Chapter 165: Central Sector [2]

The encampment was gone. What was left was chaos. Vampires pouring from every shadow. Hundreds of them. Moving too fast and hitting too hard and not stopping.

’How did they get inside?’ Leon’s thoughts were running hot. ’How does an army this size appear inside our territory from nothing?’

He slammed both palms together.

A massive geometric spell circle exploded into existence beneath his boots spinning fast and blazing white. Every soldier within range felt it coming and scattered.

BOOOOOOOM!

The blast radius swept three hundred sixty degrees and the frontline vampires caught all of it simultaneously. Dozens went airborne. The shockwave carved a temporary gap in the assault wide enough that the human units could breathe.

"FALL BACK TO THE SECONDARY WALL!"

"SIR LEON IS HOLDING!"

Leon stood at the broken gate alone his chest heaving. Sweat ran down his face and his hands were shaking but his eyes were still open and still watching.

’Just a little longer... Until they get here.’

Then the air changed.

The temperature dropped. The noise of the battlefield seemed to get quieter even though nothing had stopped.

A cold suffocating pressure settled over the entire sector.

Leon turned slowly.

In the sky above the rear vampire forces a dense crimson sphere materialized from nothing. It rotated slowly pulling atmospheric mana into itself like a drain. Getting bigger. The surface cracked along jagged red fault lines that glowed brighter and brighter until—

CRACK

It shattered into a curtain of falling crimson light.

And from the center of that light a figure stepped calmly onto the blood-soaked earth.

Snow-white hair past his shoulders. Eyes the exact same shade of crimson as the sphere that had announced him. An expression that was completely detached from the burning carnage around him as if none of it was particularly interesting. A dark cloak dragged through the mud behind him and across the shoulder of it sat an ancient noble crest that Leon had never seen before but felt like he should recognize.

The Ravenveil bloodline.

Every vampire on the field stopped moving. The ones still mid-swing lowered their weapons. The ones who had been advancing simply halted. They bowed their heads without being told to. The high-ranking commander nearest to the figure dropped immediately to one knee.

"Lord Zeus. We have successfully infiltrated the human central sector as Lord Planner commanded."

Zeus looked across the burning encampment with no particular expression. "I see."

His voice was quiet.

His eyes moved across the human soldiers scrambling to form a secondary defense line and there was nothing behind his gaze.

"Where is Seris."

The commander hesitated for one second. "Your sister—" He caught himself and bowed lower. "Lady Seris has not yet been located by the human leadership. She continues her covert operation inside the academy structure."

Something moved in Zeus’s expression which couldn’t be called as either hatred or even genuine acknowledgement. "Good."

He started walking forward at a pace that was almost casual. His boots stepped through blood and broken wood and he didn’t look down once.

"Erase this sector."

The commander looked up. "Lord Zeus?"

"Cause as much destruction as possible." Zeus’s eyes moved across the human lines without expression. "However." He stopped walking. "Do not kill them all." His lips moved into something that was the shape of a smile. "Capture as many humans possible and alive. We require fresh stock."

The commander bowed deep. "By your command!"

In the other side of area, the horde surged.

"NOT ON MY WATCH!"

Leon was already moving. Both hands snapped forward and a triple-layered magic circle tore open in the air in front of him three times the size of the last one.

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The wave of force that came out of it vaporized the entire lead vanguard and threw the next thirty back hard enough to shatter the wooden barricades they hit. The human medics behind Leon ran. Every one of them made it through the gap.

"MOVE! DON’T LOOK BACK!"

"SIR LEON IS BUYING TIME!"

Leon stood in the ruined gateway alone and his hands were shaking badly now. His mana reserves were bleeding out fast. He was running on instinct and fury and the specific stubborn refusal to let another person die while he was standing here.

’Just a few more minutes. Come fast you guys... Please.’

Then the pressure hit him in the chest like a physical blow and stopped his breath.

Leon turned his head.

Zeus was walking toward him through the smoke.

But his right hand wasn’t empty.

Leon’s heart stopped.

His little sister.

Emilia hung from Zeus’s grip by her throat. Her feet weren’t touching the ground. Her small hands were clawing at his thick wrist trying to get purchase and finding none. Her face was already going pale and the terror in her eyes was the worst thing Leon had ever seen in his life.

He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t move. The battlefield was still roaring around him but none of it was reaching him anymore. It had all gone somewhere very far away and the only thing that existed was the sight of his sister’s legs dangling uselessly above the dirt.

Zeus tilted his head and looked at Emilia the way you look at an object you’re deciding whether to keep. "Interesting." He examined her face with cold clinical detachment. "The density of your mana structure and the refinement of your control suggests significant noble lineage." His thumb pressed very slightly into her throat. "And you smell... exceptionally rich."

"Gkh!" Emilia’s eyes filled with tears. Her hands kept clawing. "L-Let... me go..."

Something broke inside Leon.

The strategy vanished. The responsibility of wearing a Spire’s crest vanished. The chain of command and the war and the kingdom and every calculated thought he had been holding onto for the last hour all burned away at once into a single absolute thing.

His sister was in the hands of a monster.

And he was standing right here.

"LET GO OF HER!!!!!!!!"