Ignoring Kao's scream, I swung my sword.
The blade cut through the air with a deadly hum, slicing into the cursed roses that had once been so beautiful. Now, they writhed like living things, their thorns curling inward as if in agony. Petals flew, branches splintered, and within the white mist, countless agonized shrieks seemed to echo—pleading, screaming…
"Why won't you let me die in peace?" one voice wailed. "Why must you torment us further?"
Why could I see them? Why could they see me?
Only at the beginning of a vampire's transformation, when power is scattered and surging, ready to erupt, do lost souls gather. Only then, with mutating eyes, can they be seen.
An endless rage burned inside me, suppressed and unable to break free. I didn't even know what I was regretting. Suddenly, I felt my body being pulled by something—an energy emanating from the wound on my back.
