[Vampire Progenitor]

Words that had never appeared in the information of any other vampire.

As I stared at that phrase,

sliiide—

the text in the status window floating before me began to change.

[The Progenitor of all vampires, and a being more beautiful and wise than anyone else. Bellatrix had once been nothing more than a low-ranking demon.]

I stared blankly at the window.

The “real” status window could never appear before me here and now.

This was fake.

A counterfeit that thing had made itself after seeing my memories.

Which meant...

‘More beautiful and wise than anyone else...’

...that was something it was saying about itself.

I looked at it with an incredulous expression.

Grinning.

Whether I reacted that way or not,

it just kept smiling at me. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The message in the fake status window continued.

[Originally, she would have ended her life after living little better than a slave to the demons.]

I had heard from Ariella before that the one called the Progenitor had once been a mere low-ranking demon.

Despite being something like an object of faith to its descendants,

that shabby past apparently had never been any great secret.

[But one day.]

And then—

[a great change occurred in the values of this being, once no more than a lowly low-ranking demon.]

A part Ariella had never told me began to appear.

“...A change in values?”

I asked with a puzzled look.

But it simply kept smiling and continued displaying the status window.

[After gaining that realization, she honed the single ability given to her more diligently than anyone. Even knowing that the road she had to walk would be harsh, she never gave up.]

A thing that had once been a low-ranking demon.

I could already guess what that one ability was.

[She drank the blood of insects, drank the blood of beasts, drank the blood of monsters, drank the blood of intelligent beings, and drank the blood of spiritual creatures.]

Bloodsucking.

[She, who knew not what it meant to give up, eventually broke free from the shackles of being a low-ranking demon. Even after that, she remained faithful to the realization she had attained. She sucked the blood of all those she saw and made their souls into her strength, growing ever stronger.]

Maybe.

Maybe its original form had been something close to a mosquito, like the insulting nickname some awakened used.

[She even succeeded in breaking free of the shackles of mortality. Her dazzling growth became so fearsome that even the demons, rulers of the Demon Realm, could not hide their fear.]

I frowned as I looked at it.

Just as I was wondering what exactly it was trying to say with such a long introduction—

[But the joy of escaping the shackles of mortality was only brief!]

Suddenly,

the tone of the status window changed.

[She came to learn a truly horrifying truth.]

“...A horrifying truth?”

I tore my eyes away from the status window and looked at it.

It was still smiling brightly as it looked back at me.

[Upon realizing that horrifying truth, she fell into despair. Thinking there was no meaning left even in growing stronger, she stopped drinking blood and hid herself away in her own space, spending long ages trembling there without eating or drinking.]

Despite that elegant appearance, the way it acted was absurdly frivolous.

And that sort of thing had fallen into despair?

[But even in despair, she did not give up on everything.]

[After spending several hundred years shut away in her own space, thinking... during that time, she devised a way to overcome the despair she had seen. And then.]

Just what kind of despair was it talking about—

I was thinking that, when all at once—

Swoop!

“I found a way in the end.”

Its face pushed straight through the status window and appeared right in front of mine.

***

“A... way?”

“The one I speak of was already walking a great path before me, yet failed in the end. How could I not despair? If even that one could fail at such a thing... then how could someone like me, no more than an imitation trying to follow in those footsteps, ever hope to succeed?”

At first, the words were so sudden I thought it was talking nonsense.

But.

I soon understood what it was trying to say.

‘The reason this thing fell into despair...’

...was because it had seen “that one” fail.

“But over many long years, I shed tears and thought on it. Why did that one fail? Was it because that one was not great enough?”

“...”

“No!”

Those glittering eyes stared straight at me.

“That one failed because that one was alone!”

At those words,

I looked at it as if dumbfounded.

“If there had been an equal companion striving toward the same goal together, that one would not have failed. Ah... if only I had been there at that one’s side as well.”

Judging from what it had just shown in the status window,

and from what I had heard from other vampires,

this thing had probably devoured everything it saw without distinction as it grew stronger.

“But unlike that one, I have not yet failed.”

And yet this thing,

“There was still hope left for me!”

was talking about hope.

About companions.

Words far too bright for something like this.

“Once I found the answer, what I had to do was obvious.”

Whether I found it absurd or not,

that realization seemed to have meant a great deal to it.

“As it happened, among the beings I had devoured before then, there was one that possessed the ability I needed. So I immediately spilled my blood and created a copy of myself. My first child.”

Apparently, it had gone straight into action.

A copy of itself.

And if it was calling that its first child—

“There is one you have seen too, isn’t there?”

A certain being came to mind.

The one that looked especially like it.

No, more precisely—

“Isabella.”

The one that resembled it.

“That’s right. As planned, that child was meant to be my copy—and a companion who would walk with me.”

Originally, the word vampire had referred to this thing alone.

But it changed that name into the name of a species.

In order to create companions that could stand beside it.

“But there was one problem.”

It frowned as though troubled by the memory.

“The path that one showed me was a road of radiant glory. By walking it, I was able to throw off even the mortal shackles assigned to me. But... regrettably, there were far too many riffraff who could not understand that great purpose.”

“What are you talking about?”

“To put it simply, well...”

It scratched its head,

then spoke in an awkward tone.

“As I went around sinking my fangs into anything I laid eyes on and drinking its blood... I built up a bit of resentment.”

“...”

When I stared at it as though I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,

it cleared its throat and continued.

“There were times I picked fights with beings stronger than myself because I thought, ‘This might actually be worth trying.’ And there were times I let prey slip away after nearly catching it. Sometimes I thought I had eaten something properly, only for those close to it to come storming after me in a rage.”

“...”

“At the time, I just thought that was unfortunate and moved on. But those petty creatures remembered all of it.”

At those words,

I recalled something I had experienced not long ago.

“...The sun.”

With its permission,

I had succeeded in borrowing its power.

And while using that power to repel the vampires,

I had managed to grasp the principle behind how that power was activated.

Absurd though it was,

the reason sunlight was fatal to vampires...

was not because vampires were evil and sunlight was sacred.

If anything...

it was the opposite.

“There was a curse in that light.”

A curse.

“Ah, that one was by far the worst of the lot. I only trespassed in its world for a little while because I needed land to stay on, and only ate a little of its flesh or some of its believers because I needed something to eat... and yet for such a powerful being to get so offended over something so trivial. The ones who have more are always the stingier ones.”

A mighty divinity able to exert influence across the universe

had singled out one species and laid upon its light a curse that would annihilate them.

“Because of that... my descendants could only ever turn out to be creatures infinitely lacking compared to me.”

And it probably was not only the sun.

Sunlight was deadly only because the sun’s anger had been the greatest.

Countless other great beings must have hated this thing as well.

“After painstakingly drawing out my precious blood to make Isabella, would you believe it? She came out weak, with no power at all, and couldn’t even assume her original form. I nearly wondered how such a half-baked thing could have appeared.”

Upon the species called vampire itself,

the grudges of countless beings had converged.

“I wondered if I had done something wrong, so I made a few more. I even changed the method. Since Isabella, my pure copy, had problems, I thought perhaps using another species as a host might work.”

And then,

I remembered the myth those vampires so proudly recited.

“I entered a cave. Inside, I found an old man dying there alone, a young bat, and a stupid-looking dwarf.”

Hadn’t the story said that the Progenitor gave them a single drop of blood,

and the four of them shared it?

‘They didn’t share it.’

It was true that it gave them a single drop of blood.

But it had not given that blood for them to divide among themselves.

“But every one of them was the same. Contrary to my design... they were all bundles of defects.”

All of them

had failed to fully accept the power contained in that single drop of blood.

“After being reborn like that, they looked up to me in delight.”

They had considered the blood they received a glorious thing.

So glorious that they worshiped it like a myth.

But in that myth,

their creator’s first thought had been anything but glorious.

“As for me, I was dying of a headache wondering what kind of defective products these were. It was like they were mocking me.”

Disappointment.

The Progenitor those vampires worshiped...

had looked upon them with eyes full of disappointment.

***

“The original plan was to create a copy that, if not equal to me, at least possessed talent on the same level as mine. Then that copy would grow stronger and create another copy... and those copies would go on to create more copies. My plan was for me and my copies to spread across the world and devour everything in sight, accomplishing what could never be done alone.”

“...”

“But instead, even though I hoped that perhaps, through something like an atavistic throwback, a being similar to me might appear in a later generation... as if mocking me for a fool, their strength only weakened more and more with each generation.”

At those words,

I clenched my fist and ground my teeth.

I felt as though I might cry.

‘Children who had just been born.’

Children love and respect the parent who gave birth to them.

Newborn beings who know nothing.

And because of that, the feelings they gave must have been pure feelings that expected nothing in return.

“At that point, what would have been the reward for all the trouble I went through making them?”

And yet.

Its answer to that pure love had been disappointment.

“So.”

They must not have wanted to be born either.

It was this thing that gave birth to them.

If that was the case, then it had to take responsibility for that.

“You abandoned them.”

Rather than take responsibility,

it abandoned them.

Even knowing this thing was an overwhelmingly powerful being far beyond my reach,

I still could not suppress my anger.

“I told you, I did not abandon them.”

It waved its hand dismissively as it spoke.

“I was wondering whether I should give up at this point, but fortunately, perhaps because my blood is just that magnificent, there was one method left. So... I gave them a chance.”

What that chance was,

I knew as well.

“...A chance to devour one another?”

“Yes. Individually, they are nothing but defective products... but all together, the story changes a little.”

A bright smile.

“It was a matter of overcoming the curse. That would naturally require considerable power. Fortunately, that land was the sun’s territory. Its light served as nourishment for life. And there was no shortage of life suitable to be used as food.”

“...”

“Have them devour the life of that land and turn it into copies of themselves, let them increase their strength... and when enough power has accumulated, let one devour all the others.”

Then the being the Progenitor had intended from the beginning.

The realm the grand duke had desperately sought to reach.

“My companion would be born.”

...Transcendence could be attained.

That was why

the Progenitor waited here for one of its children.

The child that would come after devouring all its siblings and descendants for the sake of that goal.

But.

“That no longer matters.”

Unfortunately,

the one who arrived here first was not another vampire, but me.

“Because a far more splendid comrade is here instead!”

And to this thing,

bearing descendants had been no more than one step in the process of reaching its goal.

Which meant that as long as the goal was achieved, whether the one who arrived was its descendant or not did not matter in the slightest.

“Come with me.”

Slowly,

it extended a hand toward me.

“It will be a difficult road. It will never be easy. But...”

In a fervent voice,

as if its heart were swelling,

it said,

“We are no longer alone!”

Its bright voice rang out,

full of hope, as if thrilled by what lay ahead.

“You and I. If the two of us are together, we will be able to overcome any hardship.”

“...”

“Neither that vast Demon Realm nor those damned angels will be able to stop us. Ah... before long, we will achieve a feat even that one could not accomplish.”

And then.

As I looked at it in all its excitement—

“Devour the entire universe—”

“No.”

I felt a little bad about it, but

I decided to dump cold water over that excitement.

“...What?”

“I said no, damn it.”