Moonlight shone upon the ruins, casting long shadows of Lacus and René.
"Are we just going back like this?"
Lacus kicked a stone at his feet far away.
René didn't even look back.
"We can't exactly kidnap Yuichiro and bring him back; if the others wake up, we won't survive."
Lacus sighed, thinking that made sense.
"Yeah, they aren't exactly friendly toward Vampires. Whatever, if the Cute King scolds us, then so be it."
As they walked, Lacus asked again.
"Hey, René, what's the point of those humans anyway? Whether it's Krul, the Cute King, or those two Second Progenitors, they all seem to value them quite a bit."
René corrected Lacus's words.
"No, only the one named Yuichiro is valued; the others feel like mere extras."
Lacus looked at the moon and began to say dangerous things.
"The more it's like this, the more I want to drink that guy's blood! I really want to bite through his neck and feel him gradually go from struggling to powerless..."
Lacus's expression was already somewhat intoxicated, as if he had actually tasted Yuichiro's blood.
René's tone was flat as he offered a timely reminder.
"Drinking blood directly is against the law."
"What does it matter? Those are just the laws within Sanguinem."
René mocked him.
"But outside Sanguinem, you can't handle him on your own. Forget about his companions; you can't even beat him."
René felt that Lacus had gone too long without indulging himself and was becoming restless.
Lacus suddenly suggested.
"Why don't we go to Shibuya? There are still humans kept in captivity there!"
René thought for a moment and shook his head.
"There's no time. We should head back and report to the Cute King first. Plus, we need to bring back news about those two girls; individuals like that pose quite a threat to Sanguinem."
There was a reason Lacus and René were assigned missions together; René was much more rational than Lacus and could make better decisions.
Lacus also knew how to prioritize and said no more.
However, after leaving the note for Yuichiro, Lacus had been feeling uneasy, though he didn't know why.
Swish!
The sound of something cutting through the air reached them. Lacus instantly felt a chill down his spine. It was clearly too late to look back and assess the situation, so he could only dodge to the side. However, the attack was incredibly fast; despite Lacus reacting immediately, an arrow still blew his arm off.
"Ahhh!!!"
Demonic Aura began to spread through Lacus's body, and the pain made him let out a low howl. Fortunately, it hadn't hit any vital organs, or Lacus would have turned to ash on the spot.
René was also shocked and quickly looked toward the direction the arrow had come from. A figure stood on a distant, abandoned bell tower. Seeing that the first arrow hadn't finished Lacus off, the person felt a bit of regret and immediately placed their hand on the bowstring, clearly preparing to fire a second shot.
It was Saotome Yuichi! At this moment, Yoichi's face was covered in demon markings, and a pair of demon horns grew from his head. He had actually fired that first arrow while in a state of complete Demon Transformation.
René clicked his tongue. He hadn't expected they would be discovered! But he could only curse his luck as he quickly hoisted Lacus onto his shoulder and fled at full speed. Lacus's arm had been blown into pieces scattered everywhere; there was no time to pick them up.
In fact, if Saotome Yuichi were the only enemy, René could have placed Lacus behind cover and then approached Yoichi while prepared.
But the problem was that René had no information about the opponent. Who knew if only a long-range fighter had pursued them? He couldn't take that gamble.
Yoichi tried to aim at the running René, but every time he was about to lock on and fire, René would happen to be shielded by a tree or a broken wall.
"Damn it! Lacus!"
Seeing René about to run out of his range, Yoichi stopped trying to aim precisely and began firing rapidly by instinct. With every arrow he shot, the demon markings on his face deepened.
It was only because of his high natural talent and high compatibility with the demon that he could sustain this; anyone else consuming energy like this would have turned into a demon long ago.
But Yoichi truly couldn't stay calm. For nine years, he never dared to forget that night of the apocalypse when his sister hid him under the bed, and a Vampire broke in and drained her of blood until she died.
When his sister was tossed onto the ground by that Vampire, her eyes were wide open. Even though she had been terrified, she died that night for his sake.
And the culprit was Lacus!
It was Lacus who killed his sister. The reason he joined the Imperial Demon Army in the first place was so that one day, he could personally avenge her!
That was why, upon discovering Lacus and René, he hadn't called anyone and came out alone. He actually hoped that after discovering him, the two wouldn't run but would instead try to approach him.
As long as René placed the heavily injured Lacus behind some cover, Yoichi would risk everything to shoot through it just to kill Lacus!
Arrows rained down like a storm. Among them, three arrows transformed into Black Birds, controlled by Moonlight Rhyme as they flew closer and closer toward René and Lacus.
"Damn it!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The three Black Birds exploded, engulfing René and Lacus.
After firing the last arrow, Yoichi was completely exhausted. His vision blurred, and he collapsed straight down.
As for whether he hit those two, he didn't know. He only knew he was exhausted and drifted into a heavy sleep. He dreamed again of his sister being drained of blood by Lacus, falling to the ground with a look of horror, "staring" at him.
Tears streamed from the corners of Yoichi's eyes.
"Cough, cough..."
The dust cleared, revealing the battered figures of René and Lacus. Regrettably, René wasn't dead, and although Lacus had passed out, he still had a breath of life left.
René hoisted Lacus onto his shoulder again and leaped toward Sanguinem.
Of the three arrows that had turned into Black Birds, René dodged two, but his leg was hit. Although there was a small explosion, it wasn't fatal.
Of course, the curse power within the Demonic Aura of the explosion could still be lethal, so René had to hurry back to Sanguinem to purge it.
As René neared Sanguinem, he could no longer resist the erosion and collapsed to the ground.
"Is it... too late? I don't want to... turn into a demon..."
But as his consciousness faded, he felt himself being picked up.
"It's Lord René and Lord Lacus!"
The commotion from Yoichi's three small explosions wasn't exactly quiet in the night, and being close to Sanguinem, it naturally alerted the Vampires.
A patrol squad came out to investigate and happened upon the two captains, who were missing limbs.
On the other side, Yuichiro and the others found the unconscious Yoichi on the bell tower.
"He really is here!"
"Yeah, after all, there aren't many buildings that meet Yoichi's sniping requirements."
"Let's move to another location for now. The Vampires will likely have noticed something. We'll ask Yoichi about the details once he wakes up."
And so, they left with the unconscious Yoichi.
Tensions were high on both sides.
But if you were to say who was the most frustrated right now, it would definitely be Hiiragi Shinya, who was still inside Sanguinem.
You will get 30 chapter ahead for this fanfiction.
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