Chereads / PENANCE / Chapter 15 - The Light of God II

Chapter 15 - The Light of God II

My father and I have always been together.

I clenched my fists as I followed the strange woman. I could feel unbound power from within her and I couldn't help but flinch whenever I met her crimson gaze.

My father knew that I was special from the start. I have a strange constitution and I was never fully human, to begin with.

There were no special reasons or catalysts or even weird rituals that my father performed on my body – it was just a special mutation that naturally occurred over time.

I glanced at the silver-haired woman in front of me. She was silently leading the way and I couldn't tell what kind of expression she had on her inhuman face.

She was walking as if she was floating on water. She had no wasted movements and every step she took was made as if it were done with purpose.

Even with my superior visual perception, I couldn't tell if she had openings or if she was deliberately baiting me with her nonchalant attitude.

I grimaced and kept up with her. She was truly a mystery.

Lim Cha-Kyung was supposedly a legend back in the old order. He was a technocrat that cemented our family's legacy into the annals of history. He was supposedly being groomed for prime minister but none of that came to pass as the great war happened and the old order slowly faded to make way for the new one.

I was born three years after the fall of the old world. I am currently twenty-two years old but I've spent more than half of my life training my traits and affinities.

My current UID is as follows:

[Name: Lim Yoonah]

[Age: 22]

[Abilities:]

[Swordmaster – Knight Rated]

[Vampire Physique – Knight Rated]

Swordmaster is a unique trait given to those who have reached the apex of swordsmanship.

However, I received the Swordmaster trait from birth.

While rare, it wasn't exactly impossible as people do evolve and it was theorized that the children of first-generation archetypes and beyond were bound to be better than their parents.

I knew that I was destined for greatness after hearing about my father's pedigree but I have never been arrogant.

My vampire physique essentially made me stronger, faster, and naturally better than human beings. I am an apex predator among sheep – at least that was how I felt until I met this anomaly of a woman.

The first time I met her, I immediately felt that something was off.

People would normally shirk in fear whenever they meet me. They can't help it – it's a natural response to an instinctive fear.

People are naturally my food; my source of sustenance and humans know on a deep and instinctual level not to get too close to me.

She displayed none of those emotions when she laid her eyes on me. I felt insulted when she appraised me as if I was a child. She simply looked at me and nodded to herself.

I could feel my vampiric instincts flaring up from within me. It was as if it was telling me to just kill her and drink her blood.

My heart palpitated whenever I looked at her full lips. I could feel an intense hunger clawing from within me whenever I gazed into her eyes.

The past few days have been painful for me as every time I passed by her, I could smell the scent of her blood seeping through her clothes. It smelled very delicious as if it was filled to the brim with prana.

I started to avoid her from then on.

It wasn't until a few moments ago that I finally got a good look at her from a close distance. She was eyeing me as if I was a pet and she treated my father condescendingly.

She didn't even stand to welcome us when she called us in for a short meeting. She simply sat, stared at us, and drank her wine.

To her credit, however, she did offer us some and I finally understood why she kept drinking it like water: it stimulates the prana from within the body and strengthens it! How long has she been drinking this stuff? How powerful was she?

I sat quietly and continued to drink the prana wine. Father's boss looked at me and patted my head. That irritated me but I maintained a neutral expression and slowly finished my glass. Who knows when I'd get the chance to drink this stuff again?

As if to slap my naivete, the silver-haired woman threw a bottle of wine to my father while throwing off some work and money towards him.

My father simply looked shocked as he nodded. The silver-haired woman turned to me and beckoned for me to follow. "Come with me, I'll give you what you want."

I immediately felt suffocated, as if she was exerting a portion of her will into mine. It was bloodlust. Untainted, pure and focused entirely on every fiber of my being.

I nodded and followed behind her and that's what led to this scenario. I was facing her in an empty field. The sights of the prana production facility were long gone from view and the silver-haired woman was lazily stretching in front of me.

She drew a line around her and smiled at me. "Yoonah, if you can make me move from this spot within three days, we can consider it your win." She yawned and cover her mouth. "If you win, I'll give you my blood."

I clenched my fists and she continued in a low voice, "If you lose, you know what will happen right?"

Right. I am a vampire. An anomaly. That woman would surely purge me without batting an eye.

I nodded at her and drew my jikdo. It was a classy weapon for a more noble time but it was my favorite and it was easy to wield due to my traits.

I drew my blade and launched myself at her. Pulling the blade over from my side, I sliced at her neck.

I could feel my blade cutting through flesh and after passing by her, I flicked the blood off of my blade and slowly put it back in its sheathe.

I breathed out a sigh of relief and prepared to walk towards her body so I could give her a proper burial but I saw her simply standing there with a bored look on her face.

"Was that it?" She smirked at me with derision. "If that's all you can do then you're not such a big deal after all, eh kid?"

She yawned and hooked her finger toward me.

"Come at me as if you were aiming to kill."

She crossed her arms on her chest and looked at me in a questioning manner. "I'll kill your father if you bore me, you know?"

[Badump!]

I could feel my heart beating through my chest as if a dam of anger was washing away my consciousness.

I always held myself back but this woman…she must not live.

She smiled at me and waved her hand lazily. She held her hands behind her back and closed her eyes.

"Come, Yoonah."

I lowered my body and sliced at her with my sword.

I sliced at her neck.

I sliced at her legs.

I thrust toward her heart.

It was a three-tiered attack that targeted all of the enemy's weak spots and it was done in a fast motion that barely lasted the blink of an eye.

Even the fastest prana user in the world would find it difficult to escape all of those sure-kill attacks unscathed.

But she simply stood there smiling at me. None of my attacks hit!

I grit my teeth and charged at her again. She simply kept her eyes closed and her hands behind her back. She seemed to be able to tell where my sword would come from and she would dodge in a split second.

If she dodged normally then it would be fine but her perfect dodging skills took more energy out of me than usual.

I could feel sweat forming at my brow but I couldn't let up.

I picked up the pace and launched myself into the air.

"TAKE THIS!"

I threw my sheathe at her and pointed my sword at her head.

[BLOCK!]

"Nice try, kid."

"What!?"

She grabbed the sword from the air and gently nudged it with her pointer finger.

My entire body's momentum was redirected by that simple move but it was too late, I was falling too fast towards the ground.

I braced myself for the inevitable fall but it never came.

The silver-haired woman grabbed my body from midair and kicked me back up into the sky.

"When you attack someone, you best be prepared to receive an attack yourself." She softly chided.

The silver-haired woman yawned and grabbed at the air and pulled towards her. Before I could even wonder what she was doing, I felt an invisible force propel my body toward her outstretched hand.

[ACKKKK!]

She clamped her hand at my throat and squeezed.

I opened my eyes as I tried to pry her hand away from my throat only to be met by her expressionless gaze.

Her crimson eyes peered into my soul as a beautiful smile emerged from her face.

"Grit your teeth, Yoonah."

My body automatically braced itself but I immediately felt the air knocked from my body.

The silver-haired woman punched me in the neck, stomach and she dislocated my arm in one swift motion, faster than my body could react.

She threw me on the ground and my body spasmed as it tried to desperately suck in some air. I could feel my stomach acid threatening to spew from my mouth but I held it in.

"You shouldn't hold back like that, Yoonah."

Her gentle voice felt like the descent of the grim reaper. I looked at her in fear but before I could even look in her general direction, her leg crashed into my stomach.

[CRACK!]

"Arghhh!" I screamed in agony, clutching my broken ribs as I spewed out the contents of my lunch. I don't want to die!

I looked at her with a pleading gaze. Her crimson eyes bore onto mine and she simply smiled and waited.

She gestured toward the circle she drew below her feet.

Does this crazy b-

"Does this crazy bitch want to continue?" She smirked at me. "Is what you were thinking right?"

What? "No, I wasn't think-"

"Continue. Or I'll kill you."

I shuddered at her cold and expressionless face. I picked up myself and held onto my ribs to brace myself. I picked up my sword and launched another attack only to be wordlessly be parried by her.

"Again."

After three days of repeatedly getting beaten up, I now flinched whenever I heard her voice.

"Please…no more."

The silver-haired villainess looked at me and smirked. "You vampires need to be beaten into submission so you won't get out of control."

She spread her slender arms and shouted, "I am responsible for the lives of everyone here."

The woman grabbed me by my neck and slowly whispered, "Who is your master?"

"Y-you are."

"Swear it!"

"I swear it! I swear it! I will never harm anyone here! I promise! Master, please forgive me!"

I closed my eyes, afraid of getting hit. These past few days felt like an eternity to me. Each day was suffering and each day was more terrifying than the last.

She has yet to break a sweat and she's only been dodging and parrying my attacks before returning them all to me with terrifying force.

I felt like I was slowly being beaten into submission, into complete dominance.

The most pathetic thing was that I was slowly starting to accept it. I cussed under my breath.

"Fuck."

At my unexpected cursing, the silver-haired villainess smiled at me.

"That's more like it. You're finally acting like a human being for once."

She extended her right hand to me. I flinched at first, expecting another hit to land on my already battered body but after a while, I opened my eyes. She was just silently watching me with a gentle smile on her beautiful face.

I accidentally blurted out, "Mother?" only to panic and cover my mouth in embarrassment.

"Yes. From this moment on I am your mother."

She uttered each word with conviction. "I am your sister."

"I am your friend."

"I am your enemy."

And finally, "I am your God."

She winked and added, "Just kidding." The beautiful silver-haired villainess looked at me seriously and said, "Your name means the Light of God."

She patted my head and smiled at me. "From now on, shine your light only on me."

I gazed into her beautiful crimson eyes. I could see eternity and at the same time, nothing but a void reflected in those beautiful jewel-like eyes.

What is Alagarassi, really?

I reluctantly nodded at her. "I will, master." I gave her a deep bow and silently swore my fealty to her.

"But please, don't kill my father," I begged her.

She looked at me like I was an idiot. "I was just joking, Yoonah."

As if it was obvious, she shook her head at me.

"But I seriously thought you were going to kill him you know! And what's with this ultra-violent setting!?" I screamed at her in frustration.

She simply laughed at me and patted my head. "Is this what you're really like? Without the influence of your vampiric physique?"

Eh? Why am I getting so flustered?

"I'm…I'm feeling things?"

The silver-haired woman smiled at me as she placed her hands in her pockets. "I simply beat the vampire out of you."

What the hell does that even mean?

"Unni, are you actually pretty smart?" I looked at her and studied her in earnest.

She looked at me like I was an idiot. "Of course. Unni is the smartest woman in the world." She nodded to herself as if it was an extremely obvious fact.

We chatted about useless things but anyway, that's how I became Unni's personal bodyguard. I shudder to think what that person would even consider a threat anyway and why would she even need a bodyguard in the first place?

Oh, well.

The Light of God – End.