NOVEL NEXT Chapter 433: Are you still alive?
Damon collapsed forward onto his hands, blood dripping from his mouth, his crimson eyes blazing like molten coals. He saw the unstable pockets of space in front of him, holes in reality that seemed to flicker in and out.
Bursts of powerful energy surged from within these holes every now and then, this energy different from the one that had only just now unleashed devastation on him. No, this energy was a completely different beast.
Void energy? Damon wondered as his mind weakly tried to recover from everything that had happened. Then it suddenly struck Damon. "Blood Reign! Can you still absorb the lingering, broken-down fragments of that thing in my body?"
No reply came, but Damon did not want to wait for it.
"If you can, then do it. Do it right now. Do it immediately." If he had more control over his bloodline, over energy manipulation, over soul manipulation, then he could have probably helped her, but right now, he had none of that.
There was nothing at all he could do to help her. Damon clenched his fists in frustration. He was fucking inadequate in many, many things. His knuckles dug into the dirt as he forced himself not to collapse.
"Blood Reign," he growled again, his voice hoarse, "answer me. Take what's left. Eat the scraps. Don't let this shit go to waste."
He held on as much as he could, trying to coax whatever was left of the unknown energy, but soon everything was gobbled up cleanly by his bloodline. He couldn't sense the weird energy anymore, and it was no longer wreaking havoc inside him. Every single trace of it was gone, wiped clean just like that.
Damon sagged onto his knees, chest heaving, and then flopped down, his back hitting the ground. He stared at the gloomy purple sky above with his crimson eyes wide open as he tiredly recollected everything that had happened.
Things had spiralled out of control so quickly that he only barely managed to get out unscathed. "Fuck." Damon cursed his own stupidity. Even after playing this game in two lifetimes, he had still underestimated an unclassified item.
An unclassified item could be a complete dud, and at the same time, an unclassified, unidentified item could be something ridiculously insane like the one he had just experienced. He knew this already. He had the common sense to think about it, but he just did not think that it would be so extreme.
"I am getting way more confident than I should be. This is not good."
Damon covered his eyes with his hand as he tried to rest a little. He had been relying on his bloodline, his poison physique, and his abundant raw stats a lot lately. If he left this unchecked, it would definitely become his biggest weakness, instead of his biggest strength.
"Blood Reign… are you still alive?" Damon clenched his fist tighter, blood dripping onto the ground. Had Blood Reign burned out with the last of that cursed energy? Did this blunder cost him the very thing that gave him this second chance in life?
Then, faintly, a voice flickered through the haze. "…I am… alive." The words were weak, distant, but undeniably hers. The relief that surged through Damon was sharp enough to make his throat ache. She wasn't gone. Not yet.
"The fragments… I managed to take some in. Not much, but enough to stop the unraveling. My Lord… that energy was something older. It carried no alignment, no law. I do not yet know what it was, but it left scars. On you… and on me."
"But thanks to it, I was able to somewhat recover. Give me some time, and I should be able to return to you. Before I start recovering, I have once again shrouded my presence and your aura. Nobody should be able to sense us and the power within you."
Damon let out a shaky laugh, half-bitter, half-victorious. He was still alive. Blood Reign still endured. And despite everything, they had gained something. His crimson eyes narrowed as he stared up at the purple sky.
He would never repeat what he did today. They had somehow come out on top at the end, but if Blood Reign was correct, then these scars, which he couldn't even sense at the moment, were going to be a bit troublesome to get rid of in the future.
It was fine. They would be the price he had to pay tomorrow to guarantee his survival and his climb today. Damon stared at the sky for some more time. All kinds of thoughts swirled in his mind. Finally, he let out a sigh and stood up.
It was time to head over to the heart of Bloodlands. There was no need to wait around here anymore.
Damon's crimson eyes hardened as he thought back to the scars Blood Reign had warned him about. He closed his eyes and once again tried to sense everything inside.
He spent almost three hours standing in the same spot and examining everything, reflecting on everything, and yet he absolutely couldn't feel anything at all. There was nothing different about him.
This only made him frown deeper. This meant that the unknown energy had done something at a level which he could not even understand.
Damon then shook it off. Whatever it was, he would face it head-on. For now, first things first. He walked over to the merpeople and asked one of the mermen to call their leader.
Matrilaja, the mermen tribe leader, soon came hurrying over. "My Lord, you called for me?"
Damon nodded. "Over there." He pointed to the spot where the few blurs of reality were. "There are some holes from which bursts of powerful energy erupt from time to time. Be careful of it. Best ask your people not to go near it. Could be dangerous."
Matrilaja nodded.
"Also, there is something I have to ask you. The Blood coral you gave me. I am going to need more of that. A lot more. Can you send some people over to comb through the ocean and search for more of those things?"