Gospel of Blood

Bardock’s appearance hadn’t changed much from what Charlotte remembered.

The same a thousand years ago, the same a thousand years later.

But when Charlotte heard how he addressed her, she froze in place.

“Savior…?”

She couldn’t help but look at him.

Bardock smiled sincerely.

“Apologies, Savior, although you have emphasized many times that we can address you by name, you are the hero who saved us and the entire city-state.”

“You brought us extraordinary power. In my heart, Lady Lilith, you will always be our Savior.”

Charlotte hesitated.

She looked at the respectful Bardock and sighed.

“I want to go for a walk, can you… accompany me for a while?”

Bardock respectfully bowed.

“At your command.”

…

Charlotte left the tower and strolled through the city.

The low buildings on both sides were packed tightly together, and the bustling streets were lively.

Although it was far from the prosperity and beauty of the Crescent Kingdom’s capital, Lutecia, that Charlotte remembered, at this moment, the Freedom City already had some of the atmosphere of a large city.

When people saw the soldiers and Bardock accompanying Charlotte, they all stopped to salute.

Charlotte smiled and nodded in greeting.

Contrary to the historical records, the Lilith she remembered was not stingy with her smiles, and she always responded in kind.

From the gazes coming from all directions, Charlotte could feel the people’s genuine respect for her.

As she walked, she subtly conversed with Bardock.

“So… you’re saying that I am ‘Lilith’, but also… the ‘Savior’, right?”

Bardock didn’t find Charlotte’s question strange, and naturally responded.

“Of course, Lady Lilith, you brought us extraordinary power and granted new life to those of us who should have died. To us, to the citizens of the city-state, you will always be our ‘Savior.’”

Charlotte remained silent.

She glanced at Bardock and continued.

“Do you… remember what happened the day I became a blood… no, a family member?”

Barak’s face showed reminiscence, and he respectfully said,

“Of course I remember. We were on the verge of defeat back then, and you sacrificed your life, awakening new power in rebirth, bringing us new hope.”

“If it weren’t for you, we would have long become sacrifices for those Evil Gods…”

Rebirth…

Charlotte was thoughtful.

After thinking for a moment, she asked.

“Do you… remember the name ‘Cain’?”

Bardock nodded and smiled.

“Of course, you mean the pseudonym you often used to hide your identity, right?”

“I remember the first time I met you, you gave that name. Back then, I didn’t know that Lady Lilith was actually our city’s savior, and I made a fool of myself in front of Lord Harald.”

Charlotte: …

Seriously, hiding identity?

But…

Harald…

Could it be… Harald’s identity hasn’t changed?

Is Harald’s history… still normal?

Only the “history” of me and Lilith has “merged”?

After thinking for a while, she asked.

“Where is Harald? Where is he now?”

“Lord Harald has gone to inspect the northern region. He should be back in some time, but… he will definitely return before you select the next batch of family members.”

Barak respectfully answered.

“Power… selection?”

Charlotte was puzzled.

“Yes, you plan to select the best candidates among the third-generation family members for a second awakening, don’t you? After all… compared to your immense power, we, who were pulled back from the brink of death, still have too low a limit.”

Bardock explained.

Charlotte pondered.

“Excellent third-generation bloodbornes? You mean those who were embraced not by me, but by you?”

“Bloodbornes? You mean the family, right? This is also a conclusion everyone came to after many attempts. Compared to us, who directly received power from you, they have not been polluted and have more potential. If they could receive power from you again, they would definitely go further.”

Bardock said.

As he spoke, as if thinking of something, he pondered.

“However, bloodborne… it feels like… this new name you came up with suits us more…”

He muttered to himself.

“This is indeed a good name. Although everyone is used to calling themselves your ‘family’, for some reason, it feels like this term fits our power better.”

Charlotte: …

Is this really how the name “bloodbornes” originated?!

At this moment, she had a strange expression and a thought emerged in her mind.

…

Charlotte strolled while engaging in a deep conversation with Bardock.

With subtle probing, she gradually outlined the current situation.

As she suspected, from Bardock’s memories, her identity had indeed “merged” with Lilith’s.

The events she experienced during her previous two travels, the deeds she performed as the “Savior”, had all become attributed to “Lilith” in his memory.

As for how “Lilith” became bloodborne, it wasn’t through the “Savior’s” embrace but through direct “self-awakening.”

In short, the memories of the “True Ancestor of Blood” and the “Bloodborne Progenitor” had become the same.

In Bardock’s and everyone’s perception, the “True Ancestor of Blood” and the “Bloodborne Progenitor” had always been one person from the beginning.

This discovery made Charlotte frown slightly.

Before this journey, she had just “reviewed” the fragments of memories from her previous two travels through those mirror images.

In those memory fragments, her identity and Lilith’s identity were distinguishable.

But after this journey… how had these two identities merged?

Wasn’t it said… history cannot be changed?

If her identity had merged with Lilith’s, if in Bardock’s and other second-generation bloodbornes’ memories, the identities of the True Ancestor and Progenitor had merged, wouldn’t that contradict her previous two travels?

Or perhaps… her previous two travels were the “rewriting” of history, and this post-journey “identity” merger was history’s “self-correction”?

Charlotte thought she might need to find a way to enter that suspected mirrored world of the timeline again.

She needed to verify, she needed to check the memory mirrors from her first and second travels to see if those memory fragments had changed once more.

Of course, Charlotte knew that in her current state, she definitely couldn’t check.

Even if she wanted to, it would probably only be possible after this time travel ended, when she returned to the future.

“History… has issues. History is chaotic. Perhaps only when I truly understand what happened in history, when I untangle the entire chaotic history, can I truly uncover all the hidden secrets behind it.”

“And this… must also be related to the warning left by Lilith: ‘History has never changed, but history can be created.’”

Charlotte pondered.

Of course, the information she could gather now was still too limited.

Traveling through time was like a fish entering different tanks, to understand what represented the tank of history, she had to jump out and look.

In other words, Charlotte might need to repeatedly investigate and verify through future travels.

As for now, since her identity had “merged” with Lilith’s, she might as well act as “Lilith” and first accomplish her purpose for this journey.

Perhaps, as her power further increased, she could become more sensitive to the “changes” in history.

“First, let’s understand the current situation of the Old Gods in the Northern Frontier. Know thyself and thy enemy, and you will be victorious in every battle. After all, I came back this time to deal with those Old Gods. Although my blood divine power suppresses them, facing myths… I still need to be cautious.”

Charlotte thought.

…

After the walk, Charlotte returned to the central tower and ordered Bardock to bring all the information about the Northern Frontier.

Bardock moved quickly, soon bringing a large stack of documents.

Charlotte skimmed through all the information, gaining a general understanding of the Northern Frontier’s situation.

Unlike her previous two time travels, this time Charlotte had a clearer understanding of the entire Northern Frontier’s scope.

Different from the later so-called northern regions, the current Northern Frontier referred to the northern part of the Crescent Kingdom in the future, plus the northern borders, plus parts of the Western Yunette Empire, and parts of the Eastern Yunette Blacklands.

Overall, it encompassed most of the northern part of the Myria continent.

This area was almost the core region of the later unified Yunette Empire.

Speaking of which, it could no longer be described as the “Northern Frontier” of the continent. From the map, Charlotte leaned towards the idea that the name “Northern Frontier” was simply a unilateral naming by the elves who had landed on the Myria continent and radiated outwards from their colony.

Now, with the rise of the Free City-State Alliance, the entire Northern Frontier presented a tripartite situation.

One side was the elves who had retreated to the southwest and southeast, occupying an area roughly equivalent to the western part of the future Crescent Kingdom and the Western Yunette Empire, separated from the Free City-State Alliance by the Dorn River and the Luna Inner Sea.

One side was the Free City-State Alliance, controlling areas equivalent to the northern part of the future Crescent Kingdom, the lowlands of Castell, the southern-northern borders, and the western part of the Eastern Yunette Blacklands.

The last side was the Old Gods, whose control range almost coincided with the future Northern Grand Duchy.

Among these three forces, the elf forces split by the Free City-State Alliance can be set aside for now.

The elves were not united internally, divided into various factions, their controlled areas heavily fragmented, with rivers, mountains, and inner seas separating them, posing no immediate threat to the Free City-State Alliance.

With extraordinary power rapidly spreading among humans, the elves were already exhausted dealing with internal human “uprisings”, having no extra energy to unite and attack the rapidly growing Free City-State Alliance.

They could only rely on a temporary alliance with the Old God forces to prevent the Free City-State Alliance from moving south and east.

Facing the northern Old God forces’ pressure, the Free City-State Alliance also lacked the capability to continue attacking elf-controlled areas, as most of their strength was tied up by the allied Old God Cults.

The three forces reached a subtle balance, with the war between the City-State Alliance and the Old Gods continuing in a state of small skirmishes without large-scale battles.

As for why this was so, Charlotte gained further understanding after reading various documents of the Free City-State Alliance—The extraordinary power of the Free City-State Alliance had reached its current limit.

Like the elves, the Old Gods were not united either. The Old God forces fighting the Free City-State Alliance were primarily a few Old Gods led by the God of Secret Contracts, Kul’kan.

Lilith, who had become a Demigod and even slain the God of Abomination and Deformity, was enough to hold off the Old Gods hostile to the City-State. With mythological powers mutually countering each other, extraordinary power became the decisive factor in the war.

Although the overall power of the bloodborne in the Free City-State Alliance was growing, facing the Old God forces under mythological pressure, they were still too weak.

Thus, there was the “second awakening” mentioned by Bardock—selecting talented blood descendants among the third generation to be personally empowered by the Progenitor, further strengthening the City-State Alliance’s extraordinary power.

This… was also to prepare for further battles with the Old Gods.

Charlotte quickly absorbed the current situation of the Northern Frontier through various documents.

Just then, there was another knock on the door.

“Lady Lilith, the chosen family warriors have gathered in the central hall and are ready for the final review.”

Hearing the report, Charlotte slapped her forehead, remembering that Lilith had an afternoon selection for personal guards.

The review was conducted one-on-one, with Charlotte personally selecting.

Of course, the so-called selection of personal guards was actually part of the “second awakening” preparation. According to the documents she read, Lilith planned to select a batch of guards and maids for the second awakening to enhance their bloodline power.

Now that Charlotte had “traveled” as Lilith, she had to undertake this task.

“Just as well… I’m curious about the current bloodborne warriors of the City-State Alliance. Seeing their strength firsthand is a good opportunity.”

Charlotte muttered.

She replied, “Got it”, then put away the documents, readying herself for the review.

Soon, there was a knock on the door, and Bardock’s voice came through.

“Savior, we are ready.”

Charlotte nodded.

“Let them in one by one.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the door opened, and a huge shadow fell inside, instantly blocking the sunlight from the window.

Seeing the first warrior entering for review, a bloodborne warrior definitely over three meters tall, Charlotte, sitting behind her desk, was stunned and instinctively said,

“My goodness, this guy… is so tall!”