" You'd better tell us where that vampire princess of yours is unless you intend for more casualties to ensure." One of the vampire hunters smirked strongly as he let out that statement.
Looking around them, Hayden, Lucien, alongside the other commandants realized they had lost several of their men as they were lying on the ground and about to vanish. The commandants were pained seeing their comrades vanish right before their eyes, feeling helpless as there was nothing they could do to prevent it.
One of the vampire hunters muttered once more, " Today is the day of your princess, isn't it?" The commandants didn't answer anything and kept quiet to the speculations forwarded before them. " Today is the day we're getting her, so unless you get her to come here, we're not sparing any of you on this day."
At the same time at Freedom Village, Clarissa was staring into the sky and muttered, " This day is upon us once again. I hope Hime's fine." The moment she muttered that, she sensed something from far away and flinched at the result of it. " That can't be—----------- Those hunters are in Selene? That can't be good—------"
As she turned around in panic, she found Shinichi standing before her, staring suspiciously. " Shinichi, it's you?"
" He scared me. I hope he didn't hear anything I said just now." Clarissa subconsciously thought.
" What can't be good?" Shinichi asked straightforwardly to Clarissa, who flinched. " Just now, I heard you mention the word " Hunters". What is it you meant by that?" Shinichi's gaze on Clarissa was profound with lots of questions in them.
Before Clarissa thought of a made-up story to get her out of her situation, Shinichi stipulated, " If you're planning to lie to me, it's best that I leave and confront the one these questions are intended for myself." Muttering coldly, he turned and was about to leave when Clarissa grabbed his hand, preventing him from leaving.
Remembering what the vampire asked of her and the others before she left, Clarissa said to Shinichi, " You can't leave—---------- You can't go to Hime's encounter." Staring at her, Shinichi could spot worry and most importantly, fear. Shinichi's hunch was even more right as he recalled her previous reaction. " What you're desperately trying to hide from me is related to Yoruhime, isn't it?"
Clarissa turns her gaze away from him, unable to face his questions. " I'd like for you to tell me the truth and not lie to me." Clarissa was puzzled as to what to do.
Back to Selene, the fight between the vampire hunters and the vampire commandants was getting intense. Both sides had lost numerous men and counting. " I think we'll be the ones getting rid of you guys." Hayden smirked with a sinister grin to which one of them laughed and said, " You're delusional, my friend."
" The Moonless Night must not be fatal to you, but aren't you forgetting something with all this delusion of yours?" Hayden and Lucien opened their eyes wide as they understood the meaning behind the words. " First point is, that vampire princess of yours won't simply stand idly by while her men or should I say, her family is being slaughtered and second point, you won't get to keep up with us until morning rose, unless you intend to vanish in the most disastrous of ways."
Meanwhile, the vampire princess was feeling sicker and sicker as her complexion was getting worse. " The Moonless Night is upon me; I won't last much longer."
Hearing the echoes of her men vanishing one after the other, she felt pained in her chest. " On this night, I feel the most vulnerable and that's precisely the night those hunters chose to attack as I'm in my downest."
Recalling the conversation she had with her commandant, Hayden, an hour prior to the vampire hunters showing up—------------
" Hime, tonight is the Moonless night, the night you lose your powers, so I'd advise that you stay in your quarters and don't come out no matter what you hear."
Several minutes later, echoes were heard from outside. " They're here. We'll take care of them, so Hime, don't come out and remain in your quarters." Hayden walked out of her room and the recollection ended.
Back to the present, the vampire princess muttered, " Sorry, Hayden, but I can't remain hidden here while everyone else is putting their lives out there. I have to come out and help you guys. Besides, I still have a few minutes and I might just make it." The vampire princess walked out of her quarters and as soon as she did, things took a decisive point.
Sensing her energy from their location, Hayden subconsciously muttered, " Hime, why did you come out?"
" See, I was right. Your princess is heading here." One of the hunters said with a triumphant grin while the others started to panic even more.
Within a few seconds, a gust of wind was heard, and standing in that gust of wind with a quarter of the hunters slayed was none other than Yoruhime, more elegant than ever.
" Finally, you've shown up." The hunters harbored a triumphant grin. " Things will now become interesting."
At the same time, Clarissa sensed the energy emanating in the air at Freedom Village and muttered in panic. " Hime came out and now what's going to happen? If Hime is defeated today, then none of us will have a chance at survival."
Looking at Shinichi, Clarissa said, " As things stand, whether I tell you the truth, that won't matter anymore, so listen to me very attentively as we don't have much time."
" To summarize things to you without going into much detail, Hime isn't just any vampire you might come across. Hime is a hybrid."
" A hybrid?" Shinichi was shocked by the revelation before him. " Hime is half vampire and half human and today happens to be one of the two crucial nights of her existence." Looking at her, Shinichi asked, " What's so special about those nights you're inferring about?"
" The Moonless Night which is tonight is the night without a moon appearing in the sky and the Full Moon is when vampires are the strongest and also when they get to awaken their powers to another level," Clarissa explained to Shinichi the difference between the Moonless Night and the night of the full moon and how they're related to the vampire princess.
" On the Moonless Night, vampire hunters attack Selene as they know their chances at winning are tremendously high in percentage compared to the full moon night."
After being informed of the whole situation, Shinichi recalled the moments when the vampire princess's complexion was at its lowest and asked Clarissa, " There's another thing I'd like to ask you."
" Yes, what is it?" Shinichi narrated to Clarissa the condition he observed on the vampire princess and her strange complexion. When he was finished, Clarissa said, " I'm afraid I can't help you with that. You'll have to ask her yourself."
" Thanks for telling me the truth, Clarissa." Muttering thankfully to her, he added, " Now, I need to get going."
" Where are you going?" Retorting Clarissa's question, Shinichi muttered, " I'm going to Selene this instant, so please, don't try to stop me!" Gazing into his eyes, Clarissa said, " I won't stop you if you're determined to leave, but please be careful!" She grinned slightly to Shinichi who retorted, " I will, thanks."
Leaving the terrace at great speed, Clarissa looked at the bright sky once more and said, " I'm sorry, Hime but I had to let Shinichi go to you because I sensed something in that boy. I can't quite picture what it is but I felt as if I had to let him go." Still gazing at the moon before her, she closed her eyes.
At Selene, the vampire princess had slayed more than half of the hunters but the numbers remaining were still tremendously high for her to handle, even with the help of her commandants. With the moon disappearing more and more, she was starting to slow down her attacks.
" Hime, you're not well. Please leave it to us!" Hayden, Lucien, and the others tried to reason with her. Looking at their worried gazes, she muttered, " That's kind of you to want to protect me, but as the leader, how can I let my family sacrifice their lives for my sake?" Grinning faintly, she added, " Let's keep fighting, everyone! I'm certain with our strength united as one, we're going to shine through."
Inspired by their leader, Hayden, Lucien, and the others covered more ground as they kept on fighting their opponents. Little by little as the fight continued, the vampire princess' hair color turned from white to black within a few seconds.
Her hair was much longer and seeing it, the hunters hurried to attack her, but the vampires blocked their way. " Where do you think you're going?" They slaughtered more hunters along the way, making sure their leader was completely safe from harm's way. Holding some of her black hair in her hand, she muttered, " I've become a human and being quite vulnerable at the moment, I should leave the battlefield or they'll be held back protecting me and they won't give it their best." Slowly, the vampire princess evaded from the battlefield as did a small faction of the hunters without the knowledge of the vampire commandants.
Yoruhime ran at full speed but as she had lost her powers, she felt exhausted very quickly and stopped to rest, but that's about when her enemies showed up to annihilate her.
" You didn't run very far, Your Highness?" She was surrounded by ten hunters who were ready to charge at her at any time. Smirking at her enemies, she muttered, " Would you have the guts to attack a fragile human being such as myself?"
" Why wouldn't we attack you?" One of the hunters said. " Just because you're now a human being, that doesn't change your nature in the slightest. Even as a human being, you're still a bloodthirsty vampire deep inside." Another hunter added.
" We're getting you today no matter what." Charging at her with their weapons, the vampire princess evaded the attacks with nothing but her agility but as she was now a human, her agility had decreased quite a lot.
" You might be able to evade our attacks at long range, but what about those at close range?" With two of them attacking her at close range, she was unable to evade them and took a blow to her right shoulder.
Being propelled on the ground, the vampire princess looked at the bandage on her right hand and recalled the moment Shinichi bandaged her hand after she had stopped an arrow that was meant for him.
Looking at the bandage, she muttered, " That human, I wish I could see him one last time." Unable to move and get up due to her injury, she closed her eyes, awaiting her doom.
" This is goodbye, Vampire Princess." With all ten of them charging toward her at once, the moment she was waiting didn't come. Hearing echoes and screams, she opened her eyes, only to see Shinichi standing before her, facing the opponent right before him.
The vampire princess was stupefied to see Shinichi and asked, " What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at Freedom Village?"
Retorting to her question, Shinichi responded, " I'm here to help, Yoruhime. You're vulnerable now, so how could I let you be defeated by those low lives?"
Overwhelmed by emotions, the vampire princess asked, " Why are you here risking your life for me?" Shinichi remained silent to the first question and then came the second. " If you die here, you won't get to go back to your original world, so why? Why have you come for me?"
Turning to face the vampire princess at last, Shinichi muttered in response, " I don't truly know why I've come here either. Call me stupid, but when I heard of your situation from Clarissa, I knew I had to come, but I can't explain why I had to be here as I don't know myself."
" Maybe it's because you've saved my life and I wanted to return the favor, or maybe, it was due to another reason—------------- Either way, I can't leave you to die if there's something I can do to prevent it." Gazing into Shinichi's eyes, the vampire princess subconsciously muttered, " What a strange human being!"
" You, who are you and how dare you interfere?" The hunters stood back up after a while angrier than ever. The vampire princess was worried as to the predicament the fight was going to take and that's about when Shinichi muttered, " No matter what, I'm going to protect you, Yoruhime. With me here, no harm will come to you and I haven't the slightest intention of dying here either."