Time passed, and only the sound of the crackling fire together with the beasts' howls and purrs kept Lidien awake, staring blankly at the sky full of stars.

Alva was asleep. Lidien let her sleep and took the night watch himself... though sometimes he kept glancing at her curled body lying on the small blanket made of leaves.

He smiled at the thought of being alone with a girl in the wilderness... a fox-girl at that, a fantasy of some young men in his old world.

Without much to do, he partially transformed the nail on his thumb and wounded his own finger, letting the blood drip slowly, splattering onto the dried leaf beneath him.

As his elusive thoughts returned to him, he willed the blood to suspend in front of him, forming a tiny wobbling sphere and scrutinized it.

"Old man... do all Blessed look like the Matriarch of the Dark Wolf Clan if they ascend to become Angels?" he whispered, the words a breath meant only for the Monarch, barely loud enough to stir the air.

A chuckle resounded in his mind as he heard the Monarch say.

'No, it was her last resort to forcefully ascend to become an Archangel... losing her mind in the process, but if she had succeeded, she would have been as powerful as your Mother... a Demon Lady.'

Lidien abruptly glanced beyond the darkness of the trees when he detected erratic movements of blood, as if... they were excited.

"Seems like I made them excited with my blood. I just hope this won't disturb Alva's sleep."

Blood clotted on his finger, forcefully knitting itself to heal the wound.

Lidien sheathed the tiny spherical blood with his verve and spun it, gradually increasing its rotational speed until it turned into a high-speed cutting disc, consuming more of his verve.

Though the consumption of verve was fast, his Sparkline wasn't getting pressurized, unlike when controlling the blood to explode.

'I could relate my Sparkline to an electrical wire, and my control as the load... so if I control too much blood at the same time, it'll overload, burning my Sparkline in the process.'

Then...

With a flick of his finger, he sent the cutting-disc whooshing toward a beast hiding in the bushes.

Its blood didn't scatter; instead... it got suctioned by the cutting disc, growing larger and larger, until Lidien felt the verve flowing through his Sparkline was getting thicker and thicker... but not enough to touch its wall.

He willed the cutting-disc to be divided in half, and in that short moment when Lidien controlled the bottom and the upper part of the rotating disc to be halved, his focus seemed to lapse... yet, it didn't affect the flow of the verve and his Sparkline, only his focus.

'If I use Incite of Blood to hyper focus and control tens of cutting discs, my Sparkline will not overload from my use of the cutting-disc, but from overusing my Incite of Blood to its limit...'

Lidien chuckled, as his two blood cutting-discs orbited them like satellites. With the use of his blood detection from his Incite of Blood, he killed the beasts lurking around them, slowly making the cutting-discs larger and larger until they could cut a tree with their width.

He was analyzing what size of blood cutting-disc he could control, where the steady flow of his verve would not overload his Sparkline... Lidien didn't dare try adding more cutting-discs to control, for maintaining two was already a big task for his brain.

'I-Is this your new ability?' the Monarch of Blood asked, unsure of what to say.

Lidien shook his head. Though it was dark, he could see clearly the paint of blood dyeing the forest with it.

"No, this is only one of the applications of how to use blood. Since I can't and don't know how to solidify it, I could only make it spin... adding centrifugal force to it, and act like a cutting blade... though I'm not sure if it could damage an Angel, I could make it explode if it attaches to one."

The Monarch of Blood couldn't help but cough, stuttering as he offered something Lidien hadn't expected to hear.

'A-Amazing... to think you could use it that way. Normally, those who walk the Path of Blood choose between two abilities to ascend to Angelhood... Blood Crystallization, and Blood Disintegration.'

As the last beast's howl was severed mid-cry, replaced by the thick iron smell of freshly spilled blood, Lidien sat back in his former position and watched the fire flickering.

"And what's the difference between the two?"

The Monarch of Blood's tone became serious, as if imparting knowledge from Ancient times.

'Crystallizing blood is for those who can make their blood into a weapon, armor... and many other things, as long as their imagination permits. The blood transforms itself into whatever they wish.'

Lidien listened intently and didn't reply.

'While Blood Disintegration focuses on mystical abilities... curses and hexes... A single drop of blood could locate, kill, and wipe out an entire bloodline.'

Lidien's eyes widened, his mouth twitching from the shock.

"I-Impossible... h-how?"

Then, with the realization that this was not the Earth he used to live on, he smirked.

'Things that couldn't be explained by science... a supernatural phenomenon... I need to search and learn about it.'

As the silence settled between both of them, the Monarch of Blood added.

'And there is someone who could use both of them... the Undying Path of Blood.'

Lidien's ears perked up, his hair standing on end from another revelation.

"If I could crystallize my blood, and also disintegrate others... then why was the Death Church destroyed if they're so powerful?"

A loud laughter echoed in his mind as the Monarch of Blood said something that disappointed him.

'Yes, they are Undying because they could absorb someone's blood to heal their own, crystallize blood to be their weapon, and curse others to weaken their enemies...'

The Monarch of Blood paused, as if reminiscing old times.

'but, like what you are doing now... they couldn't master anything... their blood swords shattered from a single slash, their curses couldn't wipe out an entire clan... and without blood to absorb when wounded? They die without a fight.'

Then, another line cut deeper into his mind.

'And your transformation, the thing you called your Blood Form...' the Monarch's mental voice dripped with contempt,

'...was their consolation prize. A mediocre ability for those who mastered nothing.'

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