"Alright, but we need to discuss the terms beforehand," Raphael responded as he walked away from Gabriella. "If I win, you'll become my queen and forget about the friends you brought here since you won’t see them again."

Gabriella opened her mouth, but Raphael grinned and continued, “And on the off chance that I lose, well, you can have my head.“

"No.” She spoke towards Raphael but addressed herself to all the vampires around. “When I win, you must accept me as The queen and treat Isaac’s wound."

"Sure, okay." He responded dismissively, his voice dripping with indifference.

“Be careful,” Luo told her. “I’ll help you if something goes wrong.”

However, Gabriella only shook her head. The dim lighting cast eerie shadows, and the hushed murmurs from the spectators sent a shiver down her spine as she stepped on the cold concrete. Each footfall echoed throughout the vast town square, amplifying the tension in the air. With no barriers to protect the onlookers, the arena felt exposed, intensifying the gravity of the impending duel.

One of Raphael’s vampires ascended to a balcony and spoke through a microphone, exciting the growing public. The onlookers stood in the town square all around the arena. Some flew atop buildings or in the sky for a better view.

Meanwhile, Gabriella Rivampe and Raphael Vanthorn prepared to fight, each on opposite ends of the concrete stage.

'He's way too strong. I can't beat him.' Gabriella’s confidence was already lacking from the beginning. Now that her parents were dead, he was the strongest vampire in the Obscure Guild.

Gabriella wasn’t sure what she was doing. No one was rooting for her but Luo and a minority of vampires. Jenna was with Isaac in the car.

But she knew, in Vamp City, a duel was the only way to settle a dispute. She despised this tradition. She never liked anything about vampires. They were just fiends who ate, sometimes slept and fought between themselves. Every high vampire was corrupt, and the other vampires were just pawns.

She used to take pride in her parents, the only ones that seemed sane. ‘But I was blind. My mother wasn’t any good, turning innocent men like Ejiro and flipping their lives upside-down. My father only wanted to rule with an iron fist. They both left politics to the other vampires. And I was also uncaring. I killed countless humans like they were toys, from children to the elderly, and I found it fun.

‘This is all in the past now. I’m no longer a lazy princess but the Queen. That’s what I’m here to prove.’

Catching on to her unrest, Raphael softly offered, "You're welcome to give up anytime."

There were hundreds of vampires around now. But almost none seemed to be on her side.

Gabriella clenched her fist, her voice trembling with determination. "No. Start the match." She stared at him without fear despite her wavering confidence.

The vampire with the microphone shouted at the top of his lungs, "3…2…1… start!"

With her raw power, Gabriella moved quickly. Yet, Raphael was the first to arrive in the centre of the fighting ground. He showed her his claws and swung.

She backed up and narrowly avoided his sharp nails. Raphael was a very skilled fighter. Each of his moves was calculated and instantaneous, never underestimating Gabriella’s speed and power. Pure vampires had more cursed magic, after all.

The only way Gabriella could win was in a battle of mana, but she quickly realized that her inefficient movement due to lack of expertise put Raphael at an advantage.

The vampiric form required mana to function. Even though Gabriella had much more than him, a high vampire, his moves were so smooth that he barely needed magic to fight her.

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Raphael’s fighting style was the direct contrast to Theodoric’s style. While Theodoric aimed to finish the fight as quickly as it started, Raphael was patient and logical.

Gabriella tried to fight, to surpass her limits, but it wasn’t enough. His combat experience far outweighed her bloodline. She’d have needed to train for tens of years to reach his level of refinement.

He was swift and precise with every claw mark he left on her body. The handsome vampire didn’t seem to care about worsening her face and ripping her skin, but he never stuck his claws too far, never hitting a bone that couldn’t regenerate.

She collapsed. Gabriella’s vision was blurry, but she could still see blood, her own, all across the arena.

As she felt mana-deprived, Gabriella looked at the unfazed spectators and wanted to feast on them, even if it was cannibalism.

Her heart rate kept slowing down, and under extreme pressure, her vampire instincts got the better of her. She needed to drink blood and eat souls.

The young pure-blood turned to look at the only humans among the crowd, Jenna, Luo, and Isaac. Only Luo was outside the car as Isaac was injured. He was anxious. She wanted to feast on him but quickly regained her sanity.

‘Why am I fighting if not for them?’ She asked herself as she struggled to stand back up.

Gabriella Rivampe was not fighting for herself but for many. ‘Luo, Jenna, Isaac… Aaron, Seth, Ejiro,’ she paused. ‘It’s not just them, is it? I’m also fighting to become the ruler of the vampires and free the Obscure Guild.’

Gabriella didn’t give up. She couldn’t. Determined to win, she stared at her opponent as she wiped her mouth.

"Your bravery is truly admirable, deserving of a queen." Raphael Vanthorn smiled. “It’s unfortunate that your father never recognized it. He was a good man, despite what you may think,” he said, his laughter holding a touch of irony as if mocking the missed opportunities.

He followed, “Theodoric Rivampe sent you to Hellish City. Do you know why?”

“Because he couldn’t bear seeing Arthea’s daughter and tried to abandon me.”

He lifted his index finger. “No, not at all. I’ve known your parents for a hundred years. You were Theodoric and Arthea's only child. They never wanted you. They didn’t like children. However, once the vampiric bloodline became endangered, they were forced to make you. And they cared about you a lot. They were very protective of you.”

“Shut up!” Gabriella jumped at him, and he avoided every single attack.

“Theodoric sent you away because he wanted you to live for yourself. He knew I and the others would rise to power and take his daughter away one day, so he sent you out.”

“Shut up.” She repeated, calmer this time. He was trying to break her, but Gabriella had realized. “It’s not true. But even if it was, even if he wanted me to be safe and became the regent to protect me from evil hands, he wasn’t nice either. He died because of that. And you aren’t any better than him.”

She flew very high above ground before plunging towards Raphael. The air felt cold as she dived closer with tremendous speed.

Despite this, the man avoided her again. However, when he retaliated, Gabriella didn’t try to dodge. She pushed her bloody body onto him with momentum and pierced her fangs into his neck, drinking his blood. It was salty but tasted disgusting compared to a human’s.

The more she sucked, the more mana she recovered.

Hurting from her canine teeth and feeling a little dizzy, Raphael quickly pushed her off, her body rolling across the concrete floor, and stepped on top of her. “Did you really think that would work?”

“It was worth a try.” She knew it was a stupid move.

‘My current strength amounts to nothing. I can’t protect anyone. The only thing I have going for me is my bloodline. I’m gifted but no genius. I don’t have any skills apart from being faster than most because of my pure bloodline. I lack any technique.’

She stared at the city’s ceiling. ‘I’m worthless, aren’t I?’

Suddenly, she saw a dazzling crimson glow above her. Blinking, she realized that Raphael had disappeared from existence. A strange power had obliterated him.

‘Red magic?!’ She thought as ashes covered her body, the late Raphael Vanthorn’s ashes.

“What?!” Gabriella turned to the point of origin where she met Isaac’s glowing eyes. He was standing by the car, almost completely healed.

“Gab, thanks for buying me some time.”

He didn’t want her to feel bad about losing the duel and his interference. “Whether he’s stronger or not, it doesn’t mean you can’t become the Queen. It’s your qualities that qualify you, not your fighting skills.”

“How are you up?”

He chuckled, “You underestimated my healing powers, Gab.”