"What the fuck?"
"Vulgar," Dio remarked. "I've looked beyond profanities; now I strive to make my insults far more personal. There's an element of creativity behind such things that I relish."
"So you're good at insulting people, do you want a fucking medal? What the fuck is up with you? How are you..."
She stared in disbelief. His skin glowed a bright white as he stood in the sun's light. Not metaphorically, not the way skincare products boasted of yet failed to achieve, literally glowing. Enough that it almost hurt to look at.
'What kind of blasphemous joke is this?'
Gwen chuckled wryly. She wasn't an avid follower of the sun god herself, but even she knew this was beyond crazy.
'Unless…'
Gwen reassessed Dio. His regal gold eyes burned like miniature suns, reflecting a world completely different from her own, a world one might think he considered beneath him at first glance, however his eyes held a maturity that contained his arrogance, like windows to his calculating brain despite his noble countenance.
His messy shoulder-length blonde hair had an enhanced glow in the sun, and his toned musculature peeked through his ragged, torn clothes.
He had a body chiseled from marble, like a Greek god or warrior, despite him appearing severely malnourished when they first met. 'No, He's not a normal vampire at all.'
Dio felt a blissful smile creep upon his lips and couldn't help but chuckle to himself in glee. "Just how long has it been since I last could bask in the sun like this? Decades? Centuries? It's felt like it."
Gwen shuddered, and immediately a name graced her lips. "M-Malvros." She gasped.
Dio's eyes snapped to her. "No. My name is Dio." He corrected.
"You look just like in the portrait, and you're standing under the sun. How are you standing under the sun?"
The sun's rays are weaker than the concentrated energy I received from that artifact.
He redirected the solar energy that entered his body releasing it as heat and light through the pores of his skin. His body temperature had risen under the sun and a thing sheen of sweat glistened across his skin. This paired with the light he was emitting, made him appear to be glowing.
Although the effect is rather conspicuous, I have partially bested my most glaring weakness. This was an impossibility for me before.
"The portrait of Malvros looks similar to me, but it is just that. A similarity, although if he too could withstand the light of the sun, I am more curious about this vampire god my dearly departed cultist friends spoke of." Dio said.
Dio continued to marvel at the flow of solar energy through his veins. He didn't allow it to linger long enough to build up, but he could faintly see all his blood vessels through his lightly glowing skin.
It's magnificent how everything in this world seems to be filled with energy, even the sunlight is incomparable to the sun on earth.
It was rather exhausting to consciously maintain the expulsion of solar energy throughout his body, on top of that, he had to limit the spread of his vitae to only his major organs so the solar energy wouldn't penetrate deep enough to react with it.
Dio figured if he wore denser clothing, he would have no problems with staying under the sun for longer stretches of time, but as things stood now, he preferred the shade. But, if my physiology has been altered like this...
Dio stared at Gwen, who appeared to be deep in thought. As a budding vampire sired by my blood,Would she be the same?
Gwen was still protected by the shade provided by the dense leaves under which she stood; the wind whistled as it blew through them, sweeping her vibrant blonde hair across her face. Her eyes locked onto his. Dio was about to open his mouth when suddenly a voice cut through the silence.
"My Lord!" A voice in the distance called out. "My Lord, we have not abandoned you!"
Dio's eyes tracked the direction the voice was coming from, and the sound of heavy footfalls grew louder as the voice approached.
"My Lord!" The voice was given form as one of the vampire cultists came into view. Two more followed close behind. They all appeared starstruck when they saw Dio glowing from the sun's rays, seemingly unaffected by it.
"You really are..." A tear came to the eye of the leading cultist. He looked a lot like-
"Lazarus?" Dio asked.
"I am Azrael, My Lord. My brother... He died fighting the hunters."
"I see," Dio murmured. "And the two by your side?"
"Gret and Hans, My Lord. At your service." They said in unison.
"My lord…?" Gwen asked, puzzled. "So are you an ancient vampire god or aren't you?"
It was now that Azrael spotted Gwen standing in the shade, next to Dio. Immediately, his features settled into a deep frown.
"My lord," he said as his nails grew, sharpened like a knife's edge. "Please allow me to dispose of this-"
"No."
"M-My Lord?"
"Gwen, come to me," Dio said, ignoring him.
Gwen scowled, rooting her feet in place, forced to keep one eye on the vampire in front of her and one on the trio to her right. "As if I'd ever approach the likes of you." She snarled.
"I said come." Dio repeated, a hint of irritation in his voice.
"Just wait! Are you crazy? I'll die! You turned me into this… into a vampire. I'll die if I step into the sun!" She protested, digging her heels into the dirt even as her feet slowly shuffled forward.
"What exactly makes you think I want to keep the person who hates me the most alive?" Dio laughed mockingly.
Gwen paused, then her eyes darkened, realisation flickering across them. 'Now that we're out of the forest and his cultists are back, he has no more use for me.'
"Then I'll see you in hell one day, you filthy vampire bastard." She yelled, and she roared as her body shuffled into the light.
The trio, as well as Dio, watched as the sun immediately began to sear her flesh. Gwen screamed and fell to her knees. 'Fight it!' She thought. 'Fight it!'
Her skin slowly charred and began to crack, fat bubbled beneath her skin as the sun boiled her blood. Each scream became more and more distorted as the moisture in her throat evaporated.
As she began to deconstruct, time slowed to a crawl. Everything around her lost meaning. Her hatred all of a sudden felt useless, her feelings were irrelevant, her ambitions seemed almost naïve as the solar energy unravelled her very being piece by piece.
Despite it all she fought with everything she had. With every ounce of will she had in her body she pushed back.
Dio's brows furrowed. This is what would happen to me if I were to lose focus under the sun. Instinctively he stepped closer to the shade. He burned the image into his mind, a reminder to never get conceited, of how weak he really was, how little it would take…
Gwen's whole body had started glowing as if she were about to disintegrate, and her screams had stopped at this point. Every visible part of her body had been severely burned, and the agony she was in was visible on her face.
But she didn't die. She continued to lie there, still glowing and emitting a faint light similar to Dio. She groaned on the ground, taking sharp, controlled, laboured breaths even as her skin was still lightly sizzling.
Dio chuckled to himself, unknowingly expressing a hint of relief. This was proof that his new power was real. The trio was dumbfounded.
"She too can withstand the sun?" Azrael exclaimed. His eyes were wide with shock.
"Breathing only makes it harder for you. You're not human anymore." Dio said. "Get the solar energy out of your system as quickly as possible, as many times as possible. Make it as natural as breathing is for you. Ensure you separate it from the energy in your body; the result of the two reacting is explosive, as I already demonstrated."
"My Lord, how is this possible?" Azrael asked.
"I have turned her into one of my own," Dio said. "I have evolved beyond the limitations of humans and vampires alike. I will ascend to reach the heavens."
Dio swiftly threw Gwen into the shade, where she unceremoniously landed with a thud and slowly began to recover. "Now breathe," Dio instructed. "Allow your blood to pump through your heart as normal and allow the energy... this vital energy-"
"Vitae, My Lord."
"Yes, allow it to seep through into your body as it is carried along your bloodstream. It will accelerate your natural regeneration."
Gwen silently did as told, taking deep breaths and as she did so, her recovery sped up. Weak, pale skin knitting tight over exposed flesh and muscle.
"My lord, why are you assisting the enemy?" Pleaded Azrael.
Dio chuckled. "Above all else, in a follower, I value usefulness. If their loyalty is in question, then I'll take measures to ensure it. Keeping one hunter alive will allow me to understand the inner workings of this world. She has been the most useful to me so far and will continue to be so. It is the useless that brought me to my knees in the past. "
Dio knelt and held her chin, bringing her healing face to meet his piercing gaze. "Won't you? Gwen."
Gwen struggled in his grasp. "I'll kill you. I swear I'll f*cking kill you." She groaned, tears streamed down her face, yet her gaze was unyielding.
Dio simply chuckled and turned away. "Azrael, shouldn't there be two others with you? The hunters only killed eight of you."
"Slaughtered by Lycans, My Lord." Azrael bowed low.
Dio's expression darkened, "Useless."
"Please forgive our incompetence, My Lord." Azrael pleaded, bowing his head low.
"You ask for forgiveness instead of punishment. Your mind is not in the right place, Azrael." Dio said, in a chiding manner.
"Lord Malvros I-"
"You will address me as Lord Dio from now on."
"Y-Yes, Lord Dio." Azrael cried.
Dio nodded in satisfaction. "Yes, that's much better," Dio said.
Dio slowly walked into the shade, and took a deep breath, allowing the new addition of vitae in his blood to wash over him, accelerating the healing of the minor wounds he received while adjusting to the sun. He cracked his neck and rested his gaze on his three loyal followers, yet what he was about to say might change that.
"My name is Dio Brando, and I'm not your god. I'm not Malvros. Your little ritual pulled me from my world into your own." Dio's gaze sharpened as he turned to look at them. "Though I suspect you three already knew this."
A flash of conflict crossed through Azrael's eyes and he chose his next words carefully.
"We had our suspicions, at first but to hear it confirmed by you… It was the first time our spell had actually succeeded in summoning something, and we were all on our last legs, we had nothing left to give."
Azrael's eyes shook with an intensity that spoke more of his desperation than words could describe.
"You were our only saving grace."
He raised his eyes, his gaze pointed now, cautious, to meet Dio, who listened patiently, absorbing every word.
"But if you really aren't Lord Malvros, who are you? And how are you able to withstand the sun?"
Dio grinned. Gwen who was still recovering listened keenly.
"This is the last time I'm going to repeat myself. My name is Dio Brando."
He pulled off what was left of his shirt and turned to show the star that had dominated the majority of his upper back since he'd arrived in this world.
"…And ever since I arrived in this world I could tell it was different, special. In a way the world I came from can't replicate. Back then I rose in power as a vampire. I was blind, blunt and foolish. My arrogance choked my wit and led me to believe I had the power to push through my adversaries."
Dio's voice went lower, with an edge that bordered on hostility. His hands clenched by his sides.
"But I'm weak." He paused. "Incredibly so. I won't make the same mistake I did back then now that I've been given a second chance. I'll do whatever it takes to acquire power, I'll conceal my hand so my enemies can only regret pushing me too far when they don't have the power to change their fate. I'll tear down everything that stands in between me and my ambition."
His eyes burned with conviction. He wasn't usually one for such speeches but he felt this declaration was important. The baseline for his future here in this world, and the four who heard it would bare witness to his ascent.