Legendary Vampire in the Apocalypse
Chapter 39: Monarchal Chronicle

Chapter 39: Monarchal Chronicle

"This should," Anastasia began with a thoughtful look, "be something similar to what I can do by devouring souls, albeit to a higher degree."

For a few moments Dion had remained silent, wondering what she meant.

He knew about her race, but the part of him that had been confused was the way she was explaining what he had brought up.

She was so special that she could do things that world trees of their planet were making possible for the masses?

A part of him, clearing of its confusion, felt somewhat haughty.

"My—Dionysus," Anastasia faintly pursed her lips at her hesitation, then continued, "I believe it would be best you view my Chronicle for this explanation."

’I can do that?’

His internal expression loosened into shock, while his face raised its brows a little.

By virtue of his earlier explanation about the deficiencies in his reincarnation, Anastasia didn’t seem puzzled at that slight display of surprise.

She only waited those few moments for him.

Thereupon, Dion had been thinking about calling for Anastasia’s Chronicle as he should have for himself.

’What the fuck?!’

Name: {Anastasia Vasilisa Yusupova}

Sobriquets: {Crownless Herald of Death}, {Ruined Alabaster Conqueress}, {Eternal Vassal of Emperor Asmodeus}

Race: {Monarchal Dullahan}

Order of Origin: {Destitute}

_Attributes: {Sepulchre}, {Liminality}, {Headless}, {Monarch of the Dead}, {Emperor’s Investiture}, {Bloodborne}

Ascent: {Wrathful Shade of Ruin, Pale Bearer of a Severed Crown}

_Abilities: {Ice Manipulation}, {Possession}

Dimensions of Being: {Strength: SS++}, {Endurance: SS+++}, {Dexterity: S++++}, {Agility: SS+++}, {Perception: SS}, {Soul: SSS}, {Mana: SS}, {Magi: S+++}

Vestiges: {Anathema}, {Navya, Morana}, {Wiedergänger}

Her Chronicle had presented itself in the same black screen with red, strange writing, and Dion had been so shocked at the sight that his face didn’t react in any sort of way.

And from that silence, Anastasia began her explanation.

"What you described as only having needed to kill less than a hundred to be able to improve your dimensions of being is something that would have, at the grades that I currently sit upon, hundreds of thousands and easily more, for a single value. Even should they have been much lower, towards the floor of the Dimensions of Being, it would have taken me thousands."

"...And you can do this because you are a Dullahan?"

Anastasia shook her head faintly, "Not all amongst us can. Only royalty within our race, the monarchal, can. The same would be so for other spiritual devouring races. The lesser amongst us can only devour souls for sustenance. To continue:

This method, while operating on the same principle that devouring the same kind of dimensions from an entity’s specialising dimensions brings exponentially diminishing benefits, is far less direct in comparison to what you have described.

Even considering that it will naturally become more difficult as you grow in order to gain pluses, with the aid of the world trees, I estimate that in comparison you would not need nearly as much as I would.

And this difference would be born from the directness of interaction with death, and the essences of existence—vital and soul essence."

Dion moved to take the knife, and finally brought himself back to the orange. He didn’t say anything because it was clear she would go on to explain more.

"Considering they are related, I ought to mention Magi and Mana. Magi is the confluence and concentration of vital essence and soul essence. All existences, to varying degrees, possess magi, and thus, both vital essence and soul essence, even if they are only spiritual beings.

"And mana is the pool of that substrate as a whole. Possessing higher mana only means that one possesses more of that substrate in volume, and possessing higher magi means that same substrate has fused and concentrated to a far greater degree."

The knife thudded against the table as he cut the orange into quarters.

"...Would the reason your method is not as potent then be due to the fact your interaction lies more directly with the soul and soul essence rather than vital essence?"

"Precisely. Magi as a whole is not what we devour; it is the soul, and hence, soul essence. However, because the two essences are connected we only naturally draw slightly from the other by consequence.

On the other hand, clearly the world trees are allowing at least yours, and potentially the wider worlds’ interaction to be through Magi directly, allowing the much more potent extraction."

"Hm," Dion faintly hummed to himself, taking all of that in, and he thought about his own dimensions of being. "How many grades for the dimensions are there?"

"From I up to SSS, with four plus values between them."

There, Dion passed over one quarter of the orange to her as he ate the other one.

’My mana and magi are disproportionately low when considering my SSS grade soul though..’

Dion felt himself swallow down the rather sweet orange at that thought, and he watched as Anastasia only ate hers after he had finished his.

He then internally shook his head, ’No... Let me not assume. I should just ask at this point.’

"What is the Soul dimension for then?" He asked as he brought the knife back and began to carefully shave off the outer orange layer of one of the quarters, ensuring that he leaves as much of the white behind. "Because my Soul is SSS grade, yet my mana and magi are rather low. Going by your explanation and my race as a sanguinis.

First of all, I assume that vital essence should be largely tied to the physical body even if it is as well a fundamentally spiritual thing.

That said, as a race with the capacity for regeneration as potent as I have, i should have it in some relative abundance. Then secondly, my Soul dimension is SSS, which should contribute towards soul essence.

So why are my Mana and Magi of the Grades G and C respectively? With a soul as high grade as mine, should they not be higher?"

Dion had to pause briefly as he felt the air suddenly fall colder.