Prologue

If all the resentment and pain in the world were crammed together, I bet it would look like this.

So the man thought as he regarded his face in the mirror.

Only a pale, bluish light illuminated the dark room. Devoid of furniture, it felt not the least bit lived-in; there was only the man and the mirror he gazed into.

Neither indignation nor despondency possessed him.

And yet, a hatred that left him practically breathless permeated his soul.

“They shouldn’t exist. Holy Maidens should not exist…”

He equally resented both Holy Maidens and the women selected as candidates for the position. He longed for their disappearance from the bottom of his heart.

The man addressed his reflection. “I should just kill them all myself.”

No, came a rational voice from inside him.

He knew he shouldn’t. That much he comprehended. You weren’t supposed to kill other people. That was something even small children had internalized. But nevertheless…

“If I don’t, then they won’t pay for what they’ve done! For how they messed up my life!”

The Holy Maidens would go on to live a carefree existence under the protection of the state.

“How can I possibly just allow that to happen?!”

Something in his brain snapped.

“Yes. That’s why I have to eliminate them!”

Once he said it aloud, he grew even more frenzied.

“Yes. No one’s going to do it for me if I don’t. That’s exactly it!”

He punched through the mirror, shattering the glass with a tinkling sound. His fist turned bright red.

As he stared at the blood dripping from his fist, the man’s face gave an eerie twitch. “Yes. I’m going to eradicate them.”

His voice was rough with an exhilaration he hadn’t felt in a long, long time.

“I’ll kill them all! I’ll kill them all! I’ll kill them all!”

Now that his mind was made up, he couldn’t bear that he hadn’t taken action until now.

Why had he hesitated despite the solution being so obvious?

“Ah, but how should I do it?”

As his eyes began to slip shut in rapture, his gaze fell to his still-bleeding fist.