“Are you certain this is the wisest use of your time?” Ulx hovers a foot over the Stelc with his hands clasped behind him. “I thought you would approach for a lesson in…more complex subjects, your curse perhaps or even your encroaching Crux.”
Lavinia lifts her gaze at him as she secures her vambrace, “Deran is worried I’ll eat him in retaliation and Jonn says he’s an amateur. If I am to end Promethus and seize my GroveStaff I’ll need practice against magic, you’re the obvious choice.”
Underneath her fire resistant cloak Lavinia wears a combination of crocheted, multi-coloured shorts from Seraph’s stash and a thick, demon hide shirt. Her boots stop at her knee, leaving only a sliver of exposed thigh as the shorts reach down as well. Her vambrace covers up to her forearm and elbow, each expected to absorb and store mana from magical attacks.
Ulx’s eyes widen a fraction and he hovers closer, “You should realize then that magic is not one. Mana maybe, magic is not.”
Lavinia only raises an eyebrow at Jonn a step behind her, he nods intently and keeps his attention rapt on Ulx. Growling, Lavinia sneers out, “Straighten your tongue.”
“Magic is the use of natural forces, Essence included. As the furnace melts metal into instruments of war and the utensils of home, a magic user can express their mana in a variety of ways given proper education. A thing you lack.”
“I am not asking to be educated in magic, only its defence.”
“And I am informing you that such a thing is subjective. Different magic users require different counters, for those as weak as us, immunity to magic as a whole is impossible.” Ulx snorts, he raises a hand and channels thin, yet plainly visible threads of mana from his fingers, “Promethus is a different magic user than I. Where he rages, I construct and weave.”
Lavinia sighs, exhausted already from Ulx’s meandering way of speaking, “You fought him didn’t you? Don’t you know what will defeat him now that you know what kind of magic user he is?”
“Power.” Ulx says definitively, clenching the threads of mana into a closed fist, “Insourmountable power. The kind I am hoping you wield, Vampire.”
Groaning, Lavinia let a flare of Essence through her being as she bares her fangs up at him, “Better have a taste then!”
Even without the pulse of Essence coursing through her, Lavinia experiences a vast change in her mobility as she dashes off the Stelc, soaring after Ulx who barely has the time to blink as her clenched fist comes up to his face. A spiked, blue barrier shutters up and Lavinia skewers her fist on it, splattering blood as she grins down at Ulx’s stunned face.
The barrier expands, thrusting her off and away as it spreads out around him, “What do you think you’re doing!”
Rather than answer, Lavinia flexes her fingers as Essence surges through them into a dense, swirling ball of demonic energy, “Wave Shot!”
Watching her shot dance across the Stelc’s back, tearing up its craggy surface as it arcs towards Ulx and his barrier fills Lavinia with bursting delight. It’s been too long!
She chases after it, zigzagging behind her shot and as it tenses to explode inches away from the barrier— “Crimson Blink!”
Reappearing behind Ulx in a glorious shroud of blood and Essence, Lavinia gleefully surges forth as her shot connects, slamming a concussive force against his barrier and blinding him with torn up Stelc debris.
Pressing her advantage, Lavinia brandishes her claws to strike at his exposed back with a satisfying and long due, “Reais Smite!”
The dust settles quick but in her hands are little more than scorched, crumbling obsidian gems. Snarling, she searches all around her, finding only Jonn wide eyed and half reaching to stop what she’s already done.
Ulx’s voice booms from on high, “You forget yourself…and your enemy.” He glares down with all three eyes searing with a heat but rather than send down a beam he composes himself, “You want to test yourself against me then? Very well. Come, Vampire, see if you lay a finger on me.”
He soars out ahead and Lavinia steps to leap after him but hesitates even as his figure begins to descend into the forest. Her nostrils tingle and her sense for the hunt rings bells of alarm at an unseen, unperceived danger. She flares Essence through her being and reaches in to command blood to flow and strengthen her as she takes a big whiff of the shattered spot her Smite landed.
Unlike feral demons, Corym’s have a distinct smell staining all whether Trirax or Caldri. Ulx is no different. Lavinia narrows at the space around her, each whiff reinforces her suspicion— something is off.
“Aaahh!!” bursting out from nothing behind her, Ulx appears with a long spear, charging then flying right into her side with its gleaming tip before she can orient herself against him. “You’re less a fool than I thought, perhaps there’s hope yet!”
Lavinia only grins down at him as he thrusts her well into the sky, mounting pressure with the intricately designed spear tip. Deran’s gifts of armour work well. Rather than kebab’d atop the spear, Lavinia hangs on only through her cloak’s stubborn resistance to piercing attacks. She grits her teeth through the sore agony of its mounting pressure, more so as Ulx flares a burst of mana through the spear and its cerulean crystals.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“If you must know, mana is like Essence in many ways, you can enhance the inherent properties of anything with it!” He screams out as clouds begin to billow past her ears. The Stelc, the forest and its burning parts become like spots on a map as Ulx continues to carry her higher than she's ever been. “But that is rudimentary! An intelligent magic user will adapt, improve and construct better avenues for themselves!”
As if to make his point, the spear shudders, vibrating in point so much that it rattles Lavinia’s teeth and churns against her gut. Ulx’s sneer morphs into a grin and his flow of mana through the spear grows, changing path as suddenly two extra prongs snap out of its side. Eyes wide Lavinia surges Essence to guard only second late as the new prongs lurch out like pincers to her sides. Her cloak resists the brunt of the left but the right prong finds opening and draws blood.
Seemingly satisfied with the slick pour of blood, Ulx relents his ascent and pressure, heaving Lavinia before twirling around to smash the spear's length against her form.
Lavinia suffers the brunt of his smack with her vambrace, the impact rattling through her bones as she soars yet higher and watches Ulx’s vanish the spear from his hands below. Some counters for what would be a fall to her death come to mind as she descends but she refrains from every one as to her true need, Ulx continues to manipulate mana throughout his pathways.
More magic, good.
“Not to compare with Demonic Essence, but mana and the magic you craft with it is far more malleable.” He waves an arm and in a blink of an eye there are dozens more of Ulx floating around Lavinia as she plummets, all leering at her with scorching eyes.
Two lurch after her falling form, descending like comets while another three zoom to meet her mid fall. Reminded of the Kimpe’s trickery, Lavinia forms a [Wave Shot] in each hand, tossing each to her pursuers and watching keenly as both explode and yet Ulx’s copies press on.
Two fists slam into her back as the copies below surge past. Two from above dig their heels into her stomach, stamping into her like filth and furthering her descent to the waiting arms of the third copy lying in wait. It wraps its arms around her and immediately dissolves into radiant gold chains that bind her arms and legs together.
The Ulxs speak in unison, “Deception, trickery, destruction and manifestation…so much possible with a little knowledge.” They snap their fingers as the ground draws close and the chains burn against Lavinia’s exposed thighs, calves and neck. A single copy summons the spear; this time it crackles with arcing bolts of yellow lightning as he hefts it.
Lavinia’s mind races as the forest looms below, wind billow through her mane she sneers up at Ulx and presses her vambrace against the golden chains, mere contact weakening them. Deran keeps his word. Strengthening herself with blood, Lavinia rips through the searing chains at their weakest link, shattering herself free as her Vambrace absorbs the mana within Ulx’s magic.
“This is magic, Vampire.” Ulx declares on high as he releases the spear of lightning. It cuts through the air faster than she falls, faster than she can position her Vambrace to take the brunt of what will be a devastating attack. But she doesn’t need to.
“Blood Art: MistForm!”
More than the anomalous and uncomfortable sensation of her physical body disintegrating into Blood and Essence, more than the deathly exposure of her Soul Crystal even shrouded within the mist that becomes her, and more than the agony of Ulx’s lightning spear vaporizing parts of her blooded form as it passes, Lavinia’s greatest distress stems most in the magnitude of Essence spent activating the Perk.
Ulx’s spear thunders as it reaches the ground, smiting it and unsuspecting creatures, trees and even rocks to scattered form. Lavinia safely drifts down beside it, a cloud of Crimson in all shades with her Soul Crystal at the centre of her form.
Her sense of taste, smell and even hearing are no more, only a red shaded sight of the world remains and then it keys in on all that may have beating hearts within them. She sees them more than anything else, more than even the spear crackling still with slivers of yellow lightning. She sees Ulx, his true self not the deceptions lingering at his side. She sees Corym, even beyond the veil of invisibility, she sees their hearts, the blood pumping through veins and the Essence coursing through pathways.
Yet, despite its advantages Lavinia fears the cost and extent of vulnerability it places her in. It is not a Perk she can activate twice in one battle, it guzzles Essence four times as much as [Crimson Blink] and requires Essence to sustain it still. Even now she can feel the precious demonic energy drain from her Soul Crystal and estimates that even at full strength, without having used any Perks it would take three or maybe five minutes before she’s completely spent.
No wonder I ended up so empty after Hera.
As she reconstitutes blood and Essence into tangible form, she dreads another disadvantage of the Perk. Her Soul Crystal swims within the mist of herself and though its hidden in the depth of Crimson Essence and blood, it will only take one good strike or one slip up for her to meet a permanent end.
Moving is…sluggish. She finds that it costs an expense of Essence to drag all that is her at a brisk walking pace. Too slow for battle but good enough for a sneaky escape considering how malleable she’s become.
“Huh, an impressive ability.” Ulx resounds from on high, watching her blood and Essence join to form flesh and bone once more. “True battle between us will end in your demise, Lavinia, I may not equal Promethus’ magic but as a demon I supercede you in it.”
Lavinia tosses her neck to crack as her fangs groan for blood. Another disadvantage of the Perk, it leaves her with less blood than she starts with and a ravenous hunger for more.
Seeing her fully reconstituted, Ulx presents her cloak, boots, vambrace and clothes, “You abandoned these.”
Yet another disadvantage…can’t keep equipment. Snatching her things, Lavinia offers Ulx a curt nod, “Maybe I’d lose to you or you to me. You haven’t seen everything I’m capable of. I think I understand a bit of magic now, at least, how it can be used. Thank you.”
“Gratitude? You really have changed.” Ulx says, visibly surprised at her composure.
She snorts but ignores the true statement and asks, “Now, what is Promethus’ magic like? What should I expect and will what I’ve shown be enough?”
Ulx hovers beside her as she reequips herself, humming in thought before exhaling, “You are right to prepare for fire, whether that cloak of yours will survive his is a wonder. But I believe between my magic and your brute, it is possible to pin him down. The issue is…I won’t be fighting beside you. Jelvun, that bastard Kimpe still breathes and he won’t sit idly by while we chew on Promethus.”
“What do we do then?”
With all three eyes gazing Ulx says, “Hope.”