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Disclaimer: If you recognise it, surprise, I don't own it.
Chapter 114- The Cry.
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One minute, Luca 'The Tear' Bellini was standing there, and the next, he was gone, suddenly having disappeared. And then something is slamming into my shield, and I see Luca slamming a knife into it that would have been in my chest, and then he is gone again. "Do you think I am an idiot?" I question my foe as he rapidly moves on the outside of my barrier, leaving after images as he constantly slashes at my shield, trying to break through. "It's obvious you can only do physical attacks, so of course I would have a barrier up." I snort derisively, though I am still unable to get eyes on him.
His only means of attack is physical, and while that physicality is immense and dangerous, it is nothing before magic. Magic trumps all, and there is nothing he can do to me. Of course, while that is true, the opposite also applies. Well, it's not the exact opposite, but we are both stumped at the moment. He can't get through my barrier, and I can't pin him down and attack with magic since he is too fast to target accurately. He's the unstoppable force, and I am the immovable object. We are stuck, and he knows that as well, which is why he isn't stopping moving, because the second he does, I'll get him.
"Haha, this is great!" I hear his laugh coming from all sides, constantly changing volume as he zooms around me. "All the other wizards were so boring. They didn't even know I was there before they were dead! But this is an actual fight, haha!" He roars, and after entering his mind, I know just how much of a psycho this guy is. Hell, he knows the odds are against him, but he doesn't care. He really is more beast than man, and all he cares about is the fight and power. Even with my clear superiority over him, I can't help but feel unnerved and a bit frightened of him.
In all honesty, I would love to just set off an area of effect spell and blast the surroundings into smithereens along with my opponent, but that is just not possible. First of all, the old man is nearby, and if I did let loose, he could be caught in the blast. Second of all, if what the old man said is true, this whole place is under the control of the D'Arcana clan. The Italian Aurors might just arrest me, and I might end up dead in a cell. If I were to do an area of effect spell, the sound and damage of it would be too much, and people would investigate, and I need to keep a low profile.
The D'Arcana have already sent one guy to watch me, and just this guy is scary enough. He is a muggle bitten by a vampire, which means they could have hundreds of these guys at their command, and they could be on my behind at any moment. No, if there is one thing that is clear, it is that my enemy this time has the manpower, the home turf and the definite advantage, which means I have to keep a low profile. Stealth is the name of the game, and that means I have to get rid of this guy in the quietest way possible, and I don't think it will be that quiet.
"So, a barrier, huh? Let's try this then!" I hear him cry, and I actually get a glimpse of him as he starts to do that backflip thing off the two walls of the alleyway. That thing you do in games where you jump between the two and go higher, and he is doing it going up for some reason. As soon as he reaches the top, he flips upside down so his feet touch the underneath of the lip of the roof, and then he crouches and pushes off it, zooming straight down to the ground. In the next second, the ground all around me is fracturing, and I lose my footing and start to stumble backwards.
As I do so, I see Luca, who is on the ground now, the heel of his left leg buried into the ground and breaking it up, sending jagged bits of the ground everywhere and, most importantly, messing up my barrier. It didn't break, but now there is a gap underneath it, something I didn't even know was possible. When I make my barrier, I make a sphere around me, but it would be more accurate to call it a semi-sphere as it stops once it touches the ground. Of course, the method Luca thought of has been thought of before, and the barrier would simply start to move down to fill the gaps and continue to protect me.
Only, this time, my opponent is not a wizard but a very fast vampire. One that manages to slip underneath the barrier before it finishes sealing the gaps. And now there is a bloodthirsty vampire inside my barrier and jumping towards me. I jumped backwards to try and get away, but I was still off balance and fell backwards. I see him getting closer to me with that frightening, hungry grin on his face, and he begins to slash at me with a knife. I panic, and I bring my hands up to protect myself, reminiscent of a boxer's block, and as I do so, I send magic through my wand, letting a blast of wind flow out of my wand to blast Luca away.
"Aaagh!" I hear as Luca is sent flying backwards, blasted across the alleyway, skidding to a stop a while away. I had let down my barrier as soon as he got by as it would just be a waste of magic, and now that he was far away again, I brought it back up quickly. If he tried that trick again, I'd realise and do something to stop it. Relatively safe again, I got back up on my feet, trying to get eyes on him, but he had already disappeared. I guess he really is a proper assassin, but maybe just a tad more bloodthirsty and brutal.
Already having a feeling of what was happening, I looked up to see him doing the exact same thing again, flipping upside down and pushing off the underneath of the roof to do the same manoeuvre again. I guess he figured out one way to get past my barrier, and now he's just going to try it again like a one-trick pony. What a stupid bitch. Seeing him coming down to do the same thing, his heel heading for the ground in front of the barrier, I swish my wand and transform the ground in front of me into solid steel, infusing the very idea of power and strength into it and focusing it solely on the area he was heading towards.
The sound when his leg strikes the steel ground is absolutely indescribable, mainly because it is a mixed with the sound of his leg bending the opposite way of the way it is supposed to, his knee crumbling entirely, and blood spurts out as he screams in absolute anguish. It is a cacophony of sound that is grotesque to the ears, and I can't help but cringe at it, feeling quite sick that I was the cause of such a thing, and yet inside of that, there was satisfaction because, at the end of the day, this guy is was trying to kill me, so fuck him.
I do feel pretty good when the mist of red blood clears and settles on the ground, and Luca 'The Tear' Bellini is lying there on the ground, on his back, his lower leg barely attached to his knees, but some stringy pieces of flesh. I try not to look at the disgusting thing, but it is like a car crash. You just can't take your eyes off of it, though while doing so, I noticed that there are actually cracks in the solid steel floor, so kudos to him for that, though it did take the sacrifice of his leg. Well, every cloud, right? Yeah, I don't think he cares about that right now, given the way he is acting right now.
"You fucker! Ahhh! Merda! Porca putanna! Ahh! Cazzo! Cazzo! Aggh!" Yeah, this guy's title is right because he is like an animal. Instead of tears and snot that you expect from someone in that snot, this guy was foaming at the mouth, raging with his eyes bloodshot and full of fury. I'm not kidding; there is literal foam in his mouth, though it is red and frothy. I'm guessing he's coughing up a bit of blood that's mixed with saliva, and his screams are doing a good jump of mixing and stirring it to create the foam. That's actually disgusting, but hey, I won, so let's focus on gloating to really ruin this guy's last few moments of life.
"Hey, sorry to interrupt, but... weren't you going to kill me or something?" I grin at him, and my grin becomes even wider when he glares at me even more and starts to spout a river of Italian that I can't actually understand since he's going so fast, but it pleases me nonetheless. "I could have sworn you were going to rip me to pieces, right? Because that's what you do, and that's why you are called 'the tear', right? They should call you 'the cry' because you are wailing like a little bitch right now." I finish laughing, and then I blink as something flies towards me. Thankfully, I am not idiotic enough to let my guard down, even whilst gloating.
My barrier was still up, so the thing thrown was deflected to the side, but whatever it was was still thrown at such immense speed that I couldn't see what it was, and I couldn't see where it went. I spent a moment looking around for it before spotting something to the side, stuck in the brick wall. Looking at it, I saw it was a small knife, I think it was, more specifically, a throwing knife. Right, assassin; of course, he has loads of knives and definitely throwing ones. Good thing I didn't let down my guard, and I've had my fun, so I should probably just end this now before he figures out how to actually kill me.
"Nice try, buddy, but it ain't gonna... work." He's gone. I looked back to where the clearly defeated beast was before, and now there was nothing there anymore except a pool of blood and fleshy bits of person. Wait, actually, that's a leg. Wow, that guy cut off his own leg because it would just slow him down, and then he disappeared. He really is one scary motherfucker. I just assumed he wasn't the silent type of assassin, given the way he was attacking me, but I guess he was just doing that so he could have fun, but he is very clearly capable of serious stealth and assassination, and now he is out there, with a definite grudge.
...I might just have shot myself in the foot with this one, but at least he's down a leg, so it shouldn't be too difficult to kick him to the curb if he comes back, and then curb stomp and kill him to make sure he doesn't come back again. A series of coughs behind me reminds me that there is also someone else present, and I quickly turn around and move over to the old man, but I do keep my barrier up just in case Luca is still around and waiting for an opportunity to strike.
"Oh wow, um... I don't actually know your name. But there is a knife sticking out of you, old man." I say to him as I kneel beside him and take in his situation. There is a knife in his chest, not in his heart, but close enough that I am sure something crucial has been severed, especially given how much blood is colouring that cobbled stone beneath him. Even if I tried to save him, I don't have enough blood-replenishing potions on me to save his life, he's lost too much lifeblood, and while there is a little niggling thought in my mind about using the Gemino charm to duplicate his existing blood, I think that would just make him explode or something. This old guy is done for.
"I know, Mr Lockhart. My time was already coming to an end, for my purpose was at an end." He coughs up a bit of blood here, but just ignores it and continues on. "I have safeguarded the Lunar Heart for centuries, as my forefathers have done, keeping it out of reach from those who would use it for evil. From The D'Arcana, from Lucian D'Arcana. But they refused to give up, searching for centuries without rest, even without clues to its location. And after countless years scouring the entirety of Italy, they have closed in on it." He reaches out and grasps my hand, staining it with his blood.
"It's too late now. The Lunar Heart is connected to them, and Lucian D'Arcana can sense it now that he is close; soon, all will be lost. Once it is in his hands, he will be unstoppable and all-powerful, and that is on top of the immortality he enjoys as the head vampire. The entire world will crumble under his cruel hand, and a new dark age will commence full of suffering and despair." Well, that doesn't sound good, does it? I live on this planet, and I'd rather avoid suffering and despair.
"Yeah, that is a future I do not want to see. But what the hell am I supposed to do about it? Take on a whole clan of these vampires and kill them all? Because while my stories do paint me in a good light, I'm afraid to say I'm not infallible or invincible." I make my point very clear. I was fine fighting against them and everything before when I thought I was an unknown element, but they clearly have eyes on me, and the big boss is close to being the biggest bad there ever was. I don't have the element of surprise anymore, and quite a lot of my bite is gone with that.
The old man chuckles whilst shucking up more blood. "You must get to it first and destroy it before they can get it. I was planning to go do it myself, but I can no longer make the journey. You won't have to fight them all; you just have to outpace them and get to the Lunar Heart first, and once it is destroyed, you can disappear, and Italy can return to normal." He lets go of my hand and reaches into his robe with difficulty before pulling out a leather-bound book, which he then shoves into my hand.
"Take this, it has everything you need to know. About the D'Arcana, about Italy and about the Lunar Heart. It will help you on the journey to the heart, and it will help you avoid and fight the D'Arcana if you have to. Now go quickly; they will be here soon. I wish you luck, my friend." He smiles at me as he lets go of the book, his arm listless as it drops against the floor. "Wait, hold on a moment, I'm going to need more information than that, way more than that in fact. Where's the heart? What weaknesses does the D'Arcana have, and is there anybody who can help me out here?" I ask, and yet I receive no answer.
I look down at his smiling face, with his eyes closed, and I realise that he has passed on and his time on this earth is over. The man was dead. "Well, a lot of fucking help you were," I say as I get up off my knees and stand tall, looking down at the book in my hand. I really don't want to live in a world ruled by an immortal vampire capable of controlling the tides, possibly the moon and also possibly magic itself. Yeah, I have to do something about this because there is no one else here who can help.
Tucking the book away in my robes, I quickly leave the scene to find a safe place to rest, I can check out the book later. I quickly move back the way I came, all the while setting up my stealth charms, and then I go back to the library. Once inside, I made sure to gather the things I had left, clean up any traces that I had left, and then quickly obliviate the people in the library that remembered me, and then I left. I take a completely different route that I had never used before back to the hotel and I breathe a sigh of relief once I am in the safety of my room.
And then I think about it, am I safe in my room? Am I safe at all whilst in the lands of Italy? No, no, I am not safe. I quickly gather my things and shrink everything back into my luggage, which I shrink and pocket before heading out to find somewhere safe.
I don't think I will.
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What's up? Sorry for the long Hiatus, I'm gonna try and update more, and start my stories back up.
Upcoming Chapters:
Hero: Chapter 115- Horrible History.
Super: Chapter 117-A Meeting Beneath The Streets.
Legendary: Chapter 119- The Next Leader.
Galactic: Chapter 123- The Red-Headed Gophers.
Mythic: Chapter 125- [R-18] Hex on The Beach.
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That is all for now. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I will see you in the next one!
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