Chapter 584: Darius Bloodworth III

Darius’s gaze tracked away, finding something in the darkness spreading across the mountains.

"Everyone expected that man to come home immediately, to return to his family and celebrate his ascension, to take his place as the second Demigod of the Bloodworth line."

His voice dropped lower, becoming almost intimate.

"But instead of doing what everyone expected..."

Another pause, heavier than the first.

"He did something else entirely."

His hand rose, settling over his chest.

"Something he’d wanted to do since the night his older sister’s empty casket was lowered into frozen ground."

The wind pulled at his crimson hair, scattering strands across his face.

"You see, ever since that night, a question had been burning in the back of his mind."

His fingers drummed against his ribs, slow and deliberate.

"If the greatest protector in the world cannot keep his loved ones safe from those who hunt them..."

His hand tightened into a fist over his heart.

"Maybe the greatest destroyer can?"

The question hung in the cold air between them, terrible and certain.

Damian’s breathing became audible, his chest heaving despite his attempts at control.

’Don’t tell me, he-’

But before the thought could complete, Darius continued, his voice losing every trace of warmth.

"So instead of going home..."

His presence shifted, power beginning to bleed from his frame in waves that made the air feel heavy.

"He went hunting."

The word landed like a death sentence.

"He traveled across the universe following threads of fate that connected back to his family’s deaths, tracking down every seer who’d orchestrated events, who’d sent chosen ones, who’d pulled strings from shadows thinking themselves untouchable."

His crimson eyes blazed brighter, reflecting the dying sun until they seemed to burn with their own light.

"And one by one, world by world, realm by realm..."

His voice dropped to barely above a whisper, carrying more menace than any shout could achieve.

"He butchered them all."

Silence crashed down for one heartbeat.

"Not just the seers themselves, but everything they’d built, everyone they’d protected, every single thing they cared about preserving."

His hand spread, fingers extending.

"He burned their worlds until ash was all that remained, slaughtered their chosen ones like cattle, destroyed their sanctuaries and temples and halls of prophecy until nothing stood except rubble and corpses."

His voice gained something approaching satisfaction, dark and terrible.

"Because he understood something they never had, something their arrogance prevented them from seeing."

His hand closed into a fist.

"Even if some of them survived, even if they managed to hide or escape or cling to whatever scraps of life remained..."

His crimson eyes found Damian again, locking on with intensity that made looking away impossible.

"What games could they possibly play..."

A pause, letting the question hang.

"If they had nothing left to win?"

The words fell like hammer blows, each one landing with finality.

"When everything was finally over, when the last world had burned and the last seer had fallen..."

His presence expanded further, becoming something that transcended simple power.

"The entire universe came to know that man by a different name."

His voice became harder, carrying conviction that made reality feel thin.

"No longer just Darius Bloodworth, youngest son of the greatest protector."

His hand pressed against his chest.

"They called him the Blood Devil!"

BOOM

Thunder crashed across the sky despite clear conditions, reality itself responding to the declaration.

"And after witnessing what he was capable of, after seeing world after world reduced to ash and bone..."

His lips curved into something that wasn’t quite a smile, sharp and terrible.

"They knew better than to touch his family ever again."

Silence fell across the terrace like someone had cut all sound from existence.

The sun had nearly disappeared now, leaving only thin strips of orange and gold bleeding across the horizon.

Damian’s heart slammed against his ribs, each beat sending shockwaves through his chest that made breathing difficult.

Thump thump thump

His hands trembled fractionally around the cigar.

’He...’

The thought formed scattered and incomplete, his mind struggling to process the magnitude of what he’d just heard.

Then Damian’s whisper emerged, rough with emotion he couldn’t quite suppress.

"Did you..."

The words caught in his chest, refusing to form properly.

"When you found those seers, when you stood before them..."

His hand tightened around the cigar until the wrapper crinkled.

"Did you ask them why every race wanted our world? What the true reason was for all of this?"

The question sat between them, weighted with desperation for understanding that might make the senseless make sense.

Darius remained perfectly still for three heartbeats, his gaze tracking across the dying light.

Then his head turned, finding Damian’s masked face, his crimson eyes carrying something cold and absolute.

When his voice emerged, each word landed with finality that transcended simple statement.

"When a snake strikes at you from tall grass..."

His hand moved, describing a quick motion through the air.

"When its fangs sink into your flesh and venom starts burning through your veins..."

His fingers curled slightly, the gesture almost dismissive.

"You don’t chase it down to ask why it bit you, you don’t try to understand its motivations or the justifications for its nature."

His hand dropped back to his side.

"You kill it."

A pause, letting that settle.

"Then you find its burrow and destroy that too."

His crimson eyes blazed brighter, holding Damian there.

"Because some questions don’t deserve answers."

His voice dropped lower, becoming almost gentle despite the darkness underneath.

"They deserve extinction."

Silence crashed down between them, heavy and suffocating.

Then Darius moved, crossing the minimal distance until he stood directly in front of Damian.

His hand rose, settling on Damian’s shoulder with weight that felt both gentle and absolute.

"Little Damian."

His voice came out softer than before, carrying something that approached concern.

"You seem to have become involved in a game as well."

His grip tightened fractionally, anchoring Damian’s attention.

"Although I know for sure that you will overcome this situation..."

His crimson eyes found Damian’s masked face, locking on with intensity that made the world fade away until only this moment existed.

"I do have one piece of advice."

A pause, letting the tension build.

"When it’s your turn to be the hand that moves the pieces..."

His whisper emerged carrying weight that pressed down on Damian’s chest like mountains.

"Show no hesitation."

The words fell like hammer blows, each one landing with crushing certainty.

"Don’t think twice about sacrificing pawns that stand in your way. Don’t waste time questioning whether your moves are cruel or kind."

His voice became harder, carrying edges that could cut through bone.

"Don’t pause to consider if the pieces you’re breaking deserve their fate."

Another pause, heavier than all the others.

"Because when you were a pawn..."

His crimson eyes blazed with intensity that made looking away impossible.

"When you were the one being moved across the board, broken for goals that weren’t your own..."

His grip tightened until Damian’s shoulder ached.

"The board never had mercy on you."

The declaration hung in the cold air between them, absolute and terrible and carrying truth that would burn through eternity.

And on that terrace suspended above the world, a son stood with his father’s hand on his shoulder.

Receiving wisdom that would shape everything to come.

From the man who’d taught the universe what happened when you touched a Bloodworth’s family.