The nights in the Maya District were never truly peaceful. Outside the abandoned diesel depot, acid rain pounded the rusty tin roof, producing an irritating clanging sound like a death knell. The air was thick with the stench of cheap engine oil and rotting ether — for the lowly 'minions', this was a sign of life.
'Don't move if you don't want this arm crippled.'
Dahlia's voice was soft yet calm. Her blind, yet still deep, pupils glowed faintly in the dim lamplight, seemingly able to pierce the darkness and reach the soul of Aaryan, hidden beneath his tattered miner's clothes.
Aaryan leaned against the cold oil drum, his heavy breathing echoing in the cramped space. The Celestial Demon Clan overseer had ripped open his back with a whip, leaving deep wounds that still radiated the scorching heat of fire — the mark of the ruling class inflicted on slaves.
"I am a race 'forbidden to be touched.' You're too close; you'll be marked by the Holy Blood Council's tax collectors." Aaryan gritted his teeth, trying to push away Dahlia's outstretched hand.
"Here, we are all forgotten." Ignoring his resistance, Dahlia traced patterns in the air with her slender fingers, emitting specks of pure white fluorescence — pure white magic, an extremely rare and even heretical power in the Maya region.
As her warm magic covered Aaryan's wounds, something strange happened.
The flesh, previously scorched by fire poison, began to throb violently. Dahlia was astonished to find that Aaryan's deep wounds, which revealed the bone beneath, were not healing slowly as those of ordinary demons do, but were repairing themselves at an abnormal speed. The new tissue grew wildly, as if it were alive. Moreover, the violent, waste etheric energy dissipating from the factory emissions in the air transformed into a visible, pale purple current that seeped frantically into Aaryan's body through the cracks in his wounds.
It wasn't healing; it was devouring.
'Who are you?' Dahlia's fingers trembled violently. In her perception, the man before her was no longer a mere miner, but rather a bottomless abyss, greedily absorbing energy from his surroundings to quench his thirst.
Deep within Aaryan's pupils, the purple-gold divine light representing ancient royalty flashed and then disappeared. Suddenly, he grabbed her wrist, his grip so tight that his fingertips dug into her skin.
'If you don't want to die, forget everything you just saw.' His voice was hoarse, hinting at violence he himself hadn't realised was there.
Dahlia didn't feel fear; instead, she felt profound loneliness. This loneliness resonated with the old royal ballads she hummed. She didn't flinch, but gently took Aaryan's cold hand in hers. 'Is this your secret?' The last... King?"
Aaryan froze. The wound on his back had miraculously disappeared in less than half the time it takes to burn an incense stick, leaving only a few faint silver marks visible in the darkness.
Suddenly, a heavy, mechanical pedal sound came from outside the diesel depot. It was the Holy Blood Council's 'Netherworld Black Panther' patrol team. The black magic conduits connected to their bodies hissed, which was particularly jarring on a rainy night. The black panthers' sense of smell was extremely keen and they had already detected the high-level etheric fluctuations that didn't belong to the slums and remained here.
When the first black panther tore through the iron gate and pounced inside, Aaryan didn't employ any fighting techniques. Instead, he instinctively spread his fingers wide. A terrifying suction force exploded from his palm and the panther, armed with machinery and black magic, instantly withered. Aaryan drained all its energy from a distance, right before everyone's eyes. Deep within the diesel depot, Dahlia was horrified to discover that her white magic was also flowing involuntarily towards Aaryan.
The air inside the diesel fuel tank seemed to freeze for a moment. Dahlia held her breath, her fingers frozen in mid-air as she watched helplessly. Pale purple ethereal currents, like tiny dragons, burrowed eagerly into Aaryan's back. This went beyond her understanding of 'healing' — it was an extremely domineering plundering of energy, as if Aaryan's body were an insatiable black hole, greedily demanding everything around it.
'Hmm...' Aaryan let out a heavy groan. His fingernails dug deeply into the rusty edge of the oil drum, producing harsh metallic scraping sounds. As the wound healed, it seemed as if the royal blood within him had been awakened by some forbidden ritual. A scorching pressure, imbued with an ancient aura, emanated from him and spread silently outwards.
It was the original royal aura of the Maya District, erased by the usurpers.
"Aaryan, slow down or you'll burst!" Dahlia's voice was tinged with terror. She could feel the white sorcery power overflowing from her fingertips being forcibly pulled away by an invisible force, causing her mind to reel momentarily.
Aaryan abruptly raised his head, his eyes, which had previously been dim, now filled with a dazzling purple-gold divine light. He grabbed her wrist with such force that it almost crushed her bones.
'I told you to leave…' His voice was no longer the hoarse rasp of a miner, but carried a soul-shaking resonance.
Just then, the sound of rapid, rhythmic metallic footsteps broke the stalemate. Outside the warehouse door, the sound of acid rain hitting the ground was mixed with the high-frequency vibration of some kind of mechanical joint.
"The Celestial Radar has detected a high-level ether reaction right here!"
A cold, mechanical voice rang out from outside the door, followed by a blinding searchlight beam piercing the rusty cracks of the diesel storage tank. A chaotic dance of light and shadow rippled through the dim space, like a ritualistic spectacle before an execution.
This was the 'Netherworld Black Panther' patrol of the Holy Blood Council.
These sharp blades were used by those in high positions to 'cleanse' 'impurities'. The backs of these mechanical black panthers were connected to eerie, green, black magic conduits — evil energy refined from the blood of the Demon Clan and used specifically to track and capture fugitives with bloodline anomalies.
'Looks like... there's no escape.' Aaryan released Dahlia's hand and slowly stood up. As he moved, the silver scars that had not completely faded shimmered intensely beneath his skin and finally coalesced into a faint, ancient mark symbolising the 'Lord of the Celestial Veins'.
His aura changed completely at that moment. If the Aaryan of the past was a rusty, broken blade, he was now a peerless divine weapon, ready to cleave the heavens.
"Dahlia, hide behind the oil drums." His tone was unusually calm yet carried an undeniable imperial authority. 'No matter what happens, don't look and don't come out.'
"No, Aaryan! That's the council's execution squad, and you still…"
Before Dahlia could finish, the heavy iron gate collapsed with a deafening explosion.
Amidst the rising dust, three gigantic 'Netherworld Black Panther' mechanical beasts, each the size of a small elephant, appeared outside. Their electronic eyes gleamed like rubies in the darkness, radiating a bloodthirsty light. Black magic conduits behind them spewed corrosive toxic mist under high pressure.
Standing behind the black panthers was a middle-aged man dressed in a dark gold priest's robe. He stroked the magic stone ring on his finger, his sinister eyes fixed on the lingering purple-gold light behind Aaryan.
"Remnants of an ancient royal family…" The priest sneered contemptuously. 'No wonder those lowly minions have been restless lately. Kill that man and take the woman back as fodder for bloodline reversal."
"Roar!"
The three-headed mechanical black panther roared and pounced, its metal claws slicing through the air with a piercing whistling sound as it aimed directly for Aaryan's throat.
Aaryan didn't dodge. He simply raised his right hand slowly. Just as the panther's claws were centimetres from his nose, the etheric energy within a hundred-metre radius was instantly and forcibly drained, creating an absolute energy vacuum. The three majestic mechanical black panthers crashed to the ground like broken toys.
"Is this cheap magical energy what the high-ranking ones call 'purity'?"
Aaryan chuckled softly, the purple light in his palm reaching its peak. However, just as he was preparing to annihilate the enemy in one fell swoop, he suddenly felt a sharp pain burst from his heart — it was his royal blood rejecting Dahlia's. From that moment on, their love would be accompanied by the clash of bloodlines.
At that moment, Aaryan felt as though her soul was being torn apart.
Her left hand held Dahlia's warm, healing white sorcery power, while her right hand forcibly dragged the remaining violent black ether of the three-headed mechanical panther into her body through a ruthless bloodline pull. This extreme energy surged and crashed through her narrow meridians like ice and fire clashing, causing spasmodic, excruciating pain.
"Aaryan! Let go!" Dahlia cried out sharply.
Though blind, she could see a terrifying scene: Aaryan's body was transforming into a swirling nebula and she herself was a glimmer of light, about to be swept into the abyss at its edge. She could sense Aaryan's resistance — a nearly self-destructive suppression. He was desperately contracting his aura, trying to stop the energy drain from her.
'Go... leave the Maya District...' Aaryan gritted her teeth, each word seeming to be squeezed from her shattered lungs. The azure-gold divine light behind him was no longer gentle; it had transformed into tangible blades that were slicing the surrounding rusty iron barrels to pieces.
The dark, gold-robed priest leading the group had finally recovered from his shock. Looking at the mechanical black panthers lying in pieces, greed instantly overwhelmed the fear in his eyes.
'This... this is the Ancient Royal Family's "Resonance of All Things"?' The priest's withered fingers trembled as he pulled a black magic crystal engraved with complex runes from his robes. 'No, this isn't destruction, but the greatest energy source in the Maya region! Seize him! Even if he only has one breath left, as long as his heart is still beating, we can replicate the eternal crystal core!"
The priest abruptly crushed the crystal. A dense, almost solid black mist instantly filled the entire diesel depot. This was a bloodline-specific toxin designed to suppress demon activity.
Within the black mist, Aaryan felt the flow of energy in his body suddenly stagnate and his newly healed wounds begin to reopen.
'Are you trying to use me as a battery?' Aaryan chuckled coldly, straightening his body within the black mist.
'Since the high-ranking beings of this world regard race as fuel and bloodline as class, then I will use this cursed power to burn through this hypocritical night.'
He took a step forward; his body did not exhibit an extreme demonic transformation, remaining in half-human form. However, a mercury-like purple-gold light shimmered beneath his skin — the nascent form of 'All-Element Resonance' — transforming him into a magical artefact that could bear the ethereal energy of heaven and earth without relying on external forces.
'Dahlia, remember what I look like now.'
Aaryan's voice reverberated within the black mist. He grasped at the air with his right hand and a rusty iron pipe deformed rapidly under the purple-gold light, extending into a bizarre arc resembling a kris. The blade even emitted a low chant similar to that of an ancient priest.
His figure swayed slightly and, before the priest could react, he had become a blur.
'Thud!'
The priest's scream was drowned out by the roar of the acid rain and the sound of a heavy object hitting the ground.
However, Aaryan felt no sense of victory. When he turned to look at Dahlia, who was lying pale in the corner, he noticed a detail that chilled him to the bone. On the back of her neck, the mark that had belonged to the White Witch was now surfacing faintly with a tiny, menacing emblem of the 'Holy Blood Council', a symbol of enslavement due to her being forced to absorb his royal aura.
It was a trap planted by the higher-ups within all hybrids that was activated only upon encountering someone of pure royal blood.
Aaryan dropped the scorching-hot iron pipe and cradled the unconscious Dahlia, trembling. He finally realised that saving her wasn't the end, but the beginning of a curse. The Holy Blood Council wasn't just hunting him; they had also planted a seed of self-destruction within Dahlia's soul through him, a fact that filled him with even greater terror. At the end of the dimly lit alleyway, a man dressed in a Chinese mechanical monk's robe with complex steam pistons attached to his arms stared coldly at Aaryan.
'Aaryan, do you think travelling back to 1969 will change any of this?' The man, Cyrus, slowly raised the enormous mechanical staff in his hand. 'The wall of history is thicker than you imagine.'
The moment the word '1969' was uttered, the air in the abandoned diesel depot seemed to be sucked away.
Aaryan held the unconscious Dahlia tightly, his nails digging deep into his palms. The mechanical monk Cyrus was like an insurmountable mountain before him, and the massive bronze bell behind him gleamed eerily in the night rain. The runes engraved on the surface of the bell didn't belong to the Maya District of this era; they resembled an ancient computing matrix buried beneath yellow sand.
'1969...' Aaryan's voice was low and laced with wariness. 'That's the Holy Blood Council's top secret. How could a wandering monk like you possibly know?'
Cyrus didn't answer. Instead, he slowly raised the mechanical arm connected to complex pistons and pointed to the enslavement emblem of the Holy Blood Council flashing behind Dahlia's neck.
"If you continue to use that 'devouring' power, this emblem will lock her soul completely." Cyrus's tone was calm yet inhuman. 'She saved you, but you are killing her. For these enslaved demi-humans, royal blood is a more potent 'overload' than poison.'
Aaryan's heart pounded. He looked down at the woman in his arms. Her face had gone from deathly pale to a sickly flush, and fine purple veins were spreading upwards from her collarbone. The ancient royal blood within him yearned to devour everything around him. However, his reason frantically suppressed this impulse.
"Save her." Aaryan raised his head, the arrogant purple-gold light in his eyes fading to be replaced by an almost humble resolve. 'If you can save her, you can have my life or this blood, whatever you want.'
Cyrus let out a soft, dry, grinding sigh, like the sound of gears grinding. 'I don't want your life. The etheric flow in the Maya District is chaotic. The crystal energy that should nourish all things is collapsing towards the same coordinate: the '1969' you just mentioned."
He slowly walked towards Aaryan, his mechanical staff striking the floor covered in acid rain with a dull thud.
'The Holy Blood Council has built a massive "etheric collection array" here. They're trying to reverse time and return to the singularity before civilisation collapsed. You, Aaryan, are the only key that can open the door for them. The emblem within Dahlia is a signal amplifier. As long as you're by her side, the entire Maya District execution squad will hunt you down relentlessly like sharks smelling blood."
"Then let them come." Aaryan gritted her teeth and sneered, her right hand clenching tightly and instantly shattering the remaining black magic mist in the air around her.
"Don't you understand?" Cyrus stopped three steps away from Aaryan, a complex red light flashing in his mechanical eyes. 'The stronger you are, the faster she dies. The resonance between royalty and the White Witch is a slow form of execution in itself."
Suddenly, Cyrus extended his massive bronze staff, the bell at its tip shaking violently and emitting a clear, soul-cleansing sound. As the bell rang, the emblem behind Dahlia's neck dimmed miraculously, and the previously turbulent energy flow calmed.
'I can temporarily seal this crest,' Cyrus said, looking at Aaryan. 'But in exchange, you must come with me to a place.'
"Where?"
'The deepest part of the underground arena.' Cyrus turned, his cloak fluttering in the wind and rain. 'There lies a madman of the Demon race named Balthazar. Not only does he know the truth about '1969', he is also the only 'catalyst' that can help you completely remove the crest from Dahlia."
Aaryan looked at Dahlia, whose breathing was gradually stabilising in his arms. Then he looked at the bottomless slum exit in the rain. He knew that, from that moment on, he was no longer merely fleeing for survival, but for protection.
He slowly rose and placed Dahlia in a specially made steam hibernation pod that Cyrus had brought with him. His gaze returned to its icy coldness, as if he had reverted to the time when he ruled over all spirits.
'Let's go,' Aaryan said softly.
The moment they stepped out of the diesel depot, the public address system in the entire Maya district suddenly emitted a piercing shriek and the neon signs along the streets went out instantly. In their place appeared a massive, illusory projection of a figure wearing a golden mask — the projection of Lord Malakor, leader of the Holy Blood Council.
"Martial law is now in effect throughout the district," the projection's voice boomed. 'Find the man with the purple scar. Anyone who provides clues will receive the 'Pure Serum'; anyone who obstructs will be exterminated along with their entire race.'
At that moment, Aaryan felt the gaze of the entire city turn greedy and frenzied.
Beside him, behind a dark pile of rubbish, Pau, a short, unscrupulous businessman who made a living by reselling scrapped steam arms, gripped a walkie-talkie tightly, his eyes darting back and forth between Aaryan and the bounty.