The shattered armour of the Vampire Knight scattered across the frozen wooden planks, turning to ash as the dark magic holding the monster together finally broke.
Kai let out a long, tired breath.
He stood up straight and watched the blue notifications stack up in his vision, glowing brightly against the night sky.
[Enemy Defeated: Vampire Knight Lvl 25]
[Level Up! Current Level: 20]
[Boss Defeated: Bonus Reward Granted]
[New Skill Acquired: Battle Trance (Passive)]
[Description: When engaged in high-stress combat, time slows slightly in the user's perception by twenty to thirty per cent. Greatly enhances dodging capabilities and precision striking.]
'That is an upgrade,' Kai thought, feeling a sudden, soothing wave of energy wash over his tired muscles.
'Slowing down time even by a fraction of a second changes everything in a close-quarters fight.'
Curious about exactly how far he had come since waking up in this twisted world, he willed his full status window to open.
[Name: Kai]
[Level: 20]
[Class: Spellblade]
[Strength: 45]
[Agility: 52]
[Vitality: 38]
[Mana Capacity: 150]
[Cheat Skill: Greed Feast, Dominant Absorption]
[Active Skills: Ice Magic (Adept), Hard Strike (Adept)]
[Passive Skills: Restorative Touch (Minor), Overload Resistance (Medium), Battle Trance (New)]
Dismissing the screen, Kai turned his attention back to the wooden post.
Eevy was slumped forward against the thick ropes.
Now that the adrenaline of the battle was fading, the true extent of her injuries was becoming obvious.
Kai walked over and used his Fang Sword to cleanly slice through the ropes binding her wrists.
The moment the tension released, Eevy collapsed forward.
Kai dropped his sword and caught her before she hit the ice.
She felt light in his arms, but her skin was burning with an unnatural, feverish heat. She coughed weakly, spitting a mouthful of dark, blackened blood onto his shirt.
"Hey, stay awake," Kai ordered, lowering her gently to the frozen planks.
He tilted her chin up to examine her face.
Black veins pulsed visibly under the pale skin of her neck, spreading rapidly up her jawline and down toward her chest.
It looked like dark spiderwebs creeping through her circulatory system.
The Vampire Knight had done a lot more than just hit her.
He had poisoned her with a fatal blood curse that was actively rotting her mana veins from the inside out.
"Just leave me," Eevy whispered.
Her voice was hoarse, and her eyes struggled to focus on his face.
"The vanguard commander... he injected his blood into my shoulder when I got caught. It is a rotting curse. My mana is already collapsing."
'She is dying fast,' Kai thought, watching the black veins inch closer to her heart.
'I did not risk my neck fighting an armoured boss just to watch my only map of the capital expire on the docks.'
"I am not leaving you behind," Kai said firmly.
"You are coming with me."
"You don't understand," she gasped, her body shivering uncontrollably despite the burning fever.
"There is no cure for this. The clerics in the capital could not even purge this kind of dark magic. If you stay near me when the curse fully blooms, it will jump to your mana pool. Please, just take the transport ship and warn the city."
She closed her eyes, fully accepting her fate.
She was a rogue, lived in the shadows and knew the risks of getting caught.
Dying on a cold dock was just part of the job.
"I don't care what the clerics can or cannot do," Kai replied, his tone leaving absolutely no room for argument.
"I do not accept failure, and I am not losing a valuable asset. You belong to me now, and I decide when you get to die."
He scooped her up into his arms, carrying her away from the docks and walking straight up the wooden ramp of the captured transport ship.
The deck of the boat was wide, secluded, and completely safe from the dead patrols on the shore.
Eevy groaned softly as Kai laid her down on the smooth wooden deck of the ship.
The cool night breeze coming off the lake provided no relief for her burning skin.
She was weak, her high-level stats completely suppressed by the aggressive dark magic eating her alive.
Kai knelt over her, placing a hand gently against the side of her neck to feel her racing pulse.
The black veins were warm to the touch, filled with corrupted energy.
'The Dominant Absorption skill was designed specifically to pull power and magic out of a partner,' Kai thought, calculating the risk.
'If I take total control of her system, I can forcefully rip this curse out of her veins and filter it through my own Overload Resistance.'
He moved quickly.
Kai straddled her hips, using his body weight to pin her firmly to the wooden deck.
He grabbed both of her wrists, holding them down above her head.
Eevy gasped at the sudden pressure; her dark eyes flew open, wide with confusion and a lingering trace of fear.
"What are you doing?" she breathed, her chest heaving against him.
"I am going to pull the curse out of you," Kai said.
He leaned down close, his face just inches from hers. His voice was low, barely a whisper.
"But the only way this works is if I take complete control. You are going to let down all of your defences. You are going to let me inside your mana pool, and not going to fight me."
"I... I don't know how," she stammered.
The fever made her mind foggy, but the intense, dominant energy radiating from the man pinning her down made her skin tingle.
"You don't have to know how," Kai whispered, tracing the line of a dark vein down her collarbone with his thumb.
"You just have to surrender. I will do all the heavy lifting."
He could feel the greedy feel of his cheat skill waking up in his chest.
Dominant Absorption fed on authority and intimacy. To purge the poison, he needed to establish a deep, raw connection, pulling her stealth stats and her corrupted mana directly into his own body.
Eevy looked up at him.
She was a proud scout, used to moving independently and never relying on anyone.
But staring into his confident eyes, feeling the heavy, secure weight of his body pressing her down against the boat, her resistance finally crumbled.
"Okay," she whispered, her voice trembling with a mix of pain and sudden, desperate need.
"Save me."