Matthew stepped up with his arms up in the air, "we value safety for the whole above the individual. Hunter, the choice is still up to you, but I want you to remember that being chosen by the holy sword means risking your life for the sake of the villagers." On the surface, it does look like the most ideal choice to take. One life sacrificed for the good of many, wasn't that what the heroes valued?
The crowd instantly agreed with Matthew.
[Matthew's right! Don't be selfish.]
"No." Hunter's decision was also instantaneous. "Just me and Vivian would be enough to take them all down," the men in the crowd spat towards his direction. He wiped his arm tainted with their slobber. 'How do you expect me to care for these brutes?' If there wasn't a salary involved with protecting the tribe with the holy sword, he would not have taken the job for himself.
"I don't understand how stupid all of you can be. Once they've taken Hunter, it would be much easier to overwhelm the tribe with numbers and capture everyone. Do you really think they would uphold their statement?" Vivian made sure to glare around the crowd, she won't be satisfied if she didn't, "since when did you have such high regards for vampires?" The crowd went silent. People always hate admitting when they've done wrong.
"Here's the prototype for the potions we've been working on," a whisper came towards Vivian's side as Lee handed out three tiny cork bottles with labels on them. He patted Vivian's shoulder before apologizing for being a coward, scared for the well-being of his own family, and walked away. Vivian smiled at Lee and turned towards the people who remained in the scene.
"If you're that scared, go home and cower under your bed," as if on cue, the crowd scuttled away from the Main road. The vampire with the four colors on his face gestured to two other vampires, one with blue face paint and a hand-drawn spade on his right cheek, and the other with white face paint and the shape of a club on his right cheek. Whoever painted these Jade vampires' faces must have a lot of free time on their hands. They led their group to hunt down the humans running away.
"What happened to 'we're only interested in him'?" Vivian raised an eyebrow and held the metal balls inside her pocket even tighter. She had five with her at the moment. Must conserve as much as possible.
"Well, that deal's off since Hunter over here won't cooperate," they seemed to have done their research thoroughly. They knew about Hunter's reputation and planned the best way they could have him without casualties. Vivian glared at the rainbow-colored-face vampire.
He walked up to Vivian, eyes never leaving hers. Vivian caught her breath and gritted her teeth. When he touched her chin, her face twitched. "Your face is too perfect to be a human." Vivian indeed had a completely symmetrical face and milky-white skin. He lifted her upper lift with his thumb and Vivian slapped his hand away.
"Fuck. you."
"Haha!" the four colored vampire gestured to his group and six of them ran towards Hunter and the last five flashed in front of Vivian. "Don't kill the girl either, okay! She seems interesting." Vivian heard the vampire command. She already dropped one of her metallic balls when they ran towards her. It exploded on two of them, suffocating them with its smoke, and they collapsed to the ground.
She smirked as her heart pounded with excitement. She could finally test out the effectiveness of her invention!
"W-what is this?" the other three stopped on their tracks and checked to make sure if the other two still breathed.
Clank!
"Move!" alas, the vampires saw her ball rolling down, and dodged when Vivian's ball detonated. They glanced at each other before pouncing towards her. One blink, they were at her face. Thump! She flattened her body to the ground and rolled away. Create as much distance as possible. Stay calm. The vampires rammed towards her. Vivian rolled backward and revealed yet another ball. Swoosh! One more vampire plunged to the ground at her sneak attack.
Despite the enormous difference in speed reflex and speed reaction, she could fight on par with Jade vampires because of her invention. It's never about who's the strongest, but who's the smartest. A kick came from behind her, forcing her to kneel on the ground.
Ace, that vampire with the colorful face, smirked at Vivian's desperation. No matter how hard she struggles, she's still a human. No fangs, no special abilities. One strike from a vampire and she's broken. Very pathetic.
Vivian dodged a Jade vampire's follow-up kick last minute. The vampire slammed towards the ground, leaving small cracks on the cement. She picked herself up and threw another ball, only this time, so clearly off the two vampires could take two steps from it, and still be out of range.
"Little girl, your aim's a little off," their smirks wiped off when Hunter jumped inside of the smoke's range, hopped away right when it exploded, leaving two more Jade vampires on the ground.
"You were saying?" she wasn't really interested in the answers. Especially because she saw a glimpse of Hunter's dagger piercing into the vampire's skin like a dart. Even just a scratch from the holy sword- dagger at this moment- would suck any vampire's prowess and they would become like measly humans.
With a shriek vibrating through the air, their opponents changed strategies. The remaining four, including the presumptuous four-colored face-paint perverted bastard, teamed up to overwhelm them with numbers. Vivian noticed their reactions became slightly exaggerated when fighting against Hunter with the holy sword.
When they dodged his attacks, they would retreat two times further than they would have for a normal hit. Vivian focused her attacks on one vampire, taking the hits that were impossible for her to dodge, and striking back with double the force. Hunter injured one more vampire and there were three of them left.
Taking another punch from the vampire, Vivian coughed up blood as her vision blurred. 'Ugh, just get down already!' With the swing of her body from the momentum of the punch, Vivian covertly flung her ball towards the three blobs fighting close to her.
Before they could react, even with enhanced reaction speed, the metallic ball underneath them exploded into a cloud of smoke and they were struck with fatigue. Hunter trained with her for months to adapt to her surprise attacks, so these Jade vampires couldn't possibly dodge them only after fighting her for 20 minutes.
Using the slight distraction of her opponent, Vivian snaked behind the vampire, and knocked him out cold by striking a specific area behind his neck. Something a normal human would find difficult, if not impossible, to do.
Vivian always had strength that rivaled a vampire's. Part of the reason why people avoid her was because of her inhuman strength. They assumed her a vampire because of her pale skin, and she possessed physical strength that could put any man in the tribe to shame.
Possibly also because she was born a woman. Women were not seen as equals to men in the tribe. People could not take the idea of a mere woman, who was not even a chosen bearer of the holy sword, was stronger than most of the males in the tribe. Because of that, they treated h like a vampire for as long as she could remember.
Honestly, she wished it was true. If she was born a vampire, even a Jade Vampire, she would live decades longer than a human. If she was born a Citrine or an Amber vampire, she would be better equipped to seek her vengeance towards the group that killed her mother.
Alas, she had to deal with the card given to her. Vivian wiped the blood on her face and bounded the vampires on sight.
"I'm done tying them up!" Vivian gave Hunter a thumbs up as she looked for her metallic balls. She glanced to see the situation from afar and the eight Jade vampires who pursued the others were still fighting with Matthew and Isabelle. At least they're somewhat reliable. Hunter gestured for Vivian to come closer to him and she obliged. She's more than ready for an interrogation.
"Let's ask them why they want to take me," Hunter said. There were three conscious vampires among the twelve they fought against. Since Vivian didn't have a holy sword with her, her only fighting option was to knock out her enemies. All six of them were still K'O-ed.
She took out the three small cork bottles Lee handed to her and picked the container holding a yellowish liquid inside. Smirking, Vivian looked at the vampire in front of her.
"Any last words?" as she uncorked the bottle, the Jade vampire- who looked quite boring and plain compared to their leader- shivered and began to whimper. His small and sharp eyes brimmed with tears. Hunter coughed in an attempt to disguise his laughter and Vivian continued to torture the poor soul with her glare.
The vampire, still bounded by a silver-plated rope Hunter found in the Main Hall, became the guinea pig to one of the many potions Vivian formulated with Lee. He chugged about half of the liquid in the vial before a shock struck his body. His face looked like his brain had taken a ride on pegasus above the clouds- however that sounds.
"So," Vivian looked to her side and tapped Hunter's shoulder. He kissed her fingertips and Vivian slapped him lightly, "why exactly are you after him?"
The vampire, looking at no one in particular, said monotonously, "he will be useful to us as a vampire and bearer of the holy sword."
"Who is 'us'? Are you working with anyone?" Hunter followed up with his own question. There was a moment of silence. The two other conscious vampires stiffened.
"We work for Scar," [thump!] The vampire threw up a pool of blood after a scorching arrow pierced through his chest [boom!!]. As if it wasn't enough to silence the carcass, an explosion followed and shattered the vampire, along with his nearest comrade, into minced meats. Hunter reacted quickly and carried Vivian away from the explosion.
Vivian's heart stopped. The only thing she heard was the constant ringing in her ears that seemed to alarm her louder and louder. Her grip subconsciously tightened on Hunter's arm as she snapped her head towards the attacker.
'Orange colored eyes. Amber vampire.' His hand faced towards their direction and Hunter immediately dodged the fireballs he threw at them. A wolf tattoo with a shade that resembled Yin and Yang peeked through the Amber vampire's palm. Vivian quivered with anger.
"It's them," Vivian whispered as she jumped off from Hunter's grasp and plunged herself towards the Amber vampire.