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Introduction
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Chasseur — Those Who Hunt Crimson is the fifteenth chapter of Jun Mochizuki's The Case Study of Vanitas.
This article contains plot and/or ending details for The Case Study of Vanitas.
Read at your own risk.
Synopsis[]
When “Babel” occurred and wrought upon the world a type of calamity unmatched and unseen by any other, from it emerged inhuman beings who looked human but were noticeably… not. Their penchant for blood-drinking drew comparisons with the age-old mythical beings from Eastern European lore, and thus they were dubbed Vampires. But unlike the creatures told of in those old stories, Vampires born from Babel had one unique attribute—glowing red eyes that granted them special powers. They say those red eyes can interfere with the World Formula that gives structure to everything in the world, and in doing so, in rewriting the World Formula, they can produce phenomena that looked like “magic.” Transforming and strengthening their bodies, producing flames or ice out of thin air; such incredible feats were possible at the hands of Vampires. Thus making them the subject of fear by everyone around them. The Catholic Church would go on to define Vampires as beings who “warp the principles of the world God has created.” They would gather their finest soldiers to find and corner and surround these beings with blasphemous powers…
It was then that humans began hunting Vampires.
Noé clutches his eye with one hand, face twisted in pain. His vision is blurring and twisting and melding all together as the real world and the world of formula is forcibly combined for his eyes. The sight makes him nauseous, staggering and wavering in place as he stands off against Roland. Vanitas, trapped in a cell behind, yells at him to retreat, that he can’t fight in his condition. Noé is still unsteady on his feet, but refuses to leave Vanitas behind. Vanitas snaps that he can’t be worrying about someone else in this situation, especially when he wasted Vanitas’s warning already. Noé snaps back just as angrily, that Vanitas should’ve been more straightforward with explaining and—Roland interrupts. Vanitas stares at his back. Roland quietly asks what he just said. He turns around, eyes wide. He whispers the name again—“Vanitas?” Roland runs up to Vanitas’s cell and cups the man’s face in his hands. Vanitas chokes in shock and strains against his hold. Roland identifies him: his black hair, his blue eyes… Roland calls his name questioningly. Vanitas, still in his hold, is confused. Roland, practically roaring in his face, asks if he really is Vanitas. Vanitas is completely baffled but answers yes.
“Oh! My god!!!”
Roland hugs Vanitas. Even through the bars of the cell, he embraces the other so tightly as to never let go, burying the other’s face in his shoulder, squeezing him tighter as he strains against him. Roland tearfully thanks God for his divine guidance in leading him to Vanitas, while Vanitas protests in pain. Roland proclaims he heard about Vampires using him for his power, and asks if they have his weakness, if someone important to him has been taken hostage, not once hearing his protests. Noé stares, stunned. Roland, still tightly hugging Vanitas, coos in pity over him, being made into the Kin of the Blue Moon… “You poor thing.” Vanitas’s eyes widen in fury. He scratches Roland in the face. Roland winces and steps back. Vanitas growls at him, deeply angered, muttering about how they never change. Eyes filled with both pity and condescension and never once listening to others. Vanitas snaps—he never acts against his own wishes. Him allying with Vampires, infiltrating this place, hurting him the way he just did, all of it was of his own free well. Just because they live their lives commanded by their “so-called God” doesn’t mean he does the same.
Drops start falling onto the floor. Vanitas stares, stunned, as does Noé. Roland is weeping openly, tears of misplaced sympathy pouring out of his eyes. He hasn’t registered a thing Vanitas has said. Vanitas is pale as he watches Roland bemoan him once again, and even beg God to forgive him for his ignorance. Roland cries right into Vanitas’s face and begs him to open his eyes and let the word of God reach his heart. Vanitas’s flinches back and snaps to listen to him before he listens to God. Roland grabs Vanitas by the wrists, forcing them face-to-face, and tells him he can learn of God’s love through Roland. Vanitas is pale with dread. Roland’s eyes shine with a brilliant light. He promises there’s nothing to fear, that God will never abandon him even if he strays. Vanitas’s eyes fill with more fright. Roland, still weeping for him, proclaims like a descending angel that he vows to save him from the Vampires’—Vanitas screams in horror at how creepy he is. Even as Vanitas bristles and screeches at him like an angry cat, Roland doesn’t seem to notice.
Roland turns around, turning serious. He take the weapon off his back and unravels the wrapping bound around it. Vanitas stiffens at the sight of it. Roland holds his weapon ready for battle: a twin-bladed thing with massive, sectioned, spearhead-shaped blades on either end of a short shaft. He calls its name with a cold, dangerous look in his eyes—the indestructible blade “Durandal.” Noé identifies the weapon as a spear. He’s still breathing heavily, but has managed to recover a bit in the short amount of time bought. He thinks his sight might be calm enough for him to—Vanitas calls for Noé. He looks up, confused. Roland is already before him, blade in hand. He strikes with Durandal, the blade whipping towards Noé and just barely missing as he moves out of the way. Noé is shocked at how fast he is. Vanitas yells that he can’t think of the Chasseurs as human, as they use drugs—the syringe Roland had injected himself with just before the fight—to boost their abilities. Roland spins Durandal like a windmill as Noé ducks under his strikes and snaps at Vanitas that he should’ve said so earlier. He strikes a powerful kick at Roland. Noé gasps; his attack missed, Roland having leapt up onto the nearby pillar to evade. He kicks off powerful and surges himself downwards. He and Durandal crash into the ground below, missing Noé by inches.
Noé sees a shape zooming his way—Roland kicks him in the face, which he barely manages to brace himself against, already having righted himself to reengage. Noé stares in shock at Roland’s deathly serious, bloodthirsty gaze. As they fight, Vanitas mutters to himself in his cell. He didn’t see any lever on the wall earlier, which means only one thing: his eyes lock onto the candlestick right next to the cell. He whips out his weapons and prepares to go for it. Roland swipes with Durandal back and forth, upwards and downwards, each slash missing Noé only by the smallest of margins. He’s impressed, as he’s never seen a Vampire move so fluidly after being hit by that light. He grazes Noé’s arm, making the other wince and jump back. Noé tries to urge him to listen. Roland refuses, insisting he won’t allow any Vampire who enters to leave alive. Noé exclaims, affronted, that both Vampires and humans from cities just don’t listen to people. He sees what a disadvantage he is at and makes to retreat momentarily to give his body time to heal. Roland sees him do this. He twists at the handle of his weapon; it snaps and splits into two, one blade in each hand. His eyes are infinitely dark as he calls the Vampire a coward.
Slashes rake all over Noé’s body. Noé’s eyes widen in shock. He sees before him: Roland with both of his blades in either hand—they have elongated into long and winding shapes that flow through the air like ribbons, the sections pulled apart like chain links. Just like whips. Roland retracts them back into blades and rushes forward, promising to not let him escape. He whips his blades at Noé. The Vampire jumps back rapidly as the blades snap out into whips and slash at the ground and wall near him. Noé gasps; Roland appears before him, jumping in midair after kicking off a pillar, his blades-turned-whips lashing wildly around him. He kicks at Noé, who braces himself with his forearm but nearly cracks from the pressure of the strike. The two jump apart, their clash bursting out in force between them. Noé kicks upwards, striking a light on the wall. Roland snaps out his blades once again and they whip out towards Noé, twining around him.
Roland stops. His whip-like blades have been ensnared with a candelabra that Noé is holding. Noé, panting heavily as he stares Roland down, is certain that as long as he can keep the other’s weapon from working than he has a change. Roland’s eyes go dark. Noé stiffens warily. On the handle of Durandal, Roland flicks open a small compartment containing a button. He presses it. The stone in the center of the handle glows with light. It’s like lightning strikes Noé, turning his insides to fire, rendering him paralyzed and immobilized. Noé’s eyes are wide in shock. He drops to his knees, his entire body crackling, only able to wonder what on earth happened to him. Roland stands over him and, pulling Durandal back for one final decisive strike, declares that it’s over.
Vanitas jumps in front of him. Noé’s head snaps up, panicked. Roland exclaims in shock as Durandal surges right for Vanitas. He hurriedly diverts the trajectory of his blade upwards, and it strikes the wall above harmlessly, allowing Vanitas to duck under it safely. Noé grabs Roland by the collar and he gears himself up. With a loud and powerful yell, he tosses Roland with all his might bodily into the opposite wall. The force of his throw is so strong that the wall behind cracks and crumbles to pieces. Roland kneels on the ground below the cracked wall, nursing his aching head. He licks at the blood trailing down from his forehead. The room before him is empty; the two of them got away. Two people, a man and a woman, run in after the noise of the fight, making Roland perk up with a smile. They rush to Roland in concern seeing his state. Roland greets his subordinates, Maria and Georges, who claim to have come for him knowing he got lost. Roland smiles and tells them they have two intruders. Maria and Georges pause. Roland tells them one was a Vampire. Instantly both of their eyes flare in fury and bloodthirst. Roland asks if they’re armed, which they confirm. The three Chasseurs pull out their weapons and at once stand ready. Together, they declare—they will hunt.
Noé slams his head against Vanitas’s. The hit sends him double backwards, and he crouches on the ground clutching his forehead in pain. Noé snaps angrily at him, absolutely infuriated. Vanitas, rather angry himself, glares back at Noé. Noé demands why Vanitas tried to protect him, to which Vanitas retorts he knew Roland wouldn’t kill him. Noé scolds Vanitas for being so careless about putting himself in danger, like that meeting they had with Ruthven. Vanitas is human, not a Vampire, so any mistake he makes means he ends up dead. Noé yells that Vanitas needs to be aware that he’s weak. Vanitas snaps in his anger. He surges to his feet and reminds Noé of the way he was just almost killed by a human, which Noé attributes to Vanitas’s vague explanations. Noé expected physical harm from the way he’d shouted “Shut your eyes!” to which Vanitas argues that he meant that, he simply also didn’t know they had flash bombs. Noé stops, puzzled. Vanitas snaps that Noé’s scolding is hypocritical, as he’s always thinking he’s strong enough, rushing forward without a second thought, and getting himself hurt. Noé doesn’t know what Vanitas means, making him refer back to when Noé protected him from Ruthven. Noé is surprised. Vanitas growls, expression deeply angry, that if he ever does that again he’ll kill Noé. Noé stares at Vanitas face, thinking he’s seen such a look before. One full of deep-rooted anger that turns his eyes infinitely dark. Noé realizes: Vanitas was angry at him back atop the clock tower because Noé moved to protect him during the bal masqué. Then Noé remembers the only reason Vanitas asked Noé to come with him was to act as a shield. Noé realizes that though Vanitas wants to use Noé as a shield, if Noé ever protects him of his own accord, he’ll become incredibly angry and either try to cut him out or kill him.
Noé recoils like he’s come across something terrifying. He remarks how finicky Vanitas surprisingly is. Vanitas snaps at him. Roland calls out to Vanitas, voice bright and cheerful. From far away, the Chasseurs’ voices can be heard as they bicker, Maria admonishing her captain for shouting and Roland insisting Vanitas might answer. Vanitas and Noé meanwhile clamp their hands over each other’s mouths to keep themselves quiet. The voices fade off into the distance. Vanitas and Noé listen carefully through the echoes, then relax once they know they’re in the clear. Vanitas instantly starts shivering in absolute dread, muttering about Roland. He hugs himself and curls himself into a ball, prickles of disgust running up and down his spine, as he rants about how creepy it feels to be looked at with genuine good will. He says those types are the hardest for him to deal with, condescending and idiotic and refusing to take his malice as malice. He can provoke them, refuse them, outright assault them, and they’ll take everything to mean anything that’s convenient to them, and the very thought has Vanitas consumed with revulsion. Noé stares at Vanitas, watches his reactions and the pure emotions on the human’s face.
Noé laughs at him. Vanitas slowly turns to glare at him. Noé apologizes, saying he’s just surprised to see Vanitas also having difficulty dealing with certain people. Noé smiles slyly right into Vanitas’s face and comments that he’s started to rather like Roland. Vanitas growls at him. Noé asks curiously about what attacked him that rendered him paralyzed, that caused a burning, stabbing pain all over his body. Vanitas attributes that to being shocked by electricity. Noé’s eyes shine with excitement as he hears this, as it’s the first time he’s been hit by such an attack before. Vanitas stares exasperated at his too overjoyed expression. Vanitas asks about Noé’s eyes, which he answers they’re in better condition. However reality and the world of formulas still appear mixed in his vision, making him sick. Vanitas theorizes that light Roland used being made to prevent Vampires from using their eyes and rewriting the World Formula. Vanitas asks if Noé can do anything else by interfering with the World Formula, aside from the basics such as body reinforcement. Noé can only do one additional thing: being able to stand on a wall or the ceiling if he concentrates hard. He’d been trained by his Teacher in order to have the practical skill at hand, but he has no talent for it; the concept of rewriting the formula for gravity is too grand for him to feel an affinity to.
Vanitas clenches his hand quietly. He asks if Noé can beat Roland. Noé cradles his head in his hand and answers truthfully, he doesn’t know. But what he does know if that they can, if they do it together. Vanitas laughs.
Noé flinches, gasping and whipping around. Vanitas asks him, but he brushes it off. As he extends a hand to help Vanitas up, he wonders why he just felt as if they were being watched. On a wall behind them, a lens scope stares at the two of them. It quietly closes. Vanitas takes Noé’s hand and stands him. He tells him that he’s here in pursuit of a certain man. Noé listens with surprise. The man is named Moreau, a scientist who was obsessed with his research regarding Vampires and was thus expelled from the Chasseurs. Vanitas hands something to Noé, which he identifies as the button Dante had given him earlier. He tells him to look at the back, and Noé flips it over. He sees etched into the underside of the button, “No. 128.” Vanitas calls it a “project number.” Vanitas tells Noé that these Vampire disappearances aren’t the work of regular Chasseurs. They are due to the reinforced humans created by Moreau with his human experimentation. His “projects.”
Deep below their feet. In a room filled on all sides with pipes and tubes that extend upwards and end in scope lenses. A man stands peering into one and hums with interest. He wonders who those two—Vanitas and Noé—are, thinking he might recognize the black-haired one. He spins around in his chair, idly humming as he’s lost in thought. He stops and speaks the name—“Vanitas.” A young man with black hair who uses that alias as he goes around. The man—Moreau, leaps to his feet and yells triumphantly to the sky. He remembers, he is that boy from back then. He rejoices jubilantly, never thinking he’d ever come back. Despite the man not being present, Moreau welcomes him back with excitement—the boy whom Vanitas stole away from him on that day. His “precious” test subject.
Vanitas recalls. The moon was hanging heavily in the sky that day, shining a brilliant blue from beyond the black clouds. A figure muttered with sympathy about the cruelty they’ve seen wrought upon these young children. Cradled in their arms was a small boy, trembling against their shoulder. A young Vanitas kneeled on the ground looking up at them. Their dark blue skin and long, ribbon-like hair. He stared up at them with tears in his eyes. They looked at him and asked:
“Well? What do you want to do? Will you… come with me too?”
Characters[]
- Noé Archiviste
- Vanitas
- Roland Fortis
- Maria
- Georges
- August Ruthven*
- The Teacher*
- Moreau (First Appearance)
- Dante (Mentioned only)
- Mikhail*
- Vanitas of the Blue Moon*
(*) - Denotes that the character did not appear physically, but as a part of another character's memories.
Terms[]
Trivia[]
- Chasseur is literally translated as "hunter" from French. It is also the designation given to certain regiments of French and Belgian light infantry or light cavalry to denote troops trained for rapid action.[1]
References[]
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| v - e - t | The Case Study of Vanitas Chapters |
|---|---|
| Parisian Excursion Arc | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 |
| Bal Masqué Arc | 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 |
| Hunters of the Dark Arc | 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 |
| The Beast of Gévaudan Arc | 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31 • 32 • 33 • 34 • 34.5 • 35 • 36 • 37 • 38 • 38.5 • 39 • 40 • 41 • 42 • 43 |
| Amusement Park Arc | 44 • 45 • 46 • 47 • 48 • 49 • 50 • 51 • 52 • 53 • 54 • 54.5 • 55 • 55.5 • 56 |
| Miel Incident Arc | 57 • 58 • 59 • 60 • 61 • 61.5 • 62 • 62.5 • 63 |
| Intermissions | 15.5 • 46.5 • 51.5 • 60.5 |
| Volumes | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 |
| Omake | Romance is a✰LOVE MISSION |
| Other | Vanitashu no Karute • Author's Notes |