I used my flames to propel myself further back and then used earth magic to shoot more spikes at him to gain some distance. But instinctively, I immediately knew that had been a mistake as soon as I’d fired the spell. My mind, however, was so out of order due to the sudden, hectic shift in the pace of battle that I hadn’t realized that his full speed was faster than I could keep up with. Before I even began casting the earth magic, he’d already moved above me.
He grinned as he swung his blade down from over his head. I didn’t have time to move out of its path with my flames, so I only had one option.
“Reset.”
But of course, I knew this wasn’t a great option. Reset brought the caster back to a set position in a set stance. If the opponent read it, they could attack you and put you at a huge disadvantage before you even had a chance to do anything.
That was why upon reappearing at the center of the arena, I focused everything into hardening my scales. As expected, I was greeted by his crimson eyes, his animalistic grin, and a blade with razor-sharp fangs in my face.
“Rrrgh!” I grunted as I intercepted it with my arms. I felt myself being pushed back, and even with all my power being diverted to defense, I could feel the teeth threatening to break through my scales.
“You really are special! I can count on my hand the number of people who can defend against my blade when it’s awakened!”
“I feel so honored,” I said sarcastically.
“But how much longer can you keep this up for?!”
And then, what ensued was a one-sided beatdown where I could do nothing but defend against his flurry of strikes. There wasn’t a single opportunity for me to launch a counterattack. Despite the incredible size of his blade, he was able to swing it as if it were weightless.
I can’t keep this up forever. I can feel his attacks beginning to crack through my defenses. I’d even considered using the beastkin’s techniques, but I didn’t see any hope of them getting me out of this situation. In this case, there was just one last thing I could do. It was incredibly risky, but if I could pull it off, it’d give me enough time to hopefully turn things around.
I’d been observing the layers of the barrier he’d erected while we fought. For an average or even advanced mage, it’d take much longer than the duration of this battle to accurately analyze and break down its exact composition, but with Cognitive Advantage, it took me almost no time at all. From what I could tell, all the layers of the barrier would only dispel if the initial caster commanded it to or perished, but since neither of those was going to happen, I had to rely on an alternative method.
There was a very, very tiny vulnerability in each layer. It was hard to even call them vulnerabilities though because unless you were an extremely talented mage with impeccable timing and precision, there was no chance that you’d be able to line up the shot through all of them.
I could though. And when I break through the vulnerability, in the absolute best-case scenario, the barrier could be weakened enough that it’d be dispelled, but the odds of that happening were extremely low. At the very least, though, I should be able to create a temporary hole and use that opening to quickly connect to my mana cache and gain a huge boost of energy, hopefully enough to stand on equal footing with him.
With my dwindling mana, though, I only had one shot since it’d take literally every last drop of mana I had to fire the initial spell. I wasn’t sure if he’d realized it, but I’d at least been able to guide his attacks to push me toward the spot I needed to be at. Now all that was left was to gauge the exact timing.
I wasn’t feeling very optimistic that I’d get the chance to though. He showed no signs of relenting, and the majority of my concentration was focused on making sure I intercepted his attacks. I barely had the mental bandwidth to think of anything else. It was almost like when I’d fought the Blade Saint in the future.
Then, I remembered something. This vampire had said that he was the “true Blade Saint,” which would imply that there was a “fake Blade Saint.” Could that somehow be the human I’d been fighting? I didn’t feel as if that could be true, though.
This vampire was no doubt strong. Even if I’d been at full strength, he could’ve put up a good fight, but there was no way he could do the same amount of damage as the Blade Saint of the future had done. The human I’d fought with in this arena was still green, but despite fighting with nothing but his own physical strength and reactions, he’d been able to keep up with me.
Taking that into account, if he’d used the relic, he would’ve easily overpowered me. Somehow, I got the feeling that even with the relic, this vampire would be able to marginally become strong enough to take down at most one elder dragon but not an entire tribe of us.
I glanced at the Blade Saint, and he was still in the same position as when I’d knocked him out of the way. He was blankly staring at my battle with the vampire, his hands trembling, blood slightly trickling from his neck. He’s...afraid? Sure, this vampire was frighteningly strong, but the amount of fear the Blade Saint was exuding was unnatural.
“Worried about him?” the vampire asked, smirking. “You should really focus on yourself though. I can tell; your defenses are almost gone. Just a few more minutes and you’ll be completely out of mana.”
He was right. Awakening my elder blood, casting all these spells, hardening my defenses, and trying to heal—I was using mana faster than I could regenerate it.
Even so, I wasn’t about to accept defeat. I’d come too far. There was too much on my shoulders for me to roll over, especially to a vampire. Besides, if the Blade Saint remained in that petrified state, then perhaps after I dealt with this nuisance, killing him would be easy, as unsatisfying as it’d be.
I continued to block this vampire’s attacks and waited for the opportune time. Finally, he took a large swing at me, and I knew that was my chance. Here goes nothing. I immediately dodged and channeled every last drop of mana into my hands.
I knew that this had been a bait. He’d purposely made a large swing to give me an opening so that I’d lower my guard and think that I could attack him. But even so, if I was to pull off my plan, the trade-off of allowing him to cut me was one that I was willing to accept.
“Inferno lance!” I compressed my flames and fortified the lance with as much mana as I could before shooting it forward. It narrowly missed the vampire’s face but flew straight into the vulnerability in the barrier, and then the next one, and the next one. It’s working!
“You missed,” he grinned as he swung his blade up, slicing clean through my outstretched hands.
Though I’d known the pain would be coming, I still found myself ill-prepared for it.
“Aaaargh!” I screamed out. My severed hands danced in the air, the blood from both them and my stumps stayed suspended in the air before being sucked into his blade.
“This blood...!” His eyes widened.
I didn’t have time to focus on him or my pain though. My plan had succeeded; the flame lance had broken through, creating a very temporary and small hole in the barrier. Immediately, I called upon my mana cache, and it instantly transferred its mana into me.
In my human state with this limiter on, I had but a small fraction of my original strength. But with the mana I’d retrieved, I’d now returned to about five percent of my full power. But still, that should be enough—or it should’ve been.
Just as I prepared myself to launch my next attack, I found myself on my knees, and then on the ground, paralyzed. What’s going on? My eyes darted around frantically. I could feel the mana stored within me, but it was as if my brain had been disconnected from the rest of my body. Is this vampiric control? But it shouldn’t work on elder dragons!
He seemed completely unconcerned with my status though, and he continued to focus on the blood his blade had absorbed. “What...are you? I’ve tasted many types of blood in this realm, but none was like yours.” A look of ecstasy filled his face. “I must have more!” he said as he jammed his blade into my abdomen.
I could feel the teeth of the blade moving inside me, desperately trying to gouge out whatever they could to make my blood flow more. I let out a scream that I didn’t even know I was capable of producing. Was this really the end? The Blade Saint was just over there, and yet I was going to fall to a vampire completely unrelated to my quest for vengeance.
My arrogance was to blame. I’d arrogantly thought that I could take on this monster in my current state and then still kill the Blade Saint. Now, I was to die, not with my people but in the past, at the hands of a vampire—alone and unable to move or even speak. Father...everyone...I’m so sorry.
This was where my tale ended. Everything began to fade to black. The last thing I saw was the pitiful expression on the Blade Saint’s face as he watched from afar, still paralyzed.
I may not be able to serve you justice, but I hope from the bottom of my heart that you die a more horrible death than me.