The noble stands frozen, blood dripping from his countless sharp fangs as the body of the poor young woman lays strewn on the floor at his feet. A bright red puddle slowly growing larger under the light of the chandelier above.

The young woman doesn’t move, her open eyes still shine but there’s no life to them any longer.

Someone wretches behind me, and I can hear a half-digested meal splattering over the beautiful stone floor. It might not be the royal palace, but it is still quite nice, or was, at least.

“So, talking or fighting?” I ask, ready to start shooting the moment the reptilian vampire goes for a weapon or shifts his mana to cast a spell.

I’ve already spread my mana out over my armour, and into my eyes, prepared for battle.

“This is… unfortunate.” He says, standing tall and cleaning his mouth with a white handkerchief from his lapel. He’s been interrupted in the midst of enjoying his meal, and certainly looks the part.

“Well, it’s certainly unfortunate for her, isn’t it?” I say, waving my hand to the dead young woman at his feet. “I wouldn’t exactly call them love bites.”

“No, I suppose you wouldn’t. If I might ask, why are you here, traveller? I’m not sure this is really any of your business.” He says, adjusting his clothes and smoothing out the wrinkles before taking a step back.

“One more step and things get interesting.” I say. “You want to talk, do it from where you’re standing.”

“Traveller, you are making a mistake.” He hisses.

“I make plenty of mistakes.” I say. “I’m not really convinced this is one of them.”

“What did you come here for? Why did Selena allow you here? Surely she doesn’t want to destroy us.” He says looking past me and towards those at my back.

“How dare you…” Hawk whispers at my back, recovered enough to find her voice again. “You… you’re a monster. You think Selena would protect you?”

“Protect us, my dear fool.” He says, “You know nothing of what goes on, and I suggest that you bite your tongue.”

“I came here to deal with a pest problem.” I say, with a shrug. “You seem rather much like a pest to me. So, are you going to explain yourself, or are you going to keep that shitty attitude up?”

“You think us nobles are the pests?” He asks, chuckling. “How wrong you are. The pests are those standing at your back, young traveller.”

“You still aren’t explaining yourself.” I reply.

“Why?” John finally manages to wheeze out the whisper, I can’t see his expression from here, but I can imagine he’s showing a few teeth.

“Is it wrong for us to consume the beasts we farm?” The noble asks. “We feed you, protect you, and give you a home to live in. You think we do this for nothing? This is our due.”

“You’re talking about murdering people!” Hawk shouts at my back. “This isn’t right!”

“Silence.” The noble hisses, glaring at her and John before returning his calmer gaze to me. “It would be proper for us to clear up the misunderstandings. I can understand why you’d be cautious of us, but you are not one of our cattle. You needn’t fear repercussions.”

Chip can’t seem to read his facial and body expressions, even as he adjusts his stance and shifts the feathers that line his back. I suppose hiding one’s intent from the translations, is an ability that would be to the benefit of nobles. Without the ability to lie, nobles and politicians would be just more criminals.

“Is that so?” I ask, “Then you don’t mind if we bring this issue to the King?”

“If that’s what you wish to do, I’m sure it’ll be fine.” The noble says, seeming unaffected by the suggestion.

“Really?” I ask, “He won’t be bothered that you’re a thief?”

“Thief?” The noble hisses at me, glowering and giving himself away. Insults to pride and ego are far more hurtful than pointing him out as a murderer.

“That’s what this is, isn’t it?” I ask him, keeping the pistol ready as I wave a hand at the corpse by his feet. “Stealing merchandise. Taking more than you are due. However, you want to call it. If people were disappearing every other night, I’m sure this farm would run out of product, no?”

“What are you talking about?” John hisses at my back, putting a hand on my shoulder. “We’re people, damn it!”

“Sure, but you think people can’t be products?” I ask, “I’m sure the noble here wasn’t going to leave this meat uneaten. There’s still good mana left sitting.”

“Are you…?” The noble twists his expression. “I am no cannibal! I drank her blood and mana, do not mistake me for some uncivilised beast?”

“Wait, you don’t eat people?” I ask, trying to set aside my surprise.

“Of course not, what sort of villain do you think I am?” He glowers at me, as his voice deepens in rage.

“Huh, that’s weird. No one here eats people? What do you do with the bodies?”

“We bury them!” The noble hisses.

“Huh… A bit wasteful, but I can respect that.” I nod.

“Wait, you…?”

“Doesn’t matter.” I quickly step forwards. “So, can you get back to explaining why it is you’re the innocent victim here?”

“I’m a noble. They’re cattle. Perhaps I’ve been reckless, and taken more than is my due.” He says, “I’m sure you understand what it is to be underfed. To lag behind your peers in terms of mana, and the consequences that can come about from such a fate.”

“Eat or be eaten?” I ask, inspiring a dark chuckle as the man nods slowly. “It sounds as if your world is even more cruel than ours, but still an apt description of the situation.” He says. “Those of us who are weak must struggle to survive, against those stronger.”

“You nobles hunt each other?”

“Not quite.” He hisses, glaring out the direction of the Kings palace.

“If you’re so offended by cannibalism, how can you stand over her corpse?!” Hawk hisses, drawing her knives and stepping up to my side. “She trusted you, she… She didn’t deserve this. Why?”

“Why indeed… if you weren’t so foolish in coming here, perhaps you would had the chance to find out for yourselves.” The noble says, “So traveller, which side are you going to choose?”

The little revolutionaries at my back, seem nervous for the short glance I afford them, while the noble seems rather confident, though I’m sure it’s just a bluff.

“I fight for myself, obviously.” I say, looking at the idiot that would think I’d choose anything else. “I mean, you’re literally a rat stealing food from your society. Obviously, ‘pest’ would describe you rather perfectly. If these idiots behind me are problems I’m sure I can deal with them whenever I need to.”

“Then you have made a mistake.” The noble says, leaping away, deeper into his palace. I shoot, but the bullet only grazes him, the flash of fire washing over his scales without causing harm.

“Group up, watch each other’s backs.” I call out to my allies, watching the vampire as he quickly returns to the room, weapon in hand. A blunt staff with a balled end; something between a mace and a quarterstaff.

Another of my shots misses as he charges closer, slamming the head of his staff down onto the corpse of the dead woman on the ground. Magic stirs from him, running through the staff and drawing out the blood from the corpse.

The stolen blood, glowing with mana, forms sharp blades along the staff’s length and gather at the ball at the end. The blades spin around the sphere at odd angles and in unexpected directions, flowing through one another and continuing on unaffected. I take a step back and fire again, but he’s too fast.

From the mana glow running through his staff, I figure that has perhaps twice my mana, or thrice if he’s fighting conservatively. I still stand a chance of winning.

If I can land an attack, that is.

My bullets miss, and I know I can’t dodge his attacks with the speed he moves. My only option is to overpower him.

The noble stops short of my reach using his blood blades and long staff to attack me from afar. Without even trying to dodge, I invest in my reactive mana skin, and meet the attack.

I miss grabbing it with my hand, but the swinging staff still slams into my side, burning a chunk of mana away. Tucking it under my armpit, I hold it tight as the noble struggles to pull it back, expecting me to be as weak as my short stature would imply.

Using the opening, I lift my gun and force 100 points of mana into the shot.

The noble looks at me wide eyed, failing to dodge, likely expecting the attack to be of equal power to the last that I’ve shot at him. This time however, his scales aren’t nearly enough to stop the bullet, or the fires that it spawns.

The bullet bursts in his gut, popping violently and spraying hot blood back at me. Prying the staff from his grip is more difficult than I’d been expecting, as his fiery eyes glare at me with none of the vulnerability that I was planning for.

“You...just die already…” He groans spitting up blood. His own? Or is it just his last meal coming back up? Doesn’t really matter, the mana in it will soon be mine regardless.

“Suck a… wait, do you people even have dicks?” I ask, earning a loud hiss as he grabs tight to the staff I’m gripping, funnelling his mana into it, drawing out new blood blades.

“Let’s test!” I shout, pulling myself closer and punching at his crotch with a blast of annihilation magic blooming out from my touch. I try to control the magic, spread it out rather than concentrating it. A technique I’ve been considering for a while now.

The burst of destructive magic pushes into his flesh shredded cloth mixing with falling ash as the organ within splits and falls into parts on the ground.

It’s more effective than my usual annihilation magics, though it hasn’t perfectly reduced all to ash. I’m quite satisfied with the results, and take a moment to smile to myself, thinking he’ll be too shocked to strike back.

A punch to my face dispels that illusion.

Using all his speed, he slams his fist into me as his magic moves the bloody blades down the length of his staff, cutting along my front and digging into my mana frighteningly quick.

Even without feeling the damage, the mana loss alone is enough to put me on the back step.

I try to take a step back, but he closes the distance faster than I can retreat. Someone throws a knife at one of us, but it clatters ineffectively in the midst of the struggle.

My mind snaps, and a growl escapes my lips.

He dares stand against me, to waste my mana, to show such offense.

Drawing in mana from my storage, I burn through every bit of mana I have left in me as I throw rapid cast annihilation at him from point blank range.

Threads of destructive mana lash out at the beastly vampire before me. Both of us throwing all caution to the wind as we would see each other dead in a moment rather than retreat.

His blood blades splatter before touching me, separating from the staff and becoming just blood again as the mana flowing through them is made turbid by my damaging magic. This causes a shift in our rather rapid tussle, without the blades, the damage he’s doing to my mana is limited, while I’m carving holes out of his flesh.

A punch to my face, which I barely manage to weaken, nocks me back. With a growl and a hiss, he uses his greater speed to throw himself away, dodging the final burst of magic that I send at him in his retreat.

“Cur…” He hisses, brushing himself off and taking a deep breath. The wounds that cover his body are covered in pooling blood that scabs over even as I watch. Not exactly healed, but close enough.

I wonder if ‘that’ grew back, or if he’s like a scaled ken doll.

“Could I just ask one thing?” I say, as we both take a moment to recover. He heals, and I convert mana. I think I’m gaining the most from this delay as without mana I’m not able to attack or defend.

“Yes. Do you want to ask a second thing too?” He smiles back at me.

“Did you just…?” I spit a laugh, “I haven’t heard that line since elementary school.”

“So, was there something you wanted to talk about?” He asks, as I watch his injuries healing before my very eyes. The blood whirling about with mana and magic, forming scabs and perhaps even healing underneath to a degree.

“Is that healing magic, or something else? I’ve been rather desperate to get a healer in my group for a while and whatever trick you’ve got seems amazing.” I say, pointing at the pockmarks that are scattered over his scales.

“Ah, it’s the advantage of being a noble.” He says, “It’s a part of us, a natural talent you might call it.”

“Damn, I’m guessing you can’t turn me into a vampire, or noble, or whatever?” I ask. “I could drink your blood or something, wouldn’t be the grossest thing I’ve ever consumed.”

“You? No. Which is fortunate for me.” He says with a chuckle, “I can already tell that you’d be quite the monster if we gave you that chance. I don’t need further competition.”

“Aww, that sucks.” The mana bursts through me again, spreading its warmth and allaying my worries.

“Do you mind if I ask you a question?” The noble says, looking between me and the group behind me. It seems the revolutionaries are looking back at the door. One of the unnamed quiet idiots has already fled and the two others seem ready to follow.

“Go for it.” I say.

“What is that magic you’re using? I’ve never encountered it before.”

“Annihilation magic.” I reply, “It’s rather new to me as well, how’s it working?”

“I think you can see well enough.” He replies, “The way it disrupts my own spell was… unreasonable.”

“Yeah, I’ve been told that I’m unreasonable before.” I say with a chuckle.

“Why are you talking?” John asks, I can feel his heated glare at my back.

“Why shouldn’t we be talking?” I ask.

“Your allies still have much growing to do.” The noble says, “Just because we must fight, it doesn’t mean that we should give up respect for one another. There is a reason you are considered cattle.”

The remaining rebels hiss and growl at that, but I have to supress my own smirk. My allies are not the most capable, but I can’t really blame them, they haven’t had the chance to experience fights, and to grow from them.

“We’re both recovering and trying to consider new tactics.” I tell the rebels.

“Now, traveller, you needn’t explain things so openly. If they survive, and if they’re smart, they’ll learn over time as we all do. It’s not healthy for development to give them the answers, they need to seek the answers for themselves.”

“You do have a way with talk.” I say, “If it weren’t for the corpse, I wouldn’t believe that you’ve just killed someone.”

“Death is a natural aspect of our path to power.” He concludes with a sad shake of the head. “It is an inevitability, and it is always better that death leads to be a better end. What strength I steal will be used towards greater ends. Her death here holds value.”

“I see.” I reply, he seems to be genuine in his conclusions, even if they’re disagreeable. “You need that power to claim greater standing?”

“To stand at all, without power I will fall, and our people would lose one more of its defenders.” He declares. “I think that’s enough talk.”

“I suppose.” I say, firing at him with my pistol and starting the conflict anew.

He dodges to the side and runs the flank. He rushes the rebels, his magic summoning new blood blades as he sends more shards of glass my way. I brush them off, the hits pulling at my mana but not so much that it concerns me.

With his speed I can’t stop him from reaching the defenceless lizards behind me. I can make use of his momentary weakness, however.

Hawk stumbles back away, but John meets the charge, lifting his club up to try and block the attack. The wood holds for barely a moment before splitting and shattering. Though that moment is enough for my modified annihilation bolt to land.

~Skill developed.

~Branching magic.

He shifts his head at the last moment, but the spell still catches him on the jaw. The mana seeps into his flesh, and this time I can watch the newly formed Skill at work.

The mana seeps into the noble’s flesh and bone, not as an expanding sphere, but like the branches of a crystalline tree, straight and sharp as a knife. A web of lightning piercing deeper than my magic ever has before.

His jaw falls apart as chunks of flesh and bone are become unbonded from his body, soft ash slipping out from the gaps. My annihilation magic severing his flesh like a photo made into a jigsaw puzzle.

His reddened eyes glow for a moment as he takes a quick step back, drool and blood running down his neck as the remnants of his tongue flops down his front. With fast steps he retreats from the rebels and guards himself from attempts to finish him off.

“I suppose there’s no more talking, huh?” I ask, unable to restrain the smirk. Pushed into a corner, now is the moment for him to draw his final trick and try something truly reckless.

He lets out a rather sad sounding grumble, lifting his staff and gathering more mana than ever before into a spell more powerful than I’ve ever seen from him.

I’m not confident I can counter that with my reactive mana skin abilities, not with my limited mana.

“Get back!” I shout to those behind me. Summoning my mana into dozens of small vortexes. If I could disrupt his magic before, then perhaps…

They do say that the best defence is a good offense, I’ll just have to shoot his spell down.

With a grumbling roar, his mana forms into a bloody scythe growing long enough to cut into the wall far to his side. He swings, the blood following his staff, flowing as a thin wave, dense enough with mana that it cuts into the wall.

I duck low enough to dodge the attack, but the noble spins his staff around and redirects it back to me. I barely slip past, firing spells at the blade, while trying to find a moment to retake the offensive.

Every annihilation spell that lands disrupts the bloody blade, scattering blood and shortening the length of it, yet the vampire adjusts, fixing his spell in moments.

I shoot a few bullets his way, and he doesn’t bother to block, his scales scored by the direct hits, as he focusses on directing his own magic. The staff moving in mesmerizing circles as the bloody blade follows, trying to trap me in the blood that moves faster, then slower, following me, then cutting right through, costing me mana for every mistake I make.

“Dear noble!” I shout, feeling the rage build up inside me as I dance to his directions.

Following, not leading.

By force, not by choice.

Only my lovers may lead me in dance.

“You mistake your place. You fail to realize that you yourself look as nothing but cattle to others.” I say, pouring 300 points of mana into my gun and firing.

He tries to dodge, but he’s not so fast. The bullet lands in his shoulder, exploding violently and tearing the limb off. Refusing to waste this chance, I fire again and again with lesser powered shots, leaving charred holes in the noble’s flesh as he tries to recover, but still he grips tight to his staff, refusing to let go of his weapon.

With a shuddering gasp and a last attack with his blood blade, the noble falls. Not surrendering, nor bowing. Prone only in death.

“You guys still alive?” I ask, looking back at the group of lizards. They’re hiding on the other side of the broken door frame, protected by the solid stone of the house.

“That’s… this…” Hawk looks between the corpses, trying to figure out what to do, what to think.

“They’re dead, yes.” I confirm, picking up the noble’s corpse and massaging the mana out of it. He’s not as mana dense as I was hoping, he wasn’t that much further along the path to power than me.

Even so, his abilities in a fight were considerable. Skills and experience trumping raw power.

“There’s been no murders since…” Hawk throws up, leaning against the stone wall.

“There has.” John interrupts, his expression dark as he holds his split club. “We just never knew it.”

“What do we do?” Hawk asks, looking between John and I.

“Look around see if there’s anything interesting, then go hide before someone takes notice of us.” I suggest, pulling the burning mana into my chest converting it into something more mine.

“I’ll check upstairs…” John says, pausing as he stands by the fallen staff. “Can I…?”

“Knock yourself out.” I say with a shrug.

He carefully lifts the staff, struggling with the weight of it, and likely the mana density too.

“I’ll stop this from ever happening again.”

“Well, brave soldier, you’ll need to get stronger before making promises like that.” I say, cringing as I realize that I’m making the same mistake.

Pressing the mana into my core, trying to break into the liquid stage even faster, as if it makes up for my ego.

“I’ll save everyone.” He says, running to search the upstairs for loot.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Skills & Stats

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 880 units

~Mana distribution:

Catagory Current Max. Defence 0% 32% Offense 0% 57% Mana Sense 0% 72% Recovery 0% 30% Gluttony 0% 26% Misc. 41% 41% Efficiency 41% 86%

~Favourited Skills:

-Chip Shredder

-Multi-mind

-Tag

-Mana surge movement

-Mana surge punch

-Reactive mana skin

-Infused delayed Casting

-Fire burst punch

-Annihilation magic

-Mana form flow fixer

-Rapid fire casting

-Branching magic