Chapter 16: The Siege of Blood Moon

Six days had passed since the incident with the wolves and the two were able to finish up most of the preparations for the night of the blood moon. They've set up the traps perfectly and finished raising up the fences. No further hitches had happened ever since that day but even though the two acted normally around each other, it is undeniable that a tension had built up between them. It certainly was not a hostile one but it was the type that makes both of them prevent themselves from pouncing on the other and making love in any given location and condition.

By the fifth day, Ruby had lost all magic in her body rendering her dependent on her own raw skill and ability. As she had said her wounds instantly healed the same day it was inflicted and didn't even leave a single scar. Aleister had been more protective since that day and even took the time to watch over Manticat to make sure that he wouldn't run off again.

Ruby asked Aleister to accompany her down to her armory which he found to be at the same location as her workshop. He watched Ruby knock on the door of her own workshop in a certain pattern and the door started changing from brown to red and the details also altered from random flowing patterns into weapon carvings. The witch opened the door and presented him with a really impressive armory. The walls were filled with weaponry of all sizes, type, and attack range from knives to swords, axes, halberds, lances, guns, sniper rifles, crossbows, and there were even canons. The room was complete with all the ammunition of all the guns present in the room and there were even battle outfits being modeled by Ruby sized mannequins.

"How the fuck did you hoard all this?" Aleister wondered out loud, clearly impressed by the witch's armory.

Ruby pressed a certain button on the wall and the shelf lined with knives separated like a sliding door presenting a variety of scythes. There was a scythe entirely made out of fishbone, there was an ill-proportioned one with a heart-shaped ruby and thorns, he saw another scythe where the blade is completely made out of ice making him wonder how it hadn't melted yet, one impressive scythe had a golden handle styled as a dragon and from its mouth protrudes a crimson metal. The weapon bore great power and he can feel it merely by looking at its blade. Aleister then noticed a black scythe that made shivers run up his spine. There was nothing special about this one except for its violet blade and the chain connected on its lower part, in fact, the bat styled purple one that she usually wields is more glamorous but the aura this certain one released was very terrifying like death itself looking you straight in the eyes.

"Hey, Ruby, what's up with this one? Is it just me or does this scythe feel like extremely bad news?" he asked pointing to the violet one.

"Well you have keen senses, but I guess that is a natural response to seeing Azrael. This blade has the ability to slay immortals into oblivion, no heaven or hell just nothingness, and I guess it can kill even myself." Ruby replied.

"You've used it before?"

"Yes, it was a gift from my lover. His name was Adrian Vladimir, a vampire count who had housed me when he found me broken. I was about a hundred years old at that time, still grief-stricken because everyone I had known was gone while I stayed at the bloom of my maidenhood. He loved me, he loved my body, my heart, and my soul. He accepted me for who I am and loved me even though I was nothing back then but a hollow broken doll merely moving by the cruel strings of fate. He nurtured me and showed me that life is once more worth living even though he himself is lifeless, he was the reason I stopped trying to kill myself and so I learned to love him." Ruby started, gazing at the blade with melancholy.

"If he's a vampire then why is he not here now. Did you guys divorced or something?" Aleister asked curiously.

"He needed to die... He tasted my blood once and he kept lusting after my blood but he didn't want to harm me so he used other people as an alternative. He became voracious. He killed virgins and innocent children because for him they were the closest to my taste. It was too late to turn him back, he said so himself, so he implored me to end him. He does not want to die by the hands of someone else but the woman he loves so he gave me the scythe named Azrael to do what needs to be done. I killed him and he smiled proclaiming his love for me as he vanished into nothingness." Ruby finished placing her finger over the blade and smiling weakly at her own reflection. There was a short pause before the demon decided to speak.

"I'm quite confused. The Adrian we met in the cafe, your ex fling, and the vampire Adrian that was your husband... They aren't the same person?"

"Yes. Adrian Vladimir Tepes, my husband, died 200 years ago. I killed him. Adrian the pest Dracyul is my still alive ex. They're two different people."

"Vampire Adrian... Did you... Have sex?" Aleister asked, making the maiden chuckle.

"Of course, he was very charismatic. He was a vampire after all but he didn't touch me until I was ready and he was a very clever man. He knows the perfect timing to strike and when to back away which made it very easy for me to throw away my clothes and spread my legs for him. He also let me ride him which made me discover all the good spots I didn't know I have." Ruby smirked at the demon.

"I must be very disgusting to you by now, knowing that I've been touched by many men."

"Frankly I don't know how to feel about that information but if you want me to select one emotion I would say excitement." Aleister replied, making Ruby furrow her brows at his words.

"Excitement? Why is that?" she wondered, perplexed by his opinion.

"Because you can blush like a virgin and still be very experienced when pleasuring men. Plus I'm guessing that your body recognizes the penetration on a penis as damage so it will repair your vaginally walls or something and still be very tight. Now ain't that gold?" The demon mused picking a simple purple bladed knife and inspecting its sharpness.

"How did you know about the last part? Did you do something to me while I was asleep?" Ruby asked warily.

"Nothing yet, just a theory which turned out to be true based on your reaction." Aleister smirked, throwing the knife up and catching it by the blade without even looking.

"Anyways, you can take whatever you want for yourself except for my scythes and help me with bringing some of the guns back up as well as a few swords and spears. We're going to need to up our game if we don't want to end up dismangled so chop-chop." Ruby said changing the subject and grabbing a vibrantly red-colored large case from the wall among the other scythes.

"What's that?" Aleister asked as he watched Ruby flip the locks and open the case taking out an odd-looking gun colored bright crimson and black.

"Ohh, nothing. Just a simple monster-slaying sniper scythe, capable of blasting through beowolves into bits." Ruby answered and the gun instantly unfolded in her hold to reveal an impressive crimson scythe which she loaded with a square magazine.

"Ready to kill our enemies and offer their hearts to your master?"

"Psshhhhh, you summoned me combat ready." Ruby smiled.

"That's my demon."

The sun had set down the horizon allowing the big round moon to take its place in the throne of heaven and reign supreme over the dark night sky. The moon glowed ominously red as if foreboding the horrendous events about to take place in this single bloody night. Owls hooted in the foliage while wolves howled into the night. Growling and snarling can be heard reverberating around the woods as if the trees themselves are participating in the blood bath.

Large bloodthirsty wolves came running around the forest heading to the nearest town. The beasts finally emerged from the forest baring its fangs in ferocity and prowling to slaughter everything in their wake.

They rode through the shadows and infiltrated the town, bursting inside every home they can come to. The hunters and soldiers did their best to protect the people and destroy the monsters but the beasts had both strength and numbers on their side. Luckily the people had the Lightborn squad and all the heroes present in the town to push back and destroy the monsters however casualties are still unavoidable.

A few homes are already infested by monsters, the people in it are already slaughtered and or being eaten. A few lustful beasts raped the young and beautiful women they could get their hands into. A beowolf backhanded a woman and started tearing out her clothes. He licked her bosom before shoving his throbbing pink member inside the poor woman while his brothers eat the rest of her family. The night was filled with dread and chaos. Screaming and begging can be heard echoing from every street.

Phoebus shot bullets left and right, over rooftops, and under the drainages. He killed every monster he saw and helped the people he came across with to get to the evacuation hall. Heriette accompanied him blasting beowulves and goblins to cover his back while Adrian, Clermont, and Firrer handled the frontline.

"Granger, we need backup! There's too many of them! Shoot them from the roof!" ordered Adrian as he jumped at a pack of wolves and took them all at once.

Firrer flew just in time to rescue a child about to be overrun by an ogre and returned him to his mother. She then flew back to cut down a horde of goblins and intercept them from infiltrating a large two-story housing unit. She didn't notice arrows targeting her way but luckily Clermont was there to block them out. He then pushed a bunch of wendigos against a wall crushing them and killing them in the process.

"Adrian look at that! It's a nevermore." Heriette yelled pointing at a gigantic raven monster in alarm circling over their head. The giant bird landed on top of the church roof, spreading its wings like a king who would spread his cape and released a loud defending screech.

"Gods help us all." Clermont managed to whisper as he stared up at the beast.

Back in Ruby's cottage things have been escalating as well. Just as the maiden's second guess, myriads of monsters were attracted by the demon's presence but the traps they had set are doing well to protect their home. Clashing logs crushed a large ogre to death, goblins foolishly fell over spike ridden ditches, poisoned darts shot from all direction activated by beowolves tripping over hidden ropes. Though the traps managed to pluck a number of the monsters it didn't prevent the best of them from piercing through the first line of defense. A beowulf was able to jump high over the wooden fence only for its face to be blown to bits by Ruby's shotgun.

"They're here." yelled the witch.

"Then let them come!" Aleister decapitated a wendigo with his circular weapon and kicked another one to death. Ruby kept firing behind him covering him from the ones with a longer range of weapons like goblin archers or towering ogres with long mossy clubs.

"How many have you gotten so far?" asked the demon.

"8." answered the silver-haired as she reloaded her shotgun. She hit a goblin about to stab her with the butt of her gun and stepped on its head repeatedly to crush its brain. She placed her shotgun over her shoulder and shot a wendigo stealthily walking up behind her.

"Now up to 10. You?" Ruby shouted back, looking over at the demon currently surrounded by beowolves, but instead of panicking the demon had a look of enjoyment in his face. One circular strike was all it took to murder all his assailants, bathing him in blood and gore. He jumped to his next target and split its stomach open with his sharp claws.

"Catch up my love. I'm already up to 16, 17, 18, 19,-" Ruby hooked the five ogres he was about to kill beheading them effortlessly with her scythe. Somehow while he was not looking the witch had picked up her sniper scythe and sneaked up on him to steal his prey. Greedy.

"20. Catch up, my love." she winked before dashing for her next victims.

"Kill steal." the demon mumbled.

"20? How'd you get so fast up within one minute? You're cheating on me." Dyrroth asked skeptically.

"Darling I'm a crowd control hero." Ruby answered, spinning her scythe to block out the arrows shot to her by goblins. Bullets fired from the end of her scythe killing her assailants effortlessly.

"There's your proof." she pointed to the porch where a mass of dead bodies piles up moving her scythe back a little to stab a goblin charging at her with the end of her weapon.

Pointing her weapon behind her, Ruby shot a wendigo dead but the recoil was strong sending her flying forward which she used to propel herself and slaughter a band of ogres in one breath.

"Fine. But I'm not backing down." Aleister brought himself to Ruby's side as she was getting surrounded by more beowolves. They fought back to back, both enjoying the rush and adrenaline coursing through their bodies but more so the fact that they are fighting together.

"Incoming nevermore!" Ruby yelled pointing her gun up and shooting the flying beast. Her bullets proved to be ineffective as they only bounce off of his thick and strong feathers. The giant bird dived down to swallow her whole and Ruby prepared her scythe to cut it down. An equally large entity intercepted it and brought its face to the dirt protecting the witch. A large winged panther stood over the bird digging his fangs over its neck and killing it.

"Just in time Manticat." Ruby praised smiling at her transformed familiar who coughed out a few feathers.

"I still can't believe that the tiny weird cat you call pet is a large monster-murdering winged panther. Guess you can't really judge a cat by his size." Aleister commented watching the feline monster fly up and take on a murder of nevermore all by himself to cover them both.

"You didn't really think that I'd get a useless familiar who eats a ton, did you?" Ruby questioned spinning her scythe to slice off a wendigo in half.

"I thought that I was the only useful thing you've done in your whole life."

"You're more on the mistake side. Literally." Ruby retorted, repelling a troll club and kicking him backward.

A huge chunk of the fence suddenly collapsed revealing a gigantic ogre rippling with muscles. The ogre released a loud road and looked over at Ruby lustfully. It banged its first on its chest looking over at Aleister as if challenging him into a duel.

"What the fuck is wrong with this guy?!" Aleister asked, preparing to take the ogre heads on.

"I think he's challenging you into a duel because he thinks that you're my mate and he wants to fuck with me, in a literal sense." Ruby replied pointing her scythe to the large monster.

"Yeah, well. Back off from my wife!!" Aleister charged at the monster preparing to kill him at once with his Infernal Charge however the monster intercepted him by knocking him down with his humongous club as if he was merely a fly.

"Can you not like maybe... die?" Ruby said to the demon who landed face-first on the ground.

"I'm trying." the demon replied from under the dirt. Ruby sighed, shaking her head in disapproval.

"I'll get his tendons, kill him and don't die, okay?" Ruby informed patting him on the back.

"I'm killing that bastard." Aleister muttered, lifting himself from the ground.

"Good. Here I go!!" Ruby propelled herself forward towards the ogre's feet by riding the recoil of her sniper scythe. The oaf tried grabbing her but she was too fast and too small for his slow and gigantic hand. She jumped on top of his arm and hooked her scythe under his wrist, shooting a bullet and letting the recoil add force to help her decapitate his hand. Ruby jumped down from his arm and sliced through his tendons making him kneel and cry out loud in agony. She looked over at Aleister who was already activating his darkness strike. Five artifacts aligned and rushed towards the ogre who can only watch in vain as his death stared him straight in the eyes.

The ogre fell down dead on the ground, half of him completely gone. The forest and the monsters behind him were also blasted to oblivion due to the demon's power. The two fighters' gaze suddenly met and a huge smile stretched upon their lips even though they were both panting for breath.

"That was amazing." Ruby praised looking at him with admiration.

"You weren't bad yourself. How about we-" Arrows suddenly rained over their heads and five-hit Ruby straight in her chest bringing her down on the ground.

"NNOOOOOOOOOOOO!" And then something snapped inside Aleister.