Over the past two years, while hunting the vampires I found in the 24th Ward, I was also training.
After consuming the vampire, I don't just have the evolved Ghoul Mode where the parasite blades fused with my rinkaku. I can also enter what I call Vampire Mode, though I should probably find a less cliché name for it.
Vampire Mode is a combat mode that multiplies all my physical and supernatural capabilities to the limit.
I've never used it in a real fight because the cost is high. After deactivating it, I'm completely exhausted for hours, which makes me vulnerable.
But if there's ever a time to use it, it's now.
The bloodlust escaping from my body makes the monster retreat a few steps. I see doubt through its frequency.
"What's wrong? Not so hungry anymore?"
My body moves before I finish speaking.
—Boom!
The ground where I was standing explodes into pieces when I launch forward. The distance between us disappears in a blink, and my fist crashes into its chest.
The impact resonates like thunder striking nearby.
Mr. Monster goes flying backward, going through rocks and debris with its compact body.
Not intending to stop there, I follow while my feet barely touch the ground.
Before it lands, I'm already on top of it.
My claymore descends leaving behind a crimson trail. At the same time, its left shoulder is cut halfway through its torso. Blood splashes my face.
I stick out my tongue and notice it's very hot and thick, but above all, I feel this blood should belong to me.
I don't stop to think much about it.
I extend my tentacles, which dig into its body and anchor me to it while my left hand with the blades tears into its side. Again and again and again.
—Ruuuuoooooh!
The monster howls in pain and its eyes fill with fury. Simultaneously, its tentacles try to reach me, but in this state I'm faster. While I dodge one, I cut another, and the third I catch with my own mouth before tearing it out by the root.
Its severed limb falls to the ground writhing.
The smell of blood makes me feel thirsty.
—Gulp!
I swallow mouthfuls of blood, but it's not enough. I need more.
"Don't regenerate so fast this time, okay?"
The wounds I inflict now take longer to close. I don't know if it's because in this state the monster evolved, it had to sacrifice its regeneration in exchange for mobility or strength, which either way doesn't show much result against my current self.
And even if it's an additional second or two, in a fight like this where every second counts, it's enough.
The monster tries to counterattack with a dense fist that cuts through the air, heading for my head.
This speed and strength would've pulverized my head before.
Now, however, I tilt my body to the side and let it pass grazing me.
Meanwhile, my claymore sinks into its extended arm, managing to cut it cleanly up to the elbow.
—Thud!
Hah... Hah...
Heavy inhalations and exhalations escape my nostrils, while my chest rises and falls. My vision turns red and dim.
I absorb more blood to calm the thirst burning my throat. If I don't, I'm afraid I'll lose my reason.
The monster throws a punch that makes the air explode.
I step aside.
It's gotten slow.
Or rather, in Vampire Mode, my senses sharpen to the point where I can see its attacks before it launches them, able to sense the tension in its muscles, the direction of its gaze, and the shift in its center of gravity.
The monster retreats trying to gain distance. At the same time, its eyes, which multiply every time I destroy one, emit intense red light.
Another mental attack coming.
—Fwoooosssh!
Frequencies pound my brain.
The mental barrier I built before is reinforced with the additional energy from Vampire Mode, and though I feel pressure, it's not enough to stop me.
"My turn."
I launch at it again.
This time, I don't use the claymore. I dissolve it and let it return to my body. Extending both hands forward as I run, the monster's black blood that's splashed everywhere during our fight begins to rise.
Hundreds of liters of dark liquid lift from the ground.
The monster sees it and its eyes open wide.
Is that fear I sense in the monster? Heh!
My face distorts into a smile.
"Too late."
The blood compresses, solidifies, and forms dozens of sharp spears floating above and to the sides.
With a gesture of my hand, they all shoot at the same time.
—Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
The spears pierce its body from all directions. Each spear digs deep, into its arms, legs, torso, neck, and as it prepares to roar, more spears form from the blood gushing from its wounds and pierce through it again.
It's an endless cycle.
The more it bleeds, the more weapons I have, and the more weapons I have, the more it bleeds.
Unlike my normal mode, the efficiency and strength of my blood manipulation also multiplied.
The only drawback is the absurd amount of mental energy I need to manipulate such a quantity of blood, along with the bloodlust it produces.
The monster falls to its knees and its body becomes a pretty grotesque pincushion. It can't move because the spears have it pinned to the ground.
I approach slowly.
Its eyes follow me, and I realize its dozens of eyes are filled with desperation.
—Pop! Pop!
As it looks at me, the eyes start bleeding, going crazy in their sockets, before exploding.
It reminds me of the times I use the devouring mouths and bleeding eyes on enemies. When they see me, sometimes their minds break, and they go insane.
I wonder what they see in me.
But now's not the time to delve into that.
"You know what's coming, right?"
The monster opens its mouth, and surprisingly...
"...ki...ll...me..."
It speaks?
I stop for a moment while my eyes sharpen.
During the entire fight, this bastard had only roared and growled like an animal. But now, while its body is destroyed and its regeneration barely functioning, it's talking.
"...ple...ase..."
"You're asking me to kill you?"
"...pa...in... so much...pain..."
What's in front of me doesn't have the gaze of a monster. I realize it's the gaze of something that was once a person.
And this monster is something that still remembers what it was to be a person.
"..."
Not that I suddenly feel pity, but...
Who were you before becoming this?
The question appears in my mind for a few seconds, but I don't have time to answer it. After all, Vampire Mode consumes a lot of energy, and if I maintain it too long, the consequences will be severe.
Because it devours my soul.
That's why I didn't want to use it.
I have to finish this now.
"Alright."
I extend my hand toward its chest, where its heart should be.
"I'll give you what you ask."
The blood around me forms a dense, dark sphere floating above my palm. It's all the blood the monster has spilled during our fight, concentrated in a single point.
Then, with a movement, I push the sphere toward its chest.
—Crack!
Is it because the monster has lost its will to fight? The sphere pierces its flesh easily, sinking inside.
It's giving me permission to kill it.
Maybe after adapting to my strength and evolving, it's not that it became weaker, but that it recovered some part of its consciousness. Seeing the monster it became, it didn't fight as it should, and instead, sought its own annihilation.
I can understand those feelings escaping from it in waves.
—...
The monster opens its mouth and emits a silent scream.
And then, I start absorbing.
The monster's blood flows toward me. I feel it entering my body through my extended hand, mixing with mine.
I know I can no longer evolve by consuming supernatural beings.
However, in my consciousness, there's the constant whisper that what this monster has is mine.
—Thump! Thump! Thump!
The next second, I absorb all the blood.
It's the same thing I did with the first vampire I killed. And so, the next scene is the same as that time.
I'm transported to a family's room.
A dark-haired man with a warm smile, and beside him a beautiful woman with gentle eyes looking at the man with love.
And in front of them, there are two children.
A dark blue-haired girl, maybe four or five years old, holding her father's hand tightly. And a younger boy in his mother's arms.
I'm transported to another place.
The man is fighting against men dressed in black with top hats. He's badly injured and at a disadvantage.
The image before me changes again.
Now I see the same man, but now his face is gaunt, his eyes sunken, and in his expression I see intense hunger. He's tied to an operating table while his kakuhou is extracted to create quinques. At the same time, I see Doctor Kanou introducing dark blood into his veins each passing day.
And as the man gradually transforms, there are some words I hear again and again.
"...Touka..."
"...Ayato..."
"...sorry..."
Image fades, and I find myself back in reality with my hand still buried in the monster's chest.
The body before me is now an empty shell, wrinkled and dry. All the blood Doctor Kanou injected into it over these years I've absorbed.
And with it, I saw its memories.
"Kirishima... Arata..."
Kirishima Arata. Touka Kirishima's father.
He's the ghoul who disappeared years ago, who sacrificed himself to protect his children, who was captured and experimented on until he became this monster.
I look at the dry corpse before me.
"So it was you."
There's no answer, of course, because Arata no longer exists.
The consciousness that remained of him, that asked me to kill him, is gone along with his blood.
I get to see Touka as a child, smiling while her father carries her on his shoulders. I can also see Ayato making a sour face while watching them. I can feel the love Arata had for his family, to the point where that love led him to endure horrible things to protect them.
It's his last consciousness.
"Thank you..."
And those were his last words.
"..."
Vampire Mode slowly deactivates. My skin returns to white, my fangs retract, my claws return to being my normal fingers, and the red veins disappear from my skin's surface.
I stagger feeling strength escaping my body. It's normal to feel this way, because my soul has been devoured in part.
Of course, it's not to the point where I could die, still, it's enough to leave me completely exhausted for hours.
The first time I used it to train it, not knowing the consequences, I'd been in a coma for an entire month, worrying the girls.
And mixed with that sudden feeling of weakness, I also feel an uncomfortable heaviness in my chest while looking at the corpse before me.
"Yuki-chan...? I mean... Arata?"
Rize's voice reaches me from somewhere behind me.
Ah. I'd completely forgotten about her.
I turn around and see her standing about twenty meters away. With curious eyes and cautious posture while keeping her kagune active, she seems ready to flee if necessary.
"Is it... dead?"
"Yeah. It's dead."
Rize relaxes her shoulders and her tentacle behind her moves slightly.
"What are you?"
It's a good question I don't have answers to.
And after experiencing this battle with Arata Kirishima, I'm more confused.
Whose blood did Doctor Kanou use to implant in him?
Could it be my blood?
Or is it possible I was born with that blood?
Or that they also implanted the blood in me through my biological mother?
These are questions I have no answers to.
"..."
I narrow my gaze at Rize.
"What's with that look?"
She tilts her head and reveals a smile.
It's better to be cautious with her and not reveal too much.
Especially not reveal my current state.
Who knows what this crazy girl will do to me if she knows I'm weakened.
×××
If you liked this, throw me your Power Stones!
At 300 Power Stones, I'll drop a bonus chapter.