Ascension of the Dark Seraph

In that moment, Vanessa's breath was caught in her throat.

On her left, the monstrous moving shadow behind the treelines emerged.

A snake, massive, so big that looking into its reptilian eyes forced Vanessa to tilt her head up fully.

As it came out of the shadow, its scaled hide rasped against the stone with a grating metallic scrape, like countless blades dragged slowly across the ground. Each hiccup of this sound froze Vanessa from head to toe, as if she were listening to the sound of death approaching.

Gandr hissed and towered over Vanessa, his lips curling in wicked delight.

Dwelling in the shadow of the lustrous trees ahead of her was an even bigger silhouette—eyes glowing gold of the purest gold. Accompanying it was the sound of whistling sand whooshing left and right like tendrils of chaos.

But once the creature emerged, Vanessa was surprised to see that it was a small black cat.

Compared to Gandr, this black cat doesn't look menacing at all.

However, the aura of danger on her brimmed even stronger than that of Gandr, so much so that the air around this black cat blurred, like looking into the horizon in the scorching desert with the sun right on top of the head.

One wrong move, and the black cat would kill her—that's what her senses were warning her.

Lastly, on his right, the creature stared at her in silence.

It didn't move, only stared at her.

From meeting its gaze alone, Vanessa felt like she couldn't breathe.

Like being underwater, the gaze of this creature was enough to cripple her lungs from functioning.

Even through the shadow, Vanessa could see its massive wings.

If it were to come out like the others did, she expected it to soar skyward and drop down hard right beside her. But surprisingly, the pair of glowing purple eyes lowered until they reached the ground. And then, the creature slipped into the earth, disappearing from sight.

Before Vanessa could do anything, the ground rumbled.

A few paces to her right, water began to seep from the soil, creating a big puddle of dark water.

From it, the creature emerged—only its head.

A dragon that lived in the deepest part of the ocean, something ancient that wrought only chaos.

In her line of work, she had seen countless dungeons that host monsters of the highest caliber, but none were comparable to these creatures. Each one of these creatures surely doesn't belong in the mortal world; it should be within the world of the Gods.

Each could annihilate worlds, and now, the three of them set their eyes on her.

Not to mention, she also felt two more hiding in the shadows, but refused to show themselves.

"Aakh!"

Master Tobias struggled, fearful for Vanessa.

He had been careful in dealing with Lucivar, but it seemed he overestimated his powers.

Compared to Lucivar, he was barely a challenge—nothing he did would make a difference.

It seemed like the moment he made the decision to stay was the moment he forfeited his life and soul.

"Stop wailing so much," Lucivar muttered teasingly, tilting the black sword higher so that Master Tobias couldn't even attempt to pull himself out. "Tricking me into believing that both of you are dead is a smart move. If you succeeded, I would never find you ever again. But your method gave you away."

Lucivar was telling the truth.

Had Master Tobias succeeded in faking his and Vanessa's death, it would've been perfect.

As long as he believed that they were both dead, then they would be completely free.

But Master Tobias made two mistakes.

One was his own honest mistake, while the other was unlucky.

"You made two mistakes. First, you've made sure to show me that you're incredibly cunning, so there's no chance you made a run for it that recklessly." Lucivar said, mentioning how blatantly stupid it was for Master Tobias and Vanessa to shapeshift into bats and try to run away. "You're too smart to be that stupid. Any bats would be suspicious to me. No way you'd opt to do that normally, unless—you have a plan."

From that first mistake, Lucivar was already alert.

Master Tobias wouldn't go down that easily, especially if he had been the mastermind all along.

So, there must be another plan.

"As for the second mistake you made, I found it quite funny…" Lucivar drawled, his head tilting at a predatory angle. "The one that separated her soul. It's a special ability of Dracula, isn't it? A powerful ability. And guess what? It contained divine energy…"

At his words, Master Tobias' eyes widened, and a pained hiss tore from his lips.

He couldn't believe that it was misfortune that screwed him over.

If the Drifting Immortal Soul ability contained divine energy, then he was planning to fail from the very start. He couldn't sense divine energy properly—but Lucivar, who was an avatar of Gods, could sense it like a Hybrid being able to sense ether naturally.

So, the moment Vanessa emerged in her soul form, Lucivar could sense and see her.

"Are you blaming luck?" Lucivar pulled the sword closer to look at Master Tobias directly in his eyes. "You've been watching me all this time, and yet, you still don't get it? Karma favored the evil, and you intended good in trying to save Vanessa. Misfortune struck you—because of that. Had you intended to use her, this wouldn't have happened. Perhaps, you can even survive me."

Lucivar shook his head in disappointment.

"I guess now I know you really loved her," He shrugged his shoulders. "And that made what's going to happen next even more painful."

"You—You've done enough…" Master Tobias forced out the words. "You don't need to do more."

Since it came to this, there was no more hope of survival.

Lucivar had dismantled his plan so thoroughly that struggling seemed futile.

Once the Devil's attention was set on him, death was inevitable.

"Unlike you, I'm a man of my word," Lucivar smirked and turned to the Divine Beasts. "I did tell her that I'm going to drag her to a place where whores like her belong, and I intend to keep that promise. So, no… I'm not going to stop here."

Boom!

Out of nowhere, a powerful crimson blast exploded right above Vanessa.

It was strong enough to knock Gandr, Sha, and Sirrush away.

"This is my chance!"

Seeing this, Vanessa wasted no time and sprinted away, heading back to where her other physical body was. 'As long as I get into the replica, I should be safe from these otherworldly monsters.' She thought inside while running with all her might. 'Thank you, Tobias. You kept your word in protecting me.'

Before long, her back disappeared into the distance.

"It's not me!" Master Tobias shouted, but his voice came too weak for her to hear. "It's not me!!!"

He wasn't the one who created the blast.

It could be Lucivar or one of the Divine Beasts, but regardless of who it was, the blast didn't come from him. Vanessa was too stunned at what she was seeing and too far to listen to their conversation, so she didn't realize that it was a trap.

Lucivar wanted her to get back to her physical body.

"Just stop…" Master Tobias writhed, almost begging. "What are you trying to do…?"

"I told you, didn't I? I'm going to fulfil my promise." Lucivar pulled out the sword with one stroke and swung it, splattering the blood onto the ground. "I can't kill her with my own two hands when she's like that. I'd need to ask them for help."

Merciless.

Lucivar was absolutely merciless.

Even Master Tobias couldn't believe the level of cunning Lucivar was operating at.

He easily tricked Vanessa into running back to her other fleshy body.

Master Tobias did tell her to run, and she must've instantly thought of running back to her other fleshy body, but she could still change her mind when she realized that Lucivar wasn't actually attacking her; thus, she could've figured out that she was being lured.

But with the appearance of the Divine Beasts and the blast that she thought was from Master Tobias.

No chance she would realize that she was running into a trap.

She was too disoriented to even think clearly, much less realize Lucivar's scheme.

Instead of going back, Lucivar went to the side and sat down on the rock.

He rested the black blade across his thighs, ether shimmering faintly around his hands—as he ran them along its length in deliberate, almost tender strokes. All the while, he paid no mind to Master Tobias, who writhed on the ground, clawing desperately toward Vanessa in a futile struggle.

By the time he gets there, it will be far too late.

"Once Vanessa is dealt with, you're dying next," Lucivar said in the middle of cleaning the black sword. "But instead of me, I'll be handing you over to the others. It'll be much more fun to watch them kill you instead of me."

Meanwhile, back in the neighbourhood of the mansion.

A frantic, invisible soul was running with all her might, a destination in mind.

She ran past Mirel and Leandra without batting an eye.

Leandra was still unconscious, but she was already moved—by Mirel to be closer to where Lucivar's dead replica was. As for Mirel, he was trying to recover from his wounds while keeping his eyes locked onto Lucivar's replica.

A flicker of confusion and doubt in his eyes.

Upon reaching the basement, Vanessa looked around and found her other body.

It was lying at the center of the room, and without wasting a single second, she ran over to it.

Her panic clouded not only her mind, but also her senses.

Even as she ran toward her other body, she didn't realize the figure standing on the corner, watching her settle. Only his glowing eyes were visible, watching her closely as she frantically rushed to her own, certain death.

Vanessa lay on the replica, and soon, her soul was sucked into it.

It took only a minute until she opened her eyes.

Blinking once, and then twice, a smile crept to her face as a surge of relief rushed over her when she realized that she was now safe. Since she was already back in her physical form, she should be safe. It was only because of Master Tobias' ability that those Divine Beasts could threaten her.

Now, there's no need for her to think about that.

All of that was in the past.

In her, in this body of hers, she was safe.

But that relief was short-lived when her ragged breath hitched at the sight of Lucivar.

He was squatting beside her, an evil smile marring his face.

"Hello again," He mumbled, reaching his hands toward her. "And goodbye."