Chapter Ten: Unlimited Blood Works

Vladimir could not tell when the dreams and hallucinations started. During his torture his mind had drifted away into strange places, unable to think normally anymore. After a lot of strange and disturbing visions Vladimir was not really surprised when suddenly a giant Poro appeared and ate the room with everything in it in one bite.

But this time he did not end up in the temple again. The old chambers, his master... everything had suddenly vanished from this world. Instead there was the feeling of magic nearby. And the feeling of ceramic that surrounded his body. The hemomancer had some trouble getting his mind back on track, but he recognized the feeling: a bathtub. He tried to shape back in his human body, but he was too weak. For several hours he remained in his Sanguine Pool, slowly regaining his strength. When he finally took his human form he almost collapsed. Although he knew that everything in his body was fine, the pain of having every bone in your body broken resurfaced again.

Vladimir looked around the room. This was clearly the bathroom at his room, but it had changed drastically: radiating from the bathtub was a giant magic circle. Runes were written everywhere, even on the walls. It looked like at least five different people had mashed up their magical craft to put a spell on him. He read the runes, trying to understand their arrangement and purpose. Then he found a smaller magic circle with the Poro inside it – the little creature was overjoyed to see its master alive again. It almost knocked him down when it jumped on his head. With a faint smile Vladimir let his hands run through the white fur while he continued to study the runes. Apparently they had used the Poro as a medium to tune in their magic on him. But if they had succeeded using the Poro... that means that the little creature must had the power similar to his own! He scanned the Poro's blood with his magic, only to be surprised that he found the power equal to an apprentice hemomancer inside it. He grabbed the little ball of fluff and held it in front of him. It just stared back and licked his face with its giant tongue. Then Vladimir had an idea. He owned the little creature his life, so he wanted to pay back the favor somehow.

"I, Vladimir, Crimson Reaper and champion of the League of Legends, acknowledge you as my apprentice. From now on you shall be called Dracula, may the blood be your life and your power."

During his speech he used his magic to form a bond of blood between him and the Poro. Energy flowed through the little creature, who did not really understand what was happening. But it realized that it had been named. Vladimir was not sure why he had picked THAT name... it just had appeared in his head. But now the ritual of the Crimson Pact was done and irreversible.

For a second the probably most powerful Poro in the universe closed its eyes. It looked like it was concentrating while Vladimir felt the Poro's hemomancy working. When it was finished the Poro was wearing a tiny version of Vladimir's red coat, made from its own blood. At least it had a good sense of fashion.

Vladimir put Dracula back on his head again and left the room. The mansion was empty. When he arrived at the stairs he saw the destruction. It looked like someone had went completely berserk in the lobby. Not a single Draven-statue had survived whatever had raged here. The floor was torn up, the walls looked like a primeval beast had scratched them with giant claws. First he thought Gnar was responsible for that, but then he saw something else hanging in the wall: a slender red sword. There were more: multiple Sanguine Blades were rammed into the walls, the floor and the ceiling.

Just what had he done?

Usually these blades vanished after some time, but in these Vladimir could sense the power of the insanity-potion. Dracula moved on his head towards the blades, but Vladimir held him back. Touching these would be a very bad idea.

He must have run berserk when he drunk the potion. Judging from the magic in the bathroom they must have managed to subdue him, but until that moment... Just what exactly had happened here?

Bright sunlight blinded him when stepped outside. In the outer wall and the ground were even more blood-red blades. Some of them were pierced in a magic circle, as if he had tried to call even stronger magic in his insanity. He had to find the others!

Braum was nowhere to be seen and neither were the giant's flood of white pets. When Vladimir looked around he found out that they had returned to the Institute of War. If he would find someone it would be there.

When he walked towards the institute he realized something: no one was here. To him it felt like he was the only human here. The road he was walking on was the main route to the institute, often used by summoners, travelers and champions alike. So why couldn't he see anybody?

When he entered the institute's halls he could hear two summoners talking in the distance.

"I would have never thought I would ever pity Rengar, but now..."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Poor Dr. Mundo. Hell, even Ezreal got involved in that. Can you believe that?"

They went on and Vladimir could no longer hear them. Wait, "even Ezreal"? Did something happen to them? Or did HE do something? That would have been the most bitter irony: He saved the young boy's life just to kill him shortly after under the effect of the insanity-potion. The thought of Ezreal being dead or wounded was too much. He started running, hoping he would find someone who could explain him what happened here.

When he came close to the gardens he could hear noise. He stepped out, only to find every champion and summoner chilling out here. A giant banner above his head said: "League Foundation Day!" Ah, so today was THAT day. No surprise the streets were empty. On this holiday no one worked. But he still had to find out what happened to the other champions.

He could spot neither Ezreal nor Rengar between the celebrating summoners and champions. Also Mundo, Diana and Braum were nowhere to be seen – that was, until he looked at the giant screen that showed the matches of the tournament that was held now. The league was known for using fights on the rift as entertaining program for parties like this. It looked like this time every teammate had to use the same outfit in this rather comedic tournament. The current match was team "Battlecast", containing of Viktor, Cho'Gath, Urgot, Vel'Koz and Xerath versus a team called "French Maid". Vladimir had to admit that the frilly black and white outfit really looked good on Rengar. Just how did they trick them to wear these costumes?

Apart from the pridestalker there were Braum, Ezreal, Diana and Mundo in the team. Braum did not really care about this clothing while Ezreal and Diana spend most of their time in the bushed to escape the gazes of the spectators. Maybe they found their outfit too embarrassing? Vladimir could understand that, although he had to say that Ezreal looked really... hot in that outfit. In some kind of twisted way.

The last champion in said outfit was Dr. Mundo. It looked absolutely terrifying: His trademark cleaver looked like a giant silver plate now while an enormous white apron covered his front side. Bot of them were stained with blood. The giant seemed really to enjoy the maid-cosplay. "MUNDO SERVED DINNER!", he roared as he slammed the silver plate on Cho'Gath's head. The audience started to roar.

Vladimir could spot Nidalee and Leona spectating the match on smaller screen, taking pictures with a magical orb. Strangely they were only taking pictures of Rengar and Diana. Vladimir had the feeling that he would never understand some people. He walked around, trying to find someone who might knew what happened when he took in the insanity-potion.

After a short while he found Pantheon. The baker must have teamed up with Morgana for this tournament, because he was wearing a rather feminine baking outfit. A tag on his shoulder said "Team Sinful Succulence". The warrior just gave Vladimir a nod when he sat down next to him.

"What's with that outfit?", asked Vladimir, trying to start a conversation

"Morgana offered me baking lessons"

"Ah, okay." Silence fell on the two again.

Vladimir has never been a friend of small talk, so he got to the point: "Do you know what happened after I saved Ezreal from the potion?"

Much to his surprise the warrior started to smile. "You don't know? That was one of the best fights I had in a long time! It was so good that I proposed the council to replay a recording later for the audience!"

"You did WHAT?" Vladimir could not really believe what he was hearing

"Well they had it recorded anyway", said Pantheon,"They had a Farsight Orb placed on the area. Maybe for safety reasons, who knows?"

"Why would you ask them to broadcast a video of me going berserk?", asked the hemomancer as he stared at Pantheon

"Because it's awesome. Look, the show is starting", answered the rakkonian warrior as he pointed towards the stage. One of the head-summoners had taken the stage. The Battlecast Vs. French Maid match must have ended already. Vladimir knew this summoner! He was usually the one the summoners send out to explain unpopular changes. Morello started to talk: "Ladies and Gentlemen – and nonsexual beings, today marks the sixth anniversary of the foundation of the League of Legends!" - Mild applause - "To celebrate this the institute decided that from now on, every drink you buy at Gragas' today is free. The institute will pay for that." the crowd exploded. Since ancient times free alcohol was the best way to make large groups of people happy. The head-summoner continued to talk:

"But now to more important stuff: we added a new item for Dominion and the Twisted Treeline: The Sanguine Blade!" Morello snapped with his fingers and a slender red sword appeared midair on the stage. Vladimir recognized it immediately. Why did the institute use these madness-filled abominations of his magic? As Morello explained the equipment's abilities to the crowd mostly the marksmen applauded. "And now: a short video that shows us where we got this blade from! Enjoy the show."

Vladimir could do nothing but watch. Well, at least he would find out what had happened. It must have been a really expensive Farsight Orb, because it quality was quite good. It started from the scene where he rushed to save Ezreal from the potion. On the stage Morello explained briefly what had happened before. First nothing happened, then the Poro on his head was blown away by something that looked like a magical repulse-reaction. Mundo managed to catch the Poro and started to distribute strange potions to the others. As Morello explained, these potions protected the user against magical influence from outside. Mundo had made them the night before, for when one of the magicians would drink the insanity-potion. He saw as he went into frenzy and tried to drain the blood from the others, but they were protected by Mundo's creation.

That was the point when the insane hemomancer started to attack physically. With his own blood manipulated and powered up by the potion he managed to punch Dr. Mundo several meters away with just one hit of his fist. The other champions seemed to have realized what was happening to the bloodmage and tried to subdue him, but they could not hold down Vladimir because of his Sanguine Pool. In terms of fighting strength he was equal to Pantheon and Rengar now. The fight heated up more and more and Vladimir could only watch as his self on the screen created two Sanguine Blades at once. Just how strong did he get with this potion?

The audience mumbled as Vladimir fought of several champions alone with these blades, but everyone could see that he would lose this fight: His opponents were more skilled in armed battle than he was. Also Syndra and Vel'Koz had started a magical barrage on Vladimir to restrain his movements. But this was not the last trick the insane hemomancer had left:

In terror Vladimir watched himself as he turned the red blades against his body and rammed them into his own chest. The audience went silent. Did he really do that? Nothing happened after that.

The other champions around him did not know how to react to that. Waiting they stared at the self-impaled Vladimir.

"Now comes the best part", whispered Pantheon, "Look"

The Vladimir on the screen burst out into red mist. He vanished behind the red cloud that spread around the champions. Vladimir recognized this as a form of his ultimate ability: Hemoplague. If the champions had not drunk the potion Mundo had made, they would have all died now. Where ever the crimson cloud touched the ground, it turned red and something started to grow. When the cloud had vanished all earth in the area was tainted red. Now Vladimir could see the things that had grown from the ground: Sanguine Blades. More than sixty of them. The champions were standing in a red sea of blades now. In their center stood Vladimir, blood running from his eyes. They were completely white.

"I think you should call it something like Unlimited Blood Blades", said Pantheon next to him. The warrior seemed to enjoy the show. Apparently everyone else besides Vladimir did.

Suddenly all the swords started to float. They rose up and formed multiple rings of blades around the hemomancer. With another movement of his arms the blades started to fly towards the champions. They would have surely died if Braum had not appeared. Apparently Mundo had called him for help. The giant jumped in front of his friends and used his unbreakable shield to block the barrage of blades. When he looked from behind his defense he saw Vladimir dashing at him. The hemomancer still had a lot of blades floating around him while he clashed with the giant. In his hands was now a heavy two-handed version of the Sanguine Blade. Using the numerous floating blades at maximum efficiency he managed to keep the other champions at bay while he started to fight Braum. From the audience Irelia applauded.

But together with Braum also Diana and Leona had appeared. Fighting all these was too much for Vladimir. After several minutes of struggle even the insanity-powered version of Vladimir could not stand against so many champions at once. The fight ended as Braum drop-kicked him right in the face, causing the hemomancer to fall on the ground like a lifeless puppet. Together with him all the blades fell to the ground while most of them vanished in small explosions of red mist.

They could see how the group had difficulties getting the now liquified Vladimir into an old barrel and rolled him into the mansion. Then the video ended.

The audience applauded. Vladimir closed his eyes. Now he was done for. He would never be able to start a new life now. Not after everyone had seen him going on that rampage of insanity. When he opened his eyes again Vladimir was surrounded by people. Were they here to kill him?

"Oh god that was awesome, you have to spar with me!", said Irelia. Did the floating blades impress her that much?

"Your fencing style is bad, but you 'ave good talent.", said another voice, "I can not ignore a talent like that. You 'ave to fight me!"

Out of all people a demacian had praised him! Vladimir could only stare at Fiora without being able to say a word. More and more people grouped around the young man, who had no idea how to deal with a situation like that. For the first time the people seemed to like him... what was he supposed to do now?

While he could just stand there, the Poro on his head started to move: The little creature jumped from his head on the shoulder of a nearby summoner. Suddenly Vladimir remembered something very important: the side effect of the Crimson Pact was slight vampirism. The Poro rammed his tiny teeth into the summoner's neck.

"Out! Dracula! BAD APPRENTICE! Out!" Vladimir tried to separate the Poro from the shoulder of the summoner who screamed in pain. He should remember to feed the Poro blood regularly.

Now everyone was staring at them. If they weren't the center of attention before, they were now. Slightly embarrassed Vladimir put Dracula back on his head. How did people like Jayce or Ezreal deal with all that attention? He tried to stutter some words, but no one could understand what he was trying to say. Then a giant hand lifted him up into the air. It was Braum, who had returned from the match. He threw the hemomancer over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes. "Sorry friends, you can have him later", he said as he walked off, deeper into the gardens.

"Thank you," Vladimir managed to say to his savior.

"So you DID make some friends", said the giant while laughing, "And you said you can't do that!"

"I don't have any...", Vladimir tried to say, but was interrupted by Braum: "Well, I was told by some certain people to bring their dear friend to them. So that means you have some friends!"

Who in the world did call him his friend? Lost in thought the Crimson Reaper remained silent as Braum carried him towards one of the more hidden pavilions.


/Hi, author here. I hope you liked that chapter ^^ I saw that unlimited balde works scene on youtube and there I knew that I had to use this scene somehow... it befitted Vladimir's style of physical fighting, as you might have seen in the fight vs Taric...(gotta watch the whole anime now, it just looks awseome). Also we have origin story for the lifesteal item on dominion now, yay. Oh, and tiny Poro has a name now... I hope you forgive me this stupid idea... It's one of that times you have an idea that's so stupid, yet so aweseome that you HAVE to use it. Well whatever, if there's something you want to tell me, just leave a review ;)