"Adios," I told the vampire subordinates, who were stunned by my sudden disengagement. Grabbing Rossetti, I yanked her out of the area before ice completely filled the area and obscured the vision.

Snarling, the vampires smashed through the ice, only to be greeted by an inferno from my Vermillion Phoenix. If they hadn't activated their magic and formed a blood barrier, even these elite vampirs would have have been incinerated into cinders. As it was, the horde of "normal" vampires was annihilated by the powerful flames, freeing Kufa and Miura, and the four of us immediately retreated.

The four of us sprinted in the opposite direction, putting as much distance between us and Xu Wu Cheng and his elite subordinates. Fortunately, they didn't give chase. Even though they didn't think I was a threat, they seemed to be vaguely aware that it was far too troublesome to pursue us.

Good for us.

"Those vampires are too strong! We're no match for them!"

Kufa was cursing under his breath. I didn't refute him because I knew he was right.

"It's like they're of a completely different breed," Miura remarked thoughtfully. "I heard that there are pure-blooded vampires and vampire n.o.bles. The purity of their blood might be related to their power – the purer it is, the stronger they become."

"Or it depends on their vampire parent – the person who turns them into vampires." Kufa scowled. "If the one who turns the person into a vampire is a powerful, pure-blooded n.o.ble, then the person who gets turned will also inherit that immense strength."

"Whoa…" Rossetti was amazed. "There's so much about vampires I didn't know about."

"The less you know, the better," I muttered. "They are…horrifying and macabre."

"!!"

Then the four of us immediately jumped away when a single vampire landed upon our position. He was one of the adult vampires, smas.h.i.+ng his way through the school with a fist that s.h.i.+mmered with crimson mana. I ducked under his punch and shoved Rossetti aside. Above, Vermillion Phoenix screeched before bathing our a.s.sailant in flames, but he punched the inferno away through sheer force. Blood-red mana wreathed his body, forming some sort of blood barrier that protected his burly body from the fierce flames.

"Whoa!"

My friends and I retreated, watching him warily. The brutal aura that emanated from this single, humongous vampire sent alarm bells ringing, and my instinct screamed at me to not to fight him, and to run instead. I barely avoided a kick that he sent in my direction, and even though he didn't touch anything, the sheer shockwave from his foot obliterated a nearby wall.

"Monster!" Kufa gasped as he backed away, his arms shaking despite parrying the shockwave with his katana. "This guy is a monster!"

"Jeez!"

Gasping, I backed away, now knowing why the young vampires didn't pursue us. They knew this monster was here. Perspiration dripped down my face as I studied him. I didn't want to tangle with a superior opponent, not when I had to rush to Zhao Yan's position to prevent her from being abducted by Fan Le Lao and watching the whole series dissolve into some cliché shoujo romance drama where she found herself increasingly attracted to him despite being enemis.

The adult vampire in front of us refused to cooperate, however.

He charged at us. Summoning Golden Kirin, I had both him and Vermillion Phoenix execute a combined spell.

"Scorched Earth!"

Molten lava surged over the dude and engulfed him. Roaring in pain, the smoldering vampire burst out of the lava and punched me. I crossed my two swords and blocked the punch, but was sent cras.h.i.+ng several dozen meters across the schoolyard. Blood spurted from my mouth, but I managed to land on the ground unsteadily.

"Richard!" Rossetti called out, managed to catch hold of me before I could fall.

"Don't worry about me. The others…"

I glanced up and caught sight of Kufa being knocked away. Despite parrying the guy's fist with his katana, he was sent cartwheeling like a broken doll across the courtyard and vanis.h.i.+ng in a shower of rubble when he crashed against a wall. I winced when I saw that, having experienced similar pain. Rossetti then got up to rush toward his side, but I could sense his mana signature. He was hurt badly, but he was still alive.

Good. As long as we were still…

"!!!"

Then I saw Miura. I wasn't sure what she was doing, but the adult vampire had gotten right in front of her. She was casting her black magic and sending shadows and curses at the ma.s.sive guy, to no effect. The shadows scrabbled futilely against his blood barrier but dissipatd harmlessly.

"Move!" I shouted at Miura, trying to crawl to my feet and toward her. "Get out of the way!"

My Celestial Guardiand dove toward her, but explosions rocked them back. The adult vampire had flung his arms toward them and blasted them with shockwaves.

Then he swung a fist around and smashed through Miura's dark barrier, punching a hole not just through the crumbling s.h.i.+eld but also through her chest.

Miura stared down at the hole in her chest, her torso almost obliterated as her a.s.sailant's fist poked out through her back. Blood dribbled from her mouth and her eyes grew increasingly blank as she slumped over.

"MIURA!" Rossetti's scream echoed throughout the courtyard. I watched numbly, even as my battered Celestial Guardians struggled to rally from the shockwaves and right themselves.

Once again, I had failed to save someone I had considered a friend.

*

Fan Le Lao dropped Lute Dragoon's body on the ground and licked the blood off his fingers. All around him, the drained corpses of women lay about.

Lute Dragoon's harem, they had all fought to the last to protect their beloved – the one person they surrendered their virginity to, or had s.e.x with even though they were supposed to be married to some other person (like Lute's mother and aunt, for example). Even though they were mostly damsels in distress who Lute Dragoon constantly saved throughout his lifetime of heroism, when he was finally killed, they all charged Fan Le Lao in a mad rage to try and avenge their beloved.

They were so obsessed and deeply in love with him that they were willing to throw their lives away for him, and die with him when they saw that he was killed. Lute Dragoon put up a good fight, summoning his horse and using both his sword and spear skills to deal severe injuries to Fan Le Lao. Unfortunately, Fan Le Lao was yet another Mary Sue character with plot armor, and he was able to survive Lute Dragoon's constant attacks.

Unlike Lute Dragoon, who was the protagonist of a half-written story that would probably never be completed, Fan Le Lao was the male lead of a published web comic that was still ongoing, and thus his Mary Sue-ness surpa.s.sed that of the poor harem protagonist. With trickery and blood magic, he struck Lute Dragoon when his guard was down, and slew him by yanking out his heart.

Lute's harem, aghast at seeing that a man – of all people – had seized the heart of their beloved, went mad. Turning into yanderes, they charged the stunned Fan Le Lao as one. Fortunately, his plot armor kicked in and he was able to kill all of them in one fell swoop. With their savior dead, none of the women in Lute's harem could fight. After all, they existed purely as damsels in distress, useless characters who sat around getting captured or abducted by the villains just so Lute Dragoon could dramatically swoop in and save all of them. Consequently, they had no combat ability to speak of, and they were easily slaughtered by the vampire prince.

"That was….stupid."

Fan Le Lao rolled his eyes. Raising a hand, he pulled all the blood of his victims together and began drinking it. Having drained Lute Dragoon's blood after he completed the ma.s.sacre of the Mary Sue's harem, he was able to swiftly regenerate his wounds and heal himself completely. That was the speciality of vampires. No matter how injured they were, as long as they could drink blood, they would be able to heal themselves completely.

Amazing. Not that it was enough to persuade me into becoming a vampire, of course. I would rather keep my humanity. Drinking blood – especially human blood – was not a line I was willing to cross at all.

"What fools. To sacrifice yourself for a man who treats you like trophies to be collected…well, I'm not any better, given that I'm a badly written shoujo manhua male lead who abuses the female lead…"

Fan Le Lao sighed and glanced into the distance.

"I hope Father is doing fine," he muttered, and then smiled sinisterly. "It would be a pity if an unfortunate accident happens and I will be forced to take the throne at my young age…"

*

Fan Le Lao's father stood in the midst of the ruins of the school, watching as one of the teachers succ.u.mbed to his subordinate's a.s.sault.

The white-haired vampire, You Shou, who had served at Fan Le Lao's father's side as his right-hand man for decades, paused to observe the devastating consequences of their siege.

"Even the teachers are no match for us, despite being veteran mages," he declared smugly.

"As it should be," Fan Le Lao's father, Fan Fu Qing, responded coldly.

"However, the siege is dragging on for longer than we've antic.i.p.ated."

"Yeah," Fan Fu Qing agreed with You Shou's a.s.sessment. "My subjects are too self-indulgent, gorging themselves on our enemies' blood. That's their only fault."

Suddenly, You Shou straightened rigidly as a murderous aura of mana sank upon him. Both he and Fan Fu Qing slowly turned around to stare at the source.

Teacher Zui Qiang was standing there with three dead adult vampires mounted atop his shoulders, all of them impaled on his bloodthirsty sword, Xue Wu. He grinned as the blood of his victims dripped down onto him and his torn white coat, trickling onto the ground and forming puddles. With a grin, he leered at Fan Fu Qing.

"Hey," he sneered. "Are you the boss of these punks?"

Fan Fu Qing merely smiled back in silence. On the other hand, You Shou's eyes widened.

"That is…!"

Zui Qiang was radiating a killing intent that was so powerful it was suffocating. His very presence was causing the hair on the vampires' limbs to stand, and their guts crawled with fear in a very similar manner to mine when I was overwhelmed by my current enormous opponent. Teacher Zui Qiang was often said to be the strongest mage in Saint Teresa Academy, second only to the headmistress, Teresa Taylor. He taught combat magic, by the way. I hadn't taken any of his cla.s.ses because I already took them under Teacher Ruff Fielding's cla.s.s back in Jing Tian Academy.

"Zui Qiang!"

With a swing of his hands, Zui Qiang callously dumped the corpses of his opponents onto the floor, the dust swirling upward from the impact.

"Three of our strongest followers," You Shou murmured in disbelief. "How did you…?"

"It was nothing special. I just cut them all with my sword and they fell like the weaklings they were." Rubbing his neck as if he had just completed a strenuous warmup, Zui Qiang grumbled. He sounded almost as if he was bored.

"I see."

You Shou stood between Zui Qiang and his lord, evaluating his new foe.

"Even if you say that, those three ranked among the top thirty-six of our clan. For you to finish them off so easily…I did hear that you're a monster, so I guess those rumors are true."

Zui Qiang grinned and ignored You Shou's glare.

"I have no interest in you, white beanpole," he sneered before he lunged forward, his bloodstained sword slas.h.i.+ng through the air at Fan Fu Qing, who had remained silent all this while. "I just came here to kill you!"

"My lord!" You Shou shouted, turning around. But he was too late. Zui Qiang was already at Fan Fu Qing's throat.

However, Fan Fu Qing merely smiled. He raised his bare arm and parried Zui Qiang's blade, and the two tremendous oceans of mana collided in a ma.s.sive explosion that sent gigantic shockwaves rippling through the battered academy and bowling over the beleaguered survivors.

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