At my provocation, Finlay's eyes widened until they nearly popped out.

"You bastard!!"

The veins bulged in his neck as he shouted so violently he seemed about to cough up blood. The darkness rippled with his rage. Beyond the reach of the light, an army tens of thousands strong stirred.

"I'll show you exactly why we're called nobles of the night—!"

That was when the Regressor hurled the orb she held with all her might. The red orb containing the earth's fire, the Lava Tear, rose into the air above Tantalus. Though still sealed, its immense presence briefly drew every being's gaze.

By the time they noticed, it was too late. Once the Lava Tear had risen high enough, the Regressor spread her legs wide, drew back her shoulder, and aimed Sky Cherry Blossom.

Her target was the Lava Tear, the treasure containing the fire deep beneath the earth. She launched her sword toward it.

"Heavenly Sword Art. Sunshot."

WHOOSH.

A short, light sound, like a puff of breath, pierced Tantalus. A clean trajectory cut diagonally through the air.

The unseen sword shot upward at an angle and pierced the center of the airborne Lava Tear. The cut glowed red in the darkness.

In that instant, flames erupted through the crack in the red orb, which held an enormous concentration of energy.

This was the fire that kindled stars.

Dimmer than the sun, yet its crimson blaze was more than fierce enough to illuminate this small patch of land.

The Regressor spoke with confidence.

"The bottomless pit's a bit dark, isn't it?"

The Lava Tear was a bomb that exploded when infused with mana. But feed that mana into it in a specific pattern, and it would release its explosion over time.

What did that mean?

"So I made a miniature sun. Not that artificial lamp the Military State made as an imitation, but real fire that lights up the world!"

At that moment, a small sun rose over the bottomless pit. There was light in a pit that had been dark ever since its birth.

Beneath the red light beating down upon the ground, the vampire's blood lost its color. The red radiance suspended in the air burned away all the dark crimson blood energy, as though insisting that light alone had the right to possess color.

The fire of a star was a vampire's natural enemy.

It would not tolerate anything daring to shine red beneath it.

"Aaaaaaagh—!"

Finlay was no exception. His skin writhed, gradually darkening as though bruised. Had he not been near the Progenitor, he would have crumbled into black ash.

The Progenitor instinctively gathered darkness to block the light, but that alone tipped the battle in our favor. The darkness surrounding us had vanished, leaving everything brightly lit.

The noble of the night was no longer a noble.

The Regressor twirled the red-tinted Sky Cherry Blossom as she spoke.

"Tyrkanzyaka lost partly because humanity grew stronger... but the biggest reason was probably that people spent over a thousand years figuring out how to defeat her. She was always one of the foremost scourges of the mortal world, after all."

"Grrrgh! You coward!"

"Coward? Hmph. Better than a vile bastard who takes advantage of someone's momentary weakness to seize control of her heart."

Cornered, Finlay shouted from behind the black mist.

"Progenitor! That orb!"

At Finlay's words, the vampire reached out. Blood and darkness converged into a massive hand. As she extended her hand, the enormous hand of blood reached forward as though it were an extension of her own.

When its fingertips touched the little sun, she closed her fist. The blood-red hand closed around it.

Then, with a hiss, it burned and broke apart strand by strand.

"It's no use. Even Tyrkanzyaka never completely overcame the sun. With your pathetic control, there's no way you can squeeze that much power out of her."

Left with no alternative, Finlay desperately gathered darkness to conceal his body. Barely afforded a moment's respite, he panted in pain.

"Grrgh! You possess true blood! You've received the Progenitor's grace, and you dare betray her?!"

"Hm? Of course I should repay her kindness. By killing a parasite like you."

Having pushed him to his limit, the Regressor advanced toward the two vampires hiding from the sunlight in the darkness.

"True blood! You possess true blood, yet you dare bring out the sun... True blood?"

"Now, I'll make this quick. It'll only take a moment..."

Just as she boldly stepped into the area steeped in darkness—

"Haha! That's right! You have true blood inside you, don't you?!"

A low laugh came from Finlay, hidden behind the darkness. His voice sounded so triumphant it was hard to believe he had been groaning in pain just moments before.

The Regressor frowned at his reaction.

'He shouldn't have any way left to resist. What's wrong with having true blood?'

"You don't seem to understand what possessing true blood means, brat."

Finlay shouted with a grotesque laugh.

"That blood is both an immense power and the strongest of shackles! Great power demands an equally great price. You accepted that blood to gain strength, but it will be what strangles you!"

"Oh, no!"

'The true blood is still inside me! And that blood...!'

Realization struck, and the Regressor hastily cut her finger with Sky Cherry Blossom. At the same time, she pushed her blood manipulation to its limit, trying to draw out all the true blood remaining in her body.

But it had already spread throughout her entire body. She was not yet skilled enough at blood manipulation to extract that blood alone.

When it came to blood manipulation, Finlay was far faster. He seized the Progenitor's heart.

"Progenitor, please stop that one's heart!"

Once again, the vampire's upper body sways limply. Then she extends a hand. Urgency flashes across the Regressor's face. More blood pours from her finger.

But just before the true blood can flow out—

The vampire closed her hand around empty air.

At the same time, I heard something being squeezed beside me.

"Aagh...!"

The Regressor's chest caved in unnaturally before springing back. Blood spurted from her mouth, and her slender body staggered violently...

Huh? Wait a minute. Regressor? I'm screwed without you, you know?

I hurried over and caught her.

"Huh? Wait! Trainee Shei! You can't collapse!"

"G-Ghh. Th-this...!"

"You have to teach Trainee Tyrkanzyaka a lesson for me! I'm a bad matchup against her!"

"Is that... any way to talk... to someone in this state...?!"

Fortunately, the Regressor had not died. She had protected her heart with her own blood manipulation and energy arts.

The ultimate defensive energy art, Heaven-Reversing Realm, ensured her body functioned normally no matter what condition it was in. Her heart had stopped for a moment, but the rest of her body continued working as usual, and her heart followed its lead.

"I survived...! But..."

Panting, the Regressor straightened up. Her eyes had lost none of their fighting spirit, but the body did not always obey the mind. She staggered again, clutching her chest and gritting her teeth.

"Right now... I can't... get the true blood out...!"

"What? Then what are we supposed to do about Trainee Tyrkanzyaka?"

"Try to hold out somehow...! Three minutes. I only need three minutes...!"

"Me?"

Forget three minutes. If the vampire wanted to, she could cook me up and eat me in three seconds.

Our only consolation, perhaps, was that Finlay's control prevented her from reacting swiftly, and her hazy sense of self meant she bore little hostility toward the Regressor and me. She probably couldn't exert even a tenth of her full strength right now.

Of course...

"Grrgh...!"

That was because Finlay was incompetent.

I couldn't measure the vampire's strength, but Finlay's had a limit.

He might have seized control of the Progenitor through blood manipulation, but it was far more difficult than controlling a marionette. He had to use blood manipulation to move her stopped heart and force it to pump blood, stirring her hazy consciousness just enough to give her orders.

Even that had only barely become possible after the vampire relinquished her authority.

"As a thrall... controlling true blood is impossible... even while I control the Progenitor...!"

His attempt to control true blood had nearly burst his heart, leaving Finlay in almost as much pain as the Regressor.

Unlike her, however, Finlay was a vampire. Pain aside, a burst heart would not kill him.

"Hehe. No matter. I have more than enough ways to kill you. Do you know the Progenitor's epithet?"

Finlay extended his hand. At that moment, shapes crawled out one after another from beyond the light's reach.

They were countless black knights, clad in pitch-black armor and wielding weapons made of darkness.

"Knight Slayer. The first epithet the Progenitor ever earned. However skilled or renowned they were, they were only swordsmen in the end. All who came for her were swept away and killed in her sea of blood."

THUD, THUD, THUD, THUD.

THUD, THUD, THUD, THUD.

There was no end to the black knights. There were so many that I wondered where they had all come from, whether she might be creating them out of thin air.

Their bodies were entirely black, making them look as though they had been cast from the same mold.

But a closer look revealed subtle differences. The hands holding their weapons, the weapons themselves, their heights and builds, even their strides and footsteps.

They all marched out in disciplined ranks and files, yet each was a distinct individual.

"Because the Progenitor is a legion unto herself."

Finlay gestured at the black knights arrayed before him. The Lava Tear shining overhead prevented them from using blood energy, but even without that red vitality that burned blood for power, these numbers could easily destroy most cities.

Finlay swaggered as though this power were his own.

"Well, swordsman? Can you fight a legion and win?"

Impossible.

Certain of his victory, Finlay thrust out his hand. Thousands of black knights took a step toward us.

Against them stood only an exhausted Regressor and me, who had never had any strength to begin with.

"Ghh...! There are so many...!"

Dismay flickered in the Regressor's eyes. Still unable to fully control the energy rampaging inside her, she unsteadily tried to stand.

"Stay seated for a moment."

"Eek?!"

I kicked the backs of her knees to make her sit down again, then stroked my chin and pretended to ponder. A breathless voice came from down by my feet.

"You... can't win..."

"True, I can't. So..."

An army of black knights? Just three of them would finish me off. And I was supposed to beat that many? It was out of the question to begin with.

That left me with only one course of action, already decided.

I turned to the Regressor and announced it.

"I'm calling her, all right?"

"... Fine."

The Regressor had hesitated to use this option because of one possible complication: the vampire's body might be smashed to pieces.

Still, better than my body getting smashed. I rummaged through my pocket. With so little in it, finding what I wanted was easy.

"Now. See this? This is going to kill you."

I pulled a bell from my pocket.

It was a little handbell, the same one I used when feeding Azi. I held it high in one hand and shook it from side to side.

DING-A-LING.

The little bell's clear, feeble chime rang out, only to be swallowed up by Finlay's wild laughter a moment later.

"Hahaha! What do you hope to accomplish by ringing a bell? Is that supposed to be a divine bell? Not a chance!"

Finlay shouted mockingly at me.

"Pickled garlic, was it? Let me throw those very words back at you! I'll hang you upside down and drain your blood! I'll smash you and that bell to—"

"Grrrr."

Finlay's voice cut off abruptly. As though he had glimpsed death itself, he stiffly turned his neck toward the sound.

I shrugged and said,

"Now, Azi. That bad man is picking on us."

Amid the darkness blanketing everything and the sloshing blood, in a space trembling ominously, the bell's chime had been terribly faint.

But it was more than loud enough for the King of Dogs to hear.

"Grrrrr."

Her twitching cheeks had now drawn all the way back, baring every tooth. Her fur and tail stood on end, as though her entire body were bristling with thorns. Her once gentle, sunny face held nothing but hostility as she glared at the vampire.

The King of Dogs, the puppy, stood before me, radiating naked hostility.