Leon stood in the backyard. His arms to his side, clenched fists and bent elbows.
"HAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
He was charging up. Or attempting too. Truthfully he was mimicking what he saw in anime. After the others had left, Rika and Valeria had given a quick explanation about feeling Chi and blood in the body.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"
Nothing.
"This isn't working."
"Well duh Farm boy. You're yelling in the middle of a garden. What did you think was going to happen?"
Rika was sitting on a bench upside down. Her knees bent over the back rest, her head hanging just above the ground. She hugged her ponytail against her chest to keep it from touching the ground as she watched him.
Beside her, Valeria sat normally. Leaning forward with her elbows on her thighs as she tried her best to coach him on how to use blood arts. For a vampire, blood arts were as natural as your heart beating. But for Leon, it would be the equivalent of manually controlling each heart contraction and relaxation.
"Feel your heart beating. The blood going in and out. Your artery constrictions. The Chi flows out of the blood into the body. The blood returns through the veins into the heart and completes the cycle."
"I can only feel my heart beat. The veins stuff, not so much."
"You're getting caught up in the blood too much, she's a vampire. You're a human. You generate Chi everywhere in your body. But it still flows through your body. Feel your lungs take in air. Your heart moves the air through your body with blood. Your stomach is powering the heart. Your brain controlling the organs, Etc. It's all in one balanced system."
"I get that you're both Chi users but this is getting nowhere."
"You have no attribute for Chi Farm boy, even if you did, you're not going to get it in one day. For now just try feeling some flow throughout the body."
"There's no rush. You'll get it eventually."
"Fair enough."
He sat down in the grass. Leaning back. His palms against the grass as he looked at the girls.
"Hmmm. Hey, is there some demon king or something trying to take over the world?"
"You mean Nykthos?"
Knew it, there is always some demon king in Isekai animes
"He's a self proclaimed god of darkness, blah blah blah. Yeah he's been rallying demons, devils and other such monsters. But he's way out of your league Farm boy. Even Rose thorns know not to mess with him or his generals. Leave it to the heroes."
Demons and devils are different species? More importantly, the Overseer of death warned me about fallen Overseers who claim to be God…
He remembered his encounter with the Overseer of death. Since coming to this new world, Leon had seemed to have almost lost his sense of fear. Part of him believed it was due to knowing death wasn't the end. However, part of him felt the real reason was because he stood face to face with an incarnation of death itself. How could anything be scary when compared to the Overseer? How could he hope to fight something of that level?
"Yeah, I think you're right about that… So uh Valaria, that Nightfall attack you attack you did. And your crimson dagger. You bring blood out of your body and then harden it."
"Yes! Liquid blood runs the risk of blood stealing. By hardening blood, we can no longer mold its shape but it becomes as hard as Iron, sharper than any blade all while still being lightweight."
Bring blood outside my body....
He brought his hand in front of him. Imagine blood flowing out of his palm and forming a dagger
"When you used Nightfall you said a chant. But you never did when you made your dagger."
"Well... yeah. Making a dagger is a lot easier and something I do more often..."
Rika sensed the confusion in Valeria's reply.
"This has to do with any skill or spells Farm boy. Once you become practiced with one, you can cast it without saying anything. There's a lot of benefits to silent casting, especially for an assassin."
"Wait! Then tell me a Blood arts spell. Why am I just here screaming?!"
"Uuuh... No one told you to scream. You just supposed to work on feeling and meditation today."
"Well if you want to know, the blood art for forming a dagger is..."
"~My Blood turn Blade~"
Blood began to form in her palm, taking the vague shape of the weapon.
"~Dagger~"
With that, the dagger turned into hardened crimson.
"See."
Leon quickly began to speak.
"My blood turn blade. DAGGER!"
…Nothing. Nothing expect the slight laughing of Rika
"Maybe try 'porcupine hug'?"
Porcupine Hug?... From my fight with the vampires?
"Hold up. How do you know about that? How much of that fight did you watch?"
"Hmmm? Did I say something?"
"There was a good five minutes of me getting punched between 'porcupine hug' and you saving me."
"Excuse me? What's a porcupine hug?"
"It's his special move"
"It's not. Doesn't matter anyways. It's not like there's blood art for it."
"Valeria, is there a blood art to cover your body in spikes?"
"Not that I know of...it seems very waste full"
"While we're on 'wastefull' Nightfall was a super wasteful attack!"
"Nightfall is a very powerful art! It's a noble class art that can kill most vampires instantly if you have enough blood."
"Noble class?"
Valeria quickly brought her hands to cover her mouth. Rika had asked a lot of questions about her past but she hadn't had that discussion with Leon yet.
"Hey there's no rush remember? But does that mean if I feed you a bunch, you'll be extremely strong?"
Valeria calmed down slightly. She had slipped up. She wasn't against telling him more but was still grateful for his patience.
"Yes. Older & Noble vampires have more blood in their body, as well as more access to food. This makes them stronger and the ruling class...Why don't you try practicing the spell instead of just yelling this time. Just focus on feeling the blood and bringing it outside of your body."
"You're right."
He stood back up, clenching his fists as he bent his elbows and drew his arms to his sides once again. He began chanting the beginning of the spell.
"My blood turn blade. My blood turn blade..."
Feel the blood in my body flowing. Each heartbeat.
Ba-dum... Ba-dum...
He remembered how it felt he was stabbed in the heart. When he saw Valeria cast Nightfall. And when he was covered in shards of crimson from her attack.
"My blood turn blade. My blood turn blade..."
Yet as he tried to imagine blood flowing out and creating a dagger, his own thoughts wrestled with him.
Make a dagger. I'm not going to do some stupid porcupine hug. Just imagine my blood leaving my body. Not everywhere. All at once...it wouldn't technically require control…
The gears in his head turned on their own.
Vampires use the Chi in blood along with their racial ability to control blood. But what if i just triggered the Chi already in my blood. No control. Just a full release. Not a porcupine hug.
Something beyond that!
"~My blood turn blades~"
A reaction ignited in his chest. No control. No precision. No attribute. No blood.
"~Bloodless~"
The pain of a hundred liquid spikes shredding his insides was all he felt before everything went dark.