Supreme Bloodline Evolution System

"Are you sad that I am not?" Max responded bluntly.

He stepped forward and attempted to pass her, but Senuna moved directly into his path, refusing to let him reach the throne room. Her green eyes trembled when they met his, while every hair across her body stood on end beneath the cold pressure spreading from the black mist around him.

"Why would you even say that?" she asked as she crossed her arms.

Her usual arrogance was nowhere to be seen. Every other time Senuna had spoken with Maximus, she had carried herself with the confidence of someone who believed she could control the conversation, but something about him felt different now. It was not merely the fact that he had returned from the dead, nor the bodies and empty armor covering the corridor behind him.

The way he looked at her had changed.

There was no anger in his eyes, no impatience, and not even the slightest concern over what she might think of the trail of slaughter he had left throughout the castle. Maximus simply watched her as though he were deciding whether she was worth walking around or if it would be easier to remove her with everyone else.

Senuna’s arms slowly lowered to her sides, but her feet remained where they were.

Kill her... She has always been too arrogant before you. She is nothing but another rock in your path waiting to be crushed.

Max grunted as the voice filled his head again, his face twisting with anger as he tried to force it back into silence. Black mist rolled from his shoulders and spread across the corridor, causing the remaining enchanted lights along the walls to flicker.

Senuna trembled when she saw his expression change. For a moment, she thought his anger was directed at her, but despite the fear spreading across her face, she remained planted before the throne room.

"Why are you protecting a king who is ready to sell you like a slut for his own profit?" Max asked, looking directly into her green eyes.

"What?"

Senuna’s gaze wavered. The fear upon her face was briefly replaced by confusion, as though his words had struck her harder than the pressure surrounding him.

"What are you even talking about?" she demanded. "Listen, Maximus, you need to calm down and come with me. Whatever happened to you, whatever danger you are in, I can help you. My king can—"

"Your king has already decided to sell you to me," Max interrupted coldly. "It seems you were the only person who did not know about it."

Senuna stared at him without speaking.

"He offered you and land inside Britana in exchange for my alliance," Max continued. "Then he promised that Britana would bow to Voidstar if I defeated the Imperial Court. You were part of the payment."

"That is not true."

"Then ask him."

Senuna glanced toward the closed doors behind her. The movement lasted only a second, but Max saw the doubt appear upon her face.

"Caratacus would not make such an agreement without speaking to me first," she said, although the confidence behind her words had already begun to weaken. "You misunderstood whatever he offered you."

"I understood him perfectly."

Max stepped closer, forcing Senuna to lift her head to continue meeting his eyes.

"And what help are you offering me now?" he asked. "The same kind he gave me before sending me away without a single warning about the true power of the Imperial Court and the Crimson Horde?"

"He did not send you to Frankindia. You chose to go there."

"He knew where I was going, and he knew what kind of enemies were waiting for me. Yet he stayed silent because my death would cost him nothing."

Senuna shook her head, but Max continued before she could defend the king again.

"If I somehow won, Britana would gain protection from Voidstar. If I died, the Imperial Court would lose one of its enemies, and Caratacus could pretend he had never promised me anything. Either result benefited him."

"You do not know that."

"I know that Augustus destroyed my heart while your king sat safely inside this castle."

The darkness around Max grew thicker, crawling across the walls and ceiling as his anger fed the Void Heart. Several thin streams slipped beneath the throne room doors, searching for the mana waiting on the other side.

Senuna noticed them and spread her arms, placing herself more firmly between Max and the entrance.

"Move."

"No, Maximus."

"Your king tried to purchase his future with your body and my life. Why are you still protecting him?"

"Because I will not stand aside while you murder someone based upon whatever your anger is telling you."

Max’s eyes darkened.

"My anger is not the one telling me to kill him."

Senuna froze as the voice whispered inside his head once more.

Her king betrayed her. Let her watch him die, then take her soul as well.

Max clenched one hand until his claws cut into his palm.

"But if Caratacus truly wants to help me," he said, taking another step toward the throne room, "he can start by using his life to quench my thirst for revenge."

Senuna remained between Max and the throne room, even as the void magic crawling across the walls gathered around her feet.

"You are not going inside like this," she said.

"Then I will have to kill you."

"Do whatever you want to me, Maximus. I am not moving."

Max lifted one hand.

Black mist shot across the small distance between them and wrapped around Senuna’s arms, waist, and throat. Her feet left the floor as the void magic lifted her into the air, holding her directly before him.

Senuna struggled against it, but the black mist tightened every time she moved. The mana stored inside her body began leaking through her skin, forming streams of pale green light that flowed toward Max and disappeared inside his chest.

Her face immediately lost some of its color.

Take everything. She chose to stand against you.

Senuna cried out as more mana was torn from her body. The enchantments covering her clothing flickered before going dark, while the strength inside her arms disappeared, leaving them hanging beside her without resistance.

More. Empty her.

Max could feel the Death Bloodline reaching toward Senuna’s lifeforce. It moved through the void magic wrapped around her body, searching beneath her mana and flesh for the soul hidden deeper inside.

The voice grew excited the moment it found it.

There. Take it.

Senuna’s breathing weakened. Her eyelids began to fall, but she forced them open and continued looking at Max.

The void magic passed through Senuna’s chest.

Her body jerked as a faint outline began separating from her skin. Max felt the warmth of her soul touching his magic, waiting only for him to pull it free.

For several seconds, he wanted to do it.

The new heart inside his chest spun faster, spreading its hunger through his body and demanding that he finish what he had started.

She is nothing. Take her.

Max’s fingers slowly closed.

Then he remembered the first time she had stood before him without fear, speaking with the same arrogance that had irritated him from the moment they met.

The void magic stopped.

Why are you hesitating?

"Because I decide who dies."

You need her soul.

"I need nothing from her."

The voice pushed harder against his mind, causing pain to spread behind his eyes. Max grunted and pressed one hand against the side of his head as the Void Heart attempted to continue draining Senuna without his permission.

Kill her.

"No."

The word shook the corridor.

Max forced the void magic away from her soul, stopping the drain before it could damage her Magic Soul or mana container, or begin consuming her lifeforce.

Senuna’s eyes closed.

Her unconscious body fell from the air, but Max caught her in his arms.

Weak.

He did not reply to the voice this time.

It became quiet, though Max could still feel its anger moving through the new heart.

He looked down at Senuna for another moment. Killing her would have removed the last obstacle between him and Caratacus, yet something inside him had refused to allow the void magic to take her life.

Max placed her gently upon the ground.

"Sor—"

He stopped himself before the word could leave his mouth and turned toward the throne room.

Void magic gathered around his arm before striking the doors and throwing them open.

Caratacus sat alone near the center of the room.

The king had moved away from his throne and taken a seat at a small wooden table. Another chair waited across from him, while an unopened bottle of wine and two empty cups rested between them.

Caratacus showed no fear when Max entered. His hands rested upon the table, his breathing remained calm, and not even the sound of the doors breaking changed his expression.

The man appeared as calm as a lake untouched by wind.

"I imagine you came here to take my life."

Max walked toward him as void magic spread across the floor.

Caratacus gestured toward the empty chair.

"Before you kill me, Maximus, sit down. We should talk."

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