Chapter 6: What You Should See

Shortly after I explained my plan to the girls, we got a message from Rosalind via Lea’s telepathy.

“If you don’t come back in the next ten minutes, I’ll start killing them one by one.”

We ran back to the cavern with the Demon’s Pot as fast as we could.

“Hahh... Hahh... It hasn’t been ten minutes yet...”

Rosalind was standing there in ominous silence. I’d kept my end of the bargain, but she still looked unhappy.

Nevertheless, booking it back had paid off. The other girls were all safe. Even Hibiki had woken up from the shock of becoming a vampire. Silver Slayer was still trapped in her water prison, but the water wasn’t invisible anymore.

“Hey there, human. I didn’t think you’d really come back. Are you planning on getting killed? Or do you want to make a wish before you die? A death wish, perhaps? Hahaha!”

And of course, Ulaula was still there too. She was sitting cross-legged next to her pot in the corner of the room. She was watching us like someone would a movie.

“Silence, lesser demon. You will not be permitted to speak,” Rosalind said, glaring in Ulaula’s direction.

That’s right. Keep your mouth shut.

I didn’t want her to start asking questions.

“Now then...” Rosalind whispered, watching as Hibiki raised a silver knife to her own heart. “This strikes me as more effective than simply trying to kill you.”

“...!”

We all tensed. If I tried anything, she’d kill them one by one. What Ulaula said had put her on guard. I needed to distract her and gain the upper hand somehow.

“Now come here. I’ll suck your blood and turn you into a vampire.”

“...And then I’ll be yours since you can’t have my ancestor?”

“...Yes, that’s right.”

Not even that ruffled her feathers, huh?

I guess it made sense. Once Rosalind had drained the other girls’ blood, there was no going back for her. It would take more than that to shake her up. But that in and of itself told me exactly how uncertain she was.

“Wait, you knew where I was the whole time. Why didn’t you just come and get me?” I kept talking, taking a slow step forward like a cow.

“I was recovering from the damage to my life force that the silver caused.”

“But vampires can recover by draining blood, right?”

Powerful vampires didn’t need to drink blood to survive like weaker ones did, but that didn’t mean that they couldn’t use blood to recover their life force if they needed to.

“Iris, Harissa, Lea... You drained the blood of three people. So why did you let us go for a few days?”

“It was... to find out what you were planning.”

“And why did you need to do that?”

She was already tracking us. She could have attacked at any time. Of course, it might have taken her a while to come up with the plan of trapping Silver Slayer in a water prison. But from what Silver Slayer had said, between her and Rosalind, Rosalind was the stronger of the two. Silver Slayer just couldn’t be defeated because her body was made of silver. The only reason we’d been able to do so much damage this time was because Rosalind was injured.

And the reason for that... was probably me.

She’d been so focused on me during the fight at the station that she’d been too slow to respond to Silver Slayer’s attack. And at the mansion, she’d come after us even when she was blinded to try and get me back.

“Rosalind, this time it’s not a question.”

I took another step forward, choosing my words carefully to keep her attention on me.

As I did, Satsuki moved slowly to my left toward Ulaula, and Chelsea moved to my right toward Hibiki. It was time to finish this!

“You know exactly why you didn’t come after me for days. You knew that even if you got me this way, you could never be happy!” I shouted.

Rosalind was aghast.

No matter what twisted way someone might have of achieving it, everyone’s end goal is always happiness. That’s all people really want. And when Rosalind realized that would be denied to her yet again, she froze.

When she did, I took the contract out of my pocket and pressed my thumb (which I’d already cut with the knife) up against the parchment to finish writing out the last “e” in “Rekka Namidare.”

“Ulaula! This is my contract! Turn everyone that Rosalind turned into a vampire back again!”

The contract I’d signed burned up in a puff of purple smoke.

“Haha! So that’s your wish?!” Ulaula’s laugh echoed throughout the cavern.

That was creepy enough, but then I felt a chill like a cold, invisible hand had reached inside me and grabbed me by the stomach. The contract had given the demon possession of my soul. And if I let her touch me now, she’d take my life too. But in exchange...

“Huh? What am I doing?”

“...?”

“Where am I?”

“Hm?”

Iris, Harissa, Lea, and Hibiki all returned to normal.

Since Lea had been using her water magic at Rosalind’s orders, the bubble around Silver Slayer burst and she fell helplessly to the ground. She’d been trapped in that high-pressure prison for a while now. I didn’t expect her to be able to move for some time.

“Lea! Iris! Stop Rosalind!”

Lea reacted first. She had been there at the station and knew what Rosalind really was. Iris was quick to join in afterward. Even if she didn’t remember what had happened while she was a vampire, she probably still had at least a vague memory of being charmed. She could tell Rosalind was an enemy one way or another.

“Chelsea!”

“Okay!”

Chelsea made a dash for Hibiki to carry out her part of the plan.

“Rekka!” Satsuki cried frantically.

I turned around and saw Ulaula charging at me.

“The contract says your life is mine now!” she shouted, reaching out her hand.

Satsuki jumped between us and chanted a defensive spell.

“Guardian Winds!”

A shield of wind appeared, and the demon’s childlike fists smashed into it like a brick wall.

“Tch! Damned mage!” Ulaula yelled.

She couldn’t break through, but it wasn’t knocking her back either.

“What are you doing to Namidare?!” Rosalind shouted even as she fought Iris and Lea.

“Oh, I’m a demon, you see.” Ulaula laughed hideously.

Iris and Lea seemed surprised, but I yelled for them to concentrate on Rosalind. It was time for the next part of my plan.

“Ulaula, grant my wish!”

Now it was Hibiki’s turn. She grabbed the contract from Chelsea, cut her finger with her knife, and started to write out what Chelsea had told her to.

I’d turned everyone back into humans first in order to make sure Hibiki was able to meet the restriction Ulaula had put on the contracts. And the “wish” I’d had Chelsea relay to her was to turn Silver Slayer into a human. When Hibiki finished writing, the contract burned up and disappeared just like mine had.

“Huh...?”

Ulaula looked confused even as she was still trying to pierce through Satsuki’s wind shield. But she was a wish-granting demon and a contract had been signed.

“...Agh! Ack! Gaaha!” Silver Slayer moaned and coughed up something red.

It was probably the philosopher’s stone. Now that she was human, she’d probably spit it out. Things were proceeding smoothly at this rate, but I was momentarily sidetracked by an unexpected noise.

“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 to 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.

“Uwah!”

I hadn’t expected her to fall towards me, so I hurriedly pulled the blade out before it went in deeper than I had intended. Then I tossed the knife aside and grabbed Rosalind... Or, at least, I tried to. I’d forgotten how much smaller—and weaker—I was. Rather than catching her, it was more like I let her fall on me.

“Owww...”

My head hurt. It must’ve hit the ground when I tumbled over backwards under Rosalind’s weight. I turned to the side and realized her face was incredibly close to mine. I couldn’t tell if she’d passed out from the shock. There were tears pouring out from the corners of her closed eyes.

Now I needed to make sure everyone was okay, then get Satsuki and Harissa to heal Rosalind’s wounds. I went to get up, but as I did...

“......re.” Rosalind’s mouth opened softly. “Nami... dare...”

I told you to stop calling me that, I went to say, but before I could...

“...Rekka.”