Chapter 178: Apophis [I]

‘A Shinigami, huh?’

Tej thought as the building free-fell and crashed to the ground, kicking wind everywhere in a violent explosion of dust and debris.

Apophis remained standing among the wreckage, still staring at her without a face… just that smooth featureless surface and that horrifying wheel mounted where a head should be.

This wouldn’t be the first time in her life that Tej had seen a Shinigami.

Shinigami users were pretty common back in her era, though among humans they were known as devil worshippers since Shinigami were more or less devils in practice but what she didn’t expect was to see one in this era, in this strange new world.

‘But what kind of Shinigami is it?’

Tej dropped into a combat stance with her weight balanced perfectly on the balls of her feet. They were pretty easy to kill under normal circumstances… as long as you killed the user of the Shinigami arts, you could disperse the Shinigami itself. It was simple enough in theory.

‘But is it weird to say I want to test out my strength?’

She didn’t know the full details yet, but she was completely sure that this was not her original world. The atmospheric mana, the very composition of reality down to the fundamental bones of existence… it was all different. She’d assumed that her world had been destroyed and this was a different one entirely.

Which made her want to test her power against this world’s people. How comparable was a vampire her age to the inhabitants of this world?

She’d faced against the man she’d decided would be her mate and he wasn’t half bad, though he’d become much stronger once she turned him into a vampire properly but apart from him, how strong were the Shinigami in this world?

“Come at me.”

Apophis obliged.

The creature tore through the air in an instant with a devastating shockwave that cracked the ground beneath where it had been standing. The speed of this Shinigami caught her off guard… she hadn’t expected it the first time, but this time she could clearly see the movement and it made her smile.

‘This level of strength won’t nearly be enough to defeat me…’

Tej spread her arms wide, palms facing forward, and immediately uttered the incantation.

“Blood Pillar.”

The glow in her eyes increased dramatically, crimson light spilling from her pupils like liquid fire. Apophis closed the distance in a fraction of a second, the Shinigami’s arm extended to touch her face with those wicked claws—

A singular beam of blood came stabbing down from nowhere, immediately piercing through the Shinigami’s chest and driving it into the ground with tremendous force then several more came down, slamming into its fallen body one after another.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

The beams continued to rain down, piercing through Apophis’s form until they had formed a complete pillar rising high into the air… a tower of crimson energy that glowed with raw power. Tej sat atop it casually, cross-legged while looking down at the impaled Shinigami with mild interest.

“How disappointing…” she muttered under her breath. “Is this how weak Shinigami are in this world?”

When she’d first seen the way it looked… that imposing form and that ominous wheel… she’d had such high hopes. But wh—

Apophis began moving.

The creature tore itself away from her blood pillar entirely, flesh ripping and reforming simultaneously as it skidded backward across the ground.

Large holes remained where the Blood Pillar had torn through it, even taking a chunk of where its head should be… though the wheel remained completely intact, still spinning slowly.

Tej looked intrigued now.

“So it isn’t as useless as I thought?”

The wheel on its head spun a bit faster and one slot opened with a wet click, revealing an eye. It looked directly at her. The eye was completely crimson, bleeding at the edges.

“Disgusting.”

Apophis shot off the ground immediately, its wounds healing in real-time as it rocketed back toward her position.

Tej mounted her defense, bringing her fists up just as Apophis’s closed fist collided with her open palm.

CRACK!

The shockwave spread outward in a perfect sphere, destroying the Blood Pillars completely and shattering windows for blocks in every direction.

She caught the blow cleanly with her fingers wrapping around the creature’s fist.

“Get out of my face.”

Tej twisted and threw Apophis, sending the Shinigami flying through the air like a ragdoll. It sailed hundreds of meters before—

“Bloom, Return.”

A beam of blood came flying through the air from behind her, intercepting Apophis mid-flight and knocking it aside with brutal force. The Familiar returned to its position on her back, settling against her spine.

Tej didn’t know why her father had placed this particular Familiar on her, but it was one of his most prized possessions… a Blood Generator of exceptional quality.

Though Bloom had been greatly weakened in the transition to this world and now refused to talk, she was still here and still useful too.

Apophis spun in the air, correcting its trajectory, and shot back at her like a missile while Tej pressed both palms together in front of her chest.

“Blood Convergence…”

Blood pumped from all over her body and even from Bloom attached to her back, generating a tremendous amount of crimson energy that made the air itself glow.

“Multi-Directional Blood Barrage.”

Immediately a massive beam left her hands and tore toward Apophis. If the being had eyes apart from that disgusting eye on the wheel, she was sure it would have shown surprise as the beam tore through its head instantly, completely obliterating it in an explosion of dark matter and energy.

The beam continued past where Apophis had been and then popped, spreading apart into tens of smaller beams. Those tens branched out into hundreds.

Those hundreds branched out into thousands… all of them curving through the air toward Apophis’s headless body and the headless body moved.

It dodged the first initial strikes with impossible agility with its body twisting in ways that shouldn’t be possible, descending rapidly toward the ground.

“If you try to hide, all of them will come for you…” Tej told the Shinigami, though she wasn’t sure it could even understand her.

It didn’t really matter.

Apophis tore through the air at ground level and the thousands of blood barrages rained down on it like artillery fire.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

The head of Apophis regenerated completely as the Shinigami pushed forward, the blood chasing after it relentlessly.

Apophis dodged most of the Blood Barrages with fluid graceful movements… ducking under some, weaving between others, its four arms moving in perfect coordination. But it still got hit as some beams clipped its shoulder, tore through its leg, punched holes in its torso with each hit creating an explosion of force that leveled whatever was behind it.

Buildings in the surrounding area were obliterated, reduced to rubble in seconds. Apophis tried to hide behind a massive office building…

Tej laughed.

The beams blasted straight through the building like it was made of paper, tearing it apart from the inside out. The structure collapsed in a roar of concrete and steel, and Apophis leaped from the wreckage just before it fell.

The Blood Barrage finished.

Apophis stood among the ruins, staring at her. The wheel was still turning slowly. The eye bled down onto the ground, releasing crimson blood that pooled at the creature’s feet.

Tej shot a focused Blood Burst at that eye.

It simply phased through… the attack passed right through the eye as if it wasn’t even there. Though it looked physical, it actually didn’t exist on the same plane.

Even the blood that it released and that dropped to the ground… she couldn’t control it. It wasn’t real blood as it was something else.

Apophis took a step forward then shot at her, generating a massive shockwave that shattered the windows of remaining buildings kilometers away. It closed the distance in an instant and threw its claws forward in a vicious slash…

Tej parried the strike with her palm meeting the claw, sending another shockwave rippling outward. She followed up immediately with a devastating punch straight through the creature’s face, making it skid backward through the air.

Another eye opened on the wheel and this one was white instead of crimson. Tej shot toward it, closing the gap before it could react.

BOOM!

She collided with Apophis at full speed, her fist connecting with its chest and sending the creature plummeting toward the ground like a meteor.

It crashed through three buildings on the way down with each impact creating a spray of debris and dust, before finally slamming into the street hard enough to create a crater the size of a house.

Tej descended rapidly, aiming to capitalize on the opening…

Apophis slashed at the air with its palm.

She twisted mid-fall, narrowly avoiding the strike, and collided her elbow with its chest in retaliation. The wheel spun yet again, faster this time as the eyes tracked her movements with unnerving precision.

They engaged in close combat, and the ground shook with every exchange. Tej threw a right hook aimed at Apophis’s head…

Apophis blocked with its lower left arm, the impact creating a shockwave that cracked the ground beneath them.

She followed immediately with a knee strike to its midsection… while Apophis caught it with its upper right hand, fingers wrapping around her leg like a vice.

She twisted violently, breaking the grip with raw strength, and slammed her palm into its chest.

CRACK!

The strike sent it skidding backward across the ruined street, its feet carving trenches in the asphalt.

Apophis recovered instantly, closing the distance again in a blur. It threw a combination of strikes with all four arms working in perfect coordination.

A left hook, right cross, double palm strike from below, and even an overhead slash from above but Tej blocked each one, her hands moving so fast they left afterimages in the air.

She was dominating the exchange completely, reading its movements before they happened, staying two steps ahead.

She ducked under a high slash that would have taken her head off, swept its legs out from under it with a low kick, and as it fell she drove her fist straight into its face with enough force to crater the ground beneath them.

Apophis skidded backward, leaving a trail in the rubble then it came at her again and faster this time.

The Shinigami threw a right palm strike and she deflected it. It followed up with a left claw slash and she parried. The upper arms combining for a double hammer blow… she caught both strikes and pushed back, forcing the creature to retreat a step.

She pressed the advantage, throwing a rapid combination as each strike landed clean with the impact sending visible ripples through the air.

Apophis was being driven backward, unable to mount an effective counter.

Tej grinned.

This was more like it… This was—

Something changed.

Apophis’s defense suddenly became impenetrable. She threw a straight punch aimed at its chest but it was blocked cleanly by a lower arm. Another punch from a different angle and it blocked.

A kick aimed at its knee was caught and deflected effortlessly. She couldn’t break through anymore, Tej couldn’t find any opening in its guard.

The wheel on its head spun faster with and tracked her movements.

*What the hell—*

Apophis countered.

A devastating kick came from nowhere, slamming into her stomach and driving every bit of air from her lungs. The force lifted her off the ground and sent her flying backward through the air.

Before she could recover or correct her trajectory, Apophis soared after her, moving even faster than the kick had launched her. It closed the distance in an instant and landed another hit… all four fists combining into one devastating strike that caught her square in the chest while she was still reeling.

BOOM!

The impact felt like being hit by a meteor.

Tej managed to grab onto its foot in an attempt to spin it around and regain control, but Apophis merely stepped on her stomach with its other foot, completely landing a hit that slammed her into the ground.

The impact spread craters outward in concentric circles with the earth literally rippling from the force as Apophis shot into the air, preparing for another strike.

Tej smiled from the crater, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.

‘So it grows stronger the more it fights, huh?’

She snapped her fingers and immediately space itself shot forward, splitting into dozens of invisible slashes that moved faster than sound.

The slashes hit Apophis from every angle simultaneously, completely decimating it into pieces from the arms, legs, torso, and even the head with all separated and falling.

Vampires had the power to control space, and their space power grew stronger the older they were. At her age, she could cut through nearly anything.

Tej stood up as the pieces of the Shinigami fell to the ground around her like rain.

They began to regrow immediately as flesh reconnected to flesh, limbs reformed and the wheel kept spinning.

‘Is its power some sort of infinite regeneration?’

Tej thought, unable to determine the exact nature of this Shinigami because of how bizarre it was. Yet another eye opened on that wheel… this one completely white this time, joining the crimson one then Apophis vanished.

‘What—’

It appeared directly above her, fully regenerated, and slammed all four of its thick arms down on her in a devastating hammer blow.

She lifted both arms to block, creating a guard just in time…

CRACK!

The impact generated another massive shockwave that flattened what few buildings were still standing nearby.

Before she could even attempt a counter, Apophis raised its right leg and she switched her guard to a cross-arm block as the kick impacted with the force of a cannon.

BOOM!

Tej shot backward in a straight line, her trajectory carrying her directly toward a large building… an old skyscraper, maybe thirty stories tall. She reached her hand to the side mid-flight, digging her fingers into the concrete and steel of the building’s top half to arrest her momentum…

Apophis was already flying toward her, moving faster than before.

‘This isn’t that fun anymore.’

Tej thought while bringing out her palm toward Apophis, generating even more blood with the help of Bloom on her back.

“Just die already…”

She blasted out a concentrated wave of blood that could only be described as monumental. The attack was bigger than Apophis itself, bigger than the building she was gripping… a massive tide of crimson energy that tore through the Shinigami completely and burst through several buildings behind it, making the ground tremble violently.

The wheel spun once as Apophis was still alive.

Unlike the previous times where she’d used blood and it died quickly, it survived the intensity of that attack. Half of its body was torn apart, yes… but it was already regenerating and already moving.

Tej’s expression twitched.

She stopped trying to hold onto the building and instead forced her hand deeper into the structure. With a massive CRACK, the top half of the skyscraper came completely off.

She immediately threw it in the direction of the Shinigami. The massive chunk of building spun through the air like a thrown weapon, thirty stories of concrete and steel weighing thousands of tons.

Apophis, who had already healed, caught it with open arms. The impact sent another shockwave through the area, but the creature held firm… then crushed it with a burst of physical strength that sent a gust of wind and rubble trailing outward in all directions.

Tej landed on the ground as debris rained down around her. One large piece landed at her side, embedding itself in the street.

“Annoying beast…”

The dust cleared as Apophis landed on its feet as well and they stared at each other across the ruined battlefield.

She could attack that Shinigami user from here… the one that had summoned this annoying being into existence and probably kill her from this distance with a well-placed strike.

But her pride… her pride as the First Vampire Princess.

It spoke in her head and it did not lie. Why would she need such an underhanded technique to dispatch a Shinigami? If she couldn’t defeat it herself even with her father’s Familiar, then wasn’t she a shame to her heritage?

The two looked at each other for a second then they vanished.

Tej appeared on the side of a tilting skyscraper, running along its surface. Apophis circled around to her blind spot, moving faster than before…

She waved her hand to the side without looking. Balls of glowing blood appeared in the air, reflecting crimson light across Apophis’s featureless face, and transformed into beams…

The wheel spun once and the crimson eye that had first opened rolled in its socket, looking almost euphoric as though it had been hit by an orgasm.

And then Apophis fully reformed, moving faster than what she could perceive, and palmed a full hole straight through her gut… landing a clean wound on her for the first time.

Tej’s expression grew alarmed.

She shot a point-blank Blood Barrage that blasted Apophis backward, the beam branching into hundreds that tore through the tilting skyscraper and several other buildings nearby, reducing them all to rubble.

The two of them free-fell from the air with Tej’s wound regenerating rapidly as they descended.

‘What the he—’

Her thought paused.

All four of Apophis’s hands were suddenly pointed in the same position she used when she wanted to cast Blood Barrage with her palms pressed together and fingers extended.

Instead of aiming at her, the Shinigami aimed at the sky.

‘What does it think it’s doi—’

Blood branched out from Apophis’s hands.. Crimson blood… Like her own… It was identical to her technique in every way.

Two massive beams shot upward and collided with each other mid-air, creating a nexus point high above the battlefield.

The beams merged, twisted, then spewed downward like meteors falling from heaven, splitting apart into tens of smaller beams as they descended. Those tens tore apart into hundreds… Those hundreds tore apart into thousands, filling the sky with crimson light…

And then it went beyond that…

The beams split into tens of thousands, filling the entire sky with a rain of crimson death that descended on everything below without mercy or distinction.

The skyscraper she’d been gripping was obliterated instantly, reduced to powder. All of the surrounding buildings were hit simultaneously, erased from existence in the span of a breath.

A substantial part of the Outer Zone of Isle Supercity was wiped from the map entirely.

Apophis had just copied her technique.

…Perfectly.

Tej’s eyes widened in the split second before impact as Apophis twitched.

‘…O…’