Chapter 88: A Bloodkin’s Fury

The black-haired girl did not simply leap from the rooftop to the ground. Instead, she concealed herself in the blind spot beneath the eaves, preparing to ambush Lucia at an opportune moment.

Lucia’s eyes narrowed. She had truly not anticipated the black-haired girl hiding there, yet Lucia reacted with remarkable speed. She swiftly raised the two gun-swords in her hands, crossing them defensively before her.

Crimson claws clashed against the sword blades, sending sparks scattering. Lucia immediately felt an immense force surge through her. This power far surpassed anything Rachel had wielded. Her pupils contracted, and in the very next instant, her body was slammed towards the ground like a cannonball.

“Boom—”

Dust billowed upwards as the black-haired girl landed gracefully on the ground. Where Lucia had struck, a deep crater had been carved into the earth. Lucia struggled to her feet from within the pit, a trickle of blood slowly flowing down her forehead.

The moment she made contact with the ground, a Divine Barrier abruptly activated, absorbing a portion of the impact. Without it, her injuries would have been far more severe. Fortunately, her teacher had the foresight to procure a third-tier Ring of Barriers for her, granting her up to two more activations of the Divine Barrier.

“Cough, cough… What immense power…”

Lucia, having clambered out of the deep crater, coughed from the choking dust. The scraped wound on her forehead was slowly mending itself.

“Is this the power of the Church Saintess? Not Divine Magic, but innate self-healing. No wonder…”

The black-haired girl’s voice drifted from not far away. Through the haze of dust, Lucia couldn’t discern her exact position, only her general direction.

“Bang, bang, bang—”

Gunshots rang out once more. While Lucia couldn’t see the black-haired girl through the smoke, the reverse was not true. Possessing the vision of a Bloodkin, the black-haired girl’s sight remained unhindered by the swirling dust.

However, Lucia required no special guard against these weaker, rapid-fire shots.

With a flicker of Lucia’s fingertip, three projectiles were swiftly repelled by an invisible force before they could even touch her. Unless the black-haired girl deliberately manipulated the trajectory of her magic bullets, her shots would fail to hit Lucia until the Ring of Arrow Evasion was broken.

“There!”

Spotting a purple streak of light within the dust, Lucia instantly pinpointed the black-haired girl’s location. She immediately surged forward in that direction.

At that moment, Lovelenica also ascended to the rooftop. She caught sight of the black-haired girl standing on the street below and immediately hurled several gun-swords towards her.

Sensing Lovelenica’s attack, the black-haired girl’s offensive rhythm was instantly disrupted. However, she was unlike the mere ‘fodder’ from before. Facing several streaks of silver light slicing through the night sky, the black-haired girl merely shifted her body slightly, evading every one of the sharp swords hurtling towards her. She then aimed her gun-sword at Lovelenica on the rooftop. Lovelenica, seeing this, showed no fear, leaping down directly towards the muzzle.

“Bang—”

The black-haired girl grinned and pulled the trigger, just as Lucia’s figure burst from the smoke. She cast a surprised glance with her peripheral vision, astonished that Lucia was completely unharmed.

After her previous attack on Lucia, her attention had been drawn by Lovelenica. She hadn’t anticipated that the projectiles fired into the smoke would not only fail to injure Lucia but also prove utterly ineffective in restraining her.

Yet, even if Lucia drew near, it mattered little. Even as a Saintess, Lucia was merely a slightly stronger human.

The black-haired girl was a Bloodkin, endowed with overwhelming power.

The black-haired girl merely glanced sideways at Lucia with her peripheral vision, casually swatting out a claw, intending to knock Lucia back once more. However, pure white flames ignited on the gun-sword clutched in Lucia’s hand—it was Holy Fire.

Before her claws could even touch the Holy Fire, the black-haired girl already felt the intense heat radiating from the gun-sword. She hastily retracted her claws. As a Vampire with an activated physical body, she could change her posture instantly, as if her body possessed no inertia, regardless of the movement.

She immediately leaped back a step, evading Lucia’s Holy Fire-infused slash. Now, she was forced to look at Lucia directly.

‘So that’s it, is this also the Saintess’s power? But, this is where it ends!’

The black-haired girl’s instincts screamed at her not to touch those Holy Flames. She couldn’t defend against Lucia’s attack, but defense was merely one option among many. Whether to defend or dodge had always been a matter of her whim; even an undefendable power was useless against absolute speed.

The black-haired girl’s form suddenly stretched, leaving Lucia to see only afterimages. After Lucia’s sword missed its mark, the dark figure astonishingly moved along the blade, circling behind her. Lucia quickly tried to turn, only to feel another surge of immense force.

The black-haired girl, moving like a phantom, appeared behind Lucia and delivered a kick to her back, sending her flying several meters.

Just then, Lovelenica finally reached the black-haired girl’s side. She, too, wore a Ring of Arrow Evasion, rendering ordinary gunshots ineffective against her.

While she wasn’t a Saintess, she was, after all, a fifth-tier Beheading Nun. In terms of physical attributes, she was considerably stronger than the third-tier Lucia at the moment, capable of attempting a direct confrontation with the black-haired girl.

Lovelenica unleashed two slashes with her swords. The black-haired girl retaliated by swinging her claws, unafraid of contact with the sharp blades in the absence of Holy Fire.

“Clang—”

Lovelenica braced two sharp swords before her. Based on descriptions from the original work, Lovelenica hadn’t truly grasped the black-haired girl’s power until now. Engaging her in a direct clash, she immediately felt a surge of pressure.

After the strike, Lovelenica wasn’t sent flying like Lucia, but she was forced back two steps. Previously, when facing Rachel, Lovelenica could grapple with her even in her human form. Now, against the black-haired girl, she clearly felt a lack of strength. As Lovelenica had surmised, the black-haired girl had very likely reached the Blazing Flame-level.

The black-haired girl pressed her pursuit against Lovelenica. Lovelenica could only retreat, barely parrying with her sharp swords. Unlike Lucia, her physical body was not as resilient; if the black-haired girl landed a direct grab, her arm might very well be torn clean off.

Moreover, in her human form, she lacked any self-healing abilities. Thus, she had to be even more mindful of her own safety.

Imeline was currently separated on the other side of the street. She didn’t possess the same mobility as the others, and it would take some time for her to cross from the other street. Clearly, Lovelenica and Lucia alone were insufficient to confront the black-haired girl.

As the black-haired girl continued to chase Lovelenica, Lucia had already scrambled back to her feet. Being kicked to the ground had merely resulted in a graze. She immediately charged towards the black-haired girl once more, joining Lovelenica in confronting the enemy. Since she couldn’t directly block the opponent’s attacks, she would let Lovelenica engage her head-on, while she herself would use the Holy Fire to create diversions.