Zatiel was in front of the last house, this one was in the center and was the biggest, the defense was more complex than all the ones before and the runes that were used were even more obscure.
But nothing that really troubled Zatiel. What was making him hesitate in beginning to break down the defense was the feeling his instincts were giving him about this place.
Although things like premonitions and instincts sound too vague to be trusted, they are actually a way of feedback that the natural energies and laws give you about events that can affect you.
The more powerful you are, the clearer they are up to the point that you can glimpse in the future when you are strong enough.
Although Zatiel was not that powerful yet, the affinity of Neo-Demons with the energies and laws is the highest in the universe, especially when they had assimilated a bloodline.
"Whatever it is inside there, I don't feel that it is a direct threat to me. But still, those two will be in trouble if something truly dangerous happens and they are still in rank 0. I wanted to explore everything first but I guess they will have to use these bloodlines. Besides, I heavily doubt that this place has a bloodline more powerful than Emperor level ones."
Sophia and Ezequiel were waiting close to where the houses begin when they saw Zatiel coming to them with two vials in his hands, and their faces filled with excitement when they saw that blood.
"You two got lucky, this place has the blood of truly powerful races! Little EZ, you will assimilate the bloodline of a Storm Titan and you, Sophia, will assimilate the bloodline of a Styx Dragon."
Ezequiel and Sophia didn't have a problem with Zatiel choosing for them. After all, his knowledge was way superior to them, and even though they don't know how powerful those bloodlines were, dragons and titans have always been top predators in the universe. So obtaining their abilities was something anyone would want to have.
"Master, are these bloodlines as strong as yours?" Ezequiel had seen the immense upgrade in power that Zatiel had with his bloodline, so he was curious about how powerful his own would be.
Sophia also focused on Zatiel when she heard that question.
"Ha! You two keep dreaming. If the person who owned this laboratory was powerful enough to get bloodlines of my level, we would have died the moment we entered this place. The bloodlines that you two will have, fall in the rank of Emperor, one level beneath mine.
"But don't worry much, bloodlines can be upgraded and the racial advantages you will have are particularly powerful," Zatiel saw how disappointed they were when they heard the first part but became excited when they found out that the bloodline could be strengthened and he could not help but smile.
What he didn't tell them was that trying to evolve a bloodline to his level would be not just difficult, but almost impossible for anyone. But he already had a plan on how to help them and besides, it will be a long time before they can upgrade an Emperor bloodline.
"Ok, I will enhance the purity of the blood and when I am finished, we will start immediately with the assimilation. Remember to always maintain focus, never let your will weaken, and try to engrave everything you see during your advancement in your memories."
Zatiel saw that they were concentrated and started to work on the blood.
The purity of bloodline is very important. It is very significant when it comes to the upgrade in power that it will give you and the abilities and innate spells you will unlock with your advancements.
If the purity was too low, you run the risk of the bloodline declining, becoming a lower subspecies like giants or wyverns.
The purity of the bloodline of a being depends on what stage of his maturity was when the blood was obtained and from which part of the body it was taken.
The purity would be much more if the creature had already reached adulthood and if the blood was taken from a vital organ, with the highest in the heart.
The bloodlines in this place were taken from the vital organs of the creatures but the beings had not reached adulthood.
One can improve the purity with spiritual ingredients, but luckily for Zatiel, his advancement gave him a new way of approaching this.
The two vials in Zatiel's hands broke and immediately, the blood inside was encompassed in golden flames. The flames started to burn with more and more power but there was no damage to the bloodlines.
Finally, when the golden color was at its peak, Zatiel activated his third eye. When he did, the golden flames started to change. The energy in them reached its peak and they started to fuse with the bloodlines.
When he finished, the purity of the blood had reached its peak and there was a very faint golden glow inside them.
"Now begin with the advancement!"
Zatiel was fatigued and the golden color of his eye of life and creation was a little dark.
Ezequiel and Sophia were long ready and they made a wound in their chest that reached their hearts. Just like with Zatiel, tentacles made of runes started to grow, ready to receive the bloodline.
Zatiel didn't waste time and manipulated the orbs of blood to reach their chest. The tentacles took the bloodlines and brought them to their respective chaotic cores while closing the wound.
The face of the two distorted in pain as the energies in their body started to increase.
When he saw that the two started their advancement, Zatiel sat in the ground to rest. The moment he did, his eye of life and creation closed and vanished from his forehead.
'Using the eye for such a complicated task generates a great strain on it and my stamina,' Zatiel was able to feel that his third eye would need some time before it was able to work at full strength again.
Although the purification looked simple, it was extremely complex. Zatiel had to use the eye to identify the part of the bloodline that had the most powerful part of the heritage and activate the life energy inside the flames to stimulate this part to the point it replaced all the others and fully occupied the blood.
Zatiel was very tired, but still, his consciousness was active making sure nothing happened in their surroundings. Part of it was examining Ezequiel and Sophia making sure that there was no problem with their advancement and waiting for the assimilation of the bloodlines to end.
As time went on, changes started to appear in both of them.
Ezequiel's body was starting to grow rapidly in size but the next moment, his body shortened. This was happening constantly and every time his body reached over 2.5 meters, it shrunk to the original 1.7. But still, his size ended up a little higher every time a cycle ended and the ground beneath his feet was starting to crack as if the weight above it was too much.
In Sophia's case, black orbs of water started to appear around her, and on her skin, scales of a beautiful dark-platinum color emerged. The dark liquid generated a pool at her feet and the ground was decaying at the contact as if the life in it was being erased.
As the advancement to rank 1 was being completed, behind Ezequiel an illusion started to appear. It was a 10-meter tall man with a body full of muscles, he had a violet skin, dark blue hair, and silver eyes. And in those eyes bolts of lightning could be seen.
Behind Sophia, the illusion of a serpentine dragon appeared. This creature was gigantic and beautiful wings were at his back. Around this draconic being, a river so dark was present that it looked like it could swallow all light.
The moment both illusions formed completely, they started to roar and an immense bloodline pressure started to originate from the two. These were the connections that the bloodlines had to the ancestor that created them, and the roar was the resistance they were displaying to the assimilation of the Chaotic Core.
If this connection was not broken, then both Ezequiel and Sophia would be bound to the living ancestor of these two races, and breaking it would be a very difficult task in the future once it was fully formed.
Zatiel saw these illusions and his eyes became cold. The more powerful a bloodline the strongest the connection to their origin would be. He knew that Sophia and Ezequiel would not be able to break this connection with the power of their cores, so he acted.
Behind Zatiel, an illusion started to appear. It was a beautiful golden sun. This sun looked like the physical representation of the laws of life and creation and its golden glow engulfed everything in his surroundings.
The moment the Storm Titan and the Styx Dragon saw this sun, their eyes were filled with fear like when a hyena sees a powerful lion. They may both be ancestors, but the one who was the peak in the food chain was obvious.
But even so, the illusion behind Ezequiel and Sophia regained the courage and together they released all the power of their bloodline pressure in the direction of the gigantic golden sun.
Unfortunately for them, the moment the pressure reached the sun, it evaporated, and as if it was offended that its might was challenged, the sun released an immense flame that reached the titan and dragon.
The roars of defiance became screams of pain as the two started to disintegrate. When they finally vanished, the illusion of the sun behind Zatiel also disappeared.
What the Styx Dragon and Storm Titan were trying to do was use the bloodline pressure that every powerful creature had to crush Ezequiel and Sophia's wills and reaffirm their connection with their origin.
Of course, Zatiel would not let them. So he released his own bloodline pressure, and it was extremely more powerful than the other two, so the ending was obvious.
The moment the illusion behind them disappeared, both Ezequiel and Sophia erased any type of connection their bloodline had and obtained absolute control over them.
The aura of both expanded and the power in them reached that of a Rank 1 Neo-Demon.
