Chapter 361: The Power of the Strongest Female Vampire. 2
"It's been a while since I fought a God... Let's have fun, okay?"
"Fun?" Inari raised an eyebrow as her tails swayed behind her.
"This won't be fun-." Before she could finish her sentence, Scathach kicked her in the face.
Victor saw Inari's face distorting in the direction Scathach kicked her, and he chuckled inwardly.
The time around returned to normal, and Inari flew off towards the buildings, and Victor heard his master's voice:
"Losing focus when an opponent of my level is in front of you..." Scathach disappeared.
And everyone heard several crashes in the direction Inari flew.
And before anyone could understand what had happened, Inari had come crashing back to her starting position.
Scathach appeared again in front of Inari:
"Is a grave mistake."
Completing her sentence, Scathatch's fist connected with Inari's chin.
Victor watched in slow motion as Inari's jaw caved inward, folding around Scathatch's knuckles like wet paper mache, followed by a crunching sound..
Time returned to its normal pace as Inari soard towards the sky in a straight line as a result of the force delivered by Scathach's blow.
Scathach positioned herself on the ground with her spear, holding the shaft with her two hands. A cold air started to emanate from her body and spread around her as her aura exploded, causing her long red hair to float and flutter around in the cold air.
"Let's warm up first."
Crackling sounds echoed around as her spear was spontaneously covered by ice which rushed to either end from her hands.
"..." Looking at the ice that his master created, Victor immediately noticed the difference between his ice and hers.
The ice Scathach created was much more robust, and stronger, and she didn't even need to use as much energy as Victor normally did.
She flicked her spear to the side, holding it with one hand, before stepping forward with her right foot.
Crack.
With just one simple step, the ground around her burst, creating a massive crator, as she made her move.
She spun around a little, pivoting to generate more momentum, and launched her spear towards Inari.
FUSHHHHHHHHH.
The spear flew at monumental speeds, creating several sonic booms as it tore through the air.
"!!!" Sensing the danger, Inari's eyes began to glow faintly, and soon her body was covered by the element of fire.
And in the next instant, the air around her began to change.
She repositioned herself in midair, and looked at the spear.
She pointed her hand towards the ground and a great torrent of flames burst out of her hand.
As a ten-tailed fox that reached Godhood, she had complete control of the basic elements, and could easily combine them into devastating combos!
And that's what she did. The moment she attacked with fire, her other hand began to glow with a blue hue, generating electrical sparks that sounded eerily similar to the heralding of a storm.
She pointed her hand to the sky, and lightning bolts erupted from her hand and towards the clouds.
Rumble, Rumble.
A big attack was coming!
But that didn't deter Scathach.
The woman clapped her palms together:
"Multiply."
The exact moment she said that, the runes on the spear she'd thrown began to glow wildly, and soon it split into several other versions of itself, and in the blink of an eye, thousands of spears were flying towards Inari.
"Tsk." Inari stopped doing what she was doing, and with her hand, she cut through space and passed through it.
But just as she was about to enter the space, she suddenly felt her head impact with a solid object, as if she'd walked straight into a brick wall.
"???" She looked confused at the rift she had just opened, and soon saw that the rift was frozen...
That woman had frozen space itself!
"What the fuck!?" She was so shocked that she'd totally forgotten for a few seconds where she was.
The first spear that Scathach threw easily passed through the fire created by Inari, and when the spear would hit the woman's head.
The woman awoke from her stupor to face reality, and dodged the attack.
"..." A small cut was made on her cheek, and in the next moment, that cut started to freeze Inari's body.
Inari ignored this for now and looked at the thousands of spears that were approaching.
"Do not underestimate me!" Her eyes gleamed in irritation, and an even stronger fire erupted from her body.
FUSHHHHHHHHH.
A small sun was created in the sky, and this completely erased Scathach's powers.
But... Where was Scathach?
Inari began to search fiercely for the woman, until she heard a phrase that terrified her.
"Do you think mere fire can stop me?"
"!!?" Inari looked back and saw the woman's body completely covered in ice, her entire body was pure blue!
"What the-..." Before she could understand what had happened, she felt her face being punched.
And again she rocketed towards the ground.
As the 'sun' disappeared from the sky due to Inari's break in concentration, Scathach raised her hand, and her spear that was flying into the stratosphere suddenly stopped. Its runes began to glow red, and, as if someone were controlling it, the spear spuns around and started to come back.
"..." Victor wasn't surprised that Scathach's entire body was covered in ice... He was definitely not surprised to see the mother using the technique that her daughter had created, utilizing and improving upon it, even though she didn't have the power to water to make the process smoother.
'She teaches us, and at the same time she learns from us…' Victor couldn't help but think that this sentence was an accurate descriptor of a factor of their relationship.
A few seconds later, the red spear returned to Scathach's hand.
"I feel a little motivated, let's see if this technique still works against the Gods." The ice from her body completely disappeared.
The runes on her spear began to glow madly, then a red aura burst forth and shrouded her spear.
'Shall we go with 20%?... Nah, she's one of the main Goddesses, she should be able to take 50%.'
FUSHHHHHHHH.
The red aura grew even stronger, spreading through Scathach's body, leaving her appearing as though she were covered in a cloak.
"..." Inari looked towards Scathatch's position in the sky with a serious and worried expression. Her instincts were screaming to her that if that attack hit her, she'd recieve grevious enough wounds that she could potentially be sent into an eternal coma!
'This is not the time to hold back my powers.' His eyes glowed slightly gold.
And soon the changes were visible in the very air around her. All the elements around were acting strange, the air stopped, the earth shook a little, even the space seemed to shudder and distort a little.
As Inari reached the ground, she took hold of her Katana, and a blue power began to cover the blade.
The blade seemed to be distorting the space around her, but Inari ignored it as she sheathed her Katana again.
She placed one foot behind her, leaning forward slightly, and closed her eyes while taking a deep breath. She looked very calm and serene as her hand hovered over her Katana's handle, but a strong sense of danger was emanating from her body.
Scathach's smile grew when she saw what Inari was doing, and she decided on something.
'Let's go with 100%! She must bear it!' Her eyes gleamed in amusement, and her red aura exploded skyward.
And Victor knew that smile and that twinkle in her eye all too well.
"Well shit." He quickly made a move, holding onto Haruna a little tighter as his body began to be covered in lightning, which harmlessly spread to Haruna as well.
"...?" Haruna looked at her body with a curious expression.
"If you don't want to die, get out of this place." Victor warned Genji, and soon he disappeared, leaving a trail of lightning behind.
"..." Genji didn't ignore Victor's warning. Despite being angry and hating the man, he still listened.
His hand began to glow with white power as he began to 'levitate' his Yōkai subordinates who were on the ground.
Victor appeared by his throne.
"Ophis, Nero."
"Yes!" Ophis wasted no time and jumped on Victor's back.
Nero was confused for a few seconds, but when she saw Victor's gaze, she understood what he wanted.
Despite being a little embarrassed, Nero jumped onto Victor's other shoulder and held onto him.
"... Leave." He left those words to the people around him as he disappeared.
"...This man, can't he be more specific?" Anna grumbled.
"Shut fuck up! And Leave!" Jeanne screamed as she looked up at the sky with a dark gaze. 'That woman is not even using her Count form, and yet she is already much stronger than she was in the past...'
Jeanne realized why Scathach was called the strongest female Vampire.
'Stop thinking bullshit!', she thought to herself as she quickly used her Vampire speed to make a hasty retreat.
"..." Anna looked up and her face darkened as thoughts similar to Jeanne's appear in her head.
Soon her wings spread wide, and she leapt into the air.
Using her wings, she flew away from this place.
"..." Shuten and Ibaraki didn't waste any time either and fled the scene.
Scathach created an ice shelf behind her, and kicked off with all her might.
The momentum generated created several massive booms in the air. The aura that surrounded her appeared as though it kept the air away from her, reducing all wind resistance to zero as she continued to build more and more momentum towards her target!
As she approached Inari, her red aura began to condense around her spear even more.
It wasn't only her weapon either. The aura began to compress around her body, becoming even more streamlined, giving her the appearance of a red comet!
A comet with a sharp edge that flew towards Inari with thunderous speed.
Scathach didn't have a name for this technique, it was something she created while trying to pierce a Behemoth's belly in the past, and over time, it'd evolved, and acquired a piercing property that was unparalleled, even the flesh of a God could not stop this technique.
Inari still had her breath held and her eyes closed, her heart beating at a serene and slow tempo. All sounds in her surroundings sounded muted but she could feel even the most minute changes in her environment.
Thus, as Scathach was about to impact her,
She opened her eyes, and drew her Katana from its sheath.
The space around them shook even more, and soon the tip of Scathach's spear and the blade of Inari's Katana clashed.
Silence.
For a moment, all there was, was silence.
A bright white light burst forth from their collision, illuminating the surroundings for miles.
However, the silence didn't last long…
While everyone was running away, everyone heard the thunderous and ear piercing sound of two blades clashing.
Followed by an explosion.
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
"Whoaaaaaaaaa!"
Ibaraki and Shuten who hadn't fled far enough were caught in the middle of the explosion.
Victor stopped flying when he realized he was safe, and looked back.
Absolutely everything around was evaporated, only a gigantic crater remained.
The explosion was equivalent to a small atomic bomb, the entire area was completely evaporated from existence!!
"...This is fucking bullshit." Victor spoke with a face of disbelief, he understood very well that the woman wasn't even completely serious, and she was able to do just that.
'No wonder people in this country fear her, she's a walking disaster… That other woman is ridiculous too.'' Victor wasn't sure if he would be able to do that kind of damage with his current powers.
Jeanne and Anna soon appeared alongside Victor.
"Indeed… And to think that there are people with that level out there." Haruna spoke with the same neutral tone that had surprise imbued into her voice.
"Whoaaa..." Ophis opened her eyes in shock, that woman was strong!
"Ugh, this is getting ridiculous with every passing moment." Nero grunted.
"Don't even tell me... If this hateful man hadn't warned us, we would have been caught in this explosion." Anna complained as she looked at Victor with a piercing gaze.
"...This woman has gotten stronger again, exponentially stronger, much stronger than she should have been, and... An older Vampire doesn't get that strong all of a sudden..."
"I wonder whose fault it was..." Jeanne looked at Victor with a piercing gaze.
"..." Victor ignored the gaze of the two women. He knew it was his fault. Since Scathach started drinking his blood, she slowly started to get stronger.
And that applied to him too.
Compared to Scathach, his benefits were much greater, and he also drank Natashia's blood regularly now.
Slowly but progressively, his ice and lightning powers were getting stronger, along with his control, and even a little bit of his limit was being removed each time he controlled his powers better.
Every time he drank the blood of the two women, his 'base' was getting stronger and more robust. If this continued for 500 years, when his racial boundary was released and he reached adulthood, the power impulse that he would get... It will be scary.
But in Scathach's case, by drinking Victor's blood, her 'boundary' had been slowly broken, and for a woman who had already reached the peak of her strength, having a new boundary was something very desirable.
If we talk in terms of a video game, even though Victor was stuck at level 10, he'd gain ice and lightning status points each time he drank the blood of the two older women.
However, after drinking Victor's blood, Scathach had her level 100 cap removed, and reached level 105!
Even if this difference was very small, almost insignificant.
For someone of Scathach's power level, that small difference was everything.
The proof of this was attack she'd just used. In Scathach's view this was just a 'warm up', she wasn't even serious yet! She hadn't even used her Vampire Count form yet which was where most of her power remained.
Scathach was already an older Vampire. She would no longer have 'boosts' of power like younger Vampires. All she had going forward was thousands of years of slow, passive, and progressive enhancement...
That would be the case if she didn't have someone like Victor around. Now she could progress more 'smoothly' compared to before.
Because of this characteristic of Noble Vampires, the first years of their life were quite important.
If a Vampire, in the first years of their life, trained like a madman, and accumulated a lot of experience,
When that Vampire reached the age of 500, and their new limit was released, all that experience would be transformed into a force that would propel them to new heights.
'Ruby called this feature the 500-year Zenkai boost.' He thought in amusement, but remembering the only anime he'd ever watched in full, Victor couldn't help but agree with Ruby.
With each phase the Vampire passed through, all the experiences they'd have gained during the previous phase would be transformed into raw power.
Unlike a certain ridiculous race that gained a boost from every life-and-death situation, Vampires were something else, separated in power by their growth phases.
Newborn Vampire to 500 years, adult Vampire from 501 to 1500 years, old vampire 1501 to ???.
At each Noble Vampire stage, they'd gain a boost...
And this boost is differentiated by the Vampire's experience until reaching this threshold of change.
This applied to the Progenitors too, although its benefits were better than a Noble ... A normal Progenitor was already a monster when it reached the old Vampire stage. Look at Vlad, he is an example...
Now an irregular Progenitor like Victor...?
Victor, who from the very beginning absorbed the blood and potential of 3 houses of Vampire Counts, is very out of the norm.
There were more than 2000 years of evolution made by Clan Snow, and Clan Fulger, not to mention the blood of Ruby who was the daughter of Scathach and this man absorbed everything the moment he became a Vampire.
And that caused a power overload! He's a walking atomic bomb.
Victor stared into Haruna's face.
"...?" The woman looked at Victor curiously.
"You do not have to thank me."
"I will not."
"I know." He flashed an amused smile.
"..." She smiled too.
"How are your subordinates?"
"I closed the gate the moment you ran away, they're fine."
"I see..."
"…Hmm, do you intend to leave?" Victor asked, when he'd tried to put the woman down before, she practically didn't care and remained where she was.
"Not really."
Feeling the fluffy fur of her tails on his arm, Victor holds back his urge to stroke them, and asked,
"Hmm, you can fly, right?"
"Yes."
"Then...?"
"Am I heavy?"
"Not really."
"Then okay."
"..." Seeing the woman's neutral face, Victor was confused, he couldn't understand this woman, it even seemed like he was talking to Ophis at times.
'Her attitude in battle and out of battle is completely different.'
"...Hmm?" Haruna looked at Ophis curiously.
Her eyes narrowed a little as the feeling of familiarity washed over her as she looked at Ophis.
'Is she of my race?' She thought curiously, but soon abandoned that thought when she saw the girl's red gaze.
'But this feeling...'
"Moth-..." Before Ophis had a chance to say anything to the nine-tailed fox, they all heard the sound of blades clashing.
Clang, Clang!
.......