Chapter 005: Got Milk?

Author: WolfSpatial

Co-Author: Lucifer

[Knowledge without understanding is but a sword stuck in its sheath.]

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Please enjoy the chapter, though it is mainly an info dump if we're being honest. There's plot too, so don't miss out on that by thinking the chapter is skippable.

Chapters 6, 7, and 8 are on Patreon for Bronze+

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{DOMINIK FISCHER}​

I had taken Yuu and Blue-Eyes with me. Yuu was my transportation so I couldn't leave her behind, and Blue-Eyes would be my protection for the duration of my stay in Romania. Of course, Sebastian had given me some protection with the tactical gear that he packed for the three of us, but I didn't want to count on that protecting me from a bunch of powerful Vampires.

I would gladly take the extra protection though, and the weapons he had packed for us. Which consisted mostly of silver bullets and daggers, with the occasional folded sword.

Yuu's insides had ten distinct sections for me to explore. First, was the Conning Tower at the uppermost part of her, where the periscopes, navigation equipment, and my Command Center were located. Towards her center was the Control Room; this was where the diving and control equipment – like the depth gauges, ballast controls, and helm – were located.

Next to the Control Room – to provide easy access to the entire ship – were Crews Quarters. It was a packed room with bunk beds lining the walls and small lockers on the sides of the beds for each member. Directly behind the Crews Quarters was the Galley, where the kitchen and mess hall were located. Sebastian had provided us with a recipe book and a small supply of ingredients to use in order to prepare meals. Just enough for two average people for seven days.

Towards Yuu's rear was the Engine room. It housed two types of engines, four engines in total. The two diesel engines were MAN M 9 V 40/46 supercharged four-stroke, nine-cylinder engines producing a total of four-thousand four-hundred metric horsepower whilst surfaced or at snorkel depth – which was about thirty-five feet from the top of the Conning Tower to the ocean level. The two electric engines were Siemens-Schuckert 2 GU 345/34 double-acting electric motors producing a total of one-thousand shaft horsepower.

Yuu had two shafts coming from her rear, each with a six-foot propeller on its end. If Yuu was submerged below her snorkeling depth, she could travel about ten miles an hour. However, we could still stay below the radar at her snorkeling depth and travel a little over twenty-three miles an hour – that speed would, theoretically, land us in Romania in about fourteen to fifteen days. The time leaned more toward fourteen days in total.

But, I digress. Below her Control Room, Yuu had a Battery Room that powered her when we were underwater and past her snorkeling depth. Before we left, I had placed extra batteries in the room, bringing her battery life from about a day at mid-speed to a little under two days before needing to recharge.

Of course, with us traveling at full speed but at snorkeling depth, we wouldn't need to recharge as we had access to a plethora of diesel and snacks – fuel treatment – to keep Yuu happy. She would need it to run twenty-four-seven for the time it took us to get to Limanu, which was where I had decided to dock.

We would then hitch a ride from Limanu to the mountain town of Dragoslavele where the Tepes Mansion was. Though, it was more of a castle than a mansion, if I was being honest.

To her foremost front and aftmost rear, Yuu had different sets of Torpedo Rooms. With a grand total of twenty-two torpedoes, she held six torpedoes – two in the tubes and four ready to be loaded – in her rear Torpedo Room with two tubes to launch out of. Her front held the remaining sixteen torpedoes, four of them loaded into the front-facing tubes whilst the other twelve sat ready to load under beds that were mounted on the wall.

Being an older ship, Yuu had a dedicated Radio Room above the Control Room and a bit forward of her center so that one didn't need to pass through it to get between the Control Room and Command Center. Inside her Radio Room was some seriously outdated equipment; morse code communicators and single-ear headsets with pads of paper attached to the desks with pens and pencils in small compartments. I could see the gauges on the equipment which measured frequency all to the left, showing that none of it was online at the moment.

I mentally reminded myself to upgrade her communications equipment when I got the chance. The ninth section of her insides was the Crew Sanitation Facilities, located at the bottommost, almost-aftmost area under the Engine Room. It had two showers that only spewed cold water, a single soap dispenser that was currently empty, four toilets, and one sink.

Where the waste from using the facilities went, I didn't want to know.

The last section in her user manual was the Captain's Quarters, conveniently located on the other side of the corridor from the Radio Room and just to the rear of Yuu's center.

Seating myself in the Command Center before we had taken off from Obama in the northern Kyoto Prefecture of Japan, I decided not to kick my feet up on the console so as not to disrespect my precious Yuu. There was a sort of singled-out chair with much smaller consoles on each of its sides, showing me only the important things about Yuu's operations; depth, speed, fuel level, battery charge, and the like.

Of course, I didn't really need to monitor any of that as Yuu would tell us if she needed anything. At least, I hoped she'd tell us.

"Master," Blue-Eyes said from beside my seat, standing with her arms to her sides, "Why didn't you bring Drakon? Surely he would have been useful."

"Drakon is strong, yeah." Nodding along to what she said, I turned my head and looked up into her titular blue eyes, "But, that's not all I need right now. He's a loose cannon; any tugging at his strings could set him off and I'd rather not destroy an entire faction yet."

"You believe he could destroy the Vampire Faction?" Blue-Eyes seemed to doubt it, but I knew he wouldn't be alone if he decided to attack them and that he had some type of control over the Undead. Though I didn't know how far his influence spread in that sense.

"The Vampires are split into two factions, to be clear. The Tepes Faction is male-dominated – which we are on our way to meet with – and the Carmilla Faction which is female-dominated. Both factions want to be the ruling class of Vampires, supported by various smaller Vampiric families." Leaning back in my chair, I looked down at the small display that had somehow changed to show Yuu's face in the green pixels, "To answer your question, genocide isn't on my bucket list."

"I see…" Blue-Eyes looked forward at the steel wall of Yuu's Command Center, thoughts visibly running through her head at a million miles an hour.

"Yuu, can you hear me?" The little image of her face smiled and nodded like a rabbit, which was just too cute if I was being honest.

"I can hear you, Admiral." She spoke softly, her voice coming from the speakers set into the sides of the display diagonally to my right, "What is your command?"

"I'm just checking up on you," Setting my right hand on the arm of my seat, I gave Yuu a kind smile, "Do you need anything?"

She paused before blushing and looking down, "…Your company is enough, Admiral…"

"That's very sweet of you to say." Tapping my thumb against the armrest, I sighed and stood up, "Yuu, do you have any wide, open areas where I can train with Blue-Eyes?"

"Not really, Admiral." She placed her hand on her chin in thought, "The largest area would probably be the Mess Hell, or I could surface and you could train on the deck."

"No," Stretching my arms, I gestured for Blue-Eyes to follow me, "We'll just use the Mess Hall, keep at speed, and let me know if anything happens."

"Understood, Admiral." It was adorable seeing Yuu salute on the screen, her seriousness while in transit forming a contrast between her personality in the manor.

Stifling my chuckle with a disguising cough, Blue-Eyes followed me through Yuu. We descended a metal ladder that led us next to the Radio Room and Captain's Quarters. Down the hallway in front of us was another ladder that led down next to the Crew's Quarters.

It was a bit tiring to descend the length of the two ladders, being out of shape as I was, though it was manageable and I wouldn't be out for the count from something so simple.

We stepped over bulkheads as we made our way through the interior, finding the Galley with its lights off and the only light being that from the red emergency lighting that ran across the length of the bottom of the walls. The door was only open enough for us to peek in and see a few feet into the Mess Hall.

Pushing the metal door open all the way, I felt something click against the door as it locked into place. Looking behind the door, I found a small latch that hooked into the metal frame to keep it from swinging randomly.

Giving a small hum, I looked over at the steel light switch to the right of the doorway and flicked it up. Two rows of close-fit bar lights along the ceiling flickered to life, letting me see the open area with circular tables folded up and set against the far wall where they were latched with two sturdy straps.

As the last of the ceiling lights lit up, the red lights along the floorboards turned off and a small hum filled my ears. The Mess Hall was connected to the Galley – which was the kitchen – by a closed door and a sort of buffet line-looking shelf in the wall between them.

Turning to Blue-Eyes, I found her inspecting the room the same as I had, though her eyes stopped at specific points along the bottom of the walls where the emergency lights were, "Is this good enough to start training me?"

"Master?" She looked at me in confusion, tilting her head slightly, "I can't teach, I just break things."

"Well," There goes my plans to learn something useful, I guess, "Then I'll just meditate. See if I can't learn to feel Ki before we get to Romania."

"What would you like me to do then, Master?" She looked regretful that she couldn't help me, her eyes tracing my face in search of something.

"You can either stay here in the Mess Hall with me or go back up to the Command Center and keep Yuu company." Moving to the center of the room, I sat down and crossed my legs with my hands on my knees, "Whatever you decide, will you turn off the light?"

"Yes, Master." She nodded and flicked the switch as the bright lights died and the red lights along the floorboards came to life, they were dim enough that I figured they wouldn't matter too much, "I think I'll go stay with Yuu."

Not giving her a response, I watched as she walked away and closed my eyes. The lights in the walkway stayed on since I didn't know how to turn them off – if I even could. The sound of Blue-Eyes walking down the corridor receded from my ears as I took a deep breath.

In most of the media I watched and read the characters either always knew how to feel their Ki or envisioned it as specks of light – at least initially. What I wanted, however, was the Ki from Dragonball which was envisioned as more of a font than a speck, cascading around the wielder and inside of them.

Ki was said to be the 'Life Energy' of a being, showing how strong they were and allowing them to grow stronger by accumulating more. I was pretty sure that Drakon's healing ability was a result of Ki as well since the glow from it didn't match the purple of his other abilities. If that was the case, I could only speculate how much Ki he had.

Dragons were said to have an immense life force, so his Ki would probably be just as plentiful. That's assuming that his type of Ki was similar to the type I was attempting to gain, if not then I couldn't begin to assume if he had a lot or if he was simply okay at using it.

There was no way that he was an expert at controlling his Ki given that he had just gained the ability to use it about two days ago. That meant that the Ki he was using was likely acting as an energy source for a skill he had gotten from a Template. I'd have to see it to be sure, though.

Letting out the breath that I had been holding hostage, I emptied my lungs and tried to turn my attention inward as so many protagonists had before me. There was nothing, no specks of light or pools of water for me to stand on. There was no caged fox for me to ask for help, or demon sitting on a pile of bodies and bones.

There was, however, a darkness – probably because my eyes were closed – that engulfed my senses. The empty space was disappointing, I had expected to find something there; a dot of white, a single iota of power.

Taking in another breath, the darkness seemed to shake as its edges became known. Stars littered the furthest reaches of the darkness, coming closer to me as I breathed in deeper. Reaching the limits of my lungs, I let out the air in them and watched as the stars retreated, though not to the distance they had been before.

I smiled inwardly, taking in another deep breath as the stars grew closer and closer, repeating the process until they coalesced in front of me as a small blue orb. Trying to reach out with my right hand, I found myself unable to move even an inch.

The orb of blue light – which I figured was probably Ki – dimmed and brightened with each of my breaths, reminding me of a small flame in the bottom of a wet firepit. Taking in a final breath, I held it and mentally reached for the orb again, feeling something collide with my mental image of myself.

"Master," A voice broke me from my meditation, the orb flickering into nothing as I opened my eyes and sighed at the Dragon.

"Yes, Blue-Eyes?" Glancing up at her, I was tempted to stand up and go for a walk before trying to meditate again.

"Yuu picked up a radio signal from the Sri Lankan Coast Guard, Master." That caught my attention, Yuu's radio equipment was seriously outdated. It was a testament to the girl that it even worked at all, "They want us to surface for inspection."

However, us being in Sri Lankan territory meant that I had been meditating for about four days without even noticing. I looked down at my thin stomach and frowned.

"What would you like us to do, Master?" Blue-Eyes questioned, causing me to think about it before standing up and entering the kitchen.

"Blow 'em out of the water," Opening the fridge, I began to make myself some food.

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{CYRUS DRAKON}​

"You have a talent for this, Issei," Yuuji said from the center of the manor's front lawn, standing over an injured Issei, "If you'd just put in some more effort, you'd grow in no time."

Chuckling to myself, I rolled my shoulders and sat on my knees, closing my eyes and focusing my new senses on the world around me. Before choosing to stack the template of Supernaturals' Lucifer, I could get a general direction of powerful beings. With the addition of his template, I could feel weaker beings like Issei as well, though I couldn't feel Yuuji as he was a baseline Human with no preter- or supernatural qualities.

Snorting once, I released my power across the island, feeling almost every being in the area freeze under the combined might of my Dragon Heritage and the various powers I got from Lucifer. I could feel my Angels trying to move, trying their hardest to come outside, whereas Mittelt shook in place, unable to even take a step.

I noticed, however, one person moving despite the pressure. The front door of the manor swung open as Artoria stepped through it, each of her steps labored and her breath heavy. Retracting my power, I looked over at her just as three Angels and a Mittelt came from the door ready to fight off whoever had shown up.

My Angels, Amelia, Seeker, — who had previously been named Dohnaseek — and Kalista — who used to be Kalawarner — looked over at me and sighed. Mittelt dropped to the ground next to Artoria, her legs finally giving out.

The four of them were about on par with each other before Amelia, Seeker, and Kalista got turned back into Angels. It was impressive of Mittelt to be able to walk after so much Holy Power rained down on her, especially when Fallen Angels were a bit weak to it.

My trio of Heavenly Hosts came over to me, Amelia speaking up as my first Angel, "My Lord, did you awaken some special bloodline?"

Noticing the change in her tone and way of addressing me, I stood and faced the trio, "Are you aware of the Former Archangel, Lucifer? I have taken his abilities into myself, gaining the might of God's Favorite Son."

There was a strange feeling in my chest as I looked at the Angels for the first time since stacking Lucifer's template, I think it was love or something close to it. I knew from the influence of Sebas' template that their personalities would overlap mine and I'd take on some of their traits.

I didn't think it would be so strong to the point that I found myself thinking that these Angels were my brothers and sisters who deserved to be free from The Old Man's overreaching hands. The feeling turned to disgust and resentment when I looked at Yuuji and Issei, though I seemed to hate Yuuji more than the young Dragon.

My eyes flicked to Artoria in the doorway and I found myself on the fence about her. She was part Dragon — I could feel it more clearly now — and something else that wasn't Human or Demon, or even Angelic.

My next bit of surprise was the Fallen Angel who was crumpled on the ground next to Artoria, feeling a less fervent version of the love I felt for my Angels.

"I'm sorry for making you all worry," Smiling as I turned back to Amelia, I noticed the shock in hers, and the others, eyes.

"You… you're Lord Lucifer?" Her body moved and I found my hand on her shoulder before she could kneel, stopping her from doing so. My glare stopped Seeker and Kalista from kneeling before they could even think to.

"I am not the Lucifer you're thinking of," I explained, unsure of why their kneeling made me uncomfortable to such a degree, "Indeed, I never was Lucifer…. I'm simply the inheritor of his power."

And his convictions, it would seem. I had no problem with Sebastian kneeling to me, though maybe it was because he was a lesser creature, a Demon.

Mentally revising my thoughts, I took note of my strong negative feelings toward Sebastian, and Demons in general.

"So…" Seeker spoke up from behind Amelia, my eyes tracing over to look at the dark blue orbs hidden beneath his charcoal fedora, "You could be considered his reincarnation?"

I wasn't sure how to explain the situation, though I found myself trying as I might, "In a roundabout way, but I still have a long way to go to live up to what Lucifer was."

"Will you become the new Ruler of Heaven, since God is dead?" Kalista asked with a step forward, the news making me flinch. Looking back on it, Amelia had said something similar in Kuoh's church.

Taking my hand from Amelia's shoulder so as not to hurt her, I tightened my grip and felt my skin boil with anger, "Who killed him?"

"We… we don't know," Amelia visibly gulped and looked down, "I-I'm sorry."

Taking a shaky breath, I gritted my teeth and forced myself to calm down. I should have been the one to kill him for what he did, not some other schmuck butting into our family issues.

I shook my head from Lucifer's thoughts, releasing my grip and looking down at the blood trickling from my right palm. Sebas' personality didn't hit me nearly as hard as Lucifer's, meaning there was some condition that made it do so.

"Don't worry about it," Sighing to myself at the mistake I might have made in choosing this template, I found myself patting Amelia's head with my left hand.

It was kind of strange being so much taller than everyone at first, but I had gotten used to it for the most part. The closest to my height was Sebastian who stood at six-one, followed closely by Seeker who was six-foot even.

Yuuji and Kalista were similar heights, though the former was taller by maybe an inch. Issei followed shortly after, being five-six or seven, if my guesstimation was correct.

After that was the small Angel in front of me; Amelia standing around five-four.

One could take a look at Fischer's Retinue and see something was up, Artoria being five-foot-nothing and Mittelt being shorter than that by a few inches.

Kazuki, the only Human still in the manor, was just a hair shorter than Artoria. It surprised me that she hadn't been affected by my aura at all, maybe because she couldn't sense it.

Miku — though still in the manor, wasn't Human — stood about two inches taller than Artoria's five-foot. And Yuu was even shorter than Mittelt — of course, I was basing that off their height relative to myself since I hadn't seen them together.

The tallest of Fischer's Retinue, Blue-Eyes, was the only female he didn't seem to have some sort of infatuation with, though I'm sure he'd jump her bones if she offered. I figured she was about six-foot, give or take an inch, though she seemed shorter than Seeker.

That mound of evidence put Fischer well into the Lolicon section of prison, right next to the priests and summer camp counselors.

Removing that revelation from my mind, I retracted my hand from Amelia and looked up at one of the windows on the left side of the manor. Sitting on the padded seating of the window sill, Kazuki was reading a book and glancing down at Yuuji with the turn of each page.

She seemed to sense my gaze, much as I had felt hers, and looked at me for a solid moment before turning back to her book. I frowned at the Human's antics, feeling we would be better served if she was actually put to use.

But, I restrained myself from any action I might've taken. Though unspoken, I did still have a deal with Fischer not to berate or force his servants.

Looking back down to where Yuuji and Issei were sparring, I chuffed and looked over my shoulder at my Angels, "You guys can go now, I'll just be meditating for a little while."

Seeker nodded and left, entering the manor as Artoria helped Mittelt from the ground and looped the Fallen's left arm over her shoulders. Amelia and Kalista exchanged looks behind me, Kalista nodding and stepping away to follow after Seeker.

The trio had come to some sort of agreement on a hierarchy between them, with Amelia coming out on top and Kalista following as the next in command. Obviously, as the quietest and least outspoken, Seeker was delegated to the role of errand Angel. I could tell that he didn't really mind though, as long as he had something to do that kept him moving.

Amelia took a seat next to me, copying my form by sitting on her knees and drawing her wings closer to her back. Why she didn't put them away eluded me, but to each their own.

She copied my breathing as I closed my eyes and continued to try and hone Lucifer's Clairsentience, slowly getting used to the feeling of so many different types of energies coming, not only from the area, but also from within myself. I could feel six energies in total within myself, two of which seemed much darker than the others, three were almost completely neutral, and the last was undoubtedly a good force.

The good one was definitely Holy Power, which some might call Divine if they were inexperienced enough. It felt like a mote of light attached to my soul with eight smaller pieces of white light attached near where my wings would be, though I could tell that they weren't wings in the same sense that Amelia's wings were.

I wagered that one of the neutral energies was Sebas' Ki, as he could be considered neutral in most cases. In other forms of media, Ki was generally neutral at first as well, becoming tainted by evil actions or blessed by positive ones. It was a simple metaphysical ball of solid white Ki that sat near my stomach, floating freely though not disturbing any of my actual organs.

The second neutral energy wasn't something I could control to much extent, flexing on its own or as a way of pushing other energies out of my body together. After messing with it, pulling on it, and watching the light grey film snap back into place around my entire body, I figured it was pure Draconic might, the thing that made me feel like a Dragon to others. It also was probably what held my Human form and shifted to allow me to take on a Dragonoid or Full-Dragon form when needed.

The last of the neutral energies was a thin blue band that encircled my heart like a binding rope. On this band were symbols that looked familiar, but that I couldn't quite remember the purpose for. I wasn't sure what kind of energy this was, so I decided to leave it be for now until I figured out its use.

The first of the darker energies was Negative Energy, the thing that powered my Necromancy and allowed me to see and manipulate the aura of the dead. It manifested itself as a gaseous form that was barely contained within the edges of my soul, somehow mingling with the portions of Holy Power that also rested there.

The other dark energy was red and violent, showing itself as a small band encircling each of the points of Holy Power in my soul as if trying to be close to them, yet stay just far enough so as not to annoy them. The energy didn't feel inherently evil though, more so that it was simply its purpose to harm, but not all that it could be used for. This specific strand of the energy almost seemed… happy, like it was home after a long journey.

The Negative Energy seemed to lick against whatever the red energy was, and it occurred to me that the reason the Holy Power wasn't attacking the Negative Energy might be because of whatever this red band was. I knew that I had probably gotten it from Lucifer as I definitely didn't have it before, thus I could wager it was Demonic or Devilish in nature. Demonic sounded better, honestly.

I turned my attention from the trio that was having a reunion in my soul back to the blue energy around my heart. If it was something dangerous, it would have felt as such, but this felt similar to Ki in its neutrality, meaning it wasn't made for harm or health, but rather to meld to its user's needs.

"Amelia," I said softly, getting a hum in response, "What energies do you know of that are blue?"

"Seeker's Holy Power is blue, my lord." She advised, speaking in a whisper as I had, "Other than that, I think Water Magic or Ice Magic."

"It's not Holy Power," I frowned, looking at the energy as it rotated constantly, seeming to want me to figure it out soon, "Magic might be a good guess, but I don't know from where I'd have gotten it."

The band spun slightly faster, pulsing as if to respond to my words. I didn't really have the patience to sit and talk with some magic energy, leaving it to another day when I actually needed it. Though, if I waited until I needed it, I might not be strong enough in it to use it properly.

Shrugging my shoulders, I sighed and retreated from the mental image I had constructed of my body. I extended my Clairsentience outwards, feeling nine distinct sources of power from the island aside from myself.

The Holy Power had four sources in Amelia, Seeker, Kalista, and Mittelt. Two of them, Seeker and Kalista, were drinking something in the kitchen. That left Mittelt as the one laying alone in a bed as Amelia was at my side.

I could feel two sources of Draconic Power, one from Issei who was training in front of me, and one from Artoria, who was also in the kitchen. Along with that Draconic Power, Artoria gave off a similar feeling to the blue band around my heart and something else I had never encountered before. It felt… sparkly.

Sebastian was in the kitchen as well, the only other source of a dim Demonic Power. He poured whatever beverage they were having into the cups of the others in attendance.

Switching my gaze back to Artoria, I weighed what skills of hers I knew of in my head as I thought about what the energy was. She seemed to feel me looking at her after a second, stopping mid-sip and looking around in confusion. She muttered something under her breath and vanished from my senses, letting it sink in that she was a Mage.​

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