Bab 52: Ch 52:- A Unique Confrontation
On top of the first-year building, outside on the roof, it was a calm day. It wasn't too hot, and it hadn't rained in a few days, so the ground was dry. Quinn stood opposite Fex while the others stood just behind the roof door. The door was slightly open, and the four of them peeked out to have a look at what was going on. Unfortunately, Rayne was not present, which disappointed Erin a little bit. She had thought that he would be there after the talk they had, but he was nowhere to be seen. Erin's hand twitched as she hovered it over her sword's hilt. The others had to do everything in their power to convince her not to go out there and start a fight straight away. They were interested in what Fex had to say, and if she were to go out with her head full of steam right now, it would ruin everything. The best option for them was to come out of this with no fighting.
If that did happen, Vorden was prepared. He currently possessed an ice ability, a fire ability, and a slow regenerative ability. While trying to get the ability, it took him longer than he thought. The original person he got it from last time he couldn't find. Luckily, at the last moment, he was able to find another student with a similar but weaker version of the ability. He needed to make sure to keep the regenerative ability just in case things didn't go to plan.
"So, you understand the terms then?" Quinn said. "We will be waiting just on the other side of that door, and if anything happens to her, we will..."
"I know," Fex said with a yawn. "I already gave you my word, didn't I? You should already know that a Vampire's word is sacred; it's not something that can easily be broken."
"And about the ghoul problem, you promise you'll help us straight after, right?" Quinn asked.
"I already have it sorted," Fex said confidently.
"Just a fair warning, she knows what you are, so she will be cautious," Quinn replied.
"Looks like you're breaking rules all over the place," Fex said. "I guess it isn't a problem if you plan to turn her eventually."
Soon, Erin opened the door and went towards Fex, while Quinn retreated back to his group behind the door in case things went south. However, she didn't leave without a word from Layla. "Erin, please remember the plan," Layla reminded her.
Erin nodded and headed straight out as the other three watched from behind the door. At first, Erin walked slowly, but as she got closer and closer towards Fex, she started to walk faster. The closer she got to him, the more annoyed she became at the sight of his face.
"Oh, the beautiful Goldilocks has finally come out. I have a proposal for you," Fex said.
But suddenly, her walk turned into a jog. After hearing Fex's voice, her anger only grew worse, and finally, she had had enough and pulled out her sword. "I thought I had already warned you. If you were to mention what you saw in the library, I would teach you a lesson!" she shouted.
"Looks like she isn't sticking to the plan!" Layla said.
"What the... why is she attacking..." Rayne thought as he observed the situation from above while using his invisible charms which by the way he was running out of resources to make those charms and talismans.
"The library? Have these two met before?" Peter asked, confused.
"It seems like there might be a bit of tension between the two that we didn't know about before," Quinn added.
"Damn it!" Vorden shouted. "She's going to get herself killed." As Vorden went to open the door, Quinn pulled him back. "Just wait, Vorden. If he really wanted to do her any harm, why would he do it in front of all of us? And if he did kill all of us here, then he would only be hunted down by the school."
Hearing Erin's words, Fex was a bit confused. He could tell she was angry, but apparently, it had something to do with their last meeting. "Wait, it couldn't have something to do with that book, could it?"
As she charged forward, her face had now gone bright red once again and she readied her sword, but suddenly, her movements started to slow as she felt something wrapping around her legs and arms. When she looked at Fex, she could see him doing something with his hands.
"That's it, I'm going to save her!" Vorden said.
"Wait!" Peter shouted. "That's the same thing he did to me. I don't think he's trying to hurt her."
The string-like substance continued to tangle all over her body. When Erin looked around, she noticed that there were small little daggers placed around the roof with a little ring on top. Finally, though, she was completely restricted and could no longer move.
"You know, after you left, I read that book myself. No wonder you got so heated up," Fex remarked. "If you would like to do the things mentioned in that book, I would be happy to help you."
"Go screw yourself, you sicko!" Erin shouted.
"Okay, I am confused. What the hell is happening? I thought he invited her to do something bad, but what is happening? One is angry, and another is talking about the book. I can't just comprehend this bizarre situation," Rayne thought.
"This is what I get for being nice," Fex said. "Anyway, hear me out. During my time here, I need a puppet as well as a food source. Now, since you decided to punish me in the library, you have the congratulations of becoming both of those things."
"Puppet as in, like, he is going to turn her into an undead before controlling her body," Rayne thought.
[Did you already forget about the ability that the Sanguines family possess?]
Rayne thought for a moment before replying, "Yes, I remember it. It is something like a string, and I guess it also allows them to puppet things. But still, the information it gave was vague. It didn't talk about if they were alive or dead. All it said was they are great at puppeting. And from as far as my memories go, the only puppet I ever met was an undead one in the nightmare realm."
As Rayne continued to observe, he noticed that Fex walked up behind Erin, carefully navigating a path around the small blades and strings he had scattered around. "I'm not becoming your puppet!" Erin shouted, clearly resisting Fex's advances. "I'm afraid you don't have much of a choice," Fex replied, his voice chilling as he proceeded to stab 12 needles into Erin's back.
"Hmm why is he poking her acu point is their any way to control someone like that," Rayne thought as he continued to watch his initial worry had now vanished, replaced by a curiosity to learn something new from another vampire.
As the twelve needles were implanted into Erin's body, a strange feeling started to overcome her senses. It was as if something had clicked in her brain. The strings that were binding her feet and hands were loosened and started to disintegrate, until they were no longer holding her back.
"What did you do to me?" Erin asked.
"I wanted to show you what being my puppet actually means," Fex replied.
Erin swung her sword and moved about, but it seemed like her movements were back to normal. They weren't slow and uncoordinated like before, so she tried to do what she could do before. Still, she felt like something was tugging on the back of her brain.
"Whatever you did to me, get rid of it now!" She lunged forward and swung down her sword. However, as she did, Fex moved a single fingertip, and her sword changed course, missing the target and swinging to the side.
"Did my body just move on its own?" It was a strange feeling for Erin to suddenly lose control like that.
"Let's see what you got!" Fex shouted. He moved his fingers at an incredibly fast speed, and for every different action that he did, Erin's body followed.
At first, Erin tried to resist and fight against Fex's control, but it felt useless as if she couldn't do anything. When she soon realized that there was nothing that could be done, she stopped resisting and just went with the flow. Doing this, she started to realize something. Fex wasn't just moving her body about in a random order, but he was actually performing a certain set of moves.
Her swordsmanship was faster and more skillful than before, and the sound of her strikes as they sliced through the air was fast and harsh. While her movements were soft and flexible as if she was doing a dance, it was a type of swordsmanship she had never seen before, one that surpassed her own unrefined basic skills.
While performing these movements, she concentrated, noting down all the actions she was performing. When she had gotten the hang of it, shards of ice would leave the blade as well.
"What is Erin doing?" Layla asked. "I thought she would be attacking him, but she looks so beautiful."
With the ice surrounding her and the beautiful skills being shown by Erin, it was as if they were all watching a performance.
"I don't think it's her looks," Vorden said as he pointed at Fex, who was at the back, moving his hands and fingers.
"You are a lot better than I thought you were going to be," said Fex. "It looks like I was right to choose you."
When Fex had seen enough, he detached the strings that were on Erin, and she suddenly stopped right there. Her body was no longer being guided by the strings. Immediately, not wanting to forget the feeling she just had, she tried performing the same movements. At the start, it seemed to be going well, but then, the movements just didn't have the same flair as when she was attached.
She tried again and again, like a person possessed, but it was nowhere near the same level that she was performing before. "You, show me again. Do what you just did again!" Erin demanded.
"Now, now," Fex said. "If you started to demand things from me and I complied without complaints, it wouldn't be very fair, would it? A relationship should work in two ways."
"If you don't want to tell me about it, you know I can just start getting really nasty." Lifting her hands, Erin planned to use her ice abilities this time before he got close to activate his weird puppet thing once again. But Erin's hands abruptly halted as a tingling sensation reappeared at the back of her head.
"I'm afraid it's a little too late. You see, with the needles implanted in you, I can reattach my strings at any point in time," explained Fex. "Now that I have shown you how my swordsmanship works, it's time that I get something in return."
Fex moved closer to Erin step by step, and she realized that she was helpless to stop him.
Suddenly, the temperature around them dropped sharply, and the sky slowly began to darken. The air grew so cold that visible vapors formed as they exhaled, and the hairs on the back of their necks stood up. The once-bright day turned into a dim and dreary one, as if the sun had been snuffed out like a candle. The silence was deafening, and the only sound was the rustling of leaves as they danced in the cold wind. It felt like the world had paused and held its breath, waiting for something ominous to happen. And suddenly, a pair of bright red eyes with vertical slits appeared, followed by the rest of Rayne's body materializing before their eyes. His gaze scanned the rooftop, relishing in the shock and awe of his dramatic entrance. "Guess my entrance was a success," Rayne thought to himself as his eyes roamed around, eventually locking onto Fex and Erin.
"Now who are you?" Fex asked.
"I am no one but a mere wanderer," Rayne said with a smirk, amused by Fex's visible shaken demeanor due to his dramatic entrance.
"But you don't look like one," Fex said, eyeing Rayne's school uniform. Suddenly, he smelled the strange scent he had encountered before, when he first met Erin. His eyes widened with shock before he said, "You are a vampire, but how? How are you able to hide your scent so well?"
"Don't know, but how about you release that girl," Rayne said, making his way towards Fex.
"Not gonna happen, and who is she to you?" Fex asked.
Layla and Vorden were much more interested in what was going on between them, after hearing so many rumors about them circulating around.
"None of your concern," Rayne said, slowly making his way towards Fex with his hands in his pocket.
Suddenly, Erin's body moved and was now right in front of him. She slashed her sword down, and Rayne jumped out of the way at the last second.
"Rayne, that wasn't me!" she said.
"Really foul! Using her as a shield and hiding behind her. Where is your pride as a vampire? Or let me guess, you don't have one," Rayne taunted Fex. It seemed to have worked, as he used Erin's body to deliver another attack. However, the next second, Rayne vanished with a puff of white mist before appearing beside Erin and disarming her. With deathly precision, he cut all the strings with a invisible Qi blade, disconnecting them from the needles. He didn't want to risk taking them out in case it caused some kind of injury to her. This made Erin regain full control of her body before falling on her knees. Vorden caught her at the last moment, followed by Layla who helped her stand. Then, Quinn appeared alongside Peter, with their guards up and ready to pounce at any moment.
"Wait!" Fex shouted. "Stop! This wasn't my intention. You guys win." He said as he held up his hands, surrendering.
"I didn't mean to do any harm; all I wanted was to show the girl what it would be like if she were to become my puppet. I just presented the power and skills that I would share with her. And in return, I was going to ask for some blood. Was I in the wrong?" Fex explained.
Quinn then pulled out a flask from one of his trouser's pockets and threw it over to Fex, who was able to catch it. Fex opened up the lid and could smell the sweet fragrance emitting from the bottle.
"If you need more blood, then you can just come to me," Quinn said. "Just leave us be and I won't get in your way or obstruct you in your mission, so you shouldn't get in the way of mine," he added.
Fex then took a gulp of blood from the flask as a huge grin slowly made its way to his face. "Wow, it's pretty fresh, but as I told you before, getting blood here isn't a problem for me. Look, I didn't want to sour the relationship between us. As I have said, this is all a misunderstanding. Did I ever hurt her?"
"What you did wasn't wrong, but you need to remember who you are touching. She is mine, so beware before you try anything next," Rayne warned. On hearing it Erin blushed while both Vorden and Layla could only raise their eyebrows while thinking 'When did this happen?'
"Woah, calm down dude, it looks like I have hit a nerve with one of you," Fex said. "As fellow vampires, we should be looking out for each other. As a sign and the start of our friendship, I shall do as you ask and remove the needles."
The group decided to go through with it, but only if they could stay by Erin's side. At first, she wanted Fex to use the needles on her once more to allow her to experience the feeling and skills he had shown her again. However, after being forced to fight against her comrades, she felt disgusted with herself. She was so weak at that moment, and everything had been done against her will. Even she wanted the needles to be removed.
Erin's back was facing Fex while the others stood by her side, with Layla holding her hand. Peter, Vorden, and Quinn were ready to jump in at any moment if he was to do something suspicious, and Rayne had once again activated his ocular ability. Seeing it once wasn't enough, so he decided to watch it one more time in the hope of copying the skill.
The strings were connected to Erin once more, and she felt the tingling sensation at the back of her mind. Fex then yanked out his hand, and at the same time, all twelve needles that were attached to her body were pulled out simultaneously.
"It's done!" Fex said.
This time, Rayne saw how it was done. The process was fairly simple. It was like using acupuncture points to control one's motor skills. One needed to poke different acupoints before connecting them with a string. In Fex's case, he used strings made of blood aura. At that moment, a system notification appeared.
[Congratulations! You have learned the Skill Puppeteer. Would you like to add it to the blood magic category or a different one?]
"Hmm, I guess I'll add it to blood magic. And why doesn't it have any level?" Rayne asked mentally.
[Okay, as for the level, it depends on your mental strength and charm.]
"Come on, let's get out of here," Layla said as she started to walk off with the others towards the exit.
"Wait, don't you want help with your ghoul situation?" Fex asked.
"What ghoul situation?" Rayne asked as he looked at Quinn. Quinn didn't say anything; he just looked in Peter's direction, causing Rayne to nod as if understanding what might have happened.
"I may not follow many of the vampires' traditions, but I do follow one, and that's to always keep my word. You did as you said and you brought her to me. Now, in return, I will help you."
"But don't you think you should cancel whatever you did?" Layla said as she shivered from the cold and the eerie atmosphere that Rayne had created. "Now that I think about everything that Rayne did until now aligns with how the traditional vampire was portrayed in the beginning," Layla thought as she looked at Rayne.
"Oh! I totally forgot about it," Rayne said bashfully as he snapped his fingers the next second, sending out a pulse of invisible energy that affected the talismans that were attached to the trees around the roof, making a barrier around it, making it appear from the outside normal along with talismans that helped Rayne create the whole eerie atmosphere by making the area within the barrier cold, accompanied by darkness. As the energy impacted them, they disintegrated into ashes.
With that, the atmosphere returned to normal with its usual sunny weather. The girl carried on walking ahead. Layla had decided she didn't want to be a part of any of this anymore, and it looked like Erin was worn out by the whole thing.
"We can't trust this matter to him," Vorden said. "I'm telling you."
But time was running out, and within a few more hours, it would be night once again, and with it, Peter's hunger would once again come, and that would mean Vorden had to go through the pain of having his limbs chopped off once again.
"Can't he drink coffee to suppress his hunger?" Rayne said.
Vorden looked at him before saying, "I don't understand. Layla also said the same, and now I am thinking we should really make Peter drink coffee to test it out."
"No, it is not possible," Quinn said.
Feeling that he was being ignored, Fex said, "You never introduced yourself," directing to Rayne.
"I am Rayne Talen," Rayne said.
"Are you two brothers?" Fex asked.
To which Quinn only nodded before saying, "We need your help, so please."
"Very well," Fex replied. "Follow me."
As they were walking towards Fex's dorm room, Rayne was meanwhile having a conversation with his system.
"Are you sure we can't buy from the dark market?"
[I am a strong system, but at the end of the day, I am still hacking it, so it means that they could still backtrack us if we buy those human parts.
"Sigh, is there really no way?"
[No, there is a way, but we would need someone like a technopath.]
"Hmm," Rayne thought before saying, "Do you guys know we could actually buy human organs as well as limbs online on the Dark Market?"
It caused all of them to stop before looking his way.
"Really," Quinn and Fex said in unison.
"Now that you say it, I've heard of this before," Vorden said. "But I had no clue how to access it. It seems like only certain people within a group know how to. My family said they would let me know once I am old enough."
"It is understandable because it only allows people who have a membership to access it, but recently I hacked into their website and saw that they were selling human limbs," Rayne said.
Vorden raised an eyebrow, sensing that there was more to the story. "Why do I feel like there is a big 'but'?" he asked.
"I am only able to access it but can't buy anything because there are chances of someone backtracking it to me," Rayne replied, his tone heavy with disappointment.
"But I think a technopath could do the work," Rayne continued.
"What's a technopath?" Quinn asked.
It was Vorden's turn to provide insight, as he seemed to have some fictional knowledge about it. "A technopath is a person with the ability to communicate with and control electronic devices through their mind. This ability is often depicted in science fiction and superhero stories. Technopaths can interact with computers, robots, and other electronic devices, manipulating them as if they were extensions of their own body. In some stories, technopaths may also be able to manipulate complex systems like power grids or military networks."
As Quinn heard about it, only one person came to his mind: Logan. He had seen him do various things with just his mind by placing his hand on devices. But as soon as the thought came, he dismissed it as he still wasn't comfortable with involving more people in his vampire business. As if understanding, Rayne put his hand on Quinn's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze in a reassuring manner, to which Quinn nodded before saying, "I guess we should probably check Fex's plans first before making any decisions on proceeding with the next one."
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone