"W-Who are you?!"
The blond, middle-aged man in priestly attire stared in shock at Alucard, who had just stepped straight through the solid iron wall of a cargo container.
Almost immediately, his face darkened. "No matter. You've seen too much. Given the circumstances, you must be eliminated."
Alucard tilted his head back, letting out a dark laugh. "I don't know why you're calling a low-class vampire a high-tier one, but a priest who dares to hunt vampires in the dead of night certainly has courage."
Seeing the man's vestments, Alucard reflexively called him a "priest."
A red light flickered across the monocle-like device fitted over the "priest's" left eye. He said in a deep voice, "Though I am a man of the cloth, my duty is not that of a priest. I am Rudolf Eustach, an Exorcist from Lotharingia. Before you die, I will at least grant you the privilege of knowing my name."
"Heh... Hahahahaha! An interesting fellow. Did defeating that single low-class vampire just now give you that much confidence?"
The corners of Alucard's mouth curled up, exposing his razor-sharp fangs. Beneath his tinted glasses, his crimson eyes flared, reflecting instantly in the sight of Eustach and the spear-wielding girl standing atop a cargo container further back.
A vampire!
But compared to the Elder vampire they had just taken down, how much power did this one possess?
The girl, Yukina Himeragi, had only just sensed the commotion. By the time she arrived, she witnessed Eustach illegally hunting a vampire. She had intended to step in and stop it, but she never expected a second vampire to appear.
Judging by how effortlessly Eustach had handled the Elder vampire earlier, his combat capability was undeniably formidable.
Yet, this newly appeared vampire in red was equally strange. For some reason, he dismissed an Elder vampire, a class universally recognized as high-tier among their kind, as a mere "low-class" weakling.
After analyzing the situation, Yukina decided to step forward and stop the conflict before it escalated.
Leaping from her high perch, her small frame descended perfectly between Alucard and Eustach. Holding her weapon tightly, she glanced back and forth between the two men. "Please cease fighting immediately! An unsanctioned battle between the Vampire race and an Exorcist is a direct violation of the Special Demon District Countermeasures Law."
"That spear of yours... it's the Schneewalzer, the Type-Seven Generalized Demon-Slayer Schneewalzer, isn't it? The unique weapon developed by the Lion King Agency specifically to combat the Demon race. I never expected to see the real thing here."
Eustach spoke calmly, but his tone instantly shifted in the next breath as he roared, "However!! Our target right now is the vampire standing before us, Sword Shaman of the Lion King Agency! You're next on the list once he's dealt with!"
"Astarte!"
At Eustach's booming command, the blue-haired, blue-eyed girl floated into the air. A giant, spiritual arm reminiscent of a giant's limb manifested from her back. Her eyes remained completely blank and hollow as she droned, "Executing order. Rododaktylos (Rose-colored Fingertips)."
Bang!
With a sinister smirk, Alucard drew his white firearm, Casull, catching both Eustach and Yukina off guard. A vampire who used guns?
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
A rapid succession of heavy rounds hammered into the spiritual arm. Before the limb could even get close to Alucard, it was completely blasted to smithereens. Eustach's expression shifted drastically. "To completely shatter Astarte's Familiar... Are your bullets... enchanted rounds?"
Alucard raised his left arm at a sharp ninety-degree angle, crossing his right arm holding Casull behind it to form an inverted cross. "What's the matter? Did having your Familiar's attack blocked paralyze you? If you want me dead, you should stop relying on toys and charge at me yourself!"
Eustach's expression contorted. Swinging his massive axe, he bypassed Yukina and lunged straight toward Alucard, shouting, "Astarte, keep attacking!"
"Rebooting. Command error. Re-accepting order. Resuming execution of command. Rododaktylos."
Two translucent, wing-like spiritual arms erupted from the young girl's back simultaneously. They coordinated with Eustach's frontal assault, descending upon Alucard in a brutal three-pronged pincer movement.
"Your attack patterns are amateur!"
Alucard's expression twisted into a manic grin. His left hand whipped the black firearm, Jackal, out from beneath his grand mantle. Crossing his arms, he unleashed a hail of gunfire toward the approaching spiritual limbs in the sky, blasting them to dust once more before they could even draw near.
"Stop it!!!"
Eustach roared in panic. The only reason he had implanted a Familiar inside Astarte's body was because this girl was the absolute linchpin of his entire plan. He was hunting demons specifically to harvest their magical power; if she was killed by the vampire in front of him, everything would be ruined.
"In that case, I'll just have to harvest your magical power to feed Astarte!"
Driven by desperation, Eustach brought his heavy battleaxe down, aiming directly for the crown of Alucard's skull. Yukina swung the Schneewalzer in an attempt to intercept the blow, but having been momentarily dazed by the sheer firepower of Alucard's dual guns, she was a step too late. She could only watch in horror as Eustach's blade cleaved completely through Alucard's head.
Having successfully yielded the customary first blood, Alucard's head was split cleanly in two. The massive, gaping wound extended from the top of his skull all the way down to his chest cavity, sending a fountain of crimson blood spraying violently into the air.
"Guh...!"
A silver-haired boy who had just arrived at the scene witnessed this incredibly gory display. He instinctively clamped a hand over his mouth, nearly vomiting on the spot.
"While it may not compare to the Lion King Agency's Type-Seven Generalized Demon-Slayer spear, this weapon was custom-engineered specifically to butcher vampires like you."
Eustach grinned, proudly displaying his blood-slicked axe. "Now, Astarte, absorb this vampire's magi—eh?!"
In the next fraction of a second, a spine-chilling sight unfolded. The blood and brain matter that had erupted from Alucard's body suddenly began to flow backward. The horrific, fatal wound closed and knitted itself back together perfectly in less than five seconds.
Alucard threw his hands wide, looking down to fix a cold, piercing gaze onto Eustach. "Don't you dare compare me to those low-class trash you call vampires."
"Y-You took our attack head-on, yet your wounds healed instantly... C-Could it be that you are the rumored Fourth Progenitor?!"
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