Journey Through the Multiverse: Starting as the Supreme Sovereign

Akatsuki Kojou seemed to have lost his soul. He stared blankly at the breathtakingly beautiful girl, with nothing else left in his eyes.

Unlike Akatsuki Kojou, who was entranced by the girl's beauty, everyone else present wore grave expressions, shocked by the terrifying magic power emanating from around her!

"Filthy beastmen, I'll use you to test this newly acquired power. Come swiftly, Crimson Ice of the Demon Princess!"

A faint smile rested on Saigō's lips as he raised his hand. Behind the girl with the Eyes of Blazing Light, a beautiful yet sinister Familiar appeared.

It was the Fourth True Ancestor's twelfth Familiar, Crimson Ice of the Demon Princess, capable of freezing everything!

It was an incomparably enchanting and elegant Familiar.

Its body was as translucent as ice crystal, resembling a fusion of a mermaid and a demon bird—mysterious and bizarre.

This world had no concept of the twelve zodiac signs, but what Crimson Ice of the Demon Princess represented was Pisces among the twelve zodiac signs!

A soul-piercing chill swept through the entire underground cavern in an instant. The indescribable magic power was like a boiling cauldron, ready to erupt from a pressure cooker at any moment.

Saigō stood silently there, dressed in a black robe resembling formal attire, its edges trimmed with silver.

Beside Saigō stood a beautiful girl with Flame Light Eyes, rainbow-colored hair, and snow-white skin, her expression blank.

She was like a doll, yet also like a noble princess, standing at Saigō's side.

"Night Lord of Blazing Light..."

Upon seeing that exquisitely beautiful figure, Liana murmured in a daze.

Then, in the next instant, the severely wounded vampire, missing one arm, turned even paler. Fear and horror filled her voice as she said:

"...Why? Why can that demon control the Fourth True Ancestor's power? Why would the Fourth True Ancestor's Familiar obey his command?!"

As the next heir of the Karyana Family, which had once possessed the Fourth True Ancestor's base body, she knew that these so-called twelve base bodies were not the true Fourth True Ancestor. They were merely Host Bodies for the Fourth True Ancestor's Familiars.

Other than the Fourth True Ancestor herself, no one could command those Familiars or these Vessels. Not even the other three True Vampires could do so.

If the Fourth True Ancestor's Vessel was willing to obey someone's orders, it was likely related to the ritual known as the Feast of Blazing Light.

Only in order to fulfill its mission of the Feast of Blazing Light could the Fourth True Ancestor's base body obey someone's instructions. Yet rather than obedience, it was more like cooperation.

As for the Familiars residing within the base bodies, those pure aggregates of magic power with only simple wills would obey only their true master—the Fourth True Ancestor.

But Saigō was not commanding Aurora, the twelfth base body. He was directly commanding the Fourth True Ancestor's Familiar, Crimson Ice of the Demon Princess!

"That Familiar is about to unleash its magic power! Get out of here, now!"

Akaya Castle's expression changed drastically. He had already sensed the power Crimson Ice of the Demon Princess was about to unleash like an erupting volcano.

Though he was half-dead already, he might be able to endure an attack from the Fourth True Ancestor's Familiar and barely cling to life.

But his son and daughter would undoubtedly meet hopeless deaths beneath the Fourth True Ancestor's Familiar's attack.

"Run? Where can we run to? Can't you feel how terrifying that Familiar is? One attack from it could probably freeze this entire island! How could we possibly escape?!"

Liana covered her severed arm with one hand. The excessive loss of blood made the vampire's face even paler.

After hearing Akaya Castle's words, she shouted hoarsely as though she had gone mad.

"Fuck!"

Akaya Castle's face twisted viciously, his eyes nearly splitting apart.

This middle-aged man, who had always seemed unreliable yet as if nothing could ever stump him, finally suffered a mental breakdown and cursed aloud.

He regretted it now. Regretted it deeply.

Had he known this would happen, he would never have called his daughter and son here. It was his failure as a father that had placed his children in such desperate danger.

"That bastard Zarathustra, does he intend to kill us along with them?"

Nangong Nayue's expression changed sharply. She cursed, then looked toward Sendou Aya. "...Aya, how is your barrier coming along?"

At that moment, Nangong Nayue's speech was perfectly clear, completely lacking her usual slurred pronunciation.

It could only be said that people unleashed unprecedented potential in times of crisis.

"I have completed it."

Sendou Aya's expression was solemn as layers of barriers embedded with countless mysterious runes enveloped everyone.

The Scribe Witch gripped the Grimoire in her hand tightly. This barrier and ritual related to time seemed to separate two worlds, using differing rates of time to evade the fatal attack.

As the barrier unfolded, the freezing aura that seemed capable of freezing all things weakened considerably, and Nangong Nayue's grim expression eased somewhat.

Lafuria seemed to think of something. The First Princess of the Kingdom of Aldegia swiftly took out a communicator and rapidly issued orders:

"...Knights, heed my command. Have the Rainbow Bridge take off immediately. Do not remain docked at Gozo Island."

"I repeat, have the Rainbow Bridge take off. Do not remain at Gozo Island. I am safe and in no danger of losing my life!"

"...Anyone who disobeys the Ming Imperial Family's orders will be dealt with under military law!"

Lafuria feared that her subordinates, in their efforts to find her, would ignore the suddenly erupting magic power.

Thus, the Princess could only issue forceful orders, telling the imperial vessel and her subordinates to leave the island immediately.

Death Emperor's Brother and the beastmen who had gradually begun to weaken were now covered in ice shards, even their joints congealed by the eternal freezing wind.

The Black Death Emperor's younger brother revealed a look of shock and terror, his resolve wavering. He had never imagined that the Fourth True Ancestor's Familiar possessed such dreadful might.

It was said that the First True Ancestor had seventy-two Familiars, the Second True Ancestor had nineteen, and the Third True Ancestor had twenty-seven.

The Fourth True Ancestor, known as the strongest True Vampire, possessed only twelve Familiars.

Even with the simplest mathematical deduction, one could tell that when only one Familiar could be controlled, the Fourth True Ancestor's Familiars were undoubtedly the strongest.

At this moment, Death Emperor's Brother finally understood why the Fourth True Ancestor was called a calamity in legend. It was because every one of the Fourth True Ancestor's Familiars was a natural disaster that brought calamity upon mankind!

"Roar—"

With a furious roar, Death Emperor's Brother's body rapidly expanded, becoming covered in coarse, writhing runes.

Unlike those beastmen forcibly subjected to Divine Beast Transformation through rituals, Death Emperor's Brother was a true high-ranking beastman, one of the rare few capable of fully controlling the power of Divine Beast Transformation.

After transforming, he possessed terrifying strength sufficient to fight the Familiars of vampires from the previous generation in close combat.

Yet even after his Divine Beast Transformation, Death Emperor's Brother found that his body remained stiff. His blood and bones had frozen, and even taking a single step forward was incredibly difficult.

He had never expected the Fourth True Ancestor's Familiar to possess such terrifying power.

Or perhaps it was not that the Fourth True Ancestor's Familiar was this powerful, but that the Familiar controlled by that demon was especially terrifying?

To a certain extent, Death Emperor's Brother had guessed correctly.

The reason vampires could keep Familiars was because they possessed negative life force.

That mode of existence, completely opposite to life itself, became nourishment for Familiars parasitizing vampires.

Saigō was a demon, not a vampire. Theoretically, he could not keep these Familiars.

Yet Saigō possessed the Third Star Particle. The "magic power" generated by this Third Kind Perpetual Motion Machine made Crimson Ice of the Demon Princess let out a sound of delight.

The Familiar greedily devoured the "magic power" produced by the Third Star Particle, as though it had been starving for countless years.

Had it been an ordinary vampire standing here, even one possessing negative life force would likely have been drained into a dried corpse by the Familiar in an instant.

Visible to the naked eye, the beautiful Familiar that fused mermaid and demon bird became even more resplendent with ice crystals. The aura and magic power it emitted also grew harsher and more terrifying.

This made Saigō realize that the Third Star Particle apparently possessed abilities he had yet to discover.

Otherwise, how could one explain the changes in the Fourth True Ancestor's Familiar after it devoured the magic power of the Third Star Particle?

Saigō seemed to be waiting for the others to find safety, while also silently growing accustomed to the method of controlling a True Vampire's Familiar.

He did not attack directly. He merely allowed the freezing wind blowing from Crimson Ice of the Demon Princess to freeze everything.

"Please, I'm willing to accept every judgment and bear every consequence. I only ask that, for the sake of my children being so young, you save them!"

Akaya Castle wore a pleading expression. This world-renowned archaeologist knelt on the ground, abandoning all dignity.

He only hoped Nangong Nayue could save his son and daughter.

Akaya Castle knew that before the Fourth True Ancestor's natural disaster, he had no chance of escaping with his children. Nangong Nayue was the only person he could beg.

The Witch of the Void furrowed her lovely brows. Though she was a Witch, Nangong Nayue was not completely cold-hearted.

One of her wishes, in particular, was to become a teacher, and she instinctively loved children.

"Aya!"

Akaya Castle's miserable appearance would not have softened Nangong Nayue's heart.

But the tragic sight of Akatsuki Kojou and Akina Nagisa nearly losing their lives in the freezing wind finally stirred her compassion.

Sendou Aya glanced at Nangong Nayue and softly laughed. "...I understand!"

With a wave of the Scribe Witch's hand, the time-related barrier enveloped Akaya Castle and his family.

"Boom—"

Just as the barrier covered Akaya Castle and the others, Saigō, having roughly understood Crimson Ice of the Demon Princess, finally allowed this calamity to reveal its destructive side.

A wild howl from the ancient Ice Age swept across the island!

"Quick, obey the Princess's orders! Have the Rainbow Bridge take off immediately!"

At Gozo Island's airfield, the Rainbow Bridge's commander shouted orders. The entire crew sprang into action, launching the airborne warship at top speed.

At that moment, Gozo Island was already being ravaged by violent freezing winds so fierce that one could barely make out anything five meters ahead. The entire island was blanketed in snow and ice crystals.

This island in the Mediterranean Sea had, in an instant, become like the Arctic or Antarctic. Even the air temperature was plummeting rapidly.

Suddenly, a corner of Gozo Island erupted with a magic storm so powerful that even the warship's magic power indicators sounded alarms. The commander reacted at once and shouted:

"...Activate the Spirit Furnace and deploy the defensive barrier!"

The warship, swaying violently in the raging freezing winds, deployed its barrier.

The edge of the barrier collided with the violent magic power, and the entire warship emitted a teeth-grinding screech of twisting metal, as if it might break apart the next instant.

The terrifying magic storm lasted for roughly a minute. Watching the Spirit Furnace's energy drop by a massive amount, the warship commander could not help swallowing.

He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and muttered, "...What the hell was that? That was a Spirit Furnace!"

Spirit Furnaces were costly to build and required extremely advanced technology. They could be called this world's nuclear reactors.

Yet even the magic barrier generated by a nuclear reactor suffered a drastic energy loss upon colliding with that magical eruption. One could only imagine how terrifying the center of that eruption had been.

Looking down from the warship's bridge, the commander stared dumbfoundedly at what had once been Gozo Island.

This ancient region, a famous European tourist attraction filled with ruins, had completely vanished at this moment.

It was not that the island itself had disappeared. Rather, the entire island had become an iceberg. The materials composing the island had completely shattered under the extreme cold, becoming frozen ice crystals.

As if that were not enough, centered on Gozo Island, the entire sea surface had transformed into an icy continent, with countless chunks of ice rising and falling.

Chilling air permeated the atmosphere, and the temperature of the entire Mediterranean Sea had dropped by dozens of degrees.

"Did the Princess discover some prehistoric weapon from an extinct world in those ruins?"

The commander was completely dumbfounded.

Death Emperor's Brother and the elite beastman mage unit he had brought were reduced to frozen cellular debris the instant they faced Crimson Ice of the Demon Princess.

As the entire beastman force was annihilated, the barrier covering the ruins vanished as well.

Nangong Nayue immediately cast the magic of Space Control, transporting those who had survived thanks to Sendou Aya's barrier away from Gozo Island.

It could only be said that Sendou Aya's barrier, involving secret time magic, had been sturdy enough to withstand Crimson Ice of the Demon Princess's first wave of magical eruption.

But after the first eruption, the barrier had already shattered beyond repair. Nangong Nayue had no intention of exposing herself to that raging magical environment.

"...Hiss."

After leaving Gozo Island and looking at the remnants of the former island, which had vanished from the map before them, Nangong Nayue drew a sharp breath.