“Jin! If you ever do that again, I’ll tie you up in a bed! You hear me?!”
“Yeah, Brother! How can you just leave us alone like that?! What if an Outer Demon comes and hurts us?! Can you put that on your conscience?!”
I listened to my two lovers’ complaints with a wry smile on my face. Well, it was my fault for leaving them in the middle of nowhere and rushing straight to Ysabelle in the first place. Therefore, no matter how much they complained, I could only smile and nod. But seriously, you two…
Tying me up on the bed is too much, isn’t it? Plus, barely any Outer Demons could beat you now, given that you’ve mastered your domains. Either way, I simply shook my head regrettably and allowed the two girls to scold me endlessly. Though, my eyes were still plastered on the black-haired girl who was busy talking to her subordinates.
After settling her business, Ysabelle looked back at the three of us squabbling, only to reveal a wry smile. She walked cautiously toward us and spoke apathetically:
“Lilith, Irina… It’s been a while.”
“Ysabelle.”
My younger sister and Bloodmate nodded in response, acknowledging her presence with a wince. For some reason, the pair were exceedingly cautious of Ysabelle and treated her as one of their top enemies to eliminate. And truth to be told, that confused me greatly. From my memories and simply talking to the girl, I knew that Ysabelle was as harmless as a fly. And yet, Irina and Lilith, the two vixens who were as incompatible as oil and water, found unity when it came to dealing with Ysabelle.
“Although I would love to chat and catch up, we’re in the midst of an emergency. While I don’t expect you to help us, please ensure that Jin is safe.”
“… We’ll do that even without you asking.”
“Great!”
After saying her piece, Ysabelle let out a smile laced with emotions that I couldn’t read. Still, her gaze lingered on us for a few seconds before she finally turned her body away and straight towards the direction where help was needed. As her body flew far away, I looked over my shoulder and said:
“I’m going to help Ysabelle deal with her problems. You guys don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”
“Hmph! And leave you alone with Ysabelle?! No way!”
“Yeah, I’m sticking with you, Brother! And that’s final!”
“Haha, alright…”
As much as I wished to delve into the secrets the two shared, there was a more pressing issue at hand. Using my teleport skill, I warped our group closer to Ysabelle and kept up with her immense speed. Initially, I offered to teleport Ysabelle as well, but she refused because she wouldn’t be used to the spell.
Though, even the blind could tell that it was an excuse. Even after reuniting, Ysabelle still avoided me like the plague. I’m sure there were some circumstances for her actions, but we simply didn’t have time to address them. Though, there was some respite for our delayed conversation..
I was able to witness Ysabelle in action for the very first time!
Irina and Lilith were both Vampires, through and through, meaning that they only used magic and barely trained their physical attributes. I would reckon that Irina would be a reclusive mage in RPG terms, while Lilith was a hardcore scholar who studied the arcane arts.
Ysabelle, on the other hand, went on a whole different path. Her thigh muscles were so thick that they could easily be mistaken for a tree trunk, and her well-proportioned body showed signs of powerful muscles that could only be obtained through intense training. If we were playing an RPG, Ysabelle would either be the indomitable warrior or the valiant paladin knight that served as the anchor point of the party.
… And as much as I would hate to admit it, it seems like Ysabelle’s physical prowess were far above my level. Her running speed alone made me dizzy, and she didn’t even break a sweat each time she leapt a hundred metres per step.
And with that kind of speed, it only took her two minutes before Ysabelle found her targets.
A bunch of Blackburn Vampires were being cornered by a variety of Outer Demons, many of which were emitting this strange aura. Just by looking at them, I felt a repugnant force churn within my stomach, and my face turned green from disgust. And all of a sudden, I felt my magic power diminish, or rather… My magic wasn’t going to activate.
“Okarins! No wonder the Blackburn House is having trouble!”
Capella Moonreaver, who served as Lilith’s bodyguard, widened her eyes as she pointed at the lizard-like Outer Demons.
“Okarins? What are those?”
Capella frowned as she reached for her sword: “Outer Demons that possess anti-magic capabilities. They produce a field that can negate all magic spells and weaken magical users. They are only found in the major Gate that the Blackburns help guard. That’s one of the reasons why members of the Blackburn House train their bodies on top of their magic.”
Oh, that makes sense. True Vampires are beings that are closest to magic. So, rather than train their physical flesh to the absolute apex, they tend to lean towards the magical side of battle. It was rare to find a Vampire House that teaches its members exclusively in physical combat, especially amongst the Guardian Houses.
But the Blackburn House had to adapt to survive. Especially since they normally fought against Werewolves, who were known to have excellent magic resistance.
“Ho? They can negate magic? I wonder what principle allows that?” Ever the scholar, Lilith instantly got to thinking.
“Whatever, I’ll just freeze them with my domain if they get too close.” Irina completely ignored Capella’s words and lazily placed her hands behind her head.
Even amid battle, these two girls were as carefree as can be. Well, they did have experts guarding them, but I doubt that was the main reason for their leisure. The main reason why they were so nonchalant about this whole battlefield was simply just…
They were strong.
Too strong, actually. Compared to the weak Blackburn Vampires that struggled to deal with the Outer Demons, Irina and Lilith were many levels beyond. If they wished to, I’m confident that they could annihilate all the Outer Demons present, bypassing the anti-magic Okarins altogether. And I wasn’t just spewing nonsense out of my mouth.
Irina, who was irritated that the battle might reach us, raised her hand and unleashed a mystical force from the depths of her soul. It felt like the world had bowed at her feet at that moment. A Winter Wonderland descended, covering the rocky canyon with a layer of deep frost.
The anti-magic Okarins let out a puzzled cry, unable to comprehend why their powers could not work against the enemy. But the logic was quite simple, actually.
If the Okarins could create an anti-magic field, all one needed to do was to turn the entire battlefield into their territory. To leave not a stone unturned and no leaf unaccounted for. Domain overwrites domain, and in this case, Irina simply had the stronger domain.
And as the Sovereign of the Winter Wonderland, Irina could now do as she pleased. Crushing her fingers, humongous ice shards measuring over ten metres long fell violently on every single Okarin, turning them into nothing but meat paste.
Goodness, gracious… Has Irina become even stronger? It has only been a few weeks since she emerged from the Dimensional Domain, right? Plus, she hadn’t been training all day. I should know since I was constantly by her side.
Yet, she could still improve? Really, sometimes I wonder who really is the genius here.
And speaking of strong, there was one more girl who deserved to walk alongside the two geniuses that stood by my side.
“Thanks, Irina! I’ll handle it from here!”
Brandishing her black claymore, Ysabelle leapt at the remaining few dozen Outer Demons, landing with a violent superhero land. And what transpired after… Could only be described as a one-sided massacre.
Each time Ysabelle swung her massive blade, at least one Outer Demon would be cleaved cleanly in half. Laced with her mysterious Ghostflame, the Blackburn Princess danced through the foreign menaces with complete ease, breezing through them as if they weren’t even there. However, Ysabelle wasn’t just performing a War Dance; each movement she made was well-calculated, with each muscle contraction being a prelude for her next decisive swing.
Bit by bit, the Outer Demons withered down.
Burns, cuts, hacks…
It didn’t matter when the War Princess took the field. Mesmerising everyone with her beautiful dance, Ysabelle annihilated the Outer Demons without any mercy. Blood splattered all over her tightly fitted battle suit, but that didn’t dull her allure one bit.
It felt like I was watching the descent of an Amazonian Goddess, nay, Lady Athena herself.
And unwittingly, I had become spellbound by Ysabelle.
“T-Thank you, Mistress Ysabelle! T-Thank for saving us!”
“You’re welcome,” Ysabelle smiled as she helped one of her comrades to her feet. “Although, you shouldn’t just thank me. My friend Irina helped tremendously as well.”
“… I didn’t help you because I wanted to, Ysabelle.”
“Haha, you don’t have to be shy!”
Still covered in blood, Ysabelle came over and patted Irina on the back. Irina grimaced and waved the woman off, but Ysabelle didn’t mind it. Her sisterly smile showed glimpses of the black-haired beauty’s true self, something that she had been hiding from me ever since we reunited.
As expected, something is going on here. If she was friendly with Irina and Lilith, yet she keeps avoiding me… There is something bothering Ysabelle that she isn’t sharing.
Fortunately, now that we’ve saved her comrades, I could finally get to the bottom of this mysterious puzzle.
“Ysab-…”
However, before I could even make eye contact with the woman, the ground started to shake violently. The earth beneath us cracked, creating a rupture beyond anything that I’d seen before. It felt as if the entire tectonic plate had flipped on its side, creating a world-ending natural disaster that erupted from the planet’s core.
I didn’t know what was happening, but there was one thing for certain…
Something dangerous was coming.
Instinctively, I grabbed hold of Irina and Lilith, instantly teleporting them a dozen kilometres away. Reaching a tall mountain, I placed the both of them down and cautiously observed the surroundings.
The ground was still shaking, but at least it wasn’t as bad as before. Still, in my anxiousness, I’d left the rest behind, including Ysabelle, and there was no way I would leave them there.
“Stay here! I’ll go get the rest!”
“Brother! Be careful!”
“Jin, let me help! I can use my dimensional shift as well!”
“No, I need you to stay here and review what’s going on!”
While Lilith’s dimensional shift was useful, it wasn’t as potent as my teleport that came from my control over the fabric of Space. At most, she could warp one or two kilometres at best, and to get to safety, it would take her multiple jumps. Additionally, I believed that Lilith had a bigger role to play, given that she had far more knowledge than I did.
Perhaps she could identify what was causing this disastrous earthquake when I returned with the rest.
“I’ll be right back!”
I didn’t wait for a reply and instantly teleported back, where our party and Ysabelle were waiting. I grabbed onto Ysabelle, Variel and Capella, intending to teleport them straight away, but Ysabelle stopped me.
“Wait! Teleport the injured first!”
“Really?!”
“Please, Jin! They can’t move on their own! We need to help them!”
Looking at Ysabelle’s tearful face, my heart turned soft. Logically speaking, I should only teleport those that I knew, especially since it was an emergency. But Ysabelle’s eyes were pushing me in the other direction. I turned to Variel and Capella, and even without me saying a word, both of them nodded.
“You don’t have to teleport us; we’ll find our way to Miss Irina and Miss Lilith.”
Ever the cool cucumber Variel nodded in response. Capella scowled, but she didn’t let her dissent be known. Rather, she leapt into the air and accurately flew south, the exact location where I’d teleported the two girls to.
Did they have some homing senses or something? Either way, since those two were gone, I would have an easier time teleporting the rest.
“How many people can you teleport at once?”
“Given the distance that we have to travel… Five per trip.”
“Okay! Start with these five, please!”
“… Why aren’t you included in them?”
“I’m not leaving until the very last person is saved!”
“Y-You! Hah… Fine!”
I wanted to quibble, but there was simply no time. The more time I wasted arguing, the higher the risks were. And so, I acquiesced to Ysabelle’s unreasonable request and instantly teleported her comrades in batches.
“Thank you fo-…”
“Yeah, shut it!”
I interrupted one of the Blackburn Vampires who were trying to thank me and teleported back. There was no way I would waste any time socialising when Ysabelle was still in the danger zone.
Unknowingly, I rushed my teleports, leaving no time to rest or think. I just wanted to get the job over and done with so that I could finally talk to Ysabelle alone. And so, before I knew it, all of the batches had been cleared, leaving only the most important person behind.
And in my single-minded desire to complete the task, I was late to notice the extreme abnormality that lay before Ysabelle and me.
“Ysabelle! Let’s go!”
“N-No… That’s impossible! How is it here?!”
Shaken up beyond words, Ysabelle fell down while her entire brave facade broke down. Trembling like a leaf, the girl turned into a scared rabbit that only wished to escape down its burrow.
Before I could grab the girl, however, a mysterious pressure forced me to my knees. Not knowing what was going on, I raised my head up in defiance and then…
What stood before me was a yellow moon. No, it just looked like a moon since it was easily over three kilometres in diameter. The yellow ball was neither a celestial body nor a comet that came from outer space. It was…
An Outer Demon’s eye.
Just one eye.
And when it raised its body, I couldn’t help but freeze up. It looked like an amalgamation of mountains mushed together to make a humongous Outer Demon, one that was easily bigger than the entire Blackburn Estate! With a rigid shell that seemed to deflect anything and everything, and scaly arms that were thicker than the bases of the pyramids the Outer Demon looked similar to a ginormous turtle.
And once it bravely showed its entire body, it stared down at me like I was nothing more than an ant it could step on. No, based on its size, I was an ant that could be easily trampled.
At that moment, I felt the weakest I’ve ever been in months. Even facing Matriarch Everwinter and Sirius Moonreaver didn’t bring me this much fear. The only time I’d felt so small was during my battle with death in the hospital. Which meant only one thing…
This Outer Demon was stronger than two of the world’s mightiest Vampires… combined.
At that moment, I finally knew what true terror was like. And it had a name.
“Eyghon…”
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