Chapter 517: The place where the rules of the world are created.
Victor was in chaos right now, he didn't even pay attention to the meeting happening in front of him.
In a huge room, a round table made up of the leaders of each Faction was present, behind the leaders were the 'companions' of each guest.
'What was that...?' Remembering the moment when the black magic circle appeared in his hand.
'Was that magic...?' From the reaction of the countesses, and from what was described in the core books he studied, it was definitely magic.
But... Vampires don't have magic, Victor's own current power was born due to the bloodlines within him, and mostly.
Men cannot do magic.
He didn't even feel the magical 'core' that the book he studied mentioned, he felt nothing.
'Why now?' He was struggling to understand what was going on, and the answer was simple.
'Blessed by the chaos witch, and loved by the woman herself, Albedo Moriarthy.' He recalled the words of the man who sat in front of all these beings.
Man, it's too simple to describe him, this creature was an irregularity, Victor didn't know how to define him, because he can't 'see' the man.
He can only understand that he is there.
It was as if he was such a high existence that people couldn't understand what kind of being he was.
Victor didn't even try to measure his strength with that man, because all he would feel was... An immensity even greater than Shiva, it was like that man was a universe, and he was just an ordinary man.
It was ridiculous.
'...Blessings, huh...' Victor thought about what Aphrodite had said.
...
In the presidential suite at a 5-star hotel, Aphrodite was with a book in her hand, and explaining something to Victor who was sitting next to her.
"Blessings, Vic. They are simply ways for a god to give 'power' to the individual."
"Example, I am the goddess of beauty, love, and sexuality, these are my major deities."
"My other minor deities are, perpetuation of life, pleasure and joy."
"Higher deities are deities that I attain a certain mastery of in that concept, and I can easily exert my influence on those concepts."
"The lesser deities are deities that can be related to the greater deities, but they are also completely separate concepts, they are concepts that I never got to delve into very much."
"When a god blesses someone, essentially speaking, he is 'giving' something to that person."
"And when that person receives this something that the god has given... The person changes."
Aphrodite's eyes glowed neon pink as she looked at Victor.
And slowly Victor's violet eyes change to the same color as Aphrodite's.
"Look." She pointed to the mirror on the wall.
When Victor looked in the mirror, he saw the changes in his body, so simple to understand was it not just his eyes that changed, did he become more attractive? More divine?
"Blessings is just a simple way of understanding that the god is giving something to another being, and when that being receives its power, the individual can exercise that god's authority."
"When Adonis was blessed by me, he not only gained a better appearance, he also gained the possibility to wield my power."
"He could 'borrow' and use my power related to 'Beauty'."
"But... He can't develop that." A small sad smile appeared on her face, and it soon changed to a gentle smile:
"Not like you, at least."
"Blessings, it's like a greater entity gives me access to its powers, huh." Victor summed it all up, and he can't help but feel complicated, he doesn't know how to feel about it.
In a way, he hates to 'borrow' someone's power and use it, he wants his own power, but... He doesn't have the luxury of choice, he needs to get stronger.
"Indeed." Aphrodite nodded, aware of Victor's confused thoughts.
"Remember, Vic." She changed to a serious tone.
"Never trust a blessing completely, don't make that power the main source of your powers."
"After all, these blessings can be removed at any time by the god who gave you."
"Treat it as a god appreciation tool, and a secondary tool."
Aphrodite has seen thousands of times other beings fall apart because she focused on the powers she received, but once the god withdrew the blessing, they died easily.
"...." Aphrodite's serious tone was a warning to Victor.
A warning that Victor fully understood.
...
'In the end, I must rely only on my powers, huh... These blessings that the man spoke of, I'll try to understand what it is, I don't know what kind of existence Albedo is, but if she can bestow magic on other beings , she is not an ordinary person.'
'Qliphoth, the tree opposite of Sephiroth, if Sephiroth means goodness, the tree Qliphoth means evil, it is opposite all of Sephiroth... A world tree that represents negative feelings.'
'Nyx... The entity of the night, the mother of several gods of the night, as well as the entity of death of the Greek pantheon.'
'Gaia... Sister of Nyx, the entity representing 'Earth' in the Greek pantheon.'
'Ancestral spirits of animals.'
'And Albedo, the Chaos Witch.'
'There's also that unknown being, but I can get an idea of who it is...' Victor thought of Jeanne.
'I need to know what they gave me, and I need to know why these powerful beings are interested in me.' Victor was crazy with curiosity.
But he didn't expect much, because according to Aphrodite, powerful beings give blessing every time they like an individual, it could also be an act that Victor did, and got their attention, so they gave their blessing.
And Victor could instinctively know that other than Aphrodite who gave him all her 'beauty' blessing.
These beings only gave minor blessings because they 'liked' something he did.
It is worth mentioning that Victor's thought process is very fast, all his inner confusion was resolved in less than 5 minutes.
And it was still long, considering that it has a ridiculous processing speed.
"As new guests, Otsuki Haruna has the first say in this meeting."
'Magic, huh.' Victor had always been curious about this ridiculous phenomenon that seemed to be against the laws of the world, if Albedo gave him access to magic, he would at least like to know how far he can go with it.
Looking at Haruna, the woman who was sitting with her arms crossed, and eyes closed.
Eyes that slowly opened, and she spoke:
"500 Years."
"I want a rule that no faction will interfere with mine for 500 years." Initially, it was 100 years, but like every trader, she should increase the value, and expect it to go down in trades.
"..." The man in charge of the meeting nodded, and looked at Shiva.
"Representative of the gods?"
Shiva was silent for a few seconds:
'... This is complicated... Even if Amaterasu gave me complete freedom, I know that the Youkai are not on good terms with the Shinto gods, but... It's not fair that they are destroyed now by some intervention of the gods. , not to mention that most Youkai were used as tools by Shinto gods.'
'Destruction has already happened, now it needs space for rebirth and creation...'
Shiva looked at Haruna:
"The gods approve."
"...." Haruna was shocked internally, she expected some negotiation from the gods, but he just approved.
"representative of the wolves?"
"Approved." Volk had no interest in youkai to begin with.
"Representative of the witches?"
"... Approved." Evie's greed hit her face for a few seconds when she saw the Youkai, she knew the Youkai had a lot of rare things, things she could sell and gain resources, and influence.
But thanks to a certain someone who had a hateful smile on her face, she had no leeway now.
'Tsk.'
Haruna's tails danced hypnotically behind her, she understood that Evie didn't do anything due to the conversation she had with Victor.
In an indirect way, Victor ended up making things easier for her.
"Representative of the Angels?"
"Denied." Miguel spoke in a neutral tone.
Vlad, Victor and Haruna looked at Miguel.
Vlad as an older man at the meeting, he knew why Miguel refused.
'As expected of that man's puppets, he is still obsessed with eliminating all 'evil'.' From the angels' point of view, beings like Vampire, and Youkai didn't deserve a chance, they were 'evil'.
Demon-like beings.
Interestingly werewolves were not on his priority list, despite being night beings, werewolves had more affinity with nature.
'Luckily, the majority of votes are with Haruna, and her opinion doesn't mean anything.'
Shiva was the most important here, he literally represented all mythologies.
If he approves it means that all mythologies wouldn't interfere with Haruna, and that was much more significant than the angels who were always busy with god knows what.
"Vampire representatives?"
"Appr-." When Vlad would approve, Victor who was behind Vlad lightly touched the man's shoulder.
"...." Vlad looked at Victor with a raised eyebrow.
Victor approaches Vlad's ear, and says something in an extremely low tone.
Worry about someone listening to him? Nobody present had it, the man who is responsible for the organization, insisted that everyone had their privacy when talking about important matters.
Finishing talking, Victor goes back to standing behind Vlad with the countesses who were looking at Victor with raised eyebrows, and curiously, the three of them looked at Haruna.
Haruna's fox ears twitched a little, and her curiosity flickered.
'What is he talking about?' It was painfully obvious that Victor was talking about her.
Vlad took a while to speak, he was thinking about something:
"Otsuki Haruna."
"...." Haruna looked naturally at the man who was once her sister's husband.
And that look was all it took Vlad to know that the woman didn't have a very high opinion of him.
What is normal, what kind of sister will be happy to see the man who can't protect his sister?
Even if he didn't remember Otsuki Hana, his sister, the Clan of Black Foxes' blood ties are thicker than those of werewolves.
And because they are few in number, it further amplifies that feeling.
"Nightingale, I would like to sponsor these 500 years of peace, provided that in the end, you become Nightingale's eternal allies."
"...." Haruna looked at Victor for a few seconds, and saw him with a neutral gaze.
She knew that look, that wasn't what he said to Vlad.
It was the same look she gave when she told Kuroka to say something, but the woman forgot and said something completely different.
"I refuse."
Victor's smile grew a little, and that was enough for her to understand everything.
"May I ask why?" Vlad asked in a neutral tone.
"Few beings can be trusted in this world, and vampires, specifically, you, Vlad Dracul Tepes, are not on this list." She was brutally honest, a trait that won't change even if she were here.
It's worth mentioning that Haruna's words made a small smile appear on Miguel, Volk, and Evie's faces.
"I see-..." As Vlad was about to say something, he felt another tap on his shoulder.
And he wasn't surprised when he turned and saw Victor.
"Ask for permission to speak."
"..."
"Are you going to deprive Ophis of seeing her aunt?" He narrowed his eyes.
"... Is that your only intention?"
"It is clear." Victor spoke in disdain, all the while, he just thought about Ophis, and how it would be easier to visit Haruna in the future.
It is noteworthy that Vlad did not trust Victor's words.
He knew that beneath the man's seemingly pure intentions, he hid four or five hidden motives.
'Sigh... I hope I don't regret this.' Vlad looked at the meeting organizer and spoke.
"I ask permission for my escort, Count Victor Alucard to speak."
"Approved."
And as if by magic, Victor's voice was heard by everyone now.
Feeling the shackles that were blocking him from speaking out, Victor said:
"Haruna, Clan Alucard wishes to fully sponsor your faction."
"..." A small smile appeared on Haruna's face, there was a big difference in the two proposals, and everyone understood that.
"Aren't you going to ask for anything in return?" Shiva questioned.
"If I want something from someone, I won't earn it because of a soul contract, it's not something that should be used on a potential ally." Victor spoke in obvious disdain:
"Using this at the beginning of a possible ally relationship just proves that you've been expecting a possible betrayal from that ally from the start."
.....
