Chapter 8

Education (2)

    Though the battle was chaotic, fortunately, no one attacked cross-pairs, allowing Esther to safely make his escape. Drenched in sweat, he slumped behind a column of a nearby building, his eyes darting around until he saw that Grace wasn't pursuing him.

    The gun-toting vampire flicked her tongue upon realizing her opponent wasn't taking the fight seriously and had brazenly fled. She twirled her gun a few times while eyeing the direction Esther had run off to.

    Being the daughter of a mafia boss, she somewhat enjoyed when her prey ran scared. Her bright smile seemed out of place to onlookers, causing some who had caught a glimpse of her smile to freeze, inadvertently becoming easy targets for their opponents.

    If those from the Valpurgis family saw her smile like that, half of them would seek cover...the other half would prepare to die.

    "Loki," the young woman tossed her automatic pistol into the air, "Sniper mode."

    The dark lethal weapon transformed into a sniper rifle with a silencer as she quickly shouldered it, aiming at Esther hiding behind cover. Her ears, capable of distinguishing individuals by their breathing sounds, made it unsurprising that she located Esther almost instantly.

    "‘That one has Tartarus with him. I'll go for a precise shot this time, make sure it's a direct hit,” Grace spoke coolly as she pricked her finger, letting fresh blood flow over the pale skin down to her rifle, which gradually changed from black to white with a hint of blue, astonishingly. The butt of the gun showed a moving bat wing image inside it as if it was about to fly towards its target.

    “Give me a head shot, Loki.”

    BANG!!!

    The sound of the grim reaper echoed thunderously across the field. The bullet Grace fired was no ordinary one... she had cursed it. A curse that ensured the target would die with a single shot.

    “One shot, one kill.” A curse that ensures whatever it targets will be relentlessly pursued until the bullet hits its target or is destroyed. For a first-year level, the chances of dodging or destroying this bullet were virtually nil.

    “See you in the castle, Esther,” Grace waved goodbye to her foe while standing watch over the outcome.

    As soon as the gun roared, the target of the bullet felt instinctively who had fired it. The sound of Loki's gunpowder explosion is slightly sharper than a regular gun. The young man, aware of his opponent's accuracy, instinctively ducked for cover.

    Coincidentally, the bullet grazed just inches above his head, the force from the shot that penetrated the column sending fragments flying into Esther's face, marking it with a welt as if he had been punched, not to mention another graze that bled slightly on his face. He collapsed, gazing at the bullet hole that went through to the ground.

    “I saw the gates of hell for a moment there,” Esther murmured in awe. “Went through the column, huh?”

    An odd noise in the ground caught his attention, prompting him to look. Esther sprang up with high speed instinctively, as a bright red bullet whizzed past his ribcage. After missing its target, the bullet halted mid-air, seemingly ready to turn back.

    “Tartarus!!!” Esther shouted.

    A dark aura emanated from the cross on his left hand, before the cross itself materialized in front of him with speed surpassing the bullet!!!

    Whoosh.

    The following bullet was swallowed by the dark cross in a blink of an eye.

    That was close... my goddess...

    “Ptooey, bleh,” the chain cross transformed back into a young girl swiftly before she spat out the bullet. To be precise, Tartarus spat it out onto the ground as if she had just ingested something utterly foreign.

    “How could you let me eat this stuff? It reeks of vampire blood, did you know?” The girl in front of him complained immediately, her gaze fixed on him with resentment. “It's bitter,” she said, sticking out her tongue. The young man glanced at the remaining grey eye, filled with tears of pity.

    “There, there, I'll treat you to ice cream later,” Esther spoke as if no one was trying to kill him at that very moment.

    “Really?” The weapon asked in a sulky voice.

    “Two scoops,” he promised, holding up two fingers.

    “If you lie, I'll really kill you,” she warned before biting his arm that was holding up fingers. ‘This is to cleanse the palate.’

    Cleansing the palate with a bite like that... You sucked my dry…

    He watched the young girl in front of him, forgetting completely that they were in the middle of a fight. Esther jolted when a stray light spell sliced the column he was leaning against into pieces. The young man ran back into the field, hoping to retaliate with a shot at his opponent. However, the unfortunate man had to turn back again when faced with the perpetrator launching bullets to block his path.

    Bang, bang, bang!!!

    The sound of rapid gunfire forced him to drag Tartarus into hiding behind buildings, before encountering this opponent.

    The rogue vampire gun girl, Grace Valpurgis.

     “You two seem sweet. That very first shot was actually meant to kill you,” the blonde woman remarked. Esther noticed that by now, her gun was almost entirely covered in blood, maintaining its original color but stained with blood to a mind-trembling degree.

    “Blah,” Tartarus stuck out her tongue and blinked playfully before running to hide behind her owner.

    “Um, can't we just not kill each other? We're friends, right?” Esther said weakly, as a bullet that grazed his neck responded to his question.

    Clearly, Grace was serious as she claimed.

    His jasper-black eyes narrowed with irritation, the playful yet fearful gleam fading from Esther's expression. Then, the girl standing behind him disappeared into his left arm, as the tattoo of the chain and gauntlet emitted a dark aura that enveloped his entire arm.

    "Can you transform into a weapon?" the young man hoped inwardly.

    "Nah, too lazy. Killing isn't really my thing."

    His hope shattered in an instant…

    "Bullshit," he immediately retorted upon hearing her serious tone, "Absolute Bullshit.”

    “I’m serious. Torturing is much more fun than killing. If you want something for capturing or torturing, just let me know. I’ve got almost everything you could choose from. Sure, I have some combat gear too, but I wouldn’t recommend those. They probably won’t suit someone like you.”

    “Sadist,” Esther muttered softly, then fell silent.

    ‘Never thought…we'd get along like this.'

    He sighed deeply before lifting his gaze to face his coming adversary.

    Esther lunged at Grace with swift speed, aiming a precise kick from his right foot at her left temple. However, she raised her gun in defense. Grace leaped back to maintain a firing distance, Loki morphing into a handgun suited for the situation.

    Bang!!!

    The bullet grazed Esther's face by an inch... and confirmed her suspicion that her target could dodge whatever she shot.

    "I’m getting serious, then?" Grace's sweet voice sounded mocking.

    Esther didn't reply but clenched his fist tighter and rushed towards his opponent immediately. Now, he was on the offensive, forcing the slender figure to retreat rapidly to create a shooting range. Her gun wasn't idle, firing round after round without giving him a breather.

    But Esther did something incredible once more. He used the back of his left hand to deflect nearly all the bullets she fired without blinking. Although some shots did miss their defense, no ordinary person could achieve this feat.

    'Is this guy a monster or what?' she thought, puzzled.

    Of course, Grace had no idea what was going through Esther's mind...

    'That was hurt!'

    Internally grumbling while putting on a fierce front to chase down his enemy, every sense was heightened to its limit. He began to perceive the trajectory of bullets, or at least, could guess where Grace would shoot. Almost every shot packed a lethal aim, leaving him no choice but to defend.

    Luckily, the tattoo like Tartarus wasn't just a simple mark. It allowed his left side, which the tattoo covered, to withstand weapons to some extent.

     The situation of deflecting bullets, then, unveiled.

    Even Tartarus, existing within his arm, was taken aback, partly by Esther's counterattacks, but also by sensing some power within the young man.

    When she first met him, Tartarus could vaguely guess that Esther was quicker than average and could strike back. If what he said about not having any power was true, then it was definitely impossible. Her mind raced through possibilities – Hyper Reaction? No, Quick Move? Not quite right; it wasn't fast enough, just heightened senses for a split second, an innate power used in emergency emotional states. 'Don't tell me it's...'

    Berserk.

    Yet, despite her theories, it was astonishing. The person in front of her was merely annoyed by his encounters, not enraged...

    The principle was slightly off... because such power shouldn't exist in ordinary humans. Or if it did, that person would have died from their own power long ago.

    While Tartarus wandered through her thoughts, Esther's irritation grew visible, clearly affected by being shot wasn't pleasant. His shirt began to stain with blood seeping from within. Although the wounds weren't severe, they were undoubtedly painful for the one suffering.

    'I'm really fed up with this department, and this university too. Who on earth do the death tests from the get-go?'

    After Esther did something many hadn't expected: he charged against the incoming bullets, catching them with his left hand intermittently. Closing the distance to fight against a gun is an interesting tactic, yet typically, nobody sane enough tries it against a vampire...

    Swoosh!!!

    A sharp object whistled through the air, alarming Esther as his shirt got shredded into ribbons across his chest. Grace had transformed into her full vampire form: her eyes were a deep blood red, and dark bat wings protruded through her shirt, giving her an imposing aura. Not to mention her blood-red claws that had just left their mark on him.

    "Die!!" The vampire launched into a counterattack, diving at her adversary, her hands glowing ominously red as though soaked in blood.

    Esther, grasping the tattooed area on his arm, jerked it upwards, causing a surge of black ink to morph into a thick vine that intercepted Grace's claws. He twisted his left hand around her wrists, leveraging his position to land a solid punch to her solar plexus, making her stumble back.

    "No help at all, huh?"                                                    

    "It's more fun this way," Tartarus chimed in. "Here's the deal: if you want to use any of my weapons, you've got to take a hit first. Think of it as a fee."

    "Can't you conjure up a weapon for me? Fighting her with just a book is tough!" Esther complained, landing successive punches on Grace, who struggled to block with her claws.

    "Aw, Esther, just agree to it. In a blink, you could be using something from my armory. And getting hit isn't necessarily physical unless you're keen on that."

    "...You."

    "Let's," Tartarus’ smirk flashed in his mind, "give it a tiny try."

    Instantly, everything went pitch black. The fight he was in just moments ago faded into an endless void. Esther looked around cautiously, seeing nothing. But then, Tartarus 'lesson' commenced.

    He screamed incoherently as his skin was peeled away piece by piece with some instrument, his fingers and toes severed completely. Soon, black flames erupted from his feet, engulfing him entirely.

    Just as he felt he was about to die, all injuries healed instantly before a new set of torments began. This time, he was frozen solid before chains constricted him, shattering his body. Then, his throat dried as if filled with sand, his skin blistering as though seared with hot iron. Yet, as he reached his breaking point and succumbed, everything reset.

    The endless cycle of torment went on... until it hit the ninth time.

    Suddenly, Esther, in the midst of aggressively pursuing Grace, collapsed and screamed out. Most assumed she had cursed him with some severe spell, which left Grace herself startled - it wasn't her doing at all.

    After a moment, Esther quietly stood up, irritation evident in his eyes. The residual pain had only intensified his aggression. His look towards Grace wasn't just of an opponent; it was more predatory, which Grace noticed immediately.

    She unfurled her wings to escape, but Esther just looked up and uttered,

    "Inferno Chain."

    Blood-red tendrils with sharp thorns streaked towards her. She managed to dodge and dove back towards Esther. Her guns appeared, dual-wielding, and she fired relentlessly. Yet, none could touch him.

    Esther tripped her to the ground, summoning a large black cross to bind her with chains.

    "Give it up already. I hate doing this to a woman."

    "No."

    With a flick of his wrist, Esther struck her chin, knocking the vampire out cold. He leaned against the cross, exhausted. "For god’s sake."

    As the fights around them ended, Esther noticed Grace was still unconscious. He pressed his bleeding wrist to her mouth. Instinctively, she bit down, her fangs piercing his vein.

"Consider this my penance for tying you up," he murmured. "You hassle."