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Rose was a fierce fighter; her strength was definitely commendable as her efforts were great. The power she had built wasn't simply gifted; it was clear she had trained it for a long time! This was the true strength of a Rank 4 Magus, and it was already on pair with mine in various aspects.

Her attacks continued to reach my body incessantly as I evaded as fast as I possibly could, as she absorbed more mana she fueled her power even further, and became even faster than ever before, fast enough to rush towards me and hit me with all her power like a meteor.

CLAAASSHH!

The powerful attack left me on the ground as I looked at her while gritting my teeth, she was god damn strong, but I wasn't weak either. I only lasted a split of a second in the ground before I ravaged her with my own attacks, my elements rushed out of my body like colorful explosions, and my blade finally managed to slash through her arms, slicing them cleanly off as her demonic blades fell into the ground!

"Nnngh…! Agh!"

Rose cried in agony as she looked at me hatefully, her arms quickly regenerated back but I sliced them off again, her legs kicked the ground and tried tor each her blades in the ground, she tried to even use Telekinesis to bring them back to her, but I caught her from behind as Uller sliced her torso cleanly in half, while Skadi pierced her spine all the way into her skull!

SLAAASH! CLAAASH!

"Nnnggh…! Aggh…!"

She fell over the ground, still alive and struggling. Her lower body didn't move anymore, but it was already regrowing from her sliced torso, her face, which was being pierced by Skadi, was still moving as she gritted her teeth, she looked at the blades!

"Nooo! Uuggh…!"

Her struggles were in vain, I used Uller to pierce her torso and her spine, incrusting it in the floor and leaving her stuck there.

"Aggghhh!" she desperately used every magic she could, a storm of blood coated my body and threw me away, but I destroyed it with my own telekinesis combined with my wind magic. Blood blades bathed my entire body, but I generated constant ice barriers which completely blocked her attacks. She was growing weaker.

There's no way she can be fine after all that damage, I could clearly see it in her HP bar, which was going down and barely being able to regenerate now. When Vampires lose too much mana and grow exhausted and hungry, their vampiric regeneration grows weaker too.

"It's over now, Rose. I have the high ground." I said, as Benladann moved towards me, carrying the head of her companion and throwing it at her, it rolled in the ground comically, as it landed right with its face upwards, the face of his agonizing death clearly made Rose quiver.

Benladann's entire presence seemed abyssal and dark, her eyes flashed with crimson-red light as she looked at Rose with a predatory glance. Her entire body seemed to emanate this deadly power and presence as if she were a being made entirely out of pure abyssal darkness. And well, to a little extent, she was.

"No…! Unnggh…! We had everything planned…! We… We must procure the girl!" she muttered, trying to grab the demonic blades, but I took them first and saved them inside my Inventory, they were gone in an instant, all her hopes of fighting back quickly flew away at the same instant the blades turned into nothingness, entering the internal space of my Inventory skill.

"The girl?"

Did she mean Ruby? Did these Vampires came here to retrieve Ruby?!

Wait… it is just as I knew! They want her for something. She's more special than the little girl makes herself to be. The strange pendant she had was surely something strange that I couldn't comprehend nor analyze well. So it was really like I suspected.

"Wait, you're telling me you came for a girl?" asked Benladann.

"The girl…! The girl… Ungh… I won't tell you anything- Ah!"

Benladann grabbed her chin and looked her deep into the eyes.

"Speak."

The Vampire tried to fight back her charm, she was incredibly weakened, but her power was still great. A battle of wills ensued, as the two tried to dominate the other.

However, at the end, Rose actually wasn't charmed…

"Then we can kill her and as a soul, she can speak," I said, as I sliced her head off with Skadi and she died instantly.

SLASH!

"Ungeegh…!"

Flash!

Her soul, which was red-colored, quickly flew out of her body, she looked at us with horror as she tried to fly away,  but I grabbed her with my phantom claws and carried her towards us.

I used the power of Phantom Magic to create a contract into her now body-less soul, which had a very weak will, and then, through the contract weakening her will to fight back, Benladann used her Charm once more and finally forced her to speak.

"Now, speak! What girl are you talking about?!" asked Benladann.

"T-The girl… Ruby Von Sange! She's required for the ritual of our lady; she must be used to enhance the power of her Spell Jewels! The other faction has tried to save her from being sacrificed, and they sent her away through a teleportation jewel…" she muttered.

"What?!"

So Ruby was being used as a sacrifice?! And someone sent her far, far away… Is this why she arrived here without even knowing how? This explains a lot, yet it is still filled with so many mysteries…

"Speak more, elaborate further! What is this other faction?" I asked.

"The other faction of Vampires that see Ruby as the perfect vessel for our Ancestor, the Blood Venerable! Our Tyrannical Lady desires to sacrifice her to grow stronger, while the other faction wants her alive as she will become the true vessel of our Lord!" said Rose.

The true vessel of… the Venerable of Blood?

Are you kidding me?

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