The Anomaly Beyond The System

Chapter 129: One sided fight with Vivienne(1)

As he walked leisurely through the corridor, Lucian kept pondering about his new race for a long while.

He had seen vampires before in stories, movies, and even in a few games—though his “vegetable life” had rarely given him the chance to actually play any of them.

Those fragments of information were all he had to rely on for now.

Thinking about his weaknesses, Lucian approached one of the large windows elegantly framed into the castle wall, leaning closer as he stared outside.

“There is no sunlight over here to test if I have that weakness…” he muttered under his breath.

But immediately, he realised something important.

‘Right… the Scarlett Bloodline.’

The effects on the Scarlett Bloodline clearly showed that it nullified the weakness against sunlight, so that particular weakness was likely gone.

But there were still a few others left.

“I only know a few of those…”

He hadn’t researched vampires or studied them in detail to know much about them—not like anyone had told him he would one day become one.

Perhaps they were weak against garlic.

But where would he even find something like that in a place like this?

Thinking about it, Lucian’s eyes suddenly narrowed, a thought slowly coming to his mind.

Lia.

Just before she had left their home, she had been acting strangely for the past few days, as if something unknown was changing within her.

None of them had any idea at that time what was happening to her—not even Lia herself.

Lightly tapping against the window frame a few times, he raised his palm upward.

In the next instant, a protein bar materialised in his hand out of thin air.

A normal bar he had kept in his inventory for times of need. There were even a few water bottles and other necessary items stored inside the inventory space—things that could be needed in emergencies, from simple food to first aid supplies.

[…]

Akasha remained silent, watching him slowly tear open the wrapper and hold it before his eyes.

After staring at the protein bar for a brief second, he slowly raised it toward his mouth.

But the instant its smell assaulted his nose—

“Ugh…”

His face immediately scrunched up, and he instinctively pulled the bar away.

It wasn’t even about the taste yet—even the smell alone felt wrong.

His senses seemed to have heightened after turning into a vampire, as he could now detect even the scent of the protein bar, something that shouldn’t have been so easily possible, though its smell was nothing like chocolate.

Narrowing his eyes slightly, he once again brought it close to his mouth, taking a very, very minute bite.

“…!”

His expression twisted into pure disgust.

It tasted like something spoiled beyond recognition, as if his body itself refused to acknowledge it as edible.

Without hesitation, he threw the open bar back into his inventory before he could crush it in his grip.

Bringing out a bottle of water, he downed it in one go, finishing half of it before it vanished from his grasp.

Thankfully, he could still tolerate water—not like water had any taste, but it was still far better than the disgusting bar he had just tried to eat.

“I never, ever want to experience that taste again…” Lucian muttered under his breath with a grimace, still feeling the lingering aftertaste that hadn’t faded yet.

“…Now I understand why Lia was behaving like that.”

At that time, he had assumed she was simply unwell, because sick people usually couldn’t taste their food the same way.

But after tasting it himself, he felt horrible—especially remembering how Lia had been gulping down the food just to reassure them, even as her entire body seemed to reject it.

As he lingered on those thoughts, he leaned forward, crossing his arms and resting them on the window ledge.

The blazer was gone now, leaving only a white shirt, its sleeves slightly rolled up.

After staring at the dark, starry sky stretching endlessly for a few minutes, Lucian’s lips slowly parted.

“What is it?”

His sudden, unexpected question was answered with only silence.

But he didn’t mind it, nor did he shift his gaze away.

He just waited.

After a couple of seconds had passed—

“You really have some nerve…” A soft yet sharp voice responded from beside him, familiar in its hostility.

Lucian finally turned his head away from the starry night sky, shifting his gaze toward the woman standing beside him, her arms crossed over her breasts, and a fiery look locked onto him.𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

For a brief fraction of a second, Vivienne fell into a daze.

The sight of him casually leaning against the window, his pale face softly illuminated and bathed in the faint silver glow of the night sky, caught her off guard.

His crimson eyes reflected the distant stars like two pools of blood, while his expression remained calm and unreadable.

Lucian might’ve been one of the most handsome men she had ever seen, maybe even among the vampires.

But in the next moment, her eyes sharpened as she cursed herself inwardly before directing her gaze straight into his crimson ones, now fixed on her with utter neutrality.

“Did you think you could just walk away safely after the mockery you showed my mother… and me?”

Her voice dripped with quiet, restrained anger, barely holding it from leaking out.

Lucian didn’t respond to her words instantly.

Instead, he stayed silent for a moment, then a quiet exhale left his lips.

“What do you want from me then?”

The question slipped flatly from his lips, sounding almost dismissive to Vivienne.

And in a way, she wasn’t entirely wrong.

Lucian truly didn’t care about her, and his first impression of Vivienne had never been good.

Perhaps it was mostly because all he had wanted was to train under Valentina, who was said to be the strongest—and that had nothing to do with her daughter.

Moreover, there was another reason he hadn’t cared much about her opinion.

Instinctively, he disliked the idea of giving too much respect to anyone, even though he did wonder why Valentina hadn’t simply crushed his head when he spoke to her like that—because even he knew he had been disrespectful to her.

But instead of getting directly angry, a soft smile appeared on Vivienne’s face, her lips curling into a faint grin.

“You are my mother’s disciple from now on. However much I want to deny that fact, I know she won’t go against her words.”

After a brief pause, she continued, her smile twisting wider.

“So that means I can do anything to you…”

Her eyes darkened.

“…except kill you.”

The moment those words left her mouth—

Lucian’s expression froze.

Vivienne vanished from her spot with an explosive motion before appearing directly in front of him.

Lucian barely had the time to register the shift before her hand grabbed his head.

And instantly slammed him down.

BAAM—!!

Lucian’s mind stilled as his skull violently collided with the polished floor.

A cracking sound echoed sharply through the corridor—uncertain whether it was his skull or the floor.

Vivienne lifted him by the hair immediately.

Lucian’s vision swayed, and before he could stabilise—

BAAM—!!

She slammed his face onto the floor, harder, more deliberately.

The ground groaned beneath the impact.

The smile on Vivienne’s face widened crazily as she watched his body tremble slightly—as she heard his loud, muffled groan.

Then—

She faintly lifted his head and drove her leg into his stomach.

The force sent his body flying down the corridor like a broken projectile.

Lucian hit the ground, skidding across the polished floor before forcing his hand down and dragging himself to a stop.

His fingers dug into the polished surface as he slowly, unsteadily lifted his head.

But before he could even see clearly—

Vivienne’s figure appeared right in front of him.

And the moment she did, a kick snapped into his jaw.

The bones in his jaw cracked, and his body shot upward into the ceiling.

“Akkgh—!”

Air escaped his lungs violently as his back struck the stone.

Before he could fall—

The world twisted again.

And he was once again slammed into a wall, cracking the surface as Vivienne’s hand locked around his throat.

She effortlessly lifted his body, his feet levitating as he struggled to breathe.

Ignoring his efforts, she slammed him back into the wall.

The stone groaned under pressure, and dust fell from above.

“Agh…!” Lucian could do nothing but groan in pain, feeling his broken ribs piercing through his organs.

His mind was barely processing anything, and the only thing he could think of was…

Pathetic.

He was truly pathetic.

That was the only word echoing through his mind right now.

He couldn’t even see properly through his muddled thoughts—only the blurred outline of her face and the faint glint of her sharp teeth.

Vivienne leaned in slightly, her smile widening dangerously, looking delighted.

“What happened…” She brought her face near and softly murmured into his ear.

“Cat got your tongue—”

But the moment she turned to look at his face, hoping to see a pain-ridden expression and eyes filled with despair—

Her words halted abruptly.