Shadow Dragon: The Fallen Angel Is My Teacher

"Dante, run with full speed. It's a Rank 5, so it can catch up to us. Keep running—"

I never finished the sentence.

A blur cut through the trees.

The ghoul appeared right in front of me, only a few inches away.

All I saw was death.

Dante shifted his stance. His body tensed as he was about to release his Combat Form.

"Don't use your Combat Form!" I shouted.

I couldn't let him waste it. Not on this thing.

Ghoul Valen could kill us easily, but he wasn't the main threat inside this domain.

The danger that came next would be far worse, and Dante's Combat Form was our only hope for a counter.

Ghoul Valen raised his hand.

A tiny blob of blood formed near his finger as he flexed it like he was preparing to flick.

The attack looked small, almost harmless, but my instincts screamed that I would die if it hit me.

I began preparing to create a portal to deflect it.

No "human" was near, and I could use my true abilities without holding back.

Before I could act, a sharp spike of blood erupted from the ground and struck Ghoul Valen's side.

The attack made his body jolt sideways, and the blood projectile he flicked missed me.

It shot past my head and tore through dozens of trees, leaving a clean line of holes behind.

"Grrrr…"

Ghoul Valen's masked face turned as he searched for the one who interfered.

From between the trees, Valen's headless body emerged.

His steps were uneven and stiff.

The area where his head should have been was trying to regenerate. Muscle, skin, and bone twisted and pulsed.

But the regeneration failed each time.

The domain had already taken Valen's head as a sacrifice to create the "Ghoul Warrior."

As long as the domain existed, Valen's true head wasn't coming back.

Valen lifted his hand, and spears of blood formed around him.

He waved his arm, sending them shooting toward Ghoul Valen.

I watched the scene with a tight chest.

Valen was a Vampire Prince.

He was one of the strongest vampires alive, and even after being beheaded he wasn't truly dead.

His soul remained intact.

His basic instincts were still there.

That was why he could fight at all.

Vampire physiology let them survive physical beheading as long heart remained untouched.

Even the dhampir who had come to kill at my 1-year-old birthday had been alive after I shot a magic bullet through her head.

And Valen was a Vampire Prince.

Even so, he was in terrible shape.

The ghoul used Valen's head, and therefore Valen's abilities.

A ghoul normally had low intelligence, and giving one a mage-type body wasn't ideal.

Magic needed quick mental calculations, multitasking, and precise mana flow.

A ghoul couldn't manage all that.

But even with that limitation, Valen was losing.

Both of his legs were blown apart.

His arms were badly damaged.

Blood detonations pierced and tore through him every time he tried to counter.

He regenerated his limbs, but the process drained him fast.

'This is bad. Valen is going to lose.'

Without his head, Valen couldn't chant, and couldn't use advanced magic as a result.

He could only access spells he had mastered to the point they no longer required chanting, and those were limited.

Without a brain, he couldn't think.

His body was moving on instincts, and core information — his personality — imprinted on his soul.

He stood no chance in a prolonged fight.

And if Ghoul Valen won, it would turn to the next targets: Dante and me. Then the crewmates. Then anyone else trapped here.

'I need to find a way to take him out.'

A plan began to form.

I turned to Dante.

"Shout and call for help."

Dante looked confused but trusted me.

He inhaled deeply and released his Eldritch Voice.

The sound hit me like a hammer.

Even with my hands pressed tightly over my ears, blood leaked between my fingers.

Leaves shook. The ground vibrated.

The noise cut through the entire forest.

Ghoul Valen reacted immediately.

Irritated, he swung a blood claw at us.

The attack was fast, far too fast for me to dodge.

Just before it reached us, a figure dropped from above.

Saint Maverick.

He landed between us and the attack.

"Scanning! Rank 5 mana output! Judy!"

The floating automaton beside him clicked and whirred.

Metal segments shifted and locked into place as Judy merged with his arm, transforming into a reinforced, shock-resistant shield.

The claw attack hit him full force.

The shield cracked. The metal buckled.

The claw tore straight through both the shield and Saint Maverick's torso like they were made of paper.

But his body stopped the attack just long enough for me to jump aside and avoid getting cut in half.

Saint Maverick collapsed to one knee.

"J—Judy," he said.

His voice glitched each time he spoke, his damaged voice box breaking the words.

The automaton hovered next to him.

Its round frame opened, revealing mechanical tools, clamps, spare tubing, and replacement parts.

The tools worked rapidly, repairing and replacing the broken sections of his body.

He took a moment to breathe.

"Any information?" he asked once his voice stabilized.

Valen and Ghoul Valen continued their brutal fight behind us.

Valen's body regenerated again and again, but he was slowing down.

Ghoul Valen pressed forward, relentless and tireless.

"We're in a Rank 4 Cursed Spirit's domain," I said.

I knew Saint Maverick would respond to Dante's call.

His equipment made him ideal for reconnaissance, and since he belonged to the System Church, he had been assigned to watch me and try to recruit me.

As long as there was a chance I would accept their offer, he considered protecting me a priority.

Saint Maverick looked up at the sky for a long moment.

Then, he gave me a small nod.

"Seeing what's above us, and the fact that a Rank 5 Exorcist was defeated the moment we arrived, I can confirm your assessment. This is a Rank 4 domain."

Judy, the automaton, began speaking. Its voice sounded flat and mechanical.

"Inputting new information: Presence of Rank 4 domain.

"Condition: Ambushed.

"Chances of rescue: Extremely low.

"Chances of survival: uncertain.

"New directives: Confirm Caelum Nocthera's status with System Church. If ally, protect him at all cost. Else, move with the sole focus of survival."

Saint Maverick turned toward me. "Whose organization are you going to join?"

"Yours."

"Understood. I will be protecting you from now on. Please cooperate, and follow my orders."

He stood up as Judy finished repairing him.

With his robe ripped to shreds, his actual body was visible.

His clothes were fused with metallic plates.

Both of his arms were entirely mechanical, with golden grid lines glowing faintly under the metal.

Boosters attached to his elbows and limbs hummed to life, ready to launch him in any direction.

The sword he held wasn't a single piece of metal but hundreds of small segments forming the blade.

"I will hold back the cursed spirit with the Vampire Prince. You should run," Saint Maverick said, assessing the situation.

"Catch this," I said, tossing him a magazine filled with silver bullets fused with Positive Energy.

I had seven left.

I didn't bother explaining what the bullets were.

Judy inspected them within seconds.

I got straight to the point. "Aim for the mask. If it's not destroyed, killing the ghoul won't matter. Another ghoul will wear the mask."

"Thank you for your assistance—"

"Wait," I said. "Don't join the fight yet. I need a few things from you first."

I asked him for several earpieces so we could communicate from a distance.

Then I asked him to deploy drones to search for others trapped in the domain.

"Why? Saving others puts us in more danger," he said.

His eyes stayed fixed on the fight where Valen was getting pushed back again.

"I have zero interest in saving anyone. But we need them if we want to escape this place," I said.

He didn't question where I got my information. He didn't ask whether it was reliable.

He simply looked toward Judy.

The automaton scanned me and spoke.

"Observing facial muscles, breathing, and pupil response.

"Result: There is a ninety-percent chance Caelum Nocthera is telling the truth.

"However, saving others decreases Caelum Nocthera's survival probability by forty percent."

Saint Maverick nodded and looked back at me. "We will follow your directives."

For a second, I appreciated how easy it was to work with people who followed orders without arguing.

If only we weren't on a countdown to die.

Judy got to work immediately.

The automaton deployed mechanical arms and quickly assembled earpieces with short-range communication.

Then it built several small drones with reconnaissance protocols and launched them into the sky.

I put one earpiece on.

Saint Maverick put another on.

He glanced at Valen, hoping to give him one, only to notice he was headless and unable to use one.

Then, he gave me the remaining devices.

"Go," he said.

Without waiting for my reply, he dashed toward Valen and Ghoul Valen.

Yuna floated beside me. "You need to hurry and do whatever you're planning, Lord of Shadows. No matter how weak a Rank 5 Exorcist is, a Rank 3 Exorcist like Saint Maverick can't do much to him. He can't even target the ghoul with the bullets you gave him."

"You're right. He can't react fast enough, and thus won't be able to aim. But he'll buy time working with Valen," I said.

It was honestly ridiculous.

Fighting a Rank 5 Exorcist even if it was weakened was absurd.

These were the legends normal Exorcists only heard about in stories.

Yet here we were: fighting one inside a cursed domain.

It wasn't fair.

But life wasn't a game.

Enemies didn't match your level just because you weren't ready.

You survived by preparing strategies for the moments when everything went wrong.