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Voss looked at Elliot, twitching in pain after undergoing the intense transformation that came with accepting Bloodform. The boy's skin was pale, drenched in sweat, his fingers curled tightly into the ground as if clinging to reality itself. His breathing was shallow, and his eyes stared blankly at the ceiling.
Voss stood over him, silent, his eyes distant. For a moment, Elliot wasn't just a boy. He was a mirror—a reflection of a time long past.
"Twenty-five years ago…"
The memory hit him like a storm. The night sky was red, set ablaze by fire and chaos. His hometown had been small and peaceful, a quiet place nestled on the outskirts of the Northern Wastes. But that night, it was anything but peaceful. The vampires came from the shadows—silent, savage, merciless.
Voss had been just a boy—helpless, terrified. He watched as his parents were ripped apart by the creatures, their screams echoing in his ears for years to come. He ran, barefoot, bleeding, hiding beneath broken walls and shattered memories.
That night changed him.
He was rescued by a fading division of soldiers—those who had barely survived another raid. Among them was Captain Malrick, a grizzled old war hero who took the boy in and raised him under the ashes of war. Voss joined the military at fourteen. He was angry, ruthless, and brilliant. His soul carried a quiet hatred, one he poured into every mission, every bullet, every blade.
But it wasn't enough.
Standard weapons could barely scratch vampire skin. Even soul-infused rounds became useless when faced with the higher-tier ones—the Royal Breed. Voss knew something had to change. He refused to fight a losing war.
And so, he experimented.
In secret, deep beneath the ruins of Base D93, he began studying the soul. Not just energy—but the electron soul itself, the raw essence of human life. It was during a skirmish in the Eastern Borders that Voss made a breakthrough. A vampire general cornered his squad, killing them one by one. Voss, desperate, tapped into a hidden force within him—his electron soul—and with it, he struck the creature down in a blinding surge of energy.
That was the birth of Bloodform.
The transformation was violent and unstable, but the results were undeniable. Bloodform fused the user's soul with vampiric energy, creating a hybrid force powerful enough to shatter vampire bones. The military called it dangerous, unpredictable, and banned it outright.
Voss was discharged, declared a rogue scientist. But he didn't stop.
He vanished, and with him, so did the hope of any organized Bloodform unit.
Until that day.
Until the day he saw a boy—alone, under a dining table, shaking in fear as vampires tore his life apart.
It was déjà vu.
He remembered the exact moment. The blood. The silence. The hopelessness. And then, there he was again—running, his spear glowing with soullight, striking down the monsters.
When he looked at Elliot, he didn't just see a boy. He saw himself.
And in that moment, he made a choice.
"I will raise this one," he had said, carrying the unconscious boy through the dark. "He'll become stronger. Stronger than me."
Back in the present, Voss clenched his fists as Elliot let out a weak breath.
"You're not alone," Voss whispered, voice low and heavy. "You carry not just your pain—but mine. And that pain... will shape you into something the vampires will learn to fear