Unexpected Message

Caught off guard by the question, Blake's body froze for a few seconds.

In the silence of the night, the two of them fixed gazes in that small few seconds window.

For a moment there the two seem to be trying to peer through each other's gazes. Blake is trying to figure out if she's actually being real or is only making a joke while Tara is trying to find whether her request has any effect on him.

Truthfully, Blake wanted this to be a joke so bad.

Blake couldn't possibly choose between the two worlds, it's simply impossible for him to do.

One world is where he was birth and all he has ever known until recently, and the other is a world that has all things that he ever wanted and is also a place he needs to survive the upcoming Inevitable Apocalypse.

"Are you being serious right now, Tara...?" Blake asked in aghast.

Seeing his response, Tara averted her gaze away, "I mean stay here for the night"

"You came from another world, and I don't really know if you're actually sleeping or living in the other world. I'm only asking if you could stay for the night, sleeping here, in my world" She said, almost as if she was trying to explain herself.

Upon hearing this, Blake smiled in return, "Does that bother you?"

"A little bit..." Tara replied with a soft tone.

Not reading too much into the situation, Blake strides lightly toward Tara's side of the bed and reaches out his hand to rub her head gently. She was looking down at the bedsheet out of embarrassment of being honest and open.

But then again, Blake did say to her to not bottle up her feelings and to be open.

"Do you feel anything wrong with your body? About being a Shaded Walker?"

"N- No, not really. I feel fine except for the sunlight"

"I'm glad to hear that. Maybe I neglected you too much, I'm sorry for that. So here's a promise then. Next time, I'll stay in this world for a longer period of time. But not right now, I have something to do in my world. Is that okay?"

Albeit it's not what she wanted, this is not a bad promise for starters.

"Okay, I'll hold onto your promise then. But... don't break it please, this is a real promise"

"I won't, I'll make sure to fulfill it. I'll be going now"

Since he now already addressed Tara's worries, it was time for him to leave before Salana nagged him on the other side for being late. But he already has an excuse in mind that would save him from an earful.

Reaching level 50, he unlocked the second Persona Quest.

Even though she's going to be angry about him being late, that would at least make up for it.

Blake sat back on the chair before he waved at Tara who was looking at him shyly from the bed, he then remembered something right before he was about to close his eyes, "Also, Tara... I saw a suspicious group of three figures roaming about. Investigate them and be alert"

After informing Tara, he the logged out as his consciousness instantly got pulled away.

It was then, Tara pushed her lower lip forward, pouting with her arms crossed.

"He didn't even had the time to investigate himself...?" She muttered silently. "What could possibly he need to do in his world? Don't tell me that he has something to do with Angel...? She talks as if she's close to him in their world. In order to save him from that evil succubus' clutches, I need to make him fall in love with this world"

"I'll do it, I'll do it for him" Tara mutters, a flash of determination can be seen in her eyes.

~

Meanwhile, Blake wakes up in the real world once again.

He was lying on the comfortable bed but felt his back aching from lying for too long, the residual pain from last night is also present. It's a rough night, and now his body is suffering from it, being stiff and hard to move.

Glancing at the balcony window, he finds that it was closed by curtains.

Since he stayed inside the game for only a mere day, half a day passed in the real world.

It must be nighttime right now.

Blake sits up and saw Salana still sitting on the sofa, she seems to be drained. But then again, he was not surprised since logging him into the game without the Limited VR Helmet drains her own energy.

It was only because she has evolved that she could maintain it for this long.

Had it been prior to her evolution, she wouldn't last an hour.

Currently, Maura is watching tv with only a bathrobe on. She seems to be freshly out of the shower, even her hair was still wrapped in a small towel. But then again, she needs to clean up to help her wounds heal better.

"Did you read my note?" Blake said as he sits up.

Realizing that Blake has woken up, Maura flinched as she was immersed in the show.

"Note? Oh, right, I read it. I occasionally checked the area through the balcony, but this is a hotel, and the only thing I need to be wary of is if there's someone trying to enter the room. So far, there's nobody trying to enter the room" Maura replied, eating potato chips that she found on the counter.

Blake nodded his head, he trusted Maura to be thorough with any danger.

Seeing that the windows were closed by curtains shows that she wasn't only lying around.

Just as he was about to stand up and get some water, feeling his throat rather dry, Maura suddenly remembered something, "Also, I think the wound you suffered from the monster in the abandoned warehouse left a mark on you. I don't know if you know that so I'm just saying"

Upon hearing this, Blake frowns before he lifted his shirt up and finds that it was true.

A nasty deep gash was left across his abdomen.

"Hmmm...? I'm pretty sure the wounds I got from your henchmen didn't leave any scars"

"Aren't you supposed to be the Vampire...?"

Maura was confused since he was the one that was supposed to be the Vampire, she didn't know anything about this world. She mentioned that earlier thinking that Blake must've forgotten to heal that part or something.

But it seems he was also unaware of that deep scar on his abdomen.

In response to this, Blake didn't answer and glanced at Salana in search of an answer.

Salana could only shake her head as she was trying to rest but found the need to help Blake in this situation, "I don't know for sure, but if I had to guess... the merging between the game world and your world is still incomplete, even for you. So in a way, your body is still mortal, and there are some wounds that would leave scars"

"Had it been in the Lunaris game world, then there wouldn't be any scar" She added.

Now that he knew the answer, he quickly conveyed it to Maura saying that it has something to do with the game. She didn't understand fully, but at least it seems Blake knows what causes it.

After drinking and taking a shower, Blake then eventually said, "Shall we try going back?"

It takes about an hour or so to reach back to the apartment.

Even though nobody should be following back to the apartment complex as Blake and Maura make sure of that, being very meticulous and alert along the way, the sense of nervousness is still present.

The incident from last night left a deep impression on them.

Knowing that Vampire existed is way different than actually meeting Vampires, it impacted Blake more than Maura before in her eyes, Blake is also a Vampire so she's not surprised to find more of them.

"Say, aren't you also a Vampire? Why did they attack you?" Maura asked.

Having no reason to lie with her under his compelling power, Blake then replied as he pushes the door to his room open, "I'm not a Vampire, I'm a Spectral Vampire. So I'm not the same with them"

Maura nodded her head with her mouth o-shaped in understanding.

Upon reaching back to the apartment, it seems there's nothing to worry about for him.

Everything is still in the same place, it's exactly the same. Putting down their stuff and changing into more comfortable clothes, Blake then checked his phone and finds a couple of notifications.

Overall, there are three people that contacted him while he was not checking.

First of all, Julia contacted him and told him that she had luck and got inside Russel's penthouse this day and gained the information that he wanted. Since she's the first priority, Blake answered her first.

Julia is online, so she quickly replied and eventually set a date to meet in person.

It's going to be tomorrow.

Blake wanted to know everything as soon as possible, so he set the date for tomorrow.

Now that he also knows that there seems to be a special organization out there dealing with Supernatural monsters, the information Julia has would definitely help him clears up some things inside his mind.

Out of all, he wanted to know the conflict he has gotten into.

Since the Limited VR Helmets were meant for certain people, there must be a conflict between those people and the Supernatural monsters considering that the Ghouls seem to know about the Privileged Players.

If he could understand the conflict, then he could position himself better.

Perhaps, he would know which side he would need to join in order to survive better.

Due to that, he made set up a date with Julia as soon as possible, and since it was quite dangerous outside, he decided to be the one that came to her so that it would be safer for her and himself.

Next, he finds Angel texted him, asking to meet up in the real world.

Although he really wanted to meet with Angel again in real life, he couldn't. There are more important things that he needed to do, so he was forced to decline the offer politely and promised to make up inside the game.

Thankfully, Angel understands and didn't force a meet-up.

Since she was always pliant and comfortable to talk to, he shouldn't have thought negatively.

Lastly, Blake looks at the last notification.

The name of the person that popped on his screen brought about heartache to him, and he feel like shit in an instant but he knows that he needs to reply to her. It was Delilah, his older sister, she texted him.

Upon looking at the message, Blake frowns, 'What does she want? Is she coming here?'

'Even then, what does she need to say for her to come to me like this? She had never done that. Is it for father's death anniversary? No, that wouldn't be the case, she and Mother promised to come so that's not it'

In an instant, many thoughts appeared in Blake's mind, he was really confused right now.

But after pondering for a moment, he decided to answer.

Thinking that she would take a long time to reply, he was wrong as Delilah is typing instantly.

"What...? Just okay? Why didn't she say anything else like why is she asking me that?"