Yoruichi stared in shock at the newly arrived Crusaders, her expression incredibly grim.
"Weren't they coming to help?"
Ren replied coldly, "Hardly. They are clearly here to play the fisherman and reap the rewards."
The Church of England and the Roman Orthodox Church—there was no world in which those two would ever see eye to eye.
Just as the supreme leader of the Crusaders, Enrico Maxwell, had declared, the helicopters in the sky were fully armed and began a sweeping strafe of the survivors on the ground. They made no distinction between friend and foe. Whether human or vampire, anything that moved was subjected to a merciless assault.
Bullets poured down and artillery shells fell like rain, subjecting the already ravaged London to a renewed baptism of iron and fire. The flames of the explosions reached for the heavens, and the violent shockwaves shook the earth without pause. They blew the weeping residents into pieces and dragged the Nazi battalions of the vampires into a sea of fire.
The Archbishop of the Crusaders continued his broadcast across the city, laughing wickedly.
"Die! Die! Die! Kill them all just like that! Whether they are heretics or monsters, kill them all!"
"You lowly worms, while you are still alive, look up! Look closely and see for yourselves—this is the power of the Vatican!"
"The only good heretic is a dead heretic! Hahahaha!"
As the wails of the civilians trapped in the bombardment reached her ears, Yoruichi grit her teeth. Her spiritual pressure could no longer be suppressed; it surged outward like a tide. Just as she was about to move, Ren caught her again.
"Ren, I can't take this anymore! We have to stop those bastards from this massacre!"
"I told you, no!" Ren gripped Yoruichi's hand and pulled her into his embrace, preventing her from making a move. "This is war! A life-and-death struggle between the living!"
"As outsiders—and as beings who have already died—we have no business interfering."
Yoruichi struggled with all her might, but no matter how she writhed, she could not break free from her husband's restraint. She shouted, "But those people dying are just ordinary civilians! They did absolutely nothing wrong, yet they're caught up in this. To die innocently like this, to be trampled and slaughtered at a whim... it's absurd!"
Ren suppressed the strength rising from Yoruichi's body and said, "That is exactly what war is! Once war breaks out, it doesn't matter who is innocent. Only whether the strategic objectives are met!"
Seeing that she couldn't escape Ren's hold, Yoruichi's struggles gradually ceased. She looked up, a glint of moisture appearing in her golden eyes as her lips trembled slightly.
"Ren... just what did you experience... to have such a cruel outlook?"
Compared to the slaughter surrounding them, what truly chilled her was her husband's perspective on war. Looking at Ren's expression, Yoruichi suddenly realized that he must have walked through such a hell before, which was why he possessed such a profound and stark understanding of conflict.
Ren remained silent for a moment before slowly shaking his head.
"Yoruichi, perhaps I shouldn't have brought you here from the start. If I hadn't, you wouldn't have had to witness this sight. You wouldn't be trapped in this conflict within yourself."
As the two spoke, a crimson figure flashed across the roof next to them, racing toward the distance. A trail of bloody aura followed in her wake. Ren let go of Yoruichi, and the two followed the direction with their eyes, taking in the appearance of the red-clad figure.
It was a woman who looked quite young. She was missing an arm, and the blood flowing from the wound had transformed into a wing as sharp as a blade, glowing brilliantly in the dark night. She leaped across the rooftops and vanished from their sight in the blink of an eye.
"That wasn't a human either!" Yoruichi sensed the aura coming from her; there wasn't a trace of life.
Ren nodded slightly. "A vampire."
That brief moment had been enough for him to see the girl's face. She was likely Seras Victoria, the direct fledgling of the Vampire King, Alucard.
The Crusaders who had suddenly descended onto the battlefield had already found their landing zones. Fully armed soldiers exited the cabins and formed ranks. Eventually, the remnants of the Nazi vampire battalion also began to gather, heading toward the Crusaders' position. Both sides, fully equipped, faced off in a wide plaza.
Suddenly, Ren turned his gaze toward the River Thames. Yoruichi followed suit, her brow furrowing. She too sensed that something was approaching from the distant sea.
"That is—" Ren's eyes widened, and a flash of realization crossed his features. It seemed the protagonist had arrived.
In the misty mouth of the Thames, a blurry silhouette of a ship appeared. As the silhouette advanced, a dilapidated vessel pierced through the fog, gradually revealing its true, clear form.
A tall, red figure stood on the deck at the bow. He opened his mouth wide, revealing razor-sharp teeth in a grin that seemed to split his face. Those crimson eyes radiated a bloodthirsty intent as they fixed onto the confrontation between the Crusaders and the Nazi Battalion. A manic murderous intent permeated the air, spreading across the entire battlefield with the fog.
Yoruichi felt that massive presence and the scent of blood that wafted over as he appeared. Her face became exceptionally pale.
"Such heavy slaughterous intent... Is it another vampire? Just how many people do you have to kill to have a scent of blood like that!"
Ren said in a low voice, "At least a million to start."
"How is that possible!" Yoruichi blurted out in shocked denial, but when she saw the solemn expression on Ren's face, her heart skipped a beat. She knew her husband; he wasn't the type to joke about such things. Could it be?
As the ruined ship sailed into the Thames, the vampire on board, drenched in the aura of blood and holding twin black and white pistols, leaped high into the air. He vaulted over layers of buildings and landed right in the center of the battlefield where the Crusaders and the Nazi Battalion were facing off!
His long coat flared behind him like wings as the vampire landed slowly, standing composed in the midst of ten thousand soldiers. Following the vampire's arrival, pages of a bible fell from the sky, shimmering with golden light in the dark night. A tall, well-built priest landed on the ground. He walked toward the vampire, his movements causing the crucifix hanging from his neck and his round glasses to glint with a cold, sharp light.
Boom!
An airship hovered overhead, and a khaki-colored figure dropped from it, slamming into the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust. He also began walking toward the vampire.
The vampire, the priest, and the werewolf captain.
The strongest combatants of the three factions in this war—each radiating a chilling hostility—finally converged beneath the same forest of guns.
Ren stood atop the high building, looking down at the three major powers gathered below, his face a mask of solemnity. He looked at his wife, his gaze revealing a hint of gravity.
"Next, I'm afraid a great war is about to break out. A battle that both you and I could hardly imagine!"
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]