The howling wind of the volcanic gorge whipped through my crimson trench coat as I dragged Lara onto the open expanse of the stone bridge. Instantly, the frontline defensive squads of the Immoral Knights noticed the sudden eruption of raw, monstrous mana at their rear.
"Hey! The blood-sucking winged demon is right here in the base! The Crimson Phantom has breached the inner gates!" a scout screamed, raising a heavy horn to his lips.
In a panicked frenzy, the defensive line turned their focus away from the advancing Bureau forces below and rallied to neutralize me. A volley of black-feathered arrows and concentrated elemental spells lit up the dark night sky, arcing directly toward my position.
To conserve my own stamina and further break Lara's psychological reserve, I yanked her bound, pinned form directly into the line of fire. My right hand reached into the Inventory Ring, materializing the heavy Death Chant Tommy Gun in a single, fluid motion.
BOOM! CRACK!
A massive, roaring fireball cast by an enemy vanguard mage slammed directly into Lara's midsection, followed by a cluster of piercing kinetic arrows. The heat scorched her skin and the impact tore through her limbs, forcing a muffled scream from behind her bruised lips. But her passive Divine Regeneration was completely unyielding; the moment the flames charred her flesh, the bright emerald mana flared, instantly knitting the tissue back together and sealing the puncture wounds. She was the perfect, self-healing human shield, absorbing the brunt of their high-tier elemental onslaught without allowing a single spark to touch my true, scarred skin.
Peering coldly over Lara's trembling shoulder through the slits of my bone mask, I braced the Tommy gun with my lone right hand and squeezed the trigger.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
The weapon pulsed violently, sending a relentless, blinding stream of crimson blood bullets tearing across the stone bridge. Imbuing every round with my specialized Defense Reduction, the tracers chewed through the defensive formations ahead. The moment my blood bullets struck their heavy, enchanted shields and dark-iron plates, the protective enchantments shattered like cheap glass, crumbling into useless shards.
The unarmored knights beneath were entirely defenseless against the high-velocity kinetic impact. Under my continuous barrage, the frontline defenders collapsed one by one into the volcanic dust, completely overwhelmed by the armor-shattering fire while their own high healer was being used to block their counter-attacks.
The continuous, high-volume fire of the Death Chant Tommy Gun put a massive strain on my internal reserves. Every time the blue gauge of my mana meter threatened to dip from the constant activation of the Defense Reduction attribute, I pulled Lara's neck violently backward toward my face.
I bared my sharp, predatory fangs and sunk them deep into the soft flesh of her jugular.
[Drain Activated Extraction Completed consumed five liters of blood]
Lara let out a muffled shriek of agony as I tore into her throat, but my Blood-to-Mana Conversion worked with terrifying efficiency. Her high-tier vanguard blood rushed down my throat, instantly processing within my core and transforming straight into pure, raw magical energy. Because of her absurd, passive Divine Regeneration, her body didn't drain to a husk; her system violently mass-produced fresh, oxygenated red blood cells to replace what I was stealing, keeping her alive and functional. She wasn't just an unyielding physical barricade anymore… she was a walking, infinite battery of life force.
BOOM!
Another cluster of defensive fireballs detonated directly against her body. The intense heat of the explosion completely incinerated the remaining fabric of her elegant silk dress, scorching it away into ash and leaving her entirely naked against the freezing mountain winds.
I looked down at her bare, trembling form, completely devoid of dignity, pinned under my monstrous grip as an item of utility. A cold, vengeful satisfaction rippled through my silent mind. This was the ultimate payback for the agony I endured inside the flaying cellars of Town Tata. The tables had turned completely; the high healer of the rebellion was now nothing more than a consumable tool for the Crimson Phantom.
With my mana pools securely locked at peak capacity from her blood, I shoved Lara back out in front of me, using her naked, regenerating torso to absorb a fresh volley of crossbow bolts. I leveled the Tommy gun over her shoulder once again.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
I opened up a merciless, uninterrupted line of fire down the length of the stone bridge. The crimson tracers tore through the smoke, shattering the armor plates of the remaining Immoral Knights and cutting down their ranks with terrifying precision. They couldn't push forward, they couldn't penetrate my shield, and their defense was completely falling apart under the weight of my endless ammunition.
BOOM!
A deafening, catastrophic explosion tore through the reinforced western fortress walls, showering the stone bridge in volcanic debris and blinding white smoke. The sheer kinetic force of the blast sent a shockwave rattling through my translucent blood wings.
I stopped firing for a microsecond, peering over the shoulder of a naked, shivering Lara. Through the thick haze of dust and burning mana, a familiar, overwhelming pressure flooded the bridge.
Evelyn. My sister.
Behind her, the elite vanguard of Chief Roman's Luminous Knights poured through the breach like an avalanche of silver and steel. Their enchanted swords were raised high, catching the flickering amber glow of the castle fires as they charged forward to completely crush the remaining resistance.
Evelyn didn't waste a single second on pleasantries. Her eyes locked onto the battlefield, and she instantly activated her high-tier Slime Manipulation. Her hands bubbled and shifted, her biological matter hardening into long, razor-sharp fluid claws that gleamed with a toxic, acidic sheen. She lunged into the fray like a whirlwind, her claws slicing effortlessly through the compromised, defense-reduced armor of the remaining Immoral Knights, leaving a trail of dissolved steel and severed limbs in her wake.
The battle was entirely ours now. The Immoral Knights' perimeter was completely broken, caught in a merciless vice between my endless, blood-fueled gunfire from the rear and the Luminous Knights' frontal assault.
Through the chaos, a squad of heavily injured Luminous Knights spotted my unmistakable, masked silhouette holding the line. They couldn't see my true face, but they recognized the legendary, one-armed, winged specter of the registry.
"You're here, bounty hunter! Help us clean out the remaining command units! Push them back into the gorge!" one of the frontline Bureau knights shouted, his voice filled with a mixture of awe and relief as he raised his shield to cover my flank.
I tightened my grip on the naked, regenerating collar of my human shield, leveled my smoking Tommy gun alongside my sister's devastating claws, and prepared to deliver the final, crushing blow to the rebellion.