---
The silence of the night was only interrupted by the gentle sound of wood burning in Kael's fire. He was sitting like a statue, his legs crossed on the cold stone floor of the ruin which he had located and made his shelter, his hands were resting on his knees. His body was still shaking as a result of the previous mutation. The crimson veins would sometimes pop out from his skin and then retreat back... just like they were hiding from the light of the moon.
The Grimoire which was next to him was kept open, and its pages flapped even though there was no wind. The blood he had shed earlier had created a symbol on the page that was currently visible to him... a jagged bone implying a mark, the Bone Sigil.
"Target approaching," the Grimoire whispered.
Kael stood up, his gaze hardening. He had also sensed it, a faraway presence... neither fully alive nor entirely dead.
A silhouette emerged from the broken wall's shadows, vibrant and folded in ripped noble clothes. Its skin looked like a pale copy of Kael's own. The face resembled his almost exactly, but it was incorrect. Nothing. He couldn't see any life in its eyes. A smile with a void.
> "So this is what the original looks like," the mimic said. "I'm disappointed."
Kael's fingers twitched. "You were made... to be me?"
The mimic laughed. "No, I was made to replace you."
It attacked unexpectedly. Swift, too fast for a normal vampire. Kael scarcely managed to dodge, feeling a chilling brush along his cheek. The mimic was fighting like him, not only in his style but also in his instinct.
Crimson Heart. Stage I. Activated.
The Grimoire pulsed against Kael's spine.
Floor Kael was countered with a sweep consisting of blood-forged claws. They were the ones meeting the bone-white weapons that were grown from the arms of the mimic. The mimic grinned and spoke "I see. Yours is real. But mine... mine is engineered perfection."
The part of the duel they played was what caused the ruin to shake, blood, and all over the cracked floor. The body of Kael was burned not because he felt pain, rather, it was because he recognized something. The mimic made him feel like a part of him, something old took his bones.
During the duel, the mimic stabbed itself right through its chest and howled. White bone blasted through its backside, the formation of which made a grotesque crown. Kael stumbled back, and his view was not good.
Then the Grimoire screamed.
> "Warning. Bone Sigil resonance detected. Unknown strain of Progenitor protocol activated. Engage or retreat."
Kael gritted his teeth. Retreat? Now? Not after how far he'd come.
He surged forward with blood-shadow flicker steps, dodging and striking, using terrain and pressure to create openings. But every hit the mimic took, it adapted. Bone restructured. Muscles realigned. Like a parasite learning its host's secrets.
Until...
Kael feinted left, then channeled blood directly into the mimic's exposed wound.
---
[Bloodbind: Crimson Override]
Type: Special Bloodline Ability (Temporarily Unlocked)
Trigger Condition: Activated during high-stress mutation response (Bone Sigil exposure)
Effect: Overrides hostile bone-encoded sigils by flooding Kael's bloodstream with amplified Crimson Heart resonance. Forces domination over necro-based constructs or parasitic influences.
Bonus Effect: Temporarily absorbs bone-related strain and converts it into mutation potential.
Duration: 10 seconds
Cooldown: Not reusable until properly unlocked or evolved.
Energy Cost: High - Drains 15% of current blood reserves instantly
Mutation Risk: Elevated
Status: Skill locked again after use. Requires further unlocking via mutation path.
---
The mimic froze. Its body shuddered violently, rejecting Kael's blood... but too late.
Kael's palm slammed into its chest. "You're not me. And you never will be."
The mimic's body suddenly collapsed inward and was disintegrated into tiny bone pieces and smoke. A sigil on the Grimoire page glittered for a moment only to be followed by its disappearance.
Kael fell to one knee, gasping. His vision blurred. Not from fatigue... from awakening.
The Grimoire flipped pages on its own.
> "New ability acquired: Crimson Override, Bone Strain Absorption (Locked)."
"Mutation Potential Updated."
He turned his gaze from the heavens to his arm. There's a bone that had pricked only slightly enough to show through the skin... just barely. The mimic had been a carrier of something, a curse or a gift.
Kael found himself in a dilemma.
However, as the stars twinkled and the silence returned to the ruins, there was something that he was sure about.
"Someone made that mimic. A person who was knowledgeable about what he was. And they were merely not finished with him yet."
---
End of Chapter
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