The moment the supervisor took a step forward, Grial sprang into action. In just three swift steps, he was within striking distance, his sword poised low, ready to carve a diagonal path through anything in its way. Yet as he swung, the supervisor casually reached out her hand to intercept. Flesh against metal—there should have been only one outcome. Yet, when Grial's sword connected, a jarring reverberation shot up his arms, as if he'd struck a solid stone.
Sparks flared as the blade was repelled, the skin on the supervisor's hand completely unscathed with not even a mark indicating where her hand and the sword had connected.
What the hell? Is she made of metal or something?
Grial gritted his teeth, quickly adjusting his stance and swinging again from a different angle. But the results were practically the same. With minimal effort on her part, the supervisor intercepted each strike, her hand moving just enough to block each strike, as if her arm were a sword in and of itself. No matter how hard or fast Grial swung or how varied his techniques, it was as if she saw through each and every move.
"Damn it!" Grial shouted in frustration as another attack was effortlessly deflected. Leaping into the air, he raised his sword high and brought it down with all his might. But just as the blade came within mere inches of the supervisor's head, it came to a sudden halt. All the momentum vanished as Grial's arms trembled, his sword frozen in place. Lowering his gaze, he saw that she had somehow caught the blade between two fingers.
"You'd be surprised how easy it is to predict a living creature's movements by simply observing their body," the supervisor remarked calmly, holding back Grial's full strength without her body so much as shifting.
"The fluctuations in your respiration, the mere act of taking a deep breath, the tensing and relaxing of certain groups of muscles, even the way blood flows faster or slower in certain areas... all give away your next move." The way she explained it made it sound so simple, yet to read these biological cues in the heat of battle would be near impossible for most, but to someone who could, it was like predicting the future of a fight.
With a slight tightening of her fingers, Grial watched in disbelief as his blade began to crack. A moment later, it shattered with such force that metal shards flew in every direction. Some threatened to cut his eyes, forcing him to shut them as sharp fragments left bloody trails across his face. But closing his eyes meant he couldn't see—or avoid—the attack that followed.
A heavy blow struck him squarely in the stomach, instantly loosening his grip on the broken sword. He was sent hurtling through the air, crashing hard into a wooden barrel that splintered on impact. The remaining half of his sword skittered across the stone floor as he landed. They were fighting in a dug-out chamber, a storage room cluttered with wooden barrels and crates stacked haphazardly, some covered with fabric instead of lids, and pushed against crude wooden shelves.
"Ugh..." Grial groaned as he slowly sat up, coughing into his hand and seeing blood coating his palm. He wasn't a knight with an aura that could subconsciously protect him from damage. The blow had definitely messed up something inside him to the point he was having a hard time even getting to his knees.
In the room, aside from the crackling of torches sporadically placed on the walls, the only sound Grial could hear was the slow, deliberate clicks of heels against the stone floor. Each step felt like a countdown to him—a countdown to the moment his life would end.
So this is it, huh... After everything I survived, I die in some shitty underground base, fighting against some woman with glowing eyes.
The thought was so absurd that he couldn't help but chuckle, even though it hurt to do so.
"Well, I guess if I'm going to die to a monster, at least I'm dying to one that's easy on the eyes," Grial muttered, his voice barely above a whisper. His comment drew a slight smile from the supervisor, who was now standing less than a foot away. She raised her hand, her nails visibly growing longer and sharper.
"Why, thank you," she replied, thrusting her arm toward him. But just as she did, a voice echoed through the room.
"Grial, roll!" It was a voice the supervisor didn't recognize, and the unexpected command made her hesitate for just a fraction of a second. It was enough time for Grial to roll out of the way. Simultaneously, a blinding light, as bright as the sun, flooded the room from one of the entrances. The supervisor's eyes widened in surprise as she saw the source of the light—a wall of flames. Within moments, the intense heat was enough to melt stone, and the flames engulfed the woman Grial had been fighting.
Even as the violent flames dissipated against the far stone wall, their flickering remains that drifted through the air landed on the dry wooden structures in the storage room, igniting it ablaze instantly.
"Well, that was close." A familiar voice came from the entrance where the flames had originated, and a second later, Magnus stepped into the storage room, grinning as he looked over at Grial.
"You're lucky all your friends like you so much; otherwise, it would have been hard to find you," Magnus said, his tone light, causing Grial, who had still been in the process of wondering how Magnus had found him and knew he was in trouble, to smile as he lay sprawled on the ground.
"Those idiots... I've never been so glad to have my orders disobeyed," he murmured.
"Yeah, well, those same idiots are on their way out of here with Celia, so if you can still move, you should go meet up with them," Magnus added, his words causing Grial to glance at him, confused.
"What are you talking about, kid? Aren't you coming too?" Grial asked, noticing that Magnus's gaze was fixed on something ahead. Following his line of sight, Grial spotted a ball of flames exactly where the supervisor had been standing.
"Don't tell me..." Grial muttered. Of course, Magnus hadn't expected things to be over just like that. The injured knight who found him and Celia had compared that woman to Master-level knights like Alwen and Kolten. Even if Grial and the other guards didn't fully grasp how powerful the Master-level was, Magnus had a general understanding. There was no way a bit of fire would be enough to take down someone who gave off that kind of impression.
As the ball of flames began to die down, Magnus got a clearer view. Rather than calling it a ball of flames, it was more accurate to call it a field. Something was keeping the fire from touching the woman, as if she had an invincible barrier surrounding her. With nothing to fuel them, the flames gradually faded and slowly turned back into mana. All the while the woman who appeared unharmed kept her eyes locked on Magnus as she spoke.
"I see, so you're the mage they mentioned," she said, her gaze sweeping over him, looking him up and down.
"You're younger than I thought. I suppose Takerth Academy doesn't consider us much of a threat. No, wait... That's a student's uniform, isn't it?"
Realizing this, she smiled and chuckled before continuing, "Oh, I see, Takerth Academy isn't involved in this raid at all, are they?"
Magnus didn't respond, instead frowning as he caught a glimpse of her teeth. Her eyes had already unsettled him, but the moment he saw those fang-like teeth, he couldn't help but mutter under his breath.
"A vampire?"
Grial, who was close enough to hear over the crackling flames, looked confused.
Vampire? What the hell is that? Is he talking about that woman?
But when Grial turned back to the woman he had been fighting, he noticed her smile had vanished, replaced by a look of shock and tension that shattered the nonchalant attitude she'd maintained until now.
"You... you know what I am?" She questioned, a hint of confusion in her voice. Magnus, seeing her reaction, felt a flicker of uncertainty. He glanced at Grial, who looked equally perplexed.
Why are they reacting like this? Does the word 'vampire' not exist in this world's language? No, that can't be it—she definitely recognized what I was referring to. In that case... do not many people know about vampires here? Are they rare or something?
It was a possibility, and it would explain both her and Grial's reactions.
"I've heard stories; I didn't know you actually existed, though," Magnus replied. Technically, he wasn't lying. Most of his knowledge of vampires and the like really did come from books he's read back on Earth and the stories in games he's played. Hearing his answer, the vampire woman, who had seemed tense, eased up slightly.
"I see. You must be quite well-read to recognize my kind at a glance. However..." Her words trailed off as she suddenly vanished from sight, causing Magnus's eyes to widen in shock.
Wha- What the hell? Where did she go?
Even with his heightened perception, he hadn't caught the slightest trace of her movement.
"Magnus, behind you!" Grial shouted from the ground. Without turning to look, Magnus instinctively rolled forward while simultaneously creating layers of mana barriers behind him. But the barriers barely held for a second before shattering, all of them being pierced through by the vampire woman's hand—the very same hand she had intended to use to kill Grial.
As Magnus scrambled to his feet, he caught sight of the cold, emotionless look in her eyes as she spoke, "Anyone who knows we exist must die."
She's fast! Too fast for me to track with my eyes—I need to keep her on the defensive!
Immediately, Magnus began transmuting mana into highly compressed elements at fifteen different points in the air around him. But before the elements could take shape, the vampire woman extended her hand and uttered a single word.
"Blackout." In that instant, Magnus felt his connection to his spells severed as the condensed mana around him suddenly darkened and seemed to be swallowed by an unnatural void. It was hard to describe, but if Magnus had to compare it to something, it reminded him of how Basker could manipulate and exist in shadows and also make them three-dimensional. Yet unlike Basker's shadows, which seemed limited to surfaces to a degree, these seemed omnipresent, appearing directly in the air.
An Anti-Magic Spell!?
Anti-Magic came in various forms, each utilizing its own methods to counter and nullify spells, and there were even categories of magic within the overarching field of Anti-Magic. However, it wasn't something students in the academy often encountered due to its sheer complexity. Even Adept-level mages struggled to learn Anti-Magic, and that was in controlled environments, let alone in the heat of battle.
Anti-Magic usage only truly became critical when fighting battles at the Master-level; by then, not learning it was a liability, which was why Magnus found himself in this situation.
"You're talented to be able to cast incantationless spells so quickly, especially for someone so young. But your magic formations are completely bare," the vampire woman said as she moved. It was as if the color drained from existence, leaving only a black outline that darted so fast Magnus couldn't track it. Only when he felt something lift him off the ground did she reappear in his vision.
Her arm had pierced straight through Magnus's stomach, impaling him completely. Blood and bits of his internal organs splattered onto the ground behind him, sizzling as they hit the stone floor. The heat from the flames that had engulfed the storage room had grown even more intense, causing a nearby stack of wooden barrels to collapse, the wood charring and crumbling from the fires.
"Magnus!" Grial yelled, trying to force himself to his feet, but the pain from his internal injuries caused his body to seize up, and he collapsed back to the ground. Ignoring Grial's struggle, the vampire woman kept her gaze on Magnus, continuing where she left off.
"Without any built-in counters or protective measures, your magic is as easy to pick apart as a child's toy, no matter how powerful it may be." Magnus couldn't focus on her words as his hearing and vision began to falter. The pain didn't creep in; it crashed over him in a sudden, excruciatingly hot wave that eclipsed anything he'd ever felt before.
"Augh!" He screamed, his voice overpowering the roar of the flames around them. He couldn't breathe and couldn't move anything connected to his lower body. But alongside the pain, there was another sensation. Despite the heavy bleeding, hardly any of his blood touched the ground. Instead, it clung to the vampire woman's skin, as if magnetically drawn, slowly being absorbed into her.
The veins in her pale arm became visible, pulsing as fresh blood surged into her body. Her cold gaze shifted to one of hunger and desire, her fangs seeming even more prominent as she licked her lips.
"Your blood... how wonderful! I've never tasted anything like it before!" Euphoria laced her voice as she continued to drain Magnus. Realizing the dire situation and seeing that Magnus couldn't think straight, Basker quickly activated [High-Speed Regeneration].
Inside Magnus's body, the blood being drained was rapidly replenished, his body frantically working to stop the excessive bleeding by clotting and constricting blood vessels while attempting to repair the severe damage. But as a vampire, the woman could sense the change immediately. She looked surprised, snapping out of her feeding frenzy.
"Even in this state, you can use healing magic? No, this isn't a healing spell. How strange; I've never seen anything like this before." Seeing Magnus's blood replenish as quickly as she drank it, the vampire woman was tempted.
Hmm, if I took him back to my lord, I'm sure he would be pleased. How rare is it for a human to have such vibrant blood? Even knights at the peak of physical strength couldn't compare.
If she captured him alive, it would be like having an endless barrel of the finest wine.
But he's a student at Takerth Academy. Keeping him alive could be dangerous, especially if he ever escapes and reveals our existence—if they don't already know. They must never learn that we live in this city.
Consumed by the thought of drinking Magnus's blood every day and the cons of keeping him alive, the vampire woman was completely distracted, her focus and senses directed entirely on him. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice anything amiss until a hand suddenly touched her shoulder.
"Huh-" Before she could fully turn her head, Grial, who had snuck up behind her, swiftly jammed something into her eye. She let out a high-pitched, agonized screech.
"Hah, I knew not every part of you could be so tough!" Grial shouted, trying to drive the object deeper into her eye. But the vampire woman swatted him away, sending him flying with enough force to crack his ribs as he tumbled to the ground.
"You... You bastard!" She seethed, grabbing what he had lodged in her eye. It was the hilt of Grial's sword, the one she had broken earlier. Yanking it out, she glared at it with her remaining eye before hurling it into a nearby wall, where it embedded itself. When she turned back to Grial. When he saw her, he saw there was no blood—only a thick, black smoke seeping from her wounded eye that seemed almost alive.
"You think you've hurt me? Injuries like this are nothing to my kind... But I'll enjoy draining you to a shriveled corpse to recover the energy I'll waste tearing your chest open!"
Grial didn't care about her threats; the anger and pain on her face were proof enough that he had hurt her. With a smirk, he weakly raised a trembling middle finger and spat, "Fuck you, you crazy bitch."
That final comment seemed to push her anger to a new level, but before she could act, another voice cut through the tension.
"Hey, you know you stopped drinking my blood, right?"
Whipping her head back around, the vampire woman quickly tried to move, but it was too late. As she turned, she felt Magnus grab both of her arms and then yank with brutal force. Even the immortal body of a vampire was no match for the absolute power of the Command Console. Like pulling the arms off a Lego figure, hers were ripped clean from her body.
"Yiaaah!" A shrill scream echoed through the air as Magnus fell to the ground, the vampire woman's torn arm still lodged in his chest. She stumbled back in agony as two new plumes of that strange, dark smoke appeared where her arms had once been. With his blood no longer being drained, the gaping wound in Magnus's stomach began to finally heal as he yanked out the arm.
"You... you humans! I'll kill you! I'll kill you both!" She screamed, her face contorted with pure rage. Any thoughts of keeping Magnus alive and delivering him to her lord were gone, swept away by the searing pain and unbridled fury. Magnus ignored her threats, quickly conjuring an intensified sphere of flames around her. The flames burned whitish-blue, the hottest he could create, ready to incinerate her from all sides.
But as the flames closed in, the vampire woman shouted, "Enough! Void Domain!"
In an instant, the flames Magnus had conjured, along with all the roaring fires, were snuffed out. Every source of light vanished, and all sound seemed to be absorbed into an abyss of nothingness. The world lost all color, plunging into pitch-black darkness that nothing could penetrate. Neither Magnus nor Grial could see, hear, or even feel anything around them.
The only difference between their situations was that Grial couldn't even hear his own thoughts. It was as if the voice inside his mind had been muted. But Magnus, whose mind was still under the Command Console's control, could think clearly.
What the hell? What's going on? I can't see anything... Shit, I can't even use magic!
Standing in the all-encompassing darkness, the vampire woman who could still see things within her Void Domain in black and white glared at Magnus, who appeared lost and disoriented and then turned her gaze to Grial, who was in an even worse state.
As the memory of him stabbing her in the eye replayed in her mind, she muttered venomously, "You... I'll drink you first."
"I'm afraid I can't allow that. As great of a learning experience as this was for the boy, he'll likely complain if I let you kill that man while I sit back and watch." The voice tore through the vampire woman's Void Domain, dispelling it instantly and bringing color and sensation back to the world around Magnus and Grial.
Wha- What! My Void Domain was nullified? But it cancels out magic! Who in the world could cancel it so quickly!?
Her question was answered as an abnormally tall figure appeared just a few steps behind Magnus. Hearing the voice, Magnus turned his head and let out a sigh of relief before grumbling.
"About time, Eveline! Did you really think having a hole punched through my stomach didn't qualify as danger?" Eveline shrugged, looking down at Magnus with a hint of amusement.
"I thought you two might be able to handle it. After all, you two did manage to destroy her eye and rip off her arm, though such injuries are superficial to a vampire. Even this one, who isn't pure-blooded." Hearing that, Magnus turned his attention back to the vampire woman, who was now staring at Eveline with an expression of pure terror. She could sense it; she knew exactly what kind of person stood before her, and every vampiric instinct in her body screamed at her to flee.
The fog covering her wounded eye dissipated, revealing the injury had healed, while the fog around the stumps where her arms had been ripped off expanded, forming shadowy silhouettes of arms before vanishing, with fully restored arms in their place.
What is an Archmage doing here? Is Takerth Academy involved in this after all? I- I need to get out of here!
Eveline regarded the vampire woman with curious interest as she spoke, "You know, I was surprised to see a vampire here. I've read about your kind, but I always thought you were beings of legend. I'm quite interested in learning exactly how your bodies work."
As she spoke, Eveline's expression grew increasingly excited, causing the vampire woman's body to freeze up. In an instant, she seemed to melt into the ground, disappearing entirely. It happened so fast that Magnus barely registered what had occurred.
"Huh?" Magnus looked around, bewildered, before turning to Eveline.
"Where did she go?" Eveline looked slightly disappointed as she replied.
"Vampires have always existed in the shadows of history. Figuratively... and quite literally."