Chapter 56 Vampire Civil War (1)

“So the Bloodborne House will attack this dimension?”

I couldn’t believe my ears as Lilith recounted what she’d heard to me. Although I’ve been a Vampire for just two months now, I knew how rare it was for two Guardian Houses to fight in a direct conflict. If my memory serves me right, the last time two Guardian Houses clashed so openly was during the great Lakefall-Terrabound battle, when the two mighty Houses disputed over some territory and decided to have a fair, winner-takes-all, battle.

But even then, that battle ended with few casualties and was treated more like a sporting event than a bloody war.

The Vampire Houses were already being persecuted by the Holy Church and the other races that feared them. The last thing that they needed was a divide within their ranks, breaking down the system they’d spent centuries building.

“That’s what my brother has deduced.” Lilith sighed openly, unsure as to why the Bloodborne House was so hard-headed. “We’ve already denounced the Bloodborne House and sent a strong declaration to the Council. The wheels have begun to spin so rapidly that there’s nothing that we can do to stop it.”

“The Bloodborne House… I can see how they’d fallen from grace.”

Only an idiot would decide to fight the Moonreaver House in their own territory. Furthermore, there was no way any of the other Guardian Houses would back the Bloodbornes. They wouldn’t want to waste their precious access to the Moonreaver’s monopoly over the Nightmare realms and Warp Gates.

Almost the entire Vampire race lives in the Nightmare realms that the Moonreaver House created. Not only that, the Warp Gates granted safe passage between said realms and allowed the Vampires to stay elusive and hidden from vicious eyes.

And yet… The Bloodborne House was willing to give that all up. Just to wage war on the Moonreavers.

“So, when will they attack?”

“… I’ll ask this once, but Jin… Are you thinking of joining the battle?”

“Hmmm? Of course?”

I didn’t know why Lilith asked such an obvious question, so I tilted my head and shot her an inquisitive look.

“Hah… You’re as reckless as I’d remembered…” Lilith frowned heavily and gently covered her forehead with her hand. “The war between the Moonreaver and Bloodborne Houses will have nothing to do with you! You’re just a guest, my guest! There’s no need for you to risk your life just for the sake of my House!”

“Who said I’m fighting for the Moonreavers?”

“H-Huh?”

The blonde goddess jerked her head back as she was confused by my reply. Lilith started to think about how the Moonreaver House had treated me thus far. Shaking, the girl gulped:

“D-Don’t tell me… You’re going to fight for the Bloodborne House?!”

“No, you silly…”

Goodness, how on earth did she come up with that line of thought. No matter how badly Sirius had treated me, there was no way that I would join the Moonreaver’s enemy in spite. I wasn’t THAT petty. Wait, if the Moonreaver House fell, would Lilith be free to leave with me? Hmmm… That was a tempting food for thought, but I had better things to do.

“Protecting the Moonreaver Dimension is equivalent to protecting your future, is it not? While I would love it if you could leave with me, I can’t provide you with the number of resources and influence that the Moonreaver House can.”

“T-That’s true…”

It would take a fool to turn down the Moonreaver name. With it, Lilith’s overall finances, connections with the bigwigs, resources such as books and magic tomes, and training facilities would be secure until the end of time. Or at the very least, until I become influential enough to cover for her.

Furthermore…

“I want to face Sirius when the Moonreaver House is at the pink of health. Defeating him when the Moonreaver Dimension is destroyed would be completely meaningless.”

“I see…”

Lilith held her chest and let out a massive sigh of relief. She seemed concerned that I would leave her all alone, turning tail when she needed me most. My lord… What a cute critter. I laughed and spun her into my embrace.

“So don’t worry… I’ll be with you throughout the war, protecting you.”

“H-Hmph! Who needs you to protect me?! I’m more than capable of taking care of myself!”

“Hahaha!!!”

Although Lilith’s words were harsh, the girl started to act coy as she shot me a sheepish gaze. Leaning her back onto my chest, the girl nuzzled her face on my neck and took huge whiffs to seemingly enjoy my scent.

Only a few weeks had passed since we’d first met, and I started to understand just how deep her love was. Over the past fifteen years, the girl had never once stopped thinking about me. Even when I was completely unaware of her existence, she spent months, no, years, thinking of a way to cure my fragile body.

I’d come to know of this by stumbling across her study room, which housed mountains upon mountains of books regarding the soul. Lilith’s research had even reached an unfathomable level, with her categorising the best rituals that could potentially heal my broken soul. In fact, the main reason why Irina had the idea to turn me into a True Vampire in the first place, was due to Lilith’s extensive research.

Just by looking at the endless amounts of scribbles and the pungent earthy smell of the room, I could tell how much hard work had gone into this research.

This woman sacrificed her entire adolescent life to try and heal me. That was possibly the reason why Lilith didn’t have many friends, excluding Irina and the other two that were with us.

Lilith could have gone off to have a great life; being the heir of the Moonreaver House, she had plenty of potential suitors. She could have enjoyed her teenage years.

And therefore… It was my turn to return the favour.

“Hey, Lilith… Have you given any thought about leaving the Moonreaver House with me?”

“What?”

“Not for good, of course. Just for a few years as we venture out into the unknown…”

I started to tell Lilith about my grand plan. I wanted to become stronger, so powerful, in fact, that no one could ever hope to threaten me. I didn’t want to lose to any Outer Demon, any human, any obnoxious True Vampire, even the greatest Vampires like Matriarch Innocence or Sirius.

And most importantly… I never want to feel that close to death ever again. That’s why I needed to train, and if I had my loved ones with me…

“You know that I will follow you anywhere,” Lilith coquettishly replied. “I have waited fifteen years for this. Do you think I will let you run away?”

“Hehe, then it’s a promise then!” I laughed heartily. “Once this war is over, I’ll kick your brother’s butt in the duel, and we’ll leave the Moonreaver House with Irina. Of course, we will reunite with the other two as well!”

“…”

Lilith’s joyous face quickly turned into a frown of scorn. She peered upwards and looked me in the eye.

“… Must we get the other three as well?”

“What are you talking about? The other two hold two pieces of my soul! And Irina is already a member of our family! How can we just ignore them?”

“Hah… I knew this would happen!” Lilith shook her head and spat out with a miffed expression. “You’re going to build a harem, aren’t you?!”

… Was that not the plan?

Wait just a minute! I’d thought that they were all rather friendly with each other! Lisa and Variel once confirmed to me that the four of them were all best of friends! So what’s the problem? Besides, Vampires were rather accepting of their relationships, right? I’d heard that the Matriarch had thousands of consorts, and even Irina’s good-for-nothing brother had three wives!

“Listen here, you! While polygamy is accepted in Vampiric society, all four of us are extremely possessive!”

“H-Huh?”

“We want to monopolise you, Jin!” Lilith declared with a firm conviction. Her gorgeous vale eyes were flickering like the stars in the sky, and her face was as serious as can be.

“I want to monopolise you, Jin! I don’t want the other girls coming near you! If possible, I would lock you up in the basement and never let the others get a whiff of you! And I’m confident that the rest of them feel the same way! Have you ever wondered why Irina turned you and immediately rushed to get you back to the Everwinter Estate?!”

H-Haha… She had a point.

I mean, if I were in their shoes, I would feel the same way. If Lilith wanted to get along with three other men besides me… Yeah, I’ll rip their heads out before they can touch her silken, white flesh.

“I don’t know how many times we’d fought in the past because we wished to monopolise you! You might not remember it now, but back in the day, we had to be separated by you whenever we fought! We can’t even count how many times we tried to kill each other!”

N-Now that she’d mentioned it, I did have some memories of Irina and Lilith fighting in the past. However, I’d always thought that it was play-fighting between sisters and that they were never serious. I’d never thought that they would kill each other…

“In fact, if not for the fact that you were injured, I’d bet that the four of us would be at each other’s throat every single day!”

… Was it that serious?

Crap, how did those harem protagonists manage then? If there was constant conflict between the four women, does that mean that I have to protect them from themselves? Not Outer Demons or other Vampires?

“Come on, Lilith… You know I have to get my soul back in shape, right?”

“I know that…”

“And the other two hold pieces of my soul!”

“Yeah…”

“And there’s no way I can abandon Irina, the same way I would never ever leave you alone again!”

“…”

“That’s why we should all get together and live peacefully!”

At this point, all I got was pure silence. For the first time ever, Lilith looked at me as if I were a piece of trash. Well… It’s not that I couldn’t understand. If your husband proposed that he should marry three other wives… Yeah, any wife would be angry.

“Come on, don’t be mad!”

“Tch… Why did I fall in love with such a fool?”

Lilith snorted and promptly left my embrace, likely to find a space to calm her mind. And from the looks of it, the girl was seriously mad…

Hah… As much as I would love to train right now, let’s look through the library again. Maybe I’ll find a book that teaches me how to manage multiple wives…

???

The Bloodborne Palace.

Once the wealthiest land in the seven continents. Thousands, if not millions, of people, once dreaded the mighty Bloodborne Palace. The Holy Church didn’t dare to tread on this land. Other Vampires would have never thought to even step foot on this sacred territory.

It was once the most ornate and luxurious palace anywhere on the globe. With riches that would make an oil baron cry in jealousy. Gold-plated halls with diamond statues. Rubies were engraved on every pillar, and each chamber was outfitted with a red marble hall.

It was once the holy land of the Vampires, but now…

Much of the riches that decorated the palace was now missing. None of the gold, platinum or diamond statues remained, likely pawned or sold, leaving the halls completely barren. The palace structure remained, but it just looked like a slightly more expensive storage facility without its decorations.

That was the state of the once-mighty Bloodborne House.

Deep in the throne hall, over a thousand Vampires knelt down facing an empty throne. Six red-hooded figures stood at the foot of the staircase leading to the throne and stared at the mighty army with a stare of conviction.

“My dear brothers and sisters!”

One of the leaders took a step forward, and his booming voice resonated within the vast halls.

“We have suffered through the years. We were once the masters of the world, and look at us now!”

Another one of the executives made his voice heard.

“Empty halls and barren lands. Even in our time of need, no one comes to our aid!”

The following hooded figure raised his arms wide and cried.

“And our throne lays empty…”

Once again, the leader pointed to the well-decorated, ruby throne that remained empty, even after thousands of years.

“The time has come! War is upon us! Today, we no longer hide in the shadows! We will no longer be suppressed by those weaker bloods! Today, we take back what is rightfully ours!”

At that moment, a three-metre tall mahogany coffin appeared on the throne. Chains of blood sealed the massive casket, as numerous runes drawn with blood were laced all over the floor. Multiple live human bodies were presented, each one of them in a semi-conscious state.

Red fluids dripped down from the open wounds, and they continued to empower the runes on the coffin. Bit by bit, an uneasy pressure started to form. Every Vampire within the room could feel it. Something was inside the casket, and that something was powerful enough to put fear in their veins.

“We have one goal in the Moonreaver Dimension! Our ancestor’s severed arm! Those bastards are using our sacred relic, the flesh of our forefather, to power their home! Are you not angry?!”

“HURGH!!! HURGH!!! HURGH!!!”

The army bellowed out in complete rage. They stared so deeply at the coffin that their eyes turned blood red, and their faces were completely ashen.

“My brothers and sisters! Today is the day we take back what is rightfully ours! Today…”

The leader stepped forward and pointed his sword at the portal that they’d just summoned. It was one of the backdoors the Shadowfiend division had created when they first infiltrated the Moonreaver Dimension, and it was their ticket… to their eventual goal.

“We wage war.”