Born in Blood

After expressing a bit of interest initially about Liam's change in personality, Alucard chose not to delve into it any further.

It seemed like this chat really was just an 'up to date' talk.

"What do you plan on doing next?" Alucard asked after a while. "I suppose this is when you begin your… Path, is it?"

Liam raised a brow. Was Alucard's Path somehow different? Was it a race issue?

"I thought all Zeniths had Paths?" Liam asked the vampire king in a roundabout way. 

Alucard chuckled a bit at Liam's lack of knowledge.

Then, his tone grew a little more serious.

"Not that simple," Alucard explained. "Races have their own peculiarities that aren't found in other species." 

"For my kind, our blood naturally does the work. It's not as arduous and labor-heavy in comparison to humans, but it's not as precise, either."

Liam paused for a second. Did that mean…

"You can't control what you want to become? And… does that mean all you have to do to get to the Celestial Ranks is just… sit around?"

Silence.

Alucard grinned cryptically, choosing not to answer. "Who knows?" 

If that was the case… Alucard was basically guaranteed Celestial status if he just remained alive!

That was unheard of!

Liam was just a tiny bit jealous. 

Except… there was a catch. 

And for that reason, Liam would ultimately prefer not to be in Alucard's place.

The catch was simple.

If Liam was unable to choose what his Path entailed, nor add anything to it… then what was the point of cultivating?

The same couldn't be said for vampires, since they all shared basically the same element and whatnot.

But that obviously left them in a disadvantageous position against the humans, who could alter and grow their Paths however they wanted!

'The Opposition's got it out for him too,' Liam thought with a laugh. 'Good. I don't feel as left out anymore.'

Alucard glanced at Liam from the side. 

"But you…" Alucard said, pausing with a strange expression on his face. "I don't reckon you are a human."

A terse silence accompanied Alucard's statement. 

This was the first time race was ever mentioned between the two. Why now? How strange.

'Is he probing for something?' Liam thought. 'Does he know I'm an Ashura?' 

"Why do you ask?" Liam questioned.

Alucard smiled lightly as he took another sip. "Your blood. I can sense it. It's stronger, but strangely distant from my progeny."

"You're not one of mine, despite eating a vampire's heart. And you're not a human. What, then?"

Liam suddenly laughed, speaking one word. 

"Octopus."

Silence…

Alucard blinked. "What?"

"Octopus," Liam reiterated. "I combined myself with a Shifter Octopus to get their transformation abilities."

"I think that's what you mean."

Alucard blinked a few times, then laughed. Probably at how stupid that sounded. 

"I see. Apologies. It wasn't my intention to interrogate or belittle you. I suppose I'm at that age where anything mildly interesting gets me curious."

Liam exchanged a terse chuckle with him.

But inwardly, he felt like he'd dodged a massive bullet! 

Conversing with Alucard always made him feel like he was playing with fire. 

A misstep, and Alucard could find out something that he could use against Liam later.

But for now, he was in the safe zone.

Alucard rose to his feet. "I'll be leaving now. A pleasure."

Liam nodded. "Likewise."

Adjusting his suit and giving Liam a nod, Alucard made a beeline for the tunnel leading to the upper floors. Probably the peak.

As he left, Liam lingered for several seconds, calmly sipping on his immaculate berry juice.

"If you're gonna come out, now's the time to do it," Liam said, seemingly to himself. "Stop lurking."

Silence followed, but a hesitant shadow slowly emerged from the corner wall. 

Liam glanced over to who it was… and he saw a face he never recognized before.

It was a tall, middle-aged woman with long obsidian-black hair, streamlined black eyes with a gentle black dress.

In her right hand was a massive pencil… and clutched closely to her chest was a book the size of a human torso. 

She wore a ruby ribbon.

Liam heaved a deep sigh. He didn't like where this was going.

She approached hesitantly, blushing as she did so. Eventually, she sat opposite to Liam, hiding half of her face with her book.

"H-Hi…"

Ah. 

It was another one of those. 

Liam gave her a dead look. 

"You are… who exactly? Why were you trailing me for so damn long?"

The woman hid her face.

"I-I'm sorry… I just couldn't find the correct time."

Liam clicked his tongue lightly.

Quite frankly, he didn't like the blushy-blushy kind of people that weren't direct with whatever they wanted to say.

"What do you want?" Liam said bluntly.

After a short pause, the woman took out her book and laid it in front of Liam.

"I'm… just a very big fan," the woman said, lowering her gaze and flipping through the pages of her book. "Please don't be weirded out or anything."

'Weird thing to say, but okay.'

Liam grabbed the book and flipped through the first page.

The only thing he saw were the words, 'LIAM ROYCE', in wide, blotched letters. 

Liam furrowed his brows lightly.

'Okay… a little weirder.' 

Liam flipped through another page.

Then another, and another, and another, quickening his pace. 

And the more Liam saw the more his eyes widened in confusion, shock and… sheer bewilderment.

This book had crazy psychotic tendencies written all over it. 

It was filled with incredibly precise details of Liam's life!

Not only that, there were countless drawings of him doing various… poses.

There were also statements from those who served in the academy at the same time as him.

As he continued flipping, he eventually got to the latest page… where it was another drawing of him donning his suit!

The ink was inscribed, and the drawings themselves looked animated.

Slowly, Liam lowered the book and looked at the woman, piercing her soul with his eyes.

"...Who are you?"