My Blood Legacy: Bloodlines

Lilith reacted before Victor had even finished gathering the three energies. The blood sword lengthened in his hand, forming a wider and heavier blade as Black Lightning traveled through its structure like exposed veins. White Fire appeared immediately afterward, covering the edge without consuming the blood that formed the weapon, while Black Ice grew over the base in overlapping plates that protected his hand, the hilt, and part of his forearm. The forces did not merge evenly. They collided, tried to occupy the same space, and made the weapon vibrate so intensely that the air around it seemed to contract.

Then Lilith roared.

It was not merely the sound of metal or energy being compressed. The noise came from the blade like the deep roar of a creature awakening inside it, crossing the underground chamber and briefly drowning out the sounds of the werewolves descending through the tunnels. The floor beneath Victor cracked in a circular line, the pools of blood were pushed away, and White Fire grew around the sword while Black Lightning leaped from the edge into the nearby stones.

Nera stared at him with the scythe still held in front of her body. Her expression shifted from irritation to genuine confusion when she realized how much energy Victor was pouring into the weapon.

"You... You..." She pointed at Lilith with her free hand, as though needing to confirm she was not seeing things. "YOU WEREN’T FIGHTING TO KILL?"

Victor spun the sword once to test its weight. The movement opened a thin cut in the ground and sent a wave of heat across the platform, forcing Natasha to raise an arm to shield her face.

"I was trying to kill him."

Nera’s eyes widened even more.

"That did not answer a damn thing!"

"I was fighting to kill him without bringing the city down on our heads." Victor looked at the already destroyed ceiling and the salt water invading the side galleries. "Now that is no longer a problem."

Mirella cast a quick glance at the structure around them. The underground facility was already doomed. Half the columns had cracked, the upper tunnels were collapsing, and the water entering through the opening near the sea increased every second. Even if they defeated Ghideon without causing further damage, preserving the laboratory would be impossible.

"He is right," she said, taking position with the white sword in front of her body. "The facility will not last."

Natasha looked at Victor and then at Lilith, clearly less comfortable with the conclusion.

"That does not mean you can destroy Bramford."

Victor smiled.

"Then help me keep everything down here."

Before she could answer, the first werewolves reached the chamber. Three descended through the opening in the ceiling, while another four emerged from the destroyed galleries. They wore neither matching uniforms nor equipment. Some had torn traveling clothes, while others carried leather armor reinforced with metal plates, but all of them possessed similar partial transformations. Arms covered in fur, enlarged legs, elongated jaws, and claws strong enough to tear through stone.

Their eyes did not turn toward Ghideon.

They turned toward the destroyed tank.

Rowena spoke inside Victor’s mind with a coldness different from usual.

"They are not here out of loyalty. They are looking at the corpse. They want to know what he did with that body."

"Do you know any of them?"

"No. But the scent is similar. A distant bloodline, perhaps the same group. Do not confuse that with family. Werewolves kill relatives for far less."

Ghideon advanced before any of the newcomers could make a decision. He ran on four limbs, using the deformed lupine arm to gain momentum while his human hand dragged shadow across the ground. His target was not Victor. It was one of the werewolves who had stopped near the remains of the tank.

The claw pierced the man’s chest.

Ghideon lifted him before he could react and opened the scars across his own torso. Lines of shadow emerged from within them and connected to the captured body. The werewolf tried to transform completely, but his muscles began losing volume as the lunar energy was torn from his channels.

The others reacted immediately.

Two leaped onto Ghideon, attacking from both sides. One managed to drive his claws into his back, while the other closed his teeth around the human shoulder. Ghideon did not interrupt the absorption. He transformed part of his neck into shadow to avoid the bite, turned the claw, and used the impaled werewolf as a weapon, smashing him into the attackers.

Victor moved.

The first step destroyed the stone beneath his leg. The second left a trail of Black Lightning between him and Ghideon. By the third, Lilith was already descending.

Ghideon abandoned the body and crossed the lupine arm above his head.

The blade struck the bone plates.

The impact produced an explosion that crossed the entire chamber. White Fire spread across Ghideon’s arm, Black Ice grew inside the cracks, and Black Lightning entered through the exposed muscles, forcing the joint to contract. The force of the blow buried the Specialist’s feet in the floor and opened a crater around them, but the arm was not completely severed.

Victor pressed the sword down.

Ghideon growled and seized Lilith with his human hand. The skin burned immediately, but he maintained his grip and brought his face closer to Victor’s.

"You think you can surpass me simply by increasing the amount of energy?"

"No."

Victor allowed Lilith to lose consistency for half a second.

Ghideon’s hand passed through the sword.

At the same instant, Victor made the weapon solid again, trapping the fingers inside the blade. Black Ice closed around the enemy’s wrist, while White Fire burned his palm and Black Lightning kept the muscles contracted.

"I can also use it better."

Victor turned the sword.

Ghideon’s fingers were torn away, and the cut continued through the lupine arm. The bone plates resisted only until the Black Ice inside them expanded. The structure burst apart, the blade crossed the elbow, and half the limb separated.

Ghideon retreated with a roar.

Nera appeared behind him before he could reorganize his body. The damaged scythe passed through the back of his knee and opened a deep cut. When Ghideon lost height, she released one hand, spun the shaft around his neck, and pulled with her full weight.

"Now you want to cut him?" Victor asked.

"Shut up!"

She dragged Ghideon backward, exposing his chest. Victor advanced with Lilith aimed at the scars, but a shadow crossed the floor and struck Nera from below. The black chain wrapped around her waist, tore her from the ground, and threw her into a column. Ghideon regained his balance and transformed his chest into shadow before the sword reached him.

Lilith passed through an empty mass.

Ghideon reappeared beside Victor with the lupine arm partially reconstructed. The claw struck his ribs and sent him toward Natasha and Mirella. Natasha raised a blood barrier before the impact. Victor passed through the first layer, but Mirella placed the white sword against his back and used the force to change his trajectory, preventing him from reaching the wall.

"He can still replace parts of his body too quickly," Mirella observed.

Victor landed, recovered his stance, and looked at Ghideon.

"Then we need to force him to keep everything solid."

Natasha understood before he explained. She opened her right hand, and the blood spread across the chamber responded. It was not only her blood. The pools left by clones, creatures, experiments, and werewolves were pulled from the cracks and gathered into thin lines surrounding Ghideon from every direction.

He tried to transform his legs into shadow.

Natasha’s blood adhered to the area before the change finished.

The technique did not completely prevent him from losing form, but it marked every part with external pressure. Whenever a limb became shadow, the blood followed the alteration and revealed where it would return to solidity.

Mirella disappeared.

She appeared to Ghideon’s right with her sword descending toward his human shoulder. He moved the arm to block, but the white blade changed direction in the middle of the strike and hit the scars near the collarbone. The blow was not heavy like Victor’s or Nera’s. It was precise. The tip entered between two symbols and opened the connection linking the chest to the shadow in the neck.

Ghideon tried to dissolve.

Natasha closed her fist.

The lines of blood contracted, keeping his outline visible.

"Now, Victor!"

Victor was already advancing.

Black Lightning exploded beneath his feet, but he did not repeat the kick that had destroyed his own leg. This time, he distributed the acceleration throughout his entire body and used Lilith as an extension of the movement. The sword came from left to right, covered in an increasing amount of Black Ice.

Ghideon raised the lupine arm.

The blade passed through it.

The cut removed the reconstructed limb, opened the chest, and reached halfway through the spine. White Fire entered the wound immediately, while Black Lightning traveled through the exposed scars. Ghideon’s body locked, unable to transform into shadow without carrying the three energies into his own technique.

Nera emerged from the remains of the column with blood on her forehead.

"My turn."

She ran, jumped onto Victor’s back, and used his shoulder as support. The scythe spun above her head before descending onto Ghideon’s neck. The blade entered halfway but struck a bone plate hidden beneath the skin.

Nera growled and pressed down.

Ghideon grabbed the shaft with his remaining hand, trying to stop the cut from continuing. Victor placed Lilith against his abdomen and pushed more Black Ice into the body, while Natasha kept the blood lines closed and Mirella severed the shadow channels whenever they tried to reorganize.

For the first time, all four of them held him in place.

The floor began to give way beneath them.

Ghideon released a roar carried by several voices, even though his clone network had already been destroyed. The scars across his chest opened, and the energy stolen from the tank exploded outward without any control. Natasha was the first to be thrown away. The blood lines broke, and she crossed part of the platform before driving her fingers into the floor.

Mirella crossed the sword in front of her body, but the pressure tore her feet from the ground and sent her into a column. Nera lost the scythe when a wave of shadow struck her arms. Victor remained closer, holding Lilith with both hands while White Fire consumed the energy trying to push him away.

Ghideon pulled the sword from his abdomen and struck Victor with his forehead. The blow split his eyebrow but failed to move him away. Victor answered with an even stronger headbutt, breaking part of the Specialist’s deformed jaw.

The two remained face-to-face inside the explosion.

Ghideon tried to rebuild the lupine arm using the blood spread throughout the chamber, but Lilith’s flames began pulling everything away before it could reach his body. Victor noticed the reaction and expanded the White Fire, creating a zone of consumption around them.

The blood evaporated.

The shadows diminished.

The stolen lunar energy began burning inside the scars.

Rowena spoke quickly inside his mind.

"Keep going. He depends on what is around him. If the fire consumes the reserves, only his own body will remain."

Victor clenched his teeth and increased the intensity. The skin of his arms split from the effort, but his regeneration closed every wound as soon as it appeared. Lilith roared again, louder this time, while Black Ice grew across the blade and spread through Ghideon’s chest in branching lines.

The Specialist recognized the danger.

He abandoned every attempt to defend himself and concentrated the remaining shadow into a single hand. The fingers lengthened, forming a dark spear aimed directly at Victor’s heart.

Nera reappeared from the side.

Without the scythe, she jumped and seized Ghideon’s arm with both hands. The spear shifted a few centimeters and pierced Victor’s shoulder instead of his chest.

"You son of a bitch!" Nera shouted as she sank her teeth into Ghideon’s wrist.

He slammed her into the floor with an elbow, but the delay had already been enough. Victor grabbed the spear passing through his shoulder, prevented Ghideon from retreating, and pulled Lilith upward.

The sword opened his chest all the way to the throat.

Ghideon staggered.

Victor kicked his knee, forcing him down, and positioned Lilith’s edge against his neck. Black Ice locked the jaw and spine, while White Fire gathered inside the blade to prevent any transformation into shadow.

Mirella recovered her stance and pointed her sword toward his heart. Natasha stood on the other side, gathering once again the blood that had not yet been consumed. Nera retrieved the scythe from the debris and approached with the expression of someone intending to finish the interrupted cut.

The remaining werewolves stopped at the entrances to the chamber.

None of them advanced.

They watched Ghideon kneeling at the center of the platform, trapped between four vampires, with the stolen energy burning inside his own body. The transformation had lost stability. The lupine arm could not rebuild, the jaw alternated between human and animal, and the scars continued opening without receiving material to close.

Victor pressed Lilith against his neck.

"Any final body changes?"

Ghideon raised his eyes. The madness remained, but there was also a cold understanding that every escape route had ended.

"You still do not understand what you found in this city."

Victor smiled.

"Then speak quickly."

Ghideon looked toward the werewolves at the entrances.

They retreated.

Not out of fear of Victor, Mirella, or Natasha. They retreated because a far greater presence was beginning to approach through the tunnels behind them. The footsteps were not fast, but each impact made dust fall from the ceiling. The werewolves moved aside without receiving any order, lowering their heads as a natural pressure crossed the laboratory.

Rowena became completely still inside Victor’s mind.

"Do not kill him yet."

Victor frowned.

"Why?"

The presence entered the range of his perception. It did not possess the blood flow of a vampire, the instability of the experiments, or any resemblance to the werewolves who had attacked the squads. It was denser, older, and controlled in a way that made the stolen lunar energy inside Ghideon seem like a poor imitation.

Rowena finally answered, and her voice carried no trace of irony.

"Because whoever is coming may explain where he obtained that body."