The prayer burst into the street like a gust of wind from nowhere, carrying with it a chorus of fervent voices.
The pages of the Bible rose from some invisible point, flying like a holy swarm, sticking to streetlights, walls, parked cars, and even the ground itself, covering everything with golden passages.
But before Lucien could finish processing it...
Another sentence exploded like thunder from the opposite direction.
"Oh, Lord of Hell! Here we are, your faithful followers!
Lend us your strength to stain our bodies with sin and blasphemy.
Please give us your shadow to corrupt the light, your fire to break our faith.
Let purity fall, let flesh be torn open, and let your chaos reign over this world.
Hail, Great Devil!"
Where golden pages had fallen, now black leaves also fell, stained with symbols drawn in blood, written in Latin so distorted that it could not be called writing.
Sacred and profane leaves overlapped; some stuck to others.
Lucien felt something invisible bristle inside him just as Selene effortlessly grabbed his arm, pulling him back as if he were a rag doll.
He barely managed to keep his balance.
She pointed her chin toward both ends of the street.
On the left, figures in priestly robes, made for combat, and crucifixes, armed with crosses, blessed spears, and Bibles.
On the right, hooded figures dressed in torn black clothes, with star-shaped chains and a satanic symbol in the center, some holding ritual daggers stained red.
Selene let out a soft laugh, excited as if she were watching a promising show.
"To think we'd see a confrontation between the cultists and the Inquisition hunters..." she murmured, her eyes shining. "This is going to be interesting."
"What is this?" Lucien asks as he taps the sheets and feels a slight sting on his knuckles.
"It's a barrier," she replies, adding, "It's used to prevent interference."
"It's like a separate space."
"Yes and no, but now is not the time to explain." Selene crosses her arms sensually, her gaze fixed on the two groups of five who are about to face off.
Then, the battle began with the cultists' first attack, their bodies covered in corrupt energy and blasphemous prayers.
And at the same time, the hunters of the Inquisition responded by shouting, "Oh, my Almighty Lord, lend us your strength to fight against these corrupt souls!"
Clang, clang, clang!
The metallic sound echoes through the air, but the difference is clear: the cultists are disorganized, while the hunters are not.
Ba-gahk!
"Ugh!"
"Kugh!"
"Huek!"
The cultists pounced on the hunters, but they were sent flying, lifeless.
Screams began to echo throughout the place as blood began to stain the air and the ground.
The combat continued until only two exhausted Inquisition hunters remained.
The black leaves, blood-stained with Latin inscriptions, fall when there is no power to maintain the barrier.
However, the Inquisition hunters, Richard and Aster, could not rest because two figures emerged from the shadows; they were, of course, vampires.
They could not curse their bad luck; in the midst of all the commotion, two beings of the most troublesome race had just appeared.
...
Lucien looked at the two humans in front of him.
'So these are the hunters, chosen by God to fight the supernatural...'
He felt more tense; this would be his first real combat, and it wasn't against another creature or cultists who use the power of demons, but against trained humans.
"This is a moment for you to gain some experience." Selene calmly appears at his side: "This way, you'll get used to fighting while keeping your instincts under control."
After saying that, a pair of bat wings emerge from her back, and she takes flight to observe everything from above.
Lucien takes a deep breath as his expression hardens and blood-red gloves cover his hands.
The two hunters, Richard and Aster, despite feeling offended by the vampires' attitude of treating them as training subjects, remain calm.
Richard, with blond hair and blue eyes, disappears in a golden flash.
"!!!" Lucien opens his eyes in surprise when he appears beside him and, without thinking twice, creates a barrier of blood.
Boom!
Despite blocking the attack, he is sent flying a few meters, frowning.
But at the same time, the other hunter, black-haired Aster, appears behind him, delivering a powerful slash that causes friction.
Swoosh!
However, he fails to connect; Lucien, thanks to his senses, improves; he barely keeps pace so as not to be caught by one of the hunters' attacks.
In addition, he has to keep his vampiric instincts under control, which is quite problematic.
He takes several steps back and puts distance between himself and the hunters. Lucien takes a step and suddenly appears in front of the blond hunter and throws a powerful punch, but some pages from the Bible block it.
"You thought I'd fall so easily, you damn vampire," Rugio Richard said with a smile as the pages of the Bible flew out.
Lucien was unable to dodge them and was hit squarely by the pages. He felt an intense, unbearable burning sensation that tore him apart inside. It was as if several red-hot knives had cut him into pieces.
And this opportunity was not wasted by the other hunter who appeared at his side, cutting him diagonally.
The two parts of Lucien's body fell heavily to the ground, leaving a pool of blood that spread like a dark river at the hunter's feet.
Richard and Aster, agitated, look at the remaining vampire who watches them calmly.
"What do we do? I don't have enough strength left to fight that vampire."
"We have to escape."
"I don't think that's possible; that vampire won't let us go, but why is she so calm?"
They began to feel a sense of foreboding. It was very strange: they had just killed the vampire's companion, but why wasn't she moving? Why did she keep looking as if something was about to happen? What had they overlooked?
Then, they see the vampire in the air pointing behind them, swallow dryly, and slowly turn their faces.
Only to be horrified by what is happening.
Lucien began to rise as if gravity no longer had power over him. The blood on the ground stirred... and returned to his body, as if it had a will of its own.
Richard recoiled, his face contorted. He felt as if he were witnessing a miracle in reverse, blasphemy made flesh. "This cannot be! The power of our God struck him down! Why... why is he rising?" he cried in horror. It was like watching a demon being born straight from hell.
Aster was so incredulous that his knees trembled. He was afraid!
He had expended all his sacred energy on that attack; it was meant to kill permanently.
Lucien joined his torn halves with a wet snap, as if the flesh itself were sewing itself together.
Then, his eyes glowed an intense blood red; he had completely lost control of his vampire instincts, but somewhere in his eyes there was still a trace of rationality.
Meanwhile, Selene watches this with more interest; she is not in the same state she was in when she attacked the group of cultists and the Inquisition hunters.
"Hmm~ This is unexpected," she said, anticipating what was about to happen.