老师你夹得好紧好爽放荡

While the black stones began to flow through the small orb, Nikolai\'s mind became blank the feelings towards the dark hound and his anger towards the Faust Clan vanished. He couldn\'t care about those people as the sounds of the arena became distant.

\'It hurts... I can\'t breathe.... what\'s happening....\'

[Nikolai? What\'s wrong?!]

No matter how she spoke, their connection seemed interrupted.

The moment those black blood crystals entered his heart, the small orb that contained his Lupus Diabolus bloodline, Nikolai couldn\'t feel anything—his felt cold as the world became distant. It seemed like he was the one who died.

Ba-dump~

Ba-dump~

His two hearts beat slower, with a powerful force as if they were trying to force his blood to keep flowing in their dying moments. The strange crystal caused his energy to turn black, as if all sources of life began fading inside him.

"Ha....Ugh...I can taste blood... Urk..."

To others, there was a brief break before the final match, and it seemed Nikolai was just resting on his knee after overdrawing his power.

A common thing in the arena was that they began to beg against him.

\'What\'s happening...?\'

[What do you seek, child of evil?] A voice different from Eliza, yet still echoed within his mind, the male voice was low and sounded like the growl of a beast.

\'I don\'t understand!\'

There was no answer, as Nikolai\'s ears could hear the distant voice of Queen Tsukino, like whispers in the distance. He felt confused and conflicted about the situation... His body was sluggish and slow, his fingers cold and hard to move.

\'I feel like a corpse...\' He couldn\'t move his mouth well... there was a feeling of something wet and warm leaking from it, and it made him feel disgusting—the sweet copper taste made him almost gag.

[What do you seek, child of evil?] Once again, the voice sounded, this time more violent, and the growl deeper as if losing patience.

\'What do I seek...\' He tried to think, power, riches, eternal life? None of them felt important to him... the faces of Selene and Nikita flashed through his mind, and the feeling of being inferior to them. He knew he couldn\'t catch up to them easily because of their heritage. \'I started to slow, even with this power... The distance feels too much...\'

Nikolai felt conflicted. He didn\'t know which was the right answer; what if this was all in his mind? Was he already dead... Maybe he lost to the Dark Hound and was just watching memories before death? He felt so many thoughts. The time outside seemed to crawl as if the world was forgetting him.

[I See your heart, your feelings and the desires you keep locked deep within your chest] A unique voice, no longer angry. It was like a pleased beast, the wolf\'s growl lacking the same feeling before a strange jolt of pain filled the body of Nikolai.

[Your thoughts reminded me of her... If only she carried the same blood. I will grant your wish, My Heir and dear descendant]

Baa-Dump!?

The black sphere... a place in Nikolai\'s chest where the Lupus Diabolus bloodline lingered as if stagnant, only moving or beating like a small heart when he activated the black blood of the evil god.

Yet now... it was beating, in synchronisation with the other two hearts, the trio forming a fierce and powerful melody of three powerful thumps, his blood pumping faster.

"Aghu.... Ngh....?!"

The blockages in his Vermillion and Celestial veins cleared as the black crystals turned to dust, forming small amounts of the black blood.

Nikolai\'s purple became a beautiful amethyst colour as if purified and perfected, thanks to the addition of the black blood.

Then it slowly changed until it became a beautiful shade of black, the heart also changing colour, now with glistening bits of vermillion and blue inside the blood and along the surface of his third heart.

One Blue pumping his Celestial bloodline

One Red pumping his Vermillion bloodline

One Black pumping his Evil God bloodline

Two that created his aura and essence, then one that purified, perfected and manipulated them.

All of them mixed as his body slowly began to writhe and transform. His muscles tore apart, his lips parting with threads of saliva as he screamed silently in the centre of the arena.

Nikolai understood the wish that was granted. His body was being transformed... All the disgusting impurities from growing as a human for over twenty-five years were being cleared from him. It felt like someone took a sharp blade and began to carve and gouge all the dirt and filth from his body. He felt his blood, aura and power transforming rapidly.

\'What\'s happening to me...\'

[Your blood... why is it so pure?! How did it become like this....] Elizabeth\'s voice whispered to herself as she could feel it the reason he wasn\'t treated like an equal by the other vampires and monsters was because of his faint scent that was pure but weak.

[What happened?]

***

In the centre of the arena, he struggled to endure the sudden pain. All the people were watching the queen of spiders, while an elderly man watched the boys change from victory, a smile of joy, a feeling of death and now... His vibrant and painful rebirth.

"I see... that boy, he truly is special." The old man\'s eyes shone. He then started writing a letter on some elegant paper and handed the black and red envelope to his butler. "Pass this to our clan, Heir, when he awakens tomorrow."

The butler\'s face looked stunned. However, he soon corrected himself, bowing. He took the letter and watched the young man with a more focused gaze. "Is he in pain, My Lord?"

"Yes... It seems that the Volkov family truly did have links to the divine. His blood purity felt like a lesser noble. Yet, can you feel it now? That is clearly a Royal, the bloodline of my beloved daughter I smell it from here. Something is special about that boy, Alfred."

"Shall I place a bet on the boy?" The butler\'s eyes shone, with a smirk appearing on his lips.

"Bet 10,000 Coins and give the earnings to that boy, but he might refuse them upfront, so send them anonymously. We shall watch him from afar, I do not wish to make the same mistake I did with Elizabeth, Alfred... Now that Margret is gone, this feels like my final chance for redemption."

"Understood, My Lord."

Meanwhile, Queen Tsukino\'s atmosphere became brilliant and filled with delight as she once again started to entice the crowd with her Findom persona. She lowered her body to a few metres from the arena and pointed to the cage with a brilliant smile.

"Now~ without further a due! Let\'s introduce the final contestant and see who our little hero will be fighting this time!"

Woosh!

With a loud crack, once again the gates slammed down with a metallic clang, the cogs seeming to have been oiled as the figure stepped from the darkness. She had a beautiful face with long flowing hair. Her eyes were filled with life, and she walked with an alluring sway.

Mari Yamamoto, with her short stature, looked like a fairy—with a jet black bob haircut and expressive eyes, she entered the arena with an eastern blade in her hand, a wakizashi with a crimson sheath and the Faust Emblem engraved at the centre.

"It\'s been a while, Nikolai." Despite having a beautiful voice, it was empty... eerie, and felt a little strange to his ears, different from the mocking tone of the party and when they were lovers. It felt like someone recorded a voice and let it play.

Even her gaze felt strange to him—it was expressive. Yet, in the depths, there was no life. She felt like a walking corpse.

"Ah, it\'s been a while. If you don\'t count the hotel..."

\'She was never like this before—Mari was bright, bubbly and full of energy. She would never appear this gloomy and eerie... It\'s almost like someone is wearing her body.\'

The atmosphere felt bizarre, with her cold gaze and Nikolai no longer feeling the same feelings. They just stared at each other as if waiting for the countdown to reach zero.

"I killed Daiki."

"He was the failed work of our master and suffered in agony. You probably saved him."

"..."

"Nikolai, I will kill you." A voice without emotion or the feelings you might feel from anger, rage or revenge. It was like someone announcing they would have tomato sauce on their burger, nothing more or less.

"Haha, is there a reason you have to kill me?"

Nikolai\'s grudge and hatred began to fade from the moment he met Selene. His heart and thoughts began changing—the more he spoke and interacted with her and Nikita, the less the past mattered.

He tried to keep his face straight as the feeling of pain inside his body began to lessen, and the disgusting taste of the sickly sweet copper blood had already been vomited before she appeared.

"No, the master said to kill you. So I shall kill you."

"Understood, then I guess I will kill you too."

\'What is the point in all this? Does the Faust family want me dead because of Selene, but why use Daiki and Mari to do it? Did they think I would break down after killing my first love?\'

"You can\'t beat me. You are inferior."

"Really, even without emotions, you don\'t seem to have changed, Mari... Haha."

[Is this the girl that hurt you, Nikolai?]

\'Ah... The one that ruined my life, mother.\'

[Yet you don\'t hate her?]

\'Because I have you, Nikita and Selene, why would I care about this woman now?\'

[She isn\'t alive... So you can only destroy her...]

Nikolai held a hunch at seeing Daiki and the Hound... He knew that the study of Alchemy was closely related to necromancy thanks to the book from Mistress Zara.

[You are learning so fast about this world that mother worries she will become useless...]

[That\'s right... Mari Yamamoto is long dead. The girl before you is a homunculus created using the remnants of her soul.]

\'...a homunculus can use other people\'s souls?\'

At that moment, the battle and countdown close to zero lost all meaning to Nikolai, Daiki, and Mari. Neither of them mattered because he heard something that added to his hope.

If a soul could be added to a homunculus, then would his mother\'s soul attached to this necklace be something he could use to bring her back one day?

\'Let\'s not get carried away, baby steps... In the future, I can learn all of this. For now, let\'s end this karma I share with my past.\'

"Forgive me, Mari, but I am going to end you."