"Seriously… how did she get away?"
Billy hadn't really gotten a chance to fight from start to finish, and he couldn't help feeling unsatisfied.
In anime, every time the Starlight Knight grows stronger, there's always a properly qualified villain to serve as a stepping stone. So why didn't I get one?
Could it be that the real opponent is still waiting somewhere ahead?
Billy tilted his head slightly. The eyes on his display screen took on a contemplative look as gears turned and the bright silver tubes on his back let out a series of hissing clicks.
Forget it. No point overthinking it. I'll go find Boss Nicole first!
With that decided, Billy turned to look at Miyabi beside him. Even though both his arms had already been modified into Gatling guns, he still habitually rubbed them together like he used to.
"Um… Miss Void Hunter, I'm going to carry you out now."
Miyabi blinked once, taking it as agreement.
So Billy crouched down, hoisted up Miyabi—still completely encased in ice—along with the demon blade, and carried them out of Blazewood.
After walking for who knew how long, Billy suddenly spotted a beam of light in the distance.
The intense glare stabbed at his eyes, making it hard to see what lay ahead.
"What is that thing? If it's a searchlight, isn't it way too bright?"
Billy raised one of his Gatlings to block the light, squinting as the glare forced his eyes nearly shut.
The next moment, a cool, detached voice spoke beside him.
"That's a military-grade ultraviolet searchlight. It can kill vampires effortlessly."
Miyabi's gaze passed by Billy without pause as she spoke.
Billy looked at his shoulder. Then he looked to the side.
After checking several times, he finally accepted the fact that Miyabi had somehow gotten down from his shoulder without him noticing at all. The realization left him oddly dispirited.
What's going on?
I endured Grace's spit and saliva through every step of those modifications, mastered Lost Technology, and I still can't measure up to a proper Void Hunter?
"What are you thinking about?"
Perhaps after walking a bit and noticing no one beside her, Miyabi turned back. Her tone was calm and unruffled.
"They've come to pick us up. I expect your companions are here too."
"Oh—oh! I'm coming."
Billy hurried forward to catch up with her, passing by soldiers in heat-resistant suits holding military ultraviolet searchlights. As they moved past, the blinding light instantly dimmed.
Billy asked casually, "By the way, if that thing works so well on vampires, why didn't we use it earlier?"
Miyabi kept her head lowered, taking small, measured steps, as though she were carefully controlling the distance of each stride and treating it like a serious challenge.
"Because the number of military ultraviolet searchlights is limited, and we weren't sure whether the vampires had brought Sacrifices with them."
"If we'd used them from the start and the Sacrifices had destroyed them, it would've been a net loss for us. So after discussion, we chose a more conservative approach… Mm—Soukaku!"
Before she could finish, Miyabi suddenly felt two sharp points jab into her chin.
She lowered her gaze and saw that Soukaku had barreled straight into her.
"Boss! I was the first one to run over this time! Is there a reward?!"
With the exuberance of a child, Soukaku wrapped her arms around Miyabi's waist and tilted her little head up, peeking obediently at her face through the gap between her chest.
"There is a reward, Soukaku," Miyabi said, patting her head. "You get Asaba's late-night snack. He's stolen your snacks more than once anyway."
She gently pried Soukaku's hands away.
Soukaku initially grinned from ear to ear, but the moment she processed the second half of that sentence, her cheeks puffed up in anger.
Just then, the late-arriving Harumasa immediately protested, shaking his handsome head like a rattle drum.
"No, no, no! I didn't! I've never done that! Chief, don't make things up! Soukaku's snacks were clearly eaten by the white cat we keep. Yeah—by the white cat!"
"Asaba!"
Soukaku clearly didn't buy his excuse. She hoisted her iron flag and leapt straight at him, aiming to deliver a twenty-kilogram slap.
"Soukaku, calm down! The Chief tricked you—no, Chief, that's not what I meant! Ah, Yanagi, save me!"
The more he spoke, the worse it got. Harumasa was already crying out for help.
Unfortunately, Yanagi merely glanced at him and didn't intervene. She turned her attention to Miyabi instead, asking with concern, "Asaba needs to be dealt with too… Miyabi, are you hurt?"
Miyabi shook her head, indicating she was fine.
At that moment, loud voices erupted nearby. Curious, she turned to look.
It turned out Nicole and Nekomata were circling around Billy. Nicole even reached out to touch the cannon barrel on his body. The icy chill that traveled from her fingertips made her shudder slightly.
After hesitating for a moment, Nicole finally said, "Billy, this new gear of yours looks pretty good… I don't have to pay for it, right?"
Hearing that, Billy immediately planted his hands on his hips, brimming with pride.
"Of course not! Since Boss Nicole could never afford the research funding, all the costs were covered by Mr. Khors—"
Thump!
Nicole blew on her slightly swollen fist, grinding her teeth.
"That's enough, Billy! I—I'm not saying I can't pay! I just think money isn't reliable! Yeah… yeah! The power of whaling is fake!"
"But the shells I fire are real! One shot can blow away a whole—Boss Nicole is right! Only muscles trained by yourself are truly strong, which is why Miss Void Hunter is so powerful!"
Halfway through his sentence, Billy suddenly felt the air grow colder. A chill crept up his spine.
He turned around to find Nicole clenching her little pink fists, glaring at him with a dangerous expression.
Billy immediately changed his tune, even ducking behind Nekomata with a sheepish grin.
"Heh heh…"
Nicole snorted and turned her head toward Yanagi.
"Hey, Yanagi. Can you contact Phaga now?"
Strangely enough, ever since the battle began, both Phaga and Ellen had vanished completely. Calls wouldn't go through, and even IP tracking turned up nothing.
"Still no contact," Yanagi said, shaking her head. "But according to our investigation, we've identified the last location where Phaga and Ellen's signals disappeared."
"Then let's go check it out, meow! Better than doing nothing, meow! I'm just worried the little vampire got forcibly dragged away by an older one, meow!"
Nekomata fretted aloud.
If Phaga really had been taken, that would be a serious loss.
No one objected. Yanagi quickly pulled out her data tablet and marked Phaga's last known location. The group set off, following her lead.
Along the way, Billy finally couldn't hold back his curiosity anymore. After wrestling with it for a while, he asked, "Uh… so Mr. Phaga didn't actually turn into 'Miss Phaga'? He just went missing? What's going on?"
Nicole glanced back at him, confusion written all over her face.
"What Miss Phaga? Billy, what are you talking about?"
"He's talking about Phaga's younger sister," Miyabi replied casually, the only one who knew the truth. "She looks almost exactly like Phaga. Aside from gender, there's basically no difference."
Nekomata immediately went on alert, her tail standing straight up. She covered her mouth and whispered, "Eh? A vampire like Phaga actually has a gender-swapped version? Big Shark would be jumping for joy."
"Uh… I think Ellen wouldn't be very happy about that," Harumasa said, scratching his cheek with a strange expression.
Hearing this, everyone turned to look at him, then followed the direction he was pointing.
Up ahead, Phaga was sitting cross-legged on the ground, staring blankly into space with a thoroughly lifeless expression.
Beside him, on the left, stood a robot that looked exactly like Phaga but with obvious stitching lines. That sinister grin felt eerily similar to the old Black Phaga. On the right was Ellen, dressed in a maid outfit.
Black squeezed in close, holding two handheld consoles. He enthusiastically tried to shove one into Phaga's hands.
[Creator, these are handheld consoles I went through great trouble to steal from the vampire clans. According to my old memories, you seemed to enjoy games quite a lot. These even support multiplayer!]
Before he could say anything else, Ellen shoved him aside and seized both consoles in one swift motion.
"Thanks for the consoles," she said with a light snort. "Phaga and I will treasure them."
[Get lost, Big Shark! I finally got out for once!] Black roared at her.
Ellen didn't even spare him a glance. She grabbed Phaga by the shoulders and pulled him straight into her arms, hugging his chest tightly. Her flushed cheeks pressed against his equally warm face as she declared her claim.
"Who cares about you? Phaga is mine!"
The onlookers were completely stunned.
After a long moment, Harumasa forced a bitter smile.
"Uh… does Phaga's current situation count as fighting bravely?"
Yanagi pushed up her glasses and lowered her head. After a brief pause, she replied calmly,
"Ellen's fighting pretty fiercely."