“You ate it.”

As I said that, I barely forced my heavy body upright.

Throb...

The puncture wound burned with pain.

Well, of course it did.

“The dish I made for you with such care...”

There was basically a hole punched clean through my body.

It would have been stranger if it didn’t hurt.

“...you went ahead and enjoyed it?”

...If I hadn’t prepared for this in advance, things really could have gone very badly.

“You... you weren’t unconscious...?”

The bastard looked rattled.

But.

I had no intention of answering that question.

Bang!

I hurled myself at the flustered bastard.

The [Black Iron Chinese Knife] was already in my right hand.

“...Tch.”

Then the bastard stared at me for a moment.

Flap!

It beat its wings and began pulling far back away from me.

‘Backing off here.’

And then, watching it do that, I thought,

‘That’s a damn smart call!’

Its goal was to kill me, then get rid of that sun.

“Come on, it’s been so long since we last saw each other!”

But.

Now that I was openly showing that something was off, it chose to retreat first instead of forcing a risky fight.

“Don’t be so cold and run off like that!”

A safe choice. No overreaching.

It was definitely the kind of judgment that deserved praise, but—

‘It’s not like I’m an idiot.’

If there was one unfortunate thing,

...it was that,

‘If running away could’ve solved this, would I have acted this suspicious out in the open?’

that kind of clever judgment had already stopped mattering.

“Get down here so we can talk!”

“...!?”

The moment I said that lightly, the rhythm of its flapping wings warped badly.

“What!?”

Flying takes extremely delicate control.

When those wings show even the slightest problem,

KWA-BOOOOM!

that’s more than enough to send a body crashing down to the ground.

***

Paaaaaah...

Dust from the impact spread everywhere, then slowly settled.

“What in the world is this...”

But.

The bastard didn’t seem seriously injured from the fall.

Creeeak...

The muscles in its lower body had swollen to a grotesque extent.

And on top of that, even its calf, which had looked horribly broken, was already regenerating on its own, bone and flesh knitting back together.

‘The power of vampires.’

The beast-form that let it fly through the air, the monstrous strength to endure even a fall from that height, and the recovery to casually mend broken joints.

That was the power of the Melchiorn Bloodline.

And not just that.

Not some half-baked imitation like mine, but power on the level of true vampires—or better.

‘That power is supposed to become utterly helpless under the sun.’

We know that, and they know that.

Which is why the people fighting vampires can’t help lowering their guard under sunlight.

So then—

‘That opening... I figured it would absolutely go after it.’

If I created those conditions, that bastard would unquestionably come for that timing.

“...You really did.”

Yeah.

From the beginning,

“You knew I was going to attack you?”

I scratched my head, thinking of where my brain must be sitting somewhere inside it, and said,

“Back then, I really thought I was going to die from the pain.”

The first time I met that bastard, it blew up my brain and heart in one shot.

“That pain.”

It hurt like hell, and recovering from it hadn’t been easy either.

And.

“That kind of thing just doesn’t leave your memory.”

A scene that painful is the kind that gets carved even deeper into your mind.

Not just the pain.

But when that pain swept over my body—

[Taste Bud Enhancement]

—even the information written in the translucent window spread out before my eyes.

***

“If you intend to fight after suffering that pain,”

Bang!

“then I have no choice but to engrave pain into you so deeply that you’ll never resist again.”

It seemed the bastard had given up on fleeing after crashing to the ground.

It came charging straight at me with its claws raised.

Watching it, I thought,

‘Fast... and strong.’

The wings supporting its movement.

The power of the bloodline granting overwhelming muscle strength.

And it didn’t even seem to struggle to control that excessive physical might.

‘At minimum, [Blue]-level strength.’

And even among those, it belonged comfortably in the upper tier.

I had never once seen a human as strong as that bastard.

Still—

‘There was exactly one time I saw a human with strength that could somehow compare.’

And.

That human with comparable strength, and the bastard in front of me, had one thing in common.

‘That strength wasn’t human.’

The reason that bastard could wield power like that—

and do it under this sun, no less—

was actually pretty simple.

[Species: Primate - Human?]

Its species was still human.

Just like me, as long as it remained within the bounds of humanity, the heat of that sun could sting, but it wouldn’t threaten its life.

And.

The reason a bastard who was still human could use the vampires’ power was—

[Class - Blood Sorcerer of Hatred Lv.38]

because its class was specialized in exactly that.

[Blood, blood itself.]

[This mysterious liquid, the source of all life, holds great meaning in sorcery as well.]

[Within a single drop of red liquid are contained thousands of stories about that being, and through the exchange of this liquid, lives may be traded between one another.]

[Blood is, in other words, the very foundation of that being.]

[Blood sorcerers are sorcerers who specialize in handling this blood.]

[They are endlessly powerless against mechanical devices and the like, where no blood flows, but against living things with blood, they exert influence greater than anything else.]

[Skills]

[Sorcery - Blood Control]

[Sorcery - Blood Collection]

[Sorcery - Blood Reading]

[Sorcery - Accelerated Blood Flow]

[Curse Sorcery - Blood Explosion]

...

[Trait]

[Sorcery - True Blood Body]

...

Blood sorcerer.

A sorcerer who handles blood.

From everything I’d seen so far, an awakened’s class is heavily influenced by that person’s talents and life.

‘So it’s a class that handles blood, huh?’

A person born with that kind of class.

What kind of life had this bastard even lived before awakening?

I honestly couldn’t begin to imagine it.

Well, whatever.

What mattered wasn’t what kind of bastard it had been before.

[Skills]

[Sorcery - Blood Collection]

[Collects the target’s blood and stores it within the user’s body.]

[Collected blood remains within the body in a state separate from the sorcerer’s own blood.]

[Sorcery - Blood Reading]

[Reads and utilizes the information engraved in collected blood.]

[Upon use, a portion of the collected blood is consumed.]

[Warning - Reproducing abilities beyond one’s own capacity may result in penalties.]

[Trait]

[Sorcery - True Blood Body]

[Through sorcery, a special constitution has been refined that allows the true power contained in blood to be handled.]

[The effects of all blood contained within the body are greatly amplified.]

What mattered was what kind of abilities that bastard had.

‘The ability to collect blood and make use of it.’

It collects someone else’s blood, then consumes that blood to imitate abilities.

And it even had an ability that drastically amplified the effects of that blood.

That was why it could use vampire power while remaining human.

‘Most vampire power is tied to their blood.’

It hadn’t become a vampire itself.

It was just reproducing those powers through that ability.

That was why it could stay perfectly fine under the sun.

And when I realized that, I had exactly one thought.

‘Isn’t this skill completely insane?’

Seriously, what kind of broken cheat power is this?

Its synergy with vampire abilities was especially ridiculous.

Sure, it said penalties could be imposed if it reproduced techniques beyond what its body could handle.

But with vampire regeneration, it could probably heal through most burdens without a problem.

On the other hand—

‘My condition is garbage.’

Under that sun, my regeneration is weakened too.

I’d already drained what little strength I had left just to create that sun.

If we’d both been in normal condition, maybe it would’ve made for a decent fight.

But not now.

“So don’t get all worked up.”

Still.

Maybe “fortunately” was the word for it.

My class is a cook.

...And if I already know what kind of ingredient I’m going to be cooking—

“Kneel. Sit down, you bastard.”

“!?”

—I’m pretty confident in my ability to deal with it.

CRASH!!!

“Urk...!?”

The bastard had been charging for my throat, but its knees suddenly slammed into the ground and its whole body went tumbling violently across the floor.

“You...!”

Inside the swirling dust, the bastard tried to rise, then looked down at its own body and flinched as it said,

“What did you do to my body...!”

Which made sense.

Because its body was kneeling upright exactly the way I’d ordered it to.

“What did I do?”

The bastard, staring at me in confusion, was sitting there in a remarkably polite posture.

Looking at it, I grinned.

“I cooked it.”

[Sorcery - Blood Collection]

[Collects the target’s blood and stores it within the user’s body.]

That bastard’s ability begins with collecting the other party’s blood.

And then—

[Sorcery - True Blood Body]

[The effects of all blood contained within the body are greatly amplified.]

—that collected blood has its effects enhanced by the [True Blood Body] trait.

A trait with absurd synergy.

But if there was one important point here—

‘Nowhere does it say that trait only amplifies beneficial effects, does it?’

Thankfully—

[Blind-Devotion Blood Sausage Soup Made with the Full Power of a Hero-Class Chef]

[Upon consumption, the target displays blind loyalty toward surrounding commands.]

‘Thanks to /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ Ariella, I’ve made blood-based dishes enough times to be sick of them!’

Blood sausage soup is normally made from the clotted portion of blood that hardens.

But to feed Ariella and her kin, I’d also made soup using the liquid portion—the serum.

A dish made mostly out of blood.

Ordinarily—

[Special Sauce]’s emotional effects are reduced the higher the target’s rank.

‘It was a power that was often awkward to use unless the target was openly weaker than me, or already weakened.’

But—

...grin.

‘The effects of all blood inside the body are amplified, right?’

In that case—

‘That means the effects of the blood I turned into a dish get amplified too!’

Whether it had been cooked into food or not, the fact that its essence was still blood hadn’t changed.

‘I counted on that, and deliberately spilled blood for it.’

No matter how strong it was in combat, that bastard’s essence was still that of an awakened.

And if that was the case, then the moment its first assassination strike on me failed,

I was sure it would use its ability.

At that point, I deliberately mixed my dish into my blood and spilled it. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

‘Honestly, it was a little... no.’

...Still.

‘It was really dangerous.’

That didn’t mean there hadn’t been a dangerous moment.

‘No question about it. At first, that bastard hesitated to use its ability.’

I’d twisted my body to avoid dying from the first hit, but aside from that, I thought I’d done my best not to look suspicious.

Even so, the bastard must have sensed something off about me, because it hesitated to collect my blood with that ability.

‘Monstrous instincts.’

Or maybe it was just suspicious by nature.

If it had simply stopped using its ability there and attacked me with pure force instead, then in my current condition, I would’ve had a hard time resisting properly.

‘That was when I thought I was completely screwed.’

Honestly, I was genuinely rattled then.

I hadn’t prepared any real countermeasure for that, so all I could do was break out in a cold sweat inside.

“Did you say General Kaio!”

“Huff...”

Even so.

The reason things still ended up turning out according to plan—

“is because of you.”

—that warrior collapsed over there in agony.

Because General Kaio had drawn Jinlei’s attention away.

“I... lost.”

At my words, General Kaio lowered his head and said in a clumsy voice,

“Back then too, and now...”

Back then, huh.

So something must have happened in the past too.

But—

“Well, sure, you lost the fight.”

In the end, defeat in battle is unavoidable sometimes.

Even in the Legion, reports of minor operational failures come in all the time.

“You’re a general too, so you know that, don’t you?”

But.

What matters isn’t each little battle by itself.

“You can lose the battle, as long as you win the war.”

The one strike that decides victory—

that doesn’t necessarily have to be a battlefield win.

I’ll say this for certain.

“You’re the one who created this victory.”

The defeat that bastard suffered will be the very key that leads this war to victory.