Chapter 5
A musty stench.
Damp air.
A dimly lit field of vision.
Dirty water trickled like a stream.
Beside that waterway, a clown was walking.
"Hmm-hmm."
A light hum.
As if going on a picnic, his steps were brisk and light.
That innocence mixed with the dreary background, making it bizarre.
A smiling mask.
That was my reflection in the water.
"Scary. So scary."
I muttered aloud for no particular reason.
It was to shake off even a little bit of this gloomy atmosphere.
Rustle, rustle-.
I kept taking something out and putting it back into my clothes.
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet; items of various colors.
"Huff, huff...."
They were balloons.
As I blew air into it, a purple one grew long and slender.
Once it got big enough, I grabbed both ends and tied it tightly.
In an instant, the balloon took the shape of a sword.
"Perfect."
A satisfying result.
I stored the finished product back into my robe.
With a tap, the balloon sword was sucked inside.
[Robe of the Evil God]
-Stored items:34/100
I had already passed thirty balloon sculptures.
The types were also diverse.
Swords, dogs, flowers, hearts....
If you ask why I was suddenly doing balloon art, there was no special reason.
Since I was wearing a clown mask in name, I figured I should carry at least this much around.
'It would be fun to hand them out to the students later.'
Smiling, I blew up another balloon.
An obvious way to kill time.
I was waiting.
For the event to draw near to this place, and for the right timing.
Rustle, rustle-.
In my head, I organized the contents of the original work.
'Carmilla....'
One of the supporting characters in the original work.
The last survivor of the vampire dynasty that fell due to a coup.
The final princess.
'They said she was betrayed by her uncle.'
Her family, and even her vassals were supposedly massacred.
Was it her uncle's ambition to usurp the throne?
I checked the time.
'It's soon.'
Before long, Carmilla and the hounds chasing her were scheduled to pass through this sewer.
That was the moment I was aiming for.
"Then...."
Huff, huff-,
I continued blowing balloons, melting into the darkness.
***
Deep within the sewers.
A place where dirty water, and things even filthier than that, gathered.
"Haa, haa...!"
Rough breathing echoed.
Flowing silver hair, blinking red eyes.
If you brewed the moon for tea and garnished it with a heart as a petal, would it be this color?
She was beautiful.
Even in a remote gutter like this, she was an elegant Orphan.
Of course, she staggered as if she would wither away at any moment....
"Ugh...."
The girl's appearance was a complete mess.
Sweat and blood soaked her body, and she limped from an injury.
She was in a state where it wouldn't be strange if she collapsed right now.
'I can't. If I stop... they will catch up soon....'
The girl's name was Carmilla Blandid.
She was the last Survivor of the Vampire Dynasty.
She forced her aching legs to move.
Her vision blurred and refocused repeatedly.
"Sob, hic...."
Tears streamed down her pale cheeks.
It was a despair she had vomited out countless times.
What flickered in her ears again was,
-You are our only hope.
-The only one who can set all this right....
Her father's voice.
The words he left like a will, right before he was murdered by her Uncle.
-Run away, my child.
Her crying wouldn't stop.
Just as she forced her next step.
Thwack-!
"Kyaah...!"
Something pierced the girl's leg.
A pain like being branded by fire.
It was none other than a Silver Arrow.
Carmilla collapsed flat on the ground.
"Ah, ugh...."
"Haa... fuck, we finally caught her."
As she crouched and groaned, several shadows fell over her.
Assailants wearing Robes.
They stood armed with swords and Arrows.
They were the hounds that had been tracking Carmilla.
Smack-!
"Keuhak...!"
Without any questions, a kick was delivered first.
Carmilla's thigh, pierced by the Arrow, was kicked hard.
The girl flinched and resisted.
"You rat-like bitch... you're so quick at running away, we almost lost you...."
"Princess. Why do you make things so annoying? Would it kill you to just die quietly?"
"Don't let your guard down this time. We lost her last time doing this."
The Assassins surrounded Carmilla.
The girl secretly twitched her finger.
Blood Manipulation.
She condensed her spilled blood, turning it into daggers.
She secretly aimed them at the Assassins' necks, but....
"What kind of trick are you trying to pull?"
Whack-!
She was stopped by an Assassin who noticed her intent.
The girl's fingers were brutally trampled.
There was no way to resist.
Her Stamina was at its limit, and even her limbs were tied down.
"Exactly... Who told you to spout nonsense about harmony?"
"Haa, haa...."
"Your dad was the same. He got betrayed because he acted like an idiot."
"No.... We cannot return to war, to that era of barbarism...."
"What are you muttering about?"
"How dare you... to me... to my people...."
She tried to raise her Thorns, but they were already broken.
All she earned from the Assassins was mockery.
A few more punches followed.
"Vampires are a race born to eat Humans. But harmony? What the fuck kind of harmony."
"No... cough, a peaceful world... A world where we can live without killing...."
"Wow, you're still running your mouth after getting beaten that badly?"
"I am the last... Blandid. I won't succumb to mere violence...."
"I'm getting bored. We need to finish this quickly and head back."
Smack-.
The Assassin slapped her cheek one more time and stepped back.
He gave a hand signal to the ones standing behind him.
Right on cue, the assailants pulled out a box.
"You brought that, right?"
"Of course. It's a direct order from the new King."
"Let's get this over with quickly. He specifically told us to use this."
A heavy outline.
What was pulled out from the box was a massive Crossbow.
"...!"
Did she recognize the weapon?
Carmilla's red eyes widened.
'God-Killing Bow.'
A weapon woven with strings and silver, bearing the name that it could kill even a God.
It was an item that the Blandid Dynasty had kept for generations.
It was also the very weapon that ended her father's life.
"You roughly know what this is, right? You saw it once during the purge of the Royalty."
"You should feel honored. We prepared this because the new King specifically told us to show respect to the old Royalty."
"It was a pain carrying this around. Do you have any idea how heavy it is?"
The Late King.
Carmilla's father was one of the strongest in the kingdom.
Because to inherit the throne, one needed fitting martial prowess.
But even that Late King couldn't withstand that weapon.
"Hey, everyone step back. If you get caught up in this, there won't even be bones left."
The bowstring was drawn.
What was loaded into the Crossbow wasn't an ordinary Arrow.
The silver had to be polished with Holy Power for 100 years, and left to age in the sunlight for another 100 years.
It took 200 years just to carve a single Arrow.
It was something that even Veteran Vampire Masters could barely make two of in their entire lifetime.
'Stake.'
The Crossbow was called the God-Killing Bow because it was said to kill a God.
The Arrow was called a Stake because it was said to pierce the soul.
It wasn't just Vampires.
There would be few creatures in this world who could take that strike.
'Ah.'
Click-.
The silver arrowhead was aimed at Carmilla.
The girl finally realized her own impending death.
'...I'm dying. I'm dying like this.'
She was terrified.
She didn't want to die.
"In the end, I couldn't do anything...."
The giggling Demons.
Faced with such despair, Carmilla finally let go of all hope.
She gave up.
"Farewell."
"You won't be lonely, at least? Your whole family is waiting for you in hell, aren't they?"
Eyes staring straight into death.
She didn't even have it in her to beg for her life.
Because she knew they wouldn't listen anyway.
"...Kill me."
"No need to rush us, we'll send you off right now...!"
Click-.
A finger pulled the trigger of the massive Crossbow.
The assailant's body was thrown back violently by the recoil.
Immediately after, a magnificent booming sound rang out.
Ruumble-!
'Father....'
The bowstring released the arrow, setting the silver light free.
Something thicker than the girl's waist surged forward.
The scene flowed in slow motion.
A single teardrop fell.
Just as she was about to accept her death like that.
"Oh my."
Kaaa-boom-!
Something intervened right in front of Carmilla's eyes.
At the same time, an explosive sound shook the entire sewer.
"...?!"
It was definitely a human silhouette.
If someone had been caught in such an impact, nothing more than shredded guts should have remained.
Carmilla's eyes wavered.
Was it a Civilian?
Was there someone else in the sewer?
Complicated thoughts filled her mind.
However.
Even those deductions ground to a halt at the scene that followed.
Her red pupils blankly lost their focus.
"So you were here, Princess."
Perfectly intact limbs.
Far from a pierced or torn body, there wasn't even a speck of dust on his Suit.
As the momentarily swirling dust settled, the figure of a boy was revealed.
Black hair fluttering in the backdraft.
"Oh... did something happen? Why is it so dusty?"
He was wearing a Mask over his face.
A Mask carved with a bizarre smile.
"Well, it probably doesn't matter anyway."
He reacted as if he didn't even know he had been attacked.
Behind that brazenness, a voice tinged with laughter could be heard.
A brisk gait.
A relaxed demeanor that didn't fit the situation at all.
The boy approached Carmilla.
"Carmilla Blandid."
The Clown calling her name.
It was as if the presence of the Assassins wasn't even on his radar.
Because the eyes behind the Mask were directed solely at the girl.
"I have come to escort you."
The smiling Mask.
A subtle chill licked the napes of Carmilla and the Assassins.
"Shall we go together."
Only the boy's voice echoed in the sewer.
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