Blood Awakening: The Strongest Hybrid and His Vampire Bride

Chapter 361 361: Castle Noctis - The Lord of Death

Far from the blood-stained floors of the tower, across the Blackwater Gulf and beyond the salt-choked mountain passes, stood a fortress carved into the bones of the world.

The Castle Noctis.

Cloaked in cloud and shadow, its spires pierced the heavens like black needles, always half-swallowed in mist. Gargoyles perched like sentries along the balconies. The great stained-glass window in the main hall showed no saints—only fanged kings, wreathed in thorns and flame.

Inside this grand palace, the air smelled like cold ash and incense.

Alucard Nosferatu reclined against his throne, with red velvet and black marble and twisted silver fixtures. His long legs crossed while leaning on the armrest with an amused expression spread across his face.

Although his advisors seemed nervous and ferocious, Alucard didnʼt care for their bumbling excuses and words.

”Volkovʼs grandson has been crowned,” said one. ”The boy survived the Blood Trials… and the alliance held.”

Another added, ”They say heʼs begun climbing the Nexus. Alone.”

”Foolish,” muttered a third. ”Or desperate.”

Alucard sipped slowly from a wine glass filled with something that was not wine. He swirled it once, watching the dark liquid catch the candlelight like ruby silk.

”Not foolish,” he murmured, voice like a violin string pulled taut. ”Do NOT underestimate that boy, he is the one I chose to become my successor...”

Oblivious to the council still arguing, the married couple spoke to each other.

Across from him, lounging on the edge of the throneʼs stage, Mikaela rested her chin on her hand. Her eyes glowed faintly, catching every flicker of tension. She wore a violent dress with exposed shoulders, her dark skin framed by silver chains and thin black straps.

”Youʼre curious about him,” she said.

Alucard smiled, just faintly.

”Iʼve watched him since the moment he was born, no. The reason he was conceived was thanks to you, Mika... he is something special. A seed of chaos... but not yet in bloom.”

One of the councilmen stepped forward. ”Shall we strike while the alliance still reforms? Their old leaders are in chains. Viktor rots beneath the Bone Crypt. The council is fractured.”

Alucard let the glass settle on the armrest. He turned his head slightly — not enough to show concern.

”Heʼs not ready yet.”

Mikaela tilted her head. ”And when he is?”

Alucardʼs smile widened, eyes like wine and sharpened glass.

”Then Iʼll break him myself.”

The chamber dimmed as the candles drew low. Their flames tilted toward Alucard as though pulled by some silent gravity. Around him, the council of the Nosferatu stood — twelve seats carved from pale bone, arranged in a circle like ribs around the throne.

Each councillor wore robes dyed black and lined with red silk, and none had eyes that fully matched. Some were empty sockets. Others glowed with borrowed life.

They waited for his words.

Only Mikaela moved, casually twirling a jewelled dagger between her fingers.

Alucard finally sat up straight, setting the glass aside. The air shifted with him — cold, slow.

”The werewolf leaders remain in stasis?”

A thin woman with no lower jaw bowed. Her voice rasped through a woven pendant. ”Yes, my lord. Viktor Volkov and the other Elders from the Silver Clan, the Drago, and the Orlovs are preserved within the Crypt. Their souls cannot pass on. Nor can they speak.”

Alucard nodded once. ”Good. Let them rot. Their silence will fracture the alliance faster than any blade.”

A squat man with iron nails hammered into his scalp and stepped forward. ”The necrotic pulses beneath S-Kingdomʼs borders have begun, my lord, as you commanded. But we require a greater anchor. One tied to blood.”

Mikaela rolled her eyes. ”You mean his blood.”

His blood.

The blood of the first vampire, the father of all vampires.

Alucardʼs lips curved into a dismissive smirk at the council, thinking that the blood was infinite and could be used several times. To capture and complete this mission, it took most of their reserves saved over the past three thousand years.

”The progenitor...”

Dracula Nosferatu... the first vampire, or the first of two siblings.

Twins, born from the same mother, a demigod... who lay with an evil god.

Two vampires, Nosferatu and the Tepes, both born from this, later the Báthory and another would be born, but the original and first two were those two.

Dracula Nosferatu and Vladimir Tepes.

The pair fought for centuries to overcome, overtake each other, one siding with the tower, the other having a hand in destroying it.

And on the day the first tower died... it was Dracula and his Nosferatu family that were forced into hiding, but in the dark chaos of that day...

ʼOur ancestor gave his life to kill theirs... all that remained was his heart.ʼ

The heart of Dracula, a mythical item that produced a strange black blood... this blood could assimilate and fuse with almost all other bloodlines, mimic their powers and steal their unique properties, no matter what race.

ʼNikolaiʼs blood... we couldnʼt copy it, rather... that blood stole even our fatherʼs blood.ʼ

Alucardʼs eyes turned to his wife, the woman he adored more than anything. A woman who died two hundred years ago, killed by a traitor, someone from his clan. The moment of her death shattered his mind, and in his rage, he found himself in the depths of Castle Noctis...

Thatʼs when he discovered the heart.

Although imperfect, the blood from the strange heart that continued to beat without a body or brain to control it brought Mikaela back to him... not just that. It made her strong, deadly and purer than before.

ʼI must have that boy...ʼ He thought.

”Foolishness...”

Alucard rose from his throne with the grace of someone who had once danced with gods. His cloak drifted behind him like smoke, edged in silver thread that shimmered when it caught the candlelight. He moved slowly, not out of weakness, but because he never needed to rush.

Each step made the council fall more silent.

”You speak of strategy,” he said, his voice smooth but hollow. ”Borders, necrotic pressure, bloodlines...”

He reached the edge of the raised dais and looked down at the councillors as if from a pulpit. His gaze slid from one to the next. ”But you forget the tower changes everything.”

No one interrupted.

Mikaela watched him from the throneʼs armrest, one leg crossed, her fingers now still. Her red eyes never left his back.

”I didnʼt return to this world because I wanted war,” Alucard said. ”I returned because the balance is wrong. The mortals build their cities over ruins they never earned. The beasts call themselves kings. And vampires...”

He smiled thinly.

”Have been content to drink animals blood from silver chalices instead of drinking from throats.”

A whisper of laughter passed through the room. Nervous. Hollow.

Alucard raised his hand.

”The heart beats again. The tower breathes. My bride lives. And Volkovʼs grandson now ascends.”

He lowered his hand.

”And you think this is the time to strike?”

The room froze.

”No. This is the time to plant the knife. To hide it where they will not look. Not at the edge of the kingdom…”

He pointed downward.

”But inside it.”

A chill passed through the stone beneath them. Something ancient moved under the floor. Something chained.

”The next agent has already been marked. The crimson ink is drying. One of theirs will turn. And when they do...”

He looked at Mikaela.

”...it will be Nikolai who opens the door for us.”

She smiled back.

”Good boy.”

Alucard returned to his throne. The glass was refilled with something dark and shimmering by a servant with no face.

”Send word to the Bone Saints. Tell them to stir beneath the Nexus. Tell them to provoke the boy.”

The documents and all knowledge told Alucard that Nikolaiʼs blood was that of a god, an evil, old and deadly god who might even be the same one that impregnated their mother... the first. A woman who wasnʼt like a typical vampire but more of a monster, like a lamprey.

”Tell them the boy bleeds like a god.”

He raised the glass.

”And gods,” he murmured, ”taste best when broken.”

——

Nikolai sat on the edge of a crater, breathing slowly through his nose. The floor beneath him had stopped pulsing. The cracks no longer spread. The chamber was still. Cold. The air barely moved.

But his heart hadnʼt slowed.

His werewolf form was receding in slow, twitching pulses. Bones shifting back into smaller shapes. The black tide of his aura was withdrawing like seawater after a storm. Even without a mirror, he could feel what he looked like — battered, torn open in places, chest still leaking blood from half-closed gashes.

Every breath hurt.

But something else hurt more.

Heʼd torn apart their faces.

Their voices.

He knew it wasnʼt real — those dolls, that monstrous patchwork thing — but his mind wouldnʼt let go of the memory. The screams, the pleas, the way each fake head had begged him not to leave.

He stared at his hands, now only half-clawed.

They shook faintly.

”…Enough.”

The word left his mouth like a decision.

He stood slowly, wobbling once before steadying himself. His muscles ached in places he didnʼt even know could ache. His left shoulder was still half-ruined, arm hanging just slightly too low.

Still, he began walking toward the glowing crest etched into the far wall.

The exit sigil.

Not to climb.

But to leave.

Because something inside him was heavier than pain now.

He missed them.

Kumikoʼs quiet hums as she braids her hair. Risaʼs stupid teasing. Nikitaʼs tail draped over his thigh when she slept. Seleneʼs fingers tracing the back of his hand. Lunariaʼs gentle silence. Amphitriteʼs sly smirk whenever she caught him watching her from across the room.

He could feel them now — not physically, but through the bond.

That crimson web.

Their threads had thickened.

They were closer than ever.

Waiting.