Chapter 3: Scarlet Embrace

That power was gentle yet irresistible.

Ignatius floated in midair, following Queen Ophelia as she walked through the shadowy corridor.

Avira bounced alongside them, her crimson eyes burning with excitement.

“Mother, where are we going?”

“To the Origin Blood Pool.”

Ophelia’s voice was calm and steady.

Ignatius’s heart pounded wildly.

The Origin Blood Pool!

The Bloodkin Forbidden Land, birthplace of the Progenitor Bloodkin, the source of the Eternal Night Empire’s power!

They passed through an arched passage formed by the ribs of an Ancient Behemoth, and suddenly the view opened wide before them.

A huge circular chamber appeared.

The walls and floor were carved with ancient runes, pulsing with a dim red glow.

The air was thick to the point of suffocation.

Each breath felt like molten metal scorching his lungs.

At the center of the chamber was a circular blood pool thirty meters in diameter.

The pool wasn’t filled with blood but a translucent liquid emitting a faint light.

Ophelia stopped at the pool’s edge.

With a casual wave of her hand, the Confinement Power dissipated, and Ignatius fell heavily onto the Rune Stone Slab.

His bones cracked sharply.

He tried to stand, but even his fingers wouldn’t obey.

The Queen didn’t even look at him, yet her presence was like an invisible mountain crushing him, making it impossible to breathe.

“What you are to undergo is not an ordinary First Embrace.”

Ophelia looked down at him, her tone indifferent.

“It is the lost Divine Blood Remolding Ritual.

“It will dissolve everything of you.”

“Flesh, bones, power.

“Then rebuild the most perfect body using my blood as the blueprint.”

“To carry your interesting soul.”

Ignatius’s heart was gripped by icy hands.

This wasn’t modification!

This was complete erasure and rewriting!

He would no longer be himself!

Absolutely not!

His final dignity and warrior’s pride erupted deep in his soul.

Self-destruct! Ignite the Core of Dou Qi!

He would rather shatter to pieces than let them succeed!

Ignatius summoned every ounce of his willpower, furiously compressing the Core of Dou Qi he had refined for decades within his dantian.

Wild energy gathered.

Tiny cracks erupted on the core’s surface.

The scent of destruction spread.

It was done!

Just as he prepared to welcome the explosion that would end everything—

Ophelia glanced at him lightly.

Just that one look.

The ocean of Dou Qi about to erupt instantly calmed to stillness.

The Core of Dou Qi, cracked and on the verge of bursting, obediently became as docile as a lamb.

Complete silence.

He could no longer summon even a fraction.

That power never belonged to him.

Ignatius froze utterly.

What level of power was this?

Beyond all his understanding of the power system!

Pseudogod… is this what a Pseudogod is?

Even the right to choose death was easily taken away.

A bone-chilling cold crawled up from his spine to his brain.

All will drowned in cold despair.

Ophelia no longer paid him any mind.

She extended her right hand, tracing her index finger through the air.

An invisible blade sliced through her pale skin.

No blood flowed out.

A drop of liquid shimmering with a faint golden aura oozed from the wound, floating on her fingertip.

Within that drop surged the terrifying laws of creation and destruction.

“Avira.”

The Queen called softly.

“Mother, I’m here!”

Avira leaned closer, her face burning with Faithful Follower zeal.

“Watch closely.”

Ophelia flicked her fingers.

The golden Divine Blood traced a perfect arc, precisely dropping onto Ignatius’s brow.

There was no burning, no sharp pain.

The moment the Divine Blood touched his skin, Ignatius’s entire body began to glow.

***

Starting from his brow, his flesh and bones visibly decomposed and dissipated.

They transformed into billions of the most primitive particles of light dust.

His consciousness was violently expelled from the crumbling shell by an irresistible force.

A storm of awareness swept over him.

He saw himself picking up a wooden sword for the first time, sweating in the training grounds.

He saw his first time on the battlefield, smelling the metallic, muddy stench of blood.

He saw the hollow, desperate eyes of fallen comrades.

He saw the Bloodied Valley, the back of Avira fleeing disgracefully into the swamp after ambushing her with an elbow strike.

Roars, explosions, clashing swords, deathbed wails.

All the memories of “Ignatius” the soldier were brutally torn, crushed, and forcibly reassembled by this overwhelming power.

His personality, his gender identity, his recognition as human—

The very foundation of the concept of “him” was stripped away in unbearable pain and chaos, shattered into fragments.

The soul wailed, trembling.

On the verge of total collapse, dissolving into nothingness.

But one second before consciousness completely broke—

An ancient hunger awakened from the deepest depths of his soul.

A forbidden zone even he had never touched.

The “Rebirth Divinity” hidden within his soul was fully activated by the Queen’s Divine Blood!

An indescribable craving erupted from the soul’s core.

It hungered! It absorbed!

The massive life energy that was tearing apart his consciousness became the highest-grade nourishment.

Amid extreme agony, a strange and chilling sense of comfort crept through.

Ignatius’s consciousness plunged into total confusion.

Was it pain? Or pleasure?

He could not tell.

Only feeling his soul’s core being madly infused, nourished, and strengthened by that power.

Outside, in the chamber—A flicker of barely perceptible surprise passed through Ophelia’s eyes.

This human soul was more resilient than she expected, even… interesting.

It did not collapse under the Divine Blood’s wash; instead, it instinctively began devouring this power.

“A flawless raw jade.”

Her will probed into the storm of light dust composed of countless energy particles.

She began crafting her most perfect creation.

Countless energy particles wove anew under the Queen’s will, circling Ignatius’s soul core.

Strands of silver-white hair grew like flowing moonlight.

Blood-red eyes condensed in their sockets, shining with the pure luster of rubies.

Porcelain-smooth skin covered inch by inch.

A slender neck, delicate collarbones, a flat chest, a waist small enough to grasp in one hand…

A perfect, brand-new body was created from nothing.

The ritual ended.

Ignatius’s tortured soul was roughly forced into this brand-new, unfamiliar body.

“She” opened her eyes.

The world was blurry at first, then slowly came into focus.

She saw the ancient runes pulsing above her head.

She saw Avira standing by the pool, her expression fanatical.

She saw Queen Ophelia, expressionless and godlike.

Then, she saw her own reflection.

The surface of the Origin Blood Pool was smooth as a mirror, clearly reflecting her new appearance.

Waist-length, silky silver-white hair.

A pair of crystal-clear, pure blood-red eyes.

Pale, delicate skin almost translucent.

A fragile, beautiful, exquisite white-haired loli.

A completely unfamiliar existence.

She instinctively raised her hand to touch her face.

What met her eyes was a slender, flawless wrist pure white as ivory.

Not the large, calloused hand full of scars and strength she once had.

The commands from her brain’s center clashed catastrophically with this body’s feedback.

The discord between soul and flesh brought intense dizziness.

The entire world spun and tilted.

Who am I?

Ignatius?

No, Ignatius was dead, dissolved into light dust.

Then… who… am… I?

She stared at the unfamiliar white-haired loli in the reflection.

Her mind went blank.

The dizziness swallowed everything, and her vision suddenly went black.

Her body softened and collapsed backward.