"Hah… haah… hahhh," Ariana panted heavily, her chest rising and falling as she caught her breath. The five ordinary-class vampires lay motionless around her, their bodies already beginning to dissolve into ash. Her blade still trembled slightly in her grip—not from fear, but from the adrenaline coursing through her veins.
"Well done. You're really strong," came a voice behind her.
She turned to see a young man approaching, his face lit up with genuine admiration.
"It's nothing," Ariana replied curtly, refusing to meet his eyes. "They were just too weak." She wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand.
"Come on, you don't have to be so modest," he said, stepping closer with a handkerchief extended toward her. "Not everyone in our year can do what you just did. Hell, most of them would've been overwhelmed by just two of those things."
