Chapter 382: Two Progenitors. Dracul and Alucard. 2
"Tsukuyomi-sama, Tsukuyomi-sama, TSUKUYOMI-SAMA!"
"I already heard the first time..."
"The King of Vampires is here!"
"I know..." Tsukuyomi's expression was not good at all. He was one of the gods that Vlad 'looked' at, and he felt his entire existence tremble at that look.
He could feel something he had long forgotten... Death...
The instinctive fear of permanent death. He knew that if a god attacked Vlad at that moment, literal hell would befall the Shinto gods.
The King of Vampires is strong, but what makes him so menacing is his ability to permanently kill an immortal. He had heard many cases where gods disappeared forever when they came into conflict with Vlad.
'Only Lady Amaterasu and the primordial gods can deal with this man.'
"What are we supposed to do!?"
"Lady-Amaterasu ordered that we don't do anything and that we should just prepare for a possible attack from that monster."
"..." The messenger was silent, and, just like his master, his expression was not good at all.
...
Today was a normal day for a teenager named Hakuma Noku, who was walking around Akihabara at night when suddenly, he saw a beautiful little girl wearing a gothic dress.
Her beauty, her cute expression, it was as if this little girl had come straight out of a Shoujo Manga.
And this little girl was accompanied by another beauty who seemed to be older than her, she had white hair that reached one shoulder, and she wore more normal clothes.
They looked like they were looking at a cute clothing store.
Cough.
Noku didn't want to brag, but he was considered an 'Ikemen'. [A/N: Handsome man]
He thought so too, after all, he was the captain of the school's football team, his grades were perfect, and, when he walked down the street, women looked at him and pointed at him.
He was a real handsome man.
And because of that, he was confident enough to veer out of his way and head towards those girls.
... He totally ignored that the little girl was just... A little girl... He was too blinded by her beauty.
"Hey, girls-." He didn't even have time to finish what he was going to say when he heard the white-haired girl saying.
"Fuck off."
"...." He opened his mouth in shock, and his 'gentle' expression almost broke.
When he would insist even more, he felt someone tapping his shoulder.
"...?" He turned his face and saw a wall, and that wall had very strong muscles...
'It's not a wall!' He pulls back a little and looks up, and he's seen the most handsome man in all of his 16 years of existence.
"...What do you think you're doing with my daughter, hmm?"
"... I-..."
"Indeed... That's something I'd like to know too."
"...!?" Noku turns to the voice and sees a blond, blue-eyed man who looks like he's out of a medieval tale.
When he saw the two tall men looking at him with a predatory gaze, he felt like a fawn deer standing in front of two full-grown lions.
And like a deer, he couldn't help but cringe when he saw these two lions.
...
"...Hmm, I don't really know what to say about this sight." Eve commented while looking at Victor and Vlad, who were 'peacefully interrogating' a teenager.
"They are very overprotective..." Kaguya commented as she looked at Nero and Ophis, who completely ignored the two men.
"How many times has this happened?" Eve asked.
"Fifteen times, counting this boy sixteen."
"... This is too much."
"Indeed..."
"Ophis is just a child... I wonder what will happen in the future." Eve commented.
"Well, both of them are going to have quite a headache."
"Mainly related to the gods." Kaguya commented on this because she knew how the gods acted when they wanted something, and beauty was something they always wanted.
"... Leaving that aside... He's the king of all vampires, right...?"
"Yes."
"…So he is equal to my master?"
"Yes."
"..." A silence fell around Eve.
"...These humans are really unlucky."
"You can say that..." Kaguya flashed a small smile. These humans chose to go out and hit on the most beloved daughter of two progenitors; if that isn't called bad luck…
Kaguya couldn't tell what was.
...
A few minutes later, Victor and Vlad were sitting on a bench in a square a bit far from the city.
Victor used his charm powers and drove away all the humans around, so the only people who were around were Eve, Kaguya, Nero, and Ophis.
Nero and Ophis were playing together, Kaguya and Eve were a little apart, and they were talking about topics unrelated to the current situation.
'...She ended up getting along a little well with Kaguya...' Victor thought as he looked at Ophis.
"I'm curious."
"Hmm?" Victor made a sound to indicate he was listening.
"Why did you go out of your way to help Ophis?"
"..." His eyes left Eve and went toward Ophis.
"A father doesn't need reasons to protect his children." He repeated what he had said to Alexios.
"..." Vlad stared at Victor's face for a few milliseconds and saw that he didn't have any kind of deception or ulterior motives. He really meant what he said.
"You really delved into the role of father, huh."
"What can I say? From the moment she called me dad, I was ready to burn the world for her."
"..." Vlad was silent again, and he looked at Ophis.
'It's the same feeling, huh... But his is purer than mine.' Vlad felt a little jealous of Victor now because he couldn't think in that pure way.
Ophis is his beloved daughter, the daughter of the woman he loved most, but... his feelings of worry are mixed with feelings of conquest and possession.
After all, she is part of your 'treasure'.
Because of that, he felt a little jealous of Victor, who could only feel a unique and genuine feeling of concern for his daughter.
'...Is this your unborn human trait?' Vlad thought it was very possible.
After all, his upbringing as a noble vampire was very different from Victor, who was born to loving, human parents.
With just that dialogue, he also realized something.
'As long as Ophis exists, he will never become my enemy completely.'
"..." Once again, he felt that bad feeling in his heart.
A feeling I've never felt before.
He felt slightly disgusted with himself for thinking pros and cons now... But he couldn't help it... He was a king before he was a father.
And that mentality has been part of him for a long time.
"Is that your daughter?" He looked at the child who was next to his daughter and playing with her. Even though the two were just talking, he had never seen his daughter express so many emotions to other people.
'She seems very close to that girl...'
"Yeah, her name is Nero, but you probably already know."
"Indeed."
"How does it feel to have the beauty of a man who was considered the most handsome man in the world, even by the standards of the gods?"
"..." Victor displayed a small smile, he easily sensed the trap contained in Vlad's words, but he knew that those words were also a trap in their own right.
After all, the older vampire could already deduce what happened to him with a single glance.
Vlad is no fool, and Victor knows that very well.
"To be honest, not much has changed...-" Victor stopped when he remembered the reaction of Scathach, Kaguya, and even women who were immune to his charm before.
"Actually, it's quite a gift." He laughed at the end.
"..." Vlad leans against the bench, and while watching his daughter playing, he said:
"I wonder why you don't wear a mask."
"Why would I wear that shit?" Victor raised an eyebrow.
"Beauty can be a nuisance sometimes."
"Nah, that's bullshit."
"...People started looking for trouble with you just because you're prettier than them."
"Wow, who is the idiot?"
"Gods."
"Well, they have a very inflated ego."
"Not to mention women will try to rape you."
"Who is the whore?"
"Gods."
"Bruh."
"List some of these bitches for me to blacklist."
"Hmm... Aphrodite, Freya, Persephone, Frigga, Hera, Sif, and a few hundred thousand more, I'd be talking names here for you all day."
"... Why are most of them from the Norse and Greek pantheon?"
"They are the most degenerate."
"...." Victor didn't know what to say about that.
"Wait, aren't Hera and Frigga goddesses of marriage?"
"Yes...?"
"Aren't they bound by their divinity or something?"
"...Of course not, they are not restricted to your divinity. Their divinity is something akin to a dogma, but that does not restrict them."
"For example, if Hera wants to, she can betray Zeus, but she doesn't because it would go against what she believes in."
"Hmm… Meh, who cares about the Greek gods?"
"...Oh? You seem to have some conflict with them."
"You know about Adonis, right."
"...I see. It looks like you've inherited your grudges."
"Not just him. A certain Maid of mine wants Athena and Poseidon's head on a stake..." Victor's eyes gleamed slightly blood red, and his smile grew a little, "And I will grant that wish."
'...Hahaha~, a vampire who's not even 500 years old is thinking about fighting the gods... I think only he has that kind of privilege.' Even though in Vlad's mind, he thought that would be impossible.
He felt that if it's Victor, maybe he could do what he said, considering that this man always surprises everyone.
"In that case, when the war comes, call me too."
"Oh...?" Victor looked at Vlad.
"What happened?"
"I have a certain... problem with cupid."
"Eros..."
"Yes."
Thinking of Eros, Victor can more or less guess the problem Vlad had with Cupid, but until he had concrete information, it was all speculation on his part.
"Isn't Eros the son of Aphrodite and Ares?"
"Yes, even though that goddess had so many children with many different men, I wouldn't be surprised if half of the demigods and lesser gods were hers."
'If I'm not mistaken, she had a child with her son Cupid? Although I've heard in the past that she hid this child…' Vlad thought to himself.
"Well, are you ready to fight the god of war?" Victor asked with a small smile.
"You got something wrong."
"Oh?"
"It is the god of war that must prepare to fight me."
Victor opened his eyes wide, and then he laughed:
"...Hahahaha~."
"Indeed, indeed. He who must prepare!" Victor nodded several times.
"Although it won't be just him, Aphrodite probably won't sit back and watch one of her children die... even though she has many."
"Meh, even though she's a titan, she's still weak."
"Oh...? You seem to have ways around your troubled existence." Victor spoke in disdain as he remembered Aphrodite's irritating power.
"…It seems you already contacted her."
"Tell me about it. Her entire existence makes my body shake with disgust."
"That's because your blood knows that if she wants to, you become submissive to her, and your body willingly rejects her existence."
"I know." Victor said that, but he himself didn't like to feel powerless in front of that woman. She has the power to turn any existing being into her slave.
"...Hmm, I'll give you a hint."
"Oh? Are you feeling generous now?"
"Nah, I should just reward you for protecting my daughter, even though that should be my job."
"..." Victor was silent since he didn't have much to comment on this matter. After all, what he did for Ophis, he would do it again no matter how many times it took.
"The key to dealing with Aphrodite is her soul."
"...Soul?"
"Indeed...Remember that she is also a titan." Vlad flashed a small smile, "And that's not just a title since she was, in fact, born from the severed sack of Uranus."
"Soul... Titan... Soul, huh?" Victor opened his eyes a little as he seemed to have understood something.
'... Well, that was fast.' Vlad rolled his eyes a little. He expected Victor to suffer more time thinking about that: 'But maybe this was expected? He has the power of lightning, and when he absorbed Adonis, he must have gained some improvement in his brain. After all, the same thing happened to me in the past... His ability to process thoughts must be very high now.'
"Well...thanks for that."
"You welcome."
"...I will not apologize for killing your grandchildren."
"Meh, they were a waste of air. If you didn't do it, I would."
"Also, I was blamed for getting you stuck on Earth."
"...." Victor opened his eyes a little.
'Did he just admit it?' He had the memories of Adonis and, therefore, knew this man was arrogant as hell, he would never admit he did anything wrong, and if he did admit it, it's because he'd actually come to think about it.
'Has Ophis' problem affected him in any way?" Victor couldn't put the pieces together that made the vampire king speak those words.
"Although I won't apologize for it." Vlad flashed a small smile.
"..." Victor's eyes fluttered slightly, but he managed to keep his pokerface.
"After all, you killed my grandchildren. Let's say we're even."
"Sureee..." Victor rolled his eyes.
"Hey, it's not like I killed anyone in your family."
"Hmm, you're right about that." Victor touched his chin.
"I have a question."
"Hmm?"
"Do you think you will continue to rule forever?"
"..." Vlad's eyes narrowed.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Don't look at me like that. My interest in becoming a king is equal to my interest in Aphrodite."
"That is… Zero."
"..." Vlad flashed a small smile. For some reason, he could see a pink-haired woman taking an invisible arrow through her pride now.
After all, he knew how much she liked handsome men, and having a handsome man say that about the most beautiful goddess… It definitely hit her pride.
"The reason for my question is simple." Victor looked at Vlad.
"You've been in power only God knows how many years."
"And if there's one thing I've learned from history, it's that...
"...No King Rules Forever."
