“Don’t get me wrong, I’m doing my job as a doctor quite seriously, you know? There probably isn’t a doctor who has saved as many people as I have.”
“You increase the number of sick people with curses, and then treat them… Can you really call that saving people?”
“Ah, no, no, it’s not like that. I didn’t kill to create curses. That wasn’t the goal. I killed because I wanted to kill. I wanted to kill artistically. No ulterior motives. Believe me.”
Robert muttered, scratching his head.
“Where should I start… My father was a doctor. And I was raised with the expectation of succeeding him. So, you see, I was indoctrinated to believe that human lives are to be saved. Taking a life is a terrible thing. That’s what I thought… but…”
Robert raised his face, his eyes clouded with darkness, and looked at Victoria.
“The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do that terrible thing. No matter how much I suppressed it, the urge to kill kept overflowing. It’s a strange story. My parents were decent people, and there was no abuse. I’m aware that I was raised with great care. There was no element that could have twisted me… and yet, I desperately wanted to kill! And then, one day, I actually killed someone. Oh, this is terrible. How can I ever forgive myself? I thought about it desperately. And then I found the answer. If I kill one person, I’ll save a thousand. Once I decided that, my heart felt lighter! Because if I kill one person, a thousand will be saved, right? I can remain a respectable doctor. Thanks to becoming a vampire, I can continue this forever. I’m helping people!”
“That’s a scumbag’s way of thinking. You may forgive yourself, but the people you killed will never forgive you. However… no matter how much of a scumbag you are, it’s protocol, so I’ll give you a warning. If you join the Night Watch Organization and follow its principles, we will forget your past sins. If you swear never to repeat your mistakes, the Night Watch Organization will protect you.”
“Kukuku… I refuse! I can’t live without killing people!”
“Is that so? Then die!”
Victoria drew her sword. A strike without holding back.
Robert reacted, trying to cover his arm with magical power to defend. But that didn’t matter. She intended to cut through his defense and all. But Victoria’s plan didn’t go as expected.
Her beloved sword, which she had been using for nearly a century, broke.
Certainly, Robert had shielded his arm with magic, but Victoria’s technique shouldn’t be swayed by that. She should have been able to cut through the magic as well.
But why… Ah, that’s right. When she fought Akito and Mizuha, she took a powerful blow with her sword. It was because of the damage from that time. It was careless of her not to notice.
“It broke… and I remembered. Victoria of the Night Watch Organization… Victoria of the Silver Flash! The vampire who is said to have killed the most vampires! I withstood the blow of such a terrifying swordsman! Hahaha, I’m quite strong! I heard that your sword has a special formula engraved on it, specifically for killing vampires! Even that didn’t work on me… Kuhahahaha! In other words, you have no means to kill me—”
Victoria punched Robert in the face, caving in his skull and shutting his mouth.
Robert, scattering blood, broke through the tent wall and rolled away.
“…Oh, really… I hate resorting to punching with my bare hands, it’s so unrefined.”
“W-what is this heavy blow… Aren’t you a swordsman…? I was able to block your slash, so why can’t I block your fist…!”
“You’re a fool, aren’t you? The reason your defense was successful earlier was because my sword was damaged. It was not due to your own strength. And just because a swordsman abandons their weapon, it doesn’t mean their dynamic vision or physical strength decreases. I’m quite strong even with my bare hands, you know?”
“Guh… So what? Look, I’ve already finished regenerating. You should know how hard it is to kill a vampire, right?”
“Yes. It’s just hard to kill. No matter how powerful a vampire is, if you keep destroying them, they will eventually exceed their regeneration limit. You seem to have plenty of power because you’ve just drunk a lot of blood, but I’ve experienced whittling down that much power at least a hundred times.”
Before Robert could get up, she brought her foot down on his head.
It burst easily, like a crushed tomato.
And then, someone’s scream was heard.
“Kyaaaaaaah, Robert-senseeeeeeei!”
This was a park in the town.
Even though it was dusk, the sun hadn’t completely set yet. So it wasn’t strange for people to be in the park.
A man and a woman passing by, and a child of about five years old. Even with their gazes on her, Victoria didn’t waver in the slightest.
She was used to this kind of thing.
“H-help me… This woman is a vampire! Report her to the Adventurer’s Guild, no, to the Church!”
“A vampire!? T-that’s terrible, we have to hurry or Robert-sensei will be killed!”
“Wait, you… Robert-sensei… Your head was crushed, but why are you back to normal… Why are you talking normally…?”
If you hunt vampires pretending to be humans in the town, this kind of commotion will spread.
However, proving that they are vampires is easy.
Because they don’t die easily.
“You people. Stay back. Robert was a vampire. And I am also a vampire. This is a battle between monsters. Now, take the child and run away.”
No matter who was watching, Victoria didn’t stop her attack. However, she didn’t want to show it to the child.
The father and mother turned pale, lost their words, but still pulled their stiff child’s hand and tried to leave the park.
While watching their backs, she slammed her foot down on Robert’s head again.
Then, it exploded.
Not just the head, but the torso as well.
Robert’s body scattered into countless small pieces of flesh all over the park.
“Eh?”
She didn’t remember giving such an impact that it would turn out like this.
Since Victoria didn’t do it, Robert must have done it himself.
She didn’t know why. But it was dangerous.
She should keep her distance—.
She reflexively tried to jump back, but was pushed down by something that jumped at her from the side.
It was a wolf.
There was no such thing in the park. There was no sign of it approaching. It had suddenly appeared.
Victoria thrust her hand into the wolf’s belly. The warm sensation of flesh. But there were no organs. It was just an object made of flesh shaped like a wolf and moving.
“Robert. You have the ability to transform parts of your body into wolves!?”
She slammed the wolf to the ground and destroyed it.
Then the flesh lost its shape and became gooey. And then it crawled and gathered with other pieces of flesh, and began to regain Robert’s form.
“That’s right. It’s my trump card. I didn’t want to reveal my hand, but it seems I have no choice.”
He had a tense expression.
He had played his trump card, and if it still didn’t work, there was no going back. So it was natural for him to be tense.
However, his predicament was so visually apparent that it was clear at a glance, even without knowing the circumstances.
He had no arms or legs. Only his head and torso. What was supporting them were thin, branch-like tubes of flesh extending from the ground.
Those were the only parts that made up Robert’s main body.
He was battered all over. It was natural for him to be tense.
But Victoria had no room to relax either.
Because the rest of Robert’s flesh was—.