Nathan

Year 2850 | Month 9 | Day 4

Hmm. Well, he looks mad.

Guess he didn’t care much for me shooting at him. Or killing all of the magicians he had here.

At this point I’m pretty much out of mana, so I can’t use any spells.

‘How’re you doing?’ I ask Incendia as the baron in front of us spreads his arms out, manifesting a massive spell circle beneath him that spreads out to the entire clearing.

‘Enough mana for a couple more attacks, but after that I won’t be able to fly anymore,’ she says, reminding me that she can’t fly without mana. Since she needs to put some towards making sure the death flames radiating from her body don’t mess with the wind and air pressure around her, sending her flight into a fit.

‘In that case…’ I begin, my eyes narrowing as the suppression grows exponentially. ‘Let’s get a taste.’

She glances at me, then at the remaining corpses around us. Or rather, at the blood covering the ground in some locations.

‘Right,’ she says, short and simple.

Then I quickly grab a bottle of blood from my storage ring and down the thing, feeling my body growing stronger from that intake. Even if the boost from stored blood isn’t as strong as fresh blood.

And without hesitation, I break into a sprint straight towards the spilt blood as Incendia does the same in a different direction, confusing him. Both by my strength being enough to even run and by the fact that we ran in the first place.

The spell circle beneath us continues to grow with a lot of script running through it, slowly building up the suppression until I have to grit my teeth as I run. But I manage to make it to the blood, where I pretty much inhale it before raising my head and letting out a roar, the usual black veins spreading along my face as I jerk my head towards the baron.

One major subject that these idiots clearly have forgotten in their direct charge.

This baron isn’t setting up defenses against anything other than magic and bullets.

And he’s clearly so certain of his victory. That absolute arrogance on his face, even if it’s clouded by anger.

He still genuinely believes he’ll be able to suppress me with that magic he’s casting and bring me in.

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“The arrogance…” I growl out, my eyes flashing once before I break apart the ground as I burst into a sprint straight towards him.

The man’s eyes widen in shock, then in realization. And he quickly begins to cast more spells, likely trying to prepare for my superstrength.

But Incendia sends a large wave of black flames straight towards both of us from the other blood spatter, the death phoenix growing stronger from blood the same as me.

If it were just me, or just Incendia, this baron would’ve clearly had the upper hand. I wouldn’t have been able to take on both him and his magicians without Incendia’s higher mana capacity, and Incendia wouldn’t have the mana left remaining to do anything lethal to him.

With us both here together though, and her attack as a distraction, I push straight through her death flames with my sword drawn before piercing straight through the weakened barrier he had set up.

And impaling his heart.

Every spell in the clearing cuts off in an instant. Except for the remaining black flames being thrown here by Incendia.

But even those flames finish up sooner rather than later, revealing the baron as he kneels on the ground, his body charred but not completely burnt. Nor is he dead just yet.

He is clearly dying though.

So I kneel down next to him and tell him, “You forgot about something crucial.” His hate and shock-filled gaze slowly turns towards me despite the dead look in his eyes. “I’m not human anymore.”

The man stares at me for a few seconds before barely managing to grunt out through what must be a lot of pain – albeit not much compared to what I’m used to – “Va… vampire…”

One major weakness of most magicians.

Magic.

They are all obsessed with magic. That’s all they ever think about. Growing their own skill, their own understanding, and their own ability to use magic. Their mana arcs, their body’s affinity with it, and their spell repertoire.

Sure they also use some weapons like guns and swords, but even then they’re mostly using magic for major attacks. And even the guns and swords are enchanted magical technology that can use mana for certain enhanced attacks.

What a magician would rarely consider is rushing straight up to someone and cutting them down with a simple sword swing without any magic involved.

Especially since most magicians don’t have the enhanced strength of a vampire.

I pull my sword out, making the baron’s corpse fall apart in the process, creating naught but a pile of ashes on the ground. Then I rise to a standing position and glance to the East, where I previously sensed people watching us.

Most likely the other barons and baronesses.

They’re not gonna make the same mistake again most likely. They’ll plan for my physical strength this time.

I turn away from the other barons and baronesses, feeling a lot freer now that the suppression magic is gone. And after a brief stretch, I begin running in the direction that the other magicians went.

It doesn’t take me that long to find them, and when I do, all of the battling comes to a complete halt as the enemy magicians realize that if I’m here, that means their leader is dead.

Unsurprisingly, they don’t mourn about that. Instead they all break out into cheers and try to make a break for it while doing so, leaving my magicians there without them being able to do much. Seeing as they look like they’re on their last thread.

My eyes narrow slightly at some corpses belonging to the magicians under my watch.

They killed my subordinates… and are now trying to run away?

That’s not gonna happen.

My eyes flare once more, the crimson light shining in the darkness of the trees as I sprint after them.

Feeling my bloodlust rising in the process.