Seeking Strength

Alex

Alex and Stella stood in the middle of a large, luxurious office. Sitting at the desk in front of them was a thin man in a luxurious mage's robe, Willhelm Ward. He looked the two of them up and down skeptically. Alex looked over at Stella, leaving the negotiations to her.

"You want learn magic at my academy? What do vampires need magic for?" He pushed up his glasses.

Stella stepped forward and responded. "We may need to fight an alpha vampire soon. We need to gather up as many advantages as we can find, in as short an amount of time as possible, and without devouring humans. Besides, I wouldn't think you of all people would be opposed to learning for its own sake."

"I just don't see how magic would benefit you that much."

Stella summoned her armament and showed the hilt to Willhelm. "Look here. We can improve our armaments with magecraft. It's the same as creating a cursed weapon, but without any drawbacks." She reabsorbed her armament and looked right into his eyes. "Besides, it's possible for vampires to awaken as sorcerers. We just need the know-how."

"I suppose it would be simple to teach you magecraft, but awakening a sorcerer is no easy feat. I can't guarantee you'll succeed."

"That's fine."

He sighed. "Very well. But I have a job for you in return."

"Go on."

"A few years ago, an ancient wizard from before the medieval era showed up in a nearby city. At first, we ignored him, but recently he's been causing some trouble. In the last few months, he started kidnapping civilians for human experimentation. He poses a threat to secrecy. Deal with him."

A threat to secrecy? That's what you're worried about?

"Very well." Stella said flatly. "Just tell us where to go."

"I already assigned someone to this case, but the danger is above his capabilities. I'll have him take you to the mission location." As he spoke, he picked up the phone on his desk and began dialing. After a few seconds there was a response. "Damian. Come to my office, quickly." He set the phone down and turned back to his guests. "Would you like some tea? And is there any reason you haven't sat down yet?"

"We don't expect to be here long." Alex responded. "Plus, we don't really get tired."

At that moment a fourth person entered the room, breathing heavily. He was average height, and medium build. He had a plain face. Rather than most of the people they'd seen when they entered the academy building, he was dressed in plain street clothes.

"Sir Archmage? You needed me?"

"Yes, Damian. These two are taking over your mission. Escort them and provide support."

"Understood!" He turned to Alex and Stella. "When do we leave."

The two exchanged a glance. "Now."

"Alright. Let's go." He turned and walked back into the hall, and the two vampires followed.

He led the two of them out of the building and walked them to his car, a decent four-person sedan. He got in the driver's seat, and Alex and Stella sat in the back. Damian turned on the car and pulled the car out into the road.

"Alright." The slightly nervous driver said. "I've been doing some reconnaissance. Our target currently calls himself Gerald Gerradine. I know most of his capabilities and habits. He stays in a mansion near Watercrest city. He never leaves the building. He orders supplies through delivery and sends familiars and automatons to capture his test subjects." He looked at them through the rear-view mirror. "What else would you like to know?"

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Alex looked a little confused. "Willhelm said he was a wizard. Is that different from a sorcerer?"

"That's what you're asking? Are you sure you want to learn at the academy?"

Alex frowned. "I'm new to the whole supernatural thing."

"That's fine, that's fine, everyone starts somewhere. A sorcerer has an innate magical power that reflects their personality. For example, I have two, evaluation and accumulation. Evaluation lets me determine the abilities of my opponents and accumulation lets me store up energy, such as kinetic or magical energy. A mage uses runes and arrays to alter the natural world, an alchemist transmutes materials, and a witch makes contracts with spirits. A wizard is someone who fits into more than one of these categories. I'm also a wizard, since I use familiars to make up for my lack of range."

"Huh. So, Oscar is a wizard."

"Oscar? Do you mean Oscar Moore?"

"Yeah. You know him?"

"Yeah. We took a few classes together. He's one of the most talented wizards I've ever met."

"So, what can this Gerald guy do?"

"His sorcery is very simple, but I haven't found a way to bypass it. His power is immortality. No matter what you do it won't kill him. Normally, with a power like that, if you could deal enough damage with magic, it would override the sorcery, but he's been developing his essence since the Roman empire. Even a demon couldn't kill him. On top of that he's a master of every school of magic. His home is full of traps, he's built dozens of automatons, and he has three familiars. Most witches can only summon one familiar at a time and still fight, but since his sorcery isn't a combat ability, he'll probably use all three at once."

"A few more basic magic questions. What is essence?"

"Essence is, quite simply, the energy that souls are made of. The soul is constantly radiating excess energy, and never runs out as long as you don't use too much, so mages use it to cast spells. Some people also use it to enhance their physical abilities."

"Tell me about familiars as well."

"There are two ways to obtain a familiar. Either you make a contract with a spirit that already exists, or you create an elemental spirit and imbue it with your own essence." Damian lifted his hand, showing the ring on his index finger. It began to glow, and a bird started to form out of thin air, perched on his hand. It looked like a falcon, but with bright green feathers. "I used the second method. This is a peregrine falcon. Unlike most birds of prey, they don't grab their food with their claws. Instead, they ball their feet into a fist and punch their target. Since it's imbued with my essence, it can use my sorcery, accumulation. It's imbued with the wind element, so it moves incredibly fast. As it flies through the air, it stores up the kinetic energy created by air resistance using accumulation, and releases it when it strikes, greatly amplifying the attack's force."

Alex thought for a moment. "So, he used the second method as well, and his familiars are also immortal."

"Correct. He used alchemy to create physical bodies for them, then attached the catalyst, the stone used to store the familiar, to their body. In doing so he made them more efficient, so that they consume a much smaller portion of his essence. But in return, he created a weak point. If you destroy the catalyst, the familiar will be destroyed."

I can probably find the weak point with my enhanced eyes. Alex thought. "What are his familiars?"

"Like most witches, one of his familiars is a bird... or something like that. It has four wings and four legs, with sharp claws that it uses to scratch and gouge. It's been imbued with dark element, so it can use curses. His second is a large cat monster. It has four whip-like appendages with claws at the end, and it's also imbued with dark element. Finally, his third familiar is a strange case. I believe you've already been told that he's using civilians for human experimentation. When the experiment kills the subject, he adds the body to his third familiar. There's a powerful, central body that controls all the others. If one body's catalyst is destroyed, the spirit will jump to another body, and the original will repair after about a minute. Within that minute, you'd have to destroy the main body and all fifty failed experiments."

"He's kidnapped fifty people? And the academy is only trying to stop him now?"

"I also think the academy has been slow to act, but only ten of those victims are recent. He's been trying these experiments for over a thousand years, and only failed a couple dozen times. But recently he's increased the rate of experiments. It's like he's getting desperate."

Alex thought for a moment. "How dangerous are the automatons?"

"Not very. Even a regular person could beat them if they knew where the core was. They can fight, but they're more for menial labor than anything else."

"Alright, so the only thing we need to worry about are the familiars. There's three of them and three of us, we'll split up and each take one, then meet up to fight the wizard himself. I'll take the horde; I should be able to take out all of them in under a minute." He turned to Stella, who had been calmly looking out the window the whole time.

"I'll take the cat." She responded.

"I guess that leaves me with the bird." Damian said as pulled the car to a stop in front of a luxurious mansion.

They stepped out and began walking towards the building.