Don't force me to use my right fist.

"Let the employees blocking the way disperse. Don't make unnecessary sacrifices. Then send some people with the remaining prototype Gungnirs from the warehouse. If that still doesn't work, then just wait for my message." Harujiu rubbed her temples. Her expression was far from pleasant. Just as Vodka had said, the brewery's actual combat strength was still too small, but humans with special abilities who weren't monsters were too rare. They had discovered a magical girl at that school who seemed like someone they could approach, but it was obviously too late now. For some reason, the image of a guy with a pumpkin head suddenly flashed through Harujiu's mind. If that guy were here, he'd definitely be happy to help these monsters, wouldn't he?

But from beginning to end, that guy was also an oddity. Having completely lost hope in oddities, Haruyu couldn't possibly place any expectations on him.

"Boss, something even worse has happened." Even though Qingjiu's face was already so pale, his employees remained silent for a while before telling him the rest of the bad news.

Harujiu raised his hand to support his forehead. If he weren't commanding the battle, he would have already gone up to stop Saiki.

He didn't know why Ji Li came here, but the purpose of the man who went straight to the bottom of the winery was obvious.

That was because they were after the catalog of banned books kept at the distillery.

Although the Catalogue of Forbidden Books is actually not as useful as their safekeeping, as her built-in automatic bookkeeping mode can solve most of the problems, Qingjiu still has a bad feeling.

"The attackers breached the gate to the experimental area, and most of the monsters being studied escaped." - Wihl

The winery employee in charge of monitoring swallowed hard. Those strange creatures were kept inside because they were of research value. Releasing them all would be a huge disaster.

"Can the outer barrier still be activated? There's no need to block the outside anymore; we just need to prevent those inside from getting out."

Qingjiu felt a sudden darkness before his eyes. He had actually thought of this situation before, but he didn't expect it to actually happen.

"There's no way around it; the outer barrier was completely destroyed by the initial, unusual attack." whl

The staff responsible for monitoring shook their heads; they still didn't know what kind of attack could have destroyed the barrier in one blow.

"Damn it, do we really have to use that thing?"

Haruyu gritted her teeth, but setting aside the energy required to operate that thing, if it went out of control, the entire Tokyo could be razed to the ground, let alone protecting the brewery.

And most importantly, the brewery isn't her default master. Whether it can control her is unknown. However, if even the Index of Forbidden Books is taken away, then he has no other choice.

"Boss, the attacks outside seem to have stopped quite a bit. It seems these guys have started targeting the place where the Yuzaki family is temporarily staying next door."

One bad news after another came, making Qingjiu wish she could lie back in bed. If she were unconscious, she wouldn't have to see or hear any of this.

"Is there no way to contact the outside world?" Qingjiu frowned. Now they could only hope that the higher-ups in Japan might be able to help them. Putting aside everything else, the military still posed a certain threat to those masked people from the mysterious organizations outside.

No, but it seems the reinforcements from outside have stopped. It looks like someone made a move from behind them.

"Huh? We have reinforcements?"

Qingjiu hadn't expected this to happen. The distillery didn't usually interact with many people. Could it be that guy had come?

"It's not reinforcements, it's...it's two maids from the Yuzaki family wreaking havoc in the back." With a twitch at the corner of his mouth, the brewery employee in charge of monitoring pulled up the surveillance footage. On the screen, the two maids were reaping kills on the battlefield at superhuman speed, whether it was bullets or werewolf claws. Even if they were attacked, they couldn't even leave a mark.

"With this level of combat power, does that young lady of the Hanesaki family really need our protection?"

The man in charge of surveillance swallowed hard and muttered under his breath.

Chapter 274 The Battle Between Women

In the pitch-black corridor, Jie Ye gripped a small silver knife with a wary expression, his face grave as he stared at the darkness before him. This place shouldn't be this dark.

Even when the power goes out, the emergency lights in the distillery should be on, instead of being like this, where she can't see herself even if she raises her hands.

The darkness, which seemed to have completely swallowed her, only meant one thing: the legendary vampire Ji Li was probably right beside her.

"I never expected you'd come back here. I regret not killing you, you traitor, back then. What kind of power dares to let you return to the distillery?" Lian Ye closed her eyes. Since she could no longer see, she might as well relinquish control of her body to her instincts and defend against potential attacks through other means. But she didn't forget to utter these almost provocative words to the darkness before her. In her current state, she couldn't launch an attack; a counterattack might still offer a chance. Lian Ye also believed that, given Shirley's personality after becoming a monster, she would never tolerate such provocation.

"As expected of our distillery's executor, your words are still so sharp and sarcastic. It seems you've been tracking me down for the past few years, haven't you? Is it to cheer up Kurosawa?"

"Or are you, this bastard vampire descendant, eager to prove yourself?"

Shirley's voice seemed to rise right next to Lian Ye's ear, yet her words caused Lian Ye, whose brows were already furrowed, to tighten her grip on the throwing knife. Even so, Lian Ye still didn't attack in the direction of the voice. She had a limited number of silver knives, and this guy certainly wouldn't stay put waiting for her attack. She wasn't even sure if he was actually in that direction. This darkness was more than it appeared.

"I only have vampire blood, and I don't feel disgusted by it. At least I'm still a human being, with a human heart, unlike you, who has become a lackey of desire, a filthy monster. It's over." Shirley clearly thought so too, so she didn't seem in a hurry to attack. After all, she came here to satisfy her desire for killing and bloodsucking, and she had plenty of time to play around with Lianye.

"That's called recognizing your true self. What's wrong with being a pure vampire? Why be like you, stuck in the middle as a monstrous being, looked down upon and feared by even humans?" Wih chuckled. In Shirley's view, becoming a monster was no longer anything excessive or shameful. On the contrary, girls like Lianye, who didn't even know their own place, were the most pathetic in her eyes.

"That's not necessarily true. I know someone with a rather strange identity who can still live and communicate normally like a normal person. Speaking of which, he even killed your clan, doesn't he? Looking at him, it makes you seem like a joke back then." Lianye smiled as well. The best way to refute someone is to provide a concrete example, using evidence and truth to slap them in the face. Saya's existence is the complete opposite of Sherry's. Faced with similar circumstances, Sherry chose to accept, while Saya chose to resist. The facts prove that even the supernatural can persevere. Nothing could better negate everything Sherry has done. Sure enough, when Lianye brought up Saya, Sherry, who had been calmly waiting for Lianye to reveal a weakness, frowned, a flash of anger in her eyes.

"So you know that guy too. But, did Kurosawa find out about this? I remember after what happened because of me, he refused to believe in the supernatural anymore. He's lost all his composure and calmness whenever it comes to anything involving the supernatural." Passing through the darkness that felt like daytime to her, Shirley arrived behind Lianye, her fingernails lengthening until her hand transformed into a devil's claw.

"It's alright, you've shown up now. If we just kill you, Qingjiu's inner conflict will probably be resolved. Perhaps in a way, you really do deserve to die."

Sensing the approaching danger, Lianye unfolded the silver dagger in his hand and slowly raised it in front of him. Even though he couldn't see or sense Xiangli's presence, Lianye still instinctively turned his body towards her.

"Oh? You really want my life that badly, you bastard executor?"

Sherry placed the claws, which no longer resembled human hands, to her mouth, licked her nails with her scarlet tongue, and then looked at the girl in front of her who couldn't see her with a bloodthirsty expression.

"I really want you dead too. How about we try and see who wins this bet?"

This time, she really got right up to Lianye's ear. Shirley's fingernails were almost touching the skin on Lianye's back, and she could easily rip her heart out.

"Alright. Let's gamble with our lives? But there's something I'm curious about. Where did your knife go? How did you end up needing a knife? Or did someone steal it from you?" A silver dagger blocked the way the moment Shirley's fingernails touched her body. Lianye quickly moved away from her original position, turning back with red light flashing in her eyes. A layer of black aura emanated from her entire body. As if able to ignore the darkness and sense Shirley's presence, Lianye flicked a throwing knife between her fingers, directly towards Shirley's location.

"Oh? So you used your vampire identity to detect my location? But how long can you maintain this state? I think the longer you stay like this, the more you'll transform into a vampire yourself, right?" Easily deflecting the flying knives with her beast-like claws, Shirley looked up again, intending to continue her mockery of Ruolianye, only to find her seemingly teleported behind her.

&e. Countless silver knives appeared around Shirley. As Ruolianye's voice fell, they all pierced into her body.

Chapter 275 An Unfamiliar Pumpkin Head

As Lianye had just said, once she could pinpoint the guy's location, the rest would be much easier. With time-based abilities, dodging was meaningless; if Lianye wanted to, her attacks would be guaranteed to hit. The only thing affecting Lianye's attacks was defense, specifically a defense that could protect her body from all sides. Otherwise, she would have plenty of time to find the opponent's weaknesses during the time stop and then exploit them. Unless someone like Zuoyou had a way to counter time stop, even if Sherry had reached the True Ancestor level of a vampire, she would still have no chance against Lianye's abilities. However, as Sherry said, maintaining this state was extremely strenuous for Lianye. Just this one attack, and Lianye, who had maintained a graceful and perfect attack posture, couldn't help but clutch her pocket watch and pant. If Wihl were to break this state, Aiye would lose her sense of Shirley's location, meaning that even if she had stopped Shirley, she wouldn't be able to attack her.

However, in Lianye's view, it was time for all of this to end. To have one's head and heart pierced by a silver weapon—even a vampire known for its regenerative abilities couldn't survive that. At least, Lianye had never seen anything like it. Yet, the surrounding darkness didn't dissipate; instead, it felt increasingly oppressive. Panting heavily, Lianye quickly realized something was wrong. Just as he was about to grasp his pocket watch to activate his time-stop, he was entangled by black matter emerging from the shadows. His fingers rested on the watch's spring, but he no longer had the strength to press it.

"Hmph. I admit, if I had met you right after I came out, I probably wouldn't have been able to escape the distillery unscathed." Shirley's voice rang out again, and the corpse, pierced by the silver dagger, struggled and stood up in a twisted position. Straightening its head, Shirley pulled the dagger from its eyes and tossed it to the ground.

"It's a pity that so much time has passed. Even strange things grow, just like me. Didn't you say a long time ago that I was close to becoming a True Ancestor?" With a pained expression, Shirley removed the small knife that was still stuck in her heart, and a trace of lingering fear even appeared on her face.

"However, that's the truth. Being close to the True Ancestor means I no longer have the weaknesses of ordinary vampires, whether it's my head or my heart. As long as my soul hasn't dissipated, I'm immortal." The wound healed at a visible speed. Shirley slowly walked towards the silver-haired girl she had bound.

"A lowly mongrel vampire like you wouldn't understand these things. But it doesn't matter, I'm quite curious to see what a mongrel like you would be like if you became someone's familiar again." When Shirley arrived at Lianye's side, all her wounds had completely healed, with only the tear in her clothes reminding Lianye that what she had just done was not an illusion. She greedily sniffed at Lianye's neck, as if savoring the aroma of food before the meal, her tongue lolling out, ruining her previously somewhat demure demeanor. Lianye hadn't expected her recovery and resilience to be so extreme; once controlled... Having already been transformed, she had no means of counterattack. The speed and power she gained from being transformed into a vampire seemed insignificant in front of this guy. This was unavoidable; if you disregard the time-stop skill's effect, Lianye was just a girl who was much stronger than an ordinary person. She had a vampire-like physique but wasn't entirely one, so fighting someone who had become a monster was still a bit of a stretch. Lianye, who had planned to find a way to perish together with Shirley or self-destruct at the last moment, didn't want to become her puppet familiar; that would be even more unacceptable to her than death. However, just as she was about to forcefully activate time stop again, a cherry blossom-like effect flashed around her. The familiar pumpkin head was particularly conspicuous in the darkness, and the moment it touched Lianye, it transferred her completely from the dark matter that bound her.

"It's you?"

Shirley frowned when she saw the somewhat familiar cherry blossom effect, and her anger materialized when she saw the wicked pumpkin head. However, a look of confusion quickly appeared on Shirley's face, and she shook her head.

"No, you're not him, you're the one the cult leader wants to talk to?" Shirley knew very well that the guy who stole her knife and humiliated her should be a boy, not someone like this, with long black hair that even a pumpkin head couldn't hide, and wearing a black robe.

Although she's a bit flat-chested, she's clearly a girl. And on her, Shirley also saw the mark the leader of the Church of Truth had spoken of—the one who must be brought back.

"303? Did you save me?" Jieye also regained consciousness. Her savior wasn't the person she imagined, but a girl who, like him, had appeared at the familiar crash site. If there was any major difference between her and Zuoyou, aside from gender, it was that she didn't possess any strange aura—that was her greatest advantage. Qingjiu's lack of composure was only directed at those with strange abilities; a girl like her, without any strange aura but possessing teleportation abilities, was definitely not within his scope of hatred. Therefore, all the alcohol company did was bring this girl, who didn't know how to communicate and even seemed to want to avoid others' gaze, back to the alcohol shop.

He never imagined he would be saved by her. The girl couldn't speak and showed no interest in communicating. She spent her days squatting in her room, clutching her pumpkin head, and fiddling with a clay block that resembled a Rubik's Cube. Even so, the people at the brewery gave her a nickname: 303, signifying that she was the 303rd nameless person to arrive at the brewery.

Chapter 276 Who gave you permission to lay a hand on her?

"Although I don't know why you jumped out to do such a useless thing, it's fine this way. It saves me the trouble of looking for you later." She wasn't worried that this guy's ability would allow him to escape from this area with Lianye. Otherwise, she wouldn't be stuck in that place now. If she could get out, she should have flown out long ago.

"303, put me down, I can still hold on." Lian Ye broke free from the black-haired girl with the pumpkin head. Now that she was no longer bound by those dark substances, she didn't need any help for the time being. The girl with the pumpkin head glanced down at Lian Ye, making a cute murmur, but still didn't say anything. Instead, after looking at Shirley opposite her, the girl with the pumpkin head was clearly more curious, but after sensing Shirley's hostility, she withdrew and reached out to cover her pumpkin head.

"I can't pretend I didn't hear what you just said. Since you also failed, shouldn't we start the second round of the battle? At least before I fall, I won't let you take anyone away." Lian Ye sighed silently and gave the girl a quick "go away" look. In Shirley's current state, even she couldn't defeat her, and might even end up like she just did if she wasn't careful.

The problem is that the opponent's recovery ability has completely exceeded Lianye's expectations. Since her attacks are proving ineffective, all they can do is stall her. Now, they can only hope that Yu Qingjiu will wake up soon, and then see if the distillery has any trump cards that can deal with this guy.

Unfortunately, the girl with the pumpkin head clearly didn't seem very bright. After receiving Lian Ye's glance, she only looked at her questioningly through the pumpkin head before continuing to squat. It wasn't until then that Lian Ye realized this girl wasn't like her, needing to maintain her vampire form to barely regain her senses in the darkness. Instead, she seemed completely unaffected—able to move freely. Indeed, these two pumpkin-headed figures were both incredibly mysterious, but now wasn't the time to worry about that.

"Hurry up and go find your companion. That guy will definitely not stand idly by."

Subconsciously linking her to Saya, Renya urged her to leave, while watching Yukiri across from her warily. Seemingly intimidated by Renya's attitude, the pumpkin-headed girl flinched. Instinctively trying to teleport away, she seemed trapped, her cherry blossom-like features emerging, yet she remained unable to move. Yukiri's face turned completely cold. Ignoring her presence wasn't so simple. The darkness here wasn't merely a visual obstruction; if she so desired, she was a god-like being in this dark realm.

"Damn it." The moment Lianye noticed Shirley's movements, he activated time stop, grabbed the girl next to him, and brought her to the edge of the darkness, intending to escape directly from there.

However, just as Shirley said, even though it seemed like they were only a step away from the light, no matter how Lianye attacked, the edge was like an invisible wall, completely sealing off their exit.

"This is truly, utterly hopeless." Lianye sighed. Although her time stop lasted for a very long time, it wasn't infinite. When she was nearly exhausted, that would be the moment that guy made his move. And what she had to do now was to think of a way to defeat him within this limited time of time stop. Against the near-immortal Shirley, attacking became the most pointless option, but she wasn't particularly good at defense. Perhaps if that guy were in her place, he might have a solution. Lianye had never imagined that she would have such a day, nor had she ever imagined that she would be so looking forward to Zuoyou.

"But this is the headquarters of the distillery, after all. Even with that guy's guts, he probably wouldn't come to a place like this, right? So there's no hope."

With a bitter sigh, all Lianye could do was place the pumpkin-headed girl at the very edge and then shift his gaze to Shirley, who was trapped in time stop.

Now, all she could hope for was that Shirley was actually deceiving her. If she killed her a few more times, maybe she could expose her weakness. Touching the few remaining silver knives at her waist, Ye sighed, wondering if she could even hold on.

But now she has no time to think about it anymore.

The instant the time stop ended, Shirley's body was pierced by the silver knives again, but this time, she didn't even fall down. She just let the knives remain embedded in her head and chest, and turned around to look at the silver-haired girl who had appeared behind her.

"How many more times can you launch an attack like this? I'm looking forward to it."

The automatically healing wound pushed the knife out of her body. Ji Li looked at the executor, whom she had once feared, with a contented expression. She was thoroughly enjoying this feeling.

"However, I'm in a hurry, so I'll just consider it a moment of kindness on my part and give you two a quick death." Before Lianye could activate Time Stop again, Xiangli raised her hand and made a grasping motion. The dark space instantly seemed to come alive as it contracted, engulfing Lianye and the pumpkin-headed girl who was still in a daze, directly trapping them inside and pulling them close to Xueli's side, firmly binding the two of them.

"Now, do you think anyone will come to save you?"

Ji Li's fingers traced across Lian Ye's face once more, but her gaze fell upon the pumpkin-headed girl beside her. Her claws hooked around the lower edge of the pumpkin head the girl wore, as if she wanted to remove it directly.

However, after a dazzling flash of cherry blossom-like light, Ji Li's claw, which had reached for the pumpkin-headed girl, was severed at the wrist. A boy with a strange pumpkin head appeared beside her, gracefully sheathing his sword before snapping his fingers at Ruoxueli.

Chapter 277 Is this all the True Ancestor is?

Sōyū felt he had arrived at the perfect time. At least the guy hadn't run into any problems, which was acceptable to him. He had only guessed when he came, but he hadn't expected the guy to actually come along and be so embarrassingly captured. Taking advantage of Ji Li's momentary daze at his appearance, Sōyū swung his Crescent Moon Blade once more, severing the black, mud-like substance binding Rinya and the black-haired girl with the pumpkin head. Only then did he turn to look at the woman whose expression had contorted because of his arrival.

"You still dare to show your face in front of me?" She said this to Zuoyou through gritted teeth, her hatred almost palpable.

Especially when she saw the sword that Saya was holding, even though it wasn't the one that had been taken from her, it only made her angrier.

"What's there to be afraid of? I'm not only going to show my face to you, I'm going to kill you too!" Saya, sheathing his sword, flashed a cheerful smile at Karen. Why was she acting like a victim, making it seem like he owed her something? When she turned into a monster and started attacking humans, it was practically a death sentence for Saya. He didn't have any problem with not killing female monsters. Before, if he couldn't beat her, he could only run away, but now, Saya still had some ability to try and fight this guy.

"Be careful. This guy's regenerative abilities are incredible; he basically has no weaknesses. From what he himself said, it seems she won't die as long as her soul is intact." Having broken free from her restraints, Lianye immediately activated time stop, pulling the black-haired girl away from Shirley and placing her behind Saya, warning him. This guy really did come. Lianye didn't know how to react, but he had to admit, this guy's arrival was perfectly timed. He himself was helpless against the guy opposite him, but perhaps Saya could find a way to deal with this vampire?

"That's simple, it's just a matter of being a little more durable, no problem." WH Zuoyou's face showed a relaxed expression. After comforting Ruo, he turned to look at the girl with the same pumpkin head hairstyle who had been deliberately hiding since he appeared, not wanting him to find her.

"I'll deal with you later. You'd better come up with a reasonable explanation, or else... I'll give you a piece of my mind." After giving this troublesome guy a good warning, Zuoyou put away his Jugetsu Blade and looked at Shirley, who was recovering her arm, with his bare hands.

"Have you finished explaining? If you have, then prepare to die. It's a good thing we've all gathered together—I'll kill you all in one go, consider it a celebration." Sherry's severed hand had fully recovered, and as she re-established her dark domain, she once again strengthened the binding force on any escapees within it. She couldn't let Sōyū escape again; making the same mistake twice was something Sherry absolutely could not accept.

"Could you please stop turning off the lights all the time? People who don't know better might think you're up to something shady." Wihl Sōyu raised his hand and smashed a bottle of splash-type night vision potion on the ground. Adding more gunpowder would allow the effects to be shared, even saving the trouble of drinking the potion. Wasn't that much easier? The only thing that worried Sōyu was that he seemed to have arrived a tiny bit too fast; Imagine Breaker seemed to be on cooldown. But it wasn't a huge problem. There was still a passive effect; as long as he used his second attack quickly enough, he was sure it would trigger, right?

Besides, he doesn't rely entirely on this to deal with the guy in front of him.

Saya came prepared today. Once he understood her abilities, Saya wasn't confident he could handle her. She's just a walking health pack with infinite regeneration, right? Trigger Imagine Breaker and one punch is all it takes to kill her. What's there to say?

"Looks like you're quite confident today. Well then, I'll take you seriously too, how about that?" Shirley didn't dare underestimate Sōyū. Last time, she underestimated his strength, which allowed him to snatch the Enma Blade from her hand. If she failed again, she would lose all face. The muscles and bones in her arms twisted once more, transforming into terrifying, monstrous claws, before Shirley forcefully slammed them to the ground.