Mixed within the wind was the smell of blood.
A white-silvery silhouette retracted its wings after gracefully landing on the roof of a metal tower with the tip of its toes.
“You really did come after all.” Lan Yu wasn’t shocked in the slightest that his location had been found out.
His voice turned rougher the more he spoke and bore practically zero resemblance to a human anymore.
”Seems like our goals do not conflict with each other.”
“You talk too much crap.” A scarlet glow speedily converged upon itself. Along with a breeze, the fabric of the silhouette’s western dress turned into countless small bats that scattered and fluttered away.
The swarms of bats dispersed, leaving an eye-dazzling dark silvery armor that shone in the moonlight. An inferno seemed to burn behind the seams of its helmet.
“Are you still planning to use that delicate human body? Hehe, don’t tell me you’re really taking yourself as some human now, Miss Vampire? Have you not figured out your position yet?”
“I’m very well aware of it but I can’t say the same about you. I wonder if you still remember what you previously stood for.” Ji Bai rested his sword on his elbow, its tip directly pointed at Lan Yu. A cold glint glittered behind the seams of his helmet.
”Does a mere feeble worm like yourself possess no self-awareness at all??” Lan Yu narrowed his eyes as his aura spread through the air like ink in a clear pond.
“A demon like yourself has absolutely no qualifications whatsoever to criticize the standpoint of this sovereign. All that I did… Every single bit and piece of it was for mankind! Someone like you who relies on wearing a mask to live your life has absolutely no right…”
“You’ve already strayed off your path. A power that doesn’t belong to you will never be yours in the end. To prove my point, I wonder if you can distinguish whether it’s your consciousness or your instincts that are taking over you right now.” Ji Bai emphasized each word rhythmically and in a slow manner.
“What a ridiculous fallacy. Why would this sovereign be unable to control his own body? I’ve always been very sober! You don’t have the right to take the moral high point and criticize me. Your excellency Vampire…” He stared at Ji Bai with his large, beast-like eyes wide open, as if planning to peel and swallow him alive.
“Is that so?” Ji Bai casually brushed away his words.
”You foolish worm…! You simply… know nothing at all!” Lan Yu suddenly erupted into a rage, causing a gust of black air to instantly engulf the place.
An incorporeal strength circled around him, as his mouth silently moved, seemingly controlling that berserk and unruly power.
[Destructive Class— Soul of the Hunter]
Under the influence of Deepspeak, the unyielding power was freely manipulated by Lan Yu’s hands.
After being molded into existence, two wolves’ heads with flickering red eyes took shape in his palms.
With a casual flick of his finger, they bared their teeth and unleashed an angry howl at the sky, before biting towards Ji Bai like dogs protecting their master.
His silver helmet reflected the gradually growing fire in the wolves’ eyes. Moving his right leg to the back and adopting a stance, Ji Bai continued to rest his sword against his arms, with no intention to dodge or evade.
[Crushing Class— Watcher’s Fury]
His longsword was accompanied by a strong gust, as its momentum grew larger and larger like a warhammer falling down from the skies.
A large number of sparks shot out from the fang-shaped longsword, while the collision caused the [Magic] made up of highly-condensed energy to explode and scatter.
The shockwave sent Ji Bai flying down the metal tower.
However, he managed to tightly hold onto the roof in time and hung from its edge. During which, he was forced to endure searing pain incessantly churning in his chest and abdomen as fresh blood gurgled out the seams of his helmet.
“A mantis trying to stop a chariot. You’ve overestimated your abilities.” Lan Yu shook his head emotionlessly.
Using all the willpower he had, Ji Bai arduously climbed up the edge to safety using his elbows. Without caring about the blood gushing out from the corners of his mouth, he regulated his breathing and pulled out the fang-shaped longsword that was stuck in the ground.
“Oh? You still have the strength to get back up? Interesting.” Lan Yu raised his eyebrows.
Ji Bai broke into a quick dash, his sword in hand.
“What an overconfident worm, your rudeness and impetuous nature are truly without equal!” Lan Yu placed a finger on his mouth and slightly bent his head downwards, unloading a series of entrancing words into the wind blowing towards him.
“Enough, let me send you to hell.”
[Disaster Class— Killing Formation: Crisscrossing Ball of Death]
The space around Ji Bai suddenly turned fuzzy, as if a formless power had lifted his entire body upwards. Following which, the fuzziness speedily materialized and a transparent, bubble-like sphere wrapped itself around Ji Bai.
No matter how hard he tried to pierce or slash with his longsword, this bubble-like ball didn’t budge in the slightest.
Covered with dark rust and bloodstains, countless black lances covered in dark thorns began to blossom inside the sphere. Like thousands of arrows piercing a heart, the whole sphere was thoroughly stabbed by the lances, causing fresh blood to burst out in all directions.
”Die.” Lan Yu slowly clenched his fist and turned his body around without bothering to look at the scene.
In the end, a knight king was only human; A human who can be killed even by common-class magic.
Even if he had the identity of a vampire, he had taken a sphere curse head-on without any precautions — a curse which had the highest direct-lethality among Calamity-class [Magic]. It was beyond a shadow of a doubt that he wouldn’t be able to live past it.
Ji Bai’s death might signal the end of an era, but to him, it was just the start.
What came next would be the lackeys and hunting dogs of the Temple Association. None of them shall escape.
“Whoosh…” The wind noisily howled as a tall and sturdy figure whose armor was covered in small and large cracks rushed outwards and charged towards Lan Yu with vigorous strides, all while the cross-shaped symbols on his pauldrons emitted an eye-catching whitish-gold light.
”Vata Trasta…”
[Disaster Class— Radiant War Chariot]
“This, impossible…?! How could…” Before Lan Yu could even feel astonishment, a head-on collision struck his body. Hanging on Ji Bai’s pauldrons, the two of them fell from the metal tower together.
“Damn it…! Why aren’t you dead yet!?…” Lan Yu spared no effort in flapping his wings to prevent himself from falling down. However, it was to no avail, as a pair of gauntlets made their way behind him and tightly strangled his neck.
‘Don’t tell me there’s something weird with this armor?!’
“Kaka… Aaahh! Y-You scoundrel, let go…” Lan Yu had never thought that a moment of carelessness would actually cause him to be roughed up by a human into such a pitiful state. The thought instantly made him fly into a rage.
He had no time to wonder why his Disaster Class Magic failed to obliterate a human.
With his delicate throat in a tight grip hold, Lan Yu no longer had any room to recite Deepspeak spells. Dragging Ji Bai along, he resembled the spitting image of a large housefly that had lost control of its wings as he swayed from side to side in the air.
Even though he was unable to use magic, the suppression that a higher tier of species held over its lower-tier counterpart continued to be very conspicuous. A clear example of this was the differences in their physique.
The physical attacks dealt by Lan Yu’s nearly 3-meter tall body were nothing to scoff at. Even under a layer of armor, a fist strike of his was perfectly capable of disorienting Ji Bai.
As if his action had thoroughly irritated him, Lan Yu retrieved his wings and continuously beat, scratched, and pinched at Ji Bai behind his back with his long arms. Even so, Ji Bai refused to let go no matter what.
Just like that, the pair incessantly scuffled and struggled in their descent from the lofty metal tower.
“Boom!…” The ground emitted a sorrowful wail as if expressing its grievances as an innocent party.
In a large crater, sand and dust whisked upwards, obscuring the situation within.
After a period of silence, the first to fly out was a large dark silhouette.
”Hmph, did you like how this sovereign sent an annoying fly like you to your death!” Lan Yu moved about his muscles and bones after flying out of the large crater and ferociously stared at the dust in the air below him.
“This should have killed him off for good, right…”
“Swoosh…”
Lan Yu’s pupils suddenly constricted and he shifted his body sideways as a massive scythe, seemingly sharp enough to pierce one’s soul, brushed past his shoulders. Following which, it cycled around back into the smoke like a boomerang.
“Boom…!” A pale beautiful silhouette flashed past as a silver-haired girl with wings on her back grabbed the massive scythe and sprang out of the smoke.