The galleries of the Academy were back to work. Lessons resumed. Still there were more footsteps.
But the noise of moonlight here in this place was nothing but low hum.
Nclai was seated on the brink of his bed.
His jacket lay near by, in shreds. The collar was smeared with dried blood.
His ribs pained slightly under wrappings, but this was not what held him as still as breath.
It was something else.
Something inside.
Then…
Ding.
A tone like a pulse.
......
System Notification
Sync Ratio: 30.0 percent
System Status: Stable
Bloodline Codex – Chapter III Unlocked
Skill Upgrade Detected
System Prompt:
Blood Control becomes Sanguine Pulse
Upgrade Complete
Traits Unlocked:
• Micro-vein manipulation
• Targeted arterial bursts
• Area-thread saturation
New Path Awakened: Sanguine Domain
Locked
Unlock Requirement: Sync Ratio 45 percent
System Note: Instinct refinement required. Control must become an extension of self.
......
A rune unfurled in the air, soft red, circular, pulsing with light like a slow heartbeat.
His eyes locked onto it.
It shimmered.
It spoke.
......
Bloodline Codex – Chapter III
Subject: Niklaus Azrael, the First Vampire
......
"True blood does not flow. It listens."
Niklaus Azrael
......
There was once a man whose heartbeat was louder than death.
Niklaus Azrael. The origin. The Sovereign.
He did not feed for survival. He did not claw for power.
He spoke to blood, and blood answered.
He walked through wars and silenced them.
Not with teeth. Not with blades.
But with rhythm.
His power was not brutality. It was control.
......
From him came the understanding of Sanguine Pulse.
Not an evolution of Blood Control through force, but through harmony.
Where others bent blood, Niklaus invited it.
Where others pulled, he pulsed.
And the blood obeyed.
......
To dominate blood, he once said, is to become a tyrant.
But to pulse it… is to become a god to what lives inside.
The Sanguine Pulse is not merely a skill.
It is a state of being.
To wield it requires more than strength.
It demands precision of thought, stillness of spirit, and clarity of intent.
Blood does not resist the Pulse.
It joins it.
......
Micro-vein manipulationallows control of the smallest vessels within the body,
letting one redirect flow, seal wounds, or enhance regeneration without external aid.
Targeted arterial burstsfocus pressure into pinpoints,
rupturing blood at exact internal spots to injure or disable.
But this precision comes at a cost. Too much force rebounds.
Saturation of threadsacross an area creates an invisible web of presence,
able to detect motion and constrict targets with pre-laid bloodlines.
Pulse Detonationallows blood threads to be overcharged and made to explode outward,
both as offense and distraction, though each use strains the mind and risks backlash.
......
These techniques are not without danger.
Emotional instability, fear, rage, panic fractures the rhythm.
Prolonged use clouds the senses and leads to neural fatigue.
The Pulse is alive.
It does not forgive mistreatment.
It responds only when treated not as a weapon… but as an ally.
......
Path Unlocked: Sanguine Domain
Locked
Unlock Requirement: Sync Ratio 45 percent
Old records speak of a battlefield where Niklaus once made all blood flow to his will.
The air trembled with arterial threads.
The ground pulsed beneath his feet.
His enemies could not bleed…
Because their blood had already been claimed.
This was the Sanguine Domain.
To awaken it…
One must become their pulse. Fully. Irreversibly.
......
"The blood in your veins is not borrowed.
It is your signature. Let the world learn to read it."
Final inscription on the sealed tomb of Niklaus Azrael
......
The red light faded.
Nclai exhaled slowly, his eyes still fixed on the spot where the runes had pulsed.
He could feel it.
His blood...
Not raging.
Not burning.
But waiting.
Listening.
He brought a hand to his chest and closed his eyes.
He didn't need to fight harder.
He needed to pulse louder.
......