The Crimson Reaper-Chapter 87: The Price of Knowledge

Luciel screamed internally. He couldn’t see or hear anything.

He was being drowned in millions of information.

His head felt like bulls were pulling it apart. Like some pierced it with a spear set on fire.

The excruciating pain was even worse than the night he turned.

"Get out of my head!" He cried out, grabbing his head with both hands and breathing heavily.

The ache was never ending and he could feel his sanity seeping away.

The feeling of being torn apart lasted for eons until Luciel finally started to lose his mind.

"Helen..." He muttered... A fleeting emotion of bliss went through his body at the mention.

He didn’t know why he said that name... He didn’t know who it belonged to... All he could feel was sadness, buried deep in his heart after saying it, but eventually, even the memory of the name disappeared.

Luciel couldn’t remember anything: his purpose, species, the past, not even his name.

"Who... Am I?" Luciel looked at his hands, floating through a sea of information that didn’t make any sense.

His eyelids started to feel heavy, too heavy as he started getting used to the unimaginable pain.

Just when Luciel was about to close his eyes for the last time, he saw a bright flash of white light in the distance.

"Huh... What is that...?" He asked, reaching out his hand which seemed to be falling apart, turning into gray ash.

Unlike the sun, the light warmed up his skin, giving him the strength he desperately needed.

Luciel started to swim toward the light with his body deteriorating bit by bit.

The journey was never-ending. Every movement he made spread painful signals throughout his body, begging him to stop.

He was about to give up... He couldn’t go on anymore.

But when Luciel lifted his head, the goal was right in front of him.

Moving his hand forward, which was mostly bones now and also started to turn into dust, he finally grabbed the calming light.

<Welcome to Serene Clan System>

<Would you like to proceed?>

[Yes] | [No]

"Eh... What?" A blue, semi-transparent screen appeared in front of Luciel out of thin air.

After everything, this was what waited for him.

"You gotta be kidding me?!" His chest was weighted with rage.

Luciel’s furious voice echoed through the empty space. He expected something more, not just an ordinary computer screen.

He took a deep breath, calming down. His time was running out quickly and he had no time to think.

<Would you like to proceed?>

A screen continued to flicker in front of his eyes, prompting him to answer before his body would completely disappear into dust.

"Yes."

Luciel had a sharp look in his eyes as he said his answer, his voice full of determination. No was definitely not an option since refusing would probably mean his death.

As soon he said his answer, the flow of information had stopped and for the first time, Luciel could feel peace.

The light he had touched earlier started to expand, chasing away the darkness.

Scanning around, all Luciel could see was white, no matter where he looked.

"Where am I?" He asked himself, strolling around the area before glancing down at his hands. They returned to normal like nothing ever happened.

"And what’s my name?" He scratched the top of his head, trying to recall any kind of memory, some traces of who he used to be.

As soon he asked himself this specific question, the same screen from before appeared in front of him, listing down all kinds of information.

<Serene Clan System>

<Name: Luciel Ashford>

<Title: ???>

<Race: Vampire>

<Age: 27>

<Affinity: Mist>

"So my name is Luciel..." He said his name out loud after reading all of the basic information.

Down below, he could see more data that started to appear.

<1st Stage: Crimson Awakening>

[Level: 2 Bloodline Awakening]

Luciel raised an eyebrow after reading these two pieces of information, but that didn’t seem important, what worried him were the three following bars that were beneath.

The first bar was the largest, showing levels of Qi, and underneath it were two more smaller ones, revealing information about his Yin and Yang levels.

<Qi: 100/1000>

<Yin: 75/100>

<Yang: 25/100>

Questions started to run through his mind after analyzing the following data. The small amount of this Qi energy felt disturbing, making him question what would happen if it depleted to zero.

Currently, all of this information made no sense. It had no particular meaning.

"If only I had my memories..." Luciel begged, having a strong feeling that everything would make sense then.

<Would you like to restore your data?>

[Yes] | [No]

Luciel read the new screen that appeared in front of the old one, making him gulp.

This was amazing news, but he felt terrified at the same time, afraid of what was going to happen next.

With a slight hesitation, Luciel imagined clicking on the [Yes] button.

"Is it broken?" He asked after nothing seemed to happen at first.

He visualized himself clicking on the [Yes] a few more times, but it didn’t budge.

"Weird..." As soon Luciel uttered those words, the screen in front of him started to light up, becoming blindingly bright.

Luciel was forced to squint his sensitive eyes that felt like burning, but the system didn’t give him any moment of rest as the light hit him in the face.

At the thought that he had become blind, flashing images started to appear before him, starting from the first memory he could remember.

He saw his whole family together, laughing and playing around, bringing a smile to his face, but only one face was blurry... His mom’s...

The scene turned into mist, dispersing before changing the scene, revealing the horror of the typical human farms.

"No..." Luciel whispered, taking a step forward and extending his hand at the sight of his younger brother being killed, sucked dry by those bloodsuckers.

His heart was aching with grief as he was being forced to watch the scene with a woman with a blurry face being forced to drink vampire’s blood.

"Nooo!" Luciel yelled, feeling a strong attachment to her.

He stepped forward, reaching out with his hand, trying to stop whatever was happening, but he just phased right through the scene.

When he turned around, he could see a poor woman squirming in pain, screaming on top of her lungs.

He gripped his shirt where his heart was supposed to be as he fell on his knees before the woman lunged at him, but before she could reach him, her blood splattered all around.

He pushed himself away with his legs, his breath becoming rapid.

Luciel wanted to get up, but his lower limbs were shaking uncontrollably while the very essence of his being was getting swarmed with emotions from back then.

His heart was pounding in his chest, wanting to get out while he showered in cold sweat.

Now his whole body started to tremble while he struggled to breath, followed by a chest pain.

"Make it stop..." He cried out, hugging his abdomen at the creeping nauseous feeling inside of it.

Luckily, the scene started to shift again, revealing his training days, how he met Alex and then, he could finally see his Helen...

A smile appeared on his lips, wanting to touch her cheek, to hold her close, but his hand went right through her image...

"I need you right now..." He whispered, longing for her support, not being able to go on anymore...

Luciel was still in the process of remembering his life and who he was, but he could already feel a hole in his heart, feeling desperate at the fact that he couldn’t hug the one he loves the most.

A person who holds a special place in his heart...

Even if this pained his heart, it was necessary break for Luciel, gradually allowing him to relax until he reached the battle against Alukah who turned him into this bloodsucker he was today.

Luciel hiccuped, a lump forming in his throat as he observing his next wave of suffering.

He shivered after getting reminded of that moment.

Moving on, he continued to watched himself getting rejected by most, with only Alex and Helen truly being here for him.

Just when he thought that the things couldn’t get any worse, he was being forced to walk in the skin of the creature he despised until the most recent events came into play.

Reliving his final moments, he got hit with the truth, making a tear appear in his eye as the line between two races got thinner.

No matter how much he tried, the human population would never accept him as one of them anymore.

Holding back just brought him more unnecessary pain and after everything he went through... He didn’t deserve that...

It was the moment when he vowed to not allow himself to feel bad for what he had become and instead to try and make a world a better place, for both races.

For humans in the memory of his younger brother, for the safety of his wife and the future child, for his friend who was always here for him.

And he also wanted to help the vampires. He could feel their struggles. Constantly being misunderstood and hunted, only because of a few bad apples, while majority just wanted to live.

The more he thought about this, the more his vampirism seemed to be more like a gift than a curse. It opened new doors and allowed him to see the world with different eyes.

No matter what happened, he couldn’t change what he was.

A vampire.