Though the night felt long, especially this one, a chilling strangeness permeated the silence, like a scene from a horror film, making the passage of time feel agonizingly slow. Yet, the fox's tail Lin Luo anticipated soon showed itself, and the first to catch hold of it was… Satsuki Yumizuka!

No, perhaps it should be phrased the other way around: Satsuki Yumizuka was the one caught!

Satsuki Yumizuka was originally just an ordinary high school girl with a quiet demeanor and a common background. She possessed neither noble elegance nor dazzling beauty. While certainly a pleasant and cute young woman, her demure, small-town allure could only be described as ordinary.

Had Lin Luo not interfered, allowing the world to proceed along its original track, Satsuki Yumizuka’s ending… probably wouldn't have been good. Whether she was killed as a vampire, lived on as one, or simply vanished into the masses, in every scenario, tragedy was written into her fate—such a slightly background girl.

Then, due to the alteration of the timeline, subtle, almost imperceptible changes occurred within Satsuki Yumizuka. Yet, these changes failed to erase the inherent tragedy surrounding her. Even Lin Luo didn't know if it was before or after his arrival, but upon learning of her existence, she was already a vampire.

Despite being such an unremarkable girl, her aptitude for vampirism was unprecedented. Originally, when a human was drained of blood by a vampire, if the vampire left some of their own blood within the human, that person wouldn't die immediately. After several years, once the brain, flesh, and even the soul had decayed into a fixed state, they would become ghouls—flesh-eaters. To compensate for the body decaying over time, they would prey on the flesh of other corpses, or… hunt humans.

With constant hunting, as the decayed body gradually recovered and their will began to awaken, that ghoul could evolve into a True Progenitor, or even further, break free from the original vampire’s control to become a newborn vampire themselves.

Of course, the direction and requirements for evolution were clear, but the probability was extremely low. The chance of simply becoming a ghoul after being bitten was only one percent. The probability of evolving from a ghoul to a True Progenitor was even smaller, and even if successful, the greater likelihood was simply becoming a tool for the original vampire, as their very nature was controlled by the progenitor.

To break free from the original vampire’s domination was achievable only by an exceedingly rare few. How rare was that rarity?

Scarce as a phoenix feather!

But Satsuki Yumizuka was different. Her existence completely subverted this principle of evolution. In less than three days after being bitten, she awoke. Not only had her body failed to decay, but she had bypassed the ghoul stage entirely, awakening directly as a True Progenitor. Even more miraculous was that she retained all her memories and knowledge from her living life, and furthermore… she had broken free from the original vampire’s control.

For such a case, no word other than ‘miracle’ could adequately describe it.

At least in the thousand-plus years since the appearance of vampires, no one else could be found who awakened as quickly as she did. Of course, if one were to insist, Merlane’s awakening was faster, but Merlane was never human to begin with; she was a Child of God, and the two couldn’t be compared on the same footing.

Moreover, the one who turned Merlane into a vampire was the ancestor of all True Progenitors, Ciel Aozaki, not a bite from a mere vampire.

If it were only the process of becoming a vampire, it wouldn’t be a big deal; newly born vampires, while much stronger than ordinary humans, possessed only moderate combat strength. Satsuki Yumizuka’s greatest peculiarity lay in this: at the very moment she awakened as a vampire, she also awakened an ability comparable to true Magic—the Reality Marble!

It was because of this Reality Marble that Satsuki Yumizuka's strength instantly escalated to a level capable of contending with Ancestor-class powerhouses. She hadn't just transformed from an ordinary person into something inhuman; she had vaulted into the running to become one of the Twenty-Seven Ancestors.

If Arnas’s transformation into a vampire was counted as one of the few rare marvels, then Satsuki Yumizuka’s vampirism was an unrepeatable legend.

And as a vampire, such a powerful existence, it was only natural that she would be "drawn" to Fuyuki City. As for who bit her, absolutely no one knew, perhaps not even she herself.

But!

Even someone as powerful as Satsuki Yumizuka was facing a fatal danger right now.

In a dilapidated school building, Satsuki Yumizuka hunched over, gasping heavily with the violent heaving of her chest. Then, with a fierce punch toward her side, her clenched right fist struck out. In an instant, with a deafening boom, the two-story school building right next to her was forcibly lifted up by her… Setting aside the sweat-inducing monstrous strength, the act of smashing her fist into the wall and then hoisting the entire structure was something that couldn't be achieved by brute strength alone.

Clearly, Satsuki Yumizuka had already achieved a certain mastery in the application of power.

“Haa!” Following the girl’s sharp cry, the massive school building was hurled away, crashing toward the enemy facing her.

About twenty meters in front of Satsuki Yumizuka stood a dark shadow.

Yes, a shadow. No matter the angle observed, it seemed to possess no tangible form; it was like a mere silhouette, or perhaps some kind of projection, entirely black, instilling a chilling terror.

Facing the descending school building, the shadow didn't evade. Instead, it swept its hand upward. With a sudden shattering sound, the entire building instantly dissolved into powder, leaving nothing behind… Wait!

Something was left.

The rebar from within the structure.

The moment it smashed the building to dust with its strike, it plucked out a piece of rusted rebar and gently tossed it forward. Instantly, the rebar shot toward Satsuki Yumizuka at a speed invisible to the naked eye.

Sssshhh!

Even sensing the rushing wind and having her eyes briefly catch the shape, the extreme exhaustion of her body left Satsuki Yumizuka utterly unable to dodge. With a shriek, the rusted rebar pierced her abdomen, skewering her and sending her flying backward, crimson blood splattering into the air.

“Ugh…!!”

The pain emanating from her stomach contorted the girl’s delicate features. Gritting her teeth, she ignored the blood seeping from the corner of her mouth, and with a trembling hand, she grasped the rebar piercing her body… Crack!

With a violent wrench from Satsuki Yumizuka, the rebar snapped. Then, she leaned forward abruptly, using her momentum to halt her backward trajectory, allowing the remaining half of the rebar to detach and fall back to the ground.

Drip. Drip…

Satsuki Yumizuka knelt on one knee, blood dripping from the wound in her stomach. She didn't spare it a glance, instead staring intently at the figure slowly approaching from the opposite side.

She had been in Fuyuki City for a while now. Though reluctantly, she had encountered several fights and had suffered defeats. However… this enemy before her was too abnormal. Not only was the nature of its existence bizarre and utterly incomprehensible, but its power was impossibly immense—a being from an entirely different dimension than her own!

She was absolutely no match for this thing!

At this moment, Satsuki Yumizuka recognized this fact, but it was too late. She was the one being targeted; escape was impossible. To survive, there was only one path… Defeat the enemy!

Immediately, the girl closed her eyes and began to softly chant:

“Here, there is no life. The vast world cannot save. There is no beginning, nor an end. Amidst overflowing death, only ruin remains. Only, desiccated all things. What exists on that side is but one… the World of Endings!”

The instant Satsuki Yumizuka finished reciting this passage, the surrounding environment shifted. The gloomy schoolhouse was instantly transformed into a courtyard filled with blossoming flowers of every kind, appearing exceptionally beautiful. But this beauty was a façade; as the plants in the courtyard gradually withered, the true world was revealed… the Barren Garden, capable of obliterating all living things!

This was Satsuki Yumizuka’s Reality Marble. In this world, the existence of life was forbidden, so any organism covered by it would be erased—even vampires could not leave alive.

It was precisely because of this Reality Marble’s overwhelming power that Satsuki Yumizuka was able to become a candidate for the Twenty-Seven Ancestors. However, she personally disliked this ability because its terrifying nature exceeded her control; even she herself was affected by it. If an enemy was covered by the Barren Garden, they would die within three seconds, and she could last a maximum of ten seconds.

Withered petals lifted without wind, covering the black shadow. In the briefest moment, the shadow’s existence was completely erased, and only two seconds had elapsed.

But in those two seconds, Satsuki Yumizuka’s energy consumption surpassed the total of the previous few days. A wave of dizziness washed over her. After confirming the enemy was dead, she immediately deactivated the Reality Marble, then collapsed onto the ground, breathing heavily with a look of sheer relief.

“Quite the ability, this is it. The thing I love, I was right to seek you out.”

However, before Satsuki Yumizuka could fully relax, a sinister voice echoed from the opposite direction. Her gaze snapped over, and her expression instantly froze in horror.

“How… How?!”

The black shadow, which should have been obliterated by the Barren Garden, reappeared before her.

…

Meanwhile, in the monitoring room, Lin Luo observed the entire scene through the monitors. He had noticed the situation developing over there several minutes ago, but believing Satsuki Yumizuka still held a trump card despite being at a disadvantage, he had calmly watched, also taking the opportunity to ascertain the true identity of the black shadow.

But…

“She’s fading; should I step in?” Komeiji Satori asked.

“No need,” Lin Luo shook his head, then stated grimly, “That shadow is a bit unusual. I’ll handle it myself.”

The next moment, via the transfer array, Lin Luo immediately set off toward Satsuki Yumizuka’s location. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to cast your recommendation tickets and monthly passes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)RQ