Well, I had almost succeeded. To think that I would be caught now. It is not an issue since I had expected to fail anyway. That is why we had the backup plan. I wonder if Trevor has gotten into position.
The other party is a lady, clearly a vampire. That is the only way that she would be able to wield a vampire artifact. As far as I know, this is the only way that a grunt can control his mana. The person in front of me is clearly a vampire. Blood mana is leaving in bursts that even I can sense.
Well, this is going to be annoying. As I steadily retreat, the lady has removed her sword from its unfortunate victim. He already looks like a drained husk.
They are supposed to be relics made from vampire bones. (That is where I got the idea for my sword, though they themselves don't use grunt bones.) Only a vampire of the court would have access to such a weapon. She is not one of the possessed vampires. (She is not strong enough for that.) So she must be here in the flesh.
"Well, you are the grunt that destroyed Lady Erica.", she says. "She has put a bounty on you, you know."
"Well, she can put as much of a bounty on me as she wants. She won't be able to find me.", I reply. Well, what I said is technically true. How would they find me when they are looking for me at the court?
"That is quite a bit of confidence, you half-transformed mutt.", she says. Somehow, she is not able to mimic the legendary ego of her people, though. She is nervous. "But you are standing in front of me. I can give your corpse to Lady Erica today itself."
As she speaks, she moves toward me with that sword of hers. A sidestep is enough to dodge her strike. Not that she commits to her attack. The instant that she sees me dodging, she retreats, returning to her previous position. If I were to strike, I am sure that I would face a vicious counterattack, though.
She is being careful with her attacks, which I can't complain about at this moment. I don't understand why, though.. Making noise would be to her benefit right now.
"Well, I am sure that you will try. I wonder who you are." I speak, "You do not speak like the nobles. You certainly are not a commoner promoted to your present position. They would never have given you that sword if that were the case. You are off the court, present here in the flesh. Why would you take such a risk to sneak into the soldar plains?"
"Who knows? I might be the lost heir of an ancient family. I might be sleeping with one of the counts. I might even be a blood descendant of the vampire king.", she replies, with a smirk on her face. "Right now, your identity is the more curious one. Most of those in the court are raised to the blood before they enter puberty. You are almost an adult, and you have been converted this late. Who are you?"
"Well, I cannot make it that easy for you, now can I?" I speak, looking at the door. The lady opposite me has not made any noise to wake up her crew. Maybe she wants the full credit for killing me.
"Well, you don't need to do anything.", she says. "A sword capable of suppressing blood mana. There are not many people capable of making something like that. Your identity will be easy to discover. The lady can do it in the instant that she is free."
As she speaks, she swipes her sword at me playfully. It doesn't even reach close to me. Even though she is not as powerful as her fellows, her movements are pretty precise. I would say that she is at the fifth or sixth foundation slab. (In terms of strength.) This is a proper vampire grunt, experienced in using that sword of hers.
"Someone with your training is also very rare.", she continues. "I wonder which of my lady's enemies would be willing to waste such a talent before even allowing them to shine."
"Why does everybody say that?" I wonder out loud. Sadly, the lady does not bother to answer me.
Well, I don't know what to do. I could try and escape through the door behind me. I would have the gang behind me if I were to take a step outside the room, though. Even now I don't know why the lady has not yet woken up the gang. Maybe she wants the entire glory of the kill, or there is some other reason. In short, the door behind me is not an option.
That is why right now my goal is the window which is just behind the lady. I just need the lady to get away from that window, and I will be able to jump out of it. Jumping from the first floor will be painful. I will be able to get lost before the lady can even think of waking up the gang. Already, our clashes must be rousing a few people. Who can tell? (I can't see anybody at least.)
I might break my legs, but with the vital mana that I have absorbed, I will be able to fix them quite easily, as well. The only problem is that I need the lady to get away from the window without tipping her off.
That is going to be another problem. Forcing my sword not to work like this is not easy. There is a cost to doing this. It is not going to activate with the promptness that it usually does. There is going to be a delay in my transformation now. A minute at most, which is quite a short duration. It is an eternity while fighting, though. Still, I activate my sword. Now to buy myself a minute.
"What are you planning to do here? I am sure that you have not come to this place for the loot.", I ask. As I ask, I take a step towards the right. I am hoping that she thinks I am doing this to get a better position. (I am taking a better position, but not to strike her. But to better jump out of the window.)
"Quite bold of you. To ask something like that directly.", she replies. She takes a step to the left to be directly opposite me again (and a bit more away from the window.) "All of us serve the king's plan in our ways. To ask of it is to offend the king."
Well, vampires have always been a secretive bunch. Even the scholars have never acquired much from them. The only thing that we really know about them is the basic structure of the court. The king is at the top.
"Well, I am sure that you can give me something about it.", I reply. I take another step to the right as the lady looks at me. I think a look of surprise flashes on her face. (Or she could be constipated as well.)
"Well, the...." She speaks. "You don't know, do you? To think that your master was not even willing to inform you of this. He clearly expected you to die here."
"My master has told me all that I need to know.", I reply, taking another step to the right. I don't need to wait long to escape now. "Anyway, how are you so sure that you will be killing me?"
"Well, every fool has his delusions.", she replies. "Even if I don't kill you today, you are going to die soon enough."
I don't reply to this. The only reason that we are still talking is that the lady thinks that we could be allies. We would cross swords the instant she knew I was not of the court.
In the court, everybody might be your ally and everybody might be your enemy. You never screw with a man that might be your ally tomorrow. That is a good way to get a dagger in your back, especially in the court.
"Well, if you are going to get me killed, then you might as well tell me how you got that sword of yours.", I ask.
"Well, you are certainly hung up on that. You do realize just how invasive such a question is. I might as well ask you how it felt for you to transform.", she replies, a grimace appearing on her face.
"Well, well. I apologize. No need to take it seriously.", I speak, taking another step to the right with the lady mirroring my action. A couple of steps and I will be able to make my escape.
She doesn't reply to this as we stare at each other. That leaves me to wonder where exactly the people in the room are. A glance to my side reveals that everybody has flattened themselves against the wall.
Well, they will still get hurt if we were to go all out, but they are going to be relatively fine for a few clashes. I think I have time for that only. As soon as I realize this, I have to jump back as the lady makes use of my distraction to get another strike in.
I barely manage to block it, but she manages to get me on my left arm. It is nothing serious, but I can feel my vital mana leak. I make use of this time to get closer to the window. As she strikes at me, I realise.
"You cannot allow these people to get hurt.", I declare. "I assume that your master has commanded you to protect these people. They are blood bags."
The look of surprise on her face is enough to confirm my suspicions. Vampires don't like to draw attention to the fact that they need to drink blood. That is the purpose of people put here, though. What I have just spoken out loud is equivalent to speaking about our underwear to them.
Well, that is good. This is enough for me as I feel the blood mana flow into me. As I do so, I can feel the lady charge at me. Entering into a defensive stance, I block her attack, using the force of her blow to push her back.
I can feel the pain in my stomach disappear as the blood mana surging into me makes my body stronger. Not by as much as I would like, but it will do for now. As I release the formation, I realize just how uncomfortable it had gotten for me. To stop my sword from creating blood mana like this is not something I must be doing. A while longer, and it would have become physically painful as well. It is kind of like stopping yourself from peeing when you have already started peeing.
As I do so, the lady does the same thing that I had done. Her blood mana surges as we cross swords. The force of her strikes is enough to cause my legs to buckle, but I somehow hold on. She is controlling her strength so that the people here don't get hurt.
I had forgotten that the lady in front of me was a proper grunt. The boost that she gets from blood mana is way more than I will ever get in my life. Her body is designed to accept blood mana. Well, the more that I drag this fight, the stronger I will get.
"Well, that was unexpected.", I speak, blocking another strike of hers.
Right now, my arms feel like somebody has released worms inside my body. Seriously, just how much stronger than me is she?
"A bit of mercy, after all, I might work with you in the future.", I speak, though I may as well have not. The lady doesn't look like she listened.
I barely managed to block her strike. Well, can I call it blocking it when the force of her strike was enough to cause me to fly across the room? Well, I hit the wall right next to the window. The impact is not pretty, though, as I feel like my back has been crushed into a paste.
Well, I have reached my goal, so I do not delay any longer as I jump through the window. The next thing I know is the pain in my left leg. I had landed on it. It twisted as my leg hit the ground. Even as I get up, the blood mana in me gets to work repairing the damage done.
There is nobody who is following me. (Especially from above.) So it looks like the lady is taking the stairs. Well, I can hear the chaos erupt as my senses finally kick into high gear. This is the last bit of my transformation, which is complete now. (Seriously, that transformation took absurdly long.) Well, it is time for me to disappear from this place.