Episode 6

They seemed to be in a perfect deadlock for a while, but suddenly, droves of hooded people joined the Sozim clan leader and started launching attacks at me and Barakia. Because of how many attacks were thrown out, he had to divert some attention to deflect some of the ones aimed at me, as his barrier's strength began to fade a while ago.

I was dragging him down, but there was nothing I could do. Their focus seemed unbreakable as both of their reaction times increased as time went on, launching and parrying attacks faster and faster.

What was fortunate was that the Sozim clan leader appeared to lose steam, making his attacks weaker and less precise. Arguably, Barakia was losing stamina at an even faster pace because he also had to launch attacks to neutralize the bastards who just came, throwing slashes made of blood at them that exploded upon contact.

Then, suddenly, the stern voice of a woman rang in my ears. "Who is that guy?"

Another woman replied. "I think that's Father's guest."

They were moving so fast, I could only see the blurs they made as they moved and darted around the battlefield. A blonde woman covered in blood then appeared in front of me and began to deflect the attacks coming my way.

A constant and seemingly infinite rain of arrows pestered the battlefield, bouncing off the Sozim leader's barrier but easily piercing the foot soldiers who just came in. When I looked towards the source, the visage of a young man who looked a bit younger than me, dressed in a blue suit, greeted me. His eyes were like gold jewels.

Then something strange began to happen. My vision began to slow down and speed up seemingly at random. Sometimes I would be able to catch who looked like Barakia's daughter darting around the battlefield, swinging her large scythe and killing enemies that were dozens of meters away.

The blonde woman gave Barakia a nod of the head and Barakia replied in kind.

The world around us then became drenched in a crimson shade that seemed to extend kilometers into the horizon.

"Is that your father's blood domain?" The blonde woman said.

"Yeah. It's at least a hundred times larger than what I could pull off. Not only that, but it enhances his strength more than mine even when stretched over very long distances." Barakia's daughter said. She sounded quite proud as she said that.

Then Barakia howled an order for the three. "Protect the human. I'm going to go all out and beat this guy!" Even as he said that I could feel his strength increasing as the three grouped right in front of me.

I could see that the blood that made Barakia's blade began to envelop his body from his wrists to his toes like a protective layer. The veins on Barakia's face became visible and tense as he powered and just before he dashed, he gave me one last look.

When his foot hit the ground, the ground cracked beneath him and when he jumped off that foot, he created a strong shockwave and wind currents powerful enough to blow me away for a couple of dozen kilometers. Luckily, his barrier and the three protected me.

All I could see then was a crimson blur that jumped around the place, sending attacks at the clan leader and deflecting any that came his way. Slowly, he managed to overwhelm the enemy clan leader.

"W-What the hell is this?!" He said as his eyes frantically attempted to follow Barakia's movements that only seemed to get faster.

At some point, he became so fast, he began to use Sozim's tendrils as stepping stones to jump and move around, leaving dozens of cuts on his body with each dash. Then my vision started going crazy again, slowing up and speeding up. This time, the gap between the two became more extreme. It felt like my vision had become a badly recorded show on tape.

In between those flashes, I could see Barakia looking at me, his eyes opened as wide as they were when his castle got sieged just a few hours ago. Additionally, my vision went purple at times and switched back.

"What's up with this guy?" The voice of the blonde woman echoed in my head, sometimes louder, sometimes quieter.

"I don't know..." Karia said worriedly.

"Do you think your dad knows anything?" The man's voice was deep but kind.

Then, as if in spite, my entire body began to hurt. It felt like I was getting torn apart and put back together over and over and over and over... It was almost unbearable and in between everything, I could notice Barakia looking at me again. It seemed like he was looking intently as if he expected something to happen...

"We'll ask Old Man Barakia after he cuts that bastard down." The blonde woman's voice then began to fluctuate in pitch as well.

If I ever had drugs, this is what I would think a bad trip was.

I could feel their gazes moving indifferently away from me.

I had stayed silent the entire time and resolved to remain silent.

My vision became purple-tinted permanently after a while and noticed I could see weird things. Like a mist on the enemy clan leader's orb where his tendrils would launch themselves from. My body was starting to adapt to this strange state it found itself in.

"Why isn't your father finishing that guy off?" The blonde woman inquired. Her voice became normal again, but I could hear so much more when she spoke.

I could clearly hear her breaths as if she was breathing straight in my ear. I could hear her heartbeat. I could hear the accent that she was suppressing. And not only her. As the three chatted, the same thing happened.

I'm sure if someone looked at me, I would look confused. I didn't bother hiding it at that point. I might as well have looked like a baby that was just learning how to walk.

I could feel strength flowing into my body. I felt like I was at least 10 times stronger than before and it seemed to keep going. Then my eyes became able to see so much more detail and nuance in all of the things in my field of vision.

"Hey... doesn't this look bad?" The man's voice was so loud to me, it was like someone he was shouting in my ear.

I looked up at Barakia and he seemed to be almost completely out of steam. What was different now was that I could see him move into the position he would appear in before. I could catch his movements with my eyes.

The battlefield was so full of blood, it was as if there was a river of blood in that place that was about to dry up. Corpses littered everywhere. It was a gruesome sight, but the awesome battle that was taking place completely captivated me.

Barakia then looked at me even more expectantantly than before. The blood covered his face as well, apart from his eyes... but the look in his eyes told me that he knew what was happening and was happy to see it.

I don't know what it was. Whether Barakia was too exhausted, or he intentionally did not react to the tendrils that came out of the man's orb that was barely able to hold its spherical shape at this point.

They traveled slow enough for me to avoid them, but they pierced right through Barakia's stomach. He had a relieved look on his face and before I knew it, my body moved at speeds comparable to Barakia's and grabbed him as he was falling.

The other 3 gasped and I could sense them dashing to us as well.

"Looks like everything went to plan anyway..." He said with a weak voice in between the hasty gasps for air.

Blood began to fall from every orifice on his body. He then extended his hand to brush away the bangs that covered my eyes.

"I see... It looks like I was right."

Then Karia's trembly voice echoed through the now silent battlefield.

"W-What... What the hell do you mean by that?" I gave her some space to sit next to me so she could speak with her dying father more easily.

His gaze then slowly moved from me to her.

"I'm sorry Karia. I'm so sorry I never did a fatherly thing for you..." He had that same sad smile on his face. It was quite upsetting to me.

"Don't talk like that! You're going to be okay!" She shouted as she grabbed the hand he used to move my bangs out of the way and brought it to her right cheek.

"N-No." He said as he coughed up even more blood.

"Those bastards are from the Sozim clan." While to me that didn't mean anything, Karia seemed to have instantly understood what he was trying to say.

Her lip was trembling and her eyes were so filled with tears they began flowing down her cheeks. The muscles around her mouth were all contracted as she tried her best to keep the cry in.

Then Barakia's gaze moved back to me again. He grabbed me by the back of my neck with strength uncharacteristic of a dying man and brought me close to his face.

"Listen to me. You are the one Born of A Star. You are the chosen one, you could say." It felt more like deliriousness than anything to me. And he noticed.

"I'm not joking. Remember that one story we talked about just before this thing started?"

I understood then.

"That band I gave you tie your hair up with is an artifact. It's proof that you are the Last Emperor."

"What are you..." I said to him

"Your eyes! Your hearing! The strength you just used to catch me as I was falling. You have become a vampire."

I was so focused on what he was saying, I couldn't hear the reactions of the three.

"That ring is nothing more than an accessory on the body of someone who's not chosen."

Then did he...

"I knew it from the moment I met you, that you were the chosen one."

The Silent Garden...

"You are right, how do you think a normal, average human is able to enter a domain that is only given to vampire clan leaders? That's not possible. Even by chance."

His voice was becoming weaker and weaker...

"Once you put the ring on, you will become a complete vampire and assume the power of the Last Emperor." I could see as the light actively disappeared from his eyes.

"The Last Emperor is a protocol that was created a long time before even I was born. It's to be put in action when our society stagnates. The Last Emperor's role is to push forward the Valachian society..."

He coughed again, but this time it was much more violent and looked like it hurt a lot more.

"Before I die, I will tell you this. Remember when I talked with you about my daughter and what I wanted her to do?" He said with a smirk full of pride.

"To do what she wants." He nodded weakly.

Then he died.

The finality and suddenness of death was shocking even to me. Not even a few seconds ago, I was talking to him and now... My mind's gears stopped moving and I just stood there for what felt like hours, but it was in fact only a couple seconds.

His words echoed in my head and I took the ring that was keeping my hair tied up and put it on my finger without hesitation.

Suddenly, I felt like something foreign was entering me. Changing my entire being from inside out. The purple vision turned back to normal but I could see that my hair changed color by the bangs sitting on my forehead, intruding in my field of vision.

Then, as if something had taken control of my body, I could feel my vampiric presence spread over the battlefield. I could feel a bond between me and the blood on the ground. I blinked and when I opened my eyes, it was all gone.

Around me, I could see that even the three were completely lost in this situation. As I looked upon them, I could see from the corner of my eye the exhausted body of the enemy clan leader turning to look at me. Shocked and looking more lost than the ones next to me.

As if it was like breathing, I used my newly acquired vampire powers to form a weapon in my hand. It was a spear the color of lavender. Unlike even Barakia's weapons, my spear looked like it had a clear outline and seemed more surreal than anything.

"I'll end what they started for you, Barakia." I said as I got up from my knees and set my sights on that bastard.