“...!”

The grand duke could tell what was happening to its arm.

The hand into which it had poured power in order to crush its enemy.

The blood flow contained in the muscles of that arm...

Gush!

...was draining away at an explosive rate.

Blood was the driving force of power.

And now all of that blood vanished.

Even the muscles that had bulged swelled down and caved in.

No matter that the withered arm stretched out.

Tap.

The hand lightly extended by the being it had regarded as nothing but laughably insignificant.

It could not even break through that hand, and was merely stopped.

‘...’

The grand duke looked at its shriveled hand.

Then it turned its head and looked to the side.

There, the blood still flowing toward Shin Youngjun.

That blood had had its initiative stolen by Ariella, barely failing to reach the man’s body.

“Jinlei.”

One strand among it—

was flowing into Jinlei.

“Why?”

Along with those words.

The blood inside the grand duke’s body began to move.

...To cook the grand duke.

One of the ingredients the chef had intended to prepare.

The reason he had fought the grand duke there in the capital at all, even going so far as to divide his strength and take the risk.

[Blood Sorcerer]

One who can freely control even the blood of bloodkin.

He wrung out the last of his remaining mana and exercised that ability.

The blood that had been aimed at Shin Youngjun.

That blood that had been flowing out like a stream.

KwaKwaKwaKwaKwaKwaKwa!!!

It began to burst forth as though exploding.

An enormous volume of red liquid pouring down like a waterfall.

What Jinlei had done was only add a slight bit of force to blood that had already been flowing.

But the change brought by that small addition was immense.

“...”

The grand duke’s power weakened sharply.

Watching the strength disappear from its body.

Even the force in the fist it had steeled with will drained away.

So vast was the amount and force of the blood gushing out,

that even Ariella, far away, could not control the flow perfectly.

And so.

...Tap.

One drop from it splashed onto the man standing beside the grand duke.

Onto Shin Youngjun.

...The oath was fulfilled.

***

With a soft rustle.

The blood that had been pouring down like a waterfall began to stop.

“...”

The power that had been helplessly torn away by Ariella.

Its flow had finally halted, and yet—

far from rejoicing,

the grand duke looked to the side with empty eyes.

‘He deliberately did not avoid it.’

Even if it no longer had to fear its strength being stolen now,

it knew that had not happened by chance.

It had only happened because that one had intentionally allowed it.

The only thing it wondered was why he had not avoided that blood.

But it did not take long to learn the reason.

“...Kuhk.”

Suddenly.

Blood burst from its mouth.

‘...What.’

A vampire that held dominion over blood.

And not merely one of them, but a grand duke at the very pinnacle.

For such a being to cough up blood—

under normal circumstances, it would have been impossible.

Nor was this something Jinlei had done.

Nor was it because of the oath.

The reason was something else entirely.

—Grand duke.

“...”

A voice sounded from within its body.

To be precise.

A voice coming from its blood vessels.

—You have grown weak.

The grand duke had grown excessively weak.

So weak that—

—you cannot even control... us anymore.

Those it had devoured.

...So weak that it could not even suppress their souls.

The souls inside its body began to rampage madly.

The blood that had started to pour from its mouth did not stop there.

“Kuhk...”

Its ears, its eyes, its nose.

Even every pore across its body.

—Grand duke...!

—Did you think you could devour us and then live in comfort all by yourself...!?

—Even after you devoured us, we still devoted ourselves to you...!

As souls filled with rage rampaged within it.

Its body began to break down more and more.

‘I see.’

Only then did the grand duke understand why that man had accepted that single drop of blood.

‘You mean to make me pay for my sins... to those I devoured.’

What that one had wanted was not some ordinary ending in which the grand duke simply died after all the blood was sucked from its body.

It was something far more horrific.

—I hate you!

Those it had betrayed.

A final end brought about by them.

Pop, crunch, crack...

All the blood in its body battered it from within,

and blood poured out from every opening in its body.

Its body shrank more and more grotesquely all by itself.

Then—

Puhaak!

Its flesh exploded.

***

“Bring the wounded over here!”

The battle was over, but the awakened still had no choice but to keep running frantically.

There were countless dead.

And just as many wounded.

There were also too many to count still trapped beneath collapsed buildings, waiting to be rescued.

Most of the awakened were busy tending to them.

But.

Among them, there were a few who had to confirm the situation.

“It was definitely here.”

The place where the grand duke had last appeared.

When they arrived there,

they could not help but frown.

“That one... just what...”

After reaching the site,

the first thing they saw was a man who looked like a corpse, breathing and nothing more.

One of those who saw him widened their eyes and said,

“It’s General Jinlei.”

“What?”

It was a name they had hated to the core.

Yet no one who heard it openly expressed hatred.

“What in the world happened to him...”

“How does a perfectly fine person end up like this?”

The first reason was that his condition was so miserable it made them forget even their hatred for a moment.

And.

The second reason was...

to begin with,

people were not all that interested in Jinlei.

Their eyes turned elsewhere.

“...The Guide.”

The man standing a short distance from Jinlei.

Shin Youngjun.

And the shape lying beneath his shadow.

“The Guide has hunted the grand duke!”

The grand duke, reduced to nothing but a head.

People’s gazes focused there.

A bit of strength entered the bodies of those rushing forward.

Even the mist that had blocked the light wrapped around the grand duke—

was now sprawled there in one place like discarded human skin.

The grand duke had no protection now.

At this point, even the small amount of light they emitted should have been enough to eliminate it.

But.

Just as they charged toward the grand duke.

Swoosh.

“Guide?”

Their Guide—

raised a hand, as if to stop those rushing in.

“Step back for a moment.”

With his back turned to them,

he said that while looking at the grand duke.

For some reason,

the people felt a slight sense of incongruity from that sight.

‘...What is it?’

He was clearly the same Guide they knew.

But his atmosphere was strangely different.

He seemed a little taller.

And though he had just fought on a savage battlefield, his hair shone with gloss.

His face also seemed somewhat more beautiful,

and his skin gave off a faint white glow.

He looked almost exactly like the Guide they knew.

But just slightly.

Yes, how to put it.

‘Like a noble...’

There was something noble about him.

That was the feeling.

As the people stood there, unsettled by that fact—

“...Kaha.”

“...!”

The head at the Guide’s feet.

The grand duke opened its mouth.

***

“You have won, young noble.”

Though only its head remained,

its vitality was so tenacious that it still opened its mouth while looking up at the Guide.

“I should not have made that oath back then. I should have realized your elder sister was hiding in that toy. I should have eliminated you the moment I first met you... I have many regrets, but it is too late now.”

Its eyes slowly slid shut, as though resigned.

“Now all that remains is for that toy to devour me.”

It looked as though it had given up everything and was trying to appear composed.

“...Still, that is fine. Though I have failed like this, I now know that my elder sister remains inside that toy.”

Even so.

The corners of its mouth were trembling.

“Once my elder sister devours us, she will meet the Progenitor. Yes... perhaps rather than a fool like me, it would suit my elder sister better to stand in that place.”

The grand duke thought of the elder sister it had once devoured.

She had desired the same thing it did, yet gave up walking that path herself and became the grand duke’s prey.

If so, there was no reason it could not do the same.

“Grand duke.”

And so.

It had been about to close its eyes, thinking that it was enough if its wish was fulfilled through another.

But—

“Your blood will not go to Isabella.”

“...What?”

The grand duke’s pupils began to shake violently.

“You, Kirchhoff, and Harosh. The blood of those three beings.”

“What... are you saying?”

“The bloods left behind by the Progenitor will all disappear completely from this world.”

“...My elder sister was going to devour me and reach the Progenitor...!”

Toward the flustered grand duke.

“I will prevent that.”

The Guide said it like a declaration.

“Ariella as well, and the Isabella inside her. They belong to me now.”

“...!”

“I cannot hand over those I have taken in to something like your Progenitor. So...”

An arrogant and utterly cruel declaration.

“What you intended to do will never come to pass.”

“No...!”

At that,

the grand duke, which had been ready to accept death, began to weep tears of blood.

“P-please, do not do that.”

“...”

“If it is because I tormented you, and tormented your kind... then I will apologize. And if an apology in words alone is not enough, I will atone by every means available to me. So please...”

It had devoured its siblings.

Devoured its own kind.

Devoured all the living beings of an entire world.

It had even devoured its own children.

“You know how immense the value is of the blood possessed by me and my two siblings. That power would be of great help in surviving on this land. Perhaps you might even cease to fear destruction itself.”

The path it had walked through all of that.

It could not end here like this.

“It need not be me. My elder sister, or even that toy... no, Miss Ariella would be enough. °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° Please... anyone at all, just let the end of this path...”

“No matter what you say, it is useless.”

Cutting those words off.

The Guide extended a foot and crushed the grand duke’s mouth beneath it.

“No.”

“No.”

“Mmph...!”

At that declaration,

tears filled with despair streamed from its eyes.

...Then, at that moment.

“Instead.”

The foot that had been stepping on the grand duke’s mouth slowly moved.

And came to rest not on its mouth, but against its jaw.

“I shall grant you mercy, in my own way.”

Swoosh.

Its mouth opened.

And the Guide’s hand moved over it.

“This is the limit of what I can do for you. Be satisfied with this.”

At some point, a small wound had appeared on his fingertips.

From the tip of that finger.

A single drop of blood flowed out.

And then.

Tok.

Into the grand duke’s opened mouth.

That blood fell inside.

‘At this point... what...’

The grand duke’s death was already certain.

Even if a few drops of blood were given to it now, there was no path by which it could survive.

And yet he was suddenly making it drink blood.

An act with no meaning at all...

“...!”

...or so

it thought in that very instant.

“A-ah, ah.”

Memories began to pour into its mind.

That single drop of blood.

The memories of the soul contained within it.

“Y-you are...”

And then.

The eyes of the grand duke, having seen those memories, filled with shock.

“No... you are...”

Soon—

that shock changed into reverence.

Only then was it able to understand everything.

Why that one had been able to stand at its side.

Why a presence that should never have come from him had been felt from him.

Everything.

“A-ah...”

And then.

After seeing the end of those memories,

there was only one thing it could say.

“Thank you...”

It spoke with tears overflowing from the depths of its heart.

“Truly, sincerely... thank you...”

Hearing those words, the Guide silently nodded and said,

“You pitiable, wretched life, shedding tears even over so little.”

At the same time.

His body took one step forward.

“Your wish has been fulfilled.”

Then.

The shadow that had been covering the grand duke’s body vanished.

“Now then, rest in peace.”

The setting sun.

Its crimson light touched the grand duke’s face.

Crackle...!

As soon as the light of the sun touched it,

even the last remaining head of the grand duke began to turn to ash.

‘Ah... yes...’

The three drops of blood that remained within it.

The souls of the three grand dukes descended from the Progenitor also began to dry away.

‘Demanding reasons, speaking of revenge... it was all nothing but bluster.’

And yet.

Even as it faced the annihilation of itself and those within it.

‘I merely wished... just once more...’

The grand duke.

Wearing a gentle smile, thought,

‘...to behold your countenance.’

Recalling the scene it had seen in the memory that one had given it.

Crack.

The being that had been called the grand duke turned to ash,

and scattered into the wind, disappearing.