Sarah and Fojima rushed up the stairs, the sounds of steel and flame fading behind them until they reached the upper echelon of the Tower of Blood. A large hall lay before them, lit by crimson flames. Blood flowed in shallow channels across the floor, wetting their shoes with its sticky touch. The sound of their steps echoed wetly through the chamber.

  "Gates of the Forbidden Realm..." Fojima whispered, his eyes fixed on the gateway at the far end of the room. Shadows seemed to retreat from its frame, which was built of black moonstone and onyx. Blood rose in a slow tide around its base. The gate itself seemed to blur into an infinite blackness—a nonexistent realm of pure void.

  "We need to act fast! We have no time to waste!" Sarah took a few hurried steps toward the gate, her hands rising as a dark-blue light began to hum from her palms. "Fojima! The papers we brought! Now!"

  Fojima, now beside her, drew out the rolled parchments and laid them before her.

  "Limineth O serem." (By the cult of black flame.)

  Sarah chanted. The papers flew into the air, spinning around her until they arranged themselves in a perfect circle, each bearing the same intricate drawing: a human offering their heart in worship to a humanoid-draconian monster. Symbols carved in blood—depicting the same act performed by different creatures—glowed faintly on the floor. The blood on the papers began to hum with a darker, deeper crimson.

  "Fojima... step back." She glanced at him, her eyes filled with unshakable resolve. Fojima nodded, moving several paces away to give her space.

  Sarah exhaled, steadying herself. "Now..." The dark light around her hands deepened into crimson. "Nithilen O C'leh Wvines Zolenath Niveth!"

  (By the ancient tongue, I summon thee, great monarch of blood!)

  She slammed both palms onto the ground. The papers lifted slightly with the impact. The darkness within the gate vibrated.

  Then, a dark-crimson flame started burning from within the blackened gateway, as if opening a portal from inside it. Sarah’s hands glowed with dark-crimson light, her magic seeming to corrupt through the ritual before extinguishing as the whole gateway turned a deep, bloody red.

  A wave of power knocked the papers aside. Sarah raised an arm to shield her face, bracing herself with her other hand against the floor as she knelt. Fojima took a half-step forward, his body tensing, his gaze locked on the portal.

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  A scaled foot emerged—human-like in shape but covered in sharp, fang-like protrusions, muscles bathed in blood with white and dark shades swirling across it. The blood on the ground seemed to recoil at its presence. A force rippled through the room, shuddering through their very souls. The only sound left was the frantic beating of Sarah and Fojima’s hearts, slowing as if bowing in submission.

  Blood Dragon. Firstborn Son of True Darkness.

  Fojima fell to his knees, struggling to rise, his palms gripping the blood-slick floor. Their breathing grew ragged, as if the air had fled the room beneath the weight of his aura alone.

  ---

  Downstairs, Tower of Blood

  Flame Lord and O’viles stopped abruptly, their bodies locked in place. O’viles’s heart pounded in a frantic rhythm, his kamas at Flame Lord’s throat, and Flame Lord’s claws poised at O’viles’s belly and eyes. Both sets of hands trembled under the sudden, overwhelming pressure that filled the hallway.

  "They… did it…" they both whispered.

  The blood around their feet began to rise, its cold touch slowly fading as it was drawn upward toward the chamber above. O’viles took a few steps back, his grip trembling around his kamas, his body tensing with a single thought: Run.

  Without a second thought, he slashed the air, opening a rift and fleeing in terror.

  "This isn’t over, Flame Lord!" His scream was the last thing heard before the rift sealed shut.

  Flame Lord stood utterly still, eyes wide with panic as he watched the blood flow upward. He could not move within Blood Dragon’s aura.

  ---

  Upstairs, The Ritual Chamber

  Another step.

  Blood Dragon now stood fully outside the gateway, towering before them. His scaled body shimmered in a dark crimson hue. Clawed hands hung at his sides, the color of clotted blood. Some scales shone like twilight, others white as quartz. His chest was a portrait of muscle and draconic scale; his shoulder plates, dark gold, were fashioned from serpent skulls. A cape made from the leather of ancient wyrms, bathed in crimson and edged with white steel, shimmered as he stood tall. Veins pulsed visibly along his masculine, draconic-human neck and face. Blade-like horns grew from near his parted lips, curving up and back toward his forehead. Sharp ears bore two small silver rings in the right. His eyes burned with the color of the sun, and sharp fangs gleamed between his lips.

  "Lineth… Es Nikht." (Make… the throne of blood.) Blood Dragon whispered.

  The whole tower trembled. All the blood in the room surged toward him, shaping itself into a throne of blood as he slowly sat upon it.

  "Mortals…" His voice echoed through the room. A shiver ran through their bodies.

  His eyes darted toward Sarah. Witnessing her in the middle of the ritual circle, his eyes widened slightly. Watching Fojima’s trembling body near her, he stood from his throne. His aura weakened as he walked toward them, his gaze never leaving Sarah’s bowed head.

  She had enough to bring me back?… Her love… Now a sacrifice for my revival… It will not go to waste. I promise, little girl...

  He exhaled. "Rise, Mortals. For you have given me freedom."

  Sarah’s head slowly snapped up. Her jaw trembled. Tears of fear welled in her eyes.

  "B-Blood Dragon… Y-your majesty… Will you… grant us your aid in… the Finale?" The words came out stuttered. Her body tensed and shivered as she looked upon him.

  "Thy aid is given. Alas, to return your sacrifice in my chamber."

  The force now completely left the ritual chamber, easing their bodies. Fojima slowly stood up. His hands shook, but he managed to help Sarah stand. They both glanced at each other, confused by Blood Dragon’s casual dismissal and mercy.

  "Did he just…?" Sarah whispered near Fojima’s ear.

  "Yeah… he just said we’re worth living," Fojima whispered back.

  "Well… Let us greet Lionye with your success," Blood Dragon said, his voice clear and free of its former authority, echoing in the empty room.

  "H-how do you… know him?…" Fojima asked, his voice still trembling.

  "That is an answer you will find later, rabbit."

  He began to walk downstairs, his cape swaying in the air, the sound of leather and footsteps splitting the silence of the stairways.