With a loud thud, Liz landed on the concrete field below.
Without wasting a moment, she summoned her weapon, and heeding her call, a bastard sword materialized in her hand with a rain of ethereal light sparks.
The blade of her sword was obsidian black from tip to guard as it constantly emitted a dim violet glow.
Right beside her landed a red-headed man, his calm hazel eyes scanning the vicinity as if in search of someone.
In his hand, Damian wielded a thin silver rapier. Without a change in his expression, he turned to Liz and spoke, "Should we aid the cadets?"
"No," Liz shook her head and pointed at the high-vampire with her chin. His back was turned to them but Liz knew that the bloodsucking abomination had already sensed them.
"We will deal with that bastard first," she said, slightly lifting her sword. "I will go in and you will cover me."
Damian nodded his head, and as if waiting for that cue, the high-vampire spun around and peered directly in their direction.
The high-vampire bared his fangs into a chilling grin as he noticed the Witch of Soul Harvest.
Liz indifferently raised her eyebrow and charged forward with her sword pulled back.
The high-vampire, who had been moving toward Nero with slow yet eerie steps until now, also dashed toward the charging Witch and swung his sword at her.
Clang, Clang, Clang—!!
As their swords clangored against each other, crevices appeared on the already ruined concrete field beneath their feet while the immediate area around their clashes was instantly pulverized.
Each attack of theirs was enough to decimate a whole building to dust, yet none of them managed to scratch their opponents.
The resulting shockwave of their clash shook the whole Arena, toppling many cadets as they fell to their feet as a result of the localized earthquakes.
Lucas, Nero, and others used this chance to scurry away from the vampires circling around them. They did not run away. They just spread out and changed their strategy.
Lucas, who had been keeping an eye on his surroundings during all this mess, had already informed them about the incoming shockwaves so everyone had a good amount of time to react.
After spreading out across the field, they were joined by many third-year cadets and even some of their own comrades.
Ella, for example, jumped down from the audience stand and joined the battle in the concrete field after seeing her father there.
Grace, despite their current rocky relationship, decided to forget the events that transpired in their match and followed her friend down.
At the center of all this chaos, a single woman was fighting head-on against a high-vampire of pure, noble lineage— a creature so ancient that it could overshadow her own age.
Yet, the woman refused to falter and instead pressed on, pushing back the high-vampire and constantly trapping the abomination into a corner.
Slowly but surely, the bloodsucking fiend started to accumulate gashes onto his body and warm crimson blood spurt out from his wounds.
…The high-vampire was losing a fight against a single human! A mere mortal was making an immortal like him bleed!
Clang—!!
Desperately blocking a slash that would have severed his head and sent it flying, the high-vampire reeled back, feeling like he was hit by a moving mountain.
The high-vampire quickly regained its balance after staggering back a few steps but by then the witch was already on him.
To create some breathing space, the high-vampire willed the shadows beneath them to move.
As if the darkness itself came to life, the various shadows being cast on the ground shifted and shot up into the material world by becoming tangible black spikes.
Liz had no time to move and evade the attack as the black spikes directly shot from under her, intending to skewer her like a butchered animal.
However, before that could happen, Liz's eyes glowed in a bright violet hue, and just then her whole body turned incorporeal and intangible.
Whilst intangible, Liz shot forward— she had an ethereal appearance mostly made of a transparent body with violet outlines— and phased through the unavoidable attack.
As soon as the attack was avoided, her body turned corporeal again and she returned to her normal appearance.
The high-vampire knew that his attack would not amount to much damage but to think it didn't even leave a scratch on the human woman?!
Before he could escape that thought, a bone-crushing kick landed on his chest and sent the high-vampire crashing a few steps back.
The bloodsucker rolled a few times but quickly jumped up to his feet. However, it was already too late.
Thack—!!
As soon as he pulled himself up, a black obsidian impaled the vampire's chest, piercing his heart and dealing a deadly blow.
Liz indifferently gazed into the vile high-vampire's eyes as the latter violently coughed up blood, a surprised look plastered on his face.
"H-How… H… Argh!"
The high-vampire tried to say something but right then, Liz pulled out her sword, causing the bloodsucking fiend to convulse and fall to his knees with a pained groan.
Standing imperiously in front of the kneeling abomination, Liz indifferently spoke as she hovered her palm before the high-vampire's skull, "Look into my eyes as I take your soul."
"H… How…" the high-vampire craned his neck and looked directly at Liz with his glassy eyes, obviously on the verge of death.
Liz paid no mind to his incoherent mumbling and began to extract her soul. However, just as she did that, a deep, ugly scowl appeared on her face.
Liz could absorb the souls of her vanquished opponents after leading them to the brink of death. She can then use those souls to perform a variety of tasks.
Obviously, she could also feel souls.
And right now she couldn't feel the high-vampire's soul in his body. Or rather, it was there but it was being drained.
But she wasn't the one draining his soul, no, it was being drained by the ground, as if someone or something was hungrily devouring it.
As if waiting for that cue, a cruel grin appeared on the vampire's face.
Flashing his long, sharp canines, the bloodsuckers wheezed out a mocking chuckle and exclaimed, "How foolish!"
At that moment, realization dawned upon Liz. The looming dread she had felt found its explanation.
Liz had seen something like this happening once.
Yes, this situation had a precedent. During her time in the Northern Defense Force, some vampire survivors from an entire division had once taken several human children hostage.
Her platoon was asked to lay siege to the vampire camp where they had been taken hostage but not go inside and simply to await further instructions.
At the time, Liz didn't know why the military command would issue such an order.
However, she knew one thing, if she didn't act, the kids inside the camp would die since those vampires were hungry.
So not following her given instructions, Liz barged into the camps and slaughtered every last bloodsucker she could find.
She thought she had saved the kids, but when she found them, they were… different.
They weren't turned by the vampires, in fact, they weren't even harmed. But their souls… their souls were being drained by something.
If she hadn't acted quickly and got out of the camp by turning intangible, she could have seriously been killed. But her squad wasn't as lucky as her.
Her comrades were killed. She led her squad into a trap. As a result of that, she was suspended and sent to the Global Academy.
Who knew that here, so far from the reach of the Northern borders, Liz would once again face her past?
For an instant, she froze. Survival, in solitude, wasn't an option anymore. She couldn't let these cadets die.
Fortunately, this time, she was stronger. She didn't have to survive alone, she could save others this time.
With an unyielding determination burning in her heart, Liz quickly willed mana into her sword and stepped forward.
While doing that, she expanded her mana all around her and molded it into the shape of a dome. No spell would ever be able to escape this dome. This was her domain.
However, her intent wasn't limited to containing the spell; she aimed to obliterate it before it could materialize.
Post her suspension, Liz had meticulously researched the vampire spell used that she had witnessed that day.
Dubbed Bloodpolis, this spell required an intricate rune of immense size engraved either on or beneath the ground.
Ample spilled blood would then activate the runes after completing its qualitative or quantitative requirement. Stray souls in the vicinity would be devoured by it and Bloodpolis would be unleashed.
There's only one way to stop it after it's activated and that is to destroy the runes.
However, before it is activated, there are multiple ways one could go about stopping the spell. For example, pulverizing the soul meant to serve as the anchor for the spell.
In this case, Liz had no doubt that the anchor soul for the spell was going to be this high-vampire. He was ready to die to achieve whatever mission their kind had here.
Well, fine, if death was what he wanted, then Liz would grant him his wish.
An obsidian blade humming a bright violet hue streaked through the air and closed in on the kneeling figure of the high-vampire.
Liz could absorb the souls and also destroy them using true damage. That was her trump card, after all.
However, just as her blade neared the body of the high-vampire, Lucas, who had been fighting against one of the vampires until now, shifted his gaze to her.
While hopping back to safety, he raised his hand and swiftly pointed it at Liz and the high-vampire.
A red plume pen appeared in his hand before the silver-haired boy waved it in the air as if writing on some sort of invisible paper.
This was the reason Lucas had not been using most of his Edit Points. He wanted to save as much as he could for this exact moment!
Around six thousand Edit Points— that's how much he had on him right now. Lucas knew that Liz's weapon would at least be a Legendary-grade relic, so modifying it was bound to take a lot of Points from him.
But was it still enough? Apparently, it was.
Lucas didn't need to enhance Liz's weapon either. No… he needed to destroy it.
He expected that shouldn't take as many Edit Points as modifying an already powerful relic, and he turned out to be right.
With only a few hundred Edit Points remaining, Lucas' Edit was finalized.
Instantly, a net of cracks appeared on Liz's sword, disintegrating it into an explosion of shards.
The witch couldn't help but widen her eyes as her reliable weapon broke without a trace of magic attacking it.
Had she inadvertently fractured it? Overloaded it with mana? Impossible! A veteran like her couldn't possibly make such a rookie mistake!
Before she could react, however, Bloodpolis surged forth.
Fwuuush—!!
The kneeling high-vampire detonated into a blood cloud, crimson mist shrouding the area and engulfing all in its path.
Liz's dome partially contained the crimson mist, but not wholly.
The crimson tide swallowed a significant portion of the central arena, though most cadets evaded it. Yet many instructors were ensnared.
And with this, the first phase of Lucas' plan was now completed.
