Chapter 31

Name: Lavinia

Race: Demon

Class: Vampiric

Age: Immortal – 84 days.

Crystal Essence: [Crimson]- Lvl.1— 55.01ESQ

[Available Essence Points— 10]

Faith:30

Agility: 25

Intelligence:14

Perk: {Reais Smite}, {Blood Rush}, {Wave Shot}, {Crimson Blink}, {Inspect}, {Blood Art; Kinesis}

Soul Bond: Curse Marked; Master Henry Vanavil

***

With a twist the Kimpe's neck snaps and Lavinia carves his throat out until the hidden Soul Crystal reveals itself. Her body ached all over from the battle with it, her head has never throbbed and bled so much before but Lavinia wears a smile and licks the blood as she plucked the Soul Crystal for herself.

It was worth the injuries she'd gotten for it and if she were honest, the goblins of Corym gave her a harder time than the Kimpe— it's manipulative lies and illusions gave her pause but at the end of the day, whether three against one, animals against demon, Lavinia was confident she'd come out on top.

The sensation of renewed power she felt as a Crimson tier went beyond her increased Essence reserves, she felt the change structurally, throughout her being as she changed a little bit with each level. Going from Pink to Crimson meant just about everything about her strength and abilities changed. Her body alone doubled in strength and clearly endurance, had she been a Pink and taken on the Kimpe, Lavinia wouldn't have come out alive, Vampiric Demon or no.

As she admires the Soul Crystal and rips into the Kimpe's pouring throat, Lavinia turned her attention inward. Her rise to Crimson had brought about the changes that let her survive and triumph in the encounter but it had also brought about new skills.

Crystal Essence Ascended— Crimson Tier!

Vampiric Class Activated! 

Vampiric [INT] Perk {Blood Art; Kinesis} Attained!

Kinesis? Lavinia wasn't sure what that meant, but understood it was an [INT] Perk just like [Inspect] was and figured it wouldn't hurt to throw some points toward it now that it had another Perk under it. With a thought, Lavinia applied 6EP to [INT] and felt the changes immediately as well.

Besides the forest becoming brighter, more colourful and Lavinia understanding the semblance of systems that the forest relied on, she could understand herself more and why at all she survived the Kimpe's brutal onslaught.

Strength. She told herself. Her strength naturally surpassed many demons but the Kimpe would have her beat, especially if she hadn't levelled or fought well. But there was Strength in other things, namely Blood. Her [Blood Rush] abided by the same logic that empowered her Vampiric being, the more blood there is, the more blood is pouring, the more powerful she is.

Narrowing her gaze at the Perk title it reveals itself; {Blood Art; Kinesis}— One of many Blood Arts acquired by Vampiric's, permitting the movement of external and internal blood.

It was simple and straight forward enough like all other explanations, but Lavinia knew that this Perk would change how she fought forever. She takes a break from devouring the Kimpe's neck and replenishing her strength to stare at the pool of blood formed under its corpse. She reached out to command the blood to move, whether up or down or sideways but immediately got confused as the blood merely ripples where she stepped in it.

Growling to herself, the ticking clock on Seraph's and Jonn's lives wouldn't let her settle and understand the Perk and so she stuffs the Kimpe's Soul Crystal in her boot and sprinted north.

Before she snapped its neck the darn Kimpe gave her the location of its camp and its description— A clearing wider than yours, a camp of many tents and demons, you won't survive. His words brought on his death more than Lavinia's thirst of power did. As things stood, she couldn't absorb the Soul Crystal it provided without falling to the trappings of Essence Fatigue and lethargy. She also didn't want to spend another 5EP just to assimilate all the new Essence she'd absorbed at a slightly faster pace.

The Essence she got from the first, stalking Kimpe still swirled in plenitude within her Soul Crystal, much of it unabsorbed but soon to be. Once Serpah and Jonn are back, I'll absorb the other. She made sure to feel the Crystal dig into the back of her foot with each step she took up north.

As their scents grew stronger with her approach, Lavinia climbed up a tree, startling a bird out of its nest as she hops from one branch to another until the clearing the Kimpe spoke of came into view over the canopy— it lied, the camp wasn't north of theirs but a bit to the west. Following her nose and the tangle of branches and vines that made up the forest, Lavinia kept above ground until she could look down on the camp and see the one part the Kimpe hadn't lied about— the demons.

There are several walking in, out and in-between the splay of tents. The behaved similarly to Corym or at least one of the settlements in Corym. Among the several lounging Kimpe were familiar grey demons that polished, melted and beat metal into weapons for the demons. Lavinia narrowed her eyes at the grey and mutters, "Inspect."

Grey skinned, long thin arms and a wild white mane of hair were common attributes of the [Simak]. Nearly all of them hammered away at smithies, their tools glowing with Essence and a clear use of mana, the power Lucy and humans commanded.

{T-2/L-3— Simak}

{T-2/L-1— Simak}

{T-2/L-1— Kimpe}

{T-2/L-5— Kimpe}

{T-2/L-2— Simak}

Amongst the demon camp, one Kimpe stood a head taller than the rest, Lavinia marked this one in her mind as she scoured the camp for any sign of her squad. Their scent was full here and any further would simply bring her back, and unfortunately she couldn't tell if they were already dead or alive. Would it matter? Lavinia questioned the relevance of retrieving Seraph and Jonn, up till now she'd only come this far out of instinct, because there were demons here. But engaging in a camp full of more than a dozen demons well on the lookout for her didn't sound like a wise investment of her time and energy, at least not with the purpose of retrieving Seraph and Jonn.

She shakes her head and leaps from one tree branch to another for a better view, more demons came into the light, mostly [Simak]— this was their camp and those few that weren't smiting away at metals were lounging at one of the bigger tents, leaving the patrols and muscle manning to the Kimpe.

At this moment Lavinia wished she could see through cloth, peer into the tents for a sign of her teammates, find out if they're dead or alive and decide what she wants to do next, but just then it occurred to her in a flash of brilliance that certainly had to do with her recent investment in [INT]— she had a ring.

She barely took note of the objects than covered her body but the strong shawl, boots and ring Seraph had outfitted her in have all come in useful one way or another. She fingers the ring with her thumb and racked her brain to recall Seraph's instructions on how to use it; Essence in, voice in and then voice out— that was what she'd boiled it all down to when she explained.

Fuelling the ring with Essence she whispered among the trees, "Seraph, Jonn, are you alive?"