Akira stood outside the royal bedroom door, facing his "army", a mix of elemental wolves and robots modeled after mobile suits from the Gundam series. He took a deep breath and addressed them with utmost seriousness.
"Alright, here's the plan," he began seriously. "I'm going in there to save my sister. I want all of you to come save me if I also get caught."
Za-kun let out a metallic groan.
"No, we can't all storm the room. It's too dangerous," Akira replied, as if in a heated debate.
A robot that looked like Acguy let out another metallic groan.
Akira replied, "No, we can't blast it from orbit. My sister's still in there."
Then a Juaggu-like robot let out its own metallic noise.
"No, no long-range bombardments either!" Akira sighed.
Then a Zogok-lookalike groaned loudly. Akira blinked and muttered, "Huh… why did I never give any of you voice boxes?" Akira muttered. "Well, that's because I thought robots that communicate with metallic groans are cooler, that's all."
The fire wolf barked.
"Well, I didn't give you one because wolves don't talk," Akira said.
The water wolf barked in protest.
"No, that's not true. Wolves do bark, just not as much as dogs," he replied.
Then all the robots and elemental wolves began protesting loudly, creating a chorus of metallic groans and barks.
"Okay, okay! I'll give all of you voice boxes or something, just calm down!" Akira shouted, waving his hands.
The noise died down instantly. The dark wolf barked once, more composed this time.
"How exactly can you help? Just try your best to save me when the time comes," Akira said. "Cause some distractions or something to get me out."
They all nodded in unison.
Akira turned toward the door dramatically, raising a hand toward the knob. "Alright, everyone… may the force be with us."
He took a deep breath, as though heading into his final battle. But just as his fingers brushed the doorknob, the door swung open and a delicate hand caught his.
Erika stood there, smiling at him. But there was something about that smile… that is really terrifying.
"Guys… save me," Akira whispered desperately, glancing back at his army.
Only to see them heroically retreating. Most likely because he had programmed them never to attack Erika, and they don't know what else to do.
Selena, standing behind Erika, waved cheerfully. "Oh, brother, you're finally here. Well, since it seems like you two want to talk alone, I'll leave you to it."
"W-Wait, Selena…" Akira started, but she had already made a heroic exit, leaving him alone with Erika.
Erika's smile didn't fade. "We need to talk," she said simply, then grabbed his hand and pulled him inside.
A few minutes later, silence hung heavy in the royal bedroom. They were both seated side by side on the bed, neither speaking. Finally, Akira broke the stillness.
"I'm… so sorry for drinking your blood," he blurted.
Erika blinked at him, clearly confused. "What nonsense are you talking about?"
Realizing his mistake, Akira panicked. "No, I mean… I'm sorry for drinking my blood. Wait, that's not right either…" He sighed. "I'm just… sorry."
Erika smiled sadly. "No. I'm the one who should be sorry… for drinking your blood."
"No, you're not wrong," Akira said quickly. "It's my fault. Because of the Eclipse Clarity spell, it caused all of this."
Erika shook her head. "No… I should have been drinking blood regularly, even if I didn't feel thirsty. It's my fault for neglecting it."
"But it's mostly because of the Lunar Vow Sacred Gear, so—"
"Forget it." Erika cut him off, her voice soft but firm. "Let's just say we're both at fault… and leave it at that."
Akira sighed in relief. "Okay… as long as you're not mad."
"I'm not mad," Erika murmured, lowering her gaze. "I'm just… sad."
"Sad? Why?" Akira asked gently.
"I don't want this. I don't want to drink blood. I don't want to hurt anyone. I hate the vampire part of me." Her voice trembled slightly, a rarity for her, who is usually so composed. Today had been overwhelming: drinking Akira's blood, learning about his past, and hearing about the future that awaited him. All of it weighed heavily on her, leaving her more vulnerable than usual.
"Do you… want to become human?" Akira asked quietly, remembering the manga version of Fortune Arterial, where Erika eventually did become human. But that Erika was different, unlike this Erika, that one was not even a real vampire. so it's really easy for that one to become a human, but it would not be that easy for this Erika, who is a real dhampir.
Akira knew it, but he still asked.
"Is that even possible?" she whispered.
"Well… It's not impossible," Akira said. "Think about it. If it's possible for a human to become a devil or a vampire, shouldn't the reverse also be possible?" Akira reasoned.
"Then… do you know how to turn me completely human?" Erika looked at him with uncertainty.
"Well, I don't. But there's no such thing as impossible. If I try hard enough, I will find a way." Akira said confidently.
"I see…" she said softly.
"But… I don't really understand. Why do you hate the vampire part of you so much?", Akira asked. He still doesn't understand why she hated a part of herself.
"I just hate it," Erika said bitterly. "Why should I be different from others? Why should I have to drink blood? Why should I feel the urge to attack someone when I don't drink it? I just hate that part of me."
Akira fell silent. This level of conversation was beyond anything he had ever dealt with. He had never been trained to handle something like this.
So he reached out to the only person who might know what to do, "Hey, sister, what should I do? I don't know what to say here. How do I make her feel better?"
Selena's voice answered in his head. "Brother, I could help you… but I don't think this is the time for it".
"Then what should I do? I don't know what to say", Akira asked desperately.
"Just tell her what's in your heart. That's the best thing to do", Selena replied.
"But… I don't have a heart, remember?", Akira replied.
"Brother", Selena said, clearly fed up, "I am serious here,if you mess this up, I will manipulate your fate so that every time you step outside, you'll fall headfirst into dog poop".
"Wow, sister, calm down! Wait, you can do that?!", Akira asked, seriously shocked at the sudden revelation.
"I can. So take this seriously. Don't mess this up, or I'll let you have it". Selena said seriously.
Akira swallowed. His life was apparently on the line now. But more than that, he wanted to speak to Erika truthfully. So he took a deep breath and decided… he would say whatever he believed was right.