Inside St. Freya Academy.
"Whoa! This newcomer is seriously strong!"
"Are all vampires this powerful?"
"Bronya is starting to want to change her species too."
"No way, no way! Is Mei actually going to lose?"
"Hehe, it's certainly possible. It all depends on whether our Queen of Thunder is willing to unleash her full strength."
"Anyone want sunflower seeds, cola, or popcorn~?"
Everyone watched the duel with great enthusiasm. Pardo had even started selling snacks in the front row. Nobody had any intention of stepping in to help, since fighting was also a form of communication.
At St. Freya Academy, personal strength was extremely important. Now that Luna had demonstrated her abilities, it would be much easier for everyone to accept her afterward.
That was precisely Elias' intention. His gaze was also fixed on the duel unfolding beneath the artificial night sky and crimson moon.
"Yeah, Mei's in a pretty difficult position right now. If she doesn't start fighting at full strength, she might genuinely lose."
Even after overcoming their weakness to sunlight, vampires still suffered considerable penalties during the day. But beneath this artificial night sky, Luna's strength had increased by at least fifty percent.
The night created by the vampire princess could barely cover the entirety of St. Freya Academy. If Elias were the one doing it, his vast, seemingly limitless Honkai energy would be sufficient to plunge the entire world into eternal darkness.
In fact, that wasn't even all. If Elias really wanted to, his current strength would allow him to interfere with Earth's rotation and literally turn day into night without much difficulty.
"Mei is certainly powerful as the Herrscher of Thundervoid, but Herrschers are ultimately mages, and MANTISes naturally counter them. Even Sirin, who possessed six Herrscher Cores, couldn't defeat Fu Hua when she was already severely weakened."
"Although Mei hasn't been careless or overconfident, expecting a dual-Core Herrscher to defeat Luna, whose strength is comparable to a Vipralopa-class MANTIS and who also has the nighttime enhancement... Hmm, that's going to be difficult."
Elias shook his head, then leisurely took a few pieces of popcorn from Elysia and tossed them into his mouth.
Although Luna had been born in a bubble world, if one applied the settings of fantasy novels, bubble worlds and the Proper World could be considered the Lower Realm and Upper Realm respectively. Theoretically, beings born in the former should be vastly weaker than those born in the latter.
But Luna's circumstances were clearly different.
Putting aside the fact that her constitution combined Kaslana genes, Vishnu, and the power of erosion, making her essentially a fusion of a MANTIS and a Herrscher, that combination alone was an absolutely top-tier configuration anywhere.
Furthermore, after Luna and Elias exchanged their First Embraces and established a mutual bond as each other's blood-bound familiars, all her weaknesses as a vampire disappeared, and she received an epic-level enhancement.
On top of that, vampires naturally grew stronger as they aged. After spending ten thousand years in the World's Interstice, Luna's height and the size of the buns on her chest weren't the only things that had increased.
Even at St. Freya Academy, her strength unquestionably placed her in the T1 category. Combined with her current nighttime enhancement and the World Key chainsword that Elias had painstakingly prepared for his vampire bride,
all these factors added together meant Raiden Mei was in serious trouble!
Of course, with Elias present, getting injured was impossible. But if Mei lost to a newcomer like Luna, the Queen of Thunder's dignity would probably be completely shattered.
"...Looks like I really can't afford to hold anything back. Seriously, Elias, where on earth did you find a girl like this?!"
Miss Mei's expression was grim. Ever since night descended, she had been forced entirely onto the defensive. Her crimson lightning couldn't harm Luna, who could freely transform into mist.
With an ability like that, even directly teleporting a Subspace Lance into the vampire princess' body would accomplish nothing.
Faced with Luna's relentlessly violent attacks, Mei could only continue using the Authority of the Herrscher of the Void to dodge. Those two roaring chainswords were genuinely terrifying.
"Roar, Gurikara!!"
"ROOOOOAAAAR—!!"
Responding to its master's summons, a crimson lightning dragon suddenly appeared. Mei leaped onto its back, intending to have Gurikara unleash a lightning breath attack from above.
By the time the breath attack finished, her own charged attack would be ready. She could then gather a tremendous amount of Honkai energy and unleash a single slash, scattering all the crimson mist Luna transformed into at once. That was another possible solution.
However...
"Flying? I can do that too!"
"What?!"
The next instant, a pair of vermilion bat wings unfurled from Luna's fair, jade-like back. With a flap of those crimson wings, she instantly soared into the air and flew straight toward Gurikara's back.
As a vampire princess, Luna could naturally fly.
In another timeline, within a certain Honkai game produced by a company called miHoYo, how could a game character restricted by balancing requirements possibly demonstrate the full extent of Luna's abilities?
It was just like how characters in certain games were jokingly said to have bad knees because they couldn't jump. In reality, what person with two functioning legs couldn't hop around?
Luna: "This will finish it! Human, bear witness! This is my determination!!"
Elias: "Uh... I'm completely speechless..."
If Luna had been fighting anyone else, Elias would undoubtedly have watched in admiration, growing so moved that his affection for her would have skyrocketed. Unfortunately, her opponent happened to be another of his most beloved girls, which made the entire situation terribly awkward!
The vampire girl pushed her chainswords' engines to maximum power. The saw teeth on both enormous blades began spinning furiously, while flames erupted from their exhaust pipes, providing additional propulsion.
Incidentally, this technique was called "A Confession Beyond Fate." Every technique Luna possessed had a name that sounded like a declaration of love toward Elias. For example, her basic attack was called "A Promise Made With You," while her passive ability was "An Everlasting Wish."
Elias was genuinely moved beyond words!
He couldn't help marveling at how incredibly fortunate he was to have married such a beautiful girl whose heart was completely filled with thoughts of him.
However, when it came to her feelings for Elias, the Queen of Thunder fighting Luna had absolutely no intention of losing either.
"I'm not going to lose! Godsbane Suit, combine!"
"What?!"
Bzzzzzzzzzt—!!
Luna stared at Mei in astonishment. An incredibly stylish suit of purple armor suddenly materialized around her opponent, forcibly blocking the finishing attack Luna had unleashed with both enormous chainswords.
Despite the vampire princess attacking with everything she had, the only results were two shallow marks on the Godsbane Suit.
At that moment, Mei's imposing aura skyrocketed. She drew the long purple katana at her waist and unleashed a single slash toward the night sky and crimson moon.
BOOOOOOM—!!!
"What?! How is that possible?!"
Luna was horrified. The night sky and crimson moon that had granted her such an enormous enhancement were actually split in half by that single slash. The artificial darkness and moon rapidly disappeared, revealing the brilliant blue sky beyond.
"The outcome has already been decided."
Mei spoke calmly. After equipping her Godsbane Suit, she could even hold her own against the Herrscher of Finality for a while. She had already reached the pinnacle of combat power beneath the planet-destroying level.
Standing in place, she could swing her sword downward and split the entire Far East in half, creating something resembling Musoujin Gorge. Swinging upward, she could leave a scar on the Moon from a distance of four hundred thousand kilometers.
Although this armor consumed 2,000 HW every second, every single attack it unleashed was powerful enough to annihilate any Herrscher beneath Finality and any Honkai Beast below the Planet-class level.
It could be considered Raiden Mei's greatest trump card.
The only reason she hadn't brought it out earlier was that she felt using the Godsbane Suit would be far too unfair. But now...
(Mei: Ahem! This world was never fair to begin with. If you've got a problem, go ahead and report me for cheating!)
Luna: "Y-You're cheating!"
The vampire girl felt that the cook before her had absolutely no sense of fair play. She could clearly sense that Mei, clad in her Godsbane Suit, had become something akin to a goddess of lightning.
There was simply no way she could defeat her alone.
They had been fighting perfectly well just moments earlier, only for Mei to suddenly equip her Godsbane Suit. It was practically equivalent to someone abruptly pulling out a Gatling gun in the middle of a duel fought with cold weapons.
Furthermore, vampires possessed extremely sensitive noses. Luna could detect the scent most familiar to her emanating from the Godsbane Suit. It was Elias' scent!
After all, Mei's personal Honkai energy reserves alone couldn't possibly sustain the Godsbane Suit's consumption. Thus, a Herrscher of Dominance Core belonging to Elias had been installed inside the armor. The enormous expenditure of 2,000 HW per second was covered by him and his effectively infinite MP.
"I admit that using the Godsbane Suit isn't particularly fair, but this armor is just like your chainsword. It was a gift from Elias. You could even say it was one of my wedding presents back then."
"What did you say?!"
Luna's eyes widened in disbelief. She then turned toward Elias with an incredibly jealous expression. The latter was sweating profusely, having absolutely no idea what he should do.
It seemed he really had shot himself in the foot this time.
"Let's end this here. It's already over."
Mei spoke softly. Against her while she was wearing the Godsbane Suit, Luna wouldn't stand a chance even if she were ten times stronger.
However, the vampire princess still refused to admit defeat. She had one final trump card that she hadn't used yet. Luna released her enormous chainswords, then removed the lace glove from her right hand.
On the back of Luna's right hand was an emblem depicting six wings. The moment this unmistakable symbol appeared, everyone present immediately turned their attention toward Elias.
This was the emblem left behind by a vampire's First Embrace, symbolizing vows, companionship, and exclusive possession.
"What are you planning to do?"
"Continue fighting, of course. Don't tell me you didn't know. As a vampire, I have a familiar too!"
"Wait, don't tell me you're going to...!"
Mei suddenly experienced an ominous premonition.
The six-winged emblem on the back of Luna's hand began to glow. The next instant, Elias, who had been sitting among the spectators, suddenly appeared beside Luna, still holding the popcorn he hadn't finished eating.
Elias: "Uh..."
This wasn't originally a vampire ability. However, after Elias and Luna emerged from the World's Interstice, held their wedding in Castle of Eternal Night, and spent ten days and nine nights entwined with each other, some mysterious coincidence that even Elias himself couldn't fully explain had given birth to an incredible power between them.
Its name was Blood Summoning.
Through the First Embrace emblems they had left on each other's bodies, Elias and Luna could summon one another directly to their sides. Furthermore, there didn't seem to be any limit whatsoever on the summoning distance.
At that moment, Mei was completely dumbfounded.
Mei: "I have to fight Elias?! Are you kidding me?!"
The women: "Th-That's such an enviable ability!!"
Luna: "Human, let's fight side by side!"
Elias: "...I'd like to surrender."
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