Seishan had to leave soon after, which was… disappointing.
I wasn't used to this kind of emotion. It wasn't anger, but not sadness either — more like a hollow ache, the same one I felt after she died.
Damn it.
I needed to clear my head.
I still had a stash of alcohol hidden in the back — a few bottles of wine so old they were probably older than my entire bloodline. I poured some into a goblet, mixed it with blood for flavor, and swirled it around like some kind of fancy noble before downing it in one go.
One cup turned into two.
Two became five.
Eventually I stopped counting goblets and started counting bottles.
Next thing I knew, I was in the Dark City again — drunk, singing, and fighting nightmare creatures like a deranged bard at a death metal concert.
I stumbled down the cracked streets, voice echoing through the ruins:
🎵 "Lately I been, I been losing sleep, dreamin' about the things that we could beee…" 🎵
Yeah. "Counting Stars."
By some long-dead pop singer from the Old World.
A masterpiece.
I was sliding across the slick black stones, coating my boots in blood to glide like a skating drunkard, spinning my arms out dramatically.
🎵 "Said no more counting dollars, we'll be counting stars!" 🎵
A nightmare creature — some kind of four-eyed wolf with centipede legs — lunged from the shadows. I twirled mid-spin, half on purpose, half by accident, and kicked it square in the face.
Its skull cracked with a wet pop as it flew backward into a wall.
"THAT'S FOR INTERRUPTING MY CHORUS, YOU UGLY MUTT!" I slurred, pointing dramatically with my bottle.
Blood burst from the creature's mouth, and I flicked my fingers, shaping it into a chain. It wrapped around its neck, and with a drunken grin, I pulled — hard.
The tension launched me forward like a missile, both heels crashing into its face again.
The head burst like a rotten melon.
🎵 "Everything that kills me makes me feel alive!" 🎵
"Oh, you got that right!" I shouted between gulps, taking another swig straight from the bottle.
Two more nightmare beasts slithered from the alley — one with a snake's body and a human head, the other looking like a spider made of bones.
Both screeched in unison.
"Oh, a duet!" I grinned.
I swung the empty bottle like a club, shattering it on the snake-head's jaw. Glass and blood sprayed everywhere. I snapped my fingers and the spilled blood formed razor threads, slicing through the spider-thing's legs one by one. It shrieked and fell, twitching.
🎵 "Old, but I'm not that old! Young, but I'm not that bold!" 🎵
The snake-human thing lunged again, but I grabbed its face and slammed it against the ground, a rune was carved in the air nearby then the rune ignited — blood surged up my arm, forming a crimson blade.
I drove it straight through its skull.
"THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR NOT HITTING THE NOTE!"
Another wave of creatures crawled from the ruins — eyeless dogs, crawling torsos, floating skulls with ribs for wings.
I was so drunk I saluted them with my bottle before breaking it again and flinging the shards like shrapnel, blood magic propelling each piece.
Heads exploded.
Limbs fell.
The street looked like a butcher's floor — which, honestly, was kind of poetic.
🎵 "Take that money, watch it burn, sink in the river, the lessons I learned!" 🎵
A massive roar tore through the night.
Something big was coming.
From the haze of blood and moonlight emerged a Blood Beast — a towering shark with legs, its body armored in crystallized blood, each step shaking the ground.
"Oh, great," I muttered, half-laughing. "A shark with legs. Because that's what I needed tonight."
It opened its maw and fired spikes of blood like a machine gun.
I rolled aside — or more like stumbled aside — dodging by sheer luck. The spikes tore through buildings, shattering stone and glass.
I tried to seize control of the blood, but it resisted — fighting back, rejecting my influence.
That… wasn't normal.
It reminded me of how my [Internal Logic] worked — where I always had control over my own blood, no matter what.
Did this mean it had… External Logic?
Was that even a thing?
Could I learn that?
My deep philosophical drunk thoughts were cut off by a spike whizzing past my face.
Right.
Focus. Kill now, think later.
"Beast!" I called out.
The ground trembled as Beast appeared — his form rippling with crimson energy, his eyes glowing like twin suns.
I tossed him a wave of my own blood, merging our power.
The Blood Beast charged.
Beast roared back, firing a beam of condensed blood that tore through the air, slamming into the shark monster.
The creature staggered, and I saw my chance.
I sprinted forward, chains of blood wrapping around my arms, using them to anchor to nearby walls as I swung like some drunk vampire Spider-Man.
I crashed into the monster's face, drove both boots into its eye, then thrust my hands inside its armored chest.
I unleashed every drop of blood I could muster, flooding its veins with mine.
Our bloods mixed — and for a brief second, I felt something new.
Not control.
Dominance.
🎵 "Everything that kills me makes me feel alive!" 🎵
And then it exploded.
A violent, red sun blooming in the dark city streets.
The shockwave threw me backward, and I hit the ground rolling — laughing, singing, and covered in gore.
The world spun.
The buildings looked like they were dancing.
I think I yelled something about wanting tacos.
Then everything went black.
---
When I woke up, I was lying in a field of corpses.
Completely naked.
Covered in blood — not all of it mine.
I groaned. "I blacked out, didn't I?"
Beast was sleeping beside me, drooling blood.
I summoned my armor, ignoring the hangover pounding in my skull, and started walking home.
Gods, please — please let no one have seen that.