It felt like a jolt of lightning ran down Leon's spine as he jolted awake. His ears rang, an annoyingly high-pitched tone as he felt his heartbeat rising up his skull. It was painful.

The harshness of his newfound reality came rushing back to him as he let out a shaky breath.

His dreams were his only solace, memories of his companions were the only things that anchored him to reality. Leon struggled to regain his composure; it felt like the stone walls were closing in on him.

It had felt so real, so convincing that for a split second, confusion washed over him before it was instantly replaced by disappointment.

"...Oh dear." His voice sounded raspy as he focused his attention on his chained wrists. The injury from the silver had gotten worse over the past few weeks.

Leon could not heal. His body had felt weaker and weaker as the days went by. He could feel an agonizing hunger clawing inside his stomach, something he had never experienced before.

It wasn't even just his body screaming at him to consume—it was as if his soul, the very core of his being, needed something.

Leon was losing his sense of time. Hours muddled together in an incoherent memory of pure torment. He was falling asleep at unknown intervals, his thoughts jumbled into a puddle of garbled words. At some point, he was conscious, and then suddenly he would wake up a few hours later.

"Tori, Tori, Tori." He whispered his sister's name in a silent prayer, trying to calm himself down, looking for a way to push back the vile emotions brewing inside of him.

The silver chains rattled when he ran a shaky finger down his hair; Leon ignored the unsightly appearance of his skin, a murky darkness had crawled down from his wrist down to his fingers.

The silver was slowly burning him, inch by inch, until at some point, nothing would remain of him.

"Let's hope not." He hummed humorlessly to himself.

It had been weeks since Viktoria had last visited him, yet, their promise still felt heavy in the air around him.

It was his fragile thread of hope. His only lifeline.

Then, the metal doors clicked open.

Leon's expectations dropped when the person entering wasn't his sister; instead, it was an older man, wearing the Silver Cross' uniform. The only difference was the golden insignia on his chest; he was someone of a higher position.

His lips formed into a dry smile. "Sir Percival, what a welcome sight."

The Commander of the 4th Corps, Percival Foxe.

The old man glared at him, not even hiding the disgust on his face. "Still not admitting to your crimes, vampire?" Percival spoke, his voice filled with condescension. "You're rather tenacious."

Leon's expression remained the same; his silver eyes glinted with defiance. "I'll say it once again, Commander, I am innocent. I did not deceive The Order nor was I the culprit of my mother's death."

Percival's face contorted with anger as he took a step closer to Leon. His hand now gripped the hilt of his sword, a warning towards Leon.

Leon could only scoff; he had been through countless interrogations, each one more hostile and brutal than the last.

The commander's wrath was the least of his fears.

"If I really was an evil vampire, a monster, or whatever vulgar words your men threw at me, I would have already killed those who got in my way." Leon's voice was steady, with a hint of venom and frustration. "You know I'm perfectly capable of that."

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"But I cooperated, I've answered everything and provided you with what I know." He paused for a second. "I became a hunter because a human saved me, Commander."

"It is my way of paying back their kindness."

Percival's grip on his sword loosened, but he took something out of his coat, a thick piece of paper.

"The vampire kind had thrived on deception and manipulation for hundreds of years." Percival said in a booming voice. "But we will not be fooled once more."

Leon's heart felt like it was going to explode; the dread that filled his body was sickening.

The commander's words felt like the blade of a guillotine dropping. "Leon Kreutz, you will be sent to death."

Everything came crashing down. The weight of those words hung in the air, wrapping around his neck, suffocating him.

Leon did not fear death, but the thought of facing it at the hands of The Silver Cross, The Order that he was loyal to, felt like bitter irony.

Still, Leon smiled. "I'd like to see you try and kill me, Commander." he challenged. "I've been told that it's rather... difficult."

The cool air on Leon's neck was a welcome change, although having his long hair cut short was not really part of his plans.

It revealed the scar at the back of his neck, an ominous reminder of who he truly was.

His fingers touched the skin on his neck as he hummed at the mirror, admiring his newly cut hair. "How strange," he said to himself.

If only it wasn't for the

purpose of his own execution, Leon would have liked the change.

It felt like they had taken away his identity; the person looking back at him was a stranger. A criminal. A vampire.

"Cruel, cruel, cruel humans," Leon whispered.

The weight of the chains around him was heavy, clinking with each step he made. He was led down a winding maze of seemingly unending passages.

The air felt colder; Leon could hear every word of the guards escorting him, but he ignored them. Then he was led to a room, a cold chamber within the heart of the prison.

The flames of the torches flickered, shadows dancing around the stone walls.

There were only a few persons inside, only a few to witness his death. Most of them wore dark hoods to conceal their faces as if it would prevent them from being tainted by death.

Leon made sure to remember their scents.

He scanned them, trying to look for anyone familiar, his friends or his sister, but they were not there.

Leon spoke, a dying man's last words. "What of my fri—my unit?"

Commander Percival replied in a cold tone. "They are currently detained and under suspicion."

His heart sank at the news, the thought of them being held for crimes they did not commit filled him with despair and rage. They were not satisfied with him alone.

These cruel people had decided to bring his friends into this unjust situation. Leon bit his lip. "...My sister?" he asked once again, his voice shaking with bitterness.

"Doctor Viktoria Kreutz had died an unfortunate death."

It was as if time stopped.

Tori.

Tori.

Tori.

They wouldn't do anything to Viktoria... right?

She was innocent. She never involved herself in any of their fights.

Why would they even dare harm his sister?

Viktoria has to be safe, she has to be alive—

They were lying.

If not, the whole world will burn. He promised that.

Leon was never the one to break promises.

"W-What?"

"The residence of Baroness Kreutz was razed to the ground. There were no survivors, an unfortunate accident."

Leon's mind reeled; it felt like his entire world blurred. "No... No, that can't be true," he whispered, his voice a mere breath, his heartache echoing through his words. "Viktoria, she can't be... gone."

His sister, the one who had saved him, the one he had promised to protect-

"She..."

Time came running back.

All of his emotions came back in full force. The weight of his sorrow and grief was an anchor that grounded him back to reality. His very soul was crushed by the unrelenting pressure of despair. It was suffocating.

It was not fair, but Leon had learned that nothing was fair in this world early in his life. The sheer injustice of Tori's death made every moment difficult to comprehend.

He thought of it as sadness at first, but then he realized it was seething rage that threatened to swallow him whole, eating away at his very being.

His anger burned like the sun as he let out a pained scream. They had robbed him of all he held dear.

He dropped to his knees; he felt something warm on his cheeks. He was crying. But instead of tears, the liquid was a dark crimson.

Leon tried to wipe away the tears of blood from his face, but it was to no avail as tears continued to stream down his silver eyes.

It felt as if his heart was being torn apart.

All the warmth and hope inside of him had dissipated into an aching cold. Leon did not even feel them dragging him down to a platform; his knees buckled under his weight.

The crowd had watched his descent into despair with uncaring eyes; for them, this was just another execution. Another vampire meeting his deserved fate. For Leon, it was the end of everything he had ever known.

...Was this Leon's karma for killing his own kind?

Was this his karma for siding with the humans?

He would have taken this willingly... but why did Viktoria have to be entangled in all of this?

Percival's voice echoed;

"Let the execution begin."