Having merged with Arcueid's power, she completely took control of the Millennium Castle and also understood the laws created by Crimson Moon—a vessel for Crimson Moon's descent had been set within every True Ancestor.
Except for Akatsuki.
According to what the two counter forces that created her had said, Akatsuki was special.
Before the arrival of the Land of Steel, a unique physical body was created using the residual information of True Ancestors in the world combined with the power of the Great Source. Coupled with a soul from the "real world" (self-proclaimed), the Ancestor of the End named Akatsuki, Earth's pseudo-uo, was fully created.
However, her position was still that of a True Ancestor, a being that denies human order. In the Fate worldline, she was still suppressed and unable to exert her full power, needing to divert strength to suppress her Bloodlust Impulse. Furthermore, controlling a physical body with inhuman power was harder than imagined.
Because of this, Akatsuki decided to give up on suppressing the act of drinking blood. Although it would take more effort to suppress the Bloodlust Impulse after drinking blood, in the end, the Bloodlust Impulse was merely an innate mental defect of the True Ancestors.
As long as it involved the mental or spiritual realms, Akatsuki didn't find it particularly difficult to control; she had a natural talent for managing such things.
After consuming Tohsaka Rin's blood, Akatsuki became more clearly aware of what the so-called Bloodlust Impulse actually was. Through continuous effort, she managed to suppress most of the Bloodlust Impulse while expending the minimum amount of power.
Only in this way could Akatsuki exert as much of her power as possible in this world that was unfriendly to her.
Thirty percent of her power was used to suppress the Bloodlust Impulse, thirty percent served as the first safeguard, thirty percent as the second safeguard, and ten percent was used to handle everything in the Holy Grail War.
Everything was prioritized around stability and caution.
However, this level of caution had been unnecessary since a few days ago.
After devouring most of Arcueid's power, Akatsuki had successfully suppressed her Bloodlust Impulse. Unlike ordinary True Ancestors who needed to consume mental energy to suppress it, Akatsuki no longer needed power to do so; she only needed to consume blood periodically.
Similarly, thanks to Arcueid, not only Akatsuki but also the Bloodlust Impulse within Akatsuki's kin had undergone a fundamental change. If this change were to occur in every Dead Apostle, perhaps the world's direction would lean toward the side of the Dead Apostles.
Of course, that was impossible. After all, shifting the world's bias was too dangerous. If the Dead Apostle side grew too powerful, humans might be reduced to livestock in the future—a situation Akatsuki did not want to see.
"I've been out long enough; it's time to go back."
"Really! That's great! ＼(^▽^)／!"
Akatsuki's mouth twitched slightly as she looked at the joyful Arcueid. She couldn't understand why Arcueid was so happy about her returning.
In the past few days, besides familiarizing herself with Arcueid's power, Akatsuki had also met with the church and Merem Solomon several times. Negotiations with the church weren't easy, but they became much smoother after Akatsuki demonstrated world-shattering power.
As for Merem Solomon, he was a fan of Arcueid himself, so the negotiations were quite easy.
Looking at the beaming Arcueid, Akatsuki suddenly realized that this girl had never truly left the Millennium Castle, and she felt that such joy wasn't incomprehensible.
"Hmm, are you that happy?...Then let's not use unconventional means to go back."
Akatsuki took a sip of coffee, looking at Arcueid while silently thinking about how to return to Fuyuki City. If she wanted Arcueid to enjoy the scenery along the way, walking back would indeed be best.
After all, both she and Arcueid were top-tier True Ancestors who didn't fear things like running water at all. Even swimming to Fuyuki City shouldn't be much of a problem.
It was happily decided!
"Go pack your things. We'll set off from London in a while and walk to Fuyuki City, Japan."
"Eh?"
Arcueid was stunned. She looked at Akatsuki with a dazed expression, as if wanting to hear what Akatsuki had just said one more time.
"We?"
"Yes, together. Why, is there a problem?" Akatsuki said with a smile, looking at the stunned Arcueid.
"..."
At this moment, the expression on Arcueid's face was quite a sight, shifting from joy and excitement to a brief daze and then to questioning her life, just like a roller coaster.
"You jerk!"
For some reason, Arcueid lunged straight at Akatsuki.
"So impatient in broad daylight?"
"I am not! You idiot!"
Akatsuki: "???"
Previously, Akatsuki hadn't wanted to meet Arcueid too early because she couldn't be sure how strong Arcueid, as a juvenile form of Earth's UO, really was. But that was ultimately just "not wanting to"; if they really met, Akatsuki wouldn't truly be afraid of Arcueid.
And now, Akatsuki could only say she wished she had fought her way into the Millennium Castle sooner.
"Don't you want to leave the Millennium Castle?"
"..."
Arcueid, her face buried in Akatsuki's chest, fell silent. Placing her hand on Arcueid's head, Akatsuki felt that the pale yellow short hair was very soft, making her unable to help but recall the night Arcueid had just been resurrected.
Dry wood meets a blazing fire, soft jade in hand.
"Akatsuki, have you always treated me like a child?" Arcueid suddenly asked.
"Yeah, I have."
Akatsuki admitted it openly. After all, Arcueid's life experience was far too lacking; going out alone made her too easy to trick, like a certain serpent (the serpent of akasha).
"I'm already 17 years old (self-proclaimed)! I'm not a child anymore!"
Akatsuki looked at the teary-eyed Arcueid lying in her arms and gave her forehead a flick with a bit of force. For someone whose actual age was over eight hundred years, why was she acting so young? Her mental age was probably around fourteen or fifteen, maybe even lower.
Amidst Arcueid's cry of pain, Akatsuki said calmly, "You're still too young; it's easy to get tricked if you go out alone. If it's just being cheated out of some money, that's fine, but if you run into a Magician with malicious intent, you'll be crying before you know it."
"I'm a True Ancestor after all; I'm not that pathetic!"
"Heh."
Akatsuki suddenly chuckled, her laugh filled with disdain. Although Arcueid was a True Ancestor, her temperament was indeed not great. At first glance, besides being inexplicably cheerful, she was also a bit silly and airheaded.
Her personality was bold and open-minded, pure and innocent, willful and childish, naive and romantic.
It was precisely because of this nature that she was lured and deceived by Roa in the story of tsukihime.
Ultimately, under Akatsuki's insistence, Arcueid reluctantly went to pack her things, but that slight dissatisfaction was quickly replaced by the novelty of the outside world.
Brimming with curiosity, Arcueid was like a bird just out of its cage, stepping out of the Millennium Castle—where she had stayed for over eight hundred years—of her own will for the first time.
-------------------------------
Hope you enjoy this fanfiction if you do and would like to read the next 30 chapters in advance, pls do check out my Patreon.
patreon.com/TLScarlet
Also don't forget to give me a Power Stone if you do like this fiction. Your support really motivates me to continue doing my best in translating, Thanks!!