Chapter 224: Tenth Drop
The moment the forming shape completed itself, the entire arena seemed to lose its ability to breathe.
Nine had already shattered every belief they held.
Nine had already forced them to question everything they knew about bloodline, about limits, about what a vampire could become.
And yet—
Before they could even begin to recover from that shock—
The impossible continued.
The tenth drop hovered above Cornelia’s head, darker than the ones before, heavier in a way that no one could describe with words alone, as if it carried not just power, but a weight that came from something far beyond their comprehension.
No one moved.
No one spoke.
Because even the thought of acknowledging it felt dangerous.
"...Tenth..."
The word came out from somewhere within the crowd, barely more than a whisper, yet it carried across the entire arena, sinking into every ear like something forbidden.
"That... that cannot exist..."
Another voice followed, louder, but filled with disbelief so deep that it bordered on fear.
"There is no tenth..."
"There has never been a tenth..."
Their voices overlapped, rising and falling, each one trying to deny what their eyes were showing them.
But denial did not change reality.
It only made it more terrifying.
Above Cornelia’s head—
The tenth drop began to fall.
Slowly.
Painfully slow.
As if the world itself was struggling to accept its descent.
Every eye followed it.
Every heartbeat aligned with it.
Every breath halted in the chest of every vampire present.
And then—
It touched her forehead.
The instant it did—
Everything broke.
The silence.
The restraint.
The last thread of composure that anyone had been clinging to.
The arena exploded into chaos.
"WHAT IS THAT?!"
"IMPOSSIBLE!"
"A TENTH DROP?!"
"THIS IS NOT A TALENT ANYMORE, THIS IS A MONSTER!"
Voices roared from every direction, crashing into one another, louder than anything that had come before, as if the entire colosseum was being torn apart by the sheer weight of their disbelief.
The Emperor level powerhouses stood frozen for only a moment longer before their reactions followed.
Some staggered backward, their expressions twisted in confusion and awe.
Some grabbed onto the arms of their seats, their knuckles turning pale as they tried to ground themselves in reality.
Others simply stared, their minds refusing to process what they had just witnessed.
"This surpasses Ascendant..."
One of them muttered, his voice trembling.
"This surpasses everything..."
Another added, his eyes locked onto Cornelia as if looking away would cause her to disappear.
"This... this is something beyond our race..."
Elder Achilor did not speak.
His entire body stood still, but his eyes burned with a depth of emotion that had not been seen from him before.
His centuries of knowledge, his countless experiences, his position as a protector of the vampire race—
All of it meant nothing in the face of what stood before him now.
"...A tenth..."
He whispered, his voice barely audible.
"...This is no longer within the framework of bloodline..."
His gaze sharpened, locking onto Cornelia with a clarity that cut through the chaos around him.
"This is something else entirely..."
Above, Lord Vord’s laughter returned, but this time, it carried a different tone.
It was louder.
More broken.
More filled with something that bordered on madness.
"Hahaha... HAHAHAHAHA!"
His voice echoed across the arena as he clutched his chest, his entire body trembling.
"A tenth!"
He shouted, his voice cracking under the weight of his emotions.
"A TENTH DROP!"
His eyes glistened with tears as he looked upward, his expression filled with something that resembled worship.
"The Blood God has truly blessed us!"
He fell to his knees once more, his laughter dissolving into something raw and unrestrained.
"To witness this in my lifetime... to see something that surpasses even the Ascendant realm...!"
He lowered his head, his shoulders shaking.
"This is beyond miracle... this is destiny..."
Around him, others began to react in their own ways.
Some laughed.
Some cried.
Some simply stood there, their expressions empty as they tried to understand something that could not be understood.
The Moonshade family stood at the center, surrounded by the chaos, yet completely separated from it.
Their earlier pride had transformed into something far greater.
Awe.
"...Madam Cornelia..."
One of them whispered, his voice filled with reverence.
"She... she surpassed everything..."
Elder Ghurn’s old hands trembled as he stared at her, his chest tightening with emotions he could not contain.
"Our family..."
He murmured, his voice thick with feeling.
"Our family has produced something that will stand above all..."
He could not finish the sentence.
Because even those words felt too small.
Too weak.
To describe what Cornelia had become.
At the edge of it all, Cain watched.
His expression remained calm.
Unmoved.
Yet inside—
"...Good..."
His thoughts flowed quietly, detached from the chaos around him.
"...The more extraordinary she becomes, the less attention falls on me..."
His lips almost curled into a smile.
"...The more they value her, the more they will ignore everything else..."
He leaned slightly back, his gaze still fixed on Cornelia.
"...And the more they become focused on her... the easier it will be for me to slip away from this mess..."
His thoughts continued, steady and calculated.
"...The more they revere her, the more they will protect her... and the more they will see the blood pact as something that binds her too tightly..."
His eyes flickered with something sharp.
"...And when that time comes..."
He exhaled slowly.
"...Breaking it will not be impossible..."
He let out a quiet breath, watching as the arena continued to descend into chaos.
"...This is perfect..."
But before he could continue—
Something changed.
The massive clawed palm beneath Cornelia trembled.
At first, it was faint.
Almost unnoticeable beneath the noise of the crowd.
But then—
It grew.
The entire structure shook, not violently, but with a deep, resonant vibration that carried through the ground and into the bones of everyone present.
The noise began to fade again.
Not because anyone wanted to stop.
But because something else demanded their attention.
"What... is happening now...?"
Someone whispered, their voice tight with unease.
Elder Achilor’s eyes narrowed as he focused on the palm.
"This..."
He murmured, his voice low.
"This has never occurred before..."
The clawed hand, which had already transformed earlier, now seemed to come alive in a way that no one had expected.
The surface darkened.
The veins running through it pulsed with a deep crimson light.
And then—
Power surged.
Not outward.
But inward.
Into Cornelia.
Her body, still seated calmly, began to glow faintly, her skin illuminated by the energy that poured into her from the palm beneath her.
Her eyes remained closed.
Her breathing steady.
But the energy around her—
It began to rise.
Her blood mana, which had already been present, now began to expand at an alarming rate.
From the Fifth Stage of Blood Condensation—
It broke through.
Sixth.
Seventh.
Eighth.
Each breakthrough came without resistance, without struggle, as if the barriers that should have existed simply did not apply to her.
"Ninth...!"
Someone shouted, their voice filled with shock.
"Tenth...!"
Another voice followed, louder.
"Eleventh!"
"Twelfth!"
The numbers continued to rise, each one drawing louder reactions from the crowd as they watched her cultivation surge forward at a pace that defied all logic.
"This is not cultivation anymore!"
"This is being forcefully elevated!"
"No... this is something else!"
The voices grew frantic, their understanding collapsing as they tried to grasp what was happening before them.
And then—
The breakthrough came.
A deeper, heavier presence emerged from Cornelia’s body as her blood mana condensed further.
"Blood Core Formation..."
Elder Achilor whispered, his voice strained.
"She has entered Blood Core Formation..."
But it did not stop there.
First stage.
Second.
Third.
Each stage passed as if it held no meaning.
"Fourth..."
"Fifth..."
"Sixth...!"
By the time the surge began to slow, her aura had completely transformed.
The energy that surrounded her no longer felt like that of someone who had just been tested.
It felt like that of someone who had been reborn.
The palm beneath her gradually calmed.
The trembling faded.
The glow dimmed.
And the overwhelming surge of power finally came to an end.
The arena fell silent once more.
Not because of shock this time.
But because there were no words left.
Cornelia remained seated, her eyes still closed, her expression peaceful, as if nothing extraordinary had happened.
And yet—
Everyone knew.
Everything had changed.
The nurturing—
Had finally stopped.