The Fallen Vampire

Using his dream manipulation, he could lull a soul into sleep permanently and leave them unable to wake up without his say so and bring their dreams and nightmares to life.

And using his power over illusions, he can make scenes and fabrications that are indistinguishable from reality; going as far as the ability to mimic painful stimuli.

Ten years ago when Taira finally achieved mastery in all three areas of study, a red tattoo appeared on his forehead.

Different from the circuit tattoos that adorned the rest of his body, this one was unique in every way when compared to the rest.

Something that Kyoen would learn all too late.

The moment that he glanced into Taira\'s glowing tattoo, he lost consciousness for split second.

When he came to, he was lying on his back in an open field with a deep black sky overhead.

"What..?" Rationally, Kyoen knew that this was an illusion.

Well... at least on some level he did.

This was like nothing he had ever experienced before.

Everything from the grass, all the way to the smell of death in the air was so real that he could swear that he was right back in the real world.

Suddenly, the ground beside him was disturbed and he glanced at the area right where his hand was resting.

Sprouting out of the ground was a single, beautiful, red lotus flower.

It was perfect in every sense of the word, and so mesmerizing that he was drawn to it inexplicably.

He reached out to touch it, and his whole world was set on fire.

His body was suddenly wracked with the most gruesome, awful, pain that he had ever experienced in his life.

More agonizing than death by fire, more excruciating than having every layer of his skin peeled back one-by-one with a rusty knife covered in salt.

As Kyoen endured a pain so terrible that he nearly lost his mind, he thought that his problem couldn\'t possibly get any worse.

He was wrong.

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One by one, more of those beautiful red lotus flowers started to spring up in the field, coming into contact with his skin and multiplying the agony he felt 100-fold.

He opened his mouth to scream, but no sound ever came out.

There were only choked gasps and small spasms as his eyes bulged out of his socket from the excruciating pain.

Unfortunately for him, his mind never broke.

He was aware of every second that ticked by, and of his inability to break himself free.

\'Help...me...\'

-

Though Kyoen\'s body had been lunging in the air a couple of seconds ago his body suddenly dropped out of the air and fell in the dirt, just shy of Taira\'s feet.

He lay facedown in the soil, his eyes wide open from shock, and drooling like a newborn baby.

His body would convulse continuously as dark red curse marks in the shape of vines encompassed nearly every area of his skin.

"Somebody pick him up and put him somewhere quiet... make him comfortable." Taira ordered.

A couple of wide-eyed demons sauntered forward and picked up the former demon lord and carried him off to an empty tent.

As soon as he was gone, Taira tried around and started heading towards his tent.

Aja was behind him, equally curious and terrified by wha she had just seen.

"My friend... what did you just-"

"Aja... very discreetly.. help me walk." he said quietly.

The blue skinned woman asked no questions and immediately interlocked her fingers with Taira\'s.

Discreetly, she supported his body using her weight and helped him make the distance towards the tent.

As soon as they were past the flaps, Taira dropped like a sack of potatoes.

"Besto friendo!"

"Taira!"

"Honey!"

The moment that the vampire\'s knees touched the ground, Taira was surrounded by his wives, best friend, and mother-in-law nearly instantaneously.

Ja\'Zaki watched from the corner; curious, but he was still jelly-legged from the sight of that seven-headed horror he\'d just witnessed.

"You\'re all being quite the dramatic bunch..." Taira said dryly.

Aveena: "No we aren\'t!"

Lucia: "Look at you!"

Taira couldn\'t exactly put together decent lies when black blood was coming out of both sets of his ears and from his mouth.

But he still forced a smile on his face to try.

And Vermeil nearly slapped it off his face out of instinct.

"You used that damn art again, didn\'t you!? You know we had to steep you in the waters at home for a month last time!"

"In all fairness, I thought that it wouldn\'t be that taxing since he was still in bad condition..."

"That\'s your problem, stop thinking! Just be pretty and stop trying to do extra shit!"

"Noted." Taira laughed, but only made his insides start to hurt even more.

"W-What\'s happening to him?" Aja asked worriedly.

Ayame seemed to be the only one who recognized what was wrong with him without even needing to be told.

The backlash he was suffering came from trying to use a primeval level technique without an actual primeval spirit.

Even at his realm of cultivation, his soul would inevitably crack if he put it through any more stress.

"H-He has this technique he learned a few years ago... it combines curse magic, illusion magic, and dream manipulation to create something of a mental prison." Keran explained.

"It is inescapable, unbreakable, and completely subject to his whims and desires. It works on targets who are at his realm or lower in strength." added Lucia.

"Even if his target were to die and reincarnate, or even vacate their body, the curse would still follow them, and ruin their body as long as they are over the physical age of eighteen." finished Aveena.

Ayame\'s eyes practically catapulted out of her skull.

No wonder he was in shit shape!

A technique that interferes with the cycle of reincarnation is something reserved specifically for the upper realm.

It was a miracle that Taira was even still alive and breathing, much less maintaining the ability to think on his own.

"We need to get him back home..." Enyo said firmly.

"My love, I just need to rest on the bed for a bit and then-"

All: "SHUT UP!!"

"Fine..."

While Taira closed his eyes to rest, the rest of the girls were talking about methods of treatment.

The general consensus was that he needed to go home and bathe in the rejuvenating waters around the compound.

But with the secret realm due to open in forty-eight hours, they just didn\'t have the time.

Something absolutely had to be done, and they had to figure it out fast..