Maria stared, wide-eyed, her body as still frozen but her mind racing.

"W–what the… fuck?" she muttered weakly, her voice barely audible.

The pain still coursed through her veins, but her mind was too shocked to process it. The shark.. that shark she recognized it instantly.

"Isn't that… the same shark he caught on the ship?" she said aloud, little disbelief dripping from every word.

Her mind replayed the memory Razeal capturing the creature, the strange bag he made afterward.

"Wait, he made the bag out of this shark…" she murmured, her voice trembling with both confusion and awe. "But… it was alive all this time?"

"Huh he can… do this? Transform a living creature into a fucking bag?!"

Her head spun, even more now from the shock than from the pain.

"Just… how the hell does he even do that?" she whispered.

Her chest still ached, but somewhere deep inside, she felt a tiny spark of realization.

"So that's why he told me to wear it…" she thought faintly, the corners of her lips twitching. "It really was… to protect me."

"Maybe…" she breathed out softly, "maybe he isn't that bad after all."

But before she could finish that thought, something else caught her attention a dark shadow drifting in front of her.

Floating there, illuminated faintly by the red water and the glowing remains of the dead jellyfish, was a book.

That same book.

The half-burnt one ..dark and eerie.

The cover looked black as ink, almost absorbing the light around it. Its pages, though sealed shut, seemed to breathe faintly, like a living thing.

Maria's eyes locked on it as it floated closer, suspended in the water before her, tilting slightly like it was watching her.

The book that had once rested in that waist bag ..now hovering freely, ominously, before her.

"…What now…" she whispered now knowing what to do...

But suddenly…

Something strange began to happen.

Maria's body, which only moments ago had been trembling uncontrollably, paralyzed and heavy like lead, suddenly felt… wrong in a different way. The pain was still there excruciating, unbearable, like molten metal burning through her veins but now it was as if something deeper inside her was shifting.

Her blood felt like acid. Every heartbeat sent waves of liquid fire through her body, her nerves screaming with every pulse. Her limbs wouldn't obey her, her mind hazy and scattered. It felt like her entire being was breaking down collapsing under a force it couldn't comprehend.

Her vision dimmed, breath short, consciousness flickering like a dying flame.

And yet… even through all that pain… something called to her.

A soundless pull. A feeling.

Her blurred gaze fell upon the dark book floating before her, the same one that had emerged from Razeal's waist bag the same eerie, half-burnt thing with a black cover that seemed to devour the light around it.

The moment her eyes met it, her body which refused to move just seconds ago.. Just moved.

Not of her own will or consciously, but instinctively.

Her arm jerked upward like a puppet on strings, trembling but determined, cutting through the water. Her fingers stretched, reaching, and before she even understood what she was doing, her hand closed around the book.

Her entire body screamed in pain from the motion, but she didn't stop. Something inside her wanted ..needed to hold it.

Her fingers gripped the edges tightly as she pulled it close to her chest, hugging it against her body. The moment she did a warmth spread through her, faint but undeniable.

A strange, alien warmth.

It wasn't like heat or pain.. it was something deeper, emotional? A feeling of satisfaction? closeness? belonging? Or what.. she doesn't really know

But her body, wracked with agony, suddenly felt comforted by it as if it was something she had lost long ago and just found again. Her breathing slowed slightly, her eyes softening even through the haze.

It felt familiar.. Very Intimate And something that should be hers.

Warmth, safety, possessiveness, something primal. The emotions weren't hers.. they were instinctive, beyond reason but she couldn't deny them. Just by holding the book close, her body felt like it had found its missing piece.

She didn't even notice when her lips whispered faintly, "What… are you?"

But the moment of strange calm didn't last.

Because in the next second

CRACK!

A sudden sharp impact brutal and heavy ..slammed into her from the front.

Maria's body jolted violently, her back arching as something massive and sharp pierced straight through her.

A long, thick black spike shot out from her back, covered in her blood, the tip gleaming faintly red. For a split second, her mind couldn't comprehend what happened. Then.. pain hit.

Her entire world exploded in agony.

She coughed violently, blood spilling from her mouth, floating around her in small red clouds.

Her gaze dropped downward and there it was. A long, pointed black marlin's spear had gone straight through her abdomen, piercing her completely from front to back. The creature's massive body was still right before her, its eyes cold, its tail thrashing.

"Arghhhhhh!" Maria's scream echoed through the water, her voice cracking from the pain.

Her fingers instinctively clutched tighter around the book, pressing it to her chest, refusing to let it go even as blood poured freely from her wound.

She barely realized she was doing it.. holding onto it not out of thought, but out of some instinctual, protective impulse. She didn't even know why.

Her mind spun, her pupils trembling violently. "Am I… going to die?" she whispered weakly, her voice hollow, her body trembling as her skin grew pale.

Her vision blurred again.. she could barely focus. Everything around her turned hazy red.

She couldn't even think anymore. Her thoughts scattered, slipping away like sand between her fingers.

Her body began to go limp. She just… stared blankly into the endless red haze of the ocean, her eyes losing their light.

But before the marlin could finish her.. before it could rip her apart something else moved.

The massive shark, the one that had once been her waist bag, returned.

It appeared suddenly, cutting through the water with frightening speed. Its massive body shimmered, its eyes dark and glowing faintly. It was as if the creature was under some kind of spell, its movements too precise, too cold and very obedient.. Just like before

Its eyes were lifeless, hollow, like a puppet under mind control.

Without hesitation, it lunged toward the marlin that had impaled Maria. Its jaw opened wide, and with a savage bite, it sank its teeth deep into the marlin's back.

The water erupted with a burst of bubbles and blood. The marlin jerked violently, its body thrashing as the shark dragged it backward, tearing at its flesh.

The spear-like snout that had impaled Maria slid out of her body, leaving a gaping hole in her abdomen. Blood gushed out in dark red swirls, mixing with the ocean.

Maria gasped sharply, her body jerking weakly from the shock, pain flooding through her again.

The shark, still holding the marlin, dragged it away to the side, biting down harder until the marlin stopped moving.. its body torn apart, unable to fight back.

Then, as if guarding her, the shark circled once around Maria before stopping nearby, silent and still.

Maria, bleeding and weak, slowly began to drift downward, her body sinking helplessly through the water. The faint light faded from her eyes as she descended.. until her knees touched the ocean floor, right in front of Razeal.

Her blood spread around her like dark ribbons, curling upward into the still water.

"Hey… are you fine?!" Neptunia's voice came sharply, trembling with urgency. She swam as fast as she could toward Maria, panic etched across her face. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

She reached Maria's side, kneeling beside her fallen form. "Are you okay? Please talk to me!"

Maria's lips twitched slightly, her eyes half-lidded as she looked up weakly at Neptunia. "How… do I look?" she whispered, her voice cracked, breath shallow. "I'm gonna… die, of course…"

A small, bitter laugh escaped her lips, though it quickly turned into a cough.. blood splattering out.

Neptunia bit her lip, guilt twisting inside her. " I'm really sorry…" she sighed. "I would if I could… but I didn't have a choice! I had to protect myself first!" She was honest.

Maria didn't even respond. She just closed her eyes, her breathing slowing, the pain consuming her.

The agony in her chest, the wound in her stomach, the exhaustion.. everything felt unbearable. She couldn't think anymore. Couldn't even feel fear. Just numbness.

Her body felt cold. The thought that she was truly dying crept into her mind, dull and distant.

"Ahhh… congratulations, you two," a familiar voice spoke behind them calm, casual, and yet strangely changed. "You actually managed to hold the wave before I woke up."

Maria's eyes snapped open, her expression twitching. That voice…

"...You've got to be kidding me…" she muttered hoarsely.

Neptunia turned sharply.

"You finally woke up?" she breathed, her tone uncertain.

The man who spoke was walking toward them slow, steady, his tone unchanged but… something was different.

His voice was slightly deeper, smoother, colder. And his aura.. it wasn't human anymore. The pressure rolling off him was suffocating.

"Ohhh, what happened to you?" Razeal said as he stopped beside Maria, looking down at her. "How did you manage to get injured to this extent?"

His expression was calm, almost disappointed. "I gave you the heart of an SS-ranked devil. And you still end up like this? I'm really… disappointed in you, Maria Grave."

Neptunia instinctively stepped aside, giving him space, though her eyes remained fixed on his face.

And when she looked.. she froze.

Her lips parted slightly, her words dying before they could form. Her eyes widened, reflecting pure disbelief.

"Y-you…" she whispered softly, her voice trembling.. And having no word to describe what she was feeling as looking at scenery in front of her.

Maria recognized that voice immediately and the insult inside it. Her jaw snapped open before she could stop herself.

"I'm gonna fuck you up if you say one more word," she spat, every syllable a raw, ragged promise. Blood still slicked her lips; her chest thudded painfully under her hand. "And you better have a way to heal me, too."

Her words hung in the water like a challenge, full of fury and fear braided together. For a heartbeat she glared up at him, furious and defiant and then her eyes drifted to his face.

But when her gaze finally lifted fully to his face… her words died.

Her pupils trembled, her mouth hanging open and her lips twitching as she froze completely.

She couldn't speak.

Neptunia, beside her, was the same.. both of them staring in stunned silence.

----

Back in the system space, the vampire king looked down at the blackened, emptied basin where his ocean of blood had been. The surface was cracked and dry now a raw wound across his domain. He stood perfectly still, an amused, almost affectionate curl at the edge of his mouth.

"That little bitch," he murmured, voice low and cold as obsidian. He did not sound angry; he sounded entertained, genuinely intrigued. "He drained my entire blood ocean."

He let that sink in for a moment, watching the ruined expanse with slow, hungry interest. Then, a small, dangerous smile spread across his face.

"And he became a progenitor?" he whispered to himself, the words tasting unexpectedly sweet. He paused, savoring the strangest of surprises.

"Now that…" he breathed, voice threaded with dark delight, "will be a story worth watching."

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Hey guys, thanks for reading! Over 5k words today! ❤️

Your lovely author is back again to shamelessly beg for some power stones and golden tickets 😭😭 It's been so long since I last did this, right?

Well… rankings have been dropping a little, so I figured it's time to ask for your support again

Anyway, I can finally go talk to my girlfriend now! See you all soon~ Hope you're all doing great and staying happy too! Hehe 💕

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