Ascension of the Dark Seraph

"Trust me. As long as I'm alive… nothing will happen to you."

Master Tobias' voice resonated inside her soul.

It was what he said to her before their attempt to flee the scene.

'Where am I?' Vanessa thought uneasily.

She tried opening her eyes to look around and see where she was, but nothing happened.

No matter how much she tried, nothing happened; she couldn't feel her eyes.

In fact, she couldn't feel anything at all.

Not her eyes, not her hands, not her legs, not even her own body, or at least not in the physical sense.

All she could feel right now was excruciating pain that numbed her soul.

'It hurts… What's happening? Did I die? The last thing I remember was Tobias stabbing me in the chest. Is this what it feels like to die? It's not really what I expected. It felt like nothing.'

For an unknown amount of time, Vanessa levitated in the endless space, suffering alone in silence, as the pain was relentless. She wanted to scream, or at least do something to ease the pain, but she had no physical body, so there was nothing she could do.

Just then, when the pain was at its highest, she finally felt something.

A faint, soothing tug.

It reached her and brought back her senses.

Slowly but surely, her senses began to return to her—starting from the sense of touch, and ending at the sense of sight. Once she regained her sight, she could now see darkness, not nothing. And as soon as she opened her eyes, she saw a glowing trail of crimson.

Vanessa could feel a sense of familiarity with it.

'Tobias?" She muttered aloud, reaching her hand to touch the glowing trail. "Is that you…?"

Just then, memories began to surge into her mind.

"I remember…" She smiled, allowing the glowing trail to coil around her arm and outlining what form she was currently in. She was now only a soul levitating in the endless ocean of the afterlife, the space between life and higher planes. "Tobias used a spell on me. Dracula's spell: Drifting Immortal Soul."

Vanessa closed her eyes, recalling what had happened earlier.

…

Crash!

Master Tobias snapped his head to the side, checking whether Lucivar had found him yet.

Realizing that he was currently killing the guests in a frenzy to satiate his thirst—Master Tobias turned to look at Vanessa again, urgency etched on his features, "I am sorry that things went south, but you must listen to me right now."

Hearing this, Vanessa, who was hurt from the explosion, shook her head unwillingly.

It was not Master Tobias' fault.

"No—don't apologize." She refuted, guilt creeping onto her face, but she remained stern. "It's my fault. If I hadn't asked you to stay until my birthday party, we wouldn't be in this situation. I should've listened to you."

Master Tobias looked at her with a complicated gaze.

It was the first time she ever apologized for anything.

Normally, she was headstrong, and would never allow herself to apologize like this.

This was a progression in their relationship.

Just to show that Vanessa was becoming more and more comfortable with him, and that's good news, but he felt complicated since the cost to pay for the risk he was forced to take was high. Going against the awakened Lucivar is not going to be a walk in the park.

Surely, this would be horrendous—but there's no other choice.

"I don't care whose fault it is that we're here," Master Tobias said firmly. "It doesn't matter why we're here. What matters is that we are here—and now, we ought to think of how we can escape this situation safely. For that, I need you to listen to me."

Once again, Vanessa was amazed at Master Tobias' decisiveness.

Most would use this opportunity to kick her down for putting them in this situation.

If not outright blame, then at the very least a sarcastic remark.

But Master Tobias chose neither, focusing on only what needed to be done at the moment.

"Okay," Vanessa eventually nodded. "What's your plan?"

"Lucivar is distracted right now, so I have a window to use an ability of mine. It's going to be my first time using it, but I'm confident," Master Tobias said as he raised two fingers and focused his ether on the fingertips. A crimson flare appeared, and without explaining—he tapped Vanessa's forehead with it. "Let the energy flow through you."

As soon as he did, the crimson flare created a symbol on her forehead.

It was a crimson, dagger-like cross with hooked arms and an ankh-shaped loop at the top.

Master Tobias then raised his arm and held it in front of her mouth.

"It's called the Drifting Immortal Soul, and the process is going to be very painful, so bite into my arm and hold back your scream," Master Tobias said, his eyes glowing crimson. "Hold it in at all costs. Don't make a sound, or Lucivar would hear you."

Before Vanessa could even ask him to explain a bit more, it had already started.

She could feel a burning pain inside, and in reflex, she bit down hard into Master Tobias' arm.

Her canines seeped into his skin, drawing blood, but Master Tobias didn't react.

Instead, he explained, "I'm not confident we can escape Lucivar, so we have to take precautions. If Lucivar ever catches onto us, there's a good chance that we're going to die, but don't panic. As long as this ability is in place, we're not going to die for good."

"Our best chance to escape is to make Lucivar think we're dead." He added.

His voice echoed inside Vanessa's mind before her eyes turned blurry, and she passed out.

…

"Yes, that's right." Vanessa opened her eyes again, recalling the Drifting Immortal Soul ability that was on her right now. "It was painful because the ability separated the soul—from the material world, from the body. Now, even if my fleshy body died, as long as I prepared another beforehand, I'm not going to truly die…"'

"Tobias said this was the ability that made Dracula immortal on top of his immortal body." She added.

For Master Tobias to have this ability showed how capable and dependable he was.

And Dracula's bloodline in him must've been extremely pure.

Vanessa had never heard of a Vampire Hybrid from the Supreme House possessing this ability.

Of course, the stronger Hybrids might simply be concealing the fact that they possessed this ability, but if not a single Vampire Hybrid truly possessed it, then Master Tobias would be a special one. A Vampire Hybrid that was beloved by Dracula.

"I wouldn't even be surprised if Dracula got his power from a God, too." She mumbled and shrugged.

Just then, she could feel warmth on her forehead.

It was Dracula's symbol that Master Tobias engraved on her upon using the Drifting Immortal Soul.

Swish!

For a moment there, the symbol glowed blindingly.

Vanessa was forced to close her eyes again, and when she opened her eyes, she was back in reality.

Blinking to push away the blurriness, she soon came to realize that she was facing the night sky—that was now already nearing daybreak. She sat up—and looked down at her hands, only realizing that she was still in her soul form.

She remained astral—intangible, unseen, and certainly unnoticed by the living.

Ahead, she could feel a weird pull that beckoned her to go there.

'Must be the body we prepared beforehand… Am I supposed to walk there?' She thought in confusion.

Just then, her gaze snapped to the side.

"Tell me. Do I even have a chance?"

"No."

Right behind her, Master Tobias hung suspended in mid-air, impaled by the sword through his chest.

It seemed she woke up not too long after she was killed.

For a moment there, Vanessa bit her lower lip reluctantly as she was reluctant to see Master Tobias at Lucivar's mercy like this. She wanted to defeat Lucivar and give them the triumph that would be perfect for the start of their new life.

But she restrained herself from doing anything, remembering that she had already promised Master Tobias.

Not verbally, but in her mind—she promised that she'll do it his way.

Besides, she couldn't do anything to Lucivar either since she doesn't have a physical body.

Swallowing her pride and anger, she averted her gaze from the infuriating scene and stood up.

Even if she wanted vengeance, which she really wanted, for the situation Lucivar put them through when he should've accepted his fate and moved on, she could do it at a later date. Putting much thought into planning would certainly be better than being impulsive right now.

Vanessa exhaled through her nose and walked away, leaving her lifeless physical body behind.

As she walked away, she could hear Lucivar's voice.

"You have no chance, but I'm not perfect for the Gods yet."

She clenched her hands, furious at Lucivar's arrogant tone as he addressed Master Tobias.

'Just keep walking…' Vanessa thought inside. 'Don't listen to him. Don't fall for his arrogance.'

"Not until I disassemble your last scheme."

Hearing the next words that came out of Lucivar's mouth, Vanessa's steps halted as her eyes widened.

A cold shiver raced down her spine, her pupils quivering as her blood turned to ice.

But what truly terrified her to her core came next.

"Where are you going, Vanessa? Did I allow you to leave?"

Deg!

Vanessa could feel her heart skip a beat.

'No, that can't be right…' She thought inside and slowly glanced over her shoulder. 'He's bluffing…'

She escaped death and is now in her soul form.

No way that Lucivar could see her.

However, the moment she looked behind, her throat turned dry as Lucivar was staring directly at her.

He was actually talking to him!

"Like I said, Tobias has my full, undivided attention…" Lucivar said, the shadow began to shroud his face, highlighting only his devilish, curling lips and glowing eyes. "Having my undivided attention is actually terrifying, you know. Nothing can slip past my eyes."

"Run!!" Master Tobias shouted in horror.

Immediately, Vanessa sprinted back towards her other body inside the basement of her mansion.

Her heart was pounding inside her chest as she could feel Lucivar's gaze was still fixated on her.

'No way…'

'No way…!'

'NO WAY!'

Vanessa shook her head, panic settling in like a tidal wave—as she couldn't believe they weren't in the clear even with Master Tobias' hidden ability. The Devil is all-seeing, and she and Master Tobias only realized it now!

As she sprinted with all her might, she stopped abruptly as dread buzzed in her soul.

Before her, emerging from the darkness were three shadows.

Each was a monster with the divinity that made them closer to the realm of the Gods.

A snake, a dragon, and a cat.

She was surrounded!