"How come you are still alive?!" The thief leader shouted and noticed her healed wounds. "You… Your wounds-"
The man wasn't able to finish speaking when Ivory didn't let the man finish his statement. She raised one of the wooden sticks and used Earth Elemental Magic to trap his feet on the ground.
"You… What are you?!"
Ivory's light blue eyes glowed as the moonlight shone on her through the roofless living room, "Stay away from the relic…" her voice echoed.
The man used his flail repeatedly to try to break the earth holding his feet. He knew that the woman before him was different from the helpless woman he first met earlier that night. It was the first time that someone survived his heavy flail.
But before he completely smashed the hardened soil, the Iceburgh clan had finally returned!
"Ivory!!" Educator Alphonse worriedly ran to her, seeing her bloodied clothes. "Your clothes... are bloody… Are you alright?"
As soon as she heard the Educator, her eyes and magic staff stopped glowing. She then turned to face him, "Educator Alphonse, I… I'm sorry that everything's a mess…"
He shook his head. "No, it's the first time that a lot of thieves attempted to get the relic… Fortunately, I hid it before we set off…"
Educator Alexandra, on the other hand, handled the thief leader. "Still not giving up after several attempts? Aren't you a shameless one?"
"Hey… Long time no see, ex-comrade-" His head was hit by her. "Oww!"
"I told you I won't go back to being a thief… Those were just my rebellious days."
"But you still dress like one."
"'Cause it's comfortable. Stop saying nonsense," With a thick rope, she tied his hands at his back. "Bring this man with his comrades in prison," and asked her cousins to take care of the matter. She then turned to Ivory, "Miss Sprucemint, let me see your wounds."
But the Educators were surprised to see… that there was not even a scratch on her!
Educator Alexanda examined her from head to toe, "No wounds, not even a bruise… But judging by your clothes, you might have experienced so much pain."
"How… how is this possible?" Educator Alphonse brows furrowed. "Did you cast a spell on yourself?"
"I… I don't know how… I don't know how I did it," Ivory replied and suddenly remembered that Sigmund needed her blood. "Uhm… excuse me for a while, Sigmund needs to replenish his mana," she ran off to her Servant, who was lying near the relic room.
She saw a dagger on the floor, most likely from a thief, and knelt beside the unconscious vampire. She placed her arm right in front of his lips and wounded herself, letting the blood drip into his mouth. She cupped his chin as she waited for him to regain his consciousness.
After a few seconds, Sigmund's eyes twitched and gradually opened. Tasting his Master's sweet blood, he grabbed the arm in front of him and licked her wound fervently. Now having a little energy to speak, he slowly sat properly and was shocked to see Ivory's tattered and bloody clothes.
"Hey… You…" He touched her light skin and checked the parts of her clothes which were stained with blood, but saw no wound at all.
Sigmund sighed in relief and smiled weakly. "Good… You healed," he patted Ivory's head, "Good job."
"You know about it?" Educator Alexandra asked. At the same time, Ivory looked at Sigmund, confused.
"Yes. I've seen her heal herself. Once."
Ivory tilted her head in confusion, "But… How did I heal myself? I do not know any spells or incantations for healing..."
He shook his head. "Honestly speaking, I don't know yet."
Educator Alphonse wondered before speaking, "We should ask Educator Wallace once we come back to Qawiun Academy. It might be the nature of her mana, or a spell passed on by her ancestors… Everything's unsure for now, but one thing is for sure, Ivory has a great potential to be a strong Master."
"I agree," Educator Alexandra added, "Maybe she'll become a really strong Master, and when that day comes, you won't be able to call her 'stupid' anymore," and rolled her eyes at Sigmund.
Sigmund chuckled, "Yeah, right… Ugh," he held his head after it throbbed.
"Sigmund…?" Ivory gave him a worried look.
"I feel very dizzy… I need more blood."
The Educators assisted Sigmund to the guest room and left him with his Master while they inspected the whole house and tidied the mess afterwards. While the two were changing into their cleaner clothes, Sigmund, who was still topless, headed to where Ivory was.
Ivory covered her body with the dress she was about to wear as soon as she saw her Servant drawing closer to her.
"You don't have to cover your body," he removed her arms, exposing his Master's cute lingerie and light skin, "I've seen everything."
"What are you saying?!" she exclaimed, her cheeks turning red.
Sigmund leaned closer and gazed at Ivory's face, down to her shoulder, to her bosom, and her torso. He turned her around and looked at her back.
"What's wrong?" she glanced over her shoulder.
"Hmm," he murmured, satisfied with what he had examined. "You really do have a healing ability. I'm amazed."
The Vampire held her hand and walked towards the bed, then sat on it with his back leaning on the wall. Ivory sat beside him, hugging her arms. He took the dress from her grip and dressed her up.
Ivory looked at him while blushing "Sigmund… Thank you for trying to protect me and the relic."
"Hey, dimwit," He turned his body towards her and looked straight into her eyes. "It's my responsibility, but… I failed to protect you. I thought I could manage strong Air Elemental Magic because I just took some blood from you, but I overestimated myself. I forgot that you still need to train so that the mana you'd share with me would be of great quality."
Ivory suddenly felt emotional and tears fell from her eyes. "I'm so sorry… If only I'm not weak, then I…"
Sigmund wiped her tears, "Stop crying. You'll get stronger soon as long as you do your best and train hard at the academy."
"But that will still take a long while," her face was held low as tears still streamed on her face.
"Do you know what you can do right now even if you're still weak?"
"Hm?" she wiped her tears and looked up to him.
The Vampire smiled, showing his fangs. "Let me drink your blood whenever I ask for it," he then reached out for her and embraced her.
"Yes… I promised you, so- Aaaahhhh…" She reacted as she felt his fangs pierce her neck. She placed her arms around his waist.
It wasn't pain, but she felt relief as Sigmund drank blood from her. She was thankful that he's alright, after everything that happened that night. As she closed her eyes and felt his fangs into her flesh, she promised herself to get stronger to be able to fight alongside her beloved Vampire Servant.