Chapter 13: Blood Worshiper
Damon stepped forth from the depths of his temple of power, his mind a tranquil sea after the storm of creation and worship.
The familiar chamber materialized around him once more. The twin pillars hummed softly with satisfaction, the air still thick with the lingering scent of divine evolution and the faint metallic tang of Centuria's blood-soaked ascension.
He walked slowly to the tall arched window of his room, gazing out over the vast sprawl of the Void Territory that stretched beneath the blood-tinged dawn sky like a dark ocean frozen in time. Black spires rose like the spines of slumbering dragons, distant mountains shrouded in perpetual mist, and the faint crimson glow of void essence pulsed through the land like veins.
Almost instantaneously, he unleashed his divine essence, a golden-crimson wave of perception that swept through the emptiness with meticulous, predatory precision, searching for any irregularities in his sacred domain.
The wave expanded outward in silent ripples, invisible to all but the most sensitive cultivators, probing every shadow, every heartbeat, every whisper of intent within the territory and beyond.
His eyes glinted with the ferocity of a predator whose territory had been violated. Crimson light flared briefly as the scan completed.
"Initially," he murmured to himself, voice low and resonant with quiet, growing pride, "when I claimed Lia's broken soul as my first unwilling worshiper, my divinity barely encompassed the Void Territory itself, a fragile veil over our lands, barely enough to sense the mansion's walls."
A slow, triumphant smile graced his lips, sharp and beautiful.
"However, after welcoming a willing soul as true devotee, Centuria's unwavering faith burning bright like an eternal flame, my power has expanded to encompass even the fringes of Raksha."
He reveled in the knowledge, a deep satisfaction warming his ancient heart like the first taste of forbidden nectar. Even the most astute cultivators of the peak Hindu Realm would be unable to perceive his influence from such a distance. His divine web remained invisible, intangible, yet absolute, a silent guardian woven into the fabric of reality itself.
Yet before he could fully relish this newfound strength, his eyes widened in sudden, sharp alarm.
"Why are there multiple adversaries positioned in this sector of Raksha?" he queried aloud, voice dropping to a dangerous whisper that carried the promise of annihilation.
A menacing killing intent erupted from him like a void storm unleashed, dark, suffocating, and absolute. It enveloped the entire room, causing the walls to tremble and pulse with unnatural life, as though the mansion itself responded to its master's wrath, the black stone groaning under the weight of his fury.
As his astonishment deepened into cold, focused rage, his eyes shone with the intensity of a predator caught off guard, yet one that would soon become the hunter once more.
"They dare!"
Anger etched itself across Damon's beautiful yet terrifying face, veins pulsing black beneath pale skin like rivers of shadow. His legs tensed like coiled springs forged from divine steel, muscles rippling with restrained power.
In a surge of pure, unrestrained rage, he leaped from the high window. His body cut through the air like a fallen god descending to earth, robes whipping behind him like black wings.
The Void Mansion resonated with the profound feeling of something significant departing, a protective, ancient force leaving its nest, racing toward unknown danger.
Author's Note: In the realm of humanity, when something vital is lost, we feel it in our very essence, as if a piece of our soul has vanished. At this moment, everyone within the Void Mansion sensed it instinctively: a great, protective presence had left their midst, leaving behind only emptiness and the faint echo of impending violence.
Meanwhile, deep in the outskirts of the treacherous Raksha borderlands, where ancient trees twisted like tortured souls and the ground itself seemed soaked in eternal blood, a desperate chase unfolded under the shadowed canopy.
Alucard stood amidst the expansive, shadowed forest, his pale skin gleaming unnaturally under the crimson-tinged light filtering through the leaves. His gaze was fixed upon the enigmatic slime boy before him with a mixture of intrigue, ambition, and barely restrained hunger that made his fangs ache.
"How did the Void dwellers manage to ensnare such a being?" he pondered silently, licking his lips in anticipation, the scent of the boy's blood already teasing his senses.
"The quality of his flesh and essence... if I can capture him alive, ascension will soon follow, my bloodline purified, my power elevated beyond Father's wildest dreams."
Greed flickered in his eyes like embers in eternal darkness.
"Bastard! Answer me!" Alucard shouted suddenly, voice laced with imperious fury that echoed through the trees like a whip crack.
Yet the slime boy remained utterly silent, that perpetual gentle smile unwavering as he unleashed a torrent of explosive energy from the middle Baptism Realm, raw, primal force that cracked the earth and uprooted ancient roots in a violent shockwave.
"Ha!" Alucard retorted with mocking laughter, instantly materializing before the slime in a blur of Yomi Realm speed that left afterimages of crimson light. "It's my fault for not having dragged your regenerating corpse back long ago."
"Do you truly believe you understand power?" he sneered, half step Yomi Realm energy erupting around him like a crimson halo of blood and shadow. "Displaying such feeble strength!"
He twisted the slime's neck with vicious force, bone and slime crunching unnaturally under his grip.
But instead of succumbing, the creature's body spun back into place with eerie, fluid resilience, retaliating with a swift, powerful side punch that carried the weight of desperation and defiance.
General Zao's eyes widened in disbelief from the treeline, his disheveled hair dancing wildly in the wind whipped up by the clash. "Is this the secret the Void Territory has been concealing all this time?" Thoughts of rage and envy filled his mind like poison seeping into his veins. "I see now, the Void is undergoing a transformation, growing something monstrous in its heart." His gaze turned cold, resembling an ancient monolith carved from ice and hatred, unyielding and eternal.
"Raphael!" Zao commanded sharply, voice cutting through the chaos like a blade through silk.
A young man emerged from the shadows of the throng, his disheveled hair framing a face of eerie calm, fresh blood cascading from his jaw like he just drank fresh blood washing his neck in a crimson devotion of blood.
"What do you want, Commander?" Raphael replied lazily, eyes half-lidded with fanatic devotion that bordered on ecstasy. "Isn't the Young Master handling it perfectly?"
"Tsk," Zao spat, maintaining his icy composure despite the insult. "That bloodsucking fiend can play all he wants. Bring forth the blood banks."
His words ignited a spark of ecstatic excitement in Raphael's eyes, madness gleaming bright as a fanatic's torch.
Falling to his knees dramatically on the ground, Raphael began muttering fervently, voice rising in ritualistic chant that carried the weight of dark prayer. "Oh, Blood God, bless this unworthy one with your eternal river of blood; with this sacrifice, I prepare a feast for your divine children!"
As he spoke, several of their men emerged from the trees, a mindless throng of thirty-four fanatics, eyes glazed with absolute devotion. They knelt in perfect unison, blades poised against their own necks without hesitation or fear.
"Oh, Blood God!" Raphael swayed in trance-like ecstasy, arms raised to the darkened sky.
"Wash this forest with your bounteous supply of blood, restoring your divine children to glory!"
The wind stilled unnaturally. The sky darkened to a deep, oppressive crimson as though the heavens themselves bled in response to the call.
In perfect unison, the thirty-four men severed their throats.
Blood sprayed in crimson arcs, thick, warm, and obedient.
What began as mere puddles quickly transformed, swelling, merging, roaring, into a violent river of crimson that flooded the forest floor with impossible volume and speed, rising to the waists of Raphael and Zao.
One laughed in exhilarated madness, dancing in the gore with arms spread wide.
The other watched with intense, calculating focus, eyes cold.
Alucard staggered briefly from the previous blow, regaining his footing as part of his pale face melted from the slime's acid, flesh bubbling and reforming with unnatural speed, bloodline regeneration kicking in like a dark miracle.
Before he could fully recover, the slime was upon him again, right hand clutching its regenerating left forearm, that ever-present gentle smile unwavering even in the face of death.
Alucard smirked, his melting flesh healing rapidly as his eyes glimmered with bloodline power awakening fully.
"Blood Reversal."
He declared the technique calmly, targeting the slimy appendage that sprayed corrosive acid.
With little resistance, the slime boy's left elbow exploded in a spray of pinkish-red fluid and divine essence.
Blood dripped freely, yet it quickly began to mend, regeneration kicking in with eerie patience.
"Ah," Alucard remarked with intrigued disappointment, "I see you lack true instantaneous regenerative properties, merely delayed reformation."
Though for some reason, he failed to notice the faint panic flickering in the slime's ember-like eyes, as if it were determined to escape at any cost, smile or no smile.
"From the moment the blood centipedes were severed from me," Alucard mused aloud, adrenaline coursing through him like fine wine, "I alerted my father... but he remained disturbingly unfazed."
He felt the blood river lap at his feet, rising higher, the sacrificial offering fueling his power to new heights.
"Even the Blood God seems to favor this battle," he exclaimed, surrendering himself to ecstatic madness. He danced within the crimson tide that complemented his pale skin perfectly, indifferent to the lives lost around him, reveling in the gore.
The slime boy, now standing in a defiant battle stance despite missing left arm and right leg, hissed softly through its smile.
"You're pathetic," it seemed to convey without words, "but don't worry; I'll soon grant you a second chance, at death."
"Blood Control."
Alucard commanded with imperial authority.
The river of blood responded instantly, rising and fashioning several massive tentacles of condensed crimson blades that whipped through the air with lethal precision.
"You cling to the futility of fleeting moments," Alucard sneered, closing in with predatory grace. "No one is coming to your rescue. Embrace the inevitable... and yield to my will."
With unyielding resolve, he surged forward, right hand poised for a lethal, heart-seizing strike, blood blades trailing closely behind like obedient hounds.
"Harden."
The slime boy intoned calmly, its remaining flesh transforming into rock-like resilience, dense and unyielding as ancient stone blocking alucards attack.
Alucard showed no signs of trepidation.
He plunged directly into the blood river without hesitation, the crimson tide parting for him like a king among lesser elements.
The slime leaped instinctively to a nearby towering tree for vantage.
Yet effortlessly, the tree was severed at its base by hidden blood blades.
The slime continued its frantic escape, leaping from tree to tree in desperate bounds.
Each one fell victim to Alucard's invisible, precise strikes, felled like wheat before a scythe.
Before the slime could launch once more into the canopy, Raphael descended upon it from above like a blood-soaked angel of death.
His two hands transformed into deadly, elongated blood blades, sharp as divine artifacts, dripping with sacrificial power.
They pressed perilously close to the slime's neck, inches from severing its smiling head.
"The Blood God demands you as a sacrifice," Raphael uttered, voice tinged with frenzied urgency that echoed through the blood-drenched forest like a dark prayer.
The slime's ember eyes flickered. It's gentle smile wavered.
Far away, Damon felt the disturbance like a knife to his divine web.
Centuria stirred in her slumber, sensing her master's rage.
And something ancient began to awaken.