"Impossible.." Hawk Demoness mumbled with a stupefied expression as she saw this vampire walk out.

"Name's Viktor, not that I am pleased to make your acquaintance," Viktor said as smoke drifted up from his skin. His vest was burned off, revealing his chiseled, robust torso.

"You should be dead. I saw you get burned by my flames," Hawk Demoness even momentarily forgot her main mission since what she had just witnessed left her in an utter state of disbelief. This man was a vampire indeed, and yet she casually snuffed away her demonic flames.

"That isn't the first time I have heard people say that to me. Anyways..you are not getting to that mountain," Viktor said as he looked at the large mountain just a few hundred meters ahead.

Hawk Demoness came back to her senses as she remembered that she didn't have time to waste thinking about what had just happened. Maybe he used some special protection artifact to get rid of the flames. She also could feel her powers being weakened and felt that the Void Temple, which was only a few hundred meters had something to do with this.

She scoffed as she caressed her mace, "You speak as if you think you can defeat me. You have no idea how your corpse is going to end up as. I have killed enough vampires in my lifetime to learn how to make a vampire die in the most miserable way."

Viktor squinted his eyes and felt as if this woman was quite old based on the way she was talking.

But before he could guess how old she was, he saw her figure suddenly disappear from the spot and frowned when he felt a strong gust of air behind him.

*BHAM!*

A dull yet loud sound of Viktor's back getting struck by a blazing red mace harder than iron echoed in the area as Viktor was blasted away for a few dozen meters till he crashed down on some bushes.

"Fuck..that hurt.." Viktor felt like his entire spine was rattled, and he could feel blood trickling down his back after the spikes on her mace pierced his skin. He also felt his skin was scorched by her flames, though it wasn't as bad as he expected.

But his healing was slower than usual, and he didn't know why he felt like his odic force was being suppressed.

Hawk Demoness wanted to break his back and let him die a slow death by striking his back with her mac. But when she flew over to where he fell, she was yet again shocked to see him slowly getting up and even healing the injuries she gave him. She expected her flames to deal serious injuries to him, yet it seemed like it didn't even faze him that much.

She knew her powers were weakened because of the Void Temple's presence, but by that logic, this vampire should also get weakened.

"That hurt a bit, but you won't succeed twice," Viktor said as he flexed his back, and to Hawk Demoness' surprise, his figure turned into a blur before disappearing from the spot.

She was floating in the air as she looked around with a vigilant expression, trying to track his odic aura to know his location. But her senses were suppressed as well, and she was not able to use her sharp eyes to their maximum potential. Now that she was staying even closer to the mountain, the suppression only seemed to increase.

She realized it was not a good idea to fight close to the mountain.

But before she could fly away, Viktor suddenly grabbed onto her body by wrapping his arms around her arms and her neck.

Hawk Demoness realized he had used one of the trees as a jumping pad to jump toward her.

"Ugh, get off!" Hawk Demoness was enraged to find herself in such a humiliating situation.

"Time to go down, birdy," Viktor said as he began to choke her while using his other arm to lock her arms to prevent her from using her mace.

Hawk Demoness' eyes became wide as her mouth opened involuntary upon feeling as if her neck was going to get crushed. Her arms were squirming helplessly, unable to squeeze out of his rock-hard grip, making her wonder how could he be this strong?!

She was a feared Champion who had made her mark in the previous Bloodborn Tournament, and yet some random vampire whom she had never seen or heard of was capable of suppressing her to this extent. She couldn't even find the chance to counterattack properly.

Viktor felt as if he was in a weakened state, though he also had no idea that Hawk Demoness was getting weakened as well.

But after his recent adventures, especially with Seraphina, his strength had significantly improved.historical

"You aren't as strong as I expected. Goodbye."

"N-No..NO!!" Hawk Demoness felt strong killing intent from his aura, but her cries were in vain as she was unable to gather enough strength to shrug him off. If only she wasn't caught offguard, she wouldn't end up in this situation.

Viktor was about to snap her neck when,

*Whoosh!*

A strong burst of dark silver flames suddenly struck Viktor from behind, making him let go of Hawk Demoness as he began falling toward the ground.

"I got you!"

Viktor expected to fall to the ground when he heard a familiar silvery voice as a pair of soft arms caught him before he could hit the ground.

"Umi.." Viktor was surprised to see her beautiful visage hidden by her white veil. He thought she was busy fighting off the one named Blight. Then her being here could only mean that he was taken care of.

But both Viktor and Umilia quickly looked up to see who attacked Viktor from behind, only to frown upon seeing a person clad in a black cloak floating up in the air while Hawk Demoness regained her bearings and immediately bowed to the mysterious figure, "Lord Dark Phoenix! I didn't expect your presence here. I am ashamed you had to see such a pathetic side of mine."

A deep, breathy voice came from within the hood of the mysterious figure, "You cannot be blamed. It is only natural, considering the Void Temple suppresses any odic force near it. Within the temple, we would be no stronger than ordinary mortals. But..who might you be to be this strong despite standing near the Void Temple?" He asked as he looked down at Viktor.