Tears continued to fall from her eyes, but this time, they weren't out of sadness.
They were tears of happiness.
But as the aftermath of my promise, and our shared kiss, settled, came the embarrassment.
I was standing butt-ass naked in front of her.
So without hesitation, I reached into my dimensional ring, dressed up in some casual clothes, and ultimately reappeared fully clothed.
Coughing twice, I glanced around.
The Vampire Nobles' domain was gone.
We were in her domain now.
So I was curious.
"What happened after I... you know?"
Clementine stared at me for a few more moments, then began explaining everything.
Down to how she felt about my death, to the way she obliterated the souls of all three of the Vampire Nobles and used their hearts as elixirs for my arrival.
She apparently also put one of their hearts into my chest, but... Vampire hearts can't support human bodies.
So humans can't become vampires through heart transfer. They can only become vampires if they are bitten, then turned.
And since that didn't happen, I was still who I used to be.
Still...
"I can't stress it enough, but I'm sorry for scaring you. I'm glad you listened to my trivia. You're the only reason I'm still alive."
Clementine was still shaken, but her expression was much softer than before.
"I'm never letting you out of my sight again."
I chuckled at her bold statement.
"Yes, ma'am."
Her brows twitched.
Just as she was about to retort to my jab, she halted.
As she turned her head to the side, her eyes narrowed.
"There are so many vampires inside the city. Most of the humans are already dead... What'll happen to us?"
Right...
That slipped my mind.
"Do you want the optimistic answer, or the professional answer?"
Clementine met my gaze.
"Whichever is the truth."
The truth, huh.
"The truth is... Three Vampire Nobles were killed, and in the crossfire, thousands of people died."
I approached her and brushed her long hair.
"The public has grown numb to casualties. All they really care about is progress. The death of three Vampire Nobles overshadows the death of millions, let alone a few thousand people."
"..."
"I see..."
Clementine clenched her fists.
"So the lives of all these people just don't matter?"
"That's sadly how the world works..."
"This world is flawed then."
I held back from letting out a chuckle.
She wasn't wrong.
This world was terrible.
I hated it even back when I was playing on my phone, without knowing how many terrible things actually happened here.
Now, I hated it even more.
But since this was the world I lived in now, I needed it to be in one piece so Clementine and I could live peacefully.
Though I knew better than anyone that I couldn't save everyone.
"Clementine, you can dispel your domain now."
She shook her head.
"Not until you're back to full energy."
"But I'm fine, I—"
"No means no."
Clementine...
She pointed at me.
"You stay here and relax."
Then, without saying another word, she vanished from her domain.
I could only imagine she began killing all the vampires in the city.
"..."
I could break out of this place.
I really could.
But I also didn't want to.
Although I acted like I was fine, I had just died after all.
So I sat down on the shallow water, and after taking a deep breath, checked out my status screen.
•—Amon Everness—•
Level 300 → 325 [Low-Grade 30 → Mid-Grade 32]
▷Stats
[Strength 290 → 310]
[Stamina 305 → 315]
[Speed 290 → 323]
[Perception 295 → 319]
[Vitality 320 → 360]
▷Inherent Gift
★Telekinesis [Advanced] (Lv.61 → Lv.65)
★Lightning Manipulation [Advanced] (Lv.66 → Lv.97)
▷Special Abilities
★Blood-Sight (Lv.68 → Lv.70)
★Demonic Energy Resistance (Lv.51 → Lv.53)
★Lightning Resistance (Lv.89)
▷General Abilities
☆Sprint (Lv.70)
☆Pain Tolerance (Lv.71 → Lv.80)
☆First Aid (Lv.90)
☆Mental Resistance (Lv. MAX)
▷Core Traits
◆The Demon King of Wrath's Blood [Beginner] (Lv.6 → Lv.11)
◆Dragon Heart [Intermediate] (Lv.7 → Lv.19)
•——•
My Lightning Manipulation, as well as my traits, leveled up a bunch.
Aside from that... I couldn't see any clear difference.
Though I didn't disregard what that woman had said.
Not the human bit, since I didn't really give a shit about that.
But the bit about death corruption was what worried me slightly.
So I'll have to do some research later.
For a few minutes, I just quietly sat there.
The mission report was going to be very unpleasant.
I knew that much.
But it was also unavoidable.
So until then, I wanted to try something out.
Right before I died, I managed to somehow travel through my own lightning.
It was an incredibly fast way to move.
If I could master it...
A faint smile appeared on my face.
Even though I was exhausted and my energy was very low, I couldn't help but want to try it out.
So I stood up and launched a tiny lightning spark in the distance.
I felt a connection to it.
Then I imagined myself traveling through it.
It didn't work...
But I felt like I was on the right track.
I tried again, and again.
After nearly ten tries, I finally got it.
All it took was a small adjustment.
Instead of traveling through the lightning, I had to imagine myself traveling inside of it.
That made all the difference.
I focused a few dozen meters in front of me.
In that very same instant, a pillar of lightning descended from the sky, which I immediately teleported into, covering a distance of at least 50 meters in the blink of an eye.
It was honestly a strange sensation, since for a brief moment, it felt like I didn't have a body.
But it was also strangely addictive.
I could teleport anywhere my lightning was.
And I had no clue what the limit was either.
It was a fun new ability.
Though I had to wait for Clementine to let me out so I could practice with more freedom.
Still...
In theory, there was one more thing I should be able to do.
Since my body momentarily turns into lightning, what if I just stay in that form?
I closed my eyes and imagined turning my whole body into lightning.
At first, only my limbs changed into lightning, but with every attempt, more of my body changed.
And finally, after God knew how many attempts, I managed to completely turn myself into lightning.
The sensation was as strange as before, but I didn't feel like I was traveling inside anything this time.
So with a single thought, I imagined a joystick appearing inside my mind.
And then, using that joystick, I dashed forward at a speed far greater than anything I could ever reach normally.
I nearly slammed into the edge of Clementine's domain, only managing to stop myself barely.
This was way too effective.
And traveling would become much easier now.
But this also opened up much more variety for my Lightning Manipulation Gift.
Not only that...
★Lightning Manipulation [Advanced → Expert] (Lv.1 → Lv.7)
While playing around, I managed to break the Gift into the Expert rank.
Which also meant I'll now be able to create my own guardian, just like the one Trivet had.
I knew how Kevin made his, so I'll just copy him once again.
Yet as I was in the middle of my chuuni phase, I suddenly saw Clementine appear.
She was covered in the blood of the vampires, but more importantly, she frantically scanned her domain, her expression turning to one of fear when she couldn't find me.
I felt guilty, so I immediately reappeared before her.
Her eyes widened.
"D-did you just turn into lightning?"
"Cool, right?"
She seemed excited, but also a little irritated.
"Didn't I tell you to stay here and relax?"
As she glanced around, she pointed at several spots in her domain that were crackling with electricity.
Then she rubbed her forehead in frustration as a look of determination appeared on her face.
"We're going home."
"Hmm...? We are?"
I tilted my head.
"Aren't we going to send help for the survivors?"
"There aren't any."
Oh...
"Then the report...?"
She narrowed her eyes.
"We'll give it tomorrow."
As the two of us stared at each other, I couldn't help but feel defeated.
Though it's not like I didn't like this obsessive side of hers.
"Fine... Let's go home."
***
A/N: How's the romance? Y'all fw it or is it too on the nose?