Chapter 1: Chapter 01 : Prologue and Reborn
The royal archive's heavenly steel gates were the only thing stopping the soldiers from entering. But those gates were made to keep people out. So the old man totally ignored their rattling noise as he took his time perfecting the blood diagrams on the white marble floor.
He could hear their angry shouts outside, he could also hear their enchanted axes pounding on the gates, chipping away at them bit by bit. But that did not faze him.
"Open the door, Victor. This is your last chance. If we break those doors, even being the second prince's sworn brother will not help you!" shouted the guard captain angrily, but old Victor completely ignored him. He no longer needed to fear them, as even if they broke in, it was already too late to stop him. With great satisfaction, he wiped his bloodied finger and looked at his handiwork. His preparations were finally complete.
With great difficulty, He slowly sat on the ground inside a complex magical circle that he just drew with his own purple blood.
He read all the books he needed to, adjusted all the talismans, and made all the calculations that could be made. But still, he was not sure if this would work.
In theory, it should, but he only had one chance, and he had to take it tonight.
Taking four golden withered papers from his pocket, he slowly set them ablaze and watched as they burned with vivid smoke… One by one, they set his coordinates.
The bright necklace on his chest turned red as it slowly sucked on his remaining life. There was not much left of it anyway. If he couldn't complete this ritual tonight, he would not get another chance! He had no life force in him to let him see the morning's sun.
It had taken him all night and all of his wisdom to complete this unorthodox summoning circle. He was extremely exhausted, but he knew that he would never wake up again if he slept now. Although The breaths he was taking now were his last, his bright eyes that were fixed on the black book he held carefully in his hand didn't show that.
"Victor, open the gates!" a stern yet friendly voice suddenly sounded from behind the gates. It was his sworn brother's.
Victor didn't respond. He just flicked his hand, tipping a jar full of golden blood to the floor, starting the ritual.
The magical circle glowed as an energy vortex began to form with him at its center. It slowly grew bigger as the world around him hummed in pain. Out of thin air outside of the building, a different vortex suddenly appeared rotating in an opposite direction and filling the air with dense lethal energy. The prince and the guards outside had to retreat a few steps despite their high levels.
"What are you doing? What the hell are you summoning!" yelled the prince in surprise as he saw the walls of the imperial archive's building, the obsidian-built indestructible structure, slowly disintegrate under the forces of the world. Leaving only old Victor, sitting peacefully on the marble floor in the eye of the storm, with a content smile.
"Victor, stop this madness. Whatever you are summoning, it will definitely fail. The world's rules are already solid, and the system is going to contain your ritual then kill you!" the prince yelled in distress as the outer vortex slowly surrounded the one Victor created containing it, then sparks began to fly as the two vortices battled. They were grinding at each other fiercely and destroying everything at their point of contact.
This was not an equal battle though, the outer one was clearly stronger and was slowly closing in on the inner one.
Victor was still sitting leisurely in the center, enjoying the show as his shaking hands slowly caressed the black book on his lap, staining it with blood that had long lost its luster, making it start to shine with faint white light as it accepted the activation command.
"Brother, do you remember what you promised me back then?" Victor asked in a harsh voice as the light grew brighter.
"What?" asked the prince with a sigh. These words would be his sworn brother's last.
"I will tell you when we meet again," Victor said with a smirk as the outer vortex devoured the small one at the exact moment the black book shone so bright, it illuminated the entire world.
The headache made him wake up. Did He drink too much with the girls last night? No? Right… The Ritual!
"Did I succeed?" Victor asked himself as he sat straight up and looked around. The moonlight coming through the massive window illuminated his exquisite surroundings. He was laying on a massive bed placed in the center of a room that had a high, gilded ceiling and ornamented wallpapers that contributed to the ancient atmosphere of the room.
He quickly started feeling around the side of his bed searching for the light switch which he quickly found, turning on an antique lamp to his side. It quickly cast its yellowish light around the room, revealing details that were too vague to make out in the dim moonlight.
The first thing that caught his eye was the huge poster on the wall that featured a pretty red-haired actress winking at him. Seeing it, he began to laugh loudly.
He had succeeded! The time travel ritual worked. He had returned 200 years to the past, to the time when he was still a young master. And this was his bedroom. The one he lived in before he became an adult anyway.
He quickly dashed out of bed to a nearby window. He opened it and took a deep breath stretching his body as he looked around at the green lush forest and moonlit sea on the horizon.
He no longer needed to hide his true identity or to call himself Victor the old scholar.
His name was Victor Von Weise, the son of Theodore Von Weise, a direct descendant of the Von Weise family, not a normal family by any means. As an ancient aristocratic lineage that held its position throughout the ages as one of the strongest hidden powers ruling the world, the Von Weise family had its own rules and regulations that were inherited from generation to generation.
Now, He was in his father's mansion on the family's private archipelago. This was where his father's multiple wives and children resided. And this was where he lived in his childhood. Not a happy one if compared to his family's standards.
Despite wearing the best brands, and eating the most delicious food. As a child, he could never be happy feeling the scowls and harsh gazes of his brothers and the servants around him. Hearing their whispers mocking him in the hallways. They didn't even try to lower their voices as they laughed.
When he was born, Victor was praised as a prodigy, as having purple hair like his from birth was very rare, it was a sign of having a pure bloodline. Which was confirmed after they tested him.
But, as he grew older and began to practice the family's secret martial arts, the family discovered that something was wrong. His body didn't exhibit signs of getting stronger. On the contrary, as he grew older, he became weaker with every passing month.
Noticing his bizarre situation, the family examined him, but couldn't find anything wrong, so they mistakenly concluded that his blood was not pure enough, just barely passable.
This conclusion lowered his status in the family extremely. Many started suggesting that he should be thrown away like all the descendants who had no pure blood. But his father refused to lower his status, arguing that even if he had one drop of pure blood, he was still eligible to be considered an heir.
Yes, His father's and mother's support was what kept him going back then.
Victor sighed as he remembered the past, His status as an heir and the protection it provided did not last long. It was revoked after he failed the coming-of-age ceremony. It was a ritual that every true Von Weise has to go through. A test of sorts.
"Right, The ceremony. What's today's date?"
He ran back to his bed. There, under the pillow. His old phone, a golden VA 8, was placed. It was a gift from his parents for finishing school.
If his calculations were correct he should have returned sometime just before the ceremony.
Looking at the time displayed on the phone's screen, he smiled as he sighed in relief. It was now 5:16 am, the 21st of June. He has returned at the right time. The ceremony will happen tonight. Its result would not only determine the family's attitude towards him. But also his plans for the near future.
He barely made it, manipulating the space, and time fabric was an extremely dangerous business.
"Now, what should I do?" He wondered. In his previous life, this ceremony was the first incident that led to his downfall, and it was followed by multiple tragic incidents. He kept getting used as a pawn in the power struggle of those around him, falling into traps that were elaborately created by both enemies that he never knew existed, and people he trusted, like his stupid fiancée who was cheating on him.
In the end, they succeeded in making him break one of the family's rules to save a friend.
In his family, rules can't be broken. So after a humiliating trial he was kicked out and had to live the next 20 years in suffering and poverty. If it were not for the secret help from his mother and sister, he would have died on the streets.
Then came the Reckoning. That's what they called it anyway. That day when the rules of the world changed.
Numerous things changed that night, and one of them was his destiny. He was able to awaken his noble bloodline and achieve what he missed in the ceremony.
He chose to return to the family to prove himself after that. He had long learned that a lone man could do nothing in the world that turned savage overnight. He also wanted to take revenge on those who fooled him, his half-brothers included.
But it was too late. His family seemed to have angered some rising hero and were wiped out in one night, leaving the archipelago where its mansions and palaces once stood tall a desolate ruin.
No one survived, and all of his loved ones were dead. He buried many of their bones by himself, at least the ones he found.
He wished for revenge but could do nothing. That guy was too powerful, another league of powerful.
Feeling despaired by his own weakness, he wandered around the new world as a loner for many years, then settled down, fell in love, and had a family.
But the past always hunted him. The one who annihilated his family back then found him. And from his mouth, Victor learned many things.
That man, after wiping out the Von Weise family, discovered the truth about their immortal bloodline.
He wanted it for himself. But he had already ordered the death of everyone in the family. So he had been hunting for Victor, the last known survivor, ever since.He had just found his prey!
He captured Victor with his children after killing his wife who was deemed useless. Then, he brutally extracted their essence blood using an evil artifact leaving them to die.
Victor survived thanks to a lucky chance, but he was hurt badly and knew that he would eventually die as he could feel the immortality granted by his bloodline was fading. But he had some time, so he decided to search for a way, to get his bloodline back, then get revenge.
He returned to his ancestral home and began digging in the ruins. He uncovered many secrets there and was able to extend his life by a few decades after discovering a hidden vault that contained his ancestor's bones. But alas no way to restore his bloodline. His family was only beginning to discover its marvelous uses when they were annihilated.
He spent the next five decades researching and studying. And then, by pure coincidence, he heard the rumors about the black book that was recently retrieved from another world. People knew it was precious since it had an X-rank artifact, but it was pretty much useless.
Despite being a fabled Time Travel artifact, everyone agreed that it was useless. The user, after paying a huge price, would only be able to send his mind in time for one second. And it could only be used once!
For others, it could only serve as a collection and research item. An extravagant one at that. But, for him, it was his last hope.
To go near the book and study it, he had to ask his friend for help, and that, he did. He got him a job as a librarian in the Royal Archive where it was kept, and after many decades of hard work, he was able to get near it to study it and develop a method to make it send him decades to the past.
Now he was back. What he had to do was use his knowledge to create a power that no other can rival. While taking revenge on those who hurt him.
After the Reckoning, the world's powers would be shuffled, and if he was to play his cards right, he could grab a big slice of the pie.
The Reckoning is already showing its signs. Things should begin to escalate in the following years until it explodes. The first incident should be a few weeks later.
"First things first," he thought. Before he went against his enemies, he had to build his own force and set some things right in the family.
After the ceremony, the heirs would be granted resources and positions depending on their test results and would be expected to do family assignments in the outside world.
Victor sighed then and sat on his desk where he took a fancy notepad that was a gift from his younger sister and began to write what he had to do.
He didn't return just for revenge, or to save his family. He wanted to build his own power, and live the life he deserved. But he knew more than anyone else how hard that was. This world was much more treacherous and evil than anyone would have ever thought.
Name after name, he filled the first few pages. Those were the people he wanted to kill. And those who he wanted to save. Many events were written here, many secrets. It was not that he would ever forget, it is just that he needed a checklist to make him slow down a bit and not rush his plans.
If someone were to come to look at this notebook he would be shocked by the numerous scribbles it contained. No one would be able to understand this, not for the next 300 years at least.
At precisely 6:00 am, there was a light knock on the door.
A beautiful woman stepped in with a wrapped package in her hands. Her name was Adele, one of the maids in the mansion. He remembered her well. She was one of his father's trusted servants and maybe a little more than that.
"Young master Victor, I am here to wake you up. The master had instructed me to give you this ceremonial robe, and to inform you that you should be ready for breakfast at 6:30 in the first dining room," she said, as she placed the bundle of clothes she was carrying on the table.
Victor nodded his head. "I understand. I will be there on time."
The maid bowed, then stepped back and closed the door on her way out after giving Victor an inspecting look. Something felt different.
Victor quickly headed to the bath for a quick shower.
After he finished, he used a towel to dry his grayish-purple hair in front of the mirror, where he began to inspect his sickly body. Despite training for more than 10 years, he couldn't get any healthier, and he knew why. The family's art was meant to be used on those with tainted blood to burn the impure parts and use the energy to build the body. But his blood was too pure for it, so it had the opposite effect.
He should probably awaken his bloodline soon. No… What if he upgraded it? That would need some work but it would be worth it. But….. where can he get that thing from? And he would need Linda's help… Would that slut help him?
With a sigh, he grabbed the ceremonial gold-threaded robe and carefully put it on, then sat down and began to recall all the information about his family.
His father at this point in time had three official wives in addition to countless concubines and lovers.
His mother Elena was the second official wife of his father. That position was granted to her because his brother, two sisters, and he all had pure bloodlines and purple hair.
"Women who give birth to bloodline heirs are eligible to be wives," the 317th family rule dictated.
When his father met his mother, she was just a little model who wanted to score with the super-rich gentleman she found. But after she gave birth to his eldest sister, she was quickly canonized as an official wife.
As for the children who have no bloodline, they are considered illegitimate. If they are talented, they would be given a chance to serve the family. If not, they would just be given some money and education, then left to live their lives. Many successful entrepreneurs and business owners are just illegitimate children from other aristocratic families.
Looking out of the window at the rising sun on the horizon over the forest. He could see the roofs of the many mansions that dotted this island. They belonged to his uncles, cousins, and family members. This island was meant to be a protective environment to groom the future heirs of the family.
"It's time," he thought.
A knock on the door sounded, then a little girl poked her head in and looked at him, "Esteemed big brother! Esteemed mother sent me here to get you," she said timidly as she entered the room.
Lara, his younger sister, Victor couldn't help himself approaching her and then hugging her tightly. In his last life, she was very unlucky as she didn't survive her ceremony. There were still three years for that though, so he would definitely help her this time!
"Big...Brother... You are suffocating me," she protested.
He quickly let go and stepped back looking at her, she was frailer than he remembered.
"I just missed you," he said with a true smile, his first in a long time. " Let's go!" he said as he took the protesting girl's hand and then dragged her downstair....
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone