Science/Magic

Two chappies...

...

"We only want something, Mr. Bloed. We are here for the Heart of the Forest."

Bloed's expression changed immediately.

"Church of Slaughter!"

"That is us..." Anna grinned sinesterly.

Instantly, Bloed felt a chill on his spine, forcing him to jump aside.

One second later, a dagger cut the place where he was previously.

"We should continue our battle, Mr. Bloed. But be careful; otherwise, I could kill you accidentally."

"Bitch." Bloed glared at her with a somber expression. At the same time, he could not help but become anxious.

Right now, several enemies were attacking Liu Ying, Eres, and the others. Moreover, he could feel that the enemies were all A-Rank and B-Rank practitioners.

He needed to help them as soon as possible.

However, he could feel Ana's killing intent locked on him.

If he tried to move, she would attack him.

Bloed closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He needed to get rid of this girl as quickly as possible. Otherwise, he would be unable to help the others.

However, he could see that it was not going to be easy.

Anna's mana had become much stronger than when he was fighting her a moment ago. It felt almost twice stronger.

Bloed was not confident in defeating her.

"… How did you know Princess Elwha was with us?" He asked Anna.

Bloed had given to Princess Elwha a device that allowed her to alter her features slightly, and her name in the registers of Academy City was different. Bloed had taken these precautions to avoid her being discovered.

But even so, the Church of Slaughter had discovered her location.

Anna replied Bloed's question with a grin.

"You seriously underestimate us, Mr. Bloed. The Church of Slaughter has existed for many years. Did you truly think that such small tricks could be hidden from us? We have many ways to find the princess, no matter how she hides.

"Unfortunately, we could not attack her easily due to the demigod guarding you. That demigod is a bit too powerful, you see. Plus, the demigods of Academy City would move if we try something funny.

"Today is different, though. Right now, Academy City is too busy to send reinforcements, and your demigod is busy fighting our saint. This is the best opportunity to take the Heart of the Forest."

Bloed's eyes narrowed.

The fact that Anna was so confident that Academy City would not send reinforcements meant that the situation in the city was worse than he thought. Most likely, it was related to the explosions of before.

In other words, he needed to take care of Anna by himself.

'Should I use Imaginary Sword? However, I need to succeed in an attempt. Otherwise, it could become dangerous.'

Imaginary Sword and Shield of Nothingness were Bloed's trump cards. These attacks were enough to injure an unguarded demigod.

However, he could use them only thrice before losing most of his combat strength. And in the current situation, losing his combat strength was very dangerous.

If he was attacked by someone in that state, then he could die.

Taking a deep breath, Bloed closed his eyes to weigh the current situation.

When he opened them again, his bright blue eyes shone with a sharp glint, and his aura changed completely.

Feeling the change, Anna's smile became wider.

"That looks dangerous."

Then, she attacked.

Her figure disappeared from her previous location, appearing above Bloed.

Several flying knives were released from her hands, flying towards Bloed's body and blocking his escape routes.

However, Bloed did not bother to avoid them. Leto became into a shield of metallic sand, protecting Bloed from the attacks. At the same time, Oculus released a barrage of energy bullets towards Anna's location.

However, Anna's flying knives were much more powerful than before. If not that Leto used all its metallic sand to block them, they could have penetrated the shield.

'… At this rate, I can only use Leto's defensively.' Bloed thought to himself.

Bloed's normal strategy was to use Leto's metallic sand to restraint and attack the enemies, but if he tried that against Anna, he feared that the metallic sand remaining would be unable to stop her knives.

To make things worse, Anna's speed was incredibly fast, even faster than Nathan, who he fought a few days ago.

Moreover, unlike Nathan who fought in close combat, Anna used long-ranged combat, making it harder to deal with her.

Fortunately, Bloed was not completely helpless against her. With the help of his eyes, he managed to follow Anna's movements and use his energy guns to attack the girl.

Anna did not dare to receive Bloed's energy bullets head-on. After all, the power of the blaster bullets was enough to cause her serious injuries.

Moreover, the barrage of bullets coming from Oculus made it harder for her to move freely.

"Dammit it! Troublesome thing!"

With a fed-up expression, Anna threw several flying knives towards Oculus, effectively creating a hole on it. But in the next second, Oculus turned into metallic sand that reformed in another place without any damage.

Meanwhile, Bloed's guns continued shooting bullets towards Anna's location.

The battle continued like that for a while, with both of them using long-range attacks to attack the other, but just when it seemed that the stalemate would continue for a while, Anna's movements abruptly changed.

All of sudden, she accelerated in Bloed's direction!

And her speed was even faster than before!

Bloed tried his best to remain calm. With a thought, Leto surged in front of him, but then, Anna threw a dagger towards it.

And when the dagger reached the metallic sand, it exploded!

*Boom!*

The explosion created a cloud of dust that covered Bloed's vision. Making use of it, Anna appeared behind him.

With a sadistic smile on her face, the beautiful girl held a dagger in a backhanded grab and used it to cut towards Bloed's throat.

But when she was about to slice his throat, she saw Bloed's blue eyes shining brightly inside the dust.

"You are mine." Bloed smiled.

Then, the sharp edge of his saber cut towards her abdomen.