Akira stared at the figure beyond the shattered veil of ice.
So this is Dracula… he thought, his heart pounding. His mana level..... it's similar to Charles, yet completely different. This isn't human fury… it's chaos itself. Like staring into the essence of a demon.
His eyes darted to the two figures beside Dracula. And those two… vampires, without a doubt. Yet I can't sense even a flicker of their mana.
"Let's get out of here," Yukiko whispered sharply.
"That's the best course of ac—"
Slash!
A red line carved itself across the frozen barrier.
Boom!
The ice exploded outward, shards scattering like razors through the air. The impact rattled the ground as dust and frost mingled in the storm.
"I can't let you run away now, can I?" Dracula's voice carried through the smoke, calm yet dreadful.
Everyone fell into position, weapons drawn, mana thrumming in the air.
"Entertain me," he said, stretching out a hand. A sword of solid blood began to forge itself in his grasp, pulsing like a living organ.
Yukiko darted forward, her katana unsheathed in a silver flash.
"You're the one who wields ice?" Dracula roared, meeting her charge. "You're my perfect counter!"
His blade came crashing down, but in that instant, Edward shadow-stepped before Yukiko, a gun of pure darkness already formed in his hand.
Boom!
Half of Dracula's torso and face disintegrated under the shot. His expression froze in shock.
Oh my… I didn't expect that kind of firepower. I underestimated him. His thoughts raced even as his body began to regenerate. That weapon must drain his mana. A double-edged sword.
He prepared to counter—but something flickered in his half-destroyed vision. Wait… did he blind me on purpose?
From the corner of his ruined sight, Yukiko burst from his blind spot, her sword gleaming with icy brilliance.
Crack! Boom!
A blood serpent erupted from beneath the ground, devouring Yukiko whole and coiling toward the heavens.
Dracula exhaled in relief—only for Yukiko's katana to come spiraling down from above, stabbing through his neck with surgical precision. Ice spread across his throat, freezing him mid-motion.
Did she throw it at the last second? Dracula thought grimly as he wrenched the blade free, blood gushing down his chest. His body began knitting itself back together when
Clang!
Sigvard's blade met his abdomen in a blur.
"When did he...."
Before Dracula could finish, the strike sent him flying backward through the air.
"Those kids are surprisingly coordinated," Varin said with mild amusement, arms crossed.
"They'll still lose," Lilith replied flatly.
"I'm not so sure." Varin's crimson eyes followed the clash with keen interest. "Individually, they're outmatched. But as a unit—they're covering each other's weaknesses. It'll depend on whether they can exhaust him before he adapts."
Lilith turned toward him, glaring. "Do you want Dracula to lose?"
Varin smiled faintly. "Not at all. But as a former soldier, I can appreciate a good fight."
Dracula's body fully reformed, his gaze locked on Sigvard.
That construct… it's no ordinary puppet. There's a soul inside it—one without mana. But he has mana… interesting.
He extended a hand toward Sigvard. In that same heartbeat, Morvain appeared from Dracula's blind spot—but a crimson spike shot from the ground, piercing his skull. Morvain's form dissolved into mist.
Sigvard charged, his blade shimmering with shadow. Dracula steadied his stance.
Meanwhile, Akira bent down, picking up Yukiko's fallen sword.
"Kōri no kawa," Yukiko whispered.
Instantly, the blood serpent turned to solid ice and shattered. She stepped free from the frozen wreckage, her skin encased in crystalline frost from neck to toe.
"We've got work to do," Akira said, handing her the blade.
Dracula and Sigvard clashed again, their swords shrieking with every collision—until shadows swirled beside Dracula's neck. Morvain reappeared midair, formed from condensed darkness. Dracula's eyes widened, realizing too late—Sigvard and Morvain had switched places.
Splurt!
Blood gushed from his neck and abdomen as his head tumbled forward, severed—yet he caught it and pressed it back into place. His body knitted itself together with sickening ease.
Then—
Click.
Edward raised his gun.
Dracula slashed the air in defense—
Boom!
The bullet detonated, engulfing him in black fire. Dark whips erupted from the smoke, binding his limbs and dragging him to the ground.
"Saku!" Yukiko called out, swinging her katana in a clean arc.
A crescent wave of freezing energy split through the air, carving Dracula's chest open. Ice spread through the wound, creeping up his body like a second skin.
Dracula coughed blood, breathing heavily. "Umbra dansului," he hissed.
His body dissolved into shadow, vanishing completely.
"Where did he go?!" Akira shouted, spinning around
From behind, the darkness rippled.
"You're the one behind those constructs," Dracula's voice murmured through the black haze. "If you're gone… they vanish too. Dracula's blade came swinging toward Akira's neck. At the very last moment, Akira and Sigvard swapped places—steel clashed against steel, the impact smashing Sigvard into the ground.
"Do you even get tired?" Dracula asked, his voice both mocking and curious.
Sigvard said nothing. Instead, he lashed out with a vicious kick to Dracula's abdomen, sending the vampire hurtling through the air.
He's able to put that much brute force into a single kick? Dracula thought, steadying himself midair. Who turned you into this monster?
Before he could recover, an ice shard grazed his cheek. He tilted his head, eyes narrowing as more shards came whistling toward him. A hand of blood rose from the ground, catching the shards—only for it to freeze over and crumble to dust.
In the next instant, dark chains coiled around Dracula's legs. Edward yanked hard, dragging him from the sky and smashing him into the earth with a thunderous crash.
Dracula stood almost immediately, brushing off the dirt. But now, everything was shrouded in mist. His eyes darted from side to side, trying to pierce through the fog.
"This… is similar to what that Magata boy used," he muttered. Then a smirk tugged at his lips. "But you don't know how to properly conceal your mana."
He turned sharply to his left—just in time to see Akira sprinting toward him. Blood spikes erupted from the ground in an instant. Akira vanished, switching places with Morvain—who was impaled before he could react.
Dracula caught Akira's fist mid-swing, his crimson eyes gleaming. "You're trembling," he murmured. "Why hunt me down if you're afraid?"
Akira met his gaze, his tone steady. "I was never hunting you in the first place."
Boom!
Dracula staggered backward, his hand bleeding and twitching.
"What… was that?" he rasped.
Kershh!
Blood burst from his ear, his body convulsing from the shockwave.
Varin's face lit up in delight. "Amazing!" he exclaimed. "The boy doesn't even know real combat magic...and yet under pressure, he managed to compress his mana and release it as sonic force. Though… it seems he hasn't overcome the recoil."
Akira gasped for breath, clutching his bleeding knuckles. Shit, that hurts, he thought, gritting his teeth. Darkness crawled along his arms, hardening into an obsidian gauntlet.
In an instant, Akira shadow-stepped reappearing beneath Dracula with an uppercut that cracked the vampire's jaw. He followed with a jab, but Dracula parried, the sonic burst smashing a crater into the ground beside them.
Dracula retaliated with a shove, his jaw snapping back into place as he lunged forward.
Yukiko appeared from behind, her blade slicing through the air. Dracula caught it barehanded and flung her aside.
"Kōrisha!" she shouted.
An icy spinning wheel erupted toward Dracula, hissing through the mist. He sidestepped effortlessly, his movements sharp and precise.
Varin's grin widened. "So… he's finally taking them seriously."
Kaboom!
Crimson mana exploded from Dracula's body, shaking the battlefield as a suffocating aura filled the air.