Dead silence.
The sound of rain, the thunder, even the monster’s harsh laughter—all of it was sealed away from the world.
In the midst of intense dizziness and pain, Sevi felt his body growing heavier and heavier, his consciousness sinking bit by bit, as if falling into a boundless abyss of icy water.
Was this the end?
‘Too bad; it’s not over yet.’
In the darkness, a sudden girl’s voice rang out in his mind.
Sevi’s consciousness paused slightly. Was he hallucinating?
‘To be precise, you’re actually dead already. But—’ The voice deliberately dragged out the ending, carrying a hint of malicious amusement. ‘Congratulations! You’ve successfully earned a chance at reincarnation, and you only need to pay a “tiny” price.’
Faced with this sudden voice, Sevi’s heart was unusually calm—no fear of death, no joy of rebirth.
Because what this thing said was no different from those cunning merchants.
Did it think he was stupid? Although he’d never died before, a dead person definitely couldn’t think clearly like this, let alone hear a strange voice.
‘Oh dear, you caught me.’ The owner of the voice feigned surprise, but the clumsy acting was already obvious—this thing clearly didn’t even bother to pretend.
Sevi tried to open his eyes, but the front was still pitch black.
He was certain he wasn’t dead yet, but his situation was definitely far from good.
The monster outside couldn’t possibly have mercy and let him go, and now the only thing he could reach was this voice of unknown origin.
But the question was, who the hell was this thing?
‘Ooh, you’re really calm.’
‘As for who I am…’
The voice deliberately paused, then spoke with a smile:
‘Guess right, and I’ll tell you.’
Sevi decisively gave up on continuing to pay attention to it.
He never trusted others easily, let alone a riddle-monger who popped up at the last second.
Rather than believing in a pie falling from the sky, he’d rather believe that the vampire outside had a sudden change of heart.
‘Don’t be so wary. Guess right and there’s a reward, you know.’
Reward? Sevi sneered inwardly. He didn’t believe in stories about some old man in a ring, and besides, he didn’t even have a ring—only a broken pendant.
What good intentions could a monster who’d lived for who knows how many years have?
‘You say you won’t guess, but you’re already guessing in your head.’ The voice carried a hint of smugness.
‘But too bad, you guessed wrong. I’m a forever-seventeen-year-old flower-like beauty, you know.’
Still a delusional old monster spouting nonsense.
The voice completely ignored Sevi’s silent grumbling.
‘But well, since I’m such a kind-hearted, beautiful, and generous person, I’ve decided to give you the reward directly since you’re about to die.’
‘The reward is—you don’t have to die!’ After saying that, she deliberately paused for a few seconds, as if waiting for cheers.
‘Huh? Give me some reaction.’
‘What’s the price?’ Sevi finally retorted in his mind.
With injuries this severe, under normal circumstances, survival would be impossible.
But the fact that he could still stay awake meant she wasn’t lying.
Something must have happened outside… just that it might not be anything good.
‘Does it really matter how you survived?’ The amusement in her voice suddenly faded.
Didn’t it matter?
‘Hmm…’
‘Well, for a human who crawled up from the bottom, it does seem pretty important.’ She sighed as if conceding.
But then her tone rose again, carrying a chilling delight:
‘But that’s only for “now.”‘
What did that mean? Sevi’s heart suddenly tightened.
‘Because—’ The voice deliberately dragged out slowly, as if savoring Sevi’s reaction.
‘You’re about to become the “monster” you spoke of.’
…
Thin moonlight struggled to tear through the dark clouds, spilling onto the muddy forest.
The vampire woman, Daphne, looked down at the boy at her feet from above.
Her broken body was slowly healing, and the half of her face that had been blown apart was restoring itself.
If this guy hadn’t known how to use magic, she might not have gotten off so easily.
Hell, he might have captured her and taken her back to the academy.
“But too bad; in the end, I’m the one standing here.” She let out a light laugh, her heel lifting from Sevi’s collapsed chest.
Just then, a glance caught her eye. The boy’s hand was still pressed over his heart, as if guarding something.
“Hmm?”
Daphne raised an eyebrow with curiosity.
She kicked aside his nearly disabled arm, not even bothering to look at the old pendant that flew out from the force.
Then she forcibly pried open the boy’s blood-soaked palm.
Clutched inside was a crumpled piece of yellowish hemp paper, already soaked through with blood and mud.
Although the drawing was crude, it was still barely discernible—a girl with golden hair and blue eyes, drawn with cheap pigments.
But next to the girl’s outline, a violently torn mark remained.
“Oh? So this is what it was for?” Daphne seemed to have found something interesting, the corners of her mouth curling upward.
She looked at the drawing, then down at the dying boy at her feet.
“Risking death just to protect a piece of scrap paper. Looks like she’s someone very important to you.”
Tapping her chin with her finger, Daphne thought that killing him outright would truly be a waste. How about…
The monster’s smile grew even more sinister.
“I’ve changed my mind. I’m going to Embrace you and make you my Blood Servant.”
“After you’ve completely turned into a dog that only wags its tail at me…”
She shook the paper in her hand.
“Then, right in front of your face, I’ll make you eat it, piece by piece yourself.”
“The expression on your face at that moment will definitely be amusing, won’t it?”
Without hesitation, Daphne cut her fingertip. A drop of pure Origin Blood Essence seeped out, hovered at the boy’s lips, then fell straight into his mouth.
Under normal circumstances, once the Embrace took effect, this human would quickly be reduced to her Blood Servant.
But a mutation descended silently beneath the cover of rain.
Daphne’s smile suddenly froze. She realized that the blood from her fingertip wouldn’t stop flowing.
From one drop to several drops, and then it transformed into an uncontrollable stream of blood!
“Wha—?” Daphne’s eyes flew wide.
Her scarlet pupils instantly contracted.
“No, impossible!”
Daphne panicked in an instant. She screamed and desperately yanked her arm back, trying to forcibly sever the stream.
She even kicked wildly at the boy on the ground, losing all dignity.
But no matter how she resisted, the blood flow showed no sign of stopping; in fact, it grew larger, surging endlessly into the boy’s mouth.
The boy’s body was like a black hole, frantically devouring everything from Daphne—blood, magic power, life force, even her soul was forcibly extracted.
“No—!” With Daphne’s final miserable scream, her body began to rapidly disintegrate, peeling away inch by inch like burned-out firewood.
“You… what exactly are…”
The final words dissipated in the wind and rain.
Crack.
With a crisp sound, the vampire who had thought herself the ultimate victor turned into a dried, withered skeleton in a mere ten seconds.
Finally, only a pile of gray-white powder remained.
The wind blew, and the ashes scattered.
Only the drawing fluttered with the night breeze, landing beside the boy’s bloodstained hand.
But the boy, lying in the muddy water, still hadn’t woken up.
However, the massive amount of blood stripped from Daphne began to rapidly congeal on the surface of his body.
Gurgle… gurgle…
The blood seemed to have a life of its own. It boiled and interwove in the rain, quickly forming a huge, dark red blood cocoon that completely enveloped the boy’s body.
The surface of the blood cocoon pulsed like a heartbeat, each beat producing a dull sound.
It was reshaping; it was rebirth.