Cardon arrived on the bank of the lake. Contrary to his previous victory, this was some nameless locale with nary a myth nor legend to laud it. Though if anyone were to witness what was to come, that may change. Of course, there was a witness; but the observer knew better than to talk about what he saw. She should be arriving shortly. Gazing about, Cardon spotted a large, relatively flat rock. Dragging a chunk of driftwood, he sat down and waited.
A flash of light a short way down the sandy shore, and a woman with long blue hair appeared. Ocene, the one person he was reluctant to fight. Not out of respect like he had for his floundering kin, nor from affection. It was a sense of duty; Ocene may be of the seakin, but she had wed a Vampire. In a way, a fitting marriage; both were predatory by nature. But Vampires were nearly universally feared, loathed and despised by all races.
When he had learned that this Vampire was distantly related to one of his true family… Well, it wasn’t as though he could do nothing. Especially when he learned off the two gremlins that had come from that union. As begrudging as he was to admit it, they were cute. With the mix of seakin and Vampire traits, he could only imagine how they might develop their inherited ancestral gifts.
And now, my first fight after gaining my freedom is to be against her. If only it had been the tiny one… Though I am loath to admit it, I am likely far from strong enough for that just yet. The elf brat would have been mildly entertaining. That child… would be difficult. Ocene, I would beat. He picked up his bag, and from it removed a loaf of bread, a matching set of mugs and plates, and a small kettle.
Setting a small fire, he filled the kettle with water before setting it on the forming coals. Throughout his puzzling actions, Ocene watched in confusion. She had been both glad and a bit frightened when she learned who her opponent was; pleased since she knew his abilities better than the other Nova Ordo fighters, on account of having once been his comrade in arms. Frightened, because of those same abilities that made him so difficult to deal with. It was a stroke of luck that the arena had so much water available, as opposed to the last one’s nigh lack.
“Sit, the coffee will be ready soon. Do the merfolk still like it? It has been a few thousand years since I last was in that part of the world.” Cardon waved a hand at the driftwood that sat opposite the rock from him. With mild amusement he followed Ocene as she checked for a trap before sitting, “You insult me; I would not set a trap… Though my name may soon be tarnished in that regard…”
“What game are you playing, Cardon?” Straight to the point, Ocene cut off the Vampyre. She had come to fight, possibly to the death. A late luncheon was outside of her expectations.
Cardon passed her the bread before answering, “It isn’t poisoned. I am not playing a game. I simply wished to inquire after the health of your kin, and to offer you a boon of a sort.”
Ocene made a show of taking a large bite from the bread, a sign of trust now that it was apparent he was being honest, “My children and husband are doing well, as of the last time I was allowed to speak with them. What would this ‘boon’ consist of? Not a vial of your blood I should hope; I have no desire to live forever, even if it means leaving my family behind one day.”
“Heh, no. Not my blood. The match; if you wish, I will give you my surrender. Only to prevent the barbarians you serve from taking out their anger for your loss on their hostages.” He chuckled wryly; given how the last time had turned out, he did not plan on offering his blood to anyone else any time soon.
Ocene winced, but forced a smile and answered, “No. If I win in such a way that vile girl would order my family tortured out of spite.”
The kettle began to whistle, and Cardon quickly added two pouches of fine cloth filled with a dark brown powder. Soon, a bitter yet not unpleasant smell suffused the air, “You feel you must win in competition? Then shall we have a game of cards? If you fight me, you will lose. I would rather not cause your family any undo worry over their mother; you have so little time with them as it is.”
Ocene was incensed by such a flippant remark, but long years of experience helped her hide that fact from him, “No, we will fight. Even if I lose, it won’t be from lack of trying. Besides, I have the advantage here.” She gestured out towards the still waters of the lake.
Cardon nodded slowly, “Very well. I will try to be gentle… But first, the coffee is ready.”
Lifting the pot, he poured two mugs and handed one to Ocene. The two of them drank in silence, gazing out over the lake that would soon become the site of a legendary battle. With a “clink”, Ocene placed her empty mug on the rock and rose to her feet, “Thank you for that, even if it was a tad watery.”
Cardon showed a rare smile, one that Ocene had never seen from him before, “Of course it was; I rarely drink any liquid that isn’t red… though I have been told I am becoming an alcoholic of late… In any case, whenever you are ready.”
Cocky bastard, fine. We’ll do it your way. Ocene stalked to the water’s edge, before wading in and shifting in a flash to her merfolk form. The whole time, Cardon stood impassively on the shore. When he caught the brief flash of magic as she assumed her finned form, he sunk his claws into his palms by clenching his fists. Focusing a bit to halt the regeneration of his skin, he flicked his hands about with deft movements, scattering blood around at various stones and chunks of wood.
A heartbeat three times, and the surface of the water swelled. The lone Vampyre let out a soft whistle of admiration; Ocene was strong. Few of the merfolk could control such a volume of water. Another moment, and that tidal wave was rushing upon him. Without shame, he began to backpedal away from the shore; it wouldn’t kill him, but if he was caught in the water he would be easily restrained and Ocene would win by incapacitating him. She had chosen to fight, and he would respect that wish by not throwing the bout.
As he retreated, he directed the objects he had hit with his blood. Thanks to Lei’s blood, his Blood Puppetry had grown more accurate. Every time he caught a flash of movement in the water, he launched something at it. Still, Ocene was as at home in the water as she was on land, and as soon as his projectiles entered the water his blood was washed off of them. In short, he would never be able to hit her.
Ocene quickly realized that the volume of water wouldn’t catch him. Cardon would simply continue to retreat until he dragged her out of the lake and she ran out of water. She sighed, though all that came out of her mouth was a bubble, and stopped pressing the attack. Straining against the amount of water she was controlling, she forced it to change shape.
Instead of a tsunami, Ocene formed the water into the shape of a terror of the deep waters. A monstrosity as old as the planet itself; Leviathan. A hundred tentacles, each capped with sediment held in suspended still water. Ocene herself entered the creature’s “head” where she could accurately control its many appendages. There were few other merfolk who could imitate this feat, and all of them were men and women of great renown. Cardon stood a distance from the beach, and she was greatly pleased to see what looked like a shocked expression on his face. She flicked her wrist and sent ten of her tentacles catapulting towards the lone opponent.
Cardon stood in disbelief. If he had been impressed by the tsunami, he was now shocked speechless. He recognized the form, of course, he had seen it before. But how long has it been? Ten thousand? Twenty thousand years? Leviathan. To think you yet live in the current generation. Between Lei and Ocene, it would seem I may have judged the current era too harshly; there are yet impressive warriors. Ducking under the first volley, Cardon couldn’t avoid it completely.
When his head came up, there was a light gash on his cheek from which a crimson tear rolled down his face and to the sand beneath his feet. Cardon rose to his full height and squared his shoulders. Then, he closed his eyes. Clenching his teeth, he extended his mind and linked with his blood.
Ocene was quite pleased, but it wouldn’t show on her face. It could not. Controlling Leviathan took all of her mental energy. She had taken a great risk in forming it here, and there would certainly be a cost later. But she had known coming into the fight that there was no way she would win without taking such a risk. Leviathan kept her safe from Cardon’s blood manipulation while providing her a way to attack with the kind of overwhelming force she needed to overcome his regeneration.
But what is he doing now…? She couldn’t help but be confused as her opponent, despite barely escaping her first attack, had stopped moving. Though the distance made it hard, it looked like he had closed his eyes as well. Suddenly, the beach came alive and Ocene directed Leviathan to move back into the water in a panic, “What!? What did you do!?” The sound of her shout echoed around the water, but Cardon couldn’t hear it. Even if he could, he did not have the leeway to respond.
In one pint of blood, there are around 2.4 trillion red blood cells. Over the scant few minutes of the battle, Cardon had been bleeding from four deep gashes on each palm and lost several pints of blood. Some had washed into the water, but most had wound up on the beach. Thanks to Lei’s mental abilities, Cardon could control far more blood than he used to. If he shut out everything and merged his consciousness into his separated blood fully, he could even control individual cells. Eleven trillion grains of sand, each with a few blood cells sticking to it.
Indeed, the beach had come alive. If Ocene had Leviathan, then Cardon would manifest Baal. The monstrosity of sand and iron moved out towards Ocene. She slashed at it with tentacles, each blow removing billions of blood cells, shrinking the volume of Baal. But Cardon was still bleeding. In Ocene’s reckoning, she was out damaging Cardon’s ability to reinforce his own construct. But it was unlikely she would be able to beat it thoroughly before it reached her.
In desperation, she added another hundred tentacles to her Leviathan and immediately felt a headache. As the increased burden of control threatened to rupture a blood vessel. She couldn’t afford to scream, and simply directed all the tentacles straight at the blood-sand-demon. With a splash that triggered a sonic boom, the tentacles tore through the sand and blood. The sheer volume of water washing away Cardon’s crimson scourge.
Cardon opened his eyes and spread his arms, no longer focusing on the construct, the sand fell out of the air and lost cohesion. Crumbling, it raised a massive wave in its own right as it hit the water’s surface. The few remaining tentacles that hadn’t scattered into droplets found their mark and pierced his chest. Cardon was drug into the lake, and down below into its depths.
Sighing, Ocene released the control over Leviathan and allowed it to disperse. Sinking down to the lake bed, she did her best to ignore the headache. She found Cardon, fully immobilized at the bottom of the lake, a gaping hole opened in his chest. I missed his heart, but this wound should take him a while to recover. I won.
Approaching his side, she looked down at her opponent with some degree of pity. Like her, he had been a prisoner, though through magically enforced slavery rather than blackmail. Unlike her, he had managed to get free and was now trying to exact his vengeance. Directing the water, she began to cause them both to rise back to the surface. The least she could do was make sure his body went back to Nova Ordo and was not taken by the Sages. Though she would need to be careful lest Natalie accuse her of betrayal.
Ocene frowned then, as she realized that something was wrong. His wound… it’s still bleeding. There’s no way he still has any blood left in his body! With a start, she realized the water in their vicinity was beginning to dye scarlet. Her eyes opened wide in a panicked realization; if he couldn’t control the water, if the liquid was immobilizing him. He simply had to replace it.
She fought to get to the surface, she had to get out of the sphere of water that was being replaced with blood. How? How is he regenerating this quickly!? He shouldn’t be anywhere near this strong, the sages were preventing him from feeding to… regain… his… Ocene was horrified to realize, that Cardon no longer had a master to hold him back.
She broke the surface at nearly the same time as Cardon. The latter supported on a raft of blood, the still open whole in his chest gushing crimson. He stood, and Ocene grimaced as she saw the sky through his chest. She rose up herself, so that he couldn’t look down on her. The last thing she wanted was a monster like that to be in a superior position, “How many? How many did you kill?”
Cardon shrugged, but chose to answer her, “I do not know. Not enough, I still cannot close the hole you left in my chest fast enough. Natalie would still beat me, as much as it pains me to admit.”
He lunged at her, and Ocene backpaddled while augmenting her speed with a created current. Or at least she tried; the water was sluggish. In horror, she realized that Cardon’s still open chest wound was continuing to add blood to the water, while his blood control was holding it around the two of them. He was using blood diluted in water to fight her control. Without the need to control individual cell clusters, Cardon was able to control a vast quantity of blood, and his volume increased every passing moment.
What was worse, Ocene felt her own movements growing sluggish. She recalled the dossier she had on him, particularly about how his blood had paralytic properties. Being in the water was diluting the effect, but it was still building up. My only choice is to go to the shore, but even then, do I stand a chance?
Even if it was futile, it was the only option she could come up with at the moment so she swam for the shore as fast as she could. Cardon followed her closely, not giving a moment for her to retaliate, and soon the two of them found themselves standing by a large flat rock. Upon the rock sat two empty mugs on matching plates. Ocene was struggling to stay conscious and grasped at the side of her head, trying to get ahold of her hairpin.
Cardon shook his head, “No, I won’t allow you to use that. Though, I would like to hear someday, how you obtained it; few weapons could actually kill me.” With a flick, he knocked the hairpin out of her hand using a tendril of blood. He winced, as the object retaliated against the touch of his lifeblood, but from such a fleeting moment little harm was done.
Ocene took a defensive stance but slowed as she was by the onset of paralysis Cardon had little trouble stepping around her attempt to counter him. Catching her by the throat, a look of pity briefly crossed his face, “I swore I would make it quick.”
Squeezing tightly with his fingers over the carotid artery, he soon felt his opponent fall limp. After ensuring she still breathed, Cardon drew a cup of blood from an incision on opened by his claw; it would be in poor taste to feed on another’s wife directly. Drinking the contents down, he went to the bag he had left by the rock and removed a length of Gauze. Carefully binding the wound shut, he stood a vigil until the retrieval team arrived.
Glancing off in the distance, he met the eyes of the warlord’s observer. Flashing the man a smile that showed the glint of his fangs, he was pleased when the man passed out in a crumpled heap.
I have returned.
