23 Turning Point 1

Chifuyu picks his nose.

"Hm, the Alter World."

"Yep, the Alter World."

"Wait, the Alter World?!"

It didn't register the first couple of times.

"Yep, in a few days if possible."

"What're we going for?"

"To retrieve my weapon."

"For real, you had a weapon? I'm kind of getting excited."

"Yeah, most vampires in the Alter World actually use weapons."

Vampires here on Shioto discarded their weapons or just have them hidden since a lot have blended in with society, they'd draw suspicion if seen carrying around a weapon even once.

"I get to see the place you came from, huh?"

"Well, you'll see just a bit of what my world is like. Don't get your hopes up, it ain't pretty."

"Haha, is that so..."

Chifuyu has his worries, but as long as Ariel's with him, he knows he'll be fine.

"Don't worry, I'll make this trip somewhat entertaining."

Ariel speaks with confidence.

After that, Chifuyu gets a full 2 days of sleep. The intense year of training had finished at last and it all caught up to him. Iris was fine though. While he slept Ariel told Shoyo, he'd have to get permission from the President, but that wouldn't be a problem. When Chifuyu woke up, they explained the plan.

They'll go through the portal that Ariel and her army first came from in the 15th district located in the mountains. Shoyo can teleport them to it since he's been there before.

The portal takes them to the northern part of their continent that they refer to as Continent V in a forest which hits below negative 10 degrees Celsius. Vampire bodies can handle it no problem, the same can't be said for humans. Chifuyu's a half-vampire now though so he may have some resistance. Nonetheless, he has to wear a first-rate thermal uniform in order to maintain a body temperature of over 35 degrees Celsius. These uniforms are only made for Hunters who are qualified to go on expeditions. He's not quite there yet, but since Ariel will be with him, he'll be fine. Shoyo places an order for one, it even has his name on the back.

Ariel left her weapon because she thought she wouldn't need it. Shoyo gets a good laugh out of that. She had an intelligent monster make a vow to keep her weapon safe until she returned for it. It was with the ruler of the forest. Chifuyu asks how she got it to make a vow. Simple, it makes the vow and Ariel allows it to live. The portal is located in the Forest of Treants. It's deeply vast and the Hunters didn't even make it out of there on the first expedition. Continent V is one of the Alter World's countless bodies of land and it's 3 times the size of Shioto which holds a population of 901 million. Nobody knows how big the Alter World truly is.

The Forest of Treants holds many swamps and several other types of monsters such as twenty feet long alligators among other giant reptiles and insects. On top of that, any number of trees in the forest can be treants. Ariel tells them this still doesn't even scratch the surface of Continent V.

The partners are ready to leave, but Chifuyu still has one final test.

It's past midnight, and everyone is present except for Iris. Chifuyu's final test is to prove he won't succumb to the half-vampire blood inside of him. It's just a bit, but Shoyo cuts his forearm to see if Chifuyu has any reaction to fresh human blood.

"Mind if I have a bite?" Ariel asks jokingly.

"Take a bit from me and I'll cut you down." Shoyo's response was not a joke.

"Uwah, scary."

"So Chifuyu, any reaction?"

"Geh-geh..."

"Wha-what're you doing?"

"Master?"

"Bleeeeeeeeegh."

He vomited. More accurately, he made himself vomit.

"Chifuyu, why'd you do that?!"

"Heh, I figured I should empty my stomach so this test would be more effective."

"Haha, you're crazy. I didn't think you'd make yourself throw up for this. But hey, you need to be moderately crazy to survive in this line of work."

"Is that so?" Replies Chifuyu with a smug, he actually feels sick to his stomach right now from doing that. "I'm not any different from seeing your blood, I guess I'm in the clear."

"That's good. Don't forget to clean your barf up."

"Yes sir..."

As expected, Chifuyu is in the clear for now.

"Keeping up your human appearance uses inconsequential amounts of blood, so you'll be fine for a while. But whenever you do need a little, I'm all yours."

"That was kinda lewd Ariel."

"Eh, was it?"

"Just a bit," Shoyo adds.

"We're going in the afternoon huh?"

"Yep. You're still getting excited, master?"

"I can't help it."

Chifuyu'll be seeing a whole new world, literally. No matter how dark and gloomy it may be, the notion of going to a brand-new land simply keeps him eager.

By the afternoon, Chifuyu and Ariel are ready to depart.

"This outfit is pretty cool!""

Chifuyu's equipped with the thermal uniform which is basically just a thicker modified jacket and pants with the Hunter symbol as well as goggles and ear muffs that spreads heat waves around the entire head. They're for the dangerous mission of traversing the Alter World, yet still made to look appealing for the younger generation. Ariel has on her original dress that she first appeared in.

"You're wearing your old dress I see."

"I'm visiting my home world after so long, might as well dress to impress."

"Heh."

"C-Chifuyu."

"Hey Iris, came to see us off?"

"I suppose so... Be careful, you're my only friend after all. If you bite the dust out there, I'll go back to being alone."

"I'm not really sure how to take that..."

"Ah-uh... Sorry, that was a thoughtlessly selfish thing to say. Please just come back safely!"

"You have nothing to worry about, I'm strong y'know."

"Right.."

Although it's been a year, Iris still has to warm up to Ariel. The two have barely even conversed with each other.

"Well, let's go shall we?"

Touching Chifuyu and Ariel's shoulders while holding his sword, Shoyo teleports right to the portal.

There it was, in a cavern hidden in the mountains of the 15th district. A portal to the Alter World, the one Ariel came from.

Emanating an eerie noise from it, the portal was connected right to a wall. With mist flowing out, the ovular phenomenon was pitch black accomponied by a spiraling shade of dark green emitting light along its confines.

A brand new world awaits Chifuyu.

"You sure I don't need to come with you two?"

"All we're doing is retrieving my weapon, we shouldn't be long."

"If you say so."

"You ready Chifuyu?"

"Don't think I'll get any readier than I already am."

"Hmph, let's go."

"Have fun you two."

With Shoyo's sarcastic parting words, they enter the portal.

***

Vision distorting, feeling as if his consciousness is fading, Chifuyu opens his eyes to the Alter World. It felt like the process of the portal transferring them took several minutes, but it was instantaneous.

"It's really been over 200 years."

Ariel reminisces, pondering where the time went. But she knows she doesn't have time for this right now. Their objective is to retrieve her blade. Meanwhile, Chifuyu observes his surroundings unsurprisingly astonished.

Surrounded by countless disturbing trees dozens of feet tall, which any number could be treants. A light fog runs around several inches above the ground, monsters are already teeming around them. Overgrown moths circle around them, centipedes as long as skyscrapers moving around in the dirt below them, and fiendish alligators are staring them down from the swap just ahead. These are just the tip of the iceberg, it's no wonder why the Hunters didn't stand a chance on their first expedition.

Chifuyu brought his blade with him, but against all these monsters he stands no chance.

With him though, stands a presence far more menacing: Ariel Ryuji.

"Get lost."

With just two words, Ariel succeeds in intimidating the monsters surrounding them. With the exception of a stubborn one that was lurking in the swamp. A 75-meter-long cobra rears itself looking for a fight. It moves toward the Vampire Lord slowly, standing so the upper half of its body is towering over her. Looking down at her, it believes the small vamp has no chance in hell. Ariel returns a confident look, having not budged an inch at all. Chifuyu is keeping his distance. Within a second, it whips its tail with such immense force a huge gust of wind follows in its path. The cobra's whip attack was so fast it generated a crack that echoed throughout the entire forest. This was due to the tail's whip moving faster than the speed of sound. The whiplash was so loud, it caused Chifuyu's ears to ring loud enough that he felt like his head was going to explode. This attack meant nothing to Ariel, she had caught it after all, stopping it in its track which still couldn't manage to move her. It wasn't without effort though, veins are pulsing on Ariel's left arm showing how much strength she had to use to stop the blow. The cobra even starts sweating.

"Hey Chifuyu, you think we could eat this thing?"

"Uh, I don't think any amount of cleaning would make that monster edible, for humans at least."

Chifuyu's half-vampire, so he may be able to eat this snake without a problem.

"Welp, that's too bad. For you little snake."

"Little...?"

Realizing it made a terrible mistake, the cobra attempts to make a swift escape.

"I'm not kill ya, so I'll let you off the hook with this."

Ariel clobbers the cobra that's a hundred times bigger than her right on its head causing it to fall unconscious before it was able to retreat back to the swap.

"Wow, we were greeted by such kind guests as soon as we got here", says Chifuyu sarcastically.

"Sorry, even after a couple centuries these guys never learn any manners."

"We don't have to be worried about the treants do we? I feel like I could get snatched up by one of them any second now."

"Nah, me and the ruler of the forest are cool after all."

More like she bullied it into submission the last time she was here.

"Get on my back Chifuyu, with my speed it'll take us a few minutes to get to where it is."

"Alright. For some reason, this feels a little weird."

"Heh, maybe one day you'll be able to carry me like this."

Chifuyu has successfully mounted an Ariel.

As she carries him, Chifuyu throws out a question he's been meaning to ask.

"Ariel."

"Hm?"

"Are there any other races here in the Alter World, besides vampires, humans, and all the monsters?"

"There's plenty, though they all live on their own continents."

"Really? Just how vast is this place?"

"Heh, bigger than you and I could ever imagine. I've never even left this continent after all."

"Then how do you know there are other races?"

"Old books, recording data from all over. I've only dove into a few of them. Back then, I didn't care for history or anything, I didn't even like to read."

"Does that mean I'm smarter than you?"

"Oh shut up."

"Haha, well keep telling me what you know."

"I only know about two other races, demons and elves. I've read that there were some vampires that went to the demon continent before."

"By the sound of it, seems like vampires aren't the travel type."

"Yeah, besides the fact that we've been at war for ages, there's no merit in us leaving here. The raging ocean separating continents makes it impossible for armies to travel across, plus the voyage itself to each continent will take over a year at the very least. Making that journey on top of bringing humans we'd need for nourishment is fatuous. Oh yeah, let's not forget monsters we'd have to fight that have home-field advantage."

"Wow, so you guys are basically stuck here. That sucks."

"You got that right."

'Our entire existence is what sucks.'

"There's more race that I wanted to read the most about, but there's not much on them at all."

"What race would that be?"

"Angels. The only records on them were by radical believers and the like, so the legitimacy of what's written on angels has faded over time and become more like fairy tales. I wouldn't be surprised if they are real though."

"I'm honestly blown away right now. Ariel, if we're both still alive by the end of all this, let's go on a journey. I wanna see what this world has to offer with my own eyes."

"We really are partners, I've been thinking the exact same thing."

"Sounds like a plan."

After about another minute, they arrived at the ruler of the forest.

"Where is it?"

"Right in front of us."

"Eh?"

"Yo, it's been a while."

"This can't be..."

Chifuyu was expecting the ruler of the forest to be a menacing treant staggering thousands of feet in the sky, but it was in fact the smallest tree he's seen. About the same height as Ariel in fact.

Altering back into its true form, a head begins to form with antlers and an eye socket opening on the left side that's brimming a bright green light. The leaves spread around its shoulders and back. Deformed limbs shape themselves as the treant completes its human-like form. It sits down casually placing an arm over the corresponding knee as if it's about to have a friendly conversation.

"You've finally returned, Vampire Lord."

Its voice is deep and raspy.

Ariel walks toward the pint-sized treant and sits right next to it wrapping one of her arms around its leafy shoulder.

"Glad to see you haven't become furniture yet."

"I've been alive for thousands of years, I wouldn't kick the dirt in the mere 2 centuries you were gone."

"Ha, is that so."

Chifuyu has no doubt Ariel likes it so much because it's the same height as her.

"By the way, who's the human boy?"

"He's my master, Chifuyu Kyotani!"

"Hello."

"Your master?! He must be strong."

"Hmph, not everything's about strength y'know."

"Yeah, I'm smarter than Ariel after all!"

"Oi."

"I don't know what you've been doing all this time, but you've changed."

"Heh, is that bad?"

"No, change is needed for you vampires."

"I wholeheartedly agree."

An interaction between a vampire and a human-like tree monster is not something Chifuyu thought he'd ever see.

"Thanks for keeping my blade safe all these years, I'll be taking it back now."

"Of course."

With a snap of its fingers, the ground below them begins to alter, opening up a gaping hole reaching thousands of meters below. The sword is eventually brought up by a roots that the treant was controlling.

There it was.

As if it hadn't been covered in dirt for two centuries, the blade's scabbard was a radiant white with a golden dragon mark along with a white and golden hilt. Ariel unsheathes it to reveal an even more brilliant fully white blade.

The best word to describe it would be ethereal.

Ariel sheathes it back as the hole in the ground closes.

"Thanks for taking care of this, Ruler of the Treants."

"Hmph. May our paths never cross again."

With those words, the monster vanishes into the dirt.

"I don't think it liked you Ariel."

"My heart cries in sorrow."

"Anyway, that's gotta be the prettiest sword I've ever seen!"

"Right?! I forged it myself I'll have you know."

"Impressive."

"Hehe, wanna take a couple swings?"

"Hell yeah I do!"

As Ariel is about to hand Chifuyu her blade, she feels a presence coming at them with the intent to kill. Dropping her weapon, she scoops up Chifuyu and dodges the attack.

In a second, they were surrounded.

"Long time no see, Ariel Ryuji."

"Cid..."

"Have you lost your edge to the point where you can't even tell when you're surrounded?"

"Is this guy what I think he is?"

"Yeah Chifuyu, he's a Vampire Lord."

Ariel had a feeling she may have a run-in with some vampires.

"Everybody already knows you've gone traitor. We figured you'd return for your weapon sooner or later, so we've been lying in wait here for months."

"I see, are you here on the King's orders?"

"Ha! He doesn't give a damn about you anymore, you're not even worth a public execution! We're allowed to kill you on sight upon returning here!"

"Hm. Mind if I ask what the current state of the war is?"

"Like I'd tell you. If you wanna find out, then you can kill all of us and leave this forest yourself to find out!"

"That's not my objective right now, so I guess I can wait if you won't tell me. Let's go Chifuyu."

"Pff. Hahahahahaha. You hear this guys? Our little traitor thinks we're just gonna let her leave!"

"Hahahaha."

"Hahahahahahahahaha."

"Hahahahahahahaha."

"Hahahahahahahaa."

Their collective laughter echoes all throughout the forest.

"You don't wanna do this Cid."

"That so? You used to be one of the strongest Lords, but that was over 200 years ago. Your strength can't even compare to mine now! On top of the hundreds of us surrounding you, there's no chance in hell we're losing."

"You guys sure talk a lot, you gonna fight Ariel or not? She could take you with her eyes closed!"

"The hell is this brat going on about?"

"That's the kid who became Ariel's master.."

"Hahahaha, Chifuyu's exactly right. I can take the lot of you on for uh... 2 minutes with my eyes closed!"

"Tch."

"3..2..1.."

Ariel closes her eyes.

"Ready when you guys are. Don't go for my master if you have any shame."

"You bitch..."

"Kill her!"

Precisely 380 vampires plus a Vampire Lord vs a single Ariel.

"Raaaaaaah."

Ariel is greeted by 6 vamps first, she must respond immediately to any shift of the air by her to evade every attack. This is no easy task, she's going all out from the jump.

The 6 all crash down on her simultaneously, Ariel jumps and sweeps all of their heads off with a midair roundhouse kick. The attacks don't stop there. A giant vamp carrying a double-sided axe is next to join the fray with a few others. His heavy and slow attacks are easy to feel the moment it's in motion, she parries the other vampire's attacks while dodging the heavy swings from the axe, all while holding on to her sheathed blade with one hand. Ariel tears through a vampire's throat and delivers a swift kick to another sending her flying.

"Oraaaaaa!"

"You shouldn't have done that."

The giant vampire yells out, giving Ariel his precise location. After punching right through a vampire's abdomen, she ducks evading the heavy axe swing which decapitates the vampire with no guts. But before the swing is completed fully, she kicks the axe out of his hands and immediately grabs it.

"This is how you do it... Oraaaaaaa!"

Spinning around like a hurricane while swinging the axe with one hand, she cleaves through several vampires while still accurately destroying their hearts.

"What the fuck are you dumbasses doing?!"

"You mad Cid, come down here and get some too!"

While saying this, Ariel continues piecing up her opponents with just her legs. Hopping around like a bunny while delivering lethal kicks, all with her eyes closed. Ariel's having a little too much fun at the moment, her concentration is still at its peak nonetheless.

"Grrr... Get the boy!"

"Uh oh, they're coming for me now!"

"Chifuyu!"

Two minutes have passed, Ariel opens her eyes and calls out to her partner. She could've made it in time to help Chifuyu, but there was no need.

"Woah there!"

Chifuyu evades each attack directed at him. He spent months training with Shoyo, his technique with the blade is levels better than these vampires just using swords for decoration.

"Haha, you guys are kinda slow actually."

"You little...."

Leaping over one of the vampires, he turns around to see Ariel dashing right at him.

"Wha..."

All of a sudden, his vision is upside down. Ariel twisted his neck and proceeds to rip it off, tossing it to the side.

Though she is killing her own kind all while enjoying the fight, Ariel has still mustered up all the resolve needed to follow down this new path she chose. She'll walk over however many corpses of her own she'll have to while carrying that burden with her until she dies. If she can't do this much, change will never come for humans and vampires.

Even more vampires have dropped down, around 70-90.

"Don't falter!"

"Ahhhh!"

"Ahhhhhhhhh!"

"Ahhhhhhhh!"

Ariel smirks as they charge at her. She hasn't enjoyed a fight like this in so long.

She charges at them in earnest.

Even after all these years, Ariel hasn't lost her edge at all. In fact, she's still getting warmed up.

Tearing through them like nothing, these vampires don't stand a chance against the former Vampire Lord.

"If you wanted to take me down, you should've brought an army of 300,000!"

A measly number of 381 won't be able to stop this one-woman army. They heavily underestimated Ariel and overestimated themselves. They'd need more than 200 years to become stronger than her.

She intends to take them all out now.

Kicking through 5 vampires' heads in one thrust, she follows up by going for the ones still watching in the trees. Wrapping around each branch like a slithering snake, her movements are too fast for them to react to. She finally unsheathes her blade and cuts through her foes with fierce power. There isn't much technique to her swordsmanship, but an overpowering swing is still present in her strikes. They can resist all they want, but they'll just be forcefully cut down. Jumping tree to tree, she continues taking down her challengers. The vampires who'd jumped down are popping back up bringing the fight to the trees, but nothing changes. Dismantled corpses are dropping like flies as Ariel can't be stopped.

"Daaaaamn it!!"

Cid yells as his men get killed one by one. Tired of spectating, he activates his curse and lunges at Ariel.

"Finally joining in Cid, you think you're the final boss or something?"

Flames envelop his arms as he attempts to grab Ariel, she's holding him off with her blade.

"Silence, you traitor!"

"This war has gone on long enough, it's about time for the climax. Wouldn't you say?"

"Ha! So you're solution to ending this war is joining the humans of the other world who captured you? How sad, you lost a fight you picked and now you wag your tail for them."

"Say what you want, a vampire who kills for fun wouldn't understand."

"That's right, I don't get it at all!"

"Which is why the war will never end, as long as there are those of us who will never be willing to compromise."

Kicking him to the ground, Ariel continues going after the other vampires. There are about 95 left.

Continuing to use her overwhelming strength with her blade, she keeps slicing through her foes like butter. The sword that was pure white is now covered in blood from top to bottom. Swinging the blood she can off, she puts it back in its sheath and throws it to Chifuyu.

"Hold this for a bit!"

"Oh-uh... Woah!"

Stepping around in surprise, Chifuyu catches the sword that was suddenly thrown at him. The vampires have been so preoccupied with Ariel that they haven't bothered him since their last attempt.

"Come on Cid, let's see how strong those flames have gotten."

"Aughh..."

Cid's curse allows him to muster flames around his body, he can increase the temperature and spread the fire to burn several meters from him.

Standing up, he ignores his arms and legs fully.

"Screw killing you right here, I'll capture you and torture you to my heart's content."

"Oi, you've sure picked up a sick hobby."

While speaking, she still fends off the vampires charging at her with deadly blows. Right now, Cid is at his boiling point. Watching Ariel fight, he increases the heat of his flames to the point where the ground around him starts melting and heat waves are clearly visible.

"Back up Chifuyu, it's gonna get a little hot right now."

Backing up as much as he can, he feels his throat start to dry up. On top of wearing thermal clothes, his body is feeling immense heat. Cid's curse is without a doubt strong enough to give him the title of Vampire Lord, and this is just the beginning. But Ariel has no intention of allowing him to use his curse for a prolonged period of time.

"You definitely have the strength to call yourself a Vampire Lord, Cid. Too bad I won't give you a chance to show it off."

"Arieeeel!"

He begins running toward his enemy, planning to scorch her enough to the point where she can't regenerate but won't die.

"This ends here."

Ariel activates her curse.

Black veins emerge running down from her left eye all the way to her left hand. She is about to output an enormous amount of power.

"Your flames will never be as strong as mine!!"

Cid gets vaporized. Ariel blasts him with black flames that erased everything in front of her.

The blast consumed over an entire mile of the forest at a width of 20-25 feet. Everyone is shocked, vampires and Chifuyu.

It's been so long, Ariel had forgotten the thrill of a true battle. But now, she has purpose. A reason to fight she can be proud of.

"Damn it all, get her! Avenge Lord Cid!"

Ariel looks back at them with an intimidating grin. She's glad they're not backing down, they're the ones who started this after all.

Ariel's curse allows her to conjure up black flames: an amplified and even more destructive variant of fire. It far surpasses the limitations that constrict normal flames and then some.

Gathering black flames around her fists, she finishes the rest of them off with close combat in less than 30 seconds.

Ariel comes out victorious in her fight against 380 vampires plus one Vampire Lord. Most of them had multiple years of experience in combat who could hold their own against 1st rank Hunters, but this little beast won by herself.

"Well, strong aren't I?"

Closing one of her eyes with a confident smile, Ariel expects Chifuyu to praise her.

"A bit modest I see, I'll sing your praises."

Chifuyu will amuse her.

Bowing down on his knees, he begins worshipping her.

"Almighty Ariel, your strength truly knows no bounds. One such as I could only wish for the power you possess. You're the strongest there is."

"Stronger than that punk Shoyo?"

"Far stronger."

"Hahaha, you're correct. That mongrel should lick my boots and grovel at my very presence!"

'She really doesn't like Shoyo.'

"Kay, I've had my fun."

"By the way, your curse is crazy strong Ariel!"

"I know right."

"Shoyo somewhat told me about curses, but I'm sure you could tell me more about them."

"True. Now that I think about it, I should also let that president of the Hunter Agency know. As far as I'm aware, Hunters are just familiar with the basics of curses."

Ariel proceeds to tell a more in-depth explanation of curses to Chifuyu as well as how they obtain such great physical strength. First off, every 1 in about 10,000 vampires is born with a curse. It's a technique that requires sufficient amounts of blood to be able to use. Those with curses have 2 sources of blood within them. The first is their normal blood needed as sustenance which is essentially their lifeline, if they don't sustain this they risk losing their minds and eventually their lives. But with a consistent intake for at least several years, it'll actually replenish itself. The second is cursed blood which is the source of energy for curses. Their pool of cursed blood only grows as they take in more human blood, it also replenishes itself once it falls under 10% left. As for how vampires get so strong physically, once their blood intake surpasses their sustenance threshold, it starts getting converted into strength that can only go away if sucked out by another vampire. Their pool of cursed blood can also diminish if sucked away by another vampire. As Chifuyu already knows, a sign that a vampire has activated their curse is when black veins emerge somewhere on their body.

"That uh... sure was a mouth full."

"You're the one who wanted to know more."

"Teehee."

"Don't 'teehee' me."

Their objective has been accomplished and Ariel defeated the vampires who challenged her. It's time to head back.

"In any case, this sure was a hell of a first trip to the Alter World."

"I told you it'd be."

"Yep. Well, let's get going."

Chifuyu begins walking with his hand behind his head, but Ariel is still standing where she was.

"Ariel?"

Twiddling her fingers while looking at Chifuyu with upturned eyes, Ariel clearly has something to say.

"What is it?"

"You see, it's been over a year since I've been unsealed. And I just used a large quantity of my curse, so I'm just a tiny bit hungry."

She barely closes her index finger with her thumb to emphasize the 'tiny bit'.

"Ah, so it's finally time huh?"

Time for Ariel to take a small bite of Chifuyu's blood.

"Yes."

"Well don't be a stranger, go ahead. My arm's already freezing..."

Chifuyu pulls his right sleeve up to expose his forearm. The two of them decided they'd have no problem lending themselves when the other needs blood.

"Don't mind if I do."

With a childlike smile, she prances over to her master.

"Please be gentle."

"Haha."

For some reason, Chifuyu's slightly concerned plea made Ariel let out a little giggle.

Chomp

'Yeah, of course it would sting...'

***

Walking back, several monsters watched them from the shadows. If they had any plans to still attack Ariel and Chifuyu, they vanished after seeing the Vampire Lord wreak havoc.

"Your blood was surprisingly tasty Chifuyu."

"That so? Don't get too addicted."

"Hmph. Not tastier than donuts though."

'That's a good thing, right? For my sake...'

"By the way, what monster is your blade made from?"

"Hmhmhm," Ariel chuckles smugly before answering. "From the blood of a hydra!"

"A hydra?! You mean like a multi-headed dragon?!"

"Amazing right? I brought it down all by myself! Ahahahahahaha!"

"I can't imagine fighting something like that in a million years."

"Well, I lied actually."

"You lied, about what??"

"There was someone else who fought it with me." Ariel says this with a somber look.

In a second, the two are brought to their knees.

All of a sudden, a new threatening presence appears. Shaking the partners to their very core.

This menacing aura is like nothing Ariel has ever felt.

They even imagine their own gruesome deaths.

"Welcome back."

The voice comes from behind them, Ariel recognizes who it is. Still unable to get up, she slowly turns her head to look back.

"Ayume..."

"You enjoy your stay on that tiny land, sister?"

'Sister?' Chifuyu thinks back to when he and Iris were kidnapped. One of the vampires there brought up Ariel's sister, whom he had totally forgotten. He too tries to turn around.

He sees a vampire who looks just a bit taller than Ariel, with short silver hair and a sole earring on her right ear. She's donning a sleeveless bodysuit with the mark of a dragon across it. Not to mention her muscles are extremely defined.

"You haven't seen your dear big sister in so long and this is how you say hello? Heh, and what in the world are you wearing right now? You just finish a workout?"

"Yeah, I was training back at the castle. Then I felt your presence, so I made my way here immediately."

"Felt my presence? Hold on, there's no way you were at the castle and got here in less than an hour."

"Sure, 2 centuries ago I wouldn't have been able to."

"You've changed Ayume..."

Before, she was her innocent little sister who loathed fighting.

"I changed? What a laugh, I got strong so that I would be able to fight alongside you when you got freed. But after 200 years of waiting, I find out my sister's gone traitor."

"Ayume, I..."

Ariel wants to tell her how much she's missed her, and explain what she went through when she was sealed. But she knows she can't. Ariel already understands exactly why her sister ended up like this. Her hatred for humans must've grown exponentially when she was captured. Now the person she cared the most about has betrayed her own kind.

"I'm not listening to your excuses."

She takes a glance at Chifuyu.

"Is that the human boy who became your master?"

"Ayume, if you harm him at all..."

Ariel only wants to talk right now, first and foremost. But if her sister has any intention of laying a finger on Chifuyu, she'll protect him with everything she's got.

"I couldn't care less about him, I'm only here for you."

"How'd you know I was here?"

"... While you were gone, I went and became the strongest Vampire Lord. In the process, I awakened a second curse."

"What, are you serious??"

A second curse, such an ability has been unheard of.

"I call it Eyes of Heaven. For now, it just allows me to always knows where the one person I choose is. Naturally, I chose you, so I'd know the moment you returned."

'Is that a Jojo reference?' Even in this situation, Chifuyu couldn't help having this silly thought.

Ayume's calm composure twists into irritated disgust.

"You have no idea how much grief I went through when I heard you were captured. Then to find out you betray us the moment you got freed..."

Covering her face, a sole eye peers through her fingers as she stares Ariel down.

"I feel so sick I don't even want to see your face."

Ariel has no words to say, she also feels hurt to the point where tears can fall any second now. Ayume won't listen to her, so she just has to take her anger head-on. Her words, and pain.

"Face me in a duel, Ariel Ryuji. Beating you down right here is the only way for me to move on."

Still withstanding her intense pressure, Ariel gradually stands back up.

"Is there no other way to do this?"

"None."

"That's a shame. You sure have gotten strong, Ayume." This is said with a faint smile.

Hearing those words just fuels Ayume's anger.

"Ruler Treant, I'm sure you're watching from somewhere. Do me one last favor, please... protect my master."

From this fight she means. Chifuyu will certainly perish if he gets caught up in it.

"You're a demanding woman, you know that?"

"Thanks."

Trees begin to surround Chifuyu, slowly enclosing him to protect him from the battle.

"Ariel!!!!"

Walking forward, she simply smiles back.

The last thing Chifuyu sees before he's completely covered is Ariel's false reassuring smile.

"Let's get started, shall we?"

The sudden face-off begins.

Without a belt to hold her sword, Ariel tears an opening through her skirt to place it.

They start off instantly activating their curses. Black flames ignite around Ariel as the surroundings around Ayume begin to freeze. Her curse allows her to conjure ice, and she's mastered its capabilities.

With a swipe of Ariel's left hand, she launches a heap of flames at a curved angle along the ground. Ayume does the same, but without moving an inch. She mimics the same attack with her ice that overpowers the dark flames, she output a greater deal of power as well. The ice coming at Ariel stands several meters tall, but another attack was simultaneously put into action. Ayume sent ice running underneath the ground through the bottom of her feet which comes up as deadly sharp spikes. Ariel does a string of backflips to evade both of the attacks coming at her, more spikes keep springing from the ground so she uses a strong blast from her fire to send herself flying right toward her sister. After delivering a fiery drop kick that's evaded, the two engage in close combat. Sizing each other up, each blow they send to the other is accompanied by a huge gust of wind due to the immense force. They pick up the pace drastically after just 10 seconds and each blow becomes even more lethal. They're both intentionally not dodging any hit, they're blocking them taking the force head-on. Whoever backs away first loses this exchange. Each attack carries a pinch of their curse power as well. Meeting each other with the same force, the curses are negating each other, so it comes down to physical strength right now. Attempting to finish this trading of blows, Ariel delivers a kick strong enough to bring several skyscrapers come toppling down, but it's blocked with no effort. Ayume counters with a punch even stronger aimed straight for her sister's face. She doesn't have time to block with her arm, even if she did it'd get blown off. The same goes for her head though, so she ever so slightly moves only her head to evade the hit. The shockwave from the punch blows away thousands of feet of the forest behind away, temporarily causing her eardrums to ring with a bit of ice on her cheek and ear. Ariel simply stands there in stupefaction, while her sister still has her fist beside her face which could've just been blown into nothing. Ayume still looks at her nonchalantly, she clearly knows she'll win.

Ariel could've never imagined her crybaby sister would become this strong. Perhaps even the strongest vampire, right behind the king. But she can't have her little sister not taking her seriously. Ariel bucks up and prepares to truly go all out.

Condensing an enormous amount of black flames into her first in a second, an explosive swift punch sends Ayume flying. Crashing through trees unbothered, she blasts ice through her hands and feet propelling herself forward to recover. She doesn't sense Ariel coming after her, but she sees something else. Trees several dozen meters tall have been launched right at her. Even she's surprised, she's forgotten how unorthodox Ariel can be during a fight. Bouncing all over the place to avoid these gigantic trees coming at her at over 100 mph, she starts making her way back to her sister. Using her Eyes of Heaven, she can see Ariel cutting the trees with her blade, catching them as they fall down, and hurling them with all her strength. Forging an ice sickle, she sends it spinning toward Ariel aimed to cleave her straight in half. Seeing it coming, Ariel jumps and stabs her sword downward timing it perfectly so that the sickle's momentum is stopped completely. Grabbing it, she hurls it back with the same speed. Chopping it with no effort, it breaks apart. As soon as she threw it though, Ariel charged right behind it. Ayume saw through this, but didn't anticipate how much power Ariel would be greeting her with.

The power of her blade is finally displayed. The weapon brought about by a hydra brings out glorious white flames with additional purple, red, and orange hues. This combined with her destructive black flames, Ariel's slash lets out a dragon's roar and eradicates everything in its path. Black and white flames paint the forest as far as she can see with Ayume nowhere to be seen.

In an instant, ice erupts from below Ariel and freezes her. But she burns out of it with her black flames, right after doing so Ayume comes flying out of the ground delivering a lethal knee jab to her chin sending her soaring through the sky.

Ariel's previous attack would've been enough to incapacitate her sister, but she immediately protected herself with an ice shield and fled underground.

Creating an ice geyser to send herself up after Ariel, she grapples her spinning around like a helicopter and launches her away. Using the frozen geyser as a foothold, Ayume jumps off it chasing back after her while forging an ice blade. After catching up with the flying Ariel, she kicks her sending her plunging straight back down and stabs her right through her abdomen as soon as she hits the ground. Blood spurts out of her stomach and mouth as Ariel yells in pain.

Opening her eyes back up, she sees the personification of wrath sitting right on top of her. Yet she was hesitating to land the final blow. Ayume had her right hand up with ice emitting from it waiting to freeze her sister solid, then crush her. But she was still weaker than she thought.

Ariel pushes her off and leaps backward, yanking the ice sword out of her guts. Blood pours out and her intestines were just about to spill out as well, but she holds them in as she regenerates. Launching balls of fire, she begins running around. Ayume doesn't budge an inch as she tanks them. Ariel was getting her blade back and prepares one of her strongest attacks.

"Ayume!!!!"

Her sister who appears dead inside turns her eyes to the one calling her name out.

"Keep your eyes on me, I'm your opponent. Your enemy! This fight isn't over!"

With both of her hands out holding her blade horizontally, fire bursts out all around her. White flames surging out of her sword, and black flames surrounding her body. The flames around her backside begin to resemble wings.

Roars echo through the forest. It's not due to Ariel's attack this time. Real dragons appear flying above them to spectate this battle.

The final exchange begins.

"Dragon's Dance!!!"

Ariel shouts a named attack and lunges toward her sister who does the same.

"Absolute Zero."

The strongest attack at Ayume's disposal. Everything in a 100-meter radius is instantly frozen except for Ariel and the flames around her. Not even particles can move in this frozen wasteland caused by Absolute Zero. But Ariel's flames still burn bright.

Jumping backward and around trees evading Ariel's destructive slashes that incinerates anything it touches, an immaculate chase ensues as the sisters who once loved each other attempt to put an end to the other's life. The Absolute Zero's range continues to grow larger as long as it's active, so Ariel has to end this now before it reaches Chifuyu and instantly kills him.

The older sister uses her final attack.

Posting her blade up, flames erupt toward the sky.

A tear runs down her face, as she knows if this lands, her little sister will be wiped off the face of this continent.

A forward slash using all of her curse power comes down, with it brings an even louder dragon's roar. It devastates everything around them, resulting in an explosion as strong as a nuke.

Absolute Zero is stopped.

The fight is over.

Ariel falls to her knees gasping for air. She's exhausted all of her curse blood. It will take a long time to replenish.

Several minutes pass and Ariel is still in the same position. Dust is still all around, she sees a figure approaching her.

Ayume shows herself, covered in burns and her clothes in tatters.

"How did you survive that...?"

While regenerating, she answers.

"I used my curse to protect myself. Your fire simply wasn't stronger than my ice."

She says this but she did still get burned. If she had used an ice shield to cover her whole body, she would've perished. So she condensed it to cover only her head and left side of her body which resulted in a stronger shield.

"Are you gonna finish me?"

"....."

"I don't need your pity, Ayume!!"

"Shut up!!! I'm hesitant to finish you off and you still want to provoke me? Don't throw away the life I'm trying my damnedest to let go!"

Ariel is speechless.

"I won this fight, that's the only thing I care about. Now I know I don't need you anymore."

"..."

"The King still has no interest in the world you've turned to for the time being. However, I've convinced him to send my army once the second-to-last kingdom has fallen. I'd say that'll be in at least 5 years."

"...."

Ariel wants to get a word out, but can't.

"The next time we see each other, I will kill you."

'Ayume, please... wait...'

"Goodbye, Ariel."

Ayume walks off, sparing her sister's life.

An hour passes, and Ariel is still on her knees in disbelief. The treant had freed Chifuyu since the battle ended and he immediately started running toward her.

Once she was in his sight, he was going to call out to her, but Chifuyu sees Ariel slam her arms into the ground.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

She lets out a blood-curdling cry wallowing in her failure to both communicate and win against her little sister. This is only a small price to pay for turning to the side of humanity. Much more cruelty awaits not only Ariel, but Chifuyu as well.

***

The two walk back to the portal without saying a word. After returning to Shioto, Ariel is the first to break the silence.

"Chifuyu, do you mind if I have some more blood?"

He gives a smile of reassurance.

"Sure, go ahead."

Ariel jumps on Chifuyu, causing him to fall down.

"A-Ariel?!"

Sliding off his jacket and ripping his shirt underneath, Ariel bites into the trapezius area. This particular sensation causes Chifuyu to let out a moan as Ariel doesn't hold back at all. Needing something to grab onto, he clenches Ariel's dress as she continues for several seconds. After finishing, she sits up panting with blood dripping down both ends of her mouth.

"Couldn't hold back, could you..? You used that much of your power?"

Wiping her mouth, she gives her answer.

"Yeah, sorry about that."

Chifuyu sits up with Ariel still in his lap.

"I don't mind, just warn me next time."

"Heh, will do."

They contact Shoyo and tell him what happened. The three of them then go to Hunter HQ to report to the President directly. They inform him that they retrieved her blade, the war is still ongoing in the Alter Word, that her sister is now the strongest Vampire Lord, and that they could attack as soon as 5 years from now.

"Is there any chance of beating her?"

Ariel responds truthfully while glancing at Shoyo.

"If anyone can, it'd be me and the strongest Hunter."

"So our expedition will be put on an indefinite hold. In about 2 years, there may be a decisive battle here on Shioto which will mark a turning point for humanity. On top of the vampires of unknown strength here, there could be other Vampire Lords invading along with this sister of yours. We will be ready, and they will know how strong the Hunters have become."

***

The three decide to take a boat back so they can decompress after everything that happened.

"Honestly didn't expect there to be someone you'd lose to, other than me of course."

"Whatever. There are plenty of things, not just people stronger than me."

"Their battle was so big I couldn't even watch it, haha..."

"Chifuyu, I clearly still need to get stronger. Since I can't beat my sister when it comes to a curse fight, I have to hone my swordsmanship to gain the upper hand. Over the past year, I've learned that when it comes to skill with the blade, there's just as much potential as there is with our abilities. So we can both get stronger together."

Chifuyu smiles and nods.

Their journey is only just beginning.

"You got that right, pipsqueak. With swordsmanship, the sky's the limit."

"Who're you calling pipsqueak?!"

Ariel springs on Shoyo like a feline and they engage in a catfight. Seeing Chifuyu laugh at their silliness, they can't help but laugh at themselves together.

Prologue -End-