Beyond the Bloodline

“Lightning Cutter.”

An electromagnetic field manifested around her sword’s blade, and upon swinging it, unleashed a red supersonic slash that released a blinding light that bathed the surroundings and an intense heat that seemed to distort the air itself.

The heat was then absorbed by David who was beside her to bolster his flames’ temperature. He thrust his spear forward, releasing a focused blast that shot forward side by side with his sister’s lightning slash.

Any unfortunate monster that happened to be in the path of the red slash of lightning was engulfed by the overwhelming energy.

Flesh sizzled and scales shattered as the devastating slash tore through their bodies, with the weaker ones instantly disintegrating in a cascade of sparks.

For those who were a bit stronger, their increased durabilities only brought on an extra second or two of suffering for them, with their agonized cries being drowned out by the fiery chaos.

The blast of energy David released surged forward with precision, leaving a trail of scorched earth in its wake, and all the monsters who were in its path were either reduced to ashes instantly or turned to nothing more than charred husks.

The boy then flicked his fingers to the right, and the projectile changed directions mid-way, shooting towards Davina’s slash that was about to meet with the blade of an ogre and collide with it.

***BOOOOMMMM!!!

A deafening roar rang out as the flames and lightning ignited upon collision, erupting into a conflagration of the two elements, right in the centre of the swarm.

The radiant explosion of crimson light released a shockwave that swept through the area, consuming everything within a radius of several hundred metres.

“Destruction is beautiful, don’t you think Davina?”

“It sure is. Now focus, there were grandmasters amongst those ogres, that explosion would not be enough to kill them.”

And right after the girl spoke, the huge form of an armoured ogre burst out from the billowing smoke, its feet sprinting across the scorched earth at sonic speed.

**BAMMM!!!

It reached Davina’s position in a second and swung down its massive blade, to which she raised her Fulgora and blocked the slash head on.

David limboed over to the monster’s rear with his spear coated in aura, but just before he could stab it through the chest from behind, he sensed three incoming sources of danger and spun around, swinging his spear to knock down the three flashes of light that were aimed right for his head.

He quickly jumped out of the way as the ogre who attacked Davina spun around and swung its blade in an effort to slice them both.

Sadly, the man had jumped out of the way and Davina blocked each of the spinning slashes with ease, before taking some distance from the monster.

Five other Ogres came out of the smoke, having scalds and burns from the explosion all over their skins, but still in a condition for battle.

{GROARR-!}

**BOOOMM!!!

One of them tried to release a battle cry, but it was cut short when a glowing red rune appeared in front of its face before exploding at point-blank range.

Taking advantage of this, the twins kicked off the ground and charged forward, weaving through the momentarily confused monsters.

Understanding the two vampires intended to attack their companion, the other ogres tried to assist but the Runemaster Wanete graced each one of them with an explosion of the element they were weakest to.

Jamie smiled as he saw the translucent weakness detection rune manifested in the sky, unbeknownst to all those on the ground.

With it, Wanete was able to determine her allies’ elemental weaknesses and provide buffs to negate said weaknesses, whilst also using this to find out her enemies’ weaknesses and increase the elemental breaches on them.

[Elemental Breach is a buff/debuff that directly affects a target’s elemental resistance. When made Negative, it reduces the resistance and when used Positively it increases the resistance.

Increasing the breach=making it Negative.]

David reached the ogre first, thrusting his spear right into its torso and piercing through its armour like paper. From the agonized scream the monster released and how it flailed about, he guessed he had hit a vital organ in its stomach.

He hurriedly pulled out the spear and sidestepped before the monster's clenched fist swooshed through the air where his head was a moment prior.

In one fluid motion, he spun his body to the monster’s side and stabbed backwards with his spear, piercing it from the side once more and then pulling it out nearly immediately.

Just before the monster, whose eyes had been blasted to oblivion by Wanete’s explosion rune could attack once more, he swung his spear, slamming it into the ogre’s back and pushing its body off balance.

And in that off-balanced state, it could not do anything about Davina’s lightning-coated sword that went straight to its neck and cleanly lopped off its head.

*THUD!

The monster’s massive form dropped to the ground loudly, but by that time, the twins were already at the back of the bow-wielding Archerex who had tried to snipe David earlier.

It stood tall with sleek obsidian scales and six gleaming eyes on its head, dedicating two for each of the twins while the third pair watched for other threats.

As they closed in, its wings stretched wide, revealing patterns that shimmered as it took to the skies, to avoid their attacks.

However, Davina, who was exceptionally skilled with Earth Magic as she was with manipulating lightning, infused magic power into her feet, an action that generated a two-ringed magic circle as she stepped on the ground.

The ground in front of her cracked open and an inclined platform of earth protruded from the ground, rising up into the air in the flight path of the monster.

The instant she stepped on the platform, her body’s elemental infusion changed to lightning, covering her whole form in bright red tendrils.

She half-sheathed her sword and created an electromagnetic field around both the blade and the sheath as she blitzed forward at sonic speed, reaching the Archerex faster than it could flap its wings and gain speed.

It could see her movements with its enhanced kinetic vision, but doing something about them was a different ball game entirely.

‘Flash strike.’

The technique was activated as she unsheathed her sword with an instantaneous release of lightning energy along the blade. The result was a blinding quick and electrifying strike that cleaved off the monster’s left arm and wing.

If it wasn’t for its superior visual prowess, it would not have even been able to see it as most opponents she had used said technique on, didn’t even realise that her sword had left its sheath until they felt the pain from the strike, while some never got to realise given she beheaded them with it.

“Davina!”

Hearing her brother’s shout, the girl was about to turn her gaze when she sensed his spear whoosh past her, and at that moment, one of her passive abilities activated, accelerating her thinking process and prolonging her available perception of time.

‘Why did he…?

Perhaps…he wanted me to use it with my other skill?’

In that same instant, her right hand had already let go of her sword and grabbed onto the spear. She then kicked off the edge of the platform and jumped into the air, spinning her body around while pulling back the spear.

Her eyes widened slightly as she saw that even though she cleaved off the Archerex’s left arm and wing, it still generated an energy construct in the shape of a bow with its skill and was using its right arm to pull the string, creating a light-based arrow which it shot forward at the same instant she activated her skill and threw the spear.

‘Final shot!’

‘Eclipse Thunderburst.’