‘He killed them in seconds…’
If not for the bloodthirst in his veins, if not for the fact that he was Sanguine… Delmas’s eyes would currently be trembling.
‘Didn’t he just evolve?’
He was sure of this, completely and absolutely. He had confirmed it from multiple sources before even coming for this ambush.
After Khana had sent her request, Delmas had ordered his people to watch Malakai closely. Follow his every move.
Three days ago, when Malakai had spent the night at Ironhold on his way to Blackreach, they had confirmed it, he had been unevolved.
The six Genesis evolvers Delmas had brought with him were the cream of the crop.
Elite Genesis stage warriors, some of the best new additions to their group.
The Maugrim.
Born in silence. Raised in shadows. Shaped by war.
The Maugrim were not just assassins. They were phantoms.
An order centered around espionage, assassination, and information gathering inside the dome.
Although they operated in the shadows, their recruitment method was utterly selective.
Each Maugrim was handpicked from dozens of candidates who had survived the Bleeding Trials, brutal psychological and physical tests designed to destroy the weak and remake the strong.
Delmas had brought six of such people.
And to him, and anyone who knew them, a newly evolved human, Sanguine or not, would not survive their chase.
And yet, the impossible had happened right before his eyes.
That same newly evolved human had slaughtered them all in seconds?
‘I can’t let him escape.’ Delmas’s thoughts turned cold.
But just as he was about to move, a voice boomed across the sky.
“The Maugrim?! I should have known!”
Varek’s voice thundered like a storm. His aura followed, blanketing the sky, heavy and suffocating.
He appeared above them, eyes filled with nothing but fury, locked onto the two calm figures floating high in the air.
“How dare you!” Varek roared. “The Sanguine Clan will erase your petty group from this dome! You fools have crossed the wrong people!”
Varek had ditched his Equilador. The mutated beast was better used for travel. Although they were good during certain aerial combats, in a battle between Synergy stage beings, it was nothing but dead weight.
Blood swirled around Varek in thick waves, lifting his body high up in the air with ease.
His blade was already unsheathed, an intense bloodlust dripping from every inch of him.
But despite that, the broader figure, Donju, simply scoffed.
“Empty words,” he said with a voice filled with disdain. “You bloodsuckers have been trying to wipe us out for decades. What makes you think now’s any different?”
He turned to Delmas before flashing him a grin.
“Get a load of this bullshit, man,” he chuckled.
Varek’s eyes snapped toward Delmas, and as he saw the blood around him, they widened in disbelief.
“You’re… you’re a Sanguine?!”
Blood Champions weren’t common.
Reaching Synergy was one thing, but becoming a Blood Champion still wasn’t guaranteed. Some lived their entire lives without ever attaining that rank.
This simple fact made Blood Champions revered in the Sanguine Clan and even amongst other clans.
They were respected. Given almost anything they wanted.
Which was why Varek couldn’t understand it.
Why was one of them with the Maugrim?
“Pretty obvious, dumbass,” Donju muttered. “Did I hit you too hard? Is that skull of yours rattling?”
“You—!” Varek bellowed as his aura exploded outward, shaking the air.
But Donju just grinned wider as bones started jutting out from his forearms with a crack.
Delmas turned to him. “Hold him. I’m going after the boy.”
Varek’s eyes snapped to Delmas, pupils shrinking. “No, you won’t—!”
But before he could finish or move, Donju’s aura flared.
Varek barely caught the shift before a sword of bone came crashing down toward his skull.
His eyes widened as his blade shot up in reflex, steel met bone in a cataclysmic collision.
BOOM.
The shockwave tore through the sky, reaching the forest and sending trees groaning and bending from the force.
But through the chaos, Delmas had disappeared.
…
The sound of the distant battle reached Malakai, but he didn’t even so much as glance in that direction.
Malakai’s body felt hot.
No, it was boiling!
Every inch of him burned like he was being cooked from the inside out.
To increase his speed, he had long since activated [Bloodflow].
His blood churned violently, pumping through every fibre of his being.
Veins bulged across his body as his strength and speed surged.
He could feel it, his body was tearing through its reserve of Vita at a rate too insane to measure.
Without even checking his panel, he knew, he wouldn’t last long like this.
But Malakai’s eyes only burned cold.
‘I have to move faster.’
He pushed even harder. More. Beyond what he thought was possible.
He hit his limits, then shattered through them, reaching even another breaking point.
As the moment passed, his skin suddenly started splitting in different places, thin trails of blood leaking from fresh tears.
His muscles hurt like hell. His bones felt like they were grinding and on the verge of snapping.
‘Move. Move. Move. Move.’
Regardless, the single word rang like a mantra in his head.
However, as Malakai continued pushing himself, he suddenly felt it.
Warmth.
It ignited from his chest, slow at first… then spread everywhere all at once.
It was surreal. Like something ancient and silent had stirred awake, answering his call from deep within his soul.
‘The Essence?’
The thought barely had time to form before it hit him.
A surge of energy, massive and overwhelming. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before, roaring through his body.
To Malakai, for a moment, the world stopped.
The rustling of leaves.
The distant booms of the cataclysmic battle.
Even the sound of his own feet hitting against the ground was gone.
And in the next instant…
Boom.
Malakai blasted forward, his speed doubling in a blink.
His legs moved like bullets fired from a cannon, the world around him turning into a blur.
As he realized the newfound energy moving through his body, Malakai’s eyes widened in shock.
‘Where did this energy come from?’
His thoughts moved fast. Too fast.
‘It even affected my mind…’
Malakai knew how he thought, and he knew well that it wasn’t this fast.
Then there was this foreign power. It was too sudden, too explosive to be his own strength.
‘The Life Essence…’
There was no other explanation. This was the only thing that came to his head.
However, he shoved the thought aside and focused on his reality. And in the next instant, he adjusted to the new speed.
‘I’m about twice as fast now…’
He assessed the changes to his body very quickly, but his gaze narrowed a second later.
‘It’s disappearing…’
The energy, whatever it was, began slipping away.
And as it did, his speed dipped. Then fell even further than it was before.
‘I feel… weaker.’
Malakai clenched his teeth hard. The burst of energy hadn’t just drained him, it had left his body even worse off.
His speed dropped to half of what it was before the sudden power, his pain intensifying by many levels.
‘I can’t stop!’
Still, Malakai knew well that stopping wasn’t an option. He forced himself to keep moving.
But not even a second later, it hit him.
A familiar metallic scent.
Blood.
His instincts screamed, but it was already too late.
Whoosh…. Crack!
A projectile tore through the air and struck through his right leg.
“Ark!”
Malakai growled as pain raged through him like fire.
‘My leg—!’
The impact punched through his flesh and muscle, shooting out from the other side.
And with the insane speed he had been moving at, balance was a luxury he couldn’t have.
His body pitched forward before tumbling. He rolled, hitting the forest floor hard, dirt and leaves kicking up in his wake.
BAM!
He slammed into a tree with force, the bark cracking as his body carved into it slightly before slumping down.
Malakai breathed in heavily, spewing a mouthful of blood onto the floor.
Pain radiated through every fibre of his being, but he gritted his teeth, trying to force his body to move.
But suddenly, the sound of footsteps reached his ears, each one growing louder.
He raised his head shakily, blood dripping from his lips, and saw the figure of a man approaching him slowly.
Clad in pure black, a mask covered the man’s face from the head down to his nose, leaving only his crimson eyes exposed.
Eyes filled with nothing but bloodlust stared down at Malakai.
“What are you?”
The man’s voice sounded like a predator that was curious. His crimson gaze stayed fixed on Malakai, as though he hadn’t seen something like him before.
But Malakai didn’t answer. Instead, he gritted his teeth and focused, forcing his blood to stop the bleeding in his leg.
The projectile had pierced cleanly through his right thigh.
Delmas didn’t seem to mind the silence. He continued moving forward.
His voice was calm but eager.
“You just evolved, I’m sure of it. So how can you move that fast?”