"My mother was my sister."
Brooklyn, New York - The man who sat across the interviewer at the vampire bar known as the "Borges House" began his story with those odd words.
Following the end World War II, the pallid SS officer traversed the globe to many a raging battlefield, leaving carnage unforeseen in his wake.
The vampire of the battlefield. The wandering Hakenkreuz.
Though his saga was passed down as naught but a stale ghost story, it was no mere urban legend.
For he was Wilhelm Ehrenburg -
hunted in absolute secrecy by the UN as a remnant of the Third Reich, enemy of the world,
and one of the infamous members of the demonic Longinus Dreizehn Orden.
And after over half a century, the time had finally come for him to depart for Japan in order to fulfill his most ardent desire.
Humoring this interviewer he would have ignored or slain any other day was merely a whim birthed from the exaltation of the promised time drawing ever closer.
That was the only reason our intrepid interviewer found him in a talkative mood.
Thus, as he reflected on his life,
Wilhelm grew nostalgic - sentimental, even - for the path he had walked.
And when asked, he unveiled his past piece by piece.
From the accursed blood that poisoned his very soul, to the blight wrought by the works of Mercury.
He spun a tale of the day he awakened to the truth of his being, and of the woman who had the nature of Wilhelm's existence engraved upon her very being.
"Don't you worry, I'm gonna tell you everything.
From the first moment I met her, to the very end of our story."
The man who holds the arcane title of Kaziklu Bey, Number 4 of the Longinus Dreizehn Orden's Obsidian Round Table.
He hasn't aged a day since the time of World War II, and has gone down in legend as a vampire who traverses battlefields across the globe, leaving carnage and ruin in his wake.
And in the present, he has begun recounting his past to an interviewer just as he's about to depart to Japan to partake in the long-awaited ritual known as the Transmutation of Gold.
You're mine, Claudia.
I saved your life, so now it's mine.
A nun Wilhelm met during the Warsaw Uprising.
She is an albino, just like him, and thus they end up living together after their encounter.
She believes herself to be only half a person since she cannot live in the realm of day, and sees others as superior to her in every way.
He saved me, so I must return the favor,
even if it costs me my life.
Wilhelm's mother and sister. Though she is already dead, she had a huge influence on her son's values, and as such, his Ahnenerbe, "The Dark Gift," takes on her form, nesting in his inner world.
In other words, she's nothing more than a symbol of the mother/sister he perceives, but her love is genuine. She has sworn to exert all her power for Wilhelm.
We'll be together forever,
Wilhelm. That is the dark gift that binds us.
A mysterious man Wilhelm and the others encountered in 1944 on their mission to expel an anomaly from Katyn Forest.
A self-proclaimed special operative of the Vatican, he acts cordial to the Obsidian Table, but his true motives lie shrouded in darkness.
You desire an endless, dark night...
How shallow.
A modern-day woman who seeks out Wilhelm for an interview, she manages to catch him just before he sets off for Suwahara City.
Calm and collected, she's exactly the kind of driven career woman that Wilhelm would be quick to call his type.
Just "Dinah" is fine, Mister Ehrenburg.
The charismatic Gold who leads the Longinus Dreizehn Orden.
Completely extraordinary even amongst the demons of the Obsidian Round Table, he wields oppressive skills and powers that have earned him godlike fear and respect from his followers. It's even been said he was born in the wrong world.
The Vice-Commander of the LDO. The one responsible for turning the Obsidian Table into a collection of demons, and a miraculous magician who is Reinhard's one and only friend and equal.
Also known as Mercurius.
Because of this, he is considered the group's teacher, but with the exception of Reinhard, all the members detest him like the biblical Serpent.
Number 3 of the Obsidian Table. Also known as Kristoff Lohengrin.
Though a kind and cowardly priest, because he possesses the power to read the memories of people and objects, his mind was on the brink of shattering from the madness of the war.
At the time of the story, he is on the run from the LDO, unable to bear staying with the two men who formed its crucible.
Number 5 of the Obsidian Table. Also known as Valkyria.
Though she could be called the only member with respectable values within the collection of eccentrics that is the LDO, that aspect also causes her to stand out and not mesh with the others.
While she often laments the madness that has taken hold of her homeland and acquaintances, she has sworn to uphold her justice as a human.
Number 7 of the Obsidian Table. The sombre iron knight (Nigredo) who serves as one of Reinhard's Three Battalion Commanders.
As he was resurrected from the dead, he doesn't remember his true name, and thus goes exclusively by his other name.
Because his fists are an avatar of annihilation that brings a definitive end to anything in one punch and he is a cyborg that has fused with a tank, he is often referred to as Machina.
Number 8 of the Obsidian Table. Also known as Malleus Maleficarum.
A witch who has lived for over two hundred years by the time of WW2. While she may appear young on the outside, she is in fact a crafty, sly, and cruel hedonist.
Though she acts agreeable on the outside, on the inside lies twisted conceit and jealousy for others.
Number 9 of the Obsidian Table. Also known as Samiel Zentaur.
The crimson knightess (Rubedo) who serves as one of Reinhard's Three Battalion Commanders.
Though a model soldier with the austerity and bravery to match, that also means she hasn't a single merciful bone.
She is also Beatrice's direct superior.
Number 10 of the Obsidian Table. As his forte lies in intelligence, he hasn't revealed his true name to any of his comrades, so he goes exclusively by Spinne.
A realist who possesses relatively commonplace values (in a different sense from Beatrice), he is quick-witted and possess a great knowledge for wordly matters.
Number 11 of the Obsidian Table. Also known as Babylon Magdalene.
A lady who always exhibits impeccable virtue and sagacity, yet in reality killed thousands of children through human experimentation in the name of her career.
Though she and Eleonore were old friends from their time in the BDM, the vast gap between their own values causes them to get along like cats and dogs.
Number 12 of the Obsidian Table. Also known as Hróðvitnir.
The crazed ashen knight (Albedo) who serves as one of Reinhard's Three Battalion Commanders.
Though an affable boy with cherubic features, he is a murderer prone to haphazard mood swings and wields carnage like a tornado. He wishes to kill everyone in the world apart from Reinhard.
