The laugh started slow and rough, then rose into something delighted and unhinged. He rolled his shoulders and pushed off the tree.
"Oh, this is fun," Damon said, eyes darkening. "You are fast, but I'm even faster."
Theo's heart sank.
[QUEST UPDATE: DAMON SALVATORE IS AMUSED]
"Great," Theo muttered. "That's the worst possible update."
Damon vanished.
This time, Theo felt it coming.
The mist surged. pressure shifting like a warning bell. Theo pivoted just as Damon reappeared behind him, hand aimed for his spine.
Theo dropped low, swept Damon's legs, and followed up with an elbow that caught Damon under the jaw.
Damon staggered, surprised, but this time his hand shot forward and caught Theo's wrist mid strike.
The vampire leaned in close, breath cold, eyes burning.
"You're strong," Damon said softly. "Fast too. But you hesitate." His grip tightened, bones creaking. "That'll get you killed."
Theo met his gaze, teeth clenched, blue light flaring brighter than before.
"Funny," he said. "I was about to say the same thing."
Blue light exploded from Theo's body like a pulse of a newborn star. Not bright enough to blind the forest, but bright enough to make the vampire recoil. Damon's grip faltered for a fraction of a second. That fraction was all Theo needed.
Theo twisted his wrist inward instead of pulling back. Bone popped. Damon's fingers bent at an angle they were not designed to endure.
"You learn fast," Damon muttered, more impressed than angry.
Theo drove his knee upward. The blow landed, clipping Damon's hip as he tried to blur away, which resulted in him skidding across damp leaves.
Theo didn't chase after the vampire.
He didn't need to.
Instead, he breathed in and out.
The world felt thinner now, like a veil he could almost pull back. The mist wasn't obeying Damon. It was reacting to something else. Someone watching.
[UNKNOWN BEING: OBSERVING]
[PROBABILITY OF INTERVENTION: RISING]
"Don't you dare," Theo hissed under his breath, unsure and scared of what the [UNKNOWN BEING] is planning.
Damon rose slowly, brushing off his jacket with exaggerated calm. His eyes are no longer playful. They were predatory. Focused.
"You're not a witch," Damon said, eyes narrowing. "Not a vampire. Not a werewolf."
His gaze lingered on the fading glow beneath Theo's skin. "You're something put together wrong."
Theo let out a small, tight smile. "I call it an upgrade."
Damon didn't joke back.
He lunged.
No warning.
Just speed.
Theo moved at the same time, but instead of backing away, he stepped forward.
The impact thundered.
Theo caught Damon's arm mid-swing, twisted sharply, and turned with the motion. Damon's own momentum ripped him off balance.
The next second, Damon hit the ground hard, the earth cracking beneath him. Before Damon could recover, Theo planted his palm against the vampire's sternum.
Blue light surged.
Not outward.
Inward.
Damon's eyes widened.
For the first time in a long time...
The energy surged through Damon's body like liquid lightning. Not burning or freezing. Rewriting. His regeneration stuttered, skin flickering between healed and damaged in rapid pulses.
"What...did you do?" Damon growled, straining.
"I don't know!" he snapped honestly.
[SKILL UNLOCKED: TEMPORAL DISRUPTION LV.1]
[DESCRIPTION: Interferes with biological regeneration through unstable electrical injection]
[DURATION: 4 SECONDS]
"Four seconds?" Theo barked. "That's it?!"
Damon's hand shot up and grabbed Theo by the collar, fangs descending. "Then I guess you'd better make them count," he said.
Theo reacted on pure instinct and leaned forward instead of away. He delivered a headbutt against the vampire, shattering his nose. Theo used that second to slam his glowing palm harder into his sternum.
Damon's body spasmed, regeneration failing to engage the energy emanating from Theo's palm fully.
Theo was thrown backward like he'd touched a live power line. He hit the ground hard, vision spinning, ears ringing.
Silence followed, leaves drifting lazily across the forest. Damon still lay in a crater. Theo forced himself onto his elbows, lungs burning.
"Please tell me he's...unconscious," he muttered.
A cough echoed from the crater, followed by rough and genuine laughter. Damon rolled onto his side, wiping the blood from his face as his bones started to knit back together.
"That," Damon said hoarsely, pushing himself up, "was the most fun I've had in decades."
Theo stared in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me."
Damon's eyes lifted to him slowly. Not mocking now.
Interested.
"Kid," he said quietly, "you're not prey."
Theo felt his muscles tense, waiting for an attack from the veteran.
But...
That attack never came; instead, the veteran vanished and threw an arm around the boy's shoulder and proclaimed in a loud voice.
"Let's be friends, kiddo," he said, shocking Theo with his actions.
"Friend...?" Theo repeated in disbelief, confused why one of the main protagonists would want to befriend him. As not to give the vampire the thought of him being rude by ignoring him.
"Sure..." Theo answered hesitantly, relaxing his muscles slightly but not entirely to be caught off guard. The mist surrounding them thickened and vanished along with Damon as if he wasn't there and just a hallucination of Theo's mind. Moments later, the system echoed into his ear.
[QUEST COMPLETE: DEFEAT DAMON SALVATORE]
[REWARD: 120 EXP, 3% ON CURRENT TEMPLATE]
What happened next could only be described as euphoric. The feeling of a power surge felt great. Theo could only imagine what would happen if he received the rest of the remaining power all at once; he'd probably go insane.
Whispering to himself, Theo called out to the system, "Status".
[NAME: THEO *****]
[LINEAGE: NONE]
[TITLE: ANOMALY]
[TEMPLATE: MCU THOR - 4.5%]
[LEVEL: 2]
[EXP: 35/150]
[HP: 65/100]
[MP: 20/50]
[STR: 5]
[VIT: 3}
[AGI: 5]
[PER: 4]
[SP: 3]
"Nice, I leveled up and made significant progress on the template," he said, noticing he lost 35 points of HP and 20 points of MP during his fight against Damon.
'System allocates 2 skill points into vitality and 1 into agility'. He thought as he limped towards a nearby tree to lean on it after the fight with Damon.
Looking up into the sky, Theo noticed that the moon hadn't even risen yet, telling him that the party was at least an hour away.