Deep underground in Bimana.

This place was probably the location the one who created that fortress considered the most secret and important.

But.

This was not Bimana. It was Ariella’s inner image.

Which meant.

This place, of all places, was the most secret and important location within Ariella’s inner image.

The space where the barracks would originally have stood was, for the most part, similar to the barracks.

But there was exactly one difference.

At the center of the barracks.

In the place where there should originally have been an altar,

there was an elegant dining table that did not suit the sinister atmosphere at all.

“And who might you be, to have come all the way down to a place this deep?”

And sitting there quietly,

was a black-haired little girl.

“...So this is where you were hiding?”

I said, looking at that little girl.

“Isabella.”

“My.”

At that,

the head of the great bloodline passed down from the great Progenitor,

the Progenitor’s direct descendant.

“So you are someone who knows me?”

Grand Duke Isabella looked at me with an interested smile.

***

“Hm. No matter how I look at it, you’re not a face I remember... and yet you know me.”

Grand Duke Isabella.

The reason I had stepped into this [Shadow Veil] again was to find this one.

“Well, I suppose that does not matter.”

And.

There was a reason I had thought this one would be hiding here.

In the past,

I had watched Ariella’s [Ascensions] a few times.

According to the Grand Duke,

the scene shown during the ascension process reflected the deepest part of that noble’s inner self.

During the first ascension,

I saw crimson eyes so frightening they made my skin crawl just from looking at them.

That was probably the essence of Ariella as a monster.

During the second ascension,

I saw a lonely child in pitifully shabby clothes.

That was probably the essence of Ariella as a human.

But.

'The third ascension.'

That third ascension,

I had not seen all the way through because the Grand Duke had blocked my vision.

Even so.

I clearly remembered the image I had glimpsed just before he cut off my sight.

'A black-haired... little girl.'

A child of extraordinary beauty,

but with an air completely unlike Ariella’s.

“Anyway, this is not a place with much worth seeing. I do not know what business you came for, but I would ask that you quietly turn back.”

Even before I peeked into Ariella’s memories,

I had seen that one before.

To be honest.

Even then, I had found it rather strange.

If that scene had truly been Ariella’s inner self,

then what appeared in the third scene I saw should also have been Ariella.

But instead, a completely unrelated figure had suddenly appeared.

“And you think it’s fine to act like the owner this brazenly?”

Thinking about it now,

the reason was simple.

“When you’re the one secretly hiding out here too.”

“......”

In the deepest part of Ariella’s inner self,

the real Grand Duke Isabella had been 'hiding.'

'I was only able to be sure after seeing the Grand Duke trying to accomplish the objective.'

When the Grand Duke tried to achieve transcendence,

there were energies moving within that body, filling that heart.

The blood of the other two Grand Dukes.

And that—

'There had been one inside Ariella too.'

It had simply been hidden so deeply

that no one else, including Grand Duke Valarak,

not even Ariella herself, had noticed it.

What I had seen was not Ariella’s memory.

It had been Isabella hidden deep within her.

“Since when?”

“...I am not quite sure what you mean.”

“...No. I don’t think you need to tell me.”

I recalled Ariella’s past that I had glimpsed.

When Ariella was first remade as a vampire,

Isabella had spoken as if she had given Ariella something special.

Ariella had not known what that meant then.

Even I hadn’t.

“From the beginning.”

Now, /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ I could understand.

“You had been hiding here the whole time... from that very first moment when Ariella was turned into a vampire.”

That special thing—

was Isabella herself.

To be exact,

'For vampires, blood is that being’s memories and life... the soul itself.'

She had divided off a part of her soul

and hidden it inside Ariella.

“You know more than I expected...”

At my words,

a slight crack appeared across the face that had been looking at me.

“I made it so that no one but me could possibly know. Have you perhaps met the me outside?”

“Nothing like that. It just happened somehow.”

“What I find strangest is that even while knowing all of that.”

Smile.

“You can still behave so arrogantly in front of me.”

Kuuuuung!!!

With that smile,

an overwhelming pressure descended onto my shoulders.

“If one is to converse with someone who knows who I am.”

Kwaagak... kwaak...

“Then there is a proper eye level to maintain.”

As if trying to force me to kneel,

the pressure kept driving me down toward the floor.

This was Ariella’s inner image.

Even if that one was only a split-off part, not Isabella’s real body,

that meant nothing here, since this space itself was severed from reality.

Even my [Bimana] was manifested here at its maximum level.

But.

Kwaaaaaaak....

I

gritted my teeth and resisted with everything I had just to keep my knees from touching the ground,

and glared at that one.

“Arrogant... huh.” 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

To begin with, it had a young appearance.

And on top of that, since it was sitting comfortably in a chair and drinking tea,

even with my knees half-forced down, my gaze was still level with that one’s.

“It’s not arrogance.”

“Then... should I call it foolishness?”

“Close... but a little off.”

I clenched my teeth and endured, making sure I would never have to look up at that one as I spoke.

Because really.

Shouldn’t I at least correct one wrong assumption?

“I’m... pissed off.”

“......”

Well.

There was no helping it.

'Because of that cheap little game that thing played... how many people...'

Ariella had been sacrificed to soothe that one’s loneliness.

And it wasn’t only Ariella.

In the end, as an extension of that same matter, I had heard that the great nation that had once stood in their homeland,

the nation called the Empire, had been completely destroyed.

“You know.”

From what I had heard, it sounded like a nation that had committed enough all kinds of atrocities that its collapse wouldn’t have been unjust.

“But I still... can’t stand you.”

That aside,

it still had not been a nation where every last person deserved to die.

“That is unfortunate.”

Smile.

“I rather liked you, in my own way.”

“Well, that’s a damn shame.”

“That only makes me more curious. If you dislike me that much, then what business could you possibly have here?”

That one looked at me with eyes full of curiosity.

“Did you come here because you hate me so much you plan to remove me? If that is your reason, then let me offer some advice—give up. Someone like you can do nothing to me.”

“I know.”

I really didn’t like that one.

But even so, the reason I had come looking for it... was simple.

Sllrk....

Even while resisting the force pressing down on me,

I slowly bent my knees.

That’s right.

Not because it was forcing me to.

By my own will.

“I came because I have a favor to ask.”

Kneeling before that one,

I said it.

***

“A favor...?”

That one looked at me with puzzled eyes.

“You do not seem to be wearing the attitude of someone who needs my help.”

“To be exact... I’m not the one who needs help.”

Looking at that one, I said,

“Ariella.”

“...!”

“I want you to help her.”

At those words.

Her eyes flew wide open.

“...I thought perhaps that might be the case.”

And then.

She glared at me with sharp eyes.

“So you are someone who knows Ella.”

Even the tone had changed.

Simply because I knew of Ariella’s existence,

that one’s manner had changed.

Slash!

Right then.

I suddenly felt a hot sting on my cheek.

When I lightly put a hand to it—

Drip....

I touched a sticky trail of blood flowing from a wound that felt like it had been cut by something sharp.

And that droplet of blood

“Hm.”

flew forward

and touched Isabella’s tongue.

“I see...”

Isabella closed her eyes for a moment as if savoring the taste.

By now, even I understood the meaning of that act.

She had eaten my blood.

No, to be exact—

she had eaten the memories inside my blood.

“So the me outside must already have perished long ages ago.”

As though she had seen all those memories,

she opened her eyes and spoke with a bitter smile.

'She didn’t even know about her own death?'

Now that I thought about it,

that one...

Isabella’s blood must have entered this place when Ariella first ascended into a noble.

'Time doesn’t properly flow inside this [Shadow Veil].'

That was why I had been able to use it like a refrigerator.

Maybe,

for that one, the day Ariella first became a noble

was still fixed in memory as though it were yesterday.

“If you saw the memories, then you understand.”

She had just suddenly learned of her own death.

That had to be pretty shocking.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the room to care about that.

“Help Ariella. If it’s you, then you must have some way.”

This—

was the very reason I had risked myself and plunged into Ariella’s inner image.

“If Ella truly needs my help.”

And.

After hearing me, that one looked at my face for a moment.

“Then as a friend, it is not as though I could not help her.”

That was what she said.

'...Good!'

Inside, I cheered.

But.

“There was just... one thing I found a little strange.”

Unfortunately,

it seemed I was still a little early to get excited.

“You spoke as though you knew Ella.”

“...?”

“But...”

She looked at me and said,

“In none of the memories I saw... did Ella appear.”

“What?”

“Would you answer me?”

Tilting her head, she said,

“How is it that someone who has never even met Ella knows that name?”

***

'What is that supposed to mean?'

When I first heard those words,

I thought that one had some other meaning in mind.

That Ariella did not appear.

Ariella had talked with me as often as just about any of the members of my unit.

If she had seen my memories and even realized her own death from them,

there was no way she could have failed to see Ariella’s existence.

But.

“...?”

That one was looking at me with its head tilted,

as if it truly found this puzzling.

'That.'

And.

The taste on the tip of my tongue told me.

'It’s not a lie.'

There was no ulterior motive, no falsehood.

Truly,

that one had been unable to find Ariella in my memories.

'That’s impossible.'

It was absurd.

Even so, I kept hold of myself and spoke.

“The owner of this space!”

I didn’t know why she hadn’t seen Ariella in my memories,

but the owner of this [Shadow Veil] was Ariella.

That one would know that too.

“I’m asking you to help that one—!”

“I was going to ask about that part as well.”

I was trying to tell her to help that one,

but Isabella cut me off and said,

“What exactly is this place?”

“...!”

And only after hearing those words

did I finally realize.

'Until I brought up Ariella... that one had not thought I knew Ariella.'

Thinking about it, that was strange.

This place was inside Ariella’s veil.

Anyone I met here ought to know Ariella.

And yet,

it was only after I spoke Ariella’s name

that that one seemed to realize I knew Ariella at all.

“The current 'me' should certainly be residing inside Ella.”

The reason was simple.

“At some point, I found myself in a place of unknown nature like this.”

“......”

“So surely you must know something.”

Isabella...

did not even think this space was Ariella’s inner self.

'......'

I slowly turned my head and looked behind me.

The stairs leading up from the surface,

the path I had used to come in here,

were there.

And filling them...

—Kkeuaaaaaaahhh...!

I could see the souls screaming.

'Vampiric blood-draining... absorbs the target’s soul and memories.'

And especially.

Ariella’s efficiency at that absorption was better than anyone else’s.

“Why are you not answering?”

Just like

those who kept eating monster flesh

had eventually ended up with most of their bodies turned into that of monsters, becoming [Aberrant Gourmands].

“From the memories I saw, there were many cases where residents of other worlds appeared in your world by force.”

The more blood-draining Ariella repeated,

the more Ariella’s own essence must have been diluted.

And that was why.

“Could it be that I too was summoned to this land for such a reason? If so, then perhaps even some guess as to how I might return...”

the Ariella of now

had become a completely different being from the Ella that one had known.