Chapter 41

The arrows punched through the lantern lights one by one.

“Mago, we did it.”

Karasma exhaled the words, relief raw in his voice.

With that, the fourth floor sank into darkness.

I, meanwhile, stood on the third.

A third floor so black that even moonlight feared to enter.

I lowered Belle to the floor with care.

“W-we’re in...”

Only vampires could see clearly here.

And me.

I closed my eyes slowly.

When I opened them again, the darkness felt brighter.

Light and color have nothing to do with a lake.

Everything depends on the ripple that drums across the floor.

When I use the lake, I’m as good as color-blind—unable to tell one hue from another.

Telling friend from foe is simple, though: every face is already known.

“Mago...!”

Of course, they knew me too.

Without a word I drew the red sword from my belt.

“Put out those blinding fires... so Mago can fight...”

Belle mumbled half-asleep behind me.

At the same instant, a drop—plip—landed on my toe.

“B-but it’s still just Mago alone!”

“Kill her...!”

The vampires began to close in.

I gave them no time to surround me.

I took one long stride—toward them.

As soon as I was in range, I whipped the sword in a wide arc.

A horizontal slash, left to right.

The edge bit squarely into the vampire’s temple.

It wasn’t the neat thud of a practice strike.

It felt like tearing flesh.

The vampire’s head snapped back, throat ripping open as the blade kept going.

Skull struck ceiling, then wall.

Two bounces, and the body rolled across the floor.

This was the first time I’d truly wielded the sword Elizabeth Red had given me.

Its weighty, thick impact thrummed through my palm.

“W-what the—!”

“What was that sound?”

“Don’t step on my foot!”

Confusion swept the room.

Their neat formation shattered; they spilled downward like a retreating tide.

In the pitch-black, hearing and touch were all anyone had.

For the humans, that was everything.

The vampires were different.

They had watched a comrade’s neck torn away in a single stroke.

“Mago!”

“Rush her all at once!”

The more of them that advanced, the wider and faster the ripples spread across the floor.

Everything those ripples brushed reached my eyes, as always.

The nearest vampire bared razor claws and lunged for my eyes.

I lifted my right foot and twisted my waist.

Evading, I spun half a circle.

My next target: his right shin.

I brought the sword down.

“Gaaah...!”

A sickening crack—and he collapsed.

His shinbone split clean in half.

I followed with a vertical cut to the back of his skull.

A sound even nastier than the first—higher than a watermelon splitting.

Blood sprayed.

Second vampire down.

Next.

He stood directly in front of me, appearing as if on cue.

“Don’t wait—attack together...!”

An order barked from the rear, wasted breath.

The vampire ahead charged anyway.

I stamped the sword’s tip straight onto the bridge of his foot.

His body convulsed as though electricity coursed through it.

Another vertical cut—this one from below.

I drove the blade up under his jaw.

He was yanked off the floor.

Then flipped head-first.

“H-he’s taking us all at once...!”

One of them kept babbling.

But I dropped them faster than they could bunch up.

“Damn it! How’s he moving like he can see everything!”

A curse flew.

“He’s got his eyes shut...!”

Every time I swept the lake I heard the same disbelief; I was used to it now.

I pressed on.

One parried my sword.

“Deputy Manager.”

The man who’d hired me at Anakonda.

From the vampires’ point of view, he was the root of the trouble.

He blocked the Red Sword with thick forearms.

Twice, three times.

His moves were economical—deflecting without wasting motion.

The instant my blade slid along his arm again, I flipped the sword in my right hand behind my back.

A casual toss.

Let it appear over my left shoulder.

The sudden throw snagged his gaze; in that heartbeat the inverted sword met him.

His red eyes met the cross.

“Ghk...”

Instinct slammed his lids shut.

Vampires seeing a cross react the way I do looking at a sword-point: close your eyes, turn your head.

Only difference—closing eyes blinds them.

“Hey, what good’s shutting your eyes?”

He saw nothing.

I caught the thrown sword with my left and brought it straight down.

His left shoulder tore open.

Though my sword has no edge, sheer strength sheared through.

His arm hit the plank floor with a wet thud.

Before the scream could leave his throat I split his skull.

A clean chop that separated jaw from crown.

No scream.

He couldn’t make a sound.

Even dead he stayed upright; I kicked the deputy manager backward.

He toppled, crushing the vampires behind him.

Still more.

“Hah... all at once...”

The one who’d been yelling for a mass rush.

“All at once, the deputy’s head—”

He didn’t last either.

A low slash shattered both knees.

He folded, face slamming the boards.

I stomped the back of his head hard.

His face punched through the wood.

Later, dripping red, I set foot on the stairs.

Third to fourth floor.

Ten faces stared blankly as I arrived.

Seeing me proved what they were: all vampires.

I leveled my sword.

Clear the fourth floor and only Madam Anne would remain.

I advanced.

“Hah, hah...”

“Mago...!”

“Mago, I—I’m out...”

“Out? What do you mean out!”

The fourth floor was chaos too.

It fell silent when I slammed one into the wall.

He slid down, painting a red stripe with the blood spurting from nose and mouth.

They only glanced between me and their own kind.

Forward.

“W-wait—”

“Mago! Hold on...!”

They started to back away.

One unfurled wings and bolted for a window.

As his foot touched the sill an arrow sprouted from his forehead.

A shaft from Karasma’s left hand.

The vampire dropped like a bug.

“Hik...!”

Eight vampires remained on the fourth floor.

Just like on the third, I killed them one by one.

Eight became seven.

Each time I swung my sword, the count dropped, and now only the last one was left.

I grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up.

Just then, black wings burst through a fourth-floor window.

Slipping past the Special Task Force’s arrows was proof of how agile she was.

Madam Anne released a surge of pale-blue current from her body.

The brilliant flash lit up Anakonda’s fourth floor for an instant.

The vampire I held by the collar

stared in horror, his face twisted in shock.

He could see exactly how savagely the others had been torn apart.

Madam Anne folded her wings and landed on the floor.

She had arrived.

“Why didn’t you shoot lightning?”

“I thought you’d count yourself lucky I hadn’t—unless you believed you could dodge it?”

Madam Anne gave a thin smile.

“A little.”

“I don’t get it. I really don’t, Mago. What makes you so confident? You think you can take on the whole red-light district alone? Even if you did lift the iron door—”

“Iron door?”

“Yes, the iron door leading underground. Only a vampire with serious strength can budge it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Playing dumb?”

“No, I mean—”

The door to the warehouse basement.

We had to be talking about the same one.

“It was iron?”

“Ha... ahaha...”

Madam Anne laughed emptily.

“Now I see where your confidence comes from.”

“Madam Anne, enough pointless chatter.”

I shifted my grip on the sword.

“So you’re the owner of that unsettling blade... You’ve had your sights on me from the start. I’m exhausted. Ever since you arrived, Mago, everything’s been one headache after another. You must be tired too.”

“Not really; I’m fine.”

The vampire I’d released ran to Madam Anne.

He whispered something in her ear, then collapsed.

“Ah... no wonder every light went out.”

Madam Anne nodded.

“Mago, why are your eyes closed? It’s almost as if you can see better that way. Does the light bother you? Is that why you killed the lights on the third and fourth floors?”

“No need to understand, Madam.”

If she wanted to misunderstand, I wouldn’t stop her.

“The night belongs to vampires. Why would a mere human—”

She shook her head and continued,

“No, we’re all tired. Let’s end this.”

Madam Anne folded and unfolded her wings, then sprang upward.

“Let’s see who truly rules the night.”

With those words, she broke away on her own.

She stepped onto the fourth-floor terrace, then soared to the rooftop.

An invitation to follow.

“Rooftop duel—how classic.”

It wouldn’t be a classic struggle, though.

If she had any arrows left, she could have put one through my skull from outside Anakonda.

She hadn’t.

She’d missed her best chance.

Madam Anne had spent every last arrow.

* * *

“Haaah...”

Amon gasped the moment his eyes opened.

Regaining his senses, he felt the back of his neck.

The spots where two fangs had pierced him.

Confirming the bleeding had stopped, he exhaled slowly.

Relief.

He’d managed to clot the blood gushing out when Madam Anne struck.

“That old bat took out her bad mood on me...”

Half-rising, Amon looked around.

Madam Anne had dragged him here by force,

then attacked him and sauntered off.

“What now?”

He had no way back.

“Maybe the checkpoint? If I can borrow a horse...”

As he stood to leave—

“Hm...?”

“Huh?”

Hoofbeats from behind made him turn.

A woman who locked eyes with him spoke first.

“Special Task Force?”

“Imperial Army?”

Amon studied her uniform.

“What’s Special Task Force doing here? And alone?”

“I just got dragged around by an old woman—long story. The Imperial Army right now...”

Amon twisted his neck to see farther back.

Soldiers on horseback were on the move.

“We’re heading to the red-light district,” the woman offered, reading his glance.

“Perfect. Let’s go together.” Amon sprang to his feet.

“Special Task Force 42nd Platoon—Amon Coster.”

“7th Division, 7th Squad...”

He glanced at the armband on her sleeve.

“You’re the commander.”

“Yes.”

‘He looks young. If he’s 42nd Platoon, he must be a fresh recruit just assigned to the Task Force...’

“I need to reach the district too. I owe Madam Anne payback...”

“Madam Anne? When you said ‘old woman,’ you meant her?”

“Right. She ambushed me and tore out my throat. I couldn’t do anything then—but in a fair fight I can beat her.”

“She ripped your throat out? How are you still alive?”

“Guess my ancestors lent a hand. I inherited good blood.”

“What...”

“Even after hearing she bit my throat, you’re not shocked. You already know what she is.”

“The Imperial Army will eliminate Madam Anne.”

“The entire army’s been ordered to take her down?”

“Yes.”

“Then the brass must consider the situation in the district critical.”

“Exactly. And we’re out of time. If you’re coming, climb up behind me.”

Amon nodded and mounted.

“The whole army’s turned on Madam Anne... and the Task Force moved first, as usual...” He sorted his thoughts aloud.

“To anyone watching, it looks like the Task Force staged this—knew it in advance. When we get back, heads will roll.”

“So the Task Force knew what Madam Anne was?”

“For over a week. By the time we return, it’ll be two—assuming the plan holds.”

“How did you find—”

“That was Mago—”

Amon bit back the rest.

‘Mago figured it out first. Got Captain Shimena’s approval and ran a solo mission. But the captain never expected it to work—practically sent her to fail. If the mission actually succeeds now that everything’s blown up...’

His face twisted in disgust.

“What’s wrong?”

“The thought of that jerk becoming my superior makes me sick.”

“Isn’t that worth celebrating?”

“Not at all. Put her in charge of 42nd and she’ll push another reckless op...”

“Hmm, now I’m curious what she’s like.”

“...Then again, maybe it won’t be 42nd at all.”