I wasn't able to make yesterday a double release. I had a splitting head-ache after swim practice (Yes, school swim has started), but fortunately I just finished it. I should get started on chapter 43 after catching up on the novels I'm reading...and stuff. Comments are always appreciated. Maybe make a joke about how chapter 42's title references girl's- *WACK* ........Right. I'm just tired.

Anyway, enjoy.

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After reaching the outside, everyone was shocked at what they saw. The entire ground had cracks that ran along the streets and sidewalks. The streets were also deserted as not a sign of life could be seen. Other than other Gifted that were leaving, there were no normal humans. At least, any “normal” humans.

Despite the desertedness, there was blood everywhere. There were no bodies, just blood. Even though it’s been several hours, there was still blood flowing down the gutters into the sewage system. This alone made the atmosphere suffocatingly eerie.

“Guys, this is...pretty creepy.” Jol said with a shaky voice.

“Shadow! You better protect me from the horribleness!!” Light was practically hanging onto Shadow as they walked along.

“Alright, I will. Just don’t, freaking, hang, off, of, me!” Shadow replied as he tried to shake Light off of him.

Jol saw Shadow and Light being quite close, so when he saw Akina walking in-front alone, he naturally tackle-hugged her.

“Akina!” Jol yelled.

“Don’t you dare copy Light.”

“Ah...sorry.”

As they walked across the street to a large parking garage, Akina said:

“I’ve already message Dan. He said that we wouldn’t believe what happened up here, but it would be better if he told us when we actually meet.”

“Yea, an explanation about whatever happened up here would be nice.”

Kyte said as he strode toward the van they used to travel. It was still there, just as they left it several weeks ago. However, there were blood stains splattered across the body and windows. Hand prints were stuck on the windows and it looked like something may have tried to get in.

Seeing this, Kyte carefully looked at the surrounding vehicles. He wasn’t exactly surprised to see that their van wasn’t the only vehicle that was violated. It was just slightly unexpected. It reminded him of apocalyptic situations, and, considering the situation, it was highly likely that what was once a fantasy became a reality. Except, within this world, no normal humans were able to escape their impending doom.

“I’ll clean this stuff off for you guys. It’s pretty gross so I assume you girls wouldn’t want...to…” Kyte started.

Wait...why did I suddenly forget? I’m able to absorb blood. Clean it? I’ll take it all!

“Hm? What is it?” Akina asked.

“Ah, my bad. I just remembered that I can just absorb all the blood. I kinda forgot...ahaha…”

“Oh yea, you can do that. Hahaha, that means that you’ll be having quite a feast, right?”

“Yup. I wonder if it will be of any help, though. Umm...I’ll just be on top of the car while you’re driving. That way I can absorb all the blood we come across.”

“On...on top of the car?...I guess that makes sense.”

“But won’t you fall off?” Rose asked.

“Rose, think about it. How in the world could I ever fall off something like that.” Kyte said.

“Oh, right. Well, regardless, please be careful~.”

Rose unlocked the driver’s door, blew a kiss at Kyte and got in. The other doors unlocked and the others got in as well. All the blood in a hundred meter diameter of Kyte’s surroundings began to move toward him. Before he was going to jump up onto the roof of the van, Kyte suddenly remembered another thing. He knocked on the driver-side window and Rose rolled it down.

“What?”

“Uh, I just remembered that I can fly now, so I don’t need to be on the van.”

“Oh...wait, you can fly?!”

“Yup! I learned that ability after I broke through. It’s not that hard, thought I can only fly for a few hours.”

“That’s still cool though! I’ve never seen anyone fly before.”

“Really? Not even other S rankers?”

“Nope. They don’t have that capability.”

“I see...well, I’ll just follow you while I’m flying, so if you feel a random thump on the roof it’s just me.”

“Alright! See you in a little while~.”

Kyte lifted off the ground and, while flying out of the parking garage, began to wildly absorb all the blood around him. All the blood in the parking garage gathered together and was crazily absorbed. The blood-filled streets and gutters became blood-free after Kyte flew over them. There was even blood on top of buildings and on all the walls.

Although it sounds disgusting that Kyte absorbed blood from these dirty places, it wasn’t bad at all. He only controlled the blood, nothing more. That means that all the dirt and other nasty things naturally fell out of the blood. This gave Kyte “clean” blood to absorb, rather than blood that had sewage in it. Besides, the technique to absorb blood automatically cleanses the blood of impurities before the user absorbs it. This gives Kyte confidence that the blood he was absorbing was definitely clean.

Since the time it took to drive from the apartment to the underground entrance location was several hours, Kyte had a lot of blood to absorb. Of course, the amount of people decreased near farms and more rural areas compared to the city. However, surprisingly, there was still a lot of blood. Just in the city alone it look like a typhoon of blood behind Kyte. The roaring sound of blood rushing in a gigantic whirlpool behind Kyte was deafening. Kyte’s figure was practically a speck compared to the amount of blood that he dragged along behind him.

Since he couldn’t exactly absorb all of it at once, he had to gather it all up and gradually absorb it. Besides, there was an enormous amount of blood for him to absorb. It would take him a while to absorb it all even if he sat down and fully focused on just that. This fact actually scared Kyte a little bit. He’s never absorbed this much blood before, but he can definitely tell that it would give him practically thousands of more lives.

The more blood he absorbs, the stronger his own life force becomes. This also affects his regeneration ability, so the more blood he absorbs, the stronger his regenerative ability is. Kyte remembered small bits of information from the memories gained by breaking through that stated that some cultivators achieved the ability to regenerate from a single drop of blood. That level of regeneration is monstrous. However, that can’t compare to the ability to regenerate from a single flake of skin or a single strand of hair. That type of regeneration is definitely god-like. Kyte knows that he is far from being able to regenerate from a drop of blood, so regenerating from a strand of hair is just a dream at that moment.

Despite this, Kyte felt confident that he would be able to regenerate entire limbs and even an entire half of his body quite easily after absorbing all the blood. Not only that, but he could possibly break through into the middle Void Seeker stage. Though, since blood isn’t really the best method to get Internal energy, Kyte wasn’t expecting to break through. Blood is mostly only for life force, and there were shit loads of it just lying around. Kyte naturally took advantage of the entire situation.

Along the way back to the apartment, Kyte saw several humans roaming around. However, they definitely weren’t normal anymore. They looked like mutated humans that had weird limbs growing out of their bodies at weird angles. The first thing that came to Kyte’s mind was zombies, however, these abominations were different. Kyte flew lower to see what would happen, and the result astonished him.

The abominations showed power equivalent to a C ranker. That alone shocked Kyte, though C rankers are merely ants to him now. They also showed heightened senses and reactions. It seemed like their conscious minds were completely gone, however, what replaced that was terrifying. These abominations seemed to be created solely to hunt and kill.

No wonder there’s so much blood. These things kill and eat each other to get stronger. I really don’t want to see stronger versions of these things.

Before reaching the apartment, Kyte saw even more of those abominations. In some areas, they were everywhere. Massacres were widespread in those areas, and whoever was left would feast upon the dead’s flesh. Kyte didn’t know how they got stronger from doing so, but he assumed it was similar to him absorbing blood for life force. The more life force they absorbed, the more power they gained. When Kyte thought about it, a world like that would be truly horrendous.

As Kyte couldn’t really tap on the car, he decided to send a message to Rose telling her that it would take a while for him to absorb everything. He got a message back saying that it was ok and that he should take his time.

Since it was no longer a problem for Kyte to conceal his powers, he rested on top of the giant apartment building. A gigantic ocean of blood was above him which casted a large shadow across an area of a hundred meters. Considering he absorbed a lot of blood on the way over, that ocean of blood wasn’t even half of everything. He already felt himself creeping up on the middle Void Seeker stage, though he doesn’t know if the rest of the blood would make him break through. Regardless of this, it would take a while before he finally finished.

What Kyte does know is that, by absorbing that much blood, his regeneration strength with vastly increase. He hasn’t really absorbed a lot of blood, and actually this was the most blood he’s absorbed compared to the time before he broke through to the Void Seeker stage. Just this alone makes Kyte confident in his ability to stay alive, since he would be able to regenerate from almost any attack. Not only that, but he would regenerate almost instantly.

The only real downside to absorbing this much blood, especially from creatures that were full of despair and suffering before they turned, is that it would influence his state of mind. Kyte already experienced this when his mind began to slowly slip into insanity when he murdered Asshole, his family, and his friends. Kyte would’ve murdered Sarah too if Sol’keer didn’t help him. Actually, Kyte would’ve killed a lot more people without Sol’keer’s help. If it wasn’t for Sol’keer, Kyte would be a murderous killer with only thoughts of killing.

That brought Kyte to another thought. He doesn’t know how much longer it would take for Sol’keer’s soul to recover. Considering that Sol’keer’s soul was at the fifteenth stage, Kyte’s Spirit energy practically does nothing to help recover his soul. The only real way is to just wait for his soul to naturally recover within the sealed ring. However, Kyte doesn’t know how long that would take. This universe is different than the one Sol’keer was born in, so the recovery rate could potentially be vastly different. Besides, it would regularly take hundreds of years for his soul to recover normally. Kyte doesn’t know where he would be in a few hundred years, since his life span is now literally hundreds of years long. Just as long as he isn’t killed, of course.

After several hours, Kyte finally absorbed the last drop of blood. He suddenly felt a small barrier shatter as his Internal energy rose a full level before stopping. He unexpectedly reached the middle Void Seeker stage. Although it was unexpected, it was a good thing. The more power Kyte has, the better. Besides, Kyte’s regeneration strength was many folds stronger than before. Even if his life force drains the more he regenerates, he just has so much that he has practically thousands of extra lives within him. That’s not really the case, since someone significantly stronger than Kyte could just destroy his heart or brain which would instantly kill him. Although Kyte may be able to regenerate his heart. He doesn’t even know actually, but he doesn’t want to find out.

Seeing the sun’s rays through the clouds, Kyte knew that is was approaching the early morning. He had stayed outside for the whole night absorbing blood, and although he didn’t sleep, he wasn’t tired. He dropped down from the roof and softly landed on the ground before walking inside the apartment complex.