The sky rumbled, threatening to tear the earth apart.

Below those skies was a prairie and lying on the ground was the dead body a youth no older than sixteen years of age.

There was a gaping hole in his chest. And his eyes were still open as his shocked expression before death could still be seen.

As the skies rumbled, casting a dark shadow on the prairie with the dark clouds, the skies seemed to be sliced into two and a blood red mist escaped the small rip in space as it fell down on the prairie like a shooting star.

The red mist was mainly made of a sentient-like blood.

The blood then looked for a suitable host.

If you look closely, you could see that the quantity of the blood was decreasing as time passed.

“That youth will do. I’m already quite lucky to find a host in this shithole in the middle of nowhere.” An aged voice came from the blood.

The blood descended and then entered the gaping hole in the chest of the youth and then flowed inside the whole body.

The blood seemed to be filled with limitless vitality as it worked its magic repairing the badly battered body of the youth.

It didn’t take long for a heartbeat to be heard after the body was repaired and free of any wounds both inside and outside.

The youth's eyes then regained their vigor as they turned into a deep shade of red.

“Ahahaha…I Kron the blood emperor has finally survived this calamity…Hehe… to think those idiots back there still think that I have been obliterated… I can’t wait until I make my comeback and then kill them all.” The youth said.

Then came a numbing sensation that numbed all his senses as new memories assaulted him.

“Oh… this host’s soul had yet to dissipate. These are the memories of this youth. The Kez clan. His name was Marley Kez. What a pitiful boy…left alone because of his inability to sense mana. To think that this world still relies on the weak and pitiful mana powersource. Where I come from, mana became a forgotten relic left in the collective memory once the discovery of origin energy was made. No one dared to use it anymore, fearing to be left behind the rest of the world. But on this Muhar planet, it seems to be the only powersource they have knowledge of.”

“I’m quite lucky though. I snatched a body that had yet to open a mana core. Had it been the case, it would have been difficult for me to open an origin core.”

“Let’s see…I should take advantage of the vast origin energy still in my soulblood before it dissipates. Without an origin core, the origin energy left in my soul blood will dissipate on its own with nothing to rein it in. It’s now my only chance to condense an origin core in this new life.”

He indeed had enough origin essence to open an origin core.

The youth sat down cross legged as he used what was left of his strength to condense an origin core.

He started by pulling strands after strands of origin energy from his soul blood. He directed it in a cavern like place in the middle of his chest and made that origin energy rotate.

Soon, there was enough energy to make a little red core. Once the origin core was formed it became the color of red.

The origin core gave a gentle pulse every now and then, trying to supply the rest of the body with energy and purify the body of its impurities at the same time… but for now it was still weak as it would become much more useful when it was upgraded further.

On the Muhar planet, mages started with a red mana core.

A red mana core allowed them to cast level 0 spells.

An orange mana core allowed for level 1 spells to be cast.

A yellow mana core could help cast level 2 spells.

With a green mana core, mages could cast level 3 spells.

Then with a blue mana core one could literally destroy cities with their level 4 spells.

And finally, with a violet mana core, you could be considered a god as you could live for thousands of years and the lethality of your level 5 spells could even make the whole planet tremble.

Fortunately, the whole Muhar planet counted no more than four Violet mages. And at each color, the number of mages dwindled as you went up because of the difficulty to advance that many faced.

The Blood Emperor then started sensing the density of origin energy in the atmosphere, “The origin energy only takes one tenth of the space in the atmosphere. Sigh, It seems that my path to immortality on this so called Muhar planet is bound to take a long time.”

The red origin core inside of him tried to pull the origin energy in the surroundings inside of itself but it was too slow a process. Even when the Blood Emperor used his powerful soul as a guide, it proved to be strenuous, only increasing the intensity at which the origin energy was pulled in by merely ten percent.

“Well, while my red origin core is red it is still stronger than a yellow mana core if not as strong. I should still be able to cast the equivalent of level 2 Blood spells, while I have fallen from grace and my subjects killed, I’m still a vampire after all. It was a good thing I chose to fuse my soul with my blood so they could both become immortal when I ascended to immortality earlier. Now that I have lost my body, I am only left with my immortal soulblood, but it still needs a body for me to remain alive though.”

“Fortunately, I’ve also kept the space ability I stole from the Heavenly Void Bat…but with a red origin core I can only manage to teleport one kilometer at a time for it to be sustainable for a long time.”

“Now… what should I do?”

“Go to the Kez clan? But what happens when they discover that I am immortal but I am not even a violet mage?”

“But it’s the only safe place until I reach true immortality again.”

“Thankfully, I am not a regular vampire anymore as I do not need to feed on blood. When my blood fused with my soul, I lost the thirst for blood.”

“That said. In my first life, I never could find out why I was a vampire or how I was born into that world. It was the same for the Demon Lord and the Moonchild WereWolf. They all confided in me that they had never known what their origins were...Just that they appeared out of nowhere with the only thing driving them being the urge to multiply and conquer like me.”

“Well, for now, I shouldn’t think too far in the future. This body is a well known trash so it shouldn’t be surprising if I keep a red core for a few more years. It would only surprise people that I managed to open a core so late in my life. Well, they will have no way of knowing it’s an origin core as well.”

“The Kez clan is also a clan blessed with the wood element…a clan of alchemists…one of the four strongest powers of the Muhar planet.”

“I took this body, so I should also have access to the wood element as I am a descendant of the main family branch…the young master even.”

“Time to go home.”

His figure blurred and he disappeared from where he stood.

The Kez Clan was a reclusive clan that kept themselves away from the affairs of the world.

That being said, they owned and managed a city. Libra City.

…And while they kept themselves away from prying eyes, they couldn’t stop themselves from making waves in the world they lived in.

It all amounted to a few simple words: The allure of cultivation pills.

They concocted pills for the highest bidder who in turn also sold to the highest bidder or hoarded it for themselves.

Being born with the wood element was a blessing as almost every spell in their repertoire was catered towards plants.

You’d say : Such a weak clan whose element doesn’t allow them to fight, why haven’t they been enslaved yet?

Well, the answer was hidden in plain sight.

They preyed on those who were ostracized and bullied from a young age and offered them a home and resources. That new blood would eventually join the clan as protectors, husbands and wives.

With their endless pills, they could make anyone into a powerhouse and also enslave them...

***

The Blood Emperor had already reached Libra city before nightfall and was slowly inching closer to the family mansion.

Somewhere in Libra city.

A man was touching his black earing that was giving a faint light. He seemed shocked.

Once the earing stopped shining, he let it go and then said, “That, Kid is back?…But I gouged out his heart myself…”

A trace of panic could be seen on the man’s face, “If he comes back alive and remembers what I did, my days as a Protector are over. I must correct my mistake before he reaches the main mansion.”

He silently casted a spell that made him levitate by conjuring a small wind to appear around him. He took out a mask and black clothes and wore them…then used the window to leave his house. He flew away at breakneck speed towards Marley Kez.

On the way, he was remembering the words of the elder who had paid him handsomely for Marley to disappear forever. He had then lured Marley, outside the city by spreading rumors of a herb that allowed one to open a mana core. Marley was desperate enough to leave alone and didn’t tell anyone where he was going. Once Marley was far enough from the city, he then apprehended him and flew him several hundred kilometers away from the city where he killed him before coming back during the night by flying to his house and avoiding the main gates, putting himself far away from the crime.

It should have worked.

But what on earth happened?

How did he revive himself?

He had now already spotted Marley slowly walking on the main street. There was the usual traffic at that hour. Most pedestrians were going home trying to beat the sunset. The merchants and peddlers were closing their stalls and stores.

Marley was taking in the view when he felt a feeling that he knew all too well: killing intent.

He continued walking as if nothing had happened, “Is it the ones who killed Marley? Are they afraid now that I am back and want to finish me off inside the city? How insane are they? The Prime Protector is Blue Lightning mage. All I have to do is cause a commotion big enough for him to get here in a second…ah right it won’t be just the Prime Protector alone, my grandpa is a Violet wood mage, he will come too.”

Marley didn’t walk long before a black clothed man with a mask appeared several dozens meters away from him and sent a green wind blade, a level three spell.

Marley saw everything in slow motion, not because he was shocked but because that’s what his powerful soul allowed him to do.

Inside his head, Marley was thinking, ‘A level 3 spell, huh. He is at least a green core. With my space element I should probably be able to make that level 3 wind blade disappear. Barely. I can’t really fight him openly as I am still too weak with my red origin core. It only allows me to cheat by being able to fight two ranks above me and this guy is three ranks above me. I could also ignore the wind blade and teleport in front of him and morph my hand into a vampire claw and slit his throat and rinse and repeat if it doesn’t work…but eventually he’ll start expecting that I will teleport close to him and at this distance, I can only teleport at least a dozen times before my origin core is empty. I barely have any energy as I teleported constantly from the prairie to here…or I could just ignore everything and just teleport right inside the main mansion and get home safely….but what would that accomplish…I would still have a target behind my back….besides I’m not one to run away from a fight, weak or not.’

As he made up his mind, Marley’s right hand’s nails turned into claws and he ran to meet the wind blade that had already flew half the distance between them.

The masked man snickered as he saw the young man make a move to plunge himself towards the wind blade,

“He won’t even have the time to make one step.”the black clothed green mage.

…and he thought he was seeing things when he saw his target disappear from hi vision.

Marley had barely made one step as the level 3 wind blade collided with him, threatening to cut him in half.

The space energies that Marley had conjured around him for his teleportation were fighting with the wind blade.

Marley had expected it. It was a crucial part of his plan.

In that split second of collision, he made the space energies teleport him while also fusing them with the wind blade and teleporting it above him.

The chaotic space energies and the wind blade that was also becoming unstable because of the fusion exploded several dozens meters in the sky.

…the explosions happened right in time for Marley to find himself before the flabbergasted masked man and slit his throat.

“It worked.” Marley said.

The explosion had woken up the whole city, alarming the residents while also making the masked man lose his focus which allowed Marley to make short work of him.

As Marley expressionlessly watched the man choke on his own blood, he touched his belly to find that he had almost been cut in half. The hole that went from side to side was scary to watch. There was no blood coming out and that reassured him. His blood was his life, he couldn’t afford to watch it splatter everywhere. It was almost a reflex to keep his blood inside his body should someone manage to hurt him.

He looked at the sky in time to catch a blue lightning and he saw a man wearing a blue attire materializing above him.

Marley right hand that he had hidden on his back was in the midst of turning into a normal hand as the man above him said, “Young Master Marley? You disappear for three days and now I find you alone in front of a dying man. Can you tell me what happened here? And what was that explosion?”

Marley recognized the man above him. The most powerful Protector. A late stage blue core mage that could soon become one of the strongest beings on the planet by becoming a Violet mage. Finn Kez.

Finn Kez had taken the Kez family name when he had married into the clan in his youth.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“He tried to assassinate me. The explosion was the wind blade he sent after me.” Marley said without trying to explain too much.

Eventually, Finn was having a headache. How could Marley survive and escape a wind blade. He looked at the tattered clothes Marley was wearing but apart for the blood he saw around the hollowed out part of his shirt on his chest, the shredded part around his belly had no blood at all. Both the chest and belly seemed to be in perfect condition and Marley the man in question as well.

One more thing. He could feel the assassin was only a green mage. How could a wind blade released by this man cause such a commotion?

Nothing made sense so far, so Finn made a decision.

He approached the dying man and then forced him to eat a pill.

The damage that was done to the man was no more and he could live. His slit throat appeared as good as new except for the blood still around it.

Finn tore the man’s mask off. He recognized the man as a peer. A low level Protector.

Finn tore the man’s mask off. He recognized the man as a peer. A low level Protector.

“Dean. I hope you have a good explanation for all of this.” Finn looked at Dean Kez in the eyes, be he couldn’t recognize the man that had always been so full of himself despite being just a Green mage. Instead, he saw a terrified man. Finn first thought it was due to his presence but then he realized that Dean only watched the smiling Marley with terror from the beginning.

“He’s a…a monster…a ghost. His hand turned into a claw.” Dean stuttered as he pointed at Marley.

Marley thought that he had been tactful when he had decided to retract the color of his eyes from red to black before he entered the city or else, these accusations alone would have been the least of his worries.

A vein almost popped on Finn’s forehead. He said, “Don’t think you can feign insanity with me around.”

“You gotta believe me. He’s not normal. He intercepted my wind blade and sent it in the sky by using some sorcery. He then appeared in front of me out of nowhere and slit my throat.” Dean was too scared that he didn’t realize he was burying himself even deeper by confessing to his assassination attempt.

Finn ignored the alarming details. Well, he couldn’t make sense of it anyway, so his only course of action was to get everything out of this scared man while he still could, “So you confess. Who do you work for? Who asked you to kill the young master?”

It was like cold water was poured on Dean Kez. He realized his blunder and then started thinking of ways to get out of his predicament, but it seemed it was already too late to do anything.

Marley then said to Finn, “Maybe you should let me be the one to ask him. I seem to be very persuasive with him.”

Before Finn could answer an aged voice sounded, “What happened here?”

They looked above and a man standing on a flaming sword was looking at them with a frown.

Finn then immediately bowed with Dean still held in his hand, “Greetings, Patriarch. I got here first and was about to uncover the truth. It seems there had been an assassination attempt on your grandson, Marley Kez. The perpetrator is a Green Protector. I was about to find out who gave him such orders.”

The patriarch looked at Marley and he couldn’t hide the contempt he held for this particular grandson of his.

As he looked closer, he found energy undulations coming from his grandson, ‘Couldn’t he cultivate? Where did his red core come from?’

It seemed that he didn’t feel happy that his grandson could now cultivate, only a barrage of questions was left in his mind.

The Patriarch gently descended. After he stored the sword, he pulled out a pill from his storage pouch and then forced Dean to eat it.

“Is that a truth pill, Patriarch?” Finn asked.

“Yes. I don’t care for this useless grandson of mine but plotting to kill someone of my branch is a capital crime no matter how useless that someone is.” The Patriarch said with solemn look.

Dean eyes became dull as if he had lost his spirit.

“Who asked you to kill my grandson?” The Patriarch asked.

“It was Great Elder Alistair Kez.” The lifeless Dean said.

“Did he happen to say why? Marley is useless so even if Alistair wanted to pave the way for his descendants for an important position in the clan, Marley’s big brothers should have been his target. Why Marley?” The Patriarch asked.

“Marley was too close to his daughter.” Dean said.

“Alright. I got what I wanted. Finn, kill this man and burn his corpse so that there’s nothing left of him.” The Patriarch ordered.

Finn did as asked and soon there was nothing left of Dean. Finn then asked the Patriarch, “What do we do about Alistair?”

“Don’t worry. His last day will come sooner or later. Killing him now would just create turmoil inside the clan, but at the same time, by not killing him, Marley will always have a target behind his back as long as he stays close to that woman.” At these words, the patriarch turned to look at Marley. He continued, “I don’t know how you managed to gain a core, and I won’t ask, because really I do not care. You’ll still be useless as you had missed the opportunity to train while you were still young. For all I know, you could stay a red core for the rest of your life…so I really don’t want to get my hopes up….and a word of advice for you : Forget that woman if you want to live a bit longer.”

Marley Kez nodded and went past the patriarch without a care in the world. The patriarch treated him like air, so he would do the same.

The patriarch didn’t take the lack of respect at heart and shook his head and then hopped on his flaming sword and disappeared into the night just like Finn.

***

Marley reached his quarters without a hitch.

He had been missing for three days, and no one had been looking for him.

As a well known trash, he was more hated than liked. Especially since he was one of the young masters of the Kez clan.

He had two big half-brothers, Matt the eldest, and Marlon the second, who were already deeply involved in the clan's affairs.

He had a father, Mark Kez, who was the current Clan Master whose authority was just below that of the Patriarch.

Sadly, Mark's third wife, Marley's mother, a Protector, Christina Kez, had disappeared shortly after his birth, so he didn't have any memory of her.

He was back in the little house that he had been given when his talent was proven to be nonexistent.

The house used to belong to the servants of the mansion. In fact, its location was near the servants' domain while being far from everything else.

The Blood Emperor, liked his new accommodations.

No one would come to bother him which gave him ample space and time to do whatever he felt like doing while being protected by the entire clan.

He knew that by being weak, he needed something to rely on, something that could protect him from any danger.

...But that wasn't enough. He knew he needed to rely on himself first. The assassination attempt had proved it.

'What can be done first?' Marley asked himself.

He knew that the density of Origin energy in the air was one percent and the rest was mana.

He needed a way to increase his strength as fast as he possibly could.

"An Origin Gathering Array. It could be useful... I'll use the mana in the air as a power source for the Array and then siphon all the origin energy I can get from the surroundings."

“I have no idea how much origin energy drops I will get from this Origin Gathering Array, but it should be enough for me to cultivate and breakthrough my red core faster while selling some to accumulate funds.”

He counted on selling a few drops of origin energy to accumulate wealth. He reckoned that it should be a premium good that would make empires go crazy for just a single drop.

If a mage with a blue core ingested a single drop, he could fight a violet mage on equal grounds for thirty minutes before he was out of mana completely. The pressure on the body after the thirty minutes are over would make the mage unable to walk for three days, but if he could kill his opponent and get to a safe place in the thirty minutes the origin energy drop was in effect, it was all worth it.

Mages could prolong the effect of the drops of origin energy by ingesting more drops, but the pressure on the body could be graded from feeling an even more excruciating pain and recuperating for a long time to succumbing to the pressure and dying.

It was why it was only advised to take the drops of origin energy starting from a blue mana core and going up. Below a blue mana core, even one drop could be considered suicide.

Unless you cultivated in origin energy from the beginning, taking origin energy drops was lethal.

In the Boundless World, the world where the Blood Emperor came from, in the early days of origin energy, those who still used mana had experimented the many ways the origin energy could be beneficial to them and the Origin Gathering array was one of the first arrays of its kind to be created, paving the way for future generations who would start their cultivation with the origin energy from the beginning.

Marley found the most secluded room in the house. He had found an empty cellar.

He then started his work.

His fingers started weaving lights in the form of unknown symbols or perhaps runes or ...glyphs.

The runes assembled themselves and then turned into a simple cauldron made of transparent runes.

Before long a suction force could be seen with the naked eye.

The surrounding mana was then sucked in the runes before it was replaced by new mana which would be sucked inside the runes once again in an unending cycle.

“With this speed, it will take at least three hours to get a origin energy drop. Eight drops a day. More than enough for my needs, for now. To think that back home the same array gave more than a thousand drops per minute. If you were above an origin geyser, that number would be multiplied a thousand times.”

Of course, there were many more application to origin energy other than cultivation. It could also help in the other disciplines such as pill concocting or growing medicinal herbs or just plants in general. Origin energy could give a pill and a plant unheard of potency far surpassing the original a thousand times.

But right now, what Marley needed was a few drops to sell and then start cultivating in peace while nurturing a secret force with the money he made.

Marley made sure to weave an illusion runic formation should anyone enter the cellar by accident.

It had to be known that his future depended on this or origin gathering formation, so nothing had to happen to it.

The whole house also saw a multitude of runes coursing through every inch of it.

Since he was still weak, he had to make sure that his house was the safest place he could ever be and since he knew the runic system unknown to the inhabitants of the Muhar Planet, he wasn’t too stingy weaving protection and offensive runes on his humble abode.

Living in a place that had no knowledge of Runes, the universal language of magic, especially if you were the only one in the know, proved to be a huge advantage for Marley.

He didn’t have to fear Rune Breakers, an occupation most sought after as well as despised in his previous world.

What were they?

Well, they broke runes for a living.

Your enemy was holed up under a pile of runes that you couldn’t get through? You knew who to look for…and the most successful as a Rune breaker you were, the more your reputation tore through the heavens and the more sought after you were while your remuneration made others turn green from envy.

Every self-respecting Rune Master could boast of being a Rune Breaker since they have the knowledge necessary to make or break runes, but only the genius of geniuses could make a living through it. It was easier to make a living being a Rune Master than as a less successful Rune breaker. Both occupations demanded a lot of intelligence and it was in higher demand for the latter.

With his title as The Blood Emperor, he had had the chance to meet and share with many Rune masters and Rune breakers which ultimately led him to dabble into both occupation to kill the time.

He made a few accomplishments here and there. Discovered some new runes unknown to the world…but as to how far he reached in mastery as compared to the rest, even he didn’t know.

He always thought that as the Blood emperor, he shouldn’t waste so much of his time into something he could just get a capable subordinate to do for him.

That was before he discovered that his unique Vampire Bloodline could be further enhanced with the power of Runes…which led him into a path of no return.

Eventually, he used the fruits of his research to experiment on himself believing that since he boasted of the most powerful regeneration power in the world, he should be fine.

He was lucky.

It seemed his life was never in danger.

He managed to transplant a new bloodline into himself, the Heavenly Void Bat bloodline, which gave him the bloodline power of space and shortly after that found a new rune that could fuse his vampire blood with his soul thus gaining quasi-immortality.

He had thought that he would be able to enjoy his newfound strength, but as he had neglected his Galactic empire during his thousands of years of research, his enemies had never taken a day off in plotting his death which led to him suffering a crushing defeat he would have died from had he not made a breakthrough in his research.

If his body had been destroyed without his soul being fused with his blood, he would have died then and there.

As Marley looked around him, he felt like he was in a fortress.

It was then that his keen senses detected someone approaching his house.

His eyes turned red for a moment and he could see past the walls around him.

A woman, roughly sixteen years old was smilingly making her way towards his house.

“The troublemaker. If it wasn’t for her, Marley wouldn’t have been killed.” Marley said as he massaged his temples.

He knew her from Marley’s memories…and from the way she had interacted with him in the past, it seemed she had some feelings for him.

‘So how should I deal with this troublemaker?’ Kron thought.

The young woman arrived at the door and made a gesture to knock…but hesitated.

“What brings you here Marlene?” Kron said, as he opened the door while mentally sighing.

She immediately fell onto him, sobbing.

“I knew you were alright, Marley.”

The sudden embrace lasted an awkward long minute, before Marlene let him go.

“You should leave, now…and fast.” Kron said, blandly.

She choked on her breath the moment she looked in his eyes and realized that…she didn’t know who was in front of her.

The usual kind eyes had become emotionless and cold.

“Who…are…you?” The idea of asking that question terrified her and finally saying it out loud made her feel completely devastated.

Kron looked at her with the same cold eyes and said, “If you do not leave on your own, I’ll make you leave.”

He waved his hand and the formation protecting his house lit up. Marlene Kez was caught right in the middle of it as it registered her as an intruder.

Before she knew it, a light covered her and she found herself outside of the courtyard, beyond the area of effect of the formation. She tried to run back in but ran into an invisible wall each time.

She sobbed as she banged on the invisible wall, calling for her dear Marley, but nothing happened.

When she realized that all was hopeless, she stood up and left in slow steps, her head bowed down. It was unknown whether she was crying or not on her way home.

Marley closed the door and went back inside his house.

He looked at the origin essence gathering formation with a thoughtful look.

“Maybe I should make a mana essence gathering formation as well. It should sell well too. The origin and mana liquid essences are ten times more potent than their initial gaseous states. And instead of making Mages gain borrowed power with Origin essence, mana essence gives you a chance at steadily increasing your strength with a regular intake. No more bottlenecks whatsoever. A violet core is even achievable if you have enough mana essence.

***

A man with yellow eyes was slowly descending stairs. Each step was carefully made with the knowledge that an untimely end would befall him.

The eyes of the Moon Emperor released a golden hue, showing boundless confidence as he continued downwards trying to put an end to this farce.

“He should be dead! What is this energy signature that’s still lingering around? We’ve killed every blood sucker in the universe, Goddamnit! “

Bravos Moonchild, had just betrayed his friend, Kron Drakul.

If it wasn’t that he felt threatened for his future Universal Throne, he wished everything that had just happened was an illusion.

He was born with the strength to kill immortals and the first being he couldn’t kill became his best friend.

The thousands of years of friendship ended abruptly when the moon spirit showed him a vision : The Universe covered in a Blood hue and right in the middle of it was a throne where one man sat with a triumphant smile gazing at his uncountable number of subjects.

The Universal throne was his...His...HIS!

Why did it have to end up in the hands of that nerd whose only purpose in life was to pursue knowledge instead of power.

All of those times, he sighed of relief that the Blood born only drive in life was his unending curiosity, because deep down, Bravos Moonchild knew that Kron Drakul was the strongest of all the Chosen.

The reason?

Because the vast knowledge that Kron amassed and used on himself made him stronger at a faster rate than all the chosen combined.

Well, maybe it was an exaggeration.

Chosen were a bunch who were born with a curse.

That curse being their power as well as their malady.

Bravos Moonchild was born with the power of transforming into a wolf. Before him, there was no werewolves in the Universe.

That power came with its own drawbacks.

Each time the moon was full of spiritual power, he’d go mad only to wake up to realize that the nightmare was real. Gazing at his carnage had scarred him for life, each time it happened.

As for Kron Drakul, before his birth, there had never been a vampire in the universe.

...and just like Bravos, Kron’s bite could transmit the curse.

Among the Chosen, they were the only two who were known to transmit their curse by bite.

The Demon Lord Krane Darkh for example infected others with his mere presence...

...while the Berseker Jafen Hull only needed to inject his mad blood into his disciples.

These last two were also behind Bravos as they descended the stairs.

When they had been recruited by the latter, they couldn’t pass up the chance to eliminate the Number one public enemy of the Chosen.

Each chosen had a chance to reign supreme over all, but the fact that Kron went into seclusion when he had just beaten them all and carved himself a sizeable territory in the Universe, made them think that it was the end for them. If he did come out of seclusion, as he had shown it before, kron would be even stronger.

...but they were already fucked, so they were forced to enjoy the ride while each one of them had delusions of grandeur about their eventual comeback that would first crush the Blood emperor before setting their sights on the other Chosen.

They were delusional and knowing didn’t help.

Bravos however had already known of the truth at the time. The Moon Spirit didn’t spare him from impromptu visions.

He finally went mad and asked the third and fourth ranked chosens to follow his plan.

The plan was supposed to be simple...

Thanks to the Bloodline Demonic Compass, every vampire had been found and killed.

The alliance of the werewolves, the demons and the bersekers had been so efficacious that the genocide had only taken a mere moment.

When Kron finally felt that something was wrong after his connection with his bloodline went cold, it was already too late.

As the three reached the bottom of the staircase, they found themselves in a open space and in it there was a few things.

There was...

A three meter tall blood sphere that released intense presure but only in its immediate vicinity.

Under the floating blood sphere was a pulsating magic circle that glowed a strange dark red.

Bravos tried to decipher its markings, but the written spell was unknown to him.

Jafen Hull who looked like a battle god with his towering three and a half meter height and his exaggerated muscles, sounded like someone who was beyond scared, “I really don’t like this! Let’s just leave, Bravos.”

Krane Darkh, the Demon Lord then said, “Shut up and get ready for a fight! It seems that bastard pulled a fast one on us and found a way to cheat death. I mean...who the heck dies smiling after the betrayal of your best friend. I knew something was fishy then and this proves my suspicions.”

Bravos was mad from anger, his werewolf side threatened to come out, a thing he hadn’t felt for a long time after becoming an immortal.

No matter how Bravos told himself that it was impossible, the reality told him otherwise.

His past best friend...his current enemy was still alive and kicking right in front of him, mere moments after he thought he had administered the `coup de grâce`.

Bravos looked at the Bloodline demonic compass he had and then activated it for the last time.

“Just to be sure...” Bravos thought.

At this moment, what he dreaded the most was for another red dot to appear on compass after killing whatever was lurking inside the Blood Sphere.

The bloodline demonic compass stopped shaking and the three saw that they were indeed at the epicenter of a strong signal...the last, they hoped.

It had been the same when they found Kron’s secret laboratory only to find out that there was another signal after killing him

...and they only hoped that this place, in the middle of nowhere was also the last one.

The blood sphere seemed to sense their killing intent.

Immediately, the blood sphere collapsed on itself and took a humanoid form.

It was a man in his twenties, with eyes that glowed red, elongated canines and a single twelve centimetres horn on the right side of his forehead.

At two meters high, his features were the same as Kron in his younger days except for the additional horn.

“Just a bit longer... a bit longer...” the horned Kron said, absentmindedly.

“Are you Kron?” Bravos asked.

Krane Darkh then said, “There’s no need to ask that Bravos. You and Jafen go and kill this thing. I’ll cover you both. Let’s get this over with already.”

Bravos ignored Krane and kept his eyes on the humanoid.

The horned Kron then said, “The hunt has yet to begin and three out of six lambs delivered themselves to me so soon. Heh...talk about being lucky.”

The horned Kron tilted his head to the side, “As my creator’s best friend, he gave me special instruction to leave you out of this mess....so little wolf...please leave. What happens next is not for your eyes to see.”

The horned kron pointed a finger towards Bravos and a blood red circle appeared under the latter.

Bravos found himself completely frozen in place, as the circle was activated, Bravos understood that he was about to be teleported away, he asked, “Is Kron still alive?”

The Horned Kron seemed to look in a particular direction. There, in the outskirts of the Universe, he could see a youth utilizing rune magic in a rundown house.

“Only I have the power to kill him. Only a God can kill a God, you know.” He said with a smile, “Now, Goodbye.”

Under the incredulous eyes of the Demon and Berseker, Bravos disappeared.

“Jafen, this is not the time to daydream, enter the Asura state immediately, I will also further amplify your madness with my demonic energy by fusing with you. I got a bad feeling about this, so let’s take him out with our strongest move.” Krane Darkh said.

Jafen nodded and his skin turned purple as veins appeared all over him. Sounds of bones breaking and rearranging themselves could be heard.

The pain and the madness made him scream so loudly that it was unbearable for even the demon lord to hear.

When his transformation made him five meters tall, Krane turned into smoke and fused into Jafen’s body.

The Asura state became even more perfect as all it needed was madness.

At ten meters high, black purplish smoke coming out of him, Jafen looked even more like a battle God, dwarfing the horned kron.

Spiky Gauntlets and an armor made of black smoke envelopped Jafen before solidifying into a black metal, courtesy of the demon lord.

Their preparations were done and were finally ready for the fight that would either save them or doom them.

Kron was tinkering with the security of his house when he felt that someone very strong was spying on him.

’Have I been found out so soon? Impossible!’

A voice was then heard, “Master, I have awoken.”

Immediately, Kron sighed with relief.

“Hello, Anlow. So they finally found out about you. That was fast, even for them.” Kron said.

The horned vampire named Anlow, then said “They have some kind of compass that can single out your bloodline from the Universe’s inhabitants. I am afraid that your other remaining project might be found out like I was. What are your orders?”

As their connection deepened, the two Krons could share their minds and see what each was seeing.

The young Kron could see the three Chosens descending the stairs leading to the horned Kron’s lair.

“Leave Bravos out of this, but still do what you were created for. Absorb the other chosen. I trust that the Dragon Chosen you absorbed when I created you has been fully digested already?” The young Kron said.

“The dragon Bloodline is proving to be a bit resilient. The dragon spirit doesn’t follow my will, but if keep nibbling at it, eventually it will come around. I am afraid that adding two other chosens in the mix will be too much, sir.” Anlow said.

“Just do as I say. When you’re done absorbing them, come and find me. I guess without the space element to help you, you’ll reach me in five months. So don’t waste time.” The young Kron said.

“Yes, sir.”

With that the connection was no more.

The young Kron paced around the room as he thought deeply.

’Project Anlow was my first experiment at modifying the Vampire gene that had succeeded. The reclusive Dragon Chosen was mysteriously caught by me and then fed to Anlow who up until now, after thousands of years, has yet to completely digest the beast.’

Of course, the seven chosens are the next best thing in bloodline purity. The other living beings out there like humans or giants also used to have their own chosens, just that they eventually died of old age. Sometimes there would be a successor, but as time passed, the bloodline thinned and their Chosen could no longer appear in the world. Those who could still be around were the Chosen who had a kind of immortality in their Bloodline.

For example, Bravos whose strength and lifespan came from the number of his pack members. Thousands of years later, the werewolf gene had found its way in every corner of the Universe since each of his bite was special in a way that it created an Alpha who in turn could create werewolves of lower ranks.

krane Darkh could be summed up as special, his physical body was ethereal and his minions were created by shedding a piece of his ethereal form.

Jafen Hull and his berseker race were more ’accepting’ in the way they multiplied themselves. It was through normal reproduction with all compatible sentient humanoid races...and the Chosen was always the craziest of the bunch. It seems it wasn’t a question of bloodline but rather of whose mind was the craziest.

The phoenix Chosen, Lan, was the only one who was truly immortal, being born with a fire that could burn anything to cinders as well as help her reincarnate as many times as she wanted.

The dragon chosen, Kong, was a mystery, like Kron, his way of multiplying his bloodline was through giving his blood to other beings. Once ingested, depending on the quantity, you became some kind of dragon hybrid and with some time become a full fledged dragon.

Kron, only needed to give his blood to another humanoid and then kill him for him to become a vampire. It was that simple.

And the last, the most elusive of the Chosen and probably the oldest, the green ghost, he had only appeared a few times and his actions were always shrouded in mystery.

Perhaps there were other Hidden Chosens out there but only time will tell.

“I hope fighting two chosens isn’t too much for Anlow. I should have more faith in him. I created him after all. I know how strong he can be. But still, I can’t help but wonder...”

As he pondered, a screen appeared in front of him after runes were injected into the air.

On the screen, you could see a black armored ten meter tall giant roaring.

Kron was piggybacking on the earlier connection he shared with Anlow to see what the other could see.

“Desolation Fist Series : The first Punch of Severance.” Roared the giant as its right fist covered in black purplish energy bored down on Anlow.

The cave they were fighting had been in the middle of dozen kilometres long asteroid.

The moment the punch landed, the asteroid turned to dust....space rumbled and there were many spatial tears for hundreds of kilometres.

The rebound after the punch had been more visible for the humanoid giant than for Anlow.

Well, Anlow stayed in the same place while the giant seemed to be catapulted back like a shooting star.