Chapter 5: Bloodbound Genesis

The room trembled as the automated medical protocols continued their relentless assault on her body. The toxic cleansing had been brutal, but what followed was even worse—the stinging, pulsing sensation deep inside her chest. It wasn't just the cold liquid coursing through her veins. It was the L-13 gene, the curse she carried within her blood, clashing violently with the wolf king's bloodline.

Her vision blurred again, but this time, it wasn't just dizziness. It was pain. Raw, unrelenting pain.

The crystallization process had begun.

Her heart thudded painfully against her ribs, the rhythmic beating becoming erratic, before the unbearable sensation began to spread throughout her body. She felt it first in her chest—her blood hardening, turning into sharp, jagged fragments. No... Her body seemed to fight against the change, but the gene clash was stronger.

Her blood vessels felt like veins of quartz cutting through dark basalt, the transformation spreading outward with the chilling precision of geological processes. She couldn't breathe as the crystallization crept further, each pulse a throb of frozen agony. Her lungs felt tight, each breath coming in labored gasps, the ice-cold pressure within her chest growing worse by the second. The L-13 gene rejected the wolf king's blood with a violent force, and her body, as if in protest, began to break down.

"Breathe, damn it!" The wolf king's voice cracked through the chaos, a savage bark of command that left no room for hesitation. There was no mercy in his tone, no softness. It was the kind of voice that bore down on her, a command forged through years of dominance and power. His hand tightened around her, pulling her body closer to his as she struggled to focus on anything besides the excruciating pain that shot through her chest.

Before she could even comprehend what was happening, the wolf king's teeth flashed—a blur of white against the dim, sterile light. They sank into her chest with a sickening snap, and the world exploded into sharp, searing agony. He was not gentle. He was brutal, the force of his bite sinking deep into her flesh. It wasn't just the pain of his teeth tearing into her; it was the cold crystallized mass that had overtaken her heart, pressing against her ribcage, threatening to crush her life out of her.

The crystallized heart had to be removed.

He didn't hesitate, didn't waste a single second. His teeth, sharp and merciless, cut through her flesh with a vicious precision, each movement deliberate, calculated. Blood poured from the gaping wound, staining his lips, spilling over her skin in hot, frantic waves. The metallic scent of blood filled the air, mixing with the sterile, unyielding atmosphere of the laboratory. She could feel his teeth pressing deeper into her chest, as if he was carving his way through stone, relentless in his pursuit of saving her. But was it saving, or simply survival?

Every inch of the bloodstained skin around the wound screamed, but it was the horrifying realization of what he was doing that made her gasp for air. She could feel him digging deeper, cutting through the layers of her very soul. The flesh that he tore apart was hers, but the crystalline mass he sought was something far more alien, an unnatural creation born from twisted experiments—the very source of her suffering.

With a final, brutal tug, he ripped the mass free. The crystallized heart, glowing with an eerie, blue light, was torn from her chest in an instant. Its glow pulsed, casting a cold, sickly radiance against the dimmed light of the room, and for a moment, all that existed was that haunting glow—an unnatural reminder of everything that had been done to her.

The blue glow of her crystallized heart illuminated the cold, mechanical space around them, its harsh, unfeeling light contrasting sharply with the red, raging bloodlust that flickered in the wolf king's eyes. The blue glow flickered, but his gaze burned brighter, full of uncontainable fury, as if the act of pulling the heart free wasn't just about saving her. It was about control. His control. His domination.

His eyes were wild, as though her very survival depended on him mastering his own instincts, holding back the wild, feral nature that threatened to consume him. The pulse of blood in his veins was pure rage, but something deeper simmered beneath that—an urge to protect, to possess. He was the king, and he would bend her to his will, just as he bent this reality to his purpose.

His breath came in heavy, ragged bursts as he stared at the crystallized heart, now dangling loosely in his hand, its blue light fading as he squeezed it—perhaps in an attempt to control the burning fury inside him. His sharp, predatory features twitched, every muscle in his body taut as though he was fighting the beast within, a beast that had tasted blood and now demanded more.

But she was still alive. Her pulse was faint, erratic, but it was there. He had saved her, and yet, in his eyes, there was no sense of relief. Only the battle for dominion over what he had just claimed. The heart was not just a symbol of his power, but of the twisted genetic bloodline that defined them both.

The air in the room hung thick, heavy with the smell of blood and the oppressive energy that crackled between them. She could feel it in her veins—the sickly ache of her body trying to hold on to life, the weight of his hands still holding her firmly, his fingers gripping the exposed wound, pressing it together to stem the bleeding. He wasn't tender. He was firm, determined. And yet, in his eyes, there was something else. Something that barely hid the violent predator beneath the surface, a hunger he had barely contained.

Her chest throbbed, the open wound still bleeding, but the crystallized heart—what was left of it—was now in his hands, and his grip was unyielding. He wasn't letting go.

But she was still alive. For now.

The wolf king's gaze turned cold as he quickly tossed the crystalline mass to the side, his eyes snapping to the old data monitors blinking around them. This was an ancient facility, the walls covered in rust, and the air heavy with decades of stagnation. The remains of past experiments littered the place like forgotten tombs.

There was no time for hesitation. Her life hung by a thread, and he couldn't afford to waste any more of it. A long-abandoned laboratory, now nothing more than a haunted relic. Yet in its depths lay the answers they needed.

The mechanical guard that accompanied him stood silent by the entrance, its eerie, glistening plasma arm humming with quiet energy. The wolf king, however, paid it no mind. His focus was solely on the frozen stasis pods ahead—those strange vessels where L-0 had once been held. The first experiment. The origin of this entire chain of bloodline horrors.

"L-0," the wolf king muttered, as his footsteps echoed through the sterile, oppressive atmosphere of the abandoned gene facility.

He approached the stasis pod with purpose, his fingers brushing the surface. There was no visual cue at first, no immediate sign of life. But then, with a mechanical whine, the pod's seal opened, revealing L-0—the original test subject—frozen in time.

Her form was encased in ice, her body preserved in perfect stasis. The plasma encasing her had cooled over years, forming crystallized fractures across her torso. Her face was obscured by a mist of condensation, but the label on the pod was clear.

L-0.

The wolf king's breath caught in his throat. This was it—the truth of the bloodline they had both inherited, but at what cost? He touched the cold glass of the pod, his eyes narrowing in silent contemplation. The air in the room became suffocating. L-0 had been the first successful genetic merge, but what was its cost? The blood of the original was forever tied to these experiments, to the very foundation of everything he had become.

But before he could delve further into the mystery, a plasma humming sound from above grew louder—there was no time to waste.

Without warning, the walls of the facility seemed to shudder, and the floor cracked beneath them. The plasma guard, its mechanical limbs crackling with energy, launched toward them. The core gene storage was now under threat.

From behind, the wolf king heard the thrum of energy blades, the plasma blade humming loudly, its buzzing frequency filling the air as it sliced toward them. The battle was upon them.

"Back off," the wolf king snarled, his body already shifting, preparing for the inevitable clash. The mechanical guard raised its plasma arm, a brilliant, crackling energy sword igniting in mid-air. The air between them vibrated with power as the wolf king charged forward, his eyes glowing with the same primal rage that had built his kingdom.

They were at war.

The mechanical hum intensified as the plasma blade swung, slicing through the air with devastating force. The blade's energy crackled, its edge a bright, sizzling line of light that seemed to burn the very air it cut through. Sparks flew in every direction as metal met metal, the clash sending a shockwave that reverberated through the room, ringing out with a violent, screeching hum that filled the space.

The wolf king's claws swiped upward with deadly precision, meeting the plasma blade with a forceful parry. The energy blade grazed his armor, leaving a faint, searing mark where it barely missed his skin. The burn stung, but he barely registered it. His instincts drove him forward.

But the fight wasn't just physical. The sharp, familiar throb in his leg flared up again—a lingering weakness from old battles, scars that time had not fully healed. The injury, buried beneath layers of muscle and bone, ached with an intensity that sent a flash of pain through him. His leg was slower now, the muscles weak from years of abuse. He could feel it—a reminder of his mortality. Yet, there was no time to dwell on it.

He forced the pain aside, focusing on the battle at hand. His claws were swift, his focus sharp. Every movement counted, and in that moment, there was no room for hesitation.

In the midst of this chaos, her heart—still beating weakly—flashed with a blue glow, the final remnants of her crystallized core. Her life was still hanging on by a thread.

The plasma guard advanced again, but just as it was about to strike, a plasma pulse sent shockwaves through the room, exploding the air in an electrified storm. The plasma guard was blasted back into the wall, its form crackling with electrical sparks.

The wolf king turned to her, the plasma blade's light flashing in his eyes. "Stay with me," he ordered, his tone raw and desperate.

The toxin removal protocol continued to beep as she fought to stay conscious. Her vision wavered, and as she turned to look at the monitor, something caught her eye.

The screen flickered, displaying one simple line:

L-13 and L-0 genes match 100%.

Her heart skipped a beat. It was more than just bloodline—it was a connection. Their destinies were tied.

The wolf king felt his pulse race. His gaze dropped to the frozen L-0 pod, and a flash of Lena's face flickered in his mind—his sister, and her tragic end. She had been the first to be subjected to the L-13 serum. His eyes narrowed in a moment of realization: She was never meant to survive. Neither was I.

As he triggered the trap, the electrical surge sparked, and with it came the illusion of his sister's face, her expression twisting with pain. The L-13 serum, the one that had haunted them both, flashed in his mind, but this time, there was no escaping it.

The monitor blinked: ██ years since L-0's last heartbeat.