"Your mother always complained to me about how much of a spoiled kid you are!" Lortell said, a small smirk on her face. Without another word, she directly rushed at Kailith, her body a blur of motion.
Kailith retreated immediately, jumping down from the rooftop. She was looking for an open space, since she knew Lortell could manipulate blood and sneak attacks were one of her specialties.
Thankfully, she found a good open area between the houses, a wide, empty street that would make it easier to see any sneak attacks coming.
But instead of any sneak attacks, Lortell directly rushed towards her. She sheathed her sword back in its scabbard with a smooth click and went for a simple, direct punch.
"Now that's something I like!" Kailith shouted in excitement. Although she still felt some fear, it was greatly surpassed by the thrill of fighting someone so strong. This was a real challenge.
BAM!...
Their punches collided, creating a huge clapping sound that broke through the quiet air like a thunderclap. The force of the impact sent a shockwave through the ground, kicking up dust.
BAM!... BAM!.. BAM!...
Their fists clashed again and again without a stop. Although Kailith was weaker than Lortell, it didn't mean she was way weaker. Her endurance was on the same level as Lortell's.
Her knuckles had already swollen and turned red, but in the next second, they healed back up again, and she was clashing against Lortell's fists once more, refusing to back down.
"Ice!" Kailith whispered, her breath fogging in the cool air.
The next moment, a huge spike of ice burst forth from the ground right in front of Lortell, rising up like a tsunami wave frozen in place. It was sharp and deadly, aiming to impale her.
Before it could hit her, Lortell immediately stepped back, dodging it precisely with a calm, measured movement.
CLANG!....
Unexpectedly, instead of attacking from the side like Lortell expected, Kailith actually broke through the solid layer of ice with a powerful dash, sending shards flying everywhere, and directly came in front of Lortell.
It felt like time had slowed down. Lortell extended her right palm to stop Kailith's incoming punch, confident in her defense.
But then—SWISH!....
Kailith's tail, which had been hidden behind her, moved with lightning speed. It whipped around and precisely sliced off Lortell's fingers in a smooth, clean motion.
"Quite sharp," Lortell lightly praised, a flicker of surprise in her eyes as she looked at her hand, which was already healing.
Kailith put all her strength into her back foot, till veins popped up on her leg. She pulled her hand back, gathering energy like a drawn bowstring, and even bent her back down for a better, more accurate angle.
BAM!...
The punch directly landed on Lortell. It was Kailith's first attack that actually landed successfully. A wave of triumph washed over her.
But then, a look of realization hit Kailith's face. The punch couldn't reach the face. It only hit Lortell's collarbone with a loud, sickening crack.
Lortell was still standing there, but now she had a disappointed look on her face. She looked down at Kailith, her red eyes glowing ominously in the dark.
BAM!...
Lortell directly kicked Kailith with her long, powerful leg. The impact was so great that it sent Kailith flying across the street.
She broke through the walls of several houses, crashing through wood and plaster, until she was thrown at least a hundred meters away, landing in a heap in a small garden.
"Cough... cough..", Kailith coughed, spitting up blood. She pushed herself up, her body aching all over.
A few drops of blood landed on her palm, dripping from her lips, but then the wound in her mouth healed immediately, just like her knuckles had.
"Is this what it feels like to fight your equal?" she said to herself with a dry, humorless chuckle.
But then, Lortell reached her, walking towards her slowly and lightly, as if she were just taking a stroll in the park.
"We are not equal," Lortell said, her voice calm and cold. "You would've been a lot stronger if you had just trained properly under Miss Lilith!"
Kailith stood up with confidence, brushing the dirt off herself. "I just don't want to give anyone credit for my future achievements!" she sneered, her voice filled with pride and defiance.
Lortell didn't reply. She was about to attack again, but then a strange sensation hit her as well, a feeling of her barrier being breached.
Her eyebrow slightly widened. "Someone already passed the barrier? Was there an S-rank hidden all along?" she thought to herself, clearly confused for the first time.
"Not good, I need to go," Lortell muttered, completely giving up the idea of fighting with Kailith. She turned around to leave, her focus now entirely on her house.
But Kailith immediately realized what was happening. Lortell was heading back to Esdeath!
"Stop! Ice!" Kailith shouted, thrusting her hands forward. A wave of frost shot out, trying to freeze Lortell in place.
But before she could, Lortell immediately opened her large, bat-like wings with a loud 'WHOOSH'.
She flew up into the air, directly rushing for her house. Although they had come quite a distance while fighting, her home was still close. It would take her less than thirty seconds to get there.
Lortell pumped her wings, calling on them to boost her speed as she shot through the night sky like a black and red arrow.
Screeecktchhh.....
A loud, roaring sound came from behind her. Lortell glanced back and saw the huge, open mouth of a dragon directly coming towards her, aiming to swallow her whole.
It was Kailith in her dragon form! She had transformed in a heartbeat. She directly bit down on Lortell, her massive jaws closing around her, and flew high into the air with rapid speed. Her silver scales, with a shade of black, glistened beautifully under the moonlight, a terrifying yet majestic sight.
Meanwhile, despite being between the powerful jaws of a silver dragon, Lortell had no change in expression. Her face was as calm and bored as ever.
She let herself hang loosely inside Kailith's mouth as she flew higher and higher. She even rolled her eyes in boredom, as if this was all a very dull show, hoping for Kailith to try something new.
"I'm in your jaws, yet you aren't biting down. Is it because you don't like vampire meat, or do you just not fight to kill?" Lortell asked lightly, her voice echoing slightly in the cavern of the dragon's mouth.
Yet, no answer came from Kailith. Her aim was still the same: to waste Lortell's time as much as she possibly could.
Lortell finally ran out of patience. She grabbed one of Kailith's large, sharp dragon teeth with her hand and pushed with all her might, forcing the jaw to open.
It took only a few seconds for her to forcefully free herself from Kailith's grip. She dropped for a moment before righting herself, floating in the air.
Without wasting any more time, she moved her fingers, her expression darkening.
"Blood manipulation!" she whispered. A massive war hammer made of swirling, dark red blood immediately materialized in her hands, its surface seeming to pulse with a life of its own.
And then–BAAAAAAAAMMMMMM!...
Lortell directly slammed the blood hammer down at Kailith's head with incredible force.
Although the size of the hammer was quite small compared to Kailith's large dragon head, the moment it made impact, it was like a missile blast. The power was concentrated and immense.
Kailith was directly slammed towards the ground like a baseball getting hit by a bat.
******
Inside Esdeath's house, Maruti stood up once again, her body aching. She took a deep, shaky breath and tried to steady herself, her heart pounding from the recent lightning blast.
"Fuck it, I'm gonna fly instead!" Maruti spat, frustrated. But as she tried to use her flight magic, it fizzled out completely. There were restrictions on flying inside the house.
"You can do it!" Alice cheered her on from the entrance, her voice a mix of hope and worry.
Maruti nodded, and with no other choices, she jumped and took another long, powerful step. By the length of the house, she was sure that she would reach Esdeath's bedroom in five steps at best.
The moment her feet landed on the ground.
Whoosh!...
Several blood-stained arrows shot towards her from many directions, emerging from hidden slots in the walls.
"Woah.. woah.. woah...", Maruti muttered, showing off her incredible flexibility. She twisted, ducked, and spun, dodging and blocking each arrow at the very last moment.
At the same time, she made sure that she didn't step anywhere else, terrified of triggering another trap.
More than thirty arrows were shot one after another, yet Maruti still stood without a single scratch on her. After training with Xing Liang, her senses and reflexes had improved quite a lot.
"One more step and I'll cover more than half the distance!" Maruti motivated herself and jumped once again.
Her feet landed silently. Maruti's eyes moved back and forth like a hawk, scanning every shadow, every corner, seeing if anything would happen.
But a few seconds went by, and nothing happened.
She immediately realized it. It was her lucky step. There were no traps set up here.
"Yes! Only two steps remain!" she shouted in excitement. She even turned around, raising her hand to cheer up Alice as well.
But the moment she looked behind Alice, her eyes widened and she froze in place, all the color draining from her face.
Lortell had arrived.
Alice also felt an intense chill run down her spine. Her neck trembled as she slowly turned around with a dry, terrified smile.
"M-miss Lortell, we—",
Before she could even finish her sentence, Lortell calmly grabbed her entire neck with her large fingers and threw her inside the house.
Since it was Lortell herself who threw Alice, it created a loophole in the barrier's magic. The barrier didn't stop her, and Alice directly crashed into the wall and landed inside the room with a loud thud.
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!.." Alice rolled on the floor, whining in pain.
Meanwhile, Lortell calmly entered the house and looked at Maruti with casual, almost bored eyes.
"So it was you, big tits. How did you do it?" she said calmly, realizing it wasn't some S-rank who had invaded her barrier this fast.
In any normal situation, Maruti would have surely gotten mad if someone regarded her as 'big tits,' but this situation was completely not normal.
"Ahhhhhhh!, Alice, SAVE ME, ALICE!", Maruti shouted and whined for help at the same time, her voice cracking.
With such an awkward situation where she couldn't even take a step forward or back without triggering a trap, she was surely fucked.
Alice barely stood up, rubbing her head, and took out her blue sword, the one Maruti had given her.
"What am I supposed to do? I'm weak!" Alice whined back, her hands trembling as she held the sword. She was just as freaked out as Maruti was.
Lortell calmly walked towards them, her steps slow and deliberate. Alice pointed her sword at Lortell, but her hands trembled uncontrollably, the blade shaking in the air.
At that point, all hope seemed to vanish.
But then—CRACK!...
Out of nowhere, Lortell's barrier shattered like glass, and the next moment, the side walls of the house also broke apart as a figure crashed into the room.
Even Lortell was caught completely off guard. Someone had just broken her powerful barrier and the magic-infused wall at the same time.
"So this is where you live!" a tough, middle-aged voice echoed through the dusty room.
Before she could react, the figure directly landed a devastating kick on Lortell's abdomen.
BAM!...
Lortell was sent flying, breaking through the other side of the house's walls. She soared across the air, the speed at which she was sent flying clearly showing that she wasn't going to stop nearby.
Meanwhile, the figure gracefully landed on the ground, their landing light and controlled.
"Holy shit, a wild card entry!" Maruti was clearly amazed, a wave of relief washing over her.
She looked at the person. He was middle-aged, with sharp blue hair and piercing red eyes. Although she had no idea who he was, this person had clearly saved them just now.
Of course, what Maruti didn't know was that this man was Alucard, the Dracula who once tried to kill Lortell, Esdeath, and hundreds of other people at the dwarf kingdom before. As always, Alucard's main target was Lortell. He had nothing to do with them.
But at that moment, Alice's voice cut through the quiet room, a single, word.
"You!" she whispered, her voice barely audible.
To be honest, even she was surprised.
Why did she say it?
She didn't know this man at all, yet somehow, those words came out of her mouth instinctively, a deep, forgotten part of her recognizing him.
The man turned around and looked at Alice, his piercing red eyes slightly widening as if he remembered something important.
"It's you from back then!" he said in a low voice, a hint of shock in his tone.
But feeling impatient, he immediately turned around and flew into the air, chasing after where Lortell had been sent flying away, without giving Alice another glance.
*****
Alice just stood there frozen in place, her eyes not even blinking. The world around her seemed to fade away.
"Alice?, Hello?, Come here help me, this is our chance!" Maruti said, trying to get her attention.
"ALICE?, ALICE?" Maruti shouted again, yet there was no response at all.
Alice was completely in her own world. She started seeing herself as a child version of herself, wearing small night clothes.
She was standing in front of the main door of a house. The door was closed, but it was trembling violently, as if someone was trying to break it down from the outside.
From outside the door, her mother's voice was constantly coming through, filled with pure terror.
"Alice, Don't open the door!" her mother's voice came, filled with desperation and grief, her words muffled by the wood.
"I know you can hear me, For god's sake, Don't open the door... ALICE, DON'T OPEN THE DOOR!"