I know for sure that I didn’t hear things. They definitely are nearby and I’m not taking any chances.

I breathed heavily, sprinting away from my current position. And sure enough the place where I was previously resting was torn into pieces by an explosion. It was obvious they threw a spell right where I was.

Since my intuition proved to be correct, I continued running, finding an escape route. Going through a tiny gap, I was stopped by another spell. I groaned from my injuries and because I was being played with.

I stopped moving, searching for the attacker. I wiped my blood onto my newly bought clothes. Redness was smeared on the white cloth of my newly bought clothes.

My newly bought clothes. The very same clothes that I spent a fortune on. Those same very clothes were tarnished by this scuffle. I hung my head low, I really spent all that money only for it to be ripped, dirtied by someone else…

“You’re searching for me right? Stop hiding and fight me? I’ll show you what happens when someone dares to attack me!” I angrily shouted, revealing my location on purpose.

I wasn’t as angry as I sounded. I realized that I couldn’t keep on running forever. I needed to defend myself. I stand firmly, not letting my guard down. It would be extremely foolish to do so.

In addition, I have gone far too long with this event. A stalemate would lead to my demise. If my injuries keep bleeding, I’ll collapse. After all, my body can only withstand so much.

The attacker flapped their wings, throwing a wind spell from above. A gust of wind made the rubble near me make contact with my open, untreated injuries.

“Agh—!” I cried out in pain.

Taking the opportunity of vulnerability, they charged at me aiming for my neck. I quickly grabbed a near rock, throwing it at the flying attacker. It changed their trajectory enough for me to conduct my next move.

I swung my arm straight at their face, at the last moment I charged a light spell. The spell lit the area, but more specifically it blinded the assailant. Unfortunately that also applied to myself. Luckily I came prepared, avoiding some of the light by closing my eyes.

Of course it still hurt, but it was better than nothing. Opening my eyes, I saw the attacker squirming as they held their eyes. I ran, seemingly teleporting, before kicking them on their chin.

I took advantage of the seconds of them being temporarily blind by stomping on their wings. I could only get one good stomp before they recovered, aiming at my leg. They caught my leg, their nails dug into my leg as I continued stomping on them.

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They let go, letting my palm get a handful of dust. I threw my hand right at their face, particles of dust entering their eyes. Just when their eyes adjusted from the sudden light, the dust once again blinded them. Instinctively, they began rubbing their eyes together.

I had every opportunity to end this battle. Yet my body felt so heavy that every movement was torture. Just when I was this close, this had to happen.

Shit.

In a last ditch effort, I wobbled towards them. I hovered over them. No time to think I let myself fall into my knees, putting all my strength into my knees. I collapsed, in the process crushing their face with my knees.

That was an exaggeration as I didn’t even hear a crunch, but at the very least they stopped moving. Crawling forward, I used my trembling limbs to nudge them. They were unresponsive, hinting that they might be dead.

Taking a closer look at them, gave more insight on their identity. The reason as to why I couldn’t determine anything, but their wings was because they wore black clothes, a piece of cloth covering their face, only revealing their eyes.

Since they were unconscious, I couldn’t see much. When inspecting their wings, touching them, and patting them, I came to the conclusion that I was indeed correct.

In truth, I didn’t recognize the assailant, but what species of mammal they originated from. They were quite prevalent from where I grew up. Since that’s pretty far from here I didn’t expect to find one here.

This also explained some strange behavior it exhibited. First things I should mention is the species, which is a bat, more specifically a vampire bat. Demi human vampire bats, not to be confused with the actual one, are known to feed upon the blood of animals, not humans.

Unlike their animal counterparts, they cannot live off with simple diets like most do, well that applies to most demi humans who originate from a present mammal. As such, most resort on drinking blood from animals, rarely do they attack and bite humans for blood.

One exception being pure hunger. It appeared that their instincts took over and they attacked the first thing they saw. This would explain their sloppy attacks which could easily be avoided, though that didn’t take away the fact that each carried a strong force.

In my current state, I barely survived their attack. Who knows how bad it would be if they were fully aware of their actions. I took a breath in and out, repeated the same actions until I was stable. All my body was in tremendous pain, in agony I couldn’t move a single muscle.

As if shutting down, my eyes slowly closed, blinking in slow motion. I couldn’t resist my body going to sleep. As much as I wanted to leave, everything said otherwise. All I could do was hope my slumber wasn’t going to take too long. I had too many things on my plate and this wasn’t helping.

This is problematic. I can’t go to sleep, yet I have no choice over the decision. I sustained too many injuries on my arm, they pleaded with me to stop putting them in harm's way.

I fell down, hitting my head on a cushion.

…

Wait…what?