Alexander flinched as an intense flood of mana ravaged his senses. Like a cold plunge into a mountain stream with pressure like a roaring waterfall.
With Lunaris's Artificial intelligence, back online from Upgrading, Alexander had perfect control of his body in certain aspects even Buddhist monks would envy.
The nanites Lunaris managed as their collective consciousness, allowed a greater connection to his mind and body that he could never have had without Lunaris. An ultimate predator with unmatched human reflexes.
Alexanders' enhanced eyesight, thanks to the nanite augments, scanned the vampire for weaknesses and strengths. Compared to the data of the strongest person he had ever fought, the great Goblin and goblin Shaman.
The Vampires seemed to be a high ranked D, far too advanced for Alexander to over come and take on his own. So he looked to Geralt to be his sword to take on Lazzio's strength.
"I need to rely on your help Geralt. Lets finish this trash and celebrate, O'Hana style."
"You dared to call Me filthy. Allow me to bring you to my level then, Curr. Maybe, breaking your bones will show you the difference in power and class!" Lazzio's body mutated and stretched. His skin grew taunt over the dense muscle as his skeleton shifted and hair fell out. His body morphed to be something not human, with is finger tips sharpening to a needle point and his head becaming bat like.
Lazzio had become a true monster, opening his mouth revealing a valley of teeth sharp as blades and roaring a wet and vicious growl as his transformation into a lesser vampire was completed.
Geralt stood firm before Alexander. His large frame was a much needed buffer for the intense red wind swirling around and hitting Alexander from Lazzio's transformation. "A flashy show indeed. Much like a match right before it fizzles out. Do you agree Delta? Teach this creature some manners."
The soldiers that until now neither moved nor flinched from around the library, nodded. Drawing their swords at Geralts command they lept to attack. Their black tech armor gleamed when they released their weapons. The swords shined bright like silver rays of moonlight as they attacked with a skilled ferocity.
The glowing light caused the creatures' face to pale. Fear and confusion on Lazzio's face made one think the blades meant his death.
Alexander watched as the warriors that served him breakfast most every morning cut Lazzios' chest open in a vertical right slash from the ground, landing behind it, ready to strike again.
The muscle and skin around Lazzio's chest wound sizzled under the blades aura, causing noticeable damage. The power of the blade somehow could cut the aura of other beings. Something Alexander had never heard of and would not believe unless he had saw it himself.
Lazzio held his chest as the wound slowly closed, healing with his vampire healing. He clicked his tongue in disappointment, not reeling at all from the attack. "You really had me going there. I was nearly frightened by a bunch of mortals. What would my master have thought of me if I had actully lost."
Lazzio's foot kicked off with speeds as fast as a jet at the nearest of Geralts underlings with suprising force. His speed took the guard by suprise knocking her off balance and into his hands.
Using that moument of suprise to throw her into the three others that tried to free her from his embrace. The force of collision caused the bookshelves they crashed into to callapsed.
"Pathetic!" Lazzio laughed, clawing at another armored male behind him. To his surprise, the man blocked his attacks skillfully. The blade chipped away at his elongated fingernail tips as if infused with mana and honed for weeks.
"You're different than the others it seems. Deployed all your best for, little Ole me? Let me hear you scream and savor your friends despair. Ill save the femal for last."
The man from Alexanders memory was named Bjorn. Bjorn raised his longsword steadily to counter any attacks. A warrior focused solely on the battle, readying himself.
Lazzio struck downward, his left hand aiming for Bjorns shoulder. Bjorn flicked his sword upwards with little notice, parrying the creatures strong attack. His tall and muscular frame moving as if it was natural. No hesitation in his movement nor was there any mercy.
Lazzio stumbled slightly, going for another attack with his other hand.The man ducked under the attack by a hair but got a huge cut at the creatures legs that remained human-like in its monstrous form. The strike wounded Lazzio deeply both mentally and physically as his vampire defense broke so easily.
The other members of Delta joined in after recovering from the previous attack. In synce with the others, the quatro of skilled Delta attack squad cut off Lazzio's arms and shredded his chest. Clean cuts and barely any blood spilled thanks to the vampires healing abilities.
Lazzio's vampire form gave him great vitality, was great but he still struggled under the attack of the silver blades burning him from the inside while wearing down his stamina and aura. No matter how many times he healed if he had no more energy to move.
"How can you defend this human so savagely, Lost ones!? You all are the real monsters here, attacking your own kind. Using powers that once allied with the night!" Lazzio heavily coughed. His struggling became less and less against the bladed prison. Unable to lift his hands or neck, his legs trembled to hold his weight, making him kneel from effort as they tried to heal from constant hacking.
"And the worst of all, You. You stand there.. like.. some noblesse, Lord or King. King of what, traitors? Haha! You are no wolf defending his cubs. No, you're just a collard mutt on a leash. Fat on the scraps of your Akamai masters!" Lazzio splurted out as the shadow armored Delta squad stood back and presented their capture to their master.
Geralt smirked walking in front of Lazzio's fearful face "You are right, I am just an old mutt. I happened to have been a mutt my whole life. Since birth I was drowned in superstition and a fate I had wish to never see. So I will not kill you, you have my word. A collard pet should not kill another." His words confused the vampire even more as it was still weakening from deltas attack.
Alexander walked forward to stand in front of Lazzio. A dark and grave face looked down on the cowering vampir. No pity washed over his mind, and no mercy invaded his heart to spare him. His mind was clear along with his body, he was the deliverer of this creatures death, with deaths blessing.
Alexander was bursting with mana thanks to Lazzio's large and wild aura. Absorbing anothers mana was poisonous to creatures as it would eat at the foreign container, ie the host. The host would die slowly from whithin with severe mana sickness from the rejection unless it was somehow refined into pure mana.
Alexanders' nanites devoured the aura guarding Lazzio from attack hungrily. They worked quickly to refine the foreign mana like any other material they collect. With the aura being so thick in the atmosphere, it was easy for the nanites to gather large amounts an begin processing.
The process was like a sand grinder, taking the foreign mana and refining it through thousands of bodys. The final finaly ending inside his core.
Alexander used Synergy for the last time today, nearly bursting his core in the process of absorbing the vampires mana that exuded from his aura. He placed his hands, filled with darkness on Lazzio's head. Silver veins appeared branching from his hands through Lazzio's body.
"What are you...gaaahhh! Stop."
Nanites swarmed through Lazzio's assumed invulnerable body like a viral infection on drugs. The nanite warriors devoured every cell as they made their way through his body like a swarm.
Alexander thought this was the most optimal ending as it was painless yet excruciating thing he could do.
Alexander had the nanites absorb Lazzio's mana directly from his red core, turning it into fuel for their host and replication. It took a great deal of materials to keep the gears working, the better quality materials the better outpour of nanites that could be produced.
With the nanites new upgrades, they had become more streamlined. Instead of the gloop like substance, they now resembled tiny silver constructs similiar to nats.
The Nats, which were hundreds of nanites connected together like a carrier drone, Alexander thought would be very useful to watch over the house.
Lazzios body dissapated Into a fine powder when he died. Ironically the cause of death was drained of mana and nutrients.
The nanites returned to Alexander making him fell rejuvenated and full of energy. His nanites had upgraded themselves again. With every upgrade, Alexander felt his control of them get easier.
"This always feels different each time the upgrade. Im certainly not one to look a gift vampire in the mouth.
He turned to explain to Geralt who was talking to his subordinates, but Geralt declined stating he also had secrets, and that if he wished what happened to be kept a secret, it was safe with him.
They discussed that he should expect a visit from Elder Kelani, as he heard about this and wanted to see him personally to apologize.
Before Geralt left he had some advice to give Alexander, "Don't let that power you have consume you. The look on your face, I've seen it many times from others who have lost their way. The hunger can take anyone if you do not learn to control yourself. I've seen darkness spells do similar things. Be safe, master Mortem and Good job today."
Alexander nodded and said his goodbyes as they got into the dark SUV's.
The Children soon went to sleep thanks to some calming magic Geralt used so Alexander had the lower rooms all to himself.
Standing alone in the dark hallway, Alexander thought about going to sleep but couldn't. The formations Geralt and his team placed around the library to keep the noise from escaping were still up, and he had an idea. He would use all the energy accumulating inside of him, and still lingering from the ashes of Lazzio, to try and expand his core.
'Better now, than never. Just breathe in and out like in training. I feel the movements of mana in the air. The harsh Vampier aura and its blood lust. I feel the swift Wind mana and warm Fire mana from the hearth. I am absorbing them... I am them."
Mana rose around Alexander, waxing and waning for hours as he sat in the library.
His aura exuded strongly until a stinging pain racked his body as his core reached its maximum load.
Searing pain shot through him like lava pouring down his mouth, flaring into his core as it circulated more and more mana. He could stop and end the pain, but his mind was set and an invisible force nudged him forward. All He could this was over coming this pain.
Lunaris assisted with soofthing thoughts that brung him back from the edges. He felt he was strong enough to protect his family at any price.
His Core broke and twisted needing more mana to create more space to hold more man. It expanded its inside to be biger than its outside.
The mana circuits that would naturaly spread out further from his Cores larger volume now wove together like circuits, forming a perfect grid to help his mana circulate evenly and optimal.
The nanites reacted to the sudden change of environment naturally. They began latching onto the new pathways and strengthening them by refining and adjusting them before they hardened.
The result was a network of mana pathways coated in nanites, optimized to Alexander's body. His core was larger than ever and his body felt lighter and easier to control.
Soon after the power up a sudden change began. With more dense mana coursing through his body, a dark substance that solidified in his very being began to crack and disperse.
From every orifice a black substance spewed out of Alexander with every pulse of his new larger Core. The pressurized keg that was his Mana system stabilizing over flowed like a boiling pot which had no room for impurities.
Alexanders' body contorted with the pressure on its own, violent shivers racked through him reshaping his body into a more perfect Hunter.
Alexanders body poured out the dense black oozy flith to quickly with all thw stress he had shouldered the past week had finaly gotten to him. His mind slipped off to unconsciousness as darkness engulfed his body and sight.
"Sleep, childe."
Later that morning..
"Alexander! Wake up. Curse the Gods! What's that smell?" Quin nearly gagged. He had come down stairs to see about the terrible smell fumigating the house was. His search ended with his brother in a pool of black stinking goo. Using basic darkness magic to clean up without getting to close or having it touch him was its own solace.
"Is he still alive? Did the vampires come back?" Seraphina asked. "The smell seems to be fading with some help from these bargain bin incense. I knew I would need them sooner rather than later."
"I wonder if well have to put him under observation? I've seen these shows before and they usally have to pull the plug," Gray pointed out.
Kelani had arrived and the children asked for advice. He looked at Alexander with a small bit of pride. He had seen such conditions many times during his reign as first elder. A student who ranked up in such a short time after achieving a Core was something only prodigys could achieve.
"No, little one. This is a cause to celebrate. Your brother has gone beyond his limit and reached the next plateau as a hunter. His mana has solidifiedinto another, larger, Core. In such a short time training I am glad I was the one to find this pearl in the mud."
Alexander felt a sharp poke to his arm and ribs. Murmuring as he tried to ignore it in his sleep, "Stawp, five more minutes."
A moment of respite appeared for Alexander, filling him with comfort and calm. When a torrent of cold water doused his head. His calm quickly rescinded.
"Wakey, Wakey!"