Elias had never thought of himself as some selfless person overflowing with universal love. Although many outsiders saw plenty of similarities between him and Elysia, Elias himself knew the truth very well.
He was actually an extremely selfish and greedy person.
Unlike Elysia, who could almost be called the perfect embodiment of "divine love for all humanity," Elias was ultimately only human. In truth, he didn't possess nearly as much love as the Herrscher of Origin.
Therefore, the answer to the question "Why am I so good to them?" definitely couldn't be as simple as "Because I like them." There had to be some selfish motive belonging to Elias himself mixed into it.
And while Elias questioned his own heart,
Luna's adorable brows also furrowed slightly. The vampire girl's small hand tightly gripped the corner of the boy's clothes. Precisely because she had received so much happiness from him, she couldn't help feeling uneasy.
"Human, I wish you could be like Grandpa and tell me in a simple, easy-to-understand way that you need me. I want to be useful to you. I want to do something for you. I want to make myself a little more important."
Luna looked at Elias with a bitter smile.
This person's gentleness made her dependent on him, yet it also left her uneasy, because Elias always treated her well as though it were the most natural thing in the world, never asking for anything in return.
And so Luna couldn't help worrying.
Does Elias really need me?
She couldn't do anything. She was always the one-sided recipient of his care and warmth, while she herself, possessing nothing, had nothing she could give Elias in return.
Luna didn't want things to remain like this forever!
She was a tool used to keep her sister alive, a doll whose future had already been planned out, a monster that drank human blood. If she couldn't show that she had some value he needed, would she eventually be abandoned?
Just thinking about it frightened Luna.
(I feel safe, yet anxious. Warm, yet afraid. What exactly is this feeling? It's as though my emotions don't belong to me at all. I can never seem to feel truly grounded.)
Thinking this, Luna tightened her grip on Elias' clothes, as though afraid he might abandon her.
"Human, ever since I met you, I feel like I've become strange. My eyes keep looking toward you without me meaning to, and your figure is always appearing in my mind. And whenever I think about you, this place starts beating really fast."
Luna pressed a small hand over the left side of her chest. Her ruby-like eyes were filled with confusion. She couldn't understand what this emotion was. It was something she had never experienced before.
"I'm obviously just a tool used to revive Sister, but can tools have emotions like this too? Human, can you tell me? I don't understand myself at all anymore."
"Luna..."
Elias pulled the vampire girl into his arms with tenderness.
He finally understood. In Luna's own perception, she was merely a tool, and only by proving her usefulness could she avoid being discarded. Born as something different and burdened with such a difficult fate, she had never learned what she deserved to have, and thus never dared ask for more.
Thinking about it now, Luna was always talking about being "satisfied" and not being "greedy," almost as though she were constantly warning herself that she had no right to possess anything more.
"Luna, you're not a tool. Your worries and struggles are proof that you're truly alive."
Elias looked directly into Luna's eyes and spoke seriously.
"Human..."
Luna's eyes widened as though she had just heard something unbelievable. The little heart beneath the girl's chest began pounding with unusual force.
In the next instant, the vampire girl revealed a breathtaking smile.
She buried her cheek against Elias' chest. The heart that had been so anxious just moments earlier was no longer afraid. At that moment, Luna realized that perhaps all this time, she had simply wanted someone to say those words to her.
She had always wanted someone to tell her that she wasn't some tool, but a living, breathing existence.
That was something Kallen, as her sister, had been unable to do.
Because from a certain perspective, Kallen herself had also been born or resurrected into this world by inheriting scattered fragments of memories from the Kaslana saint who had lived five hundred years ago, and she too regarded herself as a kind of tool.
Only now, when Elias spoke those words, was the curse that had bound Luna all this time finally broken.
"Dear Human, can you answer one last question for me?" Luna wiped away the glimmer at the corner of her eyes and brought her adorable face closer to Elias. The distance between them instantly shrank until they could hear each other's breathing.
She still had one final question.
It was a word Luna had seen in many picture books. In the past, when she had always regarded herself as a tool, although she had been curious about it, she believed she had no right to understand it.
But now, because of Elias' words, the vampire girl had finally cast aside her identity as a tool. And so Luna wanted to know the answer to the question she had always hidden deep within her heart.
"Of course. What's the question?"
"Human, can you tell me what love is?"
"...That's quite a difficult question."
Elias froze for a moment before revealing a bitter smile.
"Eh? Even you don't know, Human?"
Luna's small mouth fell open in surprise. In her eyes, Elias had always been omniscient and omnipotent. This was the first time she had ever seen uncertainty on that handsome, flawless face.
Elias smiled faintly and shook his head.
"No. It's just difficult to explain."
"Why?"
"Because love is love. It can only be called love."
This was probably one of the most difficult questions in human history. Even those who understood it in their hearts often didn't know how to explain it, because it wasn't something a single word could truly define.
"Human, saying that doesn't help me understand."
"Well, all I can say is that those who understand, understand~ If you don't, I can't really explain it either. But... the moment you understand for yourself what love is, Luna, that'll mean you've truly grown up."
"...Grown up. Then I'll definitely figure it out as quickly as possible!"
Luna stared blankly for a moment before clenching her little fists. She desperately wanted to grow up quickly. Books said that boys liked girls who were a little more mature, and her standards weren't even that demanding.
She only needed to surpass Sister, Rosemary, and Ai!
Elias smiled slightly. At this moment, he also finally understood the answer to why he treated Luna and the others so well.
Because... he wanted to be treated the same way.
(I really am greedy. Even this isn't enough to satisfy me. I'm always hoping for more and more.)
It was a kind of "hint." The gentler Elias was toward Luna and the others, the more freely he offered them his kindness, the more it also meant that he wanted the people he loved to treat him the same way.
From a certain perspective, it was simply another form of exchanging sincerity for sincerity.
But this truly was Elias' selfish desire, a very simple and natural kind of selfishness... [I like you, so I hope you like me too.]
From a certain perspective, Elias and Luna were very similar. Both of them wanted to become closer to the people they liked. Both wanted an unbreakable, inextinguishable thread that would connect them to each other for eternity.
Just then, inspiration suddenly flashed through Elias' mind.
"Luna, I suddenly had a genius idea."
"Eh? What idea?"
"Hehe~ You've bitten me so many times today. It would only be fair if I got a turn too once in a while."
"H-Human, what are you planning to do?!"
Luna immediately panicked, though a trace of anticipation could still be seen on the vampire girl's nervous face.
Elias symbolically restrained Luna's body... which, put simply, meant pulling her into his arms.
Then he gently bit down on Luna's neck, treating her as carefully as though she were some delicate and precious work of art.
"Come to think of it, it's been a long time since I obtained a new Meta-Morph factor. Mm~ Luna's blood really is special."
Elias was the ultimate chimera MANTIS. He possessed the ability to devour Honkai Beasts, obtain their abilities, and evolve himself. At this moment, he carefully broke Luna's skin with his teeth,
and swallowed the blood containing her vampire Meta-Morph factor.
In truth, Elias already possessed both the Vishnu Meta-Morph factor and the Authority of the Herrscher of Corruption that formed Luna.
However, Luna's vampire Meta-Morph factor was a mutation born from the combination of the two. Although it originated from Vishnu and the power of Corruption, it had become an entirely new existence.
As for the probability of that mutation succeeding,
Elias conservatively estimated that it was no more than 0.0001%.
And now, Chimera Elias had obtained vampire genes. For the first time in a long while, he gained an entirely new ability.
"H-Human, your eyes?"
"Hm? Did they change color again?"
Elias glanced into a mirror. His blue-and-gold heterochromatic eyes had now turned blood-red, just like the crimson moon hanging high in the night sky, filled with ominousness, danger, and beauty.
The vampire Meta-Morph factor he had obtained from Luna possessed both an extremely high upper limit and an extremely low lower limit, making it difficult to classify. If it had to be categorized, it would undoubtedly fall into the Vipralopa class.
But a mere Vipralopa-class Meta-Morph factor naturally couldn't permanently alter Elias' normal appearance. Therefore, these blood-red eyes would only appear whenever Elias used his vampire abilities.
Normally, his eyes would remain blue and gold.
"Human, why does your presence suddenly feel so similar to mine? Did you turn into a vampire?!"
"Yep. Surprised? Didn't see that coming, did you?"
"Stupid Human! How could you turn yourself into a vampire?!"
Luna immediately became anxious. In her eyes, vampires were hardly some wonderful species. Bloodlust, fear of sunlight... she absolutely didn't want Elias to become the same kind of vampire she was!
This person belonged beneath warm sunlight!
How could she allow him to be tainted by her blood?!
"Luna, don't panic. I know what you're thinking, but the weaknesses of vampires can't appear in me."
Elias hurriedly comforted the vampire girl in front of him.
"Eh? Why not?"
"Because my Chimera genes automatically remove the defective portions of any Meta-Morph factor I absorb. Unless I deliberately choose to preserve them, vampire weaknesses have no effect on me."
Elias proudly patted his chest.
Although Meta-Morph factors could transform ordinary people into powerful MANTISes, essentially every Meta-Morph factor came with drawbacks.
For example, in the original story there was Kevin's permanently freezing body temperature, Elysia's chaotic metabolism—which, no matter how you looked at it, seemed more like an advantage—Mobius shrinking after death, Kalpas' cognitive impairment, Fu Hua's hyperthymesia, and so on.
A Chimera MANTIS who possessed every Meta-Morph factor was naturally the strongest, but if they inherited all of those weaknesses as well, they would instead become the absolute worst.
Mobius would never make such a mistake.
What she wanted to create was the perfect ultimate life-form, not the most inferior creature imaginable burdened with countless flaws. Therefore, Chimera naturally possessed the ability to remove every genetic defect.
And under the influence of that ability, Elias had now become a flawless—perfect vampire prince.
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