Born in Blood-Chapter 561: Value

The Prince of Cruelty was surprised he could even breathe. He had never thought the simple action of taking in air and releasing it was so invigorating... but the sweetness of proving he was alive felt unparalleled.

He... he was the victor.

He had won.

Won against that damned Sun Bather.

Gorock spent a few seconds reveling in victory. His heart pumped new doses of blood into his veins, slowly healing him from the ground up.

Then, he wasted no time.

With a sluggish and soft movement, Gorock began inching himself towards his mansion.

There, he could fully recuperate and gain back his power.

But just then... his face darkened to a painful expression when he sensed a faint movement in the waters.

He cursed, hastening his movements to the stone fortress. There was a bit of desperation in his crimson eyes.

It didn’t matter if the Sun Bather was awake!

If he managed to lock himself in, the damned Sun Bather would not be able to pull him out!

’Just a little more!’ Gorock thought, just a few meters away from the gate.

A little more!

A little—

Something seized him from the leg.

The vampire let out a depressed moan of loss, angry at himself, angry at the Sun Bather, angry at the world.

He was... he was so damn close!

’Curse it all!’ Gorock shrieked inwardly, lacking the strength to do it in person.

Liam had awoken.

His eyes were almost unconscious, hazy and distant as he grabbed onto Gorock’s body, stopping him from stepping foot into his stone domain.

The lower half of Liam’s body was still missing, though he no longer bled as horribly.

All he had grown out was an arm, but the rest of his body was slowly regenerating with weaves of flesh and muscle.

Luckily, his Ravenous Heart and other centers of power were perfectly fine.

Gradually, the light in Liam’s eyes returned, and he snapped into awareness.

Till now, his body was moving on instinct alone!

The first thing Liam did was grin. Damn did victory feel good.

"You put up a good fight," Liam praised. He meant it. "You were the strongest foe I’ve fought against, till now."

Gorock did not respond, stewing with a vile blend of rage, regret and defeat.

He sent venomous glares at the Sun Bather’s direction, which made Liam’s sadistic tendencies tingle with joy.

Then, Liam noticed the rapidly healing flesh of Gorock’s body. With each second that passed, more and more bits of him reformed... albeit, it would take several hours for the vampire just to gain back his limbs.

Liam put his palm on the vampire’s charred body. Through his external Transfiguration – masterfully dubbed Disfiguration – he could sense every heartbeat, every nerve and vein in Gorock’s body.

And he had full control over it.

Immediately, he stripped the vampire’s control from his own body by removing his veins, paralyzing him. At the same time, he hastened the creature’s healing capabilities, to make for a more... complete meal.

Gorock was shocked for a second... but between suffering a bitter loss and regretting so many of his decisions, the fear of death had slowly left him.

"Before I kill you and devour your heart," Liam said suddenly, leaving the nerves of the vampire’s mouth intact, "I just wanted to thank you... for all the research that you’ve been doing till now on blood. It’ll help tremendously in my goal of reaching the stars."

Gorock said nothing for several seconds, smiled, then said something that gave Liam a sinister feeling.

"Good luck."

Liam raised a brow, confused.

"Good luck? You sure you want those to be your last words?"

Gorock chuckled. With most of his nerves removed, the noise produced was unsettling and unnatural.

"Vermin are too stupid to realize the extent of their own stupidity. Do you really think I haven’t set fail-safes for situations like this?"

Then it hit him. What would Liam do in case he was a step away from death, and all his knowledge, resources and abilities were about to be taken away from him?

...He’d burn it all to the ground just so the other guy wouldn’t get a penny of it.

Liam snorted.

"Then I’ll just keep you alive," he said. Alive was a vague term, but one could infer torture from his tone. "You’re a vegetable now. I can choose whenever I want to murder you."

Gorock let out another one of his weird-sounding laughs. "Aha. Right. Pfft. Good luck with that."

He remained silent after that, and Liam said nothing for a while.

Liam looked at the stone castle, and its open gate obscured by layers of impenetrable darkness.

Gorock’s silence made him fear the unknown. What if there was a Formation there that would activate as soon as someone other than him entered? He lived here as a loner, after all.

Plus, he had knowledge of Formations, seeing the bright symbols etched on the seabed’s floor... which were destroyed after the battle had concluded.

’There’s also the individual who made his scythe for him,’ Liam thought. ’I’m never going to know if he doesn’t tell me.’

Liam had a very keen interest in whoever made that scythe. It was a beautifully forged weapon worthy of praise.

Torturing the vampire was out of the window before Liam even gave it a thought. Torturing a vampire would work on Lesser ones, but ones like Gorock and the Ministers?

Not really.

Liam was... conflicted.

Was the vampire bluffing?

If he was, he did a damn good job at instilling Liam with doubt.

Now, even stepping foot into the stone castle seemed like a risk.

Well... there was always calling Bill and the rest over. Giddy, Sharpie and Rebel looked clever enough to figure out something like this... but that didn’t sit right with Liam.

’I’m not at that level of trust with them yet.’

CEOs were greedy creatures, even if Liam was in somewhat good relations with the man. What if Bill suddenly decided he wanted a piece of the vampire’s knowledge or accumulated resources?

...Nah. He had to figure this out on his own.

How, though?

Liam gritted his teeth.

He had won, dammit!

This part did not have to be this hard.

He took a deep breath, then asked:

"How much do you value your life?"

Gorock’s eyes narrowed.

He paused for a second, then answered:

"I don’t value my life. I value my knowledge... and I’ll gladly take it to the grave with me."