K_Y_4815

There’s this super-famous game series called First Fantasy—people usually call it FF. It’s a massive franchise, loved by everyone from casual gamers to hardcore fans.

They made an anime version of FF, but it’s often called the biggest flop in the entire series. Why? Because the main characters never catch a break, and the story is full of gloomy, depressing twists. Most people hated it, saying it’s the darkest stain on FF’s record. Some fans even refused to admit it was part of the series! The official title of the anime is First Story, but in a joking way, people started calling it FS to make it sound separate from actual FF.

In this infamous anime, there’s a villain named Arc Noyadarma. His name sounds all grand and evil, but he’s basically just a throwaway bad guy. His final scene is so brutal that viewers don’t feel satisfaction—only trauma. Now, our protagonist has been reborn into this poor guy’s body… even though he knows nothing about FS!

“A count? Isn’t that, like, easy mode for life? I’ll do whatever I want and be a corrupt noble!”

That’s how he decides to take advantage of his new noble status for personal gain. But somehow, he keeps saving the people around him—and ends up wrecking all the depressing storylines of the original FS without even trying.

Reborn as a Villainous Noble

Men in black clothes surround the tournament arena.

All of them have empty expressions.

Each one is an elite under orders to commit genocide.

In the original story, chaos breaks out while Surtr is underground.

The Dark Hand starts slaughtering people.

Their first victim is Medusa, the student council president.

She's killed on the finals stage and turned into a monster.

She goes wild, attacking students, and the dead students turn into monsters too.

It creates a chain reaction, plunging the arena into chaos.

Surtr also shares blame for trusting Embra and protecting the Crystal Aether, since it keeps releasing a lot of mana.

A high mana environment makes monster outbreaks easier.

So if the Dark Hand starts killing people in that environment, you know what happens.

The Dark Hand soldiers move like robots into the arena—

—only to be blocked by a girl in a black hood.

They feel some terrible aura coming from her.

If they all rush her, maybe they can kill her.

They don't care how many of them die, as long as the mission is done.

"You've got spirit, that's good, nya. I'll kill all of you... oh, wait, I'm not supposed to kill you?"

"Number Three of the Tiger—Tiga. Looks like we're supposed to 'take them down without actually killing them,' nya!"

It's a contradictory order, but Tiga's killing intent grows stronger than ever.

All over the academy, secret but fierce battles break out.

A black-robed girl watches the fights from an alley in the campus.

She's one of the chimeras Arc saved.

She and the others are part of the special Zodiac squad Arc created.

They're different from the intelligence division, the "Fingers," or Lancelot's army.

The Zodiac is an assassination unit.

They get rid of anyone who stands against Arc, working in the shadows.

Recently, a certain lord felt threatened by House Noyadarma's sudden rise. He tried to destroy Garm territory, so the Zodiac quietly killed him.

Originally, the Zodiac had twelve members.

"I want to wipe out anyone who bothers Arc-sama... but I guess we shouldn't cause a full massacre here."

She already knows what's going to happen today.

Killing people here would cause too many problems.

So they'll avoid too much bloodshed.

Latu can share senses with rats, using them to monitor her fellow Zodiac members.

Under her hood, her mouse ears twitch.

She and the others can't live normal lives.

A normal life isn't always happiness.

For them, serving Arc is happiness. It's their reason to live.

Anyone who threatens that has to go.

Using her rats, Latu hears the Zodiac fighting the Dark Hand.

She also sees, through the rats she sent underground, what's happening with Camilla.

"Hurry it up, Camilla. If you don't, I might just wipe out those Dark Hand pests myself."

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