Chapter 1782: One last attack! While using the Black Celestial Sword, which had turned into a bow, Layla needed to concentrate to not lose control of herself. Even more so now that she had just pulled out a Qi arrow, although it wasn't just any Qi arrow, it was one created from her life force. For a long time, Layla had been holding the Qi of two people inside her, her own and her mother's, which she had received when the latter died. This allowed Layla to have a lot of Qi in her body, much more compared to the others. Originally, Layla thought she would amount to nothing and had only gotten stronger due to two things. One, the Hannya form which Quinn had turned her into and the second was due to her mother's Qi. Even now, she was using the celestial energy from the sword. However, Layla had been practising with her Qi endlessly during the years she had been with the red vampires. She not only tried to improve her sword skills, her Hannya powers and more, but also her Qi capacity. Over time she realised that she could gather huge amounts of Qi. Just like her mother. The apple didn't fall too far from the tree. Layla was able to train this Qi and let it expand more and more inside her body, which was why she was able to go almost toe-to-toe against Laxmus. Not just because of the other factors. She even used her Qi to disrupt Laxmus's shadow, which seemed a level above and more powerful than Quinn's shadow. Either way, even though she had a large amount of Qi, she was using everything in one attack to cause as much damage as possible. However, this life-force arrow attack would permanently remove Qi from her body. Although it was not all of her Qi, it would take years until she could build it up to the current level once again. When she was ready to pull the bow and release the arrow though, she heard a resounding explosion. "That power, No doubt it has to be Erin!" Layla thought. Taking her eye off the battle for a second, as she turned back, she could see that Laxmus was already breaking out of the chains. A few links had been broken, and she could sense a large, powerful force trying to break free. She didn't have the time to send more black spots toward Laxmus or his hands. Without hesitation, she let go of the arrow. Then using her powers, she pulled the arrow as fast as possible and pushed it forward. At the very last moment, Layla saw the man break free but was forced to look away. As the arrow made contact, the whole area lit up with bright white light. It expanded like a ball, but as it touched the buildings and the wall next to it, it did not harm them. As for Laxmus, it was a different story altogether. Where he once was, a large hole went deep into the ground, far too deep for Layla to see Laxmus. Layla's was drained after she released the arrow, and slowly she glided down as she didn't have enough power to let herself fly properly. I'm afraid we have lost this one. The Sword said. We did all we could. I know you can still push yourself further and continue to use me, but it's pointless. I wish you to at least enjoy your final moments with some peace. The black colour running through Layla's veins and from her eyes started to disappear. Her bow changed back into a sword as Layla finally landed on the floor, next to the large hole she had made. The screams in her head had stopped as soon as the Sword stopped giving her Celestial power. As the Sword said, it was a peaceful moment, but only for her. Not far from her, she could still hear the screams and the sound of weapons clashing. While she was staring at the hole, a black hand suddenly appeared at the edge, and as if a monster was crawling out of a pit of hell, Laxmus crunched the ground and pulled himself up. His right hand had a hole as big as a golf ball, and there was another close to the elbow. He had most likely tried to defend himself from the arrow, but it went through his hand. "Well, it has been a long time since I have bled. Now I can see why you deserve that weapon." Laxmus said as his blood dripped from the tip of his finger to the ground. Strangely, as soon as the drop touched the rocky surface, it started to fizzle as if the blood was acidic. "I don't know what you did, but I cannot heal, and because of that, I will make sure you can never heal either!" Laxmus ran forward towards Layla. Although the Sword told her to give up, she just couldn't give up as certain images appeared in her head. She desperately pulled the Sword in front of her stomach, above the spot Laxmus was planning to hit. As it landed, Layla's body flew up in the air from the force, the Sword was intact, but the strength of the punch almost went through the Sword as she could feel a pain in her whole body. "It's been so long... it's been so long...I had even forgotten what he looked like." "Can you even imagine how long one thousand years is... how much time... how many good memories of mine... of him has faded... and when I saw his look a like... how much hope that would bring." Now heavily injured, she slowly raised her head and could see Laxmus with his fist ready to punch her in the stomach again. However, she still didn't give up, and rather than block the attack, Layla swung her Sword right at Laxmus's fist this time. However, unlike before, she was no match for power. Instead, she was instantly sent flying and slammed far off into the ground near the lab. The blow was powerful as the shockwave created by Layla hitting the ground had destroyed several of the houses near the Lab. Layla coughed off an almighty amount of blood from her mouth. "I have to focus, use the internal flames in my body to heal my wounds... use the Qi to focus on the cells to repair themselves." "Damn it hurts... even though I used all the remaining Qi to defend, he was able to do this much damage." Layla thought. She soon felt the ground shake as Laxmus landed in front of her and retracted his wings into his body. "I thought Immortui would have trusted someone a lot stronger with his Sword. I gave you compliments early because I thought I would see more." "But, instead, you suddenly became so weak. Are you really a servant of him? Was this really a test?" Laxmus asked. Layla stared at him. She knew she could only count on one thing. "We shouldn't be fighting right now!" Layla said as more blood dripped out of her mouth. "We have more problems we need to deal with right now!" "You're right. I need to get my nest-crystal back and then use the red heart, but for now, I shall deal with you." Laxmus opened his mouth, and the red energy beam began to accumulate. Laxmus's Blood Breath was one of his strongest attacks, and without the Celestial Sword's power, Layla had no way of stopping it. Holding the Sword, Layla stabbed it into the ground and managed to pull herself upright. It would still take some time for her wounds to heal, and she certainly wouldn't be at 100 percent. "I know you said you didn't want to give me more power." "I know you want me to die peacefully, but please let me at least inflict one last wound on him to help whoever fights him next!" Layla said to the Sword while raising it and holding it in both hands. Suddenly, from the side, a large strike hit Laxmus, and he was sent flying through the air in the other direction. In a single blink, Layla had missed what had just happened. Standing there where Laxmus once was, was a Knight adorning a Golden-Rose coloured armour with a giant, long sword in her hand and a katana blade on her back. "She's right. The two of you can't fight each other right now if you want to have any chance of surviving this fight." The Golden-Rose knight gripped the hilt of her sword. "I will make sure that all vampires are gone from this world!" In the next instant, when Layla tightened her grip around the Sword, she didn't even see how the Knightess covered the distance between the two or how she managed to avoid her sword. All Layla could see was blood spraying out in the air and the face of the person who had attacked her. "E... rin.." Layla somehow managed to say the name of the Golden-Rose Knight, the queen of the Dhampirs.