"It wasn't anything like an outstanding contribution—just a transaction after weighing the pros and cons."
Lucy closed her eyes and let out a quiet sigh.
The destruction of Blazewood was both the result of the vampire clans' sudden assault and a convenient push along a plan that had already been set in motion.
The pressure on the human side was simply too great.
Food was never enough. With the situation unstable, humanity had no breathing room to restore production, and supplies were doomed to remain depleted.
At the same time, the vampire clans loosened Shiyu Tower's monitoring of the Outer Ring Hollows.
The Hollows continued to expand. Even if they could barely hold on for now, given enough time, humans would inevitably be worn down.
If they continued to wait passively, it wouldn't take long. The vampire clans wouldn't even need to exert much effort—humanity would turn into dunes of sand endlessly brushed by the wind, scattered and collapsing on their own.
That was why the Overlord personally ordered the destruction of his own capital, trading it for a desperate, all-or-nothing resolve.
At any cost—end the war with a swift offensive.
"Coffee! Coffee's here!"
Suddenly, a series of hurried footsteps sounded from outside the tent.
Yanagi turned her head and saw Corin—the same girl who had clumsily crashed into her earlier—rushing back in, drenched in sweat. She was clutching several small packets of coffee and a thermos, hurrying straight to the table.
The moment she entered, Corin immediately got busy. As she worked, she hurriedly explained while preparing the coffee.
"I'm really sorry, everyone. With the current conditions, I couldn't find anything for hand-grinding. I only managed to get some instant coffee. Please don't mind it… really, I'm so sorry!"
As if she felt her apology still wasn't sincere enough, Corin instinctively took a step back and bent forward in a deep bow. Her twin ponytails swung down like little spirits pulled forward by gravity.
"All right, Corin. Find a seat and sit down," Lucy said.
Lucy pushed off with her foot, the wheels under her chair rattling as it rolled backward. She planted her shoes firmly on the ground, stopping it.
She turned and gave Corin a light pat at the waist, pulled over another chair, and pressed Corin down into it. Taking Corin's hand, she guided her to sit beside her.
"Let's continue. Where were we just now?"
The three little pigs pushed Lucy and Corin back toward the table.
No one noticed that Lucy kept holding Corin's hand beneath the tabletop. They only saw Corin lowering her head, her cheeks faintly flushed, drawing amused glances from the others—teasing smiles hidden at the corners of their lips.
The only one truly pitiful was the Black-White Doll. With Corin tied up and unable to work, the task of serving coffee fell to it, the lowest-ranking one present.
[Just make do, everyone. I never even got to drink coffee this good back in the Hollow.]
The Black-White Doll carried the cups around one by one, leaving the last cup in front of Yanagi.
Yanagi gave a slight nod.
"Thank you… Let's continue. No. 11, has our colleague still undercover in the city sent any news lately?"
"She has," No. 11 replied. "But the messages are getting shorter, and the gaps between them are growing longer. From how tired her voice sounds, I can tell she's constantly being hunted and hasn't had time to rest properly."
After saying that, No. 11 fell silent for a long moment, staring quietly at her reflection in the surface of the coffee.
As fellow public servants, she could empathize deeply with Jane's hardship.
Forget it. Don't dwell on that now.
No. 11 suddenly shook her head, even giving her own face a light slap, then took a small sip of the coffee.
The bitterness filled her mouth, but it also sharpened her mind a little. She looked around the table and spoke in a low, steady voice.
"Based on the intelligence Jane sent back, Hollow Zero has already stabilized under the vampire clans' control. Their main forces are gradually withdrawing from it."
"From here on out, the vampire clans will have more and more freedom to deploy their strength. The longer we drag this out, the worse our situation will become."
Halfway through, No. 11 suddenly paused.
Everyone turned in surprise, their attention instantly locking onto her.
Only then did she continue.
"Also, according to Jane's intel, the vampire clans possess two Void Hunter–level combatants."
"And what's even more frightening is that these two Void Hunters may not fear sunlight."
"Wait—don't fear sunlight? What do you mean? Why haven't you mentioned this before?!"
Lucy abruptly stood up, eyes wide with disbelief.
But just as quickly, she dropped back into her seat.
She bit down on her fingertip, her thoughts racing. A thin sheen of sweat appeared on her forehead, yet no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't see a way to break the deadlock.
Yanagi was no better. Her expression had gone pale.
She had already guessed that Black Phaga didn't fear the sun—but she hadn't realized that Misha possessed the same trait.
After all, Misha was someone who had survived a full artillery bombardment without being blown apart, who could still move freely in temperatures reaching hundreds of degrees Celsius.
She could fight two opponents at once and still retreat unscathed.
And now she was being told that Misha didn't fear sunlight either?
Besides Phaga, there was actually another vampire like that?
"I know about this," Mrs. Meilin suddenly said.
Her voice was gentle, yet carried no hint of flirtation—only composure and authority.
"One of them is a robot. It carries Phaga's genes and Black Phaga's memories. It possesses all of Black Phaga's combat power, without any of his weaknesses."
A deathly silence settled over the tent.
Mrs. Meilin gave a small nod. Despite the simplicity of the gesture, it inexplicably bolstered the confidence of Lucy, Yanagi, and the others.
She lightly pinched her chin and pondered for a moment.
"As for the other one—Misha. She is Phaga's biological sister."
"As for why I say 'biological'… it's because Phaga's parents were already dead by the time Misha was born."
"Huh?"
A wave of shock rippled through the group.
Even Yanagi, who considered herself well-traveled and experienced, wore a look of pure astonishment.
Only No. 11 recovered quickly and ventured a guess.
"Could it be… that Misha is a clone?"
As soon as No. 11 finished speaking, Mrs. Meilin looked over at her.
Thinking she had misspoken, No. 11 was just about to apologize—
—but instead, Mrs. Meilin nodded.
"That's right. Misha was cloned."
Mrs. Meilin nodded again, her thoughts drifting back more than a decade into the past.
"Phaga's parents were both half-blood vampires. But Phaga himself was blessed by fate itself—he displayed atavism at the moment of his birth.. He feared neither the sun nor extreme cold or heat. Purer than purebloods."
"At the time, Phaga's parents were ecstatic. They immediately informed the clan of the good news, then calmly waited at home for a response."
"Unfortunately, what they received was not praise—but shackles."
"The clan elders said: 'For the sake of the clan, please make one more sacrifice.'"
"And then… there was no 'after that.' The research lasted less than two months before Phaga's parents were driven insane. In the end, they committed suicide by forcing aqua regia into their own eyes."
Mrs. Meilin fell silent.
After a while, she continued.
"After that, I took Phaga away and sent him to an orphanage. Pureblood vampires are few in number, so to get things done, they must rely on half-blood vampires. And most half-blood vampires obey me—that's why Phaga's whereabouts remained hidden."
"But in exchange—and to calm the clan's anger—I handed over samples of Phaga's hair and his blood DNA."
When she finished speaking, the tent fell into silence once more.
Time seemed to stretch on. The chill of the Outer Ring gradually cooled the coffee in their cups.
Only then did No. 11 snap back to herself and murmur softly,
"I remember the vampire clans have a rule… forbidding the killing of one's own kind."
"With such huge benefits on the table, how could they not be tempted?"
"Clan rules? They can always follow them when it suits them."
Her tone suddenly grew impassioned.
"But one thing is absolutely certain!"
"Phaga is uniquely blessed—one chance in hundreds of millions, even billions, favored by fate itself!"
"Genes mutate. So even as Phaga's clone, Misha could never be like him, merely harboring an aversion to sunlight!"
"Her immunity to the sun must be unnatural!"
"This war—we must fight it!"
"With overwhelming force!"