It took only one perfectly placed strike to break her neck, and the moment I did, her body collapsed lifelessly, but just before she hit the ground, I caught her in my arms. The others had finished dispatching the other vampires while the witch looked at us in shock.

"You defeated the Thorn Princess as if she was nothing," the witch mumbled with her mouth agape.

"Let’s go," I said to the others. "We’ve already done what we wanted to do. At this rate, the entire city will be down on us."

As if escaping from the scene of a murder, the girls and I, along with Isabella’s mother who was slumped over my shoulder, travelled through the winding streets of the city, moving through back alleys and even climbing over buildings. Soon, when we were further away, we merged into the civilian population seamlessly.

The city was in panic, searching for the person who destroyed an entire city block, while we slipped into a small inn we managed to happen upon. The air inside was thick with the scent of blood. It was a small establishment but well taken care of.

Inside, the happy customers were busy engaging in loud conversations while others enjoyed the solitude of being alone. Up on the small stage, there was a banshee singing a nice tune while a few fanged-humanoids cheered her on. The banshee was a beautiful pale skinned woman, with black hair that cascaded down to her feet. She wore a long white dress which had a few blood stains on it. Her voice was angelical, almost as soothing as Selthia’s.

The bartender was a lamia, half man, half snake. He was secreting a yellow liquid from his mouth into a glass and handing it to happy customers who seemed to couldn’t get enough.

I suspected this strange liquid was his venom. I’ve heard it could be used as alcohol if used in the right quantity.

No one even spared us a glance as we stepped in. They didn’t even seem to care about the chaos taking place in the city.

It was good news for us as we strolled inside and took a seat at an empty table.

"Witch, tell me, why are you still following us?" Selthia asked, looking as if she wanted to rip out Ember’s throat.

"I told you, I can’t go back without the mana crystals. Even though I hate to admit it, the safest place for me right now is with you."

"And why would we let you stay?" This time it was me who took the liberty of asking.

"Because I can help you," the witch answered confidently. "You need someone who knows the city if you’re going to stay here. Who’s better than someone who has been born and lived here her whole life?"

"My darling doesn’t need any woman." Kumo interrupted for a brief second.

"You’re wrong. I don’t just need anyone who knows the city. I need someone trustworthy first. You aren’t. You’ll gladly sell us out to save your own skin." I responded to the witch.

She smiled cunningly and crossed her legs, looking calm and composed, but she was far from it. I could hear her heartbeat. It sounded as if she was seconds away from having cardiac arrest. She was really panicked by the situation.

"You won’t have any reason to doubt me if I grant you a contract. How about it?" she spoke as if she was granting me a favor.

"I refuse."

"What?"

"Your contracts aren’t trustworthy."

"Is it because the vampires found out where we were? I told you I have no control over that!"

"No, it’s because you’re still breathing. Our deal says that if you fail to live up to your end of the bargain, then your life will be forfeited."

She gritted her teeth and slammed her fist down on the table. The vein on her head was now the biggest I’ve ever seen it.

"Are you crazy! Do you think that just because we spoke some words that I would suddenly collapse and die for not fulfilling my part? It’s the witch I’m serving that carries out the punishment. Which is why I’m refusing to go back in the first place. That’s how it works!"

Just then, our attention was momentarily drawn as a cute lamia girl with blonde hair, wearing a maid outfit slithered over to us. She stopped at our table and bowed her head with a slightly flushed face.

"Welcome to our establishment! Can I get you anything?"

Our conversation was momentarily cut short as we all stopped and stared at the shy lamia bowing her head politely at our table.

"Just give us the menu," Ember snapped, still emotional over our earlier discussion.

"Uh, um, here it is?!"

The lamia, who looked as if she was now on the verge of tears, quickly handed Ember the menu, to which I promptly took it from her hand. I was curious to see what they served here.

"Hmm? They have a whole section dedicated to different types of blood," I mumbled to myself.

They had human blood, lamb blood, blood of a virgin, along with blood belonging to various types of monsters.

"If you’re unsure of what to get, then may I suggest our famous lamia venom cocktail? It’s what we are famous for after all. Or maybe you would like to try our most expensive cocktail, the reaper’s reserve. It’s a smoky black whisky that has been fermented inside a cursed coffin for over 900 years. Though I must warn you, it is extremely expensive."

"Expensive?" I questioned.

I had no idea how currency worked here. The girl looked at me puzzled and tilted her head.

"Forgive them, they are new here," Ember quickly explained my ignorance and began to explain their concept of currency. "You see, in Purgatory, we don’t have a set currency. We barter with anything we have, whether it be your soul or your own blood."

"We have a blood machine if you guys want to test," the maid said, smiling daintily.

Again, I had no clue what a blood machine was, so the witch once again explained.

"A blood machine is a magic device created by witches to test the value of someone’s blood. The value of your blood can be determined by many things, like the amount of mana you have, your race, and even your bloodline. There are 5 ranks in total. At the lowest rank, you have Slave Blood, then Mortal Blood, Beast Blood, Noble Blood, and finally, at the highest rank, we have Blessed Blood."

"So how important is your blood in Purgatory?" I asked.

"It determines everything, for example, your position in society and much more. Some establishments will even bar you if the quality if your blood isn’t up to standards. There are even places and services you are unable to access if the quality of your blood isn’t high enough."

As Ember explained the blood ranking, the lamia slithered away happily. She returned a few moments later, holding a strange machine in her hand.

"Would you like to test the quality of your blood, mister?" she asked as she extended the machine towards me.