Nikolai’s emotional connection to the mermaid didn’t cause him pain, nor was there a devastating sense of loss to see her fading without a chance.

However, Amphitrite brought him here and taught him about this room.

Without her help, no matter how twisted and unfair, he could never have found a suitable vessel for his mother’s revival so soon. No, if he became honest… Nikolai might find one, but would that body compare to the ones standing before him?

‘What am I even considering here? There’s no way—!’

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration flickered through his mind.

When he defeated her in the past, he took an item that, although it didn’t contain her blood, was something created within her body.

He gazed back at the fading figure sitting on the cold steel gurney, kicking her feet like a fussy child. This woman was a monster he barely knew, yet somehow, he couldn’t quite accept the fact she would just vanish after helping him.

‘Dad, it’s a foolish thought, but…’ Nikolai injected his aura into the golden ring on his finger, searching through the mass of useless items, potions, and vials before he found it.

‘A Volkov always repays, right?’

He closed his eyes before watching the mermaid’s body vanish as luminous blue particles floated into the air.

Thus, he chose the path that made the most sense—rather than trusting Nosferatu’s former patriarch.

He would also pursue this path, using the patriarch’s method as a backup plan.

‘Even if this were her plan from the start, you wouldn’t want to abandon the woman who gave the mother a chance to live once again, right?’ Discover hidden content at My Virtual Library Empire

“Phew…”

Nikolai grasped a warm, slightly moist sphere in his hand. The slightly red marks were likely the blood of Amphitrite’s other body—the one used by the second tower, which constantly whittled her soul down until she became like this.

“Is our pact something that would end if you died?” Nikolai’s low, husky voice echoed through the chamber.

He wanted to know if it would remain should she gain a second chance.

Because if it remained, then at least Amphitrite wouldn’t be able to harm him, even in a new body.

“Of course, it would! Even if I died, our bond is eternal.” Her illusory figure flickered, stepping closer as a cool sensation brushed along Nikolai’s cheeks and chest. Her ghostly touch passed through his body, yet Nikolai felt it. “Fufu, why? Are you getting sentimental?”

‘That’s enough, I will bear the consequences myself.’

Nikolai pushed through her from enjoying a cooling mist before he stood before the two capsules; both looked similar to a chart, however…

Ba-Dump

The two bodies had a different look, although twins at birth had slightly different transformations.

Nikolai observed the one on the right.

Long pink hair and blue scales across her cheek, along with gills and sharper teeth, were clearly inherited from mermaids and other ocean monsters. He wouldn’t comment that her body was more curvaceous and alluring than the other.

‘This one.’

The other sister, with long white hair and a delicate face, carried a slight elegance and resembled his mother’s atmosphere more than the other.

“Haa…”

Nikolai opened his mouth with a sigh before putting the pale white sphere into it.

The taste was appealing if not for the salty, fishy scent that poured into his nose the moment he swallowed and the bead entered his throat. This was followed by a burning sensation that spread and flowed into his oesophagus.

He closed his eyes, and the sweet yet tangy taste of the blood lingering on the bead absorbed into his body. His chest started to ache like small daggers poked through the soft membrane of his black heart and gouged the central valve.

The pain lasted several moments, and Nikolai could feel something moving and changing inside, an unnatural change to his body. However, he accepted this as a small sacrifice.

‘Please…’ He thought, hoping for some luck and fortune.

This wasn’t about his desire to save a beautiful woman or because of their stupid bond; maybe it wasn’t even an act of kindness in return for a favour.

Amphitrite could help them, and he didn’t want to put his mother in this body until he confirmed any issues. Thus, he would use the mermaid, observe her, and prepare for the perfect revival. On his mother’s birthday, he would complete the ritual.

‘Whether this year or next… once the time is right.’

The burning sensation subsided, and the aching in his chest became a dull feeling of discomfort. Then he opened his eyes and looked at the capsule.

“Come back here, Amphitrite.”

“Why are you getting lonely now? I have to leave~ such a cute boy.”

He ignored her bravado, the tremble in her lips, hands and eyes, and her lingering gaze on the bodies before he tapped the disengage button on the right capsule and opened it up with a loud hiss. Steam and air flushed into the room, a salty yet fragrant scent flowing into the room as she floated silently.

“What are you doing?! The body will start to degrade without a soul!”

Nikolai turned back to see the ghost of Amphitrite lunge at him, but she passed through and fell towards the body, which was now falling from the upright capsule.

Before she could adjust and escape, his eyes shone black while a purple aura flickered from his fingertips.

The soul energy he practised each morning, the spirit arts of the Djinn clan, allowed him to wrap the hybrid’s body, sealing Amphitrite inside.

“How do I complete the ritual, mermaid?”

“W-What? I can’t leave the body. Hnng! Stop! It won’t work without my blood!”

“Don’t underestimate me.” Nikolai’s lips curled up as he looked at the body of a woman in her twenties. The soul’s age was irrelevant to the body’s age. He found the body suited this cheeky woman perfectly. “Tell me how to complete the ritual.”

His eyes darkened further the more he forced his black heart to pump himself full of the mermaid blood he ‘recreated’ using the Evil god’s ability to copy all bloodlines.

‘Though it’s not perfect, with a small amount being that of a vampire… she’s already a hybrid.’

Nikolai didn’t know what would happen, but the original ritual should have worked. If it didn’t, then he would be more cautious when helping his mother.

“You…”

He clenched his fist with a stern look, the purple energy tightening along with his movements.

“Hnng!”

“Tell me before you disperse forever.”

Her reaction shocked him a little before she suddenly cried out in a desperate wail.

“Don’t you understand that if you give me this body, our bond won’t break? Only in death can it fade… We won’t be able to part from each other, regardless of what!” Her figure flickered before huffing at him.

“Even if the distance between us is as vast as the ocean, and we should hate each other, our bodies will seek the other! We won’t escape the pain, the suffering! We’ll be stuck in a horrible cycle of madness and desire until one of us dies!”

Her voice shook his chest; the words stunned him.

It almost sounded as if she worried about him and this choice.

“I see.”

However, Nikolai already accepted the consequences, so that he wouldn’t back down from his choice.

His eyes hardened, and his hand squeezed tighter, the purple light shining and constricting the ghostly image of Amphitrite. “Tell me the rest of the ritual, or I won’t hesitate.”

“Alright! Stop, it hurts so bad, like an itch inside your skull that won’t stop!”

“Then tell me quickly!”

Her figure flickered as if she was trying to leave the body, but she couldn’t. Her cheeks trembled as she tried to form the words.

“Tsk, where did the cute werewolf with the lustful mind go?!”

Amphitrite made one last complaint before a flash of blue light shone.

A mark appeared on her ghostly forehead, the marking created when they made their binding ritual. Another mark appeared on Nikolai’s head as his eyes flashed, images, knowledge, and the method flowing into his mind.

“Ah… so that’s how it is performed.”

He now understood the reason she claimed it would be impossible to revive her.

The amount of blood needed would be enough to take the life of the offering. In order to revive the person’s soul, it took at least three litres.

“Hmph, see? That’s why there’s no hope for me, don’t be sad. I knew it from the start—What’re you doing?!”

Slash!

Nikolai’s left hand gripped the body’s chin, pulling the stiff mouth open before extending his claws and slicing through his veins, a deep gouge causing blood to pour from the wound into her mouth.

“Ugh!”

“Stop, this cannot work! How can you use your blood? It won’t work… it won’t—Heh?”

Her voice vanished, not because she disappeared or passed on, but a suction force. The body’s heart started beating with a powerful thud before she was suddenly absorbed into the body.

A dull pink light flickered as strange runes, an ancient language used by the first descendants, floated around Nikolai and the body in the tank as he staggered, constantly slicing and re-opening his wound that healed.

“Ah…”

Nikolai felt his vision blur as the ritual continued to drain his blood. However, he didn’t stop; he refused to give up and let the ritual end before it was completed.

This wasn’t just to save this woman but also for his mother. He swore to give her the perfect body so she and his father could be happy for a long, long time.

‘That’s it…’ dazed, his head bobbing as the mouth of the body started swallowing, gulping the black blood which contained the perfected blood of an ancient mermaid.

The unique characteristic of his blood allowed him to copy and perfect any blood—this was the unique trait of the first vampire and the first Lycan, who gave birth to the modern vampires.

However, his ability wasn’t like theirs, as many carried a similar trait in the past, but their purity and limits never surpassed 40% purity.

Those with these traits became kingmakers, helping to boost the purity of races and held great reputations and honour in the past.

Nikolai’s power gave him the ability to copy and improve the purity of a race’s blood completely.

100%

Removing genetic flaws or generational mutations, and thus this skill or gift could be equal to a curse should other clans discover its true strength. The Necromancy of the Nosferatu would finally break the limits, and their true goal would be achieved.

This characteristic caused the first great war when a human able to convert 50% appeared.

“Ngh… it’s too delicious.” A hoarse yet bell-like tone echoed from the pristine body, flowing and dripping with a liquid similar to amniotic fluid and water, which kept her hydrated. “More, more, more!”

A pair of arms wrapped around Nikolai’s hand, the voice turning more feminine and enticing by the second.

‘This might be a little dangerous…’

Soft fangs punctured his flesh as a long pink tongue slid over his wrist and sucked the blood into the girl’s mouth.

The more she sucked, the more her body kept a healthy glow, the pink scales on her face and neck shifting and growing along with the gills on her neck until she finally became stable.

Ba-dump!

Ba-dump!

In her chest, two hearts beat frantically, with great power.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep