I am surrounded by giants. Angry, anxious, and armed. Yet, they don’t feel like warriors. They haven’t experienced violence before and as worried as they are, they don’t watch me as they would if they truly understood caution, they’d have their blades drawn and they’d never turn an eye from me.

As it is, I could draw and fire in a moment, and they wouldn’t react in time to stop me.

A good thing none of us are murderous psychopaths, then.

The group of would-be bandits seem more worried about someone seeing us, looking over their shoulders with and keeping their heads low. They look more suspect for the efforts, and even with my own inexperience in stealth operations, this seems almost like a joke.

Shaking my head, I focus on the mana flowing inside me. I’ve been splitting my focus in two directions. Deep inside I’ve been swirling mana about trying to form a liquid core, while the rest of my mana I’ve been moving around in the miscellaneous parts of me, experimenting and seeing how each part of me responds.

What changes I’ve noticed have been subtle so far, and while I have felt my mana form changing, it’s yet to make a proper shift into the liquid state, though I have extended my overall efficiency through the exercises.

“Just through here, stay quiet.” The woman says, walking close behind me. I grind my teeth, as I try to ignore the cold chill that runs along my back. Perhaps this is a good chance to learn again how to survive when alone.

The home they bring me to seems no different from the others I’ve walked past in the day, even the inside doesn’t seem overly remarkable. Furniture scattered neatly about the room, clean floors, and carpets.

Once inside, the group rushes about to push a cabinet in the way of the door to blockade it. They confirm that the windows are closed tight and that no one has sneaked in while they were gone. When finally, they breathe a sigh of relief, they all look towards me, curious as everyone else here.

I suppose I can’t blame them, the first time I saw an alien, it was quite the experience.

“Now, we can talk.” The young woman says, lighting a small, scented pouch aflame, filling the room with the pleasant smell of flowers. I try not to focus on it, but the breath of these feathered lizards smells like rotted meat, so I very much appreciate her efforts to allay the effects.

Her feathers grow all the way to the top of her head forming a small, aqua-coloured mohawk. Thus, I’m calling her Hawk. She shivers, and the feathers all over her body flicker about with the motion, her mohawk standing a little taller.

“Why are you here?” The man asks, leaning against the wall and striking a pose. He seems far less nervous compared to the others, but much more eager in comparison.

I call him John.

“I already told you.” I say, “I’m here on a favour from Arduelle, a dungeon acquainted to Selene. All she told me was that I’m hear to deal with ‘pests’. Whatever she meant by that.”

“Pests?” He asks, looking between his comrades as he hisses through his teeth.

“You know what she was talking about?” I ask, looking up at them as I jump up to take one of the free seats. Crossing my legs, I can easily pretend that I’m in control.

“It could be us?” Hawk suggests, looking between her allies. The others back down as the conversation grows, it seems that Hawk and John are the life of this party and the other three seem to be following along rather than participating.

I call them One, Two, and Three.

“The dungeon herself has brought her here. Do you think Selena is on their side?” He asks, looking about as if hoping for the dungeon herself to respond.

She doesn’t.

“Perhaps…but we cannot know Selena’s will.” Hawk still seems unconvinced, looking at me cautiously. “If you’re here to deal with pests, then you’re able to fight?”

“Well enough, I suppose.” I say, thinking back to how awful my last encounters have gone. While I’ve been able to succeed, and even thoroughly overpower some of my enemies, I’m not nearly to the point where I can confidently deal with every pest that wanders my own cellar.

“If you can fight…” John gets more excited as he hears that. “Could you train us, or fight with us?”

“I’m here for a few days, I can’t train you.” I say, “Could you point me at the ‘pests’ already so I can get this over with?”

They quieten, looking between one another as if eager for the others to answer my question. Their lowered heads, and eyes, tell of their worry.

“Well… that’s…” John starts before his voice chokes out and he looks away.

“Out with it.” I say, meeting his eyes and refusing to let him look away.

“It’s the nobles.” Hawk says in a low whisper. The others shudder as she says the words, as if speaking heresy, which I suppose it might be.

“Makes sense, but why do you think they’re a problem?” I ask.

“You believe us?” John asks, looking up at me.

“Not yet, obviously. I’ll want to hear your arguments before I go out there kickstarting a revolution.” I say, looking between them as they start growing a little more excited.

“People are going missing.” Hawk says, more worried where John is excited. “You might have heard of it, those who travel to the edge disappear, but sometimes they disappear in the night. People who’d never even think of taking such a journey.”

“Our old boss.” John says, “I mean, our brother? Leader? The old leader to our group. He promised us that he’d never go to the edge of the world, he wanted to find the truth behind the nobility.”

“He got caught?”

“We don’t know.” Hawk says, her voice quiet but heavy. “He went missing one day, and everyone is convinced he went to the edge.”

“He didn’t. He wouldn’t.” John says. “One of the nobles got to him, and not just him. So many people go missing, all the time.”

“So, you’re convinced that the nobles are taking out everyone who questions their authority?” I ask. That’s not the feel I got from my brief meeting with the King, but I can hardly say that I know him from such a short exchange.

“Not just that.” John says, increasingly eager, as Hawk and the others turn away from him, Chip informs me that their movements are a display of embarrassment.

“They feed on our blood!” He whispers, low and intense.

“What was that?” I ask, leaning back away from him, as his over eagerness draws him a little too close.

“They drink our blood.” He says, “The nights of waning, are because they sneak into our homes and drink our blood.”

“Don’t mind him. The waning is a normal part of life, the nobles aren’t sneaking into our homes and drinking our blood while we sleep, John.”

“No? Then where does our mana go?”

“To Selena, John. We’ve been told this before.” Hawk says, “Traveller, the same happens in your dungeon too, doesn’t it?”

“No?” I say, “I haven’t really been around for long though. What is this waning?”

“See?” John says, as if I’ve somehow proven him right. “On a waning night you have a portion of your mana drained away, you end up feeling really pained. It happens more often whenever people grow their mana form too much, too quick.”

“Never heard of it.” I say, “It doesn’t kill you? Draining your mana too much usually does.”

“It can if you push yourself too hard the day after.” Hawk says, “People usually take the day off and recover themselves.”

“It happens often?” I ask.

“Twice a month maybe?” She replies, shaking her head. “You’ve never gone through it?”

“Never.” I reply. “It is strange, but how do you connect that with the nobles drinking your blood?”

“I heard it from Olly, our old boss, before he disappeared. He told me about how he saw a lesser noble sneak into someone’s house and drink their blood of a night.”

“It’s nonsense.” Hawk says, shaking her head. “He was probably just spying on them flirting and kissing.”

“He was sure of it!” John insists.

“Setting aside the accusations of vampirism, do you have any other evidence of the nobles doing wrong?” I ask.

“Olly’s disappearance isn’t enough?”

“No.” I reply sharply. “Not to mention, I’m not equipped to handle that sort of fight.”

I couldn’t get a clear read on the King’s strength, but the castle he lives in and the equipment he wears is more than enough to suggest that he’s beyond my ability to deal with. Besides, it seems rather unlikely that he’s the one I’m meant to slay.

“There’s been more disappearances lately.” John says, “Much more than normal. I think they’re hungry, hunting down and slaughtering more people than normal.”

“John’s madness aside, people are going missing. Normal people, not like us. I don’t get why they’d be targeted, but it has to be the nobles doing it.” Hawk says, interrupting John as he’s about to go on about the vampires again.

“So, do you have any plans? Something we can do about it?”

“Poke around in a noble’s palace?” John suggests. “We’ll catch them in their dungeons, torturing the people they’ve stolen away.”

“Or we can watch the gates to their palaces?” Hawk suggests. “People are disappearing of a night. So, we could catch the nobles if we wait by the gates.”

“It’ll take too much time,” I say. “I’m here for a few days, and I’m not eager to spend that time waiting in the dark without sleeping.”

“So, what do you suggest?” Hawk asks.

“A trap might work.” I say, “Matter of fact, the way you’re all acting and sneaking about, I’m sure someone will be coming for you.”

“What?” John asks, looking at the door and windows with worry. “Why?”

“First, you guys aren’t as inconspicuous as you’d like to think. Second, your boss was taken, and I’m guessing your relationship with him was known to other people, and would be easily investigated. Third, I’m here, not back in the castle. If the nobles are scheming like you suspect, they’d be watching me for this exact sort of thing.”

“Sooo?” John starts looking around the room as Hawk and the others start to panic.

“Well, if they haven’t come crashing through the doors, then we might be okay for now, I suppose.” I say with a shrug. “Or maybe they’re hoping that I’ll deal with you.”

“You think that we’re the pests?” Hawk asks, spinning around and shoving about some furniture to better reinforce the closed door.

“To them you would be.” I reply, “Rebelling against good order, and possibly upsetting the way of life for your entire community.”

“What… what are you talking about?” Hawk asks.

“What does the dungeon want.” I ask, striding around the room. “Selene is the one who decides if you’re pests or pets, so the question is, does she want the nobles in power? Is she happy to let the nobles do as they please?”

“Things have always been this way…” John says, looking between his allies, with increasing concern.

“Then perhaps the nobles aren’t, as a class, pests.” I say.

“What about the disappearances? How many people are dead, and this is the way things are supposed to be?” He asks, huffing and puffing as his eyes open wide.

“If that’s what Selene wants…” Hawk, falls into a chair of her own.

“We can’t know that!” John says.

“No, we can’t.” I say, “What we do know is that she chooses not to intervene. Thus, I would hesitantly assume that she’s relatively indifferent to how things are developing. How you choose your leaders, and how you run this town might not matter to her, assuming that, what will you choose to do?”

“I don’t want more people to die!” John shouts, louder than we should probably be right now. No one minds it.

“Then do something about it and live with the consequences.” I say. “If Selene herself disagrees with you, I’m sure she can rather easily deal with you.”

“Yeah, let’s go get those blood-sucking nobles.” He shouts, looking between us as if this were some massive passionate speech, that should have riled us into action.

“Let’s not.” I say rubbing at my temple. “We can’t be sure that all the nobles are involved, or even exactly what’s going on. We should investigate. It’s still possible that the ‘pests’ I’m here for are among the nobles. At least, that’s the only idea I have at the moment.”

“Investigate? How?” He asks.

“Well, if no one has come to us yet, perhaps we should give them a visit instead.” I suggest, covering my mouth with a hand as a yawn builds up.

“That’s what Olly did…” He says, looking down at his own hands.

“Well, which noble did he visit?” I ask. “It’s a better lead than any other so far today, unless you want to go check out what lies at the ends of the world?”

“No… no.” He shakes his head, looking at his little group of misfits. “But we needn’t all go together.”

“I’m going.” Hawk says, her words heavy with conviction even as she shifts her hands about in worry. “We’re going together.”

“It’s going to be dangerous. We might not ever get to see our families again.” He says, showing sharp teeth as he hisses, his feathers standing on end.

“So, we do nothing as you disappear too?” She asks, growling as she claws at the kitchen knife in her hands.

“We should only go if you’re prepared for a fight.” I say, checking my gun to see that it’s unchanged from the last time I looked at it. “If it does turn into a fight, I’m not sure I can protect anyone here.”

“It’s our fight. Our people who are dying.” John says, standing tall as he hefts his big club to his shoulder. “I think we’ve waited for an answer long enough. Waiting to be hunted, knowing that there’s nothing we can do.

“We should hunt them in return.”

“Again, let’s give this noble a chance to explain himself first.” I suggest, as the cabinet is shifted out of the way, and we head out into the darkness of night. The stars above are alien, and so dense and close that I can see clearly through the night.

“This is the noble that Olly caught sucking a girl’s blood.” John says, “We have to be careful.”

“I just hope that we don’t walk in on them…” Hawk groans, as she and the others follow behind us. They’re all strangely easy to convince into this recklessness, but I suppose they’ve been building themselves up for something like this for a while now.

The streets we walk are empty, the time for work has fully passed, and most people have even left their drinks and entertainments behind to get some rest and prepare for tomorrow.

John is leading us, which inspires a little worry in my heart. If we don’t stop him, he’s probably going to show up on the doorstep of this noble, pounding on the door and yelling about blood-sucking vampires.

“Stop. I hear something.” Hawk says, pulling us to a stop as we look around trying to hear what she’s hearing.

“Your feathers are of such a brightness that I’m sure the dungeon herself watches you as you sleep.” A young man says, as he escorts a woman along the street. His words must seem more romantic to his lover than they do to me, as she laughs in delight.

“Oh, my lord. You always compliment me in such fashion, but you must know that your attention alone is enough for me.” The pair walk towards the small palace where we were headed, giggling and flirting as they go.

“Should we really intrude?” Hawk asks, sounding a little pained, and much less anxious. I can somewhat sympathise, if we wait too long we might just catch them in the act, which would be even more disturbing.

“Do any of you know the woman?” I ask failing to supress a yawn.

“I recognise her.” Hawk says, shaking her head. “We’re not friends, though.”

“He’s going to drink her blood.” John says, his eyes locked on the closing door.

“And what are you going to do to stop him, little hero?” I ask, shaking my head and stepping out towards the palace. “We can either charge in there now or wait for tomorrow.”

“Ah, are we really ready?” Hawk asks, a step behind me, while John jumps quickly to get ahead of me.

“Nope.” I reply, “Not even nearly, but I’m impatient to wait around, let’s see what’s up with these nobles.”

I arrive, and John starts pounding on the door, thankfully he’s not yet throwing about accusations of blood-sucking. After a few seconds pass, and there’s no reply, he starts pounding on the door again.

“Doesn’t he have servants?” I ask, looking about to see if there’s any other way in.

“He’s a lesser noble, last time I knew he didn’t.” John says, pounding even louder. “Open up!”

A faint scream comes from inside as John’s pounding grows more intense. He tries to force the door down, but it just won’t move.

“Step aside.” I order him, locating the hinges and drawing out my mana, using my annihilation magic to destroy the hinges holding the door up.

“Now.” I say, and he shoulder charges the doors, toppling them inwards.

The young woman lies on the floor unmoving, while the noble stands over her, his mouth wet with blood as he turns to look at us.

“You…” He whispers, his gaze falling onto me.

“So, are we fighting or talking?” I ask, pointing my gun at him as I step closer.

The would-be revolutionaries stand behind me, shaking, crying, or frozen in shock as they stare at the noble, and the corpse of the woman that he killed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Skills & Stats

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 860 units

~Mana distribution:

Catagory Current Max. Defence 0% 32% Offense 0% 57% Mana Sense 0% 72% Recovery 0% 30% Gluttony 0% 26% Misc. 40% 40% Efficiency 40% 86%

~Favourited Skills:

-Chip Shredder

-Multi-mind

-Tag

-Mana surge movement

-Mana surge punch

-Reactive mana skin

-Infused delayed Casting

-Fire burst punch

-Annihilation magic

-Mana form flow fixer

-Rapid fire casting