The sun began to set. As I stretched my arm toward the fading light, I felt a tingling warmth spread through my body. Seeing that my arm didn't turn to dust, I braved myself to meet Claire outside. Strength left me as the sunlight bathed my pale skin, but I could still walk. As the sun dimmed, my strength returned. I sat on a bench near the fountain, waiting for Claire to reach me.

Claire's henchmen were shooting at my zombies, but it was ineffective. When Alicia cast her fireballs, my connection to the zombies was severed as they turned to ashes. When Claire and her henchmen realized the demons weren't fighting back, they stopped firing. I couldn't help but notice the Althemer muskets in their hands. Claire had been smuggling weapons to Western nations.

"Lady Eli? What happened to you? You look so pale!" Alicia started to run to me, but Claire stopped her.

"Careful. Something's off with her. Her body is leaking some kind of strange mana. Eli, have you used forbidden magic?"

"Maybe… otherwise, I'd be dead. You're too late, Claire. They're all dead. Hellhound, Hellbiter, Hell Archer, Hellknight…” I muttered, somewhat incoherently.

"Damn it, they were good people. I needed his skill," Claire cursed, then paused. "Wait, did you kill all these demons?"

"What do you think?"

"This is mana infection… I see." Claire approached one of the demon zombies and cast a healing light on it. It dropped dead soon after. She murmured, "This is forbidden magic, Eli. You'll need to continuously kill mages to sustain it."

"Yeah... I'm afraid so. I'm on borrowed time now. I guess I'll be joining my friend in hell soon. Will you do the honor?" I asked Claire, implicitly asking her to end my life.

"Don't say that, Lady Eli!" Alicia hugged me, her bosom engulfing me once again. I no longer needed to breathe, so I simply indulged in the soft sensation.

Thump

I pushed Alicia away when I felt a thump in my heart. Hunger began to gnaw at my reasoning before calming down.

"Lady Eli?"

"Stay away. It's not safe," I muttered. Claire looked at me incredulously.

"Did you feel compelled to devour Alicia and me?"

"Yes…"

"I see. Can you control it?"

"Probably."

"Alicia, give her some feystones. Try eating them. It should sate your thirst for a while," Claire muttered. Then she smiled in euphoria. "This is an interesting power. With this, I no longer need to fear demons. With this, the continent will be safe! Hahahahaha!"

She suddenly hugged me in excitement, lifting me up and spinning while still hugging me. "You are my savior! My precious! Will you help me?"

Unlike before, her smile seemed genuine this time. It felt like she had returned to being a teenager, no longer the cold, calculating princess. What had changed? She exhaled, a significant burden seemingly lifted from her shoulder.

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't we already talk about this in Althemer? Ah... that was in another timeline... I guess I have to repeat myself. You see, I came from the future. In that future, these demons come and enslave us. There are millions of them, all battle-hardened mages at a level similar to Alicia's. To prevent that bleak future, we need to unite. All the Western nations, Althemer, and theocracies must unite against this threat! We don't have time for infighting and civil wars. We need to survive!" Claire spoke passionately, her eyes flaring with anger as she glanced at one of the demon corpses.

"However, your ability is a godsend. With it, we can save the continent from demon usurpation!"

After a lengthy discussion, Claire returned with us in the carriage. I realized just how coldhearted she truly was—she didn't even mention the deaths of tens of thousands in Sand Pearl. The future she must have faced must have been so bleak that she was willing to sacrifice an entire town's populace just to rid us of these demons.

The very next day, we returned to Elderan's capital. Ludwin was surprised when he saw how pale I was, but he welcomed us to Claire's house and mentioned the recent invasion. Soldiers had brought him news that several port towns had lost contact after Claire ordered them to comb the towns looking for people with horns.

"All of them are mages, so the only way for commoners to resist them is by using guns. They also need to spread out more to avoid bombardment," Claire said. "I've deployed reapers to those areas. They've reported that several hundred demons have occupied the towns. This is just the vanguard. Thanks to Eli's necromancy, we also know where their main army will land. They might split their forces if they took a beachhead in one of our ports. They came faster than I expected, but we can win. We have the upper hand now."

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Claire was confident. She then arranged for me to be dispatched on a week-long journey to another port town, not in Elderan, but in another western nation, Ellynias. However, Ludwin was against it, feeling I was carrying too much of the burden in this war.

"Wait, Claire! Elidranthia is Althemer's citizen. You can't just use her as you please."

"She's a vampire now. If she doesn't kill, she'll suffer. Wouldn't it be better for her to kill the enemy rather than someone she cares about?"

"Ugh… But she could stave it off with feystones, right?"

"Sorry, Ludwin, but I have to use every means necessary to fend off this foe. Eli agrees with me. You haven't faced our enemy yet. Do you know what these demons did? They wiped out the entire town just for the sake of it!" Claire's tone rose.

"I see. So, you're saying these demons are our common enemy?"

"They are enemies! They plan to kill all of us!"

"If we can capture two or three of them unharmed, I think I could convince Althemer and even the theocracy states to support your cause."

"Really? The threat of these demons is real. Good. I'll capture one or two of them to be displayed," Claire said. "That was so simple. If only I did that before. Ludwin died in the previous timeline."

"Hm... You're different than usual, Claire." Ludwin couldn't help but notice her change in attitude. The elegance she once carried was gone since she had faced the demons.

"Now that the demons are here, there's no longer any need for this facade. Everything I've done has been for this moment. Once the demons are gone, you can do whatever you want—occupy the western nations or whatever."

"Claire…"

"I trust all of you, so I'm telling you my true feelings. Almost everyone I trust has heard my prophecy about the demons anyway."

"Let's go," I said, not wanting to discuss it any further.

"Lady Eli…"

"You stay here, Alicia. I'll go alone." I ordered her. I couldn't stay sane knowing Alicia might be in danger because of me.

"But—"

"Alicia will be with me. She'll be a good sub-commander," Claire interjected. "Don't worry. She'll be safe."

We departed the very next day, leaving Ludwin behind. He had to handle logistics, report back to Althemer, and coordinate with Heracles for more guns. Besides, we couldn't possibly let a prince from another country get harmed. He was more valuable elsewhere.

Claire had sent messages to other Western nations, calling for a truce on the Western front. I asked her if they would listen. Surprisingly, she admitted they might not, but the fact that she warned them was all that mattered.

Claire said that when the demons come knocking on their doors, they'll naturally stop their infighting and help each other. She had seen it in the future. There would be no more dissent or discrimination between mages and commoners but full cooperation against common foes.

I doubted her. If people were truly desperate, they might do exactly that. But we weren't at that point yet. Nobles like Droner Gustav could crop up everywhere, taking advantage of the situation. They might switch sides instead of supporting us.

Claire agreed, but there was nothing they could do about it. She could only send commissions to assassinate such nobles if necessary. I was amazed by how familiar she was with how the reapers operated. She told me that reapers were incredibly useful for taking care of people like that and for spying on traitorous nobles.

As we traveled to our destination, I asked why she hadn't contacted the reapers when she first arrived in Althemer or even in the Western Nation. She said she didn't have an invitation. Reapers tend to avoid people who appear incorruptible like her, so she couldn't find the handler. Then, there was the case with Dregorn, who had access to the reapers first. Since he connected with them before she did and asked the reapers to kill her, it effectively closed that path for her.

I found it ironic that someone like Claire, who wanted a connection to the reapers, couldn't find them, while I had reaper invitations shoved at me by the reapers themselves. I guess appearances do matter in medieval times. My evil appearance must have attracted them.

It took some time before we reached the port city in Ellynias, but the panic had already spread by the time we reached the border city between Ellynias and Elderan. Refugees had gathered at the border, trying to escape the demons.

Claire brought two thousand musketeers for this campaign. As they lined up in marching formation, the citizens began to feel hope.

"Citizens of Ellynias, fear not. I've heard of the invading force of these demons, and I swear to defend the Western Nation from this threat!" Claire rallied the masses.

"Finally, these western scum have arrived. Do your job! We pay you hefty sums for our safety!" Some citizens mocked her instead of offering support. I glanced at Claire, but she didn't seem to mind their words in the slightest.

"Ellynias doesn't border any enemy nations, so they receive the highest taxes from the Western Alliance compared to other nations," Claire explained.

"Real leaders have such thankless jobs, don't they?" I looked at Claire with pity. We had arrived as quickly as possible, yet these people were mocking us instead.

"I don't care. As long as the demons are driven out, nothing else matters," Claire said, her obsession clearly abnormal.

Claire rallied her troops and marched into the port town in Ellynias. Dragoons (horse riders with muskets) acted as scouts. A gunshot rang out across the plains.

"Well, they're a bit hasty. This is a perfect place to make trenches and fortifications. Alicia?"

"Yes, ma'am." Alicia nodded and gathered the other mages, guiding them to create trenches while the soldiers scouted with their binoculars.

Many refugees ran in our direction, and our dragoons guided them, acting as their rear guard. They pointed their guns backward, shooting at the approaching cavalry. In return, icicle lances and earth lances were shot back at them. As the cavalry battle raged on, the refugees arrived at our location. Claire let them make camp to rest before sending them to the border town the next day.

"They brought horses from the other continent? That Rausha king must have invested heavily in this invasion," I muttered. The demons retreated once they saw we had fortified the area and were losing to our dragoons.

"They stole the horses from nearby stables, silly," Claire sighed. "They can train any animal in less than a day using dark magic."

"Are we heading there now?"

"Nah. This is a good position. We'll build a simple fortress here before advancing several days from now."

The war had begun anew. As I looked toward Claire, a chilling premonition crept over me.

Do I have to go there alone to activate my vampire magic?