Just what kind of ritual were they carrying out?

「… Hmm, it seems that the ritual has failed. That damn Sercrent, has he betrayed us?」(Gubamon)

Gubamon looked at the seven-pointed star that showed no response whatsoever and raised the ends of his lips in a smile, exposing his pointed fangs.

「Well then, next is Eleanora. Get on with it.」(Ternecia)

「… Yes.」(Birkyne)

As Ternecia pressed Birkyne to perform the next step, he took an unconscious child from a Noble-born Vampire who had been waiting nearby and cut off its head, using the side of his hand as a blade.

Blood gushed onto the floor, glowing mysteriously and crawling around as if alive to form another seven-pointed star.

The three of them each gave a drop of their blood as they had done earlier.

However, the result was the same. Nothing happened.

「It seems that Eleanora has betrayed us as well.」(Ternecia)

「Kukuku, if they were dead, they would have been revived here as Undead, after all.」(Gubamon)

This ritual was one that summoned the souls of dead Noble-born Vampires and resurrected them as Undead.

It required the decapitation of a child born to a woman who had only ever known one man, and all three of the Pure-breed Vampires needed to contribute a drop of their own blood to the seven-pointed triangle drawn with that child’s blood. Even though this ritual would revive a Noble-born Vampire as an Undead, the resulting Undead would be vastly weaker than the live Vampire, so it was hardly worth the trouble.

The reason this ritual was being carried out was because a major incident had occurred a month ago.
【Slay the Dhampir born between the Subordinate Vampire Valen and the Dark Elf Darcia.】

That was the divine message that had recently been given to the Pure-breed Vampires by Hihiryushukaka, the【Evil God of Joyful Life.】

They had given the task of slaying the Dhampir in question to Sercrent and Eleanora around a year ago. As Vampires’ sense of time was different from that of humans, they had thought that perhaps Sercrent and Eleanora were having some difficulty with the task, so it hadn’t really occurred to them that they should investigate the situation.

As the problematic Pure-breed Vampires who worshipped Vida had showed no signs of movement, there hadn’t been anything to get impatient about, either.

However, things changed when the evil god sent the divine message directly. Even though the evil god had given the Pure-breed Vampires his divine protection, it was unusual for him to send them a divine message.

The evil god had given them a direct order to slay the Dhampir. It was a significant enough event that even Gubamon, who normally refrained from attending these meetings, had stopped admiring his collection to come out here.

They had then tried to contact Eleanora and the others who had been sent to slay the Dhampir, but it was already too late.

That was why this ritual had been carried out. If they had killed the Dhampir but lost their lives in the process, they would be revived as Undead and be able to report the fact.

It they could not be revived, it would be clear that they had betrayed the Vampires.

「It seems that we’ve been underestimating this Dhampir. Perhaps he has captured his would-be assassins alive and is now tormenting them, but either way, they have failed.」(Ternecia)