CHAPTER 37: THE STUFFED MENACE (1)

Priscilla’s bodyguard—the same one who handles teleportation until she can do it herself—took us to the training grounds.

Or so I thought...

It’s an enormous dollhouse.

Vast.

Endless.

Absolutely gigantic.

The walls are painted a bright pink.

In the center stretches a wide empty space, and all around, countless dolls and stuffed animals sit neatly on little chairs, gathered in groups of three or four around round tables, all facing the center like a miniature audience.

I can’t deny the unsettling chill that crawls over me the moment I step into that place—it feels like I’ve stepped straight into a horror movie about possessed dolls.

But among all those toys, one stands out above the rest, sitting on a raised platform like a throne.

A simple brown teddy bear, with a small metal crown on its head and a long white-and-gold padded cloak draped over its shoulders.

Something tells me this must be her favorite toy.

Seriously, Priscilla is bizarre...

Her constant cosplay as a loli succubus and her ruthless, sadistic attitude toward Gerard clash absurdly with this playroom.

It looks more like the place of a lonely, melancholy child.

I remember reading somewhere that children fill the lack of affection with toys, but I doubt that’s the case here.

Priscilla doesn’t seem to feel human emotions like Ayra.

For her, this must be nothing more than a manifestation of her obsession with domination, an attitude reinforced by her ever-present whip, surrounded by an army of toy servants.

Gerard and I stand at the edge of the wide central space, while Priscilla waits on the opposite side, her usual red whip already clenched in her hand.

«Is this... normal?» I ask Gerard with an awkward smile, glancing around in confusion.

The seriousness—almost terror—in his eyes instantly erases my weak smile.

He doesn’t answer, but his silence alone is enough to freeze my blood.

I don’t even want to imagine the horrors he must have suffered within these deceptively childish walls.

But as my gaze lingers on the toys around us, I notice a detail so grotesque and disturbing that my body shudders involuntarily.

They’re not simple dolls or stuffed animals.

They’re monstrous hybrids—abominations stitched together, a grotesque patchwork of mismatched animal parts forming twisted chimeras.

Some dolls have their upper and lower limbs swapped, others sport four arms or four legs.

But the most disturbing, in my opinion, are the porcelain dolls with animal limbs horrifically sewn in place of their eyes.

Not even Frankenstein’s sick mind could have conceived such horrors.

From a distance, Priscilla’s shrill voice cuts through the air.

«Since there are two of you today, I’ll raise the level of the challenge!»

She bounces on her feet impatiently, unable to contain her excitement, as if she’s about to reveal something she’s dying to show us.

Whatever it is, it can’t be anything good...

Then, with a sharp flick of her wrist, she cracks the whip against one of those grotesque experiments—a plush toy with the body of a brown bear, the head of a lion, and upper limbs that look like they belong to a monkey.

At the crack of the whip, a red mist begins to swirl in the air, seeping into the abomination through the countless stitches covering its body.

I... I don’t want to believe it!

I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so terrifying since I arrived here!

That monstrous stuffed beast... it just stood up on its own!

And that’s not even the scariest part.

Its size starts to grow at an alarming rate.

Its body expands at a ridiculous speed until, after only a handful of seconds, it reaches nearly three meters tall!

Now the creature towers over us in all its terrifying might, its massive fists planted on the ground like a gorilla, roaring with the ferocity of a lion.

Behind it, Priscilla watches with a grin of satisfaction and pride.

«Prepare yourselves to face one of the strongest soldiers of Queen Priscilla’s Army... Commander Gorilionbear!»

Oh... she’s gone so far as to proclaim herself queen? This girl’s delusions of grandeur really have no limits.

But still... how the hell did she pull this off?!

I’ve never seen Ayra, Daphne, Sasha, or any other vampire bring objects to life... Could it be that Levreshka also has an Innatus?

I ask her right before she gives the attack order to her monstrous stuffed creation.

«Innatus? Of course not, I wasn’t blessed like your mistress! This is nothing but the special ability of my weapon: the Whip of Domination. Just like the sword you inherited from Ayra during the Bonding Ritual can inflict lethal wounds even with a scratch, mine can summon an army of loyal servants. Amazing, isn’t it?»

The magical power of vampires never ceases to amaze me.

But more than that... why the hell did she even give her weapon a name?

She sounds like a typical villain out of some low-tier battle shounen.

«And now... Gorilionbear, attack them!» Levreshka commands, snapping her whip hard against the grotesque hybrid’s back.

«Blood Word: Weapon!»

With reflexes sharpening day by day, I materialize my purple sword.

At once, Vis energy bursts from both Gerard’s body and mine.

Mine is far more controlled than before, but his... damn, it even looks slightly more stable than mine!

That big boy has really made huge progress!

Gorilionbear charges at us with a massive leap, its enormous monkey-like arms raised high, ready to smash them down on us, roaring with a force that could terrify even the fiercest lion.

With a quick dodge—me to one side, Gerard to the other—we narrowly avoid the devastating blow.

Its fists slam into the ground, carving out a small crater as if a meteorite had just fallen.

An attack like that would have definitely taken us out, dealing serious damage—especially since we’re not even fighting inside the usual barrier that nullifies wounds beyond a certain danger threshold at the end of a match.

I really hope that brat has taken some precautions... I have no intention of ending up crippled, or worse, dead because of a stupid training session I didn’t even want to join!

Luckily, the sheer power of the monstrous doll seems offset by significant slowness—or at least, that’s the impression I got.

I just hope it doesn’t have some hidden trick...

Gorilionbear’s fierce gaze shifts quickly between Gerard and me.

Then it suddenly lunges at him—it must have identified him as the easier prey, pure predator instinct.

This time, though still rather slow and predictable, its movements are visibly more agile and coordinated.

It unleashes a barrage of punches against Gerard.

At first, he manages to block them with relative ease, but soon the next blows land without trouble.

A blow to the stomach, then another to the face—Gerard is brutally slammed to the ground.

His attempts to counterattack prove useless—though he manages to land a punch on the giant doll, it sinks into the body as if he had hit a stuffed cushion, causing no damage at all.

I strongly doubt this creature, straight out of a gore horror film, can feel pain—let alone fatigue.

After all, it’s nothing but a magically animated toy.

But precisely because of that, its resilience shouldn’t be much different from that of a normal plush—indestructible with bare fists, but vulnerable to cuts.

I’m certain a single strike from my sword will be enough to tear it apart!

I dash toward Gorilionbear, aiming to catch it from behind while it’s busy with Gerard.

Visanguis energy surges through my legs, letting me sprint at a speed I never thought possible, skimming the ground like a missile.

I raise my sword, ready to slash my opponent’s back.

But with an unexpected twist of its torso, the creature intercepts my strike and slams an elbow straight into my face.

Before I even realize it, I’m already on the ground, disarmed—the sword torn from my grasp by the sheer force of the impact.

Blood gushes freely from my nose, the pain so sharp it clouds my vision.