A vampire’s innate ability could heal injuries at a speed visible to the naked eye. However, this was truly out of the options for Bai Ji, who wanted to finish her battle as soon as possible.
She herself could afford to play the waiting game, the city could not.
If she didn’t eradicate Lan Yu — the mastermind behind this disaster — as soon as possible, the magic formations scattered throughout the city would continue to unceasingly create all types of monsters.
As long as she tried her best not to mobilize the [Magic] within her body, the influence that the imperceptible changes had over her would greatly weaken.
Of course this wasn’t the sole reason that Bai Ji didn’t use magic. She wasn’t a dramatic person after all.
At worst, she could just consign herself to eternal damnation for once and drag Lan Yu to hell.
However, only at the moment she joined the fray did she realize that the [Magic] stored in her body was on the verge of running out. Not only that, the consumption caused by her intense movements had caused a sense of starvation to incessantly expand throughout her body.
She had originally planned to rely on the [Soul Devourer] to speedily make Lan Yu into human jerky. All it needed was a slight touch, and he would be done for.
Bai Ji had been trying to find an opening in her enemy’s movements, while Lan Yu was completely focused on defending himself as if he had understood her intentions. He had kept a safe distance from Goutermera throughout the battle, blocking it or using [spells] to interfere. This made Bai Ji, who was incapable of using [spells], feel completely helpless.
Therefore, she needed to search for opportunities during the limited time she had, as reckless misuse of [spells] was just going to make her defeat more thorough.
Her low reserves of [Magic] had compelled her to launch a strike that would shake the core of her opponent. Additionally, she mustn’t be interrupted during chanting, otherwise all would be for naught, even if she was nearly done.
Even though the Deepspeak verbal commands for [Magic Spells] were much shorter than the incantations for [Sorcery Spells], the time needed to cast a higher-tier [Magic Spell] was astonishingly long.
Despite having been a knight for over ten years, Bai Ji was barely more than a year old as a vampire before she had to undergo Lilias’s forceful teachings. Her aptitude in the vampire style of combat was virtually non-existent; The way she chanted was extremely inarticulate and didn’t allow her to instantly cast magic spells. Other than the exceptionally low-lethality [Swooping Grim Reaper] spell that she was somewhat familiar with, the rest of her magic spells were either complicated and long tongue twisters or offered no guarantee that she would be able to chant and cast them without accident.
“Ding…!” Her scythe was once again intercepted by the short tooth knife that Lan Yu had summoned.
Unless one was really proficient, a long-handled weapon was severely restricted at close range. It was extremely easy for it to be repeatedly pinned down by the opponent due to the long handle it had.
Without any particular mastery in hand-to-hand combat nor scythe proficiency, Bai Ji was left with no choice but to be at a disadvantage in the battle of attrition that had entered into a deadlock. On top of that, her terrible condition at the start of battle had forced her into a situation with no way out.
The speed of her brandishing her scythe gradually slowed down. Her body slightly trembled, as it failed to keep up with her demands of physical strength and gradually rebelled against her commands.
Out of nowhere, the short tooth sword that had only been defending suddenly turned its cutting edge around.
Caught off guard, Bai Ji quickly met the attack and speedily moved the handle of her scythe back to defend, but alas, it was still a bit too late.
“Kkka!” The sword blade pierced into her wrist. It was completely evident that this attack had been planned for a long time, as it perfectly cut off her tendons. Instantly her hands lost their grip over her scythe.
Needless to say, Lan Yu didn’t pass up such an opportunity. Exploiting this vulnerability, he pressed up the attack like a vicious and aggressive wolf that had bared its fangs.
“Tsss…” Bai Ji gritted her teeth. With her fingers still holding onto her dangling scythe, two blood whips extended outwards from her waistband and tenaciously wrapped around the incoming sword.
“Hehehe, I already know something’s fishy with this scythe of yours. I’m not that dumb to hit it head-on.” Lan Yu appeared to have predicted such a scenario happening and wasn’t in a hurry to retrieve his short tooth sword. Taking advantage of them being in a stalemate, he quietly formed words with his mouth.
Slightly alarmed, Bai Ji extended her wings in an attempt to evade, but discovered it was practically impossible to unravel the blood whips that had now been turned into deadly knots. It was a case of self sabotage at its finest. In the midst of hopelessness, she strenuously raised her scythe with one hand and sent it chopping towards Lan Yu’s face.
“Clank! Swish!” A crisp sound resounded as the scythe was repelled, flying away and landing in somewhere unknown. Immediately following that, a series of intense pain began to originate from her elbow.
Lowering her head, she saw the area below her elbow had disappeared, with fresh blood incessantly flowing out from the right joint where her lower arm should be.
[Destructive Class— Slashes of the Demonic Winds]
A gust of wind brushed by in a silent, soundless manner as if it had only existed in a brief instant.
“Uugh…” Bai Ji bent her body, whimpering in pain.
“So, this is all a vampire amounts to.” Lan Yu lightly derided, all while his fists, the size of watermelons, ferociously hammered onto Bai Ji.
“Guh…!” A strand of fresh blood trickled down Bai Ji’s cherry-like lips, together with a muffled grunt. Her body flew backwards, smashing into and toppling a house. The commotion caused large quantities of gray smoke to rise upwards into the air.
“Is this the true strength of vampires, who are known as nobles of the eternal night? I’ve been thoroughly disappointed indeed. With that modicum of power you possess, I’m guessing the amount of magic I could squeeze out from devouring you would only be enough to fill the gaps of my teeth.” Lan Yu unfolded his dark wings and stood still in the air. With his eyes at the fog of dust stirring below him, he shook his head.
“Could it be that her stunted development has caused her to be somewhat lacking in the power department? …Forget it, let’s go down and see if she’s thoroughly dead.”
“Whoosh…” The fog began to clear up by a gust of clear wind, gradually silencing the sound of sand and rocks floating in the air.
“…………Types tartius erde, cerissimi, propter ipsom divinitetem puar。”
“Mmhmm?” Lan Yu narrowed his eyes as his ears seemingly picked up a low voice out of nowhere… It was clear that it came from a girl in the prime of her youth, yet it sounded like the whispers of a demon.
The chant was completed.
As the vision-obscuring cloud of sand faded away, a silver-haired girl who was sitting on her knees gradually got herself up to her feet. A sweet smile covered her petite, dust-covered face that was directed towards Lan Yu.
‘She isn’t dead? But she should have been severely injured.’
“How elegant and refined you are, Miss Vampire. To be able to smile oh-so-sweetly when your death is near. Your heart is truly generous indeed.” Lan Yu wrapped his arms around his chest and stared down at Bai Ji in ridicule.
She smilingly shook her head. “Isn’t that person with a generous heart you, Mr. Lan Yu~? A great calamity is about to fall on your head, yet you’re still completely~ unaware~ of~ it~”
Bai Ji tightly touched her cherry-like lips with her right hand’s finger, as her tone carried a hint of a meaningful laughter from within.
“Huh? Has your brain been damaged by this sovereign? …Hold on, wasn’t your hand already…” Lan Yu instantly narrowed his eyes, as he tenaciously stared at Bai Ji’s completely-undamaged right hand that was as tender as a newborn baby.
“Oh dear~ Mr. Lan Yu sure knows how to joke around.” Bai Ji shook her finger.
“To purely rely on a destructive-class magic skill in hopes of putting a vampire to their doom or something… Sigh, if vampires were only that weak, how were humans beaten back to this small piece of land and resign themselves to living their days behind a barrier?” Bai Ji slowly heaved a sigh as she looked at Lan Yu in the air.
“Leaving the fact that this was just a small injury aside, would you believe that I’d even grow a head out if you were to chop it down right now? All of these have no significance when it comes to royal bloodlines. In other words, you’re naive.” Bai Ji pointed a tender and slim finger upwards.
Lan Yu’s face was filled with doubt as he followed her finger to look upwards. His complexion turned more and more unsightly the higher he raised his head until it turned into a white sheet.
He could only see a giant dark silhouette, nearly three clock towers tall, standing above Bai Ji with a slightly hunched posture. Clad in a black cloth mantle that swayed along with the wind, the illusionary and transparent figure was holding onto a scythe so massive it resembled a pillar supporting the heavens.
Even if there was a distance of two cities separating them, one could see the shape of its body in vivid detail. It was as if the slightest movement of this black silhouette was capable of shaking the entire human federation.
It moved his body, revealing a withered skull.
Silence. Silence had covered the entire city.
“W-What is that accursed thing?!” Compared to that monstrosity, Lan Yu was merely a housefly.
Fear revealed itself on his face as the corners of his mouth twitched continuously.
[Primordial Vein—Projection of the Primordial God]
“Mr. Lan Yu seemed to have mentioned that I didn’t develop properly, did you? …Ehe~ Do you like the present I have brought you?” Bai Ji wrapped her hands around her body.