RNP Page 638
Page 638
A tremendous, chilling sense of irony, like an invisible tide, instantly overwhelmed the core of Matou Ike's thoughts.
Despite being the princess of this true ancestor, she was like a shark that had smelled blood, crossing half of the chaotic city of London to precisely find him and launch a devastating attack that aimed to completely "evaporate" him.
The embers of that battle, the silent "white fire trees and silver flowers" burning in the deep pit, the terrifying power that almost drove him to the brink of despair... was all of this just an illusion?
The hunter who launched the attack, after nearly killing his target, awoke from unconsciousness, and his first words were... "Who are you?"
"Should I know who you are?" The white-clad girl frowned, her crimson pupils burning with pure vigilance and a hint of barely perceptible confusion. Her gaze was sharp as a knife, yet seemed to have lost its focus.
“And…” Her gaze swept quickly across the unfamiliar, almost coldly austere room, filled with an unnatural, disinfectant smell, like a trapped wild animal assessing its cage, “…Where is this?”
"Then..." His gaze, like a tangible probe, locked firmly onto those crimson eyes burning with inhuman light, "...Do you still remember who you are?"
——!
The moment the question was asked, it struck Arcueid's taut nerves like an invisible hammer blow!
Those crimson eyes, like molten lava gems, suddenly contracted into two dangerous vertical lines! Like a feline being blinded by bright light!
"I...?" A short syllable, filled with unprecedented bewilderment, escaped from her pale lips. The voice had lost its previous cold questioning, leaving only an empty echo, as if all support had been instantly ripped away.
Her body, the body that had just been arched like a bristling cheetah, brimming with explosive power, trembled very slightly… Not from fear, but from a deeper, more fundamental… tremor! Her fingers, still white at the knuckles, gripped the sheets tightly, but seemed to have lost their purpose, convulsing unconsciously.
who am I?
This question is the cornerstone of self-awareness for any being.
For a princess who walks the world in the name of the True Ancestor, whose mission is to hunt fallen vampires, and whose very existence symbolizes the touch of the planet's will...
This should be an absolute understanding as natural as breathing and as deeply imprinted on the soul as blood!
However, at this moment, under Matou Ike's cold and precise interrogation, for the first time, a crack clearly appeared on Arcueid Brunstadt's beautiful yet cold face.
It wasn't anger, it wasn't hostility.
It is pure, unfathomable...confusion.
The confusion, like a tangible fog, instantly overwhelmed her crimson pupils, making even that inhuman light appear somewhat diffuse and... fragile.
She seemed to want to speak, to instinctively utter the name that had been with her throughout her long life—Arquette Brunstadt, the princess of the True Ancestor.
But that name, that identity, seemed stuck deep in his throat, blocked by an invisible, cold membrane.
Her lips twitched slightly, but in the end, she only managed to utter a very faint, meaningless monosyllable, like the friction of air.
She... doesn't remember?
Or rather... her answer to this question was met with an unprecedented, fundamental uncertainty?
This is more absurd, more deadly, and more... chilling than not knowing who the target is or where you are!
The room fell into a deathly silence.
Gulu.
A remarkably clear, even abrupt, sound broke the deathly silence in the room, a silence that had been frozen by the collapse of identity.
The sound did not come from outside, but from inside the room—to be precise, from the pristine white bed.
Matou Ike's gaze instantly shifted from Arcueid's confused and bewildered face, its trajectory like a cold ray, precisely projecting downwards—
Finally, it settled on her flat stomach, which was covered by pure white fabric.
That sound... was a physiological rumbling sound produced by the stomach and intestines in a state of extreme emptiness.
"...Hungry?" Matou Ike's voice rang out, as calm as if he were confirming an objective physical phenomenon, without any emotional fluctuation.
There was no mockery, no concern, only pure observation and statement.
He didn't wait for a reply, nor did he even look at Arcueid's face for any possible embarrassment or annoyance.
He moved.
The footsteps were silent, like ghosts gliding across the floor.
In just a few steps, he had reached the bedside.
Pale fingers extended, their movements fluid and precise, as if programmed, picking up the empty, crystal-clear glass on the bedside table.
The cup felt cold and hard in my hand.
next moment--
Without any warning, without any hesitation!
With his other free hand—a pale, almost transparent hand—the inside of his wrist pressed down and slashed against the sharp, crystal-cut edge of the cup!
laugh--
A faint, yet teeth-grinding sound—the sound of flesh being sliced by a sharp object.
A dark red, viscous liquid, imbued with the warmth of life and a strange magic, instantly gushed from beneath the pale skin!
Like a precisely excavated spring, it forms a steady and straight stream that flows precisely into the transparent glass container below!
The blood was a deep color, gleaming with a restrained, dark red luster in the dim light, as if it contained fragments of starlight, far surpassing the blood of ordinary humans.
A faint, metallic, and strangely sweet odor instantly filled the air.
And the speed at which this stream of life was injected was beyond reason!
It was as if what surged within him was not blood, but some kind of liquid energy that did not require the pumping of a heart and was absolutely controlled by his will!
A few seconds!
It was only a few breaths!
The once empty glass was now completely filled with a viscous, dark red liquid that shone with a strange luster and a life-giving aura—Matou Ike's own blood!
The liquid level stopped exactly at the 1000cc mark, not a drop more or less, as if calibrated with the most precise measuring instrument.
The narrow yet deep wound on the rim of the glass, cut by the edge of the glass, began to wriggle and heal at a visible speed the moment the blood stopped flowing.
Beneath the pale skin, granulation tissue intertwined and covered the skin like living things, leaving only a very faint, almost imperceptible pink mark in an instant, as if the horrific self-harm had never happened.
Matou Ike acted as if he had done something insignificant. His expression remained unchanged, still pale, and even the frequency of his breathing did not change in the slightest.
He calmly picked up the glass filled with 1000cc of his own blood. A fine layer of water droplets instantly condensed on the outside of the glass, caused by the cold glass wall coming into contact with the warm blood plasma.
He didn't speak, but calmly and silently handed the "drink" containing powerful magic and life force to the pure white girl on the bed who was still confused about her identity, but whose body was instinctively sending out hunger signals.
The dark red liquid rippled gently in the glass, reflecting the dim light from the ceiling, and also reflecting Arcueid's eyes, which shifted from confusion and bewilderment to shock, resistance, and something deeper...
Aroused by the rich aura of blood and magic, the most primal instincts of vampires... crimson pupils!
Physiological hunger, cognitive confusion, primal instincts, and rational resistance...
All the contradictions were instantly ignited and magnified in the face of this cup of blood handed to her, colliding fiercely in her burning red eyes!
The contents of that cup were both an antidote and a poison, and a catalyst that pushed her shattered self-awareness into an even deeper vortex!
"..." A suppressed groan, like the low growl of a young animal, escaped Arcueid's throat.
Her body tensed even more, her fingers gripping the edge of the bed so tightly that her nails almost dug into the hard material.
Reason screamed in resistance, but every cell deep within the body was desperately crying out for the life source that was so close at hand!
"You don't want to?" Matou Ike's mutterings were like water flowing beneath the ice, low and calm, revealing no disappointment or surprise, only a pure, cold conclusion of observation.
"...That's quite interesting."
This reaction creates a fatal contradiction with previous records.
Not long ago, on the edge of the devastating pit in London, illuminated by "white fireworks," what naked, what greedy hunger burned in the crimson eyes of this princess of the true ancestors!
She openly declared her intention to "devour" him, and that desire was branded into the core of Matou Ike's memory, pure and powerful, originating from the deepest instincts of vampires!
But at this moment...
Faced with this cup of blood, 1000cc in size, brimming with powerful magic and life force, which he had willingly offered...
But she resisted.
Moreover, this resistance was not a physical rejection—her tense body, her slightly trembling fingertips, and the suppressed groans deep in her throat all spoke of how every cell in her body was frantically craving the source of life that was so close at hand!
This is psychological resistance! It is reason, some residual will, or even deeper fragments of cognition that she herself may not be able to understand at this moment, fighting against the instinct that originates from the depths of her blood and surges like a tsunami!
The body's instincts were already surging like a flood about to burst its banks...
Matouchi remained silent. Questioning, prompting, or any form of pressure would seem superfluous and ineffective at this moment.
He calmly, even with an almost indifferent air, took back the glass that had been handed to him, which was filled with dark red blood.
Water droplets condensed on the outside of the cup slid off with the movement, leaving cold, damp marks on the back of the pale hand.
Then, under Arcueid's gaze—a gaze filled with intense struggle and resistance—
He tilted his head back slightly.
goo-dong... goo-dong...
A thick, dark red liquid, as if poured into a bottomless abyss, flowed calmly between his pale lips.
His Adam's apple slid rhythmically, emitting clear, monotonous swallowing sounds. The scene carried an eerie quality that defied logic—a being calmly drinking the enormous amount of blood it had just released, enough to knock an ordinary person into shock!
Within seconds, the cup was empty.
Matou Ike put down the glass, the bottom of which made a soft, crisp "tap" against the glass of the bedside table. There wasn't even a trace of blood on his pale lips, as if he had just drunk water.
After doing all this, it was as if he had only performed a trivial daily action.
His gaze returned to the girl on the bed, her body still tense, her crimson eyes filled with shock, confusion, and a hint of deeper restlessness that she herself was unaware of, arising from the unfulfilled instinctive desires...
Matouike's voice rang out again, as calm as if nothing had happened:
"Want to go out for something to eat?"
Chapter 664 Satisfaction (4k)
Against the backdrop of chaos and smoke in London's night, a few artificial lights still stubbornly struggle to remain.
Instead of choosing the ruins deep within the desolation, Matouike chose an ordinary restaurant that had miraculously survived the local chaos and was still barely operating.
The pale fluorescent tube hummed inside the greasy lampshade, illuminating the indelible stains on the plastic tablecloth.
The air was filled with the greasy smell of cheap fried food, the pungent odor of disinfectant, and a kind of mundane atmosphere called "everyday life," which at this moment seemed incredibly fragile.