Thirty vampires on the perimeter.

Kai and Serah in the center.

Lira’s voice from the back of the chamber, still invisible in the densest darkness.

The vampires didn’t attack immediately — they awaited an order, or a signal.

Kai looked at them.

Counted them.

Assessed ranks by posture — the A-rank ones had weight distribution and build.

The S-rank ones were quieter.

They watched him slowly and analytically, like prey.

Then he looked at the ceiling of the catacombs.

Then at his own hands.

"Wait," he said.

Serah looked at him.

The vampires looked at him.

"One second," Kai said, to the air.

"Hey system, can you turn the stream back on? It looks like it’s still off."

[System — activating stream]

[Connecting...]

[Stream active]

---

[GarcíaFTW: KAI’S BACK]

[NocheEterna99: YOU TOOK TWO DAYS, KAI. TWO DAYS.]

[StreamerHunter: viewers: 50,000 in 30 seconds. People showed up on their own.]

[xSorinx: he’s in a dark place surrounded by... are those vampires?]

[Pedro_Sierra: whatever happened must’ve been VERY extreme for them to take that long ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)]

[Deral_Bleattler: Is Serah a mom yet? Are we uncles? TELL US, KAI.]

[User_7741: ヽ(°〇°)ﾉ KAI’S ALIVE ヽ(°〇°)ﾉ]

[NocheEterna99: SURROUNDED BY VAMPIRES BUT TURNED THE STREAM ON FIRST. PRIORITIES.]

---

"Alright," Kai said, looking forward with the expression of someone reading invisible subtitles. "Quick recap."

The vampires on the perimeter looked at each other.

"Mission in a village to the northeast. Mage with an enchantment system. Thirty-something affected. You already know that." Pause.

"There was a fair, and what you already know happened... We came back today. Got to the village, and it was empty."

Another pause.

"There was a note on the guild board signed ’With love, Lira.’ We’re currently in the catacombs beneath Valdris, surrounded by about thirty vampires."

He looked toward the perimeter.

"Mostly A and S rank."

He looked forward again.

"That’s all for now."

---

[GarcíaFTW: "WITH LOVE, LIRA" HE SAID IT OUT LOUD]

[NocheEterna99: the calmest summary of a life-or-death situation I’ve ever heard]

[StreamerHunter: "that’s all for now" while thirty vampires surround him. WHILE THIRTY VAMPIRES SURROUND HIM.]

[Pedro_Sierra: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) "there was a fair and what had to happen happened" is all he said about two days away ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)]

[Deral_Bleattler: HE DIDN’T ANSWER ABOUT SERAH AND BABIES. THE ANSWER IS THE ANSWER.]

[xSorinx: the vampires are looking at Kai like "who’s he talking to?"]

---

The nearest vampire — S-rank, posture of someone who has existed long enough for patience to be their baseline state — took a step forward.

"Who are you talking to?" he said.

It wasn’t hostility.

It was genuine confusion from something that couldn’t see the broadcast system.

Kai looked at him.

"My audience."

"What audience?"

"Currently four million-plus people from another world."

The vampire processed this.

He looked around — the empty chamber, the stone walls, the darkness that for him was perfectly visible and for Kai was just darkness.

There was no one else.

"You’re talking to yourself," he said.

"That’s what it looks like from there."

Serah stepped forward.

"Don’t worry about that," she said, in a completely flat voice, ending a conversation she considered irrelevant. "Your bigger problem is me."

And she attacked.

---

She didn’t wait for formation.

Serah’s primordial aura expanded in the same second her body launched toward the densest group on the perimeter — the right side, where there were three S-rank and five A-rank vampires concentrated in the narrowest space of the chamber.

The first one didn’t have time to react.

The second activated his barrier — S-rank vampires generated fields of condensed darkness that absorbed physical impact, an ability that worked against practically anything in Aethon.

Serah’s primordial aura went through it as if it weren’t there.

The darkness field dissolved on contact with something older than the technique that generated it.

The S-rank vampire staggered back three meters.

The five A-ranks on the flank lunged simultaneously from different angles — the multiple convergence tactic that made vampires dangerous in groups, where each individual’s speed multiplied by the impossibility of defending against all at once.

Serah didn’t defend against all at once.

She transformed.

Partially — not the full primordial wolf form, but something in between that Kai had seen for the first time in the catacombs: taller, eyes completely silver, markings at maximum intensity, hands with claws that weren’t quite claws but also weren’t quite hands.

The five A-ranks arrived.

Serah grabbed the first one by the neck with one hand and used him as a shield against the second.

The third hit her in the side — real impact, enough for any entity below SSS to feel significantly. Serah looked at him.

"Good," she said.

And threw him against the wall.

---

[GarcíaFTW: SERAH IS USING A VAMPIRE AS A SHIELD]

[NocheEterna99: A AND S RANK AND SHE’S TREATING THEM LIKE MINOR OBSTACLES]

[StreamerHunter: viewers: 700,000. It keeps going up.]

[xSorinx: Kai still hasn’t moved. He’s watching.]

[Pedro_Sierra: ε=ε=ε=ε=ε=ε=┌(; ̄◇ ̄)┘ SERAH ε=ε=ε=ε=ε=ε=┌(; ̄◇ ̄)┘]

[Deral_Bleattler: the vampire that hit her in the side and she just LOOKED at him. JUST LOOKED AT HIM.]

[User_7741: (ง’̀-’́)ง SERAH (ง’̀-’́)ง]

---

Kai observed for exactly eight seconds.

Enough to assess.

The A-rank vampires were, as he had mentally noted upon entering, stronger than other creatures of the same rank.

Not on a linear scale — on a scale of real danger.

Speed that made A-rank hunters on the surface world seem slow.

Active visible regeneration — the one Serah had thrown against the wall was already getting up with the impact still in the process of undoing itself.

Darkness magic that wasn’t decorative but functional, capable of generating blindness in the target, altered gravity fields, and in the case of S-ranks, something Kai recognized from the stories the system archived as world data: conditional immortality.

They couldn’t die from normal blows.

There were conditions.

This is more interesting than the A-rank bear.

Considerably more interesting.

He set his stance.

"I’m joining," he said, to the air.

---

[GarcíaFTW: KAI’S GOING IN]

[NocheEterna99: "I’m joining" — just like that?]

[StreamerHunter: S-rank vampires with immortality vs. rankless Kai with martial arts. Historically, this ends well for Kai.]

[xSorinx: Kai looks like he found something he’s going to enjoy analyzing]

[Pedro_Sierra: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ LET’S GO, KAI ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Deral_Bleattler: the vampires still don’t know the problem wasn’t Serah]

[User_7741: ψ(∇´)ψ TWO AGAINST THIRTY ψ(∇´)ψ]

---

The first A-rank vampire that lunged at Kai came from above — high-ranking vampires could use the walls and ceiling of enclosed spaces as movement surfaces, eliminating the horizontal plane as the only attack vector.

Kai saw him coming from the ceiling. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Speed superior to conventional A-rank hunter. Angle of descent: sixty-five degrees. Target impact point: head or right shoulder.

He moved laterally — not far, to the exact point where the vampire’s descent angle became a problem for the vampire himself, who couldn’t adjust trajectory at that speed.

The vampire landed where Kai had been.

Kai was to his left.

Elbow strike to the base of the skull — the point where the opponent’s movement speed adds to the force of one’s own strike, multiplying impact without requiring more power.

The A-rank vampire went to the ground.

He got up in two seconds.

Fast regeneration. Very fast.

Good. That means I have to accumulate structural damage, not seek a single decisive blow.

---

The second one came from the left flank with greater speed and active darkness magic — a localized field that reduced Kai’s visibility to a two-meter radius.

Blindness field. Estimated radius: four meters. Duration: unknown.

Kai closed his eyes.

Not out of panic — by decision.

If visibility was compromised, eliminate dependence on it and use what remained available: the sound of movement in the air, the vibration of the catacomb floor, the specific scent vampires had.

The vampire arrived from the left.

Kai heard him.

Deflection with the right forearm — not outward but downward, redirecting the momentum from up to down instead of laterally, which was what the vampire expected.

The vampire lost vertical balance.

Kai opened his eyes — the darkness field lasted less than he expected, about four seconds — and finished the exchange with a knee to the torso.

The S-rank vampire at the back of the chamber observed the first exchanges.

Then he looked at Lira, still invisible in the darkness.

He said nothing.

Neither did Lira.

But something in the silence of the darkest part of the chamber shifted slightly.

---

[GarcíaFTW: KAI CLOSED HIS EYES IN COMBAT]

[NocheEterna99: TO USE HIS OTHER SENSES. HE LEARNED IT FROM SERAH IN THE MEMORY ROOM.]

[StreamerHunter: the blindness field lasted 4 seconds. Kai timed it by closing his eyes.]

[xSorinx: the S-rank vampires are watching. They’re not intervening yet. They’re assessing.]

[Pedro_Sierra: ε=ε=ε=ε=┌(; ̄◇ ̄)┘ Lira is in the darkness watching all this ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)]

[User_7741: (ಠ_ಠ) the S-rank vampires haven’t attacked yet (ಠ_ಠ)]

[System — Active Battle]

[Current viewers: 1,800,000]