Even so, caution had always been a part of him.
From his position, Gabriel severed his gaze from Mary. Gigan shifted its focus, piercing distance and direction, scanning north—the place where Cid should be.
He saw him.
Cid stood at the edge of a cliff, his jet-black slime cloak fluttering in the wind, his figure upright and intact, as if the world had never dared to touch him seriously.
Gabriel exhaled deeply. Calm. Relieved.
"Thank goodness… nothing happened."
Yet the tone of his voice gradually changed, tinged with genuine admiration.
"But…" he murmured. "That pose is pretty cool too."
A faint smile reappeared on his face.
"Maybe… I'll try it later."
Meanwhile, five carriages behind him, several vampires began to emerge, boarding the train roof one by one.
Now, Mary was surrounded—six vampires targeting her from every direction.
Although Mary was quite strong, the situation was clearly unfavorable. Every movement, every step she took was now monitored, while the threat closed in relentlessly.
The two vampires in front of Mary moved in unison, launching horizontal slashes.
Clank…! Clank…!
Mary managed to block both strikes. Yet, suddenly, one of the vampires behind her seized the opening and slashed at her back.
Time seemed to slow. Blood sprayed into the air, and Mary's eyes widened in shock.
But it wasn't over. One of the six vampires lunged forward, aiming a thrust that came dangerously close to her heart.
"Khak—!"
Mary coughed up blood. Her body staggered, and the sword in her hand slipped, clanging hard against the steel roof of the train.
Almost simultaneously, at the head of the train, a faint smile spread across Gabriel's face.
"It's time…"
Without hesitation, he turned around.
In an instant, the world before the vampires shifted.
A thick fog enveloped the train roof, descending without warning. Within it, white feathers scattered in all directions, moving in unnatural patterns—floating, spinning, then vanishing before they could be touched.
"Fog…?!" shouted one of the vampires, their voice breaking with panic.
They immediately went on high alert.
This situation was clearly abnormal. Worse—none of them sensed the flow of Mana that should have been the source of the phenomenon.
No pressure, no waves. It was as if the world had changed on its own.
The vampire who had previously stabbed Mary withdrew his sword.
In an instant, Mary's body lost its support—staggering, then crashing onto the speeding train's roof.
Blood poured from her wound. Her breathing was ragged, interrupted.
The strength in her body waned rapidly, until she finally lay helpless amid the constant roar of the steel wheels.
In the Kage no Jitsuryokusha Reality, vampires are bestowed with extraordinarily powerful natural regeneration.
Ordinary wounds—from minor scratches to deep gashes—heal on their own, making them nearly immune to natural ailments.
High-ranking vampires, like Mary, are even capable of regenerating fatal injuries: limb amputations, or even decapitation—as long as the heart remains intact and the body is given enough time to repair itself.
However, that was the limit of their power.
The survival of vampires entirely depends on the regular consumption of blood.
Vampires who abstain from blood for extended periods experience drastic decline—their strength diminishes to the point of being almost indistinguishable from ordinary humans.
This was the reason Mary had lost—she was not at her peak condition.
Suddenly, a strange whistle echoed, weaving through the fog, in sync with the slow footsteps tracing along the roof of the train cars.
The tone was no ordinary whistle.
It was the Magic Flute Overture — Orchestral Score. The same melody. A whistle identical to that of the King of Despair from Kekkai Sensen.
"A whistle…?"
"A human…?"
"But… how is this possible?"
Confusion was clearly evident on the vampires' faces.
As creatures of the night, they were endowed with senses of smell, sight, and taste far surpassing those of humans.
Under normal circumstances, even the slightest presence should not have escaped their notice.
Yet in reality, there was no scent, no trace of Mana, nor any fluctuation of life.
For them, if it were Mary—a vampire hundreds of years old who rarely consumed blood—it would make sense for their senses to dull slightly.
But these vampires were different.
They regularly drank human blood. Their senses were sharp, never dulled even slightly.
Soon, from within the fog—directly from the direction of the foremost train car—a small child emerged.
Their steps were slow, nearly silent. Yet each footfall seemed to press down on the air around them. The Mana emanating from the small body was cold and suffocating, causing the vampires' instincts to scream in alert.
This was not the pressure of a human. Nor was it the aura of an ancient crimson-class vampire.
Moreover, the child's strange eyes stared at them as if peeling away their existence, slicing through layer after layer down to the core of their being.
One vampire swallowed hard, his voice trembling as he asked, "W-who are you…?"
"What do you want?" another snapped, reflexively stepping back half a step.
The child smiled faintly.
"Ash," he replied calmly. "The pale mist that watches over the stars."
His gaze shifted, settling on Mary's bloodied form lying atop the train car.
"Ash has business with that woman," he continued in a flat tone, as if merely stating a simple fact.
He tilted his head slightly.
"Any objections… if Ash takes her?"
In the suffocating silence, the vampires gradually stepped aside, clearing a path and allowing Gabriel to approach Mary's body.
He moved calmly, knelt down, and leaned over to check her condition.
At that moment, faint smirks appeared on the vampires' faces. Their intent to kill hardened, and one by one, their swords began to rise.
But they never had the chance to strike.
Blue spears appeared instantly, piercing the air silently. The magecraft struck true—impaling each vampire through the heart, pinning their bodies in place before they could react.
There were no screams.
No resistance.
Only the sound of bodies collapsing, swallowed by the roar of the train.
The mist had yet to dissipate when Morgan reappeared on Gabriel's shoulder, sitting casually as if she had not just executed several night creatures.
"Their behavior prediction was accurate," Morgan stated flatly. "Eighty-seven percent chance of betrayal when the target lowers their guard."
Gabriel glanced sideways, a faint smile spreading across his face. "You're too fast," he said softly. "I almost wanted to see how reckless they would be."
Morgan snorted lightly.
"And let them soil your coat?"
"No. That would be inefficient."
Gabriel chuckled softly, then returned his gaze to Mary. "Well… I suppose you're right."
The night wind whispered once more.
The train continued its swift journey.
And atop its roof, there were no vampires left standing.
***
A few minutes passed.
Now, Gabriel—with Morgan in her astral form—stood in a quiet forest, beneath trees that had once been lush but were now shedding their leaves.
In front of him, Mary leaned against a tree trunk, unconscious. Yet, all her wounds had healed perfectly, leaving no trace—as if there had never been blood or stabs at all.
"I've healed her wounds and restored her Mana," Gabriel murmured, watching the vampire. "She should… wake up any moment now."
Sure enough, it wasn't long before Mary's eyelids twitched. Her breathing grew uneven, and her hands slowly rose to clutch her heavy temples.
"Ah…"
Gabriel's faint smile appeared.
"Finally awake."
But before Mary fully regained consciousness, Gabriel stood from his crouched position and took a few steps back.
He let the moonlight bathe his figure, forming a pale silhouette amidst the forest shadows.
His left hand rose to touch his face, while his right hand extended toward Mary, palm facing outward—a gesture ambiguous, somewhere between a greeting and a warning.
"You have opened your eyes," he spoke, his voice muffled by the night's mist, "O faithful servant of the Blood Queen."
Mary paused for a moment.
Her eyes were fully open now, staring at the figure before her with a guarded confusion.
"Who… are you?" she asked softly, her voice hoarse yet sharp.
Hearing the question, Gabriel gave a faint smile and lowered both hands. He tilted his head slightly, gazing at the night sky glimpsed through the canopy above.
Silence enveloped them.
Mary furrowed her brow, waiting patiently.
"Name is the root of existence," Gabriel finally said. He bowed slightly, then turned his gaze back to Mary. "The name of this existence cannot be spoken. However… you may call it Ash."
Mary swallowed.
Not because of the strange introduction—but because of the child's eyes. That gaze was not human.
Under that stare, Mary felt as if her very existence had been stripped away, laid bare down to the core truths no one wanted to know.
Silence settled between them once more.
Within that quiet, fragments of memory began to piece together. The moments before she had lost consciousness from her fatal wounds. Waking up without a scratch. And the reason she was now in the middle of the forest.
All answers converged to a single conclusion.
The child before her… had saved her.
"Are you…" Mary paused, then continued cautiously, "…the one who saved me?"
__
Author's note:
Since this is an alternate timeline, it's natural that I made Mary appear earlier. She only appears briefly, though 🤣🤣
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