Will’s relief is short lived. Something causes Lian’s expression to shift into a wide-eyed, teeth-clenching grimace within a split second. A tall, black form swoops in between her and the alleyway. She turns her head to ascertain the presence, only to be surprised by its proximity.

「Va-!?」

Lian manages to only utter out a fragment of a word, before her instincts take over.

Crack!

With all the might in her body, Lian thrusts her spear at the black form in front of her while leaping backward using the weight of her weapon to both escape faster, and to add speed to her blow. A supersonic crack echoes through the quiet night streets.

Her almond-shaped eyes open wide when she realizes a clawed hand is gripping onto her weapon by the speartip, holding it right in front of its chest. Blood gently drips onto the cobblestones beneath. She attempts to yank to spear back with all her might, but it refuses to make even the smallest move.

Lian gives up on retrieving her weapon, and decides to use it for leverage instead. She adjusts her grip on the shaft with blazing speed, and kicks her foot out at the figure’s head, using the spear as an anchor for a powerful blow.

Thud.

An odd feeling she has not felt for a long time comes over her, when she realizes the shadowy figure’s clawed hand is holding her leg by her shin, blocking the sudden attack with ease. Unable to do anything else, she blinks, and takes a better look at the dark figure.

Inhuman, vertically-slit pupils in crimson eyes glare at her, then at Will, who’s frozen in place with his eyes open wide.

《Vampire!?… If I do nothing, Lian will be in danger. If I do something, Lian will be in danger…》

Will panics silently. An urge to run builds within him, but disappears as soon as he glances at his friend on the ground.

「I am tired of watching this farce. I still have use for that human, he is mine.」

The vampire says, glaring at Lian, still holding onto her spear and leg. He abruptly pulls her leg aside while she is still clutching onto her spear, forcing her into an awkward face-down position in the air.

Fwoom-thud!

「Guh- Gkha-!」

The vampire throws Lian like a ragdoll, smashing her into the ground with immense speed. The impact forces out a pained gasp from her mouth, and she bounces up off the hard cobbblestones, then rolls a little along the ground.

Clank! Clank.

Lian’s spear promptly joins her on the ground with a clatter, rolling near her.

「Lian!…」

Looking aside towards her, Will calls out to Lian, in shock that she can even be thrown like this.

「All this nonsense about power and the legendary hero… I thought my ears would rot off. Does your kind ever listen to the things that you say?」

The vampire asks Will, leisurely beginning to walk towards him.

「…The legendary hero?」

Will dares to asks, after a nervous gulp.

「That’s right… The short one over there claimed to be the legendary hero, yet my servant nearly killed him… But it matters not. Even jokingly claiming such a thing is grounds for execution for this transgression.」

The vampire points his clawed finger at Greaves. The moonlight shines on his gaunt face as he leaves the shadows of the nearby buildings, and his expression is that of unmistakable contempt.

「And she… She will pay for raising her hand against me, too. The only human that I would go as far as say vampires feared is the legendary hero. To claim to be one is equivalent to a declaration of war on all of us-」

Fwoom!

「Lian!-」

Will exclaims as Lian turns into a blur while lunging in with her spear pointed at the vampire’s heart. She winces when trying to thrust the speartip into the vampire’s chest, but he is already holding her weapon much like before.

「You dare interrupt me? Your death will come next. Patience.」

Fwoosh- Thudcrack!

The vampire declares, then swings the spear along with Lian over his head to his back, and slams her onto the ground.

「Grhhhhhh!」

Lian gasps for air as something inside her breaks, but she maintains an iron grip on her weapon regardless.

Fwoosh- Thudcrack!

「You’re not from around here, are you? Not an easterner, either… You must be from those distant isles.」

The vampire repeats the swing, but to the other side. Lian yelps with her teeth clenched, but maintains her grip on her spear.

Fwoosh- Thud! Clang! Clank. Clank.

The vampire swings Lian around again, but lets go of the spear right at the end, sending her flying and bouncing off the ground.

「Fine then, keep your spear.」

The vampire says, and turns back to Will and Greaves behind him.

「Lian! Stop!…」

Will reaches out to Lian in desperation. Her strength is fading rapidly, her face is flowing with blood, and her attempts to get back up to her feet are unsteady.

「Ho? You can still stand? I will give it to you, you are not as weak as most humans, but you are pathetically weak regardless. You should learn your place.」

The vampire smirks, amused by Lian’s tenacity despite her drooping, slumping form being a shadow of herself.

「Lian! Stop! He will really kill you if you keep doing this!-」

Will shouts towards Lian as she points her spear towards the vampire again, and takes a wobbly offensive posture.

「And he will kill you if I don’t, Will… Take the lead for once and do what’s right… If you take Greaves and hurry, you might make it to Adventurers’ Guild in time…」

Lian says, pausing to take a few breaths between her sentences, and cough then spit blood out.

「I’m not leaving you here!-」

「Then you will all die for nothing.」

Lian cuts Will off, and lowers her stance.

Fwwwwwoooooom- Clang.

Lian turns into a blur, thrusting her spear at the vampire’s neck. Before either she or Will can see it, the speartip is already deflected sideways by something too fast to see.

「Hrk!? Hrrrrrrrrrhkr-!」

Lian gasps out and claws at the vampire’s wrist as his hand wraps around her neck and begins squeezing.

「Very well. If you are in such a rush to die, I will oblige.」

The vampire says, and tightens his grip further, squeezing out silent gasps out of Lian. She winces, but continues kicking and punching as much as she can, painfully driving her boot’s heel into the vampire’s ribs, but the vampire doesn’t as much as flinch.

「As my servant has said, if only you kept your nose out-」

The vampire turns his eyes towards Will, and realizes he is missing.

「Hm? Where did that brat go?-」

The vampire asks himself, and promptly realizes a wooden stick has been shoved in his face.

「『Heat Ray』!」 「Eh?」

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The vampire blinks once at the staff in his face, as it becomes incredibly blurry and intolerably hot.

FFFWOOSH!

A horizontally-squashed cone extends out of Will’s staff across the street, setting nearby warehouse’s roof on fire. A violent current of wind blows past Will’s face as a black blur shoots backwards, gaining massive distance in blink of an eye.

Lian gasps for air as the tight grip around her throat is abruptly released, and she can mostly breathe freely again. Lacking any and all strength in her legs, she plummets to the ground.

Fwop.

「Why?… Why didn’t you?…」

Lian weakly asks as Will catches her and gently lowers her to the ground with a flutter of his robes. He takes one look at the vampire, to ensure he is not charging in, but as soon as he looks back at Lian, she already has lost consciousness.

「I’m not leaving anyone. You, or Greaves.」

Will says, standing up and stepping between Lian and the vampire, taking a few steps towards him to clear the space from Lian.

《That being said… How do I win this? Can I even win this?》

Will thinks, staring at the vampire in the distance. His mind is immediately filled with mental pictures of Lian lunging in and not allowing the elderly mage to cast a single spell.

《Shit. I’m outmatched. This is ridiculous. The moment I start casting a spell, I’m dead. How did it come to this!? If Lian couldn’t do it, then how can I!?》

The gravity of the situation starts setting in, and Will’s heart begins to beat faster.

《Do I just wait for someone to help us? With that warehouse on fire, someone is bound to notice-》

Will looks at the flames licking the roof of the warehouse, consuming it faster and faster.

《…No. Waiting for help is too dangerous. There’s no telling if any help that comes won’t just get slaughtered. I need a plan.》

Will nervously looks over his shoulder towards Alicia, still healing Greaves.

「Alicia, how is he?」

Will asks, trying his hardest to sound nonchalant.

「He’s still injured, but he should be fine without healing now.」

Alicia quickly replies with a matter-of-factly tone, though her eyes are nervous and her brows are furrowed.

「Alicia, listen to me carefully. I need you to do exactly as I say.」

Will says, turning his head to keep his eyes on the vampire.

「What?」

「Heal Lian. No matter what happens, don’t stop healing her until you’re sure she’ll be fine without it. Can you do that?」

Will asks in a gravely serious voice, still keeping his head turned towards the vampire glaring at them both.

「Got it… But Will, healing isn’t fast enough to make her get up and-」

Alicia tries to explain the details of healing speed, but Will cuts her off.

「I know. I’m not counting on that. Just keep healing her no matter what happens, okay?」

Will nods, though not at Alicia. She gets up off her knees, her robes coated in drying blood, and she quickly jogs towards Lian.

「Got it. Don’t do anything reckless.」

「Already too late for that…」

Will sighs out, and takes a few more steps towards the vampire to give Alicia more buffer space. The vampire remains where it was, glaring daggers at Will.

《Why is he still there? Is he preparing something? Or is it bait?… Doesn’t matter right now. How am I even supposed to beat him? The heat ray almost got him, but it was a surprise attack… I won’t get any more like that off-》

Will blinks, coming to a realization.

《…No, that’s not necessarily true. But…》

He looks at the sword in his sheath, and the long wooden staff in his hand. After a moment of thought, he draws his sword.

「Ho? Do you want to play a warrior now!? It didn’t work out quite as well for your friend!」

The vampire shouts from the distance, mocking Will for drawing his sword.

《I could use this, but… Aside from a few swings and thrusts in my room after I bought it, I have no experience with this. And my staff… It’s so heavy, and it’d only come useful if I’d miscast, but…》

Will looks at his sword and staff looking terribly troubled, grimacing heavily.

「Can’t figure out if you want to be a mage, or a warrior!? Truly a conundrum!」

The vampire sneers as the flame from the burning building lights his form up, causing long shadows to dance along the floor. Will continues to ignore his taunts.

《Ahhh! Why do I have to do this!? This is such a terrible idea! I can’t take a hit like Lian or Greaves! I’ll be dead in one blow! Why can’t he be awake and lead this fight!?-》

Will peeks over his shoulder at Greaves in the pool of drying blood, and blinks as he comes to another realization.

《…He’s not too bad at actually leading in fights, I guess. His harebrained tactics would probably already confuse the vampire to death, and Lian would save the day again… But it’s his fault it came to this-》

A bitter feeling washes over Will as he thinks over the situation deeper, while keeping his eyes on the waiting vampire, as if both of them were in a stalemate.

《No. He went out to do something risky. He kept Alicia out of it. Greaves objectively did the right thing… It’s me who dragged everyone into this. If I just went alone to look for him-》

Will shakes his head, his mind is racing and random, unrelated thoughts litter his thoughtflow.

《No. This is the type of thinking that lead to this. Now focus. What are my options?…》

Will looks at his staff once again, then looks towards the vampire.

Clank! Clank-clank! Clank.

The vampire grins in amusement when he sees Will throw his staff onto the ground, leaving only his sword in hand.

「Do you really think you can match me with a sword, when the supposed legendary hero and that spearwoman couldn’t? Interesting. Very interesting.」

He says, spreading his clawed hands. His black cape flutters as his arms flick it upwards.

《Something is off. He’s still not attacking?… My options! Focus!》

Will squints his eyes at the vampire, and adjusts his glasses. He shakes his head, then lowers it in deep thought.

《I could try the spells I didn’t have the time to practice, but…》

He looks at the staff on the ground, lightly grimacing.

《…But if I miscast, I might lose my hand. Or worse. I could try high-level techniques like in the books, but if I botch it at the wrong time, I’m as good as dead…》

Will feels for his sword’s weight, and swings it at the thin air in figure-eights.

《I could also surprise him with the sword, but… What’s a sword gonna do against a vampire?…》

Will gives his sword one last look, then sighs, dejected.

《A lot of stuff I could try could also kill me real quick, huh…》

Will looks at the vampire with a troubled face, though most of his panic is already gone somewhere, somehow.

「I tire of waiting for you to make a move. Let us not wait for the sun.」

The vampire ominously cautions, as the flames consume more and more of the warehouse, and quiet hum and chime of Alicia’s healing magic fills the otherwise silent night…