Vampire Reincarnation

He reported back. As described, some humans discovered the use of magic, thankfully he quickly took care of them and hung their heads as a message to the rest of the cattle. Despite that, I can not help but worry…

With a quick spasm, Kai’s eyes opened, gleaming intensely. He jumped to his feet and almost stormed out the door. However, he found himself opening it with his face, as he stumbled on Onyx’s body, then fell face first. The Obborik quickly woke up and bared his fangs, before realizing it was Kai who just tickled him. Jumping up, he took advantage of the situation and landed on top of Kai, then licked his face.

Onyx’s stinky breath, accompanied by his warm, wet tongue, blasted Kai like a heated oven. Coughing, he tried to run away, however, much to his dismay, he couldn’t. “Ah, sh-, not again!” Kai yelled under his breath, but he eventually gave up. The Obborik’s tail wagged back and forth, up and down, creating a gust of wind as he ‘broomed’ the floor.

Eventually, he stopped, and got off, his tail still moving about. Kai quickly took out a few drags and wiped his face off all the saliva, however, felt it wasn’t quite enough. “Ugh…” Kai wrapped his face up with another piece of clothing he didn’t need, picked up the mask, and only then did he put it on. I don’t want any saliva to get on it… Actually, I should change it anyway,

He sighed and took a quick glance out the window through the corner of his eye. “Great!”

After confirming it was night, he picked himself up and creaked open the door, then left. Onyx accompanied him as he stepped onto the paved roads, and then the two - A boy and his wolf - Dashed through the town like two arrows fired from a bow. The wind whistled past them as they cut through it, zigzagging through the empty, dark, and creepy alleyways, ignoring the main roads. By now, the way to the main gate had ingrained itself into their memory.

They took a walking pace, nearing the gate, and quickly left after giving the guard a nod. The man looked at Kai with a raised eyebrow, however, he had gotten used to the boy’s weird schedule by now.

…

Vegetation rustled as Kai and Onyx dashed through the dark forest. The Obborik’s footsteps left deep, large prints in the ground as he ran, while Kai’s were light and barely noticeable. The two rushed off into a corner, passing by the clearing where the boy and Hideyoshi fought. He’s probably following me right now, oh well…

After moving for what felt like hours, the sound of running water finally reverberated in the air. With a smile, Kai rushed over to the river, breaking past the bushes and stopping right on the bank. He kneeled, took off his mask and the clothes covering his face, then stopped and took a moment to observe the water.

The water flowed rapidly, crashing against rocks and going around them. The moonlight reflected on every part of the river, creating a beautiful, rippling, and ever-changing painting. The boy hummed, then stood up and started undressing. Might as well, he thought as the clothes on his body rapidly disappeared into his ring. Onyx watched him curiously, and his tail wagged, its sound covered by the river’s ever-flowing current.

“Fuck it,” Kai said, his entire pale body exposed to the moon before jumping into the water. Almost instantly, a suffocating sensation spread from his chest, as the cold water gave him a slight shock. His heart raced but quickly calmed down as he got accustomed to the iciness.

Onyx barked, and, without waiting for an invitation, jumped into the water. Kai quickly washed his face clean of the Obborik’s saliva, then enjoyed the cold feeling of the water brushing against his skin.

He quickly pulled out a healing pill from his ring and swallowed it, all in order to endure and heal the pain caused by the moon on his body. Despite the discomfort, he still had a child-like smile on his face. Onyx dove under the water, grabbed Kai’s foot and, with a shocked gasp, he found himself under the water. There, the light of the moon reached but wasn’t as aggressive.

However, he rushed to the surface and then hurried onto solid ground, coughing and cursing. “Damn it Onyx I can’t breathe if you surprise me like that!”

“Awrf!” Onyx cried as he too got out, and lowered his head, then licked his snout.

Kai sighed and, after coughing one last time, laid down on the dirty, cold ground. To him, it felt comfortable, despite how frigid it was, and even the sharp stones almost cutting through his back didn’t bother him. His hair fell to his side, and a tinge of white showed through the black dye.

“How long has it been since we camped?” He asked, out loud, obviously not expecting a serious answer. He stood like that for a couple of minutes, bathing under the gentle rays of the moonlight, before a cold shiver covered his entire body.

“Well… no time to mop, is there?” Jumping to his feet, he pulled out his wand and quickly cast a wind spell, drying himself up and cleaning any debris stuck to his skin. He did the same for Onyx's fluffy fur, which spread out like a blow-dried cow. The boy chuckled lightly, his partner unaware as to why, then got dressed.

They raced through the forest, passing by bushes, flowers, roots, and vines. A short while later, they took a break inside a small clearing. Kai looked around and stretched his limbs. Then, he took in a deep breath, staring at the leaf-covered sky, and kneeled in front of Onyx. Brushing his face against the fluffy fur, he whispered something in his ear. The Obborik’s ears perched, but he yelped and licked his snout, then nodded once. With that taken care of, he sat down and crossed his legs.

By using the two techniques he learned, he slowly but surely gathered mana into his core, filtering it, and then compressing it. The process proved to be damning, as the rate at which mana filled up his new core was extremely slow.

Whilst filling it up in the parts where it already had mana is easy, breaching past every new layer is very difficult. I don’t know how other people’s cores work but when I had my original one it was as easy as breathing. Now…

He sighed and kept circulating the technique, absorbing as much mana as possible. His face got redder, and veins seemingly began popping out from his forehead. Some mana pills would have been nice… Kai thought through gritted teeth, however, he’s already regretted his decision enough. I need to ask for Bharm’s help, I wonder how he’s advanced with the research in my absence. With those thoughts, Kai resigned to his fate for the moment and his eyes opened slowly.

Their crimson color shone with a faint light, which quickly faded away as he got up. Waving his hand, he sent Onyx away, then walked toward a tree. Placing his hands upon its bark, the rough texture glided across his palm. Taking a better look at it, he concluded that the trunk was about fifty to sixty centimeters in diameter, just wide enough for an adult man to wrap his arms around.

Should be good enough. With that thought in mind, he took a horse stance, as Euphridia taught him, and then recalled the contents of the book he read. Taking in a deep breath, he pulled his fist backward, and, at the same time rotated mana around it.

Doing so created a tiny spiral around it, which heated up as more and more time passed, and it spun with even greater speed. Finally, he sent his fist flying toward the tree and…

Tunk

Kai’s fist hit the tree square on, making an empty, muffled sound that reverberated in the air followed by a sharp hiss of pain and a ‘Fuck!’. Looking at his hand, he only saw the bark’s texture imprinted on his fist, whilst the tree itself stood undamaged. “What the fuck?”

Onyx made his way to Kai, then licked his fingers while looking at him with a confused expression. His eyes darted from the boy’s hand to the tree, almost as if asking ‘Why…?’

Of course, if Kai told him, he wouldn’t understand.

I failed… He thought, trying to recall what he did wrong. I don’t get it, I circulated the mana exactly like the book said, how could it not work?

After waiting for a couple minutes, he retook the stance, securing his lower body to the ground, then circulated the mana and…

Tunk!

Again!

Tunk!

Again, again!

Tunk! Tunk!

“Fuck!” He cursed out loud, flaying his hand around, which had trace amounts of blood on the surface. It shouldn’t be so hard… magic is so much easier. However, after failing so many times he realized that something was fundamentally wrong, and if he kept doing it, his hand would suffer.

What to do… He thought as he sat down in a lotus position, resting his head on his hand, which in turn rested on his knee. What to do…

Throughout his many attempts, he did as the book said, following it with extreme detail. Despite that, he never did an actual successful ‘Flame Fist’. Ugh, what the hell…

As Kai sat down in contemplation, a gust of wind blew his hair back. Quickly turning around, his eyes widened in surprise. He jumped up to his feet and arranged his garments. “Mister Hideyoshi…”

The man nodded and quickly analyzed Kai. “It seems you’ve taken my comment well.”

Kai chuckled awkwardly and carefully hid his fist. “Yeah, I realized that I’m lacking greatly.”

Hideyoshi noticed the boy’s subtle movements and clicked his tongue. He then brushed Kai to the side and walked toward the tree he had hit until now. Its surface was slightly dented, and strokes of still-running blood painted the rough bark.

With a frown, the man turned toward Kai with a cold glare. “Demonstrate the technique to me.”

Kai nodded and did as told, planting his feet on the ground, he pulled back his punch and controlled the mana, then punched.

Tunk!

The result didn’t change, as expected, however, Hideyoshi’s eyes hid a glimmer of interest. With a quick snort, he walked toward the very same tree Kai had been punching. “Flame Fist, is that right? Observe, I’ll only demonstrate it once.”

He took a deep breath planted his feet on the ground, and gathered mana around his fist as he pulled it backward. Kai’s eyes remained fixated on the punch, his pulse rising as he carefully took in every small detail. Hideyoshi waited for a couple of seconds before his fist sprung into action, the air around him becoming hotter and denser, and the mana concentrated on his fist glowed with a bright orange hue.

In Kai’s eyes, the fist moved in slow motion as it neared the tree, and his pupils widened as the two made contact.

Boom!

A thundering roar, akin to a tiger’s, echoed through the forest, scaring away all matter of animals and birds. Leaves and bushes rustled as every living being ran away, fearing for their life. Kai hurled backward with tremendous force, and he rolled a couple of times before Onyx hurried to catch him. A thick orange light flare reflected within his pupils for a moment before disappearing, and he looked with an agape mouth and ragged breathing at the aftermath.

The tree that had posed so many problems to Kai, an immovable giant he dyed with his blood, now had a gaping hole a few inches wider than Hideyoshi’s fist. Smoke accompanied by the smell of burning wood emanated from the trunk, its edges scorched black.

Looking behind it, Kai’s pupils constricted in disbelief. An unnatural, perfectly straight line stretched for about thirty meters, becoming a dead zone wherein everything ceased to exist. Grass, bushes, animals, and even the trees were obliterated.

Burnt remains of plants, horned rabbits and even a large bear littered the ground, almost as if an army had passed through and decimated the land.

An eerie silence rested upon the lifeless void, descending upon Kai, whose ragged breathing and rapid pulse made his entire body shiver. So this is… a Body Mage!