After being hit by the sphere of darkness, Lucas was engulfed in whips of violet fire and crackling tendrils of electricity that exploded into the air.
The collision left behind a trail of smoke and flames, completely obstructing vision and obliterating everything within a few meters of the silver-haired boy, including what was left of the house's front wall.
"Haaaa! Haaa!"
Reina gasped for air, her breaths coming in short gasps as she fell to her knees.
She willed whatever remaining mana was left in her core to regenerate her right arm, which was throbbing with pain as it began to grow back.
"Fuck," she cursed, gritting her teeth as she felt the effects of the last spell take hold of her.
It was the best she could do in her current state, but it had taken a heavy toll on her body.
Despite appearing uninjured, the true damage was done to her mana core.
Her mana core was now riddled with cracks, making it difficult to draw enough magical energy to cast any further spells.
It was already in bad shape since a year ago when she had to fight the other Abyssal Vampire Kings.
Since then, she has been doing her best to recover. That was the only reason she had to resort to feeding from little kids – something she despised doing but had no other choice.
After all, despite being humans, they were still children. She didn't want to hurt them, but she needed their blood to replenish her weakened core.
But it's fine now. Looking at the smoke and flames – the sheer destruction caused by her spell – in front of her, a victorious grin spread across Reina's demonic face.
"It's over," she said to herself.
She had been forced to use a high-grade spell due to the boy's annoying defense, but it was worth it.
She was confident that he was now nothing more than a pile of flaming ash.
Unfortunately, however, she couldn't afford to stay and revel in her victory by laughing over the boy's dead body.
She had to move. If a kid like him had managed to find them, then it was only a matter of time before someone else did too.
And this time, it could be someone from the military.
Reina wasn't sure if she could handle another fight in her current state, having her mana core riddled with cracks and on the verge of shattering up completely.
"Arghh," groaning, she got up after recovering some strength. She turned around and looked at the halflings laying flat on the ground. "Kids, are you all okay?"
"Yeah… It's just so heavy…."
"Please just cut off these clothes… I feel like I'm suffocating…."
"I-I'm fine too… Aside from the fact that I can feel my back breaking under the weight of these clothes…."
"Mnhhh," Mary groaned in pain as she stood back up, clutching her ribs where Lucas's kick had hit her. Her eyes welled up with tears, but she tried to hold them back.
"I'm fine too," she said weakly, her voice barely above a whisper.
Although Reina knew that Mary was just trying to act tough, and her heart ached for the little girl, she just nodded her head. She couldn't believe that a human could strike a child of his own species like that.
Did he have no heart? And they call them – the vampires, the monsters. The real monsters were humans. Why can't Elves and Dwarves see that simple fact?!
Shaking her head and pushing those thoughts aside, Reina focused on the task at hand. "Okay, kids. Wait here," she said, her claws pulsing with mana. "I'll get you all out of here."
"Oh, will you now?"
"....?!"
But just as she was about to move, a familiarly annoying voice interrupted her and made her freeze in place.
'Impossible!' she thought while turning around slowly, her heart pounding in her chest.
As the smoke cleared, she saw a figure emerging from the haze, wreathed in a powerful scarlet aura. His merlot-red eyes glinted like fiery embers, and his short silver hair stood on end.
The golden armor he had worn before was gone, as was the red ruby on his chest.
"What… how is that possible?" Reina demanded, her demonic voice trembling with uneasiness. "You should be dead."
Lucas merely raised her spear and pointed it at her.
A distorted grin spread across his face as he spoke, "I'll kill you and every single one of your halflings. But before that, I will give you one last chance to live. Hand me the mythical beast egg and I will leave this place without informing anyone about you."
"....."
Reina could feel the intensity of the mana coming off from the boy had tripled. It was as if his mana core had jumped up in the ranks. She guessed that right now he was around the ‹Gold› stage.
No, this was bad for her. At best, she could only handle a ‹Silver› stage warrior right now in her condition; anything above that wouldn't end well for her.
A drop of sweat dripped down her forehead and ran down her cheek as she couldn't help but feel her throat drying up.
This was bad.
The scarlet hue enveloping his body only added to the eerie atmosphere, and Reina couldn't help but feel a chill run down her spine….
…Huh?
Fear?
Was she feeling fear? And from a human no less?!
Preposterous!
She once held the title of one of the seven Abyssal Vampire Kings! She was one of the strongest individuals of her species!
Even if she's weakened and her mana core is on the verge of shattering, she refuses to fear a human! A filthy one like him at that!
"And besides… I'm not a peasant. I'm your death." suddenly out of nowhere, Lucas declared.
"...What?" with a frown, Reina questioned.
"Fine, let's take the long way." Lucas rolled his eyes before he continued speaking.
"Judging by the look on your face, I can guess that you're about to make the wrong choice," he added. "Do not choose to fight me or you will die. I am told that the Vampires consider the Halflings they turn as their kin. You called them your children earlier, right? Think about them."
At those words, Reina gazed around at the children, who were all helplessly pinned down on the floor.
"If you decide to fight me, along with you, they will die too," Lucas explained while stretching out his free hand. "Put aside your pride and just hand me over the mythical beast egg."
"Do you know who I am?" Reina gazed at Lucas with contempt and fury.
"I do," Lucas replied, holding back a sigh as if he had already predicted how this conversation would end. "You are one of the seven Abyssal Vampire Kings. Or at least you were until a year ago."
A little surprised, Reina raised her eyebrow. "So you even know that too, huh? But if you do know who I am, then you must know that a King doesn't surrender to a peasant!"
There is a reason Rein refused Lucas' offer.
Firstly, she couldn't trust a human, especially someone as suspicious as him.
What's stopping him from taking the beast egg from her and then going back on his words, alerting his Military about her?
And secondly, that beast egg is the only way for her to not only completely heal her mana core but also strengthen it to an unimaginable degree!
Unlike Humans, Elves, and Dwarves, Vampires aren't born with a mana core rank limit. They have no potential cap.
They grow strong and cultivate mana by absorbing mana from the blood of their prey. Through that method, the stronger the prey they hunt, the more their mana core grows.
Now imagine what will happen when a vampire feeds on the blood of a mythical beast!
The said vampire would be able to absorb so much mana– more than enough to easily ascend their mana core into the ‹Mythical› stage.
That's the reason Reina refused to give up on the egg.
Also, even though she had been excommunicated by her kind, she was still a vampire.
Why would she hand out something to the enemy that could be used as a weapon against her kind in the future?
Since all vampires descended from the Vampire Monarch, they were loyal to him, even now when he had yet to awaken. By extension, they were loyal to their own kind.
Some of them may not contribute anything to their cause, but none of them would do a thing that would put their species in any kind of danger. Their brain wasn't programmed that way.
Reina was no different.
She would fight till the end if she had to, but she would not surrender. For her own sake as well as for her species'!
"Yeah but you're not a king anymore, are you?" Lucas mocked as he gripped the spear with both hands and slightly bent his knees, getting into his battle stance.
Reina bent her knees too and prepared to launch herself at him.
Swish—!!
In under a moment, she darted toward the silver-haired boy with breakneck speed.
"And besides… I'm not a peasant," Lucas continued with the pitch of his voice rising. "I'm your death!"
Gzzz—!!
The scarlet hue enveloping him started to stir up violently, and bright crackles of red electricity whipped through the air around him.
A foreboding feeling sat in Reina's gut as she saw this scene. She felt a huge amount of mana about to burst out in the air.
But if that happens, it would create a huge mana explosion!
As her eyes widened in sheer horror, Reina briskly veered around and did a U-turn, rushing to Mary's side.
Right then, Lucas yelled out as if letting out a roar to defy the heavens itself, "Mana Burst!"
KABOOOOM—!!!
