From God of Lies to Lord of All Worlds

Chapter 204: The Thirteen Clans and the Thousand-Year Holy War

"They did this on purpose! They slaughtered my entire family, and even left my mother's head at the door!" Albert Coppola was beyond furious. He appeared somewhat dazed, yet eerily calm. "This proves they didn't find whatever important thing they were looking for here, or perhaps they harbor a deep hatred for my family and needed to vent it like this!"

They were currently standing inside the blood-soaked estate. The surrounding corpses had already been cleared away by the arriving mafia members.

Leon had inspected them; these people had not been turned into blood thralls. They had simply been drained dry.

Now, they were trying to deduce the reason why the vampires had come here.

Even murder must have a motive. Not even vampires would slaughter people completely at random. The fact that they wiped out everyone in the estate and even took the time to humiliate Albert showed that they truly harbored intense hatred!

"Could this have something to do with me?" Gabriel asked. "I was hired by the Coppola family to assassinate Mr. Leon. Because of our encounter, Mr. Leon subsequently destroyed a vampire."

"If that vampire really died because of that, they might have taken their anger out on the Coppola family!"

Albert picked up his cell phone and shook his head. "No, you weren't hired by our family. You were hired by the vampires. I just received news that the official family member who hired you has also been turned into a mummified corpse!"

"So, you were merely their way of testing Mr. Leon. Our family had been targeted from the very beginning, nothing more!"

The crisis of losing his entire family transformed Albert from a mere member running errands into the sole surviving direct descendant of the Coppola family. He was visibly maturing at a rapid pace, as harsh reality afforded him no opportunity to hesitate.The core strength of the entire family had been obliterated in this crisis. He was no longer thinking about how to seek revenge, but rather how to keep the remaining survivors alive.

Therefore, the first thing he did was to distance this disaster from the two Transcendent beings of the Church and cling to them for support. "Then... are we still going to look at that special mark?"

"Yes!" Leon declared. "These creatures definitely have an ulterior motive. We will only know their intentions if we investigate it!"

The three of them walked forward. Behind them were the successively arriving members of the Coppola family. The overnight annihilation of Sicily's largest gang cast a heavy shadow over everyone's hearts.

Furthermore, the sight of those drained bodies caused many who originally harbored ambitions of taking power to gradually consider leaving instead.

No matter how immense and tempting the family's rights and power were, one needed to be alive to enjoy them. Being targeted by Transcendent monsters meant there would be no life left to enjoy anything.

The scattering of loyalty and the complex intertwining of human nature shrouded the area in gloom. It also made Leon feel incredibly oppressed when he opened the estate's cellar and saw the demonic patterns inscribed within!

The mark was still there, and it had been expanded. It had grown into a bizarre pattern that covered almost the entire space!

"This is an inverted pentagram..." he said in astonishment. "A blood-thorn pattern, a demonic prayer... This is a bloody ritual sacrifice area used by vampires!"

Gabriel nodded. "This is the place. My memory serves me right; it was on this very wall that I saw a similar pattern. To think they had already prepared for a sacrifice?"

"I'm afraid it's not that they prepared it, but that it's already finished!" Leon continued forward. The spear of light in his hand became the sole source of radiance illuminating the area. Appearing before his eyes were even more corpses, along with over a dozen blood-red pedestals.

Text written entirely in blood covered the basement walls:

"Our race is the womb's flesh torn from you by Jehovah!

The shameful blood scabs clinging to the hem of the divine robes!

Command the rotting flesh to proliferate!

Command the corrupted blood to surge back!

Let our skeletal remains bloom into the most enchanting bone coral in Hell!"

The incredibly blasphemous words displayed before their eyes made their pupils constrict and caused them to draw sharp breaths of cold air!

These were indeed texts of pure blasphemy, even daring to directly call out God's true name. They were a pack of thoroughly treacherous demons!

They had completed a special, secret ritual sacrifice here, using corpses, blood, and blasphemous words to humiliate every faithful follower who stepped foot in this place!

As the light extended further, they saw the ritually sacrificed corpses. Compared to the people outside who had merely been drained, the victims here were in a far more wretched state!

Their bodies were contorted, their faces torn apart. Their skin even exhibited an unnatural crimson hue, as if they had been boiled alive in blood.

"Thud!" Albert collapsed to his knees once more. Most of the color had drained from his face, and there were few tear stains left, but his voice became incredibly low and hoarse. "Father, Grandfather, Brother..."

Now Leon and Gabriel knew exactly where the corpses in this basement came from.

These were the core members of the Coppola family, used as offerings sacrificed to that Mother of Night, Lilith!

It seemed there truly was an immense hatred between them, and this hatred didn't originate from this era; it had to stem from the distant past...

"That's it. I should have realized. Isn't the blood-thorn the very object from legends that Lilith used to reforge her body after being banished from the Garden of Eden?" Leon said in sudden realization.

Gabriel continued staring at the rotting text, observing the patterns upon it, and spoke slowly, "Tzimisce... Mr. Leon, isn't this the name of the vampire clan you killed?"

"Yes, did you find specific written evidence?" Leon walked over and observed the text together with him. They dared not, nor could they, speak the words aloud. When vampires chanted these words, it was a sacrifice; if they chanted them, it would be sheer blasphemy!

This was something The Lord absolutely forbade.

"My children!

God once commanded Adam to irrigate the fertile soil, But I shall clog the galaxy with blood!

Tear open this clot of blood now, And let the newborn foul light burn through the stables of Heaven!"

The appearance of this phrase caused a distinct shift in Leon's expression. "My god... this is an incubation ritual? This is a place where a group of vampires was born, or rather, resurrected!"

"Gabriel, look at those fragments. Do they have curved surfaces?"

Hearing this, the Assassin Master raised his hand, gazing at the eggshells on top, and gave a slight nod. "Yes, curved fragments. The things appearing on these platforms aren't just mere shards of blood, but genuine blood cocoon shells!"

Through these remnants, they could even visualize what had happened. The blood within the bodies of those who died in this estate had been absorbed here, serving as nourishment for these blood cocoons!

In other words, over a dozen brand-new vampires had been nurtured here?

"Then where did they go?" Leon furrowed his brows again. "They already possess such immense power; why did they leave in such a hurry?"

"I think I know why..." Behind them, Albert stood up and spoke, stumbling slightly. "They are most likely heading to Milan!"

"Milan?" Leon paused, then seemingly recalled something. "The recent vampire rumors originating from Milan?"

"Yes, exactly those rumors!" Albert said. "But members of our family know a bit more. It's not just rumors over there; real incidents have been occurring!"

"What exactly happened?" Leon pressed for details. This gang was indeed connected to the vampires, and Albert was sharing inside information about them!

Then, the two of them noticed Albert suddenly float into the air before their eyes, a terrifying red light flashing in his gaze.

His low voice echoed in their ears:

"Who would have thought... even after they left, this place could still bait out two members of the Church!" The gloomy, chilling voice prompted Leon and Gabriel to instantly raise their blades!

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm not from the Tzimisce clan! The deaths here have nothing to do with me!" The entity raised its hands repeatedly. "If you don't want to save the city of Milan, feel free to attack me!"

Leon held Gabriel's arm back and asked with a frown, "Who are you? What do you mean by that? Are you not a member of the Tzimisce clan?"

"Of course not, you two holy men. I am... a member of the Giovanni clan. I merely sensed an anomaly in the blood here and followed its scent to take a look!" The entity chuckled. "I didn't expect to not only find traces of the Tzimisce clan but also witness your arrival!"

"How wonderful! This way, you can go and fight them!"

Leon stared at the guy who was actually joking around, his frown deepening. "Whose side are you on?"

"Neither. After all, we are a neutral clan! Since you're asking so nicely, allow me to guide you through what happened here in the past!"

The possessed 'Albert' raised his head and slowly chanted in a mystical tongue. In the next second, visions of the area gradually manifested before them:

Illusory shadows unfolded in the space, revealing two pale-faced men conversing:

"This family overheard our secret. Now their blood has become our sacrifice. Consider it their compensation!"

"The war of the Thirteen Clans has restarted. Since the Toreador clan refuses to hand over the person, we will go and take them by force!"

"This is a war belonging to the vampire clans, and a continuation of the racial holy war from a millennium ago!"

"This time, before the Church can react, we will use the power gained from this sacrifice to annihilate the Toreador clan in one fell swoop!"

"The Sabbat will rule the entire world of the Vampire race, and humanity will serve as the perfect sacrifice for this reign!"

The vision vanished, and 'Albert's' voice echoed once more. "If you wish to save that city named Milan, you'd better hurry! After all, neither the Toreador nor the Tzimisce clan will spare ordinary humans!"

"If you arrive late, you'll be treated to the spectacle of armies of blood thralls clashing against each other!"