[Conditions met, Active Attribute Skill {Influence Extension} unlocked.]

[Active General Skill: {Influence Extension}

A field-type support skill. Grants the user the ability to influence a chosen target with their attribute and raise their own attack power by 10% within the field’s area of effect. ]

[Conditions met, Active Attribute Skill {Focused Enhancement} unlocked.]

[Active General Skill: {Focused Enhancement}

An enhancement-type support skill. Grants the user the ability to enhance a chosen target with their attribute, the skill works on both the user’s own body and inanimate objects. Mana cost depends on the chosen target.]

[Conditions met, General Passive Skill {Basic Shortblade Mastery} unlocked.]

[Passive General Skill {Basic Shortblade Master}

A weapon-related passive skill. Grants the user proficiency over short blades such as daggers and shortswords. +10% attack power bonus when using a short blade.]

Kiera was relieved to see she finally acquired the related skills. She saw with Eye of the Tyrant that unlike in the King of Fallen Flame’s case, the Rippling Soul Queen’s way of manipulating her attribute included complex mana patterns and sophisticated control only a skill could involve. So, she expected to receive them after a while, but she unexpectedly had them all along but needed to unlock them.

Thinking about it again, Kiera realized it was logical. After all— manipulating her attribute in such ways manually was a registered action in her body even if she did not know about it from the start, so it was not far-fetched for an involved skill to exist.

But what she did not expect to receive was the last skill due to the fact she fought with a dagger 90% of the time, so why did she receive the skill so late down the line? Then she glanced at the dagger-turned-shortsword and realized the prerequisite was to probably familiarize oneself with an additional short blade.

Her field stabilized, its crude shape replaced by a spherical cage of Tyrannical Lightning bolts that enveloped both Kiera and the vampire. Below it was the Rippling Soul Queen’s invisible Quaking Soul field, struggling to keep its shape under the superior attribute’s influence.

But Kiera realized she could not simply win with just this as she was constantly reminded by her opponent why the vampire would be titled the First King in the future. None of her hits could successfully connect as the opponent moved as if she read the future, deflecting or avoiding Kiera’s attacks with minimal moves.

In comparison, Kiera had to do her best to avoid the masterful moves of the vampire. She was utterly unmatched in martial skill, and she soon discovered that the woman could conjure more than just longswords.

Kiera sidestepped, avoiding a fist to her sternum before she tried to counterattack. But as her fist was already traveling toward the vampire, her senses screamed for her to dodge. Forsaking her attack, she instantly utilized Vanishing Step, retreating dozens of meters back.

Suddenly, searing pain assaulted her soul, spreading from beneath her armpit. She searched for the cause but was appalled to not find anything, then realized she was probably punctured by some type of a throwing soul weapon.

The opponent actually exploited the blind spot created beneath her arm when she punched and successfully injured her in that split-second time frame!

Kiera frowned, blind spots formed in virtually any form of an offensive move, but exploiting it was an insane fit as the time frame was so small she did not even imagine it could be done. If the vampire could simply counterattack her before the attack was even close to reaching, how could she win?

She acquired the Soul Resistance skill from enduring the earliest slash for so long, but it was freshly achieved so even an unseen throwing weapon succeeded in making her scream in agony. And Mental Resistance wasn’t effective at all in this situation, maybe because it was a pain to her soul itself rather than to her psyche.

With Tyrant Regeneration suppressing the pain, Kiera greeted her teeth and dashed toward the observing vampire. Her shortsword pierced the air as she probed with Thunderstroke, resuming the fight.

Upon arriving at close quarters, she struck with a spinning whip kick while carefully eyeing the vampire’s hands. She saw several needles appearing between her fingers, and when Kiera’s back was directed at the vampire, she felt the familiar pain spreading from it to every corner of her soul.

Unable to finish the kick’s movement, Kiera immediately regained her footing and increased the distance to recuperate. While Tyrant Regeneration revolved, she saw the opponent did not intend to wait like last time.

Using Flashburst+Thunderstroke, Kiera held the vampire back with a rain of lightning bolts. But she easily bypassed Kiera’s efforts and run toward the former, her longsword returning to her hand.

The longsword blurred as dozens of crescent slashes flew toward Kiera, Rippling Soul racing just behind them. Kiera dodged the sword lights and sidestepped a close-range cleave, counterattacking with Thunderstroke.

The violet blade crackled with lightning, easily avoided by the blue-clothed woman. Then, the influence fields of both sides reactivated, invisible energy hindering the expansion of the lightning cage. Kiera stepped forward, her head basically touching the vampire’s chest before she kneed the latter in the stomach with all her strength.

But her abrupt attack was skillfully dodged as the vampire put her palm on Kiera’s head, using it as leverage to somersault above Kiera’s body. The girl was momentarily shocked by how she got played but was awakened from her stupor by the danger that was incoming behind her.

She quickly circled to the right side of the vampire, counterattacking with a sidekick that was effortlessly ducked. But she did not stop there— squatting without delay, Kiera opened her palm and unleashed Destruction on the bent Queen.

Without even looking, the vampire manipulated her influence field to concentrate on the lightning beam, halving its power. Then, she crossed her arms in front of her head and put the heaviest gravity shield her current ability could support around them.

Her bare flesh met the lightning beam— her body blown away effortlessly. But unlike Kiera,

she gracefully somersaulted in the air to stabilize herself, and although her milky skin was now scorched, her bones got away with minimal damage.

Kiera did not notice it initially, but as she fought opponents with higher martial arts skills like the Rippling Soul Queen and the previous King of Fallen Flame, her own martial arts skill was developing at an unbelievable pace. So, although her most powerful offensive skill was almost entirely blocked, she was contented to see her body finally learned how to counterattack after Way of the Tyrant’s present breakthrough to Lv.13

She pressed on and engaged in hand-to-hand combat again, constantly suffering soul injuries while occasionally landing a hit. Kiera thought she’d be able to win without resorting to drastic measures but was robbed of her optimism soon enough.

As if the Rippling Soul Queen read her thoughts, Kiera could see the vampire’s mana began rotating several times faster than normal, forming a peculiar armor the naked eye could not see.

BOOM

A sonic boom abruptly occurred, originating from the vampire’s knuckle as she hit Kiera right in the arm. The latter folded in suspense before her body was simply blown away, a trail of blood left in her wake.

While still in the air, unable the comprehend what even transpired as her soul screamed in pain that made her physical body tremble— the vampire suddenly appeared in front of her, the longsword aimed at Kiera’s forehead.

Kiera mustered all of her power to get out of the way, thus— the kinetic energy from the earlier fist could not properly scatter, ravaging her body further as her entire skeleton shattered.

She coughed out an arrow of blood and bone fragments, urging Tyrant Regeneration to heal the no longer fatal injury. But her soul was the problem— after directly receiving that punch, she sensed her soul would shatter if she received another one.

Fortunately, she was only caught off guard by the sudden change— the vampire’s upgraded speed and power were not of a level she could not cope with. With Destruction charged at her fist, Tyrannical Lightning enveloped her arm while she struck at the incoming vampire.

Rippling Soul raised her arm, blocking Kiera’s Destruction with her forearm, returning the gesture with her own fist. Kiera clicked her tongue, avoiding the fist by circling to the side while following with another Destruction.

Her hand was easily deflected while a long blade stabbed toward her chest. She circled with her foot again, her body now standing in line with the vampire's own.

Raising her palm behind the vampire's back as if she was about the pat her back, Kiera actually aimed to extract the latter's spine with a clawing motion but only met empty air.

The vampire appeared several meters away and closed in just as soon, sending multiple sword slashes at Kiera.

Kiera evaded the attack while stabbing multiple times as well. Transparent and violet sword lights flashed hundreds of times as Kiera and the Rippling Soul Queen competed in swordsmanship.

Kiera clicked her tongue lightly. Previously, the vampire only surpassed her in skill levels and combat experience, but now that her armor closed the gap between their raw attributes, she found it harder to suppress her even though her skills also leveled up.

She repeatedly used Flashburst+Thunderstroke to gain control of the flow. And shook her head when every strike was dodged again.

Truthfully, Kiera was quite anxious as her HP dropped to around 40% from all the soul injuries she sustained, so she could die from the smallest mistake.

She thought about resorting to what she named as 'Fallen Flame Battle Tactic' but crossed it off the options list because the Rippling Soul Queen's main damage method was soul-based.

She had no way to keep that illusory longsword inside her body, so she could not trap the vampire. Since she could not do that, there was no reason to purposely die in order to regain her HP and try that.

Suddenly, an idea formed in her mind. "I can try that I guess..."

She stepped forward and stabbed, activating {State of Detachment}. Immediately, her presence changed, becoming even unapproachable as her Tyrannical Lightning’s wild energy calmed, the violet adorned by a tinge of snowy white.

Now, she didn’t resemble a living person, externally— she was akin to a doll, and internally no thoughts or emotions bothered her mind, the only thing she saw was her opponent. Kiera was akin to a battle android guided by a command carved into his system, her emotionless eyes locked on the Rippling Soul Queen, shining with a sharp light that illuminated the dark-red hall.

Advancing, she suffered another set of needles below her armpit. Ignoring the pain, she pressed on with her attack.

Evaded and counterattacked, Kiera indifferently stared at the stab coming toward her forehead. Sidestepping slightly while dropping her right shoulder instead of dodging, she let the sword ‘lacerate’ her shoulder before she stepped forward.

The small injury dropped her HP by another 3%. Ignoring the pain, Kiera quickly caught the vampire's sword arm and pulled her close to her.

A strange view came to sight as Kiera jumped slightly above the vampire and actually wrapped her legs around the vampire's chest and her hands around her head. Expressionlessly, Kiera applied force to her limbs and tried to physically crush the vampire with all her strength.

Unable to escape from Kiera's superior strength, the vampire elbowed Kiera's shoulders with enough force to cave them in. Seeing it didn't work, she tried to cut Kiera's back with her sword, but due to the difficult position, she had to resort to piercing her with needles.

Kiera's body was subjected to constant, horrifying pain but the little girl simply tightened her grip, her tranquil expression twitching as the higher leveled {Climatal Aura Shift} fought to cancel its twin skill effects, almost succeeding.

Suddenly, the vampire jumped hundreds of meters above the hall’s floor before rotating her body in a way that both their heads were pointed to the ground.

Kiera felt her body turning heavy as her weight multiplied dozens of times. Their fall velocity immediately increased, prompting Kiera’s fury to be finally released from its cage.

"Fuck!"

Because of their position, her head would meet the ground first, and did not want to know how would her body look after the collision

Quickly circling to the Queen's back, Kiera wrapped her hands around the former's neck and put her knees on her back, the bonus from {Climatal Aura Shift} enhancing her strength enough to easily restraint the protesting vampire. Not giving the latter the opportunity to reduce their weights, her energy locking the Queen’s. And then, the black ground came into view.

BOOM

An explosion of blood took place as the Rippling Soul Queen's body turned into crimson fog while Kiera's hands and legs vaporized soon after.

She coughed several arrows of blood and other things before she laid on her back and… Laughed. Crazily laughed.

Her immature voice reverberated throughout the hall, laced with unstable insanity as she uncontrollably giggled, staring with obvious glee and ridicule at the Rippling Soul Queen’s liquid remains.

“That is what you get! Hehehehehe, fucker!” she repeatedly stomped the blood pool before her joyous expression suddenly shifted to that of extreme bloodlust and fury. “How… DAre... YOU. Pull. THat… STUNT! Bitch!”

“Hmmmmmm… What is that?” sudden notifications appeared in front of her maniacal eyes, prompting her to tilt her head in confusion as her fury was replaced by curiosity.

[Silver Apprentice Magician Lv.10 defeated, EXP received.]

[You defeated a creature of a Primal Pureblood rank bloodline, EXP bonus received.]

[You defeated the simulated and disgraced version of the Rippling Soul Queen, the former Third Vampire King, and a former High Exalt of Grandemyr, for defeating a paramount being, EXP bonus received.]

[Level up! Silver Apprentice Magician Lv.18, +40 for all battle stats.]

[Third Main Objective Completed: 3/3, F-Ranked Dungeon {Royal Blood Palace} completed, utter {Finish} to exit and receive your reward.]

[Bonus floor— {Hundred Nobles Ball}, enter? Yes/No]

“Yay, 8 whole levels! And what is it? A bonus stage?” Kiera’s head tilted to the other side, “oh, there was a bonus objective, right! And I still haven’t completed it! what to do… What to do... Well, okay then, Yes!”

She found herself in another hall that resembled a 17th-century ballroom. One hundred and fifty Noble Vampires looking at her bloodthirstily, dressed in fancy garments.

Kiera grinned, her knuckles cracking as violet-red lightning erupted from her before she vanished, beginning a scene of carnage.