Traveler from Type-Moon, Demon Lord Rimuru!

It's useless. This entire ocean is a Reality Marble manifested from my magic; even if you hide within it, I can still pinpoint your location.

Brad whispered to himself in his heart. As he coldly swung his Blood Blade, the water giant in the sky was split in two. He severed three hundred and forty-two intersection points and networks of magic with a single strike, causing it to collapse into a massive, explosive waterfall. With a thunderous roar, it crashed down, triggering a tsunami dozens of meters high!

Beneath the tsunami, Rimuru's condition was far from good.

Trying to outlast the opponent in magic consumption within a Reality Marble was a terrible strategy from the start, but... the four or five bloody holes and dozen claw marks on his body clearly told him that if he didn't create distance and use magic to fight a war of attrition, he would be slowly ground to death by the opponent's blood curse.

The curse was the greatest bane to Rimuru!

This power directly suppressed Rimuru's super-speed regeneration and physical immunity!

Pain—pain that reached deep into his soul. He had already commanded Great Sage to block eighty percent of the sensation, but even so, the persistent, bone-gnawing agony accompanied the curse, seemingly burning his soul and making even running a difficult task!

He closed his eyes slightly. The situation was dire, but not hopeless—because although the opponent appeared relaxed, it was only because everything so far had gone according to his expectations.

By trading injury for injury, Rimuru concluded that the opponent's wounds were definitely not as minor as he made them appear.

"But your body is reaching its limit."

Great Sage said with concern: "Under my assistance, you have been fighting while forcibly maintaining 173 magic circuits. If you continue to push your body's load like this, even if you win, this body will likely collapse..."

"So..." Rimuru closed his eyes slightly and said with quiet certainty: "The next move will decide the outcome."

Seeing Rimuru close his eyes, Brad raised an eyebrow: "Giving up?"

He felt a tinge of regret, but he did not underestimate his enemy. The moment the tsunami caused by the collapsing water element was about to swallow Rimuru, he turned into a series of afterimages once more. With his speed pushed to the absolute limit, the bat wings on his back carried countless blood-colored blades, forming an endless storm!

It arrived with a roar!

At this very moment, Rimuru was forced to open his eyes. As he lifted his small hand and his magic circuits began to emit a scorching heat, operating at an overload, the tsunami filling the sky suddenly began to disintegrate like a Rubik's cube. With a series of clicks, it formed millions upon millions of water cubes, beginning to emit a bone-chilling cold.

In an instant, hard and tiny ice cubes completely surrounded Rimuru. The cold air that erupted made it difficult for Brad to move—

"Ice?!" Brad was slightly stunned. Is this your final desperate struggle?

The Blood Blade behind him shattered, forming countless tiny arrow-blades that frantically smashed the sky-filling ice into slush, charging toward Rimuru without regard for anything else!

He realized that Rimuru was in the middle of the millions of floating, scattered ice blocks, and he also realized that if he approached, he would inevitably be hit by the sudden contraction of the ice formation; this ice field might even be a seal specifically designed for ghosts.

But what of it?

He remained confident that this magic could not kill him, and he was even more certain that before the magic took effect, the opponent would die first!

This time, he aimed for Rimuru's heart!

This move will decide the outcome!

"Rimuru, water is soft enough to drown an enemy, and ice is hard and cold enough to have great lethality. You haven't even fully researched those yet, so why do you suddenly want to study mist?"

"I don't know." A young Rimuru blinked, then suddenly chuckled: "Because it's mysterious, right?"

"Mysterious?" Liddell asked in confusion: "What's mysterious about that?"

"I had a dream yesterday! There was a technique in the dream." Rimuru shook his head and looked at Kuonji Alice, who was quietly reading nearby: "It's called the Silent Killing Technique. Come to think of it, it fits your magic quite well, Alice."

"My... magic?" Alice put down her book and looked at Rimuru quietly, revealing a hint of confusion.

"The reason monsters are terrifying is precisely because of the unknown, which can also be called mystery." Rimuru nodded: "And I like mist more because of this. It can hide my figure, let me transform into a monster, and... it's also quite aesthetic, isn't it?"

"In the thick fog, you cut the opponent into a dozen pieces, and by the time the white mist dissipates, the killer has already vanished."

"Per... perverted?" Liddell was slightly stunned.

"Not at all. This comes from the murderer of the foggy city, right, Alice?"

"Yes, Jack the Ripper." Kuonji Alice nodded faintly and lowered her head to continue reading, though ripples stirred in her heart: "Using thick fog... to cover up a monster?"

The endless ice blocks suddenly contracted just as Brad had anticipated, but before that—

Squelch!

The blood blade laced with the curse had already pierced through Rimuru's heart—

Agony flooded Rimuru's brain, and his consciousness began to dim, but in the end, he smiled.

Because he had forced the opponent to focus all his attention... on defending against the ice, leaving his guard completely open!

Brad looked at the opponent's final smile and suddenly felt a sense of unease. The next moment, within the dim mist, an endless killing intent emerged!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Brad's pupils constricted. He watched in disbelief as all the air around him seemed to turn into an enemy. The faint mist that had been easiest to ignore now transformed in an instant into hundreds of hair-thin, needle-like sharp weapons. Flashing with a holy aura specifically designed to hunt vampires, they extended their blades toward him, piercing every joint and vital point of his body—

"How... is this possible?"

"That's why... I said you were... ignorant." Watching the opponent collapse with a crash as holy flames began to burn upon his body, Rimuru forcibly endured the pain brought by the curse and whispered in the opponent's eyes of shock and unwillingness: "I—"

"Am the Fairy Tale Lord, Rimuru!"

"And the reason I am called the Fairy Tale Lord is that my combat style is just like the Witch of Fairy Tales... we both particularly love thick fog!"

Yet you ignored the mist around you, naively thinking that all this light fog was a product of your own Reality Marble...

"Going all out to release large-scale magic was merely to attract your attention."

Rimuru struggled to lift his magic sword, aiming it at the mark beginning to emerge on his opponent's skull. The man was already doomed, but he knew the mark used to contact the Princess of the Black was better destroyed as quickly as possible.

"Your allegiance to the Princess of the Black ends here, Brad!"

"I... admit... you won." At these words, Brad's lifeless eyes suddenly flickered with a final, dying light. He curled his lips with great effort and rasped, "But... I curse—"

Rimuru's pupils constricted. As the blade in his hand descended, holy radiance flared in his left hand; he intended to use a ritual of the Holy Church to accelerate the man's death, but... it was already too late.

The falling blade could not stop Brad, a Dead Apostle, from finishing his final words!

"I curse you! I curse you with my eternal life!"

"You shall become... a Dead Apostle, entangled by endless... blood, and in the end... you will..."

"...I look forward... to you... becoming... me..."

"...in the... future."

As the Soul Flame in Brad's pupils flickered out completely, he spat out the last two words and lost all signs of life.

"..."

The sea began to revert into land, and the Ghost Ship sank into the depths. As the surrounding scenery began to shatter like a broken mirror, Rimuru stared blankly at Brad's corpse, speechless.

Even in death, was his final curse still an execution of the Princess of the Black's orders?

Princess of the Black, what exactly makes you worth such devotion?

"His curse is not enough to alter your bloodline, but..."

"But what?"

"He has afflicted you with a blood-sucking impulse..."

"Damn it!" Rimuru took a deep breath and cursed under his breath. In the Type-Moon world, the classification of vampires didn't care about your race; as long as you drank human blood, even if you were just a mosquito, you were considered a vampire.

Strictly speaking, while the definition was quite broad, the fact that he was a magus with a blood-sucking impulse meant that once exposed, he would almost certainly be branded a Dead Apostle!

"Now is not the time to dwell on this," the Great Sage reminded him. "You just killed one of the Princess of the Black's guards; we need to run!"

"I know!" Rimuru nodded and tried to stand, but he suddenly stumbled and nearly fell to the ground. "The curse from his wound hasn't vanished with his death. I need to... use purification to heal slowly."

"You could consume him; perhaps you can gain the ability to dispel this common curse. We must leave immediately."

"But... he is a Dead Apostle."

"You already possess the blood-sucking impulse, Rimuru. We can't afford a loss, can we?"

"..."

Rimuru took a deep breath. A swirl of black mist suddenly spiraled out, swallowing Brad's corpse in one gulp. He then struggled to manifest a clean trench coat to cover his wounds, changed his appearance, and forced himself to endure the pain as he prepared to leave at once!

"Where are we going?"

"Head south, out of Germany. That way lies Italy, Croatia, and the Vatican—the strongholds of the Holy Church. The Princess of the Black shouldn't dare to head in that direction."

"Let's survive this crisis first, heal your wounds, and then we'll think of other things."

"Right!"

A few kilometers away, at the merchant encampment, nearly ten minutes had passed since the initial battle.

The Princess of the Black gently stroked the white beast in her arms, gazing quietly into the distance.

"Hasn't Brad returned yet? If we wait any longer, we might be detected by the Holy Church and the White Winged Duke." The Black Knight was already growing impatient.

"..." The Princess of the Black's crimson eyes lifted slightly, and she suddenly said, "Let's go."

"Hm?" The Black Knight was slightly stunned.

"Brad." The Princess of the Black turned around quietly and said, "He won't be coming back."

London, Clock Tower.

"That concludes today's lecture. Everyone, go back and rest."

Rimuru quietly closed his textbook and glanced at Eler, who was sleeping in the front row. He irritably walked over and tapped her little head—

"Teacher!!" Eler lifted her head excitedly, stood up, and jumped into his arms with a thud, nuzzling her little head against him. "Is class over?!"

"Yes, let's go." Rimuru helplessly set the little one down, took her hand, and turned to the students following him, saying softly, "I'm very sorry, I have some matters to attend to today. If you have any questions, you can ask the other professors first... I will take a tally in class tomorrow—"

"Eh?!"

Seeing the disappointed looks on the students' faces, Rimuru nodded apologetically. The moment he turned away, a trace of gloom appeared in his eyes.

After finally returning to his lounge, Rimuru slammed the door shut. He endured the discomfort, gasping for air, and said softly to the worried Eler, "Eler, could you go call your sister Liddell for me?"

"Um... but... Teacher, you..."

"I'm fine." Rimuru said softly. After doing his best to persuade Eler to leave—Bang! Rimuru grabbed a water glass and smashed it against his own head!

He hadn't expected Brad's curse to take effect so quickly, nor had he expected the curse to function based on the concept of the individual, affecting even his clones!

Just a moment ago, he had actually wanted to drink Eler's blood!!

Damn Brad! Damn Dead Apostle!

Haa... haa!

After Rimuru deactivated the lounge's barrier to prevent any students from wandering in and getting hurt, he rushed into the restroom, desperate to suppress the terrifying, withdrawal-like agony.

Elsewhere, Liddell had already rushed over in a flurry.

In reality, sending Eler to fetch her was merely a pretext to get Eler out of the way; Rimuru had already contacted her via his familiar before class had even ended.

"Rimuru?!"

When Liddell forced the lounge door open, Rimuru was already on the verge of losing consciousness, lying on the floor in a daze, surrounded by signs of a frantic struggle.

"Are you alright!!"

"Blood... the blood I told you... to bring..."

"...I didn't bring any." Liddell bit her lower lip, shook her head slightly, and extended her arm. "Going to the blood bank would easily invite unnecessary misunderstandings and suspicion... Drink, drink mine."

"..." Rimuru struggled to shake his head, took a deep look at Liddell, and sank his teeth in.

Five minutes later—

"Even if it's just a blood-sucking impulse, if you can't resolve it, you'll be identified as a Dead Apostle and either sealed away or hunted down." Liddell looked at the now-sober and silent Rimuru and said softly, "After all, while you lose your sanity, you have a tendency to attack humans... Rimuru, can you find a way to break the curse?"

"The one who cursed me is one of the Twenty-seven Ancestors; heh, how could I break it." Rimuru gave a bitter smile. "Does Achelotte have no way either?"

"Relying solely on Achelotte, or rather the Kuonji family, isn't enough." Liddell shook her head decisively. After a moment of thought, she suddenly looked up and said earnestly, "Rimuru, don't expose yourself. I will let you feed on me regularly—"

"At the very least! You cannot be exposed until you become a Monarch!"

"Ah, I know." Rimuru lowered his eyes and whispered, "Thank you... Liddell, I will find a way to suppress the blood-sucking impulse as soon as possible..."

"Mm..." Liddell turned her head away, suppressing the worry in her eyes, and said softly, "I believe in you."