056 – Unfair Aggression

I was under the effects of the Infiltration skill.

The professors and healing priests boarding the military carriage remained oblivious to my presence.

Thanks to that.

I managed to stay hidden until we reached the fortress gates.

‘Please, not now…please, not now…’

Upon arrival, the professors who wielded magic headed towards the top of the gates.

Those like Professor Layton, proficient in close combat, entered the barracks, presumably for a strategy session.

And the healing priests…they began to join the efforts to treat the countless soldiers being carried in.

“…”

Silently, I observed the wounded.

Some had empty spaces where hands should have been, others had broken legs, and some were already corpses, their status windows displaying no information at all.

Confronting the horrors of war firsthand brought a wave of nausea when.

“Hmm?”

Isabella, as if sensing something, tilted her head…

“I’ll be back shortly, Master. Call if you need anything.”

With that, she leapt from my arms and began dashing off somewhere.

“Ah… see you later.”

Where Lady Isabella went could be confirmed through observation anyway.

I, too, maintaining my stealth skills, headed toward the castle gate the mages had ascended.

Arriving atop the ramparts, I could finally see…

“…Madness.”

Countless mages, each unleashing their own magic.

Despite the ceaseless barrage of arrows and cannon fire…

Thousands upon thousands of vampires were engaging in combat without hesitation.

“A Trueblood has appeared! Three Truebloods reported at the left flank!”

“Deploy the Knight Order! The Tower Lord arrives soon! Hold the line!”

It was truly thousands, with no exaggeration.

An immeasurable number of vampires… throwing their lives away to breach the human defenses, advancing relentlessly.

‘Lady Isabella…!’

Realizing that this whole affair was my fault.

I was about to call for Lady Isabella, to make her halt the vampires’ advance when…

‘When did she even get there…!’

Through observation, I saw that Lady Isabella had already penetrated deep into the vampire horde.

‘Dangerous… but not really, I suppose.’

Indeed, Lady Isabella was a Trueblood vampire herself, so danger was unlikely.

Only…

To end this massive battle, Lady Isabella’s help was absolutely essential.

‘Gotta hurry, gotta hurry…!’

I frantically searched for a deserted spot along the ramparts…

“Huh?”

The soles of shoes we commonly wear have patterns that create friction.

Therefore, no matter how slippery a place might be, shoes prevent the wearer from slipping, but…

The cast on my leg offered almost no friction.

While descending the ramparts, I slipped on one particular section, and now… I was airborne.

‘The Magic Circuit Engine is here, so…’

It’s alright, I have the Magic Circuit Engine…

‘Oh, right. That got broken.’

For now, I’ll reinforce my body with Aether to prepare for impact…

‘Why isn’t Aether working? …Ah. The Silence skill.’

“Damn…!”

Of all times to step on a slippery patch, it had to be when I had a cast on my leg.

Of all things to happen, the Magic Circuit Engine had to be destroyed by the Forsaken Heart Harvester.

And of all the preparations I had made against the Heart Harvester, it had to be the Silence skill placed on my own body.

The worst… the worst… a dreadful worst-case scenario was unfolding.

The world was pushing me, screaming “Die!” How could I possibly survive in a place like this?

So, in the end…

*Thump!*

*

The Master possessed the ability to summon me from wherever I was, no matter the distance.

‘I’ll just go the other way, then.’

Thinking they would call me if they needed me, I started following the path my children had taken, but in reverse.

Surely, following the children’s footprints backward would lead me home?

Mew… Meow…

I hadn’t returned home in so long, I’d almost forgotten the way.

What a stroke of luck, to have such a good chance to find my way back.

‘I want to show them so badly!’

When I first met the Master, I didn’t understand what this feeling was.

It wasn’t love for the Master.

It was merely… happiness when we were together.

Comfort by their side.

Amusement just from watching them.

I thought these new emotions, all those varying shades of feeling, were destiny come to find me.

But it wasn’t.

‘Heehee.’

Meow~ Myaow~

The day I was attacked by that Heart Reaper, the one that had been abandoned.

The Master had clearly died.

Having witnessed the deaths of countless humans, there was no mistaking it.

The Master had died in an instant.

It was only at that moment that I realized…

I loved the Master.

I couldn’t live without them, I didn’t want to lose them, and I couldn’t bear the thought of losing the reason for my existence.

‘It’s fine, I can wait until after the Mistress~.’

I am a Primal Progenitor, living an eternal life.

Existing far removed from death, so after Ella Eloise, the Mistress, dies.

I would turn the Master into a vampire right before they die of old age, and we could live together for eternity.

Myaang~ Myaang~ Meow~

Time is abundant.

Humans only live for a brief moment anyway, so I just need to patiently wait by their side for my turn.

There was no reason to desperately crave love.

“Right, I couldn’t remember from here. It was this way, wasn’t it?”

I continued walking along the path my children had taken.

Originally, I was just planning to return home as soon as I found the way, but…

‘If the Master doesn’t call, I might as well evolve before going back.’

The words of my master, from the past, echoed: he had said he wished to see my true form.

Now that I was here, if my master wasn’t looking for me, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to evolve enough to undo the Animagus transformation and return.

And so…

“Arrived!”

The first thing I did upon reaching home, after that long walk…

“Must sleep, quick.”

To undo the Animagus imprinting etched upon my very being, I needed to fall asleep.

*

A night where the moon hung high in the heavens.

Even though it was dark, the area was dyed red by the fires blazing here and there nearby.

“Hngh…”

My eyes snapped open.

‘…I survived this.’

I knew it instinctively.

That in a situation where the worst of the worst had collided, I had clung to life.

“Hngh…”

But I had merely survived.

I was in no condition to move.

“Kheu-heuk…”

As if every bone in my body had been shattered, no matter how desperately my brain commanded, my arms and legs wouldn’t even twitch.

“Heup…”

Though the surging pain threatened to steal my consciousness away…

I had the feeling that if I fell asleep here, I would never wake again.

“Infiltration… cancel…”

Squeezing out a voice that refused to come, I cancelled the Infiltration skill that masked my presence.

“Scry…”

As I attempted to Scry for Isabella, to summon her to this place…

“Ah…!”

I saw someone approaching me.

And so, I opened my mouth immediately to beg for help, but…

“Sa…ve… me… …”

I quickly realized.

That the person walking towards me had no information appearing on my status window.

“Kid…!”

There was no time to hesitate.

I knew instantly that I could only survive by summoning Isabella here.

I tried to shout the word ‘kidnap,’ but…

“Mmph-.”

A pale hand, reaching from an unseen blind spot, had already clamped over my mouth.

“To think, a living human still lingers here.”

—

Nephira Lilith (381)

[Abduction] – Activated

[Reconnaissance] – Isabella Lilith

[Sleep] – Activated

[Infiltration] – Activated

[Silence] – Activated

—

“How did you evade my perception?”

‘If you gag my mouth, how am I to answer…’

“Ah, I see it in your eyes – ‘how can I answer with a gag in my mouth,’ you seem to imply.”

‘…’

“I can tell at a glance. You realize that speaking might be… perilous. Gag him.”

“Yes, Your Lordship.”

At the vampire’s command, the doppelganger, having scavenged a rope from somewhere, gagged my mouth to silence me.

“Add this one to the hostages.”

“Yes.”

‘Ugh… Go, go easy on me, you b*stard…’

Drag, drag, drag…

I must have landed on the carriage when I fell from the ramparts.

Dragged from the splintered remains of the demolished carriage, I was pulled away by the doppelganger’s hand, dragged towards an unknown destination.

‘I owe my life to that healing scroll.’

A truth that, while useless in the immediate crisis,

revealed that my survival came down to the healing scroll, which had been torn by debris in the shattered remains of the carriage.

Drag, drag, drag…

After what felt like an eternity of being dragged by the doppelganger’s hand, we arrived.

There…

“Mama… Mama…”

“…”

“His Imperial Majesty… will surely come to save us…”

I saw a multitude of people held hostage.

Thump –

“Ugh!…”

The doppelganger tossed me amongst the other hostages, as one might discard refuse in a junkyard.

“Wait here quietly. You are to be… valuable components before the fall of the Magic Kingdom’s Emperor.”

“…”

Hearing the doppelganger’s words, I understood.

Humanity… had fallen at the gate defense.

And yet, even if they claimed victory in breaching the gate, these vampires had not yet breached the Imperial Palace.

“Isabella…ssi…”

Perhaps there was still a chance.

Perhaps I could call upon Isabella-ssi, a True Ancestor vampire like myself, and persuade her to halt this situation.

“The gag… please untie it… anyone…”

And so, I waited for anyone to loosen the gag binding my mouth.

But the hostages, terrified of the doppelgangers guarding this place…

Remained kneeling silently in place, rooted to the spot.

“Isabella-ssi… why, are you sleeping…? Please, please… wake up quickly… please…”

Thus, the only choice remaining to me was…

To wait, with a desperate longing, for the sleeping Isabella-ssi to awaken and come to my rescue.