It happened one day out of the blue. An invader had appeared in her land, a place even dragons and the devilfolk avoided. She was a heaven-winged girl with flowing golden locks and black wings. She also came by herself. She didn’t bring any comrades, led no armies, and had given Benetnasch a declaration of war all by herself.
Of course, Benetnasch just thought of her as a simple idiot at first. Even after hearing the report, she couldn’t work up any interest. However, she came to understand that her decision was a mistake when the girl barged into the castle by herself a scant few minutes later.
Benetnasch was sure she would never forget the shock she felt at that time. In this world that was devoid of color, where everything felt thin and worthless, she was the only one who was different. Not just the mana cloaking her, but the entire feeling of her existence was clearly different from the rest of the world in Benetnasch’s eyes. That day, Benetnasch had met someone who was not just a member of the swirling, uncountable masses for the first time.
By the time she’d noticed, she’d already stood up from her throne and was staring at the girl, fixated. The emotion she felt at that point might honestly have been love at first sight.
“You’re the Vampire Princess Benetnasch, are you not? First, allow us to apologize for our rude entrance.”
“You’re...” Benetnasch paused. “Right, you’re the girl who defeated the dragon king. I see. I guess rumors turn out to be true sometimes. I thought it was all just exaggeration, but it looks like I was wrong.”
Benetnasch had known about the heaven-winged girl who’d defeated the Dragon King, but she hadn’t cared. She’d figured that it was either all a huge embellishment or the Dragon King had just been that weak. However, she now regretted that and wished that she’d looked deeper into it. If she had, she would have met the precious monster in front of her sooner.
The black-winged angel spent some time looking Benetnasch over, but she kept her mouth shut, probably because she couldn’t find anything to say.
It took Benetnasch a while as well before she asked, “What? Why are you being so quiet?”
“Oh, sorry... There’s a lot We should say, but We were just so moved. The Vampire Princess, the strongest in the world... You were one of our goals, and someone We admired. After seeing you face-to-face, We weren’t sure what We should say anymore.”
“I see. It’s an honor.”
No one had ever told Benetnasch they admired her, and likewise, it was the first time anyone had said that she was their goal. Admiration meant that the object was an ideal, something the admirer held a strong longing for. However, Benetnasch could count those who admired her—someone who had far surpassed a simple ideal—on a single hand, and there were even less people who made her a goal. Also, this was the first time she’d been honestly happy that someone had valued her as such.
“Then there’s no need for words. There’s something much faster than such things.”
However, as Benetnasch was at the moment, even that praise was vexingly slow. No, exchanging words itself isn’t vexing. It’s that there’s something else we should be doing with this time. So, Benetnasch flared her magic power and tossed her outer layer of clothing as she stepped forward.
“You came to fight, didn’t you? Then let’s!”
Benetnasch acted calm, but she was actually about to explode. It’s like I’m a monkey in heat, she thought, self-deprecating. Or maybe like I’m a virgin in front of a naked woman for the first time... Either way, I can’t hold back anymore. I want to make this happen even one second faster!
I never dared to hope for this until now... A gift that I could never even think of in my wildest dreams came rushing to me! If this is a dream, I hope I never wake up.
With that wish, Benetnasch laughed grandly. In response, the black-winged girl also smiled.
“We see. It’s as you say. Words aren’t needed.”
“Yeah. Let’s do this.”
Even though this was their first meeting, the two women acted like they’d finally seen a lover they’d been separated from for years as they jumped at each other almost wordlessly. Of course, this wasn’t for anything so sweet as a lover’s tryst. They were starting a fight to the death.
Well, it might have actually been a tryst, since longing desperately for a strong opponent was similar to love. Like separated lovers who would go for a hug before exchanging any words or a reuniting couple’s silent kiss, the two of them slammed their fists into each other’s cheeks with all their might, as if they were sending a message.
Benetnasch was shocked. “You’re good!”
Even while still flying backwards from the wind pressure given off by Lufas’s fist, Benetnasch stuck her feet out into the ground to stop herself. Then, she laughed while spitting out blood.
That hit just now busted my skull, didn’t it? I can see a broken fang rolling around on the floor.
While regenerating the damage at unbelievable speeds, Benetnasch’s heart was filled with joy. In one hit, she’d understood. She’s stronger than me, overwhelmingly so. That was why Benetnasch was so happy. Finally... For the first time since I was born, I’ve finally found something to aim for.
Without waiting for the damage she’d taken to fully heal, Benetnasch once again dashed off.
I don’t care about the future. I just want to extend this happiness by even one more second!
＊ ＊
Benetnasch’s life changed once she’d met the black-winged girl, Lufas Maphaahl. She’d started to think that this dull, pale world wasn’t so bad. Benetnasch had also met a bunch of people who had been raised by Lufas’s unique ability into something like pale imitations of her, and it was enough that Benetnasch thought that it would be all right to align herself with them.
Benetnasch’s fight with Lufas had ended with her loss. To the rest of the world, it seemed like the fight had ended in a draw, and their respective nations merged, but that was just something Lufas had cooked up with Benetnasch’s influence in mind. In actuality, it was a complete loss that was simply dressed up as a draw and an absorption made to seem like unification. The vampire’s country, Blikjandaböl, which had persisted since the age of the true ancestors, thus ended, and Benetnasch agreed to join Lufas and lend her might to Lufas’s goals on the condition that they would have a rematch.
This isn’t bad, Benetnasch thought. She had people she respected standing by her side and a clear goal in the form of Lufas. Her days spent like that were much more fulfilling than before, when she had been like a living corpse.
However, it would all come crashing down due to the worst possible betrayal. Her companions whom she respected—who in later years would become known as six of the Seven Heroes—betrayed Lufas and struck her down. The worst thing was that they’d interrupted Benetnasch’s longed-for rematch to do it. As a result, Lufas was brought low because of the wounds Benetnasch had inflicted in their rematch. What would it be other than a total disgrace? Then, as if to twist the knife, Benetnasch was somehow treated as a companion to those traitors and lauded as one of the Seven Heroes. One of the Seven Heroes who defeated Lufas Maphaahl—that title was something that made Benetnasch want to puke.