Under the King's Campus, on the second level of the ruins.
In front of the desecrated mirror moon statue, the masked Sister pierced the Vampire's chest and abdomen with a refined steel longsword. The Vampire, covered in burns, stared wide-eyed in astonishment at the scene before him. He couldn't understand why the enemy, who should have been hypnotized, suddenly counterattacked, catching him off guard and resulting in a sword thrust.
However, Dorothy didn't pay attention to Claudius's surprise. She controlled Vanya to extend one hand and grab Claudius's hand, then used the sword-holding hand to increase the force, twisting the sword within Claudius's body to damage his internal organs as much as possible.
With Vanya twisting the wound like that, Claudius immediately let out a pained scream. To prevent Vanya from further damaging his internal organs, he reached out with his remaining free hand and grabbed the sword blade in his chest, holding it tightly to prevent Vanya from twisting, his palm cut by the edge, and blood flowed freely onto the sword.
After this, Claudius's body was gradually enveloped by a wave of dark Shadow, which spread throughout his entire body within three seconds.
Then, these black Shadows instantly disintegrated, the shattered fragments transforming into bats. These bats, far fewer in number than before, quickly flew away from Vanya and reassembled in the distance, instantly reforming into Claudius's figure.
Through bat transformation, Claudius successfully broke free from Vanya's restraint. Due to his injuries not having fully recovered, the number of bats he transformed into was only slightly above the warning line. He didn't dare to use this small number of bats to attack Vanya.
The number of bats Claudius transformed into was related to his own condition. The more injured he was, the fewer bats he transformed into. If the number of bats fell below one-fifth of the maximum number, Claudius would also die. After being tricked by the Corpse Puppet gas cylinder, which drastically reduced his bat count, he completely stopped using bats in combat, otherwise, Vanya would truly have no way to deal with him.
"Ho... the Vampire's bat transformation, is it only useful for escaping now?"
Looking at Claudius in the distance, panting and holding his wound, Dorothy controlled Vanya to speak with a disdainful and scornful tone, while the other party gritted his teeth and spoke.
"Why... why can you still move when you've been hypnotized?"
"Hypnotized? Do you think that thing is really effective on me? I was just pretending to be hypnotized by you, just to make you reveal a weakness."
Looking at Claudius, Vanya murmured. Hearing that he had been deceived, Claudius clenched his teeth even harder. He immediately canceled the continuous hypnosis on Vanya to avoid unnecessary Spirituality waste.
In Claudius's view, the Sister before him clearly possessed some Extraordinary item that countered mental interference, resisting his hypnosis. That Extraordinary item was continuously offsetting the Spirituality used for his hypnosis, which is why the hypnosis couldn't take effect.
After seeing the faint light in Claudius's eyes dissipate, Dorothy immediately secretly controlled Vanya to clench one of her fists. What seemed like clenching a fist was actually fiercely pinching her own flesh with her fingernails. After feeling a sharp pain, Vanya's spirit suddenly woke up.
'Huh... what, what happened to me just now? Why did I suddenly get so sleepy and fall asleep during a fight? What's going on now? Huh! Why... why can't I move? Hurry up and move, that guy is still there!'
Vanya thought anxiously in her heart. She looked at Claudius not far ahead, her heart filled with panic. She struggled to move her body but was completely unable to move.
Just as Vanya was extremely panicked and anxious, at this moment, a familiar voice sounded in her heart.
"Great Aka, please let Vanya know that her body is currently under my control. Please tell her not to worry, I will return control soon..."
'This is... Miss Dorothy's voice? Is she controlling me now?' Hearing Dorothy's voice suddenly sound in her heart, Vanya's inner turmoil calmed down significantly. At this moment, she heard Dorothy's voice continue to sound.
"Also, this battle is no longer suitable to be dragged on. Neither the remaining weapons nor the duration of the talismans are much left. Next is the time to finish this, Sister Vanya, please follow instructions..."
'Next... is the time to finish this? I understand...'
Listening to Dorothy's voice, Vanya thought with focused attention. Afterward, she felt control gradually returning.
On the other side, Claudius, who had pulled away enough distance, finally got a chance to catch his breath. He directly took out a smaller syringe and injected a tube of blood into his hand, allowing his injuries to be somewhat relieved, and then took out a talisman and attached it to his body.
"Shadow Blade Talisman..."
Along with the consumption of the "Shadow" Spirituality, Claudius's claws began to be covered with a layer of dark Shadow. At this moment, relying on the talisman, he consumed extra "Shadow" Spirituality to further strengthen his "Shadow" enchantment.
At this point, Claudius had figured it out. He didn't need to play any other tricks. He just needed to fight head-on with this Sister. As long as he broke all the steel swords she carried, she would have no way to fight back.
Claudius had already formulated his next battle plan. He focused on breaking all of Vanya's steel swords. For this, he used precious talismans and extra Spirituality to strengthen the "Shadow" enchantment. Now, Claudius's "Shadow" enchantment level was enough to shatter Vanya's steel sword in two strikes.
Now, Claudius planned to fight steadily and shatter all of Vanya's steel swords in one go.
"Die..."
Whispering, Claudius once again turned into a rapid Shadow and charged towards Vanya. Facing the high-speed approaching Claudius, his speed was much faster than before.
However, Vanya did not assume a sword-blocking stance. Instead, she stretched one hand into the air, her expression showing an extremely solemn piety.
Seeing Vanya's appearance, Claudius's heart felt suspicious. He could feel that the Sister before him seemed to be preparing something. Seeing this scene, Claudius accelerated even harder. Although he didn't know what the Sister was planning, he had to interrupt her before she completed it.
Claudius's attention was entirely focused on Vanya, and what he didn't notice was that while he was still in the preparation stage, in the Shadow behind a certain stone pillar in the ritual site, a nimble figure also rushed out, quickly running towards their battlefield. This figure was none other than Dorothy!
Dorothy rushed out from the Shadow, quickly approaching the battlefield where Vanya and Claudius were fighting. As Claudius just started his charge and turned into an extreme Shadow, her mouth also slightly opened, and what came out was an ancient and distant sound.
"—Tiid—"
The sound from the beginning of time, emitted from Dorothy's mouth, the voice of the Slow Time Dragon Shout echoed throughout the ritual site. This sound was not as fierce and violent as Unloading Force, deafening, but it seemed more ethereal and profound, shaking the soul.
The moment Dorothy's roar erupted, time trembled. The endlessly flowing river of time, from the past to the future, became fearful and slowed down in this area because of the roar. Everything around Dorothy slowed down along with time, including Claudius who was in the middle of his rush.
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A section of Dorothy's Slow Time Dragon Shout could slow down time around her by thirty percent, excluding herself. Therefore, from Dorothy's perspective, Claudius's speed suddenly slowed down significantly. However, as a Chalk rank Vampire, even with a thirty percent speed reduction, he was still very fast. To kill him, she had to try harder.
Saying that, Dorothy began a new round of operations. She fixed her gaze on Claudius, who had already been slowed down once, then concentrated her Spirit and connected her spiritual threads to Claudius, using the puppet mark on his wrist!
Why did Claudius have Dorothy's puppet mark on him? This is because Vanya's left palm had a puppet mark, and it was drawn with a red pen that didn't dry easily.
When Claudius hypnotized Vanya and tried to subdue her, and Dorothy puppeted Vanya to counterattack, she used Vanya's left hand to grab Claudius's wrist. It seemed to be to prevent Claudius from escaping, but in fact, it was to imprint a puppet mark on Claudius, allowing Dorothy to connect her spiritual threads to Claudius.
For Dorothy's Living Puppet manipulation to work, the manipulated person must have a puppet mark. This means that as long as the target has a puppet mark, no matter who he is, Dorothy's spiritual threads can connect and attempt to puppet and control him.
In the face of resistance, Dorothy would have trouble controlling even ordinary people, but she could consume extra "enlightenment" to strengthen the effect of forced control. Of course, even if Dorothy used all the "enlightenment" on her now, it would be difficult to forcibly control a Black Rank Extraordinary, let alone a Chalk rank Claudius.
But the inability to forcibly control does not mean there is no influence. If enough "enlightenment" is consumed, Dorothy can also cause a slight interference to Claudius's movements.
So, Dorothy invested 6 points of her "enlightenment" in one go, using the connection of spiritual threads to forcibly control Claudius's actions. For a moment, there was a slight delay in Claudius's movements, as if he was being pulled by countless invisible threads.
This delay would not be much for Claudius in normal times, unable to affect him much, but in the current Slow Time scenario, it became extremely fatal. He was already slowed down by thirty percent, and with this added delay, Claudius's speed had a very noticeable decrease under the combined effect of the two.
At this moment, Claudius's speed dropped by about fifty percent, almost half of his normal speed, and it was this crucial moment that Vanya seized.
"Lord, grant me Light..."
Murmuring as she was pulled, the light in Vanya's raised hand shone brightly, and shimmering golden radiance gathered in her hand. The Spear of Sunlight once again formed in the hands of the devout believer.
Although the surrounding time became slow due to the roar, Vanya was connected to Dorothy by spiritual threads. Dorothy shared her "state" of being unaffected by the Slow Time Dragon Shout with Vanya through the spiritual threads, so she would also not be affected by the Slow Time effect. Compared to her, Claudius was slowed down by nearly fifty percent, not just twenty percent.
At this rate of deceleration, Vanya, as a "Light" Extraordinary, would not miss.
Aiming at the approaching Vampire, Vanya forcefully threw the Spear of Sunlight in her hand. The piercing brilliance instantly penetrated Claudius's chest. A bowl-sized hole was directly opened in his right chest, and his expression began to twist intensely.
Although his speed was reduced by fifty percent, Claudius's speed and reaction were still far beyond ordinary people. Facing the incoming Spear of Sunlight, he dodged in time, avoiding being pierced through the heart in his left chest and the spine in his middle chest. Although he still suffered severe injuries, they were not fatal.
At this moment, the duration of the Slow Time Dragon Shout ended, and the forced manipulation by spiritual threads also passed. Claudius, who returned to his normal state, immediately cried out in pain. Severely wounded, he directly fell to the ground. Although white smoke was rising from his pierced chest, he did not die immediately.
Seeing this, Vanya walked forward quickly with her sword, preparing to deliver the final blow. However, at this moment, Claudius also used his life-saving trump card. With a trembling hand, he directly took out a test tube containing dark red liquid from his clothes and smashed it on the ground. The liquid instantly turned into a dark red dense fog that spread out, enveloping Claudius.
This dense fog contained a high level of "Cup" and "Shadow" Spirituality. "Shadow" could interfere with searching and detection, while "Cup" was used to suppress the severe injuries of the person being protected.
In the dense fog, Claudius took two deep breaths of the fog, allowing the rich "Cup" Spirituality contained within the fog to slightly alleviate his extremely severe injuries, giving himself a lifeline. Then, his body in the fog once again transformed into more than a dozen bats, which rushed out of the dense fog and flew towards the staircase leading to the first level.
Vanya, who slashed into the fog, only had time to kill two bats before watching the rest of the large group flap their wings and fly towards the exit.
"Miss Dorothy! That guy is going to run!"
Pointing at the bats flying towards the first level, Vanya said anxiously. After fighting for so long, it would be a great loss if he managed to escape.
Listening to Vanya's words, Dorothy smiled slightly and spoke calmly.
"Don't worry, let him go."
Claudius, transformed into only ten bats, flew into the first level of the ruins, then flew towards the exit of the ruins without hesitation. His current number of bats was the minimum limit of ten. If he lost one more, he would be completely finished. This represented the critical physical condition of his main body at the moment.
Flying, Claudius's bats rapidly rushed into the long corridor leading from the ruins to the outside. As long as he kept flying like this, he could reach the Secret Knowledge Society gathering point, then enter the outside world from the school, and after that, the night sky would be his to fly in, with no one able to stop him.
'As long as I can reach that place... as long as I can reach that place...'
Claudius, in his bat form, thought anxiously in his heart. Just then, he saw something in front of the corridor.
Looking closely, it was a pile of glass bottles neatly stacked in the corridor. In front of the glass bottles, stood a man holding a gun. The man's revolver was aimed at the glass bottles on the ground.
'What... what is that...'
"Die..."
Somewhere in the school, Naifnis, wearing the Corpse Puppet Ring, murmured, and at the same time, she controlled the Corpse Puppet in the corridor to pull the trigger.
"Bang!"
"Boom!"
As the bullet shattered the stacked gas cylinders, a fierce flame erupted again, sweeping towards the corridors on both sides. The incoming bats had no time to turn back and were instantly engulfed by the flames, with more than half of them consumed. The remaining bats were forcibly merged together and transformed into a human form, a human form with skin cracking and burning like charcoal all over.
"Ahhh!!!"
Claudius, with smoke rising from his entire body, let out a painful wail. Having lost too many bats, he no longer had the ability to sustain life. He slowly fell down in the scorching pain, losing his vitality.