Burning blood

"Another failure."

A man in a dark, elegant robe uttered those words through his teeth.

'A mage? An official?' Leon thought, staring up at the middle-aged man's face. Simple ideas of who he might be spurred in his mind.

"Are you sure?" Another voice came into play.

Leon turned his head towards the center of the hall he was in. He moved his eyes across an orderly row of knights, past the crimson carpet laid down on the floor. He looked past all those things, all the way to a simple, wooden chair at the end of the carpet.

"I'm sorry to disappoint, your highness," the man in the robes spoke while lowering his entire upper body in a bow.

The man sitting on the chair was right in his prime. His long, brown hair reached a bit below his chin, right where it mixed with his bountiful beard.

Contrary to the simple robes of the assumed mage, the 'highness' that the man in said robes mentioned was dressed extravagantly. His clothes bore every bit of golden decoration one could think of.

'How is he even going to move under all this weight?' Leon couldn't help but ask.

"I see," the man on the throne said. Then, he heaved a long sigh. He then raised his eyes to Leon's face. "Send him back, then."

"As you wish." The robbed man bowed before turning back to Leon.

'That's not good,' Leon thought, squinting his eyes. 'I need to move.'

Leon tensed up his legs. He took a moment to gather all his strength while closely observing the moves of the robed man.

'Now!' Leon thought, right as the assumed mage raised his palm towards his head.

Leon relaxed his thighs, only to his muscles right away. And with all the force he managed to gather, he stood up.

Ting!

Leon's body sprung up from the floor. Yet, as soon as he nearly reached a straight stance, golden chains appeared on his neck, arms, and knees, binding him down to the floor.

'Chains?' Leon thought. 'Again?!'

Fury boiled in his soul. His eyelids moved out of the way, allowing his eyes the full range of their ability.

"From the void, I've pulled you," the robbed man recited. He held out his palm right in front of Leon's face. As such, Leon was the first to notice the golden light that started to seep out of the man's palm.

'Bloodmancy,' Leon called in his soul without even a second of hesitation.

His eyes widened up to the limit of their range. Leon tensed up all his muscles.

'Right now this is the only way,' he thought, gritting his teeth. 'Even with how harsh it will be on me.'

"And back to the void..."

The hand of the robbed man now turned into a ball of golden light.

The golden light conveniently basked Leon's face in its grace, burning away his skin layer by layer. And with the outer layer of his skin gone, Leon's blood came into contact with the air.

'Fire up the tactical.'

Leon's face turned into a bloody mess.

"... I return you!"

The call of the robbed man reached its peak. Leon's entire body twitched when mana concentrated around the man's palm, burning away to create the golden light.

But the mana of this world was thin. It was everywhere, yet it was incomparable to the power sleeping within Leon's blood. The power that he refined over every waking second of his original life.

The color of Leon's blood grew more vibrant, taking on a deeper, crimson color. The golden light of the robbed man grew to its full size, eating away at Leon's eyes and skull by the second.

And then, Leon's blood exploded.

The energy Leon refined for years surged forth. It crashed into the golden sphere around the robbed man's hand, piercing into it like some weaponized tentacles.

Leon didn't bother killing the light itself.

'This amount of pain,' he thought, right as he had to use some of the energy contained in his blood to replicate the sense of sight. 'It's nothing,' he thought, casually ignoring how the golden light ate through his eyes in a near instant.

And then, the golden light ceased to be.

Leon's multiple surges of mana pierced right at the point where his opponent's mana would fuel the magical reaction.

'So sloppy,' he thought, coating the ignition point with his own flames, killing the technique.

But only one of Leon's fire tentacles rushed to break the spell.

In total, Leon's surge created eight fiery arms, bending instantaneously to his will. And with one of them gone...

Snap.

Leon's magical vision clicked on his next enemy. The six of the arms of fire surged forth, while one continued onward, moving past the robbed man's hands and piercing him squarely in the chest.

"Aagh!" the assumed mage let out a dull, pained cry while taking two steps back. His entire body shook the fire of Leon's tentacle now nowhere to be seen.

"You bastar..." the robbed man raised his face and attempted to mutter a curse. Yet, before his words could fully form, a mouthful of blood exploded out of his lips, pressing the man to his all fours.

"Wha..."

The two rows of the knights only got to twitch a little. And when Leon's fire surged ahead, they didn't even realize they were already dead.

"What an unpleasant welcome," Leon uttered his first words since appearing in this new, strange world.

'Figuring it all out can wait,' he thought, casting a quick glance around the hall.

But there were no enemies left. No possible threats, save for the man sitting on the throne.

Clang!

The last of the knights fell down on the red carpet, adding a new hint of crimson to it.

'For now, the situation seems to be somewhat stable.'

Assessing the situation was the most important part of any operation. And if there was anything to take out of what just happened, it would be just how precious Leon's time was.

'This might be a remote ritual or something,' he thought, only to turn his eyes towards the hall doors in a short distance. 'But it's only a matter of a moment before people will burst in here.'

Leon turned his eyes back to the man in the chair.

"Impossible," the man on the throne uttered, frozen in his seat. He stared wide-eyed at Leon. "Not fucking now," he then added, gritting his teeth while desperation flashed on his face.

'I couldn't care less,' Leon decided. 'But I shouldn't kill him. No use generating so much heat.'

Leon raised his eyes on the enthroned man again. He then brought his hand up, right as he allowed a part of his burning blood to quickly regenerate the flesh and bone of his devastated face.

Several drops of blood fell down on Leon's arm. He allowed them to slide down all the way to his wrist.

Sling!

The few drops of Leon's blood suddenly exploded forward, leaving behind a wide trail. The blood then exploded in a tiny flame, only for the blood to solidify. Then, another drop of blood trickled all the way down the blade that formed, hanging down as Leon raised his weapon in the direction of the local ruler's face.

"Come after me, and your head will fall next."

Leon allowed a second for his words to seep into the man's mind. And then, he slashed his blade to the side, sending the drop of blood flying towards the external wall of the hall.