Chapter 399: Chapter 399

Diana’s eyelids fluttered, her tightly closed eyes slowly opening.

“Noona! Are you awake?”

Her brother’s voice, filled with concern, echoed in her ears as her mind slowly returned to reality.

He must have been sitting next to her, waiting for her to wake up.

She mumbled, her voice hoarse, and slowly sat up.

She felt a bit dizzy, but that was all. She wasn't injured.

Well, she hadn’t been able to resist, her lack of combat abilities making her an easy target.

She cautiously looked around, and the familiar surroundings of her home came into view.

The place where her family had settled down after arriving in this new land.

Of course, the atmosphere wasn’t as peaceful as usual, not after the… incident.

“Diana! You’re awake!”

“Thank goodness! Lafi woke up a while ago, but you… we were so worried…”

Her aunt and uncle rushed to her side, their faces filled with relief, and hugged her.

They had been out shopping and working late, respectively, so they had luckily avoided the incident.

But they couldn't be happy about their good fortune, not after their children and niece had almost been harmed.

They finally sighed in relief as Diana opened her eyes.

Fortunately, Lafi, the youngest, had also been protected by a spell, just like Aaron, so she hadn’t suffered any lasting effects.

She had been unconscious the entire time, so she didn’t even remember what had happened. She was just a bit… startled.

“…That’s good. It’s better that way… for Lafi…”

Diana, nodding slowly as she listened to their explanations, suddenly stopped, her voice trailing off.

As her mind cleared, a memory, a fragment of her lost consciousness, suddenly surfaced.

“Wait! G-Grandma! What about Miropa Grandma?!”

Her eyes widened in shock, and she jumped out of bed, her body swaying slightly.

Aaron, standing next to her, quickly steadied her, but she didn't even notice.

Her mind was filled with the image of the old woman’s final moments.

Her neighbor, the kind old woman who had always been there for them, clutching Lafi in her arms, blood gushing from her mouth, collapsing…

She hadn’t known that she was so powerful.

If it weren’t for her sacrifice, she wouldn’t be here now, reunited with her family.

“Don’t worry, Noona. Grandma is safe.”

“Yes, we just visited her. She lives alone, so we brought her to the guest room.”

“And Saint-nim himself treated her! I can’t believe I saw a Saint with my own eyes…”

Diana, her legs giving way, sank back onto the bed, her family’s words calming her fears.

They had avoided the worst-case scenario.

She sighed in relief.

“Yeah! You haven’t met him yet, have you? I saw him descend from the heavens! Wow… It was… unforgettable. He’s amazing!”

Aaron, his voice filled with excitement, reenacted the scene with exaggerated gestures and sound effects.

Diana smiled softly, watching him.

But unlike her brother, she had a clear memory of Saint Heinrich.

‘I thought it was just… a hallucination… because I was so out of it… but it was real.’

There was no doubt. It was the same person.

Saint Heinrich of the Main God Church, appearing before her as her consciousness faded, a beacon of hope in her darkest hour.

Her expression changed slightly as she listened to her brother’s story.

Her memories were fragmented and incomplete, a jumbled mess of sensations and emotions.

She could only recall a few… key details.

And among them, the most vivid memory…

A familiar scent, mixed with the metallic tang of blood, emanating from a… cold embrace.

It was a scent she hadn’t smelled in a long time, subtly different from Hubert’s, a… nostalgic fragrance.

It was her first time encountering him, as a vampire, since arriving in Tarak.

But having spent so much time with Hubert, she could easily detect traces of her ‘Mister’ within him.

Well, she had always suspected they were the same person.

There was one thing she couldn’t understand.

…And yet, she had also sensed another familiar scent.

A warm and comforting fragrance, different from Heinz’s… but it was definitely there.

She hadn't been able to think clearly at the time, but now that she was calm, she realized it was… strange.

A vampire and a Saint… it was an unlikely combination.

She gasped softly, a sudden realization dawning on her.

Her eyes widened, and she looked up.

Her brother’s voice didn't reach her, her mind preoccupied with a sudden… hypothesis.

A serious expression on her face.

She clenched her fists, her knuckles turning white.

“Thank you, Saint-nim!”

“Did you see that? That… light…”

“Don’t be silly. Who in Tarak didn’t see it?”

“Oh! Are those them? The ones we’ve been hearing about…?”

“Is the Mercenary King Harley here as well? It’s a shame. I wanted to meet the hero of Tarak.”

The terrorist attack on a Hubert’s Trading Company executive had been resolved without any major casualties.

The culprit had been bold, targeting the entire residential area to kidnap the company’s second-in-command… but the hero party, who happened to be in Tarak, had quickly identified the threat and responded in time.

‘…That’s probably the best way to explain it.’

Not many people would understand the… complicated details about the god imprisoned in the abyss, his apostles, and the fragments of his divine power.

After all, thanks to the Main God’s… memory erasure, there wasn't any information about him available in Auterica.

‘…And there seem to be restrictions on spreading information about him.’

A god’s influence grew stronger with the number of its followers.

Naturally, the fallen god and his apostles would also try to gain followers.

But the situation hadn’t changed much, which meant… that information about him was being… suppressed.

‘That’s probably why he only has a few apostles. I’m an exception, as an otherworlder.’

In that sense, his apostles were… anomalies.

They were clearly natives of Auterica… but how had they become his followers?

Of course, they would have their own reasons.

…Temiran McCleary, for example.

A muffled groan, a suppressed cry of pain, echoed through the darkness of the sealed room.

It was a broken and fragmented sound, a clear indication of the… intense suffering its owner was enduring.

“Even a fallen god is still a god. His resistance is… impressive.”

Temiran, strapped to a table, his limbs bound by chains made of blood, his body stiff and unmoving.

Heinz, standing before him like a surgeon, his hand embedded in the boy’s chest, gripping his heart, muttered softly.

‘It’s not a pleasant sight, but it can’t be helped.’

A young boy, subjected to some kind of… gruesome experiment, his heart held in the hand of an adult man…

It was a horrific scene, a clear violation of… well, everything… but he wasn’t torturing him.

‘…Pain is inevitable in a major surgery . It’s still better than dying, isn’t it?’

He was doing this for Temiran’s sake.

He was still an apostle of the god imprisoned in the abyss, even against his will, so he only had two options: death, or the removal of his powers.

And extracting a god’s power, forcibly removing the divine essence embedded within his body and soul… it wasn’t an easy task.

“It’s almost over, so bear with it. And don’t feel too… resentful. I’m sharing your pain.”

Temiran’s eyes, bloodshot and filled with rage, glared at him.

But Heinz wasn’t lying.

He was simply filtering out the unnecessary sensations through his 「Mind Hub」, maintaining a calm facade.

…Well, the ‘almost over’ part was a lie.

‘…It’s definitely Obeipo’s bloodline… but it’s been… modified. There’s also some abyssal influence. It would have been easier if he was a pure-blooded Obeipo…’

It was probably a side effect of becoming an apostle.

But it wasn’t all bad news.

‘…Fortunately, it’s still incomplete. It’s been twenty years since he became an apostle, and yet…’

It wasn’t easy for a fallen god, whose very existence had been erased, to create an apostle.

He had been taking his time, but the recent events, the rapidly changing circumstances, had forced him to act prematurely.

‘…To send out an incomplete apostle… He must be desperate.’

He must have thought that if he didn’t act now, his other plans would also fail.

It wasn't an unreasonable decision.

Judging by Temiran’s current state, it would take at least another ten years for him to become a complete apostle.

Ten years was twice as long as he had been active in Auterica.

Considering the events that had transpired in such a short time, no one could predict what the world would be like in ten years. He could understand the fallen god’s desperation.

“Cough! You said it was almost over…! How much longer…?”

A weak voice, a dying gasp, from the boy on the table.

His body was covered in blood, a side effect of his blood being forcibly assimilated by Heinz’s.

Heinz was also struggling, his body under immense strain, despite his calm facade.

‘…I can’t delay any longer.’

The preparations were complete.

“Grit your teeth. This will hurt.”

“What?! It can’t get any worse…!”

Temiran’s words were cut short by a scream, a guttural, almost inhuman sound.

But Heinz, his focus unwavering, didn’t even hear it.

He activated 「Refined Blood Essence」, maximizing his control over blood as a Divine Blood vampire and a 「Blood Ancestor」, and injected it directly into his heart, further enhancing his power.

‘…It’s a battle of wills, a struggle for dominance. Between the apostle’s divine power and my vampire essence.’

If Temiran had been a complete apostle, like the Revolutionary, it would have been impossible to subdue him… but fortunately, he wasn't.

His disrespectful attitude towards his god, which Heinz had noticed during their conversation, was a sign of his… incomplete faith.

The boy’s small body, bound by chains of blood, began to convulse, his bones and muscles twisting and reshaping themselves, his form shifting and changing.

Stronger, tougher, more resilient… more mature.

“Ugh! Kgh! Stop! Stop—!”

Temiran, now a teenager, screamed, blood splattering in the air, but Heinz didn't flinch.

He calmly collected the blood, using 「Blood Magic」 to create a magic circle, a reinforcement for his ritual.

And then, after a while,

…his 「Insight」 detected something.

A foreign presence, a divine spark, flickering within Temiran’s soul, connected to his blood.

The god imprisoned in the abyss was a former Human God… but ironically, a pure human couldn’t fully accept his power.

Their bodies weren't strong enough, and their souls, connected to a being of the abyss, would be corrupted, turning them into mindless monsters like the White Giant.

‘…He was the one who introduced the vampire and werewolf traits to Auterica, wasn’t he?’

He wasn’t sure if it had been intentional… but it didn’t matter now.

It was all meaningless before Heinz the Second, who was awakening his own blood divinity.

His 「Existence Denial」, fueled by the assimilated blood, weakened the connection to the divine spark.

And then, 「Return to Origin」, a skill he had acquired upon ascending to Divine Blood, activated.

The ultimate vampire ability, the pinnacle of his power, slowly but surely reaching completion.

It flowed through Temiran’s veins, clashing with the foreign essence, the apostle’s power, rejecting and repelling it.

Temiran, now in his late teens, screamed, his body writhing in agony.

…ended his suffering.

He ripped out his heart.

“Huu, you’re quite troublesome.”

He looked down at the still-beating heart in his hand.

There was no need to worry about Temiran, who had lost consciousness.

He was now a true vampire, a descendant of Heinz the Second, his bloodline pure and untainted, his body capable of regenerating even a lost heart.

And his forced faith had been reversed, turning him into an enemy of his former god, a small but welcome bonus.

The crimson heart, pulsing in his hand, contained not only Temiran’s mutated vampire essence but also the divine spark that had granted him his powers as an apostle.

He felt a… gaze, a presence, from afar, as if he was being… watched.

This was a dangerous power, something he couldn’t casually… consume.

He might end up like Temiran, a puppet controlled by a foreign god.

‘…Thank you for the meal.’

But that only applied to ordinary individuals.

To Heinz the Second, who was cultivating his own divinity, this… isolated divine spark was nothing more than a… nutritious snack.

He crushed the heart in his hand.

But the blood didn't splatter.

It was drawn back into his fist, as if pulled by an invisible force.

《New vampire essence acquired. Divinity enhanced due to the influence of “Hybrid Evolution”. You have acquired the skill “Subjugation”.》

A satisfied smile appeared on Heinz’s lips.

He thought he heard a scream of rage from somewhere, but it must have been his imagination.

There was no one else here, just him and the unconscious Temiran.