章 52: Chapter 52: Progenitor
Words: 2,588
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Vampire society has a strict hierarchy based on strength and blood.
The Nobles or Progenitors are the strongest and longest-lived members of the vampires.
Progenitors are those who have tasted the blood of a progenitor which is very difficult to do without their own approval, and there are a few of them.
However, they are all a huge threat even to the "Moon Demon" squad, the elite of the Imperial Army of Humanity.
There are nineteen ranks of progenitor, but that doesn't mean there are that many "nobles."
There is one First Progenitor, two Second Progenitors, three Third Progenitors, and so on up to nineteen Progenitors.
In addition, there are also regular vampires who are not as powerful as the Progenitors but still stronger than humans.
They can be considered lower-class nobles.
Vampires have spread all over the land and control their territory.
Krul Tepes is the current ruler of Japan.
"Yuichiro, how's your connection with your demon?"
I asked Yuichiro while sitting in the driver's seat in the car, and Shinoa was sitting on my lap and driving.
Shinoa tried to take the wheel when Shiho started the car while I quietly filled the gas tank with alchemy.
However, she was small at the steering wheel's level and couldn't see anything in front of her.
Then she decided to let me drive while she sat on my lap and drove the car.
"Asuramaru?"
Yuichiro hesitated a bit.
"Yeah, it's fine. He gives me the strength to kill vampires."
"Hm, you don't feel anything else?"
I asked again.
"What's with the questions?"
Mitsuba asked from behind.
She was sitting in the back seat along with Yuichiro and Yoichi, while Shiho sat to the left of us with Shinoa.
Since it's Japan, the steering wheel is on the right side.
"I'm just curious... do you even know where these demons come from?"
I asked and looked in the rearview mirror.
"I know."
Shinoa said and slightly wiggled her butt sitting on me, and it seemed to me that she did it on purpose.
"Um... demons are sealed into weapons through a ritual, after which the weapon becomes "Cursed.""
Yuichiro said this after a pause.
"Demons used to be vampires."
I said this when noticing how Yuichiro widened his eyes in shock.
"Didn't you know?"
"I suspected."
Mitsuba smirked a little arrogantly.
"W-what do you mean they used to be vampires? Seriously?"
Yoichi still couldn't fully grasp it.
"Haven't you listened to the teacher at school?"
Shinoa asked teasingly.
"Vampires become demons over time. However, it usually takes several thousand years. Also, if you rip out a vampire's heart, they also start to become a demon, or if a vampire goes hungry for a long time and doesn't drink blood... but it's not a hundred percent sure. There are lower vampires who simply die."
I explained while drawing from my analysis and general knowledge of this world.
"Someone is coming, and it seems things are bad."
Shinoa swallowed nervously, and I felt her whole body tense up. A tall vampire with red hair slowly came toward them with a smile.
"He's one of the nobles! Kill him!"
Yuichiro exclaimed.
"It won't help..."
Mitsuba said with a slight shiver.
"Let's get out of the car and get your cursed weapons ready!"
Mitsuba said this while opening the car door and jumping out. The people sitting in the back all did the same thing.
On the other hand, I slowly stopped the car.
"Tony? They... they're stronger than Grimm... I know you're strong, but Progenitors are monsters among monsters."
Shinoa quietly warned me while gripping the steering wheel.
"Shinoa..."
I physically felt her fears and nervousness. Then I leaned slightly to the side and turned her head towards me with my hand then kissed her.
Shinoa's soft lips felt very pleasant, and her widened eyes were filled with emotions.
It was a gentle but quick kiss, and I pulled back slightly.
"... Administrator-kun took advantage of this virgin's weakness... mmm, villain."
Shinoa said. She opened the car door and stepped out, activating her scythe.
Meanwhile, the vampire continued to watch the squad with a smile.
"Take this!"
Yoichi shouted and fired his cursed weapon at the vampire.
"Ha, taste my blood."
The vampire spoke and clenched his hand around his sword.
Then small spikes came out of the blade and went through his palm. He blocked Saotome's magical bullets with a light swing.
The vampire just smirked and sent another wave of reddish energy towards Yoichi with a vertical swing, effortlessly shattering the ground.
It was his life force mixed with vampire magic, but it was not particularly impressive. It is possible to do a lot more with Semblance and Aura.
Shinoa rushed forward at tremendous speed and blocked the attack, deflecting it with her scythe.
The attack ended up smashing the top of a building.
"Hm, I expected it to hurt more."
Shinoa spun her scythe.
The aura indeed gave her a lot of extra strength.
It should have been especially easy for her body to adjust to the energy and get even stronger since she got it.
"Guys, this vampire has a First-class weapon, so be careful; he's much more dangerous..."
Shinoa abruptly turned to the vampire who appeared behind her.
The vampire had decent speed... but someone like Ruby with Semblance would be faster.
However, I doubt he is putting in much effort right now.
Shinoa blocked his sword strike with a sharp movement of her scythe, and then Yuichiro slashed the vampire while hitting his sword and causing it to fly off to the side.
"Oh, not bad reflexes for humans."
He praised not even upset about losing his weapon. I moved slowly toward them, but he still had a friendly smile on his face.
"Shinoa, step aside with the squad for a moment, and please, let me have a look at this vampire."
My words clearly caught the attention of the red-haired vampire.
"Crowley Eusford."
I mentioned him.
"Oh, someone knows me from your kind? Well not surprising."
Crowley chuckled with some interest in looking at me.
"Who are you? You're not in the Imperial Army uniform."
"A former crusader, one who bore the name of God and struck down his enemies with his sword."
I continued, causing Crowley's smile to become somewhat forced.
"The one who had human ideals followed them and lost everything because of a vampire... who made you what you are and whom you now serve, somewhat forgetting your human life."
"The one who killed your friends, comrades... turning you into a vampire, losing your feelings, you seem to have lost your pride as well."
I didn't stop and kept walking towards him, but we were now forty meters apart.
"Oh, interesting, you know so much about me."
Crowley didn't get angry and just smiled. At that moment, two vampires landed slightly behind him.
"I know much about all of you... pathetic creatures driven by thirst and empty of feelings, all their humanity and doomed to a meaningless existence. The most pathetic of creatures I've encountered... were the ones I thought were worse, but at least they have a purpose, and that is to destroy humans. On the other hand, you have lost yourselves and become a pathetic shell of your former selves only occasionally showing interest in anything. How do you like this life, Crowley? You probably don't even remember what it's like to feel happiness, bitterness, or love?"
I mocked him, and the two vampires were clearly very angry, but he continued to smile.
"You pathetic livestock!"
Horn Skuld exclaimed, but Crowley blocked her path with his hand.
"He's dangerous."
Crowley simply said.
"I haven't heard of you before... such loud words from a livestock; of course, humans have become stronger lately, but they still haven't reached us."
Crowley said.
"Whatever you do, we'll never fear you. The fact that you know so much about me changes nothing, but I'm curious, how did you find out about this?"
Crowley was clearly very curious.
"Kneel."
I said while stopping five meters away from him.
"I've never felt such a strong desire to show my strength before... but you and your kind produce these feelings in me. Oh, forgive me, you probably don't even understand what that is?"
I smiled.
"Nrub."
I simply said... that Horn Skuld literally burst into flames.
"A-a-ah!"
Horn screamed in pain and tried to extinguish the fire with her power but couldn't.
The other vampire, Chess Belle immediately reacted and tore the hem of her dress while trying to extinguish the fire.
Crowley only momentarily widened his eyes in surprise and quickly rushed towards me but froze when I appeared behind him exceeding his speed and reaction.
"Boo."
I said this into his ear and kicked him which sent him flying into the building.
There was a crash, and Crowley broke through the walls and flew out of the roof continuing his trajectory. I didn't hit him very hard...
"Hey, not bad regeneration. "
I noticed that Horn quickly regenerated but was severely burned.
"You bastard!"
Chess exclaimed somewhat concerned for her which surprised me a bit, but with determination, she pulled out a whip and tried to catch my neck.
But I caught the whip's blade on its way to me and pulled it toward me. Chess flew at me like she had been hit by a ram with her doll-like face touching my fist.
"Pity."
I said.
"Shinoa, you were worried."
I looked at Shinoa and her squad, who were... in shock. After all, I was playing with those they couldn't handle at the moment.
"Watch out!"
Shinoa sensed something, and Crowley rushed towards me at tremendous speed with a sword.
Immediately, he tried to kill me with his sword without saying a word... he didn't just look surprised, and he froze in shock.
There was a loud crack as his sword hit my raised arm, and they could see an air current ruffling our clothes.
The sword just... broke when it hit my aura and Ki's snow-white defense.
The blow was powerful enough to pierce several tanks head-on. If I hadn't studied magic, Ki, and gained Aura, he would have succeeded in piercing my arm.
"Pity."
I repeated it, and he didn't even notice when I hit him in the chest sending him flying again.
Bang wasn't just considered a great martial arts master in his world.
It wasn't one of his great techniques, nor was "Fist of Flowing Water, Crushed Rock" because I couldn't do it yet, but the result was more than impressive.
I could have dealt a similar blow with my physical strength alone, but the point was that I spent much less effort but caused much more damage using this striking technique.
Then I turned my gaze to Horn who had stopped screaming. She was quickly regenerating her flesh but she was still lying on the ground.
"Someone is clearly angry about hurting his girls, aren't they?"
I smirked at the regenerating vampire. Crowley himself was increased by the red energy from his weapon being deeper in his hand.
"You know that means you can still feel some emotions, like attachment. Or is it just possessiveness?"
I tilted my head while dodging the attack, and... paying for my arrogance, I received a blow from behind from Chess and then a strike from Crowley who dragged me along the ground for ten meters.
Throughout all this, I deliberately tried to shake his emotions and I succeeded.
"We're retreating."
Crowley spoke shortly to Chess, and she rushed towards Horn, but...
"No!"
Crowley screamed as a stone spike shot out of the ground and pierced Horn.
An earthy cross then appeared, and I actually crucified Horn on it.
Crowley gathered energy in his sword and tried to cut the cross with a wave of his hand while slicing off about a quarter of its thickness.
"I said, kneel."
I spoke again.
"Or do you want to see them suffer? You know that there is a fate worse than such ordinary pain? Don't you? For example, what do you know about souls?"
I asked Crowley whose aura was much lighter than those I had seen before.
No, it was still dark, but... he hadn't killed humans in a very, very long time.
"I can seal their own souls, where they will suffer eternally without the possibility of going insane or escaping."
"Who are you?"
Crowley stopped when he realized that there was no point in attacking me just because he couldn't win.
"A worm doesn't need to know about it."
I tried to add more arrogance to my voice.
In fact, I don't like this behavior much, but here it's simple, I need to become more arrogant to crush their arrogance.
"Tsk, there's one like you among humans."
Crowley frowned and then quickly turned in the direction I had moved. He saw me ripping the Horn's almost-healed arm again which made her scream.
"Should scum like you deserve a chance at all?"
I asked aloud.
"Humans kill much more and more often."
Crowley refrained from any action and just watched.
"When I was human, I killed so many people in the name of God that I couldn't count them, and compared to my current life, you could say I haven't really killed anyone."
"That's precisely why you're still alive, but your friend will probably die."
I said, and he probably understood who I meant.
"Ezeerf."
I said this while approaching the frozen Horn.
Crowley strained with all his might but couldn't move and only managed to twitch his finger slightly.
My will was stronger as was my magic.
"Unbelievable..."
Mitsuba swallowed while approaching me with the squad.
"If we manage to kill the Progenitors..."
"No."
I interrupted her.
"Not until I kill him because I need to conduct experiments. And... oh."
Shinoa jumped on me and kissed me passionately.
"Lie down."
I quickly moved to the side with her and kicked Horn in the face, making her fly a little and spin around her axis before falling motionless.
"Tony-kun, I'm burning up inside."
Shinoa confessed with her eyes sparkling.
"I was already thinking about taking pills."
She admitted this while twirling a small package of white pills in her hand.
"Yuicihro, don't look at Tony-kun like that, he's mine!"
"What are my chances against this red-haired one?"
Yuicihro asked while gripping his sword tightly.
"Right now? Zero."
Mitsuba replied easily, then glanced at me with some suspicion.
"Humans can't fight vampires on equal terms... Who are you?"
Mitsuba's gaze fell directly on me.
"Okay, you're a Progenitor, right? What's your rank?"
I approached Crowley who was still trying to move, and ignored Mitsuba's question.
"I'm the thirteenth Progenitor, but in fact, I'm equal in strength to the seventh."
Crowley admitted.
"How are you doing this?"
Crowley was curious about how I managed to make him freeze.
"He needs to be killed while there's a chance!"
Mitsuba exclaimed and yelled when a small earth pillar pushed her aside.
"I don't obey anyone including the Imperial Army."
I looked at Mitsuba.
"Humans are mostly to blame for the apocalypse, even if they were manipulated."
I said.
"The vampires simply felt freedom and crawled out of their holes, but it was previously forbidden. In fact, it's a series of manipulations, and it continues even now. You used to be a believer and fought for humans... What would happen if I gave you the chance to feel again?
I asked aloud.
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