Ascendant Path of a Lustful Vampire

Chapter 221: More to Light...

Aurelius looked off at nothing, thinking deeply on the obscurity of religious knowledge as far as he was aware in the Acheron Empire.

Caius decided then that it was up to him to bring Aurelius back into the actual conversation at hand.

”Listen, the problem with your magic...” he started.

”... That is stuck,” Aurelius cut in to say still looking off.

”Yes, exactly. The problem is you’re looking at it like it’s... well, just Light.

There is more to Light than simply a light source that can hurt really badly. Light Magic is also Life. It’s rejuvenation. Rebirth and so much more,” Caius said.

”Hmm, I think you mean the Goddess of Divine Light is more than just Light,” Aurelius said as his eyes focused and looked at Caius as he continued,

”And that’s a given. She’s a god. Gods command multiple domains and Light happens to be one of the many. It just also happens to be the most prevalent and the strongest.”

”Actually no,” Caius said, ”Light is merely a vehicle of the Goddess of Divine Light’s Domains. Of all she is capable of—of all that Light Magic is capable of—’Light’ is technically only a little aspect of it.”

”I— really?” Aurelius asked with a furrowed brow.

”Well, yes,” Caius said.

”Huh,” Aurelius let out.

The look on his face was actually quite stupid. He looked dumbfounded and like his brain was not quite comprehending Caius’s words.

”Cast the ~Heindyll

~ symbol,” Caius said then to speed things along.
”The what?” Aurelius answered looking dumb.

’Oh right,’ Caius thought, ’He doesn’t know that yet.’

Fortunately, Caius had planned for this possible eventuality. With a flick of his wrist, he had his self-composed Grimoire in his hands and turned it to a page he had etched a seal for this demonstration.

”Cast this,” he said pointing at the page, ”It’s the ~Heindyll~ symbol.”

Aurelius looked at it curiously.

”That’s not a Light Magic Arcane symbol,” he said.

”Technically, it’s not,” Caius admitted, ”But you can cast it. Give it a go.”

So Aurelius did. He stared at the symbol for a second and the imprint of it formed perfectly in his mind. All he had to do after was bring that imprint to recollection, infuse it with Mana, and see if any of his Elemental affinities resonated with it.

This was a tactic used by Mages when feeling out their potential with other elements but it’s not usually a successful one because Magic is very mental. Intuition can come very easily but other times, it can be difficult to find and ’activate’.

What this means in essence, is that, when a Mage tries a seal whose element they’re not sure they have an affinity with, their uncertainty can create a mental block that, even if they do have some affinity with it, their Mana will not resonate.

Fortunately, that is only ever really a problem with a Mage who isn’t very Mana sensitive because there are always signs—tiny and easily overlooked—that will always guide one’s Mana.

It was what happened with Aurelius.

Even though the ~Heindyll~ symbol didn’t exactly resonate with any of his Elemental Affinities, he was able to feel his way with the signs. The thing was, he didn’t even have to do it consciously. It just... worked for him.

The Seal flickered into appearance above his palm. Not quite the bright golden colored seal he usually produced for Light Magic, but pretty nice all the same.

’Fucking Genius,’ Caius said in his head, and while he sort of meant it as a compliment, it came off as a bit derogatory.

Now, one might say; ’Caius, you’re a genius too!’ And one would be right...

However, for some reason, despite having gained this body and all the benefits that came with it, Caius couldn’t shake off feelings he had felt in the past as Kevin, reading Aurelius succeed at everything he laid his hands on even when the narrative went out of its way to make it clear how difficult such a thing should be to achieve.

In the original story, Caius was basically the same. In fact, his antics might have been worse because at least Aurelius had his past life as basically a god to excuse his talent, Caius was just that stupidly good. No divine boon... Just a brilliant mind that could contend with godlike beings. Even if he did die in the end.

However, Caius’s success in the original story had been a bit easier to accept mostly because he had issues, internally, that he battled with. Even if Magic seemed to come easy to him (can’t be entirely sure as the narrative was never really focused too much on him), his struggles with Vampirism made him more... down to earth.

Now, of course, all this being said, Caius did live vicariously through Aurelius and his success in [To Kill A Demon Lord...] as well as Caius to some extent and he did enjoy their stories, it just didn’t change the fact that he usually wanted Aurelius to suffer much more than he did for his successes.

But we digress.

”I-I did it,” Aurelius said with surprise and a smile playing at the corner of his lips.

”Yes, you did,” Caius said.

Whatever he might have felt as a reader, now that he was a character within the story, he was glad Aurelius was the genius that he was.

”Tell me, what do you feel within that symbol?” Caius asked.

Aurelius was more inclined to listen to Caius now and truly paid attention to the seal above his palm, studying it for something to feel.

”There’s light in it,” He said and then rolled his eyes at himself, ”But of course, there is. It’s why I can cast it at all.”

”What else do you sense?” Caius prompted.

Aurelius took some time now and then his eyes grew wide. The ~Hiendyll

~ symbol reflected in his blue orbs and seemed to burst with even more glow within his pupils.
”Something pulsing. Almost like a heart but not quite. It feels... alive. It feels... smells like...” Aurelius said taking a whiff of the seal almost mesmerized by it even if he couldn’t actually think of what to complete his words with.

And here, Caius came in with the assist.

”... Like Nature,” he said.

Aurelius paused and he looked up from the seal and into Caius’s face.

”This is a Nature Magic symbol,” he realized.

”It is,” Caius answered.

”It’s your friend- Kaya’s specialty,” Aurelius pointed out.

”It is,” Caius answered with a nod, ”She’d cast it far better than you did but this is not a contest.”

”But Nature isn’t Light...” Aurelius answered, trying to understand the correlation between the two Elements.

He was he did not have the Nature Element and he was right of course. That was an exclusive Elemental Affinity possessed by Elves, rarely ever even inherited by their half-offsprings. As far as Aurelius was aware, he was not an Elf or the half offspring of one. Both his parents were human. He knew who they were. Also, if he had any affinity with Nature, it should he rousing in him now that the topic was so prevalent in his head. Again, Magic is a very mental thing.

”Who said it isn’t,” Caius said, ”Light is life. Nature is life. Ergo Light = Nature,” Caius answered.

”That’s nonsense,” Aurelius retorted immediately.

”Is it?” Caius asked with his head cocked to the side, ”Think about it. Really think about it.”

The Element of Light was far more abundant and powerful than Aurelius realized. Everything that produces Light and Life in nature is technically under the jurisdiction of the Divine Nature of Light;

The Sun, the Moon, the stars, even fire and lightning (whether sparked manually or cast by a spell), all and more are under the Divine Nature of Light.

The cry a baby makes when it emerges from the womb, every heartbeat, every smile, every laughter, every sob, and all other things that attest to the existence of ’Life’ and the prolificaction of it are under the Divine Nature of Light.

Nature Magic, is one of the greatest arms of the Divine Nature of Light. Nature is life and Life can only truly be contested by Death.

But that’s a conversation best reserved for the Divine Nature of ’Darkness’. I.e Dark Magic.

Now, of course, all this knowledge is not even understood by adepts of Light Magic in this world. There are just certain things that their level of talent can never truly ascribe to. It also helps to keep the mystification of the Goddess of Divine Light if her Domains are never truly understood.

But of any human/humanoid, Aurelius is the exception in the sense that he has to understand the true Nature of his Goddess and the Affinity he was blessed with. His very existence is tied to it and the superficial, surface-level knowledge will never be enough.

Aurelius having lost his memory of his past life and the true Nature of ’Light’ is what led to his bottleneck and his friendship with Kaya should have been the first step in relearning all that knowledge he had lost.

Alas, Caius derailed that by involving himself with the beautiful Half-elf, and now, if they were all to survive what was coming, he had to set things right.