Symbiotic Ascension : A Progression Fantasy Adventure

"Hey, hey, are you alright?" Glenn waved his fingers before Milena's eyes. "How many fingers can you see? Can you hear me?"

Milena pushed him away weakly, her head clasped into searing pain. The group had found her lying against a wall in the ruined altar room, her eyes, ears, and nose leaking blood. "Three, and I can hear you all too well. I'm fine, just..." She gestured at the altar, grimacing as the bare movement scraped at her brain. "Can you check if he's dead for sure? I'm pretty sure he injected himself with something weird."

Sahro dashed to the altar, smashing aside the rumble in his way. The moonlight was washing over the altar room through the ceiling Milena destroyed with her First Moon: Judgement spell. Glenn couldn't help but whistle in awe.

"I never knew you for the... destruction type," he said with a smirk.

"Yeah, you're more the type of controlling the minds of others and showing them nude pictures of their parents, right?" Diamanes added with his usual mocking voice. Milena sighed as she wiped the blood off her face. Taking a peek into Adrastos's mind and using a Dela Luna's Repository spell had been very, very taxing. Her Mana was at an all-time bottom, and she'd like nothing more but to sink into a comfortable bed and sleep for a month or two.

"That was my... father's family spells," she admitted finally, giving up to Glenn and Liara's expectant gazes. Nelg was helping Sahro search through the rubble, cursing as they failed to find anything noteworthy.

"Your dad..." muttered Glenn as a shadow flickered in his eyes. He shook his head and put on his best grin. "I prefer a thousand times that branch of magic compared to the other... unsavory one."

Milena shrugged. "Mind magic is very useful, even if it isn't morally great." She tapped the side of her head with a knowing smile. "I got to dig through that vampire's head before killing him, and what I learned was enlightening, to say the least."

Glenn's lips curled upward in curiosity before he slapped his cheeks and turned to Sahro and Nelg, who were bickering on some obscure matter.

"I'll just give it a good cut, and we will be done with it, okay?" Sahro tried to convince Nelg, who crossed his arms and shook his head in disbelief.

"What about proofs? Do you want to destroy all the evidence we can get to help Milena?" Nelg smirked as he watched the Black Heir decomposing. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Or you could have just asked me for help," laughed Glenn as he used Gravity Manipulation. He made the debris rise in the air before flinging them to a corner of the room, clearing the space. Sahro and Nelg looked at him as if to say, 'Why didn't you do that before?' Glenn would probably reply, 'Because you didn't ask'.

He walked up to them and looked around the altar, failing to find traces of Milena's opponent, even with Mana Sight.

"Ah! Found something!" Nelg said as he pulled out a battered, dented pearly box. Sahro's eyes widened, and he pointed at the box.

"This is the Duchess' box! She was keeping two syringes of Corrupted Blood in it!"

"Corrupted Blood?" Glenn repeated, his brows furrowed. What did she—no, what did the vampires want to do with Corrupted Blood?

"A ritual," said Milena, as if reading in his mind. She pulled herself to her feet with Liara's help and dragged her feet to them. "They wanted to create a vampire strong enough to beat the other Seats and get the chance to inherit Nosferatu's powers and fight back against the growing aggression from the Crown and the—" She stopped herself when she saw the confusion on her comrades' faces. She drew a deep breath and apologized.

"Sorry, I stole a lot of information at once, and it's hard to piece it all together."

Sahro patted her on the back as Raijin jumped on her shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll do that once we're back home. For now, let's clean up before something else happens—"

Right as he said these words, an explosion of gold and magenta light shook the walls, countless knights and mages dropping into their hole, spells and weapons ready to fire.

"Crown's Inquisition! We are taking control of this situation. Move—if you want to die!" One of them shouted, a mask-bearing mage with countless illusory arrows floating behind him. Sahro tensed up and clenched his sword, but Nelg stopped him from doing the irreparable.

Glenn sighed and lifted his hands in the air, clear of Mana. "Can I call my lawyer?" He said jokingly as powerful Knights and Mages surrounded them. He activated his Mana Sight and almost puked in shock. All of them were either Saints or Archmagi, fighters that could match up with him or Sahro.

'Where were these guys when we fought the Orcs?' He thought. There were enough high-rank fighters to transform Munirp into a sea of blood and fire if they so wished. A man bearing an impressive beard and an equally blinding balding head stomped toward them, his face flushed dark red in anger.

"Why the hell is the Devil's Hand and his stupid teammates in the Court?" he barked. "I thought I ordered them to be kept out of here! I'll execute the fool who let them ruin my family's ancestral ground—"

"Oh yeah? You're sure about that, General Sorenas?" Talor jumped into the hole as well, his Mana flaring up defiantly. The nobleman was unrecognizable. Gone was the fear, the anxiety, and the fake smiles. No, right now he was gracious, haughty, powerful, exactly what would be expected from one of the most important nobles in the Court.

"Rosenborn!" The General roared, "How dare you come here without authorizations! I will have your head—"

"You won't have anything, Vander," Talor interrupted him coldly. "I suspect your family of cooperating with the monsters of the night, the vampires."

Veins popped on Vander's forehead. He disappeared in an instant and reappeared in front of Talor, clenching his collar tightly. "Vampires? My family, mixing up with these bottom-feeding mosquitoes? I've been slaying vampires before you were even born, brat!"

Talor cleared his throat and looked at the ruined altar room. "I would love to hear why there seem to be vampire installations right below your home, then, General."

Vander opened his mouth to bark another insult, only to stop when he looked at their surroundings. He let go of Talor and clasped the back of his neck, his eyes wide in awe and horror. "Wait, wait, what is all this? This isn't the cellars?"

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"Most visibly no, General." A voice rang from the sky, bringing with it the familiar purple twilight. Glenn and the others smiled as Lucian descended upon them, his crown gleaming brightly. "Well, well, well, seems like I should have stuck around more, right, Glenn?" The Crown Prince said with a grin as he went and shook his friend's hand in a brotherly gesture.

"Always late to the party," mocked Glenn. "You missed the pest extermination. Sorry."

Lucian shrugged. "I'm sure I'll find more pests to exterminate, don't worry." His demeanor changed to a cold, princely one as he turned to Talor and Vander. "Now, I will need explanations from everyone as to why Count Glenn, Liara, Milena, and Sahro were being put under examination by the Inquisitors, General Sorenas. Your presence will also require some answers to my questions, Sir Rosenborn. Now, if we could move away from this..." He gestured at the rubble disgustedly. "...Mess, I'd be most pleased."

Vander and Talor bowed at perfect, ninety-degree angles, their faces covered in sweat. "Of course, Your Highness. Right away, Your Highness."

***

Lucian sipped on his tea, a peaceful expression on his face.

Boom!

The explosion that shook the Sorenas' estate did nothing to sour his good mood, even if it did make the two noblemen before him flinch. Talor and Vander exchanged an understanding look, both crestfallen and worried about their futures.

In truth, Talor Rosenborn didn't need to worry, for he came with Glenn's team and helped them destroy the vampires. Vander, on the other hand... He looked innocent, as far as Lucian's instincts went. The man looked absolutely disgusted to learn that his kin had ties with the mosquitoes infesting King's Rise. But, since Lily of Sorenas was part of his family, and he'd even complied with some of her orders previously, such as keeping Glenn and his friends out of the Court, he would still need to go through an extremely thorough investigation.

Thinking about Glenn, Lucian glanced at them and failed to restrain a smile. The young man was bickering with his Black Heir friend, competing on who would eat the most meat from the buffet he previously ordered the servants to organize. They were still on the Sorenas' estate, and most of it was being razed to the ground in search of more information about the vampires and the Sorenas' duplicity.

All with the complete cooperation of Count Glenn, who'd been more than happy to give his authorization. It was still a little fun to call the young man by his title and watch the confusion on his face. Lucian leaned back in the armchair and sipped some more tea.

It truly was good to have made a friend. He discarded the thoughts with a sigh and concentrated back on the matter at hand.

"So, let's discuss this one last time..."

Talor and Vander both gulped, the colors draining out of their faces.

***

Glenn patted his belly with a pleased expression, burping loudly. "Ahh, feels good to eat and win, right Sahro?"

The Black Heir wiped his mouth calmly, ignoring his ridiculously bulging stomach. "I can only agree with that first part. After all, you lost, didn't you?"

Liara chuckled before biting into some cream-filled sweet, her cheeks tinted with a bit of rose. Nelg was still sampling everything available to them, from the drinks to the food, all in random order. Milena sighed, her pain soothed. A Royal healer had treated her expertly, curing her from any overexertion and even giving her an expensive Mana potion to help with the pain.

She felt great now, if a little tired.

"Lay it to rest, boys," she ordered. Glenn and Sahro grunted but stopped throwing forks and bread pieces at each other. Nelg stared at her as he continued to shove more food in his mouth. She was pretty certain the doppelganger was the one who had won the eating contest, even if he didn't seem to care about it. Nelg felt a little different from usual, strangely. More like another person and not... Glenn's double. It was very interesting to watch as Nelg's personality seemed to change and define itself in hours.

Milena pulled on her Mana and conjured an illusion, showing to her friends an ordered diagram of her thoughts. "Now is as good a time as to talk about the vampires," she said.

Glenn straightened up with interest, a curious mouth appearing in the palm of his left, purple hand. A one-eyed dragon, a red fox, and a white round bird all hopped onto the table, staring at the illusion in wonder. Sahro grinned as his mechanical arm released a cloud of steam, and Liara crossed her arms beneath her chest.

It felt weird being the center of attention, but not displeasing. Milena cleared her throat and pointed at the diagram with a fork.

"As you know, I've foraged quite a bit of information from Count Adrastos' head. Here's all I know."

"Yay, a PowerPoint presentation!" Diamanes exclaimed with faked jeer. "I'll just go back to sleep, okay?"

Everyone ignored the pestering entity as she continued. "To put things in context, here's some knowledge about the vampires. First is the matter with ranks." She pointed at a diagram with multiple ranks shown with different illustrations.

"Vampires with noble titles are the only ones who can create thralls, lower vampires. A Baron, such as Howard, could be situated in strength between the Fourth and Fifth Circle." Howard's face appeared for an instant, booed by the crowd (Glenn). "A Count is stronger between the Fifth and Sixth Circle, with some who are quite powerful for their ranks."

Countess Dilata appeared in the lower bracket while Adrastos was situated in the higher one. Howard was at the bottom, with only the thralls situated beneath him. Milena drew a scant breath and squinted. "And apparently, beyond Baron and Count is the Lord rank, a vampire powerful enough to create lower nobles. Count Adrastos and Countess Dilata were the product of such Lord."

Glenn rubbed his chin, frowning. "I suppose that Lord must be a Newborn Ruler or higher, right?"

Milena nodded. "Correct. And to conclude this, there's one last rank, made for a unique individual. The Original Progenitor."

"Nosferatu."

"Not the first time I've heard that name," grumbled Sahro.

Liara petted Whitey, her small bird, and leaned forward. "If I understood correctly, Nosferatu is more of a legend than anything, right?"

Milena shook her head. "That was the case until recently. Nosferatu's Sepulchre has been located through the Occult Wanderers' help, and every vampire is working to bring their Progenitor back to... life?" She pinched her chin in wonder. "Is being a vampire considered as alive?"

Glenn gasped in disbelief. "I asked myself that same question!"

Milena blinked and resumed her explanations. "Adrastos and company schemed to create a new Lord-ranked vampire, which is done by taking someone with a particularly strong lineage—me, in occurrence- and injecting them with powerful Corrupted Blood while subjecting them to the Embrace, the processus through which a vampire is created."

"That would skip the need for a Lord and create an extremely powerful vampire that they'd be able to control as they liked."

Milena stood up and paced around the room, pointing at another image on the floating illusion. "Every vampire dwelling in Munirp is either from other countries or created by a Lord who disappeared. Adrastos didn't know his name nor his appearance, unfortunately."

"Getting a Lord to fight back against the Royal Inquisition and other Munirp's forces was capital for the vampires living in King's Rise to get a Seat at the Highest Table, which is basically a vampire society that tried desperately to create powerful vampires to help in resurrecting the Original Progenitor, Nosferatu."

She exhaled heavily and clapped her hands together. "And that's everything I've learned."

Glenn applauded timidly. "Well, that's a lot to stomach. I'm glad we killed all of them; at least it's done. There's just one last question left to answer, then."

Milena raised an eyebrow. "What?"

The young man grinned wickedly and pointed behind him to Lucian, Talor, and Vander.

"When's the marriage with the Rosenborns?"

Sahro spat his drink while Milena blushed.

"You—!"