Ethan continued to think about the classroom disorder throughout all the time after school bells dismissed the lesson. His fingers continued to feel electrical energy from blood control while a fringe system force tugged at him to immerse deeper into its supernatural power. The deep feeling of emptiness invaded his heart after recognizing his guilty act.
{System Update: Blood Grasp Efficiency: 94%. Power Consumption: Critical.}
Those warning words appeared within his thoughts yet remained unimportant. This caution proved itself to be only the starting point for what would eventually occur. The power manifested inside him would expand until he ceased to be the man who began his path towards this dominance. The discovery of truth became a dense burden which consumed him and sank him downwards into the earth.
Outside the school premises dipped into warm afternoon sunlight even though a feeling of wrongness enveloped everything. The hemisphere turned red like blood poured through the sky until everything on the ground faded to a frightening crimson shadow. The unnatural colors functioned as if they were giving warning signals about an unknown approaching threat.
Ethan made his way out of the building while steadily moving his feet as if he had some important mission ahead. All students in his vicinity averted their eyes from him while a sinister feeling of fear emanated from their shared look and breaking words. But there was no anger. No malice. Only fear. Every person around him started to view him like something the world had labeled dangerous. Something dangerous.
{System Query: Isolated. Human Interaction: Negative. Bloodline Activity: Elevated.}
The system's frigid awareness started to push toward Ethan's thoughts as it led him toward progressive stages. His bloodstream carried more than his biological substance because the system had changed it. It was something else entirely. Every possible piece of information revealed itself through the system. The evolution speed of his mutation exceeded his ability to adapt to changes. His entire body demanded him to take the change and transform into a being beyond human limits.
Some inner force worked against his acceptance. A faint piece of the person he once was attempted to stay alive inside him.
Throughout his journey through the school's courtyard the sky turned deeper crimson before it reached complete darkness. The atmosphere had become dense along with feeling heavy as if pressing against his body along with a remarkable drop in temperature with every passing moment. His skin endured the cold vicious wind that made him shiver while distant alarming noises spread throughout the grounds.
Then, it happened. A sudden flash of lightning split the red horizon while passing through the sky. This storm differed from the ones of his previous years because it felt unnatural and violent like the heavens themselves fought against some substance.
The sky pulsed. A deep reverberating echo emerged from the air while the ground beneath him began to quake.
{System Alert: Infection Detected. Anomaly in the Sky. Blood Dominance Triggered. Immediate Action Required.}
The message in front of his eyes paralyzed Ethan while his body became rigid. The system identified something which transcended Ethan's comprehension while delivering these certain facts without any doubt. The global transformation brought about changes in him.
"Ethan…"
The voice was soft, uncertain. His entire body becoming highly alert when he turned toward the source of the sound. The being born before him turned out to be a girl with a familiar appearance. His former student classmate Jessica remained the only girl who had courted his attention. Jessica who had witnessed human qualities in his nature when they had been schoolmates.
The girl kept herself rooted to the spot with a ashen complexion and bulging eyes showing her terror. "You—you're…different." Her voice shook while she spoke so softly that voices drowned out by the thunder could still hear her.
He turned his eyes toward her as she stared at him. The passage of questionable emotion seemed to pass across her face before she regained control with her emotionless mask.
His words turned harsher than he expected as he said to her "Get away from me."
The hurt expression replaced the confusion on Jessica's face when she withdrew from Ethan. "What's happening to you? You…you don't have to—"
The system issued an update about detecting a first blood resonance during the current event. Source: Unidentified.}
The crimson light beam through the air triggered Ethan to lose vision while his world faded to complete darkness. Every aspect of his environment evaporated before him and his body existed without support. An intense interior pain radiated across his breast even though no external force caused it. This power originated from his core and it pulsated with deep life force.
His eyes resumed vision but everything appeared altered to him. All students disappeared from the courtyard which now remained deserted. A dark red hue like blood took over the bright sky which now appeared fixed in a threatening position. The ground had split open into cracks which revealed a terrible damage to the earth. The broken trees exposed to the wind while a deep strange growl emerged from the distance causing his body to tingle with fear.
{System Alert: Blood Awakening Complete. Unlocked: Bloodline Fragment. Pathway to Evolution Initiated.}
His thoughts became flooded with those words that forcefully took control. The system had intensified its presence to a more demanding state. He could not slow the pace of change occurring around him. A full transformation of his inner power developed while an unusual link to the natural world appeared along with it.
Her body disappeared into the shadows as she vanished. A soft whispering voice emerged from the depths of the planet to penetrate his hearing.
"You've awoken."
The deep ancient voice produced an unsettling effect on him. The quickened beat of Ethan's heart drowned by the loud thumping of his blood inside his ears. He remained uncertain if the communication came from the system or from a deeper evil entity which seemed older than the system.
A powerful force felt like an immense presence which swallowed all his perception at a distance beyond what he could reach. A primal force arose from the world which recognized his transformation and seemed to originate from before all time.
Through the Bloodline Awakening core connection has been successfully established by the system. Path of the Crimson Reaver Initiated.}
His mind suddenly received the system's explicit words which created both fearful and enchanting emotions inside him. This was it. The next step. The point of no return. The body of Ethan began to transform once again as his muscles strained while his entire being perceived the environment more acutely.
But with it came a darkness. The persistent urge in his mind pushed him to answer its hunger by destroying everything in his path. The attraction toward power began drawing him and it polluted his mind with its addictive qualities.
{System Alert: Blood Grasp: Full Range Unlocked.}
More shifts occurred in the ground as he stood there until dark creatures with deformed bodies emerged from the open fissures born from the earth's depths. The initial sign of many upcoming dark visitors crossed his mind. Through his awakening the world faced its downfall while the sky released an unnatural malevolent roar.
Survivors screamed from a great distance while desperate voices howled in the background but the sounds seemed distant to him. He was alone now. This new world existed solely because of his unexpected creation while he stood isolated in it.
Night began to envelop the sky above him as Ethan Blackwood decided his path.
The first step toward domination.
Entering a new domain marks the first step in his descent.
And there was no going back.