A Demon (Eve’s POV)

My eyes shot open, having felt like a few days had passed without sleep. Quickly checking my status, my mana seemed to be very drained. The same with my stamina.

Name: Eve

Level: 32

Experience: 0/464,503 (0%)

HP [1970/1970]

MP [132/2456]

SP [273/3578]

Race: Human

HP [7.67/sec]

MP [1.092/sec]

SP [18.81/sec]

Satiety: 92%

Strength

1434

Endurance

1534

Luck

35

Perception

3487

Dexterity

3290

Agility

1693

Intelligence

2221

Wisdom

2690

Leadership

56

Vitality

197

Faith

1002

Willpower

151

Skills:

Spellbook (Max)

Permanently memorize any spell that your body uses.

Mana Transfer (25/50)

Transfer mana between any two compatible storages.

Clairvoyance (23/100)

Chance to predict the future correctly.

Transmute (94/~)

Use mana to change one thing about something.

Imperceivable (4/35)

Increase INT and PER by a multiple for up to five minutes.

Current:8x

Effects:

Bookworm

Memory is photographic, reading is 18x faster. 20% boost to meditation while reading.

Mana Body

All Spells deal 20% more damage.

Otherworldly Vision

Immune to ‘Blinded’. Reading is 6x as fast. Semi photographic memory to sights.

Rayne

Party effect, receive half the experience he gets and vice versa.

Storyteller

Easier to think up fictional stories.

Advice from a Hero

50% less susceptible to mind altering effects.

Devilish Student

10% chance to resist all fear inducing effects. Training is 3x as potent.

Titles

Deserter of Humanity

Fulfilled

Bookworm★

Taking a quick look around, everybody seemed to be out cold. We were surrounded by trees on all sides but one, where a vast plain extended as far as I could see. Between the trees were many forms of plants, giving me a sense of euphoria.

The colors all swam together, never contrasting too harshly or fitting together too well. Pinks, purples, reds all in a swarm, blues, and greens mixing in just enough to create some eye-catching points. The trees had some red and brown barks, very little white, not enough to create a manageable color to call them as a group.

Just above them, I could see something piercing the cloud layers. Not understanding what it was, I looked to the right, trying to find the end of it. From as far as I was away from it, I still had to turn a good 45 degrees. Seeing the slanted surface, it took me only a few seconds to figure out it was a mountain, a size large enough that it could probably hold a city inside it.

I was astonished, to say the least. If I was being realistic, I fell to the ground in shock. My legs grew weak, shaking for a second before giving out completely. A small thump sounded from the ground where I hit.

A few minutes later I had recovered from the shock, making sure not to look over to it anymore. I instead focused my thoughts on the past hour or two, thinking about everything that happened.

It came in rushes, large vivid scenes I couldn’t get rid of no matter how much I wanted to. His bloodlust, knocking me to the ground. His rage, making him seem like a demon. His death, a mana spear straight through the heart. His words after, making me feel both cold and warm at the same time. Him being calm, but his intents having no less sincerity. His apologies. His words to me. The mana sword. Then I was suddenly here, waking up with very little mana and stamina.

He must have brought us here…

But where is here?

A roar sounded through me, blasting my thoughts out of me. I whirled around, looking for the source of the sound. A demon boar stared down at me, quite literally. He was at least four feet taller than me, as large as a medium sized car in length, and pure black. His fur is sharp looking, slicked back to his tail, which was more like a multi-headed whip.

His tusks were the size of my arm, a charcoal gray and formed from some sort of metal. Covered in spikes piercing downwards, I would have to guess it would be nigh impossible to rip something off of them. Two piercing yellow eyes stared down at me, filling me with a cold fear.

It roared again, the sound sending me back a step, the force of his breath blowing my hair behind me in a wave. It slid its left hoof on the ground, kicking up some dust. The tusks lowered, aligning with my chest. I assumed it was going to charge and impale me.

But it was a thousand years too early to attack the disciple of my brother.

“TEMPEST!” I yelled out, giving the monster pause.

Winds curled around my arms, slowly making their way to my fingers as I compressed it as much as possible since I didn’t have much mana to use. The longer the cast time, the less mana it takes to cast.

151 mana compressed completely into a single blade of wind. Having water vapor in it made it a foggy type of crescent. Unleashing it towards the bull, it charged directly into it. I had no intention to give ground, as my brother and friends were behind me, plus that white haired girl.

The tusks met with the blade, sliding right through it as if it wasn’t there. The blade continued onto the demon, whose ego had already inflated from the lack of apparent damage.

It met with the fur, where the real damage became apparent. The fur floated away as soon as it touched the mist, ending up with a very scared demon. Not that it had any time to react. The flesh and bone alike were sliced through, cutting the demon into two pieces. It fell to the ground, its legs no longer connected.

The impact knocked off its two tusks, as they were sliced earlier. Picking them up like they were nothing, I summoned a toothpick sized spear of wind. It pierced the demon’s skull, into its brain. A quick death was all I could give it.

{System Note: Tempest: Tier 3 spell. Made from a combination of Air/Light power, a prayer to both Adalina and Imali was required. Of course, this amount of skill was due to her 1002 faith stat, as she could just say the names of the goddesses in her head to summon their powers. The spell summons up to twenty blades of wind, spinning them in a circle. The original purpose is to create many shallow cuts, but the combined damage is enough to decimate opponents. If concentration is used, they can be compressed into one that moves much slower, but the piercing power is unrivaled. 10 mana is required for each blade, unless it is cast much slower than it should be.}

{AN: The demon, just for reference, is called the Bull Demon Variant 1: Barbed Tusk Boar. Experience gains for each of the variants will be explained later.}

I yawned. A ding, showing me that a window had appeared.

Experience gained: 3,908

I swiped it away, not really caring. I was tired from the lack of mana, even if my stamina was already half full. I was also pretty mentally exhausted, so many emotions going through my head at one time.

I found Rayne, sleeping peacefully near the edge of the treeline. Curling up next to him, I followed him into the embrace of sleep.

God, Kill Yourself. (Rayne’s POV)

I hate this damnable dimension. It gives me a headache just being here, all those whites and blacks with their convoluted boundaries. Not to mention the annoying god that likes to curse me. Sure, I haven’t seen him in a while, but my hate for him never quite fades.

The last time I met him was… what, when I was first brought into this world? Sounds about right…

“What was your name again? Dracula, or something?” I asked the chained god in front of me.

“Don’t name me after that upstart! My name is Dradacil!” He cursed me, rattling his chains furiously.

“Whatever you say, Dracula.” Of course, I didn’t care. This was a god, who managed to turn me into a vampire and curse me into finding his powers for him while chained, and here I was, pissing him off.

Looking around slowly, trying to comprehend the colors around me, I spread some of my mana out.

Only to find I couldn’t. It seems my mana is being either forcibly kept inside my body or it is simply being absorbed by something.

Where is this place anyway?

An Answer

Suratrat, a prison developed by combining every available Gods’ powers to seal Dradacil, the god of vampires.

I stared at the blue window before me, reading it a few times.

The system… responded to me?

Obviously

I was created by you, after all. How could I not respond to my master? Oh! Is this about those other times when you had questions? I answered most of them the best I could. But I had to figure out exactly what you wanted from me, so I was quite busy until now with fixing things. But now I’m done, so I can serve you perfectly now, Master!

You know, I’m not even surprised anymore. Gods exist, I have been forcibly turned into a vampire against my will, I broke a school in half and held it on my shoulders… I quit being surprised.

I couldn’t help but think that. Not that the system responded this time. Sighing aloud, I turned back to Dradacil.

“So, Dracula, what all did you do to get in here?” I smirked, seeing his face contort in rage when I misspoke his name.

“None of your business! And it’s Dradacil, you puny human!”

“Sorry, but I’m not human. You fixed that for me, remember?” I tilted my head back, to show him the same place where he bit me. There were no marks, but both of us remembered it perfectly.

“So, another important question. How exactly did I end here, twice?” I asked, the emphasis on the number quite obvious. Dradacil looked away, seemingly embarrassed. Of course, I knew better than that.

“Well, I have the power to pull you here once every six months, given you are completely out of mana.”

I nodded, the words making sense to me. After all, I used literally every single point of mana to send the group as far as possible.

I wonder where we ended up?

…

I half expected the system to answer me, but it seems my luck had run out when receiving answers.

“So? What did you pull me here for, exactly?” I reverted my gaze to him, closing my eyes. Staring too long at the surroundings easily gave me a headache.

“I wanted to let you know about your brand. It’s actually a small piece of your soul that I took from you.”

My eyes shot open. He took a piece of my soul?! I didn’t get the chance to respond before he continued.

“I didn’t take anything important, you are still mostly the same as you were before you ended up here, from wherever you came from. What I did take was your will to resist the quest I’ve issued you.”

A window popped up at that, making me open my eyes once more, having closed them after he started talking.

Quest Update!

Quest: Recover the Vampire God’s powers.

Difficulty: ???

Reward: ---

Hints: None

Time Limit: Death

Description: The Vampire God, Dradacil, has taken a portion of your soul to make you regain his powers. They were ‘stolen’ from him, ‘wrongfully’. There are no hints to how to get his powers back.

“There are a few ways to go about getting my powers back. They are held by each of the main gods and goddesses.”

Quest Update!

Quest: Recover the Vampire God’s powers.

Hints: The powers are held by the main gods and goddesses.

“First, you can kill them. The powers should be absorbed into your brand shortly afterward. Second, you can suck the powers out of them with your [Blood Drain] skill. Third, you can persuade them, although that is the option will have the least chance of success.”

Quest Update!

Quest: Recover the Vampire God’s powers.

Hints: The powers are held by the main gods and goddesses. There are three ways of getting the powers from them; Killing them, [Blood Drain], and Persuasion.

“For the cosmic gods, I should be able to give you enough power to find them after the first three powers, depending on the quality.”

{Author’s Note: Cosmic Gods are the six element deities. Then the Deity Tier. Then the Race Tier.}

Quest Update!

Quest: Recover the Vampire God’s powers.

Hints: The powers are held by the main gods and goddesses. There are three ways of getting the powers from them; Killing them, [Blood Drain], and Persuasion. Cosmic powers can only be obtained after more than three others have been.

“For now, I don’t even have enough power to show you to any of the race tier gods, much less the deity tier. You’ll have to find the first couple gods on your own. I wish you luck. I’ll be monitoring you from down here, so don’t try any funny business.”

Sub-Quest Update!

Quest: Recover the Vampire God’s powers.

Sub-Quest: Find the location of Suratrat.

Hints: The powers are held by the main gods and goddesses. There are three ways of getting the powers from them; Killing them, [Blood Drain], and Persuasion. Cosmic powers can only be obtained after more than three others have been.

Sub-Hints: Suratrat is ‘down’.

“Speaking of which, she should be coming soon…” The god muttered, looking at a very specific part of the ceiling.

“What? Who?” I asked, following his gaze. My eyes had been open for most of his speech, as I had to swipe away the windows.

A girl was falling from the… sky? Ceiling? Upwards.

The girl seemed to be getting close to the… whatever I was standing on, by relative distance. I began to run towards her, but I was stopped from behind.

“Stop. It’s fine.” Dradacil’s voice seemed to be strained. A quick look showed that he seemed to be putting all his concentration into something. A small red line shot out from him, hitting the girl with the force of a bullet. It then began to retract, bringing the girl closer with amazing speeds.

I leaped into her path, not wanting her to get caught up in the god’s teeth. I could feel his disappointment without even turning around.

Looking down, my breath caught in my throat. It was Eve. And she was unconscious.

“Eve? Hey! Wake up!” I shouted, rubbing my hand on her cheek in a panic.

“Damn, kid, calm down. She’ll wake up in a second. It’s the same for you when I bring you here.” I growled at him lowly, holding Eve closer to me, farther from him.

She opened her eyes slowly, blinking and looking sleepy.

“Huh, Rayne?” She asked, not sure if it was me. I put on my best smile, looking at her tired face.

“So, do you want to be a vampire?” Dradacil asked from behind me.

“Huh?” I couldn’t help the noise. Eve didn’t make any but she certainly looked confused.

The god sighed, hanging his head. He looked up at us, a strange look in his eyes.

“I said, do you want to be a vampire? I can feel how much you want to be like him from all the way over here… tone it down a little bit, would you?” Eve heated up in my arms, burying her face in my shirt. Finally noticing I had one, I began to ponder the mysteries of clothing transfer to prisons made by gods.

That being said, I completely didn’t hear a large part of the conversation. When I finally gave up thinking about it and tuned into the present, Eve was finishing her conversation with the god.

“-So, for that reason, I would like to be a vampire. Please turn me into one. Please let my dreams come true.”

The god was silent for many seconds, a feeling of dread filling the air. Then he began to laugh.

“Ah, I’ve missed that. Your resolve is quite something. I approve. However, I don’t have enough power to turn another human into a vampire. Rayne will have to do that for you.”

I stared at him, confused. I hadn’t heard much, except now Eve was turning into a vampire, and I was the one who had to do the honors. I wasn’t quite sure how to do that, even.

“Ah, Rayne. Come a little closer, would you?” I was wary at first but slowly approached Dradacil. He didn’t do anything until he was less than a foot away from me.

“You have a very nice woman there. She’ll grow up to be a good wife. Make sure you treat her with respect, kay? Now here’s how you turn people. You have to give them blood, mouth to mouth. Your blood. Mix it with mana, and there you go. It shouldn’t take much, but the more you give them, the purer they are. It should take about a pint for them to reach maximum purity.”

He explained some other things about the purity of vampires, telling me things like their powers, their abilities, their resistances, their body structure. Some very interesting things were being said, so I thought up a way to record it. I ended up asking the system to record it, which it followed all too enthusiastically.

I’m not so sure about this thing calling me ‘Master,’ but oh well.

We ended up back on the ground, opening our eyes like nothing had happened. We looked at each other for a second, before I looked away, embarrassed. I couldn’t get my mind off Dradacil’s directions for turning her.

Her hand pressed on my cheek, pulling my face to look at her. She had a small smile on her face, one that showed such happiness I smiled back on instinct.

Then she lunged forward, placing her mouth on mine and shutting her eyes. I felt her tongue enter my mouth, waiting patiently for the blood it expected. I followed orders without question, closing my own eyes as I bit my tongue with my fangs. Blood poured forth along with another liquid. The second one wasn’t from my mouth.

The blood in my mouth was completely ignored, Eve kissing me full force. I was pushed onto the ground, unable to move as she pinned down my arms. I didn’t try to struggle too much, considering it didn’t matter how long she did it.

Of course, I had only assumed she wanted the blood.

Incest?! (Princess Thea’s POV)

I woke up with a start, looking around groggily. What I saw was enough to shock me into being awake.

Eve was lying atop Rayne, their lips connected and both pairs of their eyes closed. I could see a small rivulet of drool dripping from Rayne’s mouth, reflecting the light. As I watched, it got even more intense, Rayne rolling over Eve this time. She wrapped her arms around his back, seemingly enjoying this much more.

I wondered at the scene. At first, I was confused, but now I was just embarrassed. Another feeling lingered around my heart, circling it dangerously. I didn’t try to coax it in.

They fully embraced each other, their movements getting sporadic and slightly erotic. Eve’s back arched, pressing her into him with even more force. They opened their eyes at the same moment, scarily in sync.

With that, Eve moaned loud enough for me to hear it from across the clearing. Rayne chuckled softly, brushing her hair from her face. If one looked closely enough, they would be able to see the same lust I saw in Eve’s eyes in the eyes of a succubus. Rayne’s didn’t have any lust when I saw them but were certainly intense. Eve disconnected from his lips, leaning over his ear. Her mouth moved, the words too soft for me to hear, but it made Rayne’s entire body shudder. His mouth was the one moving this time, the words loud enough for me to hear sounds, but not understand the words.

Eve went back to her previous actions, with even more ferocity than before. She kept stopping every few seconds to mutter some words to him, going back to staring into his eyes while kissing him. Moans came from her, muffled by Rayne’s mouth.

I covered my face with my hands, leaving gaps between my fingers so I could still watch. The innocent part of me found this to be too embarrassing to watch, while the rest of me very much wanted to watch. A small part of my mind immersed itself in delusions of those two and, even worse, me and him.

“Hey, Rayne, what is going on?” Somebody asked from the sidelines. I turned to look. It was Lily, the silver haired girl. I thought for a second, wondering when she learned his name.

Looking back to Eve and Rayne, who seemed to have heard her, as they were sitting next to each other, not daring to look to their side.

“Umm… I was giving Eve… something.” He came up with a quick excuse. It was not enough to save him.

“Oh? Your tongue?” Lily scoffed, smirking while crossing her arms.

Rayne did not respond. He did not look anywhere near Eve, and vice-versa.

I had nothing to do with it, so I just watched from the sidelines, staring at Rayne with as much curiosity as I could muster.

Eventually, we ended up dropping the subject, not getting a clear answer on what Eve and Rayne were doing. Other than that, we spent thirty minutes doing nothing. The inactivity bothered me, even if the silence didn’t.

“Umm… Shouldn’t we be finding a way to do something here?” I asked, drawing attention towards me. I flinched instinctively.

“You have a point. However, we do need to figure out what we should do here. From what I’ve seen, this is a completely different continent than the one we were on before. There are even these demons crawling about.” Eve spoke, waving her hands for effect.

“This looks like Fronag if I had to guess. It is one of the smallest continents, covered in both mountains and flora. The dwarves and beastly demons inhabit it, the Dwarves deep underground, while the demons roam the surface.” I added, thinking back to my lessons. I caught Rayne looking at me with a look that almost seemed like awe.

Nobody spoke for a few seconds, all seeming deep in thought except for me. I was still confused. I haven’t had much time to think about these past few hours. But now that I have a few seconds, my mind wandered back to him. What he had done before coming here. His mysterious sword. The amount of mana he listed off.

I checked mine in an instant, reading all of it that I could reach. A total of just under 1000. Having a few million is completely unnatural, but I had no choice but to believe it. After all, with a single swipe of a sword, he sent us to another continent.

I was brought back to the present by somebody speaking my name.

“Eve?” It was Rayne.

“Yes? I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you.” I answered, trying to hide under my hair. I was pretty comfortable with these people since I knew them, but I was still shy.

“I was asking what you think we could do here. I have no ideas. I need to find some gods, but before that, I suppose I need to get stronger. Any places where I could get a bit stronger?” He asked again.

I thought for a second, doing my best to focus on his question and not my beating heart.

“The best way to get stronger in a specific area would be to get a teacher, which there are little to none of here. But for overall strength, you could just kill the demons around here for the experience. No need to worry about angering the demon race, as the beastkind are more of outcasts in their society. Also, they’re much below us, so they won’t complain.” I explained, feeling oddly like a teacher.

Rayne thought for a second, before muttering something and swiping the air. I was very confused. For a second I assumed that he had gone insane. Then I heard a slight ding sound in my head and a blue window appeared before me.

Hello there. I’m setting up your system unless you wouldn’t like me to. It’s mainly just a way to categorize all of your information. But Rayne made me just after he was born with many uses of me. I’m pretty held up just meeting all of his expectations most of the time.

I’ve held you up. Would you like full access to the System?

YES

NO

Once I read through it, I pressed YES without any hesitation. Another window popped up, telling me that it was configuring my stats and to wait a second. I patiently did so, a smile spreading across my face and a silly hum escaping me.

“What’s with the hum?” Rayne asked me, his right hand twitching slightly. I knew exactly why.

“I gained access to the system you created! Does that not deserve a reward?” I asked, getting excited. He didn’t even think for more than 5 seconds before waving me over. I followed his request with great willingness.

He rubbed his hand through my hair as I sat on his lap, humming as I waited for the system to finish. Eve would be staring at me with a jealous gaze right about now, but she couldn’t bear to look at Rayne, so she left me alone.

In my mind, I had Rayne all to myself for now. So I took full opportunity of it, stealing Eve’s spot, the petting hand, and the attention.

Name: Thea Histra

Level: 4

Experience: 432/1200 (36%)

HP [210/210]

MP [1669/1669]

SP [1430/1430]

Race: Human

HP [3.316]

MP [.742/sec]

SP [7.4/sec]

Satiety: 79%

Strength

477

Endurance

829

Luck

63

Perception

734

Dexterity

780

Agility

663

Intelligence

1764

Wisdom

1574

Leadership

482

Vitality

21

Faith

5481

Willpower

47

Skills:

Hide Presence

Become 50% less noticeable.

Heal (Spell)

+60 hp. Cost 120 mana.

Mass Heal (Spell)

+30 hp in a 10 yard diameter area. Cost 400 mana.

Magic Creation

All spells have a chance to give you a notion for creating a new one.

Spell Warping

Mixing spells randomly has a 1% chance to fix itself with the right portions.

Potion Creation

Create potions a percentage better.

Effects:

Princess

People have a chance to recognize you, and treat you accordingly.

Shy

Makes it more difficult to express oneself.

Chemistry

Potions are 2x as efficient. Created potions are 3x.

Godly Knowledge

Faith increased by 2x

Titles

Princess of Mercater

Chemist★

Self Disowned

Spell Blender

Shy

The window appeared before me without warning, startling me. On instinct, I leaped from Rayne’s lap and hid behind him, before taking a good look at the window. He chuckled softly at my actions, making me puff up my cheeks and glare at him.

He only laughed harder. How rude.

He began to slowly explain the entire system, myself asking questions from time to time. Sometimes he seemed to not know the answers, before reading something on his own and replying correctly to my question.

All in all, I knew the system pretty well now. I also knew how weak I was. Out of the group, the two with systems were multitudes of levels above me, their stats mimicking that. One of the only things I had going for me was my faith stat, but I don't think it helped me that one of them had a negative faith stat.

You should have seen my face when I learned that Rayne had a few hundred negative faith. I hadn’t read anything about anybody being forsaken by the gods. I revered them, to say the least. They had created my life, created Rayne’s, created Eve’s, and brought us all together.

I mean, that couldn’t have been a coincidence, right?

“It must have been fate…” I muttered, looking dreamily to the sky.

“What? Fate? Why do you bring her up now?” Rayne asked, slowly moving his hand across my waist. He rested his chin on my head, still petting what was left.

“It must have been fate that brought us together! I mean, what are the chances that we would all be brought together here, in this moment? It must be nigh impossible, but here we are!”

“Don’t speak that nonsense. You say that as if it is a good thing. Now, I’m sorry to remind you of it, but by that logic, Fate killed off half of the students in the school, if not more. In order for all of us to brought together like this, the school was brought to the ground and we had to be nearly killed. Those two mages could have killed the rest of the students once we were gone.” Rayne pointed out, making my face one of horror. I hadn’t thought of it that way, but now that I did…

Fate is pretty damn messed up?

The Screams (Author’s POV)

Hello there. Well, a small amount of time has passed since where we cut off last. I’ll give a little breakdown of what everyone is doing.

Eve is cuddling with Rayne, both of them meditating while Rayne uses his [Mana Condensation] to gain some more mana.

Lilia is… Exploring, I guess you could say. I’m not quite sure what she is doing, besides walking about 100 feet away from anybody else. She’s staying, quite amazingly, at 100 feet at all times. She’s also looking about a bit every once and awhile, stopping randomly in her tracks. I have no idea.

Vera seems to be hunting for some food, gathering berries and whatnot. Something interesting is that she seemed to have figured out how to weave mana like her clothes, making a little bag to hold all the things in. She doesn’t seem to be all that proficient in it, though, as she has to stop every thirty minutes to remake the bag, not getting any of the food dirty, of course. She seems about to make the last jog back to camp.

Princess Thea is… somewhere. Where did she go? Oh, found her. She is some 500 feet away from Rayne, experimenting with creating a new spell. She keeps muttering to herself, jumping away from most of her creations, even when nothing bad happened. It was mostly just a glowing light show.

With that being said, something seems to be going down here. Let’s go a bit closer, shall we?

Rayne is meditating, collecting another 100 mana for his next point. Eventually, he might find out that it’s much more efficient to just create a block of mana and fill it with a few thousand mana, before absorbing it back all at once. That way he doesn’t have as many negative gains. And it’s cooler to watch.

A scream is heard, coming from far away. The mana circling Rayne shoots outwards, becoming foggy. An instant transition from [Mana Condensation] to [Mana Eye]. Seeing nothing near him, he turned to the source of the scream. Running quickly, Eve was by his side in an instant. She had been slightly slower in registering the scream.

Vera was running with the bag slung over her shoulder, the fruits splattering against her back through the cloth. Juices soaked into the mana, seeping through it in small drops. It left a trail directly to where she was running.

Lily stayed where she was, before slowly walking towards the noise. She seemed saddened as if she was about to do something she really didn’t want to do.

“Princess! Princess, where are you?!” Rayne shouted, coming across the clearing she was last practicing her spells in. Not seeing her, his mana came out once more to find any signs of her.

Four patches of grass were pressed to the ground, making a symmetrical pattern that looked oddly similar to hoofprints. Realizing that something was still standing there, Rayne constricted his mana around the creature. {Mana Constriction}, a skill he hadn’t used in a very long time, was used to its fullest at that moment.

Chains of mana appeared, solidifying and wrapping around the strangely shaped creature, most likely a demon. Using [Mana Eye] on a smaller scale, he focused in on the prints in the ground. He could see a small disturbance in the air above it, so he focused on it to the maximum, calling out directions before doing so.

“Eve! Enhance your eyes! There are invisible demons here!”

Doing so, she saw the full form of the three demons. One was touching the ground, the other two standing on its back. The one touching the ground was a Drakin Variant 4, Caster Form. These were a type of demon that related closely to wyverns, except their hoofed four legs, and their much larger wingspan made of feathers. Variant 4 was able to cast small spells, only able to affect itself and the ones touching it.

That being mentioned, the two on its back were Treant Variant 2, Speed Forms. They were trees that had absorbed a large amount of blood and demonic essence, essentially gaining the most important stats from the blood and essence it absorbed. Variant 2 was a form designed off of speed. Although contrary to popular belief, they are still practically immobile. It takes them about 5 seconds to take a step, root, and unroot for another step. What is speed focused is their whip-like arms, the branches making them up able to swing faster than sound.

That was when one of them threw a body to Rayne. He caught it with some difficulty, having to dissipate the bonds holding the Drakin in place.

It was Thea.

Be careful here, because I’ll be explaining the injuries she had.

Her left arm was completely missing, the blood coming from the wound in small spurts, staining Rayne’s clothes. Her right leg was distorted in three places, broken beyond belief. It was already a purplish green color, slowly getting worse. Her clothes were shredded to pieces, uncovering nearly all of her body. Taking a quick look, it seems the Treants had some ‘fun’ while torturing her. Cuts were prominent all over the insides of her thighs and her breasts, obscuring what the clothing didn’t with blood. Dozens of lacerations were on her stomach as if tallying a score. A purple ring ran around her torso, the cuts having parts that were distorted in one direction as if they were stretched. A cut ran the length of her right arm, a few twigs and leaves brutally shoved inside. Blood and pus oozed from the wound, dripping to the ground in a disgusting pool. Her face was marred almost to the point where it was difficult to recognize her. A stick lazily hung from her mouth, a feather on the end. Her cheeks were red, with multiple small punctures that showed some of her teeth in some places. Some of those teeth had been pulled out, blood dripping from them and watering the twig there. Her left eye had been popped, blood tracing a trail next to the tears. A piece of her left ear had also been cut off, and she had been halfway scalped.

Mana rose from Rayne in large bursts, creating cloth all at once, at least a few hundred times his normal speed. The rest circled him, large bubbles lazily swaying in a half assed circle.

“Eve, don’t look. Close your eyes. Don’t look at me…” Rayne whispered, tears beginning to wash down his face and drip into her wounds. She twitched at the irritant, making Rayne breath out a shaky sigh of relief. She was still alive.

But those demons. They had hurt his first friend. They had tortured her. They had raped her. And they probably assumed Eve was next.

These demons were threatening his reason for living.

His way of life.

Him.

They would not live to regret this day.

With a ferocious scream that sent the few birds in the forest flying away in fear, Rayne leaped at the demons. Two branches hit him on the back, leaving him angry red gashes as they tore at his skin. Then he heard the cracking sound before hitting the ground with enough force to sink a little bit in the soft dirt.

He pushed himself up, his anger having died down a bit. Pain is a very good way for him to kill his emotions. But that small amount was nowhere near enough.

Staying silent this time, he placed one foot backward, bracing his sole against a large flat rock. He pushed forward, parallel to the ground, his body aimed at the Drakin’s left leg. A large ripping sound was heard before the Drakin hit the ground. The Treants fell, leaving them at Rayne’s mercy unless they could free their arms to hit him.

Which they were unable to manage. Mana hit them directly in their center, sinking into them. It fuelled them, filling them with strength. They got to their feet, ready to defend against any attack.

But they did not see themselves ripping apart as the mana inside them distilled into balls and ripped their way out of the demons. Instead of sap, the Treants had a black bile dripping from the cut pieces.

He looked to the Drakin, who was struggling to stand. It was not used to having three legs. It would not need to get used to it. Rayne bent low and dashed forward once more. A stray wing clipped him in the chest, blowing him skyward. The Drakin crashed to the ground, not caring about the leg anymore. Its neck extended towards Rayne, mouth agape.

It slammed shut, Rayne no longer visible.

A fews seconds passed. The Drakin focused on Eve, not noticing Vera, who was behind it. Just before it tried to pick itself up again, it fell limp.

Hitting the ground with a thud, Rayne appeared above it. A dark sword was in his hand, the size of a small dagger. From where he came, a large cracked zone was in the air, as if it was glass and had taken a bullet. The cracks were pure black, no light shining in or out. It was as if it was nothingness itself.

That was, in fact, the void. With a ratio of 10,000:1, The void is the simplest way to travel. Traveling around the world, however, still takes up to a minute in that infinite blackness.

Eve fell to the ground, once again pressured by bloodlust. She heard a twig snap behind her, and turned slowly to look. It was another Bull Demon Variant 1, Barbed Tusk Boar. How it managed to get so close without making a sound, the world may never know. It was most likely luck.

But Rayne had spotted it, so it knew it was dead. It pressed its head to the ground, asking for a brief death. Rayne granted the wish with a large crushing snare of mana, compressing the entire head into the size of a marble.

With that, a simple look around was all it took for him to realize there were no more monsters around. His bloodlust faded, and his experience gained popped up.

Experience Gained: 388,019

But that didn’t matter. What mattered is that Thea was dying.

And he didn’t know if he could save her.