Chapter 156: 156-Making a point
"I’ll crash you like a fly!" Addessa roared.
The fire around her surged violently, feeding on her fury. Flames spiralled up her arms before gathering between her palms, condensing into a massive sphere of molten orange and crimson.
The fireball grew and grew bigger.
Heat rolled across the village, scorching the earth beneath Addessa’s feet as the sphere swelled until it was nearly twice the size of her body.
Lumi’s eyes widened. "Addessa..." fear appeared in her eyes.
Though still angry, she was conscious enough to realize that harming the Princess meant death of not just the perpetrator but their entire clan, too.
But her voice came too late as Addessa thrust both hands forward. The fireball screamed through the air towards the princess.
Varitreya didn’t even flinch. "With what nerve, Addie?" she said, her voice low and cutting. The earth beneath her feet shifted by a fraction. "By hiding in your mother’s skirt?"
She stepped aside so quickly that the naked eye couldn’t catch her movements. It couldn’t be helped. She was a thousand times faster and stronger than Addessa and all the others combined.
The fireball tore past her shoulder and landed on the hacienda behind them.
BOOM!
It struck the ground behind her, erupting into a towering explosion of flame. Fire raced across the road, fields and the mansion, sending chunks of scorched earth and stone flying in every direction.
Varitreya turned calmly toward Addessa, and then she smiled. A soft smile with mockery at the corners of her mouth.
"You’re angry," the ground gave a low, deliberate rumble. "But I’m done being patient with you bunches of ungrateful, entitled snobs."
She lowered one hand and pressed her heel into the earth. The village did not trembled, it shook.
Buildings groaned as their foundations buckled. Windows shattered, and roof tiles jumped from rooftops and crashed into the streets. Trees bent violently as the earth rolled beneath their roots.
"What the..."
Addessa barely finished speaking before the ground beneath her tilted with precise, brutal force. Her feet left the ground.
"Damn it!"
She was hurled sideways.
Lumi screamed as the road beneath her split apart, forcing her to leap backwards. She tried to summon the air around her, but the moment her feet touched the ground, another controlled jolt threw her off balance. "Why won’t this stop moving?!"
She stretched both hands outward. The air gathered around her, and then the earth bucked again, forcing her to focus on retreating rather than summoning magic.
The current shattered. Lumi stumbled, catching herself against a broken wall before it collapsed beside her.
"This is impossible!" She screamed.
She had seen Varitreya’s palace evaluation before, and the princess, though powerful, had only been able to move a mountain.
The Queen had been very disappointed at the time and she had thought that it meant as long as she studied hard and put in effort, she might overtake Varitreya someday and prove that blood doesn’t determine success. But it seems the princess had been hiding her true strength since young.
Across the village, Zolani struggled just as badly. She planted her feet and reached for the water around her, in the air and in the earth, trying to draw it outward.
A ribbon of water formed around her wrist, and then the ground shifted beneath her feet. The water splashed wildly across the dirt.
"Damn it!" She cursed, clenched her teeth, and tried again.
Another tremor sent her stumbling backwards like a drunkard. The water whipped sideways instead of following her command, nearly striking her in the face.
"Varitreya!" She called out the life and death threat before her eyes dangling her humanity switch and threatening to flip it.
Varitreya didn’t answer her. She raised both hands, palms open and felt the earth beneath her like it was an extension of herself and commanded it, the earth obeyed.
A massive section of the village road rose like a wave. Varitreya closed her fingers and then the risen earth, crashed down, and exploded.
Addessa was thrown again. She hit the ground hard, rolling several times before finally stopping against a broken stone wall.
The moment her body struck the dirt, the flames surrounding her vanished again. She pushed herself up, coughing.
"What...?"
Her hands trembled. The fire was gone. It hard retreated inside her in her state of disarray as though it understood that it stood no chance against the whiteblood princess.
For the first time since the fight began, Addessa looked genuinely startled. She tried to summon it again, but nothing happened.
A tiny spark appeared between her fingers and then died almost immediately.
"No," She clenched her fists. "Come on!"
Nothing happened, but the same didn’t apply for Varitreya as the ground shifted again, responding to her command.
Addessa was thrown onto her back. Pain flashed through her ribs. For one terrible moment, she could do nothing but stare at the smoke-choked sky while the village groaned around her.
Her anger remained, but it had nowhere to go. It twisted into something colder and heavier: helplessness.
Nearby, Lumi struggled to keep herself upright, one hand pressed against the ground while the other fought to control the chaotic currents around her.
"I can’t focus!"
A burst of wind exploded from her palm, sending dust spiralling wildly through the street.
Zolani ducked as debris flew over her head. "Lumi!"
"I know!" Lumi groaned. "But I’m not apologising. You deserve it and worse..."
Another tremor hit, and all three vampires were thrown off their feet again.
Varitreya stood at the centre of the chaos. She hadn’t moved one bit as the earth moved for her.
Every crack, every tremor, every collapsing wall answered the smallest motion of her hands. Her eyes swept over them as they struggled to rise.
"This," she said coldly, "is what happens when you forget who you’re dealing with."
She spoke. At this point, her eyes had turned the brightest shade of crimson just like her mother’s when the queen loses her composure and feels too powerfully.
Addessa dragged herself onto one knee. Her hair was tangled with dirt. Her clothes were torn, and fury burned in her eyes.
"You think this is going to stop me?"
Varitreya’s eyebrow lifted. "You can barely stand, blackblood. How do you untend to fight back?"
Addessa’s jaw tightened. She forced herself upright. The earth rolled beneath her feet again like Varitreya was taking her time toying with an insignificant.
She stumbled.
Varitreya smiled. "Exactly what I mean."
For a heartbeat, Addessa nearly believed her. Her knees shook. Her lungs burned. Every attempt to reach for the fire ended in silence, and every tremor reminded her that Varitreya could take the ground itself away from her.
Rage had carried her into the fight, but it had failed her the moment she needed control. It had made her reckless. It had made her predictable. Her first attack had been nothing but fury given shape: enormous, blazing, and easy to evade.
Zolani tried to summon another wave of water, but it splashed uselessly across the ground.
"This is ridiculous!"
"What’s ridiculous," Varitreya said, "is watching three supposedly powerful vampires panic because they can’t fight on stable ground."
Lumi glared at her. "You’re literally destroying the village!"
"I am making a point."
"You’re making us all seasick!" Lumi shouted. "And I don’t even get why you are mad. You betrayed us by keeping the truth from us."
"Shut up, nerd!"
"Shut up, nerd!"
"Shut up, nerd!"
Addessa, Zolani, and Varitreya snapped together. Listening to her pull the victim card when all of them were sailing on the same boat was downright annoying.
Lumi stared at them in disbelief. "Seriously, guys?"
Another violent tremor interrupted her. "ARGH!"
She was thrown backwards. When she fell flat on her face, Lumi took her time to get up and remained put, not struggling because she was tired in every sense of the way.
Addessa shot Varitreya a furious look. "This isn’t over, princess."
Varitreya’s expression hardened. "No?" The ground beneath Addessa rose in a sudden, narrow column. "But it is for now."
The earth launched Addessa into the air. "VARITREYA!" the blackblood screamed as her body flew across the battlefield.
Zolani barely managed to grab her before she crashed into a wall. "Got you!"
The moment Zolani caught her, the ground shifted again. Both women screamed as they were thrown sideways.
Lumi tried to catch them with a current of air. The unstable earth disrupted her concentration, and her power sputtered.
"Come on!"