A professor entered a classroom.
He read the student list.
"Shiomiya."
"Present..."
"Shishigami."
"Shishigami."
The professor in a suit, with a large belly, raised his eyebrow at the student who didn't respond.
Instead, the class representative answered.
"Professor, Shishigami-kun came to class, but was taken out by some students."
The professor's gaze shifted directly to a group of young men with tanned skin and rebellious blonde hair.
"You again..."
One of them apologized.
"We're sorry, professor; we took our good friend Shishigami-kun to the bathroom because he wasn't feeling well. We asked him if it was okay to leave him here since classes were starting."
The professor sighed.
"Anyway, Narunosuke."
"Present."
Some time later, a student came running and abruptly opened the door.
He was soaked; his hair and eyes were black.
The professor, who was just finishing the class, said.
"You're late, Shishigami. It's the fourth time this week, but for the month, it's already over a dozen. Come to the staff room later, as this behavior will bring a bad reputation to the school if we don't do anything."
With those words, the professor left.
The boy, Shishigami Naoto, suffered bullying from several of his classmates.
Some girls asked him to lend them money to buy stickers for their phones; he refused, and they threatened to report him as a rapist. This was possible thanks to laws that support women having become so strange to the point that a woman can commit crimes and get away with it.
Of course, as long as it's against an average person and not an important man.
As for the boys who laughed at him, they were sons of men at the highest levels of the country; they were in this expensive school and not an elite one because of their parents.
They would cause many problems in a school where the children of their friends were, so they preferred this type of school.
They also gave a generous amount of money to the school, so they were untouchable.
The boy entered the classroom smelling bad.
When he reached his desk, it wasn't there.
They had thrown it out the window.
He stood there until a teacher arrived and told him to sit down.
But since he had no way to do so, they sent him to get one from the storage room.
During recess, he sat alone eating on the stairs where the other popular boys and girls didn't go.
When recess ended, he found his new desk stained with offensive comments.
They all said the same thing, about how ugly he was and other even more horrible things.
As time passed, the boy lost his life.
And no one in his classroom noticed or cared.
That boy reincarnated and obtained a new name, and that was—
◇◇◇
"Aaaah!"
Razel and Astraea were clashing their fists.
A great force and magical power filled the atmosphere.
Astraea punched Razel mercilessly.
He covered up and then hit her without caring about receiving blows.
Razel was thrown out of the tower, but quickly returned like lightning.
He approached Astraea and delivered a rain of blows.
The punches moved just like thunder, generating a large amount of bright lights that impacted against her.
Razel shouted.
"That guy is dead; don't mention him anymooooore!"
The flurry of fists pounded incessantly until... Razel's body began to show that it couldn't take much more.
As he threw his right fist, the muscle in his arm exploded.
Like a balloon, the muscle and bone exploded.
Razel watched as his arm flew off.
But he didn't hesitate.
He grabbed his arm and put it back in place.
He joined the tendons and bone using electricity.
Such a thing was absurd, but due to the intensity of the magical power in the atmosphere, he could temporarily join his limb.
He resumed the punches.
Astraea told him.
"Do you know why you could do that? It's simple. The moon is red because the atmospheric layer is full of that poison expelled by the dragons."
"The dragons expelled a toxin when they died."
"That toxin concentrates in quantities once every 500 years; the proof of that is up there. What you call a magical phenomenon is actually observing how your planet deteriorates at great speed."
"The only way to avoid this poisoning is to use that tree they protected. But it seems some humans took control of it."
"Too bad; you yourselves will see your own end."
"Who cares! I won't live to see it anyway!"
Razel's power increased as his body suffered more damage.
His eyes became bloodshot.
His skin showed wounds that opened.
His muscles contracted to the point of causing cramps.
Falling to the ground to jump again, the bone of his calf and foot cracked.
Razel felt immense pain but didn't care.
"I'll end this right now!"
Hearing him say that, Astraea quickly approached and firmly bit his right arm.
Razel felt as if a very sharp knife was piercing him; she removed her teeth and raised her magical power.
A black shadow with red borders manifested.
"I want to end this too! Taste my strongest attack!"
"Progenitor Blood!"
While Razel said.
"Lightning Magic!"
He placed his hands together, and electrical and magical energy gathered.
Each time he exerted pressure, his body showed more and more signs of destruction.
Even tumors began to appear.
Astraea jumped so that the moonlight would support her.
"Blood Moon."
She said, and from a magic circle, millions of blood bullets came out, forming a small moon.
While Razel said.
"Ragnarok!"
A ray of light shot out.
That ray of pure energy caused his right hand to begin to blacken.
Little by little, his body darkened due to the excess poisoning.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
They both shouted as their forces clashed.
The tower was intensely destroyed.
Razel didn't notice that the floor he was on was falling while the surroundings were destroyed.
Only seconds passed, and the floor reached the ground level.
Astraea had the advantage, but her attack and Razel's were mysteriously equal.
Then, a small meteor approached directly towards her within that ray of light.
She smiled.
Razel used his first attack to pierce her heart.
"Lightning Palm!"
Her chest was completely destroyed.
Then, they both fell.
Astraea fell first, followed by Razel.
Razel watched as blood came out of his body; his end had arrived.
...
Or so he thought until he noticed something strange.
The pain drastically decreased; at the same time, the damaged parts of his body regenerated.
His black hand returned to its original color.
His wounds were closing.
He didn't understand what happened until Astraea told him.
"I liked your resolve. You were willing to die to guarantee my wish; you weren't going to do it for the "plot," but because you truly wanted to save me, right? That's why I gave you the gift of the Blut virus. But since you're not a vampire, you can only use the defensive state at most and regenerate wounds, as well as increase your magical power without problems."
Razel said nothing.
She continued.
"I always longed to see what was beyond that cell, but... the price for it was becoming a monster."
"Other children like me, I turned them into monsters, because my body possesses the original virus they created, that's how other progenitors came to be."
"They wanted to live; I didn't want to be alone. Isn't that a fair deal?"
"As time passed, we found that the humans who survived the attack I caused created small states to live in called kingdoms."
"I killed innocents; I rejoiced in the wrong path. I didn't care if others suffered. Perhaps that's why my descendants believed vampires should be arrogant?"
"I tried everything life could offer, but then one day... my companions said they couldn't take it anymore."
"Unlike me, they didn't know the truth. Over the centuries, they learned that living for over a millennium had no meaning."
"Then, they stopped thinking. They became statues because they couldn't die. Something prevented them, and they threw themselves into the sea."
"I was left alone. Then, to not feel lonely, I created my children. Thanks to a human with whom I reproduced, I managed to create the superior vampires and live in a small place."
"But the same thing that happened to my companions happened to me. I couldn't take it anymore."
Astraea began to slowly turn to ash.
"Living knowing that the people you love will no longer be with you even though you cannot die is the true torment."
"What good is regenerating wounds when the pain in my heart doesn't heal?"
"What good is living for millennia when the person I loved only lived for a blink of my life?"
"Nothing. The true punishment for those who do not want to die and wish to live forever is that. The suffering of helplessness and the misery of regenerating."
"That's why, transmigrated human. I give you this advice... love life."
"Living less than 100 years is the most beautiful thing you can have."
"The people you love will live with you. New people will come; they will see you die and become sad. Just as you will see your friends and lovers die. But you know what? They will be with you."
"Their memories will live in you, and you will live in others. That is the true immortality. That's what I wanted to obtain, but I was wrong."
"My older sister died, leaving me alone, and by being an idiot and accepting her proposal, everything ended badly for me."
"... Proposal?"
Said Razel, but Astraea ignored him.
"But it seems my descendants misunderstood my wish and did the opposite."
"It was a good last chat, without a doubt."
Astraea's arms and legs were almost scattered into ashes.
Her hair and body were going through the same.
"The white moon is beautiful, isn't it?"
Razel looked at the moon; it was still red.
"Yes, it is." –He murmured.
Astraea smiled like a child in a candy store.
"What a pretty color. It's totally different from that white that only brought pain."
"There are things I want to ask you."
"I'm sorry to say it, but the rest of the things you'll have to figure out on your own. This game world is not as you think; there are more hidden and sinister things than you believe. Like your true enemy."
Razel reacted upon hearing that. True enemy.
"My true enemy? Who is it?!"
Astraea turned more and more into ash.
"I can't be sure, but... if it's who I think it is, it's undoubtedly Epstein."
"Epstein?"
"That person was responsible for creating me and 'him'."
"Who is 'him'?"
"I don't know what identity he took, but I don't think he's still alive; 2000 years have passed since that day."
"But, this I can tell you..."
"The gods you pray to, especially Alexia..."
Astraea's mouth made Razel's skin crawl.
"They are not what you think they are. Be careful of them and of Epstein. If one day that person fulfills his wish to open the door, without a doubt, everything will be destroyed."
"Door? What door are you talking about?"
"Who knows... they might even be the ravings of a corpse, fufufu."
Astraea laughed one last time as she watched a part of a wall collapse and slowly fall towards her.
"One last thing, boy... in your case, your true enemy is inside your head."
"...!"
"If you keep pretending to be a guardian among the shadows, you will end up being swallowed by them."
The wall was inches from her; from the depths of her destroyed heart, she smiled like a child.
"Guys, I'm coming to join you all now. Onee-chan, I have so much to tell you."
The wall fell on her, turning her to ash.
The remains of Astraea, the vampire queen, one of the seven deadly sins.
Had undoubtedly died.
Razel was watching the ashes dance as they rose to the sky.
He touched one and said.
"Why did it end like this? You could have lived a happy life if you looked for one. Totally different from Shishigami Naoto's."
The last remnant of ash dispersed, and when he turned around to leave,
"... Huh?"
He found Cid behind him.
Razel turned into a squiggle upon seeing Cid.
He searched for what to say, and when he opened his mouth,
"Stop!"
Cid's hand moved to silence him.
"I heard strange things; I have no idea what you were talking about, and I don't want to know."
"I only want to know this... are you Licht?"
Razel looked at Cid and said with a mocking smile.
"Yes."
"Wrong."
"Huh?"
Said Razel, confused.
"You are not the criminal called Licht who is wanted in the empire. You are a strange kid named Razel Bartlet who is my friend and will be a duke. Understand?"
"I am... Razel."
"Yes. You are Razel, and there are some professors who saw me, so they will also see you. So you'd better change out of those strange clothes and lie unconscious over there."
Cid turned to leave.
"Cid... thank you."
"What are you thanking me for?"
"I'll repay this favor tenfold. You hear?"
Razel smiled, and Cid went to talk to the professors.
Everything had ended.
But...
"Razel-sama..."
A voice came from behind him.
Razel got scared and looked to see who was calling him.
"... Amy?!"
"What are you doing here?!"
She pinched his cheek.
"What are you talking about? You were the one who asked me to come in the first place."
"Huh?!"
Razel was confused. Amy took a letter from between her breasts.
Razel read it and then...
"It's true!"
He remembered that he had messed it up quite a bit.
In the letter, Razel asked Amy for help. He detailed everything she needed to do.
Amy received the letter very late; she couldn't reply in time, but she knew he would go.
The problem was that Razel was so excited that he forgot that.
So... part of the problems I went through were for nothing?
If only he had waited a few minutes for Amy, she would have finished off all the enemies without issue.
"Master!"
A girl came running straight at him.
It was Leila.
Razel got scared, because a few weeks ago he had a sparring match with her.
He was able to verify that Leila was stronger than him. That time he won was because she was a bit sleepy.
Leila could simply defeat him even if she wasn't serious.
Leila rubbed her cheek against his intensely.
Amy was annoyed.
"Razel-sama, you said you wanted my help to obtain the evidence!"
"I did! But you started fighting and ruined a large part of this place for nothing. I could have taken care of that woman easily, just like I did with that strange guy."
Razel had two spoiled women near him, and all he did was.
"Let me rest, please!"
The battle against the vampire queen in the lawless city had concluded with the victory of the background character.