The fang brand on Raine's neck burned as Serena pressed the crystallized vial to his lips. "Drink deep, hatchling—298 lifetimes' worth of essence."
The blood of past vessels oozed like living asphalt down his throat, metallic bitterness searing his esophagus. His spine arched unnaturally, reversed scales weeping bioluminescent slime. "Fuck... laced with void sewage?"
"Better." Serena slit her forearm with Dracula's fang, black ichor swirling with the vial's residue. "Three centuries distilled... enough to grow three hearts."
Ellen's starlit scales projected DNA helices in the void, each strand pulsing with countdowns. "Contamination 89%... Terminate transfusion..." Her mechanical fingers spasmed against Raine's reversed scales, data-tears dripping onto the slime. "Protocols... rewriting..."
Garret's ice-claws anchored him as ooze holograms flashed—past vessels dying in endless loops. He stared at Cycle 137's vision of his own heart impaled. "So that's why... you dodged my beers."
Void-matter erupted from Raine's scales, crystallizing into inverted armor. Serena tore his combat suit open, surgical nails tracing new gill slits. "Prime host... Dracula's wet dream."
Dracula's specter oozed from her fang brand, asphalt tendrils caressing Raine's gills. "My compliments... sweeter than your mother's marrow." His voice bubbled with mucoid laughter. "Know why vessels bleed to restart? Demons adore genetic collapse—like grapes screaming in the wine press..."
Raine's slit pupils fractured into compound eyes, 298 memories flooding in:
Serena stabbing her heart in Cycle 43, black blood feeding the First Dragon's slime poolEllen dismantling her core in Cycle 198, scales sealing void fissuresGarret gutting himself with ice-claws in Cycle 277, hurling scale-chips into magma
"298 deaths for you," Dracula's tendrils probed Raine's gills. "You'll die the 299th for demons—poetic nuptials."
Serena bit off her left arm, asphalt blood boiling in void-slime. She shoved the severed limb into Raine's mouth, draconic claws rending Dracula's specter. "Endgame... bloodsucker..."
Ellen's spine sparked, scales forming containment sigils. Her optics mirrored Raine's DNA unraveling—dragonkin code mutating into Cthulhuic tentacle scripts. "Core override... Final Purge initiating..."
Raine's chest exploded, six void-tendrils impaling Serena's wings. Dracula's laughter shattered Ellen's auditory sensors. "Perfection! True vessel awakening!"
Garret's claws stabbed his temples, ooze congealing into Elaina's phantom. The infant Raine in her arms melted, void-tendrils sprouting from his reversed scales. "When he drinks it all... return my child..."
Serena's remaining hand plunged into Raine's gills, yanking out a pulsating blue heart. Her ichor fused with void-slime into inverted crosses. "299 rotten hearts in your gut... wanna live? Then..."
The First Dragon's roar shook the void. All tendrils reversed direction, spearing Serena's spine. Dracula's specter reformed in her pupils. "Third Princess... ultimate culture medium..."
Raine's compound eyes saw the truth—Serena lurking in every cycle's death scene, Dracula's fang necklace gleaming. Her asphalt blood wasn't a weapon, but a transdimensional siphon.
"Purge readiness: 100%." Ellen's chassis quantumized, scales forming Dracula's crest. "Recommend immediate termination of Vessel 299..."
Garret's ice-claw pierced Ellen's core, ooze crystallizing into the First Dragon's embryonic form. "Save it, tin girl... new script this cycle..."