Ryzen immediately disappeared into his shadow as tens of red orbs came pummeling towards him. He tried to dodge them as he usually did but he quickly realized that there was some kind of seeking skill on them. Instead of crashing into the ground, they actively chased him down, even in his shadow.

To make matters even worse, the orbs were nearly as fast as he was. Fast projectiles paired with magic meant that this would not be a good match for him.

Suddenly, multiple blood-red spikes came whistling toward him, forcing him to come to a stop. Left with no other option, he threw a shadow bomb down, which instantly exploded, destroying all the projectiles.

“The hell?” the vampire coughed as smoke started covering the room.

Ryzen took advantage of this and darted towards her. He slammed his dagger into her shield, easily piercing it. He also utilized two shadow daggers to shatter the next two shields.

Right before his next attack, hundreds of thin red needles filled his vision, forcing him to flip backward and into his shadow.

Two of the needles managed to hit him and pierced straight through his left shoulder. Ryzen gasped in pain inside his shadow, giving time for the vampire to recuperate. She threw herself out of the smoke and gagged.

A wild scream erupted from her as she dragged herself back to her feet.

“I will not lose to a fucking rat! I will not disappoint Lord Venis!”

Tens of more red orbs appeared all around the area. Ryzen prepared to start moving again but she was doing something different from last time.

They started to absorb each other, forming larger and larger orbs by the second. Knowing something was very wrong with this, Ryzen quickly threw his dagger at the vampire. She deftly blocked it but didn’t notice the two shadow daggers coming at her behind her back. They broke the last two shields and Ryzen tackled her to the ground.

She tried to bite and scratch at him but he easily parried her attacks. She was not a close combat fighter and it showed. He slammed her head into the ground and picked up his dagger. She tried to get back up but he kicked her in her stomach and slammed his dagger into her neck. She gurgled blood and fell to the floor, near dead.

The red orbs stopped absorbing each other, allowing Ryzen to breathe a sigh of relief. This was short-lived as he realized much too late that the orbs were still very much live.

“Shit,” he muttered before a large explosion rang out.

Ryzen felt himself slam into the back wall, near where Enancia was. At first, he didn’t feel anything. This didn’t last long as excruciating pain soon took over his entire body. He tried to move but his body didn’t listen.

A piercing laugh emanated throughout the air as the vampire limped towards Ryzen. “And so this is how it ends! So close, yet so far!”

“No!” Enancia screamed out.

The vampire pointed her wand at Ryzen with a wicked grin. “Such a beautiful story. A shame it has to end.”

Yet, she never sent anything Ryzen’s way. Instead, she fell forward with a single shadow dagger sticking out of her back. In fact, it happened to be lodged in her heart.

“Cocky bitch.” Ryzen grunted in extreme pain.

“Alex! I…I thought you left!” Enancia cried out.

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“Nah,” he muttered. He summoned two shadow daggers and used them to cut through the chains binding Enancia to the wall. As she as she could move freely, she ran over to Ryzen.

“You jerk! Why? Why didn’t you leave?” Enancia asked, tears running down her face.

“I… just couldn’t”

“You talk about how you don’t trust me and act like I’m nothing to you! You’ve barely told me anything besides that you’ve come from a different world! Nothing else! As far as I’m aware, I’m an annoyance to you! A detriment even! So why! Why did you come back?” Enancia asked, now fully sobbing.

“I didn’t want you to be alone…”

“Alone? You left me alone! You’re the reason I was alone! Why couldn’t you just trust me or make me feel less alone? I hate it! I hate being like this! I hate it!”

“I’m sorry,” Ryzen muttered.

“I don’t care about your stupid fucking sorry! I want answers!”

“I guess I care about you,” Ryzen said while breaking eye contact. It felt weird to admit it to her, even if it was true. He hated that weird feeling yet he hated seeing Enancia like this even more. It had always bothered him before, yet he would ignore it and makeup excuses.

Truthfully, Ryzen was afraid. Afraid that he would be betrayed. Afraid that he would be hurt. If he allowed himself to become close then he wouldn’t know what to do if something happened to her.

If Ryzen allowed himself to get attached to someone then he feared he would grow to rely on them too much. That he would become nothing without them.

Enancia’s teary eyes went wide with shock as she shook her head. “Then, why? Why did you act so distant to me.”

“Because… it just wouldn’t work. Trust me.” Ryzen slowly shook his head.

“Please… Please, tell me.” Enancia asked. Her crimson eyes were glistening and full of pain. Her white hair was shiny, even after all she had been through. She was beautiful. Ryzen wholly believed that and now, he could admit it to himself.

Yet, he knew that they could never be. Their cultures, their lives, their everything was just too different. And most importantly,

“I’m human.”

“...”

In that moment, everything changed. However, it was nothing like Ryzen could have ever imagined.

Enancia hadn’t attacked him or walked away. She hadn’t insulted him or laughed. No, she had done none of that. Instead, she had moved closer to Ryzen’s face until he could only close his eyes in anticipation.

He felt her soft lips press onto his, gently and with extreme care. She softly massaged his lips with hers until she pulled away, opening her eyes in the process.

They stared at each other for what seemed to be an eternity. Ryzen noticed Enancia’s usual pale face was flush with pink forming a very cute blush.

“Was that a taste test?” Ryzen asked, breaking the silence.

Enancia frowned and nodded her head. “Yes, it was in fact. However, I’ve determined that you taste terrible. I shall not be dining on you today.”

“Thanks… so you don’t care? I thought you hated humans. Weren’t they lowly and pathetic creatures not too long ago?” Ryzen asked.

“I… I don’t like humans but I could never not like you. You’re special I guess.”

“But I’m still lowly and pathetic huh?” Ryzen laughed.

“Yes, of course. But it’s alright, you’re my lonely and pathetic human.” Enancia smirked.

“So… you own me?”

“Oh, shut it. Now, how are we going to get out of here? That battle took quite some time and I’m sure Venis will be back soon.”

Ryzen tried to think of a plan but his brain came up with nothing. In fact, thinking itself started to become harder and harder. He could tell his MP was drained and his hp was near zero.

“Listen, Enancia, I think I’m going to take a nap…” Ryzen said.

“Wait, what? Alex, please don’t go!” Enancia cried.

Ryzen realized something still wasn’t right. She had called him Alex. He had never told Enancia his real name. This made him feel just horrible inside. So, before he fell asleep, he would make sure he fixed that.

“No… don’t call me that. My name… is Ryzen. Ryzen Litfield.”