The Record of a Fallen Vampire



A millennium ago, the vampire queen Adelheid nearly destroyed the world for the love of her king, unleashing the dangerous "moonlight of corrosion" which destroyed everything in its path. In the end, she was sealed by the power of vampire, dhampire, and human alike; but her king, Akabara, searches the world for the seal that will release her from her captivity. Humanity at large has since forgotten the existence of vampires, but the dhampires remember, and they will do whatever it takes to kill Akabara before he rescues his beloved queen.

Against Akabara is Bridget, powerful ruler of the Dhampires and a group of elite warriors including Jin, whose beloved was killed by Akabara. With them is the Black Swan, a parasitic magic that possesses young women for the sole purpose of killing Akabara and Adelheid. The most recent host is strong enough to kill Akabara, but she instead sides with him, to the shock of the dhampires. It seems things are not as simple as they seem and old enemies may have to unite to survive.

The Reveal ensues. Several times. Also Genre Shift and Gambit Pileup.


 * Action Girl: Bridget, Lety, Yuki, and Kaiyuki
 * Arranged Marriage: Akabara and Adelheid.
 * Attack of the Fifty Foot Whatever: The Big Moura appear as giant pollen/diatom things in the sky.
 * The Chessmaster: Akabara, Bridget, and GM
 * Chekhov's Gun: When they first meet, Akabara tells Letty a story about the origins of vampires. This turns out to be more important than you might expect.
 * Combat Pragmatist: "Infinite Cross" Saberhagen, who was willing to.
 * While he is often Willfully Weak, Akabara, when given the opportunity, does not hesitate to demonstrate why he is the greatest tactician and strategist to ever walk the planet.
 * Cool Mask: GM, or Great Mask, who effectively controls the country and his granddaughter Kaiyuki the 50th Black Swan when she's introduced (she's shy).
 * Costume Porn: in spades
 * Deadly Upgrade: The Black Swan, a powerful spell that can cancel out Akabara's powers will eventually kill the user whether she fights Akabara or not.
 * Despair Event Horizon: What causes Adelheid's freak out in the first place. Also Emily, the second Black Swan upon realization of the nature of the Black Swan curse.
 * Dhampyr: Akabara is hunted by these.
 * Disproportionate Retribution: Akabara is without question the absolute nicest guy in the entire series. But just because he just happens to be the most powerful thing to ever walk the planet, he is ultimately sentenced to  Sheesh!
 * Expy: GM is very reminiscent of Kiyotaka from Shirodaira's previous series, Spiral... just replace the mask with a furry costume and add more quirks.
 * Fate Worse Than Death: Jin, whose would-be girlfriend, the 49th Black Swan, has been suffering quite a bit after she is killed by Akabara. Ultimately, he finds out that he has nothing on Akabara himself who
 * Four-Star Badass: Strauss and Bridget.
 * Generation Xerox: Many of the previous Black Swans resemble.
 * It was hinted some of the Black Swan hosts might have been
 * Gentle Giant: One member of the Dhampyr's Akabara killing squad is a giant man in samurai armor who also runs a tiny (but highly-recommended) noodle shop as a hobby.
 * Gotta Catch Them All / What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: The giant crosses, one of which is said to be marking Queen Adelheid's grave aren't symbolic but are actually
 * Hellish Pupils: All the vampires and dhampyrs have cat-like slits.
 * Heroic Sacrifice:
 * Horde of Alien Locusts: The Big Moura. At least they're polite about it.
 * Hot Dad: Akabara, with Lety.
 * I Did What I Had to Do: Saberhagen's justification for
 * The Ingenue:  Played straight with the character of Stella.
 * Genre Shift: From fantasy to
 * Kick the Dog:
 * The Lab Rats: Nazuna and Li, scientists working on the moon rocket
 * Lady of War: Bridget. She was even a general in the Kingdom of Night.
 * Last of His Kind: Akabara and Adelheid are the last pure-blooded vampires.
 * Likes Older Women: Morishima, if his interactions with Bridget are anything to go by.
 * Male Gaze: Many, many unnecessary close-up shots of Bridget's cleavage.
 * Memento MacGuffin: Stella's pendant. Akabara told her it was just a cobblestone (she isn't very ostentatious) but it's actually
 * Older Than They Look: Lety
 * Oh Crap: Kaiyuki's reaction to finding out that
 * The Ojou: Kaiyuki, the 50th Black Swan.
 * Our Vampires Are Different: Specifically, they are
 * Akabara is even different from other vampires:  Unexpectedly, Adelheid turns out to be even more powerful than Akabara.
 * Person of Mass Destruction: Adelheid and her power, the Moonlight of Corrosion. Strauss and Black Swan as well.
 * Powered By a Forsaken Child:
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old: Much of the cast, but a special shout-out goes to Letty, who grows so slowly that when she's nearing 70 years old, she still looks like a preadolescent.
 * Rule of Cool: Why GM bothers to decorates his mask.
 * Sealed Evil in A Can: Queen Adelheid
 * Soul Jar:
 * Spell My Name With an "S"
 * Super-Powered Evil Side / Unstoppable Rage: Adelheid's "Moonlight Corrosion".
 * Sweet Tooth: Akabara loves cake (and ice cream and Pocky and parfait and...).
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Yuki and Kaiyuki, the 49th and 50th Black Swans, respectively.
 * Bridget and Adelheid, to some extent.
 * Vampire Monarch: Both a queen (Adelheid) and a king (Akabara).
 * Wham! Line:
 * Zero-Approval Gambit:.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Strangely enough, the only character with odd haircolors are Strauss (blue) and Stella and two of the Black Swans (pink).
 * Wham! Line:
 * Zero-Approval Gambit:.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Strangely enough, the only character with odd haircolors are Strauss (blue) and Stella and two of the Black Swans (pink).
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Strangely enough, the only character with odd haircolors are Strauss (blue) and Stella and two of the Black Swans (pink).