Beneath a dark sky lay a space filled with nothing but red mist.

At the center of it stood a massive fortress.

And in the deepest part of that fortress.

At the center of a vast and splendid altar.

An old man stood there.

A back bent deeply over.

Legs so thin and frail it was a wonder he could stand at all.

A black aura starting from his eyes and spreading across his entire face.

His white hair had lost all nourishment and turned dry and brittle, like a plant long dead.

And his face was full of wrinkles carved there by long years of worry.

But.

His eyes alone were a little different.

“Oh...!”

The old man’s sinister-looking eyes shone bright as jewels, and a single tear rolled down from them.

“At last.”

The old man’s life had been stained through and through with regret.

A wounded monster, as weak and pitiful as could be, starving and diseased, counting down the days until it died.

That monster had happened, by chance, to meet a great being and receive a new life far beyond what it deserved.

But.

The painful memories from before it gained that new life had remained branded into its mind, never fading.

Even if it had barely obtained a new life.

There was still the fated death that would one day come for that life as well.

Consumed by fear of that end, it had never been able to enjoy everything life had to offer.

Even when it looked upon something beautiful, it imagined only its ugly end.

Even when it shared a pleasant conversation with someone, it could picture only that person betraying it.

After even the one friend with whom it had been able to speak lost his life beneath that sun.

Throughout its long life.

The old man had no choice but to remain buried in regret and fear.

“At last, I have done it, Progenitor.”

But.

Not anymore.

“Through the authority you bestowed upon me, I have overcome my fate...!”

He had succeeded in overcoming the inevitable fate decreed for all his kind.

The death given to them.

The sun.

Whoooosh....

As he straightened his body and swelled with ecstasy.

That ecstasy spread to every blood relative connected to him by blood.

The realization of the miracle he had achieved, and the joy of it.

Covered the territory of the mighty bloodline that had occupied a fifth of the world.

Neferat’s domain.

The ending decreed for all vampires.

Now that he had overcome the sun.

He no longer needed to fear death.

Freed from the days when he had been consumed by fear, doubting and fearing everything.

He was now able to begin a truly new life.

Was that why.

Step.

Even though he sensed a presence approaching from outside.

He did not drive it away, so overcome was he by joy.

“I do not know what brings you here... but I have glad tidings.”

Rather.

He cast off the self that had spent all that time doubting everything.

And wished to sincerely welcome this new visitor.

“We can now....”

...But.

He had always lived only in suspicion.

And had always regretted living such a life.

So even as he looked at the man with the savage appearance who had come to find him, he failed to realize it.

Crunch!!!

That his suspicion.

Had not always been wrong.

***

‘Good God.’

The thing I had been forced to face not long after arriving in this land.

The true cause behind this vast continent falling into the hands of vampires.

That crimson cloud which, despite clearly being a power created by vampires, had somehow been able to block even the sun.

Now that I thought about it.

I should have realized it much sooner.

‘The authority of the Melchiorn Bloodline is strength. And beyond that, the power they can use is beasts.’

It was an authority heavily skewed toward purely physical ability.

Far removed from the magical power needed to create a gigantic cloud like that.

“How could I not hate him?”

And yet.

That the Grand Duke of Melchiorn had created a cloud that massive.

“Not content with brutally murdering and devouring the master of my soul when he had let down his guard after completing his great work.”

At first, I had simply accepted it, thinking the Grand Duke must just be that extraordinary.

But that wasn’t it.

“And now his remains are being used as that creature’s tool, desecrated like this....”

“...!”

“How could I not hate him!”

A blood cloud holding authority so great it could block even sunlight, the natural enemy of all vampires.

The authority of the Melchiorn Bloodline could not produce something like that.

That itself was.

‘Definitive proof that the Grand Duke killed the heads of the other bloodlines....’

The one who had been so enraged by the destruction of the other bloodlines.

Who had instead wanted those bloodlines rebuilt. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Had in fact been the very one responsible for their destruction.

“...Why?”

What mattered was.

The reason.

“Why did that bastard kill your lord?”

If it had been nothing more than a foolish mistake.

And if he later regretted it and sought to bring the other bloodlines back.

Then there would have been nothing strange about what the Grand Duke was doing now.

But.

“To achieve transcendence.”

If that wasn’t the case.

Then the story changed a little.

“I do not know how that fool came to such a mad notion... but it seems he desired to reach the same realm as the great Progenitor.”

“...And?”

“By killing all the heads of the bloodlines... those who, like himself, had shared in drinking the first blood bestowed by the Progenitor... and by drinking their blood, he came to harbor the delusion that he could reach the same station as the Progenitor.”

The four Grand Dukes.

They were the ones who had shared and drunk a single drop of blood bestowed by the great Progenitor.

Put the other way around.

If all of the Grand Dukes’ blood were gathered in one place, then perhaps that would mean one could recreate that single drop of blood bestowed by the Progenitor.

“Truly foolish and dull-witted, is it not?”

Having said that much, Karhin lowered his head and began to chuckle, as though he couldn’t hold back his laughter.

“And even if, just as he fantasized, he could achieve transcendence by devouring all the other Grand Dukes....”

There were four Grand Dukes in total who had shared that first blood.

If Valarak’s aim had been to devour the other three Grand Dukes besides himself.

Then there was one enormous problem.

“Grand Duke Isabella and her bloodline lost their lives beneath that sun!”

“......”

“One fragment of the first blood, divided into four, has already vanished.”

At those words.

I recalled what this bastard had said just before I subdued him.

“Return to your Grand Duke and tell him this clearly. Though this body may become the Grand Duke’s prey....”

“Foolish Valarak! Your will shall never be fulfilled!”

Only now did I understand what that had meant.

If that Grand Duke’s goal was to recreate the “first blood” bestowed by the Progenitor.

Then once the Karshtein Bloodline had already perished, that goal was as good as failed.

But.

“...Good God.”

That was only true.

If the Karshtein Bloodline had truly been wiped out completely.

The first blood, divided into four.

Of those pieces, the one believed to have vanished completely.

What that Grand Duke wanted... even if in an extremely diluted state.

‘Ariella....’

One single drop.

Still remained.

***

“Good God....”

“...Why are you so flustered?”

Leaving his words behind me.

I fell into thought, cold sweat running down me as I covered my face with one hand.

If what he said was true.

Then the Grand Duke’s purpose was to gather once more the first blood that had been bestowed by this so-called Progenitor.

“Didn’t you say there was also a bloodline called Harcon? What about them!”

“...I do not know that much. After my lord was killed, Valarak’s servants invaded our territory. Having lost our lord, we had no choice but to be miserably driven back... and I as well, after losing our lands, turned into mist and hid. I spent a long time secluded in a place where they would not find me... in the sewers beneath the Melchiorn fortress.”

He said he didn’t know.

But I did.

‘If what the Grand Duke said was true, then the Harcon Bloodline had already perished too.’

I didn’t know the exact process.

But.

My instincts were screaming at me.

‘That side too....’

Come to think of it.

Unlike Ariella, who had said she had never seen Grand Duke Valarak before.

Karhin seemed to have seen him in person.

Unlike her, who had been no more than a baroness.

Karhin’s rank was marquis.

A being who clearly stood among the great nobles.

‘And Karhin called the Grand Duke foolish and dull-witted.’

Ariella had said the rumors she’d heard might have been nothing more than nonsense.

But maybe those rumors had been true after all.

Maybe Grand Duke Valarak really had been a savage and foolish being.

“Let me ask you one thing.”

“What is it?”

“Among the abilities your lord possessed... was there also some way to hide or deceive emotions?”

The reason the Grand Duke I had seen hadn’t seemed that way.

Only now was I certain.

“That should not be something known to others... how do you know of it?”

“Ah, damn it.”

The head of the Neferat Bloodline, who possessed extraordinary wisdom.

And the head of the Harcon Bloodline, who was said to possess exceptional senses.

‘...Even Ariella could take the memories and knowledge of those she drank from.’

By devouring those two.

That was how he had become the Grand Duke he was now.

***

“...Judging by your expression, it seems you know something.”

“Yeah.”

And.

Having thought that far, I looked at Karhin.

‘The Grand Duke’s purpose is clear.’

Not Isabella herself, obviously.

But Ariella, her direct blood descendant who had inherited that blood.

He was probably planning to raise her, strengthen that power.

Then devour her as he had the other Grand Dukes, and through that recreate the first blood.

‘We have to stop him.’

The problem was.

How to stop that Grand Duke.

If it were a situation like last time, where I was facing the Grand Duke one-on-one.

I might still have had a way.

But if I tried to ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) interfere with the Grand Duke after learning this goal.

Then the Grand Duke would use all of his servants to stop me as well.

I had no way to handle all of them.

“Let me ask one more thing.”

“...You do have a lot of questions. What is it?”

“You said the first reason you’re helping the people here is to take revenge on that Grand Duke Valarak.”

If so.

What I needed.

“Are you... feeding on the humans here?”

A trustworthy ally.

And.

This bastard still hadn’t proven he could be trusted.

***

“You said the first reason you’re helping the people here is to take revenge on that Grand Duke Valarak. Are you... feeding on the humans here, or turning them into your servants?”

If his purpose in building up power was to take revenge on that Grand Duke.

Then it wouldn’t be strange if, to increase his own strength.

He had been feeding on the humans here.

“Of course not. The Grand Duke is overwhelmingly stronger than I am as a vampire. There is no answer to be found in a struggle between bloodline members, so why would I seek to increase the number of bloodline members?”

“There’d be no need to increase the number of servants, sure. But isn’t it still likely you’ve devoured someone to recover your own strength?”

At my words.

He stared at my face for a moment.

Then soon gave a bitter smile and said,

“...It is not as though I never considered it.”

“...What?”

At the words that came from his mouth.

I was still caught off guard when—

“Do you know? Most of the techniques I taught the others here were techniques once practiced by vampire hunters.”

He continued in an even tone.

“But if we are being precise, those techniques are not truly of such a high order. Compared to the secret arts of my true calling... the sacred knights, they are flawed techniques.”

This bastard had taught those humans those secret arts in order to fight other vampires.

If that was the case, it would have been better to teach them stronger techniques.

And yet he hadn’t.

The reason was simple.

“As their name suggests, sacred knights are those who wield faith as a weapon... faith is required in order to bring out that power.”

“...Ah.”

“Spreading faith, and getting others to sincerely embrace it, was no easy task. I tried it with the humans here as well, but in the end only three succeeded.”

And then.

Looking up at the sky, he said,

“Conversely, it means that one who has lost that faith can no longer use the sacred knight’s secret arts either.”

“...You mean.”

“Even if, after becoming a vampire, I came to regard my lord as the master of my soul... and even if it has been thousands of years since these eyes of mine were able to directly behold that sun.”

A short while ago.

I remembered the light this bastard had created and launched into the sky.

The moment I realized what that meant, my eyes widened in shock.

“It seems the essence of a living thing does not change so easily.”

Even though this bastard had been a vampire for thousands of years.

That meant he had still preserved that faith.