Arthur's form was a blur as he sprinted deeper into the woods.
The metallic scent of blood overpowered the perfume as he got closer.
He felt the presence of multiple warlocks ahead of them. They seem powerful, but something is wrong.
None of them are moving.
He slowed down and approached a clearing, and he was pretty shocked by the absolute devastation before him.
The trees surrounding the clearing were extensively damaged, their branches and leaves stripped from the trunk. Some even lay on the ground.
About twenty students lay like tossed ragdolls all over the clearing. Some were even dangling from the branches of the trees.
Most were unconscious, with a few groaning in pain. All of them must've broken at least one bone.
Well, that's what Arthur inferred by seeing the rather odd angles of their limbs.
Vast pieces of jagged ice projected out of the ground and even stuck to the trees. Some of them were covered in blood that had a strange glow to it.
A cold mist hung in the air, and Arthur's breath frosted as he took in the destruction.
In the middle of the clearing, standing hunched, was Gray.
She was breathing heavily and leaned against her polearm. Beads of sweat clung to her forehead, and her face was very pale.
But the most surprising sight was the four long and jagged tentacles of blood sprouting from her back that glowed faintly. They swayed and occasionally thrashed around, at which Gray tried to stop them with a pained expression.
"Gray!", he called out and carefully approached her.
She immediately panicked, "No! Don't come near me, Arthur!"
But it was too late, as one of the tentacles immediately lashed out at Arthur. He quickly evaded, but the tentacle twisted around and came at him like a spear.
Arthur quickly took out Ghost and stopped the tentacle with a grunt as he got pushed back.
'Man, this is strong!', he thought when he felt something coming from behind. With a burst of magia, he deflected the tentacle and quickly ducked as another blood tentacle shot right past him and collided with the first tentacle.
"No! Stop! Get away from me!", Gray yelled desperately.
Soon, all four tentacles were attacking him. He ran around the clearing, skillfully dodging and deflecting them while Gray struggled to control them.
Her body shook, and her nose began to bleed as she concentrated very hard.
'Gray is struggling to control her blood attribute.', Arthur thought while and analyzed the attacks coming at him, 'What to do?'
One thing he noticed was that the tentacles were fixed to her back. They don't seem to be detaching from her.
'Plus, they are not splitting up into weapons like in her sister's case.'
[Then sever their connection with her. Coat your blade with magia.]
'Exactly what I was thinking. I didn't need your opinion', he replied to Inferno and landed on the trunk of a fallen tree.
[Was trying to help.]
Streaming magia into his legs, he leaped from the trunk toward Gray. He twisted in midair to avoid the tentacles, and immediately he was above her.
"Heads up, Gray!", He turned his body around and streamed magia into Ghost. With his sword glowing blue and hissing like a snake, Arthur slashed at the base of the tentacles, severing them from her body.
The now unattached tentacles thrashed violently like a lizard's severed tail as they fell off her back and disintegrated into a bloody mist.
Gray collapsed to her her knees. She was visibly wheezing and trembling, her face paler than chalk.
Arthur put Ghost back in storage and hurried over to the young Aria.
"Are you alright?", he asked, examining her for any injuries. Apart from some minor cuts and bruises, there are no other serious injuries.
But she was trembling pretty badly, and her skin was ice cold. Her grey eyes were starting to appear bloodshot, and her fangs were elongated.
"Blood.", in a trembling voice, she spoke to him.
"What?"
Arthur was confused.
"I need blood!" she looked at him desperately, hunger in her bloodshot eyes.
His eyes widened, "Your blood vials?"
"All broken."
Arthur thought about it and then nodded. It is an emergency after all.
"Alright.", he pulled back the collar of his jacket and exposed his neck.
Immediately she leaped onto him and sank her fangs into his neck. The needle-sharp fangs easily penetrated his microscopic scales and reached his artery. But it was painless, not what he expected.
He had read that getting your blood sucked by someone with vampiric blood is a euphoric experience.
Arthur feels like the accounts in the books were watered down.
It was the greatest feeling he had ever experienced. He felt his body becoming hot and his breathing became heavier. He didn't even feel the blood leaving him and flowing into Gray's mouth.
It was pure pleasure.
'No wonder there are people who are obsessed with having a vampire drink their blood.', he thought as he looked at Gray.
She was clearly enjoying the experience. She made muffled noises of satisfaction and pleasure as she lay on top of him and drank his blood.
After a few minutes of drinking, by which Arthur was starting to get woozy, she stopped and smacked her lips with a satisfied look on her face.
"That was the best blood I've ever had.", she said dreamily before snapping out of her daze.
Her face reddened and she quickly got off him. She turned around and avoided looking at him.
"I'm so sorry! I got carried away and ended up drinking more than necessary!", she apologized with her soft voice.
Arthur chuckled as she quickly put on the hood of her jacket and inched away from him in embarrassment.
"It's fine, Gray. As long as you are okay. Plus, I had a good experience as well."
He got up and rubbed his neck. The bite marks have already disappeared and his body is coming out of the ecstasy, "Don't worry. My blood gets quickly replenished."
"Really?", she turned around, showing her red embarrassed face, and looked at him with her soft grey eyes.
His heart skipped a beat, 'Cute!'
"Certainly! I am a dragon half-blood after all. I won't die from blood loss. That will be pretty embarrassing for all draconians."
He held out his hand, "Come on. We have preliminaries to finish."
Gray looked between his face and his hand before shaking her head to get rid of her embarrassment.
"Yes.", with a determined look she grabbed his hand and got up.
"So.", Arthur gestured to their surroundings, "What in the Founder's name happened with you?"
She gripped her polearm and said, "I was ambushed. About twenty students jumped at me. Most of them were from Class D with a few from Class E."
"I was stronger than them but they were persistent and were many in number."
She glanced at the jagged pieces of ice that were melting under the sun, "We cannot kill other participants but my ice attribute was enough for them."
Gray looked grim as she spoke her next words, "That was until out of nowhere, one of them appeared right behind me and attacked. My body automatically reacted by unleashing my blood attribute."
"And you ended up having to use it.", Arthur guessed.
She nodded and gave him a shy smile, "Not the brightest idea."
"Only some vampire half-bloods are able to use the blood attribute like me and my sister. But there is a complication when a half-blood uses it."
"The more blood you use. The greater the thirst you will experience. That's why I was desperate for blood just now.", she said.
"Ah.", Arthur nodded, "I heard about that. It only affects vampire half-bloods capable of using blood. Pure vampires don't have that problem."
"Yeah. Thank you for offering me your blood.", Gray looked away, her face red, "Your blood was delicious."
Arthur became flustered and an awkward silence followed.
"So. Let's get moving.", he piped in and looked at Gray, "Do you feel okay to move?"
She looked like she wanted to tell him something but she nodded, "Yeah. I'm ready."
Arthur grinned, "Cool. Let's go."
He sniffed the air and tried to locate the special perfume among the myriad of different scents assaulting his nose at the moment.
He soon found it, "To our right."
Just as he said that their bracelets beeped at the same time. A small magia screen popped up and showed them a message.
"Looks like the first qualifier has entered the tower.", he said and narrowed his eyes at the name.
Aaron Cadis.
"This quick? He wouldn't have collected enough points.", Gray gave him a puzzled look.
Arthur shook his head, "No. This is Aaron Cadis we are talking about. He must've eliminated at least a quarter of the total participants before entering the tower."
He chuckled, "Besides, that guy will do fine even without any benefits."
He put down his arm, "Now. Let's try to fill the other spots, shall we?"
Gray nodded and they sprinted in the direction of the next scent.
Arthur, being the faster of the two and the only one who knows the way, was in the lead with Gray following and covering his rear.
Now that he is getting closer to the perfume, he can also smell the faint scent of machine oil and a pungent aroma.
The interesting thing is that this aroma is formed by lightning.
'What are the odds?', he thought as he recognized the person.
Suddenly his ears picked out movement towards them.
"Enemies! Two from both of our sides!", he yelled at Gray.
She nodded and with a burst of speed reached his side. They ran side by side and Arthur felt the two presences coming at them.
Their pursuers are now running alongside them under the cover provided by the trees.
Arthur can feel them closing in with each step.
"Left or right?", He asked.
"Right!", Gray replied.
"Alright! Go into Cathar-.", before he could say, Gray had already vanished from his side with an emotionless expression.
"Oh.", he was surprised by the speed at which she went into Catharsis.
He turned to the left and brought out his sword just as a bolt of flames came at him.
Arthur imbued Ghost with magia and deflected the bolt with his sword. He then saw a curved flaming blade coming at him.
He shifted his feet and met the fierce attack.
A small shockwave spread from the contact as the two warlocks pressed their weapons at each other.
Arthur's opponent was a demon with glowing crimson eyes, flowing pink hair, and a tall athletic frame. The lines on his exposed muscular arms glowed the same color as his eyes, indicating that he is a fire user.
Also and the fact that his sword is on fire.
[Wow. Who would've guessed that?]
'Please keep quiet, Inferno.', Arthur pleaded internally and continued to observe his opponent.
The demon student wielded a scimitar with a reddish tint on it and covered in flames.
He looked determined and increased the intensity of his flames in an attempt to push back Arthur.
If not for his newly acquired monstrous strength, Arthur would've buckled under the strength of the young demon.
But he held his ground and with a burst of magia, swung his sword, breaking the deadlock and making his opponent stumble back a few steps.
The demon quickly recovered and looked at him without a change in expression.
Arthur smirked. He can hear Gray battling the other participant, and it seems to be rather vicious.
"Things are getting quite warm here."