Chapter 51 Training For The Fight (2)

Stardevourer… Sirius Moonreaver… Most powerful Moonreaver…

All of these accolades were rolled into one person. One True Vampire that denied my relationship with Lilith. And the man that I must defeat.

“HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

“J-Jin? Have you gone mad?”

“HAHA!!! No such thing, darling! It’s just… I’m grateful. I’m grateful for this opportunity.”

“What the hell?”

Lilith shot me a look as if I was sick in the head. Well, I guess I was kind of crazy. All my life, I had been sidelined to a bed, with no way of pushing myself to the next limit. After all, fighting against my own illness was hard enough, let alone challenging fighters that could increase my strength. I had been starved for stimulation, starved for fights… And most importantly… Starved for power.

And fighting against the Moonreaver’s best fighter was arguably the best method to improve my strength.

Irina gave me a new lease on life. And Lilith was going to teach me how to live it. The Moonreaver House was unquestionably the most ideal training grounds for a man like me. It had the best facilities with simulations that won’t be destroyed no matter how hard I tried to break them. It had the best libraries, containing some of the best books and documents the world had to offer.

And most importantly… I had Lilith. The woman who conducted the ritual fifteen years ago and the woman I had to protect with all my heart.

“Lilith… Will you help me? Help me beat your elder brother?”

“Hah… You are crazy, you know that?”

Lilith slapped her palm on her forehead and heaved out a deep sigh. However, that beautiful face of hers couldn’t hide the big smile that was creeping up from the side.

“Hehe, so be it! It’s about time someone knocked some sense into that overprotective brother of mine!” Lilith knelt down next to me and met me in the eyes. Her lips blossomed into the most enthralling smile I’d ever seen as she declared:

“Jin! Let’s beat that stupid bastard!”

“Hehe, that’s what I wanted to hear!”

???

“Jin… Jin… Jin…”

“What is it, Lilith?”

A young girl skipped jubilantly like a rabbit, rushing toward the young boy who sat silently on top of a massive boulder. Typically, it would have been impossible for the girl to reach the boy without proper climbing tools, but she levitated up as if there was no gravity to hinder her ascent.

However, the one that was most shocked by the move was none other than the girl herself. Opening her vale eyes wide, she exclaimed from the bottom of her heart:

“Jin… Have you mastered the floating technique already?! Even though I’d just showed you the book yesterday?!”

“It’s nothing,” the boy said nonchalantly. “It’s just a simple spell.”

“Mou… It’s not that simple! I haven’t even mastered it!”

“Hehe, you will in time.”

The boy reached out to the blonde girl’s hair and ruffled it as if trying to mess it up. Unhappy by the action, the girl swatted the boy’s hands away and pouted like an adorable kitten.

“Would you stop that! It takes ages to style my hair!”

“Hmmm? You’re a Vampire. Do you really need to style your hair?”

“Hmph! Before I’m a Vampire, I’m a maiden! Of course, I would want to style my hair for the boy I love.”

“… You’re really forward, you know that?”

“Of course! I don’t want to lose to the other three after all!”

“… I refuse to comment on that.”

Young Jin rubbed his cheek in embarrassment, not knowing the best way to answer. Even though he was at a tender age of ten, he knew that the four girls he’d met harboured feelings for him. And all of them were hell-bent on keeping him as their boyfriend/brother/Bloodmate.

Being ten years old, the boy was still immature regarding matters of the heart. He knew he loved the four, but it wasn’t in the romantic sense. How could it? He was just ten. However, there was one thing that he knew for sure. Young Jin loved the four Vampires that he’d stumbled upon one fine evening.

They were each unique in their own way and all equally lovable. Heck, Jin even knew that he would take a bullet for those four, no questions asked. And Lilith here was one of the girls he connected with the most.

Being geniuses, they had their fair share of trouble. None of them had any friends their age, as no one could effectively speak their language. After all, which ten-year-old child could understand university-grade magic and even amend them after a few hours of studying?

Jin always found a compatriot in the young girl, and Lilith found something even better in Jin.

Jin was someone that was worthy of her. He had the brains, the talent and most importantly… He was right in her strike zone. He wasn’t a Vampire, but Lilith believed that it was only a matter of time before she converted him into her Bloodmate. Every young girl, it didn’t matter if they were human, Vampire or any other race, dreamed of their handsome male lead.

And for Lilith, Jin had ticked all of those boxes.

But alas, good things weren’t going to go unnoticed.

Lilith had competition, and Jin was basically a hot potato that had been tossed around amongst the four of them. That’s why the girl was doing everything in her power to win Jin over to her side and eventually seal the deal.

Meanwhile, Jin was suffering from a conundrum. He wanted to be with all four of the girls as he loved them all, probably as much as he loved his parents.

Jin’s true feeling was it would be best if they could all live together in harmony. Him and the four girls that had torpedoed their way into his life. But, he was too young to see the answer yet. So now, he could only keep quiet and let the girls fight over him openly.

“So, what brings you here?”

“Why? Can’t I find my future Bloodmate?”

“A-Ah, that’s… Okay…”

Jin attempted to change the topic, but Lilith reversed it immediately. Not knowing what else to say, the boy kept silent and continued to read his book. But that didn’t do anything to curb Lilith’s enthusiasm. If anything, the hearts in her eyes were intensified as she watched Jin focus on the book while hiding his tomato-like face.

“Hehe… Focused Jin is good, but embarrassed Jin is even better!”

“… Shut up.”

“Hehe!!!”

Lilith turned her body perpendicular to the young boy and dropped her head squarely on Jin’s lap. Jin moved his arms, not willing to harm the girl as she secured her dominant position on his waist, and naturally moved his hand down to stroke Lilith as one would a kitten.

“Hey, that’s dangerous.”

“I knew you would catch me!”

“Hah… Seriously, who raised you this way?”

Knowing that he won’t be able to continue on with his studies, Jin slammed his book shut and looked down on the gorgeous fairy that made his lap her home. A deep sigh escaped the young boy’s mouth as he surrendered his entire time and body to the girl who demanded it.

“Jin… You’re so kind…”

“Tsk, what else can I do? Continue reading when you want to snuggle?”

“That’s why you’re the best!”

Lilith giggled, her vale eyes glittering just as brightly as the stars in the sky. Shifting her head around to find a better position, the girl took a deep breath in as if she was trying to engrave Jin’s smell into her memory.

“… You know, my parents never allowed me to do this.”

“Do what? Snuggle?”

“Yeah,” Lilith replied sadly. “All my life, I’d been compared to my elder brother. They’d always said that in order to catch up to him, I would need to study and train twice as hard. They saw signs of affection as weaknesses and never once showered me with love.”

“That’s…”

“Sad, right?” Lilith put on a bitter smile as she thought back on her childhood. “My brother wasn’t any better either. He’s often too overprotective and never allows anyone remotely fun near me. Being overprotective is fine, but he’s always working! He’s never around to play with me or even give me snuggles! I think the most he’d ever done was give me a pat on the head!”

“Oh, dear…”

Unknowingly, Jin’s hand moved to the girl’s luscious hair and began to stroke it. Lilith purred in pure bliss as she moved her head around to find the most comfortable position. It was something that the pair had done countless times now, and they did it as naturally as breathing.

“Yeah, your head pats are definitely better!”

“Thank you?”

“Hehe, you’re comparable to my grandma!”

“Your grandma? You’ve never talked about her before.”

“…”

At that sentence, the pretty young fairy went quiet. Lilith stared into Jin’s eyes before curling up into a foetal position, her head still resting on his lap. Most of her beautiful features were hidden from the young boy’s eyes as she sunk deeper into his waist.

“My grandma… She was the only one that genuinely cared for me. While the others were afraid of my talent or my parents were trying to urge me to train harder. My grandma always stood up for me. She said that it was fine to be different, and I could live life as I liked.”

“Those words…”

“Hehe, you’ve noticed?” Lilith chuckled softly, but her face was still hidden from view, so Jin didn’t know if she was laughing or crying. “Those were the same words that you said to me!”

“I see…”

“Come to think of it… This place reminds me of that place… The first time she said that to me.”

Lilith turned her face around, the bottom of her eyelids still slightly red. It seemed like she’d dropped some tears and desperately tried to hide that fact. She looked around the surroundings, the vast moonlit sky, the rustling of the twilight grass, and the calm and calming temperature of the night.

“What place?”

“Starfall,” Lilith looked back with a beaming smile. “The Holy Grounds of the Moonreaver House and the place where my grandma is buried.”

“… What happened to her?”

“Are you interested?” Lilith flashed her pearly white teeth and leaned closer to the young boy. “But my stories come at a price, you know?”

“Alright…”

Not giving any chance to bargain, Jin grabbed Lilith’s sharp chin and landed a soft kiss on her forehead. The abrupt move caught the girl off guard, turning redder than a tomato. Lilith then gently slapped Jin on the chest and cried:

“… You don’t play fair.”

“Hehe, where did your confidence go?”

“Oh, shut it!”

The two ten-year-olds laughed joyfully under the starry night sky, enjoying each other’s company as they talked about their past.