Chapter 587: The Vampire Girl Beneath the Crimson Moon

"Tsk, tsk~ I've really run into quite a few surprises in this bubble world. First there was a young nineteen-year-old Himeko, and now I've actually run into a vampire version of Theresa."

Elias scratched his head and looked with interest at the white-haired girl collapsed on the ground. Even though she was so weak that she no longer had any strength, she was still barely conscious for the moment.

Although she had the exact same appearance as Theresa, her demeanor was completely different from that of a certain Judah launcher.

The vampire girl wore a dark crimson evening dress with a long skirt that nearly brushed the ground. The outside of the skirt was black while the inside was red, making it look like flower petals stained with blood.

Dark crimson rose ornaments adorned both sides of her head, while a cross pattern was embroidered on the red bow tied over her chest, making her look like a young sinner condemned by the Holy Church.

The girl also possessed long white hair just like Elias, though it was now stained with dust. Pale and feeble, this Theresa-like vampire resembled a white rose corrupted by bloodstained darkness, slowly withering away.

"So thirsty... I'm so thirsty... Give me... blood..."

Her crimson eyes were dim and hollow. The girl murmured weakly as she unconsciously reached a hand toward Elias.

Elias couldn't help concluding that she had probably already lost her rationality. She had merely smelled the blood flowing through his body, and her vampire instincts were making her crave his blood.

Hmm... What should I do...?

Elias looked at her with some distress.

Good news, he'd found the mission target.

Bad news, she was the counterpart of someone he knew.

Unexpectedly, the mission target hadn't gone to Himeko and had instead run into Elias himself. Given how weak and powerless she currently was, capturing her would take practically no effort.

All he needed to do next was hand her over to Himeko. The incident would then be resolved, and Elias would have nothing more to do with it.

But...

(Why did you have to be so cute? Ahem, why did you have to look so much like Theresa? You're really making it hard for me to be ruthless. Besides, if I let Schicksal take you away, there's no way anything good will happen to you.)

That bastard Otto was still doing perfectly well for himself in this bubble world.

And because St. Freya Academy didn't exist here, Himeko still belonged to Schicksal.

Based on Elias' understanding of Schicksal—or rather, of that bastard Otto—if this vampire girl were captured, she would almost certainly be subjected to all kinds of inhumane experiments.

Most importantly, Elias could tell that she wasn't evil.

As the Herrscher of Good and Evil, Elias could naturally judge whether someone's heart inclined toward good or evil. The scales of humanity within this vampire girl were undoubtedly tilted toward the former.

(She probably only attacks people instinctively because she can't control her need for blood. Otherwise, she wouldn't have warned me to stay away from her earlier.)

After hesitating briefly, Elias' brows relaxed. He decided to follow his heart.

No matter what this vampire girl had done, no matter what circumstances had driven her to it, and regardless of whether he should ultimately hand her over to Himeko or make some other arrangement...

For now... save her first!

After all, her breathing was growing weaker by the second. If he simply left her alone, she probably wouldn't survive more than a few minutes.

"Is this karma for biting Himeko earlier today? I can't believe I'm about to get bitten back so soon. Sigh~"

Elias shook his head with a wry smile, then loosened his collar and exposed his fair neck.

"Ahh... blood... That smell..."

The vampire girl immediately reacted. Her blood-red eyes, nearly bereft of reason, locked directly onto Elias' neck. Beneath that fair skin came the alluring fragrance of blood, more enticing than any blood she had ever tasted before.

"I'm... sorry..."

She impatiently opened her mouth, revealing the sharp fangs unique to vampires, then bit down on Elias' neck.

Elias closed his eyes. The cool sensation made him slightly nervous. After all, this was the first time in his life that a vampire had tried to drink his blood.

And yet...

"Mew~"

"Huh? Why are you meowing?"

The excessively adorable cry made Elias open his eyes.

The imagined sting of fangs piercing his skin never came. Perhaps she had gone without blood for too long, because the vampire girl didn't even have enough strength left to break Elias' skin.

Still clinging to him with her mouth against his neck, she lost consciousness, resembling an adorable kitten curled up in Elias' arms.

"Uh... This actually looks pretty serious..."

Elias was surprised to discover that the authority of the Herrscher of Rebirth had no effect on her. The vampire girl wasn't injured. For her, a lack of blood was, at best, comparable to hunger and, at worst, no different from being deprived of the air she needed to live.

This wasn't something the authority over life and death could resolve.

"Hah... hah... blood..."

The girl's weak but hurried breathing reached his ears, as though she were enduring some irresistible temptation.

"Hold on a little longer."

Seeing her condition, Elias hesitated no further.

He picked up a rose branch that happened to have fallen nearby. Although all its petals had already fallen, the stem remained intact. Elias deliberately relaxed his skin and allowed one of the thorns to prick his fingertip.

The next moment, blood even redder than the roses welled from the wound.

"Here. Dinner time."

Elias supported the vampire girl with one hand and brought his bleeding fingertip to her lips.

"Om!"

The vampire girl instinctively opened her mouth and extended her tongue, taking Elias' entire finger into her mouth along with the blood. In the next instant, her blood-red eyes, previously dim from extreme weakness, suddenly lit up.

"!!!"

It was a flavor the vampire girl had never tasted before, sweet and rich beyond belief.

The first thing she noticed was a faint, pleasant fragrance.

Her suffering vanished instantly, only to be replaced by an irresistible sensation. It was as though this person's blood contained both the most wicked temptation and the purest sweetness.

Indescribably delicious. Indescribably complex.

It was overflowing with tremendous vitality and energy. Her weakness disappeared in an instant, and it felt as though even her soul had been satisfied.

Once her strength returned, the vampire girl sucked a little harder, like a beautiful young beast that could never be satisfied.

"Slurp... slurp... om..."

In the past, the most delicious blood she had ever tasted had been her elder sister's. Compared to Elias' blood, however... the difference was like comparing a drink several years past its expiration date to the only thousand-year vintage in existence.

Even Elias' cheeks and ears turned red. He had never experienced this sort of play before either, and the warm, wet, soft sensation around the index finger of his right hand made it impossible for him to remain completely composed.

At the same time, the vampire girl who had been on the verge of death only moments ago was growing stronger and stronger, while her blood-red eyes became increasingly bright.

If her weakened state when she attacked Elias had only given her strength comparable to that of a Seraph-class MANTIS, then the vampire girl was now already equivalent to a Judgment-class MANTIS.

This was an innate trait of her vampiric nature.

The more energy contained within the blood she absorbed, the greater the corresponding enhancement she received. The vampire girl felt more comfortable than she ever had since the day she was born.

"Ahem! That's enough."

"More... I want more... Give me a little more!"

"No. If I let you continue, I have a feeling things are going to become problematic in several different ways. So that's enough."

Elias decisively pulled back his finger. Looking at the glistening saliva coating his index finger, he didn't find it disgusting, but for a moment his expression became complicated as he wondered what he was supposed to do with it.

"Mew..."

The vampire girl stared reluctantly at his finger, clearly unwilling to let it go.

Although becoming too deprived of blood would make her lose her reason and instinctively attack humans indiscriminately... Elias' blood apparently tasted so good that it could make her lose her reason in an entirely different way!

However, neither of them realized that what had just happened had actually been extremely, extremely, extremely dangerous!!

After all, don't forget what Elias' blood contained... an extraordinarily high concentration of Schariac Holy Blood!!

This vampire girl was also a being aligned with Honkai, and what she had just swallowed was the Schariac Holy Blood renowned as the bane of Honkai and killer of Herrschers—or rather, it should now be called the Holy Blood of Salvation!

Even a Planet-class Honkai Beast would be severely weakened after ingesting such Holy Blood. Despite being a vampire with an exceptionally high tolerance for every kind of blood, her odds of successfully adapting to it were below 0.01%.

Although the vampire girl miraculously survived after ingesting the Holy Blood, she was still weakened by it.

However, don't forget that Elias was also the ultimate Chimera.

His Holy Blood wasn't merely the nemesis of all things Honkai.

It also concentrated the power of countless Honkai Beasts!

After consuming the Holy Blood of Salvation, the vampire girl was weakened by its Schariac component, only to receive an even greater super-enhancement from the Chimera component.

That instantly granted her the strength of a Judgment-class MANTIS.

"..."

"..."

Elias and the vampire girl stared silently at each other, and the atmosphere became somewhat awkward for a moment.

A cool evening breeze swept past. The faint fragrance of Holy Blood lingered in the air, and beneath that beautiful yet ominous crimson moon, the melody of fate began to play as the white-haired young man encountered the vampire girl.

"Human, why did you save me?"

The vampire girl was the first to break the silence.

"Uh, because you look a lot like someone I know."

"What? Just because of that?"

Her blood-red eyes widened in surprise. Elias nodded, then used the authority of Truth to construct a small test tube and collected the glistening fluid from the index finger of his right hand.

He wasn't some pervert and had no intention of doing anything strange with it. He merely thought vampire saliva was an exceptionally rare research sample... so he really didn't have any other ideas!

The vampire girl frowned tightly, apparently finding the explanation Elias had just given difficult to believe.

"Humans shouldn't be such naive creatures."

"Really? Now you've made me a little curious about what humans look like in your eyes. But as far as I'm concerned, hurting someone requires a reason. Saving someone doesn't... If I'd left you there to die, I wouldn't have slept well tonight."

Elias shrugged as he spoke.

"But I'm not human. You should already know that I'm a vampire. I... am a monster who has hurt many people."

The vampire girl confessed her sins.

"True. That's exactly why I'm still wondering what I should do with you next."

Elias looked conflictedly at the vampire girl. The image of a certain Judah launcher once again surfaced in his mind. Remembering that she looked twelve despite actually being forty-six made his heart suddenly skip a beat.

"...How old are you this year?"

"Huh? I'm twenty-one."

The vampire girl counted on her fingers as she answered.

"You're really twenty-one, rather than having stopped physically developing at this stage?"

"Mhm. Why?"

"No, it's nothing."

Elias breathed a sigh of relief. So she wasn't merely legal by virtue of being an ageless vampire. In any case, that gave him even less reason to hand her over to Schicksal.

"Human, have you decided what you're going to do with me?"

The vampire girl asked somewhat nervously.

Although she temporarily possessed strength equivalent to a Judgment-class MANTIS, that very strength made her even more aware of just how unfathomable this white-haired young man, whose blood contained such terrifying power, truly was.

There was absolutely no way she could defeat Elias.

"Mhm. I've more or less made up my mind."

Elias nodded, once again examining the doll-like vampire girl before him as he spoke.

"You're dangerous to the people of this world. If I'm not mistaken, even if you don't want to hurt anyone, once you start suffering from blood deprivation, you can't suppress your vampiric instincts. You lose your reason and forcibly seek out humans to drink from, right?"

"That's right. It's a curse I've had since birth, and the more people there are around me, the harder it becomes to restrain myself."

As the vampire girl spoke, she wrapped her arms around herself. Her blood-red eyes were filled with deep self-loathing.

If Elias sentenced her to death right now, then there would be nothing she could do except accept it.

But... she still had a wish more important than her own life that she hadn't fulfilled. She didn't want to die meaninglessly like this.

"Stop imagining the worst. I have no intention of killing you."

Elias saw the vampire girl's unease, so he activated his head-patting technique and gently rubbed the top of her head.

"Huh?"

"I don't know anything about your past, and I don't know what circumstances brought you here. So... tell me your entire story. Once I've heard it, I'll decide what to do with you."

If one wished to judge another person's sins...

Then one first had to understand their past.

Elias wouldn't deny that the vampire girl's appearance had made him softhearted toward her, but the same point still stood. As the Herrscher of Good and Evil, he sensed no evil from her.

"However, to prevent you from hurting anyone else, I won't allow you to leave my side for the time being."

"..."

"Hm? Why aren't you saying anything?"

Seeing that she remained silent, Elias tilted his head.

He had no idea just how deeply his decision had shocked the vampire girl. She had expected to be treated far worse, and because of that, a trace of hope couldn't help forming in her heart.

"Human, you're very unusual. Could you tell me your name? If it's you, then perhaps..." She stopped before finishing the sentence and stared directly at Elias.

"Elias."

"Elias, Elias... All right, I'll remember it. Then, human, would you be willing to make a deal with me?" After quietly repeating Elias' name several times, the vampire girl spoke again.

"...You're still calling me 'human,' huh? Fine. Let's hear what kind of deal you want to make with me."

"I'll tell you everything... I mean, I'll tell you the story of a certain girl connected to this incident. In return, can you help me... help her fulfill one wish?"

"A wish? Do you want bitter melon juice?"

As Elias spoke, he pulled a cup of vivid green bitter melon juice from imaginary space. For the convenience of feeding little Theresa, he had specifically stored an entire swimming pool's worth of bitter melon juice in his storage space.

However, after sniffing it, the vampire girl immediately recoiled several steps with a look of rejection and shook her head vigorously.

"All right, I was joking. So what is your... that girl's wish?"

"I'll tell you that later. First, let me tell you the name of the girl at the center of this story. Her name is... Theresa."

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