Duel time. A gentle breeze rustled through the tree-lined avenue.
The young man, holding a long saber condensed from fresh blood, watched the girl before him with his crimson eyes, which easily brought to mind ominous things.
Kiana, gripping her baseball bat, watched her surroundings with the corner of her eye, her entire body tensed, yet she didn't show any signs of excessive nervousness.
After a brief standoff, Li Zihan was the first to make a move.
In this world, there existed a special energy source called Honkai energy.
This energy possessed an extremely terrifying enhancement capability; whether it was living organisms, plants, or machines, all could rely on it to achieve reinforcement.
If one were to ignore its corrosive effect on the human body and the fact that its aggregation would trigger a Honkai Eruption, Honkai energy would simply be a secret treasure bestowed upon humanity by the heavens.
The enhancement from Honkai energy made every cell in his body feel alive, power flowed through his veins, and his senses of sight and hearing became a hundred times keener, as if the flow of time itself had slowed down.
The crimson blade effortlessly sliced through the air, leaving a vivid afterimage, then transformed into a rainbow arc, cutting towards the girl's delicate neck.
It could be said without exaggeration that under a slash of this caliber, let alone a human, even a lower-tier dragon species like a wyvern would bleed profusely on the spot if hit.
If it were an ordinary girl, faced with such a murderous blade aura, she would probably be so frightened her legs would tremble, or she might even faint directly.
However, Kiana was no ordinary girl.
She was a descendant of the knightly family—the Kaslanas, with the blood of the strongest warrior from the Previous Era flowing in her veins. She was a super soldier born with Stigmata.
Facing the sudden blade, she lowered her center of gravity, evading the edge of the blood blade, her right foot gathering power, and then—
Her entire right leg whipped out with intense wind pressure, lashing straight towards Li Zihan's head!
Facing the whip kick, estimated to be no less powerful than the impact of an African elephant, Li Zihan, who only intended to fight using the power of his Stigmata, narrowed his eyes and threw a punch towards it.
The fist was like a sharp arrow, the leg like a long whip. The collision of fist and leg produced a massive boom.
Under the power of the Stigmata, the strength of both combatants surpassed the cognitive scope of ordinary people.
Just as the fist and whip kick clashed, the young man, capable of controlling blood, waved his hand. The blood, condensed into the shape of a Miáo Dāo, swung out, striking at the enemy once more.
Facing both a straight punch and the blood blade simultaneously, Kiana showed no fear. She quickly retracted her whip kick, grabbed the baseball bat—which seemed to be inherited from her old man and was clearly made of an abnormal material—and viciously smashed it towards the incoming blood blade.
The struck blood blade paused in mid-air, then, as if guided by something, the blood blade, which was originally in the shape of a blade, suddenly exploded, transforming into dozens of blood beads that shot outwards.
"Tsk—"
Seeing the incoming blood beads, Kiana unhesitatingly reached under her skirt and, in an extremely unscientific manner, pulled out a gun.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Continuous gunshots rang out, reminiscent of a battlefield filled with gunpowder smoke.
The scorching hot bullets accurately struck the spattering blood beads, vaporizing them with their high temperature.
The normal mode of the Seventh Divine Key preserved by the Kaslana family—the Might of An-Utu—was a pair of dual pistols.
To better utilize its power, the direct descendants of the Kaslana family had all systematically learned Gun Kata.
The girl, acknowledged by Siegfried as "Kiana," had naturally learned this art, which had been passed down for thousands of years, under his tutelage.
"My Lord, the times have changed!"
The girl, who had suddenly produced a revolver from who-knows-where, shouted amidst Li Zihan's slightly astonished expression, then pulled the trigger.
Sparks flew as the scorching hot projectiles, under some unknown technique, bizarrely curved in different arcs, like deadly vipers flicking their tongues.
"Tsk."
In the modern era where gunpowder weapons had developed rapidly, the muzzle velocity of pistol bullets generally exceeded the speed of sound. The gun in Kiana's hand was definitely a Honkai energy-modified version, its muzzle velocity no less than twice the speed of sound.
At such close range, perfectly defending against a volley of close-quarters shots was clearly not an easy matter.
At the very least, Li Zihan, using only the power of his Stigmata, couldn't manage it.
The shadow beneath the young man's feet suddenly rose, like a grayish-black curtain ascending from below, transforming into the most reliable shield.
One by one, the metal projectiles were swallowed by the space manifested by the shadow, then vanished without a sound.
Li Zihan had acquired the Stigmata too recently; his proficiency with its abilities was truly lacking. For the time being, he could only rely on magecraft to defend.
Seeing the black shadow that had suddenly swallowed her bullets, Kiana, standing in the distance, wore a grave expression.
The enemy had so far demonstrated blood control, spatial movement, shadow manipulation, and quite excellent close-combat abilities.
Such an enemy was truly troublesome. Frankly, if it weren't for Mei, she would absolutely not want to fight him.
"Alright, game over."
The young man, having tested how much strength he could exert without using magecraft, walked out from the shadows.
He wasn't holding the long saber condensed from blood, nor did he use his teleportation ability to launch a sneak attack. He simply stood directly in front of the girl.
Game over?
The girl, a baseball bat in one hand and a revolver in the other, frowned deeply, her gaze scanning her surroundings, searching for potential points of danger.
"I fought you only to test a newly acquired power. We are not enemies."
The young man, having achieved his objective, waved friendly at Kiana and said.
"You think I'll believe you?"
Kiana, clearly maintaining a high level of vigilance towards a "kidnapper," neither lowered her gun nor her baseball bat.
She had managed to travel safely alone from Northern Europe to the Far East; how could her vigilance be low?
"Believe it or not."
The young man smiled, made no defensive preparations, and walked towards the car.
Watching the young man gradually disappear from her sight, Kiana's expression wavered slightly.
Her intuition told her that this young man before her was not an enemy.
Then, she trotted after him.
"I'll trust you this once."
"Then let's go."
The young man, having indeed finished testing the combat capabilities of Stigmata Dracula, turned back and smiled, then looked at the car with its severely damaged front window, a strange light glinting in his eyes.
Miss Kiana, not noticing this, simply followed Li Zihan forward and, very smoothly, met Miss Mei.
"Mei, how are you?"
"I encountered a little danger."
Raiden Mei, who had almost been captured by Cocolia's faction yesterday, smiled when she saw her good ji-friend unharmed.
"But, thanks to Mr. Li's help, it's all over now."
"The Mr. Li you're talking about, is it that guy?"
Kiana, vaguely guessing something, pointed at the young man who had run off to ask the driver, discussing something, and asked.
"Mm."
Raiden Mei nodded and said.
"Looks like I might have misunderstood that guy a bit."
Kiana scratched her head, somewhat ashamed.
However, this state of shame did not last long.
Looking at the unharmed Raiden Mei, the girl, whose demeanor instantly transformed from that of a Siberian Wolf to a Huskiana, suddenly wanted to leap over and beg for a hug.
And so she did.
Only, a hand grabbed her shoulder.
Turning her head, she saw a handsome face and a piece of paper held in his hand.
"What are you doing?"
For some reason, Kiana's heart suddenly felt uneasy.
"This is the repair bill for the car, Miss Kiana Kaslana."
A voice, like the call of a demon from hell, reached Miss Kiana's ears.
Miss Kiana, whose savings were pitifully low, stared at the battered car window in front of her, her expression stiffening.
She... seemed to have caused big trouble.