Esdeath acted like a newborn infant, instinctively nursing upon the golden blood at Cerydra's fingertip.
She seemed not to notice the transformation occurring within her body. Cerydra, unsettled by the tactile sensation against her skin, felt a wave of discomfort and momentarily overlooked certain fine details.
Pffft!
The sound was minuscule, but none of the three present were ordinary. The faint noise, nearly too small to be heard, reached their ears clearly.
Cerydra and Hysilens remained physically unaffected, though their expressions darkened upon hearing it. Esdeath was different. For her, the sound carried a subtle internal echo—because its source originated from within her own body.
In an instant, Esdeath's face contorted in agony. Her attempt to consume the golden blood ceased as she collapsed, her body writhing and convulsing on the ground.
"Aaaah... Aaaaaagh!"
Her screams were relentless, sounding as if they would never end.
Even for Cerydra and Hysilens, it was difficult to imagine the future Ice Queen—the woman who would become the ultimate powerhouse of Akame ga Kill!—showing such pathetic vulnerability, even at her current young age.
Cerydra frowned and crouched down to observe Esdeath's condition, her gaze turning increasingly somber.
'As expected, an accident?'
A mere moment of contact allowed Cerydra to realize what was happening inside Esdeath. Was the purity of her own golden blood simply too high?
Initially, Esdeath had only consumed the seawater from Hysilens' stomach—essentially diluted golden blood. That had caused no issues. But the moment Cerydra's high-purity golden blood entered Esdeath's gut, the balance shattered completely.
While Cerydra was a Chrysos Heir, she differed from the norm. Her golden blood resulted from an exchange with the Titan of Order. Some might assume that since she was once a mortal, the concentration of golden blood in her veins would be low. The truth was the opposite; by dealing directly with a Titan, Cerydra's golden blood was among the most concentrated of her kind.
Unlike later generations born from unions with mortals, Cerydra was effectively a first-generation Chrysos Heir. It was as if Talanton, the Titan of Order, had bestowed a direct portion of his own essence upon her. This was the cause of the violent upheaval inside Esdeath: ruptured blood vessels.
How could a mortal body of flesh and blood carry the ichor of a god?
With Cerydra's initial assistance, the golden blood hadn't immediately turned toxic. However, as the volume increased, the overwhelming power crushed Esdeath's physical form.
Admittedly, Esdeath possessed an indomitable will; even the blood of a Super Class Danger Beast could not shake her spirit. But physiologically, she remained a mere mortal. Her body could not withstand such immense power. Once the threshold of the golden blood reached its limit, her internal equilibrium collapsed.
The golden blood, saturated with the power of destruction, flooded her system. It surged toward her heart at an incredible speed, threatening to saturate her entire being.
This couldn't continue. To save the Dux Alptraum, Cerydra would have to inject even more blood into her and use the authority of the Demigod to force the transformation into a Chrysos Heir.
Yet, this would undoubtedly inflict unprecedented pain upon Esdeath, and the probability of failure remained high. The current Cerydra was only acting a role; she had never truly tested the full extent of a Demigod's power. Performing this directly inside another person's body was a gamble—one wrong move could cause Esdeath to explode.
Literally.
If she didn't want Esdeath to end up as a literal smear on the ground, Cerydra had to act.
"Dux Gladiorium, sing with your power. Leave the rest to me."
Receiving the command, Hysilens nodded. The enchanting song of a siren began to drift through the air. Combined with her authority as the Demigod of the Sea, the melody directly affected Esdeath.
Suddenly, the agony seemed to ebb. Esdeath felt as though she were sinking into the deep ocean. Aside from the sensation of falling, everything else felt trivial.
However, this only alleviated the pain of the hemorrhaging. If the golden blood weren't dealt with, Esdeath's ultimate fate remained unchanged.
'Now it's my turn...'
Cerydra muttered to herself. She set down her scepter and took Esdeath's face between her palms.
Due to the oceanic authority, Esdeath's eyes were misty and unfocused. Her consciousness was clouded, meaning she would remain unaware of whatever Cerydra did next.
'I must wrong you for a moment, Dux Alptraum. This was indeed my error; I will compensate you later.'
'But now, we must fix your condition!'
An apologetic look flashed across Cerydra's face before she opened her mouth and pressed her teeth against Esdeath's neck. She looked exactly like a vampire from legend.
The reality was much the same. To remove the unstable blood from Esdeath's body, drawing it out was the most logical choice.
But would this really be enough?
The sharp pain at her neck and the sensation of blood draining from her body caused Esdeath's eyes to snap into clarity. Even the slight touch of Nihility attached to the oceanic power was ruthlessly shattered by her spirit. She woke from her stupor.
Sensing what Cerydra intended to do, a look of grim determination crossed her face.
"Imperator... please do not abandon what we started. Do to me whatever you deem right!"
"If I can fulfill your expectations, I would face death itself to follow your orders! I will die ten thousand deaths without regret!"
"Just do it!"
Under Esdeath's watchful gaze, Cerydra stopped being gentle. She didn't just prick her own skin this time; she sliced a significant opening.
For a normal person, such a wound would be troublesome. To Cerydra, it was nothing; as a Chrysos Heir, her constitution was far superior to humans, and she would recover in no time.
This time, Cerydra didn't simply let Esdeath drink. She invoked the law of Order to perform an exchange.
Her own blood, in exchange for Esdeath's blood!
A golden radiance enveloped Esdeath. She stared wide-eyed, remaining perfectly still even as the pain intensified beyond anything she had felt before.
Because of Esdeath's sheer persistence, things began to take a turn for the better. Her own blood gradually transformed into flowing gold.
This marked the moment the world of Akame ga Kill! would welcome its very first native Chrysos Heir.