"Fast—but not fast enough."
Facing Misha's windlike speed, Miyabi silently closed her eyes and tilted her head, listening to the flow of air.
The instant a sharp, piercing burst of wind erupted from a certain direction, Miyabi's eyes snapped open. Her ears twitched, and she spun around, slashing backward in a single motion.
Shk!
The sound of steel biting deep rang out—but Miyabi immediately sensed something was wrong. Her gaze snapped over, and she saw Misha blocking the blade with her left wing.
The slash had sheared off half the wing, yet the blade was now firmly lodged inside it.
Miyabi flicked her wrist several times, and a tremendous force surged back through the weapon.
The vampires were already used to scenes like this—but the members of Section 6, the Cunning Hares, and the others lying in wait nearby were completely stunned.
The wing that Miyabi had just cut in half wasn't only regenerating at a terrifying speed—
It had also trapped chief Miyabi's blade inside it.
"I've heard the Hoshimi clan has produced Void Hunters generation after generation through inheritance of the demon blade…"
A low, drifting voice followed. Misha shifted slightly, revealing half her face from behind the wing—about sixty percent similar to Phaga's, though her thin lips were far sharper and more cutting.
"So let me see this for myself. Without the demon blade's power, how much strength does the youngest Void Hunter really have?"
The moment her words fell, Misha drove a punch forward. Her once pale, delicate hand turned blood-red in an instant, the air filling with the rotten stench of Ether.
Miyabi's nose twitched. Beneath the decay, she caught a faint scent of scorching heat. Before the punch even reached her, a subtle numbness spread across her body.
Her opponent was also at the Void Hunter level—and it was Ether layered with electricity.
Miyabi reacted instantly. She released the demon blade, stepped back, clenched her right fist, and foxfire ignited around it in a strange, eerie blaze. Then she punched forward.
Boom!
Two slender fists collided head-on, and a deafening explosion erupted between them.
The shockwave tore outward, sand and stones blasting into the air.
Yellow grit swallowed everything, completely obscuring both figures. Nothing could be seen—except for fleeting moments when surging energy blasted the sand aside, briefly revealing just how violent the clash inside truly was.
Bern cast a glance at the battlefield, then waved his hand without turning back.
"Phaga and Miyabi are both tied down. Execute the extermination plan."
With Misha occupied, there was no one present with higher status than Bern. Naturally, command fell to him.
"Yes!"
The remaining vampires answered in unison. Their wings beat as one as they followed Bern, flying straight toward the depths of Blazewood.
And even while airborne, their hands were far from idle.
Grinning, each vampire flared with a different colored light. With a flip of their hands, waves of fire erupted. Rubble wailed beneath rolling thunder, and fleeing tumbleweeds were frozen forever in sheets of ice.
Soon, one vampire summoned a howling gale. The flames immediately spread.
Rolling fire-serpents, driven by the wind, leapt from house to house, every surface they touched erupting in burning embers.
Before long, the inferno linked together into a continuous sea of fire.
"Hahaha, burn! Burn it all down! I want this whole town reduced to ash—ugh! You're… Uncle?"
Just as the vampire controlling the gale laughed wildly, a bolt of lightning suddenly tore through the air between the burning buildings.
A pink-haired figure slammed in at full speed. The naginata in her hands pierced straight into the vampire's abdomen, smashing him down from the sky.
As Yanagi exhaled a breath of smoke scorched nearly to boiling—and was about to decapitate him in the next instant—a dark blue shadow erupted out of nowhere, forcing her back at the last possible moment.
The vampire's eyes lit up. He stared in disbelief at the slender figure blocking the attack. The shock of surviving by a hair's breadth left him speechless for a moment before he finally stammered,
"Sorry, Uncle… I didn't notice where she was hiding."
Bern glanced back at him, then turned his gaze calmly onto Yanagi. His expression never changed as he spoke evenly,
"It's not your fault. She hid inside the flames without regard for her own life. For vampires, extreme heat is the best camouflage. Missing her is normal."
"Go. This isn't a fight you can take part in."
"Ok."
The vampire answered dully, nodded, and flew off elsewhere.
If Yanagi wasn't mistaken, he was probably going to fan the flames again. If left unchecked, he might reduce all of Blazewood to ashes.
But with Bern standing in her way, she couldn't stop the spread of the fire without dealing with him first.
Then Bern moved.
Yanagi's body tensed instantly, ready to engage.
But Bern showed no intention of attacking right away.
Instead, he stamped his foot, forming a chair of solid ice beneath him. His wings pressed against the ground as he casually lifted himself up and sat down, looking down at Yanagi from above.
"You know, Yanagi," he said quietly, "we're both desk workers at heart. Neither of us enjoys fighting and killing. Why don't we sit down together? Your side loses one deputy chief, mine loses one researcher. Let the grunts handle the fighting—wouldn't that be better for everyone?"
Unfortunately, Yanagi had no intention of accepting the proposal.
She tightened her grip on the naginata, her eyes sweeping over Bern's body, searching for any exposed weakness.
Seeing this, Bern sighed softly.
"So we're really doing this. Why does a researcher like me have to come to the front line?"
"I thought that after Phaga beat me half to death, I wouldn't have to fight anymore. Who knew the clan would actually heal me?"
As he spoke, Yanagi stamped the ground. Her body became a streak of lightning, the blade's gleam so bright it was almost impossible to look at directly.
Bern, however, seemed oblivious. He let out another quiet sigh, touching the ruined half of his face with one hand while the other gripped the armrest of the ice chair.
Veins bulged along his arm. The armrest creaked.
"Fortunately, I anticipated this outcome from the very beginning."
Bang!
The chair exploded, transforming into a suit of armor that wrapped around Bern's body. Beneath the ice plating, the sound of blood roaring through his veins could be faintly heard.
"Die."
Yanagi's expression hardened.
In the next instant, blade light and ice armor collided head-on.
The sparks hanging in the air stalled for a moment—then were whipped even higher by the raging gale.
On other parts of the battlefield, Harumasa and Soukaku burst out of the flames at the same time.
Nicole clutched a bulging briefcase stuffed full of military-issued cash and laughed without restraint.
Even with several vampires baring their fangs in front of her, she stood her ground and shouted,
"Nekomata, Anton, Caesar, Burnice, Lighter—you go first! I'm your solid backup!"