(Bonus chapter for Huo Zhengtinghao brother 12/20)
"Clang!"
The broken blade spun through the darkness. With a shrill screech, the blade shattered completely down the middle, scattering fragments everywhere like deadly projectiles. But not one of them struck anyone.
The two combatants were moving and attacking each other so quickly that they were already faster than the falling shards.
Joepan's heirloom sword-cane had fulfilled its duty perfectly. In the hands of its new owner, it had become even deadlier, leaving wounds on the killer that only grew worse. Unfortunately, against a supernatural being like a vampire, the number of wounds alone couldn't decide the victor.
Necessary Evil lunged forward with a shriek, but the blackwood cane quickly knocked it aside.
Following through on the parry, the vividly carved wolf's-head sword-cane sprang from its sheath again, stabbing toward Murphy's heart as he dodged and counterattacked. But Count Cadman had anticipated the strike perfectly. The instant the blade came for him, his body became a swarm of bats and scattered, evading it completely.
That strange dodge again!
Disgust filled Korando's gray eyes.
At first, he'd thought that as a powerful Silver-ranked hunter, dealing with a Black Iron Blood Vulture wouldn't take much effort. Only after engaging him did he realize that Murphy was a real handful.
"Such extraordinary talent. It seems my child didn't die in vain."
Rather than pressing his attack, he stayed where he was, holding the cane horizontally before him in his left hand and letting the sword-cane hang at his right side. The leather armor protecting him was of impressive quality, likely high-grade armor. Even after Necessary Evil had struck him repeatedly, its edge had left only insignificant wounds.
But the lethal gash on his neck, already healing rapidly within seconds, was hard to miss. It was just