Chapter 1043 - 1042: First Light

Sonya’s shoulders jerked beneath Simon’s hands.

"Ngh!"

Her fingers dug into her knees. Another crack came from her ribs, and she suddenly bent forward, coughing blood toward him.

The Seed of Pride stirred.

Simon caught the blood before it reached his face and sent it spilling onto the stone beside them. At the same time, his Will pressed around her body, stopping her from throwing herself against him.

He left her enough room to tremble and shift. Holding her completely still while her bones changed would only make things worse.

"Keep circulating your demonic energy. Don’t stop."

Sonya dragged in a breath.

Her energy faltered, then resumed its course.

The rough patches along her arms began spreading. Dark-brown ridges rose beneath the skin, joining across her elbows and the backs of her hands. Her shoulders broadened slightly.

Simon felt the change through his palms.

The body beneath them was becoming harder.

A grinding sound came from her spine. Sonya’s mouth opened, and the groan she had been holding became a scream.

Simon tightened his hold.

He had endured something similar himself. Watching it happen to someone whose chest was beneath his hands was no easier.

The floor trembled.

Loose fragments gathered around Sonya’s legs. They pressed against her skin, crumbled, and sank into the darkening ridges.

[She’s becoming a Dhoran,] Lilith said. [That’s a Common Daemon bloodline.]

Simon studied the rocky growths along Sonya’s arms.

She had already passed beyond her Kragh bloodline.

Yet the imprint continued drawing power.

Her eyes were shut, her face twisted with pain. She wasn’t responding to his voice anymore, although her demonic energy kept moving.

Simon followed the connection deeper.

Beyond the changing body, he felt something pulling against his Will.

His own Royal bloodlines had stirred. The power of Pride ran through the imprint, carrying his demonic energy into Sonya’s heart, but there was more to it than sustaining her transformation.

Somewhere beyond his senses, a passage remained open because he was holding it.

Simon’s expression changed.

He couldn’t see the Bloodline Origin Path. But he could feel Sonya’s presence through the connection despite her body sitting directly before him.

His bloodlines supported that connection. His seed gave it form.

And his Will kept it from closing.

[Why didn’t you tell me?]

[Tell you what?]

[I’m keeping the Bloodline Origin Gate open for her.]

Lilith fell silent.

Simon’s jaw tightened as another surge passed through his arms.

It was not easy to maintain the connection. It was like he was carrying a heavy weight on his shoulders.

[I’m not just supplying my demonic energy. I’m the link between her and the path. My bloodlines, Seed of Pride, my Will. If I take both hands away or stop feeding her heart, the connection will break.]

He could feel what that would mean.

Sonya’s changing bloodline would lose its support while her awareness was still elsewhere. At best, the damage would leave her severely injured.

At worst, she would die.

[She has to return through the gate before I can stop.]

[I didn’t know the connection worked that way.]

Simon almost lost his composure.

[What?]

[My father performed the technique. He taught me how to prepare it, but I never used it myself. I knew the recipient needed continuous support. I didn’t know the practitioner also held their passage open.]

[Fucking wonderful.]

A fresh spasm ran through Sonya.

Simon adjusted the pressure restraining her and kept his palms in place. The ridges along her arms had stopped spreading, but her fingers were lengthening.

[You’re doing well,] Lilith said. [Keep doing what you’re doing.]

[That’s your advice?]

[Would you prefer that I applauded? Keep going. You can boast about knowing something I didn’t after she returns.]

Simon cursed her inwardly.

She had possessed a powerful father willing to teach her, and apparently she couldn’t be bothered to practise what she learned.

’Damn lazy dragon.’

[She’s advancing again,] Lilith said.

Sonya’s back arched.

The ridges on her skin split.

Blood escaped through the cracks, and Simon’s Seed of Pride diverted every drop that flew toward him. Beneath the breaking surface, her flesh had taken on a deep bronze lustre.

The rocky growths fell away in pieces.

Her arms lengthened. The seams at her sleeves strained, then tore as her shoulders shifted again.

"Aaagh!"

The scream made Simon’s fingers tense.

He moved his knees back, adjusting to her growing frame without lifting his hands. His Will allowed the change while preventing her from wrenching herself away.

Pale lines appeared beneath her skin, spreading from her wrists toward her shoulders. They branched across the sides of her neck, shining briefly with each beat of her heart.

[Now she’s an Ordan,] Lilith said. [Thats a Noble bloodline.]

A heavy tremor passed beneath them.

Stone slabs rose along the edge of the platform. One struck the surrounding barrier and broke apart. Simon glanced up as the black pillars brightened, their formations containing the disturbance.

Above them, clouds were gathering.

They formed beneath the burning sky, darkening the open space over the courtyard.

He knew what was coming.

Sonya’s head dropped forward.

For several breaths, her body stopped changing. Sweat ran down Simon’s face, and he drew more demonic energy from the surroundings.

It wasn’t enough to replace what the imprint was taking.

He used his Seed of Pride to bring several Hell Stones against his forearms and began absorbing them. More remained beside Sonya, their energy steadily disappearing into her circulation.

Her heart was still beating.

Her bloodline had become stable enough to support a Noble Daemon’s body.

But she hadn’t returned.

"Of course you’re still going," Simon muttered.

CLAP!

Thunder answered overhead.

A crimson streak crossed the clouds.

The Bloodline Extinction Tribulation.

He looked back at Sonya just as a thin stream of blood slipped from beneath her left eyelid.

Then the right.

His expression hardened.

[Lilith.]

[I see it.]

The pale lines beneath Sonya’s skin brightened.

Her legs pushed against the floor. Her spine straightened with a series of sharp cracks, lifting her upper body until Simon had to raise his arms.

She was still smaller than him, but the difference was no longer what it had been.

Her rusty-brown hair lengthened, the rough metallic strands becoming smooth and dark copper. Fine golden markings appeared along her temples and followed her cheekbones.

The bronze colour deepened across her skin.

Then her eyes began to swell.

"AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Sonya screamed.

It was louder than anything she had released before.

Her hands flew toward her face.

Simon stopped them with the power of his Seed of Pride before her fingers reached her eyes, holding her wrists beside her shoulders while leaving her elbows room to shake.

"Don’t touch them."

He didn’t know if she could hear him.

Blood poured down her cheeks. Thin splits opened at the corners of her eyes, and her eyelids parted beneath the pressure.

Simon saw the cloudy surfaces beneath them.

Fine vessels burst across both eyes. Blood mixed with pale fluid, spilling over the lower lids as the damaged tissue began changing.

Pride swept the spray away from his face.

His palms never moved.

He remembered what happened to Kraghs.

Some were born blind. Others lost their sight after their coming-of-age rite or gradually as they grew older. The stronger their affinity, the sooner their eyes failed.

Sonya had never been able to see.

Her overwhelming affinity had cost her sight before she could learn what sight was.

[So her eyes have begun changing.] Lilith said.

[Is she going to survive this?]

[Keep the imprint stable. That’s what she needs from you.]

Simon clenched his teeth.

He could do that.

The power pulling through him grew heavier. Both his Royal bloodlines responded, and pain drove through his chest as he forced the connection to remain open.

Sonya’s scream broke into hoarse, uneven cries.

The golden markings spread down her throat and disappeared beneath her clothes. Her bones cracked again, then settled into their new shape.

The entire platform sank.

BOOM!

Simon felt the ground dropping beneath his crossed legs. Broken slabs slid inward, gathering around Sonya as the earth pressed closer to her.

The pillars flared.

Through the shaking air, he caught a glimpse of Enigma holding Ammor back from the barrier. Akaza remained beside him, staring toward the centre.

Simon couldn’t spare them another glance.

The pressure coming from Sonya’s bloodline had changed.

His Uruqath blood stirred in response. The Byakko followed.

This was no longer a Noble bloodline.

[Incredible... A Firstborn Titan.]

Lilith’s voice reached him through the thunder.

[Thats a a Royal Daemon bloodline.]

Simon stared at Sonya.

She had done it.

The golden markings shone across her dark-bronze skin. Blood still covered her face, but the torn corners of her eyes were slowly closing.

He could no longer see what was happening beneath her eyelids.

They had shut again.

Above them, crimson lightning branched through the clouds, illuminating the courtyard in repeated flashes.

Simon kept supplying power.

He would not mistake a completed transformation for a safe return. The connection still pulled against his Will, and Sonya’s awareness remained somewhere beyond his reach.

"Come back," he said quietly.

Her fingers twitched.

He waited through another painful beat of his heart.

Then the strain changed.

The distant pull drew closer. Simon felt her presence returning through the Bloodline Origin Gate, following the connection toward the body before him.

He held it open.

Sonya inhaled sharply.

The imprint pulsed once beneath his palms, and the force dragging against his Will finally eased.

Her hands relaxed.

Simon loosened the restraint around her wrists but kept feeding a thin stream of energy into her heart.

The golden markings dimmed.

A final drop of blood slipped from her chin.

Then Sonya opened her eyes.

The clouded dullness was gone.

Clear bronze irises caught the crimson light overhead, and her pupils narrowed.

Her gaze settled on Simon’s face.

For the first time, she could see him.