Chapter 186: Bloodlust?
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Mira did, almost word for word, clean and precise. Not because she was copying to impress him. Because she was proving she could carry instructions without leaking pieces.
When she finished, Sekhmet nodded once.
"Good."
Mira’s gaze lifted slightly.
"And support," she said. "I assume you want more than one set of eyes."
Sekhmet’s lips curved faintly. "You assume correctly."
He leaned back slightly. "Auri will be your helper."
Mira’s face changed by only a fraction. Not disapproval. Calculation.
"Auri," she repeated. "The cloaked one."
"Yes."
Mira thought for a moment.
"She moves quietly," Mira said. "And she sees more than most people in a room. Useful."
Sekhmet’s eyes sharpened. "You will not ask what she is."
Mira bowed her head slightly. "I was not going to," she said.
That answer was good. It was also probably half a lie.
Mira definitely wanted to ask. She simply valued survival more than curiosity.
Sekhmet accepted that.
"You and Auri will work together," he said. "You control the visible flow. She controls what should not become visible."
Mira nodded once.
"Yes, young master."
He watched her for another moment, then added, "You will begin preparations tonight. Floor order. Script structure. Bid escalation phrases. Calm answers for difficult buyers. I want the room to feel expensive before the first item appears."
That made Mira’s eyes brighten slightly.
There it was. Not excitement, exactly. But the sharp interest of someone being given work worth doing.
"Yes," she said again. "I will prepare a draft language and hosting order before midnight."
Sekhmet dismissed her with a small gesture.
"Go."
Mira bowed and left.
The study fell quiet again.
Sekhmet sat still for a moment, then called Auri from the void land, opened a narrow slit just long enough to bring her through, and gave her the matching instructions.
Auri listened in the same way she did everything else: still, attentive, dangerously calm.
"You will assist Mira at the auction," he said.
Auri bowed her head.
"Yes, master."
"She is the public face," Sekhmet continued. "You are the unseen hand. Watch every buyer. Watch every servant. Watch exits, movement, tension, hidden weapons, strange aura changes, anything that should not belong."
Auri’s eyes sharpened.
"Yes."
"If chaos begins," Sekhmet said, "you do not wait for permission to protect the structure."
Auri’s gaze did not waver.
"I understand."
Sekhmet looked at her carefully.
"Auri," he said, "Mira is useful. Do not frighten her."
Auri blinked once. Then, to his mild surprise, she asked, "Only unless necessary?"
Sekhmet stared at her. For a second, he did not know whether she was joking. Then he saw the faintest shift at the edge of her mouth.
Not a smile. Auri’s version of one.
Sekhmet exhaled once through his nose.
"Only unless necessary," he replied.
Auri bowed again, satisfied, and returned to the void land when dismissed.
That should have been enough for the day.
It should have been.
But evening came, and with it came the first real sign that Sekhmet’s problems were no longer only outside his body.
By the time the sun went down, Dawn House had settled into that heavy gold-blue quiet between evening and night. Lamps were lit. Servants moved softer. Elena’s voice drifted through the lower corridor once, commanding dinner trays into alignment with the same tone generals used for siege lines.
Sekhmet had eaten enough to avoid Elena’s suspicion, spoke to Vera and Vela briefly about continuing control exercises tomorrow, checked Bat Bat’s latest letters and confirmed that one of them was either his right or an injured spider, and then finally retreated to his room.
For the first time since dawn, he was alone.
No Mira. No Lily. No Elena.
No Bat Bat trying to negotiate with feeding rights or whatever.
No twins watching him like newly sharpened blades waiting for purpose.
The room was dim, lit by one side lamp and a weak line of moonlight cutting through the curtains.
Sekhmet stood by the window, looking out over the dark edges of Slik. His reflection in the glass looked wrong these days.
Not monstrous. Just... not entirely ordinary anymore.
Then the system rang. Not softly. Not politely. A sharp pulse cut through his mind like a knife across a bell.
[Ding! System Warning. System Warning.
Host Bloodlust Rising.]
Sekhmet’s eyes narrowed instantly. He straightened from the window.
"What the fuck..."
The word came out aloud before he could stop it. Then he turned inward, voice sharpening in thought.
"What is bloodlust?"
The system answered without delay.
[Bloodlust: Residual Aggression / Hunger / Extreme anger / Predatory Impulse Generated by Contained Blood God Will.
Cause: Host Blood Awakening and current power are insufficient to fully compress Blood God imprint naturally.
Current Stability Method: Forced suppression through system intervention.]
Sekhmet’s jaw tightened. He already knew pieces of that. He had been told before that the system was helping hold down the will of the Blood God, locking it under layers of structure so it did not rise and consume him from the inside.
"I know that," he thought. "So what is the problem?"
The system answered immediately.
[Problem: Forced suppression creates accumulation pressure. The Blood God will contain hunger, rage, predatory drive, and destructive impulse.
These forces require periodic release through a medium. At present, the host is the only available medium.]
Sekhmet stared at the dark window. The meaning settled into him slowly. Then harder. Like cold water.
"You’re saying," he thought, voice sharpening, "that because the system is holding it down, it builds up?"
[Correct.]
Sekhmet’s expression darkened.
"And if it builds too much?"
The system did not soften the answer.
[If Bloodlust exceeds 90%, the host must release it.
Failure to release will result in soul strain, internal instability, and risk of spiritual damage.]
That made him go fully still. "Soul damage."
Not physical wounds. Not poison. Not a stab he could heal from feeding.
Soul damage was the kind of injury that stayed. The kind that changed who you were even after the pain ended.
Sekhmet’s thoughts tightened instantly. "How much bloodlust do I have now?"
The answer came at once.
[Current Bloodlust Level: 50%]
Sekhmet blinked once. "Half.... Already half."
And he had only recently reached this stage of blood awakening.
The system continued.