While his thoughts remained a mystery, D stepped forward. Of course, the knife thrower’s invitation was no challenge to battle. And this young man wasn’t the kind to take part in mere games. Yet he still advanced.

“I’m obliged to you for consenting so readily to assist me,” the knife thrower said with a bow. “I suppose you’ll be using your own weapon. If you manage to deflect my knives, I’ll give you the gold coin. Very well, then.”

They were fifteen feet apart. For someone as skilled as the knife thrower, that was essentially no distance at all.

D stood there without even drawing his blade. The scene seemed to be taking place in an entirely different season from their all-too-brief summer.

The single flash of silver scorching through the air was in fact four blades. But the spectators only realized that when a prismatic slash flowed out from the man in black’s shoulder in what could only be described as an effortless sweep, and knocked them all to the ground.

Before anyone could even gasp with surprise, D dashed forward. As the pale knife thrower backed away, the remaining four blades in his left hand raced out. People saw a cross-shaped flash of light. The horizontal swipe batted away the throwing knives, while the vertical stroke caught the man as he tried to jump back, splitting him in half from his silk hat down to his jaw.

But the man who’d been instantly killed didn’t fall to the ground. Something else fell instead. A doll in a silk hat and morning coat.

Shadowy figures leapt at D from all sides—the cook who’d been roasting chickens, the candy vendor, men who’d been playing chess by the sidewalk. And while their movements were human enough, their course of action was anything but.

The blades they brought down at the Hunter all met thin air. Before the men could launch a second attack, their torsos were bisected, turning them into tiny dolls that fell on the grass.

The tip of D’s blade dipped ever so slightly—the blades of grass were being crushed to the ground. Only one person D knew had the power to control the gravity in a given area.

“So, we meet again, D!” Shin said, his voice rising with scornful laughter from somewhere in the area. “I’ll have you know the sheriff who called on you was one of my puppets, too. But this time I’m not alone. I take it you’re familiar with Egbert and his ‘kingdom.’”

The tip of D’s sword rose—-then fell again. But no matter how much a dhampir’s strength surpassed that of an ordinary man, this was bound to happen when the Hunter was subjected to five times the ordinary force of gravity. One on one, he’d beaten all the warriors’ tricks. But going up against them in tandem would be another matter.

I suppose it’s nearly a mile across. And everything in it is under his command. What’s more, it’s populated entirely by my puppets. Let’s see you try and get out of this.” Shin stopped there, but after a moment’s pause he continued, saying, “But it seems you were wise to my puppets even before you tangled with the knife thrower. Care to explain why that was?”

D barely managed to hold his sword horizontally. But in a voice that didn’t betray an iota of strain, he said, “I suppose I have Glen to thank for that.”

On the ferry on the way over, Glen had taken one of Shin’s arms. But if that wound had proved the puppet master’s downfall, surely only this young man would’ve been up to the task of noticing it.

The Hunter sensed something surging forward. And it was more than just one person. Several ranks deep when they came together, they advanced on him from all sides. D had probably seen through their guise already. They were the same young people who’d been intent on dancing, mothers and children who’d licked their lips over watermelon, and men who’d been competing at the ring toss game. The people here in the woods—-or, according to what Shin said, everyone for more than a half mile in all directions—were all puppets. And unlike D, they were immune to the effects of Egbert’s kingdom.

Steely blades glittering in every hand, the mob surrounded D. Stark flashes of light were coupled with the sound of severed bone, and in no time at all a number of people in the foremost rank vanished.

With Shin’s howl as their signal, the bizarre charge of the puppets continued, and then, when they’d been reduced to half their previous number, a voice cried out again.

“This is unbelievable—he’s simply incredible,” said Shin. “He must be under ten Gs out there. There’s no use pressing him any further—you’ll only be throwing your lives away,” he told his minions. “Back! Fall back! We’ll take him out from a distance.”

The crowd backed away. Several people who’d remained to the rear held weapons that looked to be old-fashioned gunpowder rifles. But before they could raise them, much less fire, their heads were flying through the air—where they became doll heads. Faster than the group could retreat, D had advanced and raked his blade through the opposition. The only reason he’d remained rooted until now was to keep himself from being trapped by the chaotic movements of his foes.

“Oh my! ” someone cried out in surprise, and there was movement perceptible in the woods off to the Hunter’s right.

Without a moment’s hesitation, without even looking, D hurled a needle of unfinished wood. Glistening briefly in the sunlight, the missile was swallowed by the forest, and then a cry of pain rang out.

D looked down at his feet. On the grass before him, countless dolls lay frozen in the same poses they’d held a split second before their transformation. At the same time, D realized he’d been released from the insane bonds of gravity.

“I’m impressed. But then, I should expect no less from the Vampire Hunter D,” the Hunter heard Egbert say. But even with his highly perceptive hearing, D couldn’t tell from where the voice originated. It sounded as if it was coming from both the heavens and the earth.

“Aren’t you coming?” D asked calmly. If he were ever to invite someone to have a cup of tea with him, that was undoubtedly the same tone he’d use. To him, an invitation to tea or a challenge to the death were one in the same.

On careful inspection, the Hunter’s shoulder was torn open and gushing blood, and his chest and back were covered with long, thin gashes. Given that he’d been taking on dozens of opponents at the same time and the gravity had been about ten times as strong as normal, it was something of a miracle he’d gotten off with so few wounds.

“I think I’ll pass,” Egbert replied simply. His tone was refreshed, and he sounded somehow greatly satisfied. “I was against the whole notion of teaming up from the get-go. After I was wounded throwing down with you before, I figured we might not have any choice but to gang up on you,” he remarked. “But sure enough, it just doesn’t set right with me. Next time, it’ll be mano a mano. With King Egbert. See you later.”

As soon as the man finished speaking, D walked off toward where he’d hurled the needle, not even pausing to catch his breath.

Drops of red spattered on the well-trampled grass. There was no longer any sign of the vendors or performers—all of them were now puppets that lay hidden in the grass. Even the fragrant woods had vanished, leaving D surrounded by gnarled beach shrubs. No doubt he’d been tricked into entering Egbert’s “kingdom” while the sheriff was supposedly leading him to the real clearing. But any spell that could meddle with the sense of distance, direction, and time for someone like D was a fearsome power indeed.

Beyond the twisted bushes, a wrinkled old man lay on his back in a depression, his eyes glaring blankly at the heavens. A slender wooden needle ran into his windpipe and poked out through the nape of his neck. This must’ve been Shin’s true form.

Perhaps D decided that if he left the corpse here to be discovered, it was bound to upset the summer festivities. Sword still clasped in his right hand, he bent down and grabbed the old man’s armless shoulder with his left.

There was a thunderous roar to one side of the Hunter. As if blown away by the very sound itself, D’s left hand snapped off at the wrist and flew more than ten feet away.

“Don’t move,” a voice shouted from behind another tree in the direction the roar had come from, but D had already turned.

Armed with a fire dragon rifle—a massive gun with a barrel bigger than a man’s thumb—the figure who’d just appeared was the spitting image of the old man who lay dead on the ground.

“Looks like you fell for it,” said the old man. “Not everything I manipulate necessarily seems to be alive. That right there’s a puppet of a corpse.”

Down at D’s feet, the body of the old man had become a doll with a wooden needle stuck through it.

“To be perfectly honest, I thought it’d be enough just to take out your left hand today,” the old man continued. “See, I heard from Egbert that it was a talking hand that got the better of his kingdom before. But now my greed’s really kicked in. I don’t care if you are the great Vampire Hunter D—at this range, there’s no way you’ll be able to stop a projectile. And if I get you right through the heart, you won’t be getting up again. So unless that’s what you fancy, you’ll answer me. Where’s the bead?”

D was silent. Thanks to his dhampir nature, the bleeding from his shoulder and all his other wounds had long since ceased, but a stream of red twisted like a serpent from where he’d lost his left hand, and he didn’t seem to be doing anything to staunch the flow.

“Don’t move your arm or even turn your head,” the old man— Shin—said, licking his chops. Though he only had one arm to support the massive weapon, its muzzle didn’t waver an inch. “Egbert also told me what happens when you get a taste of blood. You should’ve left when you figured I was dead, but you were stupid enough to show pity for me.” Chuckling, he added, “That’s probably why you’re not smart enough to know what the bead does.”

Snorting as if trying to drive away some foul odor, Shin replied, “Someone else knew—an old fart that calls himself a professor or something. And true to his name, he sure did have some information for me. But what kind of fate is it to have to drink your own blood to win in battle? You really must lead a cursed existence! But that’s not how it’ll be for me. Instead of a lowly little half-breed like you, I’m going to be a true Noble. Now, where is the bead?” he asked. The words were bare of any sense of triumph, and rang with a tone of naked, wretched greed.

“Over there,” D said, just making a small toss of his head to the ground to his right. “The talking hand has it.”

Shin was speechless for a moment, but then his hideous old face twisted in delight and he nodded, saying, “Oh, I see. What safer hiding place could you ask for? Well, I’ll be taking it then. Don’t move.” Laughing, he added, “On second thought, go ahead and do whatever the hell you like. I have no further use for you!”

Before Shin had even finished speaking, he pulled the trigger. With a sound like a small explosion, a lead slug weighing a sixth of an ounce shot through D’s head. And at that moment, Shin probably knew what his own fate would be. A split second before pulling the trigger, he’d seen something. D’s eyes were giving off a blood light.

While Shin’s finger was desperately pulling the trigger, D was in motion. The gravity of Egbert’s “kingdom” was no more, and he’d become a full-fledged Noble. Shin couldn’t tell what move the Hunter was going to make next. The slug didn’t even rip into the shrubs until after the rifle had been slashed in two by a blow that also carved Shin open from the left shoulder to the right lung and his body had thudded backward.

Out of reflex, D covered his nose and mouth. Shin had called him cursed for having to drink his own blood to win. But even the puppet master couldn’t have imagined that the blood he’d spilled with a shot from his own gun would evaporate in the summer sun, forming a thick aroma that invaded D’s nostrils and filled him with demonic power. Perhaps there was some truth to what Shin had said.

As D set eyes blazing with blood light on the real Shin, the Hunter’s expression shifted ever so slightly. Suddenly, there was a puppet where the old man had been. And when D turned around, his left hand was nowhere to be seen on the ground.

Perhaps a thousand feet inland from the phantom woods that’d been the stage for D’s deadly combat were the real woods. Not even the roar of the surf could be heard there. In its place, there was the humming and chirping of insects called out by the sultriness when the chill departed the night before like a dream. But their cries ceased unexpectedly, for an old man as thin as a rail had jumped in and roughly trampled their summer shrubs.

On the fallen trunk of a massive tree covered in emerald moss, another figure stood up. Having shed his trademark cloak, Professor Krolock stood there in a somewhat grimy shirt and trousers, both of which looked to be made of burlap. Seeing the one-armed old man who’d raced there, he asked, “Did you get it?” His haggard expression didn’t change for a second.

“Yeah,” the old man—Shin—said with a nod. “I’ve got it right here. Look at this!”

Anything could happen on the Frontier— nothing at all surprised its inhabitants.

At his query, Shin clutched the tattered limb to his chest, trembling. Try as he might, he simply couldn’t contain his delight.

“That should be pretty obvious,” the puppet master replied. “I’m gonna get out of town as fast as I can. I may have gotten the bead, but he’s still alive. He’s a scary one, and I have to count myself lucky to have the thing at all. The next time he sees me, I’m as good as dead. Those blood-red eyes of his—he didn’t even see the real me, but it still felt like he was looking right down into the marrow of my bones.” Chuckling, he added, “Of course, the next time we meet, I’ll be so much better than him he won’t be fit to lick my boots.”

As the professor indifferently watched the grotesque tableau of Shin violently shaking the severed hand, he asked, “Have you actually verified that the bead is in there?”

The puppet master’s countenance had been a picture of unwavering joy, but a sudden gust of agitation blew into his features. “No. But I—”

“You and I could return to the Capital, but if that hand doesn’t hold the bead, it’ll be utterly worthless to us. Why don’t you check and make certain?”

The professor’s words proved just persuasive enough to goad Shin into action. Waving the severed limb he held, the old man said to it, “Okay, answer me. Are you dead already, or do you still live?”

Although Shin—who’d reached the peak of his anger—didn’t notice it, Professor Krolock surely looked to the heavens for deliverance.

All the chirping of the insects had died out. But what followed, almost like an apology, was a burst of indescribable laughter.

Realizing it was the hand that’d laughed, the astonished Shin flipped it over. He’d been looking at the back of it. Before his riveted eyes, the surface of the palm rippled, and something rose in it. A face. It had eyes. And a nose, too. It was even equipped with a mouth. This human visage clearly possessed a will of its own, yet its features were disturbing—as if it lacked what was most essential to a human being.

Chortling, the hand said, “Stop your fretting. I’m alive. And I’ve been that way for quite some time. I’ve lived a hundred times longer than you, I bet.”

“Then I should be able to get right to the point,” Shin said, his tone heavy with coercion and the blackest confidence. There was no trace at all of his earlier distress. “You’re supposed to have a bead in your belly,” he continued. “How about it?”

“Now that you mention it, I do remember swallowing something like that a good long time ago.” With another chortle, it added, “What was it—about three thousand years ago?”

“Are you trying to mock me?!” Shin cried. Lowering his head to his chest, he thrust the point of a dagger before the tiny eyes. The weapon had been hidden in his chest pocket, and he’d drawn it with his teeth. “I’d like to see you try and hide your eyes and mouth again,” he snarled. “Let’s see if you can pull them in so far I can’t gouge them right out of you.”

“Why not carve the bead out of it while you’re at it?” the professor suggested.

“Hold it! Just give me a second,” the weird face said in a desperate effort to stop him. “I’m not sure exactly which of these things you want, but I’ll try and find it now. Let me see . ..”

Spat from its mouth with an impressive whir, the dull silver bead shot right into Shin’s eye before he could ever dodge it. Reeling backward as he let out a beastly howl, he intended to press his own hand to his eye, but instead wound up pressing the other hand to it. Prying the severed hand free again, he threw it away. But there was no bead left in the wound. Where his eye had been there was nothing but a bloody opening.

A burst of laughter echoed up from the ground. The severed hand was standing upright. Both eyes were open wide, and half of the bead jutted from its tiny mouth. How it could laugh with its mouth full was anyone’s guess.

“Wait!” the professor screamed as he readied to pounce on the limb. The hand made no attempt to escape, but rather let the old artist easily get a firm grip on it with both of his own withered hands.

“You may have me,” the hand laughed, “but that won’t do you much good. At least, it won’t help you get this!”

Though it was unclear exactly how it continued to talk while doing this, the hand spit the bead from its mouth. Limning a silvery arc, it flew toward the sea.

While the professor was distracted, a sharp pain shot through his hand, and he then shook loose the weird severed hand. It was only after diving into the bushes to search for the bead and coming out again empty-handed that he realized he’d been bitten. Seeing the tiny teeth marks around the base of his right thumb, the professor clucked his tongue disdainfully.

As a hue of hatred rapidly spread in Professor Krolock’s eyes, he looked down at Shin, who was still writhing on the ground. “Indeed, it does seem your joy was a bit premature.” As the professor spoke, he drew a knife from his belt and plunged it into Shin’s neck up to the hilt.

“You son of a bitch .. .,” the old man said in a tone so mournful most would’ve preferred to cover their ears. He was looking up at the professor. Gouts of blood spilled from his mouth, yet still he spoke. “You idiot . . . You’ve still got my poison spider ... on the back of your neck .. . I’ll take you to hell with me!”

“You mean this thing?” asked the professor. Pulling the poison spider from the breast pocket of his coat, he waved it before Shin’s eyes. “I couldn’t see it myself, but I could catch a glimpse of it with something else. While you weren’t around, I asked someone at the inn to set up a pair of mirrors for me. First I got one to reflect the nape of my neck, and then I held the other up in front of my face to reflect the first. After that, it was simply a matter of drawing a picture.”

His energy apparently drained, Shin fell to the ground with a frightful rictus, while behind him a spider that’d become a small piece of rubber was discarded by the professor, who turned toward the sea with a ghastly expression hitherto unseen.

“I’ll find you,” Professor Krolock declared. “I’ll do whatever it takes, but I shall find you. O little treasure, you alone can unlock the mystery of human and Noble blood. And you will be mine!”

And then, pressing down on one hand all the while, he began to walk once again toward where the bead had disappeared.

At the top of a cliff, the roar of the sea could be heard in the distance. If you turned off the Nobles’ road onto the street leading into the village, this was the spot where the road ran quite close to the sea. Looking down from the brink of black rock, you’d be greeted by the fierce spray from waves crashing on the wild tangle of boulders below, and a school of monstrous fish a foot to a foot and a half in length could been seen through the water, massing with teeth bared as if waiting for some suicidal soul. The sight was enough to give some a strange impulse to suddenly throw themselves over the edge.

While the monstrous fish were carnivorous, they didn’t always congregate below the cliff. Their behavior was a throwback to ancient times, when the Nobility had ruled the whole area and had thrown humans off the cliff either as an example to those who would defy them or merely for sport. The number thus dispatched had been so great and the practice had continued so long that it had become a sort of conditioned response in the fish. Even now, nearly ten centuries later, they would rise from the depths of the sea as if guided by instinct, swimming in circles and snapping their jagged teeth to beg for food whenever they sensed humans up on the cliff.

There were two people up there that might provide an afternoon snack. One was a she-beast dripping with allure, the other a statuesque seeker of knowledge—Samon and Glen. Probably they themselves didn’t know whether it was mutual attraction or loathing that united them, yet their strange relationship continued.

At present, Samon’s eyes sparkled with a dark enthusiasm, while the horrid shadows of defeat hung on Glen’s face. Just a day earlier he’d challenged D, only to be defeated. Armed with the closely guarded “Lorelei” technique, he’d dealt a serious wound to his opponent, and he’d been fortunate enough to receive assistance from an unexpected intruder. But Glen knew better than anyone that without that aid, the blow he caught in return from D’s blade would’ve been fatal, and his body burned with that knowledge and a deplorable sense of failure. His recognition of this fact gave way to an undirected rage that now escalated to the point where he wanted to shred the very bandages wrapped around his right shoulder and cut off his useless arm.

Sooner or later, a seeker of knowledge sees the end of the road— and that very phrase described the one fate he never wanted to find there.

As anger and despair tumbled across the swordsman’s handsome face like colors in a kaleidoscope, Samon stared at him, her eyes brimming with an emotion that was neither fully contempt nor pity. She’d told Glen that it looked like her compatriots were going to try something first, prompting his visit to D. Glen had come out of the resulting duel less than triumphant. Mindful of the eyes of the villagers, she’d taken the injured man to the ruined temple and personally treated his wounds. This was the same hateful man who’d saved her from the professor’s spell, taken her against her will, and continually belittled her. Therefore, when he’d challenged D at her insistence and he’d been left defeated, Samon had chuckled cruelly in her heart of hearts. The reason she’d patched him up was because, as long as he still lived, she could get him to rashly challenge the Hunter once more and make it that much easier for her compatriots to obtain the bead. And yet, as the sorceress stood on the cliffs gazing at the young swordsman, the same sort of pathos one might glimpse in someone looking at her beloved seemed to swirl in her eyes.

“Are you going to quit now?” Samon asked in a derisive tone. “That would be for the best, ” she added. “Your opponent is Vampire Hunter D—a swordsman unrivaled in the entire Frontier. That’s not a level of skill a mere seeker of knowledge can hope to attain.

Throw away your foolish pride and leave town without further delay. And just forget any of this ever happened.”

There was no way to describe her remarks save harsh and contemptuous, but it wasn’t clear whether or not Glen even heard them as he looked out over the North Sea in silence, his sword in his right hand.

“I can’t win, can I?” he said flatly, letting his words ride on the wind that blew by. “You’re right—I certainly can’t beat him. A little grub wriggling around on the ground can train all it likes, but it’ll still never measure up to a greater dragon. But there is a way. I’m sure of it. There’s a way for me to bring Vampire Hunter D to his knees.”

Samon squinted her eyes—a sudden gale had struck her. When she opened them fully again, Glen was facing her.

He’s gone mad, thought Samon. That was the only conclusion his expression allowed her to draw.

“There certainly is. Just one,” the seeker of knowledge shouted, his whole body trembling. “When you went to get me some dinner, you also brought back news you’d heard. For once, I have to believe there is a God. Ah,” he sighed, “to think that I was defeated, standing there on the brink of hopelessness when my savior should appear in such a form—”

All hint of color drained from Samon’s expression. This fierce sorceress would leave the faces of even hardened combatants pale, but she backed away as her body filled with a mind-numbing primal fear.

“You can’t be serious,” she said, her lips trembling as she spat the words. “You wouldn’t actually do that. .

“Yes, I’ll become a Noble,” the man declared resolutely, his eyes colored by a killing lust. “Although technically, I’d be one of their servants if a Noble bit me. Yes, little more than a fiend following the commands of the one who bit him, wandering the earth seeking the lifeblood of the same human race to which he once belonged. But none of that matters to me. Not if that’s what it takes to surpass Vampire Hunter D.” Laughing, he added, “Come to think of it, we could never ask for a clearer motive to do battle. A Hunter against a servant of the Nobility.”

Samon was left stunned, literally rooted by his surpassing vindictiveness, and as Glen came before her, he reached out with his wounded right arm and grabbed her pale throat like an eagle clutching its prey. The woman tried to twist away, but he brought his face up to her light pink lips and said, “Starting this evening, I’ll be going out every night. Looking for him, of course. You’re going to ask around the village and try to find someplace he’s likely to appear. We’ll both be looking for him.”

“But that’s simply—Do you think I’d do that? Do you think I could?” Samon asked, her voice trembling. She was terrified by the tenacity of a man who could seriously order her to do such things. A blade of ice rode down her spine. It was actually quite sensual. Samon could feel her crotch growing damp.

“Do you have a problem with that?” Glen asked her. “If so, I’ll throw you off this cliff right here and now. If you can’t do anything but dress my wounds and roll in my bed, then the only thing you’ll be good for is filling the bellies of the fish that gather down there.” Hand still locked on the woman’s pale throat, Glen pulled her close. Samon didn’t fight him. To the contrary, the temptress wrapped both hands around Glen’s head and put her lips to his.

As the string of saliva between them trembled with Samon’s ragged breath, she stared at the man and practically panted, “I’ll be glad to follow your commands. Up until the very day the Noble sinks his fangs into your throat,” she laughed.

The woman’s body was writhing with passion, but Glen knocked her down with a rough shove.

Letting the most lascivious of smiles rise to her lips, Samon said, “Well, I’ll be going now. I have to meet with my colleagues and decide what our next move in this battle will be.” Giggling, she added, “But I’ll be back in your bed again tonight.”

Once Samon had walked off, Glen turned to face the sea alone. And just after he did, the most astounding remark came from behind him.

When Glen turned in a completely unhurried fashion, he was confronted by a muscle-bound giant standing fifteen feet away.

As the man poked the iron staff in his direction, Glen smirked and said, “You’ve been there behind the rocks for some time now, haven’t you? Yes, I have indeed heard your name. So, what’s your business with me?”

“I want you out of town right now. Although, from what I just heard, I don’t think you’re likely to comply. So I’ll have to feed you to the Nobles’ fish the same way you were about to give them Samon.”

Egbert’s staff sank, and the tip of it touched the cliff, where it slowly began to etch a thick line in the stone. Glen didn’t know yet what this action signified.

The tip of the cliff where Glen was standing was roughly twenty feet wide. After he’d completed drawing a line across the entire width, Egbert smiled and said, “Where you’re standing—from this line on—is my kingdom. And now I’m about to smite an invader. I’ll smite you in the name of King Egbert!”

Glancing at the iron staff the giant had braced for action once again, Glen sneered, “You think you’re good enough to kill me? Fine. But I can’t believe there’s a warrior stupid enough to throw his life away because he’s lost in the charms of some worthless slut. I don’t have the use of my good arm,” he added, “but I should still have everything I need to show you just how much better I really am. Come on.”

Egbert’s immutable, dignified countenance was ablaze with rage. After joining forces with Shin to attack D and failing miserably, he hadn’t returned to the group’s hideout, but had walked around the village instead. Gyohki and Twin had their own roles to see to, but

Samon hadn’t been around since the previous night. As Egbert had convinced himself there was no point in heading back yet, the real purpose of his wandering had been to find the woman.

Of the five enforcers, Egbert seemed to have the most human blood coursing through his veins. As a result, he’d been drawn to Samon, whose nature was diametrically opposed to his own. Perhaps he hadn’t expressed those feelings to her because he’d considered how many dissimilar points there were between Samon and himself, but when Egbert learned of Glen’s existence from Shin—who’d followed the woman that first night she left their hiding place—his body burned with a terrible jealousy. Since Samon’s compatriots understood that she had to throw herself at Glen in order to manipulate him, the giant hadn’t voiced his personal opposition to the arrangement, but he swore to himself he would eventually settle matters with the swordsman. Finding just whom he sought there with Samon on the cliffs at the edge of town had left him almost demented with joy. And now that Shin had been slain and Samon had left, he was free to settle matters with this rival suitor completely unfettered.

“Hyah!” Egbert cried in a voice as sharp as tearing silk as he braced his lower half for battle, and then kicked off the ground.

Throwing a look of pity and contempt at the giant form as it made a pointlessly high leap into the air, Glen was then astonished as he tried to make a thrust with the sword in his left hand. His blade seemed to weigh five times as much, and it moved with a proportional sluggishness. When he barely parried the few dozen pounds of iron bar swinging down at him, it was not due to any miracle, but rather to sheer dexterity.

Dodging a horizontal swipe of the staff, Glen was forced back to the tip of the cliff. While his opponent’s speed hadn’t changed at all, the swordsman’s was only a fifth of what it usually was. The instant Glen realized how truly dire the situation was, a powerful blow landed on his torso, sending him flying.

There was no rocky terrain below him. Without a sound, Glen the “seeker of knowledge” fell headfirst from a cliff nearly one hundred fifty feet high into the choppy sea full of monstrous fish.

Tousled by the cool breeze, Su-In’s hair fell across her face, forcing her to repeatedly brush it out of the way with her fingers. The chill bome on the wind was due to the chunks of ice offshore. The weather controller’s unfathomable logic also held sway out there, but when summer called on the village, it didn’t extend out to the far reaches of the ocean. Cold air brought by the north wind grew tepid out over the sea, becoming a cool breeze that blew through the coastal town, normally unheard-of in summer. It was their summer wind.

Su-In was standing on a promontory. It was early afternoon—about the same time Egbert and Glen were engaged in their deadly conflict. The bluish green of the sea before her hurt her eyes. Although partway out it should’ve changed to a freezing ash gray, the sea that was visible from here was the color of summer, as if it’d been emblazoned with the blue of the sky and the green of the grass.

Pale ice floated out beyond the invisible line, while a little shy of it—about three-quarters of a mile from shore—a number of mid-sized power boats ripped the waves into white bits as they chased schools of fish. Based on their position, she thought they might be after rumble tuna.

She was at a spot about a twenty-minute walk from her hideout. It was called “Cape Nobility.” She’d come here countless times as a child, and the initials she’d left remained scratched on the rocks and carved in the trunks of nearby trees.

As she’d looked out at the sea back then, she’d thought, I’m going to live here! But things were different now. She wondered instead, Can I really live here?

Fatigue rode heavily on her shoulders. Up till now, she’d had a way to deal with that. But over the last few days, Su-In had come to feel a strange sense of loss over how extremely important Wu-Lin and Grampa Han had been to her. She’d thought she had the confidence to live—the confidence to live entirely on her own, that is. But then her younger sister and grandfather had been taken from her. Su-In realized she wanted to go somewhere far away once the summer was over. She didn’t think she could bear the next winter.

A certain face drifted into Su-In’s mind, making her tremble in the warm air. The man she’d seen in the tunnel—he’d been in her dream last night, too. But she could swear she’d never seen his face before. And yet, something ineffably heavy and dark was closing around her heart.

Who was he? That was the biggest mystery, although she could accept that much. But another question welled up in her, and it brought terror with it: What is he to me?

Shaking her head, Su-In tried to call to mind a different face— the face of a young man who was far more handsome; colder, and harder. Though he hadn’t told her a single thing about himself, she simply knew he’d traveled a path rougher and more horrid than anything she could ever imagine. And the mere thought of this lifted the weight off Su-In’s chest and gave her a serene feeling.

However, the Hunter was bound to leave someday. That, above all else, was a certainty. Perhaps the whole reason she had him looking after the bead was because she didn’t want him to leave. The truth of the matter was that Su-In was terribly afraid of the way her heart was behaving.

Her eyes were filled with an indistinct view of the sky and the sea, but they suddenly focused on a single point. One of the power boats towing nets out by the ice floes had suddenly listed to one side. And what the woman saw next left her speechless.

In the time it took her to unconsciously blink two or three times, the bow of the vessel was raised high in the air, the men on board were thrown into the dark water, and then the boat slid down into the sea so effortlessly it was unbelievable.

Noticing what was happening, one of the vessels accompanying the ill-fated boat cut free its own nets and swung about.

In the sea off the ship’s starboard fore, something black suddenly reached from the water. At this distance, it merely looked like a thin line, but Su-In pictured it as a crab’s claw.

The captain of the boat that was racing to the rescue noticed it, too. He cut the wheel hard. The thing was less than six feet away. But the desperate life-or-death curve of his course only served to give whatever lurked in the sea the perfect angle to attack.

Su-In saw the limb that protruded from the sea pierce the bow of the boat. The vessel’s own speed just served to make the claw seem all the more trenchant as it ripped its way down the hull like scissors slitting paper, and when the gash had gone halfway down the length of the boat, both the hull and its gaping wound sank into the sea. It took less than two seconds for the boat to list to the port side.

Having noticed the danger in the sea, another vessel began to flee. But before it’d gone thirty feet from the scene of the disaster, something happened. Although it didn’t list and its speed didn’t decrease at all, the distance between the boat’s gunwales and the surface of the water was rapidly dwindling. As his vessel became a veritable submarine and sank beneath the waves, the captain threw himself into the water.

Unable to determine what was going on, another group of boats some way off started closing on the scene while Su-In shouted at them to stop, but they hauled the panting men from the freezing water and sped back toward the harbor without anything else transpiring. Nothing, that is, except for a certain pronouncement.

Although it didn’t reach Su-In’s ears, a heavy, dull voice that might well have issued from the king of all water demons echoed from the bottom of the sea, saying, “Know that any who venture

out to fish shall meet the very same fate. The sea is now your enemy. If the thought of that fills you with dread, then do as I say. There is a girl in your village by the name of Su-In—you must take the bead she has and cast it into the sea any time within the next three days. Once you’ve done so, I shall once again return this sea to you.”

The rescue boats returned to the village at full speed, and while the survivors were brought to the hospital, several other people hurried off to the mayor as quickly as possible to give him the urgent news. Insisting that the summer festival mustn’t be disrupted, the mayor ordered the sheriff and members of the town council to assemble immediately for a committee meeting. The messenger sent to Su-In’s house found D there, and when the young man appeared in a room in the town office like a black gale, the gloomy countenances were replaced with intermittent looks of rapture and horror.

Although D leaned back silently against one wall while the mayor first explained the current situation, then demanded some clarification about the bead and that it be turned over immediately, once the other man had finished speaking, the young man told them in an unhurried tone, “I don’t have the bead.”

Everyone present exchanged glances. But no one was about to take D to task. They felt as if the threat from the deep suddenly stood right before their eyes.

“We have three days, don’t we?” D said in the same steely tone as always. “During that time, either the bead has to be found or whatever’s out in the sea has to be destroyed. That’ll be fine with you, won’t it?”

Once again the council members looked at each other, but all they could do was nod their agreement.

“Just what the blazes is that bead anyway?” the mayor said in a tone that made it clear this was the one question that couldn’t go unasked.

“Where is Su-In?” one of the council members asked sharply. “She said she had some shopping to do and was headed off to the village of Kraus. I don’t know when she’ll be back.”

Kraus was the name of the port town where the ferry had landed. “And another thing,” the council member said doggedly. “As soon as you walked in here, it felt like all the air in the room had frozen. You’re going to tell us just exactly what you are.”

“You’ve got some nerve, saying that,” Dwight interjected. As leader of the Youth Brigade, he was also part of the town council. “All I know is, he’s a traveling bodyguard. Someday he’ll be leaving our village. And isn’t it the law of the Frontier that you never ask travelers about their past or where they’re going?”

“This is hardly the time to be bringing that up, I think,” the council member said to Dwight, thinking he’d found the perfect angle for his attack. “His answer to every single question boils down to ‘I don’t know.’ Yet he has the gall to say all we have to do is defeat our enemy, like it’ll be no problem. I’d sure like to hear just how we’re supposed to do that. And even supposing the thing in the sea is taken care of, what guarantee do we have that a second or third threat won’t surface as long as the bead and those connected to it remain in town? I’m worried about what’ll happen next. Fine—we’ll let him take care of the situation. But even if he squares everything away nice and neatly, I want you to remember that the matter of whether or not Su-In will be allowed to stay in the village will hinge on what kind of explanation we get when all is said and done.”

“What do you mean, you heartless old pig?!” Dwight shouted, rising indignantly. “You lousy bastard! You think you have the right to say that about Su-In, or anyone in her family?! When that wild son of yours got lost out in the middle of a blizzard and wandered off into the Nobles’ resort, who was it that nearly froze to death out there finding him? Was it you? Was it any of you vultures sitting here around the table? Hell no, it was Su-In and Wu-Lin! And I hate to say it, but the last time you fixed up the house you still live in, just who was it that loaned you the funds you needed to renovate? Sorry, but was it the mayor? Was it the circuit bank? No, it was Su-In’s grandfather!”

The council member averted his now-pale face. Logically speaking, what the man had said a moment earlier made sense. However, in a village like this where, aside from their one week of summer, they basically lived on sticks and twigs and slept in snowdrifts, a sense of obligation in interpersonal relationships had to take priority over pure rationality. The harshness of life on the Frontier wouldn’t allow them to live any other way. If there was one thing people here detested more than a thief or a murderer, it was an ingrate.

“Yeah, but Dwight,” another council member interjected, “there’s some truth to what Tolso’s saying. As long as we’ve got access to the sea, we can make a living. But even if everything gets taken care of now, what are we supposed to do if more of these strange characters come and pull the same thing a second or third time? I’m afraid that, in the end, Su-In’s going to have to bear the responsibility for this. Bringing something as dangerous as a Noble into our one week of summer is a pretty serious offense.”

“You bastard! Are you trying to tell me that this is the fault of someone living in the same village as the rest of us or something?” Dwight said, stepping away from his chair. His whole body shook with rage. “Great! That’s just perfect!” the Youth Brigade representative shouted, waving his fist in front of the gloomy council member’s face. “Well then, I’ll bear the burden for my friend’s crime. I take it you won’t have any complaints if I get rid of that monster for you!”

“Shut up! I don’t wanna hear any more of your excuses!” Dwight was just about to pounce on the other man when an arm in black stretched out in front of his chest. For a second, the expression the young fisherman wore made it look like he’d just been plunged into the heart of winter, but the man in black didn’t even glance at him. Instead, he turned to the others, who were all swallowing hard.

“You mentioned the Nobility, didn’t you?” D said like a beautiful shadow. “I heard it came from the sea. If I take care of this threat from the deep as well as the Noble, you’re not to do anything else about Su-In or the bead. You needn’t worry about a thing.”

A buzz that fell shy of actual words filled the room. While the statement sounded preposterous, at the same time, everyone there sensed that this dashing young man might actually be able to make good on it.

“And how do you propose we destroy a Noble—particularly one that comes from the sea like no Noble should be able to do?” asked the sheriff. Fear and expectation intertwined in his voice.

The mayor immediately said, “Well, now—in one sense, that’s more than we could’ve ever hoped for. But I don’t care how good a Vampire Hunter you are, what we’re up against here is no ordinary Noble, you know!”

“I’m sure it won’t be a problem,” a dignified voice jeered through the open window. “He’s a dhampir—so he’s part Noble himself!” Everyone's skin rippled with goose bumps. Even Dwight bugged his eyes, and he couldn’t say a word.

Though D tossed his gaze toward the garden, the voice was heard no more, and all signs of anyone being out there had also vanished. The Hunter then quickly turned and told the group, “That’s right.” In an indifferent tone he stated, “All I ask is that you stay out of my way for three days,” then exited with silent footsteps.

Everyone in the conference room was in a state of shock, and they slumped back in their chairs as if they’d lost consciousness. But before long, Dwight groaned in a troubled tone, “Oh, Su-In— what’ve you gotten yourself into?”

Shortly before D exited the meeting, the professor was leaving the vicinity of the town office at a rapid pace, walking down a narrow path that fed into the main street of the village as he said, “I believe that should suffice to restrict D’s movements. All that remains is to locate the bead as swiftly as possible, but I don’t know where it’s gone—perhaps I should go back and scour that spot again?” he mused.

While searching for the bead, Professor Krolock had seen D hurrying toward the town office, so he’d followed the Hunter at a safe distance and reaped an unexpected bonus in the process. Though his cheeks looked ready to collapse from the sheer force of his grin, the professor did nothing to repress it as he hastened off toward the woods, where a waltz was playing.

It was less than an hour after the trouble at the village office that D called on Su-In.

“Under no circumstances are you to leave,” he told her. Su-In could sense that something was wrong, and asked the Hunter repeatedly to tell her what it was. After she mentioned that she’d witnessed the incident at sea, D explained the situation succinctly.

“So, who was the source of that voice?” Su-In asked, her eyes blazing with anger.

“I’m sure he’ll show himself eventually. But for the time being, all you can do is stay right here.”

“Okay. I’ll do as you say. But how is the Noble connected to that thing in the water—you think it’s something like that crab we saw?”

Making no reply, D asked her an odd question instead. “You said warriors had come to your village in the past, didn’t you?” Nodding, Su-In immediately replied, “Yes.”

“Are you on good terms with the curator of the local museum?” “Sure. She’s a great person. And she’s always been very good to me and Wu-Lin. In fact, she’s the one who taught me everything I know about teaching school. Have you been to see her?”

After she’d watched the Hunter and his cyborg horse disappear in the distance, Su-In went back to the room and opened her book before she realized something.

D was in the dark. Perhaps due to some defensive system that still remained operational, a true darkness that not even a single ray of sunlight could pierce lingered above him. He could hear the waves. Coming and going, coming and going ... He was at Meinster’s castle—at the bottom of that colossal pit. But why had he gone back there?

Not even glancing at the wall of bizarre scientific equipment to one side, D began to walk along the shore. The chamber was vast. Although D could see by the light of a single star at night, even he couldn’t see anything down here. Aside from the sound of the waves and the flow of the air, all he had to rely on were his own hyper-sharp senses as a dhampir. Or perhaps he’d already seen what he was looking for by the light of the illumination cord he’d carried last time.

Walking for another five minutes or so, he finally halted just shy of a stony quay. A square holding area had been carved out of the center of it, and a ten-foot-diameter sphere bobbed there with the breaking waves. A globe of flame spread from D’s right hand. The light gave a pale blue tint to the edges of the sphere, revealing the seat fixed in the center of the craft and the bizarre machinery below. The panels surrounding the seat looked more like elegant cabinets patterned after bird wings than controls. The ring around the back half of the sphere must’ve been a stabilizer to control depth. Since no intake valves were visible, it was clear the craft didn’t use water to submerge or to propel itself. This was one of the submersibles the Nobility had once used to “play” in the sea.

Going over to the quay, D touched the purple crystal that jutted from it. Without a sound, a steel gangway rose from the water, linking the spherical craft to the stone quay where D stood. Just as the sphere was locked in place, there was the sound of its motor turning over, and then part of the craft flipped upward. It was a doorway that allowed the Hunter to board as soon as he crossed the steel walkway.

D settled into the seat. The transparent door shut, and the seat turned forward automatically. Actually, the person seated in it could turn his gaze in any direction he liked and the omnidirectional operational system would follow the movement down to a thousandth of a millimeter. The seat then descended to the most ergonomic position, and the retractable control unit in front of it slid out at an angle adjusted to match that of the seat. A three-dimensional holograph of what appeared to be the submersible and its performance figures took shape in the air above the controls.

Shifting his eyes to the control unit, D inspected an unusual bulbous attachment that wasn’t part of the standard equipment. It was a telepathic amplifier. Aside from the normal controls, this craft could also be operated by the will of its pilot. While it was common knowledge that the Nobility’s superhuman abilities also included various telepathic powers, not even their advanced science had been able to incorporate such mental abilities into a machine. No one had, except for the ruler of this subterranean lair. Had it been Baron Meinster? Or him?

Gazing at the holograph for several seconds, D then threw a switch and shut off the display before turning on the telepathic amplifier. The walkway submerged, and the lines stabilizing the sphere came free. The main generator in the lower portion of the sphere set up a force field in front of the craft, and the sphere began gliding forward through the water with zero resistance. The scene to all sides was projected clearly onto window-like screens.

When the force field was set to the bottom of the sphere, the craft quickly began to dive. The depth reached seventy feet. Though the water was pitch black, the image on the screens was clear as midday. Readings from the craft’s sonar were being enhanced and brightened by computers.

Advancing about seven hundred feet at a speed of roughly sixteen knots, the submersible closed on the black bedrock. There was a huge, perfectly round opening in the center of the floor—it must’ve been more than forty feet in diameter. That was the way out to the sea.

At the right edge of D’s field of view, the depth, strength of the current, speed of the sphere, and other data appeared in rapid succession. The submersible entered a cave, and images in the craft clearly revealed the machinery set in the rocky walls. Wave generators, filtration systems, and saltwater synthesizers'— everything one would need to make this subterranean sea as close as possible to the real sea, the crucible of life. Gyohki himself had been born here.

Rock walls that seemed to go on forever on all sides vanished unexpectedly. D was out in an incredibly vast area. He’d entered the sea. D turned the submersible toward where the ships had been attacked.

His foe was in these waters. According to eyewitness accounts, it was probably the same metal monstrosity that’d attacked him by the Nobles’ resort. But what was it? Did D know, or didn’t he? From the look on his handsome face as he watched the screens, there was no way to tell.

In roughly two minutes’ time he reached his destination. The area was packed with schools of fish—it was a sight that’d make any fisherman’s mouth water. The depth was thirteen hundred feet. It was another twenty-three hundred feet to the sea floor. D took her straight down to the bottom.

The comparatively smooth rocks were adorned by multicolored seaweed that swayed like submarine flowers. The riotous mix of hues made it look like a vast ocean garden on his sphere’s screens. No doubt this place had been specially made by the Nobility for their pleasure outings. As proof, skulls could be seen half-hidden among the roots of the seaweed as it rocked with the current—almost as if the human remains feared the Nobility even now.

Colossal bones passed by. No doubt these were the remains of creatures that’d been spawned by the Nobility only to die in struggles against others of their kind.

D switched on the sensors. For three miles in any direction there was nothing save schools of fish. The larger shapes that occasionally appeared in the distance must’ve been giant killer whales.

The submersible continued to the north. Three power boats became visible between the rocks—each of them had its hull tom wide open. Not displaying the faintest interest in the wrecks, D had his submersible continue straight ahead.

The sight that lay before him was chilling. It looked like a vast, deep mortar that stretched on forever. As the slope descended smoothly, even the rocks and seaweed lost their colors, until the entire field of view went white. There was no more unsettling paleness in the world than this—the stark white of bleached bones. Though the conical depression was several miles in diameter, every last inch of it was completely blanketed by human skeletal remains. Surely these must be the remains of victims of a thousand years of the Nobility’s “games” in the water, all swept here by the tides. The vacant sockets of countless scattered skulls were all turned toward D, and their mouths seemed to unanimously chant a curse on their cruel fate.

Following the slope of the depression, D slowly descended in the submersible. Ahead of the craft, the bleached bones were crushed by its force field and eddied all around it. The flesh of any ordinary person would’ve crawled at such a sight. Beneath the skulls that were raining down like balls, a black chasm yawned. The data informed him that its overall length was nearly a mile and a quarter and it was fifty feet across at the widest point. It was almost two miles deep. That was just about the limit of the submersible.

Points of light blinked on the sensor, becoming a three-dimensional image. Something was buried in the mud that lay at the bottom. A box. And it was shaped like a coffin. An abode of the dead, resting on the sea floor two miles underwater? No doubt the person D sought was its inhabitant.

The force field shifted under the sphere. The craft advanced at a speed of twenty-two knots. At the depth of eight thousand feet, the warning light went on. Disregarding it, the Hunter continued to' descend.

The force field was positioned almost directly above a point on the sea floor that was slightly depressed. The whitish mud flew up.

At the bottom of the deep blue sea, a coffin rested peacefully. A bit larger than normal, it was ten feet long and seven feet wide. Sensors informed D that there were indications of machinery inside. But none of it was functioning now. Above it and around it, bleached bones that’d been disturbed from their sleep floated down like an unearthly snow.

D activated a remote manipulator that was mentioned in the performance data. A metallic arm stretched from the bottom of the sphere and removed the lid of the coffin. Sensors had already relayed the fact that the lid was made of steel.

Miraculously, the material that lined the box—satin, by the look of it—remained completely unscathed. The machinery that hemmed in an area large enough to protect a single sleeping person consisted of a variety of metabolic regulators and energy transformers. Judging from the propulsion unit nozzle set on the bottom of it, the coffin had most likely been intended as an emergency escape pod. As the situation demanded, the power for life support systems could be drawn from the seawater, and the coffin should’ve been able to protect its sleeping occupant for a millennium or two.

But the sensors provided D with a look at the force that’d rendered all the coffin’s systems inoperable. The thick steel lid and box both had a straight horizontal slash through them right near the center. No doubt the energy that’d split the lid had served the same purpose as that which had given rise to this massive trench at the bottom of the sea.

The gold emblem on the lid consisted simply of the letter “M.” It was Baron Meinster’s.

When summer called, did he slip out of it and swim off to the village? The mud that was raining back down on it now said that no, he did not. Perhaps when he’d fled to the sea, someone had seen to it that tragedy befell him. And it had come more swiftly than anyone could’ve ever imagined.

Saying nothing, D sent the submersible climbing. It exited the chasm. A speck of light flickered on the left side of the display. And as soon as it did, a black form pounced on the craft, and something that looked like a leg impacted the view screen. For a second, the lights went out, and then the warning bell began to wail insanely.

Just as he crossed the boundary of summer, Dwight turned up the collar on his thermal jacket. It was terribly cold—and although he’d been accustomed to such temperatures until a day earlier, the cold was rapidly killing skin cells that’d just gotten used to warmer weather. About seven hundred feet ahead of him, there was already a string of ice chunks. Something colder than the wind hit his cheek, and at the very same moment his field of view was filled by what looked like a shower of white confetti. Only it wasn’t paper— it was a genuine snowstorm. Ten minutes earlier, the summer sun had been shining down on the village as he pulled away in his power boat, but a mere six miles out to sea he was right smack in the middle of a winter storm.

“That’s a hell of a change,” Dwight grumbled, quickly swinging the bow of his boat around. Although he’d cruised over the line between the seasons while occupied with thoughts of Su-In, he wasn’t exactly keen on the idea of plowing straight into the heart of winter to lure the menace out of the sea’s depths.

Hold on, Su-In, he bellowed in his heart of hearts. You’ve got yourself mixed up with sea monsters and dhampirs and all kinds of trouble, but I’m gonna set everything right. First, I’ll take care of the monster and chase the pretty boy off. After that, I’ll get the rest of them to recognize your character and all the good you’ve done. I can even replace the boats that got sunk out of my own savings. I don’t know what the deal is with that friend of yours, but he’s kind of won me over, too. I get the feeling I know how you felt when you hired him. It could be that driving him off is gonna be the most painful part of all.

With darkened eyes that hardly suited such a broad-minded and frank-speaking young man, he gazed toward land.

It was just then that the water splashed off to his right. The loud smack that echoed was the sound of a sizable fish tail hitting the water.

Dwight moved with lightning speed. When he whipped around, he already had his spear gun braced against his shoulder. Although it held six shots, each weighed three times as much as the spears used by the average fisherman. This gun could punch through the skull of a seven-hundred-pound rumble tuna with just one shot. But as a result, the amount of gas pressure required and the weight of the weapon itself were beyond the bounds of common sense.

The sound of the splash faded away. It wasn’t his imagination. And this wasn’t where the schools of fish were. Could it be a lone fish that’d strayed from its school? Or was it something else?

Dwight cut the engine. The wind had gotten fairly strong in the afternoon, and the sea was rough. Miserable conditions for trying to locate fish.

“Come and get me,” the man muttered, licking his lips. The will to fight became an energy that burned in his muscles—there wasn’t

an iota of fear in him. He was a fighter to the core. If he hadn’t decided to make fishing his life’s work, he might’ve been a warrior of some distinction out on the Frontier.

On the other hand, the thought of Su-In made his blood hot. They’d known each other since childhood, but in a tiny village like this, the same could be said for everyone around the same age. His memories of good-natured play with her were far outnumbered by instances when they’d squared off. If he hit her once, she’d given him two shots in return. When he’d teased her and said she was fat, she’d called him a Neanderthal and a whale boy. Strangely enough, that was probably what’d fostered his feelings for her. The girl was always looking straight ahead. After her parents died and they’d had the funeral, he couldn’t ever remember hearing her reminisce about them. Su-In was always standing there on her own two thickset legs, solid as a rock. Still, there was a mighty gale blowing. And Dwight figured the time had now come for him to give her some support.

To his rear, there was a splash. Dwight turned around. Ripples were spreading between the crests of the waves.

As surprise and fighting spirit filled him, Dwight looked around three times. The well-formed face of a woman rested on top of the starboard gunwale. Her golden hair and alluringly pale skin were both glistening wet. For a second Dwight thought she might be a survivor of some shipwreck, but a certain incident quickly sprang to mind. The night before, his friends and the Vampire Hunter had seen a mermaid from the beach where the Noble had vanished. Was this it?! But the voice he’d just heard was that of a man . . .

“What are you staring at?” lips as red as a sunset clam spat in the same voice as before. “I don’t know what brings you out here, but I’m glad you’re here. I went out for a swim last night, but I’ve grown so weary of the taste of fish. I yearn for human flesh, like long ago.”

Not one to be intimidated, Dwight asked, “You the one that sank those boats?” He quickly added, “Long ago? What the hell are you?!” His right index finger had the trigger of the deadly weapon pulled back as far as it would go.

“I don’t believe I’ve seen you before, have I?” said the woman, or someone with a woman’s face, at any rate. “Nearly a thousand years ago, I’d drag striplings like you down into the water and devour them. That was always a tasty treat.” Laughing, she added, “I’ve restrained myself the last thirty or forty years, but as soon as I hit the sea here in my hometown, the taste of it came back to me.”

“Save it for someone who cares!” Dwight barked back. “Are you a man or a woman, you bastard? I’m not much for killing women, but based on what you just said and the voice you said it in, I’m not about to stand idly by, either. So, were you the one demanding we give him the bead?”

“The bead?” said the woman with a man’s voice. “You know about that, do you?”

“So, it was you after all! Get ready to meet your maker!” Compressed air launched the missile at a speed of five hundred feet per second. Though the shot should’ve slain the woman, it only ended up taking off a bit of her golden hair before it sank into the sea, thanks to a big wave that’d hit unexpectedly and thrown Dwight’s aim off.

“Damn it all!” the fisherman shouted as he reached for the starter button on the engine. But at just that moment, the boat rocked violently beneath his feet.

The sky whirled around—or at least it looked that way while Dwight plunged into the blue water with his coat and his gun, sending up a spray. Even as he fell, Dwight kept his eyes open— dragon fish and ryxan sharks usually attacked people the second they went in the water, tearing the flesh right off of them.

The woman’s face was right in front of him, and her deep red mouth snapped open mercilessly. Even when he saw the rows of fangs that lined the crimson maw, Dwight wasn’t surprised. The mouth of an armor shark was fifty times as big, and its jagged teeth were a hundred times the size of hers.

“You just blew it. Coming at me head-on was a big mistake,” Dwight muttered as he shifted the spear gun to his right hand.

Grabbing his shoulders with both hands, the woman went for the base of the man’s neck.

Shoving her head away with his left hand, the fisherman jammed the spear gun against her side. This time he didn’t miss. A projectile that could go through three feet of tidal whale blubber and another eight inches of cranium pierced the soft female flesh, sailing off with a bloody trail to vanish into the depths of the sea.

The woman reeled backward. As she executed a somersault, Dwight launched a third spear at her torso. Her agonized movements twisted her body in ways unimaginable for an ordinary woman, but the third spear hit her just below the waist—right in her scale-covered abdomen—and sank halfway into her before stopping. As she continued to writhe, the woman stared steadily at Dwight. It was a look of such violence, such loathing.

Gripped by an unearthly horror, the normally fearless man of the sea kicked desperately through the water. His head smacked the hull of the boat. His failure to start the engine earlier had proved fortunate.

Tossing the spear gun into the boat, Dwight then climbed in, too. He hastily started the engine. Ahead of him, the deck of the boat burst upward, and a pale hand shot up through the hole along with the water. The hand then vanished. When he finished stopping up the hole with repair putty, another spot on the deck about a foot away was also breached.

Dwight knew he was in trouble. He wouldn’t have enough time to make it back to land. Instead, he turned the bow of his boat toward the ice floes. It was too dangerous to stay out on the sea. He’d have to lure her up out of the water.

Setting the engines to full speed, Dwight headed back up to the bow to get his spear gun. Snowflakes blew against him. He’d just passed over the boundary again.

The surface of the sea swelled ahead of him. And the woman shot up from the water like a flower’s petals bursting open, blood streaming out behind her. She looked positively demonic. Twisting in midair, she began a rapid descent.

What Su-In had forgotten was her textbooks. Even though she was dealing with children in her class, she still had to prepare the lessons. As soon as she recalled her oversight, it immediately started to drive her crazy.

D had told her everything he knew about the attacks she’d witnessed from the cape. She’d also heard that the major figures in the village had been informed about D’s true nature. Chances were she wasn’t going to be able to stay in the village much longer. But maybe that would be for the best. A northern village like this didn’t have anything that would make her want to stay. And if she’d survived up there, she should be able to make a living anywhere.

D’s elegant good looks filled her mind for a moment. That might be the way to live. Not that she’d be able to go with him, but maybe a life of one journey after another would suit her nicely. Hell, maybe she could go with him after all. ..

Su-In then recalled thinking that she might’ve seen D smile once. If she stayed with him, maybe someday she’d get to see that smile again. But all the woman’s thoughts about that first taste of sweet happiness were consumed then by other tiny faces. Teacher, they were saying, when does school start1

Today, Su-In replied to them in her heart of hearts. She hadn’t told them she was leaving yet. At the very least, she was still their teacher. The thought that she might never again stand at the lectern only served to strengthen her resolve.

It was two hours after D had left that she headed off to her house. The air had a faint bluish tint to it, and it was brighter than usual. But Su-In was wrapped in a feeling of desolation. Empty for just one day, her home seemed as cold and distant as a stranger’s abode. Wu-Lin and her grandfather were no longer there, after all. Su-In could hear the distant music of the festival as she went into the main house.

The textbooks were on a bookshelf in Su-In’s bedroom, but now that she was here, there were a number of other things she wanted to get as well. Detergent, a spare light, fuel briquettes, another coat . . . She ran all over the house grabbing this and that, and before she knew it, the blue world outside was about to don its darkest shade. Gripped by a fear she couldn’t quite understand, Su-In switched on the living room light and began stuffing her belongings into a bag.

Less than five minutes later she was done. Shutting off the light, she grabbed the door knob. Although she could turn it, the door wouldn’t open.

She put all her weight against it, but the door wouldn’t budge an inch. It didn’t feel like someone was pushing against it, or that the door had been locked. The entire door wouldn’t move in the least, as if it’d been glued in place.

Then Su-In remembered a similar incident. Clutching her bag, she ran for the door to the kitchen. But just as she was about to go through it, a figure appeared from the right side to block her way. A gust of awful dread stroked the woman’s plump cheeks.

“You . . . But you’re . . . ,” Su-In stammered, listening coolly to her own dazed words. “Grampa .. .”

One blow from the attacker seemed to have blinded the submersible. The light-adjusted screens vanished, and the scene outside the windows was shrouded in a murky darkness. Fortunately, the holographic imaging system hadn’t been damaged, and the Hunter learned quickly enough who his foe was. The three-dimensional image depicted the very same giant crab he’d encountered previously. Clinging to the top of the sphere, it was brandishing its claws.

No matter how resilient the glass of the sphere was, a blow from one of those steel limbs would be dangerous. The giant crab must’ve hidden between the rocks to conceal itself from the submersible’s sensors. No doubt the crab had been closely monitoring D’s movements.

Blows rained down on the craft in rapid succession. Although the sphere’s force field could keep it anchored in one spot, it did nothing to make the craft any more damage-resistant. The lights went out, and a warning lamp came on. Another indicator reported that the generator was about to fail.

D shifted the force field to the top of the sphere. The crab was blown off. Blasted more than thirty feet through the water, the mechanical menace then recomposed itself. Folding all its limbs up, it sped back with incredible velocity. Apparently, the giant crab had highly efficient stabilizers and shock absorbers working on its behalf.

In accordance with the force field setting, the sphere continued to rise as D checked on the damage status of the craft. The Hunter felt a slight shudder. Something was wrong with the submersible’s stabilizers. The force field projector was losing power, and if it failed completely, the craft would be left completely immobilized. But the gravest possible dilemma had also presented itself—the navigational power gauge was dropping by the second. Even before the Hunter had started this journey, it had been in the caution range. Now the power wouldn’t last another five minutes.

D switched the force field to autopilot, and the force field then slammed into the middle of the crab at full power. The crab’s legs twisted and its carapace creaked. But that was the extent of it. It was still coming after him.

The submersible didn’t have either the weapons or the energy left for an undersea battle. Then the force field projector stopped. Any further fighting underwater would be impossible now. And the surface was still more than one hundred fifty feet away.

What wound up making the difference between life and death were the instincts of this seafaring man who’d lived out in the elements for so long. Before Dwight was even aware of it, his right hand had shifted to his belt instead, pulling out his gaff hook and swinging it at the grim reaper above him. The hook weighed nearly five pounds. With a thunk! it sank into the mermaid’s waist.

A scream rang out, and a man’s voice issued from the beautiful woman’s lips. Due to the way Dwight twisted his body, the mermaid’s descent was ruined, and she suddenly slammed down on the bow of the fisherman’s boat. Dwight leapt over by the pilothouse and armed himself with one of the spare harpoons that were stored down on the gunwales.

The amalgam of woman and fish writhed on the deck. Stabbed in its human portion and still pierced by another harpoon in its lower half, it now had a thick gaff hook sunk in its midsection. No sight could’ve been more ghastly. However, even in her death throes, this beautiful woman had a face that was not of this world and eyes that were like nothing human. Her eyes were dyed deep red, and the fresh blood spilling from her mouth stained the fangs she gnashed incessantly. Fish tale squirming all the while, the woman glared at Dwight. That alone was enough to keep this man of the sea from hurling the harpoon he held at the ready.

The woman’s hand seized the harpoon that pierced her waist. Wailing with pain, she tried to pull it free, but the barbs on the tip hooked into her flesh, stopping it. Agony warped her gorgeous countenance. Yet she kept on pulling. Even Dwight could hear the barbs ripping through her skin. With chunks of her own flesh still clinging to the harpoon, the woman threw it into the sea.

She moved to the gaff hook next. The hook came out easily enough. However, the woman didn’t discard it. Clutching the five-pound piece of iron in one hand, she steadily crept toward the fisherman on her belly. With blood seeping from wounds in three separate spots, her whole body was smeared with vermilion. But even redder than that were her eyes, which smoldered with an awful hatred.

“I’m going to eat you... slowly,” the mermaid said, her masculine voice choked with pain and curses. “But before I do, I’ll rip you into a million pieces with this hook. Oh, how you’re going to scream for me ...”

“That’s what you think,” Dwight barely managed to reply. Despite the fact there was little power behind his words, he added, “Fuck you!” and hurled his harpoon with his remaining strength.

The woman’s hand shot out in a horizontal blow, and there was a dull thud as the warped weapon dropped into the sea.

Covered in a fearful sweat, Dwight’s face was suddenly blasted by snow. The woman was less than three feet from him. And there was still another fifteen feet to the ice floes. A hopeless distance.

Suddenly, the center of gravity shifted. In the sea just three feet off the starboard bow, a colossal sphere had bobbed to the surface, and the water it’d displaced had formed waves that struck the boat broadside. Although Dwight caught hold of the gunwale in an instant, the mermaid who’d been poised to strike was flung into the sea. Streams of blood trailed after her.

Somewhat bewildered as he watched a bloody cloud form in the sea, Dwight then quickly turned and stared at what had surfaced on the opposite side of his boat. Sounding stunned, he called out, “What in the—is that you, D?!”

It was a second later that the Hunter flew from the top of the sphere like a black wind, seeming to spread a pair of wings before landing on the deck of the boat. Not even glancing at Dwight, D gazed instead at the dwindling sphere.

“Hey!” Dwight called out to him, but then the fisherman’s eyes bulged in their sockets. As if to push the spherical craft aside, a number of black, leg-like objects stretched from the sea.

That’s the thing, Dwight realized instantly. That’s what sank the boats and tried to get us to hand over Su-In’s bead.

“We’ll be onto the ice soon,” D said sharply. “Make your preparations to get off. Here it comes.”

“Got you!” Dwight shot back. Though there were a thousand questions he wanted to ask, he forgot them all, for he’d realized that the deadly battle he was involved in was not of this world. And in order to survive, he had no choice but to work with the gorgeous young man before him.

The blizzard erased the bizarre legs and claws. The ice floes were closer now. Skillfully manning the helm, Dwight brought his boat up against a flat section of the ice. D got off, and he followed soon after.

The wind and snow buffeted the fisherman’s cheeks. As he knotted his hood beneath his jaw, he asked, “What are we gonna do?”

“How deep does it run around here?” D inquired. He was referring to the thickness of the ice.

“A good twenty-five feet at least. No monster’s gonna follow us up through that!”

“There wasn’t any need for you to head out to sea, too,” said D. His softly spoken words irritated Dwight. “No one asked for your opinion,” the fisherman shouted indignantly. “I came out here because it was the only thing I could think of to do. Did you believe

I was gonna just sit back and let you grab all the glory around here? If you’re gonna give me a hard time, you can find another ride back to shore.”

And saying that, D spun around. Before him lay a desolate field of ice. The expanse was unusually flat.

“A mermaid,” the fisherman added. “She knew about the bead, too. Sure was a hell of a beauty, though it takes more than just looks to make a woman.”

If Dwight could make such an introspective remark while the situation was still far from resolved, he’d already regained his typical boldness.

“I put two harpoons and a gaff hook into her, and it didn’t even faze her,” he continued. “When you popped up, she dropped back into the sea, but I get the feeling she’s still hanging around here, just watching us for an opening. Heaven help me—I finally see why my dad’s afraid of my mom!” Dwight said, though the groaning wind shredded his words.

Hit head-on by a particularly fierce wind, Dwight lost his balance and was driven back a few steps. “God damn it all.. . ,” he snarled, trying to right himself again only to be driven back a few steps more.

The ice field between Dwight and D rose, and legs appeared after breaking through what had to be tons of ice. There were two of them, and the ends of the legs were spinning tremendously fast. While it came as little surprise that they couldn’t break through the whole twenty-five feet of ice, the whirring drills worked 011 boring a larger hole, and surely the whole creature would appear once the remaining ice was thin enough to shatter.

The two men would’ve been stunned if that didn’t take at least a few seconds more. Several more legs appeared, clicking as they twisted around to brace themselves firmly on the ice field with their claws. And then a black saucer that looked just like a crab stood before the pair, launching plenty of ice into the air in the process. The semitransparent dome in the middle of the thick body spun around to the front, and just as it halted, it split right down the middle.

An unsightly face quickly looked straight at D, and in an uninflected tone, the kingpin of Cronenberg—Gilligan—asked, “Surprised to see me?”

Su-In immediately guessed what was happening. Thanks to the harsh environment that’d raised her, she’d learned not to wallow in sentimentality. There was no way a dead person would be returning to life. Which meant this person before her had to be an impostor.

Her grandfather’s face grew distorted at her cry. The eyes, nose, and mouth all collapsed like melting rubber, and then a completely different face formed—a youthful one. Su-In had no way of knowing that face matched a man by the name of Twin.

“You’re not very surprised, are you? What a disappointment,” he said as he stretched his back, and he actually sounded quite crestfallen.

His clothes were still those of the grandfather. Su-In was just thinking how he was the same height and build as the old man when his proportions suddenly became those of a powerful young man. Taking a big step back, Su-In let go of her bag and braced the short spear she’d brought with her from her hideout. Aimed straight at the man’s heart, the weapon didn’t tremble in the least. She evinced the same skill as she did while fishing.

“Now, I’m not sure just what’s going on,” said the woman, “but you’ve gotta be one of the people after the bead—the same bunch that killed my grandfather and my sister. And the nerve of you, disguising yourself as Grampa Han. I’m warning you, I’m not gonna hold anything back!”

“I know, I know. Don’t get so worked up about this,” Twin said in a somber tone. One look at the spear Su-In leveled at him was probably enough to tell him both how skilled and how intent she really was. “I want to make it perfectly clear that I wasn’t the one who killed your sister or your grandfather. Not that I have any problems with killing when I have to. Okay, just skip the pointless resistance and come with me.”

“We’ll take you hostage and call him out,” Twin replied. “The deal is, he gets you back safe and sound in exchange for the bead. That’s the smartest way to play it, you know. The whole reason I stuck around here was to try and steal the bead, and to watch for an opening when I could kill him, but it just wasn’t going to happen. He’s too tough. There’s not much I could do against someone like him all by myself. I even tried interfering when he was throwing down with that sword nut with the weird whistle trick, but it didn’t do any good. Which meant I was left with nothing to do but the plan I just mentioned.”

Twin let the tip of his left index finger slide down the head of the spear as he gazed intently at Su-In.

“Were you the one who tossed the back room, too?” asked the woman. “Just how have you managed to keep following me all this time?”

“I didn’t disguise myself as your grandfather just now,” said Twin. “They found his body in the sea, right? Well, that was me!”

“My partner. Actually, to be honest, he’s my brother. We were both born on the same day at the same time, so we don’t know which of us is older. Since he was also posing as your grandfather, no one really suspected me. Of course, that Vampire Hunter had a sneaking suspicion. When he ran me through out in the barn, I was scared out of my wits!”

“Because I’d turned myself into a corpse. Sure, you can stab a corpse all you like, but you can’t kill it twice. If someone wants to kill me, they’ll have to do it while I’m alive.”

That must’ve been one of Twin’s special warrior abilities. Transforming himself into a corpse so convincingly that even D couldn’t see through his disguise and being planted in the ground, he’d only gone into action when necessary, then sank back into the soil when he was done. If his comings and goings hadn’t been performed with positively inspired skill, there was no way he could’ve avoided detection by D.

“As I already said, Twin is a duo,” the young man continued. “But aside from the two of us, no one in the world knows that. If it ever got out, we wouldn’t be worth much as enforcers anymore. So, since you know now, I really can’t let you live. Once you’ve served your purpose, I’ll have to get rid of you.”

Su-In jabbed at him with all her might. All her anger over the deaths of her sister and grandfather was behind her thrust. Sliding between the man’s fingers, the steel tip of the weapon struck him square in the heart. Twin’s body shook, and then he seized the head of the weapon and pushed down on it. The business end of the spear was now behaving like a child’s rubber blade, much to Su-In’s surprise.

“See, this is what did it,” Twin said as he spread his other hand for her to see. The semitransparent mucus that seeped out into his palm was the very same substance that’d dulled the edge of D’s blade. “It’s a type of fat our bodies excrete. Not that we can make as much as we like whenever we like or anything, but we have enough to protect ourselves from a sword or a spear, or to keep a window shut. So give up already,” Twin said, but his last words came out in midair.

He probably didn’t even realize what was happening until he’d flown clear across the living room and slammed into the very same door he’d sealed shut. He hadn’t seen Su-In’s skill on the ferry, where she’d dealt with one of Shin’s puppets. But the way he twisted at the last minute and barely escaped hitting the door headfirst must’ve saved at least a bit of his warrior pride.

As he got up from where he’d fallen to the floor with a face stark with anger, the tip of a whistling spear slammed into his throat and, warrior though his was, Twin vomited blood everywhere as he was knocked back against the door. Falling to the ground, his body then moved no more.

Although pain and regret drifted across her face for a brief instant, Su-In quickly regained her normal grit and pulled the short spear out of the man.

“I didn’t want to kill anyone, but that was for Grampa and Wu-Lin. And you would’ve killed me, too. Don’t idle now—move along to the next world. And be sure you don’t wind up a servant of the Nobility.”

Picking up her bag while still clutching the spear, Su-In headed once more for the kitchen door.

More than the voice, it was the cool air stroking the back of her neck that had an impact on Su-In, making her turn.

“Did you forget already that you can’t kill a corpse? See, right before you stabbed me in the throat, I ‘died.’”

The bag fell from Su-In’s hand. Although she was trying her best to look natural, she had the short spear at the ready in front of her chest. But the instant Twin slid over to her without a sound, Su-In caught an intense blow in the solar plexus that rendered her unconscious.

“I’ve had enough of your screwing around. You wanna see what happens when a woman forgets her place? I’ll slice your nose off to show you a thing or two,” Twin muttered hoarsely, rubbing his throat all the while.

Squatting down by Su-In’s side, he put the blade of his knife to the base of her well-formed nose. Although he had the face of a young man of cultured upbringing, as a warrior he was perfectly comfortable doing things that would make anyone else’s flesh crawl.

“You lopped my head off, but I survived. Oh, how it hurt then. It hurt so badly I wanted to die.”

The snow flew fiercely, and the sound of the wind grew all the more sorrowful. But through the wind and the snow, Gilligan’s bitter tone flowed out like a river of gloom.

“But I persevered,” he said. “I kept going until I could get into this thing. You see, I did my homework for just such an unforeseen event. It didn’t matter that you’d cut my head off—I wasn’t about to just give up and die.”

His sword already drawn, D gazed at Gilligan and at the black machinery that had become his new flesh. Then the Hunter suddenly said, “You’re one of the ‘Blood Seekers,’ aren’t you?” “Oh, so you’ve heard of us, have you?” Gilligan said, and then he smiled silently. “Vampire Hunter D—you are no ordinary Hunter, nor even an ordinary dhampir. But why don’t we see now which of us is closer to being a true Noble?”

Not responding, D brought his sword up perpendicular to his right shoulder—in the “figure eight” stance.

The Blood Seekers. In this world where the Nobility were the subject of fear and hatred, there was a cult that studied and worshiped their accursed blood—the very thing that made them so dreaded and reviled. All human beings face death one day, and the very thought of that eventuality can’t help but turn a person’s psyche to solid ice. And at that of all times, there’s one thing that some people will unconsciously crave—the secret of the eternal blood of the Nobility.

The fanatics who sought that secret so they might share its power—taking part in all manner of cryptic rituals and even going so far as to let Nobles drink their blood—had been dubbed “Blood Seekers.” To unravel the secrets of that blood, they would travel anywhere imaginable and learn everything they could about the Nobility—in ancient castles in desolate gorges, the sprawling remains of factories on lonely islands far out to sea, massive ruins that towered over the plains, and subterranean palaces where a wealth of information had been secretly cached.

Aside from his role as a kingpin in a Frontier town, Gilligan had another “role,” and as a Blood Seeker, he had undoubtedly studied Noble manuscripts, gotten his hands on their products and mastered their technology, and even used his own body for experiments aimed at approaching the Noble condition. And it had borne results. The fact that D’s blade had taken his head off yet he’d still remained alive was evidence of that. And the fact that he was running around in a piece of machinery incomprehensible to most humans was still further proof, which would mean that the secret of this “bead” he was risking his life to get had to have something to do with that, too . . .

“This time I won’t let my guard down,” Gilligan said with boundless confidence. “I’ve repaired the damage you did, painted on another coat of armor, and improved the engine circuits. It’s twice as hard and twice as fast as last time. But if you’ll tell me where the bead is—or rather, if you’ll hand it over—I’ll make your death a relatively painless one. We’re out on the ice here—but go down forty feet and you’re in the middle of the ocean. Your Noble blood will only work against you there. I, on the other hand, would have no problem.”

The Nobility couldn’t cross running water, nor could they swim. Secure in those ancient and immutable laws, Gilligan must’ve hidden himself deep in the sea and waited for D. When he’d challenged the Hunter on dry land, it’d merely been to get in a little practice with the machine. And he’d also foreseen that if he were to demand the bead, D would be sure to come out there.

“Hey!” the third person shouted, speaking for the first time. Dwight had both hands cupped around his mouth as he continued, shouting, “Just what the hell is this bead we keep hearing about anyway?”

Without even turning toward the other man, Gilligan said, “D, don’t you want to know?”

Naturally, there was no reply. No doubt the only thought burning in D’s brain at that moment was a plan to destroy the murderous black machine. No, that wasn’t right. Beyond life and death, beyond anything and everything in the cosmos, this young man’s thoughts were surely lacquered with a darkness no one in the world could fathom.

The figure of beauty advanced without a sound. When he’d closed to within six feet of the motionless giant crab, his pace remained exactly the same, but a silvery flash raced from sky to earth. It even sliced through the falling snowflakes. Giving off a beautiful sound, the blade rebounded from the giant crab. Dodging the legs that assailed him almost simultaneously with his own blow, D leapt back a good six feet.

“I suppose you see how useless it is now. Maybe you should try the same thing you did last time and drink some of your own blood to bring out your Noble nature, eh? By all means, allow me the pleasure of beating you as you truly are,” said Gilligan. “Now, where is the bead?”

The sound of meshing gears totally shredded the normal sounds of the wind—it was the whine of the machine. Though its movements were less than fluid, it charged straight at D.

That move sent the crab circling around in the opposite direction. Its top half spun around. The launchers for its murderous wires were now pointed at D.

White smoke rose with a Whoosh! A cloud of loose snow. Although the curtain of white D’s blade had thrown up from the ground was shredded an instant later, by the time its remnants had scattered in the wind, there was no sign of D on the ice field.

The crab was visibly shaken—apparently, it wasn’t equipped with any scanning devices. The pilot’s bubble spun around with dizzying speed, searching for the hidden D. Then it stopped.

The surface of the snow was flecked with red spots. Spaced a few yards apart and continuing across the ice floe toward the center, they were definitely drops of blood.

“You won’t escape me,” Gilligan cried from somewhere within the crab. “So long as you live, my dream will never come to fruition. No matter where you run, I’ll find you and kill you.”

And then the black mechanical monstrosity dashed off, its steps kicking up a cloud of snow that was almost beautiful. Even the great D couldn’t hope to rival the speed of a machine like this.

Less than four hundred feet in, the bloody trail turned left. A snowy hill blocked the crab’s field of view. Falling snow had collected over time on the irregular surface of the ice floes. D must’ve realized he’d be at a disadvantage fighting on the smooth field of ice. The bloodstains continued halfway up a slope of roughly fifty degrees.

Slowly the crab began to climb the frosty incline. Twice the snow gave way, but the machine deftly maintained its balance and climbed about twenty feet up the rise. At the top, there was no sign of D. The crab decided he must’ve concealed himself in the whitened banks. Jets of compressed air squealed in rapid succession, throwing up a cloud of snow. But the only scream was that of the wind.

The crab looked over the edge of the hill—the trail of blood continued there. Taking its own weight into consideration, it proceeded cautiously. If the snow and ice were to give way, it would prove problematic. Proceeding to what it’d apparently judged to be its limit, the machine had just stopped when there was a whirring sound as something wrapped around its leg. It was one of the wires the crab had launched earlier. By the time the machine realized the line had been thrown around it from behind and had turned around, a figure in black had already burst from the snow and had taken to the air like a mystic bird to close the distance between them. Though the machine tried to stop him with its other legs, they wouldn’t move. Actually, a total of four of them had been entangled.

The glint of the Hunter’s blade as he brought it down with one hand made Gilligan think of two things inside the machine’s interior. He'll never break through, he first assured himself. But then he thought, No! Not there!

D’s blade sank into the machine, and it cracked open. Two days earlier, he’d struck the exact same spot up in the Nobles’ resort. And in just the same manner, flames spouted from the iron crab. The automated repair system was spraying plastic sealant into the gap in an attempt to fill it.

Just as D landed, he brought his sword down on the four legs he’d immobilized. One of them was severed, and the crab’s body tilted crazily to one side. Oil sprayed from the opening, staining the snow an inky black.

A claw attacked the Hunter. Ducking to avoid it, D then severed another of the crab’s limbs.

The weight of the crab that it’d been supporting then shifted. Some of its legs sank into the snow, and beneath them there was an ear-shattering cacophony of destruction. Covered by the white torrents of snow and ice raining back down, the crab took less than two seconds to drive itself into the ground despite the fact that it weighed several tons.

The hem of his coat spreading out behind him like wings, D landed at the base of the mountain of ice that’d formed on the ground.

“What the hell is that thing doing?!” Dwight called out from behind him in a hoarse voice.

His answer came in the form of the engine sounds that started below the shards of ice. The glittering chunks shook, then collapsed without warning. Only the very tip of the pile remained above the surface when it finally stopped.

The crab must’ve dug a hole and escaped—just like it’d done when it’d first appeared from the twenty-five-foot'thick ice.

Not replying to Dwight’s question, D sheathed his sword and turned to the fisherman. There was no tinge of tension or fear in the Hunter’s handsome features, but Dwight shuddered as the wind-blasted expanse of snow and ice grew ever colder. Perhaps the only thing that was beyond life and death was beauty.

“I’ll take care of him some other time,” D said softly. “Until then, just sit back and keep watching. I think it’ll probably be safe for the next few days, but you should still refrain from fishing.”

“Okay,” said Dwight. “None of this is anything like the sort of stuff that usually happens around here. Everyone’s better off not knowing about it. At least while it’s still summer.”

Snowflakes stuck to the fisherman’s face, then melted. As Dwight wiped them away with one hand, D faced the land. Back there, it was summer.

“It’ll be over soon, won’t it?” Dwight said in a distant tone. His eyes then dropped to D’s left arm, and he remarked, “I just noticed something—what happened to your left hand?”

CHAPTER 5

The second die hand closed around the base of his neck, Twin knew whose it had to be. Before the attacker’s other hand could bring a weapon down on him, the young enforcer moved his right hand and jabbed at the foe behind him with his knife. It sliced thin air. And before Twin even had time to be surprised at not making contact with anything where his foe’s body would naturally be, his throat was crushed and gouts of blood spilled from his nose and mouth.

He fell across Su-In’s body as if shielding her, and didn’t move another muscle.

“Didn’t have enough time to turn yourself into a corpse,” a voice muttered in the living room, although there was no one left to hear it, as one of the two people there was unconscious and the other had been reduced to a cadaver. “I got kind of caught up in the festive atmosphere and took my time coming back here, and what do I find? He isn’t even here, but two people who shouldn’t be are. For a little village like this, things sure develop quickly.”

Feeling an oppressive weight on her back, Su-In opened her eyes. A bald head and wrinkled face had circled around in front of her with visible concern.

“Ban’gyoh...,” she finally managed to say. Her memory returned in a flash, and sitting up, she looked all around.

Seeing that she’d noticed Twin’s corpse lying there, Ban’gyoh remarked, “He’s been strangled. And I take it you didn’t do it, did you? Which would mean . . .”

“So, you didn’t do it either?” Su-In said, looking down at the body as she got to her feet. “Then I wonder who could’ve rescued me.”

“I don’t know. Who is this character, anyway? One of the people after the bead?”

Not at all flustered, the priest explained, “I was asked to lead a prayer for a bountiful catch today, and the house that I called on ended up being the home of one of the village’s leading citizens. That’s where I heard about the situation. Realizing how serious this was, I came over to see how you were making out, only to find you like this.”

Su-In nodded. “A hell of a summer this has turned out to be.” “That it has,” Ban’gyoh concurred. “But there’s nothing to be gained by moping about it. Let’s get rid of that body.”

“It wouldn’t do to stir things up any more during this precious summertime,” Ban’gyoh said gravely. “From what I heard at that house, everyone from the mayor to the town council has decided to cover up the present trouble. The finer details can wait until after summer is over.”

“That would be for the best,” Su-In conceded. It was the right way to handle things. Right now, the week-long summer festival was the most important thing for the village, and it was no time to have everyone trying to solve Su-In’s problems. “What’ll we do with this body?” “I suppose it’d be best to bury it in the backyard. He may’ve been a villain, but in death he sins no more. I’ll give him the proper rites.”

Thirty minutes later, Su-In went and put her shovel back in the barn while Ban’gyoh wrapped up the service before rejoining her.

As they went back into the main house, Su-In explained her situation, then picked up her bag and returned to her truck.

“D must have the bead then, right?” Ban’gyoh said, wrapped in deliberation. Waving his hands to dismiss the subject, he then said, “I have an idea. What do you say to me seeing you safely back to your hiding place?”

“I’m sorry, but we’re keeping it a secret from everyone. Even priests, I’m afraid.”

“I won’t force the issue, then. Could you kindly give me a ride part of the way?” And with these words, Ban’gyoh climbed in beside her without even waiting for her reply. Su-In made no complaint—she was a resolute woman. They pulled out onto the street. Darkness played across the roar of the sea.

“Yes, ma’am,” the priest said as he jumped out of the front seat. His right hand was stuck in the breast of his cassock.

“Well, take care,” Su-In said curtly, and then she turned the steering wheel to the right.

The truck started to pull away. To the left. Although Ban’gyoh had gotten back into the seat beside her at some point, Su-In didn’t even notice him. The vista that greeted her eyes must’ve been exactly the one she expected to see. Something glittered and shook in Ban’gyoh’s right hand—a pair of gold rings that’d been separate a second ago, but were now interlocked.

“It must be fate that these served me with both you and your sister,” he said in a voice so youthful it was inconceivable coming from someone with such an old and tattered appearance.

Ah, that voice and the golden rings in his hand—these were the trappings of none other than “Backwards Toto.” The fact that Ban’gyoh was actually the Frontier-roaming master thief was a secret not even D had penetrated when they’d traveled together to the village.

“After hearing D had declared he was heading out to take care of the sea monster, I thought there was a possibility the girl had been left alone. And I see I was right on the money. I’ll be able to question her at leisure and get the bead for myself. And what better hostage could I ask for?” Chortling in a low voice, Ban’gyoh/ Toto stared straight ahead.

Though the truck had only gone about forty feet since turning left on the road, now the headlights picked out a black shape before them.

“D?!” Toto almost cried out in amazement, but he quickly noticed something. The figure wore no traveler’s hat on his damp blond hair, and the road soaked up the water dripping from the hem of his blue cape. “The thing from the tunnel. ..,” he started to say, and then he chopped Su-In in the neck to knock her out and took her place behind the wheel. It was clear to him it was no coincidence this character had appeared before them twice.

Flooring the accelerator, Toto sped right at him with the truck. He wasn’t thinking about killing the strange figure. His ultimate goal was simply to see to it they had every possible opportunity to escape.

The truck barreled toward the Noble like a charging bull and ran him down! Or at least that was the way it looked to Toto until the caped figure suddenly disappeared.

Ignoring Toto’s grip, the steering wheel turned to the right. The thief didn’t even have time to scream. Taking a sharp turn, the truck was off the road in no time, cutting across the embankment

and plowing into the beach nose first. The vehicle came down with such force it flipped forward and landed on its roof.

Now upside-down in the driver’s seat, the first thing Toto did was to check on Su-In’s condition. The shock must’ve brought her around, because she was looking at him in a daze.

“We’ve got trouble. The Noble’s shown up!” Toto said in Ban’gyoh’s voice. He still wore the face of an old man, too.

“And it’s his fault we wound up like this,” Ban’gyoh/Toto continued. “He put some damnable spell on us!”

Of course, the man had no way of knowing that as the Noble •stepped aside a split second before impact, he’d also stuck the tip of his right foot under one wheel and twisted it, taking control of both that wheel and the steering mechanism.

“Where is he? At any rate, we’ve gotta get out of here fast!” Su-In said, her appraisal and actions both coming quickly. Shoving the door open, she crawled out. Toto followed right after her. Pulling a harpoon from a rack in the truck, Su-In remained behind the cover of the vehicle as her eyes darted all around her.

A cold wind stroked the woman’s back. Turning, she found a figure in blue standing right there.

“But you’re ...,” she mumbled. Terrified as she was, she must’ve seen something in the Noble that inspired a feeling other than fear and loathing. “You ... Who are you?”

Slowly shaking his head, the man replied, “I don’t know...” His words were sucked under the roar of the surf.

“Mein . . . ster?” As the name trickled from his lips, it seemed like a question aimed at himself. A tinge of confusion flowed into his well-formed face, and in a heartbeat, a piercing light sparked in the depths of his eyes. “Meinster.” This time he said it clearly. “Yes, that is correct. I have returned ...”

The expression he aimed down at Su-In instantly became that of a cruel and arrogant fiend.

“I have returned!” he declared. “But why do I stand before a miserable creature like yourself?”

“Sorry to be such a disappointment,” Su-In said sarcastically. She certainly didn’t lack courage. And she hadn’t even noticed the sound of people approaching from either side.

The beach was still under surveillance. These men had probably rushed over after seeing the truck have an accident.

The Noble—Meinster—turned around. And grinned. Two jagged fangs jutted from the corners of his thin lips.

In response to their queries, Su-In replied, “I’m fine,” as she got up. More than a dozen people had raced over to her. “Are you okay, Ban’gyoh? You’ll be better off staying back there,” Su-In called out as she stood ready with her harpoon.

A dozen against one—although those were hardly fair odds for a fight, the villagers gathered around Su-In were all chilled to the marrow. Baron Meinster, the legendary fiend, stood right before them. It wasn’t easy to escape the psychological terror that’d been fostered in them over a millennium.

Suddenly Meinster went into action. Tugging at the harpoons held by the two men who stood to his right, Meinster took them away, tearing the men’s arms off in the process.

Even their pain was forgotten as the men simply tried to get away, but before they could, the heads of both burst like watermelons— the result of one effortless swing of Meinster’s right hand.

“Ki—kill ’im! ” someone shouted, playing more to the men’s fear than their courage.

From two different directions there was the sound of compressed air being released. Though battered by their own fear, these men of the sea were still true in their aim. In no time at all, Meinster’s body was run through in a dozen places by iron harpoons. And there was definitely a black substance dribbling from his wounds to glisten in the moonlight.

Rather than feeling delight at what they’d accomplished, the men seemed to think they’d just done something horribly wrong. They’d turned a Noble into a pincushion—and such a thing was almost inconceivable.

Meinster had his face turned to the ground. But then he smoothly looked up again.

“Well done,” said Meinster. “You’ve done an excellent job of killing a Noble who’s lived more than five millennia. But you cannot destroy me. You lowly worms will never have the power to accomplish that!”

The people saw his hands reach for the tip of a harpoon that pierced him. In a single action he tore it free and sent it howling through the air to impale the man who’d originally hurled it, as well as the person standing behind him. Even after they dropped to the ground, the rest of the crowd remained immobilized, and in due time they all fell victim to the harpoons they’d thrown.

Looking at Su-In as she stood there frozen in amazement, Meinster called out to her, “Woman! I’ve never seen you before— and yet, I have the strangest feeling I know you from somewhere. Do you have any such recollection?”

“No,” Su-In declared bravely. Her tone was so dignified, she even surprised herself. “It’s not my habit to have monsters as acquaintances.”

“Is that so? Then I needn’t show you any mercy. So here—” When Meinster took a leisurely step forward, there wasn’t as much as a drop of blood trickling from his body any longer. As his

hand slowly reached for the base of her throat, Su-In tried with all her might to knock it back. But the hand pulled away of its own accord.

Exhibiting a terribly human amount of uneasiness, Meinster looked at his hand and Su-In’s face time and again.

Something stirred in Su-In’s breast. Though a horrible fiend stood before her, she felt something that hovered somewhere between grief and nostalgia.

“Why . . . Why am I here?” Meinster asked her. Another face had taken shape behind the elegant visage of the Noble.

“But you’re—?!” Su-In cried, although she didn’t even know what she was saying.

Perhaps due to the humid summer heat filling the air with the scent of the blood that’d spilled so profusely from the slain fishermen, the man’s double-exposure set of features quickly became those of the one who called himself Meinster.

“You’re a spirited woman,” the Noble said. “Your blood may be lowly, but it should prove delectable enough. Now, show me your throat.”

Once again the pale hand reached toward the chest of the paralyzed Su-In. The nails were perfectly manicured, and on the back of the hand was a single tuft of hair.

And then what did the Noble do? He changed direction, and with the same leisurely gait he began to walk toward the beach.

As Ban’gyoh’s words echoed in her ear, Su-In voiced her agreement without a thought. “My bag,” the woman then cried. She was still incredibly focused.

“It’s right here,” said Ban’gyoh, seeming very organized for a simple priest. But then, “Backwards Toto” would’ve been sure to take care of every detail.

Meinster only noticed the pair running for dear life toward the embankment when the coldness of the seawater that soaked him to the knees broke Toto’s spell over him. The blazing blood light tinged not only his eyes, but his entire countenance, coloring him with hatred. For a Noble, nothing could be more humiliating than being duped by a human being.

However, Meinster didn’t go after them, but instead calmly extended his right hand toward the figures that were melting into the darkness.

The pair was just climbing the embankment. A flash of blue light split the darkness, connecting Meinster’s ring and Toto’s right shoulder. Giving a small cry, Toto fell backward onto the beach.

“Ban’gyoh!” Su-In shouted. Vacillating for a second, she then jumped down too. She wasn’t the sort of woman who could just leave an injured person there.

“I’m okay,” Toto said in his false voice. “Don’t worry about me. You’d better hurry up and go. He’s coming!”

“Don’t be ridiculous—hurry up and go now!” he said in a tone that almost shoved Su-In away as he picked himself up.

Meinster was coming toward them in no particular hurry. He’d passed the shoreline. Taking a few steps up the beach, he then turned.

Though Su-In and Toto couldn’t see anything with their own eyes, they could hear a sound—the engine of a power boat.

Meinster alone saw it. He could make out the little boat chopping across the waves as it drew nearer, and the figure in black that stood at its prow. The night and the very darkness were cold and clear, as if they existed solely for that young man’s purposes.