Chapter 468: Blood
’Why... do I not know about this?’
Damian’s thoughts shifted, but his expression didn’t change.
"Every strong individual and their families left the north, completely abandoning millions of people to their doom without a second thought."
Agatha’s hands shook slightly on her walking stick.
"The western, central, and eastern regions didn’t even open the borders to let refugees in... They feared shortages of food and resources, labeling all the people in the north as burdens who would drag everyone else down."
She stopped, her voice becoming quieter.
"Imagine the scene... Thousands of people gathered at the borders, shouting and begging to be let in. Showing their children, their elderly and their wounded."
Her voice cracked.
"Only for their fellow humans to shut the doors in their faces and refuse to help."
Damian’s hands clenched at his sides, imagining the scene.
"Most of the people were normal human beings and in their desperation, many of them tried to throw their children over the walls, hoping someone on the other side would show mercy to innocent babies even if they wouldn’t help adults."
Agatha’s voice became flat, reciting facts that cut like blades.
"Most of those children were killed and thrown back... Except the girls."
"..."
Crack Crack
The silence stretched for several heartbeats as cracking noises came from Damian’s clenched fists.
Then Agatha continued, her words coming slower now.
"They say that at one such border, standing among the crowds, was a man holding a broken sword."
Thump
Damian’s pulse quickened, though he didn’t know why.
"He asked the guards a simple question. Why aren’t you helping us? We are your fellow humans... We bleed the same blood as you."
The wind seemed to quiet, even the snow falling slower.
"The leader of the guards looked down at him from the top of the wall. At the desperate crowds, at all the people who’d come seeking salvation..."
She paused, her voice became flat, reciting words that had clearly been burned into historical memory.
"And he said: The blood of you and your people isn’t worth much."
Thump thump
Damian’s heart slammed against his ribs.
’Worth.’
The word echoed in his mind with terrible clarity.
Felix’s voice overlapped with the memory. "Is your life even worth it to them?"
Castor’s words followed immediately after. "From my point of view, your life just isn’t worth more than my friends."
And now this, the same concept of ’worth’ wielded like a weapon against millions.
The blood of you and your people isn’t worth much.
"After that day, the man took his broken sword without saying another word."
Agatha’s voice became stronger, carrying across the wind.
"He turned away and started carving a path from the borders of the central region upward into the north. Killing every monster in his wake, closing portal after portal and protecting every single soul he found along the way."
Thump thump
Damian’s pulse was racing now, his entire focus on Agatha’s words.
"He left nobody behind. If you could breathe and wanted to live, he’d keep you alive. It didn’t matter if you were strong or weak, useful or useless, or even worth saving by anyone else’s standards."
The words hit him like physical force.
"People of the north rallied behind him with their entire families and believed in him when they had no reason to believe in anything anymore."
Damian’s breathing had become heavier, his chest rising and falling faster.
"All the monsters from the remaining portals formed a unified army. Demons, dark elves, giants, dwarves, and countless others. All of them stood against the man and the people who followed him."
Agatha’s voice dropped.
"The battle was... beyond description. More than five million northerners died that day, completely overwhelmed by the unified army that kept pouring through portals scattered across the region."
Thump Thump Thump
Damian’s heart hammered against his ribs so hard it hurt.
In the distance ahead, mountains began appearing on the horizon, peaks rising into the night sky.
"And just when it seemed that they had lost, when the entire northern army was exhausted and broken and ready to fall..."
Agatha’s voice became quiet, reverent.
"That man climbed to the peak of the highest mountain in the region."
Thump Thump Thump
"He raised his broken sword above his head."
The mountains were getting closer now, massive shapes blocking out stars.
"And with a single strike..."
Agatha’s voice rose.
"He tore the northern region in half."
Thump Thump Thump
Damian’s vision blurred slightly, his pulse roaring in his ears.
"The attack carved through earth and stone and everything in its path, eradicated half the monster army in an instant and created a wound in the continent itself that became a barrier the remaining forces couldn’t cross easily."
The mountains loomed ahead now, close enough that Damian could see details.
A massive range that stretched endlessly in both directions, peaks disappearing into darkness on either side.
"The strongest portals, the ones that had been pouring endless monsters into our world, all of them ended up on the far side of that barrier."
Thump Thump Thump
"Trapped beyond a mountain range that one man had created with a single swing of his broken sword."
Lily began descending, her massive wings adjusting as she aimed for a specific peak.
"It was that single strike that created what we now call the Eternal Horizon Mountain Range."
Thump Thump Thump
Damian’s hands were shaking, his whole body vibrating with each heartbeat.
"It was that day that marked the first true victory of humanity against the monsters pouring through portals."
The peak grew closer, and Damian could make out something on its summit.
"It was that day that humanity got its first SS ranked awakener."
BOOM
Lily landed on the mountaintop, her claws finding purchase on stone.
Damian’s eyes locked onto what stood there.
A statue carved from dark stone, weathered by years but still standing proud.
A man facing away from them, looking out over the mountain range stretching endlessly ahead.
In his hands, a broken sword raised toward the sky.
"And it was that day..."
Agatha stepped off Lily’s back, her walking stick tapping against stone as she moved toward the statue.
Thump Thump Thump
Damian followed on legs that felt numb, his entire body focused on the pounding of his heart.
"That the entire northern army and millions of people knelt before that man and gave him a name that would echo throughout history."
She stopped beside the statue, her hand reaching out to touch the carved stone.
"A name chosen to answer those who said the blood of the north wasn’t worth much."
Thump Thump Thump
"Bloodworth!"
Agatha turned to look at Damian, her black eyes meeting his crimson ones with intensity.
"That man was none other than your grandfather, Desiderius Bloodworth! A man who refused to abandon his people even when the rest of humanity gave up on them! A man who proved through his actions alone that his blood and the blood of his people was worth something!"
Her voice became softer, carrying weight that pressed down on everything.
"And the only man who is still to this day, worshipped as a god by the people of the north who remember what he did for them."
Thump Thump Thump Thump
Damian stood frozen on the mountaintop, staring at the statue of a man he’d never known.
A man who’d carried a broken sword and created mountains to protect people everyone else had abandoned.
A man who’d taken the words meant to dismiss millions and turned them into a declaration of defiance.
A man whose name Damian carried without understanding the weight behind it until this moment.
And somewhere deep in his chest, something that had been buried under ice and calculation and careful control began to burn.