---
Sekhmet's throat worked again.
Gulp!
His body drank like it had been waiting for this its entire life.
His mind panicked.
His mind screamed.
But his body did not care.
The system chimed softly, almost approvingly.
Ding!
[System Advisory: Blood consumption detected.
Host fatigue recovery: accelerating. Blood awakening resonance: stabilizing.]
Sekhmet's stomach twisted.
He wanted to stop.
He wanted to be a man again.
He wanted to spit the blood out and wipe his mouth and pretend it never happened.
Then the relief hit deeper.
The thirst that had been torturing him for weeks —three weeks in chains, three weeks of slow dehydration, three weeks of his body dying and surviving— finally eased.
For the first time since waking in that dark room, Sekhmet felt full in the only way that mattered.
He drank again.
Gulp!
Renn's struggles weakened slightly.
His claws, once sharp with confidence, began to tremble.
His breathing turned ragged.
His howl cracked into a broken whine.
Sekhmet tore his mouth free with a wet sound.
Shlk!
Blood coated his lips. It ran down his chin. His chest heaved.
He stared at Renn, horrified.
Renn stumbled back, clutching his neck. Blood seeped between his fingers. His eyes were wide, not with greed anymore, but with fear.
"What are you," Renn rasped.
Sekhmet's lips parted.
He did not have an answer.
He only knew his body felt stronger.
He only knew his thirst was not screaming anymore.
He only knew his mouth wanted more.
Sekhmet's jaw tightened hard, as if clenching could hold back the hunger.
"Someone you should not have tried to rob," Sekhmet said, voice rough.
Renn snarled weakly and lunged again, desperate.
Sekhmet moved faster than before.
He sidestepped, grabbed Renn's wrist, and twisted.
Crack!
Renn howled.
Sekhmet's blood sword formed instantly in his other hand, the blade sharper now, more stable, as if the blood in his system had learned what it wanted.
Shhhh!
Sekhmet drove it into Renn's side.
Shhk!
Renn coughed.
Blood sprayed.
Sekhmet's eyes locked onto the blood like a starving man seeing food.
The hunger surged again.
Sekhmet stepped forward and slammed Renn down onto the stone.
Thud!
He pinned him, knee on Renn's chest, and leaned in.
Renn's eyes widened, panic filling them.
"Wait," Renn choked. "We can—"
Sekhmet did not let him finish.
He bit again.
Crunch!
Blood flooded Sekhmet's mouth, richer this time, because Renn's heart was still fighting.
Gulp
Sekhmet's mind flickered with images that were not his.
A forest under moonlight.
Claws digging into dirt.
The joy of chase.
The taste of warm flesh.
Sekhmet's stomach turned, but his body drank.
Gulp!
The system chimed again, calm and relentless.
Ding!
[System Advisory-
Good quality blood detected: Werewolf lineage.
Blood awakening progress: increasing. ]
Sekhmet drank until Renn's struggles weakened into twitching.
Gulp!
He drank until Renn's heartbeat slowed.
Ba… dum… ba… dum…
He drank until the heartbeat stuttered.
Ba… dum…
He drank until it stopped.
Silence.
Sekhmet pulled back, panting, blood smeared across his mouth and chin. His hands trembled. His stomach felt heavy, but not sick. Full.
Full in a way water had never given him.
Renn's werewolf body lay limp beneath him, eyes half-open, mouth slack. The fur began to recede slowly as the moonlight still washed over him, leaving behind a corpse that looked more human again, but twisted by death and hunger.
Sekhmet stared at the body, shock creeping back in now that the fight was over.
He had killed him.
He had killed him after saving him.
And worse…
He had drained him.
Sekhmet's throat worked.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and immediately regretted it because now his hand was even more stained.
He staggered back and sat against the stone, breathing hard.
His chest rose and fell.
His heart was hammered.
Ba - dum Ba - dum Ba - dum
His hands shook slightly as he stared at them.
He felt energized.
He felt clear.
He felt less pain.
His injuries still existed, but they dulled, as if blood had coated them from the inside and softened their screams.
He should have been relieved.
He should have been grateful to survive.
Instead, shame crawled up his spine like cold insects.
"I drank blood.
I drank him.
I am not—"
Sekhmet stopped the thought because he did not know what he was allowed to be anymore.
The bat in his pocket crawled out again, blinking, eyes wide at the smell of fresh blood. It perched on Sekhmet's shoulder, then looked down at the corpse.
"Batbatbatbat," it chirped eagerly, as if asking if dinner was served.
Sekhmet stared at it.
"You are disgusting," he muttered.
The bat blinked innocently.
"Batbat."
Sekhmet exhaled slowly.
He needed to ground himself.
He needed facts.
He forced himself to ask the system, voice low.
"System," he said. "What did I just do?"
The system answered immediately, as if it had been waiting for the question.
[System: Host performed blood consumption.
Effect: stabilized host blood thirst.
Effect: restored fatigue and enhanced recovery.
Additional effect: blood proficiency increased.]
A new notification appeared.
[Ding! System Notification-
Blood Proficiency: +1%
Source: Werewolf Blood
Current Blood Proficiency: 1/100
Note: At 100%, the host may upgrade one Blood skill to Level 2.]
Sekhmet stared.
"One percent. From one kill. From one feeding." His jaw tightened.
"So this is how it works."
The system was not just giving him abilities.
It was shaping him.
It was rewarding him for drinking blood.
Sekhmet's stomach twisted again, but the thirst remained quiet, satisfied for now, like a beast licking its chops after a meal.
He looked at Renn's corpse.
Regret hit him like a slow wave.
He had regretted saving him earlier, but now the regret changed shape.
Not because he had killed a traitor.
Because he had become the kind of thing that fed like a predator.
Sekhmet swallowed hard.
Then he remembered something important.
Renn had attacked first.
Renn had planned to kill him.
Renn had waited for the moon.
Renn had been smiling while asking for his loot.