The World Tree to a Cat (2)
Holy Blood: Blood Mist
Blood Mist had always been a wide-area skill — scattering dark red blood into the air to inflict hallucinations on everyone caught within its reach.
But from the very moment the word Guardian appeared on my status window, Blood Mist became something else entirely.
"No... this isn't what I am...!!"
"I only did as I was told... I did nothing wrong...!!"
The scattering of dark crimson blood through the air was the same as before. But then the mist began to radiate a strange, eerie light, and within moments it had transformed the entire area into a dreamscape.
"Stop it... please, stop!!"
It was as if we had stepped onto hallowed ground. The wicked were wracked with agonizing hallucinations and crushing mental pressure, while the good were wrapped in healing and rest — the difference between them amplified in an instant.
"Le-Levi...?"
"Whoa..."
"Wow..."
Behind me, the children's voices trembled with quiet awe. They weren't frightened by what I'd become in the slightest — if anything, they were gazing at me in open wonder, marveling at the sight.
"Wait, what...? Why is the World Tree's sacred energy coming from Lady Levinia...?"
Lilrune, like the children, was staring at me in astonishment — but at the same time, she began tilting her head further and further to one side, puzzled by the divine aura I was giving off.
I gave her no answer. I held my composed posture as if all of this were perfectly natural, my expression impassive — because out of everyone here, the most flustered person wasn't the children. It was me.
"......"
I hadn't intended to use Blood Mist at all. I'd been about to conjure a blood weapon, same as always — yet somehow the skill had activated on its own, turning the entire surroundings into something bizarre. And in a form completely different from the first time I'd ever used it.
"D-don't tell me...!! You received divine power from the World Tree?!!"
Even at Lilrune's repeated questions, I kept my mouth shut. I simply stared blankly at the absurd spectacle unfolding before me, faintly wearing an incredulous smile.
"What?! So that means Levi's been chosen by the World Tree?!"
"I-it would seem so.... Otherwise, none of this makes any sense at all..."
"That's our Levi for you!! She's finally earned the World Tree's blessing!! If anyone could, it's Levi!!"
If what Lilrune said was true, then this called for more than just jumping up and down on the spot — I should have been laps around the forest with joy. But I couldn't bring myself to celebrate being chosen by the World Tree.
An ordinary person might not understand, but I was a vampire. Why on earth would the World Tree choose me? Nothing about it made sense. Somehow, it felt like my very existence was being denied.
"Gaaahh!!! Please... please make it stop.... I had no choice if I wanted to protect the village...!!"
Watching the elder writhe in the greatest agony of anyone here only sharpened that feeling.
Holy Blood: Doomsday Bell
TONGggg─!!
Then, out of nowhere, a notification window popped up before my eyes, and the blood streaming from my palm began rapidly gathering above my head.
It took the shape of an enormous bell — a sight that inspired both an instinctive unease and a breathtaking sense of grandeur all at once.
"...?"
What on earth was this skill?
Never mind that I'd never seen it before — I hadn't even activated it. So why had it appeared of its own accord and started siphoning off my blood by the gallon?
Anemia unlike anything I'd ever felt in my life came crashing down on me from this single skill.
"What's that now...? Don't tell me Levi made that too...?"
"It looks kind of... bloody?"
"S-scary..."
The dizziness only got worse by the second. Even I, the skill's supposed caster, had no idea what was happening.
"What is this...?"
Yes, I'd been playing the part of a faithful nun in the name of Goddess Paelia — but I had never once believed in any goddess. Even during service hours, I'd spent my time zoning out while pretending to pray.
I'd never done anything worthy of being chosen by the World Tree. If anything, Lilrune should be the one receiving this power.
So why me?
At this rate, the position I'd worked so hard to build was getting awfully shaky.
DONGgg─!!
In this strange space where agonized screams and voices of praise somehow coexisted, I was racking my brain for some way to contain the escalating chaos — and at that very moment, the bell, which had grown to a considerable size, let out a deeply unsettling toll.
"Status window!! Status window!!"
I don't know why, but to me, that ominous peal sounded like the herald of the end of all things. I'd never intended to go this far, so I frantically shouted for my status window, trying to extricate myself from the situation —
But no window appeared. Nothing did. The only answer was the eerie bell ringing louder and louder.
DONG, DONG, DONG.
Before long, great quantities of blood began pouring limply out of the elves who had been writhing in torment. That blood then drifted slowly upward, joining the massive bell looming majestically above my head.
"Eek!! Everyone, cover your eyes right now!! Hurry!!"
The bell was gathering blood entirely of its own accord, heedless of my will. I couldn't possibly let the children see such a horrific sight, so I spun around and swept the standing children into my arms — but alas, one pair of arms was not enough to cover every pair of eyes.
"Whoa..."
"What are you doing, Ellie?! Don't look at that!!"
"Why? It's beautiful..."
"...?"
In that instant, Ellie's bewildering remark made me doubt my own ears. My brow furrowed in sheer confusion.
"Be-beautiful, you say...?"
"Mm-hm. Little grains of light are drifting toward the bell..."
Even with Ellie's words right in front of me, I kept doubting my ears. There was simply no way that scene could be described as beautiful "grains of light."
Just in case, I glanced back over my shoulder — and nowhere could I find the grains of light Ellie had described. All I could see was the horrifying sight of blood being drained from the elves' bodies in rivers.
"The bell is so big and beautiful too.... At first I thought it was blood.... But it wasn't..."
That quiet murmur of Ellie's stirred the curiosity of the children huddled in my arms. One by one, they wriggled free, turned to look at the same sight Ellie was watching — and soon let out sighs of awe just like hers, little hands slowly clasping together in prayer.
"S-so this is the purification Levi was talking about...?"
"A-a-a-amazing..."
Eisen and Iris could barely close their mouths. For some reason, it seemed the scene I saw and the scene the children saw were two different things entirely.
"What exactly are you all seeing to gasp like that...?"
"You must have lived so faithfully all this time, Levi..."
"I-I want to be a nun like you..."
"It warms my heart..."
The children's reactions were naturally on my mind — but above all, it was Lilrune's reaction that held my gaze. Her eyes and lips were trembling, somehow. She simply stood there in silence, like a lamb witnessing a new world — a sight so striking it bordered on flabbergasting.
"Lu-Lilrune...?"
"So even those who aren't elves can be chosen by the World Tree..."
Because Lilrune knew my true identity, her reaction was a little different from the children's. After that one line, she didn't open her mouth again, so I couldn't tell exactly what she was thinking — but somehow, I could vaguely sense that she harbored fairly positive feelings, contrary to my worries. A small breath of relief escaped me.
"Ah, it's gone."
"I wanted to watch more..."
"But it was so beautiful."
Before long, the children's voices rang out, tinged with regret. The vast shadow of the great bell that had loomed overhead had, at some point, vanished without a trace.
"......"
The moment things quieted down, the anemia I'd forgotten came rushing back. My head grew foggy, my vision blurry, and my body heavy once more. All the focus I'd been holding onto vanished in an instant, and the ground beneath my feet began to feel unsteady, as if I were floating in midair.
Levinia Fallen Grace — [Guardian]
Race: Vampire
Level: 87
Active Skills: Transfusion, Blood Mist
Passive Skills: Rapid Regeneration
I clung to my dazed mind with what little strength I had and forced myself to check my status window. It hadn't answered when I called it earlier, and now that everything was over, it floated up nonchalantly as if nothing had happened. It genuinely made my blood boil.
"Everything's back to normal..."
Everything had returned to its original state — everything except the word Guardian beside my name. The skill names were ordinary again, and the strange aura I'd felt radiating from my whole body was gone.
Only now did my anxious heart begin to settle — but that last skill kept nagging at me, and an uneasy feeling lingered stubbornly in the corner of my mind.
I'd thought I'd gained a new skill, yet nowhere on my status window was there any mention of Doomsday Bell.
"So this is what purification with the World Tree's divine power looks like! I get it now!!"
"It was truly amazing, Sister...!!"
"It only went after the bad elves, precisely."
Just as the children said, the elves uninvolved in this incident seemed to have suffered no harm whatsoever. Only the elves who had harbored wicked hearts lay cold and lifeless upon the ground.
"Ah, ahaha.... I don't really remember doing anything, though.... But I'm glad it all worked out..."
And so, with an embarrassed smile, I awkwardly scratched my head — whereupon Lilrune, who had been standing silently behind the children, slowly approached me, gently took hold of my collar, and cautiously spoke.
"Lady Levinia... what exactly are you?"
To Lilrune's dazed question, I kept my sheepish smile firmly in place and answered without a moment's hesitation.
"A nun."
Lilrune, entirely unconvinced by my answer, pressed me again and again about my true identity — but still, I parroted the same reply, nun, over and over like a bird with one word.
How was I supposed to tell her something I couldn't figure out myself...?
"...I want to go back to the church. Quickly."