Fantasy Library.

Chapter 400 The True Fourth True Ancestor

The night deepened.

As neon lights began to appear in every corner of Itogami Island, Aize had already returned to his apartment with Akatsuki Nagisa.

Instead of taking Akatsuki Nagisa back to the Akatsuki family's room 704, he took her back to his own home and placed her, still unconscious, on his bedroom bed.

"That's truly unbelievable..."

Looking at Akina Gisa, who was fast asleep on his bed, Aize peered at her several times, but he couldn't see any resemblance to her when she had transformed into the True Ancestor of Vampires. There were no twelve familiars residing in her body, and not even a trace of magic power. She was just an ordinary human.

Aize observed for a while, then suddenly flipped his hand, and an ancient stone badge appeared in his palm.

"What do you think?"

Aize spoke to the stone badge in his hand.

"Om..."

The stone badge in Aize's hand immediately trembled, and after a while, large swaths of darkness surged out and completely enveloped it.

Not long after, from the darkness, a girl who looked to be about thirteen or fourteen years old, wearing a white one-shoulder robe in the Greek style, with short silver hair that seemed to blend into the moonlight, and eyes like black agate, slowly walked out.

"You've enslaved me, yet you still intend to exploit my wisdom. Don't you think that's utterly shameless?"

The Triune Queen stared at Azer expressionlessly, her attitude extremely unfriendly.

"Who told you to take other people's things so casually?" Aize said dismissively. "Consider this a lesson for you. Don't casually incorporate other people's things into your body in the future, or you'll suffer a great loss."

“…That’s something I lost.” Athena stared at Aize with a deep gaze and said, “It’s not yours.”

“But after I recognized it as my master, it already belonged solely to me.” Aize smiled and said, “If it were you now, you would understand that, right?”

Athena stared at Aize without saying a word.

"Alright, take a look for me." Aize pointed to Xiaonagisa lying on the bed and said, "I really can't see anything, but if it were you, you should be able to see what I can't, right?"

Seeing that Aize had changed the subject, Athena snorted and finally turned her gaze to Akina, who was lying on the bed.

Her eyes, like those of an owl, became bright and sharp.

At this moment, the girl named Akatsuki Nagisa was being analyzed in Athena's eyes.

As the goddess of wisdom, Athena is in charge of celestial wisdom and can easily see through many things that are incomprehensible to mortals.

There are very few things in the world that can baffle her, and even fewer that can deceive her wisdom.

In addition, Athena is the queen of the Trinity, the ancient mother goddess of the earth. The sky, the sea, the earth, and the underworld were all once her domains. When Athena gets serious, her vision can even cross the three realms, let alone see through the structure and secrets of the human body.

Thus, Athena arrived at the conclusion in just a few seconds, even though Azer couldn't see it.

"I see, so that's the kind of relationship they have?"

Athena murmured aloud.

"How is it?" Aize asked immediately upon seeing this. "Did you figure it out?"

Athena did not answer Aize immediately, but instead asked a question in return.

"You know what's inside this girl, right?"

Upon hearing this, Aize nodded silently.

Of course he knew what was inside Akatsuki Nagisa's body.

"That was another soul that did not originally exist in its body, a being that should have died."

In the original story, at the end of the Feast of Flames, the Akatsuki siblings survived with the help of the Twelfth Motif. One of them became the Fourth Progenitor, while the other lost her abilities as a priestess and became an ordinary person.

To help the Akatsuki siblings and bring the Flamelight Banquet to an end, the twelfth entity ultimately died through Akatsuki Kojo's intervention.

However, the twelfth entity did not truly die. Before its consciousness disappeared, it was absorbed into the body by Akatsuki Nagisa using her own medium abilities, and the two became one.

"If nothing unexpected happens, the soul sleeping in Nagisa's body should be the twelfth incarnation of the Fourth Progenitor, Aurora Florestina, who had a great connection with the Akatsuki siblings during the Flame Banquet and helped them overcome difficulties."

Aize revealed the origin of the alien soul within Akatsuki Nagisa's body.

“Sleeping Beauty?” Athena sneered, “That’s quite fitting.”

Athena extended her slender, jade-like fingers, tracing the tips of her fingers across Nagisa's flawless face as she gently stroked her cheeks and spoke softly.

"As you said, a foreign soul is sleeping inside this girl."

"This foreign soul is usually in a dormant state, and only awakens when the girl is in danger."

"When she awakens, her power and essence will surface along with her consciousness, overwriting the girl's existence and appearing in the outside world."

Athena glanced at Aize and said calmly.

"Therefore, while she is still asleep, this girl is just an ordinary human, not the world's strongest vampire."

"This girl did not become the so-called Fourth Progenitor, as you know."

"The true Fourth Progenitor should be the twelfth one you mentioned, namely Aurora Florestina."

Aze understood Athena's meaning.

In short, unlike in the original story where Aurora bestowed the power of the Fourth Progenitor upon others before her death, in this world, Aurora did not bestow the power of the Fourth Progenitor upon others, but instead died with that power.

After her death, just like in the original story, Akatsuki Nagisa absorbed her remaining consciousness into her body and merged with her to coexist. However, because Aurora had become the Fourth Progenitor and had not relinquished her power, this power entered Akatsuki Nagisa's body along with Aurora's remaining consciousness, and she fell into a deep sleep.

Akatsuki Nagisa herself did not actually become the Fourth Progenitor; she merely merged with him. The true Fourth Progenitor remains Aurora. Therefore, the power and essence of the Fourth Progenitor disappear when Aurora falls into slumber. Only when Akatsuki Nagisa, the host of the Fourth Progenitor, encounters danger will the true Fourth Progenitor awaken. Its own existence will replace Akatsuki Nagisa's, and the essence and power of the Vampire Progenitor will be transferred to Akatsuki Nagisa's body, causing the true Fourth Progenitor to manifest on Earth.

This is the same concept as spirit possession.

When faced with danger, the priestess Akatsuki essentially summoned the spirit of the Fourth Progenitor, causing the spirit to possess her and making her the Fourth Progenitor.

When not in danger, Akatsuki has no reason to summon this power, which is why she is just an ordinary human. Only when Aurora's consciousness surfaces does she become the Fourth Progenitor.

"No wonder I couldn't see any magic in her normally powers no matter how I looked at her," Aize said with a sudden realization. "The reason she lost her priestess powers must be because she used all her power to maintain Aurora's remaining consciousness, right?"

“It’s like the memory is occupied, and there’s no extra space to store anything.” Athena said calmly, “Although she is an extremely talented priestess, she is still human after all. The so-called Fourth Progenitor is comparable to the Disobedient God. It is almost impossible for a human priestess to completely contain his existence.”

"If the Fourth True Ancestor had not harbored no ill will towards this girl and had not been protecting her all along, and had not deliberately fallen into a deep sleep to conceal his power and essence, and not reveal the slightest bit of himself, this girl would probably have been unable to withstand it long ago."

Just like Ena Kiyoshuu, who is a spirit summoner, she would fall into a weakened state after borrowing a portion of divine power. How much more so for someone like Nagisa Akatsuki, who completely contained a being comparable to a god within her own body.

Under such circumstances, the fact that Akatsuki Nagisa was only stripped of all her power and turned into an ordinary person, instead of dying on the spot afterward, was already a result of her exceptional abilities and the extremely cooperative Aurora within her.

If Aurora were to be even slightly uncooperative, and if Akatsuki Nagisa were to be slightly less qualified, both of them would die instantly during the Flame Banquet, with absolutely no chance of survival.

"Why did it turn out like this?" Aize frowned and asked in confusion, "Compared to the original trajectory, the situation is really quite different."

In the original story, Akatsuki Nagisa only absorbed Aurora, who had given the power of the Fourth Progenitor to Akatsuki Kojo. Now, however, she has absorbed the entire Aurora, who is about to become the Fourth Progenitor, into her body. The situation is indeed quite different.

"Also, when Aurora appeared, she said that I was the one who awakened her, and that there is an inseparable karmic connection between us. What is the reason for this?"

Aize has always been puzzled by this change.

Unfortunately, Athena could not provide the answer to this question.

“I can see through this girl’s true nature with my wisdom, but I cannot see her past.” Athena raised her bright eyes and looked at Aize, saying, “If you want to know the reason for everything, you can only peek into that past by looking at the remaining consciousness sleeping in this girl’s body.”

"Peeping into the past?" Aize was taken aback and asked, "What do you mean?"

“It’s actually very simple,” Athena said calmly. “With my powers in the underworld, I will establish a soul connection between you and the remaining consciousness within this girl, allowing you to enter her body and meet Sleeping Beauty.”

"At that time, through the connection of souls, you will be able to see the girl's past, to see that history."

"How about it? Want to give it a try?"

Upon hearing Athena's words, Aize did not hesitate.

“Then let’s do it.” Aize sat down on the edge of the bed, looked at Athena, and asked, “What should I do?”

Athena didn't speak, but simply moved closer to Aize and cupped his face in her hands.

"Go to the bottom of the dark underworld, the supreme domain of Mother Earth, the kingdom of the queen who rules over life and death."

Athena began chanting the power of words as if talking to herself.

"O Earth, know my resolve."

"Darkness, understand my lofty sentiments."

"Athena, a goddess descended from the Great Mother, is the Queen of the Underworld."

"Responding to my invitation, draw down the veil of heaven. I am the one who summons winter, the icy ruler of the underworld who controls life and death, the queen unmatched in heaven and earth..."

As ancient incantations were chanted, Athena kissed Azer's lips without hesitation.

The soft touch sent a jolt through his nerves, and although Aize was somewhat taken aback, he accepted it with a clear conscience.

He knew that Athena did this not because she wanted to get closer to him, but because he was a god-slayer with extremely amazing resistance to curse power. If he did not directly inject the power into his body, even the power of a god would be repelled by Azer's current body.

That's why Athena kissed herself – she wanted to inject the power of the Underworld into her body, bypassing the curse resistance on her skin, so that the power could take effect.

As expected, at the same moment Athena kissed him, a scorching power flowed directly into Azer's body through their mouths.

By the time Aize came to his senses, Athena had already released her lips and instead kissed Akina, who was lying on the bed.

"Ah this..."

Seeing this, Aize was speechless.

what is this?
Indirect kiss?

While Aize was feeling strange about this, he discovered that his consciousness had left his body and entered Akatsuki Nagisa's body.

His consciousness, carried by Athena's power, continued to penetrate deeper into Akatsuki Nagisa's body, reaching the very depths of her consciousness.

Like a swimmer diving, Aize continued to delve deeper into Akina Giza's consciousness, eventually touching her soul and another consciousness existing within her.

“Aurora Florestina…”

At this moment, Aize was standing in a pitch-black space, and a ball of light appeared in front of him.

At the center of the light was a girl curled up as if floating on water.

The girl was petite, with a height and appearance similar to Akatsuki Nagisa. Her skin was fair and translucent, and although her face was slightly childlike, it was so handsome that it seemed inhuman. She also had light-colored blonde hair that reflected light and shone like a rainbow.

She hugged her knees, curled up, completely naked, her eyes closed, fast asleep. Her appearance reminded one of a fairy encased in transparent amber, and one could sense a certain holy aura.

This is Aurora Florestina, the twelfth incarnation of the Fourth Primordial, the final victor of the Feast of Flames, and the new Fourth Primordial.

Aize gazed at her for a while, and then realized that he was also completely naked.

Then, Aize floated up to the fairy-like girl and reached out to touch her...

(End of this chapter)