NOVEL NEXT I had just over two weeks left.
There’s no way I’m just going to die quietly. I won’t give up until the moment the execution is carried out. If there’s even the slightest chance of survival, I plan to cling to it.
But the problem was whether that survival chance even existed, even at one percent.
Being locked up and unable to move a single limb made self-escape practically impossible, so I inevitably needed to find an external variable.
And ironically, I found that possibility in Raul, the very person I despise.
From what I observed, this fanatic seemed extremely averse to having his research interrupted. When he gets into something, he wants to focus alone—quite the archetypal researcher, I suppose.
The basis for my judgment was that since I arrived here, I had not seen a single human other than Raul. It defies common sense that there wouldn’t be anyone watching over the “legendary vampire” that must be eliminated.
If so, the remaining possibility is that Raul intentionally fed someone to me nearby. Of course, there are soldiers standing guard outside somewhere, but at least in this closed space, only Raul and I would know what’s happening.
In other words, if I can subdue Raul, I might have a chance to escape. Whether I can deal with the soldiers outside is a secondary concern.
But that’s only if I can regain my freedom first. While I’m bound like this, it’s meaningless.
The only variable is my potential. It’s said that the Progenitor becomes stronger the more blood they consume, but it seemed even Raul didn’t know exactly how much stronger and in what way.
Indeed, he might have been cutting me open and ripping out my insides because he didn’t know my limits. If he had known accurately, I wouldn’t have faced a death threat like this in the first place. To Raul, I am undoubtedly a priceless experiment.
So I decided to take a chance on that idea.
Since Raul didn’t know the limits of my regeneration, he almost killed me once and then fed me more blood to revive me.
Drinking blood brought me back to life. Normally, a person wouldn’t give their blood to a vampire, but the more my power increases, the greater the types and ranges of torture—research and experimentation—I could endure.
From the perspective of a fanatic obsessed with vampire research, this would be quite an enticing prospect. With my execution date suddenly looming just two weeks away, he’d likely want to conduct as much research as possible within that time frame.
And since objects don’t grow on their own, the restraints binding my body were presumably prepared based on my previous self.
If Raul, in his impatience, continuously provides me with blood for his experiments, and my strength unexpectedly surpasses his expectations, I just might be able to break free from these restraints.
There could still be one last chance.
Even though it’s a slim possibility, I had no option but to cling to it. Accepting death without a fight would be far worse.
*
Five days passed since then.
“Indeed, the key is blood. The Progenitor’s power lies entirely within their blood.”
Ignoring the sight of my exposed, still-pumping heart after he had sawn through my ribs, Raul sighed. He had plugged a vial filled with my blood into some strange apparatus and was bustling about for quite a while, seemingly displeased with the results.
‘Serves you right, idiot.’
It was something I recently discovered: surprisingly, the pain of having my fingers or toes cut off was bearable.
Even after regenerating, there was a lingering burning sensation, but the rapid pace of regeneration meant the direct pain didn’t last long.
The real agony was when my abdomen or chest was opened up, exposing my organs.
Just touching the outside air sent chills down my spine and twisted my body. The regeneration was slow, and if I lost consciousness for even a moment, I felt like I would go insane.
It hurts. It hurts so much. I’ll kill that bastard, no matter what.
The temptation to give in and escape from it all clashed with my desire for revenge and my thirst for life.
I need to kill everyone who did this to me. I can’t die before that.
“To understand more beyond this, we must unravel the mysteries hidden within the Progenitor’s blood. The problem is time… Ugh, stupid fools. They don’t understand the value of this great research and just howl to execute me quickly, wasting humanity’s progress.”
I tried hard to ignore the sensation of flesh squirming in my stomach as I focused on Raul’s words.
At first, I was too overwhelmed dealing with the pain to pay attention to anything else, but I realized Raul talked to himself quite a bit. During the experiments, he would address me or excitedly ramble about new discoveries; he was nonstop chatter.
Watching him jab me and slice me open while he rambled made me want to kill him right there, but at the same time, I couldn’t deny it was somewhat informative.
After all, the research subject is me, right? Raul knows more about me than I do.
For someone who needed to understand my hidden potential even a little bit more, I had to listen, even if the information came from torturing me on the experiment table.
Thanks to that, I learned quite a lot. For instance, I now have a rough understanding of my current regenerative capabilities and physical strength.
This part was somewhat troubling news for me, as regeneration is overwhelmingly the strongest ability the Progenitor has, whereas the others grow much more slowly.
In other words, even though I awakened as the Progenitor, I could only rely on my regeneration a bit, while my physical strength remains comparatively unimpressive.
At best, I’m just slightly stronger than an average adult male. It’s still far better than my frail previous life, but my initial plan that I could break free from my restraints using strength has practically been dismissed.
I also found out that there’s a unique magic only the Progenitor can use, but I have no clue how to wield it, so I put that on hold for now.
The fact that only I can use it implies I should be able to learn it without someone teaching me, but whether the conditions haven’t been met or if I lack talent, I have no way of knowing right now.
It was frustrating. If breaking the restraints with force was too much, I thought magic might offer another breakthrough.
Honestly, I felt lost.
I was scared and anxious.
The moment I give up, my death is sealed, so I grasp at even the tiniest possibility, but I know better than anyone that none of them seem too realistic.
But still, I don’t want to die.
I want to survive no matter what.
It’s only my desperate longing for life that keeps pulling me out of the abyss of despair and whispering in my ear, “Those who want you dead are living just fine. Are you going to give up?”
I can’t give up. I won’t accept that only I die while they have a happy ending.
So, I simply waited.
Patiently believing that a chance might come, even if it seems nonexistent.
*
Another whole week passed without any results.
I only had two days left. I guess it’s time to face the reality. In two days, I will be executed. Simply for the crime of being born a vampire, I’ll end up having my heart hacked open in a gruesome and miserable end.
Truthfully, the plan itself was incredibly flimsy. Although I’m currently at the mercy of Raul, there’s no way they would leave any variables for me to escape from the Luminous Kingdom’s Palace.
If I wanted to do something on my own, I should have done it before being captured by humans. While I foolishly got caught up in unrealistic ideals, the golden opportunity slipped past me, and by the time I resolved to do something, it was already too late.
Even now, during the given time, I’ve devised various plans, yet the results were far from satisfactory.
The restraints holding me in place were sturdy enough that even a freshly awakened rookie vampire like me couldn’t leave a scratch.
Moreover, when I overheard Raul’s mumbling about the capacity to bind magic, all my choices seemed to vanish instantly. Even without that, I didn’t know how to use magic anyway.
Even if I managed to shake off these restraints and subdue Raul, nothing would change. If they prepared the restraints this thoroughly, there’s no way the soldiers guarding outside would be any pushovers.
In the end, it was all meaningless struggles. There would be no hole to burst through the sky that had already collapsed.
There was just one foolish person unable to accept reality, clutching at the trickling hope like grains of sand while pretending to close their eyes.
A laugh escaped me involuntarily. What I thought was a second chance at life was merely a third-rate play. No, looking back, my entire life across both my past and present was like that.
I fell ill at ten and died at twenty-three after a thirteen-year battle with disease. Then I was reborn as a vampire, spouting nonsense about wanting to live like a human among humans, only to lose my identity and pride as a human and be executed by those very humans.
How ridiculous is this story? If a god exists, they must be having a blast watching my humiliation. It’s a comedy fit for a ten-million-viewer box office hit.
I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die.
I resent and loathe this world.
I hate the humans who betrayed my trust and goodwill, desperately wishing to kill me.
But even if it’s a futile struggle, I couldn’t stop.
Isn’t there another way? Couldn’t a miracle happen?
In my frantic quest to find just a mere flicker of hope, recalling what I had already reviewed dozens or hundreds of times, I didn’t even notice Raul had returned.
“Another failure… The execution is in two days. There’s just no way to finish it tomorrow.”
Now that I think about it, just yesterday he was glued to my side, as if every second were precious, sacrificing sleep for experimentation, and now he’s been absent for such a long time.
When I rolled my eyes subtly, I noticed that Raul had a sunken, defeated expression on his face.
The fanatic mad scientist who constantly excitedly rambled was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was a calmness, devoid of confidence, in his eyes.
He had begun to look weary for the past few days, and now it seemed he also sensed he wouldn’t be able to achieve what he desired.
It seemed that I wasn’t the only one with lingering attachment. Just as I held on to life, he too seemed to have some sort of desire for something he wanted to gain from my research.
But so what? I’ll be executed in two days.
It was quite revolting to see the old man who had made me feel death was imminent every day now appear as if he was mourning for my death. It was almost satisfying, as if he didn’t even grasp the reality of my impending doom.
“Indeed, creating a progeny isn’t simply about transferring blood. While it’s true the Progenitor’s blood harbors countless mysteries, it is merely a medium for the creation of progeny; there must also be the Progenitor’s willing transfer of part of their own power.”
This was something I had never heard before. They’ve been researching that too?
Still, without him telling me, I wouldn’t have known. But whatever research he did, what difference does it make? I couldn’t change anything.
Then, Raul spoke to me for the second time.
“Little Progenitor, what do you think?”
Even though he used a term referring to me, it took me a moment to realize he was actually talking to me.
This was only the second time Raul had attempted to talk to me. The first time was just to test my ability to understand human language, and he had no intention of having a conversation.
Although he occasionally spoke to me during torment, it was when my mouth was gagged. Those were just utterances that felt like self-talk, not something he expected an answer to.
But this time felt different. After posing his question, he silently gazed into my eyes, allowing no noise to disrupt the moment.
“…What?”
I responded tersely, not wanting to engage.
It was just a fleeting whim. I had no obligation to respond nor did I want to, yet it wouldn’t change anything at this stage.
However, Raul’s response took a turn far from my expectations.
“I was trying to create your progeny, but I failed.”
…?
What on earth has this crazy bastard been up to all this time?