"You're just being slow," Qianya said, her voice crisp as winter hail.

"I'm not slow!" Qingsheng Tangxue fluffed up like a startled kitten, tail high in a storm.

Qianya let the bristling girl fade from her concern like mist. She walked toward the City Lord, her aura and gait shifting within a few breaths, a crown settling like dawn on her shoulders.

As a queen, slipping masks was routine, a tide rolling in and out.

Dread hit Fan Chen first, cold as midnight water. He spun and dropped into a fighting stance, a mouse pinned beneath a dragon's gaze.

"Hey, wait for me!"

"Huff… Qianya, you're too fast—agh!"

As Tangxue caught her breath, Fan Chen flash-stepped like lightning across a ridge. He seized her arm and yanked them back, a wave pulling from the cliff.

Qianya watched with glacier calm, hands still as stone. Even that chill made Fan Chen feel like he’d fallen into an ice cellar.

"Everyone, heads up! A strong Blood Clan foe has invaded!" His shout cracked like thunder across dry fields.

"Argh, you jerk, I just ran all the way here!" Tangxue’s kick whispered through air like a reed in wind.

The two voices overlapped like clashing cymbals, and a faint kick thudded, a sparrow tapping on wood.

Nerves that had loosened tightened again, strings drawn taut on a war bow. In a heartbeat, Qianya was ringed from afar, a moon encircled by wary stars.

Pain bit Fan Chen, sharp as grit on a wound. He hadn’t expected the little lass’s leg to carry the force of a gusting gale.

But now wasn’t the hour to relax; the air went tense, metallic, like rain before a storm.

"Enough. I’m not here to make trouble." Qianya’s glance slid over them like a knife over ice. "Besides, even together, you wouldn’t change the tide."

The earlier chaos had rattled everyone; now faces were clear as lanterns in fog. Who would guess the Qianya they knew, the diligent student like spring bamboo, was the Queen of the Blood? Half the teachers here knew that studious girl, yet never imagined a nation’s queen would study at their own academy.

A third of the strong present wore Heavenly Melody Academy robes, pillars amid a forest of blades.

"An honor, Your Highness Vinoena Qianya, Queen of the Blood." A seasoned teacher stepped out and bowed, his breath steady as a mountain stream.

Tangxue remembered: that was Xia Ning, the one who spun adventure tales in class like stars into silk.

"May I ask why Your Highness graces us now?" Xia Ning kept his head slightly lowered, eyes steady as a hunter’s lantern. His hands were tight as knots; if peace was possible, he meant to walk that path.

He knew the Queen’s power. He had seen her strike once in the Blood Clan capital, a thunderhead ripping the sky. Even with Kerlinveil Xuewei, the city’s sharpest blade, they wouldn’t win together against her.

"Don’t call it a grace. I’m a hunted exile at best," Qianya said, words dry as ash.

"Heh… you jest, my lady. Who in this world could hunt you?" His smile was brittle, like frost on thin glass.

"Spare the courtesies." She cut straight, clean as a river stone. "The one outside—his target is me."

A hiss ran through the hall, like wind through pines. How terrifying must a being be to hunt the Blood Queen, one of the continent’s most enigmatic peaks?

Their earlier defeat felt earned now, a tide they couldn’t turn. To have escaped at all meant the foe’s power was a storm beyond their charts.

Qianya pierced their fragile hope like a hawk through cloud. "That royal-blooded Vampire hasn’t reached quasi-god. At most, he’s ninth-tier peak."

"But my bloodline binds me. I can’t unleash everything before him," she said, a chain glinting in moonlight. Blood Clan with vampire blood couldn’t resist high-ranked Vampires; even Qianya, with her thin vampire strain, could only channel limited mana.

Fan Chen couldn’t hold it back; worry pounded like rain on tiles. "Then… may I ask, why take shelter in a small city?"

Qianya shook her head, a raven flicking water from its wings. "I have my reasons. Your little city doesn’t interest me… I invested here on a whim. As for the one outside… best not ask." Her eyes narrowed like crescents. "The Blood Clan dislikes outsiders meddling in internal affairs."

"Then may I ask—" His words hung, a torn banner in wind.

"I want only one thing, and it matches your aim," she said, voice steady as a drum. "I want to break this barrier and leave the city."

Fan Chen’s eyes lit like lamps at dusk. "You mean…"

"I’ll borrow your hands to get out," Qianya said, simple as a blade laid on the table.

Fan Chen thought, thoughts circling like hawks. If it were only that, wasn’t it too smooth? With the Queen’s help, they could do more than break the barrier; they could turtle in Starfate City and let that Vampire hammer for days, and the shield would still stand like a cliff against waves.

If that’s true, why would the Queen of the Blood show herself to cooperate? Something smelled off, like iron in water.

Qianya hadn’t told them everything. The bloodline suppression was heavier than her words, a millstone on her throat. Even at full force, she’d be only slightly more useful than these ninth-tier benchwarmers, driftwood in a flood.

"Oh, and if you plan to have me feed mana into your shield," she said, a curl of cold at her lip, "then the thing outside will go rabid, tearing at the barrier like a mad dog, no matter the cost."

"Right now, both he and I are saving strength for the battle after," she went on, calm as winter fields. "If I prepare to strike, he’ll be thrilled to force me to burn my mana."

"By then your shield won’t survive that clash. It’ll collapse early, like ice under a spring river."

Silence fell, thick as snow. They knew it was possible.

"I don’t want this to be the final battleground," she said, a soft ember beneath iron. "I’ve lived here for a while… but that depends on whether you’ll cooperate."

After a brief hush, Fan Chen stepped forward, steady as a tree in wind. "What do you plan to do?"

"I heard your plan," Qianya said. "You intend to send information out through cracks in the barrier, right? I can deliver the message. But until reinforcements arrive, I need to stay inside the city, like a hawk under eaves."

"Then why don’t you—" Fan Chen stopped, the answer surfacing like a fish in dark water. He finally saw it: the Queen sought refuge. The Vampire outside truly could wound her. If she bolted, he’d hound her; better to hide within walls, though the thought soured like old rain.

"I know what worries you," Qianya said, voice cool as river stone. "Relax. Edgar Warren, that mangy stray, is cautious. Once the message goes out, he won’t linger in battle."

"Vampires are far less fearsome outward than inward," she added, disdain sharp as a thorn.

"Your shield’s trashy, sure," she said, blunt as a hammer, "but it can hold in a high-level standoff for half a day. By then, Kerlinveil Xuewei will be here, swift as a falcon."

If luck allowed, Qianya wanted Edgar Warren to keep attacking after the leak. With Kerlinveil Xuewei back, she was confident they could join blades and kill that Vampire here, like a trap snapping in a narrow pass.

"All right, we accept this cooperation." Fan Chen coughed, voice clearing like mist. "Your Majesty, we’ll go out and draw the Vampire King’s gaze. You’ll use the opening to send the message, then fall back into the city as planned, right?"

"Mm…" Qianya’s assent was a quiet bell.

"Wait! I’m going too!" Tangxue burst out, bright as a spark in dry grass.