All Within

" " = Talking

' ' = Thoughts

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The moment of inspiration brings eternal delight, the mere sensation of knowing bringing the greatest of joys from the depths of one's heart.

Then, there are those who look underneath the underneath, piercing through the thickets of complexity to in their search for knowledge.

These people do so because of their ability, separating them from humanity -- putting them on the borderline between Life and Death, between Humanity and Inhumans.

Their innate gifts, granting them various powers with which they utilize every last drop of potential within them to strike down the Inhumans in a fight for survival, are considered both Blessings and Curses.

It's said that there is balance within and between all, and on this basis, one can conclude that this is a response to scales having been tipped - in order for Humanity's survival, evolution such as this takes place in order to battle the 'Supernatural'. This conjecture is true - How would I know? It's because I'm a living example!

I, the final vampire, crowned with the title of {The Miracle}, am known as Draeth Kenjaku. I have not only reached the apex of the supernatural but I've also gained the power to establish an empire ruling over all worlds! The one thing that helped me reach this point was... my otherworld knowledge from my past life as Ether.

[Flashback ??? years ago]

"How annoying!" A certain cosplayer ranted from his position laying on a wonderful plain of grassland that looked like the living personification of Eden itself. With cherry blossom trees that brought great serenity throughout the land scattered around the plain in an intricate pattern that was pleasing to the eyes no matter how one looked at it, an refreshing and alluring aroma of nature along with the soft sound of pouring water from a fountain.

His smooth and lustrous long velvet hair was splayed out around him like a halo, but his grumbling was anything but angelic. He pulled at the grass angrily and shredded it in between his slim fingers.

"What is with all of these characters nowadays!? Always trying to be so low key, can't a MC have some brain cells for once?" I sighed, *Fwip* moving onto the next page of my manga as I reached into a bag of potato chips. The crinkling noise it made grated on my ears and worsened my irritable mood.

"Pfft~ You always crack me up, Ether!" An ethereal man mocked. He slapped his knees as he collapsed into a cross legged position beside the cosplayer. He plucked a few blades of grass from the ground and sprinkled it like confetti on the cosplayer. I huffed in annoyance and swatted at him.

Only for him to effortlessly dodge, "You're always ranting about these kind of things. Just why are you so invested into those things when you could be doing so much more~ It's not like you to be so frustrated, unless of course... you're envious of those characters?" He guesses while irritatingly wiggling his finger at me, his bright eyes closing into waning crescents and his slightly quivering lips angering me to no end.

'H...How does he know?!' I pale as my brain cycles through a myriad of thoughts 'Why does he have such a great intuition!? Would it kill him to keep to himself?'

*Sigh* "Sure, sure" I respond after sighing from disbelief... disbelief at how accurate he was. I crumple the manga within my hands slightly as my brow twitches in anger, my thoughts racing to return his jab 'Two can play it that game... Ah, how about that?' I remember before gaining an uncharacteristic smug smile on my face.

"Now, now, don't act like you're normal either..." I begin, honing onto his facial expressions and successfully seeing his composure break. "I've seen your chuuni moments... don't you remember your 'great times' as the 'Heaven-Defying Supreme Abyss Lord' with the 'Right arm of Doom' that 'Has the great Demon Dragon Emperor sealed within'" I say while giggling in disdain as I watch his face pale and go through a multitude of colors as he was reminded of his dark times, the darkening expression causing my giggles to develop into full-blown laughter "Kahahahaahahaha".

'...Hehe.' I think, smug about my apparent victory before deciding to continue so that he won't ever think of degrading my righteous attitude anymore.

"What did you used to say again? 'Fear me, for those that dare to defy me shall face my overwhelming power!'"

"O-Oi! W-what're you talking about?" Troy anxiously says as he attempts to cover my mouth, "Don't spread such lies, people could get a bad impression of me!". "But... they're the truth, and there's literally no-one around!" I say bluntly before raising my voice and continuing "And keep your grubby hands off! I don't even want to know where they've been", smacking his hands away.

"Oh, I'm so hurt.." Troy comments, making me feel guilty. That is until I catch him sneakily taking my manga to read for himself. "Now... let's see what you've been reading" he says with a disgusting smirk.

Realizing that my dignity is on the line, I quickly come up with a solution and act on it instantly.

*Grab* "Hey, you're crumpling the manga." says Troy as he also grabs and attempts to pull the manga from me only to be responded to by even greator force. 'Wait, won't my manga rip then!?!' I think while Troy continues to tug the manga from my hands as I loosen my grip.

"Hey, hey, hey... stop, it's going to tear if you keep pulling!" I say while furiously pinching Troy to make him let go. "Ah ah ah, what the hell?" says Troy while ignoring my words and pulling the manga even harder until... *Tearing sound*.

""Ah, look what you've done! The manga's ripped because of you!"" we both say at the same time while somehow staying in sync and mirroring each other.

""Me? No, it's you!""

""If you let go, this would've all been fine!""

Argue both me and Troy as we raise our voices, unwilling to take the blame. While arguing with Troy, all I can think is 'Damn, my dignity didn't let me fully let go of the manga and now it's destroyed! *Sigh* what a pain.'.

"Oi!!! You two, keep your voices down, you're annoying everyone here!" shouts a passerby who was walking his dog. *Ptooey* he spits on the ground, before mumbling about something like "Annoying brats."

""Pfft, hahahahaha"" Laughter is heard from both me and Troy as we realize how childish their actions were. "Never change, huh?" says Ether as he fist-bumps Troy who replies "Talk about yourself!" but is suddenly smacked on the head. "Hey, what's that for, you-" he says before seeing my raging form as I reply "But that doesn't change that you ripped the manga, I wasn't even finished reading it yet!!"

"Fine, I'll pay for a replacement." Troy mutters, downcast. Which causes a few veins to appear on my head 'This guy... he was actually expecting to get away with it!?'.

"But you'll have to pay for those chips that you crushed, your payment will be a fist of friendship!" he says afterwards before running towards me.

*Gasp*, "I never thought you had it in you to be so compassionate." I say while looking proud of him to tease him. Of course, that is until the last part of the sentence dawns on me as I notice my shoe pressed on a bag of potato chips *Crunch*.

"Hold up, how about... no?" I quickly say before running to escape his so called {Fist of Friendship}. Looking behind, I see him chasing me and I shout "I'll buy you another packet instead!" before looking forward again and going even faster while expecting a response but never receiving one.

Feeling that something's wrong, I taunt him to get a reply "You can't even catch me, hahahaha!" I run further and further until I realize that I'm no longer being chased by Troy.

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Underneath has not been edited yet.

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"Hey Troy, what are you doing just standing there?" Ether asks as he watches Troy point behind him. "What? Are you trying to trick me? That's the oldest trick in the book, did you really believe I'd fall for that?" responses Ether to the gesture until he notices the grim look on his friend's face and turns his head around to see a gun pointed right at him.

"No, no, no no, no... Calm down, why are you doing this? I haven't done anything to offend you!" Ether cries as he despairs in front of a REAL gun, "You... dare to trespass our territory and still have the guts to say that you didn't do anything with a straight face!?! Are you mocking me?!!" says the person holding him at gun-point.

'What should I do? I could seriously die here! I need help, but from who? Wait! Troy's here, if we both beg for forgiveness and explain then maybe we can get out of here alive!' thinks Ether, not caring about dignity in the face of a life and death situation.

As Ether immediately kneels to the man, he calls for Troy to help "Troy! Come, let's explain to... this kind sir here that we ended up here on accident". "Wait, why are you running?" comments Ether as he receives a sudden shock from the abrupt betrayal from one of his only friends. Only after seeing that Troy was continuing to put distance between them did he finally realize what was happening and screamed "You! How could you? I thought we were friends...".

Troy, as if he could hear him, turns around to face Ether and solemnly gives his last parting words to Ether before turning around to run again - "Your emotions have blinded you my friend, I still have people that need me, my life is more valuable than yours alright!? Don't worry, I'll take care of your family, take that as payment for this debt."

"Wait, don't go Troy!" shouts Ether as he cries tears of blood before hearing deafening laughter *Hahahahahaahahhahaha* "That look of betrayal on your face as your 'Friend' abandoned you was priceless! What can I say? You're just an unlucky person, too bad, too bad." says the man holding Ether at gun-point. Ether takes deep breaths to calm down and turn the situation around until Ether hears a *Click*, "It's not personal kid, sorry about this" *Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

*Bang* *Squelch* "Huh?" was the only thing Ether could say as he watches himself bleed out from multiple shots to the back.

Ether whispers his final words"You... *Cough* *Blewch*" "I swear, that I'll come back from the dead and that I will KILL YOU" before succumbing to blood loss and damage. *Thud*, as Ether faceplants into the concrete, his organs collapsing and his vision fading... his only thoughts were: 'This is it huh? What did I do to deserve such a death...?'