"It's nice, huh?" Joseph asked as he moved his finger in the air, and the blood followed, swirling in the air in front of Ilona's eyes like it was a dragon. "You know, darling, Runes can't block my power, my Skills, because it depends on blood."
They were completely frozen, overwhelmed by shock and confusion, and mostly by the fact that they could feel Daniel's blood under their own feet. That alone was enough for them to understand that if Joseph could kill Daniel with just one drop of blood, he could kill the whole agency with the amount now on the floor.
"The only mistake was him. You know I can't use my own blood. He smiled as glanced at Daniel's dead body and continued. "I can use other blood, so thank you for bringing him here."
Yeah, now it was clearer that his System name was not just about how he could level up, that he needed to kill others, or that he needed to live in blood. It was also about his Skills, the way he could use other people's blood to kill. That gave some answer to Ilona. There had been deaths before that had simply not made sense in certain scenes where Joseph had been involved. Now it was clear he had used their blood to kill them.
But on the other hand, their silence was about something else too.
Jospeh had killed the fucking number one Hero in Alexandria with a flicker of his finger.
He killed the Hero who fought on their side, who saved thousands of people, who was the very meaning of justice and peace, the man who was the hero of heroes.
He killed him with one fucking drop of blood and that was it.
And she truly understood why he said he can't stand on the side of justice. No, he truly can't, as he is the fucking child of Hell. Yeah, the look of an evil being is real. Not just an evil being, but a demon himself.
Somebody who uses blood as a weapon and, moreover, calls it art. Art that he uses to kill others with their own blood.
He was truly not just a criminal, but a ruthless demon, and they had nothing to stop him.
I love their look. Joseph thought, as the silence lingered for only one reason, and he loved that reason. They want to live so badly. It is so lovely to see that sparkle in their eyes, even though they know they have no chance. They choke on the terror within them. What do you think?
[System: They are finally seeing the real you, the Blood Emperor. They are shocked.]
Yeah, but the meaning of it, she thought she had the upper hand, and now look at her. How nice that terrified look is.
"Shocking, right?" He asked as he still looked at Ilona. "I can use others' blood and maybe it's an answer to my recklessness. That's why I did so many things that seemed like the wrong move." He shook his head, and he finally put down his hand and with it, the blood fell from the air, spilling against the table. "To be true, I never really cared about the connection, about the mafia. No, I did all of it to get the wish. But you know ever since my mother and sister was killed, and I think you remember that, yes?"
Nothing. She didn't say a word. She just felt the overwhelming weight of sitting in front of a being that was just fucking overpowered. It was something else, though she knew exactly what he was talking about.
Joseph had been a rather good criminal in a sense. Before his mother and sister's death, he didn't really do too much. But after their death, everything changed.
In one night, he killed more than two hundred men all alone, without a single bullet being fired. The scene was just so bloody it looked like hell's deepest floor and nobody had any idea how he did it. They didn't even think about his System or his Skills. But now it all made sense.
It was his Blood Art. That night, he went wild and killed everybody who was connected to his mother and sister's death.
That was the moment he changed into what he is today, and that was the main reason they were hundred percent sure they were going to die.
"I think it is time." Joseph said as he stood up while again flicking his finger, and suddenly the spilled blood on the table formed a line and cut through the cuffs on his hands, freeing him from them. "But before I leave." He looked at Marcus. "I am sad. I thought we were friends, Marcus. We had fun times, and you stabbed me in the back with this." He shook his head. "How sad."
"I didn—"
He flicked his finger, and the blood just cut through Marco's throat and with it he immediately fell from the chair, choking on his own blood while trying to put pressure on his throat, but it was for nothing. No, he was just desperately fighting, but a seconds later it was over.
"Don't worry, Ilona." Joseph began as he looked at her. "My Mana is limited, so you will live. Maybe write a book about all of this. " He pointed around. "And make millions."
Nothing. Of course, Ilona said nothing… she was so shocked that she didn't even shake, didn't shed a single tear, not make a sound... she was frozen in that chair, but she witness another one of it.
Another Skill of Joseph as he pointed his finger at the two bodies. "Blood Art: Gate of Blood." He said, and in a moment all the blood, literally every drop of blood from both Marco's and Daniel's bodies whirled around Joseph, engulfing him and a second later it all disappeared, just like him.
It was magic, or at least the closest thing to magic that Ilona had ever experienced in her life. It all just did not make sense to her, because she had never seen anything like this before.
And the only thing that had kept her up until now was fear, a primal fear that you only feel when you witness something so pure, so terrifying, so wrong that fear becomes the only thing you can hold on to, the only thing that keeps you upright, keeps you seeing.
It is the kind of fear that forces you to understand what the fuck is happening, that pushes you to face it, to take it all in even when every part of you wants to look away.
And when even that fear began to fade, there was nothing left to keep her conscious.
At least it was over for her… but for Joseph, it wasn't.
It was just the beginning, a new beginning.