Reincarnated as the Vampire Princess' Familiar
Chapter 68 - 22 - They will never abandon me

Chapter 68: 22 - They will never abandon me

«It’s been a while since we last met, little sister,» Vespera chuckles, cloaked in red and with long silver hair flowing down her back.

In her hand, she holds a sword with a silver hilt and a blade that looks like ordinary glass—clear, colorless, and filled with strange trails of gray smoke that writhe inside it.

In the stillness of the night, faint wails echo from within the blade—it’s the legendary Devoranimas, the artifact stolen by the CrimsonRequiem and usable only by direct descendants of Lucypher Valakys.

Levreshka stands frozen in terror, tears spilling from her wide eyes without her even noticing. Her lips tremble as if to speak, but no sound comes out—not even a breath.

«If I remember right, you should be thirteen by now. Don’t you think you’re a little too old to still be playing with dolls?» Vespera mocks, walking toward her with slow, threatening steps.

«Y-You...» Levreshka stammers, slowly regaining control of her body. Her face—until moments ago frozen—twists into a fierce expression of rage, though fear still lingers in her eyes. «...How did you get in? Only my father, my mother, and Syrius have permission to use teleportation magic here—it should be impossible for you!»

«Yeah, it is...» Vespera shrugs. «You really should’ve picked your allies more carefully. Though I’m afraid there won’t be a next time for you, dear little sister!»

Without a moment’s hesitation, Vespera grips the sword with both hands and lunges at Levreshka—a simple frontal assault, a downward slash thrown without effort or energy, like she’s just testing her.

The sword strike crashes down on the table where Levreshka had been sitting just moments ago—she dodged it with a quick backward dash—splitting it clean in two.

«You’re so slow...» Vespera mutters, disappointed. «I came to see how much I’d improved with the Devoranimas, but killing you looks like it’s going to be painfully easy and boring. I figured you’d have trained to avenge Karol, but you’re almost as weak as when I left the castle. I guess her death didn’t mean much to you after all.»

«You think so...?» Levreshka replies, eyes burning with determination—as a long red whip materializes in her hand, the weapon she calls the "Whip of Domination."

Then, the whip cracks against the ground. From the spot it struck, dozens of energy trails rise into the air—like tiny rivers of blood—flowing toward the massive horde of dolls surrounding them. The eyes of those hybrid monsters begin to glow red.

One by one, the terrifying hybrid toys come to life, their size growing tenfold until they reach two meters tall. Around Vespera, two hundred of these monstrous creations rise—except for one: Mr. Fluffridge, the only puppet untouched by Levreshka’s magic, still seated on his golden throne like a spectator ready for a grand battle.

«Impressive. You’ve managed to delay your death by a few minutes,» Vespera remarks with a smug, amused smile, glancing around. «To make up for your weakness, you’ve gathered dozens and dozens of toy lackeys—probably the only ones in the world willing to obey a spoiled, useless brat.»

With another sharp crack of the whip, the eerie toy army charges toward Vespera.

She instantly leaps upward—nearly ten meters high, almost reaching the ceiling—and two of the toy fighters, built with bodies capable of matching that jump, hurl themselves at her:

One is a plush toy with a green spider body, four doll legs on each side, and a rhinoceros head—charging at Vespera with its horn. The other is a porcelain baby doll with its legs replaced by a spring and crab claws instead of hands.

The two creatures lunge at Vespera, but a single swing of the Devoranimas slices through their feather- and plastic-filled bodies, sending them crashing to the ground atop the others.

Then, as she lands back on the ground, she gathers a massive surge of Sanguis energy around her fist—the force is so intense that the nearest dolls are thrown backward by the sheer release of power.

As Vespera’s fist strikes the ground, a massive chasm rips open beneath her, followed by a violent explosion that devastates everything within dozens of meters.

Shreds of burnt cloth and melted plastic are scattered everywhere.

Only the farthest toys—those beyond the edge of the crater—remain nearly untouched, and they immediately hurl themselves at Vespera, charging down the slopes of the chasm.

Vespera responds to the assault, lunging at them without hesitation.

With each swing of the Devoranimas, parts of stuffed animals, dolls, and other toys fly through the air. Even with vampire magic, their structure limits their speed—making it nearly impossible to block Vespera’s lightning-fast strikes, let alone land a hit.

Vespera dashes from one side to the other of the immense battlefield like a bullet, leaving behind a faint red trail—the only sign of her passage, barely visible even to Levreshka’s eyes.

In just moments, the immense toy army is reduced to a carpet of severed limbs, torn fabric, and feather stuffing floating through the air before falling softly to the ground—all under Levreshka’s gaze, increasingly stunned and terrified with each passing second.

But it’s not just fear or shock that’s pushed her back into that helpless, paralyzed state—it’s something deeper.

Tears start flowing again as she sees her beloved toys torn apart and scattered everywhere—because to her, they were never just toys.

«You really do make me pity you...» Vespera mutters, looking down at her with utter contempt in her voice.

Levreshka slowly lifts her gaze, eyes burning with unimaginable hatred and rage as she stares at Vespera. Then, a tremendous red energy flares up around her body—so dense and intense that Vespera instinctively takes a few steps back.

«So you’re not a total disaster,» Vespera remarks, visibly surprised and satisfied, aiming her weapon at her sister.

Levreshka rises to her feet, eyes locked on Vespera, her arm extended forward toward the woman.

«You killed Karol... you erased everything that was left of her... I... I’ll crush you with my own hands, you damn bitch!» The intense aura surrounding the girl starts to gather in her hand. «V-Vespera... I’ll send you to the Realm of the Dead,...! Blood Word... Interius!»

A beam of red energy erupts violently from Levreshka’s palm, slamming into Vespera and detonating in a fierce explosion.

A thick cloud of dust and debris rises, shrouding everything from view.

Levreshka falls to her knees—exhausted—beside the golden throne where Mr. Fluffridge still sits.

Casting both the animation spell and Interius has drained every last drop of energy from her body. A faint, satisfied smile forms on her face... «I did it... did you see, Karol? I finally avenged you...» she whispers, looking up at the plush bear towering beside her.

But that triumph lasts only a few seconds—just long enough for a gust of wind to scatter the dust and debris.

It’s an air displacement caused by a slash from Vespera’s sword, still intact as if untouched—except for her red cloak, now torn to shreds.

«This game has gone on long enough. Goodbye!»

Levreshka raises her right arm—the whip still tightly gripped in her hand, ready to defend against Vespera’s move, when...

–SLASH!

An inhuman scream rips through the silence as Levreshka’s right arm, still outstretched with the whip, is cleanly sliced off. It hangs in the air for a moment before dropping with a dull thud onto the blood-soaked ground.

Levreshka collapses to the ground, overwhelmed by a pain unlike anything she’s ever felt, so excruciating it steals her breath away—tears mix with the blood pouring from her mouth.

In an instant, Vespera vanishes and reappears behind Levreshka. It’s not teleportation magic—just a movement so fast it seems instantaneous to Levreshka’s eyes.

During that lightning-fast movement, Vespera slashed Levreshka’s arm—the whip that had been in her hand moments ago dissolves into red smoke.

From Levreshka’s wound, not only blood pours out, but also a gray, ethereal thread—like a thin trail of smoke—that floats toward the Devoranimas, absorbed by its blade.

Levreshka feels her strength leave her at an alarming rate, her vision blurring more and more, overwhelmed by excruciating pain and violent coughing and vomiting, caused by the unstoppable reflux of blood.

Vespera stands beside her, watching with amusement as Levreshka crawls through the blood and dust toward the golden throne.

Levreshka summons the last bit of energy she has left, lifting her arm slightly, her bloodstained fingers gripping Mr. Fluffridge’s foot, pulling him closer.

«F-finally... soon... we’ll meet again... big sis...» she whispers with a voice so faint it sounds like a breath, before closing her eyes forever, clutching Mr. Fluffridge tightly to her chest.

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