Night cloaked the academy in a muted, silver glow. The floating towers cast long shadows across the training grounds, and the air buzzed faintly with residual mana. Most students slept—or pretended to—but not Cael Ardyn and Selene.
In a secluded training room, hidden beneath layers of reinforced stone and suppression wards, Cael knelt cross-legged. Selene sat opposite him, her posture straight, hands resting lightly on her knees, eyes fixed intently on the single drop of blood suspended between Cael's fingers.
"Concentration," he said softly. "Focus. Do not let your mind wander. Blood is aware of intention, not desire."
Selene's breath caught. She had been practicing mana manipulation and shadow techniques for years, but this—this subtle, unseen force—was unlike anything she had felt before. The suspended droplet shimmered faintly, like a living star trapped in midair.
"How…?" she whispered.
"Patience," Cael replied. "You see the drop. You feel it. But it listens. Only when it trusts you will it obey. Do not force it."
Selene nodded, hands trembling slightly. She reached forward slowly, mirroring Cael's hand movements. The drop pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat in tune with hers. A whisper of movement, almost imperceptible, shifted the droplet slightly toward her fingers—but it resisted.
"Good," Cael murmured. "You are feeling it. Now, withdraw your intent of control. Only observe. Understand."
The next hour passed in silence, punctuated by Selene's quiet murmurs and the soft hum of suppressed blood energy. Slowly, she learned to read the subtle vibrations, the shifts in density, the flow that made the blood obedient.
By the time she succeeded in coaxing the drop to hover perfectly above her palm, Cael allowed himself a faint smile.
"Your first lesson is complete," he said. "Control comes first. Power comes later. Most people fail because they seek the latter before mastering the former."
Selene exhaled, her body trembling from the intensity of the focus. "I understand. I… feel it now. I feel the life in it."
"Yes," Cael replied. "And never forget—blood remembers. Even when the world forgets. Even when the families forget. Even when history erases it, blood remembers."
The next day, the usual hum of academy life resumed, but Cael's presence had already begun to ripple through the corridors. Bronze students whispered nervously, Silver students observed warily, and the top families' eyes, through distant surveillance, tracked every movement.
Curiosity and jealousy surfaced among the Bronze students. Some attempted to approach him under the guise of friendship; others sought to provoke him subtly.
In the first mock sparring session, a taller, arrogant Bronze student named Rykel lunged with uncontrolled fury, trying to overwhelm Cael.
Cael moved, not with brute force, but with subtle redirection. Each strike Rykel threw was absorbed, deflected, or led into harmless collisions with the floor. Rykel grew increasingly frustrated, breathless and angry.
"Why won't you fight back properly?!" Rykel shouted.
Cael tilted his head. "Because efficiency does not require brutality. Observe, learn, survive—that is enough for now."
The surrounding students murmured, some awed, some fearful. For the first time, it became clear that Cael's power was not in destruction—but in control, in anticipation, in manipulation unseen.
Lyra Noctis, observing quietly from above the training platforms, finally stepped forward. Her shadow clung to her feet, stretching subtly toward Cael.
"Interesting," she said softly, almost to herself. "Even Bronze-ranked, and yet… he commands presence that rivals Silver and Gold students. Not just in technique… but perception."
Cael caught her gaze and offered a faint nod—not greeting, but acknowledgment. Lyra's expression did not waver, yet her eyes glimmered with calculation.
She is observing carefully, Cael noted internally. Either as ally or opposition. Neither matters for now.
That evening, Selene returned to their secret training room. The room was dimly lit by mana-infused torches, flickering shadows dancing on stone walls. Cael allowed her to attempt a more advanced exercise: manipulating a small pool of his blood into a thin ribbon suspended in midair.
Selene struggled at first, concentration faltering as suppression wards of the academy subtly interfered. Cael guided her subtly, teaching her to anticipate the backlash, to redirect it into awareness rather than force. Slowly, the ribbon responded to her commands, curving and twisting gracefully under her control.
"You see," Cael said softly, "technique is nothing without understanding the essence beneath it. The blood is more than life. It is memory. It is strength. It is warning."
Selene nodded, eyes wide with comprehension. "I think I understand now. It isn't just a weapon… it's a part of me. Part of life itself."
Cael allowed himself a faint smirk. "Good. You will need that understanding. Very soon, the world will test it."
Unbeknownst to them, faint observers from the Top Ten Families were beginning to infiltrate the academy again. Subtle, discreet reconnaissance. Silent. Invisible to normal senses, but detectable by the pulse of energy Cael now emanated.
Even the Demon King, far below in the abyss, sensed it. The faint crimson resonance of Cael's developing abilities rippled across the ether.
"Yes," the Demon King murmured, crimson eyes gleaming. "The Blood Immortal learns once more. The seeds of history awaken, and the world will bleed to remember his name."
Blood remembers.
Cael allowed the thought to echo in his mind. A warning. A promise. A beginning.
And the first step is to teach those who will follow me…
Selene looked up at him with determination in her eyes.
"I will follow you," she whispered.
Cael smiled faintly. Good.
Even in a world of mana, aura, and monsters… a new chapter of the Blood Immortal had begun.