Chapter 365: Vlad Dracul Tepesfears the new 'Dracul'.
Chapter 365: Vlad Dracul Tepes fears the new 'Dracul'.
"Alexios, you're back... and without Ophis." That was the first thing Alexios heard when he returned to Vlad's castle.
"Ophis is safe." That was the first thing Alexios said to calm the man down.
"..."
Although Vlad hadn't changed his expression, Alexios knew the man well enough to understand that he was more comfortable with what he'd just heard.
"What happened?" Before making any decisions, Vlad decided to ask what happened.
"...By using her teleportation powers, Ophis ended up being drawn to Japan." Alexios started to explain what happened to Vlad.
Vlad Dracul Tepes listened to everything in silence. When Alexios began to narrate about the conflict in Japan, Vlad could more or less imagine the causes behind why the power of Ophis acted strangely.
And as expected, when he heard about a nine-tailed fox with long black hair, he understood what had happened.
'Ophis was drawn towards that place... Specifically, she was drawn towards that fox.' As his beloved wife was part of that same Clan, he had some understanding of how the Clan's power worked.
Clan Otsuki are extremely dependent on each other, and unconsciously, they seek each other out, after all, it is only when they are together that their real power is revealed.
In a way, they were similar to Werewolves, they needed to live in community for their real power to be revealed, but unlike Werewolves who needed an Alpha, the Otsuki were more like family.
They just needed to be together and the magic happened.
They become stronger, their unique powers could also be used in a much wider range than they normally could. It was like all foxes became just one being.
And because these foxes were such a rare variant, the number of individuals alive could be counted with two hands.
After all, when a fox is born, it is more likely to be born with golden fur, symbolizing the natural elements.
Or white, which symbolized purity.
Red and black fur foxes were quite rare, after all, they represented the most negative element.
Like Death and Darkness for black foxes.
And War, Blood, and Lust for red fox.
Because of that, in the past, there was a fairy tale that if you met a fox with black fur, it was the meaning of bad omen.
'... And to think that that little girl grew up and became so strong... Time has really passed.' Vlad knew Haruna, how could he not?
In the time when Hana was alive, Haruna was a name for a small one-tailed fox, Hana's younger sister.
His wife, despite being expressionless, when she spoke about Haruna, it was always possible to see a small smile on the woman's face. She truly did love her little sister a lot.
"And Count Alucard eliminated over 50% of all Supernaturals in Japan. Everyone responsible, no matter how minor their involvement, was punished for this incident and turned into freaks."
"Oh...?" Vlad's thoughts were interrupted when he heard someone's name: "What kind of freaks?"
"Ghouls."
"..." Vlad's face twitched a little. Even he knew how difficult it was to control the ghouls infection rate once it started. If not contained immediately, they would become a plague that constantly grew stronger, until it swallowed an entire planet.
...If you didn't have a Ghoul King to control all these pests it would be impossible...-
'Oh, he has one, huh?' Vlad remembered a certain blond-haired Maid he'd heard about in a report.
"Maria, the former Hunter... Has she fully evolved into a Ghoul King?" Vlad questioned Alexios.
"Wrong, she's a Noble Vampire now."
"What?" Even Vlad couldn't help but gape at such stupidity.
'Did he turn a Ghoul, a dead creature, into a Noble Vampire? How? Ghouls are dead, they cannot come back to life, not even the power of a Sire can bring someone back from the dead.'
"...?" Alexios looked at the rare shock on Vlad's face: "Master?"
"...!" Vlad stopped his thoughts, and said:
"Continue."
Alexios nodded his head:
"After the battle of the two beings was over, a Goddess descended, and that's when Scathach decided to intervene and fought the Goddess directly."
"...." Vlad wasn't particularly surprised by Scathach's actions, after all, from their previous meeting, he could easily deduce that whatever happened, that woman would always be Alucard's ally.
Proof of this is the very previous encounter that Vlad mentioned. She'd directly threatened the Vampire King. It wouldn't be surprising if she did the same to the Gods.
Alexios ended the report when he spoke of Scathach's 'three moves to creation' technique.
"…Japan ceased to exist then?" Vlad asked calmly as if it was something natural.
"...?" Alexios looked confused at Vlad: "Japan still exists. The whole fight took place in an alternate dimension that the Yōkai created when fighting."
"…Huh?" This time it was Vlad's turn to be confused.
'That little girl used her strongest technique, and a country wasn't destroyed? Huh? There's something wrong here.' Vlad knew very well the capabilities of this technique, after all, he had experienced it first hand in the past.
And due to the time this fight took place, her technique should be stronger now.
Feeling that information was missing:
"... When Scathach transformed what did she look like?" Vlad asked a rather strange question to Alexios.
But being a good servant, he completely answered Vlad's question.
After he finished answering, Vlad's doubts were answered.
"I see... She held back, huh."
Originally, this technique that Scathach created could turn an entire continent into pure ice. If pushed any further, it could literally turn half of planet earth into pure ice.
As told by the Countess, she really could bring back the ice age if she so chooses.
This was the power level of the technique that combined the Countess's main power, her knowledge with runes, and her monstrous energy when she unleashes her true strength.
The third Vampire Count form, a form said to be the true appearance of the Vampire of the past.
'...That boy is very lucky, few disciples can make Scathach willing enough to display that level of power just to teach... Although calling him a disciple is no longer correct.' Vlad thought with an inward smile.
But soon he couldn't help but think of something:
'Turning a Hybrid into a Noble Vampire, that I understand. I did the same with Anna... But...' Thinking about Victor's Maid:
'Bring the dead back to life? A Ghoul? Even though in the past she was a Ghoul King, that name is nothing more than a name given to a Ghoul who had conscience and could control the plague, it didn't mean she stopped being a Ghoul, a walking corpse.'
'...She is still a Ghoul, a dead creature... And yet, she gained 'life' back, and was turned into a Noble Vampire.'
'Did he do it using the magic of the World Tree? ... That can't be, the World Tree hasn't matured enough yet; it's still just a baby. It would take thousands of years for that to happen... So what happened?'
For the first time in his entire existence, Vlad had a doubt regarding himself and his existence.
'Can I do that too...?' He couldn't help but think about it when he heard what Victor did.
'Or is it a particular characteristic of him? After all, he became a Progenitor through quite unusual means...'
Thinking about his own existence, and the existence that Victor came to be what he is today, he realized something:
'...He's different... He's different from me.' It was only a few seconds of thought that made him understand that the second Progenitor was different from him.
'Essentially speaking, he was a Human with the Golden Blood, or as it is called in today's terms, RH Null Blood... Even when he turned into a Noble Vampire because of his blood, he still had his 'core' of existence as that of a Human. His soul was born human, and even if it changes in the future to something else, the 'characteristics' of a human would still be there.'
What was the greatest characteristic of Humans? The trait that made them stand out from all races, the trait that God himself gave them when they were created?
'Potential... And Adaptability.' Vlad couldn't help but come to this startling conclusion.
In an ordinary human, this seed of potential and adaptability would be as small as a grain of sand, after all, biologically speaking, humans are social beings, they needed to be united, and in sync for these seeds to really come to sprout and give results.
Now... What if that seed was given to a Progenitor?
A being who's existence itself screamed potential, the being that was the beginning of an entire race.
The Progenitor is the beginning of everything, just as Adam was the first human that God created.
How was Adam different from other humans?
Adam was the first, he was the beginning, he was the Progenitor, and consequently, the potential, and adaptability came from him, which meant that from the beginning, this seed called potential and adaptability was not a seed, but a great tree that was already grown in Adam.
The talent that God gave humanity had already blossomed in Adam, and he just passed it on.
The same logic applied here.
The Progenitor of Vampires, as the name says, is the beginning of everything for the entire race of Vampires.
Vlad is that, he was born a Noble Vampire, and grew up a Vampire.
... But Victor?
He wasn't a Noble Vampire.
He was just an ordinary human who had a little special blood... And like all humans, he was a descendant of Adam.
The potential and adaptability existed within him from the beginning... and when he turned into a Vampire...
The Progenitor's blood forced this seed of potential and adaptability to germinate and become a great sturdy tree like Adam at the beginning of time.
Rather than losing that power like Slave vampires, the Progenitor blood greedily absorbed it all.
'...This also explains why this man didn't die when he absorbed the power of the three Heiresses...'
If Vlad's deduction was correct, if the deduction of the man who lived more than 5000 years was correct...
Victor Alucard, the second Progenitor, was a man who had the same potential as the Father of Humanity, Adam, and a man who held the potential of the three houses of Vampire Counts, along side his own Vampire Progenitor potential, combined.
... He was a damn freak.
"..." Vlad's face completely darkened, the Dragon he'd welcomed into his realm turned out to be a much more dangerous Dragon than he'd previously thought.
'…I really wish he had turned into a Werewolf now…' Vlad remembered the report that said Victor was attacked by a Werewolf when he was a human.
He really wanted to drop this bomb on his rival, the Werewolf King.
And you know what the funniest part of this situation was...?
He couldn't stop the Dragon's evolution, he couldn't stop Victor.
The reason for this?
He was a very charismatic son of a bitch!
'Not only Ophis, but even my two daughters, my ex-wives, the four Countesses and their subordinates... They would all turn against me if I did something against that man.'
'That's one of the problems of having a society where women have important points in politics… Ugh.' Vlad knew he was being petty, after all, all 3 Countesses were completely crazy women, and they had screws loose in their heads.
They would hardly like anyone or get attached to anyone.
Despite being beautiful, they were crazy, and few were interested in Women like that. [Like Natashia.]
Not to mention they were strong, and very dominant. Again, few men would be interested in women like that. [Like Agnes.]
… Not to mention that many of them were very selective with their partner choices, and their tastes could never be satisfied. [Like Scathach.]
"..." Vlad felt himself repeating himself in his thoughts now.
But! He couldn't help but feel remorse, after all,
Doing something against Victor now was the same as making his entire kingdom, his creation, everything he'd built, turn against him.
It was because of this understanding that Vlad did nothing, and also didn't provoke Victor anymore, not out of fear of the man himself, but rather, out of fear of the consequences. He couldn't wait another thousand years to have the fighting strength his Kingdom had today.
He was a patient man, but even his patience had its limits.
That would just be a move a brainless idiot would make.
The thought of defeat? It never crossed his mind from the beginning.
... But there was one thing Vlad regretted.
Vlad really wanted to go back to the past and kick his previous self for allowing that man to become a Vampire Count.
Or at least he wanted to go back in time when he'd decided to lock the man on Earth for a year and six months.
Although not a big deal, after all, it wasn't like he killed someone important to him, but that was enough for their relationship to become a little hostile.
They're not completely eternal enemies who wanted to be each other's throats, but they were not friends either.
Their relationship became neutral, and a little hostile, that's all.
If Victor truly hated Vlad, he wouldn't leave his comfortable spot to save Ophis.
At least that's what Vlad thought. What he didn't understand was that even if the two were eternal enemies, Victor's actions wouldn't change.
From the moment that little girl called him father... The fate of the beings who were against her were already sealed, their names were already comfortably inside the 'list' of Book of Death itself.
"...." Alexios remained silent as he watched his King fall into deep thoughts. He was a little surprised as he had never seen his King ponder on a single subject for such a long time.
He usually had an answer for everything, a plan for everything, an idea for everything, but today… Oddly enough, he was utterly silent.
'Just what was it that I told you that left you so lost in your thoughts?' Alexios was really curious now.