Old Faces and the Blind beauty

Weeks passed since Alexandre's episode. During this time, he told his family about his life on Earth, and how horrible it was. He slowly began to recover from his experiences. Even his thirst for revenge was temporarily quelled when he found out his sister, Veronica was actually safer than he thought. He learned that she's a powerful, and worshipped seer with thousands of followers. Still, she was shackled by the arranged marriage promise she made during the massacre. His parents explained that they had the same thoughts, but Veronica told them it wasn't the right time and told them to live normal lives. He practiced his blood arts skill diligently, and his blood aura maxed at level four. He also convinced his parents that it was time to move out of this area.

The family sat in the living room discussing the plans to leave the southern slums of Pondwell.

" I'll earn the money, and if anything comes up, I'll deal with it. I've gained some great benefactors since I came here. Oh, it almost slipped my mind, but I may be having a kid with an ice dragon."

Abraham and Alexandria's jaws dropped while Justine's eyes sparkled in excitement at the revelation.

" You've only been here for a couple of months and you've already got a dragon pregnant. You're a chip off the old block," said Abraham while rubbing his right cheek from the slapping he received from his wife.

" I hope you plan on taking care of your child. Not like this man who works all day and is too tired to fu-" she looked at her kids present in the living room.

" Play with his wife," she said with a smile.

" Originally, I was going to wait until my revenge plan was over. Since Veronica isn't in immediate danger, I'll be the best father I can be. I at least need my child to have a decent home. I've joined the new C rank portal expedition that's coming up. Healers get paid a large amount and I don't have to do much since I'll be protected by everyone," Alixandre said.

His mother's face turned serious.

" Don't rely too much on others. It'll be the cause of your death."

He contacted Elana shortly after the conversation ended.

" I'm calling you to say that I'm returning the scimitars tomorrow, but can I also see the other weapons? I'm not going to buy them, but I just want to view them if that's okay."

" Of course, you can. Do you want a quickie before you leave?" she said in an alluring tone.

" Maybe next time."

The next day come and Alixandre decided to go to the guild on foot. He realized riding carriages through the slums drew too much attention from the locals, and it gave him good exercise.

" Good afternoon, Andrea. I'm here to return the weapons."

" Third room to the back."

He made his way through the corridor and into a room full of different types of weapons. His purpose in coming here wasn't simply to look but to copy. His blood aura allowed him to manipulate the blood around him into anything he knew of. He could conjure scimitars with his own blood. Walking down the Isles of weapons, he carefully studied every dimension possible.

' My build now could be considered a blood mage on Melden Rings, so what I need now are... found it."

His eyes settled on it. The Odachi sword. He picked it up, studying its length, weight, and design. After observing the sword, he began to create his own.

" Hey, I hope you aren't thinking of stealing our weapons," said Andrea as she burst through the door.

With a slight smile, he stretched out both of his hands. A thick dark crimson aura soon surrounded his body. The blood slowly started to form a massive sword in both hands.

" I'm finally done," he said while trying to catch his breath. A slightly curved, five-foot bladed blood-red swords were in both hands. The hilts were fifteen inches and the sword itself glistened in the light. Due to Alixandre maxing out his blood aura, whatever he conjured with the blood aura stayed materialized on his command. He didn't have to conjure it again.

Andrea was frozen in place watching the scene unfold in front of her.

As he walked toward the door, he was stopped by the woman hiding her excitement.

" Do you mind if hold them for a second?"

" Go ahead."

As she grabbed the swords, her entire body fell to the ground.

" Holy shit dude. These are fucking heavy."

" What? How is this possible? You're stronger than me," he said.

" Special weapons have stat requirements. I'm guessing it doesn't apply to you since it's your blood. I see why they hunted blood arts users to extinction. You can create special grade weapons this easily."

After holstering the swords on his back, he Left the weapons room and was greeted by familiar faces.

" Hey look! It's Orien," said Ella. " And he has a new arm?"

At the desk in front of him was the group of four he met in the beginning.

" My real name is Alixandre Lockwood. Happy to see you guys are still alive," he said with a smile. He shook hands with the two men and verbally knowledged the women.

" Are you guys a part of the Horde guild too?"

" Wait you're a part of a guild? How? Nobody would accept us. We had to get mercanry liscenes" said Mellissa.

It was then he realized that he was a special case. He also realized that he doesn't sense divine energy in any of them.

" I got lucky with recruitment. So what are you guys here for?"

" We're here for the C rank portal," said James. Alixandre could sense a bit of animosity from him.

" I was about to go there too. The Guild's group carriage should be here in a few minutes."

Their drive arrived and they conversated about the experiences they had since coming to another world. They all had families, but they weren't royalty or special in any sense. The group had already done several E-rank portals and decided to go up a rank for more money and experience.

'Wow. This portal is huge.' In front of Alixandre was a bright blue portal, radiating magic energy. The area around it was filled with fourteen awakeners. One had caught his eye.

A woman short tanned skinned woman with elbow-length, shiny, strawberry blonde hair, currently dip-dyed almost the full length with shades of hazel, is worn in a cascading style.

She has an angular face, a small nose, and very thin lips. Her light grey eyes are wide and she has neat eyebrows. She has long arms, a short torso, and long legs.

She wore a form-fitting dress with slits on both sides, exposing her plump thighs. Her appearance stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the armor-wearing, rugged adventurers around her. As if she sensed his gaze, she swiftly turned in his direction.

" I wouldn't advise you to do whatever you're thinking. You and your family won't live to see another day. The blind girl is protected by those two over there," said a burly red-haired man looking down on him. He pointed toward two tall bald men with facial scars. Both of their eyes were grey, and Alixandre could sense them trying to lower their magic presence.

" Thanks for the advice. Who are you?"

" Who am I? The leader of this group of course," he said while patting his back strong enough to move him a couple of feet.

" Listen up! I am the leader of this expedition on behalf of the Horde guild. My name is Radahn. Every one of you here knows the rules. If you are a part of the Horde Guild, follow my orders. If you are mercenaries, you have complete freedom, but your lives won't be prioritized over the guilds employees.

This portal takes us to a space ruled by demi-humans. The C-rank only applies to the magic the portal gives off. It does not determine how strong the enemies are. Your lives will be endangered, but since you all meet the requirement to get here, we can close this portal before it breaks. Let's head in. Healers stay in the back. Tanks and damage dealers out front. Ranged damage dealers ahead of the healers.

The group headed into the portal and were transferred into a dark forest. The only light is the moon, barely illuminating the forest through cracks in the tree's leaves.

" Demi-humans are humanoid monkies. They're short creatures, with black skin and an ape's face. They aren't strong individually, but..."

The forest around them came alive. The grass around them rustled. The sounds of trees being grabbed echoed through the forest.

" In groups they are dangerous. We're already surrounded. Protect the healers and tankers, stand your ground!" he said while looking at his companions on both sides.

The group of four stayed in the middle of the formation as they were ranged damage dealers. Alixandre was in the back with the grey-eyed woman and a small boy blonde-haired boy.

" You aren't going to vow to protect the blind woman beside you? People usually do that when they see me, " she said.

" I would if I believed you were blind in the first place," he whispered

" Alixandre Lockwood. We have things to discuss when we leave here."

His heart sank to his stomach.

" Who are you?"

" You can call me Athena," she said.

' How does she know me.'

His surroundings would give him no time to think. The sounds of beast screeching reverberated around the forest. Divine eyes activated as he scanned his surroundings, he saw the magic aura of thousands of demi-humans.

" Radahn! We're surrounded by the thousands," he yelled.

" So what! Everyone, keep your morale high. Don't let them overwhelm us!" he yelled.

The forest ground shook fiercely as hundreds of demi-humans emerged from the forest around them. James conjured a large black fireball and threw it into Alexander's space rift. It reappeared above the rampaging beast causing a giant explosion in the middle of the horde. Ella touched the ground, creating earth spikes, piercing the demi-human bodies easily.

More demi-humans emerged from the sides which caused a break in the formation. Athena's bodyguard each took a tank. The bodyguards carried long swords which sliced through demi-humans with ease.

" I thought you said there were thousands? This was only a few hundred said one of the tanks. He was a giant man with dark hair, a large shield, and a sword.

" There is. They are coming at us in waves," said Radahn. " It's a battle of attrition."

Alixandre's body shivered as he watched the battle. The demi-human blood around him was slowly putting him in his frenzy state.

" Healers, I need one of you said a red-haired man.

" I'll go," said Alixandre.

It was the first time he was going to use predatory healing on someone else.

The man had a deep gash from claw marks on his forearm. Looking at the blood dripping down the man's arm, black veins formed under Alixandre's eyes momentarily.

" Hey, dude. Are you okay? You looked like a demon,"

" I-I'm fine. Just a little queasy around blood that's all."

He placed his hand on the bloody forearm and said, " Heal."

The man's arm healed instantly, but Alixandre let out a scream as he finally felt the drawback of his healing ability.