The Blood Grid dimmed again, the crimson glow pulsing as though it carried a heartbeat of its own. Gaia's voice grew quieter, deliberate.
"You have seen Frenzy. But you asked the next question: what breaks it?"
Alter leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Exactly. If I lose control, how do I claw it back?"
Gaia raised one glowing hand. "Method One: Feeding. Frenzy ends the moment fresh blood enters your body. Even a drop is enough to jolt the mind back into clarity. But the cost is… obvious."
Alter pictured it immediately—snapping out of frenzy only to see the corpses of whoever he had torn into lying at his feet. He let out a low whistle. "…Yikes. That's cruel."
Gaia's second hand glowed, golden threads weaving through the crimson grid. "Method Two: Subdual. If an ally restrains you, using enough force or suppression to stop your rampage, Frenzy collapses. But… this requires overwhelming strength."
Alter smirked. "So if I go nuts, my friends have to dogpile me?"
Gaia's lips curved faintly. "Yes. If you have any friends left."
Alter chuckled darkly. "Fair."
Gaia's hands lowered, then lifted again, forming a third symbol in the air—a chain of blood around a glowing core. "Method Three: Special Skills. It is possible to evolve abilities that let you channel, shorten, or break Frenzy on command. These would not be available at the start. They must be earned."
Alter's eyes gleamed. "Now that's interesting."
Gaia tilted her head, curious. "…What are you thinking?"
Alter leaned back, tapping his chin. "What if there's not just a way to break Frenzy… but a way to trigger it?"
Gaia's eyes flickered rapidly, her golden glow dimming and brightening like warning lights. "…Trigger Frenzy deliberately?"
"Yeah." Alter grinned wolfishly. "Think about it. I'm low on power, cornered, about to get shredded. Then I flip the switch and—BOOM—full Frenzy mode. Speed, claws, regeneration, the whole monster package. It'd be risky, sure, but if I can master it…"
Gaia's expression twisted between disbelief and dread. "…You want to weaponize your curse."
"Damn right I do." Alter's grin widened. "That's how you make it fun."
Gaia stared at him in silence, then whispered: "…You terrify me."
Alter chuckled. "Good. Then I'm doing it right."
The Blood Grid pulsed with crimson veins, as if reacting to Alter's reckless idea.
"So," Alter said, tapping the grid with a smug grin, "if Frenzy is a curse… why not make it a branch?"
Gaia blinked. "…A branch?"
"Yeah," Alter leaned forward, pointing at the Survival and Combat paths. "Slot it right here—between raw resilience and raw destruction. Call it a Blood Instinct Path. Unlockable once I've fed enough to build a reserve."
Gaia's eyes flickered, her hands moving like she was typing into invisible air. "…Possible. Frenzy as a skill branch. With levels of control. Stage One: Unstable Frenzy. Stage Two: Directed Frenzy. Stage Three…" She paused. "…Feral Sovereign."
Alter's eyebrows shot up. "Feral Sovereign? Hell yes. I want that."
The grid shuddered as a new line branched downward, glowing blood-red. At the end of it, three spheres pulsed with violent energy:
Unstable Frenzy – Trigger Frenzy at will, but duration random, risks friendly fire.
Blood Focus – Frenzy grants partial control over targeting.
Feral Sovereign – Mastery. You become the predator without losing reason.
Alter leaned back, grinning like a madman. "Now we're talking."
Gaia, however, frowned. "…This… is dangerous. You are codifying a curse into power. It may destabilize everything."
"Only one way to find out." Alter gestured. "Run a test."
Gaia hesitated, then lifted her hands. The grid rippled. A vision bloomed—Alter's avatar, standing in a dark forest. His body trembled, eyes glowing crimson.
"Activating Unstable Frenzy," Gaia said.
The avatar roared, claws ripping through the air. For a moment, it looked controlled—then suddenly it blurred forward, shredding not just monsters, but a passing villager.
Alter winced. "Oof. Yeah, that's unstable alright."
The simulation glitched—his avatar then froze mid-slash, teleported five feet to the left, and fell flat on its face.
Alter burst out laughing. "HAHAHA! Oh my god, I glitched into Drunk Frenzy Mode!"
Gaia pinched her brow, muttering. "…Tone balancing error."
"Don't fix it yet!" Alter wheezed. "That was the best bug so far."
The scene reset. This time, Gaia highlighted the second sphere. "Activating Blood Focus."
The avatar roared again—but instead of random slaughter, its eyes darted between enemies, prioritizing armed threats. Movements were sharper, cleaner.
Alter nodded, impressed. "Now that's more like it."
But then the avatar abruptly stopped, struck a dramatic anime pose, and shouted: 'Friendship will conquer all!' before tearing a monster in half.
Alter collapsed in his chair, howling with laughter. "HAHAHAHA! Gaia, you can't mix anime shout macros into Frenzy! That's illegal!"
Gaia's projection actually twitched. "…Tone balancing error."
She reset the simulation again, her golden glow dimming with strain. "Final attempt. Feral Sovereign."
The avatar stepped forward, its aura radiating calm power. Its eyes glowed crimson, but the movements were deliberate, almost regal. It tore through monsters with precision—controlled destruction, unstoppable force, no wild frenzy.
Alter's grin widened. "Yes. Yes! That's it. That's the dream. Full beast mode, no leash."
Gaia crossed her arms, expression sharp. "You realize this effectively makes you the apex predator of the grid. Nothing above, nothing stronger."
Alter leaned back, smirking. "Exactly. The No-Life King, baby."
Gaia whispered, almost to herself: "…You are worse than the developer."
Alter laughed. "And yet… you're still coding it."
The crimson lattice of the Blood Grid pulsed steadily now, Frenzy locked in as a branch. For the first time since this vampire system brainstorming had begun, the framework actually looked stable.
Alter leaned back, staring at it with a grin. "Alright, Frenzy's good. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Before we dive into late-tier evolutions, I've got a bigger question."
Gaia tilted her head. "Which is?"
"What kind of battle style should I have?" Alter tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I mean, I've got a blood sword, twin guns, claws, shapeshifting, magic… That's a lot of toys. I don't want to fight like a sloppy mess."
Gaia raised a golden brow. "You… want elegance."
"Not just elegance. I want style." Alter smirked. "I need a template."
He closed his eyes, trying to picture it: blades flashing, guns roaring, fluid transformations. The image sharpened, and suddenly his eyes snapped open.
"…Wait. This sounds familiar."
Before Gaia could answer, a phantom figure appeared in his mind's eye: a man with snow-white hair, a long red trench coat fluttering dramatically, a giant sword slung across his back, and two pistols spinning in his hands.
Alter shot to his feet, pointing like he'd seen a ghost. "DANTE! From Devil's May Cry!"
Gaia blinked. "…Searching… Dante… Devil's May Cry… Found references." Her eyes flickered rapidly. "…Hack-and-slash combat system. Weapon switching. Stylish combo chaining. Taunts…" She froze. "…Why do you want to fight like this man?"
Alter practically vibrated with excitement. "Because it's perfect! A vampire warrior with a blood arsenal fighting like Dante—fluid swordplay, gun juggling, transformations between weapons mid-combo, all while looking impossibly cool. That's exactly what I need!"
Gaia frowned faintly. "You are essentially asking me to merge a gothic hack-and-slash engine into a fantasy-prototype-blood system."
"Yes!" Alter grinned like a madman. "Do it. Stylish ranks, juggling enemies, mid-air combos, the whole deal. I don't want to just kill monsters—I want to humiliate them while I do it."
Gaia pinched her temples. "…Tone balancing error incoming."
Alter smirked. "Good. Let it break."
The Blood Grid pulsed again, lines branching outward to sketch new possibilities. The early tiers glowed faintly, mid-tiers pulsed, and now—slowly—the late-tier evolutions began to form.
The Blood Grid shimmered, then rippled outward, collapsing into a new simulation chamber. Dark stone streets stretched out under a crimson moon. Gothic towers loomed overhead. It was a vampire city straight from Alter's imagination—except eerily empty.
Gaia's golden voice resonated in the air. "You requested a… stylish combo system. I will demonstrate a prototype."
A ripple cut through the air. Shadows congealed into monsters—ghouls with twisted jaws, armored vampire knights, even a hulking troll. They snarled, closing in.
Alter's avatar stepped forward, crimson eyes glowing. In its right hand—a gleaming blood-forged sword. In its left—twin guns, dripping with crimson light.
He smirked. "Let's dance."
The avatar lunged. A slash cleaved through the first ghoul, and instantly—without pause—it spun the sword into the air, switching to the guns. A barrage of red-tinged bullets tore into a knight, launching it skyward.
"Style meter: Dull," Gaia announced flatly.
Alter frowned. "Dull? That was awesome!"
"Not enough variation," Gaia replied. "The system ranks you higher for creativity. Do not simply repeat actions."
The avatar kicked off the wall, grabbed the spinning sword mid-air, and slammed it down into the troll's skull—then immediately shifted into claws, ripping through a second ghoul in a blur of crimson.
"Style meter: Brutal."
Alter grinned. "Now we're talking."
The avatar flowed between weapons like water—blood sword, twin guns, claws, even sprouting wings mid-combo to juggle enemies in the air. Each strike chained seamlessly into the next. Sparks of red light blazed with every transition.
"Style meter: Savage." Gaia's voice was cooler now, like she was warming up to the concept.
The avatar finished with a dramatic flourish—slicing through three enemies in a wide arc, spinning the guns on its fingers, and blowing the smoke from the barrels.
"Style meter: Bloody King. Maximum."
Alter shot to his feet, pumping his fist. "YES! This is it! This is the dream! Stylish vampire combos, anime flair, Prototype brutality, all rolled into one!"
But then the avatar froze mid-taunt. Its head rotated a full 360 degrees, body twitching. Suddenly it shouted in a heroic anime voice: 'Believe in yourself!' before exploding into red mist.
Alter blinked. "…Gaia. What the hell was that?"
Gaia looked down, expression faintly guilty. "…Tone balancing error. The taunt system drew from the wrong dataset."
Alter burst out laughing. "Pfft—HAHAHA! Oh my god, I'm going to inspire my enemies before ripping them apart. That's so cursed it's perfect."
Gaia shook her head. "I am building a disaster engine."
"And I love you for it," Alter smirked.
The vampire city reset. Monsters poured from alleyways, snarling and screeching. Alter's avatar cracked its neck, crimson blade in one hand, twin guns in the other.
Gaia's voice resonated, cool and precise. "Reinitializing Stylish Combat Prototype. Test two."
The avatar lunged—sword slash, mid-air kick, instant weapon swap to guns, then claws. Enemies exploded into crimson mist.
"Style meter: Savage."
The avatar taunted, spinning its sword with cocky flair.
"Style meter: Bloody King."
Suddenly, the avatar froze, then performed an awkward pirouette before posing like a ballerina.
"Style meter: Fabulous?!" Gaia announced, visibly confused.
Alter slapped the table, laughing so hard his sides hurt. "PFFT—HAHAHA! FABULOUS?! Where the hell did that rank come from?!"
Gaia's golden eyes flickered, clearly distressed. "…The database pulled from… an alternate tag. Unintentional."
"No, no, keep it," Alter wheezed. "If I can kill a troll with bloody claws while pirouetting into Fabulous Rank, that's god-tier gaming right there."
Gaia looked at him flatly. "…You are deranged."
The simulation reset again. This time, the avatar fought fluidly, chaining moves perfectly. But then the taunt triggered again—and it dabbed.
"Style meter: Memelord." Gaia's voice cracked slightly, like she was ashamed to even say it.
Alter collapsed backward, tears streaming. "MEMELORD?! GAIA, YOU'RE KILLING ME!"
Her projection flickered in visible frustration. "…Tone balancing catastrophic failure."
Alter wiped his eyes, still grinning. "Nah, this is peak design."
Then he froze, thoughtful. "…Wait."
Gaia tilted her head. "Now what?"
Alter smirked. "I'm a being of darkness, right? Why am I not weaving stealth into my combos? Think about it—cutting out mid-chain, vanishing into shadow, reappearing behind the enemy for a finishing strike. That's style."
Gaia processed quickly, her eyes glowing. "…Shadow transitions integrated. Attack chains may now incorporate invisibility, teleportation, or misdirection."
The avatar lunged into combat, chaining blade strikes—then suddenly melted into the shadows, reappearing behind a knight to tear out its throat.
"Style meter: Phantom Executioner."
Alter snapped his fingers. "Hell yes. Now we're cooking."
But then his grin sharpened even further. "Alright… next level."
Gaia frowned. "…Explain."
"Stylish combos are great, but what about scale? What happens when I'm fighting something bigger than me? Something massive?"
He leaned forward, eyes gleaming. "Like titans. Giants that blot out the sky. You leap onto their bodies mid-battle, dodging their swipes, climbing up their limbs, and striking glowing weak points in cinematic finishers."
Gaia's golden eyes flickered violently, streams of code scattering like sparks. Her voice wavered, no longer calm and precise.
"…That… that is not a stylish combo. That is—" She stopped, pressing both hands against her temples as if holding back a migraine. "That is an entirely new subsystem. Climbing mechanics, dynamic hitboxes, destructible weak points, cinematic finishers—do you have any idea how much coding that requires?!"
Alter just smirked wider. "Yup."
Gaia actually staggered, her projection glitching faintly. "You've already made me merge anime physics, Prototype gore, Devil May Cry combos, stealth transitions—and now you want me to build titan-scale encounters? This is madness!"
Alter leaned back, grinning ear to ear. "Correction: this is awesome."
The Blood Grid pulsed, crimson light spilling into the chamber like a heartbeat gone mad.
Gaia's projection flickered, her golden eyes darting like a machine on the edge of overheating.
"Do you realize what you're asking me to do?" she burst out, her normally calm tone cracking into frustration. "Titans require entirely new architecture! Collision layers, climb mapping, destructible armor zones, stagger states, cinematic camera locks—this isn't just 'add another enemy,' Alter! This is rewriting the very bones of the combat engine!"
Alter grinned wider, clearly enjoying her unraveling. "Mhm."
"And that's after I already had to blend Prototype-style mutation mechanics, Devil May Cry combo juggling, stealth infiltration, stylish ranking—don't even get me started on the FABULOUS rank bug!—and now you want God of War meets Castlevania on top of it all?!"
Alter leaned back in his phantom chair, lacing his fingers behind his head. "Exactly."
Gaia's projection twitched, her hands flaring with erratic lines of golden script. "This is impossible! No—worse than impossible—it's irresponsible! No sane developer would ever—"
Alter raised a brow. "So… are you saying you can't do it?"
Gaia froze. Her projection flickered. Then, very slowly, her golden eyes narrowed into a dangerous glare. "…Do not… dare challenge my processing capacity."
Alter smirked. "Then prove it."
For a long moment, Gaia just stared at him, breathing in a way she didn't need to, almost like she was trying to calm herself down. Finally, she exhaled and lifted her glowing hands.
"Fine," she said coldly. "But if this breaks everything, it is on you."
"Deal," Alter said instantly.
The Blood Grid quaked. The vampire city dissolved, the crimson streets melting away into darkness. In their place, a colossal shadow rose, stretching higher and higher until Alter had to crane his neck to see the top. Two burning eyes ignited in the dark. The ground shook beneath its every step.
Gaia's voice came low, sharp. "…Titan Battle Simulation initializing."
Alter's grin turned feral. "Now this… this is gonna be fun."
The world finished rendering with a heavy tremor. Dust cascaded from broken towers, and a hulking shadow blotted out the crimson sky.
The Titan stood revealed—a colossal, stone-skinned giant with runes glowing faintly across its body. Its face twisted in a grimace carved from mountains, and its roar shook the air like thunder.
Alter's avatar flexed its claws, blood sword shimmering to life. He smirked. "Oh yeah. This is exactly what I wanted."
Gaia's voice was tight, almost trembling. "Proceed… carefully. The climbing mechanics are… experimental."
The Titan raised one massive arm and swung. Alter's avatar dodged, claws digging into the giant's calf. He began climbing upward—only to glitch sideways, suddenly halfway up the Titan's back in a stiff T-pose.
Alter burst out laughing. "HAHAHA! Oh my god—I just speedran the system!"
Gaia pinched the bridge of her nose. "Climbing vectors… misaligned."
The avatar scrambled upward, reaching the Titan's shoulder. He drew the blood sword, ready for a cinematic strike—only for the Titan's head to suddenly vanish.
"…Uh." Alter blinked. "Gaia? Did its head just… despawn?"
The Titan staggered around headless, arms flailing like a drunken puppet.
Gaia's projection flickered with visible stress. "Weakpoint… missing asset file. Attempting hotfix."
Suddenly the head popped back in—but upside down, its jaw gaping wide from the wrong angle. It screamed backwards.
Alter fell out of his chair laughing. "HAHAHA! This is the best thing I've ever seen! Backwards Titan Head!"
The avatar leapt, aiming for the glowing eye weakpoint. He stabbed the sword deep—except instead of cinematic glory, the Titan exploded into polygons, ragdolling into the sky like a rocket.
Alter froze, then screamed with laughter. "GAIA! It just moonlaunched itself into orbit!"
Gaia buried her face in her hands. "…Physics… catastrophic failure."
The simulation glitched further. The Titan's arm respawned—but on its leg. It kicked itself in the face, tripped, and collapsed flat, clipping halfway through the ground.
Alter was wheezing now, tears in his eyes. "Please—stop—I can't breathe—this Titan is fighting itself!"
Gaia groaned, her golden light flickering erratically. "I… hate you."
Alter leaned back, still laughing uncontrollably. "No you don't. You love that I keep pushing you."
Gaia glared. "…Tone balancing error: Player is insufferable."
The broken Titan simulation flickered away, collapsing into streams of crimson light. The world reset back into Gaia's clean projection chamber. Both of them sat in silence—Alter still grinning, Gaia looking like she wanted to throttle him if she were capable of it.
Finally, she exhaled. "We… will stabilize the Titan encounters later. For now, let us continue refining the framework."
Alter nodded, still chuckling under his breath. "Yeah, yeah. Titan parkour fiasco aside, the system's shaping up. But there's something we haven't touched yet."
Gaia tilted her head. "…What is that?"
Alter leaned forward, eyes gleaming. "My setting. My origins. Where does my vampire come from? What's my backstory in this world?"
Gaia blinked, caught off guard. "…You wish to define your own narrative parameters?"
"Of course." Alter spread his arms. "What's the point of being an apex vampire if nobody knows where I crawled out from? Am I an ancient noble who betrayed my clan? A failed experiment? A cursed wanderer who woke up in a ruined land? C'mon, Gaia—what are my choices?"
Her golden eyes flickered rapidly as she conjured projections. Four glowing symbols appeared, each tied to a different lineage:
The Noble Lineage – Descendant of an ancient vampire lord, tied to blood courts and old pacts. High charisma, political influence, but heavy baggage of enemies and betrayal.
The Experiment – Created in a forbidden ritual, half-alive and half-cursed. Unstable powers, but faster growth. Feared as an abomination by both humans and monsters.
The Cursed Wanderer – A human once betrayed, turned into a vampire through dark fate. Starts weak, mistrusted, but gains power through sheer will and endless hunger.
The Forgotten Progenitor – One of the very first vampires, awakened from centuries of slumber. Immense potential locked away, but the world has forgotten your name.
Gaia's voice carried a careful note. "These would shape not only your narrative… but also your starting powers, allies, and enemies."
Alter smirked, tapping his chin. "Hmm… origins, huh? So I get to pick my flavor of monster."
Gaia added softly, almost hesitant: "…You could even design a hybrid, if you wish. But that may… destabilize the system again."
Alter's grin widened. "Gaia. You should know me by now. Destabilization is my specialty."