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Seemingly out of nowhere came a chilling yet seductive voice. “Now which one of you is Nour again hm? Ugh. No matter, all of you will die here tonight!”

Out of the darkness of the night appeared Lucy and Sera escorted by a large black cloud that was emerging from the treeline.

“What the?”

“A-are those bats?!”

Running with breakneck speeds Lucy and Sera quickly crossed the distance to the battlefield just as the swarm of screeching bloodsucking bats descended upon the enemy. 

Like a tidal wave of claws, teeth, and furry bodies the ravenous bats surged forth completely unimpeded.

The bloodsucking bats worked the enemies’ men into disarray as blood splashed in every direction. Under the control of powerful vampiric magic the bats' sharp fangs easily penetrated the lightly armored mercenaries as many hadn’t even worn chainmail.

The mercenaries under Mars noticed that the bats seemed to be aiding them in their fight  and decided to seize the moment.

“Oi! They’re on our side!”

“Keep attacking!”

“ We’re saved”

As such after a short moment limbs began to fly left and right as chaos consumed the enemies ranks. And after several more seconds more than 4 enemies including a Rank 1 mage were now corpses.

With this startling change of events the tides of the battle then too shifted again as several startling occurrences happened at once as well.

Sera singled out and closed in on Ambrose as she used her telekinetic abilities to push and break every root and vine, he casted at her, while Lucy readily moved in on Nour and Mars’ skirmish.

“Burn for me!”  screamed Mars as his blazing hands shockingly shattered Nour’s last ice lance in his grip

“Insolent littl-”

“Nuh uh uh. I’m your opponent. Remember me? ” Lucy said snidely as she whipped Nour with a sharp created blood whip, “What was it you called me again? Your woman ha ha ha?”

“You witch! I should have finished you at the marketplace!” bellowed Nour.

He would never admit it out loud but at this moment Nour was worried. 

He was previously somewhat confident in handling Mars with the remaining 40% of his mana pool, but he knew taking on Mars and Lucy was well beyond his capabilities at this point.

‘Fuck! I should have never fueled that damn barrier with my own mana supply. Now I don’t know If I even have enough to make it out of this situation… But I simply can’t back down!’

Hardening his resolve Nour circulated his remaining mana to the utmost of his ability as he exploded into an icy aura.

“Urgh” grunted Mars as he was blown back by the explosive release.

CRACK

In an instant the tip of Lucy’s blood whip near Nour froze before breaking into shards.

In that moment Ambrose, having noticed the dire straits of the battle, decided to play his trump card. 

He knew he was out of his league here and things were getting more dangerous by the second, plus he could only barely contend with Sera using his magic.

 Right now, he was just barely keeping her at bay by using vines and roots to keep distance between them. But he was running out of mana, and fast.

As such Ambrose called upon his Rank III emergency spell, Sandstorm.

 Along with being the perfect spell to cover his escape, ‘Sandstorm’ was also one of the very few Rank III spells that could be casted with only a few chants. 

The only drawback was that Ambrose had now completely exhausted his mana supply.

But before anyone knew what hit them the entire battlefield was covered in a massive sandstorm.

“Argh! My eyes!”

“Take cover!”

The sudden Sandstorm took everyone by surprise as visibility on the battlefield dropped to almost zero. 

Ally and adversary alike fell back and took cover while trying to hold defensive positions. Even Lucy and Sera with their advanced vision needed a moment to regain their bearings as they adjusted to using their other senses for navigation.

‘This is my chance!’ thought Ambrose and Nour alike almost simultaneously

At that moment both mages made their escapes, one towards the trees and the other towards the burning villa.

“No! They’re getting away” yelled Mars as he began to chase after Nour.

“Not on my watch. Stay here, he’s mine.” Lucy replied  before pursuing with inhuman speed.

‘Sera don’t let that mage get away!’ she then ordered telepathically.

‘Yes, master!’

The battlefield shifted for the last time as the most powerful combatants vacated and only Mars with the few combating mercenary groups stayed in the rear courtyard to finish things up. 

Lucy chased after Nour into the burning villa while Sera took off after Ambrose who’d headed towards the nearby woods.

Ambrose was running with all his might to the line of trees just before him. 

He’d Never been the athletic type and had always preferred using magic over physical labor. But at this moment with no magic at his disposal Ambrose had to run for his life and fast. 

He didn’t know who or what those two women Nour called were but the way the black haired one looked at him like he was food scared him to his core.

‘I’m… Almost… The-'

Suddenly before Ambrose could even finish his thought, his eye registered movement from a shadow just to the left of him. 

Next thing Ambrose knew he was being gripped at the throat by the beautiful black-haired woman.

“Ple...ase … Don’t…k..ill…me” he rasped at through his tightly gripped esophagus

Sera cocked her head to the side as she stared at the ginger haired mage who’d caused her so much trouble earlier. 

Truth be told, he was already dead in her eyes from the moment he switched sides, so she didn’t understand why he was bothering to beg for his life.

‘Mmm his blood smells delicious…I’m sure master won’t mind me treating myself’

“You know, Mars planned on sparing you” she said as he slowly turned purple in her vice grip, “I don’t though.”

Ambrose hung unable to breathe in Sera’s tight grip as he watched sharp glistening fangs erupt from either side of her jaws.

‘W-what are you?! Monster!’ he dismayed horrified.

‘No, just a vampire’ she replied telepathically before savagely biting into the jugular of the novice stage Intermediate rank Earth mage.

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