Chapter 59 They Really Came! (2)

Capella didn’t answer Horatio’s provocation with words; rather, she let her sword do the talking. She swung her rapier as if it weighed nothing, and a swift gush of wind pressure rushed out from its tip. The five Bloodbornes immediately dispersed, with only Horatio remaining to take on the attack. He raised his left hand, and like the waves on the beach slamming against a breakwater, the wind slash turned into nothingness.

The beautiful man’s clothes weren’t even stained by Capella’s ‘welcome’ attack, and he looked just as pristine as he first came. However, the man’s eyes clearly didn’t show the same steadiness. Horatio muttered under his breath as an order was given out to his subordinates:

“I’ll keep her company. Go complete your mission.”

“We hear and obey!”

The Shadowfiends instantly dispersed and rushed past the female knight who stood in their way. Well, at least, that was what they planned to do. Before they could hope to touch our windows, Capella’s body seemed to turn blurry as a tremendous amount of magic power was being emitted. Without any warning, six silhouettes burst forth from the silver-haired maiden’s position, and they all raced to stop the four Shadowfiends.

Everything happened so fast that I wasn’t able to make out what Capella did at the moment. However, after a few seconds and when the dust began to settle, I could clearly make out the faces of the six new entrants into the battle.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Capella, or should I say, clones of Capella, stood steadfast against the Bloodborne warriors. It was uncanny how similar the clones resembled their creator. They had the same face, same body structure, same voice, same auras, and even the same amount of magic power! From all the books that I’d read, I’d never heard of such a perfect clone technique, let alone see it in action.

“Mirror Clone,” Lilith said decisively. “One of the signature abilities of the Capella Asterias. Using the Stargazer Rapier, they can utilise dimensional magic to create a near-perfect clone of themselves. However…”

Lilith continued to look at the many clones that Capella had created as she was unable to hide the awe that sparkled in her eyes.

“According to the historical text, the previous Capella could only make up to three clones… To think that she doubled that number…”

Evidently, the power of the Asterias system was showing. Each Asterias was bestowed a Mythic Weapon, and each weapon held a record from every single Asterias who wielded it. In theory, that meant that the next generation of Asterias would always surpass the previous ones. And given that Capella was showing off, her ability proved just that.

“Hmph!”

Usually, one would think twice when an apex predator was standing in your way. However, the four Shadowfiends were determined to complete their mission. In particular, the familiar Bloodborne who coagulated a crimson Blood Katana out of nowhere. He brandished his sword, ready to force his way through even if he had to give his life away. But fortunately for him…

BANG!!! BANG!!! BANG!!!

The Mirror Clones were targeted by numerous balls of flame, which all exploded right in front of their faces. However, being complete replicas of Capella Moonreaver, they all had the instinct to dodge away from the deadly explosions.

The original Capella opened her eyes wide and immediately shot a deadly look at the person responsible for stopping her clones. Horatio Bloodborne absorbed her hatred with a refreshing smile as he placed his hands behind his back.

“Your enemy is me. Leave my juniors alone, okay?”

“…”

Capella didn’t breathe a word in response. Horatio Bloodborne was a member of the former Vampire Royal Family, and even though the Bloodborne House had lost its status, it didn’t affect his battle power one bit. If anything, the man must have increased his combat prowess exponentially after the fall of the Bloodborne House.

And those explosions were proof of his increased abilities.

“Bloodfire explosions!!!”

I could recognise that distinct red-hue anywhere, particularly since I was targeted by that deadly fire not many days back.

There was a reason why the Bloodborne House remained largely untouched by all Vampires even though they had fallen from grace. Their innate ability to suppress all Vampires was a troublesome one to deal with. Not only that, many of them could use their blood as weapons, such as creating Blood Katanas or generating their signature Bloodfire.

All of those powers were weaknesses that most Vampires couldn’t ignore, even if they were thousands of years old and had ample combat experience.

Capella didn’t mean to underestimate Horatio, but she really didn’t want any of her enemies to step foot into Lilith’s mansion. Protecting the future heir of the Moonreaver House was one thing, but there was one other person she wished to shield from all danger. But before she could get her clones to stop the Shadowfiends once more, Horatio made his move.

“Are you sure you have the luxury to look away?”

Horatio’s disgustingly beautiful face curled into a vicious smile. He spread his arms wide and from within his sleeves. Thousands of ruby butterflies flapped their wings and spread throughout the mansion. Each one of the flying insects fluttered at supersonic rates, making them seem like an army of wasps that was ready to defend their hive.

“Blood Butterflies… So that’s how you created those explosions.”

“Haven’t you heard of my reputation?”

“Yes… The Prince of Flies.”

“Heh, now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time…”

Horatio’s face showed a mix of emotions. Mainly, pride that his reputation still lived on even in the new generation and glee that he could finally bring his beloved butterflies into battle once again.

“Now, do you think that you can stop the Prince of Flies with half a mind? Or would you still continue with your stubbornness?”

Evidently, the Bloodborne Prince wanted Capella’s full attention. I wasn’t a mind reader, but if I were to guess, he wished to commit to a true one-on-one battle, given that it had been so long since he’d emerged. Or maybe, he was just interested in seeing how powerful the modern Moonreaver Asterias were? I couldn’t tell.

Either way, he finally got Capella’s undivided attention. She didn’t show her back anymore and never once turned her head to look at the mansion. And then, with a booming voice, she commanded:

“Luce Stellarum! Hear my orders! Defend the house with your lives! Do not let a single intruder anywhere near the Young Miss and Lisa!”

“We hear and obey!!!”

Almost instantly, eight figures emerged from the mansion with their swords unsheathed and their magic power raised. They slammed their feet firmly on the ground in front of the four Shadowfiends and pointed their blades right at their heads as if they were ready to slice them off clean without any warning.

Eight versus four. It was an unfair advantage, but Capella wasn’t going to leave anything to chance. It was only after confirming that the enemies past her were tied down that Capella finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“Hoh? You brought back up?”

“An Asterias never travels alone, don’t you know that?”

“Well, I guess I’ll have to improvise.” Horatio Bloodborne sighed, but his happy smile never left his face. Instead, he glanced over at Capella, summoning many more butterflies in the process. “I wanted to take my time and slowly savour my first fight in nine centuries, but I’m on a tight schedule, you see? We can’t let our objective run away that easily.”

“No need to run,” Capella snorted. “This place will be your graveyard.”

“Haha! Overconfidence is a sin, child.”

“We’ll see who is really overconfident!”

Capella sneered at Horatio’s words before finally charging into battle. The six clones stood in a diamond formation all around her, and they each executed a devastating attack. Starlight gathered upon their blades, and with a resplendent gush of power, they turned into a deadly beam that destroyed half of the Blood Butterflies flying all about.

“Hoho, I’m impressed. The Capella two thousand years ago couldn’t do that.”

However, rather than shock, the Bloodborne Prince marvelled at Capella’s attack. He danced in the air as if gravity was a lie, and each step he took sent a ripple in the fabric of space. Blood dripped down from many of the ripples and created even more Blood Butterflies. The speed at which he created those beautiful monstrosities seemingly doubled, and before long, the image of the artificial Blood Moon was covered by a sky of ruby butterflies.

At this point, even Lilith gulped in fear. We’d seen how one Blood Butterfly could create Bloodfire that even threatened Capella. Now imagine if all of those butterflies were to explode at once…

Fortunately, there was no way our protector would allow for such a thing to happen. Capella pointed her fingers and sent one of her clones to the sky, diving into the tsunami of ruby butterflies. However, before she could take the full wrath of Horatio’s Bloodfire, a strange scene ensued. The world distorted as if a rip in reality had been formed, and the sky full of insects vanished into thin air.

For the first time since arriving, Horatio’s smile froze. He was still calm, but the expression that the Prince of Flies had was far from steady. Horatio dropped his chin down and saw Capella, who was wearing a triumphant smile.

“… Your sister’s control over her dimensional magic is insane,” Lilith turned to her attendant and remarked with twitching lips. “Even I can’t move that many things away with such ease.”

“What did she do, Lilith?”

“Nothing complicated,” the blonde beauty said impassively, but the turmoil in her voice was hardly calm. “She just created a new dimension, used her Mirror Clone as a transfer point, and warped everything within its radius into that dimension.”

“Wow…”

The process seemed simple enough, but the execution was completely off the charts. Just by the awe in Lilith’s voice, I knew that Capella’s feat was technically impossible to pull off. Not only that, Capella didn’t seem to break a sweat when warping over a million butterflies away.

And this was just one of Sirius’ subordinates? Just how powerful was the man himself?

I shook my head and pushed those irrelevant thoughts away. The main reason why I wanted to watch Capella’s fight was to learn something. There was no point in getting intimidated. If I wanted to win the duel, I should absorb as much knowledge as I could.

But before I could divert my attention back to the fight between the two superpowers, one of the eyes I’d created caught sight of a terrifying scene. The four Shadowfiends, who were supposed to be outnumbered and outmatched, were making significant grounds with their march.

No, the three Shadowfiends were easily suppressed by Capella’s subordinates. Although they were exceedingly powerful, the Luce Stellarum squad was equally as strong. The main problem was the man leading the charge.

Talon Bloodborne. That was the name of the Shadowfiend wielding the Blood Katana. I didn’t know it at the time, but the man was a famous figure amongst the Bloodbornes. Being from the same generation as Sirius, the man could be considered an elite amongst elites. I’d heard that there were a few times where the two had actually crossed swords before.

And facing such a monster, it made sense that Capella’s troops fell short.

Even I…

“Lilith… You don’t mind if I join that battle, right?”

“… Do you have a death wish?”

“Haha, don’t worry! I won’t place myself in danger!”

“What do you mean?”

I simply smiled as I pointed my finger to the screen before our eyes. Magic wasn’t limited by distance, and neither was it restricted by whether I had to be physically present or not. As long as I could ‘see’ my opponent, I could fight them.

I stared at the man with the Blood Katana, who had easily pushed back his two attackers and was about to reach within ten metres of our mansion’s door. Sneering, I said:

“I have a score to settle with that asshole.”