EP.67 Puppet Progenitor and the Unpleasant Puppet Show - 4
At my provocation, Finley’s eyes bulged as if they would pop out.
“You bastard!!”
He screamed violently, veins bulging in his neck, as if coughing up blood. The darkness rippled along with his rage. Beyond where the light reached, an army of thousands stirred and moved.
“I’ll show you clearly why the Nobles of the Night are called that—!”
That was when it happened. The regressor hurled the orb she was holding with all her might. The crimson orb containing the flame of the earth, the Lava Tear, rose into the void of Tantalos. Even though it was still shut, its immense presence briefly stole the gaze of all beings present.
By the time they realized, it was already too late. When the Lava Tear had risen high enough, the regressor spread her legs wide, drew back her shoulders, and aimed Cheon-aeng.
The target: the Lava Tear, the treasure containing the flame from far below the earth. The regressor shot the sword.
“Thousand Sword Art. Shooting the Sun.”
Whoosh.
A light, short sound, like a breath blown across a mouth, pierced through Tantalos. A clean trajectory slanted across the void.
An invisible sword surged diagonally, piercing through the center of the Lava Tear that had risen into the void. In the darkness, the sword scar glowed red.
In an instant, flames burst through the cracks of the crimson orb where immense energy had been condensed.
It was a flame that kindled stars.
Darker than the sun, but a crimson blaze intense enough to illuminate this narrow land.
The regressor said with full confidence,
“The Abyss is a bit dark, isn’t it?”
The Lava Tear, a bomb that explodes when magic is infused. But if magic is infused in a specific pattern, it lets out a delayed explosion.
What this meant was...
“So I made a pseudo-sun. Not those artificial lights the military nation imitated, but a true flame that illuminates the world!”
At that moment, a small sun rose in the Abyss. The Abyss, which had always been dark since its birth, now had light.
The vampire’s blood lost its saturation the moment it touched the red light shining down upon the land. As if the red light in the air claimed that color belonged only to light, it burned away all the dark crimson blood energy.
The flame of a star—it was the natural enemy of vampires.
It would not tolerate anything daring to glow red beneath it.
“Ky-aaaaargh—!”
The same was true for Finley. His skin rippled and darkened gradually, as if bruising. Had he not been near the Progenitor, he would have crumbled into black ashes.
The Progenitor instinctively gathered darkness to block the light, but that alone shifted the battle advantage. The darkness that had surrounded them vanished, and the surroundings brightened.
The Nobles of the Night were nobles no longer.
The regressor twirled Cheon-aeng, now stained red, and said,
“Tyrkancjaka’s defeat was partly because humanity grew stronger…. But above all, it’s because she was strategized against for over a thousand years. She was always ranked the number one calamity of the human world.”
“Grrrk! Such cowardice!”
“Cowardice? Hmph, better than a despicable wretch who tries to dominate someone’s heart while they are momentarily weakened.”
Cornered, Finley shouted from behind the black mist.
“O Progenitor! That orb!”
Following Finley’s words, the vampire extended a hand. Blood and darkness gathered together, forming a massive hand. As the vampire reached out, the giant hand of blood stretched forth as if it were an extension.
As the fingertips touched the small sun, the vampire clenched its hand. The blood-red grip wrapped around the small sun and clenched.
And then—hiss—it caught fire and snapped strand by strand.
“It’s useless. Even Tyrkancjaka couldn’t completely overcome the sun, so with your shoddy control, it’s impossible to draw that much power from Tyrkancjaka.”
There was no choice. Finley desperately gathered darkness to conceal his body. Barely catching his breath, he panted in agony.
“Grrrk, you, who carry the True Blood! Who have received the grace of the Progenitor, do you intend to betray Her?!”
“Hmm? I should repay the favor, of course. By beating a parasite like you to death.”
The regressor, having driven him to his limit, stepped forward. Toward the two vampires hiding in the darkness, fleeing the sunlight.
“True Blood! How dare one who carries the True Blood… the sun? True Blood?”
“Now. I’ll finish this quickly. It’ll take just a moment….”
As she boldly stepped into the domain tainted by darkness.
“Ha ha! Yes, you—you carry the True Blood within you, don’t you?!”
From behind the darkness, a low laugh came from the concealed Finley. An elated voice, hard to imagine as belonging to someone who had been groaning in pain moments ago.
The regressor frowned at that reaction.
‘He shouldn’t have any means left to resist. What about the True Blood?’
“You don’t seem to know what it means to possess the True Blood, little one.”
Finley laughed grotesquely and cried out.
“That blood is an immense power, but at the same time, the strongest shackle! Great power demands an equal price. You accepted that blood to gain power. But it will become the noose around your neck!”
“Oh no!”
‘The True Blood—it’s still inside my body! And that blood is…!’
Realizing something, the regressor hastily cut her own finger with Cheon-aeng. At the same time, she operated the Blood Manipulation Technique to its extreme, trying to expel all the True Blood remaining in her body.
However, the True Blood had already spread throughout every corner of the regressor’s body. To selectively extract only that—the regressor was still not skilled enough in Blood Manipulation.
In Blood Manipulation alone, Finley was far quicker. Finley seized the Progenitor’s heart.
“O Progenitor, please stop that one’s heart!”
Once again, the vampire’s upper body swayed powerless. Then the vampire extended a hand. The regressor’s expression became urgent. The amount of blood flowing from her finger increased.
But just before the True Blood could flow out from there.
The vampire clenched the empty void.
At the same time, a sound of something being crushed came from beside me.
“Kyaak…!”
The regressor’s chest caved in eerily before springing back. Blood spurted from the corner of her mouth, and her slender body staggered greatly….
Wait, hold on. Regressor? If I lose you, I’m done for.
I urgently ran over and supported the regressor.
“Huh? Wait! Trainee Shei! You can’t collapse!”
“Hrrrk, hrrk. Th-this…!”
“You have to punish Trainee Tyrkancjaka for me! I’m at a disadvantage compatibility-wise!”
“Now… to someone who looks like this… is that what you say…?!”
Thankfully, the regressor did not die. It was thanks to protecting her heart with her own Blood Manipulation Technique and inner energy techniques.
The ultimate defensive technique, the Heavenly Wheel Mirror, ensures normal operation no matter what state the body is in. Even though her heart stopped for a moment, the regressor’s entire body moved as usual, and the heart followed that rhythm.
“I endured it…! But.”
The regressor straightened her body, panting. Her eyes had not lost their fighting spirit, but the body did not always follow the mind. Staggering again, the regressor clutched her chest and gritted her teeth.
“Right now… extracting the True Blood… is impossible…!”
“What? Then what about Trainee Tyrkancjaka?”
“Just hold on somehow…! Three minutes, I just need three minutes…!”
“Me?”
No, three minutes or whatever—if the vampire set her mind to it, she could cook me up in three seconds.
The only silver lining was that because she was being manipulated by Finley, she couldn’t show sharp reactions, and since her ego was hazy, her hostility toward me and the regressor was faint. Right now, the vampire was probably in a state where she couldn’t exert even one-tenth of her full power.
Of course…
“Grrrk…!”
That was because Finley was incompetent.
The vampire’s power was immeasurable to me, but Finley’s power had limits.
Even though he dominated the Progenitor with Blood Manipulation, it was far more difficult than controlling a marionette. It was because the method involved using Blood Manipulation to move a stopped heart, forcibly supply blood, and awaken just a sliver of blurred reason to issue commands.
And even this was barely possible only after the vampire had laid down her own authority.
“With the body of a thrall… controlling the True Blood… is that impossible even now, while ruling the Progenitor…!”
Barely missing having his heart burst due to the aftershock of trying to control the True Blood, Finley was in as much agony as the regressor.
But unlike the regressor, Finley was a vampire. Separate from the pain, he wouldn’t die even if his heart burst.
“Heh heh. It’s fine. Methods to kill you two are overflowing. Do you know what the Progenitor’s byname is?”
Finley extended his hand. At that moment, from beyond the reach of light, something began crawling out one after another.
They were countless black knights clad in pitch-black armor, wielding weapons of darkness.
“The Knight-Killer. The first byname given to the Progenitor. No matter how outstanding or renowned they were, they were at best swordsmen. All who came seeking the Progenitor were swept into Her sea of blood and died.”
Step, step, step, step.
Step, step, step, step.
The number of black knights was endless. Such a number that one might wonder where so many had appeared from, or if they were being created out of thin air.
Their entire bodies were pitch-black, as if stamped from a mold.
But upon closer inspection, they were subtly different. The hands gripping weapons, the weapons they held, their heights and builds, and even their strides and footsteps.
All were marching in disciplined rows and columns, but each was a distinct entity.
“Because, you see, the Progenitor is a legion alone.”
Finley pointed to the black knights arrayed before him. Though they could not use blood energy due to the Lava Tear shining from above, even without crimson life-force, with these numbers they could easily annihilate most cities.
Finley boasted as if this power were his own.
“Now then, swordswoman. Can you fight a legion and win?”
Impossible.
Certain of victory, Finley stretched out his hand. At that, thousands of black knights took a step forward toward us.
In contrast, here there was only the depleted regressor and me, who had been powerless from the start.
“Grrrk…! Those numbers…!”
A troubled light appeared in the regressor’s eyes. Still unable to fully control the rampaging energy inside her, the regressor staggered and tried to stand.
“Stay seated for a moment.”
“Kyaak?!”
After kicking her behind the knee to make her sit back down, I made a show of stroking my chin in contemplation. Just then, a panting voice came from beneath my feet.
“You… can’t win….”
“Clearly, I can’t win. So.”
Forget the legion of black knights. If just three of those black knights stepped forward, I’d be finished. And you want me to win against numbers like that? It’s out of the question to begin with.
Therefore, my course of action was already decided.
I turned to the regressor and notified her.
“Shall I call her?”
“…Fine.”
The vampire’s body might end up completely shattered—because of that potential problem, the regressor had hesitated to use this.
But it was better than my body getting broken. I rummaged through my pocket. Finding what I wanted in a pocket that held so few items was all too easy.
“Now. See this? This is going to kill you.”
From my pocket, I took out a bell.
A small chime bell. The very bell used when feeding Azi. I raised the bell high with one hand and shook it from side to side.
Tingle-ling-ling. The clear, tiny sound of the bell flowed out weakly, only to be buried moments later by Finley’s ensuing laughter.
“Ha ha ha! What are you trying to do by ringing a bell? Is that some kind of divine bell? Not a chance!”
Finley shouted, mocking me.
“Was it pickled garlic? Well, I’ll give those words right back to you! Your body will be hung upside down and drained of blood! That bell included, I will smash you to pieces this instant….”
“Grrrrrr.”
Finley’s voice cut off abruptly. As if he had witnessed death itself, he turned his stiff neck and looked toward where the sound had come from.
I shrugged and said,
“Here. Azi. That bad guy is bullying us.”
The darkness covering all sides, the squelching blood. Within the ominously trembling space, the sound of the chime bell was incredibly faint, but—
To the king of dogs, it was more than loud enough.
“Grrrrrr.”
The twitching muzzle was now fully peeled back, baring every tooth. As if bristling its whole body, there was not a bit of fur or a tail that wasn’t standing on end. The gentle, sunny face was now filled with nothing but enmity as it glared at the vampire.
The king of dogs, the puppy, now exuding pure hostility, stepped in front of me.