CHAPTER 429: FALLING

I fell to the ground coughing violently as the ironic taste of my blood filled my mouth. My chest felt like it was on fire every time I coughed out air, and no matter how much I wanted to yell in pain, my voice wouldn’t come out. Ethan stood in front of me, looking down coldly as I writhed in pain. In the next instant, the pain disappeared, and my eyes widened as I touched my chest. No damage...okay, this is just stupid at this point. Why can’t I just feel it fully from the start?

"You still don’t have full control over your senses, so your mind has to butt in with completely putting away the sensation of the pain," he said, grabbing me by my arm and making me stand up. He then held his fingers against my forehead. "To be able to make any proper progress, you must overcome that first. Now that you converted into a vampire, changes are going to happen a lot quicker in your body, faster than it can sometimes keep up with, and trust me, it will hurt."

"Thank you for telling me this only now," I said, still having my arm against my chest in disbelief. My eye also instantly healed like this, but this was far more painful. "It would have helped if I had information a lot earlier."

"And then dump you with more than you can handle? I think not, kid, you already had a lot to worry about, including your little relationship with your lover. You would break under the stress," he said and placed his hand on my shoulder. "You have to get stronger, you don’t have a choice, so you must bear through this pain. If you want to completely avoid pain far worse in the future, one that your healing will not be able to fix."

"You know you are pretty cold and uplifting at the same time," I said, letting out a loud sigh, waiting for any motion of pain to appear, but that wasn’t the case. It was completely normal. "Well, I really appreciate this form of teaching."

"When you live as long as I do, you know how to motivate someone," he said and indicated to me to get in stance. "Now, there are two ways to kill a vampire, a short way and a long, but very painful way."

"Is the painful way the reason why I am taking part in hand-to-hand combat?" I asked, getting in a defensive stance, putting up my hands, and planting my feet firmly against the ground.

"Yes, and no. Yes, the long, painful way is only done through your bare hands, but the other reason you are doing that is because you are a vampire now, and every vampire should know how to fight without any weapons. Your hands and legs are your weapons, and they should always be your last-ditch effort in a fight. You may not always be able to reach for your weapon or have it knocked out of your hand. I cannot let someone with my blood be completely defenceless in that case."

"I don’t know if you care about me or if this is due to some sort of pride of yours," I asked, and Ethan got into a stance and smirked.

"Both," he said and plunged his arm at me. I stepped to the side to dodge it, but his other arm was already aiming at my chest, and before I knew a burning sensation took over my chest.

"Ugh!" I winced in pain and looked down to see his arm plunged right into my chest, breaking through my ribs, and his arm holding my heart.

"Watch closely," he said as he put my heart right out of my chest.

"AAAARGH!!" I screamed in pain as my body suddenly went limp. A large puddle of blood started to pour out of my body as I slowly fell face-first to the ground, only for my head to be grabbed by Ethan. He slapped my face lightly, making me keep my eyes on him.

"This is the other way," he said as I coughed out blood, my head getting dizzy, and my body unable to move. "You pull the heart out of the vampire’s chest. Their blood is what gives them the ability to heal their body. So, you pull out the organ that pumps the blood and crush it."

His words were slowly getting less comprehensible, but I tried my best to listen to what he was saying. I can’t think straight, ugh, why am I even doing this? Why am I even here? What is going on?

"Kid," Ethan called me out in a commanding tone as my eyes shot open. I stared at him standing in front of me, my head still in his hand. "Good, you woke up; I don’t like it when people go silent on me."

"I’m sorry about that. It was just that maybe, just maybe, my heart was ripped out of my chest??" I said and stood up by myself somehow. I ran my hand across my chest, feeling the gaping hole completely closed up and healed.

Ethan said this was the other, and more painful way to kill a vampire, so I doubt this has to be done only once. A vampire can probably start healing its heart right after it is pulled out, so I wonder how long I would need to keep this up to make this thing actually kill a vampire.

"How many times do you have to rip out their hearts?" I asked, and a smirk formed on his face.

"Six times," he said, and I just stood there dumbfounded. He looked so proud, saying that he does realize even getting the heart out of a vampire’s chest is extremely hard, and getting it out six times? What sort of maniacal way is this to kill someone? "Don’t worry, only the first time is hardest to pull off. With each iteration, the vampire will get considerably weaker since a lot of their body’s focus will be on healing."

"I’m too scared to ask how you found this out," I asked, and Ethan just stood there smirking.

"When you have so many subordinates, one of them is bound to betray you. That is when you take the opportunity and find out more about these creatures," he said in full confidence, and a chill went down my spine. He is a lot crazier than I thought he was. "I am a man of never-ending curiosity after all. I don’t miss an opportunity to learn. They were going to be dead anyway, so I made good use of them before they counted their last breaths."

"I am honestly a lot more terrified of you than before," I said, taking a step back, and Ethan let out a hearty laugh and summoned a chair to sit down in. He then made a glass and a bottle of wine appear to drink. "Since it was your first day, I will go easy on you. Consider yourself lucky."

"Then that only means next times are going to be far more painful," I said, and he nodded. "Now I can’t even sleep peacefully."

"Your body will be well rested; we are only strengthening your mind. Moreover, you don’t have a lot of time to sit aside and rest," he said, and I couldn’t help but agree with him. I looked down as white light started appearing below us. "I’ll see you tomorrow night."

"Thank you for haunting my sleep," I said, and he let out another laugh.

I started falling, and the white light started to envelope me. A warm feeling started coming over me as I woke up suddenly. "Argh..." I winced, holding my head as it was throbbing in pain. Ethan, you liar, there are physical consequences to this, too. This is too much for now. I need some blood. "Akira..."

"Yes, Kazuki-sama?" the noble said, appearing right next to our bed in her usual attire. "Are you in need of some blood?"

"Yes, please..." I mumbled, and she moved closer, bending down, exposing her neck to me. My eyes widened seeing that slender neck of hers as my mouth started to salivate with the anticipation of her blood. I gripped the bedsheet hard, making sure my instincts don’t fully take over me.

RIP

DRINK

RIP

"Ugh..." I closed my eyes, averting my gaze from her. "Wait, I need some time to calm down."

"It’s fine, pardon me," she said as she placed her hand on my face, pulling me towards her. "I am a mere servant, Kazuki-sama shouldn’t worry about such trivial things."

"No...that’s not..." I tried to form sentences, but even her scent was enough to make my instincts run wild.

DRINK

DRINK

DRINK

SWEET BLOOD

DRINK

Akira pressed her neck against my mouth, and unable to hold back, I bit into her skin. I felt her jolt in pain, but I grabbed her by her shoulders and drank violently. Aaah, this is it, this is the best. Her blood was the perfect amount of sweet; it was everything I needed in this moment. More, I need more. I need more!

"It’s okay, Kazuki-sama," Akira whispered into my ear. "You needn’t be so desperate; every drop of my blood is available for you to feed on. Kindly pace yourself."

DRINK

DRINK

DRINK

DRINK

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