Letting out a defeated sigh, Reina walked over to the spear on the ground that jerked off from Lucas' hand during their fight.
She picked it up and faced Lucas. While giving him a scornful gaze, she placed the tip of the spear against her heart.
Her breathing became ragged as she tightened her grip around the spear.
"No! Please! Reina, please don't do this! Please!" Mary kept wailing and requesting Reina to stop, but the latter didn't listen.
"Fuuuu— w-wait…"
Just as Reina was about to put pressure on the spear to stab herself in the heart, her hands stopped.
With a questioning gaze, she looked at Lucas. "Did you call yourself a… Morningstar? Lucas Morningstar?"
"...You know me?" confused, Lucas looked at Reina for answers.
It's one thing for a vampire to know about the Morningstar house.
After all, they are a military family, and their family heads have served in the United Military for generations.
Even the current head of the family– Reynold Morningstar– is a General.
So it's not out of the ordinary for even vampires to know about them.
After all, they do possess one of the strongest Regiments out of all the other ruling families and have been the Guardians of the Western Continent for centuries.
However, how did she know about him specifically?
Even though he's a Morningstar, Lucas shouldn't be famous enough for a vampire, who has lived most of her life in a different territory, should know about him.
"...So you are really him?" a faint smirk appeared on Reina's face, completely contrasting the saddened look she had moments earlier.
Before Lucas could speak anything in response to that, a hysterical chuckle left Reina's lips.
"Haa~ Hahaha!"
Soon, that chuckle turned into a peal of full-fledged maniacal laughter.
"Ahahahahaha! Aaahahahahaha!"
A glint of ecstasy flashed in Reina's blood-red eyes as if she had heard the funniest joke of her life.
This caused the perplexity on Lucas' face to only grow with each burst of laughter that Reina let out.
Even Mary was left dumbfounded by the sudden change in the vampire's behavior.
"Why the hell are you laughing? Do you think this is a joke? I will really kill this girl!" Lucas warned, irritation clear in his voice.
He felt uneasy. After all, no good comes from a person who starts laughing when their back is pushed against the wall.
"Aaaahahaha! No, no, I'm sure you will," Reina said while waving her hand in the air as if dismissing Lucas' warning. "It's just that… I thought you wouldn't receive any retribution for killing my children. I thought you would face no consequences for your vile and cowardly actions. But I was wrong… your fate… it is to suffer!"
Frowning as he got even more confused, Lucas screamed in rage, "What the hell does that mean? What do you mean– How do you know me?! Explain yourself!"
Seeing him in this state, Reina couldn't help but chuckle even more. After a while, when she finally calmed down, she began to explain.
"There's a prophecy only a few of us noble vampires know about, and even fewer who believe in it," Reina stated in a tone full of satisfaction.
"What does that have to do with me?!" Lucas grew impatient.
Ignoring him, Reina continued to speak. "The prophecy tells a tale about two princes and one princess. According to it, after facing several hurdles throughout their lives, these three individuals are meant to bring peace to this war-filled world and become its heroes. They are also supposed to be the greatest obstacles in our– the vampire race's path to conquer this world."
Lucas let out an exasperated sigh and rolled his eyes.
"What does a stupid prophecy have to do with me?" he snapped. "Besides, there are no princes or princesses here! This isn't the Victorian era! And, no offense, but your kind is foolish!"
He continued, "We are currently at war with your kind on the ground and with Kalis in space. If the United Military falls and vampires take over the world, who do you think Kalis will target next? It will be you vampires! So instead of fighting us, why not work together with humans like elves and dwarves did?!"
Disregarding Lucas' remarks again, Reina continued with her explanation. "One of the princes in the prophecy is depicted as a silver-haired spearman, along with some other vague traits. For years now, we have dispatched spies to search for anyone who might resemble the individuals from the prophecy across the border."
Reina went on, "After centuries of searching, we finally started finding matches. Our spies observed that children who fit the description of the prophecy had started to be born. Those of us who still believed in the prophecy began to shortlist the children who matched the description."
"...Let me guess," Lucas sighed, predicting where this conversation was headed. "I was one of them?"
"Yes," Reina confirmed, "You were. After confirming your identity, we considered assassinating you, but then you awakened a low-ranked potential. Many of us started having second thoughts about you after that. After all, how can a future hero awaken a low-ranked potential? But that wasn't it. In the following years, you began to act as if you had given up on improving yourself. Thinking that we had gotten the wrong person, we spared your life."
She let out a deep sigh, "All the other children who matched the description of the heroes at first grew up to be very different from what the heroes were depicted in the prophecy. Most of us gave up on the whole prophecy thing after that, but not me. I kept searching.
"Although I couldn't find the children who matched the description for the other two heroes, there was no one in the whole world who resembled the silver-haired spearman more than Lucas Morningstar– more than you."
As she pointed at him with her eyes, Reina continued, "I requested the nobles to investigate Lucas Morningstar once more. But they denied my request, thinking that it was a waste of time and resources. But I still kept on searching for clues. I believed, and they called me insane. They declared the prophecy wasn't real. They said you weren't the prince described in that prophecy…."
Reina gritted her teeth before she suddenly broke out in a burst of heartfelt laughter once again, "But they were fools! Haaa! Look at you! Here you are, standing before me in the flesh, resembling the silver-haired hero just as he was described in the prophecy! I wasn't wrong! THEY all were wrong! The prophecy was real all along, and you are the living proof of it!"
Lucas watched as if he was watching a madman talking. Maybe the fact that she was about to die sent her over the edge of sanity.
"Look, I don't know about–"
Lucas was about to cut Reina off, but she spoke up again.
"And if the prophecy is true, that means you will suffer~ You will experience pain so unimaginable that death would seem like mercy. Oh, Lucas Morningstar~ I don't resent you anymore! I pity you! As one of the three heroes, you shall carry a weight so heavy that it will eventually break you~ I wish I could be there to witness the look of sheer despair on your face as you lose everything you hold dear - your daughter, your family, your friends - until you are left with nothing but your own torment!"
"So good luck, Lucas Morningstar– or should I say, the Prince who'll take the Last Stand at the World's End!" the look of bliss only grew clearer as Reina continued to speak until she was done.
Overwhelming silence plunged the whole area as Lucas felt a shiver run down his spine.
He doesn't believe in fate and prophecies, but for some reason, he felt nervous while listening to Reina.
Reina, on the other hand, looked at Mary after she was done saying what she had to say.
The look in her eyes softened after watching the face of the orange-haired girl one last time, "Goodbye, Mary. I'm sorry, but I'm afraid this is the end of our time together."
"No, please, no! No, no, no! NOO!" tears welled up in Mary's eyes as she screamed and cried, but Reina merely kept a bitter smile on her face in a failed attempt to console her.
She tightened the grip around the spear and pressed its bladed tip against her heart once again.
Thack—!!
With one final breath, Reina closed her eyes and willed strength to her hands, pushing the spear through her chest and impaling herself.
"Aaah!" a gasp escaped her lips as she used the remaining strength in her body to push the spear even deeper.
Thud—!!
The light in her eyes snuffed out, and her body turned limp, falling lifeless onto the ground.
Within seconds, her skin dried up and sunk into her bones, looking like rubber. Her pupils dilated, and her hair turned white.
But Lucas didn't move or let go of Mary until Reina's fangs fell out from her mouth and dropped to the ground.
He inspected the two canines on the ground from afar– undoubtedly that of a vampire's, and nodded in relief.
When their fang falls out, it's a sign indicating that a vampire has died.
Reina was dead… the vampire who formerly held the position of one of the seven Abyssal Vampire Kings was dead.
