Wolf of the Blood Moon: A Blood Magic

Scarlet Asger

As I walk over to the door, I notice Tar vanishing out of the corner of my eye. And when I turn around to look, I don’t see him anywhere in the room anymore.

Huh.

“I’ve gone invisible now that we are leaving the room and may make contact with people,” his voice resonates in my head, making me feel slightly uncomfortable in the process.

It’s weird to hear someone talking and not know where the voice is coming from. At least with phone calls and stuff you know the voice is technically coming from the phone. But not in this case.

Neither me nor the tanuki speak for a little while as I walk out of the office and begin heading down the hall, occasionally checking doors along the way in the hopes of finding a storage room. Only to have no luck in that department.

By the time I make it halfway down the hall to where the door of the receptionist area that I was at when this all started is, I finally stop as the sound of the spider stops right outside of that very door. I then stare at the door for a few seconds, slowly spreading my claws outwards while tensing up ever so slightly.

Seconds pass by in silence with only the occasional chittering noise of creaking joints from the spider moving in place on the other side of the door.

Why is it waiting?

Unless the huntsman demons are too quiet for me to hear, there shouldn’t be any more demons on this floor. Meaning it can’t be waiting for anything.

Could it be going to sleep?

I wait another five or so seconds before my impatience gets the best of me and I barge right through the door to find the spider demon eating a corpse in absolute silence. One that I do not recognize.

The creature jerks its head up as it hears my entrance, but I’ve already swung my clawed hand at its side, tearing a much deeper gash through it than I was ever able to make on the other spider. And that’s when the voice echoes in my head, telling me the demon’s information.

|Demon Spawn – Subspecies: Spider – Level 2|

That explains it.

The demon lets out a loud screech of pain before I follow up with another strike with my claws, albeit with my wounded arm this time. And the pain that comes along with it has me wincing.

I feel more blood pouring out of the wound, eventually leaving a trail to my claws on that arm before the claws themselves grow in size and opacity.

While I’m not sure how to drain my own blood to power the skill, or even how to enhance the skill with extra mana, I do at least know that my blood can enhance it even if it’s just blood from a wound like this.

I hurriedly try to jump back, away from the spider as it sends a sharp limb straight at me, only for that very limb to get stuck in the wall in the process. So I take advantage of this to rush forwards again with my wounded arm, where I straight up grab at the back of its head, letting my claws dig deeper and deeper into it until the entire spider begins to convulse.

It sends another clawed limb at me, but I notice it getting slower and slower the closer it gets to me, all the way until it stops the instant I dig my other clawed hand straight through the spider’s eye, trying very hard to avoid its incisors in the process.

{Level 2 Demon Spawn defeated. Bonus EXP is awarded for killing a creature above your level.}

{One Skill Point is awarded for killing a demon.}

As soon as I hear the messages, I rip both of my hands out of its head with a very disgusted look on my face at the sight of green blood coating the ends of my jacket sleeves.

I’m going to get that cleaning skill. Absolutely going to get it.

“All Guardians end up getting three of the utility skills that are pretty much a requirement unless they want to end up covered in demon gore with completely ravaged clothes, leaving them nearly half naked and filthy every time they leave a Fracture,” Tar suddenly says, responding to my thoughts.

Hmm. Good to know.

Too bad I can’t afford another skill right now.

Also, if I had to guess, you mean the clean, repair, and recharge utility skills?

“Correct,” he answers right away, his voice still slightly disconcerting me.

Thought so. The rest of the utility skills don’t seem anywhere near as useful.

Since I don’t have any magical items to recharge, that leaves me with either repair or clean. And right now, I only have a single cut on my clothes. So clean would probably be better. Especially if I want to avoid getting an infection in my wound.

I wipe the ichor from my jacket sleeves onto the chair, briefly glance at the spider limb still stuck in the wall, then glance at the window that I was just staring out of not too long ago, before this all started.

So much can change in just… however long it’s been since it started changing. And while I might not have wanted to end up like this – I can’t help but glance at the wolf ears on my head showing in the reflection of the window – it will make life a lot easier on me. Since no one should be able to tell that I’m not just a regular guardian.

Right, Tar?

The tanuki appears closer to the window for some reason before answering, “You’re correct. There should be no way for humans to know that you are not one of them. This is because no one can identify members of the same species, and since you’re half human, you are considered the same species as them.”

I nod my head with a smile.

That’s good.

I walk over to the window before looking out it, through the shield that is likely there, invisible to those of us inside of it, at the blood moon hanging high in the air.

For some reason, the moon makes me feel calm. Relaxed even.

Is it because I’m half blood lycan?

As I stand here, basking in the red moonlight, I feel a strange tingling sensation arise from my wounded arm. And when I look down at it, I find the wound radiating a faint red light.

Huh?

“You didn’t know?” the tanuki asks in a slightly mocking tone of voice that has me turning to look at him with a scowl on my face. “Blood lycans heal in the direct light of the blood moon.”

Oh. That’s nice to know.

I pull my arm as carefully as I can out of the jacket sleeve so as to not irritate the wound or get any more blood than I have to on my jacket before going closer to the window. The tingling sensation grows stronger and stronger the closer I get to the window, and soon enough I can see the wound very slowly closing on its own.

Very slowly.

Seconds pass, and soon enough the seconds turn into minutes. Before long, I feel like I’ve just stood here for nearly five entire minutes before the wound is small enough that it’s nothing more than a very faint scab. So I put my arm back through my sleeve, frowning slightly as I feel some blood along the way but otherwise ignoring it.

Guess I don’t need any bandages anymore.

I smile at that thought before turning around and walking towards the stairs.

It sounds like there are a few demons on the floor beneath us, with more and more on each floor beneath that. Meaning that the Fracture’s core is most likely closer to the bottom of the building. Quite a bit far away from us here on the thirtieth floor.

And – if I remember correctly from the drills and classes we had to take in high school about Demonic Assaults – the Fractures tend to appear close to large gatherings of humans, on a place close to a flat surface. Meaning that it’s probably somewhere between the first through fifth floors, since those are the most populated.

The tanuki vanishes again as I make my way to the staircase down the hall from the receptionist area.