Touch of Fate

Chapter 351: Subjective Reasoning

Mike tried to fly backwards to buy himself time to counter Esmerelda's charge, but he found himself unable to. The dark line that was connecting them was somehow keeping him from moving in any direction but forward.

"Confused?" The vampire called. "That is the Curse of Attraction. So long as it remains in place, you cannot escape me." Dark energy began accumulating around her hands. "Now, let's see how you handle curses inflicted directly on your body!"

[This must be a higher level curse if my resistance hasn't freed me from it yet. Based on the effect, though, it is designed to force someone into a direct melee confrontation. For now, let's go with the flow.] Mike thought before charging his limbs with Fire Magic.

A fiery aura surrounded him, dyeing the night orange. Readying his sword, he looked down at the vampire girl coldly. If what she had said was true, he didn't have time to play around. He needed to finish this fight quickly and slip away before his enemies could trap them.

With that thought in mind, he flew forward.

Esmerelda laughed. "Yes! That's the way! Your only option is to-"

The rest of her mocking statement was cut off as Mike altered the mana coursing through his body. With the resounding and distinctive crackling of thunder, his aura changed into one of coursing electricity. However, there was little opportunity to observe this before he seemingly vanished into a vague blur of motion, too fast for the eye to see.

He swung his sword dozens of times in less than a heartbeat, each blow containing enough power to shatter boulders or stave in brick walls. At some point during the exchange, the vampire lost control of her curse, causing the line of dark energy to vanish.

Once she'd been reduced to little more than a pile of shredded meat, he concentrated his mana in one hand and summoned an intense white-hot fire. With a yell he unleashed a torrent of superheated flame that engulfed her remnants.

The blazing light was so bright that those observing from a distance momentarily thought the sun had risen only to be left in confusion once the light faded a few seconds later.

Mike scanned the carbonized dust that remained after his attack, looking for any sign that the vampire had survived, but there was nothing.

[That was...surprisingly easy. Although, I feel like I just ripped off another franchise.]

Looking over at Selene, he saw that she was currently engaged in a fierce melee fight with the gun toting vampire, Noah. They appeared somewhat evenly matched at first glance, but he could tell that she was slowly being cornered. While his familiar had an advantage in raw strength, the gunman was obviously more dextrous and agile. He was using his greater speed to push her into a corner. It appeared that there was not only a difference in their base abilities, but their combat experience as well.

So, with every intention of ending that fight before it got any further out of hand, Mike started flying in that direction. However, he pulled up short when he felt a new burst of hostility emanating from nearby.

"That was pretty impressive, I have to admit. There aren't many who could push me to that point." Esmerelda said casually while walking into view. At first it almost looked like she hadn't suffered any damage from his attack, but then he noticed that she was dressed in a slightly different outfit. Somehow, she had not only survived, but found the time to change.

Evidently, his disbelief was visible on his face, since she grinned up at him arrogantly, "What? Confused again? Did you really think you could kill me with a little fancy swordplay and some Fire Magic?"

"I definitely felt my blows land, and I doubt that even your regeneration would allow you to return to a whole state so quickly." He replied as calmly as he could manage.

[Was it some kind of illusion? Or maybe she has a method of making clones of herself...Or some kind of astral projection or possession technique? I don't know enough about her abilities to make a decent guess, but unless she's a master of illusion as well as curses, I can reasonably assume that the number of times she can use this trick should be limited.]

"Well, I could hardly call myself a true immortal if that was all it took to end my life." She shot back smugly. Another dark aura began forming around her. "Now, where were we?"

Mike was about to start channeling his mana in preparation for his next attack, this time planning on trying Light Magic to see if it had any extra effect on his undead opponent, but an explosion taking place in another part of the city stole both of their attention.

Esmerelda grunted in annoyance, "Hmph, I thought I would have more time to take care of things here. Oh well, looks like our play time is up."

[What does she] Mike started to think before his Aerosense, which he'd left on in the background of his mind, began feeding him information.

At his current skill level, he could get detailed information from his nearby surroundings. This was more or less a passive ability that detected air currents within a roughly 50 meter radius. However, he could also get some idea of what was going on even kilometers away if he concentrated on that area, albeit in a fragmentary and inconsistent manner. Which was why the pieces of information that he was picking up from the skill were confusing initially.

At first, he thought that the number of ghoul thralls had dramatically increased all of a sudden, and that they were laying waste to the makeshift defenses of the city's remaining shelters. That idea changed when he caught a brief exchange between two of the attackers, who were, by all appearances, picking over the bodies of a small knot of slain White Lions.

"That's the last of them here. Stop feeding and get back to it! There are still plenty of mortals left to kill before the sun is up." One voice was yelling, presumably at his peers in the vicinity.

"But don't the nobles have that all covered? Why do we need to work ourselves to the bone when they're going to be taking care of everything before we even get there?" A second voice asked.

"They've got their own mission, although I'm not sure what it is. It's been left up to us to eliminate the human witnesses." The commanding voice replied.

"Ugh, does that mean we have to fight all the soldiers and adventurers in the city too? What if there are some strong ones?"

"We have forces in place to respond if that happens, now quit your bitching and get back to work. I don't want the Count on my ass because we let a few slip by us. This is supposed to be a total annihilation campaign. No survivors."

"You'd think they had something to hide"

The winds changed and Mike could no longer hear the conversation. His mind raced, thinking of what steps he should take. Clearly, an army from the vampire portion of the Court of the Undying had arrived in Gildusi in strength and was trying to silence all potential witnesses. They even seemed to be destroying the ghoul thralls they encountered, showing that they had no intention of even sparing the other side of their organization.

With a start, he realized that he was still in the midst of a battle, and glanced down at Esmerelda. For whatever reason, she was apparently content to merely watch him. Noticing his attention, she gave him a small grin. "Don't mind me. I'm sure you've got other problems to think about. I'll just hang out here for a bit and wait for the rest of the nobles to arrive. They should be here any minute now."

Based on what he knew about vampire ecology, which wasn't as much as he would have liked, he figured the concept of nobility in vampire society was closer to a biologically enforced caste system. Unlike with humans, where there was only some correlation between personal power and social rank, vampire nobles were basically a different species when compared to the rest of their kin. They almost universally tended to be at least high Tier 2s, with a significant portion of them falling into the low to mid ranks of Tier 3.

Aerosense, as unreliable as it was in these circumstances, was telling him that hundreds of vampires were streaming towards him through the city. If the conversation he overheard was anything to go by, then the ones aiming for him should be almost exclusively members of the nobility.

[While I think I might be able to take on an army of Tier 3s, so long as I could make it a battle of attrition, it's going to lead to a lot of collateral damage. Can I take them out all at once?]

He needed to figure out how to deal with the powerful enemies in front of him, crush the wave of potential attackers with an accurate and precise method, secure or safeguard a means of escaping the city with Selene, and, if possible, put a stop to the wholesale slaughter of civilians. This last bit was mostly to help provide some leverage in future negotiations with the vampires by having the truth of this night spread, but he would be lying if he said he wasn't interested in saving those within his reach.

[It's too much. I'm not sure if I can take care of it on my own.]

A cruel voice echoed up from the depths of his mind. "Are you ready to accept my help yet, mortal?"

[I don't need you. Besides, what could you even do to change this situation? You're basically powerless on your own.]

The entity laughed. "Ah, I forget how ignorant the people of your world are. You are faced with an army, and seem to be interested in defeating it without destroying the city, am I correct?"

[...While I am not going to play the hero here, I would prefer to avoid killing or sacrificing innocents.]

"If that is what you want, then it is a simple matter. I could solve your problem very easily."

Mike tried to push his thoughts away from the idea. There had to be a better way to deal with this situation. However, curiosity was getting the better of him. After all, what was the harm in at least hearing out the thing's offer?

[How would you do that?]

The entity chuckled again. "Though I may be little more than a fragment of my former self, I still have power over others of my kind."

An image began forming in his head. He saw Gildusi as if from a bird's perspective. The knots of vampiric attackers were clear as they moved ever deeper into the heart of the five districts. He felt his gut twist as he was forced to witness them slaughtering small groups of fleeing civilians. He could barely hear their screams, as if they were coming from a great distance.

"You face an army. What better way to confront it than with one of your own?"

The image changed suddenly. Glowing red tears in the fabric of reality appeared all over the city and began vomiting forth a horde of misshapen beings and terrible monstrosities. A quick glance was all it took to recognize the demonic origins of the newcomers.

"With my legion at your back, the feeble bloodsuckers would be helpless to stop you, and you could save this city, if that was your desire."

The image changed again, this time focusing on a confrontation on the ground, where a swarm of demons was overrunning a group of pale-skinned humanoids in ornate armor. He could see the faces of the vampires twisting in fear as the horde, his horde, slowly encircled them and wiped them out.

"For this, I would only ask for one small boon."

Mike couldn't help himself, he had to ask. [What do you want?]

"Oh, nothing important. I would simply want you to answer one question. If you can promise me a truthful answer with no attempt to hide or deceive me, then my power will be yours."

For a long while he hesitated, taking his time to scan the battlefield once more. Esemerelda still seemed content to wait, and Selene was still wrapped up in the middle of her fight. The approaching vampires were growing ever closer, and there were only minutes left until he would be surrounded by powerful opponents.

He frantically considered all of his options. Fighting was probably unrealistic, since he lacked the mana resources to do anything too flashy at this point. Some kind of delaying action might be possible, but he didn't think it would help all that much. There probably wasn't anyone coming to save them, and the enemy would only grow stronger the longer they had to consolidate their forces.

It was also possible to simply grab his familiar and make a break for it. With his limited command of Space Magic, he felt reasonably confident of putting some distance between him and his pursuers. After rendezvousing with the rest of his companions, he could formulate a plan to stay ahead of the undead and eventually turn the tables on them. From there, it would only be a matter of tracking down the vampire queen and negotiating some kind of truce.

All he would need to do was abandon this city and everyone in it.

With trepidation in his heart, he thought [Before I make any decisions, tell me, what is your question?]

The entity laughed again, echoing up from the depths of the pool it was trapped in. "My my, it looks like you are interested after all."