Love Letter From The Future

A world trembles.

For thousands of cuts and tens of thousands of explosions, the barrier remained steadfast. Was it not a magic that did not crumble even against the clash of beings beyond common understanding?

But now it was different.

The pitch-black earth shattered and collapsed, beginning to fill with soil and grass. The darkness that had covered the sky lifted, revealing the moon and stars in their elegant form.

This change was not limited to the barrier.

The ‘vampire,’ who could be considered its master, also lost the shell of the great nature. The entity that had reigned like an amorphous natural disaster fell to the earth, losing its immortality.

In the shape of a human.

At first, she wore a face of disbelief.

“How could this happen… all power must have been accounted for…!”

“It’s hard to see your face, ‘envy.'”

The tone was emotionless, but it was clear to anyone that the content was laced with blatant mockery.

The vampire’s piercing gaze turned towards its source. A single man, with eyes filled with extreme fatigue, stood there.

Yes, it’s you.

The vampire thought that.

All variables were calculated. It was groundwork for resolving centuries-old resentments. Naturally, it wasn’t done carelessly, and the period spent preparing the artificial body and splitting the soul to transfer into the bloodline alone spanned decades.

Of course, there were unforeseen events.

A brat named ‘Ian Fercurus,’ whom she had never heard of before, began to flail like a moth to a flame. She thought he was just lucky, but his existence started to unravel the vampire’s plans more and more.

The secret of the northern Yuridina Clan being exposed was the first misstep.

The vampire had supported the elves’ socializing while receiving a large supply of sacrifices. The one who implicitly tolerated this background was none other than the head of the Yuridina Clan.

But after Ian Fercurus headed north, everything changed.

Just as the end of the plan was finally approaching!

Yet, she managed to calm her heart and checked the plan several times. Perhaps Delphrium acknowledged her efforts, as they even sent a reinforcement called ‘greed.’

Though some sacrifices were necessary for persuasion.

Now, only victory remained.

There was no other conclusion. All possibilities had been erased.

Until another variable appeared.

With hatred, the vampire shouted.

“What have you done, ‘pride’…!”

“Me?”

A response without any change in tone.

The vampire felt that his demeanor was truly brazen. It ground her teeth in frustration.

“Yes, it’s only you… until you suddenly appeared, my plans were going smoothly! I thought I could finally repay the resentment from centuries ago!”

“It seems there’s a misunderstanding….”

The man said so, casually letting his sword hand dangle.

There were so many apparent gaps that it was astonishing. The vampire briefly considered piercing through one of those openings but ultimately refrained.

How many times had she fallen for that trick?

The man was akin to a weapon perfected in existence. It didn’t matter where the blade was; its essence as a tool to harm people did not change.

The same could be said for this man.

Getting closer would only lead to injury. What kind of life had he lived to become such a specialized being in murder, she wondered.

In reality, the man seemed to have little concern for what the vampire did.

“I did nothing. I just played with you a few times?”

“Nonsense, then who…!”

“I don’t know.”

A completely emotionless answer.

There was no trace of lying in his demeanor, but the vampire was convinced that his words were false. It wouldn’t make sense otherwise—her plans wouldn’t have been ruined.

Only one person could turn this around.

The head of the Seven Deadly Sins, a being who dreamed of being equal to the gods.

The hybrid monster born from the ideas of madmen was that sole possibility.

Named ‘pride.’

She never expected a prisoner destined to fall would appear at such an important moment.

With clenched teeth, her voice emerged, heated.

“Don’t pretend, ‘pride’… it’s only you. What are your intentions? With that kind of power, you should be close to ‘completion,’ yet why do you still retain your sanity?”

“Who said I have to tell you?”

No matter how many times they engaged, the conversation looped back. The exchange between the man and the vampire simply could not be established, as the vampire was the one throwing out questions unilaterally.

The man looked as lacking in motivation as he did in emotion. Concluding that further questioning was pointless, the vampire offered a hazy smile.

Yes, that’s right.

After all, there was only one important fact.

That man cannot kill the vampire. No matter how strong ‘pride’ was among the Seven Deadly Sins, it would be difficult to fight under the condition of non-lethal.

Yet it had shown overwhelming power until now.

But now, that was over.

The vampire was a thorough woman. She hadn’t completely ruled out the possibility that the core of the barrier could be destroyed.

She just never thought it would truly come to that.

The wrath of the vampire, who had lost her beloved sister, was exceptional.

With a twisted smile.

“Alright, if that’s how it is, I can do nothing. ‘Pride’….”

With a sinister voice, a crimson mist spread out. Its sheer density caused the magical energy, which should have been colorless and odorless, to emit color and scent.

And the intense smell of murderous intent made her fingertips tingle.

The man’s gaze dimmed slightly, almost imperceptibly. It was faint, but even a hint of wariness could be seen.

It was clearly different from before.

The eyes of the woman, now buried in the scarlet mist, remained a blaze of blue flames, obscuring the outline of her body.

With a sudden flare, burning intent flickered like a spotlight.

“I’ll commend you for destroying the core of the barrier. My sister received more of my blood than anyone else. In other words, it means she contained the most of my soul….”

“What a final struggle.”

“Whether it is ‘final’ or not… we shall see, won’t we?!”

Immediately thereafter.

A fist made of vapor shot out like a cannonball. Although it was far smaller than before, the speed was overwhelming.

In an instant, it lifted the man’s body off the ground.

Of course, the man would not remain still. His hand shot out like lightning, leaving a sharp trajectory from his sword, but the silver mist merely parted the air.

The man’s brow furrowed at the bizarre phenomenon he faced. In any case, the woman emerged from the crimson fog and aimed for the man suspended in the air.

Then came the blow.

With a heavy sound, the ruptured air burst outward chaotically. Accompanied by a dreadful noise that seemed to scrape the eardrums, the man’s body was thrust deeply into the ground.

The rising dust and crackling earth testified to its power.

Even at the moment of impact with the ground, the man swung his sword.

Hundreds of sword lights surged forth.

The torrent of light was as dense as a net. Deadly lines that allowed no gaps.

But even this failed to reach her.

Every time the silver trajectory touched her, the vampire merely scattered like mist. Until the moment the man’s sword cut through the sky where he had fallen, the vampire did not touch the ground.

With a burst, light and mist intertwined. The torrent of crimson rain, aimed at the man, shattered like sand caught in a wave.

When the vampire gracefully landed,

The man had already risen with an indifferent expression. His nonchalant gaze glanced at the woman.

“Are you maintaining the barrier in a miniaturized form? It feels like you’re twisting causality again.”

“You got it right, ‘pride’… So, are you going to try using the bloodline characters again?”

The man remained silent, offering no answer.

Thus, the vampire’s twisted smile deepened.

The monster erupted with blue laughter.

“Ha, ah, hahahaha! Yeah, that would be true… There’s no way a mere human could wield the power of dragons multiple times! Even five of them! The limit was just breaking my barrier to pieces, right?!”

“You restructured the shattered barrier using yourself as the core.”

Even the man’s calm speculation yielded no clear answer from the woman.

In fact, there was no need for one. The steady golden eyes were telling the man of his certainty.

The vampire’s complexion twisted even further.

“…It’s because you killed my sister!”

Another explosion.

The woman only struck the ground, yet with the swirling dust, the earth cracked open and a ravine was formed. The man lifted his sword for defense once again, but the limitations remained.

There was no possibility of counterattack.

Thus, he could only be pushed back unilaterally. The confidence of the vampire stemmed from this.

With a voice increasingly filled with heat, the vampire exclaimed.

“No matter how strong you are, you are just a hybrid with some random vision implanted in you!”

Her crimson nails flowed over the man’s body like water. Each time they did, his blade would block her path, but the vampire danced, increasing her speed.

Ultimately, adding rotational force, she landed a kick that embedded itself into the blade.

The shockwave not absorbed by him exploded behind his back. As the man instinctively took a couple of steps back, the woman charged in again, continuing her assault.

Explosions and flames erupted.

Like a volcano preparing to explode.

“The quality of technique can only decline… That’s why when thoughts clash with thoughts, it becomes impossible to confront without resorting to tricks!”

Clang.

The sound of the man’s blade colliding with the vampire’s claws produced an unpleasant noise. In the state of the power struggle, the man maintained his dry tone and spoke.

“What you say is true, borrowed thoughts are mere replicas… and they do have their limits.”

“A pitiful struggle, fit for a rag.”

With a fierce grin, the vampire declared.

“Only those abandoned by the world can possess such unbalanced talent! How many trials have you endured? And how much have you lost?!”

“Countless.”

“So, did you participate in that absurd plan?!”

Advance, then retreat.

The blades and claws shifted positions, trying to maintain the balance of power. Each time, flames erupted and noise broke out, with the voices of the man and woman intertwining.

“But there’s no power without a price, ‘pride’… Your fall is already predetermined. If you’ve seen the myth, then you’ll know how those who commit the sin of ‘pride’ meet their end!”

“Then you must also know how those who commit the sin of ‘envy’ meet their end.”

Eventually, a rupture.

The balance that had persisted for a while shattered, unleashing a furious explosion of flames. In the blink of an eye, they split a moment into another, sending both of them a few steps back.

The now coldly settled blue eyes gazed at the man.

With a tense, clenched expression, a hazy denial seeped through.

“…I am different.”

“Of course you are… and did you call it a ‘pitiful struggle’?”

With a sound that might have been a sneer, she prepared to step back.

It was then.

The once raucous surroundings fell into silence all at once.

The ominous light aimed at the man from the blood fog settled, and the vampire, whose claws clashed together to prepare for the next movement, halted abruptly.

“Struggle, struggle… that’s true. But as I painstakingly stitched together a rag, I began to see something.”

And the world slowly began to lose its color.

---