Ancestral Lineage

Cassandra shivered violently, clutching her chest as an intense pain pierced her heart. Lusamine, who had been barely conscious, fell to the ground, her body trembling uncontrollably. The other students—Lu Qi, Pierre, and the rest—wore a kaleidoscope of emotions: grief, disbelief, sorrow, and shock. They couldn't comprehend it. Lamair, their protector, the strongest third year, the academy's sole Puppeteer, a friend, a brother, a lover—was gone.

His battle had been nothing short of monumental, a clash of titans that lasted a lifetime. But in the end, it had concluded in a single devastating moment, the beast's triumphant roar confirming their worst fears. Lamair was dead.

"Why? Why?! What did he do to deserve this?" Cassandra wailed, her voice breaking as she cradled Lusamine, whose cries were so heart-wrenching she couldn't even form coherent words.

"He... he promised..." Lusamine choked out between sobs, her entire being wracked with grief. She clung to the faint, irrational hope that it wasn't over. Deep in her heart, a sliver of warmth persisted, though she couldn't understand why.

"He promised he'd come back..." Cassandra muttered through tears. The pain in her voice cut like a blade, raw and unrelenting. She had barely begun to hope that her love for Lamair might be returned, and now he was gone. Her heart burned with despair, the flames of sorrow consuming her entirely.

As the group mourned, a sound shattered the air—a deafening clap, like thunder striking upon thunder. It was so loud, that the beast's earlier roar seemed insignificant in comparison. The students froze, their tears forgotten for a moment as the skies above them turned crimson. Even the moon was bathed in the ominous red glow.

A heavy, dreadful aura descended upon them, primal and ancient, suffocating and unyielding. It was worse than anything they'd felt before, more terrifying than the beast itself. The weight of it pressed them to their knees, and some students outright fainted. Shockwaves rippled outward, obliterating everything in a 3-kilometer radius—trees, rocks, and the land itself reduced to rubble.

Yet, inexplicably, the students remained unharmed. The crushing aura left their surroundings untouched, though their spirits trembled under its suffocating presence.

"What's that on your hand?" Lusamine asked, her voice trembling as she stared at Cassandra's left hand.

"What?" Cassandra blinked, raising her hand to see a glowing golden mark forming on the back of it.

"Ethan..." Lusamine whispered, her voice barely audible.

"What do you mean?" Lu Qi asked, his face a mix of confusion and dread.

"He's here," Lusamine replied, standing abruptly as the mark's glow intensified. A transparent, golden barrier formed around the students, encasing them in an unyielding shield of light.

Lusamine ignored the barrier, her gaze fixed to the north as another clap of thunder reverberated through the air, this one even louder than before.

Then, they saw it.

Space itself seemed to crack and warp as a figure tore through the sky at an incomprehensible speed. A hill beside the group disintegrated into fine sand as the shockwave from its approach hit.

"I will destroy you," a voice rang out, cold and unfeeling, yet filled with an anguish so profound it sent chills down their spines. The words carried not volume but an oppressive weight, and in them, the students felt an overwhelming sense of pure, unadulterated despair.

Floating above them was a tall figure, his form wreathed in a dark, malevolent aura. A massive, blood-red wing extended from his back, glowing ominously against the crimson sky. His elongated red hair billowed wildly in the wind, his glowing crimson eyes—featureless and haunting—fixated on the battlefield. The vein-like tattoos across his body pulsed like molten lava, illuminating his ghastly pale skin.

"It can't be..." Lu Qi muttered, his voice barely a whisper as his face turned pale. Find more chapters on My Virtual Library Empire

"So, this is what he meant..." Pierre said, his tone hollow and disbelieving.

"Vengeance in its purest form..." Cassandra murmured, her tear-streaked face slowly lifting toward the sky.

"Ethan is angry," Lusamine said softly, her voice trembling. "Very angry."

The beast's deafening roar shattered the silence. It roared in fury and defiance, golden eyes glinting with malice as it faced the intruder who dared challenge its authority.

But Ethan did not flinch. His glowing crimson eyes locked onto the beast with unwavering resolve, the air between them charged with the collision of their immense auras.

Crimson clashed with dark gold and purple as the two presences warred in the heavens. The ground beneath trembled, the very forest seeming to hold its breath as vengeance prepared to meet tyranny.

...

The beast lunged, its massive claws tearing through the air with an ear-splitting roar. Ethan met its charge with terrifying speed, his blood wing flaring as he launched forward, a crimson light blur.

The clash was deafening. Ethan's elongated claws collided with the beast's golden talons, sparks flying as raw energy exploded on impact. Neither force relented, the ground beneath them fracturing and crumbling into a jagged abyss.

Ethan snarled; his features contorted in pure rage. He slashed upward with his claws, leaving glowing crimson trails across the beast's paw. The beast howled, but its pain only fueled its fury. It swiped again, catching Ethan across the chest. Blood splattered across the battlefield, but Ethan didn't flinch.

Instead, he retaliated with ruthless precision. His blood wing sliced through the air, a blur of destructive power. It struck the beast's side, carving deep into its golden scales. A spray of glowing ichor erupted, and the beast stumbled back, roaring in defiance.

Ethan gave it no chance to recover. He shot forward, slamming both fists into the beast's snout with enough force to send shockwaves rippling through the air. The beast's massive frame staggered, its golden eyes blazing with primal rage.

With an earth-shattering roar, the beast swung one of its tails like a battering ram. It struck Ethan squarely, sending him hurtling through the air. He crashed into a cliffside, the impact pulverizing the stone and sending debris cascading around him.

But Ethan rose instantly, unbroken, his crimson eyes burning with unrelenting fury. The glowing red tattoos on his body pulsed violently, the veins seeming to crawl and shift under his skin. He roared—a sound more animalistic than human—and shot toward the beast again, the ground splitting beneath him as he launched.

This time, his claws struck true. He raked them across the beast's throat, leaving a glowing, jagged wound. The beast howled, rearing back, but it retaliated with a swipe that caught Ethan's shoulder, tearing into his flesh.

The force sent Ethan crashing to the ground, but he sprang up immediately, as though pain had no meaning. His blood wing stretched wide, its glow intensifying as he shot back into the fray.

The battle was chaos incarnate. Each clash of claw and fang sent tremors through the earth, each burst of energy leaving destruction in its wake. The forest was gone, replaced by a wasteland of fire and ash, the air thick with the stench of blood and smoke.

Ethan moved with berserk precision, a storm of claws, blood, and fury. The beast, massive and mighty, fought back with equal ferocity, its roars echoing across the desolate battlefield.

They were monsters locked in a dance of destruction, and the world around them trembled under their might. Neither showed any sign of stopping and as the crimson sky bore witness, the battle raged on, each clash promising only more devastation.

...

...

URGENT QUEST TO ALL SUBORDINATES!

STOP YOUR MASTER BEFORE HE LOSES HIS SENSE OF REASON FOREVER!

TIME LIMIT: CALCULATING BASED ON DISTANCE... 1 HOUR 30 MINUTES

PENALTY: DEATH

REWARD: BLOODLINE AWAKENING

NOTE: YOU CAN'T REFUSE THIS QUEST!!!

...

Lusamine stared dumbstruck at the floating red screen in front of her. She was familiar with how all of Ethan's subordinates could see screens, but this was... different. The weight of it was suffocating. She felt compelled, no, it was beyond compulsion. It was an Absolute Order to stop Ethan, her master.

Her eyes skimmed over the rewards and penalties, but they felt irrelevant in the face of the quest's gravity. Just reading the details filled her with a cold, paralyzing fear. For the first time, Lusamine truly understood the immense, overwhelming weight of Ethan's Path through the bond they shared.

...

Trevor, Clara, Emily, Harley, Andriel, Lisa, Jerry, Reginald, and surprisingly Sixtie sat in Ethan's cave with grim expressions. Their eyes were fixed on the floating screens in front of them as the weight of the quest pressed down heavily on their shoulders. Only Sixtie seemed somewhat in the dark about the gravity of the situation.

"What do we do? We don't even know where he went," Clara said, her worry evident in her trembling voice.

"He just got up with a tense face and vanished..." Harley added his tone a mix of confusion and concern.

"Trevor, darling? I can feel how tense you are. What's wrong?" Emily asked gently, patting Trevor on the back, her face lined with anxiety.

"I... sigh... Something is very wrong," Trevor admitted, rubbing his temples. "It's just a hunch, but based on the system's message and what I feel right now, Ethan has probably turned berserk. Ethan is a Primogenitor, just like me. If he's gone berserk, it means his true power is unsealed, and his strength increases tenfold. Worse, all vampires connected to him will also turn berserk."

"So, you're saying you're the one keeping everything in control right now?" Sixtie asked, her eyes wide with a mix of awe and disbelief.

"Exactly. But it's no easy feat," Trevor said with a dry smirk. "I can feel Ethan's emotions tearing through my mind right now. If I lose control... well, you'll have two berserk Primogenitors to deal with, and trust me, you don't want that."

"But how do we even find him? All we can do is sense his emotions and presence through the Soul Mark. It's not like we can pinpoint his exact location," Lisa said, frustration creeping into her voice.

"And even if we could, how would we get there? He's far away," Andriel added her tone a mix of irritation and worry. Her emotions were conflicted; she didn't know where Ethan was, but her heart ached for him. The thought of him losing control was unbearable.

"I might have a way to—" Trevor started, but he was cut off by a loud, synchronized ding in their minds.

...

Ding!

System Assistance Protocol Initiated!

Calculating Distance of Subordinates from Master...

...

Meanwhile, in her office, Carmen sat pale-faced, her usual composure shattered by the floating screen in front of her. Her expression was one of sheer dread as she processed the implications of the quest.

Her investigation into the interference with Ethan's teleportation had yielded only fragments of information, but it was enough to hint at a coming storm. A war loomed on the horizon, and Ethan was the variable that would decide whether Anbord emerged victorious or succumbed to their hidden enemy.

Carmen's knowledge of Primogenitors was extensive—her family had been founded by one, after all. She knew all too well the cataclysmic consequences of a berserk Primogenitor. What terrified her most, however, was the fact that Ethan, someone with exceptional mental and psychological strength, had succumbed. For him to turn berserk, there was only one explanation, and it was a possibility she refused to accept.

Her hands trembled as she clasped them together. Carmen was truly scared now.