Chapter 10: First Embrace

Su Mu Zhe reached out, took off the over-ear headphones hanging around his neck, and tossed them aside.
The strong winds at his feet fiercely battered his pant legs, and the jacket fluttering behind him violently billowed in the wind, his gradually rising laughter sounding as if from the depths of his throat, deep and low.

“Heh, hehehe… hahahahaha!”

Amidst Su Mu Zhe’s increasingly deranged laughter, the space where their bloodlines converged gradually vanished, departing from that ethereal white realm and returning once more to reality.

His eyes, previously overflowing with blood, began to clear, and one of them had already transformed into a crimson, heterochromatic Bloodkin pupil.

He was gradually gaining control over the Bloodkin’s power, while chaotic memories and energy currents also assaulted his internal organs, plunging his mind into an utterly frenzied state for a time.

But ultimately, a blood-red vortex was gradually gathered and contained in Su Mu Zhe’s palm.
He had controlled this power of noble blood.

‘Come on.’
‘Whether a mad beast, an irrational demon, or a monster of wanton destruction, to me, it no longer mattered.’
‘None of that was important now; as long as I had power, as long as I had the power to contend with the Bloodkin, that was enough.’
‘At this moment, I only wanted to slaughter all the Bloodkin before me!’

The fighting spirit, dormant for a whole year, vigorously ignited once more at this moment.

He felt his whole body burning; the new Bloodkin power boiled within him. Unlike the Exterminator’s pulse force, which was cold as snow, the Bloodkin’s power was like a ball of fire, gradually melting him.

In a flash, he had found himself in a completely unfamiliar realm.

The realm was empty, devoid of anything. The ground was pure white clouds, an apparently boundless, infinite space, and before him stood only a Bloodkin girl named Evran.

This was the space where Evran and Su Mu Zhe’s powers connected.

Their power transfer would take place here.

“Phew, after a whole year, are you finally willing to accept my power?”

Evran turned her head and looked at him.

Su Mu Zhe’s face was grim, and he asked with a trembling voice, “Evran, give all your power to me…”

“Oh my, how rare, Lord Wraith, you’re calling me by my name?”
“Unforgivable. Even if my body and spirit are utterly destroyed, I must make the culprits who took Xiao Zi’s life pay the price. Bloodkin… must be exterminated, must be purged!!!”
“Lord Wraith, I am not as powerful as you once were. And as you know, the opponents are from the Rose Legion; they are not enemies that can be easily defeated. Escaping, however, should still be possible…”
“Of course, I know you will no longer choose to escape.”
“I still say the same thing: as long as you need it, I will bestow upon you all my power, and once you accept my power, it means our contract has been signed.”
“From now on, we will face dangers together, through life and death…”
Evran had been waiting for this moment.

As the thirteenth noble bloodline who escaped from the Bloodkin otherworld, her parents were exiled by the empire, their fate unknown, her elder brother stood on the side of the enemy, and she, alone, had been searching for the most suitable candidate to bind their destinies together.

Her heart also burned with the flames of revenge, to one day return to the Bloodkin Empire, sweep away all obstacles, and clear her family’s name.

Guided by “Miss Audrey Evra,” a noble among the Bloodkin, she found this Chief Exterminator, code-named “Wraith,” the captain of the Wraith Squad, during the Otherworld War a year ago.
At his last breath.

Evran saved him with the Progenitor’s blood and sustained his already broken body.
Su Mu Zhe’s human body was already just an empty shell; only by reshaping his body could he be reborn, and the sole condition for this was his choice to accept the power of the Bloodkin, no longer obstructing the influx of the bloodline.

This moment was the time of rebirth.

Su Mu Zhe’s eyes gradually settled down. The instant his bloodline combined with Evran’s, fragmented images of her past memories flashed in his mind.

Evran Fidellia Latina.

Bloodkin, thirteenth noble bloodline, a Daughter of Calamity possessing the power of a Progenitor.

Suddenly, a thick, blood-colored mist enveloped Su Mu Zhe, and a dark shadow within the blood mist seemed to be raging, a pair of crimson, glittering eyes piercing through the mist, sharply radiating from within.
Seeing the strange phenomenon before them, Auston and Baro reacted almost simultaneously by retreating.

“Hmm? This aura truly is… Bloodkin?”

Auston frowned deeply; an aura not belonging to humans was emanating from around the human boy.
It was all too familiar to him.

‘That’s a Bloodkin, but the origin of this power seems to come from another place. If it’s a First Embrace Ritual, only an extremely noble bloodline could complete it…’

‘Who is it? Which noble is here? Did they intrude upon someone else’s territory?’

“What, this guy is a Bloodkin? One of us? No, that’s not right, he’s becoming a Bloodkin…” Baro revealed a look of astonishment, immediately wanting to finish him off before the First Embrace Ritual was complete.

“Stop him!” Auston’s eye twitched, and he immediately shouted sternly.

“Yes! Vice Staff Officer.”

However, as Baro drew his sword and swung it forward, the sword in his hand was instantly shattered by a blood-colored storm, and a powerful repulsive force immediately repelled him, sending him sliding several meters with the broken sword stuck in the ground.

Auston glanced at the repelled Baro, and immediately moved to draw his own sword.
But soon, the overwhelming, surging aura that rolled in like a mountain flood halted his movements. He slowly raised his head in dismay, looking at the oppressive power that almost filled the entire sky, realizing it was too late.
Auston’s pupils trembled, and he couldn’t help but murmur, “Just what is this guy’s origin…”

Su Mu Zhe had already prepared to become a monster; by all accounts, humans should not be able to accept the power of the Bloodkin.

The Bloodkin’s power was extremely volatile, and might cause unexpected mutations.
Furthermore, if the First Embrace Ritual completely failed, and the human body couldn’t withstand it, it would only make them lose their minds and turn into monsters capable only of unleashing power and destruction.

When Su Mu Zhe was an Exterminator, he had even fought such monsters a few times.
However, the expected outcome unexpectedly did not occur.

Su Mu Zhe felt no strange mutations appearing on his body whatsoever; his nails didn’t turn into sharp claws, no horns grew on his head, his teeth didn’t become razor-sharp, and no black wings grew from his back.

‘What’s going on…’
‘Did the power inheritance fail?’

Su Mu Zhe’s gaze sharpened; he clearly felt he had accepted Evran’s power, but why—
Suddenly, Su Mu Zhe’s mind wavered, and he realized that his teeth had not only failed to become sharp, but instead had slowly begun to feel like baby teeth… Was this also a change brought by the First Embrace Ritual?

He looked down at his hands, which were gradually shrinking, and his field of vision was also getting lower.

His clothes fell off due to his body’s rapid shrinking.

The unexpected situation left him completely stunned.

“Heeheehee~”

A burst of stifled laughter from Evran suddenly came from behind him; he immediately glanced sideways at Evran, who had a mischievous grin.

But at this moment, his sharp, questioning gaze seemed to have lost all its lethality; the moment Evran saw his appearance, she instead revealed a very doting look.

“What is going on, Evran?”
“Here~ Excuse me, is there anything an adorable little loli needs big sis’s help with?”
Su Mu Zhe was stunned; now, when he looked at Evran, who was hidden behind him, her gaze was level with his own.

It was utterly baffling…

“Little loli? Big sis…?”

As he spoke these words, a tender, adorable, and pure voice echoed in the air.