"It's my first time actually standing in front of a Van," Gabriel said as he slowly circled the Van. "Is it true that the Vampire Hunter Association actually gives you a superior metahuman serum once you kill enough Vampire Nobles?"
Cornelius remained quiet. Instead, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a wooden dagger.
Despite its ordinary appearance, the wooden dagger was extremely dangerous. It was infused with silver fragments and holy water, then reinforced with titanium, making it nearly indestructible.
But Gabriel came prepared. He reached into his own pocket and pulled out a tiny staff. Once he clicked a certain button, the staff expanded until it was just slightly longer than a regular staff. Since this staff was also made out of pure Titanium, it wouldn't break easily.
Even metahumans would struggle to lift it as it weighed nearly 400 kilograms. But Gabriel, a Vampire Noble, handled it like a feather. As the staff was one of the first weapons he learned how to use, he twirled it around, until eventually, he stood his ground and narrowed his eyes at Cornelius.
The two just stared at each other, until Cornelius made the first move. Gabriel could barely react as Cornelius reappeared in front of him and slashed his dagger.
Even if Gabriel couldn't track his speed, a loud ringing noise in the back of his head alerted him, forcing him to move his body and just barely avoid the attack from hitting him.
Gabriel swung the staff at Cornelius's feet, then kicked off the ground, closing the distance and swinging down.
But even with the heavy staff, the sheer power difference was crazy, as Cornelius could stop his two handed strike with just a single hand.
Though while their clash intensified, neither of them got the upper hand.
***
Rachel on the other hand was in a completely different situation, as by now, she had risen way past the clouds, and so the stakes of all the other Vampire Hunters couldn't reach her.
The only person still here was Teresa, and even then, she needed to reload way too often for her to be able to strike Rachel here.
Still... The wound on her forearm was still there, and it also looked like Teresa imbued some poison into her wooden stake, since Rachel's never stopped spilling out.
"Why don't you just call it quits here, miss Vermillion?" Teresa asked with a slight smile. "I mean, look at it this way. If I end your life now, you won't have to worry about us experimenting on your body. Gabriel on the other hand though..."
"Don't you even dare put his name in your mouth," Rachel said, radiating fearsome killing intent.
Teresa paused for a moment. "Yeah? Well, he's fighting against Cornelius, and we both know how that battle will end. Just give up now, and I promise I'll tell Cornelius to spare Gabriel's life."
The way Teresa saw it, she had already won. They had so much more numbers, and even two Vans. With Rachel injured, and Gabriel still being an infant Vampire, there was no chance for them to win.
Yet, as her confidence was starting to show on her face, her expression suddenly turned dark.
Just then, the clouds turned into bloody mist, and as for the sun that had been shining directly above them, it turned into a crimson moon. The sky became pitch black, and even more surprisingly, Teresa now had footing, albeit, it was just a shallow pool of blood.
Though footing or not, she quickly realized that Rachel had vanished. She looked everywhere, but Rachel was just nowhere to be seen.
That was until a soothing whisper rang out from one of the crimson mists beside her.
"Time and time again, Gabriel has proven to me that he's a far superior Vampire Noble than most... Even though he hasn't matured, he's already on the level of a 250 year old Ordinary Vampire."
Rachel paused for a moment.
"I trust him. But I'm also not foolish enough to believe that he can singlehandedly defeat a Van. At least not yet."
Teresa felt a chill run down her spine, and once she turned around and aimed her gun, she realized no one was there.
She soon felt a tap on her shoulder, and tried to immediately turn around. However, her body was completely frozen as all of the Holy Water she had drank on her way here suddenly flowed up her throat, and began dripping from all her orifices.
Her finger rested on her weapon's trigger, until she felt a warm touch of none other than Rachel, who carefully tip-toed around Teresa for a moment, then gently grabbed the specialized desert eagle out of Teresa's hands and inspected it carefully, even going as far as looking down the barrel.
"Mmm~ So this is how you make them nowadays? I remember you guys used some better made triggers. You switched to gunpowder ignition? Well, I guess I'll have to gift this to Gabriel, since I remember he used to be quite the collector back in the day~"
Teresa's eyes widened. Her heart thumped loudly as the Holy Water was slowly suffocating her. But when the last drop of Holy Water left her body, she felt an euphoric sensation wash over her.
Yet when her eyes landed on Rachel, she realized that Rachel was holding something red in her palm. Something red that beat in rhythm. Only after a few moments did Teresa realize it was her heart.
"W-What... How...?"
"Little imp, let me give you a quick tip." Rachel pointed Teresa's weapon at her head, then took a bite out of her heart. "The reason you never fight a Vampire Noble alone, is because every single one of us has a Blood Domain."
She smiled.
"And when you have no one else to help you... You can imagine what happens, right?"
Teresa felt her vision growing foggy, yet the horror of watching Rachel eat her own heart terrified her to the core. Just why exactly did she become a Vampire Hunter?
Did she really do this just so she could fight these immortal monsters?
In her final moments, she couldn't even hear what Rachel was saying anymore, but despite that, she knew that she wouldn't die peacefully. So she broke off her tooth, and then swallowed it.
In the next instant, her mouth began to foam, and she finally dropped dead. But not before being completely drained of blood, turned into a raisin, and then discard into the shallow pool of Rachel's Blood Domain as though she was nothing but trash.
With every bite that Rachel took out of Teresa's purified heart, the more her wound healed. Rather, there was still a tiny bit of Holy Water left.
But when a vampire mixes Holy Water in very small amounts, distills it with blood, and then absorbs it, they're easily able to heal injuries inflicted by Holy Water.
And in this case, Rachel used Teresa's heart to do so. When her wound was finally healed, she continued chomping down on Teresa's heart, while also closing her Blood Domain, only to see hundreds of regular Vampire Hunters running into her manor, and some even climbing onto the rooftop, trying to ruin Gabriel's fight against the bald boy.
She could easily step in and help Gabriel kill that bald Van... But seeing how he was actually holding his own, Rachel felt like this was the perfect opportunity for him to practice. If she sensed he was in danger, she'd step in.
As for the other Vampire Hunters who were trying to butt into the fight?
"These pests shouldn't even dare to try going anywhere near Gabriel."