Point-of-View: Fuo Wesroh

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  "Is this all you are capable of now, Atticus? How pitifully weak you have become!" Laughed Renwick Seain, as he deflected my arrows and drove his claws towards my chest, which I narrowly evaded.

  "I'm not Atticus!" I snapped, forming a red ice blade and swinging it up at him, which he deflected with his tail, shattering the blade.

  I formed a dagger with my free hand and flung it at him as I sprang back, he knocked it away with his claws before zipping up and swooping down at me, slashing his claws towards my face. I deflected them by swinging my tail in front of me, before flying up quickly.

  I had initially kept my distance and fired arrows at him in my normal state for as long as possible, but it soon became clear that he'd kill me if I didn't transform, in fact, he definitely would have killed me if Instructor Tabbs had not intervened with her sonic attacks, so I entered Vampire Mode……it has been twenty seconds since then, I only have fifteen seconds left……

  "Not if you let me take control, I can extend the time limit by an additional fifteen seconds!"

  Shut up, this is my fight……but fine, I guess I'll give you control when I've almost used up my time limit, so till then, let me handle this!

  "……fine, but do not die."

  Tch, who do you think I am?

  But he's right, I cannot let this carry on……I need to do something different to change the tide of this battle. As he shot towards me and closed in, I spat out an ice needle from my mouth, which he deflected, but slowed down slightly as he did……in that instant, I shot forward and got in close, extending my claws and driving them into his chest, before rapidly channeling my Mana into his body.

  He let out a gasp and coughed out blood as several ice shards pierced and ripped into his body, before he swung his tail at me, forcing me to leap back. He then growled angrily and fired a barrage of Blood Magic blasts at me to keep me at bay, while tearing into his own torso and pulling out my ice shards with hisses and gasps of pain……I see, he can't heal himself with those inside him……

  That means……I can beat him! But I can't get close while he's firing these blasts at me……they weren't very powerful since he wasn't charging them up, but they would still do some damage if they struck me……I wasn't having any trouble evading them, but he was running down my time limit way too quickly.

  Suddenly, something seemed to hit him, as he clutched his ears with a yell and ceased his attack. Instructor Tabbs, she fired that sonic attack at him again……but she's busy helping everyone else too, so I can't rely on her too much and put too big of a burden on her.

  The Vampire had managed to pull out all the ice shards I materialized inside him, but he wasn't fully healed yet, and his ears were bleeding as well, thanks to Instructor Tabbs's attack. He shouldn't be able to hear right now, and his ears won't heal till his torso does, this is my best chance to attack……

  "That is starting to get annoying……I must kill that one," Growled the Vampire, his gaze directed at the instructor.

  I swiftly fired a barrage of arrows down at him, five seconds left for my time limit. One of my arrows pierced through his throat and another through his right shoulder, but he managed to deflect the rest, before letting out a growl of fury and shooting up towards me with an enraged expression and charging up a Blood Magic blast, when suddenly, something came flying towards him from his left, crashing onto him and slamming him onto the wall on the left side of the room. His Blood Magic hit the wall and burst through it, he and whatever crashed into him falling into the other side.

  Wait, was that……Instructor Tabbs? Did one of the other Vampires attack her? Oh, no, my time limit is over-! I automatically reverted to my normal form and plummeted down, my right shoulder painfully slamming onto the ground……I don't think I broke anything, but that was really painful nonetheless.

  "Fuo, perhaps we should switch now."

  Yeah, in a second.

  I stood up with a groan, before gritting my teeth and sprinting towards the wall as fast as I could……the spot where the wall had broken wasn't very high up, I could probably jump through it in my normal state……every second of Vampire Mode was crucial now, I can't waste any of the time limit at all!

  "Hm, good thinking, but we should hurry."

  I know, I am hurrying!

  I reached the wall and sprang up with all my strength, grabbing onto the bottom of the opening and climbing into it. My eyes then widened in shock and confusion, as I saw Instructor Tabbs being approached by……me?

  "Are you alright?" Inquired my lookalike, walking up to her and helping her up.

  "Yes, I……what was that?" She replied with a dazed groan.

  "What are you doing!? Hurry, that is Renwick's Cross, Mimic-!" Atticus began yelling inside my head.

  Oh, no……!

  "Instructor, get away, quickl-!" I started to warn her, but……

  "Too late, human!" Declared the Vampire, as he drive his hand up and pierced her throat with his claws before she could react, "Ahh, a fairly potent life force, not bad at all."

  He then tossed her lifeless body aside as it slumped, returning to his normal appearance with a laugh.

  "Fuo, hurry, give me contr-!"

  I didn't listen, as rage took over me and I jumped down towards the Vampire with a furious yell, forming an ice spear in my hands.

  "Stop, you idiot-!"

  "How foolish……," Chuckled the Vampire, piercing my shoulders with his claws and shattering my blade with his tail, "Hm, I do wonder how your life force will taste, considering that Atticus resides with y- arghh!"

  I cut him off by jamming my fingers into his eyes and blasting my Mana into my fingertips before he could start consuming my life force, shards of ice bursting through his body as I drained my Mana at a rapid rate, ripping his insides apart more and more by the second……

  Until, finally, he went up in red flames and disappeared, one of my shards breaking his core. I collapsed onto my knees, as the ice shards I formed inside him fell to the ground and shattered. I used up nearly all my Mana just now……I ignored the dizziness and pain and crawled over to Instructor Tabbs, placing my hand on her chest……it was too late, her heart wasn't beating……she was dead.

  "Fuo, heal yourself, you are bleeding."

  It's all my fault, if I had just given you control immediately instead of worrying about every little second of my time limit……

  "This is not your fault, Fuo……casualties are unavoidable in battle."

  Yeah, I know that! But……she didn't have to die, I could have prevented her death……instead of getting confused when I saw that Vampire copy my appearance, I should have realized it was the power of a Cross and warned her sooner……how stupid could I get, only his appearance was the same as mine, he was still wearing the same outfit as before.

  "In that case, it is my fault for not informing you sooner……and it was rather dark in here, not to mention that he took off his cape as well, making it hard to see his outfit in the dark."

  But still, I……

  "I understand your guilt and regret……but you cannot change the past, and I do not wish to sound cold, but this is not the time to mourn……do that after you achieve victory in this battle."

  I just……no, you're right……

  "Use a Mana Orb and healing spell, then return to the hall on the other side of the wall, see if any of the others require assistance, and then……prevent anyone else from dying."

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  Point-of-View: Azyl Roake

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  "Guess we're fighting this one," I remarked to Persia with a sigh, as Kuro went after the other Evil Number.

  Atticus called him Five, if I remember right, he can make upto four copies of himself, though that'd divide his power evenly between the number of copies plus himself.

  "Yeah. Okay, I'll attack him at close-range, you back me up, 'kay?" Replied Persia, looking at me inquiringly.

  "Fine by me. It's not like I can use my large-scale attacks in here since we're not the only ones fighting in this place."

  She then crouched on all fours and unleashed the full extent of her Retractable Anima……but something was very, very different. Okay, so that explains why she looked a bit different, as well as why there were a couple of holes in her leather armor by her shoulder blades, she had gotten Vampire powers somehow……not sure how, but I'm guessing Kuro had done something.

  Black fur sprouted all over her body, along with red flecks, as wings grew out of her back and her tail got a sharp edge at the end of it.

  "What, another one……tch, how many more of you humans are going to steal our powers?" Growled the Vampire, before laughing and adding, "In that case, I will just have to kill you and reduce those numbers."

  "Is that right? Well, in that case, I'd like to see you try!" Retorted Persia, before sprinting towards him at a rapid pace with her legs instead of all fours, wind swirling around her palms.

  She sprang up as he fired a Blood Magic blast at her, before going up even higher with a flap of her wings and then swooping down towards him. He sprang back to get out of her reach, when she responded by firing off a burst of Propulsion from her feet to reach him faster, driving her left palm towards his face and her right palm towards his chest as she closed in.

  He was really fast, but she had caught him off-guard and he couldn't dodge this, instead twisting his body across to try and minimize the damage, while swinging his tail up at her. The wind in her palms then rapidly expanded, shredding a hole in the middle of his chest and destroying the right side of his face completely. She deflected his tail with her own, though just barely.

  He let out a tortured cry of pain and stumbled back, before hurriedly spreading his wings out, his body starting to regenerate. I swiftly tapped my foot on the ground, sending a wave of ice towards him, and before he could fly up, my ice reached and encased his feet, stopping him. Persia's claws then extended out and she began to swing them towards his head, aiming to slash off the top.

  Suddenly, a red light enveloped the Vampire, Persia quickly sprang back instinctively, as the light split in two, before fading to reveal……two identical copies of the Vampire. Even his clothes, down to the tears and rips, were perfectly replicated. And when he got encased in that red light, it split outwards, meaning that he was free from my ice. So that's how his Cross works.

  I quickly shattered the ice and sent the shards shooting towards them, but both copies flew up to evade my projectiles, firing Blood Magic to evaporate any that were about to hit them. When he was one, he would have been able to evade my ice without needing to blast it, I had deliberately fired the projectiles as a slightly slower speed to make sure. No doubt about it, they're definitely slower and weaker than they were before splitting up. Suddenly, something shot past us, and crashed onto the wall at the back of the room……is that another Vampire?

  She had a furious look on her face, wedging herself out of the wall and zipping towards Vi before her injuries could even finish healing. That distracted both copies of Five, as I swiftly fired large, sharp icicles up at them. They both evaded, but the moment they did, I snapped my fingers, turning the masses of ice into large steam explosions, both of them letting out cries of pain as they got burnt.

  Persia then shot up towards one of them with her wings, compressed wind spheres in both her palms, while I fired ice needles up at the other one, who was countering using Blood Magic shots to evaporate my ice projectiles.

  Suddenly, they both began glowing red again, before the two red lights shot towards each other and combined, the two copies re-merging. As the glow faded, the Vampire shot towards Persia, I quickly fired an icicle up at him while she shot herself down with Propulsion and landed beside me.

  "I feel a bit cramped in here with everyone fighting……let's lure him out of this room and then fight him, you won't have to worry about holding back your ice," Suggested Persia as I brought up a wall of ice in front of us to block the Blood Magic blasts he was firing at us.

  "Sure, I'm fine with that. And I could use a bit more freedom too. So, which was do we lure him?"

  "How about through those doors? The ones opposite from the doorway we came through."

  I had no objections.

  "Okay."

  I fired a massive blast of steam up at the Vampire, startling him as he got burnt by it, before Persia grabbed my shoulder and shot towards the doors rapidly, firing a blast of wind from her mouth to break down the doors. Just as we wanted, the Vampire was following after us, firing swirling blasts of Blood Magic at us while I countered with large shards of ice, keeping him at bay.

  As we went through the doorway, we found ourselves in a wide space, staircases on either side and a corridor straight ahead, which presumably led to the throne room. She then put me down and flew up, as the Vampire approached us cautiously.

  He shot straight up as I sent a wave of ice barreling towards him, making it extend up and follow after him as he tried to get away. He suddenly began glowing red and split into two again, one of them grabbed the other's wrist, spun him around and flung him towards me, right as my ice pierced through the one that flung the other.

  The one trapped in my ice began charging up Blood Magic blasts in each hand while the other came zipping towards me with his claws extended, Persia swooped down on him with wind swirling around her palm, when he swiftly rejoined the two copies of himself and fired powerful Blood Magic blasts at each of us.

  Persia narrowly avoided the one aimed at her by firing off Propulsion to her right, the blast grazing her right shoulder, while I formed a thick wall of ice in front of myself, which nearly absorbed all of the impact, but traces of his blast burst through and struck my arms as I crossed them in front of myself defensively.

  Should have formed a thicker wall of ice, but at least I had only taken minor damage……ow, it still hurts a lot though, Blood Magic-inflicted damage really stings. I need to analyze the way his Cross works, can't let him keep catching us off-guard……Kuro has told me during training sessions that successfully analyzing an opponent's abilities could lead to an easier win, and at the time I thought it was too much work, but right now, I wasn't exactly feeling too lazy, since I could die if I was.

  Let's see, he can split and rejoin in an instant, and if one of his copies while split forms a Blood Magic attack, it won't dissipate when he rejoins……the copy that was caught on my ice had been charging up Blood Magic while the other shot towards me and lured Persia in……and once we were both within range, he rejoined with the other copy.

  That means he can control exactly where the copies rejoin, and even if one copy is trapped or restrained, that no longer matters after they start glowing red, they must be turning intangible before rejoining. On paper, his power to split himself into multiple copies didn't seem like a very useful ability since his strength would also get divided, but he used his Cross really well, giving himself a really unique and unorthodox method of escape and evasion, not to mention the way he used it to draw us in.

  "I assume you imagined that you would be able to use your attacks without restraint out here, thus giving yourselves a better chance of defeating me, yes?" Remarked the Vampire, before adding with a smirk, "Do not underestimate me, foolish humans! Just because you inflicted some degree of damage to me, do not get cocky, for I am yet to get serious! I was not a part of the attacks on the other nations around Silvland, therefore, this is my first real fight in over two centuries……now that I am warmed up, I shall start to fight in earnest……are you ready to die, humans?"

  Right, we're fighting an Evil Number, of course it's not going to be that easy. What a pain, looks like we'll need to work hard to get this fight over with……

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  Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

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