~Asha~
Stupid Master, stupid soul binding, stupid hel-hound bastards. This is not how it was supposed to go. Asha was supposed to find her master, awaken him, and find a way off this mana barren wasteland. Instead, her dumbass Master had no memory of her or his past. Now there was no hope of getting back home because apparently her world and Earth got mashed together, and she was the catalyst for a multi world apocalypse. This was just fan-freaking-tastic.
To make matters worse, this version of her lord was some idiot with a hero complex who, despite not knowing how to conjure a simple cantrip a child could do, is sprinting headlong into a pack of hel-hounds. “You know what? Screw it. If he dies, I can just find him again when he reincarnates.” She threw her hands in the air. "What's another hundred years? At least next time he'll have grown in a magical world."
That nihilistic resolved crumbled in an instant when Victor was thrown into a car, flipping it. “Master!” She cried out. She began running at the beasts to assist him. She started the weave of a Mirror Mirage spell, when her master leapt from the car. He was bleeding from multiple cuts. She gasped in horror as she laid her eyes on his missing arm. The stalking Hel-hound stopped focusing on Victor as an illusionary monstrosity towered above the beast.
It bristled and growled at her illusion of a Kelnar Ape, a 10 foot tall and stringy primate that has venomous bone burrs on its elbows and a long tongue tipped with a barbed stinger instead of a lower jaw. While it successfully stalled the monster, it also called over its friends. While accomplishing with Victor's goal of saving the stupid mortals, this was less than pleasing to Asha.
The was distraction enough for Victor. His eyes glowed red. Dense mana, much more than he had in his previous lives, warped the air around him. He must have incredible mana manipulation skills if he can affect this much mana despite having no education, let alone a core. In his remaining hand an enormous scythe of solidified blood coalesced. The black handle was nearly as tall as he was at around 6 feet tall. The blade itself was easily four feet long and gleamed in the sunlight. It had a chain at the bottom of the staff that wrapped itself around his arm.
He crouched low, bloodlust in his eyes. The Uroboros mark began to twist. He looked at his disembodied arm on the ground by the hel-hound. He snarled, “Bad dog.” He lifted the scythe. Intimidating mana choked the air. Every living being lost the ability to breath as all heads turned to Victor, now a deadly predator.
Victor disappeared, even to her inhuman eyes, his speed put him in front of the hel-hound in an instant. He rammed the butt of the handle in between its eyes. It yelped, stunned, and he brought the blade down on it. The tip of the scythe pierced its back and he leapt, twisting midair. The force dragged the blade forward splitting the upper part of its body in half. The tar-like blood of the hel-hound burst out before freezing and being drawn to her master. The blood congregated at his stump and connected to the arm on the ground. It brought it to its rightful place and stitched it back into a whole, seamlessly healing the wound.
Victor didn’t seem to notice, or care, as he launched himself to the remaining hel-hounds. Upon reaching adequate range, Asha launched an ice spell at the hell-hound Victor wasn’t slicing apart. As the projectile flew, there was an enormous explosion somewhere in the city causing the hound to wobble. This caused the spike to go off target, piercing its shoulder instead of its head. It yelped and turned its attention to her. With a snarl, it ran at her, and she summoned her trusty rapier from the dimensional bag at her waist. Before the hel-hound took two steps in her direction, her master had kicked the monster he was facing in the jaw, dazed, it toppled to the ground. Its jaw dangles limply, completely dislocated.
Next, he threw the scythe at the one charging at Asha. The chain seemed to elongate as it flew at the monster, new chains forming as it reached its limit. It bit deep into its haunch, and he jerked it back, severing its back leg cleanly. It fell to the ground, unable to keep its balance.
As the scythe flew back towards Victor, he wrapped the chain around the slack-jawed hell-hound’s throat and rode it like a bull. It began to buck just like one and he cinched the chain tight. It choked and lost its footing. With a mighty heave, he ripped the head off the beast.
Taking advantage of the downed hel-hound in front of her, Asha finished it off with a clean strike to its brain. She sighed. Right, his master now has no experience in dealing with his vampiric bloodlust.
She glanced at him as he stood atop the beheaded hound, heaving. Blood from all the hel-hounds streamed towards him as he absorbed the vital liquid. His wounds rapidly healed, and his reserves refilled. She had a feeling he might feel bad if he went on a rampage amidst the mortals.
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~Victor~
Delicious. The scent, the flavor, the power. The sanguine life force drew into me, filling my mind with a haze of ecstasy. Two of the hounds were eliminated. Only four threats left. With a deep inhale I panned my gaze.
Strength flowed in my veins. Crimson clouded my vision and a deep hunger cramped in my stomach. I almost heard the whisper of something dark and gleeful encouraging me in the back of my head. My gaze flicked to the first sign of movement, a man took a hesitant step towards a woman next to him, both of their attentions were locked on me.
I could smell the delicious scent of life coming from him, far more exquisite than the mutts that prowled my way. However, those pesky hyenas were an annoyance that needed to be dealt with first. Then the parcels of sweet nectar would be mine. I snarled at the nearest hound and hopped on the desiccated corpse of its fellow.
It yowled and barked in its bassy attempt in an intimidation display. I was unimpressed. I gave my chains slack and whipped it towards the whelp. It's voice went up in pitch as it yelped in pain, the chain cracking across its muzzle. Using the introduced tension, I pulled it to the next hound and the chain wrapped around its neck.
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I urged the chains to produce thorns that ate into the thick hide of the Hel-hound. With the increased friction, I yanked the chain, my enhanced strength allowing me to fly at the beast. Finally, the mutts realized I was no paltry prey. I sensed an energy not unlike my own grow within the quickly approaching hound.
Where my energy and this one differed was its energy felt of damnation and flames. The energy reached a crescendo as it opened its mouth and black-red flames sprayed from its gullet. Flying at such speeds midair, I was unable to dodge. I grit my teeth and summoned a rudimentary shield of blood.
The hiss and crackle of boiling liquid came with the metallic, meaty scent of cooked blood. I still took damage from the flames that managed to curl around the shield, but at least I wouldn't be flambéed. I swung down, timing it just right. The blade sliced through shield and hound head alike.
The flames ceased with the death of the hound and I glanced at the one I whipped. A fresh trio of ice spikes were imbedded in its chest and it was barely alive, whimpering on its side. I glared at the remaining two as they cowered at my might.
The hellish pups bayed at me before fleeing. Their fear tickled my instincts, but there was easier and better yet, tastier prey to be had. I looked to the pouches of blood before me and nearly drooled.
The voice urged me to feed, to drain the cattle before me dry. Before I could even twitch, another person appeared in front of me. To the prey before me, she was little more than a blur, to me, I tracked her as easily as one would a feather floating in the wind.
She bore the familiar scent of kin, good, she can assist in the hunt. A flicker of surprise shot through my addled brain as she grabbed my shoulders and began to speak, “Master, this is your first feeding. You cannot let the blood frenzy take control. Focus on my voice and calm down. Nothing good will come from slaughtering these people.”
Her words annoyed the faint voice in the back of my mind but struck a chord with me. Slaughter people? Why would I do that? It must of helped that I absorbed so much blood from the hel-hounds, satiating the rumbling hunger within. I shook my head and the red haze bled from my vision as I calmed down. The pain from my wounds was a mere echo. I took a deep breath and let it out. The blood leaking from the corpses, both human and beast, were drawn into me. I felt like I just finished a speed infused energy drink. If I had a pulse, it would be fluttering like hummingbird wings.
I massaged my head to clear the pleasant buzz and looked around. People were still panicking, and several were staring at me in terror. I suppose I can’t fault them, if I just saw some dude rip apart giant dog monsters and drink a few gallons of blood, I’d be wishing I were wearing brown pants too.
I took a shaky breath, "The hell was that?"
She sighed in relief, "Blood frenzy. It happens with newly turned Vampires. Thankfully, you'll only go through it once unless you are starved for a very long time."
I smiled gratefully at Asha, "Thanks for stopping me. What should we do with them? They look ready to faint."
"We should just go. Who knows what sort of dangerous creatures are around. A group this large is likely to draw in dangerous predators."
I shook my head as Officer Rodriguez cautiously approached, "No, they're scared and are in need. Officer, what do you suppose?"
She gazed at me as one would a dog they weren't sure would bite or not. Finally, she nodded and glanced to the crowd of people who were frozen in with indecision and fear, "I think you need to say something."
"Me?!" I asked incredulously.
"Yes, you. You are terrifying, but you took out those monsters like they were nothing and didn't hurt any people." She then shrugged and said, "What better protection than a monster that kills monsters."
I scoffed, "A monster. How flattering."
Again she just shrugged and gestured to the crowd. I scratched my head and sighed. People were finally breaking free of their impression of a deer in headlights and were beginning to frantically speak to each other or to Rodriguez.
I hopped onto the roof of a nearby car and shouted, “Everyone listen up.” My voice was drowned out by the general mayhem, so I focused on that pressure in my chest and directed it to my voice, willing my voice to be louder. “I said, Listen up.” My voice rang out like I was hooked up to a concert speaker. That got their attention. There were several dozen people on this street, and they paused in their panic at my firm tone.
High school debate club don’t fail me now. “Alright,” I began, “I know some crazy shit is going down and I have a few answers of what is happening. Y'all got family y'all are itching to get a hold of, but as I’m sure y'all know, phones ain’t working. I know everyone here is already scared to no end and I’m likely a big part of that with my little show there. The best thing y'all can do is listen to Officer Rodriguez over there and follow her to a defensible location where we can hunker down and figure out some semblance of a plan.” As I was speaking, Asha hopped on the car to stand next to me in solidarity and Rodriguez followed but decided against climbing up with us.
An older man with an ample beer belly gathered enough courage to call out, “And who are you? I saw what happened, you ripped those monsters to pieces and that shit you did with their blood. Better yet, what are you? No human can do that, and the hell is up with your eyes?”
“A fair question. I’mma be honest with y'all. I know just a bit more about what’s going on here than everyone else, but if I’m asking you to trust me, might as well rip off this bandage now. Apparently, I’m some type of vampire now. It happened when the world turned crazy and I’m learning as I go. It’s a long story that I still have to hear, but I’m not exactly like the vampires from Hollywood or the old myths. Asha here is better to explain.” I gestured to her, and she glared at me silently. “Come on, they won’t trust me if they think I’m some type of man-eating monster.”
She glared a moment more and sighed, “No, the majority of the Vampire stereotypes are a mix of lesser vampire spawn characteristics and human nonsense. We are higher vampires, specifically Vampir Noblesse, the highest form of vampires. As of now, we are the only two vampires in existence. We do not require blood to live, nor are we limited to human blood. We also do not need to bite in order to feed. Any blood that is free from a living body can be drawn into us as you saw. We are not weak to sunlight, our powers are unique to the individual, and mundane religious symbols are only a slight discomfort while blessed symbols are slightly more problematic. We are immortal and extremely difficult to kill. Since you’re going to ask at some point and I’m sure it will be up to me to explain, cars are exploding because mana is infusing the world now. The mundane is still the mundane for the most part, but things are a little stronger now. The purer a material is, the more focused the mana, hence why gasoline, a highly processed material, is so volatile now.”
I turned to the man, denoting him as the spokesperson for the crowd, “There it is. Now I’m not exactly asking you to listen to me or Asha, but it would be in y’alls' best interest to listen to Officer Rodriguez.”
“You still didn’t answer my question about who you are. How can we trust someone who’s name we don’t know?” he asked. A few agreeable grumbles came from the crowd.
I thought for a moment. Victor isn’t really a name that fits a badass vampire king. No, I would need a better name. I nodded when I thought of the perfect name for my new existence. “You may call me, Alucard.”