A/N: I just wanted to inform everyone that I've literally been trying to make all of the revelations in this chapter work out smoothly but it still came out a bit stiff as their really wasn't a super organic way to lay out these without it feeling just a little bit forced.
.~.~.~.
I was a bit stunned at what the girl had said, but I immediately knew something had to be done to calm her down and make her feel safe, so I reached down and picked up the child into my arms before turning to Velzard and Velgrynd who seemed to be just as confused as I was.
"Don't worry, little one. We've got you. Everything will be ok..." I said as I walked up to the two True Dragons while comforting the girl.
"What is this? Why was a little girl inside Twilight's lab?" Velzard asked darkly. It was pretty clear something extremely messed up was going on, but we didn't have the time to calmly think things through.
The small girl had exhausted herself and fallen asleep in my arms, so I handed her off to Velgrynd who was closest to me before summoning both my spear and sword in my hands. Velzard also seemed to have noticed the strange and eerie feeling that had suddenly surrounded us and went on guard. She made sure to put up a barrier around the little girl and Velgrynd at just the right moment, as an incredibly fast object shot past me and nearly struck the girl in her arms.
I turned around quickly and parried four more projectiles that came from deep within the dark room beyond the door where the girl came from. Despite tuning my [Magic Sense] to its highest accuracy, I still couldn't quite see past the darkness of the doorway. It seemed there was some kind of barrier there that blocked it.
I heard a deep sigh coming from the dark as I straightened myself even more. "Damn it, Alaster. You weren't supposed to get here until after you'd awakened... How am I supposed to see the results of the experiment now?" Twilight asked as he walked past the precipice and into my line of sight.
He wasn't wearing the high-quality suits he normally wore. Instead, he was wearing what I could only describe as Plague Doctor equipment with the iconic mask hanging off his neck. His hands were clothed over with leather gloves coated in fresh blood. He reeked of death and sewage.
Twilight ignored my admittedly shocked stare at him and looked towards the little girl being shielded by Velgrynd. "You should really let me have her back. She was one of my more successful experiments."
My head grew hot and I clenched my teeth hard at what he had just said. I don't know if it was the Hero's Egg that resided inside of me that was crying out for his blood or if it was my own revulsion at the thought of him doing human experimentation on a child while pretending to have been my friend this whole time, but in that instance I knew that before I died, I HAD to kill this man. The only thing stopping me from lunging at him right here and now was the sole question that burned within me.
"Why?" I asked.
Twilight looked a bit shocked by this before smiling at me with a gentle smile that didn't fit the current situation. "Why not? Because I can? Because god told me to? What answer would satisfy you, Alaster?" he quipped.
I nearly lunged at that moment but Velzard interrupted me by asking in a darker and icier tone than usual. "What did you mean by Alaster 'not supposed to be here yet?'" Velzard was seemingly fuming, as the atmosphere had started to drastically lower in temperature.
Twilight actually broke from his coy attitude and straightened up a bit at the threat coming from the True Dragon's voice. It was clear he wasn't excited at the prospect of fighting her but the fact he was so confident about taking ME on in a fight hurt my pride a bit.
"It's a long story but if you're willing to hear it then so be it." He pointed a single finger at me and smirked. "That man right there is going to be my next vessel."
"Vessel?" I asked confused. Twilight seemed to take my confusion with a smile.
"Indeed. I noticed something when I first started birthing new species into the world using my own body as a baseline. Despite being nearly immortal and as strong as the True Dragons themselves, I became weaker over time the more children I had.
At this point in time, I am not as immortal as I once have been. It will be hundreds of years more until it happens, however, I will eventually wither away and die like the rest of my spawn. So I began to search for a new body. One with both the appropriate physical characteristics, but also with Unique Skills or abilities that I could acquire for myself once I possess them. I then had to choose which species to take on, however there was an issue that arose."
Twilight began to pace from side to side as he continued his crazed lecture. "Vampires were the obvious choice with their immortal bodies, however, there weren't nearly enough of them being born with unique abilities, and the ones that were didn't have anything unique that I couldn't replicate myself with magic. Giants were strong enough to be used as a suitable body, however, they don't have any unique skills or abilities and if I was going to be gaining a new body, it may as well be the best body available. The Dwarves were intelligent, however, they were too stocky and had trouble with using magic, even if their handicrafts were superb.
No. It had to be humans. Veldanava favored them for a reason you know. They have perfect fertility. It is one of their many intrinsic skills. They can have all of the children they want without growing weaker and can name their children without a loss of power. Not only that, but they were prolific breeders and spread faster than all others. I was elated at this revelation and imprinted a genetic marker into their DNA to weed out those with the greatest potential, giving them the same Silver hair as I have." He pointed to his own dirty silver hair as he continued to speak.
"All that was left was to wait and keep an eye out for promising individuals. I watched the High Humans while I tricked Veldanava into assigning Ramiris to watch the regular humans, as I didn't have any hopes that the inferior version of my creations would be of use but didn't want to leave anything to chance. Unfortunately, by the time a worthy vessel had shown up, Ramiris had already started blabbing on and on to Veldanava about it... about you." Twilight gave me a glare.
"So you're saying that the reason I have my white hair and was able to get so strong so fast is-" I started.
"Exactly, it's because you had inadvertently received my blessing as it was passed on through your genetic code," Twilight stated before continuing. "Like all human children with white or silver hair, I tried to have you kidnapped using Jahil's slavers as a proxy. You even came as a packaged deal with the Elvish princess at the same time, as she was another possible vessel. You surprised me, however, when you were able to beat back several High Humans whom I'd personally selected alongside Jahil due to their skills. I was going to go collect you and your friend myself, however, my plan seemed to have backfired on me when that damned fairy started running her mouth to Veldanava." Twilight clicked his teeth in frustration.
"Damn him. He wanted to meet with you and sent Sylvia to get you without telling me. I tried to intercept you but Luminous has been keeping a closer eye on me for a while, so I had to take her with me when we delivered you to Veldanava."
Twilight grinned evilly at this point. "To say you'd exceeded my expectations would be an understatement. You were able to temporarily stun an opponent several times your strength when you fought Feldway for the first time and you had a Unique Skill that mirrored one of Veldanava's Ultimates-"
"What!?! He has a skill that mirrors big brothers!?!" Velgrynd interrupted him at this point.
Twilight smiled evilly again. "That's right. Your [Argonaut] is simply the degraded version of [Metatron]. Veldanava noticed this too and that was why he offered you your role as guardian of humanity. You'd make an excellent candidate to pass on that Ultimate Skill to, just like how Velzard's nature made her the perfect person to receive [Gabriel] or Velgryn's [Raguel]."
So much information had been unloaded onto me at once that I felt a bit dizzy. It was almost like for my entire second life, I had unwittingly been one of the many test subjects of Twilight and just the thought alone made me sick to my stomach. Twilight continued his speel, even as the three of us were stunned at the revelation.
"I trained with you and was thinking of killing you during your duties after you'd left. That was why I gave you the Origin Blood." Twilight pointed to the spear I had 'won' in my match with him long ago. "It has a tracking feature on it that would allow me to know where you are... however you surprised me again... twice.
The First was when suggested to Ramiris and Veldanava the creation of a counter product to the Demon Lord's Seed, the Hero's Egg. It really was ingenious and I couldn't wait until it hatched and granted you even further power and made my future Vessel that much stronger. It was a beautiful coincidence that I couldn't have planned better myself." Twilight seemed a bit joyous in his manic way as he explained that to me before his face suddenly darkened.
However, the fact you fell in love with Velzard turned out to be a problem... I was planning on killing you and pretending it was a suicide when she rejected you, but I never imagined that she would actually love you back. That wasn't part of the plan and you leaving with her had really hurt my plans. I can't defeat both you and her at the same time, so I was planning on separating you after you'd reached your full potential, but here you are...
I've gotta say, I'm impressed by just how often you've managed to ruin my plans and surpass my expectations of you. I almost wanted to not kill you and possess your body just to see what better information you'd bring me... unfortunately for you, that isn't possible. I'll have to take your body now before you can communicate to Veldanava all that I've done." Twilight sighed.
"I'd like to see you try to take MY Alaster!" Velzard stated as she walked past and stood in front of me as though to protect me.
She seemed to be a bit different than usual. She was taller and more voluptuous than before. Her big breasts were barely contained within the confines of her white dress. Her normally icy blue eyes were now simmering in a golden rage as she stared at her enemy. Even in my state of seething rage and utter stupifaction, the passing thought that 'damn my waifu's gone thicc mode' raced through my mind before being buried under the other emotions I'd faced.
Twilight looked a bit nervous when he saw Velzard in this form but he seemingly didn't seem too worried. After a moment of staring her down, he gave a tired sigh.
"I really didn't want to reveal this trump card of mine just yet. The clone is still in its processing stage, but I guess I have no choice... I'll have my newest pet take care of you" Twilight stated before looking at Velzard with a sly smile on his face and snapping his fingers.
At that moment, a deep and bellowing roar was heard from within the depths of the catacombs and the entire structure shook. An oppressive pressure washed over us all as trace amounts of static electricity began to build up in the air. My [Magic Sense] was going haywire and a bead of sweat ran down my face as I noticed just how LARGE the presence that appeared was.
"As powerful as that creature is, do you really think it'll stand up to a True Dragon?" Velzard coldly replied to Twilight's comment.
Twilight began to chuckle evilly. The sounds of walls and floors being destroyed as the monster raced toward us began to grow louder and louder as the shaking of the catacombs continued to get closer and closer. It was when it sounded only a room away from us that Twilight's laughing stopped and he made a comment that made my blood run cold.
"No, I don't. That's why I brought a true Dragon of my own." He replied as a Veldora in his dragon form burst into the room, releasing a powerful shockwave roar that shattered the magic barriers containing the catacombs.
.~.~.~.
Lore Bit: I've got a massive amount to lore dump today but I want to clear something up first. Due to me forgetting about Twilight being a mad scientist when writing this character then retconning him to be evil in the last chapter, some of the stuff didn't make as much sense. I was originally going to write it as Jahil being the one who started the experiments on Alaster which was changed to Twilight's blessing in this chapter. This was also why the innkeeper lady was shocked to see Alaster, as she was vaguely aware that white and silver-haired people were special and powerful, and why she went out of her way to punish him, as she didn't want him straying down the wrong path and becoming a huge issue later on.
Twilight wanted to make a child with Velgrynd because he wanted to use that as his new vessel but it failed due to her saying no and Veldanava keeping a closer eye on him. This happened when Velgrynd was still relatively young and naive, as he was trying to trick her into doing it but he wasn't able to realize that he was being creepy due to him never hitting on children before like he did with other women of various races.
Veldora is recently born and the reason why Veldanava was so 'busy' in the last chapter was that he knew that and was looking for him but Twilight got to him first and hid him. Veldanava isn't omniscient anymore, so Twilight was able to pull that one off easily.
The 'clone' Twilight was mentioning is going to be Ivarage It never made much sense to me that a random non-true dragon would appear in the world, and be as strong as a true dragon while actually being a normal Dragon, which didn't exist until either after Gaia died or when Veldanava gave up his dragon form to be with Lucia. Guy mentions that he had been wanting to 'kill that bastard' in Volume 18 but if he was actually a True Dragon that would be impossible as it would just respawn.
We know that Veldanava was still powerful at that time and hadn't become a normal human, since he 'sealed' Ivarage in the other world and tasked Feldway and the others with watching over him and being strong enough to name Zelanus when he was born in the other world. I also don't recall Rudra ever mentioning Ivarage despite knowing Feldway, meaning he might have met Feldway back when the angel could move between the otherworld and the cardinal world before Veldanava's death but after Ivarage was sealed away.
In MY canon, Ivarage was a clone of Veldora created by Twilight who was left isolated and unable to cause havoc after Luminous killed Twilight due to him being left alone and locked up somewhere. He would eventually escape, but since Twilight was dead, no one would know where Ivarage came from, and to them it would appear as if he 'popped up out of nowhere'.