HOTD Intermission 3

(Haven's Pov)

Two bloodlines.

The Vampire and the Werewolf.

When I was young, I'd always heard stories of those fearsome creatures. Creatures of the night. Bound by darkness and to the will of the moon.

Vampires. Terrifying and deadly, a body filled with profound strength, reflexes and an endurance to match. They could recover from wounds almost instantly, dodge bullets like no other and were practically unkillable. They were creatures of shadows and darkness who thrived on blood. They worshiped it like a man worshiped gold.

No one knew how to stop them. All humans could do was fall prey to their bloody nature. These were Vampires. The kings of the night.

The werewolves were a different breed altogether. They say when the night of a full moon comes, a beast, shall emerge. A hulking, terrifying beast of raw primal fury, embodying the traits of wolf and a man. A Werewolf. Their strength was strong enough to cut entire trees in half, not to mention render flesh from bone. Carnivorous and primal, these beasts knew no fear.

Many times in those stories, these two factions regarded each other enemies. Ones to destroy. The humans caught in their ever growing turmoil.

Erin's plan was foolhardy. Downright insane. However there was one story which I heard that kept me from completely disregarding his plans.

The Legend of the Werepire.

.

.

A beam of light shone onto my body, lifting me into the air. Particles of light swirled around me, a gigantic light show of energy and power encasing me in what seemed to be a shell of genetic enhancements.

A heat spread through my body as the two bloodlines were introduced to my genetics. I could feel it, the primal nature of the werewolf and the fury of blood energy from the vampire coursing through my veins. It was acidic, slightly burning away at my mind and body.

The bloodlines were fighting each other. The primal nature of the wolf with the graceful nature of the vampire warred a battle within me, wreaking havoc across my body. I felt my body... shifting into something... something very, very dangerous. My bones snapped and twisted, reforming and strengthening.

I tried using Ki to neutralize the two opposing forces but due to my control over Ki energy not being as strong as Erin's I wasn't able to suppress it.

Before I knew it, I screamed in pain from the changes occurring to my flesh. Then all of a sudden, the pain started dwindling. I felt a gigantic force. A huge culmination of energy spreading throughout my body. It was tyrannical in nature. Unyielding and seemingly infinite. It suppressed these two opposing natures and forced them to combine.

Erin.

He was using Haki to force them to obey and under his ambition, they crumbled to his will.

I had always wondered how strong Erin was. Or how strong he would be if he'd ever gained a body. I have finally realized our disparity.

If my willpower was the size of ant... his would compare to a planet.

And under the force of his mind, the two bloodlines were unable to even resist. They ever slowly combined and became something new entirely.

Something terrifying.

The painful warmth had all but faded away, leaving a soothing energy that nourished my cells and sped through my body like how Ki did but had a much more profound effect, enhancing the very quality of my cells.

Not long after, my body floated down gently from the beam of light. I felt a force of energy filling my veins. I felt new. Reborn.

Stronger

Faster.

More....Powerful.

I opened my eyes glanced at the group in front of me. Jax as well as Izumi and Yukio looked panicked as they stared worriedly at me.

It seems they heard my screams of pain and came to investigate.

.

.

Yukio: Haven! What... what did you do?

Izumi: Yeah, you were screaming.

Haven: I've chosen my enhancements.

Jax: That... enhancing yourself hurts?

Yukio: (slightly angry) No. They don't. Which begs the question... what the hell did you chose that it made you scream like a f*cking banshee. Are you sure, you're alright?

Haven: I'm fine. All I did was combine two bloodlines to create something entirely new.

Yukio: YOU WHAT?!

Izumi: What, what's the matter?

Yukio: What's the matter?! The matter is that there is a 70% chance that you'll die or turn into a monster if you combine bloodlines together. Haven... what you did was reckless. Why didn't you heed God's warning?

Izumi: Shit. Seriously? And you did that Haven? What... were you thinking?

Haven: Relax. I had a plan. It succeeded.

Jax: A plan... okay... what was it?

Haven: It was the main reason I bought Haki in the first place. I used the physical manifestation of the power of my will to force two opposing bloodlines to combine and becoming something stronger. Something... else entirely.

Izumi: Well.. it seems like its successful huh?

Haven: Yeah.. I guess so.

Izumi: No... not that. You look different.

Haven: I do? In what way?

Izumi: Your looks have become more handsome, I guess.

Haven: (gasp) Really?! In what way?

Izumi: Well, you always looked somewhat ugly even though you had an athletic body but now, you look much more handsome and much more stronger. Heck, you seem like you have an air of confidence surrounding you now.

Haven:(harsh but somewhat true.) Wow, is that true Jax?

Jax: They hell should I know? Look into a mirror.

.

.

I glanced down at my body and started to feel myself over. Bigger, stronger and harder muscles greeted me as looked myself over. It seems even my size had increased by a small amount. I had been 6'0 before but now with the addition of a much more muscular body, I had grown to the height of 6'4, almost reaching Yukio's own height.

.

.

Jax: Anyways addressing your statement from earlier, you used the power of Haki to overcome two genetic mutations from turning you into a monster? You truly are ... a stupid suicidal bastard. I thought your suicidal tendencies only showed up during missions but... I guess I was wrong huh?

Haven: ...

Izumi: ...

Yukio: Actually... its more so impressive.

Jax: Impressive?

Yukio: Yes. Using merely the power of ambition to overcome the odds? Thats... even I wouldn't be able to accomplish something like that. Haven... you... who are you, really?

Haven: Um...(Shit. I suppose it would be a little weird for a high school student to manage something like that. Especially considering the fact that "I" only trained in this power for two days. Erin's existence is pretty bullshit huh?)

[Thank you. That's quite the compliment.]

Haven:(Shut up.) I don't know... I guess I just have good talent huh?

Izumi: That's an understatement.

Yukio: (sighing) Anyways, which ones?

Haven: Er... what?

Yukio: Do I have to spell it our for you? What two bloodlines did you combine together?

Haven: Oh, i chose the Vampire and Werewolf bloodlines. I think what I am now, however, classifies as a Werepire. A combination of both the genes of a Vampire and the genes of Werewolf.

Yukio: Shit. That's...

Jax: Intense.

Yukio: Yeah, lets go with intense. Do you still have access to the blood energy from the vampires bloodline? Assuming from how storied in the past worked out, you should have a... hybrid form that you can turn into. Are you even able to or is the vampire gene more dominant?

Haven: No, it isn't dominant. They fused into a perfectly equal new bloodline. As for whether I can turn into this hybrid form... I'm not sure.

[I can feel the blood energy swirling through the blood of your body, somewhat like a secondary Ki channel but I can't grasp control over it. There seems to be something blocking me. Im npt sure what it is. As for transforming, I have no clue. My previous incarnations never had the ability to transform into monster so... yeah.]

Haven: (Hmm... a secondary Ki system huh? I'm not able to sense it. As for the transformation...)

.

.

Before I attempted the transformation however, my mind read over my stats to see how much my enhancements changed my physical body. It surprised me ever so slightly.

.

.

STATS

Intelligence - 320

Mental Capacity - 326

Cell Vitality - 650

Reaction Speed - 530

Muscle Density - 592

Immunization Strength - 657

.

EXCHANGE CATEGORIES

1. Sci-fi Weapons - None.

2. Magical items - None.

3. Support items - Ki, Entry level Werewolf Genetic Mutation, Entry level Vampire Genetic Mutation, Haki, Upgrade Certificate (2).

4. Entertainment - None.

.

.

Haven: Why did my stats increase so much?

[Earlier, before I had the chance to suppress the two bloodlines, they wreaked havoc across your body and in the process appeared to have tempered your cells ever so slightly.]

Haven: Oh. Well that's cool. The pain kinda hurt a lot though.

[That was nothing compared to what it feels like to enter chaotic space.]

Haven: Seriously?! Damn. You really have it tough, don't you?

[You have no idea.]

.

.

After my inner conversation with Haven, I attempted to will myself to transform. Unfortunately, I didn't know how to do so and only managed to make myself look constipated in front of the trio watching me.

I tried several other techniques.

.

.

Haven: Wolf Form GO!

Jax: ...

Haven: HAAaaaaaah!

Izumi: Nothing's happening...

Haven: Super power activate!!

Jax: ...

Yukio: ...

Izumi: ...

.

.

Perhaps I would need some sort of trigger for me to be able to unlock my werepire form. For now it was a no go.

Seeing my disappointed expression, Yukio shrugged and called us over into his room for more training. He was curious as to the amount of power that I would be able to use against him.

When we arrived, he immediately attacked me, forcing me backwards. We went at it for a few hours. In that time, Yukio realized how fast my regeneration speed and stopped holding back his punches against me.

With the absolute increase of his speed and powers, I was only barely able to keep up with him, and even then, only to defend against his attacks.

Erin's control over Haki had increased as well. The increase in Intelligence and Mental capacity seems to have a direct correlation to Erin's ability to control Haki.

Before, he was only able to use armament to coat small parts of our body, such as our fists or feet. Now however, he was able to coat all the way up my my upper arms. I didn't have much more points to use to increase our mental stats so I couldn't do anything about our stats for now.

Erin was happy however.

He had always desired to play an active role when it came to fighting and had felt somewhat frustrated that he wasn't able to do anything to help, but now was a completely different story.

Days passed as we all trained our new abilities, and soon it was the final training session, the day before the next mission was about to start.

.

.

Yukio's fist pummeled towards me, a straight jab, cutting towards my face. I ducked under it and attempted to retaliate with a punch towards his stomach.

He leapt backwards however, his speed far outclassing my own as well as having the experience to use it. He unsheathed his sword and sliced toward my gut, aiming to cut me or at least put me off balance.

Unable to dodge in time, Erin covered the area with Haki, effectively nulling the attack. The momentum pushed me back however, giving me space to breathe.

I kicked off the ground and leapt towards Yukio, my leg turning to give a kick to the side of his head. Expecting the attack, he jumped over my kick and struck me in on the head with the pommel of his sword.

Thankfully, my head was already covered in armament but the impact brought me to the floor, grounding me and slightly jarring my skull. My eyes widened as I rolled away from him.

His black sword later sword, moments later slammed into the floor, cracking it and destroying the tiles.

I jumped to my feet to regard him, my stance defensive, careful of his next attack. He pulled his sword from the ground and rested it across his shoulders.

.

.

Yukio: Good. Your skills have improved a lot. Im impressed.

Haven: Thanks...

Yukio: Idiot.

Haven: Huh?

.

.

My lapse in concentration when replying to him cost me. I couldn't even see his attack coming.

Boom!

His punch landed directly on the side of my face, breaking through my defenses and even even through Erin's application of Haki.

My body flew through the air as it slammed into the corner of the ring.

.

.

Haven: (coughing) N-no fair. You used... Chakra to empower your attack.

Yukio: Heh. You were using Ki and Haki to fight against me the entire time, you don't see me complaining.

Haven: Well, how else am I supposed to even match you?

Yukio: Who knows? In any case, you've definitely improved a lot. I actually have to put in a bit of effort to take you down now and speaking of improvements how goes your genetic mutation? Any luck on using blood energy or transforming?

Haven: No. None so far. I can sense the blood energy within me but for some reason, it doesn't seem to want to come out. As for transforming into my hybrid form... yeah still no progress.

Yukio: I see...

Haven: What about you? Didn't you exchange for perfect chakra control?

Yukio: Yes, I did. It substantially decreased the amount of consumption that my Muscular form requires. Earlier, I was able to hold the form for 30 minutes before it faded away.

Haven: What?! That's... a huge improvement. Last time was like, what? 7 minutes?

Yukio: Yeah. I'm able to even reach a higher degree of muscle augmentation now, too. Before the HOTD mission, I was only able to augment my muscles up to 3 levels. Now I think I can reach up to 5 or 6 levels. My consumption of chakra and stamina increases, the higher I augment my muscles.

Haven: Oh. Is there a set amount for how much it takes?

Yukio: Sort of... It works like this. If I augment myself to level 1, I can use that form for around 50 minutes. Level 2, forty minutes, Level 3, thirty minutes, Level 4, fifteen minutes and level 5, three minutes.

.

.

Jax, hearing our conversation walked over.

.

.

Jax: You have levels of augmentation? Thats... mental. How strong are you?

Yukio: I'm pretty strong, now, I guess, but before, during the HOTD mission, I was only able to use my level 2 form for 10 minutes. My energy efficiency was super wasteful from what it is now. That perfect chakra control really helped me with all my problems.

Jax: Isn't that a little overpowered?

Yukio: Probably, but you don't see me complaining now, do you?

Haven: Our future missions are only going to be more difficult from here on out. We need all the help that we can get. Yukio's strength is also our strength as now we are all going to be a team. Soon, Jax, you and Izumi are also going to be greatly valuable in these missions.

Jax: Sheesh, Haven. You don't really need to put it that way.

.

.

After chatting for a while more, we all headed over to our rooms to rest. It was time to finally prepare for our next mission.

I was happy with my progress in my abilities. I had developed my Ki to a level where I could use it to enhance my stats and Erin's ability to use Haki had increased to a massive proportion as well but there was something that was off about his control over it.

Haki had several aspects to it. What it basically did was it gave the user the ability to use their willpower, or ambition to affect the world around them. For some odd reason however, Erin was unable to bring out most of its powers.

He explained that due to only our souls being interconnected and not our minds, it would be harder to exert his influence outside of my body. Which severely limited his ability to provide assistance to me during battle.

In essence, if I increased my mental capacity stats, he would be able use Haki to a greater extent. I would need to make that my top priority, I suppose.

After the next mission, I would have to see about increasing my mental stats to a higher level.

.

.