1 The dawn on the blood castle

Transylvania the cursed city. Screams were heard from everywhere. Below the crimson sky, blood flowed like rivers painted the ground red. Every nook and cranny of this city was filled with corpses with monstrous shapes. On the filthy dirt road, an army of knights in silver armor trembled as they walked. One who witnessed this scene could not help but shudder at the terrifying sight before them. Leading the army was a young woman with light blonde hair, who glanced at her surroundings with an expressionless gaze. She was as leisurely as walking in her own garden. After her, every step was a flat sound coming from crushed corpses.

" Claire sama please be careful. We cannot predict what would happen here."

" Cledic. You don't need to be so worried. What could even happen at this point? "

" But Claire sama, almost two-thirds of the alliance's army has been wiped out. If we're not careful… no, maybe we should withdraw—"

A black shadow shot out from a house and was instantly cut in half by the woman. The shadow took on a monstrous shape like a large bat with strangely long forelimbs and sharp claws. Its appearance was so repulsive that it caused the knight named Cledic to take a few steps back.

" Don't worry my dear Cledic. If you're that scared, you can stay here and clean up. I'll be back as soon as I'm done."

" But Claire… sama, if you weren't here, what would happen if we were attacked by another army?"

" That's right, Cledic, if I don't hurry, the other dogs will sniff this place. Then your job is to hold them back. Ara, don't worry, they won't dare attack. After all, all the troublesome elements in their ranks had evaporated with this battle. As long as I live, they won't risk it."

" But…"

" Do you have anything else to say?"

" Nothing! Your highness!"

" That's good. Now I can't wait to meet the owner of this place."

" Wait! Claire sama!"

The woman's shadow flashed through the street and disappeared into the giant castle in the heart of the city.

[ Tick tack… Tick tack… (sound of blood drop)]

The atmosphere inside the castle was even more horrible than the outside. Dead bodies were piled up to the point of flooding the entrance. The intense smell of blood and the stench that rose in the air can make any normal person vomit. Claire didn't care about that at all, on the contrary, her eyes were glued to the surrounding architecture of the castle. She made a few compliments while going.

" In the middle of a battle this magnitude, these things still stood without a crack. It was so wonderful! So magnificent!"

Proceeding to a large area which must be the throne room. Claire stopped in front of a familiar figure, a tall man in dark armor standing in the middle of the room. Around him lay huge corpses. His face… she couldn't recognize it anymore because it was half gone, and all scorched but she couldn't mistake the huge black sword he was holding.

" To be able to maintain this posture until the last moment. Worthy of the strongest swordsman, Blair sama."

She bowed mockingly at the man considered the continent's strongest swordsman, whom even she couldn't compare to when he was alive.

She casually snatched the sword from his hand and the arm turned to dust in an instant. She compared her new sword and her old sword for a while and threw away the old sword and continued walking.

From the throne room to the next room, everything was stained with burns, even the solid walls of the castle are melting like candy. The floor was covered with a layer of lava. Claire walked over the lava, her armor turning pale blue. Her steps sizzled and the lava cooled black. Scattered around the room were corpses in a state that couldn't be worse, a huge shape that must have been more than four meters scorched. In its hand was a woman, although her upper body appeared to be intact, this woman's below had been crushed by the creature. Her eyes were wide-opened, her mouth gaped. She must have endured terrible pain before she died. Upon seeing this corpse, Claire's calm expression showing disgust for the first time since she had arrived, she clicked her tongue.

" Stupid girl, how many times have I warned you to never go after that brat, now look. I should have killed you myself."

She looked at the corpse for a moment, then glanced around, a large man with a shield in his hand, another woman skewered on the wall, a young blond boy about 18 years old lost the lower half of his body, and finally, in the distance, a dark-haired man wearing silver armor and a dark blue cloak was sitting down. His arms were still holding his sword pointing it upward, maintaining a fighting stance. The sword was emitting a faint blue glow.

" Pathetic… and yet you dare to claim to be the chosen one of the holy sword?"

Claire angrily switched her look between the boy and the young girl's corpse.

" It seems my biggest mistake was having faith in ignorant brats like you."

She took the black sword in her hand and swung it at the sword in the boy's hand. There was a big explosion, the entire room was bathed in blue light and then the sword in the boy's hand shattered like glasses. The young man was now just a dry skeleton in armor. Leaving the room, Claire took one last look at the young girl's corpse and then turned her head.

" Farewell, my dear sister."

She continued walking and reached the final destination of the castle. A vast expanse appeared before her eyes, a pale blue sky, a whole field of sunflowers. Claire might have thought she had accidentally stepped out of the castle if she hadn't looked closely at the transparent walls in the sky. Everything here was artificial.

" What do you think of this garden?"

In the middle of the field were a small wooden table and three cheap simple chairs. A young girl was sipping a strange drink, she was so beautiful that even someone of the same sex as Claire was dumbfounded for a moment. White skin, smooth hairs, their color was of the moon, especially those bright red eyes that have the color of sunset. After glancing around for a while, Claire answered the girl.

" It's ugly."

" Really? As I thought, it's the light right?"

" Yes, this light is too cold compared to the true color of sunlight. It makes the garden look nauseatingly artificial."

The young girl wasn't angry at Claire's comment, but couldn't hide the sadness in her eyes.

" I… tried my best, to make it match my memories but it seems like it was a failure. Maybe it's been so long… Even a simple thing that every human can have… seems impossible for me."

The two looked at each other in silence for a moment then Claire walked over and sat across from the girl. The smiling girl poured a cup of tea and handed it to Claire. Claire took the cup with one hand and took a sip, not caring if the tea was poisonous. The girl was still staring at Claire as if waiting for a comment.

" Not bad, the taste was a bit weird but you can call this tea."

" Really?"

The girl smiled brightly.

" Over half a century, it doesn't seem like it was all in vain."

Claire continued to sip her tea. She looked relaxed like sitting with a friend.

" Why don't you run away?" — Claire asked

" Haha, can I escape? You see, with an injury like this, it's impossible."

One might think that the girl's words were a joke since there was no one can be so carefree while seriously injured but if one looked around one can understand the reason for her word.

Blood was flowing from the girl's feet, her left arm was gone and was still bleeding. There were wounds all over the girl's body and all of them were bleeding, the amount of blood was so abundant that it spread throughout the garden. This amount, let alone a girl, must be equivalent to the blood of a hundred people. A ridiculous sight that was almost impossible to believe without seeing it with your own eyes.

" You look down on me. I know well, even you look like this, it's still very difficult to defeat you, I even have to take a little risk to do so."

" Ara… just a little risk, right? I can't win against you now, you know that well."

" You don't have to win against me, you just have to get away from me. That is more than enough, even before I arrive, you can escape from this place at any time. All the chosen ones except for me are dead."

" …"

Claire smiled and shook her head.

" If you want, this can be considered your victory. This whole war was almost meaningless if you're alive. With your abilities in less than a year, maybe a few months or even shorter. You'll fully recover and create a new army. At that time the human alliance will sink into despair."

" No… you guys won. I no longer have any reason to leave this place."

" ...I see, it's because of him right?"

" Right."

The girl smiled, and gently placed her hand on the face of the second guest here. A charred and shriveled corpse of a man in aristocratic attire sat on the third chair next to the young girl.

" Tell me, the saintess of Orleania. To you, am I a loathsome monster?"

" …"

" I think I was always a monster, even before I became like this. This country deserted me, everyone I trusted betrayed me. And now even the person I love the most turned his back on me."

" Do you regret it? Carmilla Akasha? About everything you've done?"

" Is it a mistake for a monster to want to become a human?"

" I don't think so, Carmilla, you are not a monster. On the contrary, you are a human who wants to become a monster."

"…"

" You're weak, you're just a weak girl, turned into a monster to run away from your deepest fear. Behind that monstrous skin, you were just a weak person, afraid of yourself, afraid of everything, afraid of betrayal. That's why—"

Claire put down her teacup and showed a mocking smile

" You can't win against me Carmilla, I've never been afraid, I don't understand fear and don't care about it I don't care about betrayal, I take advantage of it."

" …So according to you, you are the real monster? Hahaha, it seems from your point of view, the two of us are opposites, you are a monster disguised as a human while I am a human playing as a monster."

Claire didn't answer just smiled. In the distance, the sound of horses, shouts, and swords clashing those sounds that couldn't be heard by a normal human's ear but were crystal clear to Claire and Carmilla.

" Looks like time is running out. We should end it here."

Claire stood up and drew her black sword.

" Before we begin I have a favor to ask of you."

" You can say, I owe you anyway. Without you, things wouldn't have been this interesting. Thanks to you, a new era of humanity will be born, and I will be the one who sits on top of it."

" Can you bury him properly? I couldn't let him die as a human, that's one of my biggest regrets."

" Okay, I promise to bury him properly."

" There's one more thing I want to tell you."

" What is it?"

" You think you're a monster? One day you will understand, that even you are only human. That is the nature of all living things in this world."

"…If you really think so, why don't you show me one last time? The despair of a human, the fear that all the living was drawn towards, O queen of the night, O queen of death Carmilla Akasha."

....

Footsteps echoed throughout the castle. An army of thousands of people began to invade this place. The deputy commander of the Cledic army could not help but be horrified when he witnessed the dire scene inside the castle. Especially the death of the most powerful members of the coalition, including the sister of the commander. It took a long time for the legion to cool the lava in the room. When he reached the garden his face paled. Everywhere the whole place was covered with blood, the smell was much stronger than in other parts of the castle. There weren't even any corpses here, only blackened sunflowers' petals floating everywhere. There are only two bodies here. A withered corpse in aristocratic clothes and a young woman were lying motionless in a pool of blood. Cledic panicked when he realized who the woman was.

" Claire-sama!"

" It's been so long, Cledic."

Claire replied in a weak voice. Her skin was pale. although there was no sign of bleeding, that did not mean that she was not injured. Her armor was torn, and her right arm was bent in an odd way. There were strangely large hematomas on her body. Her body was noticeably thinner. Cledic grimaced at Claire's wounds and immediately gave the order to call the rescue team.

" Claire sama. Her, that monster—"

Claire raised her hand to interrupt Cledic. Although her voice was weak, her eyes remained calm.

" Don't do useless things. She is already dead. Order everyone to clean up this castle, and move all the items. Inform the entire coalition of the end of Transylvania."

In the sky, the clouds gradually cleared, and the red sky faded and slowly returned to its color. Carmilla leaned against the balcony, her mood elated like a child waiting for a reward from her parents.

" Finally I can see it again. It's not that bad…"

The whole city was gradually bathed in sunlight.

" Ah… it's warm, I see, just like she said, this feels so pleasant."

The entire balcony where the girl was standing was dyed in the morning sunlight. Carmilla opened her crimson eyes wide and stared straight into the dawn.

" So beautiful. I wish that person could see this scene as well."

Carmilla let out a soft smile before the darkness swallowed her body.