Reincarnated Femboy Vampire, with Max Survivability Stats

Poke... poke.

...

Poke.

"Tsk..."

Poke...

"Would you stop that already?" Yuki snapped, swatting her hand away with his tail.

"They’re very soft and round for a man, don’t you think?" she teased, unbothered.

"Excuse me?!"

"You should stop eating so much forest fruit. Maybe that’s why—"

"It’s a medical condition, okay?!" Yuki interrupted defensively. "I’m not fat! I exercise very regularly! Do you really think I could have fought you off so well if I were out of shape?"

"...Good point," she mused, tilting her head. "Say... what are you, exactly? You’re definitely not a demon, and elves don’t have tails, so...?"

"Doesn’t matter. Can we do something? Staying here is a complete drag. Just release me already."

"You know, you could have left when I found you in the forest," she pointed out.

"Left? I’m trapped here," Yuki grumbled. "I can’t leave this region until I find Raven, and you won’t let me go until you get what you want—whether that’s Raven or some weird personal fixation."

"I’ll release you the moment you tell me where he is."

"And you know I won’t, so stop asking."

They were at a complete stalemate. Neither was willing to budge or give up an inch of information. Yuki wanted the sealing collar off so he could leave, while she wanted every detail about what had happened in the capital to help reinstate her as an official Inquisitor.

"Look," she offered, leaning in. "If I release you, you show me where Raven is, and I’ll personally escort you back to the capital."

"Won’t your boss be mad?"

"He isn’t my boss. Besides, he already sent men to hunt me down," she spat bitterly. "He never intended to pay me—I was just expendable to him. But I’m not stupid. I know what he was pulling."

Yuki squinted. "So you’re saying he sent men to capture me... and kill you?"

"Yep."

"Do they know where you are?" Yuki asked, standing up straight.

"No, of course not."

"Did they give you anything to hold onto before you left?"

"No? Why are you asking so many questions? You look nervous."

"Did they give you a ring of any kind?" Yuki pressed, his tone growing serious. "Rings are commonly used to anchor tracking spells."

She scoffed. "You think I wouldn’t spot a tracker on my own body if I were wearing a ring?"

"Do you really think someone trying to kill a master swordsman would give you a ring you could easily detect?" Yuki countered. "For real—where is the ring?"

Silence fell over the room.

"...I do have a ring, but—"

"Show me the ring."

"No. How would you even know if it’s a tracking artifact?"

"I am a Grand Inquisitor," Yuki said flatly. "I was trained in counter-espionage.. a bit.. I can identify the mana signature. Show me."

She glared at him. "...Don’t you dare make fun of me, or I’ll snap your legs. Got it?"

"Yes. Now let me see the ring."

Huffing in annoyance, she unbuttoned her shirt and pulled it back, exposing her bare torso to reveal a small, silver ring pierced through her navel.

Yuki leaned down, carefully removed the ring, and cast a heavy, judgmental look up at her.

"It’s a tracker," Yuki said, tossing the metal trinket into the dirt. "We need to leave now. They are almost certainly on their way here."

"Relax, sweetheart, we’re fine," she boasted proudly, flexing an arm. "Not a single person in that camp can touch me. I’m a Rank 1 swordmaster."

"Put your shirt back on and stop being so stubborn."

"Hmph!"

Pouting, she unlocked the cell, grabbed Yuki by the shoulder, and pulled him along. Sliding her shirt back on, she dragged him out toward the path.

"Where are we going?" Yuki asked.

"To their camp. If they want me dead, they can try, but hiding out here is pointless. Plus, since you won’t tell me what I want to know, maybe letting those hungry men rough you up a bit will make you talk," she chuckled with a wicked grin.

She took another step forward when Yuki suddenly froze. His entire body began to tremble violently.

"What is wrong with you?" she asked, watching as all the color drained from his already pale face.

"How fast can you run?" Yuki whispered, his eyes wide with horror.

"What?"

"How fast can you run?!" Yuki demanded, his voice tight.

"I’m faster than you by a long shot."

"Good. Pick me up and run as fast as you can."

"Why?!"

"We’re under attack... from the Mountain Kingdom."

Far away in the royal capital, the King and Queen sat atop their raised thrones, surrounded by their high councilors.

"This war will be a difficult one, Your Majesties," the First Advisor spoke, his dark eyes narrowing dangerously. "The Mountain Kingdom possesses a massive standing army. Even if they lack combatants above Rank 4, their numbers alone make them formidable. And since they are striking our most unprotected border, that is where the hammer will fall first."

"That region suffers from an environmental phenomenon that disrupts spatial magic," another advisor added. "The dense forests will slow their advance, but it will also mask their troop movements."

The Queen sighed in frustration, leaning back against her gilded throne. "It is utterly distasteful that they would ignite a war over something so absurd. Breaking the treaty? It was an unidentified stray mage that cleared the monsters in the wasteland! How is that our fault, and why use that as a pretext to claim we were preparing an invasion?"

"They do not care about the truth," the First Advisor replied cold-eyed. "They were always going to attack us. They simply needed an excuse, no matter how flimsy."

"Since the wasteland barrier is gone, mobilize the Elite Knights and the royal army," the King commanded, his voice echoing with supreme authority despite his youth. "Deploy them to our most fortified stronghold in that sector. And summon Agent 01."

"My King... her spatial magic will be severely hampered in that region—"

"We will not be using her for transport."

The Queen turned to her husband, her brow furrowed. "What are you planning?"

"Once their vanguard advances deep into the woods, burn the entire border forest to the ground," the King ordered coldly. "I want them forced to consume their own limited rations rather than living off our land."

The advisors bowed low. "Yes, Your Majesty!"

At the border, a terrifying war machine had begun to move.

An invasion force of over ten thousand heavily armored knights and sixty thousand frontline soldiers marched across the frontier, pillaging and torching every village and border tribe in their path.

"This will be a long, grueling campaign, men!" the Vanguard Commander barked from atop his massive black warhorse. "Their Majesties expect us to conclude this war within nine months! We are the tip of the spear! We march directly for their capital to pave the way for the main force! Kill everyone and everything in your path!"

"SIR!" the army roared in unison, their shouts shaking the earth.

Across both the Kingdom of Snow and the Mountain Kingdom, every player’s System interface suddenly flickered to life as blood-red notifications flooded their vision:

[WORLD EVENT TRIGGERED: THE GREAT BORDER WAR]

[WARNING: NATION DEFEAT WILL RESULT IN PERMANENT CHARACTER ERADICATION.]

[ALL KNIGHT-CLASS PLAYERS MUST REPORT TO THE FRONT LINES IMMEDIATELY.]

[ALL INQUISITORS AND BISHOPS MUST REPORT TO THEIR DIRECT SUPERIORS.]

Panic erupted among the players as they stared at the floating screens, realizing that a massive portion of their player base was about to be wiped out.

High above the battlefield, standing atop a sheer cliff overlook, a cloaked figure clad in black and white robes looked down at the marching columns.

"It seems the Ascension Trial will be cut short, my Lord," a deep voice reported from behind him.

"It matters not," the cloaked lord replied smoothly. "This works in our favor. Raven... find the boy and his group, and bring them to me."

"Won’t the Goddess intervene if we lay hands on her favorite pawn?" Raven asked, tilting his head.

"No. She requires our strength for her greater war, and we require a Demon King. It is a mutually beneficial arrangement."

"Will you be taking his body as your new vessel, my Lord?"

"Perchance," the lord murmured, folding his hands behind his back.

The Order of the Black Cross was one of the most terrifying shadow organizations in existence. Their leader possessed the ancient ability to allow high-ranking souls to breach the Ascension Trial, steal the bodies of players or NPCs, and drag those physical vessels back into the real world to bolster his private army.

Even if a player fought a Rank 1 member of the Black Cross, they had no way of knowing if they were actually fighting a Rank 4 soul piloting that body.

"Back at your old tricks again, I see... Soul Stealer," a radiant voice echoed behind them.

Without turning around, the lord smiled. "I did not expect to see you here at a time like this, Varisa."

"You murdered my knight Raven, stuffed your filthy shadow into his corpse, and engineered a continental war by assassinating the advisors of the Mountain Kingdom," Goddess Varisa said, her divine aura flaring. "Did you truly think I would sit idly by?"

"Ha! You really have taken a liking to that boy, haven’t you?"

"..."

"I thought you hated him after he won your divine bet," the Soul Stealer taunted gently. "It seems his persistence has grown on you."

"Believe whatever pleases you regarding my relationships," Varisa replied coldly.

"Then why not join me, Varisa?" the lord offered, spreading his arms toward the burning horizon. "You wish to establish your divine domain, and I wish to paint this world red. You must eradicate every obstacle in your path to achieve your goal—human kingdoms and abyssal demon lords alike. I can gladly execute them all for you."

Varisa stared at him in quiet contemplation before turning her back. "If you win this war... I will consider making you my apostle."

With a flash of golden light, her divine presence vanished.

The two figures stood in silence before the lord finally spoke. "Raven... gather the knights and secure the Saint. The Kingdom of Snow falls in four months. Then, the rest of the continent follow. Do not fail me."