I walked through the outskirts toward my supposed grave. Kai had told me roughly where it was buried — a lonely stretch of land behind the castle, where the earth was hard and cracked, like it didn't want to hold the dead.
Honestly, the outskirts were depressing. And that's saying something coming from me. I'd lived in the depths of the Dark City for six months — surrounded by nightmare creatures, corpses, and things that whispered to the bones beneath your skin. You'd think that would desensitize me. But somehow, this place… it felt worse.
The air was heavy here. It had that smell — wet dirt, faint blood, and the rot of forgotten offerings. Every passerby had the same empty look in their eyes, an air of hopelessness that clung to them like a second skin. Maybe if I stayed here long enough, I'd start looking like that too.
Probably.
I mean, living in the Dark City wasn't exactly a cakewalk either. But it did make me stronger. My soul core was almost full — I only needed one, maybe two more shards. One more hunt, one more kill, and I'd finally…
"Huh."
A raindrop hit my cheek.
Then another.
Rain. It didn't happen often. Not here. But when it did, it came down like the sky was bleeding.
I didn't bother covering myself. I just kept walking until I reached the field where the graves were buried — a quiet expanse of dark mud and white stones, some half-broken, some carved with names already forgotten.
Then I felt it — a strange pull, like a thread wrapped around my ribs, tugging me toward one grave in particular.
When I reached it, I stopped.
The grave was dug up.
And inside, lying in the wet dirt, were pieces of flesh and bone — mine.
At first, I didn't breathe. Then my knees hit the ground, and my hand moved on its own, touching what was left.
The moment my fingers brushed that bone, my head split open in pain.
It wasn't normal pain. It wasn't physical. It was like someone had shoved a needle through my memories, stitching new ones in while tearing the old apart.
I screamed.
Then I vomited blood into the mud.
Images hit me like blades — not just sights, but feelings, sounds, instincts.
I remembered.
I remembered what happened after I killed that blood beast.
How my body collapsed.
How my veins burned.
How everything went dark.
I died instantly.
And then…
I was somewhere else.
An endless ocean of blood.
The sky was gone — just red stretching in every direction, thick and slow. I didn't know what I was, or how long I'd been there. I didn't even know if I was real.
Then, a voice.
"How pathetic…"
"Remember, Monarch of Crimson."
The sound echoed through the blood like thunder beneath water.
Suddenly, I rose — or maybe the ocean fell — and my skull broke the surface.
There, above the endless red, was a field of crimson flowers.
And hanging in the sky — a hollow moon, pale and weeping.
I started walking. No, running. I didn't know why. I didn't know from what. But I knew I couldn't stop.
The voice whispered again, clearer now.
"Don't look back. Keep going."
And so I ran.
For eternity, maybe. My bones cracked. My spine snapped. My jaw shattered. But I kept going — dragging what was left of me through that field of blood-soaked flowers.
Until the moon bled.
A single drop of blood fell from its hollow shell.
I had to reach it. I didn't know why — I just did.
My body disintegrated as I ran. By the end, I was nothing but a skull rolling through the red.
And then the drop landed — in my empty eye socket.
Sight returned.
And the first thing I saw… was another skeleton.
It lay in the flowers, unmoving, staring at the hollow moon with longing in its empty sockets. Then blood began to flow from its bones, filling the moon above until it overflowed — and from that overflow, a new moon formed.
Then again.
And again.
Seven times, seven moons, each one bleeding into the next — until the skeleton's body began to change.
Eyes formed.
Then a mouth.
Then limbs.
Organs.
Skin.
Hair.
Ghostly pale at first, like snow untouched by shadow. Then, when the final drop of blood from the seventh moon touched his head, his hair ignited — turning into a raging river of crimson.
He rose, clothed himself in blood, and from that same blood forged weapons — a spear, a sword, a bow, a mace, a glaive, a crossbow, and finally, a scythe.
Each weapon flowed into the next like water — each strike faster than the last. It wasn't just combat; it was creation through destruction.
I was awestruck.
Too awestruck to notice that the thing I'd been running from had caught me.
Webs wrapped around me, thick and pulsing like veins.
The crimson figure turned, smiled at me, and gestured silently.
"Hold your breath."
And as I did, the webs consumed me — until there was nothing but darkness.
---
Then I saw what came next.
My corpse, dug out of the grave.
Strands of blood web coiled around each torn piece of flesh, dragging them back together.
I could feel it — the stitching, the burning. The cracks across my face, the seams down my body. Those were from this moment.
And then — a voice again. Not the same one. Colder. Mechanical.
[You have obtained your Aspect Legacy.]
[Gate to the Garden of Resurrection.]
[You have unlocked the First Seal.]
[Would you like to succumb to your Envy?]
The runes appeared before me — bright red, pulsing like a heartbeat.
And I understood.
I had never checked my aspect since breaking free from that illusion. But now…
---
Aspect Legacy: Gate to the Garden of Resurrection
Description:
"This garden is where the Beast God reincarnated the souls of the dead after they were cleansed by death — and where she herself met her end."
Seal I: Sin Lineage — Envy, the Sin of Desire
"The sinners blessed by the Beast Goddess were gifted her sins.
The Sin of Envy was her first and most beloved. Yet he envied the others, desiring what they had, taking what was never his to take.
But what is desire without sight? If you cannot see what you crave — do you truly envy? Do you truly love?
You will see the desires in others. You will see the hatred in yourself. Because envy is to see — to see the sacrifice, and to see the forbidden.
Such is the demand of the Sin of Envy."
---
When the voice faded, I was left shaking, my fingers digging into my skin.
And then I snapped.
My thoughts died, replaced by something animal. I tore at my own flesh, trying to dig out whatever this was — whatever was crawling beneath my veins.
"Get out," I hissed to myself. "Get out, get out, get out—"
But before I could claw deeper, my hands were caught.
Soft. Cold.
And then… warmth.
Someone's arms wrapped around me from behind. A curtain of black hair brushed my face, and her voice — quiet, almost trembling — reached me.
"Stop hurting yourself," she whispered. "Now."
Seishan.
I froze, trembling, my vision blurring.
"Let go of me," I muttered. "I'm a freak. A monster. They were right about me. I'm not human anymore. I don't even know if I'm Alucard anymore or just… a mimic."
I turned toward her, eyes burning — but she didn't flinch.
She just held me tighter.
Didn't speak. Didn't judge. Just stayed.
And maybe it was the rain, or maybe it was everything finally catching up to me… but I broke.
The tears came slow at first — hot against the cold rain. Then they wouldn't stop.
I cried into her arms for longer than I'll ever admit.
When I finally stopped, I couldn't tell if the rain was still falling — or if it was just me.
---
End of Volume II — The Garden of Resurrection