"Gah!"

The vampire somehow managed to crawl back to his feet despite the grievous injury. It seemed that their blood magic made them incredibly resilient. Already, his wound was closing up and clotting, his high-speed regeneration making the fatal injury seem like an illusion. Despite the whirlwind of destruction that both Rossetti and I created with our weapons, there were far too many vampires for us to fight on our own. And that was after including Kufa as our reinforcement.

Fortunately, my strength lay not in swordsmans.h.i.+p but in summoning. What, did you already forget the t.i.tle of this story?

"Vermillion Phoenix!"

The majestic vermillion bird materialized for the second time that night, spreading his wings and illuminating the darkness with his crimson flames. I had absorbed Rossetti's mana that trailed with her use of the Heavenly Phoenix Kagura Dance to reduce the casting time for my Celestial Guardian. A summoning spell that normally required five minutes to cast had been cut down to two minutes because of Rossetti's spell.

Before readers could demand that I learn the Heavenly Phoenix Kagura Dance to speed up my summoning spells, that wasn't how it worked. Number one, the dance was used for one's party members or teammates – you couldn't use it on yourself. Number two, if I devoted all that time learning dance and buff magic, I wouldn't have been able to learn summoning magic. Rossetti had invested years of practice and efforts into mastering her maiden magic. Also, you might as well ask why Rossetti didn't learn summoning magic since her magic sort of buffed that.

By the way, Rossetti's dance magic didn't just buff summoning magic. It buffed everyone's magic, whether it was attack or defense or whatever spells.

In any event, this was why summoning magic and dance magic were team-orientated magic. The only difference was that people usually didn't like summoners because they spent an awful amount of time hiding in the back and doing nothing, relying on the others to keep them safe while they cast their spells, whereas for dancers, they were already casting their maiden magic right from the start, fighting on the frontlines with everyone else while buffing them immediately.

However, when you combined summoning magic with dancing magic…

"Whoa!"

The vampires stumbled back, with so many of their number instantly incinerated by the inferno that Vermillion Phoenix had unleashed upon them. Despite their incredible resilience and high-speed regeneration, there was little the vampires could do when they were completely burned into ashes by superheated flames. No blood magic was going to restore them from ashes or nothingness.

"Aaaaaah!"

"It burns! It burns!!! Ugh!"

"Run away!"

The surviving vampires' nerve broke and they fled. However, none of them were able to get very far because Vermillion Phoenix simply flapped one of his wings and sent a torrent of crimson flames hurtling after them. Despite their speed, the running vampires simply could not outrun the speeding trails of fire which resembled rockets. Caught by the superheated flames, they were disintegrated by the sheer heat, with no trace of them left after the ravenous inferno devoured them.

"Serves them right."

Beside me, Rossetti slowly brought her Kagura dance to a stop, her chakrams lowered. She watched the demise of the fleeing vampires in satisfaction, a cold expression on her usually friendly face. Apparently she had been haunted by the ma.s.sacres she had witnessed tonight, and she couldn't help but want venganec for her slaughtered schoolmates.

"You guys didn't leave anything for me again!" Kufa complained when he finally caught up. He had been dueling a trio of vampires with his katana, only to jump back when Vermillion Phoenix burned his opponents into cinders. Of course, I had ensured that we didn't commit friendly fire. "You could have left a few for me!"

"It's your fault for being too slow," I replied playfully. Kufa scowled and shook his head in resignation.

"H…how?!"

I glanced down and spotted a spluttering and struggling vampire, who was scorched black. His high-speed regeneration wasn't working because the damage done to him had been too extensive. He wasn't going to survive the horrendous injuries that my Vermillion Phoenix had inflicted on him. Nonetheless, I was impressed that he had managed to survive. Vampires really were tenacious.

Speaking of which, it was fortunate that none of the adult vampires were here, or they would have butchered my Vermillion Phoenix in short order. I still remembered that burly vampire swatting away my Celestial Guardians as if they were nothing.

"Still, it seems that fire magic is super-effective against vampires. They burn really easily."

"Wait, you mean you didn't realize that until now?" Rossetti was staring at me in astonishment. "Vampires are weak against fire and holy magic."

"So that was why you were using fire spells all this while." I nodded. "Honestly, I did read about that. I was just amazed to see it in reality. Their effectiveness exceeded my expectations."

"Actually, it's because your fire-type soul beast is disgustingly powerful," Kufa corrected. He stared at my Vermillion Phoenix in awe. "I don't know what you've been feeding it, but normal fire spells wouldn't be this destructive, even against vampires."

"I didn't feed him anything," I grumbled. "My Celestial Guardians and Constellation spirits don't need to eat. And even if they could, I wouldn't be feeding them vampires."

Kufa gave me a dry stare. "I don't think anyone is suggesting that you feed your soul beasts vampires."

"You…you won't get away with this," the scorched vampire spluttered. "His majesty will definitely…"

"Oh, shut up," Kufa told him before ruthlessly beheading him. Both Rossetti and I stared at him, and he shrugged. "What? He was going to die anyway. I was just putting him out of his misery."

"All right, let's go. We have to go find Nan Gong Zhao Yan."

"Why do we have to find Zhao Yan?" Rossetti demanded, staring at me suspiciously.

"She might already have evacuated with the others," Kufa added. "I think we should be focusing on other students who don't have the ability to fight the vampires."

"Zhao Yan is in terrible danger," I said and immediately regretted the words the moment they came out of my mouth. The f.u.c.k, I couldn't believe how cheesy I sounded. I was speaking like some character in a black and white movie.

"What are you talking about?" Rossetti asked skeptically. "And how do you know?"

I paused, considering my next few words. I couldn't possibly tell my friends that I knew everything that was happening because I read a badly written shoujo manhua about vampires and high school drama with abusive male leads and toxic relations.h.i.+ps.

"The same reason how I knew that Xu Wu Cheng and Nan Gong Ji Yan are traitors." Then realization dawned on me. Of course. The justification was so obvious. How did I miss it? "They have been targeting Zhao Yan all along. In fact, the reason why Ji Yan betrayed the school was because of her jealousy against Zhao Yan. She plans to sell her sister out to the vampires. If we don't help Zhao Yan, she will be…"

I trailed off. My friends exchanged a glance, and then nodded. They didn't need me to spell it out.

"You've been correct this entire time," Kufa said. "I will continue to trust you."

"This whole tragedy happened because n.o.body except Kufa believed you." Rossetti lowered her head. "I even apologized earlier…it would seem insincere of me to go back on my word now when I promised to believe you and take you more seriously in future."

"Besides, since you've been right about the vampires and everything," Kufa continued. "You're most likely right about Nan Gong Zhao Yan's situation as well."

I smiled in relief, glad that my friends were accepting my word for what it was. "Thank you."

"We should be the ones thanking you."

"Actually, we owe you an apology." Rossetti hung her head. "Like I said, we should have believed you…"

"All right, that's enough. As long as you believe me now. Let's focus on the present."

"Speaking of which, do you know where Nan Gong Zhao Yan is?" Kufa asked, looking around. I nodded.

"I have an idea."

It wasn't difficult to find Zhao Yan. We just had to head toward the location with the most number of young vampires, while avoiding the areas with the adult vampires. As we ran through the courtyard, I caught sight of Teacher Brentwood and his students in the Dragoon Corps fighting a female vampire and her all-female entourage. Not far away, Teacher Einsberg continued his battle with the three adult vampires who he froze with ice magic.

Fortunately, my friends and I found Zhao Yan easily enough. The school was crawling with vampires, particularly the small fries, and Zhao Yan easily dispatched them with elegant strokes of her sword. Drawing her weapon, she leaped high above them, cutting a deadly swathe through their ranks. It didn't matter if they were rabid amateurs or young elites, she easily dealt with them. Though, admittedly, the more powerful and older veterans were currently engaged in battle with the teachers at the moment, otherwise she would have gotten her a.s.s kicked.

Mary Sue and plot armor were a potent combination.

As she slashed through them, Zhao Yan landed gracefully on the ground, flicking her sword to get rid of the blood on her blade. She stood in a dignified pose within the confined s.p.a.ce of the school gymnasium, sspinning around to scan the area for more enemies.

That was the moment Xu Wu Cheng and his entourage chose to arrive. They gently descended onto the smooth but now b.l.o.o.d.y tiles of the gymnasium, their cloaks billowing before them.

"It's your turn now," the red-haired vampire smirked before he leaped high up and dove toward Zhao Yan with a swing of his glowing red hand.

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