Chapter 19

Due to my petite height, I was naturally light. My body floated up from the ground like it was detached.

And then came that overwhelmingly powerful force from outside that could demolish a building.

Even though I tried to cushion the impact with my telekinesis… it was inevitable that my body flew like a ball.

Crash!

I gasped for air as my consciousness briefly slipped away.

When I came to, I found myself helplessly sprawled on the cold floor.

“Ugh… I really feel like I’m going to die…”

Even though I was leaning against the floor, the world felt like it was spinning.

I couldn’t tell which way was up or down.

I tried to get up despite the nauseating sensation, but…

The excruciating pain all over my body made it impossible to move.

Did I hit something when I was flying?

I guess I’ll have to wait until the pain subsides a bit before moving.

As I lay there battered and bruised, struggling to keep my eyes open…

Drakel’s voice echoed not too far away.

“Huh, heh heh… That was quite surprising! I didn’t expect you to come at me first. I was completely caught off guard. You really got me good.”

Thump thump.

The sound of footsteps reverberated through the quiet building. With great effort, I turned my head towards the source.

There stood Drakel, looking perfectly fine unlike me.

He looked down at me, sprawled on the floor, and spoke with amusement.

“Were you aiming for my heart? Heh heh, too bad. Whatever you were trying to do… it seems it didn’t work out!”

Drakel approached me, who was unable to move, and kicked me with his boot.

Though I barely managed to reduce the damage with what little telekinesis I had left…

I couldn’t stop myself from rolling backwards after being kicked in the chest.

Ow! Can’t you hit me a little gentler?

Looking up at Drakel with annoyance while lying on the ground…

He suddenly stopped his approach and stroked his chin in surprise.

“Oh? This is… unexpected. I never thought a ghost would have such a beautiful face. If I had torn it apart with magic, I would’ve regretted it.”

“Wh-what?!”

What did he just say!

Startled by Drakel’s words, I quickly raised my hands to my face.

Instead of my mask, I felt soft skin.

It must’ve fallen off when I rolled on the floor earlier!

Flustered by this unexpected situation, I adjusted the cloth covering my body to hide my face.

His eyes, filled with greed and desire, seemed even more perverted than that blonde creep I met before.

“Kahah! I’ve changed my mind, ghost! Consider this an honor. I’ll share my noble blood and turn you into one of us! Then you can serve me forever!”

No, he really is a pervert!

I glared at Drakel with disgust as he made that disgusting offer.

If I could speak, I would’ve cursed him out.

For the first time, I resented being mute.

But Drakel, thinking the battle was already decided, paid no attention to my death glare.

He approached me, sprawled on the floor, sharpening his nails.

Was he planning to inject me with his special blood using those nails and turn me into a vampire?

That would mean spending my life craving blood and becoming Drakel’s slave forever.

That was definitely something I wanted to avoid at all costs.

“Well… the battle’s already decided anyway.”

I slowly relaxed the tension in my shoulders.

Who would’ve thought showing my cute face would make him stop attacking.

This was a blessing since I desperately needed to buy some time.

“Heh heh heh… Hrk! Cough, cough…!”

Drakel suddenly stopped his approach.

He started coughing violently.

This wasn’t a normal cough – it looked like he was trying to vomit something out.

Unable to stop the painful coughing, he bent forward and began vomiting.

What came out was pitch-black, dead blood.

“Guhhk! Kahaaak…! Wh-what the hell…!”

Drakel’s appearance changed.

His youthful face began wrinkling rapidly.

His crimson red hair turned white as if losing its color.

It was a shocking sight, as if the very concept of youth was draining from his body.

Drakel looked at me with eyes asking what I had done.

In response, I proudly revealed what I had been holding in my hand.

“You, you brat! That’s…!”

Dangling from my finger was none other than a necklace.

At the end of the necklace hung a unique decoration – a cube within a cube.

Strangely, its shape seemed to change depending on the angle you looked at it.

The necklace was called Tesseract.

It was an object that followed different laws of another world, physically impossible in this one.

“In the story, they said it was a 4-dimensional object existing in 3 dimensions? Looking at it now… It’s making my brain hurt! I think I’m losing my mind!”

Just looking at it made me feel like my brain was breaking down.

I was experiencing firsthand what it meant to go mad from forbidden knowledge.

Of course, this necklace wasn’t just about its strange appearance.

Its true purpose… was to bring out possibilities from other worldlines.

For example, infinitely producing fake zombies made from materials not found on Earth.

Or restoring a vampire’s body to its prime despite being too old and frail to survive naturally.

“Give it back! Give me that right now, you damn brat!”

Drakel’s body began collapsing rapidly.

His fingers and toes swelled up then crumbled.

His once robust physique withered away to the point where bones showed through.

If he had been his usual self… or hadn’t used so much magic…

Even if he had lost the necklace, he might have still had some leeway.

Using the Tesseract to simply maintain his prime form versus using the power of his prime days…

It was obvious which had the greater cost without even having to think about it.

In the end, his decision to use serious magic to defeat me led him to irreversible destruction.

“The second condition to defeating Drakel: snatch the Tesseract in one chance. After all, weaknesses hurt most when the opponent doesn’t know and lets their guard down.”

I smirked as I looked at Drakel, who was far from okay.

Probably only Drakel himself and the shadowy figure who gave it to him knew about the existence of this Tesseract.

He had already possessed it when he arrived at Night Haven.

Moreover, Drakel was a man who thoroughly concealed himself from everyone in the underworld.

He wouldn’t have shown off something as important as his life anywhere.

If there was one misfortune for him, it was simply that I was a reincarnator who remembered the original story in detail.

You didn’t know that, did you?

“By the way… Who would’ve thought the pickpocketing skills honed through thievery would come in handy here.”

Indeed, nothing in this world is useless.

Whether becoming skilled at thievery is a good thing… well, I’m not sure.

As my pain began to subside, I slowly got up.

I moved mechanically toward my mask that had rolled far away.

It would’ve been easier to use telekinesis as usual.

But after using it too much, I only had enough left for maybe two more uses.

It seemed easy at first, but it was actually quite risky.

Maybe I’m just an ordinary person who finds it difficult to accomplish anything even when knowing the answer.

I won’t do this again.

While I was thinking this and retrieving my mask…

“Give it… Give me back the necklace…!”

Drakel, now leaking blood all over but otherwise looking normal, approached me with a distorted face.

It was probably a temporary fix – forcing his collapsing body together with blood.

Still, it wasn’t something to be underestimated.

Even without the Tesseract, he was still a Noble Vampire.

He had enough strength to tear apart my fragile body without telekinesis.

But… I didn’t need to worry about that.

Considering the timing, it was about time for my guest to arrive.

Crash!

Right on cue, the glass window shattered dramatically as someone burst into the building.

“I found you! Vampire! And… Ghost?!”

The intruder was none other than Sakuragi Alice, the kimono-wearing swordswoman.

She held a cybernetic-looking katana in one hand.

The blade was thickly coated with black liquid from cutting zombies moments ago.

Yes, the guest I had planned from the beginning was her – Alice.

Was it a coincidence?

No, this was exactly where my calculated finish against Drakel ended.

Think about it – the Blood Night incident happened just tens of minutes after she left the shop.

Alice, who was searching for ghosts, wouldn’t have left the underworld during that short time.

It was practically certain she was in the West Labyrinth.

And Alice, fitting her role as a manga protagonist’s party member, had a wide-reaching sense of justice.

It was obvious even with eyes closed that she would cut down the zombies invading the underworld.

With all the fake zombies gone, nothing was holding her back?

She had no choice but to rush here to the center of commotion in an instant.

“Ahh… So that’s how it is!”

Alice rapidly scanned her surroundings, moving her eyes quickly.

Then, understanding the situation immediately, she smiled brightly like the sun.

Without any hesitation, she charged toward Drakel like a flash of light and shouted loudly.

“Ghost! There’s something I really want to talk to you about, so don’t run away!”

Huh? What?

But my timid rejection by shaking my head wasn’t conveyed.

Alice’s gaze was already fixed on Drakel, who was leaking blood everywhere.

“Tch…! Don’t interfere, wench! You worthless… harlot!”

“What?! Who are you calling a harlot?! I’m still fresh and young…!”

Clank!

A high-density compressed fuel cartridge loaded into Alice’s katana hilt like a magazine.

At the same time, a sharp blue flash ran along the blade.

It was plasma heated to several thousand degrees.

“I’m a maiden!”

“What?!”

Slash!

Alice’s katana cleanly severed Drakel’s limbs.

His blood magic defense was meaningless against such a clean cut, and Drakel’s expression filled with shock.

If Drakel had the Tesseract, he could have easily blocked it.

But with less than half that power, blocking Alice’s strike was impossible.

“As expected, she’s amazing. Makes me feel like an idiot for fighting so hard.”

Should I have just left it to her from the start?

Feeling a sudden sense of emptiness, I laughed bitterly before reaching a conclusion.

From what Drakel said, their target was me from the beginning.

They probably wouldn’t have acted until I showed myself. Either way, it was fate that we had to fight.

“Khaaak! Kaaaaak! You bitch! You bi—!”

“From now on, you have… what was it? The right to remain silent? Something like that… Anyway, the police will come. Stay put!”

Alice stepped on the now grotesque Drakel to immobilize him and declared victory confidently.

This was different from the original story.

In the original, both protagonists Raven and Alice simultaneously cut Drakel’s heart and neck, killing him on the spot.

Perhaps feeling satisfied with subduing him to this extent, it seemed Alice intended to hand him over to the police instead of killing him.

Not committing unnecessary killings – very much like Alice.

“I should leave now. It’d be troublesome if I get caught.”

The situation had completely ended.

With all the endlessly replicating fake zombies gone, only a few vampires and ghouls remained.

Especially with Drakel, the most troublesome one, having his limbs cut off and completely subdued, the Blood Night had lost all momentum to continue.

My mission to punish the mastermind behind this incident was complete.

Getting involved with Alice would only cause trouble. It was best to disappear without a trace.

“Wait! Ghost! Just wait until I hand this guy over!”

“…”

Perhaps sensing my intention to leave…

Alice, stepping firmly on Drakel, urgently called out to me.

Having searched for me for a while, she clearly didn’t want to miss this opportunity to meet me directly.

Even though she wanted to follow me, she couldn’t leave Drakel alone.

All she could do was plead for me to stay.

But… why should I wait?

“Don’t go! Ghost! Please!”

“…”

“Nooo!”

I reached out from under the cloth and waved goodbye.

Without hesitation, I turned around and threw myself out the window.

The ghost departs. Be happy, Alice!

It was a farewell without a trace of regret.

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