“Hngh!”
“Gwaah!”
I turned to see Rosalind knock Iris and Lea away, slamming them into a nearby wall.
“Iris! Lea!”
“Now that I’ve had my fill of blood, those two aren’t strong enough to stop me.”
“Ugh...”
“Gaah...”
Iris and Lea were still on the ground, barely conscious. Neither of them looked like they could stand.
“Prepare yourself, Namidare.”
Of course, Rosalind’s next target was me.
“Oooh, how scary! Maybe I’ll come for this human later and take the life of the one over there first instead,” said Ulaula, clearly enjoying herself. She decided to give up on me and turn her attention to Hibiki.
Crap! I had Satsuki to protect me, but Hibiki was defenseless! But then...
“Not happening!”
“What?!”
With no defensive magic, Chelsea pounced on Ulaula and pinned her to the floor.
“You failure of a mage! Get off of me!”
Blood poured from Chelsea’s lips as she was battered with the powerful arms of the tiny demon. But she held in there in order to protect Hibiki. Just when I told myself I needed to go save her, she looked up at me as if she’d read my mind.
“Rekka, just do your job!”
My job...? My job was to carry out the plan I’d come up with and save everyone.
“Right!”
It was a difficult decision to make in heat of the moment, but I couldn’t let the risk Chelsea was taking be meaningless. The best way to save her was to act fast... but I was about to run into my own wall that I’d have to break through.
“Namidare!” Rosalind’s eyes flashed as she leaped at me.
I quickly readied my silver knife, even though I knew my odds of winning a fight with her were low. But then...
“Ealim Nekram!”
Harissa’s voice echoed through the cave and Rosalind’s expression changed to one of shock. Harissa had cast her invisibility spell on me and Satsuki!
We looked at each other in surprise.
One of the great perks of Harissa’s invisibility magic was that the people it was cast on could still see each other. After realizing what had happened, we ran over to Silver Slayer. But Rosalind wasn’t giving up.
“Damn you!”
She changed her right arm into a black and red wolf. It was huge, easily twice the size of the others I’d seen before. Its fangs and claws alone were big enough that a single swipe from either one would knock us out of the fight. And let’s not forget its keen sense of smell.
“Grrrrr!”
Once it picked up our scent, it leaped right for us. But before its fangs could reach us, its body suddenly froze in mid-air. Balls of water had entrapped its head and limbs.
“Lea!”
“Hurry up and do it... I can’t... keep this up for long...”
She still couldn’t stand up, but she’d used the last of her power to give me this chance. I couldn’t let it go to waste!
“Right!”
I raised the knife high and cut a huge slice in the wolf’s exposed torso. Normally it would take a ton of strength to do something like that, but the power silver had over vampires made it easy for the blade to slide right through.
The wolf whined. The small silver knife had drained a great deal of the wolf’s vampiric life source. It trashed about in its watery prison and foam spilled from its mouth as it collapsed.
With one last whimper, the wolf turned into a puff of red fog and reformed into Rosalind’s right arm. She fell to her knees in pain. The damage must have affected her as well.
The water balls burst and splashed against the ground as well. Lea had run out of energy and fallen unconscious.
Satsuki and I nodded at each other once more and ran over to Silver Slayer.
“Harissa, undo the invisibility magic! And come over here too!”
“Okay!”
Harissa dismissed her spell and joined us. I had the two girls watch our surroundings while I lifted Silver Slayer up off the ground. I picked up the philosopher’s stone, too, and gave it to Satsuki.
“Harissa, use your healing magic on her.”
“Okay, Sir Rekka!”
Her staff shone with a pale light as she healed Silver Slayer’s body. It wouldn’t bring back her strength, but it would ease the pain she was suffering.
“Ugh... Hngh...”
“Sorry, Silver Slayer! I need you to wake up!”
“Huh...? Sir... Namidare?”
“Do you understand what’s going on right now?”
“Affirmative... I was vaguely awake, so I have a grasp of the situation.”
“Then I want you to use this contract to make a wish.”
I took another piece of parchment out of my pocket. We could make as many contracts as we wanted, so just in case, Chelsea and I had several.
“Listen, what I need you to wish for is...” I explained the last phase of the plan to Silver Slayer.
“...I understand.”
She took the contract from me, pricked her finger with a knife, and began to write in her own blood.
“What kind of wish is this?!” Ulaula, who was still being held down by Chelsea, screamed.
The moment the contract was made, she probably became aware of what was written on it. But even if it was a contract she didn’t want to fulfill...
“You said that there’s no canceling it, right?”
The contract burned up and the wish was granted. Rosalind immediately stood up.
“Wh-What’s going on?” she asked as if her body was moving against her will.
But she had every right to be surprised. Her body was indeed moving on its own. The wish Silver Slayer had made with the contract was this: “Rosalind C. Bathory drains Ulaula’s blood and turns her into a vampire.”
“Chelsea, over here.” Hibiki loaned the injured Chelsea her shoulder and moved her away from Ulaula.
“Damn it! What’s going on?!”
“Gyaaah!”
The screams of the vampire and the demon overlapped.
There was a reason Rosalind had called Ulaula a lesser demon. Rosalind herself was far stronger. She caught Ulaula and dragged her to the ground in the blink of an eye.
“Stop it! Stop!” she shouted.
But Rosalind made no reply. Driven by the demonic contract, she opened her mouth wide and dug her fangs into the brown skin of the neck beneath her.
“Aaah! Aaaah! Aaaaah!” Ulaula’s screaming reverberated all throughout the cavern as her blood was being drained.
“Why... Why are you making Rosalind suck her blood?”
“Only a demon can make a demonic contract,” I answered.
That’s right. I’d done my homework. All I’d had to do was ask Satsuki and Chelsea a few simple questions about the rules of the demonic contract. And it was that simple.
“A vampire who sucks someone’s blood can turn them into a vampire.”
That meant that once Rosalind drained her blood, Ulaula would cease to be a demon.
“Aaah... ahhh...”
Fangs grew in Ulaula’s mouth and she passed out from the loss of blood.
Now when she woke up, she wouldn’t have a claim on anyone’s soul. Everyone who’d been turned into a vampire had been saved. Silver Slayer was no longer a tool of her master. And with the philosopher’s stone, Chelsea could cure her brother.
There was just one thing left to take care of.
“...So what do you intend to do now?” Rosalind asked, standing up from Ulaula’s unconscious body.
“I’m going to stop you, of course,” I said.
“Hmph,” she scoffed. “How? You damaged my wolf, but drinking that blood restored me.”
“I’m sure it did, yeah.”
The plan was for Iris and Lea to help me, but they’d both passed out. Harissa was healing them, but I didn’t know if they’d wake up soon. And Silver Slayer was just
a human now. She was too weak to fight.
“There’s five of us, but you’re probably stronger.”
Really, it was just me, Satsuki, Harissa, and Hibiki. Harissa had healed Chelsea, but she was still groggy. I couldn’t risk having her do anything. Even so...
“I’m going to fight until the end. I’m going to make you happy no matter what.”
“You? Make me happy? Hahahahaha! You’re the one who told me that I could never be happy, even if I had you!”
She laughed. She was laughing at herself. She was denying herself. It was an awful, heartbreaking laugh. It was the sound of someone plunging into a deep, dark abyss.
“Stop calling me Namidare.”
So I had to grab her and pull her back up.
“Stop confusing me with my ancestor. If you called him by his last name, call me by my first.”
“I don’t want to hear that from you!”
“Stop thinking of us as the same person! I’m me! Look at me! I’m not my ancestor, the man you loved!”
“...!”
“I won’t tell you to forget your past or act like it never happened, but happiness doesn’t come from the past! No matter how much love you felt, it’s just a memory now!” I yelled. “If you want to be happy, you need to look forward. Happiness only comes from the future. As long as you’re trapped in the past, it’s true you’ll never be happy. But...”
I raised the tiny silver knife to eye level and pointed it at her.
“If you insist on letting what you lost in the past rule you... then come on. Give me all you’ve got. I’ll stop you!”
That was my job. To end Rosalind’s story.
“But if I win, I’m going to teach you... Once your happiness is gone, there’s nothing you can do to force it back. But as long as you move forward and don’t give up, you can start over as many times as you want!”
And with those words, the final battle began.
There was an exasperated silence in the room. There was nothing left for either of us to say.
Would Rosalind defeat us and end everything? Or would we stop Rosalind and begin everything? Those were the only two possible outcomes now.
“Namidare!” Rosalind shouted, charging straight for me.
“Guardian Winds!” Satsuki shouted in turn, summoning her wind shield.
Satsuki’s magic didn’t stop Rosalind, but it slowed her down for a moment. It gave me time to jump to the side.
“Ealim Nekram!”
And that was long enough for Harissa to use her invisibility magic again.
“Tch!” Rosalind sneered. She’d lost sight of us thanks to Harissa.
Hibiki and I took our silver knives and made a move on Rosalind. We slashed out at her from both sides, but our blades cut through thin air.
“Skree skree skree!”
Rosalind had used her vampire powers and disappeared into a swarm of summoned bats. There were easily thousands of them, enough to fill the room in an instant. I couldn’t see anything!
Even if I was invisible, I couldn’t dodge the huge black horde of bats. There were just too many. I used one arm to shield my face as I swung the knife with the other. I managed to take out two or three by chance.
“Kyah!”
I heard Harissa scream. The bats then suspiciously disappeared.
“Harissa!”
“There’s the first one.” Rosalind kicked the fallen Harissa.
Did she turn into bats to find us while we were invisible?!
“Hnnngh...”
I heard a soft moan from Harissa. She was alive.
“Hmph. I just aimed where I assumed she would be. I guess I was a little off,” Rosalind said, ready to deliver the final blow this time.
I made a mad dash for her, but I was too far away.
“Harissa!”
Satsuki was the closest to her and leaped in to save her, but...
“Ha! You’re too slow!”
Rosalind was behind her in the blink of an eye.
“Kyaaah!”
Rosalind’s punch pierced through her wind shield, and both Satsuki and Harissa were blown back into the cavern wall.
“Satsuki!” I shouted.
She groaned as her body slid down the wall and collapsed onto the floor. She’d made a cushion of wind to protect herself, but it seemed like it wasn’t enough.
Two of us had been taken out just like that, but we weren’t out of the fight yet!
“Rosalind!”
I ran at her with my knife, but she waited until the last second to dodge as if she was mocking me. I’d made a fatal mistake.
“...You, I won’t kill.”
“Gwrah!”
She knocked me off my feet with a sweep of her leg, then kicked away my silver knife, depriving me of my weapon.
“Rekka!” Chelsea shouted.
Chelsea, who still wasn’t in any condition to fight, bravely flung her silver knife at Rosalind from where she was lying. But it was a weak throw and didn’t even come anywhere near Rosalind. The knife simply hit the ground hilt-first and skidded.
Rosalind was displeased. She raised her left arm and pointed it at Chelsea.
“No,” I gasped. I felt a cold chill as I watched Rosalind’s hand transform once again into a wolf. “Chelsea, run!”
But the barely-recovered Chelsea was still dizzy. She couldn’t get away in time.
“Chelsea!” Hibiki jumped in front of her, silver knife at the ready.
But Rosalind had seen her coming.
“Fly,” Rosalind commanded in a low voice.
The wolf familiar launched from her elbow like a black and red cannonball, dodging the silver blade and tackling Hibiki at waist level.
“Gwah!”
Hibiki was knocked backwards, slamming into Chelsea. Now I was the only one left.
“Damn it!” I couldn’t help shouting.
I rolled over and leaped to my feet. Then I ran. I wanted a weapon. I was just three steps away from the knife that Rosalind had kicked out of my hands. Two steps! One—!
“Checkmate,” Rosalind said.
I wasn’t going to make it!
Rosalind grabbed me by the shoulder from behind and pushed me down onto my knees. I tried to reach out and grab the knife right in front of me, but before I could, Rosalind forcibly turned me around so that I was kneeling before her. It put me at her height. We were now seeing eye to eye, her red eyes staring into mine.
“You lose, Namidare.”
“I told you stop calling me that.”
As I spoke, I felt around with my foot to try and find the knife. Thankfully, it was close.
“Stop letting the past rule you.”
“You humans only live a century or so. You couldn’t understand.”
Rosalind strengthened her grip on my shoulder. I screamed as I could feel my bones creak.
“I have been alive since ancient times. I will never be able to spend my life with someone else. You petty humans and your fleeting existences have always sought the secret of my longevity. They came for me, one after another. I had the power to drain their blood and increase my kind, but they were only ever puppets. They did nothing to quell the aching of my heart.”
So... So that’s why she didn’t make any servants even though she lived in that huge mansion all alone?
“Namidare knew that I was a vampire, yet he still smiled at me. Do you have any idea how much that meant to me? Can you imagine how my frozen heart shattered when that woman stole him?!” Tears began to form in the corner of Rosalind’s eyes as she screamed.
It was the first time I’d seen her cry. The long, bitter loneliness that was enough to drive a vampire to tears must have been painful indeed. It was probably true that there was no way someone like me, who might only live a hundred years, could understand it. But...
“But even so... that’s still just a memory!”
“How many times must you deny me my past?!”
“I told you, that’s not what I want t
o do! There’s nothing wrong with having memories. But you can’t live off of them. You can dwell on them all you want, but it’s not going to bring him back! He’s never going to smile at you again! No matter how many times you try and relive that scene in your mind, it isn’t real!”
“What?!”
I let my arm drop to my side and inconspicuously moved it behind my back. This was my last bet. I just had to hope that she hadn’t been knocked out...
“Look forward, Rosalind. Look at the person who’s right in front of you! Look at the person who’s with you right now! I’m the one who’s going to smile at you!” I stared straight into Rosalind’s red eyes and yelled as hard as I could.
Our pasts aren’t supposed to tie us down. They’re supposed to build up behind us and push us forward.
“You’re allowed to regret your mistakes or cry about what you’ve lost. Don’t deny the past, but don’t let it rule you. Hold on to what’s precious to you, but look forward! Move on!”
Happiness only comes from the future, and the future only spreads out ahead of us. The only way to reach it is to move forward.
“I’ll show you the power of someone who’s doing just that.”
“Then do it now, before I sink my fangs into your neck.”
She brought her face closer. She opened her mouth and I could feel her breath on my neck. But before her fangs could reach me, I made a gun with my fingers behind my back and fired it.
“Bang.”
The next thing I knew, my field of vision suddenly shifted downward by a meter or so. It was Chelsea’s signature magic trick that she’d shown me on the way over here—the power to reduce someone’s height. She’d figured out what my signal meant!
“What?!”
Rosalind was only the height of an elementary school girl, but after shrinking a full meter, I was as small as a kid in daycare. The effect was instant, and Rosalind was clueless as to what had happened.
I already knew where the knife was after finding it with my foot, so I was quickly able to grab it now and make my move on Rosalind. By the time she realized what had happened, I’d wrapped both hands around the hilt of the knife and plunged it into her breast. The silver blade slid straight through her flesh. The edge of the blade just barely reached her heart. It only took a few seconds for the strength to drain from her body.
I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 4 Page 14