A dark night.
Joshua was spending a relaxed evening in the club room, just like always.
He preferred being here alone rather than sharing a dormitory room with someone else.
But suddenly, a voice came from outside.
“May I come in?”
Before he could even answer, the door swung open.
When Joshua saw who stepped into the club room, he jumped in surprise.
“P-Professor Kaisel?!”
It was none other than Professor Kaisel Valencia, the legendary member of the Rangers, who had appeared in the club room.
“W-What brings you here… Oh, right, I should greet you first! Welcome! I’ve always respected you!”
Joshua bowed deeply, but Kaisel didn’t show much of a reaction.
He simply stood in the middle of the room, staring at Joshua.
“Looks like the other students have all returned to the dorms. You’re the only one still here.”
“Ah… Actually, I’m not that close with my roommate, so this place is more comfortable for me.”
Joshua scratched the back of his head with an awkward smile.
“K-Kind of pathetic, huh?”
“I wouldn’t say that. But…”
“But?”
“Shouldn’t you be with your juniors right now?”
“My juniors?”
“I’m talking about the new members who joined the Rangers. They’ve just been through something serious.”
“Well…”
Joshua knew that the two of them had gone through a terrible ordeal due to the incident—or rather, the incident—inside the dungeon.
“To be honest… I just don’t have the face to see them.”
“You don’t have the face?”
“Yes. I feel like I’m partly responsible…”
“That’s not the right way to put it, Joshua.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Kaisel didn’t answer his question.
Instead, he changed the subject.
“You must’ve heard. The recent incident was caused by Sabat Bastia.”
“Yes, I heard.”
“I also heard you didn’t get along with him.”
“Still, I don’t feel good about what happened.”
Joshua let out a sigh.
“We used to be close when we first enrolled. We drifted apart when we joined different clubs.”
“I see.”
“He bullied me a lot since then, but… I still wanted to make peace with him.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
“Huh? Well… he hated the Rangers. He blamed them for the deaths of his teammates in that dungeon.”
“Yet despite cherishing his comrades so deeply, Sabat drained their life force last night and left them on the brink of death.”
“…He did?”
What was this man trying to say?
Joshua stared at Kaisel’s face.
“Today, I reviewed the records of the accident from last year. The investigation was quite sloppy.”
“…?”
“If I had been in charge, I wouldn’t have closed the case like that.”
“Um, why are you suddenly bringing this up…?”
“Joshua. According to the records, you weren’t in the dungeon when the incident occurred.”
“Yes, that’s right. I wasn’t strong enough back then…”
“Sabat said the same thing in his testimony. But…”
Kaisel spoke in a cold voice.
“Did you really not go into the Labyrinth that day?”
“W-What are you talking about?”
“I’m asking if you, too, were there that day.”
“D-Don’t say ridiculous things! How could I have survived when everyone except Sabat died?”
“What if that was the plan from the start?”
“What?”
“Sabat wasn’t a natural-born vampire.”
He wasn’t a natural-born vampire.
Hearing that, Joshua’s eyes widened.
“True vampires are far more powerful. No group of freshmen could take one down.”
“Wait… then…”
“Sabat only became a half-vampire as a result of that accident last year. The victims from that day were used as sacrifices to turn him.”
“P-Professor…”
“Which means, someone else—someone already a true vampire—must’ve been there to turn him.”
“W-What are you talking about?!”
Joshua raised his voice.
But Kaisel remained unfazed.
“Let me ask you one thing, Joshua.”
“What now?! What kind of insane theory—”
Staring sharply at Joshua, Kaisel asked,
“Didn’t we meet on campus… twenty years ago?”
In that moment—
Dark energy exploded from Joshua’s body, lunging toward Kaisel.
BOOM!
Part of the building collapsed with a thunderous roar.
From the rubble emerged Joshua, spreading pitch-black wings of darkness.
Or rather—the true vampire who had been posing as the ordinary student named Joshua.
‘I should’ve killed you when we were students, Kaisel Valencia.’
Joshua clenched his teeth in frustration.
He regretted not eliminating Kaisel earlier.
“Don’t run, vampire.”
Just as Kaisel’s voice echoed from within the crumbling building—
The wings of darkness that had granted Joshua flight shattered into pieces.
“…!”
It was Kaisel Valencia’s magic.
But Joshua couldn’t even guess what kind of spell it was.
“I’ve suspected for a long time that at least one vampire had infiltrated the Academy.”
Kaisel’s voice reached Joshua’s ears as he tumbled to the ground.
“After the great vampire hunts centuries ago, your kind has continued to act in secret among humans. People tried to root you out, but with little success.”
“Kaisel Valencia…!”
“You’ve never acted directly yourselves. Instead, you created slaves like Sabat to serve as your puppets.”
Yes.
Sabat was a puppet created by Joshua.
He had originally been an ordinary freshman—until Joshua turned him into a vampire in the dungeon.
His memories had been brainwashed and altered, so he believed he had been born a vampire from the beginning.
“You’ve used puppets like him to run your tests—trying to figure out how best to shake human society, how to reclaim your power as vampires… experimenting with countless methods.”
“…!”
“While you yourselves remained safely hidden, using people like Sabat as expendable tools.”
Joshua tried to manipulate the dark energy to attack Kaisel.
But none of his attacks reached him.
They were all broken down and scattered.
“You’ve been changing your identity and operating within the Academy all along. Even back when I was a student, you were in the Rangers, pretending to be one of us. When you realized I suspected you, you faked your death and disappeared.”
“Ghh…!”
“But you came back to the Rangers last year. Thanks to that, I was finally able to get a hold of your tail.”
“Kaisel Valencia…!”
It was definitely a mistake.
He had stayed away from the Rangers for over ten years, but returning last year under the identity of Joshua ended up exposing him.
“It was my mistake not to kill you back then. So now, here and now—”
Joshua split his body apart.
While the half-vampire Sabat could only create five clones, the true vampire Joshua could produce over twenty.
Each of his clones was far more powerful than a fake vampire like Sabat could ever be.
“I’ll kill you!”
An all-out attack from every direction.
Half of the clones charged forward to tear Kaisel apart, while the other half raised their hands and threw dark energy.
It was an unstoppable, unguardable onslaught meant to crush Kaisel once and for all.
“It’s useless.”
“…!”
Whoosh!
From Kaisel’s position, hundreds of black blades extended outward.
Like finely polished obsidian, the gleaming black blades pierced through all of Joshua’s clones at once.
“Graaagh…!”
Agonized screams echoed as Joshua’s clones were obliterated in an instant by Kaisel’s merciless magic.
It wasn’t just physical damage—the black blades completely dismantled the spiritual energy that composed the clones.
Kaisel Valencia… How can a human wield such power…?
Joshua suddenly remembered—Kaisel’s spiritual origin was “Dismantling.”
A terrifying power capable of even unraveling the souls of the dead, like vampires…
This… I can’t win!
Admitting defeat, Joshua made his decision.
Fool! Did you think I’d let myself die here?!
While he had created over twenty clones just now, he hadn’t sent them all into battle.
He had formed a tiny, inconspicuous clone and already sent it retreating.
As long as even one clone survived, a vampire like him could live on.
As long as I avoid total annihilation, I win!
The lifespan of a vampire was practically infinite.
He could hide, recover his strength, and wait as long as it took—even until Kaisel grew old and weak.
One day… I’ll kill you!
With that vow, Joshua’s final clone slipped into the shadows—
Completely unaware of the massive fireball descending upon him from above.
“GRAAAH!”
A bloodcurdling scream rang through the dark streets.
After confirming that even the final clone had been incinerated, I descended from the rooftop where I’d been hiding.
“So he really tried to escape using a clone.”
“That’s the hardest part about hunting vampires.”
Kaisel and I had predicted Joshua would use a clone to escape.
That’s why Kaisel went in openly to confront him, while I stayed hidden—ready to destroy any escaping clone.
I couldn’t handle the real vampire Joshua yet, but I could take out a tiny clone trying to sneak away.
“We almost let the real culprit of this incident get away.”
“If we’d stopped at catching Sabat, he would’ve continued lurking in the academy, creating more victims.”
Since last year, Joshua had returned to the Rangers and had been searching for victims.
In the dungeon, it was easy to cover up any incident. That’s why the Rangers, a dungeon-exploration club, were the perfect front for his schemes.
“This year, he set his sights on Charlotte Strasbourg. She had outstanding talent but was isolated at school—she must have seemed like the perfect candidate.”
“So he treated her kindly, planning to lure her into the club and turn her into a vampire.”
“Exactly. And through Charlotte, he even got you—Eriol Valencia—to come to him. He must’ve been thrilled.”
Joshua had likely intended for Charlotte and me to be his next sacrifices.
He probably wanted to lure us into a dungeon… and turn us into vampires.
“There’s a good chance I would’ve ended up like Sabat.”
“I doubt you would’ve gone down that easily.”
“Uncle…”
Was that… a compliment?
It made me feel a little embarrassed.
“Well, it’s all over now.”
“Yes, it is.”
There was still some cleanup left to do, but for now, the incident seemed resolved.
“But seriously… I didn’t expect a monster like that to be hiding in the academy.”
“What are you talking about, Eriol?”
“…?”
“The academy is always full of danger. You saw me get ambushed not long ago, didn’t you?”
“…Yeah.”
“This academy was built on top of a dungeon teeming with monsters. It was never going to be a safe place.”
Kaisel looked around the academy, now shrouded in deep darkness.
“If you keep standing out here, you’ll face many incidents like this one.”
“…”
“Keep working hard, Eriol.”
Kaisel’s voice was calm but firm as he encouraged me.
“You can go even higher.”
The next morning.
Still worn out from everything that had happened, I slept in a little.
Today was the day they were handing out the midterm grades. I knew I shouldn’t be late on a day like this, so I hurried toward the lecture hall.
“Ah…”
When I arrived, Professor Klein was already on the podium.
I bowed my head and stepped inside.
“Sorry I’m late…”
“You’re finally here.”
But instead of scolding me, Professor Klein smiled brightly and turned to the students.
“Everyone, please give him a round of applause.”
“…?”
Suddenly, the classroom filled with applause, leaving me completely stunned.
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