Chapter 593: The monster that exists inside you.
"Girls." With just one word from Victor, all the girls looked at him.
"I'm sorry to interrupt this good time. Believe me, I don't want to either… But we have work to do."
The Maids nodded with serious faces.
"I will create an ice structure in the air. That way I will be able to seal the miasma that will leak out of me; I will also completely seal it with my firepower to prevent possible chances of the miasma leaking out."
The Maids nodded; they understood that fire had purification properties, so his plan made sense.
"All of you except Roxanne must secure the area."
"Remember, No one is to enter, don't let anyone near, even Scathach and Ruby."
"Now, go to work!"
"Yes, Master!" The Maids disappeared and were scattered; the only one left was Roxanne.
Victor got up off the ground and cracked his neck, "Now, let's have some fun." Victor's smile grew a little as a cold air began to leave his body.
Slowly, this air started to get much thicker, Victor's skin started to get paler, his ears began to get sharper, his power started to grow, and he was entering his form as the vampire count of Clan Scarlett.
Finishing with the changes, he spoke in a cold voice that sent chills to all who heard it:
"Absolute Zero."
The effect was instantaneous; a gust of cold air as if it had come straight from the coldest corners of the world spread across the area, and an ice structure began to be created.
It was a simple structure, nothing too fancy, a structure aimed at efficiency, with four pillars that were the support, making a square-shaped house much like the training area that Victor has in his home on Earth.
Roxanne approached the wall and punched it with all her strength, but no damage was done to the wall. She nodded in satisfaction and looked at her master, who had started to return to normal.
Victor snapped his fingers, and the entire structure outside was covered with fire.
Such a use of power would, of course, draw the attention of the Youkai and Victor's own family.
A youkai that looked like a ghost appeared, but before he could approach, Maria and Roberta appeared in front of him:
"Vampires, what is happening!?"
"Calm down, Youkai. It is only our master who is meditating." Maria spoke with an emotionless tone, very different from the way she acted with Victor.
"Huh!? Does he need to cause so much fuss to train!?"
Roberta and Maria felt like agreeing with the Youkai if only they didn't know the consequences of their Master 'training', but even if they wanted to do that... That was just a small part of them; they would only prioritize their master.
"You must understand what kind of beings Count-class vampires are, Youkai," Roberta explained in the same emotionless tone as Maria.
"..." The ghost youkai closed his mouth.
"That kind of precaution is normal." Roberta finished.
On the other side of the forest, Siena, Lacus, and Pepper appeared.
"What is that fool doing?" Siena asked with narrowed eyes.
"He said he was going to meditate, remember?" Pepper replied.
"What kind of meditation needs to make so much noise? It sounds like a damn bonfire!" Lacus spoke as she looked at the ice structure that was on fire.
... Don't question the logic here. Victor's ice is just built differently...
"Scarlett Sisters," A voice was heard from behind the sisters that sent shivers down everyone's spine.
"Ahhh! Damn it, Kaguya! Do not scare me!"
"... Eh? Kaguya, have you grown up? And what is this outfit? Your hair grew too!? You also got prettier!?" Lacus looked at Kaguya with a strange look.
"Sugoi Dekai," Pepper spoke while looking at a certain area of Kaguya's body, but after looking at her own breasts, the adopted younger sister nodded in satisfaction while crossing her arms under her chest as if emphasizing the fact:
"Mine are even bigger; the Scarlett genes are superior!"
"..." Siena and Lacus just glared at their sister.
If looks could kill, Lacus had already killed her sister several times. After all, she wasn't as 'developed' as her younger sister.
Siena, despite being big, still wasn't at the level of Ruby, Scathach, and Pepper, which sometimes irritated the woman.
With the same emotionless look, Kaguya spoke, "My Master ordered me not to let anyone interfere; he is meditating."
"... Why does he need this structure to meditate?" Lacus asked.
As they were Victor's family and people she also liked, Kaguya gave more details:
"He consumed a lot of demons, so he needs to filter the Miasma from his body." Of course, she didn't speak the whole truth, she is still loyal to her master, and only her master has the right to speak about it.
But... The three sisters were sharp, and with just a few words, they understood what Victor was doing. The three sisters looked at each other and nodded.
"We have to tell our mother and sister about this," Siena spoke.
"I am faster. I will." Lacus disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Neh, Neh, Kaguya, how have you changed so much?" Pepper asked as she invaded Kaguya's personal space and eyed the woman like she was a tourist attraction.
"I became part of my Master's Clan." She explained in the same emotionless tone.
"… Oh, he did the ritual, huh." Siena touched her chin as she looked at Kaguya with curiosity all over her face.
'She has become much prettier, are the influences of Victor's blessings the cause of this? ... I also feel that she has changed. Before, I didn't feel this feeling of authority emanating from her body; even though she is standing there with her stoic face, she exudes a presence that no one can ignore.'
"So... You abandoned the Snow Clan?" Siena asked with narrowed eyes. She could understand if Kaguya would abandon her Clan, considering that being part of a progenitor's family was something no noble vampire would deny.
"Wrong. Exercising my role as the second master of my Clan, I married Victor Alucard."
"…Eh?" Pepper and Siena were static as if they had received a very strong shock.
"Through a marriage alliance, Clan Blank is now allied with Clan Alucard."
"Through this alliance, my name has changed to Kaguya Alucard Blank," Kaguya explained everything in an emotionless tone.
"... That man... He went and did it again... Does he realize what that gesture means in the world of politics?" Siena placed her fingers on her brow as if she had a severe headache.
"He has the mind of Adonis, he knows that, but he probably doesn't care..." Pepper spoke in a monotone, containing jealousy and envy rising in her heart.
Pepper shook her head several times to get that thought out of her head. 'Bad Pepper! Do not think that about your friends!'
"Haah, this is no small matter. Victor is no longer unknown, everyone knows he is the second progenitor, and despite not having brought it up before because of the Diablo threat, he has a very large influence on all vampires of the world just for that Status."
"When Kaguya became a progenitor's wife, the Blank Clan could no longer maintain its servitude status with the Snow Clan."
"It doesn't matter if the Blank Clan is something like the Snow Clan's cousins. It doesn't matter if the Blank Clan has a contract of servitude with the Snow Clan… The subordinate status can no longer hold." Siena finished explaining.
"This is going to be a political storm," Siena grumbled at the end.
"Does not matter," Kaguya replied.
"... What do you mean?"
"Exactly what I said, Master is Lady Agnes's husband, and Lady Violet, the Snow Clan, is allied with the Alucard Clan too. In the end, nothing has changed; my Clan is just no longer a subordinate Clan but a legitimate Clan."
"But in the end, everyone will be my Master's ally. After all, the main influential figures of these two Clans are sleeping in the same bed with him."
"…Oh." Siena expressed herself with a little blush on her face.
"If one thing is correct, it's that the bonds between the families have only gotten stronger," Pepper spoke with a slightly red face.
Kaguya displayed a small smile:
"Indeed."
Suddenly, a feeling of unease was felt.
The three women quickly looked at the ice structure:
"It started," Kaguya spoke.
"... That's... How is he alive with so much miasma in his body?" Just feeling it from a distance made Pepper's body shake in disgust.
"Only the progenitors know about the biology of the progenitors. Vlad didn't let historians get information from him." Siena grumbled, she tried researching the progenitors, but all she got were vague records and nothing very concrete or profound.
...
Inside the ice structure.
Victor was floating in a meditation position, as black miasma was constantly leaking from his body. He had his eyes closed and a serene expression on his face.
Everything seemed normal, but that wasn't true, as Victor's inner world was going through turmoil.
Victor's inner world.
The sky was in shades of blood red with corpses of demons, humans, vampires, and various beings falling like a morbid rain.
Below was a sea of blood with bodies floating in it and a giant tree on the horizon.
"Roxanne, you've grown so much..."
"Umu! And I will get even bigger! Look how many nutrients!" Roxanne spoke in an excited tone, like a child who had been given her favorite present.
"I will help you, husband! Please just watch!" Roxanne spoke as she disappeared in leaves of blood, and those leaves were heading toward the giant tree on the horizon.
"You finally came."
Victor turned his face and saw his own face... But it seemed that this being's color palette was completely white, and only violet eyes were visible as if this being was his opposite.
Victor opened his eyes a little in shock.
"Hahahaha, that face of yours is priceless!" He laughed in a very characteristic way, a way that Victor knew all too well.
"... You... You changed a lot."
"I am you; remember what I said?"
Victor nodded.
"I am the projection of your progenitor powers, I am you, I am part of your soul, a part that you are slowly coming to terms with the more you get stronger."
"What happened to your lack of a hand?" Victor asked.
"Look at this world; it is completely overloaded with souls. If not for Roxanne, and our progenitor nature, a normal being would have exploded or gone mad by now."
"The act of keeping multiple souls within oneself goes against all natural rules. Only hellish or celestial dimensions can do this service, and having so many souls within a 'living' body is against the rules."
"Because of this, there is only one vampire progenitor in each age. As we deal with souls, we are beings who break the rules in many ways."
"But it's not like it matters, right?" The man smiled.
"Indeed… And you didn't answer my question." Victor asked in a neutral tone.
"Meh, you're not funny..."
Victor narrowed his eyes.
"Haah, fine, fine... If I were to put our problem in one sentence. We are burdened."
"...."
"Simply put, we are now a computer that is always using 100% capacity without resting."
"And that energy is what changed me, your progenitor side got stronger, and because of that, my hand was regenerated, and I gained this form."
"… And let me guess… I needed to strengthen my body even more to withstand that power."
"Umu, you understand, as expected of me!"
"Haaah…" Victor sighed.
"Oh, call me Alter Victor; it's easier."
"Ugh... Back to square one then?"
"I wouldn't think of it that way; look at that." Alter Victor pointed to the giant tree on the horizon.
"The World Tree is refining our soul and our body, it is using these thousands of souls as fuel to grow, and in growing, our existence is being elevated... This symbiosis is generating something out of the ordinary."
"We are gaining divinity."
"...." Victor opened his eyes wide.
Alter Victor raised his palm, and a small golden spark appeared in his hand:
"The spark is small, almost non-existent, but it is definitely here… It is growing with the support of World Tree."
"…this…this is—."
"Impossible?" Alter Victor ended.
"Hahahaha~, from the beginning, we were doing the impossible. This is nothing."
"..." Victor had no way of refuting that.
"I know about deities; I know how to gain that divinity, and this is definitely not an ordinary method," Victor explained.
"Yeah, we don't have to become one at the peak of strength, learn a concept, and ascend to godhood like some humans in the past."
"We don't need to ask the help of a god-king of a certain pantheon to become a god."
"But… That's our charm, right?"
Victor displayed a small smile, "Indeed, I follow my own path. I create my own road."
Alter Victor's smile grew wider, "That's what I'm talking about! That's the posture of a 'KING'!"
"HAHAHAHAHAHA~!"
.....
