The Fallen Vampire

Taira controlled his dharma body with cool ease.

He was a prodigy.

The physical burden of using Malevolent Dharma is not something that can be overstated. It's horribly taxing.

The bigger and more heavily armored the dharma, the more energy it will demand and the greater burden one's muscles will feel.

Taira's dharma was not currently fully armored, but the fact that it had drawn weapons meant that it was exacting quite a large toll already.

And yet, Taira was picturesque. His face was neither contorted by discomfort, nor did his eyes betray some semblance of weariness.

Perhaps he was just too far out of his own mind to care about his own body's condition. And who could blame him?

He was just about to lay his daughter to bed on pillows laced with a crushed powder designed to be inhaled in one's sleep.

Shakti, who he was only just realizing he held an attraction to, collapsed right in front of him while trying to bring sick children to his attention.

Something as fleeting as his own discomfort had no place in his mind now.

All culprits must be brought to the justice of his blades. And if he could not have the lives of one of them, he would take the lives of everyone even associated with them.

That poison powder wasn't just any run of the mill concoction. It was a recipe that was easy to mess up.

Only a person adept in poison could have created such a thing.

Whether he had to root out the culprit by ice, blade, or fire, he would have their lives.

The death of everyone else would just be an added tax.

A blast of poison energy rocketed towards Taira underneath the body of the great dharma.

The fox-kin super condensed the air in front of him; turning the empty space into an invisible wall.

The poison blast broke against the barrier without so much as soiling Taira's open gi.

He kept his hands coolly clasped behind his back, and his expression neutral as he searched for the culprit.

White snow whistled all around the valley; making it difficult for one to pick out the little things in front of them.

Taira could see a shadow bolting all across the downpour; just barely out of reach of the dharma and his bladed weapons.

Taira could clearly see his level with just this.

As remedial as it sounds, by now most assassins would be slinging taunts and making veiled threats from every direction.

It was intended to disorient or put one on guard- but it was a technique mostly used by baby assassins who couldn't control themselves or lacked critical thinking skills.

Gu Mu-Song was neither.

Another blast came out of nowhere, and Taira defended himself just the same.

The only difference was that this time, the blasts were coming with shorter cooldown times.

The myriad of directions was hard to keep up with, and the barrier was becoming less efficient as time went on.

It was time to stop the run early.

"Arcane Gravity: Terraformation."

Every drop of loose soil, snow, wooden debris, or anything that wasn't pinned to the ground within twenty yards of him was suddenly lifted up about fifty feet into the air.

And then, it was slammed back down into the ground with tremendous force; freeing up more soil, debris, and bodies while the radius of it's reach also expanded.

At last, the entire process repeated itself all over again.

It was a dangerously, horrible spell that no one wanted to see reach it's completion.

Taira's right ear picked up a small; insignificant sound.

But it was enough.

He vanished from his current position and reappeared behind a stumbling Gu Mu-Song.

He lifted his hand up high like a blade and brought it down in a swift, cruel arc.

Gu Mu-Song's instincts kicked in at the last second and he hurled his body out of the way.

But Taira was just so much faster than him.

A searing heat shot through his left side and back, and he knew what was wrong without even examining himself.

Due to Taira's active spell, he never even heard them. The sound of his arm and wing hitting the ground.

The foxkin felt a slight burning sensation spread along one of his hands.

He knew what the culprit was even without thinking about it.

'Poison…'

-n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Dan Master Hideyoshi's face was grim. "My god... This is gravity magic, isn't it?"

"I-It is, but... I've never seen a spell like this." Abbott Tang clutched his chest.

"We have to stop him. He could sink the whole island if we let him be."

"Stop him? And end up like Romula??" Josh pointed out.

The oni pointed up into the sky, where Romula was fighting against Aleena's dharma in a rather lopsided battle.

Of course, his sect had tried to defend their Grandmaster, but between Lucia's giant blade, sharp winds, and breath of flame, they had more or less been completely pinned down.

"We have to talk with him, not try to fight!"

"He doesn't have a pen or paper, but this scene pretty much spells out 'I ain't doing no more talking'."

Experience new tales on empire

""Joshua!""

"Shit, fine..." Josh held out his hand and an instrument very similar to Ina's guqin appeared in his hand.

He twirled it in his grasp and placed his fingers on one of the strings; preparing to give it a hearty thrum.

Hideyoshi and Abbot Tang prematurely covered their ears and guarded their souls.

*Pik!*

A sharp silver sai fell from the sky like a shooting star.

It pierced the strings of Josh's instrument and nearly took the tip of his finger off as well.

"I would urge you all to really think again before you do something like that…"

High in the sky, Vermeil was descending towards the trio of Sect Leaders.

"Our family's sanctity and the health of our sect members were compromised. Even I can no longer tell how far my husband or Aveena are willing to take this. If you value your lives then please… don't take one step closer." She begged.