The roar tearing through the air was louder than a helicopter, shaking the ground as if it might crumble. Dust and debris whipped skyward, and the surrounding trees were shredded by the vacuum-like force of Raize's strikes.
Raize wasn't simply attacking Ariel and her companions. He was laying waste to the entire area, his assault radiating an unyielding will to annihilate everything in its path.
Ariel had no choice but to use magic to shield her childhood friend and his allies. She had known her secret actions would provoke Raize, this fierce man, and she felt the guilt of her childhood friend's daughter's death weighing heavily on her.
Among the group was also Yuki, the daughter of a friend, and Ariel fought fiercely to protect them.
Raize's spinning right leg missed Ariel, who refused to face him directly. Any attempt to take the attack head-on would have reduced her to shredded flesh. Yet his scarlet slashing wave tore through her clothes and flesh, leaving her in a pitiful state and carving a gash across her fair cheek.
"Who allowed you to leave?"
Raize paused, his eyes cold and filled with lethal intent. He glanced at Ariel, poised to block him, and then his focus snapped to the vampires fleeing at high speed.
He brought his hands together at his waist, as if summoning ghostly phantoms, forming the motions for a Hadoken. Unlike his usual thunder and ice attacks, the combination of his killing intent and immense inner strength made them nothing by comparison.
A brilliant red energy flared between his palms, crackling with dense purple lightning. The energy coalesced into a sphere, growing rapidly, surrounded by swirling currents like purple-red silk in the wind. The ripples of blood-colored energy warped the space around him, and the ground beneath began to crack under the force.
"Satsui no Hadou: Hadoken!"
Raize hurled the energy sphere forward. Over four meters in diameter, it carved a comet-like path across the terrain, crushing everything in its wake. Its speed was terrifying, like a meteor sliding across the ground, charging straight for the fleeing vampire ninjas.
"Don't even think about escaping!"
Ariel felt the overwhelming power radiating from the sphere, her scalp tingling in disbelief. Was he even human? Could Haruna really have been telling the truth?
Desperate to protect those people, she threw everything she had at Raize. But her magic strikes dissolved instantly against the enormous sphere. She couldn't even nudge it off course.
Seeing the annihilation-imbued Hadoken barreling towards her, Ariel instinctively dodged. She shouted with her magic-boosted voice toward her childhood friend's side:
"Get out of the way! Scatter and escape!"
By the time she yelled, the meteor-like sphere was already behind the demon baron and his allies. Seasoned in danger, their instincts screamed that they must not touch it.
Ariel's warning was barely enough. The sphere, as if conscious, locked onto the demon baron, ignoring everyone else.
The disciplined vampire ninjas would never abandon their leader. Orders and rules were more important than life itself.
"Take the leader and go!"
One short-haired, conservative vampire ninja made a snap decision. Before her teammates could react, she threw herself at the terrifying sphere. If she block it, her comrades and the leader could escape.
She had lost her village and had nothing to hope for in the future. Better to sacrifice herself for her leader and friends than to do nothing.
"No!"
Seraphim tried to stop her, but the girl collided resolutely with the sphere. Expecting an explosion, she suddenly froze in horror. Her small frame was powerless against the energy sphere. The heat vaporized her instantly. She was nothing more than a fragile weed, gone the moment she touched it.
The demon baron and the other vampires watched in realization. The sphere contained unimaginable power; weaklings were unworthy targets. Even a brush against it meant instant annihilation.
Even if all the remaining vampire ninjas attacked it together, it would do nothing. The demon baron gave a wry smile, glancing at the young girls beside him. In the prime of their lives, they faced death.
This was the consequence of his and Ariel's plan. It had claimed his daughter, and now only a handful of vampire ninjas remained in the human world.
Let me, the leader who should have long been dead, do something for you.
Boom!
Suddenly, the demon baron poured his life force into a surge of magic, hurling the young girls away from him. The vampire ninjas were caught off guard, flying uncontrollably.
"Cough… farewell, youngsters. I am truly sorry for dragging you into this. And Ariel…"
The demon baron gave a calm, strained smile, his gaze tender as he looked at the stunned female ninjas. With his daughter gone, his heart hollowed, yet in his final moments he acted. His lips moved, speaking words he would not finish, seeing his daughter Ayaka's face one last time before being swallowed by the dazzling energy sphere of Raize's annihilation Hadoken.