What do vampires usually do in the morning?
I was not entirely sure myself.
But right now, I was trading blows with Sebastian in the underground training room.
Even though my physical strength was clearly superior to his, I was still getting punched almost every second, because his combat skills were far beyond mine.
Sebastian's hand was coated in a blue aura before he threw a full-force punch.
Damn.
I had to dodge.
But by instinct, my arm was suddenly covered in a black aura before I raised it to block the strike.
In the next instant, my body was sent flying into the wall.
Even so, it did not hurt as much as it should have.
Maybe it was because of a vampire's durability.
Or perhaps that black aura had absorbed part of the impact.
The sound of applause echoed through the room.
"As expected of Lady Kujo. You were able to learn how to wrap your body in cursed energy immediately."
While he was praising me, I straightened my clothes and took my stance once more.
Now my body too was covered in a black aura.
Sebastian dropped his smile and took a fighting stance of his own.
"In that case, I'll make the first move, my lady."
The moment he finished speaking, he rushed in at supersonic speed.
The first punch came, and this time I managed to block it.
After fighting for several hours, I had finally started to grasp his rhythm.
But Sebastian did not stop after a single blow.
After the first punch, more followed one after another without pause.
I blocked many of them, though a few still got through.
At this level, martial arts had almost lost their meaning.
This was no longer a contest of form or technique.
It was purely a clash of reaction speed and raw physical strength.
We exchanged blows for a while.
Then suddenly, Sebastian eased off.
"You can already use your technique in combat now, my lady."
I nodded.
In the next instant, I wrapped my body in shadow, and it formed into a suit of black knight-like armor.
The flow of the fight changed slightly. Impacts that had once sent me flying were now absorbed by the shadows, making my body far more stable.
I immediately counterattacked by forcing the shadows to thrust toward Sebastian's back.
But he dodged them easily.
Then my shadows gained mass, transforming into a thicket of black spikes that fired out continuously.
Even so, Sebastian still managed to charge straight through them. He broke through the defense and landed a solid blow to my side.
Unfortunately for him, it did almost nothing.
I turned the shadows wrapped around my arm into a blade and slashed back instantly.
Sebastian raised his hand by reflex to block, but he was still blasted away by the impact and sent crashing into the wall.
A faint smile appeared on my lips.
This fight was not that difficult after all.
1
Training began after breakfast and ended when it was time to sleep.
I still wondered whether vampires actually needed sleep at all.
But even if I had my doubts, this body still felt clearly fatigued.
Sebastian reached over to turn off the light, then said in a calm voice,
"Good night, Lady."
"Ah..."
...
I jolted awake and turned to look at the clock.
Six in the evening.
I got out of bed and walked over to pull open the tightly shut curtains to look outside.
But the instant sunlight touched my skin, a burning sensation shot through me and I had to shut the curtains again almost immediately.
My skin, which until moments earlier had been as tough as diamond, charred into ash in an instant, only to shed the damaged layer and regenerate new skin at once.
I had not expected vampires to be this vulnerable to light.
I engraved that fact into my mind immediately.
Sunlight was a vampire's true weakness.
Sebastian brought me blood to drink just as he had the day before.
After bathing, I decided to study some of the other techniques.
I began with the famous families of the jujutsu world.
Gojo.
Their inherited technique was the Limitless.
It specialized in the absolute control of space, so long as the user had sufficient cursed energy.
Zenin.
Their inherited technique was the Ten Shadows Technique.
Its primary ability was to use shadows as a medium to summon ten different shikigami, as well as use shadows to store objects or even hide the user themselves.
Was it similar to the Dominion of Shadows?
I tried creating shadows based on creatures I could imagine.
And if it was for vampires...
A bat.
The shadow of a bat appeared on my palm.
Before long, it gradually swelled, then became two bats—one black, one white.
I had only tried it out casually.
But the result was that I could use the Ten Shadows Technique as well.
Perhaps I would have to speak to Sebastian about this later.
I tried shaping other shadows too—cats, dogs.
But nothing else appeared.
According to the name of the technique, there should have been ten forms in total.
Which meant this pair of bats must have been one of them, awakened by chance.
Or perhaps because I had started with the image of bats, it meant I had already chosen the first one.
Then the remaining nine probably each had their own unlock conditions.
So I asked the librarian.
"There are records of all ten shikigami of the Ten Shadows Technique, Lady Kujo."
After that, she brought me a thin copied notebook. Inside were illustrations of all ten shikigami, each accompanied by hand-drawn sketches.
Divine Dogs
Nue
Orochi
Gama
Bansho
Datto
Madoka
Kangyu
Koso
Mahoraga
According to the records, a Ten Shadows user would always receive Divine Dogs as their first shikigami, without exception.
But it seemed that because I was a vampire, my starting shikigami had changed.
Mahoraga was recorded as the final shikigami, and the strongest of them all.
As for the method of bringing any shikigami under one's control, it was simple: summon it, then defeat it personally.
So I went to the training room, left the book open, and created a shadow in the shape of Datto, the rabbit-type shikigami.
In the very next moment, a multitude of rabbits appeared before me.
Dominion of Shadows.
"Thorns."
Black spikes erupted from the shadows beneath every rabbit, impaling them all at once.
All the rabbits dissolved back into shadow, then flowed to my feet and vanished.
After that, I summoned several other shikigami. But with a vampire's physical power and the Dominion of Shadows, they all seemed far too weak compared to Sebastian.
Madoka, the deer-shaped shikigami.
I began by using shadow thorns as usual, but this time, the body I destroyed was healed by a white aura.
So this was Reverse Cursed Technique?
From what I had read, a white aura like that was probably positive cursed energy.
I created a shadow blade and charged in, cutting it down with high speed.
Madoka's body split in two, then dissolved back into shadow and flowed into my feet.
The next two I tried were the ox and the tiger.
And I disposed of both without much difficulty.
Now only one remained.
Mahoraga.
The strongest shikigami.
Even so, I was still confident that I would win.
This time, I did not know how to shape its shadow, because its form did not resemble any creature I was familiar with.
Ordinarily, summoning a shikigami required forming a hand sign to create the designated shadow described in the book.
But because I had no shadow of my own, I used cursed energy to create one in its place.
I raised both hands in front of me, with my right hand over my left in a clenched form.
I used cursed energy to imitate the shadow myself.
In the next instant, the bright white room went completely dark.
I heard something like cloth snapping in the air behind me.
I retreated quickly to create distance, then immediately launched shadow thorns.
Mahoraga, which had just emerged from its draping cloth, was pierced clean through by the spikes.
But then I heard the sound of a wheel turning.
The wheel above its head spun once.
All of its wounds vanished immediately.
This was not Reverse Cursed Technique.
Mahoraga lunged at me with tremendous speed. I quickly created knightly armor of shadow to block the blade attached to its arm.
I raised my arm to receive it.
Not as strong as it looked.
But then the wheel turned again.
I instantly felt the pressure of its blade increase.
I retreated at once and launched a barrage of shadow thorns.
Yet every time the wheel above its head moved, its body regenerated instantly.
In that case, I would have to get serious.
I released the thorns at even greater speed.
But it still managed to deal with them.
I attacked again.
The wheel turned.
I attacked once more.
The wheel turned again.
Or was I imagining it?
The damage my shadow thorns dealt was beginning to lessen, as though its body itself was growing sturdier and sturdier.
I had underestimated it.
Not only that, but its reaction speed was increasing as well, to the point that it began dodging my shadow thorns before they even reached it.
For the first time, cold sweat began to trickle down my face.
It charged again.
I barely avoided the first attack.
But the next one, I could not escape.
My body was sent crashing into the wall.
Mahoraga did not give me time to recover. It rushed after me immediately.
I hastily read its movement and erected a wall of shadow to defend myself.
That wall held for a while.
But the moment the wheel above its head turned again, my shadow shattered.
Something had to be happening every time that wheel moved.
And it was getting stronger every time, too.
I used a shadow blade to cut its body in half.
But it regenerated the moment the wheel moved.
I increased the speed of my slashes until its body was reduced to pieces.
And still, it came back whole.
I was beginning to worry.
I wiped the sweat from my face.
2
The battle dragged on, and Mahoraga was steadily gaining the advantage.
My attacks were starting to lose all effect.
It was as if it was adapting to everything.
And my own defenses were starting to fail as well.
But by the time I realized that, it was already too late.
All of my attacks were related to shadow.
I temporarily summoned Madoka to take the next strike for me.
And then, in that moment, I remembered the one thing I had not tried yet.
Domain Expansion.
The Shadowless Graveyard.
An advanced technique for sorcerers.
And my final hope.
Mahoraga swatted Madoka away and sent it flying, then charged straight at me.
Then it slashed the air.
A black blade-wave shot toward me at supersonic speed.
I failed to dodge in time.
My arm was severed instantly.
It hurt...
But that pain gradually faded as a new arm regenerated through my vampire healing.
I had no other choice now.
I followed the image I had learned from the book.
My right hand formed a crescent shape, with my ring finger and pinky folded down, leaving only three fingers arranged like an L.
I pointed upward into the sky.
Suddenly, a moon appeared above my head.
Mahoraga froze.
"Die."
Mahoraga's shadow vanished first.
Then its body disappeared in an instant.
As time passed, the moon gradually faded.
Everything returned to normal.
And the shadow of the strongest shikigami flowed completely into my body.