Chapter 279: The Price Of Power

BOOM!!

A towering pillar of crimson and ashen-silver blood erupted over Rose, blasting every single beast back across the warehouse!!

The shockwave tore through the enclosed building like a hurricane trapped inside a tin can. Stacks of rusted shipping crates were ripped off the floor and smashed flat against the outer walls. Concrete slabs peeled upward like brittle bark, and the six Diamond-Tier Terra Beasts that had been seconds away from tearing Rose apart were hurled backward through the air like ragdolls.

CRASH! BANG! THUD!

Lola’s Steel-Spear Spider slammed into a steel support pillar so hard the beam bent inward at a forty-five-degree angle. The Acid-Jawed Hound and Bai Zheng’s Alpha Wolf went skidding across the blood-slicked floor on their bellies, tearing deep grooves into the stone with their claws as they tried to brake, while Trevor’s Giant Eagle was blown straight up into the ceiling rafters in a tangle of battered feathers.

"What the hell was that?!" Trevor coughed against the dust, throwing an arm over his eyes as the blinding crimson-and-silver radiance lit up every dark corner of the dockside warehouse. "Where did a Gold-Tier snake get that kind of explosive force?!"

"Look at the boy!!" Bai Zheng pointed a trembling finger through the swirling dust, his voice cracking with disbelief. "The power is coming from him!!"

At the edge of the raging pillar, Raiden was down on one knee, his right hand pressed flat against the cracked concrete as blood dripped steadily from the corner of his mouth.

He barely heard Bai Zheng’s shout.

The moment he had mentally slammed "Yes" on the system prompt, something deep inside his heart had opened up. It was the same ancient, terrifying power that had turned half his hair silver minutes ago, except this time, the system was acting as a filter between his mind and the abyss.

Instead of letting that cold, archaic consciousness flood into his brain and corrode his humanity, the system grabbed the raw primordial energy of the Ashen One Bloodline and channelled it straight through his soul bond into Rose!

{Ding!! Confirmation received! Activating [The Ashen One Bloodline] under System Regulation...}

{Channelling Primordial Ashen Essence into Partner: Rose (The Divine Blood Empress)...}

{Purifying Target Bloodline... Stripping Mortal Rebirth Impurities...}

{Strengthening Physical Vessel... Reconstructing Crimson Scales...}

{Forcibly Breaking The Seal and Awakening Mythical Origin Powers!!}

{Awakening Exclusive Monarch Skill... Awakening Complete!!}

With every chime that echoed inside Raiden’s head, the towering pillar of blood swallowing Rose pulsed brighter and heavier. He could feel her battered, bleeding body drinking in that ancient power like a parched desert soaking up a thunderstorm. The acid burns on her scales vanished. The deep gashes torn open by the six Diamond beasts knitted shut in less than a heartbeat, replaced by scales that were ten times denser and sharper than before.

And then, just as the pillar reached its zenith, a sudden, freezing emptiness hollowed out Raiden’s chest.

It didn’t feel like physical pain, and it didn’t feel like mental exhaustion. It felt as though an invisible hand had reached directly into the hourglass of his life and scooped out a handful of sand.

{Ding!! Equivalence Exchange Protocol Complete. Appropriate price for invoking Primordial Law has been detected and extracted.}

{Host Lifespan: -5 Years.}

Raiden’s pupils shrank to pinpoints as he stared at the final blood-red line floating in front of his eyes.

Lifespan... Minus five years?!

For a second, his breath caught in his throat. He almost wanted to grab the system interface and curse its entire binary bloodline from top to bottom! Since when did upgrading his own partner cost him five whole years of his life?!

’Hey, shitty system!! What the hell do you mean minus five years?! When you asked me yes or no, you didn’t say anything about charging my lifespan as the transaction fee!! Where is the consumer protection law in this world?!’

{Host, unsealing and purifying a Mythical Monarch’s bloodline across multiple tiers in three seconds violates the natural laws of this world. Either the Ashen Bloodline corrodes your humanity to pay the toll, as well as your vitality to pay for it. Would you have preferred turning into a mindless puppet while your sister gets carried away?? Be thankful that you have a system with you to help you block the mental degradation now. Otherwise, you would be nothing but a mindless husk.}

The cold, matter-of-fact reply snapped Raiden out of his shock instantly.

He looked past the glowing pillar toward the gaping hole in the rear warehouse wall, where the cold night wind was blowing in from the docks. Every second that ticked by was another second that masked bastard was getting farther away with Sylvia.

Five years of his life?

If he couldn’t save his little sister tonight, and if he watched Rose get torn apart right in front of his eyes after already losing Aunt Ruby once on the battlefield, what the hell was the point of living to a hundred anyway?!

"Heh... Five years is cheap," Raiden rasped, wiping the blood from his chin with the back of his hand as a feral, dangerous grin stretched across his pale face. "Take ten if you have to, just make sure we bury these bastards right here and now!!"

As the last spark of ashen-silver light sank into the pillar, the towering column of blood shattered outward like crimson glass.

A suffocating wave of royal pressure swept across the warehouse floor, so thick and metallic that the four enemy Battle Masters felt as if they had been plunged to the bottom of an ocean of blood!

From the centre of the clearing, Rose slowly slithered out.

She was no longer twenty meters long. Her body had expanded to a full thirty meters of pure, coiled majesty, thick as an ancient oak tree and gleaming like polished blood-diamonds under the dim warehouse lights. Running along the edges of her crimson scales were faint, intricate veins of ashen-gold that pulsed in rhythm with Raiden’s own heartbeat.

Atop her head, the jagged crown of condensed blood had crystallised into a true Empress’s diadem, radiating an authority that made every living creature’s blood tremble inside their own veins!

Raiden glanced at her status screen, which popped up automatically in his vision.

{Rose, The Divine Blood Empress (Juvenile Form)}

{Rank: Gold (Mythical Origin Partially Unsealed)}

{Potential: EX Tier (Limit Reached)}

{Bloodline: 100% Divine Blood Empress (Purified by Ashen Essence)}

{Moves: Crimson Weapon Mastery, Blood Puppetry, Essence Drain, Imperial Blood Armour, Blood Cage}

{Exclusive Monarch Skill: Crimson Blood Tsunami (Awakened)}

Seeing that final line gleaming in dark red letters at the bottom of the panel, Raiden’s eyes lit up with cold, murderous intent.

"Hiss!!~" (?? ? ??)

Rose turned her massive crowned head toward Raiden first, her golden vertical pupils softening as she gave his cheek an affectionate nudge with the tip of her tail.

Rai Rai’s blood tastes the best! Rose feels super duper strong now! All the ouchies are gone!

Then, she slowly turned her head back toward the six Diamond-Tier Terra Beasts standing in front of the exit.

In an instant, every trace of childlike cuteness vanished from her face, replaced by the cold, merciless gaze of a monarch looking down at walking sacks of meat.

"Hiss." Now it is Rose’s turn to play.