Ascension of the Nephilim

Going back thirty minutes from when the Viscounts reached the outpost...

Kyros and his men kept moving with haste towards the top. They found another band of mercenaries traveling and killed another group.

"Recover as much as you can and drink their blood! From here on out, we will be rushing like crazy!" Kyros ordered.

The vampires agreed and began to recover their stamina by drinking blood. 

Kyros drank a bit but began to fill up his cup from the blood of the mercenary he just killed. While waiting, Kyros closed his eyes and took deep breathes.

His Fate Comprehension was working, and he began to attempt to figure out the essence and workings of Fate.

"Fate must have been moving. It is trying to trick me. Since the curse now affects my entire family, it will be harsher. Success Limiter could end up trying to limit the success of the family by killing off some of my team." Kyros muttered.

"What?" Calaminus was surprised at what Kyros said.

"This should be enough." Kyros suddenly stood up.

"Coven, let's move back! I have no time to explain, but run as fast as you can!" Kyros shouted as he began to sprint.

The Coven was surprised at Kyros's sudden words but immediately followed. The entire team ran like crazy down the mountain slope. For some strange reason, the path they took was different. They didn't follow the main road but went through a certain distance. They even jumped off cliffs and went the dangerous downhill slopes.

Kyros kept giving orders as to what to do and where to go.

"Follow my footsteps! You cannot make any mistakes!" Kyros ordered as his speed grew faster and faster.

"What's going on?" Calaminus asked.

"Calaminus... Do you think that Fate acted because it knew our plans?" Kyros asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I've been thinking about it. Does it know our plans? Or does it react according to our plans? Is it deaf and only sees our actions? Or can it even hear our plans?"

"I don't know..."

"Fate Challenger means that Fate will always try to outsmart me. That was the case in the events inside the mountain. Every plan I thought of was easily countered. I don't want to live according to the tests of Fate. I want to outsmart the teacher thoroughly. I knew that it would try to minimize the success of my family by killing my team. The fact that I met Martha proved this! It was just like it was back when I met my Uncle when I left the Temple! It was a huge coincidence. But that coincidence gave me great successes, which Fate was plotting to take away from me."

"Right. It sent you to that place to fight all those lizards."

"Exactly. Martha is no exception. Why would I meet her in a place that I picked randomly? That outpost I chose was something that I decided on a whim. While there were specific reasons why I went there, there were other outposts that would have been good enough. The moment I met Martha, I knew that Fate was planning something! I was led there! But instead of fighting the actions of Fate, I did something else! I gave Fate the opportunity to kill her!"

"You mean you made her bait?"

"Yes. I knew that those teams that were sent here, which would have logically went up the mountain to fight my father, would change the plans of those warriors and lead them to that specific place! If I could be led to that outpost by sheer luck, then those Viscounts can be too!"

"Then why did you leave Scarlet and Gregory there along with Martha?"

"To fool Fate! If I moved together with Martha and those two, Fate would move the Viscounts to the mountain since pursuing us would bear little fruit! With our team, escaping is easy. So I made Fate find the opportunity to attack my group with such real threats that Scarlet and Gregory might die! This opportunity trigger Fate's attempt in Success Limiter. And once Fate has made her move, it's not so easy to call back."

"You mean because the impression or coincidences Fate has inspired on our enemy, they will be headed towards that place, and it would be too late to stop it?"

"Exactly. All there is to it now is a race against time. This was why I never talked about my plans even to you because I'm afraid Fate could sense it. Although Ancient Fate is dead, I should not underestimate the power of a dead God that managed to manipulate events for us to meet together!"

Kyros and the group ran faster and faster. It took them over four hours to get to where they were, but the descent downwards utilized shortcuts that even Calaminus was surprised by.

"You even hid the fact that you knew a faster way to go down from me!"

"If Fate is reacting to my plans and actions, then I should keep on surprising it!"

With the plan in motion, Kyros descended the mountain and eventually arrived at the battle scene.

As the battle started, Kyros didn't immediately rush out.

"Why isn't Fate warning them that you are here?" Calaminus asked.

"It's probably trying, but it can't. Even if Fate can lead impressions and so on, there is a battle going on. And since I am using Dark Cloak and have ordered the Coven to stay at the back, it won't find me. And herein lies the heart of my experiment. Fate has already played its hand. Can it recall or change the result of a dice that has been thrown?"

Kyros waited until the battle reached a critical moment. Martha would die from Esmeralda, and Scarlet and Gregory would also fall from Querk according to Fate's machinations.

And there, Kyros made gave the order to his team. He warned the group to be careful as he would use Earth Cross and make the most of this attack and kill as many as they can. The vampires were to prioritize their attacks on Gradier, and he would deal with Esmeralda.

The vampires and ghouls all rushed together, and Kyros moved to attack. 

But Kyros moved faster with a bit of Time Haste.

BOOM!

The Earth Cross erupted and threw the surrounding warriors off guard.

The ghouls that the vampires commanded were not normal mindless beings but those who were driven mad and given a half-life. They ran and stabbed their swords on the archers and mages at the back of the group.

The vampires all rushed and attacked Gradier.

The golems made a mad rush to slam onto the knights who were holding up their shields to cover the archers.

The Shadow Familiars and the Shadow Ghouls leaped on the archers and mages and those who had little armor.

Even Kyros didn't waste time. After stabbing the Vermilion Earth Sword, the Bloodied Sword of Ten Thousand Grudges started its bloody dance and attacked Esmeralda first.

But Kyros's sword struck something hard, and a white shield erupted as Esmeralda channeled her magic.

"Mana Shield!" Esmeralda managed to cast.

Mardock reached from behind and delivered a powerful punch.

BANG!

The shield managed to retain its form, but cracks were now appearing, and Esmeralda felt the mana in her body drain as she resolved to keep the shields up.

BOOM! BOOM!

Two arrows exploded on the shield, and Esmeralda's mana couldn't take it anymore. She had been drained from most of her mana from her attack and needed to recharge, and with the little amount left, her shield gave way.

Martha saw the sudden commotion that occurred. She realized that Kyros was leading the charge as the familiar figures attacked. And then she felt a prompting. It was a strange sensation, but she knew what this was after talking with the two teen vampires. So she aimed for Esmeralda and shot attacks that consumed all of her Force Energy.

Another arrow landed and exploded on her chest.

BOOM!

The mage had died just like that.

Gradier, who had stumbled from the Earth Cross, held his spear and tried to attack. But as his balance was compromised, his attacks were not as fast as it would have been.

The four vampires had learned from Kyros's previous victory over the knight. Instead of attacking the Viscount directly, they brandished their swords to attack the spear.

The spear was shattered from the continuous blows of the vampires. The tip was cut off as Gradier tried to block the sword strikes. And not letting up, the vampires kept rushing and attacking.

Gradier imbued Force energy on his spear and stabbed forward.

Hemsey took the blow and allowed the spear to stab right through him. But without hesitating, Hemsy dove forward and not retreated.

"Vampires!" Gradier realized the race of the figure before him. Hemsey slashed down and struck Gradier, who was wounded. 

He had a powerful artifact that could be used against vampires. But it was too late. He was so focused on dealing with the archer and humans that he had not that weapon on the ready.

The attacks of the other vampires finally reached as the immobilized Viscount had no more means to block the attacks. The attacks reached him, and the crazed vampires kept striking and striking his body until Gradier was dead.

As this all happened, Gregory and Scarlet were also moving and stood up from their fallen states. They had received the orders from Kyros and ran towards the groggy Ragion and hacked down their weapons together with the Ghouls.

Ragion tried, but his defenses slowly weakened. The attack from Esmeralda was too terrifying, considering that it struck him on a vulnerable time.

When the weapons finally struck and wounded Ragion, Scarlet bit down on him.

And so, an impossible occurrence happened. Through the manipulation and deception of Fate, a group of low to mid-level warriors managed to kill three levels 30 Viscounts.