Chapter 6: Sacrifice

"What is it you wish to show me?" Nana Moe asked, arms crossed underneath her breast as she stares down at the man who stood before her.

He sighed before stretching his hands upward, "First, let me start with a question," he glanced at her through the corner of his eye before bringing his hands down and gently brushing his hair back, "The girl... What do you intend to do with her?"

Nana Moe's eyes widened for a moment before she returned to a calm state, her right hand gently covering her lips as she seemed deep in thought, "You don't think Corniellia did this do you?"

"I can't say for certain... her ability isn't ranked high enough to be able to do this kind of damage given Sebastian's test scores," he said, pinching his nose as he thought it all through, "Given his current ability, he'd be a high B class hunter at least, meaning he should be able to hunt down Corniellia's class with no issues. That being said, I don't believe she did the damage, however, we can't rule out the possibility that she was involved."

"And why not? Just because there's a vampire in our walls doesn't mean they're directly related to anything that happens to one of our students."

"Moe, you of all people should know I simply don't care enough to make such accusations. I just want to find out what happened, and your intentions so I can treat them and go about my day. Plus, there's no denying that the girl was a part of it."

"And why is that the case?" Moe asked with an eyebrow raised in confusion.

"Oh yeah, I forgot, that's what I had to show you. Follow me, I'm gonna need you to help me brainstorm this crap as soon as possible... I'm getting tired," he says this and turns away from her, strutting down the hall as if he was in a hurry.

The look of concern was written all over Moe's face before she sighed and pinched her nose. She took a few seconds to calm herself with deep breaths before following behind him.

***

Sebastian's body fell to the floor the moment Shouji let go of him, unconscious as the wound from his missing leg continued to bleed, soiling the pants with the stain of his blood as well as the floor he laid on.

"Now that that's taken care of," Shouji said, yawning and brushing his hands together to symbolize a job well done. He did a quick glance around his environment, sighing to himself afterwards with a disappointed gaze on his face, "And here I was hoping to finish my conversation."

He glanced down at Sebastian's unconscious body, shaking his head as he recalled the actions the boy took earlier on, "Should've minded your own business kid," His features changed from that of a bloodthirsty murderer to that of a sympathetic friend as he crouched over Sebastian, "You did well though... So out of respect, I won't finish you off. Hopefully, you'll wake up in time to save yourself. If that's the case I want you to get stronger and challenge me again, ok?"

He sighed, tapping his thumb against the boy's forehead before standing up, however, almost as soon as he stood up straight, a jagged-edged piece of wood that would resemble a stake appeared directly before his face, seemingly out of nowhere. He held his breath and closed his eyes, allowing pure instincts to take over, allowing the stake to go at full speed at the wall behind him, leaving him untouched in every sense of the word.

He sighed a breath of relief while he chuckled to himself, "You know... Father was always too soft on you. He didn't scold you properly... Probably because you were a girl, but oh well."

He brushed his blonde hair backwards, his bright red eyes filled with malice, "Don't worry dear sister... I'll scold you in the ways he couldn't. Maybe then you'll learn to have some respect for your elders."

He took a deep breath in as he looked around him, attempting to figure out where she sent the stake from, however, in less than a second, more objects were sent flying his way. Objects that included more stakes, metal pipes, rusty pieces of barbed wire and knives.

"It seems you're getting better with your skill... I like it," Shouji said as he successfully evaded every one of the objects sent his way, his body disappearing from inside the room completely.

On the outside, Corniellia hid in a nearby bush, taking in deep but slow breaths in order to subside the incoming headache. She was overusing her powers, and she knew it, she was aware that her limit was drawing near. She peaked through the leaves, her vision blurring slightly, but she forced herself to push through. She bit onto her lower lip until it bled, allowing for the pain to keep her conscious, but even so, she had no idea where Shouji was. She wiped the blood away from her lips and turned, ready to escape the bush, assuming Shouji has left the area, but there he was, directly outside her hiding place with a large smile on his face.

"Unfortunately for you though... I'm better with mine."

At that moment, a wave of fear struck her, and in a sense of panic, blinked herself over to the middle of the road. She panted heavily but didn't allow for that to slow her down in the slightest, for immediately after the blink, she moved herself off, ready to run away from the scene.

Even though she was on the run a moment ago, and she was sure of it too, somehow, she found herself back in the bush she had just blinked from. She thought to herself for a moment, trying to recall what had happened, and she knew it wasn't a mistake either, for the fatigue she had before still carried itself over.

"Are you done yet?" Shouji asked, his face having no shred of care or sympathy in the slightest, "The kid had more fight in him than you did, to be honest," he sighed as he looked down at her, "I don't know what father saw in you, I really don't, but right now, you should be disgraced to call yourself a Kliver."

***

"Are you ready?" the doctor asked the moment Nana Moe had caught up to him, both of them standing before the door at the farthest end of the hallway, away from all the other patients in the institution.

Moe nodded, preparing herself for what she might see. In response to her answer, he pushed the door open, allowing Moe to see what lied on the inside. Moe's expression changed dramatically, from one of intrigue to one of utter concern and fear.

"Doctor Ai..." she said in a faint voice, "This isn't Sebastian... He couldn't do something like this... Not even I could do something like this... So, what... monster could have done something like this?"

He walked over to the body on the table and looked down at it. Corniellia's body rested below him, portions of her chest missing, allowing for anyone to see the missing ribs on the inside. Along with that was a small but deep slit in the neck, accompanying the fact that both her legs were bent the opposite way that they were supposed to, her right leg seemingly tearing itself off from the knee.

"She's in a gruesome condition, yes I know. But I think there is a way to preserve her."

"What do you mean?"

"The girl is still alive, however miraculous that may sound, but I want to know how much you care for the girl. How much you're willing to do for her as well as what you're willing to do for her.," Ai said as he stared down at Moe.

"She came to me wanting us to find a way to make her human... I told her I'd try and that I'd do the research with her, but I haven't found anything that could work yet, everything was too risky."

"Okay, perfect, in that case, my operation won't be too bad, there was always a risk, now it's just one to save her life."

"What do you plan to do?" Moe asked, concern printed out on her face.

"I can't tell you that yet. If I did, you'd only object and make my job harder, but, I'm going to need that boy's body here too," he said, eyeing Corniellia's unconscious body before reverting his attention back to Moe, who stood before him, confused.

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Stat Block

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Shouji Kliver

Vampiric Ability: Playback

Description: This allows the user to rewind or fast forward time on a specific target for as far back or forward as 10 seconds.

Tier: S Tier

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