It had been three days, and Mark’s healing was complete. Although the woman remained asleep throughout the period, she healed at a rapid pace, her wounds gone a few hours after Mark brought her into the facility, leaving him wondering why she remained asleep even after.

“Creak…”

Mark lay on his bed, his back turned to face the other in the room, where he had laid the fainted sanguinexus. He had taken his time to study and train, learning from his past mistakes and raising his skill levels. Now, he would be prepared, ten times more experienced than before.

“Display Information.” He muttered, rubbing Nyra’s head as she slept, his pupils lighting up as a plethora of holographic displays visualised before his vision. He paused calmly, reading the contents of the screens. As he read, his gaze narrowed,

[User — Mark]

[Race: Human]—[Sub-Race: Highborne]—[Type: Descendant]

[Class: Hunter]

[Universal Threat Level (Low) — Defective Platoon (E-ranked)]

[Extermination Points] — [73/100]

—

Health: 100% — More?

—

Energy: 100% — More?

—

Systems:

[Defence] — Functional

[Offence] — Functional

[Core] — Functional

—

Inventory: 0/64 Slots Used

—

Skills (9)

—Opening skills…

—Skills opened!

—[Class: Hunter]—

[Instantaneous Regeneration — 15% Reserved Energy] Instantly recover from all wounds and effects, gaining an aura that would continue to heal you at a lower percentage for an extended time. This skill cannot be spammed in quick successions. Refreshes after 2% Health Loss.

Aura Effect: 50% Enhanced Healing

Effect Duration: 10 Seconds

——

[Flickering Madness — 5% Reserved Energy] Absolute Mobility! Create a network of nodes in a limited area that allows instant transportation. You cannot change your velocity, but by moving with these nodes your agility rises until it reaches the maximum cap of 200%. Exiting the skill after that’ll allow you to perform a short burst, creating an illusion of unlimited speed to attack a target. Killing it while this skill is active will reset the cool down immediately, allowing an endless manipulation.

Min. Speed Gain: 50%

Max. Speed Gain: 200%

CD: 3 Seconds

——

[Passive — Abominable Body — 0.4% Reserved Energy/Sec] Deal 50% Reflective Damage after activating this skill. Endurance is raised to 150% and you gain 15% Damage Reduction. In this state, you become more prone to status ailments and buff effects.

Damage Reflected: 50%

Damage Reduced: 15%

Endurance Gain: 50%

——

[Passive — Intoxicating Lust — 0.1% Reserved Energy/Sec] A state of mindless slaughter. Active from the first successful kill and cannot be deactivated until all the targets are slaughtered or you run out of energy. Can never be activated when [Carnal Instinct] is in effect. Each Kill Grants—

1% Temp. Offence Gain (500% Limit)

0.5% Temp. Defence Gain (500% Limit)

1% Temp. Mind Loss (70% Limit)

0.5% Damage Reduction (100% Limit)

10% Speed Gain (250% Limit)

[Passive — Failing Dreams, Wasting Talent — 0.1% Reserved Energy/Sec] Your skills with ranged weapons are heavily increased! Mastery in other weaponized arts is weakened by 25% until this skill is turned off, or you run out of energy!

Ranged Weapon Mastery: 150%

—[Class: Sanguinexus]—

[Blood Reverence — 5% Reserved Energy] Enhances the efficiency of all abilities for a short period after the consumption of blood. To increase the enhancements gained, consume greater amounts of blood. These effects are halved if the blood consumed is you own.

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Base Enhancement: 50%

Max Enhancement: 150%

——

[Unholy Retribution — 10% Reserved Energy] Gain a tremendous increase in power for a very short period of time, but earn half of the received strength as a drawback to all abilities for a short period of time. After use, the user negates all Physical Damage for a single second.

Base Power Gain: 100%

Max Power Gain: 500%

Base Power Loss: 50%

Max Power Loss: 250%

Boost Time — 180 Seconds

——

[Carnal Instinct — 5% Reserved Energy] Earn a boost in perceptive abilities for a long period of time. Reflexes and agility would be subsequently improved. In this state, the user is less prone to illusions and other deceptive strikes but more prone to Physical Damage.

Perception Gain: 50%

Speed Gain: 15%

Endurance Loss: 25%

Boost Time: 360 Seconds

——

[Passive — Burning Desire — 0.2% Reserved Energy/Sec] Enter an enhanced state of blood lust, but your attacks will deal more damage. All offensive techniques have a chance of shattering armour of targeted enemies. The weaker the armour, the higher the chances.

Damage Increment: 150%

Perception Loss: 50%

Max Skill Initiate Chance: 80%

Min Skill Initiate Chance: 2%

“Why are all the skills blood related? Why would I want to even drink my own blood?” Mark felt like he had become some sort of meme reading this skills and thinking back to the battle. He sighed, snuggling up to Nyra, unable to sleep with the creature this close to him.

The peaceful silence was broken by a soft creak, and Mark's ears twitched in response. He ‘slept’ in silence until he heart the sound of metal slicing through the wind, then he moved. Spinning at the fastest speed, he drew out the sword he hid behind him then swung it to meet with the falling blade.

“Huh?” a familiar voice was heard. Mark glared at the sanguinexus as she pressed down with her scythe, wearing a knowing grin on his face. Her strength was weaker than it was before, and noticing this, Mark felt like he had a chance!

The sanguinexus stared down upon Mark, her slender brows furrowing as she black hair fell on his forehead, her crimson eyes locking with his. She grew confused the longer they maintained this position, staring at Mark, muttering softly, “What is this glow in his eyes?”

Mark scowled deeply. He had been on guard every night since he had brought her here. He knew that it would be too much to ask of her gratefulness for not casting her body into a volcano, but how dare she attack him when he was sleeping with Nyra! That was a great — no the greatest — sin!

Bang!

Mark forced the target away from himself, dashing after her and kneeing her in the abdomen with all his might, causing her to stagger, knocking over his desk as she fell. Mark raised his sword then cleaved down, wanting to sever her head before she could recover from his strikes, but before his attack landed, the target's form flickered strangely, and it vanished from his sight.

“Not this again…” Mark narrowed his eyes, then as he took a deep breath, he closed them. As the images of Nyra filled his mind, his aura began to form around him, a burning golden halo, and all the disturbances in his heart healed. The desire to defend Nyra, was greater than that to defend himself!

Mark tilted his head to the side slightly, dodging a swinging scythe, just a hair length away from cracking open his skull! In his heart, Mark chuckled coldly — then elbowed at the target behind him without looking back. He felt the impact of his arm against her chest, blowing her away in one hit.

Mark turned around calmly. He was fully healed, fully trained and highly prepared, unlike when he had wandered unknowingly into her trap. She on the other hand, just awoke and wasn’t granted the leisure to meditate on their former fight, and was in a clear disadvantage. Mark stood, enhanced.

As for the sanguinexus, she slid to the ground from the wall, a groan escaping her lips. After the pain ceased, the sanguinexus giggled, her shoulders quaking. She stood to her feet, after a while she sighed, looking around calmly. She wore a weary expression on her face, entering a battle stance, “I guess there is no escape for me, then? I feel so ashamed for myself.”

“Is it settling in? Hopefully, you can kill me before they are all alerted.” Mark stood calmly. After he’d driven her to a corner, she finally decides to speak! Clearing his throat, Mark broke away from his thoughts and tried to initiate a conversation, “Please be careful next time, Nyra must not be hurt.”

“What the heck are you saying? Are you going to fight me, or not?” She withdrew her scythes, then leapt forward. As Mark watched her, the sanguinexus was engulfed in bright red flames. The flames caused the temperature of the room to reach scalding degrees, but nothing was set ablaze.

She dashed forward with the flames burning around her, clawing for Mark’s face with all her might, her eyes burning with rage. He smirked, tilting over to the left and dashing back, watching quietly as the sanguinexus leapt past, unable to connect her attack.

“What am I saying?” Mark did not even bother to counter. In this calm state, he detected and in immediate succession, evaded all her attacks. After a burst of attacks were evaded, he spun around and slammed his blade into the side of her abdomens. The sound of metal hitting metal rang out.

She is able to harden her defence at will? MagiTek is such a frightening ability. Mark maintained his calm front, but inside he was flu of reference for her technology. It was just too beautiful! He twirled, swinging his blade and aiming for her eyes hit time, aiming to render her stunned for a longer time.

She did not hesitates in raising her hand to block the blade, but this time Mark was prepared, his smirk growing as she channelled all his strength into the attack. The strike hit home, and there was a loud explosion of sound, the sudden shock wave from their clash sent the duo flying back.

"What is your name?" Mark was no longer interested in killing the threat, now there was a weak feeling he felt between them. He held his blade, not the rusty sword they institution had granted him from earlier, but his beloved Divergence, the Blade of Descent. A terror for hunting the forsaken.

“My name is Vysla.” The target — Vysla took a stance before Mark, her scythes withdrawing and her fingers growing into claws, She did not know why, but there was something about the sword that made her feel dread, she could not fathom what technology it was born from, so it unsettled her.

"Haha, I see." Mark dashed forward and he reached his target in a second, a gleam in his eyes as he rained attacks on Vysla. She responded with defensive counters, their collisions lit up the room in bright sparks. Their attack speed only grew as time passed, building up into a euphoric symphony.

The wounds on their bodies piled, and they soaked the room in their blood. They focused all of their mental power on the fight, not bothering about the wounds they accumulated. It was not some strange feeling — it was like an internal desire they shared. The longer they fought, the deeper they collapsed into the embrace of this feeling. A battle frenzy.

Mark slammed his sword into the side of her abdomen again, and Vysla sidestepped. He took advantage of this slight blunder, tackling her to the ground with his sword pressing against her neck. They remained there for a few seconds, both silent. Mark who had her pinned to the ground, kept his sword pressing against her neck — heaving heavily with beads of sweat running down his face.

Damn it all, he couldn't kill her again. For some reason, his blade was unable to cut through her neck, and it stunned him to witness continuously how robust her defence was. He was speechless, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, “Are you a tank?”

Yes. The sanguinexus was silent, only wearing a smug expression on her face. Mark frowned with his brows furrowing, and he opened his mouth to speak, “I guess so. I’ll wipe that smug look off your face soon, you pile of—” before he tried hacking her to pieces with his blade, she parted her lips.

"You must have been holding back a few cards back then, even though you nearly died. I can see now that you are still holding back more cards from being revealed, and I applaud your dedication to keeping your enemies in the dark." Vysla wore a cold smirk on her face. He could struggle for as long as he wanted, it was all fruitless in the present reality. But, she wasn’t the one endangered here.

Mark narrowed his eyes, then he felt the weight beneath his sword disappear completely. It has disappeared again! I refuse to believe that this thing can vanish into thin air so many times in a row. He stood to his feet carefully, then he sensed it, a cold aura behind him.

Vysla grabbed his arm, and as Mark turned around to defend himself, buried her face in it. There was a silence as Mark felt his body instantly paralysed, and blood being drawn from his body. He had not calculated this development, the grip around his blade loosening, but he had learned something.

[Special Damage Inflicted!]

[Health -0.9% (-0.3/s)]

[Failed Negating Bleed Debuff]

[Failed Negating Immobilisation Debuff]

The sanguinexis were just mythical vampires reskinned.