Ascendant Path of a Lustful Vampire

Chapter 32: Two Sisters (1)

•••

Caius stirred on a comfortable sofa. At least it felt like a sofa with how it stretched out underneath him with his head on what had to be one of its armrests.

’Knocked out,’ he thought and let out a sigh before he chuckled.

’What sort of an idiot attacks a Storm Mage with Lightning?’ He asked himself, ’God, I’m dumb!’

He opened his eyes slowly and stared at the ceiling above his head and could tell already he was no longer in the Mage-Knight Training classroom. The sofa underneath him was also a big clue.

The architecture of the room was familiar and Caius quickly realized it was a Professor’s office like Arlette’s. But this was different. There were certain effects and decorations that did not match the look of Arlette’s office.

”Good, you’re awake.”

Caius heard Cynthia Kragsten’s voice and looked to the side to see her seated not far from him in an armchair like the one she had used to sit in the Mage-Knight training classroom. She had her legs crossed the same way but her arms weren’t folded but were instead resting on the armrests as her fingers tapped them in a drumming rhythm.

”Professor,” Caius said. His position on the sofa drew his eye line a bit low so he was staring more at her breasts than her face. He sat up on the sofa but could barely look away. It took a lot of conscious effort to raise his eyes to her face and keep them there. To at least not be disrespectful.

”How am I here?” He asked the smiling Professor.

”Delia knocked you out,” Cynthia said.

Caius nodded,

”I remember.”

”How are you feeling?” Cynthia asked. She sounded kind but also like she knew the answer to that question already. Likely because she had cared for him while he was unconscious for however long he was.

”I’m fine,” Caius said with a hand raised to the side of his head.

He expected to be feeling an ache. That used to be the case whenever he was knocked out in his past life by force that was at least three times weaker than what Delia hit him with. But there was nothing. No ache, no soreness. No swelling. He really was fine.

Cynthia’s smile became a teasing one as she asked,

”So just your pride is wounded then?”

”My pride?” Caius asked, confused at first and then he understood what she meant and laughed a little as he shook his head,

”No, no. My pride isn’t wounded.”

Cynthia looked intrigued now. She leaned forward slightly as she said,

”Really? You’re Lucian Von Helsing’s son. Your father gave those rowdy muscle-bound idiots the right to wear the title of Mage-Knights with pride and you just lost to a Kragsten. To a girl born from a family of Traditional Mages.”

Caius smiled,

”Well, when you put it like that...” he said and trailed off a bit before perking up as he added,

”But it doesn’t really matter who my father is or who the Kragstens are. The truth is Delia’s better at it than I am.”

Cynthia leaned back in her chair now, her pretty brows furrowed and she gripped her chair’s armrests as hard as she could.

”You have no idea how much that hurts to hear. Or how much it hurt to watch that ’spar’. To watch a Kragsten swinging her fists and legs like a barbarian. No grace. No elegance. No Class.

Defeating you will only have stoked Delia’s ego and with have her believing she’s truly meant to be a Mage-Knight.”

’She is,’ Caius thought, knowing what he knew of Delia’s future. But he didn’t say it out loud. He didn’t think Cynthia would be amused.

”Professor?” He called out when she stared off into space for a minute.

”Hmm?” Cynthia answered and her eyes returned to his face.

”How long was I out?” Caius asked.

”Five minutes,” Cynthia answered with a smile and gave him a wink as she added, ”I counted.”

Caius returned the smile and nodded before he followed up with another question,

”And Mage-Knight Training... Is class over?” He asked.

”Not yet,” Cynthia answered, shaking her head.

That made sense. His spar with Delia had been short and if he had only been out for five minutes, there were probably still twenty minutes left. He wondered if they just got right into another spar right after he was knocked out, acting like it was no big deal.

Cynthia continued,

”Raoul asked one of your classmates to get you to the Infirmary but I volunteered to take you off their hands instead and brought you here. Might not be my calling but I can tend to a head injury as well as any of the Academy’s healers.”

”Thanks. But why?” Caius asked, confused why she’d go to all that trouble.

Cynthia let out a laugh,

”Does there have to be a reason?” She asked, ”You needed help, and rather than see you taken to the infirmary for something I could take care of myself, I brought you here.”

”Huh,” Caius said in a tone that made it clear he didn’t believe her.

Cynthia caught the tone and her smile became more like a smirk as teacher and student shared a long, hard look. Neither looking away.

It was dawning on Caius now that there was a detail he had not taken into consideration so far; In [To Kill A Demon Lord...], Caius was Professor Kragsten’s favorite student. This was true for many Professors, especially the female ones, but there were a few ’unique’ things about why Cynthia took an interest in him;

One, Caius was always ahead of the entire class when it came to Combat Magic. For all of Aurelius’ tricks and spells from his past life, Caius always edged ahead somehow. He was that much of a natural genius. Samantha Ellis must have written it like that to egg on their rivalry.

And two, Caius was the son of Lucian Von Helsing. By default, he should have been more partial to being a Mage-Knight but because he was a Vampire Spawn, he couldn’t become one. So he put his all into Combat Magic. Cynthia didn’t know the details and only cared that she was able to ’convert’ someone from a Mage-Knight background. It helped with the feeling of losing her sister to Mage-Knight training.

It also didn’t hurt that Caius was just objectively a very handsome young man.

As he and the Professor shared that look, Caius could tell those two unique details in the original story were showing up now as well just in slightly different ways;

He hadn’t yet shown himself to be as much of a genius as the original character of Caius Von Helsing but thanks to what he knew about Aurelius from the original story, he had managed to win the Two-Ring drill that the original had lost. Which caused him to start earning Professor Kragsten’s respect earlier than he should have.

And as he sat on that comfortable sofa, Caius was willing to bet everything he had that although Cynthia had gone to the Mage-Knight Training classroom for her sister, she had stayed for him.

She knew already what her sister was capable of. The only one whose ability at Mage-Knight dueling she didn’t know for sure, was Caius. He was sure that watching him lose to Delia had made the Professor somewhat happy. It confirmed to her that he wasn’t any good at Mage-Knight Training and that he was meant to become a Traditional Mage and excel at Combat Magic under her tutelage.

”Caius,” Cynthia said gently, ”I know a thing or two about pressure from your Family to conform...”

”Why, because you’ve been doing it to Delia for years?” Caius asked with a smile.

Cynthia didn’t look annoyed to have been called out.

”Cheeky,” she said with a smile, ”But yes. That’s why I understand it.”

Caius sighed in understanding and made sure he looked like he was torn and was finding it hard to make a decision.

”I can’t quit Mage-Knight Training,” he said slowly.

Cynthia nodded,

”I understand. And I’m not asking you to. I’m asking you to simply turn your talents and efforts to where they’d serve you best. I watched you in that spar and you didn’t move like a barbaric Mage-Knight. You tried for distance and attacked with your spells and not your fists. You acted like a true Mage. Lean into that and not away from it.”

Caius took a moment to look like he was contemplating and then he let out a heavy sigh,

”Will you help me?” He asked and made his voice sound as vulnerable as possible. His eyes were large in a puppy-dog expression.

Cynthia had one hand over her heart as it beat in a compassionate rhythm that subconsciously drew her to him before she cleared her throat and said,

”Whatever you need to aid your journey into the spirituality of magic, I will give.”