The blood ocean shook. The faces inside it opened their mouths together.

The gray-haired man laughed. "Our own progenitor. One who will lead us to salvation."

Behind him, one chained vampire slowly raised his head.

His body was almost only bone. His skin stuck tightly to his frame, and his face barely looked human anymore.

His wrists were bound by black chains. Those chains pierced into his flesh.

Blood kept flowing from his body into the formation lines below.

"Soren..."His voice was hoarse.

The gray-haired man stopped laughing.

The chained vampire coughed. Black blood leaked from his mouth.

"Soren Veyr..."

The gray-haired man slowly turned his head.

"You are still alive, Marcell?"

The chained vampire, Marcell, looked at him with dull eyes.

There was no hatred in them, only grief.

"In the past... you were the most forgiving sovereign."

His voice trembled.

"You were the one who stopped us from killing. You were the one who said forgiving is the right of the strong."

Marcell pulled against the chain, but his body had no strength left. "Look at yourself now."

He looked toward the blood ocean.

"Look at what you are doing to our own people."

Soren's expression did not change. "Our people are dying anyway."

Marcell's lips trembled. "So you kill them first?"

"They are not dying for nothing. Their blood, their souls, their pain, all of it will become the foundation of our new god."

Marcell let out a weak laugh. "New god..."

His gaze sharpened for a moment.

"This is blasphemy."

Soren's face turned cold.

Marcell continued. "The Progenitor did not abandon us by choice. Even if he did, what you are making is not salvation."

The blood ocean rose higher. The faces inside it became clearer.

The dome trembled. More vampires collapsed to the ground. Their bodies dried up as their blood flowed into the center.

Soren looked back at the ocean with fanatic eyes. "You still speak of him like that."

Marcell said with difficulty, "Because faith is not only waiting for reward."

Soren walked toward him. "Faith did not save your wife."

Marcell's body froze.

Soren crouched in front of him. "Faith did not save your daughter."

Marcell's eyes shook.

Soren's voice became colder. "Faith did not save any of us."

Marcell closed his eyes.

For a moment, he could no longer speak.

Soren stood again. "That is why I stopped waiting."

The blood ocean suddenly rose and formed a huge cocoon above the center.

The surface of the cocoon kept moving. Faces pressed out from inside it, then disappeared again.

A heartbeat echoed through the dome.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Every beat made more vampires fall.

A young vampire chained near the edge screamed. "No! I changed my mind! Sovereign Soren, please!"

The formation under him flashed. His scream stopped.

His body dried up, and his blood rushed into the cocoon.

Soren did not even look at him.

Marcell stared at the dead young vampire. His face twisted. "Soren... how many of us did you sacrifice?"

Soren answered calmly. "As many as needed."

"Children too?"

Soren's silence answered him.

Marcell's eyes turned red. "You monster."

Soren looked at him. "If being a monster lets our race live, then I will be one."

"No." Marcell shook his head slowly. "You are not saving our race. You are finising it under your hatred."

The cocoon grew larger. The blood ocean started spinning.

The faces inside it screamed louder, and the entire dome shook.

The kneeling vampires began chanting.

Some did it willingly. Some did it with tears running down their faces.

"Our blood returns."

"Our souls gather."

"Our pain becomes the crown."

"Our hatred becomes the throne."

Soren raised both hands again.

"Yes. That is right."

His voice became louder.

"Let all our humiliation become flesh."

The cocoon pulsed. "Let all our suffering become blood."

The dome cracked. "Let the one who rises from this place carry our revenge."

The blood ocean surged upward.

Marcell pulled against his chains with his last strength. "Soren!"

Soren ignored him.

Marcell shouted, his hoarse voice tearing through the chant. "What you are making will not be our god!"

Soren turned back.

Marcell's eyes burned with the last bit of life he had. "It will never bring her back."

For the first time, Soren's expression changed.

Only slightly.

Then he walked to Marcell and placed one hand on his head. "You are old, Marcell."

His voice became soft. "You suffered too much. That is why you cannot see the future anymore."

Marcell looked up at him.

"And you suffered too much, so you lost sight of reality."

Soren's fingers tightened.

The formation under Marcell brightened. Blood began to flow faster from his body.

Marcell did not scream. He only stared at Soren. "May the Progenitor forgive you."

Soren's expression twisted. "There is no need."

The blood around his feet rose. His scarred eyes faced the cocoon. "When our new god is born, we will be the ones forgiving him."

Marcell's body dried up. His head lowered. The last blood from his body entered the formation.

The cocoon shook violently.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The faces on its surface opened their mouths at the same time.

A low cry came from inside. It was like a newborn, and also like a beast.

Soren's body trembled with excitement. "Yes..." He smiled. "Wake up."

The cocoon split open slightly.

A black-red hand pressed against the tear from inside.

At the same time, above the dome, deep inside the maintenance tunnel, Rovan suddenly stopped.

Beatrice frowned. "Why did you stop?"

Rovan's face had turned pale. He looked at the ground beneath his feet.

The whole tunnel was shaking.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

It was the same sound as a heart.

Beatrice's eyes narrowed.

"What is that?"

Rovan swallowed.

"I don't know."

From the darkness ahead, the infected also stopped moving.

Then all of them turned their heads in the same direction.

Toward the deeper underground.

Beatrice's grip tightened around her staff.

Rovan's voice became dry. "That is not good, right?"

Beatrice did not answer. Because the answer was obvious.