The Fallen Vampire

The closer Taira got to Ayame, the more she felt a strange sense of unease that she had no idea how to process.

His eyes were partially unnerving; as the bright red color was egregiously hypnotic even without his ability being active.

"D-Don't fuck with me, boy!! There is no way that you could have possibly heard the voice of our god! And this trickery of yours will not-"

"Why must you be so noisy…? Just listen quietly and don't cause unnecessary headaches for me."

"Y-You bastard..!"

A terrible pressure began to drift off of Ayame in waves, and filled the room in an instant.

Everyone behind him stepped back out of instinct, but Taira seemed to be completely unbothered.

Compared to Fenris' pressure that he felt a few nights ago, this wasn't really anything he thought he should be afraid of.

In fact he found it rather cute.

Like a corgi puppy who was adamantly trying to protect it's food bowl.

Albeit this kind of puppy could have killed him in a few moments if she felt like it.

He would have pet her on the head if he was in a more pleasant mood.

But since he was short on time and patience, he was a bit more crude in getting her to calm down.

"Stop that. You're annoying me."

Bringing a clawed finger to Ayame's nose, he gave her a small 'boop' with a current of purple lightning that was no stronger than a static shock.

Zap!

It took a minute for Ayame to process what happened, but eventually her expression became even more hateful than before and she opened her mouthful of gleaming fangs to bite Taira's finger clean off.

Keran: "Mother!"

Enyo: "Get my husband out of your mouth right fucking now!"

Kohaku / Kuro: 'What have we missed while they've been gone…?'

Ayame felt something strange as she chewed Taira's finger.

The blood tasted different.

Almost like it had been aged in a bottle and mixed with some sort of posh alcohol that those humans would have adored so much.

It was only then that she remembered it's black color that she had seen last time they met, and she went to spit it out prematurely, only to feel the consistency change in her mouth.

Suddenly it was like she had tried to eat a bottle of glue and her teeth were becoming stuck together.

"Mm!?"

"You seemed to be in a talkative mood, and I need you to listen for right now, so just bear with it." Taira said sleepily.

"Mm!"

Immediately, Ayame punched through Taira's muscular chest and wrapped her fingers around his heart.

""Taira!""

The kitsune used a small gesture with his hand to tell Enyo and Keran that he was fine so that they did not approach at all.

Instead, he stared down into the cold and hateful eye of Ayame without showing any sign of being disturbed.

"Do you see how silly this is? You can sit here and fight with me all day, but when it comes to our true enemies you lie here in your castle, hiding to avoid a confrontation. And you would claim to be the ruler of the beast fallen?"

Ayame felt her eyes go as wide as saucers as her grip around Taira's heart tightened.

Immediately, she crushed it to stop him from talking, but he was fine other than the black blood that was now running down the corner of his lips.

"He told me that you reached a bottleneck in your cultivation about a hundred years ago. Although that feels like a bit of a cop out description, since you haven't exactly been trying to grow past it either."

Ayame buried her second hand into the chest of Taira, and wrapped her digits around his spine before she snapped it like a twig.

Though his head did go limp for a few seconds, that didn't stop him from talking either.

"The Hero of All Consuming Flame. He's the reason why you don't go on campaigns anymore, isn't it? Why you shut yourself away in this palace of stone."

Ayame removed her hands from Taira's chest and placed them on the roof of his mouth and his jaw.

With minimal effort, she ripped him into two pieces and watched all of his guts spill out onto the floor.

Because Shin was still lying nearby, he unfortunately received a bit of a money shot, and had Taira's liver land directly on his face.

Ayame hurled the two halves of his body all the way to the other side of the throne room, where he immediately went splat against the stone wall.

However, she had gone from hearing his voice out loud to in her head.

'He took your husband, scarred you terribly, stripped you of your eye, and almost soiled your body.'

'Stop it..! Stop it..!'

Ayame fell onto her knees clutching her head, as she tried to expunge the voice from her mind that was dredging up all these horrible memories that she had buried.

'You have my sympathies, whether you want them or not, but this state is unbecoming of someone who is supposed to be our ruler.

In protecting yourself from further trauma, you have closed your eyes to the suffering of your people, and allowed things to worsen.

You send Leopold and your armies out only when they can win sure victories that have no real meaning, and convince yourself that you have done enough.'

Frustrated, Ayame dug her claws into her ears as she begged for all of the noise to go away.

As she writhed about, she suddenly felt a pair of smaller, softer hands encircle her wrists before they pulled her hands away from her ears.

Looking up, she found her daughter staring at her with eyes filled with pity.

It was a look that made her feel small and insignificant.

She thought she may have been about to be mocked, but instead Keran pulled her in for a firm embrace, and held the back of her head like she was a baby to be cradled.

Taira's voice played again, but it was significantly softer this time.

'And your daughter… you criticized and belittled her endlessly for her constant pursuit of victory for the fallen, but only because you have long lost the courage to do the same.

It eats you up endlessly to see her be compassionate and zealous because you see her ambition as one that is never fated to bear fruit. Because to you she is fighting against an unmovable force that will never be overcome.'

Ayame flinched within her daughter's grasp and pulled away out of instinct, only for Keran to grab her again and pull her back.

'Fenris is tired of being patient with you, and he demands to see either a change in attitude, or a change in ruler. So what will you do, Ayame?

Will you continue to live behind these walls in fear, or will you step outside and deal with the problem that has already made it's way right into your backyard?'

Ayame's eye drifted down to the human who was still worming about on the ground; all of his limbs broken beyond repair.

As she did so, she contemplated the ultimatum that Taira had given her, as if she were waiting for literal scales to tip her motivation in one direction or another.