Inari about this conversation, and ask her not to leave the world of the Gods."
"...And if she leaves the Divine World, tell her she's on her own, the Gods won't intervene."
"Yes!" The Tengu waited for any more orders from Tsukuyomi, but all he gained was the man's silence.
'Just that? He won't do anything about the Yōkai dying?' The Tengu thought.
"... That's all, go ahead."
"Yes." He didn't respond as motivated as before.
Yomi stopped thinking, and looked at her husband:
"Are you going to abandon the Yōkai?"
"Yes." His reply was short and cruel, he turned to face his wife: "He is cleaning up this filth from Japan, I should be grateful to him."
"...." Yomi narrowed her eyes a little. She didn't like the man's tone, after all, she was a Yōkai herself.
Seeing his wife's mood and face, he spoke:
"Protect your Tengus, when that Vampire is satisfied with his carnage, the Tengus will be quite useful."
"... In the end, am I just a tool?"
"Don't wallow in useless sentimentality, and don't play the saint. From the beginning, this relationship was a mutually beneficial one. You and your Clan gain the protection of the Gods, and become the messengers of the Gods, and we use your Clan members to watch over Humans, and Supernatural Beings."
"That's…" She didn't know what to say.
"This is the relationship you proposed thousands of years ago. It wasn't me who came down to the Mortal World, looking for you. It was you who came looking for me." Tsukuyomi got up.
"Don't forget my orders." He disappeared in a white light.
And all that was left in the room was Yomi.
"...I thought the thousands of years together would soften his heart, but he still remains the same… The same arrogant God... The same prejudiced God who hates Yōkai."
Yomi knew that the man only married her by order of the Gods' council, specifically speaking by order of Amaterasu.
If it weren't for that, he wouldn't have even married her, and even after thousands of years, the man never touched her because he was disgusted.
'...Sigh... I thought his heart would fail when I made that expression, but he's quite stubborn.' She sighed to herself.
'Well, at least my Clan will be safe here.' The woman got up and two crow wings appeared behind her. She went through a small door hidden behind where she was, and flew towards somewhere.
...
A few more hours later.
"Kurama, Inari, Gyuki, Genji, and Fukuyo, a nine-tailed fox who has the remaining Noble Vampires of Japan..." Victor spoke aloud as if remembering his targets.
"And the Hunters, General Leonardo, Jimmy and Thomas." Even after fighting Leonardo, Victor did not ask Scathach for any information.
The reason for this was because he didn't have to. The woman would say something if she wanted to. The two understood each other well enough to know that they shouldn't interfere with each other's 'prey'.
Currently, the group was somewhere on the outskirts of Tokyo, in a very luxurious building.
... Yes. They weren't trying to hide.
Next to him were Ophis, Nero, Sasha, Scathach, Roxanne, and Natalia.
Nero was having her head petted by Victor, she was a little annoyed that he had turned her into a full Vampire, but was happy that she no longer felt the weakness in her body that she'd always had.
She was also getting comfortable with the caress on her head, but that was something she'd never say out loud.
She was in a very complicated state…
Ruby had actually been back to Nightingale for a few hours. She couldn't contain her enthusiasm to research the two Hybrids she'd received from Victor.
On his other side were Alexios, Jeanne, and Anna.
"These are all the names of the individuals involved in this incident, this was easier than I expected." Scathach spoke as she touched her chin.
"...You may not know it, but the Supernatural Beings of Japan fear you, Countess Scathach."
"…Eh?"
"But I did not do anything?"
"..." Alexios' face visibly trembled.
Jeanne and Anna wore amused smiles.
"Killing all the Onmyo Mages, and causing a great massacre 500 years ago, a night that the beings of Japan dubbed the Crimson Nightmare."
"…Did I do something like that?"
"Yes."
"…Oh…Cool…Anyway." She turned and looked at Victor who had Ophis sitting on his shoulder and grabbing his neck, she was refusing to part with Victor since the man stopped fighting.
'Now, what are you going to do? You have all the information on your desk, and the stream of Supernatural Beings being captured by your Maids is still going on...' Scathach had high hopes for what Victor was going to do.
"...." Alexios visibly sighed.
"Hahaha~." Sasha laughed softly as she looked at Alexios, "You of all people should know what Scathach's personality is like."
"Indeed, my Father is just pretending to have misunderstood." Natalia backed up Sasha's words.
"…why are you against me?"
"Habit."
"...I see you still hold a little grudge against me."
"Who told you to go around looking for women!"
"I need a vacation, okay? I am human too." he complained.
"...Sigh." Natalia didn't complain much because she knew her father's job was very difficult.
"Am I supposed to be expecting any brothers or sisters soon?"
"Huh? Of course not." Alexios looked at his daughter curiously:
"Why did you ask that?"
"Just checking. From the way you've been active these months, I wouldn't be surprised if I gained siblings in various places on the planet."
"Oyy! I just had a little break in Hawaii, Philippines, Brazil, and Alabama!"
"...Yes. I wouldn't be surprised if I gained enough brothers and sisters to fill an entire Football Team! Are you planning to coach a team and play in the Champions League?"
"…Ugh, it's impossible to argue with you." Alexios touched his hand to his brow as if he had a headache.
"Father…"
"Umu?" Victor turned to face Ophis.
"Siblings?"
"Not yet."
"Good." She hugged him.
"...."
"It's amazing how much they understand each other with just one word." Anna spoke.
'Their relationship really is like a father and a daughter… It was this relationship I wanted with my children… Sigh…' Jeanne sighed.
"It's normal." Scathach and Sasha spoke at the same time.
"..." The two looked at each other for a few seconds, then show a small smile as if they have agreed on something.
"Speaking of which, who are you?" Victor asked as he looked at the two women.
....
...
..
"You're slow, huh?" Anna raised an eyebrow in amusement. She was helping this man, yet even then, he never questioned their identity.
"Well, I had important business, and you were with Scathach, soo...yes."
"Hey? Do you trust me that much?" Scathach flashed a small smile.
"Is that still a question?" Victor smiled the same way she did.
"Maybe..." Her smile changed to a seductive smile.
"..." Anna, Jeanne and Alexios visibly opened their eyes wide when they saw Scathach's feminine aura explode.
Victor flashed a smile that hurt Jeanne and Anna's eyes:
"...I trust you with my life, Scathach."
Scathach's cheek turned slightly red, but not from embarrassment but from something else:
"...I see..."