Vol 2 Prologue (1/2)

Prologue A - The Midsummer Watermelon and the Midwinter Alraune

‘Beautiful’

It thought to itself, seeing the red fluid falling from overhead

At that very moment, it came to realize its own self-awareness

It had come to understand its own existence

But the moment the red liquid touched its body, its mind was overridden in an instant

It was covered in the stench of blood

In the end, its ti purely itself--lasted approxile second The ti blood and feel it covering itself

So self Other times, it questioned it

Not knohich was closer to its true intention, the newborn vaan its metamorphosis--in both form and heart

<=>

Centuries before ‘it’ had been covered with blood

It was in an entirely different place that a very sih the same physical experience

Drip Drip

But this was not the most accurate way to describe the scene

Soh red liquid was being poured upon her by the bucketful, along with the stench of iron

Yet she quietly accepted her place

Having neither a sense of self nor a conscious sense ofthe world before her

The red rain was irregular, but continued to fall as though in a routine

This was because she was rooted underneath a guillotine

She had only just been born when the gallows overhead had been replaced by the beheading mechanism

The humans kept their eyes trained only upon the criround, where she stood alongside the rolling heads

A single man noticed her presence The executioner, who had been for a long ti the heads of the criminals, looked at her There was a coe mix of sympathy and envy

But at first, she did not understand this

This was because, up to a certain point, she had no self-awareness

Her life was co to connect her life to the next generation

One cri beheaded His head flew off, showering her in strangely bright and radiant blood

The crowd that had gathered to watch screamed in unison as they shuddered

The headless criminal suddenly took to his feet, took hold of his own head, and scattered into a flock of countless bats--flying off into the distance, out of the executioner’s reach

The sight, though incredible, had once more drawn the crowd’s attention away from her--the one who had lived thus far covered in blood

This was the moment when she had been ‘born’ into a different existence entirely

<=>

The two vampires were born at completely different times, at completely different places

Eventually, they would go on to n to either of them

The two vampires, who normally would have rotted away in the lands of their respective birth, finally encountered one another--in a majestic castle across the sea, surrounded by peaceful streets

Prologue B - Nidhogg and Hraesvelgr

He could not even bring himself to shed tears

The moment his despair reached its zenith, the boy did not even realize the fact of his own despair

‘Sis Where’s Sis?’

Not even knowing if he was in his right an to search for the family that should have been by his side

Everything was consuh it was only the boy’s mind that was in confusion, so to bethat mattered to the boy

He could not even tell if it was night or day

He could not register if his surroundings were bright or dark

He could not figure out if he was standing outside or indoors

And yet the boy continued to look for his sister

As the boy searched, not even knohat he should do or say once he found her, even greater despair swelled before him in a powerful wave

What first hit him was the odor

A tepid breeze He could feel it in his nostrils It began to agitate his sense of smell

Agitation

Agitation

It agitated his nerves, his memories, his life, and even his purpose

The stench that battered away at his heart was a primal one, reminiscent of the smell of rusted metal

‘This is blood’

The moment he realized this, the boy felt his stomach lurch

He shut his eyes in an atte him

But the stench was rew denser and denser, as though sneering at the boy

But the boy knew--

That the one as actually sneering at hi the source of the stench

The boy shut his eyes tight

But things would not get better The world full of despair would not disappear

Time would not turn back

Reality surrounded his world, waiting for the boy to open his eyes and accept it

But the boy rejected it with all his ht

Once he opened his eyes, things will have changed, the boy assured hie to face forward

Was it a nightmare?

Was it just a hallucination?

Was it someone’s idea of a joke?

Was it a fantasy story he had written out on paper?

He had not i so specific for his immediate future, but the boy wished fervently that reality would disappear froht

Was this what it felt like to have hit sosaway, the boy decided to accept his own flight If it ladly accept a lie

Once he opened his eyes--

All he had to do was open them--

As he placed his hopes on his eyelids, a voice reached his ears and cruelly shattered the boy’s fantasies to bits

“Hey Why won’t you open your eyes?”

The boy twitched

He did not know if he was scared or angry

The voice jolted his eyes open, and he turned his gaze to its source He could not move his face or the rest of his body The voice alone was enough to petrify him in fear

“You can look at us, you know You’re going to hurt our feelings”

It was a kind, gentle voice

But the boy knew--the voice was despair cloaked in kindness Everything was despair

The voice that embraced him warmly was despair incarnate

The boy fought his nausea as he fixed his gaze at the source of the voice There were two figures before his eyes

One figure was carrying the other in its arms

It wasa princess

After all, the figure being carried was, to the boy, a true princess

His beloved older sister His only blood relative

‘My only blood relative’

The boy repeated the words to hiain

Until not too long ago, the boy had other relatives--his parents--but noas just down to him and his sister

Their parents had only just beenhis sister He could smell his their blood from the creature, who bathed in the red while it was still warm

And the third smell of blood

The thin strea from his sister’s neck

“Sis”

“That hurts Are you just going to ignoreboy

“H-how how could you how could you? I I trusted you”

“Ahaha! Thanks for trusting“I really enjoyed the look on your face when I betrayed you”

The vampire remained as friendly as ever This fact pushed the boy even deeper into the abyss of despair

Everything began when the boy and the girl--his childhood friend--had gone to explore the woods together

Pulling along his hesitant friend, he stepped inside an abandoned house deep in the woods, which was rumored to be haunted And there they came face-to-face with a vampire

At first they could not believe their eyes Then, they fell into panic But their fears were soon assuaged, and froan to treat the vampire as a friend

Having accepted the fact that vaht:

‘I knew it So there are good vampires out there, too’

Just as it was possible for one good deed of an evil man to coentle character destroyed any fears the boy ht have had about the supernatural

The boy and the girl visited the abandoned house every single day

They heard all kinds of things fro bitten and turned into a va harshly persecuted by hu blood The fact that it had been an entire year since this vampire had been able to speak with others as they did now

It was all the stuff of storybooks to the boy A very personal epic, recounted to him by his new friend

This hy the boy both adreat deal

This hy he had brought the vampire to his home

He wanted to bring this friendly vampire into his world--to the place where his most beloved people were

But the boy had been terribly mistaken

He had underestimated the creature known as the vampire

‘Wow A va to ing between va about

It was only ret this act

Because at theeven deeper than the abyss of despair

Suddenly, so that resembled a watermelon rolled over before the boy’s eyes

He did not have to take a close look to see what it was

His father’s head

Therational thought into the winds

Though he never intended it, his body s

As his entire body screa else

Hisjust out of the corner of his eye

The unnatural hole gaping through her chest It was as though the reddish blackness was staring into his soul

His scream did not stop

The va his rhythers

Crunch There was a crisp i fell before the boy’s feet

What initially looked to be a large mass was more aptly described as small

Falling to the floor with a terribly realistic noise was the body of a child the sae as the boy

The child was entirely unharle as which her neck isted

The class a crush

Corpses rolled before his eyes like a scene out of a freakish play

It crushed the boy’s heart in such a sirotesque manner

The boy once again closed his eyes

A second later, a powerful presence drew very close to his face He could not hear any breathing, but they were probably close enough that his own breath would probably reach

The vampire was there

That was all he could know

That was all he wanted to know

Before this overwhele that had for a moment consumed him disappeared completely

“Please spare me”

The boy found hi for his life

Even though he had lost the people he loved ht there in front of him

“Please spare me Don’t kill me”

His lips continued to plead for his life His tightly shut eyes shed tears that ran down his cheeks and fell to the ground

He was soon enveloped by a gentle voice

“Don’t be stupid I would never kill you”

“Ah hic”

“We’re friends, aren’t we?” The vampire said, with too soft a voice for such cruel words

The boy found hi relieved

He was relieved at the thought that he had, at least, ed to keep his own life But only a moment later, his relief turned to self-hatred at his own selfishness

‘Everyone everyone is dead So why am I relieved?!’

The realization once e, but the boy could do little more than speak to the monster before him

“Why”

“Hm?”

“Why why did you kill them?!”

He did not recall the circumstances clearly, but the conclusion was clear

The vaht home had proceeded to cruelly murder his parents and classmate

“Tell me Why?! What did I? What did they ever do to you?!”

Listening to the boy’s cries, choked with sobs, the vaan to speak

To the boy, whose eyes were still tightly shut, the vampire’s voice was all that comprised the world

He focused his every sense into his ears and waited without intending--for he was petrified with fear

“Why? Let me tell you why”

The voice quietly cocooned the boy as though trying to soften his rigor

“It’s because I love you two so very much”

‘Us “two”?’

The monster’s words finally reminded the boy of his childhood friend

‘Now that I think about it Where is she? Is she all right? No, before any of that I have to help Sis!’

The boy quickly abandoned his worry for his friend and quietly opened his eyes

His sister was in the va fro the rest of her body, she turned her head towards her little brother

She was beautiful

The boy found hiladdened by the fact that his sister had been able to move of her oill

His face relaxed ever-so-slightly as he felt his fears alleviate for a moment

His sister looked at him with a smile

She then put her arht her lips to him

“Wha”

She was no longer even looking at her brother

And--

<=>

I opened my eyes

“”

It was a dreao

Ah, that was a great nap A great reminder

A reminder of my hatred towards him

A ree

But it’s a good thing I didn’t see the rest

That’s right There was more to the story than that

But that part alone I remember clearly It’s so fresh in my mind that I don’t need dreams to remind me

I think the only reason I made it this far is because of the continuation of that scene of utter despair

The end of that tragedy somehow became my hope

I don’t knohen this hope is going to be fulfilled, but I feel like it’s co closer and closer

That alone I’m sure of

I felt a little better I crushed the fangs of the va before me, jaw and all

There was a repulsive noise Shards of splintered bone drove theers I controlled

That hurt

I see So this is reality

In other words

This horde of monsters in front of me are real

This is a bother They’re all nothing but small fry

I wish they could have just run off while I was sleeping

<=>

The young man stood before the monsters

Theat him froze

In the blink of an eye, the varound with a shattered jaw

They were an uncanny group of beast-creatures, looking like human forms twisted into animals It was impossible to tell if they were even vampires or olves

They were the vampires who called this place hoes for quite some time

Severalhu been hired by soe

But this tealy weak The vae in retaliation

That should have ended everything

But the foe standing before their eyes was forciblyit clear--they were the ones whose lives were about to end

In the dark of the abandoned mine--the nest of the vampires and the olves under their command--they were very suddenly faced with an enemy

The eneantic suit of armor

It was of a strange design, a blend of East and West There was a thick layer of ar the events unfolding around hih the slits where the eyes should be, but it was impossible for the vampires to see inside the armor

The reason they concluded that the wearer was a young man was because of the brief words he spoke to them

“Hah Just die for me, okay?”

It was a simple command

As though this was a signal to attack, the monsters instantly prepared for battle

But the young man’s words were, in fact, not what the monsters believed them to be

Because by the time he had finished his sentence, the battle was already over

There was a sound like so The monsters turned around

Where they would nor, all they saas a headless lump of flesh

“Huh?” One of thethe armor uttered

At that very ust of wind stroked their faces

They were one step too late to read the angle from which the wind had blown By the point they could pinpoint the direction, they realized that soh them

The answer to their question was‘It’ had been driven into the dimly-lit wall of the mine

A white stake, blood andfrom its sides

The blood stuck to its surface quickly went grey, then turned to ash and scattered in the mine