Her Duty

When she emerges from the rubble, the Queen of Blood is clad in a red dress.

No, that's wrong.

What she is clad in is blood in the form of a dress.

She is manipulating the blood to act as a dress to cover her nakedness. Above her skin, the dress of blood ripples bewitchingly as if it has a life of its own.

The overwhelming pressure emanating from the Queen of Blood causes Beta to grimace underneath her mask.

"So this is the Queen of Blood..."

A true to life monster.

"Beta-sama..."

664 looks at Beta as if awaiting her decision.

Beta shakes her head.

The possibility of escape is extremely low. And in the first place, abandoning their master's sister is not an option.

There is no choice but to fight.

But, that instant.

"My, oh my, what a monster... May I join in?"

A fox beastkin with nine tails appears. Her silvery white hair flutters as she opens up two metal-ribbed fans.

"You are... Yukime the Enchantress..."

It is her first time seeing her in person, but Beta knows of the monarchs of Outlaw City.

Beta's and Yukime's eyes meet, as if they are silently confirming something with each other.

"I would be grateful for your aid." (Beta)

That was Beta's decision.

"Then join hands we shall." (Yukime)

They both turn towards the Queen of Blood.

But then an intruder barges in.

"Don't fucking start without me."

The window glass is shattered, then a hulking man with tanned skin jumps in. He rests his giant nata on his shoulders and snorts as he directs his gaze towards the Queen of Blood.

"So you're the bigshot here? You sure went and did a number on my city." (Juggernaut)

"Where do you think you just came from?" (Yukime)

"Where I come from is my freedom, old hag. I will be the one to end this bitch."

"Do as you please, then." (Yukime)

Beta also knows of him. He is another monarch of Outlaw City, Juggernaut the Tyrant.

This moment, all three monarchs of Outlaw City have been gathered. Every single one of them is powerful enough to carve out a portion of the city for themselves. And two of them have joined hands against the Queen of Blood.

Beta feels relieved at this fortuitous turn. With this, they might still have a chance at winning.

"Eat this!!"

It is Juggernaut who rushes forward to claim first blood.

He closes the distance with his beast-like movements, then swings down his prided giant nata.

The Queen of Blood does not even flinch.

"What?!"

The giant nata tears into the Queen of Blood, but it is Juggernaut who raises his voice in astonishment.

Without any resistance, his giant nata passes straight through the Queen of Blood.

"Mistify?!"

The ability to turn their own body into mist that only high class vampires can use.

However, the Queen of Blood had used it without any telltale signs whatsoever. Furthermore, she had applied it only to the areas in the trajectory of the giant nata.

"SO ANNOYING!!"

Juggernaut unleashes another mowing attack with his giant nata.

However, the Queen of Blood once again receives it without moving a muscle. For an instant, her neck blurs, during which the giant nata passes through harmlessly.

Then the Queen of Blood gathers blood in her left hand.

A frightening amount of magic is also being infused into the growing mass.

"That's a bad one!"

"Evade!!"

Yukime and Beta both shout out, prompting everyone to take evasive maneuvers.

The Queen of Blood tosses the mass into the air, immediately after which it explodes.

The clump of blood explodes, sending blood splashing everywhere. But in a split second, the flying drops change shape and turn into a hail of arrowheads.

The blood arrowheads staining the space red are packed so densely as to be absolutely unavoidable.

"Kuh!!"

Beta promptly decides to give up on evasion, instead rushing over to stand in front of Claire.

By strengthening the defense to her vital areas with her bodysuit and using her jet-black blade to parry away as many arrowheads as she can, she offers her own body as a shield.

Her cheeks are lacerated, and there are arrowheads buried into her arms and thighs.

Eventually, the rain of arrowheads stop.

Aside from minor scratches, Milia and Claire did not suffer any serious wounds due to the arrowheads.

However, the damage that Beta took was quite significant.

"Y-, you..."

Seeing Beta's figure, Milia becomes at a loss for words.

Her jet-black bodysuit is miserably torn up in countless places, revealing her white skin and red flesh. There are even several arrowheads lodged into her arms and legs.

"Not a problem. I protected my vitals."

But Beta just calmly brings her sword back up while assessing her surroundings.

Unfortunately, not everyone is still as battle-ready as Beta is.

664 is wounded all over, and is bleeding profusely from a deep gash on her abdomen.

665 is similarly wounded all over, and her feet seem to have been done in.

666 also has conspicuous wounds, but appears not to have suffered anything major.

Yukime also suffered a few wounds, but nothing serious.

As for Juggernaut, the one who had been the closest to the center of the explosion...

"That fucking hurts..."

He is covered head to foot with blood.

There are arrowheads pierced into every part of his body, and the bleeding has stained his tanned skin red.

Even so, he is standing on his feet, with his giant nata resting on his shoulder.

The chips on his giant nata are also very conspicuous. It seems that he had used his giant nata to protect his vitals.

"Shit... what a fucking monster..." (Juggernaut)

However, he quickly falls to one knee.

"'Red Moon'... I remember now. But to think that the Queen of Blood is the infamous progenitor vampire from the legends...!" (Yukime)

Yukime is gazing at the Queen of Blood with shock.

"What's that?" (Juggernaut)

"From long in the past... there is a legend of a vampire who destroyed several countries within a mere three days." (Yukime)

"Entire countries... in three days... ?" (Juggernaut)

Juggernaut grimaces while turning to look up at the Queen of Blood.

There is not a single person present who doubts that the Queen of Blood is the one from the legend.

"664, 665, fall back." (Beta)

Beta withdraws the two who are no longer capable of doing battle.

"666, you too." (Beta)

"I can still fight!" (666)

"You have something else that you need to do, right?" (Beta)

"... Eh?" (666)

Beta smiles underneath her mask, then steps forward.

She has already given up trying to win.

The Queen of Blood is a monster that Beta herself is no match for. No matter how much she struggles, even if all of them throw themselves at her, the chance for victory is nil.

However, they don't need to win.

Even if Beta cannot win, her master surely can. She holds absolute faith in her master.

That's why all Beta has to do is buy time until her master arrives.

That is the final duty left to her.