"Pain is the best teacher on the path of the vampire… your value is gone…Give way to your junior sister… my blood core is still full of spiritual power…This child really reminds me of you…Isn't that exactly what you are now?"
Every word echoed relentlessly in her mind.
No longer mere voices, but red-hot needles—driving through her ears and stabbing deep into the core of her consciousness.
She had thought herself numb.
Thought that twenty years of whipping had taught her how to swallow humiliation along with flesh and blood.
But now, those voices surged back with brutal clarity—sharp with mockery—tearing apart the fragile mask of calm she had barely maintained.
Her teeth ground together with a harsh creak.
The metallic taste spread across her mouth—she had bitten through the inside of her cheek.
A thin line of crimson seeped from the corner of her lips, like emotions she could no longer suppress.
"Damn it… damn it… that damned old bastard!"
The thread of reason snapped.
What remained was raw, violent fury, roaring within her as she cursed over and over:
"Isn't he supposed to be near death already? Why isn't he dead? Why won't he just die?!"
Hatred surged like a tidal wave, yet had nowhere to go—crashing again and again within her chest, twisting her insides in pain.
And then—
A thought.
Clear. Mad. Inevitable.
Like a poisonous vine tightening around her heart.
Kill him… I have to kill him!
The idea was too rebellious, too unthinkable.
So much so that she completely forgot—
Her thoughts were no longer private.
"Oh?"
A low male voice sounded directly in her mind.
"You want to kill him?"
Anna trembled violently, as if plunged into icy water.
All her boiling hatred froze instantly—leaving only cold fear.
She instinctively lowered her head, looking at her right hand.
Her thumb—
Which had seemed perfectly normal—
Was now slightly bent, standing upright on its own.
It was only a finger.
And yet… she felt a gaze.
Interested.
Watching her.
From the tip of that finger.
Filled with a faint, unsettling excitement.
"He's nothing more than a decrepit old man at the early Foundation Establishment stage. His lifespan is nearly exhausted—his strength barely a tenth of what it once was."
Van Helsing's voice was calm, unhurried—but every word struck directly at her heart.
"You, at the late Qi Refining stage… with sufficient preparation, and with my power, killing above your level would not be difficult."
"Y-you… what nonsense are you talking about?!"
Her thoughts exposed, Anna snapped instinctively.
"How could I possibly think that?! He's my master! We… we have a good relationship!"
She forced an awkward smile within her mind, trying to cover the murderous intent that had been laid bare.
Her thumb remained pointed at her.
Though it was only a finger, Anna could still feel the faint trace of mockery emanating from it.
"Relax. I'm merely offering you a possibility."
Van Helsing's tone softened, patient and coaxing—like soothing a cat with its fur standing on end.
Her reaction was exactly as he expected.
In the original storyline of the game, Anna had always been like this—indecisive, hesitant even after obtaining the finger.
Possessing a divine relic capable of turning the tide—
Yet still suppressed by a Baron with one foot already in the grave.
In the end, the finger had been discovered.
She was killed.
And the finger became a tool for the Baron to prolong his life.
That was Anna.
All fury in private—
Yet once the anger faded, she would desperately convince herself that the world was simply like this.
Even at the brink of despair, instead of fighting, she sought gentler ways to survive.
Push her too hard, and she would recoil.
No—
She had to arrive at the answer herself.
"But…?" Anna asked.
"But this 'golden finger' of mine belongs to the element of Earth—symbolizing foundation, endurance, and transformation."
Van Helsing spoke slowly.
In this world, divine power was no longer just raw strength—it was authority over the laws of nature.
And this finger carried such authority.
Anna's breath caught.
"Y-you mean…"
"You still don't understand?"
His voice curved into a smile—like a serpent baring its fangs.
"My finger can repair your blood core."
"All it requires… is converting your Baron's blood core into material for your restoration."
"…Repair… my blood core?"
Those words struck like lightning, splitting open the darkness in her heart.
For a moment, everything changed.
It was as if a lost traveler had suddenly found a path forward—
A path paved with blood and thorns.
"Yes. Repair your blood core."
"That old man is dying anyway. He might as well make himself useful."
"His position… was always meant to be yours."
Van Helsing continued, carefully placing a bright future at the end of that thorn-covered road.
"Don't worry. I'm here."
"He's nothing but a dying man."
Anna stared blankly at her thumb.
From the point where it had fused, a faint warmth flowed into her with an unfamiliar, almost comforting sensation—spreading into her withered meridians.
In that instant—
The Black Baron's towering, terrifying image in her mind began to shrink.
Wither.
Decay.
No longer an insurmountable mountain—
But a rotting log, occupying space it no longer deserved, blocking the growth of something new.
The path was clear.
The future—within reach.
The confusion and struggle in her eyes receded like a falling tide.
In their place, something cold and solid settled.
Only one final push remained.
"Oh, right," Van Helsing said casually—though calculation lay beneath his tone.
"He asked you to come tonight… what do you think he intends to do?"
Anna shuddered.
Before she could answer, an image flashed in her mind—
The black whip at the Baron's waist.
"Senior Sister? Senior Sister!"
Elena's voice pulled her back to reality.
The girl had approached without her noticing, concern shining in her clear eyes.
"Are you okay? You've been standing here for quite a while."
Anna came back to herself.
Her gaze fell to the side of Elena's slender neck—
Where a faint, dark red lash mark peeked out from beneath her collar.
Like the final straw that breaks the camel's back.
Like the spark that ignites a wildfire.
All hesitation—
Burned away in that instant.
"I'm fine."
Her voice sounded calm.
Strangely calm.
And in her eyes—
Only resolve remained.