Squelch.
Drakis paid no mind to the sound of his knife piercing flesh. He barely felt the cold trickle of blood as it flowed through his fingers.
Pressing the knife in even deeper, Drakis paid no mind to the soft tissue against his skin. Instead, he was watching Realis' eyes.
Waiting for any counterattack.
Yet as his life left his body, so did his fight. His red mana dissipated into the ground, disappearing into nothingness.
For a second an eerie silence took hold over the arena. None of the fans cheered for a well earned victory. Even the announcer was silent.
It was as if none of them dared deny the lion his meal.
Drakis studied the remains of the boy who once was Realis. To any outsider, he would simply look like a frail kid with no magic whatsoever.
But Drakis could clearly see the mana surrounding Realis. It wasn't the vicious red mana from before. Rather, it was like a pure black.
'The mana of a bloodline.'
Without receiving any kind of explanation Drakis knew that was true. The black mana that was leaking out of Realis right now was the remnants of his ties to the Terikan bloodline.
In other words, if Drakis could just reach out, if he could just touch it... he would inherit some of the powers the strong tried to keep for themselves.
Therefore, there should be no surprise that he instantly reached out with his hand to grab ahold of this mana.
'What the?' Drakis' eyes twitched as the mana simply evaded him.
With his [Omniscience] skill he could clearly see every ebb in its flow. He could see the infinite paths mana created. Yet it still wasn't enough for him to have any sway over mana.
Power still rejected him.
'No.' Drakis thought before studying the mana once again.
It was expanding into a heavy black fog. Drakis hadn't realized it before, but the entire arena was covered. As far as he could see, he was completely surrounded by the mana.
Raising his right hand, Drakis watched as it disappeared into this fog. The mana had become so thick that he could barely see his hand even though it was next to his face.
That meant there was far too much power to lose it here. He was grasping at the entire strength of a bloodline.
Furrowing his brow, Drakis dropped his hand back to his side and focused completely on the mana.
This time, he pushed aside thoughts of total control.
Instead he simply focused on its existence. He felt every conceivable notion of movement within the mana.
The decades of refinement under a brutal training regime. Countless cycles of pain created by a bloodline who only knew blood as a currency and family as a liability. At the end of it all was a simple, cowering thing:
A child's whimper.
Suddenly Drakis felt himself drift through time, experiencing memories that were never his.
He saw a boy staring at his arm, which had a huge burn mark similar to a branded animal's. Yet that mark never felt like later markings he would receive.
Instead, it was somehow a mark Realis turned to when he seeked warmth. Drakis recognized this warm feeling clearly—it was the bond between a mother and son.
Before Drakis could mull over the feeling anymore, Realis' memories were already forcing him through the currents of time.
Now he was watching an eight year old strike at a dummy. Even though his movements were far from perfect, one could see a high level of refinement behind every movement.
But that wasn't enough for the boy who needed perfection, who needed adoration from the Terikan bloodline. No matter how many scars they gave him, no matter how many sleepless nights he spent training, Realis knew he had to keep pushing.
Otherwise he would never be one of the Chosen within the Terikan Bloodline. He would never inherit any of the glories within the Interdimensional Arena.
Every now and then he would overhear one of the sergeants talking about him. They would say he needed expelled from the program on account of his 'debilitating' burn.
Which only pushed him to work harder and harder until there was no possibility for expulsion. Anytime giving up remotely crossed his mind he turned to that mark. Then a warmth he didn't fully understand washed over him and he'd go back to the rigorous training.
Drakis felt all of this in an equivalent of mere seconds.
He felt the kid push himself to the brink just to prove himself to people who never cared about him. He felt the constant struggle between remaining as Realis and becoming a mindless soldier.
And he knew the only thing that kept Realis from such a fate was a compassion Realis never understood.
When Realis failed to beat Aerelia to an answer, it wasnt because he was too slow. It was because of that mark. Whenever he was tasked with killing Ryker, he didn't shake because he never held a blade before. He shook because of the mark.
That single moment of love he clinged on to, even if subconsciously, kept Realis from becoming another mindless slave to the Terikan bloodline.
'But it also led to his death.' Drakis thought.
It was a nice idea, that love would set everything right. But it was also fairytale bullshit. Otherwise, he wouldn't even be here right now.
Therefore, Drakis grabbed hold of this black mana once more. Now that he knew its origins, handling it was easy.
It only existed to be molded like a soldier. The bloodline only existed to serve its Emperor.
The mana suddenly swirled around Drakis before assimilating with his body. For just a second he felt a stark increase in the mana within his body.
Then that feeling receded. In its place, a system notification popped up.
[New bloodline acquired!]
[Terikan Bloodline, 03%]
[New skill acquired!]
[Silver Rank Skill –