Chapter 4

Tartarus (2)

    The first sound was from Esther throwing the thick book away. The following sound was the book hitting a target aiming a gun at him. The weapon was also able to summon magical flames to cover the enemy just like before, causing the assailant to cry out in agony.

    "Oceanus!!!"

    Without saying the word "The Compendium," the thick book, still ablaze, disintegrated and reappeared in the young man's hand. Esther grimaced in pain.

    "Damn it," the young man cursed... Using considerable strength had aggravated the wound on his back, causing significant blood loss. His favorite white shirt, now thoroughly dyed dark red.

    "It seems some people are not taking this seriously; otherwise, they wouldn't have survived to fight with the seniors."

    Esther grimaced and walked towards the dense forest beside the wide field, leaving a trail of chaos behind.

    As he entered the forest, he encountered group members who were blood-soaked and exhausted. Everyone had used a significant amount of their power for self-defense and to protect their comrades. It made him think that someone like Joshua, who still looked relaxed and was treating people in the group, must not be as weak as he appeared.

    After ensuring no one was left behind on the battlefield, the group moved deeper into the forest to avoid detection by other groups.

    "Uh... Has anyone kept a count of how many of us are left?" Esther asked.

    "We're down to fifteen from twenty-three," a woman with orange hair replied, her expression grave. Esther grimaced, noting her witch's outfit was almost completely charred beyond recognition. "Now, we only have a handful ready for a real fight. The rest were caught in the crossfire, but enough to prevent them from using their full power."

    "The others have already started leaving the battlefield. Most ran into the city, probably thinking it's safer," added Bryan Sixx, another survivor. Now, the three-eyed young man was so wounded that his clothes were nearly reduced to bloody rags, his hood torn off, revealing his rolling third eye clearly.

    “Some groups ducked out right when the war started. If we count all the freshmen, a considerable number must have survived. Those who died, well, we can't help them. The problem is how to survive until midnight.”

    'The city, huh? It's probably ground zero by now,' Esther thought. 'We'll need to find a city map or something with safe havens.'

    "Any engineers left?" Esther turned to inquire about the personnel needed... He went pale seeing everyone shake their heads.

    "There were three in our group. One got taken out at the start, and two were caught in the crossfire while running," Grace replied, sighing deeply. Esther thought she could almost remember every detail.

    "So what do we have left now? I can't quite remember who's from which department," Joshua inquired, amidst the tense atmosphere.

    "7 from Combat, 2 Management, 3 Quartermaster, 2 Medical, and 1 War Animal," Esther's eyes sank as the vampire girl spoke. "I should have used the book to smack some sense from the start. Shouldn't have waited."

    "Has anyone actually fought in a real battlefield?" the witch who first spoke to him inquired. Her black cloak had self-repaired to its original state. Now, Esther began to recall her name faintly.

    'The witch... Wiz Aeriarios, right?'

    As Esther was about to raise his hand, another person did too. The girl sitting next to him during the class gathering.

    'Grace Valpurgis, the rogue vampire with an illegal gun.'

    As the young man looked around, he noticed many people chuckling as if they knew what was about to happen. The prisoner's face, clueless about the situation, instantly bore a question mark because almost everyone here had already fought in real battles.

    "Shit, just my luck," he muttered under his breath, beginning to suspect that this was about selecting people for the frontline.

    "So, you... you chain man, and you... the gunwoman, please go on a patrol so the rest of us can take a break," Wiz immediately ordered without caring for his opinion. It was clear to Esther that she still didn't remember his name.

    "Hey, but I'm injured..." the young man objected.

    Esther grimaced as he realized the pain in his back had disappeared. He hadn't noticed Joshua healing him without his knowledge, so he exclaimed in surprise and turned to thank the young doctor, who just smiled back.

    "Where’s your injury? Enough with the complaints. Hurry up and scout the forest before it gets dark, or it might be more dangerous,"

     He sighed deeply. 'First a vampire, then a witch, I guess if I stay long enough, I'll end up fighting a dragon,' Esther thought, forgetting that the subject of his complaint was quietly lying at his feet.

    "What can you do besides slamming people’s heads with a book?" Grace asked with a hint of superiority returning to her voice.

    "I've got some combat skills and my only weapon is this book," Esther responded, noticing the puzzled looks from the group.

    "Don't forget, I didn't attend the weapon selection ceremony," he reminded, making everyone seem to understand his situation instantly.

    "Chains weighing down your feet, your only weapon is a flammable book, and you're in the combat major?" Grace commented, her internal disagreement slightly evident because she had just witnessed him brutally finishing off an opponent.

    'I didn't even want to join in the first place...but saying that now might just get me killed.'

    Suddenly, he thought of something... The woman in front of him wasn't bothered by the sunlight. Normally, vampires should feel the heat, especially in direct sunlight, but she seemed unaffected, prompting Esther's gaze to shift up and down Grace's body in curiosity.

    "What are you staring at?" the woman frowned, noticing his intrusive gaze even though he meant no harm.

    "Nothing, nothing at all—"

    Esther's voice trailed off when he spotted Victoria Art's spirit sitting on a branch above their group. Although unnoticed by everyone else, the vision was too vivid to be an illusion. His consciousness told him that, apart from Bryan, there were no necromancers or seers in their group.

    'How did she get here?'

    "Let's do this. I'll go alone. You don't have to, there's probably nothing left in the forest by now," Esther said, stepping away amidst the confused looks from the group, given his sudden change of demeanor. Bryan raised an eyebrow and smiled slightly, while others exchanged puzzled glances.

    "What's up?" the young man asked the unseen presence when he'd walked far enough.

    "Don't go any deeper into the forest," Victoria Art spirit advised. "It's not a place you should enter right now."

    Esther looked at the dimly glowing spirit, her worried expression more intense than he'd expected. Instead of marching straight in, he knew he had to find another way to patrol. The urgency he had felt was now almost completely dissipated, realizing there were still ways to utilize others for help.

    "Could you help me out, then?"

    "How can I help you?"

    "Check around our group and the path we're about to take for any other groups or anything else that could kill us."

    "From what I've seen, the other groups have disappeared. And if you don't get back to the city soon, you're definitely going to die." Victoria's expression shifted slightly, possibly showing anger or annoyance, which he could discern despite her being translucent.

    "Is whatever's in the forest scarier than the seniors?" he tentatively compared.

    "They’re on different levels," she recalled the woman speaking at the podium. "But against Miko, it might be evenly matched."

    At this point, Esther grew more concerned, his usually calm face showing signs of stress. With gunfire echoing closer, the situation became increasingly dire.

    "Then I'll ask the group first because, no matter what, I don't want to die," Esther said, turning away with a slight grimace. He called out to the quiet chain because her silence for so long was concerning... but her response was not an acknowledgment, but a question.

    "Have you ever killed anyone?" the chain of death asked flatly.

    Esther was slightly taken aback before laughing.

    "That's an odd question... How could I have? The only real killing I've done was after getting here," he replied, surprised by Tartarus's sudden question.

    "Well, it doesn't matter if you die here, right? Even if I swept the entire university, no one would complain. So, I didn't need to care much about whoever I killed. If it were outside, I would have run away countless times by now."

    "You seem accustomed to death. I didn't think so when we first met, but your actions earlier weren't normal. Not to mention how you changed suddenly and stomped on someone who approached. Not even a murderer would be as calm as you were seeing a dead body. If you weren't used to it, you'd at least show some reaction."

    Esther fell silent, puzzling. He thought for a moment before speaking out. "At least, I've never killed before."

    After that statement, one chain, one man, and one spirit suddenly fell into silence.

    Esther was about to walk away but then started hearing something, a sound he didn't quite welcome.

    He…Help!

    "Let's go back, the group has been waiting for a while," said the man assigned as a compulsory scout, shaking his head. "Victoria, no one but me can see you, right?"

    "The vampire and the three-eyed can see me, but they seem to think I'm harmless, so they didn't say anything," she paused in her speech. "I can make others not see me, no matter what power a person has, but you’ll be the only one who could. Do you want me to use that?"

    "That would be helpful. Stay close and warn me," the young man told Victoria as he walked back on the same path...he couldn't wait any longer.

    Help me...

    The voice sounded again, colder and closer than before, making Esther's skin crawl. He tried to see if Tartarus and Victoria heard anything, but he was too afraid to ask.

    Tartarus was filled with questions. Besides wondering if Esther had ever killed, she was greatly puzzled about how he knew his way around without marking the path. He walked back and forth as if the forest was his backyard. Her suspicion was that his expertise indicated more than mere speculation; surely, he must have been involved in some form of combat.

    It seemed even she didn't hear "the voice."

    When Esther returned to the temporary camp, the group was ready in full force. From the looks of it, the Quartermaster team had prepared quite a feast.

    "Ooh, let me have some," he said, walking over to grab a steak left in the center of the circle, seemingly intended for him.

    "What did you find?" Wiz asked, not noticing the group's relieved expressions upon seeing him return.

    "No one's around here anymore, but something warned me that going deeper could encounter something scarier than humans," the young man replied, keeping that something a secret.

    "Can you tell us what it is and how powerful it is?" a young girl from the administrative department inquired.

    "I don't know what it is, but its level might be comparable to the president's."

    Hearing the word president, everyone's faces went pale, and even Grace looked uncomfortable. "Well, at worst, we just die," Esther shrugged, trying to be brave despite the voice whispering in his ear, suggesting that facing the president directly might be a more appealing option than the current situation.

    "What do you want to do?" Wiz Aeriarios asked immediately, appearing to have taken the lead.

     “I have something to handle here,” the young man said, while the spirit girl who just warned him looked at him incredulously. “Even if I have to be alone.”

    "We've agreed to go back to the city. Are you sure?"

    "I told you, I have to go no matter what," he said, struggling to keep his composure as the voice beside him did not cease.

    "Help me!!"

    "Torment, it's too much a torment here."

    The voice seemed to whisper directly into his ear. The longer Esther stood still, the more he could feel breathing on his ear... Earlier, he had tried to find out if someone was playing a prank, but found nothing. Victoria, who would have been the most likely to do something like this based on her personality, seemed an improbable suspect.

    As he walked, Esther didn't even want to look back. Meeting Victoria, he hadn't thought much of it, assuming she was just there to warn him and keep him company. But after hearing that voice, Esther nearly passed out from fear, worried it might haunt him until graduation day.

    "Our consensus is clear. You're going alone, correct?" the young witch asked once more for confirmation.

    "You didn't hear that?" he inquired about the voices whispering to him.

    "Hear what?" Wiz replied with a puzzled look, leading him not to elaborate further.

    "Alright, I'll be off then," he said, glancing at the sky growing darker. "Good luck to everyone... see you tomorrow, alive or dead."

    "Wait!!" Grace suddenly interjected. “I’ll go with you.”

    Everyone looked at her in surprise as Grace's face turned noticeably paler. This made Brian and Joshua look at Esther questioningly, but he just shook his head in response.

    "It's good, having a vampire join us at night will be somewhat comforting," the brave prisoner quickly took Grace's hand and led her away from the group, giving a stern look to the vampire woman as if to say something silently. They then walked out of the domain their group had set up for monitoring.

    "Needing blood, huh?" Esther broke the silence halfway without looking at the person following him, surprising Grace with his quick realization.

    "How did you know that?" the golden-haired woman frowned, looking at his back.

    "I've read all sorts of books, missing a vampire needing blood would be odd. Haven't fed in several days?"

    "Two weeks," she answered, her face growing even paler with each step they took. "Normally, it wouldn't bother me, but today I've seen too much blood... it just..."

    She gestured to her slightly elongated fangs. Although not very noticeable, a closer inspection would reveal they were completely different from those of a normal person. While she might worry her appearance could scare others, to the man walking beside her, it seemed quite the opposite.

    "Your fangs are actually quite cute," Esther laughed, unaware she averted her gaze immediately.

    "Where do you usually feed?"

    "Packaged instant blood. Type A would be great," the vampire replied softly. "Do you have any with you?"

    "I'm a normal human, y'know. What normal person walks around with bags of blood?" Esther grimaced in response to her question. "Just asking... ever bitten someone's neck, or do you just drink from bags?"

    "Are you crazy?" Grace's face went from pale to flushed. "Tha... That kind of thing, who would da... dare?"

    'Damn, a vampire that doesn't bite.'

    "My father taught me, but I just can't—"

    Before she could finish, she collapsed to the ground. Before her face hit the dirt, Esther caught her and pulled her close to him. Although it seemed like he was helping, what he was doing amounted to indirect harassment. The main difference was that at this moment, seeing the other's neck so clearly induced thirst, not lust.

    "What are you doing?" Grace struggled to pull away as seeing the target only intensified her craving for blood. "Are you insane, Esther?"

    "Bite quickly. I usually donate my blood to the chain anyway; it won't kill me," Esther, now holding a vampire in his arms, tried to focus on the forest ahead to avoid thinking about the impending pain. "Just don't drain me dry, that should be fine, right?"

    Esther knew that if he let Grace go on without blood any longer, she could either die pointlessly or become frenzied. And for him, watching someone die right in front of him was unbearable, except for his most hated foes or adversaries.

    "No. I don't bite," Grace pushed him away immediately.

    "Just let this stubborn girl die then," Tartarus complained after a long silence.

    The vampire mafia daughter was speechless upon hearing those words. A question mark could virtually be seen floating above Grace's head, making it clear she was bewildered. Obviously, Esther tried to forget his own expression when he discovered that Tartarus could speak for the first time.

    "You... that chain--"

    Before the vampire woman could finish her sentence, the young man beside her pushed her down onto the grass. He drew the cross part of his weapon, gauging the appropriate distance and force.

    Then he stabbed his own hand.

    "You! What are you doing?!" Two voices exclaimed in unison, causing Esther's ears to ring. However, the young man paid them no mind... He quickly covered Grace's mouth, who was pinned down on the grass, with his blood-soaked hand. Given that Esther was straddling her, even though she wanted to escape, she couldn't.

    "Swallow it down and make yourself useful... it's better than you are drying out. Since it's come to this point, you can join, too, Tartarus," the young man muttered, feeling the murderous intent from his own weapon. As soon as he finished speaking, the chain seemed to convey something to its master but ultimately focused on devouring Esther's soul as a snack instead.

    "Heh, my hand is being sucked for blood, and my leg is being drained of my soul, guess I won't die from the forest this time," Esther's gaze fixed on the vampire underneath him who was desperately sucking his blood as if afraid his hand would disappear. The feeling that everything was slipping away from his body arose in Esther's mind, but he couldn't stop it, having already made up his mind.

    After a while, the suction from both parties ceased quietly.

    Grace's crimson eyes almost glowed in the darkness, and the chain, now a symbol of the cross, turned red.

    Looking at Tartarus, Esther had an idea. He immediately touched the key hanging from his neck with his bloody hand. The key began to absorb his blood quietly, but not as much as he thought. Eventually, it turned bright blue in the weakened eyes of Esther, who had to lean against a tree, exhausted.

    "Empowering others but almost dying yourself... should have listened to him," the chain openly complained now that Grace was aware of its presence, seeing no reason to hide anymore.

    "You're a spirit weapon, aren't you?" the blond-haired woman whispered, curious.

    "The Cursed Mythic Chain, The Chian of Judgment, The Chain of Distortion, The Shackles of Gods, call me whatever... but it's better if you just call me Tartarus."

    "Death under the moonlight... Grace Valpurgis, pleased to meet you," the gunslinging vampire introduced herself formally. "Before we continue, can you turn into a human? It looks like I'm talking to a chain."

    "Of course."

    That response startled her master.

    "Why didn't you tell me you could transform into a human before?" he confronted the chain at his feet.

    "You never asked," Tartarus replied with a high pitch.

    Following the cheeky response, the cursed chain elongated and released itself from its master. Its parts floated and came together into a spherical form, which then expanded continuously. Eventually, the ball, resembling a cocoon made of chains, burst open.

    A girl of about fourteen or fifteen stood in place of his weapon. Her left eye, a dull gray, peered at him through the lens of her glasses as if she could see right through him. However, the right was covered with a clean white bandage. She brushed her midnight-black hair back, the length of which almost reached the middle of her back.

    Her delicate, touchable skin was obscured by an ill-fitting poncho, contrasting with the black chain wrapped around her as if it were a beautiful accessory. The enlarged cross hung from the end of the chain, which seemed to now be Tartarus's weapon. What surprised him the most was what the girl held in her hand.

    The Compendium of the Oceanus.

    "Why do you have it, and why didn't it burn?" he asked, panicked.

    "Are you crazy?" an unfitting phrase came from the former chain.

    "I was sealed in a room, not a chest... I've read every book in that room, too," the girl boasted carelessly, ignoring the gaze of her master who looked at her as if he couldn't believe his eyes. "Don't be like that; I can summon all the books in the room in front of you right now if you want."

'Is there anything more surprising than this?'