Charlot Meburg gripped his alchemical staff tightly but did not move. He hesitated, debating whether to shoot Lord Leo on the spot. Just as this thought crossed his mind, a anding voitered his head: “Machubi, initiate byrinth transformation.”

  With a faint smile, Charlot activated Blood Glory, deliberately suppressing it to the sed rank, and followed Lord Leo out of the fortress. However, it wasn’t long before Leo pulled far ahead of him.

  Feigning an intense sprint, Charlot kept an eye on the sky. Sure enough, he spotted several bck dots cirg above.

  Charlot mused, “Those must be Lord Leo’s vampiric bats. With them scouting the way, no wonder he’s moving so quickly.”

  Every time Charlot seemed about to lose track of him, Leo would stop and wait for him. The two ran for over two hours, the distant sound of gunfire eg like a cacophony of popping beans.

  Charlot grew anxious. Unlike Wells, he didn’t have the ability to cut bullets mid-flight. Even with Blood Glory pushed to its limits, he could only withstand gunfire for a short while.

  This was a on weakness among low-ranking knights. In one-on-one bat, their bat energy could block several, even a dozen bullets. But on a battlefield, with stray bullets flying from all dires, their bat energy quickly proved insuffit.

  Charlot thought to himself, “If only I could master the Bloodfme Transformation Teique, I could turn into a mass of bloodfme, drastically redug physical damage.”

  “Even if I could master the Swiftstep Teique or the Spider Teique, I might at least dodge some of the bullets.”

  Lord Leo leapt onto a cliff, surveying the area with a focused gaze. When Charlot, panting and gasping for breath, finally caught up, Leo remarked, “The South Seraph Restorationists have failed.”

  Charlot gnced downward. Two groups were locked in fierbat below. Being a novi the art of war, he couldn’t dis the state of the battle. He asked, “How you tell?”

  Leo replied indifferently, “The six bodyguards of Archduke Ferdinand aren’t otlefield.”

  Being from the Behemoth Principality, Charlot quickly uood. Archduke Ferdinand’s six personal guards were well-known—each a mid-ranking Transdent. Together, they could hold their own against even a high-ranking Transdent. Their absence could only mean they were proteg the Archduke as he retreated.

  Charlot said, “Sihe mission has failed, there’s no value in staying here. Why not leave?”

  Lord Leo shook his head. Leaping forward, he called back, “Follow me!”

  Charlot looked up at the sky, spotting the bck dots once more. Realizing Leo must have discovered something, he relutly followed.

  The two moved at impressive speeds. Though Charlot iionally slowed himself down, he was still much faster than an ordinary person. After rounding a mountain pass, shouts reached their ears. Leo gestured, and Charlot immediately dropped to the ground beside a rock. He retrieved an anti-spaiper rifle from his alchemical staff, loading bullets into the spatial magazine.

  The spatial magazine of this anti-spaiper rifle was quite rge. However, when stored, the magaziered a reversed spatial state and expelled the ammunition. For most people, carrying twenty anti-magic armor-pierg rounds was the limit.

  Charlot positiohe rifle, pretending to search for a target.

  Leo nodded subtly, thinking to himself: “Kainan is an excellent soldier. But for this war, he must be sacrificed.”

  “This is for Byron’s future.”

  “Every Byronite must be prepared to make sacrifices.”

  In the mountain pass below, a dozen people were locked in bat, with six or seven corpses strewn across the ground.

  The smaller group was desperately proteg a frail old man in his fifties. His silver hair was slightly disheveled, though his ly groomed goatee remained immacute. luxurious attire and unarmed, he crouched beside a woman’s corpse, tears streaming down his face. Despite his subordinates’ urgent pleas, he refused to leave.

  Charlhe old man as Archduke Ferdinand of the Behemoth Principality, the target of the South Seraph Restorationists’ assassination attempt. The woman on the ground was the Archduchess. Charlot had heard tales of their tragic yet beautiful love story from their youth. Their deep bond was famous throughout the Fars Empire.

  Charlot muttered, “Even now, he refuses to leave her side. Archduke Ferdinand truly loved his wife.”

  Leo chuckled lightly. “The South Seraph Restorationists ck finesse. Kainan, give them a hand.”

  “Take aim at Ferdinand and send him on his way.”

  Charlot took several deep breaths, familiarizing himself with the on in his hands. He hadn’t used this rifle much before, and he couldn’t afford any mistakes now.

  After ensuring the rifle was ready to fire, Charlot suddenly twisted his waist, turning the anti-spaiper rifle toward Lord Leo. Knowing he had only one ce, he fired three secutive rounds without hesitation.

  The anti-magic armor-pierg rounds screamed through the air, their mournful wails eg as they hurtled forward.

  Charlot stared in astonishment as Leo suddenly leapt high into the air, the bullets missiirely.

  Leo had sensed something and jumped instinctively. The three shots that should have struck their mark hit oy air.

  Charlot ched his teeth, ready to draw Blood Rose for a desperate fight, when he saw a shadow, dark as the night itself, sweep toward Leo.

  The attacker was his respected senior, Menielman Soumet. Known as the Empire’s First Rose, she wore her military uniform impeccably, her rapier seeming to meld with the darkness as she struck with fury.

  Despite being a high-ranking Transdent, Leo had detected the strike in advance. With a desperate leap into the air, he cshed with Menielman mid-flight, iently avoiding Charlot’s “betrayal.”

  Leo, oblivious to Charlot’s i, assumed this “loyal Empire soldier” had been trying to assist him by fending off Menielman.

  Leo’s rapier didn’t even have time to shift into its knightly n before meeting Menielman’s attack head-on.

  With a single csh of rapiers, Leo let out a long, anguished howl. A deep wound opened on his chest, blood energy p out untrolbly. In a hurry, he transformed into a swarm of bats using the Vampiric Bloodbat Teique, clustering together and fleeing along the path they had e. As he left, he cast a Vampiric Trueword Spell, releasing a charm entment: “Kainan! Hold off this madwoman for me!”

  Charlot remained ued. As someone who had stared into the eyes of an Evil God, resisting charm spells was a trivial matter. Just as he was about to fire another round at the fleeing bats, Menielman’s voice rang softly in his ear. “Your rea just now was quick. If we coordinated better, that Byronite vampire wouldn’t have escaped.”

  Charlot felt a pang of embarrassment. Had he fired slightly earlier or ter, they might have seriously injured Leo.

  From her angle, Menielman could see what Leo could not: Charlot’s shots had been aimed at him, not at her. She knew Charlot had no iion of aiding Leo.

  Menielmahed her rapier and said, “Let’s go che Archduke Ferdinand.”