Chapter 41: The Cost of Growth
The corridor on the second floor of the west side of the teaching building.
Alice assessed that the figure beside her posed no immediate threat.
She focused her attention on the slender silhouette in front of her.
Raising her right arm, she opened her clenched fist, and the wound on her wrist suddenly burst open, causing bright red blood to spout out like a compressed spring.
The blood traced a beautiful arc in the air, as if some invisible force was manipulating it, causing it to hover weightlessly.
The thick, red blood spun rapidly in midair, transforming into the shape of a blade.
The color of the blood changed, from dark red to a deep crimson, ultimately becoming as dark and smooth as obsidian.
The blades that formed glimmered with a cold light, their edges appearing extraordinarily sharp under the light, seemingly able to slice through the air with ease.
The strong metallic scent of blood filled the corridor.
This was one of Alice’s abilities.
“Blood Manipulation.”
Alice could control the blood within her body, freely changing its shape at will.
After infusing it with magical power, the blood-formed blades could even cut through iron as if it were mud.
Even if released as a thrown weapon, they could maintain their shape and hardness for a short time.
Just as Alice’s eyes remained fixed on the enemy, raising the blood blade in a guarded stance.
She caught sight of the “monster” brimming with immense magical power, revealing a brilliant yet sinister smile.
Then, the warning from the figure beside her came late.
“No! Don’t look at that guy’s face!”
The next moment.
Alice felt a sudden heartbeat from her chest, causing her to instinctively cover her throat and crouch down.
—Liar!? Blood imbalance!? Why now!?
The doppelgänger seized upon this significant opening.
The elongated, grotesque black figure stretched like a rubber band and rushed toward the crumpled figure of the doppelgänger on the ground.
“Ugh!”
Though Alice felt a surge of heat throughout her body and struggled to breathe.
Trained as she was, she still relied on muscle memory to throw the blade in the direction of the doppelgänger.
Just before releasing the blood blade, it morphed back into a pool of blood, yet the edges of the fluid were incredibly sharp.
From a single-target attack, it instantly transformed into an area-of-effect strike.
The doppelgänger was forced to retract its body.
The blood splashed through the windows on either side, the shattered glass hitting the ground with a crisp sound.
—No! I must take this guy down here…
Having heeded the warning from the figure beside her, Alice had already closed her eyes.
Though she didn’t know the doppelgänger’s current precise location, she knew the direction.
Since it was so adept at evasion, she would cover the area with firepower—
Alice’s emotions surged, and a mix of brutality and hostility flooded over her, a glimmer flashing in her golden eyes.
In the throes of boiling blood, Alice’s rationality rapidly dissolved.
Enraged, she only wanted to crush the illusionary monster in front of her and eliminate it entirely—
Alice opened her small mouth, revealing her sharp canines.
Then, a dazzling sphere of light formed in front of her mouth.
Incredible heat concentrated before her at that moment.
“You’re insane! You’ll kill those students!”
The figure of DD suddenly materialized, shouting from the side.
Its voice halted Alice, who was on the verge of unleashing a scorching breath of flame.
The doppelgänger quickly seized the opportunity to leap down from the window, disappearing without a trace.
Alice grasped hold of her fleeting sense of reason and extinguished the breath of fire in her mouth.
Then, she tightly clutched her throat with both hands, collapsing to the ground and banging her forehead hard against the floor.
“A-Alice?!”
The figure beside her, Kanade, was paralyzed with shock at the scene before him.
“Blood imbalance… Seems like it was triggered by that doppelgänger’s ‘accident.’”
DD explained, floating nearby.
“DD, do you know what’s happening?”
Kanade rushed forward, wanting to help the suffering Alice, but recoiled from the intense heat emanating from her.
“This child has dragon blood flowing in her veins…”
“Under normal circumstances, a half-dragon like her would have an equal concentration of human and dragon blood.”
“But if the concentration of dragon blood exceeds that of human blood—”
“That’s blood imbalance.”
“In this state, she will be influenced by the savage genes of the dragon race, losing her rationality, displaying extreme violent tendencies, and her body could face collapse, even death is a possibility.”
“What—what should we do now?”
Kanade yelled in desperation.
“….. Just run away; this child may be our enemy, there’s no need to save her.”
DD turned to Kanade.
“How can you say that! Alice just saved us!”
“That was only because she judged that the doppelgänger posed a greater threat than us. Once we save her, we might become her next target—”
“DD!”
Kanade shouted, interrupting DD for rare occasion.
Once DD felt it had completed its task to convey the message to the carbon-based lifeform.
It deliberately wore an expression of helplessness.
“…… Blood, do you know about vampires?”
“Similar to that, as long as she drinks human blood, it can neutralize the blood concentration and alleviate the symptoms of blood imbalance—”
DD recited knowledge it had gathered from the carbon-based lifeform, keeping it as a precaution.
Alice Astrea.
The offspring born from the fusion of humans and dragon fantasy creatures.
And that dragon— was the vampire dragon “Dracula.”
Under normal circumstances, a half-dragon like her cannot return from blood imbalance.
But if it’s this child, it could be alleviated by having her drink human blood.
“But where is there….”
As Kanade spoke, it dawned on him.
He was the closest human to Alice.
Realizing this, Kanade glanced back at Alice, who was struggling in pain beside him.
He picked up a sharp shard of glass from the ground.
He approached Alice.
He pressed the shard against the skin of his own arm.
For Kanade, who had always lived comfortably in a stable routine.
His hand holding the shard trembled uncontrollably.
Despite taking several deep breaths, he couldn’t muster the final bit of courage.
Seeing this, DD pushed him slightly, unable to watch any longer—
“If it were the child you cared about here—”
——The sharp edge cut through soft skin.
……
……
On her way to the west teaching building, Nagi raised her head in response to an intense surge of magical power.
The slight breeze carried a strong scent of blood to her extraordinary features, allowing her to vaguely guess what had happened.
“Blood imbalance? Is Alice being too careless? Although it really is a poor match for her…”
Anyone who sees the true form of the doppelgänger falls into the legendary state of “the Grim Reaper is here.”
And when Alice’s True Sight is directed at the doppelgänger.
She would see through the outer layers of disguise and directly glimpse the true form.
It could only be said that the compatibility issue was beyond ordinary.
In other circumstances, Alice, possessing the power of dragons, could still suppress the area with heavy firepower and launch indiscriminate attacks at the doppelgänger.
However, the school setting was truly unfavorable.
Alice Astrea was strong.
As the only one who could actively pursue draconic transformation, she was not someone the doppelgänger, a “common-breed,” could contend with.
Though Nagi had never thought the doppelgänger could pose a threat to her, she still instructed Garuda to stay alert around Kanade and the others.
As long as DD shouted the safety word, it would take action.
“It’s not over yet…”
Nagi raised her head to gaze at the row of shattered windows on the second floor of the west teaching building, softly stating.
In her plan.
Kanade was to grow into a protagonist capable of saving the world, and she had to ensure his gradual growth.
If possible.
She hoped Kanade would become not only decisive and resolute but also possess a kind-hearted empathy.
Thus, from the very beginning, she had instructed DD to guide Kanade towards righteousness and benevolence.
At the same time.
She also hoped Kanade would not become intoxicated with power and commit wrongdoing.
Therefore, she needed to teach him a lesson before such tendencies surfaced.
Even if it meant—
—Betting her own life.
