Edward Balorian took the ambush attack with utter and complete surprise. He wasn’t that outrage at the new breathing hole in his stomach but the audacity of an insect for daring to ambush him. The fact the motley crew drawn his blood actually half-amuse the vampire.

However, the other half was solid wrath. No one drew a blood of a noble vampire and walked away with it.

“Oh, silly me,” Edward announced in a malevolent, cheerful tone. He moved in split-seconds, plucking Joshua by the neck. The woman beside him lunged with a knife, but a quick backhand from Edward sent her flying.

Joshua stared into those eyes of malevolence. Around them, the drones and the crowd descend into chaotic melees. The conflict was so brutal no one notice the loss of the 33 Stars. No, the desperate crowds were too busily getting thrown like rag dolls. The drones were smashing them and they kept coming; undisturbed by the resistance or the anesthetic raining down from above. The dilute gas alone may not worth a lot, but it was taking its toll. Anyone with low endurance stats was about to meet a world of pain. Even Joshua himself felt numbness grasping his body.

“Tell me, boy,” Edward spoke an inch from his face. Joshua impressively managed not to soil himself against his canines and stench of bloody mayhem. “Do you actually believe you can do a thing to me?” 

Joshua’s confidence in his leader never faltered.

“You are no match against her. She saw that trick from miles away?”

“Oh,” Edward tightened his grip, lifting the struggling man to the air, choking him. “And who is this mysterious ‘she’.”

Bang!

Thunderous noise ranged from the ceiling.

“Great… timing… Commander.”

Edward barely registered the entrance until it happened.

The metal ceiling exploded. Something blasted its way out of the delivery system and smashed into the ground in raining metal splinters and dust. The hooded figure peered straight ahead. Her steely crimson eyes blazed with an unwavering inferno. The veil covering her face couldn’t hide the suppressed fury of her gritted teeth.

Commander Serina sped toward her target at the speed that even Edward admitted was impressive. But her attack was much faster. Serina released three separate blood red saw blades at Edward, Senwei and Salazar Aztellic. Edward and Salazar dodged on instinct, while Senwei, recognizing the woman entering the fray, blocked with a dome of the storming wind.

Senwei made the right decision.

The blood red blast readjusted to its target at expertly timed speed and angle. Edward was forced to drop Joshua for the sake of evading the blades. Meanwhile, Salazar used Artos Sevar as a human shield, but the spinning blades shifted slightly, sailing past the elf ears and sawing the Ogre’s shoulder.

Then she was upon them.

Sun Senwei, knowing what to expect, attempted to put some distance between them. But Serina was faster. She grabbed the 33 Stars by the ankle and smashed him into the ground. She lifted Sun like a rucksack and smashed him into the floor again with enough force to dent the floor.

“Stop!” Sun Senwei cut his pain short. “I surrender.”

Commander Serina snorted.

“What happen to that ego? I remember you are more eager in our last meeting.”

“Look, I am not stupid enough to repeat our last match. Once is enough. How about this? I won’t move from here, unless someone attack me? Hell, I won’t even stand until you are okay with it. Is that fine?”

Serina growled.

“Fine. But one wrong move and I will rip your arm from its socket.”

“Deal. And watch out.”

Serina turned her attention to a bloody Salazar who swung in with a vengeance. The Ogre attempted to smash her with a gigantic sword, but Serina was much faster. She stepped into the strike range, bringing her fist toward Salazar’s nose. In a surprising display of speed, the Ogre caught her punch and tossed the vampires away.

He then turned his attention to the neutral Senwei.

“Why the fuck are you turning yellow!? Get up and help!”

“Salazar, buddy,” Senwei was chilled. “Don’t waste your time on the fight you can’t win.”

“It is just vampire!”

“Yeah, and your jaw about to realize that one vampire isn’t someone you can fight.”

“My—"

Salazar’s retort was met by the kick in the face from Serina, who launched herself from midair using her blood-red mist. The kick lifted the towering Ogre’s towering height from the ground. Salazar landed on his feet and activated his [Inherit Skill]. His muscle bulged, boosting his height into a three meters tall bundle of muscle and roared in berserker rage.

Everyone on the floor gaped at the mass of demonic might. Those several moments of distraction nearly cost lives as the crowd almost forgot they were surrounded by killer bots.

But Serina didn’t care. She went to work at nimbly disabling Slazar's knees, evading his fist and destroying his elbow’s ligament with a super strength kick. The fully bulk-up Ogre may tower over her, but Serina compensated with greater speed, vicious attacks and more precise usage of her substantial super strength. She dodged a kick from the hulking demon and impaled her fist into his mid-section with enough force to break the steel.

Salazar doubled over in pain, but Serina didn’t stop. She flipped him over and lifted the towering Ogre over her head before slamming his back over her knee. The smash was loud and clear. The 33 Stars, Edward and few spectators, watched Salazar Aztelic rolled from Serina’s knee, shrank to his original size and began crawling away with his arm — unable to move his paralyze leg.

Suddenly, the Ogre felt a hand lifted him by his clothing. His heart sank. Oh boy. That savage woman wasn’t satisfied with only breaking his back.

He was right. Commander Serina energized herself with a roar and tossed Salazar Aztelic cleared across the hall in a herculean feat of raw strength. The last thing Salazar remembered was herds of war-drones surrounding him.

Done with cleaning up, Serina took in the surrounding.

Emily and Amitate recovered their consciousness just in time to witnessed the backbreaker. Artos and Magnolia’s jaw dropped. Aryssa was still on magical fire. Sorin Enma was out cold. Joshua and the woman — Yurica — lifted themselves up to salute her. Meanwhile, the surrounding was still a carnage of battle. Serina eyed Edward who was walking toward them, but priority came first.

“What the fuck are you gaping at?” The Commander yelled.

She pointed at the two elves.

“You two drop area fire-support and healing. The survivors are getting their asses kick, while you two gapes like a dimwit.”

Magnolia was outrage.

“Excuse me! I —”

But the Serina got no patience.

“-- am fucking useless, so start being useful! You are freezing stiff when I arrive! Is this your first combat scenario? Tell me your name and what can you do!?”

Magnolia straightened up. She knew she should argue, but the vampire in front of her exuded an irrefutable aura of authority.

“Magnolia Drakokia! Spirit Contractor with Wind, Water, Ice and Holy attribute.”

“Good! Start laying area healing to soften the injury. I want an Ice and wind barricade to give our people some reprieve.” She then pointed at Artos. “And you, I already noticed your expertise. Switch from healing to morale support, after you fix the demons. We need to rally the troop to push back.”

Artos nodded instinctively. The vampire’s command was too overbearing to argue.

Amitate opened his loud mouth.

“Hey look, bloodsucker, do you know who—”

“Who you are doesn’t mean crap!” Serina shut the demon down by raising her voice. “Right now, you are more pathetic than a pile of wet cardboard! Man-up and start pulling your weight! We are fighting to survive. If you want to hinder everyone by being a selfish little bitch, then I will throw you to join that Ogre!”

Amitate raised his mouth, but noticeably went paled when Serina cracked her knuckle.

“Any complaint, solider?”

“No,..”

“Great,” Serina turned to Artos. “Heal them while I deal with that evil piece of shit. We need to disable those delivery systems and the gas. Joshua, Yurica, I trust you know what to do.”

“Yes, sir!”

In the distance, Edward clapped.

“Amazing charisma and tactical awareness of the battlefield. May I know which house you descend from?”

Serina silently lifted her hand, sending a wave of blood red energy crashing down on Edward.

Edward didn’t get the clue and kept talking.

“The purity and speed of your [Bloodmist] suggest a superior breed. I don’t believe you are a commoner. Just who is your sire.”

Serina’s eyes grew brighter, and she vanished.

A thought crept to Edward’s brain. Maybe, just may, that question was a reverse scale. 

Edward's gut feeling was dead correct.

Serina’s strike from behind, intending to chop him in half. Her dual-wielded [Bloodmist] coated blades reflected a merciless red-glimpses the commander’s eyes became.

Edward countered with his own bloody power. Two [Bloodmist] crashed, but to Edward’s shock, Serina’s attack overpowered him. A narrow dodged prevented him from being bisected in half. Explosion of dark-red echoed as Edward rolled back to his feet with his sword drawn.

The two vampires went in with their blades. Swords swing from above dragged against a dagger. Edward dodged a knife barely grazing his cheek and bought his blade to Serina's chest. The commander reversed her grip on her free dagger and to block the thrust. However, Edward accomplished his goal.

“Explode.”

In a display of unrivaled combat aptitude, Serina tossed both knives away as they exploded. She gathered herself and deduced  Edward’s ability.

As a fellow vampire, Serina possessed similar powers to Edward. All vampires possessed supreme strength, speed, regeneration and [Bloodmist]. However, high-ranking vampires [Bloodmist] had extra property — her included. This property took a form of a secondary attribute. It appeared Edward could detonate anything in contact with his [Bloodmist] enhanced weapon. It made a head-on combat against him nearly impossible. More troublesome was his [Blood Armament]. Aside from being a brutal conqueror, vampires also obeyed a culture of looting. Using the same technique to enthralling people, vampire could also parasitize a legendary weapon into their [Blood Armament], granting them a pseudo sentience.

Edward’s sword was one of those.

“Wind Owl,” Edward commanded his sword to unleash its full power.

An owl made of blood emerged behind Edward and flew upward, raining feathers of crimson over the area.

“You are planning to bombard the area?” Serina gathered her [Bloodmist]. “Dream on.”

…

“Arrgh,” Aryssa screamed one more time before Artos extinguished the mystic fires burning her alive.

The battered priestess staggered to her feet, conjured a blade of holy light, and stumbled to a crater where Sun Senwei laid. She leapt down the crater only to get blasted by wind punch.

Aryssa laid flat on her back and groaned.

“Quiet down,” Sun Senwei spoke from beneath the crater. “I don’t want to get out of this hole and be murdered by her.”

“You know that vampire, Sunwei?” Emily said.

“I fight her once,” Sun admitted. “She is the strongest person I ever fought. I beat plenty of vampires before but… oh darn she is getting serious.”

“Eh?” Magnolia tuned into the conversation. “She wasn’t serious before.”

Sunwei pointed upward.

They gazed up to find countless feather of blood rained from the sky. All members of 33 Stars knew that was an attack. Aryssa, Artos, and Emily quickly rose to the occasion and began conjuring a barrier, but Senwei wasn’t worried.

“Don’t fret. Our girl has this.”

Not a syllable later, the feathers of blood got shredded to smithereens, and exploded before any of them hit the ground.

“What the hell was that?”

“An unparallel [Blood Armament],” Sun Senwei looked at the sky as he remembered the battle. “Trust me. That Edward-guy doesn’t even come close to her.”

…

Edward looked at his attempt at carpet bombing the mustering area. The rain of feathers so many they blotted the ceiling in a red cloud of elegance and dread were shredded into non-existence. Before the overwhelming displays of precise extinguishing, the countless feather blotting out the battlefield were reduced to dust.

“What?” Edward gawked at his vanishing attack.

“Nice legendary sword,” Serina trudged to the vampire calmly. Red mist gathered around her like a shroud of death. “Sadly, I am a pauper, and unlike your murderous pieces of trash, I don’t plunder for fun and profit. So, I have a lot of problems.”

The red mist gathered forming a pair of swords.

Edward's jaw hung open. His vampiric vision allowed him to see the small dust floating inside that crimson vapor.

“Iron dust? You corrupted iron sand? No. Oh shit.”

“Yep, like I say, working in a criminal organization and perpetually cashless meant I need to be prudent, so I save bit and pieces since I am ten. Bits of adamantine, some leftover from industrial-grade diamond. Oh, I also get some rare magical ores. Then one day I got this bright idea. Why don’t I just grind all of them to dust and make it my weapon? That way I can even boost its power with rarer ore.”

Edward’s mind gave it a thought. His enemy parasitized a massive quantity of metal dust that could be shaped, strengthened and manipulated any way she wishes. That explained how she altered her attack direction so freely. She must send the dust to destroy his feather rain. But if those dust already got scattered in the air, didn’t this mean he was inside her kill range?

Edward got his answer when countless blades of steel launched toward him.

He replied with a slash of [Bloodmist] powered sword-wave, but a coin size metal projectile intercepted it mid-air, forcing him to dodge the blades, and stepping on a waiting spike of metal. Edward gritted his teeth, but cried out as the metal spike sprouted barbs. He launched more explosive feathers, only to get intercepted by more metal coin.

To insult his pride, Serina didn’t move a single inch.

“Come down here and fight fairly, you bitch!” Edward roared, coating his entire body in a mist of bloods.

“Fine,” Serina molded her dust blades into a blood red scythe. “I want to gut you personally anyway.”

Edward launched a wave of [Bloodmist], detonating everything the slithering energy met in its paths, ripping the metal floor and shaking the entire room with raw explosive forces. In return, Serina swung the scythe, now glowing crimson white. The weapon had transformed into spectral blades of light in her hand. 

…

The red flares flooded the room.

“Okay,” Sun Senwei poked his head from the crater. “That was new.”

“Crimson light?” Emily turned toward Aryssa.

“No,” the priestess answered the unspoken question. “We encounter no vampire who could turn their weapon into a spectral one. Only a few specific Holy art could do that. We receive a report that Orwell Mehest could perform similar feat, but this is the first time a vampire did it.”

…

Edward toppled to the ground. His belly slice opened by the techniques which utterly annihilated his gigantic sword-wave. Commander Serina stood above him with a spear made from her metal dust resting at his neck. He tried to get up, but the opposing [Bloodmist] was turning his inside into mush.

“Are you crazy? You must know you are siding with the people who want to exterminate all of us? Can’t you understand it is us or them!?”

Serina spoke softly.

“Yeah, it is us or them. That is how it will end. But the vampires will never survive. I will hunt every bloodsucker down to the last. The Holy Church must go, but they got that right. Every single one of us present, past and future is a plague of curses who should never be born. Don’t worry I don’t plan to live after I bury you pest. I will be the last and final vampire on this cursed planet.”

Edward sneered.

“With your power, you could have been a prodigy! Why—”

“Because I am a mistake. At least, I should erase other mistakes before I go.”

It was at that moment the floor erupted with electrical discharge.