051 SAVIOR OF THE FORTRESS
Damen staggered back into the corner of the battlements, his chest heaving. His veins bulged, pulsing with an unnatural dark blue light that crawled under his skin.
His muscles trembled—not from exhaustion, but from the surge of raw, alien power coursing through him.
"Come on, am I turning again?"
In the thrill of the slaughter, Damen had forgotten—he'd been absorbing the blood of the creatures he killed. He had too much Blue Blood.
Now, his Blood stat had spiked far beyond his acceptable level. His armor thickened. His strength and speed sharpened to inhuman levels.
But his mind….his mind was slipping.
A voice whispered from within his skull, guttural and cold.
"More… I want kill more…"
"No," Damen hissed, clutching his head. "Damn it, I must stop now… or I'll turn into a bloody mindless deacon."
He fumbled for his phone, the screen blurring as his vision trembled. He scanned the battlefield, searching for one of the Deacons of Annubis—the only beings capable of taking his cursed blood.
He found one—but his heart sank.
"I already relinquished to this one…"
The Relinquish: Blood button was gray, unresponsive. He swiped to another target. Nothing.
The heat in his veins flared, spreading through his chest like molten metal. His skin began to darken at the fingertips.
"Come on—come on!" he roared, mashing the screen.
Nothing worked.
Then the ground quaked. The Shadow of Annubis stormed toward the fortress, each step shattering stone.
Desperation twisted Damen's thoughts. He aimed the app toward the titan. "Let's see if you can handle my blood, bastard."
He pressed Relinquish: Blood.
For an instant, the colossal shadow froze mid-stride.
"It worked… even an S-Rank is affected even if it was momentary," he realized, with ragged breath.
The energy binding Damen's body pulsed, then… before it eased. The burning inside of him subsided. His veins dimmed. He's managed to relinquish more blue blood onto an S-Rank than a regular deacon.
His Blood Stat was returning to manageable level … but he needed to reduce the stat further.
Without wasting a second, he scanned again—hunting for deacons who hadn't yet received his curse. It wasn't easy but there were still targets whom he's not relinquished on.
One by one, he bled points of Blood back into them, feeling his body return to human normalcy.
By the time he stopped, he was drenched in sweat, trembling, but he was still himself. His mind wasn't gone.
"Close call," he muttered, staring at his shaking hands. "Too damn close. I almost lost my bloody mind."
----
The scythe of the Shadow of Annubis struck the force-field dome of Fortress Myronee. The impact sent waves of energy rippling across the battlefield.
Though the shield held, hairline fractures splintered across its glowing surface.
The shadow hounds seized the opening, pouring through the breach as soldiers scrambled to intercept them.
"Defend the city!" someone shouted, as arcs of blue electricity danced from their crackling weapons.
Above, the fortress auto-cannons roared to life—cold, mechanical sentinels locking onto targets with ruthless precision, vaporizing one beast after another.
Damen barely had time to react before a hound lunged, its fangs sinking deep into his shoulder.
"Damnit! I got careless while tracking the deacons with my phone," he hissed.
Instinct took over.
His left hand shot forward with bone blades bursting from his knuckles. The strike pierced the creature's throat, silencing it instantly.
First Form Blades.
"Hell… even the bone blade's out. Hope no one saw that," he muttered, retracting it quickly.
The Fist Form Blade wasn't a regular meta skill… it was an alien adopted meta skill. He couldn't reveal he knew such skills.
The chaos around him burned hotter by the second. The stench of blood and ozone filled the air, and something inside him—the blue blood—began to stir violently again.
The battlefield's fury was feeding his blood like a clarion call.
"Damnit, I can't stay here," he realized, turning toward the fortress gates.
Every kill, every surge of blood, only made it harder to control the hunger within.
He had Bloodlust.
Then the ground trembled.
From the far side of Fortress Myronee, a towering figure emerged—an armored giant in shimmering silver, rising to meet the colossal Shadow of Annubis. The giant's war cry thundered through the air as he raised his massive Warhammer.
"Who the hell is that?" Damen gasped.
"It's Lord Nicaesa of Myronee…he's returned to save us!" a soldier cried out.
"We're saved!" another shouted.
"S-Rank versus S-Rank—now that's fair!" someone else yelled.
Damen didn't wait to see the clash. He staggered toward the entrance….but his vision soon blurred. The noise around him faded into a dull hum.
Then, darkness claimed him.
-----
Damen woke to the sterile smell of the infirmary, rows of beds stretching out before him. Soldiers—some bandaged, some pale and bruised—were scattered across the room, recovering from the recent battle with the Annunakins.
"Hey buddy, told you not to go up there. This kind of battle isn't for low-rank metas like us," Zairgid said, leaning against a bedpost.
"How did I… get here?" Damen asked, rubbing his temples.
"You were unconscious when the medics found you. Been out for a week already," Zairgid replied.
"A week?" Damen's eyes widened.
He looked at his body. The cuts and scratches from the shadow hounds were gone, fully healed. The blue blood in his veins healed him fast.
"And the battle?" he asked, sitting up slightly. "That S-ranked Annunakin… the Shadow of Annubis. How did we survive?"
Zairgid shrugged. "Not only did they have an S-rank, we did too. Lord Nicaesa, commander of Fortress Myrone, showed up just in time to deal with it."
Damen groaned. "Lord Nicaesa joined the fight… damnit! I was unconscious. Could've seen an S-rank clash. That would've been epic."
"The battle ended quickly. The alien army retreated when they saw Lord Nicaesa," Zairgid said.
Damen raised an eyebrow. "The aliens lost so many soldiers in the invasion and just left like that?"
Captain Green appeared in the doorway, his voice calm but firm. "It's always like this. The aliens probe our fortress for weaknesses now and then. They never commit fully. Once Lord Nicaesa engaged, they withdrew immediately."
Damen tried to rise to greet him, but Green pressed a hand gently on his shoulder. "Stay in bed and rest. You've done your part."
"It's my duty," Damen replied, smiling.
Green gave a nod. "Good. I'll write a favorable report for you when you return to school."
"Return to school? So soon?" Damen asked, surprised.
"You students have been here almost a month. Did you expect us to keep you here forever?" Green said with a grin.
"When do we leave?" Damen asked.
"Most students already have. Only you and Zairgid stayed behind—he waited for you to wake up," Green explained.
Damen looked at his friend with gratitude in his eyes.
He gave a nod of approval and lightly beat his chest to acknowledge Zairgid's loyalty. Most people wouldn't have stayed to look after him.
Zairgid leaned closer, whispering with a smirk, "I stayed because of the nurses. You are my excuse to see them every day."
"Damn you," Damen muttered, then smiled.
"Alright, I just dropped by to see you. Now that you are alright I feel at ease", Captain Green said before pausing. "Is there something else?" Damen asked.
"Yes, there is. When you can walk come with me to meet someone", Green said.
"Meet who?" Damen asked.
"The Savoir of the fortress", he replied.