"Good job, Veldiana."
Liana's tone carried a hint of praise.
"How did you find Matrix No. 5?"
"You said you bought a plane ticket to Itogami Island. I was a bit worried at the time, so I sneaked into the airport and stowed away on Duke Ardeal's plane to get to Itogami Island."
"Duke Ardeal? Dimitrie Vatler?"
Hearing the name of the famous figure from the Warlord Empire, Liana's expression changed, then she let out a sigh of relief.
After all, the Fourth Primogenitor had ordered her to retrieve the Matrices, so she wouldn't flinch even if Vatler himself showed up. Still, she was a bit concerned.
The Caruana family had previously been Counts in the Warlord Empire, and there was a significant gap between them and a star representing the will of the Lost Warlord.
"He came to Itogami Island too?"
Hearing this, Veldiana quickly shook her head.
"No, Duke Ardeal only let Her Excellency No. 3 board the plane. I originally wanted to follow Her Excellency No. 3, but only Her Excellency No. 5 allowed me to follow her."
"Good then."
Liana sighed in relief. This way, the chance for the Caruana family's revival wouldn't be obstructed.
"If that's the case, everything will be easy." Liana muttered, patting Veldiana's shoulder.
"Veldiana, you've been a great help."
"Hehe… not really." Veldiana grinned foolishly.
At that moment, Liana stepped forward to face Matrix No. 5, looking at the girl licking her ice cream.
"Matrix No. 5, His Excellency the Origin has awakened."
"Where?"
Matrix No. 5's tone paused briefly. She slowly turned her head and said in a flat voice, "It seems, by the side of the Witch of the Void, Minamiya Natsuki."
Hearing this, Liana forcibly suppressed her excitement. "Lead the way."
"He's not going anywhere."
A rough male voice suddenly rang out.
Liana and Veldiana froze simultaneously. Following the direction of the voice, they saw a bearded middle-aged man in a black suit.
It was the arms dealer, Balthazar Zaharias.
"It's you!!"
Seeing her father's killer, Veldiana immediately prepared to summon her Beast Vassal.
At that moment, four Matrices in armor emerged from behind Balthazar. They were Matrices No. 3 and No. 4, freed by Vatler, and Matrices No. 1 and No. 2, which he possessed.
Of course, the origins of these two Matrices weren't exactly noble. Matrix No. 1 was originally held by the Caruana family.
Balthazar had started a war just to obtain Matrix No. 1. During the war, he attacked the Caruana family's territory and seized Matrix No. 1, which the Caruana family had safeguarded.
The primary reason he lost his noble title was the loss of Matrix No. 1, a critical factor.
As for Matrix No. 2, he had taken it from the Ninth Prince of the Fall Dynasty, Iblisveil Aziz, before Aslan arrived.
"Balthazar Zaharias…" Liana gritted her teeth, her eyes filled with killing intent.
At that moment, the people in the dessert shop noticed something was wrong. Some called the police, while most fled without paying their bills.
"Customers, customers! Your bills haven't been paid!"
The shopkeeper rushed out, staring at the fleeing customers with teary eyes, as if he were about to break down.
At that moment, Balthazar smiled, looked at Liana in front of him, and nodded to his subordinate.
A Hungarian Hound stepped forward carrying a suitcase. He opened it and poured stacks of 10,000-yen notes onto the dessert shop's table.
"This is forty million yen in cash, as a small apology."
Liana reached out to stop Veldiana and said in a low voice, "What do you mean?"
Seeing Veldiana hold back, Balthazar said with a wide smile, "I don't think there's any major conflict between us."
"Bastard!" Veldiana nearly exploded at those words.
The man who killed all their relatives and friends, standing before them, claimed there was no conflict between them. It was utterly inhumane!
"What do you mean?"
Liana held Veldiana back, warily eyeing the three Matrices behind Balthazar.
"No other meaning. I just want to buy the Matrix you have."
Balthazar raised the corner of his mouth, lifted the suitcase in his hand, and said with a wide smile, "Thirty billion euros. If you agree, I'll pay immediately. Additionally, if you're willing, I can also restore the original Count Caruana territory."
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
"Liana, if you kill him, these thirty billion euros, along with the Matrices and the Caruana family's territory, will still be yours."
Seeing Liana's hesitation, Aslan grew a bit impatient. He hadn't sent Liana here just to retrieve his Matrices. He also wanted to see how strong Liana was after undergoing his initial experiment and receiving the prototype of the Fourth Primogenitor X-Type Vampire, and whether her new Bloodline abilities could manifest.
The other three Primogenitors' descendants or vampires who inherited their Bloodline each had unique abilities.
The ability to manipulate mist from the First Primogenitor D-Type Vampire.
The ability to seize others' Beast Vassals from the Second Primogenitor G-Type Vampire.
The ability to transform Beast Vassals into weapons and change appearances from the Third Primogenitor T-Type Vampire.
These were all decent Bloodline abilities. As the Fourth Primogenitor, Aslan naturally didn't want to lag behind. Coincidentally, he had been researching the Blacklight Virus, the life factor from Phantasmagoria, and the System Tree.
Aslan achieved some results and planned to create the X-Type Bloodline for the Fourth Primogenitor for fun.
Of course, this so-called X-Type Vampire Bloodline was merely a variation of the Little Garden Vampire Bloodline. It was a new Bloodline Aslan recreated by combining experimental processes and the principles of how the three Primogenitors transformed from Devas into vampires and acquired Beast Vassals.
The Devas in this world weren't much different from the vampires in Little Garden. They all possessed divine power beyond ordinary humans. Devas had eternal life, resilient bodies, and telekinesis.
But like the vampires in Little Garden, the Devas in this world would suffer physical tissue collapse and turn to ash when exposed to sunlight.
The three Primogenitors became Primogenitors through Cain's experiments, allowing them to house Beast Vassals and overcome their fear of sunlight.
Through Aslan's research, it was more accurate to say that the vampires in this world didn't truly overcome their fear of sunlight. What allowed them to ignore sunlight was the Beast Vassals fused within their bodies. The parasitic Beast Vassals were what made them immune to sunlight.
Since the Beast Vassals' lives were entirely tied to their hosts, if the host died, the Beast Vassal would die too. Thus, Beast Vassals would never let their hosts die.
As Beast Vassals were essentially aggregates of magic with independent will, their essence was a mass of magic with consciousness. So, no matter how a vampire summoned a Beast Vassal, a portion of the Beast Vassal's magic would remain in the vampire's blood.
Additionally, since Beast Vassals wouldn't let their hosts die, the Beast Vassals lingering in the vampire's blood would spontaneously resist sunlight, preventing it from truly harming the host.
Due to the Cleansing, Beast Vassals and vampires were closely bound. Even the lowest Nosferatu, unable to summon Beast Vassals, had Beast Vassals in their blood.
They were just too weak to summon them, only able to use them to resist sunlight. But this couldn't be called truly overcoming sunlight. One day, when the Beast Vassals in a Nosferatu's blood weakened to the point of no longer resisting sunlight damage, the Nosferatu would fear sunlight again.
That day, however, was still far off. By then, most Beast Vassals in this world would likely be dead.
But how could Aslan leave such a flaw?
After Aslan's adjustments, the Beast Vassals of X-Type Vampires were even more tightly bound to them—or rather, the Beast Vassals had become part of the X-Type Vampires.
They would no longer weaken through generations. The Beast Vassal's magic was the host's magic, and the Beast Vassal would grow alongside the host.
The essence of a Beast Vassal was a magical aggregate with self-awareness. They weren't part of the System Tree and met the definition of life formed from aggregated great power, qualifying as Dragon-Type. However, they weren't as strong as true Pureblood Dragon-Types. Calling them Dragon-Type would clearly diminish the prestige of Dragon-Types.
But that didn't mean they couldn't manipulate their concept.
Vampires in Little Garden were created by the World Dragon Kurma, and in the past, they were a race guarding the System Tree. The remnant trace of their role as System Tree guardians was their ability to control shadows. If a Little Garden vampire reached the highest position in the System Tree, they would gain the Gift Vestige of Dragon.
As Beast Vassals manipulated the Dragon-Type concept, there was no harm in having a Vestige of Beast.
With this idea, Aslan bound the Beast Vassals to the shadows of X-Type Vampires.
X-Type Vampires could control their shadows and merge their Beast Vassals with their shadows to gain the ability to transform into Beast Vassals.
Of course, this was just an ability Aslan designed for now. Its specific performance in battle and whether there would be any accidents were things he wanted to test.
How much would the Beast Vassal's power increase after transforming? Could multiple Beast Vassals be merged simultaneously?
These were all things Aslan wanted to experiment with.
The best way to conduct experiments was through actual combat, as many things couldn't be tested in a lab alone.
Fully integrating the Bloodline also required time.
This was why Aslan sent Liana here—to test her combat strength.