Chương 122: Disturbance stopped. Wincester’s short message.
With the call from Pablo, Vlad's eyes turned blood crimson while his hair began shifting toward the white color while the rest of the members, respectively Faust, Johan ducked down under the large wooden desk.
Everyone seemed alerted by this intrusion and took up their arm. However, the council members saw many bombs being thrown at them while the silver masked assassins covered themselves in their clocks, to not be affected by the explosion.
"Arghh, Your Excellencies, take cover and protect yourself at whatever cost." reminded Pablo, the council members, while he tried to stop some assassins.
Yet without much success, the bombs were flying toward them, and Nius looking with a cold expression on his face, began to take the bandages stably on his sword, which gradually revealed a blackish blade that began giving off dark, cold lights.
He seemed to take a sword stance to cleave those entire bombs moving toward the council table, but before he could release that attack, he watched as rapidly, blood began spreading ferociously.
'[Blood World]'
With the entire room being covered by his blood, and in doing so also had blocked the exit way for the assassins, he called out another skill while serpents began exiting from his hands.
Those serpents moved toward the 5 guards and grabbed all of them, suddenly moving them toward Vlad and the rest of the members.
"[Blood Aegis]" called out Vlad as a giant blood shield enveloped around the entire council members.
The simple members who never took part in such an event could only stare with shock and slight fear. Those were Faust and the three lower nobles.
"Brace for the shockwave." added Vlad to the people around him.
Before they could even react to his call, an enormous explosion happened in the room that created an intense blast that made them lose balance.
Sofiya was holding Opheltius, keeping him balanced, while Patrick easily braced himself for the impact, as if it was nothing for his seaborn feet.
Nius was having a cold, sharp expression as he held the black sword and held back on his attack.
"Motherfuckers. Those bastards even dare to attack us, like this!?" said Patrick with an angry tone while holding on to a chair and keeping himself balanced.
"Don't worry, grandpa Patrick, these assassins are trapped here." said Sofiya, while she pulled a pistol and kept her muzzle focused while Vlad's shield endured the entire shockwave.
Meanwhile, Vlad suddenly released his blood shield, and like a ghost, he moved toward those 30 assassins who tried to break the [Blood World] and taking Nemesis from his sheath he did a [Blood Slicer] that sent a big blood slash toward 4 of those assassins.
Instantly those assassins reacted and said with disdain to Vlad.
"Blood, to think you would show yourself like this and even bring all those valuable people. You've made our mission even easier."
With that assassin taking the lead in saying that they suddenly released a dark smoke substance that was, in fact, the energy of their body being released to fight back his sword slash.
"Push all your energy into blocking this strike. You've heard it from Lord Allestar, this Blood guy is a guy that could easily survive in the New World. Fight on. This is a test set for Lord Allestar to see if we will awaken our haki in this fight. If we do, we will also eliminate a worthy target that will impress the elders of the Union."
"Insignificant rat, do you even know where you are right now?" said Vlad with a cold tone while he was moving toward the 30 assassins who were focusing on blocking the blood sword slash.
"Your graveyard, you weak fool." said the assassin that seemed to be the leader of this group.
'That's what you Dark Union think about me? As somebody weak that will not even be able to fight you? Then I will show you some more of my powers and even you without playing with you, rats.'
'You want war with me? Then, I will show you why people called me a strigoi and made me up to be a monster in my first life.'
--" That's more like it, master. You usually take your enemies easy without fully unleashing your powers."--
Not bothering to reply to the dark being in his mind, his hair began turning fully white, and his body began releasing a huge amount of dark smoke-like energy, darker than what the energy inside these people was.
The assassins who blocked the [Blood Slicer] with success watched as Vlad's body began being covered in a dark smoke close to their energy, and some asked the leader.
"How does this guy from the Four Seas know about the Dark Arts? Wasn't this technique passed from generation to generation in our Union?"
"I don't know. Maybe it is something similar to Dark Art. But don't waver on those things. We will waste our time. Let's go target the rest of those weaklings while this guy is preoccupied with his change."
'Little rats, do you think I will need minutes to stabilize the dark energy into my armor?'
As the assassin leader said this, the 30 assassins split around, and each moved separately while their feet began releasing dark smoke, and with a large jump, they disappeared from the member's views and appeared jumping out of nowhere in front of them.
However, when one got closer to the group, specifically Kavos, and tried to kill him, Nius appeared like a ghost in front of that assassin and slashed with his black sword, splitting him in half.
Vlad also appeared at the back of an assassin who targeted Count Rohan and swiftly pierced his heart before quickly moving toward another assassin.
"Group up. Aside from Blood, there's also an old man who holds quite some power. Don't die like those greedy bastards." called the leader for some unity in the assassin's art.
Beginning their regrouping, Patrick and Sofiya fired at some of the assassins who seemed out of position, making them react like some bugs and use their defensive skills.
"[Shadow Veil]" called out 4 of the assassins targeted by Sofiya and Patrick.
Stopping a bit in place, it was enough of a break for Vlad and Nius to reach those assassins and unleash their strikes.
'[Death's Serenity]' Send out Vlad a sword slash that contained dark energy and some blood, that instantly scattered out the smoke like energy enveloping that assassin and dealing a deep wound on the killer's back, that made him scream with an agonizing voice.
"WHAT IS THIS!? WHY DO I FEEL MY WOUND GOING COLD!? HELP!?"
Barely able to call for help, he spasmed around like a person with chills before breathing his final breath.
Then, Nius, with an effortless manner, cut apart one of the assassins without even using a special ability. It was just some straightforward swordsmanship attacks.
Yet, it wasn't Nius or Vlad who made the biggest impression on this stage. Felicia also, using some swift motion, arrived beside one of those assassins who were veiled in a protective cloak and attacked using a short sword.
Yet her attack compared to Vlad's and Nius was blocked, yet she didn't stop there, instead of focusing using a series of sword strikes that shattered that veil and successfully piercing the target.
"Curse you whore. I will kill you." said that assassin who received Felicia's attack while his long dagger began being enveloped into a green aura that looked quite menacing.
Felicia saw as the assassins who had a sizable wound on him started a swift dagger attack.
'What!? How can this guy survive that attack inside his chest? Did I miss his heart? Now what? I'm too late to dodge this or block.'
Thinking that as she was seeing the dagger approaching her chest, it was all of a sudden that she was surrounded in a crimson armor that spikes out, stabbing with its thorns the assassin.
As the blood entered inside the assassin's wounds, Vlad used his haki to make the blood that made its way inside the assassin spike in his veins.
That assassin dropped down dead while also oozing a lot of blood.
"Tsk, those idiots got done by some bullets? No matter, it wasn't for them to survive. Prepare the assault formation. Everyone target Blood."
"[Dragon Fang]!"
As Vlad heard this, he saw all of the 24 assassins who grouped together took a stance with their weapons that began giving off some light blue aura and then sprinted toward him while dark smoke began taking over their feet and doing a jump in the air, disappearing.
"Careful, lad. Those guys cannot stay out of action for more." said Patrick while looking vigilantly at the room.
'Are you listening to me? How is this possible for people to have an ability close to what the dark energy can confer me.'
--"Would you believe me saying that I don't know?"--
'No. There is something that feels weird. All those Dark Union guys, with the exception of Allestar, use this shadow ability.'
Those assassins suddenly pooped out, making their entrance like they jumped from somewhere.
"Die, you arrogant bastard." said the leader while brandishing his dagger toward Vlad, who remained calm.
"Tsk, why are you guys so confident when you didn't even have your haki awakened properly. Such insolence that it can no longer be left unpunished."
His eyes turned dark from their usual crimson, and while staring at all these assassins moving toward him, a blackish shockwave was unleashed, targeting them specifically.
Nius, when seeing Vlad use this ability while seeming in control of everything, made him nod his head pleased by Vlad's progress, yet before that black shockwave made contact, he grasped his sword, and not long after that, his arm that was holding this sword turned black.
'I need to kill those guys to calm Gram's insatiable desire for bloodshed. If not, it will be hard to seal him back.'
Thinking that in his mind, he took an explosive step arriving at one side of those assassins and unleashed a sword strike that seemed a basic one.
However, as the black sword began moving closer and closer toward the assassin's, the atmosphere in the room turned into a frigid cold that even began turning Vlad's [Blood World] frosty.
"[Hell's Gates]"
After Nius decimated 8 of those assassins like a phantom, he made his way back to the council members who trembled from the temperature drop.
Taking the bandages, he began covering the sword's blade as the blade was releasing some cold temperature that started freezing the old man's hand as it was sealing the sword.
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Vlad took notice of this show of strength, even if it was briefly. Next, the dark wave made its target. He started flooding Nemesis with the dark energy flowing from his body and armor. Then, after not long, he made a spinning attack that released a powerful circular sword slash that moved menacingly toward all directions but mainly targeting the assassins in his path.
'[Banshee's Scream]'
The effects of this attack varied, especially after being hit by his morphed Conqueror's, which was just like what the dark being did when taking over his body against Belphel.
The effects of [Banshee's Scream] were except for sending a powerful sword slash to target the ones receiving this attack under the effects of [Mind Shatter] and [Nightmare], which felt more like curses that would put the receiver under constant mind challenges.
From the 13 left from the initial number who survived the strike, just one of those assassins collapsed under the effects of [Mind Shatter] and [Nightmare].
"You awakened your haki!? But how? Lord Allestar clearly said you don't have haki." replied the assassin leader, who felt plunged into a desperate situation while trying to figure out a way to get out of this place.
Vlad stared at this assassin, who seemed to be standing fine, even barely blocking his strike and taking in the effects of his other skills.
"Didn't that guy tell you that when he fought against me, it was 2 years ago? There are things bound to be changed in such a timeframe."
Grasping the longsword in his hand, Vlad began using a fast gait that made all the remaining assassins alerted. All looked at one another, and after a brief second, they nodded their heads and disappeared from their initial spot. In a split group of 6 and 7, they appeared targeting Sofiya and Opheltius, respectively Aldenis and Kavos, who were closer to the nobles.
Couth Rohan and Count Arden, who in all this fast commotion took up their arms, some ceremonious longswords, took to block some of the assassins, while Pablo and the other 5 guards also arrived close to Aldenis.
"If we can't kill you, Blood, we will decimate your dogs. At least we will be able to die without shame." said one of the assassins who targeted Aldenis together with the other 5 assassins.
"NOO!? POPS ALDENIS!?" roared Pablo and the other scarred guards who jumped in front of those brutal strikes.
Pablo successfully blocked one of the strikes going toward Aldenis, but one attack landed on his and cut open his stomach, dropping him on the ground. This didn't spell the end of the attacks, the assassins continued, and like they were possessed by someone, they kept attacking, and before Nius reached using his fast speed, two of the 5 guards dropped down while their hearts were wounded.
The old administrator had blood splashed all over him, coming from the guards who took those attacks for him. Still, in a shocked state, he saw Nius run his hand in the heart of an assassin coldly before also unleashing his Conqueror's Haki at a great intensity that unbalanced heavenly everyone in the room, with the exception of Vlad, Felicia, Patrick, and Sofiya and the assassin leader who was blocked by Sofiya's rapier while he was trying to kill Opheltius.
As they were slowed, Sofiya blocking the assassin with her sword, she pulled a gun and began firing 3 rounds toward him.
Pulling [Shadow Veil], the assassin deflected those rounds and still could see Sofiya look coldly at him, beginning an assault toward the assassin leader. At the same time, Patrick and even Opheltius, who took a short sword, began defending.
Patrick managed to kill 4 of those assassins using a feint where he would seem to pull the trigger on their heads, making them pull their defensive ability, but instead cut their throats when lifting the ability.
"Heh, if this is all about you Union little shits, then I really feel bad for Nius to have lost against you people."
Nius, who killed all of the assassins targeting Aldenis, did a cold snort, and with some of the daggers belonging to the assassins, he killed the other assassin who fought Patrick and was still alive.
"Those little shits are sent here to test the waters. Nothing more. Suiciding fools, they make me remember about that day and the mutt of that young bastard who stopped me."
Sofiya, who also doing good against the last assassin, kept her focus and managed to do some substantial damage to him before Vlad appeared next to her.
With a grabbing motion, he took the assassin by the throat, and using his blood abilities, he chained him up in such a manner that he wasn't even able to move a finger.
"You did well Sofiya, you didn't kill him."
'I wanted to kill him, but this guy was just too tricky.' thought Sofiya in her head when Vlad commented that, but she kept quiet and turned to look at Opheltius, who was sweating from swinging his sword, and Patrick, who seemed to be fine as if nothing happened.
Looking coldly at this assassin, he also placed a gag in his mouth so he wouldn't attempt to kill himself. Only after that, he turned toward Aldenis, who looked at Pablo and the other 2, who were in a bloody mess.
Quickly appearing before them, he checked the ones who seemed to be of short breath, and he noticed that they had wounds on their chest but who didn't fully penetrate their hearts.
"Calm down, Aldenis. Their wounds can be healed by my powers. Hey Pablo, you better grit your teeth and don't try to move too much, or I will also have to put your bowls together. You don't wish that to happen."
Saying this, he used his blood powers and even his blood world to raise those two guards walking closer to Hades's gates.
His black eyes shifted back to a full crimson color, and placing a drop of his blood in their mouths, he quickly had it flow toward their hearts and start scaring the slight wound on their tissue.
His forehead and white hair were slightly sweating, making the other people wonder what was going on. Only Vlad knew how complicated the process of regenerating and stimulating other's vital organs was to him. Yet, he kept his focus and slowly began the process of regenerating their scarred tissue.
After 8 minutes, he took a deep breath, and using his clotting ability, he created a protective barrier on the weapon wounds in their chest. While doing so turning to look at Pablo, who was hissing in agony.
"You are dealing with this situation quite well, Pablo."
Pablo opened his eyes and stared at Vlad's sweating face and wet hair and asked him.
"Your Highness, what about my two brothers?"
"They are stable now. However, those two will sleep for quite some time because their body entered into a comatose state, a shut down of their body to regenerate and heal back the wounds they received. Their hearts were slightly damaged in the process, but lucky for them, it didn't pierce it to create internal bleeding."
Creating some blood operating tools, or better called bisecting tools, Vlad used his blood powers to put the guard's intestine back in place, and using some blood threads that he placed on a blood needle, he began to sew his insides back while admiring the pain tolerance he showed.
After he was done with sewing his stomach back, he placed his hand on the freshly closed wound and began stimulating in that area the clothing effect of his body.
"Your Highness, I can't even put in words how much indebted to you." said Pablo with hardship while looking at Vlad's exhausted face.
"Don't be. Aldenis already paid back this debt of yours, similar to those 2 guys. Now just shut up and focus on conserving your energy for healing. You'll not be part of the war anyway."
Walking back to where he dropped that assassin, he used his blood powers to raise him vertically to meet his cold gaze.
However, what met him, was an indifferent gaze and with a disdainful expression on his face.
"You are not that foolish rat. Who are you?" asked Vlad while checking on his sudden change of attitude of this Union Member and also getting the gag off his mouth.
"Don't you remember me, little Zagreus? This is so cold of you. Didn't we play in the past?" said the chained assassin, with a voice tone that didn't seem to belong to him at all.
All short of thoughts ran in his mind with this question, and he could only think of a person who might know his second name, his persona name, and even have some past with him.
"So it is really you, Allestar Wincester. You really make me wonder what devil fruit you got up your sleeves?"
"Heh, it doesn't matter now, little Zagreus. It's not like you can do anything to me. However, I hope you enjoyed my gift to you." said Wincester with a friendly tone to Vlad, by what means unknown to Vlad or anyone else.
Then before Vlad could say anything, Nius acted a bit out of character and took the chained assassin up his throat and stared with some sinister eyes at him before saying.
"Parasites, you better give your prayers to whatever gods you have because, with this foolish act, you sparked something that you hold no control of."
The assassin who had his throat grabbed instead of trying to fight back or gesticulate his inability to breathe only gave a creepy smile on his face as he looked at Vlad, who tapped on Nius's shoulder.
"Thanks for the help, little Zagreus. Pathetic old man, I think I remember you. You were that rat who managed to escape from Cranfon's sword together with those 4 other plebs. As for your so-called attempt to rally me up, it's all useless. I'm only checking on you, and especially on little Zagreus."
"You've grown up, little boy. You even managed to master a bit those powers of yours and awaken your haki. Congratulations. But these are just soft words, boy. Listen, little Zagreus, I have a short message for you.
You Vermilions hold something that my masters wish to have, so for the memory of our friendly spar two years ago, I tell you this."
As Wincester said this in a casual tone, his tone dropped to a cold tone that seemed serious.
"Your only salvation against the Dark Union is to obey us and give us what we wish. This time, I am the one in charge, not Cranfon, who likes to play the nice guy. I give you one week time to tell me where you guys hold the Sun King inheritance hidden. If I don't get what I want, you better say your farewells to this kingdom. I will have all of your people slaughtered from the face of this world. All the women from child to adult will be sold into slavery and this damned land I will sell it to a World Noble since Lacillet is an incompetent puppet that already doesn't deserve such generous treatment from us, even if he knows Joker and Du Feld."
Ending saying that, the assassin's eyes shifted, and even his expression turned to a natural fearing one. It was genuine fear. Yet, after this shift, the assassin's head exploded all of a sudden, splashing all the blood and brain matter on Vlad and Nius' faces.
After this, the atmosphere inside the [Blood World] turned cold, as the walls of the world began shaking, a dark wave coming from Vlad and a dark blue wave coming from Nius shook the entire blood world.
"Those bastards really push the limit with my humiliation tolerance. Old man, tonight we formulate the strategy. In three-five days, we run down those Union Rats and those nobles."
Nius, whose face was also cold, just like Vlad's, looked at the headless body with his bloodied face and responded to Vlad in kind.
"You do your strategy while I start bringing my boys. Also, you better give me the command chain of your troops. I will see for myself how much of "elites" they are."
Turning to the rest of the members, especially to the nobles and Felicia, he said coldly with a serious tone.
"You heard it, guys? This is war. The enemy made their first attack. We will respond in kind. You better remain here, so you don't get killed by those assassins and summon your soldiers."
..............
A/N: Creepy ability on Wincester side. Can you guys guess what Devil Fruit powers he has? Come let me see what you have in mind, for Wincester.
Nius revealed a bit his powers and his sword. Your thoughts on the sword, if you got any?
Also, satisfying chapter? Everyone had some spotlight, tried to balance it out a bit.
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