Although Kiara Sessyoin had said it was only "suspected," without directly confirming, Lucan could nonetheless state with absolute certainty that the information was genuine—he could even identify the origins of that group of "Ancestors."
On this point, the "Beast" of the Burial Agency did not doubt the truth of Lucan's words. With the boy's multiple overlapping identities as ancient beings, he was hardly about to fabricate a name on a whim. More importantly, Kiara Sessyoin had herself heard of the existence among the Dead Apostle Ancestors known as the God Age Alliance.
"Was it not Solomon Melian who once spoke of it—the alliance formed in the earliest eras by Ancestors who had existed for more than two thousand years, beings that had already lived since the mythic age?"
This too matched the information revealed by that Dead Apostle Ancestor who had once joined the Burial Agency!
In this moment, Kiara Sessyoin murmured softly, gazing at the boy across from her, whose face radiated confidence and conviction. She could not help but let out a gentle laugh:
"It seems, Chief-sama, that you are rather familiar with that crowd of people, are you not?"
"How could I not be familiar with them?"
The train rumbled onward through the wilderness.
Outside the windows, the scenery of the plains retreated steadily, sunlight piercing through the shadows of undulating forests, falling obliquely into the carriage and illuminating the boy's strikingly handsome features.
For a fleeting moment, Kiara Sessyoin thought she had been transported back a thousand years, to the foot of Mount Fuji, listening to the famed "Peacock Monarch" speaking eloquently before the world.
Lucan declared:
"I know them far too well!"
交流 with the "Dead Apostles Ancestors."
As Victoire Tuval, he had already crossed blades numerous times with the Dead Apostle Ancestors—especially with the White Winged Lord, whose form had since collapsed, making future activity impossible for the time being.
And in the age of Sugawara no Haneaki, such clashes were even more frequent—greater in scale, and far more violent!
This, perhaps, was because Lucan always walked on the side of Human Order.
Inevitably, he attracted the interference of those who, by their very existence, were denials of humanity itself.
Naturally, he could not have failed to know them.
Yes.
Even though Sugawara no Haneaki had only been active in the Far East, while most of the Dead Apostle Ancestors operated across the European continent—separated by an empire, by the vast expanse of Asia—Lucan had still encountered them.
And not merely in the way Victoire Tuval had, colliding with a single active Ancestor—an ambitious, power-hungry White Winged Lord. Instead, he had clashed with an entire organization of Dead Apostle Ancestors: the God Age Alliance!
The White Winged Lord, whom Lucan had destroyed in this age, had indeed been one of its members.
As Kiara Sessyoin had said, it was an alliance composed of the oldest Ancestors, those whose span exceeded two thousand years.
They were beings whose average age surpassed two millennia, phenomena akin to the return of the Age of Gods—a gathering place for ancient mysteries.
They were, in and of themselves, the ancient phenomena of the divine mysteries.
Mystery surpassing two thousand years—by that alone, they had already reached into the "Divine Domain"!
It was even said that among the God Age Alliance were Ancestors older than four thousand years—true remnants of the earliest times.
Lucan, however, had not yet encountered such figures.
From what he knew, this alliance of Ancestors had always been centered on the White Winged Lord, who held the greatest authority among them.
Beneath him, in open view, there were only four other Ancestors:
One said to control the greatest flow of capital on the human side, a mysterious and unfathomable figure known as the "Demonic King of Finance," who too had existed since the most ancient era.
One, a God Age magus who had transformed into a bird of death—the Black Winged Lord, counterpart to the White.
One, the enigmatic master of the train that trafficked in Mystic Eyes.
And one, the Ancestor who possessed a portion of the powers of the Beast 666, the apocalyptic Beast of the Church's mythology.
Among these, the Demonic King of Finance and the Beast Ancestor were the staunchest supporters of the White Winged Lord.
The Black Winged Lord and the train's master were relatively neutral, neither supporting nor opposing.
Yet under the White Winged Lord's leadership, they all actively plotted the revival of the legendary Dead Apostle True King, the "Dark Six Kingship." Moreover, they devoted themselves to exterminating the last surviving True Ancestors who had once ruled the world—those undying rulers of antiquity—while continuously manufacturing new Dead Apostles as "spare food" for themselves.
This had been the case even before the Millennium Castle incident, when the White Princess lost control, leading to the slaughter of the True Ancestors.
After the Castle, with the True Ancestors nearly annihilated, their actions became even more aggressive.
"To some extent, it is precisely because of their influence that I came to Kyoto to attend this so-called 'Millennium Covenant.'"
At last, Lucan spoke again, making no attempt to hide one of his purposes in traveling to Kyoto.
This was hardly the first time Kiara Sessyoin had heard mention of the "Millennium Covenant."
Although she still did not fully understand it...
"What kind of figure could it be, who managed to forge such a long-lasting promise with Chief-sama?" Her full lips parted with a light, airy breath. "Even I feel a touch of envy and jealousy..."
Lucan looked at the bewitching beauty before him.
"Whoever it is, it's not you, coward."
Must you bring that up... Even the Beast, in this moment, was left somewhat speechless.
"But it matters not if I tell you."
Lucan leaned back against the seat of the carriage. At the same time, the crisp voice of the train's broadcast chimed, announcing the upcoming station. Overlapping with the sounds of the train slowing down, he slowly spoke a single name.
A name carried amidst the clamor of deceleration.
Kiara Sessyoin's pupils shrank. Surprise flashed across her face, followed by a quiet recognition—it made sense, if it was this person.
She was—
A unique existence among the Dead Apostle Ancestors.
The origin of all Dead Apostles, the very first True Ancestor, personally acknowledged by the Crimson Moon Brunestud, and granted his own surname—the very first daughter.
The killer of True Ancestors, the elder sister of the White Princess, who had once been deceived by Roa.
The only Ancestor who could stand equal in power and authority to the White Winged Lord.
Though not a member of the God Age Alliance, under her command served several other Dead Apostle Ancestors, bound to her nobility.
A hybrid of True Ancestor and Dead Apostle.
And one of only two remaining "True Ancestors" whom the God Age Alliance sought to eliminate after the Millennium Castle incident.
A hybrid of True Ancestor and Dead Apostle.
——The Black Princess.
"Altrouge Brunestud."
Spring, 1071 CE.
Deep night.
At the foot of Mount Fuji.
Sugawara no Haneaki, though over a hundred years old yet still appearing youthful, walked unsteadily beneath the stars and moon. He followed the scent of death that had never before appeared in those mountains. His hunting robes fluttered, his steps casual, as though he were merely strolling amidst the spring fields.
Light filtered through the tangled branches above, illuminating the crimson floating downstream. That was no beast's blood.
A girl in twelve-layered robes knelt in the center of the stream, her long black hair cascading like a waterfall across the water's surface.
The crimson hue dripped from her body. The current soaked her form, pressing the heavy silk against her slender curves, the faint outlines of her figure revealed beneath.
The water ran along her waist, forming tiny whirlpools. The cloth clung tightly around the line of her hips, revealed faintly in the rippling stream.
Her face, pale and delicate beneath the flow of water, seemed almost too exquisite, her crimson eyes casting, in that instant, the feral light of a beast.
This sight made Lucan—then still acting under the name Sugawara no Haneaki—click his tongue in wonder.
In that moment—
The leaves rustled in the night.
The girl staggered to her feet, the hem of her robe still dripping blood.
She turned, gazing at the tall figure of Sugawara no Haneaki standing there.
Her right eye gleamed with a rainbow sheen.
"Have you seen enough, Peeping Tom?"
"Do you intend to kill me as well?"
Only later did Lucan learn the truth.
At that time, Altrouge Brunestud had just battled with the newly-born White Princess, and wounded, had been relentlessly hunted by the combined forces of the God Age Alliance.
They had pursued her from Europe all the way to the Far East.
Yet the land they had thought bereft of mysteries still bore the traces of divine vestiges. Altrouge, fleeing in desperation, had stumbled into those paths; the other Ancestors, wary, halted at the edge, sending only high-ranking Dead Apostles to give chase.
It was the late Heian period.
The ancient legends and strange tales were already coming to an end.
Because of the tale of Princess Kaguya—
The fallen Altrouge Brunestud was mistaken for a figure equal to that celestial princess of legend.
Not the true one.
But one who falsely bore her name.
After that, Lucan fought with her.
And thus, enemies at first meeting, they came to know each other.
It was an era even earlier than the Peacock Monarch's meeting with the Eight Hundred Nun.
...
Later, even the moon relied on his name, and the princess of the Bamboo Cutter once again descended from the heavens.
She too came to know him.
Taketori Monogatari: New Edition.
...
"That truly was a battle to remember."
Now, sitting upon the modern train, Lucan remarked:
"At least, compared to fighting the six-tailed Tamamo-no-Mae, that was far more exhilarating."
Tamamo had been restrained by his own powers. Though she had newly revived and carried a divinity surpassing even the gods, her state was unstable.
Altrouge, however, had stood firm, above even that.
It had been countless years.