524 Chapter 524: School Crisis (1/2)

”Watch out!”

I managed to block a hit meant for Rossetti, and I then lashed out with my swords. Bai Ri and Hei Yue sliced through the blood whips and sent azure mana sparkling across the ground. Ice expanded rapidly across the concrete and engulfed the vampires, but they managed to break the ice.

While I was distracted by them, Rossetti whirled around and cut through blood whips with her chakrams. She danced in the midst of the vampires, fending off their blood magic. I froze the blood with a couple of swings from my swords, and then yelled out to her.

”Rossetti!”

”Got it!”

She jumped up when I kicked out with one leg. Landing with a foot on mine, she launched herself high up and unleashed her spell from above.

”Flaming Phoenix Kagura Dance!”

Fiery feathers rained down on the horde of vampires around us. Several of the vampires shrieked as they were caught by the flaming feathers and immolated, their bodies turning into blackened husks before toppling over. The rest managed to scatter, wisely evading the flaming projectiles. Despite not being killed by the powerful spell, they were forced into a retreat, choosing to escape rather than remain and get incinerated.

Landing on the ground and slicing through another vampire with her chakram, Rossetti's eyes widened slightly.

”I can't believe it…this is the first time I've fought so well alongside someone else before!” She turned to stare at me. ”Just who are you?”

”What the heck?! Didn't you fight as a team with Kufa, Miura and the rest?”

”I…I did! But this is the first time I gelled so well with somebody else! As if our skills complement each other perfectly! And it's like only the first or second time we've fought together! Even with Kufa and the rest, I've had lots of practice and training with them!”

”Huh. Okay then. Well, more importantly…”

This wasn't the time to be having idle talking about teamwork and cooperation. We just needed to focus on eliminating the enemies before us. Whatever mysteries there were behind our strangely complementary fighting styles, we could worry about them later.

For now, I concentrated on drawing the fiery mana that Rossetti left behind. As a dancer or maiden, her main role was to buff her teammates, to increase the fighting efficiency of her party and boost their power. The crimson mana that Rossetti left in the air in the aftermath of her Inferno Phoenix Avalanche, I absorbed quickly and summoned my Celestial Guardian.

”Vermillion Phoenix!”

”!!!”

The vampires recoiled when the majestic vermillion bird sprang to life, spreading his blazing wings. An inferno erupted and consumed yet more of them, reducing those unfortunate enough to be caught by the conflagration into ash. Being vampires, they had preternatural speed, and more than a few of them succeeded in evading.

”We should go after them,” I said. Rossetti nodded. Behind us, Kufa and Miura followed, cutting down the vampires with a katana or disintegrating them with black magic.

”Did you just absorb Rossetti's mana to summon your Vermillion Bird?” Miura demanded as she pulled up alongside me.

”Yeah. Why?”

”Heh…you two are getting pretty intimate, aren't you?” Miura's eyes had seemed to lose their color for some reason, turning into dull black orbs. What the fuck? Was she turning into a yandere or something?

”There's no such thing!” Rossetti snapped, her face turning red slightly. I ignored the farcial conversation between the two girls and focused on the predicament before us. Now wasn't the time to engage in high school romance drama. Not when we had an entire clan of vampires massacring the students of Saint Teresa Academy.

”That's…”

I suddenly recognized the mana signature of someone familiar. A person I had encountered before.

”This is…Yi Shen? Damn it, he really is alone.”

Using the enhanced view option in my glasses, I tracked his location and caught sight of him. Good thing I found him first, rather than Kai Lin or Zhao Yan, otherwise I would be accused of stalking the girls. Because in shoujo manhua, logic didn't matter and the characters were always more concerned about relationship matters than they were in actually fighting to survive. Don't ask me why.

Good. I could get close to him and yell at him for his stupidity and instruct him to regroup with the others instead of splitting up.

”This way!”

”Huh? Really?” Miura sulked, but she obeyed. Kufa and Rossetti didn't question me, trusting that I had a good reason for leading them there. Our path ended up being cut off by the surviving vampires from earlier, who moved in to bar us.

”Bloody vampires!” I snapped, drawing a dry glance from Miura.

”Are you serious?”

”You get used to his pun jokes after a while,” Kufa told her. ”You should have heard him when we were out hunting Chiropterans.”

”I'm not sure I want to,” Rossetti giggled nervously.

The mages who had devoted themselves to blood magic surrounded us, licking their lips and baring their fangs. Blood-red mana swirled through their hands as they prepared to lash out once again with their spells.

I dodged the first blood whip that arced through the air, a lethal manifestation of crimson mana that could cleave through metal. I say that, but Kufa sliced through the second blood whip with his katana. Then again, he had mana wreathing the blade of his weapon, so…

Miura conjured a shadowy barrier to block a third blood whip while Rossetti danced away from the others, her chakrams parrying those she couldn't avoid.

Then Vermillion Phoenix soared above. Boosted by Rossetti's Phoenix Kagura Dance, he sent a torrent of flames that roasted a couple of vampires and scattered the rest.

While my friends and I were distracted by these persistent and tenacious vampires, Yi Shen was rapidly firing off badly-colored bullets from his guns. Seemed like the artist was too lazy to draw anything more detailed and convincing than a couple of random splotchy, terribly colored blobs instead of actual smoke and gunfire. For some reason, even though he was firing with two guns at the same time, he was able to hit a vampire who was about to chow down on a poor student to suck his blood. The victim slid out of the dead vampire's grasp and scrambled to relative safety.

That was the only shot Yi Shen scored. The rest of his bullets missed. That was what happened when you tried to shoot with two guns. Sigh.

Meanwhile, high above, Xu Wu Cheng watched behind the ledge that was atop a bunch of stairs. He didn't seem affected as the cannon fodder vampires were felled to a few lucky gunshots (while the majority stood still and allowed the badly aimed bullets to whizz harmlessly past them). More amused than annoyed at Yi Shen's pathetic efforts, he raised his hand and gave the order to end the silver-haired dude's misery.