The Case Study of Vanitas (ヴァニタスの手記)

They say a vampire has turned up.

Truly? How dreadful.

Vampires were destroyed ages ago in a battle with humankind, were they not?

Does that mean some survived?

Have they risen once again to visit vengeance upon us?

This tale is set in 19th-century France.

Technology has advanced thanks to steam power,

and in this world, vampires exist alongside humankind.

I'm so cold.

"Noé" "Voice Actor: Kaito Ishigawa"

His teacher asked him to find the Book of Vanitas,

a grimoire said to spread a curse among vampires.

His search has brought him to Paris.

Paris!

Where's Paris, Mademoiselle Amelia?

Will you see the sights of Paris?

No, there is something I seek.

You seek something?

The Book of Vanitas.

It's the name of the accursed grimoire

from the folktale "The Vampire of the Blue Moon."

You've not heard of it?

I'm so very cold.

The next moment, the woman Noé just met transforms before his eyes.

Mademoiselle! Are you not well?!

Do not touch me!

Your eyes are...

You're a... vampire.

Now I have you!

My business is with her alone.

Here's some friendly advice. Leave her and go.

If you don't,

you're in for a world of pain.

I cannot do that.

A wire?

Huh?

So he, too, is a vampire?

Let's move.

Noé escapes his assailant

only to be attacked by Amelia as the curse takes hold of her.

Just when it seems it's all over for Noé,

his mysterious assailant appears again,

standing between him and the curse-bearer.

Bah, I did warn you that you were in for a world of pain.

Your malnomen is

Eglantine, the Prison of Briars.

That is what we call the ruined remains of a true name corrupted by the maladies.

A vampire's true name is akin to life itself, and hers was corrupted.

As such, the urge to drink blood, which is normally easy to suppress,

is now an irresistible force.

Are you going to kill her?

Are you one of the Church's Chasseurs?

Or are you a bourreau, an executioner here to slay her?

Non!

I am a doctor, and my specialty is vampires.

I've come to cure her!

A clockwork grimoire...

No, it can't be...

...the Book of Vanitas?!

Now then, shall we reclaim her true name?

The briars are disintegrating.

Florifel, she who guides spring!

So, that is your true name.

It truly suits you.

It is then that Noé witnesses

how the Book of Vanitas can free vampires from the curse.

That was extraordinary!

The Book of Vanitas is not some accursed tome as told in folktales!

I've never seen anyone look upon this book with such stars in their eyes!

That was how it began.

This is the tale of how I met Vanitas and together wandered life's path.

There was much we gained and much we lost.

And then,

at the end of our journey...

I would slay him by my own hand.

You are mistaken.

I summoned you, the man who assumed the name of Vanitas,

to rake you over the coals till you confess your plot.

I'm simply trying to save vampire kind from utter annihilation.

Save us?!

Pretentious human!

How about this?

The vampire attacks sowing chaos throughout Paris

are the work of a curse-bearer, are they not?

Let us go capture that vampire and bring the fiend back here.

Then Vanitas will use the book's power here before you!

You must see what the Book of Vanitas is with your own eyes!

The Book of Vanitas can free vampires from their curse.

So it was that Noé and the man who calls himself Vanitas

joined forces to prove it.

That was amazing.

You so swiftly incapacitated a curse-bearer.

Would you not give me that grimoire,

"Luca" "Voice Actor: Shino Shimoji"

Luca seeks to steal the Book of Vanitas,

for he, too, believes it spreads the curse among vampires.

It is the infernal device that creates those known as curse-bearers!

Master Luca, further talk serves no purpose.

Please.

Take the Book of Vanitas from him!

Oui, Votre Altesse.

Run, Noé! She's Lord Ruthven's bourreau!

Who?

In the war long ago,

over 1,000 vampires sided with humanity, betraying their own kind.

But a single bourreau is said to have slain them all.

She's the Hellfire Witch, Jeanne!

We're in trouble!

Jeanne, the Hellfire Witch and terror of the battlefield in the war long ago,

attacks Vanitas and Noé with a vengeance.

After barely escaping with their lives, they devise a bold yet clever plan.

Hand over the Book of Vanitas.

Do that, and I shall let you live.

As one might expect, it takes one monster to battle another!

Hellfire Witch, or should I say, "Jeanne."

I've become quite intrigued by you.

Just when they think things are under control,

Noé learns that Amelia, the woman he met on the airship,

has been cursed by a group known as Charlatan.

There you are.

Now, show me your true name.

I'll be defiled. I'll be destroyed.

My life will be...!

Why is Charlatan placing curses upon vampires?

-What is their purpose?

- -Monsieur Noé! What is it?! Monsieur Noé! - -What is their purpose?

That thing stole it. It was stolen!

Her true name! That thing was behind it!

This is Dominique.

She is a vampire of noble birth and a childhood friend of Noé.

Dominique invites Noé to a masquerade ball to be held in the vampires' world.

I'm going to borrow Noé for a bit.

The vampires are enjoying the ball

when suddenly, screaming voices are heard,

and the ballroom is flooded with curse-bearers.

It falls to Noé to confront Charlatan's threat.

We are known as Charlatan.

You...

...gate-crashers!

Yes, I knew it.

I really do know you.

The moment Noé touches the strange black shadow,

it triggers a traumatic memory of his childhood friend, Louis.

I want you to kill me... Noé.

-What?

- -If I'm doomed to die, I want you to... - -What?

-If I'm doomed to die, I want you to...

...kill me!

Louis.

Louis?

Louis!

Shall I take you to Louis? Would you like that?

In exchange...

I want you to give me your true name.

Non!

What are you doing, Noé?

Did you twist your ankle dancing?

Noé is about to be robbed of his true name

when Vanitas saves him in the nick of time.

Vanitas and Noé nearly capture the Charlatan interlopers,

but they get away.

Wait! What do you want?!

Why are you creating curse-bearers?!

And Louis! Why did you...?

Bye-bye, Noé.

That's when Vanitas and Noé are mistaken for the ballroom assailants.

Dominque's sister, Veronica, launches a vicious assault,