Nephis raised an eyebrow at my request, but before she could answer, I pushed Sunny forward, letting him stumble straight into her arms.
"Just so you don't think I was holding him hostage."
I smirked at Nephis. Of course, I knew I was practically guaranteed to be accepted. Still, it was better not to cultivate unnecessary hostility. Eliminating a potential source of conflict was far more important than inflating my already favorable odds.
I stepped back and let them regroup, allowing the cohort to have their discussion in private. It wasn't much of an issue—I would be informed of everything regardless, courtesy of Caster. Spying directly was unnecessary.
Even so… it was taking a while.
If it came down to a vote, I was guaranteed entry anyway. That was precisely why I had also removed the blind girl from the equation by orchestrating this entire little fiasco.
She was… troublesome.
Strangely intelligent. Perceptive in ways that didn't align with her supposed limitations. She always seemed to know more than she should. Everything finally clicked once Caster explained her ability to me.
She could see the future.
That meant she would inevitably see through my act and warn Nephis. That would happen no matter what—I was certain of it. But at the very least, by then, I would be far too valuable to dispose of so easily.
As expected, when their discussion ended, Nephis approached me, one hand still resting on the hilt of her sword.
"One issue," she said.
I raised an eyebrow.
"And what would that be?"
She sighed.
"Your reputation."
Gods damn it. Could she ever finish a thought in one breath?
"What of it?"
She met my gaze calmly.
"Your reputation as a mass murderer who kills without restraint or care is a problem. I doubt anyone would willingly work with you."
Ah. A fair point.
"And how exactly do you suggest we resolve this issue?" I asked.
Nephis studied me for several seconds.
"We could fake your death. The problem is that you'd still be alive, so all it would take is one person seeing you to disprove it."
Ah. That was the issue. Fortunately, it had a simple solution.
"That won't be a problem. I have a Memory that allows me to become invisible."
She stared at me for a moment.
"Let me see this so-called Memory."
I grasped the hood of the Starlight Cloak and pulled it over my head.
In an instant, I vanished.
"It's effective enough," Nephis said cautiously. "What are its limitations?"
Smart girl.
Unfortunately for her, I wasn't stupid enough to bite that bait and reveal how to detect or counter me.
"As far as I can tell," I replied smoothly, "it has none."
She raised an eyebrow.
"…Alright. You can become visible now."
I removed the hood.
"Of course. Any other issues?"
Nephis paused, thinking carefully.
"Do you have a way to fake your death convincingly? Evidence we can show to prove you died?"
I had plenty of methods. None I intended to disclose.
"No," I said calmly. "But you could probably convince people that after I died, I dissolved into a pool of blood. Or something equally unpleasant."
She sighed, but eventually nodded.
"That will do. Welcome to the team, Alucard."
She extended her hand. I took it immediately, shaking it with a polite smile—one that probably looked monstrous, though thankfully Nephis didn't seem to care.
"The pleasure is mine, my ally." Truthfully I took very little pleasure from being her ally but she didn't have to know that.
Time to seal the deal. I needed to be valuable.
"Oh, and as a token of goodwill," I added, "how about I donate a hundred soul shards? Use them however you like—strengthen your own core, empower your allies. I truly don't mind."
Nephis eyed me suspiciously.
I gestured calmly toward the pile of soul shards I had originally offered Sunny.
"Thank you," she said after a moment.
Still wary, she ordered Effie to collect them. I watched as Effie summoned her storage Memory, with Sunny and Caster helping her gather every last shard.
Meanwhile, I summoned blood and splattered it across the ground, arranging it to resemble the scene of my death. It was simple, really—just a matter of distribution and visual impact.
Whether the verb "splat" possesses sufficient lexical legitimacy within the accepted corpus of the common tongue is a matter of profound philosophical and etymological contention, one which tragically underscores the lamentable erosion of my linguistic refinement—an erosion so severe that my vocabulary now languishes in an abyssal stratum beneath even the most primordial foundations of intellectual discourse.
The cohort prepared to leave. Nephis turned toward me.
"Are you coming?"
I shook my head.
"I have some business to attend to. I'll rejoin you by midnight."
She nodded, and the group departed.
Once they were gone—and I was certain no particularly nosy shadow was tailing me—I made my way toward Feltan.
I wanted to finish learning the barrier sigil before meeting them again. I didn't know how much freedom I'd have afterward, and this sigil was of absolute importance.
For one reason above all others.
It wasn't easily countered by her Aspect.
If I ever faced Nephis head-on, I would almost certainly die. Her Aspect was effectively an instant kill against me. Even the smallest wound would result in catastrophic damage.
My usual fighting style simply wouldn't work against her.
The main reason I possessed such absurd stamina was due to [The Sin of Gluttony]—truly the most underrated sin lineage I possessed. A silent champion.
It restored my energy and healed my body based on the amount of blood and flesh I consumed. Thanks to it, I had even survived having my heart nearly destroyed.
"Hey," Gluttony rasped inside my head, "I was the one who healed you, remember? That lineage wouldn't be half as useful without me."
He wasn't wrong.
His connection to the lineage was invaluable. He could passively heal me over time by utilizing the blood he stored internally. That alone accounted for a significant portion of the power boost I'd gained when he became my first Arch Sin.
"Oh, keep going," he continued smugly. "You're almost going to make me blush. Well—I don't have skin, but you're definitely making me grow a shade darker."
I rolled my eyes. I couldn't even think positively about the bastard without him rambling about his nonexistent organs. Letting him access my memories involving those skeletons had been one of my worst mistakes.
"What? They were funny," he protested. "And if you keep insulting them, you and I are going to have a bone to pick."
Gods. Someone shut him up.
…Wait.
What was that?
"Yeah," Gluttony said slowly. "I sensed it too. There's some really strange blood in that house over there."
I focused.
It was faint. Almost hiding from me. I could barely sense it unless I concentrated—and when I invoked [The Sin of Envy], it vanished entirely.
I remembered that blood.
It was the same as Sunny's.
Just… far weaker.
I stepped into the building, zeroing in on the source, and immediately began manipulating the blood using my Aspect.