Chapter 201: Intact

Aether’s eyes widened. "No." He immediately regenerated the injuries across his body. But this time... It took longer.

The wounds closed. But not instantly.

Nobody noticed. "There it is."

Aether’s expression changed.

Nobody accelerated again. "You can’t keep this up forever."

Aether snarled. "I can!"

Nobody swung. Aether dodged. Nobody turned.

Another slash.

Aether regenerated.

The flames continued burning. Every attack forced Aether’s body to repair itself. Every repair consumed more blood. The vampire’s movements gradually became less precise. His breathing became heavier. His regeneration slowed. The wounds that once vanished instantly now required several seconds.

Nobody noticed every change. He grinned. "You’re getting tired."

Aether shook his head. "Shut up!" He launched himself forward.

Nobody dodged. Aether swung his claws repeatedly. Nobody used Zig Zag Teleportation to weave between the attacks.

Left.

Right.

Above.

Behind.

Every time Aether tried to predict his movement, Nobody changed his trajectory. The upgraded Zig Zag Teleportation made his movements difficult to read.

Aether finally managed to strike Nobody’s shoulder.

Nobody winced. "Ow!"

Aether smiled. "I got you!"

Nobody looked at the damaged shoulder. Then he looked back at Aether. "Yeah." He raised the crowbar. "But you still have a bigger problem."

Aether froze.

Nobody pointed at him. "You’re running out."

Aether looked down at his body. His pale skin had begun to look less vibrant. His regeneration was noticeably slower. The blood that had previously returned instantly to his body now took longer.

Aether’s eyes widened. "No..."

The System displayed another update.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[TARGET INTERNAL ENERGY RESERVE: 38%.]

[REGENERATION EFFICIENCY: DECREASING.]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Nobody grinned. "Thirty-eight percent?" He twisted the throttle. "Yeah." The Flame Bike roared. "That’s not enough."

Aether’s face filled with anger. "You..." He rushed forward.

Nobody charged too.

The two collided. Nobody swung. Aether dodged. Nobody turned the bike.

Another slash. Aether’s chest was cut. He regenerated. Another slash. His arm. He regenerated. Another. His shoulder. He regenerated. The vampire’s movements became slower.

Nobody continued. The flames around the crowbar grew brighter.

Aether stumbled in midair. "No..."

Nobody looked at him. "You’re done."

Aether shook his head. "I won’t lose!"

Nobody accelerated. The Flame Bike became a streak of fire. He circled Aether once. Twice. Three times. The flames formed a massive spiral around the vampire.

Aether tried to fly out. Nobody intercepted him. A flaming crowbar struck. Aether regenerated.

Another strike. The regeneration slowed.

Aether stared at his own hands. His body was struggling to repair itself. "Impossible..."

Nobody stopped in front of him. He raised both flaming crowbars. The flames surged.

The System appeared.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[TARGET ENERGY RESERVE: CRITICAL.]

[REGENERATION FUNCTION: NEAR FAILURE.]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Nobody looked at the notification. Then he looked at Aether. "It’s time to end this."

Aether tried to move. His body barely responded.

Nobody accelerated. The Flame Bike became surrounded by a massive wave of fire. Nobody swung the crowbars repeatedly.

One slash.

Two. ℯℯ𝘭.

Three.

Four.

The flames consumed the space around Aether. The vampire tried to regenerate. His body failed. The remaining energy inside him collapsed.

Aether’s red eyes widened. "No..."

Nobody delivered the final series of flame-infused strikes.

The fire engulfed Aether completely. His silhouette disappeared inside the flames. For several seconds, the sky became completely orange. Then... The flames faded.

Aether was gone. Only ash remained, drifting through the night wind.

Nobody slowly brought the Flame Bike to a stop. He stared at the empty space. "...Did I actually do it?"

The System appeared.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Congratulations, user

__VAMPIRE SPECIES __

꧁⎝ 𓆩༺✧༻𓆪 ⎠꧂

SUCCESSFULLY DEFEATED.

[HOSTILE ENTITY AETHER VEIL: DEFEATED.]

[REWARD GENERATED.]

[NEW SKILL ACQUIRED.]

[BLOOD REGENERATION]

Description:

USER WILL CONTINUE TO REGENERATE AS LONG AS BLOOD DROPS FROM THE USER’S BODY REMAIN WITHIN CLOSE PROXIMITY.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Nobody stared at the description. He blinked. Then blinked again. "Wait." He leaned closer to the System window. "Blood regeneration?"

The System remained visible.

Nobody’s eyes widened. "So if my blood drops near me..." He slowly raised his hands. "...I can regenerate?"

[AFFIRMATIVE.]

Nobody’s jaw dropped. "Holy moly!" He looked at his hands. "Did I finally get an actual OP healing skill?!"

The System responded.

[USER’S EXCITEMENT IS NOTED.]

Nobody raised both fists. "FINALLY!"

Blossom Bunny, who had been watching from the rooftop below, jumped excitedly. "Atta!"

Nobody laughed. "That’s right, buddy!" He looked at the empty sky where Aether had been. Then he looked at his flaming crowbars. Then at the Flame Bike. "Tonight..." He grinned. "...I got a vampire, a flaming motorcycle and an OP healing skill."

The System appeared again.

[FLAME ELEMENTAL ACCESS REMAINING: 19 MINUTES.]

Nobody stared. "Wait."

He looked at the flames still covering his bike. "Does that mean I can keep the bike like this for another nineteen minutes?"

[AFFIRMATIVE.]

Nobody smiled. "Best emergency ever."

The wind carried the last traces of ash across the night sky.

Nobody didn’t notice the tiny black particle that remained among the drifting ash. It moved against the wind slowly. Almost invisibly. Then disappeared into the darkness.

Nobody simply looked toward Alkon City. "All right." He twisted the Flame Bike’s throttle. "Let’s enjoy this fiery night."

The engine roared.

And the Crimson Bunny disappeared into the night.

...

Morning arrived over Alkon City.

The sunlight slowly spread between the buildings, painting the streets with a warm golden glow. People were heading to work, cars moved through the usual traffic, coffee shops opened their doors. Everything looked completely normal.

Nobody rode through the streets in a Taxi. Unlike the previous night, he wasn’t wearing his Crimson Bunny suit. He was back in his normal clothes, with his briefcase hanging from one hand.

He had barely slept. His mind kept replaying the previous night’s battle. Nobody scratched his head. "That was definitely one of the craziest nights I’ve ever had."

Blossom Bunny sat inside the motorcycle’s storage compartment, occasionally peeking out. "Atta!"

Nobody looked down. "Yeah, yeah. I know." He smiled. "But before we celebrate my amazing victory, I need to check on Aiden and Toma." His expression became slightly serious. "We basically turned their office into a battlefield." He looked ahead. "I wonder how bad the damage is."

The Nathan Industries tower appeared in the distance.

Nobody told the taxi driver to slow down. Then he stopped. His eyes widened. He stared at the building. "...What?"

Nathan Industries looked perfectly normal. Not slightly damaged. Not partially damaged. Perfectly normal.

The windows were intact. The walls were untouched. The upper floors looked exactly as they had the day before.

Nobody slowly removed his sunglasses. He stared harder. "No." He walked toward the building. "No way." He looked up. The window where Aether had broken through was completely intact. Nobody’s jaw dropped. "What the actual...HELL?!"

He walked closer. He touched the glass. Not even a crack.

Nobody stepped backward. "That’s impossible." He looked around.

People were entering the building normally. Employees were chatting. Security guards were standing at their usual positions.

Nobody pointed toward the upper floors. "Didn’t a vampire just throw me through half of this place last night?"

Blossom Bunny peeked from behind his leg. "Atta?"

Nobody looked at him. "Exactly. Now stay in stealth mode." He rushed inside.

The lobby was just as normal. The reception desk was in place. The elevators were working.

Nobody practically sprinted toward the elevator. "Excuse me!"

The receptionist looked at him. "Yes?"

"Was there any damage here last night?"

She looked confused. "Damage?"

"To the building."

"No."

Nobody froze. "Nothing?"

"No. Everything was completely normal."

Nobody stared at her. Then he looked toward the elevator. "Right." He pressed the button repeatedly. "Totally normal."

The elevator doors opened.

Nobody stepped inside. He pressed Aiden’s floor. The elevator moved upward.

Nobody crossed his arms. "Okay." He took a deep breath. "Maybe Aiden remembers."

The elevator doors opened. Nobody rushed through the hallway. He reached Aiden’s office. He opened the door without knocking. "Aiden!"

Aiden looked up from his desk. He was sitting comfortably in his chair. No injuries, no bandages, no broken furniture. No sign of the battle.

Nobody stopped in the doorway.

Aiden raised an eyebrow. "Where have you been, man?"

Nobody stared at him.

Aiden continued. "Seriously. I’ve been trying to reach you."

Nobody walked inside slowly. "You..."

Aiden frowned. "What?"

"You’re okay?"

Aiden laughed. "Why wouldn’t I be?"

Nobody stared at his face. No injuries. Nobody looked around. Everything was exactly where it had been.

Nobody swallowed. "You remember last night?"

Aiden frowned. "Last night?"

"Yeah."

Aiden leaned back. "I remember going home."

Nobody’s eyes widened. "Going home?"

"Yes." Aiden looked confused. "Why are you asking?"

Nobody’s brain practically stopped functioning. He slowly turned toward the window. "Toma?"

Aiden looked at him. "She’s fine."

Nobody looked back. "She remembers anything unusual?"

Aiden shook his head. "Not that I know of."

Nobody stared at him.

Then Aiden suddenly grabbed the remote. "Oh, right." He turned on the television mounted on the wall. "Weirdly enough, there’s been some crazy news this morning."

The television screen lit up.

A news reporter appeared. "Good morning. We begin today’s broadcast with an incident that occurred late last night."

Nobody froze.

The reporter continued.

"Authorities have confirmed that a dangerous prisoner escaped from a correctional facility shortly before midnight."

Nobody’s expression changed.