Ascendant Path of a Lustful Vampire Chapter 633: Do as is fitting

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Caius sank deep into the Trial’s core. Arcane scripts flashed past him, but he didn’t even try to understand them. They were the arcane scripts written by a being at or beyond the Twelfth Circle and were beyond Caius’s current level. Besides, understanding the magic behind the trial wasn’t why he was here.

Caius landed at the depths of the Trial’s core, surrounded by the indecipherable arcane scripts, and saw Athenodora on her knees just as she was outside the Trial’s core, except that here, her fingers weren’t bleeding chains of blood to connect her to the oval blood pool.

Caius let this mental representation of himself within the Trial’s core become infused with the magic of the Ritual his body was still chanting. The spell didn’t work by battling the Trial’s magic. It would be impossible to combat the Magic of the dimension and win. At least, impossible for any mortal.

You would need to have an equivalent might of the Twelfth Circle to attempt to brute force the dimension and that’s virtually impossible for any mortal because achieving the Twelfth Circle is essentially shedding one’s mortality.

But that’s a matter for later.

Since combating the Trial’s magic would be foolish and impossible, what Caius was attempting, following Aurelius’s lead in the original canon, was to appeal to the consciousness behind the magic because the magic of the dimension is alive and has been ’programmed’ with a sort of sensibility that could be reasoned with.

Aurelius did it by showing himself to be a counter to the magic of death and suffering— by being a light to chase the dark. In other words, he did it by being a goody-two-shoes.

Caius was at a disadvantage on that front already. Not because he was a terrible person—though that could be argued to be true—but because the magic of the dimension has a prejudice toward Dark Magic. Which is ironic because the magic of the dimension only exists because of Dark magic.

Still, despite the disadvantage, Caius remained confident of success. He wouldn’t be here, trying if he wasn’t.

Alas, as he let the magic of his Ritual envelope him and prepared to start the conversation, he found that he couldn’t progress. It was as though the magic of the Trial was already engaged in a conversation and couldn’t be bothered to pay him any mind.

"What—?" Caius started to wonder and then he looked down at the kneeling Athenodora and understood that whatever was the issue, she was the cause.

Caius stretched out a hand with the mental representation of himself within the Trial’s core. He meant to grab Athenodora’s shoulder to comfort and shake her out of whatever stupor she was in so she could release the attention of the Trial’s magic so he could begin conversing with it.

Despite warning Philip against doing something similar on the outside, Caius felt it was safe to do here. At least, he hoped so as he was left with no choice but to interrupt whatever Athenodora was doing. The longer Athenodora spent hogging the attention of the Trial’s magic, the more things on the outside would continue to deteriorate.

The moment his hand made contact with her shoulder, Caius’s body jerked on the outside, causing him to stumble on his chant. The magic of his ritual faltered and he was at risk of getting booted out of the Trial’s core.

Even as he managed to regain his rhythm, there was a retort of energy that ruptured a few of Caius’s organs, causing him to spit out blood that was lost in the river of Blood all around but didn’t touch the oval pool.

Philip’s eyes narrowed and then he looked over at Athenodora, appearing relieved to see she didn’t bleed as Caius did. She remained as she had been since she knelt on the ground and created her blood chains.

Within the Trial’s core...

Caius saw flashes of images and was suddenly standing in a grand corridor. In front of him was a tall man— no, not a man, a Vampire. Caius could feel the aura clearly. He could also feel the authority— This was no ordinary Vampire but a Vampire Noble.

By his side was a girl. She looked to be between ten and eleven. Her skin was so fair, it was almost pale. Her eyes were a bright red but also nervous. Her mouth opened as she let out breaths to calm herself but it didn’t seem to be working.

She held out her hand, opening and closing her fist. Caius realized she was requesting to be held.

"No." The tall vampire said simply in a cool tone that betrayed no emotion. The child may as well have been a stranger.

Speaking of the child, she looked... familiar to Caius.

Despite the nervous expression she currently had, there was a regality about her. With a start, Caius realized he was looking at a young Athenodora.

It had been so hard to connect the two versions of Athenodora because Caius would never have thought Athenodora could look so... innocent. So precious. Hell, he may as well have always assumed she just came into being fully grown.

They entered a Hall with a high ceiling. It was dark beside the torches on the wall. There was someone cowering at the far wall.

"Who is it?" Young Athenodora asked.

"The name matters not," said the tall vampire, "You can’t be fed all your life. It’s not becoming of one of your status."

"But, my First-Hunt ceremony is not until I’m sixteen—" Athenodora began to argue.

"Shut it!"

Athenodora went mute, looking terrified.

The tall vampire continued.

"A First-Hunt ceremony? A ridiculous tradition! One unbefitting of a member of our house. The moment you can walk, you hunt. You feed. Why do you need to prepare yourself mentally for something that is within your nature?

Is there a ceremony for when you learn to breathe for the first time?

Is there one for when you take your first steps?

They, like hunting, are parts of your development, part of your nature. Unless you are abnormal. And my house has no use for the abnormal."

Caius tried to see the Tall vampire’s face but couldn’t quite make it out. It was unnaturally shrouded in darkness when everything else was much better lit.

"Do you understand me?"

"Yes," Athenodora said with a shiver.

"Then go," the Tall Vampire said, "Do as is fitting for your nature."

Athenodora took steps toward the cowering figure. There was a sound of jiggling chains that explained why the figure couldn’t run. Not that they would get far anyway even if they were free.

Steeling herself, Athenodora ran the rest of the way. She was quick. Caius could have sworn she was as quick as he was now even though he was at the Fifth Circle. She sank her small fangs into the figure’s neck.

Despite the size of the fangs, they must have hurt a lot because the bitten figure let out a scream. It was so gut-wrenching and high-pitched that Caius couldn’t tell their gender. Though he had a feeling—since this was clearly her memories—that Athenodora had blocked out significant details of her prey. Maybe to avoid dwelling on it.

Which begs the question, why was she blocking out significant details of the Tall Vampire who led her here? Who was he to her?

The scene changed.

They were still in the same hall, but the Tall Vampire was gone. However, Athenodora, taller and clearly older, wasn’t alone. There were vampires standing a few steps behind her and their body language made it clear that they were deferring to her.

There were details about the appearances of these vampires being blocked as well. This time though, Caius could tell that Athenodora didn’t do it to make what she had to do in the memory easier on her mind like it had been with her prey and it also wasn’t for an emotional reason as it had been with the Tall vampire.

She neglected to remember details of the vampires standing behind her because they were so beneath her in status and power, that they were insignificant.

Athenodora stood a lot straighter, similar to how Caius had come to know her; Sure of herself, powerful, and boasting great talent and intellect. But she still wasn’t Athenodora as Caius knew her; she felt colder in the memory. A look into her red eyes would make any man tremble in fear, unable to comprehend what an incredible beauty she was.

The Athenodora Caius knew, despite being a psychopath who killed without remorse and turned a boy into a vampire spawn just to torture his father, always seemed far more easygoing. At least, she never saw the need to wear a perpetual scowl.

"Bring them in," Athenodora ordered.

A door off the side opened and people were filed in. Their magical energies ranged from the third to the fifth circle. They were bound with chains made specifically to hold them.

Athenodora took a breath and held out a hand. Her fingers trembled for ten seconds during which the people lined up held their breaths, waiting for whatever was to become of them.

And then, when nothing happened, at least one of them relaxed. Alas, at the fifteenth-second mark, there were multiple sounds of blades tearing through flesh as all those lined up appeared to explode from the inside out.

Their very blood had been turned into spikes by Athenodora’s Blood magic, killing them from the inside out in a gory display.