Vampire Progenitor System-Chapter 185: "…I’m here to end the rot,"

The bodies were still warm. Blood clung to the stone like paint, slowly cooling in the heavy silence that followed.

Lucifer stood still, his breathing soft. Wings low. Crimson eyes calm.

Luna hovered near the edge of the carnage, one hand covering her mouth. Her other hand gripped a broken pillar, knuckles white. She didn’t say anything, didn’t look away. She just stared at him—the man who saved her, the man who tore through twenty trained vampires like they were paper dolls.

Lucifer didn’t speak either. Not yet.

A soft pulse echoed in his skull. Not sound. Not thought. It was weight. Familiar. Deep.

And then the voice followed, low and steady, the same one that had been guiding him from the shadows for days now. A voice only he could hear.

["You’re standing in the outer district. Sector Nine. The Blood Gate is a forgotten checkpoint—meant to keep exiles out. Funny how they guarded it as if it still mattered."]

Lucifer didn’t respond. He tilted his head, crimson eyes drifting across the ruined chamber. The stonework was ancient, but poorly maintained. Half the runes had faded. Some were carved wrong.

A forgotten checkpoint. Not even part of the main cities. That explained the weak patrol.

["You’ll need to move west. There’s a tunnel beyond the old prayer hall. It curves down into the Hollow Spine—a path under the skin of the realm. Stay on it for two hours. No more. The third gate will open when you bleed on the altar."]

Lucifer’s claws clicked once, retracting. His wings vanished slowly behind him in a silent shiver of black feathers. He wiped the blood off his hand with a torn cloak and turned toward Luna.

She looked like she wanted to ask something. Maybe scream. Maybe run. But she didn’t. Her eyes locked onto his. Not with fear. Not anymore.

Just... waiting.

"We move now," Lucifer said softly. "It’s not safe here."

She nodded once. Quiet. She stepped carefully past the bodies, keeping close to his side. The air felt colder now, heavier. Like the realm itself was beginning to notice who had returned.

They passed through the hall in silence. Lucifer paused near the edge where two stone doors stood, barely open. Dust lined the seam. He pushed them open without effort. A narrow corridor stretched ahead, torchless, its walls slick with dark roots and pulsing veins.

Luna stared at them. "This place... it’s alive," she whispered.

Lucifer didn’t answer. But she was right.

["The realm recognizes blood. Not names. Not faces. Only lineage. And yours... it’s waking everything."]

The voice settled into his bones like a drumbeat now.

["Once you’re inside the Hollow Spine, keep your aura low. The closer you get to the capital, the more eyes you’ll feel. Not everyone has forgotten the Progenitor’s blood. Some still worship it. Others... hate it."]

Lucifer narrowed his eyes. "Let them feel me," he muttered under his breath.

Luna glanced at him, her brow furrowed, but didn’t say anything. She followed him down the path, the faint glow from his eyes lighting the way.

The Hollow Spine was tight. Breathing walls pulsed around them like a heartbeat. Each step felt like walking through a throat that hadn’t eaten in centuries. Roots cracked underfoot. The ceiling dripped faintly. Far behind, the echo of their footsteps chased them.

Minutes passed. Maybe more.

Then—movement. Luna tensed.

Lucifer raised his hand.

A blood pulse. Subtle. Almost lazy. Watching.

Then gone.

["Scouts. Low-borns. Let them run. The news will reach the capital faster than you can. Let it."]

Lucifer lowered his hand.

They kept walking.

Somewhere deeper in the dark, Luna finally broke the silence.

"Lucifer... why are we here?"

Her voice didn’t shake. Just tired. Honest.

He walked in silence for a few more seconds, then stopped beside a cracked altar half-consumed by black moss. He turned, eyes soft now.

"I was born here," he said. "But I was never raised here. I never saw this realm with my own eyes. Just memories... fed to me like poison."

Luna stepped closer, eyes flicking between him and the altar.

"And now?"

Lucifer lowered his gaze. "Now I see it for what it is. Ruined. Twisted. Lost."

He reached into his coat, pulled out a silver shard wrapped in faded cloth. He unwrapped it slowly. It was a fang—long, blackened, ancient. The edge shimmered faintly in the torchless dark.

He held it over the altar.

"I’m not here to rule it," he whispered. "I’m here to take it back."

He drove the fang into his palm. Blood hit the altar.

The air changed instantly.

A deep groan echoed through the Hollow Spine. The altar cracked open with a hiss, splitting down the middle. Stone parted, revealing a spiral staircase that sank into endless darkness.

Luna’s breath caught. She turned to Lucifer.

"You sure about this?" she asked.

He looked down the stairs, eyes calm. "No."

Then he stepped in.

The descent was long. Longer than it should’ve been. The air turned metallic. Lights flickered faintly—no torches now, just veins in the wall glowing with crimson pulse. The stairs ended at a stone path hanging over a sea of mist. No rails. Just ancient bridges crossing a void of nothing.

Lucifer stepped forward without hesitation. Luna followed close, hugging herself.

Far ahead, lights twinkled like fireflies.

["That’s the edge of the capital. Velmora. It used to be beautiful."]

Lucifer frowned. "Used to be?"

["You’ll see."]

As they reached the final step of the bridge, the ground rose into a massive platform. Gothic towers spiraled into the black sky above, and a city of dark glass stretched under a red moon.

But everything was quiet.

Too quiet.

Luna stared. "Where are the people?"

Lucifer’s eyes narrowed.

Then, faintly, from the shadows—horns.

Dozens of them. Long, deep. Not metal. They sounded like bone.

And then the doors opened.

A dozen armored figures stood at the gate. Crimson capes. White masks. Each one bore the crest of the First Blood—the symbol of the royal line.

They didn’t move.

They were waiting.

Lucifer’s aura curled quietly around his shoulders as he stepped onto the marble path. The wind caught his hair, blowing it back as the moonlight painted his pale skin in red hues.

The guards didn’t raise weapons.

One stepped forward. His voice was hollow, muffled through his mask.

"...Progenitor."

Lucifer stopped.

"Are you here to claim the throne?" the man asked.

Lucifer looked past him, toward the giant black palace at the city’s heart.

"...I’m here to end the rot," he said softly.

The guards didn’t respond. They stepped aside in perfect sync, clearing the path.

Luna looked up at him.

Lucifer nodded once. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Then walked toward the capital—toward the throne that had waited far too long.