The sound of massive stone doors scraping against the floor of my grand, dark chamber reached my ears.
I lifted my head and sighed when I saw yet another heroine sent to cut off my head.
She was a young woman, no older than maybe 23. Her hair was brown and short, and her sharp eyes were painted a deep blue, like the ocean.
"At last, I've found you..."
"...You vile witch—Rain!"
The heroine shouted. Her voice was full of hatred and pain, but the dominant emotion was sorrow.
I rolled my eyes, pressed my back against my grand throne, and rested my hand against my cheek, showing my boredom.
"Hm?"
I raised an eyebrow, not out of surprise but because I felt a little sorry for her.
"Another hero?"
I closed my eyes and shook my head, disbelieving that I was once a human like these fools.
"Oh, excuse my manners—"
"Heroine."
"My name is Fuyuki,"
The girl lifted the tip of her shining sword—worthy of any great hero—and pointed it straight at me.
"—And know that tonight is the night when you die by my hand!"
With my other hand, I brushed my slightly curled silver hair, which fell to the ends, behind my pointed ear and glanced at the heroine's sword.
"Fuyuki, is it?"
I sighed again, placed my hands on the arms of my throne, and pushed myself up.
I was dressed in a black robe with golden embellishments, a deep neckline, and a high slit at the thigh, cinched at the waist.
My robe trailed behind me on the floor as I approached Fuyuki with slow, elegant steps, my bare feet barely making a sound.
Fuyuki's grip on her sword tightened, and her eyes widened in fear and uncertainty.
—Yet her determination and thirst for justice, for avenging all innocent lives, were stronger than any fear.
"Don't come any closer, or I'll cut off your head, devil!"
She shouted and swallowed hard as her sword began to glow faintly with a blue light.
"Please, woman!"
I scoffed, irritated by her heroic stance—a stance I had never liked, though all her predecessors had shone with it.
"This is pointless!"
"If you all know you don't stand a chance against me, then why do you try so hard, huh?!"
Fuyuki took a step back, frightened by my sudden burst of anger, but even more so by the sinister gleam in my noble golden eyes.
"You've lived longer than anyone ever has!"
Tears began to form in Fuyuki's eyes just from the thought of the victims' suffering and their families.
"I can't comprehend... How can you live with such guilt... You're... a monster..."
I stopped walking toward her and crossed my arms beneath my chest, looking at her with annoyance.
"Dear, killing someone is easy, but living with the thought of what you've done—having it constantly linger in your mind—is far worse."
I stated coldly, not accepting being called a mindless, cruel monster.
"Maybe I am a witch, but you humans call me a monster and try to kill me for generations only because you can't accept that I'm the most powerful being!"
I grabbed my robe and unleashed my silver-golden aura, which immediately crushed Fuyuki under its weight.
"Everything I've done was in self-defense!" I raised my hand, pointing straight at her heart. "You're the one being used by those fools, Heroine—"
"LIAR!" Fuyuki screamed, not letting a single one of my honest words reach her mind.
"You've killed countless people!" She clenched her teeth and charged at me, preparing for the strongest attack of her life. "DIE, CRUEL WITCH, RAIN!"
"Oh dear." I sighed, watching the blade approach my heart as slowly as if it were moving in slow motion.
"Hmm..." I grabbed my chin, analyzing the angle, speed, and strength.
My eyes shifted to Fuyuki, who was even slower than her sword, as if she already believed she had won.
"You're strong, fast, and can maintain control even when you're angry, yes—"
Time returned to its original speed, as though it had never slowed.
"—But I am far stronger, faster, and more composed than you." I whispered in a low voice and stopped the blade with the tip of my finger.
"W-WHAT?!" It wasn't just that I blocked the blade with my finger... My finger wasn't even scratched. Fuyuki screamed, unable to believe what she was seeing, yet deep in her heart, she had already accepted defeat.
"But... we can still talk." I moved my finger slightly, but it was enough to completely deflect the sword.
Fuyuki's sword flew from her hands and soared toward the doors she had entered through, embedding itself deeply into them.
I grabbed her jaw and raised her head so she looked at me with her fearful eyes. "You've lost, Fuyuki, but there's one more thing I want to do before killing you—"
Fuyuki collapsed and began coughing, accepting defeat. "Yes…?"
"I'll tell you a story that no one has ever heard before. Even though I'm a vampire now, this story didn't start in any castle or tomb, but a long, long time ago in a small human village near the sea." I sat down beside her on the ground and placed her head on my lap, gently stroking her hair in exactly the same way my mother used to stroke mine.
A long, long time ago, on a rainy night just like I said before… I was born.
"Ahhh!" My mother, with blonde hair and green eyes, screamed as she pushed during childbirth on a bed in a small wooden hut lit by candles.
"Push harder, my lady! The head is almost out!" A black-haired woman with blue eyes, dressed in a maid's uniform, shouted, trying with all her strength—and her lady's—to bring the child into the world.
"AAAGHHH!" The woman screamed and pushed with all her might, finally delivering the baby into the world—of course, that baby was me.
"It's a beautiful baby girl, my lady." Smiling, the midwife cut and tied the umbilical cord that connected my mother's body to mine, wrapped me in a thin woolen blanket, and handed me to my mother.
My mother was very exhausted, as could be seen from her heavy breathing, her battered body, and the sweat covering her, yet she managed to give me a light smack on the bottom.
My eyes immediately filled with tears, and I began sobbing and crying like the newborn I was. "WAAAH! WAAAH!"
My mother looked at me with immeasurable love and relief in her tired eyes.
"Don't cry, my beautiful, beloved daughter… Mommy is here with you and will protect you from all the evil in this world…" My mother said in a very dry, yet gentle voice.
The midwife picked up a small bucket full of water and brought it to my mother's lips, and she immediately began to drink.
After quenching her lady's thirst, the midwife set the bucket down on the floor and looked at me.
"Lady Marisa, what name will you give your daughter…?"
"My daughter…" Marisa looked at the raindrops hitting the small window behind the bed. "My beautiful daughter shall be known as..."
"...Rain..."
I slowly stopped crying after Marisa gently hugged me to her chest, being careful with my delicate newborn body.
The midwife, whose name was Rosalina, smiled and left the room, heading for the front door.
Despite the incredibly rainy night, almost all the villagers, except for the children and the elderly who could barely move, had gathered outside the house and were talking among themselves.
It was a cradle of hunters, engineers, farmers, harvesters, warriors, alchemists, and others.
Of course, they were still humans, so some were at odds or simply hated each other, but that night everyone lived with one thought—the prayers asking for the leader's child to be born safely.
Suddenly, the door to Marisa's house opened, revealing Rosalina with a calm yet joyful expression on her face.
Everyone fell silent, waiting for the maid of their village leader to speak. Anticipation and excitement filled the air.
Rosalina took a deep breath and opened her mouth. "Our leader, Lady Marisa, has given birth to a wonderful and healthy baby girl."
"YEEEEAAH!"
Not even a fraction of a second passed before everyone gathered outside erupted with joy and began celebrating my birth.
Meanwhile, Marisa gently stroked my tiny head, whispering to me with the loving tone worthy of a wonderful mother. "I can't believe it…" She looked up at the ceiling, her eyes filling with tears of happiness. "Do you see this, my love…? Your daughter has come into the world… No… Our daughter…"
"Born during the destructive rain and named after it... She shall be the greatest person to ever live..."
And so it was how the story of Rain, the Immortal Witch began.