Assimilate All Talents

Carmilla couldn’t accept such an answer and was furious at Victor’s actions.

"I thought we made a deal with your people! Though the Mistress expected such a betrayal, you will pay for this treachery!"

She lashed her whip at him, the air splitting with a sharp crack. Victor didn’t move aside. Instead, he covered his arm in golden flames and caught the whip mid strike, holding it in place.

"I don’t give a rat’s ass what you think. I never supported this to begin with."

With astonishing strength, especially for a mage, Victor yanked the whip, pulling Carmilla toward him. Forced to release her weapon, she was unable to halt her momentum in time.

"[Blood Wall]!"

Nisha chanted a spell, conjuring a barrier of blood between them. Carmilla used it to break her momentum and leapt back to rejoin her allies.

Meanwhile, the goblin assassin darted past Victor, ignoring him entirely, and lunged toward Sol. Without support from the three women, however, Sol was able to fend off its strikes with relative ease.

Itaya charged forward with her spear, channeling her law technique to strike with tremendous force. This time, Victor didn’t dare block it with his flames. Clapping his hands together, he summoned a towering pillar of golden fire in her direction.

The spear clashed with the flames, splitting the inferno into twin cones that incinerated everything in their path. As the two locked in this fiery standoff, Nisha unleashed another spell, conjuring a barrage of blood spears that rained down upon Victor.

Victor ceased channeling the pillar and swung his arms, sending a protective arc of golden fire that evaporated the incoming spears. But as he defended, Carmilla, who had retrieved another whip from her spatial ring, struck from the side. The whip coiled around his legs, binding him. Victor didn’t even glance at it. His flames flared brighter, incinerating the whip in an instant.

From this brief exchange, Victor realized that while the three women couldn’t defeat him outright, their coordinated efforts prevented him from overwhelming them as well.

Turning to Sol, who was still dueling the goblin assassin, Victor shouted, "Hey! Are you planning to help me or what?"

Sol deflected another swift strike from the goblin, his expression wary. "Is it true what she said? You made a deal with the vampires and brought them here? Were you so petty after being disqualified from the tournament that you’d endanger the whole city?"

While Sol thought that Victor had poor control of his emotions, which led to the whole fiasco during the tournament, he didn’t believe that it would lead to such a disaster for the whole city.

Victor’s eyes twitched, his golden flames flickering into a dark red, the same shade Sol remembered from the tournament. For a moment, Sol braced for another outburst, but the flames returned to their golden hue as Victor launched another fiery blast at Itaya, forcing her to retreat.

"You think that’s why this is happening? No, dumbass! The nobles who want to take over the kingdom are behind this! We only joined them because they promised stability, but all they’ve done is cause chaos. They don’t give a damn about the people who die because of their actions!"

Victor and his close ally, Lord Sigurd, had shared the same disillusionment. The rebellious noble faction, led by Duchess Gladys, had strayed too far from their ideals. Frustrated, they and a few like minded nobles broke away from the faction, working in secret to stop both Gladys and the vampires.

There was only one problem, Gladys had learned of their betrayal. One of the nobles Sigurd had approached to switch sides had informed her, and she acted swiftly to contain the threat. She sabotaged their methods of long distance communication and with none of the nobles’ territory near the capital, only a few like Victor could arrive to help with the use of an expensive spatial item.

Even after hearing Victor’s explanation, Sol’s opinion of him didn’t improve much. Victor had conspired against the kingdom, and his actions had fueled the unrest in the capital over the past few months. If he and the other dissenting nobles had changed sides sooner, much of this could have been avoided.

As Sol considered what to do, Victor continued battling the three women. Their coordination grew tighter as they devised countermeasures to his attacks, while relentlessly probing for gaps in his defenses.

In one exchange, Victor punched forward, unleashing a blast of golden flames at Carmilla. Itaya stepped in, blocking the attack with her spear. Carmilla used the opportunity to leap over Itaya, her eyes glowing red as she gave Victor a seductive wink.

For a moment, Victor’s mind went blank, consumed by sudden adoration for the vampire. The intrusive thoughts were quickly burned away by his golden flames, but as he regained control, he saw a storm of blood spears heading his way. It was too late to deflect them with his golden flames and braced himself for the worst.

It was then that shadows surged up from the ground, swallowing the blood spears before they could reach him. Surprised, Victor turned to see Sol, one hand stretched out toward him while the other wielded a shadowy sword against the goblin.

Slashing at the goblin, Sol glanced coldly at Victor. "Just know, after all this, you’ll pay for the deaths you’ve caused."

Victor let out a brief, bitter laugh and nodded. "Trust me, I intend to."

Kicking the goblin away, Sol used [Phase Step] to teleport beside Victor. Together, they stood shoulder to shoulder, ready to confront the four A-rank threats.

Before their counterattack could begin, a thunderous roar erupted, shaking the buildings around them. The combatants froze, turning toward the sound.

In the distance, a colossal dragon of shadows rose, its maw opening to unleash a torrent of darkness that flooded the city streets below.

Victor stared in awe at its sheer size. "Is that your doing?"

Sol shook his head slowly. "No."

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