Emergency
Emergency.
The facility’s interior flashed red while a raucous siren howled through every corridor, loud enough that even someone who knew nothing would understand things had well and truly gone to shit. Dust was already sifting down from the ceiling for reasons I couldn’t guess, making it feel like the whole place was about to come down any second.
Yet I didn’t feel particularly threatened. I doubted a few bombs and a collapsing building would actually kill me. At worst I’d get a little scorched and a little sore.
…If this hadn’t been an underground laboratory, that is.
Recovering from injuries was one thing I could manage somehow. Digging my way up through solid earth was another matter entirely. I had no desire to end up buried alive and simply giving up, so I decided to grab whatever I could from the director’s office and get out of here.
I still had no idea what half the stuff was, but I scooped up everything portable, wrapped it in a lab coat from the corner, and fashioned a makeshift bundle. Whether the cloth would hold was anyone’s guess; all I could do was hope. If it didn’t, well, too bad.
After a quick once-over to make sure nothing was about to explode in my face, I stepped into the corridor. Steel bulkheads were already descending, sealing the facility section by section. A brief flicker of regret—maybe I should have just left earlier—crossed my mind, but this was no time for second thoughts.
“You think a scrap of iron like this can stop me?”
I’d always wanted to say a line like that. Sure, one wrong move and I might end up entombed underground… but if I escaped without getting buried, problem solved, right? With this body I felt confident I could manage.
I can do this. If it’s me, I can.
I stretched my wings wide, settled into a stance, drew a deep breath, clutched the bundle tight against my chest, and charged straight into the bulkhead. The barrier was absurdly thick, yet that alone wasn’t nearly enough to stop me. Maybe it could have stopped that cockroach freak, but not me.
I smashed through every bulkhead in succession without much trouble. My shoulders and arms ached a little, but the fact that slamming into solid steel at full speed only left me mildly sore told me just how tough this body really was.
I was making good progress when pure chance brought me past the cafeteria-like room where I’d massacred those wicked scientists. I had meant to walk right by, yet the female researcher still slumped in the corner caught my eye.
I had no real reason to take her with me. Even if she claimed innocence, working in a place like this evil lab hardly made her a saint.
Even if one has done no evil deed, if the heart is wicked, then that person is wicked.
The words floated up out of nowhere. I didn’t know who had said them, but they felt familiar. So this is your heavenly mandate, I told myself, and I was about to leave her behind… until I stopped.
Leaving her really would leave a bad taste in my mouth. I had told her with my own mouth that I would save her. A vow ought to be kept—even if I hadn’t expected the cleanup work to be this annoying.
“You, wench! Snap out of it!”
As if escaping weren’t already enough of a hassle. Still, I shook her until she stirred. A promise was a promise. For some vague reason it simply felt like the right thing to do.
“Ah… wh-what?! Uwaa…”
She looked ready to start screaming and thrashing again, so I clamped a hand over her mouth, forced her quiet, and gave a short explanation.
“The lab is about to self-destruct. Do you want to live?”
Die or live. Her answer was just as brief.
“Please save me!!!”
Tch. What a pain.
I told her to hang on tight, slung her over my shoulder, and dumped the bundle into her arms.
“Eh… uweh…?”
Which left me with a new problem: how the hell was I supposed to get out of here while carrying her? Charging head-first was out of the question; the impact would transfer straight through and kill her. Letting her follow after I opened doors, or prying them open one by one, would take too long. Whatever time we had left, that method would definitely run out.
I needed a way to move fast even with her in tow. Bare-handed wasn’t going to cut it. If only I had a tool… Ah, screw it. Should I just leave her? In the end she was still one of the villains. Did I really have to save her?
I was grinding my teeth over the lack of proper tools when I felt blood leave my body of its own accord. A moment later a crimson rope rested in my hand.
What? I had something like this?
I knew it was the wrong moment, but curiosity won. I examined the rope and understood at once: it was made of my own blood.
“Blood Manipulation…”
Vampires could naturally control their own blood or any blood that had no owner. Even I, who possessed not a single memory of being a vampire, was apparently still a vampire in form if nothing else. Just like the way I absorbed blood, I still had no idea how I was doing it… but that didn’t matter right now.
I wrapped the blood-rope around the woman and the bundle like a cocoon, then focused on shaping a weapon that could clear the path ahead. Ah, so this is the feeling? I was starting to get the hang of it. No memories of vampire life, yet some kind of instinct seemed to remain.
The brief joy of discovering something new faded the instant the weapon of my blood settled into my grip. It was an enormous lance—studded with jagged spikes and wound with a spiral blade, far from any normal design—yet somehow it felt familiar.
…What is this nostalgic sensation?
I stood frozen for a second until the ear-splitting alarm yanked me back to reality. Contemplation could wait. Escape came first. If I wanted to ponder anything, I had to stay alive to do it.
“Wench, try not to die.”
I offered my version of encouragement to the woman suddenly trussed up and panicking, then leveled the lance forward.
Nothing clears a path better than a spear!
I couldn’t remember who had said it, but I agreed wholeheartedly and broke into a sprint again.
“Mmmph!! Mmmngh!!!!!”
The woman screamed her head off in terror, yet I was being as considerate as I could manage. Whenever a collision looked likely I gave the rope a little snap so she wouldn’t smash into anything; I gagged her so she wouldn’t bite her tongue while shrieking; I even wrapped her neck so the sudden accelerations wouldn’t snap it. If she didn’t like it, she should have been born strong and sturdy like me—or never come to a place like this in the first place.
I swallowed my grumbling and charged on without hesitation. The lance punched through bulkhead after bulkhead and never once looked like dulling. A weapon really was tougher than bare flesh. Even in the middle of a crisis I found myself appreciating a simple truth of the world: people are meant to use tools. Therefore all pure martial artists are basically monkeys.
I finally skidded to a halt right in front of the only exit—the elevator—and gently caught the woman before inertia could plaster her against the wall. It probably still hurt for an ordinary human, but what did I care? She should be grateful for this much consideration.
“Wench. So how do you operate this thing?”
I removed the rope gag. Completely spent, she mumbled that a keycard was needed and begged me to untie her. Judging it safe enough, I willingly dissolved the lance and rope back into blood and reabsorbed them into my body. Convenient storage, I thought with a flicker of admiration. The freed researcher fumbled through her pockets, pulled out a keycard, and swiped it against the elevator panel.
“Huh…?”
She swiped it several more times with growing confusion, then collapsed onto the floor and muttered in hollow despair that the active protocol had locked everything down; there was no way out now.
“So it won’t work, is that it?”
“Yes… It’s all over…”
If it won’t work, I’ll make it work by force. I reformed the blood-rope and bound her again; it looked like we were going to have to move once more. First, clear the obstacles. I tore the elevator doors off with raw strength. No need to rip out the ceiling—there wasn’t one. It was just a lift shaft.
The space was a bit cramped, but it would do.
“Wench, what’s the structure like up above?”
Before gagging her again I asked if there was anything overhead.
“Huh…? Nothing special, I don’t think…”
Good. No need to slow down, then.
I shoved the rope back between her teeth and took my place in the center of the lift. When I unfurled my wings fully she seemed to realize what I intended and began thrashing wildly. That wouldn’t do.
“Stay still if you don’t want a broken neck.”
I had no idea how to use wings. I’d only had them for less than thirty minutes. But right now I had to fly. It wasn’t a question of can or can’t. I simply had to.
I could have kicked off the walls and climbed, but that wouldn’t be as good as actual flight. I decided not to consider failure. There was no need.
And besides—I was a dragon and a magical girl, wasn’t I? Surely I could manage flying.
I poured every ounce of strength into my legs, leapt upward with all my might, and flapped my wings in a wild, untrained frenzy. It was pure thrashing without technique, yet somehow I was rising. With every beat, glittering red particles scattered from the wings, so this probably wasn’t proper flight… but I was flying all the same.
I was still savoring the wonder of it when a shockwave and a thunderous boom rolled up from below. So it had finally detonated. I glanced down, but the spray of flesh and the crimson motes from my wings blocked the view; I judged the distance by the heat alone.
Still far to go. Far until the explosion’s heat caught me. Far until I broke free of this place.
Still.
Still.
…Almost.
The end was finally in sight, and I could feel the flames nearly on my heels. As naturally as breathing I reformed the lance, aimed it skyward, and gave one last powerful beat of my wings.
KWOONG!!!
With a blast that rivaled the explosion below, the sealed entrance of the lift shaft rocketed into the sky. The first outside scenery I ever saw in this world was cold night air and a brilliant full moon.
For a brief moment I let the relief of escape and the thrill of finally reaching the surface wash over me—then remembered the fire racing up behind us and veered hard away from the opening. At the same instant the explosion’s flames, finally catching up, erupted through the hole I had punched.
Like fireworks celebrating a birth.