Chapter 48: Bloodbane

Nyren and Asher stared at the bloody carnage in mute horror.

High on the rooftop, Oren watched the crocodilian’s massive jaws descend upon Seana, his face pale with helplessness. His Qi was completely depleted; he couldn’t even summon enough telekinetic force to hover, let alone sprint to her rescue.

General Ashford’s expression darkened into deep grief. Two extraordinary young talents had emerged in this broken world, only to be extinguished before they could even bloom.

"Senior Seana!!"

Ruth screamed, her voice cracking as she tried to break away from the evacuation line. She lunged forward, but Diego grabbed her arm, pinning her in place.

"Let go of me!" Ruth thrashed against his grip, tears streaming down her face. "She’s going to die if we don’t help her!"

"There’s nothing we can do!" Diego growled coldly, holding her tight. "Going out there won’t save her—it’ll just give that monster another corpse!"

The crocodilian’s jaws snapped downward, mere inches from Seana’s head.

BOOM!

Seana moved.

She dropped flat, sliding beneath the crushing bite with millisecond precision. The massive teeth snapped shut above her, sending a localized shockwave through the asphalt.

Simultaneously, she slammed her crimson Qi-infused palm against the street.

BOOM!

The explosive kinetic blast propelled her backward, launching her through the air before she flipped and landed lightly twenty feet away.

The crocodilian raised its colossal head, its deep green eyes locking onto its escaped prey in pure, unadulterated fury.

Seana turned her head slowly, her crimson eyes burning with an icy, lethal glare.

Her gaze drifted past the beast, landing on the distant, smoking crater where Lothe lay still. Dark blood pooled beneath his body, staining the shattered concrete.

Her chest tightened painfully.

She had never dated anyone before. She had barely allowed a single male into her personal space outside her immediate family, always keeping everyone at an arm’s length behind a wall of quiet indifference.

But ever since she and Lothe had fought side by side inside that locked archive... something had shifted.

Through every brutal clash. Every near-death escape. Every quiet moment where they leaned on each other to survive.

She had grown attached to him without even realizing it.

And now, seeing him broken and motionless in that crater, the raw truth hit her like a physical blow.

So this is what love feels like...

She tightened her grip around the hilt of the [Blood Moon Sword]. Her fingers bled, but she didn’t feel the pain.

It hurt. It hurt far more than any physical wound she had ever endured. And she despised herself for realizing it only now, when he was lying on the edge of death.

Seana’s eyes snapped back to the thirty-meter beast.

"You’re going to pay for that," she whispered.

Her voice was barely louder than the wind, but the venom behind it made the surrounding air feel freezing cold.

"Blood for blood."

BOOM!

She exploded forward, leaving a crater beneath her boots.

At the exact same instant, the crocodilian lunged to crush her.

BOOOOOOM!!

Dark-green corrosive Qi and blood-red crimson Qi collided mid-air!

CLANG!

The monster’s armored claw slammed against Seana’s dark steel blade, sending a shower of blinding sparks across the boulevard.

Seana contorted her body, slipping between the razor-sharp talons like a ghost. She hooked her arm around one of the massive claws, using its momentum to swing herself upward onto the creature’s forearm.

Her sword spun in a tight wheel.

SHIIIING!

She brought the blade down with full force along the beast’s dark scales.

Nothing. Not even a scratch.

The crocodilian’s eyes twitched. Its secondary claw swept around like a pendulum to swat her off.

Seana ducked beneath the sweep, the talons missing her face by millimeters. She reached out, grabbing the side of the secondary claw, pulling herself in close, and executing a desperate, high-velocity sawing motion.

SHING!

Infusing every drop of her physical strength and Qi into the edge, the blade severed one of the beast’s giant armored claws!

ROOOOOAAAAAR!!

A geyser of thick, dark-green blood erupted from the stump.

BOOOOOOM!!

In wild agony, the crocodilian thrashed its entire upper body, slamming Seana violently into the street!

The impact created a five-foot crater. Blood sprayed from Seana’s mouth, and every muscle in her body screamed in agony.

Yet she refused to stay down.

Using her sword as a crutch, she forced herself back up onto her feet, her breathing ragged. Clutched in her left hand was the four-foot severed scale-claw she had just carved off.

A bloodied, dangerous smirk touched her lips as she looked up at the beast.

"I told you," she spat blood onto the pavement, raising the severed claw. "Blood for blood."

The crocodil glared down at its bleeding stump, but its reptilian instincts ignored the pain, preparing another crushing charge.

That proved to be a fatal mistake.

The dark-green blood pouring from its stump suddenly stopped falling to the dirt.

Seana extended her left hand. The floating green droplets swirled into the air, gathering above her palm to form a rapidly spinning ring of liquid essence.

She stared at it, her sharp mind analyzing the energy structure.

If your outer hide can’t be pierced by standard Qi... let’s see how you like your own blood.

She raised the [Blood Moon Sword]. The ring of dark-green blood flew toward the blade, wrapping around the dark steel like a serpent.

RIPPLE!

The instant the beast’s blood touched her crimson Qi, the mixture began to violently react and boil.

Seana gripped her hilt with both hands, her crimson Qi surging to its absolute limit. "Let’s test this."

She swung in a wide horizontal arc.

SHING!

Eight interlocked crimson crescents erupted from the blade, [Technique: Crimson Call - Second Form: Blood Crescents].

But this time, dark-green, corrosive essence swirled through the center of every red energy wave!

The crocodil’s pupils shrank to pinpricks. It sensed lethal danger.

For the first time, it didn’t stand its ground to tank the hit. It twisted its massive frame, desperately trying to dodge the incoming volley.

The first crescent sliced through empty air. The second missed its tail.

The beast thought it had cleared the line.

Then—

SHING! SHING! SHING!

The remaining crescents altered their trajectory in mid-air, curving from eight different angles to envelop the beast!

Each blood crescent carried its own dense, scale-melting essence.

SHING! SHING! SHING!

Dark-green blood sprayed high into the sky as the energy crescents sliced directly through its armored scales, drilling deep into its flesh before detonating internally!

ROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAR!!

The crocodilian let out a deafening shriek of agony.

Seana didn’t grant it a second to recover. She blurred forward, sliding beneath its thrashing tail and grabbing onto its tail joints.

Channeling the last remaining droplets of green blood onto her blade, she drove the sword straight into the soft flesh between its tail scales!

SHING!

"ROOOOOOOAR!!"

Dozens of razor-sharp scale spikes erupted from its back in a blind berserk reaction!

Seana’s eyes widened. She released the sword, flipping backward through the air as the spikes tore through the space where she had been hanging.

She landed heavily twenty feet away, panting, blood dripping from her arms and chest.

General Ashford and the others stared in sheer, unadulterated shock.

They had assumed she was dead moments ago, yet here she was, fighting the high-tier commander beast completely solo, severing limbs and making the monster scream in pain!

Just how absurd is her combat talent?!

However, Seana’s body was at its absolute limit. Her legs trembled violently. Her Qi Core was running on empty.

The crocodilian slowly turned toward her, its dark-green pupils burning with absolute, murderous fury. Wounds bled across its torso, and several scale plates were cracked open, but it was still very much alive.

Suddenly, the beast vanished from sight.

Seana’s eyes widened. Too fast!

BOOM!

A heavy, armored claw struck her flank. Seana was launched thirty feet through the air, twisting to land on her feet, but the monster was already above her.

BOOM!

Its tail slammed directly into her abdomen!

"UGH!"

Fresh blood sprayed from her mouth as she was blasted backward like a rag doll. Before she could recover her balance—

BOOM!

A massive claw drove her straight into the street, shattering the concrete beneath her back!

She rolled away on instinct a fraction of a second before a secondary stomp pulverized the spot where her head had been.

BOOM!

Seana pushed herself up, her vision spinning, blood blinding one eye.

The beast attacked again without pause.

CLANG! She barely brought her sword up to block a claw strike, the impact numbing her wrists completely.

CLANG! A second strike nearly knocked the weapon from her grip.

BOOM!

The heavy tail swept around, hitting her side and sending her skidding fifty feet across the road.

"SEANA!!" Ruth screamed from the perimeter, breaking down in tears.

General Ashford’s expression turned grim as steel. "Her physical frame can’t handle any more impacts..."

Nyren gripped her [Frostveil Sword] until her knuckles turned white. "She’s going to be crushed..."

Yet they couldn’t leave the evacuation line.

A secondary horde was pressing against the barrier, and abandoning their posts would mean the death of fifty students.

Seana forced her body upright once more. Her face was soaked in blood. Her Qi reserves were nearly exhausted.

The crocodilian charged again, opening its massive jaws.

Seana raised her blade to block, but the force pushed her backward, her boots carving deep grooves into the street.

She ducked a claw sweep, but the tail followed instantly.

BOOM!

She was launched into the air again, crashing heavily onto her knees as she landed. She caught herself with one trembling hand against the dirt.

I’m out of standard options...

The crocodilian stalked toward her, step by heavy step.

Seana stared at the dark blood dripping from her own wounded palms.

A sudden, radical thought sparked in her mind.

Wait...

Her crimson eyes sharpened.

I have the [Poison Resistance] passive...

She remembered the system property she had unlocked earlier. A crazy, desperate logic formed inside her head.

If my body naturally synthesizes and resists high-tier toxins... what happens if I run my Qi through my own blood to create a biological weapon?

It was insane. It was suicidal. But she had zero alternatives left.

Seana slowly raised her bleeding palm. She focused her remaining Qi, forcing it directly through her open veins.

Blood floated up from her hand—one drop, two drops, ten drops—hovering in the air before her.

She poured every ounce of her willpower into the crimson liquid.

The bright red blood began to darken, shifting into a deep, sinister maroon, then into a pitch-black crimson that radiated an unbearable, corrosive heat.

The surrounding air vibrated violently.

PING!

[Unique Trait Interaction Detected!]

[Passive Skill: Poison Resistance has merged with Active Technique: Crimson call.]

[Forming new technique...]

[TECHNIQUE CREATED!]

[Technique: Crimson Call - Third Form: Bloodbane]

[Effect: Infuses the user’s blood with concentrated Qi and passive Poison Resistance, transforming it into a highly corrosive biological essence. Upon striking a target, Bloodbane bypasses outer armor via open wounds, contaminating the target’s internal Qi circulation and causing exponential internal damage over time.]

Seana looked at the dark prompt, a cold, dangerous smile touching her blood-stained lips.

"So... that’s what I can do."

She raised the [Blood Moon Sword]. The black-crimson blood flowed onto the steel, coating the blade in a pulsating, dark vein-like lattice.

A terrifying, toxic aura radiated from the weapon.

The crocodile halted its advance. Its dark-green eyes narrowed in sudden, instinctual dread.

It felt danger.

Seana pointed the black-crimson blade at the monster’s chest. "Let’s see how much of this you can swallow."

BOOM!

She rushed forward at the exact same millisecond the beast charged!

Seana slid beneath its lunging claw, her body brushing past the razor-sharp talons, and swung her blade upward with every drop of energy she possessed!

SHING!!

The [Bloodbane]-coated steel sliced a deep, two-foot gash across the crocodilian’s chest.

For a single second, nothing happened.

The crocodile looked down at the wound in confusion.

Then, its entire thirty-meter frame violently convulsed!

ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAR!!

Black-crimson veins spread outward from the wound like a rapid fungal infection, blackening its green scales! The beast’s massive muscles spasmed uncontrollably as its internal Qi circulation clashed violently against the corrosive Bloodbane.

The crocodile slammed its claws into its own chest, shrieking in absolute agony as its internal organs began to dissolve.

Seana’s eyes widened in triumph. "It worked..."

She raised her blade to strike the final blow—

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

An apocalyptic, deep-green energy wave exploded from the crocodilian’s body!

The beast’s eyes turned pure, bloodthirsty Green as its survival instincts triggered a desperate, forced mutation!

Its muscles swelled exponentially. Its scales shifted, growing thicker and longer like jagged obsidian plates. Its thirty-meter frame began expanding at an alarming rate!

Thirty-five meters... Forty meters... Fifty meters!

The titan grew until its towering shadow completely swallowed the street, blocking out the crimson sky!

General Ashford’s face turned pale as ash. "What in God’s name...?!"

Nyren looked up in utter horror. "It’s mutating..."

ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAR!!

The fifty-meter titan’s roar generated a hurricane-force wind, forcing soldiers to their knees and shattering every piece of glass within five miles!

Seana looked up at the towering mountain of scales and muscle. For the first time since the apocalypse began, a sliver of true, helplessness appeared in her crimson eyes.

The fifty-meter monster raised its colossal, ten-ton foot directly above her head.

Seana’s body tensed. She tried to jump... but her Qi Core was completely empty. Her legs collapsed beneath her.

The massive foot descended like a falling mountain.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

Seana was smashed deep into the bedrock.

The asphalt shattered. The earth collapsed inward. A massive, twenty-foot deep crater formed beneath the titan’s foot.

"SEANA—!!" Ruth screamed, falling to her knees.

General Ashford turned ghost white. Nyren froze. On the rooftop, Oren could only stare in paralyzed despair.

The fifty-meter crocodile slowly lifted its foot, revealing a cloud of crushed rock and dust filling the crater.

Silence descended over the battlefield.

No movement. No sound.

Then—

PING!

[Host has reached the threshold for breakthrough...]

[Commencing Level-Up...]

[WARNING: Host’s physical frame has sustained catastrophic structural damage!]

[Bloodbane deactivating due to insufficient Qi reserves.]

[Target’s internal corruption is regressing...]

Deep within the dark, shattered crater, a faint, dying crimson glow flickered once.

Then, total silence.