Chapter 139: Choose, Dear Daughter

Vlad remained silent after Emily’s words. For several seconds, he simply looked at her, the strange calmness in his crimson eyes making her wonder whether he had even heard what she said. Then, little by little, the corners of his lips rose into a smile.

It wasn’t the cruel smile she had expected from the monster who had destroyed the Garden, nor did it carry any mockery. Instead, there was something almost genuine in it, as though hearing Emily call him her father had brought him a happiness he hadn’t felt in years.

"Oh, Emily..." Vlad murmured, his gaze softening. "It makes me so happy to hear you say that."

For the first time since he appeared, Emily felt a tiny spark of hope. Perhaps there was still something left. Perhaps the person she remembered really was still somewhere inside him.

That hope lasted only a moment. Vlad’s smile slowly faded into something sad, and he lowered his gaze toward the ruined Garden before quietly shaking his head. "But things can’t go back."

Emily’s heart tightened as she took a step toward him. "Why not!? Tell me why! Why can’t we just—"

"Because the lights of my world are gone," Vlad interrupted gently. His eyes moved across the ruined Garden, lingering on the broken flowers and blood-covered paths as though he were seeing something far beyond the destruction in front of him. "And now I only see crimson. Wherever I look, all I can see is crimson and hate."

Emily stopped. Something about those words felt familiar. She remembered the way he had once looked at Maria, the way his expression changed whenever Selene was mentioned, the strange warmth that had filled the Garden when the three of them had been together. Back then, his world had seemed different. It had been filled with things he wanted to protect.

Lights.

"Light...?" Emily’s lips parted as the realization slowly formed.

Vlad didn’t answer. Her eyes widened as another thought struck her, and the hope that had appeared moments ago began to disappear. "Wait..." Her voice trembled as she stared at him. "Don’t tell me..."

Vlad simply nodded. The movement was small, but it was enough. Emily’s entire body went cold.

Before she could ask anything else, Vlad disappeared. There was no warning, no visible movement, no trace of Blood Mana before he suddenly appeared directly in front of her. Emily’s body reacted on instinct, but she couldn’t even raise her weapon before his hand had already reached her.

She expected an attack. Instead, Vlad gently placed his fingers against her cheek. The warmth of his hand contrasted sharply with the blood covering it, crimson liquid slowly smearing across her face. She didn’t move. She could only stare as the person from her memories stood close enough for her to see every detail of his expression.

"Yes," Vlad said quietly, his thumb moving gently across her cheek, almost like he was wiping away a tear that hadn’t fallen yet. "They are dead."

Emily’s breath caught. For several seconds, she couldn’t make sense of the words. "How...?" she finally whispered.

Vlad gave her a beautiful smile, but the emotion behind his eyes was completely different, so much hatred and rage hidden inside them that Emily felt as though she were looking into something bottomless. "They were murdered in a town," he said, his fingers still against her face, his voice surprisingly gentle. "They smelled my blood on Maria. They knew she was a Bloodkin, and once they realized what she was, they stopped seeing her as a person."

Emily’s eyes trembled.

"They decided she was a monster." His smile remained, but the crimson in his eyes darkened. "My wife was carrying our child when they took her from me. They didn’t care that she had never harmed them. They didn’t care that she had a family waiting for her. They saw what was in her blood and decided that was enough to condemn her."

Emily could barely breathe.

"My wife was taken from me." His hand slowly moved away from her face, leaving a crimson stain behind. "My unborn child was taken from me."

Emily stared at him, unable to find anything to say. Vlad looked at her for a long moment before his expression softened again. "Emily, my sweet daughter, tell me something." He leaned slightly toward her, his voice almost pleading despite the terrifying presence surrounding him. "What should I have done?"

Her lips parted, but nothing came out.

"Tell me, what should I have done with all of that hate?" His eyes trembled for the first time, and beneath the rage, Emily could finally see the grief buried there. "What should I have done with all of that grief?"

"I..." she whispered. She didn’t know. She wanted to tell him that he should have moved on, forgiven them, found another reason to live, but none of those answers felt large enough for what he had lost.

Vlad seemed to understand her silence. "When I found out what happened, I burned the entire town down." Her eyes widened. "I killed every one of them, down to the last human."

"But so many of them were innocent!" Emily cried, finally finding her voice.

Vlad nodded slowly. "Maybe." His answer was so calm it frightened her more than anger would have. "But it doesn’t matter."

Emily stared at him. His expression turned colder as he looked toward the ruined Garden. "Not a single one of them stepped forward. Not one person tried to stop them. Not one person stood between my wife and the people who decided she deserved to die." His voice stayed quiet, but each word carried more weight than the last. "Maybe some of them were innocent. Maybe some of them didn’t know what was happening. Maybe some of them were afraid." He looked back at her. "But when I found them, I couldn’t see any of that anymore."

The crimson liquid around his body began moving faster. "I only saw the people who let it happen."

Emily felt a chill run through her. Vlad had not convinced himself that every person in the town was personally responsible. Something worse had happened. He had decided that their failure to act made them guilty enough to die, and once he had made that decision, there had been nothing left to stop him.

The air turned heavy. Emily’s expression changed as an overwhelming pressure spread through the Garden. At first she thought it was another attack, but the pressure kept rising without taking a recognizable shape. The ground beneath Vlad’s feet cracked, and the blood surrounding him began floating upward.

Her Crimson Protector reacted immediately, the aura around her body brightening on instinct, the crown above her head trembling as though it had sensed something far more dangerous than anything she’d encountered before.

Emily’s eyes widened. She knew this pressure. She had felt something similar only a handful of times in her life. It wasn’t merely the pressure of a powerful Awakener. It was something that existed beyond ordinary ranks.

"Calamity..." she whispered.

The realization struck her almost immediately. Vlad was a Calamity. She had known he was powerful, known he was an Origin Bloodkin, had seen enough of his strength in the past to understand he was far beyond ordinary Bloodkin. But this was different. This was the same overwhelming level of existence that Archon possessed.

Emily remembered the impossible scene from earlier, when the Singularity had trapped Archon, and Archon had eventually broken through it by force. She had wondered how someone could possibly do that. Now she understood.

That’s why he broke the Singularity.

Her eyes stayed fixed on Vlad as another realization followed. That’s why he was able to reach this place. The Bloodkin hadn’t simply followed him because he was their leader. They followed him because there was something monstrous standing at the top of their entire race.

Emily’s breathing grew unsteady. He’s no weaker than Archon. The thought alone made her body stiffen.

Yet despite the terrifying power now radiating from him, Vlad’s expression remained strangely sorrowful. Then Emily noticed something moving down his face. A crimson tear slid from the corner of his eye, then another.

Emily stared. It wasn’t normal blood. His own Blood Mana was leaking from his eyes, as though even his body could no longer contain the grief inside him. For a moment, she could see it clearly. Beneath the monster, beneath the Calamity, beneath all that hatred, there was still someone who was grieving.

Vlad slowly raised one hand toward the crimson sky, and the Blood Mana throughout the Garden immediately began surging toward him. Emily watched in confusion as the enormous Heart of Origin, which had remained embedded at the deepest point of the Garden, began trembling beneath the ruined ground. The entire Garden shook as crimson lightning wrapped around it.

Emily’s eyes widened. She knew that object. It was the same Heart Reinhard had been trying to destroy. "The Heart..." she whispered.

Vlad’s fingers curled slightly, and the Heart was ripped from its position deep beneath the Garden, crimson lightning swallowing it before dragging it through the sky toward him. Emily could only stare as the impossible happened before her eyes, the Heart of Origin flying directly into his hand.

He looked down at it calmly before crimson light condensed around it, forming a small chest. He extended it toward Emily. "Open it, daughter."

Her hands trembled as she stared at the object. "Why?"

Vlad’s smile returned. "Because you have a choice to make."

Emily shook her head. "No."

He didn’t force her. Instead, he simply opened the chest himself. Inside, the Heart of Origin continued beating. Thump.

Emily’s eyes widened. This was the same Heart that Reinhard had fought to destroy, the same Heart that had been maintaining the Singularity. And somehow, Vlad had simply summoned it to himself.

He looked at the beating Heart, then raised his eyes toward her. "You wanted to know how this happened." His voice was strangely peaceful. "Now you get to decide what happens next." He gently pushed the Heart toward her. "Choose."