Well, here's chapter two of The Price of Revenge. There is some action in this chapter and of course more character progression/information. Something important I forgot to mention last time, I'm not going to drown you guys in Status screens and numbers. I'll be showing Corvo's Stats every couple of chapters or if there is a big change. With that out of the way, I hope you enjoy.
Chapter Two
Every muscle in my body is tensed as I jolt awake; looking at the clock next to my bed reveals it to be 3am. After calming the rapid beating of my heart and the shaking of my body I get out of my bed and put on my typical non-school clothes. They consist of a long crimson coat with black leather armor on the shoulders, a black Under Armour long sleeve shirt, black cargo pants, and black combat boots equipped with boot knives.
I have a double edged short sword on either side of my waist, a double edged knife in each boot, three custom flash bangs on my belt, and several throwing knives throughout my clothing. I also have a compact winch system on each wrist that uses a strong titanium nanoweave wire. The wire is capable of attaching to a carabiner for grappling or to any of my knives for extended melee reach. The boot knives and winch systems are controlled with my magic.
All of my clothes and weapons have been enchanted by a mage I met last year. My clothes have the following enchantments: Major Fire Resistance, Major Cold Resistance, Moderate Cutting Protection, Moderate Piercing Protection, Moderate Impact Resistance, Minor Magic Resistance, and Minor Explosion Resistance. My weapons are enchanted with the following: Superior Durability, Superior Sharpness, Major Anti-Magic Barrier, and Minor Curse of Weakness. With my gear equipped I head into the city.
There have been a string of brutal killings lately, the police have been blaming them on the Yakuza, but the wounds are inconsistent with the katanas the Yakuza love so much. The wounds are much too wide and nowhere near as precise as a katana cut. On top of that a dismissed statement from one of the local 'crazy' homeless men stated there was a large flying thing in the area around the time of the last death. While not much to go on, I'll check it out anyway. If it is something supernatural I'll exterminate it, if not I'll leave it to the cops; I have no interest in the affairs of humans.
Using my enhanced speed and the rooftops I traverse the distance between my place and the scene of the last death in no time. Crouching on the edge of an overlooking building I look over the crime scene. The police tape is still up and the ground is still covered in blood. Activating Observe I look around to see if I can find any evidence, after a minute or so I get two Alerts.
New Skill Created
Observation Awareness- Combining enhanced sight and smell with information taken from the Player's thought process, Observational Awareness highlights and pinpoints anything of interest to the Player.
New Skill Created
Night Vision- Passively increases the Player's ability to see in the dark to its utmost limit.
Fantastic, these Abilities will be very useful; activating them both I find the world is a different place. Everything is clearer and there isn't a trace of darkness, the world merely takes a purple tint while preserving every detail in prefect clarity. On top of that there are several things outlined in a glowing black light. On such thing is a set of claw marks below me, very large claw marks. Judging by their angle whatever left them leapt into the sky heading east, but there is not indication of a landing anywhere around me. This lends credibility to the homeless man's statement. Continuing to look around I see a couple of rather large feathers on the fire escape of the building across from me. There is also a faint blood trail leading east, the same direction the claw marks point. So east is where I'm heading.
After a few minutes of rooftop travel I land on the last building in my path, beyond that there is a large park with plenty of trees for cover. Looking back at the blood trail confirms the park is where my target retreated to. Dropping off the roof into the alley below I make sure all my gear is ready and start my trek into the park. After making it about 50 yards into the park the blood trail disappears and I have nothing to follow. Looking around I take in all of my surroundings and notice a tree with large cuts in the bark. Approaching the tree I inspect the cuts, they are about four inches deep and two inches long; interesting considering the marks on the roof were one inch deep and at least five long.
"Hm, why are the two sets of claw marks so different?" I ask aloud as I place my hands on my waist. Letting out a deep exasperated breath I spin around as fast as I can while launching two throwing knives into the darkness behind me; I hear only one hit a tree. The other hits flesh and is accompanied by a grunt of pain. Pulling out my short swords in a reverse grip I get in a battle stance. "It isn't nice to spy on people."
A growl is my only response. Gazing at the spot the growl came from confirms my target is supernatural; I can see the entire world in perfect clarity despite it being around four in the morning. Yet I can't see anything in the area my target stands in, meaning it is either producing unnatural darkness or projecting an illusion. Judging by my knife hitting it and it still being hidden, I'm leaning towards unnatural darkness. After a moment of waiting it leaves its hiding spot and damned if it isn't impressive.
Standing at about 8 foot tall, it is just under two feet taller than me. Its body is sculpted to perfection, all muscle and no fat; all accented by its golden skin. Massive eagle wings sprout for its back and a particularly dangerous looking beak rests on its eagle like face. A Garuda, powerful figures from Hindu mythology; even with the knife wound I inflicted and what looks like three bullet holes in its side, this will be a difficult fight.
"Two times in less than a day, I've been injured by a human, how pathetic of me." His voice is unnaturally deep and resonates with power; a normal man would be shaken by the pure authority it wields with nothing more than a few words. Not me, no to me he is just another chance to improve and get stronger. "Though I congratulate you, managing to sense my presence and hit me with a thrown knife. You might be worthy prey, unlike the rest."
That is all I need to hear, with his involvement confirmed I attack.
Bursting forward at full speed I catch him by surprise by Dashing the instant before I'm within striking range. With him caught off guard, I manage to land a decent slash along the right side of his ribcage. The second I'm out of his potential retaliation distance I whip myself around and Power Leap above him. He takes the bait and launches himself towards me, using his wings for extra speed. Flinging my right sword at him and following through with a spin sets me up to throw a perfect right straight at his face. As I expected he blocks at the last second, just before I release a Shockwave. The amplified force throws him into the ground hard enough to create cracks and a dust cloud.
Just before my feet reach the ground, he comes flying out of the dust so fast I can barely bring up my remaining sword to block his claws. The impact sends me crashing into a tree with enough force to snap it in half. Hitting the ground I shakily stand while checking my Stats. My MP and STA are fine, but I'm at just under half HP; one more full hit and I die. I feel the familiar rage bubbling up inside me but I force it away. I can't let my mind become clouded and my actions erratic, I need to maintain control. Taking a deep breath I focus on the moment.
As he flies at me again I jump just above him and Power Leap, sending him into the ground and launching myself forward. Landing in a roll I scoop up my discarded sword and place them both back on my waist. As the Garuda prepares to launch himself again I start running towards him, surprised but not deterred he continues his attack. Just before we collide I drop into a slide and release the wire on my right wrist, wrapping it around his left wing joint. I twist to a standing position and use both hands to jerk the wire as hard as I can. The resulting snap and pop are immensely satisfying. As he tumbles across the ground I launch six throwing knives at where he should regain his footing; once again my calculation is spot on. The moment he stands up his chest is impaled with six knives.
As he stumbles back I can feel my healing factor doing its job as I'm nearly back to full health. Not wasting a moment I rush my wounded foe while reaching for my swords and see him raise an open hand towards me; I take it as attempt to surrender. About five feet from him I realize how wrong I am, as a searing blast of light erupts from his hand and burns through the right side of my chest. Immediately I fall to the ground, grasping the hole in my chest. It's about the size of a softball and my health is at 10. My vision starts to go black as the Garuda approaches me with his hand outstretched. His face twists into confusion when I smile and laugh. The sound of my three flash bangs hitting the ground draws his attention away from me long enough for me to scramble back and turn around.
You see these are enchanted flash bangs, just like my weapons and armor. They possess the Superior Blinding and Superior Deafening enchantments. I can only assume he screams as they go off. While both of us are deaf, he is the only one that is blind; that is the only thing allowing me to escape.
Time Skip
After reaching my room I collapsed on the floor and laid there for an unknown length of time while my body healed itself. Once the pain subsided I noticed an alert informing me I gained three levels. That gives me 24 Attribute Points and 30 Skill Points. With the failure against the Garuda fresh in my mind I place 4 Points into Vitality and the remaining 20 into Endurance. The small bump Vitality will give my HP is nice, but 20 Points in Endurance will increase my overall durability by a significant amount. I leave the Skill Points untouched, saving them for when I have more to spend them on.
Standing up I walk over to the mirror on my wall and take in my appearance. My medium length black hair is disheveled and my blue eyes have lost all the joy and brightness they once held. Looking at the hole in my jacket and shirt I sigh, I need to get them repaired and there's only one person in the city that can do it; Amisaki Kinu, better known as Kinu of the Rune. She is the best enchanter in the east and probably the world as a whole. Her lineage as an enchanter goes back ten generations. She also runs one of the largest magic shops in Japan, I'm lucky she likes me enough to not charge money. I merely give her the valuable parts of the beings I slay. Removing my jacket and shirt I head to my bed and pull a large chest out from under it. Opening it reveals only a few items and none of them are enough for what I need. I remember the feathers left by the Garuda, if they're still there that should cover the price, if not I'll beg.
Sitting down at my desk I mentally review the fight over and over at least a hundred times trying to formulate the fastest and most efficient way to make sure a fight never tips so far from my favor. I've already started fixing my physical weakness, so I need to focus on my non-physical ones. That fight could have gone a drastically different way if I had ranged magic in my arsenal and quicker defensive abilities. Space-Eater is my only true ranged attack and it takes too much energy and concentration to be effective in the middle of a high paced battle. Harden takes three seconds to fully cover my body and requires no movement to activate, also making impractical to use mid fight. Both are suited for pre-combat setup. Berating myself I realize I could have activated Guard several times to great effect.
I need to develop a complete arsenal of physical and non-physical abilities; offensive, defensive, and supplemental. I have a lot of work to do and no idea how much time I have to do it. My new short term goal is to learn and become proficient in at least two offensive, defensive, and supplemental abilities in one week. That is six abilities in seven days, normally impossible but The Gamer changes that. Looking at the clock I see I have an hour before school starts; I must have been healing for a while. Shrugging I get dressed in my school uniform and head towards Issei's house. Either he is alone and I further our friendship or Rias is with him and I insert myself in a better position for gathering information.
Five knocks and no answer, yet there is yelling and laughing inside; how fucking annoying. Twisting the handle I open the door and walk inside. On inside I slip off my shoes and set my bag down. Heading in the direction of the commotion I enter the living room and see Issei running around with no shirt on whilst attempting to snatch what looks like photo books out of the hands of Rias Gremory and her right hand; Akeno Himejima. As I step fully into the room all eyes snap to me.
"What, who are you?" The man I take to be Issei's father demands. I ignore him, as I am focused on Rias and Akeno.
They are by far the most beautiful girls I have even seen, they are breathtaking. I mean that literally, as in actually looking at them for the first time, my breath catches in my chest. For a brief moment I am completely enraptured, but am able to regain my senses before anyone but the two objects of my awe can notice. Looking at Issei and back to the books the girls are holding I walk over to Rias and grab the book in her hands. Looking at it I see pictures of a young Issei, maybe six or seven years old, groping a life sized doll. Sighing once again I toss him the book.
"Have you always been a dirty ass pervert?" I ask in a deadpan tone. Issei starts sputtering while trying to defend himself but his mom answers for him.
"Oh yes, our Issei has always been a hopeless slave to his inhuman lust." She informs me in a sad but resigned voice. "I'm surprised he was able to get such lovely girls to be his friends."
"Yeah, it makes little sense." I agree.
"Corvoooo." Issei whines at my blatant attack on his character.
"Oh shut up and get dressed or we'll be late." Realization hits him and he rushes up stairs; after about a minute of banging and cussing he runs back down.
"Bye mom and dad." He yells out as the four of us leave his house.
After a few minutes of walking, Rias breaks the silence.
"So, Issei, are you going to introduce us to your friend?" She asks in a sweet tone. The suspicion in her voice and in her and Akeno's eyes doesn't escape my notice.
"Ah, how rude of me; Rias, Akeno meet Corvo Draven. Draven this is Rias and Akeno." He says as we all come to a stop. Akeno tilts her head slightly and smiles; again I am taken with her beauty. Rias however holds out her hand, which I take and bring to my lips; a traditional European greeting. Brushing my lips across her knuckles I can feel the increase in her heart rate through her palm. Locking eyes with her I give my first true smile I what feels like a life time.
"The pleasure is most assuredly mine." My gaze drifts to Akeno, whom I wink at. I release Rias's hand.
"So Corvo Draven, we finally have a proper meeting." The look of knowing on her face both fills me with rage and makes my heart race with excitement.
Thank you for reading and please review if you are enjoying the story so far, as more reviews mean more motivation.
With laughs,
SonoftheJester