Gozo Island, a fully equipped ruin excavation team.
Akatsuki Kojou led his younger sister, Akatsuki Nagisa, following their father, Akatsuki Gajo, an archaeologist, into the underground tomb.
As they walked through the newly opened path, Kojou's face was filled with anger.
"Gajo, why did you deliberately bring Nagisa here?"
"Kojou, I told you, this is the helplessness of adults." Gajo chuckled in response to his furious son.
Explaining to Kojou that the investors behind the archaeology team issued a do-or-die order, threatening jail or massive fines otherwise? That wouldn't work. Kids with a black-and-white worldview didn't care about money. They wouldn't understand the stench of adult money.
"You!" Kojou was clearly enraged by his father's shameless attitude.
His overflowing anger made Nagisa, already a bit scared, tug at the hem of Kojou's jacket and say, "Kojou-kun, I'm fine."
"Nagisa-chan is truly the most understanding." Seeing his daughter so considerate, Gajo felt both relieved and sad.
At that moment, a blonde Caucasian girl in an elaborate dress looked at the wall at the end of the path and said, "Gajo, get ready, we're about to start."
"Oh, I understand, Liana-chan." Gajo smiled as if the girl beside him was his lover. In truth, she was one of the investors behind the archaeology team.
Though she didn't hold many shares, she was a major reason he was forced into this excavation. Annoyed, he teased her. This was Gajo's way of interacting with women.
Liana Caruana glanced at Gajo, ignoring his words, and shifted her gaze to Nagisa.
"Can this kid really handle the wall ahead?"
The wall sealing Matrix No. 12 of the Fourth Primogenitor. Liana, who had nearly spent her family's entire fortune to find the Fourth Primogenitor and restore their family, knew exactly how thick that wall was.
It was an iron wall that even high-explosive missiles or a Vampire Elder's Beast Vassal couldn't penetrate.
But unlike the worried Liana, Gajo was very confident.
"Relax, when it comes to Miko talent, no one's stronger than Nagisa."
"A high-level Miko?" Liana was slightly shocked, looking at Nagisa, the girl with a slightly anxious face. This high-level Miko was this man's daughter? What a waste.
At that moment, Kojou, listening nearby, grew even more uneasy and asked, "Gajo, what exactly are you trying to do by bringing Nagisa here?"
The closer they got to the underground tomb, the more uneasy Kojou felt. It was as if a terrifying beast below was opening its eyes. That restlessness and fear made him almost want to flee.
At that moment, Gajo, also sensing the strange aura, showed no particular reaction. He calmly explained, "Kojou, have you ever heard? The strongest, noblest vampire with all their kin, a monster appearing at every turning point in history, bringing slaughter and destruction."
"You mean the Fourth Primogenitor, Lord of the Night of Flame Light? Isn't that just a story teachers use to brag?" Kojou asked, puzzled.
"Brag? It's not bragging, it's fact." As he spoke, Gajo stared at the black wall ahead. "The legendary Fourth Primogenitor is behind this wall."
(…And only Nagisa can open that wall.)
Gajo didn't say the last sentence aloud. He didn't want his son to worry too much. And this strange, uneasy feeling also concerned him greatly.
At that moment, Liana beside him suddenly frowned and said, "Gajo, your daughter…"
Hearing this, the Akatsuki father and son turned and saw Nagisa's eyes widen, staring blankly at the wall, slowly floating in the air.
"Ah… she's been possessed by the builder?"
High-level Mikos could be possessed by the lingering will of a ruin's creator. Gajo knew this, and it was key to his success in archaeology. Though he felt sorry for his daughter, this might be the helplessness of adults.
By being possessed by the creator's lingering will, the tomb could be opened. After all, no locksmith was better than the creator.
"Nagisa!" Kojou looked at her anxiously, wanting to approach, but Liana stopped him.
"If you don't want your sister hurt, don't touch her now."
Hearing this, Kojou suppressed his unease and waited anxiously in place.
Nagisa then walked with blank eyes toward the wall. After a few seconds of silence, she waved her hand. The wall vanished soundlessly from everyone's view.
At that moment, Gajo, as an archaeologist, realized the key to opening the door.
"So that's it, the way to open it is by moving the door to another dimension? Meaning the tomb was originally in another dimension? Those ancient scholars were too bold, weren't they?"
But before he finished speaking, an extreme chill suddenly hit. The ruins, clearly in a tropical area, now felt like the frigid North Pole.
"What's going on? Why's it suddenly so cold?"
Gajo couldn't help but shiver, hugging his arms. But no one answered. When he reacted, he looked up into the ruins.
In a world of ice surrounded by layers of frost and snow, a black-haired, black-eyed man in casual clothes, strikingly handsome, leaned against a pillar, looking at them curiously. Behind him, a demonic bird with wings, like a mermaid, held a vase, staring at everyone.
"The twelfth Beast Vassal, Alrescha-Glacies, I'm not mistaken—it's the recorded Beast Vassal of the Fourth Primogenitor." Liana said, her voice trembling.
"Whether it's true or not, the Fourth Primogenitor really broke free from the seal and is standing there waiting for us to open the door."
The world's strongest vampire was casually waiting for them. They'd rather never encounter such excessive treatment.
"…"
As for Aslan, he rubbed his chin, thinking for a moment. He seemed to slightly understand the timing and world he'd entered. If he remembered correctly, this point seemed to be the story's start, when the Fourth Primogenitor was released, and when Kojou gained its power.
As for the people before him, honestly, if they hadn't arrived at such a coincidental time, Aslan would already be on Itogami Island.
"No mistake, the one controlling Alrescha-Glacies must be the Fourth Primogenitor."
After a brief shock, Liana quickly composed herself and knelt on one knee.
"Liana Caruana, sixth head of the Caruana family, greets Your Excellency the Fourth Primogenitor."
Aslan waved casually, unconcerned. He looked up at the long staircase, sneering.
"Beast, who allowed you to direct malice at me?"
A disgusting malice had locked onto him since the door opened. Aslan felt a bit helpless.
Was his deterrence weakening? Or what?
The original soul was like this, and now this unknown Beastman. Were they all so bold, radiating such strong malice?
However, this Beastman wasn't a cute girl. Naturally, Aslan wouldn't hold back at all. Of course, even if it was, he'd only be gentler, letting it die painlessly.
As Aslan's voice fell, a figure slowly emerged from a dark corner. It was a black-haired Beastman with bulging muscles and a wolf's head.
"Worthy of the Fourth Primogenitor. You actually saw through my sophisticated disguise?"
At that moment, Liana quickly stood and said angrily:
"This appearance? Golan Hazaroff, from the Black Death Emperor faction defeated by the Snake Charmer, dares to come to this sacred tomb!"
Golan glanced at her and sneered.
"Oh? The homeless dog of the Caruana family? Whose territory was taken by trash vampires without Beast Vassals, losing noble status, and now groveling before the Fourth Primogenitor?"
"You!" Liana was instantly furious.
Losing noble status was a great humiliation, and having her disgrace exposed before the Fourth Primogenitor was worse than a father's revenge.
She'd spent her entire fortune to regain noble status and prevent the Caruana family's end. Now, with Golan Hazaroff's words, the chances of the Fourth Primogenitor accepting her plummeted. How could this not enrage Liana?
"You!"
Liana couldn't hold back, summoning her Beast Vassal to kill this insolent fool.
Two Beast Vassals flew with blazing flames, charging at Golan.
At that moment, Golan grinned horribly, leaped, grabbed both Beast Vassals by the throat, and crushed them. The two vanished instantly.
"I'm not interested in playing with trash like you here."
"Ugh!" Liana groaned in pain, kneeling on the ground, staring fearfully at Golan, now fully transformed into a giant wolf. "Divine Bestialization?"
This was Divine Bestialization, usable only by rare Beastmen with ancestral bloodlines.
"Next, it's your turn!"
Golan, now a giant wolf, turned to Aslan, baring his sharp-toothed maw and grinning horribly.
"Killing one of the Fourth Primogenitor's matrices, even the First Primogenitor won't sit still, right?"
Then Golan stomped heavily, preparing to pounce on Aslan and end his life.
*THUD!*
He seemed to step on an unknown piece of flesh.
"What's that? It's actually…"
He collapsed before finishing his sentence.
"…"
Meanwhile, Aslan shrugged helplessly, looking at Golan's body on the ground, with no wounds except some blood and flesh on his claw.
"I was going to tell you your heart fell."
"But before I could, you stepped on it yourself."
Aslan, who'd just developed a technique mimicking the Operation-Operation Fruit from One Piece, was testing if the original owner was affected after he took their heart with spatial power. He accidentally forgot to move the heart, and it fell to the ground.
Who knew Golan was so careless as to step on his own heart? Truly unfortunate.
(So, that was his heart?)
Kojou couldn't help but gape at Aslan. If he remembered correctly, it seemed like the moment the Beastman jumped out, his heart fell?
So, that powerful Beastman was already dead from the start?
Was this the power level of the Fourth Primogenitor, the world's strongest vampire? Kojou was utterly shocked.
Liana, beside him, still felt it was unreal, looking at Aslan and Golan's body. She muttered, "A Beastman capable of Divine Bestialization, dead so easily?"
Hearing this, Aslan glanced at Golan's body and couldn't help sneering.
"This is Divine Bestialization? It doesn't even compare to an average Six-Digit monster. At least a Divine Beast wouldn't die from a fatal wound like losing a heart."
"Just an ordinary ancestral Beastman."
As he spoke, Aslan turned to a spot with spatial fluctuations and waved his hand.
A petite girl holding an umbrella, wearing an intricate black Gothic dress, was flung out of a spatial rift and fell to the ground.
"Ouch, that hurts!"
Minamiya Natsuki clutched her sore backside, glaring around, especially at the Fourth Primogenitor with a mischievous smile.
"You did that on purpose!" Natsuki couldn't help but widen her eyes angrily, staring at him and questioning.
She'd used Spatial Manipulation magic for years; it was ingrained in her instincts. She couldn't have made a mistake.
As for splitting space? Was that something a little witch like her could do? So someone else must've been messing around, just to see her embarrassed!
"Ahem, Natsuki-chan, time to clean up the mess." Aslan coughed lightly twice, pointing at Golan's body on the ground.
"Hmm?" Natsuki looked at the body and couldn't help frowning.
Golan's corpse on the ground, the frozen terrain, the strange magical power lingering in the air, and that massive, terrifying demonic bird—all were seen by Natsuki.
Then, she sighed, holding her umbrella.
"So I came for nothing? Well, this counts as mission complete."
Natsuki had been tasked by Dimitrie Vatler, a Duke of the Warlord's Empire, to track Golan's whereabouts. Now Golan was dead. Bringing back his body would earn her a big reward for free. This seemed like a huge profit.
However, Natsuki looked at the demonic bird and Aslan, who was watching her with interest. Her heart grew more helpless.
"Is that a matrix of the Fourth Primogenitor? I've really gotten into big trouble."
Though she found it odd why the Fourth Primogenitor's matrix was male, the Beast Vassal behind him couldn't lie. Especially its overwhelming aura, with magical power so vast it could freeze an entire ocean in an instant.
A Blood Servant couldn't control such a powerful Beast Vassal.