Alucard was about to begin climbing the arch when Nephis suddenly raised a hand.
"Wait. Let Kai scout ahead first."
Her tone wasn't sharp, but it carried enough authority that no one questioned her decisions.
Alucard paused mid-step and nodded. He stepped back, folding his arms as Kai stretched his shoulders and then launched himself into the air. The wind shifted slightly as Kai ascended, his figure growing smaller and smaller against the darkening sky.
For a while, Alucard could still track him.
Then Kai became a silhouette.
Then a speck.
Then nearly invisible.
Alucard squinted, mildly annoyed that his eyesight wasn't good enough to keep following him. He briefly considered using his linniage [The sin of envy]—but decided against it because it seemed like this maze was created specifically to stop him from using that ability.
Eventually, Kai descended in a smooth arc and landed lightly in front of them.
"As far as I could see," Kai reported, "there aren't any Nightmare Creatures above. It looks clear."
Nephis nodded once.
Without hesitation, she summoned her golden rope and handed it to him.
Kai flew up again, this time much faster, and secured the rope tightly around the highest part of the arch. He tugged twice to test its stability before signaling that it was safe.
And then…
They began climbing.
---
Alucard would have loved to make a dramatic entrance.
A spiral of blood.
A violent spinning ascent.
Something flashy.
Something memorable.
Unfortunately, reality was cruel.
He was running low on blood reserves, and the stunt he pulled the last time he climbed this rope had cost him far more blood than he'd admit out loud.
So he grabbed the rope.
And climbed.
Like a peasant.
At least he had experience.
Years ago—well, less then a year ago—he had spent countless nights scaling the castle walls just to sneak into Seishan's room.
Looking back on it, he was still amazed the guards never noticed him.
Either they were incompetent.
Or she was helping him more than he realized.
Still, even with that experience, it was difficult not to feel irritated when he glanced down and saw Kai carrying Cassie upward with almost no effort.
She didn't even have to struggle.
She just sat there calmly while he did all the work.
Unbelievable.
But that irritation only fueled him.
He had motivation.
And that motivation was simple.
Revenge.
---
By the time Alucard reached the top, the sun had nearly vanished beyond the horizon.
The sky was painted in deep violet and fading gold.
Nephis and Caster were already arranging stones and preparing a small fire pit.
Effie stood nearby, arms crossed, staring at the uncooked spider meat like it had personally offended her by not being edible yet.
She looked seconds away from committing violence out of hunger alone.
Alucard couldn't help but smile.
Caster saw it immediately.
That smile.
That specific smile.
He approached once the fire was stable and Nephis began cooking.
"So," Caster said casually, lowering his voice, "what evil plan did you come up with this time?"
Alucard blinked.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Caster nudged him.
"Don't lie. That's not your innocent smile. That's your 'someone is about to suffer' smile."
Alucard let out a small chuckle.
"Oh? Is that so?"
He leaned slightly closer.
"Well… since you asked…"
He paused dramatically.
"…Actually, it's better if you witness it firsthand."
Caster narrowed his eyes.
---
When Effie grabbed the first cooked piece of meat and shoved it into her mouth—
Everything happened instantly.
She froze.
Her expression twisted.
And she spat it out violently.
"What the hell?! Why does it taste like this?!"
She grabbed another piece, suspicious.
Bit into it.
And gagged again.
"It's disgusting!"
Everyone else looked confused.
Nephis calmly took a bite.
Sunny did too.
Kai chewed thoughtfully.
Caster swallowed.
"It tastes fine," Sunny said.
Effie stared at them like they were insane.
Unfortunately, her flaw was merciless.
She was starving.
Always starving.
So despite the revolting taste overwhelming her senses, she had no choice but to keep eating.
Each bite made her visibly shudder.
Meanwhile—
Alucard was enjoying his meal.
Quite happily.
In fact, he even leaned over at one point.
"Are you going to finish that?"
Effie glared at him while gagging.
Caster turned away, shoulders shaking from suppressed laughter.
---
Night eventually fell completely.
They prepared to rest.
The fire was extinguished.
Memories were unsummoned.
Fortunately, that didn't mean complete vulnerability.
The men wore loincloths.
The women wore makeshift brassieres fashioned from cloth and straps.
Alucard almost laughed at the absurdity of it all.
He was standing on a massive ancient stone arch, above an ocean filled with horrors, half-dressed with a group of deadly Awakened warriors.
This was a beach episode.
A real one.
If someone had told him three years ago this would be his life—
He would've laughed.
And then probably punched them.
---
Alucard volunteered for first watch.
He sat near the edge, legs hanging slightly over the side, watching the black ocean below ripple under moonlight.
It was peaceful.
Almost too peaceful.
The wind carried salt and the faint metallic scent of blood that only he could detect.
For a moment, he allowed his thoughts to quiet.
Then—
Footsteps.
Caster sat beside him.
"You know, you shouldn't sit so close to the water" Caster said casually, "I hear fish love the taste of blood."
He chuckled at his own joke and handed Alucard some leftover meat.
Then leaned closer.
"So. How did you do that to Effie?"
Alucard smirked.
"Simple. I infused my blood into the food when I fed her earlier."
Caster blinked.
"You what?"
"My blood entered her bloodstream. Then I amplified the sensitivity of her taste receptors."
Caster stared.
"You can manipulate people like that?"
"Temporarily. Their bodies reject my blood. Especially strong ones like Effie. So I had to continuously reinforce it."
Caster slowly connected the dots.
"So when you refused to fight earlier… it wasn't because you were angry…No. You just wasted most of your blood on this."
Alucard looked embarrassed at being called out.
Meanwhile Caster continued his questioning.
"So how long will your little prank effect Effie anyway?"
Alucard counted on his figures taking far too long to do simple math.
"About a month."
Caster covered his face to hide his laughter.
"You're evil."
"Me? Evil? I'm deeply offended."
They continued bantering for a while before Caster asked the question he'd clearly been building toward.
"How much blood did you waste doing that prank anyway?"
"…A lot."
"What do you mean by 'a lot'? Like for example, how many Blood Spears could you have made if you hadn't wasted the blood?"
"…Ten."
"...And how many can you make using the blood you have left?"
"…Two. Maybe three if I use my own blood."
"…You're unbelievable," Caster muttered and without another word, he walked far away from Alucard to sleep and pretend this conversation never happened.
---
Alucard remained awake all night, which was a habit of his since he was young.
He usually didn't need much sleep at all, so why waste the night in bed moping around?
Normally, he would've simply enjoyed staring at the moon.
But not tonight—
He had gotten himself a new project to focus on.
And that project was studying the sigils of the Blood Arrow.
He summoned the Blood Arrow in his hands.
The sacrificial sigils of the blood Arrow glowed faintly in the moonlight, something only he could see.
He studied them intensely, trying to find the perfect sigil to start with.
He chose the foundational sigil first—the one responsible for forging blood arrows.
It also contained the sacrifice for the entire sigil—
The user's own blood.
Thinking about sacrificing blood gave him a strange feeling of committing a taboo, something he shouldn't do.
But he knew this sigil was too important to let a feeling stop him from doing what was needed.
He began carving it into the stone beneath him.
Line by line.
Curve by curve.
Each stroke precise.
Drawing it was easy enough.
Understanding it was not.
He analyzed the flow of the lines.
The sacrificial trigger condition.
The blood extraction threshold.
The containment mechanism.
The complex tapestry of promises and sacrifices.
Hours passed.
He attempted activation many times.
And it usually all went the same.
Blood surged from his body—
But not correctly.
It appeared randomly.
Different quantities.
Different locations.
Unstable.
Useless.
He tried again.
Adjusted ratios.
Changed flow direction.
Refined the sacrifice anchor.
By dawn, he had achieved only partial success.
A crude auto-summoning sigil.
Functional.
But wildly inefficient.
Still—
It was progress.
And as the first light of morning crept across the horizon—
Alucard allowed himself a small, tired smile.
He was getting closer.
Much closer.