Chapter 482: Blood Awakening - Great Elder
Nikolai’s wounds didn’t magically heal, nor did the pain vanish. However, the aura that struggled to endure under Killian’s pressure became sharper, refining itself. He gritted his teeth while forcing the violent aura to flow through his blood, muscles and bones despite the sharp pain.
Every nerve felt like molten wire, ribs shifting with each breath, broken pieces grinding together. His arms trembled, scorched from within, but instead of collapsing, the black flames became stronger, cleaner and more refined.
This is it... this is the wall!
Killian’s confusion faded as his eyes widened.
"No! It cannot be!"
In a blur of crimson mist, he attacked.
His claws raked across Nikolai’s chest, tearing open skin, but this time the wolf didn’t fly back. He planted his feet deep into the blood-soaked sand, his aura crackling violently around him.
The crowd gasped, on the edge of their seats.
Nikolai’s eyes appeared demonic with black fire, but he saw everything now, each flicker of the vampire’s steps, the faint distortion of mist and aura before he struck. His body couldn’t dodge everything, but he could endure.
"Haaaah!" His roar shook the sand as he lunged forward, trading flesh for flesh. He ripped open Killian’s shoulder even as the vampire’s knee crushed into his stomach. Black blood and flames spread across the arena walls.
Yet Killian stepped back while hissing.
His crimson mist cauterised the shallow wounds, but the deep gash from Nikolai’s claws remained, flickering with a black aura that prevented him from healing. His aristocratic smile returned, but there was a slight crack in it now, a weakness that betrayed his bluff.
"You adapt quickly, a little too dangerous for a pup."
"There you go again." Nikolai wiped the blood from his lips with the back of his hand, grinning like a savage. "I’m not a pup, but a wolf. Leech."
Unlike before, his aura slowly healed the wounds Killian made; although painful, his broken limbs began to fuse rapidly. His aura burst like a bomb, spiralling upward like a storm. The crowd howled along with him, thousands chanting his name, feeding the black blaze.
"Don’t get arrogant, Child, you do not know who you are messing with."
Killian tilted his head, then vanished, different from before.
There was no sign until his claws were inches from Nikolai’s throat.
"!!!"
Nikolai didn’t flinch; his pupils dilated as he stepped into the strike. Black flames erupted from his arms, wrapping his fists. His bones cracked under the pressure, but his counterstrike slammed into Killian’s ribs, bending the vampire sideways before he could retreat.
The crowd erupted into madness.
Nikolai staggered, chest heaving, vision blurred from blood loss. But inside, the barrier trembled. Every beat of his heart thundered like a drum, pushing him closer to the brink.
One more step... just one more step.
Sand erupted like shrapnel as the two blurred together. Killian’s crimson mist streaked like lightning across the arena, his claws slicing in elegant arcs, while Nikolai’s black flames roared in jagged bursts, tearing through the ground with every movement.
Bang!
Crack!
Their fists collided, shockwaves splitting the air. Killian’s strikes were faster, sharper, with each claw rending bloody grooves into Nikolai’s chest, arms, and face. The vampire flowed like water, gliding past counterattacks, his boots barely leaving tracks in the sand.
Nikolai staggered under the relentless barrage.
"Over already?" the Great Elder murmured, his voice full of mockery. "Disappointing."
Nikolai spat blood at his feet, ignoring the goading, his lips curled into a bloodied feral grin. His fists caught another strike head-on. Even as his flesh tore, he followed through.
"You’re the one... desperate to end things fast!"
Killian’s eyes flickered.
For the first time, his tempo faltered. His mist didn’t fully cloak his movement, and in this moment, Nikolai’s aura tore through it, letting him track the vampire’s rhythm.
Bang!
Nikolai’s fist buried into Killian’s gut, black flames searing through his coat. The vampire wheezed, his noble smile breaking as he slid back.
The crowd erupted, stamping in the stands until the arena quaked.
They cheered for Nikolai and then Killian; it was truly a mixed reception.
Killian couldn’t lose here; his claws raked the air, slower but more precise and powerful. Nikolai’s counters became sharper with each exchange, his blows heavier as he found himself adapting to the Great Elder’s power.
Bang! Crack! Smash!
Dozens of blows traded in heartbeats, the air screaming from their aura-clad strikes. Nikolai’s body burned, torn and battered, but each step forward carried more weight, more fire, more hunger. Killian’s once-effortless elegance eroded into gritted teeth and desperate feints.
Then Nikolai’s claws smashed through his guard.
Bang!
The blow crushed into Killian’s ribs, hurling him across the pit in a spray of crimson. For a moment, the crowd became silent, as if shocked or confused at what had happened.
Killian’s boots gouged trenches into the sand as he caught himself, shoulders hunched, his aristocratic composure cracking for the first time. His hand pressed his ribs where black flame still seared his flesh. A hiss escaped his lips, more animal than noble.
Then the mist exploded.
Crimson vapour writhed around him like a living storm, boiling outward until it blanketed half the arena. The crowd roared in ecstasy and fear, voices overlapping in a fever pitch. The announcer’s voice broke against the thunder.
"L-Lord Killian isn’t finished! The Executioner’s fury awakens!"
Killian vanished.
Nikolai barely caught the flicker of movement before claws raked his side, tearing through muscle to scrape bone. Pain detonated across his body, but he grit his teeth and swung wild. His claws cut air.
Bang!
A knee hammered his jaw, snapping his head back, blood spraying skyward. The world spun, but before he hit the ground, another strike buried itself in his gut, folding him around the impact.
"Ghhhaaahhh!"
Sand erupted in a crater where he landed.
The crowd screamed his name and Killian’s in equal frenzy, the arena trembling under the weight of their divided bloodlust.
Nikolai forced himself upright, drool and blood stringing from his lips. His chest rose and fell like a piston, ribs grinding, but his black aura refused to die. Each flicker burned brighter, heavier, sharper.
Killian reappeared in front of him, mist curling around his elegant frame. His red eyes gleamed with malice.
"Stay down, dog. You don’t grasp what you’re facing."
Nikolai spat blood at his boots and lunged at the vampire. "I grasp you are trash well enough."
Their auras collided mid-pit in an explosion of sand and light. The world blurred into a storm of fists, claws, knees, and teeth.
Killian’s claws ripped bloody furrows down Nikolai’s arms, but the wolf answered with savage blows to his ribs, each strike heavier than the last. Killian’s elegance slipped, his movements more strained, his counters narrower.
"You... insolent—"
Nikolai’s fist caught him square in the jaw, snapping his head sideways. The aristocrat staggered, but his mist wrapped around him instantly, dragging his body back into rhythm.
Bang!
A counterstrike tore across Nikolai’s cheek, flesh flaying open, yet he pushed through. His claws tore into Killian’s coat, shredding gold trim and drawing another splash of blood.
The crowd erupted, stomping until the arena shook.
"BLACK WOLF! BLACK WOLF!"
Nikolai’s ears rang with it, but his focus never broke.
He saw the rhythm now—the half-second ripple before Killian vanished, the faint distortion in the mist. His body bled, broke, screamed, but his eyes tracked every flicker.
Killian’s strikes slowed.
His attacks didn’t weaken, but he became cautious, as if every exchange cost him something. His immaculate smile had fractured into a snarl, fangs exposed in a grunt.
Nikolai roared, aura bursting outward like wildfire. He slammed through Killian’s guard, claws carving deep across his chest, hurling him back once more.
The crowd howled as blood dyed the sand crimson.
Nikolai staggered, chest heaving, vision swimming. His body was a ruin with burned flesh, shattered ribs, and blood soaking every inch of him. And yet the barrier trembled. That invisible wall at the edge of his being screamed, cracking under the pressure.
Every heartbeat slammed against it.
Each one louder, harder, until his veins felt like molten lead.
Then came the heat.
It coiled in his core, rising through his chest, burning through his throat. A primal surge, intoxicating, unstoppable.
Nikolai’s lips pulled back in a bloodied grin.
"One more step."
A strange heat coiled in his veins, swelling inside his abdomen as if enduring the moment before reaching orgasm over and over. His black aura twisted inside him until it burst outward like a wild tsunami of flames ready to devour the world.
Nikolai howled into the air... his body, his existence changed. His hair grew longer and turned pitch black, and his height increased until he stood at close to eight feet tall. His body was covered with huge, muscular limbs covered in dense black fur and sharp, elongated claws with palms the size of a grown man’s torso.
His heart thundered faster and faster, almost bursting from his chest.
Nikolai’s black eyes flicked around the arena, confused at how slowly the world moved.
The barrier blocking him shattered.
He had broken through.
Into the realm of a Great Elder.