Sixth Bloodline [BxB]

CHAPTER 53: REGARDLESS OF WHAT HE BECAME... [HE'S STILL MINE]

cHAptEr 53:

rEgArdLEss Of wHAt HE bEcAmE...

[HE is stiLL minE]

   ETHAN DIDN'T take that long to heal his injuries with all that blood from Yin's hand.

Earlier, he had no time to ponder on what happened and about that... Half-blood. He decided to refer to him that way.

Looking at the whole situation, there was something odd about this matter — that half-blood already killed quite the number of victims here, but it didn't do so to the three of them who fought and instead ran away. Not only that, it made no move to attack Ethan and helped him instead — no matter how he looks at it, it wasn't an action of someone lacking consciousness.

   'Could it be, he regained his sanity before he kicked Ethan away?'

He felt that it should be so, otherwise why would it miss on two Purebloods and a half-blood to feast on them?

   'Unless...'

He drank his blood before that. Does that mean that blood of Purebloods had a calming effect on maddened half-bloods? There was quite the number of Nobles that came down here, but that half-blood still continued to kill, so it's not about higher blood. It most likely is Purebloods that can subdue him.

   "How troublesome," they all took into consideration that some old vampire was sleeping here, but this is more than they asked for.

That leaves another question: this place, is it meant to be a cage for that half-blood instead? And who made it?

Sighing, Ethan stood up as he finally drained that hand of blood. The moment he did so, it immediately turned to ashes and scattered away.

   "He saved my life, for better or worse. I should repay this favor," he mused to himself as he glanced at his clothes that were a mess. Not only did they have various cuts, they were completely stained with blood as well.

   "..."

He should probably change or something.

With that thought, he tried to open his void and to his surprise it worked. It couldn't be earlier, so why now...

Blood.

He fed on blood.

In that case, it would explain why was this half-blood capable of slaughtering them like chickens. The more blood he drank, the stronger he became while his prey was weakened.

He felt that he was wrong.

This was not a cage.

It was more like it was carefully prepared hunting ground for that half-blood after he woke up. The more he thought so, the more he felt like it had sense — back then, he could feel the wall behind him, yet when that half-blood kicked him away, the wall disappeared.

Ethan moved to that wall where he passed through and gave it a light push.

As expected, it solidified.

   "He can move as he pleased, then," he came to conclusion.

   "Whatever, the other party showed no intent to hurt me, so..." So he should focus on other things instead.

   "Tristan, since you were so kind to hunt me down in this place, it would only be fair if I returned this favor," he took out clothes from his void but then froze when he noticed that white mask. He gently touched it as he recalled matters of six years ago before eventually sighing.

   "Where did you run off to, silly human?" But he didn't return it back to the void, and instead put it on his face. Then he took out more clothes befitting the identity of that Higher Noble once again. Although he wanted to kill Tristan, since the later was in better state and had Yin by his side, it's quite likely that he already figured out the benefits of drinking blood.

It's better to be safe than sorry, so Ethan didn't want to meet him again as a Pureblood. And he could also launch a sneak attack on the other party by catching him unprepared.

With that though, he walked away following the scent of Tristan's blood. He gave up on destroying those walls, he was clear on how tough they are.

Not to far from him, Mikhael paused before gasping for air.

   "f**k!" He's already be hunting for days and regaining his sanity again and again only to lose it every single time. Even for someone as old as Mikhael, this was a bit too much to handle.

So he couldn't even pause to grieve nor try to think how to deal with it. He gave up after first hundred or so times.

So this time, despite having clearly regained his mind, Mikhael only sat down to rest instead. He won't have peace for that long, after all.

But despite waiting for five minutes, half an hour, an hour, three hours and even for entire day, Mikhael didn't feel his thirst come back to bite him again.

In the end he sighed before standing up.

Although he didn't want to give himself fake hope, Mikhael began to ponder on what could have possibly brought this change.

When he drank human blood, although he was aware about what was going on, he was unable to do anything about it. To say that there was another personality controlling his body wouldn't be wrong at all.

He couldn't be clearer on the state his body was in at that moment — no matter how much blood he drank, it was never enough. He couldn't use the blood to date his thirst, nor could he refine it for his own use, so he could only throw it out in order to seek more blood.

But even though Mikhael knew that it's useless, he couldn't do anything about it. Vampires are used to human blood, their first instincts when sustaining an injury is precisely to seek human blood to heal. Mikhael's subconsciousness decided that his s current state was precisely that of grave injury, so it urged him to go and deal with it.

But once he killed almost all humans, Mikhael had no prey to hunt. Instead, vampires who moved around arouse his hunting instincts — like a beast attacking whatever moved. To him... That looked like an entertaining game.

So when he killed first vampire, he didn't think much nor sought them actively unless they appeared in front of his eyes. It was only when he was about to collapse from thirst that he feed on a nearby vampire instead of killing him.

At that moment, his mind cleared up.

He couldn't refine human blood, but vampire blood is already a half-finished tonic — so it was able to circulate in his body and quench his thirst. But that didn't last for long — Mikhael's current body was too unstable.

The only reason it could continue to function for so long was precisely because of the blood Ethan fed him when they slept together. Pureblood's blood is no joke, nor to mention that Ethan wasn't sure how much should he give to Mikhael — being his first time giving blood to someone out of concern and he ended up giving him a mouthful of it.

One drop is enough to make a vampire go through the Second Awakening, so what about mouthful? How could it possibly be wasted by a simple summoning of a familiar?

Mikhael at that time didn't think much about it, he only thought that Ethan was a Higher Noble. And as force of habit, Mikhael never used blood he drank to heal immediately, instead storing it for later use. Which is why despite him drinking a whole mouthful of Ethan's blood while sleeping, his hickeys didn't heal at all, only making him more energetic.

The same was with this blood, it's just... If blood had a personality, Mikhael would say that Ethan's was extremely cunning! When he got rid of all blood in his body, this little mouthful condensed into a single drop and then his in his heart so well that he was unable to even notice it.

But that alone was blessing in disguise.

When Mikhael lacked power to survive, it was that single drop that provided him with energy to recreate his body.

But what was a single drop of blood in this state?

No matter how old he gets, nothing will change that Mikhael was just fourteen years when he first turned.

Children who turned vampires were never able to quench their thirst nor control their change. Mikhael right now was no different than a newly turned — he was exactly the same like eight centuries ago.

But back then he had Einz and doesn't remember most of what happened. He was feed blood daily and even Mikhael has to find a better quality blood as from eight centuries ago. Other than that, Einz did some more things, but Mikhael was both too young and confused to understand.

Right now...

That person he just met, his blood was really good. Could it be that he met an actual Pureblood?

   "..."

He shook off that possibility.

   "No way, he was too weak. How could two mobs bully him to that state?" He immediately classified Tristan and Yin as mobs. It's because he vaguely remember that only Ethan's blood attracted him, and other two were nothing even when they almost bled out to death.

He forgot about properties of this place — but Mikhael himself didn't understand how it worked completely since none of the bad things affected him at all.

He closed his eyes and tried to feel out his heart.

It was weak. Weak, but quite stable. If he had to estimate his current battle prowess...

   "Probably around the time when I was only two centuries old." But that's only if he thought positively. He was afraid to use his abilities as a vampire.

   "Although it's stable for now, I don't know what will happen if I become hungry again,"  he clenched his first before retracting his red eyes.

   "So, I should throw away my vampire side for now," he looked at his body. It was completely smeared with blood of others.

   "Luckily, I'm a good spell-caster," Mikhael opened up his void and took out few clothes and talismans from it. Coincidentally, that black mask he used years ago was still there.

   "Just perfect," he mused to himself before taking out a small dagger as well. He grabbed a fistful of his hear close to his neck and then decisively cut it off.

Vampires would eventually get used to their hair overgrowing from time to time whenever they messed something up - so he wasn't that surprised about it.

   "I'm also quite lucky, that only the hair on my head grew this much," he sighed before throwing all that hair into his void. It might be useful later, who knows.

Mikhael had a lot of useless or weird ingredients for crafting talismans within his void, but even he can't recall all the times when he coincidentally had a need for them.

He glanced at his body once again and his lips twitched when he saw the state of it.

   "It's good that it's only that hair... But why don't I have a single hair down there?" He raised his hands after that, and sure enough — his armpits were clean of hairs like a newborn.

   "f**k! What about my eyebrows, then?" He touched his forehead and luckily, he still had them. His eyelashes were also safe as well, making him sigh in relief.

   "At least this is okay, I shouldn't be too greedy," he comforted himself.

Then he took out an ordinary looking talisman before looking at his finger.  This was not his blood.

It was blood of someone he killed.

Someone innocent—

No.

   "They aren't innocent," Mikhael sighed, "I, myself, am well aware of how tough it would be to breach Einz's barrier, yet they managed to do it. There was a lot of dried off blood in this whole place, does it mean that many people died before I even made a move."

Greed will always be the cause for man's death, regardless of age.

   "And despite so many having died in this place, they continued to come down here. Those people, they were driven by greed and that greed made them meet me. If they weren't here, I also wouldn't have failed my Deep Slumber, and I would not need kill them."

The more Mikhael spoke, the more he buried the guilt he felt in his heart. It wasn't the best choice, he knew that it will bite him sooner or later — but he had no choice right now. If he couldn't even control his own emotions, then how could he be able to control his body?

   "There's also the matter of my awakening before time," he used the blood staining his finger to draw on that talisman, "I would never wake up unless I sense imminent threat. The kind of threat that would either kill me or..."

Something or someone wake Mikhael up. He could've died, he doesn't even know how he managed to get away unscathed from this mess.

   "Cleanse," he murmured when he finished that talisman and it immediately glowed before enveloping Mikhael's body. After few seconds, the light disappeared along with all those bloodstains on his body, making him so clean as if he just finished a bath.

   "Whatever. One step at the time, I should get out from this place, for now," he couldn't re-enter his Deep Slumber now, so he could only give up on it. He was certain that this place will remain safe for the next two hundred years, especially the lowest layers.  It was practically impossible to pass through it!

Even Mikhael felt like Einz went s bit overboard.

   "First of all, I need to figure out what woke me up. Despite being all the way down there, I could still feel the tremors. Could it be that the useless fogey fought with the old bastard around this place?" Useless fogey would be the Vampire King, while later was the boss of Hunters.

   "Hmm... No wait, if I'm not wrong the useless fogey had a deal to battle the crazy dog around this time. It should've been Egypt this time..."

Crazy dog — it was no other than Alpha King.

The more Mikhael thought about it, the more he felt it was possible.

   "f**k, I should go and set their homes on fire when I have time! I suffered because of them," he didn't know where the Vampire King lived, but the other one was easy to find. He didn't change his residence for the past few centuries. There weren't many forests remaining they could use to hide their entire race in, so it was quite easy to find.

As for the Vampire King... He'll be satisfied with that slap, for now.

He took that black mask before putting it on and then the rest of his clothes. Just to be safe, he took out few strands of the hair he used and took out two black talismans. Then he took another vial with his own heart blood from the void and an odd white brush. It looked as if it's made of bones, while its hair moved as if alive.

He dipped it inside his blood before drawing on those talismans — most of those symbols were for creating barriers and [protect] spells.

When he was finally done with writing enough symbols, he took few strands of that hair before placing them on top of those two talismans. Almost immediately, those two talismans disintegrated before their particles wrapped around that hair which slowly began to shorten.

In the end, what remained in that place was a simple looking black thread with two white bells at its end.

   "..."

   "Well, originally, this was meant to be a protective amulet for pets, so I can't say anything about it," he sighed and then used that thread to tie his hair into a little ponytail.

After that, he took that little dagger and talismans before attaching them to his belt.

As a proper spell-caster, hew could he just put his talismans in a pocket and go around fighting? Using the little bag to carry on his belt was much more pleasing to the eye and simpler to take out .

With that in thought, Mikhael began to walk around randomly and see if he could find someone to ask about the situation outside. Who knows what he'll have to face once he stepped out, what if someone thought that he found treasure and wanted to kill him for it?

Although he felt that chances for that to happen are minuscule, Mikhael still didn't want to take risks. Forget about others, if Mikhael found this place himself, he'd do whatever he could to find what's hidden inside.

And the mere fact that there were both humans and vampires down here...

   "Could it be that what I feared finally happened?"

In the end, his expectations didn't disappoint. He really ended up meeting someone he knew.

   "Mr. Handsome..."

   "You..."

Both of them stood in front of each other unable to move from their position.

To Mikhael, this period of time felt like he only parted with Ethan yesterday. He could still remember the passionate night the two shared, every inch of his skin could still feel all those touches and kisses making him feel goosebumps.

He didn't want to admit it... But he might have underestimated the effect this man had on him. And after going around killing people like crazy, finally seeing someone he knew made his emotions unstable.

He didn't know if he felt fear from hurting him, relief from seeing someone he trusted or safety that he was no longer alone with his crazed thoughts. Mikhael might've been pushing it away for the sake of his mentality, but how could he not feel burdened after killing so many people?

And fear that he won't be able to control himself once he was with someone he knew and would end up killing them accidentally.

He might have said that he wants to find someone first before going outside, but it was actually his fear that prevented him from leaving this place. He clearly remembers that he didn't dare go out when he lost control, that alone gave him some hope.

If he's here, he won't be a threat to people outside.

He also wanted to see... If he stood in front of another person, will he have the urge to attack him?

But he didn't expect that person to be Ethan.

So even though he was stunned for a while, he eventually took a step back and wanted to run away.

   "Running away, really?" But how could Ethan let him go.

He, too, was unable to forget about this human. He searched for him around the world for six whole years only to see him in this place.

He was merely surprised that he could see him here where only people who sought death or loved wealth more than their own lives. He didn't think that Mikhael was like that, and he knew that the other person was powerful.

Adding to the matter of him parting with those words about his half-blood friend going to a Deep Slumber and this place... He immediately came to conclusion that the half-blood he met earlier might've been that person.

And another reason for him unable to act immediately...

His hair.

White hair.

Hair of a vampire.

Although many thoughts crossed his mind at that moment, he immediately moved when he saw Mikhael about to get away.

Vampire or human or whatever, he won't let him go!

Before Mikhael could take another step, Ethan tightly hugged him from behind, pressing him to his own body.

That touch, the same as that night, how could Mikhael possibly extricate from it now?

Especially in this situation, when he needed to feel someone's warmth — even if he could fight him off, Mikhael realized that his whole body lacked strength to do so.

   "Did you already forget about out bet?" Ethan saw him calm down in his hands which also made him relieved. In this place, he could never know how the pathway would change, so he could lose this person any moment if he was just a meter away from him.

   "I..."

He didn't.

But this was good. He didn't have an urge to attack Ethan.

   'Thank goodness.'

   "Did you think that if you turn and leave I would not be able to tie you to my bed? I already waited for six years, it is about time I get that name of yours," he chuckled and Mikhael completely relaxed.

His mind was a mess right now, so he could only comply to whatever Ethan said at the moment.

   "First action, then talk," he mused as Ethan let go of him, but took his hand and began to lead him away instead.

Mikhael found that hand to be scorching, but he couldn't let go of it either. Instead, he docilely followed behind and waited for the other party to speak first.

Ethan completely suppressed his own aura as he lead the way, Mikhael realized what he wanted so he secretly helped him get out without encountering another trap. Ethan didn't really notice anything odd, he heard from some vampires that they had easier time getting out of this place, and adding to his drop of blood outside — he could easily take them out.

   "How long have you been in here?" He suddenly asked making Mikhael tremble a bit. Ethan also noticed it but said nothing. Could it be that he really turned into a vampire?

A powerful spell-caster suddenly became a vampire and unable to control himself — not to mention that he was trapped in this hell hole as well...

Ethan did consider that he might have killed some humans here as well, but he decided to ignore it. It's normal for newly turned to attack indiscriminately.

This person, Ethan didn't know him for so long, but he was just a human of what? Twenty years or so?

   "Never mind that, it's fine now," since he already realized that he wanted to stay involved with this person, Ethan should do a good job and protect him, "I'm here with you. I'll stay by your side."

Ethan himself didn't realize it, but those words brought much more powerful impact to Mikhael than he expected. He merely thought that Mikhael got turned in this place, but he didn't know the actual truth.

Mikhael didn't speak from that point onward, only silently following behind — it's unknown when his fingers clenched in Ethan's hand, holding tighter onto him.

It was as if he was his only salvation in this darkness.

Along the way, Mikhael felt tired few times, so Ethan gave him his blood to drink. Whether he's still a human or a vampire, his blood would undeniably be useful to him. Mikhael refused at first, but he could only accept in the end.

Although Ethan's blood seemed attractive to him, it wasn't to the point of driving him mad. Mikhael could only hope that its because he could finally control his thirst, but he didn't dare drink too much.

Ethan was surprised to see that the other person didn't use his fangs, but he still decided to not mention anything.

   'Maybe it was a sore point?'

It was indeed a sore point, but now the kind Ethan feared. Mikhael didn't use his fangs out of fear that he might be unable to stop the moment he sunk them in Ethan's skin — but he also chose to live as a spell-caster.

How could he have vampire fangs as a human?

Anyway, he finally saw a faint trace of light as Ethan's grip on his hand tightened.

At first, Mikhael didn't see anything since it was his first time seeing the sun after six years of complete darkness. But after his sight finally readjusted, he was so stunned that he couldn't blink nor move from that spot despite Ethan's urging.

In front of him was horde of people stationed in front of three pyramids, clearly divided in two groups.

But that didn't stun Mikhael. The drop of blood spinning in the air in hands of beautiful woman didn't stun him either. Nor the fact that it belonged to the person Mikhael saved days ago.

Nor the hostility the two sides openly showed to each other, despite the side of humans not having a single hunter he knew.

What stunned him instead, was a mass of black land spawning as far as his eyes reached.

   "What... What the hell is this?"

And the fact that there was not even a single ounce of mana, ordinary or dead, in the area of that dark sand.

   "Humans," Ethan expected this. He already assumed that Mikhael had no idea what happened. A newly-turned won't become able to control himself in short period of time, so he must've stayed inside for quite some time.

Mikhael's countenance grew even paper when he heard that word.

   "No..."

   "They found out about vampires. Eventually, the found out about City of Evernight."

   "It can't be..."

   "Our main city, they assumed that our strongest forces were stationed in that place. So in order to get rid of us once for all..."

   "It..."

   "One year ago, around twenty countries sent nukes at the same time, completely wiping it from the face of the Earth."

At the same time sending tremors that woke Mikhael up.