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"Very well, thank you for leaving me this opportunity to prove myself, Vladimir-sama," said Vestron rather politely, as he walked out with the other Vampires on his group.
?
"Tch, he has really a strong will… not even a single quiver from him… Hm~ it will be nice to break him one day…" wondered Vladimir, as suddenly, a crack in space emerged.
"Eh?"
It was so faint and fast that he was barely able to notice it with his great senses.
However, the only thing left was… a box, above his desk.
"What was that? Spatial Magic? But it was so fast I could barely notice it! …This is?" wondered Vladimir, grabbing the box, and noticing that it was covered in festive paper that seemed completely alien to this world, and a plastic ribbon which he could not understand its composition very well, like some kind of oily fabric…
Vladimir tore everything apart and opened the Box, finding a note inside… and strange jewels.
Vladimir could understand the words in the note, and began to read them while feeling a strange feeling from this item…
"Here is a souvenir as a sign of friendship… As long as you can defeat Ervas and Veronica, there will be more where that came from… There might be new allies waiting for you soon as well, so keep an eye open… signed… the System… Master? Who is that? A God? A God of the System? …No, I have never heard of such a God before… So odd, just what is this? Should I tell Damon-sama?" wondered Vladimir, glaring at the jewels with detail.
Vladimir gently grabbed one of the jewels, a red-colored one, as it suddenly turned into particles of light and fused with him!
Flash!
"Nngh?!"
Suddenly, Vladimir felt like his Strength Stat increased by a substantial amount!
"What is this?! It gave me… instant power?! And it seems to be permanent! Amazing! It must have really been a god then! Maybe a Demon God has taken a liking on me? Hm… Perhaps it could be a good benefactor…" laughed Vladimir, as he began to absorb all the Jewels, receiving large amounts of bonus Stats, alongside Skills, these items alone simply doubled his own power!
Meanwhile, Vestron received a similar gift, alongside a weapon, and the rest of the Vampires did so as well.
After having consumed the jewels, they felt incredibly strong and ended up telling this to Vladimir, who began to believe that this was the gift of some kind of Demon God who wanted them to kill Ervas and Veronica.
"So that's how it is… In my long life, I have never seen such a thing happening before, this is indeed very rare… But not bad at all! And those weapons… Use them too! Why not? As long as you can get your job done… however, do not rush things and plan accordingly, if they are really S-Rank, they might surprise you a bunch more than once…" said Vladimir, as he dismissed Vestron and his group.
Jewels that increased stats and gave skills, and even weapons that were specifically made to slay Ervas and Veronica and function well with these Vampires, just who was this strange benefactor to be capable of giving such amazing treasures?
Meanwhile, within the outskirts of Seashore, a group of three people rested around a bonfire.
Two of them were Light Elves, or often known as the most common variant of Elf, with healthy white skin, long and blonde hair, and blue or emerald eyes.
Meanwhile, the other was a human with slightly tanned skin and short brown hair, and black eyes.
"We have been in here for almost a week… When are we going to do something…?" wondered a young-looking Elven man, with a pretty and innocent face and long golden hair.
Such an appearance made him look more like a young woman, his pointed ears were hidden beneath his hood, but his rosy and effeminate lips could be seen beneath the hood, anyone that was to not hear his slightly manly voice would believe of him being a girl.
His eyes shined with bright emerald light as they reflected the light produced from the bonfire.
"…We are… simply getting by. Assessing what we had gone through and what we can do. This world is rather peaceful… and I really needed a little break," sighed the human man, with slightly tanned skin.
"I understand how you feel, Mason… Hekaton already told us that was hopeless now, we can't even go back to our world… Although we inherited our past lives power and we even got some bonus strength, this… I am tired of fighting…" sighed the only woman in the group, an Elf woman of a similar appearance to the Elf man, but with a slenderer figure, wide hips, and large breasts. Such a body was tightly wrapped with leather clothes. Her only difference is that instead of having emerald eyes like the elf man, she had orange-red eyes.
"But… We cannot simply let them be, right? We cannot let them kill Veronica… After all, we did to her… Now she is having a new life in here by herself… Is it okay to come and kill her so they can fulfill their selfish desires?" asked the elf man.
The group remained silent, as they glared at the fire while eating a piece of bread and drinking some horned rabbit soup…
"Mason? Natalia?" asked the elf man, as he felt uncomfortable by the silence.
"Lucas… it would be better to not endanger our third lives…" said the elven woman, surprising the elven man.
"You… don't remember what Hekaton said? He spoke about what they did and everything else. Even though we felt bad about it, we had some time to think over it… we are strong, but we do not have enough strength to fight them… And even if we could somehow win, we would end up ruining Hekaton's plans, a God way stronger than any other God we have seen in Kritias! He also has power over our very souls… If we enrage him, wouldn't he simply call us back to his Divine Realm and do something to us? He said that if we didn't want to partake in this… we should simply live our own lives and not get involved…" said Mason.
"W-What? You… You are not serious… right?" asked Lucas.
"Lucas… I want to take this third chance… And I do not want to throw it down the drain… If Veronica and her group are strong enough, they will get through it… and if not…" muttered Natalia, glaring at the bread on her hands.
"If not, that's how it is…" she finished.
"But wouldn't it be better to help her? Even if she is one day getting attacked by Fernando and the others, she and Ervas are strong! They had even killed Demon Gods and eat their souls… They are probably incredibly strong, in fact… Wouldn't it be better to join them?" asked Lucas.
"Lucas… Do not risk your life like that. Especially because… Do you truly believe Veronica would forgive our lives?" asked Natalia.
"We slaughtered her family, her Kingdom, and her entire Race… She hated us… and most likely, if she sees our faces and recognizes us, she will come to destroy our souls as she had done with other enemies that came in front of her path…" said Mason.
"…But isn't that what we deserve?" asked Lucas.
"…What are you talking about?" asked Natalia.
"Lucas?" asked Mason.
"You two… you are the same as Fernando and everyone else… You do not… even feel guilty anymore… even after… even after we slaughtered so many innocent people… even after we did such atrocities… What is wrong with you? Don't you feel bad for her? We had gone through hell as well! How can you not relate to what she had gone through? In fact… she might have gone through even worst things…. Yet, she is trying her best to live her new life, only for this God to come and send people to kill her… Isn't that unfair? Why do you keep spitting nonsense? Although I do not want to die… this guilt is eating me away! Every single day! I just want… to atone for what I've done…" sighed Lucas.
"Lucas… No… you cannot… Are you insane? Do you really want to die by her hands?!" asked Natalia, hugging Lucas tightly.
"Don't… don't leave me!" she cried, as her tears began to flow out of her eyes.
"Natalia…?" asked Lucas.
"You and Mason… are the only things left I have! Don't… die for nothing, you idiot!" said Natalia, glancing at his eyes.
"Natalia…! I… Sorry… I did not intend to make you cry like that… I was… just… so many emotions bubbling inside of my heart… it is hard to cope with everything…" cried Lucas, as tears started to flow from his eyes for the first time since he began his third life.
Mason glanced at his friend's cry, as he felt a pain in his heart and an even bigger feeling of guilt.
Was it really the right thing to leave their fate to Veronica to decide?
Would she truly… forgive them if they show submission and ask to join her?
They had already heard of Daniel who reincarnated as an Ant Monster, but his story was different, as Hekaton believed that he was brainwashed by her charm that affected monsters, and Veronica left him live only because of this…
"Lucas… I will… not let you go…" said Mason.
"Mason…" muttered Lucas.
"…Alone. If you are going to go… I will go with you… Let's do this together," said Mason.
"…Geez, you two… okay… I will also go… I prefer to die at your side to live alone for my entire life…" sighed Natalia.
"Mason, Natalia… Thanks…" sighed Lucas.
Meanwhile, within the buildings of the city, a mysterious Vampire that didn't belong to any faction lurked around, Fernando.
"Hm… I see, so this is where they work, huh? What a nice place…"
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