Blood Warlock: Succubus Partner in the Apocalypse

If he fell, the world would continue to turn.

If he died, life would continue to exist.

Regardless of whether Bai Zemin's time came to an abrupt stop, the time of others would continue to run naturally.

Yes, he was not the center of anything; not of his world, not of the universe, and not of life.

For great things that implied great matters to others, he was nothing. However, what for others were great things for him was nothing.

'If I die what will become of my family?'

'If I fall here, what will happen to all those who followed me all this time and fought putting all their trust and future in me?'

'If my life ends here, what will happen to Lilith? She will definitely be devastated... I haven't even given her back a minimal return of all the help she has given me so far.'

'That girl, Yijun... Despite being so kind she can be as stubborn as a mule. I have to make sure she doesn't stay alone for life. Such a wonderful woman suffering for centuries and centuries is not a pleasant thing to imagine.'

'Bing Xue... She repressed her emotions for so long that she is just now beginning to discover herself as a woman and the emotions she suppressed all these years are slowly beginning to blossom... whether I like to admit it or not, I am a very important part of this sentimental evolving process she is going through.'

'There is still the matter of Zhong De.... I must not only bring him back at any cost but also make the Russians suffer the worst possible fate for sticking their pig's feet in the matter... There is also the promise I made to Evangeline..."

'The business in Eventide World has not yet come to an end... That ponytailed princess will surely wait for me even if life is over...'

In the center of the red pillar of light, Bai Zemin looked up to the sky as hundreds of thoughts raced through his head.

His brain was so focused on his thoughts and emotions that Bai Zemin didn't even feel a tenth of the pain and stinging he should have felt.

Swoosh!!!

As he lay stretched out in the center of the large crater that had formed automatically when his body hit the ground and the two beams of ice and fire exploded, the surrounding mana swirled around him and slipped soundlessly into every fiber of his burnt flesh and skin, forming a strange connection with every drop of blood that ran through his shattered body.

The fact that the pillar of red light rising into the sky covered the view of what was happening at its center could be considered fortune or bad luck by others depending on from which point of view one looked at the situation.

It was fortunate because not being able to see what was happening with Bai Zemin avoided what would probably be one of the biggest shocks a living being could ever feel; in two senses, two different kinds of shock.

But it was unfortunate that they missed such a wonderful scene... because they could hardly see something similar happening in their lives.

Probably only the elite team from the United States of America would be okay watching the regenerative process that Bai Zemin was going through. At the end of the day, they had fought and seen with their own eyes a beast capable of literally coming back from the ashes.

When a skill broke and evolved beyond the Fourth Order something similar to what happened with living beings absorbing Soul Power from their enemies to become more powerful occurred. Just as there were clear differences between Lower Existences and Higher Existences, the skills of Fourth Order or lower received a great boost of power upon reaching the Fifth Order or higher stages.

Bai Zemin could only raise a whole Order three skills after activating Soul Manipulation, and this time he chose Regeneration, Golden Bones, and Blood Manipulation.

Actually, the reason he evolved Blood Manipulation was because in order to carry out his plan he needed the skill to be at its highest possible point after discovering the secret behind the supposed immortality of the 9-Headed Immortal Dragon... but little did he expect to find a giant, pleasant surprise that would end up saving his life.

Fate was really interesting, it surprised us when we least expected it.

[Blood Manipulation (Fifth Order active skill) level 1: ... ]

[Crimson Flame (Second activation): ... ]

[Immortal Blood Radiance (Third activation): ... ]

[Immortal's Blood (Fourth activation): Use all the mana around you, as well as your own, to convert every molecule of blood flowing in your body into EX-grade regenerative molecules, being able to restore any part of the body and heal even the most lethal wounds in a short period of time as long as the brain is still functioning. Immortal's Blood can only be used once a month. Secondary effect: The Mana of the user will be immediately reduced to 0 after activating Immortal's Blood, and the Mana consumption during the activation of any skill will be quadrupled over a period of 15 days.]

An easy to understand effect. But easy to understand didn't mean normal, did it? The effect of Immortal's Blood could only be described as heaven-defying, there were no other words that could do justice to an attached skill that literally granted its user a second life.

There was only one problem, and that was the side effect. But such a side effect was normal considering that Immortal's Blood stole the world's mana to regenerate the destroyed body.

Besides, compared to recovering his maximum condition, what was losing all his Mana and having to pay four times the normal amount of Mana for half a month every time he activated a skill? Nothing!

It was no use having millions of Mana points if one's life was lost!

In just an instant, Bai Zemin's face regained its former glory and even his beautiful hair grew back to the same length as before.

As his rib cage, back, and limbs slowly regenerated and recovered, Bai Zemin's black eyes stared at the sky with a strange calmness that was not there before.

Thanks to one of the effects of her second Firmament Fragment, Lilith could temporarily gain great abilities over the control of the laws of space. It was only thanks to this that she had not yet been discovered by any of the Higher Existences present even though they were much more skilled in the use of spatial skills.

Staring at Bai Zemin with her beautiful ruby eyes filled with tears from within a dark crack that separated his reality from hers by a thin, easily breakable screen, the surprise and doubt in Lilith's heart grew bigger and bigger.

At first, all Lilith felt was pain at seeing the state the person she loved more than anything else in the world had fallen into. She, just like Fire Sorrow, was half an inch short of intervening not only to save his life but also to kill the damn beast that left him in such a precarious condition.

However, that strange and mysterious female silhouette appeared from the inside of his body and after a second or two simply disappeared without a word. Although the female silhouette did not say a single word, Bai Zemin's fate suddenly seemed to have been rewritten by divine hands.

A pillar of light rose up to touch the vault of heaven, his missing limbs began to regenerate at absurd speeds, his wounds healed, and his destroyed organs were rebuilt from nothing.

But, Lilith's greatest surprise amazingly did not come from Bai Zemin's absurd regeneration, no; what she felt from this was joy and relief that could not be put into words.

Her greatest surprise came from his eyes; his gaze.

Lilith had seen Bai Zemin's calm gaze and indifferent eyes in the past. She thought she knew the highest level both looks could reach in him... but she was wrong.

"Zemin... you..." She whispered.

Lilith wanted to ask what was happening with him but for some reason she didn't continue and stopped, feeling that interrupting him at this moment would not be a good deed. But what she saw next made her heart tremble for different reasons.

Bai Zemin's eyes went from black to bright red, and from bright red to gold before returning to black. The process was repeated more than twenty times in less than 5 seconds.

Bai Zemin naturally had no idea what was happening to the color of his eyes. In fact, he could not even feel pain or itching and no longer even knew what condition his body was in.

After having recovered several memories of his 10.000-year life lived within the illusion that had been sealed by the old spirit of the Collector's Pocket Watch, Bai Zemin entered a mysterious state that was difficult for even himself to comprehend.

In the regained memories there were more efficient ways to use a few skills, a few battle strategies, and a lot of combat experience that could only be gained through at least 1 century of pure battles to the death. All this together resulted in something wonderful but hard to describe, and if Bai Zemin had to put it into words he would probably say; calm.

That's right, calm.

His physical body had recovered and his soul remained the same unchanged. But, recovering 100 years of memories had caused a part of his personality to change at least temporarily.

Before this, even before the battle began and during, Bai Zemin felt fear. But feeling fear was natural considering that he would be facing a terrifyingly powerful monster, the most powerful he had ever met, and who was not only a genius but also surpassed him by two entire Orders totaling 300 levels in all.

He wasn't fighting for himself, he had other reasons, people that he needed and had to live for. With so much to lose it was only natural to fear.

But only now did he realize that there was no need to fear.

The outcome of the battle had been decided from the first moment the white head was struck by the maelstrom of purple flame that Bai Zemin released from the tip of his spear.

In fact, at this point all his disdain, anger, fear, caution, murderous intent... All his emotions capable of altering the course of his actions on the battlefield had been swept far, far away.

[You have entered the optimal state for combat against your enemies. Few existences throughout the history of the Soul Record have ever achieved this.]

[God of War's Will temporarily evolves to the next stage.]

[God of War's Will (Third Order passive skill) level 5 ---- > God of War's Will (Fourth Order passive skill) level 1]

[God of War's Will ....]

[God of War's Partial Possession (Second activation): ... ]

[God of War's Temporary Possession (Third activation): All stats +3000 while the passive effect is active. Conditions for activation are unknown. The user's mind enters the best combat state called 'God Mode'].

Bai Zemin's mind did not waver and was not surprised even after receiving so many messages from the Soul Record.

Bai Zemin looked at his body, and noticing that he was fully recovered slowly sat up. He paused as he sat to watch the four dragon breaths of different elements cracking the pillar wall before standing up.

...

From the outside, the 9-Headed Immortal Dragon increased the output of his magical power more and more and did not skimp on the consumption of Mana. He could already see cracks in his enemy's defensive barrier, it was only a matter of time and once his attacks fell the records of that pesky human would be his!

Even though his enemy's level was low, the purity of his records was something the 9-Headed Immortal Dragon was already drooling over; it might even be key to his evolution to the next stage!

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