Chapter 306: Crimson Blossom Crown
The Ancient Minotaur King took a heavy step forward, its massive hooves cracking the stone beneath its weight. The chains dragging behind it scraped across the ground with a sound like grinding bones, and the surviving monsters parted before it like a dark tide retreating from an approaching storm.
Its molten gold eyes swept over the battlefield once more, lingering on the corpses of its fallen kin, before fixing on Adam’s massive dragon form. The broken crown atop its head pulsed with a faint, ominous light.
Then it charged.
The ground shook with each thunderous step. Its chains whipped behind it, rusted metal screaming as they cut through the air. The lesser monsters roared in unison, surging forward behind their king.
Adam’s dragon jaws opened wide, prismatic light already gathering in his throat.
"Adam, wait."
Isolde’s voice cut through the chaos, calm but firm. She stepped forward, her crimson eyes fixed on the charging Minotaur King. Her Crown of Thorns pulsed on her brow, the dark thorns gleaming with an unfamiliar light.
Adam’s jaws closed. The prismatic light faded. He turned his massive head toward her, one crimson eye narrowing.
"Isolde?"
Isolde didn’t look away from the Minotaur King. Her hand rose, and blood began to swirl around her fingers, dark and eager.
"Let me fight him." Her voice was quiet, but there was steel beneath it. "I can feel it, Adam. My power... it’s still rising. The Crown of Thorns is reacting to this battle. To the blood. To something."
She clenched her fist, and the blood around her hand solidified into a crimson blade.
"If I don’t push myself now, I might never reach the next level. I need to fight someone strong. Someone who won’t break easily."
Adam was silent for a moment. His crimson eye studied her face, her posture, the way her blood swirled around her with renewed hunger.
Then he nodded.
"Fine." His dragon voice rumbled. "But if you’re about to die, I’m stepping in."
Isolde’s lips curved into a small, fierce smile.
"Sure."
She turned and walked toward the charging Minotaur King.
The beast’s molten gold eyes locked onto her. It didn’t slow. It didn’t change direction. Its massive arm swept back, chains coiling around its fist, and it swung.
Isolde’s blood rose to meet it.
"[Blood Dominion: Crimson Wall]."
A barrier of solidified blood materialized before her, thick and pulsing with dark light. The Minotaur King’s chain-wrapped fist slammed into it with a thunderous CRACK.
The barrier held.
Cracks spider-webbed across its surface, but it didn’t break. Isolde’s feet slid back, carving furrows in the stone, but she didn’t fall.
She raised her other hand.
"[Blood Dominion: Crimson Spear]."
A massive spear of condensed blood formed above her head, its tip gleaming with deadly intent. She thrust her hand forward, and the spear shot toward the Minotaur King’s chest.
The beast’s free hand swept up, catching the spear mid-flight. The blood blade shattered against its palm, but dark droplets splattered across its face, its chest, its arms.
Isolde’s eyes narrowed.
’His skin is tough. Thicker than the others.’
The Minotaur King roared. Its fist, still wrapped in chains, pulled back from the cracked barrier and slammed into it again.
CRACK – SHATTER.
The Crimson Wall broke.
Isolde leaped back, blood already reforming around her hands. The Minotaur King pressed forward, its massive form surprisingly fast, its chains whipping toward her like iron serpents.
Isolde twisted, dodging one chain, then another. A third wrapped around her ankle, yanking her off balance. She hit the ground hard, the impact driving the air from her lungs.
The Minotaur King raised its foot to crush her.
Isolde’s blood answered.
A tendril of crimson shot from her palm, wrapping around the beast’s raised ankle. She pulled, hard, and the Minotaur King stumbled, its foot slamming down beside her head instead of on it.
Stone cracked. Dust exploded.
Isolde rolled to her feet, gasping. Her Crown of Thorns pulsed, and she felt it again, that strange warmth spreading through her body.
’More. I need more.’
She raised both hands, and the blood that had splattered across the Minotaur King’s body began to move. It seeped into the cracks in its skin, into the wounds left by the Dark Elves’ arrows, into the scratches left by her shattered spear.
The beast’s molten gold eyes widened.
"[Blood Dominion: Blood Puppetry]."
The Minotaur King’s body jerked. Its arm swung wildly, not at Isolde, but at its own side. Its leg buckled, nearly sending it crashing to the ground. It roared in confusion and fury, thrashing against the invisible strings Isolde had attached to its blood.
But it was strong. Too strong.
The blood strings snapped.
Isolde stumbled back, gasping. The sudden backlash sent a spike of pain through her skull, and blood trickled from her nose. Her Crown of Thorns flickered wildly on her brow, its dark light dimming.
The Minotaur King’s molten gold eyes fixed on her with new understanding. It had felt her intrusion, her attempt to control it from within. And it was furious.
It raised its chain-wrapped fist.
"Tch—!"
Isolde barely had time to throw up another barrier before the fist came down.
CRACK.
Her [Crimson Wall] shattered on impact. Shards of hardened blood flew in every direction, and the force of the blow sent her skidding backward across the stone, her boots carving deep grooves into the ground.
The beast didn’t pause. It advanced, each step shaking the earth, its chains dragging behind it with that terrible, grinding sound.
Isolde’s blood barriers shattered one after another. Each swing of the Minotaur King’s chain-wrapped fists sent shockwaves through the air, cracking the stone beneath her feet and forcing her further back. Her arms trembled. Her breathing ragged. The Crown of Thorns on her brow flickered erratically, its dark light dimming with every blow she barely managed to deflect.
The beast’s molten gold eyes gleamed with savage intelligence. It had fought creatures like her before—powerful, desperate, clinging to hope that didn’t exist. It knew how to break them.
"Blood Dominion: Crimson Shield."
Another barrier. Another crack. Another step back.
Isolde’s blood was running low. She could feel it, the emptiness gnawing at her reserves, the way her spells came slower, weaker. The Minotaur King’s hide was too thick, its regeneration too fast. Every wound she inflicted sealed within moments, and every blow it landed drained her further.
’Not enough...’ Her thoughts were sharp, desperate. ’I’m still not strong enough.’
The beast’s fist slammed into her shield. The barrier shattered, and the force of the impact sent her flying. She crashed into a crumbling stone pillar, the ancient rock cracking around her. Blood seeped from a cut on her forehead, warm and sticky.
The Minotaur King advanced.
Isolde pushed herself up, her arms shaking. Her Crown of Thorns pulsed weakly, struggling to maintain its form. The thorns were wilting, the dark light fading.
’I need... more.’
Her eyes fell on the beast’s wounds. The shallow cuts, the scratches, the places where her blood had seeped into its flesh.
She could still feel it. Her blood, inside the monster. Calling to her.
’If I can’t break its skin... then I’ll break it from within.’
She raised her hand.
"[Blood Dominion: Crimson Harvest]."
The blood that had seeped into the Minotaur King’s wounds began to move. It flowed through the beast’s veins, against its will, toward its heart. The creature roared, its body convulsing, its massive hands clawing at its own chest as if it could tear the blood out.
Isolde’s Crown of Thorns blazed.
Crimson light erupted from the beast’s wounds, from its eyes, from its mouth. The Minotaur King stumbled, its legs buckling, its chains clattering against the stone.
But it didn’t fall.
With a guttural roar, it reached deep within itself and tore.
The blood that had been flowing toward its heart reversed course. Isolde felt her connection snap, felt the blood she had been controlling rip free from her grasp. She gasped, stumbling back, blood dripping from her nose.
The Minotaur King straightened.
Its molten gold eyes were no longer just intelligent. They were furious.
It charged.
Isolde’s hands rose, but her blood was too slow, her barriers too weak. The beast’s fist slammed into her guard, shattering it, and the chains wrapped around her arm, yanking her forward.
She crashed into the monster’s chest, her face inches from its ancient, scarred hide. Its massive hand closed around her throat, lifting her off the ground.
Isolde choked. Her feet kicked uselessly in the air. Her Crown of Thorns flickered, dimmed, nearly went out.
The Minotaur King’s molten gold eyes bored into hers.
It was going to crush her.
Isolde’s hand shot out, pressing against the beast’s chest.
Her blood was still there. Deep inside. Where it had seeped into the wounds. Where it had been absorbed.
She could still feel it.
’If I can’t control the blood inside him... then I’ll use it as an offering.’
The thought came not from her mind, but from her Crown. From the ancient imitation of Gluttony that her father had created, that she had inherited, that had been waiting for this moment.
Isolde closed her eyes.
The blood inside the Minotaur King ignited.
Crimson flames erupted from the beast’s wounds, from its chest, from its throat. It roared, releasing her, stumbling back as fire consumed it from within. But Isolde didn’t fall. She hung in the air for a moment, suspended by something invisible, something ancient.
Her Crown of Thorns blazed.
The dark thorns began to change. They lengthened, smoothed, curved into elegant arcs. The wilting petals that had clung to the crown fell away, replaced by new blooms—flowers of deep, vivid crimson, each one pulsing with inner light. The crown itself shifted, the jagged edges softening, the dark metal brightening into something that looked almost like polished ruby.
And atop it, where the thorns had been thickest, a single crimson flower bloomed.
It was beautiful. Elegant. And utterly, terrifyingly powerful.
[Isolde’s Crown of Thorns has evolved!]
[New Form: Crimson Blossom Crown]
[Effect: The user’s blood manipulation is now enhanced. The user can control their own blood and the blood of others within a larger radius. The crown passively strengthens the user’s life force and regeneration.]
[New Skill Unlocked: Blood Blossom – The user can sacrifice a portion of their own life force to create a crimson flower that blooms from the wounds of their enemies. The flower drains the target’s blood and transfers it to the user, healing wounds and restoring mana. The flower can also be detonated, causing an explosion of blood shrapnel.]
Isolde’s eyes opened.
They were no longer crimson. They were the color of fresh blood, bright and terrible, and they fixed on the Minotaur King with an intensity that made even the ancient beast hesitate.
The beast’s molten gold eyes widened. Its body was still burning from within, the crimson flames spreading through its veins, consuming the blood that had once been its strength.
Isolde raised her hand.
"[Blood Blossom]."
From the wounds on the Minotaur King’s chest, a flower began to grow.
Its petals were crimson, veined with gold, and they unfurled slowly, almost lazily, as if savoring the moment. The beast roared, clawing at its own chest, trying to tear the flower out. But the roots were already deep, buried in its heart, in its lungs, in its very soul.
The flower bloomed.
The Minotaur King’s body convulsed. Its massive form began to shrink, wither, the life draining from it into the blossom. Its chains fell to the ground with a heavy clatter, and its crown, the broken relic of an ancient pact, cracked, then shattered.
The Minotaur King’s body crumbled to dust, leaving only the crimson flower floating in the air where its heart had been.
Isolde reached out, and the flower drifted into her palm. It pulsed with warmth, with life, with the strength she had stolen from the beast.
She closed her fingers around it.
The flower dissolved into her skin, and she felt the power settle into her bones.
Behind her, the surviving monsters fled.
The battlefield fell silent.
Adam’s massive dragon form slowly descended, landing heavily behind Isolde. His crimson eyes studied her, taking in the new crown, the way her blood still swirled around her like a living cloak.
"Isolde?" His voice was cautious.
Isolde turned to face him. Her eyes, still bright with fresh power, met his.
"I’m fine, Adam." A small, tired smile touched her lips. "Better than fine, actually."
She raised her hand, and a crimson flower bloomed in her palm, its petals unfurling slowly.
"Looks like I finally caught up."
Adam stared at her for a moment, then let out a low, rumbling chuckle.
"About time."
