“Now then, rest in peace.”

At the moment the grand duke’s head turned completely to ash.

At the same time.

The light that had been gradually sinking beyond the horizon.

That sun finally set completely, and even the glow of dusk vanished.

“...”

“...”

A world that had become wholly night.

Within it, the people blankly stared at their Guide.

‘That conversation just now... what in the world was it...?’

The exchange between the grand duke and the Guide.

They had not understood its exact contents.

But—

‘The grand duke showed the Guide reverence.’

At the very least, they could tell that something had passed between them that they themselves could not comprehend.

That fact alone was enough to leave those watching so overwhelmed they could barely move properly.

But then.

“...Huh?”

The ones who had been staring blankly at that sight.

Their gazes turned upward to the sky.

The reason was simple.

Srrrr...

From up there.

Something was happening.

The sun had already vanished beyond the horizon.

The world had become night,

and only a faint light remained, born of the moon and stars.

And yet.

Paaaaaaaaaaaang...!

From that sky.

A vast light came pouring down.

“That is...!”

The people widened their eyes and stared there.

There—

the light that should have disappeared beyond the horizon.

Light that, by the most natural law of all, should no longer have been able to shine upon this land.

“The sun...!”

The light of the sun

was pouring down here.

“...The sun is blessing him!”

The difference was this.

That light did not shine in every direction the way ordinary sunlight did.

It did not spread out, but descended in a straight line.

Illuminating only a single being.

“It is blessing the Guide!!!”

The man standing before the grand duke.

The Guide.

A great pillar of light that had appeared by piercing through the darkness of night illuminated the Guide’s body.

Thud.

The first to drop to her knees was the woman who followed the Guide’s will.

Beginning with her,

the soldiers who had come with her and followed the Guide all bowed themselves.

Thud, thud...

And then.

All the awakened knelt toward that light.

Worshipping the Guide who had led them across this land and saved them from evil.

And worshipping the light that blessed him.

***

...However.

While all the awakened had their heads bowed,

there was one being, unlike them, who watched that sight without lowering its head.

‘A blessing?’

A being that was not awakened.

Not merely not awakened—

but one that would be annihilated the instant it touched that light.

‘Ridiculous!’

Ariella.

Only after confirming that the sun in the sky had fully passed beyond the horizon

was she finally able to come down to the ground.

While she had been away from her place,

the grand duke must have ravaged this city freely.

That chef would somehow have dealt with even that.

But perhaps his body had still suffered serious damage.

It was with that thought, in urgent alarm, that she had rushed here.

Contrary to what she had expected.

That chef’s condition looked far too normal.

The power that had filled his body as well had vanished, as if the time of that cooking was over.

But.

‘That is no blessing.’

Even so.

Her eyes, as she looked at Shin Youngjun, could only be filled with worry.

The reason was simple.

The blood flowing inside her body.

...That same blood, which would now also be flowing inside Shin Youngjun’s body.

‘A curse!’

It

feared that light immensely.

The curse engraved into the blood screamed.

At a glance, it looked like a scene of nothing but beauty and sanctity.

But.

That vast pillar of light was not there to bless someone.

‘It is there to annihilate him...!’

It was the hateful light of a natural enemy,

meant to destroy the newly born noble who had come into being through her blood.

Still.

If there was one thing she still could not understand—

‘That light is aimed at a single being with hatred to that degree.’

And yet—

“How laughable.”

The man whose eyes now bore a crimson glow

was looking at that light and smiling.

“A thing that could not even drive back the Progenitor, yet has done nothing but torment its descendants.”

At that sight.

Ariella found herself entertaining a thought.

Perhaps.

Perhaps he had still remained human...

For a moment she nearly thought how fortunate that would be.

But regrettably.

“Do you think that because it could not remove the Progenitor, it might be able to remove me?”

The hope she had carried was wildly off the mark.

***

...After drinking the serum.

After using Morzan’s mana to “cook” the grand duke’s blood.

I blankly raised my head and looked forward.

[————]

The status window floating before my eyes.

Its contents had now become completely unrecognizable.

‘...The cooking was completed properly.’

The blood that had begun to flow out of the grand duke.

It had been a dish cast using all of that as ingredients.

The infinite mana originating from Morzan would cook all of that blood to the very end and purify all the souls within it.

All I had needed to do was hide in a safe place and wait for Ariella’s battle to be wrapped up...

Throb.

...or that was what should have happened.

“...”

I felt something in my head.

Something crashing inward toward me.

The status window was already ruined.

The fact that the status window, which should have properly explained my physical condition, was gone left me feeling deeply at a loss, but—

‘My body...’

Even so.

Instinctively, I was able to understand what this phenomenon was.

‘It’s changing.’

I slightly lifted my head and looked around.

Was it because Ariella’s blood and the grand duke’s blood were scattering through the air?

My vision was strangely red.

In that state, I looked around.

The awakened who had somehow fought to the bitter end, even while facing the grand duke’s status.

I could see them sprawled everywhere, groaning from their injuries.

Heroes who had fought to the very end on the most dangerous battlefield.

Their wounds looked severe, but if they were saved even now...

Gulp.

They might still live.

But.

‘Those bastards...’

When I looked at them,

that was not the first thought that came to mind.

‘They look delicious.’

...!

At the thought that had come from my own mind,

I flinched and had no choice but to step back.

‘Just now!’

If I had let my guard down for even a moment,

my body would have leapt toward those wounded first.

I would have buried my face in the blood they were shedding and torn into them greedily.

‘Don’t look.’

At that thought, I turned my head away from the people and looked over the battlefield.

Ariella and the grand duke.

I could see the two vampires fighting.

And.

‘Pathetic.’

The thought slipped out without warning.

‘Even after receiving my help, that’s all she could manage.’

...!

Again.

I jolted at the thought that had arisen in my mind.

‘...So this is what it was.’

My reason was still intact.

Each time thoughts like this emerged, it was possible to restrain myself by placing constraints on myself.

But.

‘My nature is changing.’

And I also knew this:

before nature, something like reason would not hold out for long.

***

When I had first conceived this operation,

Ariella had said to me—

‘You called it a mad operation...’

The reason had been simple.

It was not because it was an operation involving a fight with the grand duke.

Nor because it was an operation that required releasing [Morzan].

Nor because it was an operation that required persuading Jinlei.

‘My species.’

It was an operation that could only work if my species as a human changed.

And I had been saying I would carry out something like that.

‘Endure it.’

Karhin came to mind.

When he held onto his identity as a human, he had been beautiful as a statue.

But when his identity as a vampire surfaced, he turned into a vicious monster.

Even the way he spoke and the way he behaved had changed little by little.

Ariella too had said similar things to me several times.

‘A change in species... does not end with a few words in the status window being swapped out.’

The root of the being.

Change occurred starting there.

...Had she also said that my talent as a noble seemed rather exceptional?

“Grrk...”

Only now.

I could physically feel what those words meant.

The instincts of a noble trying to burst out from inside my body.

...I did not know how extraordinary the talent I possessed was.

But if it was this hard to suppress,

then I would almost rather not have had such talent at all.

‘I can’t change...’

Crack, crack...

From the level of DNA onward.

My body was changing, and the structure of my brain was changing.

The human mind can look great in one sense.

But in truth, it is nothing more than the product of hormonal action in the brain.

It seems to control the body, yet is in fact bound to the body.

‘But.’

Precisely because of that.

The moment that body changes—

‘If those inferior scraps are useful for anything at all, it would be as my food.’

Thoughts I would never normally have began to flood upward like madness.

‘I have to suppress it.’

I had expected it to be difficult, but still.

This was beyond imagination.

I could only be horrified inwardly.

‘Ariella... she endured bloodsucking in a state like this?’

Impossible.

It was not that I underestimated Ariella’s mental strength.

But this was not a level that could be endured through mere human willpower.

It was a change in the very mode of thought itself.

No matter how strong that will might be, once the mode of thought had changed,

that powerful will would only drive actions in accordance with that changed way of thinking.

‘Is there... some difference between Ariella and me?’

If there was a difference...

it was that Ariella had become a vampire through Isabella, in a way similar to ordinary vampires.

And I—

‘Because of the serum?’

The serum Luca had made for me.

Through that serum, decorated with all kinds of grandiose phrasing,

I was being reborn as something else.

I did not know exactly what kind of change that difference had brought on.

But one thing was certain.

‘This is not something I can suppress just by deciding to suppress it...!’

What was tormenting me now was not an outside force, but my own thoughts.

There was a limit to suppressing something like that.

Eventually, I would compromise with myself and be devoured by this nature.

‘In that case.’

What I could do...

was decided.

Tremble, tremble...

I placed my shaking hand on my chest.

There, I felt the solid touch of a dagger.

Gripping that dagger, I said,

‘Resistance to unconsciousness... resistance to death... release.’

With a soft slide.

It did not appear in the status window.

But I could feel the protection that had been connected from that dagger to me disappear.

In that state.

I brought my hand to my thigh and took hold of one “dish” there.

‘...Good thing I practiced in advance.’

The warriors of Cheonsan Armed Forces.

And the body Luca had created.

It was a dish I had practiced with against those bastards before.

Gulp.

I swallowed that dish.

...A taste so exquisite it was almost ecstatic.

And then.

“Grrk!”

A crushing debuff that had been enough to leave even Luca’s mighty body reeling.

Relying on the power of [Junk Food],

I lost consciousness.

***

And then...

“...Well now.”

A voice suddenly reached me as I lay there unconscious.

‘This place...’

The moment that voice opened my sealed eyes,

I found myself in an unknown place I had never seen before.

A black, dark space stretching endlessly.

And all throughout it,

pillars and unidentified structures that shone beautifully even in this darkness.

‘...What is this?’

It was certainly a place I had never seen before.

Even the style of those structures was utterly unfamiliar.

And yet, for some reason—

‘This feeling... it’s familiar.’

Even if it wasn’t this exact place.

It felt as though I had been somewhere similar to this before.

That kind of familiarity.

And then, at that moment.

“If someone were to visit this place for the first time, I assumed it would certainly be Isabella...”

Those beautiful structures of unknown nature.

From the very center of them came a voice.

“...!”

I turned my gaze toward where the voice was coming from.

And there—

sat a small table laid out with simple refreshments.

And seated at that table—

“...or else Harosh. I thought it would be that child.”

Someone who looked strangely familiar...

Black hair, and beautiful red eyes.

“...And yet an utterly unexpected child has come?”

A tall woman in an elegant dress  was looking at me as though she had found something fascinating.