The Bounty Hunter

January 15th, 2090

“Terra, you know what you are doing, right?”  Kira asked.  “No, but this is our best shot.  I would recommend heading to where the others are.  I don’t know how this ritual will turn out.”  Kira nodded at my words and hastily retreated.  It was the dark of the moon tonight, a suitable time for my ritual to heal Hikari.  We were located out in countryside, specifically near the side of Mt. Fuji.  It was isolated enough to avoid notice and located on a leyline in case I needed the extra mana.

The thing about rituals, and magic in general, is that all the actions required are arbitrary.  Doing this or that to get a desired effect is unnecessary in theory.  Magic requires intent, will, and mana, nothing else.  However, knowing how you want to achieve your goal with magic exponentially lowers the mana cost.  Even if the thought process behind the how is imaginary, as long as the user believes the reasoning the mana cost will lower.  Belief has great power in magic.  Hence, there are chants, rituals and the like.  These can vary from person to person, although it is easier for others to believe that an action works if they have proof it worked before.  This is why magic users can and often do use spells and rituals created by other magic users.

The blood curse on Hikari is one of the most potent ones I have ever seen.  The succubus must have used the life force of around 100 people when casting it.  I can’t break through it via brute force.  To end this curse, I am going to use the vampire blood crystal and the elixir of life.  The elixir would not work alone, unfortunately.  It would prevent Hikari from dying for the next 100 years no matter what, but it would not break any curses that afflicted her.  Blood magic cannot be foiled easily, and a curse of this magnitude is impossible to dispel for a human.  A vampire, on the other hand, is immune to blood magic due to their very nature.  But I do not wish to turn Hikari into an Undead, instead I plan to do something much more drastic.

The magic circle was a simple one, with an ordinary pentagram in the center and each point of the star was pierced with a wooden stake.  Hikari’s body was lying at the center, with only the slightest rise and fall of her chest indicating that she was more than just a well-preserved corpse.  The vampire blood crystal was set on her chest, the vial containing the elixir of life was embedded in the ground by her side.  I stood at the edge of the circle, trying to compose myself for the ritual.  If this fails, Hikari dies.  I can’t afford any errors.

It’s now or never.  I clasped my hands into a hand seal, channeling my mana into the circle and extracting the elixir of life from the vial.  It coiled in the air like a serpent as it waited to be used.  Suddenly, it darted forward, enveloping the blood crystal.  The crystal dissolved in the water, thickening and turning it a dark crimson.  Mana coalesced around the blood-like fluid, forcing a grey sludge ooze out of it.  Said sludge was purified away, lightening the dark crimson to a far more brilliant shade.

The blood of death, fused with the liquid of life to create something more.  The liquid floated above Hikari, thinning out to become a long crimson thread.  Its needle-like tip pierced into the left side of her heart, creating the smallest of holes through which it started threading through.  Simultaneously, a small hole appeared on the right side of the heart.  As the new blood entered, the old blood was pulled from Hikari’s body, dispersing into the night air.

While the replacement was occurring, I was freely pouring mana into the circle as I spoke.  “Light and Dark.  Warmth and Cold.  Life and Death.  The universe is balanced, with an opposite for each and every thing.  So it is and so it shall be.  For as the dead rise in Undeath to mimic life, so too shall the living fall in Unlife to mimic death and see past the veil of mortality!”  And as I finished my spell with some necromantic underpinnings, I felt the darkness of the moonless night thicken.  The blood swap was complete, and I watched with bated breath as Hikari’s body began to adjust.  The pentagram lighted up in a dark red outline and the stakes on the edge were vibrating as they contained the free mana.  My connection to the ritual was cut off as it became self-sustaining, leaving me to continue to keep the high concentration of mana confined within the magic circle.

The changes that were occurring to Hikari were noticeable.  The color of her lips changed into the classic, full red one associates with lipstick.  Her canines lengthened, although they stopped slightly short of the length I saw on the vampires in Verlush.  The muscles got leaner and tougher as they were stimulated by the blood and nourished by the plentiful mana.  She gained another two inches in height as her bones altered as well.  Her pale white skin returned as the blackish-red streaks all across her body faded away.  Those changes were all minor compared to the subtle aura of death that rose around her, similar yet different to that of an Undead being.  A living being shouldn’t be able to exude such an aura, it would be like a fire emitting cold.  The ritual then died down, leaving Hikari lying there just like before.

I crossed the distance in an instant, kneeling down beside her to check her pulse.  Her eyes snapped open, staring up at the night sky, the black eyes having been replaced with an iridescent crimson.  My fingers pressed against her carotid, feeling a strong and steady pulse.  She was breathing regularly as well and her body was warm as I lifted her into my arms.  “…Minato?”  Hikari asked in a faint voice as she shifted her gaze to me.  “Hey, sleepyhead.  You’ve been out for a while.” I replied softly with a smile.

“Is Vera okay?” Hikari asked tiredly.  “Yeah, she’s safe.  I am so proud of you, but for now just go back to sleep.  Everyone will be here when you wake up.”  Hikari nodded with a yawn as she nestled into my arms and drifted off to sleep.  I stood up gently, careful not to wake her, looking over my shoulder to see everyone rushing over to see how things turned out.

“Hey Master, why does big sis feel different?”  Rin asked me curiously.  “What do you mean by ‘different’?”  “Well, she doesn’t feel as human as before.”  Rin put a finger to her chin as she tilted her head to think.  “It’s like half of her is something else instead.”  I nodded in confirmation as the others looked at me.  “She’s a Dhampir now, a half-human and a half-vampire.  It was the only way to end the blood magic curse.  I’ll explain the rest once Hikari wakes up.” I told the girls as I prepared the teleportation magic.

“Alright, I’m taking bets on Doll-face’s reaction upon learning of her new species change.  I say that she’ll be surprised and then take it in stride.  Any takers?”  Irene whispered to the others.  “I’m betting that she’ll be mad that she didn’t get a fluffy tail like mine.”  Rin replied, while Kira said “I think she’ll say that it’s cool.”  Veronica put down a bet on her being “happy to have survived” the Pandemonium encounter.  I rolled my eyes at their antics before joining in with a bet that she’ll be temporarily pissed at me for doing this.  No matter what her reaction though, it’s worth it to see her alive and well again.