The figure of a middle-aged man descended into the cylindrical space.
"Priestess of Abel..." Yaze Akishige, who had landed on a stone block, shot a displeased glance at the High Priestess. "No need for words. Join me."
He slowly drew the firearm from his pocket, his gaze warily fixed on Arcueid not far away.
The High Priestess nodded silently. "What are her Beast Vassals?"
"She hasn't used any."
"What?!"
The High Priestess's eyes widened in shock. "This Primogenitor doesn't use Beast Vassals?"
"What's wrong?" Akishige gave her a strange look.
Was it really that surprising she didn't use Beast Vassals?
The High Priestess silently released more crimson light. After a few seconds, she spoke slowly. "Do you know how she appeared?"
"She appeared just a short while ago, and as soon as she did, she defeated the First Primogenitor—also without using Beast Vassals." Akishige raised his free hand, light particles settling into his palm and transforming into a cluster imbued with wind attributes.
Like copies pasted into existence, the cluster multiplied by the hundreds around him.
Then, they shot towards Arcueid without a sound.
Arcueid casually flung out vines, seized dozens of stone blocks at her feet, and hurled them with force.
The massive rocks, carrying an intense sense of pressure, smashed towards Akishige, but upon contact with the crimson bullets, they instantly turned into particles of salt and vanished.
The remaining bullets cut through the dust, but Arcueid's figure was no longer there.
It seemed the activation condition for [The Cleansing] was physical contact.
Having leaped onto one of the stone blocks, Arcueid swung her hand. The floating, rising stones assembled and built upon each other like puzzle pieces.
Vines tightly bound them together, forming an obstacle that blocked the line of sight.
"Priestess of Abel, what are you doing?"
Akishige manipulated the crimson light particles, creating basketball-sized regular hexahedrons in the air and shooting them like bullets at the stone structure.
The bound-together rocks promptly crumbled into blocks of salt and disintegrated. Amidst the snowy white salt particles, a flash of golden hair streaked by.
With a tremendous sound, tearing through the air, Arcueid instantly appeared right in front of Akishige.
Their eyes met. The curve of Arcueid's smirk was reflected in Akishige's eyes.
And then,
A powerful claw strike, carving a vacuum, swept towards him.
BOOM—
The collision of magical energies sent sprays of water flying around them.
At the last possible moment, Akishige had used the crimson light particles to erect a defensive barrier around himself. A regular dodecahedron held firm against Arcueid's magenta magical energy for a second before the claw strike gradually dissipated.
So it can dissipate magical attacks too?
[The Cleansing] really is something else.
Arcueid mused inwardly, leaning her body to evade the incoming bullets.
"Priestess of Abel!" Akishige roared hoarsely, the bullets from his hands pouring forth incessantly.
He didn't dare stop. If he stopped, he'd face another attack like the last one.
The feeling of being half a second from death moments ago had cold sweat pouring down his forehead.
"Whatever your plans are for later, if we lose now, you won't achieve any of them!"
The roar snapped the High Priestess out of her daze. She stared quietly at Arcueid, who was leaping and dodging as if performing a dance.
After a few seconds, she murmured, "This is impossible."
"What's impossible?" Akishige asked without turning his head.
"There can't be a Primogenitor like this in the world."
"Why not?"
"All Primogenitors were created by [The Cleansing]. A Primogenitor with no Beast Vassals inside them... cannot exist."
Akishige froze.
The stream of bullets from his hands ceased.
Yes, that's right. How could there possibly be another Primogenitor appearing in this world?
Perhaps the Fifth Primogenitor's seizing of Itogami Island had made him too anxious. He had forgotten.
As someone who once managed Itogami Island, the altar of the Sinful God, he knew the secrets of this world.
In the distant past, a race descended from the heavens. To distinguish themselves from the humans on the ground, they called themselves the visitors who came from the sky—the [Deva].
They bore a resemblance to humans in appearance, but unlike the fragile, short-lived humans, the [Deva] had long lifespans, resilient bodies, and moreover, possessed supernatural abilities known as divine power and near-immortal regenerative abilities.
The [Deva] utilized their outstanding technology to create various lower races.
Beastmen with high combat prowess, suitable as guards or soldiers; Giants with exceptional strength, fit for construction or carrying luggage; Fairy species for affection and household management; Mermaids created for labor in water; and countless sub-species.
However, the [Deva], as rulers, also had their own troubles.
The first was the sun.
The moment they were exposed to sunlight, the living tissue of the [Deva] would break down and turn to ash. Despite their robust vitality and even acquiring the technology to manipulate genes, they never successfully overcame the sunlight.
The second was humans.
The so-called [Deva] were beings who could not live without consuming human blood.
To sustain their lives and maintain their divine power, human blood was precious sustenance for the [Deva].
Beast Vassals were ultimate weapons of destruction summoned from other worlds by the [Deva's] technology, dense aggregates of magical energy substantial enough to manifest physically.
Their combat power was immense, and physical attacks were almost ineffective against them. As tools of war, their power was simply too great.
Once a Beast Vassal was summoned, it would burn cities and forests, alter terrain, and indiscriminately eradicate all life, friend or foe. Even with the divine power of the [Deva], controlling them was difficult. A rampaging Beast Vassal could be stopped by no one, becoming a veritable calamity.
However, the true terror of Beast Vassals lay not so much in their destructive power, but in the pollution of memory that followed. A Beast Vassal that escaped control would endlessly drain 'information'—that is, memories—from the intelligent lifeforms around it to maintain its physical form.
Those utterly drained of their memories would lose even the will to sustain their own life functions, soon weakening to death. This was the same for the [Deva], demonkind, and humans alike; the destruction brought by Beast Vassals was equal.
Thus, the [Deva] issued a decree strictly forbidding the summoning of Beast Vassals.
Yet, they were unwilling to simply abandon such powerful weapons.
And so, to better rule this world and preemptively counter any potential rebellion, the [Deva] created beings known as [Artificial Vampires].
[Artificial Vampires] possessed no will of their own, held no emotions whatsoever, existing solely to house Beast Vassals.
An [Artificial Vampire] with a Beast Vassal sealed within its body was called—a Beast Vassal Warhead.
The power of the Beast Vassal Warheads was so immense that even the [Deva] themselves feared it. If released without restriction, the [Deva] would face easy extinction.
Therefore, the [Deva] transported all these Beast Vassal Warheads to a different dimension.
Sure enough, in the future, the war known as the [Great Cleansing]—where humans allied with demonkind to rebel against the [Deva]—broke out.
The powerful [Deva] temporarily found themselves at a disadvantage in this war. At that point, some members of the [Deva], ignoring the risks, chose to use Beast Vassals.
The moment the Beast Vassals entered the fray, they reversed the tide of battle. However, the consequence was that both sides of the conflict, friend and foe alike, lost everything under the attacks of the Beast Vassals.
Yet, such small-scale use of Beast Vassals couldn't decide the outcome of the entire world war. So, the [Deva] decided to fully deploy the Beast Vassal Warheads.
Just as they prepared to use the Beast Vassal Warheads stored in the different dimension, a member of the [Deva] named Cain sealed the gate to that dimension, refusing to release the Beast Vassal Warheads, even if it meant he would bear the stigma of the Sinful God—a traitor who, as a member of the [Deva], harmed the [Deva].
Not only that, three of Cain's friends, to prevent the Beast Vassals released by the [Deva] from destroying this world and implicating the other races,
Under the influence of the power Cain used to change the world's principles—[The Cleansing]—became the first vampires, thereby sealing all the Beast Vassals that had already been activated around the world within their own bodies.
They were the three Primogenitors of the present day.
And to kill Cain, the [Deva] used a human boy taken in by Cain—Zero—to bear the twelve stellar Beast Vassals they created through stellar guidance and pure resentment.
He became the Fourth Primogenitor—Kaleid Blood.
So, where did this Primogenitor before them, who had never used a single Beast Vassal, come from?
Akishige gripped the firearm in his hand tightly, doubt rising from the depths of his heart.
And across from him, Arcueid—
Was busy repairing the Zeroth Floor.
The bullets of [The Cleansing] she had dodged didn't stop their flight but struck the wall behind with force.
After waving her hand to create pillars capable of supporting the ceiling, watching the wobbling ceiling finally stabilize, a trace of anger inevitably tinged Arcueid's heart. Her crimson pupils narrowed dangerously.
These were all her things. Having them destroyed like this made her somewhat angry.
Akishige and the High Priestess shuddered involuntarily. A sense of crisis instantly climbed up their bodies.
It was as if they were being watched by an apex predator. Their senses flooded with trepidation and fear.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.