《Holy Akashic Conqueror》 -2 P.atreon @@ Hi my name is Trafford and I am mainly writing fan-fiction novels and I am a beginner author. I have created the P.atreon to make some money as it would come handy to me. If I am writing something as my hobby I could at least make some profit from it. :D I would also give me more motivation to write and you would be ahead of current releases if you support me. :) Thank for your pledges. :) Nec possum tecum vivere, nec sine te. https://www.p.atreon.com/Trafford@@ -1 Hi there, new novel, news, real life shits @@ Hi, my friends, After two weeks of pause in writing, I have several news for you. Some may be sad and some good. 1. Slowed release rate because I have exams I wanted to go on hiatus because I will be graduating soon, but I can''t do it to you, so I will be slowing the release rate to two/three chapters per week. The slowed release rate would start at 1. April and end at 1. June, whole two months. I am very sorry about this, but it is still better than complete Hiatus. 2. New novel, Darkness of the Legends https://www.webnovel.com/book/13338284706534805/Darkness-of-the-Legends After reading a ton of fanfictions on DxD on Fanfiction.net I have created one of my own. Note this!!!! - completely random releases as this novel is sub-project until I complete the First Volume of Goat. This means that I would be releasing chapters randomly when I want because the main novel I am focusing on is GOAT. But sometimes I need to write something else to refresh the mind. Basically, this novel, would be a huge slice of life, romance, harem, epic fights and traveling through the world and so on. Little opposite of GOAT.@@ 1 Prologue In an unknown place, in Void, countless stars were shining and the universe was looking so beautiful. "If you had one chance to chose a world to reincarnate what would your choice be, my dear friend?" Asked, the old man in the golden luxurious looking robe. He was sitting on the throne and before him was a young man with handsome looks. He had white hair and light blue eyes. After seeing that young man was still confused he continued to talk. "You were supposed to be born in another world but by mistake of Akashic Records, you were born on Earth. Sometimes fate could be a cruel thing. I, as Administrator of Akashic Records, will reward you for your achievement for connecting to your record." The young man was called Lucien. He spent most of his time doing two things. Either he was watching anime and reading novels or he was meditating. Due to his mysterious illness, the only thing which helped him calm down and relax was meditation. He was practicing meditation for nearly twenty years. His family was rich but even with money, nobody could identify his illness. He visited many famous doctors and institutes but nothing worked. Only by meditating, following technique of one old monk whose his father encountered and helped him he could release his pain. "You weren''t ill, my dear friend. Only your soul was constantly rejected the will of your world. That was a reason behind your bad physical and mental condition. So now I will give you the question again. Which world would you chose?" Lucien was shocked to hear that but is a very intelligent person he understood it very quickly. Now he was thinking about the proposal of that old man. He was choosing a world to live in. He could reincarnate everywhere he wanted. First, he was thinking about cultivation worlds and then about a fantasy world filled with magic. After a few seconds of pondering about this one world came to his mind. It was a rather darker world filled with blood and danger, but it was in modern times. Lucien hypothesizes that every world is connected with each other so he wanted to start in some weaker world. "I wish to enter the world of Tokyo Ghoul." Said Lucien to the old man. The administrator didn''t say nothing only looked at him once and then started to look for something on the transparent window. Lucien knew what was that window. It was [Akashic Records]. "Interesting. So per the rules of Akashic Records, I must give you rewards. One is compensation, another is the reward and the last one is a gift. Choose now." Lucien had three wishes. He even knew what approximately will he pick but before that he wanted to ask one very important question at least for him. "What will be my family and background after reincarnation be?" The administrator was a little surprised at his sudden question. He thought that Lucien will already choose some abilities or something and not ask about his situation after rebirth. " You seem quite intelligent young man, so I will give you a little gift. You will be born to the Etras di Aeon House which is an aristocratic house of ghouls with special bloodline, Sacred Devourer. Thanks to this I have changed some things in the world so it will be different from what you know. I can guarantee that your background will be excellent and won''t be anything tragic. And the last thing to say that with this bloodline and race you won''t encounter something like the majority of ghouls. The bottleneck of evolution." Lucien was satisfied after hearing this. He wanted to have some background in the new world. He knew that the world of Tokyo Ghoul was a rather cruel place and many of ghoul families were slaughtered. Especially part when he heard he could evolve infinitely. Now he was choosing his three wishes. "For my first wish, I chose the power of Divine Telekinesis. My second wish is that my Kagune and is detachable and could be formed to weapons and other objects with enough RC Cells and my last wish is that I could save one wish for later opportunities. I don''t know what to wish now so I want to save it. " Lucien really didn''t know what to chose so he just wanted to keep it. The administrator was really surprised at his choices and was somewhat happy. "Very well. You will have your wishes and last wish will be saved for later. You can redeem it anytime through your Record in Akashic Records. Now please look at your Record. It will be already updated with new information and rankings." Pointed Administrator at the transparent window. Lucien looked at his own record too. He was curious at changes. ============================================= Name: Lucien Etras di Aeon Bloodline: Sacred Devourer Race: Sacred Devoured Ghoul RC Type: Rinkaku RC Level: N/A Unique States: N/A - Rating: N/A Offense: N/A Body: N/A - Psionic Energy:1,000 - Abilities: Divine Telekinesis Sacred Devourer - Ability to devour any types of energy, bloodlines or bodies. It strengthens the host by some amount. Divine Telekinesis - Divine Telekinesis is an extremely rare variant of telekinesis ability. It has much more power and requires lower Psionic Energy to activate only if a person has inborn Divine Telekinesis. If someone wants to learn this type of ability requirements will be tremendous. 10 PP per minute Psionic Energy-Special form of energy, stored in brain. Can be cultivated and is power needed to perform Divine Telekinesis. ============================================= Lucien was extremely pleased as he was looking at his record. He was very confident to have a very successful life and reach a high level of power. "Are you satisfied young man?" Asked Administrator after looking at Lucien''s smiling face. He knew the answer and still asked a question. "Very good. With this road to power will be somewhat easier. Thank you very much, Administrator, of Akashic Records." Lucien bowed elegantly to Administrator as he thanked for everything he has done. "One more thing. When you reach a certain level of power and gain a stable foothold in that world you would be able to travel to another world. This is something you have already noticed. It''s because the world you have chosen in some ways considered as Low-Level one and after some time you won''t have opportunities to evolve there. " This was already something that Lucien knew. World of Tokyo Ghoul was really lower-leveled compared to other worlds as cultivation worlds or some anime worlds. He knew that after some time he won''t be able to evolve any further so he will be forced to leave to another world to seek power. "Don''t be afraid. You will be always able to return to the world if you are considered as owned of that world by Akashic Records. You only need to do a few things for ownership but as that world is low-level one it will be very easy. So good luck to you." Said Administrator to Lucien as he was disappearing from the void. "I forgot to say that you will be born few years before Ken Kaneki was born. Maybe five years and maybe even ten hard to say." Lucien only hardly heard what was an old man screaming as he was already disappearing from the space. 2 Rebirth Ghouls. Carnivorous and cannibalistic species that are only able to feed on humans and other ghouls. They are just like humans. They look the same but they are a hunter. They are around the entire world. Hidden from the eyes of normal people and lurking in shadows. Even though they look like humans they inner biology and physical abilities are vastly different. Average ghoul is roughly four to seven times stronger than a normal human. Like any other hunter, they too have their weapons. Deep inside the Bermuda Triangle was one Island. It was called Blood Island and was considered Sacred Land by all ghouls. Even though practically none of the ghouls knew about this place only a few very powerful ghouls and noble ghoul houses knew about this island. This place was not very big but not very small. It had around 500,000 to 600,000 square meters and was surrounded by many other smaller islands. For the outside world was Bermuda Triangle always a mystery but it was not so mysterious. This entire place was covered in some weird formation which prevented anybody from entering. Only people with something like keys were allowed in. This place was ruled by Etras di Aeon House which came here from very very far away. Members of this house were also ghouls but were much stronger than ordinary ghouls and fewer in numbers. In middle ages when Inquisition was still active there was a massive war between Holy Knight of the Church and everything which was related to the dark as Ghouls, worshippers of Satan or Vampires. After long years of War Holy Knight were annihilated and their organization was destroyed leaving no survivor behind. But this came with costs. Almost all of the noble houses of Ghouls and Vampires were exterminated, only leaving a few of them. They have decided to retread to the mysterious island which was found in Bermuda Triangle to recuperate. Some ghouls remained on the continent and they quickly reproduced to now known ghouls. Even though they were somewhat weaker compared to the past they were still much stronger compared to normal humans. Ghouls could reproduce here faster because there were humans here and on Blood Island, there was nothing only on thing on what could ghouls feast. Legendary Entrance to the hell was located here. Because of that Ghouls from Blood Island were stronger but they numbered only in tens. Compared to that, Vampires became the only legend because all survivors of Vampire Race retreated together with the last surviving Noble Ghoul House together to the Blood Island. ============================================= Blood Island, Mansion of Etras di Aeon House Mansion of this old house could be described by only one word. Magnificent. It was a mansion in style of those British mansions. Entire mansion was filled with old artifacts like swords, armors or paintings. The entire mansion now was great chaos. Many maids and servants were running here and there and Lord House, Asmodeus Etras di Aeon was walking nervously in the living room. He looked very handsome, around the thirties and had long white hair and light blue eyes. Reason for his nervosity was rather simple. His wife Selena was giving birth to a baby. Danger during the birth of these ghouls was far greater than declaring war to entire CCG despite being A Rank Ghoul. He was very nervous. It was their first child and maybe even last. Most couples living here on Blood Island could be glad for one child be born. Asmodeus started to read some books to calm himself down. After some time old butler came to the living room with a wide smile. "Congratulation, my lord. Lady Selene has given birth to the boy and both young master and lady are in perfect condition. You could visit them." When Asmodeus heard him he was very very happy. His son was born and his wife was healthy. He immediately went to see his wife. She was a very beautiful woman with long black hair and somewhat pale. She was holding the little baby boy in her hands and was smiling brightly. "Dear please name our baby." Said Selene to her husband with love. She was now very happy. Finally, she gave birth to the baby and had a family. "He shall be named as Lucien! Lucien Etras di Aeon, heir of the Aeon House." Said Asmodeus with pride. ============================================= Six years already passed since Lucien was reborn. He started talking in his three years surprising everyone around him. Every day he would spend with his mother which was guarding him as a most precious treasure. What shocked him most was the fact that this gentle woman was, in reality, SSS Rated Ghoul and was extremely powerful. She had detachable kagune which could be shaped into weapons and other objects. He heard that from the talk between maids. They feared mistress of the mansion very much. Lucien loved her mom most because she was best for him. Only when it came to question when will he start learning how to fight she was strictly against it. Saying that he was too young for that. His father had a different opinion but couldn''t say a word. Even though his wife was far weaker than him she had other weapons in her arsenal. But he started to cultivate RC Cells. His father was always saying to him. "RC Cells are like a form of material energy. We could cultivate them in our bodies and that makes us powerful. You could increase your RC Cells rating by eating other ghouls or by eating demons or other powerful creatures. Of course, this only applies only to us because we have Sacred Devourer Bloodline. Ordinary ghouls can''t do the same as us. For now, you could only eat some powerful ghouls which are sent here or demons and cultivate RC Cells." Right. Aeon House had very good relationships with America. Ghouls weren''t anything hidden from society and even existence of Blood Island wasn''t hidden from most powerful political circles. So when America attempted to infiltrate Blood Island and fought with Aeon House, the ending was a loss of American Ghoul Exterminating Forces and pact. Dangerous ghouls above S Rank will be captured by Aeon House and sent to Blood Island as the source of food and Aeon House. In exchange, America offered some technologies as compensation for Aeon House killing dangerous ghouls. Lucien was eating S Rated Ghouls almost every day. Cannibalism could lead to loss of sanity but thanks to his Sacred Devourer Bloodline Lucien was saved from that. His father said that day when his RC Cells will reach over 1,000 he will teach him how to fight. But his bloodline had some bad sides too. The growth of his RC Cells was very slow. He ate best of the best for the six years and only had RC Level around 500. But his RC Cells were much more stable and stronger compared to other ghouls. 3 Progress Lucien was very eager to study his RC Cells. They were the foundation of ghoul''s power. RC Cells were flowing like blood inside his blood circulation system. They were not merged with his body so Lucien was wondering what would happen if he tried to fuse them with his body. He theorized that it would make his body much stronger. This process was similar to body refining technique like in those cultivation worlds. He just needed to fuse his RC Cells with his flesh and bones to make them much stronger. But the sad thing was the fact that he couldn''t do that. The first reason was that he found requirement on RC Level to fuse it. It must be at 10,000. Only then he could fuse them with his body. When his RC Cells would fuse with his body he won''t be able to use his Kagune until he increased his RC Level. Lucien was already thinking in his mind how his new ''cultivation technique'' would look like. He only designed the first stage of this method and in a second he heard sound in his head. To be exact it wasn''t random sound. It was something like notification from Akashic Records like he heard in his first life when he connected to his Records. He knew that this sound or so-called notification would only appear when something serious or very important happened, so he was very curious about what it was. Then he promptly opened his own record and looked at new column what was written there. He was already very familiar with the transparent window before his eyes. ============================================= RC Body Refining Technique Body Refining Technique based on the fusion of RC Cells with the body making it extremely strong. Can be used only by Sacred Devourer Ghoul. Baron Rank - 10,000 RC Cells required ============================================= As Lucien looked at this he knew he created something fascinating. Not only for him but for his family too. He knew one thing for certain, that time when he reached so-called Baron Rank he will be omnipotent in this Low-Grade World. He knew this from one fact. That RC Level of 10,000 was tremendously high. Only one person in the original story achieved this feat and his name was Kotarou Amon after being experimented on by Dr. Kanou. He reached RC Level of 10,181. He was an extremely talented Ghoul Investigator and fighter and after his capture by Aoigiri Tree, he was given to Dr. Kanou. One of sixty-three investigators subjected to the ghoulification process he was considered as a failed specimen cause of his high RC Level. But from an ordinary human with a trained body he gained physique and abilities much stronger and potent compared to other natural born ghouls. He was literary superhuman even among ghouls. For now, Lucien had only one goal and that was an increase of his RC Level. He knew that he must eat stronger ghouls or demons. Now he only got some weaker ghouls because his body might not able to handle devouring of ghouls above S Rank. ============================================= Lucien was currently with his mother as she was teaching him some basics of their history and political situation of the world. His mother was giving huge weight on his education in the history of the world and history of races like ghouls, vampires, and others. Another lesson was training in Kenjutsu. His mother has agreed to teach him basic of Kenjutsu because of Lucien''s non-ending pleading. She couldn''t say no to her beloved son and he couldn''t learn how to fight with his Kagune as he still hasn''t awakened his Kagune. She herself was very talented in way of the sword and was probably one of the best in the world if you cast aside those old monsters who trained in Kenjutsu their entire life. He already knew that his Kagune was of Rinkaku Type so he wanted to create Kagune like Kamishiro Rize. Her Kagune was extremely powerful and beautiful too. "Mother, when will I awaken my Kagune?" Asked Lucien his mother who was holding a book in her hands as she was reading something about history to Lucien. His mother Selene stopped reading and looked at her son with a sigh. "When you reach RC Level around 800 to 1,000 you will certainly awaken. So be a good boy and eat a lot of demons and ghouls to increase your RC Level. Then you could learn how to fight with your Kagune." Said his mother with a smile and then she kissed his forehead. Lucien was very eager to learn how to fight using his Kagune. The reason, why most ghouls were killed despite being much stronger physically, was that they only used brutal force during the fight. They had no fighting style or something similar. They just smashed everything around them with Kagune or their body and called it day. Compared to them investigators of CCG were much more trained and were better combatants despite their lower physical strength. "Mother when could I leave our mansion and go tour Island?" Currently, Lucien was forbidden from leaving the mansion of Aeon House. The reason was that he was too weak and danger was lurking everywhere on Blood Island. Demons which escaped hell or some mutated beasts were everywhere. "As your father said. When will you have Kagune you could go tour surrounding parts of Island but only with guards that you father will arrange." Lucien only nodded obediently his head in approval. He knew that his parents won''t let him go out of guarded territory because of danger. So he must get stronger faster and he will be able to explore the island. Another 4 years went as water and many changed. Lucien already awakened his Kagune and had exactly same Kagune as Kamishiro Rize. He had four beautiful tails from his waist in black and red color. He even almost reached the threshold of 1,000 RC Level, so only a little time needed to reach criterium set by his father and he could already start learning how to fight using Kagune. ============================================= In the study room Asmodeus was sitting behind the giant wooden table and the old butler was reporting to him. "My lord, there is an invitation of Washuu Clan to visit their residence. I believe they wish to consult something rather important." Washuu Clan was the ancient clan of ghouls in Japan. Ironically they created CCG to fight against other ghouls. They were ruling force in Japan and even though they were weaker than Aeon House they still had a rich history and were ruling force. "I will visit them at a later date. I will take Lucien with me as I probably know what they want." Said Asmodeus to the old butler who nodded in agreement. 4 Washuu Butler''s name was Sebastian. He was the butler of Aeon House fore very very long time because Sacred Devourer Ghoul''s lifespan was far much longer compared to ordinary ghoul''s. But then he started thinking about something before he looked at Asmodeus. "What it is Sebastian?" Asked Asmodeus. He always considered Sebastian as part of a family because he took care of him when he was a child and Asmodeus treated him with huge respect. He always listened to his pieces of advice or ideas. "Young Asmodeus I don''t think that alliance with Washuu Clan is a wise choice. Even though they are ancient clan and are powerful, from what I heard from spies inside CCG, Washuu Clan or V their clan is just rotten to the core." Sebastian called Asmodeus by his name when they were alone because nobody was listening to them. In public by rules, he was required to call him by rules of nobility. Old Sebastian deeply hated entity called Washuu Clan. This clan originated from the Middle East. It was true that they were powerful because of their long history of cannibalism they developed hereditary Kakuja and very powerful RC Cells even from birth. But they were just a bunch of hypocrites. They created an organization called Commission of Counter Ghoul or shortly said CCG to hunt their own kind and central family leading them. On top of that, they treated every one of their own ghoul investigators as disposable pawns that could be replenished. Same could be said about their branch families as Arima or Ihei Families. After seeing that Asmodeus wasn''t replying Sebastian continued to talk. "Most troubling and alarming is the fact that they started a programme called Sunlight Garden with the purpose of providing education to ''talented'' children. In fact, they are creating half-humans, more specifically human-ghoul hybrids to become members of CCG or V. Basically they are expanding their military power at an alarming rate." Officially was Sunlit Garden facility under the management of CCG. But Washuu Clan and V were mostly involved there. They are training human-ghoul hybrids to became members of V or CCG. For example White Reaper, Strongest Investigator Arima Kishou was from this project. Of course, he wasn''t alone. Many of Squad 0 or some of stronger investigators were from this facility too. Another purpose of this Sunlit Garden was breeding of ghouls with tremendous potential as Kamishiro Rize to preserve the pure-blooded Washuu bloodline. Sunlight Garden coupled with many branches of Washuu Clan gave it its power. They were much more in numbers compared to the Aeon House. "I know Sebastian. But something tells me that Washuu Clan won''t have a good ending. But still, we can''t ignore them. Even though they might be in terms of power and powerful individuals lacking compared to us they have the advantage of numbers which we don''t have. Washuu Clan has deeply infiltrated human society and the Japanese government. Plus they too have some individuals to compete with our Royal Guards as Tsuneyoshi Washuu, known in his youth as Oni Tsune and that one called Arima Kishou has very good potential. Only that his lifespan won''t be much." Human-Ghoul hybrids have much shorter lifespans than ghouls or human. They gained stronger physique than common people but it shortened their own lives. "That is certainly true Asmodeus, but still we must be careful. I think the best course of thing would be secretly to support some ghoul organization opposing them. We need to lower their strength by any means. Only sad thing is that because of Gate to Hell we can''t leave this place in larger numbers. Always only a few of us could leave and Royal Guards must always remain here." Sebastian was searching for some way to decrease the power of CCG, Washuu Clan and V. So perfect thing was to support some ghoul faction to oppose them. They could support them with their own A Rated Ghouls and a minority of S Rated ones. "Old man now let''s stop talking about Washuu Clan. We will deal with them when the time will come. With a course of things, it won''t take a long time. Now we have even more serious problems as Washuu." Closed Asmodeus this topic. He too was very inclined to supporting some faction to oppose CCG and Washuu to decrease their power. Now they must just found some and prepare some of weaker ghouls of Aeon House to support them. But don''t think that weaker ghoul of Aeon House is a weaker ghoul. Every A Rated ghoul of Aeon House could fight ordinary S Rated ghoul in outside and had high chances in the victory. "When will young one undergo Hell Trials?" Asked old Sebastian. Hell Trials were something which every member of Aeon House must undergo. It consists of only one thing. You must enter Hell, survive there for the required time and kill some number of ordinary demons and one higher demon. "When he will be 16 he will attempt trials. Firstly he must learn everything he could and must strengthen himself as far as he can. Hell is an extremely brutal place full of dangers and enemies. But it''s full of treasures and demon bodies could be used for evolution so opportunities are huge as danger there." ============================================= Lucien was currently standing in the training field with his mother as he was showing her proudly his Kagune. Four beautiful black-red tails were growing from his waist. His Kakugan was already on. Kakugan denotes a ghoul''s eye where the iris turns red, and the sclera black with red veins across the eye and into the skin around the eye. The ghoul can enter this state by their own will, but this state is also entered when the ghoul becomes excited, gets extremely hungry or when they use their kagune. It basically influences of activated RC Cells. "Good, good my little lovely boy is soooo talented." Clapped his mother in happiness. Her son has now Kagune and it was Rinkaku Type. She was interested if her son had dual-kagune. "Mother I have another surprise for you." Grinned Lucien as his Kagune transformed to the beautiful pith black katana with red patterns on it. When his mother saw this she was shocked and overjoyed at the same time. Lucien had detachable kagune that was able to transform into weapons and had even powerful Rinkaku. Then Lucien turned of his Kakugan and his Kagune vanished into thin air. His mother Selene immediately came to him and hugged him and kissed his forehead. "Now that you have your Kagune you will start training with your father how to fight with Kagune and learn Martial Arts of Aeon House and your lesson with Kensjutsu and using kagune to transform into a weapon will be now much stricter than before as I know that you have the same type as me." Lucien was very happy to hear that. In his previous life even though he had a family he saw his father only a few times in all twenty years and his mother died during birth. So term of motherly love was new to him and he felt feeling like never before. Mother''s love. "You could continue to train here. I will go find your father to tell him the news." Than Selene turned around and left. Lucien was left alone in the training field. He sat down and looked at his record within Akashic Records. He didn''t look at it for a longer time and now he awakened his Kagune and RC Cells increased vastly. ============================================= Name: Lucien Etras di Aeon Bloodline: Sacred Devourer Race: Sacred Devoured Ghoul RC Type: Rinkaku RC Level: 1,065 Unique States: N/A - Rating: C (this is a rating of Blood Island Ghouls, not outside. So just based on he has just awakened his kagune and all he could fight again some weaker B-Rated Ghoul and kill him) Body: N/A ( cultivation rank of the universe, cause Lucien can''t cultivate any energy because of his bloodline he could only cultivate his body. Psionic Energy is exception cause he was already born with it) Psionic Energy: 1,000 ( Energy required to perform psionic powers. Only type of energy Lucien can cultivate, cause its inborn. ) - Abilities: Sacred Devourer -Ability to devour any types of energy, bloodlines or bodies. It strengthens host by some amount Divine Telekinesis - 10 Psionic Energy per minute ============================================= 5 Kagune Kagune. Ghoul''s predatory organ and functions as their weapon and claws. Flexible like the low of water, but firm and sturdy. When released, a ghoul''s physique is strengthened, they are more resilient, and their mobility heightens. The kagune are voluntary muscles as ghouls can control them whenever they want and repeatedly harden and soften them at will. Kagune size depends on the Rc cells'' quality and quantity while the shape depends on the creativity and intellect of the user. Another thing was that only Kagune in this world was capable of delaying healing of ghoul''s injuries. Because of this reason, only weapons effective against ghouls are kagune-based quinque as tactical means to battle against ghouls. But to that later. Lucien has currently recapitulated everything he knew about Kagune from his memory. He needed to remember important information about kagune''s cause every one kagune had its own advantages and disadvantages. The kagune''s appearance and the place of emergence on the body depend on the Rc type of the ghoul. There are four different Rc types: Ukaku, Koukaku, Rinkaku, and Bikaku. As a guideline, each type can characteristically subdue another type, although it may be different for two specific opponents. Each Rc type has a set of strengths and weaknesses, each one unique to its type. An Ukaku (feather-red) is spread out like feathers and is released from the shoulder area, it specializes in high-speed attacks, most of the users seeming to have highly enhanced speed. The kagune is lightweight and can be used to deliver high-speed attacks against an adversary, the primary method of attack is crystallizing their kagune to deliver a high-speed torrent of spike-like projectiles, however, whilst crystallized they are much stiffer and cannot be used for short range combat; at least one ukaku-type can generate powerful lightning-like bolts, a possible rare ability. While the kagune is suited both for short-distance and long-distance attacks, short-range is considered their weakness. Another weakness more important was that releasing RC Cells depletes stamina. Thus, ukaku-type users lack endurance and are at a disadvantage if the battle drags on for a long time. Examples were Kirishima siblings Ayato and Touka. Especially Kirishima Ayato who was extremely strong SS Rated ghoul with Ukaku. Another type was Koukaku (shell-red) is released below the shoulder blade. Due to its high density of Rc cells, it is heavy and extremely robust, giving it the greatest sturdiness and making them very well suited for defense. Normally, they are generally shaped into armors or shields, but on the offense, they can be shaped like melee weapons such as drills, hammers, blades, and swords. Due to its high weight, a koukaku''s speed is inferior to all other Rc types and the kagune is difficult to wield. Example of this was Gourmet Tsukiyama Shuu or Donato Porpora the Priest who was very dangerous SS Rated ghoul. He was detached for a very long time in Cochlea Prison before he escaped when Kaneki Ken killed Arima Kishou during Third Cochlea Raid. Bikaku (tail-red)typically has a tail-like appearance and is released around the tail-bone/coccyx. It is good for medium-distance attacks and has a decent offense, defense, and speed. Thus, they have no notable strengths or weaknesses like the kagune based on other Rc types, meaning the kagune itself is treated as a surprise "trump card." The number of tails a bikaku user can create is usually one, but some can create more. A bikaku has better speed and durability against the brute-force, breakable rinkaku, allowing them to cut off the rinkaku''s kagune. However, a bikaku will be overwhelmed by the faster ukaku-user and will lose against the ukaku''s long-range attacks. For example Nishio Nishiki, Serpent had bikaku and was at least S~ Rated. And finally last type of kagune which Lucien considered as most powerful. Rinkaku (scale-red) has an appearance similar to scaled tentacles and is released at the back around the waist. A rinkaku wielder has powerful regenerative abilities and some could even survive the most critical of damage. Its peculiar appearance and structure yield a superior striking power and they excel in brute strength. Some rinkaku users are able to manipulate the shape of their kagune, such as changing its usual tentacle form into swords or claws. Most of the dangerous ghouls as Oomori Yakumo better known as Jason, Kamishiro Rize knows as Binge Eater or Kaneki Ken had this type of kagune. But this kagune had weakness and that was thanks to its regenerative powers which is a result of the Rc cells easily binding together. Their Rc cells are similar to liquid. However, this means that the binding force among the Rc cells is weak, therefore making the kagune very soft and easy to break. But because their Rc cells bind so easily, some rinkaku can bind their multiple tentacle-like kagune together to make a larger, stronger kagune. So far the number of tentacles that rinkaku users can create are from one to eight tentacles. But Lucien knew that this wasn''t his problem because his RC Cells as cells of Sacred Devourer Ghoul were far much stronger compared to the ordinary ghoul. So it could be said that his kagune of rinkaku type was as hard as bikaku which gave him unprecedented strength. Currently, he was waiting for his father to come and teach him how to fight as a ghoul. The family had some kind of ancient martial arts developed specially for ghouls, how to fight using their kagune most effective way and don''t use just brute force as was a trend nowadays. As he looked at his record he was a little bit disappointed that he can''t cultivate in future any other type of energy because of his race and bloodline. His bloodline was devouring any time of energy that he came to contact with. The only exception was psionic energy because he was born with it already but he still didn''t know how to use Divine Telekinesis. He still didn''t even awakened his telekinesis ability. He was already thinking about what will his third wish be but he decided to wait for some time. But even though he was pretty satisfied. He had Body Refining Cultivation as the main type of cultivation system and this was a very powerful system. Most people in the universe only cultivated energies but totally forgotten about cultivating their bodies. Lucien had extremely formidable body cultivation method and he even had psionic power as energy cultivation, though he didn''t even know how to cultivate it. " I would probably need some kind of cultivation method to increase my psionic powers. It was already more than 10 years and my psionic powers didn''t increase even by one point which is rather sad. The only choice would be visiting some world which had developed many psionic power users and so has many cultivation techniques or to which something like cultivation technique from Administrator of Akashic Records. Considering that leaving this world is now and in the near future impossible only second option remains as a possible choice." Lamented Lucien in a weak voice as he was laying on the ground of the training field as he was waiting for his parents. ============================================= Meanwhile, his mother was walking in a great mood towards the study room of her husband, Asmodeus to inform him about the great talents of Lucien and start his combat training already. It was good for Lucien to start learning how to fight in younger age and then he could already go kill some weaker demons as practice. 6 Sacred Rinkaku Scripture Asmodeus was sitting in his study room and reading a book about something as he noticed that his dear wife decided to visit him at this time which was rather unnatural because was morning only a few hours after they had breakfast together. But someone smart as he, he naturally knew what was the reason. "So how is it? How is his kagune?" Asked Lucien''s father Asmodeus with a very curious voice. His son has finally awakened kagune and now the time has come to chose suitable martial arts for him. Asmodeus secretly hoped it would be rinkaku or bikaku. Selene knew what was her husband thinking about so she decided to wait a little bit before telling him to tease him a little. Compared to her husband''s serious personality she was more relaxed in nature. But when she was angry she was far more ominous then Asmodeus. "Genius. He has rinkaku and already concealed four tails and his kagune is also detachable able to shapeshift into different weapons and objects as mine. Overall his potential is great and his RC Level already crossed over 1,000. I think that he is prepared to learn some of family martial arts and I will teach him Kenjutsu far more serious than before." Said Selene with a happy voice which contained a hint of seriousness. Knowing that her son had such great talents made her happy but worried too. As one old proverb says " With great power came a great responsibility". So Lucien will shoulder entire Aeon House in the future and all ghouls on Blood Island. It was not easy tasks to be such a leading figure and one needed tremendous personal strength. "Good, very good I will go to the treasury to pick up suitable martial arts manual for him. We can''t let him become like other ghouls outside who only smashed everything around them but still were killed by humans which were better combatants." Said Asmodeus as he stood up and already walked to the family treasury to find suitable martial arts manual for Lucien. As Lucien had Rinkaku same as him he already had an idea what will he gave him. ============================================= Lucien was still sitting in the training field with both of his eyes closed as he tried meditating. He knew it won''t increase his RC Level or anything but it became the habit for him. At least it was still good for calming himself down. "Lucien come here." He immediately opened his eyes as he saw his father calling to him. He was clothed in a totally different way. It wasn''t those luxurious robes but training suit. Similar to his own which he was wearing now. Time to training came to his mind. So he rushed to his father as fast as thunder. "Mother told me about your kagune and your RC Level crossed over 1,000 so it is time to learn how to fight and practice martial arts of Aeon House. I was in treasury and picked up special martial arts suitable for you. Its inheritance from our ancestors from a long time ago, but nobody was able to even start practicing it properly. Most of them just abandoned because they couldn''t even reach the first level of martial art Rinkaku Baron." Said Asmodeus with a little pitty in his eyes as nobody was able to master an entire ancient martial art. Lucien looked at the book titled "Sacred Rinkaku Scripture". He took this somewhat thicker book from his father''s hands and started list and read. But then when he wanted to read this Sacred Rinaku Scripture to stages above Rinkaku Baron he saw that he can''t see anything other than blank pages. ''Baron cultivation rank is a form of universal cultivation in the entire universe. The first stage of Sacred Rinkaku Scripture is called Rinkaku Baron. The probability of something like this happening is zero so the only rational answer is that this Scripture is on the level of some Heavenly Martial Arts.'' As he was thinking about the origin of Sacred Rinkaku Scripture he heard a familiar sound from Akashic Records. It was the same sound when he invented the RC Body Refining Technique. ============================================= Sacred Rinkaku Scripture Ancient Martial Arts of Sacred Devourer Ghouls of the universe. It contains wisdom about using your Rinkaku most effective and destructive way. But this technique must be dual-cultivated with RC Body Refining Technique as it has harsh requirements on the body of ghoul. Baron Rank - Baron Rank body, mastered First Stance (punch combinated with rinkaku attack) ============================================= Lucien knew that now he had picked another treasure but again something for the long term. The reason why nobody from Aeon House could reach Baron rank was that they didn''t have RC Body Refining Technique so they couldn''t reach full-fledged Baron Rank. Most what they could do was mastering of First Stance Punch x Rinaku Attack but that''s all. Lucien started carefully studying the First Stance Punch x Rinkaku Attack which seemed rather simple but wasn''t. It required to dividing your mind to perform punch at your opponent and at the same time attack with your rinkaku at the same spot. Your coordination must be perfect. In a second you took back your hand as you have punched your enemy all your rinkaku attacks must fall immediately to achieve the most destructive result. His father was just waiting for Lucien to finish reading before they started basic training. They didn''t use their kagune and just fought barehanded. He was teaching the basics of basics to his son. Lucien thought it would be easy and he could dodge punches from his father with ease cause he won''t go all out on him. But that was a terrible mistake. Like flash attack from Asmodeus appeared before Lucien and shot him like a bullet to the walls of the training field. Some bones in his body cracked and Lucien started coughing blood. "You think I will go easy on you? Don''t be naive. Your enemies on the battlefield too won''t be going easy on you so you must learn how to fight. And your regeneration will heal these minor injuries in minutes." Said his father with a smile. It could sound cruel but Lucien knew that it was pure truth. Nobody from his future enemies be it humans, demons, ghouls or other races will go easy on him. Lucien stood up as his injuries were already healed and rushed at his father at top speed. Asmodeus saw it but didn''t dodge or anything. He took a defensive stance and prepared to take this attack head-on. He wanted to knew what strength his son had achieved. Lucien''s full strength punch fallen at crossed arms of his father and pushed him back around one meter. Asmodeus was full of joy now because the strength of his son could be said very good. Even though Asmodeus didn''t defend at all. He didn''t use even RC Cells in defense. "Good, very good. From now we will train together everyday combat. If I can''t attend due to some circumstances someone from Royal Guards will take my place to train you. Your mother will teach you than how to you detachable kagune and Kenjutsu more frequently than now." Said Asmodeus with a smile. He was truly happy because of Lucien''s progress. And he was an obedient child who didn''t cause problems and focused more on getting stronger. "Father I must talk with you about something very important. I think that I have invented body refining technique for Sacred Devourer Ghouls using RC Cells." Said Lucien words which left his father stunned. Completely. Like he was struck by thunder and lightning. But then this changed to immense happiness. 7 Discussion and Psionic Asmodeus took Lucien to his study after both of them changed to their ordinary clothing. Cough ordinary. One maid brought them two cups of tea. One more thing to be said about Sacred Devourer Ghoul was about their taste. They could drink more things compared to ordinary ghouls. Ordinary ghouls could only eat human flesh or flesh of fellow ghouls and drink coffee. That''s all. What was rather interesting was the fact that ghouls could smoke and have allergies to metals or some materials. But this was only among ordinary ghouls. Sacred Devourer Ghouls were an exception of all this. "So what is that miraculous technique which you have invented Lucien. Could it really strengthen our kin to the new heights?" Asked Asmodeus with eager. He was extremely interested in a way which could help them cultivate to the whole new level. Asmodeus saw fact it. When he was in Hell, though it was only entry even though he was still almost killed when he went to the deeper parts of the layer. Lucien''s thoughts were similar but still different. He wanted to strengthen his kin because of another reason. He wanted to expand the power of his family to cultivate them and help him in the future when he will leave this Low-Grade Dimension. "Yes, father. I have experimented with my RC Cells for a long time. Like you have said they are like a form of energy that makes us strong. But they are only flowing in our blood circulation system and nothing more. But I have questioned myself what would happen if I were to fuse them with my body together. The result of that I would make our bodies extremely strong. Far stronger than anybody in this world. If you read those Chinese cultivation novels we would be already considered formidable body cultivators." Explained Lucien to Asmodeus who was listening with his all attention. Then he took out his notebook which contained method of how to practice RC Body Refining Technique. Asmodeus started urgently read it. After reading it all he was in ecstasy. The first level Baron Rank required RC Level to reach 10,000. Asmodeus had RC Level over 60,000. Compared to his ancestors it was a small number but he was still rather young. "My RC Level allows me to reach Baron Rank and be half-way to Viscount Rank. I will immediately go to seclusion to try it. With this, we could explore more from that dammed place and clear entire Island from those demons who escaped to the world." Lucien was horrified to hear that his father''s RC Level was over 60,000. He already knew that this world was vastly different from that he knew of. Mostly it was because of him when Akashic Records changed some things in this world. "Father how many people we had which are able to reach Baron Rank and more?" Lucien too was rather curious how strong was Aeon House in reality. He had a theory that if his father was already this strong and has such high RC Level there must be more powerful people who serve as guardians and protectors of the Aeon House. "We have around 20 people capable of reaching Baron Rank and maybe some will be able to reach Viscount Rank. Only then the situation will be stabilized. I haven''t told you that recently more and more powerful demons started appearing in the entrance to the Hell and some of them even escaped to the Island." This surprised Lucien too much but at the same time made him worried. He knew that activity from demons was a very bad thing.In blood Island, there was rift to the hell. Now only some of weaker demons were able to cross it but if Baron Ranked demons will come troubles will follow. Not to speak about Viscount Ranked demons which could be said to be a calamity. Even one of them could easily wreak havoc around entire Low-Grade Dimension and turn everything upside dow., Asmodeus hugged his son and patted his head. "I am very, very proud of you my son. You have done a great deed for our Aeon House in time of crisis." This was certainly true that he made a great contribution to the family. He was too happy about it because if his family gets stronger it would benefit him too. Not in this world until the treat of an entrance to the hell was resolved. ============================================= Lucien returned to his room and lay on the bed and started thinking about other serious problem which was already here for a longer time. Psionic Energy and his Divine Telekinesis. He already knew the reason why he can''t awaken it. His body was not strong enough to support such strong power. The problem was increasing his psionic energy. It was located and stored in his brain but he couldn''t do anything with it. He didn''t know what to do so he tried to do it by force. He started forcefully using his psionic energy to awaken his Divine Telekinesis. From start, it looked good until terrible pain was running through his entire body and especially the brain. He felt like his brain was going to explode every second. He was rolling in his luxurious bed but he didn''t scream. He didn''t want to worry about his parent about this. But sadly he couldn''t bear it and his screams very quickly spread to an entire wing of the mansion. This quickly attracted guards and maids standing before his door. They immediately called his mother which already had tears in corners of her eyes and his father had somewhat worried expression. They called a doctor who examined Lucien with some special methods. "Congratulation Lords. Young master has awakened psionic ability telekinesis." When his parents heard that they were shocked. Because it was told that it was impossible for Sacred Devourer Ghouls to have something like psionic abilities because their bloodline devoured any time of energy. They heard about the concept of psionic abilities as telekinesis or telepathy. But then they sighed relief. It was the very joyful thing that their son had now telekinesis ability. Because combined with his detachable kagune shaped into weapons as sword or daggers it could create very formidable long-distance combat style. "How long will be the sleeping?" Asked Selene. She was still rather worried about the condition of her son. As a mother, it was natural that she was worried about her son. "About few days at most. His body and brain need to adapt to a new situation so it will take some time. After that, it will be better if for following days his training won''t be too harsh because his body and brain still may be adapting." 8 Awaken and continue to train Lucien was currently feeling a very weird feeling in his brain as it was expanding. His brain cells were working faster and faster and were processing every information accepted. This wasn''s only waking of the telekinesis ability but complete evolution of his brain to the whole new level. Even though this was a very painful process it only took around two or three hours to complete. He was completely awake now and could feel everything in the room through his Divine Telekinesis. It was a wonderful feeling. This telekinesis like observation was rather similar to some kind of spiritual sense or divine sense. It let him know everything around him and feel presences of people around. It could be used to even measure strength and cultivation of the person if he continues to practice with it. But as he was tired from the entire process, Lucien just continued to sleep due to his high fatigue. ============================================= He woke up after three days and the first thing which he did was that he tested his telekinesis. It was just a small test as he only looked at the glass of water at a near table glass was slowly coming to him as he took it to his hands. "I have finally managed to awaken Divine Telekinesis. Even though I can''t increase my psionic energy level, for now, the consumption of psionic energy to perform Divine Telekinesis isn''t so huge. So if I end most of my fights within one hour it would be okay as I can''t delete all of my reserves or it could damage my brain. What''s more my perception and senses all gotten much stronger than before." Lucien was now in a very good mood. His telekinesis ability was awakened and usable and even though his psionic energy level wasn''t very high it was enough to fight around one hour with pure usage of telekinesis ability. After that, he drank a few glasses of water and changed his clothes from pajamas to the luxurious black suit like the robe and went out of his room. Outside room were two family guards standing on guard. "I am already alright. Escort me to father and mother." Said Lucien immediately after he opened the door of his room, not giving guards any time to react. They obediently nodded their heads and taken Lucien to Asmodeus and Selene. Fortunately, Lucien''s room was rather close to the study room of his father and training field wasn''t far away too. As they were walking through the corridor Lucien was looking at a various beautiful painting that his family collected in many generations. There were many paintings, sculptures exposed here just to decorate the mansion. In the human world most of these things would be heavily guarded in museums or various institutes but here they were freely hanging on walls or placed on pedestals. Many of these works were from famous painters as Da Vinci or Van Gogh. But more interesting things which served as decoration of the mansion were old weapons from middle-ages. Cold weapons as longswords, katanas, kunais and various armors of knights, crusaders or Japanese samurais ornamented entire mansion of Aeon House. Currently, Asmodeus and Selene were together in the library. They were both sitting on a luxurious leather sofa, which was placed in a front of the fireplace, wherein a fire was burning wood and cracking of burning wood was heard an entire room. Hs father Asmodeus was reading the book and his mother leaned over his shoulder with closed eyes. "Father, mother!" Yelled Lucien at an entire room to know his presence to the couple who were in their own world. It was very effective. His mother jumped like a cat whose tail was stepped on and ran to hug him. Her hugs were very strong as she was Sacred Devourer Ghoul with extremely high physical powers. "Mother, I can''t breath." Hearing this, his mother released him a little but not completely. He father put down the book and too came to him and patted his head in a more affectionate way. "Lucien tells us, the doctor said that you have awakened psionic ability called telekinesis. Can you demonstrate it for us?" Hearing this, Lucien nodded this head and used his telekinesis ability to bring a book which his father read here. Both of his parents were surprised to see book levitating in the air. Then book fell in Asmodeus ''s hands. "This ability allows me to control objects with my mind. I was thinking that I could use my kagune to shapeshift it to some swords or dagger and control them with telekinesis to perform long-distance attacks. Its destructive power would be surely great." Explained Lucien his idea to his parents. They both had looks of surprise and joy on their faces. Then his father seemed thinking about something as he turned to Lucien and said to him. "Your training will be resumed after one week. The doctor said that your body will need rest to adapt to your telekinesis ability. After a week you could start practicing as normal and also practicing usage of your telekinesis ability." ============================================= This one week passed with as fast as thunder. Lucien was only doing almost nothing. He just spends most of his time reading books in the library, studying Sacred Rinkaku Scripture or pondering about how to upgrade RC Body Refining Techniques. He didn''t count activities as eating and drinking coffee or tea into this. Besides he also spends a few hours with his mother as he loved when she was reading him some stories about fights of his ancestors with some other powerful ghouls, vampires or some other creatures. He managed to know even time in which he was born. It was around the same time as Ken Kaneki was born. So when will original story acts begin he will be around 18 to 19 years old. He wanted to visit Japan as he got to know that Japan contained one of the most powerful ghouls on earth beside Blood Island. Another reason was that he wanted to meet more than one person there. But he wanted to meet certain sensei most. From what he heard from his father he got to know that Washuu Clan was planning something big. Nobody here had a good impression of Washuu''s. Something that didn''t happen in the original story and was unique. Even his father didn''t know what it will be but it won''t be anything good. Washuu Clan and Aeon House didn''t have the best relationships. ============================================= In the training field, Lucien was currently clothed in his training suit and his mother was showing him right use of detachable kagune and how to shapeshift it into weapons and other objects. His mother too had rinkaku type kagune and now was currently showing six tails from her waist as her kakugan was already on. He just looked at her tails and heard her saying. "Everything depends on your imagination. You must imagine a weapon which you want to have and your kagune will shapeshift into it. A number of weapons are depending on your RC Level. So with your current RC Level could create only one sword or around five daggers. When your RC Level will increase you will be able to create many more weapons." Her mother created a beautiful pair of snow white katanas, holding one in each of her hands. "Now try to do same." 9 Weapons and Quinque types Lucien was now in deep thoughts on designing his katana from kagune. The first weapon he decided to make was katana because it was his most beloved weapon and he was most proficient in using katana. His mother was a very good teacher when it came to regard teaching kenjutsu. As Lucien was imagining katana his kagune was slowly taking the shape of a weapon. It started condensing in his right hand and after a few seconds of work, it was done. In Lucien''s right hand was beautiful katana with pitch black handle and red blade. On the blade, there were some thread-like patterns in black color. Lucien very satisfied with the result of his first tries to make the weapon from his kagune through shapeshifting. Thanks to that, katana was made of kagune it was far stronger and tougher than most weapons in this Low-Grade Dimension and only some of best quinque made by humans or some top-grade legendary weapon artifacts of this world. "Good now you have completed the first step. Try to familiarize with your weapon. Just basic slashes would do." Selene was too satisfied with her son. Making weapons with kagune as material when one had detachable kagune was a rather hard task. It depended on the imagination of the person. If a ghoul can''t imagine proper image with his fantasy he can''t condense even basic kitchen knife. Lucien did as his mother said and started to exercise and familiarize with a kagune weapon. He started basic slash, which he performed without any mistakes. He learned kenjutsu for a rather long time and he perfectly managed to perform basic stances like slash or pierce. "Our kagune weapons are one of strongest weapon in this world. Only some legendary artifacts or top-grade quinque can rival them or destroy them." Said his mother as he was still practicing with his kagune katana. After hearing that he stopped his movements and walked to his mother. He was curious about one thing. Quinque. He knew only a little bit about the only weapon known to be able to kill the ghoul. "Mother, could you please tell me more about quinque?" Asked Lucien with sparkling eyes. His mother couldn''t say no to her son when he was looking at her with these eyes. "Of course my darling. Quinque is weapon manufactured from ghoul''s kakuhou. It was invented by Adam Gehner and Washuu Yoshiu. They can be made into some type of melee or ranged weapon, but most retain a few characteristics from the original kagune. In contrast to kagune, quinque cannot change shape nor store or absorb Rc cells other than what was harvested from the ghoul it was made from. Preceding the quinque, humans had been using firearms to combat ghouls and needing a more efficient tool, they began intensive research that resulted in its creation. Made solely to exterminate ghouls, quinque were considered the new generation of technology, promptly and effectively raising the extermination rate. Ghoul investigators transport them in bags or suitcases to store the kakuhou. However, only Rank 2 ghoul investigators and up are permitted to use quinque." Lucien was listening to mother explanation about quinque. He heard two important people who invented quinque. Namely Adam Gehner and Washuu Yoshiu. Adam Gehner was Commission Chief of the Ghoul Forschung Gesellschaft, the German counterpart to the CCG. This institute GFG or Ghoul Research Association is one of the largest research organization in Europe. Several people from Japan who went abroad and joined the organization during some point in time. For example, Kanou Akihiro referred to as Professor Kanou, the one responsible for Kaneki Ken''s transformation into an artificial one-eyes ghoul and many other experiments was in GFG. Another one was Chigyou Kouitsu, better known as Doctor Chigyou. Head ghoul researcher at CCG Laboratory Division. He used to be a researcher in the GFG in Germany. He was responsible for making very powerful quinque as 13''s Jason for Suzuya or other. Washuu Yoshiu was the previous chairman of Commission of Counter Ghoul, CCG. He was the father of Washu Tsuneyoshi and was considered as an extremely powerful ghoul. It was said that he fought with one of Royal Guard of Aeon House and managed to get a draw. "Then there could be Chimera quinque and Kakuja quinque. Chimera type - In rare cases, a quinque can also be fused from ghouls with chimera kagune, or multiple kagunes. Multiple kagunes combines into one quinque and it styles as one effective weapon. It can also be made when the ghoul in question naturally possesses two Rc types. Chimera quinque are useful for opposing multiple types of ghouls, though it is unknown if any combination of Rc types is possible or can occur naturally as chimera ghouls are extremely rare and the technical difficulties of fusing two Rc types together means that very few are capable of being used in the field." Lucien knew that having two types of kagune was extremely rare and only a few ghouls have two types of it. From the original story, he remembered only two characters with two types of kagune and that Nutcracker and Fueguchi Hinami. Quinque made from multiple types of kagune was very powerful and useful. Most notable one belonged to Mado Akira, named Amatsu. It was created from koukaku and bikaku kagune. "Kakuja quinques are a special type of quinque created from ghouls that have cannibalized and evolved a mutated kagune, becoming a kakuja. It has been commonly shown to function as armor; protecting and enhancing the capabilities of the user by stimulating their body while equipped. So far, it seems to not be sustainable for long since the quinque comes with the drawback of slowly biting into its user the longer it is maintained and feeds off the wearer''s vigor in order to conserve energy. Despite the vast majority of kakuja quinques taking the form of armor, there have been several instances in which kakuja quinques have taken more offensive forms such as blades. Aside from being potent melee weapons, these quinques retain special traits of the original kakuja, such as ranged projectiles, detachment, advanced kagune formation, and remote activation." In an original story, most of these kakuja quinques were made from kakuja of Kirishima Arata, the Corpse Collector. He was the father of Ayato and Touka. His wife Hikari was killed by Arima Kishou, he was confronted by a Yomo Renji, brother of Hikari. Arata was overwhelmed with guilt and started to carve for more and more power. He then began scavenging both human and ghoul corpses. Soon he started to killing both ghouls and ghoul investigators as revenge for his wife''s death. Later he was exposed by Mado Kureo and Shinohara Yukinori. Life and Death battle followed and with CCG and he was killed. He was subjected to the harvesting of his kakuhou, which is being used as the CCG''s exoskeleton armor quinque, respectively named "Arata". Some of these kakuja quinque were made of most famous ghoul Owl, which was harvested from the kakuhou of Yoshimura and used by Arima Kishou or kakuja quinque named Ginkui which was harvested from the kakuhou of Noro and used by Urie Kuki. "Thank you mother, for your teaching." Thanked Lucien to his mother as he was preparing for the spar. His mother took a similar battle stance to fight with her son. Now learning of usage of kagune begins. 10 Spar and resul Lucien gripped strongly his katana and rushed at his mother with full speed. When he was already near her and ready to slash at her with his sword he just felt a dull pain in his stomach only to realize that he was kicked several meters away. ''Fast! Even with my strengthened reflexes, I couldn''t even see her!''. Screamed Lucien in his head. It was certainly true that his mother was far stronger than him. He was just mere ant now. So counterattack has begun. This time his mother was lowering her strength and speed to his level. They just focused on pure kenjutsu contest in this fight. Because Selene was going rather easy on her son, Lucien started to parry attacks and even tried to attack a few times. All his efforts in attacking came in vain but still it was good to just parry attacks of his mother, thought Lucien. The disparity was too huge. Even though his mother was using the same speed and strength in her attack, her attacks were more accurate and sharper than his. This was a disparity between swordsman. His mother could be rated as an exceptional genius in way of the sword. Her talent in this was high enough to make even some immortal jealous. After ten minutes or so, Lucien couldn''t even stand properly. So he made a last gamble to do something. Divine Telekinesis. His katana started to first disintegrate to four smaller daggers in red-black color. All four of them were levitating around Lucien. They were guarding him. ''So my little boy is using his new power. Even ten minutes could be considered a success, but he still chose to continue to fight. More impressive that he actually chose the usage of telekinesis and created four kagune daggers to it.'' His mother was rather impressed by this feat. He was mentally and physically exhausted but Lucien still chose to fight. He had the heart of the true warrior. But at the same time, she was worried about him. She knew that as Sacred Devourer Ghoul he had powerful regeneration abilities. Even more, he had rinkaku type kagune to his regeneration rate was far more powerful compared to the other three types but still, she couldn''t help to worry. Another thing was fact until he stopped match or he can''t fight anymore, spar can''t be stopped or it would be insulting to the warrior. Suddenly as she was spacing out, Selene found herself surrounded by four flying daggers as they were circling around her. They were eyeing her as a wolf was eyeing sheep. She gripped strongly her katana and took a battle stance. In a second all four dagger attacked. At the same time, they flew towards her at incredible speed but they were repelled with one swing of her sword. Daggers were flying in the direction they came from but in a moment all of them started rotating and continued attacking. Two of flying daggers started fiercely attacking Selene and the other two were waiting for their opportunity to attacks. Lucien was waiting for the right moment to attack as he was waiting for some kind of opening. As two dagger were more and wilder and unrestrained in their attacks, Selene had to more and more her mind concentrated at two daggers before her and seemed forgotten at two that were hidden, waiting. Like a rumble of thunder from a clear sky, another two daggers shot like lightning at her. Lucien was very confident that he could now at least injure her but the reality was far more pathetic. As the other two daggers were approaching her she materialized her rinkaku and with help of her rinkaku jumped several meters away. She was now before Lucien and all daggers fell to the ground. Only dust was left on the place where Selene was standing before. "Did you think that I would only use my sword even though I said we could only use the sword? Never believe even in one word they say. You can''t believe anybody and always be on alert." Then she came to him and started to clean him from the dust. Lucien didn''t have even one bruise or injury because all were healed by his fascinatingly strong regeneration factor. Especially those with rinkaku type had much stronger regeneration abilities compared to other types of kagune. "On your first time of fighting using detachable kagune we could say you were rather good for a newbie. Your creating of weapon out of kagune was pretty good but a little slow. It wasn''t created an instant. You must practice your weapon creation more often to achieve much lower time required for the creation of the weapon." Said his mother. She was rather satisfied with his performance. It was his first try at his kind of thing and usage of detachable kagune in creating weapons was hard. It completely depended on the imagination of the user and didn''t have anything with anything else. Only another thing which mattered was high enough RC Level. "I must praise you for your usage of telekinesis ability when you already saw that you will lose. It was nice the last try of desperation. But remember one thing. Always take care of yourself and don''t overly depend on your high regeneration factor. Mother would be very sad if something serious happened to you." Continued his mother as she hugged him and patted his head. Her son was her pride and happiness in this world. "I will and I know the mother. Even though our regeneration abilities are extremely powerful and with new RC Body Refining Technique we could become even more terrifying but what if exist something in this world what is the nemesis of our regenerating abilities. Like some kind of flame which could burn out body to ashes until nothing is left. So I know that I can''t depend on this too much or it would become my great weakness." Selene looked at Lucien and was in a very good mood. She always thought that her son was a genius and it was proved as truth again and again. "Good, my little darling is so smart. Now go, for today it is all. Tomorrow you will train with your dad and then again with me. Each of us will be training with you one all the whole day." Smiled Selene and Lucien only nodded his head. Then he went to change from his suit to another pair of clothes. ============================================= Lucien was currently sitting with crossed legs in his room as he was meditating. He was currently digesting one bottle of blood from some more stronger demon which his grandfather captured in hell several years ago. His grandfather was a very strong ghoul and by Lucien''s intuition he could match up to Baron even without body refining technique he invented. But sadly he was heavily injured when he was fighting the extremely dangerous demon in an entrance to the hell around seven years ago. He killed demon but the price was high. He went into a deep hibernation to heal his injuries and was in it for the whole seven years. When Lucien stopped thinking about that and focused more on the activity of his RC Cell and refining of that vial of demon blood. His RC Cells were reproducing as they were mad. He could feel the tremendous increase in his RC Level. 11 RC progress Lucien wanted to look at his record. He couldn''t tell how much his RC Level increased by himself and could only rely on record. Perhaps when he reached a rather higher level in observation through using psionic energy he could do it that way. For now, the only record was available. He opened his record which he hasn''t seen in a long time. Lucien was eager to see changes there. ============================================= Name: Lucien Etras di Aeon Bloodline: Sacred Devourer Race: Sacred Devoured Ghoul RC Type: Rinkaku RC Level: 1,798 Unique States: N/A - Rating: C (this is a rating of Blood Island Ghouls) Cultivation: N/A Psionic Energy: 1,000 - Abilities: Sacred Devourer - Ability to devour any types of energy, bloodlines or bodies. It strengthens the host by some amount. Divine Telekinesis - 10 Psionic Energy per minute. Enhanced Reflexes - Cultivation Techniques: Sacred Rinkaku Scripture: N/A RC Body Refining Technique: NA ============================================= Lucien looked at his RC Level and found that it had increased from previous 1,065 to current 1,798 what was a very nice increase in RC Level. The new thing in his record was something called Enhanced Reflexes. These were results of waking of his telekinesis ability and smaller evolution of his brain. And one more new thing were Cultivation Techniques were now displayed and only two were there. RC Body Refining Technique and Sacred Rinkaku Scripture. But what was worse was that both of their ranks was empty. It was because he still didn''t reach Baron Rank in body refinement and in Sacred Rinkaku Scripture. ''I feel that when I hit RC Level 2,000 I would be able to use my kakuja. Probably I would have kakuja like the rest of my family, divided into four stages based on my RC Level. Still, it''s better than those body-like-armors like Yoshimura''s had or Roma.'' Lucien was always feeling that having kakuja smaller was better. He didn''t like kakujas that was big cause he felt that their power is not concentrated in one place and can''t be used more efficiently. He liked kakujas like Kirishima Arata had or V7 of Kaneki Ken''s kakuja which was body armor with blades forming from his shoulders. Lucien was now very curious about kakuja so he went to visit one person who knew ghoul physiology best on this place. It was that doctor who came to look at him when he passed out during his attempt to unlock psionic energy in his brain and telekinesis ability. But sadly when he asked his personal maid if he could visit the doctor she informed him, that doctor wasn''t currently available. So he went to the library to search book about kakuja. Library in Aeon House was one of biggest room in the entire house. There were thousands of books and many of them were very very old. Some were from middle-ages and there were even some scrolls of ancient times. Lucien searched around half an hour for the book about kakuja. He wanted only some kind of brief guide and not some complete novel, which was written for researchers and doctors. He found a smaller brief guide about kakuja and started reading it. Basic description of kakuja was. "Kakuja is a kind of kagune that clads the ghoul''s body. Though it is rare, it can occur through repeated cannibalism. When a Ward has a higher ghoul to human ratio, cannibalism is more common due to turf wars and limited food supply. Sometimes, the transformation is incomplete, and such individuals are called half-kakujas. It is said that through cannibalism, a ghoul absorbs Rc cells, and this increases the concentration of Rc cells within a ghoul''s body. If the concentration becomes high enough, it may trigger a mutation and lead to the formation of a new kagune. A kakuja can further evolve by continuing to cannibalize their kind. Kakuja can be eventually developed into a much larger and monstrous form. The transformation seems to be affected by psychological factors. Power of kakuja apart from the predatory kagune ghouls commonly possess, a kakuja has a special kagune that clads the ghoul''s body and functions like an armor. The kagune amplifies the kakuja''s strength or diversifies their abilities, which makes fighting one of them especially hard. However, using a kakuja kagune is nearly impossible because most users tend to lose their minds while fighting with it. It is unknown why some ghouls are able to remain sane and others are not. One reason may be that all unstable/insane ghouls using kakuja are half/incomplete as full kakuja are not observed to have any problems maintaining control." Lucien finished reading basic kakuja guide and started thinking about these texts. It was certainly true that kakuja was an extremely powerful state that ghoul can attain. It greatly enhanced physical power and abilities. This could be counted as a plus. But this state was extremely dangerous to the ghoul. To ordinary ghoul of course. As Sacred Devoid Ghoul were devoid of these disadvantages. But the main disadvantage was a loss of sanity. Most ghouls which cannibalized on other ghouls didn''t have their rationality and sanity even when they were not using kakuja state. But when they used it even those who kept being sane before, went insane when kakuja was on. It was very hard for the ghoul to maintain their rationality during a fight with the usage of kakuja. Another problem was with a form of kakuja. Most famous ones as One-Eyed Owl of Yoshimura Eto or "Dragon" of Kaneki Ken. Lucien always thought these kakujas could be much stronger if they concentrated all their kakuja around themselves, compressed it and created compressed multi-layered body armor. ============================================= Next day Lucien got up early and started his training as usual. Either he was training in "Sacred Rinkaku Scripture" with his father or kenjutsu and usage of detachable kagune with his mother. It was the same routine. His mother didn''t teach him any specific sword style and thought him only basics. She said to him when will he reach the rank of "Swordsman" he would be qualified to learn something more as slash or pierce stances. Apparently, there were many tiers of sword users based on their own understanding of the way of the sword. Like in cultivation worlds or magical fantasy worlds. Only one difference was the lack of some energy here because this was just basic Low-Grade Dimension and nothing more. Lucien was sure if his mother was in some cultivation world with her talent in way of the sword she would be able to cut even Viscounts in two. Viscounts in body refinement techniques. Lucien was spent two months this way before something important happened. One day when he was training alone in the training field he saw an old man standing at the corner of the field. He had very long white hair reaching to his waist and white beard. His face had some wrinkles from old age on it and he was armored with the serious and strict look. Clothed in very luxurious black Japanese kimono and wooden sandals. With his looks, he resembles Washuu Tsuneyoshi. But they just looked a little similar. Lucien knew who he was. He was previously head of the Aeon House and father of Asmodeus, thus grandfather of Lucien. Lucien didn''t remember him much cause when he was small his grandfather was severely injured and was forced to enter hibernation. But he knew him from paintings and photos. They just looked at each other, not saying a word. His grandfather, Azrael just examined his grandson before gentle nodding his head. When Lucien saw that, a small smile grew on his face as he nodded too back. It had a simple meaning of ''we will speak later''. 12 Grandfather woke up! In Asmodeus''s study, there were currently only two people present. One was Asmodeus himself and another was his father who woke up from his sever years-long hibernation. He looked exactly the same as he looked like when he went to the hibernation. "Father, congratulation on your healing. It took seven years to completely heal from that injury." Said Asmodeus with strong enthusiasm in his voice. Now that his father was finally healed he Aeon House obtained another extremely powerful warrior. If he were to cultivate that RC Body Refining Technique he could reach Viscount Rank and they could have a good chance to reach deep parts of an entrance to the hell. Azreal was happy and sad at the same time. He spent in hibernation over seven years to heal from his injury. His grandson didn''t appear to remember him and only knew him from paintings, photos, and talk of others. In old age, many people would want to spend their time with their families. Some would realize that kinship and familial love are the most important thing in life. But without power to protect it, it''s impossible to have peace. Azrael realized the fact. Fact that demons coming to the Blood Island through that spatial rift which was located in the place they called entrance to the hell was a mortal danger to the entire island, both races living here and Aeon House. "I am healed and feeling good. I have seen my grandson training in the training field. He has grown up a lot. Now that I am finally awake I must spend some time with him, he looks so cute when he is still little. Now tell me what happened past these years. Only the most important events would do. Especially those concerning those dammed creatures, vampires and Washuu." Said Azrael as a little tear escaped from his left eye. Asmodeus saw that but pretended not seeing anything. "Father situation in that place is now rather stable. But compared to seven years ago there are more demons. Some of them could be stronger but their numbers are increasing. Around five or so years ago a large number of them escaped from there and is currently living freely on an island. We don''t have enough manpower to deal with them all. The same applies to vampires as well. But now our situation got much better. Lucien that kind invented something fascinating. It''s called RC Body Refining Technique, which actually fuses our RC Cells with our bodies permanently and makes us extremely powerful. Here look at this father." Explained Asmodeus everything to Azrael and then he took out the scroll with RC Body Refining Technique and gave it to Azrael. He looked at it carefully and almost got heart-attack. "Perfect, perfect!! With this could our race be more powerful and if some more powerful of those dammed demons will come we could deal with them with ease." Screamed Azrael in his happiness at entire room. Because there were only two of them it was okay but still, it looked a little weir. Before the old man stopped laughing, Asmodeus continues to talk about the previous topic. "That''s not the same. The reason, why we couldn''t reach the first rank in our Sacred Scriptures, was lack of this. Lack of stronger bodies. Now that many of our kinsmen reached Baron Rank in this body refinement technique some of them reached first layers in Sacred Scriptures. I too have advanced in Sacred Rinkaku Scripture." When the old man heard that he felt like he was receiving double heart-attack. But this was excellent information for certain. For hundreds of years none of Aeon House could reach even first layers in Sacred Scriptures but now that''s to Lucien everything was possible. "Good. I must give him some kind of reward. Probably entire blood essence of that demon which almost killed me would go to him. He deserves it rightfully." Said Azrael. He was injured in a fight with the very powerful demon but he still managed to beat it and subsequently to kill it. He refined its entire body to one vial of pure blood essence which he saved for himself. Now he decided to grant it to his grandson for contribution to the house. "What about Washuu''s Asmodeus?" Topic names Washuu was always a thorn in the eyes of people from Aeon House. Many of them were regretting of not exterminating them hundreds of years before when was the perfect chance. Now they were deeply rooted and causing trouble. "Nothing changed compared to before. They are still amassing power. They sub-organizations V and CCG are growing at a fast pace but we have already thought about countermeasures. When Lucien will pass hell trials and attain a strength of S Rated Ghoul he will be sent to Tokyo with one of Royal Guards to hunt in secret for Washuu clan members." Azrael didn''t say anything and just nodded his head and continued to listen. "Lastly about Vampires. They are just hidden in their castles and researching their blood magic or whatever it''s called. But they still helped us a lot when we hunted for stronger demons." Vampires were always like that. The numbers were even smaller than Sacred Devourer Ghouls whose were more than a hundred. But Vampires were only about fifty or so. They spent most of their time locked in their towers and castles and were researching some weird ocular things and blood magic or blood manipulation. "Let them be. Now we must prepare for Hell Trials of our young one." ============================================= Next day Lucien was sitting with his grandfather Azrael at gardens within areal of the mansion. To be told it wasn''t a garden but rather only giant zen garden. It was tranquil and peaceful. Very good for meditating and relaxing. Lucien was asking his grandfather about demons in hell and how strong they were. He knew that in six years he will attend Hell Trails and must survive there for at least a half year. "This is blood essence of the demon which severely injured me and forced me to enter hibernation. It was the most powerful demon that I have encountered for my whole life. Take it and refine it. It would increase your RC Level by a lot. I must tell you that your invention of RC Body Refining Technique has impressed me very much and I am proud of you." Said Azreal as he patted Lucien''s little head. Lucien looked at the blood red liquid in the vial with sparks in his eyes. He knew that finding suitable nutrition for the growth of his RC Level was rather hard in Low-Grade Dimension. Very hard as most of these dimensions didn''t even have something like monsters. "Thank you very much, grandpa. With this, I would be able to achieve my kakuja V1. It would enhance my strength strongly." Thanked Lucien and Azrael smiled and nodded. Lucien was now very close to the activation of his kakuja. He only lacked a little more of RC Level. His RC Level now was around 1,800 and only 200 points were missing. But he felt that with help of this vial he would be able to reach probably RC Level 3,000 if he had a stroke of luck. Then Lucien accompanied his grandfather until it was evening and then went to his room. 13 Kakuja and meeting administrator again Lucien returned to his room and immediately opened the bottle with blood essence of that strong demon given by his grandfather. It had a weird, somewhat sweet fragrance and there was a hint of slaughter aura. He gulped it all in second and started to refine the blood essence. When the blood essence was in his body, his RC Cells started to multiply at an alarming rate. They were more and more of them for every second passed. Lucien could feel that his RC Level was increasing rapidly already hitting the line of 2,000 required for activation of Kakuja Version 1. This process took around one hour before the entire blood essence was refined and transformed into the RC Cells. Now the only thing which remained was his kakuja. Lucien was very eager to see how his kakuja would look like. He knew that every one of this family had similar kakuja, in all their versions. The only weapon would be different but the rest would be the same. Lucien turned his kakugan on, his iris turned red and sclera black and he invoked his kakuja. It was basically only body armor around his left hand. Only his hand was covered in kakuja armor and in his right hand was congealed katana from kakuja. Even though it was very different from kakujas of other ghouls, Lucien liked it very much. He could use body armor on his left hand as a shield to block attacks and his right hand to attack. After he was done with examining his kakuja he looked at his record to see his kakuja on it. ============================================= Name: Lucien Etras di Aeon Bloodline: Sacred Devourer Race: Sacred Devoured Ghoul RC Type: Rinkaku RC Level: 3,597 Unique States: Kakuja V1: Left hand - body armor, right hand - kagune katana - Rating: C (this is a rating of Blood Island Ghouls) Cultivation: N/A Psionic Energy: 1,000 - Abilities: Sacred Devourer - Ability to devour any types of energy, bloodlines or bodies. It strengthens the host by some amount. Divine Telekinesis - 10 Psionic Energy per minute. Enhanced Reflexes - Cultivation Techniques: Sacred Rinkaku Scripture: N/A RC Body Refining Technique: NA ============================================= Lucien was surprised that his RC Level skyrocketed from 1,798 to astonishing 3,597. He was almost at the threshold of Kakuja V2 which required RC Level of 4,000. But he knew that he would need some time to stabilize his new RC Level as he gained a huge increase and his body might be not able to handle another increase in RC Level. Lucien laid down at his huge bed and started to think about the future. He was thinking about his 3rd wish from the Akashic Records. For a long time, he was thinking of what to wish for. But now as he was lying on the bed and thinking about the situation on blood island, within his family or his race, he already got an answer. He only passed the short message to the administrator with simple content. [Administrator I am ready to utilize my third wish. So transport me to the void] He needed to notify an administrator to transport him to the void. He wanted first to speak about the wish itself cause it was not a simple thing he wanted. After several second Lucien was clothed in strong light to which he instinctively closed his eyes and when he opened them again he was in familiar place from several years ago. The sky was still beautiful as he remembered, studded with countless stars, galaxies and universes or dimensions. It was a magnificent view. Before he was familiar throne at the giant golden pedestal with ancient pillars around it, forming some kind of circle. On the throne, an old man was sitting with an amused expression on his face as he looked at Lucien. For people like him, 10 years were like second. Even a million years were like seconds to him. Time didn''t matter anymore when you cross the certain border in cultivation. "Welcome my dear friend, tell me what brings you today to see me? Have you chosen your 3rd wish?" Asked old man with an excited voice. Lucien still didn''t understand why did he call him a young friend but it didn''t matter. Even if he asked, probably he won''t get any kind of answer. "Yes, administrator. I have chosen my last wish from You. I wish for overwriting of record of my race, Sacred Devourer Ghouls. I wish for three things to be overwritten. First, it to let our species cultivate psionic energy and became espers. Second is to have for all of our species have double kagunes. And the last one to weaken genetical constraints of our kind in regard to childbirth." Lucien said his wish. He wanted only these things. Things what would make his kind and family stronger and more useful in higher grade dimensions. For example, if all Sacred Devourer Ghouls could cultivate psionic energy and obtain some powers as electrokinesis, pyrokinesis and so on and became espers it would greatly strengthen race itself. At same cultivation rank, they could even use psionic energy to fly in the sky and those with ukaku could be even faster with the usage of this kind of energy. Another thing was double kagune. They could combine to the various combination which would greatly benefit its wearer. And final and one of the most important was childbirth. Sacred Devourer Ghouls had very very low fertility. As any powerful race, even though they were actually not so powerful because living in Low-Grade Dimension they had a huge problem with conceiving of a child. Lucien wanted to change this. He stood there silently and just looked at the administrator sitting on the giant golden throne as he was looking at the transparent windows levitating before him. After some time, it appeared that he digested Lucien''s wish only now, he started screaming at him like mad. "Are you mad boy?!?! Do you know what are you even asking for? Overwriting of record of an entire race? The race which already is classified as extremely dangerous and with huge evolutionary potential and you still want more? That goes against every rule of Akashic Records!!! Chose something else." The administrator was now really angry at Lucien''s presumptuous wish. Rewriting record of entire evolutionary strong race as a whole was unacceptable. But Lucien was different. Seeing that administrator was really angry he still didn''t want to give up. So he tried to negotiate. "I understand, but there must be some other ways. I swear that I will do anything in my capabilities in exchange for this wish." The old administrator gave Lucien deep look, before turning his head away and started to search for something in his browser of records. After several minutes of searching, he turned to Lucien again with a wide smile on his face. "I have found a way for you to accomplish this and it won''t be an easy path. My young friend, did you hear about God-Devil System?" 14 Executor "God-Devil System?" Asked Lucien in confusion. He knew about it from the novel he read. It was a supreme treasure in possession of Red Crystal King and later protagonist of that novel. It had the power of creation and control over space and time. It was supreme treasure across entire God-Devil universe. "Yes. In reality, God-Devil System is nothing more than just a fragment of Akashic Records itself. Power of creation and those other super abilities are only just a small part of Akashic Records true power, but still, this thing can''t be left who know where. So I have a proposition for you. I will grant you your wish and you with your family will obtain some items for me which shouldn''t be left freely roaming multiverse. Are you interested?" Lucien knew that this was his only chance to achieve his goal. He reluctantly agreed to the proposal of the administrator. "Good. Now we would begin the test by fire and blood. I hope you didn''t think that I would agree without any kind of insurance that you could reach the required cultivation to comply with my tasks." Now Lucien was utterly shocked. He originally thought that this thing was already done and he could only obtain God-Devil System in the distant future when he got strong enough. But that had even a good side. He liked to fight like any other ghoul, Lucien was obsessed with fighting, cultivating and training. "Fight will commence here. You will fight against random monsters with exact strength as your own." Suddenly from the void, some creatures started appearing. There were three of them. Lucien recognized them with only one glance. Ogres. They were all around two and a half meters with ugly faces. From their forehead, one small horn was popping out. Their physique was by a one-word giant. They were very fat in their belly parts but their arms and legs were big as a trunk of the tree and muscular. A couplet with their fierce gaze but somewhat blank they looked strong but dumb at the same time. "These ogres had no cultivation and only body strength. Even innately ogres had a body that of Baron Rank. Of course, they are nothing compared to the Baron Rank reached by some supreme techniques like your RC Body Refining Technique, but still frightening enough to wreak havoc around many places. So now let the fight begin." Lucien firstly scanned all ogres for weapons and armors. Luckily they didn''t wear any kind of armor and a weapon they had one giant wooden club. Ogres weren''t smartest creatures out there and were considered as dumb ones. Lucien took a battle stance as he turned on his kakugan and congealed for tails of his kagune. He wasn''t attacking but waiting for ogres to attack first. Then he could counterattack and kill one ogre at one hit. As he stood there it seemed at provocation to ogres and the first one already rushed at him. ''Really dumb ones.'' Thought Lucien. Lucien too rushed at him and ogre gripped his giant wooden club and slashed at Lucien with full force. Lucien didn''t dodge and just used three of his tails to block the blow. Wooden club collided with three black-red kagune tail and successfully blocked the blow. Attacking ogre was surprised that his blow was defended so easily but suddenly felt some sharp pain from his spinal cord. There was dagger made out of kagune stabbed. Lucien used three tails to black the attack and congealed one longer dagger, which he controlled through telekinesis to attack ogre. Ogre''s body without any signs of life fell to the ground as the other two ogres were stupified from what has just happened. Lucien used this opportunity and rushed at ogre to his right which was still dreaming about something. He combined two of his tail into and with full force slashed at the hand of ogre which was holding the wooden club. The hand was severed in an instant as ogre started screaming at entire place. Lucien then jumped into the air and with dagger slashed its neck. Then he just looked at the last remaining ogre which was looking at him with full attention. The ogre already knew that Lucien was enemy number one but it was aware of the fact that Lucien is much stronger than it. As nobody was making a move, Lucien transformed his entire kagune to around ten daggers and all of them flew with full speed at the ogre. The poor monster tried to defend with the wooden club, but without any success. It was sliced to dead after two minutes of a constant bombardment of flying daggers. The administrator was just touching his head with facepalm and cursing at stupid ogres and Lucien''s luck. "How could you get those stupid ogres as your enemies. I shouldn''t take random choice during choosing monsters. If I had chosen some Void Monster I could have harvested higher benefits. Aaaaah so is it." Lucien only smiled back at the old man which in turn angered him more. But after some time he calmed down and they continued their talk. "You will become Executor of Akashic Records. Your permission will be increased as time goes and you will obtain reward after the completion of every task by me. Your wish will be granted and soon all Sacred Devourer Ghouls will undergo record overwriting. After reaching Viscount Rank they would gain the second kagune and after reaching Count Rank they would unlock psionic energy and some psionic power." Lucien nodded his head happily that his wish was realized and now his race would be again much stronger. But in future, his race would become executives of the will of Akashic Records. "Look at your record. There will be a minor update." Lucien opened his record, to see that he received the message from Akashic Records. ============================================= Occupation: Executor of Akashic Records You are someone who is executing the will of Akashic Records. This gives you the privilege of using more authority of Akashic Records. You could view records of people without huge disparity in cultivation or some protective treasure. You are able to receive missions from Akashic Records and rewards from completing them. Current Access Level: Executive (only basic informations) ============================================= Lucien stared blankly at the message in his record. This kind of occupation had many benefits for him and his race. Firstly he could visit many worlds and obtain precious bloodlines for refinement, treasures and many other precious things from those worlds. Secondly being able to view records of other people was a huge plus. Even though he could only view basic information, it was still enough. Thirdly he was now stronger tied to Administrator of Akashic Records which was a rather good thing. As Lucien was still spacing out and thinking about all advantages of being Executor, old Administrator was already losing his patience for ignorance of his person. "Now that you had become Executive of Akashic Records there are a few responsibilities you must know. Firstly, when you ascend to the higher grade dimensions or world you are forbidden to meddle too much with a lower one. Secondly, you can''t break any rules of Akashic Records. Thirdly you need to complete every mission given to you by me, if you can''t finish the mission you must immediately report it to me." Lucien listened to the old man as he was talking to him about his new responsibilities as Executive of Akashic Records. "And now privileges. As Executive, you have the right to choose dimensional ship or something which could be used to travel through void and universe. You have the right to claim a territory, it could be dimension, galaxy, planet or plane as your ownership in records of Akashic Records. Most supreme rules of the multiverse aren''t rulers only because of cultivation but because they had ownership in records. More privileges would be given with the increase in your rank. Now quickly chose your dimensional ship and go back to your world. You need to get stronger as fast as possible. And one more thing, my name is Kelemvor, Administrator of Akashic Records." Finished explaining Kelemvor. Now Lucien knew he name and it was a pretty cool and powerfully sounding name. Befitting of omnipotent and omniscient person. But Lucien was now choosing his vessel. He wanted something which would be useful, could be used as living space and means of attack. After some time he found a perfect vessel for him. It was floating fortress Noble Phantasm of Charlemagne, Charles Patricius. It was practically giant luxurious gothic-style fortress. "As my vessel, I chose Noble Phantasm Charles Patricius. Flying fortress. It would serve as a living space for my kind and family and it could serve as a very powerful weapon. I hope you could modify it in some ways and improve its capabilities and make it more powerful and faster." 15 6 years in flash Administrator Kelemvor looked at him and nodded his head. A vessel was one of the most essential things for traveling through void and universe. If a vessel was too weak it could be destroyed by any random void monster or some other creatures. Lucien''s choice of floating fortress Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory was one of the better ones. This floating fortress had powerful attacking capabilities and defensive capabilities. It could be used as housing for his race because they numbered only so little and his family. In the void, above their heads giant floating fortress started materializing. At the same time at Lucien''s right hand one weird cross-like symbol appeared. It was blue in color and was shining brightly. Lucien knew that this was probably some kind of mark of ownership over Charles Patricius and served as dimensional space for a floating fortress. One must say that floating fortress Charles Patricius looked very magnificent. It''s bottom looked a little bit futuristic to contrast with buildings and gothic design of fortress and its surroundings. The main fortress was in one word huge. It had several floors what could Lucien tell with a glance. To its right side was another building, which was some kind of vault or something similar. On its left side was a giant training field used to practice martial arts and combat. Surroundings were too very nice. The entire place was filled with many trees and flowers. There were some benches and even arbor. Lucien than felt that process of connecting was finished and floating fortress Charles Patricius disappeared to its dimensional space. "You would be able to use it freely after reaching Baron Rank. Now go." Said Administrator Kelemvor as he closed his eyes. Lucien then disappeared without a sound. ============================================= Since meeting with an Administrator of Akashic Records, Kelemvor six years passed. Time was flowing like water and many years passed. Many things happened past these six years. One most notable was that Washuu Clan has sent several S-Rated people to sneak into island but they were found after some time by one Baron ranked ghoul of Sacred Devourer Ghouls who fought them. What was weird they were found several kilometers away from spatial rift which was leading to hell. Battle went well until some of them chose to detonate some explosives at the entrance to hell. What was bad at that was fact that energy created by that explosion was all devoured by rift and in return, the rift has become even bigger and more and more demons were coming out. It was already decided by entire Aeon House as leaders of Sacred Devourer Ghouls that Washuu Clan must be annihilated because this was a pure declaration of war. But as nobody could leave this island because after that huge explosion and expansion of the spatial rift many demons escaped to the island. Many of them very even of Baron Rank so the situation was still poor. But this didn''t change fact that Lucien must go attempt his Hell Trials in that place. Because that explosion didn''t manage to damage caves where that rift was located his trails couldn''t be shifted to another place. This was the tradition. After Lucien completed his trials he would be sent to Tokyo to hunt for Washuu clan members as revenge. This was what was told to him. During these six years, Lucien grew from a little body to a handsome man. He had now around 1.8 meters and his white hair was already reaching his waist almost. His eyes were still beautifully light blue in color, and it even looked they were shining a little. His gaze had become sharper and entire aura around him was now mature, composed, noble and calm. Now he was currently in training field practicing kenjutsu alone. He wasn''t wearing any shirt and his well-sculpted muscular body was showing its beauty. Every woman who was going around would at least look at him with sparkling eyes. After some practice with the sword, he turned on his kakugan and activated his kakuja V2, which was entire body armor with katana. When he reached RC Level over 4,000 he was able to activate the second version of his kakuja. In this version, he had entire body armor with the exception of a mask which was missing. The weapon was still the same katana as before. To be more precise his RC Level was already nearing 6,000 because of constant doting of his grandfather who was giving him the finest blood essences and other things to devour. Unfortunately, he didn''t have and blood essence of Baron Ranked demons cause it would take a long time for him to digest. When he lastly had blood essence of Baron ranked demon six years ago it increased his RC Level tremendously it was true but at the same time, he spent more time stabilizing that RC Level. Almost one year was spent only on that. "Your Highness. His highness Dante Dracul Il Tepes has come to see you." Suddenly he heard the voice of maid which was accompanied in case if he needed something. Dante Dracul Il Tepes was like him heir of Dracil Il Tepes House of Vampire Race. He was his only friend he made in all these years. They had a lot of things in common. Both of them were obsessed with cultivation and fighting. Dante was a genius when it came to research evolution and magic. He came up with the method of how to use large quantities of blood to do body refinement. So now even Vampire Race was much stronger than before. After several seconds, a young man in his teens came. He looked around the same age as Lucien. He had short blond hair and bright red eyes. Clothed in a bloody red suit he looked like a vampire nobility. "Lucien I heard that you would be leaving for your Hell Trails, my own Blood Trials would be after you complete yours so I came to wish you lots of luck." Said Dante with a smile as he wished his friend luck in trials. He, like Lucien, didn''t have any friends except for him. Both of them were darlings of their Houses and races and were like most precious treasures. They met around four years ago at a banquet which was a celebration of something which Lucien didn''t even remember. "Thank you, Dante. I think it would be around a year at most to complete my trials. Then it was decided for me to go to Tokyo and hunt for some Washuu''s. They had done too much damage this time." Said Lucien with hatred in his voice. During these six years, he had grown much stronger and was already A Rated Sacred Devourer Ghoul without the usage of his Kakuja. He could fight and kill some weaker S Rated ordinary ghouls. His telekinesis ability and psionic energy capacity were still the same. "I wanted to go with you but I have many experiments started now. So even after three years most of them won''t be finished. Shame, I wanted to see the outside world." Regretted Dante. Just like Lucien, he didn''t saw the outside world and only was in Blood Island. "Come, my friend. My grandpa brought the blood of Baron ranked demon and said we could drink one small glass of it." Said Lucien and Dante''s eyes brightened like those of little children during Christmas. For Vampires blood was a source of cultivation, strength, and pleasure. They loved to drink the blood of powerful creatures cause it would make them strong and it gave them pleasure. ============================================= 16 Records of family members During these six years Sacred Devourer Ghoul race through tremendous changes. Their number was now much more already nearing hundred and fifty. This was because records of the race were overwritten and now effect was taking place. This was just like the water which was behind some kind of wall suddenly released. Impact release. The second year after record overwrite it started. Almost all the couples started to have children. one or two at the time. This effect has already slowed down but it wasn''t so hard to conceive a child as before and each couple could have at least one child without a problem. Another thing was kagune. Every Sacred Devourer Ghoul which had reached Viscount Rank has obtained another type of kagune which greatly enhanced the battle capability of ghouls. Many combinations of kagunes were seen and many different fighting styles were born. Most people who reached Viscount Rank were direct members of Aeon House or some of their best warriors. This greatly enhanced the strength of the family and control over an entire population of Sacred Devourer Ghoul race. Baron Rank was also more common among older Sacred Devourer Ghouls who had accumulated enough RC Level over the years. Lucien was no hoping that his grandfather would reach Count Rank but he knew that this was impossible in this Low-Grade Dimension. It required a tremendously high RC Level and in this dimension, there weren''t any powerful creatures who could serve as cultivation materials. ============================================= Currently, Lucien, Asmodeus, Selen, and Azrael were sitting around a big wooden table and discussing something. Old man Azrael had his eyes closed and not paying attention to anything and Lucien had a bored expression on his face. "Lucien you will be having a little sister soon." Said Selene to her son who was spacing out not listening to anything they had talked about. But when he heard that he immediately reacted and even Azrael opened his eyes in seconds. Now was the year 2014 and technology was more advanced so they even knew what was Selene excepting. Lucien and Azrael both congratulated them and then came discussion about Lucien''s Hell Trials. It was no secret that his Hell Trials would be a very dangerous cause of a high number of demons coming out of the spatial rift. But tradition was the tradition. They must be respected. Selen seemed to oppose that his Hell Trails would take place at the area with so many demons coming out lately. She would rather choose something safer. But she knew that this wasn''t possible. Only danger, slaughter and constant fighting could give birth to the supreme warrior. This was common knowledge in the world of ghouls. Not even in this world, but in all dimensions and galaxies across the entire multiverse. "Here take this. This badge has a special effect that its ability to count killed enemies. When you will kill over one thousand demons in that place it would let you know. Your goal during your trail is only killing one thousand demons but I would recommend you to scout that place cause you may be able to find some precious treasures as weapons or materials. You can exchange it for some good blood essence with your vampire friend. They always welcome someone with strong and powerful weapons to trade." Spoke his father Asmodeus as he gave him weird square looking black badge. Lucien took it from his father''s hands and inspected it before putting it away. Then all four of them went to do their things. ============================================= Lucien went to train. Like pure training and fighting maniac, he devoted all of his time to improving himself. After finishing his typical training season he went to his room and started to browse through his records. Truth to be told this way of searching was bad. He must manually scan within countless records if he wanted to find something more precise. If he had some type of A.I. he could let it do the job. Another minus was the fact that when he wants to view a record of somebody he must do it manually too and can''t do it during the fight. He couldn''t even say how he wanted to some type of A.I., he thought about God-Devil System which was part of Akashic Records. If he were to obtain it and Administrator Kelemvor would extract that parts of Akashic Records, its fundamental essence of being most supreme artificial intelligence would still remain. Lucien then stopped thinking about that and started to look at records of his parents and grandfather he obtained with his new authority as Executor of Akashic Records. ============================================= Name: Azrael Etras di Aeon Occupation: N/A Bloodline: Sacred Devourer Race: Sacred Devourer Ghoul RC Type: N/A RC Level: N/A Unique States: N/A - Cultivation: N/A Energy Type: N/A Energy Level: N/A - Abilities: N/A - Skills: N/A ============================================= Lucien first decided to look at the record of his grandfather Azrael. He couldn''t see even his RC Level, not to mention his actual cultivation or energy level. It was true that with huge disparity with strength and cultivation he won''t be able to see records of people. He noticed one new row with name Skills. It represented skills of person but he wasn''t able to see anything. Most of the pieces of information were only N/A. Another interesting thing was that his rating wasn''t there. It was for a simple reason. Under Baron Rank only way to the division of ghouls was ranting. But if they reached Baron Rank, they were perceived as multiverse cultivators so a rating of Low-Grade Dimension was total without any meaning. Then the next one he chose his mother. He thought she wouldn''t be as strong as his grandpa cause she was much younger compared to him. And she mainly focused on her kenjutsu and not cultivation RC cells. ============================================= Name: Selene Etras di Aeon Occupation: Mistress of Aeon House Bloodline: Sacred Devourer Race: Sacred Devourer Ghoul RC Type: Rinkaku RC Level: N/A Unique States: N/A - Cultivation: Baron Energy Type: N/A Energy Level: N/A - Abilities: N/A - Skills: Kenjutsu - Samurai Master ============================================= In the record of his mother, he could see more than in record of his grandfather but it was still a too little. He could see only the most basic things like a cultivation level or RC Type. She was Samurai Master in kenjutsu. Lucien knew that it was very high attainment in a way of the sword. He himself was only Samurai Disciple. Now lastly was the record of his father Asmodeus. ============================================= Name: Asmodeus Etras di Aeon Occupation: Patriarch of Aeon House Bloodline: Sacred Devourer Race: Sacred Devourer Ghoul RC Type: N/A RC Level: N/A Unique States: N/A - Cultivation: N/A Energy Type: N/A Energy Level: N/A - Abilities: N/A - Skills: N/A ============================================= This was similar to his grandpa''s record. Nothing at all. Lastly, Lucien looked at his own record. He knew that his father already reached Viscount Rank as he practically devoured all family reserves of blood essences which were in Aeon House to let himself rise in rank. ============================================= Name: Lucien Etras di Aeon Occupation: Executor of Akashic Records Bloodline: Sacred Devourer Race: Sacred Devoured Ghoul RC Type: Rinkaku RC Level: 5,689 Unique States: Kakuja V1: Left hand - body armor, right hand - kagune katana Kakuja V2: Entire body armor without a mask, kagune katana - Rating: A (this is a rating of Blood Island Ghouls) Cultivation: N/A Energy Type: Psionic Energy Energy Level: 1,000 - Abilities: Sacred Devourer - Ability to devour any types of energy, bloodlines or bodies. It strengthens the host by some amount. Divine Telekinesis - 10 Psionic Energy per minute. Enhanced Reflexes - Skills: Kenjutsu - Samurai Disciple - Cultivation Techniques: Sacred Rinkaku Scripture: N/A RC Body Refining Technique: NA - Other: Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory ============================================= After all hard work during the past six years, he reached A Rating on Blood Island. A rated ghoul here was around weaker S rated ordinary ghoul. This was the racial difference. Sacred Devourer Ghoul was innately stronger than ordinary ghouls. But even ordinary ghoul in this world was stronger than ordinary ghoul or flash eater in the universe. Cause in most of the universe ghoul was just another synonym for a stronger zombie. Ghouls of this world had Kagune which was an extremely strong tool. His RC Level was already nearing to the border of 6,000 and that means Kakuja V3. Lucien was very eager to see what changes would new version of kakuja bring him. It would make him even stronger. He calculated in his head that he would hit the line during his Hell Trials. Cultivation of Sacred Devourer Ghouls was based on RC Level. Every 20% of the total required RC Level would be considered as some kind of sub-level in cultivation rank cause every 20% would unlock one form of kakuja. Sadly his Psionic Energy Level still remained at a base level of one thousand without any increase. But now Psionic Energy Level wasn''t his biggest problem. It was rather his Kenjutsu level. It was stuck at Samurai Disciple for two years because he didn''t practice his kenjutsu or because he lacked life and death situation. Only they gave the best stimulation to the warrior. 17 Entering Underground After several weeks the day has come. The day when Lucien will undergo his Hell Trials. One could think that there would be many people and the entire ceremony to celebrate the start of trials. That would be a mistake. He only changed his hairstyle to that of shortening one. He cut his hair so now they were only to the length to his hips. He had bangs and lock of hair over either ear. He kept his hair back into a ponytail with a red ribbon. Lucien was only one who had gone to the entrance to Hell where the actual spatial rift was located. He was escorted there by one of Royal Guards who dropped him right before the entrance. The entrance was actually an ordinary cave entrance. The only difference was that here there were countless traps, pits and a strong smell of blood. Lucien looked around to see only two guards who were both of Baron Rank as they saluted him in a moment when they saw him and continued play chess and drinking blood. Lucien then again looked at the gloomy entrance to the cave which gave him a weird feeling. It was feeling that nothing good was waiting inside and there is only danger and death awaiting. But still, he took a step forward and entered the cave. ============================================= Lucien spent around half an hour only to find a right tunnel which led to a giant valley inside the cave. Actually, this wasn''t caving but rather some kind of smaller underground world. Even when it was a smaller one it was still big. Bigger than some human cities. Suddenly as Lucien was going through one tunnel he saw a demon. It was a little weird looking creature around one meter tall with red scales and long claws. The claws looked very sharp and rather dangerous. Lucien took the opportunity to scan the weir creature as he was still hidden. This was another kind of scan. He could scan friendly targets with a more precise scan like done with his family but it won''t give him much information because the disparity in cultivation was huge. This time Lucien chose description type scan which provided a basic record of the scanned target. ============================================= Claw Demon (inferior) Most inferior of Claw Demon race. They are just scavengers which are treated as food for ordinary demons in Hell. Strength of scanned Claw Demon if below Baron Rank, with use of Sacred Devourer Ghoul reace rating it would be rated as B Rated. ============================================= Lucien was delighted to find the most important information in one scan and that enemy was far weaker. But what scared him was fact that this most inferior demon was rated as B Rated based on the rating of Sacred Devourer Ghoul race and it was one of the sources of food for ordinary demons in Hell. He now knew that place called Hell was extremely terrifying. Very very much if an only most degraded demon was as strong as B Rated Sacred Devourer Ghoul. Lucien just looked at the demon and rushed at it with full speed. One good aimed kick at its head killed it immediately and then Lucien proceeded with his journey. He ambushed this poor demon when it wasn''t paying attention to its surroundings and killed it with a surprise attack. ============================================= After one hour of walking without any rest, Lucien finally found the pre-mentioned valley. It was a huge mini world inside this underground complex. Lucien could feel thousands of demons only by relying on his instincts. There were really too many of them, and this was what was the problem. Too many of them together at one place was a problem, cause if Lucien started fighting with one some smaller group of ten or five then it would lure too many demons and he would be overwhelmed with numbers. Lucien was walking through these tunnels in endeavors to find some tunnel which would lead directly to the valley but everything was in vain. He already walked for several hours and the only thing which he found were many Claw Demons, which were killed in instant. Lucien kills count was already nearing one hundred. Lucien always when he killed some demons, took out a little furnace. It was called Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace. It had a simple purpose of refining blood, bodies, flesh, bones and simply said practically everything which contains some life and energy to blood essences. He got it as a gift from his grandpa. It was said that Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace was an ancient relic that one of the ancestors of Sacred Devourer Race who was also a member of Aeon House found in some weird ruins. They had only a very small amount of them and only the most talented or strongest ghouls of race are given one. The furnace had weird design as it was divided into two parts. They weren''t connected with each other but the top part was levitating above the bottom part. The weird azure inscription was overlapped through the entire furnace. On top of it were two little azure crystal levitating above the furnace and it gave a mysterious magical feeling. Truth to be told this furnace was a little bit magical, cause one furnace could be used only by one person. Only after the master''s death, it could find another master. Lucien was master of this furnace after he dropped a few drops of his blood to recognize him as owner. Lucien started around five bodies of Claw Demons into Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace and started refining process. This process was very fast. Entire furnace started glowing intense red light. The inscription that was in azure color changed to the bloody red color as refining was already going on. After ten minutes everything was finished and Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace has returned to its azure color. Lucien opened the furnace and took out one blood essence which he stored inside his pocket. Now it wasn''t time to refine it and it won''t even give him any considerable increase in his RC Level. So he decided to eat it when he found some suitable place for sleep. Then he stored furnace in same dimensional storage as was stored Charles Patricius: Out Transient Glory. He found that he could store their items and as it was bound to his soul he didn''t need to fear of losing it. After he moved on, Lucien found a new type of demon standing before little cave where he was refining Claw Demons. More specifically this wasn''t a demon but rather demonized monster. The demonized monster was a monster which was subjected to a large amount of demonic energy for a very long time and thus mutated. This monster was an Orc. Typical orc around two and a half meters in high and fierce gaze in eyes. But unlike normal orcs with green skins, this one had skin in more reddish color. This was the result of a demonification process. On top of that, one the forehead of orc was small demon horn growing and both of eyes of orcs were crimson red. He wore some primitive leather clothes mixed with fur of some wild animals. Probably wolf fur. In his right hand, there was a huge one-sided short ax and the second hand was empty. Aside from leather-fur clothes, it didn''t have any other armor or at least armor parts. ============================================= Demonised Orc Normal Orc which was subjected to the demonification process since its birth. It has greatly enhanced strength even though in this dimension is lacking any kind of energy. Its physical strength is close to SS Rated Sacred Devourer Ghoul. But as this orcwas attacked with demon energy since its birth, its intelligence and wisdom is almost zero and only primitive battle instincts remained. ============================================= Lucien looked at this with nervously. Honestly, he didn''t want to fight this orc. It was much stronger than him but at the same time, it was far dumber than even normal orc. Its state was similar to ordinary ghoul who used his kakuja. Totally without any rational thinking and sanity. 18 Red Demonised Orc Now Lucien was thinking about strategy against the Red Demonised Orc. This orc was similar to Oni, which is Japanese demon ogres. But they are much stronger than this one. ''Its strength is far higher than mine, so close confrontation is nearly impossible. Even with my high regeneration factor, I won''t be able to heal all injuries caused by that orc in a short time. So only choice it long-distance attack. At least that creature is similar to ordinary ghoul with kakuja and it didn''t have any sanity. It only has some primitive battle instincts and that''s all. So the best course of a fight would be created as many kagune weapons as I can and kill it with the usage of Divine Telekinesis without any close confrontation.'' Lucien was calculating battle strategy in his head. This was probably the best plan which he could design in such a short time. He quickly congealed ten daggers with his kagune as he turned his kakugan on. All daggers started to silently surround Red Demonised Orc. This was the first step of the plan. After several tens seconds, Red Demonised Orc was perfectly surrounded with all kagune daggers. The dumb monster was still standing there and looking at the ceiling of the cave as he was searching for something. When preparations were done Lucien attacked with all ten daggers at the same time. All daggers shot the Red Demonised Orc, like a clap of thunder and had different targets. Around four daggers aimed at its head, two aimed at legs and two aimed at arms. Last two were just waiting in reserve if something went wrong. And it went. Sensed of this Red Demonised Orc were very good and as soon as the attack started orc swung his huge short ax and repelled all four daggers aiming at its head. Then he took defensive stances as other two daggers which aimed at it arms were too successfully guarded. But at the same time, he didn''t manage to reflect the last two daggers aimed at its legs. Two kagune daggers pierced deeply into legs of Red Demonised Orc as orc started screaming at the entire cave. Lucien now knew that this was a problem. This could lure more demons and he wasn''t powerful enough to fight against so many numbers. As orc fell onto the ground because his legs were crippled, two kagune daggers waiting in reserve suddenly shot towards the orc with speed of light. Poor creature didn''t have any time to react as two daggers pierced its eyes. But still, the orc was kicking alive and didn''t die. The normal orc would have died when its eyes were pierced through but this demonized one was still alive. Probably demonification process greatly enhanced its vitality. But Lucien knew that this creature was already without any means of defense. With another round of attacks from flying kagune daggers orc was finally killed and Lucien quickly stored its corpse in Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace as he heard some Claw Demons nearing this location. Then he started to running away cause he didn''t wish to fight against hundreds of Claw Demons. Even if they were dumb and weak their numbers were great. For example, similar was Bug Race. Lucien read about Bug Race. They were one of the hegemons in the universe with countless sub-species. A common characteristic of bug race was that almost every member of this race was dumber than an animal but their numbers were too great to oppose them. And on the top of that, they had extremely intelligent Queens and Empresses with the intelligence of super advanced artificial intelligence. But when you kill Queen or Empress of the swarm they will become less than animals attacking everything in sight. ============================================= After Lucien escaped from a smaller swarm of Claw Demons, he found a little empty cave where he wanted to rest. With the use of his telekinesis ability, he barricaded entrance. He could easily open it and again close with little use of telekinesis. Then he took out Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace and started refinement of Red Demonised Orc. This process was a little longer because material came from a more powerful creature but it only took around half an hour. The blood essence created from the body of Red Demonised Orc was bigger more than twice compared to blood essence refined from Claw Demons. Lucien ate this blood essence together with blood essences from Claw Demon. Cause all of these blood essences weren''t from Baron ranked demons he won''t be able to obtain huge RC Level increase. He felt very comfortable feeling in his body as his RC Cells were manifolded at a fast speed as they madly devoured blood essences which Lucien had eaten. He felt that his RC Level has roughly increased around two hundred or so. Even though it was a little increase it was still better than nothing. Then Lucien took out small bed from his Cross Crest and went to sleep. Cross Crest is dimensional storage where Charles Patricius: Out Transient Glory is stored. ============================================= Deep inside the void, in the same place where Administrator of Akashic Records was residing. Two old men were sitting at a simple wooden table and playing chess. One of them was Administrator of Akashic Records, Kelemvor himself, in golden robes. He looked at the party of chess and then scratched his beard and frowned. "Hmm, As I could ever win in some game against you, Kaleidoscope." Said Kelmvor to another old man. He was around 180cm tall clothed completely in pitch black suit with golden ornaments and with a waistcoat over his shoulders. He wore white gloves on his hands and his clothes gave a feeling of noble. His eyes were bright red and shining in the dark and his beard and hair were ash grey. In his right hand, he gripped wooden ordinary looking walking stick. "Hahaha Kelemvor, this time you will lose too. I can''t wait what treasure will I obtain this time." Laughed an old man out loud. Kelemvor''s expression only darkened as his friend was already talking about treasures. "You have transcended everything in this multiverse and became Administrator of Akashic Records so many years ago and you are still like mischievous little kid." Frowned Kelemvor at childish behavior of his colleague. "Kelemvor you are Administrator of Akashic Records and Records of Life and Death and the only thing you know is to do your work and responsibilities and nothing more. But I was very surprised when did you reincarnate that poor young one. If I could ask, why did you do that?" Kelemvor only looked at shining starts and many dimensions and galaxies as he admired their beauty. "I saw his potential. Even though it would take a long time he could become another powerful existence in this multiverse and help us all." Sighed old man Kelemvor. "Kelemvor I must tell you something. I used my Kaleidoscope to look at that youngling and saw that I can''t see his fate. It means only one thing. He is irregular, the one who won''t succumb to fate and one who fight against havens. You have made the right choice." Paused Administrator of Kaleidoscope before he looked too at countless worlds around them. "But the balance has been broken. You know that too. When you reincarnated him you have destroyed the balance of that dimension and now spatial rift has opened there. In ten years, his entire homeland would be destroyed and that Island would sink deep into the ocean. Maybe if he and his kind are strong enough they may be able to defend it but I wouldn''t put my bet on it. Their only choice is to leave that dimension or to live with other people of that dimension but that would be a rather stupid choice." Explained Administrator of Kaleidoscope to Kelemvor. 19 Hunt them "I know my dear friend, but I didn''t have other choices. You know we can''t interfere with those issues. Our only chance to solve all problems is to find someone suitable to be our Executor and per rules, there can always be only one person. When the previous one died I needed to choose someone knew. And you know very much how dangerous could be fragments of Akashic Records when they are used to create some artifacts like Goldfinger or some system artifacts like God-Devil System with powers like the creation of life. The only thing we can do is to lure some person to be our Executor and give him some benefits. Even we can''t force him to comply with our tasks without question. This position is protected by Akashic Records itself. This all is just our selfishness that we are trying to keep balance. What''s more about this current Executor he has only one mission to complete as payment for overwriting record of his race. Other ones would all depend on him and if I can''t provide him with suitable reward I would lose Executor and only thing what would remain me to do is to wait till his death cause per rules I can''t even do anything against him." This was a very serious problem for Administrators. They always used various means to collect these treasures and return fragments of Akashic Records to place where they belong. Executors were something like double-ax for Administrators. They served as a tool which works for their selfishness but at the same time, they can''t punish Executor for failing in his mission or force him. Because this position was created by Akashic Records for Administrators it has its own pros and cons. Kelemvor seeing that his friend seemed thinking about something started to talk again. He needed help from Administrator of Kaleidoscope. His power of seeing every dimension, planet, galaxy, realm and predicting future was something that Kelemvor wasn''t able to do. He was Administrator of Life and Death responsible for Reincarnation Circle of Samsara and some other things. "You know how dangerous would it be if some of these artifacts happened to fall to hands of some dangerous races as Bug Race for example. They could perfect their evolution and devour everything around." Administrator of Kaleidoscope looked at him and then nodded his head. "I would help, Kelemvor. I believe he could provide me thing I desire the most." Chuckled Administrator of Kaleidoscope. "What you desire most?" Wondered Kelemvor. They had known each other for a very very long time but he couldn''t find an answer to this question. What did Old Man of the Jewels desire the most? It was rather a mystery to him. "Entertainment! Entertainment! Do you know how boring is it to predict everything in the multiverse? You know the fate of every person, of every warrior, empire and creature. Only irregulars are an exception but they are so a few. Now one has appeared, he would provide me a good entertainment. Hahaha. I would help you to guide him, that I swear on the name of mine, Dead Apostle Ancestor, Wizard Marshall, Kaleidoscope Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg." ============================================= Lucien already spent in this place for more than one month. When he came it was rather hard to adapt to the surrounding, where nothing else existed besides demons and blood. But as time went on, he already started to be familiar with the entire valley and net of tunnels and caves. His kill count was only more than a hundred. The reason was that the stupid badge started to count every ten Claw Demons as one kill. They were too weak to be counted separately. Lucien was firstly mad but soon he chose to not think about it. But the good news was the fact he already achieved Kakuja V3. It was basically the same as version 2 only that now he had a mask and his body armor has another protective layer around it. Now he had two-layered armor. The second layer was extremely thin so one couldn''t even say that it is another armor layer. His mask covered the entire face and had two horn popping out of his forehead. He looked like some demon. His RC Level was now something over six thousand. But sadly blood essences made from Claw Demons already started to lose effect on him. Now one blood essence from several Claw Demons only increased his RC Level by ten or twenty points. So Lucien was forced to hunt for some stronger demons or hunt Claw Demons in hundreds. The second option was out of the question, so only the first one remained. Lucien chose as his target Red Demonised Orcs. In this valley, there were a lot of them and now that Lucien had Kakuja V3 he could probably kill it in close combat. The reason, why he didn''t use kakuja V2 in a fight against first Red, Demonised Orcs he fought was he knew it would take a long time to kill it cause in kakuja version two he was similarly matched with the orc. But in version three he was somewhat stronger than it. Lucien exited the cave, he was sleeping in and went hunting in the valley. The valley was extremely desolated place with only dead trees there and the ground was cracked, revealing huge craters everywhere. It gave a vibe of the dead place where nothing life was present. Lucien was searching for his targets for ten minutes before he found one. Alone. One Red Demonised Orc was walking in the opposite way to him. Lucien immediately turned on his kakugan as his iris turned bright red and sclera black. Then he activated his kakuja and third version of it. Armor materialized around his body and covered every part. Nothing was left out. Mask covered his handsome face and katana materialized in his right hand. Then another extra thin layer of armor covered entire armor. The armor looked very similar to that of Corpse Collector, Kirishima Arata. Lucien felt a huge boost in his physical abilities as he was now clothed in kakuja armor. He was feeling like he could kill even army of Claw Demons and Red Demonised Orcs. He looked at Red Demonised Orc that was walking in his direction and gripped his katana strongly in his hand as he rushed to the orc. He was so fast that he matched the speed of weakest Baron ranked cultivator. The boost provided by kakuja armor was really huge. The poor orc didn''t have any time to react as Lucien was already before him, slashing viciously at his hand which was holding the weapon. Severed in a mere second. As the hand of orc was sent flying Lucien performed kick aimed at orc''s belly, blasting him several tens meters away. When Lucien came to the orc it was already dead. Lucien was very surprised at how his kakuja armor was strong. He guessed that his current strength was that of Baron ranked cultivator who just broke through using some weaker body refinement technique. He knew that he himself was already nearing a point where he would enter Baron Rank and it would take a long time again before he would be able to use Kakuja V3. Lucien then inspected Red Demonised Orc, he killed to see how much damage he has done. Then he put orc away to his Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace and continued to hunt. ============================================= Lucien already killed another four Red Demonised Orcs. He searched for those who were alone, before killing them in surprise attacks in one hit. This was a very good strategy. Blood essences refined from these creatures were a little better than those from Claw Demon. One blood essence from one Red Demonised Orc could increase his RC Level by twenty points at least. Now Lucien was already ready to go sleep as he was tired from the usage of his kakuja armor for several hours in a row. It was still very hard to use continuously for a long time as it depletes a lot of stamina. But as he was already leaving to his cave, provisional home, he suddenly saw something interesting. Two Red Demonised Orcs were fighting against each other. Both of them were heavily injured and we''re going from the last. As soon as Lucien has seen that, his eyes sparkled and he immediately activated his kakuja version three. He waited for a moment when the last clash between two Red Demonised Orcs would clash before he would attack them and killing in one hit. 20 Imp Lucien watched two Red Demonised Orc glaring at each other for some time. Suddenly both of them gripped their weapons, one had some short one-handed ax and another had wooden club with iron spikes. Both orcs slashed at the same times as their weapon created sparks in the air. This was Lucien''s opportunity. He rushed at one Red Demonised Orc from his back and slashed at his spinal cord, swiftly severing his head. Another orc was stunned and angered by a sudden attack by the third party and roared in anger. Lucien then jumped into the air and performed strong kick from the air at the arm of orc which was still roaring. Just one kick was enough for orc''s arm to broke and orc fell on the ground, where Lucien quickly slashed his throat. Then he stored both corpses in his Cross Crest and run away from the place. Now he had now seven corpses of Red Demonised Orcs in his dimensional storage Cross Crest, waiting for refining by Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace. ============================================= Lucien returned to his cave, where he immediately shut down entrance with the usage of his telekinesis ability, before taking out Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace. He put there every one corpse of Red Demonised Orc and started the process. Now the process was more violent, than ever before. This was because Lucien was refining all seven corpses together and not separately. His Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace, not even Baron Ranked artifact. It still needed time for its growth cause this was so-called growth type artifact. Lucien, of course, didn''t know this cause he never examined this furnace with Akashic Records. The Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace was shining in bright red as azure inscriptions were glowing intense bloody light an entire furnace was shaking. Lucien was watching this process with a scared expression, that his beloved furnace might explode or something similar. Fortunately, after twenty minutes Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace stopped shaking and everything went smoothly. Lucien then opened the furnace and took out blood essence which was freshly refined by the furnace. It was rather big and still warm. He gulped it in one go and let his RC Cells to devour it. His RC Level increased by another 200 points or so. Lucien hoped that he would be able to reach Baron Rank before he would leave for Tokyo. If he reached Baron Rank, then in Tokyo he would have a much easier time fighting against Washuu Clan. Another thing was that if he reached Baron Rank, Royal Guard won''t probably come with him so he will have more freedom. ============================================= For more than a month, Lucien has wandered through an entire valley full of demons. He killed too many of them and devoured refined blood essences which already lost their meaning. Now he only ate them as a source of food. They could satisfy hunger at least, but his RC Level would increase only by a few points. Nowadays he needed blood essences from creatures at least strong as Red Demonised Orc. Lucien already reached required kill quota but still remained in this place. He wanted to look at the rumored spatial rift which was leading to the Hell and obtain more blood essences. Even though they may not be able to help him, but to some weaker Sacred Devourer Ghouls, they were priceless. Because their race was once driven to the edge of extinction by wars in the past they were extremely coherent as some kind of one big family. The constant threat of demons on Blood Island and fights against demon made all members of this race very overprotective over each other. Aeon House was something akin to a royal house and was responsible for the protection of the entire race and was a wall against all enemies threating the race. Because their population was always so low, they live close all the time since coming to the Blood Island. Even now, when childbirth wasn''t a big problem and rate increased this still hasn''t changed. In regards to overwriting record, Lucien knew it couldn''t be done entirely and only partly. If not their race could even higher childbirth rate. He knew that it would take many many years to reach the population in thousands. Another minus in this records overwriting was that after the birth of the first child it was much harder to have another. This was a result of part overwritten record. But based on his knowledge of Akashic Records, something couldn''t be fully overwritten. Lucien now wandered through the valley as usual when he all at once saw something weird. He saw a new demon, which he never had seen before. It was flying in the air. It was a small demon, around one meter in a high with one pair of wings bigger than himself. It had dark red skin, shining blue-green eyes and two large horn on its head. It was Imp. Lucien quickly scanned it through Akashic Records manually to see its records. ''Dammed thing. If I had A.I. I wouldn''t need to waste my time like this.'' He curses in his mind before viewing a record of the Imp. ============================================= Imp (Baron Rank) One of inferior demon species in Hell. It has very low combat strength, but its capable of flight and has high intelligence. It very cunning and cowardly. When it found out that it can''t beat enemy it woudl ran away or ran away and return with reinforcements. ============================================= Lucien looked at the record and started if he should engage or not. It was common knowledge that imps were one of weakest races among demon race, but they were highly intelligent and very cunning. If he didn''t manage to kill it at one hit there could be troubles. It could bring an entire horde of other imps. Lucien now knew what was imp doing here as he was observing it for a while. He killed too many Claw Demons and Red Demonised Orcs in this valley and it lured here stronger demons to inspect this place. Fortunately, this was only one baron ranked demon and there weren''t anymore. His dream of seeing that spatial rift now disappeared to void as he knew that it was impossible. He wasn''t even on the deepest part of an entire underground complex and there was already baron ranked demon. Now he understood the danger of demons and was afraid. What would happen if suddenly many of these creatures would want the venture to the Blood Island. Hopefully, none of them would be of Viscount rank or they would be in deep trouble. Lucien decided it would be better to not attack the imp and escaped at his highest speed. But as he was running away he didn''t notice that imp was already glaring at him. 21 Last Slaughter As soon as Lucien saw that Imp was ominously glaring at him he knew that he was in deep trouble. But he didn''t panic and chose to kill the imp. He knew that the imp was the weakest demon with the strength of Baron. He only needed to shot it down and it would be killed in instant. Lucien was now in disadvantage cause he couldn''t fly in the air as he didn''t have ukaku kagune. But he had a powerful weapon which was perfect against the flying-type enemy. Telekinesis. He immediately canceled his kakuja state and congealed two huge spears with his kagune. Both of them were based on the design of legendary weapon Gae Bolg. More precisely it was based on its Noble Phantasm version. It had ominous red color and it looked even scarier when it was created from kagune. Lucien then used his telekinesis to control both spears to simultaneously attack imp which was flying in the air. Both crimson spears shot with speed of light at their new target which was imp. More precisely their target wasn''t the imp as they won''t be able to kill it in a short time but rather its wings. Lucien needed to destroy its advantage of flight. Imp wasn''t as dumb as Claw Demons or Red Demonised Orcs and quickly dodged the first spear but the second one managed to tear through its wing, leaving a huge hole in the wing. But this still didn''t manage to bring imp down. Lucien wasn''t sad about that as both spears started quickly spin as they attacked imp with their fast speed. Now both of them attacked another wing of imp, which was completely undamaged. As Imp saw that spears are spinning at high speed and flying directly at him he chanted some weird chant in his language and created some kind of barrier around him. Lucien saw that barrier and ordered the first spear to attack it with full power. As soon as spear collided with the barrier, the kagune spear was reflected several meters away. But barrier had now some smaller cracks. Lucien saw that his attack failed, but managed to leave a few cracks in the barrier. He knew that this barrier wasn''t especially strong and continued the attack with a continuous attack from kagune spears. After five minutes of constant attacking barrier broke and Imp was left without defense. In a moment when barrier broke, second kagune spear in an instant shot towards Imp, who still stunned from what has happened. His other wing was severed by kagune spear and demon fell onto the ground. Lucien then activated his Kakuja V3 and was clothed in armor in an instant. He rushed at falling Imp with speed of thunder and jumped towards the falling demon. He gripped his katana strongly and slashed at the head of Imp with his full strength, promptly severing it. Head of the demon soared out and both his body and head fell onto the ground. Lucien stored them in his Cross Crest and then run away. He feared that other Baron Ranked demons may appear and he considered himself lucky to kill at least one Baron Ranked demon. Even if it was only one most inferior imp demon. Even though with his kakuja V3 he is able to kill inferior imps but if some stronger demon in baron rank came, Lucien is lost. ============================================= Currently was Lucien resting in the cave, which had served as his hideout for the past month. He was preparing to refine that corpse of baron ranked Imp, which he killed earlier. He put corpse of the demon into his Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace and started the process of refinement. As he was looking at he Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace, he realized that he had never actually examined it with his authority of Executor of Akashic Records. He wanted to do in now, but it wasn''t the time. He waited when the refining process was finished before taking out the blood essence of baron ranked imp and putting away the furnace. Lucien already decided that he would leave this dammed place cause his kill count already crossed the line a while ago. Now he decided to kill most of Claws Demon and Red Demonised Orcs in sight to collect their bodies, for later refinement. As his first target fell Claw Demons cause they were most numerous and weakest. As Lucien was tempered by many battles he fought them with his rinkaku and wasn''t using kakuja. His rinkaku tails sliced through all Claw Demons as knife over butter. He spent one whole day just slaughtering every Claw Demon he saw to become his nourishment. Previously he didn''t dare to do this cause he was afraid of luring over baron ranked demons but as one already came and was killed it would take some time for other one arrive. How that he was trained and used to fight against larger groups of Claw Demons it was a rather easy fight. He killed over three thousand Claw Demons. It could be seen as a huge number but Claw Demons always moved in groups of twenty and more. And one swing of his rinkaku killed around five of them. Now that he was leaving he chose to wreak havoc here to the maximum. On another day Lucien activated his Kakuja V3 and went hunting for Red Demonised Orcs. As he was running through the valley he saw a group of ten Red Demonised Orcs that were walking before him. Lucien looked at them with delight and chose to kill them all. But in a different way compared to before. Through his Divine Telekinesis, he controlled weapons of those orcs and orcs stupid as they were just watched everything in awe. All weapons soared high above them and as demonized orcs were admiring levitating weapons, suddenly all weapons shot towards poor creatures killing most of them in an instant. Those who survived this attack were killed by Lucien by his kagune, cause they were severely injured to even move. Lucien spent another five hours to kill all Red Demonised Orcs he saw and killed around forty of them. It was a rather nice number. Truth to be told he could have finished his Hell Trials far sooner but he spent most of his time by training Kenjutsu. Lucien even managed to reach another realm in it. He officially became Samurai in the way of katana. Samurai Disciple viewed his sword as just a killing tool and nothing more. There wasn''t any kind of bond or something. It served to its purpose of killing an enemy. Compared to that Samurai is viewing his sword as part of his body and closest companion. Sword is part of the body like arm or leg. Sword is your partner, friend, and comrade. People at this level generally are able to use the sword more effectively and they are using it as it was part of themselves. After killing all Red Demonised Orcs in a close surrounding, Lucien chose to return back from this place. He wanted to go deeper in this place but it was strictly forbidden by his father. He said that there were even Viscount Ranked demons. 22 Success Lucien only spent around one month in his Hell Trials which was rather short time compared to his predecessors. When he walked from the familiar entrance to the underground system of tunnels, caves and the complete world he was greeted by two guards there. Both of them saluted him with respect as they knew that he was living there for a past month, which was a rather hard thing to do. He saluted them too as a symbol of good work in guarding this place. Then he started running in the way where his home was. As he was running through the island he noticed that there were much more kids playing outside. Because his mansion wasn''t so far from the place where spatial rift was located Lucien didn''t need to run for a long time. As he had very good stamina this rather short one hour run wasn''t too hard for him. ============================================= When he came home he was greeted by several guards and maids which all congratulated him in his success in Hell Trials. He smiled at all of them and proceeded to the mansion itself. What awaited him were his family of three. His father had a proud expression on his face and his mother had an expression of relief. She was happy that her son was safe and returned home. His grandfather was looking at him and smile. Lucien came before his father and took out the badge and gave it to him. It numbered how many demons he has killed, species and all. That badge was the invention of the Vampire race and was a very interesting gadget. Asmodeus examined that badge as he looked at how many demons had his son killed. Suddenly he came to stop when there was mentioned Baron Ranked Demon. "You met Baron Ranked Demon in the valley?" Asked Asmodeus with suspicion. He knew that valley was full of Claw Demons which were extremely weak and only Red Demonised Orcs were a little strong. But for baron ranked demon to appear so close to entrance it was weird. Even if it was only weakest imp. "Yes, father. It was the only imp and I killed him with the combination of my telekinesis and kakuja and it was rather weak. But still, it was baron ranked demon. From what have you told me beforehand, baron ranked demons are only deeper parts of the underground." Explained Lucien. It was truly weird for baron ranked demon to appear. Even if it came to inspect that place after Lucien slaughtered many Claw Demons. "This could mean only one thing. There would be a wave of demons flooding out of that place soon. Maybe two or three years." Said his father with a serious expression. Flood of demons was happening from time to time. It wasn''t anything serious as long as not many Baron-ranked demons appeared or viscount ranked demons appeared in a flood. Then his mother Selene hugged his son and all four of them went to dine. After that Lucien talked about his experiences in Hell Trials and fights. His family was proud of him to kill so many demons and even kill on baron ranked imp. Lucien saw that his mother was already showing some signals of being pregnant. She ate more than before and even drink more blood than before. She still didn''t have a belly cause she was still in her first month of pregnancy. "Mother, did you already chosen name for my little sister?" Asked Lucien with a curious tone of voice. He was wondering if his parent already chosen a name for his little sister. Already a month has passed since so it was time for thinking about the name. To this question, his mother stopped eating and looked at Asmodeus with piercing glare. "We can''t decide on a name yet. Somebody must have it his way, even though his way is very bad sounding." Frowned Selene as she was still glaring angrily at Asmodeus who was looking away, afraid of meeting the gaze of his wife. When she was angry she looked rather scary. Ultimately dinner ended very well. Only for the moment when his parents almost had an argument about a name for their child. His father wanted to name be Akasha and his mother wanted it to be Artemia. He knew that his sister''s name would be Artemia for certain, cause women are especially terrifying when they want something. ============================================= Lucien was sitting in his room and was examining his Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace with the usage of Akashic Records. He wanted to do it during his Hell Trials but he always just postponed it at later date. Now finally the time has come. Lucien took out his furnace from Cross-Crest dimensional space and started to scan it with his ability to read records. It only took a few seconds to finish and now the transparent window appeared before his eyes. ============================================= Name: Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace Grade: Noble Tier: 3nd Uniquess: Growth - 0% (require special metals to increase tier and grade) - Description: Mysterious growth type refining artifact with ability of refinement of bodies, flesh, blood and more to blood essences. As long as grade is high enough its able to refine almost everything. ============================================= Lucien watched this information with huge excitement. This little weird furnace was growth type artifact. When he became Executor of Akashic Records he obtained some most common knowledge of the universe. One of these information described grades of artifacts. From lowest to highest they were: Noble, Royal, Imperial, Sacred, Divine, Origin, and Akashic. For example, Noble-Grade artifacts were quite common across the universe. Quinques of this world could be classified as Noble-Grade Artifacts. The Akashic-Grade artifact was that like God-Devil System, goldfingers and other systems with a power of creation, control of time-space and other god-like omniscient and omnipotent powers. They were most precious across the entire universe and find harder than obtaining phoenix''s feather or quilin''s horn. And lastly, tiers served to determine a quality of artifact. Lowest one being 3rd tier, with highest one being the 1st tier. This was the basic grading of artifacts in the universe. For example, Lucien''s kagune was comparable to 3rd-Tier Noble-Grade Artifact now. Most of the quinques weren''t of Noble-Grade and only best of them could reach Noble-Grade Artifact standard. Lucien was glad that this little darling here was of growth type. Growth type artifact was hardest to obtain and were rarest among all treasures across the universe. Seeing that he needed some metals to upgrade this thing he would have to ask either his parents or to find something by himself. But sadly this Low-Grade Dimension didn''t have many of such things. This was because this dimension was lacking any kind of energy in the air so natural formation of rare magical metals was impossible. 23 Leaving From the time Lucien finished successfully his Hell Trials another two years went by. But these two years weren''t so peaceful as one might think. One of the most notable ones was that his younger sister was finally born and her name was very surprisingly Artemia. Even though his father was still a little disappointed with this but soon he got over it. Now his little sister was two years old and she was a very beautiful little baby girl. Her mother was very doting on her and was with her every second she could. What was very fascinating that his younger sibling was very quiet and didn''t even cry much. Bad thing for Lucien was that now his mother was taking care about his younger sister Artemia she didn''t have any time to train with him in Kenjutsu and he was forced to train either with Royal Guards or his father who knew very little about swordsmanship. His mother only trained with him once for two weeks or so. Lucien was now already nineteen years old and was preparing to go to Tokyo. It was already time to kill some Washuu''s for revenge. And from what Lucien knew that original story should also begin in some time. Now it was August. Steel Beem Incident happened sometime in early October. So Lucien would have around three months to scout terrain there. He wanted to visit one place to meet with certain hot red-haired information broker. Lucien was now in the garden waiting for his host to arrive. It was Dante who had finished his Hell Trails now because he was postponed because only several months after Lucien exited that place huge flood of demons happened. Fortunately only several Baron-ranked demons came and one viscount ranked. The viscount ranked demon was swiftly killed by his grandfather Azrael who was viscount ranked Sacred Devourer Ghoul. Now that he was on viscount rank he gained additional kagune to his original rinkaku. He now had ukaku so he was capable of flight. In short demon, the flood was solved but many demons escaped to the island so even Lucien and Dante had to join to the hunt form escaped demons. Lucien even managed to kill two Baron-ranked demons with the usage of his Kakuja V4. Now that he crossed the level of 8,000 RC Level he obtained final form of his kakuja and those were wings. He was only disappointed that when he will reach baron rank, he would need to start from zero. Kakuja included. As Lucien was sitting in garden suddenly Dante came clothed in his traditional red-suit and with a gloomy look on his face. "Why are you so disheartened?" Asked Lucien his friend who sat beside him. Today the weather was rather good, it wasn''t raining was wind was weak. Lucien then waved to the nearest maid to bring them some blood. "I just came from that dammed place several days ago. You were so lucky that your trails were before that demon flood. Now even whole valley is totally overcrowded with Red Demonised Orcs and Claw Demons. If my blood manipulation wasn''t specialized in combat against multiple enemies I would have long died there." Complained Dante to Lucien. It was the truth that now the entire place was overcrowded with too many demons. Happily, Dante had good combat skills when it came to combat against multiple enemies thanks to his blood manipulation innate ability. "Fortunately you have survived my friend. Listen, here. Tomorrow I would be leaving for Tokyo. You know that our family and race has some unresolved issues with Washuu Clan, so my family is sending me there to resolve them and pay them back with blood. If those bastards didn''t detonate so many explosives there, the spatial rift wouldn''t expand so drastically." Told Lucien to him. He was preparing to leave tomorrow or day after. It was already time to leave for Tokyo as he wanted to be there before canon happened. Truth to be told he urged there only because he wanted to meet two women who would become his wives in future. Everybody has selfish motives for doing things. "Hmm. Sounds hard, but Washuu''s has been plotting something these years so be careful, brother." Said Dante. He was wishing for success for his only friend. "Don''t worry. Even though I am gonna be alone there I have made proper preparations. If you have any free time and your family would let you, you could come to visit me, brother." They both shook hands as they exchanged farewell and Dante left. ============================================= Lucien was in his room controlling everything that he would be taking with himself to Tokyo. Money wasn''t much problem cause his family was extremely rich in term of money. Because they annihilated almost all dangerous ghouls in America, which were above S Rate they made tremendous money just from killing those ghouls. Not talking about some huge corporation whose shares were owned by their family. Most things he was taking with him were stored in Cross-Crest dimensional space in the special area in Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. He was only taking with him some random stuff bottles of good demonic blood and similar commodities. Lucien then proceeded to check his record because he didn''t see it for a while. ============================================= Name: Lucien Etras di Aeon Occupation: Executor of Akashic Records Bloodline: Sacred Devourer Race: Sacred Devoured Ghoul RC Type: Rinkaku RC Level: 8,739 - Unique States: Kakuja V1: Left hand - body armor, right hand - kagune katana Kakuja V2: Entire body armor without a mask, kagune katana Kakuja V3: Entire body armor with the mask, another armor layer (extra thin), kagune katana Kakuja V4: Entire body armor with the mask, another armor layer (extra thin), one pair of wings, kagune katana - Rating: S (this is a rating of Blood Island Ghouls) Cultivation: N/A Energy Type: Psionic Energy Energy Level: 1,000 - Abilities: Sacred Devourer - Ability to devour any types of energy, bloodlines or bodies. It strengthens the host by some amount. Divine Telekinesis - 10 Psionic Energy per minute. Enhanced Reflexes - Skills: Kenjutsu: Samurai - Cultivation Techniques: Sacred Rinkaku Scripture: N/A RC Body Refining Technique: NA - Cross Crest: Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace ============================================= Lucien was already nearing RC Level of 10,000. It was a very exciting feeling that he would be able soon to achieve baron rank. With it, he would be able to fully control his vessel Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. He laid to his bed and went to sleep. He knew that he would be able to return only after several years at best cause this mission was a rather hard one. He knew that if he was at Viscount rank he could just go straight to Washuu Clan and kill everybody there. But that was pure nonsense. Firstly Washuu''s were much more powerful compared to what he knew from mange. Secondly if he really by some miracle reached viscount rank he would be stationed as a guard within the entrance to the underground because of demon threat. Lucien closed slowly his eyes, enjoying the feeling of being with his family and being home. 24 Tokyo Lucien was currently sitting in a plane which was flying to its target, Tokyo. This plane was a private jet of his family and was specially constructed by requests by his father. The contractor was some private company which was building jets for very rich people. This jet was of normal in size. It wasn''t small but it wasn''t any big plane either. It had only a few seats and was very luxuriously decorated. There were two bedrooms, one dining room, and bathroom. What more this plane had some specials inscription on in created by Vampires for more safer traveling. Lucien left today early in the morning and only said goodbye to his parents and grandfather. His father gave him some secret documents which contained some important information about certain people, important places and so on. It even mentioned the name of the person who was working for Aeon House for very long as the spy. He managed to infiltrate deep inside ghoul society and what''s more important he was a member of Clowns. Clown was a very weird group of most crazed, dangerous and sadistic ghouls that ever existed. They all wore clown-themed masks and stated their intentions were to "have the last laugh". The person who worked in secret for Aeon House was surprisingly Uta. Apparently, he was working for Aeon House for a long time. Lucien''s first aim was to visit his HySy ArtMask Studio. Firstly he needed basic information and secondly, he needed some kind of mask. His second aim was to visit the Helter Skelter bar. It was owned by Itori, who was also information broker in the underworld and she was a member of Clowns too. He needed to visit Itori because she was the best information broker in entire Japan probably and she was only one that had confidential pieces of information about Washuu''s, V, CCG and Sunlit Garden. ============================================= Lucien overslept entire flight and was only woken up by a pilot. The pilot wasn''t Sacred Devourer Ghoul but rather Vampire. Because this jet was specially modified by vampires they were best at piloting it. Lucien then exited plane only to see giant metropolis of Tokyo. It was a magnificent view. Everywhere were skyscrapers and other high rise buildings. Before his plane was already parked black Hummer limousine with a personal driver. But this wasn''t everything. There were two more Hummers H3 with several bodyguards as the escort. All of them wore pitch black suits and they had attitudes of soldiers. They were all ghouls mercenaries that were hired by some means to act as guards of the mansion where Lucien would be living. All of them were of Caucasian and they really looked like some kind of foreigners in this country. Their combat strength was at most around A rate. Only one of them was S rated. This all was already pre-arranged by his family. Everything from the plane to the last bottle of blood was taken care off. His only task was to spill some blood of Washuu.When all of them saw Lucien all people respectfully saluted to him and then Lucien got into the car and this small convoy went to the mansion where Lucien would be living. In Hummer Limousine for Lucien was already waiting for the captain of this squad. He was typically the middle-aged man, with short black hair and with high around 1,9m. His physique seemed to be strong from just looked at him and his gaze was sharp and vigilant. His name was unknown but his code-name was well known. He was nicknamed as Darkwalker because he never fights in light and only starts fights when the light is gone and he was using very underhandedly methods in fights. "Welcome, Lord Aeon." Greeted Darkwalker, Lucien with the utmost respect. He was a long-time associate of Aeon House in their activities in the world if something urgent popped out, so he knew about Aeon House. "Hello, Mr. Darkwalker." Answered Lucien politely. He was learned from a young age how to act as a true noble. That was calm, polite and elegant. "As per the contract, our Mercenary Group won''t take part in your fight against Washuu Clan, CCG, V or any other organizations. We are only responsible for the protection of your mansion and for escorting you to various places in Tokyo. We won''t take part not because we don''t want but our strength is rather ridiculous compared to giants like your clan and your enemies. Now were are heading to the mansion, its located in 21st ward of Tokyo and is close to Tsukiyama Family Estate." Lucien just nodded at this. It was certainly true that group of A-rated ghouls with one S rated ghoul won''t be a huge help for him. But their original purpose was only doing escort to him and guarding estate. That''s all. "Good. When we arrive at the estate and unpack all things you would take me to Helter Skelter bar in the 14th ward. Then you would leave cause I would be probably attacked by members of V. They know that I am here most likely." Darkwalker nodded his head in agreement. He knew that none of his people were a match of agents of V. They were able to slaughter most of the ghoul investigators, not counting associate special class and special class ghoul investigators, but agents of V something different. Most of them were half-humans, powerful ghouls and other hybrids and were extremely dangerous and far more experienced in fights. ============================================= The estate which was owned by Lucien currently was very similar to that of Tsukiyama Family. It was a huge western-styled estate. Most of the mansions near were in similar spirit. All of them belonged to wealthy individuals and families. Lucien quickly inspected estate before leaving for Helter Skelter bar. He left most of his bodyguards here and only two of them went with him in Hummer H3. Helter Skelter bar was located in 14th Ward which was full of ghouls that practiced cannibalism. His bodyguards dropped him near the bar itself and Lucien went the remaining distance by foot. This particular bar was located in a rather hidden location. The entrance was in some back alley, where you go downstairs and at the end of the corridor you would find a door with shining heading Helter Skelter Bar. For info, this bar was named after the song by The Beatles ''Helter Skelter''. Lucien opened the door slowly and entered in. What should surprise him but it didn''t was the fact that this bar was empty almost all the time. This was a so-called ghoul bar which only ghouls visited and very very few humans visited this place. From what Lucien knew that in original work this place was shown only a few times and was only visited frequently by Uta and Yomo Renji, they were friends with owner Itori. The entire bar was very nicely decorated with brick walls, lights were muted to the lowest and entire bar gave the dark feeling. But Lucien liked this very much. He slowly walked towards the bar as he was examining every corner of this place. 25 Itori Behind the bar was already woman drinking what seemed to be red wine. In reality, it was blood wine. It was none other than Itori with her long, peachy orange hair, which was parted down the center and worn loose. She wore a black corset dress with sheer neck and arms and a ruffled skirt and shoes. Her clothes were rather revealing and Lucien was mesmerized when he looked at her first time. She was too beautiful. As Lucien was looked at her she was looking at him too. She was curious about him mainly because of his unusual white hair and bright blue eyes. He looked extremely handsome with his charming hair cut and clothed in rather peculiar clothing. Lucien took several outfits with him and one of them being the attire of Ferid Bathory. When he had already haircut of hi, he chose one of his attires to be like this. He always liked that white suit with a long coat, tight high boots, and white waistcoat. It gave a noble presence. What was funny that when he showed it to his mother she took fancy to this attire and even forced most of the guards to wear similar attire as their uniform. Itori blushed a little when she noticed that Lucien was looking at her intensively. He looked very handsome and gave noble aura and unfathomable deep impression. She couldn''t know apart if he was human or if he was a ghoul. "Good day, beautiful lady." Bowed Lucien in the way he was learned at hours of etiquette. His Japanese was fluent like that of a native speaker. This was another big plus for Executor of Akashic Records. Comprehending easy language is a very easy thing, cause Lucien could just learn it through records which are faster way compared to the traditional way of learning languages. Of course, this is only with common languages. When it comes to those like dragon language or some special one there is no helping to it. Itori smiled when she heard his compliment proudly. None of the men she knew would be so daring. Even though she looked harmlessly and innocent she also very strong ghoul with rather sadistic and cruel tendencies as rest of the Clowns. "Good day to you, handsome. So what it will be?" Said Itori coquettishly. Lucien was embarrassed deep inside because this was the first time that some woman was actually flirting with him, but he still had to keep calm and composed facade. He only smiled as he was thinking about what to drink. "Only one cup of black coffee." Ordered Lucien. Itori raised her brow about his order cause she suspected him to be a ghoul and black coffee was the only thing ghouls could drink from human food. She quickly prepared him one cup of her best coffee. She cared more about this concrete cup of coffee. Secretly she wanted to impress the man before her but this was only in the subconscious plane. Lucien was watching her preparing the coffee and looked around. He saw many bottles of expensive alcohol and many bottles with red liquid in wine bottles. In reality, in those bottles was human or ghoul blood wine. Blood wine is an alcoholic beverage consumed by ghouls due to being unable to drink the traditional wine made from grapes. It is created through a process of spoiling and fermentation, similar to the method humans create wine. This process causes the blood to gain properties similar to alcoholic beverages, causing intoxication when consumed by ghouls. It is frequently treated in the same manner humans treat wine, bottled and served in wine glasses. After two minutes strong and characteristic pervasive fragrance of freshly made coffee was in the air. Itori came to him and put down the cup of fresh coffee before him. He sniffed it lightly and warm expression was made on his face. "Really very beautiful fragrance of the coffee. Thank you." Lucien commended her coffee. He was surprised that Itori could make such a good coffee. Because making delicious coffee was art itself. "Ah, hh, don''t need to commend it so much. Something like this is trifling. What''s your name? You are from abroad, aren''t you? I am Itori!" Asked Itori with great enthusiasm. She was a very friendly and talkative person. She liked having fun and even pulling pranks on people. It was the truth. Lucien was looking at her thinking what should he tell her. He wasn''t really fond of telling her his real name but as he knew that she was best information broker and V most likely knew about him it won''t take a long time for certain people to learn this information. "My name is Lucien Etras di Aeon and yes I am not local. Just came today to Tokyo and found this place." Introduced Lucien himself as he sipped his coffee. "Ooo your name is so long are you some kind of aristocrat? That would explain you are bizarre clothing. Can I call you by your surname or would you prefer me calling you by your name?" Smirked Itori at him as she asked. Even though she was best in the brand but she didn''t hear anybody called Etras di Aeon. It wasn''t so surprising because very very a few people knew about the existence of this name. "Yes I am and you could call me Lucien. You are the first person besides my family to call me that." He said to her. He didn''t consider Dante as first-person cause their two families were extremely close because of their ruled and fought side by side. So Dante and he were more like sworn-brothers than friends. "Okay, okay Lucien-san. Sooo why did you come to Tokyo?" Asked Itori with as she innocently blinked her eyes. Then she sipped her blood wine and looked at Lucien''s reaction to this question. Sadly his expression was still indifferent and the same as it was before. "Only for some family business. Boring thing. Nothing that would interest such a young lady." Lucien hit the soft spot of most women. Age. When Itori heard his compliment her expression lost for some time previous vigilance about his talks. He feared she would have some tricks to discern if he was deceiving her so he used this old cheap trick. It surprisingly worked good. "You are such gentleman Lucien-san. Do you have any girlfriend?" Asked Itori mischievously with a smile on her face. Lucien almost spurred out his coffee when he heard that. These kind of question were extremely uncomfortable to him. He was doing his best to keep himself composed. "Nope Itori-san. I must say that your coffee is really delicious. I have enjoyed it very much." Said Lucien with a smile to which Itori smiled somewhat proudly too. Then he stood up and as he already finished drinking his coffee and looked at Itori. "Sorry I don''t take any money with me but I can give you this." Apologized Lucien and took out a little gold coin with only one word. "Aeon" was written there. He tossed that coin to her and she examined the golden coin. "Don''t worry that coin may have bigger value than it looks like. I would come tomorrow too so goodbye Itori-san." Said, Lucien, as he walked out of the Helter Skelter bar. Itori was looking at his departing figure with a sigh. Until she noticed some weird noise coming from outside, quickly using back exit to take a look. 26 Vasuki When Lucien exited Helter Skelter bar he noticed that there were three agents of V lurking in shadows and watching him. He walked a little away from the bar and went to the blind street nearby. Then all three agents of V decided to show themselves. They were clothed in their typical clothing, consisting of long black leather jacket, underneath they wore suits with ties and one they head they had hats. This was classical clothing of the agents of V. Lucien stopped walking and turned to them. "I am so honored to see members of the Vasuki. May I ask what honorable gentlemen had to do with this one?" Asked Lucien in ignorant tone. Of course, he knew why are they are. They are here not to kill him but to test him. That''s why they are only three of them present. They didn''t answer him just all of them turned on their kakugans and their kagunes appeared. All of them were of the koukaku type and had kagune. All of their kagunes looked like a blade. "Hmm, you aren''t very talkative ones what a shame." Complained Lucien as his eyes turned to that of kakugan and his kagune appeared. Only this time no four tail materialized but six. Lucien didn''t dare to underestimate these people. They were more used to combat than more ghoul investigators and ghouls. Not to talk about them being ghouls. Only a minority of members of Vasuki were humans. Most of them were half-humans, ghouls and other hybrids. Because of this, their combat capabilities were superior to that of Commission of Counter Ghouls in certain aspects. "But don''t you think that sending only three of you isn''t enough to force me to activate my kakuja." Smiled Lucien at them as his six kagune tails attacked out of nowhere all three agents of Vasuki. Two tails attacked one agent. The agents of V didn''t let down their reputation and quickly dodged the attacks. But as they were dodging attacks of kagune Lucien already shot towards one agent which was closest to him and managed to grab him by a throat. The poor man wasn''t able to react in time and his throat was crushed at the power of Lucien''s grip. When Lucien killed the first one he knew what these three were. Mere cannon fodder. They were able to kill most of the A-rated ghoul but against those who were highly proficient in combat and trained these cannon fodder were useless. As the first one fell other two looked at each other, trying to do some combination attack. Agents of Vasuki were very good in cooperation and team attacks. Both of them rushed at Lucien ready to attack but suddenly two kagune katanas appeared before them and intercepted their attacks. To this Lucien jumped into the air and slashed with his kagune at one of the agents, aiming his head. As the agent was still preoccupied with blocking of kagune katana his head was severed in instant. As he headshot into the air, this caught the attention of last surviving agent of V but he was promptly kicked into his chest by Lucien''s leg kick, crashing into the wall which was right behind him. Lucien looked around him and then he looked at the last agent of V who was still barely alive. He was only watching him die. Then he looked at the roof of building not far away and used his telekinesis to shot their several bricks. ============================================= When Itori exited her Helter Skelter Bar by using back exit she noticed several people lurking in the shadows. She recognized them in an instant as they were members of Vasuki, shortly V. This organization and Clowns were enemies but their hatred wasn''t so big. In contrast to the original timeline where Clowns and Vasuki were close collaborators cause of a certain person, in this world cause Washuu''s far more formidable Vasuki was only loyal dogs of Washuu''s. They ignored Clowns because this organization didn''t threaten the purpose of V and that was the maintenance of equilibrium and balance. ''What are doing agents of V here? He should be keeping them from our places. Only if they aren''t here for me but for...'' Itori quickly realized why did members of V come here. They weren''t here for her as a certain person was, in reality, a high-ranking member of V besides being a member of Clowns. So she wasn''t someway worried about agents of V being here for her. Itori rushed to roof of the near building and she was watching three members of V. Suddenly all three of them walked to the blind alley where they stopped and looked at the familiar man in pure-white noble clothing with platinum white hair and bright blue eyes. She now confirmed that agents of Vasuki were her for Lucien. She hides in the roof so none of them could see her. It wasn''t that she was afraid of three cannon fodder members of V or something but she didn''t want to interrupt this event. After several seconds she heard only one sentence. "I am so honored to see members of the Vasuki. May I ask what honorable gentlemen had to do with this one?" After hearing this and seeing Lucien''s eyes to transform to those of kakugan and his rinkaku kagune to appear she was confident that Lucien was a ghoul and one of those more powerful ones. She watched the entire fight from its start to its end. From her point of view, this wasn''t fighting. It was just one adult bullying bunch of three kinds. It was obvious that his strength was far above theirs and he was only playing with them. She saw in him same sadistic side as in most of the members of Clowns. Of course only those strong one. But in reality, most of the strong ghouls which were rated as S and above were highly sadistic and wicked in some way. Only after several minutes fight ended when Lucien smashed the last agent of V to the wall and enjoyed his slow death. At that moment she found something. Enjoyment from the painful death of these agents didn''t mainly come from his cruel and sadistic side but from something else. It was hatred. Concentrated, strong, pure hatred. She saw that in his expression and the way he was behaving. As an information broker, she was more than experienced in reading people. Suddenly as she was watching him a few bricks came flying at her position with extremely fast speed and she barely managed to react. She dodged those bricks and jumped down at the street. When she looked around she found corpses of those agents and Lucien, nowhere to find. She only felt something moving behind her back so she turned promptly around to find that Lucien was standing before her with kagune like the sword in his right hand and his left arm was clothed entirely in kakuja. She noticed that this was likely one of his kakuja versions because it was impossible for ghoul who killed three members of Vasuki in an instant to have only this as kakuja form. Even though these members were cannon fodder in V compared to cannon fodder in CCG they were stronger. Itori forced smile in this awkward situation and looked sweetly at Lucien. "Aren''t you a rather strong one? Don''t worry I am not here to fight." This was certainly true. She didn''t want to fight with him. Because she didn''t know the precise range of his strength and power it wouldn''t be wise to fight with such a person. 27 Start of the talks Lucien looked at Itori with conflicted eyes. He knew that she would for certain spread and sell information what happened here. But he didn''t wish to do anything to her for several reasons. First was the fact that she would be his wife in the future. Second, she was very talkative, friendly and funny. When he was at home very a few people would be dare to be so friendly to him when they met him. "Could please not sell pieces of information about what have you seen here and about me?" Asked Lucien almost in pleading voice. Last reason why didn''t he want to fight with her was that Itori may look harmless but she was extremely powerful. At least as Lucien in Kakuja V3 and his equal probably. He didn''t want to fight her with his Kakuja V3 because it depleted his stamina reserves quickly and it could attract some powerful members of Washuu Clan, Aogiri and Commission of Counter Ghoul. For example, if Arima Kishou showed up he could only turn his tail and run away. He could still hear words that his father said to him about this White Reaper. ''If you ever encounter him run away in an instant. He may not be as strong in physical strength as Sacred Devourer Ghoul at Baron Rank but his reflexes, instincts and combat experiences are out of this world. He is half-human and a very strong one. If I were to estimate his power he should be able to kill Baron ranked Sacred Devourer Ghoul without any problem if he has right quinque. He is a combat prodigy and fighting genius. Only if you reach later Baron rank, kakuja V2 and together with you being Samurai in kenjutsu you would have a solid chance of killing him.'' "I am afraid that it would be very hard Lucien-san." Said Itori with a sad voice. It was the truth that information about powerful ghoul capable of killing agents of V, as toying with children would be very precious. "But we could make a deal, Lucieee-saan." Said Itori in a somewhat naughty way. To Lucien, her smile was almost at the level of a succubus. Extremely bewitching. Itori was very beautiful when she smiled. "So what is your proposition Itori-san?" Asked Lucien carefully even though he knew that what she wanted. She would ask him to tell her about his origin and his purpose of coming to Tokyo. Truth to be told his origin wouldn''t be possible to keep hidden from her for a long time. This was because Washuu and Vasuki already knew that he was here. It meant that Clowns would know that too because of a certain person who was a member of V and Clowns at the same time. It was pointless. "I would keep this confidential and I won''t sell any information about this incident if you tell me about your origin and purpose. So what do you say? Do we have a deal?" She held out her right hand for a handshake to seal the deal. Lucien was that she was sincere in her eyes when she proposed this to him so he accepted that and shaken hands with her. Itori as being Itori started to laugh happily as she patted his shoulder and leaned over one of his arms. "Could we go somewhere more private?" Itori nodded her cute head and both of them went back to Helter Skelter bar which Lucien left a short time ago. This time Itori locked doors and both of them sat in behind one table. They sat opposite each other and Itori brought blood wine. That of the highest quality she had and gave Lucien full glass of it. Lucien sniffed the vine closely and felt the familiar fragrance of blood mixed with strong alcohol bouquet. He then took one gulp and savored the taste of high-quality blood wine. Truth to be told this was his first time drinking blood wine. In Blood Island, there weren''t many of these things and were considered a luxury. Lucien enjoyed blood wine very much. "Great wine. So now you could ask. But please not very intimate questions." Said Lucien and Itori started to thinking about what to ask him. Seeing that Itori was still not talking he decided to start himself. "I originate from Aeon House, last remaining Noble House of ghoul race. That should answer the question about my origin." Itori was surprised because she never heard about something like noble houses among ghoul race. She blinked her eyes at Lucien, indicating him to continue. "Nowadays you are really ignorant about the history of your species, aren''t you?" For Lucien this was sad. Fact that almost none of the ghouls in these times didn''t know anything about their history, wars, and nobility was depressing. But he knew that this was a product of schemes from Washuu Clan. "Ghoul Race is divided between ordinary ghouls, that are those who you could see everywhere around. Then there exist Sacred Devourer Ghouls which is something like sub-species but with stronger evolutionary potential and some other things. Several hundred years before there existed several noble houses of ghoul race, more to be precise of Sacred Devourer Ghouls. Their role was the protection of race as a whole and they were guardians against people who would want our annihilation. Aeon House was that too. But there was huge was and all the houses were annihilated and our own only barely survived. We went into hiding and most of ghoul society forgotten about us." Explained Lucien shortly about this topic. Even though this was only briefly summarized but it was enough to Itori to be shocked to the core. There always existed people among ghouls who asked how they lived in history and a similar question. But none of them were able to find any kind of answer. "So what about Washuu Clan? Are they also a noble house?" Asked Itori about Washuu Clan. This clan was almost hegemon in Japan when it came to the ruling. They controlled the Commission of Counter Ghoul and Vasuki. They controlled ghoul society and partially human society. In the eyes of ordinary humans, Washuu Clan were always protectors of humanity in Japan. None of them could actually imagine that they were ghouls in reality. "Washuu Clan are nothing than filthy traitors of our blood." Said Lucien with hateful voice and even more hateful expression when it came to the topic about Washuu Clan. This didn''t go unnoticed by Itori who had seen it immediately. "Why blood traitors?" Truth to be told even Itori didn''t know confidential information about Washuu. She only knew about Vasuki, Sunlit Garden and some important members of the main family or branch families. This was because Washuu Clan heavily and strictly guarded their privacy. "Washuu Clan could be considered as Half-Sacred Devourer Ghouls. They have some blood of our blood but they were ordinary ghouls before. In reality, they have subordinated clan of Noble House of the East, namely Shi Xue Clan. When the war was nearing its end they slaughtered Shi Xue Clan which was almost devastated from war and took the rule of their territory. That''s why they are called blood traitors. Then they started to infiltrate deeper and deeper into human society and when they created Commission of Counter Ghoul their power was already stabilized and stood strong." 28 Deal Itori digested all information about Washuu Clan. She didn''t think that they would be so despised by others of their race. But it was still understandable because they betrayed their own race and slaughtered Shi Xue Clan whose they should serve. Another part was that they were deeply infiltrated into human society. It could be said that in Japan real ruling force wasn''t a prime minister but Washuu Clan. Thanks to so-called Ghoul Countermeasures Law which provided the legal foundation for the prosecution of ghouls they influence only grew. It was the truth that these laws stood above laws and country and probably stood even above the constitution. "So why didn''t your family exterminated them?" Asked Itori with curiosity. She thought that his family should have the power to annihilate Washuu Clan but it was weird for her why didn''t they do so. "Hmm, it is not so easy. In the place, we live we have our own problems which are more important than Washuu Clan. Second thing is that they have much greater numbers than we have. Our entire race numbers in tens. The entire military force of Washuu Clan numbers in what? Thousands? But fortunately, they are always some usable pawns against them." Itori didn''t know that he was referring to demon threat by saying that they had more important problems than Washuu Clan. And she knew that military force of Washuu Clan coupled with they branch families, CCG and V was extremely huge. But she noticed his last sentence about pawns. She knew that he talked about the only organization with huge numbers which could oppose CCG. But not V or Washuu Clan. Truth to be told if Washuu Clan gets serious they would be able to wipe out entire Aogiri in a few weeks. Maybe even sooner. Itori then sipped her blood wine and looked at Lucien who was still looking at her. Being looked at by such a handsome and strong man, her cheeks blushed a little but she quickly recovered and continued to ask some other question. "Sooo why did you came to Tokyo Lucien-san?" Of course, she knew the reason why he came to Tokyo but she wanted to hear from him. She was measuring him as an individual. How sincere he is, and how much will he tell her. "I have only one target. To annihilate Washuu Clan and Vasuki." Said Lucien with a serious expression. If this was said by some other person Itori would laugh at him and at his stupidity. But in regard to Lucien, she had a different view. He may be able to accomplish that. "This is something that normally ghouls wouldn''t even dream of. You know their power better than anybody else." What Itori has said was certainly the truth. He knew their power better than anybody. But Washuu Clan wasn''t so united as it seems. They were many individuals who wanted their downfall and destruction. Lucien only needed one thing. Wait. He needed to wait for the right time to attack. "Don''t worry about me. You know that Washuu Clan isn''t so united as it was. I only need to wait for an opportunity to act. And that time would come soon." Smiled Lucien at her. He knew that time was coming and soon the machines of war would start and blood would be shed. Only three months were before Steel Beem Incident. Lucien had only a short time to prepare. Firstly he needed the best information about all strong ghoul investigators. Especially those of Associate Special Class and Special Class. Secondly, he needed to contact Aogiri Tree and discuss some things with their One-Eyed King. And lastly, he wanted to contact Washuu Kichimura. He managed in original timeline to massacre entire Washuu Clan but Lucien knew that this won''t be possible in this world cause here are Washuu''s far more powerful. But he still had his uses and that he could create havoc from inside clan and V. "Itori-san you as best information broker so I would like to purchase some information." She was the best information broker around so he would be stupid to not ask her. He only wondered what she would want as payment. She usually took only other information as payment or maybe some interesting things. "Oya and what kind?" Asked Itori with a surprised voice. She was happy that Lucien asked her for help cause she could as something in return. "Commission of Counter Ghoul, all information about their Associate Special Classes and Special Classes. Especially Arima Kishou and Squad Zero. Then information about Vasuki and their most notable agents if you have some. And lastly about all S rated ghouls and above." Itori listened to him and was surprised how much information he wanted. But soon seductive smile appeared on her face as she looked at Lucien. "Somewhat greedy, Lucien-san aren''t you? But it is no problem. It would be ready after several days." Smiled Itori as she looked this time at the glass of her blood wine. Lucien was surprised that she didn''t talk about the price for that information because they were very valuable pieces of information. When he was still spacing out her voice brought him to reality. "As fooor price. Let me see. You need to come here at least once every two days and talk with me." This was a rather unusual form of payment but Lucien was more than happy with it. He could spend time with Itori and get critical information for free. Double kill. "Good. So I will come here every day then, my lady." Lucien stood up and kissed lightly Itori''s hand. This had left her dazed for a while and her cheeks were red a little bit. When she woke up from this shock she noticed that Lucien was nowhere to be found and she was alone in the bar. "What an interesting and powerful man. He is even handsome. Hmm, things would be interesting now when we have another player in our game of cycle of destruction." Said Itori with a happy voice. ''But he sure is bold. To kiss my hand without any warning.'' In contrast to the original timeline in this world, Itori never had any feeling towards the opposite gender. It could be told that Lucien was the first man whose she looked at another way. In the original world, there was always hinted that Itori had some romantic feelings towards Uta. ============================================= When Itori was thinking about Lucien he was doing the same. But in contrast to her, he was searching for her record. When they were talking he scanned her to find about her exact strength. He was very curious how strong would be she. ============================================= Name: Itori Occupation: Information Broker, Owner of Helter Skeler Bar, Member of Clowns Bloodline: None Race: Ghoul RC Type: Rinkaku RC Level: 3,897 Unique States: Kakuja - Armor, with several tails - Rating: S (Blood Island Ghoul rating), SS (CCG rating used) Cultivation: None Energy Type: None Energy Level: None - Abilities: None - Skills: Cooking ... ============================================= 29 Indigo July When Lucien finished looking at her record he returned to his mansion in 21st ward. He was greeted by several mercenaries who were guarding gate. All guard were vigilant and were doing the job best they could. Lucien called Darkwalker to tell him about the current situation. They both sat on the sofas in the living room. This room was decorated similarly to that in his home. There were the fireplace and large tv on the wall. The small tea table was in the middle of the room, surrounded by sofas and armchairs. "Tighten the security. Today I have killed three members of V. They already know about me so guard this place tightly. If you have a lack of manpower go and recruit other trustworthy ones. Don''t let anybody into the mansion without my permission. Watch out especially for investigators and agents of V." Ordered Lucien to Darkwalker who nodded in agreement and then left the living room. Lucien then went to his own bedroom. His own chambers were lavishly decorated and he had there king sized bed because he liked when he could turn around in his sleep. He sat on his bed and took out Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace and started to refine three bodies of Vasuki agents. Soon his blood essence was already finished and stored it in his Cross Crest. He wanted to it at first but then he decided to just store it at later. Maybe he would gift it to Uta or Itori. This thing could be eaten even by ordinary ghouls cause it was refined from other ordinary ghouls. Rather he opened his record to see exact RC Level he had. ============================================= Name: Lucien Etras di Aeon Occupation: Executor of Akashic Records Bloodline: Sacred Devourer Race: Sacred Devoured Ghoul RC Type: Rinkaku RC Level: 8,739 - Unique States: Kakuja V1: Left hand - body armor, right hand - kagune katana Kakuja V2: Entire body armor without a mask, kagune katana Kakuja V3: Entire body armor with the mask, another armor layer (extra thin), kagune katana Kakuja V4: Entire body armor with the mask, another armor layer (extra thin), one pair of wings, kagune katana - Rating: S (this is a rating of Blood Island Ghouls) Cultivation: N/A Energy Type: Psionic Energy Energy Level: 1,000 - Abilities: Sacred Devourer - Ability to devour any types of energy, bloodlines or bodies. It strengthens the host by some amount. Divine Telekinesis - 10 Psionic Energy per minute. Enhanced Reflexes - Skills: Kenjutsu: Samurai - Cultivation Techniques: Sacred Rinkaku Scripture: N/A RC Body Refining Technique: NA - Cross Crest: Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace ============================================= When Lucien looked at his RC Level of 8,739 he knew that it would be good to reach Baron rank soo. He was only a little reluctant to lose his Kakuja because he would have to start from zero then. Lucien was thinking about going to catch some strong ghouls to refine them to blood essences. Because ghouls also had RC Cells so blood essence from them is more suitable for consumption. Lucien then laid at his bed and started to think about all what happened this day. But most of them were about Itori. She was his type. He liked her character and she was very attractive to him. After several minutes of thinking, Lucien went to sleep. Tomorrow he had on his plan to visit Uta in his HySy ArtMask Studio. ============================================= 1st Ward, Commission of Counter Ghoul Main Office This huge skyscraper with huge letters ''CCG'' was Main Office of entire Commission of Counter Ghoul and it overseeds 1st Ward and it was also managing all branches of the organization. If necessary ghoul investigators are deployed from this branch to another. On the highest floor of the building, there was huge but a simple room. It only had one plain looking wooden table and one chair. The wooden table looked rather ordinary together but they were from a very precious kind of wood and were more than a hundred years old. This was the office of chairman of CCG. Behind the table, on the chair old man with long white hair and long beard was sitting. He had a face full of wrinkles and had a sharp gaze on his face. It was chairman of CCG and Head of Washuu Clan, Washuu Tsuneyoshi also nicknamed as Oni Tsune. He was clothed in traditional dark green kimono with two patterns of each side. That patters were the symbol of Washuu Clan. Before him, was standing a middle-aged man with wavy black hair and goatee around his mouth and chin. He wore a white suit with a pink shirt and dark red tie. That was son Washuu Tsuneyoshi, his legitimate son Washuu Yoshitoki. Legitimate because Oni Tsune had countless illegitimate children. For example, Arima Kishou, Kamishiro Rize or Ihei Hairu and Washuu Kichimura were all his illegitimate children. "Talk." Said Washuu Tsuneyoshi only one short word to his son Washuu Yoshitoki. He was always like this. He disliked nonsense and only cared about the outcome. He was also a serious person and air around him was very heavy. "Heir of Aeon House already arrived in Tokyo. We sent three agents of V with the power of First-Class Investigators to test him. They were all killed within a very short time. I estimate his rating to be at least SS. This of course without the use of Kakuja. He didn''t show it so we couldn''t grasp all of his abilities." Reported Yoshitoki to his father. He was reading this all from the report written by Vasuki. He sweated as he looked at his father''s unhappy expression but soon he realized that this was his normal expression. "Don''t attack him anymore. Only observe. We are already in the later stages of our plan and only a few years remain. We cannot let Aeon House let about it. If they found about this they would send someone extremely powerful to wipe us for sure." Ordered Oni Tsune with a powerful voice. When he talked about the plan and later stages he was even more serious than usual. Even Yoshitoki took it very seriously. They worked on it for generations and it couldn''t fail at any cost. "I will arrange everything. For the time we won''t make any moves on him and only tighten security around several places." Answered Yoshitoki. Matters which concerned Aeon House were always taken more than seriously. "Tighten security at Sunlit Garden and have there more agents of V stationed. We can''t risk that place being attacked and destroyed. It is too important. And contact Kaiko to watch his movements but only when he is near our territory. We can''t let him know that we are watching him." Sunlit Garden was a crucial project for Washuu Clan because it supplied and bred half-humans to join Vasuki or Commission of Counter Ghoul. It also bred ghouls used to preserve the pure-blooded Washuu bloodline as Kamishiro Rize. One could say that Sunlit Garden was the factory of soldiers to Washuu Clan and if it will be destroyed consequences would be huge. "Of course. I would arrange the best agents to guard it." Then Yoshitoki bowed to Washuu Tsuneyoshi and left the room. Old man Oni Tsune was left alone in a huge room and then he stood up and went to the window. He was looking at the city and all life beneath him. "So the game is finally starting. All the players are here and only first move is missing. Who would win? We, the Washuu Clan? Or would it be One-Eyed King of the Aogiri Tree? Maybe last Noble House of Sacred Devourer Ghouls, the Etras di Aeon Family? Or that wicked-psycho kid, who is scheming all over his head?" Murmured Washuu Tsuneyoshi to himself as he was watching the living city. The game was starting and trumpets of war were ringing. Blood would be shed and flesh would be torn. Life would wither and death would be eternal. Now only one thing was remaining on the chessboard. The first move. 30 HySy ArtMask Studio Lucien woke up early in the morning and the first thing he did was drinking morning coffee. Drinking morning coffee was ritual and most important tradition to him. Traditions were like Holy Decree to people of Aeon House. Another tradition for Lucien was morning training with his katana. He did it every day to keep himself in good shape. Now when he didn''t have any of Royal Guards to train with him or his mom to train with him he could only do some shadow training. His morning training took around two hours. He practiced basic stances at first and then proceeded to more advanced ones. Now that his kenjutsu was at Samurai Realm he was wielding his katana more naturally and more experienced. After finishing his morning practice he went to the 4th Ward. This ward was for ghouls uninhabitable. Together with 1st, 2nd and 3rd were too uninhabitable for all ghouls cause they were close to "the main nest of doves". It took some time for Lucien to find the exterior entrance to the HySy ArtMask Studio. It was located in some back alley, where everything was sprayed with graffiti. On the exterior was one smaller wooden banner with HySy mark on it. Lucien opened the door and went downstairs where the entrance to the shop was located. Entrance to the shop was a very small and narrow place, lit only by a bright red light. The door was made from the combination of wood and some iron. It looked nice and the glance. Lucien entered the shop and saw its entire beauty. The floor was practically chessboard, with black and white squares pattern on it. In the middle of the room and beside walls were big glass showcases with some masks displayed. On the wall, masks were hanging and some of them were scary like from a horror movie. The main designer Uta was nowhere to find. "Nec possum tecum Vivere, nec sine te." Screamed Lucien at the whole studio. He knew that Uta was here but probably was crafting some new masks and listening to music through the headset. So he said one quote that would bring him here for certain. "I can live neither with you, nor without you." Said another voice coming from the backroom. The tall, lanky young looking man appeared. With black hair, styled into an undercut. Various tattoos covered his arm, and a sun tattoo covered his entire left pectoral region. His eyes were like those of kakugan. Black sclera and red iris. Clothed in gray tank top underneath a black wrap sweater, along with harem pants and sandals. He also wears a black necklace with round, white gems hanging from it. "Hello, Uta-san." Greeted Lucien politely. When Uta saw Lucien he expression remained the same but he knew who he was. As Uta worked with Aeon House for a very long time he knew inheritor from the first glance. Lucien also knew Uta had a personality like this. He has a very nice way of speaking and seems to be friendly. His expression almost never changes but he had an amusing way of teasing people. Of course, he has a sadistic and savage form from his youth but it appears that he left those way behind him as time passed. "Lucien-san, welcome to my shop. Come to the back room to sit." Lucien followed Uta to the backroom and both of them sat down at the chairs. The backroom was actually Uta''s real workplace. Here was his workplace, his table, and sketches of masks. Lucien fleetingly looked through all sketches before looking at Uta. "Here this is my gift to celebrate our first meeting and to beginning of our friendship. From this day we are friends." Said Lucien with a smile as he took out one blood essence refined from agents of V. Blood essences refined from ghouls could be eaten by ordinary ghouls too. "Thank you, my friend. How was the journey?" Said Uta with his expression unchanged, even though Lucien would swear that he saw a faint smile on his face. He took the pearl-sized blood essence into his hands and closely examined it. He had seen it before but it never stopped intrigue him. That bloody red color and that vibe if given. "Good, but I was ambushed by three members of Vasuki as soon as I have left Helter Skelter Bar. Fortunately, they were just cannon fodder." Uta just listened to Lucien''s talk but he reacted to the Helter Skelter Bar. It was a place that his friend Itori was running. Seeing Lucien facial change when he mentioned Helter Skelter Bar he knew that Itori already got some bargain from him. "How was she?" Uta was curious about Lucien''s meeting with Itori. Because of her friendly and unrestrained nature, she was a very interesting person. Another thing was that he knew what kind of person Lucien was from talks with some people from Aeon House. "Its good to have someone like her. She is a funny person. In my homeland, nobody is like her. Everyone is just focused on martial arts and fighting." Said Lucien with a somewhat sad voice. This was just pure truth. But this wasn''t like this without a reason. From the constant threat of demons, all Sacred Devourer Ghouls must always work on improving themselves. More after Lucien gifted the RC Body Refining Technique to the race. "That''s good to hear. She is a good person. By the way, Souta is planning to make a move soon, did you know? The game is starting." Said Uta but this time with rather more serious voice than usual. "That''s good then. You with Clown try to create the biggest chaos. More destruction and chaos, easier for me to hunt for Washuu and Vasuki." Explained Lucien his newly made plan to Uta. It was a simple plan but effective. He just needed chaos everywhere to quietly hunt for some Washuu Clan members or Vasuki agents. And who could be better to create chaos and destruction and a bunch of psycho-ghouls called Clowns. "And try to keep eye on him. That man is scheming something big." Uta nodded his head and then both of them talked about the situation in Tokyo for several past years. A most notable event was 4th Ward Clown Investigation which happened seven years before. This was basically a three-sided war between Commission of Counter Ghoul, commanded by Arima Kishou, ghouls of the 4th Ward and finally, Anteiku commanded by Yoshimura alias Non-Killing Owl. "Lucien-san you should take a look at one man called Kanou Akihiro. He is associate of Clown and he is researching something called ghoulification surgery and process of turning ordinary human to the ghoul. I only heard that Souta to talk about him being hand-to-hand with Washuu Clan on some experiments." Lucien frowned hearing this. Kanou was a huge threat. Not because he could fight or he is strong but he is practically genius who researched ghoulification process and created many artificial one-eyed ghouls. "Let him be for now. Uta-san could you make me a mask? I even have some sketch here." 31 Hollow Uta immediately raised his attention when it came to the art of mask. He was curious about what design Lucien would choose. He was a renowned mask maker and his reputation was great among ghouls. Especially as he was the former leader of 4th Ward he gained a huge amount of respect from other ghouls. Lucien took out the design of his mask. Basically, it was Hollow Mask of Zangetsu. It was a pure white mask from the left side, red from the right side. There were only two holes of eyes and teeth looked like those of some kind of skeleton. Lucien gave the design to Uta who was greatly surprised by it. As an art lover and expert, he could tell this mask was very special. "It beautiful. As death itself." Commented Uta. He was greatly mesmerized to look at the mask. He wasn''t particularly wrong. This mask of a mask of Hollow and Hollows were really close to death. They are the race of creatures born from souls who, for some reasons, do not cross over to Circle of Samsara and reincarnate. They could be said to be corrupted spirits with supernatural powers which devour the souls and strengthen themselves. From what Lucien knew that Hollows were one of the most terrifying creatures in the entire multiverse and were regarded as cancer in any world or dimension they appeared. "It would be done after one week. Maybe ten days. I would use though materials, your mask would be tough and sturdy." Said Uta to Lucien who just nodded. He knew that making the mask wasn''t an easy thing. It required a long time and precise work to create one good mask. Lucien then took the pen and write down his new address to Uta who was already drawing something on canvas. "Here is my address Uta-san. If I am not home then I would be at Helter Skelter Bar. And if I am not even there don''t search for me." Explained Lucien about his whereabouts. Now he could be only in two places. One was his estate and other was Helter Skelter Bar. "Okay." Lucien then stood up and left the HySy ArtMask Studio. ============================================= Lucien then went to his estate in 21st Ward. On the street was already Hummer H3 waiting form him and then he went to the estate. When they came back Lucien went to train in Sacred Rinkaku Scripture. He was feeling that he was near mastering first stance of the Sacred Scripture so he trained more seriously compared to before. Now the most important thing was to improve his personal strength before the game would start. He already had only three or something month left before Dark September comes and Steel Beam Incident would happen. Before that Lucien needed to reach Baron Rank in his cultivation. Sadly it would take a very long time before he could use Kakuja again. Maybe if someone from his family would bring him here some blood essences refined from baron ranked demons entire process would go much smoother. Soon one week passed and Lucien spent it tranquil peace. He didn''t get attacked by agents of V, ghoul investigators or any other individuals. It was a good time. He spent most of his time by training in kenjutsu and Sacred Rinkaku Scripture. Another thing was that he started to hunt for some A-rated ghouls in secret and refine them to blood essences. This made his RC Level to increase and he was already nearing breakthrough to Baron rank. Only a little bit missed. When Lucien wasn''t training he was spending time drinking blood wine and coffee in Helter Skelter Bar and chatting with Itori. From time to time Uta would join them to drink. This time it was the same. Lucien and Uta were sitting behind the bar and both were drinking blood wine. Itori was drinking too and looking at both of them. Suddenly Uta took out something from his bag and gave it to Lucien. It was the package, carefully packed. Lucien unpacked the package and saw there Hollow mask as he wished it to be. This woke up the interest of Itori and she quickly snatched it from his hands and started to inspect the mask. Mask had perfect quality cause maker was Uta. The best mask maker in the world. Then Itori put the mask on her face and looked at both of them. "How do I look?" Asked Itori jokingly. She wanted to try Lucien''s new mask. Masks are worn by ghouls to prevent their identities as Humans from being discovered by various anti-ghoul organizations. Usually, masks bear a symbolic attachment or representation to their owner. Even aliases of ghouls are mainly created on masks they are wearing. Because Lucien trusted Itori he wasn''t especially concerned about her seeing his mask. "Like a beautiful skeleton." Said Lucien with smile and Uta just continued to have his indifferent expression as he sipped his blood wine. Itori pouted at his answer and returned the mask to Lucien. After several next minutes of discussions, only Itori and Lucien talked because Uta was spacing out, the door opened and another person entered this bar. It was the tall and well-built man with silver hair, darker shade compared to Lucien''s platinum white hair. His glare was like an immovable stone and he wore a long black trenchcoat. Yomo Renji came here today. He is Yoshimura''s right hand and old friend of Itori and Uta. Another notable thing is that he is a very powerful ghoul with Pseudo-Electrokinesis ability. Yomo Renji had too superhuman strength and durability. In certain aspects, he was stronger than Uta in fights. In his younger days, he was originally a hot-blooded person who acted very violently and was very vengeful and harbored immense hatred towards Arima Kishou for killing his sister Hikari. After he started to work in Anteiku and since his meeting with Yoshimura, he gradually became a more composed and calmer person. He displayed a cold demeanor but deep inside he cared about people around him. "Itori, Uta." Greeted Yomo Renji moment he opened the door. Uta looked that way but quickly turned away his view from him. Itori showed a more cheerful reaction. "Hi, Ren-Chan! Come to sit." Renji took down his black trenchcoat and hung it on the wall. Then he went to the bar where he saw the new individual. It was a man with long platinum white hair and weird white attire. From first glance he could be seen as ghoul investigator cause only they were always in white. And then there were White Suits but this man before him didn''t have the suit. But when Renji noticed that the man was drinking blood wine he found out that he was a ghoul. He sat down next to him and Itori brought him coffee. When "Ren-chan" drinks an even smaller amount of blood wine he gets drunk and is extremely talkative. "Here you go, Ren-chan. And this is my our new friend, Lucien-san." Itori brought Renji one cup of coffee and at the same time, she introduced Lucien to Renji. To this Lucien turned to him with his hand to perform a handshake and said. "Hello ''Ren-chan'', Lucien Etras di Aeon, name my is.''" He purposely used Ren-Chan in his greeting because it sounded funny and somewhat cute. But probably it sounded cute from mouth Itori alone. Renji accepted his handshake and both of them shook hands. "Yomo Renji." Then both of them returned to drinking their respective drinks. 32 Red Mask, White Cloak After some time that they were drinking, none of them spoke a word. Renji wasn''t a talkative person when he wasn''t drunk, Lucien enjoyed his blood wine and Uta was just Uta. Thinking about some kind of art or about something else. Not understandable to us mortals. Itori was looking at the three of them and she didn''t like this silence. Compared to her cheerful and funny nature this serious and heavy air was killing her slowly. But when it appeared that she lost all hope, the person who was usually cold as ice started to talk. "Your name sounds very special. Etras di Aeon. Are you some kind of noble or something similar?" Asked Renji. In his entire life, he didn''t hear about some noble house of ghouls. Of course, there existed some rich families as Tsukiyama Family and he knew about only one noble house of ghouls. They originated from Germany and its name was Rosenwald Family. They are connected with Tsukiyama Family by blood. But this family was exterminated by Washuu Matsuri around ten years ago, during so-call Rosenwald Extermination Operation. "You could consider me an aristocrat." Answered Lucien truly. Even idiot could deduce from his name that he was some kind of nobility so there wasn''t any point in denial. After that Lucien spent there more than an hour before leaving. When nobody was watching Itori gave Lucien small paper where was marked the certain location. This was a location where were ghouls gathering in 14th Ward. In this ward was cannibalism very common. Lucien needed some bodies to refine them to blood essences so he asked Itori about the best place where to find bigger numbers of ghouls. Most of those ghouls would be only B-Rated and minority would be A-Rated. He decided to give Itori one blood essence. It would help her to increase her RC Level and she could grow stronger. ============================================= It took over one hour for Lucien to arrive at the marked location by foot. It was abandoned underground metro. At least part of it. It was devastated and everywhere was the smell of blood and cheap alcohol. Lucien just frowned at looking at the entrance which looked like it would collapse every second now. He then just overcame himself and proceed to depths of the metro. Soon he found his target. Or better said targets. In a huge underground space, there were several ghouls feeding on some corpses. Lucien quickly scanned the ghouls present. There were around twenty of them and most of them looked rather weak. Lucien materialized several daggers from kagune and through his telekinesis, he started massacre down there. When one dagger slashed one life of ghoul was extinguished. After several minutes of intense slaughter and panic, none of those ghouls was left alive. Lucien was rather disappointed because all of these ghouls were only of B-Rated. He needed to go deeper into this complex to find at least A-Rated ghouls or maybe even S-Rated ghoul. Lucien stored bodies of twenty-five ghouls into his Cross Crest and then proceeded deeper into the underground complex. He was walking through some kind of tunnel until he heard some weird sound. Lucien immediately turned on his kakugan and congealed three tails as his kagune. The attack came out of nowhere aimed at Lucien, but he swiftly blocked the enemy''s kagune attack by his own kagune. As he was blocking the attack Lucien congealed another two tails from his kagune and attacked his ghoul who had ambushed him. The ghoul was a bit stronger than previous ones but he still lost an arm facing attack from Lucien''s kagune tails. This ghoul was a man and he wasn''t even wearing the mask. Lucien then looked at him as he was crouching on the floor in pain as his arm was severed. "Weak." Lucien then attacked once more, severing ghoul''s head in the process. He stored corpse in Cross Crest and then chose to proceed deeper as he had a feeling that there may be more powerful ghouls here. Lucien had a faint feeling that this place may lead to the 24th Ward. When Lucien walked around another twenty minutes he found a somewhat big open space. This space was a rather big counting fact that this was underground. Lucien looked around himself only to see that he is alone here. He didn''t see any other ghouls or humans. This place looked really simple. There wasn''t even one single graffiti on the walls or trash around. It was clear that this place was out of reach of people. Lucien walked through this place until he saw a person. He was a tall man with short white hair and red eyes. His mouth was hidden with a red iron mask and was wearing the white cloak. Lucien observed this man as he knew who he was and knew that he was probably stronger than him by some amount. "Greetings Tatara, Direct Subordinate of Leader of Aogiri Tree and remnant of Chi She Lian." Bowed Lucien in his pre-learned manner. Tatara was Direct Subordinate of the Aogiri Tree and SS~-Rated ghoul. Originated from China, he was only living member of ghoul organization in Chine named Chi She Lian which was headed by his brother Yan. But this was already the past. Tatara observed Lucien and didn''t say anything. He was a very composed and stoic person and experienced warrior. The person is very loyal to the Aogiri Tree and extremely powerful individual. What was rather frightening about him was the accuracy of his calculation and precision during fights. "You know me, but I don''t know you." Said Tatara with indifferent voice. As warrior tempered by the blood of other ghouls and humans he could say that man before he was strong. "Lucien Etras di" Lucien stopped in the middle of his introduction as he jumped into the air because Tatara''s kagune was already before him. It looked like a large, thick blood red tail with spearhead on its end. Tatara was just probing Lucien how strong really was he. It was known that Tatara had inhuman agility and speed. "How rude interruption." Stated Lucien. In reality, he wasn''t particularly offended because he knew that this was just a test. He knew that Tatara was testing him if he was really qualified to talk on the same grounds with him. But still, Lucien didn''t like this so he did the same. Three kagune tails appeared behind his back and attacked Tatara with thunderous speed. Tatara managed to dodge first two and the last one was aiming at his chest, but it was blocked with the usage of kakuja which has materialized around his arm only. Both of them looked at each other and at the same time came to the mutual understanding and turned off their kakugan. Then two of them came closer and bowed to each other as a symbol of respect. It was recognition of warrior to warrior. Martial artist to martial artist. "Lucien Etras di Aeon, my name is." Lucien was finally able to introduce himself properly. Tatara nodded his head, apparently faintly familiar name but he wasn''t able to recognize it now. Only after several seconds he finally was able to remember who man before him. But not based on the name but rather an unusual appearance. "Now I know your name. In certain circles, valuable information is flowing that man of a rather unusual appearance arrived in Tokyo and killed three agents of Vasuki in flash, like a toying with children." Said Tatara with a somewhat happy voice. From his perspective more enemies CCG, Washuu Clan or V had the better. He heard about the man from Eto two days after the event. 33 Mission Accomplished "Tatara I would like to meet your leader. We have a common enemy here and cooperation would be conducive for both sides." Said Lucien with a smiling face. True, that gaining the help of the Aogiri Tree would help him tremendously at least they could stall and fight with Commission of Counter Ghoul when he will be fighting with Washuu Clan or Vasuki. And if he were to cultivate them a little like giving them some blood essences to increase their RC Level and thus creating new S-rated, SS-rated or even SSS-rated ghouls could help him even in his fight against Washuu Clan and Vasuki. "Common enemy? Do you mean CCG or them?" The common enemy of all ghoul was CCG, at least on the surface. The real common enemy was in fact hidden. True enemy was actually Washuu Clan and Vasuki as their loyal dogs that kept this equilibrium and balance. "Washuu Clan is my enemy and they shall be annihilated leaving none alive." Stated Lucien as hatred was felt from his voice. Even Tatara could feel and see that Lucien was really hating Washuu''s to the core. In reality minority of ghouls knew the truth about Washuu Clan. Truth to be told they could be count at one hand how many knew this secret information. Tatara was now in deep thought. He saw in Lucien that he was sincere but he was still a little vigilant. It was his job as one of the top executives of the Aogiri Tree. He was thinking when could Lucien meet their leader. "Now it is not possible. But in one month in the ruins of the 24th Ward. There you could meet with Leader but as you don''t know where exactly we will send somebody to pick you up when you arrive at the 24th Ward." Lucien nodded as he was happy that meeting with Eto could be done soon. Now only something more than two months remained before the Steel Beam Incident so he needed to meet all influential ghouls and people who could be some help. Aftermath both of them talked about some things and compared fighting styles. Lucien quickly took a liking to Tatara and gave him something as a gift. It was part of the equivalent to Sacred Rinkaku Scripture but for Bikaku kagune. Destructive Bikaku Scripture. It was only shortened version and described some basic stances. It couldn''t serve as the manual but could improve some fighting methods. "To commemorate this meeting and to the beginning of cooperation and friendship, I will give you this as the gift. Its martial arts specially created for ghouls with bikaku kagune." Gave Lucien scroll to Tatara who looked at it with interest. Compared to most ghouls he knew martial arts and could fight far more effectively than most of them. His combination of effective and precise attacks and overwhelming strength killed numerous ghouls and investigators. Tatara took the scroll from Lucien''s hands and stored it in his cloak. "Thank you. We will see each other in a month in 24th Ward." Thanked Tatara and both of them went away. ============================================= Lucien returned to his estate after finishing his discussion with Tatara and hunt for materials for blood essences. Lucien returned to his room and took out Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace, with several bodies of ghouls already inside. There were around ten B-rated ghouls inside so the process was rather quick and Lucien retrieved newly refined blood essence. Then he inserted there remaining bodies of fifteen B-rated ghouls and one A-rated ghoul. Though process took a little more time it was still done quickly and now Lucien was holding two blood essences refined from ghouls. As stated before these had higher effectiveness compared to blood essences refined from other races. Because the base of these blood essences were RC Cells. Lucien gulped the two slightly bigger red blood essences in one go and started to meditating and focusing on changes in his body. He could feel that his RC Cells were multiplying at an alarming rate, quickly reaching RC Level of 10,000. He knew that today he would reach Baron rank for sure and he was wondering how massive changes would be. When RC Level reached the required amount Lucien started to fuse them with his flesh and bones according to the RC Body Refining Technique. This feeling was rather weird at the start but turned to inhuman pain as it carried on. He felt that his bones were reforming and were created from the RC Cells itself and his flesh was constantly Enhanced. In Baron rank RC Cells would recreate bones from them, making skeletal structure much stronger. He felt that every aspect of his body was greatly enhanced and made him stronger. After the process was finished, Lucien stood up and stretched his body a little. Then he tried to congeal kagune, cause he was curious if he would be able to have at least one tail or have to start from zero. Even if he had to start from zero it wasn''t a serious problem because with pure physical strength he could kill some of weaker S-rated ghouls. Now he could probably win against Tatara even if he used his kakuja to full. And Lucien''s wish came true as he managed to congeal one tail. But this wasn''t normal tail but rather permanent tail. That means he won''t lose it when he will reach Viscount Rank. Probably he would gain another permanent tail. Lucien then slashed a few times with his tail and tried to attack with it. Before breaking through, his kagune was on the level of 3rd-Tier Noble-Grade Artifact. Now it shot up to the 2nd-Tier Noble-Grade, which was already stronger than most of quinque in this world. After exercising his body after this breakthrough he looked at his record to see changes. The record was the best definition of one''s cultivation and strength. ============================================= Name: Lucien Etras di Aeon Occupation: Executor of Akashic Records Bloodline: Sacred Devourer Race: Sacred Devoured Ghoul RC Type: Rinkaku RC Level: 0 Kagune Rank: 2nd-Tier Noble-Grade - Unique States: Permanent Tail - 1 - Cultivation: Baron Energy Type: Psionic Energy Energy Level: 1,000 - Abilities: Sacred Devourer - Ability to devour any types of energy, bloodlines or bodies. It strengthens the host by some amount. Divine Telekinesis - 10 Psionic Energy per minute. Enhanced Reflexes - Skills: Kenjutsu: Samurai - Cultivation Techniques: Sacred Rinkaku Scripture: N/A RC Body Refining Technique: Baron - Cross Crest: Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace ============================================= The changes on his record were numerous. He could see even some new lines there weren''t there before. The most notable change was that his kakuja has now disappeared cause his RC Level is now zero. Second notable thing was a line about kagune rank which described hardness of his kagune. Currently, it was 2nd-Tier Noble-Grade. Thirdly was new unique state and that was the permanent tail, numbered only one for now. Now he only needed to train a little in Sacred Rinkaku Scripture to achieve a breakthrough in the scripture and move to another stance. Lucien looked at this with huge satisfaction because he finally reached Baron rank. He could hope surviving fight with figures as Arima Kishou or some monsters from Washuu Clan and Vasuki. As he was done with an examination of changes on his records Lucien laid down at his bed and went to sleep. More hard days were coming and soon the meeting with Eto would happen. Lucien wondered if there would be even Arima Kishou cause he was real One-Eyed King. 34 Date During this one month of waiting nothing serious happened. Lucien spent most of his time training in Sacred Rinkaku Scripture and sometimes he would train in kenjutsu. As there was nobody to train with be it kenjutsu or sparring with kagune, Lucien was forced to train always alone. His progress in Sacred Rinkaku Scripture was very good. Several days after reaching baron rank via RC Body Refining Technique he managed to reach Rinkaku Baron in his sacred scripture. Now he was currently cultivating the second stance of this scripture, which was something with defending oneself. Good progress couldn''t be said about his kenjutsu as he was again stuck. Because nobody was around to spar with him he was only doing shadow sparring which wasn''t so effective. Even during fights when he would go hunt for some ghouls to refinement he used only his kagune. To his hunts, Lucien even had battle attire. It was basically something like an oriental version of Archer Emiya. He wore a long red coat, ornamented from inside with Japanese symbols, underneath the coat was a thin layer of black armor created from a special flexible material so it won''t hinder him in fighting and on his legs were high boots with protectors too. He looked like some modern samurai in this attire. But with combination with Hollow mask he usually wore, some ghouls nicknamed his "Hollow". Hollow because he was like an incarnation of evil in that mask and cause he killed everything alive he saw. The only exception was ghoul investigators whose Lucien was avoiding because he didn''t want to attract the attention of Washuu Clan. They had decided to not attack him so he won''t be provoking them until everything is ready. Currently, Lucien was in his typical white noble attire sitting with Itori at Helter Skelter Bar. After this whole month, they were much closer to each other than before. Itori being a very friendly person she even called him by his name without any prefix after the name. Lucien was doing the same. But today was no ordinary day as something miraculous happened. Lucien took all the courage he had and asked Itori for a date. He was not afraid of fighting to the death with enemy stronger than him but this almost killed him. That waiting for her answer, every second was like a year in the deepest layer of hell. "I would be glad, Lucien." Blushed a little Itori as she said these words and Lucien sighed in relief. It was a huge relief for him. This was the first time in his whole life when he was asking a woman for a date. He even carefully planned everything. Firstly they would go to see a movie and to the cinema. Itori would choose the movie. Secondly would be dinner but not something ordinary but rather meat of demon. Because Lucien was giving Itori blood essences and some of them had inside bit of his blood so her body was very slowly transforming. It wasn''t some huge transformation, only that she would be able to digest certain creatures and she won''t lose sanity eating other ghouls and using kakuja. This all, of course, happened without her knowing. She only knew that these little blood red pearls were very good for increasing her RC Level so she was very happy to be given one. And Lucien always gave her one when he finished hunting for some ghouls in underground areas. "We could go. I have everything planned." Said Lucien with a smile as both of them exited Helter Skelter Bar and went to the cinema. As they were walking through the streets he noticed something were disturbing. He was being watched and they were not someone unknowns. Ghoul Investigators, Doves have shown up. Clothed in their characteristic gray long coats and holding cases with their quinques. Lucien counted several of them around but he couldn''t recognize any one of them. What was weird that why would they came after him even if agents of V couldn''t even scratch him. This probably wasn''t order from Washuu Clan but rather some over-motivated director in the bureau. "Itori, you have noticed?" She nodded her head in approval, cause she too noticed doves around. But she didn''t particularly care about them cause they were just a bunch of unknown weaklings. Real powers of Commission of Counter Ghoul won''t show in street tailing two ghouls. "Good, we would resume our date and after the movie, we would go to some back alley to dispose of them if they are still following us." Said Lucien with a serious tone. Even if he killed these people he knew that Washuu Clan won''t be mad at it. Truth to be told they would be mad at the person who ordered this and not at him. Lucien and Itori went to the cinema leaving doves to freely watch them. Itori then took the initiative to hold hands with Lucien, seeing that he won''t make the first move. Even though this was the first date to her as well she was much older than him. Maybe it came from their temperaments. Itori chose some romantic movie and truth to be told Lucien liked it even though most of the men hated this kind of films. What Lucien somewhat enjoyed and Itori made angry were gazes from all women around. They saw Lucien being as extremely handsome and even those who were walking with their husbands or boyfriends couldn''t help stealing a glance at him. Even several men shot glances at him. Itori was already unconsciously releasing a little bit of so-called killing intent to scare all women away from her "trophy man". As they were walking beside the river and holding hands, the doves were still tirelessly following them. "Did you enjoy the film?" Asked Itori. She knew that most men didn''t like these kinds of movies. Even though Itori was sometimes cruel and sadistic person when she fought, she was still a woman and she still carved for romance. As any other maiden she wanted her prince and by chance one suitable was walking beside her and holding her hand. "Truthfully yes. It wasn''t so bad. Come they are already following us of an entire day, I will do something about them." Said, Lucien, as they went to the nearest back alley. Itori disappeared and hide immediately after they went to the alley and Lucien changed his clothed in lightning speed to that of his battle attire and wore his Hollow Mask. Because doves were much slower than them Lucien was fully prepared to fight when they arrived. What surprised him was a fact that there were now five ghoul investigators, all with suitcases. Because lowest required rank for an investigator to have quinque was Rank 2 Ghoul Investigator, it meant that all of them were at least Rank 2 Ghoul Investigators. When they saw Lucien in his clothes and mask all of them took some kind of battle stance with they suitcase as they were prepared to unleash their quinque at any time. What rather stunned them was that Lucien suddenly bowed and greeted them in his natural way. "Welcome gentlemen." 35 Doves are meant to be killed This kind of thing was rather unusual. That ghoul was greeting them in such a manner. To Lucien, this was, however, his tradition and manners. After he performed his greeting all five ghoul investigators were looking at him with wary eyes. But none of them was taking the first move. "Nobody? So forgive my rudeness." Lucien apologized for his act of bullying "children" and started. Firstly his kakugan turned on and two bright red irises and dark black sclera were shining through his holes on the mask. Secondly, his kagune tails materialized and started attacking. This was just probing attack because he wasn''t sure if some really strong ghoul investigator wasn''t present. This world was different from the main timeline so there existed the possibility that Commission of Counter Ghoul kept some of the strong ghoul investigators in secret. As his attack was nearing them almost all of them already unleashed their quinques and started to somehow defend. Only one of them was very unlucky as he was sliced into two by one of Lucien''s tails. When Lucien saw that he knew that this was just a bunch of amateurs. Probably some Rank 2 or Rank 1 ghoul investigators without real combat experience. Only two of them still kept their calm and composure. They were probably First-Class Ghoul Investigators, from what Lucien saw. They could dodge his attacks and block them with quinque but both of them were injured. Lucien focused his attack only at them cause others were weaker than ants. Both of them were middle-aged men and were holding some serial quinque. That quinque looked like a medieval sword, but not Japanese katana but a rather European one-handed sword. It was clearly bikaku quinque. Lucien shot another attack at one of the investigators with his tail. Other two low-ranked investigators were hiding behind their backs cause they can''t do anything besides running away or getting themselves killed. As kagune tail came to direct contact with quinque, that quinque shattered in tiny pieces and that ghoul investigator had the look of shock on his face. It was rather rare for quinque to be destroyed. More to say to be destroyed after two exchanges. As he was wondering and spacing out about what happened another red tail already appeared before him and his life was taken away. Second middle-aged ghoul investigator looked at this with a face full of horror, knowing that this day was his last one. But he still held his pride as ghoul investigator and gripped and quinque tightly and rushed at Lucien with madness clearly written on his face. Lucien just chuckled seeing this and jumped into the air, appearing right behind ghoul investigator and his kagune tails already ripped his entire body to shreds. Only what remained here were two five quinques. Three from killed ghoul investigators and the other two were left here by those two low-ranked ghoul investigators who ran away. Lucien looked at them running away in distance and let them go. Then he stored everything here to his Cross Crest. Quinques could be used as a material for growth of his Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace and bodies could be refined to blood essences. Itori then appeared from shadows and looked at Lucien with an expression of fan-girl. It was an expression of admiration for strong. She already knew that Lucien had something like dimensional storage but she didn''t ask much. She told him that she was a member of Clown for exchange. They were exchanging information and secrets about each other, to build trust. Of course, this was at the start. "You have finished it quickly and I wanted to play too." Pouted Itori as she pointed in the way where two ghoul investigators escaped. She was a little dissatisfied that she couldn''t play too with little doves. Ghoul investigators under Associate Special Class were only toys to strong ghouls. Maybe some strong First-Class investigators with strong quinque could fight those stronger time but the only stall for time, that''s all. "Yes, If I have prolonged maybe even more and stronger doves would fly here." Stated Lucien this fact. Most ghouls in any country would try to finish the fight as soon as possible cause long fights could lure many enemies over. Be it local forces of organs meant to deal with ghouls or some other ghouls. "Now we could continue our date. Where are we going to dine?" Asked Itori with a curious expression. When she heard for the first time that she would be eating with him she was rather confused. Because Lucien mentioned something that always remained in her head when she asked him about where he was getting food from. To this, he only said: " Why would I eat those inferior species? We of the Aeon House eat something which could benefit us not human meat." "We are going to 21st Ward, there is my estate located. But don''t worry my mercenaries would pick us up." Lucien already sent a message to the Darkwalker to arrange convoy to pick them up. He wanted to make a good impression so he ordered him to bring additional bodyguards. Only for info now Lucien had over thirty bodyguards guarding his place. It was because the estate was rather big and he wanted to have covered entire place with mercenaries and not with the use of cameras. Itori already knew that he hired an entire bunch of ghoul mercenaries to protect his estate from potential attack from Washuu Clan and their dogs. It wasn''t so weird considering other thing and mysteries about him. Soon convoy of three cars appeared before them. All of them were black Hummers. Two Hummers H3 and one Hummer limousine. Because the place of meeting was one abandoned factory there weren''t many people around who would be watching. Several bodyguards already greeted Lucien and Itori. Both of them went inside the limousine and then to the estate. ============================================= 1st Ward, Commission of Counter Ghoul Main Office In the office of chairman of was a meeting of three people. One of them was naturally Washuu Tsuneyoshi, sitting behind his wooden table and looking, two other men. One of them was his son Washuu Yoshitoki and the last one was his grandson Washuu Matsuri. Washuu Matsuri had short black hair and wore a pair of glasses. In his nature, he was more close to his grandfather than father. Extremely logical and cold nature prioritized successful results over the potential cost. "Who gave that order?" When both Yoshitoki and Matsuri heard that, chill spun their backs. They clearly had ordered to not engage that person from Aeon House but somebody already ordered to investigate him. Chairman Oni Tsune was furious about this fact. He didn''t tolerate any kind of disobedience. "We don''t know. It''s highly possible that First-Class Investigators Hasada''s acted on their own. But we managed to gain description about battle attire and mask of that Aeon from those Rank 2 Investigators who escaped." Said Yoshitoki with a grim expression. Matsuri was listening to this and analyzing every detail. After short though Matsuri came with some question and classification. They needed to rate Aeon and gave him some nickname to be "famous" among investigators. When ghoul has good nickname its easier to memorize him. 36 SS-Rate Hollow "How should we rate him? And what about his nickname?" Matsuri came forward and asked this question. This situation was already out so the entire event must be categorized. Hearing this Oni Tsune looked at Matsuri with deep thought before speaking. "Rate him at least as SS. Nickname is already created. Hollow, that is how ghouls call him. Inform all First-Classes and above to be very careful and not to engage in close combat and just observe." Ordered Oni Tsune to Yoshitoki and Matsuri. Then he closed both of his eyes and the meeting was ended. Both Washuu''s then lightly bowed and left the chairman''s office. ============================================= Lucien and Itori were currently sitting in the dining room, which was a rather huge room. As in most mansions for rich people and nobles, there was a too huge and long wooden table, capable to accommodate over twenty people with ease. But as Lucien knew that such huge table impractical they soon moved to the living room to dine. There were fireplace and piano music playing so it was more romantic. "Do you believe that demons exist?" This question took Itori by surprise. Because demons were always things of fantasy and folklore, she didn''t ever give it serious thought. From a certain perspective, even ghouls could be classified as demons. Especially in the eyes of ordinary humans of this world. "I don''t know. Who knows what is out there." Lucien smiled at her answer and took a little book from his Cross Crest. It was the so-call Demon Guide. A little book, written by some Sacred Devourer Ghoul, several decades ago. He then presented it to the patriarch of the Aeon House at that time and since then this book became a basic guide, containing most of the demons who appeared. Itori took the book and started flipping through the pages and looking at various illustration inside the book. At first, she thought that this was some fantasy book, but soon she saw that mark, on the last page of the book. It was the same as the golden coin, which Lucien gifted her, huge words "AEON". "They are real?" Asked Itori wish a little-shaken voice. Information about demons being real was a rather huge shock to her. It would be a huge shock to every modern person who considered these creatures like nothing more than fairy-tail. But the reality could be sometimes more cruel than anything else. "Yes, they are. They are living in my homeland, The Blood Island and we are fighting them for centuries. If not for this do you think that Washuu''s could be so brazen in everything they are doing?" Explained about a situation with demons. It was true that if the threat of demons and that spatial rift didn''t exist, the Washuu Clan would be already massacred long time ago for their treason against the race. "Flesh of demons is more useful than those of humans. If ghoul practice cannibalism on other ghouls, his RC Level would be increasing very quickly. But when you eat human flesh you will barely gain any increase in your RC Level. But with eating the flesh of demons you will increase your RC Level more quickly. This is because demons are innately stronger than humans and have more powerful bodies." Lucien was telling her some of some common sense among Sacred Devourer Ghoul race from the Blood Island. As ordinary ghoul she won''t be able to perfectly digest flesh of demon but when she will undergo Devourerification, from ordinary ghoul to Sacred Devourer Ghoul. But that was in the distant future. Itori blinked her eyes a few times, before thing about everything Lucien had said to her. All new information was carefully premeditated. She knew that by telling her all these things, he was placing enormous trust to her. "Thank you, Lucien." Lucien smiled lightly as he understood the meaning of her words. ============================================= Lucien sat together with Itori on the sofa, in the living room. They watched the fire burning in the fireplace as she gently leaned over his arm. In the background music was playing, it was Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata. Pretty romantic atmosphere filled the room and it was very enjoyable for both of them. Everything was perfect until Darkwalker walked to the room and whispered something to Lucien''s ear. Itori woke up to this, cause he created rather big noise as he was opening and closing door. "What it is?" She wondered what happened. Because for the subordinate to interrupt such an important event as a date was simply unforgivable for Lucien. But when she saw that he wasn''t angry or something, she found out that it must be something serious. "You will see, in TV News." Said Lucien and turned on the TV. On the news channel, there was already programme running. With flashy letters written: BREAKING NEWS!. Moderator was a slightly younger woman, around her thirties with a pretty face and long black hair. "We are bringing you the breaking news. Today in the afternoon there was a fight between CCG and one ghoul in 14th Ward, Nakano Ward. CCG suffered heavy losses as two First-Class Ghoul Investigators were killed in an action and one Rank 1 Ghoul Investigator was also killed. Chairman of the CCG, Washuu Tsuneyoshi personally gave order and rating to the ghoul, who killed investigators since it was a new ghoul, who just recently came to the Tokyo, by results of the investigations. Ghoul nicknamed as ''Hollow'' was rated as extremely dangerous and deathly with rating SS~. He wears a white-red skeletal mask over his face and is clothed like a samurai with the exception of long red coat he always wears." When Lucien heard that he was rather surprised at such fast response from the Washuu Clan. He thought they would actually try to hide that matter, but surprisingly they announced it to the news. "You see? I am already famous!" Laughed Lucien at this breaking news. He was in a good mood and that he rated him so high was very good for his ego. His nickname was also good, he didn''t want to have some creepy or weird nickname. His nickname ''Hollow'' was dominating, scary and powerful sounding. Iori was too happy for him and did something that Lucien didn''t wait. She gently kissed his lips what completely took him by surprise. This was his first kiss. It lasted for a short time, but a memory at this moment would be eternal. Lucien was still in a state of shock and Itori was looking at the fireplace with slightly red cheeks. None of them was talking and the silence was ruling the room. "Congratulations on being famous, Hollow." She actually congratulated him and then she closed her eyes and leaned over his arm, probably trying to sleep. Lucien didn''t know what to do so he too closed his eyes and tried to sleep. Because everything was new to him, he never had been or relationship, even this kiss was his first for both of his lives. After some time both of them actually fell asleep and spent the entire night, together sleeping on the sofa, while holding hands. 37 Shield and Sword Next morning when Lucien woke up he thought Itori would have left, but to his surprise, she was right beside him. As he didn''t want to wake her up but he wanted to leave, he was caught in a dilemma on what to do now. Finally, he just decided to wait for several minutes, for her to wake up. Fortunately, this plan has worked and after ten minutes or so Itori woke up. "Good morning, Itori." Greeted her Lucien at the same time as she woke up. She was looked at him, embarrassed a little that she stayed at his home overnight, even though nothing happened between them. She just kissed him and that was all. "Good morning, Lucien." She said with low voice. It was apparent that she was a little shy about this. Similarly to Lucien, she was too new to things like romantic relationships or dates. But in her nature, she was much bolder than Lucien. This shown up to its maximum when she kissed him yesterday from her own initiative. "Came coffee would be ready." Both of them stood up and went to the garden. In the garden was a smaller arbor, where Lucien always drank morning coffee as he watched all that beauty in the garden. Both of them drank coffee and talked about some things. Then Lucien ordered from some of his bodyguards to drive Itori to Helter Skelter bar. When she was already ready to leave, she was grabbed by Lucien from behind and this time it was him who took initiative to kiss her lips. Compared from yesterday, today''s it was more passionate. At first, she was taken by surprise but she returned his kiss with even more passion as their tongues met. After one minute or more they parted. "I will be waiting for you at the bar." Said Itori as she literary ran away from the place. ============================================= Cross Crest, Charles Patricius: Out Transient Glory Lucien was currently standing in grounds of his vessel Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. Now he finally understood what Administrator Kelemvor meant by saying that when will he reach Baron rank, he would be able to control it fully. It meant even he could enter Cross Crest. Because Cross Crest was something like separate dimensional space. When Lucien firstly entered he was curious about it but soon he found out this place was similar to the outside space. It was just there wasn''t any sky or anything but just black space above his head. Lucien then walked to one of the side building, where was his Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace located and where were all materials stored. Currently, the entire place was very empty and only five quinques and bodies of three ghoul investigators were present. He firstly examined those quinques to see their rank. But rank of CCG and not universal. Those used by those two First-Classes were around A-Rank and the remaining three were of B-Rank. Then Lucien grabbed on B-Rank quinque and tossed it to the Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace. The furnace started glowing and was actually absorbing the quinque itself. Because this concrete quinque was rather low-ranked the process was very quick. Lucien then looked at the record of his furnace. ============================================= Name: Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace Grade: Noble Tier: 3nd Uniquess: Growth - 5% (require special metals to increase tier and grade) - Description: Mysterious growth type refining artifact with ability of refinement of bodies, flesh, blood and more to blood essences. As long as grade is high enough its able to refine almost everything. ============================================= Even though it has grown only by 5% it was very good, considering that material was B-Ranked quinque. After he finished looking at the record, he tossed there one A-Ranked and one B-Ranked quinque. This timing process was longer but only by two minutes. Seeing that nothing had happened and everything went smoothly he tossed there remaining A-Ranked and B-Ranked quinques and let the Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace absorb them. After everything was finished he looked at the record again with great anticipation. ============================================= Name: Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace Grade: Noble Tier: 3nd Uniquess: Growth - 35% (require special metals to increase tier and grade) - Description: Mysterious growth type refining artifact with ability of refinement of bodies, flesh, blood and more to blood essences. As long as grade is high enough its able to refine almost everything. ============================================= The growth rate was at 35%. This was rather good news. This meant that B-Ranked quinque increase rate was 5% and A-Ranked quinque increase rate was 10%. Now every time he killed some ghoul investigators he would make sure to take their quinque cause they were the only way for him to evolve his Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace. After that, he walked through Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory and admired the beauty of this place. It was nice to silence cause he was the only person here. After half an hour of walking, he exited the place and returned to his estate. A month has already passed and Eto should be already at the 24th Ward. Now Lucien needed to go to the 20th Ward and then through Route V14 arrive at the 24th Ward. Route V14 is an underground passage leading to the 24th Ward, which is located below the 20th Ward. Actually, 24th Ward encompassed the deepest parts of the large labyrinth that the ghouls dug in the underground of the Tokyo in the past. The 24th Ward could be described only as a huge underground place. It could house thousands of people with easy. But now only ruins remained there. When Lucien returned to his estate he quickly found Darkwalker who was now lecturing new mercenaries. As he was obsessed with tight security almost entire mercenary band was here. All of them loyal to the Aeon House, cause it could be said that Aeon House helped this concrete mercenary band a lot during their early stages. When all the people there saw Lucien they immediately saluted him. "Welcome Lord Aeon!" Hearing mass-salute from more than ten people sounded very dominating and was giving a feeling of power. After saluting to him all of them returned to training and practice. "Darkwalker I am leaving for the 24th Ward. Be aware of CCG or V. But I don''t think that somebody would actually come here but still. Especially be aware of those little messy doves, yesterday I have killed some of them so they would be in high alert. If they found out that this mansion is full of A-Rated and some S-Rated ghouls, it could be some troubles." After that Lucien went to the 20th Ward to have his long-awaited meeting with Eto. If they could forge some kind of cooperation he could use Aogiri Tree as bait for the Washuu Clan and Aogiri could become his shield and sword to kill his targets. 38 His majesty, the King Deep inside 24th Ward Lucien finally arrived at the 24th Ward and was looking at the ruins of the ward. Destroyed building everywhere and remains of behemoth-sized kakuja of Underground King the Naagaraji. This person was actually a very interesting one. He was a member of Washuu Clan, but he bore strong hatred against his own family and turned against them. In some part of his life, he even initiated uprising against humanity. Most of this is just legends because this happened around a hundred years ago. But fact remains that he was forced to flee to the underground, where he waited till ghouls could rise again and battle the humanity. Underground King wasn''t pure-blood ghoul but rather One-eyed ghoul, which had his kakugan in his right eye. As Lucien was admiring the beauty of forgotten times he noticed the person standing not far from him. It was a man, clothed in typical Aogiri red robes and wore white mask featuring huge black lips, huge mouth with equally massive teeth and tiny slits for nostrils. His long black hair was tied up in a ponytail. Noro. The second direct subordinate of the One-Eyed King. Lucien looked at him and Noro then turned around and was walking somewhere. Lucien knew that this meant he should follow him. Noro only communicated through his actions, not words. They went through the long tunnel on whose end was a simple iron door. Lucien opened to the door and entered inside. There was another small corridor and wooden door on its end. Lucien entered the room and saw a very beautiful and luxuriously decorated chamber. Many books were in bookshelves and there was one huge leather sofa in the room. Opposite the sofa were three leather armchairs with golden ornaments stationed around the oval wooden table. Everything here looked so beautiful and old. Just as Lucien was looking at the furniture he heard a gentle voice behind his back. "Hi there." He turned around to see a beautiful young woman, with child-like appearance. She had long green hair which was somewhat messy and uncombed, however, she was radiating extraordinary charm. "Hi, Lucien Etras di Aeon. It is pleasure to meet you, beautiful lady." Bowed Lucien as he introduced himself. Eto noted that he had very good manners and his name sounded very familiar. Not from these times but she heard it from Arima Kishou. He once mentioned that there exist ghouls with surname Aeon, who is extremely powerful. "Yoshimura Eto." What surprised Lucien that she wasn''t wearing bandages to cover her identity or anything like that. This Lucien finds rather confusing but this was probably just a way of showing sincerity during this meeting. Eto was jumping around an examining Lucien from all sides like scientist researching about the meteorite. "We still need to wait for someone." Said, Eto, as she sat down at one of the armchairs around the table. Lucien then sat down too, cause he didn''t want to stand the whole time. When they were both sitting, Eto was intensively staring at Lucien without any pause for several minutes, thus creating a somewhat awkward atmosphere. "Are you curious about something?" Asked Lucien, when he already couldn''t bear that staring. "Hmmm, you look rather handsome." She said out of nowhere. Lucien was caught up by surprise but he still kept his composure. He then decided to say something to her too. "That time, so that no one (not even Father) would notice, I secretly rewrote the summary. What cannot change can only be broken. This is so to me, who left behind everything necessary inside the womb." Quoted Lucien one line from her book. Yoshimura Eto, known in human society as Takatsuki Sen, famous Japanese novelist.She wrote many novels and was a very famous author. All of her works have deep meanings and many of them are more philosophical works. "Oya you have read my books?" Exclaimed Eto with surprise. Even though she was rather a famous author, she was famous mainly in Japan. Lucien was clearly foreigner so she didn''t except for him that he had read her books. This concrete quote came from her debut work "Dear Kafka". It launched her career as Takatsuki Sen with 500,000 copies sold. Title of this book is a reference to author Franz Kafka, who was German-speaking Bohemian Jewish novelist and short story writer. His works, which fuses elements of realism and fantasy, typically features isolated protagonists faced by bizarre or surrealistic predicaments and incomprehensible social-bureaucratic powers and has been interpreted as exploring themes of alienation, guilt, and absurdity. His most famous works include "The Metamorphosis", "The Trial" and "The Castle". "Yes, all of your work under your name Takatsuki Sen. I liked them very much. Not many novelists are writing such interesting themes." Lucien quite liked her novels. She was choosing bizarre settings for her work and many of them vary based on her experience and life. This one of reasons why Lucien liked her novels. "That good to hear. Not many of our kind like literature and especially that with deeper meaning." Stated Eto. It was rather true that most ghouls very only obsessed with hunting for prey or escaping from CCG. Very a few of them were interested in the noble art of literature. Next hour they spent talking about various things like literature, books and even fighting. Even though Eto was rated as S-rate ghoul in her base form and SSS-rate in her form as Owl she was just using brute force. So Lucien explained her usage of some techniques. Eto quickly became interested cause she heard that he provided something similar to Tatara whose combat prowess rose to a higher level after one month of training. Amidst their talking long-awaited third person finally arrived. Lucien saw a familiar man with snow-white hair and gray eyes. Wearing a pair of thin-framed glasses and a pure white coat. Arima Kishou, White Reaper, Undefeated Ghoul Investigator, and the real One-Eyed King. "I apologize for being late." Siad Arima with composed posture and indifferent expression. He was always a very calm person who rarely showed anything other. "Its honor to meet you, White Reaper, One-Eyed King Arima Kishou." Bowed Lucien. He knew that Arima was One-Eyed King from his previous life. Arima wasn''t caught by surprise and still had his calm and composed expression. In contrast to this Eto had a face full of shock, she was wondering how could he knew that Arima Kishou was, in reality, One-Eyed King. "It could be said same about you, Lucien Etras di Aeon, of the Aeon House of Sacred Devourer Ghouls." Said Arima in his typical stoic voice as he bowed to greet Lucien in a similar matter. Arima as a member of Arima Clan, one of branches of Washuu Clan and himself being the son of Washuu Tsuneyoshi he knew many confidential pieces of information. For example existence of Aeon House, mortal enemies of Washuu Clan and he knew even that they can''t leave that Island of theirs. Over and above this he was also rather a high-ranking member of Vasuki and most powerful person of the Commission of Counter Ghoul. He knew that cooperation with someone from Aeon House could be very beneficial to them. At least he could keep Washuu Clan and Vasuki in check when Aogiri would be bothering with CCG. 39 Cooperation "Soo who would like to start?" Asked Lucien with a little mischievous voice. He knew that both Eto and Arima have many questions regarding all of this. Especially Eto, because she was the only leader of Aogiri Tree and didn''t have access to confidential pieces of information like Arima Kishou. "What has forced the Aeon House to send only heir to deal with Washuu Clan?" One must say that Arima was a really straightforward person. "Several years ago Washuu Clan several agents of Vasuki to sneak into our Island. Unfortunately for them, soon they were found by some of the guards of our House and they fought a battle to the death. When they almost lost they exploded bomb which destroyed something very precious. Thenceforth our House has been thinking about method how to deal with them, and in the end, they sent me here because other stronger members of House and race can''t leavethe island due to special reasons." Even Eto now listened attentively to Lucien''s talk. It appeared that Washuu Clan had made powerful enemies, but the enemy can''t do anything to them because of some unmentioned reasons. "What is Sacred Devourer Ghoul?" Asked Eto with seemingly confused. Arima knew what they were but he didn''t explain or said anything. So Lucien just repeated that what he said Itori in this regard. "Ghoul Race is divided between ordinary ghouls, that are those who you could see everywhere around. Then there exist Sacred Devourer Ghouls which is something like sub-species but with stronger evolutionary potential and some other things. Several hundred years before there existed several noble houses of ghoul race, more to be precise of Sacred Devourer Ghouls. Their role was the protection of race as a whole and they were guardians against people who would want our annihilation. Aeon House was that too. But there was huge was and all houses were annihilated and our own only barely survived. We went into hiding and most of ghoul society forgotten about us." There existed many sub-species of ghoul race in this world such as one-eyed ghouls, artificial one-eyed ghouls, half-humans and other hybrids. Eto was caught by surprise when she listened to Lucien''s teaching. For her, this was rather a new world. "What kind of cooperation could, Aeon House provide?" Asked Arima with a straight face. He was rather curious what would heir of the Aeon House propose. Lucien smiled at this as the long-awaited this question. "Only simple thing. I could provide you with this." Answered to him as he took out a small blood red bead. It was blood essence, it was much smaller compared to those Lucien ate or those which he gave to Itori or Uta. It was because this one was refined from only one B-rated ghoul so its effect is much weaker, but it is still precious in eyes of ordinary ghouls, cause it could increase their RC Level, without the need to cannibalize. "You sure know how to negotiate." Sighed Arima when he saw this. He was aware of blood essences and their effects. In truth, Washuu Clan produced them too, but it was top-secret and an only small amount of them was released to some of the outstanding members of the main clan. Arima only knew about that Washuu Clan had too blood essences and some method how to make them. But sadly he didn''t have any mean to obtain even them. Washuu Clan guarded them extremely heavy, constantly being under the watch of several elders of the clan. Eto blinked her eyes seemingly not understanding what those little beads represented. But seeing that even Arima was heavily tempted to obtain them, she knew that they must be very valuable. "Hey, hey what is that thing?" Asked Eto both Lucien and Arima. This time it was Arima who took charge to explain things to which Lucien was somewhat grateful. He wasn''t very interested in explaining every one thing to her, cause she lacked common knowledge in certain areas. "That thing you called it is called blood essence. Its capable of improving RC Level of ghoul, material required to refine that is the body of other ghouls. Washuu Clan has them too but not in large numbers." Lucien smiled at this explanation not saying anything. "So what you want in exchange for blood essences?" Asked Arima in a calm voice. He knew that these little beads were crucial for smooth progress of their plan cause they could nurture some ghouls into stronger existences and maybe overwhelm CCG and became rival for Vasuki. "This will be long-term cooperation. You will provide me only with two things. One is bodies of ghouls and ghoul investigators. Second thing is that I want all quinques that you manage to obtain. I will provide you with several blood essences, capable of increasing RC Level even by a hundred if I have enough materials." Presented Lucien his terms. He only hoped that Arima would know nothing about refinement of blood essences. If he could obtain a massive amount of quinques and bodies of ghouls he could refine many blood essences and increase his own RC Level to achieve Kakuja V1 and with some heavenly luck even Kakuja V2. Fortunately, blood essences refined from ghoul were very effective. Arima and Eto were both discussing this proposal by themselves. It was true that quinques were of no use to ghoul who had kagune and bodies of dead ghouls were useless to cause most ghouls who cannibalized would go insane. Only very a few of them could keep their mind clean so only minimum bodies of the ghoul are required for certain individuals in Aogiri Tree. After ten minutes Eto and Arima came to the conclusion and agreed with Lucien''s proposal. But Eto added one more thing, cause she had the feeling that Lucien was just using them for his own good. This wasn''t false, cause he was truly using them. He only planned to hand them a minority of the blood essences he refined and keep rest of them for himself, Itori, Uta and some for his minions. He was thinking if he could groom all those twenty or thirty minions to the higher rank, they could be usable in some way. "I request for you to help us in fights when the situation turns dire." Even though he wasn''t surprised by this request he knew that it wasn''t so bad to fight occasionally. He knew that he can''t be the promised one but he could still help in some way. His enemies are hiding in the dark and not dancing in the light. "Okay, but only when the situation would get very serious. Otherwise, I am the only bystander. My priority is to fight with Washuu Clan and not their puppets." 40 Dark September "Ts. But that''s enough for us now. Even if you help only occasionally it would be a great deal because of your strength." Said Eto with a rather disappointed voice. She wanted for Lucien to help Aogiri in a more active way and not only when the situation is dire. But it was still better than nothing at all. "Now when will the first batch of materials arrive and where could I pick them up?" He was clear that they won''t be delivering him bodies of ghoul to the house like some kind of delivery service. In the case of quinques, it could still be done cause they could have retreated to their form of suitcases or another form which are easier to transport around. "Bodies and quinques would be ready on the first day of each month, here at the 24th Ward." This time it was Arima speaking. Lucien nodded his head and then they talked about the detail of cooperation between them. This talk took more than several hours to finish. Most of the talk was about various strategies against the Commission of Counter Ghoul. Some of them again was in the case when Vasuki would join this "war" to hunt for members of Aogiri. And the last discussion was about method how to bring more ghouls to the organization. Eto wanted to spread the name of the One-Eyed King and him being the liberator of the ghoul race. But this was nearly impossible in the current state, cause Arima was current One-Eyed King and probably no ghoul would follow most notorious and strongest ghoul investigator as their king. Lucien knew that soon the perfect candidate would appear and Eto''s and Arima''s would change again to another course. Before he left he gave Eto that blood essence to eat. It was blood essence refined from ordinary ghoul so it wasn''t very effective but like said before, this thing was a precious treasure to ordinary ghouls who can''t find any way to increase their RC Level. ============================================= Lucien picked up the first batch of quinques and bodies of ghouls, for this month which was already, we could say stored, in the 24th Ward. To be truthful the 24th Ward for something like a junkyard for ghouls. They dumped here bodies of other ghouls, remains of killed people or quinques. Here no ghoul investigator was brave enough to come so it was a relatively safe place. Lucien currently had 37 B-rated quinques and 12 A-rated quinques. Somewhere from killed ghoul investigators and some were stolen by the collaborator of Aogiri Tree inside of CCG. These things were little darlings in Lucien''s eyes cause they could increase the grade of his Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace. Bodies of dead ghouls were astonishing. Exactly hundred and fifty, but most of them were only B-rated ghouls. But it was still a nice number. Lucien decided to refine them by ten to achieve somewhat strong blood essence. He would give Aogiri Tree, three or four of them and keep rest for himself. He returned to his estate. He wasn''t in hurry to refine everything he gained today, because he was still thinking about one thing. Meeting with Arima. That person looked so calm and in a certain way harmless. Like an ordinary person, but his instincts were telling him that he is extremely dangerous for the entire time. From Eto, he had another impression. Hot, mischievous and hidden sadist and dangerous too. Lucien laid on his bed and closed his eyes slowly. He was thinking about the future because soon the game would start and war would break out. He was wondering what would Oni Tsune do. Washuu Clan was suspiciously silent and wasn''t doing anything. They were even ignoring him after that incident with those ghoul investigators. Next month the first thing he did was upgrading the Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace to the next level. Sad thing was that when he upgraded the Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace, efficiently of the quinques lowered. B-rated quinque now gave only 2,5% and A-rated only 5%. It was halved to be precise. When the furnace then reached 1st-Tier Noble-Grade, B-rated quinques became useless and A-rated one gave him now only 2,5%. It was apparent that the furnace needed materials of higher quality every time it got upgraded. Then after this, he spent by refining those bodies of ghouls. He created fifteen blood essences from those dead bodies of ghoul. Four weaker ones with only one body of A-rated ghoul inside were given to Aogiri Tree and rest Lucien ate by himself. He increased his RC Level to almost 5,000. This amazing result was because the refining process was much better than in the lower grade of the furnace. Now that furnace was that of higher grade its process was much more efficient than before and could refine bodies in a more effective way. Now was already September and weather was a little colder. Lucien would spend most of his free time with Itori. Sadly he didn''t have much of free time, cause he kept training like a madman to increase his personal strength. Once he even sparred with Arima but the result wasn''t very good for Lucien. They sparred using the only sword and Lucien used kagune but he was still defeated. But it must be said that he could put up a rather better fight. Other than this he went to some dates with Itori and he even kissed her more often. They had become something called couple probably. Lucien gave her two blood essences that he refined from ghouls he personally hunted. So that won''t some weaklings of B-Rate or A-Rate, but rather two ghouls of S-Rate. He explained her about blood essences stuff and everything and she was very happy that he cared about her. From time to time he bought her some jewelry or something in that spirit. Women especially loved nice jewelries. ============================================= Lucien and Itori were walking through some park as they held hands. Lucien wore a black suit with trenchcoat instead of his "noble attire" and had a light brown coat. Itori, on the other hand, was clothed as always and had just black trenchcoat on her. After some time of walking they both sat on the nearest bench, a looked around themselves. Lucien firstly scanned surroundings to find if are here any people. Fortunately not, so he kissed Itori on her lips. He would never do something like this when people are near, so every time he made sure they are in places where aren''t people if they are intimate. Itori was surprised at first but then she noticed that nobody is here so she passionately returned the kiss with her tongue. After a short time, they separated and looked at each other. "I may be in love with you, Itori." Said Lucien with a serious voice. 41 Confession Lucien didn''t know if he could call his feelings for her as love. Because love was a very relative concept. He only knew that he wanted to be with her most of his time and he couldn''t stop thinking about her. Itori was caught by surprise. She knew that understanding between their mutual feelings and saying something out at loud were two different things. She knew that Lucien had feelings for her and truth to be said she too had feelings for him. Only for her, it was harder to confess herself. Itori was thinking what to do now. She took all the courage she had and said in a very low and shy voice. "I love you too." She was saying it in the lower and lower tone. But Lucien still managed to hear that and hugged her tightly. He knew that for her to say something like this is very difficult cause her entire life was filled with the constant fight for survival and blood. But inside she wanted to love and be loved. "Came. I want to talk to you." Said Itori decidedly as she pulled his hand they went to the Helter Skelter Bar. They arrived at the Helter Skelter Bar rather quickly and Itori locked the entire place down as they both sat down and started talking. Lucien knew that Itori has decided to talk about herself. In the past month, she rarely talked about her past or present time. Lucien was that who talked about himself. This gave Itori feeling of his trust and now when he said those words of fate, she decided to trust him in return. This made him feel warm inside his heart. That feeling was very addictive. "So, where should I start? Do you want to hear about my past, or about the present?" She herself didn''t know from which point start. He past wasn''t an exactly nice one, and absolutely not talking about childhood which was basically just survival game. She wanted Lucien to decide, this was another thing which she wanted. Someone on who can she count. "You could start from you past probably, but you don''t have to force herself." Said Lucien with a gentle smile. He didn''t want to force her to say anything. He knew that most of the things about her, he already knew. These were pieces of information he mainly received from Uta. But still, it was entirely different to hear it from her. "Okay. Hmm, Where should start? Whatever, I was born at the 4th Ward and practically I have lived there for my entire life, until I have opened the Helter Skelter Bar, here at the 14th Ward. When I was still at the 4th Ward most of my time was filled with fights with ghoul investigators or rarely some other ghouls. But the number of ghoul investigators was very high, but all first four wards are entirely filled with doves. I joined their gang of ghouls, which was led by Uta and later when Ren-chan arrived, we three fought doves together. I was responsibly luring them into traps." These were pieces of information he knew long ago. Now there would be probably those how she joined Clowns and so on. "When came to the 14th Ward, the atmosphere here is totally different. There aren''t as many ghoul investigators as in first four wards so it is relatively safer here. And then, shortly after my arrival here I have joined ghoul organization called Clowns." Then she stopped here for some time, only to observe Lucien''s reaction to this. He was still calm and didn''t show any indications of surprise or something similar. Seeing this Itori was surprised and unsurprised at the same time. Members of Clowns were best at keeping their identity as top secret and this group was extremely mysterious. It was stated by Commission of Counter Ghoul that group of ghoul called Clowns have unknown purpose and goal. Their real purpose is to create chaos and spread destruction. They all wore clown-themed masks and were rather crazy. It was interesting that almost all if not all strong ghouls, were totally crazy, wicked and mad. Especially those at SS or SSS rate. "Have the last laugh, isn''t it?" Yes, this was the goal of the Clowns, because its Clown who is laughing always as the last. Lucien knew it and understood that the Clowns were always winners because their goal was to spread chaos and destroy everything around. "No point in living if things aren''t interesting. The ones who get the last laugh are us, the Clowns." Said Itori with a happy voice. Lucien couldn''t help and nod. He knew that this quote was pure truth. What was the point of living if things aren''t interesting? The life would be boring and seem like an eternity. "Clowns aren''t really some group with a noble goal. We only want to see the destruction that would soon start. Bearing witness to the moment of their destruction... Wouldn''t that be just divine? We''ll watch the whole thing from the best seats in the house. Watch as the curtain falls. Was there ever a time in the past when Ghoul-kind was backed so far into a corner? I wonder..." Lucien was thinking about her word. These words meant that Clowns already were making move. Actually, Red October is coming and soon the curtain would fall and game start. Ghoul-kind would be cornered even more and war would erupt. "Soon the red October would arrive and chaos would start. Itori, I hope that when the time comes you would stand with me, but don''t worry I don''t care about Clowns or ghouls. Only thing I want is to see Washuu Clan in ruins." Itori nodded her head and then came to the Lucien and kissed him on her lips. Said Lucien with resolute voice. He only wanted this and really didn''t care about some Clowns. In opposite, they would be very useful to him cause they are best at wreaking havoc. They always associated themselves with all sides and created only rivers of blood. "Yes, we would stand together." "Itori when will Clowns made their move?" Asked Lucien. He knew that Souta or rather Washuu Kichimura was scheming his plan already and when will Red October arrive it would start. "Souta would start it soon." Itori was now ready to tell him most of secrets of Clowns. She knew that even if they found about it they can''t do anything cause he would protect her for sure. She knew that Lucien was strong. Very strong. "That''s good, cause it starting to be boring here." Lucien said in a mischievous smile. It was the truth that he was bored already here. Not much was happening and he couldn''t even fight as much as he wanted. He could only train and cultivate his RCLevel to higher levels. Lucien looked at Itori and took something from his Cross Crest. It was a simplified version of Sacred Rinkaku Scripture. Something similar was given to Tatara only with bikaku, namely Destructive Bikaku Scripture. He couldn''t give her complete version cause she didn''t have RC Body Refining Technique. He was planning to give her everything when she would undergo Sacred Devourification Ceremony and would, we could say evolve to the Sacred Devourer Ghoul. Then she could cultivate in RC Body Refining Technique and in Sacred Rinkaku Scripture to reach new heights in strength and cultivation. 42 Gifts "This is a simplified version of Sacred Rinkaku Scripture which is an ancestral martial art in my family. If you ever decide to be part of my family you would be able to train the complete version of this martial art, because you can''t cultivate this martial art in your current state. Even though this is an only simplified version, it could help you greatly to increase your strength." Itori blushed at his word of becoming part of his family cause she could imagine about what he was talking. But then she decided to divide his attention by asking him a question, why she can''t cultivate the Sacred Rinkaku Scripture. "Why did you say, I can''t cultivate Sacred Rinkaku Scripture?" Lucien heard her question and his head was spinning quickly. He was thinking if it was the right time to talk to her about cultivation ranks and all that stuff. In the end, he decided to go with the truth. He was too lazy to think about time excuses and all. Another reason was that this information wasn''t any kind of secret. "Sacred Rinkaku Scripture requires two things to cultivate to its maximum effect, but we will talk about them later. For now, it would suffice for you to train in this simplified version of Sacred Rinkaku Scripture." But the moment he started talking he decided to talk about this later. Now wasn''t enough time and it could be considered as useless information to her cause she can''t undergo Sacred Devourification and became Sacred Devourer Ghoul and thus cultivate to the baron rank. Then they talked about some mischievous thing and people. Lucien was talking about some things from his childhood and training in his family. He even talked about some of his abilities as his detachable kagune which was able to shapeshift into weapons or some objects and showed her telekinesis. Itori too talked about her abilities as her kakuja which was body armor with several tail. It looked pretty strong. ============================================= After spending an entire evening with Itori in Helter Skelter Bar, Lucien returned home in the deep night. He only took a quick shower and then went to the sleep. Next day when he woke up he found out that he got a message from his parents in Blood Island. Basically, they were congratulating him to his breakthrough to the baron rank. Next thing which message was talking about was that he would get batch of blood essences refined from baron ranked demons. It could directly increase his RC Level to awaken Kakuja V1 and possibly with enough luck even maybe Kakuja V2. It would be delivered after several days and Lucien would need to go to personally take over those blood essences at the airport. After reading entire message Lucien was almost in ecstasy because of blood essences he would receive. It was now his biggest problem that he couldn''t get enough blood essences to increase his RC Level. Sadly blood essences refined from demons are less effective than those refined from ghouls cause they don''t contain Red Children Cells. Apparently, the number of baron ranked demons were increasing all the time and Aeon House and Tepes House were fully occupied with killing all of them. But this had even some good side as nowadays Aeon House had too many materials to refine them into blood essences. This resulted at that many of ghouls reached baron rank. Thus Lucien would also get his share as heir. And that share would be big. After reading the entire message Lucien went to train in his kenjutsu and telekinesis. Last days he spent some time to train his ability cause he noticed he was neglecting training of telekinesis. Even though telekinesis was the important ability for him, he still didn''t have any way of increasing his psionic energy level. It was stuck at the base Level of 1,000 and whatever he tried resulted in failure. After several days, the day when the blood essences would arrive finally arrived. Lucien explained to the Darkwalker that everything must be perfect. If by any chance they would encounter some ambush by Washuu Clan and V they must be prepared to the bloody fight. out her kakuja abilities which were in form of body armor with several tails and it looked pretty strong. Lucien had faint feeling that something bad would happen so he arranged most of the mercenaries to go with him as escorts. All of them were at A-rate and some of them would be at S-rate. Darkwalker''s group has to receive some of the blood essences, but they brought their own materials for refinement. Thanks to this their strength have increased these months. When the sun set several Hummers and one armored vehicle had left the estate in the 21st Ward. This armored vehicle was the same as the military in various countries used. Lucien bought it in the black market from some corrupted general in Japanese Self-Defense Forces, or shortly JSDF. It was the newest version of this vehicle so Lucien was pretty satisfied. After an hour or so they finally arrived at the airport. Even though there was evening, roads were full of cars and the traffic was terrible. When they arrived at the airport, they immediately arrived at the hanger where the special plane of the Aeon House was stying and around twenty mercenaries started to secure area. Lucien stepped out of the car when the area was secured and gone to check the blood essences. They were in the huge wooden cart, which looked rather ordinary. Inside the cart were several smaller treasure chests, each was filled with some blood essences. Lucien controlled cart and treasure chests and then gave the order to load them to the armored vehicle. Suddenly as Lucien was standing in the hangar and thinking about something he heard not-good sounds. It was sound of congealment of kagune. He knew that Washuu Clan and Vasuki must have arrived and the situation has turned dire. Lucien exited the hangar and saw there several tens of agents of V, clothed in their classical long black leather coats with hats on their heads. Each of them was holding one katana. Leaden them was a rather old man, with a long beard. To contrast with agents, he was wearing dark-green kimono and wooden sandals. Classical Japanese attire. Lucien didn''t recognize that old man, but seeing that on his kimono were symbols of Washuu Clan he knew that he must be on of elders of the clan. Lucien only had twenty-one mercenaries here but Washuu Clan had brought more than fifty agents of Vasuki and one elder at the top of it. Problem was that almost all of the agent was at the strength of A-rated. Lucien wasn''t sure how strong could be Elder of Washuu Clan, but he was already at Baron rank. He could kill most of these agents in several minutes. But the real problem was Elder. He congealed kagune katana in mere second and several kagune daggers, that were hidden behind him. His kakugan was already on and he was looking at the elder of Washuu Clan. Both of them were in a so-called gazing war. Nobody talked and nobody made a sound. Only Lucien and that Elder were looking at each other. Then the Elder of Washuu Clan stopped gazing at Lucien. "Washuu Tsunemoro name mine is. Now let''s fight." Said Elder of the Washuu Clan, Washuu Tsunemoro as he draws out his katana and rushed at Lucien. He was very fast but Lucien didn''t have any problem at seeing him. He met his attack head-on and successfully blocked it. He estimated that his strength almost met standards of baron ranked cultivator. As they were clashing, Lucien released ten kagune daggers to attack all agents of Vasuki. Ten daggers shot with speed of thunder at the agents of Vasuki, who was only now taking out their katanas. Several of them were torn to death, but only five or six. These were weakest in this group of agents. 43 Honor Both Lucien and Washuu Tsunemoro jumped away from each other after the initial clash. Elder of Washuu Clan, realised that in terms of physical strength he if far weaker than Lucien but his kenjutsu is more refined and experienced than Lucien''s. This gave him slight advantage during this fight. But when he realised that Lucien was manipulating several kagune daggers to attack members of Vasuki. Even though they were nothing more than chess pieces, they still held their value. After first wave of attacks, mercenaries attacked still schocked agents of V, which gave them some moment of suprise. Lucien and Elder Washuu Tsunemoro exchanged several strikes and nobody had any advanatage. Lucien had better physical strength and Washuu Tsunemoro had better kenjutsu. One of weaknesses of ordinary ghouls was fact that they would be weaker with getting older. Sacred Devourer Ghouls didn''t have this kind of weakness. "Your kenjutsu is very exceptional Elder Tsunemoro, in this regard I must admit my defeat. Its my honor to exchange pointers with you." He complimented kenjutsu of Elder Tsunemoro and bowed lightly. It was truth that Elder''s kenjutsu was more refined and sharped than his own. He was only at Samurai Realm in kenjutsu but it must be said that he reached that realm not long ago and didn''t have enough experiences. "Same could be said about your physical strength and speed. I am already old and I don''t have that in me already." Returned compliment to the Lucien, Elder Tsunemoro. It was a little weird to see two people who are trying to kill each other, being so polite to each other. Lucien and Washuu Tsunemoro understood regarded it as noble manners. Both of them took battle stances as they gripped strongly thier respective katanas. Iado, japanese martial art that ephasizes being aware and capable of quickly drawing the sword and responding to a sudden attack. They performed perfect iado and their swords clashed, sparks were in air and both of them were gazing at each other. Their duel was in blank point. Same cannot be said about agents of V that were fightning against mercenaries. Lucien was even supporting them by usage of kagune daggers. He managed kill several agents of V when they were occupied by fightning mercenaries, whose Lucien brought. But mercenaries too had some loses. Several of them managed to get killed. Lucien looked at this and knew numbers of mercenaries were decreasing so hi gave signal. He shot one kagune dagger high in the air and then he let it fall onto ground, creating smaller crater. This was signal to Uta who was hiding in the shadows. He needed him to act. His strength was above SS-rate abd now his abilities were far stronger as he recieved many blood essences from Lucien as well as simplified version of combat technique. Suddenly Uta appeared in his second mask, resembling a bird with a wide beak and four small holes on the side. Several tails materialised from his back in mere seconds and managed to kill two agents of Vasuki by taking them by suprise. When Elder Washuu Tsunemoro saw that he was clearly mad. He knew that powerful one has appeared and he was locked in combat with Lucien. He was now regretting for not bringing stronger combatants. All agents here were only A-rated ghouls or half-humans with ability of First-Class Ghoul Investigator. Only minority of them were at S-rate. Now that Uta has came to support him, Lucien could freely fight with Elder Tsunemoro. He knew that after some time all mercenaries would be killed even with his support. Agents of Vasuki had numerical advantage which wasn''t small one. Fortunately he ordered Uta to come with him, and hide near by. "Finally my friend arrived here, so now we won''t be interrupted during our fight." Said Lucien with vicious grin as he gripped his katana and shot toward Elder Tsunemoro at full speed. But he wasn''t only thing. Several kagune daggers were already aiming at Elder''s vitals. As Elder Tsunemoror was experienced combatant, he managed to dodge three kagune daggers and block one. But his leg and arm were injured by other two daggers. Then he saw that Lucien was already before him with his attack, but unfortunately for him, as his arm was damaged he couldn''t hold his katana properly and Lucien''s attack managed to sever his hand. His hand fell onto ground and he knew that this was moment, he met his demise. Then he felt it. Shart pain penetrating his stomach, which was penetrated from one blood-red kagune tail. "The-y alwas say that y-onger genrati-on willoercome us." Said old man as he was coughing blood and he was on his knees. Lucien was looking at last moments of his life before comming to him, holding his katana in his hand. "Your abilities in kenjutsu were exceptional, but sadly you didn''t manage to block all my kagune dagger, which I controlled through telekinesis. I am honored to give you death worth of samurai." Said Lucien as he bowed to Elder, before taking battle stance and slashing at his head. His head was severed but his face was clearly smiling. It could be said that Elder Washuu Tsunemoro died satisfied. Then Lucien shot at the nearest agent of Vasuki and killing him in a one hit. He wasn''t holding back in the slighest, cause these were just mere cannon fodder. He couldn''t obtain some experiences from them or something. When Lucien previously fought with Elder Washuu Tsunemoro he used his telekinesis only after some time. This was because he wanted to fight by pure kenjutsu. Masters in Samurai Realm were very rare, especialy in these Lower-Grade Worlds. Uta was too going on rampage and several agents of Vasuki were killed by his hand. For him killing these weaker agents was nothing. Same could be said about Lucien and even his subordinate Darkwaler managed to kill several agents. Loses of mercenaries weren''t so big as only around eight of them were killed in action. After ten minutes fight ended and only dead bodies remained here. Lucien was a little bit schocked at act of agents of V. Even though they knew that they would loose and be killed, they still fought to the death. This was probably result of the brainwashing process, they had undergone. "Bring all bodies at one place so I can store them." Ordered Lucien to mercenaries. They just followed his order without any question. They didn''t care about what would he do, they were too brainwashed in some way to be loayl to the Aeon House and carry orders without question. They already saw many supernatural things already. After twenty minutes all bodies were at one huge pile and Lucien and stored them in his Cross Crest. After that mercenaries loaded all blood essences into armored vehilce and then Lucien looked at Uta who nodded his head and then disappeared. Lucien then got into armored vehilce and convoy went back to the estate. 44 Game - After Lucien returned to the estate he decided he would give mercenaries, two weaker blood essences as a reward to increase their RC Level. As Lucien was in complete control when he was refining blood essences, he could even design how many pellets would be from one process. He refined B-rated ghouls into two blood essences each and then put them away. Then he started refining several tens corpses from agents of Vasuki and some of the mercenaries who died. He couldn''t leave their body, be just buried to the ground. The body of ghoul was extremely precious material for refinement. Especially bodies of stronger ghouls. Lucien spent entire night refining those bodies, they were too many of them and some of them were being refined separately cause some of those blood essences would be given to Itori and Uta. Itori would be his future wife, as it was already decided in his head. To Uta, he became his friend and was his most trusted subordinate here in Tokyo, besides that, he helped where he could, as it was shown today. It was very important to keep both of them stronger. After Lucien was finished he counted all blood essences he had, those he refined now and those as his share from his family. From ghouls, he killed he totally refined over twenty blood essences. This number could be seen as small, but each blood essence was refined from three corpses of A-rated ghoul or so. Their potency was high. But this came with the price. Thanks to fast increasement in the RC Level, the RC Level itself wasn''t so stable and a foundation was unstable. Thus Lucien needed some blood essences refined from other species to strengthen his foundation when using the huge number of blood essences refined from the ghoul. This was something he noticed when he started using blood essences refined from ghouls. Even though his increase rate was alarmingly fast, his foundation was rather destabilized. But this could be solved by consuming blood essences refined from baron ranked demons. They would provide enough energy to Red Children Cells to stabilize themselves. Thankfully Lucien had a rather big number of blood essences refined from baron ranked demons. As baron ranked demons started to appear more and more on the Blood Island, Aeon House started to hunt them more and more. They obtained more blood essences and thus could cultivate to higher stages. It could be said that portal is a gold mine unless the flood of demons with many Viscount Ranked ones would come. Lucien sat in a cross-legged position and started eating blood essences like candies. He always ate them in pairs. One blood essence from ghoul and one blood essence from baron ranked demon. After several hours, he finally reached his desired state. Kakuja V1. From one pair of blood essences, he managed to increase his RC Level about thousand. Maybe even more. But sometimes he didn''t manage to increase his RC Level even by zero, cause his red children cells would just devour that energy to strengthen themselves. Lucien wasn''t surprised though, as something was happening not only to him but to everyone who reached Baron rank. RC Cells sometimes behaved like they had their own mind and intelligence. He stored rest of his blood essences into his Cross Crest and then he looked at his record. He knew that his Kakuja was the same as it was before. Actually, nobody is it from Aeon House or some other Sacred Devourer Ghouls had changed in kakuja after breakthrough into Baron rank. It only became stronger and that''s all. Lucien opened his record and was eager to see changes. He wasn''t using it often, maybe once per month to check on his progress. One must say that record was the best way of checking the progress of cultivation. ============================================= Name: Lucien Etras di Aeon Occupation: Executor of Akashic Records Bloodline: Sacred Devourer Race: Sacred Devoured Ghoul RC Type: Rinkaku RC Level: 20,445 Kagune Rank: 2nd-Tier Noble-Grade Unique States: Permanent Tail - 1 Kakuja V1: Left hand - body armor, right hand - kagune katana Cultivation: Baron Energy Type: Psionic Energy Energy Level: 1,000 Abilities: Sacred Devourer - Ability to devour any types of energy, bloodlines or bodies. It strengthens host by some amount. Divine Telekinesis - 10 Psionic Energy per minute. Enhanced Reflexes Skills: Kenjutsu: Samurai Cultivation Techniques: Sacred Rinkaku Scripture: N/A RC Body Refining Technique: Baron Cross Crest: Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace ============================================= After checking his record Lucien went to sleep as he was tired from the entire day and mostly from that fight. Next day he immediately went to the training room and activated his Kakuja V1 to see its power. It still looked the same. His entire left arm was covered in kakuja body armor and in his right hand was extremely sharp katana, which was waiting for some blood. Lucien tried to fight a little and did some shadow sparring. He knew that Kakuja V1 didn''t give something like boosts to users strength or something. It just provided partially body armor with one weapon, based on users imagination. Real strong kakuja forms were other three. Other three versions gave a large boost in physical abilities, healing factors, and even reflexes. And what was most important, final version Kakuja V4 had wings, which gave him the ability to fly. Sadly Lucien never had good opportunity to use those wings before he achieved baron rank. What was shocking was fact that the final version of Kakuja, Kakuja V4 gave an extremely large physical boost, to fight with weakest cultivators of higher rank. For example, if Lucien achieved Kakuja V4 he could fight with some weak Viscount Ranked cultivators and kill them. But if someone powerful in Viscount Rank appeared he could still have a chance to escape. After that Lucien called Darkwalker and gave him blood essences, he refined for mercenaries. Then he returned to his training. He spent the rest of his time training. Until the day, somebody came to his estate to find him. Lucien knew that only a few people would come here, thus he wasn''t very surprised to see Uta here. "Game is starting?" Asked Lucien with a vicious grin on his face. He knew that Red October was already here and the game is starting as Souta would make his move today. ''Steel Beam Incident, how long I have waited for you''. Said Lucien in his mind. "Yes, Lucien-san, we should rather go." Said Uta. In this time he also got more powerful thanks to blood essences Lucien provided to him and especially that simplified version of Sacred Rinkaku Scripture he gave him. Uta was a strong nihilist and his entire life was a pursuit of the meaning of life. But when Lucien talked a bit about some things he started to feel one desire. The desire to get stronger and kill. This came from his side, which he thought was long forgotten. But still, he considered Lucien as his friend. Lucien nodded his head and then went to change his clothes to suit. He knew that he won''t fight today and would just observe. Now was the only morning or so, Lucien wanted to take a tour through the city, cause Steel Beam Incident would happen only in the evening. He already had his battle attire prepared, nobody knows what would that madman do. 45 - Starts Lucien and Uta exited estate and went to their separate targets. Uta would return to his HySy ArtMask Studio to wait for evening and Lucien went to the 20th Ward, Nerima Ward. He wanted to visit Anteiku to observe everything. He knew that entire story started there when Kaneki Ken saw Kamishiro Rize in that place. When Lucien arrived at the street where Anteiku was located it was already noon. He leisurely walked through the autumn street, where leaves of trees were already in nice yellow color and outside air was relatively cold. After some time of walking, he found very ordinary looking two-story building. Instead of ordinary looking it would be better to say it was relatively plain building and the only thing which was decorating the building was ivy that was scrambling through the entire second story of the facade. Even though it was looking like any other building, without any specialty or uniqueness, it was the heart of ghouls of the 20th Ward. Bearing the same name as the cafe, Anteiku was one of the most powerful organizations in Tokyo. Because the 20th Ward was a so-called docile ward, CCG was neglecting the existence of this place and organization. Lucien entered the cafe and saw the cozy place. The cafe was one of smaller ones and thus it created more friendly and warmer atmosphere than rest of bigger cafes. Lucien sat behind the empty table and looked through the window. Because this place was, we could say somewhat hidden, not many people visited. As Lucien was spacing out as he was admiring the beauty of the autumn of nature, he registered that somebody was standing behind him. He turned around and noticed familiar figure. Kirishima Touka was a slender teenage girl, with purple hair cut into a bob and long bangs that reach her chin, covering the right side of her face. She looked very attractive and cute in some way. As other waiters of Anteiku, she wore her waitress uniform consisting of a white shirt rolled up to her elbows, a black vest, a red tie, and a black skirt down to her lower thighs. On top of that skirt, she also wears a brown skirt that reaches her upper thighs. She also wears tight red leggings. When she noticed him as he was examining her, she had a slight blush on her face. Even though most of her time she seemed rather cold, this time she seemed very cute. She was aware of that and was also aware of that Lucien was staring at her. It wasn''t an everyday practice that such a handsome foreign young man was staring at her. But she quickly returned to her duties of the waitress. "Good afternoon sir, have you already chosen?" Asked Touka. Lucien didn''t choose anything cause he was only looking at the trees but he knew that coffee at Anteiku was one of best, so he wasn''t particularly worried about what to drink. "One cappuccino, please. And If could I ask, what is your name lady?" Ordered Lucien his favorite coffee drink and at the same time, he asked for her name, cause he officially didn''t know her. Touka wrote down the order before she heard that he was asking how she was called. "Kirishima Touka." Said after some short time of thinking about smiling man before her. "Lucien Etras di Aeon." Introduced Lucien himself and he bowed and kissed her hand in a polite manner. Even though she was caught by surprise from his actions she quickly assumed that this was a form of greetings. She was a very intelligent person so she deduced from his name that he must be some kind of nobility. Every of his action was elegant, noble and simply perfect looking. Lucien noticed that when he introduced himself and said his name, this didn''t go unnoticed by an old man behind the bar. An old man with white hair swept back and his eyes were closed. He was tall and clothed in waiter uniform. Yoshimura name of his was. Nicknamed as Non-Killing Owl is SSS-rated ghoul and manager of Anteiku. He was also a member of Vasuki under an alias of Kuzen as one of their cleaners. Lucien knew that he probably heard his name before when he was still in Vasuki and knew of his family. After a brief introduction, Touka quickly went to submit an order with a blush on her face. This was the first time in her life she was touched by a man in this kind of manner. As she could somewhat feel that he didn''t harbor any ill intent she wasn''t angry about his action. As Lucien was waiting for his cappuccino he scanned entire Anteiku. He noticed several other important people as Hoito Roma that was also present. One of the most dangerous and wicked ghouls actually looked so harmless. With her slim build and child demeanor coupled with her red hair in a spiky bun with bangs framing her face, she looked innocent and pure. But she was more wicked and dark than most ghoul in Tokyo. After a few minutes, Touka returned bringing him cappuccino with her. She put it in front of him and Lucien quickly sniffed the beautiful and enticing aroma of the coffee before saying. "Its fragrance is very beautiful and enticing, as I have always said that coffee is one of a few pleasures in our life." Touka heard his statement and one bizarre though run through her mind but she quickly dispersed it to the void. As Lucien was drinking his coffee he noticed two young men that entered the Anteiku. Nagachika Hideyoshi, of average height with short, messy, dirty blonde hair with dark roots and brown eyes.Wearing bright colored clothes that consist of a yellow varsity jacket and green shorts and a pair of headphones around his neck. The second one was ''victim'' of Steel Beam Incident Kaneki Ken. He looked somewhat short and scrawny young man with little to no athletic physique. He looked weak and innocent. Lucien understood why Rize has chosen him as her dinner. When they sat down, TV news started announcing something important. Again with flashy letters saying Breaking News. "Today morning, the remains of a man''s body were found on Takada Building Street on the 28th. Body fluid believed to have come from a ghoul was found at the scene. The authorities have begun investigating this as a ghoul attack." Lucien knew that this was incident between Kamishiro Rize, The Binge Eater, and Oomori Yakumo, Jason. He was tasked to bring Rize to the Aogiri Tree but he ultimately failed. "The horrific ghouls haunting the streets of Tokyo... What exactly are they? To answer that question, out guest today is ghoul researched Dr. Ogura." Continued talking reporter on the TV. "Ooh. Check out this sketchy dude. Damm... The Takada Building isn''t that far from here. I bet you''d be eaten up before you knew it, Kaneki. Since you''re a nerdy weakling always readin'' those weird books." Said young blonde man to his weak-looking friend. As Lucien was listening to their conversation he couldn''t help to laugh inside. He knew that Nagachika was teasing him but his words would turn to reality this evening, if not for falling steel. 46 Fall Down Then Lucien took out a small sheet of paper and wrote something down. After that, he stood up and went to the bar to pay. He wasn''t willing to watching stupid hitting on Touka by certain someone. And shortly Rize would arrive so he wanted to go away. Lucien went to the bar and gave old man Yoshimura hundred dollar banknote with that sheet of paper. The old man noticed that he was giving him some paper in a rather discreet manner as he quickly hides it in his attire. He knew that Lucien wanted to send him some kind of message. Lucien exited the Anteiku Coffee and disappeared in the streets, waiting for the evening. ============================================= "Touka, come here and start preparing coffee. I am going to the basement for supplies." Said, Yoshimura, as he walked away. When he arrived at the basement he took out that paper he received from Lucien and started reading. When he finished reading that letter he immediately burned it with lighter and went back. "Chaotic times are going to descent." Muttered old man as he was walking back to the cafe. ============================================= The evening of the same day The city was brimming with light and people were walking on the streets. One could say that the city was a living organism. With so many colors and lights, the dark night wasn''t so dark. It was a rather fascinating sight on such metropolis city in the night. Lucien and Uta were currently standing at the roof of the near building, next to the construction site. Lucien and Uta both were observing two people walking through an isolated alleyway near a construction site. "Do you think, he is also watching this drama?" Asked Lucien in a somewhat annoying voice. He was observing them for a very long time together with Uta and it already started to be boring. Especially when they both knew how the story would end. At the same time, it was a little funny to see their date. Especially when one was thinking about how timidly was he behaving and how scheming she was. "Probably. Nobody knows what''s going on in his head. He is one of a few people who can''t be seen through. Maybe because he is mad?" Said Uta and ended his answer with the question. It was certain truth that someone like Washuu Kichimura/Souta can''t be seen through. Suddenly both of them stopped talking as they looked at the scene below them. Both of main actors of the event, Kaneki Ken and Kamishiro Rize stopped in the dark alley and Rize leaned over his chest. "I don''t hear anything. Shame we can''t go closer." Complained Uta. It was the truth that from this height he didn''t hear anything and even Lucien didn''t hear anything. They couldn''t go near them cause there was a huge chance that they would be noticed by Rize. After all, she was S-rated ghoul, even though she wasn''t strongest she was still rather strong among other S-rated ghouls. In an instant, everything started. They both could see that her eyes changed to kakugan as she bitten Kaneki''s shoulder. After they separated he fell on the ground with confused expression on his face, and of course extremely scared expression, that he had tears in his eyes almost. They could see that several tails materialized from her back as she screamed: "That I was ghoul!!!". They could faintly hear that and seeing her excited face they could deduce she was very enjoying current situation. The poor young man started running for his life, before his right leg was caught by her kagune tail, and was dragged back to Rize. When she was careless he managed to escape again but he was struck down by her kagune tail, this time rather hard and was severely injured in the process. He was shot to the near wall and barely alive. Rize stood before him and was looking at him when several steel beams fell down at her. She noticed too late and even tried to defend with her kagune but steel beams crushed her. Lucien and Uta both observed this and showed faint smile how everything had gone. Finally, the game could start. When they were leaving Lucien to take a look at the top of the construction site, only to see a faint silhouette standing at the top of the building. Lucien knew that it was Washuu Kichimura, know as Souta. ============================================= Kanou General Hospital, Office of Dr. Kano Akihiro The hospital itself was located in the 20th Ward and was deeply connected to the Vasuki and Washuu Clan. It looked like a modern building cause it was constructed only a few years ago. "How are you feeling, Mr. Kaneki?" Asked an elderly, grey-haired man. He wore typical attire of a physician, white coat, white shirt, and black necktie. He seemed like kind elder man and caring doctor. "Pretty normal, I guess." Answered Kaneki, who looked like nothing had happened at all. He was clothed in those attires that patients received when they were in the hospital. Kanou was sitting in front of a computer and was looking at some images of the surgery process. To be more precise surgery of transplanting of Rize''s kakuhou. "If you continue taking the immunosupressant, you should be back in school in no time." Explained Kanou to Kaneki. After that, his eyes took sharp glare at him before saying. "By the way, a nurse told me, the hospital food isn''t to your liking?" This sentence makes Kanki shudder in response cause he knew that something was different with him, but he couldn''t tell what. All food he had eaten now tasted absolutely terrible. "N-No... It''s good." Said young man with some difficulty to which Kanou showed a faint smile. After that Kaneki left the office leaving Kanou alone. He took the phone and called someone, who picked it almost in an instant. "Process was a success. We have managed to create artificial one-eyed ghoul, I would need more time to observe him for now. But I can guarantee that the surgery process was a success and I have managed to create artificial one-yed ghoul. Now we could move to the next phase of the plan." Said Kanou to the phone and then he ended the call. ============================================= Lucien returned to his mansion and went to sleep. Now, the game has started and everything is on move. He would need to spend more time to train and find some hidden facilities of Vasuki and Washuu Clan to destroy them. "Maybe I should go to Anteiku more often. Their coffee is the best." Murmured Lucien as he laid down on his bed as he was looking at the ceiling. 47 Martial Sometime later, Basement of Anteiku The basement of the Anteiku looked very nice and clean. It was used mainly for storing supplies for cafe and human meat for ghouls. In the basement, two figures were standing side by side in waiter uniforms. Both of them were looking at something in distance and thinking about something else. By one glance you could say that young woman looked rather displeased. "Why help him, sir?" Asked purple haired teen woman. Touka was so-called Ice Beauty, only admiring from distance but no touching or you would be beaten to death. "Touka." Said old man Yoshimura to which she immediately looked at him. It was because she felt concern from his voice. She respected him a lot and he was a father-like figure for her. Learning morals from him and he was her support. "Have you seen the recent news about the organ transplant case?" Asked Yoshimura with a curious voice. Even though he knew the answer that she didn''t he still asked. Young people nowadays were less and less interested in the news. "...?, No, not really." Said Touka indifferently. "It all started when steel beams fell on some students. One of the victims, a female student, died instantly, the other one, a young man, was on the brink of death. He needed an emergency organ transplant. The doctor chose to transplant the dead girls'' organs into the young man...." Here he took short pause as he was explaining some important context to Touka. "It seems those organs...belonged to Rize." As soon as he finished this sentence Touka almost got a heart attack from this as she screamed. "Rize?! Did she die? In an accident?" Asked Touka in disbelief. Something like hearing that S-rated ghoul died in something stupid like the accident was very unusual and rare. "The injury must have been so severe that not even a ghoul''s regenerative abilities could repair the damage. And so Rize''s organs were used." Finished his speech about this event. "So now there is a human with ghoul organs inside them? Sir.. his yes. Could it be...?" Asked Touka with a shaky voice. It was unbelievable that normal human was turned into a ghoul. Yes, sometimes some rare breed like one-eyed ghouls appear and half-humans too aren''t something very rare. But creating ghoul out of nothing was till now impossible. Turning normal human to ghoul was something unheard before. "Yes." Nodded his head, Yoshimura. Now even impossible is becoming possible. "Touka do you remember that foreign young man, that came to the Anteiku in the day of the incident?" Asked Yoshimura. Truth to be told, it was almost impossible to not remember someone like that. With those silver hair his and bright blue eyes he looked like perfection himself. Touka nodded her head in approval. "He is the ghoul, extremely strong one." To this she froze in shock, she didn''t think that he would be a ghoul. "He gave me a message. It stated that war is coming and chaotic times are going to descent." To this Touka didn''t know what to say. But if it was true, that war would be coming between humans and ghouls, then the situation is solemn. Very solemn. "Who is he? You are talking about him as you know him, sir?" Asked Touka in a curious voice. She knew that Yoshimura knew him, from the way he was talking about him. "He is from the noble family of ghouls, all of them are extremely powerful. I don''t know what is one of them doing here in Tokyo. Maybe you should found it out." Finished his sentence with teasing smile to which Touka had slight blush. He noticed how Lucien was looking at her and he wanted her to befriend him. Yoshimura was a very experienced man and from how Lucien was behaving and talking to her he noticed that he didn''t have any ill intent or something. Having strong allies was always a good thing. ''Washuu Clan and Aeon House were always enemies to death, from information that were available in Vasuki, it is apparent that Aeon House is much more formidable than Washuu Clan but they can''t leave the place they are residing in. So now the question is, why they decided to act? But now with someone from Aeon House here, the Washuu Clan won''t be so daring as they have a new formidable enemy to deal with.'' Thought Yoshimura in his head. He was thinking how to get Lucien on their side. ============================================= When Yoshimura and Touka were taking care of newly found ghoul Kaneki Ken, Lucien was training in his estate. He was constantly training in Sacred Rinkaku Scripture, trying to reach Baron Stage in this Scripture. He was training in it for a very long time, until one moment. "Finally!!!" This day, this moment, he finally managed to reach the Baron Stage in Sacred Rinkaku Scripture. Now when he reached this stage, it gave him more free time, as he knew that he can''t reach a higher stage unless his cultivation reached Viscount Rank. "Hmm, what to do now? Maybe I should go visit Itori, I haven''t seen her for a few days." Said Lucien to himself, before he opened his record. He wanted to see a change in record, but one more thing, Lucien enjoyed very much looking at his record. Looking on his effort and time gave a very good feeling. ============================================= Name: Lucien Etras di Aeon Occupation: Executor of Akashic Records Bloodline: Sacred Devourer Race: Sacred Devoured Ghoul RC Type: Rinkaku RC Level: 20,445 Kagune Rank: 2nd-Tier Noble-Grade Unique States: Permanent Tail - 1 Kakuja V1: Left arm - body armor, right hand - kagune katana Cultivation: Baron Energy Type: Psionic Energy Energy Level: 1,000 Abilities: Sacred Devourer - Ability to devour any types of energy, bloodlines or bodies. It strengthens host by some amount. Divine Telekinesis - 10 Psionic Energy per minute. Enhanced Reflexes Skills: Kenjutsu: Samurai Cultivation Techniques: Sacred Rinkaku Scripture: Baron Stage RC Body Refining Technique: Baron Rank Cross Crest: Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace ============================================= After looking on his record, Lucien exited his estate and went on a walk through the city. As he was walking he noticed some screams in some back alley. He went toward the source of the noise until he stopped and started listening. It was a familiar feminine voice that was speaking. Lucien knew that Touka was screaming at somebody, probably ghoul newbie, Kaneki Ken. "There''s no place for someone who can''t decide between being one or the other. If you want to be human so badly... try starving yourself to the limit once." She apparently stopped and started walking away from him, towards the place where Lucien was standing and listening to their conversation. "I''ll tell you right now, a ghoul''s hunger... true hell." After that, she exited the back and dark alley when she heard someone walking behind her. "Don''t you think, you are being harsh on him a little?" Said Lucien with a chuckle. 48 Hunger Touka immediately turned around to see Lucien standing behind her and smiling at her. It was apparent that he was hiding here and listening to the conversation they had. "Not really. That half-ass in delusional about how things go in this world. He is already one of us, even when he isn''t accepting that fact." Explained Touka in a calm voice. She knew that Lucien wasn''t threat and he seemed to be a kind person, at least from third person view. "Hmm, you are right. But his mind is still like a human and he lived in human society unlike us. We are raised in a strength-based hierarchy, where strong rule and weak die. That something completely different from those idiotic ideas that humans have these days." One thing must be said and that Lucien despised current society. Talks about everyone it equal and everyone had the same rights are pure nonsenses. He could see that young boy that had been turned to one-eyed ghouls is still leaned over his previous morals and ideals. Touka hearing this smiled and nodded her head in approval. Ghoul society and human society were completely different. Current human society was based on the principles of democracy and tolerance. In contrast to that, ghoul society was a strength-based hierarchy. Lucien knew that ghouls had society extremely close to that in the multiverse. Strong rule, weak die. If you want to have peace, then you must be strong enough to create it and protect. "Soo what are you going to do now? Wanna go on coffee?" Hearing this Touka, knew that she was tasked to watch over him a little but she thought that he won''t need her some time so she accepted Lucien''s offer. After a while, they both went to some coffee that Lucien chose. As he wanted always the best he chose the most expensive cafe in the surroundings. Touka was speechless from this, cause prices here were like from another world. She was still only a student so paying several thousand yens from coffee was too much. "Don''t worry, I am paying as it was me who invited you." Smiled Lucien at her. Lucien ordered the most expensive coffee here for both of them. It was coffee made from Viverrinae, which those small animals that were eating coffee beans and... you know what. Touka was surprised by his choice that he chose this type of coffee. After some time they were talking about various things, Lucien asked her about the school she was visiting cause she was still a student, judging by attire. In this life, he never attended schools, cause on Blood Island weren''t anything like that. Children on Blood Island were taught by their parents mostly, so there wasn''t any need for something like schools. "It looks like a bother, going every day to schools, with countless humans." Stated Lucien as he sipped his coffee. One must say that this coffee was a very good one. "It sounds like you have never attended it." Said Touka to Lucien, to which he only smiled. "Nope, I was taught at home, but in my home, there is more combat teaching than a theory like in modern schools. I started my training at a very early age and was trained by experts in martial arts and in the usage of kagune." Touka was hearing this with rather an enthusiasm. She always longed to be strong, strong enough to overcome all her enemies and get her vengeance. As she was listening to Lucien she had a strong urge to ask him if he can''t teach her something. She wasn''t some strong ghoul, even though she had some foundation, as she knew how to kick and punch. But she never trained in some martial arts or something similar. In eyes of really strong ghoul investigators and ghouls, she was just kid. Even her brother can beat her, and he also wasn''t someone especially strong. "Could you teach me, when you are free?" After some time of thinking, she decided to risk, if he could teach her. Lucien was surprised at this but he nodded his head in approval. Even though he didn''t have any interest in her as a woman, he admired her will and courage to ask him for teaching, when they barely knew each other. "We must go. I think something bad would happen to that half-ass." Said Touka to Lucien as he nodded his head. They were here already for more than hour before Lucien paid for the coffee and they left. They were searching for Kaneki, cause Touka lost him when they were at the cafe. After some time of searching for him, they finally found him in a confrontation with Nishio Nishiki, who would be later known as S-rated Serpent, thanks to his deadly bikaku kagune tail. Touka then stopped Lucien as they were both watching the fight. Of course, if you could call it the fight. Nishiki was just beating the boy around here and there. Suddenly they saw that Kanki managed to congeal his rinkaku kagune and strike Nishiki.Then he turned around to his friend who was laying on the ground and looked at him like he was a most delicious meal. Then both Lucien and Touka acted. Lucien appeared behind Nishiki and with one strike he knocked him out, he was unconscious. This happened so fast, that Kaneki didn''t even notice that Nishiki was already unconscious. Touka appeared before him and looked at him with disgust and hate. It was apparent that this wasn''t the best way, how to spent free time for her. "You''re starting to become more like one of us. Half-ass." Said Touka as she walked towards him. Kaneki was already in the mindless state, without any sign of rationality and clear consciousness. "The pain and hunger have stripped away your reason. It hurts so much almost want to die, don''t you?" He was like a wild beast, as he took some kind of primitive battle stance. It was apparent that he wanted to attack her. Lucien was also in high alert as he was observing both of them, ready to intervene if something went bad. "If it means you can be free of that pain.. you don''t give a damm about your friend''s life, do you?" It was like she was talking with herself. The only sound he was saying was something like "grrr...grrr". Like a wolf who went berserk. His tails were already swinging around, waiting for a moment to attack. He desperately wanted to eat something. This was the result of hunger, the hunger of ghoul is true hell, in every meaning. 49 We "After you devour him, you will be alone, consumed with regret. In a sea of blood and guts." She stopped for a while to observe some kind of reaction. The only thing was again those mindless sound of a wild beast. "That''s a ghoul''s hunger. That''s our fate." Now she too, took some kind of battle stance as she was also prepared for a fight. She knew that Lucien was watching so it was impossible for something to happen to her. "I''m fed up with it. So this one time, I''ll save you from that." She rushed at him with fast speed, swiftly delivering a precise kick to his abdomen, which sent him flying to a nearby wall, where he crashed. Thanks to his rinkaku kagune, which provided stronger regenerative abilities he still managed to get up and tried to attack Touka again, this time with his kagune. But all of his efforts were in vain, as Touka appeared quickly behind him and knocked him out. He was still only newbie ghoul, who can''t fight or control his power. What''s more, he is in berserk mode, so he can''t even think clearly. Lucien looked at Touka and this entire mess they had created here. "What to do now?" Asked Lucien as he was scanning entire area. Everything here was destroyed and soon it would attract the attention of people, living here. Maybe even some doves would fly here, so they need quickly go away. "We need to bring both of them away, best would be Anteiku. And leave that four-eyes here." Said Touka in a somewhat bossy tone. But Lucien didn''t mishear certain word, and that word was ''we''. ''Wasn''t Kaneki her problem? Why it became us?''. Thought Lucien in his mind. "When it became we? Wasn''t that half-ass your responsibility?" Asked Lucien in a curious voice, when they actually started to share duties and responsibilities. "From the moment, you appeared here and knocked out that four-eyes." Answered Touka with a faint smile. Lucien nodded his head and called his loyal henchmen for help and car. He always told them where would he be, so they could be nearby when he needed them. But he never told them the precise location, only ward. Soon two Hummer H3 arrived and several men exited cars, which gave Touka rather shock, to see so many people here. They all arrived before Lucien, giving him salute and then they began clearing surrounding and loaded both Kaneki and Hide into the car. "These are mercenaries I hired. All of them are around A-rated ghouls in strength." Explained Lucien current situation to Touka. She nodded her head and then both of them got into a car and left for the Anteiku. Lucien secretly ordered one of his people to bring away even Nishiki, he wasn''t a bad person only a little arrogant. ============================================= Anteiku Lucien was sitting behind the bar inside Anteiku and before him was Yoshimura. Cause of his visit and many people he brought with him cafe was closed for some time. As mercenaries were all ghouls their consumption of coffee was huge. And it was showing even today. "I must say Mr. Yoshmura you have brought coffee making to an art." Smiled Lucien as he complimented his coffee he was drinking. "Secret is in patience, love, and accuracy." Explained Yoshimura as he was preparing other cups of coffee for mercenaries here. They actually drank coffee like water. One after another. "I must thank you for help her deal with this issue. I let her observe that young man because I felt something bad would happen to him. He is unstable and can''t decide to which world he belongs." Lucien nodded his head in approval. He admired old man Yoshimura. He was somewhat kind and caring person toward other ghouls, who needed help. Maybe it came from his personality or from his tragic past, who knows. "Mr. Yoshimura, from my respect to your person I must warn you that Washuu Clan is scheming something. Something big and extremely dangerous for us." Said Lucien with a serious voice, to which even Yoshimura opened his eyes slightly, even though he always kept them closed. "I wish I could help you, but I was only cleaner in Vasuki, we were tasked by eliminating and killing targets, we didn''t have access to confidential pieces of information of the organization itself." Stated old man. Cleaners were at the very bottom. They just killed targets that they were told and that''s all. They didn''t have access to any secret information or something like that. They were just weapons in hands of Vasuki. "You should be careful these times. I am preparing to move against Washuu Clan soon." Yoshimura wasn''t surprised from his claim, cause he was aware he had enough power to back up his word. Only those with supreme strength could say something like this. It was common knowledge that attacks against Washuu Clan were nothing more than some form of suicide. ============================================= On the second floor of Anteiku This room looked very comfortable at first look. In the center of the room were two sofas facing each other and television at the wall. At one of those sofas, young black haired Kaneki was sleeping, no no was waking up. When he woke up he looked through the window, surprised from change and waking up in an unfamiliar place. "You''re awake." Said the elderly voice behind him. It was old man Yoshimura who was standing behind him and observing him. When Kaneki turned around to him, he continued explaining the situation to him. "You''re on the second floor of Anteiku. Touka and Lucien brought you here." To this, he was shocked. Firstly because Touka that apparently hated him, actually helped him. Secondly, it was the name of the man, whose he didn''t recognize. But he could deduce he was probably a foreigner, from his non-japanese name. "What about my friend?!" Screamed when he finally remembered the situation. "... Come with me" Then Kaneki stood up and followed after Yoshimura to another room where his friend Hide was sleeping currently. From conversation they had with Yoshimura Lucine could think that it wasn''t anything good to hear for Kaneki. ============================================= "Touka-san I think you would have a new colleague." Said Lucien with a mischievous and teasing smile to Touka. He was calling her by her name because she was doing the same. As he wasn''t Japanese he wasn''t very comfortable with this style of addressing so they both called each other with their names. Touka to this gave him a very unpleasant look before turning away. She swore to herself she would try hit Lucien as hard as she can when they would train together tomorrow. She knew that he was from some noble family and he seemed to be a gentleman so he won''t be using his full power when they would train against her. 50 Sharpest Blade, Strongest Shield Unknown dimension, somewhere in the multiverse Entire dimension was completely devoid of any signs of life. Trees were dead, the sky was darker than night and ground was cracked. In one part of the dimension was giant mountain range stretching majestically. On the edge of the highest mountain in the entire range, there was one castle lonely standing. It was the extremely huge castle, in gothic style and behind the castle was red moon glowing at the entire dimension. The castle itself was also devoid of any life but was in perfect condition. As it was finished just yesterday. Only living being in the castle were bats, lots of bats. When one looked closer at them, they weren''t ordinary bats but each of them was releasing extremely blood and strong aura. Entire castle was guarded by them, they were guardians, protectors, cleaner and everything else. On the highest floor of the castle was one room, bigger than the others. It was a simple room, but still luxuriously decorated and one table with one chair was in the center of the room. In front of the table with the chair was a giant window and man sitting behind the table with glass in his hand was watching the scenery before him. It was a familiar elder, clothed completely in pitch black suit with golden ornaments and with a waistcoat over his shoulders. He wore white gloves on his hands and his clothes gave the feeling of noble. His eyes were bright red and shining in the dark and his beard and hair were ash grey. Wizard Marshall, Kaleidoscope, Kischur Zelretch Sweinorg. "Maybe I should look at the progress of that kiddo. It has been a long time from the time he was born so he should make considerable progress." Murmured Zelretch as he took out his Jeweled Sword, which was his Mystic Code. Mystic Code is supporting weapon that magus carries as a magical artifact. They are divided into two main categories and that amplifier and specialized. The amplifier as the name suggests is amplifying magic and specialized already have a predetermined usage. Jeweled Sword Zelretch was constructed by fusion of most advanced technology in the multiverse and most advanced magic. Sword is capable of the Multi-Dimensional Refraction Phenomenon, allowing the user to draw in potentially infinite magical energy. Now Zeltretch was using it to watch entire history of Lucien Etras di Aeon. He promised to help the kiddo, to Administrator of Life and Death, Kelemvor. After several hours of watching the entire record, Zelretch was amused. This was the reason why he liked to find Irregulars. They don''t have a fate and they always do something completely unpredictable and he can''t see their future and fate. "Hmm... he has qualities. Maybe I should go find that another old skeleton. Nevertheless, that kiddo carries his bloodline. Maybe that stubborn old man would take him as a disciple. Only shame he wasn''t born as a Magus. I could gain exceptional disciple. What a shame." Sighed Zelretch to himself, before creating a spatial gate with Jeweled Sword Zelretch and stepping into the portal. As Zelretch was Administrator of Kaleidoscope he could travel at any place in the entire multiverse within seconds. Even before he became Administrator he could travel to many places. This was a power of the Second True Magic, Kaleidoscope. Zelretch is known as a complicated individual. He loves to pull pranks and is very meddlesome in worldly affairs when something interests him. When he was still in his homeworld, he was admired and disliked by Mage Association, due to his tendency to pull pranks and cripple his proteges, which were chosen from most talented students. He was always interested in talented young people and always searched for somebody who could be his inheritor. ============================================= When he stepped out of the dimensional portal he appeared in completely different environment. Everywhere were sakura trees and nature was alive. The entire place was giving out the aura of peace and beauty. The entire valley was tranquil, peaceful and silent. Only birds were flying in the air and some other creatures were sleeping here and there. There were some building in ancient Japanese architecture, but not many of them. They were around the entire valley. Some of them were small and some of them were big. One building was on the river and another one was on the smaller hill or mountain. There was a huge mansion, in typical ancient Japanese architecture in the middle of this valley. Yes, it was located at the valley and mansion was built in front of a river that flowed through this valley. Zelretch walked through this beauty and went to the mansion. When he arrived at the mansion, the figure appeared there. It was an elderly man, wearing black kimono, with a golden dragon pattern. At his waits was katana, that looked ordinary but Zelretch felt murderous aura from it. Truth to be told even his outfit looked very imposing and majestical. The man wasn''t releasing an aura of ruler or king, but rather that of absolute dominance and obedience. Elder had long white hair and beard, bright blue eyes and sharp gaze in his eyes as he watched Zelretch coming here. It was apparent that he wasn''t very pleased with this fact. "Xenos, my friend." Shouted Zelretch in an instant when he was the man. Xenos''s face twitched a little, cause he feared that Zelretch came here to pull a prank. Many people feared Zelretch for pulling pranks on them and even most powerful cultivators in multiverse weren''t exceptions. To rulers of various high-level planes name, Kischur Zelretch Sweinorg was the synonym of a most terrible nightmare. Nobody knows what he would do if he is bored. "Zelretch, if you have come here to pull pranks or doing some mischief, then go away." Said Xenos to Zelretch. When he heard that smile on his face widened and he nodded his head. This was a common response of many people when they have seen him. If you have something important then ok but if not then rather go away. "Don''t worry, I have something important to discuss with you." To this was Xenos surprised and then frowned. When Zelretch behaved seriously, according to his duty as administrator, which was extremely rare then that means that he had come here with the serious issue. "Come with me." Said, Xenos, as he led Zelretch to the garden behind his mansion. They''re both of them sat down and started to drink green tea, that Xenos brewed. He was very accomplished in the art of tea brewing. "So, what brings you here my friend, Zelretch?" Asked Xenos after he put down his cup of tea and watched Zelretch. "Good tea. Now to the issue. Actually, this time I came here on behalf of Kelemvor, he requested help from me on a certain matter. Some months ago, new Executor of Akashic Records was chosen and he is someone of your blood." When Zelretch said that atmosphere froze. He could feel that overwhelming killing intent that was coming from Xenos. This was because besides Administrators there existed another type of people that were deeply connected to Akashic Records. They were the strongest weaponry that protected Akashic Records. They protected multiverse from shadows, killed everything that was too strong for administrators to handle, they had even power to kill administrator when he abused his power. They protected multiverse from threats from the infinite void. Sharpest Blade, Strongest Shield. Protector Regent. And now there existed only one Protector Regent in the entire multiverse. Protector Regent, Sacred Devourer Xenos. 51 Two foxes meet each other "Calm down you madman. It was choice of that kiddo and his mission isn''t something hard. I came here because that kid is talented and I hoped you could accept him as your disciple when he finishes his mission." Explained Zelretch to Xenos in hurry. Even though he was Administrator of Akashic Records and one of stronger one, he was nothing in front of Xenos. When Xenos heard that he stopped and started to search something through the Akashic Records. "God-Devil System? Isn''t that Akashic-Grade artifact that forged God-Devil before I killed him? Wasn''t that thing lost a long time ago, shortly after he died?" Asked Xenos in surprise. That was because he was the one that killed entity called God-Devil for stealing a fragment of Akashic Record and creating Akashic-Grade Artifact without any approval from the Akashic Record itself. What was worst he hid the artifact and it remained hidden until it was found out by Administrator Kelemvor. It was located in God-Devil Plane, which was a very special place. "Yes. Now, look at this. This is a life of that kid and all his experiences till now. His name is Lucien Etras di Aeon." Said Zelretch as he took out the crystal ball and gave it to Xenos. This crystal ball was created by Jeweled Sword Zelretch and it recorded Lucien''s life. Xenos took the crystal ball from his hands and started viewing its content. It took him several minutes to finish it and now he had a happy expression on the face. "That kid is good. Who could think that when he was going through the test for Executor that idiot Kelemvor would choose random summoning. Ha-ha-ha." Laughed Xenos at Lucien''s good luck. If Kelemvor chose some monster by himself Lucien would probably lose in an instant, but lady luck was on his side and his enemies were a bunch of dumb ogres. If he had only chosen something with a higher intelligence that could actually think. "So what do you think Xenos?" "Why do I have a feeling that you are using me for some scheme of yours, Zelretch?" Asked Xenos in dissatisfied voice. From the start of this conversation he felt that Zelretch was scheming something, or to be more precise, Kelemvor was the culprit. Seeing that Zelretch was somewhat ignoring him, after a short pause he continued talking. "I have two conditions. First, he needs to obtain God-Devil System within hundred years. Second I want him to go to that place when he is stronger. Don''t think you could manipulate me only because that kid has my bloodline in him, but as I don''t want to hear from you that I am a heartless creature, give him this book when he will arrive at God-Devil Plane." Stated Xenos and took out the huge old looking book and gave it to Zelretch. From that book could be felt huge energy and profundity. The book itself had leather covers and simple title, one-word ''Magitek''. "This could help him with some things. But don''t forget about the deal and you must persuade him to enter that place. If he doesn''t agree to enter that place then I won''t be doing anything and I won''t teach him." Zelretch took the book and stored it away. He thought about the condition of entering that dammed place but he knew he would be able to persuade Lucien by using some tricks or something similar. He knew that book was a gift to help them conquer some territory cause Lucien didn''t have numbers. Magitek technology was a very special one cause it combined together magical energy with science, giving birth to Magitek. Zelretch knew that this could help Lucien and his race to conquer some territories in God-Devil Plane after they master this technology and obtain energy sources. Lucien''s race was too few in numbers so even when having powerful cultivators they can''t oversee huge territories. Fortunately, Magitek would do that part. "With Magitek he could do his duty as Executor of Akashic Records easier." This was one of the primary objectives of Zelretch. One he wanted to make Xenos, Lucien''s master and secondary he wanted obtain Magitek Book. Yes, he would give it to Lucien but now it was in his hands. Complete Magitek. It would be really magnificent to see the birth of the new magitek civilization once again. Last magitek civilization perished countless eons ago. On the other side, Xenos was aware of this, but he needed one thing. Inheritor of his position, so he could do something else than fighting against most troublesome enemies around. When Zelretch found someone of his blood and Xenos saw that kiddo, he saw potential in him and decided to risk it. Xenos was also aware of fact that Zelretch wanted to obtain Magitek Book at least for some time because this was the last complete book of Magitek. But what Zelretch didn''t know was fact that book was specially remade and it would open only to the blood of Sacred Devourer. He was Protector Regent of Akashic Records for a very very long time. Even though it was still better than being Administrator, cause he had much more freedom, he still had to do some task and now he wanted only one thing. Sleep and drink tea. So inheritor was his chance to sleep most of his time. "Xenos as the expert, what do you think about that Divine Warrior Cultivation System that God-Devil created when he was still alive?" Asked Zelretch with curiosity. In the multiverse, there were countless cultivation systems. Some were extremely formidable and could allow you cultivate to the peak. Some of the other sides were nothing more than trash. And some were just troublesome, just like a Divine Warrior Cultivation System created by God-Devil. "Tricky. Even though it could be said to be one of the weaker ones, it gives you special abilities even at lower stages of cultivation. For example even teleportation, spatial manipulation could be achieved in lower stages of our cultivation system. And what''s more, it gives you a Nascent Soul and other tricky things that are hard to deal with. We could conclude that to deal with these cultivators is very tiresome unless you have a special counter method or just overwhelming them with strength." Zelretch could only nod at his words. He wasn''t such expert on cultivation systems like Xenos but even he could tell shortcoming of this one. But what''s more was fact that Divine Warrior Cultivation System was incomplete cause Administrator God-Devil was killed by Xenos before he could finish the entire system. It was common knowledge in some way that only Administrators had the power to create completely perfect cultivation systems that could allow people cultivate to peak. But since God-Devil was killed by Xenos and Xenos took original manuscripts, this cultivation system was doomed to be incomplete. It was also because Xenos wasn''t bothered to finish the system and even when it would be finished he wouldn''t give it to anyone and it would end as the trophy. ============================================= Inside dark cave, there was a huge altar and Zelretch was putting book titled Magitek on the altar before taking many red-crystals and putting them around the altar. There were around hundreds of red crystal required to construct countless Magitek inventions. That were Magitek Cores, used to construct Magitek Weapons. "Kukuku... And we could only wait until its found." Laughed Zelretch in the darkness. Birth of the new magitek civilization going to be soon. When Lucien would leave that Low-Grade world and obtain necessary resources everything could start. 52 Potential Lucien was currently watching something very funny and amusing. It was Kaneki Ken who was trying to learn, how to properly make a coffee from Yoshimura. He was clothed in Anteiku attire for waiters and wore a white eyepatch on his left eye. "Slowly take your time...like you''re writing the hiragana character for no." Instructed Yoshimura as he was standing behind Kaneki and watching the entire process. After some time of watching this drama and then listening to Yoshimura''s lecture, Lucien decided to go away. It was already tiresome to listen to all this and he was already tired. But before he was going away, he came to the Yoshimura and they sat away from others to have a private conversation. Yoshimura was rather interested in some things, he wanted to ask Lucien some things about Washuu Clan and Vasuki. Lucien on the other side wanted to warn Yoshimura to be cautious. "Lucien-kun, even though this mind sounds daring, but I have to ask. Why is someone from your house in Tokyo?" Lucien wasn''t surprised by this question, cause Arima had asked him something similar. Almost everybody who was aware of Aeon House would be surprised if even one of them left that Island. "Answer is very simple, Sir. Washuu Clan needs to be eliminated. Scrupulously." Lucien actually respected Yoshimura a lot, because of that he called him sir. This old man has done too much for others and sacrificed a lot in his life. And lost, even more, his daughter included. He helped other ghouls that were in need as Touka, in her time or now Kaneki. Once he helped even Renji to not lose himself in the endless cycle of hatred. "Washuu Clan has stood firmly for hundreds of years, but I hope you can succeed." Smiled Yoshimura at Lucien. He was aware of fact that Washuu Clan was powerful but they needed to be eliminated. They were the reason of hatred and all those strifes here. ============================================= Several weeks had gone by the time of the Steel Beam Incident. Lucien spent most of his time training and would often visit Anteiku. He wasn''t visiting Helter Skelter Bar too much cause Itori was now visiting him in his estate. Now they were an official couple, she was acting more daring and more demanding to him. Itori wanted to be spoiled by him and held. Sometimes she would be scared from that, he would leave her behind. Lucien realized that he really loved her dearly and was even thinking he should send letter home telling that he found himself a girlfriend. But that would probably create a mess, cause his mother would insist on coming here to interrogate both of them. So he deleted this particular idea from his head. He was still waiting for time to strike against his enemies and he knew that the time was coming soon, during the 11th Ward Battle and Second Chochlea Raid at the end of the December. Lucien even received an invitation to the Ghoul Restaurant but he wasn''t too interested in the event, even though Kaneki was the dish. But what was rather shocking was the message from his family. It talked about finding some book that talked about Magitek and some red crystal, which were called Magitek Cores. Lucien was shocked to hear that and he found it rather weird. He was aware of Magitek and its potential but it was rather fishy, for the book of Magitek to appear in some random cave on Blood Island, but the construction of Magitek seemed extremely hard. The entire book was divided into several stages and the first stage required for unlocking part of the book. Even the first stage of book required Viscount Ranked person to unlock it and person unlocking it must be Sacred Devourer Ghoul. Now both houses on Island started to construct basic magitek soldier that could rival baron ranked cultivator. But to construct something like this was too hard and to construct one of the magitek soldiers took around a week. But apparently, as people became more proficient in that so they could create them more quickly. But lack of people who were creating them was too much, because of that production of magitek soldiers wasn''t much. But even so, they gave huge war potential against demons on the Blood Island. Currently, there were around ten magitek soldiers on the Blood Island and were actively fighting against demons. Lucien wanted to see Magitek in its full beauty. Magitek had infinite potential and could produce more powerful soldiers. But the problem here was fact that they don''t have the source of Magitek Cores, which is the source of power and energy for magitek machines. They can''t create magitek cores cause they don''t have an energy source like some crystal or mana core. Magitek Civilization would bloom once again, thought Lucien. But he also understood fact that this civilization would rise only when he would leave this world. Out there, in a vast multiverse, there were many sources of energy and metals that could drive the machinery. Sadly in the majority of Low-Grade worlds weren''t necessary resources as metals or energy sources required to create many magitek inventions. Now Lucien wanted to meet Eto, not because of some matters to discuss but just. He just wanted to see her. He can''t deny the fact that she is very attractive for him and even though she had a rather weird personality, even more, wicked than Itori, she was still very appealing. ============================================= As now was already November, so weather was colder. Lucien went to the 24th Ward by foot, so it would take him some time to get there. He liked going by foot cause he could observe everything around him. Observing people was always one of his hobbies. When he gets there, as always 24th Ward was ugly and destroyed as it used to be. Nothing more than ruins but now something changed. There were more ghouls here and many of them even fought amongst each other. Lucien only looked at this, before going to the place was Eto was living. When he was on his way there, he noticed familiar figure training in some martial arts. It was Tatara, clothed in his traditional white clothes from times when Chi She Lian was still active. He always wore the same clothes and same mask as the Chi She Lian for his entire life. Memento. "Hello, Tatara-san." Greeted Lucien fellow martial artist. It was an unusual view to see one of these ghouls actually train so much. What''s more, Tatara trained even simplified version of scripture what Lucien gave him. "Greeting, Lucien-san. How about we have a spar?" As soon as he had opportunity Tatara asked Lucien for a spar. He actually didn''t have many people with whose he could train and Lucien could be counted as one of very a few. Lucien smiled at this and nodded his head. "Why not, I did not train yet." 53 Weird situation It took more than an hour for the spar to end. Lucien even used his Kakuja V1 to fight against Tatara to gain some kind of advantage but then Tatara used his own Kakuja and they were again in a stalemate. Lucien wasn''t using his full power to fight cause this was only a spar and they mainly used various techniques to fight. After the fight finished both of them parted away and Lucien went to fight Eto, who was currently watching the match from a hidden spot. When she saw that her lips curled into a smile as she was thinking about something. Then she went to her place, cause Lucien would be soon there. When Lucien entered her room he saw Eto laying on the couch, almost half naked, cause she was just putting down the bandages around her body. Lucien couldn''t help himself and look at her attractive body as he gulped. Eto saw that he was staring at her, she even had slight blush on her face, but she quickly returned to her main nature, as she smiled at him before starting to tease him. "Do you like the view?" She asked, with a mischievous smile on her face, as she tried to look innocent. But this action only made her seem more seductive like some kind of succubus. Even though Lucien wasn''t accustomed to something like this, and actually this was the first time being in this type of situation, he suppressed his feeling and started to think rationally. "I apologize, but I must say that you are very beautiful." As he said that, he turned around, cause it wasn''t suitable to watch her undressing and co. Thus he exited the room and waited for her until she finished changing her clothes. After some time, he hears knocking on the door and he went into the room again. Eto was now finished and both of them sat at the chairs and started talking. More accurately it was Eto who was asking countless questions about Lucien and more. Actually, Lucien enjoyed talking with her very much. When he wasn''t paying attention to her, cause he was already tired from all that talking for several hours, he felt something weird. He realized that Eto was now sitting on him and she licked his neck. She had a little-crazed expression but he didn''t think too much about it. Instead of panic, he hugged her which took her by surprise. "You taste good." Smiled Eto as she whispered it to his ear. Lucien knew that she was more crazed than most female ghouls and much more than Itori. From his time spent with Itori, she was more ''normal'' than Eto. It was also from fact that Eto was her entire life alone. When it came to Eto, Lucien chose a more aggressive way to win her heart. He gently kissed her neck several times, which resulted in deeper blush appearing on her face. "You too." After both of them separated, there was a weird atmosphere in the air. They sat opposite each other and resumed their conversation. "Oh, now I remember. Arima said that he wants to talk with you about something important." Lucien furrowed his brows at this, cause it was rather surprising to hear. So this must mean that it would be something very important. Arima Kishou wasn''t typing of person who would be requesting a meeting for something stupid. "Where and when?" Asked Lucien. In his head, he still couldn''t stop to think about Eto and the intimate things. "Tomorrow, in severs leading to the 24th Ward." Lucien nodded his head in approval. "How are things going with Aogiri Tree? I heard some rumors about upcoming war in 11th Ward." Stated Lucien. There were already rumors going on between certain circles that Aogiri Tree was preparing for war and was going attack 11th Ward. Lucien knew that this would happen by the end of the December of this year. At the same time would be attacked at the Cochlea Prison. Eto was now considering to what to do. But after short thought, she decided to talk with Lucien about the situation itself. She was aware that Lucien was a trustworthy person and he was on their side, on her side. "Preparations are going very good. There are two parts of the plan one is an attack on the Cochlea Prison and the second part is attacking at the 11th Ward. Which part would you like to discuss first?" Lucien chose to discuss Cochlea Prison attack cause it was much shorter. Plan of the 11th Ward attack was far more complicated cause it involved the creation of future One-Eyed King and of course they must provoke CCG to attack their base at the 11th Ward. "Cochlea, truth to be said I am rather interested in that prison." Lucien himself was planning to participate in that raid. He would intercept Arima Kishou and Squad 0 to help more ghouls to escape from Cochlea Prison. This action would strengthen Aogiri Tree much more, cause they would obtain stronger combatants. "We would attack command center of Cochlea Prison with a small group of elites and open the gate. We need to free as many ghouls as possible. Arima Kishou would arrive later together with Squad 0 to intercept escaping ghouls. If possible I would like for you to be part of that group. With you there and Tatara commanding the operation we could liberate all ghouls in that prison." "Good, are there any primary targets?" This was a rather important question, cause they would need to liberate most powerful ghouls at first and then liberate the weaker ones. "Yes, they are. We would start from the SS-rates. Kamishiro Matasaka, Naki and we must kill warden Misaka Kyouji." Lucien nodded his head and then continued. "I hope Vasuki won''t show up, but if they do I would slaughter them all. My priority during the mission would kill most of the investigators there. If possible it would be best to massacre entire Cochlea prison and liberate all ghouls there. In regards to Arima, what should be the outcome of our fight?" Lucien presented his version of the plan. It would be best if entire Cochlea is turned into the dead zone. They would be forced to fill it with a new staff that would be taken from other places of Commission of Counter Ghoul and would create a lack of manpower. Lucien was eager to see results of Cochlea Raid and 11th Ward. In original results weren''t that bad for Commission of Counter Ghoul. It could be said that the results were a pure catastrophe for Aogiri Tree because Bin brother and Yamori were killed and Kirishima Ayato was heavily injured. Lucien wanted to change this result. So the first measure was that he gave Eto some weaker blood essences for Bin brother to increase their strength to SS-rate. Then Kotarou Amon won''t be able to kill them and maybe he would be captured and delivered right to the Kanou''s hands. In regards to Yamori there wasn''t much he could do, cause he would be killed by Kaneki Ken in all endings, but he could order Yamori to not return there and sent there some A-rated disposable ghouls that could be killed in his place. 54 sReturn soons "What about 11th Ward battle?" Asked Lucien with curiosity. "This is more complicated. Actually entire battle is just cover operation for real target, Cochlea. But we could use this to kill more damage to the CCG. What we could tell now is that this would be a defensive battle, so we need proper fortification." Eto explained some basic pieces of information about the plan. It must be said that 11th Ward Battle was a very complicated event. There were actually three sides, besides CCG and Aogiri Tree there was Anteiku, commanded by Yoshimura. "We have managed to obtain some firearms, to fight against cannon fodder soldiers and we have several S-rated and SS-rated ghouls ready to fight against strong ghoul investigators. I predict that some Associate Special Classes and maybe even Special Classes would also participate in the battle." "I will help you obtain M2 Browning machine guns, several of them, together with enough ammo. Next, it would be grenade launchers and rocket launchers. This would help you deal with armored vehicles and lastly bulletproof vests and other gadgets." Said Lucien to Eto. He wanted to change the progress of the entire battle by supplying a massive amount of firearms and explosives to deal enough damage to the CCG. This was because CCG brought, we could say a very large army of cannon fodder armed with guns to fight. And they even brought many ghoul investigators. Lucien would change the results of battle by slaughtering many of these cannon fodders. Even though they were weakest of the weakest, if he managed to kill a huge number of them, it would create huge losses for the CCG, as they would lose the main army. "Thank you, it would help us greatly." Lucien nodded his head and then proceeded to continue some of his ideas. "Another thing I have to help your plan. I would gift you several blood essences to distribute them between S-rated ghouls and SS-rated ghouls. You know, we can''t afford to lose such valuable battle assets. Every S-rated ghoul and SS-rated ghoul is an extremely valuable chess piece in here." Explained Lucien another part of his plan. By strengthening existing S-rated ghouls and SS-rated ghouls to create stronger ones, it would enhance the battle potential of Aogiri Tree. If some people like Bin brothers or Yamori could be saved it would be rather good. Even though Yamori was a little mad he still listened to Noro and Tatara. Honestly, Lucien didn''t care what would happen to the people here or entire world when he left it. He only cared for the only thing and that thing was the destruction of Washuu Clan, for any cost. It wasn''t his problem what would happen after the annihilation of Washuu Clan. "Thank you again. With this, we would stand a better chance at this battle. In terms of a number of soldiers we are far behind, by gaining a huge number of firearms and some blood essences it would help us greatly." Lucien smiled at this. "Friendly reminder. Try to restrain Ayato more, his arrogance would cause him huge troubles. And Yamori too, that man is mad, after that all torture in Cochlea, he is too some threat." The result of the 11th Ward Battle was following. Bin brothers were killed by Kotarou Amon, both of them were S-rated ghouls, so this could be considered loss for Aogiri Tree. Next one was a loss of Yamori, who was critically injured by Kaneki Ken and then killed by Suzuya Juuzou. Yamori was a very complicated individual, but his strength was above average S-rate and he still followed orders of Aogiri Tree and was a useful pawn. And last loses were around two hundred Aogiri ghouls, which could be said to be a big number, but Lucien would best to reduce them. Compared to the Aogiri Tree, loses of Commission of Counter Ghoul, weren''t exactly that bad, counting that Shinohara Yukinori and Kuroiwa Iwao were wounded by usage of Arata proto. The quinque armor made of kagune of Kirishima Arata. And of course, the most serious and heavy loss was that of Marude''s motorcycle by hands of Suzuya Juuzou, when he used it to crash into fortification of ghouls and it exploded afterward. "I would try but one of them is still a kid and other one lost his clear mind during his residence at Cochlea. It''s hard to control either one of them, but I would try my best." Stated Eto to his comment. She was aware that even Tatara and Noro were sometimes having a problem at controlling both of them. "And lastly. Be aware of Clowns. They are more dangerous then they look like and they only want destruction and chaos. Nothing more, nothing less." Lucien felt that he should warn Eto about Clown. It would create a huge mess if Clowns suddenly did something and that act would result in chaos. He was also aware of that, one member of Clowns was associating himself with Aogiri Tree. This was a normal strategy implemented by Clowns. Their members would always associate themselves with all sides. Uta, Itori and Roma were associated with Anteiku, Nico was together with Aogiri Tree and finally, there was Souta or by his true name Washuu Kichimura. He was affiliated with Washuu Clan, Vasuki, Commission of Counter Ghoul, Sunlit Garden and Ghoul Restaurant. He was an ultimate man, cause he was almost everywhere. The only exception was Donato Porapora, who before his imprisonment in the Cochlea was Orphanage Caretaker, because of that he was called The Priest. And also because he was actual Catholic Priest. it could be weird sounding that Catholic Priest was a ghoul and was eating children at the orphanage. "Okay, but they are most troublesome to deal with. On the other side, Nico was able to help us sometimes greatly. They have infiltrated every organization in Tokyo and are scheming something big but we can''t stop them for now." Lucien was surprised at first from the fact that Eto was aware of Nice being a member of Clowns. On the other side she was the leader of Aogiri Tree and despite her young age, she was a very experienced and capable person. She worked from nothing to create Aogiri Tree by herself. "It is already late I should be going now." Then he stood up and wanted to go home until Eto appeared before him and leaned over his chest as she wrapped her hands around his neck. Then they both looked at each other and Eto kissed his lips passionately. Lucien was surprised at first but soon she returned her kiss and hugged her ad they continued in this for several minutes. One must say that Eto had a lot of passion in her. Lucien became an interesting individual for her whom she could obtain. "Return soon." Said, Eto, as she licked her lips to which Lucien showed a charming smile as he exited her home. He went straight to his estate to sleep, because it was already evening. He couldn''t believe that he spent here several hours, almost the entire day. 55 Spar with the White Reaper Next day when Lucien got up after good sleep he went to train a little before meeting with Arima Kishou. Lucien wanted to ask him for a spar. He wanted to test his power by fighting Undefeated Ghoul Investigator and most notable combatant of this world. But before training, Lucien started refining some blood essences that he promised to give to Eto. This process took him almost two hours as he was refining a rather bigger number of them, but they weren''t of high quality. Medium at best. Then he contacted Darkwalker to prepare bulletproof vests for cannon fodder members of Aogiri Tree. These bulletproof vests were specially made to resist Q bullets. A special type of bullet with a melted down kagune coating. Even though coating is moderately thin, cause it must be refined from kagune of ghoul, it still has more destructive force against ghouls. Normal bullets are nothing in front of ghoul but Q bullet could do damage to the ghoul and with several precise hits, it could even kill them. The only force that uses them is Bureau Investigators or what Lucien calls them cannon fodder of CCG. They are people assigned to the offices of Commission of Counter Ghoul. They do not carry quinques and are weak as an ant. Their main work consists of paperwork in offices, they do the majority of paperwork. We could say that bureau investigators are backup for the real ghoul investigators and quantity is more important than quality in their case. Lucien knew that they were trained in Ghoul Countermeasures Training Center and they created the majority of the CCG employees. In his head, he even had the plan to attack that facility and destroy it but he could instigate Clowns to do that work. Darkwalker was able to obtain several hundred units of q bullet bulletproof vests for Lucien. They were extremely expensive so Lucien was forced to pay a huge amount of money for them. But if they would serve the purpose so be it. After finishing all things he had to do, Lucien went to the place where he should have a meeting with Arima Kishou. ============================================= The meeting place was the same spot when he first met Tatara, it was wide and empty space under the Tokyo, inside the complicated system of tunnels. Lucien quickly arrived at the place and noticed that Arima still wasn''t here so he decided to wait for him. Fortunately, he waited only around twenty minutes or so, until he arrived. Arima Kishou was clothed as usual in one of those typical white long coats of investigators and was holding the case with his left hand. He brought even quinques here, probably he said he was going to investigate some suspicious places here. It could be said effective cover. He had two cases and one of them was pitch black with various golden ornaments. "Greetings Arima Kishou." "Greetings Lucien Etras di Aeon." Both of them greeted before the start of anything. "Arima-san, you are known as strongest ghoul investigator in the entire world. I would like to request for a spar with you if I could." At this Arima didn''t say anything and just silently nodded his head. He too was curious about the power of heir of the Aeon House. He knew something about them from Washuu Clan but it wasn''t much. Only that all of them were extremely strong. That''s all. Lucien seeing this became very happy, his eyes sparkled and he quickly took the battle stance and his eyes turned black with a red iris, kakugan was on. He congealed one kagune katana, which he firmly held in his right hand. Arima also took out his weapon. Quinque rated at S+ IXA. It was koukaku-type quinque that took the form of a lance attached to a gun-sword handle with a spiked pommel. Very deadly and dangerous weapon. This was just offensive mode. It also had defensive mode when it could expand to create the weird looking shield, capable of defending against many strong kagune attacks. And it also had Mode Change, when it became something like kagune tails and could attack enemies. Lucien knew that Arima was a very good swordsman, who was master in kenjutsu and swordsmanship of western countries. Both of them went to create some distance between them and then they both bowed to each other. By this duel had started. But not completely. Neither of them wanted to make the first move because one who made first move would be put into a strong disadvantage. After several minutes of scanning and analyzing Lucien couldn''t bear it and congealed several kagune daggers which shot at Arima with terrifying speed. Arima looked at this and Lucien could faint smile. He easily dodged the daggers and rushed straight at Lucien who was prepared to defend. When the distance was almost closed suddenly IXA transformed from the lance to the tails and attacked Lucien from several sides. Lucien smiled widely at this, he was happy from the fact Arima was able to come with such surprise attacks. He quickly used kagune daggers to block all of those tail that were attacking them and shot at the Arima. Lucien gripped his katana strongly and slashed at Arima with full force, he knew that Arima was someone above his level when it came to the techniques and experiences so there wasn''t much need to hold back. When the katana was nearing Arima, in an instant IXA changed to the Defensive mode and blocked that attack, to which Lucine showed very displeased face. He knew that his attack failed and soon retribution would come. And it came, as he was kicked to the stomach by Arima and was shot several meters away. Arima Kishou was half-human, a breed between human and ghoul, thus he had partial ghoul physiology and was stronger than normal human many times. Lucien was caught by surprise and couldn''t defend against attack properly. He wasn''t even wearing his battle attire cause it was made from some stronger materials and it would be unfair to use it in a spar. Lucien spilled a little amount of blood but he was smiling. Smiling from this feeling, of feeling which gave him spar with Arima. It was making his blood boil and he wanted to fight more. Arima didn''t wait for Lucien to recover as he was already before him slashing at him with his IXA. Lucien knew that Arima wouldn''t miss such a perfect chance to attack and was prepared. He blocked the IXA with his katana and sparks were flying in the air from the collision. They were exchanging one blow after another. At the start, Lucien had some problems to assimilate with Arima''s speed of fighting but soon he caught up and the actual fight was starting. 56 Idisputably the strongest investigator After several more exchanges, Lucien chose a new strategy. It was clear that by doing this the spar won''t move to another point. So when they both rushed at each other and clashed again, Lucien let go of his katana and kicked IXA with all his power, shooting Arima away from him. Then he congealed several kagune daggers which shot at Arima with high speed and as he couldn''t react properly he ended injured by several of them. But nothing serious, just some scratches and so on. Arime then stops up and dropped his white long coat he was wearing all the time, revealing pitch black battle suit underneath. Lucien knew that this meant only one thing, Arima is going to be serious this time. And his assumptions became real as Arima rushed at him with his top speed and slashed at his right hand. Lucien tried to block the IXA but as he dropped his katana he didn''t have enough time to create a new one, cause Arima was already before him. Leaving no other option he tried to dodge the attack, barely dodging, but a few strands of silver hair were flying in the air. "I must compliment you that your reflexes are rather good but that''s not enough." Said, Arima, as he opened another case, this time it was that pitch black case with golden ornaments, which was waiting for Arima after he put it down. Lucien knew that this was his second quinque, Narukami rated as S+. But real strength was around SS, same as the IXA. Narukami is an ukaku-type quinque. It discharges condensed Rc cells just like lightning bolts that could do massive damage to the targets. One shot could kill B-rated ghouls like ants and severely injure A-rated ones, maybe even killing them in process. Possessing a tracking function, evasion of the bolts is next to impossible. But what was more alarming that even this quinque had Mode Change. In this mode, this weapon becomes even more terrifying. Then Arima aimed at Lucien and shot a bolt at Lucien who immediately entered Kakuja V1 to defend. He was aware of fact that it was impossible to dodge this attack so the only option was to defend against it. As he was watching the lightning bolt closing him he took a defensive stance and waited for the moment. When the lightning finally hit him he felt like his entire body was without any sense and like he was about to fell down. But fortunately this condition lasted only a very short time as RC Cells started to work inside his body and Lucien soon could control his body. Then he returned this favor by shooting two kagune spears at Arima this time. He chose to create spears because they were far bigger than daggers and he would have far harder time shotting them down. When two spears were flying at Arima he tried to shot them down by using the Narukami but it was in vain, he managed to only damage one spear so he couldn''t do anything more and could just dodge the attack. Lucien used this as he appeared behind him delivering one swift kick to his stomach. And it didn''t end there as he followed after flying Arima and slashed at him with his katana aimed at his hand which was holding Narukami. As Arima was rather immobile he couldn''t block the slash and Lucien managed to break off the Arima''s grip on the Narukami and now he remained with only one weapon IXA. Arima coughed blood and looked at Lucien with a somewhat respectful gaze. Then he nodded head at him and Lucien did the same. It was already time to decide the winner. They were sparring already almost for an hour. Both of the stood opposite each other and prepared for the final clash. Lucien was prepared to perform Iaido and Arima just stood there gripping his IXA. Lucien made the first move as he jumped at Arima. His physique was extremely strong so it wasn''t any hard feat to jump several meters high into the air. When he falls on the place where Arima was standing, everywhere was dust wave. Nothing could be seen and it took several seconds for the dust to fall down. There were Arima who was holding his quinque IXA, pointing it at Lucien''s throat. But around his neck were three kagune daggers levitating and pressing his neck. Draw. The result of the spar was a draw. This could be said to be an amazing achievement. He actually managed to get the draw in the spar with White Reaper, Undefeated Ghoul Investigator Arima Kishou. But truth was that none of them fought with intent to kill. This was a huge factor, intent to kill because when one fight with intent to kill, his attack is more vicious and more powerful. "Exceptional." Complimented Arima. He was sounding like a teacher and Lucien enjoyed it because it came from someone like him. Lucien knew that he was a teacher like a figure to the Kaneki Ken, when he lost his memories and lived under the new identity, Sasaki Haise. "Arima-san you are really Indisputably the strongest investigator alive. I heard from my father that you were most notable combat genius of this generation, I am glad to be able to spar with you." Lucien was genuinely happy to spar with a figure like Arima Kishou. He knew he could learn many from his by sparring with him even once. Arima Kishou was able to train Sasaki Haise into Associate Special Class investigator in a very short time. Even with the usage of quinque, Yukimura which was B-ranked quinque to combat stronger ghouls and kill some of them. After both of them finished this spar they went to the more secluded place where the conversation could be held. "So what was that thing you want to discuss with me? Eto said that it was something very important." Said Lucien to Arima. "I have obtained very important and very alarming information. I must warn you that this thing is very serious, it is personal order from Washuu Tsuneyoshi for entire Washuu Clan and even Vasuki." Hearing this Lucien''s expression changed in an instant. If something important came from Washuu Tsuneyoshi himself, it must be something very important. And personal orders were different than normal ones. Personal order must be completed by any means, over any cost. 57 Shi Xue "I should start from the start of the story. Personal order was released around a week ago. But more important is the background of this. Apparently, Washuu Tsuneyoshi ordered several elders of the clan to go to some excavation site in China, that was newly founded. They are mobilizing for its huge amount of mercenaries and various contracted killers." To this Lucien paled. He was already suspecting reason why was Washuu Clan searching some ruins in China. They probably found Ancestral site of the Shi Xue Clan and some heritage there. Like Aeon House, even Shi Xue Clan had their own heritage and techniques they taught to their descendants. Now it was probably found by Washuu Clan and they want to obtain for their purposes. For Lucien, this was critical information. Not only for him but even for entire Aeon House. Now he could officially request for support, but he knew it was meaningless. He would need to leave in the shortest amount of time and it would be troublesome to coordinate with reinforcements then. "Continue, Arima-san. This matter is more serious than we have previously thought." Arima nodded his head, corrected his glasses and continued talking. "They already left, two days before from what I have managed to find out. Their entire force is composed of around two hundred to three hundred people. Core force is, of course, elders of the clan and some clan members. Inner force is created by members of Vasuki, I must apologize that I don''t know an exact number of agents sent there. And outer force, even though they are weakest in individual combat but they are most numerous are mercenaries they hired. But they would hire more in China, probably some local ghoul gangs would join them after some bribery or they would force them." Summarized Arima their numbers. Lucien wasn''t very worried about a high number of low-leveled ghouls cause he could just slaughter them like ants. But he was worried about agents of Vasuki and elders of Washuu Clan. They were real problems to deal with. "The numbers won''t be problems. Ghoul mercenaries are usually around B-rate or A-rate, to me they won''t be any threat as I could slaughter them with kagune daggers and telekinesis in a short time. But the elders, they are a totally different matter. Do you know at least how strong they are approximate?" Asked Lucien. Only elders of Washuu Clan where the problem. Other ones were just resources for blood essences. "I can''t say, but I can guarantee they won''t be weak. Even by my standards." Answered Arima. Not weak even by his standards. That sounds rather bad. "Can I ask you Lucien-san, what could they found there?" Asked Arima with a curious voice. It must be told he was curious about what Washuu Clan found there. What forced Washuu Tsuneyoshi to mobilize several elders and tens of strong agents of Vasuki to send them all to some ruins in China? He himself couldn''t answer, he could only guess, but he was aware of that Lucien would probably know the answer. "As you may know this, Aeon House has several legacies or techniques meant for their descendants. Same goes for the Noble House of the East, Shi Xue Clan. Washuu Clan probably found Ancestral Site of the Shi Xue Clan where they stored they legacies during that event. So they are trying to excavate the ruins and obtain those things there." Explained Lucien. Arima being smart and intelligent person knew the consequences of this thing. If Washuu Clan manages to obtain something which would enhance its strength, even more, it would have terrible results for everyone else. "Will you go there?" Lucien hearing this question faintly smiled. He knew that he doesn''t have a choice. He must go there and stop Washuu Clan for obtaining the legacy. He only hoped he could return before the start of the 11th Ward Battle as he wanted to participate in the Cochlea Raid. "I don''t have a choice you know. I was sent here by my family to destroy the Washuu Clan so this is the perfect opportunity. The only problem is that everything is just too rushed and I won''t have enough time to prepare properly for this so-called expedition." Laughed Lucien as he finished this sentence. Yes, even if he didn''t want to go there, he must. It was his duty. But he was eager to see China and more eager to spill some blood. The killing was extremely addictive activity. For ghouls even more, as it was a sport in some way. "Good, I hope you can succeed." Lucien nodded his head and took out a small vial, which was filled with red liquid. He gave it to Arima, who took it from his hands, not understanding what to do with the vial. "Drink it, it would give you more time and heal your eye." Said Lucien. That liquid was, in reality, his blood. For ordinary ghouls, the blood of sacred devourer ghoul had a miraculous effect. To half-humans even more. Arima was already losing sigh so it would help him heal it and stop the aging process for some time. Even though Arima didn''t want he nodded his head and agreed to drink the liquid. He drank it and nothing happened. "It would take effect after some time, piece by piece. Don''t wait for miraculous healing." Chuckled Lucien as he said that. Even though his blood could help it don''t have instant-regenerative properties. "When will you be leaving?" "Day after tomorrow. I need to leave as soon as possible to finish my mission fastest. But I need to finish some things before I could go to China. I need to prepare some things and so." Arima nodded and then both of them shook hands and went to their own business to do. Lucien watched his disappearing figure a little, before walking away. He ventured the tunnels a little and killed a few ghouls just for fun because he was bored. And he needed to release some steam. Unfortunately, there weren''t any strong ghouls, only B-rated weaklings so the harvest wasn''t much. After one hour of hunting for ghouls, he decided it was time for him to return to his estate to prepare for the expedition. 58 Our Transient Glory The first thing he did after returning to his estate was writing message home describing the situation here. He mentioned personal order of Washuu Tsuneyoshi, mobilizing many forces of clan and Vasuki and of course the most important part of the message, legacy of the Shi Xue Clan. He immediately sent the message home. After that, he called Darkwalker and told him about the situation and that he would need to leave. He ordered him to properly guard the estate and that was all he should do. Next Lucien went to his room, before going to the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. He walked through the giant gothic mansion, arriving at the library, which was contained some books. Not many though. When he got the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory from the Administrator Kelemvor, the library contained only a few basic books about the universe and so. Maybe hundred books, the rest of them were some rare books that Lucien took from his home. This library was specially made cause it opened only to him and to people who had his permission. Truth to be told, entire Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory was very special. Lucien even noticed that the landmass has grown a little bit from the last time he visited. When he was in the library and thinking about all of this he chose to view the record of the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. He never saw the record of the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory before and he thought now was the right time. ============================================= Name: Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory Type: Floating Fortress Grade: Royal Tier: 3rd Uniquess: Growth 19% (grows by absorbing energy from the Void, increase in size, grade...) Attack: None (available by reaching Imperial-Grade) Description: Floating Fortress capable of traveling in the Void, space and practically everywhere. ============================================= When Lucien saw that he was delighted and disappointed a the same time. It was a shame that he couldn''t attack by using Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory for now. Only by reaching Imperial-Grade it would be possible. But he was also a delighted because Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory could absorb energy from the void to increase grade and size. By size, it is meant it would gain new areas where could be built. Not actual buildings. On the areas could be built another building, thus expanding the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. Lucien had a feeling that it could reach even level of some Floating City after enough time. It would be cool to have the floating city at the disposal or as a base when he would be traveling in the future. After reading this records his mood was at max and he proceeded to search for information about Shi Xue Clan, which could be helpful. There were some books that were describing Shi Xue Clan and where the ancestral lands of the clan were located. Because of this, it wasn''t a huge problem for Lucien to find relevant pieces of information. After some time he found out that the location of the heritage was surprisingly the Kunlun Mountains. Those are one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending more than three thousand kilometers. They were located in province Tibet, Qinghai and Xinjiang. Highest peak was Liushi Shan, also called Kunlun Goddess, which has an elevation of 7,167 meters. Now Lucien knew that this was his first target. The Kunlun Mountains. After some time spent in the library, he was already a bit tired. So he went to take a nap in his chamber. Lucien decided he would spend more time in Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory because the environment here was much better and he liked it more here. Here were such tranquil peace and silence. After sleeping for around two hours he went to refine some corpses of ghoul. But before that he let his Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace to devour all quinque he had stocked up to increase its grade. Results weren''t very good as he didn''t manage to increase its grade to Royal Grade. ============================================= Name: Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace Type: Refining Artifact Grade: Noble Tier: 1st Uniquess: Growth - 75% (require special metals to increase tier and grade) Description: Mysterious growth type refining artifact with ability of refinement of bodies, flesh, blood and more to blood essences. As long as grade is high enough its able to refine almost everything. ============================================= Lucien managed to refine several blood essences which he saved from Itori, Uta and some other his friends. He even planned to give some to Eto, to make her stronger, It could save her many troubles. RC Level was base of all ghouls, be it ordinary ghoul or Sacred Devourer Ghoul. Next, he went to train kenjutsu cause it was important to never stop training. He spent some time in it before going out of the Cross Crest. He needed to go to Helter Skelter Bar to inform Itori that he would be leaving for some time. Maybe two months. Now they were a couple he was worried about her reaction. When Lucien exited the Cross Crest and returned to the estate in Tokyo he noticed that mercenaries were running here and there. Lucien knew that they were probably arranging for the arrival of weapons, q bulletproof vests, and many other things. It must be said that Darkwalker wasn''t wasting time. An only short time elapsed and he was already making arrangements. Lucien nodded his head in satisfactory seeing this and went to the Helter Skelter Bar. But before that, he went to the HySy ArtMask Studio to inform Uta. This would be much easier done. When he was on his way to the HySy ArtMask Studio he remembered he would also need to inform Eto about his absence. They were allies and his support for Aogiri Tree was crucial. Lucien arrived at the HySy ArtMask Studio after a while and found that Uta was making some mask. Probably for Kaneki. Lucien always liked that mask, it gave a weird feeling but at the same time, it looked like one of those leather mask used in BDSM plays. "Uta-san hi." Hearing that Lucien had come here Uta stopped working on the mask and went to the Lucien. "Hi, Lucien-san." Both of them sat down and Lucien started talking. "I will be leaving for China tomorrow. Something very serious came, concerning Washuu Clan and Vasuki. I must go there and do my work." Explained Lucien in a very serious voice to which Uta nodded his head in understanding. "I am going to tell that to Itori now, I think she won''t be very happy about this." This time was Lucien complaining. He himself wasn''t fond of fact that he must leave especially now when he was together with Itori, because he knew he won''t see her in the next two months. But what must be done is clear. He hoped he could finish it quickly and return as soon as possible. Even though Lucien often spends several days training or so, it was only days. Two months were different. 59 Parting Lucien and Uta had a short chat about some things. Lucien told him to keep eye on Itori, he didn''t want something bad to happen to her. After some time Lucien went away and went to the Helter Skelter Bar. Lucien told Itori that he would arrive today and that he wanted to discuss something important, so the business was closed for today. When Lucien arrived at the Helter Skelter Bar, Itori was already waiting for him with a bottle of the blood wine prepared. Lucien smiled at this at her and gently hugged Itori after which they both sat down and started drinking blood wine. "Today I wanted to discuss something very important with you. I would be leaving for China tomorrow because of Washuu Clan. I received the message of Arima that they are excavating some ruins and searching for the inheritance of the Shi Xue Clan. They have apparently mobilized a huge force of the clan and this may be a good opportunity to strike and weaken their forces greatly." Lucien explained his plans. He was waiting for some kind of retaliation and for the moment when Itori would be mad at them. But contrary to his expectations she was calm and quiet. Not saying anything at all and just looking at him. "How long would you be away?" Asked Itori most important question for her. How long would be Lucien away. She wanted to know it even though it may be painful to be separated for such a long time when they became a couple just recently. "I don''t know. Around two months at longest." Answered Lucien honestly. He must return at least before the end of the December because of 11th Ward Battle and raid at the Cochlea Prison where he would be playing the major role. He couldn''t miss that event. But he knew that this trip won''t take long. He only needed to find forces of Washuu Clan, slaughter them all and if he had some time he would search for the inheritance of the Shi Xue Clan. "Then I wish you luck and I hope you would succeed and return quickly. Even though it makes me a sad that you must leave now and for such longer period of time, it must be done. I am sure you would kill all those dogs of Washuu Clan and return safely." Smiled at him Itori as she leaned over and gave him a passionate kiss. Lucien returned her kiss and started to hug her closely. After some time they separated and looked at each other. Itori had a blush on her face and Lucien was doing his best to not lose himself in his lust. He wanted to have their first time in the more proper situation at some special opportunity. Then he took out some blood essences which he prepared to give Itori. He wanted for her to increase her RC Level when she would undergo devourification process she would be able easily to reach Baron rank. "Here are some blood essences that I have refined for you. Use them to increase your RC Level. Oh, here are some for Uta, when I visited him today I forgot to give them to him." Itori took all blood essences from Lucien and nodded her head at this. "Thank you, d-e-a-r." To this Lucien was caught by surprise. It must be admitted she was very good at teasing other, including him. Itori liked very much to tease Lucien and when he was in the mood he did the same to her. "You are welcome d-e-a-r." Said Lucien, the same thing to her. After spending some time with Itori at the Helter Skelter Bar, Lucien went to the 24th Ward to tell this to Eto. She was the final person who Lucien needed to visit and tell this news. ============================================= It didn''t take much time to arrive in the 24th Ward and found Eto. She was doing the same thing most of her time. Lazying around and doing nothing at all. She would occasionally write some new novel or something. When Eto saw him she ran to him and hugged him around the neck and she was hanging on him like a koala. Lucien patted her head and gave her a kiss on her forehead. Then they both sat down and Lucien started explaining the situation to her. "So would you be able to return by the time when the plan would start?" Eto was apparently very concerned about fact that he was leaving. Mainly for that, if he can''t return to the date of the 11th Ward Battle it would affect their plans greatly. But he already did the great deed by arranging various supplies like weapons, ammunition and other important things. "Yes, I should be able to return. I think I would be able to return around early to middle December of this year. I don''t want to miss the chance to attack Cochlea. And beside me, who could stall Arima Kishou for long enough for all our forces to escape." Stated Lucien. Besides attacking and slaughtering every life in the Cochlea he had also another objective. That was to stall Arima Kishou long enough for all ghouls safely escape. Of course, they would be just playing around as this won''t fight to the death. They only needed to do enough damage and injuries to look like a real fight to the death. "That''s good then. I would prepare everything we need at the 11th Ward Battle and Cochea Raid." Lucien nodded at this and then stood up and went away. But before that Eto did the same thing as the last time when he went here. She came to him and gave him a passionate kiss. After they parted Lucien returned to his mansion and because he couldn''t sleep he started training in Sacred Rinkaku Scripture in the next part of the scripture. It was basic move again, which seemed rather easy. Next day in the morning Lucien stood before his mansion, with only one Hummer H3 that would be transporting him to the airport, where his private jet was already waiting for him. Lucien observed everything here and also talked a bit with Darkwalker about some things. He told him to help Aogiri Tree if the situation is very dire during the time when he would be away and also talked about supplies and other things that would be needed for 11th Ward Battle and Cochlea Raid. 60 Myths and legends, history and future Lucien was now sitting in his private jet that was flying to the location near the Kunlun Mountains. Because the flight would be a bit long and boring, he started to read some books, especially one book that was describing the Kunlun Mountains and some myths around it. Kunlun is originally the name of a mythical mountain believed to be a Taoist paradise. Apparently first to visit this paradise was, according to the legends, King Mu of the Zhou Dynasty. He supposedly discovered there the Jade Palace of the Yellow Emperor, the mythical originator of Chinese culture, and met Xi Wang Mu, the Spirit Mother of the West, usually called the Queen Mother of the West. Also Kunlun or Kunlun Shan is an important symbol representing Axis Mundi and divinity. Axis Mundi is certain beliefs and philosophies, is the world center, or the connection between Heaven and Earth. As the celestial pole and geographic pole, it expresses a point of connection between sky and earth where the four compass directions meet. At this point travel and correspondence is made between higher and lower realms. Similar to the Kunlun Shan in China is Mount Fuji, Japan. Also others as Mount Olympus or Mount Kailash. Of course, there exist many more places that are also regarded as Axis Mundi. Kunlun has also a lively bestiary as various more-or-less fantastic beasts and birds described as present in its environs. Often the tiger or beings with tiger-like features are associated with Kunlun, since the tiger is symbolic of the west, as Kunlun is often associated with the Western Paradise. The flora of Kunlun and its environs is in keeping with the rest of its natural and supernatural qualities and includes the Pearl and Jade Trees, the Tree of Immortality, and Tree Grain, the last of which Muhe was forty feet in height and five spans in thickness. And lastly, Kunlun Mountain is a major scene of action in various myths and legends, where many important events happened. One of the most notable ones was the marriage of N¨¹wa and Fuxi. They were sibling and also husband and wife. N¨¹wa is the mother goddess of Chinese mythology, the sister and wife of Fuxi. She is the creator of mankind and is also credited with repairing the Pillar of Heaven. Fuxi is her brother and husband, also credited with creating mankind. He was first of the Three Sovereigns at the beginning of the Chinese dynastic period. Fuxi was an ancient Chinese god who is said to have shown the ancient Chinese people how to domesticate animals. Then when he finished this book he took out another one. This one book was a little special. It wasn''t a book in true meaning but a rather compilation of various records that Lucien managed to obtain through Akashic Records. They were records only about one theme. Solheim. First civilization of the world Eos, which was the extremely strong world, much stronger than this one. The records about Solheim weren''t complete because his authorization in Akashic Records wasn''t high enough and he couldn''t access all pieces of information. They were creators of the first Magitek technology and created a civilization that fused magic and technology together, reaching unprecedented highs. They created powerful magitek soldiers that were capable annihilating most powerful armies across the multiverse. Strong magitek constructs that were able to slaughter the strongest cultivators of various planes. Might of Solheim civilization was so high, but an unknown plague named Starscourge managed to annihilate almost the entire world, killing every living being. Lucien also read about the potential of complete magitek technology. Solheim civilization powered their machines by usage of a magitek core. The only thing used to create magitek core was some source of energy like an energy crystal or something that contained a lot of energy in it. Lucien was amazed at all of this. Might of the Solheim Civilization must be fearsome when it was at its peak. He wondered if he would be able to recreate all of this sometime. Another interesting this was the Magitek engine. They were various aircraft types that were capable even traveling through space when they are built with the right materials and enough strong magitek core. From what Lucien knew that on Blood Island they were capable of producing only magitek infantry for now. After one hour or so, Lucien got bored of reading about magitek and all those records. He stooped reading and went to meditate a little to calm himself before the storm that was coming. He was aware the moment he arrived at the Kunlun Mountains the fights would start and they would only end by the annihilation of one party. Either he or Washuu Clan and their lackeys. ============================================= When Lucien arrived at the place, it was already around noon. He quickly exited his jet that landed on private are near the Kunlun Mountains. He went to find his pre-arranged car that was already prepared for him here. There weren''t almost any people here and it looked very abandoned place from the first look. After a short time, he found the car, which was surprisingly some luxurious BMW limo in black color. It was parked in the same area as Lucien''s jet landed. He got into the car and then he drove to the Kunlun Mountains. Fortunately, his jet dropped him near the Kunlun Mountains so by a car he was at the location after two or three hours of driving. As he was driving he was also watching and admiring the environment around him. The entire area was very nice and it gave a feeling of nature and peace. He arrived at the location after two hours of driving at the full speed. When he stepped out of the car he admired the Kunlun Mountains as he seen them now for the first time in his life. The Mountains themselves were majestic and beautiful. They were actually snowed mountains cause they were high in the above the sea level. Lucien was clothed in his battle attire and also wore the hollow mask that Uta made for him. Even though it was very cold here and when he entered mountains it would be even more but he wasn''t bothered by it. As Sacred Devourer Ghoul and had innately higher resistance to the cold and heat. Also being in baron rank, these temperatures weren''t enough to do something to him. He scanned his surroundings, searching for some enemies but there weren''t any here. This was a good start and then he proceeded to enter mountains themselves. Lucien was currently located at the outer part of the Kunlun Mountains. He knew that the ancestral site of the Shi Xue Clan was located at the deepest parts of the Kunlun Mountains. 61 On the Island 1/2 Blood Island, Mansion of Aeon House In the study room of the mansion, Asmodeus was sitting behind the wooden table and before him was butler Sebastian, holding a bunch of papers. These few weeks everything was a mess. Especially since discovering that book titled Magitek, the chaos only multiplied. That book was a complete eye-opener. Especially for Vampires because they were very proficient in the study of magic and science. And what''s more that book talked about the existence of other worlds, planes and entire universes in one page, which wasn''t apparently part of the book itself, just somebody gave it there. Now entire Blood Island was in hurry. In a hurry to construct things and recreate magitek civilization. But sadly to open next part of the book, blood of Sacred Devourer Ghoul is needed. And it corresponded to the cultivation realm of the person whose blood is used. By using the blood of Azrael a Viscount-ranked Sacred Devourer Ghoul they could only open the first part of the book. "How is the process of construction of magitek infantry Sebastian?" Constructing magitek infantry wasn''t already a problem for two houses of the Blood Island. The only problem was still manpower. Because of lack of the manpower they are able to construct only limited amount of the magitek infantry. "Things go rather good. We have managed to accelerate the production rate of magitek soldiers. We are able to construct around 10 per week. Currently were are producing mainly Armored Assassin-Type and Armored Swordsman-Type. Sadly because lack of some magical metals we aren''t able to construct facilities as Automated Factory and so on." In this world, magical metals didn''t exist. We are talking about metals as mithril, adamantium, orichalcum and so on... Obsidian too. This was the reason why many magitek facilities couldn''t be constructed and many magitek troops as magitek constructs and aircraft are also impossible to construct. "Hmm, we still need to accelerate the production rate even more. Demons in that cave are becoming more and more aggressive and by some suggestions and researches conducted by Vampires, the portal would be only expanding and in a few years, it would be big enough to release thousands of them. Because of this, we need to have as many soldiers as possible." The situation on Blood Island wasn''t very good. More and more demons are coming out of the portal and are more and more aggressive. Fortunately, magitek soldiers constructed were comparable to Sacred Devourer Ghoul with Kakuja V2, or we could say Mid-Grade Baron, so they were very efficient in fights against demons. Also, the strength of both Sacred Devourer Ghouls and Vampires is constantly being enhanced as they have enough sources of blood essences to consume. Almost all Sacred Devourer Ghouls have reached Baron rank, and same could be said about Vampires thanks to the Demons. Unfortunately reaching baron rank, relying on blood essences from normal demons seems unrealistic and also baron ranked demons aren''t coming out in bigger numbers. "Also how is the situation on the first layer of the underground?" Thanks to the Magitek Infantry, especially to the Armored Assassins and Armored Swordsman they were able to occupy the first layer of that underground world, where Hell Trials were held. One of the main factors was lack of baron ranked demons on that layer and only a few of them were there. Now entire was against demons was in the underground. "Magitek Infantry is guarding entire first layer together with several soldiers from both races. Thanks to this, demons won''t be able to penetrate to the surface and wreak havoc there. But waves of demons are big and there is a need to repair some magitek soldiers, sadly because of lack of certain facilities this could be done only manually." Butler Sebastian stopped after this and started searching through his documents for another sheet of paper which contained another important information. "But thanks to this our reserves of blood essences are enhanced greatly. We have enough blood essences for all Sacred Devourer Ghouls to reach baron rank. Also, I have prepared a lot of them to be sent to the young master. The previous batch wasn''t enough for him as it could only help him reach Kakuja V1. If the situation turns bad we would need everyone with best skills and strong cultivation to fight against strong demons that could appear after some time." Asmodeus nodded at this and then thought that he himself should be preparing to enter Viscount Rank after a year or so. He was eating blood essences like candies these times and increase rate was slowing down already. But fortunately his RC Level has grown significantly and after some time he would enter higher rank and obtain new kagune. Like his father Azrael who obtained another kagune, more precise Ukaku kagune and could fly for a limited amount of time and also possessed formidable long-ranged attack means. "Sent it to his mansion in Tokyo, but only after he returns from China. That entire situation with Washuu Clan in the Kunlun Mountains searching for the legacy of Shi Xue Clan is very disrupting and dangerous, we could only hope Lucien would succeed and obtain the legacy from them and kill those bastards from Washuu Clan. Shame we can''t send there more people to assist him in this mission." Complained Asmodeus about the current situation. He was aware of that Washuu Clan was searching the heritage of Shi Xue Clan in the Kunlun Mountains and if they obtained it, that would have catastrophic consequences. But fortunately, Lucien was strong and would be able to stop their plans and obtain the heritage for Aeon House which would greatly enhance the power of Aeon House. As this was the complete heritage of Shi Xue Clan, Noble House of the East of Sacred Devourer Ghouls, it meant that it could be used only by members of Aeon House. But sadly situation on Blood Island was known to all and they can''t send part of their forces to deal with Washuu Clan, even though they were a threat. Lucien would be enough, was a decision of Asmodeus and also Azrael and even patriarch of Tepes House had some opinion about this situation. "Yes, but the young master should be able to handle that situation. He is already Baron ranked Sacred Devourer Ghoul and achieved Kakuja V1. Coupled with his Kenjutsu and Telekinesis ability he should be able to kill a few hundred B-rated ghouls with ease and several A-rated and S-rated ones. They won''t pose a threat to him. The only threat is Elders of Washuu Clan, which could be strong, especially their Kenjutsu would be much stronger than young master''s." Asmodeus nodded hearing this. He knew that low-level ghoul such as B-rated ones is just ants to all cultivators at baron rank, especially Sacred Devourer Ghouls at Baron rank. A-rated ones aren''t too any threat and S-rated, fight them a little longer and they would be still killed. The only threat are Elders of Washuu Clan as Sebastian said. They would have much better Kenjutsu and some trick under sleeves. Lucien didn''t have as many combat experiences and life-to-death battles as those who lived much longer. Only by tempering oneself with countless battles and life and death fights could be a supreme warrior born. "Yes, that''s a truth for sure. Now we could only hope that everything would go good and he would be able to accomplish the mission. That''s all." Stated Asmodeus as he looked through the window, where some guards were training and also some Magitek Infantry soldiers were lined up, preparing to go into the underground. 62 On the Island 2/2 "And what about the discussion with Tepes House about that matter?" Aske Asmodeus with a curious voice. They were negotiating with Tepes House about the certain sensitive issue. The negotiations were already going for several days for this issue but they still couldn''t come to create some agreement. "About this, I have good news. They have agreed to our proposal under several conditions. Most of them aren''t that important but they mainly want full access to every type of knowledge or magic that we came across in the future in exchange for their full support and being part of our plan." Asmodeus was rather happy. He proposed a certain proposition to the Tepes House and in the exchange of acceptance of that proposition they wanted full access to all kind of knowledge basically, which was a rather good bargain. They were always like that, completely uninterested in worldly affairs and politics, only caring about their research and magic. But thanks to their nature there weren''t any conflicts between Tepes House and Aeon House. Aeon House was more militaristic and fighting House. They were focused on fighting with demons, other ghoul or creatures and they weren''t much interested in researching some technology advances or magic-like things like Tepes House. "Then its good, they were always interested only in two things. Researching magic and technology and drinking blood. Nothing else couldn''t catch the attention of them. By this, we could obtain what we need and they would also be satisfied as they could research many new things." Butler Sebastian nodded his head, agreeing to the words of the Asmodeus. Then Asmodeus stood up and walked to the window and started observing the Magitek Infantry soldiers. There were several of them, composed of Armored Assassins and Armored Swordsmen. Armored Assassin was equipped with a blade in both hands, as most of the magitek soldiers it was tall around two meters and his eyes glowed red. Its main strength was in its high-speed movements and high attacking speed with two blades. They have high resistance against elemental damage and also they are very good at attacking vital points of the enemy. Armored Swordsman on the other side was equipped with only one weapon and that was engineered sword to kill enemies with overwhelming strength. They were a little weaker than their comrades Armored Assassins, cause Armored Swordsman was base of the Magitek Infantry Army or by another term, they were cannon fodder. But they were able to still create massive damage to the enemy by using their engineered sword. Even though they had slower attacking speed and movement speed compared to the Armored Assassin unit, they had built-in firearms that are rather troublesome to deal with. "Sebastian look at this. Wonders created by Magitek technology. Even ordinary soldiers created by inferior materials, as we don''t have any suitable metals for the creation of magitek infantry as described in the book, but they could still reach Mid-Grade Baron standards. With them, we were able to conquer the first layer of that underground world and could defend against demon much easier compared to the past. Thanks to magitek we were able to obtain much more blood essences and thus raise the strength of our race." Said Asmodeus about benefits of Magitek technology for the time. "And yet, we''re still at the beginning of the real Magitek Civilization itself. We were able to unlock only a first part of that book and we didn''t even comprehend entire part itself." He could see several magitek infantry soldiers that were fighting against some Sacred Devourer Ghoul at the baron rank at their equals. It was a truly wondrous sight. "And what is the state of the expedition to the second layer of the underground world? As first is already within our control we could try to gain control over the second layer. I have heard that are some unusual metals down there." The main reason behind expedition and conquering that layers were that starting with second layer, some unusual metals which didn''t belong to this world started appearing. Probably it had something to do with that portal down there. Asmodeus wanted to conquer that layer too so he ordered for scouting expedition to go there and look at the situation there. "From the reports, we could conclude the existence of some weird metals is the truth. We have managed to obtain a sample and it could be used in construction magitek soldiers and some magitek weapons. But problem is that on the second layer there is a huge number of baron ranked demons. We would need to send almost all magitek infantry soldier plus soldiers from both Aeon House and Tepes House. And for safety one Viscount Ranked combatant would be recommended." The second layer of the underground was confirmed to be full of baron ranked demons. Fortunately, not much of them were actually strong or something. They would only need to exterminate them but they had much higher numbers. Even so, Asmodeus still planned to attack and occupy the second layer because of those rare metals that could be used to construct long-ranged magitek weapons. "When would we have enough troops be prepared for the start of the operation?" Looked Asmodeus at butler Sebastian as he asked. "Several months. We need to produce many more magitek infantry soldiers and some of our soldiers need to reach Kakuja V1 also." Several months wasn''t a very long period to wait for something important as this. Some things can''t be rushed or else it would lead to a great catastrophe. "That''s good. We now only have to wait for several months to obtain and completely conquer the second layer. Now that Washuu Clan is no longer a problem for the time, as Lucien is already working on it, there doesn''t exist threat of their dogs sneaking on our island to create troubles." Stated Asmodeus as he was watching Magitek Infantry Soldiers that were fighting against some Sacred Devourer Ghoul. These were the facts. As Lucien was dealing with Washuu Clan, they won''t have another chance to sneak onto the Blood Island to create troubles like the last time. And after they would suffer greatly at Lucien''s hands this time, they won''t even be thinking about sending their forces to another place than Japan. 63 The Valley The Kunlun Mountains, China It was already two days after he entered the Kunlun Mountains. Nothing else than snow could be seen here. Lucien was currently walking through some paths and he was literary following his intuition in his pursuit of forces from Washuu Clan. Even though it was very cold here, cause it was constantly snowing and wind blowing, Lucien was fine. He was baron ranked Sacred Devourer Ghoul so this kind of temperatures was nothing to him at all. He walked through the passaged and various mountain passages. When the weather was worsening he would always go to his Cross Crest to wait there for the end. Also, he was sleeping in the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory as it would be stupid sleeping outside when he was carrying with him an entire luxurious floating fortress. Lucien walked through this passage for several hours until he saw that sky was darkening and the wind was getting stronger and colder. He knew that snow storm was coming this way and he must go to hide inside his Cross Crest. He wondered how were able forces of Washuu Clan survive in such a hostile environment. But he thought they were better equipped and prepared for this situation than he was. They planned it longer and he knew that this must be planned for a long time and personal order of Washuu Tsuneyoshi only started the operation. On the other side, Lucien only knew about it for one or two days and it looked like that too. He was without any preparations and so. His only preparation was parting with Itori, Eto, and Uta. That''s all. Maybe giving orders to Darkwalker and his bunch of mercenaries. With a though, Lucien disappeared from the Kunlun Mountains and returned to the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. After he disappeared the weather continued worsening and snowfall was getting much denser and stronger. ============================================= After Lucien returned to the Cross Crest, Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory, the first thing he did was going to the bath. Even though the cold in the Kunlun Mountains was doing nothing to him, it was still a bit uncomfortable being in that kind of weather for several hours in a row. The bathroom in the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory could be called only by one word. Monstrously oversized. Maybe better said than bathroom it would be a spa. There was even onsen there, huge pool and other facilities that could be used. Lucien took a shower before going to the hot spring. The onsen was Japanese hot spring, the term also extends to cover the bathing facilities and traditional inns which were frequently situated around a hot spring. Lucien''s onsen was outdoor and was created in Japanese style. He sat down in the onsen and enjoyed the feeling of the hot water all over his body. He looked at the sky, more precisely at the myriad colors of countless dimensions. Here in the Cross Crest and Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory there wasn''t any sky, just void. But the void looked so beautiful and imposing with countless stars shining in it. After a good bath, Lucien went sleep and he slept for several hours before waking up and decided what to do. Foremost he looked at the situation in the Kunlun Mountains and noticed that the storm was still in its full strength. He judged it would be better if he stayed here for some time. Lucien went to the training ground and started training Kenjutsu. He never slacked in his training since he started with it. After training for two hours he decided to tour the new areas that were created around the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory by the upgrade in Grade. Now the entire area of Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory was at least two times bigger. It expanded mainly in the back area of the floating fortress. Lucien knew that area would serve as a housing area for many Sacred Devourer Ghoul and maybe Vampires if they decided to leave this world with them. Lucien hoped so because Vampires were best at researching magic and technology. From what he heard that on the Blood Island they were best when it came to the research of Magitek. ============================================= When the snowstorm finally ended Lucien wore his battle attire and hollow mask and returned to the Kunlun Mountain from the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. He appeared in the same place, from which he disappeared. Now the weather was much better as there wasn''t any wind blowing or snow falling. Lucien smiled widely at this and he proceeded to the deeper parts of the mountains. He wasn''t going too fast as he was very cautious about this place. Nobody knows when could be some avalanche or another snowstorm. He could also step on the wrong spot and frozen ground under him would crack and he could fall who knows whereas in some places ground was just frozen snow and ice. As Lucien was going through this place slowly it took him a week to arrive at the entrance to the inner parts of the Kunlun Mountains. The entrance itself was located in a valley, which was a relatively small one. When he saw the place he noticed there were many people around. Lucien knew that Washuu Clan had probably some kind of camp here. With his telekinesis, he counted all people here. There were around sixty people here, which meant that this was supplying point and also sentry. From the sixty-five here, fifty were mercenaries for sure, because they were clothed like ones. Some were holding even assault rifles and were clothed in various types of clothing to keep them warm. Lucien knew that these people are just some weaklings at B-rate and maybe a few of them would be of A-rate. But then there were exactly 10-people in pitch black heavy leather long coats, which were similar to those coats which agents of Vasuki are wearing. But this was some kind of version of cold environments. Apparently, these people were agents of Vasuki as they were clothed in a similar fashion and all of them had katana handing at their waists. And lastly there were five middle-aged men, in luxurious clothing and all of them wore masks covering their faces. Same as the agents of Vasuki, they also had katanas handing at their waists. Lucien could fell from their auras that they should be stronger than those agents of V and a small grin formed on his face. It was time to tint this pure white snow with some blood. 64 Blood and Snow Now Lucien was thinking about plan how to deal with them all before they could report something to the higher-ups. But even when they would report the attack to the higher-ups, it would solve nothing. The only thing achieved would be reinforcements sent here and those would be composed of B-rated and A-rated ghoul mercenaries which are like ants to Lucien with his telekinesis and kagune daggers duo. Fortunately, from him, those idiots were all gathered in one place. This was a huge mistake and they would pay dearly for their stupidity. Lucien went closer to them, he was sneaking because he didn''t want to lose the moment of surprise when he would attack. When he was close enough he started congealing kagune daggers. Now he could congeal around twenty to thirty of them because of his higher RC Level. When he congealed the kagune daggers to the max, more concretely thirty-six he started to control them and chose targets. By doing this surprise attack he wanted to slaughter all those B-rated ants and weaker A-rated rats. When preparations for ambush were done, with a simple thought bloody massacre started. All daggers shot towards pre-determined targets with frightening speed and blood was scattering in the air. But not only blood but heads of some unfortuante mercenaries which couldn''t even react properly r were also flying in the air, with a shocked expression on the severed head as it was falling down on the snow, painting it in a bloody crimson color. Those with greater luck would have only their throats cut so it wasn''t so humiliating death thought Lucien. Entire dance of death and festival of blood took only two minutes. Two minutes until the number of fifty mercenaries was reduced to four, from whose two had severed entire arms and blood was spraying from the wounds and two were relatively fine. Nothing really happened to those agents of Vasuki and those middle-aged men which were members of Washuu Clan itself as they weren''t targets of this slaughter. Now that Lucien had cleared the field for the game, he could start the fight. Lucien turned on his kakugan, his iris quickly turned red, and the sclera turned pitch black with red veins across the eye and to the skin around the eye. His face was hidden under the Hollow Mask and only his kakugan was visible. He congealed several kagune tails and rushed to the four mercenaries. He wanted to finish them as soon as possible because then he would have more time in dealing with troublesome members of Vasuki and Washuu Clan. Because two of them were severely injured, when Lucien appeared before them, only one slash with kagune tail was enough to put them into the eternity. Then he congealed kagune katana and rushed at the another closes mercenary with lightning speed and with one precise slash he severed his head from his body, as his blood sprayed entire surrounding with blood. The same fate was of the last mercenary as his head was also severed from his body and Lucien watched it lifelessly fell onto the ground. Then he turned around and saw that those ten agents of Vasuki and five members of Washuu Clan already took battle stances and held their weapons. Some of them had their kakugans turned on, which meant they were ghouls. All five middle-aged men from the Washuu Clan were ghouls and only three agents of Vasuki were ghouls. Rest was probably half-humans. Lucien immediately entered Kakuja V1, as his left arm, was covered in kakuja armor and his katana, which he was holding in his right hand, changed slightly. Now it looked more imposing and dangerous than before. "If you don''t start, then forgive me." Said Lucien seeing that those five middle-aged men from the Washuu Clan weren''t talkative ones. Because they were standing in some kind of formation Lucien wanted to breach it with pure force, as he was much stronger than them. He appeared before the agents which stood in the middle of that formation and slashed with his katana, aiming at his neck. The agent was probably one of the strongest agents of Vasuki here because he was taking the central position of the formation. Their swords clashed and sparks were in the air. As they clashed, rest of the agents quickly surrounded them and two were already preparing to attack Lucien from behind. Lucien only smiled at this, and shortly after those two agents were close enough, red kagune tail materialized from his back and attacked those two agents, tearing them apart. This was the beauty of a permanent kagune tail. He couldn''t use the normal kagune tails during Kakuja state but the permanent kagune tail could be still used. Then he used his tail to attack the agent before him killing him in an instant because he couldn''t react. After that Lucien jumped and performed flip backward and swiftly escaped encirclement of his enemies. He looked at all agents of Vasuki and members of Washuu Clan before him, with a wide smile. Only shame that they can''t see his smile because he wore the mask. "Hmm, so the elite agents of Vasuki amount only to this. Ts, ts, ts, pure disappointment. I thought your elite hunting dogs would be stronger Washuu Clan." Complained Lucien about the weak power of his opponents. Because he managed to kill the three of them in such a short time, it clearly showed his far superior power and their weakness. Even though faces of V agents remained unchanged and indifferent, deep inside they knew that situation was bad. Very bad. Same goes for the five middle-aged men of Washuu Clan. They also knew that this was a dead end and nobody would save them. Elders and Grand Elder were deep inside of the Kunlun Mountains and they won''t be sending reinforcements for them. "What do you want, Aeon?" Asked one of five middle-aged men of the Washuu Clan. Because all five of them were clothed in the same clothing and also wore the same masks, it was rather hard to know who was who from the outer perspective. "I? Many things but now I want only one thing." Said, Lucien, as he took a battle stance and gripped his katana strongly. Then he looked at the agents of Vasuki and those members of the Washuu Clan. "To paint this snow with your blood." 65 In the past White, present is Red After two more exchanged Lucien managed to reduce numbers to only three agents of Vasuki remaining alive together with five middle-aged men from the Washuu Clan. Agents of Vasuki weren''t especially strong individuals and he could kill easy either with his katana or tail. Those five middle-aged men were more troublesome, cause all of them had very good coordination and were good at group attack. Another point was that they weren''t attacking him and were just observers. He knew they were searching for a weak spot in his combat style and for an appropriate opportunity for an ambush attack. Still, Lucien let them be as he was now focused on killing agents of Vasuki cause they were much weaker than members of Washuu Clan apparently. Lucien rushed at their formation again and with the jump he slashed one of the agents, sending him flying away with his tail. Death. One down, only two more to go. As soon as he landed, he slashed with his katana, severing hand of the agent to his right,turning to the agent to his left, who was slashing at him with katana. Lucien swiftly dodged the attack and he pierced the agents through his heart, instantly killing him on the spot. Then he slashed at the agent whose arm was severed, separating his body into two parts. Now only he and those five middle-aged men from the Washuu Clan remained alive. they both looked and observed each other for several seconds until Lucien exited his Kakuja state and congealed five kagune katanas and controlled each with telekinesis. At the same time, all those five katanas each shot with lightning speed at their targets. Lucien didn''t want to fight them all at once, cause their coordination was looking too troublesome to deal with. So he just used his telekinesis. In just a second, all five katanas clashed with swords of their targets and sparks were flying in the air and sound of clashing weapons was heard through entire valley. Compared to the past, controlling larger numbers of weapons through telekinesis was much easier, cause he was more proficient in it. But there wasn''t control as a control. One type was a direct one, where he would be controlling weapons through telekinesis personally. Another type was when he would leave a small imprint of his psionic energy on the target and weapons would automatically attack the target. With direct control, he could control up to fifteen weapons with his current psionic powers. After several minutes of the intense fight, Lucien was gaining an advantage over those five middle-aged men from the Washuu Clan. As he was making the attacks stronger and faster, they were having problems with keeping on with them. When the fight was in the full flow, he congealed one kagune dagger, which was hidden, close to the place where they were fighting. Suddenly when one of those five men showed weak spot as he just barely defended against attack from Lucien''s katana, from nowhere kagune dagger shot with terrifying speed and slashed his neck, instantly killing the man. Lucien was smiling widely under the mask and remaining four men, were rather indifferent to the death of their comrade. ''Truly professionals. Even the death of their comrade can''t distract them. Even I must admire their rationality over the situation and keeping a calm mind. Some other idiot would start raging around and losing even that bit of rationality that they kept till now.'' Thought Lucien in his mind as he was controlling entire battle to his satisfaction. And soon another man was killed in flash, the reason was same as the first one. After the second one was killed the men were still able to keep their composure. Seeing this Lucien chuckled and intensified the fight by more levels. Katanas were attacking more fiercely and faster. Each of them was aiming at a vital spot of the enemy. Soon enough one of three remaining men couldn''t defend and he was pierced through. When only two of them were remaining they calmness was finally broken and they were panicking. They both looked at each other, before nodding their heads and one of them rushed at Lucien while the last one chose to escape. Probably he wanted to deliver the message about this attack and another one was just stalling for a time. All in vain. One katana killed the escaping man as soon as he turned his back to Lucien and focused on escaping, apparently he forgot that he could be still attacked. What an idiot. And that unlucky one that was rushing at Lucien was pierced with several katanas at ones, but none of his vital points were struck. Thus he died slowly. Lucien was thinking about keeping one of them alive, but it was rather useless as he already knew there was an ancestral site of the Shi Xue Clan located from books in his library. Then he watched an entire valley as it was painted with the color of red. Before the start of this "battle" entire valley was pure white in color, just like the snow which was everywhere. But now after massacre happen¨ªing here, it was turned to the blood red color. It was looking ominous and radiating aura of blood and death. "What a mess. I should look for something useful at least." Said, Lucien, as he stored all bodies in his Cross Crest, more precisely in the special room that was used for refining bodies in Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. After looking for some useful things that may be here, left by the Washuu Clan, Lucien found only some useless things like tents or some things here. Even some firearms and ammunition were here, but he didn''t take it at first as it was useless to him but cause he was greedy bastard, inherited after his grandpa, he took it and stored it in Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory in the storage room. Then he looked at this valley that was painted to the new beauty and returned to the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory for rest as he was tired from the fight and also from the usage of telekinesis. He wasn''t tired much but still, rest was very appealing to him. He knew that he was in the right path and it didn''t matter even if the Washuu Clan obtains that inheritance as this was the only path leading in and out. He could intercept them anywhere he wanted, but still he wanted to look at the ruins and search the ruins itself for some hidden resources. 66 Good Loo Cross Crest, Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory After he returned to his Cross Crest, Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory, the first thing done, again was bath and sleep for five hours. Truth to be told, Lucien loved sleeping most. It was one of his favorite activities and even hobby. After a good sleep, he went to inspect those bodies if they were carrying something valuable. He started with those mercenaries but they didn''t have anything useful at all. Compared to them, agents of Vasuki at least had their katanas which could be used to combat ghouls. Lucien kept those katanas, as he wanted to use them to upgrade his Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace because those swords seemed made from some special metal or maybe some unique technique. They looked like any other katanas but they could injure and kill ghouls. Common knowledge said that normal weapons can''t even injure ghouls. To Lucien swords of Washuu Clan were always a bit mysterious, but originally they didn''t originate from Washuu Clan. They were products of Noble House of the East, Shi Xue Clan. They had a special forging method to create swords that could kill even Sacred Devourer Ghouls. Apparently, Washuu Clan either found some part of this method or had the complete version of it. Lastly, Lucien searched those five middle-aged men, but besides some jewelry like signet rings or some necklaces, they also didn''t carry anything. Seeing this Lucien almost went mad, because he didn''t obtain some loot. "Why the hell can''t I have some loot from them?! Besides swords, they weren''t carrying nothing useful." Screamed Lucien to the air as he kicked one of the corpses. After several minutes he calmed down and started some tasks. First one was to let Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace absorb those swords and some other things. This process took almost one hour, and Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace absorbed ten katanas from all agents of Vasuki. Lucien kept katanas of Washuu Clan members form himself as they were in better quality. Then he looked at the record of the Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace to see the changes. ============================================= Name: Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace Type: Refining Artifact Grade: Noble Tier: 1st Uniquess: Growth - 50% (require special metals to increase tier and grade) Description: Mysterious growth type refining artifact with ability of refinement of bodies, flesh, blood and more to blood essences. As long as grade is high enough its able to refine almost everything. ============================================= It appeared that one katana raised the growth by 4% and put together it would be 40% which was a good result. From what could Lucien see that these swords are superior to quinques. When it came to options as sharpness, toughness or attack speed it would be far superior to most of the quinques, maybe only best would be able to rival them and overcome these swords. Then Lucien started refining bodies of sixty-five ghouls. He was eager to rise his RC Level by a great amount again. He knew that he was probably behind when compared with Sacred Devourer Ghoul on the Blood Island as they were having a probably endless supply of blood essences refined from demons. Now that Magitek Infantry Soldiers were invented, the harvest of blood essences was getting bigger and bigger by day. Fortunately, Lucien still had some blood essences refined from demons and coupled with these bodies of ghouls, he believed he would be able to rise his RC Level at to the Kakuja V2 at best. He started refining those bodies, always by five to create one blood essence. He looked at the bloody red beads, that looked like tasty candies to him. When he was finished with the entire process of refining he started to eat them like candies. Of course, he again did he verified method, eating one blood essence refined from ghouls together with one blood essence refined from demons. By doing this he won''t damage or destabilize his foundation. He felt and even saw like were his Red Children Cells eager to reproduce and how they were multiplying at a terrifying speed. Soon he was reaching the end of the journey as he was out of blood essences and process of multiplying of Red Children Cells was already slowing down until it stopped completely. When the process was done, he found out that he reached Kakuja V2. This was a very beautiful achievement. But he felt that he needed to consume more blood essences refined from demons to stabilize his foundation more. Lucien immediately entered the Kakuja V2, it looked the same as before but it was much stronger. Lucien now felt that he could contest with Eto, in her Owl Form, when it came to the pure physical strength. This was a rather scary thought as Eto in her Owl Form had extremely terrifying physical strength. Lucien was amazed this but not very surprised as he was body refiner. Body refiners were very dangerous existences as their bodies at later stages of cultivation were harder to deal with than with most artifacts. ============================================= Name: Lucien Etras di Aeon Occupation: Executor of Akashic Records Bloodline: Sacred Devourer Race: Sacred Devoured Ghoul RC Type: Rinkaku RC Level: 41,972 Kagune Rank: 2nd-Tier Noble-Grade Unique States: Permanent Tail - 1 Kakuja V1: Left arm - body armor, right hand - kagune katana Kakuja V2: Entire body armor without a mask, kagune katana Cultivation: Baron Energy Type: Psionic Energy Energy Level: 1,000 Abilities: Sacred Devourer - Ability to devour any types of energy, bloodlines or bodies. It strengthens host by some amount. Divine Telekinesis - 10 Psionic Energy per minute. Enhanced Reflexes Skills: Kenjutsu: Samurai Cultivation Techniques: Sacred Rinkaku Scripture: Baron Stage RC Body Refining Technique: Baron Rank Cross Crest: Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace ============================================= Lucien inspected changes on his record and only notable things were two. The increase of his RC Level to the 41,927 and also new line or old line returned there. Kakuja V2: Entire body armor without a mask, kagune katana. Seeing this Lucien was very satisfied and opened one bottle of good blood wine to celebrate this event. When he thought about this loot he must admit it wasn''t so bad. He didn''t found something precious but those bodies were enough to raise his cultivation to the Kakuja V2 and he even managed to raise the growth of the Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace so the rewards were rather good. After drinking the whole bottle he wore his battle attire and returned to the Kunlun Mountains to continue the journey to the Ancestral Site of the Shi Xue Clan. Weather was good out there and he could proceed some distance these days. He knew that his target location was still far away but he wasn''t in much hurry. He would let Washuu Clan do the dirty work of excavation and he would just reap the rewards. 67 Another down After nearly two weeks of traveling through the Kunlun Mountains and fighting with unfriendly weather as snowstorms, coldness, and avalanches, Lucien managed to reach the place where was Ancestral Site of the Shi Xue Clan located. He walked for another hour until he finally arrived at the place. When he saw that mountain and noticed that forces of Washuu Clan created fortification he was surprised but he smiled faintly, at coming bloodshed. Ancestral Site of the Shi Xue Clan was located in the mountain before him. Leading there was a small entrance, which looked like the entrance to some cave. But it was apparent that this was complete building complex a long time ago, as parts of stones and pillars were everywhere around and even snow couldn''t hide them. Lucien counted more a hundred people, but what surprised him was fact that majority, if not of them, were mercenaries. Probably all agents of Vasuki and members of the Washuu Clan were already in the ruins searching for the inheritance of the Shi Xue Clan. ''Now it would be much easier to get into the ruins.'' Thought Lucien in his mid. Because the majority of people guarding the entrance were only B-rated or A-rated mercenaries, Lucien could slaughter them in seconds and get into ruins in no time. He started congealing one kagune weapon after another. Soon all of them shot, and again blood scene, from several days ago repeated. Same as the first time, mercenaries which were weak as ant and could serve as cannon fodder only, fell one after another. Soon the white snow turned bloody red, as their blood was created rivers. Lucien walked to the entrance, but when he was in the middle of the camp, which fortified the entrance, surprise waited there for him. Lucien received the same one some time ago. The old man, wearing the kimono with the symbol of the Washuu Clan walked out of the tent. Katana was handing at his waist and he was already gripping it with his hand. "Did you like the show, Elder? Forgive my rudeness, my name if Lucien Etras di Aeon, heir of the Etras di Aeon House." Said, Lucien, as he bowed to the old man, as the form of greeting. Elder look at him with indifferent face and scanned him from toe to head. "My name is Washuu Tsuneyashi, Elder of the Washuu Clan." Said old man, as he bowed in the same manner as Lucien. Greeting him in return. This was a common courtesy between nobility. "It seems that you still haven''t succeeded in acquiring the inheritance of the Shi Xue Clan. How fortunate, for me. Don''t worry after your death another of your clansmen would follow shortly, Elder." When he finished the sentence, his kakugan turned on and he immediately congealed on kagune katana, which he gripped in his right hand. Elder Washuu Tsuneyashi nodded his head and also gripped his katana, ready to attack at any time. "Yes, we didn''t succeed yet, but soon we will. Then in the future, even your clan won''t be match for the Washuu Clan and your House would disappear from the light of the world, just like the Shi Xue Clan." Hearing this Lucien started to grow mad but he was doing his best to keep calm. He knew that as he was trying to provoke the Elder Washuu Tsuneyashi, the Elder was doing the same thing. To provoke opponent. Suddenly both of them disappeared from places where they stood, and their swords clashed creating sparks in the air. This time Lucien wasn''t planning to contest with pure Kenjutsu and he was using his telekinesis too. When they were still locked in the clash, two kagune daggers shot at Elder Washuu Tsuneyashi out of nowhere. Last time when he was fighting against Elder of the Washuu Clan, Elder Washuu Tsunemoro, he was using just his Kenjutsu to fight, because he wanted to. Now the situation was different and more dangerous, as Elder Washuu Tsuneyashi was more dangerous and stronger for sure. Elder Washuu Tsuneyashi managed to dodge both kagune daggers but he was still injured slightly by them. Nothing serious just two cuts, but it was still something. Lucien used the opportunity created by this, and attacked Elder Washuu Tsuneyashi who just barely managed to regain his composure, precise slash was already aimed at his head. Unfortunately, Lucien''s attack was blocked by the elder, but Lucien used this, and as Elder Washuu Tsuneyashi was blocking Lucien''s attack, he kicked him from his full strength, sending him flying several meters. Lucien followed Elder Washuu Tsuneyashi and with one precise attack, which wasn''t blocked properly by the Elder, Lucien pierced his shoulder through. Elder Washuu Tsuneyashi groaned from pain as his shoulder was pierced, and Lucien congealed kagune dagger in his hand, swiftly slashing his neck before he could do something. Lucien searched surroundings a little, storing all bodies inside his Cross Crest, Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory, in the special room. He also stored some weapons and ammunition. Then he went to the tent, from whose Elder Washuu Tsuneyashi walked out. When he entered he noticed that the tent was his, cause there were some luxurious things, as watched and even bed. He walked to the table and searched through papers that were on it, for some important pieces of information. He found out that the Washuu Clan was in the last parts of excavation of the ruins and they should already be accessing the Ancestral Site of the Shi Xue Clan. This was a piece of rather good news because Washuu Clan still didn''t enter the Ancestral Site of the Shi Xue Clan. Lucine would consider is as heresy for the blood traitors to enter Holy Ground, of the Noble House of the East, Shi Xue Clan. He spent ten more minutes searching the tent of Elder Washuu Tsuneyashi, before turning around and walking out. He wanted to enter the ruins already and started to clean them from the filth inside. 68 Ruins Lucien entered the ruins and walked through narrow paths until he found some kind of hall or something. Fortunately for him, there weren''t dark because the Washuu Clan already built everything for proper excavation. This hall was not overly big but not even small. There were several people inside, all of them were agents of Vasuki and were guarding the single door, that was at the end of the hall. Doors were huge enough to be called a smaller gate. They were made from metal and were dark gold in color. The entire hall was covered with various carving on the walls, describing various legends and myths about the Kunlun Mountains. It created a very beautiful and mystical sight. When Lucien observed closer, but still remaining hidden, he noticed that entire hall was filled with various gadgets and crates. Agents of Vasuki were on high vigilance as they guarded the small gate, leading to the deeper parts of the Ancestral Site of the Shi Xue Clan. As there were only eleven agents of Vasuki here, Lucien congealed his kagune and rushed at the closest agent. As this was ambush attack, the poor man was killed before he could even draw out his sword to defend. Lucien proceeded to another one, with great speed, killing them one after another. Lucien was too strong for them to resist, and after several minutes they were all killed. Then he stored the bodies inside, Cross Crest, Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory and went to the carvings on the wall. On one peculiar carving, which caught Lucien''s interest, was described something interesting. There was a fight from several hundred years ago when they were fighting against those Holy Knights, and eradicating them in process. But the losses were too huge, and even though they achieved victory, there was nothing to celebrate. When he was reading this carving, he noticed that it wasn''t finished entirely. Probably they couldn''t finish the carving, as the Shi Xue Clan was betrayed and massacred by the Washuu Clan soon after the end of the war. On another carving, next to this one, was an image of some mythical Divine Beasts, Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise and lastly White Tiger. They were very imposing images of these creatures and just by look one could tell the nobleness and divines of the carving. After looking at all carvings and reading them all, Lucien went to the small gate and with both of his hands, he managed to open it without any problems. The small gate was extremely heavy, Lucien thought the Washuu Clan must use some machine or something to open it. When he looked back at the hall, there were some things reminiscent of some machine. When he looked behind the small gate, there was a stairway leading deep underground. Even Lucien couldn''t see the end of the stairway. But he knew that this was leading to the Ancestral Site of the Shi Xue Clan, as the true site was located deep under the Kunlun Mountains. He walked down and after half an hour he finally arrived at the end of the stairway. Before him was another small golden gate, same as the previous one. When he opened the small golden gate, he almost fainted from what he saw there. There was a giant cave, of unknown size. This cave was so huge, that Lucien couldn''t even see the end of the cave. Small rivers were going through the entire place and some trees and bamboos were growing here. The trees growing here weren''t the same as those on the surface. There were glowing in light blue color and thanks to them, the entire place wasn''t dark and had a nice atmosphere. Aside from trees, bamboos and many other plants that were growing here, there were also many buildings in ancient Chinese architecture across the place. Clearly, they were abandoned for several hundred years and some were even half destroyed. Lucien went to the house, that was close to him. It was a very small house as they weren''t any large building here. He opened the door and entered the house. The first thing he saw was the skeleton of a man on the ground. ''Probably some members of the Shi Xue Clan managed to survive and either remained here during the war or returned after war and betrayal of the Washuu Clan. Either way, there is now a slight almost impossible possibility that maybe someone survived. If they entered hibernation they could survive for several hundred years.'' Thought Lucien as he searched the house for some valuables. He found several blood essences hidden here and immediately he stored them away. Then he exited the house and followed the road that was constructed here. The road itself was constructed from stone and was going through entire cave and rivers. Not even five minutes went by as five agents of Vasuki and two members of the Washuu Clan appeared and were already rushing at Lucien with their katanas. Lucien entered Kakuja V2 this time and he disappeared from the place where he stood. He only appeared behind the agents of Vasuki and members of the Washuu Clan, with blood on his kagune katana as he slashed in the air. He looked behind him and watched as all of them fell on the ground, without any sights of life. He stored the bodies inside the Cross Crest and proceeded further. He constantly admired the beauty of this place as he was watching various buildings in ancient Chinese architecture and the unique beauty of nature here as they were coexisting together, creating wonderful and rare scenery. He also searched every building in his way and managed to obtain several good things and even some important treasures. Also, he killed several more agents of Vasuki and members of the Washuu Clan. From the houses, he searched he obtained tens of blood essences, which was a good harvest. Good thing on the blood essence of that, even after countless years it wouldn''t lose its effect as it had when it was freshly refined. Next things obtained were three Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnaces in the best condition. He stored them in his Cross Crest, Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. These Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnaces would be a very huge help to the Aeon House, as Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace was limited treasure and only a few of them was in hands of Aeon House and Tepes House. 69 Book Collector After collecting everything from the small houses around, he went to the first bigger building he saw when he entered the Ancestral Site of the Shi Xue Clan. It was much bigger and it looked like a tower. The height of that tower wasn''t reaching the ceiling of this cave but it wasn''t also too far. This wasn''t any tower but rather a pagoda. It had seven floors from what Lucien could see. He went to the front door and with one push he opened them. Inside space wasn''t big, but as it was tower he knew that there were many floors. With one glace, Lucien could tell, that this was the library. There were many books-lined on these shelves. Many more compared with Libary in Aeon House. From what Lucien knew, the Shi Xue Clan was stronger than Aeon House, this was mainly because of fact, that they lacked any kind neighbor here in China. Compared to that Aeon House shared territory and thus even resources with Tepes House since long time ago. This was the first level of this pagoda. Lucien went through the shelves and looked at book there. All of them were about either history, geography and other things. Common knowledge, maybe several years old. But he still stored them inside his Cross Crest, in the library of Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. Lucien also chose to expand a Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory a little more so the estate cover even new areas that appeared after upgrade of rank. He expands mainly library cause he knew that he would need more space to accommodate all these books. One said that knowledge is power, it wasn''t far from the truth. Fortunately Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory was something like a living organism so expanding it wasn''t hard and new areas were constantly being added due to absorption of energy from the void. Then he proceeded to the second floor, which was a little bit smaller than the first floor. Many pagodas tended to have smaller floors as they were higher. Again he went through all books and many of them were still useless. He also took them inside Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. Some were on the third floor. When he was going to the fourth floor, he encountered a little problem. Doors were closed and he couldn''t open them even with the use of force. When he inspected the patterns on the doors, he noticed that something was required to open them and that something was blood. More precisely blood of the Sacred Devourer Ghoul. Then he congealed kagune dagger and cut his hand, and dropped a few drops of blood onto the door and they opened. On the fourth floor, there were books mainly about crafting various times, as katanas, swords, and other weapons that could kill ghouls. Also, there were books about processing kagune and kakuhou and creating weapons from them. He was very happy with these books as he stored them in the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. The fifth floor was the same as the fourth floor. Doors required some of his blood to open and he entered the fifth floor with great haste. As the floors were getting smaller and smaller, this was significantly smaller compared to the first floor. There were only a few bookshelves here. This floor had books about the usage of hidden weapons. Even though Lucien himself wasn''t a type to use hidden weapons, they would find their use. Sixt floor had only five bookshelves totally and all of these books were about martial arts, acupuncture points, meridians, and sword arts. He was very eager to go through all those books about sword art right not, but sadly it wasn''t right time now. And finally the last, seventh floor. It was empty. Nothing was there besides one thick book that Lucien couldn''t even open. The book itself had an aura of profoundness and wisdom. Besides the book, there was one more thing there. It was the seal, with words ''Shi Xue''. Lucien was shocked to see it because he knew what it represented. It was key. Key where the most precious thing of two clans was located. Their Sacred Devourer Blood Pond. Lucien didn''t know much about Sacred Blood Pond, only one thing. It was found during ancient times, in form of blood crystal. Exactly two crystals were found. One of the crystals was kept by the Shi Xue Clan and another one was kept by the Aeon House. The crystal itself was generating blood, and that blood could be used to boost bloodline of Sacred Devourer Ghoul. It was usually fed to the babies when they were born, to make their bloodline stronger. "When the seal is here, that means even their Sacred Blood Pond must be also here. Hmm, even if the Washuu Clan found this, without the blood of Sacred Devourer Ghoul, they can''t open it even with the key." Said Lucien in a low voice as he stored both the book and seal of the Shi Xue away. Then he exited the pagoda and continued searching through houses. He found some armory, but there weren''t many useful things, besides a few katanas and spears that numbered around a hundred or so. Apparently, all weapons were used during the war and destroyed. After walking for some time, he finally knew that he was nearing his target. This was because there were several agents of Vasuki guarding the road and preparing attack Lucien, the moment they saw him. He only smiled at this and congealed two kagune spears. Controlled through telekinesis he killed them all in one hit. All of them were pierced without any kind of resistance. After storing their bodies and looking to the distance he finally found his target. Giant walls were around the entire place, towering into the high. Made from well-sculpted stone and with several guarding towers. The bad thing about that was many people standing at the walls and before the gate. As Lucien observed the area, there were too many people there. Just on the walls and at the gate, he could count more than one hundred people, from whose majority was from Vasuki and some were members of the Washuu Clan. ''Final battle of this expedition is coming. Hmm, maybe I should you that swords and spears obtained from armory as a long-distance attack to reduce numbers.'' Thought Lucien, as he was planning how to attack. 70 Fortress Down Lucien took out all weapons he obtained from the armory when he was searching for it. Altogether he had around a hundred and forty various weapons, mainly katanas, spears and halberds. He decided to use telekinesis and do something like bombarding with these weapons. He would be attacking mainly walls because he was lazy to climb up to there and kill some surviving agents of Vasuki that would be lucky to survive the waves of flying weapons. He sorted them by ten, as he would be doing attack in waves, always in ten. He controlled the first ten weapons with his telekinesis and all ten weapons were already levitating in the air, as they shot towards their targets with lightning speed. As nobody could predict attack in the current situation, even though they were aware of the fact that they lost contact with many of their people. Suddenly out of nowhere, the only huge clamor was heard, as the weapons hit their targets and killed several agents of Vasuki in one go. All of them were pierced through like nothing, without any resistance, without a chance to fight back. Dust was in the air, and nobody could see nothing, even what was before them was completely blank. When the dust was falling down, after several seconds, another salve of ten weapons flying came by and was killing everything in its path and even some parts of walls were destroyed in the process. Then another wave came, this time aimed a the gate, which was guarded by several agents of Vasuki, who were already trying to hide somewhere. Sadly, attack from a combination of telekinesis and those weapons forged by the Shi Xue Clan were too destructive and strong. Then the fourth wave came and the fifth one came. When the sixth wave passed, nothing living could be found at the walls or around them. But Lucien didn''t stop here and continued to attack the fortification with full power telekinesis. He could still do eight more rounds of attacking, so he couldn''t miss the chance. With another wave of ferocious attack aimed at the gate, the entire gate was destroyed by the powerful telekinesis and weapon attack. Now Lucien used his telekinesis to scan the area, and found that almost half of the people inside that fortification are already dead. He noticed that he couldn''t use the bombarding strategy to kill more of them, so he exited his place, and went to the fortification. All those weapons were hovering around him, protecting Lucien if something attacked him. Of course, he could use them to attack with simple thought when he found an opportunity. When he entered the place, he was on some kind of courtyard, it couldn''t be called a small one but big one either. Lucien also saw the entrance that was leading to his target but he needed to deal with his enemies first. Thus he sent half of his weapons to attack all agents of Vasuki and members of the Washuu Clan. As the flying speed of these weapons controlled through the telekinesis was very fast, soon majority people were killed instantly. Then he started collecting the corpses of killed people and killing those who managed to survive by chance. Surprisingly there were only three people that managed to survive his terrifying attack this time, but as they were injured heavily, they couldn''t even resist any kind of attack. Lucien quickly stored all those bodies inside his Cross Crest in the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory and then searched entire are. He was searching for the place, every time he visited it the first time because he wanted to find something useful. Besides obtaining more than a hundred and something bodies of Vasuki agents and Washuu Clan members, he also managed to retrieve the majority of weapons that were used in the attacks. He was greatly surprised when he saw that not of them were really damaged. True enough, these weapons were forged by the Shi Xue Clan, during their peak era. All of them were masterpieces of their own so it was rather normal that they weren''t damaged even from all of this. On top of that, he also found supplies that the Washuu Clan brought with them. Here there weren''t any firearms or something similar, as only people here were from the Vasuki or the Washuu Clan. Neither of these two used firearms to combat, only swords. But he found two huge crates, where there were more than forty katanas, there were not of the quality of katanas forged by the Shi Xue Clan, but they could still have some use. Lucien of even thinking of letting magitek infantry soldiers to use these weapons because they were good in quality and it would be a shame to let them gathering dust. Some of them would be used by other fellow Sacred Devourer Ghouls, as all Sacred Devourer Ghoul trained in some martial arts of the way of the weapon and good weapons were always welcomed. After everything was done, and everything that had some use was taken, Lucien went to the door, which led to the inner Sanctuary where the legacy was a store. Even Sacred Blood Crystal was there, behind closed doors, quietly sleeping, waiting for the time when it would shine once again. Lucien entered the door and as soon as he entered a few attacks were already aimed at him. He congealed kagune katana and as he blocked the attacks with telekinesis he sent two precise slashed at his enemies, killing them in an instant. The paths here were narrow so there would be always only one or two people coming at him. Thanks to this he had a very easy time killing them. 71 Ancestral Site As he was walking through those narrow paths, Lucien was already starting to feel very uncomfortable, as he didn''t like narrow spaces too much. What was bother, was fact that entire place was filled with agents of Vasuki and members of the Washuu Clan. Literary every five minutes he would encounter at least two of them and would kill them. After some time of walking, he found a door, which led to some room or hall. Lucien entered the room and was in the huge spacious hall. There was nothing here, Lucien sighed in disappointment as he knew that this was some kind of training are or something similar. He exited the hall and returned to the narrow path. He continued for some time until he found another door. This time it was better as he found some useful things, cause here were stored some weapons and he immediately took them all. Also, this hall was connected to another smaller room, which had stored blood essences. Lucien didn''t know from what they were refined but he still took them and stored them in his Cross Crest, Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. After that, he exited the hall and walked through the pathway. Unfortunately, form him, he didn''t manage to find another door leading to another room or hall, which could have contained some treasure or something useful for him. The only thing waiting for him were members of the Washuu Clan, that was attacking him the moment when they saw him, with more ferocious attacks. From this attitude, Lucien could tell that he was nearing the inner sanctum, the shrine where was the inheritance stored and also where was the hidden passageway leading to the room, where was Sacred Blood Crystal. When he finally arrived at the place, there was a giant stone gate and before the gate were ten members of the Washuu Clan nicely lined up and were holding their katanas, ready to attack. The last line of defense was reached and the last fight of this expedition was nearing. Lucien turned his kakugan on, his eyes where the iris turned red, and the sclera turned black with red veins across the eye and into the skin around the eye. He entered Kakuja V1, to gain some slighter power boost, as he felt that these people here were pretty strong ones. Then one of them walked out of the line and stood before Lucien. "Welcome, heir of the Aeon House, it is rather unfortunate for you to be here, but as you wish, this place would be your final resting place." Said the man, as he gripped his katana. His voice was neither arrogant or aggressive. He was just telling the facts, but for Lucien, he was hallucinating and spewing nonsense. Lucien was only smiling at this, but soon his gaze turned serious, as rest of the men started to surround him. Some of them even congealed their kagunes. This was an interesting point about the Washuu Clan, as they fought with the combination of their katanas and kagune if they were serious. And the same goes for the Aeon House, as the combination of kagune and weapon was very deadly if used correctly. "All of those mercenaries were slaughtered as ants by my kagune daggers through telekinesis. Your agents of Vasuki, loyal dogs of the Washuu Clan, couldn''t stand even one hit from me and were killed in an instant. Even though your clan members could be better than them, to me or my family and my race you are nothing more than blood traitors and weaklings that should be massacred several centuries ago. And so you would join them in the grave, and now after my emotive speech." Said, Lucien, as he took his battle stance and prepared to the fight. He knew that they were far weaker than him but they were stronger than the majority of people he encountered so far and he shouldn''t underestimate his enemy. His grandfather always told him to be wary of every enemy he would encounter cause you can''t know if they are concealing their strength or what. "Shall we dance gentlemen?" As this was a clear provocation for the members of the Washuu Clan and one more hot-blooded than others couldn''t stand this kind of battle strategy and sent himself at Lucien''s blade. Actually, he wasn''t used at provoking his enemies at first but this was also taught by his grandfather to him, as he was a shameless person, who would say anything in order for his opponent to lose control of himself. This was a very good strategy as people who lost themselves in a rage couldn''t properly think during the combat and this would result in death. The old man, was very despicable and shameless as he said he could even provoke ascetic monk to attack him in a fit of rage. As the first person attacked him, Lucien chuckled as he saw the strategy that he implemented succeeded and one of them already attacked him without any plan and thus destroying their formation and encirclement. The man attacked Lucien with both kagune and katana. His kagune was of bikaku-type, and the covered entire left arm, creating another blade around his arm. Lucien easily dodged the attack and kicked the man to his chest, sending him flying in high-speed. He crashed several meters away and even taking another one with him. One would be killed and another one heavily injured. Lucien''s kicks could kill even A-rated ghouls if he used his full power. Then he slashed at another man, that was standing next to the one, that attacked him and pierced through his belly with his kagune katana. He then congealed his kagune tail and slashed at his head as he was kneeling on the ground, severing his head in the process. Now as the encirclement was completely destroyed, Lucien could move around as he wanted. Then with the use of his tail, he defended against an attack that came from behind, as two men tried to sneak attack him when he dealing with their colleague. But this wasn''t very useful as his kagune tail, easily blocked the attacks and even managed to counter-attack with precise slash aiming at the waist of one of the men, splitting him in two. Another one had face pale as a sheet when Lucien slashed his throat with kagune katana. Then he turned around and saw that five were already down and five remained. Remaining five men of the Washuu Clan were now scared as Lucien was much stronger as they initially thought. On the other side, Lucien was surprised at how weak these people were. He was aware that the Aeon House was many times stronger as they now were cultivating in the RC Body Refining Technique. He rushed at remaining five men of the Washuu Clan and jumped in the air. He used his tail to attack one of them that seemed to be bigger and others and stood in the middle of them. His tail was very fast and very sharp. The poor man couldn''t even see the attack, as he was killed in a mere second. Lucien landed in the middle of them and attacked another one with bikaku-type kagune. This time his opponent tried to defend, as his bikaku was more inclined to the defense than attack. Unfortunately, his bikaku shattered like glass in the frontal confrontation and Lucien''s kagune katana easily killed him. Then a very surprising situation arose. When the remaining men from the Washuu Clan realized that they couldn''t defeat him, all of them chose their own type of choice. One of them committed suicide and the other two tried to escape. When he saw that one who committed suicide, Lucien thought that he must be a very loyal person the Washuu Clan. And his fate could be even worse if he chose to return to the clan. Seeing those two men escaping, Lucien ended his Kakuja V1 and congealed two kagune lances that shot like lightning, swiftly piecing them, killing both of them on the spot. Lucien collected all bodies around and stood before the huge stone gate, that was giving ancient and profound aura. It led towards the sanctuary where inheritance is and also where Sacred Blood Crystal was hidden. Lucien opened those door and entered the dark path, that was illuminated by faint fire from torches on the walls. 72 Ancestral Shrine When he exited the pathway, he was welcome by grandiose sight. The entire place was by one word, huge. Lucien could see that the entire area where the shrine was located, looked breathtaking. Actually, it was something like a giant pedestal, that was connected to the entrance by a bridge. When Lucien looked down, he could see magma that was radiating entire space. The entire pedestal was decorated with giant stone objects we could say, that were filled with magma. There were four of them, one at each corner of the pedestal. On the walls were carved various symbols that Lucien didn''t recognize and the end of the pedestal was the actual entrance to the location where the inheritance was stored and where the Sacred Blood Stone was stored too. It was created from some kind of blue crystal that was glowing and creating a very subtle aura. This entire place looked too magical and too imposing. But he knew that this wasn''t something created by the Shi Xue Clan, they only found it when they came to the Kunlun Mountains. He could tell that from the architecture in this place. As the architecture was completely different before entering this Ancestral Site and Ancestral Shrine. Outside where that underground world was, all building were in the architecture of ancient China, here the architecture reminded something different, something unknown. Lucien was walking through the bridge and saw one person standing in front of that entrance which was sealed away. There was an elderly man standing there, in appearance were similar to the Washuu Tsuneyoshi. He wore grey kimono with the emblem of the Washuu Clan on it and had katana hanging at his waist. "To some extent, I was expecting that someone of your House would come here, now the only choice for us is to fight to decide final winner, don''t you think also, young man?" Said Old man, as soon as he saw Lucien entering the Ancestral Shrine and walking through the bridge. Lucien was rather surprised to hear that the Old man was expecting him, but it wasn''t too unrealistic for the Washuu Clan to expect intervention from the Aeon House in this matter. This time it was serious as they were trying to practically steal the inheritance of the Shi Xue Clan and their actions were pure blasphemy in the eyes of the Aeon House. "Forgive me rudeness for not introducing myself. My name is Washuu Tsunekashi, the Grand Elder of the Washuu Clan." Introduced himself Grand Elder of the Washuu Clan, Washuu Tsunekashi. He was from the same generation as the Washuu Tsuneyoshi as all people in their generation have their names starting with Tsune. From what Lucien knew that he was second-in-command after the patriarch as he was Grand Elder and he was probably the sole grand elder of the clan, as the Washuu Clan wasn''t a particularly huge clan. "Lucien Etras di Aeon, Heir of the Aeon House of Sacred Devourer Ghouls." Bowed Lucien in a similar manner, paying respect to his opponent. "Now I would please for Elder to do the first move, please." Said Lucien with courtesy. Some things as manners and other similar things couldn''t be forgotten. Through Lucien liked it as they creating his personality and thanks to that he could proudly walk as a true nobleman. Seeing this, Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi, smiled slightly as he was given advantage from as he could attack first. He knew that Lucien gave him this advantage because of seniority and he could be considered his senior, respectable one because he was much stronger than several elders of the Washuu Clan. together, even though they were enemies. Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi immediately entered his Kakuja, which was in form similar to Eto and Roma, enlargening him to several meters tall giant. He looked like those ogres that Lucien fought some time ago. A year or so. His Kakuja created biological armor around him, he was tall seven meters or so, and in his hand, he was gripping huge katana made out of kagune. Lucien entered his Kakuja V2 without a second thought as he knew that enemy this time was strong. He was covered in body armor and in his hand he was also gripping kagune katana, similarly to his opponent. In this version, his face wasn''t covered, as the kakuja mask was there only from the Kakuja V3. Then the battle started. Even though the Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi in his kakuja form was huge, it didn''t reduce his speed even bit and he quickly appeared before Lucien, slashing at him with his katana. Lucien blocked the attack head-on and met with powerful force. The apparently physical power of the Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi was much higher than his, even though he was in kakuja form. ''To these were old monsters from the Washuu Clan father and grandpa talked about. I wonder what they did to gain such fearsome kakuja form. Even though it''s in the type of biological armor, which is rather inconvenient, it didn''t have any major flaws or openings. His kakuja is several times better than Eto''s Owl form.'' Thought Lucien in his mind, as he was reminded of words of his father and grandfather who were talking about some old monsters in the Washuu Clan. It was rather fascinating how could they attain such fearsome power, without cultivation method or something. In his base form, Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi was several times weaker than Lucien in base form. But in the kakuja form, Grand Elder''s Washuu Tsunekashi''s was even with Lucien''s Kakuja V2. Lucien twitched his body and managed to successfully block the slash, and returned the attack, slashing at the arm of the Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi. He hit him successfully because of such large kakuja would have slower reaction time and slower attack speed. Even if the difference is only a few seconds, they could decide life and death. His shoulder bled and Lucien jumped several meters away, giving Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi deep glare. "I wonder about one thing. How could you attain such fearsome kakuja, Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi? If I am not wrong, with this kind of power, you could be counted as one of the most powerful ghouls on this planet." Said Lucien, after considering a few possibilities behind his fearsome powers. Now, this was turned to the battle of techniques, speed, and craftiness. Because they were similar in physical strength, there would be other factors decided about the outcome of this battle. Lucien had in his arsenal also telekinesis, even though he did not have much of psionic energy left as he used most of it during the attack on the fortification. He only had bits of remaining, enough to battle a few minutes. 73 Figh Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi smiled at this question, as it was a very logical and understandable one. It was very weird for the ghoul to attain such strength, despite not being the Sacred Devourer Ghoul. Lucien was truly perplexed at how he achieved this feat. "I am truly old and my memory isn''t serving me good compared to the past, so I must apologize for this." Said Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi to Lucien. He knew that Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi was laying, as there was absolutely no reason why to tell him this kind of information. This was also strategy as their strength was on the same level and nobody would know the final winner of this match. "Don''t worry Grand Elder, If I should think about some possibilities I would say only one thing about your great strength and power. As this wasn''t achieved by some cultivation method or natural strengthening, then this leads us to one conclusion." Said Lucien slowly and Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi already had bad look on his face as he knew that Lucien was already aware of the reason behind his strength. Truthfully it wasn''t so hard to deduce it. If it wasn''t cultivation or natural strengthening or something similar then we could search an answer in one thing. Science. "Genetical Modification, am I right?" Asked Lucien in curious voice and watched as an expression of the Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi was only worsening to the point of being extremely ugly. I was apparent that Lucien was right and found the true reason. Now when he had a reason, he already had a person responsible in his mind for all of this. Only one man was doing so many experiments on ghouls, humans and other breeds to the extreme. Kanou Akihiro. "Seeing your face is like seeing the answer. Should I continue? I already have a person in my mind responsible for all of this. The one responsible for the operation that happened after the Steel Beam Incident and he managed to create first artificial one-yed ghoul in this world. A human created something miraculous like this, without the help of our race, but it would be impossible without the help of your clan, right?" Continued Lucien. Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi was aware that truth was revealed and that Lucien knew about Kanou Akihiro and his numerous experiments. If this was also known to the Aeon House, and especially now when the Washuu Clan was weakened by a significant margin as many of their Elders and agents of the Vasuki died in this expedition, it could have terrible consequences. "Hmm, good young one. Now we must fight to the death, either I perish or you." Said Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi as he gripped his katana and rushed at Lucien with top-speed. Lucien did the same action, but different from the Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi, as he wasn''t attacking but he only dodged the attack in a high-speed. When he successfully dodged the attack and was behind the Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi he threw his kagune katana at him with his full power, penetrating his right shoulder. The Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi growled in pain, as the katana pierced through his shoulder totally and created rather a serious injury. Lucien aimed at the right shoulder for a simple reason. The Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi was right-handed and now his combat prowess would be reduced to some extent. Then he congealed kagune tail, the permanent one as he couldn''t congeal other ones, and rushed at the Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi. He jumped at the air and with his tail, he slashed at the place, where the katana was stabbed. He didn''t manage to sever the arm completely as the kakuja was too huge and too dense, but he creates large enough wound and with the additional strike, Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi would be without the entire arm. Lucien then used telekinesis on his kagune katana, which shot towards him and Lucien caught it with great speed and attacked once more when he was still in the air. But sadly, his attack this time was only half effective as the Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi blocked the incoming katana and punched at Lucien, shooting him away several meters. Lucien got up and split a little amount of blood, but he was relatively fine. On the other side, the Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi was severely injured and couldn''t use his right hand to attack anymore and was forced to hold his katana with his left hand. He dropped his katana and rushed at the Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi, just with his tail as his weapon. When he was already before him, he slashed at the right led with his tail and at the same time he used his telekinesis to control his kagune katana to do the same thing to his left leg. As this happened to the fact, he managed to deliver two deep cuts, on both legs of the Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi, intercepting his ability to walk, to some extent. This was Lucien''s actual strategy. To immobilize his opponent. Then when the opponent can''t move properly, he would exit his Kakuja V2, and through telekinesis he would bombard him with kagune daggers, killing him in the process. Then Lucien turned around and with his tail and slashed at the left leg and at the same time, kagune katana also attacked left leg of the Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi with full power. This time, Lucien managed to sever his left leg, causing the Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi to lose stance and fell on his right knee. Then he jumped away from him and exited his Kakuja V2 and created tens of kagune daggers to maximum and looked at the Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi. Now both of them knew that the fight was ended and the winner was decided. "Ha, this was a hell of a good fight. It was my honor. Now do what must be done." Said the Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi. Only a few short words, but for Lucien, it was enough. His words contained everything. Admitting defeat and also recognition. Lucien nodded his head and sent several tens of kagune daggers to attack the Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi. They flew at a terrifying speed and each one had great penetrative and destructive power. The Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi died in the process. Lucien looked around him and looked at some parts of the destroyed floor. He walked to the corpse of the Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi and stored it in his Cross Crest. This would do a good blood essence. Lucien was already saving some blood essences for the Devourification process as it also required many blood essences from what Lucien found in books when he was reading in the library in Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. Then he walked to the wall, which was created from those blue shining crystal and stood before small mechanism. This mechanism required two things to open. One was that seal, which Lucien found in the pagoda and another thing was the blood of the pure-blooded Sacred Devourer Ghoul. 74 Eight Celestial Inner Gates Lucien took out the seal of the Shi Xue Clan, which he found in the pagoda and inserted it in the mechanism. Nothing happened so far as the blood of the pure-blood Sacred Devourer Ghoul was required. Thus Lucien congealed the kagune dagger and cut his hand and dripped several drops of his blood onto the mechanism. Only then the mechanism started working and glowing in the blue light, similar in color with that crystal. So even though the Washuu Clan found the Ancestral Shrine, they weren''t able to access it and open the door. They didn''t even have a seal of the Shi Xue Clan, that served as the key and they weren''t pure-blooded ghouls either. Maybe they would try to open it with explosives or something, but who knows. Lucien though even those weapons that he obtained would cause problems if they fell into hands of the Washuu Clan and the Vasuki. Lucien stepped away and let to huge stone door to open. They were opening slowly and it took some time for the door to fully open. After they opened, Lucien entered the place and there were two altars in the small room. The entire room was dark and only light were generating those blue crystal, creating a very subtle atmosphere here. Altars were carved in simple architecture, without any decorations or something, just a plain stone and that''s all. On one altar was book laying. Lucien went to that altar and looked at that book. It was titled as "Eight Celestial Inner Gates". Lucien almost fainted from this, because he knew that technique. This technique wasn''t something rare and it could be said that it was well known in the multiverse. Its only flaw was that it had extremely harsh requirements of the body of the practitioner. To open the first gate one must have Baron-ranked body, Middle-Grade. In Lucien''s case, it means at least Kakuja V2 and RC Level of 50,000 to be precise. Eight Celestial Inner Gate is a technique about opening Eight Gate in the human body. It was a supplementary technique as it gave a passive effect for each gate opened. There were: The Gate of Opening, when opened it would enhance reflexes of cultivator to the inhuman amount and gave better control of the body. It was the basic gate which was located at the brain. Enhancing reflexes was a very good thing for every cultivator because they could react much faster. This gate of the Eight Celestial Inner Gates is the beginning of the cultivation of this technique and the Gate of Opening is one of the most important ones because everything is starting with this gate. The Gate of Healing, located also in the brain, when opened allows energies to have better flow in the body and also greatly enhances the regeneration of the body. With this, Lucien could achieve such terrifying healing abilities like Noro and even more. One must know, even when they severed Noro''s head, he could still regenerate it and it was the same as before. The Gate of Life, located ion the spinal cord, increasing blood flow and enhancing the function of inner organs, and also strengthening inner organs. Better immunity against diseases and poisons. Most notable is the increase of Life Force. The Gate of Pain, located on the spinal cord, increase in resistance against the physical pain to a great extent. Also could prevent passing out when exposed the great physical pain. The Gate of Limit, located in the abdomen. The Gate of View, located in the stomach. The Gate of Wonder, located below the stomach. The Gate of Death, located at the heart. Lucien knew the effect of only the first four gates of the Eight Celestial Inner Gates and something about the Gate of Limit, but that was all. The only flaw was already said a that were requirements on the cultivating this technique. He would be filling the requirements after he reached RC Level of 50,000. That would be rather soon, as he had enough blood essences and material to refine new blood essences. Lucien took the Eight Celestial Inner Gates technique book and stored it in his Cross Crest, in the special place in the library of the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. There was a hidden secret library, behind normal one, for very important and rare books. But even though he had it, he thought that putting it in the vault would be more appropriate. And finally, next thing here was, of course, the Sacred Blood Crystal. It looked rather ordinary, like any other crystal, it was just in blood red color and it was constantly releasing a bloody aura of slaughter and blood. Crystal was now its so-called sealed state. Lucien stored it in his Cross Crest. Treasures like these were stored in a special place in the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory, The Treasury. Yes, Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory had even treasury and it was one of the more important facilities. Actually, that treasury looked rather normal, it was just covered with countless magical formations and arrays. Even Lucien with his strength wasn''t able even to damage one formation, not mentioning breaking them. After storing both these items he continued to search this room for some other things. But unfortunately, only things here were the Eight Celestial Inner Gates technique and the Sacred Blood Crystal. Besides them this room was empty. After searching through entire room several times, Lucien decided to go away and once more explore the underground region. There were still many buildings where he wasn''t and there could be something valuable for him. He exited the Ancestral Shrine and when he was at the entrance to the shrine itself, he bowed slightly, paying respect to ancestors of his race, that fell in the battle and betrayal by the Washuu Clan. Lucien then walked away from the fortification and searched for some buildings. He mainly found some houses which served as housing space for people. In these houses, there weren''t many valuable things, almost nothing that had any use. After some time, he was very happy because he found a big building. But when he entered he was utterly disappointed as this was some medical ward combined with a place for storing medicine. After exploring the rest of this place and getting to know that nothing valuable is here, he decided to leave. 75 The Gate of Opening Cross Crest, Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory After Lucien exited the ruins and returned to the surface, he immediately entered the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory for rest and some other things. Now Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory was bigger compared to the past, and created even more majestical sight. Lucien slept for several hours in a row, before going for the work. Refinement of several hundred corpses. There were countless corpses of B-rated and A-rated ghouls here. And corpses of agents of Vasuki and members of the Washuu Clan were also high in numbers. This would give him enough blood essences for the Devourification process and also for his own cultivation. Devourification process could turn ordinary ghoul into the Sacred Devourer Ghoul. It required two main things. One was the Sacred Blood Crystal for the blood of the Sacred Devourer, after the Devourification, Sacred Blood Crystal would go dormant for more than century. And other things were blood essences to act as fuel for the process of the Devourification. Lucien wanted for three people to be turned into the Sacred Devourer Ghoul, which would require an astronomical amount of the blood essences. No less than a thousand. He refined those B-rated and A-rated ghoul at first because they were weakest. They were around three hundred of them, Lucien didn''t count them as it was too bothersome to do something so annoying. As all of this blood essences would be used for Devourification, he didn''t keep them and stored them in a special place. From all these ghouls he obtained around one hundred blood essences. Then he moved forward and started refining bodies of Vasuki agents. They were much stronger and were more potent compared to those mercenaries. They even gave more blood essences compared to their numbers. Almost eighty blood essences. This was a huge number as agents of Vasuki numbered in tens, maybe they were only a hundred altogether. And finally members of the Washuu Clan. Lucien refined their bodies separately because they had extremely high RC Level compared to other ghouls. Each of them had RC Level of 10,000 with ease. Each of these blood essences was extremely potent. And finally, the main dish was the corpse of the Grand Elder of the Washuu Clan, Washuu Tsunekashi. Lucien refined his corpse and obtained blood essence, from whose he could even feel that overwhelming amount of Red Children Cells. He took out several others blood essences, some were refined from demons, his last ones and some were found in the Ancestral Site of the Shi Xue Clan. He was going to rise his RC Level, to match requirements for cultivation of the Eight Celestial Inner Gates. When he ate all those blood essences he could feel his RC Level increasing at a terrifying rate but at the same time, his foundation was still firm and sturdy because he took other blood essences as compensation. After some time of digestion, he felt that he reached the required RC Level for the cultivation of the Eight Celestial Inner Gates. He moved to his personal cultivation space and started reading the first part of the Eight Celestial Inner Gates, describing how to open The Gate of Opening. This version of the Eight Celestial Inner Gates was adapted to the Sacred Devourer Ghoul race and he could use his Red Children Cells to open the gates. Of course, he could also use his Psionic Energy to do that, but as he was the Sacred Devourer Ghoul, using his Red Children Cells would be more effective. He followed the description and started to circulation his Red Children Cells in a manner that technique was describing. Then after accumulating enough Red Children Cells, he directed them to attack the one point in his brain which was, of course, The Gate of Opening. He attacked The Gate of Opening with all Red Children Cells available and the gate slowly opened. When the Gate of Opening fully opened, Lucien felt like his brain was going to explode as every neuron was connecting to each other and his brain was evolving at a terrifying speed. As something similar already happened in the past, when he awakened his Psionic Powers, he was able to retain consciousness. When the Gate of Opening was finally fully opened, he immediately felt changes. Everything was much more clear to him and when he focused he could see several kilometers in distance or hear something from the same distance. Even when he wasn''t focusing, his eyesight improved greatly. Lucien then opened his record to see complete changes what happened. Looking at the record of the cultivator was the best way to tell his exact strength, cultivation and combat prowess. ============================================= Name: Lucien Etras di Aeon Occupation: Executor of Akashic Records Bloodline: Sacred Devourer Race: Sacred Devoured Ghoul RC Type: Rinkaku RC Level: 53,980 Kagune Rank: 2nd-Tier Noble-Grade Unique States: Permanent Tail - 1 Kakuja V1: Left arm - body armor, right hand - kagune katana Kakuja V2: Entire body armor without a mask, kagune katana Cultivation: Baron Energy Type: Psionic Energy Energy Level: 1,000 Abilities: Sacred Devourer - Ability to devour any types of energy, bloodlines or bodies. It strengthens the host by some amount. Divine Telekinesis - 10 Psionic Energy per minute. Eight Celestial Inner Gates: The Gate of Opening - Celestial Reflexes Skills: Kenjutsu: Samurai Cultivation Techniques: Sacred Rinkaku Scripture: Baron Stage RC Body Refining Technique: Baron Rank Eight Celestial Inner Gates: The Gate of Opening Cross Crest: Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace ============================================= Fair enough, his records had changed greatly. Eight Celestial Inner Gates was now in cultivation techniques section and also as he cultivated it to the first gate and opened the Gate of Opening it was also between abilities section. Now Lucien had something called Celestial Reflexes. That meant his reflexes would become stronger with his cultivation growing. When he reached higher cultivation stages, his reflexes could be described only as terrifying. In the next few days, Lucien trained and familiarized himself with Celestial Reflexes as they opened a relatively new world to him. There was still some time before 11th Ward Battle and raid on the Cochlea Prison, so he decided to spend some time here in the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory to improve his cultivation and adapt himself to the new power he obtained from the Eight Celestial Inner Gates technique. 76 Going Back Lucien spent most of his time cultivating in the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory to improve his strength more and also familiarize himself with the Celestial Reflexes he obtained after cultivating the Eight Celestial inner Gates and opening the Gate of Opening. He spent a few weeks in seclusion before he noticed that it was already 1st of December and the 11th Ward Battle was already nearing. He exited the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory and went to the place where his personal jet was stored. As he once went this road, he could use Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory to teleport himself to the place where his jet was waiting for him. This was also one of the good things about Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. He could teleport to places where he already was once, as the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory remembered the location. Sadly now it was only limited to some range and he couldn''t teleport to Tokyo yet. But he believed after the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory reached Imperial-Grade, teleporting to Blood Island or anywhere on the Earth won''t be a problem. ============================================= He spent most of his time during the flight, reading various reports that talked about the situation in Tokyo. These things were specially prepared for Lucien and were delivered here often. He was rather satisfied with the situation in Tokyo, as everything was going according to the plan. The Aogiri Tree entered the final phase of preparations to the 11th Ward Battle and Cochlea Raid. All weapons, ammunition and other things were also supplied to the Aogiri Tree. Of course, there were things like blood essences and also some support regarding man-power as Lucien also ordered to hire some ghoul mercenaries, but only strong ones, as the Commission of Counter Ghoul had a slight advantage when it came to strong people that participated in the 11th Ward Battle. Next thing he sent a message to the Blood Island, informing about everything that happened. He also mentioned that he found three Sacred Blood-Essence Refining Furnaces, various weapons and blood essences, many books and martial arts. Next one he mentioned some things about the Eight Celestial Inner Gates and Sacred Blood Crystal and his fight with the Grand Elder Washuu Tsunekashi. Soon after the message was sent, he even received a reply, saying that his father would arrive at the Tokyo and take the Sacred Blood-Essence Refining Furnaces and discuss things about the Eight Celestial Inner Gates technique and the Sacred Blood Crystal. He was happy to see his father after a long time, and he also got to know that Patriarch Asmodeus would arrive soon, as he was already on his way to Tokyo. He would arrive in a more secret way, as they didn''t want to alert the Washuu Clan. Hearing that the Washuu Clan had something as strong as Baron-ranked Sacred Devourer Ghoul, Kakuja V2, it was decided they must be more careful. ============================================= After a few hours, Lucien finally arrived in Tokyo. There was already small convoy waiting for him, as now there was an ideal time for the Washuu Clan to ambush him, as he was carrying many precious things on him as the Sacred Blood Crystal, Eight Celestial Inner Gates technique and many other martial arts and books. Sadly all of them were stored in Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory and were not really on his person. Lucien went to the Helter Skelter Bar to see Itori. They were apart for two months, which could be said to be a long time. Soon enough he arrived at the Helter Skelter Bar and entered the bar. It was empty as it was the most time. Not many people visited this place. When Itori saw Lucien, she immediately runs to him and hugged him with all her strength. Lucien hugged her back and kissed her lips. She was surprised at first but soon she passionately returned his kiss and they entered the long season of kissing and almost both of them couldn''t resist their lust. But then Lucien stopped as this wasn''t the appropriate time to do the deed. "I missed you very much, my love, my Itori." Whispered Lucien to her ear, with a gentle voice, he was still hugging her closely. She had almost tears at the corner of her eyes when she heard his word of love and devotion. "I missed you too, dear. I love you and next time please don''t leave me behind." Said Itori. She also missed Lucien very much and she wanted to help him, but she knew that with her strength it would be impossible to fight against the Washuu Clan as they were many times stronger than her. Even though she ate many blood essences that Lucien gave her and even trained in the simplified version of the Sacred Rinkaku Scripture, it didn''t help and she couldn''t attain strength to rival Baron-ranked individual. At best she could be able to fight and kill most of the Special-Class Ghoul Investigators with her improved strength. "Don''t worry, I won''t be leaving soon." Smiled Lucien as he gently stroked her hair and they both sat down and Lucien started talking about his adventure in the Kunlun Mountains. He talked about his fights with the Washuu Clan, Vasuki, and others. Then he described the Ancestral Site and the Ancestral Shrine of the Shi Xue Clan and many rewards he obtained. "Ohh, and something bad also happened." Itori was surprised that his face turned so serious. Lucien was serious now because of one thing. His father would visit here and of course, he won''t approve either of his relationships, as they weren''t of the Sacred Devourer Ghoul race. But he was already prepared for this as he had the Sacred Blood Crystal in his hands and by rules of the Aeon House, it was his, cause he was the one who obtained the treasure. "Soon my father would arrive at Tokyo, because of things from the Shi Xue Clan. He would personally bring them to the Aeon House. But this also means that he would meet you and also meet Eto. With how his personality is, he would disapprove with our relationship." Lucien told Itori about Eto a long time ago, and she couldn''t refuse him. She was angry at him but he promised he would have only two and them and even swore an oath to the heavens. Hearing this made her very nervous. She was aware that his father would disapprove and nobody knows what would happen. Lucien knew that if his mother came there could be some room for the discussion, but his father was different. Fortunately, Lucien was prepared for the Devourification process, so the situation wasn''t so bad. 77 Long time no see Lucien spent a long time with Itori and even took her at dinner to his estate, where the meat of demons was often served for him. He also gave her some blood essences and other things, before they separated and Itori returned to the Helter Skelter Bar. Lucien then went to the 24th Ward, to find Eto, because they had many things to discuss together. Lucien this time used his newfound power and that was teleportation ability of the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. In an instant, he disappeared from his estate and he appeared in the 24th Ward. He was in a very close place where Eto lived. He went there and fortunately she was at home. He entered her so-called house and found that she was currently reading some book. When she saw him, she stood up and went to him and started to scan him closely with curious eyes. Then as if she lost the interest sat down on the near chair and signaled Lucien to sit down too. "How are the preparations going? I read various reports that everything should be going good and everything for the 11th Ward Battle is already prepared and also more importantly for the Cochlea Raid." Said Lucien as soon as he sat down. He already had some image about the situation here from the reports he read in his jet. "Everything is already prepared for the fight. All weapons and ammunition are on the place and most importantly we have managed to obtain several new S-rated Ghouls and one SS-rated Ghoul, from the Blood Essences that you provided us with." Said Eto to his question. Lucien found it very good, especially that the several new S-rated ghouls popped out in the Aogiri Tree and one SS-rated one. That greatly enhanced the strength of the entire Aogiri Tree and made them even more valuable chess piece in Lucien''s eyes. Besides Eto and Tatara, no one from Aogiri Tree had any worth to him and they were just usable pawns. "Who was the one that became SS-rated one?" Asked Lucien with great curiosity. He wondered if it was Kirishima Ayato or Oomori Yakumo. Truth to be told both of them were hard to handle, but maybe Kirishima Ayato was a bit easier as Oomori Yakumo was mad. "Ayato. But don''t worry, Tatara personally has beaten some sense and obedience to him, so he won''t be behaving so arrogantly and idiotic as before. As he became the SS-rated ghoul, Tatara started to train him in some martial arts and also teach him some combat techniques. He is after all without much real combat experiences, so this would help him much." Siad Eto after some consideration. Ayato''s attitude became much better after getting beaten to death several times in a row by Tatara. He was too arrogant before and this helped him understand more his place. Eto knew that some people aren''t that good-tempered and would just kill him on the spot, as Lucien. After getting trained by Tatara, whose strength was also rising day by day as he also got a lot of blood essences, trained Ayato, he showed wonderful results. Now it would be trouble for several Associate Special Class Ghoul Investigators to battle him. Before it was different, as he was totally inexperienced, two or three Associate Special Class Ghoul Investigators was enough to defeat him. Now they would need more than that. "Good. I would give you enough blood essences to rise your RC Level of all executives and especially Tatara''s and Noro''s." Said, Lucien, as he took out some blood essences that he had prepared for this occasion. Then both of them talked about some minor things before Lucien left the 24th Ward and went back to his estate. It was already evening, so Lucien went to train a little bit, before going to sleep in the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. He always used to train a little bit his Kenjutsu before going sleep as it gave him better sleep. ============================================= At the morning the morning, in his estate a bi big surprise was waiting for him, in form of his father Asmodeus, who now arrived at the Tokyo. He was sitting in the living room of the estate and was drinking his morning coffee. Clothed in the pitch black suit, coupled with his bright blue eyes and white long hair, he was releasing an aura of dominance and nobleness. He was waiting for Lucien to wake up as he knew that the just now returned from the Kunlun Mountains. After Lucien woke up, he clothed himself in his Noble White Attire and went to the living room where his father was already waiting for him. "Father." Said, Lucien, as he bowed lightly. This was also something like a formal greeting to the Patriarch of the Aeon House. His father had a rare gentle smile on his face as he nodded his head and both of them sat down. "So where should you start?" Asked Asmodeus and Lucien started telling everything from the start of the expedition in the Kunlun Mountains. Asmodeus was very satisfied with the performance of his son, and especially by the harvest that he obtained. Things like the Sacred Blood-Essence Refining Furnace were greatly important to the Aeon House as they were too scarce and had great effects. "Besides those three Sacred Blood-Essence Refining Furnaces, I have also obtained numerous weapons and martial techniques." To this, Asmodeus had curious expression and already knew something about it, because, inside that book they found, there was also a message, that talked about special information. And that information was nothing else that Lucien became Executor of the Akashic Records. Asmodeus, Azrael and many others gained a basic understanding of this multiverse as there were also many important things mentioned in that book. "In that book, we found in the underground, Magitek, there was also something else besides the book itself and those magitek crystals. There was also a note that talked about the multiverse, Akashic Records and that you became Executor of Akashic Records through the trials." Said Asmodeus after some time of consideration. Lucien furrowed his brows, but didn''t say anything and just nodded his head in agreement. "Who has written that note? Was there a signature?" Asked Lucien in a curious voice. This was very important information to him, as who could be the one. Who could have written that note and more importantly who placed that book about complete Magitek there. "Yes, there was a name under the note. Zelretch Kischur Sweinorg." When Asmodeus said that and Lucien heard that name, it gave him very weird feeling and chills through his back, as he knew who Zelretch was and what was his hobby. "Kaleidoscope." 78 Plans for the future "Do you know him?" Asked Asmodeus after he saw the expression of his son, which said everything needed. "Yes, Zelretch Kischur Sweinorg is Administrator of the Kaleidoscope. That means he could go anywhere in the entire multiverse in a mere second, he is able to see the fate of every living thing in the multiverse and much more. Also, he is one of the Progenitors of the Vampire Race and could be considered as god. Another thing is that he has also nickname ''Wizard Marshall'', he is also one of the most powerful wizards in the entire multiverse. He is mainly feared because he loves to pull pranks on people. Shortly told, he would do anything to relieve his boredom and anything that would entertain him." Summarized Lucien everything he learned about Zelretch through the records. Because there weren''t lots of Administrators of the Akashic Records, it wasn''t too hard to memorize some things about them and their powers. As many of them were rather famous through the multiverse, it was an easy task. Of course, there were also Administrators of the Akashic Records who weren''t famous and were just living in the seclusion and cultivating there. Besides doing their duties as Administrators, they won''t even leave their place. Asmodeus listened to this and started to think about something. The recent development of the Blood Island was good, but it was a pity that they couldn''t close that portal leading to the Demon Realm, and it was constantly expanding. So it was decided they would migrate in a few years. This was also one of the reasons why Asmodeus came here personally, to inform Lucien about this. They were already nearing the point where they could open the next of part of the Magitek book. If Azrael broke through and reached the Count-Rank, they would gain access to the next stage of the Magitek technology. This was also the reason, why Asmodeus didn''t bring any blood essences to Lucien, as all of them were given to previous patriarch Azreal to raise his rank. What was a problem, now even several Viscount-ranked demons started appearing on the lowest floors of the underground world under the Blood Island. Fortunately, they were able to kill them and refine them to blood essences. From how things looked, Old Man Azrael could reach the Count-Rank in a year or two if there were enough blood essences. "From information, we have gathered and the fact that the portal to the demon realm is constantly expanding and stronger demons are coming out, we don''t have any other choice and we must migrate. That note was written by that man, Zelretch Kischur Sweinorg, also mentioned that as Executor of the Akashic Records you have something that could allow us to leave this world and go to another, that would be much more suitable for our race." Said Asmodeus. Even though they would have some Magitek airships, they weren''t enough for traveling in the void. The best method would be, have something leading them, and that something is Lucien''s vessel, Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. Lucien nodded and teleported both of them to the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. Then he showed his father entire place and everything here. He also talked about the function of the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. "Can this floating fortress Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory attack?" Asked Asmodeus in an eager voice. If this could attack, it would be very wonderful as it would have extremely high attack power for sure. "Yes, but not now. It needs to absorb more energy from the void, to upgrade to the higher grade. Come I will show you the Eight Celestial Inner Gates technique." Said, Lucien, as they both went to the library, where was currently the Eight Celestial Inner Gates technique stored. Asmodeus read the description, and without any word, he started immediately cultivate the first stage of this miraculous technique. Similarly, like Lucien, it only took him a short time to open the first gate, the Gate of Opening and obtain the Celestial Reflexes. He didn''t know if his father was already Viscount-Rank or what, but this would greatly help him enhance his strength. "This is too miraculous technique. I would record the first two stages and take it back with me. Your grandpa Azrael would be much stronger and we could slaughter even Viscount-ranked demons much faster than before and even in higher numbers. The only shame is that besides our family no one is allowed to learn this technique." Siad Asmodeus with an excited voice. He personally was already a the Viscount-rank, but he didn''t achieve Kakuja V2, he wasn''t even at the Kakuja V1, only barely near it. Still, with this technique, their strength would be enhanced by a great margin. Only shame was that only a Noble Family of the Sacred Devourer Ghoul race was allowed to learn this technique. Even though this technique wasn''t that rare, it had extremely harsh requirements on the body of the cultivator. "Father if we are to leave this world, then the first would be God-Devil Plane. There is something I must obtain in one of the universes of the God-Devil Plane. In that universe, the strongest person wouldn''t cross Count-rank. There we could fully develop, as that plane has countless planets rich of various magical metals, energy sources as energy crystal or magical core of those magical beasts. There would be also countless sources for us to refine blood essences." Lucien then spent a lot of time explaining the situation about the God-Devil Plane and everything else. Asmodeus was also pleased with this, as they could develop faster and became more powerful in God-Devil Plane, as it had many critical resources that here were lacking. There in the God-Devil Plane would their potential finally show itself in full power. Now there were only a few years before the portal on the Blood Island expanded enough and they would be forced to migrate. The most important thing now was to expand the Magitek Infantry and create as many soldiers as possible. Lucien and Asmodeus talked about many things and strategies regarding entering the God-Devil Plane. 79 Mist World But what shocked Lucien the most was the next topic, that his father talked about. He almost got a heart attack. "With Tepes House agreement, we have decided to construct an actual Empire, when we leave this plane. Creating some kind of state would help us expend influence and also rule over some territory easier. With countless Magitek Infantry soldiers that would be produced, we don''t even need that many manpower to cover vast areas. We just need to produce more and more Magitek Infantry soldier and various airships and dreadnoughts." Explained Asmodeus. This was rather shocking news to Lucien, but he was rather happy about it. It would be beneficial to the Aeon House greatly, as it would be easier to create and extend influence. After some small pause, Asmodeus continued in his talk. "We have an agreement with the Tepes House, that we Aeon House would be ruling Imperial Family and have all power, with Tepes House supporting us. This isn''t that surprising as those greedy vampires only care about magic and technology. They want to have full access to all information on magic, energies, cultivation, and everything. Fortunately they never really cared about ruling land, as it was already seen on the Blood Island." Technically was Blood Island shared between Aeon House and Tepes House equally. In reality, Sacred Devourer Ghouls controlled the entire island, as Vampires were locked in their magic towers and researching god knows what. They only came out only in three situations. The first one was a lack of blood and blood essences. The second one was lack of research material and the third one was a grave situation when some powerful demons appeared. And in some cases, the fourth reason was lust, but this was only in case of younger vampires, only males. Even Lucien''s friend Dante had already three wives or so. "This isn''t so bad situation. They would develop us more powerful weapons and magitek, and in return, they would get more and more magic and technologies to research. Hopefully, some would join the army, as they are also powerful combatants." Said Lucien. He knew even though most of them enjoyed locking themselves in magic towers and researching everything that caught their interest, some of them would be able to join the army. Their skills in the field of blood control and magic were unparalleled and were useful in large scaled battles. "Don''t worry about that. Probably most of younger vampires who couldn''t spend years in seclusion would join the army for sure. And also many older ones too, as the new world would be full of opportunities and actually I forgot to say one more very important thing." Said Asmodeus with a serious voice. He knew that younger ones wouldn''t be able to hold back and just sit inside their magic towers or magic towers of their seniors and researching magic. They too were a battle race but they rather calmed down and focused more on the research of magic and blood control. "What?" "The creation of the new empire is already going on. Soon everything would be done and also the creation of new laws, army, and other important things are almost finished. With this, we could increase the efficiency of cleaning the underground world under Blood Island and also increase the killing rate fo the demons that came to the Blood Island." This was certainly the truth, as the unified army would greatly speed up the process of killing demons and many other operations. You must know that co-operation between the two armies and creating one united were two different things. "Do you already have a name for the empire?" Asked Lucien his father. He felt that they were progressing at a very fast rate. He was truly happy, cause when they created an Empire, his father would be the Imperial Emperor and he would be the Imperial Crown Prince. It sounded cool and very majestical that he could introduce himself as Imperial Crown Prince Lucien Etras di Aeon of XXX empire. "Niflheim also called Niflheimr it''s a location in Norse Mythology meaning Mist World. In Norse Mythology, Story of Gylfaginning, Odin explains that creation began when the ice of Niflheimr met the flames of Muspelheim. Also as Imperial Flag would be two dragons, one white and one black, facing each other. As Chinese dragons traditionally symbolize potent, dominant and auspicious powers, many rulers use dragons as the symbol of their power. This would show the dominance and power of the Holy Niflheim Empire." Said Asmodeus with a proud expression. Lucien also liked the name of the newly-created little empire with few hundreds of residents. Holy Niflheim Empire sounded imposing and majestical enough for just name to scare some weaker enemies. "Father I think that the best way for us in the God-Devil Plane would be behaving just like an ensiferas. We could go from planet to planet. Taking all of their minerals, energy sources and use their population for our uses. The God-Devil Plane is somewhat separated from the rest of the multiverse and living there would be contra productive for our future development. We could just exhaust resources of the plane before moving to the more suitable place four our kind." Asmodeus nodded as what Lucien said was certainly true. The moment they entered the God-Devil Plane and spent there hundred or two hundred years, their strength would exponentially increase and they would be able to gain a foothold in the multiverse. But the God-Devil Plane was separated from the rest of the multiverse, and that could be very bad to the Holy Niflheim Empire in the future. Additionally, he was very happy about Lucien''s proposal about strategy when they entered the God-Devil Plane. Being like an ensiferas, going from planet to planet after exhausting their resources was a good strategy. With that, they could build an astonishing amount of the Magitek Infantry soldiers and various airships and dreadnoughts. "This is a good strategy that we would implement. When we spent in that plane, sufficient time, our strength would reach a terrifying level and we could gain a stable foothold in the multiverse, without living in the place which is separated from the rest of the multiverse." Agreed Asmodeus with his son. Then Lucien started explaining some things an agreement between him and Administrator of Life and Death of the Akashic Records, Kelemvor. He told his father, that he must obtain an item called the God-Devil System and deliver it to the Administrator Kelemvor. Then they should be able to leave that plane for some other place. Lucien already told him that he would ask Administrator Kelemvor for a suitable place for their race to live. And of course, we couldn''t forget the God-Devil System itself. Even though it would lose the ability of the creation and other abilities, the most important for Lucien was the most supreme Artificial Intelligence Light. Lucien knew that once the God-Devil System lost the ability of the creation and those others, then Artificial Intelligence would be even stronger because of special reason. It would be wonderful to have such overpowered artificial intelligence helping them in managing the empire and researching the Magitek. As the God-Devil System is a soul-bound artifact, Lucien would be able to see everything in the Holy Niflheim Empire and also his family would gain much more power. 80 The Four Once the God-Devil System lost the ability of the creation, the entire artifact would be reset to the blank point and only one thing would remain. Artificial intelligence with all its calculation abilities, control abilities of technology and other stuff. Then there would be inserted special record that would strengthen these abilities to the maximum and Lucien would gain perfect support time artifact for him and his race and empire. This was also approved by the Kelemvor, as the didn''t need the God-Devil System after he extracted the Record of the Creation, which contained the ability to create life and other stuff. Lucien asked if he could keep the God-Devil System after that and Administrator Kelemvor agreed. This all actually happened several months ago, shortly after that book about the Magitek was found. As this part of the discussion was solved, soon they managed to discuss every topic on the plan, except the one. One of the most important ones. The Sacred Blood Crystal. This crystal was of utmost importance as it could even change an ordinary ghoul into the Sacred Devourer Ghoul. Asmodeus already knew that he would use it on his little girlfriends, as he knew about it long ago. But he still feigned the ignorance about this matter and didn''t say anything. "What are you going to do with the Sacred Blood Crystal, son? As you have obtained this crystal, you have the right to do whatever you wish with it." Hearing this, Lucien was happy because he knew, that this was a silent approval from his father to do what he wants. Lucien wanted to use the Sacred Blood Crystal for Devourification process on the four people total. Itori and Eto were in for certain. Another two were Arima Kishou and Tatara. Both of them were excellent warriors and leaders that could lead people. Holy Niflheim Empire would have great use them, be it as cultivators that could protect the Empire or generals that would lead the Magitek Infantry soldiers. "As you already know father, I would like to you the Sacred Blood Crystal for the Devourification process on the four people. Two are my future wifes, as you already know because you should have investigated it." Asmodeus nodded his head in an awkward feeling and then he started to think about the other two people who could be worthy of the Devourification process and usage of the Sacred Blood Crystal on them. He only found one such person, and that was, of course, Arima Kishou, as he was a peerless combat genius, but he couldn''t think about the second person. "Who are the other two? One of them should be White Reaper, Arima Kishou as I can''t see anyone more worthy and suitable than him. But who is the second one?" Asked Asmodeus with great curiosity. "Tatara. The remnant of the Chi Shen Lian, he is greatly talented in the field of martial arts, hand-to-hand combat and also combats with kagune. I have sparred with him several times, and I must say, he is very strong and talented. He could even learn during the battle itself and adapt his combat style to the combat style of his enemy. He would be a great help for us in the future." Hearing this Asmodeus nodded his head in agreement and then he wanted to ask, about Lucien''s chosen wives. Even though he believed in his son, he wanted to meet them at least for once. But now it wasn''t the right time to do that, as he should return soon, together with the three Sacred Blood-Essence Refining Furnaces. Both of them then talked about the situation on Blood Island a bit and some other topics. After some time, Asmodeus took three Sacred Blood-Essence Refining Furnaces and wet back to the Blood Island. Also, he took the Eight Celestial Inner Gates technique together with him. He left Tokyo, using Lucien''s jet. After his father left, Lucien was rather happy, as everything he has done was good and also he got his silent approval to do as he wished. Now the Blood Island would undergo another series of huge changed as the three additional Sacred Blood-Essence Refining Furnaces were obtained and also Aeon House obtained the Eight Celestial Inner Gates. This would greatly enhance the strength of the entire House and also the strength of former royal guards, now Holy Imperial Knights. Currently, Holy Imperial Knights had only four members. One was the person, who trained with Lucien regularly, Nalthos, was now commander of the Holy Imperial Knights, as he was as strong as his father now. Besides him, there were also other three. Namely Arseahr, Loruel, and Zelilius. Loruel was only female amongst the four of them and she was a very good friend with Lucien''s mother, Selene. All four of them were strongest of the entire Sacred Devourer Ghoul race and thus they were tasked being the Holy Imperial Knights. As it was decided there would be a limited amount of them, only ten Holy Imperial Knights, only seven slots were now free, as commander post wasn''t included. Lucien wanted to make Arima Kishou and Tatara Holy Imperial Knights because both of them had great potential and were experienced and talented. Lucien then went to train a bit and also studied the Eight Celestial Inner Gates in a more detail manner as he found this technique too miraculous and useful. After that he trained in kenjutsu as he felt, he could break through in soon, as he got many practical experiences with the usage of katana. Tomorrow he would visit Uta and discuss some preparations about the 11th Ward Battle and Cochlea Raid and also he needed to visit Itori and inform her about recent developments of the situation. He also planned to visit Anteiku and also again Eto. After some time of training, he went to Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory to sleep. Before going to sleep, he spent some time reading through books in the library, especially those books, he obtained in the Ancestral Site of the Shi Xue Clan. 81 Soon Next day in the morning, Lucien woke up a rather early and as usual he did his routine. Coffee, training kenjutsu and reading some books. After finishing his favorite routine, he went to the Helter Skelter Bar, through the Teleportation ability of the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. He was already too lazy to use any other means as this was much easier and faster. One must admit that teleportation is one of the best ways of traveling. "Hi, my dear." Said, Lucien, as he hugged Itori close to him and gave her a kiss. Itori immediately returned his kiss with a great passion and then they both sat down and Lucien started telling her all those joyous news. He talked about that his father gave a silent approval, what was more than enough and explained her about the Devourification process. "In the Devourification process, your body would undergo metamorphosis and transform you into the Sacred Devourer Ghoul. This requires the Sacred Blood Crystal and a ton of blood essences. Fortunately, I have obtained the Sacred Blood Crystal and blood essences won''t be a problem, as I can obtain a lot of them in a near future." Explained Lucien. He was planning to use Devourification process on the four people, which was a high number. Because of this, he would require a huge number of blood essences and also the Devourification process would be lasting longer. Several years at best. But this wasn''t a problem, as Lucien wanted to start Devorification process, the moment when they left this world, as he knew that journey to the God-Devil Plane would take around fifteen years. As Baron-ranked body refiner Lucien had life span several hundred years and as he was also a Sacred Devourer Ghoul, his life span was even more. "So by undergoing this, nobody would object nothing and I would also get much stronger? Would I be able to cultivate all those arts and techniques you have talked about?" Asked Itori with great enthusiasm. It was like a dream. She could be forever with the person she loved. She knew that Lucien could marry only somebody of the same race and bloodline as he, so she was very happy that it would be possible now. Also from what she thought he must have sacrificed a lot in order let her have undergone the Devourification process. Even the name of that crystal, the Sacred Blood Crystal sounded like some heavenly treasure. "Yes, after you undergo the Devourification process, you would be a Sacred Devourer Ghoul. You would be able to cultivate all our techniques and arts, allowing you to reach unprecedented power and eternal life. But like many others, you would be required to fight against enemies. You know in our race, even woman must fight against enemies because our numbers are low. Thus every person in our race is an excellent warrior and cultivator. Be it, man or woman. For example, my mother is the best samurai in the entire race, and she taught me the way of the sword. If it weren''t for her pregnancy now, she would be also fighting on the frontlines now." This was also one of the more fascinating things on Blood Island. Everyone be it male or female, your or old, was constantly fighting. This wasn''t something unusual. Men were fighting against demos all the time and women also. Only if they got a child, they would be taking care of it, before it matured. Because of this, the entire race of Sacred Devourer Ghouls was filled with battle maniacs. Itori was happy from all of these. And another thing, what made her happy was that she would be able to help Lucien in his future fights. As she would get very strong in the future and it was normal even for female Sacred Devourer Ghouls to frequently fight, she would be finally able to help the man she loved greatly. Now she couldn''t help him much as she was rather weak and Lucien didn''t let her do anything dangerous, as she wasn''t Sacred Devourer Ghoul and wasn''t cultivating. The only thing she could do now to help Lucien was gathering pieces of information. That''s all. Nothing more, nothing less. "Itori, soon the 11th Ward Battle would begin. I also plan to participate in this operation as this is the perfect chance to greatly weaken both the Washuu Clan and also Commission of Counter Ghoul. Our true purpose is the Cochlea prison and free al ghouls inside the prison. Then we could wreak havoc as much as we want." Lucien explained all of his plans to Itori and told her if she found appropriate opportunity she is free to hunt and kill as many of ghoul investigators in the 14th Ward as she wants. Because the Commission of Counter Ghoul would concentrate all of their forces in the 11th Ward, all other wards would be weakened slightly. But then he thought about another possibility. Because of Lucien''s achievements, his father informed that they could send one person to Tokyo, to help Lucien in his matters. Especially in his fight against the Washuu Clan and their lackeys. Lucien chose one of the Holy Imperial Knights, N0.3 Zelilius. of the Holy Imperial Knights. Spearman with extremely dangerous spear technique. Now he also should have cultivated the Eight Celestial Inner Gates as rest of the Holy Imperial Knights. Lucien knew that the Holy Imperial Knight N0.3 Zelilius would arrive either tomorrow or day after. "Good, then I would also join the fun when the battle would erupt." Said Itori with a smile on her face, as she was happy that she could help Lucien. "But you won''t be going alone. Soon, one someone from the Blood Island would arrive as support and he would be also responsible for your safety and you two would join hands and attack some ghoul investigators during the 11th Ward Battle and kill them for sure. I would give you a list tomorrow. Some of them have great potential and should be killed while others are either Associate Special Class Ghoul Investigators or Special Class Ghoul Investigators. Remember, we must do everything in order to annihilate the Washuu Clan and kill those blood traitors." Said Lucien with hatred. He also told Itori that in near future they would leave this world after destroying the Washuu Clan and constructing enough Magitek Infantry soldiers to gain a stable foothold in the new world. 82 Holy Imperial Knight N0.3 Zelilios After talking about some other important matters with Itori, Lucien went to the 24th Ward to spent more time with Eto. Even though he wasn''t in contact with her as long as he was with Itori, there was weird chemistry between the two of them. She was a very mischievous and sometimes funny person. Also very intelligent and interesting. Unique views of the world. Lucien wanted to show her a real world and also truth. She has sacrificed her entire life to one thing, to the destruction of the Washuu Clan. Lucien wanted to give her a new reason to live because once the Washuu Clan was destroyed there won''t be anybody who would be creating the so-called balance between ghoul world and the world of humans. Thus Lucien spent a very long time explaining her entire situation they were in. He told her that her revenge against the Washuu Clan would be fulfilled in the near future and asked her what she wants to do after that. Then after some time of silence, he came to her and without any notice, he kissed her lips. Eto was completely taken by surprise as this was totally out of any expectations. After a short time, she completely stopped resisting his advance and she returned his kiss in the more passionate matter. "If you want, you could leave this world with me and my people when the time comes. Currently, we have only a few years before we would completely migrate. If the time comes, the Washuu Clan and Vasuki would be long exterminated and there could be created peace between the humans and ghouls." Said slowly, Lucien. he wanted to persuade her to leave with him once the time comes. Then only Arima Kishou remained, but he would be much easier to persuade then Eto. He too wanted only peace between humans and ghouls, and with the destruction of the Washuu Clan, there won''t bo nothing that would be blocking it. "Think about it. I would visit you after a few days." Said, Lucien, as he exited the 24th Ward and returned to his mansion. Currently, only ten days or so remained till the start of the 11th Ward Battle and the Cochlea Raid. Lucien was fully prepared on the attack and war. Tomorrow or day after would Holy Imperial Knight N0.3 Zelilios arrive, which would be a huge help to Lucien as he would gain warrior on his own level. ============================================= Tomorrow, afternoon, Tokyo Airport On the familiar airport, Lucien''s private jet already parked just now. From the jut exited seemingly young man, in his early thirties. He had pitch black hair and bright green eyes. His physique and stature were those of experienced warrior. There wasn''t any opening in his way of walking. One could say that he was a very experienced person and had fought many life and death battles. Clothed in noble looking white attire, that was very similar to white attire that Lucien used wearing. Coupled with his entire person he looked noble and also tyrannical at the same time. He was the Holy Imperial Knight N0.3 Zelilius, that came to Tokyo to help Lucien in his fight against the Washuu Clan. For every Sacred Devourer Ghoul, this was a very huge honor, to be able to kill those filthy blood traitor. To members of the Holy Imperial Knights, who were most loyal to Aeon House even more. Another thing was also that, if they performed good, they would be heavily rewarded. It was also known that Lucien was generous to his subordinates. Before the jet, there was already one Hummer H3, waiting for him. He got into the car and the whole time didn''t say anything. He just kept silent and thinking about various things to come. Especially upcoming battles that would take place. ''Holy Emperor said that his Highness Crown Prince is plotting something against the Washuu Clan in upcoming battles. If I perform good, I should be able to obtain many more blood essences and resources. Especially that technique Eight Celestial Inner Gates, that His Highness brought back is truly miraculous. My reflexes got enhanced several times and I now have much higher combat prowess. '' Thought Zelilius in his mind as he was sitting inside the Hummer H3. As many other Sacred Devourer Ghouls, he was also battle maniac and his blood was already boiling at the thought about fighting the Washuu Clan. ============================================= Lucien''s Estate, 21th Ward "I greet Your Highness, Crown Prince Lucien Etras di Aeon." Said Holy Imperial Knight Zelilius with respect as he bowed slightly. "Holy Imperial Knight N0.3 Zelilius, welcome and thank you for your efforts." Greeted Lucien back. There wasn''t any sign of arrogance or anything similar in his words, as he also respected every member of the Holy Imperial Knights and they respected him because they knew of his power and talent. Holy Imperial Knights Commander, Nalthos who trained Lucien form early years said that his talent in the way of the sword and martial arts were terrifying. After greeting they both sat down at the near sofa. "So now that you have arrived Zelilios, I am very happy because we can attack many places of those blood traitors, Washuu Clan. Previously I had only limited possibilities as they hidden elders have terrifying power. I believed you have read my report about my fight with the Grand Elder of the Washuu Clan, Washuu Tsunekashi." Zellilios nodded his head as he was aware of that. When he read that report for the first time he was amazed by that. Not because Lucien won, this was something obvious and expectable but rather the power of that Grand Elder of the Washuu Clan, Washuu Tsunekashi. It was obvious that he wasn''t cultivator or anything, and still, he reached such a formidable level of power in this Low-Grade World. "Your first task would be to guard my future wife Itori and together with her you would kill several Associate Special Class ghoul investigators and Special Class Ghoul Investigators. Collect those corpses into the interspatial ring and bring them back to me." Yes, now that Vampires and Sacred Devourer Ghoul merged, Vampires gave out their legacies too. One of them was quite a lot of interspatial rings, that had huge use. They didn''t have a big capacity, but it wouldn''t be a problem for them to store several hundred corpses. Zelilios nodded with a serious expression. This order was of utmost priority. Because he had to kill the strongest people of the Commission of Counter Ghoul, that would greatly weaken the Washuu Clan. And more important was of course safety of Itori, who was a future wife if Crown Prince of the Holy Niflheim Empire. For Zelilios this was the perfect opportunity to gain huge merit. He too knew that Lucien wasn''t a stingy person and he greatly valued his people. Zelilios also admired Lucien because of his hard-working nature and willpower. From an early age was Lucien constantly training and creating new ways for Sacred Devourer Ghoul to get stronger. He also created something as miraculous as RC Body Refining Technique and obtained another miraculous technique as Eight Celestial Inner Gates. OF course, there were also things as his agreement with the Administrator of Akashic Records, Administrator of Life and Death, Kelemvor about Sacred Devourer Ghoul race. This last thing was known only by upper echelons of the Holy Niflheim Empire and nobody else. 83 Sure to kill lis "So I have chosen four people as the primary targets. All of them have the rank of are strongest ghoul investigators of the Commission of Counter Ghoul.Two of them are Special Class Ghoul Investigators, namely Shinohara Yukinori and Kuroiwa Iwao. Then Associate Special Class Chino Mutsumi and finally most troublesome is Suzuya Juuzou. His strength is very hard to determine." Said, Lucien, as he gave some important documents about all the people there. These documents contained important information about all four ghoul investigators. There were many things such as their quinque, abilities and so on. Zelilius started reading through them. The first one was the most troublesome, Suzuya Juuzouu. His priority was of utmost importance as he had very good potential and innate talent. ============================================= Name: Suzuya Juuzou Ghoul Investigators Rank: Rank 3 (real rank between First-Class and Associate Special Class) Appearence: Young-looking man with an androgynous appearance, with pale skin and pure shoulder-length white hair. In his hair he wears red hairpins, which form the Roman numeral XIII, keeping back his bangs. He has dark red eyes with bags under them. Abilities: Pain Tolerance: Extremely high pain tolerance, thanks to his life with Big Madam and countless special circumstances led him to have extremely high pain tolerance and also him being mentally very unstable. We could conclude that the subject is crazy to some amount. Swordsmanship/Knife Throwing: Very good at wielding a sword to some extent, but his stronger side is knife throwing at targets. Has very good combat instincts and also could adapt to new situations easily. Also, he is very good at fighting with his knives and dagger-like weapons. Quinque: Scorpion 1/56 - B-rated bikaku quinque that takes the form of a Throwing Knife. It is a set of 56 blades that can be used both as melee and throwing weapons. Conclusion: Target is extremely dangerous due to his current power and also big potential. It should be disposed of as soon as possible. Extremely unstable mentally and very hard to control. Due to these circumstances is extermination only choice. Priority: Kill at all costs ============================================= "Zelilius remember, this one is a priority. Even if you kill just him, it would be considered a success because he had great potential and could become second Arima Kishou. But the problem with Suzuya is that he is crazy and can''t be controlled. The only person who can control him is Shinohara Yukinori, who is loyal to the Commission of COunter Ghoul." Zelilius nodded and then took out another page. This one described another ghoul investigator, this time it was rather unknown Chino Mutsumi, Associate Special Class Ghoul Investigator. ============================================= Name: Chino Mutsumi Ghoul Investigators Rank: Associate Special Class Appearence: Middle-aged man, with short black hair and glasses, just like the other investigators, he wears a formal suit and tie. Abilities: Unknown, one of weaker Associate Special Classes, but has good leading abilities and he is usually tasked with leading weaker ghoul investigators or other cannon fodder troops of the CCG. Qunique: Lily 1 - Not enough information Conclusion: One of the weaker Associate Special Classes, but killing him would create at least some chaos because CCG would lose capable ghoul investigator. Priority: Low-Level, Kill if there is a possibility ============================================= This one was weaker and he was on the sure kill list only because of his rank. If he wasn''t Associate Special Class Ghoul Investigator Lucien wouldn''t even bother to put his name of the list. Next remained only two people. Both Special Class Ghoul Investigators and one of the strongest ghoul investigators in entire Commission of Counter Ghoul. The first one was Shinohara Yukinori. ============================================= Name: Shinohara Yukinori Ghoul Investigators Rank: Special Class Appearence: Middle-aged, bulky man with a large nose and a wide chin. He has short black hair and a beard. Abilities: An experienced veteran who has encountered as many powerful ghouls as the number of students he has taught. Very good combat instincts and also has plenty of experiences as he fought countless strong ghouls and killed many of them. Qunique: Demon Yamada - Is an S-rated bikaku-type quinque that takes the form of a long butcher knife. Arata - A prototype koukaku quinque that is made not as a weapon, but as an armor to protect and enhance the user. The exoskeleton strengthens the user''s agility and strength to match an SS or SSS ghoul''s physique. The carapace gives better protection against kagune than normal body armor and it is more energy efficient than most quinque, presumably since it draws energy from the user''s body. Unlike most quinque that are fed preservatives, the Arata can be manually set to higher levels of Rc for the effects to be more potent, at the cost of the wearer''s vigor. At the time, it is still a prototype and the armor cannot be used safely for a long period of time. Conclusion: Veteran Special Class Ghoul Investigator and also one of the most important people in the CCG. Highly loyal to the CCG and must be killed. His death would greatly weaken entire CCG and also the power of the Washuu Clan. Also, he is one of the division leaders of the CCG, so his priority must be enhanced. Priority: High-Level, Kill. ============================================= Zelilius read through these reports and his blood was already boiling as he couldn''t wait when he would fight with them and kill them one by one. One must know that with the usage of Arata to its full potential one could rival the strength of Low-Grade Baron or even Mid-Grade Baron if he disregards everything, his life included. This was a danger of only armor-type quinque, Arata. And if experienced ghoul investigator has it, then its danger is even higher. And the last one was also Special Class Ghoul Investigators, Kuroiwa Iwao. ============================================= Name: Kuroiwa Iwao Ghoul Investigators Rank: Special Class Appearence: Large stocky man with a square face, thick eyebrows, and round eyes. Abilities: An experienced veteran ghoul investigator and fighter. Very good combat instincts and also has plenty of experiences as he fought countless strong ghouls and killed many of them. Abnormal durability and Strength: It was noticed that he has a strong ability to recover from wounds at a fast rate. Also, he has extremely high physical strength. Several times of average man. Qunique: Kuroiwa Special - Is an S-rated rinkaku-type quinque, that resembles a large shield, it could be used to attack and defend. Arata - A prototype koukaku quinque that is made not as a weapon, but as an armor to protect and enhance the user. The exoskeleton strengthens the user''s agility and strength to match an SS or SSS ghoul''s physique. The carapace gives better protection against kagune than normal body armor and it is more energy efficient than most quinque, presumably since it draws energy from the user''s body. Unlike most quinque that are fed preservatives, the Arata can be manually set to higher levels of Rc for the effects to be more potent, at the cost of the wearer''s vigor. At the time, it is still a prototype and the armor cannot be used safely for a long period of time. Conclusion: Veteran Special Class Ghoul Investigator and also one of the most important people in the CCG. Highly loyal to the CCG and must be killed. His death would greatly weaken entire CCG and also the power of the Washuu Clan. Also, he is one of the division leaders of the CCG, so his priority must be enhanced. Priority: High-Level, Kill. ============================================= 84 Preparations complete "Remember try to dispose of Suzuya Juuzou. He is your highest priority target. If you kill him, then you could go after Kuroiwa Iwao and Shinohara Yukinori. This last one, Chino Mutsumi, Itori would take care of him, as he is significantly weaker than other ghoul investigators." Zelilius nodded his head and set his mindset to kill Suzuya Juuzou at first because he couldn''t be controlled so the only option was to kill him. "Now tell me what do you think about them?" Asked Lucien with curiosity. He believed that Holy Imperial Knight Zelilios already had some plan and also some opinion about four of them. "If we go from weakest to strongest then that Chino Mutsumi is weakest and he doesn''t need to be prioritized. He is probably someone who spent his entire life in the CCG and climbed through the ranks after several decades through hard work and not a personal strength. Compared to him, the rest of them are totally different cases." Lucien nodded, as this was absolute truth. There always existed some people like Chino Mutsumi in the CCG. They were very weak in combat, but they had spent countless years in the CCG and were highly loyal to the Commission. This was the only reason why somebody like him was Associate Special Class Ghoul Investigator, as even some First Class Ghoul Investigators were stronger than people like them. "Kuroiwa Iwao and Shinohara Yukinori. Both of them are Special Class Ghoul Investigators, but that doesn''t make them dangerous. What makes them dangerous is that they hold that armor-type quinque Arata that could drastically rise strength of the user. Both of them are experienced fighters and also leaders. If they are killed then the CCG would be greatly hurt. And lastly that mad kid, Suzuya Juuzou. Based on that he is greatly talented and has other strong sides, he would be useful for us. But sadly his mental state is messed due to all that torture by Big Madam, and thus can''t be converted. The only option is to kill him to prevent future troubles." Lucien was very satisfied after talking with Zelilius. It was clear that the Holy Imperial Knight N0.3 was very intelligent and knew what should be done. Lucien then sent him to the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory, because he didn''t want to have him attract attention. Who knows where are some agents of Vasuki or some spies of the Washuu Clan hiding. There was also one person who should be on that list, Marude Itsuki. He was usually commander of the forces of CCG and almost never participated in direct fights. As he was always barricaded in the various command centers, it would be troublesome to kill someone like him, who is very well protected. Lucien ordered Zelilius to attack when they would be fighting with Owl. Then Itori would also join and together with Zelilius they would strike when enemies would be preoccupied with the Owl, Yoshimura. ============================================= December 12, 0 ASBI Time went by and now only one week remained before 11th Ward Battle and Cochlea Raid. Lucien was currently in the 24th Ward talking with Eto about preparations. "CCG started suppressing the local ghouls of the 11th Ward. Thanks to this we have managed to obtain more manpower and new ghouls joined the Aoigiri Tree. Soon we would attack all ghoul investigators in retaliation, which would lead the CCG''s local branch to launch the war against us." CCG started suppressing the local ghouls because somebody was too hard to control. They were wreaking havoc here and there, killing many people in the process. Even Rize lived here, six months before the Steel Beam Incident, but after she killed and eaten too many people, many ghoul investigators moved in. "Oh, I must inform you that my reinforcements arrived. During the 11th Ward Battle Special Class Ghoul Investigators, Shinohara Yukinori and Kuroiwa Iwao would die with ease." Hearing this Eto grew happier as two loyal supporters of the CCG would die. She didn''t care about how many people died. The only thing which mattered for her was the destruction of the Washuu Clan and Vasuki. Then she started passionately kissing Lucien on his lips without a stop for several minutes until Lucien left. After he left, Eto muttered something in a very weak voice, that didn''t go unnoticed by Lucien as his reflexes were many times stronger. "Soon, you will be mine, my love." ============================================= Helter Skelter Bar, 14th Ward "Here are the targets for the 11th Ward Battle. I have ordered Holy Imperial Knight Zelilios to protect you all time, but he also has his duties. You have only one target, Associate Special Class Ghoul Investigator, Chino Mutsumi, after that you would go and help Zelilios in completing his won assignments." Explained Lucien situation to Itori. He was aware of her need to help him, but due to her own weaker strength, Lucien didn''t let her join his battles with the Washuu Clan. Now they were fighting just Commission of Counter Ghoul, which was significantly weaker than the Washuu Clan so it was okay. "Oki, Oki, dear. You know that I am very happy that I can help you at least with this. In the future when I got strong I would be able to help you much more." Said Itori and Lucien smiled at this and stroked her orange hair. Lucien spent entire night here with Itori as the talked about various things, mainly Lucien telling her interesting information about multiverse and others. As proper gentleman Lucien wanted their first time to be a memorable moment, so he planned it on 24th of December, Christmas Eve. At Christmas, there was a somewhat magical atmosphere and romantic time. So Lucien thought this would be a perfect opportunity and also it would be nice to go to some mountain resort, where everything is covered in snow. He very enjoyed that environment. Now only less than a week remained till the 11th Ward Battle which would be a major event, as many of important characters in the CCG would die and also Cochlea would be breached and many ghouls would escape the prison. 85 One more time 15th December, 0 ASBI Even though it was already December, there wasn''t even snow or anything out there. Only coldness and sometimes it would rain. Maybe those all talks about global warming weren''t false after all. Today was already 15th of Demeber, only four days remained till the 11th Ward Battle and start of the grand plan. Today Lucien took Zelilios and both of them went to Ateiku and also then they would go visit 11th Ward. Zelilios wanted to see the place where would be the 11th Ward Battle taking the place because after that he could decide the most perfect strategy. Both of them were clothed in pitch black suits and wearing black long coats and hats. Zelilios was following after Lucien and guarding him every second, as it was his responsibility as Holy Imperial Knight. ============================================= Anteiku Coffee, 20th Ward Lucien and Zelilios arrived at the Anteiku after a short time, as Lucien teleported both of them to near back alley. With this, they could go more unnoticed by the Washuu Clan and also Vasuki. After they entered the coffee, Lucien noticed that it was almost empty and only people here were waiters and one a very few customers. Because it was before noon, around ten hours after morning, even Touka was missing before she was still visiting a school. Lucien now noticed knew a face, Irimi Kaya. Because he wasn''t visiting the Anteiku often, and only visited for special occasions, he never saw it until now. She was a woman with long, dark hair with long, parted locks in the front. At first glance, she seemed to be a rather solemn and taciturn woman. Even Lucien must admit that she was a hot woman and very beautiful. Besides her, there was also Nishio Nishiki surprisingly, and of course Old man Yoshimura. Lucien sat down at a table that was near the window and Zelilius stood behind him, as loyal guardian. This was because he was formally a guard for Crown Prince, and without consent, he could''s sit down as he was still performing his duty. "You can sit down Zelilios, now there isn''t any danger here, as this could be considered as a relatively safe place. Sit down and enjoy a coffee. They are making a very good one." Soon there came person to their table and that person was Nishiki. He had a weird expression on his face as he remembered how Lucien knocked him out or somebody told him that. To this Lucien smiled and decided to provoke him a little, because it would be fun to watch the show. Nishiki was a hot-blooded person a bit and he was easily angered. "Hoi, you are already healed." To this sentence, his eyebrows twitched in anger as he was visibly going to explode. Nishiki was also a prideful person because for a ghoul young as him, he was a relatively strong person. He could get over fact that Touka has beaten him once and Lucien knocked him out in one punch. "Shut up you fucker. If it weren''t for that sneak attack I could have easily beaten you." He was considered a prodigy and genius, but he has a very insensitive attitude and abrasive language. The moment he said that Zelilios shot at him, knocked him down on the table and pressed kagune dagger to his neck. "Insolence. For insulting the Crown Prince I should separate your head from the rest." Said Zelilios with bloodlust, as this caught attention from Irimi Kaya and also Kaneki Ken came here and looked with shock at the situation that happened. They saw Nishiki who had kagune dagger pressed against his neck by a strange man, that was releasing extremely dangerous aura. Kaneki did''s know how dangerous that man was as his instincts weren''t that developed. But Irimi knew, she knew that he was far more dangerous than most ghouls she encountered in her entire life. "Mr. Aeon, could your friend please release Nishiki? I would personally make sure that he would control his speech properly next time." Said Old man Yoshimura as he appeared out of nowhere and looked at Lucien, who nodded his head. Then Zelilios released Nishiki who was panting for breath, as Zelilios almost strangled him out of anger. Then he sat down beside Lucien and kept watching trees behind the window. "Two espressos, please. Large ones." Said Lucien to Yoshimura who nodded and went to prepare the coffee. Soon they coffees were delivered by Yoshimura who sat beside them and started talking with Lucien about recent developments. "Washuu Clan and Vasuki lost a huge part of their manpower so they are severely injured now. I don''t know to what extent but I have managed to kill one Grand Elder of the Washuu Clan and several of their Elders. I won''t talk about agents of the Vasuki as that''s meaningless." Old man Yoshimura smiled lightly hearing this, as he was also happy that the Washuu Clan and Vasuki lost many of their people, as they were always behind that endless circle of killing. "Soon, a huge war would erupt and everyone would fight for survival. Be careful and also gave good advice to your employees. Chaotic times are going to descent, but soon at least the Washuu Clan won''t be a problem anymore. I just need a few years until everything is ready." Said Lucien. He was planning to firstly weaken the Washuu Clan for some time, before going for some time, before everything on the Blood Island would be ready, Then he would deliver his final push. Now he calculated it at four years. After four years, there would be no more Washuu Clan and no more Vasuki. Then it would be on other people to create the fate of this world as nothing would be Lucien''s problem after he left this world together with his race for the God-Devil Plane. "Some of us waited for decades for this happen. I think four years isn''t that bad. When the Washuu Clan is gone, there could be co-existence between our two races." 86 Loss of the CCG 19th December, Evening, 21th Ward, Lucien''s Estate "Over a thousand members of the CCG and Police have surrounded and are waiting to raid the 11th Ward Ghoul''s stronghold. Nearby residents are being evacuated to designated locations by the police. The raid is being commanded by Special Class Investigator Marude Itsuki, who also discovered the location. He spoke confidently about this large-scale operation. ''We will risk our lives to protect 99 percent of the citizens. But we will need everybody''s cooperation for the other 1 percent. We will regain peace in the 11th Ward.''" Was going in the news and Lucien was watching it with eager as he was preparing his battle attire. He wore his battle attire and also his Hollow Mask. Zelilios also wore his combat attire, which was a little similar to his and wore also a similar mask to Lucien''s. "The battle has begun. You will go to the 11th Ward and kill those people on the list and protect Itori. I am going to wreak havoc at the Cochlea Prison together with Tatara. Be careful and complete your mission." Said, Lucien, as he finished preparing all his necessary things. "Yes, your Highness." ============================================= Sometime after the start of the operation, 11th Ward On the roof of the building, there were several people on cloaks and masks standing. Two in identical outfits and masks were Bin Brothers, strengthened by blood essences, they were now stronger than ordinary S-rated ghouls. Other ones were Noro, in typical red cloak of the Aogiri Tree and he was wearing that weird smiling mask of his and Tarata in his traditional white attire, a remnant of Chi She Lian and red half-maks covering the lower half of his face. Eto was looking at soldiers of CCG beneath them, as she was covered in bandages. Last ones were Nico, member of the Clowns and associate of the Aogiri Tree. He was a spy, that was planted by Clowns in the Aogiri Tree, but it was the truth that he helped them greatly by giving them various important information and so on. Kirishima Ayato was doing the same thing as Eto, observing those soldiers of the CCG beneath them. "They are here faster than expected." Said, Eto, as she watched those soldiers of the CCG running here and there as they were creating they barricade and fortifications. "Yes... Bin Brothers to the main building!" Answered Tatara and at the same time, he started giving orders. "Yes." Said both of them simultaneously. "Kirishima, back. We need to go now Eto, Noro from now you are in charge." After that, both of them walked away and met with Lucien. "Hello, Eto, Tatara. I am glad that my supplies are given good use. I have ordered one of the strongest subordinates to stay here and hunt for the stronger ghoul investigators. Once an Owl arrives here you could use that chaos for your people to escape. Now we must go to the Cochlea." Lucien went also to the 11th Ward to meet with Eto and Tatara and after a short talk, they left for the Cochlea Prison, together with most of Aogiri members. Even though the 11th Ward would have lesser people, they were actually better-prepared thanks to Lucien''s support. CCG created a barricade with use of their armored transports and there were many people stationed, mainly those cannon fodder carrying firearms with Q Bullets. But the Aogiri Tree was armed even better as Lucien ordered complete fortification built there. On the building, there were many heavy machine guns, more precisely M2 Browning machine guns. Several of them were firing at the cannon fodders of the CCG, killing tens of them in the first wave. This caused their numbers greatly lessen, as there were now much more vulnerable. After they tried to resist, there would be surprised by grenade launchers. Even though members of the Aogiri Tree weren''t that good at shooting, Lucien''s mercenaries taught them all they could, and some of them were also there operating the M2 Browning machine guns. ============================================= As the battle was going on, the CCG was suffering heavy losses. Ghouls were using their kagunes as shields, greatly reducing the damage done by the CCG to them. Only one suffering was the cannon fodder as they were falling like flies. This didn''t go unnoticed by the Marude Itsuki who was raging at seeing this. His subordinate Mabuchi Katsuya, Rank 1 Ghoul Investigator gave him just now report about the situation. "Sir, the building that serves as the base of the Aogiri Tree, is heavily fortified. They have several M2 Browning machine guns and were are unable to even leave the barricade. Besides that, they are using their kagunes as a shield to defend against our attacks, which greatly reduces our combat power. We have already lost almost one hundred people after an hour of the attack." Marude Itsuki frowned hearing this, as it was clear that this would be nothing more than stalemate if they can''t breach through this barricade. But because the enemy had several M2 Browning machine guns, it was impossible. The only chance would be waiting for a good opportunity to push through. In another part of the battle zone, there were several people of the CCG talking. Shinohara Yukinori, Amon Koutarou and also Suzuya Juuzou were talking together. Suzuya was bored because they weren''t attacking and also his mindset required battle. He was a young-looking man with an androgynous appearance, with pale skin and pure shoulder-length white hair. In his hair he wears red hairpins, which form the Roman numeral XIII (13), keeping back his bangs. He had dark red eyes with bags under them. "... aren''t we attacking?" Asked he, in a bored voice as he looked at the non-changing status of battle. "We can''t attack" Answered Amon, who was standing behind him with crossed arms, as he was too observing the battle before him. Everybody knew that this wasn''t going in a good way. If they can''t solve this, the only conclusion would be either terrible loses or retreat. "They have large amounts of firearms and are heavily armed. I don''t know from where they have obtained such amount of firearms, but it appears that either the Aoigiri Tree obtained themselves or somebody is sponsoring them. Another thing, they have a better position than us, as they are above. They could pick us off from there." Explained Amon to Suzuya. Even though he was relatively younger, he was a very intelligent and experienced person. 87 R.I.P. Motorcycle "What if we go around back?" Asked Suzuya, now he looked like he found an America continent. "It''s too risky... we could be ambushed. Besides the other side is the ocean. The surrounding forest makes it difficult to flank them. Attacking from towers 1 and 2 in the front is the safest plan." Said Amon, the best strategy for this battle. But even that didn''t stop curious Suzuya from asking all useless question, as he was lacking common sense about many things. "And also... why are we using guns against ghouls? Bullets don''t penetrate kagune, do they?" Shinohara Yukinori was only standing there and kept silence. He let Amon answer all of Juuzo''s questions, as it was usually him who was giving him the common sense. "Not normal lead bullets. The CCG uses kagune bullets. They are known as Q Bullets. They have dissolved kagune mixed into them. It''s effective against all four types of kagune. Using kagune bullets is to some degree an effective option. Strictly to some degree though." Q Bullets were only useful against weaker ghouls, who had weaker kagune. To some stronger ones, they were practically useless as normal bullets. But still, in large amounts, they were able to kill some ghouls and injure those strong ones to some extent. Even if a smaller one. "Hmm... I didn''t know about that. You know so much Amon." Said Suzuya as he was playing with his hands. "It''s only thinly coated. Since the material can only be obtained from ghouls. In a one-on-one situation, quinque is the best weapon. Long range quinque io much more effective than any Q Bullet. Not having that tonight is our biggest drawback." Said Shinora from the back. ''If only Arima were here'' was also hearing faintly, as he said that with a very weak voice. "Will my scorpion be effective?" Turning to Shinohara, Suzuya asked. "Should be... But don''t use it against strong ghouls. You will die. If Jason or Bin Brothers show up, avoid them." Warned him, Shinohara. "Okay,..." Muttered Suzuya and after that, he turned against to Amon. There was still a battle going on, all around them, but they were still able to converse calmly. "I would like to see your quinque too, Amon... What Kaku is it?" "... Koukaku." "Amon is good with heavy ones." Remarked Shinohara as he was watching the entire discussion with an amused face. "Can I borrow It?" Asked Suzuay with eager. His real meaning, of course, was ''Can I have it actually?''. Even though he was a little crazy he was an extremely good fighter and also he was addicted to combat and slaughter. "No." Answered Amon in an instant with a cold voice as he watched the progress of the battle. "Shinohara." Was heard behind them, a new person came here. It was Kuroiwa Iwao. Special Class Ghoul Investigator and also one person on Lucien''s sure to kill list. "Iwaccho." Iwaccho was his nickname that some people used to call him. "Hey..." "How''s it going in the front?" Asked Shinohara. "Its standstill, but we have suffered some heavy losses. They are extremely well and heavily fortified. Marude is already totally frustrated. .... We are trying to come up with a different route. Although breaking through from the front would be the quickest way... but that would cost us a lot." Summarized the situation on the front Kuroiwa. "Ghouls using humans weapons. Now that''s funny. Our commander is screaming to bring in tanks." In the meantime, Suzuya found something interesting. It was a luxurious old-school motorcycle, that looked very nice and it belonged to Marude. "Sir." Asked Suzuya curiously as he watched that motorcycle. Mm?" "Whose bike is that?" "Oh, that? ... That''s Marude''s. He drives it even to crime scenes. Tao shows it off." "..." ============================================= Front Currently, Marude''s mood was only worsening and he was like a time bomb. Nobody knew when he would explode as he was totally pissed. His subordinate Mabuchi knew that situation was pretty bad as Marude already even stopped talking and his expression was already beyond ugly. "Hey, gimme your rifle." Said Marude to one of the soldiers, that was beside him. "What...?" Asked soldiers in a confused voice. "Just give it to me!!" Screamed Marude as he took the rifle from soldier''s hands. He immediately took shooting stance and started shooting at some ghouls, that were in the visible places. After several second he managed to kill two ghouls, that weren''t covered properly by shooting their heads. "Where did you guys learn to shoot?! Kids in the arcade are better shots than you!! Now hurry up and get rid of those snipers and machine guns. Damm it!!" Screamed Marude at all people around him in frustration. He wasn''t a special class for nothing. Even though he didn''t usually participate in direct confrontations, he was still very strong. And his biggest specialty was shooting. "Oof, Oof." Was heard from the distance. It was Suzuya yelling that, as he was already sitting on Marude''s bike. "That looks exactly like my bike." Said Marude as he was watching Suzuya, not aware that soon he is going to lose something very precious to him. "Yeh, it''s yours." Said Mabuchi to him. "Yeah, right. I have my keys right here..." Said Marude as he searching through his pockets on his coat, but found nothing. It was apparent that Suzuya stole his keys and also now was stealing his bike. "Could you please move?" Yelled Suzuay at them, because they were standing in his road. He was planning to use that bike to breach that fortification of the ghouls, inside that building, and he was using Marude''s bike as the sacrifice. "W-wait... What''s he doing with my bike?" Asked Marude with fear in his voice. And this fear was only getting bigger and bigger when the bigger was started and Suzuya was riding it here. "I dunno..." Said Mabuchi to this, as he was watching this with an amused expression because Marude literary loved his bike the most. "No... No, No!!! No, No, No!!" Screamed Marude with full might as he was rushing at Suzuya. "Wait, stop, w-wait!! Stop." Marude managed to catch Suzuya and was handing on the back and dragged by Suzuya who was riding the bike. This caught the attention of the majority of people here. "Juzo?! Maru!! Let go!! Let go!! You''re gonna get hurt, you idiot." Yelled Shinohara at Marude who was stubbornly holding at his bike, not letting go. "He is the... Idiot!!!!" Screamed Marude as he let go of the bike. Then Suzuya with bike shot through the air and aimed at the fortification of the ghouls. Then he stood up on the bike and prepared to jump at the fortification. But something happened. Shadow appeared before him and spear pierced through entire Suzuya and also a motorcycle. All of that happened in an instant, and people only saw how Suzuya fell down, with the kagune spear in his chest, piercing through his heart. Both of them, Suzuya and motorcycle, fell down, and motorcycle exploded because it was also severely damaged. Zelilios has accomplished his first target, killing Suzuya Juuzou successfully. Even though he was now weak, he had great potential and he was a too unstable factor. He must be eliminated at all costs. 88 Owl Immediately after Suzuya Juuzou was killed something more interesting happened. Suddenly there all ghoul intensified their firing rate by several times and a launched wave of another attack. They shotted smoke screen grenades, several tens of them. The entire area was covered in huge smoke, nobody saw anything and you couldn''t even properly breath because of the smoke. Inside the building, Aogiri Tree members were currently retreating leaving an only a minority of them behind.Those who remained were controlling those heavy machine guns, M2 Browning machine guns to do more damages to the CCG, by killing many of their cannon fodders. "Juuzou!!" Screamed Shinohara after he saw Suzuya getting killed. He was something like surrogate-parent to him, cause after he was rescued from the Big Madam, Shinohara was taking care of him and teaching him many things. Now all that was gone, as he was killed. But still, he controlled his emotions, and stepped back, because of the smoke screen covering entire area and fierce shooting from the ghouls operating M2 Browning machine guns. In a meanwhile, Zelilios also disappeared and was currently helping many of Aogiri Tree members to escape through hidden tunnels and metro, under the building. Also, people from Anteiku successfully infiltrated the building and were searching for Kaneki Ken. After ten minutes or so, after smoke slowly vanished, they found that there were only a few ghouls remaining on the positions, and many of CCG cannon fodder members, concentrated their firepower at those positions, and after some effort they managed to get rid of those ghouls, thus breaking through this frontline. "Everyone charge!!!" Screamed Marude Itsuki as all of the CCG cannon fodder members and also ghoul investigators charged at their target, which was base of the Aogiri Tree. Currently, they suffered heavily loses, and from the original one thousand or so, only eight hundred remained alive. But when they finally entered the building, surprise waited from them. It was almost empty. Only a few ghouls, remained there, but those were quickly disposed of by many ghoul investigators who were here. One of them was also Hirako Take, member of the Squad 0 under command of Arima Kishou. They occupied those buildings by lightning speed as they were almost empty and soon entire surroundings were controlled by the Commission of Counter Ghoul and many of building also. The only main building, which was base of the Aogiri Tree in the 11th Ward wasn''t still fully under their control. But as CCG were going here and there, a few strong ghouls remained here and hunted for the doves. One of them was Kirishima Ayato, who was now many times stronger thanks to blood essences, but still, his arrogance and idiotism weren''t at properly lowered. They slaughtered them like ants, especially Ayato and Bin Brothers, they were practically unstoppable in the mass of ordinary cannon fodder members of the CCG. They were waiting for Noro to finish his part. And his part was planting explosives to bury this place together with countless people of the CCG. This would give them enough time for most important part of the plan, Cochlea Raid. ============================================= After a short time, CCG quickly took control of surrounding buildings, and places. What was rather disturbing was fact that they didn''t encounter a lot of ghouls, barely twenty altogether and all of them were extremely weak, below B-rate. Many could already guess that, rest of them already escaped to another place or are hiding somewhere. But what was more troublesome than that, was the appearance of a new person. One-Eyed Owl has shown. This was getting too problematic already. Owl was rated as SSS-rate ghoul, extremely dangerous one, and only one person could fight with it, White Reaper Arima Kishou, who wasn''t here now. "Tch... If only Arima were here... Who gives a crap about some emergency investigation of the two-four!!" Cursed Marude Itsuki in command center when he heard the message about the One-Eyed Owl from Shinohara Yukinori. The appearance of this ghoul turned the entire operation to the whole new level. Even that fortification created by several heavy machines guns, M2 Brownings, wasn''t that serious. "Shinohara! Only keep competent men that are expendable... and send the rest to the other towers. If you two can''t handle him then nobody can. It''ll just be a waste of lives and won''t buy us any time, either. Deal with him with the lowest number of men possible. Over and out." Gave orders Marude as he sat weakly at his chair in the command center. He watched the entire situation through the cameras. ============================================= At one location, there was another fight going on, between Kaneki Ken and Ayato Kirishima. Although Ayato was stronger than in the past, he was still at some disadvantage against Kaneki with his fearsome rinkaku kagune. The battle progressed in Kaneki''s advantage until Ayato chose to escape using his ukaku kagune, he flew away. Kaneki then took unconsciousness Touka in princess carry and took her away. ============================================= Zelilios was currently watching the fight between the One-Eyed Owl and two Special Class Ghoul Investigators, Shinohara Yukinori and Kuroiwa Iwao. Both of them were covered in their armor-type quinque, Arata Proto and wielding they respective quinques. Armor Arata Proto, looked like some futuristic exoskeleton armor, it was black in color and had blue lines through the entire armor. Both Shinohara Yukinori and Kuroiwa Iwao charged at the One-Eyed Owl and rest of the ghoul investigators were covering them, by providing cover fire and support. Yoshimura in his Owl-form was an extremely fearsome and dangerous ghoul. He had ukaku type kagune and constantly released crystal-like attack, that was aimed at both of ghoul investigators. When they got close enough to him and both of them slashed their quinques at Yoshimura with full power, their attacks were easily blocked by him. Yoshimura was more experienced than both of them, and he even managed to counterattack and knock them away several meters. "This Arata''s got one helluva protective feature for a prototype... we would have died twice by now if we were using gear from ten years ago." Said, Shinohara, while panting for breath. "Yeah... Using a kakuja kagune makes all the difference." ''He''s got an ukaku that is best suited for long range attacks... at close range, he is got the kagune on his shoulders... on top of that, he''s got a shotgun-like kagune that covers close to midrange.'' Though Shinohara in his mind as he watched Shinohara. "But man... I don''t think he''s gonna run out of steam either... this is what you call having all bases covered. The Owl is without a doubt the wort of the ghouls." 89 Fiasco After that, he looked at another person standing there, with an indifferent expression, who was still calm as ever. Hirako Take. Heis of average height and his facial features have been described as "plain," or "bland." He usually has a blank expression on his face. Always calm and indifferent. He was a perfect duo with Arima Kishou, who was his mentor. ''Senior Investigator Hirako... he didn''t stand out much in the academy, but after joining the bureau, he partnered up with Arima who was, at the time, 22 years old and an Associate Special Class Investigator. While working with Arima, he eliminated a group of clown mask ghouls and made outstanding contributions in the 24th Ward investigation with his sound work ethic. His partnership with Investigator Arima lasted six years until he was promoted to Senior Investigator. Hira''s the guy who''s watched Arima the most up close. The one gut with firsthand knowledge of how Arima engaged the Owl.'' Was going through the mind of Shinohara Yukinori as he was waiting for Hirako to make a move. If somebody could think about efficient strategy then it would be only Hirako as he watched Arima fight Owl several times and even participated in some fights against Owl. Hirako gripped his quinque and rushed at Owl/Yoshimura, and slashed at the target with full force. He dodged counterattack of the Yoshimura and hit his target. To this, both Shinohara and Kuroiwa used this chance and attacked Owl together with their quinques and with the usage of Arata Proto. At first, it appeared that they got the Owl and managed to subdue it. But it was not the case. "It''s over." "Yeah." "We lost." Said three voices at almost the same time after another. It was apparent that their plan has failed. Owl was totally unscratched. "The owl''s kakuho can''t be fatally damaged even with both Special Investigator''s quinques. Even though both were made from kagune of S-rated ghouls." Stated Hirako as he observed Owl and both Special Class Investigators Shinohara and Kuroiwa were prepared to attack the Owl again as they had the support of the Arata. But the attacks were all useless and they couldn''t even injure Owl. Even leaving scratch seemed impossible. "Iwaccho. How far were we allowed to take these prototypes?" Said Shinohara to Kuroiwa as he already knew that this situation was hopeless. They weren''t able to even injure the Owl, let alone to defeat it. "... You think what I''m thinking?" "Yeah. Let''s do it." Said Shinohara with resolution and both of them stood up and pressed the hidden button on the neck part of the Arata. Then entire armor started glowing in malicious bloody red color and releasing fearful aura. ============================================= In another part of the complex, there were several tens of ghoul investigators searching through the building. Leading them was Chino Mutsumi, Associate Special Class ghoul investigator. They had yet to find some ghouls and after some time, they finally found them. There were around ten members of the Aogiri Tree, hiding. Leading them were Bin Brothers. But there was also somebody else, who didn''t belong to the Aogiri Tree. It was a woman, in weird attire, which was actually similar to Lucien''s battle attire. She had long orange hair and was wearing a noseless carnival clown mask with a toothy grin. The mask has a heart with three dots as its right eye and clover as its left eye with spades besides them and a protruding chin. Itori was here hiding, amongst them, waiting for a good opportunity. Similarly to Zelilios who was waiting for his, which was after explosives would explode an entire building would collapse. Then he would strike and harvest lives. Itori has hidden amongst members of the Aogiri Tree and was in a group which was under the leadership of the Bin Brothers. Two brothers didn''t know who she was, but they only heard from Tatara if something happened to her, death would be salvation for them, if her fiance¨¦ found them, as he was more powerful ghoul than Eto. So they didn''t dare to be disrespectful to her and let her do what she wanted. Cannon fodder soldiers of the CCG took firing positions under the command of the Chino Mutsumi and at the moment they started shooting, Itori charged out, with full speed. She congealed several kagune tails, of her rinkaku kagune and attacked the line of the cannon fodder soldiers, killing several of them in an instant. As this happened too quickly not even one of them had some time to react and even Associate Special Class wasn''t an exception, as he wasn''t a very good fighter. Rather than a fighter, he was used to leading a squad of these cannon fodder soldiers. Itori took her chance as she slashed her tails as his hand, which was holding the quinque, swiftly severing his hand. Blood squirted from his arm, and poor man kneeled on the ground. He looked at Itori with clear fear in his eyes, as she calmly severed his head from his body. Then she turned to the members of the Aogiri Tree and Bin Brothers, who finished killing rest of the cannon fodder soldiers and even killed several weak ghoul investigators. Of course, those investigators were killed by the Bin Brothers, as they were now many times stronger thanks to the blood essences. Only a little amount was missing and they would reach the SS-rate. "Clean it here and quickly leave this place. Soon entire building would be destroyed." Said Itori as she also exited this place and went to the place, where Zelilios was hiding. She wanted to see the fight between Special Classes and the Owl. And of course the most important part of the show, how Zelilios would kill his targets. She saw how magnifically he killed his first target Suzuya Juuzou and now only two people from the list remained. ============================================= Command Center of the 11th Ward Countermeasures Units "We have lost connection with the Associate Special Class Investigator Chino Mutsumi after he took his squad of several tens of soldiers to explore Tower 7. The only thing which was heard before connection loss were noises of the fight. Probably they were killed by an ambush by the Aogiri Tree." Reported Mabuchi to the Marude Itsuki who was frowning hard after hearing this. The situation was already out of control. They have lost more than three hundred people, including Associate Special Class Investigator and several lower-ranked investigators. Now even Owl has appeared and two Special Class investigators, Shinohara and Kurioiwa were doing their best to keep it out of the battle. One could conclude that this battle is a fiasco. 90 Diversion Special Classes Shinohara and Kuroiwa were having very hard times in dealing with the Owl. Nothing worked even after they activated ''Eat Up'' of the Arata Proto, which greatly boosted their physical capabilities in the general. The price they were paying was great, but the results weren''t. They have exchanged several moves with the Owl, but they weren''t able to injure him or anything. Even though their coordination was one of the best in the entire CCG because they were partners in the past and also friends who trained together. But everything was useless in front of the supreme power. They were using the Arata to its maximum until the effect of the armor-type unique was becoming totally unbearable. Yoshimura was looking at the two Special Class Investigators, which were using Arata even with the cost of their own life with pity. "What a horrifying weapon." Said Yoshimura with sorrowful voice. Both of them were shocked because they heard something unheard. Owl was actually communicating with them. "The world continues to breed anger and sadness. Pilfering, killing. We justify those acts to convince ourselves that we are only doing what we are supposed to. Your weapon is a symbol of that. There exists no reason to take another''s life. Any act of taking a life is equally evil." Both of them were deeply shocked after Yoshimura said those deep words. What an old man Yoshimura said was the actual truth. This was the vicious circle of endless hatred and killing. Nothing more and nothing less. Humans hunted ghouls out of hatred and ghouls would do the same in revenge. Hatred would lead only to another hatred. Yoshimura didn''t like killing others, especially after he defected from the Vasuki. Because of this, he was also nicknamed as Non-Killing Owl. "If there is such a thing as a soul, it seems Arata does not intend to lend you a hand. It''s time..." Said Yoshimura and after that, he immediately rushed away from this place. He escaped. "Shinohara! I''m pulling it off of you! Radio Commander Marude and request a med team." Ordered Kuroiwa as he held heavily injured Shinohara. He was in much better condition than his friend. Zelilios watched everything in the dark and he already chose a target. He would be able to kill one of them and he chose to kill already severely injured Shinohara. "Shinohara. The Owl is an SSS-rated ghoul who has produced countless victims. He''s one of our most wanted targets. We lost countless special investigators to him. Ten years ago during the Anti-Owl operation that took place while I was recuperating, there were wounded, but none were killed. Just like tonight." Who could have thought that there were actually two Owls. One was Yoshimura and another was Eto. He was protecting his daughter by attracting the CCG to him. He was doing it for a very long time, always in the dark. ============================================= Command Center of the 11th Ward Countermeasures Units "Commander Marude Towers 1 through 8 have been cleared! Sadly we didn''t manage to find many ghouls, not even thirty. The squad of the Associate Special Class Investigator Chino Mutsumi was already found and we have confirmed their death by an ambush." Reported one of the soldiers of the CCG. "Hmm... this is getting only worse. Hopefully, nothing bad would happen from now. Prepare a press conference to announce our victory. ETo the public that takes peace for granted. Even though we have some losses we have still managed to destroy lair of the Aoigiri Tree in the 11th Ward." Said Marude with a frown, as they already lost too much in today''s battle. It was the truth, they had suffered heavy losses but they still managed to complete at least the primary objective of this mission. Destruction of the lair of the Aogiri Tree in the 11th Ward. In reality, CCG had a high tolerance for loss of those ordinary cannon fodders. They could be replaced in a year or so, it wasn''t a problem to lose even half of them, even though it would create some problems. "Sir, it''s the main office..." Reported one person behind the communication panel. "Who is it?" "Special Class Investigator Arima." "Arima? I get it, he must have gotten word of my great victory." Marude took the phone from the hands of the assistant at a great speed. "Hello! This is 11th Ward Special Task Force Commander Marude. Hey Arima! While you were out mole hunting, I already took care of business here! Even though we have suffered some loses, we could still go." Said Marude to Arima. "That''s great. Then would you mind sending any available units my way? The Ghoul Detention Center, Cochlea in the 23rd Ward had been attacked. Possibly by the 11th Ward ghouls main unit. We have identified SS-rate Tatara, SS-rate Hollow and S-rate Eto there. Probably entire Cochlea person is already annihilated. I am heading there, right now myself. I''ll see you soon." Finished Arima as he closed the call. "....... Main unit?" Muttered Marude as he weakly sat down at the chair and looked blankly at monitors. No wonder they couldn''t even find some strong ghouls and even number of ghouls here was so little. This was just a trap. Simple diversion of forces. The target of Aogiri Tree was never a defense of this base but rather Cochlea. That was their real target. Entire base in the 11th Ward only served as distraction and trap to weaken their forces and kill some of their people. They would gain enough time to raid Cochlea Prison. Now this entire situation wasn''t even fiasco. It was a pure catastrophe. They fallen into the enemy''s trap and even lost many of their people for nothing. Now only thing which mattered was to aid Cochlea if ghouls there managed to escape that would be terrible. Marude was totally horrified form fact, that SS-rate Hollow has joined them in this attack. He heard about that ghoul, as he was personally identified by the chairman of the CCG, Washuu Tsuneyoshi as extremely dangerous, but till now he wasn''t showing any affiliations to the Aogiri Tree. 91 Cochlea Raid Cochlea Prison, 23th Ward On the roof, building before the Cochlea Detention Center in the 23rd Ward, many people were standing there. Almost all of them were wearing dark red outfits of the Aogiri Tree and also wore identical creepy masks. These were ordinary members of the Aogiri Tree. Only three people were clothed differently. One person wore a pure white robe with a bloody red mask covering his lower face. Tatara, the direct subordinate of the One-Eyed King. Another one was covered in bandages, that was, of course, Eto. And the last person was wearing traditional battle attire of ancient samurais and wore a weird looking skeleton mask. Hollow, Lucien. "When will be the main door open?" Asked Eto with a mischievous voice as she looked at the Cochlea Prison. "Soon." Answered Tatara with a calm voice after he finished giving orders to various members of the Aogiri Tree and commanders of the smaller squads. Their target was to free as many ghouls they could and also to kill the entire staff of the Cochlea. Especially wardens and interrogators. Warden Misaka Kyouji was former Associate Special Class Ghoul Investigator, but that won''t be a problem. Lucien wanted also kill two interrogators, Tokage Goumasa and Kijima Shiki, as they were wicked psychos. But one must admit that they were perfect interrogators, so their death would also be a loss for the CCG. Not talking about that Kijima Shiki was at the strength of an Associate Special Class Investigator. "When the doors open, I would enter first and clean those ants. It would lessen our loses, as our forces would be vulnerable during the entrance to the prison." Said, Lucien, as he watched the door of the Cochlea, which showed some slight movement. It was clear that the door would soon open. He was planning to enter first and kill all those people with firearms to lessen loses of the Aogiri Tree. Then he would go on killing spree, searching for the staff of the Cochlea and especially deputy warden and interrogators. Both Tatara and Eto agreed with him, and then the entire mini army proceeded to the Cochlea. Because outer part, was usually unprotected, they got to the front door very quickly and Lucien stood at the edge of the door, or we should rather say gate, to the Cochlea. "Then I am going. Wait for my signal." Said Lucien, when the gate was opened enough as he congealed his kagune and jumped down. He was falling down at the great speed and faintly admired this prison. The cochlea is built deep underground and is divided into four levels, by the danger of prisoners. Structure''s walls are coated with quinque steel to help keep ghouls secured within. First Floor is designed to imprison the lower-rated ghouls. A-rate and below, practically all of them were here, with exception of very strong and dangerous A-rated ones. Second Floor designated to imprison the S-rated ghouls, which could be deemed as very dangerous. S-rated ghouls are very rare because the natural barrier for ordinary ghouls was A-rate. Very a few of them could cross into the S-rate. Third Floor designated to imprison SS-rated ghouls. In reality, this was the last floor which was usually used, because SSS-rate ghouls, were too rare and mainly they were killed rather than captured. The fourth Floor was for the SSS-rate ghoul, most dangerous and powerful individuals. It was also the smallest floor in the entire Cochlea Detention Center. Underneath the fourth floor was disposal room,fittingly named as it is where ghouls are sent through a compactor to be crushed to death, thereof "disposed." Also, all ghouls in the Cochlea Detention Center were giving often RC suppressants. Those are the drugs used to suppress the activity of the kakuhou. They were specially made by the CCG''s Medical Department, designed for the sole purpose of inhibiting the activity of a ghoul''s Rc cells. The effects to ghouls include slower regeneration, kagune impairment, even the capability of preventing its use at all, and vulnerability to mundane items such as knives; grogginess has been observed but it is unconfirmed to be either an intended symptom or a common side effect. When Rc cell activity is suppressed, it may cause an increase in melanin production that causes changes in hair color. The CCG uses Rc suppressants as a means to subdue a ghoul rather than to exterminate. Cochlea uses it for their ghoul prisoners, to weaken them for interrogation and/or as a measure for caution. Another known use which takes advantage of the ghoul''s newfound vulnerability is for surgery or dissection. As Lucien was falling down, there were tens of the people under him, holding various firearms in their hands as they were shooting at him, to kill. He only smiled at this and congealed several kagune daggers and through his telekinesis, he controlled them to attack that staff. Soon, those kagune daggers shot at the people, who were totally defenseless against such powerful weapons as the kagune daggers and were effortlessly slaughtered, like pigs. After Lucien landed down, he sent one kagune dagger to the sky, as notice for rest of the attacking party to begin the attack. After that countless Aogiri Tree members jumped down and covered the entire area. They were landing at various places of the prison, swiftly killing remaining guards. Thanks to Lucien''s first attack, there were no causalities during the entrance of the Aogiri Tree members. Then Lucien went to the command tower to open all cells for all ghouls in the Cochlea prison. His aim was of course to unlock all door and exits. Command Tower was placed which contained a control panel for the entire prison. Lucien got there were quickly and tore apart the quinque steel doors. He killed two personnel people in an instant and then sat down behind the control panel. Even though he wasn''t some computer expert, he could still open all cells and exits. After that, he would go hunt for the warden and interrogators. 92 Let them enjoy wonders "Tatara, I would now take my leave for the hunt for rats who are hiding here. We will meet at the pre-arranged place after the set time. I wish you good luck." Said, Lucien, and that after he left the command room. Tatara nodded his head and then also exited the command room to fight against wardens of the Cochlea Prison. The roles were already given. Tatara would fight against those who showed themselves and Lucien would go hunt for those who were hiding. After Lucien exited the place, he went to the section, where the interrogation rooms were located. They were located randomly, as some were on Level 1, Level 2 or Level 3. Level 4 was completely devoid of facilities as such because they were rather useless there. No SSS-rate ghoul would be interrogated. Lucien dashed through corridors, killing every staff of the Cochlea Prison he saw, leaving behind only headless corpses. He was using his tail for this work, as he was too lazy to use a sword. Besides his tail reacted on his own already when it saw a target. After some time, he arrived at the Interrogation section, where he started slaughtering every person he found. Accidentally, there were a lot of ordinary people hiding there, because this area should be secured through unbreachable quinque steel heavy door, but those were torn apart by Lucien''s kagune tails. After Lucien killed more than forty people, the mainly civilian staff he finally found one of the head interrogators of the Cochlea Prison. Even though slaughtering ordinary people, could be said to be bad or what, Lucien didn''t care much, because they were also partly responsible for the torture of countless ghouls. Tokage Goumasa was one of the head interrogators in the Cochlea Prison. He was also one of the best interrogators here, only falling behind Kijima Shiki. He was a madman with high sadistic tendencies. When Yamori was held in the Cochlea Prison, he was responsible for interrogating him, turning him into the crazy person like he is today. But retribution didn''t wait long. His initial appearance of that of an average looking man turned into disfigured and riddled with scars. And he was also kicked out of his position of the interrogator. But he often visited Cochlea Prison, to help with some hard cases. Lucien knew that he would be here today, as he had a great information broker. As Lucien didn''t want to kill him immediately, he severed all his limbs, one by one, slowly and to make it more painful, he was constantly using his psionic energy to let him have a clear mind, not falling unconsciousness. He tortured him for several minutes, even though it was a rather short time for a person like him, but he set his pain receptors to the maximum with the usage of his psionic energy. After that, he left him there to die, as he knew that he won''t live past several seconds. Previously he was kept alive by psionic energy, but now... But more importantly, Lucien was searching for Kijima Shiki. A person, more wicked and mad than anything seen in this world, by Lucien''s opinion. He also had the strength of the Associate Special Class Investigator, so Lucien would be very happy to kill him right now. Of course, by killing him, he could prevent some tragedies in the future. ============================================= "So you went after Cochlea, entire time?" Asked Misaka Kyoji, as he held his quinque. It was weird looking quinque which did something, like devouring its target and killed it with some special means. Misaka Kyoji was a middle-aged man, skinny and pale. He had long blond hair but was bald on the top of his head. He turned it on with his hands, and entire cocoon started glowing in fierce light, but soon, it stooped. Misaka Kyoji had a victorious smile on his face as he thought he killed Tatara. But the reality was far crueler. Soon entire quinque started disintegrating and blood red hole appeared on Warden''s white attire. "Yes." Said Tatara, as he pierced through warden''s heart with his hand. Then he threw him down, from the bridge and walked away, killing many CCG staff members with his kagune tail. His tail was too strong and too hard, it even destroyed walls without any effort. Tatara went down to the lower floors, especially to the Third Floor, which was used to confine SS-rated ghouls. Currently, there were only six of them or so. One of the people locked there was also Kamishiro Matasaka, known as Sachi or Orca. He was an extremely strong ghoul, well-versed in the martial arts, as he was taught by his foster father, Kamishiro, who was a martial arts master. Ironically Kamishiro was a human but he adopted Matasaka and he even gave him his name. Rating of Kamishiro Matasaka was around SS, but his real one should be rather SSS-rate. Besides him, now were in Cochlea only other two SS-rate ghouls. One of them was Porpora Donato, Hoito Roma and one unnamed SS-rated ghoul whose nickname was The Blade, as his quinque had a form of the blade. Tatara was told by Lucien to not release Porpora Donato or Hoito Roma, as it would be better for them to be in prison for a while. Both of them were members of the Clowns and now it wasn''t time to release them. Lucien wanted to release them when the time would be more appropriate. As Lucien said that, Tatara won''t release two of them and let them enjoy wonders of the Cochlea Detention Center for some time. ============================================= In another part of the Cochlea Prison, Lucien was searching through every part to find some people to kill. By now almost entire prison was filled with corpses of the ghoul investigators, guardians of the prison or other staff members. When prisoners were released they were killing people at a terrifying rate and regaining their peak condition as most of them were greatly weakened. 93 Boooom 11th Ward, the base of the Aogiri Tree After Owl disappeared from the fight, both Kuroiwa and Shinohara were left there. Shinohara was severely injured and could barely stand and Kuroiwa was holding him. He was in much better state than was his colleague. BOOOOOOOM Only one sound was heard and the entire building started shaking at first and the entire building started collapsing. Explosives planted by Noro through the entire building finally detonated an entire building would collapse in several seconds. Buring together with it, several hundred cannon fodders of the CCG. "Madam Itori, you should retreat and wait for me at the pre-arranged place. I would return after killing my target." Said Zelilios respectfully to the Itori as they were watching this huge building collapsing. Zelilios''s aim was to kill just Shinohara because he knew that he was severely injured and killing him would be very easy. On contrary, Kuroiwa was rather fine and he could defend against him with Arata Proto for some time. Itori pouted and then she nodded her head and silently retreated from this place, eventually leaving the 11th Ward. Because the entire building was already devoid of the ghouls, only humans remained here. As she was retreating she killed several escaping people. In a meantime, Zelilios was watching collapsing radio tower, which almost fell on the Special Class Investigators, Kuroiwa and Shinohara, until Owl saved them. Zelilios smiled at this and congealed two kagune spears. He also had the ability to detach his kagune. In reality among Sacred Devourer Ghouls, everybody could detach their kagune. Then he threw one kagune spear, aiming at the Special Class Investigator Kuroiwa, who was holding severely injured Shinohara and was using his quinque, Kuroiwa Special to support both of them. One must say, that even though Kuroiwa was human, his reflexes were very good as he managed to notice the kagune spear and hurriedly blocked it with his quinque Kuroiwa Special, which was an oversized butcher knife. Something miraculous happened afterward. Even though he managed successfully block the kagune spear, but his own quinque was shattered in the process. Completely destroyed. Kuroiwa was completely shocked from the fact his kagune shattered as porcelain, but he didn''t have time to think about it. It was because Zeilios was already before them and with one strong kick, he kicked investigator Kuroiwa several meters away and with his spear, he pierced through the heart of Special Class Ghoul Investigator Shinohara. Instant Kill. Today, 19. of the December, on the 11th Ward Battle, Special Class Ghoul Investigator, Invulnerable Shinohara has fallen to the enemy . This would be very good news to many ghouls because Special Class Investigators were too rare and they weren''t some disposable pawns, that could be replaced anytime. When it came to the ghoul subjugation, SS-rate would need several Special Class Investigators to group up on him. Of course, if they are ordinary investigators, not some geniuses like Arima Kishou, who were terrified by one word. This talked about how rare were Special Classes in the CCG. There were only a few of them and now one of them fell. A glorious victory for ghouls in Japan and a disastrous defeat for humans in Japan. After Zelilios killed Special Class Shinohara he quickly escaped from the already collapsing building. Even though he was already in Baron rank, if the entire building fell onto him, he would end severely injured it would take some time to regenerate. Then he could only ask Lucien for some stronger blood essences that would speed up his recovery rate or drop of blood from the Sacred Blood Crystal. ============================================= "Commander Marude, the entire building is collapsing and all of our people are still inside." Reported one person, who sit behind computers to the Marude Itsuki, who was taken by surprise and shock. "Evacuate!!!! Immediately!!!" Yelled Marude in anger, when he saw entire building collapsing on the people of the CCG. He was a person who valued his subordinates and colleagues. It was a quite rare sight for people like him to be in the lead of such large-scale operations. After some time, when Marude calmed down a little, he turned to his assistant Mabuchi, who just now finished a call. "How are the loses?" Asked Marude with anger and hatred in his voice. It was clear that the entire battle here was just a trap to kill as many of their people. Even Associate Special Class fell and countless lower ranked investigators. "More than 90% were in the building when it collapsed and only minority of them managed to escape that collapse. Many of them would be killed either by an explosion or the collapsing building. It''s hard to tell loses now, but probably more than half of them, won''t be able to return." Said Mabuchi with sadness in his voice as he looked at Marude. "FUUUUUUCCCKKK!!!!!" Screamed Marude when he heard that. From originally one thousand or so people, not even half managed to survive. This was an utter catastrophe. The entire operation turned to be a huge loss for the CCG. Lucien wanted Commission of Counter Ghoul, to have catastrophic loses. Only one reason was behind this. If they killed too many of the CCG people and high-ranked ghoul investigators, the equilibrium would be disrupted and the Washuu Clan would do anything to preserve it. They would bring agents of the Vasuki to the play and also some of their hidden people. Because agents of the Vasuki were always hiding in the dark, like some rats, it was incredibly hard to find them or their bases. Now they won''t be able to hide for long, as they would be now more on the light of the world. Lucien''s plan to give CCG critical blow was completed from one part. Now only remained only one thing and that was Cochlea. Even though Marude won''t be able to move people to the Cochlea, cause more than half was killed and rest was injured, they would have a significantly easier time. 94 That doesnst mean, I donst know i 23rd Ward, Cochlea Detention Center In one room in the Cochlea, there was dead man laying on the ground, both of his hands were severed and in his chest was the giant bloody hole. He had a pale and skinny face and one vertical scar on each side of his lips. His hair was cut as mushroom and he looked rather weird. This was deputy warden of the Cochlea Detention Center, Haisaki Shinme, who was just now killed by Lucien when he was searching for the Kijima Shiki. One must say that Haisaki Shinme wasn''t a strong person, as he could barely even dodge one of Lucien''s attacks. And that attack was a very weak one. He was killed in mere seconds and it was easy to kill. In contrary, his strength lied in strategies and plans, he was a person who personally designed many defense mechanisms of the Cochlea Prison. After that Lucien went to lower floors, in hope to find the last person he wanted to find. Kijima Shiki. He had the strength of the Associate Special Class Investigator and was very good at killing ghouls. Even though he himself was looking as he was, his experiences were real and he could fight pretty good. Kijima was an exceptionally strange-looking individual with a rotund figure. His face and body were heavily scarred, with discolored skin grafts and facial features that appeared to have been badly mangled or burned in the past. He wore a distinctive black hat and suit, with a red bow tie, and had a peg leg. He used mainly two quinques, Tetoro, which was an A+-rated quinque of bikaku type. It was used to capture targets. It was also called a capture quinque. Another one was a Rotten Follow, an S-rated rinkaku quinque in form of a large chainsaw. It utilizes a kakuhou as an engine and quinque ores for blades. It is a powerful quinque, easily able to decapitate and slice enemies in half. After searching through another interrogation room, which was also locked, Lucien finally found his target. Because interrogation rooms, were automatically locked up, many of interrogators and personnel were hiding there. They were locked several minutes after Cochlea was breached. Lucien even tried to open them up through the command computer, but his attempts were all futile. In this interrogation room, there were several tens of people, even some of the armed staff, several ghoul investigators, probably some weaker trashes, because they run away the moment Cochlea was breached. This was one of the special defense mechanisms of the Cochlea. When it was breached, after several minutes, special areas which could also be called safe areas, would be locked down. One of those areas were all interrogations areas. But to Lucien or some very strong ghouls, like Tatara or Eto in her Owl form, these measures were nothing. Even though huge doors from the quinque steel, were rather hard to breach, it wasn''t something impossible. Lucien stood before quinque steel doors and then started slashing at the doors, with his kagune tails. With several of them at the same time. Under ferocious attacks from his kagune, after one-minute doors were breached and Lucien could enter the interrogation area. There were already some Cochlea armed staff and ghoul investigators there, waiting to form him under the leadership of the Kijima Shiki who was armed with his quinque Rotten Follow. Lucien now directly used psionic energy on those ordinary people, that was hiding in the corners of the room, crushing their brains under wawes of the psionic energy. This was a new move he learned after some time of training and studying the psionic energy. After that he congealed two kagune daggers which shot with the speed of the lighting at the ordinary armed staff and weaker ghoul investigators, slaughtering them in an instant. All of their heads were severed in a moment, and only headless bodies fell onto the ground. "Mr. Kijima, I was waiting for a long time to kill you." Said, Lucien, as he rushed at Kijima with lighting speed and slashed at him with three kagune tails at the same time. Kijima tried to defend with his quinque Rotten Follow, but at most he could only defend two tail at the same time. But the third one severed his right hand, which was holding the quinque Rotten Follow. "You know, I am not a very huge fan of the torture, but that doesn''t mean, I don''t know it." Said Lucien with a wicked smile as he was using the same method which he used on previous target interrogator Tokage. This time, he was even more precise, causing Kijima to feel even more intense pain. This could be said to be a retribution for all ghouls he tortured to death. Lucien tortured him for several minutes, before severing all his limb and crushing his eyes. He then left him to die in a room filled with corpses, blood, body parts and death. Ironically such a room could be considered as heaven for cultivator who cultivates Death Energy. Now all of his tasks were done, Lucien went to the third floor of the Cochlea Detention Center, to find Eto and Tatara. Both of them were there because the third floor hosted SS-rated ghouls, but only one would be released by them. Kamishiro Matasaka, even though he was rated as an SS-rated ghoul, his real abilities were much higher. Not talking about him being a martial arts master, he could greatly help the Aogiri Tree grow stronger. And he would play a great role in the next part of Lucien''s scheme, Fortification of the 24th Ward, this would be his final gift to the ordinary ghouls. Turning entire 24th Ward into the giant fortress. Almost entire Cochlea Prison was now filled with corpses and rivers of blood. This was mainly thanks to Lucien because he was also doing his best in finding those safe areas and killing everybody inside. Cochlea Prison has a number of personnel in hundreds. Maybe even a thousand people were killed during this raid. Only shame was that they can''t destroy this place. If they did so, some ghouls, which Lucien wanted have captured would either escape during the destruction or some other bad things could happen. 95 Disposal Room Besides slaughtering entire staff of the Cochlea Detention Center and all wardens, interrogators and ghoul investigators, Lucien had one more important target. It was a Disposal Room, in prison. It was room, where ghouls are disposed of. It''s full of skeletons and bones of thousands of ghouls. Lucien could refine them to the blood essences. When ghoul dies and his corpse is rotting, all RC Cells would somehow escape to the bones to save themselves. It was a natural process. Lucien wanted to obtain those bones and remains in the Disposal Room because there were countless remains for last several tens of years. Those blood essences would be a huge help during the Devourification process for special individuals. When Lucien arrived at the Third Floor, where the SS-rated ghouls were imprisoned, he noticed there were only a few people in the room. One of them was, of course, Tatara, and another one was Eto, traditionally covered in bandages. Of two remaining people, Lucien recognized only one person, Kamishira Matasaka. He only wore black pants and nothing else. With his muscular physique and calm, yet fearsome expression he looked dangerous. He is a muscularly, bulky man, most likely middle-aged, has strong facial features, with thick black eyebrows and a long wispy black mustache. His black scalp hair is long as well. Another ghoul, who was there was a middle-aged man, in a blue prison outfit. He was also SS-rate ghoul, who was imprisoned here for more than ten years. He looked rather ordinary at first look, but Lucien could feel bloodthirsty aura from him. He knew that this ordinary looking middle-aged man must have killed too many people. "Oya, Oya are you already done with hunting for your targets?" Asked Eto with the mischievous tone in her voice as she looked at Lucien. He only nodded his head in agreement and came to the four of them. "We should be going, soon Arima with an entire flock of doves would arrive. Then it would be too late for escape for weaker members. I would stay behind and stall him for time." Said Lucien to all of them after he came. It was part of his plan to fight with Arima for time. Weaker ghouls, especially those below SS-rate won''t stand chance in front of Arima. Even SS-rated ghouls would be lucky to escape. He was strongest here so it was also a bit of his responsibility to stall for a time. All four of them nodded and then Kamishiro Matasaka came to Lucien and patted his shoulder. "After we make it alive, I want to spar with you, young man." Said Kamishiro Matasaka. He was a martial arts master in hand-to-hand combat. He studied martial arts for his entire life and with one look he could tell that Lucien was very strong and also trained in martial arts. He was a wise ghoul, who avoided killing people needlessly and he was one of the more calm ones. He holds respect towards humans, or at the very least the martial arts they have developed. In his life of mastering it, he says he has taken a human concept even further by combining technique with the strength of a ghoul. In nature, he was closer to the Sacred Devourer Ghouls on the Blood Island. "It would be my honor, master Kamishiro. Now I must do something else if you excuse me. After I am done, we could leave." Said Lucien after he went to the center point of the room, and turned on his kakugan and entered Kakuja V2, releasing somewhat oppressive aura, which seemed to suppress everybody around. Then he took a battle stance and with full force he punched to do ground, creating a huge spider web of the cracks, eventually cracking the floor. Floor cracked, and everything fell down, together with Lucien. He appeared in the Fourth Floor, which was used to the detention of the SSS-rated ghoul and currently it was totally empty. He repeated the process of breaking the floor and he broke the floor, to the Disposal Room. He fell down together with stones and remains of the floor. Now he was in the disposal room. It was a bit smaller than the First Floor, but it was huge. What''s more entire floor was filled with bones and remains of the ghouls. Lucien was very excited to find this and he immediately collected all of those bones to the Cross Crest, and stored them in the special are in the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. After he cleared the entire disposal room, he jumped up to the Third Floor. "Now we could go." Said Lucien to them, as they exited the Third Floor and were on the Second Floor, which hosted S-rated ghouls. Lucien could see there six ghouls, one of them being Naki. He was Yamori''s, right-hand man. Member of the ghoul gang, White Suits. White Suits is a gang of ghouls named for the distinct style of clothing worn by members. They are noted for their strong loyalty to one another and model their structure after a traditionally organized crime syndicate and model their power structure by individual strength. Founder of the gang of Yamori, nicknamed Jason. Lucien wondered if Yamori would survive the 11th Ward Battle. He was too severely injured after his fight with Kaneki and if nobody saves him, he would die for sure. Lucien hoped he would die. That man was too unstable and too crazy, he couldn''t be used as an Executive of the Aogiri Tree anymore. Lucien thought it would be best if Jason died today. All that interrogation in the Cochlea turned him crazy, beyond salvation. This was also one of the reasons, why he killed everyone in Cochlea and tortured interrogators to death. Retribution. "We must go faster. They would soon arrive. Tatara, take all S-rated ghouls and SS-rated ghoul and create the path on the place we have talked about. I would be fighting Arima in a meantime." 96 End After they exited the Cochlea Detention Center all of the ghouls here, be it former prisoners or members of the Aogiri Tree, escaped at the greatest speed they could. Lucien stayed behind to observe the situation and fight with Arima. He knew that he could also escape, but some slower and weaker ghouls would be massacred in the result. Soon, he finally saw Arima Kishou, in his pure white coat and with two cases, for his quinques, IXA and Narukami. What was interesting was fact that Arima came here alone, probably the rest of the support would come here after some time. It was understandable he came alone as no ghoul would dare go against him or escape him. Both of them looked at each other, before nodding in agreement. It was time to put up some fight to act. Lucien turned on his kakugan and congealed one kagune katana, this time it would be contesting in the kenjutsu. Lucien didn''t use his kakuja as it wasn''t necessary to use it. He was holding back a huge part of his physical strength and also his psionic energy. They would be fighting until those reinforcements arrived and then Lucien would attack them, in hope to kill some ghoul investigators, before escaping from the stage. Leaving the 23rd Ward, leaving for the 24th Ward where was located headquarters of the Aogiri Tree. Sparks were in the airs, as they weapons clashed. If Lucien used his full power, he could have easily destroyed that quinque named IXA. Not talking about Kakuja, where he would be able to kill even Arima Kishou already with ease now. His reflexes were now, Celestial Reflexes after opening the Gate of Opening and cultivating the Eight Celestial Inner Gates. In Kakuja V2 he was as strong as some cultivator experts in weaker cultivation systems. For example in Divine Warrior Cultivation System, he would be as strong as Type 5 Divine Warrior probably. But his real abilities were far higher as body refiner, as Divine Warrior Cultivation System wasn''t best one for body refining and only a very small amount of cultivators cultivated their body using this system. Usually, they only cultivated some tricky abilities or some energies but compared to Lucien their bodies were frail and weak. So in this fight, he was holding back greatly, because after all Arima was only half-human, and even though he had a bit stronger physique than a normal human, he wasn''t that special. Lucien held back as much as he could because he already crossed the norm. In his normal state, he could be considered as Superhuman by any means. This was a giant advantage of the body refining cultivation system. They exchanged several rounds of exchanges, but not even one of them were getting tired of it and both of them could still continue. After ten or so minutes, footsteps could be heard, as many people were approaching this place. All of them were ghoul investigators, Rank 1 and higher. Lucien smiled seeing this and congealed several kagune daggers, which he controlled through his telekinesis ability and attacked those ghoul investigators approaching this place. Several of them managed to draw out their quinques and save their lives as only their quinques were shattered. Some of the ghoul investigators were killed on the spot, which was a good thing for Lucien as he managed to kill more of them. After that, he jumped down from the roof of the building where they were fighting and disappeared from the sight of the Arima. There was nothing they could do now, as all members of the Aogiri Tree and prisoners of the Cochlea escaped long ago and going after Lucien was pure suicide, as only Arima would be capable of that. Only thing was remained now to go to the Cochlea and look at the loss of the prison and damage. Now both 11th Ward Battle and Cochlea Raid were successfully done. In 11th Ward Battle, Commission of Counter Ghoul lost the majority of their manpower and even one Associate Special Class Investigator and what''s worse even Special Class Investigator. In the Cochlea Raid, the entire staff of the Cochlea was slaughtered, turning entire prison in rivers of blood and cemetery of corpses and decapitated bodies. Warden and deputy warden were both killed, entire armed staff and civil staff were slaughtered and all interrogators and ghoul investigators were killed too. One could say both operations was a great success for Lucien and his schemes. Now that puppet of the Washuu Clan, CCG suffered such a huge loses they would need reinforcements to function properly. The only one who could send them if of course the Washuu Clan from their own people and hidden reserves. Such as members of the Washuu Clan itself or some agents of the Vasuki. All of them would go out of hiding and would be on the light of the world. Easily killable. Members of the Washuu Clan and Vasuki were troublesome in one common aspect. They were good at hiding in the dark and Lucien was too lazy to search for them and all. It was much easier to slaughter countless people of the CCG to force them to appear. Arima was oversaw everything and he was aware that all of this was necessary to achieve their goal. Something which even old man Yoshimura wanted but his means were too soft. To gain something, you must at first lose something. Lucien looked at the Cochlea Detention Center for the last time before going to the 24th Ward. He knew that after a few years he would return there as that was the place where everything would end for him. After that, the fate of this world would be not his thing, even if it would be destroyed by demons. They only had a few years before they would be forced to migrate. Portal to the Demon Realm was expanding slowly and after a few years, it would attain critical size. Then they wouldn''t be able to fight back against countless waves of demons even with their Magitek Infantry Soldiers. 97 If there was a world beyond a world 24th Ward, Tokyo Now 24th Ward was far more lively because new ''citizens'' arrived and those were, of course, the prisoners from Cochlea Detention Center. Many of them were already arranging some housing as they couldn''t stay on the surface or other Wards as their faces were known in public and CCG would be now hunting for escapees from the Cochlea Prison, especially hard. Lucien was on the top of some ruined building, observing entire 24th Ward and ghouls that arrived now. He was also planning in his head some ways to fortify the 24th Ward, turning it to some kind of massive Fortress City. For this, he would need his people to do it or to command the works, as many of ghouls here wouldn''t be too useful in renovation or reconstructional works. "Eto, come here." Said Lucien after some time he was observing the ruins of the 24th Ward. He knew that Eto was behind him and silently watching him in the dark. "Thank you for your cooperation. Both operations were a success, especially the 11th Ward Battle as we managed to completely cripple forces of the CCG for some time at least. Many agents of the Vasuki and the Washuu Clan would be forces now participate in operations of the CCG by going to terrain as ghoul investigators." Lucien nodded hearing this as he had a victorious smile on his face. Probably Eto already got news that even Special Class Investigator was killed in the fight. Only this would attract many ghouls to join the Aogiri Tree as they had the capability to kill even Special Class Investigator, which was a terror to weaker ghouls. Eto wasn''t currently wearing those mummy looking bandages and that tattered red outfit, instead, she was wearing simple light clothes and black coat. "I was helping also myself. If the CCG is crippled then as you have said. Agents of Vasuki would be forces reveal themselves form the dark and it would be much easier to kill them. Members of the Washuu Clan are also good, but in this aspect, they aren''t that troublesome compared to the Vasuki, they are always hiding in the dark like some rats. How are your loses?" Asked Lucien in the last sentence. They should be minimalized to great extent, but not every fight could be won without some sacrifices. "Minimal, but we have lost around thirty or forty low-ranking members. Mainly C-rated ghouls and some B-rated ones. They were the cover troops in the 11th Ward Battle, they served their purpose even though their purpose was death. However, their sacrifice won''t be forgotten and it wasn''t in vain." Answered Eto in half sad voice and half proud voice. She was similar to him in this thing, she was also rationalizing everything she could. Purpose of the weakest members of the Aoigiri Tree was to cover for the rest to escape. They died and rest could live, that was a world where only strong survived. "That''s good, we should concentrate the majority of forces in the 24th Ward for now, as I have some plans for it. Oh yes, did he join the organization?" Lucien was confident that he could turn entire 24th Ward into the impenetrable fortress in two years or so. And another important thing was the recruitment of Kaneki Ken into the Aogiri Tree, where he would learn how to lead ghouls and Lucien would also teach him how to fight properly, also Kamishiro Matasaka could teach him some martial arts. Everything in goal to cultivate the new One-Eyed King. Everything was part of their own schemes, originally it was the only plan of Eto and Arima but Lucien joined because at least he could do something for ghoul kind after he left this world. One thing was a safe sanctuary in form of 24th Ward and another was One-Eyed King as ruler and protector. "Yes, he did. For now, he would learn how to lead them and how to live as a ghoul. You could also teach him to fight and also Mr. Kamishiro also agreed that he would teach him some of his martial arts to make him stronger. When he would be ready, then Arima would do his part of the job, and soon new One-Eyed King would be born." Said Eto. "Hmm... what about that another madman Yamori? Did he survive or was he killed by that half-ass?" Asked Lucien about the fate of the Jason, Oomori Yakumo, in reality, Lucien hoped that he would be killed as he was becoming more and more unpredictable and uncontrollable. Of course, if he was dead, then Lucien wanted his body, he was still an S-rated ghoul, he would do a good blood essence. "Dead, he was eaten alive by him. Do you want his body and bodies of other ghouls that died during the 11th Ward Battle and Cochlea Raid?" Even Eto herself was surprised that Jason was killed and eaten alive by an artificial one-eyed ghoul, who never fought in his life before and was human in the past. But that was real and she was also rather happy that Yamori was now that, as he was becoming too unstable. That interrogator in Cochlea really broke him too much, turning him crazy. "Very good and bring me all the bodies you could find. You would also get your part of the blood essences refined. I would give some to you, Tatara, Kamishiro and also our new newcomer. He needs to get stronger to fight future battles we would be having." Said, Lucien, as he continued to observe the ruins of the 24th Ward. "Say, Eto, if there exited world beyond a world, a world where you could achieve great strength and status, what would you do? Would you want to go there and became something more than just some minor revolutionary in the god-forsaken world? Or would you just remain here, wasting your talent and life here, waiting to die from old age? Not achieving heights, immortality and infinity power?" Asked Lucien as he looked at her. He was very curious about her answer as this could change her fate. 98 Fortified Eto didn''t know what to say as an answer to his question, she just blankly looked at Lucien and god knows what was going in her head. Lucien smiled seeing this and prepared to leave. After Lucien said some philosophical quotes, he left the place and went to the Helter Skelter Bar. He left with great speed as he Itori was already waiting for him there and Holy Imperial Knight Zelilios was also there waiting for his return. Eto remained there for an hour even after Lucien left, thinking about his word and meaning behind them. She observed the 24th Ward and ruined state of the place. She hoped that in the future, entire 24th Ward could be reconstructed to be a safe zone for all ghouls and be a fortress for the Aogiri Tree. ============================================= 14th Ward, Helter Skelter Bar Itori was drinking her blood wine and tried to get some information about Lucien from Zelilios who was sitting there with closed eyes as he was meditating and ignoring her attempts to gain some information from him. He was tasked with her protection, but now it was also too much on him as she was already talking non-stop for several hours in a one go. He knew that she was trying to know more about Lucien, but he wasn''t in position to tell her something, even though technically her social status was higher but as Holy Niflheim Empire placed everything in capabilities and personal strength and cultivation, her status wasn''t that high even though she was Crown Prince''s soon to be wife. After some time, she was still talking but less than before because she noticed that Zelilios won''t say anything to her. When Itori was sipping her blood wine and Zelilios was meditating, doors opened and Lucien was already here. Zelilios stood up and bowed lightly to Lucien. "Welcome, Your Highness." Lucien nodded and made a simple hand gesture and Zelilios then stopped bowing. "Zelilios." Then Lucien went to the Itir and after a light hug, all of them sat down and Zelilios started talking about the 11th Ward Battle and who was killed by whom. "I have personally killed Suzuya Juuzou and Special Class Investigator Shinohara Yukinori. Lady Itori killed Associate Special Class Investigator Chino Mutsumi. In conclusion, many of ghoul investigators died and even more cannon fodders of the CCG were killed by firearms and explosion of the building. They literally lost more than half of their forces." Summarized Zelilios recent event, the 11th Ward Battle. "Good that you have managed to kill Special Class Investigator Shinohara, he was one of the stronger one''s Special Classes. It is a bit shame that Kuroiwa managed to escape with his life but so be it. Even loss of one Special Class Investigator is a disastrous blow to the Commission of Counter Ghoul." Even though it was a bit sad for Lucien that Zelilios didn''t manage to kill Special Class Investigator Kuroiwa but even loss of one Special Class was terrible. They were Special Classes, they didn''t grow up on trees. Another thing was also fact that Shinohara was one of the stronger Special Classes, as they were also some of them who were far weaker than him. "Zelilios now I have another task for you. Go to find Darkwalker and tell him that time to reconstruct the 24th Ward has begun. Mobilization of Liberatus has been approved and they could start in one week. I want to have all exits to be fortified and those unused or strategically bad should be sealed properly. Even rat won''t be able to bypass it." Liberatus was, in reality, a smaller army of ghouls who were sympythi¨ªsant of the Aogiri Tree all around the world. They numbered in hundreds, but they lacked strong ghouls to lead them, they only had three S-rated ghouls. Lucien was controlling Liberatus for some time already through Dalkwaler. Now they would integrate with the Aogiri Tree, creating even more organization and would help in the fortification of the 24th Ward. "Yes, your Highness" Zelilios nodded as he answered. He was aware that this was the last thing that would Sacred Devourer Ghoul even do for ordinary ghoul kind. Giving them 24th Ward in form of giant fortress city. "I would bring there half material required for the complete reconstruction and fortification through my Cross Crest. Maybe even more than half. Rest you could buy on the black market, they would care only for the money." Lucien planned to get all material thereby himself as it was much easier and it would be without any suspicion from the side of the CCG. He could also get the help of the Tsukiyama Family as they were also ghouls and merchants. Lucien talked to Zelilios about few more thing before telling him to go attend his duties and he remained here alone with Itori. "So how was your first grand battle, my dear?" Asked Lucien gently as he sat beside Itori and stroked her orange hair. Itori cuddled to his chest, using him a pillow. "Very good, but next time I want a more an important role." Lucien nodded and kissed her at her cheek and smiled at her answer, thinking it would be impossible for now as she wasn''t strong enough. Even, he himself was evenly matched with the Grand Elder of the Washuu Clan, Washuu Tsunekashi. Lucien didn''t know if the Washuu Clan had more people with similar strength or not, so it was dangerous to leave Itori fighting as she wanted. Itori probably knew that too but she didn''t say anything and they just enjoyed the company of each other. Lucien was planning to let Zelilios participate in all fights in the future and also in some of his future attacks on hidden facilities of the Washuu Clan. Tomorrow or the day after, CCG would inform the people about the situation probably as they won''t be able to keep it hidden from the rest of the world for too long. Not talking about the fact that the situation is now rather bad and grave. They lost too many people so they would try to recruit more new people into the Academy. 99 Press Conference Lucien was currently sitting in the living room together with Itori, Darkwalker, Zelilios and even Uta came here. All of them were watching the TV News, as it would be today when CCG would inform the public about the results of the 11th Ward Battle and Cochlea Raid. It was disastrous for them but something happened. The Washuu Clan has used a large part of their deep-rooted power in managed to convince the Japanese government to help the CCG with promoting entering the CCG and becoming the ghoul investigator. Lucien also sent the letter to the Tsukiyama Family and informing them about the current state of the Washuu Clan and their intentions to wipe them out and prepare. Head of the Tsukiyama, Tsukiyama Mirumo being an intelligent man, knew what to do and he was using the power of the entire family and conglomerate to put pressure on the CCG and the Washuu Clan. Even though the Washuu Clan was deeply rooted in Japan, Tsukiyama Family was extremely wealthy, more than the Washuu Clan and also they had the support of the Aeon House and their financial and political network. Thanks to this, CCG was lately under huge pressure, which resulted in the loss of almost half of potential recruits and a large part of funds that were given to them by the government. Tsukiyama Family were aware of the Aeon House as they were also very old ghoul family and were related to the Rosewald Family, which was a German noble family, who were ghouls who infiltrated Germany. Lucien also got an invitation from the Tsukiyama Mirumo for the Christmas ball, on the 23rd of December. It was gathering of almost all influential ghouls in entire Japan and Asian Countries. Lucien thought it could be fun and he could also get some help for the Aogiri Tree as many of those ghouls hated CCG and similar organizations to the core and used every chance to deal them some damage. Soon, TV News started and moderator started announcing news, with the first one being the 11th Ward Battle and Cochlea Raid. "In the evening of the December 19, the 11th Ward Special Countermeasures Unit began its assault on Aogiri''s base, however, the assault was halted by the Aogiri ghouls heavily armed with firearms and heavy firearms. CCG suffered a great deal of loses during the siege and after the explosion of the building less than half of the 11th Ward Special Countermeasures Unit. Also, an SSS-rate ghoul named Owl appeared and joined the fight against the CCG. Aogiri Tree hardly lost any people, by words of the CCG they escaped before the 11th Ward Special Countermeasures Unit entered the base. Next, we would be announcing loses of the CCG, during the 11th Ward Battle, where several important and high-ranking members fell. Associate Special Class Investigator Chino Mutsumi Special Class Investigator Shinohara Yukinori. The loss of the Associate Special Class and Special Class happened after a long time again in their heroic fights against the ghouls." Lucien was surprised that they didn''t say even word about Zelilios being the killer of the Special Class Investigator Shinohara Yukinori. Probably the Washuu Clan knew the identity of the killer kept it for themselves. After a short break, news continued. "During the same time as 11th Ward was going on and 11th Ward, Special Countermeasures Unit were fighting against the Aogiri ghouls, Cochlea Detention Center was breached. The true objective of the Aogiri Tree was entire time Cochlea Detention Center in the 23rd Ward. They attacked the prison and freed prisoners there. The entire staff of the Cochlea Detention Center was slaughtered, leaving none alive, and Warden Misaka Kyouji and Deputy Warden Haisaki Shinme were killed during the raid." What followed next was the press conference with the Washuu Yoshitoki being only one from the CCG there. He was wearing a pure white suit with a pink shirt and red tie. "And now I would like to welcome here, Bureau Director of the CCG''s Main Office and heir of the Washuu Clan, Washuu Yoshitoki." Then all cameras were only on the Washuu Yoshitoki who slowly started talking. "11th Ward Battle was a disastrous loss for the CCG and it was a despicable trap from the Aogiri Tree terrorists to kill humans and eats them. The entire staff of the Cochlea Detention Center including all civilians were slaughtered mercilessly, leaving none alive. All ghouls in the Cochlea Detention Center escaped, including all S-rated ghouls and SS-rated ones, bringing dark times to the Tokyo once again. CCG suffered a great deal of loses. Loss of the Associate Special Class Chino Mutsumi greatly hurt our abilities to lead lower-ranking investigators to command operations and loss of the Special Class Investigator Shinohara Yukinori severely damaged our ability to hunt for SS-rated ghouls." Lucien was surprised at how much of truth were they telling. But it was ironical that the Washuu Clan members were talking about humanity and slaughtering humans. Next, he was talking some nonsense about loses and grave situation. Lucien knew what was their aim. After the suppression of the various groups and even government which came like lightning from the clear sky, on the next day immediately after the event, they suffered greatly. Now they are trying to get public on their side. Very clever move, very clever but Tsukiyama Family won''t be doing nothing seeing this and they would manipulate media to pressure them too. Next half an hour Washuu Yoshitoki was appealing on the public to motive them to unite against the evil ghouls and join the CCG in their sacred mission of annihilating ghouls and protecting the civilians. Truly funny. The entire press conference took around an hour and after answering some very unfriendly question, all of those journalists asking those questions were paid by the Tsukiyama Family to do an image of the CCG and the Washuu Clan worse in the eyes of the public. In current situation was rather easy. Lucien was wondering what would be situation tomorrow when all settled. 100 Banque Evening, 23rd December Lucien was currently finishing adjusting his attire, he was wearing his white attire which was typical for the Aeon House. Today was a day where was a banquet of the Tsukiyama Family and Lucien was going there together with Itori. He wasn''t going to participate alone in that banquet and he was also taking with him Zelilios and Darkwalker as his bodyguards. In addition, Darkwalker was taking three of his most loyal and powerful men to the banquet. Zelilios was also wearing the attire of the Aeon House, almost the same as the one Lucien is wearing. In contrary Zelilios was wearing pitch black suit from Armani. Itori was wearing similar attire to Lucien, attire for the Aeon House but the version for the females. It was almost the same as the male model, only in some parts of the attire, it was rather revealing and slightly erotic. "Zelilios you would be guarding Itori at the event. If I am not with her, you are her shadow. Same goes for you Darkwalker and your men, but you will be doing guard for both of them, to chase away annoying people." After that everybody got into the car and left the mansion for the estate of the Tsukiyama Family. ============================================= At the Tsukiyama Family estate, there were already many luxurious cars gathering and many people in expensive looking suits were going here and there. Women were wearing even more expensive dresses from various global known fashion designers and pieces of jewelry were attracting attention everywhere. Suddenly a convoy of cars came to the Tsukiyama Family estate. All cars in convoy were Hummers, in the middle was Hummer limousine and before and after it were two Hummer H3. They stopped before the estate and several bodyguards came out of the cars, around fifteen people. All of them were clothed in pitch black suits and were guarding the cars. They were attracting the attention of all people here. Even though people here were from the high-class society, compared to Lucien, that was like heaven and earth. Suddenly from the limousine, the middle-aged man, Darkwalker exited and opened the door for Lucien and company. Then, Lucien, Itori and Zelilios exited the limousine, attracting the attention of many because of their pure white attire and otherworldy appearances. Lucien and Itori were walking hand in hand, with Zelilios following closely after them. This meant that he has had a somewhat lower social status compared to those two, but still higher than the rest of the people because of the identical clothing. "It is a pleasure of the Tsukiyama Family to welcome you here, Lord Aeon." Said were an attractive young woman, wearing a butler uniform. Her name of Matsumae, she was the General Manager of the Tsukiyama Group. "Miss Matsumae, I thank you for your invitation." Said Lucien after what he followed her into the estate. Zelilios, Darkwalker, and three others were closely following behind them. Matsumae brought them to the Music Room in the mansion, which was a very large hall, where people could dance and the hall could accommodate up to a hundred people. The decoration of the mansion was more in European style than in the Japanese style. This was something like a trend between rich people in Japan. In the Music Room, there were already a lot of people talking and many more were still coming. Many of them were curious about people who were Matsumae leading, but they looked dangerous. All people here were ghouls and could feel that bloodthirsty and aura from the Zelilios, that was scaring them away. Nobody was brave enough to risk his life. "Master, Lord Aeon arrived." Said Matsumae to the elegant older man, with a well-groomed mustache. He was wearing finely-tailored clothing and small-rimmed and circular-framed glasses. From the look, he looked exactly like a person from the higher class of society. Tsukiyama Mirumo immediately looked at the side and saw there Lucien together with Itori, in luxurious white attire and also their group of bodyguards with Zelilios as their leader and Darkwalker and his people. "It is my very pleasure to welcome you here, Lord Lucien Etras di Aeon." "Thank you for the invitation, Mr. Tsukiyama." Said Tsukiyama Mirumo to Lucien as they shook hands. After all three of them sat down, at the sofas. The place where they were sitting was a little special in the Music Room, as it was on a hightened pedestal, as it was saying there are only the most important people. Zelilios was standing together with Darkwalker and other bodyguards behind Lucien. There were also some other servants of the Tsukiyama Family, which were standing here and acting as the bodyguards for the Tsukiyama Mirumo. "Lord Aeon, I must thank yours for that warning you gave us. You have saved many of our lives because of this. Now that CCG would be under huge suppression from the government and various conglomerates. Thanks to this it would much easier for the Aogiri Tree to do their thing, am I right," Said Tsukiyama Mirumo as he looked at Lucien who was comfortably sitting on the sofa and hugging Itori close to him. "Yes, you are right, Mr. Tsukiyama. You know, the change would come, in a few years, the world we know would undergo huge changes. One-Eyed King would return and soon war between ghouls and men would happen once again." Said Lucien after short consideration of what to say. It was the truth that the One-Eyed King would return and there would be war, but it was necessary for the achievement of the new world. But the biggest change won''t be the appearance of the One-Eyed King, but something else, something more terrifying and more horrible than ghouls. Demons. After current Holy Nilfheim Empire would leave this world, then in some times, demons would go out of control and attack the entire world, probably eradicating every life. Maybe it would take a hundred years or less, who knows. This was also because when Niflheim''s left the Blood Island, then entire Blood Island would slowly sink under water. The entire process would take twenty years or so, so nobody knows the exact time of the doomsday for this world. 101 Dance? But then, it won''t be their problem if this world was devoured by countless legions of demons coming out of the Hell or Abyss or whatever. It would be a problem of the habitats of this world to deal with them. "One-Eyed King, you say?" Asked Tsukiyama Mirumo with a surprised voice, Lucien. Talks about the One-Eyed King were very well known amongst the ghoul world and the One-Eyed King was a symbol of the revolution and freedom for the ghouls. They believed that the One-Eyed King would lead them to gain freedom from humans. "Yes, One-Eyed King. He would return in the future and lead the flag of the liberty for the ghouls. Then there would be a war, between the CCG and the forces of the One-Eyed King. I am personally waiting for that moment, maybe soon or maybe not. The Washuu Clan is my true aim, they need to be eradicated properly from the world of the living." Explained Lucien to Tsukiyama Mirumo. Return of the One-Eyed King would be a decisive moment for the ghoul kind, but for Lucien, it would be nothing as at that time he would be already on the Blood Island. "Very interesting. I hope that there would be some possibility for the cooperation between Tsukiyama Family and your cause." Lucien smiled hearing this as this was also one of his goals. Tsukiyama Family had a very huge financial power and had branches in almost every part of the industry. Now he could gain reliable support and partner in the fortification of the 24th Ward. "You know Mr. Tsukiyama, I have one plan. Very special one and we could call it even a secret one. Are you aware of the 24th Ward?" Asked Lucien with a lower voice. His question surprised Tsukiyama Mirumo to some extent as the 24th Ward was something like an urban legend. Probably every ghoul has ever heard about that place where even ghoul investigators won''t step. It was something like a safe heaven for all ghouls. The only bad thing about living in the 24th Ward the lack of the food and it was rather complicated to get there if you don''t have an exact map of the route. "Who didn''t? The 24th Ward is a very famous place, but sadly nowadays it is nothing more than a pile of ruins and destroyed buildings. I can''t not to ask, what are your interests in that place?" Everyone knew that the 24th Ward was, but as the Tsukiyama Mirumo said. Nowadays it was just ruins and nothing more, nothing less. Maybe in the past, 24th Ward was a more magnificent place and it wasn''t just a pile of stones and destruction but that was during the rule of the Underground King. "Reconstruction of the 24th Ward and turning entire 24th Ward into the Fortress City. As you already know, the Aogiri Tree has headquarters in the 24th and I am closely working with them at achieving my goal, which is the eradication of the Washuu Clan. My people already started fortification and reconstruction of the 24th Ward but that is not enough. We are lacking reliable and trustworthy construction workers and architects. I hope the Tsukiyama Family could help me to solve this problem." When the Tsukiyama Mirumo heard that he was deeply shocked. Someone wanted to reconstruct the entire ward, the 24th Ward and turn it to the fortress city. It sounded like some outrageous plan. It seemed impossible and too unrealistic but everything could be done with enough will. "Hmm, this thing isn''t impossible. With the cooperation of Tsukiyama Family and your forces, it could be done with some effort. I would help you the best I can, but as the payment, I don''t want money but rather a want entire district in the newly reconstructed 24th. Also, some minor thing, but that would be talk on another time." To Lucien, this requirement wasn''t that bad. Tsukiyama Family would be basically reconstructing the entire 24th Ward by themselves only with help of the ghouls of the Aogiri Tree, they would have to do the lot of the work and also provide part of the materials required for the reconstruction and the fortification. "Very good, I would come to discuss the details with you at another more appropriate time, not today. You won''t be regretting, of course, the district in the newly reconstructed 24th Ward would be yours, but the Tsukiyama Family would be responsible for the security of the district." Said Lucien to the Tsukiyama Mirumo. The district would be entirely their own responsibility, be it security or be it other things. Tsukiyama Family would be true little royal family of that place then. Tsukiyama Mirumo smiled and nodded his head. He was very happy to receive the whole district as payment for his help in the 24th Ward. One must know that the 24th Ward was many times bigger than other wards. "How do you like the banquet?" Asked Tsukiyama Mirumo after they ended their conversation about the fortification and reconstruction of the 24th Ward. Lucien frowned a little hearing this question because he didn''t like banquets or similar things. He preferred cultivating in some silent place or training in kenjutsu or the first spot took, fighting and leading wars. "Too bothersome. Noise everywhere and I personally don''t like these kinds of gatherings. I prefer training in silence, pursuing the way of the sword or fighting against the strong foes. If it wasn''t for your personal invitation and for the fact that I have wanted to meet you, I would have stayed at home." Answered Lucien honestly. He really didn''t like any events that were noisy or something. He always preferred the silent place where he could practice with katana or read books. Cultivating and training were much better than going to useless events. Now Itori was listening to their talk for almost the whole hour and she was getting rather bored with it. Then she looked at various couples dancing and then she used her top-secret weapon puppy eyes at Lucien. "No." 102 These events are not for me Even though she knew that Lucien would answer no, she still tried it. When he really answered no, she didn''t give up on her little dream to dance with him, and she continued pestering him until Lucien reluctantly agreed to dance, even though he wasn''t good at it. "Only one dance." Said Lucien with a tired voice after approximately fifteen minutes of constant attacks from Itori''s side. Then she returned to normal form, with a very satisfied and happy expression on her face, as she has achieved what she wanted. After that Lucien stood up and like a proper gentleman he asked Itori for the dance. To this Tsukiyama Mirumo clapped with his hands, all people stooped dancing and made a space for Lucien and Itori. Even though Lucien came from the aristocratic household he wasn''t accustomed to banquets or similar events, because he always spent time cultivating and training and never cared about this. HGe knew some basics dances, and he knew how to don''t fall. Itori was much better in this than him. When the came to the dancing parquet, they bowed to each other, as this was beginning of the formal dance and started dancing, traditionally Walz. Lucien didn''t know any other dance beside this one. They danced around ten full minutes until it was already time to end the dance and the dance ended with a kiss. After that came to huge applause and Lucien with Itori returned to their place, where Tsukiyama Mirumo was already waiting for them. He was smiling faintly as he was observing the entire event and Lucien''s and Itori''s dance. "I would like to compliment your dancing, but you are really not the best dancer, Lord Aeon." Said Tsukiyama Mirumo when he saw Lucien sitting down. Lucien only smiled a little, as he knew that the words of the Tsukiyama Mirumo were true, he was a bad dancer, maybe slightly bad at most. "I know, but as long as my fiance¨¦ is happy then so be it." Answered Lucien as he looked at Itori, who had a very happy expression on her face after the dance with Lucien. Apparently, for her, it was a very happy thing to dance with him. Compared to her, he didn''t think about dancing like a happy event as he knew that he looked probably terrible and he didn''t like doing anything which made him look bad or idiotic. "Then I must congratulate to your engagement, Lord Aeon. I wish you happiness only." Lucien nodded his head hearing this and returned to his previous thing, talking with Itori about various mischievous things. They spent another two hours at the banquet of the Tsukiyama Family before finally going back to Lucien''s estate. After some time Lucien got bored with it and wanted to return to his estate and go to sleep or train. For him, most priorities were training and cultivating and he devoted most of his free time or to be more exact, he devoted most of his time to training and cultivating. "Mr. Tsukiyama, I thank you for your invitation and I am very happy for our collaboration on the reconstruction and fortification of the 24th Ward. This evening was very fruitful for me and I hope our cooperation would last long and would be exceptional." Said, Lucien, as he stood up and looked at the Tsukiyama Murimo, it was already time to go. Itori also stood up and Zelilios with Darkwalker and rest of the bodyguards reacted immediately and came to them. In truth, their only priority was the safety of the Itori and not Lucien. He was strong enough and could take care of himself, in such Low-Grade World as this one. Compared to him, Itori was significantly weaker and in times of emergency, she would need some protection. For example, some figure on the level of the Grand Elder of the Washuu Clan, Washuu Tsunekashi. "It was an honor on my side. Then I would be awaiting you, to discuss our cooperation closer." Said Tsukiyama Murimo to Lucien as he gestured to the Matsumae to lead Lucien and his company out. Lucien faintly nodded his head at Tsukiyama Murimu, before following Matsumae out of the estate. They got into the cars and the convoy left the estate of the Tsukiyama Family and returned to Lucien''s estate. Fortunately, both estates were in the 21st Ward, which was the ward, where many rich people owned some mansion or estate. Actually, Lucien''s estate was only twenty minutes or so from the estate of the Tsukiyama Family. After they got back, the first thing Lucien did was go to the shower and then he waited for Itori in the living room, as they would be watching TV together. Tomorrow would be Christmas Eve and Lucien was planning something special. Even though he knew that nothing like a true god or something like that didn''t exist, only Akashic Records could be close to that existence, Christmas gave off a very nice and warm feeling. He was planning to give Itori some nice present and spent the entire day with her. He already ordered to Darkwalker to bring here, one giant and the most perfect Christmas tree he could find. He was already tasked with decorating the entire mansion with Chrismas decoration. On the other hand, Lucien would be doing dinner. Demon meat. It was a very special ingredient and it eating it could raise RC Level. On the Blood Island only thing that people ate there was the meat of demons and nothing else. Lucien was a rather good cook, the main reason behind it was that he had access to the records of the Akashic Records, and records regarding cooking weren''t high-level ones, so he just read through them in his free time and tried cooking afterward. He noticed that his cooking was getting better and better so he wanted to cook for somebody, and he chose to cook for Itori at the Christmas Eve. After twenty minutes of waiting for her, Itori finally came down from the shower, clothed in pajamas and sat down beside him and started watching some movie. 103 Christmas 24th December, Anteiku, 20th Ward Currently, Lucien and Itori were together at the Anteiku cafe, as the entire mansion was undergoing some changes in decoration because Christmas is here. So Lucien took Itori to stroll through the city during the time, decoration of the mansion would be done. The mood in the Anteiku cafe wasn''t the best one as could be seen on faces of certain people. Especially Touka, which had a very angry expression from time to time. The main reason behind this was that Kaneki Ken has joined the Aogiri Tree and left the Anteiku. Lucien and Itori were sitting at the table next to the window and both of them were watching the snow falling and covering the entire city. Even though it was City and not some mountains or forests, it still created very fascinatingly and a bit romantic atmosphere. "Lucien-san, I if can ask, what is your relationships with Itori-san?" Asked Touka after Lucien and Itori stood and were already leaving the Anteiku cafe. She only asked because they were holding hands and it was rather surprising that he would be in the relationship with Itori as she wasn''t a type for one, at least in her opinion. "She is my fiance¨¦." Answered Lucien swiftly, which gave Touka shock and also her face twitched a little, but soon she returned to normal, smiled and congratulated them. "Congratulation, Lucien-san." "Thank you Touka-san." Thanked Lucien after she congratulated him and he didn''t miss the slight change in her expression when she heard that Itori is his fiance¨¦. Then they left the Anteiku and went to the 14th Ward, where the Helter Skelter Bar was located as Itori wanted to take something from the Helter Skelter Bar, as she would be spending most of her time at Lucien''s estate. It was rather understandable because she already started living there. ============================================= After they reached the Helter Skelter Bar, Lucien said that he must go somewhere and left Itori at the bar, saying he would return after two hours or so THe place he went was none other than a local branch of the Tiffany, most famous and luxurious jewelry seller around. Lucien ordered the custom made a necklace for Itori as a present for the Christmas. It cost him several tens of millions of dollars. It was made from pure gold, diamonds, and various very rare materials. Lucien waited for some of his mercenaries to take him there as he was already bored and tired of walking and running. He had an arranged meeting with the manager of the Japanese branch of the Tiffany. After twenty minutes he was already there, together with four mercenaries following him. Lucien called four of them because Itori had many things that would need to move and he wanted to use manpower that was lazying around in his estate. In reality, those mercenaries were doing almost nothing, they were just guarding an object, sparring, and training or playing cards, watching tv or other things. Lucien then met with the manager and inspected the necklace. It was bought under name of one of the companies under the Aeon House, for more than thirty million dollars. Very pricy, but so be it. Soon all this money would be worth nothing. It was also because of this, the entire Aeon House planned to spend all their money to buy metals and some useful things. The necklace itself was in the design of antique and it looked very beautiful and dignified at the first look. Lucien ordered his subordinates to take the case, where the necklace was stored and then they left the Tiffany store. When they arrived at the Helter Skelter Bar, Itori already had her things packed up and the only thing which remained was to load them to the car. This was swiftly done by mercenaries here. They took all her thing and after taking all, they returned to the estate. ============================================= The entire estate was already decorated in the Christmas decoration. Strictly speaking, decoration was composed of the huge and beautiful Christmas tree, festive dressing and some other minor things. Everything was done perfectly, according to Lucien''s instructions. When Itori saw that she was very happy as it was apparent that Lucien was doing everything for her only. He was doing all of this because he loved her and wanted her to be happy. "Go watch TV or read some books, there is some important information about certain topics. I am going to cook our dinner, which would be the meat of the very strong and rare demon." Said Lucien immediately after they returned to the estate. He sent Itori to do some things as he would be cooking the meat of the demon. He prepared some books with the common knowledge about the multiverse. Most of these books were already spread through the entire Blood Island because in those books was common and general knowledge about the multiverse. One must admit that it was a very useful book. Itori nodded her head and went to read through those books, as she knew what they were about. Lucien then went cook the meat of demon. He spent several hours to cook it as it was very hard to prepare, but effects and taste of the demon meat were incomparable to animals of the Low-Grade Realm. Lucien was cooking meat of the Demonic Drake, which was a subclass of Demonic Dragon. Weakest of them is around Mid-Grade Viscount. Soon it would be already evening and dinner would be already ready. Snow was already falling, the sky was dark and the lights of the city were creating a fascinating atmosphere. Lucien looked through the window and saw that atmosphere and knew that he should go to change soon. Lucien went to change himself to formal clothes as they were having formal dinner. Itori also changed to formal clothes. Both of them were wearing typical white attire of the Aeon House. Dinner was already on the table and both Lucien and Itori sat down and looked at each other for short time. 104 First Nigh "Sooo, what is our dinner this time, my dear?" Asked Itori as she looked at the excellently arranged steak from Demon Drake before her. It looked very beautiful and very tasty just from one look. This was something that Lucien cooked for her, so she was very happy. She also knew that meat of the stronger species could increase their RC Level, because of this Itori had very high RC Level. Already more than ten thousand, as this was Lucien''s achievement. He was constantly giving her blood essences refined from demons and fused with his own blood. This was in order to prepare her when she would undergo the Devourification Process in the future. "Demon Drake." Answered Lucien honestly. Itori already knew about many demons, but she didn''t finish reading the entire book about demons and so, so she didn''t know every demon out of there. Even Lucien didn''t know every demon out of there, but because he was connected to records of the Akashic Records, he could easily access information about most of the demon race. If his authority was higher he could access all races, including those rare and extremely strong ones, like Heavenly Demons and co. "What is Demon Drake?" Asked Itori hearing his answer. She didn''t know about Demon Drake. Lucien smiled faintly and recalled everything he knew about Demon Drake. "Demon Drake is demonized drake in reality. Drakes are subspecies of the real Dragon Race and thus they are many times weaker. Demon Drake isn''t that strong creature and fortunately, when it crossed through the portal and arrived at our world it was already wounded so grandfather managed to kill it quickly. Demon Drakes are rather small, only three meters in height and five meters in length, even though they have wings, they can''t fly for a long time or can''t fly at all." Drakes weren''t that rare and in every realm where were dragons, you would find drakes for sure. Adult Drake has strength around Mid-Grade Viscount to High-Grade Viscount. Only a minority of them could reach the Count Rank or higher as it highly depends on their bloodline. Drakes are subspecies of dragons and dragons are the originators of their bloodline. That means they can''t reach higher cultivation as their bloodline originators. After they have finished eating the meat of the Demon Drake, Lucien took Itori to the Christmas tree where several cases already waited for her. She was surprised to see this and also eager to know what presents she would get. "Open that small one first." Said, Lucien, as he pointed at the smalled package under the giants Christmas tree. It was decently packed and looked tiny compared to other packages. Itori took the little package and unpacked it. Beneath the wrapping paper, there was a steel box with words Tiffany on it. Her eyes shined when she saw it and immediately opened it. Inside the box was the necklace, it had ancient design and was lined with diamonds with one blood ruby in the middle of it. The entire necklace was made of the pure gold and it looked extremely beautiful. Lucien then took it from her hands and wrapped it around her neck. To this Itori gave him one very passionate long kiss, before she returned back to reality from her endless happiness. "Thank you very much, it''s sooooo beautiful." Lucien nodded his head and then they proceed to unpack rest of the packages there. Besides the necklace, Lucien also gave her a bunch of blood essences and some old books on martial arts that suited her. These books were the one he got from the Ancestral Shrine of the Shi Xue Clan. Itori quickly looked at all those blood essences shining there with bloody red color and also an ancient looking book, which was named ''Basic of the Martial'', the book was talking about basic martial arts and was used to create a foundation, a firm one for the cultivator. "Do you like it?" Asked Lucien in a gentle voice as he pulled Itori into an embrace. She almost had tears at corners of her eyes as looked at all of the presents from him. Itori started passionately kissing Lucien on his lips. After a short period of kissing, she started to undress, until she was totally naked. Lucien admired her beauty and he too started to undress. Soon, only sound of pleasure and moans were echoing through the estate. Fortunately, the entire estate was empty so no one would see them or hear them. Curtains and sunblinds were covering the windows so even from the outside nobody could look inside the room. ============================================= 25th December, next day morning, Lucien''s estate Both Lucien and Itori were laying naked on the floor of the living room, covered only by simple fur blanked. Lucien was one who woke up first and he looked at Itori who was sleeping beside him. On the blanket, there was a bit stain of the blood, from yesterday''s night activity. Lucien silently stood and clothed himself to the simple black kimono, with golden dragon pattern, the same golden dragon pattern as was the flag of the Holy Niflheim Empire. He went to the kitchen to make some coffee for him and for Itori. After coffee was done, he took the two cups together with him and returned to the living room. Itori was already up and she was covering herself with the fur blanket as she looked at Lucien with a blissful smile on her face. Lucien gave her one cup of coffee and sat beside her and sipped from his cup of coffee. "How is it?" Asked Lucien about his coffee, he knew that he wasn''t very good at making coffee but at least he tried to make it. "Good, but you were better." Answered Itori as she licked her lips seductively. When Lucien saw this, he immediately took her as they were going to do the deed again. Once again, moans were going through the entire estate, with the source of them being the living room. 105 Train me! Several days passed since the Chrismas and the New Year Eve was coming. Currently was snowing heavily and Lucien was spending time in the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory training in his kenjutsu. Training here was much better than training outside as there was much more silent environment and it gave a more peaceful feeling. When he wasn''t training in kenjutsu he was refining blood essences from the corpses of killed ghouls or those bones and remains he obtained from the Cochlea Detention Center, from the disposal room. Currently, he had a huge amount of blood essences thanks to the number of ghoul corpses and remains. Unfortunately, most of them would be used on the Devourification process as the fuel. Lucien spent more than three whole days refining those bones and remains of the ghouls from the disposal room of the Cochlea Detention Center. Originally there were small mountains from those bones and remains of ghouls, Lucien refined all of them to several hundred blood essences. Then he stored them all in a special room in the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory and went back to his estate in Tokyo. ============================================= Itori was currently reading some books and drinking blood wine during it. She was in the library of the estate, which was rather big and was full of various book, that was placed there by Lucien. As she was reading the books, suddenly somebody knocked at the door and entered with haste. The person who entered was one of the mercenaries guarding the estate. Currently, there were more than forty people guarding the entire estate. Even though most of them were in the smaller house, as only half of them were active on the duty and the other half had free time. "Madam, some young girl named Kirishima Touka came here, saying that she wanted to meet Lord Aeon. She is currently waiting at the gate with several men guarding over her." Said the mercenary who came here. One must admit that the security here was top-notch. The entire complex was under the watch of cameras, detectors of movement and other gadgets all the time. Besides that, it was under the constant watch of more than twenty ghoul mercenaries all the time. Itori was surprised that Touka came here, but she knew that Lucien offered her help that he would train her a little. "Escort her to the living room, Lucien would return soon." Said Itori as she continued reading her book and sipping the blood wine. She won''t be going to meet Touka as Lucien probably knew that somebody was here and would return soon. ============================================= Touka was currently standing at the checkpoint, which was a small building at the gate leading to Lucien''s estate and was under the constant watch of four ghoul mercenaries. During the time here, some of the mercenaries even reached S-rated thanks to the Lucien and the blood essences he gave them occasionally. Soon, mercenary which departed to the mansion returned and came to her. "You can go to the mansion, the Lord would return soon and see you. You two escort her to the living room and then return." As he pointed at two mercenaries, they then departed together with Touka, leading her to the estate. When they entered the estate she was shocked to see such a luxurious mansion. Everything here looked too expensive and even some things looked like antiques. She was lead to the living room, there were a beautiful Christmas tree and Christmas decoration. She sat down at the leather sofa and waited patiently for Lucien to come. Soon after Lucien came here as was told. "Welcome to my estate, Touka-san. So what brings you here? Heeeeyyyy bring us some coffee." Said, Lucien, as he welcomed her here. Then he screamed to one of the mercenaries to bring some coffee for both of them. "Thank you. I would like to request two things from you, Lucien. As you said previously, could you please train me? I wish to be stronger, as current as I am, I can''t do anything." Said Touka as she bowed her head down. Lucien mentioned last time, that he would help her to get stronger and agreed that he would train her. Soon after somebody came and delivered two cups of freshly made coffee for them. "As I said that, of course, I would do my best to help you. So from today, came to my estate every day to train. If I am not available then my most trusted subordinate would train you, but now I have much of free time." Answered Lucien, to which Touka became happy because Lucien would train her. Even Yoshimura admitted in secrecy that he was no match for him. It was something like an instinct to know if someone is stronger than you. In truth, many species as demons, devils, vampires and other similar races were very good at this thing. "And what it the second thing, you mentioned you had one more thing you wanted to ask?" And now the second topic came to the surface, even though Lucien already knew what she would ask for. It was very apparent, as it wasn''t some secret that he was collaborating with the Aogiri Tree, but in reality, the entire Aogiri Tree was just a pawn on his chessboard. "Yes, Kaneki Ken. He has joined the Aogiri Tree, perhaps could you please bring him back?" Touka was one of the people that was very against the fact that the Kaneki Ken joined the Aogiri Tree. Even her brother was a member of the organization, but many, especially those from the Anteiku strongly disagreed with methods used by the Aogiri Tree. "It was his own choice to join the Aogiri Tree and with this, I can''t help you much, maximally I can keep an eye on him, but that''s all, Touka-san. Your friend has joined the Aogiri Tree in order to seek power and change or he had some other reasons for joining the Aogiri Tree, that''s I don''t know. So I would advise you only one thing, leave him be for the time being. He would return when he would be ready." Everything was part of the plan he wasn''t going let Kaneki Ken go from the Aogiri Tree as he would be very useful in the organization. Even though Touka was rather disappointed by his words, she knew that there was nothing she could do about it, and as Lucien said, she could only wait. "Now that we are ready, came with me to the training room. I would like to see your abilities and what you can do." 106 Training Programme The training room was usually empty as the only person who trained here was Lucien or Zelilios. And as Zelilios was today somewhere in the city, probably hunting and killing some ghoul investigators for fun, it was guaranteed that today it would be empty. "Go and change into the training attire. There is already one prepared for you." Said, Lucien, as he pointed at little box, where was specially created training attire stored. It was the same attire that Sacred Devourer Ghoul was using during training and sparring on the Blood Island. She was changed rather quickly and arrived at the training room, where Lucien was already waiting for her, too clothed in the same training attire. Lucien scanned her entire figure and he noticed that she was somewhat attractive. Even though she was only seventeen years old, her figure was many times better than the rest of her peers. Touka noticed that Lucine was literary staring at her, to which she had a slight blush on her face. "Now, we could start. The first thing you need to is to attack me with all your power, but without the use of the kagune or turning on your kakugan. I want to see your base power without any boost or something." Touka nodded her head as she rushed at Lucien and kicked him with full power. She was best at kicking and her punching skills weren''t that bad, at least for ordinary ghouls. Lucien caught her kick with his right hand as he chuckled. "Your power could be barely passable, in case if you are fighting against humans. Now show me your kakugan and attack." Then Touka turned on her kakugan and congealed her kagune. She had Ukaku type kagune and managed to congeal only one wing. The second was incomparably smaller, as it couldn''t even be called a wing. "Hmm, incomplete one." Commented Lucien when he saw her ukaku wing. She would probably need several years to develop complete wings until the second wing is properly grown. Fortunately, with this, Lucien could help her by letting her eat some of the blood essences infused with his blood. "Attack." Commanded Lucien as Touka started shooting those crystal generated by her ukaku kagune at Lucien. In his eyes, they were so weak, that he was blocking them by his body only. He was already on Mid-Grade Baron Rank, so blocking crystals generated by ordinary ghoul is nothing to him. Lucien observed how she was attacking and her battle style if we could call it like that. It was unrefined and the only thing she could do was kick and punch, nothing more. Use of her kagune was bad a the best. After a short time, he already had some opinion and how to train her. "You could stop." Both of them stopped and sat down on the ground. Lucien then started thinking about what to say about her strength, which was almost non-existent. Fortunately for her, Lucien would be able to greatly enhance her strength. "I am going to search for suitable martial arts for you to train in. You need to be able to attack and defend effectively and not only kicking and punching as you see fit." Said, Lucien, after he departed for around ten minutes. Then he returned with some book on martial arts which perfectly suited her. He gave her the book and explained everything she needed to know about that. Then he took out small glass vial filled with blood red beads, blood essences and gave them to Touka. "Eat one of those each day after training. They would help you to increase your RC Level by much and thus your kagune would be many times stronger. Your RC Level is pitifully low." The only way for ordinary ghouls to increase their RC Level by some significant amount was by eating other ghouls, but apparently, Touka never practiced cannibalism. When RC Level is very low, then kagune would be smaller and weaker, but with help of the blood essences, her RC Level would increase significantly and after some time she may even develop Kakuja. "What are those?" Asked Touka after Lucien handed her the vial with the blood essences. "They are called blood essences, they are used to increase RC Level and also in the long term you would develop Kakuja." She was shocked to the core, hearing that something like the blood essences existed because they could increase the RC Leven and even help you to develop the Kakuja. This was something totally unheard for an ordinary ghoul, it was closer to magic or something like that. "And also drink this, after that your kagune would be completely developed. I have seen that your kagune is still in the phase of growth, probably because of your low RC Level, so this could help you close that distance and also enhance your entire strength." Said, Lucien, after he gave her one vial filled with his blood. Blood of the Sacred Devourer Ghoul had very magical effects on ordinary ghouls. He already gave one vial to Arima to stop his blinding process and improve his health more, so he could still hold on. Unfortunately, because he was a half-human, from long-term it won''t be that useful to him. Compared to him, Touka was different as she was a pure-blooded ghoul. Effect of blood from the Sacred Devourer Ghoul would have huge meaning. Either from the short-term or the long-term. When she saw that vial of the blood, even though she didn''t know what it was, she felt a very strong attraction towards the blood of the Sacred Devourer Ghoul. Like it was something natural, natural reaction. "It would help me complete growth of my kagune for real?" She was aware of the fact, why her kagune was still underdeveloped because her RC Level was low, but now it could be solved by drinking one bottle of blood. She didn''t know why, but she trusted Lucien even though she can''t answer that. 107 Reasons for the Washuu "Don''t worry, this would help you for certain and your kagune would be completed in no time." Said Lucien as he was watching Touka holding the vial with his blood, that was crimson red. She was examining the vial with his blood like some child who found a new toy on the street. It was very interesting and also the attraction she felt towards his blood was getting stronger and stronger. "Drink it and digest it. When you are done, we would continue our training. For digestion, you should do it here as you would need a safe environment. Here, even the Washuu Clan won''t dare to invade, let alone those maggots from the Commission of Counter Ghoul." Touka was rather stunned when she heard that even the CCG won''t dare to invade his place, but what confused her, why he mentioned the Washuu Clan. From knowledge she knew, the Washuu Clan were humans that specialized in combating ghoul, they weren''t anything special compared to the rest of the ghoul investigators, besides they more advanced battle techniques and some knowledge about ghouls. "Washuu Clan? You mean those humans that are controlling entire CCG?" Asked Touka, in hopes that Lucien would clarify his statement. "H-Humans, hahaha, that''s funny." Laughed he out of loud when he heard that she called the Washuu Clan humans. They were many things, but to call them humans was funny. In reality, they were just a bunch of hypocrites. "What is so funny about it. They are humans, are they not?" Asked Touka with confusion and the weird expression on her face as she couldn''t comprehend his behavior and weird aura when she mentioned the Washuu Clan. "So, he didn''t tell you anything about them? Old man Yoshimura." Apparently, even members of the Anteiku Cafe or so-called Anteiku Faction, how Lucien named it, didn''t even have any idea about the Washuu Clan being the clan of pure-blooded ghouls, that infiltrated the human society for centuries and were manipulating and controlling everything out there. They were deeply rooted and couldn''t be destroyed easily through normal means, as cancer could be removed only by force. "I should tell you one thing, this isn''t something you should know with your pitiful strength. Probably that old man had his reasons why he didn''t tell you about them and I would not like to put you in danger. Knowing this information could easily lead to your death, my dear. Are you really sure you want to know this?" Lucien explained to her, that knowing the truth about the Washuu Clan could easily lead to misfortune and even to the death. Some things were rather dangerous to know, especially those that were about the Washuu Clan in this world. Agents of the Vasuki were very good at assassinating their targets and so. Touka was a bit lost in her thoughts, before nodding her head in agreement. She was rather curious about real identity when Lucien mentioned them now, as he also had a somewhat mysterious origin in her eyes and even old man Yoshimura said that he knows a lot of things, that common ghouls didn''t. "So where should we start. Hmm, yes. You know, in reality, the Washuu Clan are just clan of ghouls." Said Lucien with a casual voice to Touka, which she gained expression like hit with thunder. This news was too shocking and too unbelievable to her. The Washuu Clan, protectors of the humanity in Japan, fighters against ghouls for centuries were actually ghouls all the time. It was a really huge eye-opening for her. Actually, only a very few people knew about this. From the Aogiri Tree, only Eto, Tatara and Noro knew about the Washuu Clan being ghouls. From the Anteiku only old man Yoshimura was aware of that fact and from the Commission of Counter Ghoul, of course, nobody knew about it, besides members of the Washuu Clan, which worked as executives of the CCG. "How is that even possible? That''s too unrealistic, how could be the so-called shield of the humanity a ghoul clan?" Asked confused Touka, as this news were too unbelievable for her. "Easily. They started infiltrating to human society for hundreds of years ago. When there didn''t even exist some technology that could distinguish human from a ghoul, and for a long time won''t even be existing. Thus they had a perfect opportunity for their infiltration, as they didn''t have any problems. Soon, with their power and money, they gained a stable foothold in the country and started infiltrating government and Imperial Court of the Emperor in the Meiji Era. They achieved glorious merits in the war against old Shogunate, in the civil war. Afterward, they begun exterminating ghouls and had great results, as they wouldn''t, they were one of them. Soon, the name Washuu was connected with banishing evil human eating creatures known as ghouls. When their power grew up enough, CCG was established by the end of the 19th Century. From then, their power grew even more as they gained a very powerful tool to manipulate public." Lucien briefly explained the reasons why was the Washuu Clan able to infiltrate the japan so effectivel?y and obtain huge political power. Plainly said, they had a perfect opportunity and no enemy in their plan to infiltrate human society. Touka digested the knowledge about the Washuu Clan with great shock. To think, the Washuu Clan was planning it from centuries ago and their infiltration was something on the long-term. "Oh, and don''t tell this to anybody and also pretend you know nothing about this topic, even from that old man. As I said before, you having this kind of knowledge is too dangerous for you with your current pitiful strength." Said, Lucien, as he stood up and walked away, leaving Touka alone in the training room. She was staring at his fading image in the distance as she returned to repeating the moves he taught her today. She was determined to be strong because, from his word, she knew that her strength was almost non-existent. 108 Annoucement of Nirvana of the Revolution @@ For a long time, I have a script and a few chapters of my fanfic for the HP world called Nirvana of the Revolution. It was created with the help of my friend who loved the HP world. https://www.webnovel.com/book/13582443906398105/Nirvana-of-the-Revolution The entire novel is about OC character named Avernus Fenrir Black von Grindelwald, The story would be more easy going and a slice of life, harem included. The main girl is Daphne Greengrass for starters. Release rate would be random like Darkness of the Legends.@@ 109 I could do it alone Sensei 1st of January, 1 Year ASBI 24th Ward Works began at the entire 24th Ward and some exits were already sealed and others are being sealed just now. Many people were working here and there, renovating strategical buildings to improve the situation of the 24th Ward. The first thing needed to do was to seal all exits leading to the 24th Ward and leave only a few of them, of course, fortified and good defendable places. Lucien was surprised how fast had the works on the 24th Ward begun, but soon he stopped admiring the beauty and thinking about the future of the 24th Ward and went away. He went to the special place, which served as the training field for the executives of the Aogiri Tree. This was something constructed by Kamishiro Matasaka after he joined the Aogiri Tree, as he started training some ghouls of the Aogiri Tree in his martial arts and way of the fighting. In the training field, there was a young man with white heir training there. The moment he saw Lucien he stopped training and bowed deeply to Lucien. "Sensei." Kaneki Ken, compared to the weakling and half-ass he was in the past, the current him was much more useful and better. At least to Lucien, because to some extent, he had the same methods, the same amount of cruelty to enemies and calm composure in everything. Under Lucien''s influence, Kaneki also turned to the person he wished to get stronger and be able to protect everybody with supreme strength. Philosophy taught by Lucien Etras di Aeon. "We could start now." Said, Lucien, as he turned on his kakugan and went to spar with Kaneki. He rarely fought using his tails, as using kagune katana was far more convenient to him, as him being a samurai and follower of the way of the sword. Both of them materialized four kagune tails and started fighting each other. Soon the result was clear as Kaneki was beaten almost to death, laying powerlessly on the ground. Lucien looked at him from the side as he commented. "Are you aware of your mistakes or I need to point them?" Asked Lucien with a bored voice. "No need Sensei, I would properly meditate about my mistakes during the day and we could continue to¨¦mmorow." Answered Kaneki from the hole in the ground to Lucien, who faintly smiled hearing this. Then he came to Kaneki, helping him stood up and gave him two blood essences to eat. After each training or we could say beating, Lucien would also give him some blood essences to eat to increase his RC Level and strengthen his kagune. Kaneki''s RC Level was around 977 or so after that surgery by Kano Akihiro, but now it was slowly increasing. Now it was a bit more than one thousand or so. Lucien was giving him more potent blood essences to increase his RC Level faster. "Go to Kamishiro Matasaka, to learn martial arts from him. In some things, especially human martial arts, he is master and better than me. I would only teach you how to fight with kagune and if you want I could teach you Kenjutsu." Said Lucien to Kaneki after short tough. He never planned to teach Kaneki some martial arts as he wasn''t master of it, but when it came to the Kamishiro Matasaka that was a different story. Kamishiro Matasaka was master of most known martial arts created in this world and he spent his entire life training and improving his martial arts. Kaneki bowed to Lucien again and Lucien went visit Arima, who was currently discussing something with Eto. When he was already on his way, he took out glass vial that was filled with blood essences and tossed it to Kaneki. "Eat them and digest them properly, your RC Level would increase faster and when you would eat another ghoul, cannibalizing, you wouldn''t lose your mind and go berserk." After that, he exited the training grounds and went to the meeting place, where Arima and Eto were already discussing some things about the reconstruction of the 24th Ward. "Arima-san, Eto." Greeted Lucien, the moment he entered the room and saw Arima with his classical expressionless face and Eto which was sitting on the chair with a mischievous expression as she was thinking about something weird probably, her mental state wasn''t the best one, but still better than some other ghouls. Lucien sat down at his place, which was already prepared for him as he joined the discussion. They talked about the reconstruction of the 24th Ward and fortification of the place. Next topic was cooperation between the Aogiri Tree and the Tsukiyama Family in this project. In return, they would give the Tsukiyama Family, one whole district of the reconstructed 24th Ward as their property. Tsukiyama Family was one of the main reasons why the works started so soon, as Tsukiyama Mirumo was very decisive in doing this and as soon as his conversation with Lucien ended he personally visited the 24th Ward to discuss cooperation with Eto. "Arima-san, how is your eyesight these days?" Asked Lucin with a smile on his face. Last time, he gave Arima a vial filled with his blood, because it would stop the process of decay of his body, as he was a half-breed and also stop losing his eyesight. "Much better, I can finally use both of my eyes to full again, thank you Lucien-san." Answered Arima to Lucien. When he drank the blood from that vial Lucien gave him, he was very surprised to see it completely cured his eyes and now he could function normally once again. It even greatly improved his body and his strength grown by a significant amount. "That''s good to hear, Arima-san." After that, they returned to the previous conversation regarding upcoming events, works and many other topics, which ended only a five hours later, when both Arima and Lucien left the 24th Ward to return to their own things. 108 I could do it alone Sensei 1st of January, 1 Year ASBI 24th Ward Works began at the entire 24th Ward and some exits were already sealed and others are being sealed just now. Many people were working here and there, renovating strategical buildings to improve the situation of the 24th Ward. The first thing needed to do was to seal all exits leading to the 24th Ward and leave only a few of them, of course, fortified and good defendable places. Lucien was surprised how fast had the works on the 24th Ward begun, but soon he stopped admiring the beauty and thinking about the future of the 24th Ward and went away. He went to the special place, which served as the training field for the executives of the Aogiri Tree. This was something constructed by Kamishiro Matasaka after he joined the Aogiri Tree, as he started training some ghouls of the Aogiri Tree in his martial arts and way of the fighting. In the training field, there was a young man with white heir training there. The moment he saw Lucien he stopped training and bowed deeply to Lucien. "Sensei." Kaneki Ken, compared to the weakling and half-ass he was in the past, the current him was much more useful and better. At least to Lucien, because to some extent, he had the same methods, the same amount of cruelty to enemies and calm composure in everything. Under Lucien''s influence, Kaneki also turned to the person he wished to get stronger and be able to protect everybody with supreme strength. Philosophy taught by Lucien Etras di Aeon. "We could start now." Said, Lucien, as he turned on his kakugan and went to spar with Kaneki. He rarely fought using his tails, as using kagune katana was far more convenient to him, as him being a samurai and follower of the way of the sword. Both of them materialized four kagune tails and started fighting each other. Soon the result was clear as Kaneki was beaten almost to death, laying powerlessly on the ground. Lucien looked at him from the side as he commented. "Are you aware of your mistakes or I need to point them?" Asked Lucien with a bored voice. "No need Sensei, I would properly meditate about my mistakes during the day and we could continue to¨¦mmorow." Answered Kaneki from the hole in the ground to Lucien, who faintly smiled hearing this. Then he came to Kaneki, helping him stood up and gave him two blood essences to eat. After each training or we could say beating, Lucien would also give him some blood essences to eat to increase his RC Level and strengthen his kagune. Kaneki''s RC Level was around 977 or so after that surgery by Kano Akihiro, but now it was slowly increasing. Now it was a bit more than one thousand or so. Lucien was giving him more potent blood essences to increase his RC Level faster. "Go to Kamishiro Matasaka, to learn martial arts from him. In some things, especially human martial arts, he is master and better than me. I would only teach you how to fight with kagune and if you want I could teach you Kenjutsu." Said Lucien to Kaneki after short tough. He never planned to teach Kaneki some martial arts as he wasn''t master of it, but when it came to the Kamishiro Matasaka that was a different story. Kamishiro Matasaka was master of most known martial arts created in this world and he spent his entire life training and improving his martial arts. Kaneki bowed to Lucien again and Lucien went visit Arima, who was currently discussing something with Eto. When he was already on his way, he took out glass vial that was filled with blood essences and tossed it to Kaneki. "Eat them and digest them properly, your RC Level would increase faster and when you would eat another ghoul, cannibalizing, you wouldn''t lose your mind and go berserk." After that, he exited the training grounds and went to the meeting place, where Arima and Eto were already discussing some things about the reconstruction of the 24th Ward. "Arima-san, Eto." Greeted Lucien, the moment he entered the room and saw Arima with his classical expressionless face and Eto which was sitting on the chair with a mischievous expression as she was thinking about something weird probably, her mental state wasn''t the best one, but still better than some other ghouls. Lucien sat down at his place, which was already prepared for him as he joined the discussion. They talked about the reconstruction of the 24th Ward and fortification of the place. Next topic was cooperation between the Aogiri Tree and the Tsukiyama Family in this project. In return, they would give the Tsukiyama Family, one whole district of the reconstructed 24th Ward as their property. Tsukiyama Family was one of the main reasons why the works started so soon, as Tsukiyama Mirumo was very decisive in doing this and as soon as his conversation with Lucien ended he personally visited the 24th Ward to discuss cooperation with Eto. "Arima-san, how is your eyesight these days?" Asked Lucin with a smile on his face. Last time, he gave Arima a vial filled with his blood, because it would stop the process of decay of his body, as he was a half-breed and also stop losing his eyesight. "Much better, I can finally use both of my eyes to full again, thank you Lucien-san." Answered Arima to Lucien. When he drank the blood from that vial Lucien gave him, he was very surprised to see it completely cured his eyes and now he could function normally once again. It even greatly improved his body and his strength grown by a significant amount. "That''s good to hear, Arima-san." After that, they returned to the previous conversation regarding upcoming events, works and many other topics, which ended only a five hours later, when both Arima and Lucien left the 24th Ward to return to their own things. 109 sThe Way of the Swords Panta rhei and time was an exception from this statement. Six months went by from the 11th Ward Battle and the Cochlea Raid. Most of the time Lucien spent training and refining his kenjutsu because it was becoming more and more important to him. He felt, that he was finally becoming One with the Sword. Even though he attained the rank of the Samurai in the past, he didn''t have real time to properly refine his techniques and everything. So now, he spent the entire half year in refining his kenjutsu to a much higher level. Even though he was still far from the Samurai Master Realm, he was confident to fight any other samurai''s whose kenjutsu attained the Samurai Realm. The only thing which was somewhat sad was fact, during these months he was training his kenjutsu he wasn''t properly eating blood essences and so he increased his RC Level only by a few thousand. At most five or so, which was rather bad when one knows about the number of blood essences in his Cross Crest. But still, he was able to cross RC Level of sixty thousand and reach Kakuja V3, which greatly enhanced his combat power and by the information of his record, he could be regarded as High-Grade Baron Rank cultivator with the ability to fight against weakest Low-Grade Viscounts. This could be considered a huge success. Also, Lucien studied records of the Akashic Records a lot during his free time and learned many important things about the multiverse, cultivation system of the multiverse, gradings, administrators of the Akashic Records and many more things. His everyday routine would be, morning training and coffee, maybe morning sex with Itori. Then he would spend entire day training and refining his kenjutsu, sparring with Itori, cultivating or reading some books or records from the Akashic Records. Afternoon, Touka would visit almost every day to train and Lucien would guide her through basic of combat and usage of kagune. Then in the evening, he would go somewhere with Itori to have fun, either hunting for ghoul investigators or going to watch movies. At night, activities for adults and sleep. Repeating this every day leads to a happy life and good power. Another important news came from the Blood Island stating that Lucien younger sister, Artemia Etras di Aeon was born and was a strong little healthy baby girl. To the situation on the Blood Island, it was becoming more and more chaotic, as fights with demons were more and more intense, but the Aeon House was producing several times more of Magitek Infantry Soldiers with the strength of the Mid-Grade Baron. His grandfather Azrael, finally reached Low-Grade Count Rank and thus they gained access to the next part of the Magitek Technology and started constructing dreadnoughts, airships, and many other things, which would allow them to travel through the void in the future. Recently, they have been using almost all of their money to buy as much steel and other commodities required to construct those dreadnoughts and airships as they could. What was bad news, constructed vessels would have a very short life, as they were constructed from the lowest grade materials, so when they would arrive at the God-Devil Plane they would need to construct new ones. Last months when Touka was visiting this place, she was taking sneak glances at him more and more, with rather a weird expression. When Lucien noticed that, the first thing that came to his mind was if she hasn''t fallen for him. It wasn''t so surprising that this happened, he was a very attractive man and to her, he was helping and also caring person, many times she came to him not only for training but also to talk with him about her problems and hi listened to all what she wanted to say. He never told her that he noticed that as if waiting for her confession, but Lucien was rather confused deep inside. He was confused from his own emotions for her as he couldn''t decide what to do with her. Same was going for Eto, as she seemingly was coming to her own end, as her mental state was worsening. Lucien talked to her only a few times in the last half year, but every time they talked he noticed her state was worsening, and he couldn''t do anything about it. When the things came to Touka, she was cold on the outside, but inside she was a very warm person and she was in need of someone who would love her. He was aware that soon, he would need to make his decision, but as he was a person of rational thinking and follower of the cruel logic, there was a clear answer to this question... Lucien was currently in the Cross Crest, Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory in the training room, sitting cross-legged with one katana at his legs. His eyes were closed and he was meditating about the way of the sword. How to become one with the sword. In times like this, he totally forgot the problems he had in life, and completely devoted his attention to the one thing, Way of the Sword. Then he suddenly opened his eyes and looked at his record. ============================================= Name: Lucien Etras di Aeon Occupation: Executor of Akashic Records, Crown Prince of the Holy Niflheim Empire Bloodline: Sacred Devourer Race: Sacred Devoured Ghoul - RC Type: Rinkaku RC Level: 64,549 Body Cultivation: High-Grade Baron Kagune Rank: 2nd-Tier Noble-Grade Energy Type: Psionic Energy Energy Level: 1,000 Energy Cultivation: None - Unique States: Permanent Tail - 1 Kakuja V1: Left arm - body armor, right hand - kagune katana Kakuja V2: Entire body armor without a mask, kagune katana Kakuja V3: Entire body armor with the mask, another armor layer (extra thin), kagune katana - Abilities: Sacred Devourer - Ability to devour any types of energy, bloodlines or bodies. It strengthens the host by some amount. Divine Telekinesis - 10 Psionic Energy per minute. Eight Celestial Inner Gates: The Gate of Opening - Celestial Reflexes - Skills: Kenjutsu: Samurai - Cultivation Techniques: Sacred Rinkaku Scripture: Baron Stage RC Body Refining Technique: Baron Rank Eight Celestial Inner Gates: The Gate of Opening - Cross Crest: Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace ============================================= 110 That girl Lucien scanned his record carefully and properly and noticed some slight changes in his record. Even though his Psionic Energy Level was still stagnating, because of lack cultivation method for the psionic energy or some special energies he could devour like mana, Qi, arcane. Lucien also found out that if he wanted to devour those energies to raise the Psionic Energy Level, he would first need to condense Psionic Energy Core to store those energies somewhere and to construct core, his body would first need to reach Count Rank before doing anything. So this thing was to be postponed at a later date. What was nice to see, was that he achieved the Kakuja V3 which meant the entire body armor with the mask, another armor layer (extra thin), kagune katana. These kind of boosts were too massive and could give him a huge rise in his strength. Now only thing, which could force him to go all out would be only demons in this Low-Grade World as nothing else was here which could be a danger for him. His RC Level was already nearing the threshold required to reach the Viscount Rank which would give him another type of Kagune. Lucien would for sure chose the Ukaku-type as if he could develop this type of kagune properly he would gain the ability of flight all the time. He wouldn''t even need to wait till he reached the Count rank to use the Psionic Energy to fly. After he finished reading through the entire record, he went to the library and read some books. He learned a new function of the Akashic Records, creating whole books from the records. And thus, he gained thousands of books about the various topic about the multiverse. Now Lucien was studying books that were talking about the Psionic Power and Psionic Energy. He was searching for a method of condensing the Psionic Core which could store psionic energy and convert devoured energies into the psionic energy. Fortunately for him, the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory was getting bigger and bigger, because of the absorption of energies from the void. His beloved Floating Fortress would finally reach the Imperial Grade. For some weird reason, the absorption rate of the Void Energy was getting faster and faster, but as this would only benefit him, Lucien didn''t care about this. ============================================= Name: Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory Type: Floating Fortress Grade: Royal Tier: 3rd Uniquess: Growth 67% (grows by absorbing energy from the Void, increase in size, grade...) Attack: None (available by reaching Imperial-Grade) - Description: Floating Fortress capable of traveling in the Void, space and practically everywhere. ============================================= Lucien looked at the record of the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory and noticed that the growth was already at the 67% which indicated that reaching the 100% and breaking through to the Imperial-Grade was already nearing. Maybe after a few months, it would finally reach the Imperial-Grade allowing Lucien to teleport anywhere in the Low-Grade World. When he was going through all those books talking about various races out there and how vast the rest of the multiverse was, he couldn''t help himself and he wanted immediately leave this Low-Grade World and go to the vaster world. Unfortunately, now it wasn''t that possible, from the information know, they must construct firstly five dreadnoughts and several airships to move their entire population and army. That would take around two years at most. Because of this, Lucien also started creating something like guidebook about the God-Devil Plane which contained the most important information about the plane. Like cultivation levels, comparison of their cultivation system with our cultivation system and many others. This would greatly help the entire Holy Niflheim Empire to assimilate to the God-Devil Plane faster. After reading through some books, he returned to his mansion in Tokyo. In the entire estate was a peaceful and tranquil atmosphere ruling. Mercenaries were training, playing cards or watching TV. Some of them were even doing their jobs, but Lucien didn''t care. As long as nothing happened. On top of that, now after a half year, most of the mercenaries reached the S-rate so even though they weren''t doing anything, they would be still able to detect the intruders. Zelilios spent most of his time in the training room in the estate or in the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. Most of his day was filled with training spear mastery or reading some books. Currently, even Itori was at the estate, Lucien quickly went to find her to do some certain activity that was needed for him. She was in the garden, sitting with a cup of coffee and reading book. Lucien silently sneaked at her and hugged her from behind, but his hands didn''t stop there and were going to certain parts of her body. Then he whispered to her ears with a silent voice. "Itori-chan, please." Itori shook her head and looked at Lucien. "Hmm." Then both of them went away to the bedroom, where a sweet time awaited full of pleasure and moans. It took around two hours, for the activity to end, and then, the silence was the only thing in the entire estate. ============================================= Lucien and Itoir were laying on the bed, both naked, only covered by a simple blanket. Itori was laying on his chest as she was looking at Lucien who had his eyes closed, probably thinking about something important. "Lucien what will you do about that girl? She always steals glances at you and she is very interested. Probably you are her first love." Said Itori with a light laugh as she went more close to him and kissed his lips. Lucien didn''t say anything and just looked at Itori with a loving expression. He was still thinking about some various but when Itori mentioned again that topic, his thoughts went back to that problem. What to do about that. Maybe he would go visit Anteiku later to talk with Touka about this. He was aware that she probably won''t start the conversation about this because deep inside she was just another shy teenage girl, that had a cold cover. So it would be his responsibility to start talking about this. 111 Order to kill him "I don''t know for now, probably wait to see if her feeling is something deep or are just superficial. Originally I have wanted to take even Eto with me, but seeing her mental state deteriorating every day, it would be impossible I see, but my feelings for her were just from pure physical attraction, nothing too deep." Explained Lucien to Itori his current situation. It was same like with Itori because it first he was attracted to her mainly physically, but after some time, he developed deep feelings of love for her and now he couldn''t even imagine his life without her. She already became an irreplaceable part of him. Itori titled her head, not knowing what to say to his explanation. On one side she was happy, as she won''t have any rival, but on the other side, she was a bit sad, as Lucien was sad because all of this, what was happening. ============================================= Lucien went to the training field, in the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory to find Zelilios who was as always training in his spear. Zelilios spent almost all his time by training his spear mastery or cultivating. The only purpose of the Holy Imperial Guards was to get stronger and be able to protect the Empire from its enemies. "Zelilios come here for now." Said Lucien, after he observed Zelilios training his spearmanship for around half an hour. Zelilios stopped and then came to Lucien giving him a light bow. "How much time we have, before the portal on the Blood Island would expand too much for us to handle?" Asked Lucien after a short time. He was aware that the time was already going out, and now only a few years remained before they would have to move out of this world. "Two years at most probably, but it would be better if we leave sooner. Dreadnoughts and airships would be complete after one year or so, we are putting most of our effort in constructing those." Answered Zelilios to Lucien, to which he frowned lightly, but he was eager to leave this Low-Grade World for the much vaster multiverse to gain more power and became the hegemon of the multiverse. "Your Highness, I have something more to report. From our spies in the Vasuki, we have found that Kano Akihiro is close to the finishing process of ghoulification. After reporting this to the Emperor, the order was given to kill Kano Akihiro and secure his research. Soon we would have the location of one of his laboratories which we could raid." Lucien was rather displeased with the fact he must go search after Kano. That man was very good at hiding and not leaving traces after his move. He knew that killing him is something he must and he is too dangerous to leave him to do as he, please. On the top of that, he would then obtain his research on the ghoulification, which could be used to create ghouls, but not like in this world, but rather mindless flesh eaters that would devour everything in the path. Holy Niflheim Empire could give good use to them in the future. Especially when they would want to exterminate the population of some planet, then the upgraded virus would be the best option. After a short talk with Zelilios, Lucien left the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory and went to the 24th Ward to check on the reconstruction and fortification of the 24th Ward. ============================================= July, Year 1 ASBI, 24th Ward Lucien arrived at the 24th Ward and was very pleased seeing all those works. The entire ward looked totally different compared to the past. All hidden exits that were leading to the 24th Ward were now sealed and only a few of them were left. Those who were left were guarded non-stop by the Aogiri Tree, and each of them was under was of the SS-rated ghoul. Now thanks to Lucien''s help, the Aogiri Tree had more than 10 SS-rated ghouls, which was an astonishing number. There were more than thousand people working on the reconstruction, and one must say that this force was extremely formidable because the physique of the ghoul is many times stronger than the physique of human, they could work more and aren''t that tired. Thanks to this, they managed to remove many half-destroyed buildings and ruins from the existence of the 24th Ward. Many of those were now replaced with guardian towers, outposts, and many others. The main focus of the renovation was the outer circle of the ward, where the exits were located. The inner circle was still as it was before. Lucien was already ready to start the second part of his plan, which was to use the Aogiri Tree against the Washuu Clan and the Vasuki to hunt them down. Now the Aogiri Tree was many times stronger compared to the past, it was a perfect opportunity. For example, Tatara was already at SSS-rate which was a bit scheme from Lucien, as he started to give him blood essences infused with his blood, thus changing his view on him and also creating something like natural loyalty. One must know, that if normal ghouls eat a lot of blood of the Sacred Devourer Ghoul, they would naturally listen to him, but the number of blood must be around one or two liters. Even with Lucien''s strong regeneration, it took around a year to produce enough blood. He knew that Tatara was eternally loyal to the One-Eyed King, Arima Kishou, so this would change it bit by bit. As he observed the 24th Ward, he knew it won''t take long, before the works would be completed. At most, in two years the entire ward would be completely renovated and fortified. Afterward, he went to the place where Eto was staying and found her talking to some of her subordinates. They hastily left, the moment they saw him and Lucien and Eto started talking about the state of the 24th Ward and process of the reconstruction and fortification. After finishing the talks with Eto, she returned to her own responsibilities and managing the works on the 24th Ward and Lucien returned to the surface. Before that, he checked on Kaneki Ken, how he was doing with training and then he left. 112 Condition 20th Ward, Anteiku Cafe, July 1st, Year 1 ASBI After Lucien left the 24th Ward and proper control and observation of the Ward, reconstruction work on it, he went to the 20th Ward to visit Anteiku Cafe, which he would visit once a week. He would always check on Touka how she was doing in her work and talk a bit with old man Yoshimura. Talking with an old man Yoshimura was interesting to experience as he was a wise old man who could give advice, and good on the top of that. He knew that soon the Owl Suppression Operation would come, but not so soon, as not the Commission of Counter Ghoul was severely weakened due to Lucien''s schemes. He entered the Anteiku Cafe and as now it was already afternoon, Touka was also present. Along with old man Yoshimura who looked the same as always and Irimi. Lucien sat at the bar, opposite an old man Yoshimura so he can talk to him. "Hello, Mr. Yoshimura." Greeted Lucien politely when he sat down at the bar. Old man Yoshimura automatically started making coffee for him moment he sat down. "Good day to you, Mr. Aeon." Greeted back Yoshimura as he finished making his coffee for him. Lucien then thanked for coffee and already sensed the mesmerizing aroma of the coffee. "Last months the CCG is rather silent Mr. Aeon, don''t you think so?" Asked old mand Yoshimura with his eyes closed as he cleaned some cups which were dirty from coffee. Lucien chuckled hearing this, as he knew the reason for silent from the side of Commission of COutner Ghoul. He was behind that huge massacre of several hundred people from the CCG and also the death of several high-ranking ghoul investigators. "Yes, they are. I know that soon, they will act and they have already chosen their target and if you agree to one condition of mine, I would help you as best I can." Old man Yoshimura narrowed his eyes slightly hearing his statement as he also had some bad feeling about this. He was a very experienced person, a survivor. He knew the exact reason behind Lucien''s words. He was indirectly saying that the next target of the CCG would be Anteiku faction because the CCG needed some achievement after that bloodshed and also in the eyes of the Commission, the Anteiku faction is weakest of all. Strictly speaking, this statement wasn''t false. The Aogiri Tree, which had Eto who was SSS+ rated Owl and now she was also stronger. Next, there were Noro and Tatara, both of them were reclassified already as SSS-rated individuals and many SS-rated ghouls and a huge number of S-rated ghouls. Huge as huge, compared to past it is huge, but they had around twenty S-rated ghouls and around six or so SS-rated ones for sure. Compared to that, the Anetiku faction was severely lacking in combat strength. Only SSS-rated ghoul was an old man Yoshimura, who wasn''t in the best condition as he was already old. They had only two SS-rated individuals and those were Koma Enji and Irimi Kaya. Plus Kirishima Touka who could rival the strength of SS-rated ghoul, but only those weaker ones. "So speak, what is your condition." Said Yoshimura after thinking for a while. He was a person who deeply cared about his people and even Lucien admired him to some extent as a rather good leader. "Simple. As you have already noticed, that girl Touka has developed some emotions for me. I only want to know, if they are something deeper or if it is just superficial. If you are able to answer me this, I would guarantee that no one of your people will come to harm. You have my word as a member of the Aeon House." This was the only thing Lucien wanted from the old man Yoshimura. He only wanted to know, if her feeling for him is real or not. It would be easier for him to make a decision in the future and not hurt her. "Hmm, give me a few days." Hearing this answer, Lucien nodded his head and continued drinking his coffee. He was satisfied with this as Yoshimura would do the hard work for him. "Thank you very much, Mr. Yoshimura." He thanked him for his effort. "I have also a question for you then. How are you feeling about her?" This question came out of nowhere and even caught Lucien by surprise bit. He was also unsure himself by his own feelings and emotions for her. He still needed some time to sort it out, but he knew that it was possible for him to love her in the future. Even though she was a cold person o the outside it was mainly towards unknown people, but she was a very good person. Yoshimura also asked this for a reason because he cared deeply for Touka. He always lectured her to be careful and cared for her safety, despite the annoyance it would cause her if he constantly reminded her to take care of herself. He always wished for Touka to live a life of a regular human girl, without the hardships of the ghoul life. This all causes her to see him as a father-like figure. "I don''t know myself. Only thing I know, that I have some feeling for her, but I am not sure what are they." Answered Lucien honestly. After he stayed in the Anteiku Cafe for some time, before leaving for his estate where Itori was already waiting for him. He also needs to go training, because he felt that he needed to improve his Kenjutsu as much as possible and also he needed to cultivate more to reach the Viscount Rank and gain another type of kagune. Then he would be much stronger and during the way to the God-Devil Plane, he could reach at least the Mid-Grade Viscount hopefully by using reserves of the Aeon House that are being created for the travel. 113 Canceling the Projec In following days he had arranged a meeting with Arima Kishou to talk about some parts of the future plans and also his actions against the Washuu Clan and Vasuki organization. These things would be very important in the future when Lucien would start the operation that would signal the end of the Washuu Clan and its hegemony over Japan. Also, one of the most important topics would be a discussion about the "Sasaki Haise Project" and if the project itself is something necessary or it could be dropped. Lucien was strongly against the "Sasaki Haise Project" as he deemed it totally useless and time killing. He had only two years left in this world, and completion of the "Sasaki Haise Project" would take around three to four year probably. Lucien didn''t have that many time, so he was going to talk to Arima and convince him to abandon this project. He was more inclined to teach Kaneki Ken himself and also Arima could teach him, to create the One-Eyed King as soon as possible. Another thing was that he wanted to see if he could recruit Arima Kishou after the end of their plans. He was aware of his goal was to create a new future of the ghouls and humans alike and after that was blank. For Lucien and Holy Niflheim Empire, someone of his caliber would have huge uses. Gaining people with huge talent and potential is a very good thing. Lucien found only one person similar to him and that was Tatara. He would also be a very good Holy Imperial Knight. Currently, there were only three positions occupied, not counting the position of the commander of the Holy Imperial Knights. Lucien arrived at his estate and the first thing he did was going to see Itori if she was in the mood to have some "fun". To his luck and good fortune, when he arrived at his estate and found Itori, she was in a very good mood, and they had a very good time together, much fun. ============================================= After a few days, a certain place in the underground tunnels Lucien already came to the pre-arranged place to meet Arima Koshou. It was the place where they frequently met if they had a thing to discuss together. It had wide space so from time to time they would also spar and fight against each other to test out their strength and abilities. In the latest spar they had together, Lucien was already caught up to the Strongest Investigator, White Reaper Arima Kishou. During the seasons of sparring, Lucien was only using his Kenjutsu and nothing more as he wanted to rely purely on his techniques to defeat Arima. Lucien was sitting in cross-legged position as he waiting for Arima who would be arriving every minute. This place was rather secluded from the rest of the underground tunnels and spaces, only with key one could access it. Arima Kishou was using it to train or to meet with some individuals that he had to meet in absolute secret. Soon Arima Kishou arrived at the place, with a serious expression as always. He also wore his white attire of ghoul investigator and had with him only one quinque today. "Hello, Arima-san" Greeted him, Lucien, as he opened his eyes and stood up from the meditative position he was in. They shook hands, before going to discuss anything. Over time, Lucien and Arima developed some sort of friendship if you could call it that. He was meeting with Arima relatively often, more often than with Eto last months. "Arima-san, I have wanted to discuss the ''Sasaki Haise Project'' with you." Lucien started the topic right away as he didn''t like going around it and both he and Arima were people of fewer words. "Do you want to cancel it?" Asked Arima out of thin air. Lucien smiled hearing this as he knew that Arima was aware of the fac, that he wouldn''t call him without any valid reason. He would call for a meeting only if he wanted to discuss something important, but it also happened a few times he called him without reason. Arima was a bit angry because he was interrupting his duties as ghoul investigator, but deep inside he was happy because he had a friend. "Yes. Problem is mainly on my site. I can only remain here for two years and the completion of the ''Sasaki Haise Project'' would take around three to four years probably. I don''t have that much time, so I propose we should completely abandon the project. The main idea behind the ''Sasaki Haise Project'' is only that you want to teach him some things, but that you could even now as I could help you with that. Another thing is also that, the entire project isn''t that important to the creation of the new One-Eyed King. The most important facts are only a few. Creating idol from him by letting him achieve something great and another point is the extermination of the Washuu Clan which would be my personal responsibility." Lucien explained his reasons for canceling the "Sasaki Haise Project" because the time was not enough for that. Also, he thought the "Sasaki Hiase Project" was useless in the creation of One-Eyed King. Arima was in deep thought after hearing this, as it would change his plans in many parts. Even though he wasn''t fond of canceling the "Sasaki Haise Project", now there wasn''t any other alternative as Lucien''s time here was shortening and he was aware that the "Sasaki Haise Project" was something for more than two years. Completion of the project in the four years could be considered as very good. "As you wish then. We will abandon the ''Sasaki Haise Project'', with you there he doesn''t need any of my teachings, but try to teach him how to be a good leader. He would need that for sure as a king." Said Arima after some time of thinking about Lucien''s proposal. 114 N0.4 Arima himself wasn''t too fond of canceling the "Sasaki Haise Project" that was carefully planned and should be soon executed, but now he didn''t have any other choice. Just to cancel it, but that won''t change the rest of the plan. The plan itself was the death of the Strongest Investigator, White Reaper Arima Kishou at hands of the new One-Eyed King which would give him fame and bring many ghouls to his side to create an army that could stand against the entire force of the Commission of Counter Ghoul. Besides that, Lucien also had plans for Arima as he wanted to convince him to join him after his death which could be easily faked. "Arima-san, what would you say if I have an opportunity for you? You know at our homeland we could give great use for somebody of your caliber. After your death, you could begin a new life there without anything holding you back and grow more powerful." Said Lucien and eventually this caught Arima''s attention. The thing which caught his attention wasn''t that part which said he could grow more powerful but rather part which mentioned he could begin a whole new life without anything holding him back. This was one of his wishes and now somebody could even fulfill this wish of his. Lucien''s aim was to get Arima into the Holy Imperial Knights to become one of the knights. He would grow insanely powerful after undergoing the Devourification process and also he was great combatant with plenty of experiences. He could teach the younger generation various techniques to fight. "Is that true what you say? Could I really start a new life there without anything?" Asked Arima skeptically. It sounded too good to be a reality. "Yes, but there are a few things I need to say you at first and then you would decide what to do yourself. Actually, those aren''t any bad things, just some minor detail and many would be greatly beneficial for you." Said Lucien with a happy voice. He knew that Arima was standing at some kind of boundary in his decision and even he himself wasn''t that sure about what to do. Lucien was aware that he was a very rational person so when he would use logic he could easily convince him to join. "Say." Only one word, but it was enough for Lucien. "So there are mainly two things that you would need to do. The first one is to undergo the Devourification process that would turn you to the Sacred Devourer Ghoul as me and my kind. And don''t worry you don''t have to eat human meat, in reality, none of us eat humans as it isn''t that beneficial to us. The second one is that you would become N.04 Holy Imperial Knight that protects the Holy Nilfheim Empire, your responsibilities would be protecting the Empire in the future and teaching the younger generation of Sacred Devourer Ghouls to fight as you have great combat experiences. If you want to ask anything, then feel free." Arima was processing the pieces of information in his head after hearing what Lucien said and he had now plenty of questions for him. "I have questions. The first one what exactly is the Sacred Devourer Ghoul. The second one you said I would grow many times powerful, explain, please. The third one about protecting the Empire again please explain." Fortunately, Arima had only three questions for him, which made Lucine rather happy because he wasn''t a fan of long talks and explanations. "So where to start, hmm. I would give you some general knowledge at first. You know this world is just one of an infinite number of worlds in the multiverse, and a tiny world the earth is. Our species is the Sacred Devourer Ghoul race, which originates from the multiverse and soon we would be leaving this world for the vaster multiverse. To answer your question one by one. As the Sacred Devourer Ghouls were are far superior to many other races in the multiverse, not talking about ordinary ghouls. To growing powerful, it is easy. We could cultivate body refining by increasing our RC Level and then infusing the RC Cells into our body, making us practically Body Refiners. To increase our RC Level we either eat the flesh of powerful species as Demons, Dragons... yes they also exist if you want to ask this question, but primary to increase our RC Level we eat those red beads I gave you. Blood Essences refined from corpses of mentioned species. The flesh of the species we only eat if we are hungry and cooked only, we aren''t barbarians like ordinary ghouls. To protecting the Holy Niflheim Empire, you will see in the future, but it would mainly consist of three things, defending the Empire, leading attacks and cultivating to increase your own strength." After finishing the entire explanation, it took more than half an hour for Arima to digest everything completely and sort out his minds to arrive at a conclusion. After another twenty minutes of waiting, which Lucien spent in meditation, Arima finally made his decision. "So do you agree Arima Kishou become the Sacred Devourer Ghoul, N0.4 Holy Imperial Knight of the Holy Niflheim Empire and begin a whole new life?" Aske Lucien with dominating voice. "I hereby agree to become Sacred Devourer Ghoul, N0.4 Holy Imperial Knight of the Holy Niflheim Empire and I swear to protect the Holy Niflheim Empire in exchange for the new life you promised me." Lucien now felt like Devil as they were race, which was tricking people in contracts with them, stealing their souls and gaining power from it. Weird, but he achieved what he needed and obtained Arima Kishou for the Holy Niflheim Empire. "Good very good, now we have only two years before we would be leaving this world. Come, I will tell you everything you would need to know about upcoming events and your duties." 115 Underground Lab Raid After finishing everything with Arima Kishou that Lucien wanted to discuss, he returned back to his estate only to hear rather bad news. It was mainly about a certain person named Kano Akihiro and special order from his father to promptly exterminate this person. Apparently, someone found a secret research facility that belonged to the Kano Akihiro and it was located beneath the Yasuhisa Mansion, which is the property of the Commission of Counter Ghoul. From the report given to him by Zelilios, Kano was working there for a rather long time, researching the ghoulification process on how to turn normal humans into ghouls. Lucien then turned to Zelilios who was standing behind him all the time as he was reading the report about the Kano''s underground laboratory. "Who found about the existence of this facility?" Asked Lucien with a rather angry voice as he finished reading the report itself. "Apparently, Aogiri Tree itself. Kano is in close relationship with the Vasuki organization and thus the Washuu Clan itself. They found about the existence of this underground lab by accident, when they were spying on the assistant of Kano." Answered Zelilios swiftly, seeing that His Highness is apparently very angry now. "Aogiri Tree would want to raid that lab and we will join. We must capture Kano Akihiro by any means and kill him. Also, another priority is securing the research of his, something like that cannot fall into the hands of the Washuu Clan. Either it would be ours or destroyed for all eternity. Contact Aogiri Tree and tell them I agree to raid it." Said Lucien as he stood up and walked away from the study room. He went to his room, where Itori was already waiting for him, clothed in a very provocative way. She was laying on the huge king-sized bed and reading some book, that Lucien gave her. She was very eager to learn new things, now she was aware of the fact, they would be entering the much vaster world and she was totally lacking information. Even Lucien and his people didn''t have all pieces of information, but they still had a decent amount of it. "What is honey? You look angry." Said Itori as she stood up and hugged Lucien closely. Her breasts weren''t covered and she looked like some kind of succubus. "Aogiri Tree found the underground lab of which belong to the Kano Akihiro and my father ordered me to kill him at any costs. Also, I must secure his research on the ghoulification if possible. Aogiri Tree is planning to raid that lab in a few days so I and Zelilios would be going with them." Itori knew about Kano and his attempts to create artificial ghouls, he even succeeded with experiment named Kaneki Ken who was turned into One-Eyed Artificial Ghoul, some time ago. It was vastly known in the underworld that Kano was human that researched ghouls to the extreme, and was creating artificial ghouls. Also, that he was funded by some mysterious organization was something like a public secret. "When will the raid occur?" Asked Itori with a concerned voice as she knew that Kano was a very cunning person and probably that entire underground lab would be a huge trap for his pursuers just to do some damages to them. Either it was orchestrated by the Vasuki and the Washuu Clan or Kano acted on his own. "The sooner, the better. We don''t have enough time to sit and wait for the miracle. We must act quickly and swiftly. I would go meet with Eto to decide exact strategy on the raid and people that would participate in this operation." Said Lucien as he prepared to go to the 24th Ward and discuss the upcoming operation with Eto. As he was already leaving, Itori came to him and kissed Lucien on his lips, in a very passionate kiss that lasted for minutes. When they finally separated from each other, both of them had lust written all over the face and thus Lucien concluded the fact that meeting could wait one more hour. ============================================= 24th Ward "So, now is the question of the day. Who would be participating in the ''Raid on the Kano''s Lab Operation''?" Asked Lucien with a happy voice as he scanned through the room he was in. There were also several high-ranking executives of the Aogiri Tree, namely Noro and Tatara. Eto was already sitting behind a huge wooden table and reading some book. "From the Aogiri Tree, two people would participate, as you and your Knight would also. Ayato and Kaneki, both of them are around SS-rate so it would be good." Said Eto and Lucien only nodded his head. Going only with four people is rather good, they would need to keep it low and not draw attention. Afterward, they discussed plan for the raid and other things such as potential confrontation with the Vasuki or the Commission of Counter Ghoul, which would probably come true as they would also come to investigate the lab. Vasuki would be there to clear the mess after Kano for sure. From the Commission of Counter Ghoul, there would be probably one Special-Class Ghoul Investigator participating in this operation as the leader of the squad. Lucien didn''t know who it would be, but CCG didn''t have a lot Special-Class Ghoul Investigators, and now that one of them was killed during the last operation. Vasuki would try to cover up for the whole thing from shadows, which was something understandable as they were supporting Kano from the dark. Lucien didn''t even dare to think who would they send, but he had a faint feeling it would be someone strong. Even though they suffered heavy losses, Kano''s research was apparently very important for the Washuu Clan so they would try to recover it for all costs. And lastly, there was Lucien with his Holy Imperial Knight Zelilios together with his chess pieces from the Aogiri Tree. His only goal was to kill Kano and maybe if they had time to recover the research of his. If he couldn''t recover it his father said it would be also good to destroy it. 116 All players here 21st Ward, Lucien''s estate, Tokyo After Lucien returned from the 24th Ward to his estate in the 21st Ward, he went to his bedroom where Itori was already waiting for him in very erotic clothing as they engaged in the long night of pleasure and moans. After the deed was finished and time for fun was over, Lucien decided to prep¨²are for the raid on the Kano''s Underground Lab that would happen very very soon. ============================================= Next day, deep night, Yasuhisa Mansion ( property of the Commission of Counter Ghoul ) Lucien stood hidden in the dark together with two people clothed in the black combat clothes, one was wearing a traditional eyepatch mask and another black rabbit mask. Then there was a man clothed in battle armor, that was, of course, Holy Imperial Knight Zelilios. "The mansion is empty, probably only in the underground lab would be some people. Eyepatch and Black Rabbit would kill everybody that entrest the lab, either from CCG or some other organization. I and Zelilios would search for Kano and kill him. That rat is very good at hiding and playing dirty tricks to be careful." Lucien was clothed in his battle attire and wearing the bloody-white hollow mask, exactly as his title was Hollow Shinigami. He gave everybody exact instruction on what to do and when. Apparently, CCG wasn''t still here as they would arrive only when the mansion was breached and Vasuki would do the same. Only in the shadows, on the contrary to the CCG. Seeing everybody nodding their heads in agreement, Lucien nodded too and give his approval to the start of the operation. All four of them run to the mansion, what was surprising there weren''t any kind of alarms or anything as the mansion was completely defenseless. ============================================= They quickly found the entrance to the underground lab and then they divided their forces into two teams. Lucien and Zelilios was one team and another one was Kaneki and Ayato. Lucien and Zelilios entered the underground through the huge elevator which led them several tens of meters under the ground. One must admit that they really make sure that the underground lab would be hidden really good. Though, the lack of securities was something that was making worry in Lucien''s head as he was smelling the trap. No, he wasn''t smelling a trap. This was the trap. When they exited the elevator, they were in the huge spacious room, filled with containers holding bodies of either humans, ghouls or some hybrid. All bodies were in the perfect condition, even though Lucien didn''t know if they were dead or alive. Here was the place where Kano Akihiro was performing his ghoulification experiments. Lucien''s orders were complete extermination, with leaving no one alive as it was the safest thing they could do. Thus this applied to the experimental subjects of the Kano. Lucien looked at Zelilios before saying anything as he created several kagune daggers and controlled them through his telekinesis to destroy all those experimental subjects. Then he collected the bodies of the dead into his Cross Crest before continuing the search of this facility. "Kill everything you see. Orders are complete extermination. When were are done, place as many of explosives here as you can. Use these, specially created based on Magitek Technology. We need to destroy this laboratory if possible so the Washuu Clan or anyone else won''t have nothing from this." Said Lucien as he handed Zelilios new explosives that were extremely strong. Several grams of new explosives created from Magitek Technology was as strong as a good amount of the C4. Destroying this lab was something like an optional target, but it would be preferable if it succeeded. Lucien and Zelilios carefully examined all corners of the lab, but they couldn''t find anything useful at all. Apparently, they weren''t even close to the heart of the facility. Lucien hoped that Kano would be here and he could kill him as it would make things many time easier. ============================================= Outside of the Yasuhisa Mansion There stood a group of people in typical white cloaks of the CCG. Leading them was Kuroiwa Iwao, Special-Class Ghoul Investigator, who apparently healed from his injuries that he sustained some time ago. Besides him were also two notable ghoul investigators, Amon Koutarou, a very tall handsome young man with black hair and teal eyes. His distinctive eyebrows are curved at the end. Due to his constant, vigorous training, he has an extremely athletic and muscular build. Currently, First-Class Ghoul Investigator wielding the Doujima 1/2 quinque, koukaku-type that takes the form of a club with a big handle, suited mainly for two-handed users. Another one was woman, Mado Akira, a very beautiful young woman with pale blonde hair and purple eyes. She braided hairstyle and wore a neutral expression on her face. She was the daughter of the Mado Kureo, ghoul investigator who went a bit crazy after a certain event and was First-Class Ghoul Investigator. Besides the three of them, there were two four other ghoul investigators, clothed in the same fashion and holding suitcases with their quinques. Most of them were lower ranked and were much weaker because man combat strength of the team was, of course, Kuroiwa and then Amon with Mado, but alas in every team is needed for the cannon fodder. Meanwhile, Kuroiwa observed the mansion and thinking about some kind of plan for an attack. "We must be careful, the report from the HQ said that several ghouls of the Aogiri Tree entered the mansion. Our mission is to search and kill all those that entered. If you find an enemy you can''t defeat immediately call for the reinforcements." Ordered Kuriowa as they also entered the Yasuhisa Mansion. Nobody knew that from the distance, hidden in the dark, several people wearing long black coats with hats and holding katanas were observing them as they were walking in the way to the Yasuhisa Mansion. Empire and its pawn Aogiri, Vasuki, and CCG. All teams were here and not everyone could leave this playground alive. 117 Yasuhisa Yasuhisa Mansion, Commission of Counter Ghoul Team "One last thing that I must inform you all about. This operation must be a 100% success. CCG lost too much during the 11th Ward Battle and also with the raid on the Cochlea Prison. Now we are under very heavy pressure, from public and government. We need to show some positive results so our situation would ease up." Explained Kuroiwa to the rest of his team as they walked through the corridors of the Yasuhisa Mansion searching for something. They didn''t know that this was an underground lab in reality. Nowadays the CCG was in a very bad situation. Mainly thanks to the Lucien and Tsukiyama Family. After Lucien finished the deal with Tsukiyama Mirumo and informed him about the poor state of the CCG, the man took action and whole Tsukiyama Conglomerate started pressuring the CCG through their own connects with government and the Prime Minister who was a personal acquaintance of the Tsukiyama Mirumo. This action led to the lowering funds for the Commission of Counter Ghoul by a significant amount. Also, it lowered a number of the recruits that were recruited monthly, but still it didn''t do critical damage to the Washuu Clan. They were indeed worthy of their history being clan that existed for centuries. All members of the team nodded their heads and continued the search of the Yasuhisa Mansion. Sadly, at least for them, they only found the entrance to the elevator a good while later. It was hidden very well, so it was rather hard to find if you were only an ordinary human. "Prepare your quinques. Nobody knows what is hidden down there." All members of the team, including Kuroiwa himself, took out their quinques and readied themselves for the battle that would be coming. After a short preparation, they entered the elevator, which took them deep under the ground, where the laboratory was located and where everything would take place. ============================================= Meanwhile, Lucien and Zelilios were also searching for something notable and as they were searching for their targets they were also placing explosives everywhere, literary everywhere, to blow this lab up to the air. How one great man said, "Art is an explosion!", and it was certainly the truth. That beauty if something exploded and created a huge baaang and fire, was really something. "Your Highness, how long would be here in this world?" Asked Zelilios in a quiet voice as they walked through one corridor side by side. "Two years, probably. You know, that this world is important from one point only. We need to build as a big army and fleet as we can because the second we arrive in the God-Devil Plane we would fight and don''t have time to build up either soldiers or fleet. Worlds there are far more powerful than here so we would need to conquer one and use their resources. It was already decided that the native population would be either used for hard work or killed and refined to the blood essences. Out there, is the much faster and greater world, where is only one rule. Survival of the fittest, you kill or are killed." Explained Lucien, even he himself wanted to leave this world already but they needed to construct as many of Magitek Infantry Soldiers, Airships and Dreadnoughts as they can. Once they arrive at the God-Devil Plane there would be fights and they needed to be prepared. "The real problem is that we don''t really know where we would appear when exiting the Time-Space Vortex that would open. The ideal would be if we are near some planet that is very weak and has some resources to build up our army, then we could start conquering everything else we see. The good thing about the God-Devil Plane is in the fact there are countless sources of energy. Like cores of Magical Beast or mutated beasts, nuclei and so on. So, we could construct countless Magitek Energy Crystals and upgrade our technology. Now we are using only the most basic version of everything, be it Magitek Infantry or our spaceships. Now, because of the low amount of the Magitek Energy Crystals we could build only the Basic Version of the Magitek Infantry Soldiers with the combat power equivalent to the Mid-Grade Baron, which is rather weak. Weakest Magitek Infantry Solider has combat power equivalent to the Mid-Grade Viscount, but alas the lack of the Energy Crystals forced us to make these basic versions." Currently, they were constructing only basic version, which means, they have smaller Energy Crystals and thus they are many times weaker. Also, one of the reasons is the lack of magical metals that could properly handle the large energy outputs of the Magitek Energy Crystals. After walking for another ten minutes, Lucien and Zelilios finally arrived at the main lab, where Kano should be, probably at least. Both of them readied themselves and prepared to the fight. After they entered the room, there were already people waiting for them. Apparently relaxed, grey-haired Kano Akihiro, wearing a Hawaiian shirt and carrying a fan. Beside him were two of his loyal subjects/experiments, identical twin sisters Yasuhisas. Both of them were artificial one-yed ghouls. Yasuhisa Kurona and Ysuhisa Nashiro. Both of them were standing behind him and guarding him, meanwhile, Kano had relaxed expression and was thinking probably about something else than the situation he was in. Yasuhisa Kurona''s kakugan was in her left eye with a small dark mark beneath it. Her usual outfit was a long black cloak with a hood. On top of the hood were two white circles resembling an eye. Her ghoul mask was a simple black and white vertical-striped mask with a hole in the left eye. Yasuhisa Nashiro''s kakugan was in her right eye with a small dark mark beneath it. Nashiro had white medium-length hair with bluntly chopped bangs. Her predominant outfit was a long white cloak with one sleeve on the right arm with a symbol similar to an eye on the hood. Her ghoul mask was a simple black and white horizontal-striped mask with a hole in the right eye. 118 P. atreon is active again Sorry, content is lost, You ¡¯re reading Novel on Novelhall.COM, we will fix it as soon as possible, thank you 119 Say Hello to Granny Meng "Welcome here, Mr. Aeon. I was waiting for you to visit me at my humble abode. I hope that you have liked your short excursion through my personal laboratory, but I fear it must end now." Said Kano at the moment when Lucien and Zelilios entered the room and several agents of the Vasuki organization appeared holding their katanas in their hands and aiming at the duo of Lucien and Zelilios, ready to fight to the death. Meanwhile both of his loyal pet experiments, Kuro and Shiro readied their own Kagune, both of them were of the Rinkaku-Type. Lucien only smiled seeing this and he was also secretly surprised that the Vasuki and Washuu Clan still had some manpower to spare to let them die to him. Truly they had deep reserves, but sadly most of them were only ordinary cannon fodders without any real combat strength. Especially now that Lucien was many times stronger compared to the past. "I must thank Mr. Kano for his great work, but sadly I have my orders to kill you and your ghoulification research is to be either obtained or destroyed." Said Lucien to Kano and Kano only smiled hearing this, he was aware that he couldn''t fight against him so only logical thing he could do was to... "Kuro, Shiro! Stall him as many as possible so can I escape." Screamed Kano as he grabbed some book-like looking object and started running to the closest emergency exit door. Kuro and Shiro were shocked from his order as he was just ordering to let themselves to be killed so he could escape with his little precious research. "Mr. Kano, I wish you nice in the underworld, say hello to the Granny Meng." Said Lucien in a calm voice as he congealed his kakugan, both of his eyes where the iris turns red, and the sclera black with red veins across the eye and into the skin around the eye. In a split of the second, he congealed several kagune daggers, and shot them through telekinesis at Kano, killing him in one hit. Even though his "mad genius", he was still nothing more than an ordinary human without any strength or training. Both Kuro and Shiro together with Vasuki agents were stupified from the course of action and didn''t know what to do. Zelilios meanwhile congealed his kagune spear, and in a blink of the eye disposed of all Vasuki agents. Fortunately, there were only six or them, so they were killed rather fast. Only people remaining alive were Kuro and Shiro who Lucien decided spare as they were also victims of Kano''s experiments. Now, that he practically abandoned them for his own life and research, they were very conflicted deep inside and started to understand that for Kano they were just disposable paws that could be sacrificed in the times of need. "Let them be. They were nothing more than his pawns. Hey, you two, escape quickly and go to the 24th Ward to the Aogiri Tree if you want. Say that Lord Aeon sends you and they would give you everything that you need." After he said that to them, Lucien started searching through the lab to find something usable. The only thing he found was the notebook on the ghoulification process filled with Kano''s research. Lucien stored it to his Cross Crest and then planted some explosives here. Meanwhile, Kuro and Shiro recovered from the shock and started running to the 24th Ward as Lucien said to them. It was only safe heaven in entire Japan that could protect them as the strength of the Aogiri Tree grew exponentially. "Zelilios did you find something useful, besides failure projects and experiments on the ghoulification process?" Asked Luciena after they left the lab of Kano and went to search through the rest of the complex. Of course, they also planted some explosives along the way so the whole underground lab together with Yasuhisa Mansion could go up to the air. "Nothing useful found. There were just some notes about next ideas for ghoulification process and that it was a new mean of evolution for him." Answered Zelilios as he held his kagune spear over his shoulders. As they walked through the corridors, suddenly they heard sounds of fighting between some people, probably CCG and the Aoigiri Tree finally found each other and fight started. "Come Zelilios, we are going to watch the fight. Maybe there would be some fun, and we could also, kill some of those dogs." Said Lucien s they both sped up and went to the place where the confrontation between the Aogiri Tree and Commission of Counter Ghoul was taking a place. They came there in the shadows and started watching the event. Both Ayato and Kaneki were completely surrounded by several ghoul investigators holding their quinques in hands and in combat stances. Leading them was Special-Class Ghoul Investigator Kuroiwa and behind him were standing Akira Mado and Kotarou Amon. Ayato and Kaneki were also in the combat-ready position, with their kagune already out and ready to kill at any moment. "Kill the rest, leave only three of them so the game is fair, then take one for yourself. I would be watching from here." Ordered Lucien to Zelilios, who bowed slightly and then rushed at ghoul investigators surrounding Ayato and Kaneki. As he was going at them from behind, nobody was aware of the attack, and when it came it was too late. With only a few precise slashes with his spear, he swiftly killed every ghoul investigator beside Mado Akira, Kotarou Amon, and Kuroiwa Iwao. Blood splashed high as throats were severed with one swing. Kagune spear of Baron-Ranked Sacred Devourer Ghoul was really something to fear, especially here, in the Low-Grade Worlds were cultivation or advanced technology is completely non-existent. As Lucine was watching the beautiful dance from the shadows, he silently clapped with his hands as a sign of applause for Zelilios as he killed those cannon fodder, ghoul investigators. Not talking about skills, even by the single punch he could have killed them as Zelilios is already at Baron-Rank. 120 Completed with perfect marks When the dust or we should rather say, the blood settled and remaining three ghoul investigators, realized that the new very powerful enemy appeared they were shocked and also, greatly disturbed. Now they had to fight against one more, probably SS-Rated ghoul, maybe even stronger. Zelilios appeared beside Akira Mado in a split of the second and with one hand he grabbed her and then disappeared together with her. Now only ones remaining here were Kuroiwa Iwao and Kotarou Amon, who were going to fight against their enemy duo consisting of Kaneki Ken and Kirishima Ayaoto, both SS-Rated ghoul, extremely proficient in combat and also, with pretty good cooperation. The first one to break this deadly silence was Ayato who started shooting tens of crystals from his Ukaku Wings at Kotarou Amon and Kuroiwa Iwao, both of them were defending rather easily, but as they were distracted and their attention was elsewhere, another attack came. Kaneki Ken, called Eyepatch, attack Kotarou Amon with all his kagune tails. This attack was the strong one, and Kotarou Amon tried to defend, but sadly he was not strong enough and was shotted away several meters, eventually coughing a lot of fresh blood and nearly fainting from the pain. As soon as Kuroiwa saw that Amon was nearly killed in the once precise attack, he tried to come to him and help, but his attempt was futile as Ayato was shooting more and more crystal kagune projectiles at him to keep them away. With some hardships, Amon managed to stand, but Kaneki was already before him and with one kick to the stomach, Amon fell unconscious and now only Kuroiwa was in the battle with Ayato. Kaneki really didn''t want to kill Amon, because of his own reasons. Kaneki after dealing with Kotarou Amon rushed to help Ayato in hopes of killing the Special-Class Ghoul Investigator which would be huge merit for an entire Aogiri Tree as the Special-Class Ghoul Investigators are sitting on the top of the pyramid in the Commission of Counter Ghoul. At least, on the outside they were. Then Kuroiwa and Kaneki started fighting against each other with Kuroiwa holding slight advantage some time and then Kaneki holding the advantage afterward. Kuroiwa was more experienced in combat and he was also in his quinque Arata so his physical abilities were greatly enhanced, but with a huge price. On the other side, Kaneki was still physically stronger then Kuroiwa even with his Arata quinque and also, his reflexes were much better. Kaneki was also more agile as he had no problem evading Kuroiwa''s butcher knife looking quinque Kuroiwa Special which was an S-rated quinque. As they were fighting, Lucien was enjoying himself watching this fight from shadows. After several minutes of fighting against Kuroiwa, Ayato and Kaneki finally managed to gain an upper hand and started to force him back. Lucien then yawned seeing that and turned his attention to another part of the story, which was the fight of Zelilios and Mado Akira. In reality, it wasn''t a fight as Zelilios was just evading all of her attacks, because he didn''t want to kill woman, truly a knight. Zelilios was even using his kagune or kagune spear, instead, he just stood there and either he defected the attacks of the quinque using his bare hands or he just evaded with ease, He was alsoBaron-Ranked Sacred Devourer Ghoul so he was pretty strong. After several minutes, something was heard throughout the whole place. It came like a thunder from the clear sky. Booooom. A loud explosion was heard through the whole underground lab of the Yasuhisa Mansion. Apparently, one Magitek Explosive Bomb exploded a good time before it should. What to say more, they were prototypes. Lucien then stood up and started to run to the closest exit. Even though he was one of the strongest existences in this Low-Grade World with his Baron-Ranked Cultivation, he didn''t want to be buried several tens of meters under the ground, beneath tons upon tons of concrete. Soon enough, Kaneki and Ayato stopped their fight against Kuroiwa who was already exhausted and started running to some exit. Same with Zelilios, he even took Mado Akira with him after he knocked her unconsciousness. After one of the explosives exploded, next came chain reaction and they were exploding one after another. Whole Underground Lab was falling down, and even the elevator was already destroyed. So the only thing were various hidden secret paths that were leading out of the place. With the partial destruction of various parts of the underground lab, many of these hidden secret paths, were now nicely visible and Lucien and others used them in their escape. ============================================= Some distance from the Yasuhisa Mansion Lucien and Zelilios stood together, side by side on a small hill with a good view at the Yasuhisa Mansion that was burning in flames. Even the area around the Yasuhisa Mansion looked like hell on the earth with flames spurting out of the ground and illuminating whole Ward. "Hmm, the biggest part should still come." Said Lucien as he observed the burning Yasuhisa Mansion and admired the beauty of ever-destroying flames. He was talking about the biggest explosive they placed there. It would explode every second and when it explodes it would take with its a diameter of several tens of meters. Several second after, they saw a giant explosion that was high maybe even thirty meters and whole mansion and its surrounding area ceased existing. The whole neighborhood was destroyed by the explosion and who knows how many people died now. Lucien didn''t care, why should he, he accomplished his mission perfectly. Kano is dead, underground lab and his research are destroyed. They even killed some ghoul investigators, and with a huge probability, even Kotarou Amon and Kuroiwa Iwao are dead. Lucien hoped that Kirishima Ayato and Kaneki Ken survived but they should, as the started running the second when the first explosion was heard. Afterward, Lucien looked behind him and saw there Mado Akira, laying on the ground unconsiousness. He didn''t know why had Zelilios saved her, but probably not entirely out of his Chivalry Codex. 118 Say Hello to Granny Meng "Welcome here, Mr. Aeon. I was waiting for you to visit me at my humble abode. I hope that you have liked your short excursion through my personal laboratory, but I fear it must end now." Said Kano at the moment when Lucien and Zelilios entered the room and several agents of the Vasuki organization appeared holding their katanas in their hands and aiming at the duo of Lucien and Zelilios, ready to fight to the death. Meanwhile both of his loyal pet experiments, Kuro and Shiro readied their own Kagune, both of them were of the Rinkaku-Type. Lucien only smiled seeing this and he was also secretly surprised that the Vasuki and Washuu Clan still had some manpower to spare to let them die to him. Truly they had deep reserves, but sadly most of them were only ordinary cannon fodders without any real combat strength. Especially now that Lucien was many times stronger compared to the past. "I must thank Mr. Kano for his great work, but sadly I have my orders to kill you and your ghoulification research is to be either obtained or destroyed." Said Lucien to Kano and Kano only smiled hearing this, he was aware that he couldn''t fight against him so only logical thing he could do was to... "Kuro, Shiro! Stall him as many as possible so can I escape." Screamed Kano as he grabbed some book-like looking object and started running to the closest emergency exit door. Kuro and Shiro were shocked from his order as he was just ordering to let themselves to be killed so he could escape with his little precious research. "Mr. Kano, I wish you nice in the underworld, say hello to the Granny Meng." Said Lucien in a calm voice as he congealed his kakugan, both of his eyes where the iris turns red, and the sclera black with red veins across the eye and into the skin around the eye. In a split of the second, he congealed several kagune daggers, and shot them through telekinesis at Kano, killing him in one hit. Even though his "mad genius", he was still nothing more than an ordinary human without any strength or training. Both Kuro and Shiro together with Vasuki agents were stupified from the course of action and didn''t know what to do. Zelilios meanwhile congealed his kagune spear, and in a blink of the eye disposed of all Vasuki agents. Fortunately, there were only six or them, so they were killed rather fast. Only people remaining alive were Kuro and Shiro who Lucien decided spare as they were also victims of Kano''s experiments. Now, that he practically abandoned them for his own life and research, they were very conflicted deep inside and started to understand that for Kano they were just disposable paws that could be sacrificed in the times of need. "Let them be. They were nothing more than his pawns. Hey, you two, escape quickly and go to the 24th Ward to the Aogiri Tree if you want. Say that Lord Aeon sends you and they would give you everything that you need." After he said that to them, Lucien started searching through the lab to find something usable. The only thing he found was the notebook on the ghoulification process filled with Kano''s research. Lucien stored it to his Cross Crest and then planted some explosives here. Meanwhile, Kuro and Shiro recovered from the shock and started running to the 24th Ward as Lucien said to them. It was only safe heaven in entire Japan that could protect them as the strength of the Aogiri Tree grew exponentially. "Zelilios did you find something useful, besides failure projects and experiments on the ghoulification process?" Asked Luciena after they left the lab of Kano and went to search through the rest of the complex. Of course, they also planted some explosives along the way so the whole underground lab together with Yasuhisa Mansion could go up to the air. "Nothing useful found. There were just some notes about next ideas for ghoulification process and that it was a new mean of evolution for him." Answered Zelilios as he held his kagune spear over his shoulders. As they walked through the corridors, suddenly they heard sounds of fighting between some people, probably CCG and the Aoigiri Tree finally found each other and fight started. "Come Zelilios, we are going to watch the fight. Maybe there would be some fun, and we could also, kill some of those dogs." Said Lucien s they both sped up and went to the place where the confrontation between the Aogiri Tree and Commission of Counter Ghoul was taking a place. They came there in the shadows and started watching the event. Both Ayato and Kaneki were completely surrounded by several ghoul investigators holding their quinques in hands and in combat stances. Leading them was Special-Class Ghoul Investigator Kuroiwa and behind him were standing Akira Mado and Kotarou Amon. Ayato and Kaneki were also in the combat-ready position, with their kagune already out and ready to kill at any moment. "Kill the rest, leave only three of them so the game is fair, then take one for yourself. I would be watching from here." Ordered Lucien to Zelilios, who bowed slightly and then rushed at ghoul investigators surrounding Ayato and Kaneki. As he was going at them from behind, nobody was aware of the attack, and when it came it was too late. With only a few precise slashes with his spear, he swiftly killed every ghoul investigator beside Mado Akira, Kotarou Amon, and Kuroiwa Iwao. Blood splashed high as throats were severed with one swing. Kagune spear of Baron-Ranked Sacred Devourer Ghoul was really something to fear, especially here, in the Low-Grade Worlds were cultivation or advanced technology is completely non-existent. As Lucine was watching the beautiful dance from the shadows, he silently clapped with his hands as a sign of applause for Zelilios as he killed those cannon fodder, ghoul investigators. Not talking about skills, even by the single punch he could have killed them as Zelilios is already at Baron-Rank. 119 Completed with perfect marks When the dust or we should rather say, the blood settled and remaining three ghoul investigators, realized that the new very powerful enemy appeared they were shocked and also, greatly disturbed. Now they had to fight against one more, probably SS-Rated ghoul, maybe even stronger. Zelilios appeared beside Akira Mado in a split of the second and with one hand he grabbed her and then disappeared together with her. Now only ones remaining here were Kuroiwa Iwao and Kotarou Amon, who were going to fight against their enemy duo consisting of Kaneki Ken and Kirishima Ayaoto, both SS-Rated ghoul, extremely proficient in combat and also, with pretty good cooperation. The first one to break this deadly silence was Ayato who started shooting tens of crystals from his Ukaku Wings at Kotarou Amon and Kuroiwa Iwao, both of them were defending rather easily, but as they were distracted and their attention was elsewhere, another attack came. Kaneki Ken, called Eyepatch, attack Kotarou Amon with all his kagune tails. This attack was the strong one, and Kotarou Amon tried to defend, but sadly he was not strong enough and was shotted away several meters, eventually coughing a lot of fresh blood and nearly fainting from the pain. As soon as Kuroiwa saw that Amon was nearly killed in the once precise attack, he tried to come to him and help, but his attempt was futile as Ayato was shooting more and more crystal kagune projectiles at him to keep them away. With some hardships, Amon managed to stand, but Kaneki was already before him and with one kick to the stomach, Amon fell unconscious and now only Kuroiwa was in the battle with Ayato. Kaneki really didn''t want to kill Amon, because of his own reasons. Kaneki after dealing with Kotarou Amon rushed to help Ayato in hopes of killing the Special-Class Ghoul Investigator which would be huge merit for an entire Aogiri Tree as the Special-Class Ghoul Investigators are sitting on the top of the pyramid in the Commission of Counter Ghoul. At least, on the outside they were. Then Kuroiwa and Kaneki started fighting against each other with Kuroiwa holding slight advantage some time and then Kaneki holding the advantage afterward. Kuroiwa was more experienced in combat and he was also in his quinque Arata so his physical abilities were greatly enhanced, but with a huge price. On the other side, Kaneki was still physically stronger then Kuroiwa even with his Arata quinque and also, his reflexes were much better. Kaneki was also more agile as he had no problem evading Kuroiwa''s butcher knife looking quinque Kuroiwa Special which was an S-rated quinque. As they were fighting, Lucien was enjoying himself watching this fight from shadows. After several minutes of fighting against Kuroiwa, Ayato and Kaneki finally managed to gain an upper hand and started to force him back. Lucien then yawned seeing that and turned his attention to another part of the story, which was the fight of Zelilios and Mado Akira. In reality, it wasn''t a fight as Zelilios was just evading all of her attacks, because he didn''t want to kill woman, truly a knight. Zelilios was even using his kagune or kagune spear, instead, he just stood there and either he defected the attacks of the quinque using his bare hands or he just evaded with ease, He was also Baron-Ranked Sacred Devourer Ghoul so he was pretty strong. After several minutes, something was heard throughout the whole place. It came like a thunder from the clear sky. Booooom. A loud explosion was heard through the whole underground lab of the Yasuhisa Mansion. Apparently, one Magitek Explosive Bomb exploded a good time before it should. What to say more, they were prototypes. Lucien then stood up and started to run to the closest exit. Even though he was one of the strongest existences in this Low-Grade World with his Baron-Ranked Cultivation, he didn''t want to be buried several tens of meters under the ground, beneath tons upon tons of concrete. Soon enough, Kaneki and Ayato stopped their fight against Kuroiwa who was already exhausted and started running to some exit. Same with Zelilios, he even took Mado Akira with him after he knocked her unconsciousness. After one of the explosives exploded, next came chain reaction and they were exploding one after another. Whole Underground Lab was falling down, and even the elevator was already destroyed. So the only thing were various hidden secret paths that were leading out of the place. With the partial destruction of various parts of the underground lab, many of these hidden secret paths, were now nicely visible and Lucien and others used them in their escape. ============================================= Some distance from the Yasuhisa Mansion Lucien and Zelilios stood together, side by side on a small hill with a good view at the Yasuhisa Mansion that was burning in flames. Even the area around the Yasuhisa Mansion looked like hell on the earth with flames spurting out of the ground and illuminating whole Ward. "Hmm, the biggest part should still come." Said Lucien as he observed the burning Yasuhisa Mansion and admired the beauty of ever-destroying flames. He was talking about the biggest explosive they placed there. It would explode every second and when it explodes it would take with its a diameter of several tens of meters. Several second after, they saw a giant explosion that was high maybe even thirty meters and whole mansion and its surrounding area ceased existing. The whole neighborhood was destroyed by the explosion and who knows how many people died now. Lucien didn''t care, why should he, he accomplished his mission perfectly. Kano is dead, underground lab and his research are destroyed. They even killed some ghoul investigators, and with a huge probability, even Kotarou Amon and Kuroiwa Iwao are dead. Lucien hoped that Kirishima Ayato and Kaneki Ken survived but they should, as the started running the second when the first explosion was heard. Afterward, Lucien looked behind him and saw there Mado Akira, laying on the ground unconsiousness. He didn''t know why had Zelilios saved her, but probably not entirely out of his Chivalry Codex. 120 Aftermanth of Explosions "Why did you saved her? " Asked Lucien in the curious voice as he observed the beautiful flames that were devouring everything around, the whole area around the Yasuhisa Mansion were turned into the Realm of Flames. Sometimes there would be a small occasional explosion that was an addition to the raging flames beneath the heaven. "I don''t know, Your Highness." Answered Zelilios in a low voice as he also stared at still exploding Yasuhisa Mansion and surrounding area. Who knows, who died there, maybe even Kuroiwa and rest of them didn''t survive those explosions and raging flames. Maybe with some luck, Kirishima Ayato and Kaneki Ken survived, but probably yes as Lucien told them that tonight there would be huge fireworks. Lucien observed him, before turning to continue to watch the fireworks, he admired the beauty of the flame and explosion. After ten minutes of watching he turned around to walk away, more to be specifical he was prepared to teleport them away using the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory, but before that, he turned to Zelilios and with a serious face said. "She is your responsibility. You take care of her and persuade her. If she accepts, it is again your responsibility of taking care of her and getting enough contribution to get acess to the Sacred Blood Crystal and process of turning her into Sacred Devourer Ghoul or the day we would be leaving this world you may let her go, but only at that day. You know she is pure-blooded human and without any kind of special abilities so work hard my dear Holy Imperial Knight." After Lucien said that Zelilios bowed in gratitude and Lucien teleported them to the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory as he couldn''t let Mado Akira be in his Estate, for now, she would be better in the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Gory. Either she would join or die, simple as that. ============================================= Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory After returning to the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory, Lucien went to his room to get a hot shower as he was all sweaty from the latest adventure. Those flames were too intense and there were extremely hot thanks to them. He had worked a bit today and also disposed of Kano, and at least he was sure that Special-Class Ghoul Investigators Kuroiwa Iwao has died in those explosions down there, so the current mission could be considered as a huge success. The only thing he wanted to do for now was to sleep and relax as he was tired. More than anything he was tired from that immense heat and noise of those explosions. In a meanwhile, Zelilios took Akira to his room and let her sleep, during the time of her sleep he also got a shower and changed and then slept on the couch that was in the room. He wasn''t himself aware why exactly he saved the human woman in front of him, but what happened, happened. He was pretty happy that His Highness the Crown Prince didn''t kill her out of anything, but instead, he gave her to him s his own responsibility. ============================================= Several hours later After sleeping for several hours, Mado Akira finally started showing signs of slow awakening. She at first only opened one of her eyes weakly and then the second one. Before anything, she sat on the bed and held her head, which hurt. ''Where am I? This room looks like from some fantasy book.'' She said to herself as she observed luxurious looking furniture, many things were ornamented with gold and on the walls were various beautiful paintings of people she didn''t recognize, but they were clothed in very fancy clothes and most of them were holding some sort of weapon. "Awake?" Asked voice out of nowhere. Akira was taken by surprise at first, but gradually she calmed down and started looking for the source of the voice. Then she saw a very handsome black-haired man, clothed in a luxurious looking white outfit, created from several components. He wore a white suit with a long coat, tight high boots, and white waistcoat. It gave a noble presence. "And you are?" Asked Akira in a calm voice as she observed the man before her, not sure about what to do. "Zelilios, Holy Imperial Knight N0.4 of Holy Niflheim Empire, currently acting as the personal knight of his Highness, Crown Prince Lucien Etras di Aeon." Introduced Zelilios himself as he fave out even traditional salute. Akira was surprised at first that the man before saved her and also because she never heard about anything like Holy Niflheim Empire or anything basically he said to her. Even though she was shocked inside, she tried to keep calm as much as possible and tried to sort out al?l those chaotic thoughts in her head. "What are you?" Asked Akira after some time of thinking and observing Zelilios who was comfortably sitting on the sofa in front of her. Same as her, he was also observing Akira and watching her every movement or expression. Watching her expression was rather a hard task because even now she barely changed it by an inch. "Sacred Devourer Ghoul, we are like ghouls, but evolutionary we are on a much higher level, as for example we are stronger, live longer, don''t need to eat humans to survive and many other things. Holy Niflheim Empire is a country located on the Blood Island in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle or as you humans call it one of the mysteries of the world." Then Zelilios explained slowly some minor things about Sacred Devourer Ghouls and Holy Niflheim Empire as he talked about it and was answering all her questions. She was shocked to hear that there existed so powerful ghouls, alas in hiding in the dark, but she was also surprised by the fact how different they were from ordinary ghouls. For example the fact that they can''t get crazy even if they consumed other ghouls and all these things, when she asked about it Zelilios showed her Blood Essences and told her how they were getting RC Cells from other ghouls as it was barbaric to consume other ghouls or some creatures in a manner consuming their flesh. 121 Viscount Rank "What happened to my team?" Asked Akira after some time they were talking about a various thing, effectively switching the topic to a less comfortable one. Zelilios smiled sadly as he looked at her face, though now she was showing a bit of emotion, mainly sadness. "Probably dead, all of them. You know, that place was laboratory belonging to the Kano Akihiro, the doctor that was researching process called Ghoulification Process, which is basically turning human into a ghoul, he is already dead, but he managed to reach rather disturbing results. He managed to turn the pure-blooded human into an artificial one-yed ghoul." Said Zelilios to Akira after a short time of silence, which wasn''t that much comfortable feeling. She looked like him like she had seen a ghost right now, and then she started looking down at her bed, probably thinking about something. "Why would want someone to turn humans into ghouls, you should know it. Right?" Zelilios smiled and started thinking about how much he could tell, thinking about what he already told her about himself being the Sacred Devourer Ghoul and also the fact, she can''t escape from the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory, he decided to tell some things about Kano and of course, the most important information, the truth about the Washuu Clan. "Dunno, probably some orders and plots from the Washuu Clan." Said Zelilios causally as he continued watching Akira, she didn''t miss the word and emphasis on the word, Washuu Clan. She was surprised that he mentioned the Washuu Clan, as they were creators of the Commission of Counter Ghoul and also, could be called protectors of humanity in entire Japan. They were protecting humans from ghouls for whole centuries already. "The Washuu Clan are actually the clan of pure-blooded ghouls." After this sentence was finished, Akira felt like she was struck by thunder or more to be precise, some kind of thunder tribulation. Information about the Washuu Clan being ghouls, was too much on her. Probably not only her but also, every other human. "How?" Asked she in a rather sad voice, feeling betrayed. Why not, her mother died when fighting for the CCG which were basically watchdogs of the Washuu Clan and her father died not long ago. Both of her parents were ghoul investigators and she also devoted her whole life to it. Now she felt that all of her efforts were totally for nothing, useless. "How should I now. They blended into human society several hundred years and now we have the result. They are deeply rooted in human society and they can''t be removed so easily now. My tip is that they are trying to get more power and are trying to control humans from behind, because of this they created the Commission of Counter Ghoul so they got a better position in controlling humans. Thanks to that they got a huge deal of political and military power and of course, a constant source of food." Akira started then thinking about various things she heard now, especially about the Washuu Clan and other things that Zelilios told her today. Then they were talking about various things, mainly about some things about ghouls and some minor details about him. ============================================= Lucien was currently in his room in the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory and was resting after this day. After laying on the bed for two hours or so, he decided to go increase his cultivation as he was feeling it was the right time to reach Viscount-Rank. He was already long enough at the Baron-Rank and he felt he had stabilized his foundation enough so it was the right time. He had calculated that when he reached Viscount-Rank now, then he would need around the year and a half to stabilize his Viscount-Ranked cultivation base. Afterward, he brought out several tens of bloody red beads, highest quality blood essences and started them refining one by one. At first one was very fast to digest and his RC Level was increasing with lightning speed. As he was nearing to the border of required RC Level, he started giving signs of lowering the digestion speed. Instead, Lucien took out more Blood Essences and ate them like they were candies. Two hours later, he finally reached the threshold required for the breakthrough. He took out one drop of blood from the Sacred Blood Crystal and ate it together with several blood essences. The moment he ate that all, he felt huge energy surge through his whole body and all of his bones, muscles, tissues, and cells were undergoing through massive strengthening and evolution. He officially became Viscount-Ranked Sacred Devourer Ghoul. There were several notable changes he felt now. One of them was that his body was countless times stronger compared to the Baron-Rank, he was Body Refiner so cultivation and strength of his body was a top priority. Another change was that he felt another type of kagune in his body, to be more concrete he had Ukaku-Type Kagune now. He turned on his kakugan and unleashed his kagune wings. They were beautiful with a wingspan over three meters or so. They looked like some kind of crystals in bloody red and black color, creating a very wonderful sight. Even though his wings looked like some piece of art, in reality, they were an extremely deadly tool to kill enemies. Now he had one more long distance weapon without need to create kagune daggers out of his Rinkaku. Even though creating kagune daggers and controlling them through his telekinesis was very effective, he practically gave up on any other form of combat, but now he had Ukaku wings, he could just create a shower of kagune crystal projectiles and shot them at the enemy until they die. He even had now two permanent Rinaku Tails which could be used in a fight any time. His combat style would become more diverse and more unpredictable. Now that he had reached the Viscount-Rank, he knew that he had only a small amount of time before they would leave this world. He needed to spend most of his time cultivating and stabilizing his new foundation and also if possible, reaching the Kakuja V1 state. 122 The Gate of Healing Early-Phase Viscount was comparable to the Type 7 Divine Warrior so Lucien now was something like God among men. The only shortcoming of his cultivation was that he lacked the Energy Cultivation so he couldn''t do those fancy things like destroying entire mountain ranges with one attack and so on, but he could still shatter some smaller mountains with one or two punches now. Even though he didn''t have any kind of Energy Cultivation and his Psionic Energy was pitifully low, useful only against very small amount of opponent or at surprise attacks, his tyrannical body was enough to deal with many cultivators in the God-Devil Plane as not many of them cultivated their bodies or were of some race which had innately tyrannical body. Thanks to the special constitution of the Sacred Devourer Ghouls, they could start Energy Cultivation only from the Count-Rank, when they formed Psionic Core as they had now something like a talent for Psionic Way of Energy Cultivation. His grandfather reached the Count-Rank some time ago and formed Psionic Core, it happened naturally and now he started cultivating the Energy Cultivation. Ranks in the Psionic Energy Cultivation were calculated on the Energy Level of the person reached, every time he reached a certain threshold, the Energy Level would undergo some changes in quality and strength. Also, one of the advantages of dual cultivators, when somebody is Body Refiner and Energy Cultivator at the same time, is that their bodies are better at handling huge amounts of energies so they wouldn''t get many backslashes or injuries from performing various energy-based attacks. Now that Lucien was finished with thinking about other things and more importantly he finished with experimenting with his new strength, especially those Ukaku Wings, he decided to check out of his record to see the changes on it. ============================================= Name: Lucien Etras di Aeon Occupation: Executor of Akashic Records, Crown Prince of the Holy Niflheim Empire Bloodline: Sacred Devourer Race: Sacred Devoured Ghoul - RC Type: Rinkaku, Ukaku RC Level: 5,978 Body Cultivation: Initial-Phase Viscount Kagune Rank: 1st-Tier Noble-Grade Energy Type: Psionic Energy Energy Level: 1,000 Energy Cultivation: None Combat Prowess: above ordinary Early-Phase Viscount - Unique States: Permanent Tail - 2 - Abilities: Sacred Devourer - Ability to devour any types of energy, bloodlines or bodies. It strengthens the host by some amount. Divine Telekinesis - 10 Psionic Energy per minute. Eight Celestial Inner Gates: The Gate of Opening - Celestial Reflexes - Skills: Kenjutsu: Samurai - Cultivation Techniques: RC Body Refining Technique: Baron Rank Eight Celestial Inner Gates: The Gate of Healing (2nd Gate) - Cross Crest: Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace ============================================= Lucien looked very satisfied looking at his records and now that he reached the Viscount-Rank he knew it was time to open another Gate out of the Eight Celestial Inner Gates. Each Gate opened gave heaven-defying passive bonuses to the cultivator. For example as The Gate of Opening gave him Celestial Reflexes so his reflexes reached the totally terrifying level, comparable to the level of some very strong cultivators or those cultivating in similar methods. Cultivation Techniques like the Eight Celestial Inner Gater are very hard to cultivate as they had extremely high requirements on the body of the cultivator. Lucien knew he could wait a bit, but he felt he should be able to handle the pain from opening another Gate. Next Gate from the Eight Celestial Inner Gates was named The Gate of Healing. This Gate was located also in the brain when opened allows energies to have a better flow in the body and also greatly enhances the regeneration of the body. It strengthened the passive regeneration by a huge amount and even strengthened talent for Energy Cultivation, so Lucien was very happy to have something like this. After some time of serious thinking, Lucien decided he would open another Gate at tomorrow as now he was tired from breaking through and his cultivation was extremely unstable so he would need to digest many more blood essences to at least stabilize it a bit. Thus Lucien went to sleep and after he recovered enough, he immediately started practicing the Eight Celestial Inner Gates open The Gate of Healing. Suddenly he felt a huge pain in his brain, as blood started flowing out of his eyes, ears, and mouth but soon it stopped and Lucien had a very peaceful expression on his face. The satisfied expression on his face. Success. He successfully opened The Gate of Healing and it only took him around ten or so minutes. Opening these Gates wasn''t that hard when one had strong enough body and willpower. Lucien had both of them so it was quickly done and even though it was rather a painful process, soon all the pain was gone and the only thing left was feeling of pure satisfaction. ============================================= Eight Celestial Inner Gates: The Gate of Opening - Celestial Reflexes The Gate of Healing - Celestial Regeneration - Passive regeneration is several times stronger than before and with every breakthrough in cultivation it would only increase. Also, stregthen regeneration of energy and healing rate of energetic net of body. ============================================= This meant not only his body would regenerate faster but even his passive ability to absorb energy when he later formed Energy Core inside of his body would be faster. Also, his regeneration of Psionic Energy was now faster as his whole system of meridians was strengthened by a significant amount. As Lucien observed the results and tested them, he decided it was time to go back to his estate to have some time with his beautiful and now also, horny fiance¨¦. Time was shortening and there were only two years left before leaving this world, so everything must be prepared perfectly. Lucien even planned that after year he would raid the ancestral home of the Washuu Clan, slaughtering the whole clan. They only needed to create some commotion to divide their attention, but now it was also pointless that Lucien reached the Viscount-Rank. After a year of stabilization or so, the final fight would come. 123 Strong devour the weak 24th Ward, Underground Fortification, One month later One month was spent from the Raid on the Yasuhisa Mansion and now everything seemed to be very tranquil and peaceful. Commission of Counter Ghoul released the death of several ghoul investigators including the First-Class Ghoul Investigator Kotarou Amon and also, Special Class Ghoul Investigator Kuroiwa Iwao. Now, they were weakened by a large amount, counting in the losses in the 11th Ward Suppression Operation, or rather 11th Ward Depression Operation where they also lost one Special-Class Ghoul Investigator and several other high-ranking members of the CCG, they laid for low. After Lucien reported everything to his father he got very important and also disrupting message from him that he only had around one year and something, before they would leave as the situation on the Blood Island, wasn''t looking good. Even though they were killing demons more and more effectively, the portal to the Abyss or whatever it was, was constantly expanding and soon there would be stronger demons coming out of it. Fortunately, now only demons coming out were maximally Baron-Ranked ones so it was okay for now. Construction of the Dreadnaughts, Airships and Magitek Infantry was going very good and smooth, soon there would have rather nice smaller army counting in thousand. This was also, the reason why the killing of demons was an easy matter for now. There weren''t any Viscount-Ranked individuals, but as soon as they came in larger numbers it would be a problem because their Empire only had several Viscount-Ranked cultivators. Lucien looked at the 24th Ward fortifications and was very satisfied with the progress itself. Now ¨ªt looked many times better compared to the past, where everything looked like ruins and it was only ruins and nothing more. After controlling the 24th Ward, he returned to his estate in the 21st Ward and found out there was only a guest waiting for him there. His diligent student girl, Touka was already waiting for him for today''s training as usual. She even learned to smile more compared to the past and her usual indifferent cold expression. After they trained for several hours around two or three per day, she returned to the Anteiku Cafe and Lucien went to Itori for some activities for adults. After spending some innate time with his soon-to-be wife, he returned to the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory so he could start the consolidation of his foundation and cultivation. The first thing needed to do was to eat more blood essences to consolidate the foundation itself. Cultivation for the Sacred Devourer Ghouls using the RC Body Refining Technique was in the large part of the act just the evolution as they were constantly evolving their bodies to the higher level. This fact not applying only to them, but rather body refining techniques were evolution of bodies, they were cultivated mostly by humans as they needed them most, because their bodies were weakest out there, but of course some other races with innately strong bodies also cultivated using the body refining techniques and reached a tremendous level of power. And thus Lucien started eating his remaining blood essences like candies. One after another they were eaten and absorbed by his RC Cells inside his body. Even though his RC Level wasn''t increasing almost at all, his foundation was becoming stronger and stronger by each blood essence absorbed. This also meant, his combat prowess would become stronger as the stable foundation was key to the successful cultivation. After spending more than one moth stabilizing his foundation he reached a good level, even though it wasn''t perfect, he needed more time to reach perfect stabilization of his foundation. Even his RC Level increased from the RC Level: 5,978 to the RC Level: 9,648. Afterward, Lucien decided to spend most of his time training with his Ukaku Wings to learn how to fly proficiently, because he knew only how to shoot crystalized projectiles at his enemy and nothing more. Learning flying with his wings would be rather hard at the start but he was confident he could learn it soon enough. He also neede to train in his Kenjutsu to improve his skills with Katana as he felt that soon it would be not enough. Even though his skills could be counted as good, in higher worlds it would be only ¨ªordinary. He didn''t even comprehend the Sword Qi, which was special energy one could use only through the sword and not talking about the Sword Intent which was leagues above the Sword Qi. From what Lucien knew that even weakest Sword Intent could tear through space and destroy Low-Grade World like they were nothing than dust. Of course to reach level os using the Sword Intent one must have extremely good comprehension skills and talent in the sword. Things like high body cultivation were the most basic requirement as the body needed to handle the huge amount of power belonging to the Sword Intent otherwise it would kill the swordsman. And like that Lucien started his long season of constant training, either it was training in the Kenjutsu or training with his Ukaku Wings or Divine Telekinesis. He needed to be prepared for the future, because of the strong devoured weak and became stronger. Sometimes strong devoured other strong if they were a bit stronger. During the time Lucien ate almost all of his blood essences he had stored and finally stabilized his foundation and his combat prowess reached another new level. He managed to learn how to fly with his Ukaku Wings and it was a wonderful thing to fly in the night sky and admire the stars in the dark sky. More importantly, he needed to learn to use his wings in the most efficient way available. Especially during flight, he needed to be able to fight at his maximum. This alone would take some time to adapt to the new fighting style. Next time he came out of his seclusion/training, he would personally slaughter whole Washuu Clan and then return to the Blood Island and finally leave this Low-Grade World so the Holy Niflheim Empire could finally reach its potential. 124 Year and something One year and several months later, Blood Island Time flew like a river and now everything was almost ready for the final act. On the Blood Island, one could usually see hundreds upon hundreds of Magitek Infantry Soldiers marching and guarding various building or going to fight. In the air, several huge Magitek Airships were flying together with five Magitek Dreadnoughts were also flying with their intimidating appearance and creating the wonderful sight of the great army. Down there, more than three thousand of Magitek Infantry Soldiers were lined and going to the Underground Region, where there were countless demons to fight and kill them. Magitek Infantry Soldiers were all of the Intermediate-Phase Baron-Rank, they combat prowess was very good and they didn''t know things like fear or fatigue. They fought again and again and the only thing required was minor maintenance for them. ============================================= The manor of the Aeon Family, Study Room Lucien was standing there with his father discussing the most important topic this day, preparation for the leaving of the Low-Grade World. Their Magitek Army was very nicely expanded to a nice number around three thousand and they even had constructed ten Magitek Airships and five Magitek Dreadnoughts. "Hmm, the situation down there isn''t looking that good. Father together with other Viscount-Ranked individuals of the Empire are down there fighting because there are Viscount-Ranked demons appearing down there, so our Magitek Infantry Soldiers which are Baron-Ranked are becoming useless." Said Lucien''s father Asmodeus as he looked at his son. During this time, immediately after Lucien finished his seclusion, he found out that the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory has reached the 1st-Tier of Royal-Grade so he was able to teleport anywhere of the world, that also meant he could teleport anywhere in the world as the range of the teleportation increased drastically. ============================================= Name: Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory Type: Floating Fortress Grade: Royal Tier: 1st Uniquess: Growth 6% (grows by absorbing energy from the Void, increase in size, grade...) Attack: None (available by reaching Imperial-Grade) - Description: Floating Fortress capable of traveling in the Void, space and practically everywhere. ============================================= "I will return to Tokyo and slaughter the Washuu Clan, then I would immediately return to the Blood Island so we could start the evacuation of the Island." Asmodeus nodded hearing this and then he started thinking about something. "Bring your wife to the Blood Island immediately, together with those two who would be new Holy Imperial Knights so we could start the Devourification Sacred Process for them. And also, take one more Holy Imperial Knight with you so no accidents happen." Lucien nodded before saying to his father. "Okay, I would send Itori here after a week or so." During this year and something, many things happened. One of the most notable ones was that he finally found out that the feeling that girl Touka had for him was just combination of admiration and many other things, but it could be hardly called a love. Still, Lucien gave her a special token which could be used to send him a message. If the feelings she had for him were real or something, she could use the token to contact him. Also, another thing which happened was that he also got something he excepted some time ago, that he would be marrying another girl, to be precise she was the daughter of the Patriarch of the Dracul Clan and Dante''s younger sister. It was something needed to bond both houses together as one. He knew Seira from times he was little kid and he was always fond of her, maybe if he never left the Blood Island he would have ended marrying only her. Lucien was rather happy about this marriage because it was better to marry someone he knew and they even had some feeling for each other than to marry a stranger. By this marriage, they would be consolidating the position of both families and Imperial Family would have a trace of blood inside them from the Dracul House which was given the title of Royal Family, even though nobody would be doing their duties. These vampires were interested only in their research, magic and other things. It was mainly their merit that Magitek Technology was blooming that fast even though they were in the Low-Grade World. "I would go to see Seira now and I will take Arseahr with me." Said Lucien. He needed to see his new fiance¨¦ as he didn''t saw Seira for several years. She was also quiet girl, enjoying his company and sometimes she was tagging along with him everywhere he went. He decided he would take Arseahr with him an additional fighter as nobody knows what could go wrong. He was very surprised about the strength the Washuu Clan had when he fought against their Grand Elder. So it was better to have some insurance than nothing than all. Arseahr was Holy Imperial Knight N0.1, currently strongest only below the Commander Nalthos. Arseahr was also a swordsman as Lucien, but he didn''t use the Katana or practice Kenjutsu, nevertheless, he was a very talented and strong swordsman and Lucien and he often fought and trained together when there was an opportunity. "Good, three months is the maximum, we don''t have much time and time when the Count-Ranked demons would emerge isn''t that far and your grandfather even though he managed to reach Intermediate-Phase Count, with that luck he managed to kill a few of the Count-Ranked demons which apparently had some strong bloodline is miracle itself, so be fast as you can." Said Asmodeus as he looked through the window at the marching Magitek Infantry Soldiers. For the Empire, it was a very good thing that they had Intermediate-Phase Count as that was equivalent to the Type 11 Divine Warrior in the God-Devil Plane. That meant they were practically invisible in the Aizhouma Universe cause they weren''t stronger existences than the Advanced-Phase Viscounts, Type 9 Divine Warriors. What was a bad thing was that Lucien got the message that there would be other strong existences entering the Aizhouma Universe at some point because someone in the God-Devil Plane found the location of the God-Devil System and the information already started spreading through the whole plane. So, in several decades those powerhouses would found the location of the Aizhouma Universe in the God-Devil Plane, but to breach that barrier and many other things would be hard and they had around one hundred years from now, by the words of written in that message till the path to the Aizhouma Universe would be fully cleared and location would be found. 125 Arseahr Blood Island, Courtyard, Mansion of Holy Imperial Knight N0.1 Arseahr Arseahr was a rather tall man in his thirties, clothed in typical white attire that all Sacred Devourer Ghouls were wearing, only his was more decorated with some minor decorations and symbols. He had long blonde hair reaching almost to his waist. He was holding his sword, which looked like a typical European sword. A bit different from Lucien''s katana. Arseahr spent most of his free time training in his sword, always trying to reach the peak. You know, that the Holy Imperial Knights didn''t have anything else to do other than training and cultivating. "Arseahr!" Screamed Lucien the moment he entered the courtyard, looking a the Arseahr who was in the middle of his training. Arseahr then stopped his training and looking at Lucien who just now came to his little peaceful training ground screaming and creating a ruckus. "Your Highness, Crown Prince." Said Arseahr as he looked Lucien and then they both shook hands at the sigh of greeting. No, every Holy Imperial Knight was formal with him. For example, Commander Nalthos called him "kid", because he used to train him when he was younger or with Arseahr he also had a very friendly relationship as they used to spar with each other almost every day. "I have been a long time, my friend has it?" Laughed Lucien as they finished their greeting after a long time. Arseahr also smiled, because he was also happy that he finally saw a friend after several years. "Yes, yes it was. Why have you come to visit me and as usual with that noisy attitude of yours." Said Arseahr with a small smile as he looked at Lucien and then both of them sat down behind the small table which was near and soon, servants brought them some black tea, which was Arseahr''s favorite. "So, could you already tell me why have you come here?" Lucien sipped his black tea, put down the cup and looked at Arseahr with not so relaxed expression now. "As you know, soon we would be leaving this Low-Grade World and only last works need to be done and that is to annihilate the whole Washuu Clan. You know, I already have Zelilios at Tokyo keeping guard for them, but last time I have fought against their Grand Elder his strength was already around the Peak-Grade Baron, without any cultivation or anything. I don''t want a rink anything this time, so I have asked for some backup." Arseahr nodded hearing this and secretly chuckled inside as he has seen that Lucien was cautious and scheming as ever. Everyone knew that even he himself would be enough, but he insisted on bringing two Holy Imperial Knights on the Viscount-Rank with him, and he also was Viscount-Ranked. Even stronger than both of them, but this was a good thing. "Also, I need to see Seira, it was decided that I would marry her to solidify pact of creation of the Holy Niflheim Empire. I haven''t seen her for a long time, she would be happy to see me again, I only hope that she didn''t turn like most of her kind. Locked in their towers all the time." Siad Lucien with worry in his voice as he mentioned the last part of the speech. Most of the vampires of the Blood Island just spend most of their lives locked in their castles or towers, researching god knows what. He only hoped that Seira wouldn''t be like that, they are already enough vampires like that. "Don''t worry, from what I have heard, she took enough from her mother and she rather enjoys fighting rather than researching, but her brother is... another of his kind." Both of them laughed at mentioning Dante. "Yes, he is. He was always like that, with that his annoying attitude, he will bring you to madness one day, but still, he is pretty strong and he always was. And his research about blood magic is best among the whole race." They talked about many things that happened on the Blood Island during these past years and most importantly what everything changed with researching the Magitek Technology. How it changed the whole race and also, Arseahr talked a bit about the structure of the Holy Niflheim Empire and that Lucien''s plans created a very good impression at the upper echelons of the Empire. "Lucien how long would the journey to the God-Devil Plane take?" Asked Arseahr out of the curiosity he held about the traveling through the multiverse. "Probably around ten years, because we are using Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory to open special Space-Time Vortex connected to the God-Devil Plane. If we didn''t use it and just used the coordinates of the plane, it could take us an eternity to get there. Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory had this built in already when I got it, together with several other similar vortexes that I can''t just activate or even know where they lead to." Explained Lucien. This ability to open Space-Time Vortex that is connected to someplace is extremely hard to create. From what Lucien knew, that only some peak experts that cultivated Laws of Space could do this and of course someone with some special ability or magic like Zelretch. On the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory there were several other coordinates that had the creation of Space-Time Vortex connected with them, but Lucien didn''t have any ability to find out where they were leading. "Hmm, in the past that would be a long time, but now our whole race is cultivating and practically everyone is at Baron-Rank, ten years is nothing to us. Ooh, I heard that you have managed to recruit two new people that would become Holy Imperial Knights later on. They must be pretty talented if they caught your eye." Remarked Arseahr after he thought about two new recruits to the Holy Imperial Knights. Namely Tatara and Arima Kisho. They weren''t officially named as the Holy Imperial Knights, because they still didn''t undergo the Sacred Devourification Process, but soon they would be new Holy Imperial Knights N0.4 and N0.5. 126 Sometimes it would go... boom "Yes, they are both of them. First one is named Tatara, an ordinary ghoul who is considered as one of the strongest ghouls. He is extremely talented martial artists and fighters who created even some basic martial arts for ghouls by himself. He is Bikaku-Type and combined with his martial arts he was a pretty strong opponent even for me when I still didn''t reach the Baron-Rank. He trained many kinds of martial arts and created many new ones." Said Lucien about Tatara, the remnant ghoul of the ghoul organization Chi She Lian was a pretty strong opponent for every human out there. Arseahr was surprised to see Lucien praise someone as he knew that he had very high standards. It also caused some satisfaction in him, as no one among the Holy Imperial Knights was a martial arts. All of them were using weapons to fight, rather than using their fists or legs. Even using kagune was becoming rare, as they focused more on weapons and using kagune already was only in surprise attacks or during the times of need. "Second one is Arima Kisho. He is something that could be called weapon master as he is able to wield practically any weapon to some extent, even though he is master of none, his fighting style is pretty unpredictable thanks to that. The only weapon he is master if I could call it mastery, is some kind of weird lance/sword hybrid. Also, he is a battle genius, able to learn during the battle and adapt to every enemy''s fighting style after analyzing it a bit." Arima and Tatara would be great additions to the Holy Imperial Knights as both of them were very talented and after Sacred Devourification Process which would enhance their innate talents and strength, their abilities would only grow with time. After ten years they would reach the Viscount-Rank for sure and also, reach new heights in their weapon cultivation or martial arts. Lucien himself wondered how many Viscount-Ranks would Holy Niflheim Empire have after the journey to the God-Devil Plane would end. Ten years was enough time to cultivate some people into capable fighters. Even though they would have limited resources because they would only have that they had brought together with them from this world and nothing more. During those ten years, they would be total without any income of resources. "Good at least there would be fun with new members joining. It was becoming boring with only four of us and Nalthos." Said Arseahr and Lucien just chuckled inside as he knew personalities of both Arima and Tatara well. Both of them were very quiet people who rarely spoke a word and just focused on what they were doing. Mainly combat and training. "I would be going already to see how Seira is doing and discuss some things with her. I will return after that and teleport both of us back to Tokyo using Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory." Then Lucien stood up and went to the place where Seira was living, which was either some Magic Tower or castle. Arseahr remains in his mansion to prepare some necessary thing for the short three-month trip. ============================================= When Lucien arrived at the side of the Blood Island where vampires were staying he was very surprised to see that again. He was talking about various Magic Towers that were here, they were practically everywhere. Some of them were even destroyed due to experiments, we could say more dangerous and explosive one. He admired some of those towers, how beautifully they looked and how they still weren''t destroyed by some mad experiment. Especially now, where every second vampire was experimenting with the creation of energy weapons based on the Magitek Energy Crystals. That would often go wrong and create, how should we say it... boom. From what Lucien heard they even started to regulate the number of people conducting the research about this, but still it was the necessary thing for the Magitek Infantry Soldiers to be constructed with more powerful long-range weapons. Now more than 95% of Magitek Infantry Soldiers were equipped only with close combat weapons and were lacking some long-range means of offense. Soon, he started to walk to the castle which was owned by the Patriarch of the Dracul Clan, the castle itself was a very large place, surrounded by several very tall Magic Towers, apparently creating some kind of protective formation around the castle. What was or we could say wasn''t that surprising, the whole area was almost devoid of any life, there were only a few guards at the entrance of the castle. Most of the security was based on various magic formations, arrays, and inscriptions that were around the place and also engraved on the walls of the castle and Magic Towers. Sometimes as Lucien looked at relaxed vampires he cursed at them. In most worlds and more importantly in the Akashic Multiverse, Vampires were one of the ruling species and were combat race. On the contrary here, even though these ones were very strong, they were most researches, scientists and masters in various things like alchemy, magic formations, and others. Soon, when the guard saw him they bowed to him and then led him to the castle when Lucien started to wait for Seira as he started strolling through the hall where he was waiting. Apparently, everyone was in seclusion doing something. Either cultivating or researching. Even though most fights were done by Sacred Devourer Ghouls and an only minority of Vampires joined the army, most of them were responsible for the creation of technological and magical advancements of the Holy Niflheim Empire. Lucien admired various painting on the walls and other arts that were displayed here for visitors to see. Many of them were very old, at least in the common sense of this world, because painting that is old in several centuries could be considered as very very young in most parts of the Akashic Multiverse. Soon, enough as Lucien was already getting bored of the waiting, doors opened and revealing the person Lucien didn''t see several years already and the one that would also, become his wife together with Itori. 127 Seira Seira was a very beautiful girl in her teens, she had pale skin and silver hair similar to Lucien''s own. Her eyes were scarlet red in contrast to Lucien''s light purple eyes. Her hair was long, almost reaching her waist and she wore an elegant black robe in which she looked very attractive. "Hi Seira, it has been a long time." Said Lucien as he came to her and hugged her close, to which he received one sharp slap on his face and angry glare from her. Of course, he knew why did he get slapped and why she was angry at him. He didn''t see her several years and even found another girl for himself, and both of them were aware of feeling to each other, it was just that nobody said anything as it could become weird. They knew each other from childhood and often played together when they were little. "I am sorry, that I didn''t see you during these several years, but I will do everything I can to make it up to you." She didn''t say anything, but Lucien could her a few silent sobs as she cuddled to his chest silently, not letting go at any cost. About making it up, there would be a lots of time during the journey to the God-Devil Plane as that would take around ten years and Lucien would spend them all with Seira as Itori would be undergoing Sacred Devourification Process, turning her to the Sacred Devourer Ghoul and that would take a lot of time, several years at best. "You know Seira, even though neither one of us ever said something, you know it very good that I always had feelings for you..." Whispered Lucien in a low voice to which, Seira tightened the grip she had over him and nodded her head, with a small tear of happiness appearing in the corners of her eyes. Then they left to the more suitable place to discuss various topics, especially Lucien about how she was doing all these years and basically Seira was asking him the same. She was very curious about her another rival, and Lucien briefly talked about Itori. One must admit that Seira and Itori were total opposites. Seira was a silent person, who preferred silence and peace, rarely talked and was always elegant and just as a noble lady would be. On the contrary, Itori was talkative, very cheerful and she enjoyed either teasing people or pranking them. They would be a very interesting combination when they met. "So, where is that noisy fool now? Under normal circumstances, he would be already here together with some genial ideas to create something, in which most cases that something would end either exploding or trying to kill him." Seira laughed a bit with her hand covering her mouth as an ideal lady would do. Lucien was, of course, referring to her elder brother Dante. She knew that sentence, trying to kill us, was referring to one special case when Dante was experimenting with old summoning magic that he found in the library and "borrowed". In the end, they summoned unknown creature, that attacked the moment when it saw it was summoned somewhere. Fortunately, summoning circle malfunctioned several second after and both of them were only injured, not death. "Brother is in the seclusion cultivating to the higher level to reach the Viscount-Rank using a modified version of your race''s RC Body Refining Technique. He either is trying to reach the rank or has already reached it and he is stabilizing his cultivation base. After that, he would be probably doing some experiments with blood magic as his cultivation would allow him to research more things now and some experiments that father forbade him because his strength was insufficient would be now allowed." Explained Seira to Lucien. She asked many things about the multiverse out there, because she knew that Lucien was in the direct contact with Akashic Records, this information was available only to the Lucien''s Family, Dracul Family and some of the Holy Imperial Knights were aware of it. Now it was still something like a minor secret, but when they would be leaving, this secret would be already non-existent because Lucien would be using some of his privileges as the Executor of Akashic Records to open the Space-Time Vortex. "Soo... what do you think about our upcoming marriage, Seira?" Seira blushed a little, but then she recovered to her normal, almost expressionless face as she looked seriously at Lucien. "That we are lucky because we have a feeling for each other. I am very well aware that this marriage is something that is necessary for the functioning of the Holy Niflheim Empire because it would be the union of our families and the creation of something higher. As the saying goes, blood is thicker than water." Lucien nodded his head in agreement, as this marriage between them would consolidate the power in the Holy Niflheim Empire completely. Now there would be more important bonding between both families than alliance, and that would be bong by blood. "Yes, I agree. Oh, and how many of your people would be joining the military? Their abilities in blood control and blood magic would be very useful in the combat against a huge number of enemies." Asked Lucien in a serious voice to which Seira lowered her head slightly as she new not even half of her people would join the army as most would just remain locked in towers, now it would be not towers but rather Magitek Airships. "Around 40% of the population would join. Most of them still prefer remaining in the research field or experimenting. You know, especially when we would arrive at the God-Devil Plane this would only grow as there would be countless things to experiment with and countless things to research. Most of the people joining are younger ones, that have no patience to spend most of their time locked in their towers." 128 Spar with future wife Explained Seira how things were with vampires joining the military to Lucien. He was a bit surprised, because he exp¨²ected around only 20% of the entire race to join the army, but double of that number, 40% was better than his initial expectations. "How is your progress in the Scythe Ars?" Asked Lucien about her martial arts. Seira was very talented Scythe user and could be said that she was one of best in the whole Holy Niflheim Empire, though she didn''t have there weren''t a lot of people who used Scythe, only several of them. His grandfather Azrael was one of them, but sadly he was that type of person who could be said to be a terrible teacher. He was very bad at teaching others and could give only basic instructions about something. "Good, I am making steady progress with the Scythe Arts, the only thing I lack is some real technique, but still mastering basics of the art is at a higher priority for me for now." Answered Seira to his question, to which Lucien nodded his head in agreement, as he was also, aware of the fact that there isn''t practically any high-level scythe technique to learn for her. Even he himself didn''t have any good sword art which suited him and his sword, but he had hope for himself as he heard that in the vaults of the Washuu Clan, they had some superior Kenjutsu Technique, but they didn''t use it because of unknown reasons. "Do you want a spar?" Seira then nodded her head in the form of agreement to his question and then both of them stood up and went to the training area which was used as sparring and training place. It was very nice and wide space, that could be used to fight. Even though Lucien wasn''t wearing his usual battle attire and was clothed in his normal clothes, he didn''t mind. Even though it could get dirty as they were pure white in color, he was confident in his strength so he wouldn''t be injured or something. He sensed that Seira was only at Baron Rank and also, she wasn''t that huge training and battle maniac as Lucien who spent practically most of her time training of fighting. Soon, Seira returned, clothed in black battle attire, in which she looked absolutely stunning because the attire itself was in slim style and because she looked even more erotic than usual. She immediately noticed his gaze aimed at her curves and her body, to which she blushed slightly, but she focused on the spar and her eyes started glowing in light red color and her weapon appeared beside her. The scythe itself was bigger than her, almost two meters in height and blade looked incredibly shard and dangerous. It was pitch black colored scythe with minor gold patterns around the blade. She took the battle stance and waited for Lucien to congeal his own weapon to fight. Lucien as gentleman like he was, turned on his kakugan too, and congealed his kagune katana and held it in his right hand. "Ladies first." Siad Lucien in a polite voice as he took a battle stance and prepared to perform Iaijutsu, which was a technique in which one would draw katana in very high speed and strike as fast as possible and then sheath the sword back. Seira than looked at him, and in a split of second appeared before him, slashing at him with her scythe. Lucien chuckled and with the thunderous speed he drew out his katana, which collided with the scythe, creating sparks in the air, because the force behind the impact was greater than Seira anticipated she almost fell back and this used Lucien to his advantage and appeared behind her with his katana on her neck. "Good, but you should combine your other abilities with your Scythe Arts to create a better element of surprise and also, you could enhance your combat prowess." Said Lucien to her as he still held his katana at her neck, only to notice that several blood orbs appeared around him and were flying at him with speed of the light. Apparently, she immediately put his advice into the practice. Lucien thought about using his other kagune, Ukaku to counter the attack, but he didn''t want to be too hard on her as he already was superior to her in speed, strength, and endurance because of his superior cultivation base. He defended against orbs with his katana, and in a meantime, Seira managed to escape from the range of his sword and was in the safe distance from him. The blood orbs ferociously attacked Lucien from all sides and they were too fast, Lucien smiled at this because for him this was rather good training. With his Celestial Reflexes which were opened with the Eight Celestial Inner Gates Technique when he opened The Gate of Opening, these blood orbs weren''t that fast, he still managed to catch them using his superior eyesight. Seira now decided to use long-distance attacks to fight against Lucien as she noticed that in close-combat she lost to him already, because of large disparities in physical capabilities. To deal with an opponent who was physically stronger was better to attack from a safe distance, and more to say, Scythe wasn''t a weapon for close combat, but rather something in middle between long-range and close-combat as the Scythe itself was a huge weapon and was rather unpractical in close combat. It took several minutes for Lucien to destroy those blood orbs as they were rather hard and pretty though. Their attack power was also, rather high and one could conclude that they were good means of long-ranged attacks. The moment he finished disposing of the last blood orb, Seira who was preparing to strike him, finished her preparations and her scythe was coated in her blood energy she rushed at Lucien at top speed and slashing at him with her scythe with her full power. 129 Last mission in the Low-Grade World Seeing her Scythe being covered in the blood energy, he did the same with his kagune katana and in an instant, he covered the entire katana in his psionic energy. Then he rushed at Seira with lightning speed and in a second when their weapons collided the winner was already chosen. Lucien was standing beside her, with his katana on her neck and Seira was looking blankly a the fact that her most prized technique failed like nothing and she missed her target. Lucien admitted the fact that the attack of her scythe covered in the blood energy was dangerous, he could be seriously injured if not being far stronger. Blood Energy is a special type of energy that Vampires could cultivate. Especially those of the Noble Lineage had great talents in cultivating the Blood Energy as shown today. Even though Seira was only something over fifteen years old, she could already perform basic attacks with blood energy and attained some basic manipulation of it. This was a huge advantage of the noble heritage of blood. Sadly because she didn''t cultivate long enough and her control and reserves of blood energy weren''t that big, she couldn''t use it in every attack and could it only a few items during the fight. Vampires were also dual cultivators, but contrary to vampires they didn''t need to wait for a higher stage of body cultivation to start cultivating their blood energy. Seira was Baron-Ranked Vampire in body refining, but her cultivation of blood energy was lacking and wasn''t even Low-Class. Lucien wondered what would his second energy type be when he reached the Count-Rank and created Psionic Core, though he would prefer to gain Lignthing or something like that with high offensive power. "It was a good spar, but you need to work more on your techniques and of course try to reach higher cultivation rank or you will be suppressed. Your serves of blood energy are low, so reaching the Low-Class should be the top priority for you for now." Said Lucien to Seira about her situation. Her biggest advantage over Lucien was that she could cultivate the Blood Energy now, without waiting to reach the Count-Rank in body cultivation, but she still wasn''t even Low-Class because she focused most of her attention to the martial arts and body cultivation. Then after their spar was finished, Lucien spent the rest of the day with Seira and day talked about many minor things. He told her that in three months maximally they would be leaving this Low-Grade World so it would be better to prepare for it. Thankfully all Magitek Dreadnoughts were fully prepared for the dimensional travel. "Seira, my dear little vampire, we will see each other after two-three months, after I am done with all my duties in Tokyo." Said Lucien as he hugged Seura close to him and she hugged him affectionately back, seeming not letting go. "Nn. Be careful." Whispered Seira to Lucien with the gentle voice as she kept on hugging him. ============================================= After leaving Seira''s home, Lucien firstly went back home to check if somebody was home but apparently everyone was at the front lines. Only his little sister was home together with his mother keeping her company. Little Artemia was a nice and cute little baby girl who was very lively so his mother had lots of work with her. His mother was happy that she had a new child who she could cuddle and who she hoped wouldn''t turn like Lucien. She didn''t want of her daughter be another training and battle maniac. "I can''t wait to meet your another wife beside Seira, its a pity that she would be spending whole years in the Sacred Devourification Process..." Said his mother Selene to him as they were both sitting in the room where Artemia was sleeping peacefully. He was having a small chat with his mother, before leaving for Tokyo to complete the last thing he had to. "Don''t worry mom, from now, time is becoming relative, ten years, hundred or thousand would be soon only numbers and nothing more for our race and for our glorious empire." His words were slowly becoming reality because for cultivators time was a very relative thing and years were nothing more than a bunch of random numbers. Especially for species with innately boosted lifespan and vitality when they lived longer than others in the same stage. In reality, it was even hard to count lifespan for some cases as Sacred Devourer Ghouls or Vampires because they were dual-cultivators and had innately strong life force. This meant their lifespans were very very long. "Father said to send Itori already to the Blood Island so I can start with the last phase of the plan and directly raid the Washuu Clan and slaughter it all. Still, I had to be careful, even though they are lacking any form of cultivation techniques their Grand Elder managed to reach the strength level of Peak-Grade Baron Rank." Explained Lucien about the current situation and the last thing he must do before leaving this world for good. He only hoped that he would be able to loot some treasures after the annihilation of the Washuu Clan, they were clan with several hundred years of history so they should have good things in their vaults. Especially some Kenjutsu techniques as they specialized in using katana, maybe it would be a real truth that they had Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨± hidden deep in their vaults. Be it truth or not, about the Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨±, Lucien was very eager to go immediately go to slaughter the Washuu Clan to search for the Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨± Technique as it was practically pinnacle of the Kenjutsu Techniques developed by far. Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨± was a special technique that was similarly from higher realms with creator unknown. It was said that in the Akashic Realm it was one of the most superior and dominating sword styles created, but it had very harsh requirements on the body of the user. It was hard to learn and even harder to use. 130 Energy Types and others... Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨± then appeared in this Low-Grade World and by some means appeared in hands of the Washuu Clan, but they had never trained because their bodies wouldn''t be able to handle it. Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨± contained several other fields of Kenjutsu in it as for example Batt¨­jutsu, which is the predecessor of the Iaido, but more suited for killing compared to the Iaido. Soon, he would obtain this technique and enhance his combat prowess to the whole new level. He knew that his Kenjutsu skills weren''t that good, because he was lacking some technique to train in and he only was practicing basic movements. Yes, in regards to basic movements he had no opponents in these, but sadly the lack of technique was limiting him greatly in the long-term. "I would be going to get Arseahr and the teleport both of us with Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory to the Tokyo." Said Lucien to his mother to which she nodded her head and then Lucien stood up and left his estate. He went to the Arseahr''s estate to took him together with him to Tokyo so they could finish the job. ============================================= "Arseahr we are ready to go to Tokyo." Said Lucien as soon as he arrived at the Arseahr''s estate which wasn''t located that far. Arseahr then looked at Lucien and with a nod of his head as a sign of agreement they were soon teleported firstly to the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. The moment they arrived at the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory, Arseahr admired the beautiful huge gothic estate which the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory was and also, admired the space around. The Cross Crest dimension had very beautiful backround we could say with all those starts and galaxies above. They were there for decoration as they were a decoration to create a better environment in this separate dimension. Lucien had a theory that he could create even something more from the Cross Crest if he managed to evolve this dimension to the higher level but to do that he would need the help of Akashic Records as the Cross Crest was tied with the Akashic Records. "Pick some room, you like and also Zelilios had there some human woman he saved and he is taking care of her, so be what is the word, yes polite and do not create unnecessary troubles." Said Lucien to Arseahr who was surprised that his comrade form Holy Imperial Knights Order saved the human woman and was even taking care of her in the personal vessel of His Highness Crown Prince, but as he gets a warning to not create troubles he decided to let it go and keep his teasings and provocations for himself. As Arseahr went to his room, Lucien did the same as he wanted to check on his records through the Akashic Records to see the changes that happened during this year and something os constant training and stabilization of his cultivation base. ============================================= Name: Lucien Etras di Aeon Occupation: Executor of Akashic Records, Crown Prince of the Holy Niflheim Empire Bloodline: Sacred Devourer Race: Sacred Devoured Ghoul - RC Type: Rinkaku, Ukaku RC Level: 32,654 Body Cultivation: Early-Phase Viscount Kagune Rank: 1st-Tier Noble-Grade Energy Type: Psionic Energy Energy Level: 1,000 Energy Cultivation: None Combat Prowess: above Intermediate-Phase Viscount - Unique States: Permanent Tail - 2 Kakuja V1: Left arm - body armor, right hand - kagune katana - Abilities: Sacred Devourer - Ability to devour any types of energy, bloodlines or bodies. It strengthens the host by some amount. Divine Telekinesis - The most perfect form of the Telekinesis Eight Celestial Inner Gates: The Gate of Opening - Celestial Reflexes The Gate of Healing - Celestial Regeneration - Skills: Kenjutsu: Samurai - Cultivation Techniques: RC Body Refining Technique: Viscount Rank Eight Celestial Inner Gates: The Gate of Healing (2nd Gate) - Cross Crest: Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace ============================================= Even though he was still Early-Phase Viscount his combat prowess were at the level of Intermediate-Phase Viscount which was considered very good as he could fight stronger enemies than he. Also, he managed to reach the Kakuja V1 which was considered good. He also, somehow cursed at his luck because if the blood essences consumed were refined from being with rare bloodlines or some races with innately strong bodies or something similar, he wouldn''t need to spend so much time in stabilizing his cultivation base after breaking through to the new rank. Demons that were in the Blood Island were all of the ordinary categories as Lucien knew thanks to the information provided by the Akashic Records. Even though they had somewhat strong bodies and were good material to refine blood essences, none of them had something important. Powerful and rare bloodlines and innate physiques/bodies, he knew that in the God-Devil Plane there would be plenty creatures with rare bloodlines and physiques and bodies blessed by Heavens so he could increase his cultivation quickly without the need to stabilize it. Even though, he called this cultivation while it was just evolution. Real cultivation in the true meaning would begin when he started cultivating Energy from the Count-Rank. To that, he still hoped that he would get his hands on the Lightning Energy as that would suit him best, as it provided offensive, defensive and even supporting means. Lightning Energy had the most destructive power among elemental types that could be obtained through affinity. Not talking about elements like Destruction which was an extremely rare element that was incarnating everything it came to touch in. Maybe with the blessing of the Lady Luck, Lucien would obtain more than just Lightning Energy. ============================================= "Hmm, Destruction Energy? Aren''t you too greedy kiddo?" Asked Old Voice from the darkness as he looked at countless realms, sitting on his thrones. Red eyes of the old man with grey hair and clothed in the black suit with waistcoat were shining in the dark as the gate was sharp. "And why not, at least it would be fun watching you how many destruction and death would you cause." 131 The Offer When Lucien returned to the Tokyo the first place he went to was his estate to tell Itori to pack her things up so he could be sent her to the Blood Island because the time in this Low-Grade World is already coming to an end. "My dear wife, when you arrive at the Blood Island you would be immediately swarmed up my mother so good luck and also, from now everywhere you will go, you will be guarded by several knights and also some female attendants." Said Lucien to Itori after he arrived at to his estate, there were many things that he needed to tell her especially that from now on, she couldn''t even leave without whole ceremony guarding her, composed of at least two knights, the squad of Magitek Infantry Soldiers and female attendants. This was all because she was the wife of the Crown Prince of the Holy Niflheim Empire. If she were to be pregnant with a child, she was being guarded by Holy Imperial Knight all-time non-stop. Such strict rules about guards and so on, were mainly because she still wasn''t Sacred Devourer Ghoul and more importantly her fighting strength was in reality zero. Even his mother was constantly guarded by someone and to hone she hated it as she couldn''t do whatever she wanted. Still, she spent most of her time on the frontlines in the Blood Island because she was one of few Viscount-Ranked cultivators of the Holy Niflheim Empire. "Yes, yes." Nodded Itori with her head and then she went to pack up all her things she would take with her to the Blood Island, even though she didn''t have many things to take with her, it would still take some time to prepare everything. As she went to pack up her belongings, Lucien went to the courtyard to find his loyal mercenary subordinate, codenamed Darkwalker to give him the final instructions about the mission. After a short time of walking through the estate, he finally found Darkwalker in the training ground together with several other mercenaries. "Attack and slaughter as many of branches of Commission of Counter Ghoul, a month from now exactly. Especially kill all ghoul investigator, personnel of the CCG and everyone related in the 20th Ward to lure whole Commission there." Lucien''s plan was simple and he wanted also, enjoy it, by creating mess and chaos. He wanted to lure out as many of ghoul investigators as he can, so he ordered Darkwalker and his mercenaries to start systematically killed every ghoul investigator in 20th Ward. This was ward was a bit special, as he knew that if Commission of Counter Ghoul came there in big numbers, then Anteiku Cafe would also move, though he didn''t care about Anteiku, but rather about old man Yoshimura, the Owl. He would be a good distraction. ============================================= In a meanwhile, Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory Mado Akira was currently at the training compound of the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory sparring with Zelilios with the new sword he gave her. It was one of the ancient katanas that Lucien obtained in the ruins of the Shi Xue Clan and because Akira didn''t have a suitable weapon he gave her one of those katanas. They were many times better than those lousy quinques. During this one year and something, there were many things that happened in Akira''s life. The first one was that she was saved by Zelilios from certain death in the Yasuhisa Mansion and started living in this weird place called Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. She learned many things about Sacred Devourer Ghouls and also about Holy Niflheim Empire. She often trained with Zelilios because as he said that she was his own responsibility and the apparently the man she knew as Crown Prince of the Holy Niflheim Empire, Lucien Etras di Aeon didn''t care about that she was practically living here. Actually together with Zelilios, they were creating a perfect duo, as both of them rarely talked and all the time focused on doing something. For Zelilios it was training his spearmanship and for Akira, it was collecting various weapons and also, she has begun to learn about Magitek Weapons. Even now was her room in the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory filled with various weapons, Magitek Weapons, and other weird weapons. There were even a lot of quinques of top quality from all over the world. Here in the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory the only person who she could talk to was in reality only Zelilios as he spent most of his time here, in the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory training or cultivating. Crown Prince of the Holy Niflheim Empire, Lucien Etras di Aeon was always out somewhere doing something for the family or Empire what she heard, but even when he was in the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory he wasn''t something that could be called a very talkative person, he usually either trained, cultivated all the time. When he wasn''t doing these two favorite and beloved activities he was in the library of the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory and reading some books. "You are getting better and better Akira, even though I think this sword doesn''t suit you too much. Perhaps some other type would be better?" Said Zelilios as they finished their sparring season and both of them went to sit down and get some rest. Zelilios in reality used to spar a lot with Akira, there were several reasons for that, but main ones were that Akira wanted to learn how to fight more effectively against her enemies and improve herself and Zelilios enjoyed the spars with her and also, he held some affection for Akira as she was attractive woman and also, very intelligent one. "Did you think about the matter I mentioned the last time?" Asked Zelilios as he looked at Akira with certain uncertainty in his eyes. The topic they talked about the last time was very sensitive, especially for humans. As Lucien told Zelilios when he saved Akira, he didn''t care about the reason, she was his own responsibility, whatever he saved her for, but if he wanted to take her with him, she must become the Sacred Devourer Ghoul without question. 132 Final Ac One month went fast as water and soon, the time when the operation codenamed "Final Act" would commence. Lucien''s future wife Itori was already on the Blood Island, she was there already one month and even though she feared that she would be unwelcome, it wasn''t that bad. She managed to befriend Lucien''s mother Selene, who was telling many things about Lucien when he was still a child. Besides that, she spent most of her time training in the arts of a weapon of her chose. She chose daggers, and she was practically training every day. As she heard from Lucien, that nobody would respect her even though she had status. You could say that Holy Niflheim Empire was somehow like a jungle when only strong deserved respect. Even though, it wasn''t that bad as she had originally expected. Life there was very comfortable besides that training. She spent the rest of her time by learning many things, we could call a common sense of the Holy Niflheim Empire and of course, she was preparing for the Sacred Devourification Process, only mentally though. She would be unconscious during those ten years that would Sacred Devourification Process take. ============================================= Giving up one''s humanity had many reasons. What exactly was the definition of humanity? Was it feelings? Morals? Race? When Akira was spending time with Zelilios, both of them started growing closer to each other as time went by. Even she noticed it after several months spent together that she wasn''t that reserved around him and even started enjoying his company. For Zelilios, Holy Imperial Knight N0.3 it was the same. So, as the time was slowly coming to the deadline he proposed her certain idea. An idea about becoming the Sacred Devourer Ghoul as it was possible if he amassed enough contribution and also blood essences. Even though blood essences weren''t that important, most important was a contribution or to get personal permission from someone high-ranking enough and only three people in the whole Holy Niflheim Empire had the power to do something with the Sacred Blood Crystal. Old Ancestor of the Empire, Protector Azrael Etras di Aeon, then next one was current Emperor of the Holy Niflheim Empire, Asmodeus Etras di Aeon and then the last person was, of course, the Crown Prince of the Holy Niflheim Empire, Lucien Etras di Aeon. What was a huge and nice surprise to Zelilios was that Akira agreed to become the Sacred Devourer Ghoul, even though she didn''t tell him the reason. Afterward, he needed permission to use the Sacred Blood Crystal. The most optimal choice would be to go to Lucien as it came out as truth. Lucien agreed to his request but told him that the time when they arrive at the God-Devil Plane he would need to be very active to pay his debt. ============================================= When the first operation started nobody knew what was going on. It happened like thunder from the clear sky hitting the earth and destroying everything around it. This was the exact result of Lucien''s orders when he ordered his subordinates to start systematically killing every ghoul investigator in the 20th Ward. Whole Commission of Counter Ghoul was totally caught unprepared and to that more than half of their ghoul investigators were killed in the span of one week. The most terrifying thing was, of course, the attack on the Commission of Counter Ghoul''s 20th Ward Branch Office, which served as headquarters for all ghoul investigators in the 20th Ward. This attack happened exactly seven days. Seven days from the day Lucien gave his order to create chaos in the 20th Ward. At the seventh day, several masked people attack the Commission of Counter Ghoul''s 20th Ward Branch Office. Main attackers were Holy Imperial Knight N0.1 Arseahr and Holy Imperial Knight N0.3 Zelilios together with some mercenaries and also, of course, pawns of the Aogiri Tree. They attacked ruthlessly and quickly as fast as lightning, slaughtering every living soul in the Commission of Counter Ghoul''s 20th Ward Branch Office together with. They managed to kill even the whole high-command of the Branch Office, which was good as they escaped first when something happened. Among killed were for example Branch Director, Kamemoch and Special-Class Ghoul Investigator H¨­ji K¨­suke, formerly Associate Special-Class Ghoul Investigator, but was promoted as some Special Classes were killed by Lucien and his schemes. H¨­ji K¨­suke was personally killed by Tatara and his heart was ripped out of his body, while he was alive. This was something that Lucien gave Tatara as a reward for agreeing to be Holy Imperial Knight to which Tatara already agreed. He held a huge grudge against H¨­ji K¨­suke as mentioned ghoul investigator was sent to Chine to help Chinese ghoul investigators in exterminating ghoul organization Chi She Lian, a group Tatara belonged to before joining Aogiri. He killed several of Tatara''s friends and used their kakuhou to make quinques. Now he was killed by the most brutal and deserving way. During the attack they even mined the whole place, and blew the whole Commission of Counter Ghoul''s 20th Ward Branch Office to the air, creating such huge explosion that it could be seen from whole Tokyo. Lucien''s plans were an immediate success as he got information that the CCG was planning to exterminate all ghouls in the 20th Ward and would be sending most of their forces to do the work. Including several Special-Class Ghoul Investigators, excluding the Arima Kish¨­ who would remain in the HQ to guard it. Now only last thing remained to do. He only needed to wait for CCG to strike back at ghouls in the 20th Ward and then he could use his pawns, the Aogiri Tree to start the direct war with the Commission of Counter Ghoul. Then he could attack the estate of the Washuu Clan together with his Holy Imperial Knights, Arseahr and Zelilios, thus finally completing the mission codenamed the "Final Act". After that, he would take Tatara and Arima Kish¨­ with him, back to the Empire and finally leave this world for the far wider world. 133 Plans and orders As Lucien expected, Commission of Counter Ghoul had a lot of work with the preparation of the retaliation attack against the ghouls in the 20th Ward. Whole CCG was in the huge turmoil, and of course in a hurry to create a suppression plan and gain back at least a small part of their already crumbled image. During the last years, the public image of the Commission of Counter Ghoul became very terrible and the entire organization was weakened by a huge part. Many of their forces were killed in the action, counting also, several high-ranking members as Associate Special-Class Ghoul Investigators and Special-Class Ghoul Investigators. Lucien''s schemes were very productive and gave beautiful results for him. Of course, this operation codenamed "Final Act" wasn''t an exception. From what Lucien knew, CCG was amassing forces to strike back at the ghouls in the 20th Ward and that with an intention of total extermination of every ghoul. Now, he needed to only prepare his pawns for the final bait, the Aogiri Tree. They were strengthened by a huge amount, they now had several of SS-rated ghouls and many of S-rated ones. This was a very nice result, to which Lucien invested only a bit of effort and a small number of his resources. ============================================= Lucien then met with the Holy Imperial Knights, numbers N0.1 Arseahr and N0.3 Zelilios to discuss next and final steps of the plan, "Final Act". All three of them were at the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory as Lucien''s estate at the 21st Ward was already of no use. His contract with mercenaries was already finished and all of them went for the next job. Thus Lucien was already living only in the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. It was even more comfortable living here. "When the battle for the 20th Ward starts, all of us will go to the estate of the Washuu Clan and kill every living being there, and blow the entire place to the air. Afterward, we will go immediately to Blood Island as there is already nothing useful here for us. I will extract future Holy Imperial Knights, Arima Kish¨­ and Tatara after the battle has ended." Both Holy Imperial Knight, Arseahr and Zelilios nodded their heads in agreement with Lucien''s plan as there was nothing to add. They had absolute advantage over their enemies when it came to the strength as they cultivation was very high for the Low-Grade World standards, only Lucien wanted to have everything under control, that was reason why he brought two Holy Imperial Knights with him, both on the Viscount-Rank and with him being also, Viscount-Ranked Sacred Devourer Ghoul. "After we arrive at the Blood Island, we would join the frontlines as father sent message that the number of Viscount-Ranked demons is constantly increasing and also, that would be a good opportunity to obtain more resources for refining blood essences as during those ten years traveling through the Space-Tiem Vortex we won''t get any additional resources for cultivation. Also, Zelilios bring that weapon, to the Arima and say to him that when the battle of the 20th Ward starts, he could kill every Washuu Clan members or everyone related to the Vasuki in the HQ of the CCG." Zelilios nodded at his order and grabbed the katana that was on the table and then disappeared from the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory as Lucien teleported him out. Arima Kish¨­ had also, received orders from Lucien. He only had simple one, during the battle of the 20th Ward and Lucien''s rampage over the estate of the Washuu Clan, he had to kill every Washuu clansman or agent of the Vasuki in the HQ of the CCG. Especially it was Washuu Yoshitoki, son of the current patriarch of the Washuu Clan, Washuu Tsuneyoshi. Then there was also, son of the Washuu Yoshitoki, Washuu Matsuri who served as the Special-Class Ghoul Investigator, but he rarely left the HQ of the CCG or his mansion at the estate of the Washuu Clan so he would be disposed of either by Lucien or Arima Kish¨­. Even though Washuu Yoshitoki wasn''t a really bad person, from what Lucien heard, by debt needs to be paid in blood and not even one member of the Washuu blood can be spared. "Arseahr, you will go to HQ of the Vasuki organization and paint it in blood, that will be your mission during the time I and Zelilios raid the estate of the Washuu Clan." Even though the Vasuki were only dogs of the Washuu, many of their agents held the blood of the Washuu so they need to be purged, completely. Arseahr nodded his head and then he left the meeting room and Lucien returned to training his way of the sword. ============================================= Lucien spent several hours training his Kenjutsu and then when he finished his daily training routine, he went to walk through the city of Tokyo, maybe for the last time. He went to the 20th Ward as that Ward looked now totally different compared its looks in the future when the operation "Final Act" is over. As he walked through the sunny summer days, he went to the place he hasn''t visited for some time already. Anteiku Cafe, was right before him, he wasn''t there for more than one year, as he was cultivating, training and, of course, stabilizing his foundations he broke through to the Viscount-Rank and needed time for proper stabilization of his cultivation base. As he looked at the Anteiku Cafe, he noticed that nothing had changed about the small cafe, which was run by ghouls, rather strong ones at that. Some memories that he didn''t want to remember were already up and creating havoc in his mind. They weren''t bad memories, no, only those memories made him a bit sad about what happened with some people, or to be more precise about what happened with one person. About that another, Lcuein already knew that she is beyond hope when he looked at how to crazy she became. Crazy isn''t as crazy, he was talking about a person who was losing rational thinking, because even he was called lunatic often... 134 Order, Talk and others... He entered the Anteiku Cafe and noticed that everything was the same as it was, like the time before. He stands directly behind the bar, where an old man Yoshimura was preparing coffee. He just sat there and observed the art of coffee making without saying another word. Apparently, Touka wasn''t there to which Lucien was a bit happy as there wouldn''t be any awkward situation ahead. He still remembered that something. It happened more than a year ago when they had talked and she talked about the feeling she held for him when Lucien asked her that if she would be able to abandon everything to leave with him, she wasn''t able to give him an answer. Seeing that, he knew that she couldn''t abandon her family, even though it was abandoning the family for love... Remembering that, Lucien smiled slightly as he ordered one cup of coffee from Yoshimura and then he just kept on observing the coffee making. Soon his cup of coffee was done and was already before him, in all its glory. Lucien felt the wonderful aroma of freshly made coffee which made him smile and he sipped from it immediately. "It''s delicious as always, Mr. Yoshimura." Said Lucien as he put down the cup of coffee and looked at old man Yoshimura who was currently cleaning some. "That, what is happening to the CCG, is your job? Isn''t it?" Asked Yoshimura after he finished cleaning cup of coffee he was currently cleaning and looked at Lucien who was leisurely sitting before him. Lucien then nodded his head, before proceeded to explain the state of things. "You know, I need to smoke out the rats hiding in the shadows, so tomorrow there would be no rats." Old man Yoshimura knew that he was referring to the Washuu Clan and their lapdogs, Vasuki organization. Although Washuu Clan weren''t rats, they were still hiding in the shadows. He knew that Lucien had in his plans to exterminate the entire Washuu Clan during the war between Commission of COunter Ghoul and ghouls for the 20th Ward. "Don''t worry, my pawns are strong enough to take care of the Commission of Counter Ghoul now, even though in the past the Aogiri Tree was weak, now they at least have enough strength to destroy them. What would one expect, that two of strongest Special-Class Ghoul Investigators were killed..." Explained Lucien to him, now an only week or something around that remained till the day when the CCG would start their retaliation operation in the 20th Ward. Lucien knew this information thanks to the Arima, and thus he could wonderfully prepare. He immediately commanded forces of the Aogiri Tree to prepare hideouts and traps around the whole 20th Ward so they could be of some use. He also got to know that commander of the operation would be Washuu Yoshitoki, so he ordered Arseahr to kill him at first and only then go to HQ of Vasuki and slaughter them all. "Oh yes, one more thing. Don''t let that girl fight, even though she is stronger than before, this battle would be more dangerous." Said Lucien to Yoshimura as he was referring to Touka, even though she was stronger thanks to Lucien''s training, but still, she was rather weak compared to really strong ghouls or numerical disadvantage against several high-class ghoul investigators, namely Associate Special-Class and Special-Class. Yoshimura hearing Lucien''s words, nodded in agreement as he knew that it was too dangerous for her to fight in such, we could already say large-scaled war compared to now. ============================================= Lucien then returned to the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory to resume his training and more importantly to wait for the start of the "Final Act" as it would take some time for the CCG to coordinate everything they had in their arsenal and move their forces to the 20th Ward. After some time he spent training, he decided to go to the 24th Ward, which now looked like a proper city, more to be precise fortress city and went to find his new soon to be Holy Imperial Knight Tatara, who was currently training in the martial arts that Lucien gave him. When Tatara agreed to become one of the Holy Imperial Knights, Lucien gave him a whole bunch of martial arts and a good amount of blood essences to enhance his strength as much as possible. "Your Highness." Said Tatara as he bowed when he saw Lucien appearing in the secluded yard, which belonged to him. Lucien nodded and head and then waved his hand so he could relax. "I came to inform you about your target and mission. During the battle of the 20th Ward, you will kill Washuu Yoshitoki, as he will be the commander of the whole War of the 20th Ward, based on my information. Then after the deed is done, you will contact me and I will transport you to the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory so you could rest there. After the extermination of the Washuu Clan and Vasuki is done, will be leaving for the Blood Island, immediately." Tatara nodded in agreement and then continued training in his martial arts and Lucien returned tot he Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory as he only was here to say Tatara his orders by himself. When he arrived at the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory he went straight to the library to read some book about Akashic Multiverse he got when he became Executor of the Akashic Records. He especially read more and more about the occupation of Executor to gain some basic understanding of the occupation itself and their rights and duties. They were basically something like mercenaries that were doing the quest for Akashic Records and these quests were issued mainly by Administrators of Akashic Records. Administrators issued quest mainly for two reasons. Either they can''t do it themselves because of some reasons or restrictions. This was one of the reasons. The second one was that they were too lazy to do it themselves. For example, Lucien''s current quest, obtaining the Akashic-Grade Item God-Devil System was given to him, because the God-Devil Plane is sealed that no Administrator can enter. Lucien didn''t understand how it worked, but apparently, it was created by God-Devil to prevent other Administrators from entering the plane. 135 Let the fun begin Akashic Artefact is usually too dangerous, to be left around the multiverse. They were created by the usage of some Akashic Records, which gave those Artefact unprecedented power to abilities. One must know, there must be a balance in the universe, between all things and living. God-Devil System was created by the usage of several Akashic Records, and because it was in the God-Devil Plane, which was sealed, it can''t be extracted so easily and brought back to the Root. Always, when some Akashic Artefact appeared in the multiverse, it causes war through the whole multiverse and burned down countless worlds, and countless lives were lost. From what Lucien knew that only several individuals or organizations were in possession of Akashic Artefact and they could be counted as true rules of the Akashic Multiverse, of course, not counting the Administrators of the Akashic Records, as every one of them had at least one or two of those, but because they didn''t intervene much in politics of the Akashic Multiverse, they weren''t on the list. Lucien read many things about the Akashic Artefacts, that were known, and were in possession of certain individuals or certain organizations. One would think that most precious and powerful ones would be those as weapons, but it wasn''t the truth. Most precious were support types as God-Devil System, as they had a variety of functions because they could serve as a weapon when needed by more importantly were able to improve cultivation of owner to let him become a real powerhouse. God-Devil System was one of them, and the most famous one was YGGDRASIL, Akashic Artefact with abilities to harvest the Life Force of killed being and strengthening the owner. Most terrifying things was that it could be used to strengthen body and energy alike, currently, the host was none and artifact was apparently dormant. ============================================= Days went as fast as the wind and soon, there was the message sent, that CCG would start with the cleaning of the 20th Ward from every ghoul located in the Ward. The operation would start after two days from now, to which Lucien showed a delighted smile when he heard this news from Arima. He immediately started organizing everything on his end to prepare for the "Final Act" perfectly as he could, because this was the last thing he would ever do in the Low-Grade World and he wanted to do it perfectly. Also, he would receive huge merit in the Empire, as he managed to get rid of blood traitors which were his mission. Soon, when the final day arrived, whole 20th Ward was basically locked down, with every road blocked with military or police. Apparently, the Washuu Clan together with their subservient organization Commission of Counter Ghoul used much of its power, at least what remained, and were prepared to do this perfectly. The military was blocking every road, to prevent anybody from either entering the 20th Ward or escaping the Ward. Major location in the 20th Ward was already swarming with cannon soldiers of the CCG and low-rankling ghoul investigators, clothed in the combat attires, which looked rather unpractical. High-ranking ghoul investigators were already with their own squads of cannon fodder soldiers of the CCG, prepared to engage the Aogiri Tree members who appeared out of nowhere and started slaughtering the soldiers and policemen, at the blockades. This caught the CCG by surprise, as they weren''t expecting huge retaliation. They were preparing to enter hideouts of small ghoul gangs to annihilate them and not to combat practically whole Aogiri Tree who was already on the stand by. Lucien stood on the top of the roof, together with his Holy Imperial Knight, Arseahr and Zelilios by his side. There was also one more person beside Arseahr and Zelilios, and that was soon-to-be Holy Imperial Knight Tatara. Behind the three of them, there were more than two hundred red-cloaked people wearing weird skulls masks. Members of the Aogiri Tree were already ready under Tatara''s command. Lucien didn''t know where Eto disappeared when she gave the command to Tatara, but Lucien didn''t care too much, as he knew that she was already loosing he sanity, she was still pretty strong for an ordinary ghoul. "It''s starting." Said Lucien calmly as he was clothed in his samurai-like battle attire and wearing the Hollow Mask. Truth to be told, he truly enjoyed wearing this armor, as it was practical and also, he loved his Hollow Mask as it looked intimidating and dominating. He made a mental note, that when he arrived at the God-Devil Plane he would need to find the very capable blacksmith to make him a better version of his Armor and Mask at least at the Royal-Grade. All three Holy Imperial Knights nodded hearing his words and waited for further instructions. More to be precise they only watched the confrontation between cannon fodders of the CCG and the Aogiri Tree as neither side sent a strong fighter to join the fight. This was only testing of waters. "Tatara bring your men there and leave non-alive. This is the last chance to slaughter as many as you can of the filthy doves and complete your mission of killing Washuu Yoshitoki. Zelilios you have your orders, go to the HQ of the CCG and help Arima in his mission. Same to you Arseahr, head to the HQ of Vasuki and complete your order." All three bowed slightly, soon Arseahr and Zelilios were already nowhere to find and they disappeared to complete their own missions. Tatara then led his small army of ghouls, to slaughter his way to the command center of the CCG, where his target Washuu Yoshitoki was located. Lucien was still observing the fight between his pawns and pawns of the Washuu. Soon, as he had enough of observing, he vanished from the roof where he was standing and went to complete his own mission, the extermination of the Washuu Clan and headed to the estate which belonged to the Washuu. "Let the fun begin." 136 Shen Tatara 20th Ward, War between CCG and the Aogiri Tree When Tatara lead his troops of the Aogiri Tree to join the fray, it had terrible consequences for the CCG as the ghouls that joined the battle were far stronger, commonly on the B-Rate by ratings of this world.They started slaughtering the cannon fodder soldiers of the CCG with speed of light, and dead bodies were only piling up here and there. Soon after the start of the attack, blood started flowing like a river and air had the heavy stench of death in it. Probably even would have for a very very long time. Most terrifying one was, of course, Tatara, who with his giant bikaku kagune was akin to slaughter machine to these paper-like soldiers of the CCG. Even high ranking members of the CCG didn''t last a long before him as he was now many times stronger thanks to Lucien''s care and blood essences of course. Soon enough, Special-Class Ghoul Investigators arrived on the scene. Currently only one arrived but even that was enough for now. It was man, a heavy-built man of middle age, with black hair and eyes. He wore his hair in a pompadour style and has a neat mustache. His name was Tanakamaru M¨­gan, Special-Class Ghoul Investigator with an SS-Rated Ukaku-type quinque named Higher Mind. His unique was in the form of twin cannons, shooting beams of concentrated energy or RC Cells. "Oh, boy." Murmured newly arrived investigator as he looked at the forces of the CCG in a terrible state, losing their foothold everywhere, being overwhelmed by the forces of the Aogiri Tree. Tatara didn''t say anything and just rushed at his target, which was him at full speed. Soon his bikaku kagune collided with investigator''s quinque and sparks were flying in the air.WEhen the clash ended, one could see cracks all over the SS-Rated Ukaku quinque and that the quinque was about to be broken with one clash. Tanakamaru M¨­gan started shooting at Tatara with his quinque, but Tatara dodged all shots were quickly and soon again slashed at Tanakamaru M¨­gan with his bikaku kagune to wich Tanakamaru M¨­gan defended with his quinque. Only this time, the defending was a failure and his quinque Higher Mind broke into several parts as Tatara''s bikaku tail managed to destroy it perfectly. "Seems like it''s my loss, boy..." That were the last words said by Tanakamaru M¨­gan, Special-Class Ghoul Investigator of the Commission of Counter Ghoul, before Tatara pierced his heart with his bikaku tail, killing the ghoul investigator on the spot. Then after dealing with Special-Class, he proceeded to kill remaining ghoul investigators on the scene, targeting especially senior members. After this part of the 20th Ward was perfectly cleaned of all ghoul investigators, the group reorganized and went for the main target, Washuu Yoshitoki and commanding center of the operation. ============================================= In the center of the 20th Ward, there was whole small fortress created out of the armored transporters and countless cannon fodder soldiers of the CCG were all around the place, on their outposts and guarding the command center. Amongst them were several high-ranking members of the CCG aka senior ghoul investigators, and even Associate Special-Class and Special-Class ghoul investigators were there stationed. In the middle of the fortress-like formation, was mobile command center armored transport vehicle, from which everything regarding the battle of 20th Ward was commanded. Washuu Yoshitoki was clothed in his commanding white suit sat inside the mobile command center armored transport vehicle and looked at several huge electronic screens, that played situation at the 20th Ward and that tragedy that was going on the 20th Ward. Then as he was watching the situation of the operation in the 20th Ward, something suddenly happened and numerous gunshots and screams were heard from him outside. Washuu Yoshitoki hurriedly switched the cameras to ones that were monitoring area of the command center and saw countless red-cloaked Aogiri Tree members attacking the command center with a white-cloaked ghoul, with white hair, bloody red eyes, and mask of the same color. Tatara was leading his soldiers to war. In a meanwhile, as Washuu Yoshitoki was observing the fight outside of the mobile command center armored transport vehicle there was ''fight'' going on. Tatara was like a sharp arrow tearing through the bodies of cannon fodder soldiers of CCG. His bikaku kagune tail was tearing bodies like a knife cutting through butter. Soon enough, Tatara encountered another Special-Class ghoul investigator, but the unlucky fellow was killed after one exchange with Tatara''s bikaku tail severing his head on the spot. After some time, when screams finally extinguished and most of the cannon fodder soldiers of the CCG and ghoul investigators were already killed, everything was over. Washuu Yoshitoki who was watching entire thing behind the screens knew that everything was already over. So he stood up from his commander chair and walked out of the mobile command center armored transport vehicle. He stood before Tatara, surrounded by several tens of red-cloaked Aogiri Tree members with Tatara standing before him. Tatara looked at Washuu Yoshitoki with an expressionless face and with eyes like a wolf looking at its prey. "So, this is the end of the road. Isn''t it Mr. Shen?" Asked Washuu Yoshitoki. He even called Tatara by his real name, Shen before he arrived in Japan and took the name Tatara. Shen Tatara as it would Lucien called him still had an uninterested expression upon his face and only looked at Yoshitoki waiting for dead man''s last words. To his words, Tatara only nodded his head lightly. "As we are talking now, probably your new master is already killing my family already. My son at headquarters should be also, already dead and Vasuki is currently being burned to the ground." One must admit that Washuu Yoshitoki was a really intelligent man, no wonder that Lucien always talked about him being different from this family and was probably only one really acceptable Washuu clansman. Tatara then came to the Washuu Yoshitoki and looked into his eyes and with one extremely fast slash of his bikaku tail, he pierced through his heart and created a giant hole on his chest. Then with several slashes, he practically destroyed his body and then he stored his body to the interspatial ring given him by Lucien. He was storing there all bodies of ghouls that were killed today. 137 End of the CCG Commission of Counter Ghoul Main Office, 1st Ward Everything seemed to be alright in the primary office of the CCG. Arima Kish¨­ was sitting inside of his office and looking through the window at the night city of Tokyo, especially he was looking at the direction of the 20th Ward. As he was observing the night city and as he was in the admiration of the night city, something happened down at the entrance to the Main Office of the CCG. Soon enough, the alarm was heard through the whole building at the sight that security was breached. Someone attacked the Main Office and Arima Kish¨­ knew that who it was. Afterward, he took out beautiful ancient looking katana that he got from Zelilios, katana made by the Shi Xue Clan, this weapon was far more powerful and dangerous than any quinque that he ever held in his hands. He gripped the katana and put it behind his white coat and exited his office, to see the panic that was everywhere. He went to the office of the another Special-Class Ghoul Investigator and only Special-Class present currently at the Main Office of the CCG. Every other Special-Class ghoul investigator was either participating at the battle of the 20th Ward or were in some very important place for the CCG. Rest of the Special-Classes were already dead. ============================================= At the entrance of the Primary Office of the Commission of Counter Ghoul Down at the main entrance, there could be only one word to say to describe the situation there. Pure destruction and death. Zelilios was holding his kagune spear with both of hands and with every slash, he took the life of the ghoul investigators stationed at headquarters. He was like some kind of reaper, only instead of a scythe, he had a spear. As soon as the last ghoul investigator and security guard were dead, with blood filling the floor and stench of blood was penetrating the air through the whole hall, Zelilios left the half and proceeded to the higher floors, aiming to kill. This act was just for that Lucien hated these so-called ghoul investigators so he ordered Zelilios to kill as many as possible too and also, to give them some surprise. He was going floor after, killing practically everyone who attacked him in one hit fast and swiftly. In the meantime, as Zelilios was purging the ghoul investigators in the lower floors, Arima Kish¨­ who was currently on the top floors of the building was heading to the office of the Special-Class Washuu Matsuri to finish his job. Soon enough he finally saw his target, he wore formal attire at work similar to that of other ghoul investigators. He had short black hair, a goatee, and wears a pair of glasses, though at his dinner and in his younger days he went without. He wore stoic face as usual and had nothing else on his face than indifference. "Special-Class Washuu." Said Arima Kish¨­ as he saw Washuu Matsuri walking towards him with his usual cold stoic face. Washuu Matsuri only nodded his head before talking back. "Special-Class Arima, what is happening now? Who is attacking?" Asked Washuu Matsuri when came to the Arima Kish¨­. "We don''t know, investigator Washuu, only that enemy is probably strong enough to attack Primary Office of the CCG alone." Answered Arima Kish¨­ as he looked at the Washuu Matsuri. Then both of them went to the elevator when Washuu Matsuri turned around to went to the elevator, Arima Kish¨­ gripped his katana that was hidden behind his back in his coat. With one swift and fast slash, he aimed at the head of Washuu Matsuri, severing it in the process. When his body fell down, Arima Kish¨­ didn''t stop and pierced through his heart several times and then left the place. At first he went to the offices of the several ghoul investigators that were also, members of the CCG that were tied to the Vasuki, but before he could leave the place, several other ghoul investigatorsappeared at the end of the corridor and rushed at Arima Kish¨­ with their quinque, screaming that he was traitor. There were only three of them and they weren''t very skilled fighter apparently, as Arima managed to kill them within thirty seconds after that. Then he quickly went to find those people that were tied to the Vasuki or the Washuu clan more tightly. ============================================= Soon enough, it took only several minutes to finish the whole thing and members of the Vasuki and the Washuu Clan are already dead. Then Zelilios met with Arima Kish¨­ and told him to leave the Min Office because soon there would be a huge boom. As Arima Kish¨­ was finishing his job and Zelilios his one, Zelilios finished it much faster thanks to his cultivation base. Then he went to the basement of the Main Office of the CCG and put the Magitech Explosives everywhere he could so he would utterly destroy the building. This was something as a bonus because Lucien wanted to completely destroy everything that the Washuu Clan built. This building was standing symbol of the power of the Washuu Clan and when it would be destroyed it would signal that the power of the Washuu already had been banished to the deepest parts of the oblivion. When both Zelilios and Arima Kish¨­ left the building and went to the roof, and stood there admiring the Main Office of the CCG. Then Zelilios took out the small steam-punk looking device, which was actually Magitek Detonator to the explosives placed to the Main Office of the CCG. "Let it end." Said Zelilios as he pushed the detonator and detonated the explosives. A moment later, huge explosions started in the Main Office of the CCG and flames were embracing whole building from the bottom to the top. Soon, the whole building would collapse, as the walls already started cracking under the strong explosives and flames that were destroying the ruins of the former Main Office. And as could be told, soon enough whole building collapsed and everything was left to the dust. 138 Small annoucemen Hi, my readers, I have a few things to say... don''t worry anything bad. 1. So the first thing to say, the Volume I is already nearing the long-awaited end. The last chapter of the Volume I would be released at the 7.8. 2019. Only eight chapters remaining till the end of Volume I. - - 2. Volume II release date - September Release date of Volume II of the Holy Akashic Conqueror is scheduled for the first week of month September... Reasons are many, but mainly that I am working to create a good storyline for the Volume II, creating Energy Cultivation System for the novel and also must re-read at least parts of the God-Devil World. Work behind each volume is a lot and especially when you want to look it well and had at least a bit of logic in it. - - 3. Energy Cultivation System in progress. As some of you have already noticed, in the Auxillary volume is the new chapter titled Cultivation Codex with names of cultivation ranks and so on... Today I have started properly working on the Energy Cultivation System which is more complicated compared to the Body Refining one... Also, again some changes in the naming of energy cultivation ranks... Low Class changed to Houtian / Energy Condensation Mid-Class changed to Xiantian High-Class changed to Jindan Ultimate-Class changed to Yuanying ( Nascent Soul ) Lord-Class changed to Huashen Heavenly-Class changed to Bianshen more coming soon... For strong Xianxia fans, this may be a spoiler... :D love you too... I must admit that creating this thing is giving me headaches as compared to the Body Refining it is countless time harder to create as the body refining is just on the principle of refining body by the usage of RC Cells... Now I am working on the energy system which is rather harder and I want it to be perfect to it would take some time... - - 4. Element for MC So, I need a bit of help with one element for the MC. I have decided that he would have three elements, cause giving him more would be for me contra-productive as that would complicate everything and slow progress of cultivating as he would need to cultivate more to rise all energies. The cultivation system is a bit similar to Versatile Mage where you cultivate every element separately... That means your main Energy could be at Huashen Realm and you secondary for example at Jindan Realm. I have decided on two Energy Types he would have... not saying them... it''s surprising but I can''t decide on the third one... So give me suggestions, thx - - 5. Tell me some things/worlds or anything you would like to see in the future when journeying through the worlds... or some ideas for improvement... Thx your, Trafford 139 End of Vasuki 1st Ward, some distance from the Commission''s of Counter Ghoul Main Office In front of the abandoned building, which looked like some kind of warehouse, the man stood gripping kagune sword in his hands and was clothed in white noble-looking attire and with dangerous-looking eyes, with black sclera and red iris. Holy Imperial Knight N0.1 Arseahr stood before the desolate warehouse, which looked like it was abandoned for more than decades. After he carefully examined the surroundings, Arseahr entered the building and proceeded to the secret entrance which led to the underground complex which was the real headquarters of the Vasuki organization. When he was standing before the entrance to the Underground headquarters of the Vasuki organization, suddenly two enemies appeared, wearing a black long leather coat with a black hat. They were holding katanas in their hands and wearing black gloves. Agents of Vasuki appeared finally at last. Arseahr only faintly smiled and with two precise slashed aimed at vitals of these two enemies, blood splashed high in the air and painted surrounding walls to the red. Heads of two agents were severed in a split of a second and their bodies lifelessly fell down. After that, he slashed with his sword at the heavy door, probably made form some durable metal and tore them down. When the door was already destroyed, Arseahr entered the spiral staircase and went down to the deep. It took him several minutes to arrive down of the staircase he arrived before huge doors, in V-like shape and Arseahr must admit that the doors were looking every luxurious and beautiful, because of this he took special pleasure in destroying them. When he entered the room, he was greeted by the darkness of the room, only lighted by the faint red light. On the room, there was something like a V-like pattern through the whole room in red color. Rest of the floor was black, creating a very intimidating appearance and more importantly atmosphere. At the sides, were pillars, some of them were small, some of them were high. At the end of the room, there were huge double doors, created from silver with various ornaments at them, apparently made by some very gentle and noble technique. As Arseahr wasn''t very much of artist, so he couldn''t tell more about that. What he could tell, was that besides the man standing before the doors, there were also, tens of other hidden in the dark, behind those pillars. Arseahr went to the man, that was standing before the huge silver doors. When he was before the man, he managed to identify him as Kaiko, who was apparently the leader of the Vasuki. He was bald and his eyes seemingly lacked irises. His lips were black in color and he wore a black hat at all times, like the other members of V. He wore a formal suit underneath a black duster coat and concealed his hands with dark gloves. As Arseahr was looking at him, he thought that this man was probably crazy. Even though he was only puppet leader, as the real leader was surely someone of the Washuu clan, not someone from the branch family or whatever. "You have finally made a move?" Asked Kaiko in a low voice as he looked at Arseahr with a curious eye to which Arseahr smiled faintly and nodded his head in agreement. "Your time is already up, you know. If not for our complicated situation on the Blood Island, you would have been exterminated much sooner, because compared to other things, Washuu Clan is like an insect, not so important, but still, you will need to kill them at some point because they are noisy." Said Arseahr with small laughter as he looked at Kaiko, to which he frowned but didn''t say anything back. "Sooo, what is behind that door? What is so important that is must be hidden so well and guarded by whole Vasuki?" Asked Arseahr curiously as he carefully observed Kaiko, whose expression wasn''t changing a slightest. So they stood there and after around one minute of total silence, Arseahr gripped his sword tightly and hit the ground and then held it with two hands, before him and leaned over the sword. "Not very talkative one, I see. So what about we start already." Said Arseahr as he looked at Kaiko and smiled. Then he rushed at him and slashed at Kaiko with his sword, to which Kaiko barely managed to draw out his katana and defend against the attack. Sadly for Kaiko, the force behind Arseahr''s attack was too great for ordinary ghoul handle, and his arm which was holding the katana, broke immediately upon the impact. Second, after that, Arseahr made another slash with his sword, aimed at the head of Kaiko, severing it into two parts. Dead on the spot. When the fight between Arseahr and Kaiko was finished, rest of the Vasuki agents hidden in the dark, already rushed at Arseahr with great speed. Arseahr rushed at him too and started fighting with more than two hundred Vasuki agents, Arseahr looked at them only seeing them as nothing more than targets. Soon enough, after ten minutes the fight was finished because extremely huger disparity as Arseahr was already Viscount-Rank so this was nothing more than pure slaughter. The result was that blood was already creating a small pond in the room. Then he went to the huge silver door and started examining the doors, but strangely he couldn''t open the door. After several minutes he spent in examining the doors, he decided to went back as there was nothing left. Even though he must return together with Lucien, as he could probably know the way of opening the doors or something. He also took all bodies of the Vasuki agents with him and stored them in the interspatial ring. Most of the members of the Vasuki were either ghouls or half-ghouls, also, there were many kinds of hybrids. All those bodies were rich in RC Cells, they would be good as a source of blood essences. 140 End of the Washuu Washuu Clan Estate, outskirts of Tokyo Estate of the Washuu Clan was in typical Japanese-like architecture and it looked pretty old. Lucien observed the Estate of the Washuu Clan from the roof of a nearby building. He searched for the guards and weak points of the estate. Currently there were countless guards from the Washuu Clan or the Vasuki organization, apparently, security was pretty tough here. Nothing could be left tot he accident. As Lucien observed the estate, he then waved his hand and took out something out of his Cross Crest. He took out around twenty Magitek Infantry Soldiers of Assassin-Class, all of them Intermediate-Phase Baron-Rank. As he was also the holder of the Magitek Control Code, which allowed him to fully control all Magitek Infantry Soldiers or other troops to a maximal extent. He ordered his soldiers to surround the estate of the Washuu Clan and attack it when he gave orders. Lucien took them when he was on the Blood Island and as he was Crown Prince of the Holy Niflheim Empire he could take a lot of them with him. Also, he was one of a few people of the Holy Niflheim Empire who possessed the Magitek Control Code. As Lucien watched as Magitek Infantry Soldiers of the Assassin-Class disappeared in the darkness, he admired the beauty of the Magitek Technology. Assassin-Class Magitek Infantry Soldier was armed with two blades crafted from most durable metal found on the Blood Island and then enhanced furthermore with Magitek Energy Crystal. Soon, all Assassin-Class Magitek Infantry Soldiers appeared in the places where Lucien ordered them and the moment he gave an order, they immediately attacked. The attack itself was as brutal as was fast. They swiftly rushed at guards guarding the doors and with their blades their severed their heads only in a split of a second. This wasn''t even fighting, just a pure slaughter as Assassin-Class Magitek Infantry Soldiers started slaughtering every person they found in the huge estate of the Washuu Clan. When they already cleared outer areal of the estate of the Washuu Clan, Lucien entered the estate and walked through ruins of the estate of the Washuu Clan. The outer layer of the estate was already in the ruins and there was nothing left alive. Sometimes, he was attacked with half-dead members of the Washuu Clan who barely were able to walk, but they were quickly killed by Lucien''s katana as their head was severed from their bodies. Soon enough, the main building of the estate was completely surrounded by the Assassin-Class Magitek Infantry Soldier of Intermediate-Phase Baron-Rank. Lucien ordered them to stand by and guard to the main building to forbid anybody to leave the main building. He wanted to do this alone as this was a bit personal, nothing that he would want to leave for Assassin-Class Magitek Infantry Soldiers to deal with. Especially he wanted to personally kill Washuu Tsuneyoshi, as he was the patriarch of the Washuu Clan. Lucien stood before the main building of the Washuu Clan, before taking a breath and entering the building. Washuu Tsuneyoshi was an old man with long white hair and a long beard was sitting. He had a face full of wrinkles and had a sharp gaze on his face. It was chairman of CCG and Head of Washuu Clan, Washuu Tsuneyoshi also nicknamed as Oni Tsune. He was clothed in traditional dark green kimono with two patterns of each side. That patters were the symbol of Washuu Clan. "I greet the Patriarch of the Washuu." Siad Lucien as he gave Washuu Tsuneyoshi as greeting polite bow as proper noble. "An I greet the Scion of Etras di Aeon." Answered the Washuu Tsuneyoshi to Lucien, and then both of them just stood there and watched each other. Behind Washuu Tsuneyoshi stood several members of the Washuu Clan, probably already last one alive, as they weren''t killed by the Assassin-Class Magitek Infantry Soldiers or by Lucien himself. "It is sad to see the clan with such long history as the Washuu Clan to become nothing more than dust in the endless river of time." Said Lucien as he observed the never-changing expression of the patriarch of the Washuu. Still, nothing changed and Washuu Tsuneyoshi just looked at Lucien and said nothing to his sarcastic remark. "Times are changing, some things end and some starts. Perhaps our time has also already come to an end. We had only one small luck, because your family didn''t care about us because of some reasons, and today the Reaper finally came for our heads. Now, as we are talking here, CCG should be already destroyed and Vasuki probably too." Admitted Washuu Tsuneyoshi as he looked at Lucien and Lucien was hearing these words with delight. As these words were very attractive and nice to hear. "So, what now? Are we going to fight or will you kill yourself?" Asked Lucien with faint laughter to which Washuu Tsuneyoshi twitched and he deeply frowned at his remark. Afterward, Washuu Tsuneyoshi gripped his katana and go into a battle stance. Lucien did the same thing as he brought up his kagune katana and took a battle stance, prepared to fight with Washuu Tsuneyoshi. "Even though I must die today, I want to die in a fight." Said Washuu Tsuneyoshi and rushed at Lucien with his full speed and Lucien did the same thing. With one simple exchange, everything was done, when Lucien''s katana pierced through the heart of the Washuu Tsuneoyshi. "Cough-cough, go-od f-ig-ht." Said Washuu Tsuneyoshi, coughing blood and barely able to talk. Then, Lucien slashed with his katana once more, aiming at his head and severed his head. Then he looked at the rest of members of the Washuu Clan and Lucien killed them one by one, slowly and painfully. When everything was done, bodies were cold dead and blood was flowing through the hall, Lucien stored all bodies into his Cross Crest and decided it was time to search through the main building of the Washuu Clan estate to search for the treasury. 141 Hiten Mitsurugi-ryÅ« found and RC Liquid as bonus When Lucien finished slaughter of the Washuu Clan, he was a bit surprised at one thing that happened today. It was especially that the patriarch of the Washu Clan, Washuu Tsuneyoshi died willingly. Even though it was surprising that Washuu Tsuneyoshi died practically willingly, but it was a rather logical decision, as all that the Washuu Clan had built was destroyed. Commission of Counter Ghoul was completely destroyed by his schemes and last attacks done by Tatara and Zelilios with Arima. Vasuki was slaughtered to the last by Arseahr. Nothing was left, and Washuu Tsuneyoshi was an intelligent man who knew that Lucien would attack the estate of the Washuu Clan only when everything was already done. Lucien also gave one order for Zelilios and Arima after they are done with the HQ of the Commission of Counter Ghoul, and that order was to find a group of ghouls calling themselves Clowns as Lucien knew that at least one member was of the Washuu blood, so all of them are to be exterminated completely. As Lucien searched through the ruins of the estate searching for the treasury which belonged to the Washuu Clan and after twenty minutes of searching, he finally found the hidden entrance leading to the underground place, which was probably the treasury of the clan. Fortunately, it was really the treasury when Lucien entered and he stood before the ancient-looking door, which he "opened" with the usage of his katana as he tore them down. When he entered the room, it was a small room in which content mainly consisted of various scrolls and books. There were also, some gold bars and the various mischievous thing which were in little interest for Lucien, but he still took them as they could be of some use. He took a special interest in taking all those old books into the Cross Crest as many of them were from the Shi Xue Clan that the Washuu Clan stole after slaughtering their whole clan. After he completely and nicely cleaned out whole outer treasury, he proceeded to the inner part of the treasury, which was actually only one small room. In the middle of the room, there was one book, with very special title Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨±, which was something that Lucien coveted too much and wanted as nothing more compared to the past. He immediately took the Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨± Technique to the Cross Crest and then searched through the rest of the room. Additionally, there was something that caught his interest, and very much at that. Small furnace looking things covered deeply in the dust, they were something very important to the Holy Niflheim Empire and whole Sacred Devourer Ghouls. Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace, there were even ten of them, all of them were covered in a thick layer of dust, probably the Washuu Clan knew that they were precious but couldn''t use them, either they didn''t know how or just couldn''t. He collected all of Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnaces to his Cross Crest, as they would greatly benefit the Holy Niflheim Empire as they lacked Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnaces. They only had around fifteen of them, but they had too many corpses to refine. Not talking about the future, when every Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace would be an utterly precious treasure when corpses would be everywhere, prepared for the refinement. Then when the whole treasury was nicely cleaned, he placed some Magitek Explosives there and would blow it up in the air. Similarly were many Magitek Explosives placed around the whole estate of the Washuu Clan and soon it would be blown up into the air. ============================================= As Lucien left, he stood on the roof, from which he commenced the attack on the estate of the Washuu Clan and watched how it was burning in the crimson flames. Then he took Magitek Detonator and detonated all explosives which he placed there together with Assassin-Class Magitek Infantry Soldiers. Similarly to the CCG HQ, soon huge explosions soon took over the whole estate of the Washuu Clan, destroying everything that was in the place. After that Lucien went to the HQ of Vasuki as he got a message from Holy Imperial Knight Arseahr that he found something very useful when he couldn''t hold in his curiosity and opened the door deep down inside the headquarters of the Vasuki organization. Thus he went to the HQ of the Vasuki organization with great haste. After Lucien arrived there, Arseahr was already there waiting for him at the front door with a wide smile on his face. "Everything is done, Vasuki is completely exterminated as you ordered, they also left us a wonderful gift." Said Arseahr the moment when Lucien arrived and together they went to the main hall of the Vasuki''s HQ. Lucien stood before the huge silver door, which Arseahr already closed as this was meant to be a surprise. Huge one a that.- When Lucien opened those doors, he was very pleasantly surprised by what he saw inside. It was RC Liquid which was gained from RC Cells of Ghouls, Half-Ghouls and other hybrids. Practically RC Liquid was a far more primitive version of the blood essences which were refined with Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace. What was surprising there were thousands upon thousands of tonnes of the RC Liquids, in this underground space which was that huge, that Lucien hardly could see its end. Lucien looked at all of this with huge delight and realized that this would require the whole team from Empire to come here and transport it to the Blood Island so it could be immediately refined into blood essence, as it would be practically impossible to take all this RC Liquid in such huge amount with them in original state to the God-Devil Plane. "This amount of RC Liquid should be their work for whole centuries, from bodies of ghouls from all around the world. Not only ghouls but hybrids, half-ghouls and maybe even some humans with a higher concentration of RC Cells." 142 Finished Even though Lucien didn''t know what the Washuu Clan were scheming, and he would probably don''t find out as he slaughtered the whole clan, this amount of RC Liquid was probably one of the crucial resources. They were harvesting this for centuries, from all around the world and now it fell into Lucien''s hands. He immediately let out all twenty Magitek Infantry Soldiers of Assassin-Class and ordered them to secure the building and guard it. He swore, that when he obtained the God-Devil System after the Creation Records was taken from it, and it would become one of the most powerful A.I. in the Akashic Multiverse, he could let the God-Devil System fuse with Magitek Infantry Soldier and every soldier would then gain basic artificial intelligence, connected to the main one, creating extremely dangerous army. Most advanced, powerful and sentient A.I. in the Akashic Multiverse and generally in every multiverse, they could cultivate as a living being, it was a rather mysterious process that Lucien didn''t understand how it worked. Information about how the A.I. could cultivate was something that only a very few people knew. "Arseahr stay here and guard these things. I am going to the Blood Island and call for more people with interspatial rings to transport these RC Liquids because this amount is too huge for me to transport and truth to tell I am pretty lazy to do that annoying work." Ordered Lucien and afterward, he vanished from the HQ of the Vasuki and went directly to the Blood Island. It was easier for someone to do the dirty work for him, especially when he considered the fact he was a Crown Prince of the Holy Niflheim Empire. ============================================= Lucien appeared on the Blood Island after seconds as the traveling through teleportation method of Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory was very fast and useful. As he was in his mansion on the Blood Island he went to his father to inform him about the current state of things, about Washuu Clan, Vasuki, and Commission of Counter Ghoul. Most importantly he went to tell him how much loot he gained. After several minutes of walking, he finally found his father, in the courtyard of the mansion as he was sitting on the chair and drinking blood wine. "Father, mission Final Act is finished." Said Lucien as he arrived at the courtyard of the estate. His father was very delighted hearing that the mission was a success. Then Lucien reported everything about the current state of things, and of course progress how the mission was completed. "Also, in the HQ of Vasuki organization, there were several thousands tonnes of the RC Liquid so I will take some people with interspatial rings to clean that place completely. In the treasury of the Washuu Clan, I have found several Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnaces and also, something for me, Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨± Technique." Said Lucien to his father, who then showed satisfied smile hearing all these good news. RC Liquid in such a huge amount would help an entire Holy Niflheim Empire as it was very precious recourse which could be refined into countless blood essences, which were of the RC-Type. This meant they would very quickly rise the RC Level of consumer and together with Non-RC-Type blood essence they are practically best cultivation pills for Sacred Devourer Ghouls. After, Lucien talked with his father about various mischievous things, mainly regarding the Washuu Clan and more importantly, future Holy Imperial Knights, N0.4 and N0.5, Arima Kish¨­ and Shen Tatara and about Sacred Devourification Process for the two of them and for his future wife, Itori. Also, he consulted the thing about the wedding between him and Itori with Seira, which was decided to be in the God-Devil Plane as it would be more convenient. And also, Itori needed to be Sacred Devourer Ghoul for the wedding to be valid. ============================================= Lucien then left the Blood Island and went to the HQ of Vasuki with several people who would transport those huge amounts of RC Liquid to the Blood Island by opening small Space-Time Vortex connected to the Blood Island from HQ of Vasuki. As soon as they arrived, they started cleaning the whole headquarters of the Vasuki taking all that RC Liquid straight to the Blood Island. It would be immediately refined by the usage of the Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnaces making many blood essences. Lucien observed the whole thing for some time and after he was getting bored, he went out and left Arseahr in charge and guarding the Space-Time Vortex leading to the Blood Island. He went straight to the meeting place, somewhere in the 20th Ward where he would meet Shen Tatara to take him with him to the Blood Island. He also needed to pick up Arima Kish¨­ and Zelilios as they were on the hunt for ghoul organization known as Clowns. When he arrived at the meeting place in the 20th Ward, it was already the day after so-called destruction of the CCG, Washuu Clan and Vasuki. All media were already informed about this event. As he went by some store, he looked at the news, which was talking about an event which happened last night. All the people were deeply shocked about what happened last night. It was like thunder from the clear sky, that nobody expected or even could expect. During one night, Washuu Clan, which acted as "Shield of Humanity" for several centuries in whole Japan, and protected humans from ghouls, were slaughtered to the last infant. Same could be said about the Commission of Counter Ghoul, which was one of the world''s most famous and powerful ghoul hunting organization in the world. It was ranked in the top ladder among organizations of similar type. Destruction of the CCG, creating huge waves in society and the government. Now, many people were in fear and uncertainty who would be defending against ghouls and hunting them. About Vasuki, nobody knows about them as they were practically secret organization and were unknown to the world. Even when someone found about them, their HQ was tightly guarded by Holy Imperial Knight N0.1 Arseahr together with several Magitek Infantry Soldiers of Assassin-Class who would kill everyone ion the sight. 148 Tower of God "Then as the next topic, we should address the next important issue. Tower of God and Outside God." When Zelretch said this, everyone fell silent on this sentence as everyone knew what those words signified to them. Tower of God of the Outside God was something that was carved by every powerhouse among the endless void. "When it will open?" Asked Xenos cautiously when he heard the name of the Tower. It was an ancient artifact created by Outside God and it was above the Void-Grade. After some time, the Void-Grade Artifact expanded to a terrifying level and became a separate dimension at the level of a Divine Realm. There were countless cultivators among the endless void who longed to enter the Tower and climb it to obtain the legacy of the Outside God. "We don''t know, but the real problem is that someone apparently entered several thousand years ago. That means that the Tower could be entered without the opening. Problem is that, from the last time, the new Axis appeared in the Tower, the fifth one already." Strength of Axis was the same as the Pinnacle-Phase Akashic God in this multiverse. They were something like guardians or protectors of the Tower and were direct subordinates of the Outside God. Then there was also a messenger who had the same strength and in all floors were administrators with the weakest being at Zhusheng Realm / Sovereign-Rank. One could say that the Tower of God was full of dangers and death, but as is was dangerous, it also had great benefits. "Hmm, this is rather good news, it means that someone can enter the Tower by their will if they are able to open the door. Does anybody know who entered the Tower?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Asked Leylin out of curiosity who could be that lucky to enter the Tower of God. It was known, that if someone climbed to the top and succeeded, he would obtain the legacy of the Outside God, which was, for example, the Tower of God itself or Axis who were servants of the Outside God. "No. They were some adventurers from some sealed realm. We need time to find more information as this didn''t happen in a place that is close to us, as you know that the Tower of God is very far away from the Akashic Multiverse. The situation now is rather interesting to watch. Apparently, after they entered the Tower of God, it alerted countless God-Ranked Cultivators and even some Autarch-Levels in surrounding and they all rushed to the Tower in hope of entering. Sadly for them, they came late and they tried to enter the Tower by force but were rejected, though it didn''t stop them. Then, five Axis appeared with Messenger of Outside God." Among them, it was Xenos who was shocked to hear that the Messenger and Axis appeared as he once met the Messenger of Outside God. Enryu was his name. Man with red hair and red eyes, looking extremely handsome and noble. Even though he was only God-Ranked compared to the Autarch as Xenos, it was Xenos who ended being suppressed to the point the battle ended in the draw. Though Enryu wasn''t Axis, in some regards he was even more terrifying than them, though he was a bit weaker than them as he didn''t have a Domain. Still, his Red Shinsoo was something that even someone strong as Xenos didn''t want to fight again. "Tens of God-Ranked cultivators, even many of Pinnacle-Phase ones, were slaughtered like ants before Axis Domains and Red Shinsoo of Messenger. Even several Autarchs fell. Even their corpses and treasures weren''t left behind as they were taken to the Tower." Said Zelretch after some silence. Cultivation Rank could be divided into groups by the transformation the cultivator undergone when reaching the rank. God-Ranks, were on the top-level when one would gain extreme power and could be considered as the ruler of the multiverse. Then there were Autarchs, they were cultivators who were lucky to comprehend Void Endless Law and breaking through the God-Rank and reaching the Autarch Level. The fact that even Autarchs were killed like ants was terrifying enough to scare several countless cultivators to think before trying to force their way into the Tower. No wonder those who reached a level above Autarch didn''t come and just watched from shadows. "Fighting the Shinsoo Cultivator in the Domain of Tower of God is suicide. The Tower of God itself is an endless generator of Shinsoo and could generate an infinite amount of it. When someone strong as Enryu or five Axis use it to full power than even killing Autarch in the Tower isn''t any problem. Not to mention the fact, that Autarchs who were there were only weaker ones so it wasn''t that surprising they were killed." Tower of God was filled with Shinsoo that the tower creates. It is a substance that flows through the Tower. Each Floor has areas of varying amounts of Shinsoo density, increasing with each Floor. In lower concentrations, its density makes the substance act like a gas, but in higher concentrations, it behaves like a liquid. It can take properties of elements like fire, water, lighting or darkness. It also has many variations and mutations. One could say, that the Shinsoo is one of the most dangerous energies or substances in the Endless Void. By some claims, the Shinsoo was superior to energies like Qi, Mana or Divine Power as the Shinsoo could take countless forms and mutate in an infinite amount of variations, attaining unimaginable versatility and combat potential. Through it, is possible to attain eternal youth, immortality, control elements or imitate properties of other types of energy to a certain extent. It is said, that the one who manages to obtain Tower of God and fuse with it, he would obtain an infinite amount of Shinsoo, creating one of the most dangerous existences in the Endless Void. The main reason why countless cultivators wanted to obtain the Tower of God was precisely because of that. Almost infinite source of Shinsoo, and also, extremely huge dimensional space, which could be used to train armies. Though there was a problem. Shinsoo existed only in the Tower of God and when one who wasn''t directly connected to the Tower, left it... It was speculated he would lose all the Shinsoo. But it could be still used as a foundation to cultivate body refining techniques as the Shinsoo was perfect for tempering body. 149 Common, Heavenly, Primordial There were many types of energy across the endless void, an infinite number of multiverses. Some types are already forgotten due to the passage of time or due to the destruction of multiverse they were "born." One could also say that it was something akin to an endless circle. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Energies could be divided into several groups based on their rarity, strength, potency and other things. The first category is so-called common ones, which were Mana, Qi, Divine Power or Psionic Power. Even though they are common ones, that didn''t mean that they are weak. Anything if cultivated properly and diligently could reach great heights. It was just like that in their most basic form they weren''t that strong compared to other groups and needed to be cultivated diligently. Energies like Mana and Qi could be found in most planes and worlds, it was the most common energy that appeared through Endless Void. Even though it was the most common one, it had probably the greatest versatility and usage. Also, it had great potential and power if cultivated properly. Divine Power on the other side, belonged to the various Celestial Races or so-called God-Races. In regard to God-Race, they weren''t God-Ranked Cultivators, but were descendants of one with pure bloodline and were 100% race of God-Ranked Cultivator. Thus inheriting some of the abilities. Of course, then there were God-Races which cultivated something called Faith Power, which was generated by believers who prayed to the god. Psionic Powers came from the mind and came hand to hand with the evolution of the brain. The second group were very rare, called Heavenly Energies. They were mostly various variants and mutations of Mana and Qi, like Demon Qi, Fire Qi or mutations of mana. To this category belonged also, Elemental Powers like Fire Energy, Water Energy or Lightning Energy. Mana and Qi could mutate to various forms and variations if they are combined with something else, like some element or are under influence of some negative feelings, that was how the Devil Qi was created at first. Their versatility was one of the greatest advantages which these energies could give to a cultivator. Finally, the third group was the most unique. Also nicknamed as Primordial Energies or Superior Ones. In this category were Destruction Energy, Void Energy or Shinsoo that was filling the Tower of God. These energies were even in their most basic form, extremely terrifying, not talking if someone managed to cultivate them to the great heights. Aside from their rarity and strength in basic form, they had several great disadvantages. For example, because something like Destruction Energy was extremely terrifying even in the most basic state, it was very very hard to learn how to use it properly and not losing control. Also, to increase the capacity if one is cultivating one of these energies is an awfully annoying and tiresome task. The most common method to increase energy capacity is to find energy crystal belonging to the same type and just absorb those energies inside the crystal into Dantian. When talking about energies, there was of course Life Force, which was also, one of the most unique ones. It was pretty common, perhaps the most common one as everything which is living has Life Force. It was just extremely hard to manipulate and use it in some way. There were, of course, some cultivators who were adepts in manipulating the Life Force, but they were too few of them, but those who were, they were Sages, often said unequaled under heavens and were extremely terrifying existences. "For the time being, we should leave the issue with Tower of God be and rather focus on domestic affairs. Those people who entered the Tower are already inside and there is nothing we could do about it. Truth to be told I think that their chances to obtain legacy of the Outside God is too low so they would probably remain in the Tower of God forever if they didn''t manage to succeed." Said Zelretch after a short time of silence and everyone took his words seriously. It was the truth that there was nothing they could do about the Tower of God. It was already closed and tens of God-Ranked powerhouses who attempted to enter the Tower were slaughtered like ants by five Axis and Messenger of the Outside God. "Then what about the proposition from the Zerg Swarm?" Asked Leylin with curious voice. Zerg Swarm was is a terrifying and ruthless amalgamation of biologically advanced, arthropodal aliens. Dedicated to the pursuit of genetic perfection, the zerg relentlessly hunt down and assimilate advanced species across the Void, incorporating useful genetic code into their own. In the beginning, they were countless time smaller and weaker than now. They were born in some unknown galaxy where they waged war with two other races. Humans, who entered the space era and Protoss, extremely psionically and technologically race. Then the new Overmind was born, by some claims of certain Autarchs, he wasn''t person native to the Zerg Race but rather someone reborn as Zerg, probably he was Soul Cultivator who achieved God-Rank or higher. Then the Zergs started expanding rapidly. Soon enough they devoured both protoss and humans and their home galaxy. All Zergs then were able to use basic psionic powers and were constantly evolving. After conquering their native galaxy they left and searched for other materials to achieve perfect evolution. Under the leadership of their new Overmind, Zeroth, they even found species who created original Zerg. Xel''naga. After the great war, with Xel''naga, Zerg Swarm managed to win, even though it was very close. Then the expansion of the Zerg Swarm was practically unstoppable. They conquered countless universes and destroyed many species. Then they achieved the first step, which was the creation of perfect humanoid Zerg. Currently across the multiverse was known, if someone saw humanoid Zerg he should run. Then they found similar insectoid species, named Tyranids. After Zerg Swarm defeated and devoured Tyranids, their might grew exponentially again. Though defeating them wasn''t hard, but just by devouring very very similar species they obtained great benefits and soon conquered the whole Multiverse. The multiverse was named as the Heart of the Swarm. 150 Heart of the Swarm "The Overmind Zeroth proposed alliance and is even ready to sign Void Soul Geass if we gave him the coordinates of the Arachnid Race. They are already aware that we know the location of the multiverse which belongs to the Arachnid Race." Said Zelretch to them. Truth to be told, it wasn''t a bad proposition. Zerg Swarm was one of the most powerful races or what it was really, was one of the most powerful species through the endless void. Though they lacked Autarch-Level powerhouses little, as they had only three or so of them, they had numbers of God-Ranked cultivators and lower ones. "Hmm... we should accept. Arachnids have neutral relationships with us and they have been hiding for several Chaos Cycles, and even though Zelretch found their home multiverse was just by luck and he was attacked the moment he entered." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Said Leylin after some thought. The Zerg Swarm was constantly in pursuit of genetic perfection and on the thing that could help them most was devouring other similar insectoid species. Like Tyranids, who the Zerg Swarm devoured after they let them conquerer and assimilate their home universe, to become stronger. They already devoured many insectoid species and evolved to the terrifying heights, especially minions. In the past minions of the Zerg Swarm were weaker as Baron-Rank, but now they easily reached Marquisse-Rank in regard to body refining. What was more terrifying was fact, that every member of the Zerg Swarm had Psionic Energy and was practically Dual Cultivator. Of course, cannon fodders lacked intelligence and didn''t know how to cultivate, but still they energy reserves were around Jindan as they were born with it. "We need allies and Zeroth is rather a trustworthy individual from what I can say, based on my personal experience. As long as we don''t disrespect him, his wives and the Swarm he is a good ally. So I am also for the alliance with the Zerg Swarm." Said Xenos after short thought. "Then it is decided. We will create an alliance with Zeroth by giving him the location of Arachnids and thus we could obtain a very strong ally. We need their numbers and they need our powerhouses." Answered Zelretch. Zerg Swarm needed powerhouses as they lacked Autarch-Level individuals, as the Autarch Realm could be reached only by humanoid Zerg, but that was a first basic requirement. The number of the humanoid Zerg was too low, and from that extremely low number, even fewer would reach Autarch Realm or higher. So far, they had only three or two of them, but they had something that was their biggest advantage. Numbers. The lowest evolution stage of humanoid Zerg was Overlords, Overseers, and Hiveseers, each of them could command millions of Zerg troops and were also, brilliant strategists. Even though the numbers were very low, they still numbered in tens of thousands. Above them were Patriarchs and Matriarchs, which could command. They were perfect humanoid evolution stage of Zerg Race. Each of them held terrifying psionic powers and commanded billions of Zerg troops. Supreme commanders of the Zerg brood were of course Hierarchs. They were mostly direct descendants of the Overmind Zeroth and his wives or first Zergs that Overmind created and evolved, all of them were God-Ranked psionic cultivators and had control practically over most of the Zerg troops created. "Then this issue is solved then. Zelretch would then go to sign Void Soul Geass with Zeroth and Zerg Swarm. As for the next things we could only wait and prepare. My Ouroboros Empire would start the offensive against invaders together with Kaleidoscope Empire when we will be ready. Oh, Zelretch I heard that you gave the Magitek Technology os Eos to the race of that Executor and apparently ''that'' thing had gone missing from the Void." Said Leylin to Zelretch who was weirdly looking away. It was commonly known that the Magitek Taechionolgy was very advanced when it existed. It had also, the great advantage that it could still and continuously evolve. Especially when Leylin mentioned ''that'', the atmosphere in the meeting room became weird. "And why not? Akai didn''t care about that as he is only interested in obtaining God-Devil System back, if not why would he then make that agreement which was disadvantageous for him? He gave him Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory and even rewrote the records, thus releasing potential so the Sacred Devourer Ghouls could evolve into Sacred Devourer. So what if I gave them complete Magitek Technology and gave that Executor that seed. Xenos. also didn''t care as they are practically of his race and I think it would be interesting." Answered Zelretch with bit angry voice. "Yes, that may be the truth. But why, by the name of Baator did you give him the Destruction Seed you madman?" Screamed another voice of man, who just now entered the room. It was an older man in the golden luxurious looking robe. He was sitting on the throne and before him was a young man with handsome looks. He had white hair and light blue eyes. He was Kelemovor or by his real name, Akai. The Administrator of Death and Samsara. He just now entered the meeting room and had pretty angry expression as he looked at Zelretch. "Shut up Akai, and why not? You overwrote the whole record of the entire race as them because you wanted to obtain God-Devil System as soon as possible. I think that it would be entertaining to watch all that havoc he would cause with that power." Leylin and Xenos just watched this and didn''t much care about this. Even though giving someone the Destruction Seed, which was something very rare across the endless void was the source of the Destruction Energy. "Zelretch I said it to you many and many times already, but I will say it once more. Behave more accordingly to your position as Administrator of Akashic Records and don''t do everything just for your stupid entertainment. Even Leylin is doing at least of his duties, even though he is spending most of his time researching." Said Akai angrily to Zelretch as he looked at him and Leylin just chucked. Even among administrators, not all of them were very good at doing their duties. Some of them were just doing what they wanted and didn''t care too much about their position. Zelretch just shrugged his shoulders and didn''t think much about it. "Then we should end this meeting of Akashic High Council for now. All issues had been addressed and we will meet next time when something will come." 151 5 Years of Travel Space-Time Vortex to God-Devil Plane, 5 years Later Five years went from the moment when the Holy Niflheim Empire left their homeworld, which was Low-Grade one, and went towards the broader and wider world out there. Not many things changed from that moment. Some of them changed though, for example, the construction of the Orbital Strategic Defense Fortress or O.S.D.F. was already almost done and only a few months were missing till the end of the construction. Another change was that several people were now undergoing Sacred Devourifiaction Process, namely, they were one of Lucien''s future wives, Itori. Then there were two Holy Imperial Knights, Shen Tatara, and Arima Kish¨­. The last person undergoing the Sacred Devourification Process was surprisingly Madko Akira who was together with Holy Imperial Knight N0.3 Zelilios. Lucien was spending most of his time peacefully at the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory either training his Kenjutsu or reading books. He got a lot of free time and because of that he pondered a lot about their own cultivation system and compared it to the Divine Warrior Cultivation System rather often. "So you are saying that our cultivation system is our advantage and disadvantage at the same time?" Aksed his grandfather Azrael as they both were in the training field of the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory after sparring. Both of them were resting after good spar and were waiting for their stamina to recover. As proper battle maniacs and as their race was battle race, the spar was something like deathmatch for other races. Even Lucien was all bloody and had many injuries who were healing at a visible rate. "Yes. The biggest advantage of our cultivation system is that it is stable and fast, which is a very rare and strong combination. We only need enough resources to refine our bodies and increase energy reserves to reach another realm. At the same time, this is also our disadvantage as for example we don''t gain any additional abilities for our bodies as we refine them further. Compared to other body refining system, we obtained strength and speed of cultivation, but forsake any other abilities. This is the conclusion I have reached." Said Lucien to his grandfather who was looking at his pitch-black scythe in his hands. After some time of thought, he looked at Lucien again and started talking. "That may be the truth, but even so we have enough possibilities to balance things out. The first thing we need to ensure is the fact that every Sacred Devourer Ghoul is dual-cultivator and cultivating both energy and body. Another thing, I feel would help us greatly is focusing on the Dao of Weapon as a sword, spear and so on. Thanks to that we could reach a terrifying amount of power and together with our strong bodies and energy cultivation, we could balance out the lack of special abilities." It was certainly the truth that compared to the Divine Warrior Cultivation System, which had special abil¨¢ities like Nascent Soul and others, their won cultivation system was severely lacking something like these. Even so, his grandfather now spoke good point. Even though it was a disadvantage, it could be balanced out with their energy cultivation and Dao of Weapon. Many members of their race were talented in the Dao of Weapon. "Yes, that could be a good solution for the problems our race have. I still need some time in completely comprehending the Lesser Sword Dao. I have been in seclusion meditating already for two years and I have managed to comprehend almost half of it." Dao of Weapon was a very powerful method, and Lucien just touched the gate of the true Dao, as he still didn''t even reach the Lesser Sword Dao Realm. Even though he just scratched the true Dao, he still touched the realm of the Lesser Sword Dao and was close to comprehending and mastering the Lesser Sword Dao. Thanks to that, his combat prowess rose up considerably. He spent some time reading various books with common knowledge about the Akashic Multiverse as he lacked many and many knowledge. At first, the first year he spent mostly with his future wives, Seira and Itori. After Itori went to the Sacred Devourification Process and Seira went to train more. After that, Lucien focused firstly at cultivating his body to increase his RC Level and then also, learning Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨± sword style. Thanks to that, his Kenjutsu bloomed and also, managed to touch the Lesser Sword Dao. "Grandfather, how much have you progressed with your own Lesser Scythe Dao?" Asked Lucien curiously as he talked more with his grandfather about weapon Doa. Now, in these days, there weren''t many people who managed to comprehend and master entire Lesser Weapon Dao. They could be counted on one hand. "I have comprehended and mastered the Lesser Scythe Dao some time ago. Now I would have the power to kill Initial-Phase Marquise-Rank. Information we have about the God-Devil Plane are indicating the presence of the Pinnacle-Phase Marquise-Rank cultivators. Though the place we are heading, the Aizhouma Universe didn''t have any particularly strong cultivators, there could still be some potential good fights." Said his grandfather Azrael. In a meanwhile, Lucien looked at his record to see the percentage of comprehending the Lesser Sword Dao. ============================================= Name: Lucien Etras di Aeon Occupation: Executor of Akashic Records, Crown Prince of the Holy Niflheim Empire Bloodline: Sacred Devourer Race: Sacred Devoured Ghoul - Cultivation: None Body Refining: Intermediate-Phase Viscount Combat Prowess: Superior Advanced-Phase Viscount - RC Type: Rinkaku, Ukaku RC Level: 401,956 Energy Type: Psionic Energy - Kagune Rank: 1st-Tier Noble-Grade Unique States: Permanent Tail - 2 Kakuja V1: Left-arm - body armor, right hand - kagune katana Kakuja V2: Entire body armor without a mask, kagune katana - Abilities: Sacred Devourer - Ability to devour any types of energy, bloodlines or bodies. It strengthens the host by some amount. Divine Telekinesis - The most perfect form of the Telekinesis Eight Celestial Inner Gates: The Gate of Opening - Celestial Reflexes The Gate of Healing - Celestial Regeneration - Skills: Kenjutsu - Dao: Lesser Sword Dao (48%) - Cultivation Techniques: Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨± RC Body Refining Technique: Viscount Rank Eight Celestial Inner Gates: The Gate of Healing (2nd Gate) Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. - Cross Crest: Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace ============================================= 152 Immortal Path, Houtian - Xiantian Comprehending any kind of Dao was a very difficult task. The way of the sword was a hard one and difficult to walk on. Prior to obtaining Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨± technique, Lucien didn''t even touch the gate of the Lesser Sword Dao, but after studying the Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨±, he managed to find his own path of Sword Dao and begun comprehending the Lesser Sword Dao. He trained a bit in the Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨±, though he still didn''t manage to learn any techniques, as they required mastery of the Lesser Sword Dao. This only strengthened the impression of the Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨± as the supreme sword technique for the Kenjutsu and Lucien often wondered of its origin. Still, he even achieved very beautiful cultivation rank of the Intermediate-Phase Viscount-Rank, which could be considered as a better result when he spent most of his time comprehending the Lesser Sword Dao. He also, had very high combat prowess at the Superior Advanced-Phase Viscount -Rank thanks to his comprehension of the Lesser Sword Dao. "Grandfather what will you do when we arrive at the God-Devil Plane? I mean, in the Aizhouma Universe, we are heading to, there shouldn''t be any strong cultivators above Advanced-Phase Count-Ranked people, maybe some hidden masters but not many." Asked Lucien out of his never-ending curiosity. It was the truth that in the Aizhouma Universe where are they heading, there won''t be strong cultivators to give people like his grandfather some challenge. Of course, some hidden masters could appear, but there won''t be enough powerful opponent to stimulate battle race like Sacred Devourer Ghouls. "Hmm... going with the information we have, the strongest person there is Divine Warrior Rank 9, which is comparable to the Xiantian, but there would be at least two or three Jindan Realm cultivators. If we have several more Viscouint-Ranked cultivators, then only one Count-Ranked person would stay behind and rest would leave the Aizhouma Universe to search for resources, especially for those rare ones." Said his grandfather slowly and then he quickly continued to say something again. "To be truthful, I really can''t wait to fight against cultivators of the Divine Warrior Cultivation System. Though they are mostly only energy cultivation, their cultivation system is very interesting and tricky. Fighting them would greatly improve my abilities." "I agree with you grandpa, but don''t forget that we hold the small advantage as we as body refiners have close combat advantage over those who cultivate only Energy Systems and not their bodies. Together with our weapon mastery, we could dispose of most of them while being in the same rank. Still, it is very fascinating that their cultivation system, especially that after reaching the Divine Warrior Rank 10 which is Count-Rank or Jindan Realm in our cultivation systems, they gain Nascent Soul." Lucien analyzed their situation calmy. Body Refiners had an advantage over Energy Cultivators in the close combat as their bodies were tyrannical, especially body refiners of superior races with innately strong bodies and physiques, and because of that they had strong energy resistance and were dangerous in the close combat. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Yes, that cultivation system provides many self-preserving techniques, but what of it, if I can just chop them with my scythe? Hahaha." Laughed his grandfather as he finished that sentence. Most of his family members were so-called battle maniacs, Lucien included too. He also loved the thrill of the battle so he could understand why his grandfather was so impatient. He already reached the Xiantian Realm of the Darkness Energy Cultivation was itching to fight someone to death. His element was too dangerous for spars or anything similar, but it was very suitable for life and death battles. In spar with the wrong movement, he could kill his opponent if the sparring partner is weaker even a bit. "I need to reach the Count-Rank as soon as possible after comprehending the Lesser Sword Dao so I could start the Energy Cultvaiton to enhance my strength. In some worlds we are aiming, dual cultivation is nothing uncommon and almost, all top powerhouses are cultivating several aspects to attain great strength and versatility of their power." Said Lucien to his grandfather as they chatted together. Even though he didn''t cultivate Energy System he knew some things about it. For example, his father and mother were in the Houtian Realm / Energy Condensation Realm. This was the first realm of the Energy Cultivation System, in which a person was gathering energy inside his body in the Core Sea / Dantian. It had thirteen levels, but one could reach the next realm after nine. First nine levels were so-called basic ones that were required for reaching the Xiantian Realm. Level ten to thirteen were extremely difficult to reach, but had a wondrous effect, especially for future cultivation. In the Xiantian Realm, one would usually purify their energy and spread energy through the whole body. It also had a great effect of strengthening the physique and for Sacred Devourer Ghouls, it could passively increase the RC Level by some amount. "Don''t hurry, little one. I have spent three years in the Houtian Realm just to reach the 13th Level of the Houtian Realm and used many of precious resources. I only thing I have to say, totally worth. Especially when you reach the 13th Level, you will get a huge surprise from the heavens." Said his grandfather with a gentle smile as he sipped from his cup of tea. "Compared to our Body Refining, energy cultivation system in more interesting and gives many possibilities of improvement. Just reaching the Xiantian Realm gave me a lot of new power and also, many new abilities. Just like cultivating our bodies, building a stable foundation is most important of all. That Old Blood reached Xiantian Realm together with me and also cultivated to the 13th Level of the Houtian Realm. They are doing now some of their research and soon, we could have some easier way how to breach that barrier between the 9th Level and 10th Level of the Houtian Realm." 153 It will be a Challenge On the road of the endless cultivation path, nothing could be said to be more important than the stable foundation. In Energy Cultivation Systems, be it Qi, Mana or everything else, the most important was the foundation. In Immortal Cultivation, the most basic stage was the Houtian Realm, which was a gate to the road of becoming immortal and was the building stone for the castle called cultivation base. Reaching more than 9th Level was very hard in the Houtian Realm in this concrete cultivation system as it required talent, hard work, and precious resources. Still, it could be reached and those who reached the legendary 13th Level would gain immeasurable gains in the later parts of the cultivation. Lucien was now Inetrmeidate-Phase Viscount-Rank and with some years and resources prepared for him, he would reach Count-Rank in several years, maybe ten. "From the information I got, then overall combat prowess of the Rank 9 Divine Warrior is comparable to the Pinnacle-Phase Viscount-Rank and some more special and stronger Rank 9 Divine Warriors could even kill easily Pinnacle-Phase Viscount-Ranks thanks to their special abilities. Abilities of Rank 10 Divine Warriors are unknown to us, so we need to complete them by ourselves, but we could count them as superior to the Count-Ranked Body Refiners in terms of unique abilities, though weaker in physical strength." Stated Lucien as he sipped from his cup of green tea, which was prepared by grandfather Azrael. Besides fighting and cultivating, the old man had the habit of taking care of tea trees and making green tea, various types of tea truth to be told. "I know, because of them, I will personally go to fight some Rank 10 Divine Warriors when I see them, to find out their abilities so we could properly categorize them. I just need to reach the Jindan Realm to balance out my Cultivation and Body Refining. I feel, that I would be able to make Jindan inside my body after a few years of cultivation, but it would be better to wait until we arrived at the God-Devil Plane to find some treasured with a huge concentration of Darkness Energy to use it during the creation of Jindan." Creating Jindan is a rather troublesome task in some regard. Jindan itself had many grades and to create a better grade of the one, the cultivator would need many precious resources to achieve that. "There is a high probability that some experts would enter the Aizhouma Universe, because of our arrival. From information I got from the Akashic Records about this mission, Aizhouma Universe is sealed by the God-Devil System, we using Space-Time Vortex to reach that, are practically creating hole in that seal, so there is a high possibility that cultivators of the God-Devil Plane would enter the Aizhouma Universe similarly like us, cause we have already created hole in the seal." Aizhouma Universe was sealed completely of the rest of the God-Devil Plane by the current holder of the God-Devil System, Red Crystal King. Usage of the Space-Time Vortex has apparently created a hole in that seal, and because of that, there is a high possibility that someone would find about the existence of the God-Devil System hidden in the Aizhouma Universe and would enter the place to search for it. Not that Lucien cared about that, it would be fun to have strong opponents to fight against. Also, countless resources were just waiting for them. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "At least it would be more interesting, to have more powerhouses than compared to the state now. Now it seems to easy at least they could give us some challenge." ============================================= After Lucien finished chat with his grandfather, he went back cultivate his Lesser Sword Dao and then he would try to reach the Count-Rank as soon as possible, because it would improve his strength drastically if he could start also Energy Cultivation. Lucien''s progress on mastering the Lesser Sword Dao was around half, so he would need to spend a few more years in meditation about it. Fortunately, his talent in the Sword Dao wasn''t that bad and he could easily comprehend entire Lesser Sword Dao only in a few years of time. Thus, he went to seclusion. He even has special personal cultivation room, where he was usually secluded in the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. He sat cross-legged in his cultivation room and started meditating and trying to comprehend rest of the Lesser Sword Dao. Time went by, and after another two years, he managed to completely master entire Lesser Sword Dao. When Lucien opened his eyes again after meditating for a rather short time, considering the fact that the comprehension of Dao, usually took many many more years. To master Lesser Sword Doa in five years or so, was unfathomable. He stood up and gripped his katana in his hand and tried to do a few slashes and few moves. "Truly wonderful feeling. I feel like becoming one with the sword like the katana is just an extension of my body. All my attacks became sharper and there is even a faint presence of some kind of energy covering the sword. Though it is very faint and weak, if used properly it could have destructive abilities. Probably infant Sword Intent. Shame that to manipulate Sword Intent I need to reach Grand Sword Dao and comprehend and master it fully." Said Lucien out of loud when he analyzed changes. Currently, his sword had an only a faint feeling of Sword Intent, and he wasn''t able to manipulate, harvest or cultivate the Sword Intent. To do that, he needed to master Grand Sword Dao, only then he would be able to cultivate Sword Intent properly like any other energy. "Still, better than nothing. Now the most important thing is to reach Count-Rank and begin Energy Cultivation, because if the analysis of the Akashic Records is precise, then soon, maybe in a few hundred years, Aizhouma Universe would be discovered and given how famous God-Devil System is in the God-Devil Plane, there would be countless cultivators searching for it and whole Aizhouma Universe would be just one huge battlefield." 154 Pranks in shadows Currently, the main priority of the Holy Niflheim Empire was to cultivate as many of powerhouses as possible so they could have easier entrance to the God-Devil Plane. This would allow easier conquering planets and resources, which could be used as fuel to Magitek Machinery and upgrading and creating Magitek Infantry Soldiers at the Early-Phase Viscount Rank. Creating an army would again allow conquering at a larger scale which would in turn again boost the creation of an army and another important thing, Magitek Dreadnoughts. It could be said, that this was something akin to infinite circle. Lucien was currently sitting inside his room, and flipping through pages of some book. This precise book, was an interesting one, as it contained comparation of combat prowess between various cultivation systems. Still, Lucien couldn''t find proper comparation between Divine Warrior Cultivation Systema and their own. [Search through records of Cultivation System Combat Prowess. Comparation of Divine Warrior Cutlvaiton System and Sacred Refining Body Cultivation System / Immortal Cultivation] Thus Lucien decided to use the special function of Akashic Records, which allowed him to search for some crucial information he needed. After a short time, he got the result. There were several messages which contained records about the Divine Warrior Cultivation System. Now, compared to the past, these records were more accurate and precise. After a short time reading, his expression fell slightly. [Completely accurate comparation between Divine Warrior Cultivation System and Sacred Refining Body Cultivation System / Immortal Cultivation is not possible. Extreme gaps found between both cultivation system.] [Prelimary comparation finished. Basic comparation finished. Data only about basic abilities, cultivation and strength finished. No abilities or skills are not taken into consideration.] [Basic comparation prepared. Energy cultivation included. Divine Warrior Cultivation System is a fusion between Body and Energy Cultivation System, more inclined to the Energy Cultivation than the body cultivation, but because it contains many abilities, skills and uniqueness created by God-Devil complete comparation is impossible for now. * Divine Warrior Type 1 - Early-Phase Baron-Rank / 1st-3rd Level of Houtian Realm Divine Warrior Type 2 - Intermediate/Advanced-Phase Baron-Rank / 4th-6th Level of Houtian Realm Divine Warrior Type 3 - Advanced/Pinnacle-Phase Baron Rank / 7th-9th Level of Houtian Realm * Divine Warrior Type 4 - Early/Intermediate-Phase Viscount-Rank / - Early/Intermediate-Phase Xiantian Realm Divine Warrior Type 5 - Advanced/Pinnacle-Phase Viscount-Rank / - Advanced/Pinnacle-Phase Xiantian Realm Divine Warrior Type 6 - Initial-Phase Count-Rank / Impossible to compare further with Immortal Cultivation. Access Level Denied. * Divine Warrior Type 7 - Early-Phase Count-Rank Divine Warrior Type 8 - Intermediate-Phase Count-Rank Divine Warrior Type 9 - Advanced/Pinnacle-Phase Count-Rank * Divine Warrior Type 10 - Impossible to compare further with Immortal Cultivation and Body Refining. Access Level Denied. Error. To obtain this information, kill Divine Warrior Type 10 Cultivator to conduct a scan on cultivation base * Divine Warrior Type 11 - Impossible to compare further with Immortal Cultivation and Body Refining. Access Level Denied. Error. To obtain this information, kill Divine Warrior Type 11 Cultivator to conduct a scan on cultivation base * Divine Warrior Type 12 - Impossible to compare further with Immortal Cultivation and Body Refining. Access Level Denied. Error. To obtain this information, kill Divine Warrior Type 12 Cultivator to conduct a scan on cultivation base * Divine Warrior Type 13 - Impossible to compare further with Immortal Cultivation and Body Refining. Access Level Denied. Error. To obtain this information, kill Divine Warrior Type 13 Cultivator to conduct a scan on cultivation base * Divine Warrior Type 14 - Impossible to compare further with Immortal Cultivation and Body Refining. Access Level Denied. Error. To obtain this information, kill Divine Warrior Type 14 Cultivator to conduct a scan on cultivation base] [Allert! This comparation is incomplete and only orientational. Comparation of Divine Warrior Cultivation System and Immortal Cultivation impossible due to Executor''s insufficient privilege. Possibility of comparation if Executor either made a contribution to Akashic Records or provide corpse of Divine Warrior Cultivation System cultivator.] [This comparation is only basic strength without considering abilities and skills. Only thing considered were transformations of body, energy, and uniqueness gained.] Lucien stared at the comparation and had slight anger boiling inside him. What made him almost crazy was the fact that his previous assumptions about the Divine Warrior Cultivation System were wrong and it was stronger. Though he was a bit perplexed as he got previous information from the Akashic Records. What was worrying was fact, that all Magitek Infantry Soldiers were useless as they were only comparable to the Divine Warrior Type 2, which was not even, cannon fodder standard in this plane. Still, they needed to upgrade them after they arrived at the God-Devil Plane and then all Magitek Soldiers would be comparable to the Divine Warrior Type 5 cultivators, which was much better, but still only at the level of cannon fodder, though on level of strong cannon fodder. After Lucien got this information, he immediately went to his father and informed him about this new crisis. It was understandable, that it created a huge stir in the whole Holy Niflheim Empire. Now because of the more accurate comparation, they got to know that the all Magitek Infantry Soldiers, which were simplified became useless and could be used only when they were upgraded with Magitek Energy Crystals. "What will we do father? In the entire Empire we have only two Pinnacle-Phase Count-Ranks and around five Advanced-Phase Count-Ranked cultivators in the Sacred Body Refining System. Still, it is not enough to defend practically against whole Aizhouma Universe and maybe experts of the God-Devil Plane." Said Lucien in worry. They gad only two Pinnacle-Phase Count-Ranked cultivators which were compared to the Peak-Level Type 9 Divine Warrior and several other Divine Warrior Type 9 cultivators, mostly they were members of the Holy Imperial Knights. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Hmm... we don''t have a choice. We will use all resources reserves we have. It should be hopefully enough to let a few others reach at least Early-Phase Count-Rank. This got more troublesome, as we predicted. We need to change the plans, totally. When we arrive at the God-Devil Plane to the Aizhouma Universe, we need to lay low in the deserted regions of the Aizhouma Universe and cultivate all members of Holy Imperial Knights to the Advanced-Phase Count-Rank. We have enough power to defend ourselves against attacks of natives, but once we start attacking in our state, there is a possibility that would send more powerhouses to annihilate us." ============================================= "Hahaha, that was a bit fun. Hopefully, Xenos and Akai don''t find out that I have edited bit that record back then, this was it is more fun." Said a powerful voice to himself as red eyes shone in the darkness. "If Akai found about it so be it, I will get only scolded. But if Xenos is the one, hopefully, that madman won''t chop me into two for pranking his future disciple and descendants." 155 Lesser Sword Dao and... Now that Lucien mastered the Lesser Sword Dao, he could finally use some techniques from the Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨±, developed to allow a single samurai to defeat numerous foes single-handedly. Rooted in the concept of ichi no tachi, or to strike in a single blow, practitioners of this style use a combination of immense speed and agility, batt¨­jutsu, and acquired, observation-based pseudo-clairvoyance that permits a practitioner to anticipate an opponent''s movements. Both offensive and defensive maneuvers are executed with minimal movement to increase a practitioner''s ability to counter-attack and to conserve energy. Lucien took a special interest in the Dual Wield, which was a bit unique among sword users, as too few of them, were using more than one sword. Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨± had several combat styles and techniques when it came to the Dual Wield and it was especially effective against an overwhelming number of enemies. Thus he started training with the two katanas he created out of his kagune. Both of them were a bit shorter compared to his primary katana which he used when he fought with only one sword. Even though he was standing in the training field of the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory with a smile and his face and peacefully tranquil expression, he was under big pressure because of the records. Records which showed complete computation, at least partly, between Divine Warrior Cultivation System and their own Sacred Body Refining System or Immortal Cultivation. "Damm Zelretch." Cursed Lucien in a low voice as he watched several Magitek Airships flying side by side with Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory as they flew through the Space-Time Vortex to the God-Devil Plane. One year went by from the time he told his father about results from the Akashic Records, though he didn''t tell him of his suspicion that Zelretch pranked them. From that day, everything seemed just too empty. Everyone was focusing on improving their personal strength as much as possible, cause even Viscount-Rank meant literally nothing in the God-Devil Plane. At least Count-Rank was required to be useful, but their advantage in the Dual Cultivation also meant that, if they are able to balance out their cultivation is some range, they could suppress cultivators in the same rank and kill them easily. For example, if Initial Count-Rank and Initial Xiantian Realm dual cultivator Sacred Devourer Ghoul fought Divine Warrior Type 7 (Early-Phase Count-Rank in Sacred Body Refining System) he would be able to kill him with ease. Stronger ones would be able to defeat Divine Warrior Rank 8 (Intermediate-Phase Count-Rank in Sacred Body Refining System)and have chance to escape from the weaker Divine Warrior Type 9 (Advanced-Phase Count-Rank in Sacred Body Refining System). After some time of observing wonders of the Magitek Technology, he went to the estate of the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory to see the state of the Sacred Devourification Process on the several notable individual?s. Namely his soon-to-be wife Itori and future Holy Imperial Knights, Arima Kish¨­ and Shen Tatara. There was also one more person, Mado Akira undergoing the Sacred Devourification Process. Soon enough he arrived at the special chambers where the process was ongoing and looked for the person responsible for watching over. Actually, there were two people, both were elderly grandpas already with wrinkles over the face and white hair, clothed in white lab-coats, playing cards and trying to cheat. "Good day, elders." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Said Lucien with a smile as he entered. Even though both were researchers, their own cultivation was pretty strong for their occupation as both of them were Viscount-Ranked. One of them was Sacred Devourer Ghoul and another one was Vampire. "Your highness." Both of them stood up and bowed slightly before sitting down again and trying to see the cards their opponent had. "I want to ask honorable elders how the Sacred Devourification Process is going." Asked Lucien in a polite voice. Though he was Crown Prince, he was still taught how to respect his elders, especially those of his race. Sacred Devourer Ghouls were too few, only numbering in three hundred or so, so their population was very protective of each other, it didn''t matter if you are normal warrior, Noble or Imperial. The only thing that mattered was personal strength and other various factors as knowledge and so on. The researcher was very profound occupation as they were most educated in the Magitek Technology and other arts, many of them even held the noble title of Magister. Nobility in the Holy Niflheim Empire was divided into four ranks from lowest from highest. Magister was first and was the lowest rank of the nobility among the Empire. Then there were High Lords, Archons and Hegemons. All of these three ranks would be responsible for leading Magitek Infantry Soldiers to conquer and manage territories in the God-Devil Plane. "The process is going good for all four of them. It would take some years but soon, those three who were formerly ordinary ghouls would be fully transformed into Sacred Devourer Ghouls. That one, who was formerly human, that woman would take more time, as her race is changing completely from scratch. In regard to ordinary ghouls, this process is a bit easier as they are already ghouls, so their Sacred Devourification Process is shorter about two or three years." Lucien nodded his head in understanding, though his education in this field was pathetic compared to two researchers in front of him, he still knew that so-called Race Change was a very laborious, troublesome, annoying and hard task to complete. "Thank you for your work. Please watch over them so nothing happens." Said Lujcien as he left. He also prepared some rewards for two researchers, blood essences namely so they could enhance their cultivation. What they were doing was a very troublesome task and they held great responsibility for the successful completion of the Sacred Devourifcation Process. Next place where he went was one of the workshops, which was built on the free land of the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory, and it was producing and upgrading Magitek Infantry Soldiers. When they got complete comparation between cultivations systems, their Magitek Infantry Soldiers became useless so his father ordered to upgrade as many of them to the Advanced-Phase Viscount-Rank so they would reach Basic Magitek Standart. 156 Power of Magitek Infantry As Lucien walked through the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory, he also watched countless stars shining in the dark and far space and imposing Magitek Dreadnoughts that were flying through space with their crystal engines emanating ominous-looking red light from them. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. The workshop was located in the special building in Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory so it would be big enough to accommodate enough researchers, construction links and other magitek equipment that was needed to construct, upgrade and repair Magitek Infantry Soldiers. As his dimensional vessel was constantly expanding in its size, for now, many new facilities could be constructed in the place. Though Lucien would prefer using Magitek Dreadnought in the God-Devil Plane as the usage of the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory could be a bit dangerous, if he encountered enemy whom he could not defeat or escape he and his dimensional vessel would be doomed. Also, Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory contained many precious and important facilities to the Holy Niflheim Empire as a whole. Workshops of the Magitek Technology looked very similar to other magitek structures and had a very dominating appearance. It looked like, though it is abstract to call it like that, looked like progress to the future. Lucien then entered the Magitek Workshop and searched for the director of the workshop who was responsible for leading this facility. The director was elderly person, looking like he was in his eighties though he still had too much energy because he was also on the Count-Rank and already begun his Energy Cultivation, reaching 7th Level of the Houtian Realm. He was probably the highest-ranked researcher in the Holy Niflheim Empire so his cultivation must be corresponding to his post. "So your Highness came to see the state of the Magitek Infantry Soldiers. Come, come we have finally finished reconstructing half of them to the basic standard, which is around Advanced-Phase Viscount-Rank. they are now much stronger than before and could also sustain combat mode for much longer. They would have good use in the God-Devil Plane, at least in the weaker worlds. If we are able to construct more profound magitek, then we could push all Magitek Infantry Soldiers on realm higher, straight ton the Advanced-Phase Count-Rank, and the whole world see my genius in magitek haha haha" Said Director to Lucien as he finished his speech with true scientist-like maniac laugh. Lucien just shrugged his shoulders and thought about things he said. If they managed to construct Count-Ranked Magitek Infantry Soldiers, then whole Aizhouma Universe of the God-Devil Plane would be essentially powerless before the might of the Holy Niflheim Empire. "Director Aras, when do you think we would be able to construct more advanced magitek and update all of our Magitek Infantry Soldiers to the Level 2?" Asked Lucien out of his never-ending curiosity. "Problem is materials. Even though we would have enough of Magitek Energy Crystals, what we need next would be precious materials, especially metals and ores. Now we are creating Magitek Infantry Soldiers out of steel which was refined by the Energy Crystals, but that''s not enough. We need something much stronger compared to that." Sighed Director Aras. Materials were always a problem. Now they would be arriving at the God-Devil Plane they would be able to obtain many Magitek Energy Crystals because practically everything ion that plane was filled with some kind of energy so they could harvest cores and use magitek devices to convert it to the Magitek Energy Crystals. Another story was about various materials such as metals and ores as they are rather hard to come by. Even in the higher realms, hard and precious metals are always rare merchandise. "How many of Magitek Infantry Soldiers we have? If I am not wrong their number should be lowered significantly as many of them were used to compensate for resources needed." Now the number of Magitek Infantry Soldiers would be lowered as some of them were dismantled because of their Energy Cores were needed to upgrade other Magitek Infantry Soldiers. Everything was caused by the lack of Energy Cores, sadly they needed to upgrade their Magitek Infantry Soldiers as they were too weak as were that time. "Formerly we had around 3,000 Magitek Infantry Soldiers at the Intermediate-Phase Baron-Rank before the upgrade. Now we have dismantled around half of them or so, that we could have enough resources to create Advanced-Phase Viscount-Raked Magitek Infantry Soldiers. Currently, we have exactly one thousand Advanced-Phase Viscount-Ranked Magitek Infantry Soldiers of the Armored Swordsman-Class and one hundred and fifty Advanced-Phase Viscount-Ranked Magitek Infantry Soldiers of the Assassin-Class." Said Director Aras to Lucien. These numbers weren''t bad. Advanced-Phase Viscount-Rank was comparable to the Divine Warrior Type 5, someone of the pinnacle of that realm. Some lower worlds didn''t even have more than a few Divine Warrior Type 5. What is more, these numbers would be even enough to deal with Divine Warrior Type 6 and weaker Divine Warrior Type 7, which was comparable to the Initial-Phase Count-Rank and Early-Phase Count-Rank respectively. "That is good already. When we arrive we will need to construct many more Magitek Infantry Soldiers and the place we are heading is a wasteland of the Aizhouma Universe, which means there shouldn''t be any strong cultivators. We could use numbers to conquer many planets and plunder their resources. First, we need to start we those weak ones. For now focus on finishing Orbital Space Defense Fortress, especially that array must be created perfectly." The array Lucien mentioned was another one of the wonders of Magitek Technology. It was Energy Refining Array that could turn entire planets into Energy Crystals that could be then used as cultivation resources or to build magitek. With the current state of the Orbital Space Defense Fortress, it could refine only some smaller plants that had a medium-level concentration of the energy. Lucien planned to use that to refine some smaller worlds to the Energy Crystals to speed up his energy cultivation in the future. The only thing needed to be was just to break through to the Count-Rank and find a planet with element concentration of the same element he would have. 157 Wrath of Heavens Incomming After Lucien was finished in inspecting the Magitek Workshop he returned to his cultivation chamber to begun cultivating his body to reach Count-Rank so he could successfully begin Energy Cultivation. He quickly returned to his chambers and sat cross-legged in the middle of the room. He took out several blood essences and started eating them like candies. He had too many of them, to ensure successful breakthrough to the Count-Rank. Thus Lucien started cultivating his body with the usage of the Sacred Body Refining Technique to reach the Count-Rank. Thanks to the huge amount of blood essences, his RC Level was growing by every day he spent eating them. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. ============================================= After a year of cultivation, he managed to reach Advanced-Phase Count. His body became stronger and also gained something that Lucien didn''t like much. Resistance against Baron-Ranked blood essences. He noticed that the blood essences made from baron-ranked creatures were already losing its effect and even the Viscount-Ranked blood essences already showed a faint feeling of weakening. Lucien hypothesized that by the time he reached Count-Rank all blood essences below the Count-Rank would be rendered as totally useless to him. Reaching the Count-Rank in the Sacred Body Refining System was something like breaking through the major stage. Baron and Viscount Ranks are considered as lower realms, while Count Rank up to the Duke Rank is middle realms of the Sacred Body Refining System. Talking about higher realms was a waste of time for now. Lucien stood up from his cross-legged position after one whole year and went to stretch his body a little so he could gain some movement after sitting a bit long time in the same position. Still, he reached the only level of the Advanced-Phase Viscount-Rank so he would need to cultivate more in order to reach the Count-Rank. Because of that, he only spent one-day relaxing his nerves and everything, then he straightly returned to the cultivation of the Sacred Body Refining Technique so he could reach the Count-Rank as soon as possible. ============================================= Time lew like a river and several years went by from the time when Lucien achieved the Advanced-Phase Count-Rank by diligent cultivation of the Sacred Body Reginiing Scripture. Lucien sat in the middle of his cultivation chamber, with his appearance unchanged and untouched by the river of time. As it seemed that he had not aged from the day when the Holy Niflheim Empire left that Low-Grade World. Currently, he was already Extreme Limikt Pinnacle-Phase Viscount-Rank and the only thing needed, was to undergo something not really nice. It was called Heavenly Tribulation, a new gift from the Heavens as they left the Low-Grade World which was probably not under the watch of the heavens so they could advance into the Count-Rank without any difficult setback. Now the times have changed. Lucien knew that there existed special worlds, called Sealed Worlds. They were pretty unique and had a variety of gradings. From ordinary Low-Grade Worlds, not different from the one that they left, straight to the Seleaed Divine Lands, which were comparable to the Divine Realms. Sealed Worlds were special in many regards, but the most notable was that they were not under the watch of heavens, at least in some parts. That meant, they could advance in cultivation without any tribulations or wraths of heaven in lower stages of cultivation. In the higher cultivation realm, no matter if you were in the Sealed World or normal one, Heavens would notice and sent few bolts to congratulate you... cough... kill.... cough... Now Lucien would need to undergo the Heavenly Tribulation to pass onto the Count-Rank and only then he would be able to awaken his energy affinities to cultivate the Immortal Path. He hoped that he would be able to get very good and strong energy affinity so his combat prowess would soar to heaven. By the time he spent in the cultivation, not many things changed, only that his little sister was already around twelve years of age or so, and with her lively attitude, she was literally a nightmare of her servants and protectors as she runs here and there. After standing up and taking the look of his surroundings, Lucien exited his cultivation chamber and was informed that he spent three years in the seclusion. After informing him of some minor matters Lucien left and went to find his father to discuss the topic of his cultivation reaching the Extreme Limit of the Viscount-Rank. He was worried that undergoing the Heavenly Tribulation here would cause damage to his dimensional vessel Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory, but alas he decided to ask Akashic Records for advice. From the time, they left the Low-Grade Sealed Wolrd for the broader infinite void, Lucien started using his position as the Executor of the Akashic Records more and more often as it was pretty convenient. Especially he could ask questions and search for relevant information when needed. [Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory is a dimensional vessel created by the Akashic Records imbued with the essence of the Records. Even though it is only of the 2nd-Tier of the Imperial-Grade it would be able to resist perfectly against the Heavenly Tribulation caused even by higher realm cultivators compared to he Viscount-Rank] Was the message from the Akashic Records itself. With this Lucien was pretty relieved that he could undergo the Heavenly Tribulation here, in the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. If not, he would need to suppress his cultivation and wait for several more years from them to arrive at the God-Devil Plane so he would be able to undergo the tribulation there and breakthrough to the Count-Rank. That would also, put him onto great disadvantage as he would lose several years'' worth of cultivation time. Now that he had the confirmation from the Akashic Records, he only needed to inform his father that he would break through soon enough, reaching the Count-Rank. He needed to report it as soon as possible that his father would prepare some resources to cultivate. For example, Magitek Energy Crystals could be also used as cultivation material, as they were of the neutral pure energy, a cultivator with enough talent would be able to convert that energy into his element and raise his cultivation by some amount. 158 Plans and Future One of the notable things that happened over time was that Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory reached the 2nd-Tier of the Imperial-Grade. That was a very important thing, cause his dimensional vessel gained the ability to attack and its offensive ability was also rather high. Currently, Lucien looked at the record of Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory which finally reached the Imperial-Grade after many years of absorption of the Void Energy and enhancing itself. ============================================= Name: Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory Type: Floating Fortress Grade: Imperial Tier: 2nd Uniquess: Growth 75% (grows by absorbing energy from the Void, increase in size, grade...) Attack: Comparable to the fullpower of the Jindan Realm Cultivator - Description: Floating Fortress capable of traveling in the Void, space and practically everywhere. ============================================= After he finished observing the record of Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory, he went to find his father who was currently in the training field of the dimensional vessel. Lucien just stood there and waited for his father to finish his training and then both of them sat down on the ground to start their talk. "Father I am ready to break through to the Count-Rank. I have confirmed that breaking through to the Count-Rank won''t damage the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. So even more people of our glorious Holy Niflheim Empire could break through to the Count-Rank on this dimensional vessel." Said Lucien after both of them was already seated down onto the ground. His father nodded with a happy expression written all over the face, as this information was very precious. There were already a few people in the Extreme Limit of the Viscount-Rank that waited to break through to the Count-Rank. The only thing they could do was to suppress their cultivation and wait till they arrived at the God-Devil Plane to breakthrough there. "This is needed a very joyful occasion. Now, those who reached the Extreme Limit of the Viscount-Rank and could only wait, losing one commodity that we are lacking the most. Time. We don''t have enough time, the God-Devil Plane appears to be more dangerous and stronger than we have initially thought." Answered his father Asmodeus. There were too few Count-Ranked cultivators in the entire Holy Niflheim Empire. The ideal situation would be that, if only a few could reach the Count-Rank and resources for the rest people who were on the Extreme Limit of the Viscount-Rak would be sed by the already existing Count-Rank to reach at least Advanced-Phase of the Count-Rank that would be corresponding to the weak Type 9 Divine Warriors. Sadly, this method is unusable as almost all blood essences were refined from the Viscount-Ranks and below. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Now they could only promote as many of them as possible and then use numbers to their advantage over the situation. Still, coupled with dual cultivation they would be able to kill even Type 8 Divine Warriors with some effort and then refine their corpses to the blood essences. After that Lucien talked with his father mainly about the state of things in the Empire, though it was empire as they didn''t even have territory and their Magitek Fleet was too small to be even worth called fleet. "Lucien, when we arrive at the God-Devil Plane we would use the Orbital Defense Space Fortress to refine some planets with a high concentration of the elemental energy to create Magitek Elemental Energy Crystals. Only very few members of the empire would be given one to enhance their cultivation so they could lead our advance in the outskirts of the Aizhouma Universe. It was decided that you would get at them, your grandfather, me and members of the Holy Imperial Knights who have already reached the Count-Rank and started the Energy Cultivation. Commander Nalthos is already reaching the Pinnacle of the Xiantian Realm." Said Asmodeus to his son, to which Lucien showed a faint smile over his face as he finished the speech instead of his father. "And then we could conquer more waker planets to expand our Magitek Fleet and Magitek Infantry Army to conquer more and cultivate more experts. I think that only after we have at least one person who reached Initial-Phase Marquise-Rank, should we advance into the heart of the Aizhouma Universe as there would be surely an organization with deep backround and foundations. Truth to be told, though our race has immense potential and we have even Magitek Technology, we are too weak and our foundation is almost non-existent." Even though Holy Niflheim Empire had potential and even now had many people with huge potential, their foundation was too shallow. They lacked artifacts, treasures and many other things that could be used as offensive and defensive means. It was impossible to compare even with some weak sects in the Immortal Worlds. Even the weakest one had many more treasured compared to the current Holy Niflheim Empire. "Yes, that is certainly the truth. For the time being, we should focus on conquering those worlds in the outskirts of the God-Devil Plane and accumulate strength. Father would be able to reach Marquiss-Rank after twenty years at best, that is only with the premise we would have enough of the blood essences of higher quality. We need an extremely huge amount of resources to compensate for our shallow foundations. If we have enough resources we would be able to balance out our short history." Said his father back to him. It was certainly the truth that the old ancestor of the holy Niflheim Empire, Azrael Etras di Aeon would be able to reach the Marquess-Rank after twenty years if he had enough resources. Even now, his grandfather Azrael was now already on the Early-Phase Count-Rank as he killed few Count-Ranked demons and managed to obtain a good amount of the blood essences that we''re able to significantly increase his cultivation. Coupled with the fact he was already in the Jindan Realm when it came to regard of the Energy Cultivation, he is able to kill even Advanced-Phase Count-Ranks. 159 Count-Rank and Elemental Affinities After he finished his talk with his father, he returned to his cultivation. He sat cross-legged and looked at his records to see the changes so he could better prepare for the Heavenly Tribulation that was coming upon him. Preparation for the Heavenly Tribulation was a very important matter for Lucien, cause if he failed in that, those lighting bolts would shred him into pieces. He didn''t see his records for several years as he was constantly cultivating. When Lucien cultivated he didn''t have time or mood or something to check and look at his record. He needed to be focused and it could distract him a bit. ============================================= Name: Lucien Etras di Aeon Occupation: Executor of Akashic Records, Crown Prince of the Holy Niflheim Empire Bloodline: Sacred Devourer Race: Sacred Devoured Ghoul - RC Type: Rinkaku, Ukaku RC Level: 1,000,000 Body Cultivation: Extreme Limit of the Pinnacle-Phase Viscount Kagune Rank: 1st-Tier Noble-Grade Energy Type: Psionic Energy Energy Level: 1,000 Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Energy Cultivation: None Combat Prowess: weak Initial-Phase Count-Rank - Unique States: Permanent Tail - 2 Kakuja V1: Left-arm - body armor, right hand - kagune katana Kakuja V2: Entire body armor without a mask, kagune katana Kakuja V3: Entire body armor with the mask, another armor layer (extra thin), kagune katana Kakuja V4: Entire body armor with the mask, another armor layer (extra thin), one pair of wings, kagune katana - Abilities: Sacred Devourer - Ability to devour any types of energy, bloodlines or bodies. It strengthens the host by some amount. Divine Telekinesis - The most perfect form of the Telekinesis Eight Celestial Inner Gates: The Gate of Opening - Celestial Reflexes The Gate of Healing - Celestial Regeneration - Skills: Kenjutsu - Dao: Lesser Sword Dao - Mastered - Cultivation Techniques: Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨± Sacred Body Refining Scripture: Viscount Rank Eight Celestial Inner Gates: The Gate of Healing (2nd Gate) - Cross Crest: Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace ============================================= As he looked at his records he was pretty satisfied that his RC Level was exactly one million. That meant he was perfect Extreme Limit of the Viscount-Rank. He knew that he would need to undergo the Heavenly Tribulation soon. Maybe in a few days, he would need to do it. He knew that he needed to break through to the Count-Rank as soon as possible so he would start the energy cultivation. Lucien decided that he would undergo his Heavenly Tribulation after three days. He needed to prepare for the tribulation and that needed some time. Not really prepared for it, but just relaxing his psyche and just chill out. That was something really important as the psychical state of the cultivator was an important factor when undergoing the Heavenly Tribulation. He had some time worth, so it was decided he would relax. The first thing he did was to see his future wife, Seira to spend some time with her. She was a very quiet person so it was relaxing to be with her as she knew what to do to ease his uncertainty. Nothing sexual or something, but spending time with her, would always give him a piece in his heart. ============================================= Three days later Lucien stood in the middle of the training field. Today whole Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory was emptied, because Lucien was undergoing the Heavenly Tribulation. Soon enough he took out small blood essence and ate it. After the moment he ate it, the process started. Blood in his veins started boiling and his bones and muscles were pulsating like mad. Everything in his body was undergoing constant destruction and rebirth. It was like an endless cycle that was happening at extreme speed. After one minute, his body was destroyed and reconstructed more than a thousand times already. Soon, clouds were gathering above him, even though he was in the void, where clouds didn''t exist. Lucien thought it was something similar to the clouds, but Lucien didn''t care. he just stood there and waited. That waiting was the worst part of it, waiting for the tribulation. The first lighting bolt hit Lucien with great strength. He resisted with all of his body and successfully defended against it. Lucien noticed that every time the lighting tribulation bolt hit him, his body would undergo great strengthening and resistance against elements, energy and similar things below his level. He suddenly understood what was happening and why the gap between Viscount-Rank and Count-Rank was so huge. On the Count-Rank even attacks made by the strongest Viscount-Ranked cultivator or in Energy Cultivation terms, Xiatian Realm would have only strength around 50%. That meant Count-Ramnked body refiners would always have a great advantage over lower stages. Not talking about differences in body strength. Soon, the intensity and strength of the Heavenly Tribulation were higher and higher and Lucien already had some difficulties defending against the lightning bolts and swat was coming on his forehead. When the last lighting bolt was already congealing and preparing to hit him, Lucien was kneeling on his right kneel. It was understandable as the strength of the Heavenly Tribulation was going up with each round passing. When the lighting bolt hit him, Lucien coughed a huge amount of blood out of his mouth and was severely injured, but nevertheless, she still survived. He lied on the ground and was able to barely move, but he smiled. He was smiling because of one specifical reason. Elemental Affinities. He awakened three of them instead of one. This could be counted as a great success and something unheard of, as even Dual Elemental Affinities could be called rare in the Cultivation System. Not many people could awaken more than one element and those who can be called a genius. Someone with three Elemental Affinities was a legend. The Immortal Cultivation System that Lucien and the rest of the Holy Niflheim Empire were following was a very strict one as a cultivator would usually have only one elemental affinity. Those with great talents would have two, and heavenly geniuses would have three of them or more. One could think that more elemental affinities better, it not maybe the truth. In this cultivation system, every cultivation system was cultivated separately so the more elemental affinities one had, the more talent and hard-work would he need to have and do in order to cultivate to higher realms. As Lucien was slowly recuperating, the only thing he was able to do, was to open his record to admire the three elements he obtained. ============================================= Name: Lucien Etras di Aeon Occupation: Executor of Akashic Records, Crown Prince of the Holy Niflheim Empire Bloodline: Sacred Devourer Race: Sacred Devoured Ghoul - RC Type: Rinkaku, Ukaku RC Level: 0 Body Cultivation: Initial-Phase Count-Rank Kagune Rank: 3rd-Tier Royal-Grade - Immortal Cultivation: None * Destruction - None * Void - None * Ice - None - Combat Prowess: Initial-Phase Count-Rank - Unique States: Permanent Tail - 3 - Abilities: Sacred Devourer - Ability to devour any types of energy, bloodlines or bodies. It strengthens the host by some amount. Divine Telekinesis - The most perfect form of the Telekinesis Eight Celestial Inner Gates: The Gate of Opening - Celestial Reflexes The Gate of Healing - Celestial Regeneration - Skills: Kenjutsu - Dao: Lesser Sword Dao - Mastered - Cultivation Techniques: Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨± Sacred Body Refining Scripture: Viscount Rank Eight Celestial Inner Gates: The Gate of Healing (2nd Gate) - Cross Crest: Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace ============================================= 160 Start of Immortal Cultivation "Hahahaha, finally!!!" Laughed Lucien like a madman when he saw those three affinities on his record. It was like some kind of heavenly grace that has fallen upon him. In reality one of them could be stalked to certain Administrator of the Akashic Records, but that was talking to a later time. He had awakened three elements. Namely, Destruction, Void, and Ice. Each of them was powerful and had great potential. That also meant he would need to put much more hard-work compared to others in cultivation if he wanted to be a real powerhouse. Destruction Element. It was a very very precious one, not only in the Akashic Multiverse but rather through the whole. It was very rare to find a person with Destruction Energy. The shortcoming of the Destruction Energy was that, if not cultivated properly, it could easily even destroy the wielder. Another shortcoming was extremely hard cultivation. Finding the raw source of the Destruction Energy in the Endless Void, such as the Heavenly Destruction Crystal was almost impossible. Still, though it had shortcomings, they were nothing compared to the advantages. Destruction Energy had the ability to incarnate and destroy everything in its path. On the other hand, Void Element was something similar when it came to rarity like the Destruction Energy. Though the cultivating the Void Energy was much simpler compared to the others, as it was one of the fundamental energies through the Endless Void. Compared to other elements and energies, Void Energy could be freely used only when cultivator reached at least Jindan Realm. Only then he could use basic techniques. After reaching higher cultivation realms he could use it to its full potential. This was the restriction of the Void Energy. Lucien knew that the Void Energy was hereditary only among the Void Races as the Sacred Devourers. The fact the Lucien awakened the Void Element know, meant he had the pure and strong bloodline of the Sacred Devourer. Only the Ice Element seemed rather normal compared to other Lucien''s rather abnormal elements. Ice was a great element as it had huge versatility. It could have offensive, defensive and even support means. He knew that the only element he would be able to cultivate now, was the Void Energy, though the only thing he would be able to obtain was practically nothing. Only some enhancement in overall strength or something. The basic technique with Void Energy is only from the Jindan Realm. After Lucien was healed enough to walk he ate a few more blood essences. They were useless to him in regard to increase the RC Level, still, they were good to speed up his recovery. As he ate them, his Celestial Regeneration speeded up a bit, and his wounds were healing under visible eyes. When he was healed enough to sit, he sat cross-legged and started absorbing the Void energy from outside. Fortunately, they were traveling through the Space-Time Vortex, his Dantian was being filled with Void Energy. This process took up around five hours till he absorbed enough energy to reacht he 1st Level of the Houtian Realm. This was another perk of his strong body. Stronger the body is, more energy is able to absorb in the Houtian Realm. Lucien knew that he couldn''t absorb more Void Energy from the outside as he was. Then he looked inside of his Core Sea and noticed that there were three seeds of the elements. The first one was the Crimson Red Seed, which represented the Destruction Energy. It radiating ominous aura and looked very dangerous even at look. The second seed was a dark purple color, it was a representation of the Void Energy. The last one was of the Dark Bue color and it was the representation of Ice Energy. All three seeds inside of his Core Sea were too small, only the Void One was a bit bigger as he already started cultivating the Void Energy and managed to reach the 1st Level of Houtian Realm. He knew that, with each small realm, that seed would be getting bigger and bigger. He needed to reach the 13th Level of Houtian Realm in order to the breakthrough to the Xiantian Realm. In the Houtian Realm, the cultivator would be gatheri¨ªng energies inside of their Core Sea. If they reached the limit that the Core Sea could handle they could break through to the Xiantian Realm by spreading that energy through the whole body. Lucien would be doing this process exactly three times. If he reached the 13th Level of Houtian Realm three times, it meant that his Core Sea would be strengthened three times, his innate talent would be strengthened three. Even if cultivator reach 13th Level of Houtian Realm only in one element it would be heaven-defying. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. After Lucien was done recuperating, he started thinking about how to cultivate the Destruction Energy. Compared to the cultivation of the Void and Ice energies, tit was countless times harder. Thus, he decided to ask his beloved Akashic Records for advice as to the chance he would find naturally crystalized Destruction Energy was close to zero. [Destruction Energy could be cultivated by destroying plants, starts and realms. Then it is possible to harvest huge amounts of the Destruction Energy that is released by a destroyed world] This process shocked Lucien a bit, by how dangerous it was. Destroying whole planets to harvest destruction energy was too dangerous, but it was very effective. Also, he only had little time after the planet or realm was imploded, cause the energy released by imploded World/Realm''s core would be soon dissipated. He quickly stood up and went to the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory, because he was tired as hell and wanted to rest. When he entered the estate of the dimensional vessel, his father and grandfather were already waiting there for him, with a wide smile on their faces. It was apparent they were very delighted by the fact that Lucien broke through. "Father, Grandfather. I have successfully broken through and managed to awaken my elemental affinities and started Immortal Cultivation already." 161 Void Energy Cultivation They were both stunned by his words. Not those he managed to achieve a breakthrough to the Count-Rank, but rather that he said elemental affinities. There were some people in the Holy Niflheim Empire that managed to obtain two elements, but those who could achieve that could be counted on one hand. For example, his grandfather had elements Darkness and Death, though he cultivated only the Darkness Energy as cultivation of the Death Energy was dependent on the Death Qi that was created after countless people were killed. "How many?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Asked old man Azrael with great excitement in his voice. Lucien could only smile seeing this and even his father had great exce¨²tation of this. "Three. Destruction, Void, and Ice. Destruction Energy can''t be cultivated now, because the method cultivates it is too hard for me to achieve that for now. Only the Void and Ice energies could be cultivated for now. I would probably focus more on Ice Energy as the cultivation of Void Energy won''t give me an immediate increase in strength. From what I now, Void Energy has a variety of uses, but basic techniques could be used starting from the Jindan Realm. So Ice Energy is my priority. Destruction Energy is out of the question for now, as to even find some resources that would allow me to cultivate it, I need to be much stronger." Explained Lucien to both of them, who were stunned by his revelations. His elements were too strong but rather weak in the beginning stages of cultivation. Void could be used only from the Jindan Realm, and only basic techniques as the usage of the Void Energy had a great toll on the body, even though their race was descendant of the true void race, Sacred Devourers. Destruction Energy is similar to Void but even harder to control and had harsher conditions to cultivate. So only Ice Energy remained. "Yes, that is certainly true. It would be best for you to focus on Void Energy for now, as it is easier to cultivate it now because we are located in the Space-Time Vortex. When we arrive at the God-Devil Plane we would find someplace with a high concentration of the Ice Energy and we would use the array of Orbital Space Defense Fortress to refine whole places to create Magitek Ice Energy Crystals." Said his father after a short time of thinking about it. Lucien also had the same thought in his mind. Their current location was the Spae-Time Vortex, which meant only very few elements could be cultivated in the Space-Time Vortex. Void Element could be cultivated basically everywhere, but in places like these, the efficiency of the cultivation was increased countless times. "Yes, I think that too. For now, the most important thing is to reach Jindan Realm, because that would speed up refining my body and increasement of the RC Level. To reach the peak of the Xiantian Realm would take me around two years or so, thanks to our void bloodline. Then only thing remaining would be creations of the Jindan in my body and I could achieve passive body refining without the usage of the blood essences, albeit the effect won''t be as great as the usage of blood essences, it is still something." Said Lucien about his inner thoughts. "Now that you have reached the Count-Rank and begun Immortal Cultivation, I will give you some resources to increase your cultivation as much as possible. Those Magitek Energy Crystals would have good use in the cultivation of your Ice Energy." Said his father after some tonight. It was now the priority for Lucien to reach the Xiantian Realm with his Immortal Cultivation. If he managed to reach the Xiantian Realm in two elements, namely in the Void and Ice would be a good thing. Cultivation of his Destruction Element wasn''t real now and it was decided to focus on the Void and Ice. "How is the progress of the rest members from the Holy Imperial Knights?" Sked Lucien out of curiosity. He spent most of his free time by cultivation gin the seclusion, thus he didn''t have much information about what was happening outside of his cultivation chambers. "Those two newbies, Shen Tatara, and Arima are still undergoing the Sacred Devourification Process. Remaining members of the Holy Imperial Knights are making progress in their cultivation. For now only, Nalthos has reached the Count-Rank and the rest of them are already generating the Extreme Limit of Viscount-Rank. Arseahr is already at the Extreme Limit of Viscount-Rank and would break any time soon." Said his father this time. All members of the Holy Imperial Knights were very talented people, who had great talents in cultivation and combat. "I on the other side cannot continue in the cultivation of the Sacred Body Refining for now, as we don''t have any higher-leveled blood essences to increase my RC Level, and even with my passive ability to increase RC Level is not enough. I need to focus now on creation Jindans in my body, I have found out our race could create more than one Jindan in the body. Hahaha" Laughed his grandfather Azrael as he talked about cultivation and others. One must know that usually only one Jindan could be created in this realm. This was the rule that applied to countless cultivators. Not talking about the quality of the Jindan, which could have many varieties. Only special races could create more than one Jindan in their body and it eve required even special cultivation technique. Creation of more than one Jindan was a very hard task to do and every Jindan would give immense benefits to the cultivator. When the Jindan was created inside the body of the cultivator, it speeded up the absorption of energy from outside and its potency. More Jindans created stronger energy would get and speed of absorption and regeneration would increase. "How many of them have you already created grandpa?" Asked Lucien with anticipation. Even though his grandfather was already an old man, his talent was still huge and the age didn''t change anything. 162 Houtian Realm "Your grandfather is very talented and outstanding. So far I have created five of the Jindans in my body and my combat prowess only soaring thanks to that. All of the Jindans I have created are of the best quality. And I think that I could create even more of them by the time." Boasted his grandfather shamelessly. He was the only person so far, who had managed to create more than three Jindans in his body as other cultivators of the Holy Niflheim Empire who reached the Jindan Realm were too few and those who managed to reach it, created only one Jindan so far. "So you should cultivate properly and maybe one day you would be able to create as many of them as I." Continued, his grandfather boasting as they talked about cultivation. So far, there were quite a good number of the Count-Ranked Body Refiners, but many of them were only in the Xiantian Realm in regard to the Immortal Cultivation path. Balance is needed, and to achieve that was the time most important commodity. "Now, If you both allow me, I would return to my chambers and continue Immortal Cultivation." Said Lucien as he stood up and walked away to his cultivation chamber. He waited there for an hour for someone to deliver him the Magitek Energy Crystals that his father promised to send him. When he took the Magitek Energy Crystals, he closed himself ion the seclusion again to continue his cultivation. He was a bit sad because he wanted to visit his beautiful faince¨¦ Seira who was cultivating gin the same estate as him, but because of the time pressure, he couldn''t waste even a minute. Everyone was under immense pressure. From the time, the comparation between Divine Warrior Cultivation System and Sacred Body Refining System was out, everyone focuses on the cultivation as much as possible. That included even his fiance¨¦ Seira. ============================================= As he was sitting cross-legged in his cultivation chamber he was absorbing the Void Energy from outside at extremely fast speed. He felt how the small Void Seed inside of his Core Sea at the 1st Level of Houtian Realm was expanding at terrifying speed. 2nd Level of Houtian Realm 3rd Level of Houtian Realm 4th Level of Houtian Realm 5th Level of Houtian Realm 6th Level of Houtian Realm After a whole six month cultivating, he managed to reach the 6th Level of Houtian Realm in the Immortal Cultivation of Void Element. This was considered a beautiful result. His body now contained a great amount of the Void Energy and was constantly absorbing more and more as his Core Sea was still able to absorb more. Even though, Lucien didn''t fell many changes from reaching the 6th Level of Houtian Realm in Immortal Cultivation of Void Element. He still felt, he could perform minor tricks with it. He was able to use Void Energy to seal space. It was one of the most basic techniques, that are usable from the Jindan Realm. Lucien managed to comprehend the meaning behind it faster than others and was able to seal down enemies. Still, he was able to seal those below the Houtian Realm / Baron-Rank for a limited amount of time. His control was too weak and bad as his cultivation base was low. Sealing abilities were pretty convenient and powerful. If he reached Xiantian Realm, spreading Void Energy through his body, he would be able to seal Houtian Realm / Baron-Ranked cultivators without problems for several minutes. And he could even seal Xiantian Realm / Viscount-Ranked cultivators for a very limited time, short time, but still enough to kill them with his sword. After he finished this, he returned to cultivation as he was prepared to reach at least 9th Realm. Truth to be told, he wanted to reach the Xiantian Realm as soon as possible so he would have a wider amount of abilities. 7th Level of Houtian Realm 8th Level of Houtian Realm 9th Level of Houtian Realm Another six months went by, and now Lucien was on the 9th Level of Houtian Realm. Apparently cultivating the Void Element was extremely easy because of his bloodline. One time, during his season, he asked Akashic Records why did he awaken he Void Element while, rest of his race, who reached the Count-Rank not. Apparently, it was just pure accident that he managed to awaken Void Element this early. His race were descendants of the Void Race, Sacred Devourer. He got an answer that his clansmen would awaken this element when they reached later stages of cultivation. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Now the most critical moment of his cultivation came. 10th Level of Houtian Realm, strengthening meridians and energy channels of the body. Lucien slowly started using his Void Energy to nourish his meridians and energy channels by letting them absorb the Void Energy, making them more stable and durable. 10th Level of Houtian Realm achieved successfully! Now that his meridians were stronger and wider, they could absorb, store and transport a bigger amount of energies. This was an immense advantage that Lucien achieved. Though about this happening two times more, let him shiver in excitement. Most cultivators won''t be able to experience this state even once, but Lucien was confident in himself, that he would be able to cultivate both Elements in the Houtian Realm to the Extreme Limit. If he managed to do that, it would considerable easy his cultivation in laters stages, and countless benefits such as faster absorption of energy and many other times. Also, by strengthening the energy channels of the body, would lesses various backlashes and other annoying things that could happen during fight or cultivation. The 11th Level of Houtian Realm was crucial for later stages of cultivation. If cultivator didn''t achieve this realm in the element he was cultivating, then the creation of multiple Jindans int he Jindan Realm was impossible. In the 11th Level of Houtian Realm, the cultivator would refine their Core Sea, making it stronger and thus giving a huge boost to the potential in the later stage of cultivation. The stronger Core Sea was, the stronger foundation would one have. 163 The Gate of Life and 12th Level of Houtian Realm The 12th Level of Houtian Realm was about the creation of Sea of Perception in the Core Sea. The Sea of Perception could be only created in laters stages of cultivation. Usually, it would be created in the Yuanying Realm, the so-called Nascent Soul Realm, where the Nascent Soul was created. Before Lucien decided to reach the 12th Level of Houtian Realm, he decided to look at the Eight Celestial Inner Gates to open another gate. Formerly he was too focused on the cultivation of his Void Energy and didn''t have time to open another gate from the Eight Celestial Inner Gates. The Gate of Life, located in the spinal cord. Increasing the blood flow and enhancing functions of inner organs and inner organs itself. Lucien decided to open this Gate before proceeding to reach the 12th Level of Houtian Realm. When he reached the next realm in the Immortal Cultivation, 12th Level of Houtian Realm, it would create the Sea of Perception. Because of his special cultivation of the Eight Celestial Inner Gates and the fact he had Celestial Reflexes, he would create so-called Divine Sense. Divine Sense, that allowed to scan surroundings with just will or something. It was very terrifying supporting ability as it allowed to see everything basically. He wanted to open the Gate of Life at first, as it would increase blood flow and increase Life Force. Opening this gate would ease his usage of the Divine Sense in the future. This Lucien started using his newly cultivate Void Energy together with his RC Cells in his body to break through the Gate of Life, which was located in the spinal cord to open this Gate. Not every Gate would give him literally overpowered ability like the first two gave. He got Celestial Reflexes and Celestial Regeneration which was too powerful passive ability. After a short time of concentrating on the breaking through the Gate of Life, Lucien felt faint pain in his spinal cord as he saw that the Gate of Life was finally opened. Suddenly when the Gate of Life opened, blood in his veins started flowing faster and faster and his heart started beating at several times higher speed. After several seconds, something started happening in his chest, close to his heart. New organ was growing out of nowhere, thanks to opening the Gate of Life. The second heart was growing in his body. Having more hearts was always a benefit. Though strong body refiner could survive for some time even with his heart destroyed, it was not that long. When the second heart was fully grown and functional, it linked with his first, original heart and started speeding up all his internal processes. The Gate of Life strengthened his inner organs, by creating something like bio-armor around them so they won''t be damaged easily. This was a pretty good thing, as he would be able to sustain more injuries and continue fighting. "Now that I have already opened The Gate of Life of the Eight Celestial Inner Gates I could proceed to reach 12th Level of Houtian Realm. If I am lucky, then the creation of Celestial Sense won''t be a problem." Lucien wanted to obtain Celestial Sense now as that would give him a chance in obtaining Divine Sense eve before reaching higher cultivation realms. This Lucien started absorbing the Void Energy from the outside world at the highest speed possible. As now Lucien was only manipulating the Void Energy in his body mainly, it was rather a fast process as he managed to create Sea of Perception in his Core Sea. Soon, after the Sea of Perception was creating, it started resonating with Gate of Opening and creating something new. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his brain and after several bleedings, the pain was gone and Lucien felt like a new world opened before him. He was able to feel whole are of the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory and see everything that was happening here. Lucien finally achieved the famed Celestial Sense. If he managed to reach the 12th Level of Houtian Realm in the remaining two elements, he would be able to create geniue Divine Sese. This meant, when he reached the realm where he would automatically gain the Divine Sense, they would fuse together and his Divine Sense would be always many times stronger than those of cultivators ion the same realm. Now that he was already on the 12th Level of Houtian Realm, reaching 13th Level wasn''t much problem. The 13th Level was a very important one as it gave an even more wondrous effect. It could increase the innate talent for cultivation. Reaching this realm was pretty easy when one had enough energy and was already in the 12th Level. All he had to do was to refine his entire body with the energy he was cultivating in a specific way and he would be good. As Executor of Akashic Records, he would get cultivation techniques corresponding to his element for free. Of course the cultivation technique of the highest quality, none less. Thus Lucien got Eternal Void Scripture which was a rare technique across the Endless Void focusing on cultivating the Void Energy. Sadly for him, he only got the first part of the technique. ============================================= Name: Eternal Void Scripture Element: Void Grade: ??? - Description: Most superior cutlviation technqie focusing on the cultivation of Void Energy. - Uniquess: Cultivation Technique is incomplete, only till the Jindan Realm included. For the rest, Executor need to exchange it with Akashic Records or obtain it from another sourice. ============================================= After looking at his Immortal Cultivation Technique, he decided to check out the record of his body refining technique to see the information about it. His Immortal Cultivation Technue was already pretty good, only that he lacked the rest. He needed to obtain it himself, either from Akashic Records or from someone else. It was rather important, because in later stages when his clansmen would awaken Void Element they would need cultivation technique to cultivate it properly. ============================================= Name: Sacred Body Refining Element: Body Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Grade: ??? - Description: Superior cultivation rechnquie focusing on the Body Refining. Could be practised only by Sacred Devourers and their sub-species. Allowes to awaken bloodline and gives terryfing body. - Uniquess: This cultivation technique allows to cultive very easily and quickly, giving stable foundation and terryfing body strength and physique. The price is, it is completely devoid of any kind special abilities and other things, that comes with cultiving other body refiniang techniques. Recommend to cultivate supporting body techniques to gain equilibrium ============================================= 164 Celestial Sense and Celestial Dual Hearts The first thing Lucien did was to check out his record as he reached the final level in the Houtian Realm, the 13th Level. He didn''t feel any changes only that, cause this was about in easement in his innate talent. He won''t be able to feel it immediately, but as he cultivated it would be shown up as he cultivation would be much smoother, without bottlenecks and similarly annoying things. Also, he obtained Celestial Sense and opened The Gate of Life, 3rd Gate from the Eight Celestial Inner Gates, which created another heart inside his body and linked both of them together, achieving Celestial Dual Hearts. Eight Celestial Inner Gates was about evolving and strengthening the body of a cultivator at a most fundamental level. Cultivators who cultivated Eight Celestial Inner Gates won''t gain heaven-defying strength, but instead, their bodies would evolve and gain terrifying passive abilities. Evolution was the main point of this cultivation technique. Especially for someone like Lucien and his kind, who cultivated the Sacred Body Refining Technique. In the Holy Niflheim Empire, only upper echelons have access to the Eight Celestial Inner Gates or those who prove themselves on the battlefield. The prime condition was loyalty to the Empire. ============================================= Name: Lucien Etras di Aeon Occupation: Executor of Akashic Records, Crown Prince of the Holy Niflheim Empire Bloodline: Sacred Devourer Race: Sacred Devoured Ghoul - RC Type: Rinkaku, Ukaku RC Level: 0 Body Cultivation: Initial-Phase Count-Rank Kagune Rank: 3rd-Tier Royal-Grade - Immortal Cultivation: 13th Level of Houtian Realm * Destruction - None * Void - 13th Level of Houtian Realm * Ice - None - Combat Prowess: Initial-Phase Count-Rank - Unique States: Celestial Sense - Able to scan the surrounding with the will Permanent Tail - 3 - Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Abilities: Sacred Devourer - Ability to devour any types of energy, bloodlines or bodies. It strengthens the host by some amount. - Eight Celestial Inner Gates: The Gate of Opening - Celestial Reflexes The Gate of Healing - Celestial Regeneration The Gate of Life - Celestial Dual Hearts - Skills: Kenjutsu - Dao: Lesser Sword Dao - Mastered - Immortal Cultivation Techniques: Eternal Void Scripture: 13th Level of Houtian Realm - Body Cultivation Techniques: Sacred Body Refining Scripture: Count Rank Eight Celestial Inner Gates: The Gate of Life (3nd Gate) - Combat Techniques: Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨± - Cross Crest: Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace ============================================= After he looked at his record, he noticed that his combat prowess rose. From the Initial-Phase Count-Rank, he was already on the Peak of the Realm and was nearing the combat prowess of the Early-Phase Count-Rank. This was rather good progress. After looking at his record, he opened two records. Celestial Sense and Dual Celestial Hearts. ============================================= Name: Celestial Sense - Description: A weaker version of the Divine Sense. Able to scan surrounding with willpower and see everything in the range of Celestial Sense. Strengthens a person''s mind and willpower. Reduces the effects of illusions, mental attacks, and spiritual attacks. At the same time, it increases the effectiveness of his own illusions and mental attacks. ============================================= Celestial Sense gave him many benefits. Not talking about the primary benefit of scanning surroundings with his Celestial Sense. Strengthening a person''s mind and willpower was very useful. They were passive benefits of having unlocked the Celestial Sense. What Lucien liked was also, the reducing effect against the illusions, mental attacks, and spiritual attacks. This was because Lucien was specializing mainly in material attacks and body refining. He wasn''t speaking in the mind and spirits so his defense was very low before unlocking the Celestial Sense. After checking the effects of the newly unlocked Celestial Sense, he wanted to check Celestial Dual Hearts, that were created by reaching 3rd Gate of the Eight Celestial Inner Gates, The Gate of Life. ============================================= Name: Celestial Dual Hearts - Describtion: Allows faster circulation of blood inside body. Both hearts are stornger and body is more resilent aginst the internal damanged that may be caused in the fight. All inner organs are stronger and are able to resist against the internal damage. ============================================= The effect of the Celestial Dual Hears was also pretty good. Internal organs were always a problem for the majority of cultivators and even for body refiners. If your internal organs were damaged in the fight, you could hardly continue to fight as their internal injuries could prevent them from continuing fighting many times. Now only two and half years remained till they would arrive at the God-Devil Plane. Lucien needed to reach Peak of the Xiantian Realm before reaching the God-Devil Plane. Fortunately, the Xiantian Realm was easier to reach for him, as he had great control over his Void Energy inside his body. In the Xiantian Realm, one would spread the energy he was cultivating through the whole body. The Peak of the Xiantian Realm was comparable to the Divine Warrior Type 5, which wasn''t really strong in the God-Devil Plane, not even there but even in the rest of the Endless Void. When Lucien finished cultivation, he exited his cultivation chamber and went to his bedroom in the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory as his cultivation chamber and bedroom were directly connected to each other. When he entered his room, wanted to take a shower, he suddenly heard knocking on the door. Soon, the servant came in hurriedly, probably with some urgent message. "Your highness, Sacred Devourification Process for Holy Imperial Knights, Arima Kisho, Shen Tatara and Her Highness is done." Said butles that was responsible for all Lucien''s needs. Lucien was very happy hearing this news, as finally, those three finished their Sacred Devourification Process. Compared to then, Akira would take longer as she was formerly pure human. Shen Tatara and Itori were pure-blooded ghouls and though Arima was half-breed, he was of the Washuu Bloodline. For ghouls, their bloodline was a very good one. "Very good, I will be there in a minute. I only need to change my clothes and I will be there." Said Lucien in a hurry as he went to take a shower and change his outfit to a more fitting one. As now, they would officially obtain two more Holy Imperial Knights and his fiance¨¦ became Sacred Devourer Ghoul so she would be officially acknowledged as a family member. 165 New Holy Imperial Knights After Lucien changed himself to new clothes, he went to see the newcomers who just finished their Sacred Devourification Process. The process finished just now, and Lucien was the first one to be notified, so he was there as the first person. To be truthful, no one among the three of them changed. All three of them looked like before, only some subtle changed were done. For example, Itori looked more beautiful than before, at least from Lucien''s perspective. "So all three of you already finished, splendid." Said Lucien as he saw all three of them. Tatara and Arima, just looked at him, while nodding their heads and Itori just rushed at him and immediately hugged him. "And you are even more beautiful than before my dear." Said Lucien as he kissed his fiance¨¦ on her forehead. Then he turned his attention from Itori who was happily hugging his arm, to Arima and Tatara. "Come you two. You will have an audience with my father and he would officially appoint you like the new Holy Imperial Knights. Then you will get all relevant information and resources so you can start your cultivation and become strong to honor your titles. Itori my dear, you will go to your room and change your clothes and my mother would tell you everything you need to know." Both of them nodded their heads and followed Lucien, while Itori guided by butler was being led to he room. "So first thing you need to know, that when will be appointed as Holy Imperial Knights, you would immediately become people with the highest-ranked noble title after Imperial Family. Also, as Holy Imperial Knights, you take orders only from Crown Prince alas me, Emperor or Protector. In the future, each of you would be responsible for managing territory." Being Holy Imperial Knight was something more than an empty title. In the hierarchy of Empire, they were in the top of the pyramid, immediately after the Imperial Family. In the future, they would be responsible for overseeing the territory. After a short time, they arrived at the room, where his father and several other people were waiting. Four of them were Holy Imperial Knights as they stood behind Emperor. Lucien then walked to them and sat next to his father and looked at the ceremony. "Holy Imperial Knight N0.4 candidate Arima Kish¨­ came forward." Said Asmodeus as Arima Kish¨­ came before them and knelt on the right knee. "Do you swear to be loyal to the Holy Niflheim Empire and protect its subjects and nation?" And so the ceremony has begun. "I swear!" Answered Arima Kish¨­. "Then I, in my name as Asmodeus Etras di Aeon, Emperor of the Holy Niflheim Empire appoint you as N0.4 Holy Imperial Knight." Said Asmodeus with imposing voice. After that, Arima Kish¨­ went back and there was time for the next person. "Holy Imperial Knight N0.5 candidate Shen Tatara came forward" Said Asmodeus as Shen Tatara came before them and knelt on the right knee. "Do you swear to be loyal to the Holy Niflheim Empire and protect its subjects and nation?" "I swear!" Answered Shen Tatara. "Then I, in my name as Asmodeus Etras di Aeon, Emperor of the Holy Niflheim Empire appoint you as N0.5 Holy Imperial Knight." After that, the whole ceremony was already done. Asmodeus and Lucien remained in the room together with Commander Nalthos, while everyone else left for their own things. Arima and Tatara also left and waited for Commander Nalthos to finish the discussion. "Commander Nalthos how is the state of our soldiers?" Asked his father Asmodeus, as they were already very close to the God-Devil Plane, as they would arrive only after two and a half years. All Magitek Infantry Soldiers have already been upgraded and prepared. "We currently have 150 soldiers all at the Advanced-Phase Viscount-Rank in terms of Sacred Body Refining System and two of them reached even Early-Phase Count-Rank, all able prepared to fight. Still, in the language of their cultivation system, we are only around Type 5 Divine Warrior so it would be best for us to find some weaker worlds to process resources and raise our strength to a much higher level, or we will be annihilated utterly." All of the people present nodded as it was certainly the truth. "We now have only around two and a half years, so that is not much time and soon we would be arriving at the God-Devil Plane." ============================================= After discussing more important things regarding the army and other things, Lucien arrived back at his chambers, to find that Itori was reading some book about Sacred Body Refining System. After she finished the Sacred Devourification Process, she would immediately start cultivating and building the foundation for future cultivation. "Hello, my darling wife." Greeted Lucien as he entered the room, to which his wife showed a slight smile as she continued reading her book about the Sacred Body Refining System without a second thought. There were only around two years remaining till the arrival to the God-Devil Plane, so she needed every second available to improve herself to fight and be victorious. "So what now, it turned you into the diligent bookworm, my dear?" Asked Lucien an amused tone as he watched his beloved fiance¨¦ reading the book. "Not bookworm, but your mother talked about the future and that I will be required to fight on the frontlines. Also, I don''t like the fact that I am too much behind your other fiance¨¦, Seira. From mother-in-law I heard that she already reached the Viscount-Rank, already nearing the Count-Rank in a short time." Said Itori with a low voice as she looked at Lucien who was sitting in front of her, preparing to drink his favorite green tea. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "I see. Hmm... with enough resources and right cultivation methods, you could probably reacht eh Viscount-Rank in Sacred Body Refininement System in two or three years. In regards to Immortal Cultivation, that would heavily depend on your talent, but even with that, we could do something. For now, you need to focus on the Sacred Body Refining System to reach the Viscount-Rank before we reach the God-Devil Plane and then you will have a very good chance to quickly reach the higher stages of the cultivation." 166 Not right time To be even counted as a useful person in the God-Devil Plane one needed to be at around Type 7 Divine Warrior which was Early-Phase Count-Rank in the Sacred Body Refinement System. This was pretty hard to reach with current resources as even Lucien himself was only Initial-Phase of the Count-Rank. Initial-Phase of the Count-Rank was translated as the Type 6 Divine Warrior which could be classified as slightly stronger cannon fodder in the higher ends of the God-Devil Plane, while in the Aizhouma Universe of the God-Devil Plane, where they were heading, Type 6 Divine Warrior were sometimes in control of whole planets ironically. "The current plan is to reach the Outskirts of the Aizhouma Universe so we could gather some resources to push forward our cultivation to reach at least Advanced-Phase Count-Rank or Pinnacle-Phase which would allow us to roam the Aizhouma Universe freely. In regard to the Magitek Infantry, they would need to reach Second Level or in another word Advanced-Phase Count-Rank to be counted as usable in the conquering without any setbacks." Said Lucien with slight annoyance in his voice as he looked through the window of the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory and watched the endless void around them as they were in the Spatial Vortex traveling. His soon-to-be wife was looking at him with an intriguing expression as she watched and shared his worries. Worries for the family, Empire and The Race. "I know, mother-in-law told me about the current situation and it seems not very good for now." Said Itori with deep thought to which Lucien just lightly caressed her orange hair. Afterward, he was also thinking about the state of the Magitek Infantry and their plans for the conquest of the God-Devil Plane after the remaining two and a half years. Soon enough he decided to leave Itori to herself to study and prepare for the path of cultivation and he decided to accompany his another fiance¨¦, Seira who was training at another part of Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. ============================================= As Lucien walked through the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory, he finally found Seira training alone in the courtyard which belonged to her in the estate. She was wearing a tight combat suit and her beautiful long white hair was tied to the long ponytail. She had serious look in her eyes as she held her scythe and was repeating som basic moves art of scythe. Lucien just stood there and observed that the beauty of his fiacne¨¦ fighting apparently imaginary enemy who would even though his experiences and struggles end up defeated. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Hmm..." Seira was the type of person who would be talking too much unless needed. Usually, she would just be quiet and just say things like "hmm" or just nod her cute little head. "So how is your training going my beloved?" Asked Lucien his beloved as he sat down and wawed his right hand, signalizing her also to sit down beside him. "Good. Already nearing the Pinnacle-Phase Viscount-Ranka and soon, I would be able to reach the Count-Rank and begun Immortal Cultivation." Explained Seira after thining of something for a while. After a short time of intense starting at her fiance¨¦, she stood up and went close to him and hugged his neck like a koala. Lucien thought it looked incredibly cute. So he started petting her head in a gentle manner as they sat down on the training ground and observed the kaleidoscopic beauty of the endless void through the Space-Time Vortex. "What should be the name of our first child?" Asked Seira out of blue, like thunder from the clear sky. To this question, Lucien coughed as he didn''t know how to respond. Seira always had a talent for asking questions that are rather sensitive in nature in the most improper moment. And this time, she didn''t fail again. "Don''t you think it is too early for you to ask something like this?" Compared to Itori who was is bolder in certain things, Seira was more old-fashioned as she was a lady from the noble house so she didn''t share bad with Lucien till today. Another fact that didn''t help this was reality she was a bit training maniac similar to Lucien and their personalities were rather similar as not one was courageous enough to make the first move. In Lucien''s first experience in Itori, it was her who made the first move, if not then it would be probably much longer as Lucien wasn''t really good at these sorts of things. "Nn." Muttered Seira as she continued hugging his arm tightly. Lucien just sighed defeatedly as he was thinking about what to say to Seira who was still brainstorming about her own statement that she told without any proper preparation. "I don''t think now is the right time to have some offspring on our own. We are in a stage where there would be countless battles fought and many wars would be led. We can''t distract ourselves with this before solving out more important matters such as the successful establishment of our foundation or obtaining some plane for ourselves to conquer and rule." Answered Lucien after a long period of silence. Now turbulent times were before them, filled with battle and war. It was not the right time to have children right now. Now was more important to cultivate properly and amass resources to have the strength and then establish roots on some suitable plane so the Holy Niflheim Empire would be a real state not just migrating fleet of Magitek Dimensional Ships. "Nn." She listened and just silently nodded her head in agreement. Lucien''s words were certainly true as he said them. Now was not the right time. Everyone was now focusing on the cultivation or something else. Warriors were focusing on getting stronger and were constantly cultivation or training. Researchers were thinking about new ways how to improve Magitek Infantry and other Magitek wonders. "Don''t worry, soon in the future, my love." Said Lucien gently as he kissed her forehead. 167 Xiantian Realm of Void Path Several days later, Lucien decided to break through to the Xiantian Realm to have better combat abilities in the God-Devil Plane. Next Realm, the Xiantian Realm focused on spreading the energy through the body and every part of the body is filled with energy the cultivator cultivates. When cultivator is breaking through to the Xiantian Realm, the first thing he would do is organizing the energy stored in the Dantian. In the Houtian Realm, all energy is scattered in the Dantian, but in the Xiantian Realm, it would be organized which would strengthen overall abilities. Lucien was sitting cross-legged inside his training field and was absorbing the Void Energy from the outside to reach his absolute limit. Breaking through, was rather easy as the only thing needed was to reach the maximum capacity of the energy cultivated and then do follow your cultivation manual to organize them inside your Dantian, to give it a form. As he was slowly absorbing the Void Energy from the outside, suddenly all scattered void energy inside his Dantian began to spontaneously condense into a twisting vortex, slowly spinning around. The originally chaotic state suddenly became organized and Void Energy Vortex was born. He finally reached the Xiantian Realm. Immediately he followed instructions inside his Eternal Void Scripture and begun spitting the Void Energy Vortex inside his Dantian at the extreme speed. This step was very important and usually committed in most cultivation methods as this was possible only after reaching the Xiantia Real. Truthfully it was possible even at later, but effects won''t be much good. What Lucien was doing right now, was a purification of his own energy by using newly created Void Energy Vortex inside his Dantian, because right now the Void Vortex was only newly born, the effect of purification would be much better and process much easier compared to the usage of special treasures at later stages of cultivation. As the Void Energy Vortex was spinning at absolute speed, the quantity of energy was becoming lesser as it was losing impurities and other unwanted things inside the Void Energy Vortex were extinguished. The entire process was very long, and it took Lucien around one whole day to complete, but the results were also similarly amazing. All of his Void Energy inside his Void Energy Vortex were purified and were now many times stronger compared to before. Now only thing remained was to absorb more Void Energy to enlarge the Void Energy Vortex. Of course, every ounce of the Void Energy absorbed would be now automatically purified. And thus Lucien started cultivating again and after some time, he was ready to reach the Early-Phase Xiantian Realm by the instruction of the Eternal Void Scripture. Xiantian Realm was division was based on the percentage of completed spreading of the energy cultivated through the body. Initial-Phase was 0%, Early-Phase was 25%, Intermediate-Phase was equivalent to 50%, Advanced-Phase was 75% and finally, Pinnacle-Phase was 100% energy spread through the body. It was a very pleasant feeling that this cultivation realm gave him, slowly the Void Energy started spreading through his body and gave him a very good feeling. Even at the Xiantian Realm, cultivating the Void Energy won''t give any abilities or something like that, but he would be still able to harness Void Energy and use it in attacks, so he could now deal more damage. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. After several hours he managed to reach the Early-Phase Xiantian Realm, spreading the Void Energy exactly through 25% of his body. "Fascinating, now I should try my newly found abilities and see how much of the Void Energy can I use in the attacks." Said Lucien in a low voice as he materialized one kagune katana and started applying the Void Energy from his Dantian to his katana, soon enough whole katana was covered by Void Energy. Afterward, he performed simple slash and watched how the Void Energy created another slash, called Spatial Slash as space before he was starting cracking "Pretty good for the Early-Phase Xiantian Realm, in Jindan Realm I should be able to create small tears in the space. Unfortunately, right now I don''t have enough Void Energy to support more large-scale attacks..." Muttered Lucien as he observed the changes in the space and then he went back to the meditation as he was right now thinking about the future of his Immortal Path. Lucien wanted to start to cultivate the Ice Energy soonest as he could as it would give him many abilities and a variety of usage from the start. Compared the Void Energy, which had restricted usage from the lower stages, the Ice Energy had many uses even from the start. With Void Energy, Lucien could barely perform some attack. "You are always so hard-working darling." Said his beloved Itori as she stood in the training courtyard, clothed in the more regal robes as she observed her soon-to-be husband cultivating. "And you are like always, rather having fun than training, at least now you are started doing something useful." Countered Lucien as he remembered all those times, that she spent leisurely lazying around when they were still in that Low-Grade World. Itori wasn''t like Seira who was always training or cultivating, rather she liked lazying around and act like a spoiled cat. It was her hobby, we could say. "Why are you again lazying around? The moment I thought that you finally started acting responsible, but who would have thought it would leave as soon as it came?" Asked Lucien with a chuckle as he was looking before him to space. After all these years, he began to love watching the space, it gave him a very peaceful feeling. "I was already getting bored out of all that reading those boring books and all that... I went on the walk and have some fun." Hearing this, Lucien just shook his head and signaled her to come to him. She sat down and started playing with Lucien''s clothing and after she got bored with it, she started playing with his hair which was tied into the ponytail. 168 Ice Flame "I am telling you this once and again, you should rather start cultivating more properly. For one moment I have started thinking that you would be cultivating and training properly, but after just three days or so, you are already here and playing." Complained Lucien as he was still observing the space. ============================================= After Lucien spends some time with Itori, Lucien decided to start cultivating the Ice Energy as he got some Magitek Energy Crystals. All Magitek Energy Crystals were just pure energy, that could be converted to any elemental energy as Fire Energy, Lightning Energy and so on.. Absolute Ice Flame Scripture was a technique that focuses on cultivating the so-called Ice Flame of the Ice Element. It was very rare to find someone cultivating the Ice Flame as it had harsh requirements. An easier way to cultivate the Ice Flame was to combine the Ice Element and Flame Element created out of the Fire Energy, then you would be able to create Ice Flame. The harder way to cultivate the Ice Flam was just from Ice Energy alone and this was possible only with superior cultivation technique, which Lucien thanks to the Akashic Records had. Absolute Ice Flame Scripture cultivated the Ice Flame from just Ice Energy and because of that it required huge amounts of the Ice-type cultivation resources. Fortunately, Lucien had enough Magitek Energy Crystals with him to at least cultivate to reach Initial-Phase Xiantian Realm if he would be lucky enough. In this regard, his Void Energy could help as he could convert it to Ice Energy, though it would be a very hard thing to do and he wanted to do it only if there was no alternative as it is a very tiresome process. As he sat cross-legged, he took out several Magitek Energy Crystals and started the absorption process and then conversion process when he converted the Magitek Neutral Energy to the Ice Elemental Energy. It was similar to cultivating the Void Energy but alas very different. Compared to the Void Energy cultivation, where he was starting from the Void Seed inside his Dantian, now there was now small Ice Flam, it was burning very weakly and it''s freezing power was pitiful. And thus he kept feeding the Ice Flame one Magitek Energy Crystal after another and he kept crossing one Level of the Houtian Realm after another. It only took him several days to reach the 9th Level of the Houtian Realm. Now after several days of cultivating, he was preparing to break through to the 10th Level of the Houtian Realm. Fortunately for him, his meridians were stronger and wider, they could absorb, store and transport a bigger amount of energies. This was an immense advantage that Lucien achieved. Also, doing it first time with Void Energy was safer compared to doing it with Ice Energy. Lucien slowly started using his Ice Energy to nourish his meridians and energy channels by letting them absorb the Ice Energy, making them freeze and unfreeze, thus making them stronger. It was a different method compared to the usage of Void Energy. Lucien was a little bit fearful, using Destruction Energy to do this process as it could leave permanent damages if not done rightly. When energy is destructive in nature than doing this process is very dangerous. Void Energy isn''t that destructive in is prime nature, so the process was relatively safe and quick. Even though Ice Energy is more destructive, it wasn''t so much compared to the elements like fire or lightning. Another point of this thing was also, that the destructiveness of the elements, was an opportunity at the same time. So undergoing this process of strengthening with Destruction Energy would give him a very high effect. Now next step was reaching the 11th Level of the Houtian Realm as Lucien decided to break through to the Xiantian Realm. As Lucien had a terrifyingly strong physique, it was piece of cake for him to reach the 13th Level of the Houtian Realm in a row. The main reason was that breaking through each level of Houtian Realm, 10th to 13th Level, was a very hard toll on the body of the cultivator. So, if you have strong physique this problem, was eliminated and you can reach this level in a very short time. Afterward, the cultivation continued the same as before when he was cultivating the Void Energy. He started refining the Core Sea, by freezing and unfreezing it constantly until it was becoming stronger and stronger. 11th Level of the Houtian Realm. After one hour of repeating this annoying process, he finally managed to reach the 11th Level of the Houtian Realm in the Ice Energy cultivation. "Now my Core Sea was refined for the second time. Even now, my Dantian would be able to hold multiple jindans in the Jindan Realm. Just one more time and results would be far stronger and unpredictable at the same time." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Even Lucien didn''t know, how many jindans would be his Dantian able to hold if it was refined three times, especially when the refining process was done with Void Energy and Destruction Energy which belonged to the Primordial Category. As Lucien already created the Sea of Perception, so this level was basically skipped as he was only nurturing the Celestial Sense with his Ice Energy and he quickly reached the 12th Level of the Houtian Realm. To reach the 13th Level of the Houtian Realm, Lucien did the same this as with the Void Energy. He just started refining his body with Ice Energy in a specific way according to the Absolute Ice Flame Scripture and it was done in a matter of tens of minutes. Now he was ready to break through to the Xiantian Realm in the Immortal Cultivation of the Ice Element. "I should now take a short break before continuing the cultivation. I will break through to the Xiantian Realm after I have recovered enough." Said Lucien as he opened his eyes after finishing this season of cultivation. 170 Telos Suddenly as Lucien was admiring the beauty of the Orbital Strategic Defense Fortress alarms sounded through every Magitek Ship and Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory repeating only one simple announcement. "Attention! Attention! Attention! Estimated arrival through the Space-Time Vortex to the God-Devil Plane, Aizhouma Universe is predicted for one hour exactly. Prepare for arrival with activation of the weapon system, Magitek Infantry Soldiers. For every warrior able to fight, gather at your respective spots in their Magitek Ships." Lucien shivered in excitement when he heard this announcement. Soon after it sounded again once more. "Attention! Attention! Attention! Estimated arrival through the Space-Time Vortex to the God-Devil Plane, Aizhouma Universe is predicted for one hour exactly. Prepare for arrival with activation of the weapon system, Magitek Infantry Soldiers. For every warrior able to fight, gather at your respective spots in their Magitek Ships." Time for preparation and cultivation was done, now there was only war awaiting them and to prove that their race is the strongest one. They had fifteen years to prepare, now the entire Aizhouma Universe would see the power of the Holy Niflheim Empire. As this announcement was heard through the Magitek Fleet, Lucien immediately went to his chambers to equip his battle armor of old together with Hollow Mask which wasn''t covering his face right now is it wasn''t necessary. Still, wearing that mask became somewhat akin to tradition. ============================================= After Lucien armed himself with armor and Hollow Mask, he went directly to one of the Magitek Corvettes, which served as the command ship for the ''fleet'' and prepared several tens of soldiers for landing. They would be soon arriving at the God-Devil Plane, which meant, they would be landing at some planet to harvest resources. As Lucien was standing in the commanding center of one of the Magitek Corvettes, he was watching the Space-Time Vortex and the countdown till the finish. Soon enough as he knew and saw, the Space-Time Vortex came to the end, and the portal was opened and they were already in the God-Devil Plane. Currently, they were located on the outskirts of the Aizhouma Universe of the God-Devil Plane so this place should be relatively safe for them. "Scan this Solar System for any plants and asteroids that have natural resources." Commanded Lucien to one of the soldiers piloting the Magitek Corvette. After the scanning process started it took only several minutes to find out that there were around thirty planets located here, while none of them had any sights of life. This meant, that they were relatively safe from fights, but Lucien knew they should be careful as Magitek Dreadnoughts were only of the Noble-Grade so some stronger creatures or cultivators would have no problem hiding from their scanning. "Go to the biggest planet of the System and station the Orbital Strategic Defense Fortress there. Afterward, we will begin the landing process on the planet and start a search for the resources." Now the most important thing was to secure the biggest planet and construct there temporary base for the construction of Magitek Infantry and Magitek Vessels, especially Magitek Corvettes. Currently, their army was small, only 250 soldiers were that of Sacred Devourer Ghouls or Vampires, while the rest of the army was created by the Magitek Infantry Soldiers, numbering over 1,000. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. So all ships were going to the biggest planet in the system and also with them huge Orbital Strategic Defense Fortress which was completed by the time they were traveling through the Space-Time Vortex. "Your Highness, we are getting signals from the planet, apparently there is life when we have scanned it from the closer distance." Reported one of the soldiers to Lucien, who just have a bloodthirsty grin on his face as he observed the screens in the command room. "Continue with landing, mobilize all soldiers and Magitek Infantry and prepare for an attack. I will go and bring the Holy Imperial Knights to land with the army." Commanded Lucien as he went to Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory where was meeting between Holy Imperial Knights and the Emperor. In the end, it was decided that Commander Nalthos, Arseahr, Arima and Shen would be going while Zelilios and Loruel would be staying here to protect the rest of the population. Both Commander Nalthos and Arseahr long ago reached the Count-Rank in the Sacred Refining Systema and their body prowess was terrifying and started the Immortal Cultivation and reached the Pinnacle-Phase Xiantian-Realm while Arima and Shen reached also, Count-Rank while their Immortal Cultivation was only around the Houtian Realm as they reached the Count-Rank not long ago. ============================================= After one or two hours they have successfully banded together with their soldiers and army. All soldiers wore classical white outfits with partial armor covering their weak spots and behind them were around one thousand Magitek Infantry Soldiers beautifully lined up. All of the Magitek Infantry Soldiers were of the Advanced-Phase Viscount-Rank which was around Type 5 Divine Warrior in the Divine Warrior Cultivation System of the God-Devil Plane. They have managed to secure a small base at the side of the mountain, a very good place and could be easily defended against mutated beasts, which roamed this planet. Thanks to the precise scans of the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory, they found out that this planet was full of the mutated beasts, which was rather a good opportunity to increase their RC Level and advance further on the path of the Sacred Refining System and also, harvest cores of the mutated beasts which could be refined into the Magitek Energy Crystals. "Secure the surrounding and kill every mutated beast in the sight of hundred kilometers of the fortress. Name this planet as Telos, as it is a huge titan planet. Compared to the Earth it is at least thirty times bigger than it." Ordered Lucien, the planet now named Telos was a colossal planet and it was full of the mutated beasts which made it as a hostile environment for most of the civilization even though the mutated beasts were usually only Type 4 Divine Warriors which was Early/Intermediate-Phase Viscount-Rank or Early/Intermediate-Phase Xiantian Realm. 171 Foundation of Niflheim 1 Year Later One year went by from the time when Niflheim''s arrived at the Aizhouma Universe of the God-Devil Plane and landed on the planet Telos. They have built huge Magitek Fortification, full of the new Magitek Advanced technologies and countless other structures were built as it was decided that the planet Telos would serve as the base for their operations in the God-Devil Plane. The biggest change that happened was in Magitek Technology as now when they had a practically unlimited supply of energy sources and metals, Magitek Technology started to bloom. Numbers of the Magitek Infantry are now ten-times bigger and all of them were on the Initial-Phase Count-Rank. Numbering overwhelming 17,000 Magitek Infantry Soldiers with more and more being produced and used as the War Machine of the Holy Niflheim Empire to conquer surrounding planets. Currently, the whole Telos System was under the control of the Holy Niflheim Empire and their fleet also grew to the beautiful 25 Magitek Corvettes, with each capable of the huge destructive power. Fortress Telos was huge Magitek structure, encompassing entire mountain and several kilometers around, guarded by tens of Magitek Towers and hundreds of Magitek Infantry Soldiers were patrolling everywhere where one could see. Lucien was standing in the command room of the Fortress Telos as he was watching the Magitek Factories which were constructing new Magitek Infantry Soldiers and Magitek Dreadnoughts, as they were slowly preparing to expand to other planets. Currently, only planet Telos was under the direct control of the Holy Niflheim Empire, while other planets were already scanned and they would be conquering them soon. That would mean more resources and more resources meant bigger army.4 During this one year, Lucien managed to reach Pinnacle-Phase of the Count-Rank in the Sacred Refining System by devouring countless blood essences made from many and many mutated beats. They have also managed to raise the overall strength of the army to the Early-Phase Count-Rank. "During this year I have focused more on the cultivation of my body rather than Immortal Path. Soon, I would be breaking through to the Marquise-Rank and creating my Zanpakut¨­, which would be surely katanas." Muttered Lucien as he was thinking about the future. As he was observing the Magitek Factories beneath him, suddenly he heard some noise behind the door and it sounded like some woman was screaming something there. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Brother! Big Brother, your guards are refusing to let me in!! Hello." Lucien sighed as he knew that his little sister was wreaking havoc again. She was extremely mischievous and was practically causing troubles everywhere she went. When she was in the military district, it could mean only one thing. That she again escaped her attendants and went here to look for him as everyone else in the family was currently indisposed. His grandfather was in the secluded cultivation as he was trying to break through to the Yuanying of the Immortal Path from the Jindan Realm. His father and mother were busy managing the domestic affairs of the Empire while he was in charge of all military operations of the Empire, mainly due to his love for battle and war. His wives, Itori and Seira were both cultivating. Itori was busy trying to reach the necessary cultivation to even participate in fights and while her talent was pretty good, she was still several steps behind geniuses like Arima or Shen. Seira was in secluded cultivation as she was trying to reach the higher realm in the Immortal Path. "Let her in." Commanded Lucien as guards let his sister Artemia in. She was already grown up, as she was already sixteen years old, with beautiful long white hair and shining azure blue eyes. "Artemia what are you doing here? I have told you countless times that the entire military district is out of the question for you till you reach the Count-Rank for now. Also, as Princess, you shouldn''t be running here and there without your attendants and right now you should training." Said Lucien when to Artemia, but apparently she ignored him absolutely as she only grinned at him with his teeth showing out. "But there are so many interesting things to see..." Said his sister with a sad tone as she pouted cutely. Suddenly as they were standing there in the commanding tower of the fortress, an alarm sounded through the entire fortress. It was an alarm of the high grade, and everyone was surprised at first but then strong bloodthirst started forming as Sacred Devourer Ghouls and Vampires were both battle races that thirsted for blood and battle. "It appears that mutated beast horde is closing to the fortress... this is troublesome, by the level of alarm there must bee even several Peak Type 9 Mutated Beast which is comparable to the Pinnacle-Phase Count-Rank." Muttered Lucien in a concerned voice, not that it would be problematic if they woke up Old monsters as his grandfather or Old Dracul, but they were both in secluded cultivation and calling them to dispose of several Pinnacle-Phase Count Rank would be embarrassing as they already have several other people who have reached the Pinnacle-Phase Count Rank. "Artemia, immediately go to the Anor Londo, while it is only under construction, it is still Imperial Place and very strong Magitek Structure. Guards take her there!" Said Lucien to her as he ordered guards to take his sister to the Imperial Palace. The construction of the Imperial Palace started not long ago, as it would be base on the Imperial Capital of Yharnam. Imperial Capital of Yharnam would be a Magitek Structure, when completed it would surely surpass Imperial-Grade Artifact. It would take many years for them to complete as it required many precious materials and countless Magitek Energy Crystals. "Be safe Big Brother." Muttered Artemia as she knew that this was a serious situation and not a place for her to do some mischievous pranks or other things. Lucien then went to the command center to look at the situation of the mutated beast horde. 172 Mutated Beast Horde "What is the status of the mutated beast horde?" Asked Lucien to the people in the commanding center as they already had everything prepared for Lucien that he would need as he was the commander of the Armed Forces of the Holy Niflheim Empire as for now there wasn''t anyone more suitable for the role. "The mutated beast horde is around 100km from the first line of defense, they were picked up by the Orbital Strategic Defense Fortress as it is constantly scanning the entire planet for threats. It is compromised from around 30,000 to 35,000 mutated beasts of various origin, while most of them being around Type 6 to Type 7. Only tens of them are Type 8 and around ten are Type 9. Leading them is a weird mutated version of a lion, called Double-Headed Flame Lion that is Peak-Grade Type 9 Mutated Beast, apparently, one of the rulers of the planet Telos before we came." Reported one of the staff members respectfully to Lucien. "It would be best if we could just Orbital Strategic Defense Fortress to kill them all at once, but that would destroy also their bodies and Nuclei which are precious materials for blood-essences and Magitek Energy Crystals respectively, so this option is out. Hmm... mobilize entire Magitek Infantry and all of the Imperial Army. Call also, all Holy Imperial Knights and tell all of them to gather at first defense line." After a short time of strategizing Lucien decided on a strategy. Though they were on numerical disadvantage, they had superior strength. Every member of the Imperial Army while on Early-Phase Count-Rank could easily kill Intermediate-Phase Count-Rank, which translated as Type 6 Divine Warrior killing Type 7 Divine Warrior, this was mainly due to their superior body strength, Immortal Cultivation and Weapon cultivation. "Magitek Infantry on the front, they would be cannon fodders and Imperial Army behind them. Each member of the Holy Imperial Knights would choose the part of the line and kill everything above Type 7, meaning they would be responsible for protecting soldiers from the Type 8 and Type 9 mutated beasts. Tell Fleet, to send four Magitek Corvettes to provide support for the ground troops and activate all Magitek Towers and other defensive measures at the First Defensive Line to maximum." As Lucien finished giving orders he went at top speed to the First Defense Line, which was already swarming with Magitek Infantry Soldiers that were jumping out of the Magitek Airships and taking up their position, while waiting for the enemies. Lucien was the first person to arrive and after him, it was Commander Nalthos to arrive. "Hey, little brat." Shouted Nalthos as he saw Lucien standing there and observing the operation. "Teacher Nalthos." Greeted Lucien with a small bow. Nalthos was Lucien''s teacher on many things ranging from swordsmanship and Kenjutsu to the military strategy and art of war. "Teacher Nalthos, I will take on the Double-Headed Flame Lion to test my skills. You together with other Holy Imperial Knights would kill everything else at Type 8 and Type 9 to prevent unnecessary danger for our troops." Said Lucien as Nalthos just nodded his head in agreement. After one hour of waiting, finally, the rest of the army arrived together with the rest of the Holy Imperial Knights. All of them were already on their position while waiting for the mutated beast horde to arrive and for the battle to start. Magitek Dreadnoughts were already hovering in the orbit of the planet, waiting for their moment to strike. Only after twenty more minutes of impatient waiting, the mutated beast horde finally arrived. It was imposing sigh at them, as tens of thousands of mutated beasts were closing to their position, they were of various species and sizes, as they were preparing to attack the Holy Niflheim Empire under the leadership of the Double-Headed Flame Lion that was Peak-Grade Type 9 mutated beast. "Send the order for Magitek Towers to start long-range attacks." Ordered Lucien as tens of Magitek Towers started shooting laser-like attacks from their Magitek Crystals, that were tearing through the mutated beast horde like a hot knife through the butter. Mutated beasts only roared in the despair and pain, as they were mercilessly killed with just one hit from the Magitek Towers. To this, Type 9 mutated beasts ferociously shot forward to the defensive line as they wanted to destroy the Magitek Towers, only to be stopped by the Holy Imperial Knights who were waiting on the stand by. The real battle didn''t start yet, only top powerhouses engaged themselves in a fight while the main armies were still on stand by. The mutated beast horde was closing to the defensive line at fast speed and Imperial Army and Magitek Infantry Soldiers were waiting for their enemy to arrive. Same went for commanders of the battle, Lucien Etras von Aeon and Double-Headed Flame Lion that were just observing each other from the distance. "Signal for the Magitek Assassins to go and assassinate all Control-Type mutated beasts and all Command-Type mutated beasts. Send in half of the Magitek Assassins." Lucien issued another order, for more than one thousand Magitek Assassins to assassinate all dangerous mutated beasts in the large-scale conflict. Control-Type mutated beasts were troublesome from the aspect they could control directly other monsters, but more troublesome were Command-Types. They had superior intelligence that could easily outmatch the biggest geniuses and could easily command the mutated beasts army, so it was important to dispose of them at the start of the battle before they could cause them some serious damages. Then thousand of Magitek Assassins went at top speed to assassinate all of their targets, fortunately, there weren''t many of the Control-Type and Command-Type monsters here and all of the Magitek Assassins were of the Initial-Phase Count-Rank same as the Type 6 mutated beasts, though their biggest advantage was superior speed as their true speed was comparable to the Early-Phase Count-Rank / Type 7 and also their weaponry that was suited for assassination. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. 173 Double-Headed Flame Lion When Assassin-Class Magitek soldiers attacked, true chaos resulted in the mutated beast horde, as they virtually killed over 90% of all Control-Type and Command-Type monster together with more than three thousand of normal mutated beasts. Though this came with the loss of more than half of those Assassin-Class Magitek soldiers as they were destroyed in the battle. "Send in Armored Swordsman-Class Magitek Infantry to attack and order Imperial Army to act from behind them and to be careful, rather for the Infantry to be destroyed than our clansmen to die. From what I know, this Double-Headed Flame Lion should be the ruler of this continent, other than him, there is only some Nine-Headed Frost Wyrm on another continent that is slightly stronger, fortunately, they are not interfering with each other or we would be in way worse situation than now." Ordered Lucien, as he turned his kakugan on and congealed on katana in his right hand and unleashed his Ukaku wings, currently, he had two-pairs of crystal-like wings sprouting from his back as he was hovering in the air. Then he coated his katana in the Void Energy and took out special Magitek Device that he threw high in the air as it transformed into weird shape and started harvesting energy from the surroundings. The energy it was harvesting was basically the energy Heaven and Earth influenced with Dao of Destruction, making it Destruction Energy. Fortunately for Lucien, he already tapped slightly into Dao of Destruction as he was pretty good at causing it, so his comprehension of it grew rather quickly. This magitek device would harvest Destruction Energy that Lucien could absorb and start cultivating the Destruction Energy. Another thing that made cultivation of the Destruction Energy hard compared to other types, was that here was the comprehension of corresponding Dao required. "Come on, small cat, I will deal with you right now." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Said Lucien with a wicked grin as his Ukaku wings started shooting tens of crystal projectiles some counted in the Ice Energy and some in the Void Energy as they killed every mutated beast they hit. With his provocative statement, he caught the immediate attention of the Double-Headed Flame Lion as it took it as something unacceptable as he was the ruler of this continent and not invaders from the space. "Roaaarrr, Roaaaar" Both heads of the Double-Headed Flame Lion roared at the same type as the Double-Headed Flame Lion charged at the Lucien at top speed. Double-Headed Flame Lion was also flying so it was understandable that their fight would take place in the air. "Filthy creature, how dare you to disrespect this king!! Come and face your doom! Roooaaarrrr!!" Lucien just chuckled seeing this as he started shooting even more crystal projectiles at the Double-Headed Flame Lion to further agitate him. Also, though the crystal projectiles weren''t very strong against an enemy like this, they still managed to injure the Double-Headed Flame Lion to some extent. Double-Headed Flame Lion also started his own counter-attacks, by shooting huge wawes of flames at Lucien and also trying to strike him down with his huge pawn. Double-Headed Flame Lion was a huge creature, he was over twenty meters high and around fifty meters long. With two ferocious-looking heads and golden-colored fur with crimson patterns, Double-Headed Flame Lion looked imposing and very dominating. Lucien just dodged the attacks of the Double-Headed Flame Lion with ease as he flew close to his enemy, trying to attack him with his sword attacks. Lucien coated his katana in the Ice Energy as the Double-Headed Flame Lion was of the Fire Element. And thus Lucien performed beautiful slash filled with Ice Energy exactly as one of the heads of the Double-Headed Flame Lion, slashing through the both of its eyes, basically indisposing one of its heads. As the attack was filled with Ice Energy, it even froze the heads, dealing more additional damage to the Double-Headed Flame Lion. The Double-Headed Flame Lion roared in pain as both of its eyes on one of his heads were destroyed and tried to attack Lujcien with mad attacks of his flames and with his pawns, but it was in vain, as Lucien was very fast with his wings so it was not any problem for him to escape and dodge all attacks from the Double-Headed Flame Lion. Now that Lucien was flying high above the Double-Headed Flame Lion, he started shooting countless crystal projectiles from his Ukaku wings at the Double-Headed Flame Lion, causing him many smaller injuries, but in very high amount. In the other parts of the battlefield, most of the fights between Holy Imperial Knights and Type 9 mutated beasts have already reached conclusions with the obvious victory of the Holy Imperial Knights. Nalthos has managed to swiftly dispose of another Peak-Grade Type 9 mutated beast that was a little weaker than the Double-Headed Flame Lion while other members of the Holy Imperial Knight Order has killed their respective targets with many Type 8 mutated beasts as well. The entire battlefield was already brimming with corpses of the mutated beats or destroyed Magitek Infantry Soldiers. Countless mutated beasts were killed by the Imperial Army with ease and thanks to the presence of the Magitek Infantry Soldiers, the Imperial Army had zero losses, while all losses were done to the Magitek Infantry Soldiers, though that was not any problem they could be easily rebuilt. Armies of the Holy Niflheim Empire were systematically eradicating all of the mutated beast armies, killing every mutated beast in sight. Soon enough, only small parts of the mutated beasts army remained alive compared to the grand army that arrived at first. As Lucien observed the battlefield, he knew that it was time to end the battle with the Double-Headed Flame Lion right now, and thus he used his energy reserves to its maximum, as he threw his katana straight at the injured head of the Double-Headed Flame Lion, hitting the target, tearing through the head of the Double-Headed Flame Lion. Not ending his attack, he flew towards the Double-Headed Flame Lion at top speed as he congealed another katana and slashed at another head of the Double-Headed Flame Lion, severing the head in the process as his katana was coated in the Void Energy in top density. 174 Aftermath the horde After the Double-Headed Flame Lion fell, everyone knew that the battle was over. When the leader of the mutated beast horde died, all mutated beasts instinctively knew that the battle was over and that it was time to escape, there was no other choice. So, most of the surviving mutated beasts started to run from the battlefield as they knew that the battle was over, though the soldiers of the Imperial Army and Holy Imperial Knight Order were closely pursuing them and killing every mutated beast that was running from the battlefield. Assassin-Class Magitek Soldiers were also deployed in the purse, now there were around one thousand and five hundred Assassin-Class Magitek Soldiers that were deployed. Soon enough, after four more hours, every mutated beast was killed and they could start scavenging works on the battlefield as the corpses of the mutated beasts were a precious treasure to the Holy Niflheim Empire as they were base material for the blood essences and their Nuclei were manufactured into the Magitek Energy Crystals. "Commander Nalthos how is the state of the Imperial Army and the Magitek Infantry?" Asked Lucien with some concern visible in his voice, especially towards the Imperial Army as they weren''t that numerous. Magitek Infantry wasn''t that big of a problem, as they could be rebuilt in any Magitek Factory in a short amount of time. "From the side of the Imperial Army we have zero losses only some injured but that is all. Magitek Infantry suffered a lot, almost half of our Magitek Infantry Soldiers were destroyed in the battle, and the rest are damaged to some extent." Reported Commander Nalthos. The results were rather good, considering that they were attacked by ruled of the continent as it was Peak-Grade Type 9 mutated beast, together with other Type 9 mutated beasts and tens of thousands of mutated beasts army. "That is not much problem, they could be repaired or built anew. Now is the most important thing to secure the continent and attack another one to dispose of that Black Wyrm that is the overlord of that one. Then we would have entire planet Telos under our control and finally construct the defense ring over the planet." Answered Lucien as he was observing the battlefield, at least what was left from it. Almost all defense measures such as Magitek Towers or others were completely destroyed under the number of the mutated beast horde and everywhere were corpses of the mutated beasts or destroyed Magitek Infantry Soldiers. When they fully controlled this planet, only then Holy Niflheim Empire could fully use their all resources and begun expansion towards other planets and objects. Currently, they were controlling the entire system, which was called Telos System, there were many asteroids rich on minerals and metals, and some planets with mutated beasts. For those planets, they planned to have them full of mutated beasts as farms for blood essences and meat. In the Aizhouma Universe, their strength was probably not bad, considering the fact, they had several powerhouses on the Peak-Grade Type 9 Divine Warrior and two people on Type 10 as his grandfather and patriarch of Vampire Clan broke to the Marquise-Rank. "After one month of recuperation, we will launch an attack on that dammed Wyrm, before it will attack us. Only Holy Imperial Knights would participate in that attack so we would dispose of them quickly and swiftly." Lucien was fearing situation when that Peak-Grade Type 9 mutated beast would launch an attack on them with their army as they were recuperating. Of course, they could dispose of them easily, but they would still do some damage with their overwhelming numbers so it was better to attack them right now. ============================================= One week later Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Whole last week Lucien spent refining blood essences and simultaneously devouring them to increase his Body Cultivation using the Sacred Body Refining System. His aim was to reach the level of ten million RC cells to break through to the Marquise-Rank. By reaching the Marquise-Rank he would undergo major evolution as his grandfather said. Reaching the Marquise-Rank meant being closer to their originator Sacred Devourer. Basically, it is about fusing kakuja and kagune into the body, creating an extremely terrifying body and obtaining something akin to fake immortality, as can still be killed though it will be either by using much higher power than you or some unordinary means. Additionally, with this merge, you would obtain your own Zanpakut¨­ or something like that. Basically you will use part of your soul as material together with parts of kagune and kakuja. As Lucien was sitting cross-legged and devouring one blood essence after another, all of them refined from the slaughtered beast horde, he suddenly felt that he reached his limit. After some more time and devouring some blood essences, he managed to reach the Pinnacle of the Marquise-Rank, reaching the RC Level of the 10,000,000. Now was the most important step of the breaking through, which was a merge of the Kakuja and Kagune into the bones of the cultivator. This step was always considered as extremely dangerous as the process was very hard and painful. Lucien started calling out his kakuja, which looked like huge biomass of some matter and his kakuhou organs were also trembling. The process of fusion between his skeletal structure and kakuja and kagune was a rather slow process. One hour later, the biomass was already half as small compared to before and it was slowly getting smaller and smaller, as the biomass of the kagune and kakuja was constantly being devoured by Lucien constantly. The first process of breaking through was merging with the skeleton of the cultivator, while the second step of the breaking through to the Marquise-Rank was the creation of the Zanpakut¨­ like katanas out of his kagune and kakuja with his soul as another material. The process of merging with kakuja, kagune and kakuhou was very weird feeling, but at the same time as it was giving him an immense pain, it was also very pleasant feeling, as he felt that his physique was already around 25-times more powerful compared to the Pinnacle-Count Rank, and he wasn''t even in the Marquise-Rank. 175 Wonder of Endless Void The distance between the Count-Rank and Marquise-Rank in the Sacred Body Refining System was immense. It was the truth, that the cultivator will permanently lose the ability to congeal kakuja and kagune as it became one with the skeletal structure of the cultivator, but the gains were far more terrifying. After Lucien finished absorbing the Kakuja and Kagune into his skeletal structure, he felt his physique was immensely powerful, now he was confident, he would be able to massacre thousands upon thousands of Count-Ranked body refiners, like nothing. Now there was the harder part of the breaking through, and that was the creation of the Zanpakut¨­. To this Lucien carefully manipulated the remaining biomass and remnants of his kakuhou inside his body to form exactly three katanas, one of them was primary katana that was icy blue in color with an azure blue blade. On the blade, there were three Kanji symbols carved in the purple color. The other two were pitch black katanas, with red and purple lines through the blade. They were a bit shorter compared to the primary katana, as they were used for the Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨±. Now that Lucien finished congealing all three Zanpakut¨­s out of his biomass, he started the last step that was called Soul Forging. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. He started fusing part of his soul to the three katanas and after one or two hours the whole process was done, and Lucien officially reached the Marquise-Rank in the Sacred Body Refining System. The physical ability of his body was now extremely terrifying, he was now confident to survive even in the space without any trouble, of course, we are talking about ordinary space in the Planetary Plane such as the God-Devil Plane, and not the Endless Void. In regard to his kagune, as Lucien had two of them, he could basically which one to use as the building material for the fusion and the which kakuhou to sacrifice. As he was pretty fond of the Ukaku wings, he chose to use the Rinkaku kakuhou as the building material for the breaking through. "Hmm... now that we have several Marquise-Ranked powerhouses, there shouldn''t be any problem for us moving through the whole Aizhouma Universe absolutely unhindered. The real test of our abilities would be if the rest of the God-Devil Plane learned that the God-Devil System is located here, then even with our current strength would be far from sufficient." That was Lucien''s biggest worry, as he had a faint feeling that soon, whole God-Devil Plane would learn about God-Devil System being here, and he feared that they would attack his place for it. Fortunately, they had around one hundred years or so, till the Tower of Babel would open on Earth, that was leading to the God-Devil System, so they had enough time to construct huge fleet and produce many experts to protect the borders of the Holy Niflheim Empire. When Lucien was finished with cultivating the Sacred Body Refining System, he took out the Magitek Device that was harvesting the Destruction Energy on the battlefield earlier. In the small steam-punk looking device, one of the wonders of the Magitek Technology, there was an enormous amount of the Destruction Energy stored. He slowly started absorbing the Destruction Energy from the Magitek Device to his Dantian. Unknown to Lucien, the Destruction Seed inside his Dantian started reacting violently and was absorbing the Energy at astonishing speed. After the Seed absorbed the Destruction Energy, it was refined and then Lucien started to feel the continuous breakthroughs until he reached the 9th Level of Houtian Realm. After he reached the 9th Level of Houtian Realm, he checked the amount of the Destruction Energy and felt it still was enough for him to break through to the Xiantian Realm at least, this would greatly enhance his combat prowess, as Void Energy wasn''t suited for offensive, at least not now. And Ice Energy was rather supportive time, not talking about the fact, at the lower stages of the Immortal Cultivation it was rather useless. Its strength would be shown at the higher stages when powerful Ice Immortal Cultivator could freeze whole planets or realms with a wave of his hand. Lucien started the process of strengthening the meridians and energy channels of his body with Destruction Energy, compared to the previous times, this was far harder and dangerous. Now it was about, Destruction and Rebirth, this was the ultimate form of the strengthening. It could be achieved only when Cultivator had once strengthened his meridians and energy channels, and then he used the Destruction Energy strengthening method. Lucien felt, how the meridians and energy channels in his body were broken apart by the ferocious Destruction Energy, only to be reformed by the combination of three of the Immortal Energies he cultivated, namely, Ice, Void and Destruction. They worked in perfect harmony in rebuilding the meridians and energy channels. Soon, enough after an enormous amount of pain and time, all of his meridians and energy channels were refined and rebirthed, gifting Lucien, one of the wonders of the Endless Void. Void Genesis Meridians. "Fascinating, from what I have read, our ancestor Sacred Devourer Xenos had same Meridians, though he obtained them with the help of some artifacts." Void Genesis Meridians were the best type of meridians across the Endless Void. What made them so rare, was the fact that the person, can''t be born with them, they could be only obtained. Obtained by someone of the powerfull Void Bloodline and holder of Void Energy, who did essentially the same things as Lucien when he started cultivating. "Now that I have, Void Genesis Meridians, I don''t have to fear to cultivate the Destruction Energy and damaging my meridians by it." Many cultivators of the Destruction Energy essentially crippled themselves by cultivating it. It was a widely known fact, that Destruction Energy could easily destroy or seriously damage your meridians if you don''t have them refined and very strong. It is best if cultivator cultivating the Destruction Immortal Energy has at least Primordial Meridians. 176 Flow of time After Lucien broke through to the 10th, he continued his cultivation in absorbing the Destruction Energy from the Magitek Device. Refining his Core Sea, was a similarly painful process, but as he already endured the strengthening the meridians and energy channels, it was like nothing to him. At 12th Level, he again strengthened his Sea of Perception and after that, he reached the 13th Level of the Houtian Realm. Now only thing, that remained was to reach the Xiantian Realm in the Destruction Immortal path. As he had done this process, two times already, it wasn''t that hard for Lucien to repeat it, only albeit the pain was tens of times compared to the previous two times. As Lucien was cultivating the Destruction Immortal Path accordingly to the Abyssal Destruction Holy Scripture. Similarly to the breaking to the Xiantian Realm in the Void Immortal Path using the Eternal Void Scripture, and breaking to the Xiantian Realm in the Ice Immortal Path with Absolute Ice Flame Scripture, in both cases Lucien created something called, Immortal Anomaly, which is a very rare occurrence when cultivating the Immortal Path. Currently, when Lucien was breaking through to the Xiantian Realm in the Destruction of Immortal Path, he was also creating the Destructuction Immortal Anomaly. ============================================= Name: Lucien Etras von Aeon Occupation: Executor of Akashic Records, Crown Prince of the Holy Niflheim Empire Race: Sacred Devoured Ghoul Bloodline: Sacred Devourer Meridians: Void Genesis Meridians - RC Type: Ukaku (4-winged) RC Level: 0 Body Cultivation: Initial-Phase Marquise-Rank Kagune Rank: 3rd-Tier Imperial-Grade - Immortal Cultivation: Pinnacle-Phase Xiantian Realm * Destruction - Initial-Phase Xiantian Realm * Void - Pinnacle-Phase Xiantian Realm * Ice - Initial-Phase Xiantian Realm - Dantian: Void Vortex Ice Flame Destruction Orb - Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Abilities: Sacred Devourer - Ability to devour any types of energy, bloodlines or bodies. It strengthens the host by some amount. - Eight Celestial Inner Gates: The Gate of Opening - Celestial Reflexes The Gate of Healing - Celestial Regeneration The Gate of Life - Celestial Dual Hearts - Skills: Kenjutsu - Dao: Lesser Void Dao Lesser Ice Dao Lesser Destruction Dao Lesser Sword Dao - Mastered - Immortal Cultivation Techniques: Eternal Void Scripture: Xiantian Realm Absolute Ice Flame Scripture: Xiantian Realm Abyssal Destruction Holy Scripture: Xiantian Realm - Body Cultivation Techniques: Sacred Body Refining Scripture: Marquise-Rank Eight Celestial Inner Gates: The Gate of Life (3nd Gate) - Combat Techniques: Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨± - Cross Crest: Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace ============================================= Now Lucien finally managed to reach the Marquise-Rank, so in the Aizhouma Universe of the God-Devil Plane, there were very little people that could threaten him for now. Of course, the threat form the rest of the Aizhouma Universe was not gone, but now that Lucien reached the Marquise-Rank, he was feeling that their chances were much better. By calculations, Initial Marquise-Rank was comparable to the Type 10 Divine Warrior, as Marquise-Rank could be called as the true start of the Sacred Body Refining System, only by reaching this stage one would enter the true world of cultivation of the Sacred Body Refining System. After Lucien finished cultivating season, he immediately went to the Military Headquarters, to plan the next steps of the Holy Niflheim Empire. The first thing he did, was he ordered all free Holy Imperial Knights, to attack another continent and kill the Peak-Grade Type 9 Mutated Beast Black Wyrm, as it was still threatening to the foundation of the Empire. Disposing of the Peak-Grade Type 9 mutated beast took only a few days, and after they also killed off all Type 9 and Type 8 mutated beasts. After one month, Lucien sent the rest of the Army there, to clean out the other continent, so they could have full control of the planet Telos. After taking control of whole planet, they would clear out other planets in the system, and begun the incubation time. And only after that, another expansion came to consideration. And in such manner, year after year passed. During these years, Holy Niflheim Empire focused on digesting all resources they obtained, though it went rather slowly, due to their low numbers. There were only one thousand citizens of the Empire, and not everything could be done by Magitek Constructs. So their progress was very low but acceptable, fortunately, they had countless Magitek Soldiers, that were used as the workforce. Still, the expansion of Military forces was going very well. They had managed to construct a very formidable army of more than half a million Magitek Soldiers. To be more precise, currently, there were 500,000 of Armored Swordsman-Type, Early-Phase Count comparable to the Type 7 Divine Warrior. Next, there were 100,000 Armored Assassin-Type, Early-Phase Count comparable to the Type 7 Divine Warrior. All of them were upgraded from the Initial-Phase to the Early-Phase, thanks to large energy deposits they found and digested on the various planets and astral bodies of the Telos Prime into the Magitek Energy Crystals. Also, there was a new type of unit created. Armored Sorcerer-Type. This unit was at Intermediate-Phase Count, which was comparable to the Type 8 Divine Warrior. Compared to the two previous types, this one was a long-ranged unit, which utilized various energy attacks to kill their enemies. Armored Sorcerer-Type would usually sand behind the Armored Swordsman-Type and act as support or huge destructive force. Another thing that changed in the military was the fleet. They dismantled all Magitek Airships, because they were outdated, and invested the resources into the construction of other, more powerful Magitek Vessels. Thus managing to construct over 100 Magitek Corvettes, within these ten years, and also two other Orbital Strategic Defense Fortresses across the Telos Prime, creating Fortress System. ============================================= Name: Magitek Corvette - Parameters: Length: 1km Height: 150m Width: 75m - Weapons: Magitek Small Energy Canon x50, Magitek Medium Energy Canon x10 Shields: Magitek Energy Shield, Magitek Energy Barrier Armor: RC Magitek Neutronium Armor Auxilary: RC Regenerative System, Small Magitek Reactor Booster - Description: Basic Magitek Spaceship. It has offense/defense abilties and used as the most efficient spaceship of the Magitek Technology. Besides fighting, it could also serve as means of long-distance travel or transporting soldiers. ============================================= 177 Discussion about expansion After ten years, Holy Niflheim Empire completely fortified whole System Telos, creating a huge defensive line thanks to the three Orbital Space Defense Fortresses, each with power comparable to the Initial-Phase Marquise Rank, which was around Type 10 Divine Warrior Rank. On the Telos Prime, current Throne World, they finished the building of the Magitek City of Yharnam and also, majestic Imperial Palace Anor Londo was also finished. It''s gothic beauty and wonder, together with the feel of Yharnam which was also, created with a base of gothic architecture was giving the entire place a whole new feel. Currently, in one of the meeting rooms, there was an important meeting about the expansion progress of the Empire. There was a heated discussion about the next system they should invade and add to the dominion of the Holy Niflheim Empire. "Currently, there are several unoccupied Systems around the Telos System. The exact amount is five. All of them, don''t belong to any force and are occupied by local warlords, which most of them are on the Peak-Grade Type 9 Divine Warrior, comparable to the Pinnacle-Phase Count-Rank. The only real problem is with the Signa System, which has a lot of humans, and the question here is, what to do with them. Enslaving always has the risk of the rebellion." For many species of the Akashic Multiverse human race was enemy number one, which must be annihilated for good. This hatred was deep inside their genes, for thousands upon thousands of years already. So, nobody was willing to take humans as slaves, cause thought they were individually weak, they make it up in their numbers. "Hmm... then I have a perfect solution. We could use them as food for the mutated beast. Strong humans could be used as material to refine Blood Essences, while the weaker ones, would be thrown to the Mutated Beast world to serve as food for them. Also, before we could use the weak ones, as the labor force to mine minerals on the planets we conquer, before disposing of them." Said Lucien after some thought. After hearing his proposition, and thinking about it for some time, it was decided that this was rather a good strategy. No one was really inclined to the idea of taking human slaves, as that was a very dangerous step, so they agreed to Lucien''s idea. "Also, we have found something rather interesting. Across the countless worlds of the God-Devil Plane, there was an evolution virus released by the God-Devil when he created this plane. His purpose to speed up the evolution of all beings here and also it was part of the Divine Warrior Cultivation System. This virus, we are calling it God-Devil Virus, was analyzed by Magister Isaacs, for last years he was working on it non stop, and finally, we have now result." Said an elderly man with long beard clothed in a white lab coat. Everyone here was aware of the God-Devil Virus and its ability to create zombies that could evolve. This terrifying virus was able to destroy even more technologically advanced species of the God-Devil Plane in mere months. "So, what are the results of the research from the Magister Isaacs?" "Apparently the Evolved Zombies are very close in terms of physiology to the something between ordinary Ghoul and Sacred Devourer Ghoul. This was found out after Magister Isaacs experimented on several Evolved Zombies, they apparently gain intelligence similar to mediocre intelligent being upon their first evolution, so it fascinated Magitester Isaacs, and after some experiments, he came with another one. He injected a drop of blood from the Sacred BLood Crystal into the Evolved Zombie." Upon hearing that everyone held their breath. Some of them realized what it meant... if it was successful and the experiment was able covert Evolved Zombie into the Sacred Devourer Ghoul, it meant they coyuld solve their population problem rather easily. The only thing to be done is to create a large amount of the Evolved Zombies and they just convince them to join them. That was an important step, as only by accepting the blood of Sacred Devourer from the free will, would be Blood bonding successful. "Upon the injection... Evolved Zombie was able to evolve into Sacred Devourer Ghoul without any problem. Apparently the secret lies in the God-Devil Virus itself, it was probably created upon two components, one of them being an unknown creature with strong devouring powers and another one is the DNA of Sacred Devourer. If we are able to obtain a pure vial of the God-Devil Virus, we would have an even easier time doing the conversion, but alas that is still far ahead of us." This was especially good news for the whole Holy Niflheim Empire. The birth rate of the Sacred Devourer Ghouls was very low, and their population was pitiful. Soon, when the Empire would be stretching through countless worlds, they would need people to maintain it. And now, finally, the way to obtain more population was found. "How is the rate of Evolved Zombies compared to normal ones?" Asked Lucien. "One in million normal zombies would be able to become Evolved Zombie. Basically, they need a lot of Life Force to devour to evolve, and they are devouring either humans or other zombies. We can even help this quotient a bit, but not too much... still from the normal populated human planet, which has a population around four billion humans, we can get four to five thousand Evolved Zombies, which could be then converted to the Sacred Devourer Ghouls." "Immediately prepare the fleet to depart for the Signa System. That planet with several billion humans is currently undergoing the Apocalypse, we need to speed it up so all humans are turned into zombies and then obtain as much Evolved Zombies as possible. population problem of the Holy Niflheim Empire must be solved as soon as possible, or we would not be able to hold all of our territories in the future. And also, by my decree, I promote Magister Isaacs to rank of Lord for his accomplishments." 178 Signa System After the discussion was finished, everybody was returning to their usual jobs, while Lucien was going to the Military Headquarters to organize the expedition force that would depart to the Signa System, and immediately subjugate the Planet Ilter, that was currently undergoing the Apocalypse. From what the scouting party has told him, there was currently fierce fight going on between three factions of the planet. Surprisingly the strongest faction was Ilter Federation, which was created long before the Apocalypse when the God-Devil Virus was released there. Human civilization there was pretty advanced, so much that it achieved space exploration, and even had constructed space fleets, though they would be no match for the Magitek Fleet, that was the crystallization of millions upon millions years of research. Even though the population of the Ilter Federation has decreased sharply, there were still more than ten million humans left there. Coupled with their advanced technology and other things, they were able to resist the Apocalypse rather good, but that was only for now, as the Apocalypse when the Virus is released has many stages. Stronger the civilization is, then easier is to resist at the start, but when the Apocalypse is going on for a longer time than even stronger ones would perish. The only solution was to annihilate zombies as soon as possible, and if you have luck than you would be able to stop it, if not then the answer is clear. Another faction that was fighting in the three-way-war was mutated beasts that evolved upon coming to the contact with the God-Devil Virus. They were divided into various tribes based upon their race, and they would often fight between each other for supremacy. And the last faction were zombies. What surprised Lucien the most, was the fact that the Apocalypse was going on only for a rather short time on the Planet Ilter and still, there were already around one hundred of the Evolved Zombies, which was rather a good sight. The strongest entity of the Planet Ilter was around Type 8, rather surprising for a new planet that only now came into contact with God-Devil Virus, but they apparently had cultivation even before the Apocalypse, but alas, even zombies there were stronger to create an equilibrium between all things. "Immediately contact Holy Imperial Knight N0.2 Loruel, tell her to take the fleet of fifty Magitek Corvettes. Contact Holy Imperial Knight N0.5 Shen Tatara to bring 1st Magitek Infantry Legion and also one hundred Imperial Guards. We are departing for the Signa System Planet Ilter in six hours. Nothing can go wrong in this operation, as this too important for the whole Holy Niflheim Empire." Said Lucien as soon as he arrived at the Military Headquarters of the Holy Niflheim Empire with a cold voice. The army was mobilizing after a long time of doing nothing. They would be going to the foreign world, to conquer and fight. As he was giving orders here and there, two familiar female figures appeared out of nowhere, clothed in battle armor of the Imperial Family. They were his wives, Itori and Seira, who already finished their cultivation seasons. Apparently, they also wanted to participate in this expedition to gain experiences as previously they were in secluded cultivation when all fights over the Telos Prime were going on. "Both of you have reached Count-Rank, not that bad." Itori was att he Early-Phase of the Count-Rank, while Seira was at the Intermediate-Phase and already showing sights that she would soon break thro¨¢gh to the Advanced-Phase. This gap was understandable as Seira was cultivating for a longer time. "Husband." Said both of them at the same time. "You two will be moving as a team. Seira would be taking care of you Itori, though you have already reached the Early-Phase Count-Rank which is comparable to the Type 7 Divine Warrior, you are severely lacking battle experiences and only your body is strong, so you need more time. Seira, you will be protecting Itori, as you real combat prowess is already around weaker Pinnacle-Phase Count-Rank or some average Type 9 Divine Warrior." Both of them just nodded their heads in agreement, as this was the best solution for them to move as a team. They would not be restricted by Holy Imperial Knights who would be guarding them if they were moving separately. They could also, use this opportunity to train their teamwork. Itori would be able to gain more battle experiences between cultivators and Seira may be able to use this to break through to the next stage, if she gained enough Blood Essences from the killed enemies. "Okey darling." Said Itori with her usual cheerful voice, before kissing Lucien on the cheek and going somewhere else, as she found the Military Headquarters boring to spend her time there. Truly a mischievous person. On the other side, Seira remained there, as she wanted to help Lucien with military matters, she was pretty talented in that, the organization was a big perk of her. On the other hand, Itori was terrible at that. "Seira my dear, go and take a squad of Imperial Soldiers to the one of the Orbital Strategic Defense Fortress. We will be taking one of those for the attack. They would be able to ease our conquest as a whole." Taking one of the Orbital Strategic Defense Fortress was rather a risky move, but Lucien decided it was necessary as he wanted to have at least one of them at the Signa System, because of the Planet Ilter. He needed to have at least one layer of the fortification in that system, in case of attack. Also, there were several Marquise-Ranked cultivators, and some of them were close in reaching Yuanying Realm in the Immortal Cultivation, so this place was perfectly protected. Surely, Lucien often envied those Elders who spent all of their time in the secluded cultivation without any responsibilities. No wonder their cultivation was able to increase father than his, and due to his numerous responsibilities and duties, he was spending much shorter time on cultivation, especially cultivating the Immortal Path, which required time. 179 Confronation in Space Signa System, Planet Ilter In the Signa System of Planet Ilter, there weren''t many plants, only a few and even asteroids or other bodies were scarce. Suddenly, a fleet of fifty big Magitek Corvettes. Each of them was around kilometers long, and more than a hundred meters wide. Armed with superior Magitek Energy Weapons, ready for combat. Behind them, there was something even more colossal. Huge colossal Space Fortress was going there, surrounded by fifty Magitek Corvettes. On the commanding bridge of the Orbital Space Defense Fortress, Lucien was sitting in a chair and looking at the screens before him. "Status report." Commanded Lucien. "Currently, we are on the outskirts of the Signa System, already nearing to the Planet Ilter. Our scans have caught, around ten poorly made spaceships. Their combat powers is very low, and some of them are already damaged, probably they are usually used in the combat on Plant Ilter." Answered one officer, who was sitting behind the console. "Prepare for the fight, for the first time, we would be testing the combat power of the Magitek Spaceships against another type of the space vessels, our previous test flights were only against mutated beasts or practicing targets." Said Lucien calmly. "Yes, Your Highness." Answered the officer with respect, as he returned to his console and started inserting commands on the holographic screen. "This is a commanding vessel, Orbital Space Defense Fortress Red Rose. By command of his Imperial Highness, all Magitek Vessels are to immediately ready for combat, I repeat. All Magitek Vessels in the fleet immediately ready for combat. Confrontation with the enemy, in nearly fifteen minutes." With the speed of the Magitek Corvettes, they would be arriving soon at the planet Ilter, and soon they would be fighting first space battle, between spaceships. Meanwhile, as they were on their way, Lucien was relaxing in his chair and thinking about something else, mainly about the problem with the population of the Holy Niflheim Empire. ''As soon as we finish this project, the strength of the Empire would skyrocket. Our only deficit is our extremely pathetic population. When we have numbers, everything would be good, an increase of at least several thousand would be enough to have a good start.'' "Magister Isaacs, how is the state of the Sacred Blood Crystals? Is there enough blood for the conversion of several thousand Evolved Zombies?" Asked Lucien as he looked at the Magister. "Of course, kid. We have been preparing enough Life Force and feeding it to the Sacred Blood Crystals. Thanks to breeding mutated beats, we have enough of the blood to evolve several thousand Evolved Zombies, hahaha... also, don''t you think this is wonderful? Such magnificent evolutionary project... who designed this was absolutely genius... haha..." Laughed Magister madly. ''Hmm... again another one that went crazy... still... to find a way to convert Evolved Zombies to Sacred Devourer Ghouls, it is understandable... though that laugh is creepy.'' Thought Lucien, as he just smiled at the Magister. Magister Alexander Roland Isaacs was a middle-aged man, around 180 centimeters high with blonde hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a white lab coat, with insignia of the Holy Niflheim Empire and another one that was signifying his rank as Magister. ============================================= Planet Ilter, Federation Fleet, Commanding Vessel "Commander! Commander! Emergency!!! There are several tens vessels approaching the planet at high speed." Shouted one of the officials there. "Everybody on deck! Immediately be ready for combat!" Shouted commander, but it was already late. Energy laser shots were already being shot and were approaching them. And it was already late... the first one hit the ship at the left-wing, that was already damaged from the previous fight, and exploded into beautiful fireworks. "Shit, retreat and scatter. Try to bypass them and outmaneuver them. They have energy weapons. Our kinetic shields cannot withstand their weaponry." Shouted commander of the Ilter Federation Space Fleet after he saw that second spaceship was destroyed by the energy weaponry of enemies. Meanwhile, in the Orbital Space Defense Fortress Red Rose Lucien was watching the entire place with a menacing smile. "They are trying to outmaneuver us. Tell Loruel and Seira to take half of the fleet, and destroy them. Don''t allow them to land on the planet, we can''t start bombardment of the planet, as this planet is needed to be in our foothold." Bombarding the planet was now out of the question because this planet has strategical value. Energy weapons of the Magitek Corvettes had very high destructive powers, despite it being small lasers. Soon, Ilter Space Fleet started firing at the Niflheim Magitek Space Fleet, but their Magitke Energy Shields just tickled upon the contact with them. Then the revenge attack of the Niflheim Magitek Space Fleet started and tens of energy attacks were being shot every second. Soon enough, the Planet Ilter Space Fleet was being destroyed one after another. They were destroyed like nothing and only space straps were flying through space. After several minutes all ships of the Planet Ilter Space Fleet were destroyed. "Your Highness, all Planet Ilter Space Fleet has been destroyed. Please give further commands." Reported one official. "Prepare for landing. Chose a suitable place, which is far from any forces so we could built forces. Also, leave a few ships in the orbit together with Orbital Space Defense Fortress and release scavengers to collect all destroyed spaceships of Ilter Federation Fleet, the could be used in construction." Commanded Lucien with an authoritative voice. "Yes, Your Highness. What should we do with scrap metal from Ilter Federation spaceships?" Asked officer, behind the holographic console. "Store it in the Orbital Space Defense Fortress, there should be enough space in the warehouse. Now that the Orbital Space Defense Fortress is finished, it should be able to store enough materials." Orbital Space Defense Fortress was an enormous construct that was able to hold several tens of Magitek Corvettes. It was finished only after tens of thousands of Magitek Infantry Soldiers were working on it for years. 180 Plan: Ilter Conques "Start landing right now." With a single command, tens of Magitek Corvettes started landing on the already prepared place, which was found by officers in the Orbital Space Defense Fortress Red Rose. It was desert plain, and in near several hundred kilometers, there were not any signs of life. The moment the Magitek Corvettes landed, thousands upon thousands of Magitek Infantry Soldiers rushed out of them, and started working on the construction of the Magitek Fortress and securing the surrounding. Their working speed and construction speed were absolutely astonishing as in only three hours they managed to construct a provisional fortress. Proper one would be finished within the next ten hours or so, but this was enough to accommodate all people coming here. Lucien also, departed from the Red Rose and descended on the planet Ilter. "Ho... so their strength is a bit deeper than we have thought. Or, there were people arriving in the Planet Ilter before us and taking over the federation. The report was week old when it was brought before the council, not talking about the preparations and journey took some time." Muttered Lucien as he was using his Celestial Sense to scan for powerful enemies. And he found several. Apparently they were humans, at the Type 9 Divine Warrior Rank, which was comparable to the Advanced-Phase Count-Rank or Jindan Realm in terms of Immortal Path. ''Hmm... they shouldn''t be natives of the Planet Ilter as our scouts reported that strongest person here was only Peak Type 8 Divine Warrior, either way, this would be good training for Seira, Itori and Loruel. Life and death fights are the best way of tempering.'' Thought Lucien in his head as he was looking to the west where the territory of the Ilter Federation was located. "Call Loruel, Seira and Itori and other commanders. I have found something important and also, tell them to be quick. We need to discuss the strategy of conquest." Commanded Lucien, as his adjutant immediately went to execute his command. Within next twenty minutes, all people assembled here. Loruel the Holy Imperial Knight N0.2, Seira and Itori who were wifes of the Crown Prince, but not weaker than Holy Imperial Knights and finally several commanders who were commanding the soldiers made of Sacred Devourer Ghouls or Vampire, namely Imperial Guard. "So I will start." Said Lucien as he turned on the holographic map of the Planet Ilter that was made by the Red Rose Fortress. "When I have descendent on the Planet Ilter, my Celestial Sense caught several interesting auras in the Capital of the Ilter Federation. Apparently, there are several Type 9 Divine Warriors which is rather increasing the difficulty of this mission, thought nothing we can''t handle." "How many of them are there Your Highness?" Asked Loruel. "Five or four, I don''t know exactly. They have some artifact concealing their auras, if not for my superior cultivation I would have missed them out. They should be probably Half-Step to Type 10 to escape my sight even with the usage of the artifact." The strength of their soldiers was good, around Pinnacle-Phase Count-Rank which was comparable to the Peak Type 9 Divine Warrior, but against someone that was Half-Step to Type 10 Divine Warrior, they would be at a disadvantage. Not talking that most of the soldiers were only at the Xiantian Realm of the Immortal Path so they won''t be able to effectively counter special abilities of Divine Warrior Cultivation System. "I will kill them and leave three of them for you to fight against. The rest of the soldiers would be attacking the ordinary Ilter Federation Army. Now Commander Fuerig gives report about position of the enemy." Said Lucien as a middle-aged man in combat armor stepped forward. "At the start, we need to dispose of there fortresses and castles that are built around borders of the Ilter Federation, humans of Ilter Federation are concentrating most power of their army, best attack plan would be attacking all of these places at the same time." Said Commander Fuerig as he looked at Lucien who just nodded his head. He wanted to know if Lucien was able to cover the entire place in case if one of those Half-Step Type 10 Divine Warriors attacked. Of course, they would be able to kill it, but some of their soldiers would fall, and with their low population they can''t risk meaningless death if they can prevent them easily. Seeing that Lucien nodded his head he sighed in relief and continued. "After destroying all these outposts, we can advance further into the territory of the Ilter Federation. To do it most effectively I propose to use several Magitek Corvettes to drop some Magitek Infantry Soldiers together with Imperial Guards to take over cities, so the main armies can march directly at the Capital." This was a pretty good plan, as they would be able to subdue to Ilter Federation as soon as possible. Then they would turn the entire planet for paradise for zombies to create as many of Evolved Zombies as possible. "Also, after destroying all outposts, Your Highness would march onto the capital and stay hidden and wait for those hidden enemies to emerge." Lucien again just nodded silently his head. "Good plan Commander Fuerig, we will do it this way. Also, have you found Evolved Zombies on this planet already?" Asked Lucien as he looked at the Commander Fuerig. "Yes, Your Highness. There are several hundred of them, all under someone called Zombie King who is Type 8 Divine Warrior. I have already sent several of my men to capture him and bring him here, we can also, try the Sacred Devourification Process on him right away." Answered Commander Fuerign with a small smile. "Good job, after absorbing Evolved Zombies here and converting them, it would be revitalizing our Empire. More population means more strength. When will your men return with Zombie King?" Asked Lucien. "They would be back within the next day or so. The territory of the Zombies is at another side of the planet." Lucien just smiled and said nothing more. After discussing some other minor details, the meeting ended and everyone returned to their jobs, while Lucien went to the Magitek Fortress to oversee the construction works. 182 Zombie King Khazar One day later After one day, whole Magitek Fortress was completed and was standing proudly, armed with several tens of Magitke Energy Weapons, Shields, and several other gadgets. Surrounding the fortress were five Magitek Towers, while Magitek Infantry Soldiers were standing the guard on the walls of the Fortress and around Magitek Towers. While Magitek Spaceships were flying above the fortress and were guarding the aerial space. Lucien was in his chambers of the Magitek Fortress, silently cultivating. He decided to spend most of his time cultivating, as he wasn''t required to exact fight in the war as he was too powerful. In regard to the military of the Holy Niflheim Empire, in every war, there would be one Overseer who would be acting as protector of the army in case someone out of their caliber arrived. "Your Highness, men of Commander Fuerig has returned with Zombie King already." Reported soldier to Lucien through the door, to which Lucien opened his eyes from meditation. "Bring them to the throne room. I will be there right away." Answered Lucien, as he stood up and went to the throne room. ============================================= Meanwhile, in the throne room, Zombie King Khazar was shaking in fear. Just a short time ago, he was in his palace, enjoying eating human flesh and having fun with beautiful Flesh Eater women, and now he was kidnapped by mysterious people, who just with their presence were suppressing his bloodline to the maximum. He immediately knew that these people were either mighty Flesh Eater or something similar. He was walking through the Fortress and sensed many extremely powerful auras, which would be able to kill him in one hit. As they were going through the fortress, his ''escorts'' brought him to Throne Room, which wasn''t exactly big or some lavish room, but it was serving its purpose. When he entered the room, the first thing he saw was a young-looking man, with pure white long hair and piercing shining purple eyes, that were watching him with mild amusement. When Khazar looked at the young man, he seemed like an ordinary person without any energy fluctuation or anything, but then... he felt it. ''Impossible... my entire strength... is gone...'' Thought Khazar, as he felt that his entire strength was absolutely suppressed, he couldn''t exert strength even of Type 6 Divine Warrior, he was only around Type 5 Divine Warrior. "We have brought the target, Your Highness." Said two soldiers that were escorting Zombie King Khazar, as they kneeled immediately. Afterward, they stood up and returned to their original position, guarding Khazar Zombie King. "Khazar, step forward." Commanded Lucien as Zombie King shakily went stand before Lucien. "Do you know why are you here?" Asked Lucien as he was observing Zombie King. "No, Your Highness." Answered truthfully Zombie King Khazar, as he really didn''t know the reason, why he was brought here. Before such powerful entities, he was like an ant. But, he was thinking about one reason. Outside the forbidden region, it was rare to see zombies. "You see, on the evolutionary ladder, is your Evolved Zombie kind or Flesh Eater Kind, is behind our race. In terms of hierarchy, our race is the top of the pyramid while you are at the bottom, but alas everything comes with a price. Out numbers are small but powerful, still too small. So I have a proposition." Said Lucien as he waved his hand, and Magister Isaacs appeared behind Zombie King Khazar, as two soldiers grabbed him and restrained him. Before Khazar could react, Magister Isaacs injected him the tube with bloody red liquid. The moment when the liquid was injected into his body it immediately started metamorphosis, while Magister Isaacs was observing him with a smile and writing something into small Magitek device. "Hmm... metamorphosis time is thirty minutes exactly. Process... smooth without any complications. The evolution potential of the subject is graded as good before Sacred Devourification Process. Metamorphosis downgraded cultivation of subject to the Type 2 Divine Warrior, Intermediate-Phase Baron-Rank." Lucien watched all this with great interest. He knew that Sacred Devourification Process would result in dropping the cultivation of subjects, due to changing race, cultivation system, physique, and everything, but the subject would gain something more important. "Start injecting RC Blood Liquid Concentration-Count." Said Lucien as Magister Isaacs started injecting RC Blood Liquid Concentration-Count into Zombie King Khazar. This was Liquid specially created for the Evolved Zombies that underwent Sacred Devourification Process. It had an especially effect of increasing the cultivation of their original strength or similar. It was in version for Viscount-Rank also. "Injection complete. The subject is having advancements immediately. Calculating... reaching Viscount-Rank approximately in next hour... reached Early-Count-Rank in the next three hours." Said Magister Isaacs as he was writing it to his magitek recording device. "Good work Magister Isaacs, I have an important question. Will he survive it?" Asked Lucien with curiosity as he pointed his finger at Zombie King Khazar who was rolling at the ground in pain, under the effect of the RC Blood Liquid Concentration-Count. "Oh, hmm... I hope he survives, but he should be alright. If nothing happens, he is only the first test subject." Said, Magister Isaacs as he looked at Khazar and then looked for something in his magitek device. "You told me, that you have done the test before." Lucien''s voice now resembled the voice of his mother, when she was reprimanding him or his father for something he did. Cold, emotionless, and grim voice, nothing good can come out of it. "I have, but only in simulations." When Lucien heard this, Lucien almost cracked his throne he was sitting on. Three hours later ''The hell happened... my body? What exactly happened?'' Thought Zombie King Khazar as he opened his eyes slowly and looked around the room, where he was located. He was laying on the ground, in some weird liquid, which was impurities from his body and the weird middle-aged blonde man was looking and him and writing something into the weird-looking device. 183 Priviledge "Hmm... you are in luck today Magister Isaacs, that Khazar survived your experiment, but a piece of advice for future. Always use living subjects for experiments, not virtual calculations in magitek computers." Said Lucien slowly as he looked at Magister Isaacs who had a fire in his eyes, as he looked at the Zombie King Khazar. "Hmm... bring Khazar several Blood Essences, some top-grade mutated beast flesh, and RC Liquid. Zombie King Khazar come here, closer. How is your body?" Asked Lucien as he looked at Khazar. "It is alright, Your Highness. Even though my cultivation dropped, I feel much stronger than before." Answered Khazar. "Good, very good. Then now, we will proceed to the main topic. How many Evolved Zombies you have in your territory." "Something over 800 Evolved Zombies, their strength is ranging from Type 5 Divine Warrior to the Type 7 Divine Warrior. Should I bring all of them to you, Your Highness?" Asked Khazar. "Organize your zombie army. You will have your own mission. When our Magitek Army will attack Ilter Federation, we will leave most of the ordinary humans and weaker Divine Warriors for Zombie Army to devour and then evolve into Evolved Zombies. Afterward, all evolved zombies would undergo Sacred Devourification Process." Said Lucien. "Also, I want to ask a few questions, the first one. What do you know about Red Crystal King?" Asked Lucien slowly. "He was the owner of the Aizhouma Universe, Peak Type-13 powerhouse, which are called Universe Lord. By classifications, a Type 10 Divine Warrior powerhouse is termed as a Star-Lord expert. A Type 10 powerhouse would be able to reign over a rich planet. A Type 11 Divine Warrior would be called a Great Star-Lord expert, controlling 10 rich planets. A Type 12 Divine Warrior powerhouse is termed as a Galaxy Lord and can control an entire galaxy. A Type 13 Divine Warrior powerhouse would be a Universe Lord, controlling a universe. Red Crystal King was master of the Aizhouma Universe, but he disappeared after a failed assassination attempt by Serene Sea King, but some rumors say he disappeared because he was gravely injured. It happened rather a long time ago, but no one knows where he went, the only suspicion is Death Zone." Explained Khazar to Lucien at which he frowned hearing this. "What exactly and where is this Death Zone?" "Death Zone is the most dangerous Forbidden Zone not only in the Aizhouma Universe, but also in surrounding universes. Entire Death Zone is filled with spatial cracks and void vortexes, even Type 13 Divine Warrior could be killed there easily if not careful. So the entire place is basically no-go for everyone under Type 13. I heard, that at the end of the Death Zone, there is a spatial tunnel leading to someplace, they say, that Red Crystal King was spotted heading to the Death Zone, but never returned." Answered Khazar. ''Hmm... so this is getting harder and harder. Red Crystal King must have used God-Devil System to safely pass through Death Zone to his sanctuary, but I have no such option. Still, what is interesting we should be very near Death Zone, as I can feel influence of the God-Devil System here, Evolved Zombies existing here are clear examples.'' Thought Lucien as he sent Khazar away to do his duties. "That would be enough for today. Go and attend to your duties and be ready before the attack." ============================================= "Requesting to use assistance from Akashic Records based on my Rank as Executor." [Connection enabled. State your request and reasoning Executor of Akashic Records Lucien Etras von Aeon.] "I need a way to get to the world that is connected to the Death Zone to obtain God-Devil System, but going through Death Zone is out of the question until reaching Duke-rank, hereby I ask for assistance." [Request undergoing calculations...] [It is indeed the truth that Executor won''t be able to obtain God-Devil System if he chose to go through Death Zone unless he reached Pinnacle-Phase Duke-rank. Akashic Records are in need of God-Devil System within the next hundred years, you will be given assistance.] Answered cold mechanical voice of Akashic Records as a small silver key appeared in front of him. [This is key that opens Gates of Hell, one of the methods of God-Devil System created by Autarch God-Devil to spread Apocalypse more effectively. Gates of Hell have ability to connect two points in space and time, ignoring any kind of barrier and restraints in the God-Devil Plane. Use this key to create Gate of Hell connecting to the Greater God World.] "Greater God World?" [Greater God World is the last sanctuary created by Red Crystal King after he was severely injured by Serene Sea King. The spatial tunnel at the core of Death Zone is connecting Aizhouma Universe to the Greater God World. When you arrive at the Greater God World, you will easily find Red Crystal King.] ''Where to use it... it would be good to use it on some barren planet without any resources or something important. Who knows, what will be on the other side of the Gate of Hell. Still, it is far better than wait so long until reaching Pinnacle-Phase Duke-rank to cross through Death Zone safely.'' Thought Lucien as he looked at a small silver key that was in his right hand. After a while, he just deposited it to his Cross-Crest. 181 Zombie King Khazar One day later After one day, whole Magitek Fortress was completed and was standing proudly, armed with several tens of Magitke Energy Weapons, Shields, and several other gadgets. Surrounding the fortress were five Magitek Towers, while Magitek Infantry Soldiers were standing the guard on the walls of the Fortress and around Magitek Towers. While Magitek Spaceships were flying above the fortress and were guarding the aerial space. Lucien was in his chambers of the Magitek Fortress, silently cultivating. He decided to spend most of his time cultivating, as he wasn''t required to exact fight in the war as he was too powerful. In regard to the military of the Holy Niflheim Empire, in every war, there would be one Overseer who would be acting as protector of the army in case someone out of their caliber arrived. "Your Highness, men of Commander Fuerig has returned with Zombie King already." Reported soldier to Lucien through the door, to which Lucien opened his eyes from meditation. "Bring them to the throne room. I will be there right away." Answered Lucien, as he stood up and went to the throne room. ============================================= Meanwhile, in the throne room, Zombie King Khazar was shaking in fear. Just a short time ago, he was in his palace, enjoying eating human flesh and having fun with beautiful Flesh Eater women, and now he was kidnapped by mysterious people, who just with their presence were suppressing his bloodline to the maximum. He immediately knew that these people were either mighty Flesh Eater or something similar. He was walking through the Fortress and sensed many extremely powerful auras, which would be able to kill him in one hit. As they were going through the fortress, his ''escorts'' brought him to Throne Room, which wasn''t exactly big or some lavish room, but it was serving its purpose. When he entered the room, the first thing he saw was a young-looking man, with pure white long hair and piercing shining purple eyes, that were watching him with mild amusement. When Khazar looked at the young man, he seemed like an ordinary person without any energy fluctuation or anything, but then... he felt it. ''Impossible... my entire strength... is gone...'' Thought Khazar, as he felt that his entire strength was absolutely suppressed, he couldn''t exert strength even of Type 6 Divine Warrior, he was only around Type 5 Divine Warrior. "We have brought the target, Your Highness." Said two soldiers that were escorting Zombie King Khazar, as they kneeled immediately. Afterward, they stood up and returned to their original position, guarding Khazar Zombie King. "Khazar, step forward." Commanded Lucien as Zombie King shakily went stand before Lucien. "Do you know why are you here?" Asked Lucien as he was observing Zombie King. "No, Your Highness." Answered truthfully Zombie King Khazar, as he really didn''t know the reason, why he was brought here. Before such powerful entities, he was like an ant. But, he was thinking about one reason. Outside the forbidden region, it was rare to see zombies. "You see, on the evolutionary ladder, is your Evolved Zombie kind or Flesh Eater Kind, is behind our race. In terms of hierarchy, our race is the top of the pyramid while you are at the bottom, but alas everything comes with a price. Out numbers are small but powerful, still too small. So I have a proposition." Said Lucien as he waved his hand, and Magister Isaacs appeared behind Zombie King Khazar, as two soldiers grabbed him and restrained him. Before Khazar could react, Magister Isaacs injected him the tube with bloody red liquid. The moment when the liquid was injected into his body it immediately started metamorphosis, while Magister Isaacs was observing him with a smile and writing something into small Magitek device. "Hmm... metamorphosis time is thirty minutes exactly. Process... smooth without any complications. The evolution potential of the subject is graded as good before Sacred Devourification Process. Metamorphosis downgraded cultivation of subject to the Type 2 Divine Warrior, Intermediate-Phase Baron-Rank." Lucien watched all this with great interest. He knew that Sacred Devourification Process would result in dropping the cultivation of subjects, due to changing race, cultivation system, physique, and everything, but the subject would gain something more important. "Start injecting RC Blood Liquid Concentration-Count." Said Lucien as Magister Isaacs started injecting RC Blood Liquid Concentration-Count into Zombie King Khazar. This was Liquid specially created for the Evolved Zombies that underwent Sacred Devourification Process. It had an especially effect of increasing the cultivation of their original strength or similar. It was in version for Viscount-Rank also. "Injection complete. The subject is having advancements immediately. Calculating... reaching Viscount-Rank approximately in next hour... reached Early-Count-Rank in the next three hours." Said Magister Isaacs as he was writing it to his magitek recording device. "Good work Magister Isaacs, I have an important question. Will he survive it?" Asked Lucien with curiosity as he pointed his finger at Zombie King Khazar who was rolling at the ground in pain, under the effect of the RC Blood Liquid Concentration-Count. "Oh, hmm... I hope he survives, but he should be alright. If nothing happens, he is only the first test subject." Said, Magister Isaacs as he looked at Khazar and then looked for something in his magitek device. "You told me, that you have done the test before." Lucien''s voice now resembled the voice of his mother, when she was reprimanding him or his father for something he did. Cold, emotionless, and grim voice, nothing good can come out of it. "I have, but only in simulations." When Lucien heard this, Lucien almost cracked his throne he was sitting on. Three hours later ''The hell happened... my body? What exactly happened?'' Thought Zombie King Khazar as he opened his eyes slowly and looked around the room, where he was located. He was laying on the ground, in some weird liquid, which was impurities from his body and the weird middle-aged blonde man was looking and him and writing something into the weird-looking device. 182 Priviledge "Hmm... you are in luck today Magister Isaacs, that Khazar survived your experiment, but a piece of advice for future. Always use living subjects for experiments, not virtual calculations in magitek computers." Said Lucien slowly as he looked at Magister Isaacs who had a fire in his eyes, as he looked at the Zombie King Khazar. "Hmm... bring Khazar several Blood Essences, some top-grade mutated beast flesh, and RC Liquid. Zombie King Khazar come here, closer. How is your body?" Asked Lucien as he looked at Khazar. "It is alright, Your Highness. Even though my cultivation dropped, I feel much stronger than before." Answered Khazar. "Good, very good. Then now, we will proceed to the main topic. How many Evolved Zombies you have in your territory." "Something over 800 Evolved Zombies, their strength is ranging from Type 5 Divine Warrior to the Type 7 Divine Warrior. Should I bring all of them to you, Your Highness?" Asked Khazar. "Organize your zombie army. You will have your own mission. When our Magitek Army will attack Ilter Federation, we will leave most of the ordinary humans and weaker Divine Warriors for Zombie Army to devour and then evolve into Evolved Zombies. Afterward, all evolved zombies would undergo Sacred Devourification Process." Said Lucien. "Also, I want to ask a few questions, the first one. What do you know about Red Crystal King?" Asked Lucien slowly. "He was the owner of the Aizhouma Universe, Peak Type-13 powerhouse, which are called Universe Lord. By classifications, a Type 10 Divine Warrior powerhouse is termed as a Star-Lord expert. A Type 10 powerhouse would be able to reign over a rich planet. A Type 11 Divine Warrior would be called a Great Star-Lord expert, controlling 10 rich planets. A Type 12 Divine Warrior powerhouse is termed as a Galaxy Lord and can control an entire galaxy. A Type 13 Divine Warrior powerhouse would be a Universe Lord, controlling a universe. Red Crystal King was master of the Aizhouma Universe, but he disappeared after a failed assassination attempt by Serene Sea King, but some rumors say he disappeared because he was gravely injured. It happened rather a long time ago, but no one knows where he went, the only suspicion is Death Zone." Explained Khazar to Lucien at which he frowned hearing this. "What exactly and where is this Death Zone?" "Death Zone is the most dangerous Forbidden Zone not only in the Aizhouma Universe, but also in surrounding universes. Entire Death Zone is filled with spatial cracks and void vortexes, even Type 13 Divine Warrior could be killed there easily if not careful. So the entire place is basically no-go for everyone under Type 13. I heard, that at the end of the Death Zone, there is a spatial tunnel leading to someplace, they say, that Red Crystal King was spotted heading to the Death Zone, but never returned." Answered Khazar. ''Hmm... so this is getting harder and harder. Red Crystal King must have used God-Devil System to safely pass through Death Zone to his sanctuary, but I have no such option. Still, what is interesting we should be very near Death Zone, as I can feel influence of the God-Devil System here, Evolved Zombies existing here are clear examples.'' Thought Lucien as he sent Khazar away to do his duties. "That would be enough for today. Go and attend to your duties and be ready before the attack." ============================================= "Requesting to use assistance from Akashic Records based on my Rank as Executor." [Connection enabled. State your request and reasoning Executor of Akashic Records Lucien Etras von Aeon.] "I need a way to get to the world that is connected to the Death Zone to obtain God-Devil System, but going through Death Zone is out of the question until reaching Duke-rank, hereby I ask for assistance." [Request undergoing calculations...] [It is indeed the truth that Executor won''t be able to obtain God-Devil System if he chose to go through Death Zone unless he reached Pinnacle-Phase Duke-rank. Akashic Records are in need of God-Devil System within the next hundred years, you will be given assistance.] Answered cold mechanical voice of Akashic Records as a small silver key appeared in front of him. [This is key that opens Gates of Hell, one of the methods of God-Devil System created by Autarch God-Devil to spread Apocalypse more effectively. Gates of Hell have ability to connect two points in space and time, ignoring any kind of barrier and restraints in the God-Devil Plane. Use this key to create Gate of Hell connecting to the Greater God World.] "Greater God World?" [Greater God World is the last sanctuary created by Red Crystal King after he was severely injured by Serene Sea King. The spatial tunnel at the core of Death Zone is connecting Aizhouma Universe to the Greater God World. When you arrive at the Greater God World, you will easily find Red Crystal King.] ''Where to use it... it would be good to use it on some barren planet without any resources or something important. Who knows, what will be on the other side of the Gate of Hell. Still, it is far better than wait so long until reaching Pinnacle-Phase Duke-rank to cross through Death Zone safely.'' Thought Lucien as he looked at a small silver key that was in his right hand. After a while, he just deposited it to his Cross-Crest. 183 Fight! After obtaining a solution for the current predicament, on how to enter Greater God World through Death Zone, Lucien returned to his quarters, before giving the order for mobilization of an army. Tomorrow they would attack fortresses of the Ilter Federation, and Lucien would personally dispose of those Half-Step Type 10 Divine Warrior powerhouses that were hiding in the capital city of the Ilter Federation. The next morning, at an earlier time, Lucien woke up and met with Itori, Seira, and Loruel, that would be attacking the capital with him. Not attacking in the true meaning of the word, but rather fighting those Half-Step Type 10. "Plan is easy. I would kill the majority of them, and leave three of them for you to play." Said Lucien as he released his void energy to perform teleportation. As Lucien belonged to the Void Races, and not ordinary ones but rather nobility amongst them, when he used Void Energy it would be far more effective compared to other races that only had Void Energy despite not being void species. ============================================= Capital City of Ilter Federation The capital city of an Ilter Federation looked like a very advanced city, with just one exception. It was easily seen that this city have been under state of war and fights for a very long time, as out rim of the city was destroyed, and the outskirts of the city were filled with the stench of blood. High in the sky, Lucien with three ladies appeared out of nowhere. He was wearing his traditional battle armor and his Hollow Mask as he liked it from before. Just now, his Hollow Mask was reforged from precious metals and materials of the God-Devil Plane. On the other hand, Itori and Seira were both wearing armors belong to there respective clans, Itori wore the armor of the Etras von Aeon Family and Seira that of the Dracul family. While Loruel wore the armor of the Holy Imperial Knights. Not words were needed between them, as three ladies distanced themselves from Lucien, and he started releasing his aura in surroundings. Soon enough, his enemies appeared. They were six of them, and one of them was even Type 10 Divine Warrior or Star-Lord, to which Lucien just smiled with satisfaction written over his face. "Interesting, I would have privilege to fight Star-Lord expert so soon." Said Lucien as he concentrated a huge amount of Destruction Energy in his right hand and shot a wave of it at his enemies. While he was only at the Initial-Phase, destructive power was able to threaten even Type 10 Divine Warrior. His six enemies were caught by surprise and tried to dodge dangerous energy waves, but sadly two of them were too slow and were turned to nothingness by the destructive power of the Destruction Energy. After that Lucien unleashing his two pairs of Ukaku-wings and started shooting RC Projectiles at them, which divided three Half-Step Type 10 Divine Warriors from that Type 10 Divine Warrior, who seemed to be leader of them. When they were all of them divided, three women appeared and started fighting against those three Half-Step Type 10 Divine Warriors. They were using their perfect coordination and complementary moves to cover up for their weaknesses. While Lucien was actually fighting against Type 10 Divine Warrior. His enemy was using some longsword-like weapon to combat, so Lucien used his newly gained Zanpakut¨­s and used dual katanas and immediately performed Heavenly Flying Cross-Slash from Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨±, infused with Destruction Energy. His enemy was prepared this time and tried to dodge effectively against the Destruction Energy seeing how it turned two of his Half-Step Type 10 Divine Warriors to nothingness. However, Lucien already comprehended Lesser Sword Dao, so it wasn''t so easy to dodge his strikes by someone who wasn''t proficient in any kind of weapon Dao. When the attack hit his enemy, it left deep injuries over his chest, that couldn''t stop bleeding and couldn''t be healed by conventional means, as Destruction Energy wasn''t so easy to dispose of. It immediately slowed down speed of his enemy and the ability to move. To be left out of the range of his enemy, Lucien was constantly using his racial superiority in the usage of Void Energy to blend himself with the void, to be practically invisible for his enemy. Still, he was careful, as he knew that cultivators of the Divine Warrior Cultivation System often had very weird and special abilities, even at lower stages of cultivation. And Lucien''s carefulness was paid off when his enemy suddenly unleashed Domain. The concept of domains wasn''t unknown to Lucien, but he knew that he could obtain Domain only at higher stages of cultivation. It was an elemental domain of Fire, but it was rather weak. ''They obtain abilities of the higher stage cultivators at far lower levels. The price is that their abilities are far weaker than they should be. Appretenly Autarch God-Devil was trying to invent a cultivation system that would incorporate special abilities of higher stage cultivators with body refinements and other things. Still, he died before completing this, and now the entire cultivation system could only be deemed as a failure.'' Thought Lucien in his head as he was preparing to use his triumph card. During his time in cultivation, he managed to comprehend Lesser Ice Dao. The moment he released his Ice Energy at full power, it immediately froze the entire Fire Domain, creating huge Ice Wasteland. ''No wonder, they are able to use Domains just at Jindan Realm equivalent. Autarch God-Devil created the whole God-Devil Plane to be like this. It lessens the strength of Dao, they just need to comprehend not even 10% of Lesser Dao to be able to use Domains. What magnificent work, now wonder Akashic Records want to devour entire God-Devil Plane. This entire plane is defying basic laws of not only Akashic Chaosverse, but even Endless Void.'' Thought Lucien as he watched the shocked expression of his enemy seeing that his Fire Domain was frozen like nothing. ''But this is not something creatable with just God-Devil System.'' 184 New Info, New Commands, New Opportunity Right now entire God-Devil Plane seemed more mysterious to Lucien than before. As an Executor of the Akashic Records of Akashic Chaosverse, he knew that even God-Devil System wouldn''t be able to suppress and weaken the strength of Dao to such extent. Still, right now he was in battle, so he used void travel, to appear behind his enemy, and with one slash of his swords, he severed right hand of his enemy which as holding that longsword. Now Lucien wondered what to do with the enemy. If he should leave him alive or just kill him, and give his body to magister to extract information from his brain through Magitek Technology. ''If I take him as a prisoner, I would need to keep an eye for him and guard him... that seems annoying. Those old men would gain information from him either way.'' Thought Lucien as he swings his blade and despises screams of his enemy, he decapitated his head. Then he stored body and most importantly the head in his Cross-Crest and looked at another part of the battlefield, where Itori, Seira, and Loruel were fighting against those three Half-Step Type 10 Divine Warriors. They had very good cooperation between themselves. Seira and Loruel were holding enemies back, as both of them were very good at the close-quarter combat. Seira with her scythe was able to severely injure her enemies with ease, and Loruel with her spear even managed to sever the hand of one of those warriors. While Itori was standing behind them and was giving them support from behind. Her cultivation was still lower than all of them, so she must stay behind the line. She was using a bow, to shoot energy-infused arrows at her enemies, constantly annoying them and also, injuring them if they were not careful enough. After some time, she took out two daggers and disappeared from the fight. She was using concealment artifact that Holy Niflheim Empire found, and appeared behind most severely injured enemy, and slashed at him, stabbing him in back, immediately killing him. Before the other two Half-Step Type 10 Divine Warrior found what exactly happened, Itori already disappeared and was at her original position, safely behind Seira and Loruel. When Lucien appeared above them, and after some time when the remaining two Half-Step Type 10 Divine Warriors noticed him, they realized that their leader already died by Lucien''s hand and tried to escape, but to no wail. When they turned around and started running, Seira attacked with her scythe and killed one of them in one hit, another one died, when Itori once again used her assassination technique to kill him. "Good work you three. Now take their corpses, and we will go away, leaving the rest for the army. All of you will go and oversee the safety of our soldiers." Commanded Lucien as he collected remaining corpses into his Cross-Crest, as they would be good material for Blood Essences, or he would use them as mean to evolve zombies to reach Evolved Zombie level. ============================================= After Lucien returned to the Magitek Fortress, he immediately initiated communication with Akashic Records to analyze Cultivation Comparation between their cultivation systems. This was very important, as he was the first person to kill geniue Type 10 Divine Warrior. [Analyzing cultivation comparation between Divine Warrior Cultivation System and Sacred Body Refining System / Immortal Path...] [Calculation complete.] [This comparation is only basic strength without considering abilities and skills. Only thing considered were transformations of body, energy, and uniqueness gained.] [Divine Warrior Type 10 - Early-Phase Marquise-Rank / Early-Phase Yuanying Realm Divine Warrior Type 11 - Intermediate-Phase Marquise-Rank / Intermediate-Phase Yuanying Realm Divine Warrior Type 12 - Advanced-Phase Marquise-Rank / Advanced-Phase Yuanying Realm Divine Warrior Type 13 - Pinnacle-Phase Marquise-Rank / Pinnacle-Phase Yuanying Realm] * [Divine Warrior Type 14 - Impossible to compare further with Immortal Cultivation and Body Refining. Access Level Denied. Error. To obtain this information, kill Divine Warrior Type 14 Cultivator to conduct a scan on cultivation base.] [Allert! This comparation is incomplete and only orientational. Comparation of Divine Warrior Cultivation System and Immortal Cultivation impossible due to the Executor''s insufficient privilege. Possibility of comparation if Executor either made a contribution to Akashic Records or provide corpse of Divine Warrior Cultivation System cultivator.] [Special information released. Type 14 Divine Warrior is final rank achievable in the Divine Warrior Cultivation System, as the cultivation system is fundamentally flawed, it is impossible to achieve higher ranks in the cultivation system.] "So Type 14 Divine Warrior is the peak of this plane. This could be troublesome if we don''t have someone on the Duke-Rank. Still, there shouldn''t be many of them, and if there are some of them, they should be some old monster in seclusion." Thought Lucien as he was reading through messages from the Akashic Records in regard to Cultivation Comaration between their systems. "Your Highness, I bring a report. All Fortresses of the Ilter Federation has fallen, with only some minor losses of Magitek Soldiers. Zombie Horde effectively devouring all humans we are leaving behind. Our armies are marching at the Central Region of the Ilter Federation." Reported one soldier that came to deliver the news from frontlines. "Good, send a message to Khazar to manage the zombie horde and devour everything. We need as many of Evolved Zombies as possible. Also, inform Commander Fuerig, to give them even all Nuclei and Cores obtained in this expedition. After the conquest is done, go and subjugate mutated beasts. If you find some species that we don''t have at our breeding planets, take them. Rest would be used to feed zombies horde. Now leave." Lucien gave a series of commands of what to do, before returning to cultivation. "As you command, Your Highness." Bowed soldier slightly, before running away, to send new orders to Commander Fuering and Khazar. "Hmm... the presence of Destruction is strong here right now due to war." Said Lucien quietly, as he took out a familiar magitek device and pushed a small button on it. It then lit up and started absorbing some kind of violent energy from Heaven and Earth, which in turn was immediately absorbed by Lucien. 185 Magitek Mechanical Automaton Central Region of Ilter Federation, Planet Ilter Currently, Commander Fuerig was leading the Magitek Army and also, Imperial Soldiers to attack the rest of the Ilter Federation. They have successfully destroyed all fortresses that were gearing territory of the Ilter Federation without any bigger losses or resistance. Behind him was Zombie King, or it would be more precise to tell, former Zombie King Khazar leading his zombie horde, and devouring every living being they could find. Right now it was the most important task Commander Fuerig had, to protect the zombie horde and, provide them with enough "food" to evolve. "Commander, we are already nearing the Capital City of the Ilter Federation. From Magitek Scans, we are getting images of some weird weapon, probably energy-based installed on the walls of the city. Energy-Level is near Early-Phase Yuanying Realm." Reported officer carrying a hologram model of the Capital City of Ilter Federation. "Hmm... this could be problematic. Yuanying Realm is Immortal Stage comparable to the Marquise-Rank in Sacred Body Refining System. This could be troublesome. Report it to his Highness and also to the Orbital Spade Defense Fortress." Answered back Commander Fuerig, as this was the most optimal solution. ============================================= "Hmm... energy-based weapon with output comparable to the Yuanying Realm cultivator. For Magitek Soldiers and Imperial Soldiers, this could spell certain doom. Even though we are at the outskirts of the Aizhouma Universe, they have weapons capable of injuring my person." Muttered Lucien as he read the report from the frontlines. In the flash, he used a bit of the Void Energy to teleport to the Capital City of the Ilter Federation. Immediately he appeared before the Capital City, high in the air as four Ukaku Wings were sprouting behind his back. He grasped one katana zanpakut¨­ and just slashed, aiming at the energy-based weapon that was in the Capital of the Ilter Federation, to be sure it got destroyed in on the hit, he infused his katana with Destruction Energy, the highest amount he could generate at his level of cultivation. After a single attack, he managed to successfully destroy thoughtfully the energy-based weapon that was in hands of Ilter Federation. When the weapon of potential mass destruction was destroyed, Lucien wawed his hand sign for Commander Fuerig to order an attack on the rest of the human forces on the planet, and finally conquer the whole planet for the Empire. As Lucien was watching Magitek Infantry Soldiers marching and fighting, he soon thought about some improvements about them. In reality, he was pretty interested in the making process of Magitek creations, so he usually spent some of his free time studying them. When the energy-based weapon was finally destroyed, Commander Fuerig led Imperial Army together with Magitek Soldiers. Ordinary soldiers of the Ilter Federation were no different from ants compared to mighty Magitek Soldiers, or Imperial Army of the Holy Niflheim Empire. Lucien returned to his place, while he was still thinking about creating his own Magitek soldiers. Thus he started creating a blueprint, based on all Magitek knowledge he had and also, with some knowledge obtained from God-Devil Plane, which was also a pretty advanced one. After some time, he finally got a result, of his first creation. Magitek Mechanical Automaton - Arachne Type, Warrior. "Even though it is the only prototype of the Mechanical Automaton, its combat power should be around Pinnacle-Phase Count-Rank, but a most problematic thing is creation of intelligence and at least basic consciousness." Muttered Lucien, while Itori walked behind him and curiously looked at the blueprint. "What is that? It looks like some Magitek Soldiers, but scarier..." "Mechanical Automaton, also Magitek creation but much more advanced, created with help of Alchemy and heritage of many civilizations. Although we are not able to create Mechanical Automatons, designs I have seen back home, are still not very effective. After reading through some books, I have noticed that some species like Zerg or Arachnes, have terrifying combat power also because of fact, they have many attacking options. I designed them based on Arachne Race." "I have the privilege to introduce you Magitek Mechanical Automaton - Arachne Type, Warrior. Basic Mechanical Automaton, its upper body is that of humans, but with four hands, wielding four blades. Also, it has two hidden Magitek Particle Cannon that is usually used on Spaceships. The lower body is that of spider, with eight legs, and every leg is sharp as a blade, ready to be used as a weapon in close combat. It has two Magitek Energy Generators inside of them, compared to standard Magitek Soldiers, which have only one." Explained Lucien with pride. "Wayuu... are we able to build that?" Asked Itori with sparkles in her eyes. "Sadly for now, no. The crucial item is basically an A.I. program that has consciousness. For an A.I. to develop consciousness would need a lot of time, and not talking about the fact, we are not able to create such advanced A.I. to be self-aware and ever-evolving. If we are able to conquer some A.I. civilization and reform their awareness, we could build legions of Arachne Warriors." Said Lucien with a disappointed voice. If you compare one Magitek Mechanical Automaton - Arachne Type, Warrior to Magitek Infantry Soldiers, then one Arachne Warrior could fight at least five of Magitek Infantry Soldiers and defeat them without any trouble. This was also perked by its consciousness. Stil, Lucien planned to design more of Arachne Types, for the future, when the Empire would have resources to mass-produce them. 186 Silent undercurrents Meanwhile somewhere in the Endless Void Several people were discussing in the Endless Void, far from the Akashic Chaosverse, certain intimate things... "How is progressing your scheme Zelretch?" "Good, very good. The only thing we need is to obtain God-Devil System. After Executor has obtained it, Xenos would step forward and explain everything to Executor. Then Xenos would do his part with it." Answered familiar elder, clothed completely in pitch black suit with golden ornaments, and with a waistcoat over his shoulders. He wore white gloves on his hands and his clothes gave the feeling of noble. His eyes were bright red and shining in the dark and his beard and hair were ash grey. "Have you obtained it Leylin?" Said voice belonging to the elderly man, wearing black kimono, with a golden dragon pattern. At his waits was katana, that looked ordinary but the murderous aura was just leaking from it. Truth to be told even his outfit looked very imposing and majestical. "Yes, Extreme Chaos Yin Soul Poison. Right away from Constrained World from Center Region of the Endless Void. Personally refined by Grandmaster Poison Celestial Yin Wushang. This small bottle should be able to kill an entity at the level of Akashic Records. Currently, Akashic Records is in the half-hibernation state due to injuries it suffered in a clash with another Chaoslords, so this is our only chance to kill it, and finally escape this dammed Chaosverse." Explained Leylin to two of them. "Good. After that, we need to obtain Void Noble Tablets that would allow us to create Void Nations. Zelretch have you found the location of unclaimed ones?" Asked Xenos as he was still looking at the potion of poison that Leylin brought. "Based on some rumors apparently, there are three or four Void Noble Tablets in the Tower of God. The only problem is that we can only wait for Executor Lucien to become Xenos''s disciple and then he would enter the Tower of God. Outside God has left them apparently as a reward for passing the 100th Guardian Inheritance Test." Said Zelretch. "That is not a problem, too much. We have waited for many Chaos Cycles, so waiting a few hundred or even thousands of years is not much. After we kill Akashic Records we can take dispose of all loyal Administrators and God-Ranks to it, obtain vacant Chaosverse. The only problem is that Akashic Records was birthed during the creation of this Chaosverse, so entire verse would crumble after some time when the entity is dead." "Yes, but we will have Void Noble Tablets to create Void Nations, we could devour a some parts of the Chaosverse before it is destroyed and directly level our nations to become Void Dukedoms. Then through perks of assimilation and absorption of Civilization Flame, we could create mighty kingdoms and empires, and finally reaching higher realms of cultivation." Said Leylin. All three of them weren''t willingly members of the Akashic Chaosverse. They signed Void Soul Geass with Akashic Records to be ''loyal'' to it. Everyone had some reasons for that, Leylin was basically wanted criminal in the Inner Region of Endless Void for devouring entire Constrained World on level of two or three Realmverses that belonged to Holy Church of Light, faction backed up by Celestial, and even had several Chaoslords. Zelretch had too many enemies to count, thanks to his pranks, and many of them were Chaoslords. On the other hand, Xenos was a different case. As a descendant of Void Nobles, he was once severely injured and ended up in the Akashic Chaosverse, where he was attacked by Akashic Records. In the end, he lost and was forced to sign Void Soul Geass. "Hmm... when we hand over the Creation Record from the God-Devil System infused with Chaos Yin Soul Poison, I and Leylin would immediately depart from the Akashic Chaosverse to break through to the level of Chaoslord. Or more precisely, Leylin would attain realm before me, and then help me to find some species for me to devour and attain realm too. Afterward, we would return to the Akashic Chaosverse, after the entity of Records is dead, and clean it entirely up. I think we can hold up for some time before my disciple obtains Void Noble Tablets from the Tower of God. One would go to Ouroboros Empire of Farlier Family, one to Sacred Blood Empire of Magician Magisterium and one to the Holy Niflheim Empire that I would join." Explained Xenos while Leylin and Zelretch both nodded. "We have no objections. On our behalf, we are even giving some gifts to the Niflheim for their services for our cause. Leylin would provide Alchemical Knowledge of refinement of treasures and golems, while I would be providing Magical Technology Knowlege. Of course, only after we obtain Void Noble Tablets." Said Zelretch as he looked at Xenos. "Also, Zelretch you should break through to the Autarch Realm. You are only one step from comprehending Aurach Dao, so I have prepared Thousand Sacred Inscene and Divine Magic Comprehension Stone. Leylin has brought Spirit God Liquid refined from thousands Faith Gods, and several other treasures." Among them, Leylin and Xenos were both Autarchs, while Zelretch was still God-rank, though he was already Pinnacle God, Arch-God Stage. "Thanks, it is true that after the Akashic Entity is dead, we will no longer have protection. Though it is a bit good for us, as we can unhindered progress in our cultivation." No one in Akashic Records could go beyond Autarch Realm. Akashic Records would attack everyone that was showing signs of breaking through to the next realm. It didn''t want any competitors. "After creation of our Void Nations, we would lay low, and attack and assimilate only Constrained or Scattered World. If several Chaoslords attack us, we would be doomed, not talking if Holy Church of Light will come. They have tens of Pinnacle Chaoslords and Celestial is standing behind them." Celestial in the Inner Region of Endless Void was and wasn''t something rare at the same time. They could govern huge territories in the Inner Region, compared to the Central, where they would be many of them, as Central had the highest concentration of Energy of entire Endless Void. 187 Void Nations "What about the fourth Void Noble Tablet? If there would be the fourth one, what would we do with it?" Asked Xenos as they were still discussing this topic. "We could exchange it for some treasures and resources with Overmind Zeroth. For the last several hundred Chaos Cycles we have been conducting secret business with him, and Heart of the Swarm, and it went well every time. He should have some precious thing that could be match, at least theoretically for the Void Noble Tablet." "That seems a good idea. Also, Xenos how do the Void Noble Tablets work? Isn''t it work of you, Void Nobles?" Asked Leylin as he looked at Xenos. Void Nobles were several races that were considered as top bloodlines with affinity to Void and were most powerful in the entire Endless Void. In the Central Region of Endless Void, they ruled over almost infinite territories, and there were countless Chaoslords and Celestials among them. Xenos was from the Sacred Devourer Race, which was one of the Imperial Lines of Void Nobles. "No, it wasn''t our creation, although we have a hand in it. A long, very long time ago, when I was still kid, I heard Grand Elder of my Clan talk about them, how they came to be. Apparently they are one of the Wonders of Endless Void that are birthed naturally, during time and expansions of the Endless Void. There are two main functions of the Void Noble Tablet after it is used to create Void Nation." "The first one is to absorb Planets, Realms, Galaxies, Universes, or even Chaosworlds at their peak, to expand the territory of Void Nation. Void Nation, compared to every other plane, has only one plane of existence, there is no division between Mortal Realm, Immortal Realm or some other divisions, only one plane, that is infinitely big, this aspect of Void Nations is same as Origin Planes in Central Region of Endless Void that is even bigger than Chaosworlds and is only one plane of existence." Explained Xenos first function of the Void Nation. It was very hard to imagine a plane of existence that is as big as Chaosworld. One must know, that Chaosworld is created by billions upon billions of Divine Realms and millions of Territories. "The second function of the Void Nation is even more important. It has the ability to devour and assimilate Civilization Flames. Every Constrained World, Scattered World, or Chaosworld has different Laws and different systems of cultivation. Void Nations are primarily used to absorb and assimilate the cultivation systems and knowledge of Constrained World and Scattered World, or even Chaoswrolds by strong ones, to create ultimate Civilization. Perfect in all aspects. With Civilization Flame, you can even impart knowledge to the degree you chose to all your subjects, Energy Concentration in Void Nation is usually countless times more compared to any place in Endless Void, as Void Nation is directly taking it from either Endless Void and also, it is acting as Generation. Now I will be explaining ranks of the Void Nations, and only once so listen carefully." "Every Void Nation has no suppression limit so even Autarch or Chaoslord can enter it and live there without any suppression. When Void Nation is created it starts as Void Barony and is roughly big as ordinary Divine Realm. After that is Void County that is big as ten to a hundred Divine Realm. Void Marquisate is big as territory, Void Dukedom is big as several Territories and the Void Royal Kingdom is big as entire Chaosworld. Above the Royal Kingdom is the Imperial Empire, the Chaos Empire, Celestial Imperium, and sitting at the top, The Eternal Dynasty, the size of these ranks, is almost impossible to know, as every nation is guarding it like their deepest secret. But, to reach these ranks territory is the second thing, you need to reach the Civilization Flame level that corresponds to Rank. And that is done, by gaining powerhouses and assimilating knowledge and building up to advanced civilization." "To be qualified as Void County your Civilization Flame must reach Star-Level, meaning you need to have at least several Bianshen Realm Cultivators and your civilization needs to be advanced enough to produce them continuously. For Void Marquisate your Civilization Flame must reach Moon-Level, meaning at least Zhuseng Realm Cultivators and adequate knowledge and advances, of course, knowledge in all fields such as Alchemy, Cultivation, Technology must be completed. Void Dukedom your Civilization Flame must reach Sun-Level, Empyrean Lord Cultivators, and adequate knowledge. Void Royal Kingdom your Civilization Flame must reach Divine-Level, you must have God-Ranks. Void Imperial Empire your Civilization Flame must reach Dimensional-Level and have Autarch Realm Cultivators. For Void Chaos Empire your Civilization Flame must reach Chaos-Level and have Chaoslord Realm Cultivators. For Void Celestial Empire your Civilization Flame must reach Celestial-Level and have Celestial Realm Cultivators and finally for Eternal Dynstary your Civilization Flame must reach Eternal-Level, becoming Eternal Flame, I only know that you need to have Eldricht Realm Cultivator, but apparently there are many more conditions." Finished Xenos his long explanations about Void Nation. "With our strength, advances, and other factors, reaching Royal Kingdom Rank wouldn''t be a problem in a few hundred years of quick work. To reach the next Imperial Empire Rank, would be much harder as conditions are to have several Autarchs, and also, knowledge for Autarchs emerge after some time, so the civilization needs to be very advanced." Said Leylin as he thought about this. They were powerful, yes, but to reach adequate ranks, they would need to have several correspondingly ranked cultivators and civilization levels. So even if he is Chaoslord at the time of the creation of Void Nation, he would not be able to directly skip to Imperial Empire Level from the scratch. They would need to absorb and assimilate many Constrained Worlds, Scattered World and parts of Akashic Chaosverse, but absorbing Akashic Chaosverse wouldn''t be much to advancement, because the starting point of Void Nations is Civilization based on Akashic Chaosverse. 188 Aftermath of Ilter Doom Ilter Federation, Capital City "Mr. President, we got reports from the frontline, that his lordship Star-Lord Yuan Gu and his fellow disciples were all killed by invaders and that who survived were captured by them. Their armies are marching on the Capital City as we are talking now." Stated one official to the President of the Ilter Federation in HQ of Federation. "Then we can only rely on our secret weapon. Bring up the Plasma Golden Cannon and use it against invaders." Ordered President at he looked at his subordinates. Plasma Golden Cannon was peace of very advanced technology from the Aizhouma Universe, and it had the ability to kill even Star-Lord experts. "Yes, sir." Said one of the officers as they went to prepare Plasma Golden Cannon. After several hours it was prepared, but unexpectedly it was destroyed by a man they have identified as the leader of invaders. "So, the only thing that awaits us is death..." Muttered old President of the Ilter Federation as he looked at monitors that were showing an onslaught of the invaders and their continuous march on the commanding center. As he was looking at all of that, he took out a small vial of some liquid and drank it all. "At least I would not be eaten by those dammed corpses." The liquid was decomposing poison, for someone who was only around Type 8 Divine Warrior, it would destroy his entire body in minutes. ============================================= "Have you finished interrogating those people I have captured?" Asked Lucien as he was looking at Magister Isaacs who was participating in this operation too, as an interrogator of prisoners. "Yes, Your Highness. They came from some Sect called Holy Martial Sect, apparently hegemon in entire Aizhouma Universe. They control almost half of the entire outskirts of the Aizhouma Universe and have huge territories in inner parts of the Aizhouma. From what we found, their Sect Ancestor is at Peak of Type 12 Divine Warrior, one of the strongest Galaxy Lords. Additionally, the sect has three Grand Elders at Early Grade Type 12 Divine Warrior, and tens Type 11 Divine Warriors." Stated Magister Isaacs. "That is good then, the real problem would be if they had Type 13 Divine Warrior the Universe Lord which is comparable to Pinnacle-Phase Marquise-Rank. Our strength right now should be comparable to the Holy Martial Sect overall, and after several years, we would have already surpassed them, especially after a grandfather and Lord Dracul reach Pinnacle-Phase Marquise-Rank and Pinnacle-Phase of Yaunying Realm." Said Lucien as he thought about the situation. The current strength of the Holy Martial Sect was probably the same as that of the Holy Niflheim Empire. So if fight among these two powers erupted, chances would be fifty-fifty. Of course, after several years, they would have long surpassed the strength of the Holy Martial Sect, after careful digestion of their gains. Many of their Soldiers were nearing Marquise-Rank, and all Holy Imperial Knights were already at Marquise-Rank. The only thing that Lucien was careful, and why he said their power was the same, even though Niflheim had more powerhouses was that Holy Martial Sect existed for several thousand years and its foundation was far deeper. Who knows if they had some artifacts, weapons, or forbidden techniques that would be able to raise their power or produce new experts in a short time. "How is the conversion going on, Magister Isaacs?" "Splendidly, Your Highness. After zombie horde devoured all life on the Planet Ilter, and they started devouring each other, we were left with around 20,000 Evolved Zombies that are currently undergoing Sacred Devourificnation Process. Fortunately, we have prepared both Sacred Blood Crystals carefully, so they would be able to handle such a huge number of subjects. After one week, the first ones would be finishing the process and be assigned their roles. Most of them would be going to the Military, while some to other divisions of the Empire." Said Magister Isaacs proudly, and even Lucien was surprised at such a huge number of subjects, it appeared that Empire would finally start showing signs of solving their biggest issue, population. "Very good Magister. After we return to Capital, I would propose father to promote your Noble Rank from Magister to Lord." "Thank you, Your Highness." Thought Isaacs didn''t care about politics, a higher rank in this meritocratic empire meant more resources for his research, and also higher privileges. "Star building fortifications around the entire system, and send Magitek Soldiers to mine resources from asteroids and all planets in the system. We need to constantly expand our army. Also, relocate all mutated beasts from planets to the Breeding Planets in our Home Systems. Planet Ilter would serve as an outpost and also, as Fortress Planet for future conquest towards the rest of the Aizhouma Universe." Commanded Lucien. "It will be done, Your Highness." "Also, I am rather curious, why were people from Holy Martial Sect at barren outskirts of the Aizhouma, so close to the Death Zone?" Asked Lucien, from the moment he sensed them, he wondered why would they wonder to such a backward place. "They came on the request of the Ilter Federation. Apparently Ilter Federation found something that caught the interest of one of the Grand Elders of the Holy Martial Sect, and because the Federation was under protection and vassal of the Sect, they immediately reported it up." "What it was?" "An Egg, Your Highness." "Egg?" "Yes, Your Highness. Even though people of Ilter were very weak, they had rather good knowledge about various mutated beasts, space beasts, and other creatures thanks to the Holy Martial Sect, but they have never saw something like this Egg, even higher-ups of the Holy Martial Sect were baffled after seeing images and videos of this Egg, and its resistance towards Energy Level. This Egg was able to devour shot from the Plasma Golden Cannon, which is the weapon that you have destroyed. So they send several disciples to bring it to the Sect for Grand Elder for them to study." After hearing this, Lucien''s interest was caught. "Do you know origin of this Egg?" "Yes, thanks to the knowledge you have provided from Akashic Records, and Myriad Compendium of Creatures of Endless Void, I was able to identify the Egg." "And?" "It is a Flerken, Your Highness." 189 Jindan "What is Flerken?" Asked Lucien with curiosity. He knew about many species, but he learned only about rather famous ones. "Flerken is an extraterrestrial creature that lives in space. In appearance, they are exactly the same as ordinary cats. They can release tentacles from their mouth, and the strength of an adult Flerken is comparable to Count-Rank. If they evolve further they can become even stronger. Compared to ordinary cats, Flerken reproduces by laying eggs. Also, they have a pocket dimension within their bodies that could scale from Galaxy to entire Universe size. They could also use Dimensional Travel, and instantaneously travel across space and even void." Explained Magister Isaacs. "Interesting. When it would hatch?" "When you would feed it with your blood essence, it would naturally hatch. I will bring you the Flerken Egg." Lucien nodded and went to the cultivation room, in the Orbital Space Defense Fortress. Around the planet, they already started building Portable Fortified Strongholds Level-1, which had power comparable to the Initial Yuanying Realm cultivator, as it was decided that this planet would serve as a fortress planet. Currently, Lucien was taking out all special Magitek Devices, that were made for harvesting the destruction energy, that was created during the Ilter Federation Conquest. He was hoping to break through to the Jindan Realm in the Destruction Immortal Path using these devices. As he scanned them, he felt that they contained a tremendous amount of Destruction Energy. He chose to reach Jindan Realm first in the Destruction System as it would tremendously boost up his attacking abilities, and then in the Void System, to rise his supplementary abilities. ''I am currently at the Initial-Phase of Xiantian Realm. Hopefully, this amount of harvested Destruction Energy would be enough for me to break through to the Jindan Realm. Then my attack prowess would rise several-fold immediately.'' Thought Lucien as he started absorbing Destruction Energy from the Magitek Devices. The entire absorption process of the Destruction Energy was very painful, as the entire cultivation process of cultivating Destruction Immortal Path. He felt, that Destruction Energy was revolving faster and faster inside his Dantian, and more he absorbed, more aggressive and ferocious it became. After one hour of absorption, he reached Early-Phase of Xiantian Realm in the Destruction Immortal Path. Lucien continued absorbing Destruction Energy straightly for several hours until he finally reached Pinnacle-Phase of Xiantian Realm. Now his entire body was brimming with Destruction Energy, and every cell had some of it, in it. "Even though Pinnacle-Phase Xiantian Realm is comparable to the Type 5 Divine Warrior here, with Destruction Element is enough to incarnate to nothingness even Type 6 Divine Warrior without any problem. Attacking power of this element is truly fearsome." Said Lucien as he attempted to test it on a training dummy. He wanted to test his capabilities before he attempted breaking through to the Jindan Realm. The training dummy was made from Black Steel Essence, which was one of the toughest and hardest metals in the entire Aizhouma Universe. It had the ability to withstand the full power of Pinnacle-Phase Viscount-Ranked Sacred Body Refiner, which was terrifying durability. Lucien conjured an Orb of the Destruction Style, as this was his personal style of controlling Destruction Energy. [Truth-Seeking Orb Style], it was also because his anomaly inside his Dantian from Destruction Energy was a Destruction Orb. After he successfully congealed the orb of destruction energy, he threw it at the training dummy from the Black Steel Essence. The moment they came into contact, entire training dummy from one of the toughest metals, started disintegrating into nothingness and several seconds later, there was nothing, entire training dummy sends right away into the oblivion. "Hmm... potential of the destruction energy is very high... with such ease, it was able to disintegrate training dummy entirely made from the Black Steel Essence..." After testing this level of power, he sat cross-legged and started breaking through to the Jindan Realm. He was training in the Abyssal Destruction Scripture, so he followed steps to create Jindan. In creating Jindan, one could create several types, from worst to best they were: White - Worst, Orage - Common, Red - Rare, Violent - Excellent, and finally Golden - Perfect Jindan. Golden Jindan, was perfect Jindan, not only it was bigger than previous ones, it didn''t have any cracks, leakages, or any impurities. Lucien was aiming to create Golden Jindan, not only one but rather due to his special constitution, he would be able to create nine Jindans at most, as his grandfather has already created Five Golden Jindans of Darkness Energy. Creating Jindan was a hard and arduous process. One would need to take every ounce of energy inside his body, and move it to the Dantian. Then through the high-speed circulation of this energy, it would slowly solidify, and create so-called Jindan. Lucien''s progress on this thing was pretty good, and soon, every ounce of the Destruction Energy was already in his dantian, circulating on the top speed at the same place, slowly showing signs of solidification. The entire process to one hour and the solidification was nearly complete. After some short time, he felt energy wave going through his entire body, and he even puked out a mouthful of blood. Only after that, he noticed that his Jindan was already complete, Golden Jindan of the Destruction Energy. He was fortunate, that he managed to comprehend Lesser Destruction Dao, shortly after the Conquest, if not he would not be able to break through to the Jindan Realm. After breaking through to the Jindan Realm, he felt huge power surging through his entire body. One must know that Jindan was like an energy generator, that is generating energy all the time, and also at the same time, the special function of the Golden Jindan is that his energy would be of the purest grade, without any impurities and dense as possible. "Now that I have reached Jindan Realm, my combat prowess has skyrocketed. I need to reach Jindan Realm in the other two energies as soon as possible, or it would be detrimental for my body if the energies are not balanced." Muttered Lucien as he thought about future cultivation progress. 190 How would it hatch? When he was thinking about his cultivation, he knew that due to a number of energies he was cultivating he would have trouble advancing to later stages. Especially due to the existence of the Destruction Energy, Lucien knew exactly what needed to be done, but he was not able to do it right now. The only way for him to advance beyond Yuanying Realm, to reach Haishen Realm was only one way. To reach Haishen Realm, cultivators of his system would transform their Dantians to Virtual World, but Lucien wouldn''t be able to do this, as his energies were greatly unbalanced. There was only one solution to this. To counter ferocious destruction energy, he needed to obtain Holy Energy Seed, cultivate it together with other energies to the Pinnacle-Phase of Yuanying Realm, and then create 4-Way Virtual World. That would mean, he would be cultivating still four energies but at the same time. If he would want to make advancement in cultivation, he would need to advance all four elements at the same to, to not break the balance. This was the only way for someone like him, to cultivate beyond Yuanying Realm. This was also a reason, why he was constantly looking for Holy Energy Seed, even here in the God-Devil Plane, as he knew that these Seeds could appear anywhere in the Endless Void. "So be it... I would now increase my RC Cells and attempt to open another gate from the Eight Celestial Inner Gates: Gate of Pain. I have been putting it aside for a long time already, as this Gate would be problematic, alas, my body is strong enough and refined several times... so I should be able to handle the pain." Thus he started eating several hundred blood essences like candies, and to be more effective he ate them in packs. Thanks to that, his RC Level was quickly increasing, though, not by much as most of these blood essences were that of Count-Rank so their effect was smaller compared to before. Blood essences below Count-Rank were now absolutely ineffective for someone like him. The Gate of Pain, located on the spinal cord, increase in resistance against the physical pain to a great extent. It also could prevent passing out when exposed the great physical pain. To open the Gate of Pain as soon as possible, he chose to use Destruction Energy. He knew that this would make the process more painful, but it would be many times quicker. As he thought, he was right. After several seconds he was already shivering in pain, as he was attacking the closed Gate of Pain with torrents of the Destruction Energy, but soon enough, the entire gate was cracked and opened. The next moment, all the pain was gone, and the only thing that remained was pure blissfully feeling. "This should allow me to fight even under large amounts of injuries, though I should be careful with this. Pain receptors are there for reason, if I am not careful, I would sustain many hidden injuries." Muttered Lucien, afterward, he looked at his record. ============================================= Name: Lucien Etras von Aeon Occupation: Executor of Akashic Records, Crown Prince of the Holy Niflheim Empire Race: Sacred Devoured Ghoul Bloodline: Sacred Devourer Meridians: Void Genesis Meridians - RC Type: Ukaku (4-winged) RC Level: 1,300,000 Body Cultivation: Initial-Phase Marquise-Rank - Zanpakut¨­: Dual Dual Katanas - unawakened Purple Dragon - unawakened - Immortal Cultivation: Initial-Phase Jindan Realm * Destruction - Initial-Phase Jindan Realm * Void - Pinnacle-Phase Xiantian Realm * Ice - Initial-Phase Xiantian Realm - Dantian: Void Vortex Ice Flame Destruction Orb - 1 Golden Jindan - Abilities: Sacred Devourer - Ability to devour any types of energy, bloodlines, or bodies. It strengthens the host by some amount. - Eight Celestial Inner Gates: The Gate of Opening - Celestial Reflexes The Gate of Healing - Celestial Regeneration The Gate of Life - Celestial Dual Hearts The Gate of Pain - Celestial Pain Resistance - Dao: Lesser Void Dao - 99% Lesser Ice Dao - 80% Grand Destruction Dao - 2% Grand Sword Dao - 16% - Immortal Cultivation Techniques: Eternal Void Scripture: Xiantian Realm Absolute Ice Flame Scripture: Xiantian Realm Abyssal Destruction Scripture: Jindan Realm - Body Cultivation Techniques: Sacred Body Refining Scripture: Marquise-Rank Eight Celestial Inner Gates: The Gate of Life (4th Gate) - Combat Techniques: Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨± - Cross Crest: Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace ============================================= Having a record was always so convenient. Because of this, Lucien wanted to have something like this distributed to all subjects of the Empire. But creating such a device, that was capable of deep analysis of a person''s cultivation and other aspects, in such a detailed and precise way, was something extremely hard and demanding. Several Magisters were working on creating such a device, but it had another problem. Same as with Magitek Soldiers, perfect artificial intelligence would be needed, so they needed to wait until Empire had it. ============================================= "So how would I need to hatch this Egg, Magister?" Asked Lucien as he was observing a Flerken Egg that was in his hands. "You need to drop some drops of the Heart Blood of yours onto an Egg. After it has absorbed several drops, to speed up the process and also, boost up the potential and strength of the Flerken, try infusing a Void Energy into Flerken Egg." Explained Magister Isaacs. Lucien started doing as Magister Isaacs said. He called out his Zanpakut¨­, which he called Purple Dragon, and cut a precise wound at his chest and drew out several drops of his Heart Blood. The wound quickly healed up and Lucien stared at the Heart Blood drops in his hands. They were filled with a terrifying amount of energy, as his cultivation in Sacred Body Refining System was already at Marquise-Rank, not talking about the fact he was cultivating three types of energies and his race was very special. He carefully dropped one drop of Heart Blood onto Flerken Egg, to which the egg absorbed the drop of the Heart Blood almost in an instant. After seeing that reaction, he dropped there, other drops, one after another. Then he started carefully injecting Void Energy for the Flerken Egg to absorb. 191 Problem with underground pests After injecting Void Energy for several hours, the egg started shaking, but after several seconds it stopped. Lucien then stopped injecting Void Energy into the Flerken Egg, as he knew that the egg would now need some time to digest the energy and Heart Blood of his. "Magister Isaacs, how is the research on the RC Metal going on?" Asked Lucien after taking care of the Flerken Egg. RC Metal was a secret project of the Holy Niflheim Empire that was focused on infusing RC Cells into various metal alloys, to create super durable and strong metal, with regenerative and special properties of the RC Cells. "Your Highness, the research on the RC Metal should be completed in two or three months. We are close to stabilizing the RC Metal Pool, that we have created by transforming the entire smaller barren planet rich on various metals into one huge RC Metal Pool. Currently, we are not still able to extract RC Metal from the Pool constantly, but the metal is able to withstand full strength of the Marquise-Rank or Yuanying Realm." Stated Magister Isaacs. "Hmm... that is good... for now focus on developing RC Metal. We need to have all of our Battleships constructed from the RC Metal, it would increase the whole tightening capability of the Battleships. Also, how are the scans of the planet?" "This planet is rich in minerals and other ores, altogether several million tonnes have been found. The only problem we have found is the underground world of the planet. There are apparently several lifeforms with energy reading in the Yuanying Realm. Probably some mutated beasts on the Type 10 Divine Warrior that are living in the caves deep under the ground." Said Magister Isaacs. "Oh?" "We have sent down there several Magitek Soldiers of Assassin-Class. They were destroyed, but we have managed found out it is some mutated Arachne colony. The situation itself is problematic, as they have lairs at several strategic places, where rare ores are located. We have even found lodge of Stygian Iron, almost several tonnes, but apparently, the lodge is at the Queen''s lair." Explained he. "I will go down there and clear the underground. With my strength, it shouldn''t be any problem. Maybe I would be able to find some treasures. Magister, how is the progression on the construction of the Level-1 Portable Fortified Stronghold going?" Portable Fortified Stronghold, was very advanced magitek structure, similarly to the Orbital Space Defense Fortress, it had huge offensive and defensive abilities, and it was extremely demanding on resources if you wanna construct even one of them of the lowest level. "To construct one Level-1 Portable Fortified Stronghold, we have used resources almost from half of the system we have plundered. Real problematic thing is to find some metal wit rich Heaven and Earth Energy and other special treasures that could be used as the base, but fortunately, Signa System had several planets and moons, not talking about tens of asteroids that had countless resources. After the Level-1 Portable Fortified Stronghold is constructed, we could start producing Magitek Soldiers on the Planet Ilter at huge speed, probably several thousand per day if we have enough resources to sustain it." "Focus also on constructing Battleships. All of our fleet is made up of only one hundred Ardent-Class Battleships, which is a pathetical number. To have a proper fleet we need to have at least ten thousand battleships, but that would require an astronomical amount of resources, fortunately, our progress in conquering and pillaging others is fast, so our fleet should be able to expand very quickly." Said Lucien as he stood up and prepared to exit the room. "Of course, Your Highness. If I may ask, where are you going right now?" "Where to? Right now, to the underground to annihilate those pests that are blocking our mining works on the planet. We need resources and we need them as fast as possible. Now return to oversee the Sacred Devourification Process on those Evolved Zombies. Afterward, continue in your usual duties." To which Magister Isaacs slightly bowed and then also left. ============================================= After Lucien left, he immediately went to one of the entrances that were leading to the underground world of the Planet Ilter. Apparently, mutated beasts have made huge space under the planet''s crust, and there were billions of them living there. When he heard, that energy scans have caught energy reading belonging to the Type 10 Divine Warrior, he knew that he would have to go personally there and dispose of all of Type 10 Mutated Beasts. The rest of them could be killed off or transported to the breeding planets by Imperial Soldiers. Lately, the fate of the most mutated beasts on conquered planets, was not immediate death how could one think, but rather, they would be captured and transported to the Breeding Planets. That were planets, full of the mutated beast, where they could freely live and reproduce. They served as a constant source of food, rare materials, and other things. Only those mindless ones and most aggressive would be killed and processed onto blood essences when they were living on the Breeding Planet. Some mutated beasts produced rare resources, like silk, rare blood, and other many and many things. When Lucien entered the underground, he immediately felt that there should be at least ten Type 10 mutated beasts, which was a huge number. All entrances to the underground were guarded by several Ardent-Class Battleships, and several Particle Cannons were installed on the ground, in case they decided to attack the surface. "If that Arachne Queen could be captured, those spiders could become an exclusive source of high-quality silk and poison. That could be beneficial for the Empire. Sadly, their combat power is low and evolutionary potential zero." Muttered Lucien sadly. Not every species were like Zerg or former Tyranids, that we''re able to devour other species and constantly evolve into something higher and stronger, more perfect, and more terrifying. Only a minority of species across entire Endless Void had the ability to constantly evolve, others must depend on rare treasures and special encounters. 192 Awaken, Akaitsuki! As Lucien entered the underground cave, he used his senses to find his first target, lifeform with energy signature at the Yuanying Realm, Type 10 Divine Warrior. He was using his top speed as he wanted to dispose of them as soon as possible, so he could enjoy some time of leisure. The entire underground was very dark, but thanks to his Celestial Reflexes he was able to easily see in such a dark environment. Soon enough, he felt some lizard mutated beasts on the level of Type 7 to Type 9 Divine Warriors, lurking around here. ''So my first target would be some kind of mutated lizard that reached Type 10...'' Thought Lucien in his head, as he was using his Ice energy to freeze little lizards to death. Right now he felt, that his comprehension towards the Dao of Ice was becoming deeper and deeper as he was using it for a long time without any pause. Even though his Ice Immortal Path was only at the Initial-Phase Xiantian, Lucien was mixing there bits of the Destruction Energy, not to increase damage but rather to increase the potency of the Ice energy. Every time he froze or killed some mutated lizards, he always kept their Nuclei in his Cross-Crest spatial storage treasure. Compared to the Spatial Rings or other types of spatial treasures, the Cross-Crest was special. It was directly tied to his soul and contained space on the level of some medium-sized Immortal Realm, which was a very very rare thing. Lucien then stood before the huge stone, behind which was a huge lizard. The lizard was at least thirty meters in length and ten meters high. Even though it was sleeping it was radiating an enormous amount of energy. ''Lucky.'' Thought he as he called out his dual Zanpakut¨­ katanas, and coated them in the Destruction energy before performing Flying Dragon Slash, aiming straightly at the sleeping Type 10 mutated lizard. Poor thing didn''t even know what was coming, as Lucien was suing his Void energy and his comprehension of the Dao of Void to hide himself and his attack, making it a perfect ambush. After the Type 10 mutated lizard fell dead, he immediately took its body and pulled it into Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace, and he even dropped there several tens of mutated beast Nuclei he collected along the way. As he was right now in a relatively safe environment, he decided to refine the corpses collected and increase his RC Level, hopefully breaking through to the Early-Phase Marquise-Rank in the Sacred Body Refining System, as it would increase his combat abilities by a huge margin. Soon the corpse and mutated beast Nuclei were refined into a single blood-essence pill, that was radiating with a huge amount of energy. Lucien directly took the blood-essence pill and swallowed it in one go. He felt a warm feeling in his body, spreading through his every cell, as he felt that his RC Level was increasing at frightening speed, soon reaching over 2 million, finally becoming Early-Phase Marquise-Rank. "Also, what to do with this thing?" Muttered Lucien as he was holding the Indestructible Soul of the mutated lizard. In the God-Devil Plane of the Divine Warrior Cultivation System, upon reaching Type 10, all lifeforms that reached this realm were able to form Indestructible Soul, which remained even if their body is destroyed. Right now Lucien was holding in his hand''s soul of Type 10 mutated lizard. As he was rocking his head over this issue, he felt that his twin Zanpakut¨­ katanas were itching when they were near the soul. So he took the Soul closer to the Zanpakut¨­ katanas and was shocked at the sight. Both katanas ferociously started tearing apart the Indestructible Soul and devouring it like nothing. Soon, after several seconds they were finished and started making an imaginary crying sound, apparently wanting even more. So he took out, the Soul of that Type 10 disciple of Holy Martial Sect he killed not long ago and fed it to the Zanpakut¨­ katanas. This time, it took one minute for them to devour completely the soul. Lucien was delighted seeing this, as he had a way to completely dispose of souls of killed enemies, and he even felt that these twin katanas had become stronger. As he wanted to recall them, both of them started radiating fierce crimson light, that was radiating the entire area where Lucien was, and also releasing an unbearable amount of spiritual pressure, to which even Lucien had to resist with all of his strength. "Akaitsuki!" "Akaitsuki!" "Awaken the Akaitsuki!" After the last sentence was said, a huge explosion occurred and destroyed everything at sight, an entire part of the underground was in ruins, and right now it wasn''t even underground as the light of the local sun was reaching here. Lucien stared at the Zanpakut¨­ katanas, he knew that his dual Zanpakut¨­ katanas, awakened their names, and now they could display far more terrifying combat power. Currently, his Zanpakut¨­ katanas were comparable to the Earth artifact of Supreme-Quality. "Hi there... are you awake?" Asked Lucien with a quiet voice. "Yes." "Here we are, master." Said two voices at the same time. "Our name is..." "Akaitsuki" "Crimson Moon." Muttered Lucien. "I can see that you are comparable to the Earth-grade treasure of Supreme-Quality. How would I be able to advance it?" Right now, this was Lucien''s most important question, how to advance grade of his Zanpakut¨­ katanas. "Souls, as Zanpakut¨­ we feed on souls." "If you feed us with souls..." "We would be able to advance fast..." "And become pretty strong..." "Master." They were completing each other sentences perfectly, though it seemed a bit creepy. "Then I will find you a lot of souls. What about my other Zanpakut¨­?" Right now Lucien awakened only one of his Zanpakut¨­, the second one was still dormant. Tsuinkurimuzonsureiy¨¡zu were twins, and Lucien also had one more Zanpakut¨­. "Again..." "Souls, but now you must obtain higher" "quality souls" "as that Zanpakut¨­ would want more" "As we have already eaten some high-ranked souls" "Yes, that it is, master" 193 Arachne Nest and Dao After leaving his Zanpakut¨­ Akaitsuki devour all souls he had, Lucien continued hunting mutated beasts all around the underground. Unfortunately for him, an awakening of his Zanpakut¨­ created a huge mess and lured here several hundreds of mutated beasts, and even two Type 10 Mutated beasts came here to check on the situation. Still, it helped Lucien a bit, as he wasn''t forced to go search for them, and could just kill them right here, as they came to him. Two mutated beasts that came, were some of the insectoid types, unfortunately for them, they were killed by one hit done by Zanpakut¨­ Akaitsuki. Afterward, he used his destruction energy to dispose of the rest of the mutated beasts. Then he captured two killed souls of Type 10 mutated beasts. More souls he fed to his Zanpakut¨­, stronger it would get. Right now it was already Earth-Grade of Supreme-Quality, and after eating these souls. Sadly, most of these souls were weak, and he managed to kill only several additional Type 10 mutated beast that so-called indestructible soul, that could be used as the perfect food for the Zanpakut¨­. Thus Lucien continued his killing spree, killing every mutated beast he could find in this dammed underground world, he was already getting numb from all of that blood and slaughter, but alas his Zanpakut¨­ Akaitsuki was screaming with joy, as it was getting all those juicy souls to eat. After several hours, he finally found out his target. It was in the deepest part of the underground world, very close to the core of the planet, probably these dammed insects were using it as some source of thermal energy for them or god knows what. Afterward, Lucien used his sharp senses, to look and scan the Arachne Queen. She was definitely huge, at least 15 meters tall, and five meters wide. She had eight sharp blade-like legs and was radiating terrifying energy at first sight. Lucien could feel that she very strong Type 10 mutated beast. ''Hmm... this is bad... that insect is too ferocious and in the Empire, we don''t have anyone who specializes in Soul Cultivation, so they could enslave it. And our study of magic isn''t advanced enough to enslave such strong beings. Sadly only way for me to finish this is to kill it... dammit.'' Cursed Lucien in his head angrily. Right now, there were thousands upon thousands of ordinary Arachne here, so it would be hard to kill the Queen without any intervention from the side of her minions. Lucien unleashed his Ukaku wings, right now he had two pairs, meaning four beautiful crystal-like wings were sprouting from his back. He also called out his Zanpakut¨­, but now he didn''t call out Akaitsuki, but his second one, the unawakened Zanpakut¨­, long katana like one. He coated his wings in Destruction Energy and started shooting hundreds of crystalline projectiles coated in the mentioned energy, with terrifying precision, at surrounding arachnes, that ranged from Type 7 to even pinnacle of Type 9. But not even one of them could resist one crystalline projectile coated in destructive energy, that disintegrated weaker ones to nothingness. "Human! I want your death! Children on him!" Roared Arachne Queen that was also hit by one crystalline projectile, and was even injured slightly, but her strength was great, so it was not any kind of fatal injury. Lucien was using these crystalline projectiles only to deal with cannon fodders as it was very easy was. The second reason was that he waiting for this exact decision of the Arachne Queen, he was luring them out. ''Dumb insect.'' Laughed he silently, as he unleashed his Zanpakut¨­, and started channeling his Void Energy and Ice Energy, with all of his strength to his Zanpakut¨­. ''1'' ''2'' ''3'' ''4'' ''5'' "Frozen Void Slash" Screamed Lucien as he slashed at the seemingly endless horde of Arachne cannon folders, and invisible icy and dark energy hit them. In mere seconds, all of them were frozen to death... not leaving single alive. His Zanpakut¨­, meanwhile devoured all of the souls, but it wasn''t in a mood for awakening. "Shit... so that insect is not too stupid." Muttered Lucien, as he saw a strange thing. He saw thousands of frozen Arachne, but the place where the Arachne Queen was previously standing was vacant, so it was obvious that she has escaped. "Damm... and now I must purse it..." Lucien then flapped his wings and started using his Void Energy to support his wing, so make him even faster. As he was constantly using his void energy, he suddenly realized that something as different about, it... it was his comprehension... he managed to comprehend Grand Void Dao in middle of the fight, so now his void energy was far more powerful, potent and his usage was more precise. After pursuing the Arachne Queen in these dark tunnels for more than ten minutes he finally found his target. Even Arachne Queen was slightly injured by his attack, as it was a deadly combination of the Void Energy and Ice Energy, it could be seen that three of her legs were frozen a bit, so her mobility was now lowered by a significant amount. ''Hmm... maybe killing it isn''t so bad idea... I can then dissect it with help of some Magisters, and improve my model of Mechanical Automaton. From outer structure my Mechanical Automaton is same as this Arachne Quee, truth to be told, I have created it on her image... on the image of Arachne species, but having a real subject to study could significantly improve my research on this topic, and even increase the combat power of Mechanical Automatons of Arachne-Class.'' Muttered Lucien as he observed Arachne Queen from the darkness of the shadows. After comprehending Grand Dao of Sword, Lucien officially became that, what is called Sword Master, special state, after one has comprehended Grand Dao of Sword, these people all had terrifying offensive power. And right now, Lucien decided, he would fight against this Arachne Queen, with pure Kenjutsu and nothing else. 194 Duel of Sword and Spider, Treasures After Lucien reached Sword Master Realm by comprehending Grand Sword Dao, he mastered Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨±, at least to initial mastery, but still, now, Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨± showed really enormous attacking power and potential. Lucien called out his Zanpakut¨­ Akaitsuki, as the dual-sword style was best suited for the Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨±. Only using pure abilities of his strong physique, gained by cultivating Sacred Body Refining System, he rushed at the Arachne Queen, that was tending her wounds, by consuming some kind of liquid. Arachne Queen was caught by surprise, as Lucien was aiming at her legs. He wasn''t aiming at already injured frozen legs, but rather at those healthy ones, as he wanted to lower her mobility even further. He was a designer and creator of the Mechanical Automaton of Arachne-Class so he had some basic understanding of there anatomy, and knew that their legs were extremely dangerous parts of her body, even more than hands. "Splash." Blood spurted out in liters, as Lucien severed two of her legs, with precise slashed using Hiten Mitsurugi-ry¨± techniques. After severing two of her legs, Arachne Queen became even angrier and started slashing everywhere around with her remaining usable bladed legs, and also releasing very toxic poison. Sadly, for her, these attempts were absolutely futile, as Lucien already disappeared to the safe distance, as he waited for such retaliation. "Cowardly human! Show yourself!" Screamed Arachne Queen in an absolute rage after she found out that Lucien was nowhere to find. "Don''t dare you to call me human, you trash!" Said the voice of silhouette that appeared behind her out of nowhere, and severed two of her hands, that were previously holding bladed weapons. Now she was completely defenseless and only two hands were remaining, that was used to conjure some kind of energy attacks. "Aaaaahhhh!" Screamed she in enormous pain, as Lucien continued slashing at her with his Zanpakut¨­ Akaitsuki, causing her many injuries, ending in completely severing all of her limbs, leaving there only decapitated pitiful creature. "Truly pathetic... one would think that Type 10 Arachne Queen would be stronger." Muttered Lucien as he severed her head before she started screaming at him something. "Hmm... I should search it here... it would be good to found her hatchery, where eggs are and destroy them throughout to prevent future problems. Also, maybe I can find some treasures." Said Lucien as he started searching for hatchery of the Arachne Queen. It wasn''t too hard to find it, and only after twenty minutes of searching, he found it. There were thousands of Arachne Eggs. Lucien directly used his destructive energy to disintegrate these disgusting things to the oblivion. Then he started to search for valuables and treasures. One must know, Arachne Queen was Type 10 mutated beast, and even though Planet Ilter was just backward of the Aizhouma Universe in the God-Devil Plane, this Arachne Queen was probably older than entire civilizations of planet Ilter, so she must have some nice treasures. "Oh! Void Stone... and several packs of them. They were very helpful in cultivation of Void Energy, maybe I could use a few of them, and leave rest for my Flerken to strengthen itself with them. They would be very nutritious food for it." Said Lucien as he stored several Void Stones to his Cross-Crest dimensional space. Right now, the entire space was empty, the only thing there was one Blood-Essence Sacred Refining Furnace, the corpse of Arachne Queen, and several tens of Blood-Essence Pills. Then he found some weapons, armors, and some other equipment, most of them were of Mid to High-Quality of Mortal-Grade, so basically useless, only scraps of metal and god know what kind of materials. So Lucien left it here, so the Imperial Soldiers, would take it and bring it to smitheries for smelting. Maybe blacksmiths would find some usage for it. "What the hell is this?" Asked Lucien as he looked at small shining orb on the ground. "Sun Core Essence!" This little thing was extremely precious, as it was used by cultivators cultivating in Light Energy or those who were harvesting the power of suns, to improve their strength. Coincidentally, his mother was of the Light attribute, so this would be a perfect gift for her, so she could drastically improve her strength. Afterward, he didn''t find anything precious, only some books, data banks, or other mischievous things. Thought those data banks and books were pretty useful, as they were describing various power not only of the Aizhouma Universe but rather of the entire God-Devil Plane. So this would give them a better understanding of the entire God-Devil Plane and the place where they currently were. "There is nothing of value to me here. I should return. Maybe I will try to hatch the Flerken Egg, with the help of Void Stones, the entire hatching process would go many times faster." Muttered Lucien as he thought about Flerken Egg that was resting in his chambers, as usual, it would take a long time before the Flerken Egg is hatched as they require an enormous amount of the Void Energy for the hatching process. After he returned to surface, countless Imperial Soldiers with around fifty thousand Magitek Infantry Soldiers were rushing to the underground world, to clean it up. There were countless corpses that needed to be refined into Blood-Essence Pills before they rotten away, an entire underground world needed to be searched, kill every mutated beast that survived and picks everything that could have some value. Now that all Type 10 mutated beasts were killed, Imperial Soldiers and Magitek Infantry Soldiers could do everything, and mining works could start. 195 Aftermath and Flerken After everything was done in the underground space, Lucien returned to the commanding center, as everything was done for him for now on the Planet Ilter. Now only, thing was to finish the devitrification process for more than 20,000 evolved zombies to convert them to the Sacred Devourer Ghouls with the help of Sacred Blood Crystals, but that was all. Luc¨¢ien would stay here until the procedure is finished and personally observe this thing, and after that, he would return to the Imperial Captial Yharnam. "Give me an overall report on the situation in the entire Signa System." Commanded Lucien as he sat down on his throne. "Yes, Your Highness." Said one of the information officers, as he brought a magitek device with him. "After Your Highness eliminated all mutated beasts in the underground world, we have managed to control entire Planet Ilter. All mutated beasts that cannot be used for breeding purposes and transported away, were directly killed and immediately refined into Blood-Essence Pills. Right now we have already started building Level-1 Portable Fortified Stronghold, these kinds of Magitek Structures already required Dimensional Void Crystals to function perfectly, so we are waiting for the materials to arrive from the Imperial Capital. After Level-1 Portable Fortified Stronghold is built here, we could start building Magitek factories at full scale." Reported officer as he was reading it from his recording device. "What about Signa System?" "In regard to Signa System, we have started searching it through, and from several planets, in the entire system only one had civilization present, but it is too primitive, their strongest person is around Type 4 Divine Warrior in their cultivation system, so we have annihilated their entire civilization and used their corpses as food for mutated beasts on the Breeding Planets. In regard to resources, several planets are extremely rich in various metals and precious herbs that could be used in Alchemy. We have already started mining on asteroids, and then we will move onto planets." "Good. After Level-1 Portable Fortified Stronghold is built, focus on expanding our fleet. It is too tiny. Within one year, I want to have at least another one hundred Ardent-Class Battleships here. With population boon from the devourification process of evolved zombies, our population will rise drastically, so we will have enough of the workforce for all of our projects. Additionally, built enough Magitek Towers to cover the entire planet, so when we construct Level-3 Portable Fortified Stronghold in the future when to have enough rare materials, we could cast Sky-Net over the entire Planet Ilter, that would also cover more than half of the Signa System." Sky-Net was basically an energy network created from at least one Level-3 Portable Fortified Stronghold, and several Level 2 and Level-1 Portable Fortified Strongholds, with countless Magitek Towers acting as support. It was able to suppress the cultivation of cultivators to a significant amount. For example, if Jindan Realm entered suppression Sky-Net he would be no different from ordinary mortal, same for Yuanying Realm, that would be suppressed down to the Houtian Realm. Best effect, Sky-Net had against people cultivating energies, be it cultivators, wizards, magi, or anything else. Against Body Refiners, the effect was many times weaker. "You may leave." Commanded Lucien with a dignified voice as he was in deep thought. After officer bowed and left, Lucien went to another room, where the Flerken Egg was stored, and still absorbing void energy from a simple array that some Magister made for it. He took out one of the Void Stones and looked a bit at the Void Stone. He felt that if he absorbed them, he could break through to the Jindan Realm in Void Immortal Path, right now, but alas he decided against it as he wanted to use them to hatch the Flerken Egg. He also, knew that he would break through either way, only maybe a few months later. After he put the Void Stone to the formation, the formation started glowing violently, and draining pure energy of the void from the Void Stone, and directly send it to the Flerken Egg, that was absorbing it madly. This process repeated itself until every Void Stone was basically eaten as a snack, by the Flerken Egg without any problem. After that, Lucien started supplying his own void energy to the Flerken Egg, as he sat down cross-legged in hope, that the Egg would hatch. And his hopes would be fulfilled as the egg started shaking violently, and the eggshell was slowly breaking down. After several minutes, it broke down completely and the only small little ginger kitten was laying on the pedestal, where the egg was. It looked very tiny and so innocent. Lucien still knew that even newly born Flerken was deadly dangerous. He took a small step forward, and cut his finger to bring out a few Bloodline Source Blood drops. He gave it to the Flerken egg, so he was repeating it to bring out the familiarity with newly born Flerken. Little kitten flerken senses familiar blood and listed the Bloodline Source Blood drops from Lucien''s finger. After that, it moved its little head, still with closed eyes, and looked at Lucien, and after a short time, it nodded several times, and released "meow". Then it started purring. Lucien took the baby flerken to his embrace and hold it close. Right now was the flerken only newly-born, so it was the perfect time to bond with it. If he didn''t develop a strong bond right now with it, when it was still small, after this period of growth it would be very hard. 196 Isla and Year "How should we name you..." Muttered Lucien as he was looking at small kitten Flerken that was cuddling to him. He checked the gender of the Flerken, and it was female Flerken, so he decided on a name. "You are ginger, and pretty noble even though you are the only kitten. So, you shall be called Isla." Said Lucien as he looked at little female flerken kitty. ============================================= One Year Later, Planet Ilter, Level-1 Portable Fortified Stronghold, Command Center During this one year, not many things have changed. Only several, but a very important thing happened. The first thing was that the sacred denitrification process was done, and Holy Niflheim Empire obtained more than 20,000 Sacred Devourer Ghouls to increase its low population. This was a very good thing. Second thing was that all fortifications around Planet Ilter were complete, and now the entire planet and even entire Signa System was turned into one huge fortress, that would be used to defend the borders of the Empire, and also would be the starting point for the conquest of the surrounding systems. The number of Battleships has increased, not doubled, but still reached a nice number of overall, 160 Ardent-Class Battleships. What increased more, were Magitek Infantry Soldiers, as they were manufactured for the whole year, practically non-stop, as Empire needed workforce. Armored Swordsman-Type reached a terrifying number of one million and three hundred thousand. Armored Assassin-Type reached a number of two hundred thousand, and finally, Armored Sorcerer-Type reached a number of eighty thousand. Currently, Lucien was sitting on his throne at the commanding center of the Level-1 Portable Fortified Stronghold, and petting his flerken Isla. When Isla was born she was basically the most lovable little cute thing ever. She was very friendly towards Itori, Seira, his sister Artemia and his mother Selene who often came to play with her, pet her or bring her some snacks from the rare mutated beast. To others, especially to people, she doesn''t know, she was pretty aggressive. One time, she was scared out by several marching Magitek Infantry Soldiers, when she was sleeping on the tree branch, and in her anger she destroyed them all with her tentacles, making out a scrap metal out of them. Though she was very young, her strength was terrifying. Growth of the Flerken is fastest during one year after birth, afterward, it would slow down to regular tempo, but her cultivation speed is still comparable to some geniuses in various worlds. "Your Highness, we have got a message from Her Highness Seira, that conquest of the Aquamarine System is done, and native civilization was exterminated. They have fought to the death, and thousand of Magitek Infantry Soldiers." Reported one of the officials. "How is the state of Aquamarine System?" "Beside civilization that was on the Roqon Planet, there isn''t any life besides mutated beasts. We have found several lodges of metals and ores and already started working on mining them. We have also found several mutated beast species, that weren''t found before, and most of them are suitable for breeding purposes, so they have been captured and transported to the Breeding Planets." Reported official. Holy Niflheim Empire, had the strict qualification of planets, based on their usage. Breeding Planet, was a planet inhabited only by mutated beasts, it was like a small kingdom for them, they were continuously reproducing, thus creating an endless stream of materials for Blood-Essence Pills. Then there was Forge Planets, where many factories, refineries, and other similar subjects were placed. The last type was Fortress Planet, this was basically a combination of several sub-types of planets, Garden Planet / Fortress Planet, and Knight Planet. As Empire was small in population, they fused these three kinds, ¨ªinto one to be more effective. "Good, very good." Said Lucien mildly, as he continued petting Isla. After several minutes, he felt a strange feeling, not only him but also, Isla started twitching. Flerkens were very sensitive to energy and its changes. "Immediately found out what happened." Commanded Lucien as soldiers went to fulfill his command. Around the time, a number of gigantic and monstrous doorways appeared all over the globe. The doors were etched with all sorts of engravings, depicting skeletons, Mutant Beasts, demons, werewolves, giant bugs. They gave off a terrifying aura. When the doors appeared, all lifeforms near them were instantly filled with fear, as they scrambled to flee as far as they could. It was like instinctive feeling, countless mutated beasts fled the moment those doors appeared. It didn''t take too long for them to find out about what had happened, as the entire planet was surrounded by tens of Ardent-Class Battleships, and one Orbital Space Defense Fortress was permanently stationed at the orbit of the Planet Ilter, not talking about Level-1 Portable Fortified Stronghold that was built here. "Your Highness, several huge gates have appeared around the entire planet. We have confirmed that this phenomenon has occurred only on the Planet Ilter, and not on any of the planets that are under the control of the Empire. Based on available information, we have identified them as Gates of Hell." Reported intelligence officer. ''Hmm... how could they appear here. Even though we are on the outskirts of the Death Zone and very close to the influence of the God-Devil System, something like this shouldn''t be possible, but alas what is a problem. They are probably leading that place, where the God-Devil System is hidden.'' Thought Lujcien in his head. "Immediately mobilize entire Army of Magitek Infantry. Call every free Holy Imperial Knight from Imperial Capital to the Planet Ilter. Inform Fleet Admiral to divide the Fleet among the Gates of Hell, and let Battleships to guard them. Also, inform Emperor, and ask for reinforcements, tell him to let grandfather come." Lucien barked one order after another. Right now his biggest worry was what would come out of the Gates of Hell. Even though they had quality, they were lacking in quantity. What Lucien feared the most, was the enemy that thought was weaker, would drown them in numbers. Chapter 197 - 197 - Greater God World One hour later after the appearance of Gates of Hell Soldiers of the Holy Niflheim Empire worked very fast, especially now when nervous Crown Prince was basically breathing on their backs. Countless of Magitek Infantry Soldiers were swarming the Gates of Hell, tens of Ardent-Class Battleships were hovering above them, aiming their energy cannons straightly at the huge door-like structure. One hour later, several people were sitting behind a huge table at the command. Even Lucien''s grandfather Azrael has come out of the seclusion, additionally, Holy Imperial Knight N0.5 Shen Tatara, Holy Imperial Knight N0.4 Arima Kish¨­, Holy Imperial Knight N0.2 Loruel, and Holy Imperial Knight N0.1 Arseahr were present. Also, several Magisters and other figures of the Empire were seated here. "Read the initial report, we have managed to get from sending Magitek Space-Time Recording Devices through one of those doors." "The first thing, we have noticed about that world, is that the Laws of the Worlds, are even weaker than here, meaning there is basically no suppression." Reported one of Magisters who was studying this field. Every world, dimension, plane, or whatever, had so-called Law Suppression. Meaning, for example, in Dimension A, Yuanying Realm cultivator could destroy maximally entire mountains with his energy reserves and techniques, as there was suppression from the Will of the World. But at the same time, in Dimension B, where this suppression didn''t exist, the same Yuanying Cultivator would be able to destroy the whole Islands or small countries, as there wasn''t any suppression. Thought almost all worlds across Endless Void had Law Suppression, only through special means in special worlds, you can change laws of the world. "From obtained information, we can conclude that this world, The Greater God World, is nothing more than a separate sealed dimension. It is connected to more than 800 worlds, through some kind of dimensional portal. Our Magitek Space-Time Recording Devices noticed, that the so-called Greater God World, has over several thousand Type 9 Divine Warriors or mutated beast, which are comparable to our Advanced-Phase and Pinnacle-Phase Count-Rank and Jindan Realm. They also, have some Half-Step Type 10, whose power is above Jindan Realm, but still below Yuanying Realm." "What about Type 10 Divine Warriors? Does that world have Yuanying Realm cultivators?" Asked one of the generals of army present. "Thought question to answer, as Magitek Space-Time Recording Devices found energy signature belonging to Type 10 Divine Warrior, but it is apparent, that in the Greater God World, is another sealed dimension, with more advanced and powerful seals, so even though Magitek Space-Time Recording Devices are the pinnacle of our current Magitek technology, they cannot see beyond those seals." Answered Magister. "That dimension is our target. I believe the Item I must obtain is there." Now, it wasn''t secret that Lucien had a position as Executor of Akashic Records. "Hmm... I will go through one of those Gates with Tatara and capture a few natives for interrogation, so we could obtain more information." Stated Arima, as he stood up, followed by Shen Tarara, and together they left to catch a few natives. Both N0.4 Arima Kish¨­ and N0.5 Shen Tatara were Early-Phase Marquise-Rank, so there wouldn''t be any problem for them, to capture even a few Type 9 Divine Warriors, in fact, Lucien hoped they would capture some strong ones, so they could obtain plenty information. "For now, surround every Gate of Hell, with our forces, and let at least one Marquise-Rank expert guard it personally. If, there is an attack, immediately report it to the HQ, its scale, and the strength of enemies. The worst-case scenario attacks, from the enemy with overwhelming numbers." Everyone nodded their heads if enemy like some Bug Tribes or some Automaton races attacked, though they may be weaker here, numbers would be in hundreds of millions. It would spell instant death even with their superior strength. After three hours, Arima and Tatara returned with one chained unconscious human. Lucien could sense that this human, was at least Type 9 Divine Warrior, so he had a satisfied smile on his face. "Call Magister Isaacs, to do his ''Magic'' on him." The Magic of Magister Isaacs was basically injecting Magitek Nanites, that would control every part of the target, that human would be nothing more than walking and talking corpse. When Magister Isaacs came and saw that chained Type 9 Divine Warrior, he had a weird glint in his eyes, and a malicious smile formed over his face. As always, something was hidden behind them, and as always, it wasn''t anything good. "After your Highness is finished, can I have this thing as my new specimen? Previous ones, that Your Highness captured, are already useless. I and other Magisters weren''t careful enough." When Lucien heard, those words he couldn''t help and shudder a bit. He knew very good what they were doing with captured enemies, humans especially, but he didn''t care. As long as they were experimenting on there enemies and it was for the advancement of the Holy Niflheim Empire, everything was allowed. "You can. And be careful with your new toy. New ones, would be ready for you, after we enter Greater God World, or expand more here. For now, Greater God World is our priority, and there are hundreds of a specimen like these, and even stronger... so show a good result in your research, a maybe several Type 9 Divine Warriors would be left to experiments, if results are exceptionally good, I will personally award you with Type 10 Divine Warrior." Said Lucien after a short thought. "I hereby express my thanks for the entire Magisterium and will express your will to other Magister. I believe that together we could bring a new era to the Empire." Bowed Magister Isaacs slightly. Afterward, he took a small vial, filled with Magitek Nanites, and injected them into unconscious Type 9 Divine Warrior. "Entire process would take around one hour, after that you can begin your interrogation, Your Highness." Chapter 198 - 198 - Factions of the Cage After Magister Isaacs injected those nanites to the subject, that humans started bleeding heavily, but soon it stopped. After some time, the entire process of control was done, and he stood up, with blank expression over his face. It was clear, that his consciousness was completely controlled by the Magitek Nanites. "The first question, how many factions are in the Greater God World and how is their strength?" "There are three factions in the Greater God World. Namely The 10,000-Devils Altar, the Man-Eater Temple, and the Holy Heavens. The 10,000-Devils Altar is a faction composed of countless Devil Races that banded together. Man-Eater Temple is faction created from mutated beasts, or some other individuals, in regard to management, it is the loosest organization, but also the biggest one. Finally my faction, Holy Heavens is human faction. Within the Holy Heavens, with the 5 main temples as the bases, the Heavenly Lords were all at least peak Type 9 half-God powerhouses. Below them were the Holy Lords at the Type 9 realm, and below them, the Holy Sons at the Type 8 realms. Underneath the Holy Sons, there were a few Type 8 Elders who worked hard but had no way of breaking through. Below the Elders, there were Holy Sons-in-Training. Below them were the Divine Envoys, followed by the Divine Envoys-in-Training. After that were the Divine Servants, followed by the Divine Servants-in-Training. After that were the Ordinary Members, followed by the Ordinary Members-in-Training." Reported human controlled by nanites. "What is your stand in the Holy Heavens?" "I am one of Holy Lords from Central Temple, which is the strongest Temple among all five as we have most Type 9 powerhouses." As Lucien listened to all this, his mood brightened up a bit. Even though they had several Half-Step Type 10 Divine Warriors, they were lacking geniue ones. "How many people reached Type 10 Divine Warrior that you know about?" This was a very important question for Lucien. "Based on what I know, within these 800 worlds, over the last millions of years, there had only been 20 heaven-defying characters that had broken through the Type 9 realm, reaching the legendary Type 10 realm and left the confines of these worlds, heading for some unknown domain." When he heard the answer he breathed in relief. Currently, Empire had only below ten Marquise-Ranked cultivators, in a direct confrontation they could be at a slight disadvantage. "Hmm... only problematic faction to deal with would be Holy Heavens. And maybe 10,000-Devils Altar. Man-Eater Temple is out of the question, they are just a bunch of powerhouses banded together, but their hierarchy is almost non-existent." "How many people are in the entire Holy Heavens?" "Nobody knows exactly, but at least several trillion." When he said that, it seemed like time froze, and almost everyone had sparkles in their eyes. Several trillion people, that could be directly annihilated and nobody would notice that. This wasn''t the outside world, where huge factions could directly wipe out the entire Holy Niflheim Empire. Right now, they have found a gold mine. After asking several other questions about the Greater God World and how it worked, about powerhouses and trump cards of every faction, Lucien sent that Type 9 human to the Magister Isaacs as he promised, as it would be a good material for experiments. After that, they would continue to discuss their next steps regarding what to do with the Greater God World. "So what now? We got very important information." "That world is full of creatures and not weakling creatures. Based on our calculations, even if the Empire reach a population of over ten million, we would have enough resources to cultivate all our subjects at least to Pinnacle-Phase Count-Rank or even Initial-Phase Marquise-Rank. Be it in the short or long term. And don''t forget we could have a basically unlimited amount of mutated beasts if we breed them correctly." Said another person seated behind the table. "For now, we should expand our forces and increase our strength. Conquering the Greater God World should be our priority. They are weak, and even in our current state, we are able to wipe them out completely, with some losses. After a short time, we would have consolidated our power enough, and we could start a war there. If we manage to conquer and digest entire Grater God World then it is only a matter of time, before the entire God-Devil Plane would fall to our hands." Stated Lucien''s grandfather, Azrael Etras von Aeon. He was currently the strongest person in the entire empire, already reaching Advanced-Phase Marquise-Rank and breaking through to Yuanying Realm. He was the reason, why Empire wasn''t fearful even such faction as Holy Martial Sect of the Aizhouma Universe, that lorded over huge territories even on the Universal scale. "This is probably the best course of action we can take. We will slowly explore the Gates of Hell, and start slowly our conquest of the Greater God World, after some time, we will directly attack Holy Heavens. Even though that planet is heavily fortified, similarly to our worlds, with enough Marquise-Rank powerhouses, we should be able to destroy them in a matter of seconds. Still, we can''t allow our kinsmen to suffer huge losses, as it would significantly slow our development." Said Lucien after careful thought. Even now Empire had the strength to wipe out Holy Heavens, Man-Eater Temple, and 10,000-Devil Alter, but with the cost of lives of their soldiers. Their race was reproducing slowly, so this sacrifice was totally out of question. "Agree." "Second that." "Which Gate of Hell should be explored first, Your Highness?" Asked one of the officers Lucien. "None. We will wait until they come. We need to be careful, and if they attack us, we will have the advantage of defending, and also, we could easily gauge their strength from the scale and levels of their forces." Answered Lucien. Right now, he wasn''t hurrying to attack, as he knew when the Gates of Hell opened, someone would surely attack them. All Gates of Hell were heavily fortified, with each having one Marquise-Rank expert as a guard. Chapter 199 - 199 - Attack A week later, Gate of Hell close to former Ilter Capital One of the Gates of Hell opened very near to the former capital city of the Ilter Federation. This gate was fortified with special care, as the city was housing now several thousand Sacred Devourer Ghouls and even some Vampires that left Imperial Capital to come here. Suddenly the Gate of Hell started shining with violent light, and hundreds of thousands of weird mechanical armored beasts started coming out like a wave of the ocean. Fortunately, soldiers of the Holy Niflheim Empire were prepared for them, and countless Magitek Infantry Soldiers were prepared to fight. From observation, one could see that the weakest is the close-combat armored beast, and it is on par with a Type 4 Divine Warrior, similarly to Magitek Infantry Soldiers, they fought with perfect precision and coordination, absolutely unafraid of death. Magitek Infantry Soldiers, composed of Armored Sorcerer-Type, Armored Assassin-Type, and Armored Swordsman-Type clashed ferociously with those weird mech beast and killed them like flies. This was the disparity of strength. Of course, those weird mech beasts weren''t that useful. With their overwhelming numbers, they have managed to kill more than twenty thousand Magitek Infantry Soldiers with suicide attacks. Thought it lowered their numbers by more than one million. "Commander, based on our estimations, the commander should be the sentient robots. They are constantly jamming our signals, but as we have been focused on Magitek, all their attempts are futile. Those sentient mechs are at the level of Type 7 Divine Warrior, comparable to weeks Magitek Infantry Soldier. What is the order?" Reported one of the younger officers assigned to this Gate of Hell. "How is the state of the invader army and our Magitek Infantry Soldiers?" Asked commander that was responsible for holding the fort here. "Invader army has reached number around ten million, while Magitek Infantry Soldiers are only one hundred thousand. If this goes this way, I can predict that after two hours, Magitek Infantry Soldiers would be wiped out by endless hordes of those mech beasts. This is some kind of Mech civilization, though it is weak for our standards, they make it up with their terrifying numbers. Even the Greater God World isn''t that simple as it seems." Sighed officer slightly. "Hmm... even though Magitek Infantry Soldiers are just pawns if we lose them all it would be detrimental. Bring me my armor. We will attack them too, and send messages to the 3rd Squad of Ardent Fleet, they can attack with their battlesh.i.p.s too." Barked commander as a powerful aura of Pinnacle-Phase Count-Rank and Jindan Realm exploded from him. Meanwhile, those sentient robots saw that place they have invaded is very strong, so they prepared for a fight to the death. There were tens of them, each with the power of Peak-Grade Type 7 Divine Warrior. The core of the Mech Kingdom were these sentient robots. Each of them had their own unique abilities. Be it transforming into tanks, fighter jets, battlesh.i.p.s, or even satellites, they were incredibly adaptive. Several of them, already transformed into their combat modes, that are able to multiply their strength. Behind the mech beast army, a sentient robot, who had yellow skin and black hair, stepped up to speak: "Bardonia, today, we have probably chosen the bad opponent. Even though we hold the numerical advantage, their strength is all around Type 7 to even Type 8. Not counting those humanoids back there." "They don''t have any satellites around the planet, only some sort of huge fortress-like thing flying above the orbit. When Fang tried to bring it under his control he was killed immediately." This caught the interest in the rest of sentient mechs. "What it is? Is it some kind of Gold-Grade Treasure of Hope? If we are able to bring it back into the Mech Kingdom, Mech Emperor His Majety would reward us handsomely!" Said excitedly one of the sentient mechs that looked like some jet. While they were discussing their plan of combat, suddenly a huge wave of energy hit them, killing several of them all together in a matter of seconds. It was the darkness energy sent there by the commander of the Imperial Army stationed there to protect the Gate of Hell. His strength was already comparable to the Peak-Grade Type 9 Divine Warrior in this cultivation system. "T-t-ype 9 Divine Warrior!" Screamed one of the sentient mechs, before he was cut in half by the axe of the commander. "Kill all of those scraps of iron. Capture a few of them for interrogation. Those mech beasts, destroy them all, and sent them to factories. They would make good material. From this, I should get enough contribution to get a promotion." Smiled commander slightly as he cut down another three Type 7 sentient mechs. When he got to the fourth one, it started screaming the word ''surrender'' and was captured soon enough. "Commander what should we do with those sentient mechs?" Asked one of the soldiers, that was holding in his grip one of those sentient mechs that were captured alive. "Send them to HQ, I believe some Magisters there would be more than happy to look at such a fine specimen." Answered commander as he looked over the battlefield. Fortunately, they have managed to stop endlessly-seeming waves of mech beast in time. Right now the Gate of Hell was closed, but he still requested for reinforcements, so one more Holy Imperial Knight would come here. Right now there was one, but to be perfectly sure... This gate fell under the protection of Arima, but alas he didn''t see a reason to interfere. Still, with such numbers, when more came, even Arima would be forced to partake in battle. Chapter 200 - 200 - Mech Kingdom After those sentient mechs were transported to the HQ, interrogation immediately started. Many of Magisters that researched Magitek, were very interested to see such special mechanical lifeform, though they weren''t real life, as they lacked life-force. True Mechanical Lifeforms, had life-force like any other race. Meanwhile, Lucien was talking with one Magister that brought him information, they managed to get out from those sentient mechs, by dissecting them, and scanning their A.I. Ch.i.p.s. Their ch.i.p.s were cores if those ch.i.p.s were destroyed, then sentient mech was truly killed. "From information gained from these mechs, we concluded that there''re 160 billion Mechs in the Kingdom, the lowest level are cannon fodders with no intelligence. Combat strength range from Type 4 to Type 7. The population of the kingdom is about 2 billion, and everyone there is a sentient Mech. The weakest is at least a Type 5, while Type 6 citizens are equivalent to commanders. The Type 7 ones are all considered royalty, while Type 8 Mechs are Lords, and the single Type 9 Mech is the Emperor. The Mech Kingdom has an Emperor, 8 Lords, 1,000 royalty, and over 1 million commanders. The rest are all fighters." Stated Magister. "Also normally it would be impossible to send such huge force through the Gates of Hell. There''re limitations on the Gates of Hell. The strongest experts that could pass through each Gate can only be at the Type 6 realm. There''s also a limit on the number. Normally the Mech Emperor would force the Gate with his prowess for Type 7 realm enter, but when they found this Gate, it didn''t have such limitations, so they directly send a huge army." Said Magister, to which Lucien started thinking deeply. "What is the situation of the Mech Kingdom?" "The Mech Kingdom had already conquered a few planets, and those not fit for human habitation were not a problem for those Mechs. They just needed resources to be able to produce more of their kind. Of course, it was not easy to produce a sentient being, and it took over eons just to have 20 billion of their kind. The Capital Planet of Mech Kingdom is called Planet Galastar. The entire planet is controlled by mechs, with some areas belonging to mutated beasts. Apparently there are many powerful mutated beasts located throughout treacherous terrain in the Mech Kingdom. Most of those mutated beasts are at Type 6, while in each and every territory, there is at least one Type 9 Mutant Beast, which even our Mech Kingdom is not willing to antagonize. Also, here is a small human faction that actively resists the rule of our Mech Kingdom. They are all hidden within various corners and would appear from time to time to damage our facilities. Their strength is weak, the strongest among them only a Type 6 expert. Basically we can tell, this planet would be very suitable for us to conquer first." "I agree. Their technology and advancement would be very good for Holy Niflheim Empire, but we need to be careful. Even such insignificant Mech Kingdom is pretty strong in numbers, it appears we have slightly underestimated the Greater God World. It seems, even Marquise-Rank cultivators would need to fight in upcoming battles." In terms of cultivation, Advanced-Phase or Pinnacle-Phase Count-Rank was same as Type 9 Divine Warrior, but in terms of destructive power, Type 9 Divine Warrior had the upper hand, and sadly most of the Count-Ranked cultivators, were only around Xiantian Realm in Immortal Cultivation, which was around Type 5 Divine Warrior and lower. "So... it is decided. We will launch a full-scale attack on the planet Galastar. I will personally lead the attack and will take three Holy Imperial Knights with me. We need to make the difference in numbers with our superior strength." "Also, a very important question... what to do with those sentient mechs?" Asked one of the people seated behind the table. "Hmm... this is a very hard question. We cannot leave them alive, but destroying them is wasting resources. Not talking about their body, the most valuable thing out of them is their A.I. chip, we can use them to increase the basic intelligence of our own Magitek Infantry Soldiers. If their information is right, then they have at least several billions of sentient mechs, meaning several billions of A.I. ch.i.p.s that could be used in magitek crafting after restructualizing." Said one magister hurriedly. Even to Lucien, it seemed as pure waste to destroy those sentient mechs. Their bodies were treasure troves, made up of various hard alloys and metals, that could speed up the research of RC Metal. And their A.I. ch.i.p.s after they were restructualized they could be used in many things, especially they could be used in magitek creation process, making Magitek Infantry Soldiers far more effective than before. "We will recycle them. By all means, capture all Sentient mechs alive, and we will use them as crafting material. Don''t kill them, as you can damage the A.I. chip, just capture. They are pretty weak, only Type 7 Divine Warrior which is around Early-Phase Count-Rank and Early-Phase Jindan. Strongest out of them are Type 8 Divine Warriors, which are Intermediate-Phase Count-Rank / Intermediate-Phase Jindan and they have only eight of these ''Mech Lords'', while their Mech Emperor is at Peak of Type 9, only he would be a bit problematic, as this specimen must be captured without any injuries." Commanded Lucien with an authoritative voice. Chapter 201 - 200th anniversary! Thanks you! We have crossed another hundredth chapter... and are on 200 chapters already... I want to thank all of my readers for your support and patience ion the hard times. Also, as this is the 200th chapter, please ask any questions about the novel or anything you want in comments... I will answer them after several days in a separate chapter... Thank you once again and love you... Chapter 202 - 201 - Fight on Planet Galastar Planet Galastar Planet Galastar was the mother planet of the Mech Kingdom. The gravity here was around twenty times of that on Planet Ilter, but around the same as mother planet of the Holy Niflheim Empire, Planet Thelos, maybe even little less compared to Planet Thelos. On Thelos they were artificially increasing the gravity as it helped during training, and it was good for Sacred Body Refining Cultivation System. The location of the Gate of Hell was at a wide, vast plain, which had been converted into a huge fort made of metals and alloys. Other than the Gate of Hell''s location which was sandy, the rest had already been built up into a metallic landscape. There were countless sensors and cannons aimed, with radars and sound detectors sweeping the area of the Gate of Hell. As long as somebody intruded, he or she would be blasted to pieces in an instant. The entire area was covered by superalloy, with no way out whatsoever, not even an area to dig out of. With such heavy weapons here, even Intermediate-Phase Count-Rank would be reduced to dust. Everything seemed to be in the norm on planet Galastar. Countless sentient mechs were patrolling the area of the Gate of Hell, mutated beasts were being killed in skirmishes all around the fortress. Suddenly, the Gate of Hell started trembling with violent light and releasing ominous aura that made these sentient mechs were unease. Of course, this caught the great interest of the Mech Lord Murphyte that was overseeing this Gate of Hell. "My Lord, the-the Gate of Hell is out of control." Reported on the sentient mechs that were doing analysis on the Gate of Hell. "Explain." "This process seems similar to how His Majesty Mech Emperor forces Gate of Hell to allow Type 7 Mechs pass through, but it is on a far higher scale... by our predictions, it could mean only one thing." "Type 10." Said Mech Lord Murphyte in low voice. As he finished the sentence, it came. Out of Gate of Hell, a silhouette of man, clothed in a weird plated armor, wearing a scary white-red mask while holding two swords. Murphyte was Type 8 Mech Lord, and the feeling this man, even Mech Emperor Zhu Yuan Ting who was Peak Type 9 Divine Warrior seemed like an ant to the armed man in a mask. As the man slashed with his twin sword, a huge wave of destructive energy that disintegrated everything that stood in its way. Countless mech beasts that served as cannon fodder were sent straight to the oblivion, and thousands of sentient mech beasts were killed. "Shit... I am tired... this attack consumed all of my energy. I need a retreat, Holy Imperial Knights and grandfather will take care of rest." Sighed Lucien silently. He didn''t want to perform this attack, as he basically destroyed many of potential resources, but alas it was inevitable as these defenses of Mech Kingdom would do to their army. As all defenses were destroyed, Magitek Infantry Soldier started pouring out of the Gate of Hell in thousands, followed up by hundred of Imperial Soldiers and finally by Holy Imperial Knights that were all at Marquise-Rank. "Arima go and capture that Mech Lord that is playing dead. Shen lead Imperial Soldiers to annihilate every sentient mech in the vicinity. Rest of you start cleaning this dammed place and building fortifications." Said Lucien as he went back to rest or play with Isla. With Marquise-ranked powerhouses taking charge of this attack, pretty everything went smoothly, and soon entire base around the Gate of Hell was completely conquered. Holy Niflheim Empire finds many advanced technologies, which were all shipped back to the Imperial Capital, straight to the Magisterium, so they could upgrade Magitek Technology even further. "My Lord, what should we do with that Mech Lord... it is still alive?" Asked one of the soldiers that were holding the Mech Lord Murphyte. Arima just looked at the unconscious Mech Lord before thinking an answer. "Escort our captive to Magisterium. They would be able to question him perfectly, and his body is basically treasure trove to the technological department of Magisterium." Answered Arima after short thought. Thus the mighty Type 8 Mech Lord Murphyte was captured and ''escorted'' straightly to Magisterium, each of the soldiers escorting him were Pinnacle-Phase Count-Rank, which was comparable to the Peak Type 9. ============================================= "Hello, my girly..." Muttered Lucien as he started petting his Flerken Isla. During this year, she had grown a bit, and she was a very nice furball. "Hmm... Planet Galastar and Mech Race... they would be our stepping stone in the God-Devil Plane. Their species has everything we need from the same type of resources to pretty advanced technology, that could be used..." "And that Mech Emperor... Peak Type 9 Mech Emperor should be worth of capturing him alive. Thought these mechs are not genuine mechanical lifeforms, they are pretty close to it." After Lucien finished playing with Isla, as she was still a kitten. Then he returned to cultivation, as he sat cross-legged, and called out his Zanpakut¨­ Akaitsuki. Currently, it was Supreme-Quality Earth-Grade artifacts, and Lucien wanted to improve the grade to Heaven, as it would unleash more strength of the Zanpakut¨­. He took out several weapons that he found, either in Planet Ilter or right now on Planet Galastar, they found many weapons, according to the Classification of God-Devil Plane, they are of Silver-Grade, which is basically comparable to the Earth-Grade artifact on the Endless Void Scale. "Come out you to... I have something to eat for you." Called out Lucien to his Zanpakut¨­ Akaitsuki. Both of his Zanpakut¨­ were very happy that their master have brought them something to eat, as they loved to eat weapons, especially those of high grade, but they were really hard to come by. Chapter 203 - 202 - Fate of Sentient Mechs Read my secondary Novel, Immortal Warlock... *** Lucien watched his Zanpakut¨­ spirits eating one Silver-grade weapon after another, and he immediately felt how they were becoming stronger. Sadly for him, they didn''t manage to reach Heaven-Grade, but it was understandable, as they were eating only Silver-Grade weapons, meaning all these weapons were of Earth-Grade, so they didn''t have enough potency for them to advance after eating them. As hours were passing, soon the entire area was secured by the army of the Niflheim. Those mindless mechs beasts, that were most at Type 4 Divine Warrior, were directly sent to factories, to disassemble them for resources, as in eyes of Niflheim everything in Galastar is basically treasure. Soon enough, even those thousands of sentient mechs that were here or around the base, were soon enough captured by the army. As they didn''t know what to do with them, they just tossed them in prison formation for now. "Your Highness, what should we do with those sentient mechs? We are already holding more than one hundred thousand of them under restrainment formation." Asked one of the soldiers responsible for these sentiment mechs. "Sent them to factories. Same way as the mech bests. They would be disassembled, so we can obtain more materials." "Isn''t it a bit wasteful? I mean those sentient mechs are very precious and their intelligence is even higher than ordinary lifeform if they could be converted..." The moment the officer finished his head, the ominous aura was being released from Lucien. "No conversion at all. How do you plan to gain their allegiance? We don''t need a timebomb in the Empire. You know, there are more than 2 billion sentient mechs. And now hypothetically, we would take in one-fourth of them, meaning five hundred million sentient mechs. Can you imagine if they were to rebel? No, no... Nobody would take risks. If it''s me, father Emperor or Ancestral Holy Land, the answer is the same... dissemble and re-structuralize... they would serve as a good resource and their blank ch.i.p.s, could be used to increase the intelligence of ordinary Magitek Infantry Soldier to some extent." Said Lucien sternly. "Bring me the report on how many Mech Beasts we have captured and other things from the Mech Kingdom." Said Lucien quickly afterward. "We have captured altogether 10,5 billion mech beasts, while more than 95% were asleep, they didn''t manage to activate them. In regard to technology, we have found all research data, and knowledge they had in the base. Everything has been already transferred to the Planet Ilter, and soon would arrive at Imperial Capital Yharnam." Reported officer respectfully. "With that many mech beasts, if all of them are recycled how many Ardent-Class Battlesh.i.p.s would we able to construct?" Right now the most important thing was to build a proper fleet, as they only had around 160 Ardent-Class Battlesh.i.p.s. "Magisterium calculated that with all these materials, we could construct more than one thousand Ardent-Class Battlesh.i.p.s, and an additional two million Magitek Infantry Soldiers. Everything could be done within one year as Level-1 Portable Fortified Stronghold significantly increased our production abilities." Luciennsmiled in satisfaction hearing these numbers. "Fortify the place as soon as possible. Those scraps of metal would attack within the upcoming days. They don''t know we have people comparabl?e to the Type 10 Divine Warrior, so they should come. Also, prepare against wave tactics. They will bring at least half of their mech beasts, which is eighty billion mech beasts, so be careful. Construct Magitek Towers with restraining formation around the entire fortress." Lucien then proceeded to issue a series of commands. Even though eighty billion mech beasts sounded a lot, they weren''t that problem to deal with. One needed to kill a controller, who was controlling them. As long as they killed or captured it, all mech beasts would just fall down and would be in an inactive state. In the Mech Kingdom, mech beasts were only a cannon fodder without any bit of intelligence. If it weren''t for sentient mechs who were controlling them, these mech beasts were harmless. After everything here was handled, Lucien departed for his personal cultivation room, as he wanted to use this time to break through and reach Jindan Realm in Void Energy. He already comprehended Lesser Void Dao, and currently was comprehending Grand Void Dao, and his cultivation of Void Energy was at Pinnacle-Phase Xiantian Realm for some time already. Getting himself to the Jindan Realm in Void Path would greatly increase his survivability, and also his supportive abilities, though this element wasn''t known for its offensive powers in early stages, its versatility was well-known even at Houtian Realm. He sat down cross-legged and started breaking through to the Jindan Realm. He was training in the Eternal Void Scripture, so he followed steps to create Jindan. In creating Jindan, one could create several types, from worst to best they were: White - Worst, Orage - Common, Red - Rare, Violent - Excellent, and finally Golden - Perfect Jindan. Golden Jindan, was perfect Jindan, not only it was bigger than previous ones, it didn''t have any cracks, leakages, or any impurities. Lucien was again aiming to create Golden Jindan, nothing else was acceptable. It was different than breaking through in Destruction Immortal Path. Lucien didn''t feel any pain to anything, and very soon he condensed Golden Jindan in Datian belonging to the Void Energy. But he didn''t stop and continued to condes¨ªng more Jindans as he felt he could condense two more. It would also be good to have the same amount as Destruction Energy right now also had three jindans, so neither side would be suppressed, it would be creating an equilibrium. Chapter 203 - Indefinite Hiatus - Important Hi there... it will be hard for me to say this, but this novel is going on Indefinite Hiatus, and even probably dropped... maybe one day I will rewrite this, but currently I don''t have time for such a huge project as rewriting something that has over 200 chapters... There are several reasons for this: For first, this was my first ever story that I have wrote and then published. In November of 2018, I have started writing this novel, not even knowing what I was expecting from this. It was rushed, and I made many many mistakes over it. Truth to be told, I have lost proper motivation to write this a long time ago, as I have long ago realized that this is just a dead end. The problem with this story is that I never had planned how the story would end, how it would progress, and everything was done during the run. Not talking about the plot holes and many other mistakes I have made. I realized it when I started experimenting with other stories and other fanfics... Some head perspective and some not. Unfortunately for me... Holy Akashic Conqueror in its current form did not have perspective. Some chapters were written in a hard way, only by forcing myself to write it... I didn''t even feel the joy in it for a long time. The main problem, as many noticed, and I have realized it after writing other stories and looking back, was with the main character. I never planned properly his personality, traits and other things. It was one of my biggest mistakes, and now without rewriting the entire story, it is almost impossible to repair it. Also, relationship building was too poorly done here, almost non-existent. Also, I noticed from the lack of comments, that novel was becoming generic, boring, nothing surprising happened... it became plain. The early chapters had many comments about the novel, which made me happy, and also feel that the novel was creating interesting in people. Now in the latest chapters, had very few or sometimes none, that was a sign for me... that the novel was getting worse as time went... Even reviews that were critical helped me, not the spam 1-stars, but really critical ones, to see where the problem lied... After some thinking, I have decided to put this novel on indefinite hold. Maybe in the future I will take this story and reset it entirely, correcting all of my mistakes. That would need a lot of time to do... Currently, I don''t have that luxury, as I need to put most of my focuses on my University studies and soon to get a bachelor''s degree in Law, and after that Master''s degree, and then to Attorney exams in my country... I have an only a small amount of free time, and I decided it would be better to invest that time into a new project that was made with a clear goal and I have thought about it properly before writing something. So, I have only left three active novels I have been writing, and even from that one is semi-active, and only two have a firm release schedule Currently, I am writing only and mainly Mahouka: Irregular Fate, a cross-over with main focuses on Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei with elements of the Type-Moon Franchise. The release rate is around two chapters per month, one chapter is 5k words. I am also consulting the novel with Legendary_Person, author of three very good Mahouka fanfictions, go and check them out (The Eye of the Moon Plan, The Mikaelson Family in Irregular World, I Freakin Reincarnated with System), to prevent mistakes in Mahouka lore and others... The second novel, is Tower of Asura, a Tower of God fic, with elements of DxD and others, the release rate is one chapter per 2-3 months, one chapter is 20k, though this novel, would have chapter released only when it is done... published only on fanfiction.net Third and last move, a semi-active one, as writing this one is a bit harder compared to Mahouka: Irregular Fate and Tower of Asura is Immortal Warlock. Chapters would be released randomly when I write one I release one. These are only three novels, that I currently see some meaning writing, especially Mahouka: Irregular Fate, that I decided to give it most of my free time. For now, please go and read these three novels, if you want to read something from me again. Also, in these three novels, I have learned from my mistakes, during wring this novel or some other of my projects. So, I am trying to make better stories, more interesting ones, dynamic ones... Once again, thank you... and see you in other projects... Trafford Chapter 204 - Rewrite soon enough I have been thinking for some time... and I have chosen to re-write this story... there would be several huge changes in the story I would be correcting some of my mistakes like the reincarnation part would be adjusted, Akashic Records Executor would be adjusted, another thing: Adjusted reincarnation part and Akashic Records Executor position (some changes would be done there) No Romance in Volume 1 MC won''t be Ghoul or any amalgamation of that but rather Pale Blood (Pure Blood Vampire)... easier to write and also, later in the story I have forgotten about kagune and other stuff so it is useless... Changes to the cultivation system Changes to the background, personality, and other things about MC Many other changes... Chapter 205 - discord server I have created server finally at last, all updates about my works would be there... discord.gg/wUdbdGcxU4