The night was still, almost as if it was frozen in time. Above the ground, the moon was a pale coin that was shrouded by drifting clouds, it's light struggling to touch the open ground below.
The bodies of the 3 soldiers layed twisted and lifeless in the pale moonlight that struck the ground. Their blood had already darkened to black, their armor was cracked and bent as if it was crushed by an invisible hand.
Aethons gaze lingered on them as he got a better look, even if only for a brief moment. The grief building up within him was jagged and raw, but it had no outlet except for the one thing standing infront of him,the ENTITY.
It loomed in the moonlight, it's misshapen body twitching in unnatural spasms as threads of Aethons blood technique burned inside it.
Aethon said in a low voice that was filled with anger and hatred, :"Everything... In... Me... Exists for one thing right now... And that is to erase you from existence!!"
His hands began to tighten, and the crimson threads running from his arms into the ENTITY began to pulse. It thickened as fire coiled along them like serpents of molten light. Heat began to flare through his veins, fusing with the iron tang of blood and magic until both were indistinguishable, fire and blood, will and rage, these things became a single consuming force that filled Aethons mind and body.
The ENTITY screamed again, but this time it's scream carried weight. Mana in the air began to swirl around the creature like a dust storm. It was drawn towards the ENTITY'S form. As this was happening, Aethons face began to change from rage and hate to realization.
He stood still has he began to realize something. And then instead of the thought of killing the creature swarming his head, a new thought emerged. One that answered his question from earlier. He knew that in this moment his suspicions were right.
Unlike living creatures who eat meat and vegetables and drink water to survive, ENTITIES did not. Has he said that thought in his head, Aethon let out a grin on his face while staring with dead eyes at the ENTITY. "These entities are void born predators of essence itself, leeching mana directly from the surrounding environment." Has Aethon thought this, he noticed that the swirling storm that was beginning to surround the ENTITY were invisible currents of mana that drifted from every direction. From the grass beneath him, the surrounding trees, and even the corpses of the 3 dead soldiers.
Unknown to Aethon who had his blood threads lodged into the ENTITY, his blood technique was absorbing the ENTITY'S mana. Due to been enraged and not controlling his emotions, when he attacked the ENTITY, the SANGUINAETHER within him sensed the enormous amount of mana. As soon as the blood threads entered the ENTITY, the SANGUINAETHER began absorbing the mana which is why the ENTITY began to scream, it felt it's very life force was been taken away and in turn it began to absorb the mana in the area. The ENTITY'S flame head flickered from purple to blue and back to purple again.
Aethons specail blood technique, SANGUINAETHER is not just a weapon, it's hunger given form. It was born from the primal instinct of blood to carry life and help people but it warped into something that could steal life itself if not controlled properly. If he couldn't control his emotions, the SANGUINAETHER would pass judgment on his opponents in his place.
And this thing was perfect prey.
Aethon took a step forward. His knees didn't buckle as they should have after burning so much energy. Instead, strength began to pour into his limbs like hot oil been poured onto cold iron, strengthening it. The fire in his blood technique began to flare even brighter, has it reacted to the sudden surge. Mana was feeding his blood, and the blood fed the fire attached to the blood in turn.
The ENTITY jerked forward, desperate to break the threads, but Aethon wrenched his arms to the side, dragging it off balance. The ground began to scorch underneath his boots as he twisted the blood fire threads tighter, embedding them deeper into the ENTITY'S twisted obsidian colored flesh.
After doing this, Aethon then said in a loud voice while staring at the ENTITY, "I WANT YOU TO FEEL HELPLESSNESS! I WANT YOU TO FEEL SCARED! I WANT YOU TO SCREAM IN PAIN!"
The ENTITY'S head whipped in an unnatural motion. It's eyeless face angling towards Aethon has though it was trying to see the source of its torment.
It lunged, its claws raking the air, but Aethon sidestepped, the threads snapping taut as they dragged across its skin like burning chains. His free hand curled into a claw of its own, and with a snap of will, a second set of blood threads emerged from his palm that were directed at the ENTITY'S chest. This time it was tipped with fire laced barbs. As they pierced the ENTITY'S chest, blood red fire made the blood techniques threads visible in the stillness of the night.
The ENTITY began to convulse violently it's body was emitting a hiss that was similar to the sound that boiling water makes. The air around Aethon began to shimmer from the heat, the metallic scent of blood was thick and choking.
Aethon was having a hard time controlling the fire that appeared on his blood threads as they merged with the blood technique due to his rage.
Each time the ENTITY tried to draw mana from the environment, the blood technique intercepted it, pulling it from the ENTITY into Aethon. It was stuck in an unnatural loop:the entity drained the world, Aethon drained the entity.
With every pulse of mana that was stolen, Aethons fire magic changed. It was no longer running rampant like a wildfire burning in a straight line, no, instead it began to refine and sharpen itself. The flames began to flow like a arterial river alongside the blood threads, each drop of burning crimson wrapping tighter and tighter around the ENTITY.
The world around them began to blur into darkness and flames, shadows started to dance over the dead soldiers bodies, their dead empty eyes staring at a battle they never got to see the end of.
Aethons breathing began to get heavier, not due to exhaustion, but from something else. The mana he was absorbing was not just filling him, it was changing him. His veins started to burn with power, each heartbeat slamming against the edges of control. He sharpened his vision and saw that behind the ENTITY, in the far off distance near the alleyway, there was a small sillouhette of a human figure.
He ignored it. The mysterious figure was not his target. The ENTITY was.
The ENTITY tried one last desperate attempt, it planted its claw into the soil, pulling on the lands mana with such force that the grass around them began to wither away instantly, turning to brittle ash. But the moment the mana entered its body, the blood fire threads flared white and the heat intensified, and the surge was ripped from it before it could use it.
Aethon staggered as the stolen power started to crash into him, heat began coiling up his spine, lightning in his skull. In a heartbeat his senses split, he could feel the ENTITY'S panicked heartbeat, or what sounded like a heaftbeat, it's silent scream, and it's fear. The ENTITY jumped back by 2 meters from where Aethon was.
The flames on the threads turned from a bright white to a near black color at the edges as they got so hot that they began to sear the air itself.
"You're mine," growled Aethon in a low voice, has he stepped towards the ENTITY.
With a savage grin on his face, Aethon shot out blood threads from all 10 fingers towards the ENTITY. Has they pierced it, he swung his hands back which made the ENTITY fly forward, towards Aethons direction, it's body was beginning to tear apart slowly due to the blood threads absorbing the mana.
As Aethon pulled the ENTITY towards himself, in that instant he thought to himself, "this wasnt sustainable. My blood technique wasn't built to handle this much mana at once." But the rage within him overpowered logic. It was replaced by a single, all consuming truth, he didn't want to stop. It fells too good. I'm finally winning after everything that had happened today,he thought to himself.
The stolen mana surged again, harder, faster, each pulse was feeding into him without pause. The ENTITY'S body was slowly starting to collapse and shrink back to its original size, and the purple flame started changing back to a dark blue.
The night air slowly started to turn heavy, the smell of blood and a ghoulish scream filled the air and made the moment dreadful and as dark as the night sky was.
Aethons heartbeat pounded in his ears, drowning out the world. His grip on the blood techniques reins loosened without him realizing.
The threads began to shiver and move on their own.
It was almost as if the SANGUINAETHER was coming to life...