Chapter 901

Just as the hour hand approached midnight, and the correct time drew closer and closer.

A man in a gentleman's outfit, wearing a wide-brimmed hat, a scarf, and leaning on a silver cane, slowly walked out from the darkness. He behaved elegantly and performed a hat-tipping salute to Archbishop Gregory in front.

Gregory, however, looked at the man as if facing a formidable enemy.

"Don't be nervous, Gregory..." the man said calmly: "I will not take the initiative to attack an Archbishop who is conducting a Holy Procession."

"After all, when holding the Holy Secret Rite, all the holy relics in the church will be brought out. Although there is no worship by the faithful, causing the rite to fail to gather the power of faith, you should have already taken away most of the spiritual reserves there when you stepped out of St. Mary's Church."

The man stared at the silver lamp held high by the pilgrimage priest.

That was the Holy Lamp of the Lamp Father, a holy relic that would only be brought out during the most important ceremonies of the Holy Church. At this moment, the light of the silver lamp belonged to a part of the Lamp Father's Holy Rite.

It would illuminate the traces of all spiritual existences in the surroundings.

And that Holy Cup was also a part of the Cup Mother's Holy Rite. The holy water in the cup could greatly replenish the spirituality of the priest presiding over the rite and could also cause intense damage to all dark creatures.

The silver mirror held in the pilgrimage priest's arms was the same. Cooperating with that holy lamp, the presiding officer could guide the burning of the lamp's spirituality to unleash a powerful accumulation of holy light.

In fact, the entire pilgrimage procession was a part of the Holy Church's march of faith. Every secret vessel contained holy arts, and every ritual vessel could correspond to a holy rite.

Among mystics and supernatural beings, such a pilgrimage was no different from the Holy Church's army setting out.

As a man who was also a baptized person, daring to appear before the Church's holy pilgrimage procession could no longer be described as just arrogant.

"Alucard!"

Archbishop Gregory said sternly: "You monster, you actually dare to appear before me!"

"Fear!" Alucard sniffed the air in front of him deeply, revealing a mouthful of fangs, and smiled: "I smell the scent of fear..."

Just as he said these words, from the darkness behind him, countless stumbling, strange figures that looked like marionettes walked out. As these shadows arrived before the dim streetlights, the Night Watchmen and priests could not help but retreat slightly.

Looking at those citizens who were either dressed in shabby clothes or wearing pajamas, their heads hanging down, advancing step by step like marionettes.

The Princess's pupils shrank, and the veins on her hand holding the greatsword suddenly bulged.

"The Puppeteer of the Death Stage—the vampire Alucard!"

Anderson said in a deep voice: "Raise your guns and form a line..."

"Teacher!" the Princess said hurriedly: "Those are all innocent citizens controlled by him!"

Anderson nodded slightly: "I know, but we can no longer save them!"

The surrounding Night Watchmen looked at each other, not knowing who to listen to, but these innocent citizens approaching them step by step like ghosts indeed brought them immense mental pressure.

Gregory said coldly: "They have already had their souls taken by demons; just treat them as walking corpses! Night Watchmen, the Church allows you to open fire! This is shooting demons! Glorious and great."

The Princess interrupted him: "As long as they open fire! Alucard will recall the sanity of those citizens. When that happens, those people will cry out and beg, and the Night Watchmen won't be able to bear that kind of pressure."

Gregory said coldly: "Warriors should have the awareness of warriors."

"Their duty is to protect the citizens, not to be a butcher!" Anderson retorted.

He looked at the Princess. This first heir to the Kingdom took a deep breath and said: "We must tell everyone the truth. Alucard's ability is to inject his own blood and the blood of temptation into the human body to control people's minds. At the same time, he has fused the evil spirit ability of the Blood of Envy and the vampire ability of the Blood of Greed. He is a rare Blood Cup that involves the two major paths of the Original Sin path!"

"Using mental abilities to control ordinary people and low-level supernatural beings as cannon fodder, forcing the side of justice to commit wanton slaughter, providing fresh blood and corpses for his true supernatural abilities—this is Alucard's habitual trick!"

The Princess turned to look at Gregory: "Archbishop, the vast spirituality carried by the pilgrimage rite should be enough to conduct a Grand Mass!"

Gregory refused flatly: "The pilgrimage rite needs to be used in a more critical place; it cannot be used to deal with Alucard's petty tricks."

"This is not a petty trick, but the lives of hundreds of innocent people!"

While they were arguing, those hypnotized citizens had already surged toward the Wisdom Zhong Lou. At this moment, the Blood Cup path supernatural beings mixed among them suddenly erupted. The Princess subconsciously swung her sword horizontally, and the figure rushing over was cut in half at the waist by the greatsword like a piece of paper.

At this time, the Princess's face turned pale. Sure enough, at this moment, the upper body cut off by the greatsword suddenly screamed.

Wearing the clothes of a dock worker, the young and somewhat thin man seemed to have just woken up. Struck by the intense pain, he rolled on the ground, but not a single drop of blood flowed from his severed waist; the fresh blood wriggled on his wound like a swarm of insects.

"So painful... Mom, I'm in so much pain!"

Not until he spoke did the Princess know he was still just a boy. The slightly childish voice crying out made the Princess unable to help but close her eyes, not daring to look at this scene.

Bang!

A gunshot sounded beside her. The Princess's body trembled, but she forced herself to open her eyes.

What came into view was Anderson's expression, which was unclear whether it was disappointment or expectation.

He stood in front of her, the muzzle of the gun in his hand raised, and a blood-colored bat exploded into blood in mid-air. Anderson approached the boy cut in half cautiously, took a deep drag of his cigarette, and through the exhaled smoke, he cast an invisible art.

The smoke wrapped around the boy's wound like a bandage.

Gregory's expression was indifferent, carrying a trace of disappointment—wasting spirituality for this kind of trivial matter; it seems the Night Watchmen won't be able to accomplish anything in this war!

"In the end, we still have to rely on the Church to deal with all of this."

Just at this moment, from the upper and lower halves of the body cut in half under the Princess's sword, blood light suddenly drilled out like a silk ribbon, shearing horizontally toward Anderson from the left and right sides. At the same time, those hundreds of citizens suddenly sprinted, each like a human meat cannonball, rushing toward the Night Watchmen's formation.

Anderson was entangled, and the Princess did not give the order.

The Night Watchmen didn't know whether they should open fire... It was in this moment of hesitation that the Blood Cup supernatural beings mixed in the crowd had already made their move.

The Blood Cup path focuses on the physical body in the early stages. Even low-level supernatural beings have undergone alienation of the body. In that instant, several figures leaped out several meters like wild beasts, pouncing into the Night Watchmen's formation. At this distance, opening fire was already useless.

In just an instant, the line had been torn open.

Several Night Watchmen had their throats torn open by the Blood Cup supernatural beings; some were tearing at their flesh and blood, and others were drinking fresh blood greedily.

Only then did the teammates nearby wake up and open fire.

Not many of the Blood Cup hungry ones hit by bullets fell; more people went mad instead. But the Princess had already returned to the formation, swinging her greatsword, cutting a hungry one whose eyes had already alienated, presenting vertical pupils like a wild beast, from the shoulder to the waist.

The amulet in Anderson's hand burst, repelling the blood light.

He looked back; that boy had already been drained of fresh blood and had become a dried corpse.

He ultimately failed to protect anything... but this was something he knew when he made his move.

The Night Watchmen were no longer distinguishing targets as they opened fire. In the chaotic gunfire, a row of staggering citizens fell. Many woke up from the hypnosis, and then wailing, begging, scolding, and chaos instantly swept the entire scene.

Even within the Holy Church's pilgrimage procession, there were priests who couldn't help but want to make a move, but a cold glance from the Inquisition priest stopped them.

Under the blood moon, a massacre was taking place.

Alucard put on his hat. Under the moonlight, his dance steps were light. The elegance of the blood clan made him step in the traditional dance steps of the Western Continent, heading toward the clock tower. At this moment, fresh blood was sprinkled all over the stone floor, making this place his stage.

The blood on the ground wriggled like worms.

Countless blood lines intertwined, and the fallen corpses actually climbed up again. But this time, they had no weaknesses at all. Under the traction of the blood lines, they were manipulated by Alucard one by one like puppets, standing up.

Under the blood moon, no one saw that the boy who fell first and was cut in half had his dried flesh and blood wriggling slightly.

It was as if he was thirstily sucking in the blood-red moonlight.

A hooded figure appeared at the street corner, staring at the massacre ahead. Behind him, there were three other hooded cultists. Watching this scene, their hoods were shaking, and their moods seemed far from calm.

One even lowered his head and retched.

This greatly ruined the sense of ritual as a cult.

The tall cultist in the middle looked back with dissatisfaction and seemed to scold something in a low voice.

Moonlight was entwined between Qian Chen's fingers. In the distance, the longing of the boy before his death followed, entwining around his fingertips.

Under the hood, Qian Chen's lips moved: "Go! Tonight, those who miss home can all go home..."

The moonlight in the sky became increasingly blood-red.

Viscount Alucard of the blood clan raised his head, seemingly having sensed something. The slaughter was ongoing, and as the fresh blood surged like a tide, his power became increasingly strong. Although this blood moon was eerie, the power bestowed upon them by Goddess Lilith was still blessing his spirituality.

But Alucard just felt something was wrong. The moonlight was like blood, misty, shrouding everyone.

The midnight bell rang out!

The tolling of the Wisdom Zhong Lou resounded throughout all of Kafas.

"The Holy Hour of the Lamp!" Archbishop Gregory's wrinkled eyes suddenly opened wide, and the holy lamp at the top of his staff suddenly shone with great brilliance.

The beam of light converged to the size of a thumb and shot toward Alucard's heart.

"Light of Punishment!"

A contemptuous smile appeared on the corner of Alucard's mouth as he opened his arms to welcome the holy light. His heart was pierced directly, leaving a fist-sized wound, but as a wound appeared on the body of a corpse puppet beside him, the wound on his heart healed rapidly.

But just when Alucard was at his most triumphant, his smile suddenly froze!

"As an evil spirit, your true form is a spirit body. As a vampire, you have the power to control fresh blood. So your essence is a source of blood entrusted to a spirit body, distributed among the corpses you control, right?" A voice suddenly sounded in Alucard's ear.

"Hmm! It has a certain flavor of the 'Blood Scripture'! As expected, all paths lead to the same destination..."

Qian Chen, draped in a hood, walked silently into the crowd. Following his footsteps, all the corpse ghosts stopped all actions at the same moment.

"By relying on the source blood, you can control them, but at the same time, distributing the source blood among so many corpses is equivalent to using an extremely small part of your power to leverage the power of the corpses themselves. It is the Corpse Blood Cup Secret Rite that drives them to move, so you can control corpse puppets that exceed your own limits."

"But, what if those corpses wake up?"

"The source blood you left in their bodies, your true self, does it not exist within dozens of corpse ghosts harboring extreme malice?"

Following Qian Chen's words, those corpse puppets suddenly inserted their hands into their chests and squeezed their own hearts.

Alucard's face looked as ugly as death.