By the ti Aiden opened his eyes, the failing Reality before him was filled with innurable amount of sword slashes.
"Ready, Master?" Lucille inquired with Aiden nodding.
"I am." Then with a soft tap on her shoulder, he added. "Thank you for standing guard."
"I am only carrying out my duty."
"Regardless." Aiden remarked before taking a step forward, his gaze zeroing in on the solitary ’pillar’ ahead.
"Will this work?" Lucille inquired.
Silence persisted for a mont before Aiden replied. "How about we find out?"
The next mont, the slashes moved as one entity, descending upon the ’pillar’ like a hungry lion upon prey.
For a mont, nothing happened as the pillar remained the sa but then... it slowly turned to dust, leaving Aiden smiling and Lucille letting out a sigh of relief.
Neither had been sure if the attack would work, after all, the Greatest Evil was not just so random Otherworldly.
It was arguably the most powerful creature in the Abyss and even a single appendage of it was equivalent to a weapon of mass destruction.
Hence, their joy in watching the tentacle that had breached their reality turning into dust was not unfounded and was truly a cause for celebration.
Taking a look around, Lucille watched as Reality slowly began to recover... perhaps, a bit too slowly.
"Master..."
"I can tell. The aether seems more poised to allow the damage to remain than to heal it. A characteristic of the Abyss."
"That ans..."
"Our continent is slowly accepting the Abyss."
A look of horror erged on Lucille’s face as she quickly realized the implications of that.
So far, the Will of the World had been an enemy of the Abyss, ensuring that those from that accursed dinsion would almost always be weakened the mont they stepped into Eventide.
So in a sense, no one had ever faced an Otherworldly at full power in Eventide due to the suppression from the Will of the World.
But what would happen when the Will of the World no longer saw the Abyss as an enemy to be vanquished?
What happens when it no longer heals the wounds of Reality caused by the Abyss?
That ant it was only a matter of ti before Ra’as would beco an extension of that mad place.
Just imagining such a scene caused Lucille to stare at the Battle God, seemingly hoping for so reassurance that it wouldn’t get to that level.
Unfortunately, Aiden appeared worried as well as he couldn’t fathom how the damage had gotten to such an extent.
Taking a deep breath, he intoned. "We might have to reach out to BlackWatch to get to the bottom of this."
***
Veronica didn’t know what to expect when the bugle for intruders had been sounded but it was definitely not a bunch of ragtag Vampires with a Duke leading them.
None seed prepared to fight, with most docile except for the Duke who seed to hold a bit of fire in her eyes.
"You are the Mistress of this group?" Veronica imdiately understood the situation.
The Duke nodded. "I am."
Despite being held down by chains forged from Quillion and targeted with half a dozen muskets, she hardly seed aggravated.
If anything, she seed worried for so reason though Veronica could tell it wasn’t because of her current situation.
"Who are you?" Veronica inquired.
"Lucia Bloodrose, once sired to Monarch Sierra Bloodrose."
"Once sired?" Veronica raised a brow at the odd wording.
"..."
Seeing as the vampire had no plans of replying, she posed another question. "And why are you here?"
"To warn you," Lucia remarked, earning a frown from Veronica.
She had considered asking for aid but knowing the bad blood between the Night Kindred and the Great Families, Lucia decided to take a different approach.
Of course, she couldn’t be sure how the other party would take it.
"A threat?" Veronica took a step forward, her fighting spirit prepared to lash out at the slightest provocation.
Lucia trembled as she knew she was no match for the leader of the Valkyries.
"Speak!"
"The Eastern Highlands!" Lucia exclaid instinctively before proceeding to explain. "It’s true nature has been concealed."
Veronica frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"I’m saying whatever you have been seeing from your watchtowers is wrong. There is a curtain of darkness concealing the truth of the Highlands."
"And what is that truth?"
"I don’t know. I just know it’s related to the Abyss and there’s Divinity involved."
"Are you saying there’s an Abyss Wheel Daemon in the Highlands?"
"... I don’t know."
"Why are you here telling this?"
Lucia gulped. "I didn’t know where else to go."
"The other Monarchs for instance?"
"They’d be more inclined to force and my n into servitude before listening to ."
"And you don’t want that?"
"I fear I might be the last Vampire carrying the Bloodrose legacy. I cannot fail my mistress by swearing fealty to another Monarch. The only one I bend the knee to is the Dark Lord."
Veronica frowned as she detected no lie in Lucia’s words.
However, the current war made it difficult to take Lucia seriously.
But then again, the Abyss was making a move and she had already gotten news that the undead were making their way toward the Highlands.
Pursing her lips, she inquired. "How do you know the Highlands are concealed?... We have constant eyes on it, so we would have noticed should such have occurred."
"Would you have noticed if a Daemon of Darkness wished to conceal the truth?"
Veronica stayed silent as though she may be able to pick out discrepancies due to her innate constitution, others would not.
"Co with ." Veronica intoned after a bit of thought, reaching out to grab Lucia before pulling her to her feet.
The other Vampires imdiately reacted, baring their fangs as they glared at Veronica.
"Calm your n, else I end them," Veronica warned.
Lucia imdiately turned and, using the SireBond, tad her subordinates to ensure they wouldn’t cause trouble.
"Apologies."
Snorting, Veronica pulled Lucia along, and together, they made their way toward the observation tower.
The walk was swift, ensuring they reached their destination quickly enough.
Those occupying the space were kicked out with one word from Veronica, ensuring that only the Duke and Valkyrie leader remained on the highest floor.
"You do realize that if what you have told is a lie, I will not hesitate to cut you down?"
"If I wished to lie, I would have hidden away. The only reason I ca here was because I didn’t want to abandon the Highlands. You may check for yourself." Lucia intoned, revealing her resolve.
Scrutinizing her and finding no discrepancy with her words, Veronica turned to the telescope facing the Highlands and placed her eye against it.
Imdiately, the mountain range ca into view, revealing nothing of what Lucia had ntioned... at first, at least.
Then, she noticed it.
Apart from her, perhaps only a few others would have been able to see it.
It was a thin veil of darkness undulating across the length of the range, obscuring whatever lay within from normal sight.
But that was hardly the end as on further scrutiny, Veronica detected sothing more.
A slight trace of Divinity flowing through the veil.
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