Chapter 8: Don’t Get Too Cocky, Bloodkin

“What did you say…?”

—In that instant,

Su Mu Zhe’s pupils glazed over, his ears ringing with a deafening buzz.

After a long pause, he lowered his head, his dark bangs obscuring his eyes.

“Xiao Zi… has already been killed by you?”

The world froze in that moment.

Everything around him seemed drained of color, fading into a desolate gray.

Sound no longer traveled through the air, time itself seemed to halt, leaving only endless silence.
Auston’s cruel declaration was like a blade, tearing Su Mu Zhe’s world apart and plunging it into an abyss without end.

—No sound, no light, only boundless darkness swallowing him whole.

Auston watched Su Mu Zhe’s expression twist, a savage grin curling on his lips.

Yes!
This was exactly the scene he craved.

He had witnessed countless humans contort in despair, their helpless, anguished expressions always filling him with unparalleled satisfaction.
No matter how many times he saw it, he never tired of it—each time igniting a frenzy in his heart.

Baro, lacking Auston’s peculiar tastes, gave him a puzzled glance.

“Vice Staff Officer, we should leave quickly.
If the human Exterminators arrive…”

They were in the middle of a mission, but Auston seemed lost in his own world, reveling in tormenting humans as if indulging in personal art.
Baro couldn’t quite understand it.

But Auston knew Baro wouldn’t grasp his sense of pleasure.
He burst into loud laughter, spreading his arms wide, exuding the domineering air of a tyrant lording over the weak.

“After all, crushing these livestock who dare bare their fangs at us is an unrivaled joy!”

With that, Auston raised his hand, snapping his fingers.
The air before him compressed into a powerful blast, hurling Su Mu Zhe’s body backward at breakneck speed!

His back slammed into the wall, cracks spiderwebbing upward as the entire structure collapsed in an instant.

“Hahaha!
What a pathetic insect.”
Auston laughed.
“…Oh?
Still alive?”

“…”
Su Mu Zhe’s face was lowered, his bangs covering his forehead.
He sat silently amid the rubble, searing pain radiating from every joint in his body, an agony so intense it felt like death itself.

Evran froze, stunned.
From within the shadows, she cast a worried glance at Su Mu Zhe.

Su Xiao Zi… had been killed by the Bloodkin?

For the past year, she had been by Su Mu Zhe’s side constantly, witnessing the deep bond between him and his sister.
She understood just how vital Su Xiao Zi was to him.

If something happened to her…

Su Mu Zhe’s world would collapse by half.

If, as Auston claimed, Su Xiao Zi had truly been taken by the Bloodkin, what would become of Su Mu Zhe?
Would both siblings perish here today?

But gradually, slowly,

Evran sensed a strange heat surging within her, like a blazing flame.

Hiding in the shadows, she felt an inexplicable tremor in her heart.
A sensation she’d never experienced—something unprecedented was stirring within Su Mu Zhe.

“…Don’t get too cocky, Bloodkin.”

Su Mu Zhe propped himself up against the shattered wall, pushing aside the debris.
Spitting out a mouthful of blood, he wiped his lips with the back of his hand and shakily rose to his feet.

“Since that’s the case, heh… it seems this dream for a dead man is finally coming to an end.”

Su Mu Zhe murmured softly to himself.

He had long since perished as an Exterminator in the Otherbeast War.
This dreamlike, peaceful life with his sister was merely a reward granted by the heavens.

And now, it seemed this beautiful dream had reached its end, leaving him with no desires or regrets.

“This is… power surging forth?”
Evran stood stunned.

If Su Mu Zhe had previously sealed off the channel to block her power from entering his body, now he had shattered that barrier entirely, letting it flow freely.

Wait, wait!

Her power flooded into his body like a torrent, uncontrollably drawn in by force!

And, astonishingly, she felt a trace of fear toward Su Mu Zhe.
She had never seen him so willing to accept her power, demanding it endlessly as it erupted within him.

It was… as if he was ready to go down fighting, taking his enemy with him.

The air around them began to distort, crimson whirlwinds gathering at his side.
Su Mu Zhe slowly raised his head, his eyes laced with bloodshot veins, then brimming with blood, his pupils turning a vivid red.

“You’re right.”

Bloodkin… eternal enemies, beings that must be utterly eradicated.

His low, heavy voice made even Auston’s expression freeze, his laughter abruptly stopping.

He vaguely sensed a power unlike their own, emerging from an unknown source—a bloodline aura that likely belonged to a high-ranking noble.

Su Mu Zhe’s pupils shifted to heterochromatic hues, radiating an otherworldly, demonic glow.

“But the one who’ll be crushed… is you.”