Chapter 399

Chapter 399
### Chapter 399: An Unknown Threat (5)

“Ugh…”

Diana’s lashes twitched as she gradually pried her eyes open.

“Noona! Are you conscious?”

Aaron’s anxious voice rang in her ears, pulling her fractured senses back to the waking world.

It was obvious he had been keeping watch right beside her bed, waiting for her to stir.

“…Yes, I’m okay,” she murmured with a scratchy throat, carefully pushing herself into a sitting position.

A wave of vertigo washed over her, yet she remained physically unharmed.

To be fair, she hadn’t put up any fight; her complete lack of martial skill had rendered her an effortless mark.

*’…Then it wasn’t a nightmare.’*

She cast a wary glance around the room, taking in the comforting sights of their residence.

This was the sanctuary her relatives had established since migrating to this unfamiliar territory.

Naturally, the usual tranquility was absent, overshadowed by the recent… ordeal.

“Diana! You’re back with us!”

“Oh, thank heavens! Lafi came to a bit ago, but you were out for so long… we were terrified.”

Her aunt and uncle hurried over, enveloping her in a tight, relieved embrace.

By sheer luck, they had dodged the chaos entirely due to late-night errands and work shifts.

Still, dodging the danger brought them no joy when their children and niece had been put in such peril.

Seeing Diana finally awake allowed a heavy tension to leave their shoulders.

By a stroke of fortune, the youngest, Lafi, had been shielded by magic just as Aaron had, leaving her completely unscarred.

She had slept through the entire crisis and possessed zero recollection of the terror. She was, at most, mildly… rattled.

“…That’s a relief. Ignorance is a blessing… for Lafi…”

Diana bobbed her head gently as she processed their words, but then she froze, her sentence hanging incomplete in the air.

With her head clearing, a jagged shard of memory violently breached her thoughts.

“Wait! G-Grandma! Is Miropa Grandma alright?!”

Her eyes blew wide with panic as she vaulted from the mattress, swaying dangerously on her feet.

Aaron immediately grabbed her to keep her upright, though she was entirely oblivious to his support.

All she could see was the elderly woman’s grim last stand.

*’Please, no!’*

The sweet neighbor who had constantly looked out for them, holding Lafi tight to her chest while crimson spilled past her lips as she collapsed…

Diana had never suspected the old woman hid such immense strength.

Without that selfless intervention, Diana wouldn’t be sitting here right now, safe with her loved ones.

“Breathe, Noona. Grandma is perfectly fine.”

“That’s right, we just went to check on her. Since she doesn’t have anyone at her place, we moved her into our spare bedroom.”

“Plus, Saint Heinrich himself healed her! I’m still in shock that I got to witness a Saint…”

Her knees buckling, Diana dropped back down onto the sheets, the comforting news washing away her dread.

The ultimate tragedy had been averted.

A profound breath escaped her lips.

“Saint-nim…?”

“Absolutely! You missed him, right? I watched him drop straight out of the sky! Man… it was… incredible. He’s so cool!”

Bubbling with enthusiasm, Aaron mimed the entire spectacle, complete with dramatic motions and whooshing sounds.

A gentle smile touched Diana’s lips as she observed him.

Yet, contrary to what her brother assumed, she vividly recalled Saint Heinrich.

*’I assumed it was merely… a trick of the mind… since I was fading fast… but he actually came.’*

She was absolutely certain. It was identical to the man she remembered.

Saint Heinrich of the Main God Church had materialized right as her vision went black, arriving like a literal beacon of hope in the pitch darkness.

*’However…’*

A subtle shift altered her features while she tuned into Aaron’s rambling.

What she remembered was shattered and hazy, a chaotic blend of feelings and physical awareness.

Only a handful of… crucial elements stood out.

And out of everything, the sharpest detail…

…was an odor.

A recognizable smell, heavily laced with the coppery bite of fresh blood, radiating from an… icy grip.

It was an aroma she hadn’t caught in ages, carrying a slight distinction from Hubert’s—a deeply… nostalgic perfume.

*’Mister Heinz…’*

This marked her initial run-in with his vampire persona since she relocated to Tarak.

Yet, because she had lingered around Hubert for so long, spotting the subtle remnants of her ‘Mister’ clinging to him was effortless.

Truthfully, she had harbored a running theory that they were one and the same anyway.

*’…Even so…’*

One specific detail refused to make sense.

*’…He holds the title of a Saint…’*

…Yet, she had undeniably picked up a second distinct aroma.

A soothing, radiant warmth that contrasted sharply against Heinz’s scent… but it was unquestionably present.

Her panicked state had clouded her judgment earlier, but with a level head, she recognized how… bizarre it all was.

A creature of the night and a holy man… a deeply contradictory pairing.

“…Is it possible…?”

She inhaled sharply as a shocking theory pieced itself together in her mind.

Her gaze shot upward, eyes expanding in disbelief.

“Noona?”

Aaron’s call fell on deaf ears; her brain was entirely consumed by this newfound… conjecture.

A grave intensity settled over her features.

*’…If my guess is right…’*

She curled her fingers inward, squeezing until her knuckles drained of color.

—

“We owe you our lives, Saint-nim!”

“Were you watching? That… brilliance…”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Is there anyone in Tarak who missed it?”

“Ah! Is that the group? The people everyone is gossiping about…?”

“Did the Mercenary King Harley show up too? What a pity. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the hero of Tarak.”

The vicious assault aimed at a high-ranking member of Hubert’s Trading Company concluded with zero catastrophic fatalities.

The attacker had acted with brazen audacity, putting a whole residential sector in the crosshairs just to abduct the organization’s vice-leader… however, the legendary adventuring group, coincidentally visiting Tarak, swiftly pinpointed the danger and neutralized it before the worst occurred.

*’…That is likely the cleanest narrative to feed the public.’*

The masses would struggle to comprehend the… convoluted reality regarding the god imprisoned in the abyss, the fanatics serving him, and the scattered remnants of his holy authority.

In truth, because of the Main God’s… widespread memory erasure, zero historical records regarding this entity existed anywhere in Auterica.

*’…Furthermore, it appears there are heavy constraints preventing the dissemination of his lore.’*

Any deity’s magnitude expanded in direct proportion to their congregation.

By logic, the disgraced divine and his chosen heralds would constantly attempt to recruit new worshipers.

Yet the landscape remained largely stagnant, implying… that any knowledge of his existence was facing… active censorship.

*’That likely explains his meager number of disciples. My status as an otherworlder makes me an outlier.’*

From that perspective, the beings serving him were… total irregularities.

They undeniably hailed from Auterica… so how did they pledge loyalty to him?

Naturally, each individual harbored their own motivations.

Such as…

…Temiran McCleary, to name one.

“Urk… Rgh…”

A stifled whimper, a choked noise of agony, bounced around the pitch-black confines of the sealed chamber.

It was a ragged, shuddering noise, an obvious testament to the… horrific torment the captive was undergoing.

“A fallen god remains divine, regardless. The pushback he offers is… commendable.”

Temiran lay immobilized on a slab, his arms and legs shackled by crimson chains forged from blood, rendering him entirely paralyzed.

Heinz hovered over the youth like an operating surgeon, his hand buried deep into the teenager’s torso, fingers firmly wrapped around the beating heart as he whispered under his breath.

*’This is undeniably grim to look at, but I have no other choice.’*

A mere child, enduring what appeared to be some… macabre surgical experiment, his vital organ clutched by a grown man…

It painted a monstrous picture, a blatant disregard for… essentially all moral boundaries… yet this wasn’t an act of cruelty.

This was… medical intervention.

*’…Agony is a given during an operation of this magnitude. It beats winding up a corpse, right?’*

Every action he took was for Temiran’s ultimate benefit.

The boy remained an apostle of the god imprisoned in the abyss, regardless of whether he wanted to be, leaving only two paths forward: execution, or a total purge of his granted abilities.

And pulling out holy authority, violently tearing the sacred core woven into the youth’s physical and spiritual form… was a monumentally difficult endeavor.

“We are nearing the end, so hold on. Try not to hold too much… malice toward me. I am feeling this agony alongside you.”

“Ghk!”

Temiran’s crimson-stained eyes, radiating absolute fury, locked onto him.

Yet Heinz spoke the complete truth.

He was merely purging the excess pain feedback using his **「Mind Hub」**, projecting an outward mask of serenity.

…Granted, the claim about being ‘nearing the end’ was completely fabricated.

*’…There is no mistaking the Obeipo heritage… however, it has undergone… alterations. I can detect shades of the abyss within it too. Dealing with a flawless pure-blooded Obeipo descendant would have simplified things greatly…’*

This mutation was likely collateral damage from accepting the apostle mantle.

It wasn’t entirely a tragedy, however.

*’…Luckily, the transformation remains incomplete. Two decades have passed since his initiation, yet still…’*

Forging a new herald was no small feat for a discredited deity whose very existence had been scrubbed from reality.

He had been playing the long game, yet the latest developments and rapidly shifting tides had pushed his hand to act prematurely.

*’…Dispatching a half-finished vessel… He must be desperate.’*

The entity likely realized that pausing now would cause his broader machinations to collapse.

It was a logical conclusion to draw.

Judging by Temiran’s internal structure, maturing into a fully realized disciple would require an extra decade at minimum.

Ten years was double the duration Heinz had even been active in Auterica.

Factoring in the chaos that had unfolded over such a brief period, forecasting the global landscape ten years out was impossible. He fully understood the banished god’s frantic rush.

“Hkkh! You promised we were nearly done…! When does it stop…?”

“Ah.”

The frail protest, akin to a dying gasp, slipped from the youth pinned to the table.

He was drenched in gore, the resulting backlash of having his bodily fluids aggressively dominated by Heinz’s own.

Heinz was similarly battling the pressure; beneath his stoic expression, his physical form was screaming under the immense strain.

*’…I can’t delay this any longer.’*

The groundwork was laid.

The moment of truth had arrived.

“Bite down hard. This is going to be excruciating.”

“What?! How could it possibly hurt more…!”

A primal, almost inhuman shriek severed Temiran’s complaint midway.

But Heinz, dead-locked in absolute concentration, tuned the wailing out completely.

He triggered **「Refined Blood Essence」**, pushing his sanguine manipulation to its absolute zenith—the right of a Divine Blood vampire and a **「Blood Ancestor」**—and injected it right into the boy’s core, violently amplifying his influence.

*’…This is a contest of pure dominance. A clash pitting the apostle’s holy grace against my innate vampiric essence.’*

Had Temiran reached his full potential, akin to the Revolutionary, overpowering him would be a lost cause… but mercifully, he fell short.

The boy’s sheer disrespect toward his patron, a trait Heinz easily picked up on during their prior chat, proved his… fractured faith.

*Snap— Crunch—!*

The youth’s frail frame, restrained by the crimson chains, launched into violent spasms. His skeletal structure and muscle fibers warped and reconstructed, his entire anatomy forcefully undergoing a metamorphosis.

Stronger, vastly tougher, highly resilient… considerably older.

“Aargh! Gha! Quit it! Make it stop—!”

Temiran, whose physique now mirrored a teenager, shrieked as crimson droplets sprayed into the air, but Heinz didn’t blink.

He systematically gathered the airborne blood, wielding **「Blood Magic」** to draw a mystic formation, securing an anchor for his complex ritual.

*’…Found it.’*

Following a brief pause,

…his **「Insight」** locked onto the target.

An alien entity, a divine spark, flickering deep within Temiran’s spirit and anchored to his veins.

The entity trapped within the depths used to govern as a Human God… yet, in a twisted stroke of irony, a pure human vessel couldn’t safely harbor his blessings.

Their mortal shells were too frail, and once their souls tethered to an abyssal prisoner, madness would rot them from the inside out, reducing them to feral monsters akin to the White Giant.

*’…He was the responsible party for unleashing the vampire and werewolf lineages into Auterica, wasn’t he?’*

Whether that was a deliberate masterstroke or a side effect was debatable… but ultimately irrelevant here.

Such trivia held no weight against Heinz the Second, a being actively awakening a blood-based divinity of his own.

Empowered by the assimilated fluids, his **「Existence Denial」** frayed the spiritual tether binding the holy ember.

In tandem, **「Return to Origin」**—a skill gifted to him upon his ascension to Divine Blood—ignited.

This absolute vampiric trait, the undeniable apex of his capabilities, inexorably marched toward fulfillment.

It surged through Temiran’s circulatory system, violently colliding with the alien presence, forcefully rejecting and purging the herald’s holy energy.

“Gaaaaah—!”

Possessing the body of an older teen, Temiran wailed, his body thrashing wildly under the sheer agony.

And Heinz,

…acting with abrupt mercy,

…finalized his torment.

He tore the boy’s heart completely out.

“Kuh!”

“Hah, you put up quite the fuss.”

He gazed down at the violently pulsing organ clutched in his palm.

Concern for the now-unconscious Temiran was entirely unnecessary.

The boy had been forged into an authentic vampire, directly succeeding Heinz the Second. His heritage was now spotless and sovereign, gifting his anatomy the sheer vitality required to regenerate even a missing heart.

Additionally, his involuntary devotion had been forcibly inverted, morphing him into a sworn foe of his previous deity—a minor, yet highly satisfying perk.

*’…Moving on…’*

*Ba-dum— Ba-dum—*

Beating rhythmically within his grip, the scarlet heart housed both Temiran’s mutated vampiric core and the divine spark that had authorized his status as an apostle.

Suddenly, Heinz sensed an… intense stare, an invisible entity observing him from afar… as though he was under heavy surveillance.

“Long time no see.”

A quiet chuckle tumbled from his lips.

This energy was highly volatile, absolutely not something he should carelessly… devour.

Doing so risked transforming into another Temiran: a mindless string-puppet dancing for an alien god.

*’…Thanks for the meal.’*

Naturally, that rule was strictly for ordinary individuals.

For Heinz the Second, who was already nurturing his personal godhood, this… stranded shard of divine spark amounted to nothing more than… a highly nutritious snack.

He squeezed his hand shut, obliterating the heart.

Surprisingly, the gore refused to splatter.

It was magnetically sucked directly back into his fist, corralled by an unseen pressure.

*《Fresh vampire essence acquired. Divinity amplified via the influence of “Hybrid Evolution”. You have learned the skill “Subjugation”.》*

A deeply pleased smile curled the edges of Heinz’s mouth.

For a brief second, he imagined a furious scream of rage echoing from the void, but he quickly dismissed it as a trick of the mind.

After all, the chamber was completely empty, occupied by no one but himself and the insensate Temiran.