?The vampire reappeared, winding up another sh, but, to her dismay, she stepped on one of my traps.


    The tray scraped the stone floor as she slid uncontrobly away from me. It was only for a moment that she lost her posture. Thankfully, a moment was all I needed.


    I swiveled my waist, raised my leg, and mmed my foot into her stomach. I could feel her ribcage cracking and her organs shifting within her body from the impact. As the bones broke, vibrations traveled up my leg, emphasizing every fracture.


    Her eyes widened with shock as all the air within her body escaped her gaping mouth. An instantter, the force from my kick finished its transfer and sent her flying backward toward the blood trough.


    Her breathing was short and unsteady as she clutched her gut. She shook uncontrobly like she''d been struck by the tremors of an earthquake. The woman tried to recover, but her uncontrolled wheezing only worsened until she fell to her knees in a fit of coughing.


    I wasn''t one to take chances, so I grasped several scalpels strewn across the workbench''s surface. Then, after taking a handful, I swung my hand toward her, hurling the des at her as projectiles to cover my approach.


    Somehow, she barely regained enough movement to sh them out of the way. It didn''t matter, though. It was still toote for her.


    I leaped in and raised my arm for a sh with my paring knife.


    Our eyes exchanged contact; her''s were filled with shock and intrigue. Her two pupils were the most noticeable of her expression; they''d been entirely dted with fear. It was brief, but I saw my own eyes being reflected in hers.


    My expression was cold and murderous. One you''d expect from a tempered machine of war.


    Finally, as I''d done with the bearded guard, Icerated her throat.


    Her flesh, now parted, ejected a fountain of blood that jetted from her wound. Jarringly, the fluid spraying wildly outward was different from anything I''d ever encountered.


    Rather than it being a deep vibrant red, her blood was ckened. The hue was like someone mixed powdered charcoal with red paint. The consistency was unnaturally thick too. It was almost as if the blood coagted before even leaving her body.


    She copsed, plunging her face into the dark pool that formed below.


    Usually, I would''ve tried to apprehend her like I did the others, especially since she looked like a civilian. However, my instincts told me not to treat her like one. They said this woman would''ve definitely killed me if I were to hold back.


    Despite that… Despite her speed and power that were obviously superhuman, she still fought like an amateur.


    While kneeling down and checking her pulse, I wondered. "Did I really have to kill her?" There was nothing to be done now, though. The deed was done, and she was dead. No amount of regret would change that. I just had yet another life that would invade my dreams and weigh down on my conscience now, that''s all.


    I stood up from her corpse and walked briskly to Kamida while digging through my holster for the keys I''d stolen. Once I''d taken hold of them, I used a key to utch the metal sps around Kamida''s arms and legs.


    I expected the same reaction as Agawa. I expected him to look at me with that same horror and disgust she did. Which is why I was utterly astonished when he reached out and hugged me.


    "Thank you, Sato! Thank you, Sir!" tears flowed from his eyes. "I was terrified, Sir! Absolutely terrified!"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ''See, I told you that the threat of dissection while alive could make a grown man cry,'' I thought.


    He continued clutching onto me while his quaking body recovered from the shock of almost dying.


    Once he''d calmed himself down, we shared eye contact. "I promise, Sir," he said with quivering words. "I promise that I''ll repay this debt! I''ll give you a hero''s discount on my services from now until the end!"


    "Thanks," I chuckled weakly. I wasn''t expecting a reward, but I couldn''t help from being disappointed in what he offered.


    "Of course, Sir! It''s the least I could d-"


    "We should get back to escaping," I interjected. I knew now wasn''t the time for celebrations, not while death loomed over our heads like a homing guillotine.


    Sniffling, Kamida let go and stood up from the table. He started exiting the room when he turned back towards me to say, "seriously, Sir, thank y-" he froze, his look of ease contorted into pure terror. His eyes widened and revealed every bit of the whites within them. Then, spasming in fear, he raised an arm toward me.


    ''What''s wrong?'' is what I meant to say, but my words froze in my throat. In fact, the only sounds I''d been capable of were the gasps of pained wheezing. Looking down, I noticed a thin spear of hardened blood piercing through my lower stomach, creating a new hole to my insides.


    It retracted, grinding against my intestines as it left. Upon its departure, I was drained from the meager strength I had left in my legs. I was about to fall to the ground when I caught myself on the operating table.


    I reached towards Kamida, stumbling over my own words. "R-Run, you f-fucking idiot!"


    Responding to mymand, Kamida profusely apologized before barreling out the door. I was relieved when he''d picked the correct direction toward the tunnel. I would''ve haunted him as a ghost forever if he ran the wrong way and got caught again.


    My mission to rescue Kamida was aplished, so I turned my attention to what disemboweled me. My vision was blurry, so I recklessly threw my knife at the jumbled blur I assumed to be my attacker. However, the de was knocked aside by a wall of hardened, ck blood.


    I had nothing left to fight with, so I fell from the table and flopped onto my back. I watched as the blood wall reliquidated and fell back to the floor as a puddle. What was revealed when the wall copsed was the woman I''d just killed.


    She stepped closer and towered over me with a menacing re. Her eyes were fixed on mine, seething with sadistic rage. Her enraged expression revealed her teeth clenched tight as she ground them together. "You''ll pay… You''ll pay…" she repeated, over and over again.


    I checked her neck wound to see it hadpletely regenerated. The congealed, ckened blood still covering it was the only indication that it had ever even existed.


    ''You''re such an idiot, Katsuro,'' that''s what I thought when I realized that, despite being given a second chance at life, I''d wasted it once again by being a sacrifice for someone else.


    Like in my previous "death," I let out a bitterugh.


    ''What a shitty joke…'' I sighed.


    My vision was again fading into ck, an experience that I was bing ustomed to. ''Screw it, just kill me already,'' I gave up and allowed myself to fall into the bliss of unconsciousness.