My Blood Legacy: Bloodlines

Chapter 129: Cold as ice

Grace Valentine stood before him for a few seconds without saying a word. The constant movement of the gigantic underground chamber continued around them; participants walked through internal corridors while priests reorganized the previously destroyed structures, but in that small area near the enormous black column, a silence seemed completely separate from the rest of the environment.

Victor noticed this immediately.

People avoided approaching the two of them at the same time.

Which honestly made a lot of sense.

Grace herself was already considered an aberration among the young vampires of the new generation. The icy pressure naturally emanating from her made even experienced participants avoid prolonged contact.

Victor was now worse.

Much worse.

So that small area ended up becoming a kind of unintentionally dead territory.

Grace continued to observe him in absolute silence. Her blue eyes remained fixed directly on his hands while small frozen fragments involuntarily appeared near her own feet.

Victor noticed that too.

She was restless.

Which was strange.

Because from the beginning of the Ritual, Grace Valentine seemed emotionally incapable of demonstrating any normal human reaction.

But now...

Now she clearly seemed to be trying to understand something.

Victor partially rested his arm on his knee as he calmly observed her.

"So?" he asked without much ceremony. "You wanted to talk about something."

Grace remained silent for a few more seconds before finally answering.

"...Why are you emitting so much icy energy?"

The question came out extremely direct.

Cold.

To the point.

Very much like her.

Victor raised an eyebrow slightly.

Grace continued observing him as she spoke slowly:

"My senses have been screaming ever since you awoke." Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Your blood feels like ice."

Victor was silent for a moment.

Because honestly...

That was a problem.

He still didn’t fully understand what had awakened within his own body after absorbing the Primordial Blood. The abilities emerged too quickly. Too strongly.

And clearly, they weren’t normal.

The worst detail was precisely that.

Grace noticed.

Naturally noticed.

She probably possessed the most refined perception possible when it came to cold or thermal manipulation. So it made sense that she immediately identified something strange about him.

Victor partially rested his head against the column behind him as he thought about what he should answer.

Making up a lie seemed pointless.

Grace clearly wasn’t stupid.

But there was no logical explanation either.

So he just sighed.

"...Ah, fuck it."

Grace watched him slowly raise one hand.

Then Victor simply waved his fingers casually in the air.

The effect was immediate.

CRACK.

The surrounding environment froze instantly.

Not gradually.

Violently.

The black stone beneath their feet was immediately covered in thick layers of dark ice, while small frozen cracks began to spread across the structure of the nearby column.

A small sword made entirely of black ice slowly emerged in Victor’s hand.

The cold released by the weapon made the air in the entire region instantly heavy.

It didn’t look like ordinary ice.

It was wrong.

The black coloration mixed with deep bluish reflections made the blade look like something produced by a creature dead thousands of years ago.

Even the temperature seemed different.

It wasn’t just cold.

It felt like the absence of life.

Grace froze completely.

Literally.

Her eyes widened for the first time since the beginning of the Ritual.

Victor observed this calmly while partially twirling the small sword between his fingers.

"That’s what you felt."

Grace continued to stare at the blade without immediate reaction.

Then she finally spoke:

"...That’s impossible."

Victor let out a small nasal laugh.

"Yeah. I thought so too."

But Grace wasn’t joking.

Victor realized this immediately.

Her expression had completely changed now.

It didn’t just look like surprise.

It looked like genuine shock.

Grace slowly shifted her gaze from the sword to his face.

"...Only my lineage can use ice."

Silence hung for a second.

Victor observed her calmly.

Then he shrugged.

"...Nothing is impossible when it comes to power."

The answer came out simply.

Natural.

As if it didn’t matter that much.

But to Grace it clearly mattered.

A lot.

Victor could perceive her racing thoughts just by observing the small involuntary movements in the girl’s eyes.

Because it defied basic biological logic.

Ice manipulation within the Valentine Family wasn’t a common skill. It was an extremely rare trait specifically tied to their faction’s lineage.

And now...

Victor simply manifested a much worse ice.

Much more dangerous.

Victor then made the small sword slowly disappear into thin air while continuing to speak:

"Anyway, I have nothing to do with you."

Grace remained motionless, listening.

Victor rested his arms on his knees again before continuing:

"Then relax." He said that honestly. "I probably won’t even use this for a while."

Grace narrowed her eyes slightly.

"...Why?"

Victor gave another small, lazy smile.

"Because I don’t understand this shit yet."

That was honestly sincere.

He really didn’t understand.

The abilities emerged too quickly within his body. Everything still felt unstable. The heightened senses were irritating. The smell of people remained absurdly strong.

Furthermore...

Victor really didn’t intend to go around showing off new abilities unnecessarily.

That would only create political problems.

And honestly?

He already had enough problems.

Grace remained silently observing him for several seconds before finally murmuring:

"...You’re very brave just sitting there making assumptions."

Victor raised his gaze slightly.

Grace continued:

"You assumed I would feel threatened." Her voice remained absurdly calm. "Then you assumed I would simply accept your explanation."

Victor stared at her for a few seconds.

Then he shrugged again.

"...Vampires are arrogant."

The response came out so naturally that Grace blinked slowly for the first time.

Victor continued speaking while partially resting his head against the column:

"Especially the strong ones." He let out a small nasal laugh. "So I thought maybe you were annoyed because another ice user showed up."

Grace remained in absolute silence listening to this.

Victor then partially shifted his gaze to the distant movement in the underground chamber before continuing:

"Also consider that practically everyone hated me until a few months ago." His tone remained simple. "I don’t usually know many people."

That was true.

Victor had spent a large part of his life isolated within the Lavender Palace, treated as a failure by most of the Valentine Family.

Constant contempt eventually created certain mental habits.

You naturally learned to expect hostility.

Even now.

Even after effortlessly crushing half the participants in that Ritual.

Part of him still expected negative reactions first.

Victor then looked at Grace again. "So, sorry if I offended you."

Grace remained looking at him for a few seconds after the apology. Her expression remained practically the same as always. Cold. Controlled. Distant. But Victor noticed a slight change in her eyes at that specific moment.

Something lighter.

Less rigid.

Then, unexpectedly, she let out a small laugh.

It wasn’t loud.

Nor exaggerated.

In fact, the sound was low and short, almost as if she herself wasn’t used to doing that normally. Even so, the effect was immediate.

Victor was genuinely startled for a split second.

Because it seemed too wrong.

Grace Valentine always conveyed the feeling of a living statue. A piece of ice sculpted by some absurdly talented and emotionally disturbed conceptual artist. Too cold. Too beautiful. Too silent.

So hearing her laugh seemed almost a supernatural event.

Victor stared at her for a few seconds before finally commenting:

"...Damn."

Grace tilted her head slightly.

"What?"

Victor continued to look at her with a strangely serious expression.

"You can laugh."

The slight curve in her lips slowly disappeared.

"...Of course I can."

Victor still seemed suspicious.

"I’m not sure."

Grace stared at him in absolute silence for a few seconds before partially averting her gaze. Small frozen fragments reappeared near her feet as she slowly crossed her arms.

"...Idiot."

Victor let out a small nasal laugh upon hearing that.

But honestly?

That had truly surprised him.

From the beginning of the Ritual, Grace seemed like an emotionally flawed humanoid weapon. Everything about her was too controlled. Too calculated. Even the way she walked seemed precise.

So, noticing small, normal human reactions in her caused a strange feeling of unease.

Grace then looked at him again.

This time with less rigidity than before.

"My mistress was right."

Victor raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Mistress?"

"Chysis."

Victor immediately made a tired expression.

"...Ah."

Grace observed this silently for a moment before continuing:

"She keeps talking about you nonstop."

Victor remained motionless for a few seconds.

Then he slowly brought his hand to his face.

"...That’s worrying."

Grace completely ignored the comment.

"Her grandson really is interesting."

Victor let out a small, tired sigh as he rested his head partially on the column behind him.

"Don’t say it like that." He murmured. "It makes me seem like a rare animal."

Grace tilted her head slightly.

"You destroyed part of Headquarters."

"Details."

"You absorbed the Primordial Blood almost instantly."

"Technical details."

"You awakened multiple absurd abilities."

Victor remained silent.

Grace then calmly concluded:

"...You understand that this doesn’t help your defense, right?"

Victor opened his mouth.

Closed it again.

Then sighed defeatedly.

"...Fine, right."

The short conversation continued for a few seconds in relatively comfortable silence. The movement in the gigantic underground chamber continued intensely around them, but Victor noticed that the overall atmosphere had changed since earlier.

Now there was real fear. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com

Participants avoided direct eye contact.

Others watched him from afar while pretending to converse normally.

Even some veterans of Headquarters seemed tense.

Victor honestly expected this.

The previous display of power had been too exaggerated to simply ignore.

Grace noticed it too.

"They’re scared."

Victor shrugged.

"That’s better."

The answer came out simply.

Because it was true.

Scared participants tended to do less stupid things.

Although Victor honestly still expected someone to try to attack him eventually. Vampires were too proud to accept absurd power differences in a healthy way.

Especially the young ones.

Grace remained silently observing his face for a few seconds before asking:

"...You really don’t care?"

Victor partially shifted his gaze to her.

"About what?"

"People."

Victor thought for a few moments before answering.

"...I find it tiring." He spoke honestly. "Most vampires act like they’re competing all the time."

Grace didn’t answer immediately.

Because that also described a large part of her own life.

Victor continued:

"Everyone wants to prove something." He let out a small nasal laugh. "Superiority, lineage, talent, power... honestly, it seems exhausting."

Grace observed him calmly.

"...Even being strong?"

Victor partially rested his arm on his knee before replying:

"Especially being strong."

Silence fell between them again.

But this time it didn’t seem uncomfortable.

Grace slowly glanced at the distant corridors of the underground chamber as small frozen crystals continued to involuntarily appear near her own feet.

Victor noticed this.

She seemed to be overthinking.

Probably about his abilities.

Or perhaps about the situation within the Valentine Family itself.

Honestly, he didn’t know.

And honestly?

He didn’t intend to ask either.

Because despite the relatively normal conversation, Grace still conveyed a strange feeling. As if something extremely heavy was hidden behind that frozen personality.

Victor had known people like that.

They were usually the most dangerous.

Then, before either of them could continue the conversation—

"ATTENTION!"

The judge’s voice echoed violently through the gigantic underground chamber using magical amplification.

Instantly, thousands of participants looked up.

The movement around them began to rapidly decrease as everyone returned their attention to the central area of ​​the structure.

Victor let out a small sigh.

"...Finally."

Grace also looked ahead.

The judge now stood on an elevated platform near the center of the chamber while several officials and priests arranged themselves around him. The man’s tired expression remained practically the same as before, but now there was much more evident tension in his posture.

The true Ritual would finally begin.

"All approved participants must immediately gather in the central area!" his voice echoed again through the colossal structure. "Preparation for entry into the Ascension Area will begin now!"