The last few minutes had been some of the hardest in Kay’s life. There had been moments over the last five or so years that had been hard.

Moments where he had had to force himself up out of bed, days he spent doing the absolute bare minimum to go on, as each and every second of being awake had dragged at him. Repeatedly forcing the control of the Blood Mage’s Blood Puppetry skill off of him with dwindling mana reserves was equal to the weeks and months after that horrendous day that had friends checking on him daily, to make sure he was still there.

At the start it had been pretty easy, just use his skill to force away the outside skill that was trying to dominate his mana. Blood Puppetry used blood as a medium to take over his mana, and thus his body, he used his mana to control blood through Manipulate Blood. So he just attacked the incoming skill with it’s exact opposite and forced it away.

But like the blood mage had said, his mana was being topped off by him draining the villagers he held in thrall. Kay’s was depleting with each engagement. Kay had started to use less and less mana each time to force himself free as he tried to conserve his reserves. He was managing to keep himself from being dominated, but every attack was harder to fight off than the last.

He was starting to lose. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been having this battle, not more than a few minutes probably, but the repetitive task of fighting back, each time trying to use just the optimum amount of mana, was slowly wearing him down. He’d run out soon, and then he’d be under the fucker’s control. And then he’d be controlled by the same kind of monster he’d tried to avoid becoming.

He pulled back the Blood Mage’s skill like he was prying the madman’s fingers off of him, one at a time slowly peeling away the strands of magical control, each of them fighting back as he ripped them off. If it had been physical effort he’d be panting with the effort.

Moments later the same tendrils started wrapping around him again, and this time he felt himself slipping. He was almost completely out of mana, and he wasn’t sure he had enough to win this one.

Inch by inch he felt himself lose control of his body. His fingers, then his wrists, and then it started crawling up his arms. He could still feel them, but he couldn’t make them move the way he wanted to. His arms slowly dropped down to his sides.

He fought back against the tide of foreign magic, but he was losing ground. Piece by piece he lost the battle, and lost his body.

As the strange almost-numbness spread across him and crept its way up his neck, he concentrated everything he had on not losing this fight. His mind went blank, his vision went black as he squeezed his eyes closed even tighter, and the world around him went totally silent.

From the back of his mind, a memory popped out. One of the ones that had kept him going in those dark days. A memory of something he had lost, and a beloved reminder of why he would never give up.

“You can do it! You’re Sir Kay, after all!”

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He couldn’t remember his original name. It had started with a B, he remembered that. It didn’t matter though, he’d taken to calling himself Blood, since that was what was important. It was all that was important. How much blood he could spill, how strong he could become, how high he could level his Blood Puppetry skill.

He’d had a teacher once. His teacher had talked about how important it was to be safe, to not get caught. With his teacher instructing him in the skill, he could get himself the Blood Mage class without harming children. Not that either of them had cared much about that, the most important thing had been not drawing attention. Getting caught was a death sentence, so the smart thing to do had been stealth.

How weak! How cowardly! Blood had followed his teacher down that path, completely oblivious to how insignificant he would be making himself by following such a fool, but he hadn’t known any better.

And then the Great Ones came! In blood and violence they’d shown themselves! His teacher had been killed by the Great Ones as after they had spoken to him about his follies, but Blood had lived. He lived, and he’d learned. No more would he hide and skulk like vermin, he would show the world how powerful blood magic was, and how the Great Ones were the true rulers of this world! He would make the land bleed, and show them his devotion! And then they would take him up, and show him even greater power! They, hopes and dreams, might even make him one of them!

The other Blood Mage he was battling with was another foolish weakling. He didn’t even have any slaves! It would make sense if he was weak, like Blood had been, unable to control anyone, forced to take street children no one would miss to level his skill up; but he was strong enough to break Blood’s control over and over, with Blood’s Blood Puppetry skill at level twenty-one!

Obviously he was like the foolish teacher, a coward unwilling to draw attention to himself. Foolishly trying to disguise himself as some kind of swordsman, when he had the powers of blood magic!

Oh well, the fool would be a good slave in the end. With another mage to draw mana from his Crimson Mana Drain skill would level even faster! He might even get another class once it got to level five! This was a wonderful day.

Blood felt his control over the other mage get broken again, and he snarled angrily. It was a good thing he had all these slaves to drain, and only one of them was tier three. If more of them had been able to fight him with any level of success he might not have been able to win. As it was he was barely keeping his mana from draining to nothing with each application of Blood Puppetry he threw out. By the Great Ones, if he hadn’t managed to get to tier three with the last village he’d attacked, he might not have been able to control this many slaves all at once. Then where would his mana regeneration had been? He might even have los-

No! No! He was Blood! He was powerful! He would wreak havoc across the land, spreading bloodshed in the name of the Great Ones! He would win. He always won!

With an enraged gurgle passing his lips, he pushed against the other mage’s resistance. There! There! His resistance was crumbling! Blood took control of the fingers, then the arms, then the torso. The toes, then the feet, then the legs! Soon he would win! Just like he always did!

The other mage said something under his breath that Blood couldn’t hear.

And then everything changed.

Blood choked on his spittle. With no warning, the flow of the battle had suddenly turned against him. Twice, no, three times as fast as he had began taking control, he was suddenly losing ground!

His influence was pushed completely out of the other mage’s body. And then it kept going.

As his influence was pushed away, his magic and skills began to fail.

“Impossible!” He shrieked. But it kept happening!

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“Damn right I am.” Kay muttered, the second half of the old ritual.

With every bit of will he had in him, Kay fought back. Fuck this guy, fuck his skill, and fuck his mana draining bullshit! He was Sir Kay, and evil didn’t win when he was there!

This time he didn’t peel the tendrils of enemy magic away from him, he pushed them back. He denied them his body, he denied them his personal space, hell he denied them the entirety of his reach!

The Blood Mage stepped back, shrieking in rage and disbelief as Kay pushed away the arms holding him down. The three men jerked back, then stared down at themselves, free of the Blood Mage’s control.

“No! No!” The mage shrieked. “I am Blood! I always win!”

His sword was too far away, so Kay ignored it and drew his punch dagger from where it was still on his belt. He stalked after the mage, who was scrambling backwards.

“Slaves! Kill him!”

People in the crowd lurched forward at the madman’s magically enforced command. But as each of them got a few feet from Kay, they froze. They froze, and then looked down at themselves with strange expressions, like they couldn’t believe what was happening.

Kay stalked closer.

“No! No! I always win! The Great Ones showed me! I a Blood Mage! I am powerful! I am-”

“I don’t care.” Kay grabbed the back of the mage’s head and rammed his punch dagger into the base of the maniac’s throat, and through his spine.

The Blood Mage gurgled, then dropped limp in Kay’s grasp. Kay pulled his dagger out and tossed the body to the side.

The entire village of people started shaking. A tumult of noise burst out as all people that hadn’t been close to Kay found themselves again. Some of them stood there with blank expressions, staring, others dropped to their knees and sobbed. Parents grabbed children and wrapped them in their arms as they cried.

Kay slowly turned towards the mayor and his daughter. He saw them grasping at each other, and another woman ran up and threw herself at both of them.

Kay took a step towards them, and the mayor jerked. He spun, putting himself between Kay and his family, his eyes wary and afraid.

Kay froze. “I’m not a Blood Mage.” He said slowly, remembering what the lunatic had shouted earlier. “I have a couple of skills that are similar to blood magic, and that let me fight back. But I’m not a Blood Mage. The Adventurer’s Guild and the city Guard can vouch for me.”

The look in the mayor’s eyes didn’t change, untrusting and fearful.

Well fuck. Kay’s mind spun as he tried to think of what to do. He did not want a horde of terrified and angry villagers ripping him apart moments after he’d saved them. Uhh… Oh!

“I Swear to the World that I am not a Blood Mage, and I don’t mean any of you harm."

[Oath Accepted. Payment Taken.]

No one said anything about a payment! Kay shouted internally, his gaze still on the mayor and his family. The tumult around them was starting to quiet.

The mayor’s eyes jerked to the side, and then he slowly started to relax. “You’re… You’re that adventurer from the city that came by this morning, right? You were going to kill that bird for us.”

“Yes, sir. That’s me. I actually did kill it, I left the sled with the body on it over that way.” Kay pointed the direction he’d come in from.

A sudden enraged shout made Kay jump back and spin around. He saw one of the three men that had grabbed him start slamming Kay’s sword into the Blood Mage’s neck over and over, eventually separating the head from the body.

“Edgar. Edgar!”

The man turned towards the mayor.

“He’s dead, good riddance. Give the adventurer back his sword and grab people to start putting out fires! We don’t need to lose anymore buildings!”

Edgar glared at and spat on the body, then handed Kay his sword. He ran off, shouting for people to grab buckets and follow him.

“Mindy!” The mayor turned to the crowd, who quieted. His posture was firm and in control, a welcome departure from the scared and uncertain man of just a moment ago. “Mindy!”

“Here!”

“Good, take that spot over there and get ready to help anyone that’s hurt! If you’re hurt, get someone who isn’t to help you to Mindy if you need it! Evan!”

“Here, Mayor!”

“Start counting everyone!”

Kay slowly walked over to the daughter, who was still clutched in her mom’s arms. “I have a healing skill that might help with those,” He gestured at the cuts at her face. “It’s not very high level, and it really only works with cuts, but it’ll help them heal up faster.”

The girl stared at Kay, then nodded hesitantly.

“Alright.” Kay pulled back his sleeve and grabbed his punch dagger again. “Now, this looks a bit weird and I’m told it feels funny, but I promise its just a healing skill.”

The girl nodded after glancing at her mom.

Kay made a small cut on his arm, somehow the only injury he’d received today, excepting a few bruises. He willed a small amount of blood up into the air and gently floated it up toward the girl’s face. She watched with wide eyes as it floated up to her, then jumped as it slowed into her veins.

She gasped and shuddered. “That does feel weird!”

“Sorry.” Kay had a small smile on his face. “Can’t help that. But it’ll give you a little bit of regeneration for a time, and it’ll help it heal up without any scarring. You’ll still need some bandages for now though. I have some here.”

A hand dropped on Kay’s shoulder. “Mindy has a load of bandages, and everyone here knows how to use them.” The mayor glanced at his wife and daughter. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine papa.” The girl replied.

Her mother nodded. “Shook up, but who wouldn’t be after that mess? I’ll put the bandages on Yelin myself.” She gave Kay a deep nod and escorted her daughter to the impromptu first aid station that was being set up. On the way past, she spat on the mage’s body.

“I love that woman something fierce.” The mayor muttered.

Kay stood with him and watched them walk off. Suddenly he staggered, his legs losing all their strength.

The mayor grabbed his arm and hauled him back up. “Shit! Here,” he half helped half dragged Kay over to the stoop of a nearby building. “Sit here for a while, while I help get things as settled as they can be. You’ve done more than enough work for now.”

He waited until Kay sat back and nodded in agreement before he hurried off into the crowd.

Kay leaned back against the door and got as comfortable as he could. His eyes drooped closed, and seconds later he fell asleep, completely ignoring the blinking lights of his notifications.