Wolf of the Blood Moon: A Blood Magic - Book 4: Chapter 15: Dinner

Scarlet

“To Scarlet’s ascension to Class IV and her two Etched Skill Slot Achievements!” Gramps says while raising his glass to the air from his place at the end of the long table with me and Leonidas on either side of him. “May she find victory wherever she goes and be given luck for her hunts forevermore!”

Leonidas and I follow suit, deciding that since this is gonna be my last meal in Tartarus, at least for now, I might as well have a drink myself. Especially since the alcohol in this shouldn’t affect me.

I can’t help but smile at that. Partially out of happiness, and partially out of amusement that he just wished that I’d find victory when I’m about to join the war fighting against him.

After taking a sip of the wine, I turn my attention to Leonidas as he says, “So what are your plans from here on out? Are you going to the Battlefield? Or moving to a different clan’s hunting grounds?”

That has me stiffening up ever so slightly before I glance at Gramps with a look on my face.

Why didn’t he tell Leonidas about my leaving Tartarus? It kind of makes this farewell dinner awkward if one of the people in the dinner doesn’t even realize it’s a farewell dinner.

Gramps just averts his gaze while calling over a maid to bring him more food.

‘Coward,’ I mouth towards him the moment he looks my way, but all he does is grin widely at that and begin eating his food, alternating his gaze between me and Leonidas now.

He’s not the Demon King, he’s a damned chicken!

I awkwardly turn to face Leonidas who has clearly noticed something’s up considering how he’s sending suspicious glances between me and Gramps, likely at our silent interaction. And as I’m trying to figure out what to say, his eyes go wide and they lock on Gramps’ as he slowly asks, “She’s not…” Gramps just nods without pausing in his food devouring, the man seeming to enjoy his meal. Then Leonidas turns to look at me again with a look of sorrow on his face.

Wait, what? Did he really just guess it from out brief interaction?

“How?” Leonidas eventually asks me, only to shake his head with a sigh and mutter, “Never mind.”

I watch him as the man raises his head to look up at the ceiling for a few seconds before he brings his gaze back down with even more sorrow in his eyes, “Just please… stay safe, okay?”

The pure emotion in his tone puts me off guard for a moment as I blink in surprise, only to dumbly nod my head in response, making the man smile.

Then he glances at Gramps as if trying to be sneaky before looking at me and making a very quick Blood Domain between us while covering his mouth and saying, “And tell Amelia I said hello and that she should visit!”

“I heard that,” Gramps growls from the front of the table, seemingly startling Leonidas. Although I’m not surprised. It’s Gramps’s skill that he just used to do that after all. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had some way to counter it.

I smile a little at the humor that, ignoring the dark look Gramps is giving his food as I mouth back at Leonidas drawing his gaze to me again, ‘Alright.’

He smiles and I turn back to Gramps to ask him, “Hey Gramps, what’s the Blood Immortal title of yours for?”

Gramps turns his focus away from his food to look at me with a smile as he puts his fork down and answers, “It’s from a rather special and unique Title-Bearing Mythic Skill that I got just a couple centuries ago, not long after the Demonic Assaults began. The skill itself is called Blood Transcendence, and it makes it so that I can transform my entire body into blood.”

I frown a little at that, not really understanding why that’s a mythic skill. Mostly because the Bloody Valkyrie has a skill just like it that is only legendary in rarity.

Then he smirks and adds, “And as long as so much as a single drop of my blood remains, I cannot die.” My eyes widen in shock. “I’ll always be able to reform myself no matter what with no penalty at all anywhere I have blood, even if it’s only a single drop of it.”

Holy shit. He really is immortal then.

“The only way someone can really kill Gramps is if they wipe out all of the blood he has scattered around the entire planet and kill him before he can scatter any more blood,” Leonidas continues for Gramps, voicing a rather scary fact. “Although that was assuming someone could even kill him in the first place.”

Right. And that’s probably impossible unless it’s the Class VI threat from the Void foretold in the prophecy.

Come to think of it, that Class VI threat… I wonder if it’ll even appear near Earth or Tartarus when it does appear? It’s entirely possible it could appear somewhere else in the universe when it appears. Which wouldn’t be a bad thing for us since it would take time to get here.

Considering how Gramps is easily able to destroy entire worlds on his own from what I can tell, a Class VI could probably eat them whole or something. Which is kind of terrifying to think about.

Wait, I wonder…

“Did you etch that skill?” I casually ask Gramps, making him let out a short laugh as he answers, “Of course.”

Makes sense. But that also means that I could potentially become immortal myself that way.

A very nice sounding skill to get.

On that note, I turn to Leonidas, then Gramps, before eventually saying, “Thank you both for all the help you’ve given me over the past few months. I wouldn’t have been able to level this fast if it weren’t for you.”

Both of them look surprised at my sudden declaration, but not as surprised as Leonidas is when I meet his eyes and tell him, “Leonidas, I don’t know if I’ll ever truly consider you my father, but I will at least say this.” I smile. “You’re at least on your way in the right direction.”

Actual tears of happiness begin to form in his eyes, making me chuckle a little before I take another sip of the wine.

This stuff actually tastes kind of good. Still not a fan of alcohol though.