32 To learn, you must feel

"So you are the 2nd Michellian? A new breed of vampire, ha?"

"How interesting! Come, child, let me get a closer look at you. Be not afraid; I don't bite."

Keziah said, inviting Merciless to approach her. Merciless turned to face Beatrice, who had let go of his hands and nodded her head, signaling for him to approach her.

Merciless then began to approach Keziah. Given how his vision was being interfered with, he was a little terrified by this thing's sheer presence and looked up at her; all he saw was a figure. He wasn't sure if this was the work of an ichor, an artifact, or something entirely else. Because the only thing that Merciless saw before his eyes was a red figure with a sinister aura.

Her incredible height didn't make her any less scary. Imagine a giant woman standing at 10'4, weighing roughly 397.80 kg, and with the strength to murder you a billion times over, just standing over you as if to assert dominance. How would you feel in a situation like this?

It's not a good feeling. Well, exactly, but either way, at this moment, Merciless still stood his ground as he was about a meter away from Kezia, looking up at her as he said.

"Well, I am here, so what now?"

"Oghmaaa, you're quite the impatient one." Kyhakyhahahyayhaha, close your eyes, child; it'll make the job a lot easier."

"Close my eyes."

"Yes, your eyes; I'd like to see what Beatrice was on about." She keeps going on saying things like, "You are one of a kind." I am not the type to waste time, so I want to see it for myself—well, your Ichor, that is, I want to see how much potential it possesses."

"My potential?"

"Mhmmm... By peering into the inner realm of their genuine self, I can determine how strong a person is and can be based on their potential, which manifests itself into an object. Beatrice's potential, for example, appears as a spiraling dark nebula that consumes everything in its path. My potential manifests as a cluster of galaxies; you see, child, everyone's potential manifests as something entirely different. And, given your status as Michelle's first kilde, your potential must rival his."

Keziah said this to Merciless, who responded back to her in kind.

"Oh, I see. Ok, then I will... agh... close my eyes."

"All right, clear your mind of all thoughts and only listen to my voice." Do you feel my touch? Concentrate solely on that."

Keziah said as she closed her eyes and placed her hand on Merciless's head, and her hand began to glow a light red. Then she felt her consciousness plunge into Merciless' inner realm, where his actual potential rests.

'Now let us see if you actually are a work of art.'

...

As Keziah descended deeper and deeper into Merciless' conceptual realm, she came closer and closer to his very fundamental idea. Moments after arriving, she quickly found herself inside a very perplexing location, the source of his power, which was his heart, or Ichor.

"...W..what the hell is this? I don't understand; how is this a representation?"

Keziah was bewildered by the scene in front of her. She turned right and found nothing; she turned left and found nothing; she looked up and down and found nothing. However, there was nothing in this place, but this nothingness was or could be considered something as well. Because Keziah's eyes were looking more in a certain place than an actual object; indeed, this place was a giant white room with nothing within it all, a place that stretched endlessly in every corner.

"A white room, ha?"

Keziah thought to herself as she began to walk about his inner world, trying to investigate it; but before she could move, the voice of a lady she recognized sounded from behind her.

"... Princess, if I were you, I wouldn't do that; anyone but me will get lost if not killed in this place." In fact, follow my advice and depart right away. Or he will consume you and assimilate your being into himself as well; you are balls deep in the belly of the beast, you know."

"Ha?!"

Keziah turned around to see a familiar hazel-haired woman lying on a wide emperor-sized bed filled with various dolls and plushies that all resemble Merciless, but each one is dressed differently. There was a sleeping attire Merciless, a tuxedo Merciless, a delinquent Merciless, an Original Merciless (Mercy Morgan), a female Merciless, and many more depictions of him, but the woman was holding a body pillow with the current Merciless on it as her terrifying green eyes met hers.

"Brunhilde, daughter of the world tree, what are you doing here?"

"Ha, oh me... well, I live here, so why wouldn't I be here; and aside from that, I'm everywhere and nowhere all at the same time, Omniscience and Omnipresence, as they say." But, in any case, you won't find any objects here, for this white world is the representation of Merciless potential given form, and, to be honest, whatever he has eaten is somewhere in the expanse of this boundless emptiness. So, let me help you grasp Merciless' potential; he is a blank canvas, and whatever he eats is like painting; better still, he is a living art gallery."

"... So he is comparable to Eos and the other progenitors in terms of pure potential ha?"

"Although I must say he is the polar opposite of the vampire king, when I look at Eos potential, it's like I'm sinking into a thick, dark sea full of countless amount of sea monsters that get more horrific the deeper you go, look too hard and one of those monsters will eat you up, killing you." But I'm not sinking in this place at all, there's just no end, although the silence here is just too creepy even for me, and now you're telling me that if I go too far, I'll be confined here for all eternity, slowly consumed and being assimilated to his being?"

Keziah inquired of Brunhilde, who began to respond in kind.

"Pfftt..hahaha... how funny, but sorry little girl, wake up to reality, Eos' potential pales in comparison to Merciless', just as it pales in comparison to Michelle's, and even then, Merciless has more potential than both combined as he has infinite potential, and I dare to say he has more potential than the entire vampiric race combined." Bring anyone here, and they will suffer the same fate as you if you venture too far. The idea of Merciless is so bizarre that even I am having difficulty grasping it for what it is."

Keziah's eyes widened as she questioned the all-knowing thing before her.

"Wait, are you serious? You mean to tell me that this boy has the greatest potential among the vampire race, even surpassing Eos and the six progenitors?" Sorry if I'm being negative, but that is difficult to belie... *Badump*... ha? My heart... it suddenly hurts."

Keziah said in horror, clutching her chest as the sensation of something she hadn't felt in a long time began to overtake her. Brunhilde, on the other hand, looked at the surprised Keziah and replied in a bored tone.

"Oh my, you didn't even last two minutes; it's already begun." He's evolving again, this time to your unwanted presence, yeah your Highness very difficult to believe indeed. In either case, you are welcome to stay; nevertheless, his Ichor will consume your artificial soul, and the various amounts of soul trapped in you as well, let's not forget he will also devour your essence, and consciousness as well. Oh yes we cant forget those right, heheh... I sense six magical natures in you as well. Egh, hehehe... it would seem, I cant explain in more details, after all, the consumption rate is extremely quick; okay, let's make it five magical natures now because one has been consumed, well one must see to believe, so tell me, how does Eos poential even compare to this, you his daugther, has already began to fall victim to his Ichor."

Keziah began to fall to her knees at that point, as she suddenly felt faint and tired, which was impossible given vampires' endless stamina, but that's when she saw it. Her left hand was gradually becoming transparent, fading away into nothingness, as if she were disappearing from existence itself.

"What, no way! How could another vampire like Eos exist?" No, I was mistaken, what the heck is this monster... damnit, I need to get out of here now... I'm being consumed, and I still have so much I want to ask this woman."

With those remarks, Keziah, terrified of losing any more of her power, exited Merciless ravenous inner realm. The last thing she saw was Brunhilde giving her a smug grin as she clutched her body pillow tighter than before.

...

Keziah, on the other hand, quickly opened her eyes and returned to the actual world; however, she lifted her other free hand and touched her chest in astonishment, still horrified by what she saw within that fuck up inner world of Merciless, as she said to herself.

'W-what the hell is this monster?'

'How can someone like him exist; I barely spent two minutes in there and he took a grand total of 21,985,113,239 souls from my stock of 756,323,230,055 souls I've been saving up for the past thirty years, leaving me with only 734,338,116,816 souls to myself... hehehe... is this even a vampire? Isn't he a little too powerful for a vampire that's only two days old? Interesting, quite interesting... Beatrice, you didn't bring a work of art here, you brought a priceless masterpiece, and I will certainly reward you later but for this contribution.'

With these ideas in mind, Keziah took her hand off Merciless' head and said to him.

"You greedy child, you owe me a lot; if anyone else had tried to touch your bizarre inner realm, they would have been sucked dry." Lucky for you, and I guess myself, that I have an enormous reserve of souls, but with so many souls now within your being, you owe me; in fact, I might as well approach this as an investment, or maybe even a large loan."

When Keziah said this, Merciless' eyes widened as he was perplexed by what Keziah had said to him. But, given his disbelief at the sight before him, he would halt before he got the chance. Keziah, on the other hand, continued to glance at Merciless, who had a tiny blush on his face as she pondered.

'Why is he suddenly blushing?'

Keziah pondered but was quickly answered as Merciless said out his thoughts, loud enough for Keziah to hear who was there in front of him.

"Beautiful... artistic even."

'Beautiful, does he mean me? I'm flattered, but how can you know I'm beautiful if you can't perceive my genuine design, after all, no one except me, and those I allow should be able to view my face and body... wait, unless?'

With those words in mind, Keziah began to examine herself and was astounded to discover that the influence of her magical nature had vanished. Keziah turned to look at Merciless at this point, and what she saw astonished her. Before Keziah stood a man, no! A golden figure, with bright and vivid blue nocturnal eyes that was looking up at her. The man's existence and form were like a vague concept, and his voice echoed to some extent with every syllable.

The man did not appear to notice the alteration to his being, but Beatrice and Hector were perplexed by Merciless's current appearance. To them, their alpha and young master resembled Keziah and appeared as a hazy notion, almost as if his genuine shape had become too obscure for them to even recognize him. However, no one was more surprised than Keziah, who began to remember Brunhilde's words of warning.

"Oh my, you didn't even last two minutes; it's already begun." He's evolving again, this time to your unwanted presence, yeah your Highness very difficult to believe indeed. In either case, you are welcome to stay; nevertheless, his Ichor will consume your artificial soul, and the various amounts of soul trapped in you as well, let's not forget he will also devour your essence, and consciousness as well. Oh yes we cant forget those, right, heheh... I sense six magical natures in you as well. Egh, hehehe... it would seem, I cant explain in more details, after all, the consumption rate is extremely quick; okay, let's make it five magical natures now because one has been consumed, well one must see to believe, so tell me, how does Eos potential even compare to this? You, his daughter, have already begun to fall victim to his Ichor."

When Keziah remembered these words, she realized that the person in front of her was not a monster. No, the label was too light given his bizarre abilities; he was a walking abomination in the form of a vampire. Keziah was astounded, if not perplexed, by this; it could as well have been a twisted joke. After all, this abomination had just stolen her obscuration magic. It was one of the most useful magic she possessed as well because with it Keziah could utilize its power to filter, if not completely erase, her presence from the concept of the universe itself, giving her perfect invisibility when used at maximum strength.

Keziah, perplexed by all of this, couldn't help but ask Merciless, her head tilting to the size, apparent uncertainty on her face.

"Just what in the bloody hell are you exactly?"

"What do you mean, who am I?" "My name is Merciless Elderblood II, and I am a Michellian vampire of clan Michellian."

"I was being sarcastic Merciless, sigh you haven't even noticed do you?"

Merciless, on the other hand, responded in kind to Keziah's question.

"What is there to notice, apart from your beauty, I see nothing else."

"Merciless, please take a good look at yourself."

As a result, Merciless began to examine his hands and was surprised to discover that they were golden. It reminded him of Keziah, but the more pressing question was, why does he look like this?

"What the... EGHH... no!" "Why do I look this way, did you do something to me?"

"Me... no you were the one that did something to me, I am the victim here."

Keziah informed, and she folded her arms as she proceeded to describe the problem. As she explained what had happened, everyone was taken aback by the series of events that had taken place inside Merciless' inner world.

"And that is how you got one of my magical natures, along side billions of unused souls, talk about day an unfair outcome for me in particular, I am the one that lost big here you know."

"Ahhh... aside from Brunhilde, I had no idea what an inner world was until now." I had no idea my Ichor would start chewing on your sense of being the instant you stepped foot inside, look, I will give you back your souls, okay?"

Merciless announced to Keziah, but Keziah just shook her head and reacted as such.

"No... don't worry about it... consider it a gift from me to you, or perhaps an investment." In any case, I'm in a good mood tonight; in fact, I intended to talk to you a little longer, but the ceremony is about to begin, Beatrice, are the slaves ready?"

Beatrice simply smirked haughtily as she spoke.

"Of course, I pick 1,000 class-II's, and 500 class-III, and 10 class-V."

Keziah nodded, satisfied with Beatrice's response, as she began to extend her arms out, causing reality to break apart like glass, surprising Merciless, and Hector. On that topic, when they looked at the crack in reality, they were both surprised to discover a swarm of people down below who hadn't seen the crack in reality. Or, even better, other vampires, some of whom are communicating with one another. Others were doing their own thing, but Keziah was looking at Beatrice, as she said.

"Well give it to him."

Beatrice simply nodded, but what followed was even more shocking: she casually removed a black briefcase from between her buxom. That convinced Merciless that this woman's cleavage had to be a pocket dimension of some sort. But on that note, she approached Merciless and opened the briefcase, only to find a white blindfold inside. A strange-looking but fancy platinum and gold card, as well as a pair of black bracelets. He understood the blindfold, but what were the card and bracelets even for?

But before he could process it, Keziah spoke aloud as she said to Merciless.

"Gear up, boy, to enter the House of Ghal, you must pass the evaluation exams, and because of your royalty, you will meet a lot of younger vampires of noble blood as well." But beware, they are are only a limited number of places available, and only five teams out of twenty will be admitted. Until then, we'll be closed for another hundred years. Merciless, I have high hopes for you. Of course, at this moment, only you and Hector may go, as the Overseer must complete some last-minute preparations; don't worry, we will keep in touch."

Merciless stare at Hector, who nodded as he looked at the crack in reality and prepared to jump. But first, he inquired of Keziah.

"Say Keziah, what exactly is this card and bracelet for?"

"Hmm. Oh, don't worry about those things; everything will be explained soon enough; just give one to Hector and retain one for yourself, and don't lose the card in particular, otherwise, you will be severely disadvantaged in this exam."

"Agh... I see, ok then I got it; well then let's go, Hector."

"As you wish my alpha."

With that said, Merciless walks near the crack, as she looks toward Beatrice, and smiles.

"Wish me luck Beatrice."

"Fufuf... of course, I am confident you will pass the examination ceremony, however, I hope you are good with team play."

"Teamwork egh?" Hmm... I never liked it, but I can live with it for the time being."

"Hmm, the feeling is neutral, I hate too many people, but trust me with the monster you will be facing in that place, it is essential to work together to overcome the challenges ahead."

"Well, if you say so, Beatrice, but I'll see around okay, alright then, this is a high drop, at least two hundred and sixty meters with no surface to grab on, yeah this will not do."

Merciless then put on the white blindfold and handed Hector one of the bracelets, which he also wore on his left wrist. Merciless, on the other hand, proceeded to bite down on his right index finger as he manipulated his blood to produce a giant spherical disk that began to crystalize, but by utilizing his gravity defiances, the blood disk began to float in the air. Merciless then hopped on, and he told Hector to jump on it as well, to which he complied and stepped on the solid disk.

Merciless then uses his thoughts to control the board as he flies downwards with both him and Hector on it. And the instant they went on their own way, the gap in reality began to close, leaving only Keziah and Beatrice behind.

Beatrice's gaze shifted to Keziah as she inquired.

"So what do you think about our young lord?"

"A beautiful abomination... if raised correctly, we can finally kill that bastard, and put someone more suitable on the throne."

"Oh really, hmmm... well, I'm not sure how Merciless feels about being the vampire king." After all, the person is a devout misotheist, and we have better candidates for that position in the faction's inner circle... with the numerous skills present tonight, the position might be for anyone capable enough to lead a race, and even then, why don't you take the throne for yourself?"

"Hahah... I already told you my reason. I'm not fit to be a queen, and I don't want the throne; after all, I'm pursuing the same aim as you. After all, this faction would not exist if you had not informed me of your ambitions, which I think is wonderful and worthy of pursuing."

"After all, you want to reach way beyond it right? You want to see what lies beyond the Tree of Knowledge, don't you?" But, in order to achieve that insane dream of yours, you must be more than God, going beyond the concept of God itself. And that is something no one has ever done; yet, I want to see it because my mother strangely enough had the same goal as you."

Keziah stated, prompting Beatrice to respond with a smile, as she said.

"You never change, do you?" But, Merciless, I believe, is not meant to be an ordinary king; he is the key to going beyond the impossible, as evidenced by the fact that he took one of your magical natures so easily. That child, no Merciless is destined for greatness, his Ichor, combined with his Ichormancy, is a genuinely hazardous mix; at this moment, I regard him as the ideal life form for my dreams. But, as you mentioned, he is young and has to be properly cared for, and given that guy's attitude, he is, like us, extremely power-hungry."

"Is that so, hahah... well I trust your judgment; say witch team did you assign him to again."

Asked Keziah, as Beatrice pulled out a paper holding the names of the participants and handed it to Keziah, who began to read it.

"Hmmmm... oh my, this is quite the intriguing match."

Team #08th

. Merciless Elderblood II: Clan Michellian

. Albedo Neopromethean: Clan Loviatar

. Abadis Neopromethean: Clan Loviatar

. Alucard Drucle: Clan Nosferatu

. Jordan Astaroth: Clan Solomon

. Lucy Adramelech: Clan Jahad

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