Chapter 84: Crimson Vessel
Garran crushed the Blood Ember Stone.
Red fire mixed with dark blood smoke exploded from his hand.
The hidden trap under the platform shook violently.
Lucard felt the death mana surge upward. The sleeping knife inside the formation twitched. The trap wanted to activate fully. If it opened now without control, it would bite everything on the platform. Robi, Celia, Marovain guards, Ravencroft guards, Velkhur men, everyone.
Lucard’s jaw tightened.
"Not yet."
He pushed his blood into the hidden line and forced the trap to stay half asleep.
The pressure struck him too.
His chest tightened. His current body was still too weak to command such a violent formation easily. Blood moved from his nose in a thin line. He wiped it without looking away.
Below, Garran’s power rose higher.
"Velkhur Forbidden Art. Bloodfire Burial."
A circle of blood-red fire spread from Garran’s feet.
The flame did not move like normal fire. It crawled through the cracks of the stone platform, seeking living blood and mana. The Marovain guards shouted and stepped back. The Velkhur guards also retreated quickly. Ravencroft dragged Adrian away with panic on his face. Tina screamed and stumbled behind a tomb stone.
Robi stood his ground.
Silver mana rose around him, layer after layer.
"Celia," he said sharply. "Back."
Celia did not want to, but she obeyed. She moved back while placing barriers around the retreating Marovain guards.
Garran laughed like a madman. "Run if you want. The old fox dies here."
Robi’s eyes became cold.
"Garran, you still mistake dirty tricks for strength."
Garran raised both hands, and the bloodfire rose like a wave.
"And you still mistake survival for victory."
The bloodfire wave rushed toward Robi.
Lucard looked at the hidden line below.
This was the moment before death.
It was not the final moment. But close. His fingers pressed into the stone until blood came out.
"Bite," Lucard whispered.
The trap under Black Barrow Hill opened its first eye.
The ground answered him.
At first, nothing happened on the surface. The stone platform did not explode. No bright circle appeared. No grand light rose to announce that a trap had awakened.
Instead, the grave ash hidden between the cracks slowly darkened. The black iron nails buried under the stones trembled once. Then the death mana under Black Barrow Hill began to move like something old had opened its mouth beneath the earth.
The bloodfire rushing toward Robi slowed for one breath.
That one breath saved his life.
Robi’s silver mana wall bent under the pressure. The bloodfire struck it and crawled over the surface like burning leeches. It wanted to eat through his defense, reach his flesh, and burn his blood from inside. Robi’s metal hand shook from the force, but his eyes stayed clear. He understood at once that something under the platform had interfered.
Lucard’s altered spell had not blocked Garran’s forbidden art. It had bitten the flow and delayed the first killing wave.
Garran’s face changed.
"What did you do?"
Robi smiled through the pressure. "I survived."
"That is not an answer."
"It is the only answer you deserve. You dirty Bastard."
Garran roared in anger and pushed more mana into the bloodfire. The red-black flame grew thicker. It spread across the platform, moving around Robi’s defense and rushing toward every living person nearby.
Ravencroft guards shouted and ran. Velkhur guards also stepped back in fear. Tina screamed again, hiding behind a tomb stone while her swollen face looked even worse under the red light. Adrian fell on the ground, and two guards dragged him away by the arms.
Celia formed another barrier, trying to shield the Marovain guards from the spreading wave. Her face became pale. She was strong, but bloodfire was not ordinary fire. It carried burned blood, sacrifice, and a hungry curse inside it. If it touched a weaker person directly, it would not only burn skin. It would boil the blood in the veins.
Above the platform, Lucard’s eyes became sharp.
The trap had opened its first eye, but the bloodfire was stronger than he expected. Garran was shameless, but his power was real. The Blood Ember Stone had carried a large amount of violent blood flame. If this continued, the trap would be forced open completely. Once that happened, the hidden killing step might awaken without his control. It could kill Garran, but it could also kill Robi, Celia, and all the people on the platform.
Lucard did not care about Ravencroft men.
He did not care about Velkhur guards.
He did not care about Tina.
But Robi still owed him ten million gold coins. Celia was useful for now. Marovain protection was useful. Letting them die now would waste too much value. He could use them longer.
Then Lucard felt something.
His blood moved.
The bloodfire below was not pure fire. It carried blood. Dirty blood. Burned blood. Sacrificed blood. Blood twisted by fire and sealed in a stone, but still blood. To other mages, it was a forbidden flame. To Lucard, it was food wrapped in heat.
His eyes narrowed. "I can absorb it."
Not all of it safely. Not with his current body. But enough to matter.
If he absorbed the bloodfire, the spreading wave would weaken. Robi would be saved. Celia would be saved. Even Ravencroft and Velkhur men who deserved to die would survive because the danger would be pulled away from them.
Lucard disliked that part. He had no interest in saving enemies who would come back with sharper knives later.
But the bloodfire could push him across the last step.
Level nineteen was too close to level twenty.
Second Blood Circle, Crimson Vessel was waiting for him.
His body needed that change. His blood needed that change. A real enemy was already standing below him. A Fifth Circle battle mage. Lucard could not stay at the edge of weakness because some useless enemies might also benefit from his action.
He made the choice immediately.
"Power came first."
Lucard bit the inside of his thumb and pressed his blood against the stone under him. The hidden line inside the trap answered. Then he pulled.
The bloodfire below trembled.
Garran’s eyes widened as the red-black flame began to twist away from Robi’s silver wall. It no longer spreads normally. It gathered toward the center of the platform, then flowed upward through the hidden trap lines like blood running backward through veins.
Robi looked up toward the ruined shrine.
Celia also looked up.
Lucard stood between the broken pillars, one hand pressed against the stone, his black cloak moving in the cold wind. Red-black flame rose in thin streams from the platform and entered the blood mark under his palm.
Pain struck him at once.
His skin burned. His veins felt like hot wires. His heart beat hard, then harder. But inside that pain, strength entered his body. The blood inside the forbidden flame broke apart and became his. The fire tried to resist, but his blood crushed it, swallowed it, and dragged it into the blood path.
Inside his mind, the message rang.
[Blood Absorption Successful.]
[Foreign Bloodfire Energy Absorbed.]
[Level Increased.]
[Name: Lucard Vardros
Level: 20
Current Rank: Second Blood Circle, Crimson Vessel.
Note: Your blood has crossed the mortal limit. Your vessel has become crimson. Healing, blood control, blood storage, and resistance to weak foreign blood powers have increased.]
Lucard’s eyes opened fully.
For a moment, a deep red light moved inside his pupils.
The bloodfire on the platform weakened. The trap slept again under his command.
And on Black Barrow Hill, the Blood God’s new vessel took its second step.