*Swish*

Fiona moved her sword like a flash as she severed the head of the last vampire in the area. Seeing its corpse fall to the ground, she swung her sword to the side and stared around her. The entire place looked like it had gone through a war. Countless corpses riddled the place, and the amount of blood running through the street was horrifying to say the least.

Luckily, the cleaning squads were already working on erasing all traces of the conflict from existence.

They had successfully killed most, if not all, vampires within the plaza and the district around it. This was the busiest and biggest district in the entire city, so this was a major step. The rest was simply a matter of exploring the city and clearing it of all vampires that remain alive.

However, Fiona wasn't satisfied whatsoever… She couldn't find Elio yet, even after looking around for a while. Her unease and worry filled her mind. The GPS tracker on his body says that he should be in this area, but there is no trace of him.

'Where did he go? Dammit, Elio. You shouldn't be moving around like this.' She cursed inwardly, feeling her heart squeeze tightly just imagining if anything bad happens to him. She felt a strong urge to just leave everything behind and go search for him.

But, she shook her head. She trusted him, and she knew he was fine. If Fiona didn't let Elio grow and learn on his own, he would never reach his full potential, so as much as this was unhealthy for her heart, she knew that it was necessary. That was how all vampire hunters learn… Through continuous tries and experience accumulation.

"Miss Fiona!!"

"Hm?"

At that moment, one of the hunters approached Fiona in a hurry as he avoided all the corpses.

"All the leaders of the squads have arrived. They're looking for you."

"Sigh, I'm coming," Fiona said as she looked behind her and then signaled for the cleaning squad to move to this area. The process was rather smooth, and all the people have been evacuated, so no one was left there.

Walking away, Fiona entered one of the empty buildings where she found a group of people waiting for her.

"Lady Fiona! Good day!"

"Does anyone know what exactly happened?" Fiona asked. "Did my father tell you anything?"

"..."

Silence.

Nobody knew what to say because they also didn't know what happened. They were as confused as everyone else if not more.

"Of course."

"It's a massive scale attack, Lady Fiona. This was deliberate and direct, and it is a declaration of war against us." One of the leaders said, an older man with a serious look on his face.

"I agree. This is clearly a message being sent to us."

"You both do not determine what war is and what isn't," Fiona replied, coldly cutting them off. "Leave that to the people who make decisions. What is important now is that we clean this city as soon as possible. Did reinforcements arrive?"

"Yes, almost 20 minutes ago."

"Good. Tell them to clean the city and make sure we contain the situation as much as possible until we receive more information from my father." She ordered the man calmly, and they nodded and went to do what she asked.

"How are the rest of the squads doing? How many areas have been cleared?"

"The northern district and western district have been cleared, and the southern district is almost done. We should be able to take control of the city within an hour or two at most." One person reported.

"Good." Fiona nodded her head. She was still disappointed it would take that long to take control of the city again, but considering how surprising and huge this attack was, it was better than nothing.

After talking to the squads, Fiona excused herself and walked out of the place as she took her communication device and contacted a certain person. Sighing, she put the device next to her ear.

Eventually, it connected, and she spoke.

"What is happening? I need an explanation."

"It seems a certain individual has triggered all the vampires within the city," Geralt replied coldly.

"Triggered? How?"

"It seems they had some sort of rune cast on them that triggers their bloodlust and kicks it into overdrive. That was possibly why they all attacked at the same time and in such a coordinated manner."

'This is surprising. What could even have such an effect on these vampires? And how did this individual put all these runes into all these vampires?'

It made no sense. Fiona was certain that most vampires who descend to earth are either exiled or they escaped to earth to live in secrecy. For this many vampires to have the exact same ruin… It opened the doors to very grim and very worrying possibilities.

Geralt knew that too, and that was why he sounded even colder than usual.

"In any case, I will be out of contact for a while. Take control of the situation and deal with it. I expect to find the city cleaned by the time I'm back."

"Hey, wait."

Before she could speak, the connection was lost, and Fiona stood there, silent for a few seconds. She then sighed and put the device away.

As she turned around to walk inside to take command of the entire operation… She suddenly felt her device vibrating again. However, this time it wasn't a call… Instead, it was a vibration that she had rarely seen before.

Pulling the device again, she was met with a black screen and ringing sounds. Then, a map appeared on the screen that indicated a particular location.

"A black message?" She frowned as her eyes flashed with a strong glint. "What-"

"Miss Fiona! We have lost contact with squad 2-B! I tried to contact them but they don't respond!"

"The same for squad 3-A."

"Squad 4-C!! Do you copy?! I repeat! Do you copy?!"

One after the other, the group started losing contact with several squads out of nowhere. This entire time, they were in complete contact with them, giving them orders and receiving information from the scene.

"..." Fiona's lips parted before she clenched her teeth. "I have received a black message. Something really bad is happening up north."

"Huh?! But the north should be clea-"

"Well, it isn't. So, now, I want you to show me the last locations of all these squads on the screen. You two, try to establish a connection again. We need to confirm that this isn't a signal problem."

The people sitting at the computers went to work as they tapped quickly. Then, they turned the laptop to Fiona as she looked at it.

As she expected, all the dots were in an area close to one another. At the same time, the attempts to connect with the squads failed. Until…

"Hey! Can you copy?!"

One connection worked. At first, there was no response and merely rustling sounds. Then, they heard a screech so painful it sent chills down their spines.

"SEND HELP!!! SEND HELP!!! SHACKLES! SHACKLES ARE MURDERING US!!! WE ARE BEING- AAAAAAGH!"

Then, the voice was cut short, and the connection was lost. Everyone stood there, in complete horror at what they just heard.