“Reais Smite!” Lavinia’s closed fist explodes through the offending demon, sending out its guts is a magnificent shower of blood. In final defiance the [Asphimi] belches a pressured stream of boiling hot water and saliva in her face, thrusting her away from its dying moments and skidding into the sharp end of a boulder.
Gritting her teeth as pain shreds through her side, she spits and shakes her mane of the heated water and saliva, looking up at the remnants of her assailants. Four of them rose from puddles scattered nearby the stream she diligently follows, their leathery skin taking various shades of blue and green with spots red and yellow littering the wide, cobra like hoods they flare in vain attempts to intimidate Lavinia. Of the four, two lie in a crumpled mess of blood, their crystals humming with the power of mere Pink tier demons.
The remaining two stalk her on long, frog like feet which presents trouble for Lavinia. Already she’s wasted two blasts of [Wave Shot] attempting to end them, only finding gain on the third as it divided their strongest in two. As they pace about themselves, wide red slit eyes watch Lavinia as she picks herself up from the boulder’s sharp side. Their broad mouths give way for elongating tongues capable of spritzing gallons of boiling, pressurized water her way.
Lavinia narrows at one to her left, significantly larger with its legs lifting it up like a spring, not to mention the stronger thrum of Essence surging through it. She whips her dagger into her palm and prepares to dash just as the one on the right leaps into the air. Her eyes follow for a split second and it's companion capitalizes on the distraction, spurting a sharp stream of boiling water at her head.
She ducks on instinct, rolling underneath the attack as it burrows then cuts straight through the boulder behind her. Essence flooding her dagger she zips out to the side as the other lands where she stood a moment ago and in a flurry of movement she slides by its feet, kicking them off balance so it falls atop her dagger with a gurgling sound of pain. She drags the dagger up and through, sawing it along the [Asphimi] back till it cracks open and its useless organs spill out from it like a leaking backpack.
Quickly tossing its pouring body off of her, Lavinia readies her being with a flood of Essence, expecting to fall victim to yet another searing blast of water from the last [Asphimi] only to find it in full retreat, leaping and frog jumping away in haste. Nothing thrills Lavinia more than a chase but she’d rather not lose sight of the stream. Channelling the surged Essence out of her pores, Lavinia calls to the abundance of blood spilt all over and it answers without trouble, rising around her in a warbling circle of fresh smelling crimson.
“Blood Art; Kinesis!” She directs the blood with a whip of her hand, envisioning it spearing through the [Asphimi] chest and clawing it back to her feet but all it does is shoot out a barrage of semi-solid shards. The shards skewer through the forest, embedding and splashing against trees before finally reaching their target with a series of wet thuds.
Lavinia groans at her performance, the [Asphimi] falls, its chest riddle with the blood of its companions but that wasn’t her only intent. Lavinia sighs to herself, satisfied at least, that her enemies are all dead at her feet and fishes their Pink crystals from their corpses and taking the reprieve to ponder what exactly she’s doing wrong when manipulating blood.
She fetches all three and starts strolling down to the last [Asphimi] with the shards of semi-solid blood sticking out of its back. It gurgles as it attempts to crawl away from her in vain but Lavinia stands over it, studying the consistency of her blood shards. Each of them struggle with the same problem— staying solid, sharp and generally retaining the form she desires. Groaning, Lavinia presses her feet against the [Asphimi] leg, focusing her will on the shards she sees before her alone and to her pleasant surprise, they regain that gleaming sharp edge. Solid crimson shards clean enough to reflect her image on their surface.
She commands the perfect shards to sink through and pins the [Asphimi] down completely, ending its pathetic life at last, she doesn’t fail to notice the other shards under her control practically return to their original fluid state despite her Essence wasting through them. She could command them back into form again but that would sacrifice the form of the five perfect shards sticking out of the [Asphimi] body.
Satisfied with her impromptu experiment she allows the blood to return to fluid— maintaining control over them requires some constant concentration on her part as well as a steady stream of Essence to retain her command. As she slices through the [Asphimi] with her dagger and fetches its crystal she resolves to invest more EP where necessary.
With all the crystals gathered she’s left with four Pinks and the three Crimsons from her encounters with the Kimpe and Jaui. Those she tucked away in her boot, saving the Jaui’s particularly dark Crimson for herself in the future for whenever she finds Seraph and Jonn again…whenever that will be.
As much as she scolds herself to keep those two Trirax out of mind and keep the threat of Henry Vanavil returning in focus, she simply can’t. Whenever she peeks a look at the Crystals harvested from that time she recalls the short, albeit tense moments they shared within the walls of Corym, working together and parallel for their goals, fighting to reach them. It’s the longest lasting relationship she’s had with anyone or demon and she misses it. Keeping the Crystals for them to absorb together is the least she can do.
She shakes the saddening and angering thoughts away before she spirals into a cycle of cause and blame. Instead, she returns to the stream reflecting the softening red of the sky as she studies the four Pinks in her hand. I can absorb this much without getting sleepy, right?
She searches her surroundings, finding more of the puddles the [Asphimi] leapt out of to ambush her but no more of their kind. She glances at the boulder that stabbed her side and decides to burrow underneath it if she indeed falls sleepy.
16 ESQ Absorbed!
10 Essence Points Absorbed!
Crystal Essence Level 2—>4!
Sure enough a wave of lethargy swirls over her head as her Soul Crystal absorbs the surging mist of Essence. She notes with some dismay it no longer takes 4ESQ to rise to the next level, but double of that and then some more as she absorbs only 10EP and rises two levels with 16ESQ absorbed from the set of four Pink crystals, some stronger in Essence than their counterparts.
Setting herself down by the boulder she weathers the wave of lethargy without complaint as she surges with strength. It’s nothing as debilitating as the first time was or how it felt with when she absorbed the Kimpe’s crystal Essence to meet the Jaui head on, this she can manage with a little bit of rest but not slumber.
Turning her attention to her RIS Lavinia notes she now has 20EP ready to spend and as she thought to invest in her [Blood Art; Kinesis] effectiveness, she immediately tosses in 8EP into [INT].
Unlike other times she invested in the attribute, this time she felt a change as her eyes take in the world surging with a range of vibrant colours, her ears translate the constant noise of the forest, of the rushing stream and the world itself into something else, something useful. Lavinia sniffs the air, her senses enhanced beyond what she thought them capable of as she nearly overwhelms herself with the smell of blood but far beyond it are the distinct scents of creatures and monsters she’s come across so often in her journey.
If only I remembered their scent. She laments silently before half-heartedly investing 6EP each into [FAI] and [AGI]. If nothing else, her investment into [FAI] allows her to power through the sensations of lethargy faster and her [AGI] guarantees her [Crimson Blink] as well as her body in general move swiftly.
Exhausted and growing hungry she eyes the fresh corpses of the insolent [Asphimi] and licks her lips, granting her RIS one more look before delving into a well-deserved meal.
Name: Lavinia
Race: Demon
Class: Vampiric
Age: Immortal – 101 days.
Crystal Essence: [Crimson]- Lvl.4— 82.71ESQ
[Available Essence Points— 0]
Faith:41
Agility: 31
Intelligence:27
Perk: {Reais Smite}, {Blood Rush}, {Wave Shot}, {Crimson Blink}, {Inspect}, {Blood Art; Kinesis}
Soul Bond: Curse Marked; Master Henry Vanavil
