Jin wiped a smear of soot and gore from his jaw. His chest heaved with every breath, his muscles screaming from the exertion of the fight. He turned to Valerie, his voice raspy but grounded .
"Let's get out of here first," Jin said, glancing up at the ceiling. "Who knows if this thing is going to collapse."
Valerie nodded numbly. She lingered for a fraction of a second, her eyes tracing the ruined, ashen remains of her brother's legacy one last time. It wasn't grief that held her gaze, but the shock of finality. Then, hitching up the hem of her blood-stained dress, she followed Jin.
Together, upward through the gaping hole in the ceiling until they emerged into the devastated remains of the Great Throne Room.
Waiting for them in the ruins was an audience of absolute pristine elegance.
Descending the remaining grand staircase was Elmenhilde Karnstein. Her immaculate white dress was a jarring, contrast to the blood and viscera painting the room. Beside her walked the Old Tepes King—Marius and Valerie's father. He was a creature draped in heavy crimson velvet and spun gold, his face a mask of haughty, aristocratic pride. Behind them, a phalanx of twelve elite vampire guards fanned out, their weapons drawn and gleaming in the dim light.
The Tepes King's gaze swept the room. It caught on Valerie, his lip curling with mild distaste , before snapping to Jin. The King's eyes narrowed. He didn't see the monster that had slain a dragon; he saw a human whose shoulders sagged, whose chest heaved.
Elmenhilde stopped a few paces away, her crimson eyes appraising the carnage.
"So," Elmenhilde said, her voice echoing in the ruined hall. "Is it done?"
Jin met her gaze, his expression unreadable beneath the grime. "Yes."
Jin forced his spine straight. He stood tall .
"We had a deal," Jin stated . "I have fulfilled my part. Now it's your turn. I want the Tepes bank ledger. The original."
The Old Tepes King took a slow, deliberate step forward. The greed in his eyes was sudden and blinding. He turned his head slightly toward Elmenhilde, a sneer playing on his lips.
"Why honor a deal with a dying dog?" the King murmured, though his voice carried effortlessly across the silent room. "Look at him. He can barely stand. Marius broke him." He gestured grandly to the shattered hall. "We have our castle back. We have my daughter. Let our guards finish him, and we keep his secrets. The human dies here."
Jin didn't argue. He didn't beg for his life, nor did he remind them of honor.
Instead, his eyes went entirely dead—two cold, emotionless voids of crimson. A sickening series of pops echoed through the hall. Snikt. His razor-sharp bone claws slid out .
Despite his battered, exhausted body, the air pressure in the room suddenly plummeted. A faint, terrifying aura of Touki began to crackle around his skin, hissing like water on a hot iron.
"Looks like I'm killing every vampire in Rome today," Jin said. The words weren't a shout; they were a quiet promise.
The twelve elite guards instantly took a synchronized step backward, their combat instincts screaming at the sheer, suffocating density of the killing intent rolling off the human.
The Tepes King's face flushed with insulted pride. "Cowards! Forward! Kill him!"
The guards swallowed their terror and raised their weapons, bracing to charge. Jin shifted his weight, digging his boots into the cracked marble, preparing to hurl his body into a suicidal blender of blades and fangs.
Then, the world turned gold.
Suddenly, the dim, ruined throne room was bathed in a blinding, holy radiance. Valerie, who had been standing silently in Jin's shadow, stepped forward.
The Sephiroth Graal hovered in the air before her, spinning slowly, radiating a divine warmth that pushed back the chill of the vampires. But this time was different. She wasn't weeping. She wasn't being commanded. Her pale eyes were wide, clear, and fiercely determined.
A torrent of liquid, golden light cascaded from the chalice, washing entirely over Jin.
The effect was instantaneous. His depleted mana pools refilled with a rushing roar. The bone-deep exhaustion vanished in a single heartbeat. Jin stood up to his full, imposing height, the staggering, wounded man entirely replaced by the terrifying, apex-predator presence.
The Tepes King's jaw dropped. His face contorted in furious disbelief.
"Valerie!" the King roared, his aristocratic veneer shattering. "What are you doing?! You belong to this family! Step away from that human!"
Valerie remained entirely silent. For a fleeting second, she cast her eyes down, thinking. Then, she took a sharp breath, lifted her chin, and stared directly into her father's eyes with burning defiance , sure in her choice .
The first step she has taken in her life.
She took a step backward, placing herself firmly behind Jin's broad back. She used the human as her shield, claiming her side in this war without speaking a single word.
Jin felt the slight shift of the air behind him. He glanced over his shoulder, his eyes softening just a fraction as he looked at the fragile girl hiding behind his back. The rigid, murderous tension in his posture eased a little.
"I am in your debt again," Jin said quietly, making sure only she could hear. "I will repay this."
At that very juncture, the heavy doors at the far end of the hall opened wider. The Carmilla Queen herself stepped into the fray, having observed the unfolding tension. She took one look at the fully healed, fully lethal Jin, and the rebellious Longinus user standing defiantly behind him.
Her mind moved like a supercomputer. She did the math instantly. Fighting a fully restored Jin, backed by the supreme healing capabilities of the Sephiroth Graal, wasn't a battle—it would be a mass suicide.
She glided forward, her presence commanding absolute silence, and leveled a chilling glare at the sputtering Tepes King. With a single, sharp wave of her hand, she shut him up.
"We are not fools," the Carmilla Queen proclaimed, her voice ringing with icy authority. "And we are not oath-breakers. We will follow our promise."
She turned slightly, gesturing to her representative. "Elmenhilde will take care of our promise to you, Mr. Jin. She has my full power in this matter."
The Old Tepes King looked as if he had swallowed a whole, sour lemon. His mouth opened and closed silently, but he ultimately shut up. Even his greed couldn't override his basic survival instinct; he knew crossing the Carmilla Queen and a fully restored Jin meant his own immediate death.
Jin nodded his head once in acknowledgment, but he didn't lower his guard, nor did he retract his claws.
"The second thing I asked for," Jin stated, his voice echoing in the silent hall. "The vampire factions will not interfere with Valerie. From this second on, she is free. Whatever she does will be of her own free will."
Jin's crimson eyes locked onto the Tepes King, pinning the old vampire in place. "And if someone interferes with her... I will hunt them down."
The Tepes King sputtered in outrage at the sheer disrespect, his face turning an ugly shade of plum, but the Carmilla Queen's icy stare forced his absolute compliance. She inclined her head gracefully, accepting the term.
"Agreed," the Queen said smoothly. She looked toward her subordinate. "Elmenhilde, take care of Mr. Jin's requests."
She turned her back on the carnage, her pristine dress swirling. "Come," she commanded the remaining vampires. "We have much work to do for the restoration."
===
Last chapter of rome .