Miles was burning with the heat of his anger, as a devil hidden within reveled in the pain of Luther's screams. He almost wanted to do worse...
But that was when he smelled it.
The tangy smell of rust, the aroma of blood, seeping out of the wounded shoulder.
With his Blood Points capped at 10/10, Miles should have had no need for more blood. His bloodthirst had been completely sated after the consumption of Xavier by the Beast Within.
And yet, he couldn’t help but desire more.
Unknown to him, his canines grew out, forming two fangs, his mouth drooling in expectation of a satisfying drink.
Miles was sure the blood would taste amazing. Just like before, it would be akin to ambrosia.
His neck flashed forwards, as he dug in, unable to control himself.
Crunch!
Instantly, Luther’s screams were silenced, his struggles coming to a relaxed stop.
Miles could just barely hear someone else begin to scream, as if taking Luther's place, but right now he couldn’t have cared less.
His fangs sunk into the bleeding shoulder, rather close to the knife, but far enough that he wouldn’t cut his own face on the blade.
A gush of blood rushed into his mouth, as if dragged by some supernatural power. No ordinary wound would lose blood in such a manner. This rate of blood loss was simply unnatural. The blood almost seemed to want to be consumed.
Without a single care about this strange phenomenon, Miles simply gulped down the blood.
‘Ahhh. D-*gulp*-Delicious. Truly, it is the nectar of the gods.’
While he was hung up on the addictive taste of the blood, a series of notifications began to ring out.
Ding!
[1 BP consumed.]
[2 BP consumed.]
It had only been a few seconds, but Miles had already consumed 3 BP. Had he been in a reasonable state of mind, he would’ve known that the average human body only had about 10 pints of blood or rather 10 BP. Even an Enhanced Faehuman, who probably had more, couldn’t easily survive losing more than half of their blood.
It was too bad that Miles wasn’t in his normal state of mind. And so, the notifications continued.
[1 BP consumed.]
[2 BP consumed.]
[1 BP consumed.]
But that was when a peaceful hand touched Miles’s head. As if a candle in a world of absolute darkness, the touch of this hand gave light to his muddled mind, temporarily suppressing his desire for blood.
Miles shifted his eyes towards the owner of the hand, and as expected, it was old Zhan.
The old butler’s face was once again pale, dark black circles surrounded his eyes, and the hand glowed with strands of peaceful white energy. For a moment, Miles could almost see a giant shadow standing behind Zhan Shen, but it vanished by the time he had blinked.
Zhan Shen began to speak, his tone extremely serious, “Master Miles, answer me. Will you become a Beast yourself, an inhuman creature, a slave to its desires? Or...
Will you be a Warrior, a man in control of himself, a person worthy of the great name Lykaon? You can only be either of the two. Never both. So make your choice.”
Miles paused in thought, the question slowly returning reason to his mind.
‘What choice? There was never a choice. Only a single option.'
Forcibly crushing his desire for blood, struggling against the instinct to feed until nothing but a husk remained, Miles slowly loosened his fangs.
It was just barely enough that the blood stopped gushing into his mouth of its own volition.
Even then, he continued to feel a strong urge to just snap down. His jaw seemed to refuse his commands, stubborn and unmoving.
Miles struggled frantically, fought with all his might, but he still couldn't make it move.
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Before he could begin to lose hope, a relaxed voice rang out, “Breath. Your heart may have paused, Master Miles, but you still continue to breathe. You are still a living, breathing creature.
So breathe. Feel the air move in and out of your lungs. Notice it, realize it, and calm down.”
With a deep inhale, Miles focused his attention on his breathing. Just as old Zhan said, it appeared he really was breathing, despite being undead, despite having an unbeating heart.
It helped him calm down, but he still couldn’t make his jaw move.
Zhan Shen’s voice rang out right on time, “Now control yourself, Master Miles. Control yourself.
We may not have control over the events we are forced to face, we may be powerless in the hands of fate, but we can still decide to not be reduced by them.
No matter how powerless you may feel, you always have the control to decide what becomes of yourself.
Understand this, comprehend this, and make your decision.”
A deep breath.
While tactless, sometimes rude, forgetful, even downright silly, Miles had to admit that Zhan Shen spoke wise words.
And those words helped him realize what needed to be done.
‘The fuck am I doing!? I can’t be this weak, this pathetic? Unable to control my own jaw? The fuck?! Hell no!’
Miles went all out. Maximum effort, no holds barred.
His face reddened in stress, as veins grew visible all over his body. The blood in his veins began to bubble as if they were reacting to his unrelenting intent.
‘AHHHRRGGGHH!”
Miles finally ripped his jaw free with an internal scream and threw aside the once again unconscious Luther. This time knocked out due to massive blood loss, rather than a crack on the head.
Immediately, another bunch of notifications began to ring out.
Ding!
[Blood Consumption process halted. Blood Source not obtained.
+0 Free Stat Points gained, +7 BP gained.]
Ding!
[Remaining stored in Ripae Sanguine (Blood Bank): 12/100]
Ding!
[Skill: Self-Control(?) has leveled up. (Lvl 1 => Lvl 2)
Error: Skill not found.
Level up applied to |Discipline: Haemomancy| (?)]
Ding!
[Your understanding of IDiscipline: HaemomancyI has grown spontaneously(?). (Untrained=> Meager Understanding.)
Next expansion of the IDiscipline: HaemomancyI will provide the user with a New Discipline Skill.]
Miles barely had time to read through the notifications, as a frantic shout rang out, distracting him.
“NO! NO! LUTHER! NO!”
Jimmy roared as he dashed towards his friend, the Fae bomb swaying dangerously in his hand.
Seeing the nervous kid so scared and worried, checking over his unconscious friend’s condition, Miles couldn’t help but feel a bit of guilt, but… that fellow Luther, he definitely deserved it.
Besides, Miles was pretty sure he would be fine, as he had been able to stop himself before he drank too much blood.
As he continued to observe Jimmy, his eyes fell on the Fae bomb, the vertex of the cube, the trigger still pressed in.
Obviously, he had seen it before, but this time Jimmy was a lot closer to him and he could make out the finer details. The extremely fine details.
‘Is that… of Dwarven make!? The almost macroscopic engravings... of shattered earth, exploding mountains, massive tsunamis, and roaring typhoons, it’s very similar to their ancient style. But where is… ‘
His gaze focused on one side of the cubic Fae bomb, depicting a circular symbol, or more specifically, a sleeping woman curled up in the shape of a globe.
‘And that confirms it. Definitely Dwarven. But didn’t most Dwarven weapons disappear after the first century of the Fae-Human War? They haven’t been used by the Fae for thousands of years since then! Any remaining Dwarven weapon should be with collectors or researchers... So how the hell did this fellow get his hands on one?’’
At that very moment, Miles inhaled the strong smell of ozone.
A characteristically sharp and pungent smell. One he could recognize anywhere, anytime.
However, Ozone wasn’t something one could smell just anywhere. But close to a Fae bomb, a real Fae bomb, you definitely could. Humanity had yet to crack the science behind the Fae bombs, but the one thing that was known for certain was that the Fae only used Ozone gas to make the ionized plasma in the bomb.
This wasn’t really common knowledge. So then, how did Miles know?
Funny enough, it was his mother Agnes, who had taught him most of what he knew about weapons. Yes, the kind and gentle lady had been a weapon Fanatic! Even Miles had been surprised the day he found out.
But, despite all of that, he couldn’t help but feel something was just… off.
His eyes widened in realization.
‘That’s it! Zhan Shen!’
He immediately jumped backward, away from Jimmy and Luther, towards the old butler a meter or so behind.
Despite having exerted a lot of effort to fight off his Vampiric desires, Miles was full of energy. He had more than enough blood points after all.
“Master Miles?” the elderly butler asked. His appearance seemed to have returned back to normal. No glowing energy, no weird shadows.
“The Fae bomb! Why didn’t you know that Jimmy had one?”
Zhan Shen heaved a sigh, “My mistake, Master Miles. These new Fae bombs don't leak any energy. They are really hard to detect, not only for our satellites and energy-based detection systems but for my own senses as well. My apologies.”
“But that’s it, old Zhan! It isn’t new! This one is Dwarven!”
The elderly butler frowned, “You’re sure? But that would mean…”
Miles nodded, “It can only be one of two things. Either a newly forged Dwarven Fae bomb, or a really good knock-off, and... I’m betting on the latter. Not a single one of our researchers have been able to duplicate a Fae bomb, and I doubt this is the exception.”
Zhan Shen nodded slowly, seeing the logic in his ward's conclusion. But it gradually shifted into a cheeky grin, “So this means you were negotiating so seriously, with a paper tiger? That nervous kid, who didn’t know a bomb from a gun, didn’t even have a bomb in the first place?! Not even a knife?! Master Miles, you went full devil negotiator on an unarmed kid!? My word!
Tell me, on a scale of 1 to 10, how embarrassed are you?”
And... old Zhan was right back to his usual self.