This is no joke. How did it end up like this? I expected to be confined for a while, but if a vampire's definition of "a while" is measured in years...
I need to figure something out.
"But I can't just sit here doing nothing, can I?"
[What are you trying to do now?]
She flares up the moment I mention doing something. I can't exactly say I'm leaving. Instead, I step beside her and lightly wrap an arm around her, feeling Tir's mood soften a little.
In the past, she would have scolded me for indecently touching her. Tir has changed a lot, too.
"I suppose there's nothing else to do. I'll just stay here and play with my doll. And conveniently, there's a perfect one right here."
[If it's that, it is yours, so you may treat it as you wish.]
"I tried to do as I pleased, but her separation anxiety flared up, so I can't."
[It depends on how you use it. Does not everything have its appropriate usage?]
I sat Tir on my lap and ran my hand through her hair, combing it. Even for a vampire, it seems inevitable that her hair would get tangled after a fierce battle. Untangling each snag that caught on my fingers, I asked as if to confirm:
"Tir."
[Speak.]
"You want me to change, don't you?"
I have already changed Tir. Even if it was her own desire, the fact that I directly changed her remains unchanged. This, too, was only possible because I lost my power and became ordinary...
Tir turned her head slightly and asked.
[If I desire it, will you change accordingly?]
"I'm sorry."
The King of Beasts is the spokesperson for all beasts. It might not be an accurate analogy, but the King of Beasts is likely a manifestation of the results of a public opinion poll conducted on all beasts. That is why they must be strong. I lost my power for some unknown reason, but...
Tir ignored me again at my apology and spoke.
[There is no need to be sorry. Just as you do, I merely act according to my own stubbornness.]
"I'm truly sorry."
[I said there is no need to be sorry.]
"Not just for that."
Fixing her hair was done. With my hand crackling with static electricity, I hugged Tir from behind and pulled her close. Even though my hand touched her chest, Tir accepted it quietly without resisting.
'Binding Hugh like this isn't exactly an ideal relationship that everyone would envy.'
Tir overlapped her hand over mine and fell into thought.
'However, no matter how bad this cohabitation is, it is better than parting with Hugh. I'm sorry, Hugh. For subjecting you to my greed.'
"...For taking advantage of my goodwill like this."
A Demon God is an enlightenment that brings great change to the human species. Something that materializes supreme knowledge.
And the enlightenment that handles the human body itself might be trivial compared to the great principles of nature... but to humans, it is more important than anything.
"Seth, Fran."
Lightning struck within my hand. The pulsation of flashing light resonated with Tir's heart.
Tir felt her body suddenly stiffen. For a moment, her body slipped out of her control. Sensing something wrong, Tir tried to quickly recover her flesh and regain control with Blood Manipulation.
But she failed. Heart 1—the heart embedded with my card—resisted Tir's Blood Manipulation for a brief moment. Her hands strayed out of control and trembled. I hugged Tir even tighter and, holding the lightning in my hand, poured it inside her.
Tir's flesh was functioning properly. It was just too excessive—that was the problem.
'----!!!'
"For an ordinary person, the shock would be too great... but if it's Tir, it should be fine."
Senses are the windows through which one accepts the world. The light, sound, temperature, and vibrations flowing in through those windows change me.
However... they aren't just wide-open windows.
All life is born with the instinct to protect itself. The world is death. Disease, bugs, blades, sunlight, curses—everything that changes and destroys the body comes from outside.
Life is the act of maintaining the difference between oneself and the world, and death is ultimately becoming one with the world. Resisting change is life itself, and when that stops, death arrives.
The human body created windows to respond to external changes. But it blocked those external changes from entering inside with glass. The world we see is merely harmless, processed information filtered once through glass.
And that follows the laws of lightning.
The lightning I wield flows through the pathways. The paths of lightning carved across the entire domain of Tir's body were carved by me. Tir cannot resist. Even if her body is hers, the paths were carved by me. Because I am the one who opened the windows in the window frame.
The Homunculus's Dilemma. If you form a body by borrowing another's power... this is what happens.
That's why I didn't want to do this if possible. Afraid I'd end up using it like this someday.
'------!!!!!'
Tir's thoughts stopped. Into that void, a tidal wave of sensations crashed in. Extremely amplified senses cannot distinguish between pleasure and pain. With an overwhelming presence, it drives out Tir's thoughts and dominates her body.
The last time I touched her, I only used the Demon God's power. It was on a similar scale to the lightning flowing through my body. But what I'm using now is formal magic. It's a weak electric shock, hard to even call it for attack... but if flowed directly into the nerves, it inflicts sensations thousands of times greater than what she originally felt.
Whether it's Blood Manipulation or Authority, it can't be used without consciousness in the first place. If it crashes down without even a moment to be conscious of it, no matter how powerful the Authority, it becomes meaningless.
She could stop it even now if she stopped her heart and returned to a dead body. But Tir would never choose that method.
[----!! ----!]
I covered Tir's face with one hand. With the other, I gripped her body tightly. I fill all her senses with myself. With her senses amplified thousands, tens of thousands of times over.
Tir's soft body stiffens like a log. Her fully rigid muscles straighten her body. Her back arches like a bow, and she gasps for breath desperately as if hyperventilating. Each time, she takes in my scent deeply and shivers even more violently.
Right now, all her senses are extremely amplified. Touch, taste, and smell will drive her mad. Her tongue lolls out weakly from her foolishly gaping mouth.
[Hah, huu. Hng, huuuuu!]
A maddening torrent of sensations crashes down, enough to drive an ordinary human insane. But a vampire capable of regenerating her body will persistently recover even her burnt nerves. Tir wept and trembled in a pleasure she could neither escape nor grow accustomed to.
She was already neutralized, but Tir was too strong to let my guard down. I tormented Tir's senses to the point I felt I was going a bit too far.
Because this would be my first and last chance.
How much time passed?
When I came to my senses, her body was thoroughly soaked. Tir had never spilled anything but blood, but overwhelmed by the torrent of sensations filling her entire body, sweat and tears leaked out endlessly. From her open mouth flowed a voice indistinguishable between crying and screaming.
Fortunately, there was nothing wrong with her body. Well, it only amplified the senses; the actual impact wasn't much. The magnitude of the power was far too weak to harm the Progenitor Tirkanjaka.
Without letting go of my tension, I carefully lifted Tir up. Perhaps because I amplified her senses too much, just the hem of her clothes brushing against her skin caused her body to convulse. Foolish moans slipped from her lips along with saliva.
I laid the exhausted Tir flat on the bed and whispered.
"I went easy on you back then, too."
Tir stared blankly with unfocused eyes. I thought she was looking at me, but her pupils didn't follow my movement. She had completely lost consciousness.
It can't be helped. If she were conscious, she would have grabbed me. This was my best option.
"Thank you. But... I still can't grant the wish to change me. Because I am also the King of Beasts. The moment I change must be the moment humanity changes."
Wanting to change oneself. That wish is fine. If one has enough will and ability, I can grant it.
Wanting to change another. That wish has nothing to do with me. Others have their own wishes, and that is unrelated to one's own will or effort. One has no choice but to persuade the other person oneself. I do not interfere.
However, if that other person is me. I resist.
Because I am a mind reader. Because the wish can actually change me. That is why I must resist. Otherwise, I will be tossed around and reduced to nothing.
I made it sound complicated, but it's like this. Imagine someone harboring the wish to kill me. I can't commit suicide to grant that wish, can I? Protecting myself is the top priority.
...The wish to be loved isn't to that extent, but changing me is the same thing.
Heave-ho. Still, I did manage to beat Tir once. Can't boast about it anywhere, though.
What? A cowardly victory leaning on Authority? Then Tir should come without her Blood Manipulation too.
Anyway, there were no signs of presence around. Tir also wanted a place with no people, so I brought her to a villa a little away from the castle. That was a stroke of luck for me too. It will take some time for Tir to regain her senses and grasp the situation.
Leaving the dark room behind, I opened the door and stepped outside...
[Don't go.]
It was heard without any presence or thought. I turned around in sheer horror, but Tir was still unconscious as she was. Even checking with mind reading, her thoughts couldn't be read.
However, Tir's shadow moved alive like a human and grabbed me.
[Where are you going? Don't go.]
Tir's shadow. The aggregate of Blood Manipulation modeled after her body through her Authority was grabbing me and whining like a child.
I can't read its thoughts. That is not human. It is an aggregate of Authority, an entity Tir created to exert power by reinterpreting her body with her Authority. To call it a subordinate, it resembles her too much; to call it human... it has changed too much.
"But can this really be called non-human?"
I reached out to the shadow. I could feel the pulsing blood beneath the skin. Although I couldn't read the shadow's thoughts... I could tell that immense power and Authority were packed beneath that flesh.
A Homunculus? No, it's a bit different. A Homunculus structurally replicates a human, but this shadow functionally replicates one. Its red eyes are clearly staring at me, and its blood sends power throughout that massive body. The power it possesses cannot even be compared to a Homunculus.
"Humans are beasts. They can do anything they are capable of. I didn't know they could even do something like this, though."
An aggregate of Authority that Tir created to fully exert her power. By materializing it outside her body, something resembling a human emerged. Since it is ultimately a created tool, there is a considerable difference from a human.
But someday, this power will reach humanity. When that time comes, distinguishing between beasts or species will truly become meaningless.
I shook off the shadow and spoke.
"Let go."
[Can't go.]
"I'm going."
[Do you hate being with me?]
"No, I like it. But I don't like only being here."
[I hate it too. I hate being alone.]
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Tch. I suspected it, but to think the shadow would move independently. I took out the Spade 8 and stamped it against the wall like a seal. The wall crumbled, and a pile of cards poured out from the gap.
Calling them cards, they're nothing more than thin scraps of iron. Too trivial a result to call the Authority of a Demon God. However... the Authority of the Golden Scripture begins from these trivial fragments.
Alchemy—I swept over the cascading cards with magic power that changes all things. Alchemical light flashed, binding and tying the cards together.
Cards are ingredients. The enlightenment of the Golden Scripture began there. Diversity arises from differences in structure, but the composing elements are all the same. Therefore, what's important is not their origin, but how they are woven together.
The cards, which should have scattered individually, became a single saber. I aimed the hastily assembled sword at the shadow and spoke.
"I have to go."
[To do what?]
"To catch up to humanity."
[Why?]
"They keep getting further away. So I have to run hard too. Otherwise... existences standing on the boundary like you will be abandoned."
Can I win against the shadow with my power? Impossible. If I used all the power of a Demon God, I might somehow manage to escape... but let's keep swinging the sword as a last resort.
The shadow didn't seem to feel threatened, but it definitely sensed my intent. Tir's shadow stepped back a little and spoke.
[You're trying to throw me away.]
"I never did. I won't throw away Tir, and I won't throw you away either."
[Really won't throw me away?]
"I didn't. I know Tir. I also know you, who are Tir's power. I will never forget."
A thousand years, the Blood Manipulation that Elders and vampires pondered and refined. Tir's Authority created by gathering all of that. The shadow of a Demon God possessing all the functions of a human.
To become a Demon God, something—one very trivial thing—is missing... but I'm not sure what it is either. I suspect it's an issue of the power's specificity. Tir used her Authority for herself, and as a result, Tir's enlightenment was not used for all humanity. Because she was special, she couldn't become a Demon God instead.
Because it wasn't used for all humanity, I can't use it either. Just like Qi or Mana. It's unfortunate, but if this is a harvest, then it's a harvest.
[Then.]
It was then. The shadow suddenly approached me. I didn't even feel a sign, let alone a presence. I'm terribly weak when I can't read thoughts, I belatedly realized the obvious fact. The moment I reacted late and tried to swing the saber, the shadow was already swallowing me.
Darkness wrapped around my arm and was sucked in somewhere. The head touched my lips and disappeared as if sucked in. Through the holes of my entire body, darkness poured into me. It was as if the shadow was merging with me.
My vision darkened. My body floated. With mind reading not working and darkness surrounding me, I truly couldn't feel anything. The world permitted to me right now is nothing but my shabby body.
Just as I was preparing for a life-or-death struggle in a world where I couldn't even breathe, a cold energy flowed along my blood vessels.
Coldness flows through veins so thin it would be rude to compare them to threads. The cool energy melts into the veins, as if declaring that your blood is here. The blood that quickly circulated from my fingertips to my toes returned to my heart. As the heart exposed to the coldness reacted violently, the cold energy surged like a wave toward my lungs like a rapid current.
And the darkness slipped out of my body again.
My vision returned in an instant. The shadow wavered in front of me as I stumbled backward. The shadow of the girl modeled after Tir left 'something' inside me and detached again.
The shadow spoke.
[Take it.]
"What? What did you put inside me?"
The shadow didn't answer. Sinking and melting into the darkness, the shadow returned to Tir's side. Since I couldn't read its thoughts, I had to figure out what it did myself. For someone whose life is cheating, giving me a problem I have to solve myself is troublesome.
Fortunately, what the shadow left behind wasn't that hard to find. That made me even more suspicious.
"This is... me?"
The body Tir knows best is her own. Just the fact that the shadow modeled after herself speaks and acts on its own shows how deep her understanding is.
And the body she knows second best was mine.
I am not a vampire. Tir has never dominated my blood either.
But Tir was the Progenitor. Living together, watching over, and mixing bodies. Tir quietly observed me. She felt the blood pulsing just beneath a layer of skin. She felt the heat emanating from the body and listened to the heartbeat.
Tir had the ability to learn about my body and many opportunities. And the will to find out was greater than anyone else's. I didn't do it with any specific plan, but Tir grasped my body as much as I knew her.
What the shadow conveyed was my body, forged by Tir's love and attention.
But.
"But this is not humanity's. It's my body."
It is knowledge so highly personal that it cannot belong to humanity. The King of Humanity, which is me, cannot use it. It's not for nothing that I can't use Qi or Mana. Those two powers, which are the extremes of self-cultivation, are powers of the individual, so they are not permitted to me, the King of Beasts.
So, while I'm grateful for this knowledge Tir has passed on, it's of no use...
Suddenly, my left wrist burned hot. Something had entered the biometric terminal engraved in the military nation. When? How? I didn't even have time to think about that. Feeling a dizzying pain, I carefully pulled out the thin card inside. That card, stained with my blood, felt even more out of place because it was something I always saw.
It's clearly not a Demon God, so why is this here?
I slowly flipped the card over. Spade 6, red letters were shining on the idol of the Demon God.