"Who the hell are you?" Jacob asks. The pale man just smiles and as he takes a step forward, He does a right hook which Jacob narrowly dodges once again.
"So it wasn't a fluke after all." The pale man comments. "Since you can at least dodge this much, I can spare a little time for some chit chat between you and I." The pale man says as he relaxes his stance.
'This guy is really fast, I'll have to keep my guard up or I might get killed.' Jacob thought. "The name is Kalen" The pale man says. "Jacob" is the only thing Jacob says as a reply. "Well Jacob, I had it's a norm for warriors to introduce themselves before fighting to the death. Now that's out of the way, we can have some fun before I eventually have to kill you.
'He is distracted I'll take the initiative and attack first. Jacob thought as he suddenly lunged at Kalen aiming to punch him in the face. Kalen easily evades and continues his discussion "How rude of you boy, Can't you see I wasn't finished talking. oh well, I guess it's a tendency of you humans to always act so impulsively."
'Humans? could that mean he's not...' Jacob thought. "A human" Kalen says responding to Jacob's thoughts. Kalen continues "Indeed I'm not human but rather I'm what is called a vampire." "!!!!" is what Jacob's face currently expresses.
'A vampire!? This is bad, this is really really bad. Vampires are known for their immense strength and resilience. They are also said to be as fast as a falling star(71km/s) but that's with the exclusion of mana enhancements, so there's no telling how powerful he....' Jacob's thoughts are interrupted as Kalen lunges at Jacob.
'Oh no!' Jacob screams in his mind. Kalen launches himself to tackle Jacob but Jacob dodges by leaping into the air. Kalen then quickly transitions into roll, scoots backwards and does a straight legged backflip with his right foot striking Jacob on the left side of his ribs while he was still mid air.
Jacob lands to the ground and grunts in. pain as he holds on to his side. Whilst Jacob is still on the ground Kalen goes in for another attack aiming to punch him in the face. Jacob reaches for a rock nearby and throws it at Kalen's face. This distracts Kalen giving Jacob enough time to dodge the punch.
As Jacob rolls out of the way, Kalen punches the ground leaving a mini crater. Kalen looks at Jacob with his fist still in the ground.
"You have good instincts kid, but nevertheless your futile struggle will only tenderize your blood leading to an even more satisfactory meal for me" Kalen says as he grins showing his fangs.
Jacob gets up letting go of his bruised side. "I see, well it ain't gonna be that easy to kill me." Jacob says as he assumes a fighting stance. 'Focus Jacob, by absorbing the nature energy you might be able to keep up with this guy, but I've never had to absorb nature energy while mid fight.' Jacob then exhales deeply.
'Maximum effort' Jacob thinks to himself as he suddenly lunges at Kalen and the two begin to clash with their fists, generating shockwaves that nearly blow away the surrounding trees. They engage in a graceful hand to hand combat, exchanging blows more sharply and accurately.
'This kid is actually keeping up with my movements.' Kalen thought as he continued the exchange between the two. "You're quite a fascinating human, Jacob!" Kalen shouts to which Jacob responds with a "You talk too much".
Jacob then ducks a left jab from Kalen and replies with a right uppercut. Kalen quickly regains his composure and attacks Jacob once again. Jacob dodges once again and manages to punch Kalen a few more times which force Kalen to reel back in pain.
'This bastard's attacks actually hurt!' Kalen exclaims. 'That is right Jacob, As your grandpa taught you, if your enemy is stronger wear him down before striking the decisive blow. My attacks are effective, I can do this!' Jacob thought, riling himself up in the process.
Kalen examines his swelled up bruises and grits his teeth in anger. "It seems I've been to lax with you." Suddenly a tremendous pressure is released by Kalen who's currently enveloped in a red glowing aura. 'Mana Pressure, Kalen can use magic!!' Jacob states dumbfounded by what he is witnessing.
Kalen vanishes and kicks Jacob on his bruised side. The force of impact from the kick causes Jacob to crash through trees and land deep into a nearby cave. After Jacob crashes he coughs out blood. 'He can use magic!!!!' being the only thing he was thinking at the moment. Kalen instantly appears by Jacob's side and picks him up by his shirt.
He then unleashes an on onslaught of attacks battering the poor boy. As Jacob lends on all fours Kalen grins and does a font flip with his heel landing on Jacob's head causing him to lose consciousness as he crashes through the cave's foundation and falls deep into an underground cavern.
Jacob crash landed and was barely moving at that point with his body covered in bruises and right eye swelled shut.while his hirt was torn and tattered. Meanwhile back at the grand sage, notices a spike in magic power but for some reason he can't pinpoint the location. He rushes out hoping to find Jacob before it's too late.
Back at the fight, Kalen's bruises have completely healed and he sits down as he had exhausted some if his mana. "That's what you get for being a nuisance kid, I've even lost my appetite." Kalen speaks with snarl.
Jacob regains consciousness. 'Could I've had a better chance If I could go all out?' He thought as he remembered the day after removing the weights and his grandfather placed a mana seal restricting his true abilities to a thirtieth. 'Damn even so, I should've thought of the possibility that he could enhance his abilities using magic. I couldn't even utilize the nature energy to boost my strength, I guess this is end for me, huh? and on my birthday no less, Jacob thought as he felt his consciousness fading once again.
He then notices a faint green glow right above his head. As he lifts his head he sees a A long black katana with a subtle green glowing streak pattern and a broken black chain attached to the hilt. As he stares at it he sees energy flowing into it. A green thread from the katana then slowly reaches out to Jacob's right arm and wraps itself around it.
Jacob feels energy suddenly rushing through his body. 'Nature energy!?' Jacob thought as his bruises healed up rapidly leaving only a few bruise marks on his face arms and chest.. Jacob does a kip up and grabs the hilt of the sword and looks up at the opening which is 103 metres away. "How am I still alive?" Jacob questions as he then looks at the sword he is holding.
'It seems I'm able to harness nature energy faster thanks to this sword, but I've still expended too much energy in the fight and healing myself, It won't be long before I'm completely exhausted.' Jacob thought as he casually leaped to the opening.
As he jumped through the opening, he immediately swung the sword At Kalen's neck. Kalen intercepts the attack with his fist which causes a cut on his hand. As Kalen reels back in shock, Jacob doesn't hesitate and does a barrel roll, landing a kick on Kalen's chest. The force of the kick forces Kalen out of the cave and crash land in a tree.
Jacob then rushes out the cave and hides behind a few trees. 'Im winded already, using nature energy is way more difficult than I thought.' Jacob thinks as he breathes heavily. Kalen gets up holding his chest while bleeding from the mouth. "Jacob!!" Kalen Shouts "I'm going to mutilate you, you little bastard!"
"Think Jacob think, What would grandpa do in this situation?" He thinks on how his grandpa would advice him to end this fight quickly. The grand sage flexes his muscles and says "just punch and punch some more". Jacob frowns 'Yeah that wasn't helpful.' He suddenly feels an ominous presence and immediately leaps forward. As he does that Kalen punches through the trees.
Kalen lunges at Jacob with a scowl on his face. Jacob narrowly dodges the punches. 'I can see his movements' Jacob thought as he slices Kalen's chest with the sword. Jacob not relenting swings at Kalen's neck once again. Kalen counters by ducking underneath and punching Jacob in the gut sending him a few metres away from Kalen. The slash wound on Kalen's chest begins to fade.
"Incredible healing factor you have there, almost as good as a vampire's. Your strength and reaction speed have also improved." Kalen remarks." Jacob gets up and readies for another attack. "Since you've shown me what you got, I might as well respond in kind". Jacob notices that the sun has already sat meaning he was knocked out for hours. 'That is right since he's a vampire he had to take refuge from the sun in the cave otherwise he would have long left.' Jacob thought. "Brace yourself kid, this is my true power." As Kalen says this Jacob subconsciously tightens his grip on the sword.
As Kalen's aura manifests once again a massive red snowflake pattern appears beneath Kalen's feet. 'No way, this is way too much for an 11 year old to deal with!' Jacob thought.
"Spirit art, Blood technique...." As Jacob heard this his eyes widened. Kalen then continued as he intertwined his hands together "..... Gluttonous devouring tentacles of fury." A large amount of blood gushed forth from the pattern forming eight massive tentacles.
The tentacles attack Jacob. He side steps the tentacles. As he's continuously dodging one of the tentacles graze him. Jacob feels a searing pain. "Acid!!" Jacob shouts. "That's right my tentacles have an acidic property that allows them to corrode what they touch.
But it seems you're healing faster than they can corrode, so the only option left is to l...." Kalen stretches out his right arm "....To crush you with force." As Kalen says this the tentacles' speed doubles grabbing Jacob before he could react.
The tentacles begin to squeeze the life out of Jacob. He screams out in pain as the corrosive effects while not eating away at his body, still cause an intense amount of pain upon contact. "Finally I can be rid of you" says Kalen as he slowly closes his fist. The tentacles then cover Jacob's entire body and give a final squeeze. As Jacob is squeezed to death, before losing consciousness he remembers back to when his grandfather taught Jacob about his true potential with nature energy.
As Kalen finally relaxes, He notices a struggle in the tentacles and then he hears a faint shout "Sage mode". Kalen's eyes widen as he sees Jacob bursting out of the tentacles' grasp.
As Jacob lands he places the blunt side of his sword on his right shoulder and readies himself for a lunge. "Sage art: Rhythmic Appraisal." Kalen shudders and sends all his tentacles to attack Jacob at the same time. Jacob vanishes it of sight as the tentacles are sliced to shreds. Before Kalen could even react Jacob reappears and with a swift motion slices off Kalen's head. Kalen's body collapses and his head rolls back to Jacob's feet l, His face expressing utter shock.
Jacob raises his right arm and opens his hand. "Thank you Kalen, because of you I got to know the feeling of dread and helplessness, and because of you I was able to realize my true potential." Jacob says this as a flame ignites in his raised palm.
Jacob spews the flames out of his hand like he's a flamethrower. Kalen's body and head are completely engulfed in the flames. As the flames die down leaving nothing but ash Jacob does a victory cry before he collapses out of exhaustion.