[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/OvtbTEP.png[/img]
[sub][@TheWendil][@Flood][@SilverPaw][@dioscuri][/sub][/center]
A flash of flame, and a new star rose up to the sky, gloriously incandescent as the night itself was scoured away by the phoenix wings of the Devil Bringer. Snarling against the light, the vampire lady took a step back, her pale hand shading her from the blinding radiance. What beauty was there in firelight? It had neither the subtlety of the moon nor the arrogance of the sun! Naught but a mongrel imitation of both!

The tidal wave of blood crushed her pathetic peasants’ bones and flesh to bits as it surged through, but the spell had been driven by magic, not by physics. If the flaming wench had evaded it, that just meant that the archer behind her would have more than just swift zombies to contend with. Frothing and bubbling like bloody spit from a titan’s lips, the cursed wave crashed on without sympathy, rushing now for Hoshio.

Mai’s bind was also noted, and Shika briefly wished that they had gotten a gun for the fake-Envoy as well. Would have been a cool moment if the puppet had pulled out a Glock and went blap-blap-blap while that strange force restrained the swordswoman, but oh well. Fake-Envoy, after distance was made and pursuit did not continue, resumed the collection of the black rocks, saving what could be saved before Hoshio found an opening to begin bombarding the shrine once more.

Such incidents, important as they were, played second fiddle to the violent clash occurring within the 0.1 seconds that had elapsed.

With contempt still clear upon her visage, the vampire tossed her head back, allowing her hair to flow vibrantly in the flame-swept winds. She opened her arms up to her side, disdaining even the very effort of blocking or dodging Maria’s downwards cleave, and it was with that same expression that she was smashed in half. Obsidian edges and brute force ripped through the vampire’s body, but blood did not flow and her sneer did not change. In a burst of perfumed wind, the bisected body dispersed into a storm of rose petals around Maria.

The click-clack of heels sounded behind her.

[color=a2d39c]“You truly believe that the likes of your kind are suited to dance with me? I’ve met jesters less disgraceful than you, child.”[/color]

The vampire lady raised a slender hand, and the flowing of the petals stopped mid-air, each petal glinting like shards of glass.

[color=a2d39c]“ユダのデザート. [Judas’ Desserts].”[/color]

And as one, they shot towards Maria, intent on delivering the myriad cuts demise that the traitor of the Messiah truly deserved.