The coldness radiating from Jay's back was more chilling than even Absolute Demise's Silver world. Gasper stood frozen for a moment, his gaze darting between Jay's retreating figure and Lavinia. He saw the look on the blonde magician's face, it was a complicated tapestry of worry, heartache, and a dawning realization that the person she cared for was slipping into a place she might not be able to follow.
With a small, hesitant gulp, Gasper hurried after Jay, his small boots pattering against the stone.
Lavinia watched them go, her hand half-extended as if to reach out and pull Jay back. But she stayed her hand. She wanted to chase him. Every instinct screamed at her to call out his name, to grab his sleeve, to stop him before he went any farther. But when she met his gaze earlier, she had frozen.
She had never seen that look in his eyes before.
It was not rage. Not madness.
It was something far worse.
That was what unsettled her most.
She wanted to help him. No, she needed to.
She wanted to stand beside him, to shoulder his pain as her own, to be there when he reached his lowest point, just as he had been there for her when she had once been consumed by despair.
It had not even been a month since she had met him, and yet, despite being younger than her, Jay had always been the one she relied on. The one who stood firm when everything else seemed to crumble.
And now, when he needed her most, she could not stop him.
Jay had suffered.
And he would suffer again.
'Illya-kun…'
Lavinia clenched her fists until her knuckles turned white.
She wanted him to share that pain with her.
But he would not.
And that helplessness hurt more deeply than any wound she had ever known.
Bluish light mana surged in response to her resolve, and her cashmere coat dissolved into motes of shadow, reforming as her familiar dark magic robe. The fabric settled around her like a second skin.
If she could not bear his pain with him, then she would do everything in her power to lessen it.
She would find Glenda.
***
Hundreds of luminous holy arrows rained down from the heavens, tearing through the mist-shrouded night as the battle erupted in full. The sound of impact echoed like thunder, followed by screams that cut through the air.
Exorcists in their reinforced battle suits poured through the southern breaches, swarming the roads to the main castle, their movements coordinated and lethal.
The vampires of the Carmilla Faction, most of them women, retreated under the sudden ferocity of the assault. Crimson eyes glared from behind barricades and ruined stone as holy light scorched the ground where it landed.
"Human!" one of the vampire women shouted, her voice filled with fury. Her figure was imposing, her body unnaturally enhanced, veins pulsing beneath pale skin. "What do you think you are doing? What have we done?!"
Diethelm Waldsemüller parried a jagged blood-blade with one of the two holy swords he wielded. He moved with a lazy, almost bored grace, despite the chaos around him. He took a quick, clinical glance at the vampire's physique, specifically her unnaturally ample chest.
'That's big. Too big. Is that some sort of specialized blood manipulation or just a freakish mutation?' the German wondered idly.
"I don't know, ma'am," Diethelm replied, his voice a gravelly drawl as he stepped inside her guard. "I'm just a doing my job"
With a swift, practiced motion, he drove the holy blade through her heart. The vampire shrieked as the light began to consume her from the inside out.
Nearby, Griselda Quarta moved like a whirlwind of silver and black. Her holy sword was a blur, cleaving through anyone who dared lunge at her from the shadows. She stopped for a brief heartbeat, scanning the battlefield with a commander's eye.
The holy energy is still effective, Griselda noted. Their regeneration is slowed, and their skin still blisters at the touch of light. The reports were wrong... or rather, they were incomplete.
'The Grail isn't here. It must be with the Tepes.' She thought.
"Bitch!!"
A shadow detached itself from a nearby pillar, a vampire assassin moving with supernatural speed. Griselda didn't even look. She spun on her heel, her blade humming a sacred tune as it cleaved the figure cleanly in two before they could land.
But despite their momentum, the Church was starting to pay a price. Screams of agony rose from the human side as the vampire nobility began to organize. The Carmilla were masters of the dark arts, and they weren't going down without a fight.
Wounded exorcists were being dragged into the shadows as their blood serving as fuel to revitalize the defending vampires.
'They can't fully heal without a coffin,' Griselda thought, ' Though it didn't really matter if they kill us first.'
Suddenly, the atmosphere shifted. An enormous oppressive pressure surged from the heart of the central castle. High above the gothic spires, a massive sphere of concentrated crimson energy materialized, pulsating like a beating heart.
The ball exploded.
It didn't release a shockwave, but a silent shimmering rain of deep red liquid that covered the entire city. Griselda felt a drop hit her shoulder. Her heavy nun's habit hissed and began to smoke instantly.
"This is… acid?" she gasped, looking at the charred fabric.
"ARGHHH!!!"
The cries of the exorcists changed from battle shouts to raw, unbridled agony. The crimson rain was a potent alchemical agent, corroding armor and searing through skin upon contact.
Griselda slammed her sword into the ground, projecting a shimmering holy barrier just as the downpour intensified. Through the red haze, she saw the vampires stepping out into the rain. They weren't being burned, instead they were absorbing it. A dark, sanguine aura began to emanate from their bodies as their eyes glowing with a renewed predatory vigor.
A voice, ancient and resonant, echoed through the very stones of the city. It sounded like a thousand women speaking in perfect, haunting unison.
O children of the night, we who have existed since the dawn of time... the darkness will prevail, and so shall we.
"Queen Carmilla…" the vampires whispered, dropping to their knees even as the battle raged around them.
Griselda's grip on her sword tightened. The nature of the magic was shifting. The air felt thick, heavy with the weight of an ancient sovereign's presence.
The night is ours. Make them remember.
***
After climbing the stairs from the basement, Jay reached the top step and placed his hand on the massive wooden door. Two guards stood watch beside it, relaxed, unalerted, their attention fixed elsewhere.
The door opened.
Before either of them could react, before a breath could be drawn or a warning formed, violet fire erupted outward. It swallowed them whole in a silent flash. Armor glowed, flesh vanished, and in less than a heartbeat both figures were reduced to drifting ash that scattered across the stone floor.
Jay stepped through the doorway and moved through the inner corridors of Tepes Castle without haste.
He did not even bother to hide his steps, the sharp clack of his boots echoing every time they struck the floor.
Gasper followed close behind him, his small steps light and uncertain, like a stray cat afraid of being left alone. He kept his hands clenched into the sleeves of his hoodie, his eyes fixed on Jay's back as though it were the only thing anchoring him on his way to Valeri.
In Gasper eyes, right now Jay's presence was strange. It did not press against the air. It did not radiate power in the way devils or vampires did. Instead, it felt like a hollow cut into the world that moved forward.
Jay's Domain spread silently, threading itself through stone and shadow, through walls thick with age and blood. Every heartbeat within the castle echoed inside his perception. Every breath. Every flicker of hunger and malice. He did not search.
He knew.
The corridors were vast and oppressive, built in the old Victorian style by the Tepes aristocracy. High vaulted ceilings disappeared into darkness. Stone pillars lined the hallways like silent witnesses, carved with reliefs of bats, roses, and crowned figures drinking from chalices.
No moonlight reached inside. The tall windows were stained black by enchantments and thick curtains that drank light rather than reflected it.
Jay's black coat fluttered faintly as he walked.
Gasper glanced at his face once, then quickly looked away.
Jay's expression was unreadable. His eyes were open, focused forward, but there was nothing human in them at that moment. No hesitation. No curiosity. Just motion.
The first vampire did not sense him until it was too late.
It stepped out from a side passage, its crimson eyes narrowing in confusion. Jay's body did not emit mana. There was no warning. No ripple. To the vampire's senses, it was as if a human had simply appeared inside a place where humans shouldn't be able to exists.
"Human?" the vampire snarled, fangs bared. "What is a human doing in this place? Where is the fucking guard!?"
He cursed before lunged forward.
But his hand never reached Jay.
Space ruptured beneath the vampire's waist. A jagged tear split reality like torn fabric, severing its lower body in an instant. The scream that followed was sharp and wet, echoing down the corridor as the vampire collapsed forward, its torso slamming against the stone.
Before it could draw breath to scream again, violet fire erupted from beneath the floor.
The flames were controlled.
Deliberate.
They did not consume the body all at once like its usually does.
The fire crawled upward, burning flesh with surgical precision. It licked at the vampire's throat, its jaw, its tongue. The vocal cords were the first to go. Blood evaporated before it could spill, hissing into steam as it fled from the heat. The vampire's eyes bulged, mouth opening and closing in a silent parody of agony.
Jay walked past it without slowing.
As the upper half of the vampire writhed, clawing uselessly at the stone and its body burning inch by inch in voiceless torment behind him.
The flame did not rush. It took its time.
Gasper stared, frozen, his breath caught in his throat.
Jay did not look back.
They continued deeper.
The castle was not a single structure but a sprawling complex of interconnected keeps and halls. Long stone bridges stretched between towers, suspended over chasms that vanished into darkness. Each section housed a different branch of the Tepes aristocracy, their territories divided by corridors rather than walls.
Jay crossed one such bridge slowly.
Snow drifted down from the open sky above, pale flakes falling through the gloom. The night was heavy with an artificial clouds of Zenith Tempests, the moon little more than a pale smear behind them.
The snow touched Jay's shoulders and coat, then vanished instantly into steam, dissipating as if the world itself rejected contact with him.
Gasper hugged himself tighter as they crossed.
The next several doors then opened into a grand dining hall.
Long tables stretched across the chamber, laden with gold platters and crystal goblets. The smell hit Gasper first. Blood, cooked flesh, wine sweetened with iron. Dozens of adult vampires sat in ornate chairs, laughing softly, indulging themselves. Human meat lay carved and arranged like delicacies. Fresh blood shimmered in goblets, still warm.
The door swung open.
Conversation died instantly.
All eyes turned toward Jay.
For a heartbeat, no one moved.
Then confusion turned to outrage.
"Human?" someone hissed.
"Where did he come from?"
A vampire woman rose from her seat, her beauty sharp and predatory, crimson lips curling in disgust. "Guards," she snapped. "Kill him."
Cloaked figures surged forward.
They moved fast, their bodies blurring as bat wings erupted from their backs, talons scraping against stone. Their screams filled the hall as they descended on Jay from all sides.
But they never reached him.
Violet fire bloomed outward in a perfect sphere.
Incinerate Anthem detonated like a burst of violet shockwave.
The guards vanished mid-motion, their bodies turning to ash before they could even register pain. The shockwave scattered blackened remnants across the room, coating walls, tables, and the horrified faces of the remaining vampires.
Silence followed.
"NOOOOO!!"
The woman screamed.
Others scrambled back, chairs clattering as panic spread. Wings flared as vampires attempted to flee, their desperation overriding pride.
Jay reached into a tear in space and drew forth a jet-black katana, as a violet flame dancing around its blade.
He swung once.
The slash was lazy. Almost dismissive.
SHIIING
The three male vampires were severed mid-stride by a dark violet slash in the air, their bodies cut apart instantly that they remained standing for a moment before collapsing.
'"ARGHHH!!!""
Their scream echoed through the hall.
Jay had allowed them to live, but their wounds smoked, flesh sizzling where the blade had passed, regeneration slowed to a crawl by lingering holy energy of a controlled purple flame.
The vampire woman nearest to Jay trembled as he approached.
"Please-"
Her breath came in short, shallow gasps. She could not move. Her body refused her commands.
Jay passed her.
He raised his hand casually and swept it through the air.
Space shrieked as it tore.
SHRIEEK
The woman's head was erased in an instant by the rupture in the space. Her body stood for a fraction of a second, blood fountaining upward before violet flame ignited it from within.
It collapsed into ash before it hit the floor.
No matter how thoroughly the Graal had stripped away their weaknesses, there was nothing it could do against Incinerate Anthem.
The remaining vampires fell to their knees.
They begged.
"Please, stop!"
"You want money? Women? Anything! Everything in this world, we can give it to you. Just ask!"
The three of them begged, their voices cracking as they echoed uselessly through the empty hall.
Jay stood before them in silence.
Their bodies lay severed on the stone floor, flesh twitching as it struggled to knit itself back together. Bones creaked, muscle writhed, and blood crawled backward as regeneration desperately fought the inevitable. Jay watched it all with empty eyes, offering neither mercy nor acknowledgment.
Then he just walked away.
Without a word, he walked toward the next door. Gasper hesitated for only a heartbeat before following him, his steps unsteady. As Jay opened the door and passed through, the surviving vampires dared to believe they had been spared. Hope bloomed, fragile and trembling.
The door closed.
And in the sealed room behind them, violet fire erupted.
As scream of agony echoing from the room, Jay moved on.
Room after room fell silent behind him.
Guards. Servants. Nobles. Those who attacked died quickly. Those who begged did not.
He did not rush. He did not linger. His steps were steady, inevitable as it echo through halls that had not known fear in centuries.
At one door, he paused.
Gasper stopped behind him.
Jay opened it.
The room beyond was luxurious, filled with velvet drapes, gilded furniture, and ornate chandeliers. It was almost beautiful. The contrast with the basement below was obscene.
Three young vampires stood inside.
Children.
They turned toward the door, eyes narrowing with instinctive contempt.
"Who are you, human?"
"Filthy," one spat. "Get out of my-"
Jay closed his hand.
Space collapsed inward.
Their limbs tore away from their bodies in a soundless implosion. Violet flame followed instantly, consuming them before their screams could fully form.
Jay closed the door.
He continued walking.
Gasper stood rooted in place for a moment before forcing himself to move again.
The castle groaned softly around them, as if it sensed what was happening within its walls.
For the vampires inside the Tepes territory, the night is still long.