Grunting, Leon blinked. He had not hit the vampire. No, he still stood before Leon, image warped through a wall of clear ice, his surprise quickly turning to satisfied glee.

When the ice threatened to spread up his arm, Leon released the knife-a perfectly good one at that-and looked around for the source. Trevor had an expression similar to the vampire, appreciative with a hint of awe, as he looked up past Leon.

"Sypha!" he called. "Keep him still."

Whipping his head around as dread settled in his stomach, Leon barely caught sight of a caster two levels above before he was forced to jump to the side, ice trailing him.

"Another?" he growled, moving constantly to avoid being trapped in by the spellcaster.

Unfortunately, it meant he had to leave his sword and best knife behind. So Leon was left facing an angry hunter-imposter-a bruise blooming across his nose-and ice magic, all without effective weapons.

When Trevor came at him, swinging his chain whip in moves clearly meant to incapacitate-though not unduly harm, for which Leon was both confused and grateful-Leon made up his mind: he had to stop the spellcaster first, or all his potential openings to retaliate would be stopped. As the vampire scaled the bookcases, Leon turned, fending off attacks from Trevor's whip as he made his way towards the nearest staircase.

His arm was sore once he reached it, finally maneuvering to where the whip lashed against wood rather than himself. Even with the magical properties of Leon's long glove, the chain whip was apparently something powerfully magical itself; Each strike carried enough force to bruise him through his light armor. Leon wondered if Trevor was holding back at all.

Granted, it was Leon's own decision to take the attacks in such a way. He preferred the mild injuries to getting captured again.

As he rounded the first set of steps, the vampire came roaring after him, longsword held threateningly ahead. Leon grinned.

There was one benefit to fending off magical attacks with his-not quite bare-arm: his glove gathered a lot of the excess energy from the strikes.

Leon came to an abrupt stop on the stairs' landing.

He looked into a snarling visage as the vampire corrected course, still coming straight for him, and felt a dark sort of glee which came only in battle. Magic poured through Leon's veins, erupting in a burst of jagged crystalline structures which linked together to form a shield before him. Though the vampire managed to avoid slamming into it, his previous momentum brought him close enough to scrape the edges as he turned. The casual white shirt gained several new holes along the arm, though the vampire's skin was not pierced. Fine.

Using the last of the captured magic, Leon forced the shield to explode outwards, pushing the vampire back over the stairs and multiple bookshelves before he went crashing to the floor.

Unfortunately, pausing had given the hunter time to catch up with Leon; the metal whip grabbed onto the railing as he swung his way up. Leon couldn't keep the grin from his face.

"Impressive, for an impostor," he said. "But do you think you're the first to think of that?"

The insulted look on Trevor's face made Leon laugh as he jumped over the rail. Within a few seconds, he turned just enough to see the level above himself, lashed his whip out to grab the wooden structure, and swung back, using his momentum to throw his body higher. One grab and flip later, and he stood sound on the next level up, the hunter glaring at him from the stairs he'd just left.

Not managing to keep the satisfied smirk from his face, Leon nonetheless turned and continued running-not fleeing, he had a strategy-to the level where the mage was casting from. He found a couple useful items as he ran: one a rounded shield in a style he'd never seen, and the other a braided juniper "necklace" meant to break enchantments. Whether garlic and dried roses would work for possible vampiric enthrallments, he'd soon find out.

Several more times he dodged ice magic attempting to slow or capture him, as well as another attempt from the returned vampire to hit him.

The attack was far more planned, so to avoid losing momentum, Leon had to use more of his own stored magic to duplicate a throwing knife and send the spectral images chasing after the creature. To his credit, the vampire dodged faster than before.

Leon, however, was no stranger to tracking vampires' quick movements in battle.

Eventually, one hit the vampire's shirt and pinned him-temporarily-against a bookshelf. Leon used the opportunity to make it up to the floor where he finally caught a glimpse of the spellcaster.

A Speaker! Finally, Leon thought to himself, Some good fortune. Confidence flooded back into Leon's core, suffusing him with a small burst of power. Speakers were well known to be strong in mind. The vampire must have been truly powerful to enthrall not only a hunter attempting to mimic Leon, but a Speaker-magician as well.

Freeing her would greatly aid Leon, both by weakening his opponents teamwork and, hopefully, gaining him a powerful ally.

She said nothing to him, though her eyes widened in surprise, the reason for which Leon didn't have time to analyze. He wove swiftly and precisely around the element attempting to capture him, blasting through one particularly high ice wall. When the ice moved like it intended to grasp his ankles, Leon threw the shield down in front of him, jumping atop it at an angle.

His weight launched the shield forward across the slippery ice. A startled gasp left the Speaker makes as Leon used his whip to pull against other ice spikes and propel himself forward.

Because the magician was skilled, Leon figured it best to track a roundabout path to her. Another wall, this one full of spikes, sprouted up right in front of the magician. Leon tensed, readied his whip, then leapt.

His jump itself would not have been enough to get him over the wall, but he launched his whip at a wooden beam higher up, straining his arm and core muscles to get himself higher.

As he cleared the wall, the Speaker's stunned and annoyed face greeted him. Magic was already gathered in her hands; Leon knew he only had one shot.

He twisted his body like he aimed to kick her, but instead reached one arm to grab at the braided necklace tucked into his belt. The magician took the bait, shooting ice at both of his legs and engulfing them. Leon was impressed to notice that-aside from the chill-neither of his legs sustained any actual harm. The Speaker was truly attempting to only capture him, even through enthrallment.

A grin spread across Leon's face as he tossed the necklace and it landed around the Speaker's neck and shoulders. She blinked, magic dissipating from one hand so she could reach up and touch it.

Her brows furrowed in confusion. "What is this?"

As desperately as Leon hoped for the enthrallment to break, he knew there was, possibly, no effect from the necklace, so he quietly set to using the last of his stored magic to break the ice holding him.

The Speaker merely raised a hand and his arms from wrist to shoulder were bound as well, though surprisingly not his chest nor hands. Leon was grateful in a sense-the ice was very cold-though frustrated to be able to wiggle his hands without freeing himself.

The Speaker-magician turned to him. They both stared, wary, about three feet from each other. The Speaker plucked at the necklace again, bright blue eyes looking Leon over, thoughts clearly running strong in her mind. Finally, she asked, "Who are you?"


2020! And I'm back with a new chapter! ヽ〳 ՞ ᗜ ՞ 〵ง

Didn't I promise Alucard would be fine? ;3 I couldn't kill my boy.

Action chapters, ugh. I set myself up for this, I know. I hope I did alright with the descriptions. Hey, if anyone seems oddly placed, let me know?
I did have some fun imaging the abilities everyone uses though! Figuring out how powerful Leon would be was interesting. I'm going with the idea that Leon has all the experience from his game (obv) and some from his travels and settling in Wallachia. That makes him incredibly powerful. However, he's also been transported unexpectedly, so he doesn't have most of his weapons/equipment.
Also Sypha's a BAMF.

Lemme know what you guys thought! We're gonna get to more talking next chapter. And lots of people side-eyeing each other. xD