Explosion, shockwave and destruction shook the entire Talia city as three people engaged in a deadly battle. Humans and monsters alike weren't spared by their wake, worsening the state of the town.

No, maybe, at this point, it couldn't be called a town so much as a ruined city. It wasn't the color of blood that lacked, nor was it the presence of corpses. The formerly tall buildings weren't even standing anymore. Not a shred of the city's glory were left.

The situation embodied the word ‘war’ perfectly. A small scale one perhaps but a war nonetheless. Both side suffered loss and, although the monster presented more lifeless body, the Elite too, lost some precious lives.

Yet the battle was not over. Far from it, as indicated by Rena's struggling appearance.

The little girl was locked in a fierce air battle against the dragon's now humanized body. Using her psychokinesis, she tried her best to keep up with the monster's speed, alas, it was obvious she wouldn't be able to maintain the status quo any longer. Her strength was slowly running out, contrarily to her opponent's, who seemed to have an endless supply of energy.

She wasn't fighting alone of course. Raven was supporting her through the use of shadow manipulation. Yet again, the situation didn't seem to be improving. It appeared the small body of the dragon was extremely difficult to pinpoint, so Raven's singularity didn't help much.

Shadow spear and the likes did launch toward the sky, but barely any of them touched the monster. And the few that did failed to deal any significant damage.

In short, Rena was slowly getting backed into a corner.

“...I guess its time for me to get back.” Lia expressed, strecthing out her hands one last times.

Her last attack against the dragon took away a good chunk of her energy so she needed a little time to rest. No, maybe a little was an understatment. Normally, she'd be out without moving for hours after pulling a powerful attack like that.

However, she didn't have hours and much less the time to rest.

With unsteady step, she slapped her cheeks and got ready to fight the human lizard again. It was apparent their chance of winning was dropping dangerously, but, if Lia gave up here, that would be the end for everyone.

“The two of you have done enough.” The blue-haired girl said without looking back. “We'll be handle it from here so you can flee with ease.”

With that she jumped fiercely away without waiting for an answer.

“...So she said, Rin.” Winter spoke limply, while being laid flat on the groun—on the roof of a destroyed building.

“In...deed.” The black, long-haired girl answered weakly.

The two girls were placed near each other, allowing them to not speak outloud. A great benefice considering the noise of war filling the city. Honestly, the fact that no monster still approached them was a miracle in itself. What's more, both of them were in no state to exert themselves at all.

Winter, being the one in a much better condition, could hardly move at all. Blood naturally covered her body, and the only silver lining, if it could be called as such, was that the dragon wasn't the cause of her injuries. Not directly at least.

Winter was currently suffering the recoil of her singularity. Having used an ability beyond her limit, she may have escaped a narrow death, but the price wasn't that much better. Fortunately, though, it didn't reach the point of being called a ‘Side-effect’.

Rin, on the other hand, didn't have any chance at all. Having received the full brunt of the Dragon's breath with only a shield as protection, the girl took the badge of the 'most injured' among the human. (Of course, that isn't accounting those who died.)

Her consciousness was hanging on a thread. Though, if she was to lose it right now, it would be doubtful whether she would wake up again. She was once again at death's door, for the nth of the week.

Despite that, however, Rin didn't appear to be too concerned. In fact, she gave off the impression she wouldn't be dying any time soon.

“What do you think their chance of winning are?” Winter asked, still pinned on the ground.

Rin looked at the battlefield of monster. Specifically, on her sister's and the other's battle against the dragon. Though, in her current state, she couldn't see much, really. Not that she needed to.

From what she had already seen, it wasn't too difficult to come to a conclusion.

Lia Holder had, shockwave manipulation, which was of great help against the monster. If she used it effectively, like she did by cutting the dragon's tail, it wouldn't be too optimistic to think they could win.

Unfortunately, Lia didn't seem to have much power left. Even if she had time to gather more energy, her singularity probably wouldn't do that much damage anymore. Honestly, only her Aura counted at this point.

Then there was Rena, Rin's sister. She was powerful, of course, but was way too rash at the beginning. As a result, her exhaustion was already showing despite the fact she only just entered the fight. She dealt damage to the dragon, of course, nevertheless, it was still insufficient.

All she could do now, was to defend and attract the aggro of the monster. And even that was proving to be difficult.

With a rough estimation, the humanoid lizard, probably lost around 40~50% of its original health. Which wasn't great, considering the effort used to fight him.

Finally, there was Raven. Surprisingly, she might be the only one left unscracthed from the battle. Nonetheless, that didn't really mean anything if she couldn't contribute more. Her shadow were visibly effective and had the capacity to impale the dragon. However, now that the monster assumed a human form, Raven had barely any chance to shine at all.

Rin deduced Raven's fatal weakness from that.

It appeared the short, black-haired girl had barely any Aura at all. In other words, the reason why she never move from her position is because it would be dangerous if she did.

Her lack of Aura means her stats wasn't that different from a normal girl her age. At most, she might be a little stronger and sturdier.

In normal circumstances, her singularity probably made up for that weakness. However, in this particular case, it showed how inconveniencing it really was. Raven probably couldn't follow the fight anymore.

After all, normal eyes can't follow high speed movements. When the monster was still a dragon, its huge size helped her greatly, but now....

Her frustrated expression couldn't be more than justified. Despite all the shadow she launched, this might be the first time in Raven's life that she felt so useless.

“...Not much.” Rin finally answered with a grim face.

Winter gave a wry smile at that. “As expected.”

The white haired girl moved up from her place despite her state. She felt pain as she did so, but that didn't stop her. Her gaze landed ahead, on the devasted city filled with monster.

The humans were on their last straw, barely managing to push forward against the endless flood of monsters. Quality was better than quantity. However, overwhelming quantity was also better than quality.

Slowly, the future Winter had foreseen was coming to reality—No, it was even worse than that.

“...Damn it.”

In front of that harsh reality, the white haired girl couldn't help but curse.

She clenched her teeth, tightened her hands. Hopeless as it was, nothing would change if she didn't do anything. Thus, she gathered what few resolve she had and once again stood up.

“..Wait.”

Until Rin spoke up.

The balck haired girl's words were frail and depraved of strength, yet somehow sounded with determination. “I have a favor to ask of you... Replica.”

◇

A terrible atmosphere eneveloped the entirety of Galia city. Every person of the Atlas Family felt every fiber of their being shiver from the sheer pressure that was imposed on them. Some even collapsed, unable to withstand it.

And yet, it wasn't like anything was happening. The city was still extremely quiet and no flood of monsters, like in Talia, appeared. Everything was perfectly normal. No explosion, no shockwave, no dragon. Everything stayed peaceful.

Except for one detail.

The ‘Rift’ was there.

It wasn't nearly as big as the one in Talia, nor did it appear in the middle of the sky. It was simply there, on the ground, having the size of a normal door. It appeared to have been specifically made for only one person to go through.

And would you believe it, only a single, seemingly normal girl got out of the rift.

“It seems there's only three decent player this time around.” The girl's voice was charming. Enchanting even.

Not only that, every piece that made her appearance was completely mesmerizing. From her beatiful, short scarlet-hair, to her black vivid eyes. What's more, despite the fact that all she was wearing some sort of rag, she somehow gave off a royal vibe.

Her beauty was something out of this world. It was to the point were even Rin, who was the idole of a whole school, boys and girls alike, wouldn't stand a chance appearance wise.

More than that, the yet unknown girl only aged around 16 to 17 years old. Or at least, that's how it seemed at a glance. Another feature that might have cathed the more talented of the Atlas family was the two canine that protrided from the girl's delicately shaped lips.

There were room to doubt, but, at least Abel guessed the unknown girl might have been some kind of vampire.

“Well, I think a presentation is required.” The girl spoke with a beautiful smile. “Nice to meet you all, human. I'm Ariel, the Vampire Queen.”

However, not one person answered her. Her charming feature didn't trick anyone. It could even be said it put them on guard. After all, there was just no way she was human. And if her beauty wasn't any indication, then the natural pressure she was giving off was.

The girl was terrifying to say the least.

“Hmmm,” Yet, her voices, action and tone didn't betray any ounce of malice. “Don't be so afraid.”

She appeared to be having fun, in fact. And that was the terrifying things. Inside her eyes, everything appeared to be a game. Whether it be her own life, or the Atlas's lives, it didn't seem to be of importance to her.

Ariel, as she called herself, only cared about the 'level' of her opponent. Where they similar to hers, significantly weaker or significantly stronger? Could they bring her entertainment?

Of course, Abel and the others had no way of knowing the monster's—or vampire in this case—way of thinking. Nonetheless, it didn't need a genius to know any peaceful talk wouldn't work.

“This wouldn't be fun if you are.”

And the deadly Scythe that appeared out of nowhere in the girl's hand was a painful remainder of that. Humans and monsters are bound to fight each other. Even if, by some kind of miracle, they ressembled each other.

“So, how shall we begin the festivities?”

And so, without bothering to wait for the humans to introduce themselves , Ariel swung her weapon to signal the beginning.

The irony is, that simple movement declared the end of many of Atlas's people. This simply wasn't a stage for the weak. Nor was it a stage for average people like Lia or Raven.

This was a stage beyond even humanity's comprehension.