Blood Blockade Battlefront: Echoes of Hellsalem's Lot
Three months ago, Leonardo Watch used the Gods' Eyes to help Klaus defeat Count Möbius—and the price was his little sister's sight. Now, every coin he earns disappears into an envelope bound for Michela, a silent penance he pays with a smile. But the Eyes are aching more often lately. The blur at the edge of his vision is getting harder to ignore.
In Hellsalem's Lot, a city stitched together from two worlds, Libra keeps the fragile peace. Zapp runs his mouth, Chain worries between insults, and
Blood Blockade Battlefront: Echoes of Hellsalem's Lot - The Gods' Eyes — The Key to Grasping Unseen Truth
The rubble was cold.
No—it wasn't the stone that was cold. It was the heat draining from the core of his own body.
Leonardo Watch lay pinned beneath the collapsed underground seal chamber of St. Agnes Chapel, unable to move, doing nothing but breathing. The air he drew in was thick with dust and the smell of blood. His left leg was caught in the debris, and he couldn't feel it anymore.
But what terrified him more was his field of vision.
Most of the world was swallowed in a white haze. And it wasn't just blurry. The right half of his sight was simply gone—nothing there at all. Only the Gods' Eyes embedded in his left eye still managed to capture "something."
That something was a red light.
Deep in the seal chamber, beyond the crumbling wall, the Blood Arts sigil carved into Lily's body was pulsing. Countless red lines traced across her pale skin like veins, and that glow throbbed beyond the white haze like a beating heart.
"...Lily."
The voice was wrung out of his throat. No answer came. Instead, a low, damp laugh threaded its way through the gaps in the rubble.
" It's useless, human. This vessel is already mine."
A voice that wasn't hers spilled from Lily's mouth. An old man's voice, cold enough to freeze the marrow. The remnant of Count Möbius was devouring her from the inside.
Leon moved his fingers beneath the rubble. Shards of stone sliced his fingertips. Blood welled up. But even that pain felt somehow distant.
(I can't see. I can't see anything.)
The Gods' Eyes burned like fire. The price of pushing them to their limit in the seal chamber last night was crashing down on him now without mercy. A pain like needles stabbing his optic nerve pulsed deep behind his left eye.
A sharp sting pricked the back of his nose. Something warm trickled down his lip. A nosebleed.
But Leon didn't close his eyes.
He kept the Gods' Eyes open.
(That light—that's the only thing I can see.)
Beyond the white haze, only the red glow of Lily's sigil was clearly visible. The Gods' Eyes were reacting to it. It felt as though the structure of the sigil was pouring directly into his mind.
It hurt. His head felt like it was splitting open.
But he could see.
To Leon, the lines of the sigil appeared to be unraveling, one by one. The red lines were a mesh encasing Lily's body. At the center of that mesh, deep within her chest, a complex pattern floated.
It was not a sigil for destruction.
Leon understood what he was looking at.
"...No."
His voice trembled.
"This is... a sealing sigil."
The Blood Arts sigil carved into Lily's body was never meant to summon the remnant of Count Möbius. It was meant to seal the remnant inside Lily and purify it.
Arigura hadn't made his daughter into a vessel.
He had been trying to save her.
The remnants of the Bloodline kin had reversed the sigil. Rewritten it into one that would create a vessel. And Stephen, too, had clung to the reversed sigil. To control the remnant, he had been willing to sacrifice Lily.
(Stephen didn't know either.)
Anger and sorrow rose up in Leon's chest at the same time.
Anger—at the remnants of the Bloodline kin. At those who had trampled on Lily's life, on her father's wishes.
Sorrow—for Stephen. For the man who had tried to make himself the villain in order to protect his comrades.
And for Lily.
For the girl who, from the moment she was born, had been burdened by her father with the fate of being a "vessel"—and who, despite all of it, had said she believed in Leon.
He clenched his fist.
Beneath the rubble, the bones of his fingers creaked. Blood seeped into the cracks between the stones.
"...It's all right. I'll take care of it."
The familiar phrase slipped out on its own.
But his voice was stronger than even he expected.
The air in the seal chamber trembled.
The remnant's laughter grew louder.
" Take care of it? In this situation? You can't even see anymore, can you?"
Black mist spilled from Lily's body and crawled through the seal chamber. It threaded through the gaps in the rubble and crept toward Leon's feet.
Cold.
Where the mist touched him, body heat was stripped away.
" Be a good boy and die quietly under that stone. Your Gods' Eyes will be the key to my resurrection. I'll take them from you—slowly."
Leon shook his head slowly at the remnant's words.
"...I can't do that."
He tried to push the rubble up. His left leg was crushed under the weight of the stone. The sound of flesh tearing and bone breaking echoed inside his own body.
It hurt.
But he didn't stop.
" This sigil was originally meant to seal you away. Arigura carved it to protect Lily."
Leon continued, tracing the structure of the sigil with his Gods' Eyes.
" And to reactivate this sigil, my Gods' Eyes need to confront your core directly."
The remnant's laughter stopped dead.
" ...What?"
" My Gods' Eyes are the key."
Leon spoke quietly.
" I'll be paying with all the sight I have left. Even so—I'll seal you back inside Lily."
Silence fell over the seal chamber.
The remnant's mist writhed ominously.
" ...Interesting. You're prepared to pay that price? A mere human brat?"
Leon didn't answer.
Instead, he moved his arms, trying to claw his way out of the rubble.
That was when it happened.
" You bastard, Leo!!"
A bellowing shout rang through the seal chamber.
Beyond the mountain of rubble, silver hair swayed. Zapp Renfro came running toward him, clawing through the debris with blood-soaked fingers. His sharp blue eyes burned with rage.
" Don't go carrying this all on your own!! Who the hell said you could do that!!"
Blood from Zapp's ring transformed into a blade. Touri Blood Arts: Kagutsuchi. In a single flash, the blood blade sliced apart the rubble pinning Leon's leg.
The stone shattered.
Leon's body was freed from beneath the debris.
" Can you stand, Leo!"
Zapp grabbed Leon's arm and pulled him up.
"...Zapp, you..."
Leon's vision was almost entirely obscured by white haze. But Zapp's warmth was something he could feel clearly.
" I'll help too."
The voice came from right beside him.
Chain Sumeragi released her dilution and materialized. Her black bob was soiled with dust. Her narrow black eyes stared straight at Leon's face.
" I can't let you hog all the cool lines to yourself."
With that, Chain supported Leon's shoulder.
" I-I'll come too!"
A trembling voice came from the corner of the seal chamber.
Zed O'Brien rose from behind the rubble. The fish-man boy's legs were shaking with fear. The gills on the sides of his neck twitched violently. The sound of air pumped through his air gills was ragged.
But he was standing on his own two feet.
" ...I still haven't done anything. But I won't run."
Zed's voice was shaking, but it carried unmistakable resolve.
Leon heard his comrades' voices.
Zapp's shouting. Chain's calm tone. Zed's trembling words.
(I'm not alone.)
For the first time in his life, he truly felt it.
The guilt of having taken his sister's sight. The fear of losing his own vision as the price of the Gods' Eyes. He had been trying to carry all of it by himself.
But he was wrong.
He had comrades.
"...Thank you."
Leon murmured softly.
Then, from the ceiling of the seal chamber, a sharp sound rang out.
A sniper shot.
Through the gaps in the collapsed ceiling, bullets wreathed in electricity tore through swarms of blood flies.
Blood Bullet Martial Arts.
It was K·K.
" The path's open. Hurry up and deal with that monster."
K·K's voice came from beyond the ceiling.
The swarm of blood flies fell, scorched by the electric discharge. The air in the seal chamber filled with the smell of burning.
" Young master, I am at your service."
A familiar, gentle voice echoed from the entrance of the seal chamber.
The old butler wrapped entirely in bandages, Gilbert F. Altstein, stood quietly. Dark skin, a white mustache. His bearing was as calm as ever.
" Master Klaus will be arriving shortly."
Before Gilbert's words had even finished, the air in the seal chamber grew heavy.
From the hole in the collapsed ceiling, a giant of a man descended.
Red hair. Sharp, narrow eyes. Behind his glasses, a quiet fury burned.
Klaus V. Reinherz.
The leader of Libra stood in the seal chamber.
" ...I have grasped the situation."
Klaus spoke in a low, heavy voice.
His gaze turned toward Stephen, who stood frozen in the corner of the seal chamber.
Stephen A. Starphase, his suit soiled with dust, his scarred eye twisting, stared back at Klaus.
Klaus gave Stephen only a glance.
" We'll deal with it later. Whatever it takes."
Klaus's voice was quiet.
" Right now, stop that thing."
Stephen said nothing.
He only gave a small nod, his expression bitter.
His hand was wreathed in ice crystals. Esmeralda-Style Blood Freezing Arts. Stephen's blood took on a freezing aura, chilling the air of the seal chamber.
" ...I'll buy you time."
Stephen's voice was hoarse.
" Leo, you're the key. I'm counting on you."
Leon nodded.
" ...Yes."
Leon took a step toward Lily.
His legs tangled. His vision swam in the white haze.
But Chain supported his shoulder, and Zapp pushed his back.
" Go, Leo! We'll be your eyes!"
Zapp's shout pushed him forward.
Leon took Lily's hand.
Cold fingers. But there was definite warmth there.
" ...Leonardo."
Lily's lips moved faintly.
Even as the remnant eroded her, her consciousness had not yet faded.
" It's all right. I'll take care of it."
Leon squeezed her hand back tightly.
And then, he opened the Gods' Eyes to their fullest.
A searing pain shot through him.
A scorching light raced through his head. His vision blew out to pure white. Nosebleeds poured out without stopping.
It hurt. It hurt. It hurt.
But Leon didn't close the Gods' Eyes.
(I can see. I can see it.)
Beyond the white haze, Lily's sigil pulsed red. At its center, deep in her chest, was a clot of black mist.
The core of the Echo.
The remnant of Count Möbius lurked there.
Leon tried to fix the core in his sight with the Gods' Eyes.
His vision blew out white again.
"...gh."
Leon's body nearly collapsed.
" Leo!"
Chain caught his shoulder.
" Don't screw around—we're not done yet!"
Zapp shouted.
His blood wreathed itself in flame and became a blade. The blood of Touri was boiling.
" Your opponent's right here!"
Zapp leaped toward the mist of the Echo.
The Kagutsuchi blade tore through the black mist. The Echo's attention turned toward Zapp.
" ...Me too!"
Zed turned his blood into a blade with trembling hands. Touri Blood Arts: Shinatobe. The vacuum blade gouged through space, and in an instant, cut open the mist that had been covering Leon's vision.
" Leon, now!"
Zed's shout.
Leon's vision cleared for a single moment.
The core of the Echo was clearly visible.
At the center of the black mist, a pitch-black heart pulsed.
" ...I see it."
Leon murmured.
Golden light spilled from the Gods' Eyes.
The light tore through the Echo's mist and brought the outline of the core into relief.
" Sealing sigil—reactivate."
Leon's Gods' Eyes and Lily's sigil resonated.
Red light and golden light intertwined.
The core of the Echo screamed.
" GYAAAAAAAAAAH!!"
The black mist thrashed violently. The air of the seal chamber shook, and the stone walls cracked.
But it was too late.
The sealing sigil activated in its original form.
The red patterns carved into Lily's body radiated light as they sealed the core of the Echo back inside her.
" You—you brat...! You brattttt!!"
The remnant's death throes echoed through the seal chamber.
The black mist was drawn into Lily's body.
And then, silence descended.
The unnatural presence vanished from the seal chamber.
The Echo was sealed within Lily.
Leon's vision showed him nothing anymore.
Only white haze covered the world.
But Leon could feel it.
The warmth of Lily's hand.
The sensation of the sigil and the Gods' Eyes resonating.
The bond between them, truly connected.
" ...Leonardo."
Lily's vo
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