When Gods Bleed

The Shadow Court did not believe in witnesses.

When gods dueled, they dueled alone.

Jace stood in the center of a coliseum carved from the husks of dead leviathans—bones the size of towers arcing high above the arena like frozen titans grasping for the sky. All light in the arena came from the Blood Crescent, a silver-red moon that hovered directly overhead, pulsing like a heart, bathing the arena in its judgment.

Opposite him stood Varik.

The Guardian of the Second Circle.

And Jace's final gate to unlocking his Soul Armor.

Varik wasn't tall.

He wasn't monstrous.

He was precise.

A man in his early forties, maybe, with tightly braided white hair, expressionless eyes, and a suit of armor that looked like woven starlight and silence. He carried no visible weapon.

Because Varik was the weapon.

Jace could feel it radiating off him—compressed pressure that made it hard to breathe, even before the battle began.

> [Codex Warning: Hostile Codex Signature Detected]

Integration Level: 47%

Combat Class: Blade Sovereign

Estimated Kill Chance: <2%

Soul Armor Manifestation Condition: Survive for 3 Minutes OR Defeat Varik

No one had ever defeated Varik.

Few had survived him.

Jace exhaled slowly.

Selira stood at the edge of the coliseum, arms crossed, saying nothing. But her presence was a tether in the rising storm.

Above, the Blood Crescent pulsed.

And then—

Varik moved.

---

CLANG.

Jace barely brought his glaive up in time to block the first strike—a downward chop so fast it should have shattered his arm. Instead, the Revenant Glaive screamed against Varik's bracers, sparks and shadow bursting outward like a bomb.

He was airborne before he even saw the second hit.

BOOM.

He slammed into the wall of bone and rebounded, landing hard, ribs howling in protest.

But his Codex flared.

> [Pain Threshold Reached – Adaptation Triggered]

Reflexes +1 | Awareness +1

"Again," Varik said simply.

Jace growled and charged—channeling Shadow Hook mid-dash, yanking himself behind the man for a flanking slash.

Varik stepped into it.

Turned.

Elbowed.

And nearly crushed Jace's windpipe.

He tumbled backward, coughing, eyes watering.

> Time Elapsed: 42 Seconds

Not enough.

Not nearly enough.

---

He adjusted.

His next assault used Condensed Sweep, unleashing a pressure wave from the glaive that kicked up a storm of mist and debris—but Varik didn't even blink.

He stepped through it.

Countered.

And struck Jace so hard he felt his blood scream.

> [System Alert: Physical Integrity 41%]

Codex Pulse Spiking… Soul Armor Protocol Waking…

He struggled to his feet.

Wiped blood from his mouth.

"You're fast," he muttered.

Varik's head tilted slightly. "You're still thinking."

Jace's Codex flared again.

Symbols burned from his skin.

The Shadowblood Seed began to bloom.

Selira leaned forward on the platform above.

It was starting.

---

The next exchange was different.

Jace let go.

No calculations.

No hesitation.

Just instinct—layered with Codex-learned moves, shadow-cloaked footwork, unpredictable glaive arcs, blood-soaked will.

He moved like something else.

Even Varik hesitated—half a step.

And that was all Jace needed.

The glaive slashed across the Guardian's shoulder.

The first real hit.

> Critical Impact Registered – Armor Breach Detected

Time Elapsed: 2 Minutes, 12 Seconds

Varik didn't get angry.

He smiled.

Then his aura flared.

Not energy.

Not light.

Nothingness.

A void erupted around him—black static swallowing sound and color, silencing the air.

Jace felt the Codex convulse.

> [Emergency Integration Triggered]

SOUL ARMOR UNLOCKED

Name: Shadowblood Carapace

– Type: Hybrid Vampiric Combat Armor

– Abilities:

• Veinweave Regeneration – Heal 5% per second in shadow

• Echo Step – Blink behind last attacker (3-second cooldown)

• Blood Reverb – Reflect partial damage from melee blows

Codex Sync: 28% → 31%

Darkness exploded outward.

And Jace stood transformed.

The armor grew from him—bone-forged plating laced with pulsing crimson veins, sharp-angled pauldrons crowned with ghostly mist, and a chestplate embedded with a single red eye that blinked once and went still.

His glaive warped—absorbed into the armor's spine, now summonable at will.

He didn't say anything.

He didn't have to.

The Codex roared.

---

Varik struck again—but this time, Jace vanished mid-motion.

Echo Step.

He reappeared behind Varik and struck low—slicing behind the knee, twisting upward with a follow-through stab.

Blood spilled.

Varik staggered.

> 3 Minutes Reached. Trial Complete. Soul Armor Stabilized.

Jace didn't stop.

He drove his palm forward—Blood Reverb activating on contact—sending the Guardian flying across the arena.

Varik slammed into the opposite wall, rolled, and landed on one knee.

Then raised a hand.

Palm up.

Open.

"Enough."

Silence.

The Blood Crescent dimmed slightly.

Selira clapped once.

"Welcome," she called, "to the Circle of Fangs."

Jace fell to one knee, still breathing hard, but smiling.

He had done it.

And for the first time, the Shadow Court knew:

The Codex had chosen a true heir.

"Names Etched in Godsblood"

Jace stood in front of the Fang Archive, heart still pounding from the duel, sweat clinging to his skin beneath his newly formed armor. The Shadowblood Carapace had receded into his Codex for now—dormant, waiting—but its lingering presence still buzzed beneath his skin like a phantom limb.

The entrance to the Archive loomed ahead: a massive wall of crimson marble carved with the names of warriors and tyrants long erased from history. No doors, no guards.

Just blood.

Selira stood beside him, calm as ever. "Only those who've earned their first transformation can enter. The Archive doesn't open for the unawakened. Nor the unworthy."

She pricked her palm with a blade and pressed it to the marble.

The stone drank her blood.

Then it pulsed—once.

A seam split down the center.

The wall groaned and unfolded into a staircase of bone and iron, descending into cold shadow.

Jace followed without hesitation.

---

The Archive was no simple library.

It was a living history.

Blood floated in glyphic strands across open chambers, forming runes in the air that whispered forgotten truths. Massive pillars were wrapped in tattoos of memory—living ink showing battles, betrayals, sacrifices, and triumphs from the earliest Codex bearers.

Selira guided him toward a chamber marked by two black swords crossed above a crimson flame.

"This is where you learn the price of our power," she said. "And the names of those who paid it before you."

She pointed to a suspended memory spiral floating above a pedestal of obsidian teeth.

"Your line begins here."

Jace stepped forward.

The Codex inside him reacted instantly.

> [Codex Memory Archive Activated]

Ancestral Sync: 17% Match Found

Playing Memory Fragment: Codex Bearer #001 – Title: The Crimson Genesis

Warning: This fragment may alter perception. Proceed?

[Y]

The world fell away.

---

He stood in a field of glass, skies ablaze with burning constellations. The ground was scorched black, marked by footsteps that glowed red like ember trails. Corpses of things not born of man lay scattered—celestials, beasts, titans.

And there, standing alone, was a woman.

Tall. Cloaked in shifting armor forged from flame and ash. Her eyes were molten silver. In her hand, a weapon that resembled both a blade and a pen—writing runes with every movement as she fought.

She turned.

Spoke.

> "They called me Veyra. The First. The Scribe of the End. The One Who Burned a God."

Her words echoed not in his ears, but his soul.

> "The Codex is not a gift. It is a record. It remembers what must be remembered. Even when the world tries to forget."

Jace saw her fight—not just armies, but ideologies.

He saw her bleed for humanity, then against it.

He saw her forge the Codex from the remains of something far worse—a divine weapon meant to enslave free will.

And in her final battle…

She faced a being of golden light that screamed in a language even time could not recall.

She died standing.

But not before driving her Codex-core into the god's chest.

Not before winning.

---

Jace stumbled out of the vision, heart thundering.

Selira caught him again, concern flickering across her otherwise perfect composure.

"You saw her?"

He nodded slowly.

"…Veyra."

Selira's jaw tightened. "She was the first Codex bearer. My ancestor. And now…"

"She's a part of me," Jace whispered. "Somehow."

The Codex chimed again.

> Ancestral Echo Recorded – Path of the Scribe Available (Locked)

Integration Bonus: +1 to all base stats

New Trait Unlocked: Memory Burn – Transfer damage taken into a brief offensive buff (10 seconds)

> Codex Integration: 31% → 33%

---

Back in the chamber above, the Council of Shades stirred.

"He awakened the Archive."

"He saw her."

"Then it has begun."

One of the elder shades leaned forward.

"If Veyra's blood flows again… the others will come looking."

Another nodded grimly. "Then he must be prepared. The Forgotten Fangs do not sleep forever."

---

Meanwhile…

Back at Ascendria, Violet kneeled in the outer ruins, tracing a faint glyph in the dirt beneath the stars.

She wasn't summoning anyone.

She was listening.

And something answered.

A cold whisper slid across her spine.

> "He knows now. The First. The Price. The Flame."

She closed her eyes.

Tightened her grip on her sword.

And whispered, "Then it's time I returned to him."

"The Blood That Writes Reality"

For three days straight, Jace trained within the Scriptorium of Thorns—a chamber buried deep beneath the Shadow Court's temple, lined with parchment woven from spiritual threads and ink extracted from beast hearts. It was here that the true power of the Codex system revealed itself.

Not just through brute force.

But through inscription—blood-written laws that bent the world.

Selira stood before a rune-covered slab, her fingers already stained dark red. She dipped her quill, made from her own fang, into a pool of seething blood and began writing across the slab's surface. The rune hissed as it formed.

"This," she said, "is how the ancient Codex bearers fought gods."

Jace stood nearby, eyes scanning the swirling runes. His fingers twitched, drawn by the rhythm of it—the way blood flowed in loops and jagged arcs, forming something between language and command.

"You're not writing a spell," Selira explained. "You're negotiating with the world. Each symbol is a deal. A compromise. A sacrifice."

She turned toward him, eyes glowing faintly.

"Only Codex bearers can survive the backlash of failed inscriptions. Others... melt."

Jace swallowed. "Cool. So don't screw up."

Selira smirked. "Preferably."

---

Over the next hours, she taught him the foundation of Combat Inscription:

Glyph of Severance: A written cut that splits armor or shields on contact.

Mark of Echoes: A delayed strike that replays damage after 3 seconds.

Sigil of Hunger: A draining brand that steals ki and blood essence during battle.

Thornscript Loop: A rapid-fire rune chain that burns ki in exchange for exponential speed.

Each took hours to learn.

But Jace's Codex… adapted.

> [Inscription Capacity Unlocked – Minor Glyph Tier]

– New Glyph: Severance | Status: Active

– New Glyph: Hunger | Status: Incomplete

Codex Integration: 33% → 35%

Warning: Inscriptions cost both ki and blood volume. Overuse may trigger Soul Rupture.

Jace wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. "This is harder than fighting Varik."

Selira raised an eyebrow. "It's meant to be. Any fool can swing a weapon. But it takes will to rewrite the laws of combat."

He grinned. "Still feel like I'm cheating."

"You're not cheating," she said, walking past him. "You're finally learning to fight like a god."

---

That night, as they sat beneath the inverted moonlight pouring through the Court's atrium garden, Jace found himself watching Selira—not just as a teacher, but as a person.

Her armor was gone now. She wore dark training silks, her hair braided back in a simple warrior's tie. She looked younger like this. Less like a ruler. More like someone he could trust.

She noticed him watching and raised an eyebrow.

"Speak your thoughts, hybrid."

Jace chuckled. "I was wondering if you ever take a break."

"I took one, once," she said quietly. "Years ago. It got someone I loved killed."

Silence stretched.

He didn't press.

She didn't elaborate.

But the air between them… shifted.

Just enough.

---

The next day, the calm shattered.

The sky above the Shadow Court darkened suddenly—not with weather, but presence. Bells made of bone rang from the towers.

Selira was already moving when the horn sounded.

Jace chased her through the corridor.

"What's happening?!"

She didn't slow.

"A Codex signature just broke through our outer wards. High-level. Corrupted. Old."

"Enemy?"

She stopped before the central scrying pool.

Its surface glowed blood red.

And the image revealed a figure wrapped in ash-colored robes, standing atop a skeletal wyvern. No face. No eyes. Only a silver Codex burning on their chest.

Selira's jaw tightened.

"It's Daemir."

Jace tensed. "Who?"

"My former mentor," she said. "The one who taught me everything I know about inscription."

"And?"

"…The one who tried to overwrite the world."

---

> [Codex Alert: Legacy Conflict Detected]

Daemir – Rank: Former Codex Master | Status: Exiled | Threat Rating: S-Class

Warning: This bearer uses corrupted inscription. Exposure may alter bloodline stability.

Suggested Action: Evade or engage under controlled conditions only.

Jace narrowed his eyes.

"He's here for me, isn't he?"

Selira nodded slowly. "And if you let him write even one rune on your body… you'll never be you again."