Chapter 66: The Puppet Progenitor and the Unpleasant Puppet Show - 3
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 66: The Puppet Progenitor and the Unpleasant Puppet Show - 3
In the lightless outskirts of Tantalus. In that place forsaken by both heaven and earth, something ominous and wicked, something that dared not stand before a god, stirred. There was certainly something there, but a veil of darkness perfectly concealed not only their sins but their very forms.
That was why Finlay could move about freely, despite having committed the great sin of controlling the Progenitor. If this had not been the Abyss, if there had been even one person to discover his crime, he would have been slaughtered on the spot.
‘It's fine. I can atone for this sin later, with my own life. As long as I can escort her to the Duchy, the Progenitor will surely understand us.’
Finlay felt the guilt etched into his very blood as he looked at the vampire.
The vampire sat atop the coffin, her eyes glazed over. Without the parasol she always carried, her arms hanging limply at her sides, she looked even more lifeless than usual.
It could have been because of her pale, bloodless skin.
Or perhaps the ominous darkness enveloping her surroundings.
Or maybe, it was because of the large fissure in her chest.
A great scar marred the vampire's chest. A crimson energy pulsed from the gap, looking as if it were trying to force its way in, or perhaps escape to the outside.
"O, Progenitor, I beg you to forgive my insolence."
Finlay wrapped his hand around the blood energy flowing from the fissure. Then, shouting loud enough for the whole of the darkness to hear, he clenched his fist tightly around the energy.
"O, Progenitor! Grant that the Sanguine Horse may obey my will!"
Thump.
Finlay's Bloodcraft squeezed the vampire's heart. Her blood churned violently. The vampire's carotid artery bulged as the empowered blood flowed to her head.
Then, for a moment, her vacant eyes flickered. Her fragmented consciousness, not yet whole, moved to carry out the command it had been given.
However.
[Hrrrmph.]
The Sanguine Horse, the one who was supposed to obey the command, merely snorted in derision.
Finlay let his arm fall, dejected. The Progenitor's most powerful asset, the Sanguine Horse Ralion, showed no reaction even though Finlay now controlled its master.
Finlay shook his head.
"Does this mean you won't listen? Or can you not understand my command? Haaah..."
The moment he muttered this and released the blood energy from his hand, Finlay felt a sudden premonition of death.
The Sanguine Horse's hoof came crashing down above his head. The blood-red hoof, which had torn countless humans to shreds, descended in an instant without a hint of hesitation.
Whoom.
To call it wind would be an understatement; it was far too heavy. The sheer pressure alone forced Finlay to his knees, his face pressed to the ground. The Sanguine Horse's massive hoof, as large as a house, was big enough to cover Finlay's entire body, and the blood-smelted horseshoe was flawless.
If it came down another fifty centimeters, Finlay would be reduced to a bloody smear and vanish. He might be able to regenerate after a long time, but that was a gamble. In that time, a lucid Progenitor could end Finlay's life and reclaim her blood.
But.
"Kh, kkhh. I see. So, the Progenitor's command has already been properly delivered..."
Finlay did not die. The reason was simple. Ralion had not brought its hoof all the way down.
Beneath the massive hoof and above the hard concrete, in that precarious gap, the kneeling Finlay muttered in a trembling voice.
"You must be dying to kill me for daring to control the Progenitor. But you cannot kill me. Because, even if it is not her true will, it is still the Progenitor's command!"
[Hrrrmph.]
"Good! That is enough. As long as I control the Progenitor, you will ultimately obey my commands! Kuhahahaha!"
Ralion turned its head away, snorting in displeasure. Then it walked off on its own into the unseen darkness, as if declaring it would watch this spectacle no longer.
The sound of hooves faded into the dark. Only after the sound had completely died did Finlay manage to pull himself together.
Having witnessed the Sanguine Horse's tremendous power, Finlay was reminded of just how reckless his actions were.
Overwhelming size, weight, and power. The Sanguine Horse Ralion, whose bloody footprints could crush an army single-handedly. Even a creature as mighty as that obeyed the Progenitor with all its heart and soul.
The Progenitor's power was dominion. The power to spread her blood far and wide, controlling all it touched and creating powerful familiars.
And Finlay now held the reins to that immense power.
A power beyond his station. The reaction of one who holds such a thing is one of two things:
Fear.
Or elation.
Finlay was the latter.
"Khahaha. Kuhahahaha! I—I have obtained the power of a god!"
The Progenitor's power, which felt like it could bind all the blood in his body, now lay quietly dormant. Because the Progenitor herself had withdrawn it. And in that state, he was controlling her heart with Bloodcraft.
If so, wasn't it the same as Finlay possessing the Progenitor's power himself?
"The Progenitor has surely acknowledged me. She must have approved of my will! Otherwise, there's no way I could use her power!"
As he reveled in this overwhelming sense of omnipotence...
The vampire suddenly lifted her head.
Startled by the abrupt movement, Finlay gasped. Had the Progenitor regained consciousness? Tense, Finlay called out to her.
"P-Progenitor?"
The vampire's eyes were fixed on a single point, unblinking. Finlay's anxious gaze followed hers.
And then he let out a hollow laugh.
"I warned you. Do you truly not value your lives?"
Standing there confidently was the Regressor, holding a red sphere in one hand.
And me, with a large bundle on my back.
When I focused, I could hear his thoughts clearly. Finlay's, at least. The vampire was in a state similar to being half-asleep, so I couldn't get a clear reading.
No consciousness means no thoughts. No memories.
It felt like trying to read a book in a pitch-black room. A state of faintly repeating a story someone else told you. It seemed waking her without direct contact would be a distant prospect.
Alright. Enough with the mind-reading.
I turned to the Regressor, who was a head shorter than me and glaring at our opponent with a terrifying expression.
"Did you see?"
"Yes."
The first of the Seven Colored Eyes: the Crimson Eyes that see heat.
The sixth of the Seven Colored Eyes: the Indigo Eyes that see afar.
The Regressor, who had pierced the darkness with two different eyes, one in each socket, growled through gritted teeth.
"That bastard... he has Tyrkanzyaka's dark knights hidden in the shadows."
"Fortunately, Ralion doesn't seem to acknowledge Finlay."
"Even so, it won't be on our side. It's best not to trust it."
As soon as she finished speaking, the ghostly fire vanished from her eyes. Her pupils returning to their usual black, the Regressor pressed her eyes shut for a moment as if tired.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Just a moment."
When she removed her hands, her eyes were shining as sharply as ever. I turned my gaze forward again and said.
"According to plan?"
"According to plan."
The Regressor and I took a step from the illuminated area lit by the daytime lights into the darkness.
It felt as if the darkness itself was moving. That ominous gloom was a living creature in its own right, a fog of night that gave sanctuary to all vampires.
In its very center, in an abyss of blackness invisible to the naked eye, Finlay spread his arms wide to greet us.
"I'm sure I told you not to come. Are your ears blocked, or do you just not care about your lives?"
The Regressor scoffed in reply.
"You're the one who doesn't care about his life. Are you insane? You'd have to have some serious nerve to think of controlling the Progenitor."
"This is not control! It is merely... borrowing her for a moment, to return the Progenitor to her rightful place."
"Give me a break. Isn't forcing someone to move without their consent the definition of control?"
"What would you know?!" Finlay shrieked hysterically. The Regressor frowned at his volatile attitude, as if he were bipolar.
"The Progenitor wished for this!"
"What kind of bullshit is that?"
"If the Progenitor had not permitted it, would the day have ever come when I could hold her heart in my hands?! From the moment I gained this power to the moment I became the temporary agent of her will! It is all in accordance with her wishes!"
As Finlay shouted, a madness, as if drunk on power, was plain to see. He was seized by a violent excitement unbecoming of a vampire, shouting so hard that he spat blood instead of saliva.
"Therefore, my will is the Progenitor's will! I wished for the Progenitor to head to the surface, and thus, the Progenitor has decided to ascend! If you interfere, it is the same as rebelling against the Progenitor! If you are her servants, then bow your heads and see her off. If you are her enemies, then be swept away by the irresistible ocean of blood and perish! Decide, you commoners!"
His words were devoid of logic and reason. It was an attitude I never would have expected from a vampire with a cold heart.
The Regressor raised a finger to her temple and twirled it.
"That guy's completely lost it."
"He has to be crazy to commit an act as insane as controlling Trainee Tyrkanzyaka, right?"
"That's true."
"And because he's so focused on his crazy plan, his Bloodcraft has reached its limit, making the Bloodcraft that controls his own body unstable. So much for having a cold heart."
The extremely agitated Finlay kept shouting, regardless of whether we were listening. He didn't seem to care that he was his only audience.
"Haaah. If we wait for him to finish, we'll die of old age first. Shall we get started?"
The Regressor nodded, and I cleared my throat. Finlay's grating voice echoed from the darkness.
"I will ascend to the surface and take revenge on the whorish sluts of the treacherous Sanctum! I will blaspheme their god and reclaim our former glory! Kuhahahahaha!"
"Sheesh, fuck. They say you get talkative in your old age, but why is your tongue wagging so much?"
Haaah. I let out a long sigh and cut into his tirade. As is typical of an agitated person, Finlay directed a vicious killing intent at me for interrupting him.
"Instructor! I didn't like you from the very beginning! How dare you!"
"Hey! Shut up for a second! I know it must be tough looking after a senile old woman, but I've got a lot to say too, you know?"
"S-Senile?"
It's always satisfying to deal with simple machines or toys with straightforward mechanisms. The way they move exactly as predicted provides a sense of stability.
To me, a fanatic like Finlay was just like one of those simple machines.
You just have to flick their berserk switch, and you get the reaction you want.
"To the... Progenitor... How dare you. Such insolence!"
"Tyrkanzyaka? What a tacky name! Did she pick it just to be hard to pronounce? And on top of that, she was stupid enough to be tricked and controlled by the retainer of her retainer's retainer! Who the hell taught her to be such a mess?"
The Regressor couldn't help but chime in.
"That was you, you idiot."
"Oh, dear! It was me! I'll be too embarrassed to keep being an instructor now!"
As I insulted the vampire in an agitated tone, Finlay's eyes widened, his mouth gaping open and shut. The shock was so great that he was momentarily at a loss for words.
Good. It looks like he's finally ready to listen to me.
"And you, Finlay. You seem to be just as stupid as the Progenitor, so you probably haven't realized it yet. But do you really believe you can escape this Abyss just by flying up, while you're trapped here?"
Having said that, I laughed loudly. I roared with laughter long enough for the entire Abyss to hear, then stopped abruptly and said:
"It's pointless. You can't get out."
This was a truth I had gone to great lengths to uncover. It wasn't something to be revealed lightly, but I decided not to hold back.
"The Abyss is a land of infinite falling. You know what that means? Spatial coordinates are meaningless here. You can't reach anywhere by simply falling or rising, you moron. If you could reach the surface by simply climbing, then you should be able to reach the bottom by simply falling. But, oh? This is the Abyss, isn't it? There is no bottom, is there? What do you think that means?"
The preparations were almost complete. The Regressor had poured about half of her mana into the red orb and was infusing it with a simple spell.
Confirming this, I prepared to finish my speech.
"Want to know how?"
Listening to me, Finlay nodded reflexively. Even in this darkness, his eyes could pinpoint my location exactly.
Good, then. Make sure you see this clearly.
"It's in here."
I raised my finger and tapped my temple. Then, with a cold smile, I said:
"So if you can, try and take it, you parricide."