Well, it has been almost an hour since I have run away from the inn. I have been sneaking through the city dodging the bloodfire gang. Well, I will be followed by them soon enough, but I have some time to prepare now at least.

  Even if vampire grunts can sense blood mana, it is not something that they can do easily. At least someone more combat-oriented like that lady will not be able to do it. I have heard stories about the vampires at the court though and the stuff that they can do with blood mana. There is no way that I am underestimating them.

  Right now I am in an abandoned lodge quite far away from the enemy and the inn. The owner of this place was the very first victim of the gang. This way even if I were to demolish the building when the enemy will come to fight me, there is nobody to care about it.

  I am on the first floor of the building, in what I have to assume is the tavern of the lodge. The place is perfect. Anyone's entry into this place will be quite obvious to me and there is plenty of space for me to fight here. (I just chucked all the tables to the side.)

  The fight is inevitable. They should be coming anytime now. Well, that is why I have an ace in the hole for this fight. I sit down on the floor, feeling the orb of black metal I have stashed in my shoes.

  Trevor has got his hand on a pretty rare formation this far north. It's called the void bomb. It is supposed to create a mist in which all the senses are blocked completely. The people stuck in it feel as if they are stuck in an endless void. It is a class eight formation, but it will easily have the cost of a class seven formation. This close to the hexmountain, it would cost even more.

  I could have used it during the infiltration but that would have been a pretty poor use of such a formation. The thing with this formation is that you should be able to pick the battlefield to use it. That was the enemy's home ground.

  One problem is that this is a double-edged sword. I can just as easily get affected by the void bomb. Another problem is it takes a few moments to activate. Vampires are sharp enough to dodge it if they realize what I am doing.

  Still, if they get trapped in it, there will be little that I will need to do. Escaping the void is nearly impossible unless you are really lucky. You can only escape by accidentally walking away from its edges or when the mana powering it is over. Regardless of which occurs, this will take me at least ten minutes. Granted I don't get stuck in it myself.

  That will be enough for me to disappear into the sewers. That is another benefit of this place. There is an opening to the sewers here from which I can make a quick escape. It might reveal the fact that the sewers are how the organization has been moving about, but it is worth it. That is why this is the backup plan.

  It is quite simple, if a bit risky. I am going to be the bait that will attract all the vampires to me. Right now they simply cannot ignore my presence. Vampire clans are nearly legendary for their infighting. If a clan is doing something, you will find its opposing clan somewhere nearby trying to make it fail. I was transformed when I killed the lady.

  Trevor and I assume that she thinks of me as a suicidal attacker of some clan. She did keep calling me a half-converted mutt. I have to assume that the same thought has been forwarded to the Bloodfire gang.

  Right now I will transform using the sword, pushing out my mana like a beacon for the bloodfire gang. Fully converted grunts can sense blood mana, in a fashion. It is much weaker than what their masters can achieve though.

  To complete the plan, I will be acting as bait to the enemy while Trevor will sneak into the place and free the people. They certainly won't be expecting me to have an ally. (Even if they did, I am starting to realize that Trevor has a bag of tricks.) Right now I have fully stopped any restriction on my sword my sword pumps blood mana into me. The lady that I have just escaped from should be able to detect me quite easily.

  If they knew that I was of the legion, I would have been a better bait. I don't know if I would have been able to survive their fury though. Let's just say that my troop has garnered quite a reputation for hunting vampires. Knowing about me would drive them into a frenzy.

  (After about fifteen minutes.)

  Well, here they are. The first thing that I can confirm is that it is two enemies. One is coming down the only set of stairs to the roof, (which is quite creaky, I must add.). The other just threw a rock through a window and is climbing in from below. At the very least stealth does not seem to be a skill of theirs. That is good because stealthy vampires are the worst.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  The lady is the first to find me. She comes at me the instant that she locates me.c I don't allow her to build momentum as I attack her.

  In a few moments, I hold the upper hand. (What, the only reason my performance was so bad in my previous fight was that my transformation was delayed.) She does have training, but the court is more a place of intrigue than fighting. She might be physically stronger than me but my skill with the sword is greater.

  I don't get to keep it up though as the second vampire joins the attack soon. It is a man, who is thankfully using his claws. If they had another artifact I would be screwed. I am barely able to get in a strike into the bastard's side, as his claws aim for my heart. I block using my hand while stabbing one of his legs.

  I can feel a string of vital mana flowing from the man to me. If before the fusion the vital mana extracted string was a single string. Now it is like four or five of those strings have merged to form a new and stronger string. The amount of vital mana that I am getting now is way more than I could before. It could also be because a vampire has more vital mana than is normal.

  I jump back taking a defensive position. We stare at each other for a while after which the lady strikes finally. I block her sword, as the man tries to sneak behind me. He is aiming for my heart, which I dodge by ducking.

  For a second, I had the hope that the man would end up hitting the lady, but even she jumped to the side, barely dodging it. At least the two people seem to be pretty unfamiliar with each other. That gives me some benefit.

  (After a couple of minutes.)

  I have been keeping the two bastards quite busy for a while now.

  I gave up on offense completely as I danced around the tavern blocking and dodging. I exploit every bit of the unfamiliarity that the two people have with each other. They are just as oblivious to their surroundings. Honestly speaking, it is their inability to work together rather than my skill that has let me hold my own against the two.

  I will not be able to maintain this for long though. My mana expenditure in the fight has been constant. These two can be more conservative with their mana, though. As if that was not enough, I took an injury. It is a pretty small nick, which I heal by just passing mana over it.

  The lady's sword has taken on a greyish color by now. I assume that something quite deadly will happen if I get hit by that thing. This is going to be something other than my blood being absorbed. That is the mana of the earth element. This would be an ideal time to attack, but I am forced to dodge as the man appears to my side. I use the sword to block him.

  I feel a sharp pang of pain. The lady managed to sneak in an attack, in that while. The new effect of the sword seems to be petrification, as my skin begins to take on a greyish tone. I have to push mana into my wounds. The petrification is stalled temporarily for now. It takes me a constant stream of mana to push the mana out. With enough time I will be able to expel that mana but you can't meditate in a battlefield.

  And thus I begin to lose. I believe I hold a pretty formidable defense but that can only be confirmed by my enemy. I block both of them as much as possible but my mana is already approaching the bottom of the tank.

  In hindsight, maybe I did not need to fight for so long. I could have used the void bomb five minutes ago and escaped, but I kind of got lost in the fight. A person in the legion is supposed to be good at fighting, even if he has left it for years now. Still, The only thing that I was supposed to be doing was buying some time for Trevor to do his thing. I really should think about escape now. Well, I got an idea but it is going to be quite painful.

  I jump back, feeling my back hit the wall. Fuck, I can feel both of them charging in to take a swing. I duck down, not to dodge the enemy's blow (I have reached a point where that might not be possible.) but to reach my shoes.

  The lady redirects her blade right into my back. The Sword is lodged solidly in my back. I can feel my flesh beginning to petrify as I pour all of my remaining mana into the block of black metal in my hand. I can feel the thing activate in my hand.

  I seriously hope that I have not calculated the range wrong. I throw the block at the two people, who as I expected bolted backward away from me. Well, I had accounted for that. The black metal suddenly expands forming a sphere of pure blackness. It seems to be devouring the very light in the world. Turns out I did calculate the range wrong. The sphere has formed up right next to me, close enough that I can see the sphere eat up my nose.

  Almost in fear, I take a step backward hitting the wall behind me. My nose is still there thankfully, but I still keep moving. Pulling out the lady's sword I can feel her sword become dormant in my hands. I move away from the place. After all, knowing my luck I am sure that the two people will make their way out of the void any second.

  The injury in my back is pretty serious, even without the petrification. I can keep it from getting worse by channeling vital mana. The petrification has not stopped completely. So I cycle my vital mana just enough to form an equilibrium (just enough to stop any further petrification). Anything beyond this will take meditation to remove. Just that takes a significant chunk of my remaining mana.

  I hope that the organization does not make me deal with more headaches like this. Even if they do, at the very least I got a magical tool from this endeavor. A vampire artifact at that. Thinking this I begin to hobble, going to the sewer entrance that is hidden in this place.

  I am telling you, if after all of this Trevor ends up failing at his task. I am going to personally strangle him.