Beneath the Twilight

World of Chaotic Blood, Dusk City border.

The carriage axles made a steady clacking sound on the official road.

Erian Valensos leaned against the velvet cushion, gazing at the scenery drifting slowly past outside.

He was the youngest count among the "Reformists," and also the leader of this diplomatic inspection delegation.

"First time in Dusk City?" the guide sitting across from him asked.

She was a vampire woman who looked to be only in her early twenties.

She wore the standard uniform of Dusk City's foreign affairs department—a dark-blue belted robe, with a half-bright, half-dark sun Emblem embroidered over the left side of her chest.

"Yes."

Erian nodded, his gaze still fixed outside the window.

"To be honest... it's not quite what I imagined."

"How so?"

"I thought it would be more... gloomy."

He chose his words carefully. "After all, it's a city where vampires gather, and it's located on the edge of the World of Chaotic Blood..."

The guide let out a soft laugh. "Many first-time visitors think the same thing."

"But you'll soon discover..."

Before she could finish, the carriage suddenly drove out of a dense forest of blood vines.

Then Erian's pupils abruptly contracted.

Light. It was light!

Not the vague, indistinct glimmer of the World of Chaotic Blood's eternal twilight, but something that could almost be called "dazzling"... sunlight.

Erian's body instinctively shrank back, retreating into the shadows of the carriage.

His skin began to faintly heat up, and some ancient fear deep within his bloodline was awakening.

It was the primal dread of sunlight carved into the genes of every vampire.

"Don't be nervous."

The guide's voice came from across from him, soothing.

"This is the artificial sunlight of Dawn Tower. Its intensity is only one-fifth that of real sunlight."

"For ordinary vampires, it will