(Three Weeks Later)
The three weeks I have spent in the Sand Grotto, nothing has happened, we went into the dungeon and killed Esene or Cogons. The Cogons were these bird like beast, weren't that strong, easily killed.
At the moment we were sitting around the fire, it was Callias, Samantha, Victoria, Jasmine, and me. The other Twin Horns were watching the sparring matches going on at the edge of the camp. I was thinking about getting up and going over it.
Callias was kicking sand into the fire. "Stop, you are going to put the fire out." Samantha told him from the seat next to me.
"My bad." Callias sent her a smile. "Want to go over and join them." Callias turned to me and looked at the crowd of soldiers gathered together.
"I'll go." I said, and he stood up. "Anyone else?"
"I'm good." Victoria told us.
"Us three girls will stay here." Samantha nodded her head at the group.
"I'll come." Jasmine stood up.
"Ahh come on." Samantha pouted.
"Haha." Callias laughed. "Sorry, Samantha, guess we are stealing Jasmine away from your girl time." Not like Jasmine was going to talk about girl things with them.
"Shut it, Cal." Samantha threw her hands up, and the three of us started to walk to the crowd of people. I didn't have my mask on, only my cloak. I couldn't wear that thing all the time, it got hot under it.
"I wonder who's fighting." Callias said out loud. "I thought I saw Liam of House Clearwater gearing up."
Who the hell was that? "Is he strong?" I asked.
"Ehh." Callias made a weird sound.
"No." Jasmine responded, and when we arrived, we found an opening in the crowd and stood, and watched the current fight going on. "It's not Liam, I don't know these two."
"Me either." Callias said as well.
One had blonde hair and was fighting with an ax. He wasn't that muscular, but he definitely wasn't weak.
His opponent who had brown hair and looked like a stick, was using a sword that was emitting a grassy aura. The closer I looked at his ears, it was an elf.
The two fought, exchanging blows, but at the end of the battle, the elf won. They didn't use any spells that could damage the base we were in. However, watching them fight made me wonder if they were considered strong among these people. I could literally take them both down in seconds, not that I wanted to showboat about that.
"Anyone else want to fight?" Some guys with orange hair that was short and wavy walked out to the center as the two fighters left. I knew this guy, it was Vick. He ran these things, so no one got seriously injured. "Anyone?"
"I will." A girl walked out; I didn't know who she was.
"And who are you." Vick asked her.
"Fiona of house Vebonior." Yeah, I had no clue who she was. Fiona had long brown hair that reached down her shoulders, and I could see she had brown eyes too.
"Who would like to fight Fiona?" Vick looked around the crowd, but not one singular person raised their hand. Where they scared to fight a girl in front of these people? "Come on, there has to be some."
No one spoke up. "Jasmine, you should fight her." Callias whispered, I wonder where the other Twin Horns were at.
"No." Jasmine said. "I don't like fighting like this for fun." That made sense to me, I thought the same way.
"How about we get the kid in here." I looked back at Vick and Fiona, they were looking at me, everyone was looking at me. "Let's see just how strong you are."
"Haha." Callias laughed. "Go on, show them." The look on his face pissed me off for some reason, his little snarky grin.
I shook my head no. "I rather now." I announced to the whole group.
"Are you scared?" Vick asked. "We want to see just how strong the kid who saved the squad of the Iron Tombs is." I waved my hand, saying no still.
"Go on, Veer." Callias insisted. "Just don't kill her."
I rolled my eyes and started walking out, everyone started to chatter. I turned my head and could see the Twin Horns watching me, they all gave me a thumbs up. I guess they wanted to see me fight this girl, I was surprised that they didn't stop this from happening.
I activated "Blood Oath" and stopped next to Vick. Let's make this quick and show everyone who I was.
"Veer verse Fiona, same rules as usual." Vick started to back up, Fiona drew her weapon, which was a sword, she was an augmenter. I didn't draw my weapon, I just stood there. "Veer, draw your weapon."
"I don't need it." I told him honestly. "Just start it."
Fiona didn't get angry by this, but the people watching, all started to say things about how I was being too cocky.
"Fine, start when you are ready." Vick waved his hand down.
Fiona shot toward me, and when she got have way I stopped her in her tracks, making it so she couldn't move. Everyone fell silent really quick, and I walked up to her, and conjured a blue flame in my hand, then stopped in front her.
She looked at me in horror. "Why can't I move?"
"Sorry, just yield, this was why I didn't want to fight you." I held the flame in front of her face. "It's over." She didn't even have a chance to use any magic.
"I yield." Fiona announced and I released her, no one said a word. Fiona and I exchanged a handshake, then I looked at Vick.
"Are you happy with my performance?" I glared at him, and everyone remained silent. I started to walk away, back to a smiling Callias.
"How did he do that?" A man said.
"I don't understand." Another person spoke out.
"Let me fight the boy." Some called out and I stopped in front of Callias and Jasmine. "Let's see if he can do it to someone of real strength."
"Haha." Callias pointed for me to go back out.
"Uhh." I spun around and walking out was a muscular guy holding two axes in each hand. He had an angry look to him, and he had a bald head. He was glaring at me for some reason. "Fine."
"I'll show you what real strength is brat." He snarled at me. "I am Brian a soldier for House Wykes." I stared at him, not caring whose house he was a part of. "What are you looking at?!"
"Our we not fighting?" I said coldly. "I'm looking at my opponent for the next ten seconds." He got angrier.
"Let's start this Vick!" His axes lit up with fire. "I'll defeat the brat." I rolled my eyes. "He's a bit too cocky for me."
"Don't kill him, Brian." Vick told him.
"I won't, I'll just teach him a lesson." He got into a fighting stance, and I stood there like I did before. "Go ahead, Vick."
Vick waved his hand down. "Start." Before Brian could even move, I disrupted his mana, canceling out his fire on his axes, then numbed his hands so he dropped the two axes.
"I'm waiting, what lesson are you teaching me." I had him drop to his knees. Everyone was confused and in shock. I am sure this Brian guy was known by them all, and they all probably thought he was strong.
I stared down at him coldly. "I-I yield." He stuttered, fearing my abilities. "How are you doing this?" Not everyone knew I was a Blood Deviant, but the ones who did, knew what I could do.
I walked over to Callias, holding Brian on the ground until I got further away. I turned around and then released my grip on him. "You didn't have to do him like that." Callias placed a hand on my shoulder. "I don't think anyone will be challenging you anymore."Â I then deactivated "Blood Oath."
Brian got up and walked over to his friends, they were all in shock still. "Well, that was unexpected." Vick scratched his head. "I guess we know why you are here." He shot me an approving nod. "Let's call it a day, everyone should rest up."
"You did well." Jasmine said as we started to walk back to the tents. The soldiers around us gave me a cautious look. "Your abilities are incredible."
"Yeah, they are." Callias had an arm around me now. "That's my partner for you!" He pulled me closer. "I'm happy I don't have to fight against you."
I pushed away from him. "That was annoying, I don't like fighting like that." I only like sparring with people who are as strong as me or stronger. "We are going into the dungeon tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah, we are." Callias answered. "I can't wait to find the mutant, didn't get to fight the last one." He paused and thought back to it. "I was happy you took that one down, the Taragree was so big, that would have been my last battle for sure."
"It didn't really put up that much of a fight." That was the truth, I never felt like I would lose. "I did have to use my second phase though."
"Yeah, your red hair and the red runes that looked like blood marks but lit up. You looked like a badass to be honest." Callias said as we arrived back at the fire, Samantha and Victoria were still sitting there.
"You did well." Helen's voice said from behind me. "I was worried you were going to kill him, good job restraining yourself."
"Thanks, Helen." I turned to her, and all the Twin Horns were there.
"You fought?" Samantha asked me.
"Yeah, he did." Callias answered for me. "He won with ease in both fights."
"Of course, he did." Victoria said. "No one here can defeat him head on."
"Little demon." Adam sent me a smile. "You did good defeating Brian." He was actually complementing me, while calling me a demon.
"Adam isn't a fan of Brian." Angela spoke up, then sat down next to me. "You were incredible, so cool."
"Thanks, Angela." I sent her a smile.
"You were so calm the whole time." As Angela spoke Durden sent me a thumbs up, I nodded my head at him.
Everyone started to talk then about our next dungeon run, and I zoned out, thinking about other things.
For example, I was thinking about when Arthur returns from training with the Asuras. The Twin Horns traveling with me could change things, not that it matters, but in the novel I'm not there to see him sitting on top of the pile of mana beast.
I would imagine that there is a high chance that we will get relocated to that dungeon eventually to help out, but who knows.
I also thought about new things I could do with my blood magic, like Aldir said, it would be nice to have another trick or two up my sleeve. However, I couldn't think of anything, I was waiting for an idea to pop into my head. I didn't know when that would happen, but hopefully it was soon.
I was curious about my Serpent's Will as well. Was there a chance it had another phase? Did my human body prevent me from activating it? I still couldn't compete with a Scythe, that was the truth. I might be able to fight against a Retainer, but I couldn't say for sure.
I needed to get to white core as soon as possible, I would do what I did to get to silver core, but Aldir said it could destroy my core. I took his word for it; I did need a week of recovery. My insides felt like they were on fire for a while.
There was something I couldn't wait for though, and it was seeing my brother again. He'll return in about a year in a half, and that's when the real battles are fought.