Victor remained motionless on the broad branch of a black tree, silently observing the surrounding forest. The environnt of the Ascension Area was far worse than it had appeared in the holograms previously displayed inside Headquarters. The air there had a constant sll of old blood mixed with dampness, rotten earth, and residual magical energy. The trees were enormous, completely twisted, with dark bark resembling burnt charcoal. In various parts of the forest, partially exposed roots were covered by sothing resembling red veins pulsing slowly beneath the surface.
The sky was also strange.
There wasn’t exactly a sun above that artificial territory. Just a grayish light scattered by the dense clouds, as if the entire region were permanently trapped in a dead late afternoon. Victor could hear creatures moving in distant areas of the forest while cold winds slowly swept across the territory.
But that didn’t matter much at that mont.
Because now he was seeing sothing far more interesting.
Victor’s eyes were still altered by his newly awakened ocular ability. His irises had acquired a deep, mixed hue of dark red and black, while small, almost invisible blood-red lines discreetly traced the area around his eyes.
The world before him remained partially different.
Colors still existed now, but in a weakened way. What truly dominated his perception were presences.
Hundreds of them.
Victor could sense people scattered in practically every direction within an absurd radius around his own position. Small red threads continued connecting each existence to his perceptual field, pulsing slowly like living arteries spread throughout the entire forest.
He could imdiately distinguish normal participants.
Weak ones.
Most had too little presence. So red lines almost disappeared completely within his perception. Others were slightly stronger, probably average participants trying to survive that exam.
But Victor wasn’t interested in them.
He began to focus specifically on the larger presences.
The monsters.
Instantly, so lines changed completely within his perception. Certain beings seed to crush the environnt simply by being alive. So presences were extrely distant, yet still seed heavy enough to distort his biological perception.
Victor slowly narrowed his eyes as he observed the denser red threads scattered throughout the Ascension Area.
"...So you’re hiding like this."
His voice ca out low as he stood on the branch of the gigantic tree.
He could clearly identify which presences belonged to the participants and which belonged to the artificial creatures scattered throughout the territory. The monsters of that place possessed different biological signatures. More violent. More unstable.
But above all...
There were others.
Territorial bosses.
Victor imdiately realized this when he encountered the first truly absurd presence. The red thread of that creature was grotesquely thicker than the others, almost like a river flowing through his perception. The energy emanating from that being made even the surrounding environnt seem heavier.
"One hundred points..."
Victor murmured this while silently analyzing the direction of the presence.
According to the rules explained earlier, common creatures yielded few points. Participants were worth ten points through the insignias. But the territorial bosses...
They were worth one hundred.
Basically, small walking disasters purposefully scattered throughout the territory to encourage even greater massacres among the participants.
Victor let out a small nasal laugh while keeping his hands in his pockets.
"...There are few of those."
That was true.
Even using that monstrous perception, he could only sense a few presences large enough to be classified as territorial bosses. Maybe five. Maybe six within the current radius of the ability.
This created a simple problem.
The Great Disciples would probably also quickly realize which creatures were too important to ignore. This ant direct competition.
Victor honestly didn’t want to waste ti hunting weak participants when he could simply crush larger monsters and accumulate points absurdly fast.
He slowly raised his gaze to a specific direction in the forest.
The nearest presence was still distant, but clearly remained within the territory of that bio.
"...I need to find at least the boss of this region first."
The wind slowly rustled through the dark trees as Victor stood still, observing the emptiness of the forest. Then he noticed sothing else.
Soone was watching him.
Instinct kicked in imdiately.
Victor didn’t turn his face away right away. He just kept his eyes partially focused as he sensed a relatively discreet presence hidden among distant trees on the left side of the forest.
Controlled.
Hidden.
But still perceptible to him.
Victor almost smiled.
"...An examiner."
It made sense.
The Valentine Family would obviously spread hidden supervisors throughout the entire territory to monitor excessive deaths, dropouts, and potential structural problems within the exam.
The observer was reasonably well hidden.
For any ordinary participant, it would probably be impossible to detect that presence.
But now...
Now Victor could feel people breathing miles away.
He remained motionless for a few seconds while he thought calmly.
Then he rembered.
The technique.
The skill taught directly by Chysis weeks ago.
[Concealnt of the Blood Demon.]
Victor had never used it seriously before. That’s because the technique required absurd control of his own blood circulation along with precise manipulation of vital energy.
But now...
After the Primordial Blood...
It felt much more natural.
Victor took a deep breath slowly.
Then he partially closed his eyes.
The effect began imdiately.
The blood within his body slowed down.
Not biologically.
Energetically.
Victor felt his own presence slowly begin to disappear from the environnt as he controlled every fragnt of blood energy circulating through his body. The monstrous sll naturally released by him disappeared first.
Then ca the pressure.
The predatory aura simply vanished.
The wind continued to blow through the forest normally while Victor remained standing on the tree branch. But now...
It felt empty.
As if no one were there.
Even the red wires connected to his ocular perception drastically decreased in intensity.
Victor slowly opened his eyes again.
Absolute silence.
He discreetly observed the direction where the examiner was hiding.
The man’s presence changed imdiately.
Confusion.
Victor perceived this clearly.
Because, for the examiner, his biological signature had simply vanished without a trace.
Victor almost laughed.
"...That’s fucking useful."
Then he decided to test another technique simultaneously.
Mist Steps.
The ability activated almost instinctively now that his blood control had increased absurdly after absorbing the Primordial Blood.
Victor’s body partially lost density.
Small particles similar to red mist began to discreetly appear around him while his presence remained completely erased.
Then he took a single step.
And disappeared.
Not at normal speed.
Not even teleportation.
It seed like dissolution.
His body simply dissolved into blood mist for a fraction of a second before reappearing dozens of ters ahead among the dark trees of the forest.
Silent.
Scentless.
No presence.
Victor reappeared on another enormous branch, calmly observing his surroundings.
The ability worked perfectly.
Worse.
It worked too easily.
He could clearly feel that both techniques had beco much more efficient now thanks to the changes brought about by the Primordial Blood.
The concealnt was almost perfect.
Even his thermal signature seed reduced.
Victor slowly looked at his own hand as small traces of red mist disappeared between his fingers.
"...I understand."
Now it made sense why Carmilla valued those specific techniques so much.
Assassination.
Ambush.
Predation.
The abilities were practically designed to transform vampires into untraceable monsters.
Victor stood still for a few seconds, calmly analyzing the overall situation of the Ascension Area through his ocular perception.
The participants were still spreading across the territory after the initial teleportation. So groups had already begun combat amongst themselves. Others were trying to hide. So were hunting smaller creatures to quickly accumulate points.
Complete chaos.
Exactly as expected.
But above all...
Victor now possessed an absurd advantage.
He could locate virtually any living being within a gigantic area while completely concealing his own presence.
This made the entire exam ridiculously unfair.
Victor slowly put his hands back in his pockets as he began to walk silently through the branches of the dark forest.
The direction was already set.
The nearest territorial leader remained to the north.
And honestly...
Victor wanted to find out how many points a monster like that really deserved.
The upper areas reserved for important figures of the Valentine Family were much quieter now than during the beginning of the Ritual. The initial enthusiasm had completely disappeared after the absurd demonstration caused by Victor in the underground chamber and, mainly, after the confirmation that the Primordial Blood had reacted directly to his presence. That alone was enough to transform a simple evaluation of young vampires into a gigantic political problem within the family structure.
The enormous magical screens scattered throughout the upper hall continuously displayed images of the Ascension Area. Each participant appeared marked by small luminous points scattered across three-dinsional maps of the different artificial territories created for the Ritual. Black forests, frozen regions, destroyed ruins, and volcanic mountains appeared connected as a single monstrous organism.
Most of the Blood Kings remained gathered further away, discussing preliminary results, probabilities of survival, and strategic movents of the most promising participants. Kayn Valentine continued to sit near the Celestial Demon as if the whole situation were still just a moderately interesting spectacle. Rakshasa remained close to him, observing the maps with a small, amused smile on her face, clearly awaiting so inevitable disaster to happen.
But Chysis and Serafall had already moved away from that group a few minutes ago.
The two were positioned near an elevated balcony built on the side of the main structure, far enough away to avoid hearing irritating political conversations, but still close to the large magical screens that monitored the Ritual in real ti. The atmosphere in that region was quieter, illuminated only by the reddish glow of the runes scattered across the black walls of the Headquarters.
Serafall rested her arms partially on the tal railing of the balcony as she observed the maps before her with a relatively calm expression. Unlike the natural tension present in almost all the other important observers, she seed genuinely relaxed now.
The reason was simple.
Victor had entered the Ascension Area.
And that basically ant the problem was now soone else’s.
Chysis remained beside her, observing the magical screens in absolute silence. Her golden eyes constantly analyzed the movents scattered across the maps while small symbols appeared around the projections indicating combat, deaths, and rapid displacents of the participants.
Then a specific detail imdiately caught her attention.
The point corresponding to Victor’s presence simply disappeared from the main map.
Not gradually.
Instantaneously.
One of the screens flickered for a few seconds, trying to locate his biological signature again, but nothing reappeared.
Serafall let out a small nasal laugh as soon as she saw that.
"...So he really learned." Her tone sounded almost satisfied as she continued watching the screen. "I taught sothing useful after all."
Chysis partially shifted her gaze to her before calmly replying,
"It was the best possible decision." She slowly crossed her arms. "Especially since Edgar decided to cheat."
Serafall let out a small, tired sigh at the sound of that na.
Honestly, she expected it.
Edgar Valentine was exactly the type of person who would resort to ridiculous political manipulations when he realized he had completely lost control of the situation. The monstrous demonstration Victor had caused earlier had probably destroyed any sense of security that man still possessed.
The problem was that it no longer mattered.
Serafall continued watching the map as she replied naturally,
"Cheating only works when it offers a real advantage." She tilted her head slightly, observing the bloody forest regions displayed in the projections. "They have no advantage whatsoever against Victor in his current state."
Chysis remained silent for a few seconds before nodding slowly.
Because it was true.
The situation had completely surpassed the level where petty family squabbles could solve anything. Victor was no longer just a troubled young man from the main lineage. Now he had beco sothing biologically absurd even by the standards of the Valentine Family.
The absurd speed at which the Primordial Blood was absorbed had already confird this.
The abilities awakened afterward only worsened the situation.
Chysis slowly turned her gaze to one of the secondary projections as she spoke in a lower tone:
"...He awakened at least five abilities."
Serafall nodded imdiately without even seeming surprised.
"Probably more." She partially rested her face on her hand as she observed the maps. "The problem is that even he probably doesn’t know exactly what he received yet."
That was also true.
Unique abilities normally took years to fully mature within the bodies of powerful vampires. So took decades to reach total stability. But Victor had awakened multiple different manifestations practically simultaneously after absorbing a single drop of Carmilla’s blood.
That was abnormal on an absurd level.
Serafall remained observing the magical screens for a few seconds before continuing:
"It’s impressive, honestly." A small smile appeared on her face. "I myself have awakened three abilities throughout my entire life."
Chysis glanced at her briefly.
Serafall then let out a small, tired laugh before concluding:
"...And I can only use one correctly."
That elicited a small, discreet smile from Chysis.
Because it was also true.
Even veteran monsters of the Valentine Family took a long ti to develop complete mastery over complex, unique abilities. So techniques simply required absurd biological adaptation to function properly.
Victor, on the other hand, seed to have completely ignored this concept.
He simply awakened new things as if his own blood were improvising random mutations in real ti.
Chysis slowly returned to observing the main projections of the Ascension Area as small luminous points continued to gradually disappear from the maps.
Participants were dying.
So had already officially given up.
Others were beginning to form temporary groups to increase their chances of survival within the artificial territories.
But Victor...
Victor had simply disappeared. This was honestly more worrying than any previous power surge.
Because Chysis knew perfectly well the technique Serafall had taught him.
Blood Demon Concealnt.
An extrely rare technique originally created for high-level assassins of the ancient Valentine lineage. The ability allowed one to completely conceal their biological presence, blood signature, and spiritual perception for relatively long periods.
In the right hands, it turned soone into an absolute nightmare.
Especially combined with fast movent.
Especially combined with monstrous senses.
Especially combined with soone like Victor.
Chysis silently observed the bloody forest displayed in one of the projections before asking:
"...How long until he kills everyone in that place and awakens more abilities using the Primordial Blood?"
Serafall didn’t even need to think much.
She continued observing the maps while a small smile slowly appeared on her face.
"Six hours."
The answer ca simply.
Natural.
As if he were estimating the weather forecast.
Chysis let out a small, low laugh upon hearing that, but didn’t disagree.
Because honestly... that seed almost too optimistic.
Victor had already demonstrated absurd strength even before receiving the Primordial Blood. Now he possessed multiple newly awakened abilities, monstrous biological senses, and a practically perfect compatibility with Carmilla’s own blood.
Furthermore, there was another worrying detail.
The Primordial Blood was still adapting within his body.
The changes weren’t over.
Chysis clearly perceived this during the initial burst of energy in the underground chamber. Victor’s body was still undergoing constant biological mutation. The exaggerated senses, the unstable abilities, and the absurd increase in blood pressure were clear signs of this.
He would probably awaken more things.
Perhaps many more.
Serafall knew this too.
She remained silently observing the maps for a few seconds before sighing lightly.
"Honestly..." She murmured, almost amused. "I started this Ritual thinking I’d need to worry about Victor surviving."
Chysis partially shifted her gaze to her.
Serafall then smiled slightly as she observed the luminous points scattered across the artificial territory.
"...Now I’m starting to worry about the opposite."
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