Vampire Reincarnation

… But even if it could bleed, who is to say we can actually cut it deep enough?

“I’m not an idiot…” Kai retorted with a half-heart. Upon hearing his reply, the man shook his head but decided to drop it.

“Tell me, why did you call, rude brat.” He asked, his tone hiding a tinge of annoyance.

“I-Uhm…”

The man raised an eyebrow as he groaned. “Well?”

“I wanted to test… test my strength,” Kai said in a soft, low voice.

Hearing that, the man’s expression finally changed. His lips curled up as he broke out in laughter, crossing his arms and shutting his eyes. “Oh kid, that’s hilarious. Calling upon someone just so you can fight them? I thought you were smarter than that.”

“No, you don’t understand… uhm.”

“Hideyoshi, my name’s Hideyoshi.”

“Right, Hi... Hideyoshi?!” Kai paused for a second, holding back a chuckle. “You don’t understand, I have no one I can fight to test.”

“You have that kid, the noble one you spend all day with.”

“Ah- that kid…” A shiver ran down his spine at the thought of asking Barhm for a sparring match. “He’s… he’s too young, haha…” Chuckling nervously, he quickly changed the subject. “I just recently uhm, increased in rank, so to say. I want to see how far I’ve come… without risking death.”

“Without risking death, you say?” The man rubbed his chin with a soft smile. “I guess you’re right, I wouldn’t kill you… but I don’t guarantee I won’t injure you.”

Kai gulped, but grit his teeth and readied his wand. “That’s fine by me, allow me to receive your guidance.” He said with a respectful tone, a stark contrast to his attitude when he called Hideyoshi over.

The man smirked, and his pupils shone with curiosity as he glanced at Kai. “You brat sure know how to talk, no wonder Raymond felt defeated.”

“Well, that's all I got, hehe.” Kai chuckled, scratching the back of his head. “So, do you accept it?”

“Hmm…” Hideyoshi nodded and placed his hands behind his back, taking on a contemplating expression. “Why should I bother?”

“That-” Kai found himself awestruck, or rather, shocked, at the man’s blatant refusal. He’s right though, what would he gain from this? His face quickly turned to disappointment, and he slowly lowered his wand as he thought about what he could offer the man.

There’s nothing in my storage ring I could use… nor do I have any knowledge that could help a swordsman… including Rodney’s memories. Well… unless he’d be interested in chemical formulas and physics theories. He let out a light sigh and prepared to put his wand away. I’ll find a beast or something, I guess. Onyx being here would be really useful.

“Well, I’m saying that, but to be honest-” The man stopped Kai from even taking his first step as he said. “I am curious to see what the child of two legends could do.”

“Ah-” Kai’s eyes instantly beamed with light, however, before he got too excited, his lips parted. “I’ve been meaning to ask, how did you meet them? More than that, how are you not surprised I am here?”

“Haha, Kid.” The man replied with a light tone. “It’s been a long time. I think… about 150 years ago, there was a Great Demon invasion at my home village all the way to the southwest of the Kingdom. I was an instructor at the Magic Academy at the time, and teleportation portals were still in their infancy. I rushed there as fast as I could. You see, my parents were still there, as well as my nephews and siblings…” Hideyoshi paused for a moment, his eyes stuck on empty air as he seemed to remember the incident.

“By the time I got there, the village was already destroyed. However, funnily enough, no one was injured. I soon learned why. Your mother, Evergreen, had protected everyone whilst your dad fought against a small army of demons. I managed to catch them on their way out. I could tell they had used a spell to disguise themselves, however I didn’t pry. Although their facial features, even altered, remained with me.”

“The moment I saw you… I saw them as well. Reason for why I’m not surprised… There were rumors that Evergreen was pregnant. And considering the raids from the demons have almost completely disappeared… It wasn't hard to piece things together. My biggest surprise was that they were vampires, however, at the very least I knew they were not human. Legends of their existence have been passed down from the time of my father… There is no way humans can live that long, even at the pinnacle of their strength. That is, except for a select few. Although I have to ask… why are you here alone?”

Hearing that, Kai bit his lower lip as his heart sank into his stomach. He fell silent. The man’s expression changed considerably, and a hint of anger flashed within his pupils. However, it quickly disappeared as he asked in a serious tone. “Who did it?”

The boy took a moment, his nails digging into his flesh, and he said through gritted teeth. “Haniard… The King.”

“That bastard!” Hideyoshi cursed and looked up at the sky with a solemn expression. “I know not all vampires are bad, kid. I know you don’t have a choice in the matter either, so I don’t hate you. And, quite frankly, after that day… I used to revere your parents. Most people my age do, I think…and even younger ones who caught a glimpse of their legends do. Back then, nobody did anything about the demons, but your parents had a deep hatred of them, for some reason.”

“Not in two hundred years did I ever think someone as strong as them… would be killed.” The man said, almost talking to himself, a hint of concern hidden within his voice. “This is bad…”

Kai gulped, and a bead of sweat rushed down his forehead. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that… He bit his lower lip, however he couldn’t change what had already happened. I hope this won’t cause any trouble for me…

“Mister Hideyoshi, can I trust you to keep this secret for me? I don’t want anybody to know who my parents were.”

“Hum?” The man glanced at Kai, returning from his thoughts. “Sure kid, it’s not that important anyways. At least not to most people alive right now.”

Kai let out a light sigh of relief, and his racing heart began calming down. “So then, kid. Do you still want to fight?” The man asked with a slight smirk.

“Spar, I want to spar…” Kai corrected him quickly, not wanting to risk anything.

“Right, spar. Well then, let’s go.”

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere a little bit more open, try to keep up. If you can’t even follow me, don't think about trying to exchange blows.”

“Uhm, alri-” However, before Kai could even reply, the man’s figure disappeared like a ghost, and he left behind after-images that the boy could barely follow. What the fuck!

He instantly cast several speed enchantments on himself, and the wind cut past him as he tried to follow the blurry figures left behind by the man. As soon as he caught up to one, it’d disappear, however, that at least gave him an idea of where the man passed by. However, little to his surprise, the after-images began disappearing before he reached them, meaning his time to catch up was extremely limited.

Gritting his teeth, he waved his wand and created a small pointy barrier around him, decreasing the air resistance. However, it quickly shattered under the pressure as the sound of breaking glass echoed through the forest. Despite that, that gave him a small boost in speed for the brief period of time it was active.

Dodging roots and bushes, Kai let out a relieved sigh upon seeing the man stopped in the middle of a clearing in the forest. It was big enough for a professional football team to play in, which was considerable considering the average density of the forest.

Stopping to catch his breath, Kai looked around with a bewildered expression, his pupils dilating upon glancing at the unfamiliar sight. “What is this place?”

The man smirked and said with a scoff. “It’s a small place I created a few decades ago. Back then I used to have… an apprentice.” His tone changed slightly toward the latter end of his sentence, to a more melancholic tone. “However she left me soon after attaining a Rank Three Mana Core… I didn’t stop her. I wanted to…”

“Anyway, good job on keeping up kid, I honestly didn’t expect you to be able to.”

Well so much for that… ha… Kai sighed internally, making a mental note of the man’s words. “Alright, well… let’s start then?”

“You’re quite eager, aren’t you? Fine then. Let’s see if you can hit me at least once.”

Just once? Kai shivered slightly, scared of the monster he invited to eat his flesh.

In the blink of an eye, the man’s figure reappeared at the other end of the clearing, and his voice rang inside Kai’s mind. “I won’t use any Inkos magic, only my physical body. Let’s see how good Evergreen and Violet Night's kid is.” After that, there was no further communication from the man, who simply looked at Kai with a deadpan expression.

Well… shit. Cursing inwardly, Kai readied his wand and with a flick of his wrist, and a short incantation, he shot a bright flash of light into the air, which exploded into a full-blown flashbang. Looking away, he prepared another spell - His wand glowed with a dark light, which surrounded him shortly after appearing, acting as a layer of protection. Afterward, he cast several fireball spells in quick succession, which lingered in front of him, waiting to be shot at his command.

Meanwhile, the flashing effect faded, and, much to his surprise, the man hadn’t moved from his original spot. However, the distance between them made Kai unsure of whether or not his spells would hit. Throwing caution to the wind, he made several circles with his wand, summoning two dozen fireballs, which he shot toward Hideyoshi like a small meteor shower.

Not waiting to see the result of their landing, he boosted his speed with a quick body enchantment spell, after which his wand got engulfed in flames which became larger and larger as his murmuring voice echoed in the air.

“Mystical Sea of Flames!” He yelled out, and almost immediately the entire parameter got covered in burning hot flames. However, he wasn’t done, as he cast several Blinding Light Spells. Biting his lower lip, he quickly dashed in another direction and began doing the spell his parents were proud of him for. The Double Dancing Phoenix is my best spell… and also the longest it takes to cast, however, I can do it!

Without further ado, he recalled the moves his parents taught him, and began moving as the incantation for it flowed out of his mouth like a river going downstream, and very quickly two fire phoenixes - One Red and One Black - Appeared above his head. They gradually turned bigger and bigger, until they reached the size of a small tree, at which point Kai’s eyes flew open, and he stared at the man, whose deadpan expression seemed to have changed slightly. He pointed his wand at him. The two firebirds shot toward Hideyoshi with a majestic screech and then exploded into a myriad of particles upon crashing against the ground.

Kai’s vision turned a mixture of black and red, and he even had to move away due to the extreme heat caused by the collision. With hopeful eyes, a racing heart, and sweating palms, he stared intensely at the dissipating wall of fire and dust, waiting eagerly for the aftermath to reveal itself.