The moment Kael’s eyes opened, an invisible pressure exploded outward from his body.
BOOM!
A tide of bloodlust flooded the throne room without warning.
The air instantly grew heavy.
The temperature seemed to plummet as an indescribable killing intent swept through every corner of the ancient hall. The crimson aura rolled outward like an endless tide, staining the very atmosphere with an eerie scarlet hue.
Even Varek’s expression changed.
As a Quasi-Transcendent whose will had been tempered through untold years, very few things in existence could make him uncomfortable.
Yet standing beneath Kael’s bloodlust...
He actually felt pressure.
Not enough to shake his mind.
But enough to make him instinctively tense.
Fortunately, the pressure lasted only a brief moment.
Kael’s eyes sharpened as he immediately took control of the overflowing bloodlust. The crimson tide receded just as quickly as it had appeared, flowing back into his body until not a trace remained. The suffocating atmosphere vanished, and silence once again settled over the throne room.
Only then did Kael slowly rise to his feet.
The first thing he did wasn’t checking his body.
Nor was it asking Varek any questions.
Instead...
He took a deep breath.
A genuine one.
The air entered his lungs freely.
Fresh.
Clean.
Without even the faintest trace of that nauseating scent which had tormented him for hours.
A smile slowly spread across his face.
"It really disappeared..."
He couldn’t help taking another deep breath.
Then another.
The simple act of breathing suddenly felt unbelievably pleasant.
People rarely appreciated fresh air.
After all, it was something they experienced every second of every day. Because it was always there, they unconsciously assumed it held little value.
Only after losing it, even for a short while did he finally understand just how precious it truly was.
Kael chuckled softly to himself.
For the first time since returning from the battlefield, his mind felt clear again.
His stomach no longer churned.
His head no longer throbbed.
Even the world itself seemed brighter than before.
Just then, Varek stepped forward before bowing slightly.
"Congratulations, Master."
"You have successfully consolidated your bloodlust."
Kael looked toward him before nodding sincerely.
"Thank you, Varek."
"I probably wouldn’t have figured any of this out without your help."
That wasn’t an exaggeration.
Without Varek, he would’ve continued believing he had somehow become sick after the battle. He would’ve never guessed that the overwhelming scent of blood had actually been his bloodlust attempting to manifest itself.
Had it continued unchecked...
The consequences hardly needed imagining.
Varek’s eyes visibly brightened.
Although he remained outwardly composed, genuine happiness welled up inside him.
To him, Kael wasn’t merely his master.
He was a supreme existence.
A being who stood above everything else.
Receiving even a simple word of appreciation from such a being filled him with a satisfaction few things in existence could rival.
After a brief silence, Varek spoke again.
"Master..."
"There is something I would like to confirm."
Kael raised an eyebrow.
"What is it?"
"If possible... would you release your bloodlust once more?"
"I wish to verify one of my suspicions."
Kael frowned slightly.
He didn’t hesitate for long.
Ever since their first encounter, Varek had repeatedly demonstrated knowledge far beyond his own. If he wanted to confirm something, then Kael also wished to know what it was.
He nodded.
"Very well."
The next moment...
His bloodlust erupted once again.
The throne room darkened beneath the invisible pressure as an ocean of killing intent surged toward Varek.
Unlike before...
Varek didn’t instinctively endure it.
Nor did he raise any form of mental defense.
He simply allowed the bloodlust to wash over him completely.
Earlier, while Kael’s consciousness had been trapped inside that mysterious Blood Realm, Varek had been unable to enter. Although their connection had allowed him to sense that something abnormal was occurring, he had refrained himself from entering, fearing he might cause harm to Keal
Still...
The fragments he had sensed were enough to leave him with several suspicions.
Now, he intended to confirm them personally.
The instant Kael’s bloodlust engulfed him, Varek’s vision blurred.
His surroundings disappeared.
The throne room faded away.
When his vision returned, he found himself standing inside another world.
It was also a realm of blood.
Yet...
It differed completely from the one Kael had been in.
There was no endless crimson pool stretching beneath an empty void.
Instead, the ground was cracked black earth soaked by rivers of fresh blood.
Above him...
The sky itself had vanished.
In its place hung countless corpses.
Thousands.
No.
Millions.
They floated high above the heavens as though suspended by invisible strings.
Some remained whole.
Others lacked limbs.
Many had their bodies twisted into grotesque shapes beyond recognition.
Some had their stomachs split open.
Others had only half their torsos remaining.
An endless sea of corpses filled the sky from horizon to horizon.
They hung there silently.
Motionlessly.
Yet each one radiated an indescribable eeriness capable of shaking the very soul.
A weaker individual would’ve lost their sanity merely by looking upward.
Their mind would’ve collapsed beneath the accumulated malice lingering within those countless dead.
Varek merely narrowed his eyes.
His expression remained calm.
The next moment though, the corpses suddenly moved.
Without warning, their bodies tore apart.
RIP!
RIP!
RIP!
Thousands of bodies split open simultaneously as torrents of crimson blood poured from within them.
The blood didn’t fall randomly.
Instead, it converged together.
One stream.
Ten streams.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
The rivers intertwined before transforming into innumerable crimson chains that shot toward Varek from every direction.
They wrapped around his arms.
His legs.
His chest.
His neck.
They sought to bind him completely.
Varek made no attempt to resist.
He simply observed.
Then, something even stranger happened.
The corpses hanging overhead began changing.
Mouths.
Hundreds of mouths.
Thousands of mouths.
They split open across every corpse regardless of where their faces should’ve been.
Some appeared upon their stomachs.
Others upon their backs.
Some even formed where flesh no longer existed.
The mouths opened together.
And they spoke.
"ACCEPT SALVATION."
"ONLY DEATH IS TRUE SALVATION."
"DIE."
"DIE."
"DIE."
The voices merged into a terrifying mental wave that crashed directly against Varek’s consciousness.
His surroundings trembled violently.
The blood-soaked world distorted.
Yet instead of panic...
A smile slowly appeared upon Varek’s face.
"So..."
"It is exactly as I suspected."
His eyes swept across the crimson world with unmistakable admiration.
"A mental domain."
He couldn’t suppress the excitement rising within him.
"As expected of Master."
"Only someone of Master’s caliber could manifest a mental domain after consolidating bloodlust."
The moment those words left his mouth, the entire illusion shattered like fragile glass.
The blood.
The corpses.
The chains.
The chanting.
Everything disappeared.
Varek’s consciousness returned to the throne room in an instant.
The pressure vanished immediately as Kael retracted his bloodlust.
He stepped forward.
"Are you alright?"
Varek nodded reassuringly.
"I am perfectly fine, Master."
His smile remained on his face as he looked directly at Kael.
"I have confirmed my suspicion."
"You didn’t merely consolidate your bloodlust."
A brief pause followed.
Then he spoke the conclusion that had left even him astonished.
"Master..."
"I believe you have successfully formed a Mental Domain."
# #
[AN_ Congratulations, Everyone. You guys have successfully met the GT goal, the bonus Chapter will be posted tomorrow alongside the regular Chapter.]