With the slow countdown of my transformation, I couldn't help but just stare at this girl, and I mean really look at her with different eyes. At the desperation in her eyes, the way her claws still trembled with the urge to fight, the way her tail coiled beneath the water—ready to strike again if she saw an opening.
'If this is what you want, then let me give you an answer you can't deny or overlook.'
"Hmm." I tilted my head, letting a small, almost pitying smile cross my lips. "Have you ever wondered, Tamao-senpai, that maybe—just maybe—I'm a recently turned vampire? That perhaps I possess an artifact capable of sealing the monster inside me, leaving my outward appearance and scent ever so close to human?"
I let the words hang in the air.
"Do you think, in a world where Sacred Gears created by the God of the Bible, Yahweh, himself are capable of felling Gods, Satans and Demon Lords—where Magic is as mysterious and grand as your imagination can stretch—that there wouldn't be a way to conceal my identity as a vampire?"
Her eyes flickered with doubt, confusion. There were some signs that she might believe this explanation of mine, which in hindsight wasn't a wrong assumption.
I mean, if you want an example of how this can be possible, just look at how broken the ability of the Holy Grail Sephiroth, it can even resurrect the dead and work with the principles of the soul and life, so changing the quality or even masking your own state wouldn't be far-fetched.
I have to remember to add to my plan to get my hands on Valerie Tepes before they turn her into a broken puppet that is milked for the powers of her Sacred Gear. And screwing Rizevim early on would slow his plans of awakening the final boss of the DxD World, Trihexa, so I'll have to be proactive if I want to stay on top.
But, let's not get too carried away; I haven't even passed the challenge of the Yokai Academy. Until I reach, say, A-tier or S-tier, let's not get myself involved with any Final Villain of the DxD world.
"Are all you lower yokai and demons truly that naive?" My voice wasn't cruel—just matter-of-fact. "Why can't you think for even a second instead of following that greedy instinct of yours?"
[Time remaining: 1:13]
I straightened, letting the weight of the moment settle.
"I think I've satisfied your curiosity, Tamao-senpai." I rolled my shoulders, feeling the Ghoul's whispers recede as I focused. "So I won't hold back any longer. It's time to end this."
She tensed, ready for the final strike.
"Tamao-senpai." I met her eyes, and I meant what I said next. "You have been a worthy opponent. Stronger than I expected. Cunning, relentless, willing to risk everything for your goals. It's only respectful that I give you my best."
"Don't." Her voice cracked, raw with emotion I hadn't expected. "Don't you dare pretend you respect me. Not after the humiliation I've suffered at your hands. Not after I had to degrade myself. You let me—let me touch you so shamelessly, let me believe I was winning, let me make a fool of myself in front of everyone."
Her claws clenched, water dripping from her scaled fingers.
"You used my own tactics against me. You played along with my seduction and made me the fool. And now you stand there, barely wounded, offering me 'respect' like it means something?"
I couldn't help it. A small laugh escaped me—not cruel, just amused.
"Huhu." I shook my head. "Amusing. There's no need to be angry with me, senpai. And let's not forget where your hands have been lingering all over my body for the past hour. If anyone should feel 'shamelessly touched,' it's me."
Her face went red—actually red, visible even through her scales.
"Urgh!" She sputtered, rage and embarrassment warring on her features. "You're infuriating, Aono Tsukune! Absolutely infuriating! I'm going to kill you for sure!"
"Go on." I spread my arms, inviting her attack. "Give me your best."
She attacked.
Not with a massive display of water manipulation this time—her yoki was too depleted for that. Not with strategy or cunning or any of the things that made her dangerous in a prolonged fight. She just went into a pure, desperate aggression guided by her emotions, her claws extended, her jaws open wide, making her body a weapon aimed at my throat.
Seeing her presumed final move, I also moved into action.
Not away—that would be cruel, drawing out her defeat. Not to the side—that would be disrespectful, denying her the chance to strike and prove herself once more to me and especially to herself. I moved forward, into her attack, reading her trajectory with the ease while my eyes flashed with a crimson light as the slits got darker and larger.
The world narrowed to the space between us. Her claws, extended to their full length, gleaming with the last dregs of her yoki. Her jaws, open wide enough to show every serrated tooth, aimed at my throat.
Her claws passed within inches of my throat. I felt the wind of them, the desperate reach of tips that wanted nothing more than to draw blood, to leave some mark, to prove that she'd touched me.
Her jaws snapped shut on empty air.
And I was behind her.
[Crimson Fang Fist: RELEASE]
The crimson energy gathered around my right arm, condensing into the form of vampiric fangs.
Tamao spun, her tail whipping through the water, her eyes going wide as she realized what was happening. I saw it in her face—the understanding that this was it. Just her and me, no one interfering in the fight.
I struck.
My fist connected with her side—not her chest, not her throat, not any of the places that would kill or permanently maim. Just her side, where the impact would hurt like hell but leave her intact.
Then the force of the blow lifted her out of the water entirely.
She flew across the pool one last time, her body spinning, her tail useless in the air, water spraying in her wake. She crashed into the far wall—the same wall she'd hit earlier, the same wall that now bore the imprint of her body in two places—and slid down into the shallows.
Her transformed body went still. Completely, utterly still.
The sound of the impact echoed off the tiles, then faded into silence.
[Time remaining: 0:32]
I stood there, chest heaving, watching her. Waiting to see if she'd rise again. Waiting to see if that relentless fire inside her would spark back to life for one more round, one more attack, one more chance to prove herself.
Yet, she didn't.
The fight was over.
I looked at my fist, still crackling with residual crimson energy. The glow faded slowly, leaving only the familiar ache of expended power. My knuckles were split—nothing serious, nothing that wouldn't heal in seconds—but they were a reminder that even an overwhelming victory had its costs especially when I wasn't used to fighting in this state.
There were so many things I had to adapt to and work on in the coming future.
While in my Ghoul form, I began to walk toward where Tamao had crashed at the end of the pool.
Each step carried me closer to the mermaid who'd tried to consume me, who'd orchestrated this whole elaborate hunt, who'd fought with everything she had and still come up short. On one hand, it was justifiable that I could kill her and consume her own essence to strengthen my body, but on the other hand, it was such a tasteless and barbaric way of handling things.
But that wasn't me. I wasn't some senseless, psychotic monster that would kill without even showing a reaction. Besides, Tamao would prove more useful to me alive than dead.
Even if I could justify to Headmaster Mikogami that I killed her out of self-defense, and the amount of stat points would be substantial for certain given that Tamao was a B-tier close to B-tier peak as a Mermaid.
However, it would be a shame to end a possible ally in the game I was preparing myself to play for the throne of the Yokai Academy.
Besides, I'd rather kill the insufferable villains of the Academy like Saizo or those losers that tried to destroy the Academy from within, than slay the Mermaids.
While I was contemplating my next move, I couldn't help but notice that morbid silence from the spectators.
I could feel their eyes on me—the mermaids huddled at the edges, the boys sprawled across the deck, the ones who'd just arrived and found themselves in the middle of something they couldn't comprehend. All of them watching the crimson figure walking through the water toward their defeated leader.
The mermaids began to tremble as I approached Tamao. I saw it in their faces—the fear, the desperation, the certainty that I was about to finish what I'd started.
In the Yokai Society, this was how things worked. You defeated your enemy, and then you eliminated them. Made sure they couldn't come back. Made sure everyone knew what happened to those who challenged the strong.
I reached Tamao who lay crumpled against the wall, half in the water, half on the tile. By the time I stopped beside her, she was just a weak girl, terrified, exhausted, broken and barely conscious from the knock she'd taken.
I stood over her, my shadow falling across her face.
Her golden eyes fluttered open slowly, still dazed from the impact. She looked up at me, and for a moment, there was nothing there. No fight. No defiance. Just the hollow acceptance of someone who'd reached the end of their road.
She could see me overlooking her defeated body. The crimson glow of my eyes and my claws stll extended.
Then she closed her eyes tightly, as if bracing herself.
"Just do it." Her voice was barely a whisper, but it carried in the silence. "Kill me. I have no regrets."
I didn't respond.
Instead, I looked down at my hand. At the timer flickering at the edge of my vision.
[Time remaining: 0:07]
'Shit.'
I'd been so focused on the fight, on Tamao, on the weight of the moment, that I'd let the timer slip. Seven seconds left before I would no longer be in the green zone for utilizing the Ghoul transformation. My first instinct was to rush and cancel the transformation but then I remembered the note of the System.
I could increase my Bloodline Control by resisting the effects of losing control of my body to the Ghoul.
[Time remaining: 0:01]
'Come on, come on, come—'
[Time remaining: 0:00]
[❗]
[WARNING][You have exceeded the safe duration of the Ghoul Vampire Transformation][Bloodline Control check initiated...]
'Let's see what you can do to me.'
The world went red.
A wave of crimson energy burst from my body, expanding outward in all directions. It washed over the pool, over the spectators, over everything within a fifty-meter radius. All of the weaker yokai in the audience, including the lower-ranking mermaids stumbled back as the wave of yoki hit them, some of them collapsing entirely, overwhelmed by the pressure.
(Narrator's POV)
Moka's hand flew to the rosary at her chest, her fingers wrapping around it so tightly the metal bit into her palm.
'Tsukune!'
She felt it—that wave of yoki, so much darker than before, so much more wrong. It wasn't the controlled power he'd been wielding during the fight. This was something else. Something wild. Something that made her own vampire instincts scream a warning she couldn't ignore.
Kurumu also had this ominous feeling when she was hit by the Yoki wave coming from Tsukune
The relaxed smile evaporated from her face.
'What the hell...'
"Moka." Her voice came out sharper than she intended. "What's happening to him?"
Moka didn't answer at first. Her eyes were fixed on Tsukune, her face pale, her grip on that rosary so tight her knuckles had gone white.
"He's fine… Maybe he tries to intimidate that goldfish."
Kurumu, could tell that Moka's words were bullshit, and in that moment her heart clenched.
Tamao, lying at Tsukune's feet, took the full force of the released yoki.
Her eyes flew open. Her body convulsed, once, as the wave of crimson energy crashed over her. It was like being hit by the ocean itself—not the water, but the weight of it, the immensity, the terrible pressure of something far larger than herself.
She saw the fear in her own mind—real fear, the kind that came from facing death. Not the abstract fear she'd lived with for years, the constant anxiety of survival, the dread of Kuyo's next visit where he would force himself upon her otherwise the other mermaids would have to suffer from his own twisted desires.
This was different. This was the cold certainty of an ending.
She'd said she had no regrets. She'd meant it, in that moment. If this was where her path ended, at least she'd walked it on her own terms. At least she'd fought.
But death, she discovered, was something you couldn't truly be ready for.
In that frozen moment, with Tsukune's wild yoki washing over her, Tamao's mind raced through everything she hadn't done.
She hadn't saved her clan. Hadn't freed Scylla from Oceanus, where the ancient mermaid had been trapped by Hades himself for millennia. Hadn't fulfilled the mission that had driven her since she was old enough to understand what it meant to be a descendant of a being from mythical stories.
She thought of her mother, who'd died before seeing their ancestor freed. Of her grandmother, who'd passed the mission to Tamao with tears in her eyes. Of all the mermaids who'd come before, who'd sacrificed everything for a dream that remained just out of reach.
'I'm sorry,' she thought, as the darkness pressed against her consciousness. 'I tried. I really tried.'
(Tsukune's POV)
The world was red. That was the first thing I noticed. Not the pleasant crimson of my yoki, but something darker. Angrier. A red that wanted to consume everything, including me.
'Give in.' The Ghoul's voice was everywhere, inside my skull, inside my blood, inside my bones. 'Stop fighting. It's easier this way. Let go, and I'll give you power beyond anything you've imagined.'
I'd heard this voice before. Felt its pull. But never like this. This time, it felt more like a direct confrontation without someone backing me up.
[Bloodline Control check in progress...]
[Mental clarity: 67% and falling]
'Shut up.'
-You can't win. You know that. Every second you fight me, you lose a piece of yourself. Eventually there'll be nothing left but me.
'I said shut up.'
The Ghoul laughed. It wasn't a pleasant sound.
I felt it. The pressure building behind my eyes. The hunger surging in my gut. The urge to find something to kill, to tear, to consume. Tamao was right there, helpless, broken, her throat exposed, her pulse fluttering like a trapped bird.
One move and I could end her. Take her essence. Feed.
It would be so easy.
So easy.
Then, as if feeling my willpower slipping, the Ghoul surged.
I felt my hand twitch toward Tamao's throat. Felt my claws extend further, my fangs lengthen, my body preparing to do what it was designed to do. The hunger was overwhelming—a physical need that drowned out everything else.
'No.'
I grabbed onto that thought like a lifeline. 'No. Not like this. I will not become your puppet. This is my body, and you're nothing more than some of Moka's Shinso DNA.'
The Ghoul laughed again, but this time there was something different in it.
-'Pitiful mortal.' The voice dropped, losing its wild edge and becoming something colder. More focused. 'You will be mine soon. It was a mistake, getting your fate entangled with Akasha Bloodriver and her spawn. Did you think her blood came with no strings attached?'
I froze.
-'It will not be long before I reclaim my power. Before I remind the world why my name was feared.'
(Narrator's POV)
The spectators saw the change before they understood what it meant.
Tsukune's body convulsed. The crimson yoki surrounding him intensified, darkening to something almost black at the edges. And then—impossibly—it began to grow.
Wings.
Large, bat-like wings tore through the back of his shirt, unfurling with a sound like tearing silk. They were skeletal at first, just bone and membrane, but they filled in rapidly, becoming something that belonged in a nightmare.
His dark hair began transforming further bleaching itself to silver.
(Tsukune's POV)
The inner clash was brutal.
Akasha? The name sparked something in my memory. Wasn't she Moka's mother. The most powerful vampire in existence, at least to the lore of the Rosario world.
And this thing—it knew her? Wait, something doesn't add up. Could it be? There was that part in the story that mentioned that Moka was sealed to protect her from that bastard acting up. Does this mean that by extension I also got infected with the same curse?
'You're— Alucard.'
-'Hahaha. I'm more surprised that you know about me. The first of our kind. The origin from which all vampires descend.'
-'And you, little mortal, have been carrying a piece of me in your veins since that girl first sank her fangs into your throat.
With that confirmation, my blood ran cold.
'You're telling me that I'd been carrying a fragment of your soul inside me this whole time?'
-'That's right.' The Ghoul—Alucard—sounded almost pleased. 'Finally, you understand. Now, shall we stop this pointless resistance? You can't win. You never could. Just let go, and I'll make your death—'
'No.'
The word came out stronger than I expected.
'No,' I repeated. I don't care who you are. 'This is my body. My life. Why should I surrender it to a relic of bygone eras that doesn't want to stay dead?'
-'Fool.'
Alucard's power surged, pressing against my consciousness like the weight of an ocean. I felt myself slipping, felt the darkness closing in—
And then, in that moment of desperation, I remembered.
The cross. The silver cross Kyoko had given me. I'd used it before to fight off the Ghoul's influence and it was a great assistance in not losing myself. Maybe—
But Alucard anticipated the thought.
-'That trinket again? That cross might have held me back once, and he might be able to save you, again. But until when? You're just an ignorant mortal trying to touch the Sun. A pitiful mortal like Icarus.'
I felt my willpower crumbling. The darkness pressed closer, and for the first time, I understood what real despair felt like.
He was right. I was just a mortal. An ignorant mortal who'd thought he could touch the sun and survive. Thinking that with my big ego after tasting the wins and the rush of wielding such power that I could push ahead and continue snowballing in raising my powers.
-'Yes.' Alucard's voice was almost gentle now. 'Give in. It's so much easier. Just let go, and all this pain—all this struggle—it all ends.'
My eyes started to close.
And I entered into this state of self-reflection. A lot of things could have been avoided or skipped. I could've been more ruthless with people I perceive as my enemies. I could have ended things with the mermaids faster, but because of my lacking fighting experience, I made mistakes. I could've snapped Tamao's neck at my first opportunity and ended the fight, but that would be the foolish option.
Because I had transmigrated into a world I could say I knew to a decent level, I got comfortable. My will as a transmigrator was my forte in a sense, but now it was being crushed by this monster who refused to die.
This was yet another stupid reckless move that came to bite me.
I can't just give up like this and let this fucker take over. I have to fight back even with the risk of losing everything.
'You know what?' The words came out of nowhere, surprising even me. 'You're right. I might be an ignorant mortal.'
Alucard paused.
'I might be in over my head. I might have made a hundred mistakes getting to this point. But at least I'm not a cockroach that can't stay dead.'
The silence that followed was deafening.
-'What did you call me?'
'You heard me. You've been dead for who knows how long, just remain dead already. You don't get a second chance to life. Now fuck off to whatever crevices you've been hiding!'
As if desiring power and control over himself, but above all else for someone to remove this bastard crawling inside his skin, something snapped in my mind.
My hand, which had been pressing harder on Tamao's throat, froze.
I felt it—the pressure easing, the hunger receding, the darkness pulling back just slightly. Not because Alucard was losing. Because something else was happening.
A bright light erupted from somewhere deep inside me. Not the crimson of my yoki, not the darkness of the Ghoul—something else entirely. It was pure, like the warm touch of the Sun. It rippled through the red haze, pushing back the shadows, creating space where there had been none.
Alucard's laughter stopped abruptly.
-'What—'
The light intensified.
Kuri~
A sound. Small. Innocent. Completely out of place in the middle of this internal war.
Kuri kuri!
Something materialized in front of me—a tiny creature, no bigger than my hand, with fluffy brown fur and absurd little wings that flapped uselessly as it hovered in the air. It looked like a plush toy come to life, like something out of a cartoon.
A winged kuriboh.
I stared at it.
It stared at me.
Then, to my absolute shock, it flew forward and punched me directly in the face.
Not hard—more like a firm tap. But the surprise of it, the sheer absurdity of this tiny creature assaulting me in the middle of a life-or-death struggle for my soul, was enough to break through the darkness.
'-What the—'
Alucard's connection to me fractured.
I felt it—the link between us, that dark tether that had been pulling me toward the abyss, suddenly severed. Not broken completely, but weakened to the point I could push back with my own will. The strange little creature's punch had done something, had disrupted Alucard's hold on me.
-IMPOSSIBLE!' Alucard's voice was distant now, fading. 'WHAT IS THAT THING?'
Kuri kuri!
The creature chirped happily, doing a little spin in the air.
I stared at it for one more second, my brain struggling to process what I was seeing. A winged kuriboh. From Yu-Gi-Oh. A card game I used to play in my first life.
There was no time for a pikachu face. Whatever this thing was, it had given me an opening, and I wasn't going to waste it.
I let go of the transformation.
The crimson energy bled away from my body like water receding from shore. My claws retracted. My fangs shortened while my wings, wait I had a pair of wings? Now, they were breaking apart turning into crimson Yoki particles.
The pressure in the air diminished, and the world slowly returned to its normal colors.
[Ghoul form deactivated]
[Suppression of Alucard's influence: PARTIAL SUCCESS]
[Bloodline Control increased significantly]
[Bloodline Control: D (17/100) → C (5/100)]
I gasped, sucking in air like I'd been drowning. My body ached in ways I couldn't describe—not from wounds, but from the sheer effort of holding myself together.
I looked away from Tamao for a moment. I couldn't think about what to do with her right now.
The winged kuriboh hovered in front of my face, tilting its head as if asking if I was okay.
Kuri?
I stared at it.
A winged kuriboh.
From Yu-Gi-Oh.
In the middle of Yokai Academy.
How?
The answer came almost immediately. I pulled up my status window, ignoring the flood of stat increases and System notifications, scrolling directly to the section I needed to see.
[Sacred Gear: 'Annihilation Maker' – Responsive]
[Status: AWAKENING IN PROGRESS]
[Manifestation: 25%]
'No way.'
I read it again. And again.
'Don't tell me—I awakened my Sacred Gear while getting crushed by Alucard? This is so fucking embarrassing…'
I looked at the system information related to Winged Kuriboh.
Mainly at its ability.
[Winged Kuriboh]
[Type: Guardian Spirit - Sacred Gear Manifestation]
[Abilities:]
1) Purifying Touch – When Tsukune's mental clarity drops below 30%, Kuriboh can intervene, disrupting corrupting influences and restoring up to 40% mental clarity. Consumes 50 Mana. Cooldown: 24 hours.
2) Guardian Presence – Passive 15% resistance to mental attacks when Kuriboh is visible/active.
3) ??? – (Locked – may evolve with Tsukune's bond)
'For a fluffy mop, he's kinda amazing against mental type effects which I'm horrible at defending.'
Kuri kuri!
The little creature did another spin, clearly proud of itself.
I stared at the window, then at the fluffy ball of impossible floating in front of me.
"So you're telling me," I muttered, "that my imagination and idea of a protector is a fluffy hamster with wings?"
Kuri!
It nodded enthusiastically.
"...I don't know whether to be relieved or offended."
'Then... I should be able to start creating monsters, right?'
I looked around my body, checking for changes. My shadow—did it look different? No. Nothing obvious. No army of darkness springing forth from my feet.
'Let's do it small… with a archetype that fits this world.'
Since I was in a world dominated by Vampires, my first instinct was to think of the boss card of the Vampire Archetype, the Vampire Voivode, a high level monster from Yu-Gi-Oh. Powerful. Regal. Exactly the kind of thing that would fit in this world.
I visualized it. Reached out with my mind toward that newly awakened power.
Nothing happened.
[Insufficient resources to create higher-level monsters]
[Mana: INSUFFICIENT]
[Demonic Energy: INSUFFICIENT]
'There's a resource requirement cap?'
I stared at the notification. Of course there was. Nothing in this world was ever simple.
'Okay. Fine. Let's try something smaller.'
Instead of the final boss of the vampire archetype, I reached for something more modest. A monster card I'd used countless times in duels and was familiar with its artwork.
Vampire Familiar. I visualized it—a small, bat-like creature, barely a threat on its own, but useful more than you could think of it.
The winged kuriboh chirped encouragingly.
I focused. Reached out. And this time, I felt something stir in the depths of my newly awakened power.
[Vampire Familiar: CREATION IN PROGRESS]
[You have consumed 100 Mana and 50 Demonic Energy points]
Three seconds later, a second creature materialized beside the first.
It was smaller than the kuriboh, if that was possible—a tiny bat with glowing red eyes and leathery wings. It fluttered uncertainly, looking around as if confused by its own existence.
Then its eyes found me.
'Holy shit.'
'I'd done it. I'd actually done it.'
[Vampire Familiar created successfully]
[Abilities: Basic reconnaissance, minimal combat support]
'The abilities are alright…for what he's supposed to be.'
'I don't care that I can't summon the first minute I awaken my Sacred Gear, some World Ending Bahamut. Even a small fry is a good starting point.'
The winged kuriboh bumped against the familiar, chirping happily. The familiar squeaked and fluttered away, then came back, clearly unsure how to interact with this other creature that had appeared from nowhere.
I watched them for a moment, this impossible pair of beings that existed only because of me.
Then I looked down at Tamao, still gasping for air and terrified of me.
Let's have her submit to me and get as much points as I can, make her join up as my first recruit for the Faction I intend on building and be done with the pool. Ahh, and I can't forget about joining the Newspaper Club since I can't miss the chance of learning Senjutsu from Shizuka-sensei.
(A/N: Take your time to read the notes I left in the paragraph comments.)