The Preceding Hero and the Vampire Princess

「Kaa～, what is with this blood. Disgusting, too disgusting! It is bland and has a fis.h.i.+ness that is characteristic of (male) virgins. This kind of blood is not worth drinking.」

「Why you little」

「J, just calm down, Aniki!」

「Kuon, move it! I can't kill her!」

Th, this girl, even though I let her drink because she said to hand over some blood, she had the gall to go and call me a virgin……ッ!
There are other ways of saying it, like cherry boy or something, dammit!

「Well, the taste aside, right now, removing my seal is top priority. Ahー, I sure do want to drink up a large cask full of an innocent young woman's bloodー.」

While saying something that made her sound like a heavy drinker, Paimon walked up to the front of the monolith, and when she came to a stop, *peta*, she pressed both of her hands  on the monolith's wall.

「Kikiki, finally, my seal shall be undone……! Take a good look, linage of the miko. Admired as a peerless beauty, this is my true formmm!! ……?」

Paimon had declared that while br.i.m.m.i.n.g with confidence, but the vicinity had fallen silent, and there was no sign of anything about to happen.

「Muu……O, open!」

Paimon put both hands on the monolith again and shouted. But, again, there was no sign of anything happening.

「Could it be that you're mistaken on how to open it?」

「Sh, shut your mouth, virgin! This seal has Sora's sealing arts as its origin. Although it was made to be stupidly solid due to the labyrinth's sealing equipment, if Sora's blood is used, it should be cut off with a snap!」

「Wh, why you little……Wait, I guess the reason the seal is not coming undone really is because I'm not blood related with Sora.」

That would mean that my giving blood was completely useless. I kind of thought that the Hero power flowing in my blood would explode and become the condition for opening it up, but something like that didn't happen.

「……You, what did you say just now.」

「Eh?」

When I turned my head from being called, Paimon had a facial expression that was pretty much saying 「Oi oi, you're joking, right?」.

「I guess the reason the seal isn't being undone because the First Generation Saint Minato Sora-san and I aren't blood related or anythingー? ……is what I said.」

「Wha, wha, whaaaaattttt!?」

Paimon made an amusing face that had become a blend of shock and despair and crumbled down, collapsing down to all fours.

「Y, you, are you not Sora's descendant!?」

「To begin with, why did you think I was her descendant?」

「The black hair, the black pupils. There are some that possess either one of them, but one that possesses both of them originally should not be in this Reynbrook. Despite that……Haa」

Paimon said that, but isn't that surprisingly not the case? There's Bernadette and Eri Trestoria that was in Lizwadia. And then, the Church's Pope-chan also should have had black hair and black pupils.

「……First Generation Saint Vivianne Minato Sora Angelic-sama's blood, has been succeeded by His Eminence 『Mio』 who is the Pope of the Ulquiorra Religious Organization.」

「……Bernadette?」

It wasn't the depressed Paimon but Bernadette that started talking to me.

「My household had been appointed the duty of protecting His Eminence the Pope for generations. Black hair and black pupils. The many generations of His Eminence the Pope has had those characteristics. In order to become their shadow, blood had been distributed from His Eminence the Pope to my household.」

So the reason why Bernadette's hair and pupils are black is because it was taken from First Generation-san's blood……Then would that mean that Eri is somehow related to her?

「This would only be a technicality, but I also have inherited Saint-sama's blood.」

「Fumu……I see, now that you mention it, it is not like you do not have the traces of it. Your hair is also glossy just like Sora's.」

Bernadette turned around and faced Paimon, and Paimon also looked at Bernadette. As if comparing her to her memories, Paimon stared at her.

「You, what is your name?」

「It's Bernadette.」

「……Fumu. Bernadette, bring out your neck. If it is on the neck, the scar will not stand out after all.」

When Paimon said that, she grew bat wings and floated closer to Bernadette.

「If you do anything weird, I'll shoot you, got it?」

Reaching out to the collar of her clothes with her hand, Bernadette showed the nape of her neck. In the other hand, a Magic Gun was gripped.

「Kiki, high-spirited women are to my liking. ……Kaah!」

The sharp canines pierced into the nape of Bernadette's neck as if they were sucked into it.

「Haa, ……Nn」

Paimon sipped her blood, and a long breath heavy with heat spilled out from Bernadette's mouth. Continuing to suck for about ten seconds, Paimon suddenly separated her mouth from the nape of Bernadette's neck.

「O, oi!」

The moment Paimon separated her mouth from her, Bernadette crumbled down from her knees. When I promptly stretched out my hand to support her, her breath was rough and her face was red as if she had fallen ill to a heavy cold.

「Kiki, it would seem that I sucked up a bit too much. Since she has become unable to stand on her own, you should be courteous, okay?」

「You said that you sucked too much……Oi, are you alright, Bernadette?」

When I lightly shook Bernadette's body, while her body was convulsing, the red faced Bernadette looked at me.

「My body……for some, reason……it's, hot……Nnn!」

……Wh, what is this. ……Bernadette is kind of erotic, you know?

「I have heard that whenever a Vampire sucks blood, they raise the targeted prey's s.e.xual arousal and makes them go into a state of s.e.xual excitement. ……As for why you didn't go crazy, it might only work on females.」

Fiona forced her way in between Bernadette and me, turned towards Bernadette's eyes and brought her index finger close to them. When she did, strength was drawn out from Bernadette's body making her go like a puppet that had its strings cut, and all of Bernadette's body weight leaned on me.

「So you used Sleep Magic.」

「Since I casted it with suggestions piled on it, she should have entered a deep sleep.」

I could tell that the redness of her face that was completely red was being drawn back.

「Nn～……Haa……This is it, this is it. This sweet flavor that makes garrulity difficult, Sora was also like this. Kiki, this time for sure, I shall be released from the seal.」

Expressing an expression of ecstasy from savoring Bernadette's blood, Paimon pushed both of her hands out to the monolith. And then, right when Paimon touched the monolith, the monolith started to move together with a thunderous roar.

「Kikikikikiki!! It is here! Finally, finally my seal is!」

As if it were a wall made from square building blocks stacked on top of each other and each of those building blocks were being taken away from the wall, the monolith gradually began to disappear.

And then, what we saw that was beyond that was……a large black coffin that looked big enough for a single person to enter it lying there.

「Kiki, Kikiki!」

With the monolith wall having disappeared, when anything that could have separated her from the coffin disappeared, Paimon turned into the form of a bat and flew to the coffin.

「……And so she turns her back on us, I guess.」

「If she does, I'll just use the Sacred Sword. Between you guys' lives and the labyrinth, I'm sorry to say, I have no intention of balancing them.」

When I took a step forward so as to give Kuon, who was gripping the handle of her short sword, some peace of mind, the turned-into-a-bat Paimon got down on top of the coffin at almost the exact same time.

*Baan!*

Vigorously, the coffin's lid sprang up, a flesh-colored arm that was beautiful to the point of being creepy extended out and grabbed the turned-into-a-bat Paimon.
And then, that arm crushed Paimon.

「……Kiki, with this, I can finally move with my original body.」

The crushed Paimon turned into black smoke, and was sucked up by the blonde woman that appeared from the coffin as if she had crawled out.

「So, that, is your true form.」

「Indeed. For sure, this is my, the Vampire Princess Paimon's original form.」

Her four limbs that extended out from her black one piece and her body that had an unevenness to it was full of s.e.x appeal that was enough to make it very tempting, and that face and figure were beautiful enough that not even hundreds of thousands of words of praise were enough to properly describe it.
It was an appearance that not only men, but even women would be fascinated by it. Having taken her adult form, Paimon had a voluptuous appearance that overshadowed even the Succubi that fascinated men with their beautiful looks and their "energy" techniques.

However, what my gaze captured and wouldn't let go of was, neither her b.r.e.a.s.t.s that surpa.s.sed Bernadette in size, nor was it the roundness of her vivacious b.u.t.t.

「……I'm surprised, your skin "isn't blue", Vampire.」

That's right, it wasn't blue skin that was characteristic of the Mazoku, but was, though a bit more or less white, a skin-color that was like that of a human.

「Kiki, wha~t, it is nothing to be surprised about. I am a founding Vampire that is a hybrid of a Mazoku and a human. The color of my skin is fine either way.」

When she said that, Paimon turned her hand towards us and extended it out.

「I'll only tell you this as a point of reference but, that won't work a "second time", you know?」

「Kiki, so, it would seem. I know not of what trick you used, but you have developed a resistance before I knew it.」

The cheerfully smiling Paimon then snapped her fingers.

「『I am here.』」
「……ッ！」

Paimon's shadow stretched out from under her feet, and the human form Leviathan and then the Beholder appeared from within that shadow.

「Capitulate and join me.」

In response to Paimon who had said that as if she were declaring her victory, I took one step forward and,

Soul Desire

「I refuse.」

Carrying the aurora sword in my hand, I made a proclamation of war.