Chapter 113: [Aria]—Friendship Doesn’t Last
However, even with her racial advantage, Bai couldn’t completely stop Diana from absorbing the bloodlust.
At best, she could compete with her for it, preventing her from using her Authority to its full potential.
Diana was now trapped. Her only source of bloodlust was the square.
If she left, Bai and Eleanor would destroy the offering ritual and reactivate the teleportation circle.
And then, her ascension to the Calamity Class would have been for nothing.
And even if she survived, she would face the wrath of Queen Arachne.
Diana couldn’t bear that thought. She could use the forbidden secret technique to absorb the power of her siblings, but the Queen could also use it to absorb her power.
“Calamity Class power… I’ve waited so long for this…”
“I can’t fall here… I can’t lose this power…”
Diana’s beautiful face was now a grotesque mask of rage, her severed limbs slowly regenerating, but the bloodlust she had absorbed was also rapidly depleting.
Bai had already stolen most of the bloodlust from the beastkin corpses, infusing it into her dagger.
And now, with her Vampire bloodline, she possessed a physical strength that rivaled the best in the Abyss, allowing her to wield the high-impact human sword techniques without suffering from the backlash.
The tables had turned. Diana’s long-awaited Calamity Class power was now… insufficient.
“Keep attacking!”
Bai leaped into the air, a blur of crimson, weaving through the chaos.
With each flash of her blade, more flesh and blood were sent flying, the bloodlust absorbed by her dagger, leaving nothing for Diana.
Eleanor was also busy, hurling fireballs and lightning bolts at Diana.
Diana tried to counter, but her weakened body couldn’t muster a decent attack.
She could only desperately compete with Bai for the remaining bloodlust, her body constantly being torn apart and regenerating, a vicious, losing cycle.
“How could I… lose here…”
She knew, with her current rate of consumption, she wouldn’t last until the offering ritual was complete.
“I can’t lose here…”
She looked up, the sky a hazy crimson, the sun a glaring, blood-red eye.
“Brute, Kemlin, Volker… forgive me…”
“I shouldn’t have let it come to this. If you want to blame someone, blame the little fox…”
A crimson Blood Spider mark appeared on her forehead, so vibrant it seemed to drip with blood.
“I will live on for you.”
…
“Diana… is losing,” Lin Yan said, watching the battle from the Crimson Nest, her expression grim.
“Is the little fox also a Calamity Class?” Uncle Lin asked, his voice low.
Lin Yan hesitated, then shook her head. “I don’t know.”
She hadn’t told him about the little fox’s transformation into a Vampire.
If he knew, he would have mobilized the Knights immediately.
After all, their mission was to hunt down the demon commander Isabelle. Even if the little fox wasn’t their target, she was still a demon.
And with the Abyss sealed, any demon on Solor was a major threat.
Uncle Lin, having raised Lin Yan, knew she was hiding something.
But he didn’t press the issue. If she didn’t want to tell him, she had her reasons.
Just then, another Blood Spider mark appeared in the sky, identical to the first.
“She’s using the forbidden secret technique again?” Lin Yan asked, confused. “But didn’t she just use it?”
She didn’t know the specifics of Diana’s technique, but she knew that a “forbidden” technique usually came with a high price, or a severe drawback.
It shouldn’t be possible to use it twice in such a short time.
And she was right. Diana’s absorption of her siblings’ power had a limit, a limit set by the Queen herself.
She couldn’t just sacrifice all her other children for one.
So, theoretically, Diana shouldn’t have been able to use the technique again.
But there were always exceptions, and this exception was…
Back in the Crimson Nest, the three beastkin who had been watching the battle with Lin Yan suddenly collapsed, their hearts seizing.
“What’s happening?” Lin Yan asked, turning to them, surprised.
“My… my power… it’s… draining…” Brute gritted his teeth, his voice a strained whisper.
He was the strongest of the three, and he was still conscious.
Kemlin and Volker had already passed out.
“You’re…” Lin Yan frowned.
Brute, staggering, pulled up his shirt.
A vibrant crimson Blood Spider mark pulsed on his chest, resonating with something.
“I didn’t think… Diana… would do this to us,” he said, a bitter smile on his face, then he closed his eyes.
As the Blood Spider mark continued to drain their power, he also collapsed.
Brute, Kemlin, and Volker, Diana’s loyal comrades, were now just empty husks, their power, their bloodlust, all absorbed by her.
Yes, the forbidden secret technique had a limit, but that limit was the Blood Spider mark itself.
And the marks on Brute and the others had been placed by Diana herself. There was no limit to how much she could absorb.
A gentle breeze, and their bodies turned to ash, scattering in the wind.
Lin Yan was left with a chilling sense of disbelief.
“Don’t judge other races by human standards. I’m not just talking about the beastkin,” Uncle Lin said again, his voice calm. “Miss, I trust you. I’ve always trusted you.”
“…”
Lin Yan was silent for a moment, then she picked up the long-range surveillance device and looked back at the center of the storm.
