“Alright, I’ll go check out those two hideouts. Wish me luck.” Ejiro Sani went down the elevator.

…

A quarter of an hour later. Aaron was eating a bowl of cereal and two buttered slices of toast.

Isaac walked to the balcony and said, “Hey, Aaron, I’m going out. There’s something I have to do. Bye!”

“Wait, Isaac!” Aaron couldn’t get to him in time, even with wind magic. Isaac had jumped down the balcony. A 500 metres fall awaited.

Isaac touched his watch’s screen. The robotic voice appeared in his head.

[Conjured {Hang-Glider}

Cost:

43.9 {unidentified} mana points

Remaining:

370.5 {unidentified} mana points

89.4 electric mana points]

Aaron looked down the balcony. His friend was gliding in the air with a conjured object. “Are you crazy?!”

Aaron quickly went inside to find his pistol, which also worked as a telephone. ‘Does he even know how to land it? I need to call mister San-’

“Hi.”

Footsteps approached from behind Aaron. Three figures had arrived at the balcony.

They were vampires who had flown up the tower in their vampiric form.

Aaron turned around. “Who’s there?!” It was a young teen with curly hair and two male guards.

The 14 years old girl spoke arrogantly. “Hello, kid. You're not the one I was looking for, but I suppose this will do for now. I’m Gabriella Rivampe, queen of vampires. What’s your name?”

In their vampiric form, the three vampires had sharp black wings, long fangs and black glowy eyes. Black marks appeared around Gabriella Rivampe’s eyes like minimalist goth makeup.

From this, Aaron concluded that the two guards were high vampires and Gabriella was the pure vampire Ejiro mentioned.

“Umm… I’m Aaron Amon. I suppose you’re here for mister Sani? Also, I’m older than you….”

“Oh? Good! It seems we’ve caught a fugitive, Rico’s brother.” Gabriella suddenly found her trip to Ejiro’s apartment worth it.

Aaron knew he couldn’t fight his way out of this situation. They were on the highest floor of the skyscraper, and the only way out was the elevator or the 500 metres drop. “I’m sure Ejiro will be there soon. How about we wait here for him?”

“No, you’ll be coming with us, Aaron.” The young queen ordered her two vampires to abduct him.

…

*Crash!*

Like Aaron suspected, Isaac had no idea how to land his glider. He set foot in the middle of a graveyard, desperately jerking his legs to catch up to the speed before colliding into a gravestone. “Whoops, sorry!”

Luckily uninjured, he got up and looked around. The was a large majestic coffin. Isaac opened the lid.

Inside, a ladder went down a few metres. “So this is the place? Won’t I get killed? That’s one of the last hideouts marked on that map.”

A red misty face followed him around. Only he could see it, the soul girl from the night before.

“Don’t worry… trust in your power.”

Isaac climbed down the metal ladder. “I thought you guys had disappeared after absorbing you. How can you still speak to me?”

“We have lived for more than a thousand years…. Some of us have become quite strong…. I chose to remain awake in order to guide you and free… more of us. But after this, I, Carlyle, will fall asleep peacefully.”

“Hmm, thank you. So your name’s Carlyle. I’ll make sure to remember it.”

After going down multiple stairs, they reached a large hall. There were tall pillars on each side and wide seats made of stone.

Isaac admired the old architecture. He kept walking toward the end of the hall. He could see from afar a door to the left and another to the right leading further into the hideout.

“Be careful! I sense three people around you… One of them has many souls.” Carlyle warned him.

Isaac froze.

The young mage stood in the middle of the hall. ‘I’d need to fight them eventually to gather more of the souls.’ Knowing he couldn’t seek refuge, he activated his new magic.

“Are you guys going to come out?” A vicious grin appeared on his face.

The three vampires were startled. “Attack!”

Activating their vampiric form, the three medium-rank vampires rushed at him at speeds twice as fast as Aaron.

The first pierced his spear in Isaac’s chest, the second cut his face with his sharp claws, and the latter pushed two daggers into his back!

Isaac’s pupil widened. He tasted blood in his mouth, his heart stung, and his ribs crackled.

“OUCH! That hurts!”

However, despite the pain, he wore a sadistic expression. His right eye glowed red, and his left eye glowed blue. “Now, please die quietly.”

“What?!” The vampires staggered.

*ZAP!*

Isaac electrocuted all of them without moving before they could fall back. The vampires fell into a stunned state.

Isaac skillfully took care of the first two.

The terrifying magician slammed his left hand onto the first one’s face with electricity magic. The charge was enough to kill him.

At the same time, he conjured a spear in his right hand and decapitated the second vampire.

There was only one left.

Looking back at him, Isaac thought aloud. “I can’t keep up with their speed. However, all I have to do is wait for them to come at me. He~”

The vampire stumbled to the ground. He was terrified. How could a regular human still stand firmly after their attack? “Wh-what are you?!”

Isaac extended his left arm, properly aiming his palm at the last vampire. “Give me back the souls you’ve absorbed. I need them to grow my power.”

The vampire dared not look him in the eye. “Monster!”

*Bvoom!*

A hot red beam came out of Isaac’s hand. A fire lit up, and the vampire burned alive.

Isaac had killed for the first time and felt great ecstasy from it. He proceeded to absorb the souls.

Shortly after, he looked at his wounds. They had fully healed thanks to his mysterious magic.

“I’m completely healed. It really is a strange power. After absorbing the new souls, my mana points have augmented again. It seems they can’t recover by themselves, though.”

Carlyle wasn’t in a good mood. She realized his power had a major downside. “Be careful when using it! It seems to be drastically influencing your emotions… We have never seen such powerful magical abilities before.”

“Alright. Where's my next target?”

“They’re further in.”

Isaac’s eyes glowed red again. “I’ll call this power ‘red magic.’ How’s that?”

“Sure.”