Well, this is a mess. I wonder what tipped off the other party about my presence. Well, I had almost succeeded. To think that I would caught out now. Well, it is not an issue since I had expected to fail anyway. That is why we had the backup plan.

  The other party is a lady, clearly a vampire. That is the only way that she would be able to wield a vampire artifact. I mean I have seen a vampire artifact only once before, so I can't tell. As far as I know, this is the only way that a grunt can control his mana.

  Well, this is going to be annoying. As I am steadily retreating, the lady has removed her sword from its unfortunate victim. He already looks like a drained husk.

  They are supposed to be relics made from vampire bones (that is where I got the idea for my sword actually.) though nobody ever made one from a grunt bone. Only a vampire of the court would have access to such a weapon. She is not one of the possessed vampires, so she must be here in the flesh. She could be a noble as well. The weaker kind at least.

  "Well, you are the grunt that destroyed Lady Erica.", she speaks. "She has put a bounty on you, you know."

  "Well, she can put as much of a bounty on me as she wants. She won't be able to find me.", I reply. Well, what I said is technically true. How would they find me when they are looking for me at the court?

  "That is quite a bit of confidence, you half-transformed mutt.", she speaks. Somehow she is not able to mimic the legendary ego of her people. "But you are standing in front of me. I can give your corpse to Lady Erica today itself."

  As she speaks, she moves at me with that sword of hers. A sidestep is enough to dodge her strike. Not that she commits to her attack. The instant that she sees me dodging, she retreats returning to her previous position. If I were to strike, I am sure that I would face a vicious counterattack though.

  She is being careful with her attacks, which I can't complain about at this moment. I don't understand why though.

  "Well, I am sure that you will try. I wonder who you are though.", I speak "You do not speak like the nobles. So you are not a possessed underling. You certainly are not a commoner boosted to your present position. They gave you that sword. You are off the court, present here in the flesh.."

  "Who knows? I might be the lost heir of an ancient family. I might be sleeping with one of the counts. I might even be a blood descendant of the vampire king.", she replies, with a smirk on her face. "Right now, your identity is the more curious one. Most of those in the court are raised to the blood before they enter puberty. You are almost an adult and you have been converted this late. Who are you?"

  "Well, I cannot make it that easy for you, now can I.", I speak looking at the door. The lady opposite me has not made any noise to wake up her crew. Maybe she wants the full credit of killing me.

  "Well, you don't need to do anything.", she speaks. "A sword capable of suppressing blood mana. There are not many people capable of making something like that. Your identity is easy to discover."

  As she speaks, she swipes her sword at me playfully. It doesn't even reach close to me. Even though she is not noble, her movements are pretty precise. This is a proper vampire grunt, though she is inexperienced in using that sword of hers. Thankfully she is not a noble or that strike would have been in my head, right now.

  "Someone with your training is also very rare.", she continues. "I wonder which of my lady's enemy would be willing to waste such a talent before even allowing them to shine."

  "Why does everybody say that.", I wonder out loud. Sadly the lady does not bother to answer me.

  Well, I don't know what to do. I could try and escape through the door behind me. I would have the gang behind me if I were to take a step outside the room though. Even now I think that the only reason that she has not woken up the entire gang is she wants the kill to be fully hers.

  That is why right now my goal is the window which is just behind the lady. I just need the lady to get away from that window and I will be able to jump out of it. Jumping from the first floor will be dangerous but I will be able to get lost before the lady can awaken the gang. Already, our clashes must be rousing a few of these bastards. Who can tell?

  I might break my legs, but with the vital mana that I have absorbed, I will be able to fix it quite easily. The only problem is that I need the lady to get away from the window without tipping her off.

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  That is going to be another problem. Forcing my sword to not work like this is not easy. There is going to be a cost. It is not going to activate with the promptness that it usually does. There is going to be a delay in my transformation now. A minute at most, which is quite a short duration. It is an eternity while reading blows though. Still, I activate my sword. Now to buy myself a minute.

  "What are you planning to do here? I am sure that you have not come to this place for the loot.", I ask. As I ask I take a step towards the right. I am hoping that she thinks I am doing this to get a better position. (I am taking a better position, so it isn't a waste.)

  "Quite bold of you. To ask something like that directly.", she replies. She takes a step to the left to be directly opposite me again (and a bit more away from the window.) "All of us serve the king's plan in our ways. To ask of it is to offend the king."

  Well, vampires have always been a secretive bunch. Even the scholars have never acquired much from them. The only thing that we really know about them is the basic structure of the court.

  "Well, I am sure that you can give me something about it.", I reply, I take another step to the right as the lady looks at me. I think a look of surprise flashes on her face. (Or she could be constipated as well.)

  "Well, the...." She speaks. "You don't know. You are a poor sucker, to think that your master was not even willing to inform you of this. He expected you to die."

  "My master has told me all that I need to know.", I reply, taking another step to the right. I don't need to wait for long to escape. "Anyway, how are you so sure that you will be killing me."

  "Well, every fool has his delusions.", she replies. "Even if I don't kill you today, you are going to die soon enough."

  I don't reply to this. I can't reveal that I am not of the court now, can I? The only reason that we are still talking is because the lady thinks that we could be allies.

  In the court, everybody might be your ally and everybody might be your enemy. You never screw with a man that might be your ally tomorrow. That is a good way to get a dagger in your back, especially in the court.

  "Well, if you are going to get me killed then you might as well tell me how you got that sword of yours.", I ask.

  "Well, you are certainly hung up on that. You do realize just how invasive such a question is. I might as well ask you how it felt for you to transform.", she replies, a grimace appearing on her face.

  "Well, well. I apologize. No need to take it seriously.", I speak, taking another step to the right with the lady mirroring my action. A couple of steps and I will be able to make my escape.

  She doesn't reply to this as we stare at each other. That leaves me to wonder where exactly the people in the room are. A glance to my side reveals that everybody has flattened themselves against the wall.

  Well, they will still get hurt if we were to go all out, but they are going to be relatively fine for a few clashes. I think I have time for that only. As soon as I realize this, I have to jump back as the lady makes use of this distraction to get another strike at me.

  I barely manage to block it, but she manages to get another strike at me. I make use of this time to get closer to the window. As she strikes at me I realise.

  "You cannot allow these people to get hurt.", I realized. "I assume that your master has commanded you to protect these people. They are the blood bags."

  The look of surprise on her face is enough to confirm my suspicions. Vampires don't like to draw attention to the fact that they need to drink blood. That is the purpose of people put here. What I have just spoken out loud is equivalent to speaking about our underwear to them.

  Well, that is good. This is enough for me as feel the blood mana flow into me. As I do so I can feel the lady charge at me. Entering into a defensive stance I block her attack, using the force of her blow to push her back.

  I can feel the pain in my stomach disappear as the blood mana surging into me makes my body stronger. Not by as much as I would like, but it will do for now. As I release the formation I realize just how uncomfortable it had gotten for me. To stop my sword from creating blood mana like this is not something I must be doing. A while longer and it would have become physically painful as well. It is kind of like stopping yourself from peeing when you have already started peeing.

  As I do so, the lady does the same thing that I had done. Her blood mana surges as we cross swords. The force of her strikes is enough to cause my legs to buckle, but I somehow hold on.

  I had forgotten that the lady in front of me was a proper grunt. The boost that she gets from blood mana is way more than I will ever get in my life. Her body is designed to accept blood mana. Well, the more that I drag this fight the more I will progress in my transformation.

  "Well, that was unexpected.", I speak, blocking another strike of hers.

  Right now my arms feel like somebody has released worms inside my body. Seriously just how much stronger than me is she?

  "A bit of mercy, after all, I might work with you in the future.", I speak, though may as well have not.

  I barely managed to block her strike. Well, can I call it blocking it when the force of her strike was enough to cause me to fly across the room? Well, I hit the wall right next to the window. The impact is not pretty though as I feel like my back has been crushed into a paste.

  Well, I have reached my goal so I do not delay any longer as I jump through the window. The next thing I know is the pain in my left leg. I had landed on it. I must have twisted it in the process of landing.

  Well, there is nobody that is following me. So it looks like the lady is taking the usual routes down this place. She is not as adventurous as me at least. (Not as suicidal at least.). Well, I can hear the chaos erupt as my senses finally kick into high gear. This is the last bit of my transformation which is complete now. (Seriously that transformation took absurdly long.) Well, It is time for me to disappear from this place.