Blood Online: Evolving Endlessly

Across the entire Southern District, every player's interface flickered with a blinding, golden light. A message overrode their current objectives, pulsating with an authority that felt less like a game and more like a law of nature.

{The Emblem of Authority Has Been Raised. The King calls for his subordinates!}

High above the Administrative Block, Akhil hovered, clutching the glowing artifact. Beads of sweat rolled down his face, and his chest heaved. He was a King with an empty treasury, his Blood Essence dangerously low, but in this world, authority was a weapon in its own right.

"Do you think staying up there will help you?" one of the bots below croaked. Its back plates hissed open, revealing a pair of high-output boosters. With a thunderous crack, the machine propelled itself upward like a surface-to-air missile.

Akhil tilted his body mid-air, the boosters' heat singeing his clothes as he narrowly evaded the metal blur. He watched the bot struggle to stabilize its flight.

'He's only using the engineered bots to attack me, not the district drones,' Akhil noted, his eyes narrowing with a confident sheen. 'My predictions were right.'

He closed his eyes and focused on the Emblem. Through it, he felt a psychic web connecting him to every registered player in the South.

{Broadcast: Emergency Mandate. Task: Purge the False Workers.}

"To every player in the Southern District," Akhil's voice echoed directly into their minds, cold and resolute. "The machines repairing our walls have been compromised. They are no longer tools; they are an invading army. Destroy every construction bot you encounter. Leave none standing."

The system chimed in a cold, mechanical unison for all players:

{Mandate Received: The King's Decree}

{Objective: Eradicate Rogue Bots}

{Reward: Massive EXP & Skill Points}

{Penalty for Non-Compliance: Immediate Termination}

The district, which had been in a state of confused paralysis, suddenly erupted into chaos. Players who had been watching the bots with suspicion finally had their reason to strike—and a terrifying incentive to succeed.

But Akhil wasn't finished. Hidden beneath the public broadcast, he sent a sub-frequency message to a specific group and his message was very different from that it the rest.

Down on the ground, the Langdon-bot frowned, the metal face twisting into a grimace of genuine surprise.

"How did you figure out the drone limitation?"

Akhil stared back coldly as he descended slowly, maintaining a safe distance. "You never really told a lie, did you? That's what makes this so annoying. You told me back then you could only 'manually' control five bots. I saw two with you, and I assumed the others were just... elsewhere."

Akhil landed softly on a nearby roof, his Star Wolf instincts still keeping his senses razor-sharp.

"But the drones—the thousands of them running the city—they aren't attacking me. If you had total control over them, I'd be dead by now. You can only control the ones you engineered personally, your 'masterpieces.' The rest you can't control them. But once our time is down, you'll have full control."

Akhil pointed a blood-stained finger at the bot. "Your full power..... It's absolute control over every piece of tech you've touched. And since you built the city's infrastructure, you're trying to turn the whole Southern District bots into your body."

The Langdon-bot clapped its hands together, "Bravo, Nexus. Truly. You have a mind for the grand scheme. But perhaps you should have been more considerate of your immediate survival."

The bot gestured to the surrounding army of high-end engineered models. Unlike the generic construction drones, these were built for war.

"The public will be busy with the drones. My 'clones' are already causing enough discord in the other districts. But right here? Right now? You are surrounded by machines I built specifically to kill monsters like you. And you," the bot looked at Akhil's trembling hands, "are out of fuel."

Across the courtyard, the modified Seth stepped off the wall, his boots cracking the pavement. The jagged blue light in his eyes flared, and he crouched into a familiar combat stance—one Akhil had taught him.

"You shouldn't be worrying about my scheme's, because if you die here... You'll die with all that information," Langdon mocked.

Akhil's vision flickered. The crimson interface in his mind was pulsing a rhythmic, warning amber. He was down to the dregs of his power, but he couldn't afford to collapse yet.

"I don't need to win this fight," Akhil whispered, his voice raspy as he landed in the center of the courtyard. "I just need to outlast you."

Right now, Akhil knew that he had to last for as long as he could.... So he immediately used the skin hardening ability. His skin darkened, becoming as tough as a rock.

With a ruthless charge, Akhil jumped into the center of the bots, ripping them apart, throwing out metallic parts on every angle.

He charged like a behemoth, none of the low level bots could stop him... But that was only the low level bots.

Far back, a group of four bots each wearing similar mask, could be seen, and by their side Seth also stood calmly observing the scene.

One of the bots turned towards Seth, letting a slow mocking laughter, "It's your turn"

Seth moved.

It wasn't a charge; it was a teleportation of sheer physical force. Before Akhil could even register the shift in the air, Seth was in his guard, he was a blur of speed, carrying a powerful momentum.

His eyes narrowed with a cold glint as he launched a fist straight at Akhil's chest.

Akhil was still dealing with some of the bots when he sensed the danger, he quickly tilted his body in Seth's direction, placing his hands in an X position above his chest in a fit to block the attack.

Seth's eyes flashed with a blue glint, as his hands twisted, taking an upward curve.

'What?! He changed the path of the attack' Akhil gritted his teeth as he felt the sharp punch connect with his jaw.

His mouth instantly filling up with a cold metallic taste, as his blood seeped.

The force behind the punch was so strong his hardening seemed to have shattered instantly at the point of impact. Akhil was sent skidding across the pavement, his heels carving deep grooves into the stone. He barely had time to raise his arms before Seth was on him again.

THUD. CRACK. THUD.

It was a systematic dismantling. Seth's strikes were clinical, targeting Akhil's joints and nerves with a speed that exceeded his Star Wolf reaction.

'It's as though he knows what I'll do even before I do it!' Akhil thought frustratedly as he felt his entire body going numb from every attack Seth landed.

Every time Akhil tried to counter, Seth's jagged blue eyes seemed to predict the movement, parrying with a mechanical precision that left Akhil's ribs screaming.

Akhil coughed, a spray of red hitting the floor. He tried to vault away, but Seth caught his ankle mid-air, slamming him back down onto the hard concrete. The impact knocked the wind from his lungs, and for a second, the world went dark.

"Is this the King?" Langdon's puppet walked closer, looking down at the broken figure. "He's barely a jester now."

Akhil looked up through a mask of blood, all the bots were slowly gathering around him, with the four masked bots taking the lead.

"Kill him," the masked bot commanded.

The army of engineered bots surged. Simultaneously, Seth moved. Akhil didn't hesitate. He knew he couldn't play defensive anymore. He had to burn everything he had left just to buy minutes.

"You want blood?" Akhil roared, his eyes glowing a terrifying, luminous crimson. "Take it all!"

{Skill: Blood Deluge - Absolute Output}

{Current Blood Essence: 810 -> 50}

He only left enough to let him stand for a while longer.

His remaining essence exploded outward in a violent, swirling vortex of pressurized red mist. The mist solidified into hundreds of jagged, crystalline shards that accelerated with the speed of railgun slugs.

SHRED. CRUNCH. EXPLODE.

The front line of engineered bots was decimated. The shards pierced through reinforced titanium plates, severing hydraulic lines and shattering optical sensors.

Akhil moved within the storm, his movements a blur of desperate martial arts and blood manipulation. He ripped the head off one bot with his bare hands and used the sparking neck as a flail to dent the chest of another.

But Seth was the true problem.

As Akhil lunged with a blood-reinforced strike, Seth's head tilted a fraction of an inch before the blow even landed. Seth's ability, {Fore Perception}, allowed him to read the infinitesimal shifts in Akhil's muscles. He wasn't reacting to the attack; he was reacting to the intent.

Seth ducked under a sweeping kick and drove a palm into Akhil's ribs. The air left Akhil's lungs in a pained wheeze. Akhil tried to follow up with a blood spike, but Seth stepped aside as if he were walking through a park, his expression vacant and terrifyingly calm.

"I can't... Fight this guy up close, that's his forte... I have no choice then....," Akhil hissed, spitting out a mouthful of blood, his eyes glowing with a deep crimson red as he stared at Seth.

{Author's Note: Happy New Year, everyone! I'm so grateful to have you all here as we step into 2026.

Thank you for your incredible support so far!

I wanted to give a quick update: my mental health has been a bit of a struggle lately, and with med school starting back up next month, the update schedule might become a little irregular. Please bear with me during this time. I truly appreciate your patience and support more than words can say. Stay safe and see you in the next chapter!}