"Where the hell did they come from?" Shadow asked as he carefully watched the three girls in front of him.
"We've already informed the teacher, and they're on their way, so surrender now, and nothing bad is gonna happen," Aries said as she walked toward Shadow.
Natty firmly held her trident as she got ready to fight, but Aries wondered why she was so serious all of a sudden.
"Natty, why so tense?" Aries asked as she looked at her in astonishment.
"You probably can't tell, but we aren't alone," Natty said as she focused her attention behind Shadow.
"I let you out of my sight for one second and you've already been beaten by three girls." A guy with a toothpick in his mouth stepped out of the darkness. He had short black hair, two katanas, and wore a traditional samurai yukata. He also had elf ears, so he was from the Gold bloodline. His name was Smokez.
"Shut up and just help me before I recover," Shadow said to Smokez as he started using healing magic on himself.
Smokez shrugged his shoulders and walked up to the three girls.
"Well, from the looks of it, they aren't that much of a threat, so I think I can take them," Smokez said pridefully as he looked at Aries with a bold grin.
"Who are you calling weak?" Aries said with anger as she looked at Smokez in a repulsed manner.
"From the looks of it, you don't seem to like me, do you…? Well, no matter. As a gentleman, I will not hurt any weak women, talk less of three useless ones."
Immediately after Smokez said that, Natty appeared above him and slammed him down to the ground.
"If you continue making my sister angry, I will not hesitate to kill you before the teachers arrive," Natty said as her foot pressed down on Smokez's chest.
Meanwhile, Malachi and the others had just finished clearing out the entire army by themselves. They were heavily gasping for air, having exhausted their magic and stamina.
"I swear, if I see another iron golem in my life, I might just faint," Alex said as he struggled to stand up.
"I know how you feel, but I think we've gathered more than enough points to leave. So immediately my mana replenishes a little, I'll use stamina and mana recovery magic on us," Mimi said as she sat on top of a destroyed golem.
"What are you guys talking about? We haven't even caught up to Tristan," Malachi said as he stood upright, facing the direction Tristan was last seen.
"Speaking of Tristan, I need to ask—was he always that fast? I heard rumors that he was a ghoul, but ghouls aren't strong or fast, and they can't even regenerate," Alex said as he pressed Malachi for an answer.
"Well, I'm not sure myself, but there was a theory that species can evolve to a higher version of their bloodline, or even a different bloodline—but that only works for humans. So it's either that Tristan is a human or he's from the direct descendants of vampires," Malachi said, and both Mimi and Alex looked at him in shock.
"Hold up, he can't be human, because that battle you had with him this afternoon was crazy. I mean, it was only his heart that was left, yet he still didn't die," Alex said as he tried to reject the idea that Tristan was human.
"Then that leaves only one option: Tristan is from one of the Twelve Emperor Clans." As Malachi said that, both Mimi and Alex were shocked by the realization.
Meanwhile, Natty and Aries were fighting Smokez while Shadow recovered. Ruby just stood by and watched the fight take place. Natty continuously attacked Smokez with her trident while Aries kept casting level 5 powered fireballs.
"These two aren't that bad, but that mage keeps casting her magic, so I don't have an opportunity to relax. I guess I'll just have to kill her first. I mean, she can't fight," Smokez said as he dashed toward Aries.
But the moment he got close to her, Aries immediately lifted her leg and kicked his jaw, and the impact of the blow sent him flying.
"Look what you've done. You just unleashed a beast; now no one can stop her," Natty said as she dashed toward Ruby, grabbed her, and then jumped onto a tall tree.
"What's going on?" Ruby asked as the smoke from the kick still lingered in the air.
"It's my sister… She uses hand-to-hand combat to restrain herself from killing her prey," Natty said as she looked closely into the smoke.
"You're saying that as if she's a psycho?!" Ruby said as she looked at Natty in fear.
"That's because she is." As Natty said that, the smoke cleared, and Aries could be seen smiling in a delusional manner.
She lunged toward Smokez, clenched her fist, and smashed him into the ground. She then grabbed his head, lifted his entire body, and dragged him across a nearby mountain. She tossed him toward a boulder, and his face broke the tip of the rock. Smokez's broken teeth flew everywhere as he tried to run away the moment he landed.
"Wait, why… why am I running?" Smokez said to himself as Aries chased after him. Out of nowhere, she appeared in front of him and smashed him in another direction.
"I'm scared… no, terrified. Who is she… no, what is she? I need to run… Am I seriously that weak?" Smokez said as he continued running.
From above, Shadow appeared, planning to attack, but Aries just grabbed him by the leg and immediately snapped it. Shadow screamed in pain as Aries tossed him aside and moved closer to Smokez.
By this point, Smokez was crying as a mountain blocked his path, stopping him from going anywhere.
When it seemed like all hope was lost, a giant demonic bull with three heads and blue fur burst out of the mountain before Aries could touch Smokez. On top of the monster was OS, wearing a mask so no student would see his face.
"You two seriously can't do anything useful," OS said as he looked down on everyone.