Beyond the Bloodline-Chapter 181: The first ‘Void’.

Reversing her grip, Miranda used the chisel edge of the second crowbar to pierce the back of her target’s skull, using enough force that it sent the man’s body flying in the direction of someone trying to attack her from behind.

By some force of nature, the bent claw of the crowbar ended up in that one’s head!

Meanwhile, Miranda was already tearing the throats of four more with her wolf claws, with the accumulated EXP causing her to Level Up by 1.

The moment she saw the notification, Jamie who was ripping off the wings of another demon merc snapped his head in her direction.

"Oh, you levelled up?"

"...how did you know?"

Miranda had only just seen the notification, but somehow Jamie was able to sense it. It was also just a single-level increase. However, Jamie had been keeping a close watch on Miranda in case of any unexpected dangers, so he sensed when her base power increased and concluded that she had levelled up.

Anyway, Miranda was now Level 990. For the record, Jamie was already Level 1000. He had been on that level for the past six months and Miranda was only just catching up

"Mira, let’s ro-!"

"?!"

Jamie’s words cut off as the skies abruptly darkened, an ominous prelude to the devastation that was about to be unleashed by the Tier 6 Magic circle that suddenly appeared above.

From the heavens, meteorites began to rain down with terrifying speed and intensity, an attack with no regard for friend or foe, its sole intention to annihilate every single person on the ground.

’Another force?!’

Jamie frowned as a new wave of attackers entered his spatial perception, and he glanced towards the barrier he had placed around the car where Tiris was, his frown deepening as he realized his protective shield wouldn’t be able to withstand the immense power of the incoming meteorites.

As such, he made a quick decision to use a technique he was still developing.

Holding up his hands, Jamie focused on the descending meteors and spoke with a calm voice.

[Void.]

He then snapped his right index finger and thumb, the sound reverberating through the area. Even those who had their eardrums burst by Miranda’s sonic attacks seemed to ’hear’ the snap.

Spatial power rapidly concentrated in multiple points above their heads, distorting space and forming giant azure-rimmed portals that revealed a deep, consuming darkness within.

These portals exuded an immense pulling force, drawing in the meteorites as if they were mere pebbles. The meteors, once harbingers of destruction, were sucked into the void where they were erased from existence.

The portals closed as quickly as they had opened, leaving the sky clear once more, and the battlefield momentarily silent.

Jamie lowered his hands and observed the aftermath with a critical eye.

"Hmm... that worked out better than I thought. The energy efficiency is shit, though."

He muttered to himself with a wry smile playing on his face, and seeing him acting so casually after dealing with the meteorites had his allies looking at him with a mixture of awe and fear.

Jamie ignored their gazes and turned his gaze, locking onto the Archmage hiding with an illusion spell and teleporting behind her.

"?! Expl-kak!"

She turned around and tried to attack, but Jamie hit her throat with the side of his palm faster than she could cast her spell.

He grabbed onto her right hand and lifted her up with just that hand, but she moved her left and conjured a four-ringed spell circle there, attempting to blast Jamie’s face with it in a desperate move.

This left him no choice but to seize her left hand as well, crushing her spell circle with his spatial power.

Holding both of her hands above her head, Jamie hovered a few centimetres in the air, causing her feet to dangle and cutting off the flow of magic she was channelling into the earth.

’This one is good. Even though her voice is temporarily out, and she received backlash for me destroying her magic circle, she was still able to cast another in the ground.’

Jamie evaluated the woman in his mind, before slightly parting his lips, revealing his gleaming fangs.

The sight of them made the woman’s face pale and she struggled to escape his grip, trying to kick him but Jamie froze her body with spatial power and latched his fangs onto her neck, sucking her blood to replenish the magic he spent blocking her meteorite spell.

After this, he looked her right in the eyes and though she tried to close them, a single instant of eye contact was enough for Jamie to take hold of her.

"Now then, Miss."

Jamie’s palm traced her skin, from her bleeding neck to the sides of her cheeks and he spoke.

"Would you do me a favour and kill your companions for me?"

"Yes, Master."

The woman replied with listless eyes and when Jamie let go of her, she immediately used flight magic and dashed over to her allies before bombarding them with Tier 5 spells.

"What’s wrong with you?!"

"Fuck! She got charmed!"

One of them realised what had happened and dashed over to her, intending to kill her to prevent any more friendly fire, but Jamie formed a finger gun and shot a bullet of destruction energy in his trajectory.

He sensed the danger and jumped back to avoid it, instinctively turning his head in the direction the attack came from—an action which turned out to be a mistake as he met Jamie’s eyes.

"Join her."

That was all Jamie said and the man turned around and released a mighty roar, before summoning a battle axe and beheading his ally in one swing.

In this manner, Jamie went around compelling them to kill themselves, while Miranda watched with cold eyes, the sight of Jamie drinking blood and compelling people irking her.

Miranda loved her Werewolf side more than her Vampire side. To say she merely disliked her Vampire side would be a gross understatement.

She hated—no, she detested her Vampire side with every fibre of her being.

What she abhorred even more was the irrefutable fact that she was a Hybrid. In a way, she used her werewolf transformation so frequently because she desperately wanted to forget the other powers lurking within her.

She had completely sealed away her Hybrid nature using her True Name, making her, at present, simply an Ancient-Breed Werewolf.

Of course, "Ancient-Breed" was hardly a designation to be taken lightly, but the point remained.

As for her reasons? They weren’t difficult to surmise.

She gained these Hybrid powers as a result of being experimented on by Angela. Fancy words aside, Angela used her as a guinea pig to test the Vampire Bloodline Infusion method that she later used to Transform Jamie into a Hybrid.

Given the circumstances, it was understandable that Miranda harboured no fondness for these powers that had been experimentally forced upon her against her will.

Even more so when it had only been 5 years since then. 5 years might be long for a human, but Miranda was born a Werewolf and their kind lived for millennia. Her concept of time was vastly different, so 5 years was rather short for her.

"Alright, they’re all dead."

Jamie’s voice snapped Miranda out of her thoughts and she looked at him just in time to see him scan the area with his spatial perception.

"...no one else. Let’s move it, people!"

The man clapped his hands and disabled the barrier around the car with Tiris in it as he shouted out to the other Mercs and Argeryan family guards, but Miranda didn’t move and just stared at him with narrowed eyes.

’There’s someone else.’

She was sure of this.

Jamie’s spatial perception should have given him instantaneous results, yet he paused for a second before he spoke.

That was enough for Miranda to figure out that there was someone he had sensed, but he didn’t speak about it for whatever reason.

It didn’t take too long for the guards to wrap things up, pick up the dead corpses of their allies so they didn’t get turned to undead, burn those of their enemies and re-enter the vehicles which quickly sped out of the area.

Jamie stood on the roof of the Tiris’ car, forming a finger gun and releasing a bullet of destruction energy that obliterated the spiked earthen fence that was meant to trap them within, allowing the cars to drive past without obstruction.

In such a manner, they left the Krovale Region and headed straight into the Wildlands.