Visions in Blood

The young lady fled through the forest.

She wasn't the sort of person who would abandon her kin and flee alone. The most orthodox education from childhood had given her the leadership expected of a Midnight noble.

She knew full well what fleeing without a fight would mean to her family.

But she couldn't turn back and choose to fight.

Because she had no kin left to fight alongside her. The moment a Golden-rank enemy charged onto the battlefield, the Midnight Hunters' defeat had become inevitable.

Her opponent was a White Knight skilled in natural psionic tactics and capable of using divine magic. And they were in a forest!

It was a recipe for certain death.

For a vampire psion who hadn't yet passed the Trial of the Silver Body to escape such an enemy was already an unquestionable victory.

Yet a huge question echoed in Femis's mind.

Even if these Old Church remnants were unwelcome in the Plantagenet Kingdom, even if Witch Hunter groups had been sent into Transia as expendable cannon fodder, no one could restrain a Golden-rank powerhouse from doing as he pleased.

Even if Finok really was serving the Plantagenet Kingdom, he should have been kept by General Loren, the commander of the Pioneer Legion!

Only a madman would casually let such a "humanoid monster" roam around.

Most importantly, if old Finok had been operating in Transia before now, why had her father known nothing about it?

White Knights weren't known for being good at hiding.

If old Finok had shown his face at all, the Blood Eagle Clan's spies would surely have picked up his trail. His sudden appearance made no sense, unless—

"There's a traitor in the family! The local intelligence network has been compromised."

A terrifying suspicion arose in the young lady's mind, perfectly explaining how she had ended up in this desperate situation. The Blood Eagle Clan's control over Transia had faltered; the family hadn't discovered the real threat.

They had even deployed a Golden-rank powerhouse. The enemy's target was obvious.

Cadman City.

They were going to attack Cadman City!

The conclusion made the young lady hold her breath for a moment. The instant she realized the clan might be facing destruction, Femis became even more determined to escape.

She had to notify her father at once. Otherwise, the Blood Eagle Clan's losses would be imminent.

But the outcome of an escape had never been up to the fugitive.

All she could do was keep using psionic techniques to send more illusions in every direction, disrupting her pursuers' senses. But minutes later, just as the young lady was about to break out of Smuggler's Forest, blazing sunlight erupted behind her and swept over the entire forest in a torrent of light.

"Ah!"

Femis cried out in pain.

It was as if she had been thrown into a boiling pot. She felt the solar psionic energy sweep across her skin, charring and burning it. In that moment, she could no longer even maintain flight. Trailing thick black smoke, she crashed toward the ground.

That outburst of psionic energy had completely drained the high-ranking psion from the Tower of Rings of his life force. He had essentially launched his final attack knowing it would kill him.

But it had worked beautifully.

The young lady crashed to the ground in a sorry heap. She didn't even need to check.

She was certain the Midnight Hunters she had gathered had just been wiped out. Now the question was whether she could still escape this deadly forest, which had been meant to ensnare the enemy.

The answer was no.

The young lady spent several minutes recovering from the burns and paralysis. Before she could spread her blood-red wings and take flight, the figure carrying an oak greatsword appeared in front of her.

That's right!

In front of her, not behind.

It proved that even her attempted breakout had been under the White Knight's meticulous control. The entire forest had disoriented her, so instead of nearing its edge, she had ventured even deeper into it.

Like a desperate prey toyed with by a skilled hunter, she couldn't escape this mire of despair, no matter how noble her bloodline, not against an opponent who utterly outclassed her.

Old Finok approached Femis with his burning oak holy blade in hand. The trees around him twisted as he moved.

Branches and vines intertwined, forming a sinister "cage" that even wove together above their heads, cutting off the way to the sky.

"What an adorable little girl. What a shame you have such a wicked heart, just like the rest of the vampires. You should hide in your own night and live like rats.

"But you're always trying to lay claim to the world beneath the sun."

The old knight spoke with disgust.

"You started this war and threw the whole world into chaos. Now it's time for you to pay the price, so don't put on that face as if you're the victim, child.

"You brought this on yourselves!"

Lady Femis knew there was no escape.

At the final moment, she refused to face eternal darkness like a coward. She decided to give it everything she had and fight to the death, even though she had never liked the idea.

She drew the ceremonial magic blade at her left hip. With her right hand, she flexed her fingers and drew stray dark psionic energy from the night. Crimson light danced at her fingertips, quickly shaping itself into a psionic spear wreathed in thorns at both ends.

It was an advanced extension of Psionic Impact, one that wasn't recorded in the young lady's notes and that Murphy had never learned.

It wasn't that the young lady had refused to teach him. This was an advanced technique, clearly beyond what a psionic novice like Murphy could master in a short time.

She took a deep breath.

Her black hair whipped about in the chaotic forest wind, but she stared at old Finok without a trace of fear and taunted him in her cool voice:

"You Old Church scum, don't put on that sanctimonious act like you're being forced to fight! Didn't you end up like this because you broke your oath and turned your weapons against the people and country you'd sworn to protect ten years ago?

"The mighty state church actually conspired with those dimwits from East Prussia and launched a rebellion!

"After you were crushed and became strays with nowhere to go, were we the ones who secretly egged on your King Louis?

"The entire Bosia Confederacy was dragged into the Ten-Year War because of your idiotic rebellion! The chaos and darkness you claim to hate have your fingerprints all over them!

"What were you doing back then, you self-proclaimed champion of justice?

"Were you joining the rebels' festivities as they slaughtered the people of Ice Bay and the Saxon Mountains? Or leading a mob into Bourbonte to burn the jewel of Xilan to the ground?

"I'll throw your words right back at you!

"Everything you're suffering now is your own fault!

"Do you know why the Blood Eagle Clan deliberately tortures captured Witch Hunters?

"It's not because we're cruel by nature. It's because Xilan's nobles secretly pay us to do it! Surprised? We're not the ones who hate you most. It's your own people.

"And you lot—

"Deserve it!"

The young lady didn't usually talk much, but she could certainly hold her own in a verbal fight.

A few pointed remarks struck right at the heart of the matter and left the old knight speechless. He could only raise his holy blade in silence and charge forward, intending to end this pointless debate.

The young lady hurled her crimson spear, but the White Knight cut it down with a single swing. Against the holy blade burning with purifying fire, all of Femis's skills and knowledge were useless.

In less than a minute, old Finok had cut off her arm. Then the White Knight summoned vines to bind her to a tree trunk.

"Sharp-tongued girl. Rest in peace."

He murmured the words, then swung his holy blade down.

Femis closed her eyes in despair.

She felt the scorching purifying fire pour down over her head. Perhaps the next second would extinguish every last spark of life in her.

But the pain she expected never came. The young lady opened her eyes in bewilderment and saw the oak-adorned holy blade stopped firmly in front of her head.

The purifying fire that had wrapped its edge was quickly fading, revealing a smooth blade engraved with elven script and a very ancient, sacred crossguard made of oak.

"Are you trying to humiliate me? J-just kill me!"

The young lady was so furious that color rose in her excessively pale cheeks. She swallowed, thinking that this stern-looking old knight was one of those twisted jokers.

But that wasn't the truth.

Though Finok's face was expressionless, he was surprised too.

He wasn't deliberately tormenting the little vampire in front of him. The purifying fire on the holy blade had faded on its own. And the blade, which had just howled with hatred for vampires, had fallen eerily silent.

It was as if the holy blade itself was hesitating over whether to harm the midnight fiend before it.

"How is this possible?"

The old knight was utterly astonished.

The oak holy blade in his hand was the Watcher, one of the Old Church's Three Holy Blades, a divine gift passed down from the elves. It loathed vampires—the "eternal offspring of sin"—above all.

It had just slaughtered the Midnight Hunters like chickens. How could it possibly withdraw its power now?

He studied the petite vampire before him, then sheathed his sword, deep in thought. As Femis stared wide-eyed, he took out a black seed, pinched her slightly chubby cheeks, and forced her to swallow it.

"Cough, cough."

The seed dissolved as soon as it entered her mouth. Its strange taste made the young lady cough violently.

She cursed at him:

"Y-you! What did you make me eat? You filthy bastard! How could you treat a lady like—ah!"

"What do you see?"

Finok ignored the young lady's struggle. The old knight held Femis's head down and demanded:

"Tell me, what do you see now?"

"Go to hell! You shameless bastard, I won't—ah!"

The young lady gritted her teeth and refused to answer.

But the seed seemed to have a powerful hypnotic and hallucinogenic effect. Visions filled her eyes, and the whole world seemed to turn upside down and twist around her. She could barely hear old Finok's questions.

"Tell me, child. What do you see? Describe what you see! This is important to both of us!"

He kept questioning her.

Femis felt her mind wandering through a scene of chaos. She could vaguely see herself walking among crisscrossing stars.

She swayed her head in a daze and spoke haltingly:

"Blood... I see a blood tree. Growing from an endless pool of blood... A tree with no leaves, only branches. What... what is that?"

"Smack."

The answer made the old knight narrow his eyes. He immediately released the young lady from the blood vines, then tossed her to the ground some distance away.

The violent impact jolted the young lady awake from the strange vision.

She weakly lifted her head and saw that the old knight had sheathed his sword and was walking deeper into the forest.

"Why?"

She called out weakly:

"Why did you spare me? Are you trying to humiliate me?"

The question made the old knight stop.

He didn't turn around. In a low, muffled voice tinged with some emotion, he said:

"Go home and ask your father, poor girl. I didn't spare you. Your future is miserable enough that letting you live is the best punishment!"

His words filled Femis with even more questions.

But she was completely drained of strength. All she could do was watch as the monster who had slaughtered her entire team single-handedly disappeared into the shadows of the forest.

Humiliation and the bitterness of defeat tormented the young lady. She dug her fingers into the mud beside her, then, after several seconds of silence, let out a furious scream.

"Ah!!!"

That scream summoned a helper she hadn't expected at all. The effect was so uncanny that it was like a pet trainer's whistle calling their animal.

"Hey, young lady, are you all right?"

Murphy's voice came from nearby. Then the little players rushed out of the forest, which had returned to normal.

They ran over and surrounded the young lady, who was sprawled on the ground in a thoroughly undignified pose, like a defeated loser. But instead of helping her up, they stood to the side and started appraising her, chattering away in some bizarre language she couldn't understand.

"Y-you bastards! Murphy! Keep your rude servants in line!"

When had the young lady ever suffered such indignity?

Already injured and weak, she was both furious and flustered to have a bunch of little players making fun of her. She shouted at Murphy, who leisurely walked over and reached out to help her up as he said:

"My servants are just like that—rude, uncivilized, but well-meaning. You'd better not get angry right now. You need to rest. Hmm, you actually fainted. What a fragile young lady.

"My brave warrior, Niu Niu, come here!

"I hereby appoint you as the young lady's personal knight!

"Carry her.

"We're going to check things out up ahead."