Chapter 14: Fiery Veins

The blood was still fresh beneath his fingernails.

Ashen stood before the corpse of the Bear King, its eyes still open, staring at him with something resembling final contempt—or perhaps... justice. Silence devoured the surroundings, and all that remained of the massacre was the echo of heavy breaths and the faint tremble in Ashen's right hand.

He stepped closer, slowly. Something inside him moved without his permission.

Before he could touch the bear's body, a sudden heat erupted in his chest, spreading through his veins. Crimson vessels began glowing beneath his skin, as if fire was coursing through his blood. Ashen's eyes widened as he felt his soul—not his will—being pulled toward the bear's heart.

The rune awakened.

Without activation. Without intent. The bloodline within Ashen—the sealed and mutated one—opened its hidden mouth and devoured the essence of the bear's blood. Red steam drifted from the dead king's body and slipped into Ashen through his nose, his mouth, his eyes.

He screamed.

He dropped to the ground, his hand striking the dirt, then digging into it. The pain was different this time. Not just burning, not pressure, not tearing—it was as if something colossal was being reshaped inside him.

Something in his body shook, as if an ancient blood-code had awakened.

Suddenly, the rune appeared on the back of his hand. Red, twisted, pulsing like a living heart.

The Bear King's grip… or what remained of it.

But the blood wasn't done.

He saw the rune glow... then sink into his skin.

And he was stunned.

This wasn't the fusion of a mere technique.

It was the beginning of a bond... with a bloodline.

Hell had begun.

His right arm exploded in pain.

Bones cracked. Then shattered. Ashen's scream no longer sounded human.

It was as if every nerve in his body was being pulled out and replaced with wires of fire. He writhed on the ground. The veins in his arm bulged, then burst, then sealed themselves again in horrifying fashion.

He saw his bones shift out of place, then return—but altered. His body was being forced to transform.

The blood rune was injecting itself into his marrow, imprinting it, coloring it.

"I'm breaking... I'm going to die!"

He wasn't crying, or even screaming anymore—he was raving.

But amidst the torment... a face appeared in his mind. His father.

"A bloodline's power doesn't grant you glory. It burns you first…"

He clenched his teeth.

And then he felt it.

The aura.

Something within the rune wasn't inert. It was a beast.

He saw himself—internally—in darkness.

Before him, emerging from within the rune, came a massive, spectral aura in the shape of a bear made of fire.

The beast roared.

The Bear King's aura.

It was dwelling in the rune, resisting the fusion.

Ashen stood before it. Frail. Half-naked. But he didn't run.

The beast lunged.

And within his soul, a slow, bitter battle began.

Every moment inside was a blow. Every second was years of agony. But something strange started to happen.

Instead of being torn apart, Ashen's blood began to absorb part of that aura. Slowly. Then it started to fuse.

Something of the bear's savagery, its madness, its strength, began to seep into Ashen's bloodline.

But he wasn't ready.

He screamed again—but this time, it was a beast's roar.

It erupted from deep within.

His body trembled, then a wild blood aura burst from him.

His eyes were no longer human. His face twisted. His body swelled slightly. His veins turned black, then red.

Ashen stood—but it wasn't him.

He began smashing trees. Shattering rocks. Everything around him was trampled, broken.

His power had gone out of control.

For seconds, or minutes—no one could tell. But his mind returned. Slowly. Like a flicker.

He dropped to his knees.

He breathed. His hands were shaking. His whole body felt like it had come back from a torture session.

But he... stood.

And looked at his hand.

The rune had settled. And a thick, red blood aura began coiling around his arms.

Its shape... like the arms of a bear made of blood, moving and breathing.

He reached out toward a massive boulder in front of him.

And clenched.

The rock didn't just crack—it vaporized.

The skill: Blood Bear Grip.

Had formed.

A blood aura in the shape of bear arms, wrapping the arms, amplifying strikes, generating physical shockwaves that pierce defenses and disorient enemies.

Its effect multiplies as bloodline purity increases.

Ashen breathed, slowly.

But he didn't smile.

"This is only the beginning…"

He looked at the rune, then to the sky.

"…and the blood is still thirsty."

I will have my revenge.