Chapter 183: Spot On Suspicion

Chapter 183: Chapter 183: Spot On Suspicion

Rashid smirked. He turned toward Lucian, his daggers spinning lazily between his fingers.

"Lucian Grimaud. Am I right?" He tilted his head. "You must have been the one responsible for the disappearance of my little brother, Khalil, and my sister’s husband, Omar. Surely, you remember them?"

Lucian smirked back. "Yeah. I remember them." He glanced at Lemora. "Lemora’s blade going through Khalil’s heart. My claw tearing through Omar’s throat." He looked back at Rashid. "Lemora, right? We made a pretty good team."

Lemora’s face went pale. Her violet eyes snapped to Lucian. That single sentence had just put her in an even tighter spot than before. Lucian hadn’t just admitted to killing Khamsins — he’d implicated her.

Rashid’s expression darkened. The smirk on his face vanished. He turned to Lemora with naked hatred in his eyes.

"You damn bitch. You dare attack the Khamsins despite the truce between our families?"

Blood mist exploded around him. The air itself turned crimson. TSSSS. The stone beneath his feet corroded on contact.

Lucian’s Blood Sense screamed. The mist wasn’t just offensive — it was toxic and poisoned. He immediately created a barrier of blood around himself and Clara, sealing them in a crimson dome that filtered the tainted air.

BOOM!

Vasilev appeared behind them. Her spear thrust toward Lucian’s spine — a vicious, precise strike aimed at his core. Clara moved. Her lunar ice spear materialized and caught Vasilev’s thrust mid-extension.

CLAAANG!

They clashed. Vasilev’s fire against Clara’s frost. The two spears locked — sparking for dominance. Vasilev twisted her spear, attempting to disarm. Clara countered by increasing the gravity around Vasilev’s weapon arm, weighing it down. Vasilev grunted, her arm sagging under the sudden pressure. She broke the lock with a burst of flame from her spear — FWOOOSH — pushing Clara back three meters.

Rashid rushed forward. His body dissolved into blood mist — reforming directly in front of Lucian, with his daggers descending towards his head. But one of Lemora’s Mid Grand Core human corpse puppets intercepted. The corpse caught Rashid’s daggers with its bare hands — dark energy clashing against blood mist. SPARKS flew.

Rashid smirked. He kicked the puppet in the stomach with explosive force. BOOM. The puppet flew backward, its torso cracked. But Grand Core corpses didn’t stop from a single hit.

But the interception had bought time. Lucian was already above Rashid — Light Steps carrying him into the air. He fired multiple Light Bolts downward. FWEEESH-FWEEESH-FWEEESH.

Rashid turned. His daggers moved in a blur — a weird technique. The blades spun in rapid arcs, deflecting each Light Bolt with surgical precision. TING-TING-TING. The bolts scattered harmlessly.

Another of Lemora’s Peak C-Rank beast corpses — a wolf — opened its jaws and fired a powerful fire blast. FWOOOOM. The flames screamed toward Rashid.

Rashid dissolved into blood mist. The fire blast passed through the empty space where he’d been standing and struck the ground behind. BOOM.

He reformed behind Lemora.

His kick caught her in the ribs. CRACK. Lemora flew sideways — her body tumbling through the air. She would have crashed into a wall if Lucian hadn’t caught her mid-flight. He stabilized her, his arm around her waist.

Lemora looked up at him. Despite the pain in her ribs, she smiled. "Thank you."

Lucian’s expression was cold. "Don’t think we’re friends now just because you helped me." He set her down. "If we continue like this, we’re going to lose to Rashid. Clara can hold off Vasilev, but Vasilev is an experienced mage. She won’t slip up easily."

Vasilev and Clara clashed fiercely.

Vasilev’s spear moved like a serpent — thrusting, sweeping, slashing, each strike wreathed in fire. Her Mid Grand Core mana poured through the weapon, turning it into a bar of concentrated flame. FWEEESH. FWEEESH. Each thrust created a shockwave of heat.

Clara met her blow for blow. Her lunar ice spear absorbed the fire — frost and flame cancelling each other in bursts of steam. HSSSSS. Clara’s SS-Rank Lunar Authority gave her an edge in raw power, but Vasilev’s technique was sharper. Decades of combat experience. Every feint was layered. Every strike set up the next.

Clara thrust. Vasilev parried — rotating her spear to redirect the force — and counter-thrust toward Clara’s throat. Clara leaned back. The spear tip passed centimeters from her neck. She countered with a gravity pulse — an invisible wave that slammed into Vasilev’s chest. BOOM. Vasilev staggered but planted her spear and held her ground.

They separated as they circled each other. Neither willing to commit.

Lucian spoke through the telepathic link — connecting to Lemora. "Weaken Rashid as much as possible. I can land a killing blow if you weaken him enough."

Lemora nodded. She raised her hands. Her remaining corpse puppet — the second Mid Grand Core human — charged Rashid from the front while the three Peak C-Rank beast corpses flanked from the sides.

Rashid smirked. He dissolved into mist. The corpse puppet’s fist passed through empty air. Rashid reformed beside Lemora — daggers raised.

He fired a spray of blood mist directly at her. TSSSSS. The toxic mist screamed toward Lemora’s face.

Lucian intercepted. Aethon met Rashid’s daggers. CLAAANG-CLAAANG-CLAAANG! Three rapid exchanges — Lucian’s sword against Rashid’s twin daggers. Lucian had the best senses here. Blood Sense tracked Rashid’s blood flow. Primordial Sight tracked his mana. His reactions were faster than anyone else’s on this battlefield.

Rashid smirked as their weapons locked. "As expected of the prophecy child. Your physical strength can even compete with vampires such as myself."

He leaned closer. His violet eyes gleamed.

"But —"

Blood mist erupted from Rashid’s body in concentrated streams. Each stream was a blade of condensed, poisoned blood that slashed at Lucian from different angles. SHLK-SHLK-SHLK-SHLK. The attacks were too fast to dodge completely. Each one cut through Light Armor and Crimson Vessel, leaving shallow gashes across Lucian’s arms, chest, and thighs. His stance weakened. His guard dropped for a fraction of a second.

Rashid’s kick connected with Lucian’s waist.

BOOM!

Lucian flew backward. The impact cracked two ribs. Blood sprayed from his mouth. He hit the ground, tumbling twice before stopping.

Rashid straightened. "— Strength was never really my specialty."

Lucian stood up. His ribs cracked back into place — Eternal Regeneration knitting the bone in seconds. The cuts from the blood mist closed. He wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.

Lemora attacked from behind Rashid. Her hands formed a seal — necromantic energy surging. A swarm of corpse bats materialized from dark portals around her — twenty of them, each one the size of a cat, their bodies stitched together from reanimated tissue, their eyes glowing with dark fire.

The bats swarmed Rashid. He slashed with his daggers — SHK-SHK-SHK — cutting through three, four, five. But the bats weren’t meant to injure.

They exploded.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

Five consecutive explosions detonated directly in Rashid’s face. Necromantic fire and dark energy engulfed his head and upper body. The blast sent him flying backward — CRAAASH — through the wall of the academy’s library building. The entire structure shuddered. Dust and rubble erupted outward.

Vasilev’s head snapped toward the explosion. "Rashid!"

Her focus broke. Her eyes left Clara for one second.

One second was all Clara needed.

Clara’s spear moved. A single thrust — powered by Gravity Manipulation, the spear’s weight multiplied tenfold, accelerated by lunar energy. The spear tip screamed toward Vasilev’s right hand — the hand holding her weapon.

SHLIKT!

The spear tip passed through Vasilev’s wrist. Her hand separated from her arm. Blood sprayed — a thick arc of red that painted the ground between them.

Vasilev screamed in agony. AAAAAGH!

Her severed hand hit the ground.

She stumbled backward, clutching the severed wrist with her remaining hand. Her eyes were wide with shock and pain.

Clara smirked. Her silver eyes gleamed with cold satisfaction.

"Well, would you look at that?" She tilted her head, studying the blood spraying from Vasilev’s wrist that didn’t heal back.

"It seems my suspicions were spot on." Clara’s voice was quiet.

"You are not a vampire."