Chapter 40: The Eternal City of Night (Part 2)
Yuki kept running until his lungs were on fire and he was completely out of breath.
"Uff... huff..." he wheezed, collapsing onto the side of the road and clutching his chest.
Clang! Clang!
Yuki slowly turned his head to the left. Another black steel knight was approaching him. He tried to force himself up, but his body had reached its absolute limit. The moment he partially stood, his vision blurred, and his legs wobbled as if they were made of gelatin.
"I can’t run anymore," Yuki sighed, falling back to the ground. Fatigue finally claimed him, and he passed out.
Is this how I die? Am I even going to die?
Whether he lived or died, Yuki knew one thing for certain—it was going to be very painful.
The black steel knight walked over to Yuki’s limp body and stood over him for a few seconds. Then, it knelt down and scooped him up into its arms. Once Yuki was secured in its grasp, the knight began to move at a fluid, unnatural pace, walking right back toward the house Yuki had set up as their camp. It navigated every twist and turn Yuki had originally taken to get lost, effortlessly threading through the maze-like city until it reached the front steps of his home.
The knight placed Yuki down gently on his black wool armchair and turned to leave, resuming its patrol as if the force driving it had reset.
For some strange, unknown reason, it had spared Yuki’s life and safely escorted him home. However, the same fortune was not granted to the others.
Bang!
A loud explosion rang out through the city streets as another black steel knight was blasted backward by Camilla.
"They just keep coming," Camilla muttered, her brow furrowing as she channeled her crimson barrier magic to slam yet another knight into a stone wall.
Tsk.
If this continued, she would be completely out of mana soon. No matter how much blunt damage she inflicted upon these monsters, they just kept moving. They weren’t made of flesh and bone, so heavy impacts didn’t slow them down or cause internal injuries. The only internal organ they possessed was their core.
Smashing it was the only way to keep them down for good.
As two more knights advanced on her position, Camilla summoned a pair of reinforced barriers and launched them forward. The sheer kinetic force of the collision caused both her barriers and the knights to implode, shattering their cores on impact.
The only silver lining was that her control over her barrier magic was improving drastically—but that was where the good news ended. Eventually, Camilla reached her breaking point. Depleted of mana and hit by a sudden wave of exhaustion, she collapsed onto the hard ground.
Breathing heavily, she looked up to see even more black steel knights marching toward her.
"Mal, where are you? Why does your tracker say you’re getting further away every second?"
Camilla knew one thing for certain now: this place was governed by some kind of massive magical array or essence construct. The broken, abandoned ruins they had seen from above were either an illusion, or the entire city had actively put itself back together the moment they arrived. Either way, everything they thought they knew about this place was wrong.
Three of the knights approached Camilla and stood over her, silently watching. One of them drew its sword, readying a strike to finish her off—but then it froze. It sheared its weapon, turned around, and resumed its patrol path as if she no longer existed. The two remaining knights stayed perfectly still until one of them reached down, scooped her up like a stray cat, and began carrying her away from the battlefield.
Like clockwork, all the other black steel knights in the vicinity disengaged and returned to their assigned routes, leaving Camilla stunned and completely bewildered.
As they passed the homes destroyed during the fighting, the shattered stone began to ooze a thick, black goop, repairing itself in a matter of seconds. The buildings returned to their original, pristine shapes before her eyes.
"..., What the hell is this place?"
Upon arriving back at their temporary base, the knight set Camilla down gently on the porch and immediately walked away to resume its patrol.
Camilla watched it go, a cold shiver running down her spine. How did it know? Is there something watching us?
Shaking the unsettling thought from her head, she turned around and walked up to the front door.
Knock, knock, knock.
"Coming!" Yuki’s voice rang out from inside.
Click.
"Oh, Camilla, you’re back! Is Malakai not with you?"
"No..." she said, looking down and rubbing her arm nervously. "I... I lost him and Vee in the city."
"Oh. Well, it’ll be okay," Yuki said reassuringly. "Vee is actually inside resting. She has some pretty severe injuries that I managed to patch up, so she’ll be back on her feet in a few days... Are you hurt anywhere? Never mind that, come inside and rest. I made dinner... breakfast?... I made food."
Camilla let out a bitter chuckle and stepped inside.
"Sip. Ahh."
She set her mug down on the wooden table, her expression sour. "And that’s how I got back here."
"So they didn’t use their swords against you either?"
"Yeah... they still attacked me with their hands, though. What about you? Did you fight them?"
"No," Yuki said, shaking his head. "I fought one of them initially, but I did barely any damage. After I finally took it down, I tried to run, but more just kept coming. Eventually, I passed out and woke up right outside on the armchair. Then I decided to try exploring again... but I got the same results over and over until I finally stumbled across Vee."
Camilla turned her head slightly, glancing toward the bedroom where Vee was sleeping. "I’m guessing they didn’t bring her back the way they brought us."
"No... she was actually attacked," Yuki said, his brow furrowing. "I think this city is surrounded by a defense mechanism meant to protect the people who used to live here."
"Really? What makes you think that?"
"Well, they refused to use their weapons against us, this place keeps shifting like a maze, and they knew exactly where our house was without ever seeing us come here. The moment they dropped us off, they acted like we didn’t exist."
"Yeah..." Camilla sighed, taking another sip of her tea. "Hey... do you think they refrained from using weapons because we look like the people who used to live here?"
"No, definitely not," Yuki countered. "This place has way too many lights to be a pureblood vampire home. We have night vision, so we wouldn’t need such bright illumination. But the pale skin and the pointed ears? That definitely matches the descriptions of the ancient residents."
"What made you come to that conclusion?"
"Vee told me through the system that they hesitated before they attacked her. I’m guessing they saw her white skin and thought she was one of them at first... but it’s hard to say for sure without more evidence," Yuki said, shrugging his shoulders.
"..., Yuki?"
"Hm?"
"Why are you so calm? It’s really creepy."
"Oh."
"I don’t mean it in an offensive way," Camilla added quickly, fiddling with her fingers. "It’s just... no matter if you get angry, sad, flustered, or whatever else is happening, you always reset to being so calm or happy. Why?"
Yuki chuckled at her question. "Well, it’s a long story—a pretty funny one, actually. But the truth is, I don’t entirely know why. When I came to this world, my old body was gone and I was given this new one, but I kept my memories and my exact same personality. Which honestly doesn’t make any sense, since all my old injuries are completely gone."
"Old injuries? Do they have something to do with your personality?" Camilla asked, thoroughly intrigued.
"Yeah. Do you want to hear what happened?"
"If you don’t mind, I’d like to know."
"Oh, I don’t mind at all," Yuki said, waving his hand dismissively. "So, it starts out like this—"
Yuki slowly began to explain his tragic past. Because Camilla didn’t understand most concepts or technologies from Earth, he had to adapt his explanations into terms she could grasp. This naturally led them off on tangents about modern clothing and jewelry. No matter how many times Camilla tried to bring it back to understand Yuki’s past pain, he would effortlessly brush it off, steering the conversation toward shared interests.
"And that’s why I prefer wool," Yuki concluded proudly, taking a sip of his tea.
"I get why you say wool and cotton are great materials, but... I feel like we are completely skipping over the fact that your brain was destroyed," Camilla said, staring at him.
"It’s all in the past. That happened years ago," Yuki replied, completely unbothered.
"If you don’t mind me asking... how old are you, exactly?"
"Oh, I’m—"
Camilla blinked, her eyes widening in sheer shock. "...?!?!"
"What?" Yuki asked.
"I... I thought you would be younger," Camilla said, nervously rubbing the back of her neck.
"...Why?"
"Well, I know you’re a Pureblood Vampire now, but I thought you would act more like... an old human, and when you didn’t well..."
Yuki stared at her, looking completely offended.
"...I’m not old!"
