Like the destruction that was created before, the same thing happened here, except the target of the beam of destructive light wasn’t the sky. The attack that was the 'ace of humanity’, obliterated everything in its path. The wolf, the street, the houses, and even the wall that was located a fair bit distance away.

The ground rumbled from its passing, and everything that it touched immediately evaporated. It was as though the ground, the walls, the air—it was like all of it was simply water to its raging heat.

The technique ended and the light eventually faded to reveal a valley going through the town. A path in the earth that looked as though a giant hoe had plowed through.

Thomas, the man who stood at the start of the giant pathway, fell to his knees as his silver sword clinked to the ground next to him.

“Heh…ha…haha…haha..haha..haha…” He laughed self-deprecatingly, as he tried to take big gulps of air.

He was laughing at himself, at his own failure and hubris. He had given himself hope for winning a battle he had long lost after she awakened her innate abilities. His chance to win had long passed.

He clenched his stomach as he fell to his side, laying on his back. He was tired, he was exhausted, and it all felt like he was dying.

When he first had decided to stay behind to cover the others' escape, he had expected it to be his last battle. A 4th rank knight even with his power doubled, could never expect to match up to an ancient vampire. But halfway through the fight, he realized that he could win and in actual fact, he was the superior one, but fate was cruel because he failed to kill the vampire while he had the chance.

“He heh he.... winning was never a factor after all eh?” he stopped clanching his stomach and let the hand fall down limply to his side.

Most if not all of his mana was gone—he doubted he could use even the simplest of the order's techniques without shattering his core and making himself unable to ever use magic.

“….So, were you holding back this entire time or was this just another ability you learned?” He asked with a chuckle, as he turned his head and looked at the massive furrow next to him.

A huge lump of darkness was allocated in one place forming a sort of mound in the trench.

Though the thing that Thomas was looking at looked nothing like the white wolf he was fighting, he was absolutely sure it was the vampire, due to the aura it had.

A change happened to the mound, as it became smaller and smaller. The shadows ran off of each other like water ran off of ice. The darkness melted away to reveal an uninjured giant white wolf inside.

The wolf too, changed as it shrunk, its hair receded and its anatomy became more like that of a human. Within a few seconds, a human female was standing there, looking at the night sky that had become much lighter.

She slowly moved her head away and looked towards Thomas, who was still lying on the ground. She walked closer to him, her footstep now unnaturally quiet. A change that suited a creature of the night like her.

"That's quite an interesting look you got there," Thomas commented on the changes that she had on her body.

He acted casually, but he was filled with regret for blundering. He should have gone all out from the start to kill this vampire before it could learn to use its abilities.

As he accepted death, he begged the gods that this vampire wouldn’t be given time to grow.

She stood over him and silently stared.

Her hair was as black as a moonless night along with her feet, which seemed to display that shadows were crawling up her leg. The shadows end at her thighs in a tentacle-like protrusion.

“I’m guessing this is the power you used to survive my attack just now?”

She didn't answer but just quietly looked at him as she contemplated.

Her hair changed back to white and the shadows that clang to her body disappeared to the ground.

She reached out and grabbed Thomas’s hand, the silver gauntlet burning her skin but she didn’t seem to care. She sighed before her hand turned black, as it got covered by shadows and the burning stopped.

“What are you--” He began to say but was unable to finish his statement.

The sound of metal bending and bones cracking responded, as she tightened her grip, crushing Thomas’s hand.

He gave out a pained growl as he stopped himself from screaming.

Mia while still holding his crushed hand, stepped on his leg, crushing it as well.

The knight screamed in agony, the pain now too much to bear.

Mia smiled as she let go of the hand which Thomas immediately cradled to his chest.

[Hey, hey, hey, hey what are you doing!? Why are you suddenly torturing the guy?]

Leo asked in befuddlement and panic. They had just won and the opponent was down and couldn’t fight or move. Why were they suddenly torturing him when they needed to leave? Wasn’t the sun coming up a big issue for them?

She stepped on the second leg, and she smiled in satisfaction at his screams of agony.

[What an odd thing to ask—I had presumed we shared a sense that included pain. Why wouldn't we do at least this much after what we experienced?]

[No I…] Leo stammered as the man’s pained scream shook him.

He felt empathetic for the man despite not knowing him and despite him trying to kill them. Leo was never the one to stomach people being seriously hurt or killed. He had sometimes joked about torturing or murdering his worst enemy, but to actually do it or see someone do it—it didn’t sit right with him.

As Mia inspected her work and was about to crush the other hand. Leo imagined himself as the man with broken bones and the constant pain that came from it-- which was easier to do after all the things he himself had gone through. He felt that this should have been more than enough for having hurt them.

[D-Do we really have to do this? L-Like we saw earlier, the sun is about to come up. I think we should find somewhere to hide from the sun while we still have time.] Leo tried convincing Mia to leave the man alone by reminding her of the sun.

Mia stopped for a bit from squeezing the hand that was in hers. She looked at the sky before she sighed in disappointment.

[Ahh, I got too excited and had nearly forgotten about that.]

She squeezed, causing Thomas to scream again and Leo to question himself, on whether he should fight for control of the body to make her stop.

Letting his hand fall to the ground limp, she reached out to his chest. Her hand which was covered in darkness reached the silver chest plate.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“It's unfortunate but it seems I will have to cut our fun short.”

“’Arrg……. R-Really now? It's indeed a shame, and to think…… I was starting to enjoy it.” Thomas said sarcastically, as he looked to be in immense pain.

[Okay, let's go, there should be a couple of houses that should be intact around here.]

[? Why rush? We still have a few minutes till the sun comes up.] She dug her claws into the chest piece and lifted Thomas up. [I'm certain we can spare a few seconds to eat.]

[Eat?]

Leo asked taken aback a little, but immediately remembered that they were a vampire. They feed on blood as a way to get sustenance.

Though normally he would have been repulsed at the thought of drinking someone’s blood, right now his mind was preoccupied with trying to save someone’s life.

[Wouldn’t losing blood while he is in that state, mean he will die?]

[Perhaps, but that’s assuming we’ll leave him with any blood left to die from natural causes.]

[Wait you're planning to take all his blood?]

[yes?]

[B-But that will kill him though!]

[I would be amazed if it didn’t, now…] She grabbed his hair and pulled his head to the side to expose his neck.

Leo felt their tongue move, as it licked their fangs and lips, but when they were about to move in for the bite—Leo stopped her. They froze up in a position of nearly biting The knight.

[What!?] Mia asked with murderous intent, as she felt really pissed off for being interrupted.

[D-Do we really have to kill him? I mean….. it's not like he’ll be able to do anything to us now….]

[So you'd have us leave him alive? By all means, I would be happy to leave him here to starve to death, but we used too much power in our battle with him, passing up blood when we might need it in the future is not wise, ohh divine one.] She ended with a sarcastic remark.

Right, his hands and legs weren't working, so he would die either way if we left him.

Leo stayed silent, as he couldn’t think of a scenario for the guy to live. He sighed resignedly as he gave back control.

Mia didn't feed right away but decided to project her feelings to Leo to show that she was displeased with him.

“Having second thoughts?” Thomas asked jokingly, already resigned to his fate.

She ignored him and sunk her fangs into his neck, letting his blood flow into her mouth. When the blood touched her tongue-- the world seemed to stop, for both Mia and Leo. As they enter a state that could be close to being called heaven.

Smooth, velvety, and silky nectar flowed into their mouth and down their throat with grace and elegance. They felt their heart, which was dormant and unmoving, start to move again with vigor. Their body which was cold and likened to a corpse, gained warmth again as the body appeared to come back to life.

The cold and chilly winds of the morning, the rocky and rough soil under their feet, The warmth of Thomas’s skin against their lips—they felt it all. They felt every sensation that a living creature experiences on a daily basis. They felt alive, no they were alive!

Mia and Leo felt a new kind of joy at experiencing the sensation of being alive. They had been experiencing that feeling constantly when they were alive, but there was something that made the feeling even more wonderful as undead beings.

However, all of that was secondary to the elixir that they were drinking. The taste seemed to get better as they drank, and they seemed to not be able to stop themselves. The feeling they got from it could not be captured by taste.

No, taste was an understatement to describe the pleasure in their body.

It was something more, something greater, something that could only be offered by the gods. Life, it was life, they were both literally and figuratively, tasting life.

The ultimate flavor that delighted both the body and soul. A flavor that gave them power as well as all the pleasures that a person could experience, that they received all at once. Joy, love, gratitude, happiness, curiosity, sexual pleasure, awe, fulfillment, it all could be felt through that single flavor.

And as they continued to feast, they felt the intensity of that flavor get increasingly flavorful, more irresistible—until, they were at the very top of the ecstasy.

The flavor stopped and extreme amounts of pleasure slowly faded.

Thomas had died, making all the remaining blood in his blood worthless.

They dropped his body, letting fall with a 'thud' to the ground, as they continued to enjoy the moment. Though their meal had been cut short, they still felt satisfied.

Their heart slowly stopped beating along with their organs slowly stop working. The warmth went away and they went back to not feeling anything besides thoughts and emotions.

Mia in a good mood and Leo still slightly shocked, wiped the blood that was on their mouth and walked off to find a place that they could use to rest for the day.

***

"Hmm…. This will do I suppose." Mia said to herself as she entered a medieval-style building that was slightly bigger than the houses next to it.

It was a tavern, indicated by the number of wooden tables and chairs strung about. Shelves packed with booze reveal themselves a the end of the large room. Candles lit the place with a yellowish background.

The establishment was thrashed, as broken furniture and broken bottles lay all over the place. Blood that was dried up into the wood and discarded pieces of clothing could be seen here and there, showing that some people had died here.

Mia with a frown on her face kicked the chair that was in front of her, as she walked into the middle of the room. The chair shattered against the wall, as its pieces fell to the floor.

[And…... that was that for?]

Leo questioned her, curious as to what spurred this sudden act of violence.

He had pondered about his situation since the incident with the blood-sucking. Leo had realized with shock that this was all real and that this was now his reality: people died and got hurt, and the world was much crueler than he thought. A pang of pain pierced his chest.

[Is there a need for a reason? I felt like crushing something, so I did.] She said dismissively, showing that she did not wish to continue on the matter.

Leo didn't bother to retort because he wasn't in the mood. He continued to contemplate to try and see what made him sad.

Mia went around the room, turning the candles off with her thumb and index fingers. Normally, touching fire would have been a problem, but by using magic to shield her hand, she was able to complete the task without catching on fire.

The room was better in darkness anyway—they couldn’t afford for the entire tavern to accidentally burn down while they used it to hide from the sun.

Mia looked at her darkened hand which looked to have been covered in shadows.

Though the room was completely dark, they could still see due to their vampiric traits, but despite that, they still couldn't see through the shadows on their hand.

Mia needed to find out what the full extent of this technique was. She knew that it could shield her from physical objects like it was a sort of armor—but, probably its most interesting quality was that it could nullify magic. That was the only reason that they were here instead of Thomas.

She took the nearest intact chair, intending to use it for reviewing the map she got, but…..

Naturally, I let it slip from my grasp, for what else could I do without a shred of fabric on my person? she chided herself.

She had lost the map, while in her altercation with Thomas, but had completely forgotten about it until now.

After digging her fingers into the chair, she let it fall to the ground with a ‘clatter’, as she sighed.

She hoped that the building they were in held another map, otherwise, a tedious day of idleness awaited her, confined in a house with nothing to occupy her mind or body. But first, she needed to fix the cause of the problem that plagued her.

She explored the establishment that served as both a tavern and an inn—she knew what she needed resided in this building.

Ahh yes, here it was.

After some number of minutes searching the first floor, opening doors, and looking behind curtains, she was able to find what she wanted—a bathtub. In what looked like to be the bathhouse of the place. A wooden bathtub was allocated in the corner of the small room.

The old thing was secured into place by a lengthy stone wall, that also served as a table.

[What are those?] The soul inside asked, probably asking about the three colored stones on the stone table.

[Ohhhh, Could you perhaps have stopped moping?]

[I wasn’t moping! I was…. I was just thinking about something…]

[Mhhh, is that so?] She said, not believing him, as she touched one of the rocks and held it up.

This one was colored blue and engraved with two of the dwarven race’s glyphs. Though she couldn’t read it, she knew what they meant when she considered the function of the tool.

[This is a magic tool.] She answered.

[?]

[Although I am ignorant of how your former world operated without magic, in this realm, tools such as this facilitate the lives of common folk greatly. It has contributed to the reduction of maladies that spread among them.]

Her hand darkened, causing the stone to glow with a blueish-fait light.

She threw the rock into the tub and a few seconds later, water materialized around the stone, as though it had just teleported in there.

She relaxed slightly, relieved that those tools responded to her mana, despite her undead nature. The bathtub slowly filled up while Mia and Leo talked.

[That’s so cool! How do they work?]

Mia stayed silent for a second, digging through her memories.

[I confess, I may lack the precise knowledge, but… a technique from a mage is imbued into a compatible ‘Enchanted gem’, through dwarven craftsmanship. These spell-laden stones can unleash the stored technique when exposed to external mana.]

[Hmmm… I kinda get it.... but--]

Mia moved around the room, gathering what she needed to have a proper bath.

[But what is an ‘Enchanted gem’ and mana? I mean I may know what mana is thanks to video games and stuff, but I just want to be sure.]

[I concede that you did state that you originated from a world devoid of magic, but it is still somewhat peculiar that a powerful spirit such as yourself is unaware of ‘mana’. Who did you say made you into a spirit again?]

[Ehh, the goddess of chaos?]

[Intriguing, you are associated with such a being, and yet… how shall I put this? you are so gentle. A chaos god is supposed to be a deity only second to the evil god in terms of cruelty.]

[I….] Leo stopped to think.

I mean she didn’t seem that bad.

[Or perhaps I am mistaken. I frankly remain ignorant of what an apostle is, please enlighten me.]

Mia took the two remaining red-colored spell- stones activated them, and threw them into the full bathtub.

The rocks turned red like a stove as they heated up the water.

[An apostle is a servant I guess? Though Ut—Though the goddess of chaos hadn’t told me anything specific to do. She just said she'd build me a body and sent me down here..… and I’m not that soft!]

[Indeed? You, who practically implored for the enemy’s life and nearly shed a tear when he perished, are not soft-hearted?]

[I mean, isn’t that what you're supposed to do!?] He suddenly snapped.

[?…..]

[Aren’t people supposed to feel bad for each other, it's what's called being human. I wasn't going sit there and watch you torture somebody. And second I wasn't shedding a tear—I wasn't even thinking about That guy at that point.]

Leo lashed out, his voice getting irritated each time he spoke.

[…..]

[How was I supposed to feel when I got a fucking orgasm from sucking the life out of someone!? To be ripped away from your home and family and suddenly thrust into a place like this! To witness real blood, to see someone dying, and know you were the cause of it. To drink someone's blood—oh god, I actually drank someone's blood! I'm a real vampire. I'm a monster, a monster sharing a body with an even bigger monster! It's all happening too fast, and I can't escape this nightmare!]

[…..]

As he broke down, Mia sighed internally as she observed the two red stones at the bottom of the tub.

The Spell-stones disappeared after some time, leaving a bathtub that was full of hot water. Mia looked at her dirtied naked body for a second before she stepped in, submerging her entire body with a satisfied sigh.

[Did that mean I was going to have to kill people in order to eat? Could I stop myself if I was on someone's neck? And there were people out to get us. How was I supposed to live if I was on the run every day!? And to top it all off there were, no games, no internet, no TV, no phones, no technology!]

He still isn’t done. She thought as she listened back in.

She lifted her leg out of the steaming water, savoring the little bit of heat that the water provided. Vampires were abnormally resistant to almost everything, including heat—which was strange, considering that fire was their weakness. But as resistant as they were, they still cherished the warmth, because it reminded them of being alive. So Mia would do anything to feel it, whether it was entering boiling water, standing next to a raging fire, or eating someone else—because even though she did not cling to life like most undead, she still enjoyed the sensation.

She submerged her head, making sure that every part of her body was reached by the water.

As she proceeded to wash herself, her soul continued to vet out his feelings which Mia couldn't care less about. He talked for some time and halfway through he seemed to be thinking to himself but forgot that he was still sharing his thoughts with her.

Mia being the good person she was, decided to ignore the entirety of it—after all, how could she eavesdrop on someone's thoughts.

After some good scrubbing, she dried herself off with a towel and headed to one of the rooms in this tavern-inn.

But… the was a problem.