Chapter 929: Seed of Influence [Monthly Bonus 3]
Backtracking a minute earlier, at the combat tournament grounds where Moighor, the Master of Draco Sirus, and Frago, the Memoria Dragon, were seated, discussing matters with the heads of major powers within Draco Sirus.
Frago had taken a brief pause from the discussion to deal with the situation involving Lithy and Arthur, sending a portion of his consciousness to remotely control the golem on the top floor of the pyramid dungeon.
When the vampire began causing a commotion, Frago immediately noticed, since he was still observing the area while Arthur hadn’t left yet.
The moment he saw the vampire’s face, he realised they were facing a situation that the nearby dragon guards couldn’t handle.
And it wasn’t due to the vampire’s strength.
Currently, Athion was one of the most secure Apex Planets in the universe, with billions of Deities walking its surface. There were millions upon millions of High-Tier Deities that could all one-shot the vampire, not to mention the Monarchs and those above.
The real issue was the vampire’s identity, which likely explained why he had the audacity to cause a commotion on Athion despite knowing the powerful figures present.
"Moighor. That guy’s a ’Sanguine Baronet’," Frago said calmly, and at that, Moighor’s expression darkened.
There were Vampires, and then there were Noble Vampire breeds, the ruling class of vampires, whose ranks mirrored standard nobility, ranging from the lowest rank, Knight, to the highest rank, Duke.
It was the same in any universe, but there was a class of Noble Vampires who had the ’Cosmic’ or ’Sanguine’ prefix attached to their titles, and only one person could bestow the ’Sanguine’ prefix on a vampire: the highest-ranked vampire in existence, the ’Sanguine Ruler’, the Origin of all vampires in the Cosmos.
Moighor and the other Main Entities knew there were Ancient Breed Vampires who were likely all Sanguine Nobles within Draco Sirus, but they didn’t know their purpose since the vampires were actively avoiding them following Barda’s deterrence via mere presence when they had arrived.
This Sanguine Noble here was likely related to those Ancient Breeds, and it would be a complete disaster if one of the dragon guards killed him while trying to subdue him.
Frago immediately ordered the dragons in the area not to use lethal force on the vampire, but just as he issued that command, the vampire suddenly turned his gaze toward the entrance of the pyramid’s estate, conjured a massive blood spear, and launched it there at near-relativistic speed.
The moment Frago saw exactly whom the vampire had targeted, even before the smoke and debris from the explosion cleared, he ordered all dragons rushing to control the scene to stand down.
Less than a minute later, Arthur’s fist collided with the vampire’s face, sending him flying through the air in a parabolic arc.
◇ ◇ ◇
The instant Arthur’s fist collided with the vampire, he amplified gravity, factoring in Athion’s naturally high gravity due to its Apex World status, delivering a Weighted Impact punch that distorted space and sent the vampire soaring upwards.
By the time the vampire regained his senses and tried to flip mid-air to land on his feet, Arthur appeared beside him, activating his Authorities of Time and Destruction before delivering an uppercut that sent him further into the sky.
He then teleported to the vampire’s projected flight path and followed up with a spinning kick that sent him into the clouds, then another spinning kick that knocked him back along the path he came, finishing the combo with a punch to the chest that sent him crashing to the ground.
The vampire’s chest caved under the force of Arthur’s punch, his sternum and ribs shattering into pieces that pierced his internal organs while Arthur’s fist made direct contact with his heart, stopping it from beating for a moment.
The sudden trauma sent shockwaves through his body, his lungs collapsing and spasming, his blood thrashing violently within him. His vision blurred as the sheer force rattled his entire frame, leaving him barely clinging to consciousness
Arthur didn’t allow the vampire to crash into the ground, which would have caused an explosive impact capable of obliterating every structure within several hundred miles. He teleported beneath the falling vampire and caught him by the neck while he was still in the air, his left hand gripping so tightly that the vampire couldn’t even choke out the blood pooling in his throat.
His surroundings were dead silent, and Arthur looked down at the ground, at the thousands of pairs of eyes staring up at him from the desert below, those of the participants hoping to enter the pyramid dungeon, the officials overseeing the dungeon treasure hunts, spectators, the guards who had been ordered to stand down, and countless others.
He then looked towards the horizon, the direction where Moighor and Frago were, but said nothing, instead turning his gaze to the pyramid dungeon and sliding his free hand into his pocket.
Clearly, everyone wanted to see what Arthur was about to do to the vampire he’d beaten senseless in just a few hits, and Arthur’s next words and actions left everyone watching confused.
|Stop watching from beyond the folds of space and collect your minion before I send him beyond the plane of the living.|
With those words, he flung the vampire’s body into the empty space above the pyramid dungeon, and just when everyone expected the half-conscious vampire to fly over it and crash to the ground, his body slammed into an invisible barrier and stopped in its tracks.
Cracks spread across the false space above the pyramid, and it shattered into pieces, revealing a giant, thousand-metre-class spacecraft hovering above the pyramid, casting a massive shadow on the ground below.
A ramp was opened along the side of the ship, and on it stood about five neatly dressed men and women who stared at Arthur with cold, blood-red eyes.
One of them reached out and grabbed the Elder Vampire Arthur had thrown toward the ship, looking down at his bloodied body with a disgusted expression.
Arthur recognised him immediately.
He was the Ancient-Breed Vampire whose clone had attacked Arthur on Galacarro during the Mobile Knight Exhibit he had attended some months ago. This time, it was no mere clone, but his real body.
Arthur paid him no mind, focusing instead on the person that all these Ancient Breeds were surrounding, the only one seated, and on a rather simple-looking yet lavish chair.
His face was one with a devilishly handsome charm, even though his skin was deathly pale. His eyes, redder than blood, contained slit pupils as dark as night, and his face was framed by wavy strands of inky black hair parted at the side.
He wore a three-piece suit with a brown shirt and black tie, beneath an overcoat whose tips floated slightly in the high-altitude wind.
The mere sight of him caused the eyes of every individual well-versed in cosmic matters to widen in shock, and the Main Entities of Draco Sirus were no exception.
Moighor and Frago’s expressions immediately turned grave, with the former quickly trying to contact Barda, or any of the Levites who had allowed him to directly contact them, as the situation was now completely out of their control.
Only a few seconds had passed since Arthur had thrown the unnamed Elder Vampire, and after glancing at the one whose clone had attacked him before, he turned his gaze to the seated man, who then spoke.
|You’re rather...bold.|
His voice was crisp and clear, low but resonant in a way that seemed to echo directly within every listener, uninterrupted, whether they were present on Athion or watching the events unfold from afar.
|You noticed I was present, and still attacked my servant,| he continued.
|Of course, I did,| Arthur replied, sliding his other hand into his pocket. |The fool attacked me simply because I looked at him, and I was benevolent enough to let his insolence slide...twice.|
One of the Ancient Breed Vampires moved to speak, but the man raised his hand and silenced them, his gaze still fixed on Arthur, who silently conjured a cosmic gate leading to Chazat.
|Who...no, what are you?|
Hearing the man’s question, Arthur froze, then turned his head toward him with a raised eyebrow.
|What am I? Really? Leaving aside the phrasing of your question, I have no re—|
Arthur paused mid-speech, his thoughts accelerating to the maximum as he began to consider something.
He had just been about to say he ’had no reason to answer’, but now an idea came to his mind.
’Might as well start a new universal influence experiment here...’
[Master?!]
Celestia’s incredulous voice echoed in his head, filled with disbelief at the thought Arthur had just conceived.
[Don’t you already have one ongoing in Valmone?] Lostvayne asked, her voice far calmer than Celestia’s.
’Yes, but Valmone is different from Draco Sirus.
Unlike Draco Sirus, no single race holds supreme power across the entire universe. Multiple races govern different regions of the Valmone universe, but in Draco Sirus, dragons are the hegemons. They dominate virtually every known region. I want to see how building universal influence in such a universe can work, where the variables are far different.
The first step of influencing people is making them aware of you. Simply put, becoming famous.
It’s not something I’d focus on just yet, since I’m still dealing with Valmone, but I can at least lay some groundwork.’
This conversation between Arthur and his Ego Weapons took only a second due to his accelerated thoughts, and the next moment, he fully turned toward the vampires.
|I didn’t plan to answer, but I changed my mind. You asked what I am, didn’t you?|
Arthur removed his hands from his pockets as he spoke.
|I’m just like you, Sir Vlad. The latest addition to this Era’s list of Progenitors is what I am.|
Placing one hand on his chest and the other behind his back, Arthur performed a light bow as he introduced himself.
|The name’s Arthur Vaughn. This might just be a blood clone of yours, but I suppose it’s still a pleasure to meet you, Sir Vlad Tepes.|
The reactions of everyone watching, whether on the ground, from afar on Athion, or streaming from other planets, varied. Some were shocked, some showed no surprise, some frowned, and some were amused.
These differing reactions, based on Arthur’s introduction and the name of the man he addressed, were planting the ’seed’ of the ’Influence’ he aimed to cultivate.
As for Vlad, whose name Arthur had just revealed, along with the fact that the Vlad present within Draco Sirus was a blood clone, he just raised an eyebrow in light surprise.
|Latest addition? So you’re the result of all that prophecy fanfare from a few decades ago?|
|Indeed,| Arthur replied with a calm smile, lifting his head.
He then glanced at the watch on his left wrist, clapped once, and continued speaking.
|Now, while it was nice encountering you, I have to take my leave as I have a scheduled appointment with a mutual Senior Progenitor of ours.|
With those words, Arthur turned and entered his cosmic gate, vanishing through it directly to Chazat, where he quickly dove into Barda’s Training pocket universe.
He planned to spend time there comprehending laws while waiting for Aleksas to return from the Origin Multiverse, and also observe the results of his little experiment, seeing how far his name would spread and whether it would garner him any ’influence’, as well as how that might affect the births of godslayers in the Draco Sirus universe, given that a Progenitor’s universal influence impacted the rate and quantity of their progeny’s births within a universe according to Aleksas.
The more ’Influence’ one possessed, the more their words, actions, and inactions affected the way people lived and made decisions.
However, Arthur made a grave miscalculation, as he hadn’t accounted for certain variables in his equation, which led him to greatly underestimate just how far his name would spread after this incident.
