Chapter 78
After a whole day of flying without any pain attacks together with the Avatar's team, I honestly started to get bored. On top of that, I still had 68 Firebender hearts left in my inventory, but thanks to the Avatar's team I had only managed to secretly drink the blood from a couple of them—I couldn't do that in front of everyone—so I decided to head out for another walk, this time preparing myself for what awaited me at the North Pole.
Just what and how should I prepare? In reality, I only needed one thing—to learn how to fight while simultaneously drinking blood, without being distracted by the victim's memories. Without constant resupply, I'd wear out sooner than I could take down even 10% of the Fire Nation fleet. And I was planning to provoke the Fire Nation into sending even more ships than in canon. That meant, in this battle, I would have to keep getting stronger, and therefore keep drinking blood. So, by my calculations, I had about two months before the Avatar made it to the North Pole.
I decided to start my training with a certain organization in the Earth Kingdom, one that supposedly championed Ba Sing Se's prosperity, but in reality, were traitors who only cared about their own influence. Besides, even though I knew a few Earth-style jutsu from the Naruto world, the chi techniques in the Avatar world were much more flexible within a single element, and I intended to acquire them.
Naturally, I didn't just barge into Dai Li's base without a plan. First, I used my ability to see whatever and whenever I wanted to pick a time when at least a hundred Earthbenders would be at the base—about 20% of all the "secret police" members. After all, the Avatar Team was supposed to have a future encounter with them that would let them gain experience and a bit more skepticism, so I didn't want to erase that possibility. Since, after all, I'm just a passerby in this world. As soon as I recover, which will only happen after the battle at the North Pole, I'm going straight home to settle my score with Incognito—if, of course, there's anyone left to settle with, considering how furious Alucard might be. I'd left that moment unwatched, saving the surprise for myself.
The right moment came only after two days—during which I spent all my Firebender heart reserves—and I checked in on what was happening on the Fire Nation's side. Iroh had indeed contacted Ozai, and despite their disagreements, Ozai agreed that fighting someone as beautiful as me required more forces. Moreover—and Iroh didn't know this—a North Pole attack was already planned, and if the Avatar was there (which was obvious from the well-known sequence of learning elements and the bison's direction), then it was decided the operation warranted more attention. So Admiral Zhao's initial fleet was combined with the fleets of nine more admirals, ballooning the fleet from about 100 ships to over 1,000. Honestly, this was more than I'd planned, and I actually worried whether the Avatar's team could make it to the North Pole, but after checking how things were progressing, I put the doubts aside and focused on my own affairs.
Catacombs under Lake Laogai.
In the dark prison, packed with dissidents and those simply inconvenient for the Dai Li leadership, the silent figure of a young woman appeared. She possessed a truly perfect figure and a rather prominent bust. But what stood out most were the cat ears on her head and the gently swaying tail emerging from a special hole in her clothes.
But neither the prisoners nor the two guards, lit by lamp light, managed to notice her—her figure blurred almost instantly, and a second later the room was filled with the smell of fresh blood escaping from the bodies of decapitated Earthbenders. The blood immediately floated toward the girl.
"How could I absorb it more efficiently?" I murmured thoughtfully, gazing at the blood sphere hovering over my hand.
Just swallowing it would take too long, honestly, given how much there was. Remembering Alucard and the way he absorbed rivers of blood, reshaping his body at will, only one thought came to mind: I was clinging too tightly to my appearance.
Yes, I'd learned to create clothing at will, but honestly, both Alucard and I could be called evil spirits or even demons. Our appearances were just a matter of preference. Which meant...
"It's time to accept myself… fully." I whispered. In the next instant, the previously silent prisoners screamed in terror: the terrifying woman's body suddenly began to lose its human outline, leaving behind only a strange feminine figure, vaguely resembling the girl. The figure looked like it was made of strange black matter; where the face should have been, two red lights glowed. Where the body's contours ended, flickers of black flame seemed to rise, and the long hair-like part waved as if blown by an invisible wind. The figure radiated an aura that turned the prisoners' hearts to ice. But they received only a brief glance—then the figure focused on the blood sphere, which merged into her. She froze for a moment, then simply walked right through the door leading to the inner corridors of the fortress, hair trailing behind. Only the completely drained, beheaded bodies of the two Earthbenders proved the scene wasn't an illusion. A moment later, agonized, terrified screams sounded from the hallway.
I felt extremely strange. I realized I'd just taken another step forward as a vampire, letting go of another piece of my humanity. This half-amorphous state felt nearly alien. I could shape-shift at will, but instinctively kept close to my previous form—even keeping the outline of my chest as busty and firm as ever. Soon, though, I stopped caring and focused on how powerful I felt. I'd always been able to pierce a person's chest and rip out a heart, but now I found I could easily morph my arm into a blade and cut through metal; my body felt comprised of all the vital energy absorbed from countless victims. Probably, this was how powerful Alucard would've been at his peak.
A stone gauntlet passed through my body without harming me at all, and extending my left limb, I lashed out at the attacker, slicing him cleanly in two. I absorbed his blood right away while concentrating on not taking his memories. I managed, but even so, I spent nearly a second filtering unnecessary thoughts, during which a few more stone gauntlets from new arrivals passed through me—they hadn't realized ordinary physical attacks were now useless unless they were using blessed silver or some other vampire hunter trick.
I sprang into action, slaughtering everyone who came, moving onward with a single goal—to devour all the Earthbenders at this base chosen as victims today. Streams of scarlet blood followed me, steadily merging into my form. Sometimes, I didn't manage to filter out memories, momentarily freezing and allowing for useless counterattacks, before continuing my rampage. With each kill, I grew stronger, becoming more skilled at absorbing blood and memories simultaneously.
"What the hell is this monster?!" screamed an Earthbender who entered with a squad of a dozen. He'd dodged my initial attack surprisingly smoothly. I recognized him: the leader of the Dai Li. So it was time to finish. By my estimation, he should only appear if I killed more than planned—so with the original hundred Dai Li members, about fifty had now arrived as reinforcements.
"I think that's enough for now," I forcibly suppressed my bloodlust and left, teleporting to the shore of an uninhabited island. I needed to pull myself together.
Sitting right on the sand, I focused and slowly began restoring my old appearance. Honestly, it was harder than expected—I had to remember every detail of how I looked. If I hadn't admired myself in the mirror so often, this could've been a problem; even then, I had to start over several times.
When I finally succeeded, completely naked, I sprawled out on the sunlit sand.
"Ha-ha, what a strange vampire I am, basking in the sun like a cat," I laughed involuntarily at the absurdity, and then, with a touch of sadness, ran a hand over my chest and muttered, "I want to go home. Back to Integra, nya."
Meanwhile, as I lay under the sun, reminiscing about my time with Integra and awaiting my departure for the North Pole, a story began spreading through the Earth Kingdom. The tale told of a strange and terrifying evil spirit—a feminine shadow that drank the blood of her victims. As it turned out, even the seemingly mentally unshakable Dai Li agents who had miraculously survived that day were traumatized. Some, in drunken ramblings, began to recount things better left untold. And the fact that nobody ever saw them again only added fuel to the legend of this new monster.