And that's how we met Lord Heydrich and became His Claws and Fangs. We each had our own reasons for serving him, and a lot of us joined the cause at different times, but the gist is that all of us were bewitched by the Gold. Wait, scratch that. "Broken" is much better word for it. The realization that a person like Him exists turns your entire worldview upside down.
Whether it be good or bad, a blessing or a curse, is up to the person to decide. Samiel would give me shit for even entertaining the idea that it's not always a blessing, but I'm not as thick-headed as that hag, I think it's fine for people to see it their own way.
For example, the thing she reveres is fire, and that's how she defines Him. For me, though, the man is a deep, Golden darkness. Both of us revere Him, but the concepts we apply to Him are basically opposite. And I think it's fine for people to have their own ways of worshipping Him. Hell, for all I care, they can even serve Him just 'cause they're scared shitless. Fear, respect, awe — same shit, different word. All that matters is that they accept He's far above us all and that He has some grand plan for all of us.
I really don't give a shit as long as they're not braindead enough to think they're stronger than Him or that they can stop His Hegemony. I'm His Claws and Fangs, ya know? I'm not gonna stomach any shitstains that challenge him. I'll crush, kill, and destroy and idiots stupid enough to defy Him. I'll also accept His world and everything that comes with it. No, wait, putting it like that is disrespectful. Rather, I feel that my existence doesn't reject the Gold's Hegemony.
That's the shape of the loyalty I present Him. Pretty orthodox, eh? I'm pretty fuckin' big on my knightly honor, y'know?
You might not think it suits me, but I'm not just some brat who throws a tantrum when she's not the first at everything. Though, I'm not saying that I wouldn't resist someone stronger than me. If I hate his guts, I'm not gonna bend the knee no matter how far above me he is. Sure, ya gotta know how to tell when someone can easily thrash you, but if you rely on just that, you might as well be a fuckin' machine. You're barely even alive at that point.
Then again, that goes against what I just said about not taking shit from any fuckers opposing Him. I mean, they'd fight the Gold 'cause they don't like Him, and that takes a load of pride and determination. There's definitely something to respect about that.
Honestly, this might be way simpler than how I'm putting it. I've probably just fallen for Him. It's kinda dumb and I know it sounds gay as fuck, but I can't deny that I follow Lord Heydrich because I like Him.
It might also devalue what I said about knightly honor, but if you ask me, this is a pretty important part of it. Serving a lord who constantly makes you gag is just fucking pathetic. I chose who I work for, and that's the way it should be.
Well, that went on for too long. Anyway, I became the Number IV of the Obsidian Round Table. Ahnenerbe, Fusion Type, Ewigkeit... Up to you whether you believe me or not, but that's the reason why I haven't aged all this time. Age and illness can do shit all to me 'cause I'm constantly reaping souls. Makes me seem like a stereotypical vampire, don't it? Well, it's actually some sort of magic, but who cares. Fuck, I don't even want to think about it.
I mean, this shit was taught to me by Karl Kraft... Mercurius. While Lord Heydrich is the only one I recognized as superior to me, Mercurius is the only one I can't even gauge. He made my skin crawl. Didn't like him one bit. Everyone else probably felt the same, though, for different reasons, obviously.
In my case, it's pretty basic — he seems really damn weak. A contradiction, you think? Not making sense, am I? Okay, lemme give you a simple explanation.
Imagine an animal that's both old as shit and is being fucked by all sorts of diseases. It can barely move, it's head's not working properly, taking a toll on its intuition and thoughts, and its basic instincts may as well not be there considering how useless they are. Animals like that are definitely "weak," aren't they? They're harmless eyesores just waiting for natural selection to take them.
But what if it's a lion? Or a bear? How about a tiger? Or hell, a goddamn dinosaur? A wounded T-Rex is still overwhelming, so ants don't stand a chance against it.
What, you're saying billions of them could stand a chance? You're probably right, but who gives a shit. I'm not well-read, ya know? Making good parallels is hard for me.
Anyway, in my eyes, Mercurius was close to that, except worse. Seriously, what the hell was that thing...? For all I know, he could've been something way beyond a dinosaur, but to be frank, I haven't a fucking clue.
I swear, that crap always made me gag. One moment I think I can kill him in one hit, and the other, I know that even facing him would be delusional. Standing before him made me constantly switch back and forth between those two feelings.
He was some sort of thing that just went around creating shitty endless loops like that. It always made me feel stupid. It was like he repeatedly pointed it out over and over. Dance, dance for me, spin on the palm of my hand, again and again...
And that's why I fucking hate him. The only bad thing I can say about Lord Heydrich is that He's on good terms with that bastard. My ideal outcome would be one where He wages a Holy war against Mercurius and kill him with me as one of His Fangs. I have no idea if that future will come, but I fuckin' hope it does. This thought didn't cross my mind back during the war, but I'm sure I felt something similar.
As a knight of the Longinus Dreizehn Orden, I haven't changed much since that time. After fighting countless battles, gathering tons of souls, and going through with Lord Heydrich's assassination, I began to feel something big was about to happen...
It was late in the summer of the year 1944. A little while before Machina joined and took the last seat at the table.
In the Warsaw Uprising, I met a woman who was my "first" in a completely different way than Heiga.
Don't you worry, I'm gonna tell you everything. From the first moment I met her, to the very end of our story.
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(First Person POV)
"Uoohhhrhaaaaah!"
I destroyed them, twisted them apart, tore them to pieces, and squeezed them dry.
Then, I absorbed their life until they were all dried up.
If I had anything that could be called fighting style, that was the best description for it. I trampled my enemies with all my might, leaving them as little more than undignified gore.
I knew pretty damn well that I was being crude and brutish. I mean, by that point, I had a general idea for how normal people viewed things.
What of it, though? Sure, I didn't give a shit about society's standards, but I wasn't purposefully trying to stray away from them, either.
If anything, it just so happened that my style fit a certain template. It definitely wasn't like I was just some little brat trying to look cool by doing bad things.
This was just a matter of what I preferred and what I was good at. Going wild simply felt right to me, and I couldn't do things any other way. It was something that had become a part of me during the nights I'd spent hunting cats and dogs.
I believed it was normal for people to be good at what they like doing, and the reverse was true, as well. I was good at fighting using my style, and it gave me the best results, so I naturally came to enjoy it.
"Hee hee, khahahaha! Ahahahahahahah! Bring it on, you little shits! Try and hurt me! Come on, I dare ya! You'll have to do better than that if you want to lay hands on the one and only Kaziklu Bey!"
I never held back and wasn't ever planning on it. My nature was that of a taker.
Vampires were hunters who did nothing but plunder, drinking blood for as long as their hunger willed it.
"Briah—"
Thus, I wasn't restraining myself this time, either.
Friend or foe, it didn't matter to me. I simply had no reason to be considerate of worthless humans.
All of them were mere sustenance for me to feed on. With a booming cackle, I summoned my night of bloodstained roses, dooming all caught within to a painful demise.
"Der Rosenkavalier Schwarzwald!"
Briah, The third degree of Die Ewigkeit, also known as the Creation Figment Degree. Was the Degree in which we created a law — the manifestation of the greatest craving burning within our hearts.
Everyone had an ideal they wanted to realize or a truth they wished to force upon others.
A Creation Figment was a way to create a world where that became an absolute law. Though, there was a difference in that Gudōu/Transcendence were directed inward, while Hadōu/Hegemonies went onward.
Whichever it was, it made the user's long-cherished dream become reality. Though limited, it formed a world where you were God and your craving was a commandment.
"Die! Die! Crumble! Shatter! Wither!"
You wonder what kind of world I desired? Isn't it obvious? I wished for a realm of endless night.
I need not the light of day, for the night shall be my chief domain.
What else could a vampire really want? Sure, I couldn't make it eternal, but I could unconditionally bring night upon an entire area within 500m radius of me, and anyone caught inside couldn't escape until I either undid it or die.
It wasn't even all that costly. Well, being a Hadōu that changed the world and the space for a pretty large area, it couldn't stay active for long, but it had a special feature that made up for that.
Anyone consumed by my Briah would have their life drained just by being there, which meant I'd grow stronger for as long as there was someone for me to ravage.
That didn't mean I could keep it up as long as I had fuel, but even so, for a Hadōu type, it was pretty damn user-friendly. Though, that might've had something to do with the fact it had Gudōu feature.
When the night of bloodstained roses was active, I became a pure vampire, just like the stuff of legends.
I knew full well that I was born to humans. That was an objective fact. Still, I also had my unwavering pride as a true ancestor, and this was its physical manifestation.
It was Gudōu — a means of turning your very self into a different world. I was probably the only one at the Longinus Dreizehn Orden who wielded such a hybrid.
Naturally, my world was strong, wicked, and beautiful. Sure, a Fusion Types couldn't think straight when we went too wild, but it wasn't bad enough to be negative.
I was pretty high at that moment, too. I could feel the splendor of the night through my fangs, which brought about a little side effect.
"Wil, oh Wil, oh my dear Wilhelm..."
Every now and then, I could hear a voice coming from the deepest parts of my consciousness.
It was Heiga, and I could feel her like she was next to me... No, maybe even closer.
"I see you're well fed today, too. How lovely... If it's to satisfy you, I can do anything. I'm so sorry for making you live in poverty back then. It was hard for me to tell what you really wanted. But now I know you very well. It all started to make sense after you loved me, robbed me, and made me one with you. It made me so, so happy. I can stay with you and give you anything you want now. So please, tell me... Hey Wil, was I tasty?"
"Hah, dumb bitch."
Her head was empty as always. This was my sister and mom, and she hadn't changed a bit.
"Quit yapping, you fucking whore. Fuck off or I'll kill you again."
"Oh. Oh my! What a gentle boy you are. I didn't think I was that dear to you. Thank you, Wilhelm. I'm the happiest mother in the world."
It didn't even feel like we were having a conversation. This is what I meant when I'd said she didn't have the capacity for the slightest bit of sense.
No matter what happened, to her the world was this pretty little flower garden where everything was always fine and dandy.
Well, now it was a rose garden, and she'd become both the princess and the gardener. For all eternity.
"Man, not even death keeps you from fucking with me."
Despite my grumbling, I didn't truly dislike these talks. After all, the bitch was like a trophy to me, and having her around helped me remember how happy I was the moment I killed her.
A vampire's prey becomes a part of her, ya know? Heiga was the first one I took as I became certain of my true nature, so she was like a medal to me.
Sure, she had no idea when to stop talking, but I did like it when she writhed within me, covered completely in the reddest of blood.
I could only hear her when the world was drowned in grudges and bloodshed, and when I was just feeling really fucking good. 'Cause of that, hearing Heiga's voice always made me feel complete.
Honestly, I wouldn't mind thanking Mercurius for giving me a chance to experience something so pleasurable. I didn't mean the power itself, but the uniqueness of its manifestation. I could be proud of the fact that it belonged to me and me alone.
You know what I said about Briahs needing a craving? Well, it's based on that. Even if all our powers came from the same sorcery, what you actually got ultimately depended on what you wanted.
Imagine someone acting like hot shit just because he got a pistol. He'd be fucking braindead. A pistol was a pistol regardless of who was using it, and if he grew stronger because of it, it was all thanks to the gun alone. There was no inseparable bond between a pistol and its wielder.
My Ewigkeit and Ahnenerbe, on the other hand, were like a furnace and a bunch of iron. What I made of it was up to me to decide.
No one else but me could create the night of bloodstained roses, and it became what it was solely because of me. I'd say that was a pretty huge difference.
"Call me whenever you're hungry. I'm always at your side. I love you, Wilhelm. I love you so, so much. More than anything else in the world! I loooove youu! Kyahahahahaha!"
Anyway, I was in the middle of trashing Warsaw, completely draining allies and enemies alike.
The fact that Heiga's voice was fading signaled the end of the night of bloodstained roses. This meant two things.
First, everyone within my Briah was dead. Without anyone left for me to drain, there was no point in wasting fuel — Souls — just to keep this world active.