He was confused, as he assumed that this weapon would be the end of him. Zeke explained to him that wooden stakes to the heart neutralise vampires, which would leave him out cold for maybe even days on end.
However, he had woken up mere seconds later.
His thoughts suddenly came to a stop as he felt the massive stake that had been driven through his entire torso. His main task now was to remove this stake so that he could freed of this insane agony.
Every time he tried to take a breath; it was like hot coals were being dropped into a hole in his chest. The pain was immense, and he could barely even keep himself calm.
Reaching to grab onto this stake, he could feel the weird black substance across it burning his skin. He pulled his hands off the stake in reaction, watching the substance burn his palms. The wounds didn't seem to be healing, but this was not a worry for him right now.
He grabbed right onto the stake, gritting his teeth and hissing to fight through the pain.
Ripping the stake right out, he could slowly feel the hole in his chest sealing up, and his breath was starting to feel less and less painful.
The healing process was much slower than usual, though, and he still felt a lingering pain in his chest after the wound was totally sealed. It wasn't anything for him to be bothered about, and just felt like a light chest infection.
However, in his thoughts, he remembered hearing something. He had heard Arwin talking about where to find Zeke.
Knowing just what the hunter was about to do, he had to find a way to help. Although, the hunter could've already been well on his way to his house. He didn't even know how the hunter knew where him or Zeke lived but that was not of any concern to him right now.
He had to find a way to get to him before that hunter could.
'I know a shortcut! I think I just know how to get to him faster!' Abel realised, before erupting in his red qi.
In a flash, he leaped right over his siheyuan and landed on the street, before dashing away to head right for Zeke as fast as he could.
The city of Fragan was dense, especially in the poorer neighbourhoods, and had many thin, obscure pathways for one to take.
Arwin was leaping across rooves and using street signs to find his way around the place. However, Abel was nimbly circumventing the buildings in his way, and was pretty much aiming directly for Zeke's home.
He was strong enough to leap across rooves now but knew that was what the hunter would be doing. He wanted to keep himself hidden for the time being, so the man wouldn't be alerted.
He had arrived at Zeke's small home and could see one of the windows on his first floor open. Seeing how far up the window was, he knew that if not for his new body, he'd have had no chance of getting up there.
However, it was time for him to test his new strengths. Who knew how close the hunter was now?
Summoning all the strength in his legs, he leaped up and found himself not just reach the window but reach its height in a split-second.
He could've jumped way higher but had to stop himself by pushing against the wall, before flipping right into his bedroom.
Zeke was clad in dark grey robes and currently reading through an odd skill book, that was written in an odd form. It had a writing system that Abel couldn't decipher at all, and it looked like a totally ancient text. The pages looked so aged that they would crumble upon even the lightest touch.
Zeke suddenly rose to his feet upon seeing Abel's destroyed attire. There was a hole in his robes, with blood surrounding such hole but his perfectly healthy chest remained underneath.
"The hunter tried to kill me, and he staked me. I survived somehow, but he's on his way here and we really don't have that long!" Abel insisted.
"You're fine, how? Did his stake feel hot?" Zeke asked, inspecting his wound further.
"No, not really. There was this black liquid all over the stake, though, I think some of it got stuck in my chest as it healed." Abel replied.
'Black liquid? Vervain isn't black, they usually form a dilute solution with water when they use it. I wonder what that is.' Zeke thought, before hearing a tapping sound.
"He's here!" Abel realised, upon seeing the hunter shoot himself through the window.
He landed ahead of the two vampires, with a stake that dripped with black liquid.
Lifting his stake, he had a smile on his face that immediately faded upon seeing Abel alive, and standing by his friend.
He was too stunned by the sight to move, he slowly dropped the dripping stake, then Zeke took this chance to grab him by his neck. He turned around and headed straight for the other window in his room, beside his small bed.
They crashed through the weak rice paper and destroyed it in the process, falling into an area of forestry behind his home.
Abel leaped out the broken window to land, and Zeke looked upon this hunter with fearlessness, but also fury. It was clear that this time, he wasn't going to give him any time to breathe.
Before Arwin could even raise up, Zeke savagely kicked him in the chest and grabbed him by the neck to lift him up.
Using this his monstrous strength, while also being fuelled by rage, his demonic face began to take form. Upon being put up against a being that could possibly take his life, all of his primal instincts were being manifested.
He had to summon all the power that he had to make sure him or Abel wasn't killed.
Charging forward, he took large, swift strides while holding Arwin's neck tight in his hand.
Arriving at a large tree, he ripped off the end of a large branch to then drive Arwin's body into it.
"AAAAAAGH!!!" He roared, upon having this wooden branch impaled through his abdomen.
"Now you get to see what it feels like!" Zeke roared, watching the branch rip off the tree trunk due to his weight.
He fell to the ground, now with blood dripping out his nose and mouth. His breathing slowed and he looked weak, but this hunter wasn't weak-willed. He grabbed the branch from behind him and with an upwards pull, removed it from his body.
Abel felt like this was something that should've been nauseating to him, but he now felt indifferent to it. The bloody, gory injury that he had seen didn't even faze him any longer, and he knew it would've done so before he was a hybrid.
Arwin coughed out even more blood, before weakly but sneakily eating a healing pill before Zeke could do anymore.
"Too slow!" Arwin shouted, erupting in a blue aura of qi.
He swiftly dashed ahead, flipping his stake into reverse grip.
It whistled as it cut through the air, but Zeke remained firm and revealed his very own aura of qi.
Stepping to the side with immense speed, Arwin's sharp stake hit nothing but air. In a flash, he was no where to be seen but was now by his left side.
He viciously kicked in his left knee, cracking the bone on impact, before his eyes became cloaked in red lightning once again.
Beneath his dark grey robes, the symbol across his right chest began to glow, and he was being fuelled with insane amounts of power.
"Scarlet Dragon Bomb!" He roared, raising his right arm.
An intense aura of qi enveloped his right arm and ended up shredding through his silky robe's arm. His muscles enlarged quite significantly, and he coughed out blood as this happened.
The veins in his arms were pulsating more intensely, and looked visible even from afar.
Thrusting his arm, forward, the qi in his hand manifested into the head of an eastern dragon. The qi shot off his arm powerfully and quickly.
This dragon made purely of qi revealed its glowing red fangs, and had glowing white eyes. Arwin couldn't do anything to resist it, and it chomped down on his torso before exploding.
The explosion was large and caused even Abel to hold up his hand in front of his face.
Zeke was now panting, with a bloodied arm. The arm had bruising all over it, and he dropped to his knees before holding his chest in agony.
"What's wrong, Zeke?" Abel wondered, quickly rushing to his aid.
However, Zeke waved him off before he could reach him.
"I'm fine... I'm fine don't worry..." Zeke weakly said, before coughing out blood.