With the problem now taken care of, Claire slowly descended her wings retracting the moment her feet touched the ground.
"You took care of him from there?" Vesper asked, a dumbfounded expression on her face.
"Hm." Claire nodded, nonchalantly.
Vesper was speechless; she had been told that anyone at the core level eight stage was someone not to be trifled with, and after what she had just witnessed now, she wouldn't want to be in a fight with Claire, at least not at this stage of her life.
"Alright, that's taken care of," Claire said, rubbing both of her hands together. "I won't be able to help you from this point onward, so be careful."
Vesper's response was a nod before her gaze shifted to the bodies on the ground, her question was written on her face.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of them," Claire assured her.
Getting that response, she reached out to Axel, intertwining his hands with hers before leaping forward.
The two were immediately covered by a cloud of shadows and before long, they were nowhere to be found.
While Vesper was manoeuvring her way out of the forest with Axel, thick branches burst out from the ground to wrap around the six dead vampire bodies.
It didn't take long before the bodies were slowly dragged into the ground, the ground slowly closed afterwards, and the place suddenly looked like nothing had ever happened there.
The bodies were gone now, and Claire's job was finally done.
"I hope nothing goes wrong."
Those were the last words she said before her body slowly dissipated, turning into some sort of green grains which were immediately carried away by the wind.
Back at the mansion, Claire, who had been sitting in a dark room for the longest while now, suddenly shot her eyes open.
________ ________
It didn't take long for Vesper to find her way out of the forest using shadow steps, and before long, she was in front of the school gate, still holding firmly onto Axel.
"Where are we now?" Axel inquired.
"The stupid school."
"Oh."
With one leap she was able to get over the gate. It was just as she was about to drop into the Academy premises when she sensed something.
Quickly turning to the left she saw a very long blood slash heading toward them.
Reacting quickly, she released a blood slash of her own.
Unfortunately, this wasn't something she could deal with with just one blood slash.
Her blood slash was able to stop the attack for just a few seconds before it dissipated allowing the stronger attack to push further toward both of them.
Still not willing to get hit by that, Vesper jumped back with shadow step before throwing Axel further back.
She caught him with a blood thread before he could stumble to the floor before reaching for her side to pull out her dagger.
The blood slash got to her at that moment but she wasn't going to let it hit her, at least not without a fight.
Infusing the dagger with blood, she engaged the blood slash stopping it right in front of her.
She believed she would be able to deal with it with enough effort, but the attack just kept pressing, and before long, she was panting as she was slowly being forced back.
"How can a blood slash be this strong?" She groaned.
Her hands were beginning to give out and it was only a matter of time before the attack broke.
However, she still wasn't willing to give up. Letting out a short scream, she slashed upward at the attack.
Her desperate attempt just about paid off at that moment as the blood slash was divided into two and kept moving forward slamming into the wall up ahead and leaving two huge dents in them.
Luckily, Axel was directly behind her so the divided blood slash just about missed him.
Who knows what his current condition would be if any of those had managed to hit him.
Stopping that blood slash from hitting them had used up just about all the energy Vesper had. She was panting now with her hand on her chest. It had been a long time since she had been this exhausted and if she were to fall into a perilous situation now, getting out of it would be impossible.
"Are you okay?" Axel asked from where he was standing, genuinely concerned.
He could hear her panting but he had no idea what exactly was going on. He felt frustrated.
"I'm fine." She responded as she slowly walked toward him.
It didn't take her long to get to him, but just as he was about to get to him, she suddenly paused.
With a bone-chilling aura, Vesper was someone who managed to stand her ground even in the face of absolute power, mostly because of her background, but why was her nervous system going into a frenzy at the presence of the person behind them?
Her first thought at that moment was, "A weapon of mass murder."
Her instincts screamed, telling her to run, snapping her out of her daze at that moment.
Reacting quickly, she grabbed Axel's arm and was about to bolt when a calm voice beckoned.
"Your Highness."
That was a very calm voice, but she could sense the underlying threat like he was daring her to make a move, and at the thought of that, her body froze once more.
'He's a core level nine, there's no way I can outrun him.'
At that thought, Vesper decided to try something else other than running away as that seemed less likely to succeed now.
Sinking her teeth into her lower lip, she slowly turned around.
The person in front of her was a vampire who probably looked too young for his age, he had a seasoned but neat face, his face mostly expressionless.
He was wearing a black flowing coat with both of his hands in his pockets as he slowly examined the princess from head to toe.
Vesper had never met this person before and that was probably because he was one of the heads of the school board who rarely made any appearance, Link Ashton.
It was said that there were only two core level nine's in Nelxus Academy, and he was one of them.
"Where are you coming back from, Your Highness?" He asked before shifting his gaze to Axel.
The expression on his face suddenly turned to one of scorn; he hid it away immediately, but Vesper was fast enough to detect that little change.
"Is he the one you left the Academy with last night?" He asked, his gaze still fixated on Axel.
"Am I obligated to answer that question?" Vesper retorted, hiding Axel behind her.
She didn't have to answer; even without her answer, he knew. That question was nothing but a mere formality.
"Well, I can't force you to speak if you don't want to, but what about him?" He smirked.
He took a step toward the two at that moment and reacting instinctively, Vesper pushed back with Axel.
"I think this distance is enough for our conversation, no need to shorten it." Vesper articulated, putting in enough effort to hide the fact that she was terrified.
Seeing her reaction, the smirk on Link's face grew wider.
'Might as well take care of the problem now, no need drawing it out.'
At that thought, he slowly began to pull his left hand out of his pocket.
Vesper could see the faint red glow emanating from his pocket, and at the thought of what he was about to do, her eyes sunk in deep, and her heart suddenly felt like it was being squeezed.
'Don't worry, Axel, I'll protect you no matter what.' She said to herself.
The vampire was about to fully pull out his hand when a voice suddenly rang out from a distance.
"What are you doing?"
Recognizing that voice, Link quickly returned his hand into his pocket.
The expression on his face suddenly turned sour as he bit his lip.