Chapter 520: Jealousy is My Power (20)
Chapter 520: Jealousy is My Power (20)
“The balance maintained by the five elements of this world is crumbling… Isn’t it thrilling to imagine what will happen? It won’t end with something as simple as a plague or climate change… We’re talking about mental interference that transcends the physical world! And it will be widespread and indiscriminate!”
Her voice was clearly possessed by madness.
Seria remained silent, no longer even bothering to retort. Regardless of her reaction, the vampire’s subordinate, already worked up into a frenzy, continued to recite her blueprint for the future.
“Cracks always start from the smallest things… Everything does. Especially emotions. What is the darkest, most passionate emotion? You might not notice it when it’s hidden, but it can never be erased, and once it starts to burn, there’s no end to it! I’m talking about the one emotion all of us sisters share.”
“That is….”
“Yes, ‘Jealousy.’”
I slowly held my breath. The time hadn't come yet, but I planned to step in before it was too late.
“It’s an emotion no one can escape. This barrier is merely a tool to amplify that ‘Jealousy.’”
Most of the information the vampire kin spewed was useful.
However, she still hadn't mentioned the one thing I wanted to know.
Celine’s whereabouts.
That was the reason I was hesitating. Defeating this subordinate would be simple, but doing so would mean losing a vital source of information.
For now, I could only hope that Seria would raise the question.
Fortunately, Seria’s interests seemed to lie elsewhere.
“……Amplify emotions? And that breaks the balance?”
“Of course. And it’s not just emotions. This barrier amplifies and deepens everything that hasn't yet festered. For example… yes, think of it like one of the human organs failing. Can the rest of the body remain fine? You’d immediately suffer from complications. That’s the simplest way to explain it.”
Having finished her explanation, the woman pointed toward the center of the clearing once more.
“Scatter that man’s blood inside there.”
Seria’s body stiffened. She seemed to have more questions, but the vampire’s subordinate, already intoxicated by ecstasy, was in no state to listen to anyone.
“The range of the barrier’s power is limited for now, but this isn't the only magic circle we’ve prepared. If that man’s blood is spilled… something interesting will happen. The range will be far wider than just this forest.”
With that, the woman slowly backed away.
She was positioning the magic circle between herself and Seria.
The woman’s smile grew deeper and deeper.
“Then conflicts will break out everywhere, won’t they? Those negative emotions will become our ‘food’… Until now, we’ve just been playing around by amplifying the emotions of a single girl, but the preparations are finally complete. And then, you just happened to bring along a man who looks perfect for the job.”
It wasn't a particularly kind explanation.
There were logical holes everywhere, and the principles of the barrier were still unclear. Only one fact remained certain.
The vampires were plotting something.
And they wanted to use me as one of their sacrifices.
Despite not knowing my true identity, the woman had sharp instincts.
Come to think of it, she did mention that I had a certain ‘scent’ on the way here.
Perhaps such intuition developed once one became a vampire’s subordinate.
Seria remained motionless and silent. To anyone watching, she looked displeased with the woman’s proposal.
The woman surely knew this as well.
A subtle temptation dripped from her lips like thick honey.
“……You like that man, don’t you?”
At that, Seria’s body flinched, showing a reaction for the first time in a while.
The woman didn't miss the opening.
“I told you, I can ‘smell’ it… The thick scent of resentment and sorrow. You had someone precious stolen from you too, didn't you? Your love, I mean.”
Gigglle.
The woman burst into laughter and closed her one remaining eye. Seria quietly lowered my body to the ground while maintaining her guard.
It was a signal.
While the woman was focused on Seria, I was to step in at the right moment and handle her.
However, there was still much information I needed to extract from the woman.
“Don’t worry, I won’t touch the man. Trust me… we’re ‘sisters,’ aren't we? Since we’re so alike, I can understand your heart well.”
“Is that why you took my friend as well?”
It was the question I had been waiting for.
The woman’s eyes widened in surprise, as if she had no idea what Seria was talking about.
“My friend, ‘Celine Haster.’ You had her locked in the underground dungeon, but then you went as far as to kidnap her… Do you plan on making Miss Haster your toy as well?”
“Hmm, ‘Celine Haster’? That’s a name I’ve never heard in my life.”
Despite the voice dripping with hostility, the woman only tilted her head.
She acted as if it were truly news to her.
“But, well… someone might have taken her? I’m not sure, but my sisters are quite active. Still, it’s strange. If she were someone worth the trouble of going to an underground dungeon for, I should have naturally heard her name……”
Splat.
It was then that a sudden, wet noise echoed through the air. The woman’s dazed gaze turned toward the source of the crimson dance spreading across her retina.
An arm was falling away.
An unbelievable sight—a body part that should have been attached to her was flying through the air.
The woman shrieked at the sudden emptiness she felt at her shoulder.
“Wha—what is this… AAAAAAAAGH!”
But the woman’s outcry didn't last long.
Unwilling to leave even a sliver of a chance, my sword severed her limbs again. Within the frozen time, I unleashed no fewer than three strikes.
As I kicked the woman’s torso, the severed limbs of the vampire fell away like a collapsing tower.
The body, having lost its limbs, couldn't even roll properly on the ground. Bleeding profusely, only agonizing screams squeezed from her lungs echoed out.
A sigh escaped my lips after the successful surprise attack.
“……I suppose that means I’ve gotten all the information I can from you.”
“Gah, ugh… You, what are you! How, there wasn't even a sign……!”
There was no need to answer such a trivial question.
I glanced at the magic circle, which was slowly emitting a blood-red glow as it absorbed the vampire’s blood. The only reason the vampire’s head was still attached was simple.
There might still be something she was hiding.
Fortunately, it seemed that being a vampire didn't make one any less sensitive to pain.
Seria finally let out a sigh of relief and lowered her gaze.
It seemed she had a lot to think about.
I decided not to disturb Seria’s thoughts. Instead, I intended to finish off the vampire who was in league with the Dark Cult.
“Let me ask a few questions.”
“What… bullshit… I asked first! Who the hell are you… AAAAAAAAGH!”
This time, there wasn't even the sound of slicing.
The sharpness of the hand axe Emma had gifted me was beyond imagination. I hadn't even imbued it with Aura, intending to inflict pain, yet the cut was so clean that blood didn't even flow for a split second.
But the pain was merely delayed.
There was no human being who wouldn't feel pain when their entire shoulder was hacked off. Not even a monster wearing a human mask.
The vampire’s torso, lacking limbs to struggle with, thrashed about in a frenzy. I kicked her in the stomach to bring her back to her senses.
With a ragged gasp, her voice finally quieted down. I didn't miss the chance to ask.
“You’re going to die anyway. There’s no need to suffer more, is there? First… have you really never heard the name ‘Celine Haster’? And if you kidnap victims, where do you take them?”
“Pfft, hehehe……!”
However, the woman didn't seem inclined to give me the information I wanted so easily.
This was troublesome.
Perhaps because the cuts were too clean, she was underestimating the various types of pain that were about to assail her. If that was the case, I’d just have to crush her with the handle of the axe next time.
Hoping things wouldn't get more tedious, I added a chilling question.
“……Why are you laughing?”
“You… idiot… hehehe… To think you’d shed my blood… Don’t you know what blood means to a ‘vampire’……?”
There was no need to even ask what she meant.
I instinctively jerked my leg up. However, I couldn't stop a blade of blood from grazing my heel.
My brow furrowed.
No matter how shallow the wound, the problem was that I had bled. The vampire had already testified that the catalyst for the magic circle maintaining the barrier was ‘blood.’
In that case, I had only one option.
Crack. The sound of a skull being crushed echoed.
Before my blood could even touch the ground, the vampire’s subordinate was dead. Even so, I couldn't stop the faintly blood-colored diagram from suddenly erupting in light.
In that split second of "Oh, no," my vision turned white.
“……?”
And that was it.
Strangely, nothing changed, leaving me to turn a bewildered gaze toward my junior.
Seria had been in the middle of leaping back in surprise. But when nothing happened to me, she also froze in place, looking flustered.
I asked Seria.
“Did anything… change?”
“……I’m not sure?”
In the end, the two of us had to stay in that clearing for a long time, just in case.
We even went as far as intentionally damaging the magic circle.
However, even by that night, no abnormalities were detected in me or the surroundings, and we had no choice but to return to the Academy, tilting our heads in confusion.
And the next day, I was faced with a situation I had never experienced before.
“I—I like you, Senior Percus! Please accept my feelings!”
The moment I stepped out of the dormitory, a junior bowed and handed me a dainty letter.
I could only take the envelope with a dazed expression.
No matter how dense I was, I couldn't fail to understand this girl’s heart.
Was this not a textbook confession?
However, there was something else that truly bewildered me.
It was the crowd of dozens of people staring at me from behind the girl.
Most were women, but there were even a few men among them.
Meeting those blatant gazes, a drop of cold sweat rolled down my back.
“……Oh, fuck.”
A trial unlike any I had ever experienced was just beginning.