Blood Necromancer: The Rise Of The Endless

His scythe flashed before him, intercepting Blademourn's sword attack. His hardened blood-metallic spider legs propelled him away from a giant fireball hurtling down at him.

He spun midair as scythes molded from blood struck with apparent randomness around him, but the attacks weren't random. Each strike was filled with precision and speed, targeting the shadows that dotted the darkness around him.

The Blood Monarch was grinning, his heart swelling with pride. Thirty Phase 3 Talent users had come to hunt him, and they were failing miserably.

He had already slaughtered four of them, their blood absorbed into his spider legs.

"Don't give him a moment's respite! Overwhelm him!"

The captain of the hunters shouted as his body transformed into black shadow and flashed toward the Blood Monarch.

The Blood Monarch dissolved his blood weapons, and a flash of red propelled him away from the encroaching shadow.

Silver armor materialized over his body, and he slashed with a gleaming blade at the incoming darkness.

'This accursed man!' the Blood Monarch thought. 'He's the only real obstacle!'

The black shadow transformed back into human form and met the silver blade with his iron weapon.

Their movements were swift and precise, filled with decades of mastery as they maneuvered against each other, each seeking an opening to land a killing blow.

A second later, a fiery-haired man appeared behind the Blood Monarch, hurling a scorching fireball.

Tendrils of blood seeped from the Blood Monarch's neck and expanded into a runed blood shield, snuffing out the flames.

A man in silver robes arrived, his blade trailing pale energy as he struck with even more precision than the Blood Monarch and Captain-but he met a blood warrior conjured by the Blood Monarch.

The blood warrior was cleaved in two with ease, but it exploded, and ten more appeared, each boiling before they detonated toward the attacker.

The silver-robed man had no choice but to retreat, but like magnets, the warriors followed, multiplying continuously.

Venomous spikes rose beneath the Blood Monarch, but a platform of blood formed and neutralized them.

The Blood Monarch moved with gusto, his vile smile never faltering.

To him, these people were nothing more than blood banks. They just didn't know it yet.

Spears rained down at him; blood spears rained back at them. Intercepting them.

Steel-forged monsters descended upon him; a spray of acidic blood melted them instantly.

A domain of Raging Plague covered the area for a hundred meters.

The next moment, the world turned red. The thick stench of rotting blood doused everything within a hundred meters.

Everything began to decay, the Domain of Raging Plague was snuffed out.

The hunters roared, releasing their auras to survive the putrid blood.

Fear crept into their hearts as understanding dawned. The Blood Monarch had been toying with them.

He matched every attack they sent with his own.

"REMOVE YOUR BINDS!"

The captain shouted. The hunters frowned, even the Blood Monarch frowned, not from fear, but because the devastation would surely attract unwanted attention.

But there was nothing he could do.

He too removed his restrictions as they all did.

Then he noticed a Space Foil held by one of the hunters and smiled.

They had come prepared.

With multiple auras shooting into the sky, the Space Foil isolated the location. Within two kilometers, no power would escape to the outside world.

The hunters' bodies blurred, carving streaks of color across space, but blood red was most prominent as he clashed with them.

As if possessing multiple minds, he matched their tempo, exceeded it, and cut down many as the battle raged.

Everything within the Space Foil was obliterated-only talent abilities forming and destroying in an endless cycle.

The Blood Monarch's laughter never stopped, his glee unwavering but suddenly his body convulsed and came to a halt.

His perception stretched for a second, and he saw purple marks developing across his body. The poison of the Black Shadow.

"How?"

He wondered aloud.

He had avoided the captain at all costs.

The Blood Monarch's gaze fell upon the eleven corpses he had killed and whose blood he had absorbed.

"They all carried his venom... a trap for me to consume?"

The Blood Monarch's face contorted with fear and rage.

"Your death is here!"

The Captain in Black Shadow descended upon the Blood Monarch with fury. His venom had paralyzed the vile blood-sucker.

Just as he arrived, the Blood Monarch moved with speed surpassing his own, transforming into his favorite form-a spider with multiple scythes and impaled the black shadow, holding him in place.

"I didn't want to show you this, but you forced my hand... your venom merely tickles!" The Blood Monarch grinned.

"How... impossible!" the Black Shadow exclaimed.

"No. It's not!"

The other attacks came to a halt. If the Black Shadow-nemesis to the Blood Monarch was ineffective, what hope did they have?

Fear crept into their bodies, and they trembled.

"You see, you've given me proper entertainment." The Blood Monarch spread his free hands. "I was bored. I needed this fight to shake off the drowsiness in my head."

The man's angular face, blood-red hair, and crimson eyes radiated the epitome of cruelty as he added:

"Old friend, you'll make a perfect blood bank for me!"

The Black Shadow's face showed no sign of pain by being impaled, only shock, before it became feral.

"Run! This man must die!" Then he grinned. "You don't know me. You'll never know me. I... don't know myself either. They want your death, and you shall die!"

The Blood Monarch felt creeping fear as the Black Shadow began to change, glitching into something else entirely.

The black shadow wasn't a transformation but a veil hiding something beneath-and as a portion revealed itself, the Space Foil collapsed instantly.

The Blood Monarch screeched, threw the abomination away, and leaped back in fear and rage before summoning his true power.

A glowing orb of blood materialized above his head. His body, which had been decaying purple due to the appearance of that thing beneath the black shadow veil, was instantly stabilized.

The Blood Monarch then drew endless blood from the glowing orb and attacked the rising entity with all his power.

The other hunters fled for their lives, carrying their fallen comrades.

The world around them had changed-one part was an eerie, corrupt red, and the other... they couldn't describe it.

BANG!

A clash that shook the world for tens of kilometers.

A forest of blood corals rose, pulsing with the Blood Monarch's power as soldiers emerged to attack.

A wave of alien energy came, and the blood corals decayed and vanished before rising again in an endless cycle.

Another clash shifted the world around them beyond comprehension.

***

"This is madness. Just because I'm SSS rank Phase 2 awakened, why am I here? I didn't ask to come!"

A young man dragged his injured leg across the ruins of corals inside a half-destroyed cavern, complaining bitterly.

His chest bore numerous stab wounds from coral blades, his neck was half-sliced, and one eye was missing.

Four minutes earlier, another clash had occurred before the world fell silent.

He had fought coral soldiers before they began to decay.

His steps came to a halt. From inside a coral cave came a sound. His blade materialized before him as he prepared to attack, better to kill any coral soldiers before they struck-but his blade sensed something else.

A baby.

His heart skipped a beat. How did a baby get here?

His blade's senses showed only an infant, so he approached cautiously.

He recoiled at its strangeness, his floating sword moving to strike before he stopped himself.

It was the ugliest baby he had ever seen-skin wrinkled like old leather, eyes sunken like dried potatoes. The infant was missing limbs from the elbows and knees.

One thought came to him: 'A blood bank of the Blood Monarch. And it's still alive.'

He turned to leave.

'Cough.'

The baby's cough was dry and suffocating.

'I'm dying. I might as well die with someone by my side.'

He took the baby and together they reached the edge of the coral domain.

A cold, refreshing wind caressed him on normal ground.

He breathed with difficulty, his talent energy drained, his resistance to the blood venom waning.

He placed the baby down and sat, breathing hard.

He pulled out a water canteen-only a little remained. It wouldn't help him much.

'I'm dying a slow death,' he muttered.

He dropped the water into the baby's open, hanging mouth. "You're one tenacious baby!"

The dried lips moved, the wrinkled tongue trembled, and the infant swallowed the water.

The hunter smiled, admiring the tenacious nature of life.

His talent energy was nearly depleted. He lay down, hoping his beacon would attract help before he died.

°What are those?°

A hoarse baby voice startled him. The hunter looked at the infant in shock.

The baby's dried eyes held some spark of life.

"You can talk!"

°Is that wrong?°

The baby asked, his voice emanating from his throat rather than his lips. It sounded aged yet young, like the chirping of a baby bird. Strange, but it made the hunter relax.

The baby was looking at the night sky, and the hunter answered, his voice barely a whisper, his vision fading as death approached:

"You mean the stars?"

°The glowing things... and the large one!°

The baby's strange voice was filled with curiosity and wonder.

°Those are stars. They're... here in the night... always.°

The hunter's voice trailed off, his consciousness slipping.

"Give me a name!" the baby said. He intuitively wanted meaning in words.

The hunter didn't hear him clearly but whispered, "Eiran..."

His body went limp.

°° Ei... ra... n!°°

The baby almost smiled. He loved the name.

***

The sun's rays were scorching when the man lying on the rubble snapped awake, drenched in sweat.

"What happened?" His heart skipped a beat.

There were no injuries on his body, and he felt stronger than before. He stood and looked around.

The baby was gone.