Chapter 896: You Didn't Know?
Nightingale.
Visitor's room of Nightingale Castle.
Victor was sitting on the couch with Ophis in his lap, Nero on his right, and Metis on his left.
"So, you have a brother," Victor began the conversation.
"... Excuse me?" Vlad raised an eyebrow, diverting his attention from Ophis, who had a satisfied smile on her face as Victor stroked her head. He also conveniently ignored his daughter's changed appearance.
He had many questions about what had happened to Ophis, but it wasn't the time for that because Victor's next words grabbed Vlad's full attention.
"Radu Tepes, does that name mean anything to you?"
"... How do you know that name?"
"Niklaus Horseman claimed to be that man before my forces captured him. He said he would return for revenge."
"... I see..." Instead of answering Victor's question, Vlad fell into contemplation. "I understand... Now it all makes sense."
Victor snapped his fingers several times, drawing Vlad's attention. "Vlad? Answer my question."
Vlad's spine tingled as he heard Victor's demanding voice.
"Yes, I know him. He was the sickly brother of the original Vlad."
Victor raised an eyebrow upon hearing these words. He felt that Vlad was about to start telling a story, so he said, "Continue."
"As you experienced yourself when absorbing Adonis, when a Progenitor Vampire absorbs a soul and assigns it a high value, you're essentially consuming another existence and adding it to your own. Because of this, it's a dangerous method."
Victor nodded and thought, 'Basically, this ability is a flawed version of my current predation ability, which can consume a being and assume all of its characteristics without affecting me.'
"Therefore, saying that he is my brother is not incorrect, but at the same time, it's not entirely correct because I am not the original Vlad Tepes, the one who was once called the Impaler."
Before assuming the name Vlad Dracul Tepes, he had been called many names in his history, not just names; he had also taken various forms.
"Well, do you have an idea why he seeks revenge?"
"... Yes."
"So? What are you waiting for? Tell me."
"Ugh, this is something very personal, you know?"
"Look at my face and see if I care," Victor said disdainfully. "Spill what you know."
Vlad looked at Victor with a wordless gaze. He seemed to have many things to say but decided it was best not to and simply told the story.
"It all began when..."
"Summarize it in fewer than 20 words."
Vlad looked at him in silence.
"What? Do you think I have time to listen to your story? I have many things to do today. I just came here to find a possible motive for your supposed younger brother's revenge," Victor said with an emotionless look.
"... It happened when I 'consumed' the original Vlad. His brother may have witnessed that scene." Just as Victor had said, Vlad summarized what happened.
"I see... Well, I can understand now," Victor nodded. He could already imagine what happened next: the younger brother swore revenge and made Vlad pay, even becoming what he once swore to kill.
"Wait a sec... How did he become a noble vampire? Aren't we the only ones who can do that? And from what I saw, he's not a vampire slave," Victor commented.
"Well, I may or may not have turned him into a vampire at the original Vlad's request. After all, he was very weak when he was human."
Victor looked at Vlad with an incredulous expression. "And you didn't recognize this man when he first appeared in front of you?"
"He was very different, even his presence was different; I couldn't recognize him."
Victor couldn't help but think that everything he was hearing was nonsense. Vlad wasn't too foolish to overlook something like that. He was a very methodical man, so there had to be something he wasn't telling.
But reading Vlad's emotions, Victor felt he wasn't lying. No one could lie in front of him; as the god of negativity, he could sense the emotions of beings, and being blessed by Aphrodite's love made him an expert in reading emotions. Not to mention his sharp eye for body language.
Unless there were highly unknown methods he wasn't aware of, it was practically impossible to lie to him, and he wouldn't be able to tell.
"So, you didn't know that your supposed brother was experimenting with your Progenitor blood and even created something akin to two clones of you?"
Vlad's expression turned serious upon hearing what Victor said. "What are you talking about?"
"The Horseman brothers, Jessica Horseman's supposed older siblings, are experiments made with her blood."
"... What...?"
Victor narrowed his eyes when he heard Vlad's genuinely shocked reaction. "You really didn't know about this?"
Vlad's emotionless gaze gave nothing away, but his emotions were answer enough to Victor's question.
"Bruh, you're making me lose the credibility I thought you had. How can you not know this? Don't you feel your blood being used?" Victor asked incredulously.
"Of course not, Victor. No Progenitor of vampires has that ability." Vlad shook his head. He could do something similar if his blood was nearby but from several kilometers away? It was impossible.
Victor looked at Vlad confusedly. "But I can do that?"
"... Huh?"
"Even now, I can control the blood I gave to Ruby, and that blood is in another literal dimension. And that was an ability I had from the beginning."
"... I can't do that... You're the abnormal one."
"Really? I thought you could do it too. After all, blood control is a basic skill for Progenitors of vampires, right?"
"Yes, but proficiency in that control and the 'TALENT' involving this control varies from Progenitor to Progenitor."
Beings are different and have strengths and weaknesses; the same applies to Progenitors. Vlad's strong point was the ability of his blood, at least he thought so. Hearing what Victor could do with his blood, he honestly felt a little overwhelmed.
"What have I been doing for these 5000 years?" Vlad wondered a bit depressively. But he tried to console himself by thinking that Victor was abnormal, so he couldn't be compared.
While Vlad fell into a state of depressive self-reflection, Victor was pondering this ability he possessed.
"I clearly remember that this ability started getting stronger when my wife Mizuki gave me Junketsu..." Victor looked at his watch.
He extended his hand, and in the next moment, the watch turned into liquid, and an Odachi appeared in his hand.
Vlad's eyes widened, and he snapped out of his trance when he saw Victor summoning the Odachi.
Taking Junketsu by the hilt, he focused his intentions on the sword, and in the next moment, he 'heard' Junketsu.
The sword couldn't speak, but it could convey its intentions, so when Victor asked the question, Junketsu responded.
"I see..." It seemed that his theory was correct; by creating a blade with his blood, he somehow enhanced his blood control. It was as if his 'soul' had merged with his blood, allowing him to sense his blood anywhere in the world because the blood was connected to him through the soul.
"You seem to have understood something, Victor."
"Yes, I have."
Junketsu turned back into black liquid and became a watch again.
"I now understand your brother's objectives and what's happening. So, my business here is finished."
"Wait, wait. You can't come in here, tell me that my blood is being used for experiments, and just leave."
"Yes, I can... Besides, the fact that you didn't know your blood was being used for experiments is unbelievable. You're a Progenitor of vampires; your blood is worth more than gold out there. Didn't you ever think to be cautious about it?"
Victor's words left Vlad in silence because he really hadn't thought much about it.
Victor shook his head disappointedly. "It's because of this that even though I'm strong now, I try not to get too arrogant. Can you imagine how catastrophic it would be if I let my blood roam freely?"
"The blood of a Progenitor dragon bathed in negative energy?"
Vlad's spine chilled at the thought. The amount of trouble that would occur was enormous.
There was a reason why dragons were hunted so much, and that reason was that nothing went to waste in a dragon's dead body. Victor, being the Progenitor of blood dragons, a race of dragons that was a fused version of Progenitor vampire and dragon, was even more valuable.
"Pay attention to the smallest details, Vlad. Your blood is very valuable, and as you said, blood is the currency we Progenitors use. What guarantees that other beings can't do the same? I know several witches who can use someone's blood for various troublesome curses."
"Yes, most of those curses won't affect us due to our robust souls and superior bodies, but it's a perfect example of why we should be cautious."
"I will keep your advice in mind."
"Good. Now, I will-."
"Before that, what happened to my daughter?"
Victor was silent for a few seconds as he looked at Ophis and then replied to Vlad: "I gave her a divine artifact that is capable of making her access that 1% of the Youkai soul within her."
Vlad looked at Victor with an unbelievable look. It was the same look that someone said nonsense like, I gave a Nuke to a child to play with.
Vlad's reaction may seem exaggerated, but it is understood that divine artifacts, depending on what they do, can be considered as valuable as a weapon of mass destruction.
"...Is this safe?"
"Of course it is. You think I would give my daughter something dangerous?"
BOOOOOOOOM!
Vlad looked at Nero, who accidentally pulled the gun's trigger and created a hole in his ceiling.
"... Oops? Hehehehe." Nero scratched her head in embarrassment for having disrupted her father's meeting.
'This trigger is very sensitive!' she thought in a cold sweat. She had just inspected the gun and accidentally pressed the trigger, and it went off! Even she was scared now.
Vlad's gaze went to Nero's weapon, and then he looked at Victor with judgmental eyes. That beam of power could easily annihilate one of his elites! How is this not dangerous!?
Feeling Vlad's gaze, Victor responded. "We haven't talked about it."
Vlad wanted very much to say several expletives right now, but as a man of integrity and royalty, he swallowed those words and said, "Just go away. And if possible, give me some information about my blood experiment, please."
"Mmm." Victor nodded as he picked up an Orb and threw it towards Vlad.
Vlad took the Orb and looked at the sphere, then when he looked up towards Victor, the man was no longer there. He had disappeared as if he didn't even exist... Even the hole created by Nero had been repaired, and Vlad didn't even feel anything!
'Damn monster.' Vlad growled internally.
