The Oldest Dream of Eternal Night
Chapter 33: It’s Over ?

Chapter 33: It’s Over ?

STAB. STAB. STAB.

"Shit! What the hell are you doing, Kaiser?!" Hassan screamed, coughing as he got back up.

Kaiser, breathless, gasped, his arm trembling.

Kaiser’s dagger plunged again and again into Ben’s chest, but...

"Fuck..." Kaiser whispered, horrified.

The wounds closed almost instantly.

Ben laughed, an unhealthy vibration.

"You think that’ll be enough?"

With a brutal movement, he grabbed Kaiser by the throat, lifting him like a rag doll.

Yuki knew what he had to do.

He sliced his palm, letting his blood—a deadly poison to Wunder—soak his blades.

"Let him go."

Ben turned his head, intrigued, just in time to see Yuki charge, his blades slicing through the air in verdant arcs.

The first strike cut Ben’s shoulder.

SSSSSSSS—

The flesh melted where the poison touched, like acid. Ben screamed, a sound so inhuman that birds took flight en masse from the trees.

"That’s it, you bastard!" Kaiser roared, seizing the opening to throw an uppercut.

Ben staggered, but his gaze locked onto Hassan, who had just appeared behind him, a knife aimed at his neck.

With a fluid motion, Ben grabbed Hassan by the arm and hurled him at Yuki, sending them both crashing into the bushes.

Kaiser was the last one standing.

"Ben..." he gasped, hands outstretched. "Please..."

Ben’s eyes glinted, a flicker of consciousness briefly piercing the madness.

Then...

SLASH.

Hassan: "STOP!"

The claws sliced through the air.

Kaiser closed his eyes, awaiting the end.

But it didn’t come.

When he opened his eyes again, Ben was on his knees, trembling, his hands gripping his head as if to prevent his own mind from exploding.

"...Leave..." he growled, his voice torn between rage and agony. "...before I... kill you all..."

Seizing the confusion, Yuki lunged—it was as if his Zodiac abilities amplified—aiming for Ben’s flank, but Ben pivoted with supernatural speed, his claws grazing Yuki’s shoulder, tearing through his jacket and skin. Yuki growled, rolling on the ground to avoid a second strike, then threw a knife that buried itself in Ben’s thigh. The flesh sizzled from the poisoned blood, but Ben ripped out the blade without flinching.

Kaiser, despite his bleeding arm, fought with desperate ferocity. He feinted, drawing Ben toward him, then dove under an attack, his dagger aiming for Ben’s back. The blade sliced the skin, but Ben spun around, his fist crashing into Kaiser’s jaw. Kaiser collapsed, spitting blood, but got back up, a defiant smirk on his face. "You’re tough, asshole!"

The group lay broken. Carter, dying near a tree, one hand pressed against his bloodied abdomen. Hassan, half-conscious, tried to get up, but his limbs refused to respond. Yuki and Kaiser, the only ones still standing, were covered in wounds, their breaths ragged.

Ben was a storm of pure violence.

"We won’t last much longer..." Yuki gasped, his blades trembling.

Kaiser, face bloodied, chuckled. "Don’t worry, I’ve always got one last trick up my—"

BOOM.

A shadow fell from the sky like a meteor.

Hugo.

His fist slammed into Ben’s face with a dull crack, sending the vampire crashing into a rock.

"Sorry I’m late," Hugo growled, muscles bulging. "Took me a while to track him."

Ben got back up with a jerky movement, his nose already resealing.

"Another... prey..." he growled, his voice a mix of rage and pain.

Kaiser looked at Hugo with a slight smile and nodded. Unlike Yuki, who didn’t understand where Hugo got his muscular build and superhuman strength. Even he, a Zodiac, didn’t possess it.

Hugo didn’t wait. He charged, his punches sweeping through the air.

Ben dodged the first, countered the second, but the third struck him squarely in the sternum.

CRACK.

Ben’s ribs gave way, but he laughed, grabbing Hugo’s arm and twisting it with monstrous force.

"ARGH!" Hugo roared, but before Ben could finish the move, Yuki leaped.

His blades sliced in quick arcs, targeting Ben’s tendons. The vampire screamed as the blades cut his arms, the poison slowing his regeneration.

Kaiser took advantage to deliver a spinning kick to Ben’s jaw.

CRACK.

Ben staggered, but retaliated with a claw strike that tore into Kaiser’s shoulder.

"FUCK!"

Hugo, despite his injured arm, grabbed Ben mid-jump and slammed him to the ground with a loud BAM.

"NOW!" he shouted.

Yuki and Kaiser pounced on Ben, twisting his limbs in brutal holds.

"Sorry, bro..." Kaiser growled, crushing his neck with his knee.

Ben thrashed like a trapped animal, his muscles swelling to the extreme, his fangs snapping at empty air.

"This... won’t... be... enough..." he growled.

A figure emerged from the trees.

Sabrina.

Her reddened eyes gleamed in the darkness, her icy presence making the air shiver.

"Let him go," she commanded.

Hugo hesitated. "What?!"

"Do as I say."

They obeyed, cautiously backing away.

Ben sprang to his feet, ready to tear them apart—

But Sabrina was already in front of him.

"Ben."

Her voice was a mix of softness and authority.

Ben hesitated. A flicker of confusion crossed his bestial gaze.

"You... know... me...?"

Sabrina smiled sadly. "Yes. And you know me too."

She approached her neck, exposing her jugular vein.

"If you’re thirsty... drink."

Ben’s eyes fixed on her neck.

Temptation.

Hunger.

Instinct.

With a raspy growl, he sank his fangs into her flesh.

Sabrina didn’t scream.

She buried her own fangs into Ben’s neck.

Silence fell.

Their bodies trembled, united by a scarlet fluid flowing between them.

Ben gasped, his muscles contracting violently, as if fighting against himself.

Then...

His claws retracted.

His fangs disappeared.

His eyes, once filled with rage, became cloudy, then... human.

He released Sabrina, staggering.

"What... is... happening... to me...?" he whispered, his voice fragile.

Sabrina, pale but smiling, placed a hand on his cheek.

"You’re coming back to yourself."

Ben looked around, realizing the horror of what he had done.

"No... no, no, NO—"

His voice broke.

Then his knees hit the ground.

Yuki, breathless, collapsed to his knees, his blades falling into the grass. "Fuck... is it over?"

Kaiser, leaning against a tree, spat blood. "I hope so, because I’m done."

Hugo, covered in blood and sweat, stared at Ben, his face a mix of relief and anger. "He’s... back to normal?"

Sabrina, holding Ben close, nodded, tears streaming down her cheeks. "For now. The blood bond... it brought him back. But he’s not out of danger."

Ben looked at Sabrina’s face, and a slight smile spread across his own: "Thank you for coming, Lynn..."

He whispered on Sabrina’s tense face, until now. She had only thought of herself.

The situation was awkward...

Hassan, who had moved closer to Carter to check on him, shouted: "Carter needs a doctor! Hurry!"