"You're right on time."
The instant Phaga arrived with his forces, the weight pressing on No. 11's chest finally lifted. Relief washed through him, and even the hand gripping his blade felt steadier, stronger.
For Bern and the other vampires, however, it was disastrous news.
According to the original plan, Phaga shouldn't have been here at all. And their clash with him was never meant to happen at this moment.
Bern narrowed his eyes, the deep furrow in his brow sharp enough to crush a fly. Beneath the kaleidoscopic clouds overhead, he slowly drew in his wings and descended to the ground, meeting Phaga's gaze head-on.
"You're fast," Bern said coolly. "I thought you wouldn't leave an entire granary unattended."
"No choice," Phaga replied lightly. "Our independent investigation team's Bangboo went offline. And judging by the caviar we had left over from last night, it wasn't hard to guess where the problem was."
Phaga stepped forward unhurriedly. His face still carried the courteous smile of a gentleman, but his hands were already clasped behind his back.
Only from behind could one see the dark crimson flame clenched in his palm, pulsing and ready to burst forth at any moment.
Beside him, Ellen suddenly stiffened. Aware that this wasn't the time or place, she could only shoot Phaga an embarrassed, irritated glare.
Bern noticed it but didn't care. Long absorbed in his research, he dismissed it as nothing more than a harmless taunt. Instead, he pressed his right hand downward.
"Very well. Since you've come, don't even think about leaving."
Buzz!
At Bern's shout, the multicolored clouds overhead began to churn violently, their hues snapping to a deep, uniform blue.
The next instant, hundreds of lightning bolts—each as thick as a bowl—crashed down in a torrential barrage.
The ground scorched black in an instant. Sulfur stung the air as a suffocating aura of destruction surged closer, pale blue winds howling toward them.
"Everyone, close in!"
Phaga roared and drove his fist into the ground.
The flames he had concealed in his right hand detonated at once. Fire erupted across the pitch-black asphalt, surging upward like ravenous beasts baring their fangs, lunging straight at the lightning flooding the sky.
Boom!
Thunder and Nether Flames collided in midair, erupting with a deafening blast the moment they met.
The shockwave rippled outward, shaving down nearby earthen mounds in an instant, flattening them by half.
Even the human army far in the distance was stunned by the sheer force. Several drivers faltered, momentarily dazed.
As both lightning and Nether Flames dissipated, swirling yellow sand filled the air. Then, amid the haze, a patch of icy white frost abruptly emerged, exhaling a thin mist of cold.
Phaga's eyelid twitched. Violet light surged in his hand, forming an Ether crystal that elongated into a spear. He thrust it forward with all his strength.
The chill intensified. Bern burst out of the sandstorm, his ice-blue palm thrusting forward. The moment it touched the Ether crystal, its tip froze solid.
Frost crept along the crystal, inching steadily toward Phaga's hand.
Phaga's gaze sharpened. In the next instant, Nether Flames flared from his palm and raced upward along the crystal.
Frost and flame collided—locked in a deadlock once again.
Bern's expression didn't change in the slightest. He spoke calmly. "Since we're both vampires, let's take this to the skies."
In a flash, Bern's wings beat powerfully, twisting his body midair.
A tremendous force surged through the Ether crystal. The world spun violently, and when Phaga's vision cleared, he realized he had been hurled high into the air.
Just before his awareness fully returned, Phaga spread his wings. Dark crimson feathers unfurled against the sky, striking and unmistakable.
The next moment, a faint rustling reached his ears. Instinctively, he glanced back—and saw thousands of vampires folding their wings in unison, dropping like rain. Each clutched a different ability as they plunged straight toward Ellen and the others.
"Don't get so distracted watching them that you die before they do."
A cold, whispering voice slipped into Phaga's ear, the chill in it stabbing painfully at his eardrum.
He spun around at once. The instant he lowered his gaze, Bern hurled a spear of ice.
Its power was overwhelming. Even the air screamed as tiny ice droplets condensed, as if weeping under the extreme cold.
No—must block it!
Alarms blared in Phaga's mind. He shouted without hesitation, "[Blazing Sacrifice]!"
Without a moment's thought, Phaga tore five bloody gashes into each of his arms. Blood burst forth as if pumped under pressure, splashing outward before凝gealing across his body. From afar, it looked like a crimson cloak of blood.
The ice spear arrived in a flash, its terrifying cold punching a hole straight through the blood garment.
Phaga's eyes flew wide in disbelief.
There was no time to dwell on it. Forcing his shock down, Phaga slammed his arms downward. Blood surged again, and the newly formed blood cloak hardened abruptly, shattering the ice spear by sheer brute force.
But before he could react further, a streak of light flashed in his peripheral vision.
He looked up just as Bern's whip-like kick crashed down.
The blow smashed into Phaga's back, sending him plummeting through the air. It took him a long moment to stabilize himself.
"Your wings hurt, don't they," a voice drifted down from above, "after being stepped on that hard."
Phaga's pupils contracted as he followed the sound.
Bern beat his wings and slowly descended, his voice flat, devoid of emotion.
"Do you remember the first time we met? I told you then—once I spread my wings, you wouldn't be my match."
"I remember," Phaga replied through gritted teeth. "That's when you called me 'Grandpa.'"
Despite the pain contorting his face, a faint curve tugged at his lips, laced with mockery.
Bern felt his chest tighten. He brushed a hand across his face, obscuring his expression. When he spoke again, the icy calm in his voice carried a trace of restrained fury.
"That was nothing but a temporary expedient. A momentary concession isn't shameful… you know this. Only the one who survives to the end is the true winner."
"But you still called me Grandpa."
"According to the plan, we shouldn't even be fighting yet. If you have any sense, take your little girlfriend and flee to the Outer Ring now. The vampire clans won't make things difficult for you—"
"I refuse, grandson."
Hiss—exhale.
Bern closed his eyes and drew a deep breath, forcing his emotions down.
When he opened them again, his gaze was clear, almost serene.
"Phaga, trading barbs is meaningless. That was just a tiny black speck in an ordinary past. There's no reason to cling to it."
Phaga shrugged and raised two fingers. "Not once—twice. You remember the time in the Doppelgänger Hollow, right? You called me Grandpa then too."
"Once is a speck. So what about twice?"
"No. Twice makes it a stain," Phaga said lazily. "Something that'll haunt you for life, grandson after grandson."
"So take your people and get the hell out of here like a flock of sparrows, grandson!"
His voice shot upward at the last word.
The surrounding vampires froze in shock. Even Ellen and the others, locked in fierce combat, stiffened at the sound.
Ellen rubbed her temples and sighed, already wondering what kind of "lesson" she'd be giving her boyfriend tonight.
Harumasa, on the other hand, burst out laughing. "Wooo! Nice one, buddy! Bastards who bully the weak deserve to be cursed out!"
Sss—
The sound of reason snapping.
Bern roared, his usually expressionless face finally twisted with fury. "You fucking bastard! To hell with the plan! Today I'm going to teach you what humility really means!"
"With this power—the undying legacy of the vampire clans!"
In a surge of rage, Bern thrust his palm toward Phaga.
The sky darkened instantly. A massive blood-red hand formed in the air, like a chasm splitting heaven and earth. In Phaga's ears echoed countless wails—souls that had perished under vampire fangs over millennia.
"So this is… the vampire clan's secret art?"
Phaga tilted his head back, staring at the colossal hand forged from blood clouds as it pressed down on him, carrying a reeking tide of slaughter.
Though he was a vampire by blood, this was a power he had never truly touched.
But still—
"Damn, that's cool. Wonder how many dennies it'd cost to buy something like this."
Phaga grinned, throwing his arms wide. Nether Flames gathered in his left hand, Ether coalesced in his right.
"I've heard that Chief Miyabi's power isn't pure ice, but a fusion of ice and fire—Frostflame, the unique strength of the Void Hunters."
"So if I fully fuse Ether and Nether Flames… wouldn't that put me on the same level as a Void Hunter?"
With a sharp grin, Phaga brought his hands together just as the blood clouds crashed down. Driven by his vampire bloodline, the dark crimson Nether Flames and violet Ether began to merge, slowly shifting toward a purplish-red hue.
The blood cloud engulfed him completely.
"Phaga!"
Ellen stepped forward. A sudden, unfamiliar strength surged through her. Where moments earlier the fight had seemed endless, she now cleaved through the vampire blocking her view with a single strike, staring in shock at the place where the blood cloud had descended.
Then—
A pillar of purplish-red light shot straight into the sky.
The blood-cloud hand shattered instantly, fragments dispersing and fading away. At the center stood Phaga, gazing at the flame-like, illusory purplish-red mass hovering in his palm, studying its flickering form.
"From now on," he murmured, "I'll call you [Devouring Flame]."