Dark red blood stained the ground of Air Supplena Island.
Nazi vampire corpses lay scattered along the roadside. Judging by the extent of their melting remains, the battle had ended some time ago.
Elsewhere across the island were signs of modern bombardment—spent shell casings, scorched earth, and the lingering smell of gunpowder drifting through the air.
Ray Chu and Lisa Lisa exchanged a glance.
Just as they had suspected: while the Nazis ambushed the two of them, they had also launched an assault on the island. Unlike the underwater battle, however, the Nazis on land had acted with far greater force and complete recklessness.
Yet since the moment Ray Chu and Lisa Lisa set foot on the island, they hadn't seen a single Nazi soldier.
It seemed the enemy had already withdrawn.
Ray Chu suddenly asked, "Lisa Lisa—if Air Supplena Island were attacked, where would everyone retreat?"
Lisa Lisa gave no answer, her expression unreadable as she walked ahead toward the eastern side of the castle.
Along the way, numerous vampire corpses littered the castle corridors. Some had been destroyed by Hamon. Many more had been killed by the castle's traps.
For centuries, this castle had served as both a training base and headquarters for Hamon warriors. Naturally, its builders had considered the possibility of invasion by vampires and Pillar Men.
At the time, the leaders of the Hamon warriors had hired the world's greatest master of mechanisms to design and construct the fortress.
Since its completion, however, the castle's traps had only been activated three times.
Each time had come during the gravest crises.
Many Hamon warriors had fallen in brutal battle—but each time, they had preserved the precious flame of Hamon for the future.
This time was no exception.
Two massive bronze doors now blocked the passage, sealing off the pursuing vampire forces and halting the Nazis before the final line of defenses.
Yet before the doors lay two unmoving figures.
Messina.
Loggins.
These two Hamon masters had given their lives to cover Joseph and Caesar's retreat.
But the condition of their bodies ignited fury in both Ray Chu and Lisa Lisa.
Their limbs had been broken. Their chests torn open, hearts ripped out, lungs gouged away. Bite marks scarred their organs. Even their skin and facial features had been mutilated.
They had been tortured savagely before death.
The perpetrator was clearly a sadistic monster.
A chilling aura spread through the hall.
It also forced the hidden watchers to reveal themselves.
"Keh heh heh! I knew there'd be a couple of survivors slipping through the net. Just as Major Andreas predicted!"
From the shadowed ceiling hung dozens of Nazi vampires. One officer wearing goggles dropped lightly to the floor.
His blood-red cloak fluttered dramatically as several dozen elite vampire soldiers stepped forward in formation. Sunlight streamed through the windows behind them, casting twisted shadows across the stone floor.
"Keh heh heh! Your next line will be: 'Why aren't these vampire soldiers burning in the sunlight?'"
Balancing on one leg with both arms twisted behind his head in an exaggerated pose, the vampire officer grinned.
Ray Chu and Lisa Lisa said nothing, watching his theatrics with blank expressions.
"Tch! No sense of humor," Andreas scoffed. "Let Major Andreas enlighten you! Our uniforms are made from the Empire's latest ultraviolet-resistant material. Even in broad daylight, we can walk freely beneath the sun."
"Well? Feeling hopeless yet? Helpless? Bingo! That's exactly right! Under the unrivaled technology of the Reich, pathetic Hamon rats like you should simply accept your miserable fate!"
"Were Messina and Loggins killed by you?" Lisa Lisa suddenly asked.
"Hm? You mean those two piles of garbage?" Andreas pointed casually toward the bodies before the bronze doors, his smile twisted with cruelty.
"Idiots who didn't know when to surrender. If they'd accepted my offer, I could have granted them eternal life. But no—they insisted on spouting nonsense like 'the glory of Hamon warriors must never be stained.'"
"So I decided to demonstrate a little of the Reich's fine interrogation techniques."
CRACK!
The stone beneath Lisa Lisa's feet shattered as she shot forward like lightning toward the vile officer.
In the next instant, the ground in front of Andreas erupted.
Flames and shockwaves engulfed Lisa Lisa completely.
"Hahahahaha! You fell for it!"
Andreas had deliberately provoked her into charging. Long before the confrontation, he had scattered explosive "biological spore bombs" throughout the area.
The moment she came close enough, he triggered them.
It was a new ability he had developed after becoming a vampire—exceptionally effective for assassination.
With a Hamon warrior seemingly blown to pieces, Andreas turned his gaze toward Ray Chu.
"Your companion is dead. Aren't you going to fight back?"
Then his expression shifted.
"Wait… you're that Hamon warrior from the East!"
"Keh heh heh… a man who can kill Pillar Men. Worthy of my personal attention. But unlike those ancient relics, I specialize in modern weaponry."
"So tell me—how will a mere human deal with that?"
Andreas had absolute faith in technology. Even after becoming a vampire, he looked down on the so-called ancient Pillar Men.
The only things he truly believed in were the mighty Reich—and the Führer.
"Idiot," Ray Chu said calmly, arms folded across his chest. "Look behind you."
He leaned back slightly—about fifteen degrees—as though resting against an invisible wall.
"What?"
Andreas turned.
Behind him lay the dismembered remains of his soldiers.
At some unknown moment, every vampire behind him had already been killed.
Lisa Lisa stood there, her scarf gripped like a sword.
In the instant before the explosion, she had used the scarf wrapped around her neck as a pole, vaulting over the blast and landing behind the enemy.
Then, in a single silent instant, she had cut down every vampire soldier.
The flames and smoke from the explosion had completely concealed her movements. The vampires behind Andreas hadn't even had time to scream before Hamon sliced them apart.
"How… how is this possible?! Why are you still alive?!"
Panic seized Andreas as he stumbled backward, hands flailing.
A scarf suddenly shot forward, wrapping tightly around his neck.
"My scarf is woven from the silk of a rare insect called the Satiporoja Beetle," Lisa Lisa said calmly. "Its threads conduct Hamon perfectly."
"It isn't just a weapon—it's also a sensor."
"The moment you released those spores, I already knew."
The scarf tightened further and further, tearing through Andreas's protective suit and biting deep into his flesh.
The pain was unbearable.
It felt as if his neck were slowly being stretched by a hangman's noose—while Hamon corroded his flesh and melted his bones.
"Aaaaaaah!! Spare me! Sp—spare—!"
Lisa Lisa showed no interest in prolonging his suffering.
With a final pull, the scarf ripped his head free—spine and all.
"Ahhh… what a strange feeling…"
The severed head of Major Andreas let out a final, eerie groan before falling silent.
Lisa Lisa knelt before the bodies of Messina and Loggins.
She placed the melting head of Andreas beside them.
As if sensing something, the empty eyelids of the two fallen warriors slowly closed.
The sunset poured through the castle windows.
Across the fortress, the bodies of the Nazi vampires rapidly disintegrated into ash, scattering into the fading light.
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T/N: i forgot the images of messina and loggins but i guess it doesnt matter now lmao