Epic of Ice Dragon: Reborn As An Ice Dragon With A System

As the trials continued, and some surpassed them barely, others were still struggling. Within the room of Yuki, an unexpected trial she had never thought would appear emerged before her eyes. An enormous Rat Gorilla covered in fur and muscles, thrice as tall as her, and with flashing red eyes.

"You dare defy your father!"

"EEEEH?! YOU?! And you're not my father, actually! This damn tower got it all wrong!!!"

Yuki began running away from the enormous beast, as she was trying to devise a plan to defeat such a big mass of muscles.

Meanwhile, in another room, the soul of a once wicked and prideful Vampire woman was surprised by the trial in front of her. Rose could clearly remember how her life was when she was alive, even now. As she evolved in her ghost form, more memories of such a past continued to awaken.

She remembered that she was once a normal human girl, picked up by a Vampire that served "Red" or the "Supreme Lady" as they called her. In such childhood, Rose could barely remember any emotions other than cold and hunger. Since she had memory of herself that she lived abandoned in the street of the fiefdom that was protected by the Vampires.

Left as an orphan for the unforgiving cold to eat away, she had barely been surviving, anemic and sick, she wouldn't even last more than three years, and might be soon about to die. However, in such a moment of her life, she was suddenly picked up by a stranger.

A tall man with a short white beard, sharp red eyes, and long ears, like those of an elf. He wore elegant clothes; it was a suit similar to that of a butler, alongside a long gentleman's hat. He was holding a small black staff, and slowly extended it towards the girl in the streets, covered in tattered robes over the snowy floor, barely alive…

"You're alive?" He asked.

"Ngh… Hmm…" Rose remembered that she tried to groan as loud as possible, asking for help. The cold was freezing her body.

"Hmph, these humans… Despite how much we protect them and give them what they need, they still leave children in the streets as if they were dogs." Sighed the man. "Good grief."

The man gentlemanly held the little girl in his arms, carrying her inside a manor, the warmth of the chimney fire quickly began warming her almost frozen body, as the man suddenly conjured a bright red light, covering her entire body and healing it in an instant.

"Ah…"

In that moment, it was the first time that Rose saw him, her savior, her mentor, and the man she considered her father.

"Hello, little one. My name is Gustaf. I am a Pure Blood Vampire that serves the Von Sange Family… Do you have parents?" The man asked.

Rose felt confused, waving her head.

"You don't… I see. Then… I suppose you may stay here." He sighed.

GROANNN…!

Suddenly, her tiny stomach groaned, as the man laughed gentlemanly.

"Hoho! You're hungry, aren't you? Right, humans usually eat, right? Let me prepare you something." The gentle vampire man said, leaving the girl over a chair, and then, serving her the most delicious thing she had ever tasted in her life.

"This is named spaghetti, a recipe that you humans created. The noodles are made of wheat while the sauce is tomato sauce with grounded meat and spices. It is delicious and affordable to make- Eh? Hey, are you listening to me?!"

Rose couldn't help it; she was wolfing down the food with her bare hands like a little and feral pup.

"Sigh…"

"Hmmm… Tasty…! Many thanks!"

"Oh? So you can speak a few words. Knowing how to say thanks is one of the most important things in life, little girl… I am glad you've learned this on your own. You got talent…"

In that day, things changed forever for Rose's life.

That man was her mentor, her protector, her best friend, and someone she considered her only family and her father…

This was perhaps one of the reasons why… he appeared before her in the trial.

Now, having lost her physical body and having become a phantasmal being, she couldn't help but feel shaken by the appearance of someone she had not seen in hundreds of years.

The tender memories of her childhood with this gentlemanly and old Vampire emerged one after the other inside of her mind, as she felt completely heartbroken... looking back at her life now and then, there was a clear difference in her state, and how much time changes people, and even her…

"Rose, is that you? What… what has happened to you?" Gustaf asked worriedly, as Rose covered herself in embarrassment, she resembled a ghost after all, even in her materialized form which made her look like a pale lady, her semi-transparency was clear to the eyes of anybody.

"Don't look…! Don't look at me… I… Since you were gone, things changed, you know? Things became so hard… I had to steel my heart! I had to change!" She cried.

"…"

The man remained in silence, looking at her with eyes filled with concern.

"D-Don't stare at me like that…! I don't need… your worry nor your concern anymore!" She cried.

"Rose… wait!" He cried, trying to stop her from crying.

"I've changed… I've done terrible things for the Lady… I died and became a ghost… I am a monster now… I don't deserve to talk with you… I feel ashamed by merely being looked at…! Please, go away, Gustaf! Go away!" Rose cried; she was trying to escape from him. his face reminded her that she was one a person she was prideful of being.

He reminded her that there was once a Rose that wasn't a monster.

He reminded her that… there was once someone that loved her.

"Rose! Don't run!"

"Leave me alone! Go away!"

Rose furiously unleashed her powers, as thousands of spears made of blood began showering over the man!

FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!

The man immediately began to evade the attacks swiftly with his incredible vampiric reflexes.

"Rose! Come to my side! I've told you countless times that… I will always be at your side!"

"But you… you weren't at my side when I most needed you!"