"Elyssar's Refuge."
A wave of purple magic spread throughout the area. Everyone below Angela's power level completely disappeared. Among them were some of Morvus's subordinates, including Nyxaria's master. When the effect ended, only Angela and Morvus remained in that place.
"What did you do to them and my son?"
"I simply did what my young master asked and sent everyone to another location."
"Bring them back, human."
"...As always, you think you're superior to us."
Angela touched the bracelet on her wrist, and in the next instant, she appeared behind Morvus with a concentration of purple magic coming from her hand. He noticed the attack in time and turned around, summoning an extremely durable blood shield to defend himself.
"Explosive Mana Concentration!"
The moment the attack struck the shield, it broke almost immediately. An even greater explosion spread throughout the area, making the entire city tremble and dragging Morvus outside its limits. The impact was so strong that he was thrown a long distance before managing to regain control of his own body.
When he looked at himself, he realized that his arm had been broken in half. The entire path along which he had been dragged had been transformed into a huge hole whose end could not even be seen, while approximately a quarter of the city had disappeared due to the force of the attack. Thanks to vampire regeneration, Morvus managed to reconstruct his arm and turned his furious gaze forward.
"You will pay for this."
Angela calmly walked toward him without showing any concern.
"I don't think that's possible... Well, it's been some time since I've fought someone at my level. So I'll give it my all."
The two remained facing each other, preparing their respective magic while carefully watching every movement of their opponent. Neither of them intended to retreat from the next attack.
'I hope the young master is okay.'
Meanwhile, inside the bracelet, everyone fell into a wooden house. The place was quite strange, as everything that happened outside seemed to be transmitted inside. Through the windows, it was possible to clearly see the battle between Angela and Morvus. From what they could tell, Angela had not created a separate dimension, but had simply formed a safe space inside the bracelet itself.
"Blood Thorns!"
Malakar tried to destroy the house where they were, but his attack did not leave even a scratch on the walls. He prepared to retreat, without realizing that someone was already behind him. Valen's kick, following Sylas's order, struck his face and sent him flying into the room on the first floor of that three-story house.
"As promised, he's all yours, Ysabella."
"Leave it to me."
Ysabella jumped to the lower floor, following Malakar. Ozymir immediately went after her to protect his master. Verlate also jumped right after and managed to hit Malakar with a kick, making him crash into the wall near the stairs.
"Nyxaria, take your master and try to convince him. If you can't, kill him. Understood?"
"Is that an order from the owner of the blood?"
"No. It's mine."
Nyxaria looked at her master, who stared at her with evident disgust. He was one of Morvus's most loyal followers and, because of that, had immediately gone to help him when he realized he was in danger, eventually being taken to that space along with the others.
Morvus had left one of his most loyal subordinates behind, and now Nyxaria was standing before him, trying to prevent the situation from ending in a fight between master and servant.
The vampire snapped his fingers, causing a sphere of blood to appear and advance toward her.
Nyxaria quickly moved away and reached the window.
He was preparing another attack, beginning to concentrate his magic, but before he could summon it, blood tentacles emerged from the floor and restrained his arms, pulling them downward.
"Wait... isn't that too fast for someone at your level?"
"I'm sorry, master, but someone made me stronger. The difference between us is no longer the same."
She approached with a sad look, but that expression seemed to irritate him even more. A large amount of magic exploded around his body, breaking the tentacles restraining him.
"I'll kill you, traitor."
"I understand, master."
In another room, Rina and Aoi fought together against a vampire with a sadistic smile. She was one of the granddaughters of another councilor and was close to reaching the Third Circle.
"How lucky I am to have to fight two meals."
Rina and Aoi simply looked at her for a second before their eyes filled with dark amusement.
"You're quite ugly."
"Yes, she is quite."
"What?"
The vampire stared at the two of them in surprise for a moment. Soon after, her expression transformed into pure rage. One of the things she hated most was being called ugly, so she furiously charged at the two of them.
Rina and Aoi managed to dodge the attacks without much difficulty.
"As Enrico said, she's very easy to anger."
"Yes. But I have to admit that she's not even that ugly. She's more like normal."
"You...!"
The two smiled as they continued dodging the enraged vampire's blows. The previous night, while they were still inside the bracelet, Enrico had explained that the girl not only hated being called ugly. She also hated being called normal.
"He knows so many things."
"From what he told us, besides being a sinner, she is quite important."
"Then, just as he asked, let's kill her."
Demonic smiles appeared on the faces of the two, making the vampire stop for a moment. She felt that there was something wrong with those girls.
'Were these two saved with the other humans?'
Those smiles did not seem human, and despite appearing to have been saved by vampires, they clearly demonstrated the same hatred that the other humans felt toward that race.
Two rooms away from that place, Corvina and Sylas continued facing their respective opponents.
The battles advanced through the castle's corridors until they reached the third floor, where the two eventually went down different paths.
Corvina continued retreating while dodging her opponent's attacks, throwing some black feathers to force him to keep his distance. The fight led them into a larger room, and the instant she entered, something in the environment caught her attention.
She did not stop immediately. She was still in combat and needed to keep her eyes on the vampire in front of her, but, for a few seconds, her gaze traveled across the walls of the room. There were several paintings hanging there, all carefully preserved. Some showed landscapes, others depicted figures she did not recognize, but there was something familiar among several of them. Corvina narrowed her eyes, trying to understand why those images awakened such a strange feeling.
"Where are you looking, damn it?"
A blood spear suddenly appeared and advanced toward her. Corvina noticed the attack at the last moment, lowering herself to let the spear pass over her head. She used the movement to slide several meters across the floor and, when she stood up, quickly looked at the paintings again.
That was when she realized.
In ten of them there was a woman she knew very well. In the other seven, there was a boy who should not have been in that place.
Corvina widened her eyes, finally understanding what she was seeing. They were Virelle and Enrico.
"Was Lady Angela this kind of person?"
"Where are you looking, damn it?"
The vampire advanced again, forcing her to abandon the paintings for the moment. Corvina crouched down and propelled her body forward, spinning as several black feathers appeared around her.
"Cutting Wings!"
The feathers shot out from different directions and caught the vampire off guard, piercing the side of his stomach. He managed to regenerate shortly afterward, but the expression of pain on his face showed that the attack had caused considerable damage.
"Damn it!"
Corvina decided to focus entirely on the fight, then she would talk to Lady Angela so she could make some for her as well.
"My master left you to me, so I can't disappoint him."
Elsewhere on the third floor, Sylas and Vladimir finally clashed. Sylas advanced with his fists, while Vladimir blocked the blow using a sword formed from blood. The impact made the two retreat a few steps, but Vladimir did not give Sylas time to regain his position and attacked again. The blood blade gained strength in the middle of the movement, forcing Sylas to retreat once more.
"So, Sylas... why this attack?"
"We could say that my master doesn't like the way vampires are living in this era."
The two remained facing each other for a few seconds, observing each other's every movement. There was a strange feeling between them, something difficult to explain, as if this was not the first time their paths had crossed. Neither of them could understand where that familiarity came from, but it remained present every time their eyes met.
As they prepared to continue the fight, the same possibility arose in both of their minds.
'Maybe it really is him.'
'Could this feeling be...'