Beyond the Bloodline

Chapter 428: Adam’s Unwanted Guests

Sol Star System

Milky Way Galaxy

Continuum H-0 (Human Universe)

Origin Multiverse

May 30th

AD 5020 of the Gregorian Calendar

The Cosmos is all of existence, encompassing everything that possibly exists, from the smallest particle to the grandest structures, every Concept, energy, and reality itself.

Within this totality lies the Outerverse, the highest-level region of the Cosmos, existing beyond the Hyperverse, an expanse that serves as the framework holding Multiverses within it. Each Multiverse is a distinct, ever-expanding collection of countless Universes governed by laws derived from the Concepts, and each Universe is a discrete pocket of existence containing stars, planets, life, energy, and various phenomena, linking every level from the outermost reaches of the Cosmos down to the individual worlds that make up the fabric of reality.

One of the Multiverses within the Cosmos is the Origin Multiverse, and as its name suggests, it was the first of these collections of universes, the birthplace of the Progenitors, the Origin existences of every race in the Cosmos.

Each Progenitor’s birth caused a burst of cosmic energy within the Origin Multiverse, creating a Universe directly tied to that Progenitor, which only they could assume the role of Master over.

It was the first Multiverse born from Chaos, before Order birthed the Dark Multiverse, and the Numbered Multiverses were created by the First-Generation Eternals to weaken the Cosmic Force of Chaos during the Reign of Chaos.

As mentioned earlier, each universe within the Origin Multiverse was bound to a single Progenitor, and these universes were often referred to by the name of the Race whose Progenitor’s birth had created them.

However, these universes also had official names. For instance, the universe commonly called the ’Human Universe,’ was actually named Continuum H-0.

That was the current location of both Jamie and Angela, and the reason they were there was, unsurprisingly, Angela’s body.

Miranda and Jamie had managed to eke out a deal using that body as leverage, and Angela and her children couldn’t really object, since nothing they did would’ve made Jamie or Miranda reconsider.

The conditions were fairly simple:

When Angela wanted to make Daniella immortal, she would take Daniella out of Zanerth’s territories and deep into the domain of one of their greatest rivals, one of the multi-universal empires the Neo-Extinction Legion had made contact with, an empire that Jamie and Miranda had uncovered as cooperating with the Neo-Extinction Legion after combing through Deryn’s memories.

She would then carry out whatever procedures she needed to perform there, so that when Julio and or Dulio were inevitably alerted and inevitably arrived, whatever followed would fall on that multi-universal empire, keeping them too occupied to interfere in Zanerth affairs while they dealt with the Neo-Extinction Legion.

In return, Jamie would lead her to where her body was supposed to be.

A great deal of emphasis was placed on that supposed to be, since Jamie hadn’t checked on it in hundreds of millions of years.

Then again, it was somewhere with a very high chance that it hadn’t been moved, since the one who ruled the universe Jamie had stored it in wasn’t someone who’d allow anyone to tamper with the body of the Cosmos’ most powerful Envoy of Chaos, especially given the strange condition it was in when it was placed there.

That Universal Master was none other than the Progenitor of the Cosmos’ most populous race, the human race, Adamas, more commonly known simply as just Adam.

And it wasn’t just any location within Continuum H-0 where Jamie had stored Angela’s then berserk body.

It was on one of the most famous Apex Planets in the entire Cosmos, a planet where even the smallest scrap of information about its location was enough to ignite cosmic wars.

That was because of how much of the Cosmos’ current magi-technology development that planet had influenced, achieved through the fusion of its technology with the magic and mysticism of the countless universes its inhabitants had travelled to.

Located in one corner of Continuum H-0 was a spiral galaxy known as the Milky Way.

Among its many stars was a yellow dwarf called Sol, and orbiting Sol were eight planets, only one of which was habitable, the small blue world known as Apex Planet Earth.

It was the planet Adam used as his primary base, functioning in practice as his Cosmic Headquarters, since it was where he’d spent much of the early part of his life and where he’d learned a great deal about his own identity and powers as the Primordial Human.

It was also significant for another reason, as it was the birthplace of the Progenitor Humanslayer, Evelyn, more commonly known simply as Eve.

Slayer Races came into existence when the actions of a particular race were deemed or judged harmful by the majority of the Cosmos’ inhabitants, and it was only natural that the most populous race in the entire Cosmos would have many of its actions viewed as harmful by others, especially across the worlds they’d ruined.

Because of that, the Cosmos generated the Humanslayer race to cull their numbers. They were among the oldest Slayer Races to exist, even older than Dragonslayers.

That, however, wasn’t important right now.

What mattered was that because of Adamas’ continued presence on Earth, it was the place where one had the highest chance of encountering him if they wanted to find him... assuming they knew where it was.

Jamie, being one of the few in the Cosmos who knew the exact coordinates within Continuum H-0 of where the Milky Way was, headed straight there, and as expected, Adam was present.

He even had a guest, another Progenitor, and someone Jamie was familiar with for more than a few reasons.

For starters, around 40% of Jamie’s racial factors originated from this man’s race.

He was the Sanguine Ruler, the Origin Vampire, Vlad Dracul Tepes.

Given how many universes existed where vampires preyed on humans and other races, and how humans likewise eradicated vampires in other universes, one might assume the Progenitors of these two races shared deep hostility.

Surprisingly, they didn’t.

That didn’t mean they were friends, though.

They were simply occasional collaborators when they had a shared goal, and beyond that, they rarely interacted.

To begin with, Adam barely interacted with anyone at all.

He was a lone wolf, which was ironic, considering he was the Progenitor Human rather than the Progenitor Werewolf, who was actually the opposite of a lone wolf, though that was an aside for now.

◇　◇　◇

On one of the continents in the southern hemisphere of the pale blue planet, within a well-kept garden centred around a small gazebo that offered a clear view of the sunset along the horizon, two men were enjoying a quiet evening tea.

One was a man with curly blonde hair and brown eyes, his expression as cold as his gaze, which seemed to look down on everyone and everything.

Seated across from him was a man with a deathly pale complexion and slit-pupil eyes redder than blood, his face framed by wavy strands of ink-black hair parted down the middle.

Whenever he parted his lips to sip his tea, faint glimpses of elongated canines could be seen beneath them.

After taking a sip, he set the cup back onto its saucer and spoke.

"You have guests."

The man seated opposite him nodded lightly.

"Unfortunately. Couldn’t Westley pick a better time?" he said, sighing.

At that, the crimson-eyed Vampire Progenitor glanced to the side and replied, "Westley does have terrible timing, but I wasn’t referring to him."

His words elicited another exasperated sigh from Adam, who clicked his tongue and responded.

"I know. Can’t you see how much effort I’m having to put in right now just to maintain my universe’s Cosmic Force balance?"

As he spoke, space warped to create a cosmic gate, from which a familiar silver-haired Deathless Immortal stepped out, his hands in the pockets of his black pinstriped suit, and a bright smile spread across his face.

"Well, well, well. It’s been a while, old men. Mind if I join you for tea?"

Without waiting for a reply, he raised his left hand and summoned a chair from his pocket dimension, setting it to the left side of the table where the two Progenitors were seated.

He took the seat, conjured a teacup, then picked up the jug resting at the centre of the table and poured himself some tea with the same casualness.

Angela stepped out of the Cosmic Gate a few seconds later, her left eyebrow raised in mild surprise at the sight of Adam and Vlad sitting across from one another.

"The Progenitors of Humans and Vampires having evening tea together? That sounds like the kind of headline Nash would love to publish."

Adam’s brows scrunched at the name she mentioned, his tone irritated as he replied.

"Please don’t mention that gossip monger anywhere near me."

"Clearly, you don’t like him very much," Angela said, walking around to the other side of the table.

"Aren’t you fellow Primordials?"

At her question, Adam looked toward her and fired back with one of his own.

"Are you friendly with every other Envoy of Chaos that exists in the Cosmos?"

"...fair point," Angela replied with a shrug as she took a seat across from Jamie.

Vlad, slowly stirring his tea, finally turned his gaze toward her and spoke.

"I never believed the rumours claiming you were dead, but your current state, Witch of Chaos, is even worse than death as far as I’m concerned."

He sampled the blend with his teaspoon, then set it on the saucer as he asked, "What happened to your body?"