Qrila City,
“Are you really going to stress over him this long?”, Abby said while putting her hands on her waist, Rosie is sitting in front of her absent-minded.
She snapped out of her daze when she heard Abby yell at her, there’s a book in her hand.
Abby then walks towards Rosie and snatches the book, “Full Moon Calendar, Names and Meaning? Why are you reading these?”
Rosie snatch the book back before she sighs dejectedly,
She then looks through the window where the city is poured by the rain, this kind of weather is the perfect time to relax and doze off.
“Let me be alright, it’s hasn’t been that long since we part ways”, Rosie said with a sigh.
Abby can only shake her head helplessly, her usual cheerful and loving friend turns into a quiet girl just because of a guy.
But she didn’t blame her though, “I also know that kind of guy”
“What did you say?”, Rosie asks.
Abby shakes her head, “If you like him so much then you must do anything to get his attention”, she mutters.
Rosie looks at her in confusion,
Abby then realizes what she just said before she laughs, “Oh nothing, I’m just rambling”
“Did you see the news? Lupis City got raided by Demons and it becomes Demon’s territory now”, Abby continues changing the topic.
Rosie heard what Abby said but she decided not to confront her,
“Thankfully, this city has the black hands. Isn’t that what you wanted to say?”, Rosie said.
Hearing this, Abby chuckles lightly before she continues, “The discussion web is booming with the Lupis City incident, and they said we’re losing the war”
She’s currently cooking midnight food, she’s making oatmeal for both of them.
“Losing? So should we start praying?”, Rosie replied nonchalantly.
Rosie’s mood is currently not the best, and even though many discussions are made about losing the war she doesn’t seem bothered by it.
It’s just a rumor anyway,
“I pity those people, If they just join the AoL then they will probably survive”, Abby said.
Rosie looks down for a brief moment before she said softly, “You know I’m sorry right? For being unable to bring you to Ratmawati City?”
Hearing this, Abby’s hand stopped.
“It’s okay, there are the Black Hands now so you don’t have to worry”, Abby replied casually, but Rosie knows that Abby is still bothered by it.
But suddenly the water inside the bowl beside Abby trembles,
Abby frowns seeing this,
Thump!
She suddenly heard a loud noise from the outside, “What is that?”, she asks.
Rosie looks outside and saw people running towards the back of the city, many Black Hands also guided the people orderly.
“I think we should go outside”, Rosie said before both of them run outside.
Just when they got outside,
“WHAT IS HAPPENING?!”
“EVERYBODY RUN!!”
“QUICK!! MOVE!! GET TO THE CITY HALL RIGHT NOW!!”
Chaos envelops the city as people run while pushing each other,
Although the black hands tried to calm the people down, none of them listened as they run to the back of the city.
Looking at this, Rosie walks to one of the black hands nearest to her.
“What’s happening?”, Rosie asks in confusion.
Chaos befalls the city suddenly, they are just cooking oatmeal a minute ago.
The black hand is a guy, and he’s wearing a black pirate mask that covers his mouth, “Go to the back, we’re under attack!”
“Under attack?! By what?”, Abby shouted from the back.
Hearing this, the guy points to the city wall where a couple of creatures is currently crawling on the wall filled with bloodthirst.
They have pale skin, and their features make Rosie’s expression turns pale.
Seeing these creatures, Rosie immediately go to Abby and said, “Go! I will help the Black hand but you need to leave!”
Abby doesn’t know what to do as she started to panic,
Her hands started to tremble uncontrollably as she looks the chaos around her, people are pushing and throwing each other to save themselves.
“ABBY!”, Rosie shouted making Abby snap out of her daze.
She then said hurriedly, “Go to the back of the city, and wait for me there”
Abby finally nodded her head repeatedly as she started to run, she disappear into the middle of the crowd before Rosie turns to her back.
“Let me help”, Rosie said to the guy.
The guy looks at Rosie with a frown, she then added, “I’m an Awakened”
But just right after she said that,
BOOM!
The front gate exploded as the Vampires manage to break through, the guards on top of the wall are already dead as the wall got breached.
All of the Vampires started preying their eyes on the running humans,
Rosie looks to the gate and saw two Vampires wearing full plate armor that is different from the others, and the aura they emitted terrifies her and the guy beside her.
“Have you asked for backup?!”, the guy beside Rosie said to another black hand.
Then the other black hand replied, “They will send the green team that is closest to us, the other reinforcement will take longer”
“How long?!”, the guy shouted.
Hearing this, the other guy shakes his head making the guy frowns.
Just from the expression of the other black hand, the guy instantly knows that they probably will not be able to hold out before the reinforcement comes.
Rosie activated her elemental aura as she saw the Vampires are closing in.
The black hands also create a wall that will block the Vampires from reaching the city hall, this will be their main defense against the Vampires.
“Physical Gifted! Stand in front and prepare to defend the city hall!!”
A voice was heard from the side, Rosie looks in the voice direction and finds a woman wearing a black robe with a five-headed crow crest on it.
It seemed the woman is the leader of the Black Hands.
After the signal from the woman, eight Black Hands went to the front as their hands transform into bizarre shapes.
Some of them create a huge shield made of bones, some turn their arms into a creature-like arm, and some even emit energy that felt familiar to Rosie.
The Vampires are already running towards them,
Their eyes are glowing red as they saw blood splattered everywhere, and the Vampires are in a berserk state that thinks nothing besides blood.
Rosie is on the back of the line where other black hands are located, she’s just beside the leader.
“Harden your will and prepare for impact!!”, the leader shouted.
The so-called Physical Gifted readies themselves as their eyes tremble, the horde of Vampires running towards them makes their spine tighten.
Rosie is also seeing this with wary eyes, her breathing becomes heavy as they got closer.
Even for a student from an Awakened university like Rosie, the scenery of dozens of Vampires charging towards them still makes her body tremble.
It’s a sight that nobody wants to experience, especially if you’re a human.
“Activate Formation!!”, the leader commanded again.
Right after her command, the eight Physical Gifted black hands slam their hands to the ground creating a tight shield with each of their own gifts.
BOOM!!
The Vampires crash themselves to the shield made by the Black Hands.
Many of the still running people got blown away because of the impact, the Vampires started to claw the shield made by the Black Hands ruthlessly.
Their body is filled with red energy, and they tried desperately to break through the wall.
Some of the Physical Gifted got hurt, but they desperately held on as many Vampires started to stack with each other.
But this makes the Vampires even more powerful,
Any blood that enters their vicinity enticed even Vampires of the strongest will, and this makes the Vampires even more eager.
SLASH!!
BAM!
The shield will not last long, some already got pushed back.
“Loana! Use your gift now!!”, the leader commanded a girl beside her.
The girl’s eyes glow with a green light, and just after her eyes glow the ground beneath the Vampires started to suck them in.
All the Vampires that are in front of the shield got sucked to the ground.
This all happened with precision as if they’re drilled about this formation, and from the looks of it, the formation is working!
Rosie looks at Loana with a surprised look, she’s amazed by the Black Hands abilities.
After the Vampires’ legs got sucked to the ground, the leader unsheathed her sword and raises it up, “Black Hand! CHARGE!!”
“RAARGHH!!”
“HYAAHHH!!”
All of the Black Hands breaks formation as they started to massacre the Vampires.
The Vampires that got stuck on the ground can’t get out of it, some of them tried to flap their wings away to no avail.
SLASH!!
ROAR!!
The place turns into a bloodbath,
Rosie looks around and finds the Black Hands are winning, the Vampires can’t do anything except for receiving a blow from the Black Hands.
“They’re weaker than usual! We can win this!”, a man shouted.
He seems to be one of the Black Hands based on the crow tattoo on his neck, and his shout got heard by the others making them fight more eager.
Rosie then saw a Vampire manage to escape as it opens its mouth wanting to bite her.
“Wind Slash!”
SWOOSH!
Rosie sent a crescent shape wind slash towards the Vampire, but her attack only knock the Vampire off-balance before it resumes again.
Seeing this, she boosts her speed with wind elements to dodge the Vampires’ attack to the side.
But then suddenly,
GRAB!
Rosie’s leg suddenly got grabbed by the Vampire, the Vampire then swung Rosie and slammed her to the ground.
BAM!
“HUAKH!!”, the air on Rosie’s lungs got forced out.
The Vampire wanted to attack again but got hit by a Black Hand, this saved Rosie that is crossing her arms together on the ground helplessly.
She lowers her arms and saw the guy he talked to before saving her.
The guy stretches out his hand to help Rosie get up,
Rosie accepts the guy’s hand but when she grabbed his hand, a red slash suddenly crosses her vision hitting the guy.
She widened her eyes when she saw the guy’s head got cut cleanly.
It happened in a blink of an eye,
The guy that just helped her suddenly fell to the ground dead.
“Kill the Black Hands! But gather the civilians in the middle of the city!”, the Vampire that is wearing armor shouted.
Rosie scans the battlefield and finds many of the Black Hands are already dead.
They’re winning just a couple of seconds ago, but the armored Vampires break the Black Hands easily without batting an eye.
Without a second thought, Rosie boosts her speed with wind elements and dashes to the house beside her.
This thankfully go unnoticed,
Rosie’s feeble mana is not sensed by the Vampire in armor, the Black Hands that has a more powerful aura than Rosie saved her.
Many of the remaining Vampires in black uniforms started to go to the city hall.
Looking at this, Rosie becomes concerned because Abby is in the city hall and she needs to help her escape this place.
But the Vampires are too much,
The leader of the Black Hands gathers her weird energy as rocks came out of the ground and fire towards the armored Vampires, her eyes glow brown as she also dashes in with her sword.
“YOU FILTHY VAMPIRES!”, the leader shouted angrily.
But instead of dodging, the armored Vampire smirk before suddenly,
SPLASH!!
Blood spikes suddenly came out of his body piercing the leader’s body all over, “Kuhhkk!”, the leader spat a mouthful of blood.
Her blood makes the other Vampires go crazy but the armored Vampires glares at them.
PIERCE!
Another blood spike suddenly came out of the armored Vampire body, it pierced through the leader’s throat as she mutters, “Yo…Huakh!”
The leader died after seeing the armored Vampires smile evilly.
All of the Vampires around the leader are looking at the blood that fell to the ground with anticipation.
But then, a red sphere suddenly appeared above the armored Vampire.
After the red sphere emerge, the surrounding blood on the ground got sucked into it creating a sphere of blood.
This makes the other Vampires becomes normal again,
The blood that gathers around the sphere didn’t entice them anymore, it’s like there’s no blood, to begin with.
Seeing the sphere works, “Go! Bring me those humans!”
The Vampires in black uniforms then all went to the city hall, their movements are fast and not long screams and shouts can be heard from the city hall.
Rosie can only lower her body and deactivate her elemental mana to lay low, if she’s caught she will instantly be killed.
It will be suicide to try and protect the others, she can’t even protect herself.
ROAR!!
KRAAH!
The sound of growling Vampires filled the city,
The people inside the city hall got attacked by the Vampires as Rosie covers her mouth, she’s hesitating to go help Abby or not.
But she knows that she’s not strong enough,
“Gather them around, Don’t any of you dare to kill even one of them!”
Many of the people got caught and put in the middle of the city where the armored Vampires lies, hundreds of people got gathered there filling the place and it’s still not over.
But then, the leader suddenly sniffs the air.
His head turns to the left with a devious smile, “I can smell your blood you know, he said softly.
Rosie who is covering her mouth felt her skin crawl,
Hearing what the armored Vampire said, she touches her cheeks before her hand suddenly stops.
She retracts her hand and looks at it and saw blood on it, the slam by the Vampire earlier scratch her cheeks making it bleed.
Rosie slumps on the ground helplessly, “I got cut!”