Legacy of the Betelgeuse

We are all staring at the notification with a big smile on our faces, but then Sev appears above us staring down at the headless body. The NPCs treat Sev as a messenger of the Betelgeuse and they always bow to her whenever they see her. We look at Sev with confusion while Grisell is still live streaming, Sev descends and lands in front of us with a gentle smile on her face.

"Congratulation on your victory, players of Orion! There is another thing that you all need to know. Some of you have been chosen by Betelgeuse for your hard work and achievement. They all have been watching from the land of victory! I, Sev, as the messenger will announce the nine players that will get extra reward for their contribution."

All of us are staring at each other with confusion but we all remember these sentences, it's when Sev announced the six of us become a hero. This time she mentioned nine players and that must be the rest of the Ophiuchus who hasn't ascended as a hero. Sev looks at Grisell and smiles at her as if she knows that Grisell is live streaming the feed.

Sev clears her throat.

"Before I announce who they are, let me summon all the players who participated in the invasion."

Sev snaps her fingers and hundreds of millions of players are appearing around us. Sev then spread her arms.

"These players have shown and proved their liability as a leader. Their bravery is undoubted. They have gathered and united the players of Orion together to fight the threat. You all might have known who they are, so let us cut to the chase and congratulate them!"

Sev lifts her hand a VoW appears above her and all around the Orion.

[For your bravery and your sacrifice, Betelgeuse will reward you a limited exclusive title that only 100.000 players can receive!]

[Congratulation to the player [Alessandro Epser] who has received Exclusive title [Hero] of the Alliance Kingdom]

[Congratulation to the player [Sigryd] who has received Exclusive title [Hero] of the Alliance Kingdom]

[Congratulation to the player [Cho Ahn] who has received Exclusive title [Hero] of the Eluna Empire]

[Congratulation to the player [Kokushoku Ken] who has received Exclusive title [Hero] of the Eluna Empire]

[Congratulation to the player [Boschwell] who has received Exclusive title [Hero] of the Aarus Empire]

[Congratulation to the player [Jade Liu] who has received Exclusive title [Hero] of the Aarus Empire]

[Congratulation to the player [Madhan Seyer] who has received Exclusive title [Hero] of the Aarus Empire]

[Congratulation to the player [Aeris Gulliver] who has received Exclusive title [Hero] of the Aarus Empire]

[Congratulation to the player [Edmondo Sani] who has received Exclusive title [Hero] of the Aarus Empire]

They're all screaming in joy and excitement while hugging each other while the rest of us are just staring at them from the side with a smile on our faces.

When they're all busy celebrating their ascending, a VoW appears in front of us.

[All the newly chosen Heroes have been summoned by the Betelgeuse]

[Players [Alessandro Epser], [Sigryd], [Cho Ahn], [Kokushoku Ken], [Boschwell], [Jade Liu], [Madhan Seyer], [Aeris Gulliver], and [Edmondo Sani] will be entering the rift in 60 seconds]

[May the Betelgeuse bless you all!]

Sev looks up and smiles.

"It seems that the Betelgeuse has finally spoken."

Sev then looks at the nine of them.

"Heroes, congratulation!"

A rift opens in front of them and they're all getting sucked into the rift then disappear.

Kingstar looks at us while raising his eyebrows.

"Should we join them?"

Diamond and Lothair are nodding in agreement but Ivonna is staring at Alucard for quite a while.

"You guys can go ahead, I still have some matter to discuss with Saintess Aria."

They look at Ivonna while raising their eyebrows, and since I'm going to stay with her I open a portal for these three and they all immediately enter the portal to the Temple of Gloom.

Ivonna walks toward the dead body and she seems curious about something.

"What should we do with his corpse?"

Saintess Aria stands next to Ivonna while pressing her hands on her chest.

"We will bury this body deep down in this temple because we don't want him to resurrect back to life and bring chaos to Orion again. We were lucky to have you all to defeat him, but we will not be so sure if he comes back to life with the intent of getting an act of revenge. As long as he's buried down here, the Divine power will prevent him from resurrecting."

I walk past them and crouching in front of Alucard's dead body, I try to stab him with my sickle, and turns out his body is not as tough as I thought, I cut open his chest with those two staring at me with shock and disbelief.

Ivonna grabs my shoulder with her eyes wide open.

"Trev? What are you doing?"

I ignore her because I want to extract his heart since it's the thing that I have been wanting all my life in this game.

I see it, the purple heart with black smoke hovering around it, I grab the heart and Saintess Aria is grabbing my shoulder so tightly as if she's scared of this thing.

"Master Trevor! Destroy it! Destroy that heart! It is the source of evil!"

I look at it for quite a while and my heart is pounding really fast because this is the first time I see it with my own eyes.

"Master Trevor! Please destroy it!"

Ivonna is grabbing her lance from her inventory and when she's about to stab it, I look at her and shake my head.

"Wait, let me handle this."

[Heart of Alucard obtained!]

[Heart of Alucard: It says that whoever possessed the Heart of Fiendish will gain unlimited power, but there were no pieces of evidence that it will give what the possession wants. It says whoever used its power, the heart gradually take control over the body and mind of the person. It is a wise decision to destroy the heart and never use its power.]

I don't know about this one since I didn't get it back then and I didn't ask about it to Becker because he was hospitalized and couldn't play until he breathe his last breath.

I put it in my inventory and both Saintess Aria and Ivonna are looking at me with disbelief.

"Trev? What are you going to do with it? Shouldn't we destroy it and make sure something similar happens in the future?"

I stand up and look at them both.

"I know what you guys are thinking, but remember, this heart possesses the same power as Heugron's Necklace. I don't know what we will be facing in the future but if we wasted this power just because it might be dangerous, we will not be able to survive if something similar or even worse than Alucard."

I take the heart out and show it to them.

"I'm not going to take this without your permission, so if you want to destroy it, then go ahead."

Saintess Aria is hesitant because she knows what I said is true while Ivonna is hesitating because she knows that I might know something about it and what I could do with it.

Both Saintess Aria and Ivonna look at each other and they both sigh, Saintess Aria presses her hands onto her chest while staring at me worriedly.

"Are you sure that we can use this evil thing? Is there a way to purify it before since it might be dangerous to possess?"

I furrow my forehead while staring at the heart.

"Purify it? Hold on a moment..."

I grab the [Contained Purification Energy] from my inventory, they both are looking at it while I'm showing it side by side with [Alucard's Heart].

"This ball can purify anything but it can be only used once. Do you think that the Betelgeuse wants me to use this energy to purify Alucard's heart?"

They both are looking at me with curiosity and then Saintess Aria looks at the ball.

"It is true that the divine power that contained in that ball is equal or even stronger than Heugron's Necklace. This might be the answer to your question, Master Trevor."

I nod in agreement and then look at Ivonna.

"What about you, Ivy? Do you think this might work?"

Ivonna looks at me while exhaling deeply.

"I don't know but I believe in you, Trev."

I nod with understanding and immediately get out of the party, Ivonna is confused about why I left the party but then she realizes that if something bad happens to me when I consume [Alucard's Heart] and turns me into Alucard, she can at least use the power to weaken me.

I look at Ivonna while gulping.

"Are you ready, Ivy?"

Ivonna nods while gulping nervously.

"Yeah, I'm ready."