Chapter 142: Assassin ambush?
Victor stood still for a few more seconds, observing his own hand.
Small black sparks still ran between his fingers like living veins, appearing and disappearing in irregular patterns. Unlike Black Ice, which obeys defined forms, and White Fire, which advanced consuming everything in its path, Black Lightning seemed to exist only in the instant of its release.
Movement.
Impact.
Transfer.
It was an ability made for the exact moment when something collided with something else.
Victor slowly closed his hand.
The sparks elongated.
"So that’s it..."
His smile widened slightly.
He had thought of Black Lightning as speed.
But that was only a consequence.
The true nature of the ability seemed to be linked to destruction and the resulting impact. It was as if the energy accumulated force during movement and discharged upon contact, brutally multiplying the damage.
It wasn’t just about running faster.
It was about transforming his own body into a weapon of combat.
That explained why using it alongside the Mist Steps was so terrifying. The Mist Steps project specializations. Precision. Control of presence, weight, and movement.
The Black Bolt was the one(s) received.
He didn’t want to.
Victor looked again at the corpse of the headless creature.
The destruction was still too excessive.
"I definitely need to control the output."
If he used that against someone strong without understanding the limit, he might lose his arm in the process. His body was resilient, absurdly so, but it wasn’t meant to release any amount of energy without consequences.
He flexed his wrist.
There was no pain.
But there was numbness.
A residual vibration still ran through the bones of his hand, as if the discharge had passed through his nerves before exiting. It was a small sensation, almost irrelevant, but Victor noticed it immediately.
"So there’s still a return." Good to know.
This meant that the energy didn’t just leave him. Part of the impact returned to his body. The greater the discharge, the greater the rebound.
He would have to take that into account.
Victor took a deep breath and resumed walking.
The surrounding forest remained too dark and silent to be natural. Black leaves swayed slowly under a breeze that seemed to come from nowhere. In the distance, monsters screamed, died, or hunted each other. The Ritual continued to advance, independent of them all.
Victor kept his perception open.
Red lines emerged around him like living threads in the darkness.
Some small.
Others larger.
Most belonged to wild creatures.
But then...
He gave birth.
A solitary red line.
It didn’t die.
It didn’t separate.
Simply absent from his perception.
Victor’s eyes widened.
"..."
Another line.
Then another.
And yet another.
It wasn’t natural.
Living creatures didn’t just vanish from his perception without reason. Even when they tried to hide, there were still signs. Heat. Blood. Breath. Heartbeats. Internal flow.
But those presences were being erased.
Not completely.
Just enough to blend into the forest.
Victor stood motionless.
His expression didn’t change, but his red eyes moved slowly from side to side.
The remaining lines were still there.
But now he grasped the pattern.
They weren’t moved like monsters.
Monsters hunted in direct, instinctive, hungry trajectories. They advanced, retreated, sniffed, attacked.
Those presences moved with discipline.
Slowly.
In a circle.
Reducing the space around him.
Victor immediately remembered Grace’s words.
Because of Jake Valentine, many people tried to hunt him down within the Ritual.
At the time, it was almost fun.
It was happening.
Victor chuckled softly.
"So I finally arrived."
That was good.
Very good.
Each one of them is worth points.
And if he came after him voluntarily, that saved the trouble of searching for them.
But then his smile faded a little.
There was something strange.
The amount of energy from those presences was too great.
Too great.
Victor had sensed several participants in the Ritual before. Some were strong. Others, talented. Some possessed the typical arrogance of young prodigies raised by old families.
But those presences don’t invite young people.
The control was too clean.
The silence was too professional.
And, most importantly...
The weight of their blood didn’t match vampires undergoing the Ritual.
Victor deliberately turned his face away.
"You’re not participants."
The forest fell silently silent.
No response.
Only the almost imperceptible movement of the leaves.
Victor began to slowly rotate his right wrist, letting small black sparks appear between his fingers.
"Is this cheating or politics?"
Still nothing.
Then a voice came from behind him.
Low.
Distorted by some kind of magic.
"Both."
Victor turned.
But the attack had already begun.
A black blade struck inches from his neck.
Swift.
Silent.
No murderous intent released.
The assassin had been hidden until the moment of the strike.
Victor reacted instinctively.
The Black Lightning exploded in his right leg.
His body shifted to the side in a jagged blur.
The blade only grazed a few strands of his hair.
But the movement was too fast.
Uncontrolled.
Victor slammed his shoulder against a tree with enough force to crack the entire trunk.
BOOM.
The wood exploded behind him.
"Shit."
Before he could fully regain his composure, three figures emerged from the darkness.
They all wore stealthy black clothing, clinging to their bodies and covered in layers of enchanted fabric. Hoods concealed their hair. Plain masks covered their faces. Only their red eyes gleamed beneath the shadows.
There were no coats of arms.
There were no names.
There was nothing to connect them to any family.
Professionals.
Victor.
"You came well-dressed to die."
None of them answered.
The first advanced forward.
The second stayed to the left.
The third leaped upward, using the branches for support.
Victor instantly created three stakes of Black Ice.
He launched the first at the frontal attacker.
The second at the presence to the left.
The third at the assassin above.
Normally, that would suffice.
But not this time.
The frontal attacker leaned forward at the last instant, letting the stake pass close to his shoulder. The one on the left sliced the project in half with a short blade covered in compressed blood energy. The one on top simply vanished in a dark cloud, reappearing behind Victor.
✓s.
Very fast.
Victor spun his body.
Black Lightning pierced his arm.
He punched back.
The assassination was committed by both arms in defense.
BOOM!
The download exploded without contact.
The assassin’s body was launched away, crashing through two tree trunks before disappearing into the vegetation.
Victor glanced quickly at his own hand.
This time, the numbness spread to his elbow.
"Bad control."
He didn’t have time to think anymore.
The frontal attacker arrived.
His blade wasn’t aimed at the heart.
It was aimed at the hips.
Knee.
Shoulder.
Wrist.
Neck.
Short, precise strikes, designed to reduce mobility before killing.
Victor dodged the first slash using Mist Steps.
The second grazed his forearm.
The third nearly struck his throat.
Victor attempted to incorporate Black Lightning into the next movement.
Mistake.
The movement exploded forward at the wrong angle.
He passed the assassin too quickly, missed his window for a counterattack, and had to dig his fingers into a nearby tree to stop his own body.
Bark and wood were crushed in his hand.
The assassin immediately seized the opportunity.
A thin stream of solidified blood surged from his sleeve and enveloped Victor’s ankle.
He pulled.
Victor was dragged backward.
In the same instant, another assassin appeared above, blade pointed at the nape of his neck.
Victor clicked his tongue.
Black Ice formed on his back like thorns.
The assassin above recoiled at the last moment, avoiding being pierced.
But the chain still bound his leg.
Victor channeled Black Lightning through the bound leg.
The energy coursed through the chain.
The assassin broke free immediately, but not quickly or far enough.
The discharge pierced the solidified blood and struck his hand.
BOOM!
His arm exploded from the elbow down.
For the first time, a sound of pain escaped from one of the masks.
Victor.
"It works by conduction."
Good information.
Then the armless assassin recovered.
It didn’t get caught in networks.
No. More.
It simply cut off its own blood flow, preventing excessive loss and drifting between the trees.
Victor frowned, his brow advancing.
"Who is it?"
The air shifted.
More presents.
No.
Not five.
Ten.
Doze off. Perhaps more.
They didn’t all advance at once.
They surrounded them.
Observing.
Testing.
Learning.
Victor acted too late.
Those first attacks weren’t an attempt to kill him.
They were probing.
They wanted to see how he reacted.
They wanted to gauge his abilities.
They wanted to understand what he could do.
Victor let out a low laugh.
"Ah... so you’re that kind of coward."
A voice replied from the left.
"That kind lives longer."
Victor turned his face away.
Another blade came from below.
It’s you.
A red needle passed close to his eye.
Another work by...
Victor tilted his head.
The needle pierced his cheek.
It wasn’t deep.
But it stung.
Victor immediately adjusted the needle and examined the tip.
There was something on it.
Poison?
No.
Something worse.
A coagulant.
His blood around the wound held its course for a moment before being summoned to circulate once more through his own bloodline.
Victor’s eyes widened.
"You came prepared for vampires."
Three shadows advanced simultaneously.
Victor responded with Black Ice.
This time, he created a row of arched stakes, forcing them to retreat.
Then, he concentrated Black Lightning in his fists and advanced.
The first punch struck a blade.
BOOM!
The weapon snapped open.
The assassin’s hand twisted at an impossible angle.
Victor spun, using the momentum to land the second punch.
But he put too much energy into it.
His arm moved faster than his body could keep up.
The blow missed by centimeters.
The assassin seized the opening and slashed his side.
A blade entered.
Not deeply.
But enough to draw blood. Victor tried to grab him.
The assassin had already been recovered.
"..."
Victor prepared for the cut.
Then for the enemies.
His smile.
They were good.
Not strong like crushing monsters.
Not absurd like Carmilla, Chysis, or Jake.
But good in an annoying way.
They didn’t compete with him in raw power.
They avoided.
They cut.
They retreated.
They attacked again.
They used tools.
They used poison.
They used seals.
They used the terrain.
It was the kind of combat Victor hated to admit worked.
The kind that didn’t let the monstrous simply crush everything.
A shadow appeared behind him.
Victor pretended not to notice.
He waited.
The instant the blade came, he let the Black Lightning circulate through his arm and struck the ground with his fist.
BOOOOOOM!
The discharge closed in on the earth.
Roots, stones, and everything else were thrown upwards.
The assassin behind him was caught in the shockwave and lost his balance for half a second.
Half a second was enough.
Victor created a short stake of Black Ice and threw it.
The stake pierced the mask.
The assassin’s head was thrown back.
The body fell.
Silence.
First kill.
Victor again.
"Hum."
The presences around them shifted.
It wasn’t fear.
It was adjustment.
They immediately moved further apart.
The distance between each attacker increased.
The routes shifted.
The angles widened.
Victor launched.
"You’re coordinating."
No answer.
Then the dead assassin’s body began to glow.
Victor braced himself.
A red seal appeared beneath the corpse.
His gaze shifted.
"Ah."
BOOM!
A burst of blood engulfed the surrounding area.
Victor escaped using Mist Steps at the last instant, but the Black Lightning was still too active in his legs.
The displacement went awry.
He reappeared in the air, above the trees, in a bad position.
For a second, he was exposed.
And the assassins cheered.
Dozens of red needles shot out from various points in the forest.
Victor crossed his arms.
Black Ice formed before him in a defensive layer.
The needles struck the ice.
Some broke.
Others partially pierced.
Three struck.
One hit his shoulder.
Another his thigh.
The third needle pierced his left hand.
Victor fell between the branches, cutting off two of them and landing on the ground with a heavy impact.
He immediately pulled out the needles.
But the effect came faster this time.
The blood around the wounds became heavy.
Not completely blocked.
But slow.
The circulation in that region resisted his commands.
Victor took a deep breath.
"Coagulant with blood control interference."
This was a problem.
Small.
But real.
An attacker advanced to the right.
Victor tried to respond with Black Lightning.
The left hook lags behind.
Energy isn’t circulating properly because of the needle.
The punch came out like a turtle.
The assassin dodged and kicked Victor’s knee from the side.
CRACK.
Not completely broken.
But it shifted his balance.
Victor fell half a step.
Another blade came from the front.
EleItu by Mesh.
The tip cut below the eye.
Another shadow appeared behind and plunged a short blade into his back.
Victor widened, narrowing his eyes.
The blade didn’t pierce his heart.
But it plunged near his spine.
Then the seal on the weapon activated.
Red currents spread through the metal and entered his body like roots.
Victor felt the movement of his own muscles become heavier.
"..."
The assassin behind him spoke for the first time.
"Containment confirmed."
Victor slowed down.
"You should have confirmed my death."
He threw his head back.
Victor’s skulls struck an assassin’s mask with brutal force.
CRACK.
The mask cracked.
The vampire staggered.
Victor twisted the body, grabbed his neck, and concentrated Black Lightning in his palm.
But the energy failed.
Not completely.
Just enough.
The blade’s seal still interfered with the flow.
Instead of burning the assassin’s head, the discharge only burned part of the hood and threw the body away.
Victor ripped the blade from his back with a violent movement.
Blood dried.
The wound tried to regenerate.
Slower than it should.
Victor looked at the blade in his hand.
There was regular on it.
"You prepared this for me?"
A voice answered from somewhere ahead.
"For Jake Valentine." Victor stood motionless for a moment.
Then he began to laugh.
Loosely.
Then more clearly.
"Ah..."
He slammed the blade on the floor.
"So you’re even more suicidal than I think."
