Chapter 485: Bloodlust V

Once the enemies were gone, his hunger would look for the next source.

He had already experienced that when Lily’s heartbeat briefly caught his attention earlier.

At more than one hundred percent Bloodlust, he did not trust himself to stop the same thing happening again.

The System displayed another warning.

[Host Bloodlust: 117%.

System control assistance nearing failure.]

Sekhmet looked toward the ground.

Blood everywhere.

He raised one hand.

Every loose drop within dozens of feet suddenly moved.

Elena tensed.

The blood rose from the courtyard.

It came from broken stone, shattered weapons, damaged walls, and the clothes of fallen enemies. Hundreds of crimson streams lifted into the air at once.

Battle maids stopped moving.

Raka looked toward Sekhmet.

Even the lesser vampires became quiet.

The blood gathered above Sekhmet.

A huge crimson sphere slowly formed.

Sekhmet stared at it. His breathing became heavier. He could drink all of it.

The thought came instantly.

He forced his hand closed instead. The sphere compressed.

Sekhmet was trying to channel the Bloodlust through Blood Control instead of feeding it.

For a moment, it helped.

Then the System rang again.

[Host Bloodlust: 120%.

Critical Warning.

Bloodlust has exceeded safe measurable threshold.

The system cannot currently reduce Bloodlust.

The host must find an external method to release, redirect, consume, or stabilize Blood God Will.]

Sekhmet’s eyes narrowed.

One hundred twenty percent.

He had gone beyond the maximum he originally thought existed.

And it was no longer falling.

Elena heard his breathing and looked at him carefully.

"How bad?"

Sekhmet answered after several seconds.

"Bad enough."

Elena stared at him.

"That sounds serious."

"It is."

Several steps away, Natasha heard that.

Her expression changed immediately.

She looked toward Sofia.

Sofia was already looking at her.

The two ancient vampires became very quiet.

Then Natasha said something low enough that most people would not have heard it.

"This is what the old stories meant."

Sofia’s face remained serious.

"It could be."

"He used the Blood God power three times."

"I know."

Natasha looked at Sekhmet’s crimson eyes.

"And then he drank the blood of a God..."

Sofia slowly nodded.

"That would push it further."

Elena turned toward them.

She had heard every word.

"What are you talking about?"

Neither woman answered immediately.

Elena stepped toward them.

"You two know what is happening to him?"

Sofia looked at Natasha.

Natasha looked back at her.

For once, neither seemed eager to speak.

Elena’s expression hardened.

"What happens when Bloodlust goes beyond one hundred percent?"

Sofia finally opened her mouth.

"There are old stories about this."

Elena turned toward her immediately.

"What kind of stories?"

Sofia did not answer at once. Her eyes stayed on Sekhmet.

He remained several meters away from them with the huge sphere of blood floating above his head. Hundreds of streams had already been compressed into that one crimson mass. The blood came from the dead, the wounded, and the broken courtyard around them, yet Sekhmet was not drinking any of it.

That was the only reassuring part.

Everything else about him was becoming worse.

His eyes were completely crimson. His breathing was slow, but every breath sounded forced, as though he was using all of his concentration simply to remain where he stood. The pressure around him rose and fell with every heartbeat. Sometimes the large sphere of blood above him trembled without any movement from his fingers.

Sekhmet was controlling it.

But not completely.

Sofia finally said, "Stories from the oldest vampire clans. They were already ancient when Natasha and I were young."

Natasha gave her a quick look.

"You are making us sound old."

Sofia stared at her.

"We are thousands of years old."

"That does not mean you need to say it like that."

Under any other circumstances, Elena might have reacted to the strange argument.

She did not now.

"Continue."

Sofia became serious again.

"The stories were about people who came into contact with extremely pure Blood God power. Some were vampires. Some claimed to be descendants. Some were followers who received a small portion of that power. Most of the stories contradicted each other, so we never knew how much was real."

Natasha looked toward Sekhmet.

"But there was one thing several stories agreed on."

Elena waited.

"When that blood power became too strong for the person’s mind, they could enter a state where the desire for blood became impossible to control."

Elena glanced at the dead body of Stephen.

"That part is clearly real."

Sofia nodded.

"The old stories called it many different things. Blood Madness. Crimson Hunger. Red Desire. Some simply called it Bloodlust."

Natasha added, "The name probably changed depending on which vampire family told the story."

"What did they do about it?" Elena asked.

Sofia took a slow breath.

"They released it."

Elena’s expression hardened.

"By killing?"

"Sometimes."

Natasha continued, "Killing, fighting, and drinking blood were the most common methods in the stories. If the person had enough enemies around them, they could direct the hunger at those enemies until the state weakened."

Elena looked back at Stephen’s corpse.

"He killed him."

"Yes."

"He drank from him."

"Yes."

"And his bloodlust still increased."

Sofia’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"That is why I am worried."

Natasha looked toward the blood still covering Sekhmet’s mouth.

"Stephen was not ordinary prey. He was a Mid-Rank God. Sekhmet drank a large amount of divine blood while he was already in that state. Instead of satisfying the hunger, it may have fed whatever Blood God power is currently moving inside him."

Elena’s face became more serious.

She remembered what Sekhmet had told her only moments earlier.

Something called Bloodlust should not have been able to exceed one hundred percent in the first place.

Yet his had.

And it was still increasing.

"What happens if it continues?" Elena asked.

Sofia slowly shook her head.

"I do not know."

Elena’s eyes narrowed.

"You just said there are stories."

"Stories, yes. Reliable records, no."

Natasha sighed.

"The people who supposedly reached that state were not exactly known for sitting down afterward and writing a detailed report about their feelings."