Supreme Bloodline Evolution System

Max did not take the offered seat and remained standing where he was. It felt safer this way, not for himself, but for Caratacus, whom he had come to kill today, because he could not tell when he might snap and end the man before he even finished speaking.

"I’m fine, thank you."

Caratacus smiled at Max’s refusal. He could see the darkness deep inside his eyes, and although something very wrong had clearly happened to the King of Voidstar, no matter how hard he tried to understand it, he could not tell whether this was still the same person or something else controlling his body.

"I believe you will find this amusing," Caratacus said, "but the two men who killed you are merely servants in a much larger world."

Void magic began creeping from Max’s fingers and sliding toward Caratacus. It climbed along his spine before wrapping around his neck, surrounding it with enough suffocating pressure to remind the king that his life could end at any moment.

"Explain."

Caratacus glanced at him and took another sip of wine, his youthful eyes showing no fear whatsoever.

"Long ago, when I was still a boy, my father attended the Summit of the Rulers. He left Britana wearing his crown and believing the Imperial Court stood above every human power in this part of the world, but when he returned, he began preparing me to inherit that crown."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Max said coldly.

Britana’s king sighed heavily, his gaze drifting away for the first time as he remembered something that had been buried for many years.

"Before leaving, he had never once considered allowing me anywhere near his throne. Even on the day he died of old age, I had to pry the crown from his rotting fingers because the fool tried to take it into the grave with him."

A soft smile spread across his lips.

The void began drawing mana from Caratacus.

"You are wasting my time."

Max felt the voice inside his head stir as an unexplainable thirst for death rose with it. He fought against the desire with all his remaining will, because despite what he had become and the claims that his new heart contained nothing but void, something inside him remained human enough to keep Caratacus alive until he finished speaking.

"I can only tell you what he told me," Caratacus said. "If you want lies, I can invent names and kingdoms until your magic reaches my heart."

"Stop stalling. You won’t leave here alive anyway."

A laugh slipped from the king’s lips.

"Right..."

He closed his eyes for a moment before continuing.

"My father returned nineteen days after leaving. He took no guards with him, but three Imperial Court envoys escorted him back. They never entered our capital, and according to the guards at the gates, my father had been stripped naked and left outside for his own people to witness."

"What happened to him?"

"He locked himself inside this room for seven days. My mother claimed he was sleeping, but I heard him walking every night, and sometimes he spoke to people who were not there."

Caratacus’s smile widened slightly as the void tightened around his ribs.

"I was twelve. I crawled through one of the servant passages and watched him through a small opening in the wall. He had covered every mirror inside the room, but he kept staring at them anyway."

"What did he see?"

"Something that had followed him home."

Max’s pupils narrowed.

"He claimed there was nothing inside the mirrors," Caratacus continued. "One night, he woke up screaming that his reflection no longer had a shadow."

Void magic crawled beneath the king’s clothes and reached his mana container. Caratacus coughed as it began slowly draining him, but he continued before Max needed to force him.

"On the eighth morning, he called me here and placed three objects before me. The first was an iron coin, the second was a lump of melted gold, and the last was a piece of white stone he had brought back from the Summit."

The table between them had been replaced many years later, yet Caratacus continued looking at its surface as though he could still see those objects resting there.

"He pointed at the iron coin and told me Britana was small enough to sacrifice. He pointed at the gold and said empires could be offended when the reward justified the blood. Then he touched the white stone."

"What was it?"

"I don’t know. It looked ordinary until he touched it, but the moment his fingers reached its surface, every flame inside the castle went out and something looked at us from very far away."

Max’s void magic stopped for the briefest moment.

"There was no face," Caratacus continued. "There was only pressure. My father fell from his chair and forced my head against the floor until my forehead bled. He begged me not to look upward, even though there was nothing above us except the ceiling."

"What did he call it?"

"He didn’t."

Max pulled harder upon the king’s mana container, opening small cracks across its surface.

Caratacus’s body jerked, but no scream left him. His voice weakened and forced him to pause between breaths, yet the smile never disappeared from his face.

"He told me that some powers could be insulted, challenged, or even destroyed if a king chose the correct moment. Others must never be allowed to learn your name. The Imperial Court and the Crimson Horde belonged to the first kind."

"And the stone?"

"The second."

Kill him already... He’s useless to us. Faster...

Max ignored the voice, although the void continued consuming Caratacus’s strength.

"You said Augustus was a servant."

"My father saw him at the Summit."

The answer came immediately.

"He saw Augustus standing below a staircase with the Crimson Horde Emperor and four rulers he did not recognize. None of them wore crowns, none were allowed to carry weapons, and all of them remained upon their knees while something descended from above."

"What?"

"My father could never describe it the same way twice. Once, he called it a woman made from sunlight. Another time, he claimed it had no body and wore the dead as clothing. Before he died, he insisted it had been an empty throne moving down the stairs."

Max tightened his grip.

Caratacus’s ribs cracked beneath the pressure of the void magic, but he only released a low grunt before continuing.

"Whatever descended gave Augustus an order. The Imperial Court surrendered three cities before the following winter, and every person living inside them disappeared. There was no battle and no refugees ever reached Britana. The cities were simply emptied."

"Why?"

"My father believed they were payment."

"For what?"

"That is where his knowledge ended."

Max pulled Caratacus closer until their faces were only inches apart.

"You expect me to believe Augustus gave away his own people because something told him to?"

"I expect nothing from you, Maximus. I am already dead."

The words were spoken calmly. Caratacus had understood his fate before Max entered the room, and nothing he said was intended to save his life.

"The Crimson Horde and the Imperial Court have fought for generations," he continued. "They burn each other’s lands, steal cities, and send hundreds of thousands of people to die, yet whenever an order connected to the Summit arrives, both emperors obey it."

"You’ve seen one?"

"Once."

Caratacus’s remaining hand slowly moved toward his collar. Max allowed it, watching as the king pulled out a thin golden chain holding a small piece of white stone.

It appeared smooth and completely ordinary.

The Void Heart stopped.

Every sound vanished from the room, while even the voice inside Max’s head disappeared so completely that it felt as if it had never existed.

Then the stone cracked.

Max’s heart resumed with enough force to shake the floor.

Caratacus looked down at the broken object and laughed softly.

"It reacted more strongly to you than it ever did to my father."

Max ripped the chain from his neck and caught the stone before it fell.

The two fragments felt cold inside his palm, yet no mana existed within them. His void magic circled the pieces without touching their surface, almost as though it could not understand what they were.

"What does this have to do with the Summit?"

"It arrived shortly before you first came to me."

Max froze.

"Yes. I was ordered to either face the annihilation of my kingdom or guide you toward your death. That is why two ancient enemies came for you together. Someone out there, something far more powerful than either empire, wants you dead."

Caratacus’s smile became sharp and almost mad.

"So why are you standing here, killing the man who was forced to lead you into their trap? Maximus, just who the hell are you to become the enemy of the powers ruling this world?"

For the first time since meeting Caratacus, Max saw the man lose his composure as anger twisted his usually calm expression.

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