I've never been at full power before. As a kid, magical energy would violently leak out of my body constantly, preventing any accumulation. As a teen, one of my combat teachers realized what was happening and created the large rune on my torso, then taught me to create additional ones in case I ever needed them. As an adult, I added two smaller ones to my body, bringing the power down to the absolute minimum it could be while still allowing me to function. Any more than that, and I would have been paralyzed by the flow of magic within my body being completely stopped.

With my final rune disappearing, I get a taste, for the very first time, of how much magical energy actually exists within me. A ton of it is amplifying the enhancements to my body, making me feel like I could receive any hit without taking damage, or punch through anything with my bare hands. The rest is swirling around wildly, ready to be used to cast incredibly powerful spells.

Maribelle is staring at me in disbelief. Soon enough, her expression morphs into awe, as a word escapes her lips:

"Magnificent..."

I'm glad to learn that this is impressive even to a Royal monster. I might just stand a chance against her now.

I unsheathe the knife I still have, forming a longer blade of energy around it. My opponent raises her arms, preparing to cast a spell, but I don't intend to let her succeed. In the blink on an eye, I close the distance between us, then swing my sword in a wide arc towards her chest. A loud clapping noise tells me that I managed to break the sound barrier, and the impact on the magical shield conjured by Maribelle causes a shockwave that splits the earth under our feet.

She immediately casts another spell to knock me back, but a simple pulse of my own energy completely cancels it. I wind up for another swing, enjoying the genuine fear I can read on her face. She probably never expected that a human could be this strong.

She manages to step back just in time to avoid my attack, but her dress still gets cut open. Unable to recover her balance, she starts falling, granting me an opportunity to strike her down.

I raise my sword high up above my head, then bring it down with all my might. The blade hits Maribelle, effortlessly cutting through her.

However, her body unexpectedly turns into a cloud of smoke. I try to slash through it two more times, but it simply reforms after every strike.

The now intangible queen moves away from me. As the spell she cast ends, her body turns back to normal. She's unscathed, but that kind of power must have greatly drained her.

"I'll admit, I didn't expect you to back me into a corner like that. I now have even more of a reason to bring you back alive."

"There's nothing you can do to save me. In a few minutes, I'll be dead, and I intend to drag you to the afterlife with me."

I dash towards her again. She created a bit more distance between us this time, but my current speed still allows me to reach her almost instantly. As I approach, she closes her eyes, brings her hands together, and starts casting a spell. I need to hurry if I don't want her to complete it before I strike her.

One step, two steps... As I'm about to land on my third step, putting me in range to attack, she opens her eyes and shouts:

"Reaper, I beseech your help!"

She's suddenly enveloped in an extremely thick wall of energy, completely covering her body. As I hit it, a shockwave sends me flying back. I manage to land on my feet, just as the cocoon around the queen dissipates.

She looks like she transformed into a different person. Her formerly white hair is now pitch black, with the light-red tips having became much darker, closer to the color of blood. Her eyes are still red, but the sclera turned black, and two marks of a similar color extend down her cheeks, like tear streaks. She's wearing a long hooded robe with blurry edges that look like smoke dissipating into the air, and she's holding a large scythe with a black spine and a red cutting edge. Two bat wings, much large than the ones she summoned earlier, extend out the back of the robe, and seem to be made of the same smoky material.

What kind of crazy power is that? I can tell from the way magical energy is flowing around her that this gave her an incredible boost. Was this a trump card she kept hidden all along?

I grit my teeth as I prepare for a next attack. I'm on a very short timer to end this fight, and I don't see her new form being an easy target. I have to make each of my moves count.

This time, she initiates. She appears to be floating slightly above the ground, making her movements harder to predict. Still, I must prevail.

I raise my sword into a two-handed defensive stance just in time to parry a scythe attack. She jumps high above me and lets go of her weapon with one hand which she then points in my direction. The next instant, an extremely concentrated beam of energy is hitting the space where I was just standing. I managed to dodge it, but this could instantly kill me without a doubt.

I jump back, then focus my energy into a beam attack of my own. Since I lost my gun after getting catapulted here, raw magic will have to do the job.

My spell shoots in her direction, but she dexterously avoids it, then dashes towards me for another scythe attack.

Fuck! There's nothing I can do! I can parry her scythe attacks and dodge the spells she throws at me, but she stays out of reach of my sword and has no trouble avoiding my own spells. This is why I hate flying monsters.

Eventually, during a scythe attack, I notice that she's getting a bit closer than usual. Using this opportunity, I dodge while also jumping, slashing her arms off on the way. She screams in pain before flying away.

Her scythe and arms fall to the ground next to me before vanishing in a black smoke. I smirk at her in provocation, hoping to amplify the anger already visible on her face.

"Did you think I needed my hands to fight you in this form? How foolish. I'll level this whole area, with you in it!"

Now I really made her mad. Above her head, I see a small red sphere of energy start forming. With each instant that passes, it becomes a bit larger. If I don't stop her now, she might just completely devastate the area.

I drop my sword, then extend my arms on each side of my body, doing my best to wrestle control of the wild flow of magic within my body. A small blue sphere starts forming above my head. I don't need it to be as powerful as hers, just capable of disrupting it.

Her spell grows larger and larger as mine gets more and more concentrated, keeping a small size. I focus on the flow within her orb, trying to find a weak spot to launch my own attack into. Soon enough, I see one. I keep on charging my spell, waiting for the right moment to strike...

Now!

I launch my attack at an extremely high speed, directly towards a weak point of her now gigantic sphere. She sees it coming, but does not react. As the two spells collide, mine disappears into hers, and blue cracks start forming on it. It shatters, causing the energy to start dissipating.

I let out a sigh, but my relief is short lived as I hear Maribelle say, with an ominous voice:

"Recast."

The fragments of magic still in the air suddenly regroup together, almost instantly recreating the gigantic orb above her. That's too fast, I can't compete with that!

In a desperate attempt, I shoot a beam with as much energy as possible towards it, just as she launches her finished spell in my direction. The two clash, but my efforts end up being completely wasted as it falls just as fast as it would have unimpeded. I pour more and more and more power into it, hoping that somehow things will turn around, but I'm quickly crushed under the roiling mass of magic.

Everything seems to go silent as it explodes. My sight is filled with an overwhelming red light, and I feel every little part of my body get damaged under the pressure. My bones break, my blood vessels explode, my eardrums erupt, and blood flows into my lungs, making it impossible for me to breathe.

Eventually, the light fades, and I open my eyes. I can't move. The overwhelming power that was contained within my body is leaking out, indicating that my time has finally come.

I failed. I couldn't take down my last monster. Still, being remembered as one who died to the vampire queen isn't too bad. There's still some worth to it.

I see Maribelle walk to me from the side of my eye. I can't hear anything or sense magic anymore, but I'm not surprised. She probably wants to make sure she really got me.

I see her lips move, and she's enveloped by a veil of energy again. Once she emerges, she's wearing a long white robe with a light, almost transparent piece of cloth resting on her head and shoulders. Floating above her is a ring of light with eight elongated points, four on each side. She has four more arms than before, bringing her to six in total, and her eyes have taken on a golden color, just like the tips of her hair.

She kneels down next to me, then gently grabs me and brings me close to her. Two of her hands cover my ears for an instant, and I find myself able to hear again once she removes them.

"You did well, Eniré. If you had known how to use the impressive power that slumbered within you, you would without a doubt have been able to destroy me. And now, your life is only hanging on by a thread. Worry not, I will make sure to save you. I need you to live."

As I hear these words, the last bit of magic within my body dissipates, and I fall unconscious.

I'm woken up by Carasi's shouting voice.

"You cannot be serious, Maribelle! You know just as well as I how strained our relationship is with the noble houses, and you wish to do that? This will certainly spark further claims of your inability to rule, if not an outright rebellion."

"If you had seen what I've seen, you would understand my position. There's more at stakes than my position as queen. We can turn his curse into a blessing, and doing so might just be the thing to save us."

"There won't be anything to save if the nobles unanimously deem you unfit to rule. We have to maintain peace in the kingdom, first and foremost. Anything else must come second."

"See, that's the thing I dislike about you. Completely unwilling to take risks and chances. Would we be here today if our ancestors didn't take bold and risky decisions?"

"Sister dearest, our ancestors built a kingdom from nothing. Our situation is in no way comparable! You must listen to reason, or your downfall will also be ours to bear."

I open my eyes, confused. Why am I not dead? And where am I?

I try to move a bit. Looks like my bones have been repaired, but my hands are tied to a large chair behind me, preventing me from getting back up. As I turn around, I see it more clearly: a large and richly decorated throne. I'm on my knees on the floor next to it.

I seem to be in some kind of large castle. The walls are decorated with stained glass windows depicting moments from a story I do not know. Just down the stairs leading to the throne are Maribelle and Carasi having an argument, presumably about me. Further away, there's a large double door, with an armored guard at each side. I knew monsters were a bit behind on technology, but this place feels almost medieval.

I look down at my own body. My clothes are in even worse shape than when I undid my final rune, and I can feel a burning sensation inside, no doubt caused by the magic overdose.

Seeing that I regained consciousness, the queen interrupts her argument to run towards me.

"You're awake! I didn't think you had it in you to recover this quickly, I figured you'd be in a coma for a while."

"Why... Why am I not dead?"

"I used The Weaver's powers to heal you as best I could, including some of the internal damage caused by your own magic. I also placed a vent on you, forcing any energy recovering within your body out immediately. Of course, this only slightly extended the time you have remaining, getting rid of that giant rune really took a toll on your body."

"How? There was no way to reverse the damage caused by my power."

"Do not go and underestimate the gods, now. Their powers extend beyond what we believe to be possible."

She gets back up and turns towards Carasi:

"I've made up my mind. If it's not him, it won't be anyone. We don't have any time to think about it, either. I can't do anything with a corpse."

He raises both hands in surrender.

"Very well, Majesty. I have voiced my concerns, I cannot force you to heed them. I can only pray that your stubbornness doesn't prove our undoing."

After a short silence, she responds:

"Thank you. I promise this will be beneficial in the long run."

She then turns her attention back towards me.

"Now! I told you I would drag you here with me, didn't I? So, allow me to formally welcome you to the vampire kingdom! Since you're not a delver, I assume this is your first time in the Underworld. We'll visit some of its landmarks later, once you've recovered."

"Recovered? You just said it yourself, my life was barely extended by your healing. How about you just kill me now and spare me further suffering? I feel like every single one of my organs is on fire."

"Oh, it's that bad already...?"

She turns around and thinks while walking in circles. I hear her mumbling:

"It's a bit early, but... Sure, I wanted to show him around first, to help... Is it really necessary, though? If I can remove the pain, then..."

She stops, then abruptly turns towards me. She kneels, getting uncomfortably close to me, then says:

"I won't let you die. You're too important. I originally planned on using The Weaver's powers to greatly slow down the rate at which your body self-destructs, hopefully granting you a few more decades of life, but that's not really an option anymore. Additionally, our little fight made me realize just what kind of potential you truly hold. So, I'll try something else."

"What do you plan on doing to me?"

"Do you know how monsters form families?"

"Something about picking worthy monsters and sharing power with them, or some variation of that."

"... I'm surprised you didn't get it at least a bit wrong. I guess a hunter like you would know a few things about us. Well then!"

She starts pushing the bits of shirt around my neck away before gently caressing it. I try to move away, but I'm still tied to the throne. She licks her lips, then says:

"I'm sure it's going to hurt a bit, but it'll all be better soon."

She puts her mouth over my neck, and I feel a prickling pain as her fangs pierce my skin. This is the first time a vampire drinks my blood, and I feel horribly defeated right now. I already lost, I don't need this humiliation!

We stay in this extremely uncomfortable position for a few seconds before I start feeling lightheaded. I lose all strength in my limbs and start slumping down. My vision fills with white as I begin to feel like I'm falling. I'm dropping down a long tunnel, one that never seems to end and simply gets longer the further in I get.

Eventually, the white becomes black, and I find myself focusing on my breathing. I feel weak, but I still force my eyes open.

I see Maribelle, crouched next to me, smiling. She gently pats my head and, as she looks directly into my eyes, says:

"This appearance is much more fitting for the role you will play going forward. Don't worry, everything will be explained soon. Welcome to your new life."

I feel my eyes close again by themselves, and I slip back into oblivion.