Dakota's Pov
If someone told me three years ago that I'd be one year away from becoming a Hunter, passing exams, and with more than 2 friends, I would've laughed and gone back to my manga backlog.
But here I am.
Senior year.
With a real katana on my hip.
A future as a Hunter sitting on the horizon like a boss fight I still haven't mentally prepared for.
And having Emelio sensei's practical class again?
Yeah. That was the cherry on top of the sundae.
We stood on the training field at sunrise, dew on the grass, cold air brushing against our uniforms. The sky was pink with that early-morning "you should still be asleep" glow.
Emelio sensei stood in front of us, cloak dramatically catching the wind like he rehearsed this in the mirror: "Starting today," he announced, "no more wooden swords. You are now seniors. A Hunter does not fight with wood."
Next to me, Remi inhaled sharply. Sylvie's elegant posture straightened. Erika was practically vibrating with excitement. Yuji acted like someone just told him water was wet.
As for Esmarie who was now in our class? She was pale. Which is impressive, because this was the most pale I've ever seen her.
Emelio sensei lifted a long black case. Flipped it open. And inside was a row of freshly polished katanas: "Step forward," he said, "and claim your blade."
A shiver ran through me. The moment felt heavy, like leveling up, but not the fun kind where confetti pops and you unlock a new outfit. More like the "welp, now you die a little faster" kind.
Erika went first, of course. She moved with the confidence of someone who was born with a sword in hand. When she unsheathed her blade just an inch to examine the steel, light refracted across her eyes, and for a second, she looked like the Hunter posters that freshmen worship.
Sylvie's was next. She handled hers delicately, like she might apologize to the blade for touching it. Yuji lifted his as if he'd held it a thousand times before, and knowing him, maybe he had. He didn't react at all. No awe. No nerves. Just that silent intensity that made even Emelio sensei nod with approval. Remi was steady but nervous. She gripped hers with both hands like she wasn't sure she deserved something so serious. She did, though. Remi always worked harder than anyone else. Then came Esmarie. She swallowed, stepped forward, and reached for hers like it might bite. I could see her fingers trembling. But she still smiled. Classic Esmarie, terrified but trying anyway.
Finally, my turn.
I stepped forward. My heartbeat was stupidly loud in my ears. The katana was lighter than I expected, but heavier in every way that mattered. I drew the blade partway. Steel whispered. Sunlight caught the edge. And for the first time, I realized something: This wasn't a prop. This wasn't wooden. This wasn't pretend. This was the line between me and death. And I'd just crossed into the world where messing up had consequences sharpened to a point. I exhaled and slid it back into the sheath.
Emelio clapped once: "Good. Now, don't die. I would hate to redo my seating chart."
Remi: "We don't have a seating chart."
Emelio: "Oh yes, silly me."
We trained through the morning, each of us adjusting to the unfamiliar weight at our waist. Real steel changed everything. Footwork mattered more. Grip mattered more. Fear mattered more. Erika's blade danced with elegance and ferocity, like she was born in another era. Sylvie trained with serene fluidity, movements soft but deadly. Yuji looked like he was fighting ghosts no one else could see. Remi was sweating but determined, pushing past her own doubts. Esmarie nearly dropped her sword ten times, tripped twice, and still somehow kept smiling, complaining about how her "lifespan was decreasing by the minute."
As for me… My hands hurt. My shoulders hurt. My soul hurt a little too. But I kept going. Because I finally wanted to.
***
The first week of senior year was both the fastest and longest week yet. By the time classes started, we all scattered to different rooms, hallways, floors. Only Austin stayed with me—in our math class. I didn't share a class with anyone else.
Which brings me to today.
Day five of senior year. And we were already taking… this thing. I stared down at my quiz paper.
No. Not a quiz paper.
A war crime.
The first question alone looked like it was written in an ancient language passed down through cryptic murals.
Austin leaned in, whispering: "Are… are we getting pranked?"
"No," I whispered back. "This is real. This is reality."
Around us, students were pale. Some visibly shaking. One guy looked like he was praying even though he was known for telling people religion was fake.
I knew what I had to do.
I put my pencil down.
"Well," I sighed dramatically, "wonderful. I give up."
Austin made a choking noise.
Then he started laughing.
Not a quiet laugh. Not a whisper laugh. A violent, unhinged, soul-losing-it laugh. Which made me laugh. Because laughing during suffering is humanity's strongest coping mechanism. We tried to swallow it down. Failed. Failed again.
The students around us stared like we were lunatics who finally cracked under the weight of senior year.
Austin wiped a tear from his eye: "My guy… we're absolutely going to fail this."
"It's okay," I whispered. "If I fail, I bequeath my anime figure collection to you."
He put a hand over his heart: "I'll protect them with my life."
The teacher glared. We forced our faces into the most innocent expressions possible.
***
September 4th
There was no warning, everything was sudden.
It began with rain.
Not the gentle kind that whispered against rooftops or the rhythmic kind that lulled students to sleep between classes, but a sudden, violent downpour that crashed onto the Hunter Academy like the sky itself had been cleaved apart. There had been no warning, no dark clouds brewing, no shift in the wind, no murmuring from weather monitors. Just a sheet of water that drowned them seconds.
Students crowded under roofs and hallways, murmuring in confusion. Teachers exchanged uneasy glances. The courtyard flooded within minutes.
Dakota stood beneath the overhang of the administrative building with Erika and the rest of their group. Water streamed off the roof edge like a waterfall, soaking the stone tiles.
Marlon: "…The hell?" he muttered, shaking water out of his bangs. "This is biblical. If the world ends today, remind me to confess my sins."
Yuji: "You don't have enough time for that."
Esmarie elbowed him lightly: "That's mean. Apologize."
Yuji: "No."
Dakota bit back a laugh. He should have been calm, he'd improved so much since first arriving at the Academy, but something felt wrong. Like the rain itself had tension coiled inside it.
And then an alarm shrieked. A deep, blaring, gut-wrenching alert that announced: Vampire attack. The Academy-wide broadcast system crackled to life, and the Principal's stern voice boomed across the courtyards: "ALL STUDENTS. ALL FACULTY. VAMPIRE'S PLAN TO ATTACK. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. EVACUATION PROTOCOL IMMEDIATELY. REPORT TO NEAREST SUPERVISOR AND PROCEED TO YOUR DESIGNATED PASSAGE."
The courtyard became chaos. Teachers sprinted. Seniors herded underclassmen. First years panicked the most. People shoved belongings into bags. Rain hammered down so loudly it drowned out the panicked voices.
Dakota swallowed hard: "This… really isn't a drill."
Erika gently touched his shoulder: "Stay close. We move together."
Yuji checked the blade at his waist out of instinct. Even sheathed, the katana hummed faintly with tension.
The Academy had three underground routes—tunnels stretching ten miles out into different directions.
The third-years, including Dakota's group, were assigned to Passageway 2, the one they had taken to reach the Dark Arena last year.
More than four thousand students and staff poured into the underground maw, packed shoulder to shoulder, shuffling forward in slow waves. No one pushed. No one panicked out loud. The fear was too deep for noise.
Esmarie: Why aren't we rushing?" She whispered.
Remi answered quietly: "Because chaos kills faster than vampires."
The rain echoed even down the tunnel mouth, reminding them the world above was drowning. Dakota walked with his hands in his pockets, but the tension in his fingers betrayed him. Erika walked beside him, calm yet alert, her posture relaxed but her eyes sharp. Remi clutched her bag close. Yuji scanned everything. Austin tried making jokes, stopped, then tried again. After nearly an hour of slow movement, the tunnel widened, and the crowd could finally spread out more evenly. The sound of nervous footsteps softened into a steady rhythm.
Conversation gradually returned.
Esmarie: "Do you think we'll make it out safe?"
Dakota answered before anyone else: "We will."
He didn't know. But he refused to let anyone think otherwise.
Sylvie smiled faintly in gratitude.
Austin slung an arm around Dakota's shoulder: "Look at you being inspirational. Gross. Stop it."
Dakota snorted: "Shut up."
Even Yuji's lip threatened the smallest twitch upward.
Hours passed.
Four of them.
They walked and walked and walked until the air turned humid and the faint scent of earth and greenery replaced the stale air of stone. When they finally emerged from the passage, they found themselves back in the forest. The same forest called the Dark Arena, but now drenched in heavy rain. The sky was dark gray, and water dripped off towering trees. Puddles formed in uneven patches on the ground. Some students immediately slipped. Others cursed the mud.
Four thousand people, soaked, exhausted, disoriented, but alive. And waiting for them was a formation of Hunters. Dozens of them. And one man standing ahead of the rest with his arms crossed, uniform billowing in the wind, rain sliding off his hair without disturbing his expression. He wore a deep blue scarf. And even the teachers bowed slightly upon seeing him.
Ricardo Diaz.
A Special-Rank Hunter.
One of the strongest in all of Shioto.
Austin: "Holy—That's him? The Ricardo? In the flesh??"
Remi: "Tone it down fan boy."
Austin: "But he's so cool-looking."
Esmarie: "That he is," she agreed.
Dakota stared at Ricardo with quiet awe. His aura wasn't flashy, wasn't intimidating. It was steady. Overflowing. Unshakable. The kind of presence that made you think if the whole world collapsed, this man would still stand with a grin.
Ricardo raised a hand: "RELAX, EVERYONE!" he shouted over the rain. His voice projected effortlessly. "I'm here to get you all home. We'll move in formation, so stay with your teachers. You're safe."
A wave of relief washed over the students. Some even cried.
Sota exhaled in relief: "Thank God…"
Yuji crossed his arms, staying alert.
The group began walking again, surrounded by Hunters forming a protective perimeter. The forest around them dripped with rain, leaves sagging under the weight of water, mud sloshing beneath their shoes. The temperature had dropped noticeably, breath fogged faintly with each exhale.
Sylvie shivered: "It's getting colder."
Erika wrapped an arm around her shoulders: "Stay close."
The Hunters moved with precision, scanning every direction. Some vanished into the trees in blur-fast leaps. Others signaled silently to Ricardo.
Something gnawed at Dakota.
A pressure.
A heaviness.
A strange pulse in the air, like something vast and terrible lurking beyond them.
Erika noticed his expression: "Dakota. What's wrong?"
Dakota: "Just my nerves."
The rain intensified. A torrential downpour hammered the ground so violently that students shielded their heads with their arms. Teachers struggled to maintain order. Visibility dropped sharply.
Ricardo raised a fist, the sign to halt.
Everyone froze.
The Hunters tightened the perimeter, blades half-drawn.
Ricardo's eyes narrowed at the treeline to the far right.
Dakota followed his gaze. He saw nothing at first, only sheets of rain and blurred branches.
But then—
Something shifted.
Like a silhouette sliding back behind a tree.
Then another.
Then one more.
Ricardo exhaled sharply: "No way…" His voice was barely audible, but those closest to him heard the disbelief. "Impossible. How did they find this place?"
Yuji immediately drew his blade: "Shit."
Sylvie tensed, stepping closer to Erika. Esmarie swallowed hard. Dakota clenched his fists until his nails dug into his palms.
They were extremely faint, barely even noticeable.
Dozens.
In the trees.
On the branches.
Clinging to the trunks.
Crouched in the shadows.
Eyes.
Red eyes.
Hundreds of them.
Ricardo's expression hardened with lethal seriousness. Then he roared: "WE'RE SURROUNDED!"
And the forest exploded into chaos.
***
The forest detonated into motion the moment Ricardo yelled, "Protect those around you! Fight! And survive!"
No one needed to be told twice.
Vampires dropped from branches. Others burst from bushes, mud, and tree hollows—rabid, feral movement carved into silhouettes by the slashing rain. The downpour blurred vision, muddied footsteps, and washed scent away, but their screeches cut through the rain.
And thousands of students reacted at once.
Dakota didn't even have time to breathe.
The horde hit like a collapsing lung.
Wooden swords cracked.
Steel hissed.
Screams erupted.
And in that first violent surge—
Erika, Sylvie, and Esmarie were shoved away from him. Not intentionally. Not carelessly. Just reality. The crush of bodies and vampires smashing into their formation split them apart like a river around stones.
Dakota: ERIKA—!" He reached out. His hand swiped only open air.
A vampire tackled him from the side. He barely guarded in time and the impact forced him tumbling over roots and dirt. By the time he slid to a stop, he scanned the area. Erika and the other two were gone.
No. Not gone.
Just not here.
And he couldn't chase them because—
Yuji: "DAKOTA! LEFT!"
Dakota spun, driving his sword into a vampire's collarbone. It didn't kill it, but it staggered enough for Yuji to stab through the heart with his katana.
Blood spattered Yuji's face.
He didn't flinch.
Nobody had time to flinch.
The forest floor became a battlefield. Students scrambled into half-formed defensive lines. The Hunters and 4th years held the outer ring, blades slashing in arcs of silver and rainwater. 1st years, 2nd years, and 3rd years only had wooden blades, so they had to be protected. Hunters weaved through their formation like lightning bolts, experienced and efficient.
But the vampires weren't small in number. They weren't scattered. They were coordinated.
Ricardo's voice pierced the chaos: "KEEP THE LINE!! DON'T LET THEM BREAK THROUGH!"
His alter blade activated and swelled with roaring water, the rain bending unnaturally toward it. A slicing wave carved through 10 vampires in a single sweep. Their bodies crumpled into wet grass.
Dakota stared for half a second because he had never seen that level of power this close. A female student behind him screamed as a vampire lunged for her. Dakota moved before he processed it, slamming into its side and slashing it across the chest. It staggered, hissed, and went for him instead. Yuji intercepted, blade flashing. A few feet behind them, Sota trembled but fought with everything he had, parrying, dodging, missing, trying again. Every glancing blow he delivered was a declaration that he refused to go back to the coward he once was. Remi fought close, protecting two first years who had frozen entirely. Austin's eyes were razor-focused, blade dripping vampire blood.
Ricardo felt something shift in the rain.
Not the weight of it.
Not the temperature.
The intent.
A pressure like the water itself was being pulled into a singular point in front of him. A tall female vampire stepped out from between two cedar trunks. Dark blue hair clung to her face, soaked through. Her expression was soft, almost gentle, at odds with the trail of corpses behind her.
Ricardo stiffened: "You look stronger than the rest."
Her smile was light: "Flattery won't save you."
Ricardo: "This rain is unnatural. I heard of a Slayer who has the ability to control it. This must be your doing."
Ame: "Bingo."
Ricardo tightened his grip around his alter blade.
Water spiraled upward along the steel, intensifying: "This location is off public record. How did you know we would be here?"
Ame: "Does it matter? Your going to die here anyway."
Then she moved.
Rain exploded backward from her first step. Ricardo barely blocked. The collision of water-forged steel and claws sent shockwaves through the forest. Leaves ripped from branches. Students staggered from the pressure alone. Thus, the true battle began.
Erika, Sylvie, and Esmarie had been isolated. Erika killed the first vampire that attacked her. A clean, precise slash, her blade work was beautiful even soaked in mud. Sylvie fought more defensively, saving her breath, spacing her steps. Esmarie wielded her sword like a club, wild but effective in the way of someone who absolutely did not want to die. They backed into a hollow between two massive oak roots, reorienting themselves.
Sylvie: "We're separated…" she whispered, voice tight with fear she tried to mask.
Erika inhaled. The rain covered her trembling: "We can get back to them. We just have to—"
"Three little birdies lose their friends?"
All three froze.
A figure crouched on a branch above them, legs swinging like a bored child. Female. Young-looking. But the smile she wore was too wide, too delighted. Her eyes gleamed with predatory joy.
She didn't introduce herself. She didn't need to.
Her presence was wrong. Like violence bottled into a human shape. Erika stepped forward instinctively, blade raised.
The vampire tilted her head: "Awww, look at you three. It's adorable."
Esmarie's voice shook: "Stay away from us…"
"Oh, but I just got here." She hopped down lightly, splashing into the mud. "You students have been so fun to watch. So much screaming. So many tears. It's beautiful."
Sylvie swallowed: "…You're one of them, aren't you? The Slayers."
Esmarie: "Slayers?"
"You know the name. Impressive. I'm one of Lady Ame's fangs."
Erika gripped her sword tighter: "What do you want?"
"Want?" She laughed softly, covering her mouth like she was hearing a cute joke: "I'm gonna amuse myself by playing with some cute dolls."
Esmarie stepped closer to Erika's side: "There are Hunters out there stronger than you."
"Is that so?" She jumped down and showed something that she was hiding behind her. It was head. The head of one of the Hunters.
The others jolted in fear. Esmarie nearly threw up.
She took a step.
Then another.
The three girls backed up until their heels pressed into the roots.
"You know," the vampire mused, "there's something lovely about this. Three little students, drenched and shaking, trying so hard to stand tall."
Her eyes locked on Erika: "And you. You seem like you shine the brightest. Killing you will hurt the others the most."
Erika didn't flinch: "If you want to kill me, come try."
The vampire's smile widened. Rain dripped off her fangs: "Oh… I was hoping you'd say that."
The oppressive aura closed in. The forest felt suddenly smaller. The rain colder. And hopelessness crept into the edges of the air.
***
The moment the first scream tore through the forest, the students jumped with dread. A student barely registered the blur of pale limbs and snapping jaws of vampires before instinct shoved him into motion. Somewhere behind him, someone shouted to stay in formation, but it was too late for that, the trees erupted with movement, vampires dropping like wolves into a flock.
Wooden swords weren't meant for this. But they swung anyway.
A first-year froze as a vampire lunged from the darkness, claws flashing. Marlon dove in, shoulder-checking the kid out of the way, taking the full hit and skidding across mud.
Marlon: "Get back!!" he roared, already forcing himself up.
The vampire hissed and charged again. Marlon met it head-on.
Even injured.
Even bleeding.
His fist crashed into the vampire's jaw, then he slashed with his blade — the angle was perfect, the strike guided by instinct and raw grit. The slash went right through the vampire's neck.
Another vampire came. Then another. Marlon didn't hesitate. He threw himself into them with reckless fury, trading blow for blow. His breaths grew ragged, blood dripping from his temple where a claw had grazed him, but he kept fighting.
Marlon: "Come on," he growled through clenched teeth, "I'm not… done… yet!"
He took down another vampire with a desperate slash to the neck. He kicked the second one off its feet, then smashed its face with the hilt. The last one pounced, claws digging into his arms, but he twisted, slammed its head into a tree, and crushed its throat with a final brutal swing.
Marlon: "Three down." But his knees buckled. His vision blurred. The rain felt like weight. The noise of battle faded under the pounding in his skull. "Shit…" He blinked slowly. "I'm… losing it…"
The vampire he didn't finish off moved in on him
But before it reached him—
Yuji slid in like a blade of wind. His kick broke the vampire's jaw. His follow-up strike dropped it instantly: "Idiot," he grabbed Marlon's collar with one arm and hauled him over his shoulder. "Finish them off properly."
Marlon managed a weak grin: "My bad."
He moved through the chaos with speed and precision, kicking vampires away while shielding Marlon, jaw locked with the stubborn determination of someone refusing to be unable of protecting someone again.
Dakota didn't have time to check if everyone was okay. A vampire lunged at him from the left. Another from the right. And at his back—
Dakota: "Austin!"
Austin: "I'm literally right here! Don't yell in my ear!"
Dakota: "Sorry, the rain is pretty loud."
Five vampires circled them, eyes glowing faintly in the dark forest. The rain came down so hard that it blurred their outlines, turning every shadow into a threat.
Austin laughed weakly: "So, uh… you take the big ones, right?"
Dakota: "They're all the same size!"
Austin: "Well then we're screwed!"
The first vampire dashed forward with supernatural speed. Dakota shifted his stance, his weight on the back foot, and his torso angled just like Emelio drilled into them.
He swung.
The sword cut across the vampire's ribs. The impact jolted up his arm. The vampire hissed, stumbling back, but not down.
Behind him, he heard Austin's blade connect with something, followed by a grunt of pain. Dakota spared a glance, Austin was bleeding from the forearm where a claw grazed him, but he was still moving, still fighting. Another vampire came. Dakota ducked under its swipe and countered with a fierce upward strike, slashing the blade up its jaw. The creature reeled, and he surged forward, slashing deep across it's chest.
Dakota: "Behind me!"
Austin didn't question it, he covered Dakota's flank, intercepting a vampire that had tried to leap in.
The two moved in sync, unplanned yet fluid.
One vampire fell. Then another. But the last three were different. They moved faster, now recognizing the two boys were threats.
Dakota's heart hammered. His breaths were sharp, frantic. But he couldn't falter. A vampire rushed him, teeth bared. Dakota swerved left and slammed his foot into the ground to stabilize as he countered. But he slipped and the slash lost half of its power. However, that didn't stop him. He got back up quickly, this might've been the fastest he's ever moved. He sprang himself up and slash the vampire's head off before it could react.
Austin slammed into Dakota's side, pushing him away from a vampire's downward swipe: "You good?!"
Dakota: "Yeah," he panted. "Are you?!"
Austin: "Define good." Hespun, swinging his blade horizontally, catching a vampire in the ribs. It screeched. Another rushed him, but Dakota intercepted, parrying with both hands gripping his sword.
The force rattled his bones. He slid backward several feet, boots digging into mud.
Emelio knew Dakota's strength wasn't in technique, it was in adaptability and tenacity.
And he proved it now.
His cut off the vampire's arm. Austin joined from the opposite angle and together they overwhelmed it, striking it repeatedly until it drew its last breath
Three down. But another vampire jumped in, making it a 2-on-2. Rain blinded them. Mud pulled at their shoes. The shouts around them for longer.
Dakota swung. It leapt aside, but he tracked it, pivoting with instinct sharpened by adrenaline. Austin intercepted the last one, even though his arm trembled from exhaustion.
Austin: "Dakota!"
Dakota understood instantly. He sprinted at Austin's opponent, jumped, and brought his sword down with all the force he could muster. The vampire's skull cracked under the blow. Austin took the chance to drive his blade into the final vampire's heart. Its body toppled in the mud.
Dakota stood there, panting so hard he tasted blood.
Austin leaned against a tree, laughing breathlessly: "Well… that sucked."
Dakota let out a weak laugh: "Yeah… you okay?"
Austin wiped the blood off his arm: "Probably gonna cry later, but yeah."
Around them, the world was still burning with battle, but for a moment, they had won.
For the first time, Dakota felt the weight of what it meant to fight for his life.
Ricardo Diaz stood amid a circle of bodies, dozens of vampires scattered like broken dolls, breathing steadily despite the carnage. Ame approached with steps too graceful for the battlefield. She lifted her hand.
The rain… shifted. Rainwater slithered upward along her arms, swirling into razor-thin streams. She closed her fingers. The water sharpened to blades.
Ame: "It's a shame I must kill someone who can also manipulate water. Fate will bury you here."
Ricardo snapped his wrist. His alter blade roared to life. Water spiraled around the weapon, thickening into a massive crescent blade that hummed with unstable force: "Let's test that fate."
They clashed.
The impact of blade against blade, water against water, broke out the air around them into a shockwave that tore branches from nearby trees. Ame moved like a falling raindrop, silent, precise, and impossible to track. Ricardo parried the first slash, the second, but the third cut deep into his shoulder. He swung upward with brutal force, water erupting from his blade in a tidal wave. Ame twirled through it, unharmed, her curse bending the water away from her The rain itself obeyed her commands, shielding her from harm.
Ricardo's eyes widened: "You can manipulate my attacks too?!"
Ame: "Looks like a weapon will always have the inferior version of an ability."
She snapped her fingers. Spears of rainwater materialized above her, then shot toward him like arrows. Ricardo swung his blade, splitting them apart, but the relentless barrage pushed him back step by step. His boots dug trenches into the mud.
Ame in front of him with inhuman speed. He barely blocked her slash, the pressure shattered several layers of water coating his blade. Blood dripped down his arm. He pivoted, twisting his blade low and slashing upward. A torrent of water surged toward Ame in a spiraling arc, sharper than steel. Ame's eyes widened. But she reacted instantly, slamming her palm forward. Rain condensed into a shield, but the force of Ricardo's strike shattered it like thin glass. The blast sent her flying back, crashing through two trees.
Ame stood. Her lips curved.
They charged again.
Their blades collided. Water tore apart the forest. Their duel raged deeper into the forest, leaving devastation in its wake, a path of shattered trunks, drowned soil, and swirling currents.
As Ricardo and Ame's clash shook the forest, Dakota, Austin, and the others pushed desperately toward anybody they could still see.
But the screams grew louder.
And Erika…
Erika was nowhere.
Sylvie was nowhere.
Esmarie was nowhere.
Dakota's stomach twisted.
"Run, scream, fight… It won't matter," she said sweetly. "I'll enjoy all of it."
Erika and Sylvie braced themselves. Esmarie stepped forward with trembling legs she tried to hide.
"Let's begin."
Rain hammered the forest so violently it nearly drowned out the screams and steel. The trees bowed under the weight of water and terror.
The vampire's smile was thin, hungry, and trembling with delight.
Erika, Sylvie, and Esmarie formed a triangle without speaking, instinct pulling them together.
"…Pretty," the vampire whispered.
Not the rain.
Not the moonlight.
She meant them.
Before any of them breathed again, she moved.
All 3 of them slashed. Erika jerked her blade upward, rain bouncing off her blade. Sylvie pivoted left, her steps were light. Esmarie kicked up dirt like a smoke bomb.
"That was almost enough," the vampire giggled. "Do it again."
She blurred forward.
Erika met her head-on, shoes digging into wet earth as she twisted her blade to parry a strike aimed for her throat. Sylvie was already behind the vampire, her katana slicing toward her ribs only for the vampire to bend unnaturally backward, spine folding like a ribbon, Sylvie's blade cutting only mist and water.
Esmarie hurled herself in, swinging clumsily but with pure strength, only for the vampire to vanish and reappear behind her.
Erika's heart almost stopped.
"ESMARIE!"
Esmarie whipped around with raw, desperate instinct and Sylvie appeared between them like a ghost, her blade intercepting the vampire's strike. She cut off her hand.
The vampire's smile widened: "Mm. That one was a good one," she said while regenerating.
She vanished again.
Erika reacted. She leapt, blade sweeping around just as the vampire seemingly materialized to her left. They clashed, and Erika felt the strength behind the vampire's arm, a strength no human could match.
But she didn't falter.
The vampire laughed, a delighted, breathy sound as if Erika had offered her candy instead of slashes that meant to kill her. Then Sylvie came in. She moved with such flawless precision the rain seemed to part for her. Her blade cut upward, down, around, all fluid and continuous, every motion connected to the last like she was dancing in a world where hesitation didn't exist.
The vampire dodged each one, though for the first time, she was pushed back half a step.
"Oh?"
She rushed Sylvie.
Sylvie didn't move back. She moved forward. Erika ran in to flank, Esmarie from the opposite side. Their blades came from three directions—
And somehow, impossibly, the vampire weaved between all of them. She avoided every blow with movements so unnatural, so serpentine, their swords sliced through empty air again and again.
"You all smell so alive." Her giggle was soft and deranged. "I can't remember the last time I felt this awake."
Raindrops rolled down her dark lashes. Her teeth peeked from her grin. Her eyes shone with pure, lunatic thrill. Sylvie charged again. She didn't hear rain. She didn't hear screams in the distance. She didn't even hear her own heartbeat.
Only her blade moving through the air. The vampire caught her katana between two fingers, but she quickly added more force to split her hand in two.
"Not again."
Nothing about Sylvie's posture broke. Her back was perfectly straight, her breathing never accelerated, her grip never tightened.
She looked… tranquil.
Even beautiful.
Esmarie could only admire her. She started to move in and saw it, a faint hitch in the vampire's movement. A small slip. A slight over-excitement in her step. And in that window, her and Sylvie struck simultaneously, blades crossing and forming a lethal scissor aimed for the vampire's neck.
The vampire barely twisted out.
But Erika followed it up.
Her blade slammed down with a roar. The vampire caught it with her bare hand.
The steel bent.
She kicked the ground. A crater burst beneath her, the shockwave sending all three girls flying back through mud and water. Sylvie hit a tree trunk hard enough to knock the breath out of her. Erika skidded across the forest floor but managed to land on her feet. Esmarie rolled to a stop, gasping.
The vampire sighed happily, brushing her wet hair back: "This is taking too long. Let's play properly."
The vampire smile widened, sharper and sharper until it didn't look human at all. Black veins emerged. Two blades materialized in her hands—daggers, carved like obsidian fangs, dripping with thick, black-green liquid that sizzled where it touched the ground.
Acidic poison.
"Now… don't die too fast."
The girls moved.
Erika blocked the first dagger by a hair, sparks hissing against corrosive venom that ate into her bent blade. Sylvie's katana cut the second dagger's trajectory cleanly, guiding it away with a motion so delicate it seemed effortless. Esmarie lunged from behind, but the vampire twisted around her attack, bringing the poisoned dagger so close to Esmarie's cheek that a single drop burned through her sleeve like acid. Esmarie scrambled back, heart pounding.
Sylvie: "Don't let even a drop touch you!"
Esmarie: "Easier said than done."
Erika's eyes flicked toward Sylvie.
Her footwork. Her precision. Her grace under pressure. It wasn't just talent. It wasn't just training. Erika steadied her breath. Esmarie tightened her grip. The next exchange happened faster than any normal eye could track. Sylvie took point, her blade weaving a shimmering barrier of steel and rain, deflecting the vampire's twin daggers with so little wasted motion that she barely seemed to exert force at all. Erika darted to Sylvie's right, aiming for the vampire's exposed side. The vampire twisted away. Esmarie filled the gap, sending a horizontal slash that forced the vampire back. Sylvie appeared behind her. Her blade sang. For the first time, the vampire's smile dropped. Eyes widening, she brought both daggers back to block. Sylvie redirected her blade in a spiral, shifting the momentum mid-strike to slice at the vampire's legs instead. The movement was impossibly elegant, fluid like a ribbon but sharp as lightning. The vampire jumped back, but Erika was already in the air above her. Her blade came down and struck through her clavicle, but it was too bent to cut any deeper. The poison hissed against Erika's steel, burning it. The vampire shoved Erika back, and pivoted straight into Esmarie's swing. Sylvie moved first. Her blade intercepted the vampire's counter, turning what would've been a fatal stab into a shallow slice across Esmarie's arm.
Esmarie: "DAMNIT!!" She stumbled back, clutching her arm as rain rinsed diluted venom from the wound. Not deep. Barely grazed. But the pain made her vision spin. "It's fine… keep fighting!"
"Ahh… this is the best. You're all fighting for each other. I can taste it."
She threw her daggers. They whistled through the rain like black comets. Sylvie didn't hesitate. She stepped forward, batting them aside with precise taps of her katana's edge.
The vampire lunged forward to retrieve her daggers. Sylvie was already there. Their blades met with a resonant clash that rippled the water around their feet. Sylvie twisted her blade, not forcing strength, but guiding momentum and the vampire's dagger slipped from her grip, spinning through the air. She stepped into the vampire's guard.
Then she moved.
A flawless chain of movement, impossibly fluid, impossibly precise. Each slash from Sylvie held perfection, angles calculated in real time, footwork smooth enough to silence the rain around her, her blade flowing like a ribbon of silver light. The vampire backpedaled desperately, her bravado dissolving, her smile cracking. She slashed across the vampire's thigh, then her shoulder, then her side, each cut shallow but intentional, steering the vampire exactly where she wanted her.
"STOP—!!" The vampire shrieked, panic finally coloring her voice.
The vampire lunged with her remaining dagger. Sylvie stepped inside the attack, spun with her blade moving in a circular arc. The vampire's head separated cleanly from her body.
Her expression was frozen, twisted with disbelief, lips mid-tremble. The body collapsed seconds later. Sylvie's blade rested at her side, dripping rain and blood.
Silence fell.
The forest's thunderous chaos dimmed for just a moment, long enough for Esmarie to realize they had been holding their breath.
Sylvie didn't look triumphant. Didn't even look relieved. She simply exhaled with the knowledge that hundreds more still lurked beyond the rain. Her and Erika ran over to Esmarie.
Sylvie: "Are you okay? How are you feeling?"
Erika: "We need to get you out of here!"
Esmarie: "It's just a light scratch."
Sylvie: "That doesn't matter. It had poison! We need to get out of here as soon as possible."
Esmarie: "Haha… I am feeling kinda lightheaded."
Erika: "Can you carry her, Sylvie?"
Sylvie: "Yes!"
Erika grabs Esmarie's blade: "Okay. I'll protect both of you."
***
Ame raised her hand.
That was all it took.
The sky which was already drowning in rain twisted as if someone wrung the clouds like wet cloth. The drizzle turned to sheets, then walls, then an unbroken tidal curtain blasting into the forest floor. Water thrashed sideways, ripping leaves from branches, flattening grass, battering skin. Lightning forked above, so bright it erased color, leaving the world bleached and trembling.
Thunder swallowed any chance at thought. Students shouted. Hunters fought with everything they had. The storm didn't simply fall, it attacked.
And at its center stood Ame, rainwater sliding off her like she had been born inside the storm itself.
Ricardo tightened his grip on his blade. The rain was usually his ally, but tonight it wasn't.
Ricardo lunged, blade dragging a wave behind it. The water sharpened into a gleaming crescent and roared toward Ame. She didn't even flinch.
She raised two fingers. The storm split around her like she was the center point of a whirlpool. The crescent of water that would have split a boulder in half dissolved into harmless ripples. Ricardo's eyes widened.
Ame tilted her head, amused: "Does it frighten you, Hunter?" Her voice was soft, nearly drowned by thunder yet somehow unmistakably clear. "Someone who controls the same element… but better?"
He vanished in the rain, reappearing behind her in a spray of water. His blade fell. Ame sidestepped, the rain shifting with her, forming a swirling barrier. Ricardo's strike hissed uselessly across it as the water thickened into a viscous shield. She thrust her hand forward. A spear of water shot through the storm, faster than lightning. Ricardo blocked, barely—and the force blasted him backward, tearing up the ground, carving into roots. He skidded, boots carving trenches into mud.
Ricardo coughed once, wiped blood from his lip, and grinned: "You're not making things easy, I'll give you that."
Ame smiled, delighted by his stubbornness.
Ricardo spun his blade and charged again. For a moment, the two disappeared inside the storm, blades of water clashing, walls of rain shattering, lightning igniting the scene into snapshots. Ricardo parried a torrent that looked like a tidal wave. Ame weaved through the chaos like a dancer. Ricardo summoned pillars of water that twisted into serpents. Ame crushed them with a single gesture.
Ame didn't look tired at all. If anything, she was just getting started.
***
Dakota drove his blade through a vampire's chest.
Austin pivoted behind him and slashed another across the throat: "Two more incoming!"
Dakota: "I see them!"
They turned at the same time, backs touching, breathing rough, uniforms soaked, hair matted against their skin. Five vampires circled them, fanged grins splitting their pale faces. Rain ran crimson down their chins. Dakota steadied his grip.
Austin exhaled shakily: "Alright, bro… one rule."
Dakota: "Yeah?"
Austin: "Don't die."
Dakota cracked a tired grin: "Sounds good."
The five surged in.
Dakota ducked beneath a slash so close it clipped a strand of his hair. He drove his shoulder into the vampire's gut and used the impact to spin, bringing his blade upward in a vertical arc. The katana sliced the vampire's jaw clean off.
Austin kept up with him, he kicked off a tree trunk, using the slippery bark to change angles mid-air, swinging downward to sever a hand reaching for him. Another vampire lunged. Austin caught the wrist, twisted it, and used the vampire's momentum to hurl him into Dakota's line. Dakota took the opening and ran the vampire through.
A vampire appeared behind Austin.
Dakota didn't think. He grabbed Austin by the collar and yanked him backward. The vampire's claws grazed Austin's cheek instead of tearing open his throat.
Austin blinked, startled: "Thanks."
Dakota: "Don't mention it."
Another vampire pounced at Dakota. He ducked left and almost slipped, caught himself on a knee, then thrust upward blindly. The blade slid into a ribcage. The vampire shrieked. The rain washed blood down Dakota's arm. His hands trembled from exhaustion and cold.
The last two vampires leapt together. Austin blocked one with parry, Dakota blocked the other by sheer reflex.
Austin: "Switch!"
They sprang by one another, crossing paths. Dakota struck Austin's opponent. Austin struck Dakota's.
Dakota struck his blade into the ground and leaned on his hilt, chest heaving.
Austin clapped him on the shoulder: "We can do this."
Dakota nodded, forcing his breath to steady.
***
Everyone was separated in the midst of battle. Yuji was protecting Marlon, his blood mingled with the rain, forming dark streaks on Yuji's arms. The normally cocky delinquent was pale, wheezing, his eyes fading in and out.
Three vampires landed in front of him.
Yuji set his stance, one hand gripping his blade, the other holding Marlon: "Come on," he whispered. "Try me."
Yuji sidestepped the first, killing him in a single horizontal cut. The second came from behind,
Yuji flipped his grip and stabbed backward without looking, feeling the blade punch through flesh. The third dove in from above. Yuji roared and cut upward, cleaving the vampire in half. Then he kept running. Thunder boomed overhead.
He wouldn't lose another person.
Not again.
***
Sota had never been more terrified. The vampire in front of him was too fast. Every strike forced him back, shoes slipping in mud, hands trembling violently.
"Move, kid!" a student yelled behind him.
He couldn't tell because his uniform was muddied, but he's the same age as Sota.
A scream pierced the storm. A 2nd year, not even armed, slipped on wet roots and fell directly into the vampire's path.
And the vampire… smiled.
Sota didn't think.
He flung himself forward.
The vampire's claws ripped across his shoulder—but Sota didn't stop. He slammed his entire body weight into him, driving into a tree.
Pain ignited across his arm, hot and stinging.
Sota: "Run!" he yelled at the student, voice cracking.
He scrambled away. The vampire snarled and lunged at Sota. He raised his blade. And for once, just once, he didn't freeze. He parried. He stepped in. He screamed and drove the blade through the vampire's heart. Rain washed the blood from his face as he gasped for breath, his entire right arm on fire. But he didn't fall. Not this time.
Meanwhile, Remi's chest burned with each breath: "Everyone, stay close!" she shouted to the cluster of students with her. "Don't break formation!"
Two 4th years flanked her, struggling to keep order as vampires pressed from all sides. Remi parried a slash, pivoted, and drove her blade into its chest. She pulled it free, spinning into a low stance. Another vampire appeared, she blocked, slid underneath, and cut its chest. Her eyes blazed with determination. A first-year yelled as a vampire lunged at her. Remi grabbed the back of her uniform and yanked her out of the way, slicing the vampire across the torso in the same motion.
Remi: "Keep moving! Don't stop, no matter what!"
They followed. Because she didn't falter even once.
Lightning illuminated dozens—no, hundreds
of vampires. Hunters were falling. Screams choked the storm. Bodies dropped, blood mixing into the mud. And Ame's power grew stronger by the minute. Her storm was no longer just rain—
it was a pressure, a weight, a suffocating force squeezing the forest from all directions. Even the ground felt unstable, trembling as torrents carved trenches through the soil.
Dakota: "Where the hell are Erika and the girls?!"
Austin: "Separated. I don't think we have the luxury of looking for them. We keep everyone here with us alive. That's the priority."
Dakota nodded, but deep inside, dread coiled tight around his heart: 'Erika… Sylvie… Esmarie… please be safe.'
Then—
A massive wave of water rose in the distance and slammed into the forest, obliterating trees like twigs. It came from Ame and Ricardo's fight. Dakota's blood ran cold. If a fight of this level was happening, how were they supposed to survive?
Thunder exploded overhead. A vampire barreled toward Dakota. He blocked, slid back in the mud, and counterattacked on instinct. More came. And more. Dakota clenched his teeth. He wasn't going to die here. He wasn't going to let anyone die either.
***
The rain had stopped feeling like rain.
Somewhere between the battle's beginning and whatever this moment was now, the sky had lost all sense of restraint. The downpour raged like a living animal, thick pounding sheets that turned the forest floor into a shifting swamp of mud, splintered roots, and blood. Lightning cracked somewhere far above, so bright it bleached the world white for a heartbeat at a time. And in the center of that pulsating, Ricardo and Ame clashed like opposing typhoons. Their blades met with an impact that scattered droplets into bursts. Ricardo let out a sharp exhale, pivoted, and dragged the water around his blade into a spiraling arc. The rain gathered instantly, forming a half-moon edge that shot outward and sliced through a charging cluster of vampires who had dared to intervene. They fell in pieces, dissolving into the wet earth.
Ame did not look. She had no need to. Her attention was fixed entirely on Ricardo. Her expression was cold. Like the sea before it drowns a fleet.
Ame: "The storm answers to you. How good for you."
Ricardo rotated his wrist, blade humming with concentrated rainwater: "If it didn't, I wouldn't be worthy of this blade."
The rain behind her twisted into sharpened javelins of liquid pressure. Dozens. Ricardo braced. But the javelins didn't launch. They froze midair, quivering, the storm itself pausing as if startled.
A new voice cut through the rain.
"Need a hand, old friend?"
Ricardo blinked.
Then he turned.
A man walked forward through the storm, holding a blade that hadn't yet tasted blood, an impossible thing in a battlefield like this. His steps were light despite the chaos. And he smiled with the kind of weary fondness that came only from old comrades.
Ricardo barked out a laugh: "Emelio! Well I'll be damned. I was starting to think you were sitting this one out."
Emelio lifted the blade, pointing it at Ame, then flicked water off the tip with deliberate casualness: "What, and let you die before I get a chance to tell you I've always hated your singing? Not a chance."
Ricardo grinned wide.
Ame blinked, just once.
Ricardo rolled his shoulders: "Shall we continue?"
The storm screamed.
And the fight resumed.
They moved like a routine they had practiced hundreds of times. Ricardo dashed forward, his blade swelling with twisting water columns, swinging in broad arcs that sliced through rain itself. Emelio dove low to his right, thrusting upward with pinpoint precision, threads of water spiraling along Ricardo's attacks where they overlapped. Ame met them without flinching. She spun her makeshift blade, each motion creating a violent burst of pressure that repelled water and cleaved the ground. Lightning illuminated her silhouette, captivating yet monstrous.
Ricardo leaped, twisting midair, sending a massive wave-strike downward. Ame raised her palm. The entire downpour bent. The rain reversed direction mid-air, shifting trajectory. Ricardo's wave shattered before it could fully form, exploding into droplets that curved around Ame harmlessly.
Ricardo landed hard, boots slipping through mud. Emelio darted past him. He slashed with razor-fine pressure. She caught it and held onto his blade. Emelio spun, twisting his wrists and kicked her away while holding on to his blade. Ame pressed forward. Ricardo lunged into her path, intercepting her next swing. The blades met, water spraying like fireworks. Up close, Ame's eyes seemed almost serene. Emelio reappeared behind Ame, blade already in motion. She blocked his slash behind her without turning around, her curse letting her track movement through rainfall patterns. Ricardo circled to her flank, his blade swelling with a vortex. Emelio mirrored him. They struck simultaneously, one from the left and one from the right.
Ame ducked. Their blades met each other in a shower of sparks where she should have been.
Ricardo: "She's reading us!"
Ame spun, her blade carving a half-circle that sent a concussive shockwave outward. Both Hunters were thrown back. Ricardo landed on his feet but slid again, mud rising to his ankles. Emelio crashed through a tree and groaned, climbing out of the splintered remains. Ricardo exhaled hard. Storm water gathered around Ame like a cloak, responding to her will as easily as a limb.
She looked untouchable.
Ricardo tightened his grip. Rain coiled around his blade again: "Emelio," he called.
Emelio exited the broken tree, blade lifted: "Right behind you."
They stepped forward as one. The ground churned with every impact. Trees split. Boulders shattered. Entire sections of the forest floor collapsed into waterlogged pits as rain kept hammering down. Ricardo unleashed sweeping water crescents that cut through vampires trying to interfere. Emelio danced between Ame's strikes, narrow dodges that left strands of his hair sliced off. Their movements blended, one overwhelming force and one elegant precision. Ame moved like a monster, every strike heavier than the last. Her blade cut through Ricardo's torrents. Her footwork left no openings. Even Emelio's fastest strikes barely grazed her.
And still—
Ricardo laughed. A hard, exhilarated breathless laugh: "Man, this… this is the kind of fight you dream of."
Emelio scoffed, blocking Ame's swing and nearly losing his arm in the shock: "More like a nightmare."
Lightning flashed. Ricardo's alter blade became an enormous spear of twisting, spiraling water. He swung down. Ame raised her arm and redirected the entire flow into the sky. The redirected water crashed back down, blinding them both.
Ame slipped behind Ricardo.
Emelio: "RICARDO!!"
Ricardo spun. Ame's blade was already descending. He raised his alter blade and water surged upward, shielding him. The blow cut through the water shield but slowed just enough. He blocked. Barely. The force rattled his bones.
Ame pushed closer, blade inches from his neck: "You're fighting against both me and my weather."
Ricardo grinned even through the strain: "I'm not alone, sweetheart."
Emelio launched himself behind Ame. He stabbed right through her back, the blade went through her chest. But she allowed that to happen. She blasted both of them away with the water on her body. Emelio flew, slamming into the muddy ground. Ricardo saw the moment Ame turned to finish him. He acted. He rushed in, faster than he should have, faster than his stance allowed, faster than Emelio could warn him.
Emelio: "Ricardo, stop!"
It was another trap.
But he didn't.
Ame pivoted.
Her blade blurred.
One clean motion.
One impossible, horrifyingly fast motion. Even with a blade going through her.
Emelio froze.
Ricardo stumbled forward, blinking.
Confused.
His blade arm slackened.
Then—
Blood.
A lot of it.
Too much.
A wound so clean it barely looked real.
A line carved through his chest.
Ricardo looked down at it.
Then at Emelio: "…Hah." He laughed, not quite breathless, not quite pained. "Guess… I messed up."
Emelio surged forward, but Ricardo was already falling. Ame stepped back with a masklike expression.
Emelio caught Ricardo before he hit the ground. He knelt with him, storm pounding their shoulders, lightning illuminating the forest in violent white strips. Ricardo's breathing was shallow. Fading.
Emelio's voice trembled: "Stay with me. Ricardo—Ricardo!"
Ricardo blinked slowly. Then he smiled. Not a big grin. Not a dramatic grin. A small, tired, peaceful smile. Ricardo's eyes softened. Ricardo's hand slipped from Emelio's uniform. The rain swallowed the silence that followed. Emelio didn't move. Not for a long moment. He finally rose, placing Ricardo gently into the mud as if laying him on a bed. Ame watched without expression. Emelio picked up Ricardo's blade. And for the first time, his expression was devoid of humor, calm, or snark.
Emelio: "…You're not leaving," he said quietly.
Ame: "Nor are you. Neither of you stood a chance. He mastered that blade, what could you possibly do with it?"
Lightning illuminated his stone-cold face. This was his first time using it, and yet, he had activated the alter blade.