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When the haircut was done, Sekhmet stood and put on clean clothes. Not fancy noble robes yet. Simple black trousers, a clean shirt, and then the nightmare-grade coat and boots.
The coat felt different than normal fabric.
It was heavy in a good way, like wearing protection that trusted you.
Sekhmet flexed his fingers.
The coat did not restrict movement at all.
He looked in the mirror.
For the first time, he did not look like a man dragged out of a cage.
He looked like someone who had survived.
He left the bath chamber and headed toward the main hall.
He expected his father.
He expected the butler — (his father’s butler) "uncle," the man who ran Dawn House like a fortress disguised as a home.
Instead, he found an empty hall.
The servants bowed as he walked past, but none announced his father’s arrival.
Sekhmet’s steps slowed.
He grabbed the older maid as she passed.
"Where is my father," he asked.
The maid hesitated.
"He is out," she said carefully.
Sekhmet’s eyes narrowed.
"Out where," he pressed.
The maid’s gaze flicked away.
"Business," she said. "Big business."
Sekhmet’s jaw tightened.
"And the butler."
The maid sighed.
"With him," she admitted.
Sekhmet released her, frustration creeping into his chest.
"He’s not here. Again."
His father always moved like a shadow merchant. Always traveling. Always dealing. Always leaving Sekhmet behind with promises and vague timelines.
Sekhmet turned and walked toward his room.
His old room.
The servants practically tripped over themselves to prepare it. Fresh sheets. Clean blankets. A meal tray with steaming meat and bread.
The smell hit Sekhmet’s senses.
His stomach growled.
Then his throat burned.
Blood hunger stirred faintly.
Sekhmet clenched his jaw and forced himself to eat like a human.
He chewed slowly.
Swallowed.
Ignored the way his body whispered that food was not enough.
Bat Bat hopped onto the table and stared at the meat.
"Meat," it said reverently.
Sekhmet flicked a small piece toward it.
Bat Bat caught it mid-air.
Chomp!
After he ate, Sekhmet finally took out the item Lily gave him.
The key stone.
A small, dense stone with faint runes carved into it. It felt cold, but not like a normal cold. It felt like controlled chaos energy, compressed and disciplined.
Sekhmet held it up and activated Blood Eye.
The system translated the reading cleanly, like it enjoyed this.
[Item: Key Stone.
Grade: Nightmare 1
Type: Control Relic
Description: Paired controller for a long-term training restraint tool.
Function: Synchronizes with restraint rings and permits release, adjustment, or recalibration.
Warning: Release will restore suppressed output. The host may experience sudden rebound effects.]
Sekhmet stared at the warning.
"Rebound effects."
He did not like that phrase.
He sat on the edge of his bed, coat still on, boots still on, like he didn’t trust comfort yet.
Bat Bat sat beside him, watching the stone.
"Shiny rock," it said.
Sekhmet exhaled slowly.
The training tool had been part of him for years. Not just physically. Mentally. It had shaped how he measured himself, how he moved, how he survived.
Removing it felt like stepping off a cliff.
He looked at his hands. He remembered the chains. He remembered the thirst. He remembered biting the werewolf. He remembered waking to orc corpses. He remembered the two guards turning into ghouls.
He remembered Lily’s face when she realized something was wrong.
"I cannot stay suppressed forever."
If he wanted answers, if he wanted control, if he wanted to stop being dragged by hunger and circumstance, he needed strength.
But strength always came with consequences.
Sekhmet closed his eyes briefly.
Then he opened them and made a decision.
He pressed the key stone against the ring restraint on his body.
The system reacted instantly.
[Ding! Pairing detected.
Nightmare restraint tool recognized.
Control authority established.
Release protocol available.
Confirm action: remove training restraint.]
Sekhmet’s throat tightened.
He did not confirm yet.
He stared at the prompt, his heartbeat slow and heavy.
Ba - dum... Ba - dum...
He thought of the city outside — guards, merchants, predators in robes.
He thought of Lily.
He thought of the Void God and the Ant God sending gifts like they were placing bets.
He thought of the blood system inside him, quiet now but never gone.
Sekhmet’s jaw tightened.
He chose to act.
"Confirm."
The stone warmed slightly.
Fzzz...
The runes flared.
A low hum vibrated through his bones like a drumbeat under the skin.
Then the restraint began to respond.
Something unseen tightened around his chaos energy, then loosened like a knot finally untied.
Sekhmet’s breath caught.
His vision blurred for half a second.
A wave of pressure built inside him like a storm gathering behind ribs.
His hands trembled.
His muscles tensed.
The system’s voice remained calm, almost too calm.
[Ding! Release in progress.]
[Warning: output rebound imminent.]
[Host status will update after stabilization.]
Sekhmet clenched his fists.
The hum grew louder.
FZZZZ...
The room was quiet, but it was not the comfortable kind of quiet.
It was the kind that sat on Sekhmet’s shoulders like invisible hands, reminding him that the moment he pressed confirm, his life would tilt again. The key stone was still warm in his palm. The restraint hum still vibrated faintly in the air, as if the walls of Dawn House were listening with him.
FZZZZ...
Sekhmet’s breathing stayed controlled, but his heart refused to be calm.
Ba dum... Ba dum...
His mind did what it always did when faced with the unknown.
It tried to hold onto what it knew.
A familiar window floated before his eyes, clean and sharp, like a cold mirror showing him the version of himself he had been forced to live as for years.
[Status Window-
Host: Sekhmet Dawn
Race: Human
Location: Lower Purgatory (Null)
Overall Battle Power: 1500
System Note: Host is under a training tool. Removing it will increase host battle and combat power.
Chaos Energy: 1000
Chaos Body: 500
Chaos Energy Purity: 5%
Blood Awakening: 2%
Blood Proficiency: 56.6/100
Skills Blood Control Lv2 Blood Sword Lv1 (Can transform blood into a sword for now) Blood Eye Lv1 (Appraise items and beings) Blood Summon Lv1 (Summon blood minions using blood. Stronger blood = stronger summon) Blood Puppet Lv1 (Slots 0/1) Cannot betray master. Forced conversion if target battle power is not more than 2x host. Stronger targets require willing acceptance.]
Sekhmet stared at it, jaw tight.
For years, that number had been his cage. Fifteen hundred. A laughable amount in a realm where even gate guards could snap you like a twig if you looked at them wrong. He had learned to survive anyway.