I leaned against the wall, watching Senna search through courtyard. Were I in a better condition, I would search for the brother with her. As she went out of my field of view, I looked down at my hand and flexed it a few times.

Looks like they’re regaining some color, or at least I hope so. This whole place is too dark to get a good read on what’s going on. I thought to myself, looking back up and moving around the outside of the courtyard to find Senna. She’s probably got this on her own, but I want to help her if I can.

“So, little vermin, care to tell me how you captured my sister? If you pinned her to the ground with a stake, I’m going to have to give you a round of applause for sticking to a classic.” came the male voice.

“How about you step outside and I show you? All of you high ranking nobles make me sick, I can’t believe I wanted to join your clan just to get revenge on the Godwin family. All you people do is whine and moan, you’ve got no ability to fight.” Senna stabbed her sword into a hollow statue. “So instead you’re going to make me smash all of these little trinkets until I find the one you’re hiding in?”

“That or you fumble around until you get close enough for me to jump out and rip your arms off. Go on then, you’re pretty close already.” He answered with a laugh.

Seems like sadism is a family trait. Maybe it would be more efficient to just leave the room? He might sneak up on us as we move forward, but we’re wasting time every second we stay. I thought to myself, pausing at the front entrance and looking down the entrance hall. Wait, he still thinks that his sister is alive. All we have to do is take advantage of that and we can drive him out!

I moved around to get a better view of Senna, as she’d been blocked from sight by a pillar. Before I needed to move much, she cleared the way by smashing apart one of the statues. Instead of warping the sword, she’d used her hands to do it. Even with her strength, it seemed the glass vines had burst and covered her arms in puncture wounds. Despite the damage, she grit her teeth and waited for them to be forced out as she regenerated.

“Excuse me... Anna’s brother. I don’t think I caught your name. Want to tell us what it is? I’d like to ask you a simple question.”

“The human, huh? This should be interesting... my name is Edward Ainz, the second born son. Now go on and ask your question, I’m sure it’s something to buy yourself time and try to figure out where my voice is coming from.”

“What’s the closet in the kitchen for? The one with the bodies inside.”

He went silent for several seconds, and Senna anxiously waited for him to speak again. “Saw that, did you? I suppose it’s not really hidden, but I wish you’d not seen it regardless. Couldn’t you tell from the smell? It’s where we leave little humans like you when they—"

“Then how come Anna melted from being inside of there?”

“...What are you talking about?”

“Your sister; she tried to escape from us, but opened the door to that room instead. Senna pushed her inside and while she was trying to claw her way back in, she looked like she was melting.” I answered, taking a step forward and looking for any signs of a statue moving. “Tell me what made that happen.”

He went quiet for awhile, and I was worried I pushed him too far. Moments later I heard footsteps in the distance. I looked around for any sign of them moving, but nothing was there. Finally, a brick fell down from the ceiling on the opposite side of the room and both of us jumped.

“What the...? Why can we hear him moving now?” Senna asked, holding her sword up again and spinning to try as she searched for Edward.

More movement and we quickly realized it was above our heads now. There was a heavy landing and then more sounds from beneath us. Senna moved closer to my side and I held my dagger at my waist with both hands.

It’s like he’s phasing though the whole building, I can’t pin down where he’s moving or how. He might be moving around the outside of the buildings, but then how come he was able to be in the statues, and why didn’t we hear him? I thought in a panic, before closing my eyes. Alright, think outside of normal human limits. You’ve seen Senna jump from trees and chase down elk. There’s got to be something they use from about that kind of strength and speed, right?

“Senna?” I asked, leaning towards her and speaking as quietly as possible. “Can you think of any way to move up and down this room, or the building, but still be able to speak to us inside?”

She shook her head and the footsteps stopped again, this time closer. “The best guess I could make is that the statues have some kind of false bottom to them and that the room and he was speaking through those? No idea how he’d get from the top to the bottom so fast though...”

He’s acting sporadic as well, probably from learning about the death of his sister. Senna has to be right about the statues all having false bottoms, which means he has some other way of getting up and down. I thought to myself, only for Senna to charge back towards the courtyard again.

“Wait! We don’t know where he-!”

Instead of heading further inside, Senna ran on the right side of the court, moving along side the wall as fast as she could. The footsteps from Edward returned in full force, and had a pattern to them. They were following closely behind Senna, and gaining speed. As soon as she stopped at one wall, she looked down at the floor and waited for them to stop. With one foot on the wall behind her, she kicked off and flew into the pillar in front of her. She struck it hard enough to shatter the stone, and reveal the hollow insides.

Inside the rubble, a pale man struggled up to his feet, fighting against Senna’s grip. I charged forward with my dagger in hand and leapt forward. The blade hit him as I landed hard onto the ground, driving itself into his shoulder. He grit his teeth in rage and threw me away with his wounded arm, damaging it further.

Senna stood upright as he scrambled away, ripping the dagger from his arm and holding it out towards her. I looked at the puncture wound, which had turned a sickly black color, and refused to heal. He grit his teeth and glared at Senna, holding the weapon at her. Even though he tried to look menacing, I clearly had torn some muscles in his arm, and the blade was shaking in his grip.

“Where’s Simon? We didn’t come here to kill you all, so I don’t mind leaving you alive if I have to.” Senna said, readying her blade to strike.

“You already murdered my sister and you think I want to work with you?” Edward asked with a laugh. “Just kill me or leave. I’m tired of looking at your worthless blooded face anyway, rat.”

Senna loomed over him with her sword, but he refused to look at her. I stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder. Hearing me come closer, I crouched down to get near eye level with him.

“Can you at least tell us about that room?” I asked him.

“Why should I? In fact, why do you even care? If you’re so damn curious, why don’t you let your little rat climb in for you?”

“So it only works on vampires then?”

He went silent and turned his head away again. I stood back up and waved for Senna to follow me as I headed for the door. My legs must have come just a little too close to Edward, and he took the opportunity to try and slice at me with his undamaged arm. Before he could get far, Senna had already stopped him. I only managed to hear a howl of pain as this all happened, and I spun around to see the dagger skidding towards my feet.

Edward’s arm and hand were undamaged, but his right leg was split wide open, pooling black blood on the ground around him. Tears were brimming at his eyes as he glared intensely at Senna. She flicked the blade clean of his blood and moved closer towards me. I couldn’t help but look at Edward’s face while he desperately tried to hold the wound on his leg shut.

“Anna...” He whimpered out quietly, lost in pain.

I guess even nobility have a strong sense of family. Considering they’re murderers, it doesn’t really make me feel guilty, but I can understand why they were so intense. I thought to myself, and looked down at Senna as she pressed against my side. Maybe Senna is the same way? The way she fought to defend me from Anna, I could see how badly she wanted to hurt her. It’s not like I can read her mind, but I’d be glad if she did see me as someone to protect. Would put us on equal footing.

The two of us made our way to the door in the back. Senna stepped forward and pushed it open, struggling slightly despite her massive strength. It led into another hallway, but this one lacked any doors except for another at the end. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all made of the same sheer rock from the lower levels. As we delved deeper in, there was a noticeable drop in temperature. The second door was much smaller and easily opened than the other, and we peeked through carefully.

It was a small room inside, with three other entrances that led away from it. Four massive pillars filled the main area of the room, and were covered in several rows of the glowing fungus. As we pushed further in, I spotted Simon leaning against one of the pillars with his arms crossed. He turned towards us as we entered and waved us closer.

“Glad to see you two alright. Did you have any difficulties getting in?”

“Well the vampire that led me away tried to kill me, but we ended up trapping her in a strange room that seems deadly to vampires. Her brother then tried to get revenge for it, but Senna managed to incapacitate him.” I answered while we met up in the center. “What happened after you got led away?”

“Took me to my grandfather, but the eldest brother and him got into a fight almost immediately. He sent me out of the room while they argued, and I’ve been stuck here since. If they let me be alone with him, I’ll be able to take him out, but the brother will definitely be a problem. Why they attacked us at all is confusing to me...”

Footsteps sounded down the path opposite of the main door, and a well dressed man appeared. As he got closer, I recognized him as the one that led Simon away to begin with. His hair was disheveled at first, and he combed it to the right with his fingers as he got closer to us. Both Senna and I readied our weapons, but he looked like he was ignoring us completely. He approached Simon and held his arms out with a smile.

“There you are, cousin. Sorry about that little... break of character. Just fighting over the situation, given we’re not used to changes like this. In any case, you can head back to the room with father now.”

“Er, what about my friends?” Simon asked, gesturing to us.

The Ainz brother looked at the two of us in confusion before shrugging his shoulders and heading towards one of the other entrances.

“Not like any of this was my idea... I’d rather we just work out our damn problems on our own, or head south.” He muttered as he left, but paused to call back. “Oh right, and if you end up not becoming a vampire or disagreeing with father, please just leave our house and don’t come back. Sick and tired of dealing with outsiders already...”