Rain lashed against the stained-glass windows of the Grand Hall of Ceremonies, turning the outside landscape into a hostile, gray blur. Inside, the atmosphere was no warmer. Lucian Kaito Blackwood stood at the center of the runic stone circle, shoulders hunched, feeling the weight of hundreds of contemptuous gazes pressing down on the back of his neck.
He was the "Zero." The discard. The son of a liaison the Blackwood Patriarch would rather have forgotten, with a Japanese servant whose only legacy was a foreign name and a complexion slightly darker than that of Albion's aristocrats.
"Present your arm, trash," spat the High Priest, whose immaculate silk robes seemed like an insult beside Lucian's ragged figure.
Lucian obeyed. His hands trembled slightly—not from fear, but from a dull, ancient hunger he could not explain. Since birth, he had felt this void. A sensation of lack, as if a vital piece of him were missing.
The officiant raised an obsidian dagger engraved with mana-detection runes. With a sharp motion, he sliced into Lucian's wrist.
A leaden silence fell. In the world of Eldoria, an Awakener's blood reacted instantly upon contact with obsidian. It was supposed to glow, turning sapphire blue for mages or blazing red for warriors.
Lucian's blood flowed—dark, thick, desperately red. It stained the ritual stone without the slightest glow. Not a spark. Not the faintest ripple of mana.
"Level zero," announced the Priest with undisguised disgust. "No affinity. No potential. You are nothing but an empty conduit, Lucian. Dead weight for the Blackwood lineage."
A sharp laugh rang out from the platform reserved for the family. Alistair, Lucian's half-brother—a fire prodigy whose aura already crackled with confidence—rose to his feet.
"Father, why waste any more time?" Alistair said, adjusting his leather gloves. "The family laws are clear. A Null cannot soil the grounds of the estate. Since he's so useless, send him with the supply unit to the Galthar Ruins expedition. If he dies, at least he'll serve as a meat shield."
The Patriarch did not even deign to look at Lucian. He merely nodded.
"So be it. Out of my sight."
The cold of the Galthar Ruins was different from the cold of the rain. It rose from the ground itself, an ancient bite that seemed intent on devouring life.
Three days later, Lucian trudged through the mud, burdened with two massive packs of provisions. Ahead of him, Alistair's elite unit advanced with insulting arrogance, clearing minor monsters with flamboyant spells.
"Move faster, slave!" one of the guards shouted, striking Lucian in the lower back with the sheath of his sword.
Lucian collapsed, his face slamming into the black earth of the ruins. His knees were bleeding, his fingers numb with cold. He clenched his teeth, eyes fixed on a shattered altar emerging from the brambles a few meters away. The altar depicted a female figure whose eyes had been hammered out, yet whose hands remained outstretched in a gesture of supplication—or of curse.
"Look at him, he can't even crawl anymore," Alistair sneered as he approached. "You know, Lucian, I've always hated the idea that we share the same blood. Even if mine is pure and yours is tainted, it's still a stain on my reputation."
Alistair drew his ceremonial sword. The blade ignited instantly.
"Accidents happen so quickly in S-rank dungeons," he murmured with a sadistic smile.
With a fluid motion, Alistair sliced through the straps of Lucian's packs and, in the same swing, slashed deeply into his shoulder. Lucian screamed, toppling backward as his body rolled down the steps of the cursed altar.
"Leave him there," Alistair ordered his men. "The shadow beasts will take care of the remains. We have what we came for."
The group moved away, their laughter dissolving into the thick fog of the ruins.
Lucian was alone. His breathing was ragged, each gasp burning his lungs. Blood poured from his wounds, soaking into the porous stone of the altar.
Is this where it ends? he thought bitterly. Dead like a dog, just for the crime of being born with nothing?
Suddenly, the ground vibrated. It wasn't an earthquake, but a pulse—like the beat of a massive heart rising from the depths of the earth.
Lucian's blood, which should have pooled lifelessly on the stone, began to glow. Not with the blue light of mages, but with a dark, almost blackened crimson that seemed to absorb the surrounding light. The altar's runes, long eroded by time, began to scream.
[SYSTEM ALERT: PRIMORDIAL BLOOD DETECTED]
[ANALYZING HOST… COMPATIBILITY: 100%]
[DO YOU WISH TO EXCHANGE YOUR HUMANITY FOR DOMINATION?]
Lucian's eyes flew open. A translucent, blood-red interface hovered before him. His vision blurred, but the rage boiling in his veins gave him the strength to speak.
"Yes…" he stammered. "I want… everything… I'll break them all…"
[CONTRACT ACCEPTED]
[SYSTEM AWAKENING: BLOOD MONARCH]
[INITIAL SUMMONING IN PROGRESS…]
The air around the altar tore apart. An overwhelming gravitational pressure slammed Lucian into the ground, preventing him from screaming as his bones seemed to restructure themselves. Thick black smoke poured from the altar's cracks, swirling into an elegant yet terrifying silhouette.
A woman appeared. Her skin was porcelain-pale, starkly contrasted by scarlet-red hair that floated as if submerged in water. She wore black plate armor adorned with bat-wing and thorn motifs, revealing an athletic, voluptuous figure. Her eyes—electric red—locked onto Lucian with an intensity that made him forget the pain of his wounds.
She approached slowly, iron-shod boots echoing against the stone. Kneeling before him, her long nails brushed the gash on his shoulder.
"At last…" she whispered, her voice like silk brushing against a razor blade. "My Master. My meal. My everything."
She licked a drop of blood from Lucian's finger. Her eyes flared with sudden madness.
"Delicious… This blood… it is divine."
She leaned closer, her face mere inches from his. An aura of death radiated from her, but also a desire so overwhelming it was suffocating.
"I am Aria, the First Shadow, the Original Vampire. You awakened me with your essence, little human. From this moment on, you belong to me. And woe to anyone—man or woman—who dares lay a finger on what is mine."
She straightened abruptly, turning her head toward the forest where Alistair's group had disappeared. A cruel smile stretched her lips, revealing sharp canines.
"They hurt you, didn't they?" she murmured without looking at him.
"They… they left me for dead," Lucian managed to say, feeling a new strength surge through his limbs as his wounds began to close on their own, leaving behind dark scars.
"Then we will show them what true agony is," Aria said. "But first…"
She grabbed Lucian by the collar of his soaked tunic and lifted him effortlessly, pressing him against her cold armor.
"You must level up, Master. And for that, you need me to 'guide' you."
[MISSION UNLOCKED: FIRST MASSACRE]
[REWARD: UNLOCKING ATTRIBUTE "DOMINATION"]
Lucian looked at Aria. She was beautiful—magnificent, even—but the gleam in her eyes was that of a starving predator. In that moment, he understood that the system had not merely granted him power. It had bound him to a guardian who might well become his greatest danger.
"Let's go," Lucian said, a dark light igniting in his own eyes. "Show them."
Aria let out a crystalline, deranged laugh before vanishing in a blur of motion, dragging Lucian with her toward his vengeance.