"This is an Iron Maiden — a medieval European torture device. The interior is lined with countless steel spikes, and a container is placed beneath it to collect the blood of victims, gathered for use in black magic rituals. I have no idea where Kawahara Miyuki obtained knowledge of black magic, but... she brought that medieval abomination into the modern age."
Hayashi Naoko's eyes were filled with grief as she introduced the device's purpose to Amamiya Rin, both of them staring at the Iron Maiden before them.
Not that Amamiya Rin needed the explanation. As Tsukiushi, this sort of background knowledge was basic. He picked up the yellowed old tome lying on the table.
The pages were thick and rough, their edges worn and fraying. By the guttering candlelight, he traced the faded text.
The script was Latin. Amamiya Rin had studied the language during his long sojourns in the Dream World — through a Latin dictionary that one of the Tomies had read in a school library.
He turned the pages slowly, and as he read deeper, his brow gradually furrowed.
"Ms. Kawakami — can you read the script in this?"
Hayashi Naoko asked, curious.
"Latin. The sacred language of the medieval world — because knowledge was monopolized by the Church."
Without waiting for Hayashi Naoko to press further, Amamiya Rin summarized the tome's contents.
"This is an ancient grimoire recording black magic rituals. Specifically, it describes how to preserve eternal youth through a particular ceremony — in other words, a method for becoming a Vampire."
At a specific hour, under a specific phase of the moon, one would drain the blood of a virgin through the Iron Maiden, stand before a portrait of Elizabeth, and chant the incantation while smearing the blood across one's entire body — a supplication for the Vampire Elizabeth to bestow her power upon the supplicant.
Once the ritual succeeded, one would gain the ability to live forever, never aging.
The price, however, was eternal dependence on blood. At regular intervals, one would have to coat the entire body in fresh blood to keep it young.
The ancients had been fixated on eternal youth. What Amamiya Rin focused on was the information the grimoire did not mention.
The Vampire he had faced before — whether or not she had preserved her youth was impossible to tell, but her physical capabilities had unquestionably far surpassed those of any ordinary human.
"She's here!"
Hayashi Naoko's figure flickered, and she retreated behind one of the distant load-bearing pillars.
Amamiya Rin set down the grimoire and slipped behind a different pillar.
Footsteps echoed through the empty fourth floor, drawing steadily closer. When they stopped, the crisp sound of metal implements being touched rang out, followed by the rustle of fabric — someone rearranging those strange devices.
Amamiya Rin held his breath and cautiously peered around the edge of the pillar, exposing the barest sliver of his line of sight.
In the wavering candlelight stood a woman.
Her back was toward him, but he could see she wore her chestnut-brown hair long, topped with a light tan beret. Her coat was pale grey. From his angle, he could make out the fair skin of her profile and a pair of orange-lensed glasses.
Amamiya Rin had specifically studied photographs of Kawahara Miyuki beforehand. Even with only a side view, he recognized her instantly — the woman was none other than Kawahara Miyuki, the nation's sweetheart idol.
Beyond Kawahara Miyuki, slumped at her feet, was a young girl — eyes shut, apparently unconscious. Was that today's victim?
Amamiya Rin's gaze sharpened. His body relaxed. Moving in perfect silence, he slipped out from behind the pillar and used the shadows cast by the load-bearing columns as cover, circling around toward Kawahara Miyuki's blind side.
At that moment, Kawahara Miyuki was bending down to drag the girl up, preparing to stuff her into the Iron Maiden. Her movements abruptly halted. She spun around sharply, and her gaze locked directly onto Amamiya Rin's eyes with unerring precision.
"Who's there?!"
The words had barely left her mouth when Kawahara Miyuki's eyes widened slightly — a flash of dazzled admiration crossing them.
But that admiration curdled almost immediately into something ugly. Envy.
"Give me all your blood! I am the most beautiful! Give me your beauty — give it to me!"
The words came out as a shriek. The muscles of Kawahara Miyuki's face began to spasm. Her skin turned ashen grey, her cheekbones pushed high, her nose bridge collapsed, her mouth stretched wide to either side, her ears elongated upward into sharp points, and her eyes lost all trace of dark pupils — swallowed entirely by a blazing, blood-red light.
Like a beast that had forgotten all reason, Kawahara Miyuki launched herself savagely at Amamiya Rin — at a speed that shattered any human limit.
Amamiya Rin's pupils contracted. In the span of a single breath, he activated his sympathetic nervous system in a flash, concentration spiking to its absolute peak.
The world slowed in his perception. In the sunlight streaming through the windows, every drifting mote of dust, every flicker of the candleflame, became crisp and distinct. Kawahara Miyuki's movements seemed to be running at half speed.
Amamiya Rin retreated rapidly, simultaneously throwing himself back. Those razor-sharp claws raked past the tip of his nose in a rush of fetid air — the jagged nails missing his skin by a hair's breadth.
Shriiick —
The front of his coat was torn open, a strip of fabric fluttering to the ground. No blood drawn — but the ferocity of those claws left a crawling chill across his skin.
He used the momentum of his lean to roll into a back handspring, and by the time his feet touched the ground he had opened three meters of distance. But Kawahara Miyuki was on him like a shadow, shrieking as she lunged again, both claws slashing in rapid, unrelenting succession — wild and without technique, but dense as a storm.
With no weapon in hand, Amamiya Rin had no choice but to pour everything into evasion. The razor-keen awareness granted by [Contemplative Sight] let him anticipate the trajectory of every strike before it landed.
Half a step left — the claws grazed past his right shoulder and scored three shallow furrows into the load-bearing pillar behind him.
Dodge right, duck low — the second strike swept over his head, sending a few severed strands of hair drifting down.
"Stop running! All you do is hide?!"
Kawahara Miyuki's brow contorted into a rigid knot. A frenzied scream tore from her throat, her scarlet eyes trailing smears of afterimage through the dimness.
Amamiya Rin did not retreat — he pressed forward. With a low, spinning step-in, he slid into the blind spot of her attack, his shoulder and back gliding lightly past her spine. In the instant they crossed paths, he even had the composure to adjust his breathing rhythm.
"Hide? No — my real specialty is direct assault... though I'll admit, fighting without a weapon is inconvenient."
Even as the words left him, Amamiya Rin drove a knife-hand strike at the back of Kawahara Miyuki's neck.
But Kawahara Miyuki's body was far too solid. A clean blow to a vital point, and still she did not go down — she merely staggered half a step forward before wrenching herself around to face him.
"I'd normally love to let you reap what you've sown, but there's a victim here. I can't just let you devour this body at your leisure."
Amamiya Rin stepped back a few paces, his gaze keen and appraising as he studied Kawahara Miyuki's face.
A Vampire? He was wearing Kawakami Tomie's body. Of all things, a Vampire was what he feared least.
Even if he went completely passive, he could still handle the Vampire in front of him — but the victim over there appeared to still be alive. That approach was off the table.
"Miss Hayashi Naoko, what comes next is going to be a little... unpleasant to watch. Would you mind looking away?"
Amamiya Rin called out without turning his head, addressing Hayashi Naoko where she was hiding behind the other load-bearing pillar.
Hayashi Naoko said nothing. Instead, it was Kawahara Miyuki before him who paused — her gaze flickering, a look of visible inner struggle surfacing on her face.
____
👻🔥P- Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Samsara Game: Starting with Shirogane Kei
Help us hit our targets:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 free chapter for all