Henna swung herself off her horse and drew her longsword.
She said to the young knight behind her who wanted to lend a hand,
“Stand down.”
“My Lady Lord…”
Henna said no more, instead fixing her gaze toward the direction of the main gate.
The red magic swirling around her body transformed her aura drastically.
The horses nearby whinnied in alarm, and the knights tightened their reins, pulling back their formation a few steps.
In an instant, Henna’s pupils turned into a pair of crimson vertical slits, her wine-red hair grew even more vibrant, and her magic thickened like blood plasma!
With a powerful step backward, the slender woman flashed in front of the gate.
Before Henna could get closer, the gate shattered first.
Ganade’s burly figure appeared.
Bang!
Blades charged with magic clashed. Scarlet magic met bronze magic in fierce contention.
Henna’s strength surged, sending Ganade flying backward.
Several follow-up strikes forced Ganade to retreat step by step.
Dust billowed across the manor grounds.
Faced with Henna who had immediately unleashed her Bloodline Power, Ganade could only defend desperately, unable to counterattack.
At that moment, a fierce-looking, bearded man shouted loudly, “Viscount! I’m here to assist you!”
He raised his axe, aiming to cleave Henna in two.
But with a graceful swing of her longsword, Henna’s crimson magic slash cut the man in half first.
The corpse dropped silently to the ground, frightening the other would-be “peacemakers” inside the estate.
One by one, they backed down, shrinking away for fear of being struck.
Enya, still dressed in her black nun’s habit, stood on the edge of a nearby tower, watching Henna and Ganade’s battle.
Generally speaking, those with Bloodline Power are stronger than ordinary blood users.
This strength isn’t just in their abilities—it also lies in the fact that bloodline users usually have a complete upgrade path, unlike common blood users who must find and combine their powers on their own.
Of course, this only compares the baseline.
As for whose upper limit is higher between bloodline and common blood users, that question has been debated ever since Enya appeared—after all, she pushed a common blood user to the high Nine Steps.
But most people believe she’s an anomaly, not a true common blood user, so they exclude her from their ranks, and conclude that bloodline users remain stronger overall.
Henna’s slender leg performed a side kick, pinning Viscount Ganade against the wall.
With his blade clattering to the ground, Henna withdrew her foot, letting him fall.
She coldly said to the defeated Ganade,
“Rebellion? You’re nothing but a clown.”
“Hesitant, cautious, lacking brains yet always trying to plan perfectly, unwilling to sacrifice anything yourself— you think ruthless means wantonly slaughtering your own subordinates?”
“Hah, what exactly are you?”
Henna flipped her hair back and pointed her longsword at the already defeated man, snorting in disdain.
“I never took you seriously.”
Viscount Ganade’s schemes boiled down to petty calculations; in other words, micro-management.
He wasn’t a competent conspirator but forced himself to appear clever.
Gritting his teeth, Ganade slammed the ground hard.
“Shut your foul mouth, woman!”
“Tsk.”
Henna clicked her tongue displeased at the insult, then a streak of crimson sword qi sliced through Ganade’s leg, blood spurting out instantly.
Amid the man’s agonized screams, she laughed.
“So bowing to a woman causes you such pain, does it?”
Sweat drenched Ganade’s face. His body trembled uncontrollably.
His hand rested on the wooden box at his waist, but he dared not crush it.
If he used it, he would likely lose his sanity.
But it also might grant him great power—a gamble.
Would he dare to bet?
Henna looked at him coldly.
“Your men trafficked people. I will nail you to the city walls for all to see.”
Human trafficking was a graver crime in this world than murder.
Anyone caught doing it would be impaled on wooden stakes.
The criminal would bleed alive, their soul then hung upon the legendary Thorn Tree, repaying their sins tenfold.
Upon hearing this, Ganade suddenly raised his lowered head.
He crushed the long wooden box, revealing a blood-red dagger inside.
But instead of stabbing himself, he lunged the dagger at Henna, who had lowered her sword.
Henna reacted swiftly, severing Ganade’s arm.
Yet the blood curse dagger, emanating a sinister aura, continued flying toward her, as if drawn by some force.
Henna tried to shield her body with magic, but the dagger ignored her magic entirely!
It sliced through her skin as if cutting tofu and plunged into Henna’s lower abdomen.
Clang.
Henna’s longsword dropped to the ground as she fell, sitting down.
She tried to pull out the blood curse dagger, but it felt as if it was growing into her body.
“My Lady Lord!”
The knights who had rushed in all gasped at the scene, quickly running over to support Henna, only to be rebuked by her stern shout.
“Stay back!”
Henna sensed something wrong with the cursed dagger.
“Hahaha…”
Ganade laughed wildly.
“That’s right, I was too scared to use it. I admit I’m a coward. So what? You’re finished, Henna!”
“Do you know what that is?”
“That is the Bloodline Curse of your Asades family!”
“I had originally planned to take your position, steal your bloodline, and slowly absorb the Asades bloodline until I replaced you…”
“But now, there’s no need!”
Though physically large, Ganade was missing one arm and one leg.
Yet he laughed madly, sticking to the safest strategy to the end.
What gamble on life? What reckless breeding?
Those uncertain things were for others to try!
He didn’t believe Henna could withstand that thing—the Bloodline Curse!
It was forged from the Asades family’s bloodline over generations, a curse blade laden with powerful obsession.
If the body couldn’t endure the impact of that obsession, it would mutate into a demon.
“Nightmare!”
Darkness swallowed Ganade.
Enya approached Henna’s side, attempting to manipulate the dreamscape there, only to find the dagger ignored the rules of the dream world.
No matter how much she tried to alter it, the dagger remained lodged in Henna.
She reached out to remove the Blood Curse Dagger.
But just as Enya’s hand was about to touch it, the dagger merged into Henna’s body.
“Huh?”
Enya watched this with alarm.
Henna’s crimson vertical pupils lost their sparkle, and a tremendous surge of magic erupted from her.
Enya withdrew to the side and waved her hand, creating a large private space for herself and Henna.
On that dagger, she sensed an aura similar to the dragon bloodline she carried inside—a presence that very likely came from a… deity?
The Lady Lord’s armor ripped open, revealing a cold white, lithe female form.
A cascade of scarlet transformed into a delicate, beautiful skirt wrapping around her body.
Her fingernails grew long, sharp, and red.
Beneath her long red hair, the human ears transformed into pointed tips.
Henna parted her thin lips slightly, revealing pale white fangs.
Her face became increasingly exquisite and alluring—but this beauty was inhuman, an enchantment.
A pair of blood-red membranous wings unfurled behind her.
“Huh? I think I understand what that was just now.”
Seeing Henna’s transformation, Enya immediately guessed the true nature of the Bloodline Curse—it was the Asades family’s bloodline itself.
Enya had destroyed the Blood God Cult, but the Bloodline Curse had ended up in Ganade’s hands.
And that bastard used it on Henna.
Was this some kind of repayment?
Now that Henna was fully transformed into a Blood Elf, her delicate face showed no emotion.
The obsession within her bloodline was too powerful.
How could she alone resist a madness that had stretched on for thousands of years?
This Henna was no longer the Henna from before.
Now, she was merely a fragment of the Asades family—or rather, the lingering obsession of a Blood Elf.
She was closer to a demon than a human.
Those crimson vertical pupils looked directly toward Enya.
Enya narrowed her eyes, blocking a sword slash from the Blood Elf.
The house behind her was cleanly sliced open.
The blood-formed longsword shattered, but the Blood Elf quickly reformed it, slashing again at Enya’s body.
Enya dodged, leaping a hundred meters away, then asked Pandrake, who was hiding inside her,
“What should I do in this situation?”
“Kill her. Yeah, kill her. That’s easier.”
Hearing that answer, Enya almost wanted to drag Pandrake by the tail to the “library” for a serious talking-to.
All he ever did was read books, never helping!
After Enya left, the Blood Elf turned to slaughter those hiding in Viscount Ganade’s manor.
Fortunately, she used magic to shatter them directly, sparing them pain.
Enya didn’t bother with them—they would recover eventually.
She observed the Blood Elf’s behavior carefully.
Soon, Enya realized that the Blood Elf was selective in killing.
“She wants to continue gathering bloodlines?”
The Asades family’s bloodline must have spread out.
After all, noble families commonly marry off their daughters—it’s impossible to keep marrying close relatives forever.
Therefore, several families in Red Pine City, more or less, carry Blood Elf bloodlines.
Even among the common folk, Blood Elf bloodlines exist.
This explained why the Asades bloodline was gradually weakening.
Enya recalled the man named Luen she had killed before—blood worms had emerged from his body.
Those must have been a manifestation of the Blood Elf bloodline.
Those blood worms could penetrate the dream world and had very special properties.
No wonder Enya couldn’t use dreamscape regression to pull out the Bloodline Curse dagger earlier.
Watching the Blood Elf rampage across Red Pine City, Enya sighed lightly and said,
“Pandrake, you’re right.”
Kill her?
Enya didn’t want to.
After all, it was still Henna’s body.
If the Blood Elf inside died, Henna would die too.
So she decided to wear her down instead.
With that, Enya summoned the Mirror of a Year.
The black-robed nun stepped in, and the Dragon Princess Enya emerged, her earrings transforming into silver armor.