The World Is Mine For The Taking

Chapter 1318: Epilogue 24 - The Virgin Queen And The Mad Woman (4)

Approximately a year ago...

Sara was a half-vampire. She could shape-shift into any person she wanted, perfectly mimicking them down to the smallest detail. The only condition was simple, and at the same time disturbing. She needed to have a taste of their flesh first. Just a bite or just a sample, and that was enough for her to become them.

She wasn’t just some random monster either. She had her hands in a lot of the incidents that caused problems for my company. A lot of damage, a lot of chaos, and a lot of things that took time and effort to fix. Most of that traced back to her connection with her brother, Sesillian.

And now, that same woman was locked away.

Right behind thick bars, buried deep inside one of the most heavily guarded facilities on the entire planet. The Milham Underground Prison.

The place itself wasn’t just a prison. It felt more like a grave that hadn’t fully accepted its dead yet. It held criminals of all kinds, but there was a clear system to it. The worse your crime, the deeper they sent you.

It reminded me of that one anime I used to watch. It was the kind where each level felt heavier than the last, like the air itself was judging you. The deeper you went, the more twisted the people became. It wasn’t even about crime at that point. It was about how far someone had fallen.

Sara had been placed at the very bottom.

The hundredth level.

Just saying that out loud already felt ridiculous, but that was where she was. If memory served me right, she was the only one left down there. That level wasn’t meant for survival. It was meant for containment until death.

She was supposed to stay there for the rest of her life. With no parole and of course, no second chances, literally nothing. People sent to that depth were basically erased from the world while still breathing. With how tight the security was, and how far underground it went, escape wasn’t even a fantasy. It was something you didn’t even bother thinking about.

That also explained something else.

She was alone because everyone else had already died.

The guards didn’t even bother cleaning up anymore. Bones were left where they fell, scattered across the cold floor. Some were piled up in corners like forgotten trash. It wasn’t just a prison anymore. It was a collection of endings.

The kind of crimes that got someone sent here weren’t small. You were looking at things close to genocide. Maybe not exactly that, but close enough that the difference didn’t really matter. Serial killers on a scale that went beyond what people usually imagined. People who probably should have been executed, if the system had been cleaner.

There were times when execution didn’t happen though. For whatever reason, some of them were just thrown down here instead. A flaw, maybe. Or maybe someone thought this was worse than death.

Right now, I was here to see Sara.

When I finally reached her cell, the atmosphere shifted. It felt heavier, quieter in a way that pressed against your ears. She was there, curled up near her bed, her body hunched forward like she was trying to fold into herself.

Her eyes glowed faintly red in the dim light.

Her condition said everything. Thin, pale, and worn down to the point where it was obvious she hadn’t eaten in a long time. Months, at the very least. Maybe even a full year, going all the way back to that Eclipse incident.

This wasn’t the same Sara anymore.

I hadn’t spent much time with her before, but I had seen her enough times to remember how she used to look. Her build, her posture, or even the way she carried herself. Seeing her like this now felt off, like looking at a broken version of someone who used to exist.

Then again, this was the hundredth level. There was no guard that was going to come all the way down here just to feed one prisoner. Especially not someone like her.

The moment she noticed me, her reaction was immediate.

She sprang forward, her fangs fully bared, slamming against the bars as she tried to reach me.

"Grrr..."

The sound barely resembled a human voice.

"You must be starving, huh?" I said, keeping my tone steady. "Are you even behaving yourself in there?"

"Grr..."

"You sound more like an animal than a person."

That wasn’t even an insult at this point. It was just observation.

From what I had gathered, Sara never had any proper education. Her upbringing was already questionable, and whatever Sesillian did to her after that only made things worse. Something had snapped along the way.

She used to be a decent person. At least, that’s what the records suggested. At least, when she was a child.

Now, there wasn’t much left of that.

"Food... I need food..." she muttered, her voice rough and uneven. "Give me your flesh. I’ll eat your flesh."

She grabbed onto the bars and pulled, her strength still there despite her condition.

It didn’t matter.

The bars were reinforced with power dampeners. Even at full strength, breaking them would’ve been difficult. In her current state, it was impossible.

Still, the way she stared at me made things clear. Hunger had taken over everything else. Rational thought wasn’t even part of the equation anymore. Not that she had any rational thought anyway.

This might have been the first time in who knows how long that someone had come down here.

Of course she was going to try and eat me.

I let out a slow breath, steadying myself, then reached forward and opened the cell by slashing it apart.

Ayuru made quick work of it.

The moment the barrier was gone, Sara didn’t hesitate.

She lunged straight at me, driven purely by instinct.

My fist met her face before she could get close enough.

"Grkkkk!"

The impact echoed slightly in the empty space.

I didn’t stop there. I kept moving, striking again, keeping the pressure on her. Each hit was controlled, but firm enough to remind her that this wasn’t going to go her way.

At the same time, I let my bloodlust seep out.

It filled the area slowly at first, then all at once, pressing down on her like an invisible weight.

"Hiikkkk!"

She tried to pull back, her movements turning frantic, almost desperate.

I didn’t give her the chance to escape.

"W-What are you?!" she asked, her voice shaking now, completely different from before.

"Right now, focus on defeating me," I told her. "If you manage that... I’ll let you feed on this."

I raised my arm slightly and cut into my own flesh, just enough to draw blood.

The red liquid ran down my skin.

Her eyes locked onto it instantly.

Saliva began to drip from the corner of her mouth, her body tensing like a predator about to strike.

"Graaaaahhhh!"

She lunged again, faster this time, more desperate, aiming directly for the wound where the blood continued to flow.