"Merciless, let me introduce you to my younger twin sister. She might be impetuous at times, but overall, she is a pretty kind person once you get to know her."
Max stated as he drew Abadis closer to him; in order for her to meet Merciless, Abadis then looked up at him, something she seldom does considering how tall she is.
On the other hand, she waves at him while saying.
"Hello, Merciless... as you should know, I am from clan Loviatar. Max and I, of course, have the same mother and father. And my full name is Abadis Izella Neopromethean, but you can just call me Zella; oh yeah, and it’s a pleasure to meet you, by the way."
Abadis said to Merciless, who at this time had his hands folded, but on the other hand, he nodded his head and responded to her as such.
"It’s also a pleasure, Zella; now, both of you, please allow me to introduce you to my servants. First up on the table is, of course, my butler, Hector Goodmen."
Merciless spoke as he stared at Hector, who bowed slightly towards the two of them and said.
"Greetings, it is as my alpha said, I am Hector Goodmen, his closest aid, and also bodyguard; it is an honor to meet you the two of you."
Max, of course, nodded as he spoke to Hector.
"Ah, Hector, I have heard many legends about you, especially the stories about your rise to power after succeeding your father after his ascension to an overlord; you are one of the Michellian clan’s most powerful and loyal vassals."
When Hector heard this, he nodded and responded in a professional and humble manner.
"Your compliments are wasted on me, young lord, but they are gladly received nevertheless."
"Heheh... as humble as they perceived you to be indeed."
After that, Merciless went on to Anastasia, gesturing for her to come fort. Of course, she obeyed her master’s commands, and Anastasia appeared before Merciless and Albedo. She felt slightly out of place in the presence of two royal vampires, which would be a nightmare for most supernatural monsters.
Max glanced down at the small beauty, tilting his head forward as if examining something.
"Wow, what an unusual and cool-looking body you have. Aside from your four arms, the amount of cosmic energy that comes from your ichor and flows through your veins to transfer it to every area of your body is phenomenal. How the heck are you still alive? The vampire race dreads the sun the most, and you are like a living star in your own right, but you appear to emit no cosmic radiation at all. "How fascinating."
"As a matter of fact, if the professor saw you, he would kill to study such a fine specimen as yourself."
Merciless was confused by Max’s comments, and Max seemed to have noticed as well. As a result, he proceeded to detail Anastasia’s physical state as he spoke.
"Agh, you probably haven’t recognized it yet, but this girl is similar to me in some ways; you see, I’m quite adept at sensing and controlling various sorts of energy. It’s sort of my thing; nonetheless, this woman appears to collect all types of energy from her surroundings, passively converting all of that energy into pure and raw cosmic energy. As you should be aware, cosmic energy produces cosmic radiation that is harmful to humans, more so vampires, who usually lack resilience to these kinds of things."
"After all, cosmic radiation is produced by the stars, specifically our sun. And vampires and the sun do not go together; nevertheless, this girl has more energy than even our own sun. And all that energy is compressed and crystalized to an unthinkable degree; I’m surprised she hasn’t collapsed into a singularity as yet. Normal physics cannot begin to express how unusual and intriguing she is."
This chapt𝒆r is updated by frёewebηovel.cѳm.
"That is why I described her as interesting; the entire structure of her Ichor is pure, raw, and clean cosmic energy; in layman’s terms, this woman is a living Aether vein. Do you have any idea of how precious that type of energy is? Even at our Zeno laboratory, it takes a lot of effort to synthesize aether, which is then utilized to make aether fuel."
"Which is a type of fuel that enables spatial, temporal, and dimensional travel via scientific methods. All of this is feasible with only 35% purity; in short, if she masters her ichor’s unique power, she will be able to achieve considerably more than we can. However, Aether is very vital to the vampire race! It permits noble vampires to explore our wide cosmos and claim planets as their territories."
"On the other hand, this woman generates more aether energy, no! True Aether energy that is a million times greater than what we or anybody else can generate in thousands of years. For what takes her less than a second to instantly make, I would estimate that it takes her around one millisecond to absorb, convert, and filter the energy around her."
Max explained to Merciless; nevertheless, he did not remain shocked for long, but Anastasia sprang up in excitement and questioned Max as she spoke.
"Wait, wait, bring that back to me again, please; I’ve never heard of such a thing before; could you maybe explain it to me in a broader sense if you could? You see this energy inside of me; for a while now, I’ve felt it pounding, asking to be released, but I also feel that releasing it will break and tear everything around me apart to nothingness, including myself. My assumption is that I need more information to operate it correctly, rather than depending just on intuition alone."
Anastasia pleaded with Max to teach her how to use the endless quantity of Aether that her Ichor naturally produced on a regular basis. On the other hand, this was indeed good. Max recognized this as an opportunity to get on Merciless’ good side, and he also has a soft spot for individuals who want to learn, so he nodded and spoke to Anastasia almost like a big brother of sorts.
As a result, he began to give Anastasia guidance on how to handle the Aether; of course, Anastasia began to pay close attention, taking mental notes as Max proceeded with his brief explanation.
"As things are right now, little Ana, I cannot teach you how to use your aether correctly since we don’t have time for that. However, I will offer you a suggestion and a brief demonstration of how I regulate the energy in my body."
"It doesn’t matter; even the slightest amount of knowledge will be useful if you could give me a moment of your time, of course. I will work out the rest on my own; all I need is a fundamental comprehension of what I’m dealing with here. And I don’t intend to boast, but I believe that if I had even a quarter of this power, I could probably kill everyone in this room in one shot. At the very least, make it so that everyone here has to flee and devise another plan before dealing with me."
When Albedo heard this, he wanted to chuckle, but he remembered that he was talking to a woman who had dominion over Aether; thus, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that if she mastered this ability, she could probably murder everyone here without them even realizing how they died; aether was simply that broken and beneficial to have.
To have influence over Aether meant to alter the very structure of the cosmic order of existence itself, as Aether was the all-in-one, all-encompassing energy that transcended all other energy that exists or will exist. Even divinity could not compare to Aether, since divinity is only one of many fundamental aspects of Aether to begin with.
"Hehehe... you remind me of my elder cousin, who is always keen to learn new things whenever possible. A very good attitude to have, young Ana. Now pay close attention. Essentially, aether is the source of all energy; it is found everywhere—literally, in the stars, in the wind, when you are running, when you are hit, in power lines, and even in the water. And like me, you have the potential to control all of this in time; you see, my Ichor, "Celluar Unity," can do just that and more. With this power, I can take energy from all around me and store it inside my cells to use whenever I want, in whatever way I want, and each of the 39.7 trillion cells I currently have in my body can absorb 500,000,000,000 terajoules worth of energy in total."
"I can even combine these energies to generate chain reactions, influence reality to some extent, bend space, and increase my physical power via self-augmentation, as well as buff weaponry. On the other hand, combining diverse sources of energy can result in the birth of new, unknown energy with unique qualities and consequences. Others can be weaponized, others can cause widespread destruction, some are even toxic, and some can be employed to perform tasks that only transcendent creatures and beings could typically perform under normal conditions."
"This is essentially reality-bending at this point, right? Well, it is, and that is because energy is a fundamental property of totality, young Ana, and those who can manipulate it are those who can play with the very fabric of the cosmos like a toy. Although I do not have aether like you, our powers are comparable since we absorb energy from our surroundings. I store various energies to use at a later date, while you absorb, covert, and store. But here is where our abilities are similar: we both have some sort of item or core that aids in the pace of absorption."
"In my case, I utilize my regulating horns, which are implanted in my skull and brain; previously, I had to focus on one cell and one specific energy at a time to absorb and use, since I couldn’t absorb many sorts at once. However, because of Professor Zeno’s bright intellect, he combined cutting-edge technology, magic, and alchemy to create a device that would allow me to absorb various distinct energies, which it recognizes inside its built-in AI and database. But with this horn, I can absorb energy at speeds ranging from 100 (JPS) at its slowest to 600,000,000 (JPS) at its fastest. However, I cannot go beyond that since it may overheat and explode."
"Overall, what I’m trying to convey, young Ana, is that instead of allowing the aether to flow naturally out of your body, you risk destroying everyone and everything, including yourself. As such, try to attempt the reverse of what I’m doing; instead of absorbing, attempt to transmit the aether to those rings of yours; they appear to function similarly to my regulation horns, from the way the surrounding energy behaves around them."
Max explained this to Anastasia, who nodded, smiled, and said this to him.
"Wow, that explains quite a lot indeed; I never thought of these rings as anything more than a doorway. That open gateway to anywhere I have been to or seen—I never expected them to be the key to controlling this so-called aether energy within myself, but let’s give it a try."
"Of course, first of all, try to focus on the energy in your ichor and transmit the aether within it to those rings."
Max advised Anastasia on what to do. Anastasia, of course, proceeded to follow his guidance and focused on the aether within her Ichor. And right after that, the familiar energy she’d been feeling for a while now began to flare up inside her heart, but instead of attempting to release it via her natural body alone, she began channeling it through her spatial rings.
To her amazement, her rings began to light a familiar neon blue, and as if responding to her mental image, one of the rings floated and shriveled before sticking itself into her upper right hand, forming a little tennis ball-sized aether sphere at the center. Of course, Anastasia’s initial reaction was how magnificent this was; the others couldn’t feel it, and neither could her master, Lord Merciless; instead, her gaze was drawn to her teacher, who more or less understood what this was.
And then she heard Albedo’s voice in her thoughts, just as Merciless used telepathy to reach her before her rebirth.
’That’s good. Now that you’ve felt it for the first time, tell me. Do you know what this is?
’Um!? I’m not sure, but I have the impression that this little blue sphere represents the genuine shape of creation or one facet of it in general. It’s really strong, and I believe I could make anything I wanted with it alone within reason of my knowledge; nevertheless, the only thing I know for certain is that I should give it a try.’
’Well, do something you know you can do even with your eyes closed.’
’Ok sure.’
In that moment, Anatasia began to remember a memory of hers. One that she treasured.
- 16 years ago, Aine’s Garden: Stargaze Peak.
"It’s pretty, isn’t it... orc thing?"
"Ha, oh, sensei, when did you get here?"
"I am not your sensei orc thing."
"Yes, you are; you teach me many things... stupid sensei!"
A younger Anastasia spoke to a big white snake thirty meters long with a flaming crescent moon on her head; her eyes were a terrifying amethyst, and she had two pairs of them.
She glanced at the pathetic thing she discovered half-dead in the woodland of the Neitherlander witch, a hazardous location rumored to be the realm of the ancient Shagoths. In any case, the woodland was her hunting field, and while strangling a heavenly deer, she poisoned and strangled it before swallowing it whole.
But, at the same time, she came upon an orc girl who had fallen from a Galaxsin tree near where she was ready to consume the deer. The result of her battle shook the entire forest, and anyone looking at her could tell she was severely injured; all of her limbs had been severed, and half of her remaining body had been burned to a crisp, but despite all of these life-threatening wounds, that poor thing was still hanging on to the last string of its life until the bitter end.
At the time, she had no idea why she did it, but she felt sorry for the creature, so she made her meal get away. And treat her with her milk, which cures her of all effects and inflictions immediately. On that note, the lost youngster began to follow her wherever she went. She initially attempted to frighten her away, but the orc thing simply continued following her. Even to the point that she began calling her mother.
"Mother Echidna, where are we going today?"
"I am not your mother... and by the way, I think you should utilize the basic spirit art sonar technique to keep an eye out for any potential dangers in this region. I can’t keep gazing at you while navigating through this dangerous place, you know."
"Certainly, certainly... but why are you slithering in the direction of the Orc Empire? "I don’t want to return to that horrible place... mother... teacher... great and almighty sensei!"
Echidna remains quiet. Not sure how to break the news, but she has been with the orc thing for about sixteen months now, and after failing to chase her away, she became desensitized to her existence as a whole and allowed her to stay simple because she was fed up with going any further than scaring because it would be a waste of energy—one for healing her and two for killing her.
So she began to explain.
"I am going to undergo my ultimate metamorphosis, level six. Praise the primordials above, including our great mother, the second originator, The Alteration, the lady of the archive of life. She is the first mother in existence, and all that exists stems from her. She gave birth to her own clone, her twin brother, the corporeal, and together they ushered in the grand dawn of creation, which has resulted in all we see today. If Eos was the founding father of the vampires, the first, second, and third were the monsters’ collective parents; they were the progenitors of the spawn race."
"But anyway, we’ll meet again, and I can’t wait for that day to come. That aside, orc thing, I can’t take you where I’m going, so I’m dumping you off at your old home for your own good. If I stay with you during my last evolution and achieve the zenith of my power, everything below the axiom library will be removed from existence altogether. To go beyond level five, my true form in the eight realms above must absorb all of the clones distributed around creation."
"Wait, so you are just leaving me?"
"It is what it is, orc thing!"
"No, please don’t; at least don’t carry me back there to those people."
"..."
"Mother!!"
"..."
"Sensei!!"
"... I’m sorry, but it has to be this way."
And so Echidna left young Anastasia behind and set out on her journey to achieve her final form; the only thing she had left was a small ruby-colored stone, which she always carried with her inside of her stomach for safekeeping.
She had intended to make it into a necklace but never had the opportunity; as a result, she used another of her rings to create a portal and placed her hands inside to obtain the stone, which was blazing red in her stomach and coated in glowing blue mucus and stomach acid.
From there, she began to fuse the stone and the aether ball, and what resulted was a beautiful gold necklace with several blue gemstones and one blazing red jewel stone in the center of the necklace, which seemed almost like a consolation considering how bright it was.
She then placed the necklace around her neck, which amazed Merciless; she fashioned gold out of nothing but aether; how did she do that? Merciless wondered. As a result, he decided he needed to learn the full depth and strength of his fledgling kilde.
Albedo, on the other hand, gave Anastasia a little smile, indicating that she knew the foundations of her aether. According to Professor Zeno, this power is the source of all other powers, or at the very least the power that untangles all other existing powers in creation.
This is aether.
"This is amazing; I don’t fully understand it yet, but with some more practice and training, I can definitely use Aether to win my battles."
Anastasia said, and Albedo nodded his head and folded his arms while speaking.
"I’m glad you understand yourself better. Just keep training, and you’ll be destroying planets in no time, and after eons of refining your skills, the universe will eventually be at your fingertips. Consistency is key, young Ana; keep your head up high, never look below, and don’t fall behind in your training. Normally, the best way to train your aether is through exploration. Explore the vast cosmos to have a better grasp of it; come to comprehend the world around you in your own unique way, young Ana."
This was Albedo’s final message to Anastasia, who was grateful for the lessons; without him, she didn’t know when she would have found it out on her own.
"Thank you so much, Lord Albedo."
"Max is fine, young Ana, and I only share what I am capable of in the first place. You completed the remainder by applying my instructions to yourself. That being said, I see a lot of potential in your ichor; if we had someone like you at Zeno Corp, we could literally discover a greater method to travel beyond our local macrocosm and venture into the unknown space of the Greater Macrocosm; but let’s speak about that another time."
"And as for you, Merciless, I’m confident the professor can help you take your ichor, whatever it may be, to new and unprecedented heights. You know, the professor has spent his entire life researching the numerous diverse monsters of our universe, particularly vampires; as such, why don’t you pay Zeno Corp a visit on one of these good nights? I don’t mind introducing you to the brightest mind in our world."
Max proposed to Merciless, who was considering it; nevertheless, he chose to play it safe for the time being because he had only just met him. So his response was logical, as he replied to him in kind.
"Heheh... well, only time can te...
*Boom*
However, both Merciless and Max’s conversations were cut short when they heard a loud explosion and saw a buff, dark-skinned man with many tattoos on his body flying through the metal door and slamming into the steel wall on the other side of the room.
Smoke began to fill the entire room, and all that could be heard was the monotonous voice of a man approaching from the other side. Looking through the smoke, one could see the deep tint of blue eyes along with a menacing pair of reddish-orange eyes and the deep voice of a man.
"I told you, John, that if I meet you again and you don’t have my money, the repercussions would be fatal, right? Now pay up, asshole; you’ve been evading me for four months now. Where is my money?"
"Lord Alucard, *cough*cough*... Please give me until the end of this week... *cough* I have something stowed away at La Luna; it’s only that I haven’t had the time to collect it yet... I vow upon my sire’s name that I will get you your money; just don’t kill me, please!!"
"A week; a fucking week!"
"SAYYYY WHAAATTT!, boy, I ought AH! MHHHH... okay, Alucard, let’s calm the fuck down; don’t let these peasants irritate you any more than necessary. Look here, John; you leave rather perplexed. What the hell are you smoking? You owe me money plus interest for four fucking months, attempt to hide from me, and have the arrogance to want an additional week. Look here, little boy; I’m not playing games; I want my money at the end of this goddamn exam; do you hear what I’m fucking saying, egh!?"
The smaller, dark-skinned man looked up at the larger, more imposing, dark-skinned man in terror and began to bow his head in submission.
"Yes! Yes! I will get it for you, so please don’t kill me."
"You better; now get your ass out of my sight before I cut you to bits and chunks."
"Y..YESSS!!
With that stated, the second ball-headed, dark-skinned man bolted from the room, afraid and hobbling.
On the other hand, two enormous males could be seen emerging from the door, or what was left of it. The first was a tall black man, the same height as Merciless but much more muscular in that aspect.
He had several large tattoos on his body and dark reddish-orange eyes; he wore a black sleeveless undershirt. On his lower half, he was dressed in black military trousers with his undershirt tucked in, and finally, he wore a pair of heavy, thick leather steel-toe boots. He also had a well-groomed beard and very pointed ears.
On the other side, there was another person behind him; he was a little shorter than the guy he arrived with, but he was taller than Albedo, perhaps 6’5. And, like many of the male vampires in this region, he was quite muscular, but Merciless saw something about him that made him different than the rest. He was human, he smelled completely human, and he even had a soul; nonetheless, but his aura was no smaller than that of the dark-skinned man. However, according to Black Tail, he had a 48% chance of defeating this man and a 40% chance of defeating the dark-skinned man.
This person had clean skin and a very strong body, and he, like the dark-skinned man, had several tattoos on his body; however, his tattoos appeared to follow a pretty distinctive pattern, as if they were intended for more than just showing off. His arms were largely covered in them, all of which were black in color. He had short, spikey brown hair and blue eyes. He wore the same outfit as the dark-skinned man.
It was this very man who looked towards both Merciless and Albedo and said:
"Oii... boss, those two are looking our way, you know?"
"Haa?"
Alucard muttered, turning his gaze towards Merciless and Albedo; on the other hand, he motioned to his subordinate and added.
"Follow me, Zane."
"Yes! Yes!"
And with that, they began to go towards Albedo and Merciless; on the other side, Albedo brought back his uninterested expression as he stated as such.
"The Dracule family, egh?"
"Dracule?!"
Merciless inquired, not knowing who they were.
"Yes, the Dracules are from the eighth clan, that being clan nosferatu; they are the first saquat’s to appear as the progenitor of that rebellious group. Well, I have nothing against them; my dispute is with Jahad, but the Dracules are one of Lavatos’ five major Mafia families."
When Merciless heard this, his first thought was.
"Clan nosferatu ha? Now that is a name I am familiar with."
