Born in Blood



The Bloodguard overseeing the bats' docking stations couldn't shake off the encounter he had with the higher vampire. 

Higher vampires had a reputation of being proud, haughty and arrogant pieces of work. Despite nearly killing him, he knew his troubles wouldn't end there. 

If anything, he might even get relieved of his duties and executed just for not recognizing authority. A brutal society it was.

A giant Blood Bat – a pack leader – shadowing the skies and slowing over the runway brought the guard out of his musings. He cursed loudly.

Another higher vampire!

The man watched as a broad-shouldered, ruby-haired and cold-faced lady gently got off her beast and began walking towards him. 

Instantly, he lowered his head and made way, but that remark didn't go unnoticed by the woman. 

"What's wrong with you?" she questioned, making the guard curse his fate once more. 

"N-nothing, Ma'am," the guard fumbled and shifted uncomfortably in place. 

The woman scowled, leaning closer. "Tell me. Now."

Letting out a short sigh at his sealed fate, the guard spoke with a reluctant tone, mentioning the specifics of his disrespectful encounter with another higher vampire. 

As the Bloodguard spoke, he realized the woman's expression was growing more and more enraged. He knew he had only a few more minutes of life remaining.

"There isn't any scheduled visit from a Legionnaire except me. What did he look like?"

Huh?

"I… didn't see his face. He wore black and was together with 4 others. Ma'am… he made me cough blood. Was that… not a real Legionnaire?" 

The woman frowned. Saying nothing, she stretched out her right hand. 

With an eerie caw, a large crow with beady red eyes split the air from above and perched on her arm.

Shifting her gaze to it, she spoke one word.

"Hunt."

///

Two days passed. 

Liam slowly gathered intel regarding the city, leaving the inn alone and sticking close to the shadows.

The city ran through magical constructs powered by blood themselves. They were basically imitations of normal inscriptions and formations, only weaker and more primitive.

It helped that his presence concealing ability had been enhanced to an amazing level. Even his smell was hidden.

That didn't stop a few daring hoodlums from attacking him. 

They were dealt with shortly and their Nexus' were stored.

Other than that, his findings were satisfactory.

In short, the Citadel was ruled by ten large families, further emphasized by the ten giant spires erected around the plateau that nobody could get within 200 meters of. 

They were oligarchs whose combined wealth presumably rivaled that of Echorian Royalty.

The political system was similar to the nobles back in Echoria, only here, authority was considerably more iron-handed.

Higher vampires were called Legionnaires, and they were greatly respected and known. 

In hindsight, pretending to be one wasn't wise, since it could bite him in the back.

…Oh well. What could go wrong?

They were gonna stay there for a few more days anyway, mapping out at least one section of the Citadel. 

The city was too big to explore fully, and Liam honestly felt like he had a leash on his freedom. 

Every second spent in the Citadel felt like time wasted, and Liam needed to get back to the academy to experiment and grow stronger peacefully.

On that note, he did covertly practice a bit with his illusionary abilities that came with his eye.

All Liam had to do in order to make it work was shape his mental energy into any form he wanted, think of the color, then flick on a 'switch' in his eye. 

Just like that, a ripple of iridescent light would spread through the air and display an ethereal blade or sword or whatever Liam had imagined. 

It wasn't perfect by any means… but it could definitely prove useful now and again. 

Other than that, Liam couldn't suppress the urge to test out absorbing vampire's blood. More specifically, the Blooder's.

Fixing himself a relatively safe place to work in – an abandoned area within the distant outskirts – he began to examine and study Vxich's blood. 

There was a crucial component he was missing in order to practice Blood Arts like an actual vampire.

Blood manipulation. 

Liam needed to find a way to control his blood. 

There was always 'Ora' manipulation, but that didn't have the precision and control to harden or shape blood into a desired form. 

Liam had a few theories on how to learn and force that ability into his own body. 

The first was the purified blood. 

Although he wasn't 100% on it, he imagined that refined and enhanced blood entering his bloodstream would eventually attune to his body. Even if the blood was from a vampire.

The King's Eye had actually supported that argument. 

There wasn't anything in the blood that was specifically designed for a vampire's body. 

In other words, it was similar to a human's, only more pure.

Liam's idea was crazy, like all his other inspirations, and anyone would be right in calling him a maniac. 

In short, that 'idea' consisted of slowly replacing all the blood in his body with purified vampire blood, at a pace that his body won't outright reject.

Then, he would gorge down the Nexus' stored in his ring, starting with the Blooder's, and eventually working his way to those under.

Obviously, he didn't know if eating a center of power was going to have any effect, but at this point, why not?

Liam took several safeguards before attempting anything – mainly eating the remaining body strengthening/nourishing pills – but eventually, he began.

For the first step, he diluted small amounts of Vxich's blood with his own.

For one, that would have definitely reduced the purity of the blood, but would be much safer for his body to ingest. 

'There's plenty of it remaining. I can afford to be safe.'

Tensing his hand, his nails grew black and lengthy. In the next moment, he slowly dipped his fingers into the container of blood.

A euphoric feeling pulsed through Liam's blood, reddening his pale face. He was tempted to absorb more, but held off the urge. 

A moment later, his decision proved correct, as the pleasurable feeling was replaced by a cruel pain.