Beyond the Bloodline

“His energy is coming back and we suddenly can’t sense his realm anymore…I’m getting bad feelings from this.”

While the others were talking amongst themselves, Nelo lunged at Jamie, his ice-covered fist aimed at the man’s face.

But to his surprise, the Hybrid swiftly dodged the attack, countering with a powerful blow of his own. Nelo managed to block the strike, but the force behind it sent him stumbling backwards.

Nelo utilized a skill and unleashed a flurry of martial arts techniques, pummelling Jamie with a series of strikes. But to his astonishment, the Hybrid managed to block his attacks, demonstrating newfound strength and resilience.

As the fight continued, Jamie’s speed increased, catching Nelo off guard. The young Vampire found himself on the receiving end of powerful blows, his head spinning from the impact. Jamie’s sudden ferocity and relentless attacks pushed Nelo to his limits.

The Hybrid's silver hair flowed like a river of moonlight, and his clear blue eyes held an air of nonchalance as he attacked fiercely, forcing Nelo to unleash his strongest elemental techniques.

The hall trembled as ice, wind and water collided with Jamie’s energy-strengthened fists.

In a moment of respite, Nelo caught his breath, sweat glistening on his forehead.

His mind raced, trying to discern the source of the Hybrid's newfound power.

Sadly, Jamie did not give him that chance, bursting out from the cloud of icy smoke with his energy-coated fists pulled back.

Upon closer inspection, Nelo noticed that Jamie’s arms were surrounded by light gusts of wind that accelerated his already fast movements.

As the battle intensified, Nelo found himself pushed to his limits, his ice, wind, and water powers becoming less effective against Jamie. The once-confident Vampire now found himself struggling to keep up with the Hybrid's blistering speed and devastating attacks.

Even worse when Jamie suddenly began using the same elemental powers as Nelo, his attacks colliding with the Vampire’s in a dazzling display.

The ruin trembled with the impact of their clash, and those watching could only look on in awe and trepidation.

Nelo’s heart pounded fiercely in his chest as he drew upon more energy to refocus his efforts, attempting to anticipate Jamie’s movements and adapt his attacks accordingly.

But despite this, Nelo’s attacks continued to be thwarted by the Hybrid. The young Vampire's frustration grew, and he could sense the battle slipping from his grasp.

In a desperate bid to turn the tide, Nelo activated his unique skill, the air around him humming with the intensity of the energy as he launched a single full-powered attack.

Seeing this, the Hybrid responded in kind, the grandmasters present all sensing a skill activation from the man for the first time as he met Nelo’s attack head-on, their energies colliding in an elemental force explosion that shook the ruins and made the ground beneath them tremble.

But when the dust cleared up, Jamie stood unscathed, a handkerchief in his hand which he used to clean his hands.

“I see, so that’s how much I can recover. Damn that fucking witch”

The man suddenly spoke, a light frown appearing on his face for a moment, but he composed himself and then turned to Nelo before saying.

“Thank you very much, young Vampire. You have assisted me well.”

Nelo remained silent upon hearing his words, and perhaps taking his silence for a lack of understanding, Jamie decided to explain why he was thanking the teenager.

“I believe one of you had stated it; that a Desiccated being cannot recover their powers immediately. It’s something that the annoying witch and the phoenix who created the spell made sure to add.”

‘But wasn’t the spell created by the Ancient Witches? Why is he talking about a Pheonix all of a sudden?’

Wanette had those thoughts but she kept them to herself, deciding to let the man finish speaking first.

“Even when they do begin recovering, the recovery period takes quite a while.

This is something that unfortunately applies to even me.”

The man put the handkerchief in the chest pocket of his suit blazer, before readjusting his shirt, waistcoat and tie which were now quite dishevelled due to the earlier battle.

“However, if they are given a rude enough awakening, it is possible for their bodies and souls to be stimulated, allowing them to regain that power within a short period of time.”

He cracked his fingers and then looked at Nelo once more before concluding.

“Your ‘rude awakening’ was very welcome, and for that, I’m grateful.”

With that conclusion, they now all fully understood the reason why the man had challenged Nelo to a fight. He had picked the one out of them that was most dissatisfied with him, capitalized on his weakened state and goaded the Vampire into accepting the duel request.

A duel that had no purpose other than to stimulate his dormant powers to respond to the external threat in the form of Nelo’s attacks. To rouse them from their dormancy and enable him to defend against said threats.

Davina analysed all this in her head, before stretching her hand out and trying to bypass the barrier but found that she was still unable to.

‘He’s recovered his power, so why’s the barrier still there…? Unless…’

Her mind went back to the beginning of the duel, where the red string of light appeared between Jamie and Nelo, a conjecture forming in her mind as she shouted out to the young Vampire immediately.

“Nelo! Surrender, NOW!!!”

“Huh? What a-?!”

Nelo could not even finish his words as Jamie’s palm suddenly appeared in front of his face, grabbed it and then slammed his head down on the ground faster than his cognitive abilities could even respond.

**BAAAMMMM!!!!

A shockwave spread out omnidirectionally, the runes on the floor flickering lightly while Nelo momentarily blacked out after being slammed onto the ground.

The Hybrid then picked him up and flung him towards the coffin, leaving the vampire’s body to roll on the ground while he flexed his wrist.

‘Seems like I need to move my body a bit more. But this kid would not be enough for that, I need someone stronger.’

He thought to himself as he watched the boy get to his feet, his blood-red eyes glowing as he glared at Jamie with rage.

Holding up his right hand, Nelo activated a skill with the aid of his Vampire bloodline.

“Blood Magic: Tri-Elemental Burst!”

Energy condensed rapidly in front of him, with ice, wind and water elements taking on a red hue as they combined in a mesmerizing display of power.

Jamie seemed unfazed by this, his long silver hair shimmering under the light while his clear blue eyes sparkled with an enigmatic gleam.

As Nelo launched his attack, Jamie responded with uncanny grace, evading the attacks with fluid movements that almost seemed like a dance.

With a calm demeanour, he sidestepped the blood-red ice spikes, holding up his hand to nullify the gusts of winds while slapping away the water whips and forcefully making them dissipate into thin air.

Seeing that elemental attacks were not doing a thing, even when enhanced by his blood magic, Nelo lunged forward to try physical attacks out, but Jamie effortlessly dodged and blocked it all.

“Didn’t your companion advise you to surrender? She seems to have figured out how the barrier works and suggested the best decision you can take now.”

“Shut up!!!”

Nelo screamed with rage as he punched forward, but Jamie calmly caught his fists. Despite the fact that he was the one attacking, Nelo felt a jolt of pain shoot through his bones.

Before he could even compute his next set of actions, Jamie’s fist met Nelo’s jaw, sending him staggering backwards.

Blood trickled from his lips as he glared at the Hybrid, but what he got in response was a swift kick to his abdomen that left him winded.

Following up was a powerful backhand strike that sent him sprawling to the ground. He tried to rise to his feet but Jamie had already taken action, his foot connecting with Nelo’s side, causing the young vampire to gasp in pain.

“Perhaps? You don’t want to surrender to save your pride?”

Jamie suddenly had a thought that he voiced out loud, and from the way Nelo winced, he seemed to be correct.

“Pfft…”

The Hybrid chuckled lightly upon seeing this, a similar scene from the past of thousands of years ago playing in his memory and making a wry smile appear on his lips.

Nelo took this chance to take distance from him, activating his blood magic once more and generating a hundred projectiles of red ice, each one having a ribbon of red water mixed with Nelo’s blood swirling around them.

Sensing the energy, Jamie looked up and saw the projectiles, a surprised expression coming to his face as noted the quality of the energy contained in each one of them.

“Hmm…you’re quite skilled.”

“…”