Slaughter. Brutality. Savagery. Distortion. Bloodshed.
No. 11 felt that no word in existence could truly describe the sheer power of the pureblood vampire before her.
Half of Bern's body had already been blown apart by missiles—yet as the leader, he still charged at the very front. He forced his way through a torrential rain of bullets and smashed straight into the formation, seizing a soldier who hadn't been able to dodge in time by the throat and biting down without hesitation.
Gulp… gulp…
As Bern's throat worked, the bullets that had been embedded in his body were violently forced out, pushed free by newly regenerated flesh.
Blood and muscle churned. The half of his body that had been destroyed began to recover at a speed visible to the naked eye. Ribs reformed one by one, flesh rapidly wrapping around them. From the severed shoulder, bone extended outward, reshaping the arm itself.
Bern spread his wings wide. He pointed forward with fingers that were still bare, white bone—only for veins and skin to crawl back over his entire hand in the next instant.
His eyes narrowed slightly. His expression was calm, almost habitual, as though this were only natural.
"Advance," he said evenly. "Leave no one alive."
Boom!
The command struck like a thunderclap.
More than a thousand pureblood vampires broke into savage grins. Their wings beat in unison, whipping up a gale like a sudden hurricane as they screamed forward, crashing into the soldiers head-on.
"Fire! Fire—ah!"
"Rifle rounds are useless! Where the hell are the snipers and artillery?!"
"Snipers already tried—Magnums don't work either!"
"Then where are the gunners?!"
"Who do you think blew off half that vampire leader's body?! Officer No. 11 has ordered a retreat—run!"
"Ah! Damn it, my leg! This is too much—if I'm dying, I'm taking you with me!"
A soldier was suddenly slammed to the ground by a vampire. Amid cruel laughter, the creature tore his entire thigh free and flung it into the air.
The soldier screamed sharply. In the next breath, he yanked out his sidearm and fired three shots straight at the vampire's head—each one dodged with ease.
The final bullet was caught between the vampire's teeth, flashing with a harsh metallic sheen in the bleak autumn air. The vampire's lips curled upward like a hook, a muffled, mocking laugh leaking from his throat as if ridiculing the soldier's helplessness.
The soldier's fury exploded. In the final instant of his life, he let out one last hoarse roar. His left hand clenched the vampire's clothes, while his right ripped the pins from all three grenades hanging at his waist.
Boom!
From the scream to the desperate, all-or-nothing struggle—it happened in an instant. By the time the other soldiers realized what had occurred, asphalt and shattered stone were already hurled skyward, flames swallowing their vision whole.
After a long moment, the cool wind cutting through the city finally snapped another soldier back to his senses. He stared at the carnage before him, rage bursting into bloodshot veins in his eyes.
"I'll kill you all!"
Wailing in anguish, he raised his rifle and unloaded wildly at the vampire who had survived the grenade blast. Thirty rounds in total—every single one hit.
Yet the vampire was completely unharmed.
Lowering his head, he calmly plucked the bullets from his charred chest one by one, letting them fall to the ground with crisp metallic clinks.
He tilted his head, the mocking smile never leaving his face.
"Without the sun," he said lightly, "you're nothing."
"Shut your mouth!"
The soldier roared, drawing an electrically charged combat blade and lunging forward.
Thankfully, the remaining soldiers hadn't lost their reason. One wrapped both arms around his waist, shouting at the top of his lungs.
"Follow orders! Retreat first!"
Three or four others rushed in, hauling the enraged soldier up and carrying him away at a run.
The vampire snorted, spreading his wings as he prepared to give chase.
Then he saw it.
An armored vehicle—flying.
And it was coming straight at him.
"Tch. Human tactics are such a hassle."
Right before the impact, the vampire instinctively raised an Outer Ring "friendly gesture" toward the oncoming vehicle.
Boom!
The explosion roared outward, a wave of scorching heat forcing every vampire nearby to halt.
This was only one small snapshot of the battlefield. Elsewhere, other armored vehicles—now unmanned—activated on their own, charging headlong into the advancing vampires.
Each one ended its vividly colored military career in a spectacular explosion.
...
[Commander, all redundant armored vehicles have been activated for self-detonation. We've temporarily halted the pureblood vampires' advance.]
[Understood. Good work.]
After hearing the report, No. 11 finally let out a breath she'd been holding. She glanced through the rearview mirror at the rolling clouds of smoke behind them and couldn't help but sigh. Beneath her goggles, her aching eyes were filled with worry.
There was no telling how long those explosions could hold the pureblood vampires back.
Still, after rubbing her eyes, No. 11 drew in a deep breath, as if forcing down the heaviness in her chest.
With a powerful enemy still pressing in, letting emotions run wild would only cloud her judgment. She needed to steady herself and prepare for the next exchange.
"Have we made contact with Phaga or Hoshimi Miyabi yet?" she asked quietly.
In the back of the armored vehicle, the communications officer wearing a headset shook his head.
"No. Both signals are down. Commander, I suspect the vampire clan has deployed signal jamming."
"Signal jamming…"
No. 11 pinched the bridge of her nose, a headache flaring instantly.
Damn vampire clan. Can't win the information war, so they just flip the table?
"What about the Outer Ring?" she pressed unwillingly.
The communications officer replied at once. "The Outer Ring signal was down too—wait. It's back now. Just came back."
Just now?
Realization struck. No. 11 leaned out the window.
In the reflection of the rearview mirror, she clearly saw the boundary marker they had just passed—proof that they had already left New Eridu's territory and crossed into the Outer Ring.
So that's how it is.
No. 11 suddenly understood. The signal blockade only covered New Eridu.
"W–what?! Commander, hurry! The Outer Ring just sent us a ton of messages!"
The moment the signal came back online, unread messages flooded the inbox like love letters from a first crush. The communications officer was completely stunned, his mouth hanging open wide enough to fit an egg. He froze for a full second before finally remembering to report it.
Hearing this, No. 11 immediately scrambled over from the passenger seat, squeezing the communications officer aside and opening the first message herself.
The sender was Belle.
[No. 11, the city is under signal lockdown. Even I can't break through.]
[But don't worry. We'll be there soon!]
Soon?
A bitter smile tugged at the corner of No. 11's mouth.
She turned her head and looked through the rearview mirror. Behind the convoy, a vividly multicolored cloud drifted across the sky, concealing a massive number of pureblood vampires as they gave chase.
At the front, Bern formed a ball of ice in his hand and hurled it forward.
The ice sphere whistled through the air. It didn't hit a single vehicle—but it slammed into the ground.
The instant it made contact, it exploded apart, shattering into hundreds of ice spikes that shot outward. In the blink of an eye, at least five armored vehicles suffered blown tires.
The disaster struck too fast for ordinary people to react. The chain reaction from the blowouts caused eight armored vehicles to crash into one another in quick succession.
Airbags deployed, saving lives—but those survivors were now lambs awaiting slaughter, their fate entirely dependent on the vampires' whims.
At the same time, the other vampires followed suit, each unleashing their own specialties. In moments, one armored vehicle after another broke down mid-retreat.
"Go all out. Make sure this army stays here."
Bern spoke calmly, his tone icy.
"They wanted food. They wanted medicine. We didn't stop them. So this is the price—this army doesn't get to return to the Outer Ring."
"Yes!"
The vampires answered in unison, their attacks intensifying.
Flames roared with manic joy. Frost wailed in mourning. Lightning split the ground apart, and Ether corroded every last trace of hope into ash.
In only a short span of time, nearly half the convoy vanished during the retreat.
A driver stared in terror through the rearview mirror and cried out, "Commander…"
"I know…"
No. 11 let out a sigh, then handed her goggles and headset to the communications officer beside her.
The officer froze in shock. "Commander, what are you—"
"If I don't come back, give these to Yanagi or Phaga. If neither of them returns, give them to the Mayor. The goggles contain my footage, and the headset has my recordings. Keep them safe."
She paused, then added, "And pass this order along—if there's a chance, empty every last round on the vampires."
As soon as she finished speaking, No. 11 yanked open the door.
A gale swept across her forehead, ruffling her white hair. For the first time, she realized just how cold the wind felt against her eyes without the goggles' protection.
But so what?
She grabbed upward, swung her legs, and flipped onto the roof, landing in a crouch.
"Commander!"
The communications officer leaned out the window, clutching No. 11's goggles tightly.
No. 11 didn't look back.
She leapt down from the armored vehicle and walked forward against the flow of traffic. At some point, she had already drawn the blade from her back—the edge wreathed in flame.
"Using your life to buy time?"
Bern tilted his head slightly, puzzled.
"Having your soldiers ram armored vehicles and self-destruct might've delayed us longer."
"Unfortunately," No. 11 replied, "the lives of my comrades matter more to me."
She tightened her grip on the flaming blade, its tip leveled straight at Bern and the countless vampires behind him.
Bern lowered his head in thought.
"The lives of a group of weaklings being more valuable than those of the strong… Truly an incomprehensible human value system."
"But it doesn't matter. I'll kill you, and then go—hm?"
Mid-sentence, Bern abruptly swallowed his words.
His gaze locked onto the asphalt road ahead, where a bulge was suddenly swelling upward, growing larger by the second.
What was that?
A faint sense of unease crept into his chest.
At the same time, No. 11 also noticed the road surface shifting. She turned her head just as the asphalt split apart, revealing a massive pit.
From it, an Ether crystal—so large it rivaled an elevator—erupted straight upward.
The next instant, the crystal shattered.
Five figures appeared.
"Ugh—Phaga, could you slow down next time? Have some mercy on my fragile body. I'm about to throw up."
Harumasa leaned sideways against Phaga's shoulder, his face an unhealthy shade of purple, clearly on the verge of vomiting.
Nekomata's eyes were spinning as she swayed unsteadily.
"Agreed… I saw so many bluefin tuna, meow~"
Only Nicole and Ellen barely maintained their composure, both clutching their foreheads as their eyes locked onto the hundreds—no, thousands—of vampires ahead.
Phaga shrugged helplessly.
"Constructing an Ether crystal in an elevator configuration—starting underground and extending it upward to move at high speed. That's the fastest method I could come up with."
He glanced toward No. 11.
"So… we didn't come too late, did we?"