Anthony felt sort of dazed as he listened to his teacher’s lecture, though he still did his best to take notes. Most of his thoughts were admittedly still on Secilia.
Now that he was no longer being held back by his reluctance to become intimately involved with women, his thoughts had inevitably turned to how attractive Secilia was. The two of them had been friends almost since the first day he arrived on Academy Island. She had always been beautiful to him, but it was more than just her looks that drew him to her. She was fun to be around, she was fiercely competitive, and she had a quick wit. He loved bantering with her. Now that she had suddenly disappeared, he admittedly felt a little lonely.
When his last class ended, Anthony went to the maglev station. Brianna was not there, so he hopped onto a maglev that would take him to the Academy Island Hospital for Magical Catastrophes.
There were several people inside the front lobby when he arrived. One young boy looked like he was suffering from a curse that caused random parts of his body to swell up like a balloon. They disappeared moments later, but then another part would swell. His mother, sitting next to him, looked both worried and annoyed. There was also a woman in her mid-thirties who kept coughing. Every time she coughed, rainbow colored powder flew from her mouth and crackled like fireworks.
Anthony shook his head when he saw this and walked up to the front desk.
Clarissa was sitting behind the desk again. She looked like she was busy typing something as he walked up.
“Good evening, Clarissa.”
Upon hearing his words, Clarissa looked up, a smile curving her lips, but the look left in a flash when she saw Anthony standing before her. Her pupils suddenly dilated as a bright red blush stained her cheeks. He scratched his head awkwardly as he realized she was being affected by his pheromones. Lilith had also emitted them, but she was able to control them so others wouldn’t be affected. He currently lacked that control, so everyone he met got a dose.
Stupidly potent chemical secretions…
“A-Anthony?” Clarissa croaked.
“Yes,” he said.
“You look…” Clarissa licked her lips as she stared at him, traveling from his face, to his chest, to his broad shoulders, and then back to his face. “You look different.”
“I’ve been working out,” was all Anthony said.
“I can tell.”
Clarissa took a slow, shuddering breath and placed a hand against her chest. Her breathing had grown heavy, which caused her bosom to heave inside of her sharp business suit.
“You are… um… here to see your brother, yes?” asked Clarissa, who was having trouble focusing.
“Yes, please.”
“Okay. Um, let me just add you onto the list of visitors.”
Clarissa began typing, though she still occasionally looked back at him. Anthony did his best to ignore her stares. At the same time, he promised himself that he would try to gain control over his pheromones as soon as possible. He didn’t like how people stared at him. The women always became hot and bothered, while the men looked hatefully at him like he had shoved a dildo up their ass. It was annoying.
“You’re registered now. You can… go see your brother,” Clarissa said at last.
“Thank you.”
Anthony gave Clarissa a polite nod before leaving the front desk. He noticed when he left that Clarissa heaved an intense sigh as she clutched her chest, but he tried not to let that get to him as he traveled down a hall and entered an elevator, which took him to the third floor.
It was not long before Anthony was sitting on a chair next to his brother’s bed. He stared at the figure within the glass tube, which kept harmful bacteria from infecting his brother, whose immune system had grown weak due to being in a coma.
“Hey, Calvin. It’s been awhile since I was able to come visit,” Anthony said, a self-deprecating smile appearing on his face. “I would have come by a lot sooner, but so much has happened that I haven’t been able to until now. I have a lot to tell you, though. This is gonna be quite the story. I hope you’re prepared for it.”
As always, Anthony spent hours telling his younger brother about everything he had been up to. He talked about how he bonded with Brianna, how he fought against Frederic, how he was training to become stronger, and how he was even thinking about bonding with other women.
“Professor Incanscino says I need to bond with six more women to bring out my full potential,” he explained. “I am a little worried about how this is all going to work out, but Lilith was able to have a harem that worked, so I think I can use hers as a base. I remember how kind all… well, how kind most of my brothers were.”
Anthony reminisced about the past. As the last member of Lilith’s harem, he had been the youngest and least experienced. The other twelve men who formed her harem had all taught him what it meant to be part of a polyamorous relationship, so he had some understanding of how they worked.
That said, he also knew harems worked differently for different people. Lilith had never slept with more than one of them at any given time, but Naamah loved having orgies—or so Lilith would tell him during some of her long winded rants. He wasn’t sure how accurate her words were, though. She and Naamah had never gotten along. The few times they met, it devolved into bickering like a pair of children.
His talk continued for several hours, but someone soon arrived and informed him that visiting hours were over. Anthony pressed his hand against the glass case and bid his brother goodbye before exiting from the hospital and beginning his walk back home.
It was dark out now, or it would have been dark if there weren’t so many lights.
Anthony watched several hovercars streak by. There weren’t that many on the road right now. He then gazed at the signs hanging from buildings.
As he continued walking, a strange feeling caused a chill to run down his spine. It was something he’d felt before. This sensation caused him to stop and look around at the people surrounding him. Everyone had stopped walking and turned in his direction. Their eyes were blank, expressions slack, and a soft red glow permeated their bodies.
He recognized the glow in their eyes.
“These people… have they been turned?”
Anthony only had enough time to ask himself this one question before the nearest person, a young woman, lunged at him. He dodged left, but then an older gentleman tried tackling him to the ground. Anthony spun. His quick actions allowed him to avoid the tackle, which was all well and good, but now everyone was charging toward him with reckless abandon. Several hands reached out as though seeking to drag him to the ground.
Taking a deep breath, Anthony let his mana flow through him like a river and activated Physical Enhancement. Glowing blue lines appeared on his skin, brighter than ever before, and his body became filled with strength. His muscles, bones, internal organs, and even his skin felt far more powerful, more durable, than he could ever remember them feeling.
Anthony bent his knees before leaping into the air. He ascended out of the reach of those people and flew in a parabolic arc before landing on the roof of a nearby building. The people who had attacked him looked up, but they didn’t do anything.
They didn’t need to.
“I knew it was only a matter of time before you attacked me again,” Anthony said as he turned his head to the sky.
Floating several yards above him, his black wings flapping to keep him aloft, was Frederic Bloodstone. He wore the same outfit as before. Anthony also noticed that he had an arm again, though he didn’t think it was the man’s original arm. He’d heard that vampires had incredible regenerative abilities thanks to their negative life force.
“How many people did you drain of their life to regrow that arm?” asked Anthony. He had not heard of anyone being found dead, but Frederic was a cautious man, so he had probably been careful about letting himself be discovered.
“Do not judge me,” Frederic said with a snort. “You and that bitch are the ones who are to blame for
anything that has happened to the citizens of this city. Had you not removed my arm, I would not have been forced to drain several people of their blood until their lives expired.” Anthony said nothing as he glared at the man, who glared right back with a twisted smile on his face. “You do not know how long I have been waiting for this moment. I knew I couldn’t fight you with that woman by your side. I needed to wait until you were alone. Now that you do not have the protection of that War Maiden, I can drain you of your life and add your power to my own. I’ll become so strong, no one in this world will be able to mess with me again!”
Anthony stared at the man as he threw his head back and laughed to the sky. Frederic seemed even more unhinged now than he had during their last confrontation.
“Whatever,” Anthony snorted. “If you think you can steal my powers, then go right ahead and try.”
Anthony had known this confrontation would happen sooner or later since Frederic had not been found by the Academy Island Private Security Forces. He understood this man would wait until there was no one else around and attack him. That said, Frederic seemed to have not realized that Anthony was not the same person now that he had been back then. During their first confrontation, Anthony had been on the verge of dying from Mana Deprivation. That was not the case now.
“Not only will I try to steal your powers! I will succeed!”
A vicious snarl appeared on Frederic’s face as dark miasma emerged from his black wings and flew toward Anthony. Each attack took the shape of black crescent blades.
Anthony clicked his tongue as he increased the mana output of his physical enhancement magic, causing the glowing blue lines to increase in luminosity. As the strength of his body increased, the swords reached him, and Anthony punched them. He didn’t use any unique abilities. He didn’t have any abilities to use. So he simply threw out his fists and slammed them into each dark sword as they arrived.
Loud detonations echoed around them as Anthony demolished every dark sword sent his way. Miasma burst and exploded, then dispersed around him like smoke blown away by a breeze. Frederic gawked at the sight before his eyes narrowed.
“I see. You have bound someone to you.” His narrowed eyes turned into fierce slits. “Is it that War Maiden? Have you seduced her into becoming your bondmate? Nevermind. It does not matter if you have a bondmate or not. I will still take your powers!”
“If you want my powers, you will have to catch me first,” Anthony declared before he turned around and ran. He leapt over to the next building, and then ran across it and leapt again. As he landed on the next building over, he turned his head to look behind him.
Frederic was giving chase.
In a battle against a vampire who could fly through the air and attack from a distance, Anthony had a distinct disadvantage fighting in such an open battlefield. He simply didn’t have the reach to attack. Even if he was stronger now than he had ever been before, physical strength meant nothing if he couldn’t use it.
If Anthony wanted to beat this vampire black and blue, he would need to find some method of bringing Frederic down to his level.
Their chase took them far from the hospital. Anthony leapt across buildings at a speed that caused the world beneath him to become a series of blurry images. The wind whistled around him, blowing his hair out of his face, howling in his ears. He was moving faster than he ever had before. Even so, Anthony’s eyesight had remarkably adjusted to the sudden shift in speed. This must have been thanks to his abilities as an incubus.
“You cannot run forever!” Frederic shouted behind him.
“Who said I plan on running forever?!” Anthony shouted back.
While Frederic seemed to think he was just randomly running around, the truth was that Anthony had a plan. There was a small sensation burning within his chest. He could feel it pulse like a second heartbeat. Emotions that were not his emanated from this space, and he followed those emenations to their source. Brianna was at the end of those feelings. He could feel her through this bond, and he knew she could feel him as well.
Anthony soon dropped from the building he’d been standing on. He crouched as he landed on the ground, then exploded forward and ran into a six story building with a sign saying Aces High Arcade & VR Tag above the entrance. He bypassed the front lobby and reached a door on the other side. It was locked, but he used his inhuman strength to break it down, revealing a staircase. He would apologize to the owner of this building later.
It didn’t take long before Anthony reached the fourth floor, entered, and ran down the hallway until he reached another room. This room contained several pod-like lockers, which he knew held virtual reality equipment. He ran past the equipment and entered a large door on the opposite side of the room, which opened into a massive space that looked like a giant obstacle course.
Large spires jutted from the ground. Ramps appeared everywhere. There were numerous places for him to hide, alcoves where snipers could secrete themselves and take shots at people from above, and barricades for use in urban warfare. This place was like a maze.
Currently, the power was turned off and Anthony wasn’t wearing a VR helmet, which meant everything was dark, but he could still see just fine. In fact, he could see even better than fine. The gray material this massive room was made of appeared sharp and defined to him. He didn’t know if it was because of his physical enhancement magic or if incubus just had naturally good night vision.
As he raced into the maze-like course, another figure entered the room. Frederic glared into the darkness, his glowing red eyes filled with anger. Anthony would have snickered if doing so wouldn’t give away his location.
As he ran through the room, careful not to make any noise, he ascended to the second floor and once more searched inside of himself for those emotions that were his but not his at the same time. He found them easily. Brianna was close. He didn’t know how close, but he could feel her emotions stronger than ever through their bond.
“You are very good at running away,” Frederic insulted him. “I had no idea incubus were such cowards! Come out! Come out now and face me!”
Anthony said nothing as he hid himself in a small corner and watched the man from a distance. Frederic’s face was turning an awfully interesting shade of puce.
“If you will not come out, then I will force you out!”
Anthony didn’t know what this man meant by that, but when the shadows inside of the room writhed and twisted, he realized this man was planning to just indiscriminately destroy everything. He wondered briefly if coming here had been a bad idea. It seemed this vampire was an excellent user of shadow magic, but then he shook his head. It was night. Shadows were everywhere, so it didn’t matter where he ran. At least in this place, his shadow was so thoroughly hidden by other shadows that Frederic couldn’t use it to track him.
Several shadow blades erupted from the ground. They sliced through a number of columns, which fell onto their sides with a rumble. Even more shadows sliced into the ground, creating deep gouges in the floor. However, none of those attacks hit Anthony, who moved swiftly across a bridge several dozen yards above the man.
“DAMN IT! YOU FUCKING INCUBUS! COME OUT NOW!”
Frederic’s angry scream rang out across the VR combat zone, but Anthony said nothing as he moved until he was literally above the vampire’s head. Only after he confirmed that the burning sensation in his chest was practically on top of him did he act.
Stepping off the third floor ramp, Anthony activated Physical Enhancement again and fell to the ground. Frederic only had enough time to look up before Anthony’s two heels slammed into him with the force of a meteor.
The attack was powerful enough that the ground beneath Frederic’s feet shattered, and the two of them fell through the floor, though they didn’t just stop at one floor. The third and second floors also broke underneath this brutal assault. Anthony’s knees jared from each successive impact, but his physical enhancement magic kept him from actually getting injured. When they
fell onto the first floor, he leapt off Frederic’s face and landed several yards away as the vampire slammed into the ground.
“You must be getting desperate if you fell for a trap like this,” Anthony muttered.
“D-damn you…” Frederic stood to his feet. Blood ran down his face and his knees wobbled, but even as Anthony stared at him, those wounds were beginning to heal. “I will kill you… I’ll kill you!”
Anthony looked at something behind Frederic and suddenly smiled. “Yeah… no, you won’t.”
Glaring at him with intense hatred, Frederic opened his mouth to speak—except the only sound to come out was a pained gurgle as something silver erupted from his chest. A shocked expression appeared on Frederic’s face as he looked down at the thing protruding from his flesh. It was a sword about two feet in length. As he stared at the blade in astonishment, a beautiful face surrounded by red hair appeared over his shoulder.
“You really made a huge mistake in attacking Anthony while I was away,” Brianna hissed. “Did you think I didn’t have a means of keeping an eye on him? Do not insult me! I might still be in training, and this might be my first big mission, but a War Maiden isn’t a person you can afford to so easily underestimate!”
Frederic tried to speak, but no words came out. The man released several croaking sounds, and Anthony could see the area around his severed skin knitting together.
“He’s trying to heal the wound around your sword!” Anthony suddenly shouted.
At that moment, Frederic roared as he whirled around, the sword still impaling him, and tried to swipe at Brianna. He didn’t use any magic. He just attacked with a furious battlecry. However, Brianna was not a War Maiden for no reason. She slipped around his claw attack, moved behind him, yanked her blade free from his back, and then spun around with a casual grace as she cleanly removed the vampire’s head from his shoulders.
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