The extra chapter for 200 powerstones. Regular chapter later.
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"This theory…have you told anyone else about this?" Rigal asked as he looked it over and I just gave him a look that said 'Do I look like an idiot?' and he nodded.
"It's confirmed?" He asked again.
"To the best of our abilities. We will still need some more data, but it is as good as true." My father answered.
"Riser, how do you come up with this stuff?" Rigal asked in awe.
"Eh, I just observe. It's pretty obvious if you're paying attention." I gloated, a little prideful.
"This is just…we will be so stupidly strong once we affect this into our routines." Rigal laughed, "Good job Riser."
"Oh, word of warning- do not indulge too much in your sin. I haven't got any proof of it yet because I myself haven't been able to indulge in my own Greed too much, and also because I fear there may not be a way to return from it, but I have a gut feeling that given our nature as devils, if we indulge excessively, we may end up facing something I like to call Sin Toxicity- a state where we become primal embodiments of our sin and start losing all the things that make us, us- rationality, love, logic, the like. No more than sinful beasts in devil form."
"Moderation is key." My father nodded.
"It is. Though- and this is an idea I had after seeing those grudge samurai revenants in Nurarihyon's mansion- I have a feeling that once I discover a way to properly harness that form- I like to call it the Beast Of Sin form- we may be able to tap into even greater, primordial strength by drawing power from the dark side of the world, the very evil of humanity we are supposed to represent." I explained, "But all of that is for after I master Senjutsu. So do not, and I repeat- looking at you Ruval- do not attempt to complete this on your own. You need to have mastered Senjutsu to tap into the flow of the world and through that the dark side of humanity. I will finish learning Senjutsu, then I have a few more spells to complete, and then we will talk about it."
They all nodded.
"You say that, but what I am getting from this- and tell me if I am wrong- you have found a way to give us Touki too?" My father caught onto the hidden meaning behind my words.
"Oh, yes. That part is actually quite simple. You just need to do it the way I did it."
"You mean killing ourselves." My father asked.
"Yup. Torturous, but it worked for me. Not to mention that is the only way for us to get Touki." I shrugged, "Touki is the force born from the struggle for life. We, with our regeneration, never have to struggle to live. So there really is no other way for us to awaken our Touki. Our Touki is the flame of our dying will. I got really lucky and nearly died awakening it. And I still can't use it. So I wouldn't exactly recommend this method to you."
"There has to be another way…" Ruval's mind began to run through the possibilities, no less smart than my own, if not for him being 300 years old and set in his ways, "Or else you wouldn't have suggested this to us."
"There may be…" I hesitated. I wasn't sure about this one.
"Tell us. See if we can help?" My mother suggested, patting my shoulder.
"If we can't struggle for life…I was thinking, what if we stole someone else's struggle?"
Ruval's eyes glittered.
"A parasitic flame?" It had clicked for him near instantly.
"It won't be as effective, and I don't have even the faintest of clues where to begin on that, but I know there exists flames out there that can steal life force.
The vampiric blood flame for example, though that one won't work for Touki, because the struggle is on the part of the victim and not the predator.
We need a parasitic flame that is somehow sympathetic in nature, stealing lifeforce, storing it and at the same time imparting the struggle to live from the prey onto the predator. I don't know if that even exists."
"If it the sharing of experience you need, didn't you make one- what was it called…? That thing you based the penance stare on-" Rigal rubbed his temples, and Ruval added, "The mind flames, yeah…those could work if we modified them."
I shook my head and rejected the notion.
"Five coloured flames of forgetfulness? Those eat memories. Great for mind wipes. Shit at anything else. They are already horribly inefficient. Why else would I need to turn them into the penance stare?
They were based on Granny Meng's divine authority of Five Flavoured Soup Of The Afterlife- a water element authority, by the way- so I wasn't able to capture even a 1/100th of its power and that's after being modified to the extreme.
It's a miracle I even managed to create them, as utterly incompatible with our hellfire as they were.
If it wasn't for the fact they complement the subsequent step in their afterlife, the reincarnating flames of Diyu, and belong to an afterlife goddess, I wouldn't have even gotten to them."
"Well at least some good came from that, seeing as how it led to us developing the Black Flames of Judgement." My father raised a hand, calming the situation down.
"But surely there have to be other ways to do that?" He laid an open question the floor.
"None that I know of." I gave up, "In terms of flames at least."
"So there is another way?" Ruval poked.
"It's almost impossible to do, but…" I removed a notebook from my storage and placed it on the table.
"Sacred gear research notes #15." My father read, flipping through them as I explained.
"Now this is just a theory, and I don't know if it is even possible to do that, but, there is a sacred gear out there."
"The Blasphemer." My father read out, "Yes, I have heard of it. Very weak, downright useless. Curses people at the cost of the user's power."
"Yes, but if we evolve it into a Longinus, create a subspecies balance breaker using the Vampiric Blood Flame as a base, gather enough life force and resentment to match your Ultimate Class power, drain all your demonic power, and then curse ourselves with the struggle of the prey…" I turned the page for him, "Then alongside the Boost Share ability of the Boosted Gear, apply it to everyone…"
"I see why you said this was impossible. No one knows where the sacred gear is, much less how to evolve it into a Longinus. And on top of that, to get the user of the Boosted Gear to work for us, which again, no one knows where that one is either. Not one but two Longinus…not to mention, the Vampire factions don't need our Phenex Tears precisely because they have the Blood Flame. They would no less easily offer it to us than we would to them the method to create Phoenix Tears." My father sighed.
I do. I know where both of those are, or at least where they will be in the future.
Blasphemer will appear in Grigori in seven years' time in the hands of one of the students of the Satanael class, a minor antagonist of Slash/Dog.
The Boosted Gear? Even today I knew exactly where it was, though I will have to wait for it to awaken on its own.
Regardless, those were both out of reach for now.
As for the Blood Flame, that can be acquired easily enough. Being that it can only be used by the vampire who created it to heal themselves, unlike Phoenix Tears which anyone can use on anyone else, they don't exactly invite other factions to ask for it.
A vampire exclusive ability, by the vampires, for the vampires.
No other species can even use it in the first place, so why would anyone bother to steal it?
That also means, it is one of the most widespread spells among the vampire nobility. Once I get my hands on Gasper and Valerie, the knowledge of the spell should come easily enough.
Incorporating it into the sacred gear though, in way that it can used with the wide applicability of Phoenix Tears…that will be the hard part.
I did have a bead on a solution for that problem too, but…
Well, let's leave it for the future.
Besides, once I have Valerie and her Sephirot Graal, we can simply use that to touch upon the source of life for us and awaken Touki that way. It won't be fast, and the progress will be even slower, but it's better than nothing.
"Then we can only wait for you to learn Senjutsu." My father sighed.
Back to square one.
I shrugged.
"Who knows, maybe I will find a way in the future." I was positive on that note.
"You do seem to come up with the weirdest of ideas." Ruval laughed, and patted my back, "I'm sure you will find a way."
"Hmm…you said you had other ideas for spells? Wind related ones?" My father asked, "Maybe leave those to us to complete, while you focus on developing a way for us to get Touki."
"No." I refused, not out of greed but practicality, "The idea for those spells came to me when I witnessed Nurarihyon's ability, that stealth and what I went through in my Touki awakening. They are both experiences unique to me, that you cannot replicate. Leave those to me."
"If you insist." My father resigned himself to it.
"I do have some suggestions, regarding where you should specialize." I took out a bundle of papers, roughly scribbled through. I handed them out.
"You want me to focus on the soul flame angle?" Ruval skimmed his packet over.
"Remember your little Thanatos gambit?" I asked.
"Yes. You think I can draw out some psychopomp-y inspiration from it?" Ruval looked confused, "Didn't you complete that spell already-oh." He stopped when he reached the part I had made specifically for him.
"You want to cure Sleep Disease?" His eyes went wide.
"A soul guiding hellfire, that can awaken those afflicted by the sleep disease. The flames of Hades may be divine, but yours don't have to be. It's not a general-purpose psychopomp-ic flame after all, nor does it impeach upon any divine authorities. You're not guiding the soul out of their bodies and into the afterlife. All you are doing is imitating that very natural process and guiding them from a conceptual 'false death' of eternal sleep to a waking 'life'. Easy enough to accomplish for my brilliant oldest brother, I would think."
Easier for him than me, given his brush with Thanatos, the prime Greek psychopomp.
Though, I only say this because I simply don't have the time to spare.
Between gathering my peerage and training myself and them both, and the many other experiments I simply cannot reveal to my family, not to mention practicing with the sacred gears I want to acquire in the future. That spell Ruval wanted to complete, add in my reincarnation flames etc.
I am swamped.
Twelve years is not nearly enough time to do everything myself.
This was something I realized in the process of awakening my Touki, the reconciliation with the part of me that used to be human. To learn to let go of this arrogance and self-reliant behavior and rely on my family.
The world can be cold, and the struggle to survive is harsh, but you don't have to do it alone. The warmth of family, of companions and friends, it won't make the world any better, but it certainly makes the cold bearable.
"Riser." His breath hitched, and I could practically hear the dollar signs in my father's mind going ka-ching.
"We'll finally beat those damn Sitri clan bastards." He laughed, "Then let us see who has the best 'cutting edge' medical care in the underworld, hahahahaha!"
"Well, if that's done…" Rigal made to stand up, but I stopped him.
"No, I have something else to discuss. Something that will give us ten times more power and wealth than all of this-" I pointed at the notes scattered on the table, "combined."
That got everyone's attention. Well bar Dulio and Ravel who were playing outside in the garden.
"What do you think about the internet?"
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Riser creates new spells, new techniques and new moneymaking ideas.
Next time, the DevilNet conspiracy as the Family plot continues in a less than desirable sequel.
Family Plot 3 : The Sleepover
Till then, tell me what you thought of this chapter.
Don't forget to donate your powerstones.
And yes, we reached 2000 collections!
Next goal - 3000 collections!
300 powerstones!
As promised, that will be another extra chapter. Tomorrow, alongside the regular chapter and the other one I promised.
Lets see if I can pull a triple release or one mega release.
Thanks for reading!
Bye~