Chapter 593 Leave One Alive
The battlefield shifted the moment the vampire leader fell.
For the first time since they had appeared, the remaining elite vampires hesitated.
It wasn’t fear.
Not yet.
It was uncertainty.
Their leader had been the pillar holding them together, the one issuing commands while they executed them with machine-like precision. The instant Dickson crushed him, that perfect coordination developed tiny cracks. Those cracks spread through the formation with every passing second until hesitation became disorder.
Lana noticed it immediately.
"They’re slowing down."
Lilith’s icy blue eyes swept across the battlefield.
"They’ve lost their center."
Around them, the remaining vampires no longer advanced as one. Some still charged recklessly, driven by instinct. Others glanced toward the place where their leader had fallen, almost expecting him to stand back up.
He never did.
Lana slowly exhaled.
The corners of her lips lifted into a confident smile.
"Then let’s finish this."
Without another word, she burst forward.
The battlefield exploded beneath her feet as fire surged around her body, roaring upward like a living cyclone. Heat rolled across the battlefield in suffocating waves, turning broken weapons red-hot where they lay.
Three vampires rushed her together.
Unlike the crazed ones from earlier, these moved with frightening discipline.
One attacked from above.
One circled toward her blind spot.
The third came directly from the front, hoping to occupy her attention.
Lana didn’t even bother turning.
She simply raised one hand.
A whip of blazing fire snapped outward.
CRACK!
The first vampire tried to dodge.
Too slow.
The flaming whip wrapped around his waist before tightening violently.
Lana clenched her fist.
The whip contracted.
The vampire’s body slammed into the ground hard enough to leave a crater before another wave of fire erupted around him, swallowing him completely.
His screams barely lasted a second before disappearing beneath the inferno.
The second vampire reached her.
His claws flashed toward her neck.
A wall of crystal suddenly erupted between them.
CLANG!
His claws scraped harmlessly across solid ice.
Lilith appeared on the other side.
"You’ll have to do better."
The vampire barely understood the words before Lilith flicked her fingers.
The wall shattered.
Not outward.
Forward.
Thousands of razor-sharp shards burst from the frozen barrier like a storm.
The vampire crossed both arms to protect himself.
The ice struck anyway.
Each shard punched into his body with terrifying force, throwing him backward until he crashed into another advancing vampire.
Both tumbled together.
Before either could recover—
Lana pointed toward them.
A sphere of condensed fire formed above her palm.
It expanded rapidly until it was nearly the size of a carriage.
She smiled.
"Catch."
The blazing sphere crashed into the ground between them.
BOOOOM!!
Flames erupted outward in every direction.
The shockwave rolled across the battlefield, forcing nearby vampires to leap backward as burning earth spread beneath their feet.
The two caught inside never emerged.
One of the werewolf elders couldn’t help laughing.
"They’re finally fighting together."
Another elder nodded.
"They’ve learned each other’s rhythm."
That was the terrifying part.
Months ago, Lana and Lilith often fought independently.
Now...
Neither needed to speak.
Lana’s flames naturally guided enemies into Lilith’s frozen traps.
Lilith’s walls redirected fleeing vampires straight into Lana’s infernos.
They moved like two halves of the same weapon.
Five more vampires attempted to surround Lilith.
She calmly stepped backward.
The instant her heel touched the ground—
Frost exploded outward beneath every one of them.
The earth became a frozen mirror.
The vampires lost their footing simultaneously.
Only for a river of fire to sweep across the slippery surface.
The flames raced over the ice instead of melting it completely, creating a horrifying combination of blistering heat and razor-thin frozen ground that robbed the vampires of every bit of balance.
One stumbled.
Another slipped into him.
A third tried to leap clear.
Lana was already waiting.
She spun gracefully.
A crescent of blazing fire erupted from her kick.
The flaming arc crossed the battlefield in an instant before slamming into the airborne vampire and hurling him into the frozen ground.
Before he could rise—
Lilith gently lowered her hand.
Ice erupted around him.
Not to crush.
To imprison.
Crystal spread across his body until only his face remained visible.
The vampire struggled violently.
Lilith looked at him quietly.
"You won’t."
The ice tightened.
Cracks spread throughout the frozen prison.
Then—
CRACK!
The entire structure collapsed inward.
Nothing remained standing.
Nearby soldiers watched in stunned silence.
One quietly whispered,
"...How do you even fight people like that?"
His captain didn’t answer.
He couldn’t.
Because every attack the two women unleashed reshaped the battlefield itself.
Lana advanced again.
This time she no longer released individual attacks.
Instead, flames poured continuously from both hands, weaving together into enormous serpents that slithered across the battlefield with frightening speed.
The fiery constructs moved independently, twisting between ruined vehicles before lunging at isolated vampires.
One serpent wrapped around a vampire’s torso.
Another caught his legs.
Together they tore him from the ground before hurling him straight toward Lilith.
Lilith raised both hands.
The temperature dropped instantly.
A towering spear of crystal erupted upward.
The airborne vampire collided directly with it.
The impact stopped him completely.
Another spear erupted.
Then another.
Then another.
Within seconds an entire forest of crystalline pillars surrounded the battlefield, forcing the remaining vampires into narrower and narrower paths.
Exactly what Lana wanted.
She grinned.
"They’re trapped."
She thrust both palms forward.
Every serpent burst apart.
Instead of disappearing, they became hundreds of blazing projectiles that flooded the maze of crystal.
The vampires suddenly found themselves surrounded by burning walls and frozen barriers.
Every direction led toward death.
One attempted climbing over the crystal.
The pillar instantly coated itself with freezing frost, locking both of his hands in place.
Lana’s fire reached him a heartbeat later.
Another tried breaking through.
His punch shattered one pillar.
Three more immediately erupted behind it.
The battlefield itself refused to let them escape.
"They’re herding them..."
Peter whispered from behind the defensive line.
"They’re actually herding vampires..."
Exactly that.
Lilith continuously altered the terrain, narrowing every escape route.
Lana filled those routes with fire.
Together they systematically dismantled the elite formation.
The remaining vampires finally recognized the danger.
Several abandoned their assault entirely, attempting to regroup elsewhere.
Lilith calmly shook her head.
"I don’t think so."
She stretched one hand toward the heavens.
Snow began falling once more.
Not gentle flakes.
Countless shimmering crystals.
The battlefield glittered beneath the pale light as every snowflake carried traces of her mana.
The instant they landed—
Entire sections of ground froze solid.
The fleeing vampires abruptly lost momentum.
One slipped.
Another crashed into him.
Their formation collapsed.
Lana laughed.
"Perfect timing."
She stomped once.
Fire erupted beneath every frozen section simultaneously.
Steam exploded upward in massive white clouds while the sudden temperature shift disoriented every vampire caught inside.
That single opening was enough.
The werewolves arrived.
Like silver comets, enormous wolves burst through the steam, crashing into the scattered vampires before they could recover. Powerful jaws, sweeping claws and coordinated strikes overwhelmed those still trying to regain their footing.
Within moments—
Another body fell.
Then another.
Then three more.
By the time the steam finally cleared, nearly thirty elite vampires lay motionless across the battlefield.
The surviving vampires looked around.
Their numbers had already fallen below seventy.
And for the first time...
Real fear appeared in their eyes.
Lana slowly rolled her shoulders.
Lilith stood quietly beside her.
Neither woman looked particularly exhausted.
Neither had any intention of stopping.
Lana glanced toward the shrinking enemy force before smiling.
"Looks like we’re only getting started."
Lilith’s gaze remained fixed on the vampires.
"Then let’s keep going."
Side by side, fire and ice advanced once more, and the battlefield itself seemed to brace for the next storm.
Lana was about to surge forward again when a familiar voice suddenly rang across the battlefield.
"Oi."
"Stop for a second."
She frowned as she instinctively halted her flames. Beside her, Lilith also paused, the frost gathering around her fingertips slowly settling back into the air instead of erupting forward.
Both women turned simultaneously.
Dickson was pointing toward the remaining vampires.
His expression had changed.
The usual grin was gone.
Instead, his eyes were quietly studying the enemy.
"...Look at them."
The battlefield itself seemed to calm for a brief moment.
Everyone’s attention shifted toward the remaining vampires.
There were barely seventy of them left now.
Compared to the thousands that had marched toward the bunker earlier, they looked pitiful.
Broken.
Surrounded.
Completely outnumbered.
Many of them were bleeding from countless wounds. Some leaned heavily on broken weapons just to remain standing.
Yet...
Not one of them took a single step backward.
Not one.
Lana narrowed her eyes.
Dickson folded his arms.
"They’re scared."
There was no doubt in his voice.
"They know they’re going to die."
"They know every single one of them is outmatched."
"They know there’s absolutely no chance they’ll leave this battlefield alive..."
His gaze lingered on the silent vampire ranks.
"...and yet none of them are running."
Lana looked from the vampires back to Dickson.
"And?"
"What’s your point?"
Dickson scratched the side of his head.
"My point..."
"...is that this isn’t normal."
He slowly jumped down from the broken concrete slab he had been standing on and walked a few steps toward the battlefield, his boots crunching over shattered stone before stopping once more.
"I’ve fought cowards."
"I’ve fought fanatics."
"I’ve fought people who’d die for pride."
He pointed lazily toward the remaining vampires.
"But this..."
"This is different."
"They’re terrified."
"You can literally see it in their eyes."
"They don’t want to die."
"...but something is forcing them to stay."