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  It wasn’t just one that I created, but dozens which turned into hundreds as I kept dodging the orc’s attacks and creating the disks at a rapid pace. It was only when Gansuk slowed that I shot one out to meet his ranged attack. His beam contained much more energy, and superior force, but as my compressed disk of mana collided with the middle of his beam, it distorted before splitting in two.

  As he realized what had happened, he increased his attack speed and once again held back his beam as each swing compressed more and more energy. Once again, he spun just before letting it loose. By the time he did I had over a thousand Dark Magic Disks that looked like a small cloud of dust collected over my head. Before he released his attack, every disk I had created fell toward him like a hungry corrosive rain.

  The first tiny disks were there to meet his attack before it had even left his axe. Only a couple of them impacted his repressed beam. The other frontrunners pelted his arms, neck, and chest.

  His beam left his axe like a rocket being launched. Only this time, the atmosphere was filled with dense debris. Instead of a single beam, it was immediately fragmented. Only a small fragment flew in my direction. The rest sped off every which way.

  A Dark Mana reinforced skeletal shield met what was left of it, allowing me to easily fend it off. Seeing as I’d underestimated the force behind my attack, instead of creating more Dark Mana Disks, I began making a giant one. My attack had driven him back a step, and even punctured a few weaker places like the skin of his throat. It wasn’t deep, but it was now clear he certainly wasn’t invincible.

  The larger the Dark Magic Disk became, the harder it was for me to keep it under control. It seemed that compressing it only magnified the force it contained. By the time my disk was the size of a Frisbee, I could hardly keep it together.

  Gansuk recovered quickly and swung out again with his axe. I released my Dark Magic Disk which was facing a head on collision with his beam.

  The two clashed a few feet from his outwardly extended axe. With almost no resistance, my disk split his beam in two and didn’t slow.

  Seeing that it wasn’t impeded, I tried to divert it off course at the last moment, but it sliced right into the meat of his shoulder and shredded a deep gouge across his back.

  The moment he dropped to his knees, I fell from the air and hurried over to him. He vomited a great puddle of blood, but, before I could heal him, an orc appeared kneeling at his side. I stopped where I stood, fearful what the swarm of vampires watching would think of my response. There had been little compassion between competitors in the arena, and even less of it shown between races.

  I continued watching as Gansuk’s shoulder and back closed up, but I held back the emotion from my face. My second thought was to quickly glance around the stands to see how people were responding to my actions but showing self-doubt might have been the very thing that gave away my human concern.

  The orc elder came to his feet just before Gansuk. Putting his battle axe away, the melee specialist faced me before leaving the arena. With a fist, he pounded his chest. He left me standing there and only his elder was left looking at me.

  Meeting my eyes, he seemed to bow without actually bowing, then left as well.

  The announcer had already called the fight in my favor, and only then did I hear the applause of the crowd. Unlike my other fights, there seemed to be genuine cheering from the stands. It may have been because there were a larger than normal amount of non-vampire races spectating, but it also wasn’t a one-sided fight.

  Back in my vampire form, I even saw Manu Shah and Parth Gul standing on their feet. Since there was a chance he’d give me a better offer, I gave him the customary bow of the head. He seemed pleased at the gesture. Only when I saw that Jale Tir and the beast-feeders were also on their feet applauding did I also bow to her. Seeing that Jale wasn’t glaring at me, I was starting to get used to her not wanting to tear my head off at first glance.

  Eshana Dara was already smirking when I looked her way. It was like I’d beat her at her own game after my last match so this time she was ready. I couldn’t help but openly chuckle.

  Taking my seat next to Shamash, we didn’t greet each other, but I immediately heard his voice in my head. “That was a good use of Core Creation to add density to your attacks. Let’s hope no one makes the connection between the two or they might guess rightly that you have access to unlimited orbs.”

  Since I was already sitting with a too perfect posture, it wasn’t obvious that I’d suddenly frozen—probably. No one had heard what he’d said anyways. Only Sai, who was offering his congratulations and was sitting next to me, noticed.

  I composed myself before responding to the lich. “Was it obvious?”

  “No. You probably have nothing to worry about. Even if someone has suspicions, they will have trouble believing a junior has the ability to create cores. Condensing mana the way you did might instead be considered the beginning stages of someone trying to learn. It isn’t uncommon for higher level monsters to use the very same process in combat.”

  “That’s a relief.”

  “It’s not all you have to worry about. Bowing to the vampire nobility was a good idea but bowing to the beast-feeders in identical fashion immediately afterward was like slapping the Shahs in the face. Manu took his seat as soon as he saw it.”

  I glanced over and saw Manu in conversation with Parth like nothing had happened. Of course he wouldn’t make it obvious for me. What was I thinking? “I messed up,” I admitted. “Is it going to be a problem?”

  “You can forget about getting a better proposition from him, but it’s unlikely he’ll try to have you killed.”

  “Killed? He’d go that far because I bowed to someone else? I also bowed to her before the match. Did that not also offend him then?”

  “No. It was when and how you did it that matters. We’ll soon see. It will depend on how conceited he is.”

  “I didn’t know.”

  “That is why I recommended that you control your reactions at all times. There are too many nuances to vampire etiquette to teach them to you verbally. Normally, learning by making mistakes is the best method, but understanding is only given to vampire children. If you were of a foreign race, you would also be given a certain amount of leniency. There is no way that Manu will believe that what you did wasn’t intentional. On the positive side, Jale Tir also saw what you did, and it may work in your favor.”

  So my desire to not keep all my eggs in one basket ended up crushing all but one of my options…

  Chapter 19 – Vampire Princess

  “Do you think I did enough to get her attention?” I said aloud so that I could get Sai’s opinion on the matter as well as the lich’s.

  Sai turned and watched me.

  “What do you think?” I asked again.

  He suddenly smirked. “Okay. This is what you need to do. Fly over there in front of everyone, stop before Jale, then give her a big, exaggerated wink. Then when she tries to kill you, ask nicely.” He was laughing before he’d even finished speaking.

  “I’ll pass.”

  “There’s a lot worse things you could do if you wanted to get killed. Like—”

  “Do you see that attendant?” Shamash said, cutting Sai off. “The one in the blue dress.”

  She was sitting at the end of the row that Jale was in. I hadn’t noticed her before, but she was much leaner than the other beast-feeders and seemed a bit out of place.

  “Approach her when they are about to leave. She’s Jale’s personal maidservant and also manages her public appearances.”

  Sai’s messing around had come to an abrupt stop when Shamash spoke. Even though he was an oddity among vampires, he still knew when to render proper respect. He nodded at the lich’s reply. “She’s much older than she appears,” he added. “And don’t let her meek appearance fool you. She can be as vicious as a hellhound protecting its stash of fire orbs.”

  “You know her?” I badgered.

  His rea
ction was more strained than I expected. “I may have already tried approaching them with my own ambitions and failed. If it had gone well, I would have already gotten you an invite to meet her, but…”

  “Then I’ll prepare for a duel to the death.”

  We shared a chuckle, but upon using Creature Observation on the maidservant, I found that she was over level 50,000. She was like the maidservant from a horror movie—a cute little vampire dressed as a schoolgirl with the strength of a mature dragon that liked to bathe in blood. What’s the worst that could happen?

  The beast-feeders only stayed for one more match before they began to depart.

  I rose to my feet, preparing to intercept them when I found Sai standing at my side patting my shoulder.

  “Do you have any last words before your death?” he said.

  “Stop winking at people,” I said with a wink, then flew toward the exit. Seeing him momentarily stunned, I took it as a solid win.

  Making it to the exit on my side of the arena, I quickly flew up with my Incubus wings after I’d left the no-fly zone of the stands. There was the possibility I would lose them in the crowd, but thankfully they weren’t in a hurry. I rose up a hundred feet and saw them by the exit opposite from where I’d been sitting. From there, I darted over and touched down behind where they were walking so as not to directly impose.

  Almost immediately, the blue dress wearing maidservant noticed my presence and left the group to walk right at me. When she stopped, blocking my path, there was no longer any question I was the person she was targeting. “Young Master Zerin,” she said with the appropriate bow. “What is your purpose in approaching the Tir family?”

  “Greetings,” I replied in kind. I wasn’t too surprised she already knew my name. “As a beast-feeder without any connections, I’m interested in meeting with Princess Jale, or a Tir family representative, about joining your ranks, or at least forming a friendship.”

  “Very well. I will pass on this matter. The Tir family will send you correspondence if there is any interest.”

  I was about to speak when her next line gave me a jolt. “You are staying at the Javed Hotel, correct?”

  “I am.” It seemed they had already looked into me.

  “I wish you the best in the preliminary competition.” With that, she was gone.

  The group from the Tir family slowly walked away and faded into the crowd. It was only when someone turned back that I looked up from my musing.

  Jale gave me a single studious look before she was gone.

  ***

  My next couple fights were over before they began. As I realized they were much weaker than my last couple opponents, I started experimenting more with combinations and magic I normally wouldn’t use. I even resurrected some old spells I hadn’t used since my first days in the Underworld.

  Decay was one of the simplest and easiest to learn spells I had. It was also the first spell I’d ever maxed out. It wasn’t particularly useful against powerful opponents and didn’t turn vampires into flesh oozing zombies despite my earnest efforts. It did have its uses though. It could weaken an opponent’s armor significantly if I gave it enough time. Those proficient with armor could dispel it with a burst from their aura if they realized it had attached itself to them. Some armors seemed to be immune to it as well.

  There was another spell that I finally found a use for. It had been too long. Pain worked well as a stun, and I could hold it for an extended period of time. It wasn’t impossible to dispel either though. It could be repelled with a strong aura or decent armor, and even average melee experts could shrug it off even if it took effect. It gave me more reason to work toward mastering it. Though I doubted even the strongest version could bother a true expert, there were a lot more use cases for it than I’d taken advantage of.

  Most of my time was made up of power leveling and working on my merging of Dark and Blue Magics. My Vampire Form was steadily leveling up, even if my bloodline was staying the same. Since I was always using the form, it was only a matter of time before I reached the max level. Vampire’s Might and Succubi’s Caress were inching forward as my stock of Mana Orbs grew. My Dark Magic was doing the same, and even my Light Magic climbed at a slow and steady pace. My Light Magic’s advancement at this level depended upon my knowledge of how it worked when compared to other elements and alignments, so it wasn’t fast moving since I couldn’t exactly use it in my fights.

  That wasn’t exactly true. Using Light Magic wasn’t completely out of the question. As a Blue Mage, it wasn’t unheard of that I’d have access to Light Magic. The real issue was the potency of my Light Aligned magic. Even in my vampire form, which lessened its strength, it was far superior to any other Blue Mage of my level. There were only a couple people I’d fought that I believed would even have a shot at putting up a fight if I used it. The orc Gansuk stood at the top of that list.

  I also watched the fights of my better competition. Besides my fight with Gansuk, there hadn’t been a contest against any of the major players at this point in the competition.

  It was a few days later when we received a knock on the door. Shamash answered it and a hotel employee delivered the message that the Tir family was interested in meeting with me.

  My time with Sai, and Shamash’s insistence on us only speaking in the vampire tongue, had helped me quickly improve my communication. There were times when I still had to think about my word usage, but I’d mastered greetings and common small talk, so I was much more confident.

  The place the Tir family was staying at was a stone mansion with a dozen windows on each of its five floors. At first, I thought it was a step down from where I was staying, but when the front door attendant let me in, I could have smacked myself for being so wrong. As could be expected from the beast-feeders, they had different taste than normal vampires. Great beast furs were draped on the walls of the greeting chamber, which stretched two stories high. The ceiling was made of solid pearl, as were the columns that held it up. They were carved with countless images, almost like the columns and ceiling were lined with flawless figurines.

  Unlike the beast-feeders I’d seen with Jale, the attendants didn’t wear any furs or animal skins themselves, but the more common garb of Hallow. It made them kind of fade into the background.

  Jale’s maidservant was the one that arrived in the greeting hall a few minutes later to welcome me. She was even less colorful than last time I’d spoken to her, wearing a black gown that seemed more mature than she was. It wasn’t that she looked like a child, but I couldn’t help but think that she was a young teenager trying to dress up to appear older.

  “Young Master Zerin,” she said, even smiling as she bowed. “Will there be anyone joining you?”

  To uphold the excuse we’d made up for Manu Shah, Shamash didn’t come with me. It wasn’t really about his desire not to join a faction, but, since the Tir’s had obviously done their research, we didn’t want to turn too many heads and have Shamash join with me. If the Shahs learned I’d blatantly lied to them, my public offense of bowing to Manu and Jale would become an even larger problem.

  “I’m alone,” I replied.

  “Then follow me.”

  I was led to an open chamber with fur covered couches surrounding a dark wood coffee table with an open fireplace at the head of the room.

  Standing there waiting for me was Jale Tir herself. She had a yellow and black serpent-skin she used as a shawl draped over her shoulders and a matching dress that was black with pale yellow embroidery. It was the first time I saw her dressed in purely feminine attire. Despite that, it was her purple eyes that stood out. That and the fact that they weren’t scowling back at me.

  She didn’t seem exactly happy to see me, but the lack of hostility was a start. We shared the customary bows, then she offered me a seat on the couch cattycorner to hers. “Please,” she said.

  I remembered well enough to let her take her seat first before taking my seat.

  She leaned back with
the posture of a relaxed soldier. I continued sitting on the edge of my seat to be on my best behavior.

  “I’ve enjoyed watching your fights,” she said without betraying any emotion. “You seemed to struggle a little with the orc. He’s one of the more powerful competitors… in this competition.”

  “It pleases me to hear that,” I replied. “I’ve been working on trying to use as little mana as possible to win my fights. He was a fun opponent.”

  “So you were holding back? A little arrogance is of value to warriors, but too much can be a hinderance. I am already impressed with you, so there is no reason to embellish. Are you here to gain our Tir family’s support for the resources we can provide to give you a better chance of winning the preliminary?”

  I held my emotions in check as well, possibly delaying my response a little too long, but it should be acceptable. “In all honesty, I have held back in every fight—especially against Gansuk. He was a better sharpening stone than all of my other opponents up to this point. My interest is not in resources, but the security the Tir family could provide after I win the preliminaries. Also, I hold to the same beast-feeding principles as the Tir family.”

  She chuckled, seeming to loosen up, if only slightly. “We will come back to your personal philosophy. Are you really so sure you will win? You’ve yet to see Parth Gul or Manu Shah really show what they are capable of. I’ll acknowledge that you’ve managed your mana well and could greatly strengthen your magic through channeling, but I have my doubts that will be enough against practiced duelists. How can you be so certain? What are you hiding?”

  “I do have a few abilities I haven’t used yet.”

  The sides of her mouth curled up into a grin. “Show me. I promise you that your secrets won’t leave this room.”

  “I… If I can prove it to you, will you help me?”

  “Not necessarily, but if you can’t prove your worth, then we certainly won’t.”

  Giving her a nod, I looked around the room, realizing it was too small for what I had in mind. I also found Jale’s maidservant was still standing at the open door and had heard everything I’d said. I gave her an uncomfortable smile, then told them I’d need more room.