Chapter 37: Blade over blade
"*Crimson river, your master commands! Flow from the veins of the unworthy, give up their life!*"
The soldier screamed, then gurgled. Blood poured out of his nose, his ears, his mouth, his wounds; gathered in droplets on his skin. The spell called on it, and weak capillaries couldn't hold it. In a few heartbeats, the man fell down, his sword falling powerlessly out of his hand.
Cael clenched his fist over the shiny globe of blood, letting System consume it, and tumbled to the side, dodging the attacks of the soldier's comrades. There were two, and while one slashed with a sword, the second one shot small, but dangerous, lightning orbs.
Just cantrips, zeroth circle spells, but even those would hurt.
*Cael, you now have an upgrade available. I proceed as per your previous command. The purchase of the Hundred Cuts spell is in process.*
A ball of lightning hit Cael's shoulder, leaving a scorched mark on his already torn and bloodied shirt—it was worse than a rag at this point—and eliciting a hiss of pain from Cael himself.
System was distracting sometimes. But it worked well overall.
By that point, Cael drained a couple dozen people. He avoided confrontations with Oliveira soldiers by staying away from that side of the battle, and steering clear of anyone in Oliveira colors.
He purchased the Greater Exsanguination spell, the Blood Blade spell, and now the one that followed it. Not to mention, enough upgrades to mana, body and mind to feel like a new person.
A person of sharp focus and deadly precision.
"*Crimson river, I command thee to become the blade of death!*"
There was enough blood around that Cael didn't need to spend his. He merely attached the spell to some that spilled onto the ground before. It was a bit of a tug, with the greedy ground already drinking most of it, but Cael managed.
In his palm formed a crescent-shaped blade. Small and seemingly harmless, until Cael threw it at the soldier with the sword. It whizzed like an arrow, cutting through his neck until Cael could see a white glimpse of a spine. Then, following Cael's command, it changed directions and darted towards the second one.
The soldier tried to dodge, but the blade followed. It embedded itself in the man's neck, spending the last of the spell's mana.
Cael gathered their blood with Greater Exsanguination and restored his mana. But they didn't give enough Blood Points for another upgrade.
He looked at the battlefield, frowning. Was that a flash of fire he saw over the soldier's heads? Were Father and Ginevra out there? He would have to fight through the ranks of soldiers to get through them, but now Cael felt he could do that.
A loud metallic clang made Cael turn his head. He spotted flashes of steel and magic between the trees.
"Stop running, coward!" a faintly familiar voice barked.
"Eat shit and die!" another responded, followed by a cracking blast.
Cael dashed towards the fighters, reading another Blood Blade spell on the go.
A dozen steps later, he had to jump to the side and hide behind a tree to avoid a wide, white, razor-sharp wave of energy. The man who sent it flying aimed at his opponent, but missed.
When Cael moved away from his shelter, he had to dodge again, this time—splinters of wood from a small tree blasted by a lightning bolt from the second man's bow.
Cael saw both of the opponents now. A man with a glyph-engraved bow, and another in enchanted armor wielding a glowing sword. Cael's eyes widened. That was one of Ginevra's lieutenants! DiNapoli, if he recalled right.
Then the other man, although unfamiliar, must be one of Father's allies. Cael heard him mentioning a mage who was good with a bow, but the name eluded him.
Both were battered and bloodied. The archer had a long, red gash that spanned his entire side, and another gash on his hip; the swordsman's armor was charred in some places and spotted holes in others.
The swordsman noticed Cael first and paused, frowning. The archer took that as an opportunity to skid away and prime an arrow on his bow. Then he hesitated, his narrowed eyes and aim moving between Cael and DiNapoli.
"Another one of Nuvoloso's?" he asked.
"No." Cael shook his head. Then, instead of saying more, he let his actions speak for himself.
He threw his hand forward, sending the Blood Blade out. It flew at DiNapoli, but the man met it with the edge of his sword, slicing the spell and the blade into two harmless halves.
But it was a distraction enough for the archer to shoot an arrow, aiming right into a hole between his cuirass and his pauldron. The arrow sank in the flesh almost to the fletching.
DiNapoli cried out and faltered, but didn't fall. His wounded—left—hand let go of the sword. The magic in it went out, leaving only a glyph-covered blade, but the man still charged forward at the archer.
The archer moved back and put a tree between himself and the enemy. His fingers reached for his quiver.
Cael read another spell.
"*Crimson river, your master commands! Flow from the veins of the unworthy, give up their life!*"
Blood flowed freely out of DiNapoli's wounds. Cael felt the man clutching for it, his own mana straining to fight against Cael's spell, but there wasn't much of it.
The swordsman made another step and fell. And Cael knew from his spell that his heartbeat, that pressure that pumped his blood, stopped, too.
Cael let the System consume it all. He moved his eyes away from the fallen swordsman towards the approaching archer.
The man had a new arrow in his bow, and it was aimed at Cael.
"Thanks for the help, man. Not that I needed it, of course. Now, who are you and why shouldn't I shoot you?"
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om