Rebuked by fellow vampires for his birth beneath a blue moon, the nocturnal Vanitas became fearful and forlorn. Legend holds he forged a cursed codex called the 'Book of Vanitas,' destined to exact vengeance upon all crimson-moon vampires in due course, a dark promise whispered through the ages in the silence of eternity forever.
In nineteenth-century Paris, archivist Noé Archiviste pursues the legendary Book of Vanitas. While traversing an aerostat, he is rescued from a vampire ambush by a quirky physician who introduces himself as Vanitas and bears the very volume he seeks. Paradoxically, this self-styled vampire savant is merely a mortal who received both the name and the tome from his mentor, the original Vanitas of myth. As an uncanny incident dubbed the Charlatan's Parade emerges, the doctor's talent for restoring sanity to vampires by unveiling their true appellations proves invaluable. Noé's relentless quest is fueled by whispers of the tome's power to unravel the veil between mortal and immortal realms. He believes that locating the book will grant him insight into the ancient pact forged by vampires centuries ago. Meanwhile, the eccentric Vanitas wears a lab coat stained with crimson, claiming he can diagnose and heal vampiric maladies. His method involves chanting forgotten names, a practice he insists restores the lost balance of a creature's soul.
