The silence broke as the blade left Felix's hand. Rather than hitting the floor, the weapon flew forward, lodging itself into a man's head. The man's skull bloomed into a flower of gore while the blade ran straight through before ending its journey into a nearby wall.

Sofia was left stunned, mouth agape as her captor's remnants rained on her back, drenching her hair with its sanguine lustre. She shivered at the thought that, had Felix ever so slightly missed his throw, she might have been the one missing a head.

Seconds later, the corpse finally fell to the ground as if gravity had only just recognized its demise. The deadly weapon pressed to her throat fell harmlessly by the man's side, ringing as it hit the floor. The sound woke her up from her catatonia.

Meanwhile, Felix took advantage of the thugs' slow reaction time to procure a new sword from one of his opponents. Using his newfound weapon, Felix quickly made his way towards Sofia, making short work of the ones standing in his way.

Seeing their comrades cut down so quickly, most of them chose to run away. Just as the most cowardly of them reached for the safe haven that he presumed the exit to be, an axe whirled into the air before crashing into his being. The momentum of the impact lifted him off the ground, and they both smashed into the wall, bursting a body-sized hole into the sturdy surface.

"Anyone even thinking of running away will be cut down! Now get your asses in there and take him down!" their leader said furiously as he slowly went to retrieve his discarded weapon.

The men steeled themselves, and the battle began anew, but this time, Felix was on the defensive. Only five remained of the more than two dozen men at the start, but these five were a cut above the rest. Felix was strong, but even he struggled to keep these men at bay. Their teamwork was superb; many a time, these men threatened to injure Felix, but he always escaped with the slightest of margins. Sweat began to pool on Felix's forehead as the strain of his effort mounted.

Bodies littered the floor of the arena, limiting his movements while blood pooled on the ground, negating its friction. Felix took deep breaths, allowing the pungent air of death into his lungs to sustain the demanding movements. This was his world, the edge between life and death. This was the moment he felt most alive. This was home.

Over time, Felix began to see through their movements and tactics and could finally fight back. He dealt light but continuous wounds to the men while avoiding injury himself. What seemed like complex movements at first were refined further through battle, simplifying them to enhance the speed of his strike. Unable to keep pace with Felix, the men's injuries grew worse.

Realizing that his men couldn't win, the boss entered the fray, taking centre stage. His men spread out to support him. Felix was slightly too slow to react to the change in formation and couldn't avoid the boss's kick. He barely had time to put up his guard as the force of the blow sent his body flying into the wall, denting the wood around him. Still reeling from the impact, he got back to his feet just in time to avoid an axe swing aimed at his head.

With his back against the wall, Felix lacked room to maneuver. The men rushed his position while forming a semi-circular formation. His mind raced at lightning speed, trying to find a way out of this predicament. Just as he ducked on instinct, trying to avoid another swing to his head, Felix also swung his sword, aiming for one of the thug's legs.

Although the sword was not as sharp as he would have liked, it cut almost halfway through the man's leg. The man fell to the ground while clutching his dangling limb, screaming his pain. The man's absence left a hole in the formation, which allowed Felix to leave safely.

While the men battled, Sofia sought Felix's black sword, which stood on a pedestal on the other side of the bed. Unfortunately, a mysterious force prevented her from getting hold of it. Try as she might, her hand couldn't come closer than a foot before being repelled.

A relic, she thought.

The boss had been looking for relics for a long time. It wouldn't surprise her if he had acquired a few of them. The origin and composition of those were mainly unknown. Even their effects and how to use them were barely understood by even the most brilliant of scholars. Trying to bypass the protection of a relic seemed impossible for her, but she had to try anyway.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

While Sofia tried anything she could to reach the sword, the fight on the other side of the room started to settle down as the thugs grew tired. Elite as they might be for gangsters, they were no match in stamina for someone who had to fight for his life daily growing up. Their experience was just too far apart. Of the five men, only two remained standing, the other three either dead or unconscious. Seeing the situation, the boss made a decision.

"Use the pills!" he ordered his man.

The two men hesitated; apprehension took hold of them. They pleaded with their eyes to be exempt but only received a cold glare in response. They finally resigned themselves. Exhausted, Felix took advantage of the break in their attacks to catch his breath. Felix's eyes narrowed as the remaining men took a small bottle from their clothes. From the bottles, the men retrieved a pill each.

The pills were round, no bigger than a grape, yet the energy they emitted was surprising. More than the energy he sensed, what made Felix tense up was the colour of the pill. He had seen this type of pill before; the blood-red glow was unmistakable.

Felix pounced, trying to stop the men from eating it. Unfortunately, his speed had decreased as his exhaustion mounted. He arrived too late. The pills were already in their mouths; they swallowed. Tremors arose from their bodies, and claws grew from their hands while bile escaped their mouths. Their jaws were deformed and elongated while fangs replaced their teeth. Dark fur sprouted from their skin while their hands shifted to serrated claws. The men lost all semblance of humanity yet wouldn't be recognized as animals, either. They stood somewhere in between.

Sofia saw the state of the two men, and she couldn't help but scream in horror. "What's that?! What's happening?!"

Felix used the brief moment before their transformations ended to swiftly behead one of them. The battered sword dug into the creature's neck, but the wound was too shallow. He stepped forward, using his weight to embed the sword further before promptly pulling, ripping into the hardened skin and muscles. Blood sprayed as the weapon left the flesh. Felix used the momentum of his slash to deliver a second blow. This time, the sword cut through unopposed, severing the remnants supporting the head before it fell to the ground.

In the same breath, he swung his sword towards the last one but was met with a giant claw. Before he was overwhelmed, Felix chose to retreat in front of Sofia. Sofia stared at the grotesque creature while trembling in terror. Through sheer force of will, she could only mutter a single question, "What are they?"

While keeping his eyes on the creature, Felix answered. "Those pills are used to activate the power of one's bloodline. They were a common sight during the war six years ago."

"By turning them into monsters...?" she said with difficulty.

"Not really. It depends on your compatibility with your bloodline. It was never designed to be used on common bloodlines. The higher the purity of the bloodline, the higher the energy needed to activate it; therefore, the pills were highly concentrated. They were meant to be used by the elites of the Kingdom during dire situations."

"Indeed," the boss interrupted them. "Once someone of common origin or with an impure bloodline swallows this pill, all of the parts that make up their bloodline will be activated at once, giving birth to the creature you see before you."

"That's horrible," Sofia said. "Can he return to normal once the pill's effect is over?"

"No," Felix replied, a grim look on his face. "As I said, this isn't its intended use. This pill is dangerous even for royalty and wouldn't be used unless you are bound to die anyway. The only thing I can do is give him a quick death."

Felix's eyes started to glow a deep red as his irises became more reptilian. A strong aura emanated from his body as his exhaustion faded. Felix kicked the ground firmly enough to destroy the floor tiles and propelled himself toward the beast. The beast did the same. They both clashed in the middle of the room as the leader watched in anticipation, sneering.

Although the beast's movements were simple, the force of the blow alone created a strong and sharp gale that cut everything in its path. Felix disregarded defence in an effort to slay the beast as fast as possible. As the battle raged on and injuries on both sides mounted, the beast's movement slowed down.

Unsurprisingly, the transformation came at a significant cost. The beast gained strength and speed far surpassing its prior state, but its body couldn't sustain such exaggerated movements, especially in its incomplete state. Felix didn't let it catch its breath, pushing it beyond what it was capable of. He ensured that it would self-destruct in time.

Time passed slowly in Felix's mind relative to his surroundings. He could feel the minute ripples of the creature's muscles, allowing him to evade the deadly claws by a hair's breadth. Beads of blood flowed from his wounds before sinking to the floor; the ripple of sound it produced almost deafened his heightened hearing. He cut off all external stimuli and only concentrated on the fight, increasing the speed of his strikes even further. Soon, the beast's wound proved too much to bear, marking the end of the struggle.

The beast collapsed; its body began disintegrating until nothing but dust remained. Sofia watched in horror as all traces of its existence dissipated. She wondered why those men would take such a dangerous pill if that would be the result. Were they ignorant of the effects of the drug, or was there something worse in store for them if they didn't take it?

She pondered, still shaken from the events, while her gaze landed on the gang leader standing on the other side of the room. His face was calm. She expected him to be enraged or even frightened, but somehow, his current state felt more frightening than the beast. Felix also observed his last opponent as the man approached the beast's remains before kicking the dust in the air.

"Trash..." he muttered, his voice filled with disdain. He reached into his clothes before pulling out the same bottle that the two guards had. Felix pounced again, even faster this time, but again, he was too late. The pill had already entered the man's mouth when a wave of energy emanated from his body, flinging Felix backwards.

Felix stopped himself by impaling his battered sword into the ground. He came to a stop, but the damaged blade finally gave out, snapping in half. Fortunately, many of his defeated opponents' weapons were already everywhere on the ground. He simply picked up another sword before getting ready for battle once again.

When the dust cleared, however, what he saw stunned him.