Ascendant Path of a Lustful Vampire

Chapter 449 449: Arlette’s Plan

Since the Gold-black vampires first arrived, Alexia had found them peculiar.

Why wear masks?

Vampires are usually long-lived creatures who are proud of their existence. Brogan and his fellow maskless minions are proof that Vampires never really have anything to hide in terms of their identity.

If this bunch was working so hard to hide their faces, there had to be a reason.

Alexia had listened attentively to the conversations that were being had outside the Dome and once Brogan was clearly silenced before he revealed what he shouldn't, she made sure to take note of the words he said.

Unfortunately, the only thing he had managed was 'blonde hair' but that didn't really narrow anything down. In the Acheron Empire, Blondes were not super rare and they came in all manner of shades.

'If only he said more,' Alexia gritted her teeth and then she clicked her tongue as she rallied herself,

'Oh, I'll just find out for myself.'

She crossed her legs with her eyes closed and a lotus flower bloomed beneath her, shining with a blue-black glow. Her sword was tight in her grip, its slightly curved blade shimmering wondrously as she snapped her eyes open.

"Arlette?"

"Ready," Arlette answered, a purple spell circle beneath her as she prepared her most destructive spell.

"Now!" Alexia signaled and unleashed her attack with a sword slash at the same time Arlette directed her spell at the Dome. *BANG!!!*

The explosion caught the attention of Caius and the Leopolds to the Dome just in time to see the abundance of cracks that appeared on it before it shattered with an explosion of power that sent shockwaves slamming into the walls of the underground hideout.

In the midst of that erupting blast, Alexia charged at Caius. She had picked him as her target most especially because he was the weakest of the vampires and yet had the ability to command their actions.

Alexia had sized up the vampires still left in the Hall and despite the abundance of tricks she had left in her storage ring, she doubted she could kill them all. Even with Arlette to assist, her best hope was to kill the leader, kill another one more, and get out of here to join up with the Hellsingers on the surface. And that was her being optimistic.

Caius was far too slow to react to Alexia's attack and the explosive blast from the destruction of the Formation Dome created a cover for Alexia so she had already slammed her hand into Caius's throat before the Leopolds even caught sight of her.

"Ack!" Caius groaned as Alexia's grip tightened around his throat. She pushed him back and didn't stop until she had slammed his back into the wall.

*BAM!!!*

Caius felt his ribs crack from the impact. There was such a ridiculous disparity between his and Alexia's strengths. Even if he summoned all of his boosts—with him being at the peak of the Fourth Circle, and the bits of Divine energy flowing through his blood—he still wouldn't have a chance.

His one hope was for the Leopolds to step in but Alexia's sword was already held out and he didn't think they would get here in time.

But then, suddenly, Alexia's glowering eyes became sleepy. Her grip on her sword loosened and it clattered to the ground as she slumped against Caius's body, unconscious.

Caius's eyes were wide and for a second, he was confused about what the hell had happened. But then he saw a syringe plunged into Alexia's back. Its content had been plunged into her body and knocked her out.

"When—?" Caius started to ask and then looked at Arlette who was still standing shakily at the spot where the Formation Dome had been destroyed.

It hadn't been easy. When Alexia began planning to destroy the Dome, Arlette hadn't liked the direction things were moving in but to even say no to Alexia was to possibly blow the secret of Caius's Vampirism right then.

So, Arlette went along with Alexia's plan and used almost the entirety of her Mana reserves to cast that destructive spell just to ensure it would give her the cover she needed to stab and inject Alexia with a knock-out serum.

Alexia trusted Arlette so much and had been so focused on what she was planning to do that she hadn't noticed the tiny prick of the syringe or the liquid that flowed into her body right after.

Looking relieved that the Serum had kicked in quickly enough to avert disaster, Arlette walked over to Caius.

"My Lord!" The Leopolds Chorused.

"I'm alright," Caius said as he lay Alexia gently on the ground.

"Lucky I was here, huh," Arlette said with a smirk once she was a foot away from him.

"I—" Caius started and found he wasn't even sure what to say.

"… Feel foolish for asking me to stay back?" Arlette completed for him with a wink.

"I do, yes," Caius answered immediately with a nod.

"Good," Arlette nodded, "Never do it again."

She had an arm around Caius's neck now and lifted his mask to press their lips together in a kiss that started gently at first but quickly grew more passionate. Arlette, driven by desire, raised a leg to wrap around Caius's waist and he winced, causing a break in their kiss.

"You're hurt," Arlette said and touched his broken ribs.

"It'll heal," Caius said.

"You should feed," Arlette said and presented her neck to him but Caius just kissed it gently.

"Later," he whispered in her ear, "We need to wrap this all up now."

"Oh, right," Arlette said and pulled away from him. She was very aware of the attention they were getting.

The male Leopolds were looking away like they believed this was an intimate moment for their Lord that they shouldn't be interfering with or wantonly staring at.

The ladies however, stared with looks of longing mixed with envy. Of them, only Roxanne had at least some inkling of what Arlette was feeling and enjoying in the moment and it was unclear if that made her less or more envious. Probably a strange mix of both.

Arlette bent low and pulled the syringe from Alexia's back, sending it into her storage ring.

"Will she be alright?" Caius asked.

"It'll be like she was waking up from a restful sleep," Arlette reassured.

She grabbed Alexia's sword as well as the Hellsong Boxes. The Vampires all recoiled from the Boxes, the memories of the infernal frequencies still fresh in their minds. Noticing their distress, Arlette grabbed the boxes gingerly, trying her best not to somehow activate them before tossing them into her storage ring.

"Hmm," Caius mused, "I sense there's still conflict above. We're going to need a strategy."

Arlette smiled and announced immediately, as if she already anticipated the predicament.

"I have a plan!"

•••

Kerwin Leopold met a still-active battlefield when he returned to the surface but as expected, that was not a challenge. Inexperienced with handling Noble Authority as he was, he could still comfortably let it lose, allowing an easy slaughter of Brogan's minions.

The challenge came after all of Brogan's minions were dead and the Hellsingers, who were still ample in numbers of Healthy fighters, continued to battle the Leopolds.

The problem here was that the Leopolds had been ordered not to harm any Hellsinger so they could only run and that wasn't a sound or working strategy.

Kerwin was perplexed about how he would handle this. It can be so annoying to have the power to end a conflict and be unable to use it.

And then, he heard Caius's booming voice.

"Stand Down!"

At first, the Leopold Vampires thought the order was for them until they saw Caius rise to the surface with the members of the Leopold Council and… prisoners?

Arlette had a dagger held to her throat and a sword was also being held to Alexia's neck even as she slumped limply against her Vampire 'Captor's' chest.

"Lady Alexia!" Gareth cried, "You monsters!"

"She's alive," Caius said, "She has not been harmed. But there is no guarantee that that will remain the case if you don't stand down."

"Stand down to Vampires?" Gareth sneered, "Never!"

"We mean you no harm," Caius said sincerely, "We came for Brogan Kraxia. He's dead now, along with his minions. Now, we can part ways. Amicably."

"Never!"

"The alternative is more bloodshed. Starting with these two lovely ladies here," Caius said in a callous tone, "Are you prepared to make that decision?"

Arlette closed her eyes in what looked to be despair, her jaw set like she was trying to keep from breaking down in terror.

It was very good acting, Caius had to commend her. But it was to be expected, the success of this—her plan—relied on how much she could tug on the hearts of the Hellsingers.