Ariel has successfully cleared the labyrinth. Since she entered it through an artifact, she'll be teleported back to the mansion momentarily. It'd be a waste to not take any spoils from the strongest dragon, so she rips off one of its scales that's as big as her. To make an alter weapon, you need a part of the monster and its blood.

  "With just a scale, the weapon made out of this won't have any abilities but it'll be damn near unbreakable."

  In less than 15 seconds, she gets taken back to the mansion. Dropping the scale, she looks for Chifuyu and sees him still holding out in the garden. Ariel looks down on Patrick with a bone to pick.

  "Well damn. Looks like I lost."

  "Ariel!" Chifuyu is all banged up, but he managed to hold out against a Slayer even giving him a run for his money.

  The silver-haired vampire jumps down with rage in her eyes. She's exhausted all her curse blood and most of her energy, nevertheless they won't be needed. She balls her fist up slowly walking over to them. Patrick has accepted his defeat. He closes his eyes smiling with a sigh, and the next thing he knows, Ariel is laying the smackdown on him with a relentless barrage of fierce punches. After about 50 which wasn't close to enough for Ariel, she draws her blade ready to finish Patrick off.

  "Do you really want to kill me, Ariel Ryuji?" He questions as he heals the bruises on his face.

  "It's the only thing on my mind right now, so yeah I'm pretty sure I do."

  "What if I had vital information I could give you?"

  "What? You can't be serious. Do you plan on turning traitor?"

  "It wasn't my plan A, but this still works fine with me."

  "I knew this was suicidal for you to do. He might be telling the truth, Ariel. Since he couldn't kill either of us, it makes sense for him to try to switch sides."

  "But why? I don't get it." Ariel keeps her blade trained on Patrick.

  "This entire fight was so he could have my blood."

  "That's right. If you let me live, I'll talk. However, I have two conditions. The first one is to let my fangs live. The second one is to have another taste of Chifuyu's blood."

  "Huh?!" Ariel's blade starts cutting into Patrick's neck. "Do you really think you're in any position to list off conditions? And what do you mean another taste?!"

  Patrick licks his lips, "His blood is quite the delicacy."

  "You're dead."

  Ariel genuinely tries to slice his head off, but Chifuyu stops her.

  "It's fine, Ariel! This could be a big chance to gain important intel!"

  "Tsk…" She clicks her tongue.

  "Let's go check on the others now—"

  With no regard for anyone, several consecutive rays of golden light slash through the mansion. The entire building is collapsing, so the Hunters vacate it immediately rushing to the front while the vampires escape to the back. Hanako showed up, he had Patrick's place bugged with listening devices expecting him to turn on them. Thus he promptly had Iakovos, the vampire fighting Shoyo and Dallas slash through the mansion in an attempt to kill him. By the luck of God, the attack didn't hit anybody.

  "Patrick you bastard, you created this mess all because of insatiable curiosity and thirst for some half-vampire blood. This was a blunder on my part, I should've gotten rid of him sooner."

  "This runt came out of nowhere ordering Mr. Gorgeous. Don't tell me he's stronger than him?"

  "Shoyo, they're coming out."

  Diego runs out of the main entrance carrying Iris in his arms, and out of a window from the left wing come Kagura and Shinatsu bursting out.

  Shoyo smiles with relief, "Looks like they held their own." He turns his attention back to the two vampires. "So shorty, you wanna join our little fight? Or are you just gonna give orders to your friend?"

  "Well, Hanako?" asks Iakovos.

  "I'd rather not have a drawn-out fight here. Besides, Shoyo Kusakabe is stronger than both of us combined."

  "On what basis?"

  "Mine. If that attack didn't take out Patrick, then we'll just have to cut our losses." 'I wanted to carry out an attack on the same day as the antagonists did in my favorite manga, but oh well. We can change it to some other day if need be.' "Farewell Shoyo. I doubt we'll ever see each other again."

  Hanako and the blonde vampire walk away.

  "Are we going to let them go?"

  "I don't think we have much of a choice. Chifuyu hasn't turned up yet, now that we're not getting held back anymore we can look for him."

  "Alright."

  ***

  "Patrick!"

  Chloe, Inyaki, and Sabeh ran around to the back to escape with their head. There they find him being protected by their enemy. Ariel grabbed Chifuyu and Patrick slamming them to the ground which saved their lives. Any second later and they would've been killed by a golden slash.

  "At ease you three. We're joining the humans."

  "What?!"

  "For real?"

  "What an interesting development." Sabeh looks at Chifuyu, 'So this is the half-vampire."

  "Where's Skodi?"

  "If you mean the black-haired vampire, I killed him."

  "I see."

  Chloe bites on her thumb nail anxiously, 'We're actually switching to the human's side? I guess it's a good thing I didn't kill that girl.'

  'Boy, it looks like we'll be able to dance together again.' Inyaki smiles with excitement, with the only thing on his mind being the dance battle he just had with Diego.

  "Chifuyu! Ariel!" Shoyo and company come climbing atop the rubble of the destroyed mansion.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  ***

  "Is that so? He's willing to join our side?"

  "How can we be sure he won't betray us?"

  "Same way I did. Patrick needs to make a vow."

  Two sides that were just fighting each other are suddenly allying. Chifuyu and Ariel explained the situation to the others when they arrived. Sabeh is amused about the whole thing, Inyaki and Diego smirk at each other, and Chloe doesn't know what to make of it. Meanwhile, Iris is fighting to stay conscious. Shinatsu and Kagura accepted what's going on without questioning it, but the twin-tailed girl is still skeptical.

  "A vow? With pleasure. I vow my loyalty to Chifuyu, swearing to never betray him."

  "Should that do it?" asks Kagura.

  "Not yet, the others have to do it too."

  "Eh?"

  "Sure."

  "Go ahead you three."

  "…. I vow loyalty to Chifuyu, swearing to never betray him." They speak in unison.

  "They're only vowing loyalty to Chifuyu, not the Hunter Agency."

  "Should be fine." Shoyo is not worried.

  "If you say so. So we have more vampires joining the side of humanity, what're they going to do about blood?"

  'More?' Diego questions in his head.

  "We have loyal staff in my company who know what we are, blood will not be a problem. Now, you wish to know what my information is, right?"

  "Let's hear it," states Ariel.

  Patrick smiles before speaking, "They're vampires who were born here in Shioto. They took over an orphanage and used it as a means to raise countless vampires here. They succeeded in bringing up over 100 vampires in the past half a decade who've integrated themselves into human society. The four of us here aren't from the Alter World."

  "Woah."

  "Seriously?"

  This news shocks the 4 young Hunters and Diego.

  "We knew that was a possibility, now it's confirmed."

  "Hmph. Vampires' DNA structure is completely identical to that of a human once they take on a human form. The cells that make up the properties of a vampire disappear once they appear human, and reappear when they revert back. I'm sure you're already aware of this too, which is what makes tracking us so difficult with the typical approaches."

  "More stuff we figured."

  "Keep your socks on, we're getting to the good part. The Slayers are currently run by the strongest 7 vampires here in Shioto. We used to be 9, but two of them were killed by Shoyo Kusakabe at Island 86. If I had to say, each one of us has the strength equivalent to or greater than a Special Rank Hunter. I'm unquestionably the weakest, I know 2 others were also born here. But the strongest one of us is the one who actually calls the shots. There are only a few who know her identity, she's undoubtedly also blended into human society. Up until a decade ago, the Slayers was an unorganized group comprised mostly of Ariel's old army who wanted to unseal her. When the current leader took the reigns, stronger vampires from the Alter World joined and the Slayers became a lot more methodical. Revealing themselves less and not getting killed close to as many times as before. Thus, the human's false sense of peace grew even more."

  "Would you look at that, we're actually getting some good info. Can you tell us the names and abilities of the other 6?"

  "Unfortunately I can't tell you anything about our leader, or much about the second in command who still looks like he hasn't hit puberty other than his name being Hanako."

  "That's the runt that showed up."

  "Yeah."

  "He's also the one that kidnapped Chifuyu and Iris last year."

  "As for the other 4, one is a 16-year-old girl with light blue hair and silver eyes when she's appearing as a human, her curse gives her the ability to turn anything she touches into ice. She goes by the name of Chisato. The other female is tall, over 6 feet with long dark blue hair and a noticeable figure. She can control the rain, prolonging its stay on top of using it as a weapon. Her name is Ame. Both of them were born in Shioto. The 6th is a brawny musclehead, named Kakuto. His curse gives him a ridiculous amount of strength, enough to topple a District by himself. Last but not least is Akutenshi, whom Shoyo fought not too long ago."

  Ariel flinches at the name Akutenshi. "Wait, he's here on Shioto? Akutenshi?!"

  "Oh, you know him?" asks Shoyo.

  "Yeah, and that's who you fought? He was one of the top 5 strongest Vampire Lords."

  "Really now?" Shoyo gets excited, putting a hand over his chin. "Is he stronger than you?"

  "I was top 5 too." Ariel says this, but that was 200 years ago, today might be a different story.

  "Patrick, I got a question."

  "What is it, dear Chifuyu?"

  "This Hanako, when we met he was spouting some nonsense about Iris being his sister and about how someone's gonna betray me. You know what he was talking about?"

  "Sadly I haven't a clue."

  'I totally forgot about that.' Apparently one of the biggest twists of the prologue slipped Iris's mind this whole time.

  "I'll continue…"

  ***

  "…We planned to attack the Hunter Academy on the 31st of October. But now since that date's compromised, odds are they won't attack there anymore."

  Hearing that, Chifuyu walks over to Patrick and grabs him by the scruff of his collar. "You were gonna attack the Academy?!" This put him over the edge because two of his close friends, Erika and Dakota are currently students there. They basically got into this because of him, so if anything happened to them he would never forgive himself.

  "Hey, if it makes you feel better it wasn't my plan."

  Iris looks startled, this is her first time seeing Chifuyu this angry.

  Kagura grabs his shoulder, "Relax Chifuyu, they won't be able to anymore."

  Dallas adds in, "So a big attack is upon us. The Academy might not be their target anymore, but something else will."

  "Without a doubt. Also, the blonde vampire that destroyed my mansion will be among their ranks in the next attack. His name is Iakovos, an informant told me he reports directly to the Vampire King. If I'm not mistaken, he's a Vampire Lord."

  "Figures. He was holding his own against us without so much as breaking a sweat. By the way, there anything you wanna tell us about this informant?"

  "I'm afraid I cannot. But you can take my word that he is neutral, not currently on either side. He came to me himself giving me his knowledge with no prize. If I had to say, chances are he will join humanity's side. I believe that's all the information I can provide you with."

  "No hideout areas?"

  "None. We always meet at different spots. I suppose giving you the locations won't hurt, though I doubt they'll do any good."

  "Well, Shoyo?"

  "…You have our thanks Patrick, looks like you get to live."

  "May I ask about our protection? We will definitely be targeted."

  "Don't worry, the Hunter Agency will protect you. It'd also benefit us if you are targeted, makes it easier to hunt em down."

  "You have our gratitude."

  "You're coming with me while I report to the President. Let's go. Dallas, make sure the others get home safe."

  "Sure thing."

  Patrick glances over at Chifuyu, 'Til next time, my dear half-vampire. Keep your blood tasty for me.'

  Ariel wants to hurt him even more, but she holds herself back. Diego walks over to Chifuyu, it's time for some answers.

  "Glad you're safe, Chifuyu."

  "Thanks for coming man, especially when you're not even a Hunter."

  "Haha. I held my own."

  "Oh really?"

  "Well, Iris did most of the heavy lifting."

  "There we go."

  "Heh."

  "…. Last year, I was on the verge of death from getting attacked by a vampire. Ariel saved me, she's the Vampire Lord who'd been sealed here for 200 years. But by saving me, I had become a half-vampire. Sorry for keeping it from you."

  "I—I see. Did you guys already know?"

  "Yeah."

  "Yep."

  "Y-yeah."

  "Damn. It all makes sense now."

  "You're not surprised?"

  "Of course I am! But even I could tell things were off before… Holy shit! Do Dakota and Erika know too?"

  "They were the first to know."

  "Not surprised there." Diego slides over to Chifuyu, reaching his arm over his shoulder to whisper, "So, you have to suck blood right?"

  He whispers back, "Yeah. You see, half-vampires don't need to suck on the blood of humans for sustenance, they can get it from vampires. And they can also get blood from half-vampires since we're also half-human."

  "Wow. It's like an incite food glitch."

  "That's what I said!"

  "Tell me, is Ariel's blood good?"

  Chifuyu blushes, not saying anything, he just smirks.

  "Hahaha. You dog!"

  "Get off me. Hahaha."

  'Guys. I'd like to a hospital already.' Unable to rush them aloud, she tells them in her head.

  "Do you like this group, Shinatsu?"

  "Huh?"

  She's caught by surprise by the sudden question from her family member. Nevertheless, she answers with a mature smile.

  "They're like a family."

  The ends of Dallas's mouth also curve to form a little smile. "Let's go guys."

  ***

  Shinatsu's Pov

  The Augustus Mansion mission to rescue ended in success. On top of that, the Hunters gained vital new intel from a member of the Slayers turned traitor. The president gave Patrick protection under the pretext that he's being targeted as the owner of a multimillion-dollar company. Which is half-true.

  I asked Nailah if I could take leave for a few days to settle some family affairs. I got Shoyo to get the president to find out where Amelia currently was. Fortunately, she happened to be in District 19, at the Boreas Estate. I stood my ground and told her I wasn't going to do what she wanted. I will never betray the new home I found, even if it costs me my life. To my surprise, she barely had anything to say and accepted my assertion. I don't know what she's planning, but something is definitely up. Next, I visited a couple of family members I should've had a long time ago. They were the only ones who went out of their way to be kind to me before I left for the Academy, but I pushed them away. I won't do that anymore. They were surprised when I showed up, but their kindness hadn't changed. That was all I could ask for. After spending two days with them, I returned to my new home. As the others welcomed me back, I couldn't help but smile warmly.

  Augustus Mansion Raid Arc -End-