Charlie lay immobilized, being burned alive while the alchemists unleashed torrents of fire upon her, chanting prayers as they worked.

  “To you we offer this sacrifice, Ardan!” they cried.

  The pain was overwhelming. Acid, fire, boiling oil, all of it at once. She felt the flesh of her body being eaten away, felt what remained of her single arm dissolving under the assault. The spiked metal net wrapped around her heated until it glowed, biting into her skin, branding her with scorching iron.

  Then she opened her eyes. Blind, she still stared straight at them.

  They had killed Lulie!

  [Blood Core: 86/100]

  [Vampiric Regeneration activated]

  [-50 Blood Energy]

  [Blood Core: 36/100]

  Power surged from deep within her.

  [Vampiric Strength I activated]

  [-10 Blood Energy]

  [Blood Core: 26/100]

  Charlie rose with a feral roar of pain and fury, hurling the metal net upward.

  “What? She’s alive? How?” one of them shouted.

  She leapt forward. A potion flew toward her. She caught it midair and hurled it back. Charlie activated [Spectral Chain], yanking her severed arm back to her side and reconnecting it through the force of [Vampiric Regeneration].

  “Get the bitch, brothers!”

  She grabbed one of them and used him as a shield, then slammed him into the ground, crushing his skull. She charged the next, who tried to throw more potions. She raised a spectral barrier, closed the distance, seized his head, and crushed it in her grip.

  Two remained.

  “Ardan, may your alchemical explosions—” the man began.

  He never finished. Spectral Chain snapped tight, dragging him straight into his partner.

  With a brutal surge forward, Charlie drove her sword through both of them. With her free hand, she plunged into one man’s chest, crushed his heart, and summoned Lulie back.

  [You have slain a...]

  [You have slain a...]

  [You have slain a...]

  [You have slain a...]

  The corpses collapsed to the ground.

  Charlie looked down at her arm as it continued to regenerate. The fingers that had still been bare bone sprouted muscle, then skin, until her arm was whole again, unmarked, flawless. Her body followed, every wound erased by vampiric regeneration.

  It was not absolute. Along with consuming fifty Blood Energy, the regeneration had also burned through her HP to accelerate natural healing. Moments later, something descended from the dark sky. Angie.

  “Charlie, are you alright?” she asked, her voice tight with concern.

  “I’m fine, Angie,” Charlie replied as she moved forward. “These enemies are strong. You’ll need to be careful.”

  “They invaded the temple. They’re not from Cassandra and Peter’s faction. They’re the baron’s,” Angie said.

  “And there were alchemists too. I dealt with them.”

  They moved through the village together, Charlie sprinting along the ground while Angie flew overhead. Archers fired from rooftops, but Angie dove like a hawk from the darkness, spearing them from behind with her lances.

  Charlie encountered more alchemists along the way. She did not use her sword this time. She used her flaming fists, making them feel the same fire they worshiped. She punched through them one by one, clearing a path, purging the village.

  “Let’s make a deal! I swear I’ll leave!” one of them begged, crawling across the ground.

  Charlie clenched her fist.

  “Here’s my deal.”

  She drove her punches into his face until his skull sank into the earth.

  **The [Black Ash Fighter] 2nd Class of Princess Charlie has reached Level 62!**

  An alchemist crept across a rooftop.

  “May the fire of Ardan burn your enemies,” he whispered to himself, just as he was about to throw a flask of flammable liquid. A spear tore through his neck from above, cutting the prayer short.

  Angie hovered in the air above Charlie. “More of them got inside the temple.”

  Charlie turned and ran. She caught glimpses of Angie streaking through the sky, striking soldiers with brutal precision. When they reached the top of the stairs, they found a barricade waiting for them. Stone walls had risen across the courtyard, conjured by magic.

  Charlie raised her fist and activated [Steel Fist], charging straight in and punching through the stone. As one wall shattered, someone had been hiding behind it. The figure rolled aside and sprang away.

  “You know, you’re very beautiful, princess,” a woman said, lifting two daggers. Her tone wasn’t flattering, nor was it angry. If anything, she sounded amused.

  She glanced upward into the darkness of the night sky, staring straight toward where Angie hovered. “I see. Someone with wings. This is getting interesting.” Her gaze returned to Charlie. “I’ll admit, I thought this place would have more people. But there were only two of you. That leaves me with two possibilities. Either the others fled, or you were the only ones who made it past the oni army.”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  The woman smiled. “Tick, tock. You’re both awfully quiet. I suppose that means you’re more than enough. Luckily for you… so was I.”

  “Lady Dolores, it would be wiser to wait for reinforcements,” someone called from inside the temple.

  “Quiet. I’ll deal with the two of them myself,” Dolores replied.

  Charlie studied her stance, the twin daggers, the light clothing, the cloak. Everything pointed to an assassin, or at least a stealth class like a rogue. High level too. That made her dangerous. Master Luke had warned her before. Assassins were unpredictable. Traps, feints, layered plans. They thought fast.

  “I’ll handle her,” Charlie said to Angie above.

  “What a coincidence. You were my first choice anyway. Unlike your helmeted friend, I get to see that pretty little face of yours,” Dolores said, then lunged.

  The assassin rushed forward, drawing throwing knives and flinging them in a blur. Charlie knocked some aside with her sword, but the moment they were struck, the blades detonated in bursts of blinding white light.

  She heard Dolores laughing.

  The assassin slid along the ground and slashed Charlie’s leg with a dagger whose blade burned with heat. Another strike followed, stabbing into Charlie’s abdomen. When Charlie tried to counter with her sword, Dolores had already dashed away, tossing a smoke bomb to the ground.

  Charlie heard her footsteps echoing between the stone walls. Dolores was hiding in the smoke, cutting off Angie’s line of sight from above.

  Charlie charged through the haze, carving a path toward the assassin’s laughter. Knives flew at her. Some were real. Others erupted into flashes of searing light. She deflected what she could and pushed forward.

  Angie hurled her spear. At that exact moment, Dolores appeared behind Charlie, moving fast. The spear came in aimed straight at the assassin, but Dolores rolled aside at the last instant.

  “She told you not to interfere!” Dolores snapped.

  Dolores hurled a throwing knife that struck Angie’s wing and instantly unfolded into a net. Angie spun helplessly in free fall and crashed to the ground.

  Laughing, the assassin sprinted toward her.

  Charlie could not allow it. She ran, pushing her body to its limit, trying to close the distance. Dolores twisted mid-run and flung more knives. Charlie snapped out her Spectral Chain.

  The assassin dodged and surged forward. They clashed. Dolores was far faster. Her blades slipped through gaps in Charlie’s armor and bit into flesh.

  Charlie activated her spectral barrier. It shattered almost immediately, but the break gave her a brief opening. Dolores flipped backward in a clean arc and landed atop a stone wall.

  “You’re far too entertaining, girl,” Dolores said, laughing. “I wish I had a few hours alone with you. Your screams, the look on your face. It would be unforgettable.”

  Charlie stopped in front of Angie, who was still trapped in the net. She could not turn away to help her. She had to protect her. Dolores tossed smoke bombs. This time, the smoke was not black. It was dark green. Toxic. Parts of the cloud shimmered faintly.

  “Where do you think I am now?” Dolores’s voice echoed from multiple directions. Footsteps sounded everywhere.

  It was not just the smoke. She had activated something else.

  “Angie, stay close to me. Do not try to fly if you manage to break free,” Charlie said.

  Dolores’s footsteps circled them.

  “Am I here?” Dolores whispered, her voice suddenly right beside Charlie’s ear.

  Charlie spun and struck, but there was nothing.

  “Or here?” Dolores teased again, followed by overlapping laughter inside the fog.

  “She’s behind you,” Angie’s voice said.

  Charlie turned.

  “That wasn’t me, Charlie!” Angie shouted.

  Too late. Something slid across Charlie’s neck. A blade. Dolores had slipped in from behind and slit her throat with a dagger. Blood sprayed. Charlie felt her vocal cords tear. She dropped to her knees.

  “What a shame,” Dolores said softly. “Such a delicate face, wasted so quickly.”

  A dagger slammed into Charlie’s chest, straight into her heart.

  “Die! Die! Die!” Dolores screamed. “I hate beautiful women!”

  Charlie collapsed onto the ground, sinking into her own pool of blood.

  “No one escapes Dolores the Relentless,” the assassin said, walking toward Angie.

  Then Charlie stood up and wrapped her arms around Dolores from behind.

  “What? How?” Dolores screamed.

  Charlie squeezed. Hard. There was a sickening crack as Dolores’s spine snapped. Charlie hurled her to the ground. The assassin tried to rise, but her legs did not respond.

  “No, no, no!” Dolores screamed, staring at her useless limbs.

  She looked up at Charlie.

  “No! I stabbed your heart! Your throat is cut, you bitch! How are you alive?”

  Charlie did not answer. No sound came out. Her throat was still open. She moved. With a sharp twist, she shattered Dolores’s arm and bit down. Dolores screamed. Charlie chewed through the hand and swallowed.

  Dolores howled in agony as Charlie bit again, tearing off the other arm.

  [Blood Core: 52/100]

  [Vampiric Regeneration activated]

  [-50 Blood Energy]

  [Blood Core: 2/100]

  Charlie’s body healed.

  “I promised I would only drink the blood of one person. But what I did to you doesn’t count. I devoured you. There’s no pleasure in it. Only the hunt,” Charlie said, raising her boot and grinding it down.

  She glanced toward the temple entrance and saw the enemy soldiers frozen in horror now that the fog had cleared. Charlie lifted her fist, flames igniting around it, and activated [Twin Meteor Fists]. A blazing fist of fire tore free and slammed into the temple entrance, detonating on impact. Those who managed to flee inside survived. Those who didn’t screamed as they burned, collapsing beside the dead.

  Charlie looked back at Dolores and kept pressing her boot down. Then she finished it, driving her sword in.

  **Your class [Blood Death Knight] has reached Level 70!**

  [You have unlocked a Class Skill]

  Angie had already freed herself from the net. She moved forward through the flames, cutting down the invaders who had dared enter the territory her master had entrusted to her. When the fighting ended, she and Charlie hunted down the remaining attackers scattered through the village. In the end, they interrogated a few before killing them.

  “This one confirmed what the others said,” Angie reported. “There’s another group outside the Spore Forest, hiding in a network of caves.”

  “We’ll kill every last one of them in that hideout,” Charlie said.

  “I was going to suggest the same thing,” Angie replied.

  Charlie tapped her system interface and stared at the five skill options that appeared.

  [Contained Bleeding (Common)]: The knight’s blood refuses to abandon the body. Even when fatally wounded, the flow remains controlled, sealed by the blood’s own will. Deep cuts and punctures continue to bleed, but never enough to cause death. The body stays upright, driven by resolve and the crimson hunger sustaining it.

  [Crypt Mantle (Epic)]: Bone fragments rise from the ground and weave themselves over the knight’s body, forming a spectral mantle that echoes the silence of catacombs. The living structure creaks and pulses, reducing the impact of physical attacks and dampening piercing blows and projectiles. Beneath the Crypt Mantle, the Blood Death Knight becomes a walking fortress, forged of flesh, bone, and fury.

  [Blood Teleport (Epic)]: The knight channels the bond with their [Blood Familiar], tearing space between them with a single thought. The body dissolves into a swirling mass of blood and reforms beside the familiar. Ideal for ambushes, pursuits, or escapes. Teleportation is only possible while the familiar is alive and within the bond’s range.

  [Blood Tracking (Uncommon)]: The knight’s eyes glow a deep crimson. Even in total darkness, they perceive the flow of blood beneath skin, pulsing through arteries and veins. No living being can hide from this sight. To the Blood Death Knight, the world becomes a map of heartbeats and pulses, and every movement of blood is an invitation to hunt.

  [Blood Shield (Epic)]: With a gesture, the knight sacrifices 500 HP to condense coagulated blood around their arm, forming a circular shield that throbs like a living heart. The shield absorbs impacts and repels attacks, shuddering with each blow as if alive. When destroyed, the blood detonates in a short shockwave, forcing nearby enemies backward.

  https://discord.gg/znGSjCxhkR