“I don’t know! I don’t know!”
Mahina covered her ears with her hands, fooling herself, and shrank back desperately, her back pressing against the cold wall.
“Blood slave…”
“You owe the workshop a hundred and fifty thousand Blood Crystal coins, and the IOU and written proof are all here.”
The bald thug only smirked, pulling a crumpled piece of paper from his coat, and slapped it down on the table with a sharp crack.
Mahina’s eyes widened, staring in disbelief.
It was indeed the IOU she had been forced to sign back then, but she didn’t know why the workshop would hand it over to the thug for safekeeping.
“Of course they had us handle it, what else? No matter where you flee, we can always track you down.”
The bald thug laughed wildly.
Mahina, summoning courage from somewhere, grabbed the IOU off the table and tore it apart viciously. She watched the scraps of paper scatter, and gritted her teeth firmly.
“I will never acknowledge this!”
“Fine, you want to tear it up? I’ve got plenty.”
The bald thug, already unimpressed, pulled out another copy and waved it in front of the girl with a smug look.
“If you don’t pay back, I’ll plaster this IOU all over Holy Blood City, send it to everyone you know, and make sure everyone knows you’re a blood slave. See which shop would still dare take you in?”
The words “blood slave” made Mahina’s pupils contract, her face turning pale.
The thing in the girl’s eyes called conviction shattered.
What she feared most had happened.
If she lost her very identity as a person, and Lorevil was dragged down because of her, pointed at by the vampires… then, would Lorevil still want her?
Asking herself honestly, even if Mahina trusted her more than anything, she couldn’t ignore the rumors spreading through all of Holy Blood City.
“I love seeing that look of despair in people’s eyes. It gives me such a sense of accomplishment.”
The bald thug grew even more pleased at the girl’s reaction, his gaze drifting sideways to the small cake glowing with candlelight.
A thought suddenly crossed his mind.
This wasn’t enough yet…
“Look at you, even at a time like this, you still have the mood for cake. How pathetic.”
With that, he strode toward the cake in long, confident steps.
The girl screamed hoarsely, struggling to get up.
“No, that’s my cake, don’t touch it!”
But Mahina, watching this unfold, could only stare helplessly as the thug deliberately paused, then raised his foot and stomped hard on the cake.
Cream and cake crumbs splattered everywhere.
The candle was snapped in two, its flame extinguished.
Mahina watched her first birthday cake being crushed underfoot, a dull pain piercing her chest, making it hard to breathe.
“This is a lesson for not listening.”
With that, the bald thug flipped the table and smashed the bed, leaving the already rundown home in total ruin.
Why were there people as gentle as Lorevil in this world, and also scum like this rotten to the core?
Why?
So cruel… truly too cruel.
This was her first time celebrating a birthday, and the only companion was the old scissors her mother had left behind.
The wish she’d made… could it really still come true?
As the light of the last candle went out, the faint glow in Mahina’s eyes vanished completely along with it.
The bald thug got bored of smashing things, and his laughter gradually died down.
He kicked the table leg impatiently, and finally noticed the girl slumped over, head hanging low, motionless as if asleep.
“Hey, don’t play dead on me, that’s no fun.”
The room suddenly turned cold—
sizzle!
The flickering lamplight pulsed violently, wavering unsteadily.
A wave of biting, ice-cold black mist rolled off Mahina, engulfing the girl’s body in an instant.
The heavy pressure froze the very air around them.
The bald thug suddenly felt like he’d been thrown into an ice cellar, his teeth chattering and his face turning white.
He’d been collecting debts for years, a vampire with rank to boot—he’d seen every kind of situation. But this aura… was so terrifying it choked him.
“Can you just die?”
Floating up, Mahina slowly raised her little face, her voice so soft it was like a whisper right in his ear.
“Pay up! A debt must be repaid, that’s only natural!”
“Are you kidding me? Don’t think you can get out of paying just by putting on some ghost act!”
The bald thug was already shaking with fear, but he still forced a brave front, his legs trembling beyond control.
What kind of face was that?
Messy black hair wildly whipped around, covering most of her ghastly pale face.
Her eyes were pitch black, not a trace of white in them—eerie, savage, yet carrying a morbid sort of beauty.
“Can you just die?”
She repeated it again, her tone utterly flat, perfectly calm.
thump! thump!
The bald thug’s heart pounded wildly, his legs refused to obey, and one by one they gave way until he knelt on the ground, only wanting to beg for mercy.
The crushing weight of death crept closer, step by step.
The pressure wrapped in death made it impossible for him to breathe.
Not getting the answer she wanted, Mahina, surrounded by black mist, drifted forward slowly.
The old scissors in her slender jade-like hand, under the rapid flickering of the light, looked just like the Grim Reaper’s scythe.
“—”
The ice-cold tip of the scissors stopped at the bald thug’s throat.
The girl’s face was expressionless, black flames burning in her eyes.
One light cut, and the bald thug would be saying goodbye to the world.
“I wonder if Mahina will like this.”
Lorevil carried the custom-made cream cake, already imagining the girl’s reaction upon seeing it, and couldn’t help but break into a smile.
Just as she stepped onto the staircase, she heard the sound of objects colliding from above.
Lorevil grew a bit anxious and quickened her pace.
When she reached the corner, a door opened.
“Big sister, I saw a scary-looking vampire follow Mahina sister upstairs just now. It sounds like they’re fighting in there, and I didn’t dare go in…”
The little girl with pigtails had a pale face, but she still spoke calmly.
Hearing this, the smile vanished from Lorevil’s face.
She crouched down, ruffled the girl’s head, and placed the cake in her arms.
“Thank you for telling me. Go back to your room and lock the door. This cake is your thank-you gift.”
The words had barely left her mouth when Lorevil, her face now cold as frost, activated the Secret Art of Blood Flash, turning into a dark red blur that swept across several flights of stairs until she reached Mahina’s door.
Pushing open the broken door, Lorevil saw the mess everywhere and immediately frowned, unease and worry rising within her.
The first thing Lorevil saw was Mahina standing in the middle of the room, black hair flying, both eyes pitch black, the scissors pressed against the bald thug’s neck.
Seeing Mahina unharmed, Lorevil let out a breath of relief at first, then furrowed her brow.
Mahina had fallen into a state of Darkening rampage!
But that vampire couldn’t die at the hands of Mahina, who was Human.
Calming down, Lorevil spoke urgently.
“Mahina, stop!”
But the bald thug, who had been scared out of his wits, snapped back to himself upon hearing the noise. He viciously pinched his own thigh.
Using the pain to regain his strength, he shoved Mahina’s wrist aside and scrambled frantically toward the door, shouting as he ran, “All of you just wait! This score isn’t settled!”
But Lorevil’s attention was entirely on Mahina, and she couldn’t be bothered with his escape.
She only managed to throw a punch at his back, sending him tumbling several times.
The bald thug knew he couldn’t win, and took the chance to bolt away at top speed.
Having lost her target, Mahina went fully berserk, black mist coiling through her hair as she swung the scissors in her hand.
Lorevil couldn’t even see the Darkening Blood Bar anymore—that meant the Darkness Value was maxed out, and the danger level was too high for her to let her guard down.
“Mahina, look at me. It’s me, Lorevil.”
Lorevil tried to embrace her, but Mahina shoved her away, the force so strong it made her chest ache.
Lorevil tried to snatch the scissors from her hand, reaching out…