Supreme Bloodline Evolution System

"You appear to be confusing negotiation with an auction," Max said. "If I decide I want any of you, that will be a separate matter. I will not hand over part of my kingdom in exchange for a beautiful woman warming my bed."

Myrathien leaned back, and for once, she had nothing clever to say.

Shaelvyn took over before the silence could settle.

"Then allow us to rebuild an elven defensive force. Your soldiers will remain outside Daerfaen, and no dragon will enter the capital or any elven settlement without permission from the council."

"No."

"Would you prefer the elves remain defenseless?"

"I would prefer them protected by soldiers loyal to me rather than an army controlled by women who arrived in my citadel carrying hidden weapons."

Shaelvyn’s gaze shifted to the side as her hand slid away from her dagger.

"Elves will never accept dragon soldiers occupying their homes."

Ilyndessa kept pushing, nearly rising from her hair before forcing herself to remain where she was, her fists clenching with anger. She wanted to punch Max in the face so badly, but even she understood the difference between them now.

"They will not be protected by dragon soldiers alone. Elves who swear loyalty to me will be permitted to join my army, receive training, earn ranks, and defend their own settlements beside every other race under my rule."

"You expect elven warriors to obey dragons?"

"I expect my soldiers to obey their commanders. Their race is irrelevant."

The answer came so naturally that several of the women fell silent.

Aeravelle adjusted her glasses as she studied him with renewed attention.

"Then we require guarantees that elven customs, temples, language, and ancestral sites will remain untouched. Elves accused of crimes must be judged according to elven law by elven magistrates, and no outsider may claim land within our forest."

"The first half is reasonable," Max replied. "The second half is not."

It was the first time he had offered anything other than an immediate rejection, and all seven women noticed.

"Your people can keep their language, customs, celebrations, temples, burial grounds, and whatever sacred trees they pray beneath. I have no interest in destroying traditions that do not threaten my rule or harm those living under it. But there will be one law throughout my kingdom, and no noble house will be allowed to protect its people from punishment by hiding behind ancient customs."

"Our laws are older than your bloodline," Rosethae said.

"Then they have had more than enough time to become outdated."

Xyranthia lowered her face quickly, but not before Max noticed the brief movement at the corner of her lips.

Rosethae noticed it too and shot her a cold glare.

Ilyndessa placed both hands upon the crystal table, her posture becoming rigid as one demand after another collapsed before them.

"You intend to strip every house of its authority?"

"I intend to strip every noble who supported the invasion of the authority they used to send common elves into a war that benefited only themselves."

"You know nothing about how our people are governed."

"I know the elves who died outside their homeland were mostly ordinary soldiers, while seven noblewomen survived comfortably enough to dress themselves in silk and come here believing their beauty would recover everything their emperor lost."

A deep silence settled over the reception hall.

Even Myrathien’s smile disappeared completely.

Max leaned forward, resting both arms against his raised knee as he looked at them one by one.

"Now you will listen to my terms."

The atmosphere changed at once.

Until that moment, the seven women had continued clinging to the belief that if they offered enough, threatened enough, or demanded enough, they could recover some fragment of their former power.

The way Max spoke made them understand that he had never entered this discussion intending to bargain over ownership of Aelvarith.

He was only deciding what place its survivors would hold inside his kingdom.

"Every settlement within the elven lands will be counted," Max said. "I want to know how many elves remain, how much food they possess, how many are wounded, how many children have been orphaned, and which villages are in danger of starvation. Your hidden storehouses will be opened, and whatever food they contain will be distributed according to need."

Rosethae stiffened.

"Those reserves belong to the noble houses."

"They belong to hungry elves—my people. And of course, the dragons."

"You cannot simply seize property passed down through generations."

"I can, and I will."

Max did not raise his voice. He did not need to.

"Every surviving soldier will surrender their weapon and be registered. Those who wish to return to ordinary life may do so. Those who wish to continue serving will swear loyalty to me and join an army that answers to my throne. Anyone hiding weapons for the purpose of rebellion will be treated as an enemy, but no elf will be punished merely for having fought under the command of their former emperor."

Aeravelle’s gaze sharpened.

"You would pardon the soldiers?"

"They obeyed the ruler they had. I have no reason to slaughter people who can still become useful citizens."

"And the commanders?"

"I left no one alive. Not one. How many of your soldiers returned from the Wind Dragon Lands? Anyone? No?" Max straightened. "Only a handful."

His answer unsettled the women, leaving them in complete silence as the weight of his words finally sank in. Only now did they understand how ridiculous their claims over those lands truly were. Without Max, they barely had any soldiers left to enforce them.

Noticing their reactions, Max settled back comfortably, sitting nothing like a king was supposed to.

"The elven lands will be divided into administrative regions," he continued. "Each settlement will choose a representative from the dragons. Those representatives will report what their communities need, but they will not possess private armies, collect personal taxes, or own the lives of those beneath them."

Ilyndessa’s fingers slowly curled against the edge of the table, her nails scraping against the smooth crystal surface as the last of her restraint began to crumble.

"This is ridiculous! You are overstepping your jurisdiction!" she shouted, slamming both hands against the table as she shot to her feet.

Her chair scraped violently across the floor behind her. Her eyes were almost bloodshot, her chest rising and falling beneath her robes as heavy breaths escaped through her clenched teeth. She stared daggers at Max, her entire body trembling with enough rage that it seemed she wanted nothing more than to leap across the table and kill him where he sat.

Max merely scratched the back of his head.

A smile slowly spread across his face before an eerie laugh escaped his lips, so cold and unnatural that the other six women froze before they could follow Ilyndessa to their feet. Some had already placed their hands against the table, prepared to rise, yet the sound of his laughter rooted them in place.

"Pardon my rudeness," Max said before laughing even harder. "Where were my manners?"

He straightened in his seat once more, his relaxed posture disappearing as his gaze settled directly upon Ilyndessa. The moment their eyes met, her pupils sharpened, some buried instinct warning her of what was about to happen, but the realization came far too late.

Blood suddenly burst from her left shoulder.

Her entire arm vanished before anyone in the chamber could blink, severed so quickly and cleanly that it remained suspended in the air for the briefest instant before striking the crystal floor with a wet thud. A thin trail of black mist withdrew from the space beside her and curled back around Max’s fingers as though it had never left them.

"Aaaaarrrgghhh!"

Ilyndessa’s scream tore through the chamber as she staggered away from the table, her remaining hand flying toward the ruined shoulder while blood poured between her fingers. Her face twisted with unbearable pain, yet the terror in her eyes came not only from what she felt, but from what she had just witnessed. She had not seen Max move. None of them had. One moment, her arm had been attached to her body, and the next, it lay upon the floor several steps away.

The other six women surged to their feet, mana instinctively stirring within them as they prepared to fight, but every trace of strength abandoned their bodies before they could even count to one. Their knees buckled beneath them, and several nearly collapsed against the table as an invisible pressure crushed down upon their shoulders.

"You see, I was far too nice to you," Max said, examining the black mist fading from his fingertips. "I treated you like ladies. I allowed you to sit at my table, speak freely, argue with me, and pretend that your opinions still carried some weight."

His eyes returned to Ilyndessa as she trembled before him, desperately pressing her hand against the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

"But it seems you are a bit of a masochist," he continued, his smile widening. "You love pain. You love being treated like trash. Otherwise, why would you continue defying my rule when you are nothing more than a lowly noble who no longer possesses an army capable of protecting her?"

He leaned back slightly, as though genuinely trying to remember something.

"And you were the slut of that man, weren’t you? What was his name again? Thalvendor?" Max laughed even louder. "What a ridiculous name."

The sound of his laughter echoed through the chamber, but Max did not notice the way every woman now looked at him. He did not see how their anger had been replaced by fear, nor how none of them dared to move toward Ilyndessa despite the blood continuing to spread across the floor.

He had not noticed the change within himself either.

Every day, as his power grew and more bloodlines became part of him, something inside Max shifted along with them. It happened slowly, almost imperceptibly, buried beneath every battle, betrayal, and life he had taken, but the man who had once hesitated to hurt others was gradually disappearing.

"You’re a monster," Ilyndessa said through clenched teeth, her voice shaking as she fought to remain standing. "A villain..."

Her face had grown deathly pale, and every muscle in her body screamed for her to run, but her legs refused to obey. Even if she could force herself toward the door, she understood that Max could take her life long before she reached it.

"Am I?" Max asked, smiling softly at her.

The gentleness of that smile made him appear even more terrifying.

"I believe I am simply a man who has been beaten too many times to give a single shit about anyone who is not one of my people." His gaze moved across the other six women before returning to Ilyndessa. "I offered you respect, and you mistook it for weakness. I allowed you to speak, and you began believing that you stood as my equal."

The black mist gathered around his fingers once again.

"So, what will it be?" Max asked, his voice becoming quiet enough that every woman had to hold her breath to hear him. "Submission or death?"