I didn't exactly knew the limits of skills Kıyamet could allow me to use. Even when I tried to fill it with blood during my rest, I wasn't able to fill it above 50 percent. The blood it took must be insane. Or the quality of the blood must be the key. Blood I could most easily could get my hands on was normal human blood. Perhaps the skills were related to mana of where the blood came from? I don't know. That was the thing about having this kind of artifact. Nobody, even the user and creator of that item wouldn't know what that item was fully able to until they tried it.
"Shit! He got faster! Be careful!"
Noier, if that was his real name shouted. Even though the rank skill I got was lower than I wanted it was still better than nothing. I really wished for C- though.
"Beggars can't be chosers."
I blocked Noier's two shortswords and kicked him in the stomach at the same time. He was pushed back due impact.
"He is just fast! He isn't that strong!"
"You are hurting my feelings."
When I clashed him with I also realized it. I was still weaker than most other vampires stat wise. But…
"Bastard!"
I slashed his shoulder. If he was one step slower, I could have taken his entire arm. Hunters like me were weaker than the monsters we faced nearly all the time. We didn't had the solid bones and robust muscles monsters had. Weapons, skills and intelligence. They were the main forces caused humans to become top species. Just because I became a vampire didn't meant that I lost that forces.
"If you want to fight like this then I will to!"
Noier behaved calm yet warm when I first met him. Now, he was the opposite. His two blades were covered with red mana.
"Mana Blade."
I gulped without realizing it. Mana Blade was a superior skill to Sword Aura. Sword Aura allowed me to put my willpower to my sword, reinforcing it. No matter how strong my willpower were, it couldn't create the same effect as Mana Blade. The fact that he could maintain it in both of his blades meant that he was fairly proficient with it. He wasn't like Ayla who could use it on short bursts before running out of steam. But his output was also lower. Did he lowered the output for sake of longevity? No. I focused on seeing his mana paths. This was the output he could manage to put. Good. If he had that kind of mastery over a skill like Mana Blade, I wasn't sure if I could kill him. Our blades clashed. Wind caused by our clash was intense. This wasn't optimal for me. Even how our skills visualized was different. Red mana covered entirety of his blades. Meanwhile my blade was only surrounded by a scarlet haze. But I had another trick in my sleeve. As my mana resonated with my blade that haze grew more stronger. My blade also grew more spiky.
"What the hell! A forger?"
Using two blades allowed him to be more flexible than me. But since I had Agility Enchantment, I was faster than him.
(Due being exposed to vampiric mana continuously your abilities are growing rapidly.)
I calmly breathed. Sweat rolled down my face. I was moving very fast. Due my explosive movements my stamina should have been drained. But that didn't happened. With the growth of Blessing of Martial Arts, I managed to eliminate some of the unnecessary movements in my swordplay. A step less. A breath less. I moved much more efficiently. That was also one of the reasons why I was faster than him. He had more unnecessary movements than me.
"Muf! Mmmmm!"
Even though I was winning my battle against Noier, Leo was free. He already put her to his shoulder and started to get away. Could I track him down after defeating Noier? Even though ranking up of Hawkeye allowed me to better track down, they were surely prepared plans to escape before coming here. What if one of their plans involved use of an anti-clairvoyance skill? Risk was too great. I already failed to kill the ghoul. If I also fail to deliver her to Elizabeth.
"Don't."
Just remembering her tone was enough to send shivers down my spine. I can't. I can't absolutely fail her. How could I win? No, that wasn't the question I should be asking. I could already defeat him. My swordplay, wit and weapon were all above his. But I couldn't defeat him in one go. Everytime our weapons clashed, I pushed him half of a step back. I was just slightly better at every exchange. It wasn't if I could defeat him, it was when I could defeat him. If we clashed enough times and I pushed him enough steps, I would find the change to deliver a fatal wound. However, how many steps I needed to take? Do I needed to run a fucking marathon to kill him? Nobody got time for that! But that was the "safe" way. If I wanted to defeat him quickly I had another way. It was so dangerous that just thinking it made my jaw clench. One step and I was dead.
"Let's do it."
I could see the trajectory of his blades. My combat experience and Hawkeye allowed that. I could also see my own body and organs. If I manipulated his blades and get him to stab me in a non fatal place, I could trap one of his blades and get the upper hand.
"I am insane."
Our blades clashed once again. He blocked my sword with one of his blades and other came towards my stomach. I moved in a way to make sure blade wouldn't stab me in a fatal manner. I gritted my teeth as the blade cut away my skin and pierced my stomach.
"Argh!"
"Hah, you dumb-Ugh!"
The hilt of my blade was slammed to his jaw. He tried to move back, pull his blade and stab me with his other blade. All of those moves were things I saw before. My blade caught him in the throat. It was deep. He fell to ground while holding his throat. He was kneeling. I swung my sword and finished what I started.