Tiger Blood

To describe my day so far wouldn't be hard whatsoever. Although the start was decent, it progressively got worse as it went on. Probably the biggest thing was my gear being busted. I had forgotten to go get it repaired after the raid with my sister, Kiara. She even reminded me multiple times but I was stupid and kept putting it off. Even though I'm 19, I'd be totally lost without her but that's enough about that for now. This was about how I ended up covered in blood with most of my shit busted. About the blood, some of it was mine while the majority belonged to the albino Crown Tiger carcass slung across my shoulder. By now it had dried up in the sun, resulting in a terrible smell. But that was more likely to be the tiger itself.

I doubt it was older than 20 years due to the fact that I was able to carry it. It wasn't as big as a grown Crown Tiger, and nowhere near a King Tiger. If I had to estimate the weight, I'd say somewhere between 300 and 330. It was almost pitiful that such a low rank monster, gave me so much troubles. Of course this didn't bother me as I had gotten used to it since I became a slayer. My guns being repaired would've made the fight much easier. Although if I had a group, this entire situation could've been avoided. Unfortunately, no one wants to work with a shadow user. I'll explain what that exactly means later. The fight itself was probably one of my worst. Since my guns were only outputting around 50%, which means there was only half as much power being produced.

It didn't take long before I realized my pair of guns weren't going to cut it. They were 2 handguns that each weighed about 3 and half pounds. I had long since gotten used to the recoil, as well as not needing to worry about ammo. At least, I wouldn't have had to worry about ammo if I wasn't born with a gene mutation. What I meant before about being a shadow user was a result of that. It's unknown about the specifics but the history of my people has always included these elemental abilities, and while we don't know how we get them, we know what causes them. A certain set of genes result in the production of fire, wind, water, or earth. As time has gone on there have been many sub elements created from people who mixed genes and had a child.

Of course, this led to gene marriages arranged by powerful families. Ice, lightning, and metal have been found so far. However, it was only a matter of time before a gene mutated the wrong way, and this resulted in the shadow element. Virtually useless in terms of utility for society, and more importantly, for slayers. If you were born with shadow, you were useless in the eyes of society. The best and probably only thing you could do was become a slayer. I guess I'd have to say I was lucky enough to be born into the Blaine family. It had long since been arranged for my mom, Farah Seishin to marry my dad, Morgan. The Seishins had grown to be known as lightning users, so the power couple of lightning and fire produced 5 kids. 4 of them ending up with great abilities, and me ending up with shadow.

You could say me developing shadow was just karma balancing out. The odds of gene abilities that good couldn't have been that high. Luckily with the help of my parents I was given a better start to my slayer career and some zori to get a small apartment to live in. Wasn't exactly good for the family if a shadow dud like me was laying around. What I lacked in gene ability, I made up for in physical ability. Although we were all trained so that doesn't exactly set me apart from my siblings. Agility, strength, even mental strength were all things I improved. Nowhere near the level of any monsters, but enough to not be killed. We were also taught martial arts to deal with other slayers as the trade, if you could call it that, sometimes lead to jobs that involved fighting other people. These weren't common to my knowledge, but it didn't hurt to learn and could come in handy against smaller beasts.

With that in mind, not being able to utilize my gene ability with my gun, I had to use physical ammo. While it got the job done, it was one of the most annoying expenses to pay. Especially when it came to armor piercers, which were expensive as hell. Normally you'd turn in the shell and however much zori the gunsmith charged, or you could let them take that amount in zori from the armor piercers created. If you were tight on zori or just couldn't afford it, like me, the second option was more beneficial. Higher rank slayers usually opted for the first option since they had no problems with paying.

So after what felt like half an hour, but was around 10 minutes, of dodging and shooting it finally dropped dead. My legs and arms got snagged a few times but it wasn't anything too deep, thankfully my gear took the majority of the damage. That being said there was no putting of the repairs this time. Not that I'd have had to worry all that much about any serious injuries. I had another sister named Remi who had an even rarer mutation, a really beneficial one that gave her a special type of flame. Her flame was able to heal people, which set her up for many different opportunities in life. Remi has a sweet and innocent personality so it wasn't much of a shock when she decided to run a hospital. Of course she doesn't use her gene ability as a crutch and worked hard at becoming a doctor. Now she has the best hospital in our city, and has several outposts throughout it. The outposts at the gates are one of the most popular, with the outer gate bringing in the most zori. This was obviously due to slayers coming back from working. They didn't charge much for quick patch ups which was all I needed, so I could spare a few trips every now and then.

Good thing the outer gate was coming up ahead, now I can drop off this tiger and get paid. Then I can swing by home, take a shower, go grab lunch, and head off to the gunsmith but not exactly in that order. The guard standing there was a pretty big guy, somewhere around 7'2. He had an assault rifle and a broadsword strapped to his back. Guards were at least B2's or Advanced B rankers. It's never smart to assume rank based on appearance, but it didn't take an official document to see he was strong. I sat the tiger carcass down and rolled up my sleeve, revealing the phoenix mark on my bicep. This was my key to re-entry into the city, and the sign of me being a slayer. Once you were registered as a slayer you'd receive a mark that was determined by your family or organization. The object could be an animal or just a weapon that was selected by the head of said organization or family. I had chosen my family as no organization would take my father had chosen the phoenix. Of course with it being the bird of rebirth and fire, there were no objections. Each mark is registered by a code to a different person so when they die it's registered to the database where it remains.

The guard held out the scanner as it went across my arm. "Jacob...Blaine?" It came with the usual look of confusion that came paired with my identity. While the name Blaine was famous with two of them leading the top slayer organization, Dragon Heart, and a third running the best hospital in the city, I was nowhere near as popular. In fact, I was usually asked if I was from a branch family or some illegitimate child, those were always awkward conversations. "Yep, that's me." It was a quick and easy response so I could go on about my day. "Oh, must be some sort of servant for them cause you're listed as an intermediate F rank shadow user. Yea you can pass." The guard sent the conformation over to his partner so they could open the gate. Meanwhile, I sat their dumbfounded and unsure of how to respond to what he said. I wasn't exactly upset, nor did it hurt my feelings but it was definitely new. Now I could stand there like an idiot and ponder about it or grab the carcass and go, which is what I did.

First stop was the butcher who was a woman named Klim, and with the help of her husband, Darien, they got cut up the tiger pretty quickly. I got the bones, teeth, and fur back while they kept everything else, which was a standard deal. I also received some zori as payment so with that done I went to the most important stop, the gunsmith. While he did deal with armor and other weapons, Sylvestor had become known for the powerful guns he had created and patented. His business had even become a brand but he always chose to remain inside the outer gate, close to where he was raised at. I walked in and admired the different weapons he had all around the shop before going up to the counter and dropping the bag on the weight. "Crown Tiger bones, teeth, and I've got the coat right here." He took a quick glance at me and chuckled, "You look like you've been through hell kid." "It wasn't that bad of a fight, but it definitely would've been easier with my guns repaired." I pulled them out of their holsters and placed them on the counter. He examined them and looked at me, shaking his head as he said "If you keep treating them this poorly, they'll break beyond repair. And we both know you can't afford a second set." He didn't outright show it, but I could tell he was disappointed. "I know...I know, so do you think you could take the bones and teeth and do anything with that?" He looked at me and smirked, "Who the hell do you think I am? With these you're looking at about 250-300 bullets. So around 200 zori." He looked over at his computer screen as he typed in some numbers, "As for the guns and armor, cause you'll definitely want that repaired, 400 zori." Holy shit, even with the amount I could get for the pelt and what I got from the butchers, I'd need to get some more zori. "Whatever, ring me up...." I knew this was going to hurt but it wouldn't hurt as much as I would if I didn't get the armor repaired. "Of course, you can change in the back and leave the armor there. I can have it all repaired by the end of the day. So you can come back to get it then, or in the morning if that works better for you."

I went to the back and took of the parka and vest, along with the dirty pants and put on a sweatshirt and jeans. I switched out my boots for some high tops and placed the clothes on the table. I always did think it was a good idea to bring a bag with extra clothes. I grabbed my bag once I was done and headed back to the main shop. "I should be back in time to get my gear back later today." "See ya then kid." On the way out I looked at some weapons but nothing really fit me. I was always terrible with a sword and I could never get the weight distribution with a heavier weapon right. With nowhere really in mind I decided to catch a ride to the inner gate. During that ride I got a message from Ozzie, one of my friends, asking if we could get lunch. I replied that I would be down after a quick nap once I got home.