Chapter 142 - Progenitor’s Blood Powers
Ending saying, she later grabbed with force on Aerius fur, Sofiya told him in a chilling tone.
"Keep flying the same level as this beast, and if he attacks, dodge at will."
As she ended saying that, she positioned herself for another shot, and at which, she fired faster than before. Not even being bothered to see the aftermath of the shoot, she placed another bullet in her heirloom rifle that she later shot.
Explosion after explosion, Sofiya was showering Vord in her [Exploding Bullets], creating a strong heatwave that later turned into hell in the air and the ground that began burning.
Aerius could barely see something in the smokescreen cover, but he heard each of the explosions appearing once the bullets of Sofiya made contact with something.
Tomas felt the same and looked at Sofiya's straight back with impressed eyes while reminding himself. ' I am so glad I never angered big sister Sofiya because she is terrifying right now.'
With Aerius flying in the air maintaining a stable level, Sofiya, who was left without bullets, strapped her rifle on her back and kept gazing forward to the center of her attacks.
The echoing sound of stones dropping on the ground along with the blowing fires created a chilling atmosphere as they gazed forward to where Vord used to be.
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Aerius wanted to get closer, but all of a sudden, Sofiya heard a small chuckle and pulled hard on the gryphon's fur, keeping him out of danger.
Then Aerius and Thomas began to hear the chuckle too, which slowly turned into a maniacal laugh that seemed sinister out of a nightmarish story.
From the smokescreen, the figure of a monstrous beast covered in large burnt marks oozing blood appeared, charging his way toward Aerius in a fast manner while looking with red eyes at Aerius and Sofiya.
Before Aerius could react properly to change his direction, he was hurt by a punch from the beast that sent him hitting on the other wall of the building. In the moment of the impact, Sofiya jumped away from Aerius, leaving Tomas and Aerius to clash on the wall.
As she jumped, she opened her buttoned pocket and took the last vial of crimson liquid she had on her and began pouring it on her white hair, letting it flow around all her body, embracing it fully.
The instant she did that, she let out an intense cry of pain as the blood began entering inside her body, giving the appearance that nothing happened, but her crimson hair told another story.
While in the air, she began descending toward the burning floor while gritting her teeth in pain. Yet as she was dropping down, Vord turned his eyes on her and using [Sky Walk] at an intense rate, he propelled his way to Sofiya.
Getting closer to her, he moved his fist back, and with the shaking of his beastly arms, he said to Sofiya.
"This is the end whore. Not even this new appearance of yours can save you. Everything you have tried was in vain. Those bullets of yours only managed to anger me more than needed."
Hearing that, she gazed into the beast's eyes with her cold emerald eyes, and instead of commenting something, she began kicking in the air. Doing this, the speed she was dropping decreased and keeping to hit with her legs on the air, she began to ascend, moving past Vord.
Vord's murderous eyes showed a grain of surprise, seeing how she also used her own body to use [Sky Walk]. After he missed Sofiya with his strike, he looked up and began to ascend, moving after her.
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Meanwhile, Sofiya could barely keep her head focused because of the pain she was suffering right now. With each step, she was kicking the air, propelling herself higher, made her feel her body was on fire along with her entire tissues screaming out at this new invader that began to spread out in her circulatory system.
'Love, you warned me it will be painful, but this is just too much!' screamed out Sofiya in her mind, barely containing the maddening pain.
*** Mistress, this is the side effect of using the Lord's [Progenitor's Blood]. However, if you can fight off the initial pain, you will be under the [Blood Enhancement] state of the Lord. Don't give up, my Mistress. ***
'Silent little one, I need to focus. Shouldn't you be with Vlad? By the way, who are you?'
*** I am the spirit of the Blood Fruit. The Lord told me to leave an imprint of my spirit when he shed his [Progenitor Blood] for you in case something bad would happen to you.*** replied the childish voice in Sofiya's mind, who was assaulted by the pain of her tissues being torn and healed magically.
Not being focused much on what the childish voice had to say. Also, everything sounded weird to her. Only the mentioning of Vlad's [Blood Enhancement] stuck hard on her mind, for which she awaited the effects to appear.
With each second of agony where she could barely keep her mind straight, slowly her clarity began to return, before not long starting to feel empowered with her tissues being full of energy and strength.
Looking around herself, Sofiya noticed that she was ascending by using powerful kicks in the air.
"I can fly. So this is how it feels to fly in the air." said Sofiya softly as she stabilized her altitude, turning herself to face Vord.
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The Bearman noticed this sudden change in Sofiya's behavior and how smooth her movements became. But all aside from those hints, the biggest one was her face that no longer seemed to hold in pain.
" It's futile, woman. All your attempts at stopping me would be meaningless!"
"[Shattering Strike!]" ended Vord roaring his strike.
Sofiya heard the beast as if she was in front of him, which made her feel weird but at the same time confident. Grabbing the crimson rapier, she strengthened her grip on the hilt and with a red aura that appeared on the sword, she unleashed a long-ranged attack that sent out the red aura in the shape of a bird toward the shockwave created by Vord, pushing ahead.
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In seconds those attacks clashed, but from the initial stalemate, the red bird began to lose energy and be pushed back. This bird was slowly losing power and started collapsing.
"Nothing can stop me! NOTHING!" roared Vord as he unleashed another of his shattering strikes.
Sofiya felt the power of the shockwaves sent by Vord on her own skin and held her rapier straight while murmuring something under her breath.
"I need more power. Can you consume the power on the sword for a strong attack?"
*** I don't know Mistress. This is the Lord's blood. Only if he wills it can we try those things. We need to try it out and see if it works. *** replied the childish voice in her ears.
"Good, then let's do this. I will not let myself die here."
Ending that, she could feel that the crimson rapier began shining brighter and slowly lose the material properties, turning into an energy form that started to dance like snakes around the crimson headed Sofiya.
'This is it. I can feel the energy around me. With this, I can defeat this monster and secure the safety of those brats.'
Staring at Vord, who was punching the air with his monstrous hands, and at the red bird that gave his last energy breath on the fight, she took a deep breath and drew her rapier back, concentrating the red energy flowing around her on the tip of the blade with the assistance of the blood spirit.
Each second she waited, the atmosphere around her shifted, feeling on her own skin the power of Vord's strikes.
Her crimson hair, along with her black military clothes, were fluttering in the winds created by the shockwave, yet in the face of all these things, she kept her calm and waited for the shockwave to approach more and more.
"Foolish woman. Do you wait for your end? Do something! Come entertain me before you die!"
In the face of this storm, Sofiya, who had her hair dancing in the wind, gave a wicked smile, and when the shockwave approached her, she thrusted the rapier in what looked to be the center of the storm.
The instant the red energy on the tip of the rapier made contact with the first shockwave, it pushed forward, collapsing it, creating a repulsion on Sofiya, who kept maintaining her altitude steadily, looking down at Vord.
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The Bearman roared in anger seeing his first shockwave being cancelled by Sofiya's attack, and kept punching toward her. However, slowly even in this monstrous form, he began slowing down to cease his strikes.
"Let's see how you fare after all these strikes."
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Sofiya kept her gaze on the red point that began growing along with its advance. The blood in the surroundings also magically gathered around that red point, feeding it even more.
This made Sofiya even more confident in this attack of hers, who steadily approached Vord, whose face turned even so madder.
He tried to unleash another series of attacks, but from nowhere, he felt a strong wind passing past him and later experiencing excruciating pain in his upper body.
"Damned rats! That's how you fight? Backstabbing someone? Weaklings!" roared Vord when he noticed who wounded him.
Aerius and Tomas, who recovered from the impact they suffered, didn't reply back and instead turned back to strike again, while Sofiya's attack kept advancing on the Bearman.
"Go, go, Aerius! This is our chance to take him down with big sister's attack."
"I know that. Do you think I don't wish to kill this bastard? After he humiliated both of us? We are men. We can't lower our heads down in such humiliation and let Sofiya take all the bright spot."
As Aerius commented, he spread out his four wings and began blowing them, descending faster at Vord, who was holding his wound, growling in pain and hatred.
Tomas prepared himself for a sword slash while descending. When he got in sword range, he slashed at Vord, who seemed distracted from all directions.
'Good, it will hit.' thought Tomas, feeling the success getting closer.
However, the instant his sword got in range for a cut, Vord looked murderously at both Aerius and Tomas, but especially on the young swordsman. Gazing at him, he unleashed a light fast strike that took Tomas unprepared.
"Tomas!! You idiot, you better don't die!" yelled Aerius when he saw Tomas being sent flying on the ground.
Tomas screamed in pain but didn't go unconscious. He saw Aerius dash for him, and without having the ability to fly, he closed his eyes, preparing for the impact.
"Damned idiot! Why are you risking your life like this?"
Hearing that voice in his ears, along with the warmth and smell of blood, assaulted his nose, he said with a smile.
"I would be dead anyway, if not for big brother Vlad and big sister Sofiya grace. I would be dead, killed by the syndicate bastards extorting all my life."
"Shut up, you foolish kid. No one dies under my watch! Now let's go get this bear bastard." said Aerius with an invigorating voice, which refreshed Tomas's spirit a bit.
Grabbing hold of Aerius fur and with his hand tightly holding his longsword, he followed Vord as the gryphon began ascending for him.
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Vord gritted his teeth, feeling for the first time overwhelmed by the situation. His attacks could hardly contain Sofiya's attacks.
They approached fast, making him strike down the red dot that grew the shape of a small cannonball.
With each strike, his breathing grew harder for him.
Then came Aerius and Tomas, who also got closer to him, ready to fight back. Gnashing his sharp teeth, which were bloody, he said with a disdainful tone.
"Since you hold the aerial advantage. Keep it. I will no longer fight a losing fight."
Ending with that, he roared and shifted his form turning human for the first time in all this encounter. His tall build still towered over Sofiya and Tomas, creating an oppressing contrast together with his large face scars.
Not giving Aerius a chance to approach him or Sofiya's attack to touch him, he jumped from harm's way and began moving out of the large building.
"Aerius, he wants to escape! Faster, we got to stop him!" said Tomas seeing Vord try to escape.
"That's what I am doing! Do you sword slashes and keep him busy!"
Tomas nodded his head and started to unleash his flying sword slashes toward Vord.
