Nerezza Karesh was the granddaughter of Councilor Lucivar Karesh, one of the main pests responsible for causing a great disaster in the future. On that day, the one who had been tasked with facing her was none other than Rina. Even though they were at the same power level, it was evident that Rina was stronger and, because of that, everyone believed that the outcome of that fight was already decided. On the ground, Nerezza was lying there, while Rina watched her with respect, despite the obvious hatred in her eyes.
"You were a good opponent..."
Rina raised her sword, preparing to deliver the final blow. However, before she could do anything, a blade formed from blood thorns pierced her leg.
The pain caused her body to lose its balance, and Rina fell to the ground, while Nerezza took advantage of the opening to stand up.
The one who had launched that attack was Malakar, but, after interfering in the fight, he simply left the place when Nerezza angrily stated that she would do something to that girl. Now, alone before Rina, Nerezza walked toward her and began stomping on her head, delivering several kicks to her face, as if she truly wanted to disfigure her.
"That beautiful face of yours is so irritating to look at."
Rina tried to protect herself as best as possible, but her arms were pinned to the ground by blood thorns. Even so, she showed no fear or despair. Despite being attacked, she continued trying to understand the reason for such cruelty.
"Why do you care so much about beauty? Did something happen to you to make you this way?"
The question was asked seriously, and Nerezza stopped for a moment. However, when she prepared another kick, her body began to tremble. Her hair fell over her eyes, hiding part of her face, while she clenched her teeth.
"This is what my mother tells me to do. I obey my mother's orders. I have to be like her... You wouldn't understand... I have to follow my mother."
"...I really don't think I understand."
For a brief moment, Rina's gaze seemed to become calmer. She was about to say something, but Nerezza raised her leg and struck her face again. When Rina raised her eyes, she found a mocking smile on the vampire's face.
"You really believed that? As always, humans are idiots. To tell you the truth, I asked my grandfather to kill my mother because she was an idiot for trying to escape the life we were supposed to have."
Nerezza stepped on Rina's head again and, while observing her, seemed to have an idea. Without saying anything else, she began dragging her away from that place, taking her to a region where no one could see them.
Aoi, who was searching for Rina across the battlefield, passed through several places where the clashes were taking place, but she could not find her.
"Why did you have to go and face that damn woman alone?"
The battle continued taking place in different parts of Reverse Sanos. The allies tried to contain the vampires and delay the advance of the enemy forces while one of that continent's greatest hopes was absent. Kai had left to train with a God, trying to reach the Tenth Circle so that he could face the evil gods who had invaded the continent. Without him, everyone needed to gain as much time as possible.
"I hope you're okay..."
Aoi continued searching until she suddenly stopped. Her eyes slowly rose when she noticed something above her.
A huge blood spear was suspended in the air, and attached to its tip was an immobile figure. Rina's body was completely pierced by several thorns, and her eyes did not show even a sign of life.
For a few seconds, Aoi simply stood frozen.
Then, a desperate scream came from her throat.
She ran toward the scene, consumed by rage, but Nerezza appeared in front of her with a smile on her face, accompanied by other vampires.
"That day, you also died, Aoi..."
Meanwhile, Enrico was leaning against the bed, recounting everything in his mind. With the bracelet, and having received permission to communicate with those inside it, he decided to reveal to the two of them what had happened. He did not want to give Nerezza any chance to escape again, especially because he knew that, at that moment, the two still did not know all the details about that vampire.
Inside the bracelet, Aoi had blood on her hands after breaking a cup so forcefully that the pieces had cut her skin. Rina, on the other hand, remained silent, with her head lowered. Angela watched the two of them for a few seconds and made a decision.
She would kill that vampire before that could happen.
Even without knowing Aoi and Rina that deeply, Angela did not want to allow the friends of the one who would eventually become her young master to end up that way.
"Let me take care of her. It will be quick."
Enrico, who was listening to everything, continued speaking.
"Yes, you're right. But before that, I would like to ask the two of you... Do you want to leave her in Angela's hands?"
Aoi clenched her fists. Rina finally raised her head.
"Sorry, Angela, but that's impossible."
"Yes. She committed a gigantic sin."
The two slowly stood up. There was anger in their eyes, but also a determination that left no room for doubt.
After hearing about their friend's death, there was no possibility of simply letting that pass. To them, Rina and Aoi were not just friends. They had grown up together, shared difficult moments, and remained by each other's side for years. Deep down, they considered themselves sisters, even though they did not share the same blood.
'No one touches my sister.'
Enrico noticed their decision and did not try to stop them.
"Very well. Then I trust you. But let's see... At this point in time, she is still stronger than you. So I'll tell you a few things about her. The first is that she hates being called ugly and normal. She also..."
As he explained, Enrico revealed information he knew about Nerezza, including some of her weaknesses and characteristics.
Aoi and Rina were slightly surprised by the way he simply trusted them, handing over such important information without hesitation. It was as if he already knew the enemy they would face perfectly.
However, something caught the attention of the two.
Enrico's voice was a little more tense than usual. Aoi narrowed her eyes.
'Could he have seen it? That...'
Rina clenched her teeth.
'...Damn it, she'll pay.'
Back on the battlefield, Nerezza received two punches almost simultaneously to the face. Her body was thrown backward and she slid several meters across the ground before managing to regain her balance.
At first, she imagined that Aoi and Rina had simply developed some hatred for the vampire race. However, as the attacks continued, she realized that there was something different.
Each blow carried personal anger.
"You..."
Nerezza extended her hand and a long blood chain appeared in her palm, forming a whip that twisted like a living creature. She swung it around her own body to push them away, forcing Aoi to retreat. Taking advantage of the space created, Nerezza pulled the whip with force, making the tip disappear from in front of her and appear behind Aoi.
"Scalding Whip!"
Threads of blood began vibrating around the whip, small embers appearing on its surface.
Aoi noticed the attack too late. When she turned around, she created a barrier of blue flames in front of her body, but the whip pierced through part of the flames and continued advancing directly toward the mask.
"Not in front of me!"
Before the blow could reach her, a katana cut the whip in half. Rina's blade passed between the blood threads, destroying the attack and allowing Aoi to escape unharmed. The two immediately moved in different directions, surrounding Nerezza and preventing her from keeping both of them within her field of vision at the same time.
Nerezza turned her body and tried to follow Aoi, but Rina took advantage of the opening.
"Akirama Hōkaiha Magic: Decadent Fissure."
A concentration of mana appeared in Nerezza's stomach. The next instant, a crack appeared on her skin, spreading into several branches throughout her body. The magic advanced rapidly, corroding and breaking the target from the inside out, as if the body itself were about to collapse.
Nerezza widened her eyes and placed a hand on her stomach. A metallic taste rose up her throat, and she spat out a large amount of blood before taking several steps backward.
"What kind of magic is this?!"
"A magic completely different from my family's, because it is much more destructive."
Before Nerezza could respond, a fox appeared beside her and bit her shoulder. She screamed in pain and tried to push it away, but Aoi was already close enough to take advantage of the distraction. Her kick struck Nerezza directly in the face, launching her against a wall.
The impact caused part of the structure to crack.
Nerezza fell to the ground, but immediately began using her natural healing. Even with the effects of Decadent Fissure still present in her abdomen, she forced her body to recover and stood up again. Without wasting time, she launched several masses of explosive blood and created whips in the air, trying to force the two to retreat, but nothing worked.
Aoi always found a way to block her attacks, while Rina appeared the next instant to counterattack. When Nerezza tried to press one of them against a wall, the other appeared to prevent the attack from being completed. It was like fighting a single person divided into two bodies.
'I have to do something different. I'll have to use the magic I haven't shown anyone.'
Nerezza raised her arms and concentrated a large amount of blood above Rina. A huge sphere began to form in the air, much larger than any of the techniques she had used up to that moment.
It was a magic she had been developing during her solitary training and had not yet shown anyone. But the sphere was only one part of the attack.
While Rina prepared to defend herself, Nerezza suddenly changed direction and advanced from behind Aoi, preparing another attack.
"I told you, not in front of me."
Rina noticed the movement and advanced. Her sword cut across Nerezza's chest before the vampire could complete the attack. At the same time, Aoi turned around and summoned a two-tailed fox, which opened its mouth and launched a powerful sphere of blue fire at the large mass of blood.
The two techniques collided in the air.
The explosion made the corridor tremble, spreading smoke and particles of magic throughout the place. When the smoke began to disappear, it became clear that Nerezza's attack had been neutralized.
"Like he said, it's still not complete."
"Yes. There's still a lot missing."
Nerezza clenched her teeth.
She could not understand how those two knew so much about her technique. Was it some spy? Had someone observed her training? Or was there another explanation? It did not matter. The longer the fight continued, the more hatred she felt toward those two.
Nerezza went on the offensive again. She changed her body's position, tried different attacks, and altered the rhythm of her movements to prevent them from being easily read. Even so, the result remained the same. When one defended, the other attacked. When one retreated, the other advanced.
They were a perfect duo.
And that was not a coincidence. The two had been friends since childhood and knew each other's movements so well that they often did not even need to exchange words to know what the other would do.
"Huff... huff... huff..."
Nerezza began to lose her breath. Her body was injured, her magic was being consumed rapidly, and despite her healing ability, the accumulated damage was beginning to take its toll. She tried to remain standing, but her legs failed and she fell to her knees.
For the first time in that fight, genuine fear took hold of her.
Nerezza looked around, searching for someone who could help her. However, the battles taking place in that place had moved to other parts of the house. There was no ally nearby. She was alone.
She needed to live and, if surviving required her to do what so many of her kind despised, then she would do it. Her eyes filled with fake tears, and she raised her face, hoping that this display of regret would work.
"Please, forgive me... I was only following my mother's orders. She was the one who..."
"Blaming your mother, who was already dead?"
"What an idiot."
Nerezza remained motionless for a moment. Then she saw the two smiling coldly, without any pity in their eyes.
Nerezza could not understand how they knew everything. Her mind was completely confused, but one thing was evident: the eyes of the two were filled with anger, and that anger was directed exclusively at her.
"Why do you have those eyes?"
Nerezza's voice trembled.
"Why do you hate me?"
Aoi and Rina advanced at the same time. Before Nerezza could react, the two stepped on her hands, pinning them against the ground. The impact was enough to completely break the bones in her fingers and palms.
Nerezza screamed.
Rina pulled her sword from its sheath again, while Aoi gathered blue flames in her hands. The two remained before her, with no intention of retreating.
"We thought you had committed only one sin, but..."
Rina raised her sword.
"You committed two."
The fear on Nerezza's face increased when she realized that there was no longer any hope of escaping. The two stared at her with an increasingly dark expression.
"The first was killing those we consider our sisters."
Aoi clenched her hand, causing the blue flames to intensify.
"And the second was making someone we love sad."
Rina took a step forward.
"And that's why you will die."
Nerezza's screams echoed through the corridor. For some time, her voice continued to travel through the corridors of the house, mixing with the distant sounds of the battle.
Then, after a few minutes, everything fell silent.