The man fell over, then cutting his hand on of the rocks laid on the street.
"Darn it..." He whispered, revealing his palm that now had a large cut.
Fwoosh!
In a flash, Abel almost felt something pushing him forward. He was already stood less than a metre from this man, that was perplexed by his sudden appearance.
"Are you okay? Could you help me with this, do you have a healing pill or something?" He asked, while Abel's eyes were still glued to his cut.
His breathing intensified, and he could feel himself being drawn to the liquid like a magnet.
There was silence between the two, and Abel didn't reply to his question. The air became tense, and the bald man started to look more concerned upon looking at this frozen boy.
"Are you alright, kid?" He asked, pulling back his hand.
Grab!
Abel suddenly held onto his wrist, stopping him from taking back such hand.
Black veins scurried out from his eyes and down his face, while his irises began to glow an amber gold. His sclera darkened and he opened his mouth, revealing large, sharp fangs.
The man gasped upon seeing this happen, and immediately tried to free himself but it was to no avail.
He jerked his hand right to his mouth and began to drink wildly from his hand. The man looked on at this boy, aghast from his actions.
Adrenaline rushed through his veins, which only made his blood sweeter for the vampire. He could feel the sudden increase in sweetness of this blood, which only made him drink more furiously.
Whoosh!
A white aura of qi enveloped his body that was weak and sputtery, but it gave him a slight increase in power. Tugging at his hand with more power, he was still hopeless of being freed.
His olive-toned skin suddenly became whiter and whiter, until it became deathly pale.
Losing so much blood, he stumbled to the ground and his hand fell out from Abel's fangs. After drinking more than a litre of blood from this man, he simply wiped his mouth and licked the remaining drops that lingered on his lips.
After being freed, the man rushed off in the opposite direction with superhuman speed, relieved to be freed from this supposed demon's grasp.
All Abel did was chuckle upon thinking back to the euphoric moment that he had just gone through.
"Is blood supposed to taste that good?" He wondered, taking a final lick on his fingers.
****
Two more days passed, and his desire for blood only returned. Abel decided to find another victim, that would be too weak to resist him.
He was longing to go through that feeling of utter delight and euphoria once again.
He was stood with his classmates in a dojo, waiting to begin some of their usual sparring once again. Abel was more than eager to test out his new powers.
He didn't know what they were, but he felt excited whenever he used his true powers.
He was stood on a white platform, facing another student. His name was Col, and he was 6'0, so around his height, and had midnight black hair. He was slim, not very muscular, and his family, the Bosques Family, were known for their unique manipulation of a physical material called 'Darkness'.
"Col, again, hold back against Abel. He doesn't have qi just yet and his body won't endure your full strength." Master Oscar called out.
"Of course, master." Col said, with a bow.
The Bosques family weren't exactly strong, and Col was one of the weakest members of their entire class.
His physical strength recording was 13, and his qi strength was 12.
Col's black aura of qi manifested, and a weird substance started to seep out from his skin. It moved as if it was its own lifeform, and had a slight purple tint to it. Concentrating in his hands, he formed two large blades with rugged edges then charged ahead with immense speed.
He swung down his blade, but Abel seamlessly evaded. Numerous more slashes came his way, and the blades just couldn't hit him. Col started to look visibly quite annoyed by this, and increased the intensity with his attacks.
Once again, there was nothing he could do. Abel would just step out the way of his attacks or swerve out the way of his blade's edges to be left unscathed.
This was quite the spectacle, as nobody without qi was supposed to be moving as fast as he was. They could tell that he wasn't utilising any form of qi, due to his lack of an aura. Ther wasn't even a slither of qi emanating from his skin, and everyone continued watching on, puzzled.
The large black blade was shot down toward him, but Abel tapped the side of it to knock it right off course. As it landed next to him, Col began using his subsequent attack.
The blade of this amorphous matter began to shift, and his qi aura concentrated into such arm. As it was concentrated in that area, he could see more of the black substance being created somehow.
It formed the large spiky head of a mace, then he thrusted it downward. Before it could hit the hybrid, though, he stepped across this designated platform and arrived almost at the other side of it in a flash to remain untouched.
The stronger students in the crowd looked irritated by how fast he was. They could tell that he was very quick with his movements, because they couldn't perceive him well.
As one used qi, their senses and reflexes would become sharper to account for their physical amplifications, and without their qi they couldn't track him.
"What is going on here?" Duncan wondered, with a smile.
He just watched on, in awe of his friend's success. Abel smiled as well, taken aback by his very own abilities.
"You're done!" Col declared, as the black substance began to reshape itself.
It formed into small strings, that almost resembled muscle fibres. They collected over parts of his shirtless chest and arms, making him look like a hulking monster.
WHOOSH!
He charged forward at Abel, with newfound speed. Abel decided to block his attack and felt little to no injury upon taking it. Watching it hit his forearms, he just glared at Col. He struggled to push his fist forward, and he could see the material across his body contracting like a muscle as he did this.
It gave him more power, but he still couldn't push him back.
'What is this madness?!' He wondered.
Looking back to the crowd beside him, he started to think about the humiliation he'd receive upon being defeated again.
Bruno, the first student that Abel had defeated, looked on with a sense of dread and worry. He could see that another student was about to be defeated by Abel.
What these junior cultivators desired the most was a good image. If a student without a dantian was to defeat them, it would gravely damage their reputation.
Abel smirked, as black veins scurried out from his eyes. His irises glowed their usual amber gold, and he grabbed Col's fist.
In reaction, he tried to free himself, but he couldn't. His grasp was like he had placed his wrist between two boulders.
Abel then clenched his other hand and struck him in the chest powerfully. The boy was launched off his feet and across the platform, and Abel pounced.
He made a single gallop like a quadruped, and bounced right up to punch a raised Col back down to the ground.
Blood started to drip from his nose, but Abel felt unwilling to stop.
"You thought you would beat me so easily, didn't you?" Abel whispered, before punching him again.
Col ended up coughing blood, falling onto his back to hold his smarting stomach, in great affliction.
"Didn't you?!" Abel said more loudly, throwing down a punch.
Col summoned all of his strength and speed to move his body out the way, so Abel ended up just hitting the platform beneath them.
DUM!
It rattled, and cracked apart at the point of impact. The cracks scurried out so widely that they reached Abel's feet and Col's body.
The black-haired warrior was filled with adrenaline and raised to his feet once again. Abel could smell the sweet hormone within his bloodstream and felt inclined to exsanguinate him to death.
"You're lucky there are people around." Abel whispered to himself, making Master Oscar raise a brow with confusion.
His statement was perplexing, as if he was about to kill the student. He remained stood by, though, inquisitive about Abel's raw power.
Col was now in a pant, both from the fight at hand but also from his growing fear. Instead of using his darkness as an extra layer of muscle, he transferred it all to his right hand.
Some of those in the crowd knew he was about to do. He was about to use one of his signature attacks.
"Is master not going to stop him from using that punch of his? He could kill Abel!" Duncan whispered to Zeke, who was stood beside him.
"No, Abel will be fine." Zeke stated.