Unholy Player

Chapter 454: 100%

"If..." Sevrak swallowed, the movement burning all the way down.

Shapes slowly returned to his world as his eyes began to heal, his vision creeping back piece by piece. He focused on the red mask watching him. "If you wish, I am ready to go and retrieve it for you."

The cult leader didn’t answer him. She didn’t even appear to be affected by his offer. Instead, she simply turned away, shifting her attention back to the Blood Dragon as if his words had already been tucked into some distant corner of her mind.

The giant dragon felt her gaze settle on it and instinctively sank even lower, bowing its head and pressing its blood-red wings flat to the ground, trying to hide its size by shrinking into itself. Its whole body quivered despite its effort to submit and stay still.

The woman walked slowly toward it and raised her hand.

Her fingers curled, mimicking the slow, deliberate squeeze of something small and fragile caught between her palm and fingers.

A heartbeat later, the Blood Dragon’s entire body jerked. Its massive frame folded inward like a metal can being crushed. Scales tough enough to shrug off nuclear blasts began to crack, then shattered completely under the unseen weight pressing down on them.

The dragon’s body crumpled tighter and tighter until it was forced into a rough, dense ball.

What kind of power is this...? Sevrak stared, his newly healed eyes taking in the sight of the beast he had once believed unstoppable being snuffed out in mere seconds. He felt something in his mind give way, like the last pillar of his pride finally snapping.

Blood began to drip from the ball-shaped mass, sliding down its surface in a thin, steady layer. It was dark, ugly, and foul-smelling, flowing into the pond where the strange baby still lay on its back, floating lazily.

The substance dripping into the pond was not the dragon’s normal blood. Somehow, the woman was drawing out only the corrupted part, separating it from the rest with terrifying precision, as if she were squeezing poison out of a sponge and carefully keeping the ordinary, lower blood from mixing into it.

As the fresh corrupted blood spread through the pond, thickening and darkening it, the baby started to move. Its small limbs kicked and waved, its body wriggling on the viscous surface.

It let out soft, content gurgles, treating the twisted offering like a warm bath, sinking into the corruption with the ease of something returning to its natural home.

Then, after every last drop of blood had been drawn from the dragon, a change began in the baby.

It started to grow all of a sudden, its tiny hands stretching longer, the bones and fingers taking on a more mature shape, and its eyes slowly gaining a clearer, more intelligent sheen. The change was gradual but certain, every second pushing it further away from the helpless infant it had been.

The woman saw the transformation and immediately tossed the corpse of the Rank 4 Spark to the side and knelt down on the ground. "Oh my darling, my One, my God."

The words left her lips with a fanatic kind of love as she pressed her forehead to the floor.

All the others behind her followed at once, dropping down and bowing in the same way.

Sevrak stood frozen for a moment. He didn’t even think about running, even though the two men in robes who had been holding him were now on the ground, pressing their heads into the dirt.

He dropped to his knees as well and pressed his head to the ground, copying their praying posture.

For some reason, he could not feel any aura from the maturing baby, no wave of pressure, and no clear life-threatening presence. But something deep inside him kept whispering that if he did not show respect now, if he showed even the smallest piece of disrespect by remaining standing, it would be something he would regret for eternity.

The baby’s growth finally began to slow down, and then it stopped. Its body settled into the figure of a child around 9 or 10 years old.

Once it reached that form, all changes ceased, even the smallest movements fading away until the body slipped back into complete stillness, almost like it had returned to a peaceful sleep.

A voice then reached Sevrak’s ears. The voice of the cult leader seemed to be speaking directly to him, filling both his ears and heart at the same time.

"I will spare your life and give you a new one along with new power; in return, you will bring me the remains of the heart."

Hearing those words, Sevrak suddenly forgot his fear. Something else rose inside him, a sharp excitement.

Anything coming from this cult that was not death and torture felt like a blessing, something he had no right or desire to refuse.

—

Adyr, unaware of what was happening in the Midlands or that some lunatics with a god complex were making plans to turn his life into a nightmare, kept harvesting the blood of the last body.

Blood spilled over the stone bed and was drawn out of the man’s veins, rushing into the Blood Cube until not a single drop remained.

"With this, it should be done, right?"

He muttered with quiet expectation as he summoned the description of the treasure.

[Name] Heart of the Blood Palace

[Rank] 2

Description:

At the core of the living quarters stands a single stone mass once named for the Corrupted King, a demon born of Hell who rose to godhood.

Satisfy its desire for blood, and in return, let it grant a single power for your path: one Spark of Rank 4 or below.

[Current Charge: 100%]

Seeing the numbers, he let the feeling of success rush through his nerves.

With this, his goal was no longer just to upgrade one of his Rank 4 Sparks. His real plan was to use the upgraded Spark for his evolution to Rank 4.

Would it be risky to use a Blood-variant Spark for ranking up? Of course. Adyr knew there was a chance he could lose his mind just like the Lunari ancestors. But for him, the real question was whether the risk was worth it.

And for Adyr, the answer was yes.

He was very sure evolving with an upgraded Spark would give him far more power and new perks than evolving with a normal Rank 4 Spark, and what he needed most at the moment was power, especially after meeting the Mad Scientist.

He didn’t know what rank that man was, but he was sure the man was strong—so strong that facing him with normal means felt impossible.

Adyr did not waste more time. He sent the body of the last Lunari ancestor into his Sanctuary, then let his gaze sweep over the cave one last time.

The black-and-red aura and oppressive presence that had filled every corner not long ago had completely vanished. Everything had already returned to normal, back to what it should be.

"I think now I need to go and inform them the ritual succeeded." He turned around and walked out, leaving the empty cave behind.