Chapter 72: Sacrificial Powers
-----
BOOOM!
A massive explosion erupted right after the clash. Alistair vomited a mouthful of blood and tumbled violently through the burning forest, crashing hard into a nearby hill. Smoke and flames rose around him as the impact left a deep crater in the earth.
“Haaa… Haaa…! That damn bitch!”
He clenched his teeth in fury, his aura surging wildly as it worked to rapidly regenerate his wounds. However, before he could fully recover, Brunhild struck again.
“Fourth Form – Eviscerating Rampage!”
“Where did she—?!”
Suddenly, Brunhild appeared directly behind him. He had failed to sense her approach. His momentary weakness had dulled his senses, and she had combined Shadow Step, Wild Cat’s Leap, the speed boost from her Goblin Ring and Winged Boots, Hermes’ Wind Aura, and a Shadow Clone to create the perfect ambush. Both Brunhild and her clone flanked him from the left and right at the same time.
Unable to dodge, Alistair screamed in agony as he was struck from both sides. His body was brutally shredded, blood and guts exploding outward in a gruesome spray.
“GWAAACK!”
Even in his transformed state, his defensive abilities proved vastly inferior to Brunhild’s. She seemed to overflow with an unnatural amount of power that showed no signs of fading. To make matters worse, he had been thrown far away from her family, so he could no longer use them to intimidate her or force her to lower her guard.
What could he do now?
“BLOOD… ACAPOLYPSE!!!”
If there was one thing vampires were famous for, aside from their incredible speed, illusory magic, and otherworldly super regeneration, it was their mastery of Blood Magic.
Brunhild screamed in agony as her bleeding wounds suddenly surged. The blood from her own body triggered the spell, and a massive explosion engulfed her completely.
“Brunhild!!!” Sigrid cried out in panic. She unleashed her own magic without hesitation, sending an endless wave of frost flames surging forward to push Alistair back as he tried to tear Brunhild apart in the aftermath of the blast.
BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!
A chaotic storm of explosions, blood, ice, and flames erupted continuously across the battlefield. Brunhild vomited more blood as a sharp claw dug deep into her stomach, but she clenched her teeth and swung her giant axe with ferocious strength. The weapon struck Alistair’s head with a devastating Searing Cleave, slicing away half of his skull.
CLASH!
“You damn bitch! DIE!!!”
Alistair screamed with half his head and face missing. His blood core surged with power as he unleashed Blood Apocalypse once more. Brunhild screamed as countless explosions tore through her body from within.
“GAAAHHH!”
Yet something was wrong. The attack was not working as it should.
“How is she not exploding into pieces?!”
Vampire Blood Magic was lethally powerful. A single application on an open wound could normally make anyone explode from the internal pressure of their own blood. But Brunhild was different. Her muscles and skin were incredibly tough, allowing her to contain the explosions inside her own blood vessels. She suffered severe internal damage, but her body refused to burst apart.
“W-What is this?! Who are you?! What are you even made of?!”
Alistair panicked and stepped back, frantically weaving more blood manipulation. Dozens of glowing crimson runes appeared around him just as Brunhild hurled three of her weapons at once using Tomahawk Boomerang.
“Nnngh?!”
Alistair barely avoided the incoming axes, which returned from behind. He already knew the technique well and dodged them again before slamming his hand onto the ground.
“P-Prepare yourself, you filthy worms!”
He laughed maniacally and infused his power into the earth.
“Abyssal Formation Art – Blood Sacrifice Altar!”
Abyssal Formation Art was another of the vampires’ incredible magics. It allowed them to spread special runes across the ground using their own blood and create powerful domains that could trap enemies and drain their life force.
In that moment, Brunhild and Sigrid watched in alarm as space warped around them. Both women were suddenly pulled inside the formation. The sky turned blood-red, the ground became black charcoal, and strange red flowers bloomed around a central altar. Red chains wrapped around their bodies, binding both flesh and soul in place.
Alistair stood before them, smiling triumphantly. His transformation had worn down halfway, and half his face was still slowly regenerating. The damage his Blood Core had taken from the earlier surprise attack continued to linger. While vampires could heal their bodies quickly thanks to this core, the core itself took days, weeks, months, or even years to fully recover depending on the severity of the injury. Because of this, Alistair had been unable to use his full power, and his blood energy had been leaking out constantly, drastically reducing his reserves.
He knew he had to end this fight as quickly as possible.
“It’s my win, sun-touched bitch!”
He laughed loudly and summoned a gigantic spear formed from the power of the domain itself. The formation empowered him, increasing his stats by at least fifty percent and giving him the final push he needed.
“W-What’s happening?!” Sigrid panicked.
“We’re trapped inside a domain from the vampire’s magic…!” Brunhild muttered through clenched teeth.
“DIE!!!”
After completing the conjuration of his Sacrificial Weapon, a key part of the ritual that the master of the domain had to perform before the victims, Alistair fired the massive spear toward both women, intending to skewer them alive.
Brunhild clenched her teeth as her wounds slowly regenerated thanks to her divine physique and numerous healing skills. However, the internal damage was severe. Her muscles had been torn apart, several bones were broken, and her stomach remained punctured. If she did not possess a divine physique, she would have died long ago. It was only thanks to her current transformation that she remained conscious and fighting.
In this dire situation, Brunhild felt powerless. She lacked the strength to fight back effectively, the spiritual energy to call forth her spirits, and Freyja was already exhausted from helping her earlier.
“Brunhild!!!”
But could she really give up? Sigrid was crying below her. Could her own tough body shield the girl from that deadly spear?
Brunhild clenched her teeth with burning anger, her soul blazing with determination.
“Soul… Sacrifice…!”
Then she remembered the golden orb within her soul. Dozens of absorbed souls suddenly rushed toward an altar of her own creation and…
FLAAASH!
They were absorbed.
The spear struck a second later.
BOOOMMM!!!
A massive explosion of crimson blood energy, flames, and soul essence erupted across the battlefield. Alistair laughed triumphantly, spreading his arms wide as he prepared to inhale and absorb the refined blood energy. Thanks to the ritualistic formation, it would no longer harm him.
“?!”
However, there was no blood energy left to absorb. As the smoke cleared, Brunhild emerged from the flames. Her aura had become strange and powerful, fluctuating with the roars and strength of the sacrificed souls.
Ding!
[You have sacrificed 37 Souls in total.]
[You have absorbed the power of the sacrificed Souls into your own Soul.]
[The wills of the Souls are fighting back, attempting to flee your grasp!]
[You have forcefully contained the souls with your Divine Aura.]
[Due to the instability of your soul and body, the boost in power has been severely decreased and its duration has been halved.]
[All of your Stats have increased by 150% for 30 Minutes.]
[Your Soul Aura grows in power, calling forth the souls you’ve sacrificed.]
Her body had transformed dramatically. Golden runes spread across her skin, her eyes glowed bright gold, and her hair blazed like golden-red flames. Her tattoo and bloodline seemed to merge into a new, stronger form. To Sigrid, Brunhild now resembled…
“A Valkyrie?”
Angelic female warriors who served the gods, known across many tribes through ancient mythology and beliefs. They were usually described as tall, muscular yet slender, beautiful yet ruthless, with enormous wings, glowing bodies, golden eyes, and blazing hair. They often possessed sharp claws, feathers, scales, and bird-like talons.
Through the sacrifice of souls, Brunhild had coalesced her powers into one.
“W-What…?! Where did you get souls to sacrifice?!”
Alistair screamed in shock. He summoned dozens of Sacrificial Blood Spears at once and launched them downward. Brunhild, who seemed to have lost part of her reason, roared with primal fury.
She leaped into the sky and caught the spears with Atlas and her divine weapon, which had now unified into a single, Divine Relic-looking Ancient Axe.
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
With ferocious, wild swings, Brunhild smashed through the rain of spears, shattering them into pieces as she closed the distance to Alistair.
“Tsk!”
Alistair swiftly dodged her attacks and summoned more magic to reinforce his ritual. He then turned his attention toward Sigrid, who had been left behind. Deciding to drink her blood to replenish his energy, he moved in for the kill.
“You’re mine!”
Completely ignoring Brunhild, however, proved to be his greatest mistake.
“CAUGHT YA!”
She caught up to him in an instant. He had assumed her bulky body, exhausted state, and wild power would make her slower, but he was wrong.
“Gwaaack?!”
He screamed as Brunhild grabbed his legs, swung him like a ragdoll, and hurled him downward with tremendous force. He crashed into the ground, creating a gigantic burning explosion.
BOOOM!
-----