552 Chapter 552: Double Battle

Huh…that was weird. You would expect some sort of underground tunnel or escape path in the basement, but nothing the characters from a shoujo manhua did made any sort of sense. Human or vampire, their every action and decision had been utterly illogical. Like…allying with the murderers of your parents to take revenge on a sect that asked them to sacrifice themselves to save others instead of taking revenge on the murderers themselves? Or snapping a photograph of someone's hand, missing out her face entirely, and blackmailing her with it? Or how about leaving out vital information such as a beggar visiting the schools right before they were destroyed, only to reveal it after the heroine had met him?

I was getting a headache just thinking about it. I would be so glad when this entire parody arc was over. I honestly didn't want to deal with any more of their nonsense.

"As expected, you came."

Xu Wu Cheng was waiting in the dungeon, along with a poor girl sprawled by his side. Dressed in a tattered and torn white one-piece dress and looking filthy and bruised, a dazed Nan Gong Ji Yan lay by his side. A metallic collar had been snapped around her neck, and chains of metal served as a leash, extending from the collar to Xu Wu Cheng's hands. He pulled it slightly, causing poor Ji Yan to jolt up with a cry.

"When I heard that our base was invaded, I knew there could only be one person responsible for it." Xu Wu Cheng clenched his fists tightly, rattling the chains and causing Ji Yan to choke. "I admit, this whole thing is my mistake…my fault. I should never have allowed you to follow me all the way back to our base. I had…let my guard down and underestimated you."

"What else is new?" I scoffed, pushing my glasses up. Xu Wu Cheng's lips curled.

"I will make it right. I will take responsibility for my blunder and kill you with my own two hands!"

"I won't let you hurt Richard!" Rossetti snapped, stepping out to stand in front of me, as if she was trying to shield me. "You'll have to step over my dead body first!"

"As much as I appreciate you standing up for me…" I gently pulled her back, not willing to put her in harm's way. "I would prefer you don't get hurt or my sake. I know injuries in battle are inevitable, but I would like to minimize them as much as possible."

"We won't get injured if we defeat this guy first!" Rossetti swung one of her chakrams, unleashing a single fire spell at our enemy.

Wow…the contrast between us couldn't be starker. The bastard didn't hesitate to use Ji Yan as a human shield at all. She was curling into a fetal position, coughing and convulsing from the pain while smoke billowed from her reddened body.

"You…!" Rossetti shouted, outraged. Xu Wu Cheng cocked his head at her and sneered.

"What? You're the one who attacked her. It was your spell that hit her, not mine. Don't blame me for her injuries."

"This guy is really an asshole." I shook my head, disgusted. Then I was reminded of something. "Speaking of injuries, you seem to have healed pretty fast. Even though you were so heavily injured before, you were running low on mana, you seemed to have found a way to restart your regeneration spells. Let me guess, you sucked the blood of the hostages?"

Xu Wu Cheng's face darkened. "You still have the audacity to mention that to my face, shameless scum. Because of you, I was forced to drink the blood of another three students, as well as some of Ji Yan's. Otherwise I wouldn't have recovered in time to face you."

"Me? Audacious?" I burst out laughing. "You were the one who sucked their blood, not me. Don't blame me for their deaths."

"Shut up!" Xu Wu Cheng roared. He yanked on the chain, causing Ji Yan to squeal in pain as she was pulled to her feet. "You will die here today! I guarantee it! Blood Hydra!"

The bloody serpents streaked out toward us, but both Rossetti and I cut them down with our chakrams and swords, fire and ice swirling majestically around us. None of the snakes could get past us.

"A flawless display of teamwork, as always…" Xu Wu Cheng gritted his teeth and shoved Ji Yan forward. "Makes me jealous. If only my partner wasn't so useless…!"

"I think most of it is down to you abusing her," I pointed out dryly. "After the way you treated her, how can you expect her to trust you?"

"Trust me?" Xu Wu Cheng laughed scornfully. "Why should I care about her trust? She just needs to obey me!"

"And that's why you'll always find her useless," I muttered, but Xu Wu Cheng didn't care. He slapped the still staggering Ji Yan.

"Fight with me!" he ordered.

"I…I…"

Xu Wu Cheng's eyes flashed and she whimpered, shielding herself. Her eyes had turned blank and her mind hollow.

"You know the consequences if you disobey."

"Please…" Ji Yan pleaded pitifully, covering her head. "Please don't rape me…I swear, I'll do whatever you ask. Just don't rape me…don't hit me…I'll obey you! So anything but that! Don't rape me again! Please!"

"Rape?" Rossetti repeated, horrified. "What did you do to you, you scum?!"

"I only treated this whore as she deserved," Xu Wu Cheng sneered. "I punished her whenever appropriate…whenever she failed to divulge information regarding the secrets of the Nan Gong clan. If her blood wasn't so special, I wouldn't bother allowing such a useless woman to live."

"You didn't just suck her blood…" I accused, my voice low. Xu Wu Cheng snorted.

"Sucking her blood was just the beginning. She's my slave. It's her duty to serve me…not just in providing me blood, but also in many sort of ways." He leered at her lecherously before glaring at me. "You have a woman yourself. Don't be such a hypocrite."

"Uh, I think you misunderstand my relationship with Rossetti."

"Disgusting…he's the worst," Rossetti growled, glaring at Xu Wu Cheng. "I can't forgive him!"

"Hey, hey…if you put it like that, I'm not the only one, you know?" Xu Wu Cheng chuckled. "I gave Ji Yan to my subordinates as well. After all, I need to let them enjoy themselves once in a while. Ji Yan was perfect for satisfying their urges."

"You monster!" Rossetti yelled and lunged forward, but I grabbed her shoulder and hauled her back.

"Don't fall for it! He's baiting you!"

A second later, the blood serpents erupted from the ground, piercing through the space where Rossetti would have been. The both of us spun around and cut them down in a series of swift, precise strikes.

Converging in the middle, we cut through the swarm of blood serpents, weaving through the barrage and covering each other. Sometimes I would destroy the blood serpents below while Rossetti dealt with the ones above, and we switched roles so smoothly it was almost as if we could read each other's minds. Hacking, slashing, burning, freezing…we wiped out Xu Wu Cheng's Blood Hydra and reached him.

"You guys…!"

Clicking his tongue, Xu Wu Cheng shoved Ji Yan toward us and let go of her leash.

"Time to fight, Ji Yan!"

Her eyes still blank and her memory hollow, Ji Yan drew a sickle and chain from somewhere in her dress and swung her weapon to slash Rossetti, almost catching her by surprise. Fortunately, I stepped forward and deflected the sickle with Bai Ri.

"Ji Yan! It's me, Rossetti!" the red-haired girl cried out. "Snap out of it! We're not your enemies!"

I shook my head. "It's useless. She's completely spellbound. She's moving more out from refex or muscle memory than conscious thought. Xu Wu Cheng has her completely captive."

Ji Yan swung her chain and sickle again, mana glowing along the metal. While she struck, Xu Wu Cheng attacked from above. The two coordinated their attacks, blood claws and blood serpents synchronizing with chain and sickle to tear through our defenses.

Except that…their attempt failed. Where I couldn't parry a sickle with my swords, Rossetti deflected it aside with her chakrams. Where Rossetti was unable to block a few stray blood serpents, I sliced them apart with my blades. Fire and ice erupted around us, almost like an Anarctica volcano, burning and freezing the spells the pair threw at us.

"How is this possible?!"

Xu Wu Cheng grew increasingly infuriated when he and Ji Yan failed to land a solid hit on Rossetti and me. We were defending so perfectly yet were somehow able to counterattack to leave burns on the red-haired vampire and frostbite wounds on his blank-eyed partner.

Whenever Rossetti when on the offensive, I would cover her defensively by striking down the spells and attacks – blood serpents or claws or chain and sickle – that our enemy threw at us. Then we would subtly switched roles, with me unleashing icy blasts while Rossetti burned down our enemies' retaliation with her fiery dance. Blood spurted from multiple wounds across Xu Wu Cheng's arms as he staggered, only for them to heal rapidly thanks to his regenerative power, but it was clear that he was being worn down despite having drunk blood earlier.

Ji Yan fared worse, burns and frostbite covering almost all parts of her. Even so, she continued to fight on stubbornly, driven more by her fear of Xu Wu Cheng than any dread caused by death.

"This cannot be!" Xu Wu Cheng howled when my Hei Yue cut deeply into his chest, drawing another spray of blood before ice rapidly spread across his upper body. He shattered the ice and slashed at me only for flames from Rosseetti to drive him back. Ji Yan threw herself to block the attack, but I kicked her to the side, allowing my partner to roast the red-haired vampire.

Xu Wu Cheng shrieked and conjured a fresh wave of blood serpents. This time, he transformed them into wires to ensnare both Rossetti and me in a bloody net. Back to back, we both unleashed our spells simultaneously. On Rossetti's side, the blood wires vaporized into crimson steam while on my side, the blood wires froze into ice before shattering apart in harmless crystals.

"!!!"

Before Xu Wu Cheng knew what was happening, I unleashed a flaming spell from Bai Ri, which was further boosted by Rossetti's Flaming Phoenix Kagura Dance. Once again, Ji Yan hurled herself to take the blow, but a black crescent-shaped blast from my Hei Yue collided with her. Enhanced by Rossetti's buff spells, it was able to send her flying to the side, leaving the way open for my fire spell to strike home.

Xu Wu Cheng screeched as his body combusted and he dropped to his knees.

"How?! This cannot be! Even though this is also two versus two…how is the difference between us so vast!?"

I glanced at Ji Yan, whose body was moving jerkily. Her expression remained hollow, despite the pain she might feel, and even though it was possible that she had broken a limb or two, she continued to move unnaturally. Almost as if she was a puppet forcibly manipulated by strings. I was reminded of a broken marionette being tugged about by red wires – blood strings that Xu Wu Cheng used to enslave her body and forced her to move according to his will.

No wonder she wasn't fighting optimally. Even though Ji Yan was a fairly incompetent mage at the best of times, being forcibly manipulated like this would hinder her reflexes. Xu Wu Cheng didn't even know what was her best magic or fighting techniques and just directed her to move according to his will.

"This isn't possible! How are you two coordinating so perfectly, yet Ji Yan and I still can't measure up to you?!"

"Well…" I shrugged. "Maybe because you lack trust? You don't trust her to watch your back for you, do you? You don't trust her to fight her best for you, right? So you're wasting half of your attention to control her."

"So what?! I'm moving her like she's an extension of my body!"

"See, that's the problem. If you're going to fight as if you're solo, then what's the point of having a partner?"

"Shut up!"

"You shut up!" Rossetti snapped, her chakrams blazing. "It's time to silence this scum forever!"

"Agreed," I said and dropped my swords. While Rossetti trapped Xu Wu Cheng in a tornado of fire, the vampire trying to escape and failing, I summoned Sagittarius. Fitting Alnasl to my bowstring, I pulled it back and took aim. Xu Wu Cheng glanced up at me, his eyes full of despair and pleading for mercy, but I simply smiled coldly and released the arrow.

An explosion ensured when Alnasl struck the desperately fleeing Xu Wu Cheng, who was still hemmed in by Rossetti's tornado of fire. Boosted by my partner's spell, my arrow was several times more destructive than usual.

The flames incinerated Xu Wu Cheng and instantly turned him into nothing but ash, erasing his existence forever and thus putting an end to the fucking bastard once and for all.