Somewhere in the Vampire Lands, around four to five minutes before Ayleen Mayfield arrived at the ruined Red Fortress and commenced one of the Intrinsic Effects of the Fog of Scythe Nightmare, "Dream Strike," which allowed her to deal damage on the soul of the target, regardless of distance, as long as the target was seen on a memory.
At this moment, sitting on an ashen chair made of monsters' skulls, a Vampire Baroness, just above the Vampire Knight or Vampire Wizard – similar to Vampire Soldiers, but received proper training and could either become a Vampire General, Vampire Major General, or Vampire Grand General – savored the scenery of her territory from the balcony of her extravagant home.
"Those humans would learn that they shouldn't have formed an alliance with those damned Elves."
The Vampire Baroness – shoulder-length black-haired, pale-skinned, crimson-eyed, and donning a black shirt under a night dress – muttered before reaching for a chalice placed atop a circular dark table.
"Hahaha! That simple strategy wouldn't work with those Elves after experiencing several wars. To be honest, it's quite surprising that the Elven Queen might not have informed those humans of our simple war strategy, or perhaps it's too late now."
Sitting across from the Vampire Baroness, her husband, a Vampire Baron – short black-haired, crimson-eyed, donning a black shirt under a night coat – said in a casual manner before also reaching for a chalice containing crimson blood, but this time, it was not from the Elves as their blood was considered precious and mostly served on formal occasions.
"Oh, dear. I have no care about the fate of those humans, though I hope for our underlings to do well ravaging those lands. After all, we're waiting for the cue of the Vampire Lord before attacking the Elves head-on. It will be the same, a confrontation on a battlefield just like in the past."
"Sigh, you are excited to see fresh Elven blood after all these years, my dear. Well, if I think about it, I believe everyone seems elated, especially after the appearance of an enigma of our Goddess.
"Aside from that matter, how about we temporarily forget it and do something while we're waiting? You know, heh heh."
A chuckle escaped from the Vampire Baron's mouth before glancing at his wife, holding the chalice with her right hand.
"...Dear?"
At that moment, quickly sensing that something was amiss or different from the Vampire Baroness, his crimson eyes constricted as he scrutinized his wife sitting across him. After a few seconds of thoroughly looking, what he then saw was an empty pair of crimson eyes, which lost the luster that determined it to be alive.
"Dear-!"
Standing from his seat and approaching the Vampire Baroness, the Vampire Baron shook her shoulders, confused about his current predicament. He was panicking because he was ignorant of what was happening, but those empty eyes were familiar as a Vampire noble. What he didn't know was the method of how it was done.
"...What's happening?! Dear-!"
He said in a firm voice, which was heard by some Vampire Maids. Some of the maids rushed onto the balcony and asked in wonder, but they couldn't open their mouths since the Baron, their lord, wasn't speaking to them first.
'Her soul's dead… she's dead, but how!?'
The Vampire Baron thought as he glanced at the two Vampire Maids, standing and waiting for orders that were not beyond the scope of their capabilities.
'Yes… the Vampire Lord might have a solution! I don't care what price I must pay!'
Stilling his resolve, he then ordered the two Vampire Maids.
"Go and look for the Vampire Lord. Please, tell him that I'm requesting an immediate audience."
The two maids glanced at each other, almost instantly realizing the absurdity of the Vampire Baron's command.
"L-lord, b-but we have no right to even see him."
"Just do what I say! You fucking useless bitch!"
The Vampire Lord slammed the circular table, causing the two maids to flinch. He was just a Vampire Baron, which was considered to be several ranks away from the Vampire Lord. In other words, the order given to the two maids was basically him asking to be ridiculed by the other nobles.
The two maids fell silent at the words of their lord. After ten to fifteen seconds, one of the Vampire Maids then opened her mouth.
"...It's kind of hilarious that something called 'love' dwells in every intelligent race."
Almost at the same time, the other Vampire Maid interjected, following after the words of the other.
"...Well, well. It's like a coin. Love's on one side, but it's hypocrisy on the other."
Hearing the change of tone, and seeing the change in the demeanor of the Vampire Maids, the Vampire Lord's crimson eyes dilated, causing him to instinctively raise his guard. But this judgment was being clouded by his wife, whose soul perished due to unknown causes. This then made him suspect the two Vampire Maids as he shouted, fuming in anger.
"...You two did this! Di-!"
The Vampire Baron, acting in emotion, lunged forward as he bared his two white, pierced fangs, ready to devour the two maids in his way. However, at that moment, his vision turned three-hundred-sixty repeatedly.
"W-what…?"
Simply put, without sensing the presence of one of the Vampire Maids, the Vampire Baron's head was cut off and rolled from the air, and to the floor.
Without responding to his confusion, the heart of his body was then pierced, which then killed him instantly. But, as someone who came in contact with or at least tasted the blood of a Vampire Lord in any way possible, his body didn't turn into grey dust.
***
Sometime later, one of the Vampire Maids took out a scythe from her Dimensional Inventory before activating a skill, which would allow the two Vampire Maids' companions.
[Activating Skill: Bridge of Memory]
[Establishing a memory bridge from the target's memory.
[The memory bridge has been created.]
[Summoning the specific individuals from the target's memory...]
"Whooa. There are truly diverse skills related to teleportation, huh."
The target of the skill, the other Vampire Maid, acknowledged the wonder of the utilized skill.
After a minute or two, the two Vampire Maids' companions arrived as purple dust emanated from the air around the target of the skill.
"...Russell, are you certain about this?"
"Yes, Miss Ayleen."
Russell Moon succinctly answered the question, which referred to the 'main mission' assigned to the Umbra Mercenary.
'...What an overpowered skill. I'm glad I've written about her to be that way, though it's somewhat similar to Czerina's Strike Transmission, with a clear difference.'
Russell Moon thought, remembering the details of the Intrinsic Effect: Dream Strike and the Unique Skill used by Czerina, who managed to previously kill him.
The Intrinsic Effect or the Skill: Dream Strike would allow Ayleen Mayfield to attack any desired individual from the target's memory. With that aside, she could also almost instantly teleport someone within the target's memory.
In other words, the memories of the Vampire Commander that was killed earlier on the Red Fortress were connected to the Vampire Baroness. This allowed Ayleen Mayfield to see the Vampire Baroness, which then gave her an opportunity to strike the latter's soul. Apart from that, this also allowed her to teleport near one of the "real" Vampire Maids, which she then easily get rid of.
On the other hand, the Skill: Bridge of Memory, if activated, would allow Ayleen Mayfield to summon specific individuals from the target's memory, but she could also use it to summon someone from her own memory. However, this was meant for allies as it included permission from the targets' – the initial and the ones to be summoned – permission.
"Hmm. I'll trust you. Anyway, we should probably give this now. Samantha...?"
Ayleen glanced at Samantha, whom she did summon from her own memory and the one who acted as the other Vampire Maid.
"I think it'll be better for her to wear it."
Before Samantha could say anything, Russell interjected.
He was referring to the Mythical Rank artifact, the Ring of Crimson, which allowed one's physique and race to be changed. And currently, they possessed two of such: One came from Ruina, while the other came from Tanya – the two former Obelisk Students, who turned out to be vampires and spies.
"So you and Samantha will use each Ring of Crimson.
"Anyway, I hope the plans are clear. Let's focus, everyone, and until then, survive!"
Ayleen Mayfield said in a firm manner before she glanced at Freya Moon, who then nodded in the permission of allowing the former to snatch away the soul of the Vampire Baron to be sent to the World of Nightmare to suffer.
***
'...What a weird feeling this is.'
Russell Moon inwardly muttered. He just changed the structure of his body with the help of the Ring of Crimson, but this time, he wasn't in a maid outfit, rather, his facial features were similar to that of the Vampire Baron. On the other hand, Samantha looked like the Vampire Baroness, which made her feel awkward considering the relationship between the original Vampire Baron and Vampire Baroness.
Regarding the other companions that came through Ayleen's Bridge of Memory, they were hiding in the mansion, waiting for their turn, depending on the progress of the mission.
'All right! Time to look for the right place. Well, I just know the right place. After all, I'm the one who wrote about this land.'
He thought, glancing at the scenery from the balcony where the two previously alive vampires were having drinks.
"...Hmm, why did you let me wear this ring? I mean, there's Elizabeth who can teleport, which can increase the efficiency of this crucial mission for this war."
Samantha's voice cut off Russell's thoughts. The latter then looked at her before answering in a casual manner.
"...You already said it. It's because Elizabeth can teleport away so she doesn't need it."
'I, as well as my Chaos Companions, possessed the Attribute: Nihility, so it's nearly impossible for us to be detected unless we allowed the others too.'
He thought, letting out a sigh. Samantha was the only one here who didn't have the means to escape in case the situation deviated from the assumed flow of the plan.
"I see... Okay."
Samantha turned her back and sauntered inside the bedroom, where the balcony was attached to.
'Huh...? Is she sulking? Sigh, whatever. That's not important right now, and I'm sure I'm just assuming things.'
Glancing at her back, he thought in his mind. Then two to three seconds later, he checked five similar items from his Dimensional Inventory that would land the outcome of the first phase of the war in favor.
[Gate of Nature (Cubic Form)]
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