Shinra was uncomfortably aware of the woman's hand on his shoulder. Her grip was too strong, for one thing, but he hadn't spent much time with women. Except his sister, and Loren. Loren didn't count though as a woman, she was a murder conspirator first.
"Watch?" Shinra said as the huge man's manacles settled onto the cobblestoned arena floor.
He was about to ask, 'for what?', when the man threw his great sword like a javelin at the beast. It flew like a beam of light, but the beast was constantly moving, and the blade barely grazed it; the sword continued on to stick into the stone of the arena wall, a foot of the blade at least was buried in solid stone.
"Holy crap," Shinra said, his eyes glued to the sword. That would take more than superhuman strength.
"Not there, silly human," the woman said, and gently, but inexorably, turned his head back to the Lycanthrope. The man appeared to be …. Exploding
Seeing that giant fur god rocketing towards them, Shinra's vision went out of control. The rocketing motion slowed down, and he could clearly see a grid all around them with vectors showing the direction and speed of everything. He followed the projected path of the Lycan, and saw that he was going to land on Sardi. Sardi's head to be precise, if he didn't move.In this slow motion view, Shinra turned towards Sardi, and, without thinking, dove forward. The movement broke his concentration and everything happened fast. He hit Sardi high in the chest, bowling them both over into a rolling ball of limbs that hit the far side of the event box. They were still moving when the Lycan crashed right where they had been, splintering their seats into kindling under its muscled bulk.Some of the splinters shot towards Shinra and Sardi, but they were in too much shock to notice."Shit, shit, shit!!!" Sardi was saying, louder and louder. Shinra, seeing the monster start to look towards them,
The Lycan roared. Shinra couldn't tell if it was in anger or pain. Then a curious expression twisted onto the lupine face, mostly in the eyes. Shinra would later say it looked confused and sad.It stepped towards the tall Vampire, and then the upper part of its chest slid to the floor. It looked down at the cleanly sliced muscle and bone and exposed organs; then its face slid off, starting at the top back of the skull at an angle that lined up with the slice through the chest and ending at the sword's resting place.The Lycan was a standing horror show, not dead somehow, but it would be impossible to stay alive. 'Fu$$, I hope it can't survive that. I wouldn't want to.' Shinra felt sick to his stomach, but couldn't tear his gaze from the pile of gore and the giant dead thing that was still standing."Let's clean this up before it goes berserk?" The tall Vampire said. Without saying anything, the other female vampire, with
"Thank you my dear," the big man said, as he plucked a flute of champagne from the passing tray. The young woman smiled and nodded her head, setting her dark ringlets into a gentle wave. Aside from her smile, and the tray, she was wearing nothing else.The man reached out and gave her a gentle pinch, but otherwise ignored her after taking the champagne. He was an imposing man with iron grey hair cut severely at his shoulders. Though he was wearing layers of elegant clothes, he was obviously well muscled, like a middle-aged boxer that could still get into the ring if he had to. A very rich boxer.The party was a mix of elegance and crassness, with men and women dressed as well as any Lord in Tardel mingling with others in dirty linens and wearing well used weapons. And the naked serving girls; they made it seem like the whole elegant affair was happening in a brothel, which it was."You have nothing to worry about my Lord, I have f
[Update][Skills used to survive an attack from a Lycan General][1000 Exp Awarded]Shinra was caught off guard, surrounded as he was by blood and vampires. '1000 Exp, just for not dying because that monster attacked…' The thought made Shinra re-evaluate just how strong the Lycan was. And how much stronger the Vampires must be.[Status][Shinra: Death Walker: Assassin Level 7][15,250 Experience Points: 4750 to level 8 | 1 Skill Point][Health 1450/1450 | Strength 32 | Speed 52 | Intelligence 32 | Dexterity 58| Charisma 10 | Wisdom 22 | Magic 0][Skills: Fade 2 | Silence 1 | Knife Mastery 1 | Night Vision 1 | Assassin Kata 1][Hidden Path: Critical Strike 2 | Daemon Prediction ]Shinra didn't know what to do next. He was in a private box, in the Imperial Arena, surrounded by the blood and guts of dead nobles and a Lycan, with 4 super vampires looking at him like a treat, and his partner now knows that he has skills that a zombie shouldn't. So he was up shit creek without
"Are you ok Zombie? That blast was mostly caught by my shield, but it isn't designed for 2, sorry" Sardi said, standing now with sword raised.'I need a freaking sword,' Shinra thought, pulling out his trusty folder. It was matte black, and amazing as a hidden weapon. It was also a little underwhelming in a head on fight with armed mages. Not that he was great with swords. 'At least I could defend against another sword that way….,' as soon as he thought this, he shook his head. It didn't sound right. He was a hunter, a killer. He didn't defend, he attacked. He gripped his knife in the forward position, ready to stab an organ or slice an artery."I count 11, can you see anymore?" Shinra said."I barely see the 11, some are hanging back in the dust and shadows.""Ok, have any ultimate spells that will take them all out? Like the Breath of Bahamut?".Sardi's laugh came from dee
'That should give Shinra more cover,' Sardi thought. He still needed to find out how that damn Zombie could disappear like that. Sardi was a skilled mage, and he could tell a zombie from a mage without much trouble. Some mages needed to examine them a little first, but it quickly became clear to anyone that a zombie had no magical energy. Shinra had none either, but Sardi had watched him turn invisible, and blend into the shadows like a demon.'Is he some kind of monster, or mutant, like a werewolf? No, no, werewolves had magical power… a lot, it was just transformed into physical power.'Whatever the case, Shinra's ability to disappear without magic was devilishly effective for sneaking up on mages, so Sardi tried to increase the covering smoke and dust.'My sword hasn't been recharged, so it is only good for stabbing. I'm not sure how good these guys' shields are though&hellip
Shinra noticed something. He was strong. He knew intellectually that the stats the System showed meant something, but it was only after nearly tearing a mage's head off that it felt real to him.'Was it the upgrade this morning that made this difference, did I break through a level? Maybe I've just been holding back unconsciously.' Whatever the case, it gave him confidence as he deepened his Fade into translucency and circled away from the dead attacker. He positioned himself to come in behind the 3 mages running towards the corpse.He knew going invisible wouldn't last long, but he couldn't afford his prey to suspect he was still there. 'I need to hit hard and fast. Will my blade work with their shields, or do I need to break all of their necks?' Breaking three men's necks standing beside each other wasn't possible, so he needed to observe them."Newmam! Why are you on the groun
The thing about magic, real magic, is that it isn't that useful in battle. Unless you're a monster like the Emperor and his Generals. They are able to use magic in ways that scholars have gone insane trying to understand. They are so far above the next level of mage experts, that they might as well be considered Gods.These Assassins were no gods. However, several of them had hung back in the centre while the rest attacked. Plenty of time to weave an effective attack.Sardi knew he was in trouble when the mages running towards him stopped, flicked their wands towards him, and ran away.'Tracer,' he thought. Sardi couldn't see the weave, but that was the point. A fighting group often had tracer and signal spells so they could coordinate attacks while keeping the casters away from the fighting. 'I wonder how big the attack will…', and then the world went red, black and