Thomas made a conflicted face as he contemplated.

Was this really Mia he was fighting? Was it because she was a vampire she was acting this differently? Because if it was her, it would explain why she was acting like a newborn vampire. It would explain the inexperience, the clumsy fighting, and the self-important attitude—It would also explain her knowledge of them.

The only problem was how. How did Mia, whom Thomas personally saw dead, come back to life as a vampire nonetheless? It would also have brought up the question of what happened to the other bodies. Why didn't they turn into vampires too? Why was it only just her? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why was it just her—come on, Thomas, think!

Thomas wrecked his brain, and just when he was about to come up with an answer, Mia attacked.

He reflexively brought his foot forward as he took the same stance as the vampire.

Mia closed the distance and threw a sideways chop to Thomas' neck—no longer afraid to touch Thomas directly. He blocked with his palm. The blow caused the gantlet to vibrate and his knees to buckle—a powerful attack that would have no problem going through a ‘stone bolder.' The thing that had allowed him to even be able to stop the blow was the mana around him—which acted like a cushion and the enhancement technique (Benedictio) that strengthened his bones and muscles.

She stepped back, pulling back and throwing a jab with said hand.

Thomas easily avoided it and threw a punch himself. She blocked with her other arm, but Thomas wasn't done. He threw another punch. Mia blocked this second one, putting her arms in an x-crossed position. The knight threw another punch, then another. He cornered Mia with a flurry of super-fast blows, trying to break her defenses.

'Boom!' a small shock wave of two hard objects smashing together sounded.

Thomas landed a strong enough attack to make Mia stagger back. He grabbed the opportunity, bending down, and kicked her feet under her.

She fell but rolled back in the process. As she orientated herself, Thomas had already gotten up and was over her.

Mia crossed her arms again, preparing for whatever attack might come. A strike did come, though not in the way she thought.

A kick landed under her arms, forcing them upwards. Her guard opened up, and she fell off balance.

Thomas, with his super speed, positioned himself to throw a straight punch.

The lord of the night tried to pull back her arms to the bloke but was too late. Thomas’s fist landed on her face with a 'thud.' Her facial bones broke, and her neck snapped back.

She flew across the room like a ragdoll, propelled by the force of the punch. Her body slammed into the wooden wall with a loud thud, splintering the planks and sending shards of wood flying in all directions.

Her body felt wrong, particularly her head and back. She couldn't see nor think—her brain was too damaged. Blood came out of her mouth and nose. Fragments of wood stabbed into her back, but luckily, none of them penetrated her heart.

A panicked voice screamed at her, mumbling something that could be recognized as speech. She couldn't be bothered to listen because her mind wasn't in a state to process information, but she forced herself to move regardless. Her instincts were telling her she was in danger!

Just before she could get out of the wall, she was attacked. Strong pain that resonated with her being coursed through her. She screamed in agony along with the voice in her head. The pain wasn't normal pain that living beings felt through their mind--- it was worse. It was like burning yourself with fire, but ten times worse. It felt like hot molted metal was poured into their shoulder.

More of the things that were stabbing her went through her other shoulder, her thighs, stomach, hands, and feet.

Even more, pain coursed through her, like there was no limit to the intensity of pain she could feel.

Her brain regenerated, allowing her to see and process information again. She stopped screaming reflexively--- but gritted her teeth and endured the pain.

She was pinned to the wall by long rods of that hateful light.

She bore her eyes upon the bastard that had done this to her.

How dare a human humiliate her like this!

It hurts!

An insect that was not even worth her notice had hurt her!

It hurts!

A blood bag, food! It had done this to her!

It hurts!

She, an ancestor, was reduced to this state by food!

It hurts!

She was going to kill him. She was going to kill this worthless blood bag walking around!

It hurts!

He was going to die!

It hurts!

No, he will die!

It hurts!

It hurts!

It hurts!

It hurts!

It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts………………………………

……………………………………..

…………………………………

…………………………

……………….

……..

…

.

Thomas contemplated while he walked towards the screaming vampire. He had thrown his last light spear and wanted to know what was going on here.

He supposed that this proved that the vampire didn't know how to use its innate abilities. He relaxed slightly, knowing that the vampire wasn't faking being wet behind the ears.

No vampire would willingly risk getting killed like this for some strategy.

Now that it had been proven that she was a newborn—what was left was to figure out what the hell she was.

A fledgling that was already a vampire instead of starting out as a ghoul. An abnormal aura that speaks of having gathered power for a long time, and yet—it was so young. Skin that was paler than a normal blood sucker. Had the face and knowledge of someone who had died. Bodies disappearing and a newborn sharing characteristics of one of those who went missing. No one but her appeared—abnormal aura.

That's when it all clicked, and he made a theory in his head.

What if the creature he had been fighting was a special vampire of some sort? A vampire that was given birth through the fall of others. A natural undead, a natural vampire—a vampire that wasn't created through necromancy or through other vampires---a vampire that was made by the world itself!

Thomas stopped walking as cold sweat ran down his forehead.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Could something like that even be possible? Vampires were much more complex than your run-of-the-mill zombies and skeletons; they needed more than just death and negative emotions to be created. That was why necromancers always pursued to create them to show mastery of their twisted art, as vampires were the ultimate form of curse and death the ultimate form of undead.

If this was true, then the Order must know about it! They must know that vampires could appear in the world just as a low-class undead can!

He gulped as realization struck him.

He had been facing a newborn, the equivalent of a lesser vampire, but that comparison wasn't right. The equivalent value would be a ghoul if his theory was right. A ghoul that kept up with a 4th rank knight—who was empowered by one of the church's prodigies! If she was given time to grow, she would—

Thomas's thoughts stopped when he sensed an immense blood lust directed at him.

"Die! You should just die!" she spat out the words with venom, her eyes blazing with hatred and bloodlust. She struggled against her restraints like an animal that was caught in a trap and backed into a corner.

The knight stumbled back as a chill ran down his spine. He was not expecting this sudden amount of killing intent to come from her. His face paled with fear, and he unconsciously reached for his sword to find nothing.

Right, I dropped it. He thought as he took a deep breath.

He needed to calm down—he was not in any danger. It was just her aura that made her more terrifying than she actually was.

Thomas stood up straight as he stared back at the vampire.

Eyes that were filled with rage and madness. This creature was too dangerous to be left alive any longer. He was sorry to the people that died to give this creature life. He was especially sorry for not being able to save them when they were alive. But he was going to make one thing straight—he was going to exorcize this undead so that their souls could be free.

Thomas manifested another spear and threw it towards her heart.

The spear of light flew straight towards Mia, but it never hit its mark. The night lord had broken her body apart into countless small black balls. The balls changed, growing wings and changing shape into something, into bats.

The second most famous and most versatile of a vampire's abilities: chiroptera.

Bats, numbering in the hundreds, flew out in all directions, flooding the room. They moved chaotically everywhere, making visibility difficult.

The swarm circled around Thomas, moving at high speeds.

For anyone other than an order knight, they would have been ripped to shreds by this. Bats made from vampires boasted immense power along with sharp claws. It was easy for them to slice pieces of meat off someone with little difficulty. The 'holy mana' that covered his body served as a shield because any bat that came in contact with it turned into dust.

But still, this was a lot for even a greater vampire; how strong was she? If she was just born, then that would mean she had the potential to be even stronger than an ancient vampire!

Thomas raised his hand and manifested a sword made out of light. The blade was a replica of the one he carried in terms of size. Gripping the sword tightly—he continued to point it upwards at the ceiling as he chanted.

"In the name of the mighty Tharion, god of Order ---I pray you to grant me your wisdom. Let your power flow through me to vanquish the evil that pledges this world…."

The sword glowed. It glowed more and more till the light had encompassed the entire room. The light was so bright that one would compare it to a star.

Thomas, as he readied to put the chant to an end--- grabbed the sword with his other hand.

“…. obliterate everything and leave nothing left, Astra!”

Everything got engulfed by blinding white light. The house they were in, the streets outside, and the next-door homes. A beam of light shot out from the building and into the sky. It created a pillar of light that lit up the entire town and even colored the heavens, bringing a temporary daytime to the night. The pillar grew more and more till it encompassed the house and half of the houses neighboring it.

When the light slowly faded, it revealed a missing two-story house and circular hole in its place. The circle was a foot deep-- It was as though someone had carefully carved that shape into the earth, or something circular had pressed into the area. The house was completely gone, along with portions of the homes next to it.

Thomas stood in the middle of the hole. He was in the same pose as he had when he released the technique. Though the shining light sword had disappeared along with the glow he had.

His arms fell along as he staggered, almost falling, but held himself straight.

He sighed as he tried to maintain a calm facade, but in truth—he was tired.

"This…. Might…. Be bad…..." He said, panting as he wiped the sweat off his forehead.

Sucking all up the fatigue—he took slow and steady breaths as he looked around.

“Now where…. are…. You… my little darling…”

“Ahhh, there you are!”

He walked towards the object that was in the dirt—not that far from him. He bent down and pulled the object out. It was his silver sword that still shined with luster. It had not taken any damage from the attack he just released.

"Come on, partner. We still have work that has yet to be finished."

He moved away from the battlefield and along the streets. As he walked, residual mana flowed from his core and onto the skin, giving him that layer of protection again and the slight glow of his body. 'Coating' was the name of this technique—it allowed mages and knights to use their mana as protection while simultaneously allowing them to cast faster.

Thomas had used up the mana that Henry gave him and now was using his own—which wasn’t much compared to an average knight.

Liz’s technique was still running strong, so in terms of physical strength and speed-- he should have been fine.

"Ohh, I see, so that's how you survive, but your aura has reduced significantly. Doubt you will be healing that much or be moving around as much."

He said as he arrived at his destination. In front of him was a giant white, burnt-up wolf leaning against a building. Its white fur melted into its skin, and it could barely stand on its feet.

"Any last words?" He said as he prepared to fire the same technique again.

The wolf growled as it stood up straight, looking down on Thomas. Its legs stopped trembling, and it appeared to gain strength again. Power flashed in its crimson-red eyes, showing that it had yet to give up fighting.

"I will say it again; don't look down on me, human. I am not one of the lesser bloods that you and your cult often hunt down." Its voice boomed with power that shook Thomas' bones.

Okay, this was really bad!

He thought as he looked at the creature heal within seconds with the strange regeneration from before.

Blood leaked from it, coating the entire wolf red, before receding to reveal a fully healed silver wolf.

Shit.

Thomas smiled at the giant wolf that could have probably swallowed him whole.

He canceled the technique as he was most unlikely to hit it. The only positive thing here was that its aura had decreased, which meant another 'Astra' might work.

The wolf bared its teeth, but not in the form of a threat, but in the form of reciprocating his smile. A smile that signified that they did not want the other to disappoint in this second round.

They moved. Their speed was no less slow than it had been when they had started; however, the difference this time was that Mia was faster than before. It was one of the benefits of her wolf transformation. Her speed and strength would get significantly magnified.

But because her aura lessened when she got hit by the Order's strongest attack, her stats weren't as best as they could be in this form; as such, she was barely faster than Thomas.

She pressed the order knight with an on slot of swipes from her forelegs—the fight now completely one-sided. She took advantage of her massive body to finally land hits that could be fatal.

At first, when she was fighting him, her small body, which had little mass, was far more vulnerable to his holy mana that could kill her in an instant if she was not careful. So she had decided to fight defensively the whole time to try and wear him out. But that had backfired as Thomas was far more skilled fighting as a human, so Mia had to adept. If she couldn't win as a human, she'd win as a beast.

She smashed the ground Thomas was on, causing him to lose balance. She bared her massive sharp teeth and went in for the kill.

He dove down and lay on his stomach, dodging the massive mouth that would have chopped him in half.

Mia, after missing, didn't stop; she threw her foot, stomping down on the man under her. He rolled, avoiding the attack but still choosing to stay under her.

As he got up, Mia dropped down, intending to crush him. The knight threw himself to the side, barely dodging her massive body.

She landed on her belly, making the ground rumble—but before she could get up, Thomas didn't waste any time to sprint away.

He ran into an alley in between two tall buildings.

He was sweaty and out of breath as he slowed down running, trying to catch his breath.

She wouldn't be able to fit in here, so he had some time.

Exhaustion colored his face, and his body ached all over. It was the consequence of having pushed his body---of having moved around without stopping for minutes.

Damn, this was why fighting undead was so annoying.

Thomas cursed at the unfair disadvantage of fighting someone who didn’t get tired.

He leaned against a wall and panted. As he was finally able to catch his breath, he suddenly felt the vampire approaching quickly, along with a tremor and the sounds of walls being broken down.

“Shit!”

He moved away from the wall and ran. His aim was to move to another alley, and just as he moved a few feet away from where he was standing. The vampire came crashing through the walls, but because the alleyway was so tight. Mia couldn't follow Thomas, ‘who was running away,’ directly.

She pushed herself, moving through the holes she just made to the other building.

This is too much fun, way too much fun! Mia thought in a crazed state.

The prey was running around, too scared to face her.

[Hey!!!]

She was going to crush him underfoot!

[roommate of mine!]

She was going to devour him!

[Hello!!!!]

She was going to rip him to shreds.

[Can you even hear me!!?] Leo shouted, somewhat resigned.

That annoying voice shouted again. How can I hunt it? It’s too noisy. Need it to stop.

[Shut… up,] Mia said viciously.

Mia shook her massive wolf head as she moved herself through the tight room. Her massive legs moved furniture aside, and her head scrapped the ceiling.

Right, prey! It's getting away!

As she felt Thomas widening the distance, she shot forward, smashing through walls and whatever was on inside in her attempt to leave the building. She burst out of the front of the building and caught the knight.

Thomas, seeing her, attempted to return back into the alleyway, but Mia bashed him with her tail. He got sent flying and into the middle of the street. He landed on the pavement and rolled around a few times before he stopped and coughed out blood.

Mia rushed at him, ready to chew him up. Thomas got up quickly and dodged the jaws of death that came at him.

She flew past, bringing a torrent of wind with her. The speed just showed the enormous power her wolf form had. She dug her right front leg into the ground and used the foothold to turn around, rushing at the knight again.

The blooded ‘Order knight’ stood straight as he calmly brought his silver sword in front of him. The silver sword shined with white light as he raised it up, ready to swing it down.

As they looked at that stance. Leo remembered him taking the same stance at the house before a lot of intense pain came. They had barely been able to get out of that scorching hot thing. Leo wasn't willing to go through that again; it hurt too much, and he hated pain.

No, he wasn’t going to go through it again!

[Yo! Hey! Hey! Partneeerrrr! We need to move out the wayyyy! Please get back to your senses!] He said in a panic.

Leo, the apostle of chaos, said in a shout as he saw that they were rushing forward into an attack. However, Mia, Leo's body, didn't listen but continued to run as she chanted crazily.

[Prey, prey, prey, prey, prey, prey, prey, prey, prey, prey, prey, prey, prey!!!]

Leo quickly realized that they weren't going to be able to avoid this attack in time, even if he took control. His back got drenched with cold sweat as he thought about getting hit with that light attack again.

He wasn’t going to get hit by that again! It wasn’t happening!

He snatched control away from the mentally unstable Mia as he followed his vampire instincts.

He needed to avoid whatever the old guy was going to shoot at them. He needed to avoid it. He needed to dodge without changing his speed or direction. He needed to avoid it. Avoid, avoid, avoid…...

Thomas stared down at the giant creature that was charging him. He took a deep breath as he prepared to release his own version of 'Astra.' Though it was weaker, it saved more power.

He swung his sword. Light, tracing the swing, shot out of the blade. It moved with blinding speed and would have been impossible for most vampires to dodge it.

The light slash flew straight past the wolf, or rather, it flew straight past the swarm of bats.

Thomas's jaw dropped as he witnessed this impossibility. A shift from Lycanthropy to Chiroptera after five minutes had passed.

She was still able to think even after this long!? Impossible! What was this creature he was fighting!? To not only survive a hit from an 'Astra' but it was able to maintain its intelligence while it was in Lycanthropy. Now it was official: he couldn't let this vampire live. He needed to take it down, even at the cost of his life.

The bats flew away from Thomas and reformed the giant wolf some number of feet away.

The fire in its eyes had deemed down, and it wasn't radiating killing intent, but that didn't subtract from its imposing figure.

He readied himself, waiting for the creature to make its next move, but it didn’t.

Why wasn’t it attacking now? Thomas thought as he looked at the creature that seemed to be out of it.

It seemed to be dizzied like it was confused as to what was going on.

Perhaps there was a limitation to switching between the two forms.

Perhaps if he…. No! Not perhaps. He should; this was an opportunity offered by the heavens. He couldn't let it pass.

Thomas shot forward, running towards the white wolf. He pulled every last bit of mana he had out of his core. He needed to kill the vampire with this one attack; failure was unacceptable. If he managed to kill it here-- many of his comrades' lives might be saved from dying an avoidable death.

The silver sword glowed as the exhausted Thomas ran. It glowed with the same luster as the makeshift sword. However, it was much brighter. The absurd amount of light showed just how much mana Thomas was pouring into his weapon.

Though he did have time to chant—it was still going to be strong enough.

Thomas closed the distance, and the vampire seemed to have finally noticed as it panicked. It tried to retreat, but Thomas was already close enough that his attack wouldn't miss even if the wolf were to turn into bats.

He smirked.

Its blood lust returned along with the fire in its eyes, showing that the vampire from before had awakened, but it was too late.

It was his victory.

“Astrrraaaaaaa!”