16 Chapter: 16

The Essence of Merchant wasn't all too powerful.

Admittedly, it allowed its user to summon any being or appear in front of any being; that was the case if some form of the contract were to be formed. The user could remain within that bounded reality either till the time the contract is completed or failed. He could not stay in that reality for an indefinite amount of time.

Until he paid an appropriate price to the world for it—this was one of the ways to enter another world.

The other one was more of a 'Gacha', and this was something that didn't make sense to him. Mayhaps it was something designated by the being that reincarnated him or maybe a flicker passing curiosity of it.

To enter another reality without forming a deal with the world itself, he would need to make the deal with the essence itself! Paying a certain amount, he could open passages to randomly chosen worlds.

For Ichimaru Gin, entertainment was one way of enjoying his life. If he wasn't in the constant form of something, according to him, he was in the constant form of eternal boredom otherwise. In simple terms, Gin didn't like doing nothing. He hated it. To him, it didn't matter what, he wanted something or anything to occupy him. Otherwise, he would feel he has become stale. A being that is not moving forward nor backwards, just constantly staying in one place doing nothing.

That is why when, instead of making a deal with the world, he paid to the essence, three worlds came up—Strike the Blood, Darling in the Franxx, and Fate Apocrypha; all three called for his special attention.

Leaving Strike the Blood and Fate, both very dangerous worlds, Darling in the Franxx felt… easy? Maybe due to the fact that it was spoken together with worlds that had people that could kill people in any timeline. Surely, compared to facing some cosmic alien invasion, formal sounded more… intimidating.

All in all, with the given realities, a smile appeared on his face. Everything seemed to be already planned, and he vanished from his birth reality.

1

Itogami Island was an artificial island made in the middle of the Pacific. It was some three thirty kilometres south of Tokyo. It was a man-made Island to the world as a Demon Sanctuary.

A place only possible after the Peace Treaty between Three Primogenitors; vampires born after a curse from God, getting immortality and infinite "negative" energy.

Since it was made up of different Giga floats joined together, in the old Southeast Island, a scene straight out of the apocalypse was happening.

A group of people with emotionless blank eyes gathered together, staring into the void with no will for anything; these were the people whose memories were eaten, becoming a source of demonic power for the revival of the World's Mightiest Vampire.

A group of people, like a horde of zombies, looked for others to eat them. These were pseudo-vampires created after their memories were eaten away.

Indeed, it looked like nothing but a zombie apocalypse.

In the centre of the Island where once a diamond-like building existed was no longer present; destroyed and fully annihilated. A battle that could very well decide the lives of many had just taken place here. A fight that could have very well sunk Itogami Island, yet the damage seemed to be restricted around the Southeast Island which would soon sink due to the catastrophic destruction.

Water had already filled it up. From the way things looked, it wouldn't take even an hour before inevitable destruction happened.

"I-I hast completed mine covenant." A feeble coward voice resounded, holding slight proudness within it. She was a little girl no older than 12-13-year-old. She had long blond hair that reflected light in a rainbow radiance.

In her hand, she held a weak black-haired girl whose consciousness had sunk deep into the abyss. Blood trickled down her neck, two holes visible there. Anyone who was familiar with the myths of vampires would know that it represented the bite of a vampire.

And the slight redness of the blond girl's lips showed that she might be the one to inflict such a wound.

"Avrora…" The silver-blue-haired boy took a step forward which resulted in the blond-haired girl taking a step backwards. Maybe in fear or in rejection, but it was evident that it hurt the silver-blue-haired boy whose face scrunched as he asked, his voice almost choking.

"Are you going to sleep again?" From an outsider's perspective, he might not understand what he meant, but the girl clearly understood what he meant. An expression of sadness formed on her face.

"S-She hath merely slept. For would I didn't sleep, she might awaken once moe." Her eyes shone crimson, and a smile of sadness formed over her soft lips. "Kojou. Shalt thou mere mine final hope?"

"What… are you doing, Avrora!?" Koujo shouted in horror, finding his body moving against his wishes. The hand holding the crossbow raised, a holy lance that was said to be able to kill even Primogenitors pointed at her. "Stop! Avrora!"

Kojou knew what was happening, no, he instinctively understood. His body refused to listen to him. He was a Blood Servant of Avrora Florestina, the Fourth Primogenitor. Even though his mind denied it, his body refused to not listen to her command.

None of his pleas was heard. Instead, an expression of melancholy and longing appeared on the face of the blond.

"This is mine last gift thee." Her lips parted, and two sharp canines protruded out of them. Just as she was about to bite, to transfer the powers of the World's Mightiest Vampire known as the Fourth Primogenitor, a pressure beyond mortal comprehension drove everything to the ground.

The world shook.

The Island trembled, and every living human lost consciousness leaving behind only those of certain power.

"W-What the…!?" Kojou shouted in horror as he, and the horrified Avrora, looked up. There, in the sky, a human stood. His body seemed to release such intense spiritual energy that it would make even the strongest spiritualist in the world pale in comparison.

Ugly wings sprouted out from his behind, each having a row of eyes. The way they looked at the world, it felt like a higher being staring down at the lower existence with disdain.

"Who is he!?" Kojou asked particularly no one as he saw a fight no lower than what had just transpired over this Island happening above in the sky. Just breathing in that being's presence seemed to be laboured.

"H-how is this possible… A god shouldn't exist 'i this world…"

"G-God!?" Kojou almost pissed his pants hearing Avrora's whisper. But before he could inquire further, his eyes widened; a sword passed through Avrora's chest, blood dripping from it.

"C-Cough…" Avrora coughed a mouthful of the blood as a mocking voice resounded from the silver-haired attacker.

"Though I wouldn't crave to interfere with thy tragic love story, I would bid thy attention." He grinned, staring down at the couching blond and horrified Kojou.

"W-What are you doing!?"

2

He made a mistake.

So far, he had only visited the world of One Piece. A world whose laws were very loose.

But even so, it wouldn't have mattered since Gin only visited that world for a deal. He found out that as long as he visited a world for a deal, the laws of that world would not be imposed onto his body.

As such, he could easily visit any world without worrying about the world interfering with him. Yet, it had been forever since Gin had watched Strike the Blood. All he could remember about this world was that it had vampires strong enough to rival the strongest people from his world and even beat them one-sidedly.

That's why he chose this world as his first world. And that was where he made a mistake.

"I completely forgot that this world considered Spiritual Beings as higher existence, something that shouldn't exist in the same dimension as mortals."

Even in the world of Bleach, Shinigami were higher in existence than that humans. The only difference was that the world of Bleach didn't reject them.

Things were different in this world. Once you reach a certain spiritual level, the world will forcefully try to ascend you and make you a divinity.

From what Gin could remember, Kanon, one of the female leads within the world of Strike the Blood, also had all her spiritual nodes open which resulted in her, almost, ascension. Unlike Gin, she still retained her flesh body and yet she was pulled into a higher dimension making people from a lower dimension impossible to harm her.

Currently, the same thing is happening with Gin. The moment he anchored into the world, it registered Gin as an existence that shouldn't be present within a lower dimension. Hence, the rite for ascension started.

Wings spurted out from his back, five wings on each side, with three eyes on each as divinity poured like an uncontrollable waterfall from Heaven onto him, merging and assimilating with his body.

In the air, he stood alone as a neutral expression formed on his face.

"What an error."

When he had planned to jump into this world, this was definitely not within his plans. If he didn't do anything in hurry, he would be ejected out of this world into Heaven where divinities lived.

He can't have that.

"Should I pay…?"

Of course, with the help of his Essence, he could very well form a deal with the world to stop this process, but Gin didn't know how much he would have to pay.

This wasn't healing wounds as he did for Ukitake, or stopping spiritual energy from spilling out of a certain area; it was him asking the world to let him anchor himself within the lower dimension.

Just a little look and his face scrunched seeing the price.

His eyes opened as his azure pupils shone, different scenarios and the value of deals passing from within his mind before a smirk formed over his face.

"Yes… That could work."

Just then, three people appeared around him.

The first one was a girl who looked to be in her eighteen. Her face barely held any emotions, but looking at Gin, she showed a rare grim expression. She wore glasses with a book in her hands.

The second one was blond with blue eyes. Unlike the girl's grim expression, his face only showed intense bloodlust and interest. It was as if he wanted to fight Gin right there and then.

The last one was a little girl. She had lustrous, emerald green hair and jade-like green eyes. Out of all three, she looked the most out of it. It was like she wasn't supposed to exist in this world, making her stand out the most. Unlike the first two, all she showed was interest as she observed Gin.

"Who are you?" Koyomi Shizuka, also known as Paper Noise, one of the three saints of the Lion King Organisation asked. Looking at her frail body, no one would think that she is considered one of the strongest people alive in this world.

"What a warm welcome." Gin smiled, checking out everyone one by one. Even though the time was ticking due to the amount of divinity that was being poured into him, he seemed relaxed. With a theatrical bow, he introduced himself. "It is nice to meet you, I'm Ichimaru Gin, a Merchant."

"A merchant?" Koyomi Shizuka frowned, obviously not believing what Gin said.

"Well, it sure is hard to believe, isn't it?" Gin smirked. "But I won't get anything from lying now, do I?"

"Hehehe. Not bad, not bad. The merchant was it? Tell me then, what are you doing in this world? I'm pretty sure last time I checked, only demons and humans existed." Giada Kukulcan, the Third Primogenitor, inquired with interest.

"Oh, well. It's a long story."

"Don't worry, we have all the time in the world."

"Is that so?" Gin looked down, his eyes landed on Avrora and Kojou. "I heard a fun Banquet was happening in this world, so I decided to give it a visit. Though it seems like my presence isn't much welcomed by the world. Truly makes me sad."

Koyomi Shizuka's eyes narrowed. "As a Bookmarker, I cannot allow you to interfere with the Banquet."

The Lion King Organisation has put the whole of Itogami Island and all the people living on it as a bargaining chip to be a participant in this Banquet. Thousands of people had already died for the revival of the Fourth Primogenitor. As one of the three saints, Shizuka couldn't allow an unknown variable to interfere with it.

Gin looked towards her, his eyes opening slightly.

"Oh my… What a frightening ability."

He raised his hand and made a grasping motion. In front of the stunned gaze of everyone, Gin grasped the world and pulled. The whole space was pulled with Gin's motion; everything twisted before Gin released his hand, putting everything back to normal.

Cracks formed in the space, filled with white light before they also healed themselves.

The huge serpent-like beast that floated behind Gin burst open into tiny magical energy as everything in the direction was blown away. The sea parted and the Island shook from the impact.

"Vibrations?" Giada narrowed her eyes. This was the first time she had seen someone producing vibrations by disturbing the space. Yet, the biggest thing to be noticed was the fact that the attack held the same destruction as that of a Primogenitor Beast Vassal!

"Hahaha… Do forgive me." The blond vampire laughed, his whole being brimming with excitement. "But it is quite hard for me to stop myself!"

"I understand." Gin smiled. "But I don't have time to play with you. So I'll be getting a little serious."

BOOM!

Titanic spiritual energy burst out of Gin's body, blowing away the trio as the space cried for not being able to bear the pressure that was being released from Gin's body.

"Let's see…" In front of the stunned gaze, the titanic spiritual energy changed its properties into divinity! The process had happened so fast that it took but a mere moment for it to happen!

"Oh no, you don't!" Seeing Dimitrie summoning another Beast Vassal, Gin pointed his finger towards him and muttered.

[Hadō #90. Kurohitsugi]

Space and time became chaotic around Dimitrei Vatler as a huge coffin formed around him. The sky, despite it being the day, seemed to be dulled; stolen from its light. Huge boxes of dark purple shimmered and hovered around the coffin before they turned into spears and impaled the coffin and Dimitrei Vatler with it.

Of course, this wasn't enough to kill him, being closest to a Primogenitor. But Gin never planned to kill him either.

With a quick movement, he pointed his finger towards Giada whose body also burst into titanic demonic energy and decreed.

[Hadō #99. Goryūtenmetsu]

An even bigger divinity released from within Gin's body. The island below burst into huge hundreds of metres pillars of energy before bursting into equally large dragons who roared, shaking the very space, and causing tsunamis around the island.

All five of them collectively looked towards Giada and flew towards her with their maws open, wanting to devour her alive.

Seeing that she would be busy for a time, Gin looked towards the last person, Shizuka.

The moment his eyes met with hers, time and sound vanished from the world. Gin's eyes opened as he muttered in quick succession.

"I sell ten years of my life span in return for erasing my past in this world!"

It had been barely ten or so minutes since Gin had appeared in this world. In such a case, he knew it wouldn't cost him much for erasing himself from the past timelines.

And as he had predicted; the moment ten years of his life span were collected by the Essence, time and sound returned to the world with Shizuka staring at Gin with a terrified gaze.

"Sorry. Your ability is the trickiest to deal with, really."

Paper Noise, or Koyomi Shizuka, had the ability to attack people at any point in time. Mixed with her monstrous demonic energy, she was known as one of the most dangerous people alive in this world.

And Gin knew fully well, his weakest form was when he entered this world. With him being completely defenceless against the attack unbounded by time, she could have very well killed him. Hence, he removed himself from all past timelines because he knew she couldn't attack the future him. He had already coated his existence with divinity which pushed him into a higher dimensional space.

Virtually, it was impossible to attack him unless someone crossed those dimensions to reach him.

Koyomi Shizuka also knew this, and that's why her primary target was the Gin of the past. She could only stare at Gin with wide eyes as he smirked.

"Guess it didn't work, did it?"

With Shizuka neutralised, only Giada and Dimitrei were left who would very much kill him. Where Giada had beasts that controlled the space to its liking, Dimitrei had beasts that could consume everything around him. Both of them weren't something Gin was willing to fight right now.

He didn't have time to spare anyway. The world was already getting impatient with his existence. With a single teleport, he appeared behind Avrora as his hand reached for the sword on his waist. Pulling it out, with one swift motion, he stabbed directly at the part of the soul he wanted to destroy.

"Though I wouldn't crave to interfere with thy tragic love story, I would bid thy attention." Of course, he didn't forget to mock them.

"Let Avrora go!" Kojou shouted as he pointed the bow towards Gin and pulled the trigger. Yet his hopes shattered when the Holy Lance passed through his body as if it didn't exist within the same time and space as him.

"Calm down, I'm the one saving her you know." Ignoring Kojou, Gin looked down at Avrora as he opened his mouth. "Give me all of the Fourth Primogenitor's power and vassal, and I shall kill Root from within you. With her dead, you can live your life with that kid like a normal person."

Seeing her hesitation, he continued.

"You can also feel it, right? My sword right now has pierced Root. As long as you agree with my deal, I won't harm you or that kid."

"... I-I permit it." Despite herself being stabbed and her cowardly nature, she sounded quite conceited. Not that Gin cared. It was within her nature after all.

"Good. It was nice making a deal with you, dear customer." Finished speaking, Gin twisted the sword and pulled it out; with it came a black mass of spiritual energy. It was the soul of Root! Without giving it another glance, Gin smirked. "I sell her for full control over all Beasts."

The moment he finished, the black mass of spiritual mess burst into golden particles and vanished.

The banquet that should have ended with the revival of the Fourth Primogenitor, though one did emerge, ended by the hand of a completely unknown variable—Ichimaru Gin, the new Fourth Primogenitor!

3

The dark-purple coffin burst open, revealing a haggard blond vampire. His body had various holes all around it which healed with a speed naked to the eye. But that didn't mean Vatler could heal all of them, after all, to heal wounds required demonic energy.

He was sure it was going to take some time for him to fully heal from the injuries.

As the sight of the departing sun became visible, he heard a voice beside him.

"You sure took your time. I thought you died."

"It will take more than that to kill me, His Excellency." He looked towards Giada and answered. At her side, he could also see Shizuka who had a unique grave look on her face, staring down at the Southeast Garden.

Following her gaze, Vatler also looked there to find Kojou hugging Avrora with Gin standing beside them. Despite the fact that the scene looked quite harmonious, that wasn't the centre of attraction for the three beings that stood at the apex of this world.

"Isn't it funny, Dimitrei Vatler? We had thought that the Fourth would be revived and the world would be thrown into chaos, then that little kid almost became the next Fourth, and now this. A spiritual being closest to an angel from another world interfered with the Banquet, and now he is the Fourth Primogenitor. Fate sure works in a weird way."

With a smirk that suggested she loved the current development, Giada looked towards Paper Noise.

"Though I wonder what the Lion King Agency would do now. All the preparations and the result ended up completely out of their wildest dreams."

Shizuka frowned, her face containing blatant displeasure at what Giada said.

"You don't have to worry, His Excellency Giada. All you need to remember is that the Fourth was born within Itogami Island under the jurisdiction of Japan. Hence, as per the rules, Itogami Island shall be given to the new Fourth as a dominion under his rule. With that, I announce the end of the Blazing Banquet!"

Giada stared at Shizuka before muttering with a teasing tone.

"Good luck controlling an abomination of Angel and Demon."

The moment her voice fell, the world shook. Everyone looked back at the Gin and found him floating some miles above in the sky as tears of blood fell from his eyes, the eyes behind his wings gazed up at the world with contempt.

"What is he trying to do?"

Despite him becoming a Primogenitor, Gin still was a Spiritual Being. He would still be pulled into Heaven if he didn't do something, and that was done the moment his deal was completed with Avrora.

[I sell $%*@)$%#]

Midway, Gin's voice distorted as space and time halted around him. Following that was an explosion and Gin's body burst away.

In front of the amazed gaze of everyone, a new body formed. It was not much different from the appearance of Gin but the fact that it had 12 huge wings, six on each side; one side was black while the other was white. A massive halo of golden and black with spikes protruding out spun above Gin's head.

"He is… reconstructing his body?" Dimitrei Vatler muttered with fascination but was objected to by Giada whose voice sounded nothing but amazed.

"He is anchoring himself to this world! By creating a body containing both demonic and angelic forces, he is trying to create a completely new race!" Giada's voice raised with excitement, something that barely was left in her life. "A being above God and Primogenitor!"

The fourth Primogenitor was famously known as the God-Killing Weapon. A being that had the power to kill gods! The title of World's Mightiest Vampire was not for show. The fact that Gin was trying to merge his divinity and spiritual existence with the demonic nature of the Fourth, it was no lie that a new race would be born; a race above Primogenitors and Gods!

With Giada and Dimitrei Vatler staring at the floating body with barely hidden excitement and joy, a light burst outshining everything in existence. For a mere second, no one could see anything but light. What followed after it was abyssal darkness and eternal silence.

[It worked.]

A slightly distorted voice was the only hearable voice in the world left. It took some time before everything returned to normal. Everything was the same… except for the being flying in the air.

His long wings encompassed light and darkness respectively. Gold and dark ring with spikes spun above his head; his long silver-black hair, smooth and silky, gently fluttered within the wind.

[Oh well. It seems that I ascended in the real sense of everything…. Definitely planned it.]

Gin could feel ginormous divine, spiritual, and demonic energy following within his blood with 12 distinct Beast Vassals that roared with happiness.

Though it wasn't exactly what he had in mind, it seemed that the world pushed his existence even further than what he had imagined.

A being that existed within light and darkness, having the balance of both—Nephalem!

He looked towards the trio of Vatler, Shizuka, and Giada. Seeing Shizuka's grave face, and the excited face of the other two, Gin smiled and stated.

[I am not heartless. As per the rule of Banquet, Itogami Island shall be under my dominion. And since I have taken the power of the Fourth, I'll also take care of 'him' for you people... If I feel like that is. Until then, Goodbye.]

And just like that, within the stunned gaze of everyone, Gin vanished.

The world was to fall into chaos after the information about the new race beyond God and Primogenitor reached the ears of other people that existed at the apex.

---

AN: Gin is NOT the strongest even still within the world of STB. Also, there is God with 3Os within STB, which pretty much makes Gin an ant in His eyes.

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