Amia’s Obsession

Two days after the battle between Aurora and Lethia ended, news quickly spread that Lethia had been killed in battle and that the mine she had governed over had collapsed in the aftermath. At first, it was thought to be false because nobody could believe it.

However, when the vampire king, Kazimir, responded to their inquiries for them to determine whether the rumor was true or not, it was proven to be true. He had said that he was the one who had spread it, and they had no reason to deny his claims.

Thanks to Kazimir coming out and answering one of their inquiries, more questions arose one by one, with many involving who or what had killed Lethia. She was the princess, a direct descendant of Kazimir. Though most despised her and were happy to hear of her death, they weren't stupid.

The vampire nobles and elders were strong, but they weren't stronger than Lethia. It was proven by what happened in the battle before; they had all fought as one army and had only won because she surrendered herself out of sheer boredom. They were well aware of the fact that only Kazimir could potentially defeat her.

Was it another dark-dependent race? One that rivaled the vampires in strength. It wasn't rare for them to be killed by other dark dependents. Nevertheless, they had to have the strength to rival Lethia while also being not far from the vampire kingdom. But this sounded absurd. If there were anyone who could kill Lethia living close to them, they should've at least heard of them.

The more they thought about it, the more they felt how odd it was, and the more they wanted to know who did it.

In the end, when the question that was on the minds of the vampires was finally answered, they couldn't believe it. Lethia, someone who was feared by them, was killed by a zombie. Was that even possible? Zombies weren't weak just because they were mindless and moved on instinct. They were weak in many other aspects. One such aspect was that they were originally corpses. Not just any corpse, but commonly a human corpse, which was weak compared with other undead. If their dark core broke or ran dry of dark energy during a battle, they would return to what they were: a corpse.

Not only was it done by a zombie, but by one that was intelligent and could wield weapons with efficiency. Kazimir also hadn't failed to mention that the zombie's strength itself wasn't what caused Lethia's death, but the weapon it had used instead. A weapon that was the bane of a vampire's existence alone—how absurd was that? How could a weapon such as that exist and be in the possession of a zombie?

Holy weapons existed, which the humans used to suppress and kill the dark dependents who tried to invade the middle and high lands. However, it worked against all dark-dependent races equally, not just one. If it was a holy weapon that was used to kill Lethia, it would've also killed the zombie, but that didn't seem to be the case.

From the way that the king had spoken, it gave off the impression that the culprit wasn't killed by using the weapon. That would only mean his words were the truth. Rather than believing that such a weapon existed, they tried to find reasons why it couldn't exist. But no other reason came to mind; it was all for naught.

They were forced to believe what Kazimir said was the truth. They wanted to believe it wasn't real and that it was just a lie, but when it came down to it, there was no reason for Kazimir to lie about this. It wouldn't have brought any benefits to him or anyone else if that had truly been the truth.

Moreover, Kazimir's expression hadn't changed in the slightest. His expression had remained calm, with a noticeable seriousness in his tone. There was no longer any doubt in the minds of the vampires that this wasn't a simple hoax, but the truth.

It was now certain that, out of nowhere, a new threat had suddenly appeared, one that held weapons that were a natural poison to vampires. With this new threat, they couldn't take it lightly.

****

"It looks like my dark energy will be replenished completely soon." Aurora muttered to herself.

Due to Amia's coercion, she had been carried so as not to further hinder her dark energy from restoring itself to full strength. Since their bodies functioned solely on the dark energy residing in their cores, she needed to maintain a regular amount at all times. This was to ensure she didn't run dry amidst a fight, as she had nearly done before.

"Will you finally let me walk on my own when it's full?" Aurora asked, glancing at Amia, who was seated on the ground across from her inside a small cave they found. The cave was deary, smoothed, and formed to a degree that didn't feel natural. Small, barely perceivable cracks at the deepest part were apparent where it had collapsed.

"Or at the very least, let me help you? I would rather be of help to you than not."

Though her dark energy was gradually being restored over time, Amia was content to do everything herself, ensuring that Aurora stayed in bed and rested while burdening herself. Amia had taken care of her while her body wasn't able to function normally, only heading out of the cave to hunt weak dark dependents for their cores to maximize their dark energy reserves and as a form of insurance.

'Why is she so content with burdening herself?' Aurora's expression stiffened slightly as she felt worried.

Aurora had evolved a second time, reaching the intermediate stage after killing Lethia, while Amia hadn't, remaining at the stage below her. Her dark energy supply was smaller than her own. Even so, she continued without stopping. She was afraid that she might overexert herself.

"Why are you doing this?" Asked Aurora, seeing Amia look at her in silence.

"…"

Amia's mouth opened slightly, seeming to want to speak, but no words came out. Her mind was focused on something. It was something Aurora couldn't determine, besides the fact that it likely had some relation to what was happening to her right now. This only added to her worry.

"Answer me, please."

The prolonged silence from Amia was finally broken as she let out a sigh and spoke, "I-I'm fine. I just want to help you. You don't need to be worried about me. I promise. I'm able to take care of myself."

"You've done enough alone, haven't you? Let me help." She pleaded, wanting to lessen the burden on Amia.

Amia forced a smile. "I'm serious. I'm fine. You don't need to help me. I'm not forcing myself to do all this. It's just that... I want to do all of this to be helpful to you."

"Be helpful?" Aurora's expression changed into confusion and sadness upon hearing this. She could tell this wasn't everything there was to it. But she could tell this was some of it. She was sure of this; there was an evident obsession in Amia's eyes—a look filled with desperation and passion that she hadn't seen before from her.

Hesitating, Aurora voiced her thoughts: "What do you mean by wanting to be helpful? You've been helpful to me ever since we first met."

Up until now, this had been the case. Although she had at first been resistant to her succubus self and refused to accept the changes forced upon her body and soul, she eventually began to accept her new situation with the support and guidance of Amia. She might've teased her a lot, but she had been the first person to teach her magic and the culture of succubi.

She was the first person she had met in a world foreign to her. She was the one who stayed by her side even after leaving that world. The one who had supported her from the very beginning with love that didn't falter, even when they were placed in the worst kinds of scenarios.

That's why she couldn't understand why Amia held such an immense desire to help her when, in fact, she had done so much for her all this time. Shouldn't it be her who should help Amia instead? She should be the one helping in order to repay everything she has done for her. Shouldn't that be the case?

"It's not enough." Amia's words seemed to have come from the deepest depths of her heart. Her words were filled with great conviction.