49.

  “RUN!” Santi screamed as he leapt forward, morph stretching out into a shield as Mercy walked through the ruins of the wall. Chad rose to meet her, stringing together arrow after arrow, skills glowing as they launched at her from only feet away. The woman rolled her wrist and a torrent of blood flowed around her, spinning like a whirlpool, catching the arrows and drowning them.

  In the space between Chad’s prodigious fire rate, Mercy lashed out. The change in the ambient mana was all the warning Santi had as he leapt for his sister and Cameron, shoving his rapidly expanding shield outward to make a thin cover for all three of them.

  Spikes of blood launched from the whirlpool, spearing through the air chaotically, slicing apart anyone who strayed too close. A hunter and one of few remaining of Rayleigh’s squad was killed, spears punching through them like they were made of paper.

  Two spears struck the shield, both of them reverberating with such strength that Santi’s arm went numb, the morph weapon rippling like water as a cried pain came through their bond. Santi risked peeking around the edge of the shield and seeing that Mercy had dropped her defensive ability as she walked slowly toward Chad.

  The hunter had somehow not been touched by a single one of the blood spears. He never flinched as he pulled another arrow free, loading it up with skills as he stared unflinchingly at the curse holder. The woman smiled broadly, teeth flashing as she stared down Chad.

  The man fired, the arrow crossing the distance in a heartbeat, tripling as it flew until three golden bolts came toward Mercy. She flicked a wrist lazily and another pool of blood poured forth and formed a shield that absorbed the arrows.

  “Chad, run!” Santi yelled hoarsely as he helped Cam and Bianca up and kicked them moving. Grimvr was already wisely running away while Chloe looked torn for a moment, wanting to throw herself against the powerful curse anchor and running and following the plan.

  Chad didn’t run. Instead he stayed planted as an oak, firing a regular arrow then quickly a skill loaded one. Mercy swayed to the side of the regular arrow whizzing past her, but used her blood shield ability to block Chad’s attack. The woman suddenly surged forward, crossing the distance between her and Chad in a heartbeat. Claws formed on her fingers, long enough to reach her knees, curved like a cat’s. She spun and ducked, sliding under Chad’s last ditch attempt to shoot her, and sliced as she flew past him.

  Chad took two steps forward, away from Mercy, and spun. Mercy was facing him with her smile still plastered on her face. Chad reached for one last arrow but froze as blood began to trickle out of his body. Three long shallow scratches that slowly wept as Mercy crooked a single finger at Chad. The man’s blood flowed out faster, rushing out as if a pump was bursting it free.

  Mercy laughed. Wild and unrestrained, insanity seeped into her every chortle. Her belly rose and fell and Chad’s knees buckled, the arrow he had been notching falling from numb fingers. Santi cast a [Wind Blade] at her, but the blood she was extracting rose up to block the attack.

  His spell didn’t just drown like Chad’s had, but hit the pool of blood with the force of a falling boulder. The blood exploded into a fine mist and Mercy was forced to roll away from the slashing attack that dug dirt up and threw rocks in the distance.

  Her godawful smile was finally gone as she met Santi’s eyes. Instead there was a look of caution, wary dark eyes that searched him as she stood up. Chad collapsed to the ground, chest still rising slowly. Santi pushed forward, trying to create space so that someone could pull Chad away.

  Mercy didn’t back up.

  Blood formed over her body like a second skin, nearly black as it thickened around her, claws staying extended as she walked toward him. Nothing ever seemed to be hurrying for her, she marched forward as relentlessly as time itself. Santi jumped a bit forward, slashing at maximum distance with his blade to try to keep her from getting closer to Chad.

  The silver tip slipped into the blood armor with ease. And then slowed as Mercy spun around, letting the tip of the sword pass by her armor reformed around her as she kept marching toward him.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  [Wind Blade] struck her as she was between steps, striking her gut and bending her in half as her armor exploded. Blood welled out of a long cut on her belly, but she simply held a hand to her gut and the blood stopped flowing out and reversed course. A pulsing black vein throbbed on her neck, but she didn’t back up.

  Santi continued pushing her. Mixing spells and sword work together to try to give even an inch of ground for someone to pull Chad away. The fact that this was a battlefield and not a duel was quickly asserted as a stream of the most aggressive remaining cursed followed after their leader.

  Santi was forced backward as a club came screaming down toward his head. Santi jumped back, slashed across the man’s chest, and spun on a heel and caught Mercy’s blood claws high as she swiped down. Mercy pulled blood out of the bleeding man’s chest, ripping his chest open as she pulled his blood into her thickening body armor. Even as the man hit the ground dead, two more cursed were coming up on them.

  Chloe had managed to get Chad up and over her shoulder, swinging her axe one handed at the closest of the encroaching cursed. Santi risked sending a [Wind Blade] at her opponent, before using [Wind Step] to get away from the flurry of attacks that blew apart the ground he had previously been standing on.

  “Get moving!” Santi yelled, trying to get the last remnants of the team out of the conflict zone. They weren’t getting the clean break he had wanted, but his flurry of attacks kept the cursed from overwhelming Chloe as she ran with Chad.

  “Yessi! Last resort!” Santi yelled breathlessly as they entered the innermost circle around the pillar that Yessi had built. [Gust] pushed a few of the weaker cursed off their feet, but stalled the rest as Santi jumped over the edge of the circle even as Yessi activated the spellwork.

  Cool blue light flowed out of the circle and the cursed stopped immediately. Their feet dug into the ground as dark veins wiggled and squirmed beneath their skin. Santi felt his own curse twist in his gut, pulling and tugging as Santi dropped to his knees panting as the pulsing saves of the exorcism circle ripped at his curse.

  Chad was dragged away to the furthest backlines to be given to Tank as the rest of the group gathered around. The weakest Acolytes amongst them, Mom, Maya, and Frank, were watching over the handful of wounded. There weren’t many who were wounded, the skills the cursed were throwing around were lethal for the most part. Torin and Grimvr were shoulder to shoulder in front of them, both fierce fighters but focused on building defenses.

  The rest of the survivors, Santi’s team, and a handful of Rayleigh’s and Chad’s people, were all clustered around the edge of the exorcism circle. Santi was panting with effort, trying to keep the curse wedged into his gut, he didn’t want to have it expunged quite yet.

  “Mom, Duncan coming down yet?” Santi asked.

  “Yes. They’re starting to collapse on the back of the horde now. Forty-two of them.”

  “How many cursed are left?”

  “Forty-six. But they’re all powerful. Upper forties at the minimum,” Mom said without hesitation.

  “Duncan’s people?”

  “Low forties but there’s three of them that aren’t showing a level.”

  “Duncan’s one, maybe two other disciples,” Santi muttered to himself.

  “Daniel and Hana?”

  “They’re in position. But another group just popped up on the furthest part of the map. Twelve Acolytes, one of them without a level,” Mom said.

  “Who else got an invitation to the party?” Chloe asked as she rested on a knee next to him. The glow of the exorcism circle was already fading, the cursed warriors starting to walk closer to it.

  “Is everybody ready for the next stage?” Santi asked.

  “Still don’t like this part,” Chloe said. The rest of the group gathered up and sank further back till they were all clustered around the pillar. It took a minute for the pillar to spit out a box, Mom burning through the last of the coins Santi had earned during their little foray.

  A white dome encompassed them, the ten minute shield having exhausted all their temporary wealth. In the next ten minutes everything would be done. Santi stood up straight, letting his shoulders drop as the last of the exorcism power faded away.

  Then he let the curse come racing up his guts, feeding on the thick scent of blood and the boiling rage that Santi carried around with him everywhere. Dropping the amount of willpower needed to suppress the curse was like a weight lifting off his shoulders, like he could finally breathe.

  As the curse worked its way through his body and mind, years of pain and torment and frustration boiled up, fueling the negative energy. A decade of war and loss compressed to a moment. Santi grabbed the flare from the ground by his feet and lit it before casting [Gust] and sending it flying into the air. Then his thoughts fell deep into the howling pools of bloodlust.

  Bloodlust Upgraded

  Bloodlust Upgraded

  Bloodlust Upgraded