The Voranth tried to free itself from its current position. Blood poured from its wounds. Suddenly, another piece of loose metal slammed against its body; completely pinning it down.
Garrick slowly approached the creature, his expression calm, he looked like he was taking a stroll through the park instead of battling a Voranth.
He made it look easy, but Voranth's were the stuff of nightmares for ordinary humans and awakened alike. They were intelligent, strong and often possessed abilities that could wipe out a whole battalion.
Voranths were, just like the awakened were for earth, the champions of whatever laid beyond the veil. Only strong awakened and high ranking authorities, such as the council and the highly ranked government officials of each country knew what laid beyond it.
Ordinary civilians and the low ranked awakened weren't privy to such information.
Garrick approached, as the creature fought desperately to escape.
"So…tell me, why are you creatures suddenly attacking my school?" Garrick said as he reached the creature. His voice carrying a hint of disdain towards the creature.
"Well…if I knew you were going to be present, I wouldn't have attacked" the Voranth responded, his voice sounding forced as it still tried to break free.
"Answer my question…creature," Garrick answered, as he raised his hand and slowly closed his fist, making the bindings tighter on its body, clearly irritated at the Voranth's tone.
The Voranth struggled some more before answering, "Ah, relax, where's the fun in that? it wouldn't be fun if simply spoil the surprise, haha..hahahaha," it said with a mad grin.
Garrick narrowed his eyes at that, there was clearly something wrong with this creature.
Then, he noticed something weird, there was too much blood spilling its body. He had deliberately held back in order to capture it and interrogated it, so that amount of blood did not make sense to him.
"You finally noticed, took you lon enough" the Vorant said with a jovial tone, almost playful.
Garrick's eyes suddenly widened, realization dawning on his face.
Then the blood stopped, instead of falling, it remained suspended in place.
The it moved.
Dozens of crimson tendrils shot toward him. Garrick stepped aside, when he did, a tendril passed over his shoulder, with another curving around him.
He caught a nearby metal beam with his magnetic field and swung it through the tendrils.
The blood scattered, then reformed, making the Voranth smile.
"You cannot stop my blood with metal," It said while its blood eroded the pieces of metal pinning it down.
Garrick didn't respond, he simply stepped forward.
The Veranth moved first.
Its claw tore through the air, aimed directly at Garrick's throat. Garrick tilted his head aside, making the claw miss by an inch.
Before the Veranth could retract its arm, Garrick seized its wrist and drove his fist into its ribs. The impact sent the creature skidding across the courtyard, its feet carving two deep lines into the stone.
It stopped itself with one hand. For a moment, neither moved. Then Garrick noticed something.
Blood.
A thin crimson line ran down the Voranth's forearm where his fist had grazed it.
The creature looked at the blood, and smiled.
The droplets hanging from its skin began to move. They did not fall, but crawled upward.
Slowly at first, then faster, the blood gathered around the Veranth's arm like liquid being pulled toward an invisible center. The crimson substance twisted, hardened, and stretched into dozens of needle-like points.
Garrick's expression remained calm. But his eyes narrowed.
"So that's what it was, that's your ability." He said with a calm voice.
The Voranth flexed its fingers, and the blood answered. Every drop scattered across the courtyard suddenly trembled.
Then rose.
Hundreds of tiny droplets lifted from the ground, from shattered stone, and from the creature's own wounds. They hovered in the air around it, suspended like a crimson storm.
The Veranth had not simply been bleeding.It had been gathering strentght.
Its arm suddenly reshaped beneath the coating of blood, forming a jagged blade along its forearm.
The creature stepped forward. The blood followed. It moved as naturally as an extension of its body.
Garrick immediately understood the danger.
This was not merely an ability that allowed the Voranth to manipulate its own blood.
It could control blood once it had been spilled. And judging by the way the crimson droplets responded to the creature's movements, the Voranth could alter their shape, density, and direction with terrifying precision.
The creature disappeared.
Garrick raised his arm creating a barrier. A crimson blade collided with his magnetic barrier.
The impact exploded outward, and another blade came from behind.
Garrick twisted his body, making the blade miss his spine by centimeters.
Then another.
And another.
The courtyard filled with streaks of red. The Veranth no longer fought with its claws alone.
Every wound had become a weapon. Every drop of blood had become another piece of the battlefield under its control.
Garrick realized something.
The longer this fight continued, the stronger the Voranth's arsenal would become.
He had to finish the fight quickly. If he cannot capture it, then he will simply kill it. This Voranth was too dangerous to let roam free.
He decided to upped the ante of the fight.