Blood Awakening: The Strongest Hybrid and His Vampire Bride

Chapter 729: The True Force Arrives

“Dad must love Mother a lot…”

Selene muttered words as the rain started to fade, watching as Vladimir stood over the ash and blackened blood staining the ground where Selena’s face had appeared moments before.

Vladimir didn’t react to her comment; he stood watching the clone’s charred remains with a solemn expression.

‘Even if a fake, you still resembled my wife, and so I cannot help but hope you find peace and happiness in the next life.’

His violet flames slowly withdrew into his body, leaving steam seeping from the wounds across his shoulder and side. His torn coat danced in the wind as his eyes remained fixed on the place where the clone had collapsed.

After a momentary pause, he turned back to his daughter.

She almost felt as if he’d aged slightly.

His eyes became deeper, and the faint smile faded from his lips, replaced by a stone-faced expression.

“Of course I do, Selene.”

Then he exhaled and turned away.

“D-Dad!?” Selene quickly chased after him and grabbed his arm. “Wait!”

Vladimir glanced back at her from the corner of his eye. “What, are you surprised?”

“N-Not surprised, but you’ve never really shown it so clearly before.”

His expression twisted before he stared off into the distance, watching the other members of the alliance fight as his lips curved into a crescent shape.

“I see, well… that’s because your mother is just too lovely.”

“Eh, how does that even make sense?” Selene didn’t receive an answer, but seeing her father’s smile, she didn’t really want to disturb him.

Then her face suddenly brightened, her eyes almost shining.

“Make sure you tell mother she’d be extremely happy.”

She giggled at the way her father appeared to freeze on the spot, before he took a second glance at his daughter. “Would she?”

“Of course!”

“She deserves to know.”

“Your mother will laugh at me for years.”

“Then suffer bravely, Father.”

Before Vladimir could answer, a golden body crashed through the smoke on the western side of the breach.

Dimitri’s clone hit the ground shoulder-first and carved a trench through the blood-soaked concrete. Its fur was torn open in several places, and black blood matted the golden glow stolen from Dimitri’s battle form. It tried to rise, but a heavy black bat smashed into its knee before the limb could straighten.

Bang!

Nikita stood over it, soaked from head to toe with her hair pulled back messily, revealing her large forehead and a small scar.

“Stay down, fake old man.”

“Grrr!”

The clone lunged at her with its fist.

But before it could land, Dimitri’s massive fist caught the wrist and twisted it until the bones snapped in half.

“Don’t call me old; look at how youthful and energetic your dad is!”

“But you’re still old.”

“I’m in my prime!”

“Peh, whatever.”

The fake Nagisa darted through the wreckage, wounded but desperate as she raised her hand full of foxfire, ready. Though her illusions grew weaker, her flames grew stronger the longer the battle went on.

Nikita’s eyes snapped towards her mother’s clone, no longer hesitating.

“Mom would’ve struck before I even realised!”

She quickly leapt to the side, attempting to dodge the blow.

With a quick spin, she shot a burst at the clone.

The bullet struck the fake Nagisa’s shoulder and tore through the joint. The clone staggered, and Dimitri moved with a sudden speed that didn’t match his huge size. His hand closed around the kistune’s throat.

“Forgive me, but I can’t let you live.”

His voice was raspy and deep as he tightened his grip around her neck.

“Dad…”

Dimitri’s golden aura brightened around his hand.

The fake Nagisa’s lips opened, perhaps to imitate something, perhaps to smile again.

Dimitri crushed her throat before a sound came out.

Then he slammed her into the ground.

The concrete shattered upon impact, in countless spider-like webs as her black flames scattered powerlessly across the puddles of water and blood before becoming dying embers.

Nikita stepped behind her father, glancing at the clone, before she closed her eyes with a huff.

‘Don’t blame yourself, blame my mother for being annoying!’

Vwoom!

She swung the silver-banded bat with all her strength and crushed the clone’s chest, her ribs shattering the core of her heart in the process.

“We have to make sure.”

Dimitri punched through the broken cage and ripped out the foul core.

Then crushed it into dust.

The fake Nagisa’s body fell apart beneath the cold air, turning into a mix of black sand and blood, with only a few strands of loose hair remaining.

“Mom would’ve been mad if we hesitated.”

Dimitri wiped his hand on the remains of his torn coat.

“Your mother would’ve called us both idiots.”

“Yeah.”

“She would be right.”

“Yeah.”

The fake Dimitri rose behind them.

Even with one knee ruined and one arm hanging loose, it still moved. Its body swelled with the last of its stolen golden aura, pushing itself past the damage like a beast that didn’t understand death.

Dimitri turned.

Nikita lifted the bat again.

Father and daughter moved at the same time.

Dimitri took the charge head-on, catching the clone by both shoulders as the impact drove him back through the flooded lane. Nikita slipped beside them and smashed the bat into the wounded knee again, then again, each strike hitting the same ruined joint until the leg folded beneath its own weight.

The fake Dimitri dropped.

Dimitri roared and drove his fist through the clone’s chest.

Nikita shoved her rifle into the same opening.

“Now die properly!”

She pulled the trigger until the magazine emptied, silver rounds tearing through the core as Dimitri’s golden aura crushed the body from the outside. The clone convulsed once, black blood spraying across both of them, then collapsed into the resin without rising again.

Nikita breathed hard, shoulders moving with each breath.

Dimitri looked at her and grinned.

“You did well.”

“Obviously.”

His grin softened.

“For real, I’m so proud you’re my daughter.” He placed his large hand on her head before ruffling and messing up her hair while smiling.

Nikita clicked her tongue and looked away.

“Don’t make it weird.”

“I’m your father. Making it weird is my right.”

“Disgusting.”

Most of the large battles on the western lane ended, bringing a momentary silence. Though gunfire lingered in the distance as debris fell from the cracked walls, it appeared the battle was all but won.

Several Nosferatu elders were still moving too, but their formation had broken. Without the parent clones pressing the breach, the outpost’s defenders began to push the dead things back step by step.

Ivan stood near the centre lane with Nikolai in his arms.

His son was still unconscious, but his wounds had already started healing rapidly; he lay Nikolai atop a fallen stone pillar, using his jacket to keep him warm.

“Don’t you dare die after showing off like that,” Ivan grumbled.

Nikolai didn’t respond, but Ivan couldn’t help but smirk to himself, thinking back to the battle he watched.

“Well, you did well… it seems time for me to step forward.”

Dimitri reached them first, dragging one half-dead Nosferatu elder by the neck before throwing it aside for the Fenrir soldiers to finish.

“Your boy still alive?”

Ivan glared at him before shaking his head. “Fool, of course he is.”

Dimitri raised both hands.

“H-Hey, don’t glare at me like that, brother…!”

Vladimir arrived beside Selene a moment later, flame still crawling around his wounded hand. Selene kept close to him, her face pale from blood loss but her eyes calm.

“It seems their damn attack has failed,” Vlad grumbled.

“Husband!” Selene quickly dashed from his side and ran to Nikolai; the poor vampire king’s shoulders trembled as he watched her skip away.

Nikita wouldn’t let Selene steal all the juicy bits as she sat quietly beside Nikolai’s head, stroking his cheeks with a faint smile. “Don’t be so loud; he’s just sleeping.”

For a moment, it seemed like peace would come to the outpost.

Until a sudden wave of aura spread through the entire area.

The remaining elders and clones all dropped to their knees, as if praying for the return of a god. Each of them faced the darkness to the east, as a new group appeared.

Ivan’s gaze sharpened.

“Looks like the real deal is here now.”

“Tsk, after wasting so much time on our clones… we’re a little outmatched.”

“….”

Two rows of elite vampire mutants stood in neat rows, wearing black tactical uniforms with the Nosferatu emblem on their chest. Behind them walked older vampires, wrinkled and elderly, but the power leaking from their bodies dwarfed that of the earlier ones.

“It’s their damn council members…” Ivan snorted.

“Why the hell did they leave their stinking coffins?”

“Probably to deal with us, Dimitri,” Vladimir said with a sigh.

They were Alucard’s true forces.

The outpost fell into a tense silence broken only by rain and the groans of the wounded.

Then Alucard appeared.

He walked through the centre of his soldiers wearing a long black coat, untouched by mud despite the battlefield beneath his feet. His red eyes moved across the broken eastern wall, the ruined clones, the dead elders, Dimitri’s blood-soaked grin, Vladimir’s burning glare, and Selene and Nikita standing with their weapons ready.

Finally landing on the sleeping Nikolai, his lips curled into a deeper smile.

“Come closer, and I’ll tear your head off,” Ivan said, warning the vampire who stood ten metres away.

Alucard did not seem offended.

“What a rather rude welcome, Volkov boy… have you forgotten to honour your elders?”

“What elder, you damn bag of bones!”

A woman stepped from behind him.

Mikaela, in her maid uniform, glanced at Ivan and the others; her eyes lacked much reaction until she saw the wounded Selene, Nikita and Nikolai. She grabbed her arm, squeezing it tightly before taking a deep breath.

When she smiled, shark-like teeth showed.

“Alucard,” she said, her voice deep and smoky. “Do we have to do this now? The target doesn’t look like he’s in a state to help us?”

He did not look back.

“It has become inconvenient.”

“Inconvenient? You sent clones of our wives after us, and it’s just inconvenient?”

“That was Franz, not me. Child.”

“You expect that to matter?”

“No, I guess not. Even if it were a random dog, you’d still want me dead, right?” Alucard’s words were colder than the icy rain. “It seems that a conflict cannot be avoided, Mikaela. Do forgive me for making you see more blood.”

Mikaela’s smile faded.

“Then forgive me for not stopping you.”

Alucard paused.

Then looked at his wife with an almost bewildered expression, before she glanced back at Nikolai with a solemn smile.

“If we do not act now, you will lose me forever, right?”