CHAPTER NINE
Glimpse of Power
Bram had lost sciousness for only a moment, but when he came to, the prince was kneeling on the ground and spilling most of his lunto the dirt. Despite his dition though, Bram’s gaze was alert and searg.
As for Rowan, she was gone.
Bram seemed to recall seeiurn to mist as he bcked out. Strange how thick fog was beginning to rise from the ground to coil around his wrists and ankles soon after her disappearance.
[ALERT! [Status Emution Lv.1] was successful. Your status will temporarily be updated to reflect the boons earned from the target’s data. Please wait while the system performs the necessary calcutions…]“Gah!” Bram gasped.
The prince felt pain wrag his body as what seemed like a thousand volts of power had begun to stream into his veins, the blood vessels and unused magic circuits that spread throughout his form.
‘Ping!’
‘Ping!’
‘Ping!’
Notifications tio appear, but it was a struggle for Bram just to browse their tents.
WARNING! Your body is not strong enough to wield the power of an [^#% ^&]…Try as he might, he couldn’t uand the meaning of those words. With each attempt, more pain nced into his brain.
“Argh…”
…Only [1%] of the target’s status is useable. Be warned, you may accumute damage while the emution tinues.If even just one pert of Rowan’s power was transferred to him, he imagi would be more than enough to deal with whatever had made him wary. It had to be.
WARNING! You have no Magic Power [MP] to wield the target’s borrowed abilities. However, it is possible to use Health Points [HP] as a substitute… Would you like to switch to HP io use his life forpower an ability…this sounded a lot like blood magic. Bram had little choice but to take the risk, however, because he couldn’t argue morality with his sce if he was already dead.
[YES] [NO]“Fine…yes.”
ALERT! You may now use HP to wield your borrowed abilities. Be warned, each ability you use will drain you of your health. The strohe ability, the more health you’ll lose.“A double-edged sword…this will be fun.”
WARNING! The strain of emution is weakening your body further. Your Stamina Points [SP] are being used to teract this effect.“Phoebus’ cock…You’re full of ill tidings.”
ALERT! The system is still calg the [1%] increase in your status. Refrain from taking a while this is in progress.Unfortunately, it seemed Bram wouldn’t be able to follow the system’s reendation. For he now saw the cause of his earlier trepidation. Four men appeared from behind the aute—and Bram k least one of them.
“Baer…”
The aute’s broad-shouldered an was in the lead, although it didn’t look like Baer had arrived to help his master. The pt on the an’s face was too noticeable. Nor did Baer try to hide the bearded axe he held in each of his hands.
“Now I have proof…there are spies in my household.”
“Sorry, Yhness,” the pale-skinned an grinned yellowih at Bram, “but we’ve been promised a lot of griffins t you in. Alive, of course, but it doesn’t mean we ’t get rough if you’re unwilling to cooperate.”
If Bram wasn’t in such pain, he would’ve spat a curse at the traitor. All he could do was show Baer a vulgar gesture he’d learned from his otherworldly visions—the dastardly middle finger.
“What’s he doing?” asked the oily-haired, gruff-looking fellow to the right of Baer.
“I don’t know,” replied the bald, heavy-bearded bloke to the left of the an. “Maybe he’s trying to point up…?”
“Why doesn’t he use his pointing fihen?” the oily-haired fellued.
The bald bloke shrugged. “Maybe that’s how fancy imps do it?”
Yes, the meaning of Bram’s gesture was lost in transtion, although the prince didn’t mind if they didn’t uand how he’d just expressed his aoward them. Flipping them with the middle finger just made him feel better.
“What’s wrong with him?” asked the fourth man, a blonde youth ieal gambeson that marked him as one of Bram’s soldiers. “The imp looks like he’s dying…”
Aside from Baer, Bram’s other three would-be-attackers all wore the pale blue-green colors of his household. The sight of these traitors caused the prince’s aiving him the strength to rise from the ground on shaky legs so he could face them properly.
“Warbringer’s balls,” whistled the oily-haired fellow, “looks like he ain’t dying then.”
With shaking fingers, Bram grasped the hilt of his sword. That was the limit of what he could achieve though. He hadn’t yet regaihe strength to uhe its bde.
“More like he’s spoiling for a fight,” the bald bloke chimed in. “He’s got more balls than I’ve heard, our ill-fated prince.”
He ughed out loud, and except for the blonde youth, the other traitors soon joined in on the merriment. It was a se of pt that Bram was quite familiar with. Still, he wasn’t such a patheti that he didn’t chafe at their sing.
“You best sider what you’re doing, Yhness.” Baer raised his right hand so that his bearded axe was level with Bram’s eyes. “We may be on folk, but we’ve got more magi our bohan you’ll ever know.”
The telltale sparks of sorcery fred out of Baer’s fingers just as a coat of fmes ed around the axe bde.
“Funnily enough…” the bald bloke drew his sword and then pois tip at the ground. In the sed, dirt rose from the earth to weave itself around the bde. “…we learned proper sorcery thanks to you wanting to train yuards, imp.”
“Aye, you trained us hard you did, but you didn’t pay us enough to die for you in a war.” The oily-haired fellow licked the bde of his dagger with his tongue and then used sorcery to coat its bde in frost made from spit. “You should’ve paid us more if you didn’t want to get stabbed in the back.”
Only the blonde youth hadn’t made a move to intimidate Bram. Despite the haze clouding his vision, the prince could see the hesitation on the boy’s face.
“Oi,” the oily-haired fellow gnced sideways at Baer,” didn’t you say there was a woman too?”
“Aye,” replied Baer. “A pretty oo pretty for an ill-fated prio be fooling around with.”
“She’s probably just using him just like those nob—”
A look from Baer silenced his oily-haired panion. Bram caught the look, and he could guess what was left unsaid.
“You’re betrayio the northern nobles,” he deduced.
All four men stiffened but said nothing.
“Never you mind, Imp,” replied the bald bloke after a brief bout of uneasy silence. “Now, tell us where the bitch is, and we might let you have fun with her when we’re done. Everyone deserves a st supper.”
His words made Bram ugh out loud. It was quickly stifled by the pain though.
“You would die…before you could…touch her,” he growled.
“Look at this daft fool”—the bald bloke poi Bram’s shaking legs—“trying to be all brave and noble when he’s nearly soiled his pants from fear.”
“Go to hell,” Bram hissed through gritted teeth.
“I re that’s where yoing, Imp,” the bald bloke chuckled.
“Enough, Barret,” Baer growled at the bald bloke. He gnced sideways at the oily-haired fellow. “Hans, tie him up. We’ve been standioo long already.”
A smiling Hans made slow deliberate steps toward Bram as if he wasn’t at all worried about the sword hanging from the prince’s waist.
“Best not try nothing, you hear?” Hans brandished his knife around, showing off the frost that coated its bde. “A si of this and you’ll be lucky if you only get frostbite.”
Bram wasn’t paying attention to Hans’ taunts though. He was far too busy looking at the notifications popping up around him.
ALERT! The system has fis calcutions. Your status has been temporarily updated.Along with this first window came relief. The pain finally subsided to a dull roar that Bram could tolerate enough to not impede his movements.
GRATULATIONS! A sedary job has been temporarily added to your status. You are now a [Blood Champion Lv.1]!Bram’s arms and legs stopped shaking. His ragged breathing stabilized too.
Being a [Blood Champion] fills you with power. Based on probability and threat assessment calcutions, your physical attributes are temporarily tripled.STRENGTH:60DEXTERITY:45STITUTION:36Bram could feel his muscles expanding, stretg the fabric of his clothes.
ALERT! Your HP and SP have temporarily increased.HEALTH POINTS (HP):360STAMINA POINTS (SP):600The haze that had trapped his mind was gooo.
ALERT! Emution will st for 2 minutes. Your body may receive penalties o ends.WARNING! Your SP is rapidly depleting due to your body’s inpatibility with [Blood Champion]. You will earn more fatigue with every a you take.Bram inhaled and exhaled, beginning the breathihod he’d been practig for years to calm his heart, steeling himself for what he had to do .
“You’re a handsome imp.” Hans licked his lips. “Tell me, you ever sucked a cock before, Imp?”
Perhaps if he’d been quicker about it, then Hans might have reached Bram before the prince could fully adapt to the ges in his body. However, Hans, like most men, uimated Bram. He thought that showing off a bit of sorcery was enough for the prio cower. Hans should have knower. Despite his many shortings, a griffin’s cub was still a griffin—and Bram was much different from who he was moments ago.
“You’ll like it.” Hans chuckled mischievously. “It’ll be the best thing you’ve ever—”
Hmmm, hmmm…
While humming a tune in his mind, Bram uhed his sword, and before Hans could react, the prince sliced into his foe’s midse. With his borrowed strength, Bram sent the bde out the other side of Hans as easily as if the traitor had been a sb of butter.
“Hans!” Baer roared, but his warning came too te.
Blood sprayed out in all dires as Hans’ upper body toppled over, leaving his lower half twitg for long seds before it fell limp on the ground too.
“Gah!”
The tune Bram had been humming was cut off as excruciating pain fred out of his wrist to climb up his shoulder like a lightning bolt rag through every nerve.
The half of his brain that hadn’t frozen from the sudden pain reized that he had overused his newfound strength. The bones of his sword arm were uo hahe strain of his borrowed power. As a result, Bram’s wrist was broken. So were three fingers from his right hand. Ihe only reasoayed scious was because the prince was unreasonably stubborn.
“You shitty imp!” Barret roared as he charged at Bram with his sword raised high. “I’m going to cut—”
All at ohe fog that g to their knees rose to cover their surroundings, hiding the prince from their sight.
This is all the aid I will provide… said a whisper in Bram’s mind. Remember, fortune favors the bold.
Rowan’s fog helped ceal the prince from his attackers, but it wasn’t the same for Bram.
I see you.
They’d look so proud when they showed him what sorcery they’d learned under his household’s banner. How foolish it seemed to Bram now to have been jealous of their talent when the very magic they funted was like shiny beas in this thick fog.
Bram summoned his status while he switched his sword to his left hand. Intuitively, he pced all his bonus attribute points into ‘stitution’ to help bolster his dwindlih and give him more options when wielding his borrowed power.
The following abilities have been ied by [Blood Champion Lv. 1].Only two abilities were usable, but they would be enough.
“Show yourself, you blighted imp?!” the bald bloke yelled.
With his boost in stats, Bram’s movements were inhumanly quick, although it took him precious seds to figure out the right mix of exertion araint so as not to damage his body further. Swift as a fmetail leopard, he got behind the fool who kept yelling for him to appear, and with a quick jab of his bde, he pierced the man’s right calf, f the bald bloke to stumble forward.
“Gah!” Barret hissed. “Damn you!”
Even as he stumbled, Barret twisted his body around a his sword careening a full hundred-eighty-degrees—and hit nothing but air.
Bram had already stepped out of the bde’s reach, although the prince was unprepared for the thing that came shing out at him an instant ter. He barely parried it—the whip made of the very dirt that g to Barret’s sword. It snapped against Bram’s on, causing cracks to appear on the bde’s bastion-fed steel.
Bloody hell, his brow creased at the sight of these cracks, sorcery is such a cheat power.
The enemy’s ‘Dirt Whip’ came snapping at him again—owice, thrice—with each swipe at the air barely missing Bram by inches. Despite his impeded vision, Barret’s intuition was inceivably sharp, and if Bram’s reflexes weren’t magically heightehe prince would be the one bleeding now.
‘Snikt!’
Again, Bram got behind his foe, and once more, he made the bald bloke bleed. This time, with a cut that severed the tendon in the man’s heel, f him to his knees.
It was the kind of swordpy he’d learned from the Delightful Troop’s dueling experts who eaiheir audieh long fights full of harrowing moments; to kill not with a single swing of one’s bde, but with a hundred cuts that stole away the enemy’s strength.
“Slippery bastard!” Barret smmed his free hand against the ground, causing the earth to rumble. “Eat dirt!”
Dirt and rock rose from the earth around him to dan the air like tentacles whipping to and from while indiscriminately shing against the air and snapping at the ground.
It was a desperate act of defense, Bram realized, for like a hellhound on the prowl, the prince smelled blood in the air.
He’s a lively fellow, but he’s no assassin of the White Rose.
Bram ducked, dodged, and slipped past each graiacle in a feat of daring and acrobatics that the prince couldn’t normally achieve. Not without the aid of his newfound power. In the end, like a mighty griffin, Bram desded on his foe. And Barret, who was kneeling on the ground, was uo see death approag.
“Where are you?!” he screamed, his eyes darti and then right.
“I’m right here…”
Bram’s face appeared like a demon jumping out of the fog. It was the st thing Barret saw before the prince’s sword pierced his chest.
“Y-You—”
The man’s blood spilled out of his mouth. The sight of it made Bram’s stomach rumble, and not in an unfortable way.
‘Ba-dump.’
When his enemy fell limp against him, Bram’s left hand reached out for the blood dripping down Barret’s .
‘Ba-dump.’
His fingers brushed against its crimson stain.
‘Ba-dump.’
Perhaps a taste. Just one.
‘Ba-dump.’
Barret wouldn’t pin. He was already dying.
‘Ba-dump.’
That’s when Bram caught sight of the man’s eyes. They were already devoid of light.
“Fuck…” He stumbled back, his mind reeling from the thought of what he’d nearly attempted. “What…what have I bee?”
It was a question no one would answer. Nor was there time for Bram to pohis strange ge in him. For in his moment of fusion, he didn’t see Baer e up from behind.
“Found you, Yhness,” Baer whispered.
‘g!’
Sparks flew between them as Bram’s sword blocked the axe bde coated in magical fmes. The impact caused more cracks to appear in his owhough this was not the worst of Bram’s problems. He hadn’t fotten that Baer had two bearded axes, but he had no on to repel the other. Recklessly, Bram used his left arm to block Baer’s other attack before its momentum could reach its zenith.
“You crazy—”
The an’s eyes widened as he watched the blood gushing out of the wound hardening enough to push back against the axe head embedded in the prince’s forearm.
Bram reized the fear fshing on Baer’s face. It made him smile, and only then did both men notice the fangs protruding from behind his upper lip.
“e on, Baer,” he growled, “tonight, one of us dines in the seven hells!”
GD_Cruz
