BloodStar

Moments earlier, the central market square of the Sage Empire capital city was bustling with thousands of citizens going about their daily lives. While the passing of Master Erika Sage had blanketed the empire in a sullen mood, the lives of its citizens went on.

The capital city metropolitan area was home to nearly 30 million people and represented the largest metropolitan area within the Sage Empire. The population density was extremely high with pockets of significant space only reserved for public areas or purchased by the wealthy. One such large public space was the central market.

Given its relatively close proximity to the Sage Palace, the market square was built in a pearl white stone to match the Sage Palace. Additionally, upkeep was never overlooked or subject to availability, or lack thereof, of funds as it was a jewel of the capital city. The average shopper was of the upper-class echelon, and the surrounding properties were all vast estates owned by tycoons of industry or politicians of the empire.

“I’ll give you a hundred for it. No more.” A patron of an upscale shop said as he tried to wheel and deal with the owner.

“One hundred? I’m afraid I couldn’t take less than one hundred fifty.”

“One fifty?! It’s an apple! A single apple!”

“Yes, but you know as well as I that this apple is quite rare owing to the difficulty of growing a strong crop. The texture and the flavor is second to none. Furthermore, this year’s crop has been devastatingly meager due to unfavorable weather conditions.”

The patron pulled out cash saying, “Fine. One hundred fifty.”

The two made their exchange, and the shop owner smiled brightly, “Always a pleasure Baron LeDay.”

The Baron shook hands with the shop owner, “Do let me know if you get any more of these in. At gatherings, people always want to try the vaunted Sage-field apples.”

As the Baron exited the store, a ‘ding’ from the door sounded off, and he stepped out into the innermost square complete with a large fountain and elaborate tiled plaza.

He looked up into the blue sky and took a deep breath of the fresh air before taking a bite of his exquisite and expensive apple.

He took a seat on the fountain ledge to continue eating his apple, and as he gazed into bustling plaza, he swore his eyes deceived him.

A large black circle rotating with crackling electricity at the edges appeared seemingly out of nowhere. He stared at it in shock, in utter disbelief. He had heard stories, and at present all he could hope for was that those stories were false. Every story told, the black void portal before him always preceded the arrival of Xenia BloodStar.

His fears were soon realized as a hulking strong man wearing only pants with no shirt, holding a massive warhammer, stepped out of the portal. Following him, was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on, Xenia BloodStar. She wore a form fitting crimson velvet dress laced tightly all the way up to her neck. Though quite conservative covering nearly her entire upper body, the regal dress outlined and exemplified the divine body underneath to which it clung. A crimson and gold cape affixed to her upper back concealed both Bloodbane at her lower back and Blood Scourge at her hip.

The Baron immediately fell to his knees bowing before Xenia, “Empress BloodStar! Welcome to our empire! I am a Baron of great importance. I could be vital to your-“

Xenia abruptly cut him off with her raised voice, “Two insults in two seconds! Just as I expected from the people of the Sage Empire. You are all disgusting.”

The man timidly raised his eyes at Xenia, “Empress? I meant only the highest respect. I-”

“You would dare to welcome me to your empire? This became my empire the day I killed Erika Sage.” Xenia walked over to the Baron and smiled down at him, “And don’t ever introduce yourself as a Baron to me. I’ll tell you what you are within my empire.”

She then walked back 10-15 feet and yelled, “Stand!”

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The Baron LeDay stood in front of the fountain and his body began to shake and tremble with fear.

Xenia unholstered her whip, Blood Scourge, from her hip and let it fall to the ground before her. She then infused a layer of red ki over the black whip and smiled at the Baron, “You and every citizen of the old empire are rats! Filthy fucking rats! And I intend to kill every single one of you!”

The man raised his hands in front of him as if to protect himself as he shouted, “No! Please!”

However, Xenia raised Blood Scourge and lashed at the Baron splitting his body in two vertically in an instant with a single whiplash. In one smooth motion, she then bloodbent the two halves of his body backwards sending them splashing into the huge, ornate fountain behind him.

“Mmm, yes. A blood fountain is the perfect way to begin my conquest of this filthy empire.” Xenia then whipped her head around to see patrons of all kinds fleeing the central plaza of the market square. She also heard the sound of doors slamming closed as shop keeps closed and hid within their stores.

Xenia smiled devilishly to herself, “You can run, but you can’t hide.”

She then sent out a concentric wave of ki extending for 100 yards in every direction as she detected every life form within the short detection range, “Forgive me, Nero. I usually waste no time in building a BloodStar, but I feel I must set the mood first. This empire is just so dreadful.”

Nero merely nodded his head and grunted in response as he watched Xenia raise her open hand straight up above her with a palm of dense red ki. She then squeezed her hand tight into a fist, and from every direction Nero could hear the final cries of thousands of people within the square as their bodies squelched under the force of Xenia’s bloodbending.

Xenia then threw her hand back with an open palm towards the fountain, and blood vortices from within the shops and down the walkways raced towards the fountain splashing into it, diluting and displacing the water already within.

With at least one thousand bodies bloodbent entirely, no less than 5,000 liters splashed into the fountain system. Xenia expertly bloodbent the vast amount of blood into the piping system underneath and up through the fountain until she had a fully functional blood fountain in front of her.

“Finally. Something beautiful to lay my eyes on. Art built from dead Sage Empire citizens.” She smiled and took in a deep breath from her nose with her eyes closed. She then let it out, “Ahhhh! Now I can get to work!”

She walked over to the fountain and gazed upon it. Nero then took immediate notice of a rapid and tremendous surge in her ki as she stood with her back to him. He couldn’t see the physical manifestation of ki surrounding her meaning the massive amount of ki he could feel was only just the tip of her power.

He gazed in awe at his empress’s power. Her black hair flowing down her back and shimmering in the sunlight suddenly began to turn a deep crimson red as she entered her state of Bloodlust.

Xenia could feel his gaze upon her, and she looked back over her shoulder with red eyes and a devilish smile, “Not even you have seen my true power, Nero. No one has until today.”

She then bloodbent his mind speaking to him via bloodbending, “And no one has ever fucked me in my Bloodlust. Let’s change that today as well. I hope you like crimson blood red hair.”

Nero knew he had to merely think to respond, and so he did, “I have always craved to fuck you at the peak of your power covered in the blood of our enemies.”

Xenia raised her eyebrows and smiled at him thinking back, “Oh how happy it makes me to know we share the same fantasies. Then we only need now to cover ourselves in the blood of our enemies.”

Xenia then sat in the lotus position at the foot of the fountain splashing with blood, and she began to focus her aura. Her power began to skyrocket to such heights that even Nero with all of his might could hardly stand before her.

She raised her red eyes at Nero, “There are 20,000 soldiers at the Sage Empire Palace. I will leave them to you. I will leave them for you to cover yourself in theblood of our enemies.”

She then winked at him before closing her eyes as her power resumed its parabolic rise.

As Nero began his walk towards the palace, vortex after vortex of blood sprang up both around him and in the distance as Xenia began to bloodbend the entire capital. Nero gazed in genuine awe as the environment slowly morphed from clear blue skies of a perfect day to crimson red skies of a stormy day.

The scene was one of a crimson red storm with innumerable blood-red tornadoes springing up from the ground rather than descending from the sky.

The vortices of blood converged into a single spot in the sky high above Xenia forming a rotating sphere of blood, a BloodStar.

Nero softly said to himself, “She intends to bloodbend the entirety of the capital city without ever moving from her spot. 30 million people… dead… without ever moving an inch. So this is the power of the BloodStar bloodline heir of legend… It is no wonder Empress Victoria made such great sacrifices to ensure Xenia reached this point. If Xenia isn’t a God then there is no God.”

In the moment, Nero felt compelled to kneel down and pray to his empress who he now recognized as a formal deity. He prayed only briefly as he knew she expected him to clear the palace of Sage Empire soldiers.

As he stood from his prayer, the sky had turned completely red as the BloodStar grew in size with shocking speed.

He then snapped his head towards the palace as he heard a call so loud he could feel the vibrations.

“Ahhwoooooo!! Ah-Ah-Ahwooooooo!”

Nero smirked to himself, “You think yourselves wolves?”

He gripped his war hammer and continued along the main road towards the palace, “You are only sheep. The wolf is coming for you.”