Sixth Bloodline [BxB]

CHAPTER 52: REGAINING SANITY [THIS PERSON IS KINDA UTE...]

cHAptEr 52:

-rEGAininG sAnitY

[tHis pErsOn is kindA cUtE]

   AS MORE and more humans began to die due to Mikhael's uncontrollable thirst, vampires began to notice this oddity. And then, after few days, they themselves became his next target.

The most terrifying thing about those deaths were that not too far from dried up corpses of humans were often large amount of blood on the ground. It's like whatever killed them didn't want their blood and then spat it out - or just played with it for fun.

Vampires were different - there was a messy area smeared with some blood next to their ashes and clothes, but no more blood other than that.

Those that came here weren't all brainless idiots; they realized that whatever this thing was, it feed on blood - and more precisely, on vampire blood. The moment they realized that, they sought help.

Unlike humans, vampires had a strong sense of smell, so they had easier time getting out of this maze - even if those pathways changed, there was an Pureblood outside waiting for them.

Vampires are extremely sensitive to blood of higher rank, so the idea was to let a Pureblood stay outside and wait for them with a drop of their blood floating in the air. Their blood would not coagulate once out of their bodies, so a single drop could well stay in the air for years even.

So, why the need for Pureblood to stay despite all that?

First is to protect that drop from the other side that eyed it covetously. And the other was in case they found something big.

The Pureblood stationed outside just do happened to be the Fifth Pureblood, Tristan. Unlike others who weren't fond of this war, he was looking forward to more mess. By his side stood two more people, a man and woman.

Humans on the other side didn't understand much of this situation, but vampires around were clear on their identity.

Half-bloods.

Despite this war spawning for a while, humanity was still ignorant on the existence of half-bloods. But then again, vampires are dead seat on protecting this secret, and hunters didn't want to do anything with them.

At that moment, outside of the three pyramids Tristan was looking at the other side made of humans with contempt. How good it would be if someone attacked him? That way, he could just have an excuse to go and kill them all...

Man by his side was playing with that droplet of blood, like flipping a coin in between his fingers - yet the blood remained in the same state, not staining his fingers at all. It was really a weird sight, overall.

The man had a wicked smile, same as Tristan's and pale skin even for a vampire. His whole body was covered with black clothes as if he couldn't stand the sun while the woman on side stood calmly, her beauty quite in contrast to those two.

The reason other Purebloods sent Tristan's was simple: since he'd create a mess out of battlefields, it's better to keep him busy in here. And if something did end up happening in this place, at least he should be able to deal with it, no?

At that moment, someone appeared at the entrance of pyramid, as if frantically running away from something. But just before he could leave through the entrance of pyramid, he tripped and fell down. But even so, as if possessed by devil, he tried to crawl away before noticing Tristan.

   "My Lord... Save us!" He stretching out his hand towards him, "Dead, they're all dead. It's hunting us, both humans and vampires for our blood! Save-" but before he could continue, something grabbed his legs and dragged him back inside, leaving only his screams to echo in midst of dead silence.

People outside were too stunned to react in time, even after those cries for help died out.

Tristan especially, didn't move for a while before his wicked grin turned to a heartfelt smile and he stepped out.

   "Blood of humans and vampires... I see, so another appeared," he then turned to his two companions, "You follow me, Yelena should stay and deal with those disgusting mortals. We're going hunting!" With those words, he and that male companion disappeared leaving Yelena to stand alone.

She didn't say anything despite those words and only continued to eye the other side until seconds later, she heard sounds of surprise on her side and turned to see what's going on.

The moment she did so, her countenance immediately changed as she blushed.

   "Lord Sixth!"

Humans on the other side were already surprised because of what happened and were just about to decide who to send inside, when they noticed Ethan's arrival and realized his identity and their expressions became even more unsightly.

Another Pureblood.

He calmly walked over to Yelena, his long black hair freely tumbling in the air, red eyes looking over as if trying to pierce through everything.

   "Where is Tristan?" He calmly asked. She gulped, but despite being a Hhalf-blood and capable of ignoring his blood, she simply couldn't avoid answering to him.

   "He went inside," so she spoke.

   "He was supposed to stay here. Not only that, why isn't his blood here anymore?" Ethan was casually walking nearby when he suddenly got a strong urge to come to this place. And the moment he did so, he realized that Tristan wasn't there, there was only stench of blood at the entrance of the Great Pyramid and no drop of Pureblood's blood to lead trapped vampires outside.

   "That..." She felt troubled. She shouldn't say anything, Tristan would get mad. She really shouldn't! Not to mention that if what's inside was really a half-blood...

Won't that thing become Ethan's partner?

No! She can't say!

But it was too late. While she was contemplating about whether to say something or not, Ethan who had a good hearing already picked up some clues from both sides talking about what they just saw.

Another.

Right, only a half-blood could drink blood of both kinds without dying. It can't be another Pureblood because the other seven would be warned the moment it was born. And looking at things, for Tristan and both his half-blood partner to go inside...

They aren't going to get him, but to kill him.

Thinking up to that point, Ethan cut the tip of his finger with his nail before leaving s drop of blood with Yelena.

   "I'm going in. Keep that blood properly, I don't want more vampires to get lost because of Tristan's negligence."

Following that, he also disappeared, but Yelena didn't notice as she was busy looking at that drop of blood as if possessed by it

   'His blood! He gave me his blood!'

And while she was mulling over that drop of blood, other vampires witnessed another moment of their Sixth Pureblood caring for their kind.

   "Should we also send someone in?" One human said.

   "We should, it seems that vampires found whatever they wanted - but for two Purebloods to come in... Send request for help. This is bigger than we originally thought!"

For there to be something that could kill vampires for their blood and make two Purebloods to act in person... It might be a key to destroying this undead race!

But Mikhael knew nothing about what happened on the surface.

He originally hunted humans, but whenever he fed on them he'd stop not too far away to throw up all that blood. In those moments, he'd regain a certain amount of sanity making him realize what happened, but he couldn't do anything despite that.

His body couldn't gather human blood anymore. It couldn't even convert it for his own use, so Mikhael had no other choice but to throw it all out from his body. Yet the moment he did so, his thirst returned and he forgot everything about people he killed and blood he threw up before hunting for another living target.

It was only when he killed another and the process repeated that he'd regain sanity again. But then he'd throw everything up again and lose his mind before continuing his hunt.

After some time, he couldn't sense more humans, so he turned his eyes of other lifeforms in this maze.

And they were precisely the vampires that wandered down here. Although they didn't seem as attractive as humans, they moved around and awoke his hunting instincts so he charged at them before sucking them dry of their blood. Those he killed immediately turned to dust, so he had to drink their blood while they were still alive - those vampires ended up being more pitiful than humans who immediately lost their lives.

But their blood ended up being effective to Mikhael - not only did he not throw up anything, it even made him remain sane longer. But even though he had his sanity back and feed on entire body's worth of blood, Mikhael would last for few more minutes before becoming hungry again. And the moment that happened, he became unable to stop his body from seeking another target to kill.

And so few more days passed as Mikhael continued to hunt down vampires. The one that almost escaped managed to do so while Mikhael regained his sanity, but since it didn't last for long, he sought after him and found him just before he could get away.

Even though Mikhael felt more people outside, he didn't go out but returned inside. His instincts told him that he'd die if he left this place, so kept looking for targets here.

He indeed had an advantage because Einz made this place such that it would never trap or hurt Mikhael. So while others continued to get lost and die due to traps, the hallways opened a path for Mikhael whenever he sensed another target.

This time, he was walking around just as usual when he sensed a delicious blood. It was much better than those useless foods he caught so far; and for a moment, he sensed that it was something familiar.

Familiar to his own blood.

The blood that saved him.

Unable to extricate himself from following the trace of that blood, Mikhael's body instinctively hurried in direction calling out to him.

   IT'S BEEN five days since Ethan followed after Tristan down in this place. He originally thought that he'd be fine since the reason Tristan got hurt the previous time was because he was careless, especially since the other party didn't want to say anything about what he experienced - but he was wrong.

Not only was he unable to call out his familiars, he couldn't even heal his wounds in this place!

   "You've done me a great pleasure today, Ethanasios!"

But that was nothing compared to danger walking towards him.

   "Tristan, you really do want to kill me this time," he spat out looking at two figures in front of him, but the sight was something blurred due to blood that got in his eyes.

   "Well, of course," the other party wickedly grinned as he crouched down, "I've been trying to do so for so long, didn't expect you'd give yourself to me on a silver platter."

The situation didn't look good for Ethan. Him right now had his legs broken and wounds all over his body while leaning on the wall for support. He couldn't even move away from this place.

   'f**k!'

He really shouldn't have come to this place.

If it was Tristan alone, then even with most of his abilities sealed in this place, he could've easily dealt with him. He glanced at the hazy figure in clad black by Tristan's side.

Yin.

Despite his frail look, Yin was one of the most famous assassins in China back in the twentieth century. The number of humans that died by his hands is unknown, but he even killed nobility. At that time, royalty sent people to get rid of him and they indeed managed to kill him.

But that was only the beginning of their nightmare.

Once Yin died, he awakened as a half-blood. At that time, he was extremely thirsty for both blood and revenge so he set out to kill as much people as possible. And the more he killed, the more powerful he became.

It was, however, due to his carelessness that Purebloods got a wind on information about him and managed to track him down. Someone has already dealt with him when they found him and he was on the brink of death, but they managed to save his life and he ended up pairing with Tristan.

Ethan sighed.

This place where they only had to rely on their skill and bodies, was undoubtedly the best battlefield for someone like Yin. Not only was this place narrow, but was also full of darkness and hidden traps, perfect for him to appear and kill from behind. And maybe because he was a half-blood, this place didn't restrict his abilities as much.

The reason Ethan lost so miserably was precisely because of Yin's interference.

How could he possibly lose to Tristan who couldn't even kill him two thousand years ago, not to mention now?

   "You still aren't going to beg for mercy?" Tristan mocked.

Ethan wasn't that stupid. This person had always wanted to humiliate him, and even if he happened to change his mind, he most certainly wanted to kill him. So Ethan didn't say anything, not even speaking about the other party teaming with him instead of trying to kill him in those troubled times.

   "Feel free to kill me," he spat out. In any case, even if died - he'll just return few years later and it won't be too late for him to make Tristan pay for this.

   "No can do," Tristan chuckled, his body was in far better state than Ethan's, but he couldn't escape unscathed.

   "You must think that you should just die and that it will be better for you, but Ethan, my dear little brother," he added, ""You're forgetting that even if you die, you won't have any memory of what happened here. And only I will know where your body is, could you really survive this place without a single memory, I wonder?"

Ethan had indeed thought of the same thing.

But even so, it didn't really matter to him.

The him right now lacked strength to even raise his hand, much less continue to fight with Tristan. Even if without memories, at least he could continue to live, and as long as he's alive, he'll eventually be able to have his revenge.

   "And while you're away, I'll continue to gather you memories all over the world, making sure you'll never get them back. But this place is full of deadly traps," he added, "How unfortunate, I won't be able to see how many more times will you die with a mindless body!"

His laughter echoed in the empty room as Ethan looked at him coldly.

This person, he must kill. Even if he lost his memories, he mustn't lose his obsession to kill this bastard!

   "What a good look," he commented, "It almost makes me want to dig your eyes out." He proceeded to do so as he grabbed Ethan's chin.

   "I always hated that look you gave me, like I was worthless in your eyes! No, you probably didn't even realize it, but no one was worth mentioning in those disgusting eyes of yours," his other hand moved before stabbing around his left eye, wanting to dig it out.

Ethan didn't even blink nor let out a cry of pain. No matter how much it hurt, he only coldly stared at Tristan with his right eye, imprinting his face in his memory as if reminding himself - this face, when you come back you must kill the one with this face!

Tristan's expression turned ugly.

   "Even now, you still continue to defy me!?"

Just as he was about to dig that out, he immediately pulled away.

He had just sensed a faint killing intent heading his way.

   "What was that?" He had too many people who wanted to kill him, so he was extremely sensitive to those things. Ethan's left eye hurt so he forcefully closed it in order to dull out that pain. Luckily, his legs hurt more so he could focus on that pain instead which made it a bit more bearable.

It was somewhat ridiculous, how something hurting more could make you feel less pain. But human bodies are such, and it remained like that even when they become vampires.

Brain could only focus on one pain at the time, in this case it was his legs. He could only use his right eye to look, even though it was blurred. But despite the darkness around him, he could see as clear as day... At least, the kind of sight he had right now could be explained like that.

There were odd dots of dark light he could clearly sense around him shaped differently, especially around bodies of Tristan and Yin. Adding to his blurred eye, he could figure out most of the image he saw, but that only made him more confused.

'What is this?'

This situation never happened before, could it be because he's about to die that he awakened some kind of ability?

But...

At that moment he noticed a mass of white light heading this way making him startled.

   'What is that?'

He could only see that while mass head over to Tristan before hearing his wretched scream. He immediately looked at him, for he was used to his eyes more than this odd technique, and saw Tristan clutching his shoulder with his hand on the ground.

At that moment, Yin made a move as a short black dagger appeared in his hands, yet the attacker acted like he had no bones nor joints in his body at all, twisting his limbs in the midair before appearing behind Yin, then grabbing that weapon and cutting off his hand as well.

The attacker was unsatisfied as it attacked with that weapon again, stabbing Yin's head and then kicking him at the wall. It just so happened that the scythe got through his whole head - so when he hit that wall, the dagger got stuck to it, trapping Yin.

That alone wasn't enough to kill him but the thing took his hand that fell on the ground before his gaze landed on Ethan's wounded body.

   "..."

It slowly headed his way when Tristan attacked from behind, but without even glancing his way, this figure crouched down and attacked with his leg as if it's some blade, immediately cutting Tristan's legs right under his knees.

Precisely, not break - he cut them off.

Ethan's gaze turned serious as that figure continued to walk towards him, but he gave up any resistance since he couldn't move at all. Instead, he took a better look at the person heading his way and when he did...

He wanted to curse.

   'Could it be, I won't die because of Tristan, but rather due to some crazy nymphomaniac?'

   'Brother, does the person who taught you how to kill knows that you go around using your martial arts naked?'

But he changed the way he though naively like that.

He glanced at the white hair that was even longer than this person's height. Adding to the rumors he heard about someone attacking both humans and vampires before he came inside...

Could it be, they disturbed slumber of a Half-blood?

   's**t!'

There weren't many records of half-bloods' Deep Slumbers, but there was one paragraph Ethan read in the past.

   [...The venerable halfling entered his seventh cycle of long dream, but our country became engaged in a war not even a decade later . To protect us, our venerable halfling awoke before time and we celebrated, but how could we know... What appeared before our eyes wasn't out venerable king. It was the Devil!]

It was when Ethan looked for ancient records of Mayan Empire. What humans know is that it simply disappeared overnight, but from those records, the Mayan high priest was a half-blood. At least, Ethan assumed that the halfling referred to a half-blood. At that time, someone attacked the empire while the guy was in his Deep Slumber and disturbed him.

He didn't come out to protect his people.

He destroyed everything in front of him, whether friends, family, his people or enemy.

After that, someone appeared and killed him, but those records weren't complete, so Ethan doesn't know what exactly happened, nor who got rid of that person.

But this situation... Especially the complexity of this Underground Necropolis...

It would indeed appear that it was protecting - or sealing - something.

If that's the case, then humanity really screwed up this time around.

    'They really shouldn't have done what they did a year ago.'

He sighed, resigning himself to death.

Whatever, at least Tristan and Yin will follow after him.

But while he was deep in his thoughts, the person in front of him finally stopped before crouching down. It looked at Ethan with interest, but made no move to attack him.

   "..."

   'Could it be, it knows that I'm not a treat, so it won't attack me?'

Ethan felt like that was the only good thing that happened today. After engaging in battle with those two for three days, it would be really sad if someone added to his injury while he couldn't move away.

This person, a man - as Ethan already saw his whole naked body - was dirty with blood, especially his face. Since his eye was already injured, Ethan couldn't see his face despite being this close to him. He only noticed white hair and... What should be red eyes. He wasn't sure, everything was red in his eyes right now.

But when he used the other ability, he could see a mass of white light standing in front him. To him, who could only see pitch black earlier, this mass of light appeared to be the most beautiful thing he landed his eyes on in his entire life.

It made him breathless.

His hand twitched, as if to hug that mass of light and absorb it - an instinctive need to get what he lacked the most. But there, where this person's body should be, he noticed a single black dot. It didn't look like the dot went against that light - instead, he thought that the single dot in his heart was trying to keep the entirety of this white mass together.

Like this person would crumble down if it failed.

Whenever that person moved earlier, some of the white lights scattered in the air and completely disappeared, and it appeared that it won't take much longer before his while body followed after.

For some reason, that made Ethan feel extremely distressed - and once it happened, his right eye began to hurt making him lose that ability to see and forcing him to use his own sight instead.

At that moment, he saw that figure lean to his hand before licking the blood from his injuries. It didn't use his fangs to feed on him, but rather licked his blood carefully, as if afraid to hurt him.

Ethan's heart immediately calmed down for some reason, and he carefully observed that person. His hand was completely drenched with blood right now due to various cuts Yin's blade made, so the fellow had more than few mouthfuls of blood to drink.

If he had that ability from earlier, Ethan would've noticed that his own blood was no different than that black dot. And that the moment Mikhael drank his blood, it immediately went towards that dot in his heart, strengthening it and making it more capable of holding his whole body together.

After some time, the figure in front of him became panicked and stopped. His eyes seemed to have regained some clarity as he looked at the hand he was holding and then at the cut off hand in his other hand.

   "..."

He immediately stood up and threw that other hand in Ethan's hand who instinctively bit down, making Yin's blood flow down his throat. Satisfied, the other person then kicked him away -- yet instead of hitting the wall, Ethan only felt his body pass through without any resistance before he found himself in another empty room.

The last thing he saw before passing that wall was that the figure turned away and running in another direction making him sigh.

Although he knew that he'll live now, he felt that even if he died right now... He really won't regret it.

Despite knowing that this creature killed so many people down here, he didn't think that it was scary at all. Just look at him, he already trashed Tristan and Yin on the side, and prevented them from torturing him any further. Not only that, it even gave him Yin's hand full of fresh blood which made him regain some strength.

No matter how disgusting it was, Ethan who had no other choice if he wanted to live could only continue to drink blood from it and slowly recover.

The other person was also kind enough to sent him to different room so that the two wouldn't hurt him again.

No matter what, to Ethan at that moment that person seemed kinda cute.

Really, really cute.