Vampire Progenitor System-Chapter 196: The Progenitor had returned.

The silence after Dracula knelt wasn’t peaceful.

It was heavy.

Those who didn’t bow stood frozen—not out of defiance, but confusion. Fear. Pride. All tangled up. Some glanced around, unsure if they were already too late. Others clung to their bloodlines like shields.

Lord Verek didn’t move.

Neither did Nira.

Helvain remained kneeling, shaking slightly, the veins around his eyes darkened from Lucifer’s earlier presence. He couldn’t stand. Even now, his knees refused him.

Lucifer turned his gaze toward the remaining few. Not harsh. Just... final.

"You still stand?" he asked softly.

No one answered.

Valena, still kneeling near the front, lifted her head slightly and looked between them.

"They don’t understand," she whispered.

Lucifer heard her.

But his voice didn’t come from his mouth.

It came from the walls. From the stone. From the realm itself.

It wasn’t a spell. It wasn’t magic.

It was blood. Pure, ancient blood that had sunk into the veins of the Vampire Realm. And now that blood listened to only one voice.

His.

The torches dimmed. The air thickened.

The floor began to ripple, slow and wet—like something beneath it was waking up.

Then, with a low groan, the throne hall doors shut on their own. Locked. No exit.

Lucifer stepped off the throne’s dais.

Just one step.

The ground cracked under it.

"I didn’t want to do this," he said quietly. "But the throne doesn’t care about your names. Your legacies. It only sees loyalty."

Lady Nira’s eyes narrowed. "You’re threatening us?"

"No," Lucifer replied. "I’m correcting you."

A sound like bone being pulled through flesh echoed from the shadows. From the floor itself, black thorns erupted. They slithered like snakes, wrapping the base of the columns. Slow. Patient. Waiting for his signal.

Lucifer raised one hand.

The thorns shot forward.

Not wild. Not chaotic. Each moved with purpose—seeking only those who hadn’t knelt.

Lord Verek vanished in a blur of movement, warping across the room toward a far pillar—only to halt mid-air, screaming.

His body froze, twitching.

Blood leaked from his back.

A single vine had pierced him through the spine, lifting him slightly above the ground, suspending him like a broken doll. His blade dropped from his hand.

Lucifer didn’t flinch.

"You made yourself an example," he said.

Lady Nira let out a sharp breath and raised her hand, blood forming around her fingers in the shape of a curved blade. "You would harm your own kind—"

"You’re not mine yet."

The floor beneath her cracked. A spike of black shot upward, forcing her to leap back—barely dodging.

But the realm had turned against her.

The very shadows clung to her boots. The walls pulsed. The hall was no longer a place. It was a body. A living one. And Lucifer was its heart.

More lords panicked.

Three of them tried to teleport.

Nothing happened.

No glow. No surge. Just a cold emptiness in their veins where mana should’ve been.

Lucifer looked at them.

"You think I brought you here without locking this place down?"

The throne behind him flared. Crimson vines spread higher, climbing toward the ceiling like a blooming god’s crown.

Lord Verek still hung, twitching. His blood now dripping in silence.

Lucifer walked toward the center of the room, and with each step, the thorns followed him—spiraling, spreading, reaching for the last of the defiant.

"You stood when the throne rose," he said, not loud. "You watched as your realm crumbled. You held your armies, your blood, your gifts. And now you want to speak?"

He turned his eyes to Nira again.

"You had your chance."

The shadows struck.

This time not as vines—but as limbs. Forms. Shapes.

Like silhouettes given flesh.

They grabbed. Pulled. Bent knees.

One by one.

Not broken.

Forced.

Every single vampire lord who still stood—

Now bowed.

Not from pain.

But because their bodies couldn’t resist the command.

Lucifer didn’t speak as it happened.

He stood in the center of the room and watched.

No rage.

No joy.

Just silence.

The shadows retreated once their task was done.

The thorns vanished into the stone.

Lord Verek dropped to the floor, coughing blood but alive. He tried to lift his head—then lowered it again on his own.

Lucifer finally spoke.

"I won’t punish you for hesitation," he said. "But I won’t let it define you."

He looked toward the throne.

"I need strength. Not pride."

Then he turned back to them all.

And slowly, he sat down.

The throne shifted with him. The vines curled around his arms—not restraining, but crowning him.

His eyes closed for a second. Just one.

When they opened again, the golden threads in his black irises pulsed once.

And with that... the castle let out a sound.

Not wind.

Not stone.

A heartbeat.

From the walls. The ceiling. The land outside.

The realm had accepted him.

It had found its ruler again.

The lords remained kneeling.

No one dared rise until the room itself let them.

Lucifer’s voice was low now. Calm. Even tired.

"Valena."

She stood. "Yes?"

"You’ll oversee the humans. Make sure they’re fed, housed, and left alone. They’re under my protection."

Valena blinked. "Of course. I’ll speak with them directly."

"Good."

Lucifer leaned back slightly. "Keep Luna close. She’s new to our world. She doesn’t need the weight of politics."

Valena nodded and glanced toward Luna, who had remained quiet near the side wall—tense, but not afraid. Just trying to make sense of what this place was.

Lucifer’s gaze shifted to Dracula.

"You’ll stay here."

Dracula didn’t argue. He rose from his kneel and stepped forward.

"This keep was my home once," he said.

Lucifer nodded. "Then take a wing. Teach the new blood what this realm once was—and what it can be again."

Dracula gave a faint smile. "They’ll listen, now."

Lucifer looked him in the eyes. "If they don’t, they’ll kneel again."

He stood again. The throne shifted, sensing him.

Lucifer walked toward the edge of the platform and looked out at the lords one more time. All still kneeling. Some still in disbelief.

"Rise," he said.

They did.

Cautious. Humbled.

Alive.

Lucifer didn’t demand fealty again. He didn’t need to.

It was already written.

In their blood.

Outside, the castle continued to reshape itself. The courtyard stones turned black under fresh roots. Ancient statues reformed, their faces blank, watching. Bats circled overhead like sentinels. The realm breathed differently now.

Deeper.

Heavier.

Older.

And at its center...

The Progenitor had returned.

The king who didn’t roar.

The god who didn’t need to be praised.

Just obeyed.