In the Bar of Mysteries, "Kikyo Nomiya", in Garyuu's private room. Garyuu is still smoking his cigarette in the chair. Shin and Miyu quietly stood in the corner of the room, counting down the seconds.
Even though there were multiple chairs in the room, neither of them dared to sit down.
Creak!
Suddenly, after what felt like hours, the door opened with an ominous feeling.
From the enveloping darkness behind the door, a figure emerged, tall and imposing. He wore a white top hat adorned with a red ribbon. His white coat was accompanied by pristine white trousers and gloves. A cane rested in one hand, while a pair of leashes were held firmly in his other.
His white hair, long and flowing, drifted down to his neck as he walked, the pale strands almost glowing against the shadows. The glint of his white vampire fangs flashed momentarily as he parted his lips, and his red eyes gleamed like the crimson moon. He was a creature of the night- distant, mysterious, and utterly dangerous, A vampire.
Shin and Miyu were momentarily taken aback by his ominous presence. Garyuu instantly got up from his chair, walked past the desk, and bowed.
"Illmere, Sir Jasper. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Please give me a moment, I will get your products as soon as I can." Garyuu reached for the weird-looking artifact on his desk and busied himself while Shin carefully observed the Vampire in front of him.
No longer able to hold his anticipation, he asked nervously. "W-where is my mom…"
The vampire glanced at him for a second, and without saying anything, he looked away, completely ignoring Shin. He didn't even consider Shin something to pay attention to. But out of habit, the vampire gave a slight tug on the leash in his left hand. The other end of the leash still trailed behind the door.
Then—slowly, almost inhumanly—a figure crawled into the room. Like a broken animal, a woman dragged herself forward on all fours, her motions clumsy and shaking. Her body was frail, starved beyond recognition. Long strands of black hair clung to her face like a curtain of shadow and filth. She was completely naked, her skin no longer resembling skin but a canvas of torment. Bruises bloomed across her limbs like rotting flowers, jagged cuts stitched haphazardly with black thread, and patches of melted flesh where burns had fused her skin into scar tissue.
The leash was knotted tight around her neck, leaving angry red welts as she gasped for breath through trembling lips. Drool slid from the corner of her mouth and dripped onto the floor, joining the trail of dried blood behind her. Her limbs quivered with every motion, her entire body shuddering from cold, fear, and exhaustion. Her eyes stared blankly at the ground, soulless and hollow. As if the lights inside her had long gone out. Half her face had been disfigured, a grotesque burn that twisted her once gentle features into something unrecognizable.
And yet, Shin knew. Without question.
His knees gave way as he dropped to the ground. He didn't scream. He didn't speak; he fell into despair. Tears poured freely down his face, falling faster than he could wipe them away. Because despite everything…
Despite the hell she had been dragged through… She was still his mother.
Once loving. Once radiant. A woman who had smiled through every hardship for the sake of her children. A mother who gave up everything, yet never let go of her children's hands.
She was Kikyo Nomiya.
Miyu couldn't believe what she was seeing. Her breath caught in her throat as her feet moved forward, one trembling step at a time. Her eyes widened with disbelief, her lips quivering.
"M-Mom? Is… is that you?" she stammered, her voice barely above a whisper, as tears welled up and began streaming down her cheeks.
Her mind was flooded- no, overwhelmed with memories. The warmth of her mother's arms when the nights were cold under the burnt remains of their home…
The small, careful meals they had shared, always split equally no matter how little they had…
The way her mother smiled, even when her eyes looked tired. Even when her hands were blistered from work. Even when her stomach was empty.
Those memories—those fragile, precious pieces of happiness—shattered in an instant.
Crack.
Gone.
Miyu's lips parted as if to call out again, and her legs tensed. She was just about to run to her mother, to hold her, to shield her somehow from whatever pain she had suffered—
"Aaagh!!"
Shin's voice tore through the room like a blade. It was no longer grief in his voice—it was rage. Pure, helpless rage. He clenched his fists so tight his nails dug into his skin, and when he looked up, his eyes burned.
He charged forward with everything he had, his feet pounding the ground as he aimed straight for the vampire holding the leash. For a split second, it looked as though he might actually reach him—
But the vampire didn't even blink.
With one casual motion—like swatting away a fly—he swung his leg and drove his foot hard into Shin's abdomen.
Crack.
The impact was brutal. Shin's body flew backward, slamming into the tall bookshelf behind him with a sickening thud. Books came crashing down around him, pages fluttering like feathers in a storm. The air was filled with the soft rustle of paper, as if the books themselves mourned the violence they had just witnessed—trying in vain to bury Shin, to shield him with forgotten words.
…
In the Central Cathedral of Akuro, within the grand dining hall…
The long, candlelit table stretched across the chamber, surrounded by the founding vampires. The clatter of utensils had ceased, and silence lingered like a breath waiting to be exhaled.
Lucian, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke, his voice calm but firm.
"As wild as Theo's assumption is… it's not entirely implausible. What troubles me isn't the idea of 'Him' awakening—but rather how they knew. The only explanation I can think of…" He paused, eyes narrowing. "…is that they've found that sacred piece. The one lost during the War of Miseria."
A heavy stillness followed.
Then, Valmir—head of the thirteen—spoke. His voice was deep, thunderous, as though it echoed from the foundations of the cathedral itself.
"If that is true… then the promised time is upon us."
He slowly rose from his seat.
"The time we have waited for. The time of His return."
The moment those words left his mouth, all twelve vampires straightened instinctively in their chairs. Even the maids and servants—those who rarely dared to lift their gaze—froze and bowed slightly, their spines stiff with reverence.
Valmir's voice dropped to a low, chilling murmur. His glowing red eyes pierced through the quiet like a blade through velvet.
"The King… will surely arise."
A breathless silence followed. No one dared to speak.
And then, it hit them.
A cold sweat ran down the necks of every vampire in the room. They exchanged glances—tense, uncertain, excited and afraid. The room was heavy with unspoken truths.
The King's time had come.
…
In Garyuu's room. At the Bar of Mysteries.
The room was silent. Shin was nowhere to be seen. His body was buried under a pile of fallen books.
"Shin!!"
Miyu screamed, frozen in fear. Garyuu, who had been speaking into a strange artifact, turned around.
"Sorry for the inconvenience. I'll take care of these kids now."
The vampire, still calm, replied coldly, "I couldn't care less about peasants. Bring me my products soon; I have somewhere to be."
Garyuu nodded. The room went quiet again. He looked down. An open book had fallen near his feet during the commotion. Its pages were yellow and burned at the corners. At first, they were empty. But then a cold wind swept through the room.
Words began to appear on the page in dark-green ink like magic.
"The King will surely arise."
A sudden swirl of wind erupted in the room. The books covering Shin began to emit a faint dark-green glow from beneath.
The energy grew stronger—until all the books exploded outward in a violent burst.
There he was.
Shin, on his knees, was emanating a dark-green aura. With a low growl, he looked up at the vampire.
"You will pay… I'll make you pay."
The vampire met his eyes. Shin's pupils were like a cat's, glowing with an unnatural green hue. They were filled with rage and pain.
The vampire's calm face faltered. Fear crept in.
Veins on Shin's hand pulsed. He slammed his fist into the floor once, then again—
In the blink of an eye, he was in front of the vampire, and the vampire saw that Shin's fist was only inches away from his eye.
His fist collided with the vampire's face, piercing straight through his head.
Blood. Flesh. Eyeball. Everything exploded outward.
For a moment, there was silence as blood rolled on the ground like a gushing river. But then—
All the pieces blood, brain, skull snapped back into place and formed the vampire's head back to normal. Almost as if Time seemed to reverse.
The vampire didn't die.
Snarling, he gripped Shin's neck and lifted him. Shin fought back, but the vampire's strength was too much. The vampire hadn't used his full power.
Out of nowhere, blood particles formed in the air, shaping into a scorpion's tail. With a strong thrust, it stabbed a deep large hole into Shin's abdomen.
Blood burst from his mouth.
"No!!"
Miyu screamed again, still frozen by fear.
Shin's vision blurred. His strength faded.
The vampire threw him across the room, into the shelves. Shin collapsed, gasping, and tried to stop the bleeding with both his palms.
Miyu broke free. She ran to him, pressing her hands against his wound, desperate to stop the bleeding.
"No, please… please don't die… oh God, I beg you… please save him…"
Her tears mixed with his blood, but no help came. Only more bleeding.
The vampire snarled, but out of nowhere, Cracks appeared on the vampire's head, pulsing and resisting the earlier blow.
His head... it wasn't fully healed. He pointed at Shin, panic creeping into his voice.
"A-a defective king?! Why? Why did this happen? We waited for so long… What was wrong with the Queen's plan? Why is the long-awaited king… defective? Have the heavens forsaken us?!"
Garyuu turned, stunned.
"The King? That's impossible! We never injected him with the King's Embryo. He's just a half-vampire! What do we do now?"
BOOM!
An explosion shook the building. Footsteps echoed from outside. A man's voice called from behind the door.
"Sir! It's the Veilkeepers—they've blown up the roof! Only the back rooms and the underground subterra remain!"
Garyuu gritted his teeth.
"Damn traitors… the illusion must've failed. It's probably the Elves doing. It had to be now, of all times. Don't tell me they felt the king's presence?"
He turned to the vampire, who had now fully regenerated. The vampire said
"Contact headquarters. Now."
He pointed at Shin.
"Keep the defective king. Move the others to the ship," he said, pointing at Miyu.
Soon after, Garyuu called his men. They took Miyu and Ricky—still in the underground subterra facility to the supply ship.
Miyu struggled and cried, but there was nothing she could do. Shin watched through blurry eyes as she was taken.
Garyuu whispered something to the vampire and his white-cloaked men.
Then, he threw Shin over his shoulder and carried him into the underground facility.
Shin was unconscious.
They reached the old cell. Ricky was gone, likely taken already. Garyuu locked Shin inside and turned away.
At the top of the staircase, he paused, staring down into the darkness below…
Garyuu reached into his pocket and pulled out a golden watch. Its hands were moving backward, ticking in reverse.
He held the watch close to his chest, closed his eyes, and whispered a quiet chant:
"Oh, god of deception and illusion,
You are the weaver where shadows lie.
Lies that deceive fate itself—
Grant me your power and cast a shadow of deception upon those I wish."
The moment the words left his lips, he threw the golden watch into the abyss below. It spiraled down through the darkness, vanishing from sight—until a distant crack echoed upward.
The watch had shattered.
From the broken pieces, a strange rainbow-colored smoke began to pour out. thick and glittering, filled with countless sparkling stars like fragments of a dream. The smoke twisted and spread, rolling like fog across the subterra facility, creeping into every corner, every cell, every shadow.
Then, just as the last shimmer passed the top step, the staircase itself vanished before Garyuu's eyes. One second it was there, the next gone.
The entrance to the subterra facility was no longer visible. Hidden completely beneath an illusion.
…
Several weeks had passed.
Shin was still locked up in the same cell. After all that time, his eyes finally opened. His vision was blurry, and his body felt too weak to move.
Where am I? he wondered at first, still disoriented. Right… I'm back in the cell. What happened to me? What happened to Miyu?
As he lay there, memories slowly began to return—pieces coming back one by one. He remembered being injured. A large wound in his abdomen. His hands trembled as he tried to reach down to feel it, but his arms had no strength.
Eventually, he managed to touch the spot. To his surprise, the wound was gone. The skin had healed, though the dried blood remained. It made no sense.
How long has it been? he thought. If I don't get out of here, I'll die of starvation…
With whatever little energy he had, Shin dragged himself toward the wall and leaned against it, breathing heavily. His body refused to move any further.
I… I can't do anything. All I can do is wait. I hope my Miyu made it out… If she's alive, she'll come for me. But if she didn't… then maybe I don't want to live either.
The thoughts weighed heavily on him as sleep pulled him back into unconsciousness.
Time passed, though he didn't know how much. He woke up again and saw the same rusted walls. Then he passed out again. This cycle repeated over and over. The days blurred into weeks and weeks into months.
He hadn't eaten or drunk anything in all that time. His lips cracked, his mouth dried out. His skin wrinkled, his face hollowed. He looked like a corpse, but somehow, he was still alive.
Some strange force inside him was keeping him from dying. At first, he thought it was a miracle. Maybe even hope. But as the pain dragged on, he realized the truth.
This wasn't a blessing. It was a curse.
That unknown power was keeping him alive—just enough to feel every moment of hunger. Every second of suffering.
Eventually, Shin's body gave out completely. He couldn't even lift a finger. All he could do was think. And even that became painful.
P-please… just let me die… I can't take this anymore…
His thoughts were faint now. No one came. Time kept moving, and Shin was left behind.
His body slowly turned to skin and bones. Moss grew around him. He hadn't moved in years. His mind slipped into a numb void—no anger, no sadness, no hope. Just emptiness. His eyes remained closed most of the time. He had nothing left to live for.
In what felt like the end, a single thought crossed his mind:
Why? Why me? What did I do to deserve this? I've never known peace. Why did I have to suffer? Did God forget about me? Was I born just to die like this?
His once black hair had turned white. A single tear slid down his cheek. And with his final breath, he whispered:
"I don't want wealth… I don't want power… I don't want gold… I just want a piece of bread…"
Shin Nomiya died that day. He never found out what happened to his sister. Or his mother.
The world kept moving.
Years later, someone finally broke into the underground facility. Two figures stepped into the cell and saw the corpse.
One of them, a woman in her twenties with long black hair, dropped to her knees and burst into tears. Her sobs echoed through the empty halls.
It was Miyu Nomiya—Shin's sister.
The other figure, a man also in his twenties with neat black hair, removed his top hat and bowed his head.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
That man was Rick Falkner.