With my hand piercing his chest, the hazz attempted to spread and devour his soul, but the sigils on his body quickly suppressed it. Even so, we were finished.
When I withdrew my hand, I also summoned bones imbued with holy attribute from the ground beneath my feet. He might be better than me at Light Magic, but as a vampire he was still weak to it as proven by his holy sword.
After the bones opened several holes in his body, Ryan coughed blood but clenched his bloody teeth and broke off from the bones stabbing him. But that was it.
He then dropped to the ground with his sigils fading and eventually disappearing. They managed to get rid of the hazz before it faded, but his immortality was overcome. However, despite death closing in, he had a faint smile as he collapsed to the ground.
"It was, a good fight."
"I agree."
"Now, kill me."
I knew it would come to this, and though I couldn't spare him because he couldn't control what he was ordered to do, I didn't want to give up on him either.
"...If I could give you a second chance at life, would you take it?"
"What do you-?"
"Just answer."
"Sure. As the child of my benefactor, I wouldn't mind serving by your side. But if I did, it would have to be of my own will."
"Very well. Bye."
Once I obtained his answer, I cleanly decapitated him. With his head rolling away, dripping with blood, and his eyes closing it looked like a perfect death, but I knew he wasn't dead yet. A vampire wasn't this easy to kill after all, the only thing I did was sever his consciousness. The holy sword did vanish, but that couldn't be helped.
'Now to see what I can do.'
I had a decent amount of experience making familiars and mixing souls so I was very close to reaching level 7 of Soul Magic. With knowledge of this magic, I thought that even an ancient curse of the vampires could be overcome. But as I took a closer look at Ryan's soul which was shackled by the special curse attached to his vampire bites, I realized that it wouldn't be so easy.
I was confident that my ability to tamper with souls was top-notch, but there was someone who was at least on par with me among the vampires. I thought it would be fine since he was only bitten by a nightwalker and wondered why they allowed someone with the potential of a hero to be the slave of a mere nightwalker, but while I looked at this intricate curse I was sure someone had improved it. And if they were this familiar with the vampire's ancient curse art, it had to be fellow vampire, a True Ancestor to be exact.
'So they made their kin become his master and then improved the curse so that he could control him properly. They basically made him into a pet.'
As I closely examined the curse, I felt the chance of success continue to drop. It was like I was looking at a bunch of tangled up wires where I couldn't differentiate between one wire and the other. I couldn't treat it like rope either as if I tried to forcefully rip the curse from his soul, it was likely that permanent damage would remain.
'I should give up.'
Even if I didn't want to kill him, I could seal him in ice until I felt like I could unravel this curse or until I killed the one who gave it to him. Besides, I was extremely tired. As someone who once looked forward to eternal rest, I should have resolutely stopped, but I couldn't.
Instead of withdrawing, I dove deeper into the puzzle that was his soul. It was true that I wanted to sleep as much as possible in this world and did everything I could to make sure I got a good sleep, but I had grown greedy in that time. A perfect nap wasn't enough to satisfy me anymore. Now that I had the freedom to rest, I also wanted to have fun. It was even harder to suppress this urge in my dragon form, which made me less restrained.
Like an innocent child, or perhaps a mad scientist, I diligently worked on straightening out the mess that was Ryan's soul. Immersed in this task, I quickly forgot about my fatigue and the fox that was still somewhere in the area. I felt a sense of accomplishment as my work got closer to completion and that egged me on.
It was a very slow and repetitive mission but I didn't even consider taking a break.
[Soul Magic has levelled up.]
[Conditions have been met. Innate talent awakening...]
Even when I felt something being born from my mind, my focus didn't waver.
...
"Fi,nally..."
All I could do was fix up the surface of his soul, but now it was easier to see where the curse was directly attached. Now that I was done my eyelids became infinitely heavy, but before I took a break in sleep heaven, I dripped three drops of my blood on Ryan's vampire bite before freezing him in an ice coffin and putting him in my storage.
All that was left was taking out a bed to sleep on, but at that point I couldn't resist sleep anymore.
***
Elsewhere, a pale-skinned, charming young man sipping a thick red liquid while enjoying the bright city sight under the blue moonlight, suddenly coughed out blood while clutching his chest.
"Master!"
Three shadowy figures immediately appeared at his side with concern and fear in their tones. Regardless of their loyalty, as his slaves if he died then so would they so naturally they would be frightened by this abrupt scene.
On the bright side, after the initial cough he no longer seemed to be in pain, but his expression remained grave.
"Get out and notify Lord Lucas immediately!"
"As you command, Master."
All of them were still worried about him, but not enough to disobey his order. Once the three were out of the room, the young man tightened his grip on the glass he was drinking but just before he threw it he noticed a presence in his room that wasn't there before.
They stood with their back in front of him, also looking out at the city, but rather than fear this mysterious intruder who appeared like a ghost, the young man quickly dropped down on his knees in reverence.
"Dear Ancestor."
"...Was it broken?"
"... I'm afraid so."
"Did he die?"
"I'm, not sure. But I felt resistance a few nights ago so he was likely forced to use his full power on that mission."
"Someone who could beat a potential hero... Maybe his time has come."
***
Mmm~.
Waking up on the ground, not the best but I've had worse times.
As I got up, I took a moment to sort out my last memories, before checking my status.
[******* (Elios)
Race: Forest Dragon's Kin
Strength: 999
Agility: 999
Dexterity: 999
Defence: 999
Innate talent: Laplace
Skills: Assimilation (Unique) | Curse Magic (MAX) (Rare) | ...]
Though I expected it, I was still shocked to see a new section in my status.
Unlike other abilities gained from skills, level 7 of Soul Magic unlocked an ability that was hidden inside you all along. Some could awaken these abilities naturally, but because those people were rarer than heroes, all sages from ancient times attempted to study the soul so that they could at least reach this point.
Not all talents were worth the effort put in to gain them, but the knowledge accumulated along the way would make up for it.
Talents unlocked through this method varied from telekinesis to foresight, but among them my innate talent, Laplace, was said to be in a class of its own.
What it did, I didn't know. Similar to when I first realized I could use magic, it was like my brain gained a new function but without a clear idea of what that function was I couldn't use it.
'I need to do some research when I get back. Now then,'
"Where is that fox?"