Blood Awakening: The Strongest Hybrid and His Vampire Bride

Meanwhile, back in S-City, Risa faced off with an old man who sealed the surrounding area in a strange barrier.

"What's the matter, cat got your tongue?"

The elderly vampire teased while sneering, his wrinkled face brimming with confidence. He stood five metres away from Risa and folded his arms.

'This damn old man!'

"Shut up!"

Without taking risks, her body flickered with wind, her green and black ethereal tails shimmering with light. She then vanished from the spot in a swirl of wind, hopping across the building to escape the elder's vision and avoid combat.

'This barrier won't last forever if I can just—'

—Bang!n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

A wrinkled hand grabbed her face out of nowhere and smashed her into a stone wall, sending her body flying as the old vampire tossed her across the buildings.

In midair, she used her sharp claws, dragging them across the steel support beams, creating silver sparks until her body came to a stop, all fours perched on the wall. Then scowled at the old man, who stood several metres away with a calm face.

"Oh? An interesting young lady, like a moody black cat." The old man's voice sounded impressed, his lips curling into a half smile before extending his arm and rolling his fingers in a beckoning fashion.

Instantly, Risa's lips quivered, turning into a snarl, as she returned the gesture, giving him two middle fingers and leaping off the wall, dashing faster than wind, using her nekomata arts.

—Woosh!

Her body spiralled in the air, snapping out with a brutal kick aimed at the old vampire's head. His eyes remained fixated on her previous position until the last moment.

—Fwoosh!

She missed—her attack only hit an image; the old vampire's form flickered and reappeared behind her in midair, rushing at her with an elbow.

—Bang!

Her tiny frame went flying once again, crashing through walls, pillars, and steel bars until finally stopping. She then smashed into a brick wall, sending fragments flying everywhere as her arms and legs spread out as if crucified on a cross.

"Gaha.... Urk...."

A thin stream of red oozed down her forehead while she slid down the wall with a low rustle. Risa spat out blood, barely conscious. Her ears and tail drooped in exhaustion as she lay motionless.

'How...'

Though she had fought powerful monsters before, she had never faced something so daunting. Risa's eyes could see his movement, but her mind and body couldn't match their reaction times. It was the difference in power. The old vampire was far stronger and more experienced, making it nearly impossible to defeat.

"Hoh? You're not dead... Not bad for an immature brat."

He slowly approached Risa, who sat crumpled up, squatting against the wall while blood dribbled from her lips. The old man's fangs grew longer as he approached with a twisted grin.

"Young blood helps me feel alive... a shame you didn't have a brain little cat."

—Tap, Tap, Tap

The old man reached closer... his eyes narrowed into pleasant crescents as he reached out towards Risa, ready to bite her neck.

"Yes..."

When his fangs sank into her neck, a strange sense of... emptiness, the warmth and blood he expected, was nowhere to be found, and before he could react, a figure dropped from above, causing his eyes to widen. Then, a swift knee fired at his face with a low howl.

The image of Risa faded into a shadow dispersing.

"Kuk!"

The old man skidded backwards from the attack, his wrinkled hand wiping at the corner of his lip. "You—"

—Woosh—Smack!

Risa's true body chased him like a ghost, rushing through the air as she slammed her right elbow into his abdomen and slapped his face with her two black tails as she twisted her body using the momentum. "—Ack!" Her elbow dug deeper, sending the old vampire flying in a blur of motion.

He tumbled over himself, his back smashing against the wall, and he didn't slow down as his body went straight through.

—Thud!

"Haa... damn old bastard... only he can bite me!"

Risa's body staggered—the amount of pain it caused when attacking the vampire bruised her skin slightly as she bit down and ignored the ache from his first attack, only able to create a shadow clone of herself at the moment before his second blow.

Unlike Kumiko's clones, the shadow clones of Risa were more of a momentary lifesaver than some kind of doll that could fight beside her, especially when the enemy focused on her.

The old man pulled himself from the wall, causing most of the auction house walls to crumble, his face sour, a frown on his lips and furrowed eyebrows.

"Clever little bitch... to make this Lestat Nosferatu bleed."

He lifted his right hand and then snapped.

A dark green aura flowed from his body, and his flesh started to deform, sinking and drying out as he became almost too disgusting to look at... a dried-out skeleton corpse.

"You look hideous..."

Risa growled while on all fours, her legs bouncing as she built up momentum, with the green aura from her wind arts flickering around her ankles and wrists.

"Inferior species, know your place and submit to the might of the Nosferatu, father of all beings!" His voice became distorted and guttural as his long fingers cracked and extended like a sickle. His mouth opened, and his fangs elongated until they distorted his jaw, becoming a horrifying creature.

—Woosh!

—Fwoom!

The graceful movement of a nekomata, followed by the dark and rapid rush of the vampire elder, clashed.

The surrounding area shook violently from their collision, and Risa struggled, but she held her own. In a rapid series of blows, her sharp claws and tails clashed against the vampires, and the thin, dried skeleton's movements became faster, stronger and more sinister than before.

Then, in an instant, the vampire vanished.

'What?'

—Thud!

"Ack!"

A burst of pain flared from behind, and she turned her head, but nothing was there. No, the arm of the corpse penetrated her stomach from the back.

"N-no..."

"Your blood will nourish the king of kings!"

—Crunch!

Risa's body twisted, using the force of her turn to tear out the arm before snapping out with her heel at the vampire's skull.

—Crash!

The vampire stumbled backwards as he dodged her follow-up tail strike. She leapt backwards, putting distance between them as a stream of red poured from her mouth.

Her hand pressed to the gaping hole in her stomach as her lips trembled.

'This damn freak!'

Risa's blood loss caused her chest to tighten, a strange throbbing flowing through her veins, burning her insides like liquid fire, as her eyes narrowed, unable to notice her face and body's gradual transformation, her pupils narrow, ears became larger, fluffier along with her hands, wrists and lower legs changing.

"Give up. You cannot defeat me." His distorted voice was confident, and a smirk was visible on his disgusting face. He dashed toward her again, but before his arm even came close, the black and green aura surrounding the Nekomata swirled, causing her to vanish completely.

—Tap, Tap, Tap!

Risa's arms dangled, her muscles tight and heavy. Her mouth twisted into a bitter smile, her fangs and teeth growing slightly sharper than before.

Fur and muscle formed around her forearms, calves and thighs and her tails extended, swaying in the cold air.

Risa didn't speak. Instead, she observed the elder, who started to smash the surroundings. As she watched from an elevated building on all fours, a strange excitement and rush filled her body.

"Where are you, bitch! Come out!"

The dried corpse shouted, his rage growing more erratic.

Yet, like a feline hunting a mouse, Risa's body hopped, dashed and floated around his body, moving to the opportune place to strike and inflict mortal damage. A predatory grin crossed her lips.

"Behind you, asshole."

Her voice whispered into his ear.

Instantly, his eyes bulged, but it was already too late, her claws shining with a black and green aura cut through the air, forming five crescent arcs of light, ripping through his right shoulder and torso. Black blood sprayed into the sky like a geyser.

"Aargh! Bastard! How dare you!" The vampire's cries echoed as his right arm went flying, blood spilling from the wound and burning away as steam rose into the night.

She didn't waste time and followed up.

Her claws raked across the elder's back and ribs, sending him sprawling forward, the tips of her nails barely scraping across his neck before his fist shot back. The wind howled as it stopped just before hitting Risa's face, her tail wrapped around the wrist of the corpse, tight like a knot.

She didn't let go. Her tail was firmly wrapped, and she used it as a fulcrum. Her knee crashed against his chin, forcing him back a couple of metres.

But Risa was relentless as she repeated her attack with the other knee, her body like a bouncing ball, hitting the floor before yanking the corpse with her tails.

"Take that, you damn perverted old man!"

With a growl, she twisted and swung her leg, striking his neck.

—Crack!

The force of the kick tore the head clean off the shoulders of the elderly vampire, sending his head flying in a mist of crimson.

"I won?!"

Her voice cracked as she called out, but the next moment, the body of the vampire attacked her one last time, his left hand slicing into her neck and shoulder like a sickle.

"Gah.... Aaaarrr!"

Blood splattered the ground. Risa rolled back in pain, clutching her neck and shoulder.

Though the corpse dropped... all the dark green energy seeping from the body, Risa's state wasn't that great either.

As the surrounding barrier faded... she tapped the device in her ears, sending the rescue request.

『Risa?! Respond! We've saved the slaves in the basement! Hurry... where are you?』