The clear sky reflected everything, from satellites, stars, and nebulae to the semi-visible waning moon, or maybe it was waxing. I have no idea; I'm "normal." I don't go around trying to figure out what celestial bodies are thinking.
"We're all here," Oshino's voice called.
Look. Around me, we were in the stadium of the abandoned school. Around me were Kiss-shot's hunters: Dramaturgy, Episode, and Guillotine.
On the stadium benches, Oshino and Kiss-shot were watching the spectacle.
You might be wondering how we got here; well, I'll show you.
*Flashback*
"So I just have to take those guys' limbs and give them to Kiss-shot." I said, looking at Oshino while I had a child version of Kiss-shot on my lap, licking my hand, the one I had injured so she could feed on my blood, which I didn't care about.
"Exactly, but if 'there's a problem,' there wouldn't be any balance there," he replied.
"Not this nonsense again; the last time you gave me those excuses, you followed me around for five months saying, 'You bring instability to the balance,' and all that drivel." I argued, pointing a finger at him.
"You seem very cheerful; did something good happen to you?" He just responded with his typical line, which sometimes made me a little angry. I didn't reply, which made him change tactics.
"Look, I can do something: gather them together so you can face them in a three-on-one. That way we save time, but in return you won't use any of your powers or abilities; you'll fight bare-knuckle," Oshino proposed.
"Ha, and why would I agree to something like that, since it doesn't cost me anything to go one by one and take them down?" I retorted.
"Because you'd still be missing a special part of Kiss-Shot's body," he said as he pulled a heart from his shirt pocket.
"Ah," snapped Kiss-shot, snapping out of her trance, and she lunged at Oshino, intending to rip out his heart, which I prevented by grabbing her arm. "Damn you, you little rascal! No wonder I felt so empty fighting. What did you use to rip out my heart? Give it back!" she pleaded, which, in her current form, made her look rather adorable; it was like watching a little girl complaining about a joke.
I could try to rip it out right now, but knowing him, it won't be that easy; it's simpler to do what he says.
I sighed.
"Fine, I'll do what you ask in exchange for Kiss-shot's heart," I told Oshino.
"Done," he replied.
*End of flashback.*
"If we defeat you, you'll hand over Heart-under-blade to us, and if you win, we'll give you his limbs," Guillotine said.
"That's the deal," I told him.
"I hope you don't regret it," Episode exclaimed with his arrogant smile, while Dramaturgy said nothing.
We just stared at each other, neither of us saying or doing anything.
I saw Dramaturgy take a step forward; that was the starting signal. Using all my strength in my feet, I moved at great speed to his position; by the time he realized I was in front of him, it was too late. Using the kinetic energy combined with the accumulated speed, I struck him with a palm strike, sending him flying into the stadium benches.
Dramaturgy managed to cross his arms, but it was no use; his arms were destroyed instantly, and his torso was severely damaged. If he weren't a vampire, he would have died instantly. I knew that, which is why I used so much strength, knowing I wouldn't die.
[Congratulations, you have defeated Dramaturgy. You have earned 90,000,000 PL]
I turned my head to see Episode trying to impale me with his cross weapon, which I dodged by taking a step to the other side.
"That's a very nice weapon, but it's only useful against beings that fight the undead or similar creatures, a category I don't belong to," he said, kicking him in the face and sending him flying.
Guillotine appeared flanking me, trying to attack, trying to strike without letting go of his Bible.
I dodged by taking a step back, grabbed his clothes, and threw him against the giant cross, causing him to bounce back to me. Taking advantage of this, I gave him a light kick, sending him flying again, so I punched him in the jaw, knocking him unconscious on the ground.
[Congratulations, you have defeated Guillotine Cutter. You have earned 65,000,000 LP.]
At that moment, Episode appeared atop his weapon. When he tried to do something, I was already on top of him, and with one blow, I sent him crashing to the ground, cracking the floor and leaving him unable to move.
[Congratulations, you've defeated Guillotine Cutter, you've earned 100,000,000 PL.]
"Well, I guess they didn't do too badly considering they specialize in dealing with vampires," Oshino said, as Kiss-shot applauded my performance.
...
"Well, that's all," Oshino said, handing me a cigarette, which I accepted. "And how do you plan to deal with her?" he asked.
"It's not that difficult; my blood is nutritious enough to satisfy her hunger in a way, not to mention there are plenty of bad people in the world; having her eat them will do more good than harm," I said, taking a drag of the cigarette.
"With that, my job is done; with you and her, I can rest easy, so maybe you can both heal each other," he said as he left without a formal goodbye, but I was used to that by now.
At that moment, I entered the room where Kiss-Shot was to see her again in all her glory. A tall, beautiful woman with blonde hair and pointed ears.
The moment she saw me, she ran out to hug me, grabbed my hip, and started spinning me around excitedly. I could only be treated like a stuffed animal.
"So you're staying with me?" she asked happily, which caught my attention.
"Well, at least for a while," I said, tossing away the almost completely burned-out cigarette and stubbing it out with my foot. I could see from her expression that she wasn't too happy about that, but she didn't say anything.
I went to sit down, which she did as well.
"Well, now tell me, why did you let yourself be mutilated like that?" I asked her.
"What do you mean?" she said, feigning ignorance, but it didn't work very well.
"I'm not that ignorant, Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade," saying her full name made her expression more serious. "A vampire of your caliber wouldn't have stooped so low; even without a heart, they wouldn't have gotten away with it so easily. Is it related to your fear of death, or is it some other fear that lies within you?"
She stared at me and sighed in defeat.
"Okay, I'll tell you everything," she announced with a fake smile.
She told me her life story, how she had spent these 500 years in solitude, and how she acquired a subordinate but couldn't restore his humanity, so he committed suicide by walking in the sun, burning himself to ashes. She told me how she searched for a place to die, but when the moment came, she was overcome with fear, with the desire to disappear, and with how she was going to convert and condemn that young man, but I stopped her in time, saving not only her but him as well.
"500 years, that's a long time," I said, whistling.
"Yes, and how old are you?" Kiss-Shot asked me.
"I don't know; I stopped counting a long time ago. I'm probably around 200 years old," I replied.
"Then you've had a life just as lonely as mine," she said with a compassionate smile, which touched my heart because it was true.
During all this time, I never formed any bonds in any world; I would just go, stay for five years, cause some trouble, and leave. And so it went for years. I wasn't really bothered by the monotony, since every universe is different, but I felt empty not being able to form any connection with anyone. If I did, I might not be able to leave that world, and since I'm immortal, I didn't want to see anyone die while I continued on as if nothing had happened.
In that sense, Kiss-Shot, we are kindred spirits, beings who understand each other's situations.
And so we left that place to travel the world.
...
During this time, Kiss-Shot showed me places she'd been, always at night or when the sun wasn't out.
I also took her to new places, places she'd never been before.
During this time, we were inseparable; we kept each other company. It warmed my soul, but at the same time, I didn't want it to happen; I didn't want to get attached to this vampire.
It was a rainy day. We usually spent these days going out, but Kiss-Shot didn't want to leave the abandoned building where we were temporarily living.
She came closer and sat on my lap. These moments of quiet intimacy had been appearing and increasing over the weeks.
She had asked me to read her a story, which I did, since I wasn't doing anything else.
While I was telling the story, she rested her head on my chest and ran her hand over it. I didn't stop her, since this level of closeness was common, but not this level of affection.
I knew I should stop it, but something inside me wanted all of this.
At one point, I stopped telling the story to realize she was looking directly into my face; I could see in her eyes the desire to be with someone, the longing for affection and for it to be returned, and I think that feeling was something I wanted too.
I had never been in love before. The two women who came closest to making me fall head over heels were Celestia and Hancock, but this level I felt now didn't compare to them.
Perhaps it was because of the long absence of affection or something else, but that didn't matter anymore, because before I knew it, I was kissing Kiss-Shot. Little by little, we began to undress. She was a vampire; she didn't have sexual needs like a human, as far as I could tell. She was doing this mostly to be connected to me, and nothing more.
We spent that entire drizzle giving ourselves to each other, until the energy I thought was infinite in both of us ran out.
(N/A: Due to space constraints, I'll omit the R-18 rating, but I'll definitely include it next time.)
I was lying on my back on an inflatable mattress, holding a very smiley, completely naked Kiss-Shot.
While we were in comfortable silence, she spoke.
"Don't go," I heard her voice. I looked at her and could see the love and affection in her eyes. "Stay with me forever; don't leave me. I won't be able to bear being alone again." I stared at her, my heart aching; I didn't like seeing her like this, so weak and fragile. When I didn't answer, she pleaded again. "Please."
I sighed at this.
"It's not that easy," I told her, to which she looked at me as if she didn't understand, so I decided to tell her everything.
My life before reincarnation: I lived a miserable life full of regrets, only to commit suicide and be reborn in a place that reminded me of all the bad things I did. How I always wanted to forget the past, how I wanted to escape it, how I wanted to redeem myself, how I became a hero thinking that would bring peace to my soul, but it wasn't quite like that.
I also told her about the system, how it worked, and how even if she wanted to, she couldn't come with me because of the danger of being disintegrated in the void between universes.
She didn't say anything for a while, only to start asking about the journeys I had taken.
"What was the strangest world you've ever been to?" she asked.
"Many fall into that category, but I can tell you the strangest situation I've ever been in," I replied.
So I told her about the time I was on a train, and out of nowhere a lion, a hippopotamus, and a giraffe got on and started asking me for directions. Communication was a bit tricky, but with hand gestures I could understand that they were looking for a zebra who wanted to go to the jungle, so I gave them directions to the city's travel center.
She laughed at this, and after a few more stories, we fell silent until she spoke.
"Oh, how come I didn't think of that before?" she said excitedly.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"We just need a ritual to link our souls so I can live inside your shadow, which is part of your body; that way I can travel with you without any problems." I connect.
"Is that possible?" I asked again.
"Yes, it's like a symbiosis; you take parts of my soul, and I take parts of yours. Of course, if one of us dies, the other would die too, but no, that's not important." A bead of sweat trickled down my forehead at that last part.
After thinking about it for a while, I accepted her idea, which made her very happy.
I contacted Oshino to find out how to perform this ritual. He quoted me a hefty sum of two million yen, which I reluctantly gave him.
In the end, he performed the ritual that bound our souls together for the rest of our lives. As such, Kiss-Shot can now live within my shadow for the rest of her life if she wants.
I still had a few months left before the five years were up, so we acted like a young newlywed couple during those last months. Until the day came to leave this universe.
"You're ready, darling," I said to Kiss-Shot.
"I'm ready, husband," she told me telepathically from within my shadow.
We were both nervous that this might not work, but we had both already decided that we would do it no matter what.
Even if one of us died, the other would too, so if one went to the afterlife, the other would follow closely behind, bound to be together always in any life or dimension, even in death.
And so, I activated the system, which took me to the next universe. One where I would spend a long time.
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The next chapter begins the Fate arc; it also introduces the first member of the harem, Kiss-Shot. With this, I will update the harem device.
I will have the next chapter ready to upload on December 8th, so all that's left is to wait. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.