With every clash of their fists, a booming sound erupts, sending air blasting backward like the fierce winds of a hurricane.
Every blow causes the entire room to shake, with each step, the floor cracks beneath them.
The fight seemed to be evenly matched, with both sides trading blows relentlessly, neither giving ground.
However, there was a mishap, or rather, the truth soon revealed itself.
The fight had never been on even ground to begin with. It was a one sided beat down.
After the very first connection between their fists, Cassiel's arm completely shattered. Each blow given then after only broke down Cassiel's body more and more.
Finally, after exchanging almost forty blows, Albus completely breaks through, blowing Cassiel back by meters, making him fall on his back.
On the ground, already battered from his fight between the trio from before, and now Albus, Cassiel began breathing heavily.
There was nothing he could do.
If he had only used his full power during the initial spar, this wouldn't be happening now.
With each step Albus took, the ground cracked beneath him.
The pressure surrounding his body was immense, despite not having ever learnt magic, Albus was letting so much mana out, most mages would spend their life training to gain the amount.
The mana output was so strong, Cassiel had begun to choke up in his weakened state.
As Cassiel lays out on the ground, Albus finally stops walking forward, standing before Cassiel.
Still unconscious and not in control of his body, he cocks his arm back, preparing himself to give Cassiel the final blow, one held with a high killing intent.
'This is bad... At this rate, I'll have to kill Albus so I can live, but losing a loyal warrior with a true sanguine soul...'
Moments before Albus' fist makes impact, someone grabs him from behind by the shoulder, causing Albus to shake as he tries his hardest to make his attack connect.
"Cassiel, boy, this isn't a good look on you, y'know?" Jenk, Cassiel's previous mentor, says, appearing from behind Albus.
"What the hell are you doing here old man?" Cassiel responds in spite.
"I'm here to save your sorry ass, now lose the attitude before I cut your tongue out, boy." Jenk responds, fed up with Cassiel's attitude.
Cassiel stares at Jenk for a couple seconds, before looking away and mumbling something under his breath.
Jenk then sighs, pulling Albus back with so much force, he flies into the wall behind them, cracking it as he falls onto the ground.
"Get up, boy." Jenk demands.
"Yeah yeah, whatever." Cassiel sighs, standing up, only to fall back down.
"Ha, some warrior you are." Jenk mocks, laughing at Cassiel.
Cassiel's face darkens, angry with himself for being unable to do much of anything.
"Worry about yourself, old man." Cassiel says, his eyes looking behind Jenk.
Within a quick moment, Jenk turns, swinging his fist backwards with him, using the momentum as it connects with Albus' face, sending him flying into another wall.
"What's with him? You piss em off?" Jenk asks, confused.
Cassiel laughs.
"Albus, that vampire, he is who holds a true sanguine soul within his body." Cassiel proclaims.
"You've got to be kidding, this is going to be quite the hassle then..." Jenk groans, grabbing his sheathe.
"I'll finish this in one swing."
Jenk then walks towards Albus as he stands from the rubble, his bones crackling as his eyes lock onto Jenk once more.
Letting out a loud roar of anger, Albus dashes forward again, charging at Jenk head on.
Jenk stood calmly, readying his sheathed blade in front of him, before shifting it into a stabbing stance.
"Sleep well, young warrior." Jenk said. In a flash, his blade switched to a slicing motion as he swung horizontally, cutting straight across Albus' chest.
The strike sent Albus slamming back into the wall. This time, he didn't get back up.
"Cassiel... I'll join the war." Jenk says, walking past Cassiel and out the room.
"Damn that old man... always so smug..." Cassiel coughs up blood, smiling.
…..
…..
One week has passed since the first training session.
Since the discovery of Albus' "blessing", Jenk has been personally training him back at his house, using the huge open field to train him to his fullest.
Cassiel has been sparring with Kislev and Elysia for the last five days, after Cassiel's recovery.
Both Kislev and Elysia have grown much stronger at a rapid pace, making Cassiel summon his sword to fight back on the regular.
Cassiel's inner mana pool has increased almost twofold with his constant meditation, as his combat prowess has also been slowly coming back to him.
With everything together, Cassiel's overall recovered strength is at thirty five percent, Kislev and Elysia have grown in strength by a quarter, and Albus' true strength is still unknown to all but Jenk.
…..
…..
As the sun comes up for another day, Cassiel stands up from the side of his bed, getting out of his meditation position, to get dressed.
Today was going to be huge.
Since the recovery of Ananchel, multiple scouting missions had taken place.
Several cities have been discovered to be completely safe, devoid of any humans, and with them covering and spanning across the middle of the continent, it's been safe to assume that all cities beyond them are safe as well.
Many scouting parties had gone missing while attempting to gather intel on the west coast side of the continent, however, one party had made it back safely, letting it be known that a human fortress had been set up, housing multiple human warriors from royal families.
With cities being rebuilt and lands being replenished throughout Rampiel, a stable communication system now spanned the continent. Any human raids would be detected days before contact.
Today was one of those days.
A massive human raid had been spotted moving towards Altanisar days earlier.
It's suspected that they're after the strange healing phenomenon that the city is known for.
The raid consists of knights numbered in the thousands, multiple captains, and two generals leading the charge.
One of said generals is one of the strongest warriors across both continents, the warlord of Solstice himself, Rael Hael.