Love Letter From The Future

The bat was chasing the girl. It was a pursuit that seemed to have lasted for several minutes, although the exact duration was unclear.

Or perhaps it had been hours?

It had been quite some time since I-an and the others had entered the vampire’s barrier. The bat, who was actually the “vampire’s” younger sister and Ceria’s mother, couldn’t help but feel naturally puzzled.

Why?

Why can’t I catch this small girl? Her delicate limbs look as if they would crumble in my hand, and her snow-white neck seems ready to gush a sweet fountain the moment pierced by my fangs.

Yet, I cannot reach her.

The physical abilities of a mage transcend those of humanity, approaching that of beasts. Through a contract with an evil deity, they gain a transcendent physique unmatched by their former selves.

No matter how injured, they recover, and they can crush steel plates with bare hands.

Thus, it was peculiar that the woman hadn’t caught up to the imperial princess yet. Judging by raw power alone, she should have had an overwhelming advantage.

It should have ended in mere minutes.

Still, this tedious game of tag continued, and for that, the reason was apparent.

The bat’s eyes narrowed. An unsettling premonition scratched at her nerves like the bow of a violin.

“Kiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaa!”

As always, an utterly innocent scream.

But the anomaly occurred in the next moment.

Bang!

The sound of the compressed air bursting was followed by a bluish-white sphere hurtling at a fierce speed. The sharp whistling sound made the woman’s ears twitch.

Still, it was just a single shot from a novice mage.

Getting hit wouldn’t have been entirely bad, except the trajectory of the projectile targeted a critical issue.

The wing membrane.

The most fragile and thin part of her body. Even with regenerative abilities, it would undoubtedly hinder her movements.

Certainly, evading was an option.

The woman’s heightened senses, courtesy of the monstrous powers of the bat, were extremely acute. Not only her vision, but her hearing and animalistic instincts were accurately tracking the path of the projectile.

Yet, the woman could not leap away carelessly.

The trajectory of the straight-flying projectile suddenly diverted, as if it had anticipated her every move.

Thus, the monster had no choice but to pause and deflect the magic bullet with her claws.

Clang!

That was that.

The magic bullet, meeting the bat mage’s claws, exploded with a shower of sparks and disappeared. Although the power was negligible, what mattered was that, during that time, the imperial princess had distanced herself further.

Only then did the monster smirk.

“Hohoho…”

Indeed, her abilities merited such a loud boast.

In fact, the gap between the woman and the princess was significant. If it weren’t for the serious injuries that had left her body in pieces, courtesy of I-an, the woman would have already torn the princess to shreds.

Even with restraint, the rule of absolute power overriding trivial variables applied.

In that sense, the princess made a quite clever choice.

She not only carried her own body but also dragged Ceria along in her escape. Had Ceria been left behind, the woman could have sucked her blood to heal.

Additionally, the scent of blood continuously stimulated the woman’s instincts. With each heavy breath, her chest rose and fell as the blood-red light in her eyes flickered eerily.

I want to eat.

The dragon’s blood, the daughter’s blood…

All of it.

Impatience erases reason, and the woman had ample justification for that.

She was the strong one, after all.

Devising strategies and scheming is for the weak. The strong had the right to choose simpler solutions.

“A little painful, but I should push myself a little…”

The root of all problems was the inability to drink blood.

Still, if she could endure and manage to drink, it would be the woman’s victory.

With this conclusion, the woman’s wings fluttered and flapped.

Once, twice.

Then, lightly pushing off the ground, she leaped into the rising gale.

Carried by the wind, the woman’s figure shot forward like a streak of light.

Even though the princess ran with all her might, she was still a creature bound to the earth. The one soaring in the sky had a completely different starting point.

Of course, even the woman wasn’t entirely at ease. This was a dense forest with towering trees, and there were countless obstacles blocking her flight at relatively low altitudes.

But with a bit of extra effort…

Crack!

As the woman twisted her spine, her body began spinning like a spike. Every tree branch the woman’s body passed was instantly shattered with a pathetic crackling sound.

A movement so fast that the air didn’t even properly resist.

In the blink of an eye, the woman found herself with familiar scenery beneath her feet. There was Ceria, bound by the bluish-white threads being dragged along, with those fragile strands snapping with each step.

Proof that her goal was near. The woman’s sharp gaze swept over the ground.

Finally, the girl with dark azure hair came into view. Without hesitation, the woman conjured a wind.

Beads of blood-like thorns pierced like rain.

Paaah!

“Ugh… It hurts…!”

Caught off guard by the sudden assault, the princess had no chance to properly defend. Despite her agile movements, there was no way to evade all dozens of spikes.

The girl’s knee collapsed with a thudding sound as her heel was grazed.

It was a painfully one-sided exchange.

The woman now landed gracefully, pressing hard on the ground with an elegance that made no sound.

“You’ve made an awfully foolish choice, miss. Hiding behind that man would have been much wiser…”

Grimace, moaning.

Every grimace and moan from the girl released a sweet scent of blood. The woman gazed at the drops of blood oozing from the princess’s heel, her eyes filled with ecstasy.

Yes, it’s that.

“Dragon blood”.

The managers of the earth favored by Arus, the masters of all mysteries. Long ago, Delphrium had used them as sacrifices to unleash horrifying sins upon the world.

In other words, dragons were one of the sources of power for the Dark Cult as well.

Isn’t that true even in the case of Ceria?

The ‘vampire’ blood in her body makes up only half, but the simple act of consuming dragon blood made her impossibly strong.

That’s how potent this blood was. What would happen if her pure-blooded self were to drink this blood?

Instinct and desire mixed in the woman’s crimson eyes. Though Ceria was closer, her goal had already converged into one.

To suck the blood of this girl.

The woman’s smirk grew even deeper.

“Well, it’s time to pay the price for making the wrong choice, isn’t it?”

At the moment the woman’s body shot forward, unable to resist her desires…

“…‘Miss’?”

A grinding noise of teeth faintly brushed by her ears.

Then, a twist.

When she realized it, her view had flipped. It was an utterly unforeseen phenomenon without any warning.

What on earth is happening?

Before she could understand the situation, hundreds of lightning bolts struck.

Explosions and flickering.

The storm of light and heat burned her flesh-and-blood body. The woman wanted to scream but her trembling muscles wouldn’t obey.

Though not fatal,

the electric current flowing through her veins felt like needles. Crimson blood spread beneath her pale skin, and the woman writhed in pain, proportional to the spread.

“Ugh, wha, kuh… What…!”

At that moment, something unusual caught her eye.

In the void, a stone slowly disintegrated, emitting light.

Her bloodshot eyes widened in recognition. Now that she thought about it, she had seen that object before.

That young mage with the cap.

It was the item she had handed over to the princess. She had wondered what it was, never imagining it to be something like this.

Items inscribed with magic were quite valuable. Despite being single-use, the inscription of such a potent spell required extensive training.

She hadn’t foreseen this. Then again, the opponent must have had a trump card, right?

Still, it was too premature.

When she bit her lips, a thin trickle of blood woke her mind. With a trembling hand pressed against the ground, the monster’s eyes were filled with malice.

“Brat… You’ve got an interesting toy…!”

“But if you were once a noble of the empire, you should know about this.”

However, the woman’s fury was met with the princess’s absurd statement.

What nonsense is this?

The baffled woman watched as the girl placed her hands on her waist. Her icy gaze was like a noble scolding her underlings.

So brazen.

The woman inadvertently thought so.

“Didn’t you know, if you were once a noble of the empire?”

Yet, the woman paused, momentarily distracted by the absurdity of the situation as the girl stood there, giving her an air of condescension.

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