My Blood Legacy: Bloodlines

The creature continued emerging from Ghideon’s destroyed chest, using its black hands to push aside broken ribs and layers of flesh that no longer obeyed the original body. Its face was far too small for the structure around it, almost childlike, but there was nothing innocent about it. Grayish skin clung tightly to the bones, scars crossed its sealed mouth, and two completely red eyes moved independently, watching Victor, Natasha, and the lupine heart caught on Nera’s scythe at the same time.

Mirella noticed the movement before the creature finished freeing itself.

"Victor, move away!"

He tore Lilith from Ghideon’s chest and jumped backward in the same instant. Mirella advanced to take his place, striking the kneeling body with a side kick that launched it into the remains of a column. The creature remained connected to the torso by several threads of flesh and shadow, but it was not dragged along with it. Its arms lengthened, attached themselves to the floor, and held the inner mass in place while the rest of Ghideon was thrown away.

Victor landed several meters behind them, holding Lilith in front of his body as he watched that thing rise on limbs too thin to support its weight. Its lower half did not yet possess complete legs. There was only an elongated spine, pieces of organs, and several structures taken from different bodies, all stitched together by shadow around the vampiric heart.

"What the hell is that?"

Mirella did not look away.

"Probably a Chimera."

Victor looked at her.

"Probably?"

"I have never seen one crawl out of someone." Mirella increased the concentration of her Blood Body, making the veins in her arms stand out again. "That damned bastard was experimenting on himself. The clones, the lupine parts, and the stored bodies were not merely weapons. He was replacing everything he considered defective."

The creature opened its mouth.

The scars holding its lips together tore apart one by one, revealing several rows of teeth belonging to different species. Vampiric fangs grew between lupine teeth, while small bone plates occupied the back of its throat. When it breathed, the air in the chamber was pulled toward it along with blood, shadows, and fragments from the corpses scattered across the floor.

Nera retreated with the lupine heart still caught on her scythe.

"That thing is trying to pull this back."

"Do not let it," Mirella replied.

"I noticed."

Nera turned the handle and threw the heart behind her. The curved blade released the mass into the air, and a wall of Black Ice appeared before it could fall. Victor sealed the heart inside several layers, isolating the lunar channels and preventing the shadow lines from reaching the organ.

The Chimera turned both eyes toward him.

Its body disappeared.

Victor felt the shift in pressure, but could not follow the entire trajectory. A black hand appeared in front of his face and struck Lilith from the side. The force bent the blood blade and threw him against the floor. Before he could rise, the creature’s arm split into three smaller limbs, each ending in different claws.

Victor rolled while still lying down.

The first claw pierced the ground where his head had been. The second opened his shoulder. The third closed around his leg and dragged him back. Victor allowed Black Lightning to travel through the trapped limb and released the discharge directly through contact, but the electricity did not cross the creature as it should have.

Part of the arm was flesh.

Another part was shadow.

The central region appeared to be composed of preserved lupine nerves.

The Chimera separated each material at the instant of impact, conducting the Black Lightning only through the layer capable of enduring it and keeping the others apart. The discharge burned part of its muscles, but did not interrupt the attack. Victor was lifted by the leg and slammed against the floor.

Mirella arrived first.

She concentrated the Blood Body in her right arm and punched the creature’s side. The blow passed through two layers of flesh and opened a hole, but the Chimera was not launched away. Several smaller limbs emerged from its back, grabbed the columns, and anchored themselves to the ground to absorb the force.

Mirella tried to pull her arm free.

The flesh closed around her fist.

The creature turned its face toward her, opened its jaw, and tried to bite her neck. Mirella moved her head forward instead of retreating. Her forehead struck the Chimera’s face, crushing part of its nose and forcing its mouth closed before contact. Then she concentrated the blood in her shoulder and pulled the trapped arm with enough strength to tear away a large portion of the torso.

The removed flesh fell to the floor.

It continued moving.

Small legs emerged from the fragment, and the mass tried to return to the main body like a deformed insect. Nera stepped on it before it crossed two meters and drove the tip of her scythe into its center.

"Do not even think about it."

The Chimera released a high-pitched sound that crossed the entire chamber. It did not sound like pain.

It was an order.

The remains of Ghideon scattered across the floor responded.

Severed arms, pieces of the torso, parts of the clones, and muscles taken from the creatures began crawling toward the central body. The shadows acted like external tendons, dragging everything that still possessed enough energy to be reused.

Victor raised Lilith.

White Fire spread across the floor in controlled lines, forming a circle around the Chimera. He did not burn the creature directly. He ignited every fragment trying to reach it, destroying the separated flesh before it could be incorporated again.

The fire moved close to the main body.

The Chimera reacted immediately.

Every arm retreated.

Its red eyes contracted, and the surrounding skin began emitting dark smoke even without direct contact with the flames. Victor noticed the change and reduced the Black Lightning around Lilith, allowing White Fire to occupy a larger portion of the blade.

Natasha noticed as well.

"It is weak against fire."

"It really does not like it," Victor replied.

"Then we will stop it from escaping." Natasha opened both hands, causing blood to run from her fingertips. "I will restrain it. Channel the White Fire and do not waste energy on the other abilities."

Victor looked at the black arms attached to the walls, the lupine parts protecting the torso, and the shadow constantly altering the body’s shape. Black Ice could hold it for several instants. Black Lightning could disrupt its coordination. However, only White Fire had caused a genuine reaction of fear.

"How long can you hold it?"

Natasha moved her fingers.

"Long enough, as long as no one stands around staring."

She disappeared from her position and appeared in front of the creature. Natasha did not attempt to attack its body directly. Her threads spread first, crossing the space from different angles and attaching themselves to the columns, the ceiling, and the stones buried beneath the floor. Then the lines converged on the Chimera’s external limbs.

The creature tried to retreat.

Natasha closed her hands.

The threads contracted.

Two arms were pulled upward, three others toward the sides, and the limbs anchored to the ground were stretched in opposite directions. The Chimera tried to transform part of its body into shadow, but Natasha changed the tension whenever the material shifted. The threads did not hold only flesh. They wrapped around the points where every transformation began, forcing the creature to reconstruct its own form inside a net that tightened with every movement.

The Chimera attacked with its head.

Its neck lengthened like a serpent’s body, passing through the threads toward Natasha’s face. She pulled a line attached to the ceiling and lifted herself, allowing the jaw to pass beneath her boots. Other threads closed around the extended neck before the creature could withdraw it.

Natasha crossed her wrists.

The neck was pulled backward.

"Now, Mirella!"

Mirella advanced across the net. Instead of striking the torso, she jumped onto one of the stretched arms and ran along it while Natasha kept the creature motionless. The Chimera tried to form spikes through its own skin, but Mirella concentrated blood in her legs and crossed the distance before they could fully develop.

Her knee struck the center of its face.

The impact threw its head backward and broke part of the extended spine. Mirella passed over the skull, landed behind the creature, and seized its lower jaw with one hand. The other closed around the top of its head.

The Chimera thrashed.

Natasha’s threads began cutting into flesh.

Mirella concentrated the Blood Body in both arms and pulled the head backward as though she intended to tear it away along with the spine. Muscles ruptured around the neck. Bone plates appeared beneath the skin, and several shadow channels stretched between the skull and the exposed heart.

The creature released another scream.

This time, there was fear.

Natasha was dragged several centimeters when the external arms tried to break free, but her threads remained attached. Blood ran from her nails, and some of the lines were already cutting into her own skin due to the tension, although she did not reduce the force.

"Nera, the lower limbs!"

The small vampire was already moving. She passed beneath the torso, spun the scythe, and struck the structures serving as legs. The first was severed at the joint. The second tried to turn into shadow, but Nera changed the angle of the strike, caught the curved blade around the solid section, and pulled.

The limb separated.

The Chimera lost its support.

Mirella kept the head raised while the central body fell to its knees. She planted her feet on the floor, bent her knees, and used the entire Blood Body to continue pulling. The veins in her neck and arms became completely red. Small ruptures appeared beneath her skin, but the concentrated blood kept her muscles working far beyond their normal limit.

Victor remained several meters ahead.

Lilith still carried Black Ice at the base and Black Lightning along the blade, but he began removing both energies. The ice detached in fragments and fell around his feet. The black lightning diminished until it disappeared into his hand.

Every part of the weapon was given to White Fire.

The flame began along the edge.

Then it crossed the blood forming the sword.

Lilith contracted as though resisting the excess energy before accepting the power completely. The red color of the blade disappeared beneath the light. The edges, guard, and even the handle became white, while the fire grew so concentrated that it no longer moved with the air.

Lilith no longer looked like a sword set aflame.

It looked like a flame that had chosen the shape of a sword.

The heat increased rapidly. The salt water around Victor’s feet evaporated, covering the platform in steam. Nearby stones turned red, and the blood spread across the ground began disappearing before the fire even touched it.

The Chimera felt it.

Its desperation increased.

The arms caught in the threads tore as it tried to escape. Natasha lost two lines but replaced both before the limbs could break free. Nera buried the scythe in the torso and used her own body as weight, preventing the creature from dragging itself away. Mirella continued pulling the head until the spine was completely exposed.

She looked at Victor.

There was no doubt or hesitation in her expression. Only a direct command as she held the target in exactly the position he needed.

"The Final Strike," Mirella demanded.

Victor smiled.

White Fire completely covered his arms and climbed toward his shoulder, connecting his body to the weapon. Lilith answered with another roar, but this time the sound did not shake only the chamber. The flame crossed the tunnels, made the remaining werewolves retreat, and illuminated the entire laboratory as though a sun had been lit beneath Bramford.

Victor lowered his body.

His right foot slid backward.

His left hand held the base of the handle.

All available regeneration, strength, and energy began being channeled into a single movement. No Black Lightning increased his speed. No Black Ice stabilized his stance. He trusted only his fully restored body and the absurd amount of White Fire concentrated inside Lilith.

Rowena remained silent inside his mind.

She also understood that no guidance was necessary.

Victor advanced.

The floor sank beneath his first step.

On the second, the sword was already raised above his shoulder.

The Chimera opened its mouth and tried to release all its accumulated shadow in one final explosion, but Mirella pulled its head even farther back and completely exposed the throat. Natasha tightened every remaining thread, locking each limb in place. Nera turned the scythe inside the torso and opened a direct path to the heart.

Victor arrived.

Lilith descended.

The cut passed through the open mouth, separated the jaw, crossed the exposed throat, and continued through the vampiric heart. White Fire did not explode immediately. It entered through the wound, traveled along every thread of shadow, and reached every part of the Chimera at the same time.

For a fraction of a second, the entire body turned white.

Then the fire awakened.

The shadows burned from the inside out. The limbs caught by the threads became ash before touching the ground. The heart dissolved around the blade, and the scars connecting the different parts vanished one after another. The creature tried to scream, but White Fire had already consumed its throat, lungs, and every structure capable of producing sound.

Victor completed the movement until Lilith struck the floor.

A white line crossed the platform.

The fire exploded forward, split the chamber in half, and traveled through the empty tunnels beyond the body. Mirella released the head an instant before the wave reached her. Natasha severed her own threads and pulled Nera backward with a line attached to her waist.

The Chimera remained standing for less than a second.

Then it began to disappear.

No blood, flesh, or shadow remained. White Fire consumed everything until only a silhouette made of ash occupied the space in front of Victor. The shape lost consistency, was struck by the wind produced by the explosion itself, and scattered across the chamber.

Ghideon’s destroyed body fell immediately behind it.

Empty.

Without scars.

Without a heart.

Without anything living inside.

Victor kept Lilith pressed against the floor while White Fire slowly diminished. The blade remained white, but no longer roared. The energy had left a deep cut across the platform, revealing even older galleries beneath the laboratory.

Mirella breathed deeply and deactivated the Blood Body. The veins disappeared beneath her skin, and her arms trembled after enduring the concentrated circulation for so long. Natasha examined her wounded fingers, while Nera recovered the scythe and looked at the empty space where the Chimera had been.

"Is it over?" Nera asked.

Rowena did not answer immediately.

Victor looked at the ashes, Ghideon’s empty corpse, and the lupine heart still trapped inside the Black Ice prison. The scent of decay had almost completely disappeared.

Almost.

Lilith slowly returned to its red color.

Victor pulled the sword from the floor.

"That thing is dead," he murmured.

"A shame. Our mission was a disaster," Mirella muttered. "We were supposed to capture that thing."

Natasha stretched and then said, "First the borders, now a port city... Why are the werewolves invading our kingdom?"

Nera looked toward one of the walls.

"Guys, there is something there." She pointed toward the wall.

Victor looked and nodded.

"Many life forms."

Mirella struck the wall, breaking it apart completely.

"Holy shit."