Q: What are the threats of civilization?

A: The Bloodsucker, and Flesheater to some degree, but the real threat is always the Saider.

- - -

"Stay where you are, stranger."

Finally, a figure appeared where Lorne's sword was pointed at, but the stranger that appeared did not happen to be in any position to do any harm to them or anything to them.

His entire body was blood-soaked, and it was still oozing out from the wound in his left shoulder and chest. It was as if he fled away from a battlefield, not that there was any battlefield nearby. Other than the Starlight City, this place was all barren mountain range. Could some wild spirit beast have done it? The elderly man appeared he could die at any moment. Savage beasts were likely the assailant. Then again, why would this elderly man venture into the wilderness? He certainly did not appear to be the type to be here for Moon Gazing, nor was he of the age.

"Please, help me," the elderly man pleaded, and immediately fell to his knees. "Bring my word to the academy, tell them to prepare. The Saider—"

I shuddered, and it was not from the chilly wind. The others looked at the blood-soaked man as if he was a madman.

The wrinkled face of the elderly figure was stained with blood and pale from losing blood. His clothing, which had once been in good condition, was now tattered on his body, barely hanging on and swaying with the wind, despite the fact that it was stained with blood.

There was nothing noteworthy about the elderly man, other than the wooden stick in his arm that appeared to be a wand. A magic wand?

"Wait, Professor Ranyan?" Yeriel shouted abruptly and moved a couple of steps forward. She peered carefully at the tattered newcomer and stayed put with her judgement. "It's Professor Ranyan."

Lorne seemed to notice that as well. He did not lower the point of his sword though and gestured for us to not approach. He moved near the man on his knees to inspect him, and his stoney face, which was already devoid of any emotion, became raging with fury.

Abruptly, the wind seemed to have stopped blowing, and I could not help but grip the hilt of my sword tightly, glancing around. Something's wrong. My hunch turned true. It looks like we will not only be moon gazing tonight. I even wondered if we even had a chance of that.

"The space," Yeriel muttered, looking around, uncertain, "is sealed?"

"Everyone stay calm and steady," Yasmine said, narrowing her eyes around.

Seeing the elderly man before me, I recalled the notable scene of Professor Ranyan from the book. He appeared in the very first chapter when Edward tried to steal money from this man.

The author described him as a handsome man in his late prime, with an angular face and a striking presence. Though he appeared somewhat clumsy and emotional, as Edward did succeed in stealing from a man who was supposed to be one of the pillars of the academy.

I did not know about the striking presence or the clumsiness, but in no way did he appear in his late prime now, rather a couple of decades older. His face was angular and pale white from all the blood he had lost. He looked like he would die any moment if he did not go through any treatment, yet none of them had uttered a word about it so far.

Something was coming, or someone. Maybe more than one, and it's ominous. The wind had stopped blowing, and the moons lit night loomed into a murky blackness even further. I knew what these signs meant. It was what Yeriel said, the surrounding space was being sealed.

"Take him quickly and try to treat his wound," Lorne said, pointing towards the devastating figure on his four limbs. His narrowed eyes scanned the surroundings and exchanged a glance with me first, and then with Yasmine and the others. "Be prepared and stay behind me, together. The surrounding area has been sealed, so we can't run away."

Yeriel was the only one who had any expertise in healing and got near the professor. Kyle helped her carry him behind them. While I wondered about the abomination who could seal a region. Small it may be, it takes a Grand Magus level individual to seal any kind of area. A savage beast did not have this kind of ability.

The one who could answer the question, the wounded professor, had already lost consciousness, and Yeriel started to check out what was wrong with this person.

"Sir Lorne," Lily said, gasping for breath. She was not the brightest one of the bunch, but seeing one of the pillars of the academy in such a state, she could imagine the trouble they were in. "What are we up against?"

Lorne did not answer the question, but prepared himself. "Young Lady Lily and Miss Yeriel, please bring the wounded to the edge of the sealed area and try to find a way to create a hole in it."

"But—" Lily was about to disagree, but Lorne had already moved on to the next person.

"Young Lord Oscar and Lady Yasmine," Lorne said, looking at them. "Protect your sister and the others."

I did not know what to do, but in such a situation, I only nodded, digesting the fact that Lorne trusted me more than the others. While Yasmine did the same. It appeared whatever was after Professor Ranyan, Lorne would not be enough to deal with it alone.

"What do we do, Sir?" Kyle asked.

Lorne was about to answer, but his and everyone else's, including mine, attention was moved to the two silhouettes approaching us.

It was as if they appeared out of nowhere in the darkness. I did not need to see them clearly to know what we were up against. The awful stink that assaulted my nose had narrowed down the list to very few, and with the bulky humanoid body and rotten skin, one of them was certainly a ghoul.

"It appears our pursuit has found a few more lambs for us," the other person said. He was a tall, lean man with a thick dark cloak on. Even in the darkness, I could make out that he was strikingly handsome and in his prime. He had a sharp nose, pale fair skin, and little canine-like teeth.

Both his eyes were cold, as the being before us radiated an aura of nobility that said he was better than anyone else present here.

Lorne controlled his rage to return to the stony exterior, though the same couldn’t be said for others, including me. Man, I wish I had a talent like that.

A seasoned knight is a seasoned knight indeed.

"Since when did the bloodsuckers have the audacity to appear even near Starlight City?" Sir Lorne asked, while gesturing with his finger for us to get away.

None of us actually had, not only because we were still frightened, but we needed a better opportunity at least, as all of us were entirely clear how fast a ghoul could be.

"Audacity?" the tall vampire asked mockingly. "We are always here, snuggling in below your nose, human. It is just your inability to discover us."

"Don't waste words on those pesky humans, my lord," the ghoul screeched out. "Just say the word, and I'll make sure none of them leaves this sealed space."

"Now, now, Xion, it is not every day we meet so many juicy humans, especially humans of this breed." the vampire said, licking his lips.

His eyes moved towards us, especially at Yasmine, Yeriel, and Lily. His eyes narrowed a little when they drifted towards Julies, but they went towards Lorne again. "It had been so long since I had fed on noble ladies."

Something was wrong with this bloodsucker, and it appeared I was the only one to notice it. In this world, fantasy creatures like vampires, ghouls, forest fairies, and many other races exist.

Among them, vampires are mostly the antagonists of the story, though there were a few societies of vampires who had a pact to a certain degree with the higher-order of the Realm. But that can't be said for all of them. Such as the one before us.

Another note to add: the vampires in these realms, and the ones from the lore of my old world, have some differences. The striking one is that the vampires of Shrankor did not have to feed on blood to stay alive. It is not a necessity but a luxury, though it did have some psychological and substantial effects on them. If one got addicted to the taste, there was no saving for him.

The one before us, evidently, was not from the group of law-abiding vampires. But that was not the only thing that was wrong.

Even if this vampire was a rogue, he should not have had the audacity to say those kinds of words, even if that was going through his head.

From what's shown on the outside, vampires are usually the noble bunch. Even if they had thoughts of killing some noble lady and feeding on them, they would behave as if it was a noble thing.

But here, the bloodsucker seemed to be out of order, disoriented. He was not doing very well at controlling his impulses.

Maybe he was exhausted after the battle and needs to feed. Professor Ranyan was not a regular Magus to scoff at either. He was, after all, one of the six Grand Magi of the academy.

"I have an offer for you, Knight," the bloodsucker said with a twisted smile on his thin lips. "The insignia on your sword showed you are an escort from House Emberheart. I will give you a chance to leave with your life and the life of the kids you are escorting, but you have to leave the others behind."

The others sucked in cold breaths after hearing that. Even though they were the brightest in the Starlight Academy, they never encountered such a situation or such dangers.

Though I felt an unnerving fear, my rational brain was still working. There was no way this bloodsucker would let a couple of them go if it was in its peak state, which meant it was already injured and could not go for long. But Lorne seemed to understand that too, though no one could tell from his stony face. Huh! I can actually understand him. Well, that was an insightful thought to have in such circumstances.

Lorne did not even flinch, and he had never battled vampires before, but never of this calibre. Still, he brandished his sword with spirit energy. The blade of the sword lit up with fire spirit with the flash of scarlet flame.

There was no hesitation in his eyes. He said little too, just shouted at us. "Go, don’t look back. Leave!"

"I see, you have chosen the path of death," the bloodsucker said, and he looked towards the ghoul. "Xion, you can devour the boys, but leave the ladies for me."

"As your wish, my lord," Xion said with delight and jumped towards us with his huge body.

____________________