Supreme Bloodline Evolution System

Max did not smile.

He stopped in the air before the several dragons rushing toward him, watching the joy continue spreading across their faces as they recognized him. He wanted to share in their happiness, or at least give them the reaction they expected from their returning king, yet he could find nothing like that within himself.

Max attempted to force a smile, but the expression forming upon his lips appeared cold and sinister, as though he was looking down at enemies rather than his own people. He quickly gave up and allowed his face to become emotionless once again.

"It really is him! It’s the king!" shouted the first dragon who had rushed into the sky.

His voice quickly reached those below. The guards stationed upon the crystal walls noticed the commotion, and the uproar began spreading through Blackspire like fire through a dry forest, moving from one street to another without control.

Even the dragons working in the fields surrounding the city stopped what they were doing and raised their heads toward the sky. Deep relief washed over them as they recognized the black-scaled figure approaching their home.

If Max had truly died, they knew another war would follow. The four families had already begun turning against one another, and all their effort, along with the city that had become a living miracle in their eyes, could disappear once again.

"The Western Guard Squad greets Your Majesty!"

The dragons stopped before Max and pressed their fists firmly against their chests before lowering their heads.

"I’m back," Max said coldly.

His emotionless response caught the guards off guard, and several of them cautiously raised their heads. However, they quickly dismissed his strange behavior as exhaustion. Whatever had happened to Max must have been severe enough for the entire world to believe that he was dead.

"We heard..." One of the guards struggled to contain the relief in his voice. "We heard all those false rumors. Thank the dragon gods you are alive, Your Majesty."

None of them paid any attention to William, despite his bloodied body and the weakened woman held within his arms.

William smiled faintly.

Despite what Max had begun turning into, his people still loved him. They looked at him with relief and admiration rather than fear, and perhaps that love could help him regain control of himself.

Yet William could not silence the fear remaining in the back of his mind.

He had already seen what Max’s power had done to Britana. If another outbreak happened here, surrounded by nearly every remaining dragon family, Max could destroy all of them before anyone had the chance to escape.

William did not even wish to imagine it.

"The king is tired. Let us pass," he said while adjusting Senuna within his arms.

Senuna remained silent, her eyes fixed upon Max’s back. She had not looked away from him since learning what had happened to Caratacus and the capital.

"Yes, of course!"

The guards immediately flew aside, opening a path for Max and William to enter the crystal city.

William had never seen Blackspire before. Max had sent him to Britana as a diplomat before the city was built, leaving him with nothing except rumors about what had happened in his absence.

Now that he finally saw it, he could not hide his admiration.

Blackspire was a miracle he had never witnessed being created. William had heard stories claiming that Max had raised the city almost entirely through his own power, but even while looking at it now, he found that difficult to believe.

For the first time since their confrontation, William remembered why he had begun respecting Max in the first place.

No matter how much William once hated him, Max had taken their divided tribes and created something none of them could have built without him. He had given them a kingdom, a home, and the chance to become more than several families fighting over what little remained.

William admired Max for that.

Or perhaps he only admired the man Max used to be.

Max, however, felt nothing as he flew over Blackspire.

He looked down at the city he had built and the people celebrating his return, yet there was no pride, relief, or affection within him. His void heart continued beating coldly, ignoring everything that should have reminded him why he had fought so hard to create this kingdom.

His expression twisted.

Max struck his chest with his fist, directly above the place where his void heart continued pulsing beneath the black scales.

"Work already..." he muttered coldly.

He had returned home hoping that the sight of his people would awaken something within him, yet nothing had happened.

Max continued flying toward the citadel. Before he could reach it, two women rushed outside, their tear-filled eyes desperately searching the sky.

"Max!"

Rosalia and Agnia shouted his name at the same time before flying directly toward him. Neither of them slowed down as they threw themselves into his embrace, wrapping their arms around him so tightly that their bodies pushed him backward through the air.

"Max, it’s you, right?" Rosalia wept as she pressed herself against him. "It’s really you? I’m not dreaming?"

Agnia buried her face against his chest and breathed in his scent, as though she needed another way to confirm that the man within her arms was real.

"He smells like him..." she whispered through her tears. "It must be our Max."

Only after hearing that Max had died did Agnia understand how deeply she had come to love him. The news had nearly shattered her heart, leaving her unable to imagine continuing her life without him.

At her lowest point, she had even considered ending her own life.

Rosalia had been the one to pull her out of that darkness, reminding Agnia that the child growing inside her was Max’s legacy. She could no longer think only about her own pain when another life depended entirely upon her.

Those words forced Agnia to understand what it truly meant to become a mother.

Together, the two women had endured the loneliness left behind by Max’s death. Rosalia had suddenly been forced to carry the weight of a crown she had never expected to receive, while the rising tension between the four families threatened to tear apart everything Max had built.

Agnia remained beside her throughout it all, struggling with her pregnancy and grief while helping Rosalia keep control of a kingdom that no longer believed its king would return.

Now, the man they had mourned was standing within their arms.

Max’s void heart responded to their touch.

For one brief moment, something warm appeared within his chest.

His eyes widened as he felt it, faint but unmistakably real. The warmth began fading moments later, almost too quickly for him to hold onto it, yet it had been there.

Max tightened his arms around Rosalia and Agnia, pulling both women firmly against his body.

A faint smile slowly appeared upon his lips, so small that it was difficult to call it a smile at all. Unlike the sinister expression he had attempted to force before, this one came naturally.

"Yeah..." Max whispered before slowly kissing the top of each woman’s head. "I’m back."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!