The Undead King of the Palace of Darkness

I’m starved of love. It’s only natural because I’ve mostly only had bad experiences when I was alive. I’m sure that if I could drink blood then, I’d be able to live for a month with one drop.

Senri is trembling. This is something that hardly ever happens. Her torso is slightly shaking and her legs are unstable too.

This is all part of my plan. Senri is always acting like a level and calm veteran, but on the contrary, if I’m able to make her lose her cool, my chances of winning go up astronomically.

This is my resolve. I will get rid of my pride and devote my best to fulfilling my greatest wish.

I say to Senri with a resolve not inferior to the one I had while fighting Rainel.

“That’s why, Senri, if you thought that you’d be okay with having your blood sucked while saying ‘I love you, End’, I want you to obediently let me catch you.”

“kuh…”

I don’t particularly want to show her the results of my training. I don’t want to win against Senri either. I want to suck her blood. I want to drink her blood while she tells me that she loves me. My fangs are tingling. This is undoubtedly a vampire’s instinct.

Senri staggers grandly, as if dizzy, but somehow recovers. And raises her face.

Her amethyst colored eyes are quietly glaring at me. I also resolutely glare back at her in response to her indescribable intimidation.

As expected from the former Death Knight. Her dignity as the Hero still remains. My body almost starts trembling in the presence of my natural enemy, but I can’t win if I lose in fighting spirit.

Senri is not flawless. She’s kind. My words are working. This is the best opportunity. And, also my last chance to win.

Senri… are Death Knights and Vampires destined to fight each other, after all?

Senri says with a quivering voice.

“… Okay. If you insist so much, I’ll play tag with you. But… this will be the last one.”

“Got it.”

I didn’t really get it, but I still decided to agree for the time being. I won’t think about the future. The present is the most important.

Life is short. I have a strange premonition. If I don’t do my best right now, I will definitely regret it for the rest of my life.

“Let’s make the conditions fair. I’ll definitely not lose, but if I do… you can do anything you want to me.”

“…”

Unfortunately, Senri doesn’t seem to have any intentions of losing to me. I can feel an enormous amount of blessing filling her slender limbs.

It probably follows the same principle as blood power. Of course, her proficiency can’t be compared to mine.

But I’m confident that I’ll win. Senri’s better at using her powers, but my base physical abilities are much better than hers. And, even after strengthening their bodies with blessing, physical abilities of Death Knights still fall behind the physical abilities of vampires.

A fight with Sable, the vampire I met at Rainel’s castle, gave me a lot of information. I’m still a lower rank, but my physical abilities are definitely better than those of an ordinary vampire.

For a second, Senri touches the handle of the sword hanging from her waist, but she immediately lets it go. Sure enough, Senri is kind.

I see it. I can see the flow of Senri’s powers. Blessing as powerful as a large river fills her whole body, but is mostly focused on her feet.

“End, you have lost your calm. You need to cool your head a little.”

“I’m calm. Today I will defeat you and go even further!”

I’m calm. Senri intends to run away.

I only have advantage in physical abilities. It would be hard to catch up to her in the town with a lot of buildings where she wouldn’t be limited to just the ground level. To begin with, I’ll have to hold myself back in the town to not destroy buildings, so I can’t use all my powers. I don’t want to destroy the buildings. I don’t want to be hated by Senri.

In addition, she can fly.

I’ll catch her before she leaves the inn. My advantage is unwavering inside this narrow inn. I swallow and track Senri’s thoughts.

But, being the experienced fighter she is, Senri must’ve already foreseen my train of thoughts. How will Senri run away after predicting my thoughts?

I read through Senri’s thoughts in a second.

―― The window.

Knowing how heroic Senri is, she’ll try to find a way out of this desperate situation. There is a window behind me, but Senri will probably try to run away from there instead of the door behind her, which leads to the corridor. Senri’s sudden charge will surprise me and create a momentary opening for her, which she’ll use to break the window and run away.

It’s a terrifying strategy that uses the fact that I understand Senri and know that she doesn’t want to destroy the building to its advantage and subverts that expectation.

But that plan is a double-edged sword. In order to bring that plan to fruition, she must slip next to me. Its prerequisite is that I’m not aware of this plan.

This match is mine.

The moment Senri tries to slip next to me, I’ll catch her. And even if she tries to slip away from the door, I should be able to reach her before she escapes from the inn if I chase after her with all my might.

Senri made the blessing circulate through her body, but she didn’t cover herself with it like armor.

It’s fair. Even this late in the game, she’s unbelievably fair. And that’s exactly why she’ll lose to me, as I’ve abandoned all my pride.

Ever since we met until now, Senri’s weakness has always been that ‘kindness’.

“No need to feel shy, Senri. I’ll also suck your blood while saying ‘I love you, Senri’ the whole time.”

“…Save the sleep-talking for the bed, End. You might think that you’ve already won, but I know Vampires well.”

Senri’s words didn’t feel like a lie. Does she have some kind of plan?

I have countermeasures against flowing water and there’s no water in this room in the first place. There is no silver and garlic either and even if they were here, Senri wouldn’t use them to not hurt me.

It’s a bluff. Calm down, End Baron. If you can keep your cool, there is no way you’ll lose.

I manipulate the blood power as carefully as possible and amass the power.

“Senri, I don’t need a signal. I’ll move when you move.”

“…I see.”

I lower my posture and devote all of myself to looking at Senri’s every movement. Because of my extreme concentration, time becomes fragmented and I see each of her breaths in slow motion.

And, the moment my concentration reached its peak―― Senri moved.

Her movements were beautiful enough to enchant me. She turned around in a second, leaving only the streaks of light in her place.

Senri chose the door that was behind her instead of the window behind me. It was unexpected, but maybe she grasped that I’d already read through her thoughts,

But it’s still useless. I go forward with all my might without putting my feet through the floor.

If Senri’s the wind, I’m a beast. Senri’s back instantly gets closer and I stretch my hand towards it.

And the moment my fingertips are about to reach her back―― she disappears like a smoke. Only a small slamming sound remains.

I immediately understood the situation.

Senri didn’t disappear. She made a turn. I involuntarily open my eyes wide.

Senri’s retreat route. It was ―― neither a window nor the door leading to the corridor, but rather the door of the bathroom. This option, that I didn’t even consider, makes me freeze in my tracks.

The bathroom door was outside of my awareness. Why didn’t I think about it, you ask?

It’s because the bathroom of this room doesn’t have a window. Not only that, even if breaks the wall, she can only go to the room next door. She can’t go outside.

Is it perhaps water? Is she planning on using water to trap me like last time?

What a vain struggle. I can use drying magic now. It’s the kind of magic that ordinary people with a limited amount of mana can use in everyday life, but if I use the enormous amount of mana vampires have, I can instantly evaporate water. Even if I can’t dry the river, water in the bathroom won’t be a problem.

In the first place, you can’t exactly call the shower my weakness. While I can’t walk on top of a flowing water, I’m completely fine with water falling from above. Well, water will still end up on the ground because of gravity unless something gets in its way, so it’s still a nuisance though.

I’ve won. I smile and open the door to catch Senri hiding in the bathroom――

――or I try to, when my hand freezes.

I can’t enter. I really don’t want to move my hand. I don’t want to touch the doorknob.

This is a particularly unique weakness out of the countless weaknesses vampires possess.

Vampires… can’t enter a house without being invited in.

I comprehend the situation and hit the door in panic, protesting to Senri, who had barricaded herself inside.

“Senri, this is unfair! It’s cowardly! This is too much! This isn’t a game of tag!”

‘…Shut up. End… reflect on yourself.’

This is the first time I’ve been told to shut up.

It was a low voice, almost like she was deliberately keeping it quiet, with some sulking undertones. Perhaps Senri is reinforcing it from the inside, I can’t make the door budge even if I put more strength into it. I endure my instincts and grip the doorknob, but perhaps because it’s locked, it won’t turn.

I can only cry and beg Senri for mercy.

“Isn’t it fine to at least tell me that you love me?! This is too mean!”

‘End, I love you so please be a good boy.’