Ascendant Path of a Lustful Vampire

Chapter 566: Attagirl

...

While Aylin broke away from their group to tackle one of the two Klever Effigies that were charging toward Kaya, the others had to keep their eyes focused forward at the six other Effigies that were still running over.

Eloise was definitely levitating now. The ordinance of death was doing some strange—but very welcome things—to the strength of the sonic ripples that were exuding from her form. With a burst of magical energy, she increased her height in the air, and once she was above the six effigies, she raised her wands and struck them together in a crisp sound.

A spell circle blossomed, carrying with it a chime that sent chills across the necks of the six demons below. The Ordnance of death had become infused into Eloise’s spell, so the chime was like a dirge, heralding death—more specifically, the death of the demons below.

The Klever Effigies froze in place for a second struck by the awful tune and seemingly unaware of Aurelius and Delia drawing closer.

And then, Eloise fell.

Her fall was deliberate, controlled. She landed on her feet in the midst of the Klever effigies, hitting the ground and letting the gravity-altering vibrations of the deadly chimes loose.

The resulting boom sent them all to their knees. And just then, Aurelius and Delia drew close enough to make use of the advantage of Eloise holding the enemies down.

Aurelius held his spear diagonally, slamming it into two Effigies and knocking them so hard that they were lifted into the air and went flying a few feet away.

Delia swung her Warhammer, striking another two with a stormy might wrapped in the ordinance of death.

Eloise waved her wand at the two remaining Effigies, casting a spell circle that caused the very air to ripple around their bodies and essentially banished them from this plane of existence because they vanished.

By manipulating frequencies, Sound Mages can erase their presence by essentially shifting into a parallel plane. They could also do this to others, hiding them just as effectively.

The spell was originally devised for safety and survival, but since the Nightingale Family’s shift toward turning Sound Magic into combat magic, it has become very useful for espionage. And of course, it didn’t take long before an edition of the spell was created to not only hide another, but harm them in that parallel plane of existence as well.

A Fourth Circle level of the spell was not very reliable though. There were just not enough of the complex Arcane symbols necessary available at that level of magical understanding to make the spell work as it should.

As such, there were caveats to casting the spell at the Fourth Circle such as it only really succeeding against those opponents below the Fourth Circle and even then, if they had great force of will, they could pull free.

Eloise had learned the spell but refrained from using it since the caveats would make it useless against a Fifth Circle equivalent Demon. But now, armed with the Ordinance of Death as it strengthened her sonic arcanum, it seemed silly to even assume she couldn’t make the spell work.

The banishment didn’t last more than five seconds before the ripples reappeared and the two Effigies fell out. Despite the short duration though, their fangs were clenched tight, their flesh ripped up in places and their overall countenance made it appear as though they had truly gone through an ordeal.

But Eloise knew they had suffered even more than their appearance showed— she knew how much the Deathly Ordinance had wrapped its hold around them, swallowing them in its horrific chill.

They tried to stand but Eloise already had a spell prepared, summoning a spell circle that conjured a trumpet. The trumpet played a joyful tune, creating musical notes that coagulated into lances.

The lances descended.

The two Klever Effigies wrapped demonic energy around their bodies but only one rolled away in time to avoid the lances while the other was struck so hard that, despite being protected by its demonic energy, it was still planted face-first into the ground.

As she turned her sight to the one that had escaped her musical lance spell, Eloise did a sweeping glance over the scene and found that Delia was only battling one Effigy. At some point, the second Effigy Delia had struck had escaped her and run over to assist the Effigy Aylin was completely dominating.

Aurelius was holding his own against the two Effigies he was battling. Two-on-ones had been terrible for him today but he was doing a lot better now. At the very least, he still had a bright halo above his head and was exuding the brilliance of his goddess.

Kaya had managed to activate her trapping spell; She and the Staff-wielding Klever were standing in place, unmoving.

Would it work? Eloise wondered with a frown.

The potential consequences of what Kaya was doing weighed so much on Eloise’s heart that she was distracted long enough for the Effigy who had avoided her lance spell attack, to swing its broadsword at her neck.

”Ah!” Eloise cried out, casting a defensive spell just in time to ward off the attack but the force behind it still caused her to stagger a bit.

She gathered herself, planting her feet more securely on the ground with a spell at the ready when Klever’s face contorted due to some unseen pain.

Every one of the Effigies had the same expression.

Despite Eloise being sure the Effigies were all sharing the same singular mind, she had already confirmed how they didn’t share pain. That mind was very capable of multitasking and each effigy was able to simulate individualism.

But now, they did share pain. It was as though something had bypassed their simulated individualism...

”She did it,” Eloise said with her lips twitching in a smile.

Almost at the same time, a cry split the air. Every Klever had its mouth open. Despite the cry looking like it was coming from multiple lips, the sound itself was singular. Not a chorus of multiple voices but literally one voice, one sound out of multiple lips.

The abnormality of it caused Eloise to shiver but she wasted no time being bothered. With Kaya’s mental infiltration and attack incapacitating Klever’s mind, the Effigies were practically sitting ducks.

When she conjured her lances again, the Effigies didn’t and couldn’t roll to safety. They also couldn’t harness their demonic energy for defence.

By that point, the fact that the lances were also infused with a death ordinance seemed like overkill as they not only pierced the bodies of the two Effigies, but they also corroded their very being, stripping them of the very concept of ’life’ and turning their skin so pale that they almost appeared transparent.

...

Delia had dodged the Effigy’s attack and was in the middle of swinging her Warhammer at its head when its face contorted and it let out that eerie, singular sound of pain.

Because she had struck the demon many times already and had been parried, Delia was preparing for her strike to be blocked again. That was why she held her Warhammer with one hand and also drew back her fist that was cracking with the might of a storm.

The idea was to strike at the Demon’s head and once she was parried, she wouldn’t resist and would just use the force of the parry to pivot and strike out a blow the enemy would not be able to defend against on a whim.

Alas, as the Effigy cried out in pain, it was completely incapable of defending itself. The hammerhead struck so hard that it twisted the demon’s head atop its shoulders until its face was turned around. Its neck was broken and it was most certainly dead but Delia was already in motion and couldn’t/didn’t want to stop.

Her fist struck its chest. With no demonic energy coating its body, and no attempts to dodge, the stormy might coating Delia’s fist tore through the Effigy, creating a gaping hole that her fist broke through.

Delia just stared with a frown, pulling back her arm to dislodge the dead demon from it.

...

Aurelius was feeling more in control of the situation than ever before. He had just gone to his knees, sliding to avoid an attack and jabbing his spear through an Effigy’s ankle as he went, when the cry of pain sounded.

Aurelius didn’t try to understand the pain. He probably even assumed it was because of his spear stab. He leaped to his feet and wheeled around to stab his spear into the back of the Effigy he had hobbled already.

Aurelius should have found it peculiar that his spear met no resistance as that had not been the case at all so far today but he was far too keyed up to notice. He pierced where the demon’s heart should be and his spear also unleashed a flare of brilliant light, burning a bigger hole around the wound, killing the creature.

Aurelius pulled out his spear, and without thinking, he stabbed it through the neck of the second Effigy. His spear once again flared, ripping the creature’s throat and doubling his kill of the day.

...

Aylin snatched the rope of Klever’s meteor hammer, using that to immobilize its weapon. At the same time, she flexed her wrist to unleash spikes of ice armed with the Ordinance of death to strike the second Effigy she was battling.

Aylin didn’t expect the attack to succeed. She was mostly doing her best to hold off the Effigies until Kaya succeeded with her mental infiltration plan.

So when the cry of pain sounded, she smiled.

”Attagirl,” she said with a sweet smile on her lips.

Kaya’s success coincided with Aylin’s launching of the ice spikes. So an attack that was actually very simple and would have ordinarily been stopped easily by the Effigy, now riddled it with holes. The Effigy’s face was still contorted with the look of pain from whatever Kaya had done when it hit the ground dead.

Without sparing it a glance, Aylin pulled the rope she was holding, yanking the second Effigy closer while it was still incapacitated by the strange pain.

Aylin struck her palm against the Effigy’s chest, infusing its heart with a chill that was equal parts ice magic and equal parts Death Ordinance. The chill froze the Effigy from the inside out.

It was over in a few minutes and when Aylin let the Effigy go, it hit the ground and shattered into a thousand tiny pieces.