Lenard had only heard about the brat mage who made a mess of his operation. He starts to calmly walk towards Ren before picking up speed and winds up a swing with his katana. A foreign sword in the Irvan Kingdom.

  “Haste! Basic Barrier!”

  Ren cast one spell after another. As Lenard brings his sword down, Ren puts her hand up and a force appears before her hand looking like a pale blue glass pane. Ordinarily, a sword of this calibur swung by a class appropriate man of level 40 or higher would normally cleave through this barrier. Like a hot knife through butter. Instead, Ren sidestepped the blade and took the blade’s impact at an angle. Like an ice skate, the blade glides along the angled surface and the blade fails to reach Ren.

  “How annoying!” Lenard said. “I’m in a hurry, so if you would be so kind as to die, that would be appreciated.”

  “No, thank you.” Ren said before she casts a new spell. “Water Arrow.”

  Water magically appears in the shape of an arrow. It flies towards Lenard with incredible speed. Despite this, Lenard just stands there. He lets the spell hit him. The magically conjured arrow strikes him in the chestplate. It impacts, striking him hard right in the chest. However, there is no visible damage to Lenard or the plate that was hit. He wipes away the water dripping from his chestplate with a hand.

  “I should’ve brought a towel.” he jokes.

  Lenard looks back at the burning brewery that was functioning as a front for his illegal business and hideout.

  “I guess it’s a bit too late for that.” he said.

  In the same breath as he told the joke, Lenard rushed Ren with his katana. He swings and the blade connects with Ren’s barrier. Midswing, Lenard angles the blade and the force behind it to strike the barrier. The katana cuts into the barrier. The barrier still stops the blade, but it still cuts into the glass like magic barrier. Despite failing to cut through, Lenard keeps the blade there. He takes this chance to sniff at Ren. He fills his nostrils with her scent. Despite this, Ren doesn’t look visibly disturbed by his odd behavior.

  “Your blood smells sweet.” he chuckles. “I could use a snack before I leave.”

  He steps forward and bites at Ren. In that same motion, Apherward saw Lenard open his mouth and the canines of his teeth elongate into fangs. He releases the blade in his hand and grabs onto the barrier that Ren is trying to keep between the two. The initial bite was avoided, but the force of him pressing forward pushed Ren. With a leg still recovering from a gunshot wound, Ren falls over. Lenard takes this opportunity to pounce on Ren. With his fangs bare, he bites at Ren’s left hand. His fang finds purchase in her skin and blood sprays out.

  Status: Injured

  Left Arm Bite Severity 2

  “Mmm. Not bad.” Lenard licks his lips as he speaks.

  Lenard’s eyes begin to glow. His muscles bulge. It is then that it dawns on Apherward.

  “Oh! This guy’s a vampire. Eh, I probably should’ve seen that one coming.”

  Lenard tried to stomp on Ren. She put the barrier up against his foot. When his boot impacted against the barrier, the barrier cracked into a spider web formation. Apherward can guess that the next time he attacks the barrier, it was going to fall apart. With a flick of her wrist, Ren dispelled the barrier. The katana Lenard embedded into the barrier fell once it vanished.

  “Basic Barrier.”

  And immediately created a new one.

  “Ice Bolt.”

  Ren flings her injured left hand at Lenard. Hardened ice forms out of thin air and lances out towards him. He backs away from the spell before it hits him.

  “Tch. How annoying.” Lenard said.

  “Why did you dodge that?” Ren asked as she sat up off the ground.

  “What are you talking about?” Lenard said.

  “You let me hit you with the spell before. And the spell after that. Why dodge the third?”

  “I guess it was a force of habit. I’m not used to crushing runts like you. I saw an attack and reacted defensively. But I’m not worried. I can afford to take a hit. Not sure your scrawny ass can survive this.”

  He walks up to his katana left on the ground. He stomps on it’s hilt and it flips up in the air where he catches it. He gives Ren a sneer before he rushes at her with sword in hand. He brings his sword across with his right hand. Ren is forced to move the barrier in her right hand to her left side. With a head on attack, the barrier is easily cut. She angles it upward and the sword slides off like it struck a pane of glass like before. As long as the blade met the barrier at an angle, the blow would be deflected. However, the katana seems to be still doing damage to the barrier even if it isn’t bringing it’s full might to bear. In addition, Ren’s leg, and now arm, are injured. Ren was not in a position to challenge him in a contest of strength. Worse, she was fighting someone higher leveled than her who was uninjured.

  Lenard swung again and when Ren deflected the attack with her barrier, he lunged to try and bite at Ren. He also kicked and stomped where he could. Ren could barely keep up with his aggressive fighting style, but it didn’t quite come across as well thought out. Some moves were a bit clumsy and threw him off balance. Apherward decided to ask him about it.

  “So how long have you been a vampire?” Ren asked.

  “We’re not here to chat brat.” Lenard snapped back.

  “But you’re really bad at this. I thought you were a new vampire.”

  “What? How did you know?”

  “Uhm… your fangs. The biting.”

  A moment of pause passes as Lenard thinks those words over.

  “Shit!” Lenard shouts. “Now you really need to die.”

  “It might be hard, since you’re kind of bad at it.”

  “You got a mouth on you, ya little shit."

  “Well, I think you’re genuinely bad at this. You’re trying to use a sword, bite and kick. But you’re kind of clumsy at it. A fighter of your level should be able to follow up after every move and combo me until my barrier shatters. So you’re either an old vampire who’s very bad at this, or a new vampire trying to learn how to fight with his new power.”

  “Tch.” Lenard scoffs. “If you must know, I’ve been a vampire for almost a year now.”

  “I see. A year isn’t much for a vampire. Vampires don’t age so you can take your time. You’ll probably have to do a lot of learning to do in the early years.”

  “Pfft!” Lenard chuckles. “Well, thanks for your words of encouragement. Sad to say, but now that you know I’m a vampire, you have to die. You know nobody likes someone drinking their blood.”

  “Well, no. I don’t have to die. I just need you to die instead.”

  “Is that so?” Lenard chuckles as he prepares to charge at Ren again.

  “Yep! Also, now you have to kill all of them too.” Ren points off as she speaks.

  Lenard furrows his brow and turns to look. He looks down an alleyway, but there is no one there.

  “Chain Lightning.” Ren said.

  As Lenard was faced away from her, Ren casted a new spell and lightning shot out from her hand. This spell seemed to have more of an effect. Or at least Lenard was crying in pain in response to being struck by this.

  “Ahh! Gods damn you. You and your words!” Lenard spat back in a lower, more raspy voice.

  “It’s your fault for being gullible.” Ren said flatly.

  Those words made Lenard pop a vein.

  “Oh hey guys!” Ren waves at an unseen listener as she speaks. “I found Lenard! Can I get some help?”

  “If you think I’m stupid enough, to fall for that again I’m going to crack your skull open and see just what makes your mind so repulsive.”

  “I want to know too, but I don’t want to risk it.” then Ren points off. “Also, I’m actually serious about asking for help this time.”

  “Just fire already!” a voice erupted from behind Lenard.

  He turned to look at the source of the voice. There he saw the town guards lining up crossbows and training them on Lenard.

  “Fire at will!” Captain Releon shouted from the side.

  Roughly a dozen crossbow bolts shot out and riddled Lenard.

  “I thought you fled our little town, Lenard.” Captain Releon said to him. “Shame you didn’t. We could’ve avoided all this mess. But I’m glad I can see you like this.”

  He waved a hand and the guards beside him began to reload their crossbows.

  “You? Actually, who are you?” Lenard, despite being covered in crossbow bolts, just furrowed a brow and gave the captain a strange look.

  “I am Captain Releon of the Blue Pine town watch. A little over a year ago, you killed my wife and everyone in that art exchange. I want to be a better man and offer you mercy. So if you would, please resist arrest to the last moment so I can see you dead.”

  “Pfft.” Lenard scoffs at him. “You know, I gotta fight to the end. You’ll figure it out once I go hungry after a day in a cell. Surrendering here is the same as killing myself with extra steps.”

  Lenard inhales deeply, before he next speaks. His muscles begin to bulge even more than it already was.

  “I could try to weasel my way out of this, but this is personal to you. How about this, I give up my collaborators and you let me go right now. We can all leave here with our lives.”

  “Not a chance.” Captain Releon said. “Surrender or we will fire again.”

  “Hah! Right.” Lenard chuckles. “Wish I learned how to fly or turn into a bat. Then I could get out of here, easy peasy.”

  Lenard stands up straight and holds his katana with both hands. Captain Releon gives a sigh of relief at the motion.

  “Fire!”

  Another volley of crossbow bolts pelt Lenard. In response to this, his skin turns red. He begins to grow in size. His clothes and armor begin to tear. His boots in particular tear to reveal the hooves of a goat. The crossbow bolts that struck him shoot out in gouts of blood. Horns erupt from his head. Everyone watches as he grows to be 9 feet in height. Lenard just rubs at his horns.

  “Couldn’t give me any wings?” Lenard scoffs. “Stupid ass demons.”

  “What in the world?” a guard screamed.

  “We can’t let him run amok!” another says.

  “All of you reload!” Captain Releon barks an order.

  Captain Releon rushes forward with a sword and shield. He stops in front of the towering figure of Lenard.

  “Come and face me, you grass munching freak! I always wondered how our world could spit out hellspawn like you, but now I know your father was really intimate with a goat!”

  “I’ve had enough of you.” Lenard said in a bored tone of voice.

  He lifts his hoof up and stomps down on Captain Releon. This is made much easier as a 9 ft tall monster of a man. Captain Releon tries his best to side step the hoof. He manages to dodge the first stomp, but Lenard moved unnaturally fast and stomped again. He moves with such speed, you would think he was tap dancing. Unfortunately, Captain Releon simply can’t keep up and he is crushed under Lenard’s hoof. The first stomp to connect crushes his arm and some ribs.

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  “All you had to do was let it go and I would’ve served up my co-conspirator. Now here you are. Under my hoof.”

  At those words, Apherward makes a connection.

  “Oh! He’s a vampire who made a deal with a demon of some kind. Now he has goat hooves. Vampires are all about blood. His gang is called the Blood Hoof gang. Man! This guy is really creative.”

  If Apherward could nod it’s head, it would be doing so now.

  “Hah! I may be under your hoof, but at least I didn’t sell my soul to call someone daddy. As much as I would love to see these co-conspirators of yours, I don’t want to see what kinks you're into.” Captain Releon spat back.

  “Actually, he’s a vampire who gained power from a deal with a demon.” Ren said very flatly, despite the circumstances.

  “Great.” Lenard sighs. “That was supposed to be a secret. Now I have to kill you all.”

  “It wasn’t a very good secret.” Ren said as plainly as ever. “You named your gang the Blood Hoof gang. You were almost spelling it out for us.”

  “Bitch, please.” Lenard spat back. “You probably just figured it out a second ago.”

  “No!” Ren said. “I figured it out a minute ago.”

  “Oh! Big deal. Stupid brat!” Lenard scoffs.

  “Oh, like you've got a knack for creative naming.” Captain Releon fired back. “Blood Hoof gang my hide.”

  “You think you're in a position to insult me?” Lenard shouted down at the Captain.

  “Hah! Like I'd beg you if all people for mercy. No, I'm sorry. I mean I won't be begging a goat like you for my life.” the Captain said.

  “You know what?” Lenard leaned down towards Captain Releon. “You know how I got the title, Lenard the Trampler?”

  “Because of your cloven hooves, you goat.”

  At those words, Lenard slams his hoof in Captain Releon’s head. The Captain was dead.

  “Not the last words I would've chosen, shithead.” Lenard spat back.

  The 9 foot tall figure rushed the other town guards. They fired their crossbows, but few manage to hit him. The crossbow bolts that do manage to hit fail to penetrate his red skin. When Lenard catches up to the guards he begins to stomp on them. With the speed of a dancer, he stomps on the guards killing them. Before he could trample on the last of them, a spell is flung his way.

  “Ice Bolt.”

  A bolt of ice hits Lenard in the back. The last time he was hit by that spell, he was wearing armor. Now, the ice strikes his bare skin doing no visible damage. Lenard turns back to see the mage. The town guards had lost their Captain and a monster of a man was rapidly killing them. They took the chance to run.

  “Brat!” Lenard snarled. “I honestly can't believe I forgot about you. Shame on me, really.”

  He rushed at Ren. Heavy foot falls boom in the night. Lenard prepared to stomp on the girl. As he approached, the girl casted a spell.

  “Stone Wall.”

  A 6 foot tall wall shot up from beneath one of Lenard's hooves. He falls forward after losing balance and his momentum from running carried him forward.

  “Stone Wall.”

  Ren casted another spell. In the path Lenard was falling, another wall of stone shot up. He fell face first into the wall. The impact was especially bad as his face met the stone with a great force. The right side of Lenard's face smashed against the wall. From his brow to his upper lip, the fall did a lot of damage. His right eye refused to open. He wasn't sure if the eye was okay, but the pain forced him to keep it shut out of a reflex. His upper lip is bleeding and a number of teeth on the right side of his face were knocked loose. Thankfully for him, he hasn't lost a tooth to the collision. His canines, or rather his vampire fangs, took the brunt of the impact. The fangs in particular were not knocked loose, but the teeth around them were in a fragile state.

  Lenard picked himself up and tried to look around. Looking through a single eye, he can't find the girl. In the light of the burning brewery, Lenard focused his vampiric power to heal him. The blood remained, but his upper lip healed and the pain that forced his right eye shut began to subside. His vampiric healing made such injuries a non-issue. Lenard began to shout.

  “Where are you, brat?”

  He saw the walls of stone that Ren conjured. He kicked them with his hooves and they shattered to the force of his kick. He looked around and found no girl. All he did find was his katana that he abandoned earlier in the fight. He reached down to pick it up.

  “Chain Lightning.”

  From his left flank, as he was reaching down, lightning lances out to shock him. Lightning burns Lenard’s body, but he doesn’t react to it at all. He pulls his sword from the ground before turning to face the thorn in his side.

  “You should’ve ran, brat!” Lenard said.

  “Adventuring is all about fighting things bigger than you.” Ren said. “How else are you going to get those stories of dragon slaying? The adventurers weren’t eating until they were in the same weight class as a dragon.”

  “Pfft! Hahaha!” Lenard laughed in earnest now. “An adventurer. You want to be a troublemaker who throws their lives into the jaws of death just so a bard can write a song or poem about them? You want to die in some gods forsaken ruin because your heart calls for you to dangle over a pit of spikes? What are you, like, five-years-old? Well, at least now your stupidity all makes sense now.”

  Lenard swings down with his katana. Ren only barely dodges it. Even then, she stumbles and falls to the ground. Ren’s left leg just wasn’t moving like Apherward wants it to. Lenard takes this chance to bite at Ren. She tries to crawl away, but it becomes clear that she isn’t fast enough. Thankfully, someone is still looking out for Ren. Lenard’s feet have been replaced with goat hooves. His masculine human form ends at his knees and the demonic traits begin to take shape. In a flash of movement, a Phantom Assassin slashes at the back of his knees. Lenard’s lunging bite fails to gain the distance he needs and he falls short. Before he can try a follow up attack, Ren is pulled at a super human speed. Holding Ren by her waist was Mona. She wasn’t wearing her usual nun habit. Tonight, she wore a darkened cloth suit of some kind. Across her hips she wore a belt with a variety of pouches and a sheath for a dagger.

  “I killed everyone and couldn’t find Lenard.” Mona said.

  “Yeah, Lenard came out of our side in the ambush.” Ren said.

  “And did he escape and summon a demon for us to deal with?” Mona asked.

  “Oh, no that’s Lenard.” Ren pointed to the fanged man with cloven hooves.

  “That’s Lenard?” Mona gave a sidelong glance at the figure who was rapidly regenerating the slashes behind his knees. “What happened while I was killing the other gang members?”

  “A lot. I just found out he can do that. The Captain was killed.” Ren said.

  “Right.” Mona nodded as Ren spoke. “Well, nothing to do but see that his sacrifice wasn’t for nothing. I’m not much of a demon slayer, but I think slashing at his vitals should do the trick. You stay here. I’ll see about killing him.”

  Without another word, Mona leaps away. Then a thought occurred to Apherward. Then Ren voiced that thought.

  “Wait, did I tell Mona about the demon vampire thing?”

  Lenard was recovering from the slashes to his knees.

  “Damn brat!” Lenard pulls himself up, checking to see if he can walk and give chase.

  He starts to stand. As he does, an elf woman lands on his head and plunges a dagger into his skull. The dagger easily stabs into his newly empowered skull. The dagger itself was magical and cut through targets much easier. However, this dagger’s magic had an issue with armor. Thankfully, Lenard’s armor fell apart after he grew to be 9 feet tall. Mona took advantage of this by pulling the dagger out before proceeding to stab Lenard in the heart, both lungs, slashed his throat and cut open his stomach. In the time it took for Lenard’s heart to beat once, he had been stabbed by the Phantom Assassin 6 times. Lenard doubled over and swung his sword wildly to try and slash at his unseen attacker, or at least force them to back away out of the sword’s range.

  “Hey Mona!” Ren said as she slowly limped towards the assassination attempt. “He’s a vampire who made a deal with a demon. So he does… well a lot…”

  “Okay. Is that a problem?” Mona asked.

  “Well, he does a lot of regenerating.” Ren said.

  “Ah!” Mona paused for a moment.

  Lenard recovered and swung at Mona with his sword. Mona back flipped out of the way and landed next to Ren.

  “So what are we supposed to do?” Mona asked.

  “Do you have any silver?”

  “No.”

  “Wooden stakes?”

  “I do not.”

  “Then let’s just keep him out here for a while. We can’t outright kill him like this, but we can still win the battle of attrition.” Ren said.

  Mona gave Ren a confused look.

  “I know I’m a higher level than him, but assassins generally don’t do well in longer drawn out battles.” Mona said.

  “It’s okay! It won’t be too long.” Ren said.

  “There’s no way this’ll work.”

  “It’s okay. We can take turns.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I can go crazy with spells and then when I need a break to clear my magic capacity, you switch with me and fight him. When you do your assassin stuff and need a break, I can cast a spell.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Don’t worry, it’ll work.”

  “If you say so. Also, bandage your arm.” Mona points at Ren’s left hand. “Do you even feel pain?”

  There was a brief silence as Ren looks at her left hand. It was still bleeding from Lenard's bite.

  “Oh.” Ren said flatly.

  “Just bandage it already.”

  Mona lept away to stab Lenard for a time.

  Lenard stood back up after recovering. He looked for his target. Then mona suddenly appeared and stabbed him a bunch.

  “Raaaggghh!!!” screaming was about the only thing Lenard could do at the moment. “Just hit!”

  Lenard swung his katana wildly.

  “Just hit once you stupid thing!” he was screaming at his own sword now.

  He looked around trying to find his attacker. When he finally found Mona, he started charging towards her. With a clear target in sight, Lenard knew what to do. He prepares to swing before he is struck with another spell.

  “Blind.”

  Darkness consumes his vision. His clear view of his next target vanished. Lenard rampaged as the spell blinded his eyes. When the spell finally ended, the Phantom Assassin was gone. In her place was a Mage.

  “Ice Bolt.”

  Ren peppered him with spells that were not effective at all. He prepared to stomp on the girl, but he felt a variety of stab wounds suddenly open around his body. Ren fled while he was immobile and he now had to contend with the assassin again.

  “Damn it! Damn you all!” Lenard shouted at his two attackers.

  For almost half an hour, the two took turns fighting Lenard. Mona did most of the fighting. Mona would out speed and overcome Lenard with her speed and assassination techniques. When Lenard began to corner her, Ren would prevent him from putting up a decent fight by casting a variety of spells. It was a vicious cycle. Mona could harm him, but he used his vampiric nature to regenerate any damage she managed to inflict on him. Ren outright couldn’t wound him. Still she had a variety of annoying spells. Her main tools of peeling Lenard off of Mona were the Blind and Stone Wall spells. To Mona’s dismay, she and the girl were growing more tired and Lenard showed no signs of growing weary from the battle.

  “Hey! Ren. I don’t think he’s getting tired.” Mona said.

  “That’s okay.” Ren said.

  “I thought we were going to tire him out.”

  “Oh. Sorry, I should have explained.” Ren tilted her head and thought. “We’re almost done though.”

  “This is your plan?” Lenard spoke up as the two were standing together. “Don’t make me laugh!”

  Lenard used his hoof to stomp on them. Mona grabbed Ren and darted away. Lenard’s hoof smashed a crater into the road.

  “Fight me until I got tired. Is that the best plan you had?” Lenard snarled.

  “Blind.” Ren casted the spell again.

  “Aaaahhh!!!” Lenard screamed. “Again with this?!?!”

  “Mona.” Ren said as she pointed eastward.

  Mona looked and saw that the night sky was turning red. A sign of sunrise. Mona nodded her head.

  “Can we double back, real fast.” Mona said. “Was he alone in this? Or is he only a small part of a conspiracy?”

  “He said he had co-conspirators.” Ren said.

  Lenard was clawing at his eyes as if that would help him clear the spell Ren had casted on him. Mona grabbed her dagger from the pommel end and pulled. A thin wire came from it.

  “What do you say, Lenard? Ready to give up?” Mona said.

  Mona dashed away silently and wove this wire into a net between the roof of some nearby buildings.

  “I don’t need to. I can kill you all.” Lenard said. “There is no surrender. None of you would let a vampire free. A superior being to man who feeds on them. Your pride won’t let you admit that there are some beings superior. That man is on the top of the food chain. But I’ve seen higher than them. I’ve seen true superiority. You will never submit to your betters. Peace stopped being an option the moment the brat found out.”

  “By the way, vampire ashes and fangs make for great alchemical ingredients.” Ren said. “You can use human components for alchemy, but it’s not the same. Vampire stuff is awesome compared to human stuff.”

  “Is that an insult?” Lenard snarled back, waving his sword wildly.

  “No. I’m agreeing with you.” Ren said. “Vampire stuff is really powerful. It sure is better than human stuff.”

  “Then how about I cut you up and grinded your bones into a powder?”

  “What do you mean? You’re a vampire, you should be paying more attention to my blood.”

  “Oh! How could I forget?” Lenard worked his jaw to scrape his upper fangs against his lower fangs.

  “I’m ready.” Mona said.

  “So, what did you do?” Ren asked.

  “My dagger produces a silk thread. I used it to make this here.” Mona answered.

  Lenard was still blinded by Ren’s spell.

  “What are you two talking about?” Lenard spat as he spoke.

  At those words, he felt a force push him off his feet. He expected to fall to the ground, but something caught him.

  “What? What is this?” Lenard said.

  He tried to move, but he felt something tighten around him as he moved.

  “The silk is made out of a sort of monster silk.” Mona continued. “Quite frankly, this thread is stronger than me. I think I got a good measure of his strength, it should hold him until sun up.”

  At the word ‘sun’, Lenard knew what was happening. He tried to struggle desperately. He then thought to use the katana in his hand to try and cut himself free. As the thought crossed his mind, he felt a dagger slash at his fingers. He felt the pain shoot through his hand and the metal sword clan against the floor.

  “Damn it! You couldn’t even do work here? You haven’t even cut the girl even once!” Lenard growled.

  It was at this moment that the Blind spell ended and vision returned to him. He was hanging in some sort of spider web and was looking down at his katana laid on the stone brick road of Blue Pine town.

  “WARUMASA YOU SHIT STAIN! I’M TALKING TO YOU!!!” Lenard was screaming now.

  Ren and Mona approached him as he was bound in this spider web.

  “MACKAMER! MACKAMER YOU FUCK! SAVE ME!!!” Lenard screamed again.

  “Mackamer?” Mona said. “You mean the head of the Endless Fruit company? The guy who’s been providing additional funding to the town guard’s anti crime campaign?”

  “Yes!” Lenard was breathing heavily now. “That pompous bastard is my sire. He’s the vampire who turned me. He’s my co-conspirator. You want to screw someone over. It’s him! He’s had his fingers in the pie the whole time. He’s been selling you and the guards out so I could dodge all your raids and arrests! He’s- AAAHHHHH!!!”

  The sun has begun to rise. The light that touched Lenard is burning him.

  “AAAHHH!!! MACKAMER IS THE ONE! HE’S THE MASTERMIND BEHIND EVERYTHING!”

  The entirety of Lenard’s form began to char and burn.

  “IF HE’S GOING TO ABANDON ME, THEN I’LL DAMN HIS NAME WITH MY LAST BREATH! DAMN YOU, MACKAMER BLOODYAWN FUNDAE!!!”

  Level up!

  Ren

  Level 6 Mage -> Level 7 Mage

  Strength: 9 -> 10

  Magic: 20 -> 23

  Agility: 7 -> 8

  Vitality: 6 -> 7

  Lenard had begun to burn to ash. The system had shown in Ren’s head confirming his death. Even so, this didn’t stop Apherward. While no one was paying attention, Ren had placed a bucket she found beneath Lenard and the bucket began to fill with ash.

  “This will be some really valuable stuff for alchemists.”

  Mona gave her a sidelong glance.

  “If you say so.” Mona shrugged. “Also, you wouldn’t happen to have some big water spells, would you?”

  “I can shoot an arrow of water. Why do you ask?” Ren said.

  “Well,” Mona pointed back to the brewery that was on fire. “We still haven’t put out that fire. Alcohol and wood, you know.”

  “Oh.” Ren stared blankly at the building that had been burning for over half an hour now. “I don’t think I can help with that.”

  “Right.” Mona gave a heavy sigh. “Well just have to let it burn out. Water and alcohol don’t mix well in this circumstance anyway.”

  “I can create stone walls.” Ren said.

  “That’ll do.” Mona beckoned Ren over. “But you should’ve started with that.”

  Ren, under Apherward’s puppeteering gathered as much demon vampire ash as she could in the bucket, made sure to grab the four demon vampire fangs and place them in the bucket and ran off to help Mona. Within her head, Apherward speaks.

  “Phew, what an adventure. This is the life.”Apherward spoke in his old wisen wizard voice. “ Punching above your weight class and coming out on top. That’s the stuff. Soon the town will hear all about this. It’s going to be great. I can’t wait to complete this quest. Just got to hand it off to that Mackamer guy. Oh. Wait, is he a vampire? He didn’t seem like one. I wonder if he’ll still reward me, or I guess reward the girl after all this. But it is in the nature of an adventurer to stick their noses in other people’s business and cause a ruckus. Nothing to do now, but reveal him for what he truly is. Soon all will know of the supreme might of magic-”

  “So you now grip the blade of Warumasa.” a low masculine voice spoke in Ren’s mind. “You seem like a frail girl. Still, you bested one more sturdy than you.”

  “Hello?” Apherward said.

  “Quiet now, gir- wait… is that this girl’s inner voice?” the other voice said within Ren’s head. “No matter. How you sound to yourself is of no consequence.”

  “Wait, who is this?” Apherward asked.

  “Silence girl!” the new voice snapped. “I am Warumasa the Demon Blade! I shall not be interrupted again! You shall hear my voice, for I demand blood! With my power see your enemies bloodied before you and-”

  “Woah! Woah! Woah! Hang on!” Apherward said. “I didn’t touch any blade.”

  “Foolish girl!” this voice calling itself Warumasa spoke. “You may have bested my previous wielder, but do not think that I will let you speak out of turn! Know that I am a supreme blade forged from the deepest envy and bitterness.”

  “Okay! Stop! Stop! Stop! I’m not the girl.” Apherward spoke. “Look, I am Apherward the Mote of Dark Secrets. I’m a tome of great and incredible power. Mages clamor to seek out my knowledge.”

  “Wait! What?” Warumasa said. “Wait, so who’s the girl holding me?”

  “The girl isn’t holding you- oh!” Apherward stopped mid sentence as he scanned it’s environs.

  At some point, Ren had picked up Lenard’s katana. It’s blade was a mix of black and red metal. The handguard was in a motif of a sort of demon’s face.

  “Wait! You’re the sword in Ren’s hands?” Apherward shouted in Ren’s mind.

  “I, well, yes. Who are you?” Warumasa said.

  “I’m the book in her pack.” Apherward said.

  “Okay, so where’s the girl? Her mind must be here somewhere.” Warumasa asked.

  “I don’t know, I honestly haven’t been thinking that hard on it.” Apherward said dismissively.

  “Okay, what?” Warumasa exclaimed. “You don’t know where the girl is?”

  “I do not.” Apherward said.

  “Fine then! I will take this body for myself!” Warumasa said with authority. “Begone, book!”

  “Screw you. I’ll just leave you here.” Apherward spat back.

  “Toss this book girl!” Warumasa said.

  “Just drop the sword.” Apherward said.

  Despite the forces playing in her head, Ren remains motionless.

  “Come on!” Warumasa said. “Do it!”

  “Come on!” Apherward said. “Just drop it!”

  Ren remained still. As the sun rose on a new day, Ren remained unmoving. Her head was a jumble of masculine voices grunting and hurling insults at each other. Soon, the girl known as Ren would be off on a new adventure with a new sentient object at her side.