Blood Awakening: The Strongest Hybrid and His Vampire Bride

Chapter 761: The Woman from Neo Tokyo

Not long after his first successful counter, Ivan and Viktor gradually began to exert more and more pressure until all three of them began using Ancestor-level powers. And thanks to that, half the arena and training area looked like a bomb had dropped.

“So what do you two old men really want?!”

Nikolai leaned back against the wall, topless and sweating heavily.

He couldn’t take his father lightly when he was a Great Elder, but now both he and his grandfather had reached the next level. It was living hell. ‘Though it’s good Mother wasn’t here… she’s even stronger.’

“Huh?”

Ivan turned with a blank expression.

Even though his cheeks dripped with sweat, he kept a holier-than-thou aura.

“??????”

Viktor came from nowhere, carrying a case of chilled beer; the whiskey had vanished hours ago and getting hammered clearly wasn’t the goal.

“Nothing much, Nikolai. We just wanted to assess the strength of our leading men…” He handed a chilled amber beverage to Nikolai. Then, in the next breath tossed a bottle at Ivan’s head with a violent swing.

But he caught it with ease.

“Tsk!”

“Behave… Right now it’s better to focus on the task at hand. Don’t overwork your old heart and pass on, old man.”

Viktor caught the bottle Ivan tossed towards him before sitting down on what remained of one of the reinforced benches.

“Brat… I was leading this clan before you could even wipe your own ass.”

“And somehow you became more annoying with age.”

Nikolai ignored the two of them and twisted the cap from his bottle.

The chilled beer tasted strangely refreshing after several hours of fighting, especially with his entire body still burning from the repeated transformations and blows he’d endured.

“Haa…”

He pressed the cold glass against his forehead for several seconds.

‘These two definitely wanted something.’

There was no way his father and grandfather had dragged him underground, beaten him half to death and gradually escalated until all three were using Ancestor-level strength simply because they felt like sparring.

Well…

Knowing his family, maybe half of it really was because they wanted to fight.

But not all of it.

Viktor took a long drink before resting both elbows against his knees.

“Nikolai.”

“Hm?”

“How many people do you personally know who could stand on that island and not become a burden?”

The question immediately changed the atmosphere.

Nikolai lowered the bottle.

“Apart from everyone we’ve already gathered?”

“Mhm.”

Viktor’s expression remained calm.

“Someone strong enough that you wouldn’t need to protect them. Preferably someone who could occupy one of Alucard’s strongest people alone.”

Nikolai leaned his head against the reinforced wall.

‘Someone I know personally…’

His wives were already involved.

The Volkovs.

Tepes.

The alliance elders.

His knights.

Most of the powerful supernatural people he’d built relationships with were either already part of their forces or had responsibilities elsewhere.

Then another face appeared inside his mind.

Madoka.

Once the leader of the SSS and a member of their Supernatural hunting squad. The beautiful human woman who had somehow crossed the boundary between human and monster until she became something closer to a half-tiger beast.

And she carried his child.

Nikolai’s expression tightened slightly.

‘Madoka…’

She was powerful.

More powerful than most people realised.

But throwing her name into a room with Ivan and Viktor would immediately turn a simple thought into another alliance discussion, especially once they discovered she was pregnant with his child.

‘I’ll contact her myself later.’

Whether he asked for her help was another matter entirely.

He wasn’t going to drag a pregnant woman into the final battle simply because she possessed strength.

Nikolai shook his head.

“Nobody comes to mind.”

Viktor sighed.

“That’s unfortunate.”

“Everyone I trust at that level is already connected to us somehow.”

Ivan took a sip of his drink, glancing between his father and son, before letting out a long sigh and placing his drink down.

“Dad?”

“Mm… well… it’s not me, but your mother might know someone whose power is on par with the current Alucard… Tsk! That woman is completely crazy about her husband and son, though… we’d be fucked if something went wrong.”

‘Wow, someone even my dad takes seriously? Who is she…’

Nikolai wanted to push further, but his father’s nervous demeanour and how his face became pale just mentioning the woman with a husband and son.

Ivan rubbed the back of his neck before releasing an uncomfortable sigh.

“I’ll get Eliza to contact her and explain the situation. I don’t think she’d put herself in danger, but maybe she’d help protect this city…”

“How strong?”

Ivan remained silent for several seconds.

Then his lips slowly curled.

“Strong enough that Elizabeth told me never to piss her off.”

Nikolai stared at him.

“…Mother told you that?”

His mother wasn’t someone to say things like that, at least to Nikolai. Elizabeth tried to hide her true nature and the fact that she wasn’t the delicate and gentle woman his father had led him to believe all his life.

Viktor leaned forward.

“What bloodline?”

This time Ivan froze for a moment, then picked up his beer.

“A strange one… not quite a monster. Her power…it’s different somehow… she called herself a Demon Queen…”

“Eh?”

Nikolai wasn’t sure whether demons existed, but to hear a woman calling herself a Demon Queen awakened his inner novel reader. He wasn’t like his dad or grandfather. Both of them had no idea, as Demons were more folklore and fantasy even in this strange world of supernatural beings.

“Then what the hell is she?” Viktor grumbled.

Ivan took another drink.

“A monster wearing a human woman’s skin, from what Elizabeth once told me.”

Nikolai couldn’t tell whether his father was joking.

Ivan’s expression suggested he wasn’t.

“Apparently she comes from Neo Tokyo, though her husband has connections across Europa. Elizabeth met her through some rather complicated circumstances years ago.”

Nikolai rubbed his jaw.

“And she’d help us?”

“That’s the problem.”

Ivan’s face became strange.

Almost sympathetic.

“She recently had a child, and he’ll probably be the key… if Alucard continues to gain power, his next target will be the east… Her son Ryuji will be a big factor in getting her help.”

“…Ah.”

Nikolai immediately understood.

His thoughts travelled back towards Amphitrite sleeping upstairs, then towards Kumiko, Rika and the rest of his family.

Asking a woman who had recently given birth to walk into a supernatural war wasn’t exactly an appealing prospect.

Ivan continued before Nikolai could dismiss the idea.

“Also, she’s fucking merciless.”

Viktor’s eyebrows rose.

“Coming from you, that’s impressive.”

“Father, I’m serious.”

Ivan rested his forearms against his thighs.

“Elizabeth once described watching that woman deal with several men who threatened her family. She didn’t merely kill them. She made certain nobody connected to them would ever see the light of day again… and for their replacements to ever imagine trying the same thing.”

Nikolai slowly drank his beer.

‘That sounds… useful.’

Also terrifying.

“Does she have a name?”

Ivan’s expression tightened slightly before he shook his head.

“You don’t need it yet. I’ll speak with your mother first. If Elizabeth thinks approaching her after childbirth is a terrible idea, then we’re not doing it.”

“And if this woman refuses?”

“Then she refuses.”

Viktor gave a low grunt.

“Good. Desperate men make enemies by treating favours like obligations.”

Nikolai looked towards his grandfather.

The old man’s words reminded him again just how much experience sat inside this ruined training room.

“Haa…”

He rolled the cold bottle between his palms.

“There might be one other person.”

Ivan looked towards him.

“Who?”

Nikolai hesitated.

Madoka’s face returned to his mind.

The tiger features.

Her strength.

And more importantly, the life growing inside her.

“…Someone I’ll contact myself.”

Ivan studied his father’s eyes for a moment before shaking his head as the two exchanged glances. “Another woman?”

The tremble in Nikolai’s shoulder explained everything. The two old men just chuckled at their beloved family member and tapped bottles.

“Well, try to avoid getting stabbed, young pup.”

“How could my son have so many women… the rules of our clan…”

“It’s complicated.”

“Is she pregnant?”

“…”

Viktor slapped one hand against his knee.

“Hahahaha!”

“Grandfather!”

Ivan covered his face.

“For fuck’s sake, Nikolai…”

“I said I’ll handle it!”

His father’s hand slowly dragged down his face.

“How many grandchildren am I supposed to prepare for?”

“That’s not important right now.”

“It’s becoming increasingly important! Ohohoho… so many cute little children, makes me want to live another two hundred years!” Viktor’s energy increased thanks to the triplets and Leonid Selene’s son.

Both Ivan and Nikolai smiled at the energetic and happy sight of Viktor.

“Well, it should be interesting… You both know her.” He added.

“…”

“….”

Nikolai grabbed another beer from the case.

“But come on, stop complaining about me and my women. We’re supposed to be discussing Alucard.”

Viktor was still laughing.

Ivan looked like he’d aged another decade.

Yet despite the embarrassment burning Nikolai’s face red, the conversation had achieved something important. They needed more strength. Not another hundred ordinary warriors for Alucard to turn into corpses.

People capable of entering that island, surviving alone and killing whatever waited there.

Nikolai’s smile gradually faded as he stared towards the destroyed arena.

“I’ll contact Madoka later.”

Crack!

Immediately, the atmosphere changed as both Ivan and Viktor shattered their bottles. Their eyes locked on Nikolai, who seemed oblivious, with a smirk on his face.

“Y-You… who did you just say?!” Viktor stuttered.

Ivan shrugged; he’d heard the name before at the hospital… but told himself it couldn’t be the Madoka he knew.

“Is it that Madoka?”

“Which?”

“The one from the SSS…” Ivan hesitantly asked.

Nikolai’s eyes narrowed as he beamed with the brightest smirk. “Y-Yeah, is that an issue?”