Scarlett charges at Chloe with a speed I hadn’t expected for the well-dressed seductress. Chloe, meanwhile, proves that she’s been investing more than a few points into her own [Speed] stat, deftly dodging both the thrust of the vampire’s claws and the bite to the neck which follows. She attempts to counter with the stake in her hand, but Scarlett bats it away with an open palm.

“A wooden stake? A little quaint, don’t you think?”

I fire a Light-elemental [Ether Bullet] toward the woman, but again fail to find purchase before our adversary’s swift movements. I launch a second attack, then a third, then a fourth, each of which is swatted away or evaded by mere millimeters. Damn she’s tough!

“You’ll have to be a little quicker than that!” Scarlett calls out, firing a beam of crimson energy.

Thanks to [Archangel’s Gaze], I’m able to sidestep it, as well as the follow-up claw attack aimed right at my heart. I leap over a rocking chair behind me before switching to a pair of Fire-elemental [Ether Bullets]. Even if I can’t score a direct hit on the vampiress, at least I should be able to generate some flames, and with them, some heat and light that will work to my favor.

This time Scarlett doesn’t evade. She catches each of my blasts in the palm of her hand. My intent seems to have had merit. My execution, on the other hand, is woefully lacking. And Scarlett is definitely the strongest creature we’ve faced to this point; this fact proven by a direct impact from Chloe’s [Scouring Light] upon her back. An attack that by all rights should have disintegrated the undead monster from the world. Instead, it merely sizzles her dress and leaves her hair somewhat ruffled.

“You damn bitches!” she cries out.

Her attacks are faster and more numerous than before, but they’re clumsy and blatantly telegraphed. Her lunges are wide and arcing, her every claw is preceded by a long wind-up, and her creativity is lacking. She shows none of the finesse of Serrena’s carefully choreographed attacks or Zethira’s honed brutality. No, this is the blunt force of a woman who has crushed every battle she’s faced to this point with innate vampiric power and effortless ease. Having not honed this power, she’s finding her strength unable to defeat the two of us.

I continue to dodge Scarlett’s attacks, feigning weakness, pretending that I’m being pushed back. I allow her to feel that she’s closing the gap, that her next strike will be the one which connects. All to make sure Scarlett doesn’t get enraged and start using something Chloe and I can’t prepare against. And all while Chloe’s hands are clasped as if in prayer, her silent chant filling the manse with the tapestry of her [Sanctuary] spell.

“Why… can’t… I… hit… you?” Scarlett cries out. She’s attacking from various directions, using the shadows to disguise her movements. She’s even managed to create a couple of doppelgangers out of the miasma. They share her physical appearance, but each holds only a tiny sliver of the woman’s ferocious strength and colossal pool of [Ether], making them all easy to ignore.

Finally, I give her the satisfaction of a glancing blow. One stronger than I’d expected, the strike across my left forearm draining nearly seven hundred points from the [Saintess’s Cloister]. She gives me a contemptuous smirk as I again allow her to puncture my barrier in the back of my palm. Another four hundred points drained, just over 8,700 remaining. More importantly, her confidence is returning. Her attacks remain vicious, her glee unhidden, and I do my best impression of a woman struggling under the pressure of an intense battle, all while hiding my true goals to delay and distract for just a few more seconds.

It’s a strange sensation, and even more difficult mentally, to have to go out of my way to overpower my combat instincts to get hit in the midst of battle. And the difficulty is made that much more difficult because I have to channel my inner thespian to play a convincing charade. Something which I’m surprised is actually working against such a cunning foe. Then again, in pantomiming the role of the crouching fool and hidden badass, it might well be me who ends up with egg on her face at the end of the fight.

Scarlett aims a punch infused with violet, vampiric energy square at my chest. She lunges forward as I step back, infusing her other hand with the same fell light. Each blow is that much stronger and sharper, and now, I truly am being put on the defensive.

But I have one more trick up my sleeve. I’ll have to make it count.

I spare a tiny bit of focus upon Chloe. Her lips are moving at a quickened pace, reciting the long incantation that, together with the knowledge contained within her spell, will unleash a hallowed [Sanctuary] upon this desecrated land. It’s taking longer than normal. To be expected, considering she needs to overpower a powerful sorceress. And… now that I think about it, that might be why Scarlett hasn’t done anything more than attack me with physical attacks enchanted by a bit of magic. Most of her willpower is being taxed, trying to keep her dark energy in place as Chloe’s magic seeks to unravel it.

I hesitate, suffering a glancing blow to my cheek. 4,186 points remaining on my [Saintess’s Cloister]. What’s the right course of action? Do I continue to stall as per my original plan, hoping that Chloe can break through the vampiress’s will? Or do I press the attack, trying to break her concentration so Chloe can do exactly that? The problem with that, of course, is that I’ll tire myself out, and be susceptible to being overwhelmed, myself. To get chances for an attack, one must necessarily give the opponent windows to do the same back.

I decide: I’m going to switch to offense. I sidestep Scarlett’s next attack as I finalize [Luminous Barrier] in the forefront of my mind. She shifts her hand, attempting to slap me. Again, her movements are too clumsy, and I’m able to avoid the attack.

She grits her teeth, baring her fangs. “All that bravado, and all you can do before me is struggle. You don’t even have the sense to retreat and try to live to fight another day? Perhaps you’re still tempted by my offer from earlier? Will you two reconsider? If so, I would be more than willing to overlook your transgressions to this point.”

Her words are laced with a sickening honey. Her eyes, red as befitting her name, glow. No doubt she’s attempting to use the transfixing gaze many vampires are known for. My fears are confirmed as a foreign presence wades through my mind with all the subtlety of a sticky, gooey tentacle rubbing its slobbery appendage all over my brain. Probing around, prodding and observing, tasting, observing, waiting to strike. It sickens me.

But Chloe’s enchanting calm, her radiant beauty. The love we share, the [Angelic Bond] we both share. It all focuses me, reminds me of who I’m protecting and why I’m fighting. Scarlett is strong, yes. But I have nearly three hundred points of [Mind] after factoring in the benefits from Chloe’s [Saintess’s Blessing], a number that most creatures under level 80 are going to be hard pressed to overcome. Especially when the battle is in my mind, where my will is supreme. I will not succumb to this temptress’s attempts at hypnotism.

I let her will sink in ever so slightly. Then, like a bowstring forced taut, I let the pent-up mental energy spring forward with everything I have, chucking her undead claws out of my mind. Her physical body staggers. I don’t give her a second to rebound. I release [Luminous Barrier], filling the darkness with light it can’t fully occlude. A radiant sea of golden light burns through the miasma, tearing at the spell she’s been maintaining through it all.

Scarlett shrieks, the radiance starting to have an effect upon her. Her skin sizzles and smoke wisps out of her hair and skin. Her mouth opens wide, thirty-two razor-sharp teeth lunging forward in a last-ditch effort to destroy my spell.

Chloe’s [Sanctuary] finally activates. Auroral curtains spread out through the antechamber and the rest of Scarlett’s manse like dawn cascading upon the horizon. Scarlett herself falls to the ground, writhing and clutching her body as the necromantic forces which hold her undead form together begin to unravel.

Despite it all, I can’t help but feel a twinge of pity for her. I don’t know if she was always here, only awakening to her vampire heritage when the System arrived, or if she was a [Necromancer] who decided to test her dark arts upon herself, or maybe she’s just a construct of the System, placed here to test humanity. I consider that least likely, but impossible, considering how so many of the other monster attacks seem to be mere tests for us to overcome. Motivation to continue along, dancing to the invisible strings of the System’s infernal machinations.

Scarlett looks at me with a mixture of sadness and anger, a single word uttered from her lips. “Why?” she asks.

I turn my attention away as her body fades away. The miasma all around the manse is dissipating, and warmth and sunlight are returning to what was once her dominion. The trees and other signs of life aren’t sprouting back, but at least, in time, now they can reclaim the area. The sun pierces through the window at my side, burning the small cloud of mist into which the vampiress’s body had become. And then, with a solemn moan, her presence is completely gone.

[You have purged Scarlett Nova, Vampiress Assassin (Level 49). You have gained a boosted 144,000 Experience.]

[You have gained enough Experience to reach Level 52. [Strength] +1, [Speed] +1, [Vitality] +1, [Mind] +1. Please assign free stat points (Remaining: 4).]

I assign all four points to my [Speed] stat this time around. It’s a bit unconventional, considering that it has remained my most neglected stat, but it was the one most critical in the fight against Scarlett. And what’s more, [Archangel’s Gaze] gives a further buff to my [Agility] based on my [Speed] stat. This was what allowed me to dodge, at least partially, all of her attacks. It’s not nearly as flashy as my [Mind] and the [Glyphcasting] it empowers, as critical to staying alive as my [Vitality], or as glamorous as my [Strength]. But I need to come to terms with the fact that damage avoided is much better than damage absorbed and much better than damage healed after the fact.

[Your [Elemental Ether Bullet Barrage (Rank V)] has upgraded to [Elemental Ether Bullet Barrage (Rank VI)].]

[Your [Intermediate Glyph Manifestation (Rank VII)] has upgraded to [Intermediate Glyph Manifestation (Rank VIII)].]

[Your [Glyphcasting (Rank XXIV)] has upgraded to [Glyphcasting (Rank XXV)]. Your [Glyphcasting] Skill has reached its maximum level. Please assign free stat points (Remaining: 6)]

These extra points are slotted one each into my [Strength] and [Speed], for the same basic reasoning as above. My high [Vitality] and [Mind] are paying dividends with every level, and now it’s time to balance things out.

[Maximum Health increases by [Vitality] x 2 + Current Level + Rand[1,3] = 260]

[Maximum Ether increases by [Mind] + Current Level + Rand[0,2] = 205]

[Level: 52; Experience: 2,486,525; To Next: 162,880]

[Current Stats: [Health]: 7,327 / 7,993; [Ether]: 1,843 / 5,901]

[Current Stats: [Strength]: 143 (Base: 73); [Speed]: 145 (Base: 74); [Vitality]: 202 (Base: 103); [Mind]: 298 (Base: 152)]

[Your [Angel’s Grace (Rank V)] has upgraded to [Angel’s Grace (Rank VI)].]

By the time I’ve finished processing my level, the dark fog surrounding the area is almost completely gone. The temperature both inside and out is warming rapidly, a breeze of fresh air carrying with it the heat of the summer afternoon. And the eerie quiet that permeated Scarlett’s home begins to fill again with the myriad sights and smells and sounds of life.

Chloe steps up to join me, sidling into the embrace of my arm as we step out of the chamber and onto the front porch. It’s so bright that I squint and wince involuntarily, my eyes needing a moment to adjust to the sudden change of lightning.

“Do you still think we did the right thing?” I ask. “She was a vampire, but she had thoughts and feelings and–”

Chloe shakes her head. “We don’t know that. For all I know about intelligent undead, their emotions are just a fabrication designed to prey on our human emotions and take advantage of us when our guard is down. But that doesn’t matter either way. What does matter to me is that she threatened the lives of the people we love, she refused to negotiate, she tried to turn both of us into undead against our will, she even… used mind control on you— I felt that through our bond. And she had decided before she launched the first attack that she planned to trap and kill us both, one way or another. Once she did that, we had every right to defend ourselves.”

I nod at Chloe’s words, but this time, it’s my turn to wonder if her morality is aligned with my own. By a certain logic, I died, my artificial soul reincarnated in a new human body in a new world. Could I be considered a type of undead, from a certain point of view? And if not, where is the distinction?

Ultimately, it’s something I ponder on silently as we take to the sky, ready to report back on a successfully completed mission.