"Take me there,"
Lirae said to no one in particular, staring in the direction Jezeneth had just gone.
The situation at the border had caught her attention, and she couldn't stop herself from wanting to know more about what was happening.
'I feel like he's involved.'
Lirae couldn't shake off the feeling, no matter how much she tried. She just knew that Atticus was somehow involved. In fact, he could very well be the major cause of this event.
She had to know.
Seconds passed, and she received no response.
"Did I stammer?" Lirae's voice turned cold, her tone cutting through the silence like a blade.
In the next instant, the bracelet fixed on her wrist suddenly lit up with an intense glow before a mass of crimson blood burst out, forming into an aged woman who bowed in front of Lirae with respect.
"That isn't the case, young mistress. The mistress is worried that you're not ready to fac—"
"Blah, blah, blah. I know all of that. What you think doesn't matter. What my grandmother thinks doesn't matter. You're mine, and you'll listen to my orders."
The aged woman paused. She wasn't surprised by Lirae's reaction or words; instead, she couldn't help but wonder at the stark difference between how Lirae acted when she was alone and when she was with Jezeneth.
The aged woman was a figure of paragon status and had been bound to Lirae as her protector. Lirae never went anywhere without her, and she knew everything.
Lirae acted nonchalant around Jezeneth and the elders of the vampyros race, but the aged woman had seen everything.
She knew how Lirae pushed herself to the brink during her training. She knew the cold and calculating Lirae and how she addressed her subordinates. There was not a trace of nonchalance.
The aged woman reluctantly nodded. There was no helping it. Lirae's abrupt change was shocking, but she stated the fact. She was obligated to listen to her orders.
"Then excuse me," the aged woman said.
A cloak of blood suddenly engulfed the duo before shooting into the horizon at supersonic speed.
…
The castle where the Blood Queen resided was located at the heart of the vampyros domain.
In simple terms, the distance between the castle and the border was vast. Incredibly vast.
Jezeneth had reacted to the incident at the border a few seconds later than the other grand elders of the vampyros race.
The others had blazed toward the border the instant they felt the energy emanating from the battle; however, Jezeneth had been slightly delayed.
Though they each came from different sides of the vampyros domain, their distance to the border was also shorter than Jezeneth's. However, despite all of this, a single crimson streak tore through the air, appearing on the horizon of the border at an unprecedented speed.
The sound of her passage, like a thousand whips cracking in unison, like the roar of an unrelenting tempest, shattered the air. It reverberated across the vast expanse, shaking the earth and sending shockwaves that rippled through the clouds.
Jezeneth Bloodveil moved faster than thought, her form a blur of blood and wrath tearing toward the border.
And then, she arrived.
Her aura fell over the border like a tidal wave. Suffocating. Absolute. The air grew dense, engulfed by her presence.
The world seemed to freeze under her gaze. Her crimson eyes glowed with a sharpness that pierced through the chaos like daggers. In a fraction of a nanosecond, she absorbed everything.
The border that had turned into nothing but a scene of devastation.
The sight of a grand elder of the vampyros, one of their most powerful being tossed around like a broken doll by a single human boy. A child.
The sight of said child moving with unnatural speed, every one of his blows reducing the elder to a shadow of his former self.
The sight of the paragons of humanity hovering high in the sky, their faces frozen in utter disbelief, as though they couldn't comprehend what they were seeing.
The scene of the borderlands had turned into a wasteland. Cities near the vampyros territory had been obliterated by the shockwaves of the battle, their ruins scarred deeply.
And then, Jezeneth's eyes scanned the bodies. Thousands of vampyros, their lifeless forms strewn across the ground.
Blood soaked the earth, seeping into the soil as if reclaiming what had been taken.
Her people. Her territory.
Silence.
Jezeneth didn't speak. She didn't need to. The weight of what she saw demanded no words.
It didn't need to be addressed. Not with words, anyway.
Only one thought reverberated through her mind. One word, resounding in her head like thunder. It could only be one thing.
War.
Her voice rang out, shaking the heavens.
"Blood Constructs."
The air itself seemed to respond to her command.
The blood spilled across the battlefield quivered and rose, dark tendrils snaking upward like living shadows.
They thickened, solidified, and took form. In moments, an army hovered before her. Towering figures of abyssal black, clad in jagged armor that gleamed like obsidian.
Their eyes burned blood-red, glowing with an unholy light. They carried long, barbed spears in their hands, each one humming with deadly energy.
The constructs numbered in the millions, each radiating an intense aura of at least grandmaster rank.
They stretched across the horizon, blotting out the sun and plunging the land into a blackened twilight.
Their presence was overwhelming, like a vast, living shadow creeping toward the human domain. The ground trembled under their weight, and the air thrummed with the promise of annihilation.
The grand elders of the vampyros were in the category of the truly strong paragons on the planet. The human domain was led by the Council of Paragons. However, there was a reason why, despite there being nine such beings in the vampyros race, they were all led by a single entity.
The Blood Queen, Jezeneth Bloodveil.
It was because of one thing: the overwhelming power of her blood. The blood of the Bloodveil lineage was special. Even from birth, their blood stood out from that of the others. It was the cornerstone of the vampyros race.
Their blood was blacker, stronger, and purer than any other. They were the originals, the untainted core of vampyros power.