Chapter 479: The Seed Disappeared XVIII

Stephen’s blood kept pulling at him. The old butler was bleeding from his face, shoulder, ribs, and several smaller wounds. Some of the blood had already fallen onto the broken courtyard. More remained on his clothes.

Blood Control Lv3 made it easy. With it Sekhmet slowly raised one hand. The blood on the ground moved.

Stephen noticed that immediately. Several drops of his blood rose from the broken stone near him and floated toward Sekhmet.

Stephen turned his head slightly. His expression became colder.

"Do not touch my blood."

Sekhmet’s fingers closed. The drops accelerated.

Stephen released his strange divine force and tried to stop them, but this time something unexpected happened. The blood slowed, yet it did not completely freeze.

Sekhmet felt the resistance. It was enormous.

Stephen was a Mid-Rank God, while Sekhmet remained only Chaos Rank Three. Under normal circumstances, even Blood Control Lv3 should not have allowed Sekhmet to fight directly against a God’s control over his own body.

But these drops were already outside Stephen. And Sekhmet’s Blood God Will was still active.

The crimson drops shook between them.

Stephen looked toward Sekhmet properly for the first time since Elena reached Mid-Rank God.

Sekhmet pulled harder. One drop escaped Stephen’s control. Then another. Then another...

They flew across the courtyard and entered Sekhmet’s palm. The moment divine blood touched his skin, his entire body reacted.

His heartbeat slammed once. The smell became stronger. His mouth became painfully dry.

Sekhmet stared at the blood resting on his palm. The temptation to drink it was almost impossible to ignore.

The System rang.

[Warning.

Host Bloodlust: 91%.

Direct contact with high-quality divine blood has intensified Blood Hunger.

System control assistance under severe strain.

The host is advised not to consume the blood.]

Sekhmet looked at the message. Then at the blood. His tongue moved against the inside of one fang.

"You are telling me not to drink it because it will make the Bloodlust worse?"

[Yes.]

That was enough information.

Sekhmet closed his hand. The blood disappeared into a thin crimson coating across his fingers instead of entering his mouth.

He did not drink it. At least not yet.

Stephen saw that small action and understood something important.

Sekhmet was restraining himself. That meant whatever ability had strengthened the three women came with a cost.

Stephen’s eyes moved toward Elena.

Then Sofia.

Then Natasha.

He had already spent too much time allowing them to control the pace of the battle. So decided to change his approach.

Instead of attacking Elena again, Stephen suddenly moved toward Sekhmet.

Elena reacted, but Stephen had expected it. His divine force struck the ground between them, and the entire section of courtyard rose and folded upward like a stone wall. Elena smashed through it immediately, but that small delay gave Stephen several more steps.

Sofia appeared from his left.

Stephen did not fight her. Instead he changed direction.

Natasha moved into his new path.

Stephen changed again. His goal was obvious now. He no longer cared about defeating the three women first. He wanted Sekhmet.

Mira saw it and stepped forward, but Sekhmet immediately spoke.

"Stay back. You can’t fight him."

She stopped. There was no point in Mira trying to stand in front of a Mid-Rank God.

Stephen crossed half the remaining distance.

Then Elena reached him. Her hand closed around the back of his coat. She pulled him away from Sekhmet and threw him across the courtyard.

Stephen twisted in the air and landed on both feet.

Elena appeared in front of him before he could move again.

"You are fighting me."

Stephen looked past her toward Sekhmet.

"No. I am solving the problem."

Elena struck him.

Stephen blocked.

This time their collision did not spread across the estate. Both controlled the force more tightly, concentrating it between them. The stone beneath their feet sank while the air around their arms twisted violently.

Sofia and Natasha did not attack immediately. They had learned something from the previous exchanges.

Stephen had already begun adapting to their three-direction attacks. So they changed too.

Sofia moved farther away.

Natasha disappeared into the damaged mansion.

Stephen noticed neither action because Elena gave him no time.

She attacked again.

A fist.

An elbow.

A short kick aimed at his knee.

Stephen blocked the first two and avoided the third.

Then Sofia acted. She did not attack Stephen’s body. She attacked his blood.

The drop he had spilled across the battlefield which Sekhmet didn’t pick up earlier. They rose at once.

Dozens of them. Most of them were tiny. Some had mixed with dust. Others had soaked into broken stone.

Blood Corruption strengthened Sofia’s control enough that all of them answered her.

Stephen felt it. His attention shifted for less than a heartbeat.

Elena struck him in the throat.

He staggered backward.

That was when Natasha came through a broken second-floor wall above him. She had used the mansion itself to hide her movement. Her claws struck downward.

Stephen moved his head, but she was not aiming for his head. She tore through the muscles around his right shoulder.

Stephen’s arm dropped slightly.

Natasha landed behind him and immediately moved away before he could retaliate.

Sofia clenched both hands.

Stephen’s spilled blood became long thin threads and wrapped around his damaged shoulder.

Then Sofia pulled. The wound opened wider.

Stephen finally shouted. It was not too loud. But it was a real anger for him. His divine force erupted. The blood threads vanished.

Natasha was thrown backward.

Sofia’s feet left the ground.

Elena remained close enough to take the strongest part of the release, but now she could endure it. She crossed both arms, slid backward, then stopped.

Stephen looked at the three women. The blood covering his shoulder was already slowing. His God-level body was healing. But not quickly enough to keep up with the new wounds.

Sekhmet watched every moment. He could feel the blood inside the shoulder wound more clearly now because it had been opened repeatedly.

He focused. Not on the blood already outside. Inside. Blood Control touched it.