Ayesha Murker ran through the street as fast as she could, her best friend and trusted seer Iris dogging her footsteps. She discarded her shoes the moment she’d exited the car, luxury high-heels that quite literally fell apart because of how quickly she’d removed them. Right now, however, she was cursing her choice of footwear as she stepped on her thirtieth stone in half as many seconds. Whilst her constitution was high enough that she didn’t risk injury from the sharp objects, it wasn’t high enough to block the significant pain it caused her.
Looking at the crushed phone in her hand, Ayesha scoffed and applied a deft touch of ether manipulation to disintegrate the broken tech into a fine spray of dust
“My lady, that’s the eleventh telephone you’ve broken this month,” Iris helpfully noted.
“Mobile phone, Iris. They’re called mobile phones,” Ayesha huffed through gritted teeth.
“Of course, my lady. Whatever you say.”
“No, it really is-” Ayesha gave up halfway, dumping it as a lost cause. Iris insisted on using the wrong word for whatever reason and she knew from experience that wouldn't be changing any time soon.
She cursed the Controlled Visitation Legislations (CVL) for the umpteenth time. Whoever had come up with the list of restricted alien tech must have had a stick shoved as far up the arse they could taste their own shit. If she had an actual phone with her instead of the shit they sold on Earth, she would have been able to have an actual conversation with Arthur instead of running through the streets like a headless chicken.
“Remind me again why this is so important, Iris,” she huffed.
Her best friend had annoyingly invested far more into her physical stats and just had more stats in general courtesy to her higher tier race, and spoke in the even tone of someone taking a leisurely stroll through the city. “Originally, I feared how Arthur would react after he accidentally killed Henderson. He’s not yet aware of how far ahead he is compared to the rest of the planet. Once he found out that the soldiers were magically compelled by vampires, he would have fallen into a destructive cycle of self-blame.”
“I believe the manner of the man's death would have been eerily similar to his sister's murder, which wouldn’t have helped things. That was a highly likely future had you not managed to talk to him in time, my lady.”
“Now for some reason, I think that they’re all going to die.”
Ayesha slowed down her pace a little. It’d be the height of folly to rush to the scene to only be too tired to make a difference. “So what changed, Iris? Why do the soldiers not survive?" She asked, dreading the answer she would hear.
"You know better than me, my lady.”
The reply confirmed Ayesha’s fears. A vampire's compulsion relied heavily on the power of suggestion and manipulating a target's emotions. Being masters of blood magic, they were adept controllers of the bodily processes of most carbon-based life forms and altering the chemical compounds in their target’s bloodstream was as easy for them as taking candy from a child. The main factor that contributed to the vampire race's fearsome reputation, was the ability to infect hosts through an infusion of their own blood, a highly illegal practice that had been banned for millennia.
Unfortunately for them, vampires from a different dimension didn’t follow their laws, and it looked like these six soldiers had been infected. If they were supposed to die soon, it would only mean one thing. The vampires had decided to ‘awaken’ their hosts, at least, that was the flowery language they used to describe the process that would leave their victims dead and broken. At the exorbitant cost of their precious blood essence and the permanent reduction of their stats, it would grant their hosts the power equivalent to 15% of the energy their souls would have produced had they exploded over a five-minute period.
Ayesha had done some extensive research on the bloodsuckers the moment they made their way onto Earth and things did not look good. Arthur’s blood had been potent enough to throw them into a frenzy before whatever he'd accomplished within the locus. With a class to his name and a dragon's core strengthening him, the monsters would overturn hell to get him now. As of this moment, Arthur represented quite possibly the easiest source of power these vampires had seen in the history of their race from whatever planet they’d come from, and if they managed to get their hands on him, the dangerous threat they currently were, might just grow to rival the one the lich represented. First a lichqueen and now this. It’s almost as if someone's intentionally working towards the destruction of the planet. Grunting in annoyance, Ayesha redoubled her pace. Arthur was strong, she’d be the first to admit that. But she didn't think he was ready for a fight like this.
On a scale of one to ten of things Arthur disliked, he would put getting shot in the face at a high eight. Sure, he was nigh invulnerable against most firearms but that didn’t quite register with his lizard brain that told him it would kill him. It also stung like a bitch, like someone had slapped him out of nowhere except no, Ashley had just shot him in the face point blank, an attack that would have proven instantly fatal against an ordinary human. Against Arthur, it merrily pushed his head back into the couch cushion behind him.
Ayesha Murker hadn’t been able to tell him everything, but he knew enough to understand the general gist of things. Vampires had invaded the upper echelons of the US military and they apparently constituted a much greater threat than he’d initially given them credit for. Being blood drinkers, the monsters had obviously become excited at the sample of his the government must have kept at hand, from his battle against Shade. He’d been significantly weaker back then and he’d consumed a dragon’s core and gained a class since he’d last identified it just a few days ago which had put stuff at the elite+ rank. Arthur wouldn’t be surprised if his blood was approaching legendary rank now.
If the bastards had already been so excited at the outdated stuff, he worried what they would do now. Arthur didn’t have much to go on, but he was starting to suspect that his blood was just a tad bit more special than he’d initially thought. These were the sort of thoughts that had been rushing through Arthur’s brain, at least until he’d been rudely interrupted by a magical bullet to the face. Cursing loudly, Arthur rubbed his mouth with his sleeve. He’d bitten his damn tongue and he was thankful that he hadn’t bled. In any other circumstance, he might have found it funny that he’d done more damage to himself by accident than his opponent had with their opening attack. He raised his head to glare at the bastards.
“Ayesha told me to cut you guys some slack, but this is going too-” Arthur’s words died in his mouth at the sight that greeted him. Where once six humans had stood, there were now six pulsating masses of purply pink flesh. It was like someone had come and turned the soldiers inside out and he could see ropey masses of flesh that looked like they were supposed to be intestines. Arthur watched in horrified fascination as his suspicions were confirmed a moment later. The tunnels of meat grew in size, swelling like balloons with too much air pumped inside until, with a sickening pop, they exploded, spraying flecks of faeces and other unidentifiable materials across the room.
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Arthur flinched as a drop landed on his cheek and he used a quick dose of purify, faster than he’d managed to use the skill before to get rid of the offending substance. The room stank like weak old meat that had been left out in the sun; a sensory attack in and of itself that made him curse ever unlocking the perception stat. If his draconic vitality hadn’t been so high, he wouldn’t have been surprised if the smell had knocked him out.
Watching the sickening transformation happening in real time was the stuff of nightmares, grotesque squelches and groaning sounds emanating from the blobs of pulsating flesh. The visible changes taking place before him were replicated on a spiritual level and Arthur could feel their souls changing, still human but a perversion of what they should be. It made him feel sick to look at in a way the physical changes simply couldn’t. Ayesha had asked him to hold back so he didn’t accidentally kill anyone. Arthur didn’t think these men could be saved anymore.
Not waiting to see what would become of these monsters, Arthur launched a water bullet at what used to be Henderson. To his growing honour, his attack fizzled harmlessly against an arcane shield of red that flared into existence. He sent another bullet forth, this one twice as strong. This time, the shield didn’t materialise and his water shot struck the flesh proper. For a moment Arthur thought he’d done something, a hole had appeared on the stationary monster where he’d struck. That hope died when Henderson immediately healed, this flesh taking on a strange bluish sheen. Arthur sincerely hoped it was merrily a change in colour, but his next attack confirmed his fears. The transforming monsters, Awakened Blood beasts as Homonuculus's eye identified them, were absorbing his magic and adapting to face him.
Just when he thought things couldn’t get any worse, the monster's aura spiked in power in a way that felt eerily familiar to Arthur Ward. Don’t tell me they're about to go supernova. They’ll destroy the whole fucking city. Why are the vampires doing this? Upon close inspection, there was a subtle difference in how the Bloodbeast's souls were fracturing. It was a controlled process, or at least as controlled as a soul's destruction could ever be, and that massive generation of power was funnelled into these creatures' growth. They’re literally dying for power.
Arthur didn’t wait any longer. His soul affinity told him he had around ninety seconds before the blood beasts were ready. It was time to make his own preparations. If he was fast enough, maybe he could end this fight before it even began. He checked his ether reserves. 6530/6530. He was on a full tank despite the annoying cost it took to maintain his existence on tier 1 world, courtesy of his surplus health regeneration being constantly funnelled into the energy pool. Despite that, it wouldn’t be enough for what he had planned. It was time to use his class pinnacle skill and deploy his new domain for the first time.
The Homunculi Hunts (Legendary, Domain skill)[Class pinnacle skill] Level 1- The perfect homunculus is a predator that thrives in the hunt, relishing in the misery of its prey. Creatures caught in your domain and selected will suffer adverse mental effects and will be 50% slower. (Note: this percentage is affected by the target's natural resistances and constitution)
Ten targets may be selected for the debuff Homunculi’s Draining [Cost 1000 ether/target]
Homunculi’s draining- Targets are drained of their ether, stamina, and Health at a rate of 5% of their respective maximums per minute. This drained energy is randomly assigned to create shadow bombs within the domain to target foes. Lasts for ten minutes.
One target may be selected for the debuff, A Homunculi’s Ire.
A Homunculi’s Ire- Target's skills cost 30% more and may fail to function properly judging on the level/Strength disparity
1% of all damage inflicted on this target within the domain will count as soul damage which permanently reduces a target’s Healthpool
Cost: 10,000 ether.
Cooldown: 24 hours.
0.01% of the damage inflicted on foes in your domain will count as soul damage. All host’s skills [excluding domain skills] cost 25% less when used in the domain. Soul splinters are 25% stronger in the domain and recover twice as fast.
Domain cost: 10,000 ether + 1,000 ether per minute of usage.
Size: 1km.
With an exorbitant cost of ten thousand ether, he needed to dip into his health pool and use 10,410 health to complete the skill. It took him forty seconds to summon his domain, a time frame he would have been ecstatic with if the situation wasn’t so dire. The moment the skill was online, the world around him changed, so subtly he was sure most people hadn’t realised the difference. For those with the senses to see, however, all felt a dread chill crawl up their spines as if they’d been caught in the sights of predators. With his domain covering an entire kilometre, quite a number of people were affected, especially considering how populated the area was. The world, at least this little slice of it, felt like it belonged to him.
He didn’t have the time to admire how great it felt though, rapidly pouring his health into the skill that would win him this fight. Armaments of the soul cost five thousand ether to summon, which translated to a whopping 11,250 health for Arthur after the 25% cost reduction his domain granted to his spells. His last attempt at this skill had demonstrated very clearly that he wasn’t proficient enough to form any advanced weaponry. And so he settled on creating a pointy stick that might be generously called a spear.
Armaments Of The Soul (legendary) - The most potent tool of any soul mage, the armaments created with this skill are a reflection of the soul made manifest in physical reality. Of fluid form, the armament can be anything the user desires. Cost: 5000 ether summon cost. 1000 ether/ minute of use.
Effect: 5% of all damage inflicted via the armament counts as soul damage. Ignores 50% of all defences. Attacks done with the armament have a slight possibility of permanently decreasing a target's stats. Whilst the armament is summoned, spells cost 10% less ether. The host learns weapon techniques at an accelerated rate whilst using an armament.
It was a terrible weapon that had no weight to it and the little it did was unevenly distributed across the shaft. I seriously need to learn more about making weapons. Arthur wasn’t using the skill to create a good weapon though. He was more interested in the 5% soul damage it applied to all attacks he made with it. Blood beasts might be able to adapt to any magics thrown against them in their transformation period, but he doubted they’d be able to adapt to a permanent reduction in their health pools.
His preparation had taken him seventy seconds in total, which gave him another twenty seconds before the monsters finished evolving according to his watch. Mentally selecting the six beasts for the debuff A Homunculi’s Draining, Arthur winced as he felt the 18,00 health drain out of him. Health: 224,175/263,835. Using his life force like this always stung a little and left him feeling a little hollow. Eighteen seconds left. Jumping forward, Arthur thrust his spear at what had once been Henderson. The weapon penetrated about a foot into the mass of flesh before coming to a stop.
Arthur didn't hesitate, pulling his pointy stick out as fast as possible before striking forward again and again in a repetition of the first form of the Star Spear Revelations, a simple thrust that he had practised thousands of times. True to his predictions, Henderson couldn’t adapt to his soul magic, instead visibly deflating as the evolving mass of the flesh stopped healing in certain places. He could do this. It was just a matter of time.
That was when the blood beast decided to explode in his face.