Mercy looked at the moon in the sky. After all, it was a full moon night, and the beautiful silver glisten fell on the waving grass and white lilies in the summer wind. His hair was flowing in the air, and he felt a shot of nostalgia. He looked at his reflection in the sword.
"I wish things could be easy and calm." Mercy wondered which wife of his had told him that. Living so long, he had multiple of them, but pleasure, lust, or a hunger for a relationship were long exhausted from him.
"I die and come back... I die again and come back, but the people beside me don't. They leave behind their souls and memories for me to read..." he glanced at the sword with a regretful face. "I don't know how numb I became to this feeling of distance from my loved ones until I met Alsana and Sera." He was crying tears on the roof yesterday.
The trees beside him lost leaves like they were weeping, but hidden in those trees were white eyes staring right at him, dressed in rags, with cold white skin and sharp teeth.
"Some good blood, the scent on this one is fantastic. Humans smelling this tasty and the warmonger gone, I will pray for times like this." The saliva was dripping from his mouth like water from a fountain, his fangs growing in size.
"The one to get the kill will get the entire body, you understand me." Another pair of white eyes emerged from the shadows. This one was shorter and thin, but his fangs and teeth were sharper.
"I don't mind, I already had my fair share of meals tonight, but this feels too good. I agree with the free-for-all. Let's go." The two emerged from the shadows and faded into the darkness, becoming formless, like fog in the air.
Hunting in the night, fast like an arrow from a bow and with eyes sharp like a hawk, they made their way down, tracking their target's back. Soon, the distance between them was less than none.
"I am rushing in." The smaller one said a fog blew ahead in the sky, his fangs came opening up and he left his fog form and ran towards the target's back.
"Look back!" He spoke aloud and jumped on his target's back like a lion with a hungry smile.
"You vampires are pretty slow. I expected more from you."
"?!" The short vampire watched in surprise; the one he was trying to kill was standing in front of him now. "You... how did you?"
"Don't worry about that, I am here to take care of you and your buddy hiding in the fog behind my back." Mercy smiled while rotating his head backwards. The vampire exited his fog form, "How can you see us?"
Clash
The short vampire's fangs clashed with Mercy's sword, and the sneak attack failed. The vampire sidestepped and attacked, but the sword came in his way.
From the left, right, double swing, a thrust along with a super swift position shift, came a series of attacks and parries. The vampire entered and exited his fog form in quick succession, trying to land an attack. Mercy blocked every one of them.
The shorter vampire fazed again, and Mercy swung his sword to the right, blocking one hand and kicking the other. "Try something else. I can see through this night cloak spell."
Mercy kicked the tiny vampire in the chest. "Aghh..." Like drool from before, blood came from the vampire's mouth, and Mercy flung him away into the forest.
"Your turn." The taller vampire was just an observer scared to fight before Mercy came in front of him and slapped him right in the face, crashing him into the ground with his jaw broken.
"Those who don't help their allies and watch from a distance should be dealt with like this." Mercy rubbed his boot on the vampire's face, burying the broken thing into the ground.
"I thought you people would have great healing abilities, but you are not that special." Mercy stopped smiling and removed his boot from the vampire, looking in the direction of where he threw the tiny vampire.
"I know somebody strong is present here. Come out on your own, and I might spare you."
Bzz..zzzzz ..zzz
A swarm of bloodflies came into the sky. The pair of red eyes swarmed the night sky and released their buzzing noises.
"I wonder, is there any humanity in your heart? Foul boy." Mercy looked at his back as a middle-aged brown-skinned vampire, far taller than him in his red fur coat and looking at him with red eyes.
"I think we should have an introduction if you are courteous enough not to use a sneak attack." Mercy gave a tiny bow of appreciation, and the vampire nodded in approval.
"Fine by me. My name is Albert Edward Wettin. I am the ruler and protector of the vampires of Forest of the Forsaken. I command the bloodflies at will and live in the shadows." The vampire concluded in his polite voice.
"My name is Mercy Unsborn. I am the leader of a group of idiots who work to find and kill different creatures and overthrow the kingdom through any means necessary. I lured you out by faking my scent using viscera." Mercy bowed once again.
"Before we battle, I do have a question. Would you mind if I asked a question?" Albert wondered at Mercy's request but nodded again.
"I thought vampires are strong in the moonlight? So why are we fighting in the red light of the fireflies? Some spell perhaps, nor do I want you to tell me."
Slash
Albert smiled at the question, and his fur coat was cut down into pieces and fell on the ground. Mercy observed that each part was of equal length.
"Vampires hate sunlight because it burns our skin away, and moonlight is our friend because it allows us to hide ourselves in the fog. But in truth, moonlight is just the light of the sun reflected at us. It weakens us a bit. Although, against normal humans, the fog compensates us."
"Quite logical." Now, Mercy knew what was going on. In truth, vampires' powers never got more potent in the night. "Thank you for your information. I'll be using that sometime." Mercy threw away his coat on the floor.
Then, the wait began. Who would attack first? The two closed their distance, coming closer and closer until there was an inch of distance. Their eyes met, and the clash began.
Albert brought out the red fangs from his rear. Mercy blocked the attack before it came. "You're fast, Mercy Unsborn." Mercy pulled back on the attack and made his footing solid.
"I am. You will regret underestimating me. Start trying." Mercy turned his face to the left and walked straight to his sword, intercepting all the unseen attacks before they touched using his sword.
Mercy's green sword began glistening with blood from all the clashes. The attacks became faster and stronger from all sides. Mercy grew tired of blocking as the attacks tried to break his footing.
"If he doesn't want to fight the right way, then I'll show him." Mercy looked at Albert, who was still standing in his previous position. An attack on his belly came, and Mercy chose to jump back.
Albert appeared in front of Mercy on the left. His clothes and hairstyle were in perfect shape, and his fangs were seeping down blood. He adjusted his face a bit and looked Mercy in the eyes.
"Your sensory ability is beyond thinking; you can block all my attacks without breaking my illusionary spell." Albert's illusion on the side vanished. The bloodflies in the sky flew away, and the blood-red light faded.
"?!" Mercy felt a sudden itch on his shoulders. He looked at the injury to see his sliced skin. "Alas, you were the one underestimating me. My blood on these fangs is not purposeless." Albert called back his fangs and put his hands in his pockets.
"What?!" Cuts began to appear on Mercy's entire body, blood began to leak like a fountain, and his body was shredded in half. There were no screams because his face, neck, and tongue were cut in half from the middle.
"People like you make good soldiers. You could land a hit if you had a dozen people like yourself. But now you are just food. I hope you liked seeing the moon in your last heartbeats."
Albert watched with a cold face as Mercy's body got shredded like his clothes. The meat pieces slipped on each other and fell on the ground.
Albert turned his head to the vampires watching the fight from the far-away woods. He raised his fingers to call them closer to him.
"Master Albert." The vampires came immediately. They bit holes in their skin and showed the blood lord while kneeling.
"Good. Now, collect the organs and all the blood we can extract. I need a robust warrior in my service." Albert gave the order.
The two vampires looked past him and only looked at each other in confusion. "My master, which body are you talking about?" They said with their eyes down.
"This body-?" Albert turned around and saw the ground was empty. He blinked his eyes; the body and blood had vanished, but the smell was on that spot alone.
"Maybe you shouldn't have underestimated him, Master."
"What?"
Albert turned around in anger and confusion when he heard that.
"?!" Albert took a step back when his vampire subjects had vanished too, and then he realised what was going on his eyes were blood red.
"I see you now, Mercy Unsborn." Albert brought out his fangs and looked at them carefully. He looked moonlight shining all around him.
Then the blood came out his head as he pushed his fang into this head, and his eyes lost all light.
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