Chapter 47: Beating For You
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 47: Beating For You
“…Let me say this beforehand. If you intend to do anything shameless, it will be after you revive my heart. If you dare lay a hand on my body…”
“What are you talking about? I need to give your heart an electric massage, so I need you to open your chest—by cutting the flesh. It’s much easier for you to open yourself up than for me to slice your chest open with a skewer, right? Since you’re a vampire.”
As I stared at her and retorted, the vampire belatedly understood my meaning and clutched her chest in embarrassment.
“My chest… Ah. I… suppose so.”
Lately, people keep getting the wrong idea, and it’s getting annoying. If she offered, I’d take a look in a heartbeat, but she’d kill me for it.
Sorry, but my life is twice as precious to me as anything else.
“…R-Right. He bared his heart, so I must do the same. Yes…”
Nodding, the vampire traced a line down her cleavage with her index finger. A single line of blood appeared down the middle of her jet-black dress, and her white chest parted to either side, revealing the flesh within.
The pristine white wrapping that was her skin was so clean and smooth it was hard to look away. But just one layer beneath lay a sight that would make even the strongest-stomached person grimace. The inside of a body, where blood foamed and fascia writhed, where white bone asserted its heavy presence.
“…There. Can you see it well?”
The shame of a naked body belongs to the one being seen, but go deeper, and the revulsion transfers to the one looking. It seems the saying that things get reversed at the extremes wasn't just empty words. The vampire, who had been so hesitant when just touching her own chest, now displayed its interior, and it was I who wanted to turn my head away.
Why was she embarrassed to show her bare chest but felt no resistance to revealing what was inside? What an irony…
No, wait, is that normal? If someone gave me the choice, ‘Show me your heart by peeling back your skin, or show me your bare body by taking off your clothes?’ I’d show them my bare body. It’s only because she’s an undying vampire that she can lie on a surgical table with her chest split open.
“Alright. I’m done.”
The vampire spoke, showing me her opened chest. Through the gap in the severed flesh, I could see crimson muscle and a churning pool of blood.
It seemed we had lost something more fundamental than shame. I was reminded once again of just how inhuman the girl before me was.
“I’m pretty sure I told you not to bare your heart today.”
“Y-You’re the one who told me to! I did not wish for this either.”
“Let me emphasize this again: you really can’t show this to anyone but me. To be honest, I’d rather you didn't show me either. Ugh. Gross.”
“Enough chatter! So? Will it work?”
“Let me take a look. Let’s see.”
It was too dark to see clearly. I inserted my index finger into the narrow fissure and used magic.
“Lux.”
A brilliant light flashed from my finger. I pushed my glowing finger into the vampire’s chest. The radiant digit cut through the crimson darkness, illuminating the deeper recesses of her body.
The vampire gazed down at my touch, lost in thought.
‘Strangely, more so than ever before, I do not feel particularly ashamed in this state…’
You’d have to be crazy to feel ashamed of this. But don’t you worry. Your shame has been replaced by my nausea. Blech.
“Uh, excuse me. Could you clear away some of the blood in there? I can’t see very well.”
“Ah, of course.”
At that, the red blood in the illuminated area scattered in all directions like a swarm of insects. A patient who cuts her own chest open and clears away her blood to give you a better view—should I call her a model patient, or should I be terrified?
Ugh. Now that the blood was gone, I could see the shapes more clearly… I have to hold it in.
In any case, thanks to the patient’s active and conscious assistance, I was able to locate her heart quickly. Behind a deflated lung, I saw a heart that wasn't moving at all. I reached for it. Tap. My finger touched the heart.
“Ugh.”
She had experienced all sorts of things, but never before had a vampire had her own heart touched. The unfamiliar, indescribable sensation made her react sharply.
Whatever. Honestly, from the perspective of the one actually touching the heart, I didn't want to feel a thing. I continued to channel small bits of mana into the heart, testing the possibility.
Hmm. This…
After prodding the heart for a while, my face scrunched into a deep frown.
In the end, I shook my head.
“It’s not going to work.”
At my simple declaration, the vampire’s red eyes widened drastically.
“Not… going to work? You’re saying it won’t work?”
“Yes.”
“Are you truly saying there is no possibility?”
“Yes. It’s impossible.”
The vampire despaired.
Of course, that didn't make her heart move. Even a disappointment this profound couldn't stir it. And because of that, even at this moment when her lifelong wish had come to naught, the vampire was able to accept my words with a cool head.
With my finger still on her heart, I spoke.
“To begin with, Trainee Rasch’s situation and yours are completely different, Trainee Tyrkanzyaka. Trainee Rasch’s heart had stopped because he was in a state of suspended animation. He’s an undying and the components of his body are different from a human’s, but the principles of how his body moves are the same. On the other hand…”
Pinch. I gently squeezed the vampire’s heart with two fingers. She flinched in shock, but the heart my fingers touched didn't stir in the slightest.
Normally, it should have been moving without being touched, but the heart, having already lost its function, remained only as a symbol.
“You, Trainee Tyrkanzyaka, are moving your blood with Bloodcraft. Even at this very moment, with your chest wide open.”
A normal person cannot open their own chest. They cannot hold back their flesh to show what’s inside while preventing a single drop of blood from spilling. Even if she wished for a heart that beat on its own, what meaning would it have when all her blood moved according to her will?
She didn't even need to breathe. The Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka could draw blood out of her body, scatter it in the air, and then return it.
“You asked me to light the furnace earlier, right? That’s not it. To use an analogy, you aren’t a furnace, Trainee Tyrkanzyaka; you’re a water mill. The human race lives a burning life by adding firewood and lighting a fire. But vampires move their bodies by drawing a river with Bloodcraft and turning a water mill.”
I extinguished the light from my finger. The glow illuminating her heart vanished, and darkness returned to the inside of her body. The vampire murmured, her expression as dark as the inside of her chest.
“So you are saying it is impossible.”
“Yes. This electric shock is nothing more than a spark. If you touch a spark to a pile of firewood, it will catch fire, but if you do it to flowing water, it will just sting for a moment and that’s it.”
The intelligent vampire understood my words and was crestfallen. To have found hope after hundreds of years only to have it snatched away—the fall must have been immense.
But that emotion, too, vanished in a flash. Such was the nature of a vampire’s feelings. Accepting her failure with composure, the vampire let go of her last lingering attachment.
“In that case, would you do it just, just once? Even if it is useless, I wish to see for myself.”
“Well, they say you should grant a dead person’s wish, so I suppose I can grant the wish of someone who moves even in death.”
“Hehe. A fitting expression for such a time.”
The vampire offered a faint smile.
I smiled back and drew mana up from my elbow. The Military State’s Standard Magic for generating an electric shock.
“Bolt.”
A series of short electric bursts stimulated the heart. I could feel it convulsing at my fingertips. It twitched and spasmed, the pressure causing blood to briefly gush out.
This was less a cardiac revival and more a mechanical reaction. Human muscles tend to twitch when exposed to electricity; in the vampire’s case, it just happened to be her heart.
I was about to pull my finger away without much thought.
It was then that the vampire urgently grabbed my hand and pulled. Before I could react, my hand was sucked deep into her chest. I felt the squishy, yielding texture of living flesh.
Just as I was about to freak out.
“It beat.”
“What?”
The vampire cried out, her face a mask of shock, yet incredibly bright.
“I felt it. It was brief, but my heart definitely beat.”
“That’s because of the electric shock…”
“Yes. It was brief, but it jumped on its own! This… my heart…”
She clutched my hand as if it were her only hope, refusing to let go. It was as if she was trying to pull it inside her body, worried I might run away.
“Is it truly, truly impossible? My heart, my heart is…”
But reality is cruel, even if your opponent is a vampire.
As the remnants of mana faded, the agitated heart also settled down, slowly calming. Along with it, the vampire’s hope tumbled down into the abyss. The heart slowly came to a stop amidst the flowing blood.
Accordingly, the grip on my arm weakened. When I gently pulled my arm back, her limp fingers brushed against my wrist. I took her hand lightly and said.
“It can’t be helped.”
“…I see.”
The vampire closed her chest and sat up. She pushed the severed flesh together with a finger, hiding her disappointment, sorrow, and chronic resignation behind a single layer of skin. The wound healed in an instant, and her fair skin became as flawless as if nothing had ever happened.
‘I thought it might work this time. Hope still slips through the gaps in my grasp. Has my hand grown too large, or is hope just that small and delicate? Is it still… impossible?’
But even her heart did not linger on the feeling. Even the glimmer she had held in her hand was washed away by the cold, flowing blood.
The vampire neatly composed herself and, as if to console me instead, said.
“Do not mind it. I am accustomed to failure. What cannot be helped, cannot be helped.”
“Huh? Me? I was just trying to help out of goodwill, and when I realized it wouldn't work, I gave up. What’s there for me to be disappointed about? I’m not some idiot who thinks service is an obligation. You might be disappointed, Trainee Tyrkanzyaka, but I don’t feel a thing, you know?”
“Still… you have such a way with words. So vexing.”
With a sad smile, the vampire got off the bed. She pulled up the dress she had opened and straightened her appearance before slowly heading for the door.
“Forgive my intrusion so late at night. Unlike us, the night is a time for you to sleep.”
“We’re in the Abyss anyway. It’s fine, really. If you need anything, just let me know.”
The Progenitor of vampires, who had reigned for over a thousand years. If I had managed to make her heart beat again, I might have received an enormous reward.
But that was beyond my abilities.
Even if I could read minds, even if I was the best gambler in the back alleys, I couldn't force a winning hand and take the pot when I had no cards to play with. It was only natural, and there was no need to feel disappointed.
What mattered was what I could gain from this point on. That was all.
“I can give you a heart massage every now and then, you know.”
I casually held up my fingers, to remind her of their touch and the hope she had felt at that moment.
“Just occasionally.”
“Yes…”
The result was a little disappointing, but if I could gain even this much of a connection…
Watching the vampire leave my room, I smiled, triumphant.