At the moment Horn’s sharp claws were about to tear through Dio’s chest, a blurred black shadow cut between the two like a ghost!
The speed was so fast it exceeded the limits of visual perception, as if the shadow had been standing there all along.
There was no violent energy collision, nor was there an ear-piercing roar. There was only a dull, heavy thud.
Horn’s killing blow, which had been certain to land, was brushed aside effortlessly by an indescribable, massive force. The impact even sent his body, currently in the Blood Awakening state, staggering back several steps out of control!
The entire scene fell into a dead silence.
Everyone’s gaze was fixed firmly on the shadow that had suddenly appeared.
Its entire body was shrouded in a strange cloak that distorted light—the Misty Shadow Cloak. It was impossible to discern its appearance, its gender, or even whether it was human or monster. It looked like nothing more than a three-dimensional, moving shadow.
Dio collapsed to the ground, his chest heaving violently. The daze of surviving a brush with death left his mind blank.
He had already smelled the scent of death and was prepared to accept his fate. He never expected to be saved by an unidentified “shadow.”
Horn’s shock was far greater than Dio’s!
His crimson pupils contracted sharply, and a storm of emotion surged within him.
‘How is this possible?’
‘I clearly released my Blood Awakening. My speed and perception have both increased significantly, yet… I completely failed to see how he appeared?’
‘I didn’t even see how he moved to parry my attack?!’
An alarm bell rooted in biological instinct rang frantically in his mind—the black shadow before him exuded an extremely dangerous aura!
Yize ignored the astonishment of the crowd. He bent down, reached out, and naturally helped the scarred and bruised Dio off the ground.
The moment he spoke, a crisp and pleasant female voice, altered by a potion, drifted out from beneath the cloak.
“Leave him to me.”
She paused, then added in a casual tone, “There are some personal grievances between him and me that need to be settled.”
As soon as that voice came out, Sara, Emma, and the others immediately caught two key pieces of information.
First, the person under the cloak was a “female.”
Second, she also claimed to have a personal grudge against the Blood Race, making her sound like a powerhouse from the human side.
Dio, having survived the ordeal, endured the intense pain throughout his body and thanked the shadow solemnly. “Thank you for saving my life!”
This was no time for him to overthink. He immediately forced a breath, struggling to rush toward Dini, Sara, and the others.
Though his confidence had been shaken by Horn’s beating, his sense of responsibility to protect his sister and his companions supported him—at least against the vampire-turned Rose, he still had the strength for one more fight!
Horn stared fixedly at Yize, trying to see through the distorted light. He suppressed the shock in his heart and asked in a heavy voice, “Who are you? Personal grievances? I don’t recall having any unpleasant interactions with someone like you.”
Those he had unpleasant interactions with had basically been drained dry by him.
‘Direct grievances? Indeed, there are none,’ Yize grumbled in his heart.
‘But if you hadn’t come to attack the Betty Family and mess up the plot, would I have been dragged into this? Would I have had to leave my comfortable academy dormitory and come to this front line to worry?’
‘I’m even suspected of being dragged into the whirlpool of the Main Storyline!’
‘Disturbing my peaceful lifestyle as a salted fish—how is that any different from taking my life?’
‘Rounding it up, this is a blood feud!’
Yize didn’t bother wasting words on him; explaining was a waste of time.
His figure moved slightly, and in the next instant—
*Boom!!!*
A muffled sound, like a heavy hammer striking a drum, exploded!
Horn didn’t even see how the other party moved. He only felt an irresistible, tyrannical force smash into his abdomen!
In that moment, his proud, resilient Blood Race body seemed to become fragile. His internal organs were displaced, and the blood wings on his back convulsed from the intense pain.
His entire body turned into a crimson meteor, flying backward out of control. He crashed through countless trees before finally stabilizing himself in a wretched state several hundred meters away, plowing a long trench into the ground.
“Pfft—”
Horn tried to speak, but he couldn’t stop himself from spitting out a mouthful of dark red blood. His face was filled with horror and disbelief.
The power behind that one punch was completely beyond his comprehension!
However, before he could catch his breath, the black shadow appeared in front of him again as if teleporting… Horn’s heart roared as fear began to wrap around his soul.
There was no ripple of Aura, nor was there any trace of magic elements! The opponent was crushing him using nothing but pure physical strength!
Pure, savage, and absolute strength!
“You… what on earth are you?!”
Horn finally couldn’t help but shriek, his voice carrying a trace of imperceptible trembling.
“Humans can’t possibly possess this kind of physical strength! What kind of Magical Beast are you?!”
‘Why does that sound a bit familiar?’
Yize tilted his head. He remembered now—that silver-haired brat Vivian, who claimed to be the Queen of the Blood Race, had said something similar.
“Oh my,” Yize exclaimed in a disgusted tone using that sweet female voice. “You bat spirits are so rude. I’m not like a piece of trash like you who survives by sucking human blood. I’m a genuine, certified human, you know~”
As he spoke, his hands didn’t stop. A precise uppercut smashed into Horn’s chin, forcing the rest of his words back down his throat as his body was sent airborne once again.
“Furthermore,” Yize said, shaking his head with some disappointment, “you’re much weaker than I imagined. You look quite impressive with those special effects and flashy wings, but why are you so fragile? You’re just all show and no substance.”
When Yize had watched Horn and Dio fight earlier, with Sword Qi flying everywhere and blood light filling the sky, he had been a bit nervous.
He hadn’t expected that once they actually fought, it would be like this. Even that vampire brat Vivian could trade a few moves with him back then… Is this really his level?
Wait…
Yize suddenly froze, his movements slowing down for a beat.
‘Could it be that what Vivian said was true?’
‘Is she really the Queen of the Blood Race? But if she’s the Queen, her subordinates are only at this level? Is the overall strength of the Blood Race actually that shallow?’
‘No, no…’
He immediately dismissed the idea, his expression turning a bit strange.
‘Maybe… it’s not that they’re too weak, but that I’m… too strong?’
If Horn could have heard Yize’s inner thoughts, he probably would have coughed up another 3 liters of blood in anger.
At this moment, he was so frustrated he was about to explode. He discovered that his proud Blood Awakening form was a complete joke in the face of the opponent’s absolute power.
Just 5 minutes ago, he had been looking down on Dio and humiliating him. In the blink of any eye, he had become the one being toyed with. Karma had come far too quickly!
“You… who are you?” Horn’s voice was weak and tinged with fear as he stared at Yize. “I don’t remember ever provoking someone like you!”
Yize estimated the distance and felt they were far enough from Sara and the others that they wouldn’t be overheard.
It was time to try and complete that Villain Option.
He stopped his one-sided beating, cleared his throat, and said in a deliberately profound tone, “Fine. Since you’re going to die anyway, I’ll let you die knowing why.”
Horn: “…”
‘This line is so damn familiar!’
Wasn’t that exactly what he had said to Dio only a few minutes ago? Was the retribution really coming this fast?!
Under Horn’s gaze—a mixture of fear, frustration, and a hint of curiosity—Yize slowly removed the ordinary mask from his face, revealing his black-haired, black-eyed, and seemingly unremarkable true appearance.
In an instant, Horn’s pupils dilated to their limit. Shock, confusion, disbelief, and an absurd sense of “are you freaking kidding me” exploded in his heart.
“It’s… it’s you?! Yize?!!” Horn’s voice became shrill due to extreme shock. “How is this possible… didn’t you go back to rest because you were scared? And your voice… what is going on?!”
This seemingly harmless, even somewhat cowardly black-haired youth was actually the terrifying existence who had been using him as a punching bag?!
The contrast was too great—so great that Horn’s brain almost short-circuited!
He truly couldn’t understand it and couldn’t help but ask out of pure frustration, “If you had this kind of strength, why didn’t you just kill me when you suspected me back in the inner city?!”
“Why did you put on that act of being cautious and afraid of death?!!”
He thought he was twisted enough and enjoyed toying with his prey, but he never expected the guy in front of him to be a hundred times worse!
Seeing Horn’s “questioning his life” expression made Yize feel quite satisfied, but on the surface, he remained serious, explaining in that sweet female voice:
“Oh, that. I wasn’t clear about your true strength at the time.”
“And I was telling the truth. I really am very, very afraid of death. Being cautious and my own strength aren’t necessarily related.”
He paused, then turned around to “educate” Horn. “See, aren’t you a living example of what happens when you aren’t? You thought you were pretty strong, didn’t you?”
“If you had been cautious enough to investigate our backgrounds thoroughly first, you wouldn’t have ended up like this today, right?”
“Pfft—”
This time, Horn was truly injured by anger, and he spat out another small mouthful of blood.
He glared at Yize, his eyes filled with the accusation: “I have never seen such a brazen person.”
‘Cautious? You call this cautious?’
‘You’re clearly a scheming bastard! The kind that digs a hole and buries people alive!’
‘According to your logic, does our Blood Race have to investigate every single human we meet on the road to see if they’re a hidden powerhouse?!’
“Oh, right,” Yize said, as if suddenly remembering something important, clapping his hands. “I almost forgot the main business.”
Under Horn’s terrified and puzzled gaze, Yize looked left and right, then… he grabbed the tip of Horn’s wing and dragged him toward a denser part of the woods like a dead dog.
Horn: “???”
He wanted to struggle, but the bones in his body felt like they had fallen apart; he couldn’t muster any strength.
He could only allow Yize to drag him into the deep, dimly lit woods where the atmosphere felt strangely ominous.
‘What… what does he want to do?!’
Horn’s pale face turned even whiter, almost transparent.
‘Dragging me into the woods… is this the “main business” he just mentioned?’
‘Does he have some kind of special… fetish?’
At the thought of certain terrifying possibilities, even this self-proclaimed deviant of the Blood Race felt unprecedented fear and unease. His body began to tremble involuntarily.
Just then—
Yize suddenly put his hands on his hips and looked up, letting out a forced, stereotypical villainous laugh: “Jie jie jie… jie jie jie jie…”
Horn: “!!!”
Listening to that incredibly forced yet somewhat ridiculous laughter, and looking at Yize—who had just finished pummeling him and was now laughing like a maniac—the fear in Horn’s heart was instantly replaced by a massive sense of absurdity.
‘Is there something wrong with this guy’s head?’
‘What the hell does he want?!’
Just as Horn’s mind was bouncing between fear and confusion, nearly at the point of collapse, Yize finally stopped his standard villain laugh.
Using that sweet female voice, Yize spoke the long-prepared lines required by the System:
“I’ve been annoyed with you for a long time!!”
“What was with that lecherous look you were giving my teammates?”
“You wouldn’t even let my Junior off the hook?”
Horn lay on the ground, looking up at Yize, who was standing before him with hands on hips, speaking harsh words in that sweet voice. His mind went completely blank.
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