Blood and Qi: A Vampire Xianxia LitRPG

After some thought, John was ready to answer the question about the largest obstacles of a body cultivator.

“Preceptor Muzaran, I believe having manifestations unbound is the greatest obstacle. Other obstacles would be the need to learn weaponry. Everyone needs armor, I’m guessing, so that isn’t specific. Everyone needs defense and [Fortification]. Everyone needs powerful manifestations. Body enhancements help everyone, so probably weapon enhancements. Uh…”

Preceptor Muzaran laughed again. “Let me stop you there. Your view is skewed from fighting above your tier. Having manifestations unbound isn’t usually a major issue for body cultivators. Protecting against having them unbound goes along with our need to learn weapons or hand-to-hand techniques.

“Prowess and what you call [Fortifications] increase with tier starting at Bronze, so most cultivators focus on more powerful manifestations, relying on armor and essence-shields for defense. The main issue is unbinding. Stopping opponents that focus on damaging manifestations from casting them. Most of our opponents focus on the power and size of their core. Denying them their advantage is our best path to victory.”

The demon’s face became serious, and he stopped talking for a moment. “I think the best way to quickly explain [Auras] would be to say they enhance some aspect of yourself within a certain radius. They’re usually grouped as defensive, control, benefit, damage, negative, or zone [Auras]. Mine is a control [Aura] and helps me unbind manifestations. Only within a certain radius of me, of course. As I said, unbinding the manifestation of others is our best path to victory.

“I explained all this so you can see how important planning ahead is. And knowledge. Having knowledgeable preceptors on hand at all hours that will foster you and guide you into the true monster you could be. You’re flailing around now, blind, with only a computer in your head to guide you.

“And that computer wants to guide you poorly. It thinks fast advancement means safety. It doesn’t. Being in the Nether is safety. Advancing correctly and slowly and deliberately is safety.”

Muzaran squeezed John’s shoulder again. “How much have you learned in the few moments we’ve talked?”

Before John could reply, the demon bent lower and peered into John’s eyes. “Listen, even with the War Academy backing Circle Xakariz there’s still a time limit we face with the g’athu. We know the deal Ukaraaz offered you. We extend the same deal but agree with your stipulation. The Natural will be safe. He didn’t know better. The Natural will be accepted into the War Academy too.

“You know Naturals don’t form in the NetherRealms? The Grand Head thinks there’s a reason Naturals never ascend to the next Tree. He’d like to test it, and we’re always up for tweaking the nose of the Favored.

“Before you answer, think it through. With the War Academy backing Circle Xakariz, we will conquer your world. As long as we can handle the g’athu in time. It’s us or the g’athu. Believe me, you don’t want them to win. We’re saints compared to those fiends. You’re coming with me either way. The only question is whether your world burns or not.”

John disliked how the question was phrased, but he knew it was important and put a lot of thought into it. If he accepted, he believed he’d be okay. It sounded like Amber would be okay too. If they wanted him, they’d probably want his wife, so she’d be okay. At best, Hubaba would be a scab again, but he would most likely be killed as a traitor.

At best, if they were lucky, most humans would be treated as scabs were.

The demons could claim scabs weren’t slaves all they wanted. John had seen many different types of slavery, from slaves treated lower than animals, to slavery being the default position most people of a region were born into and so common the word slave basically meant peasant. Scabs weren’t treated lower than animals, but they were denied a say and any decisions made in their own life, denied honor and pride, and denied a name.

Questions of the fate of humans aside, for John, the last part of Muzaran’s ‘offer’ was his sticking point. It was always, ‘do as we say, or else,’ and nothing bothered him quite like it.

John said, “You know, Preceptor Muzaran, when Captain Ukaraaz made his offer, he thought my choices were to join or have my world burn. He was wrong. And now he’s dead.”

John saw anger enter the demon’s eyes. “He was a yokel. I can bind you down, sap you, and throw you through the portal anytime I want. I should kill you just for comparing me to such a yokel. Look, the only reason why we’re doing this, why we’re helping a yokel circle, is you. My academy was promised you, and we’ll have you. That’s forgone. It will be much better if you come of your own accord. Your world will join the Forsaken under the protection of both Circle Xakariz and my academy.”

John grunted. He asked, “Or?”

The demon laughed. “Or your world burns. You’re property of my academy. Things have changed. I don’t think you visited Eisu, the only city near Circle Xakariz on Esau. We pressed them into service. We have endless amounts of Woods through Golds to send through our portals. Your world is doomed unless you agree to join us willingly. Stop being a fool. There’s only one way for you to win, and that’s by saying yes. We win either way. There’s only one way for you to win too. Accept my offer willingly.”

It was John’s turn to laugh. He tried to slice the demon’s thigh as he sent vital essence to enhance his speed and strength. The odd fire slammed into John’s sword arm, sending the cut off course. Muzaran roared and stepped back, batting John’s recorrected attack aside.

John swept a blow in with his shield as he infused essence into it, and the odd fire snaked around his arms and torso, immobilizing him. He could feel the fire sapping him, making him slower and weaker.

Muzaran unhurriedly cast two enhancement type manifestations on himself, increasing his own prowess further.

As John struggled to free himself of the bind, the rope of fire bound him tighter, and Muzaran sighed. “This is foolishness. I could have your head right now. In a test of blades without manifestations you scored a hit against me. I can shut down all your manifestations. You can’t be stupid enough to think you could stand against me in a real fight.”

John wanted to say that wasn’t true. In their last duel Muzaran used enhancements. He kept quiet and attained the state he called his battle-mind. A few moments after, he broke free of the odd fire holding him and thrust his sword forward as an answer. The demon caught it on his own blade, turning the thrust aside.

Flame bathed John’s face, burning him and nearly knocked him off his feet as it pushed him backwards. He lost the use of his eyes.

Muzaran angrily demanded, “How did you release yourself from my bind?”

John dashed forward and swung his sword, his orb-eye and senses allowed him to see all he needed too.

Demon and vampire fought. John was denied the use of any manifestation besides his ability to enhance himself with vital essence and infuse his shield and Fireblade. The demon used all his own manifestations freely.

As the fight progressed, it became easier and easier for John to break free of the odd fire when it bound him.

The two combatants danced a beautiful dance of death that exulted John to a degree he hadn’t felt since battling his old master, Ahn. For thousands and thousands of years he hadn’t been pushed so hard and so gloriously, fighting a true and worthy opponent in single combat.

The two blades, shield, and odd fire made mad streaks of differently colored lights as the two fought furiously and frantically.

John wondered how useful the knowledge of blade energy he was taught was, as the demon never used it during their fight. John knew it would take far too long for him to complete the necessary steps to utilize it himself. At least without much more practice.

Parry, block, counter, reset. With the Gold utilizing manifestations, the two were evenly matched, and it alighted John’s heart. He reveled in the battle and was gladdened. As his eyes recovered, he kept them closed. He didn’t need them.

John was able to use an old trick to finally slide past his opponent’s guard and remove the essence-shield surrounding the demon, though he was only able to score a small slice on the return as a new essence-shield went up.

Just that small slice was enough to turn the fight, and John was able to press the demon and remove the essence-shield again and score two new slices on the next two passes. He knew he had the fight won and could predict and avoid the majority of the blasts of fire aimed at him, and quickly shrug off the fire when it bound him. His victory was just a matter of time.

As soon as John had that thought it felt as if something inside his chest was crushed and he coughed up blood. A lot of blood. A notification flashed in his vision stating [Emergency Heal] was on cooldown for twenty-two hours and some minutes. He dropped his enhancements and sent vital essence to heal as he went to parry, but Muzaran held his strike and turned towards the portal with a look of disgust and contempt on his face.

Then, John was frozen. As too was Muzaran. John looked around with his orb-eye and saw an unmoving, giant hand poking through the portal. The hand was drawn through the portal along with the giant body of a robed demon with goat horns. The demon was held in the air, frozen too.

John was certain the suspended demon was a Diamond, as it had the same feel and was the same size as Garioch. A bizarre voice reverberated around John, but softly, unlike when Magnus Gar’tar spoke so.

[The bargain I made with your circle was for three Golds at any one time. Earlier, there were four Golds on Terra for over six minutes. Three times now a Diamond has poked through the portal. Did your betters think they found a loophole, or do they think I am stupid? It ends now. If it happens again, I will lay waste to Circle Xakariz. Am I understood?]

The Diamond was unfrozen and allowed to move. He kowtowed while still hovering in the air and said, “Mighty Sublime, this one apologizes. This one understood the bargain to mean none higher than the three allowed Golds could come through the portals. This one didn’t come through.”

The tongue of the Diamond stretched a great distance out of his mouth until it snapped off, shrinking as it hung suspended in the air. The rest of the Diamond was turned into many tiny pieces, like dust, that slowly fell to the ground as the three crystals the Diamond dropped disappeared before hitting the ground.

John was certain it was only in his head but seeing the Diamond die seemed to make the pain and burning in his chest feel a little better.

[Gold, go give your betters the tongue of this Diamond and repeat to them my warning. No lies and excuses. If it happens again there will be no more Circle Xakariz.]

Muzaran fell to his knees and kowtowed, “Oh, mighty Sublime, this one does not hesitate to follow your commands, but this one controls the portal anchor and can’t pass it to a Silver. The portal will close once this one enters. This one believes your Divine essence infused this very anchor. Is that your desire?”

[No. Send a Silver with the tongue and message.]

“Mighty Sublime, may this one ask for clarification if the restriction of three Golds only applies to demons and g’athu? Or all races?”

[Does your circle plan on sending Forsaken sects now? I discussed this with Inner-Circle Master Ith'tas. Is he pretending he didn’t understand the agreed upon terms?]

“No, mighty Sublime. There’s a Gold scab on this planet. Will he be punished or sent back?”

[No. He allied with the terrans. He can ascend to Platinum and it would be fine. The same as with terrans.]

“Sorry, mighty Sublime, please allow this one another point of clarification. The terran there, Copper John, has the [Ptagmog] [Title]. If he ascends to Silver, would that count against our allowed number of Silvers?”

[No. Same with the scab that is of the ptagmog. Terrans can advance as fast and as far as they can with no limit. Your betters already know this. Or should. I’ve had enough of being questioned by one so low. Do as I ordered.]

As Preceptor Muzaran snapped out orders the ground near John started to glow a yellowish color. The yellowish color grew and touched Stretch and started to grow towards John when he felt something unspeakable appear near him. The yellowish glow completely vanished.

[The energy Eternal is near you. You probably feel something. I think you would die if it touched you. I will let you free so you can move away.]

John knew the Sublime talked only to him somehow. Having his freedom back allowed him to cough up blood and rub his burning chest. “I’m sorry, Sublime, but I came here to save Stretch. Does the Eternal mean harm to him?”

[If the Eternal wanted it dead, it wouldn’t need to descend to make it so. I think it looks for what controls the construct. I won’t allow combat to resume until the Eternal leaves. I won’t make you move, but I warned you. I don’t know much about energy beings, so you could be safe. It’s difficult to communicate with it.]

John kowtowed and said, “Thank you, Sublime.” He thought of asking for the injury inside his chest to be healed since the Diamond wasn’t supposed to come through the portal, but he held his tongue, not wanting to push things with the Sublime.

[For future reference, it’s usually not a good idea to talk to ones so much higher than you so informally. Even the filthy demons know that. I don’t care, personally, but many do.]

John, while still kowtowing, said, “Yes, Sublime.” He hoped that wasn’t true as he had no plans on saying ‘this one’ when referring to himself. He waited some time, and the Sublime never continued the conversation, so he got back on his feet while grabbing Fireblade and his shield.

John thought he could make out an odd shimmering all around Stretch, but he wasn’t certain. The unspeakable feeling came from all around, not just from the direction of Stretch. He thought it could be the energy Eternal’s soul. It wasn’t anything like a real soul, but there was something there that wasn’t there before, and it was vaguely soulish.

The pain in John’s chest hurt greatly. He coughed up more blood and sent essence to heal.

“I apologize about that, Copper John. That Diamond was from Circle Xakariz, not the War Academy. That attack was underhanded and I’m ashamed it happened. I can’t heal others, or I’d do something to help. Are you okay?” asked Muzaran from a distance off, having heeded the Sublime’s warning to move away.

“I’m fine.”

“You should move away. The Sublime told me there’s an energy Eternal near the construct.”

John grunted. “He told me too. If it attacks Stretch, I’ll attack it. Or try to.”

“Ha! You truly are an idiot then. Standing against Golds has inflated your ego. And you could stand away and still attack if the construct is destroyed.”

John laughed. “Touché. But I already told the Sublime I’m fine here and I’d feel small moving now.”

After coughing up blood, just to goad Muzaran and make the demon feel smaller for the Diamond interfering in their fight, John added, “True warriors, such as Coppers that can defeat a Gold preceptor of the War Academy located on the seventh ring world Prime, Coppers that can withstand a hit from Diamonds, are always ready and willing to fight. Even if that opponent is an Eternal. True…”

John paused to cough again. He finished by saying, “True warriors accept death by violence is the reward for a life lived correctly. We are always prepared for it. We don’t even consider it when planning our actions.”

Muzaran laughed. “Or a true warrior plans on always winning and reaching Eternal and living forever. And when we have enough Eternals to crush the core, we’ll throw open the gates of Heaven and live for eternity in paradise. I’d hate to miss out on paradise because I was too stupid to move away from an energy Eternal that accidentally brushed against me.”

“Touché,” said John as he laughed along with Muzaran. He found it hard not to like the demon.

“Listen, Copper John. If the Eternal doesn’t kill us by accident, I have a proposal for you. We have nothing else to do while we wait, so hear me out.”

John coughed up more blood. The pain in his chest wasn’t relenting or easing up, and neither was the burning. He sent vital essence to heal and wondered if he’d get in trouble from the Sublime for casting [Blood Heal]. He decided he wouldn’t risk it. “I’m not joining willingly. This is my planet. I’ll fight the invasions. I’ll win or I’ll die. It’s simple. There’s no other way.”

After a moment of silence, Muzaran said, “Reminds me of that old saying about there being nothing more dangerous than a fanatic certain of his way. Just listen to my proposal. If you are a true warrior, you’ll find it appealing. I assure you.”