- — ☯ — -

It had been a while since the vampire was detained.

Fortunately, Leonardo’s fears didn’t manifest and the woman continued to remain sealed in the cellar, unable to break free. She was paralyzed, seemingly frozen in time. Even so, Leo didn’t let his guard down.

Yukiko had recovered since, and even the side-effects of blood loss were dealt with promptly by the overprotective Leo.

However, it’s clear something changed. The cheerful Yuki became more silent and drawn back, particularly in Leo’s presence. She spoke less, ate less, and played less.

Leonardo couldn’t do anything about that trauma and tiptoed around it, letting Anabella handle the girl in his stead.

Despite having a harsh life, Yukiko always received the princess treatment and never had to deal with anything as horrifying as this. It would take her time to come to terms with Leonardo’s betrayal. Time Leo did not have.

Every day, the plague worsened and spread, so he couldn’t stay still, lest her sacrifice be rendered meaningless. He pledged to see things through.

Meeting the vampire proved more difficult than he bargained for, however. Each visit caused him to doubt himself and ate at his will, pressuring him to release her. The Blood Geas continued to corrode his conviction. Sybil whispers sowed distrust in his heart and increased his paranoia with each passing hour.

Luckily, he was a mage and took precautions. Otherwise, he couldn’t imagine how a mortal could save themselves from becoming a puppet.

By the second day, he put all of his paranoia to use and constructed a containment cell for the vampire. Reinforced shackles and chains, a metal frame door and three stakes mounted at various angles around her chest, triggered at the slightest pressure. If the vampire moved even slightly, they would pierce through her heart and paralyze her again.

He didn’t know if it was enough, but time was fleeting and he did his best.

‘Time to wake her up.’

As he brushed his worries away, he yanked the original stake out, then immediately drew his sword and assumed combat readiness.

The vampire blinked calmly, then set her gaze on Leonardo and asked with apparent curiosity, “What are you doing?”

This irked Leonardo greatly, her nonchalance mocking him. He found himself embarrassed, but didn’t drop his cautiousness and continued to observe her closely.

She chuckled, the chains rattling slightly.

“D-dont move,” he suddenly voiced out an order, only to discover he’d stuttered with unease.

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Various emotions trailed across his face as the Blood Geas kicked in with previously unmatched power.

Her limpid gaze and calm look forced him to reassess his impression of her. Her fearless demeanor made him terrified of her, despite being the one in charge. He was in power, but that control had never been so fickle and elusive.

“By the way, my name is Sh—” she began with her usual, crisp and calm voice.

“Shut up!”

Finally snapping, he drew closer and forcefully gagged her.

Her voice was far too compelling for him to ignore otherwise. He felt his control slip and covered her pleading eyes as well, knowing his thinking wasn’t clear. Whether the vampire put on an act to trick him into freeing her, or if she truly meant to be amicable, he couldn’t afford to care about.

From now on, he would stop thinking of her as a person and focus wholly on his experiments.

“Commencing heart’s blood involuntary extraction attempt number one,” he voiced out as he began.

It was a bit loony, given there was no recorder, but he’d seen Muchen do this so he copied him. If anything, it would serve as a distraction.

Jabbing her heart with a large syringe, he wasn’t cautious about the damage at all and quickly found her reservoir.

Normally, vampires didn’t bleed and had full control over their blood flow. They could awaken specific limbs or keep others dormant, operating more like a machine than a biological organism.

Controlling the pump in his hand, he drew the blood with relative ease. Whether it’s because the vampire didn’t resist or was unable to, he didn’t know.

Quickly filling his vials, he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Three vials filled. Target seems to have run out of notable reserves.”

Noting down his finds, he placed the obtained flux aside and picked up another needle, this one filled with human blood.

“I will now try to inject the vampire with blood and observe the conversion into wicked flux.”

Observing closely with magic, he watched a faint stream of blood rolled into the vampire’s arteries. Pushed out of the syringe, it was reflexively drawn to the heart by the vampire.

Whether an instinct or conscious control, he could never find out unless he asked, which carried a risk on its own — So, nope!

When the blood entered her heart, it was deprived of all life force. The curse was unseen but omnipresent, and within moments it caused the blood to darken slightly. Biology couldn’t explain it, so he didn’t bother so much with the molecular level changes.

‘Luckily, it works!’

For the first time in days, Leonardo sincerely smiled.

“Normal blood can be converted into immortal flux. Seems like a 1.3 to 1 conversion ratio. The experiment was a success!”

Thrilled, he removed the vampire’s blindfold — wanting to share his happiness with someone. It was only when he reached out for her chains that he caught himself.

‘Damn. I almost—’

Horrified, he avoided eye contact with the vampire and quickly backed away, his back breaking in a cold sweat.

‘Phew! That was close.’

Snagging the vials of flux, he promptly escaped the cellar.

Only then did he sigh out in relief. Having almost lost control, he vowed to keep his excitement under control next time.

Luckily, the remainder of his experiments didn’t need to be in the presence in the vampire. He could study the effects of the flux as far away from her as he was comfortable with.

Getting fresh blood wouldn’t be a problem. The Manus Umbra had plenty of volunteers, and as long as he kept the drawn amount under limit, there would be no side effects.

He would then feed that to the vampire, converting it into an endless restorative blood to combat the plague.

The most difficult part came later. He had to find a way to lessen the effect of the flux, whether by lowering the dosage or counter-balancing it with something else.

‘Fight poison with poison, huh. How apt.’

Both the accursed plague and the Blood Geas were essentially curses, albeit very potent ones he had no chance at unraveling yet. Only by pitting the two against each other could he hope to achieve success.