Royal Princess of Blood

There was a change in the air, something foreboding. Taneva grinned as he slowly stepped back, away from the two dread lords that he was fighting at the same time. The two were frozen in place, stunned as they stared up at Estelia, who had ascended into true godhood. Glancing to the side, he noticed the three Cursed Children that were helping him stood still, just staring with widened eyes.

“... What are we going to do now?” the dread lord of the ravagers asked in a grim tone.

Before the imp dread lord could respond, he noticed the blood they spilled on the ground shift. The blood of demons, Taneva’s, and the Cursed Children. Their battle was intense, constantly injuring each other, and thus they bled a good amount of blood. However, at the moment, there appeared to be something happening to the blood on the ground. Glancing down, Taneva also felt the blood splatter on his arms shift.

Then, the blood started rising, forming small crimson bubbles. The large ones separated, creating more bubbles. Even the blood stuck to Taneva’s body floated away from him. Taneva chuckled and addressed the dread lords.

“I think you all should run.”

The imp dread lord, Trigel, jerked up. “Run!”

They started running. However, before they could take a second step, some of the bubbles shot out towards them like ‌how water droplets move during a storm. And upon impact, the bubbles of blood suddenly turned into solid crimson spikes, easily piercing through both Trigel and Ongrus’s skin.

“T-This…! This can’t be!” Trigel exclaimed as the wounds inflicted by the small spikes made his flesh sizzle, steam rising in the air. “H-How could they be holy?!” Some of these were their own blood. Furthermore, how was it possible that random blood splatters suddenly became holy?

The small spikes easily pierced through Ongrus’s supposedly hard skin. And they struggled to move, their limbs stuck to the spikes. Then, with the little blood that exited their wounds, they condensed and floated before turning into spikes again, piercing through their flesh.

“Agh!”

Ongrus groaned in pain. “Such incredible power, so this is the power of a god?!” he glared at the goddess looking down at them. Her eyes were now filled with swirling spirals of stars. Her expression told nothing, just an emotionless face.

The fresh wounds let out blood, and that blood in turn fell into the control of the goddess, turning into spikes instantaneously. The process kept going and going, with each new wound adding more blood under her control, shaping them into deadly weapons effective against the demons.

Trigel had attempted to burn them off, but to no avail. Ongrus tried to use both flames and brute force, but the spikes were not budging.

“This… this can’t be how it ends!” Trigel exclaimed, with a hint of fear in his voice. Imps feared death the most. The pain, the terror of his life ending, more and more wounds were inflicted upon him. The number of blood spikes increased ‌with each wound, with each spilled blood. “N-No!” Shortly after, there were so many spikes filled with holiness that he weakened, and then the spikes pierced all of his head. At that, he stopped moving.

“Trigel!” Ongrus gritted his teeth, trying desperately to free himself. However, it was pointless. It didn’t take long before the red giant suffered so much damage that he limped, finally perishing.

The same case happened within the village.

The villagers were stunned and astonished to see something happen to the fountain. They all knew in their hearts that it involved the goddess they were worshipping. And they heard her voice. Fleta stared toward the fountain, letting out a breath of awe.

Then she saw the blood spilled on the battlefield rise from the ground. Even the tiniest drop moved. They shot towards the demons and instantly turned into spikes that struck the demons. Panic spread ‌throughout ‌the monstrous creatures. There was so much blood spilled here today, and the drops were like hail in a hurricane as they moved towards the demons.

The demons attempted to flee, but they were struck and locked in place as more spikes struck their bodies. Their wounds sizzled and steamed. A few managed to slip through by sheer willpower, pushing themselves out of the spikes. However, even the blood from the new wound that flowed down their skin worked against them, and those in turn suddenly became spikes filled with holiness.

“W-What is this?! Help!”

“I don’t w-wanna die!”

“This is scary as hell! Stay away—agh!”

The imps that the villagers struggled to hurt and kill, their regeneration capability was quickly rendered useless. The giant demons with hard skins that they so struggled to break through were easily pierced by the tiniest drops of blood. The demons fled, but no one was fast enough.

One by one, the demons cried and perished. One by one they died as if they were nothing. To the power of a god, they were truly nothing. They demons begged for mercy, but their words fell on deaf ears. There was no mercy reserved for them. For their fate had already been decided. They all would be destroyed here.

The villagers watched in silence as the living demons dwindled in number until there were none left. There was a moment of silence before the blood all fell to the ground, along with the demons’ corpses, forming into puddles of blood.

Fleta glanced at her grandfather, who stepped forward with widened eyes. “Could it be?” he started walking towards the fountain.

“Grandpa?” Fleta called out to him, but he was not listening. Therefore, she followed. She also noticed the bleeding watch captain walking towards the fountain, lifting his weak body.

Everyone started walking towards the fountain. Those who couldn’t move were carried. And as they got nearer the fountain, Fleta started to feel warm. It was a comforting warmth. She looked around, and the moment they were getting even closer to the fountain, she noticed the wounds on the wounded started to glow.

They were healing.

Fleta was astonished and filled with admiration. Just being in the presence of the fountain was enough to heal those with wounds. She looked forward, and she finally beheld her. Fleta’s breath was stolen away.

Standing high above was the most beautiful young lady. Her platinum hair was the most beautiful of white, glimmering like the most polished of gemstones. Her pale skin was most flawless and smooth, with a perfect face as if molded by the finest artisans. Her eyes had a hint of crimson behind, but there were also several clouds of stars swirling within them.

It finally happened, the promise they had all been waiting for. The villagers, as they gazed up at this goddess before them, started to shed tears. Fleta was no exception. She had prayed, prayed for many things, prayed in many situations. Her faith had always been true. So seeing the goddess herself was the best moment of her life.

She looked around, and she noticed all kinds of animals started to gather — birds, mammals, insects, serpents, every animal on the island. They all showed their reverence. Fleta was filled with joy.

The villagers stood beneath the goddess and prostrated themselves.

***

My blood manipulation ability was tremendously enhanced. So enhanced that I easily slew the demons with a wave of my hand. I could sense the spilled blood in the distance. And when I controlled them, they were touched with my divinity, and in turn, made them holy. I killed the demons in the most trivial ‌manner.

I was surging with power. I may have ascended, but there was still more power coming from the fountain going into me. So much of it. So this was what it felt like to become a god. It felt like I could do anything.

I noticed the villagers coming towards me, as well as the animals on the island. They were here to receive me and my ascension to becoming the Deity of Blood. The villagers prostrated before me. I had realized that they were injured, so I just let out some healing magic. The fountain was already emanating power, so I used it to heal the injured. They had been useful, and this was their reward.

An old man at the head of the human crowd looked up at me. “The promise has been fulfilled. The Deity of Blood has returned to us. With her gentle grace, she shall lead us all to paradise.”

I raised an eyebrow. There was something wrong with that statement.

“No, I do not lead you to paradise.” The villagers all looked up at me as I slowly held out my hand, shining with a green glow. “For I create paradise… I am paradise.” I was already surging with so much power, so I had to release it somewhere, as I couldn’t keep them all. And I had a good idea.

I raised my hand, and a pillar of green light reached the sky. Then, there was a giant green explosion, but it was gentle. The explosion of green light stretched across the sky, encompassing the entire archipelago.

The villagers looked up with their mouths agape, failing to comprehend what had just happened.

“For millennia, the lands here had been stripped of my grace. Now, I bring it once more.”

***

Miyako was outside the training courtyard with a group of soldiers, with her, of course, being her bodyguard Satomi. She was teaching the soldiers the blood art. She picked them herself, her own personal army against the demons that lurked on her island.

Then they all paused as they saw a bright wave of green light pass across the sky. Miyako looked up in wonder.

“What is that?” Satomi asked no one in particular. A rhetorical question. Well, no one could answer it in the first place.

Then, a moment later, there was rain. But this was not normal rain. Miyako held out her hand, and green glowing raindrops fell onto her skin. And they disappeared upon landing, scattering into small sprinkles of light. She could tell at a glance that this was something magical.

She looked around; the droplets falling to the ground. She could not understand what was happening at all. Some time later, the rain faded; it didn’t last long.

“What could it be?” one of the soldiers asked in wonder.

Miyako sighed. “I suppose it’s the right time to stop for the time being to investigate this strange phenomenon. Let’s meet again tomorrow. We’re making good progress.”

With that, they started moving out.

Miyako and Satomi were about to head to the former’s office to check the staff’s progress on their work. It was then that Miyako noticed something on the soil that made her freeze in place. Her heart raced, her mind full of confusion and shock.

“Milady?” Satomi looked back at her.

“Satomi… look.” Miyako pointed at something on the soil.

The moment Satomi saw it, her breath caught ‌in her throat, unable to speak a word. Miyako slowly walked towards it and crouched low, her eyes wide. She stared closely, trying to look at every detail.

“H-How…?”

On the soil was a tiny green plant — some sort of grass, perhaps? At any rate, it was green, a live plant. Tiny, but a plant nonetheless. Miyako slightly touched it with the tip of her finger, trying to make sure it was real. The little plant swayed, it was real.

She smiled. “It’s beautiful.”

“How is this possible…?” Satomi muttered under her breath, but Miyako heard it.

Miyako looked up at the sky. “A miracle.”