The air where Nova was located felt heavy and suffocating, filled with thick smoke clouds billowing high. The smoke came from the giant fallen trees and large rocks shattered into pieces from the previous attack. Dust and ash particles were flying in the air, making visibility very limited—even seeing a few meters ahead became difficult.
In that darkness and plume of smoke, the vampire's voice was heard again.
"Do you want to know who I really am?" "Alright, I'll tell you a little about myself. Consider this as... your last bedtime story."
The vampire just stood in place, not moving closer. The thick fog still blocked the view.
"I am a vampire," the creature said in a proud tone. "But listen carefully—I'm not a vampire like what you imagine in movies or cheap novels. There's no strange glittering when exposed to light, no garlic allergy, and the sun can't kill me."
"Originally," "I was just an ordinary bat living in a dark and damp cave, far from human civilization. My life was very simple—flying at night, looking for insects, sleeping upside down on the cave ceiling. Nothing special. Until one day that changed everything."
"A human entered the cave where I lived," "Maybe he was lost, or maybe he was looking for something. I don't know and don't care. What I know is—my animal instinct reacted. I flew closer and bit his neck with my small fangs."
"And that's when the miracle—or curse, depending on how you see it—happened."
"Somehow, whether because that human's blood contained something special or because of strange fate, my consciousness suddenly transferred into that human's body. Not just controlling—but truly becoming one with his body!"
"In an instant, I was no longer a bat. I became... something else. I could speak in human language, could think with human logic, could walk on two legs. I could walk in daylight without burning like vampires in those stupid fairy tales."
"I am the perfect vampire," "Or at least, that's what I thought at that time."
"I don't care whether other bats could become like me or not," he continued in an indifferent tone. "That's not my business. What I care about is only one thing—this extraordinary power I have must be used for something... enjoyable."
"My power is blood manipulation," "I can release blood from my own body and transform it into any weapon I want. Swords, spears, needles, even explosive balls. The only limitation is my imagination and my blood."
*A power like that... how can I possibly fight it?* Nova thought.
"Unfortunately," "there's one thing that frustrates me. I once tried to turn other humans into vampires like me. I thought, why not build an army? Why not create a new vampire race?"
"But the result? Total failure. They all failed in the transformation process. Some succeeded in becoming vampires, but as soon as they were exposed to morning sunlight, they immediately burned to ash in a matter of seconds. Truly sad and annoying."
"After that incident," "I'm no longer interested in making humans into vampires. Finding humans who can become perfect vampires like me turns out to be really difficult—maybe even impossible—in this world. It seems I really am a unique vampire. The only one."
"Hey," "why are you just silent behind that rock? I know you're listening. Come on, say something! Give me a response. Aren't you curious? Don't you want to ask something?"
The vampire waited a few more seconds. No answer.
"I see..." "If you really don't want to talk and won't come out nicely, I'll make you talk—or scream—in my own way."
Without warning—
SREEEET!
Dark red blood began flowing out rapidly from both of the vampire's palms. The blood didn't fall to the ground, but floated in the air, forming several blood balls the size of fists floating in a circular pattern around the vampire.
In an instant, those blood balls changed shape—stretching, sharpening, forming sharp pencil-sized needles with very pointed tips. There were dozens of them, maybe almost fifty needles, all floating in the air in neat formation.
And then—
SYUUUUT! SYUUUUT! SYUUUUT!
The needles shot at bullet speed toward the large rock where Nova was hiding.
CRASH! CRACK! BOOM!
The large rock shattered into pieces. Dust and rock fragments billowed high, creating a small explosion that shocked the surrounding area. Several nearby trees were also hit by the fragments, their trunks cracked and collapsed.
The vampire smiled widely.
But when the dust began to settle—
There was no body there.
No blood.
Only rubble of rock and soil.
"Woohh!" The vampire laughed in an entertained tone, his eyes narrowing with full interest. "Turns out I was talking to an empty rock all along, huh? This kid is really smart. He already left before I attacked."
The vampire slowly raised his face, his red eyes looking up—toward the canopy of trees still standing.
"You're up there, aren't you?" he said with a thin smile.
And he was right.
Since the thick smoke fog enveloped his hiding area after the first attack, Nova had moved quickly and carefully. He used the plume of smoke as camouflage, jumping from behind the rock silently without making a sound, and running as fast as he could toward a large tree not far from there. With extraordinary agility for a kid his age, he climbed the tree in seconds and hid among the thick branches that still had leaves.
From up there, Nova could see the vampire more clearly.
"Do you know one more interesting thing about me?" The vampire continued his story in a casual tone. "I've killed so many humans in this world. Hundreds maybe. I've lost count."
"And the place you see now?" The vampire spread both hands. "This is the vampire realm I created myself. My personal dimension. My kingdom of death."
Nova stared down with narrowed eyes. *Personal dimension?*
"This realm," the vampire continued in a proud tone, "is made from all the humans I've killed. Every tree, every soil, every particle of air here—everything is remnants of my victims. I am the mastermind behind the mysterious disappearance of so many people in the past few months."
*So he...*
"You see the soil down there?" The vampire pointed to the black soil he was stepping on. "That's not ordinary soil. That's ash formed from the many humans I've annihilated. Their bones crushed, their flesh burned, their blood absorbed—everything became part of this dimension."
"These strange trees you see grow abundantly because they're fertilized with my victims' blood. Their roots absorb nutrients from the corpses I buried. This is a perfect cycle—death giving life to my dimension."
"Originally," "I tried to live like a normal human. I worked in an office, followed a boring routine. I even married a good woman and had a sweet daughter. From the outside, I looked like a perfect father and husband."
"But you know what?" "All of that felt so boring. Every day the same, tedious routines, monotonous work. I felt like a bird caged in a golden cage. I had extraordinary power, but I was wasting it on a life that was... mediocre?"
"Until one day, I couldn't hold it anymore. The urge inside me—the urge to kill, to see blood flow, to feel someone's life extinguish in my hands—became too strong to resist."
"So I killed my own wife."
That sentence was uttered in a flat tone, without emotion.
"And you know what happened next?" He laughed, but this time his laugh sounded insane. "I felt happy! Very happy! Extraordinary euphoria filled my body. Finally I felt something that was... real. Something that made me feel alive."
"So at the same time, still on the same day, I also killed my little daughter who was only six years old. Her little screams, her cries calling 'Father, help!'—ah, that was the most beautiful music I've ever heard."
*This creature... is no longer human. He is a monster in its purest form. No, from the beginning he was never human anymore!*
"Since that day," the vampire continued, "I knew what I really wanted in this life. I started living by hunting humans—men, women, children, there's no difference to me. And every time I kill them or make them my food, I feel my power increasing. I become stronger, faster, more deadly."
"Those so-called great Sages?" The vampire spat in a dismissive tone. "They can't even do anything to stop me because I always eliminate all traces perfectly. No evidence, no witnesses left alive to tell. I am the perfect vampire at disguising and killing."
*The assigned Sages must be only B-rank. They're not strong enough to fight this creature.*
"My methods of killing vary," "Sometimes I make them lose consciousness first with gas I create from my blood, then bring them to my lair to be tortured slowly."
"Sometimes I kill them directly with more... subtle methods. I transform my blood into microscopic needles—much smaller than human hair—that can enter their food or drinks undetected."
The vampire raised his right hand, showing a small demonstration. Blood flowed out and formed very fine needles, almost invisible to the naked eye.
"These needles," "will enter the victim's body and go directly to vital organs. Once they reach the target—heart, lungs, liver, kidneys—these needles will explode and burn their internal organs from within. Very painful death, but leaves no external wounds at all. Perfect for avoiding Sage detection."
"Doctors will conclude death due to heart attack or sudden organ failure. No one suspects."
"After that," "I'll bring their corpses—or what's left of them—to my old cave where I used to live as a bat. That place is only inhabited by colonies of blind bats who won't report anything. Sages rarely visit places like that because they're considered unimportant."
"The ideal disposal site, right?"
The vampire laughed satisfiedly.
Meanwhile, up in the tree, Nova tried to compile all the information he got.
*So, he's the one who caused the disappearance of hundreds of people in recent months... This vampire's blood is clearly poisonous and can burn from within. But why is he telling me all this?*
Nova thought of two possibilities:
*Is it because he's so sure I'll die, so it doesn't matter to tell his secrets? Or does he deliberately want to play with me before killing me, enjoying my fear?*
Suddenly, Nova remembered a conversation with his father some time ago. That memory appeared clearly in his mind.
Flashback—one month ago.
Nova was sitting on the living room sofa with his father. On TV, the news was showing the faces of people who had mysteriously disappeared. Dozens of faces were displayed with the word "MISSING" below them.
"I wonder," Nova said while staring at the TV screen, "why haven't the Sages been able to determine the cause of so many people mysteriously disappearing like this? Don't they have advanced technology and super powers?"
"Well, I think this would be very easy if top-ranked Sages were assigned to handle this case. The problem is, they don't consider this serious enough to involve S or A-rank Sages."
"Then why not just send top-ranked Sages directly?" "Why does it have to be B-rank Sages? Wouldn't it be much easier and faster to solve this problem if they sent the strongest?"
"Nova, you already know, right... we live in a world full of strange and dangerous things that can happen anytime, anywhere. Monsters can appear anywhere.
"Top-ranked Sages—S and A—they're assigned to handle national or even global level threats. They can't be deployed for every missing person case, no matter how mysterious."
"What's happening now—although tragic—is still categorized as a B-rank task. Meaning, B-level Sages should be capable enough to handle it."
"I think Dad's right, but..." Nova hung his sentence, his eyes still staring at the victims' faces on TV with an unsatisfied expression.
Back to the Present.
*This vampire's level must be at the B-rank Sage threat level.* *Then how can I—a 12-year-old kid who hasn't even awakened my power—defeat a creature this strong?*
Although Nova was still young, his basic physical abilities were indeed far above average for kids his age. His reflexes were sharp, his body endurance strong, and his ability to sense danger before it happened.
But all that felt insufficient facing a monster who could control blood and create personal dimensions.
Nova looked down, observing the vampire still standing casually down there. Then his eyes caught something—splashes of vampire blood on the ground that began to hiss softly, releasing thin smoke like being hit by acid.
*Wait...*
A crazy idea began forming in his head. An idea that was very dangerous, an idea that should never be thought of by a 12-year-old kid.
But maybe—just maybe—it was the only way to survive.
*Huh? Will this crazy plan work?*
"Alright," the vampire's voice broke his reverie, "let's end all this now. I've talked enough. Time for dinner."
The vampire stared directly toward the tree where Nova was hiding.
"You think I don't know you've been hiding up there all along, kid?"
*I knew from the beginning too, you stupid vampire.*
*Whatever it is, there's no harm in trying, right?* Nova smiled thinly. *If I die, at least I die while trying something crazy.*
WHOOOOSH!
Suddenly, blood in a very large amount—far more than before—began flowing out from both the vampire's hands. The blood didn't fall to the ground, but gathered in the air, forming a giant ball that kept growing—one meter, two meters, continuing to enlarge.
"This is an attack to kill you, kid!"
The giant blood ball—now almost two meters in diameter—was shot toward the tree where Nova was.
SYUUUUUUT—
Because the attack size was very large and its speed extraordinary, Nova had no time to think. There was no place to dodge—the vampire's attack area covered a very wide radius, almost the size of a basketball court. The surrounding trees would also be destroyed.
Nova had only one choice.
He jumped from the tree, his body falling freely toward the ground—
BOOOOM!
A tremendous explosion occurred right behind him. The shockwave from the explosion threw Nova's body forcefully, making him fly very far backward.
BRAK!
His body hit a large tree trunk hard. His spine felt cracked, air from his lungs forced out, and tremendous pain spread throughout his body.
Nova fell to the ground face down, his body severely injured. An open wound on his right arm hit by explosion fragments, his legs bleeding from being scratched by flying rock pieces, and his back felt like it was burning.
And vampire blood from the explosion hit some of his wounds, and the vampire poison began seeping into his body through the open wounds.
Pain... so much pain... Nova felt his entire body screaming in agony.
"Alright," the vampire's voice sounded from a distance. "I guess it's over now. A quite entertaining game, I must admit."
The vampire walked casually toward where Nova had fallen, he wasn't in a hurry at all.
"I must admit," he continued while smiling, "you're a brave kid. Not looking scared of me at all even though you know I can kill you anytime. That's a rare trait!"
Nova lay with his head down and eyes closed. His body trembled violently—not just from pain, but also from vampire poison that began spreading through his bloodstream like fire burning from within.
But behind those closed eyelids, Nova's consciousness was still very clear.
Now...
Without opening his eyes, without making noticeable movements, Nova opened his mouth slightly—like someone dying trying to breathe—but what he was doing wasn't ordinary breathing.
He began absorbing the night air with a special breathing technique that—somehow—he could master in this critical situation.
*Night air... colder, denser, its oxygen content more pure and concentrated. This will slow the poison's spread in my blood and buy me some time.*
The vampire still walking closer didn't realize what Nova was doing. To him, Nova was just a dying kid, counting the last seconds of his life.
*Focus... focus...*
Nova now wasn't breathing with lungs like normal humans. He was using extreme diaphragm breathing technique—drawing air directly to the lower abdomen using full diaphragm muscle power.
Imagine Nova as if doing weight training with abdominal muscles, but the weight is air compressed at high pressure. His abdominal muscles tensed with strength that shouldn't be possible for a kid his age, as if lifting a weight of one hundred kilograms.
*One... two... three... deep pulls. Gather everything in the center of the body.*
Inside his body, Nova began gathering all the air he absorbed in the area around the solar plexus—the point right below the breastbone, in the middle of the body, where many nerves meet. With internal muscle control that—somehow—he possessed in this critical situation, he began forming a kind of air ball spinning like a mini tornado inside his body.
*Focus... control every inner abdominal muscle... make the air rotate clockwise...*
Air Core—that's the name that could be given to the center of Nova's current technique. Like a reactor core generating energy, this spinning air ball became the power source for his entire technique. A stable, controlled core, spinning at high speed in the center of his body.
Nova pressed his inner abdominal muscles with very high precision. Air was forced to gather and spin at increasingly faster speed at one focal point. This required extraordinary concentration—one small mistake could make the air ball explode and damage his own internal organs.
*Pain from external wounds... ignore. Focus on the core.*
Currently, vampire poison had begun spreading through Nova's bloodstream. This poison in the form of blackish-red liquid was acidic, burning everything it passed from within. Nova could feel his blood vessels like burning with fire, his bones throbbing with unbearable pain.
Instead of fighting or trying to expel the poison conventionally, Nova did something very illogical—he actually used the spinning Air Core to capture and gather that poison.
This process was similar to a washing machine separating dirt from clothes with fast rotation. Air spinning at high speed created attraction—a kind of mini gravity—that pulled poison from the bloodstream toward the rotation center.
This happened because vampire poison was liquid-based with higher density than normal blood, while the spinning Air Core created a centrifugal effect that separated substances based on their density. Heavier poison was pulled to the center, while lighter blood was pushed out.
*Faster... spin faster...*
Slowly but surely, poison began gathering around the Air Core, isolated from the main circulatory system. Now poison was concentrated in one area, unable to spread further.
*Good... now the craziest part...*
This was the most dangerous and revolutionary part of Nova's technique, the part that should never be done by a 12-year-old kid who had never received any training.
Nova didn't discard the poison he had gathered.
Quite the opposite.
With very precise control, he began distributing that poison throughout the bones in his body—but in very, very small and controlled doses.
*This concept is like vaccination... giving poison in small doses to build immunity. But I'm doing it on bone structure to strengthen the physical skeleton.*
Nova divided the poison into microscopic portions. Every bone in his body—from skull bones to pinky finger bones—would only receive 2-3% of the total poison. That way, the poison wasn't concentrated enough to kill, but enough to trigger biological strengthening response.
Using the Air Core as a transport vehicle, Nova began carrying poison to every bone in his body through very specific pathways—through bone marrow and small blood vessels attached to the periosteum.
*Skull... spine... ribs... arm bones... leg bones... everything must get equal portions.*
Nova placed poison precisely in the outer layer of bone called periosteum—the most sensitive part of bone with the fastest regeneration ability because it's filled with osteoblast cells responsible for new bone formation.
When vampire poison hit bones in controlled microscopic doses, an extraordinary process occurred:
Poison damaged bone structure minimally—creating microscopic cracks invisible to the eye.
The body detected this damage as a threat and triggered emergency healing response.
Osteoblast cells began working at extraordinary speed to repair damage, producing new bone matrix denser and stronger than before.
The process was similar to weight training for bones—the same principle as how athletes build muscle strength. Muscles are damaged slightly through training, then the body rebuilds them stronger. Nova did the same thing, but for bones, and using vampire poison as "training weight".
*ARGH—!*
Nova almost screamed from the tremendous pain. Like his bones were being hammered from inside, one by one, repeatedly. Every bone felt like it was burning and crushed simultaneously.
But he held back that scream, only releasing breath hisses through tightly clenched teeth. The vampire must not know what he was doing.
Slowly—very slowly—Nova could feel the changes happening. The burning pain began changing into a strange warm sensation.
His bones began to feel... different. Denser. Harder. Stronger.
*This... it's working?*
After finishing with poison distribution, Nova reversed the Air Core's rotation direction—from clockwise to counterclockwise. This rotation direction change created an opposite pump effect, pushing unused poison out of his body system.
Remaining poison—about 40% of total poison that entered his body—was pushed up through the esophagus toward the mouth. Nova opened his mouth slightly, letting poison exit in the form of thick black smoke billowing like steam from boiling water.
*Almost done... hang on a little longer...*
And Nova successfully completed this entire impossible process in 19 seconds!
TAP. TAP. TAP.
The vampire's footsteps drew closer.
Right when the vampire was right in front of Nova, only two meters away, the vampire stopped. His red eyes stared at Nova's body lying motionless.
*Dead, huh?* he thought while smiling satisfiedly. *Too bad. An interesting kid.*
When the vampire saw the result of his attack—severely wounded body, blood pooling on the ground, no movement at all—he thought Nova was already dead or at least dying.
But in an instant—
Nova opened his eyes.
In one very fast movement—far faster than a kid his age in injured condition should be able to do—Nova jumped from lying position, his body spun, and—
WHAM!
Nova's right hand swung with very strong force toward the vampire's face.
The punch hit precisely on the vampire's left cheek.
WHOOOOSH—BRAK—CRASH—BOOM!
The vampire was thrown backward, his body flying in the air. He hit three large trees in succession—CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!—those tree trunks cracked and collapsed.
The vampire's body dragged on the ground at high speed, scratching the soil almost half a meter deep, creating a long groove billowing dust. He slid almost fifty meters before finally stopping hard when hitting a car-sized large rock.
DUUUM!
The rock cracked large in the middle, almost split in two.
Nova stood in his place, his right hand still raised after the punch, black smoke still exiting thinly from his mouth—remaining poison being expelled.
"Damn..." Nova grumbled while clenching and opening his right hand several times, feeling a strange sensation in his fingers. "That hurt so much! I almost died! Nineteen seconds might sound fast to others, but for me it felt like nineteen hours of torture!"
He stared at his own hand with a mixed expression of shock and amazement. His hand wasn't broken. Not even cracked. Yet he had just punched something very hard.
*My bones... really changed.*
In the distance—fifty meters from where he stood—the vampire slowly rose from the rock rubble. His face punched by Nova was severely injured—left cheek swollen, jaw bleeding, one of his fang teeth broken.
"YOU..." "WHAT HAPPENED?! HOW CAN YOU STILL STAND AND BE FINE?! MY POISON SHOULD HAVE PARALYZED YOU!"
"AND THAT POWER EARLIER... WHAT WAS THAT?! IT'S IMPOSSIBLE FOR A KID YOUR AGE TO HAVE THAT PUNCH STRENGTH!"
Nova stood calmly. "I have no obligation to tell you all my secrets, vampire. Stupid!"
"What I can say is... thank you."
"Thank you," Nova continued while smiling. "Thanks to your poison, I could feel this extraordinary sensation. The sensation of power flowing in my bones. This... truly is an experience I'll never forget."
Because the distance between them was quite far—about fifty meters—and Nova's voice came out at quite low volume, the vampire couldn't hear clearly what Nova was saying.