CHAPTER 63: BLOOD MOON OVER THE VELEN MOUNTAINS

"You... You can see it too, Aenoth."

Cecilia’s voice trembled. All her companions had stepped back as the air around them crackled.

They sensed something was changing in the vampire woman they once knew.

Aenoth’s face twisted into pain, then fury. A maniacal laugh escaped her mouth.

"Of course I do... ’Master.’ I’ve been wanting to see you for a long time..."

Cecilia had also noticed the vampire’s change, and the sarcasm in her pronunciation of the word ’master’ didn’t escape her. But she didn’t back down.

Aenoth’s delicate fingers morphed into claws, and the fangs were bared in her mouth. She looked like she was about to lash out an attack. Yet, she didn’t move.

"I’m not here to fight you, Aennie. You are not to blame for what happened to you."

The sudden use of the pet name made the vampire gasp. The air around her returned to normality, and her claws became fingers again.

"You abandoned me, Morielen. You have no right to use that name anymore."

Though she was protesting, it was clear that she had calmed down.

((The hunger of the undead must be boiling within her, affecting her emotions. Yet, she didn’t lose her consciousness in all these years. She’s been alone for so long, fighting the curse on her own. Just how strong is her will?))

"I know. I am sorry, Aennie. I wronged you."

Cecilia bowed down. It meant that Aenoth wasn’t in her field of view anymore, but she could still sense the mana if the vampire changed her mind again and decided to attack.

It wasn’t like she expected a vampire to know how to forgive. The simple fact that her follower was able to retain her memories and some control of her actions was already a huge feat.

Usually a person loses their soul when they become undead, turning into mindless monsters fueled by unending hunger and desire for revenge.

"You did, Master. It hurt. It hurt so much. I just wanted to serve you, to be your shield forever. Why did you abandon me? Why? ... Why did you betray me like that???"

Cecilia’s eyes were filled with tears, but the subtle changes in mana vibration were enough for her to sense the incoming attack in time to dodge, jumping at the side.

"Sensei!"

Cecilia heard Marya’s shout, but she had to focus on Aenoth. She trusted that Mina would guarantee that the little apprentice wouldn’t do anything stupid.

"Stay out of this, you all. Stay back!"

She shouted to her followers. Cornering Aenoth would only fuel her anger, and she wanted to dim it instead.

In the game, a fight with a centuries-old vampire would always be a boss fight, meant to be fought by multiple players in a party.

In lore, vampires would lose the memories and will they had before the transformation but would retain the stats, skills, and techniques.

In fact, they would get a complete overhaul of all the basic attributes, which would then only get naturally stronger over time. That plus several other bonuses given by the vampiric special magic, blood magic.

A two-hundred-year-old vampire who had been the follower of a limit-breaker player before transforming was something terrifying.

"Aennie, I know that you don’t want this. I know that you are fighting inside. Thread-Sight."

That’s why the strategy would be to slow and calm the vampire down, letting what remained of Aenoth’s will take hold. She barely had time to activate the technique that allows her to see the lifelines before having to dodge another attack.

"I don’t want this, Morielen? What do you even know about me? I’ve been craving this for two hundred years. No, I’ve been craving this since forever!"

Aenoth’s claws came again, slashing wildly in the air as Cecilia dodged again.

((She is holding back. Aenoth is not that clumsy. On the contrary, she was a refined and elegant swordswoman. This is not her fighting serious.))

"That is not you, Aennie. And you know that."

"It’s the only me that exists now."

Her attacks become faster and wilder, without a shred of sanity or precision in them. Cecilia was only able to keep up the dodging because of that. Even though the vampire’s stats were probably higher, the difference wasn’t enough for the vampire to brute force through it.

((So this is how the vampire attacks when it loses its composure. But it’s not enough. I’m just barely managing to dodge. And if it manages to get full control of her mind...))

Between the tears, the dust of the cave that had been spread through the air by their movements, and Aenoth’s speed, it had been hard for Cecilia to focus her eyes and see Aenoth’s lifelines properly.

She pauses for a brief moment after a dodge-roll and focuses her sight. It was just a heartbeat, but that kind of hesitation was fatal in this kind of fight.

Before she could do anything else, there was a vampiric claw deep in her abdomen.

Cecilia had already known pain, so she was able to endure the one she felt right now and not lose focus. Even though there was a huge claw trespassing on her torso, the properties of her robe would make her survive, unless the hit was immediately fatal.

She could see Aenoth properly now.

At the center of her chest there was a jagged filament. Different from normal lifelines, though, it was black instead of silver, and its pulse was irregular. It looked like it had been cut and then crudely stitched back to the self, forming a self-feeding loop.

((Energy circulating without renewal, an isolated cycle that never allows its energy to flow back to the big cycle. So that’s what undeath looks like.))

There were faint spectral lines floating around that central loop. They looked like echoes of the original lifeline. They emitted translucent afterimages, broken shards of the girl’s memories.

((And that’s what I’m looking for.))

She smiled softly at the hesitant Aenoth in front of her.

"I got you."