Chapter 73: You will be training 24 hours a day.
Serafall didn’t imdiately answer his question, at least not with words. Instead, she simply moved, and that movent, however simple, brought back that strange feeling that had begun to fill the air since the suitcases were opened.
The blood around her reacted first, as it always did, flowing almost organically through the air, forming thin threads that extended to the four suitcases scattered on the floor. Without even touching them directly, she lifted them, aligning them in front of her with absolute precision, as if every inch of space were under her control.
The gesture showed no apparent effort, no tension, no hesitation. It was too natural. And that, in itself, said much more than any explanation.
anwhile, Victor was still on the floor, his body too heavy to imdiately respond to his own will to get up, his chest rising and falling at a rate that hadn’t yet returned to normal. It was at that mont that sothing entered his field of vision, and he turned his head slightly to identify what it was, his eyes still half-closed from exhaustion.
Scarlet was beside him, holding a water bottle, her expression neutral, but her gaze attentive enough to perceive exactly the state he was in.
"Drink it all," she said, extending the bottle without ceremony, but also without rudeness, like soone who already knew that this wasn’t a request.
Victor didn’t argue. He took the bottle with a slow, almost heavy movent, as if even his fingers needed effort to respond, and then brought it to his mouth, drinking without pausing.
The water went down almost violently, his body reacting imdiately to the replenishnt, each gulp seeming to awaken sothing within him that had been completely drained during training.
He didn’t stop until the bottle was completely empty, and only then did he let out a longer sigh, letting his head fall to the side again for a mont.
"...I needed this," she murmured, her voice still hoarse, but a little more steady than before.
Scarlet simply nodded slightly, crossing her arms imdiately afterward, her gaze returning to Serafall, as if she too were waiting for what would co next.
Serafall, in turn, finally decided to speak.
"There’s no point in training conventionally," she began, her voice calm, but carrying a weight that imdiately demanded attention, "if you want to excel in the Blood Ascension." She paused briefly, as if organizing her thoughts, although it was evident that she already knew exactly what she was saying. "Besides, the stronger you are now... the more you will gain when you drink the primordial blood."
Victor turned his face toward her, still on the ground, but now more attentive, even though his body hadn’t fully recovered yet. There was sothing different in her tone this ti. Less provocation. More... genuine intent.
"I want to take your body beyond its natural limits," Serafall continued, her eyes fixed on him, "beyond the supernatural, even." She tilted her head slightly, as if assessing him again, but now in a more technical, colder way. "Because during the Ascension... you undergo the first bodily reconstruction."
Victor frowned slightly, still processing.
"Reconstruction...?" he repeated, his voice low.
Serafall nodded.
"A vampire’s body isn’t complete before that," she explained, now more clearly, like soone finally putting the pieces together for him. "Until that mont, you are just... incomplete structures. Functional, yes. Strong, perhaps. But incomplete." She paused briefly before continuing, her eyes narrowing slightly. "During the Ascension, the blood rewrites the body. Rebuilds. Amplifies. Defines."
Victor remained silent.
"It’s at this mont that you gain your signature ability," she finished.
His gaze shifted slightly.
Interest.
Curiosity.
"Like...?" he questioned, now trying to support himself with his arms to partially lift his torso, even though it was still a visible effort.
Serafall didn’t take long to answer.
"Eleonora Thorne," she said directly. "Gravity manipulation."
Victor blinked once.
"Gravity...?" he repeated, as if testing the word.
"Yes," Serafall confird, without any exaggeration. "She can increase, decrease, reverse... distort. All within a range defined by her own ability." There was a slight pause before she continued. "This isn’t sothing learned. It’s not trained. It’s... awakened."
Victor remained silent for a few seconds, absorbing it all.
Serafall continued.
"But it’s not just about physical strength," she said, now with a slightly deeper, more conceptual tone. "Everything in this world... derives from blood."
Victor raised his gaze slightly.
"Everything?" he asked.
"Everything," she repeated, without hesitation. "Everything that lives. Everything that moves. Everything that exists within an organic system." She made a small gesture with her hand, and the blood around her responded, rippling slightly in the air. "Blood is energy. And unlike other forms of energy... it doesn’t run out. It circulates. It transforms. It adapts."
Victor watched.
Now attentive.
"That’s why vampires are naturally superior in this aspect," she continued. "Because we are closer to it than any other race. We don’t just use blood... we understand it."
She paused, then added:
"And that includes magic."
Victor frowned again.
"Magic?" he repeated.
"Magic is the concentration of energy," she replied imdiately. "And if blood is energy..." She left the sentence unfinished for a second.
Victor finished it for her, almost automatically.
"...then everything is blood."
Serafall smiled slightly.
"Exactly."
The silence that followed wasn’t uncomfortable.
It was... dense.
Full of aning.
But then—
She moved again.
A simple gesture with her hand.
And the training dummy positioned a few ters away simply—
It broke apart.
There was no initial sound.
No warning.
Just invisible lines that appeared for an instant and disappeared imdiately afterward, as if they had never existed.
And then—
The dummy’s body responded.
Cuts.
From all sides.
From all directions.
Fragnts fell erratically, as if struck simultaneously by sothing impossible to track.
Victor’s eyes widened slightly.
"...What was that?" he asked, now fully attentive.
"My technique," Serafall replied simply.
She raised two fingers slightly.
"I have two types of cut," she began, explaining naturally. "The first... is this. A projected cut. Invisible. Multidirectional. It hits the target from all possible directions at the sa ti."
Victor was still looking at the remains of the puppet.
"And the second?" he asked.
Serafall lowered her hand.
"The second... requires contact," she said. "But in return... it adapts."
Victor turned his gaze to her.
"Adapts?"
"To the target’s resistance. To the energy. To the structure," she explained calmly. "It understands what it’s cutting... and responds accordingly."
There was a pause.
"It’s unique," ????she finished. "Only I have it."
Victor was silent for a few seconds.
"Do you know the limit of this?" he asked.
Serafall shrugged slightly.
"No," she replied, without any problem admitting it. "And that’s exactly why it works."
He chuckled softly.
"That’s... kind of absurd."
"It is," she agreed.
He then asked the inevitable question.
"Can this be inherited?"
Serafall tilted her head slightly.
"It can," she replied. "But it’s rare."
Victor waited.
"All of this cos from the activation of third-level blood," she explained. "And this..." she gave a slight, wry smile, "...is basically a casino."
Victor sighed.
"Great," he murmured. "So besides everything else... it still depends on luck."
"It depends on potential," she corrected.
He didn’t argue. He simply accepted.
And then—
He returned to the starting point.
The suitcases.
"So..." he said, finally, looking at them again, "these things here...?"
Serafall didn’t answer with words this ti.
She simply opened them.
One by one.
The contents were slowly revealed.
Two bracelets.
Two anklets.
Nothing extravagant at first glance.
But—
The presence.
That sa heavy feeling.
Concentrated.
Condensed.
As if each of those pieces carried sothing that shouldn’t be touched casually.
Serafall looked at him.
And smiled.
This ti—
Without hiding anything.
"You’re going to train," she said.
A pause.
Short.
But enough.
"Twenty-four hours a day."
Victor didn’t react imdiately.
"Over the next few months," she continued, keeping her gaze fixed on him, "until Ascension Day."
Another pause.
"Six months."
The silence that followed was absolute.
Victor blinked once.
Twice.
And then he let out a long sigh, looking at the sky as if trying to find so kind of answer there.
"...I really should have read the terms," he murmured, without any strength to truly protest.
But, deep down—
He already knew.
It wasn’t a choice.
It was a path.
And he was already on it.
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