"R-Ruby..?…Ruby!…..Ruby!!!"
Seeing Ruby didn't respond, Luluka cried out loudly. She kept shaking Ruby's body, hoping to wake her up.
"Ruby!!! Please!! Stay with me!!!"
She kept calling and shaking, but—Ruby still didn't respond.
Luluka knew what happened.
She knew, but she didn't want to accept it.
Deep down she knew…
Ruby—had died.
And Luluka couldn't do anything about it.
"Wahhhhhhhhhh!!! RUBY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
She could only cry…
"Please goddess! Please! Help Ruby! Please bring her back, please!!"
She could only pray for a miracle to happen….
But—all of that was pointless.
Luluka knew.
She knew that it was pointless.
She knew that the goddess wouldn't bring Ruby back to life.
And so she wiped her tears away and did things her way!
'Fine! If the goddess didn't help me, then I'll do something myself!'
She clenched her fist tightly as a light of determination appeared in her eyes,
'I'll create a miracle myself!!!'
Thinking so, Luluka activated her skill, Blood Manipulation, and created a dagger from it.
*slash!*
She cut her wrist, making blood pour out of her wound. She then brought her blood-soaked hand to Ruby's mouth.
Her blood ran through her hand and dropped into Ruby's mouth. It kept pouring and pouring.
No response….
'Not enough, huh?'
*slash!*
She slashed at her wrist again and created another wound. Then she poured her blood into Ruby's mouth again.
No response….
*slash!*
'Again.'
No response….
'Again!'
No response...
'Again!!!!'
She cut herself again and again, ignoring the pain she felt, but—it was still pointless. Ruby's lifeless body wouldn't be able to wake up anymore.
She knew that.
She knew that Ruby was already dead.
She knew that miracle couldn't happen that easily, if it even existed in the first place.
She knew that doing the same thing over and over again was nothing but insanity.
But still…
Tears dropped onto the ground. Luluka's trembling hand went limp and lost its grip on her dagger.
It disappeared into thin air.
Just like the light in her eyes…
It had already disappeared…
But then—
*ding!*
A notification sound suddenly rang out. Luluka swiftly looked up and saw a familiar translucent blue screen in front of her.
Attempting to unlock the hidden skill [Blood Revival]…
Upon reading the words on the screen, Luluka's eyes widened. The lost light in her eyes slowly regained itself.
She kept waiting and waiting for the next screen to pop up.
It felt like an eternity while she was waiting, but she didn't complain. This was the only hope she had. She would wait for it no matter how long it took.
"…."
"…."
"…."
*ding!*
Attempt success! You have gained a new skill [Blood Revival].
[Blood Revival] A legendary skill of the vampire race. Have the ability to revive any race and turn them into a vampire. Only a rare individual who has the goddess's blessing will have access to this skill.
Condition:
The target needs to consume the user's blood.
The user and the target need to have a strong bond with each other.
Can only be used within 1 hour after the target's death.
Seeing this, Luluka didn't wait and created a red dagger again. Just like before, she cut her wrist and poured her blood into Ruby's mouth.
'Please, work…'
Luluka waited patiently with expectant eyes.
Time passed by slowly as Luluka was sitting there in silence.
The calming sound of wind blowing against the tree's leaves soothed Luluka's heart.
So did the sound of birds chirping in the sky.
And then—not long after…
"Mmmm…"
Ruby slowly opened her eyes…
—————————————
—————————————
Deep into the forest not too far away from where Luluka and Ruby were, two figures were observing the situation.
"Look at that. She truly is amazing." The cloaked-figure said to the man next to him.
The man next to him smirked. "Well, that much is obvious." He said proudly.
The cloaked-figure looked at the man and began laughing. "Hahahaha! You say that now, but I've seen you trembling so hard when that girl was fighting against Alabas-Chan."
Seeing the cloaked-figure laughing at him, the man could only sighed. "It can't be helped. I couldn't bear to see her in such a state…"
The cloaked-figure kept laughing for a while and nodded. "Right right. As always, you're such a doting father, eh? ….Arthur."
The man next to him, Arthur turned to look at the cloaked-figure.
"Can you blame me? My daughter is the cutest thing in the world!" Arthur shouted energetically.
The cloaked-figure laughed again and turned to look in Luluka's direction. "Yeah, I have to agree with you on that. She's not bad, hehehehe.. *pant* … *pant*.."
The cloaked-figure kept laughing creepily, but then—he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine!
Swiftly, he turned to look at Arthur and his body shuddered in fear. Arthur was looking at him with murderous intent so strong that it could make a grown man peed his pants!
"W-Woah there! I-I was just kidding! S-Stop! I'm sorry!!" The cloaked-figure was panicking.
After that, the murderous intent died down and the atmosphere returned to normal. The cloaked-figure sighed in relief.
"*sigh* You really are a doting father…" He said resignedly.
"Hmph! I already told you that it can't be helped."
"Right…." cloaked-figure continued. "And besides, I wouldn't dare to think something like that to the child of prophecy. I didn't want to receive the goddess's wrath after all."
"And what if she's not the child of prophecy then?"
"I'll pursue her, obviously! Such beauty was so rar- Woah woah! Stop! I was just kidding!"
Arthur stopped his second bout of murderous intent and sighed deeply.
"You know, your daughter was still alive, so you could be energetic now. But my Alabas-Chan.. *sob* M-My Alabas-Chan was…*sob*…" The cloaked-figure began to sob.
Arthur saw this and sighed. "Stop crying. You know that it was necessary. Some small sacrifices need to be made in order to achieve something big."
"I know that! But still..*sob*..*sob*… wahhh~!!" The cloaked-figure cried out loudly.
Arthur saw this and sighed again as he shook his head.
"Grow up already, you brat. How could someone like you be in such a high position?" Arthur asked sternly.
"Geez, teach. Are you gonna lecture me again? I've already graduated!" The cloaked-figure protested.
"Act more like a proper ruler damn it." Arthur sighed and continued.
"After all—you are the emperor of the biggest empire on this continent…"
Hearing this, the cloaked-figure laughed. "Hahahaha! Well, it was a pleasure to be seen in such a high regard by you."
The clocked-figure looked at Arthur deeply with a smile on his face. "Heh? The king of blood who rule over all the vampires, and one of the seven deadly sins—Greed."