I wasn't searching for power.
In truth, I wasn't searching for anything at all.
I was just trying to survive—one more day… in a world that crushes the weak without even noticing.
That night was long—longer than any night before it.
The sky rained ash instead of water, and the wind carried the scent of burning flesh.
I was running barefoot through the ruins, each breath tearing my chest apart.
Behind me, explosions roared. People screamed. Fire hissed as it devoured the houses.
All of it blended together in my head—like a song of death with no end.
I tripped over a corpse and fell hard.
When I looked, it was a woman.
Half of her face was burned away, but I recognized the scarf she always wore.
My adoptive mother.
I couldn't cry.
The tears had stopped coming a long time ago.
Everything seemed to slow down… even my heart.
Then, I saw it—the red light in the distance, shining from our small hut.
Something inside me forced my legs to move, though I already knew it was useless.
There, I found him.
The man who had raised me, even though he never had to.
He was lying on the floor, his chest pierced through, a strange black dagger in his hand.
The air around him was thick—like something inhuman had just passed by.
I knelt beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
He opened his eyes weakly, looked at me, and smiled… the kind of smile I would never forget.
> "Eren… If you don't die today, you'll die tomorrow. Take this… and never regret the blood you spill."
I was trembling.
I wanted to say something—anything—but the words choked in my throat.
The dagger in his hand pulsed faintly, like a second heartbeat.
When I grabbed it, I felt… something staring back at me from within.
Then suddenly, a voice echoed in my head—cold, mechanical, yet more alive than I was:
> [Activation complete: Mythic Bloodline Collector System]
[Source detected: Crimson Wolf Bloodline]
[Would you like to absorb?]
I froze.
I didn't understand—but my heart answered before my mind could think.
> "Yes."
The moment I said it, light exploded from his body and poured into my veins like fire.
I screamed.
The air tore apart around me, my bones burned, and my heart beat to a new, wild rhythm.
Something was awakening inside me—something ancient, savage, and hungry.
For an instant, my hands changed, the veins glowing red like liquid flame.
And then I heard a whisper—no, a thought—inside my head:
> "Finally… you've found me."
Silence followed.
The wind stopped. The rain stopped. Even the fire seemed to recoil in fear.
I took a slow breath, lifted my head toward the sky, and saw the crimson clouds swirling above me.
It was then that I understood the truth that changed everything.
I was no longer human.
I had become something else—
Something born of blood… and living through blood.
I am—the Mythic Bloodline Collector.