112 Playing dead
"That's enough of playing dead old man." I laughed as the devil tattoo on back swayed with a devious laugh.
This old man had the power of a real deal Grand stage expert, I may be strong but in this form, I could barely handle peak second Elemental Transition Mages. True Magi were separated into 3 transitions, each with different requirements. Right now I am halfway through my first Magus transition and each transition is a night and day difference in power.
"You are a quite powerful young man, but you don't have the slightest presence of blood magic." The old man laughed as a massive swarm of noxious green gases coalesced into his figure once again.
He stood stalwart in front of me as we levitated in the sky. Although I couldn't air step, I could partition a small space in the void to stand on and levitate around to mimic flight.
"I've been in seclusion of my whole life, and have been training away from the world. My whole clan was annihilated when I was young and now I seek the power to get revenge." I said with a calm tone as I released a dreadful killing intent.
"I see what a story, what of my daughter what happened with that?" He said as he exuded indifference, to him the fate of his children were irrelevant. He just found an interest in my bloodline, I could tell based on his perception's attempts to probe me.
Although I could only tap into an extremely small amount of my bloodline, it was still the blood of the gods. Its profoundness was far beyond what a mortal could determine.
"You can ask her yourself, instead I have an offer you'll be interested in." I said with a devious smile, I snapped and around us flashed many violet runes imprinted on the ground.
"When did you lay this down...." The old man said with apprehension, there were over 2000 restrictions each with different permutations. What made it even scarier was that it leveraged the existing spell circles guarding the kingdom. to create a terrifying formation.
"Each of your vipers was contaminated by my shadow power and I imprinted devour runes on them." I laughed as the violet runes recombined into a circular formations surrounding us. The old man prepared a fist of green flames as he stared at the formation with apprehension.
"Relax these aren't attack restrictions look closely." I snickered as the profound patterns simplified so that even someone without magic eyes could unravel them.
The old man closely examined the restrictions before making hand seals himself. This was a step I myself could skip using my Ciphers. The hand seals slammed on the ground creating a durable bubble around a clump of grass, the phenomenon made the old man surprised.
"Defense restrictions? How are these compatible with our formation?" He asked with deep shock, this formation was laid down by the Bloodline God himself and reinforced by 1000s of years of research, they found that no other form of restrictions could be added to the formation!
"I am a grandmaster when it comes to the Arcane. I know you are suffering some backlash from the Naga." I said with a knowing smirk, for the Naga to be a bold as to kidnap their princess? It would one thing if the Naga king were that bold but a prince?
"What exactly are you capable of?" The old man asked not concealing his hope, he didn't even bother to refute the fact that they were on the decline.
"I can do a lot of things, instead of that let's talk terms." I said with a devious smile, the moment I saw his blood magic I knew I must have it.
"What do you want?" He asked with further apprehension, he was feeling pressure from my impressive displays.
"Give me your blood magic." I said with a dominating tone.
"Not possible." The old man laughed and shook his head.
"Nothing impossible in this vast world of ours, what will it take?" I replied, he was the one in a dire situation. I know he'll crack eventually, it'll just take time.
"I said it's not possible." The old man insisted
"I can't give it to you, you'd have to enter our Bloodline Altar and be blessed if you wanted it and I can't make that possible." He said with a certain tone.
"I can give you resources and various manuals we have just not my bloodline scripture." He said in a consoling tone.
"I want that scripture, you can come to me when you're willing to trade. Until then I'll take a place in your capital if you don't mind." I laughed as my body distorted, I activated my Astral Cipher as I stepped through the void and appeared in the kingdom bypassing every restriction with ease.
"His ability to control the formation...it's ungodly as if he set it himself." The old man muttered as he watched the shuttle through the void. Although the power I showed wasn't earth-shaking, it was enough to warrant consideration adding my young age and various talents I was well treated.
I appeared at the edge of the hill leading to the castle. Then I shot out a beam of condensed darkness particles cutting open part of the hill. I caved it out and with beams of darkness I carved it into a room, then I shot out hundreds of runes engraving them onto the room.
"Reinforce!" I roared as the seals locked together making the dig out stable. These are the restrictions I comprehended from my observations of the formation, and I combined them with my previous insights on shielding restrictions.
It leveraged the power of the earth to reinforce structures that I blessed. I couldn't help but feel awe at their ability to alter the natural law, it reminded me of Dante's Ancient Fey Restriction. I sealed my cave and sat down in meditation.
The cave filled up with intense shadow force, and I activated my Abyss Devouring Meditation art. Inside my body was a massive swirling river of stars, I devoured the abyss power around him condensing it inside of my body.
Magi cultivated elemental bodies, and they step on that path when they enter the three Magi Transitions. Knights have their own transition, where they cultivate Sword bodies. But create elemental bodies, and currently, my Darkness elemental body was closing in on small completion. As I continued to meditate I branched out my perception to scan the city waiting for events to proceed.
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In a throne room, an emancipated old man sat on a throne of vipers. Surrounding him were various snake like men and women each with various tattoos on their bodies. At the front of all of these men and woman was a scally young man in black robes.
Along his body were red flames and his eyes shined with a poisonous light. His every stare seemed to stir the blood in those on the receiving end.
"Your Majesty Kosisius, I suggest you surrender. We have already revived our Bloodline King. Nothing can stop his advance." The young man said with a devious smile. The old king didn't say a word, but his grim expression said enough.
"Why are the Naga so insistent on attacking us? Have we not lived prosperously together here in this ridge?" The old king said his anger unconcealed.
"Benefits come before attachments, your majesty. I hope you don't hold it against us, you will be spared assuming you surrender now." The young man replied curtly interrupting any more of the king's pleas. He faded into red flames and ash disappearing and leaving only scorched earth as an indication of his existence.
"Your majesty, we should fight them to the death." said a large serpent man with immense muscles, he walked with great stature and held a massive bloody hammer with his right arm.
"Calm down I can't let a Peak bloodline warrior like you waste his life." The king cooly replied with no more anxiousness in his voice.
He showed a weak front earlier to keep the image of their weakness consistent to the Naga. The Naga were intent on attacking, even if they looked strong they would attack. But if he can make them underestimate him, he might be able to buy time.
He gritted his teeth, before calling his daughter out. She walked out with her enchanting curves on full display and went onto a bended knee.
"Father..." She said trying her best to look filial.
The old king tapped onto his forehead and released a copious amount of blood. The blood condensed into a deep red bead that pulsated strong bloodline power. Along it appeared various strange and profound nomological patterns.
"Give him the first 2 layers of the bloodline scripture in exchange for reinforcing our formation..." The old king's body seemed to grow older, he had paid quite a price to hire Lucifer.
"I understand, father." Kathessa replied as she took the bead into her hands.
