Dawn Walker

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Sekhmet could smell every wounded person around him as if they were standing directly beneath his nose. The blood on Stephen’s face smelled different from the others. It was richer, heavier, and filled with divine power. Even Elena’s blood inside her wounds called to him. Sofia’s and Natasha’s blood did the same, although the connection between them and Sekhmet made the feeling slightly different.

His throat became dry.

His heartbeat grew heavier.

Sekhmet kept his attention on Elena.

The dark crimson blood floating above his palm moved toward the open wound across her stomach. Elena did not step away. She remained completely still and allowed the blood to enter.

The moment the first drop crossed into her body, her expression changed.

Her divine blood reacted violently.

The blood inside Elena’s body tried to destroy Sekhmet’s blood before it could spread farther. Her God-level body had existed far above Sekhmet’s current Chaos Rank Three body for far too long. It recognized his blood as something foreign and immediately resisted it.

Sekhmet felt that resistance through Blood Control.

He clenched his hand.

"Keep going."

The System responded inside his mind.

[Blood Corruption of target Elena has begun.

Target’s divine blood is resisting Host Blood Authority.

Blood God Will is suppressing target resistance.

Bloodlust continues to increase.

System assistance is focusing hostile impulses toward identified enemies.]

The crimson blood inside Elena changed.

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

The moment Blood God Will moved through it, the resistance from Elena’s body began weakening. It did not disappear completely, but her divine blood stopped trying to destroy Sekhmet’s blood and slowly allowed it to travel deeper.

Elena inhaled sharply.

Crimson lines appeared beneath the skin of her neck.

Then they spread toward her shoulders.

Sekhmet was so focused on the process that he did not immediately look toward Mihos.

Mihos, however, was watching everything.

He had seen Sofia and Natasha change.

Both women had been Half-Gods only a short time earlier. Now they possessed the presence of Low-Rank Gods, and the change had happened after Sekhmet sent his own blood into them.

Now Sekhmet was doing the same thing to Elena.

Mihos did not know exactly what the ability was. He did not need to know. He only needed to understand one thing.

Sekhmet was strengthening his side again.

"Stop him!" Mihos shouted.

His people reacted immediately.

The fighters who had arrived from his camp released their chaos energy at the same time. Weapons came out. Several cultivators jumped from the surrounding rooftops, while others rushed through the destroyed gate toward Sekhmet.

Mihos pointed directly at him.

"Kill anyone protecting him. Do not let him finish whatever he is doing!"

The first group rushed forward.

They never reached Sekhmet.

The battle maids moved.

They had already been waiting for Mihos’s people to make the first move. The instant his order was given, the Dawn House maids attacked without hesitation.

Metal struck metal in the middle of the courtyard.

One battle maid blocked a descending sword with both hands, turned her body, and drove her knee into the attacker’s stomach. Another maid moved beneath a spear, cut across the wielder’s arm, and immediately turned to intercept the next person.

Several more formed a line directly between Sekhmet and Mihos’s forces.

"Protect Young Master Sekhmet!" one of them shouted.

The courtyard exploded into movement.

Mira changed first.

Her normal human appearance began disappearing as crimson scales and feathers spread across her arms and legs. Her red hair moved around her face while living crimson snakes appeared among it. Her hands changed into sharper claws, and her legs became the powerful predatory limbs of the Crimson Gorgon.

A Mihos fighter rushed toward her.

Mira met him directly.

Her clawed foot struck his chest and threw him backward into two of his own people. Before they could recover, the snakes in Mira’s hair stretched forward and bit into one man’s shoulder.

He screamed.

Mira did not wait to see what the venom would do.

She was already attacking someone else.

Lily transformed beside her.

Her Cruoraphim form appeared as her power rose. She moved toward another group trying to break through the battle maids and struck the first attacker hard enough to throw him across the courtyard.

Vera and Vela drew their swords together.

They did not fight separately.

One twin blocked.

The other attacked.

When Vera forced one enemy’s weapon upward, Vela’s blade immediately cut across his side. When another cultivator tried to attack Vela from behind, Vera was already there to intercept him.

Raka saw the battle begin from outside the mansion. He did not wait for any order.

"Move!"

The lesser vampires surrounding Iron House rushed inward.

Some climbed over the walls.

Others entered through the gates.

The twenty vampires near the sewerage line remained behind to guard the captured Iron House family members, but the rest moved toward the fighting.

The entire Iron House estate became a battlefield.

Mihos’s people met Dawn House battle maids.

Lesser vampires rushed hired fighters.

Mira, Lily, Vera, and Vela joined wherever the pressure became too strong.

Iron House servants who had been watching from the damaged mansion immediately ran back inside.

Several threw themselves into rooms and locked the doors.

Others ran toward the underground levels again.

No one wanted to remain close enough to see which side won anymore.

Sekhmet barely noticed them. His hand remained on Elena.

The corruption continued spreading.

[Blood Corruption progress: 74%.

Target divine resistance continues to decrease.

Blood God Will consumption increase.

Host Bloodlust: 73%.

System hostile-target focus remains active.]

Seventy-three percent. Sekhmet felt every single percent.

The battle around him was becoming harder to hear normally because the heartbeats were louder.

He could feel the blood moving through Mihos’s fighters. He could feel the cuts made by the battle maids.

Every time someone was wounded, a new smell entered the air and made his hunger worse.

A man several steps away had his shoulder cut open.

Sekhmet’s head turned toward him. For one moment, he wanted to pull all the blood from the wound.

Not a little bit But All of it.

He wanted to watch the man fall empty.