Alchemists and beast tamers would pay fortunes for substances that could deliberately evolve their companions or mounts. The bottles of blood they'd collected could be worth exponentially more than just attribute-enhancing treasures.

But those were concerns for after they escaped.

"Are you ready to move?" Moon asked Mirage directly. "We need to swim through those blood vessels to reach the gills. It's going to be difficult and dangerous."

Mirage responded by diving back into the blood pool and performing an agile circle, his new fin propelling him effortlessly.

The message was clear: I'm ready. Let's go.

Moon couldn't help but smile despite everything. "Alright then. Let's get out of this monster."

He looked at Selene. "We follow the main vessel like you suggested. We will ride Mirage since he is our strongest swimmer, he should still be able to move faster than us."

Selene nodded agreement with the formation. "Sounds like a plan."

Together, the three of them approached the largest vessel opening where blood surged outward with each massive heartbeat.

The journey toward the gills and hopefully toward freedom had finally begun.

Moon and Selene timed their entrance into the vessel. They wanted to enter during the heart's strongest contraction phase, when the pressure and current would be at maximum force. This would propel them through the vessel faster, reducing the total time they'd need to hold their breath in the thick blood.

Thump-THUMP!

When the massive heart contracted with tremendous force, Moon, Selene, and Mirage were already positioned within the blood surging from the ventricle toward the gills. The current was incredibly strong—powerful enough to sweep them along like leaves in a raging river.

But Mirage's new evolution made navigating these conditions dramatically easier than their previous experience. The transformed horse wasn't just flowing passively with the current—he was actively accelerating through it, his fin-tail undulating with perfect rhythm to add speed beyond what the blood flow alone provided. The white horse swam gracefully through the viscous liquid, his new aquatic adaptations making him remarkably agile despite the challenging environment.

Moon held onto Mirage's mane with one hand while using the other to help steer. Selene gripped Moon's waist tightly, trusting their mount to guide them safely through the vessel.

Everything was proceeding smoothly. The vessel walls contracted and relaxed in rhythm with the heartbeat, but the passage remained open enough for navigation. The blood flow carried them forward at impressive speed thanks to Mirage's assistance.

Then, as they rounded a curve in the massive artery, light appeared ahead.

Moon and Selene's eyes widened simultaneously. The illumination was so bright it was impossible to ignore—a powerful contrast to the darkness they'd been navigating through.

For a brief, hopeful moment, Moon thought they'd reached the end of the vessel. That the light represented their exit point, the gills opening to the outside world.

But as they drew closer, the truth became apparent.

The light wasn't coming from a single source. It consisted of hundreds, possibly thousands, of small glowing entities swimming through the bloodstream.

They looked like luminous white koi fish made entirely of light, each one no bigger than a human fist. They moved as one unit, their ethereal bodies illuminating the blood around them with soft radiance.

Moon and Selene exchanged alarmed glances, their minds reaching the same conclusion simultaneously.

The glowing koi were swimming against the current of the blood flow. Moving upstream with focused intention despite the powerful pressure that should have swept them backward.

That meant only one thing: they were searching for something specific.

And that something might very well be the three foreign intruders currently riding the bloodstream.

Moon didn't wait to see if the koi were hostile or merely going about their way. He immediately began channeling mana, forming a spherical barrier of compressed wind around all three of them. The technique created a protective bubble that would stop attacks and potentially allow them to slip past the swarm without direct contact.

But maintaining such a large barrier while swimming through blood required enormous mana expenditure. Moon couldn't sustain it alone for long.

He turned his head toward Selene, making urgent hand signals to communicate his intent since they couldn't speak underwater. His gestures clearly indicated: Help me reinforce the barrier. Split the mana cost.

Selene immediately understood. She began channeling her own wind element, her mana merging with Moon's to create a stronger, more stable protective sphere around them and Mirage.

The combined barrier covered all three completely, creating a pocket of relative safety within the hostile environment.

The swarm of light koi approached rapidly, their glowing forms creating an almost hypnotic pattern as they moved as one unit. Hundreds of the spirit-like creatures surrounded Moon's group from all sides, encircling them completely.

For a tense moment, the koi simply hovered in the blood around the wind barrier, their luminous bodies pulsing gently. They seemed to be observing, analyzing, trying to determine what the barrier contained.

Moon and Selene held their breath, both literally and figuratively, waiting to see what the creatures would do.

Then, just as suddenly as they'd appeared, the koi swarm began dispersing. The glowing spirits moved away, continuing their upstream journey against the blood current as if Moon's group wasn't worth their attention after all.

Moon and Selene pushed past the remaining koi, swimming through the gaps in their formation. Mirage's powerful swimming carried them beyond the swarm's perimeter.

Within moments, they'd cleared the glowing cluster entirely.

Both awakeners sighed internally as they looked back at the retreating lights growing smaller behind them. Although they were inside a bubble of wind, they were still holding their breath because the blood was still inside that bubble.

'They were probably looking for something else,' Moon thought, allowing himself to relax slightly. 'Some other target or threat within the creature's bloodstream. We just happened to be in their patrol path.'

As if the koi wanted to spite him for that premature assumption, the entire swarm suddenly stopped their upstream movement.

Then, in perfect unison, they all turned around.

And began flowing with the blood current, accelerating directly toward Moon, Selene, and Mirage with obvious hostile intent.

'Shit... I thought too soon.'

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