Arfric was situated not too far from where Second had been training, and was observing the real-time footage of his battle against the Werewolf with great concern, precision and awe. After all, even most of the Vampire Lords have decent trouble against Werewolves, their natural enemy. It was not because of their absurd physical capabilities or a superior level of regeneration—although that is a major factor—but rather, their innate Ability that every Werewolf seems to possess: Soul Release.
It is their inherent Ability to weaponize their Soul through raw will, instinct, and fury. Unlike Vampiric Bloodline Arts or Human Ki, Soul Release taps directly into the essence of the user's Soul and the other absorbed Souls.
Its most dangerous property lies in its crippling effect on Vampire regeneration. A wound dealt through Soul Release does not merely rupture physical tissue—it latches onto the target's metaphysical form, denying the body its natural path to recovery, and slowly morphing it. Even a True Vampire's godlike regeneration is dulled by it; although, it is not as troublesome for said True Vampire as it is for other beings.
But what makes Soul Release truly problematic is its evolution through battle. A Werewolf grows stronger not merely through experience, but by devouring the Souls of powerful adversities.
———
Sparks of red flew across the monotone room as Second skillfully deflected each and every single attack that the Werewolf made with its claws with his single-edged blood sword. The intensity of the Soul Release that the Werewolf was using was getting increasingly greater with every passing second, and so was the intensity and frequency of attacks. Even with as great stats as Second, he was not able to perfectly keep up anymore without using [Blood Surge] to bolster his physical capabilities.
The two orbs of blood behind Second morphed into giant arms, both of them wielding swords that were set ablaze with flame from Origin Energy. While the arms of blood kept the Werewolf at bay, Second flung his sword into the air; "Thanks for the sword, maggot," the Werewolf unleased a shockwave of Soul Release in all directions, pushing the blood arms away, and jumped towards the sword that Second just threw up in the air.
It punched the base of the hilt of the sword and propelled the sword at a great speed towards Second. However, to the surprise of both Arfric and the Werewolf, the tip of the blade stopped just a hair's width away from Second's face; invisible to anyone but users of Ki, there was a thread weaved of pure Ki that originated from Second that allowed him full control of the sword with no real physical contact with it.
Using this property of his Ki, he manipulated the sword to instantly accelerate towards the Werewolf; in response to which, the latter caught the sword with its bare hands. [Blood Explosion], a compact explosion directly hit the Werewolf and the sword was no more.
'This isn't it,' Second recalled the two orbs of blood, and the arms of blood with them, 'The dog will not fall unless a single fatal hit is landed. Using these Skills is not efficient at all; nor does it fulfill the purpose of my training.'
"Alright then. Come at me, you cur," Second's fingers morphed into elongated talons as blood encased and hardened around them—the hardened blood ran all the way up to his shoulders and was modified around the area of his elbows to resemble something like a nozzle that releases burnt gases at incredibly high pressure to increase the thrust of a jet, behind and slightly above the elbow joint. The same pattern appeared on top of his leg armour, with the nozzles at the back of his heels.
'What an outstanding display of a superior and perfected control over blood!' Arfric heeded the specific choice of alterations to the blood gear, 'To make such intricate machinery using Blood Control to harbour the wanted result... Lord Second's command over blood may be on par with the hermit, and only second to the King.'
[Three-Step Heaven-Defying Slash]
Time seemed to slow down for both the Werewolf and Second as 3 invisible projections of blades of Ki closed in on the former from multiple directions: aiming for its neck, the back of its neck and its right leg's achilles tendon.
Making the best decision that it could in the situation, the Werewolf raised its guard to block the slash towards its neck with its reinforced body, focused the full power of its Soul Release to neutralize the attack at the back of its neck, and made an attempt to kick Second with its right leg in hopes of reducing the damage taken and delivering an instant counter attack as well.
Second, however, had thought two steps ahead. As Second tensed, the blood-forged nozzles at his heels glowed a deep crimson, pressurised with burning Origin Energy and compacted blood. In a microsecond, the nozzles ignited, releasing a concentrated blast of force that expelled from the back of his legs like a compressed and highly concentrated projection of extremely hot, red light with a golden core—not of fire, but of superheated plasma, ignited by a large amount of Origin Energy and seething with volatile power. The detonation was instant and violent. His body vanished from the Werewolf's sight with a thunderclap—a sudden sonic boom cracked through the air, splitting the underground chamber in half—and Second appeared right behind the Werewolf.
The destruction of caused by the movement-oriented blood gear was outclassed in loudness by the sound produced by the thrusters that propelled Second behind the Werewolf in the fraction of a second. Although tough to make out whilst inside of the chamber where it occured, because of the sheer magnitude of its intensity, the outer residents of the Family Castle had no trouble describing it: a sharp electric shriek that took no time to charge and explode into something that sounded like an orbital cannon if they'd ever heard one; the air shifted violently towards the area of impact as well.
To the observer situated not too far away from the chamber, Arfric, within just one second, so much had happened that even he, a Vampire Elder, could not keep up. As a shockwave and quaking of even greater magnitude than all the times before occured, right as the screen that transmitted real-time footage of the chamber to him blipped off, Arfric got up from his cozy chair with a jolt; his face covered in panic 'What have you done, my Liege?!'
The Werewolf was not so slow as to not even be able to react to Second preparing to strike from its blind spot; 'What-!' it realised what had just happened, 'I need to expend all my Soul if I want to even put up a fight! Guide my Soul, great god of monstrous beings.'
Second used the martial teachings of Scion to perform the First Form of the [Demonic Origin Art]—a series of techniques that flow seamlessly, conserving every bit of Energy possible while delivering the most destructive and violent possible outcome. Without using the nozzles behind his elbows to boost his technique's power and speed explosively, Second attempted to slash at the Werewolf, using his whole arm in place of a blade. A Clang, followed by sparkes crackling, could be heard as the Werewolf put its all into solidifying its Soul Release and using it at full throttle.
Before the Werewolf could even take a breath of air and recalibrate after dashing away from Second, the latter spotted a crack in its defense—the solid form of Soul Release—and proceeded to continue moving on the offense. He lunged forward and with a fell sweep of his enlarged blood claws, Second shattered the Soul Release protecting the Werewolf. As though some thing powerful had exploded, a shockwave from the Werewolf pushed Second back a few metres.
"My Soul!!" the Werewolf cried, parts of its body cracking unnaturally, as though it were glass shattering from pressure. The Werewolves, although naturally strong and gifted in many aspects, also have a weakness—although it can only be taken advantage of by those with a superior understanding of the Soul or some who are just overwhelmingly powerful. It is their innate Ability: Soul Release. It is like a curse—one that grows as the Werewolf absorbs more and more Souls into itself; the Souls of a different origin and with another affinity to the Werewolf itself seeps into the Wererwolf's Soul and taints it. The Ability itself is a manifestation of the absorbed Souls to perform feats of defense, offense and utility—which naturally, if said Souls are mixed with the user's own Soul, the user's Soul will also take damage or suffer from metamorphosis and mutations.
"You are not even worth fighting now," Second waved his fingers and all of the blood gear melted into blood once more; this blood coiled outward and spiralled above the Werewolf. With a snap, the blood compressed with immense pressure, revealing the unsightly maw of some sort of beast. The crimson maw opened wide... "Oh, before that—since you can't really function now," Second extended a thread of blood that permeated into the Werewolf's flesh; its eyes looked devoid of life, although it breathed it.
[Drain Touch: +16 Strength, +16 Agility, +10 Sense, +8 Stamina, +20 ???]
The edges of the maw crackled and sparked with flames. With incredible power, it bit down onto the Werewolf's head like a fell guillotine to execute the wicked. The wet crunching sound was followed by the rest of the body melting into blood and entering the maw as well. The construct compressed and imploded on itself; as the heat caused by the Origin Energy kept building up, the pressure was high enough to form a crystal of blood. Second collected the Blood Crystal and stored it.
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
"Arfric? If you can hear me, get the servants to clean up here. Oh, and you need not bring in such disappointing specimen here anymore," Second tried to connect to Arfric's open communication channel, 'What is this...?'
[A Job Change has been initiated]
[The User may choose to change their Job from Avenger to Soul Striker.
Soul Striker has been appraised to be more compatible with the User and will bring more bountiful benefits than the Avenger Job as assessed by the System.]
[Do you accept the Job Change and Advancement?]
'Sure,' Second chose without a second thought, 'The Avenger job gives me no benefits either way; I am not as emotionally unstable as required for it to even be a viable job for me. Furthermore, I do not feel the need for the Skills provided by it.'
[The Job Change has been finalised. The User's new and final Job is: Soul Striker]
[Avenger Job-exclusive Skills and Grudge have been removed]
———
[Soul Striker]
Rank: Ex
Effect: The User may use expendable objects carrying a Soul to displace the Soul into one of the three vessels for external Souls that have been created due to the Title of this Exclusive Job. The enlisted effects or abilities of the absorbed Soul can then be used via the other Job-exclusive Skills.
Ex-Effect: +20 Spirit[Spirit unlocked]
A stat exclusive to the Soul Striker.
———
Spirit: Measures how deeply and efficiently the User can merge with, channel, or manipulate multiple Souls that have already been absorbed inside the body. Additionally, it increases Absolute Mental Defense and Magical Defense.
———
User: Second Scion[True Vampire]
Lvl: 91
Job: Soul Striker
Authority: Blood Manipulation & Light
HP: -
Mana: 5,450[+14,250]
Energy: 14,400
Strength: 246[+211] Agility: 245[+220]
Intelligence: 295[+172] Sense: 255[+149]
Stamina: 240[+205] Spirit: 260[+220]
AP: 0