Date: June 14th 2018

  Lightly stepping onto the nearby house, Helo quickly moves across the rooftops and toward the direction of Hinata’s scream. As he is running his focus is on his movement and his own senses. He is straining to hear Hinata, but that doesn’t mean he is unaware of his surroundings.

  He can hear the soft beat of a large bird’s wings. As soon as he landed on the roof it started for him. Not even bothering to look, Helo draws a dagger and coats it in ‘Forced Still’. The bird times its dive for when he is leaping to the next building. In air Helo spins around and catches the eye of the large brown hawk.

  Helo can’t read the expression on the bird’s beak, but he can feel as surprise shoots through its aura. With the bird now in range Helo hits it with the full strength of his aura. With wings extended to slow it’s fall, the bird wavers slightly. At that moment he tosses the dagger.

  Under the effects of its own weight and Helo’s aura the bird doesn’t have the time to dodge. The blade hit’s the birds wing just as it sends out a powerful flap to finish its dive, only the left wing responds. The right is paralyzed in place. With a smirk Helo finishes the jump as the bird careens off into the street.

  He ignores the loud crash and screech behind him. Landing smoothly on the next roof, Helo can hear the sounds of fighting ahead. To his surprise there is a new hole in the wall. When did that get there? How long was I meditating?

  Hinata and his party are fighting within and around the hole. Taking it all in at a glance Helo believes that the scream has something to do with Carl. He is laying on the ground face down. His body is in the center of the opening and he is getting trampled.

  His party, with Hinata leading the charge is pushing through the horde and trying to get to Carl. Helo is coming up from behind and he bypasses his fighting teammates and slips on top of the wall. Using his bloodline abilities Helo hides his presence and slips into the monster horde. With all the bodies pushing and shoving to get through the hole, none of them pay attention to a shadow that is slipping in between their midst.

  It takes a few seconds to reach Carl, but by the time he does a large frog like monster is standing over his body and looking at him like it wants to try a piece. All the other monsters were focused on the sounds of fighting and dying, they just walked right over Carl.

  As Helo gets close the tongue of the frog lashes out in a straight line toward Carl. Moving quickly Helo swaps out the knives in his hand for the naginata. Doing a single quick twist, Helo builds up momentum and cuts the frog-like-monsters tongue clean off.

  Scooping up Carl’s body Helo starts making his way back outside the monsters streaming into the gap in the wall. This time Helo is much easier to notice due to the extra weight and the frog that is jumping after him. Each jump forces the frog to slam its body against the other monsters. The stream of bodies is turning into a dam very quickly.

  Looking behind him and seeing all the monsters getting tripped up makes Helo smirk. But it quickly goes away after he feels all the attention of the monsters now on him. He is a running body that is ripe for the taking. The monsters that were focusing on the town had their concentration broken. Now they are going after the closest meal. “Oh Shit.”

  Pumping his legs just a little faster, Helo does his best to make it to his party. They are finishing off or kicking away the last of the monsters from before the stream broke. Behind him Helo can feel as a raptor like predator sets its sights on his back.

  It isn’t long before he can feel as the powerful monster enters his aura. He can feel as it’s two powerful legs tense and the monster is about to leap. About to toss Carl forward, Helo is going to turn back and stall the monster. Preparing his skills, he stops himself as a flash of movement crosses his vision.

  Turning to face what is coming directly for him, he is surprised to see Rurgrim sailing through the air. The dwarf who loves having his feet planted on the ground and a roof over his head. Looking at the armored flying dwarf in surprise he almost misses his step. But the dwarf just sails on by and collides with the leaping raptor with a “CLANG”. Back at the party, the wall that the dwarf erected to launch himself quickly crumbles into rock and dust.

  Helo finally makes it to the group and everyone give him a once over that causes Helo to question them. “What?”

  “Well, you… Look different.” Aiko says as she stares at him with wide eyes.

  Having no idea what changed about his looks Helo turns in a circle and tries to find something to see his reflection in. With nothing in sight, he puts it out of his mind.

  Alli walks up beside him and grabs his arm. “You look really cool. I can see golden veins flowing down your body, even through your clothes. Your hair is now a pitch-black color and you have a shadow that seems to be constantly swirling around you. Other than that, your eyes are the same red color.”

  Raising an eyebrow Helo twists his body and looks for the shadow. Looking toward his back, he thinks. Well dang, she’s right. Behind him there is a darkness that seems to be clinging to his body. He wonders if this is because he found balance in his bloodline, or because of his awakening skill. The golden veins were something he knew about. But looking down he can tell that they were never this bright.

  “Hey Helo you do look so cool. Super-Hot. But can we focus back up?” Gabi says to the group. She breaks the moment between Alli and Helo. She also stops everyone else from staring. “I really hope that cool new look came with some power as well.”

  Showing a fanged smile Helo doesn’t answer, but he does turn back to the wall. Running back in an awkward but suprisinly quick waddle is Rurgrim. His armor wraps his girth and makes him appear like a shiny boulder that is running toward them. Hot on his heels are a wall of monsters.

  There are reptiles of all sorts, and array of mammals, types of monstrous humanoids like goblin and kobolds, and then just plain old monsters. Helo shouldn’t be surprised by this, but he is. Not all of the reptiles and mammals are carnivores. Some of them are things like bunnies and skinks.

  “This really isn’t my kind of fight.” Helo says to the group as he pulls out his naginata. Sighing with defeat he gets ready to start defending. As he is stepping in front of the group a hand lands on his shoulder. Turning back, he is surprised to see Carl awake.

  “This fight is ours, Sir Helo. May we hold off the onslaught long enough for you to free up reinforcements.” After he says that he pulls Helo back from the shoulder and steps forward with his shield raised.

  Rurgrim, Rocco, and Gabi all do the same. “Get out of here pretty boy. You have work to do.” Gabi shouts at him. Facing the other two they nod as well. Finally looking at Hinata and Alli the girls also nod.

  “He is right. We can hold them off. We are all together now. You will do the most good by having our back and clearing the city. Like that you will be freeing up the fighters.” Hinata says to him and pushes him back.

  Not sure how to feel about the situation a part of Helo feels a little sad. They just kicked him out of a fight and told him to get lost. Well, that isn’t exactly what they said. But it feels like it. On the other hand… He thinks while turning to face the town. Tilting his head Helo can hear the sounds of combat ringing off the buildings and in the air.

  With a slight growl and a fanged smirk Helo’s presence vanishes in a swirl of dark light. Dashing forward and between the nearby building he is quickly out of sight. Back at the group Alli says, “Ha he only thought about us for a moment. Then he was happy to have hunting to do.” Dramatically sighing she turns to look at Hinata.

  “You knew what he was like even before he joined us. This is what we expected.” She then turns back to the fight, just as the front line of monster’s hit’s their wall of earth, trees and metal.

  There are some weaker tier 2 monsters mixed in. At tier 2 you gain more attributes and a secondary class. So, gaining levels can easily put you further ahead of tier 1. But at the same time only having a level or two into the tier is still less than Alli and Hinata having a bloodline.

  What does change things is the efficiency increase you gain in each tier. Each tier gets a .25 times modifier on their stats. So, one stat in tier 1 is worth 1.25 points. For tier 2 it is 1.50, and so on. In reality it works similarly to Helo’s percentage modifiers. Right now, at tier 1 he has 91 vitality with an additional 40% added on. So, in reality he has 127.4 vitality. But since he is in tier 1. His has an additional 25% more than tier 0, and 25% less than tier 2.

  This is just an efficiency boost that comes with the foundational changes going up in tier represents. It is also why bridging the gap between tiers is almost unheard of. But for Alli and Hinata they are in luck. Not only do they have their bloodlines, they also have teammates that are capable of supporting and buffing them.

  Between the houses Helo is busy finding all the stray monsters. There are many that have split past between the gate and the hole. Helo even can see some ariel monsters that must have slipped in before the roof was returned to position.

  He is following his senses and letting his eyes rest. In truth the increase to his bloodline and abilities is messing with his eyesight. Using his sense of smell and hearing is almost instinctual for him. But his eyes have so many things happening. Not only is his vision improved in multiple ways; dark vision, distance, acuity, and peripheral tracking. He also has what he calls life sight and mind sight.

  He has known for a while now that he can see lifeforce within people. Normally this is something his aura does even better than his eyes so he often ignores it. It is also something that only works after he drains blood and his eyes glow golden. It might be amazing for night time, but he already has dark vision and he likes staying in stealth.

  If he does end up taking a bit and dropping stealth, normally the distance scales with strength and most of the things that he fights are all within his aura range. But with his new boost in bloodline awakening, he can see a bit farther. Now that isn’t a problem. Seeing an enemy’s body glow in the dark of the alleyway is arguably a good thing. Even if residual life force signs can be confusing.

  The problem is that his newfound balance between his bloodline energies means that not only is he seeing life force, he is seeing mental energy as well. This is a more confusing array of colors and images. These monsters with their singular focus and hunger, are like a beacon of angry red and hungry orange. All of this is mixed up with the purple bubble that surround the emotion.

  It creates a tight cloud around a person’s consciousness and leaves a hazy fog behind. The stronger someone feels, the more of a fog. Some of the men have their thoughts concealed, but the monsters have zero concealment. It is creating a dizzying array in Helo’s sight.

  Not only does he have to deal with those two visible energies, but he can also see spiritual energy now. His new found perception, his life, mind, and spirit vision, along with the feedback of all his senses means that Helo is actually running around with his eyes mostly closed.

  He doesn’t necessarily need his eyes open. His sense of smell can easily track the monsters, his hearing can track their movements, and his aura can feel the world around him and the monsters’ movements.

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  The more he uses his aura the more his new vision bleeds into it, making it more crisp and stronger. This new strength means that Helo is having trouble hiding his aura. But his aura range is only up to twenty meters and the rest of his presence is concealed. So, unless there are any tier 3 beast around, then the monsters can only feel his aura when they are in range. But with his other sense by that time, he already knows about them and is making his approach. For most it is already too late.

  Sweeping through the streets Helo finds monsters and people in less than equal measure. To his joy and annoyance there are mostly monsters in the streets. The people are either on the wall, near the gate and hole; or they are dead.

  Squinting to his left Helo opens his eyes and focuses on his vision for the first time since it got to overwhelming. He could hear a few heartbeats in the house next to him, even with all the fighting going on. But the heart beats feel a little small and weak. Either multiple people are dying, or there are children in the house.

  Slipping through the window Helo has to quickly dodge to the left as some kind of lizard attacks his back. Twisting in the air he lands facing the lizard and on his feet. He is surprised that it got so close. There are very little tier 1 or 2 monsters that seems to be able to hide from him. Some of the only ones that can are ambush predators. This is because that most of them have skills that conceal all or almost all their noticeable signatures while they are still.

  Hearing the weak heart beat moving he looks at the lizard. “Is that you? Did you make a trap?” Looking around Helo can’t see the child that he expected. Looking toward the door, he can hear more of the heartbeats drawing closer. “Damn. You guys got me good.”

  Dodging to the left he attempts to leap out the window. He doesn’t want to be stuck in a room with an unknown monster. Before he can make it free, he has to turn back. A glob of poison is spit from the lizard and it knocks the window closed. As the poison drips down the window, he can hear as the window pane, wood, floor, and carpet are all starting to sizzle and melt under the poison’s effects.

  “Damn that is strong and you are surprisingly intelligent.” Focusing his aura on the poison Helo is unhappy to find that is has zero effect. “So, this is a physical attack. Wow, you have a tough stomach and throat.” He says as he avoids another ball of poison. While he avoids this one another lizard enters the room. Moments later there are now four poison spitting lizards in the small room.

  The five combatants stop fighting and every sizes each other up. Helo looks them all in the eyes and he is surprised by the level of intelligence that shines beneath. “I’d say some dumb and over used quote about how it’s not me who is stuck in here, but well… If I did, I’d be lying.”

  As soon as he finished the sentence Helo draws both throwing blade and launches them one after another. With quick applications of his skills the knives are even more deadly. The first has the skill ‘Defiled Wound’ on it. The lizard that it strikes falls from the wall and looks up with anger. It’s left hind-leg is bleeding heavily. Beneath it, Helo can hear as the blood starts to melt the floor.

  The second blade has ‘Forced Still’ this time as the lizard get struck in center mass. The lizard falls to the floor and lays there paralyzed. This lizard isn’t as wounded but they are only the size of his head. His skill forced still is made to paralyze large animals and humanoids. If it hits the body of a lizard, it will obviously affect more.

  With two of the four enemies out for a few seconds Helo dives away. Where he was just standing a hole is being melted in the floor. Running forward starts to form a ‘Dark Blade’ and he kills the first lizard with his knife. Decapitating the lizard its caustic blood flies into the air and lands on Helo’s body. It quickly melts through his clothing. This is the set he was given by Alli and Hinata. It is enchanted against slashing and piercing damage. It is also enchanted to repair. It has no enchantments to stop caustic poison.

  His blade almost dissipates from the pain, but he has enough will to keep it forming. Creating a quick, not ‘Mental Grasp’, his new blade is in a layer of dark light and monochrome colors. Sending the blade to the lizard behind him it tried to stop his throw with a glob of poison. The poison eats through the dark light, but the blade sails past unhindered and strikes the lizard with a “KUHTHUNK”. The blade is pierced through the lizard and quivers in the wall. Holding the lizard up, as the blade dissipates the lizard falls to the ground.

  To his left and right the lizards are either getting back up or freed from paralysis. Before they can attack him, Helo kills them. Standing in the room Helo looks at the lizards and then at his burning chest and hand. He has a crazing for blood to heal his wounds. But the lizards… Well, they don’t seem like a good choice. Watching how each one’s blood eats into the floor, he decides to wait.

  Collecting their bodies he is about to leave when he decides to check his new skill. He needs to know what is happening with his telekinesis skill. It has become a staple of his fighting. It gives him some much-needed range

  Your skill “Mental Grasp’ has upgraded into ‘Dark Hand’

  Dark Hand (Rare): Surround an object in dark attuned hand made from mental energy. Gives the individual considerable control over the object and weakens outside influences.

  Mhmm, I like it. More control and strength, with the added effect of stopping others from effecting it. “It’s a lot like my aura. Just tighter and more effective.” Leaving the house Helo runs to the next fight. He is goal is the clear the city and he is starting by running between the gate and the hole to the right. Then each pass he is spreading further and further out.

  Jumping off a roof top Helo lands on a windowsill. Below him a man and two women are fighting a group of what appears to be spider monkeys with scorpion tails and eight arms.

  “The fuck are these things, Genny!” The man shouts. He is wearing a red robe and sending out a stream of fire balls.

  The woman Genny is strapped into heavy armor and she is only wielding a massive shield. From what Helo can see all her skills have to do with attracting enemies to her shield then hitting them harder than they hit her. “How should I know! You always ask me, but you know I hate reading.”

  The second woman is wielding a classic Japanese katana and wearing light armor. “You know he is trying and failing to flirt with you.” She casually says back as she kills any of the enemies that make it past the massive shield.

  From Helo’s view the party works well together. Genny’s tanking abilities are some of the best Helo has seen so far. As all the monkeys are once again affected by her taunt skill, they all face her shield like it slept with their wife. All at once the monkeys leap toward Genny. “Silo. Rina. You better the ready.” As she yells out as her shield glows blue. Then the monkeys hit her shield just as she tilts it up toward the sky. At the same time massive mana explosion rings out.

  The monkeys are sent straight up into the air and Rina the sword woman and Silo the fire mage send out as many ranged attacks as they can before the monkeys strike the ground. Silo does much better, but his accuracy is a lot worse than Rina. She is sending out thrust from her katana that turn into mana bolts.

  As the monkeys hit the floor they are dazed by the explosion and fall. Out of the fifteen, only six are left. Looking at the party they are all almost falling and seem tired. Most are panting, while Silo and Genny look like they are out of mana.

  Rina stands up using her sword as a crutch. Before she can, an odd-looking black knife drops down and kills a monkey. She looks up and sees a man following the knife. As he is falling, she takes in the glowing golden pattern that she can see below his clothes and the whisps of shadows that trail behind him.

  He lands with feline grace and he lifts his left hand, flicking his hand to the left, the blade erupts from the fallen monkey and kills the next in line. Instead of piercing into the ground the ‘Dark Blade’ goes through the foe and with another flick it strikes the next. After five monkeys the projection dissipates.

  With incredible speed but a causal walk he steps forward and kills the last. Rina is watching with wide eyes and a little apprehension. She can hear him muttering to himself. “So, it only lasts for about ten seconds, or does it have to do with damage taken?”

  But she lets out a gasp as the man turns. Helo’s eyes stare into her from under his hood. The red slits exude primal danger that send a shiver down her spine. But as she looks into his eyes a feint golden glow becomes visible around him. It is only a whisp and when she tries to focus on it, it disappears.

  But the golden whisps swirl up into the air and then down into him. As they do his eyes flash with a golden light. For just a moment the feeling she gets changes to something mythical and powerful. But it is gone in a flash and the red slits are back. With it comes the slight feeling of fear.

  As Rina stares her two teammates come back to their sense. The look up to see their teammate getting stared down by a random man. Struggling to his feet Silo shouts. “Who are you?”

  “Head to the right and you will find the heiress’s party. They could use the help at the gap.” With that the man nods and disappears onto the rooftops.

  “Who was he?” Genny asks with some interest in her voice. This just gets Silo to scowl.

  “I don’t know. But we should do as he says.” Rina answers to her friends. She is still trying to push down the feelings that his eyes gave her.

  “Why should be do tha… OW” Silo says than shouts as Genny smack him upside the head.

  “Because the Heiress needs help. What other reason is there.” Genny says and turns to head to the right. Rina follows quietly and Silo does with a grumble.

  Finding many groups like them Helo has a lot of different experiences. Some of which are sad, with party members already dead or parties already wiped out. But others are similar to the first, with competent teams that only ran into monster they could handle. Sending them all to either the gate or the wall, Helo heads further into the city.

  Near the central tree he can hear the splintering of wood and creaking of a trunk. Turning to the tree and running to assist he is shocked by what he finds. The mayor is standing on a branch of her tree and battling a mass of enemies. They appear to be a group of goblins that got past the gate. That isn’t what is shocking though, what has Helo gaping at the scene is that the tree branches are swinging with a fury of nature. With the sound of groaning and creaking the branches sweep clumps of goblins aside.

  In the center is a group of hobgoblins that are defending themselves and even harming the tree. They have a selection of mages and warriors that are using shields and spells to block, while others are attacking the branches with swords and spells.

  Running up from the side Helo decides to ask the mayor if she needs help. He could just start fighting, but that sounds like asking to get hit by a massive tree branch. Jumping from the top of the main house and onto a branch that is still Helo approaches the mayor.

  She seems to be able to sense him, without truly knowing who he is because a smaller branch whips out and Helo is forced to dive a higher branch and swing himself back to his feet to avoid being struck. “Woah! It’s me!” Helo yells.

  The mayor turns in shock. “Helo! I asked for you a while ago. But the girls said you were busy with something.” She asks with some confusion in her voice.

  “Yeah. Sorry. Akira-Sama told me to take a cultivation resource as soon as I arrived. I did. But it knocked me out for a while.” He says as he finishes approaching. “I was wondering if you wanted help.”

  She looks down over the group and then back at Helo. At the same time the branches are still swinging and the goblins are approaching slowly. “Mhm. Do you see that goblin in the center?”

  Looking down to the ground Helo can see the clump of goblins as they slowly approach. It is heard to see inside as all the monsters move, along with the shields and barriers that are up. But eventually he can see enough to spot one that is a little unique. Its life force is brighter than the others. Focusing past the glowing life force, he can see that it is wearing a bejeweled chest plate.

  “The one with the fancy chest plate?” He says and he gets a nod back.

  “That one is their leader. It also has a bunch of buffs that it placed on the defenders. If you can kill it, then I can finish the rest.” She says while looking down with a frown. The tree has continued swinging its branches. It is batting away and killing the other monsters that are approaching. But this group is only twenty-meters away.

  “Ill try.” Helo says as he studies them closely. They are moving slowly but Helo isn’t sure how he can get into the group. He watches as the branch attacks and he whenever the branch strikes a bright light flashes from the barrier. Looking as four branches sweep around, he has an idea. “How much control do you have of the branches?” He asked Mayor Eliana.

  A few minutes later Helo is having some of the most fun he has had in a while, and he is also cursing his choices. Hanging onto the back of one of the branches as it sweeps across the other enemies is terrifying. It is also like an intense and deadly roller coaster. At least that is what he thinks, he has never been to an amusement park.

  Finally, the branch swings all the way into the air, from his place hundreds of feet into the air he is almost touching the barrier in the sky. Helo can see the entire side of the mountain. But the view quickly changes as the rabidly descends.

  The other three branches are attacking one after the other and the branch Helo is riding is descending at half of its true speed. At this point Helo is descending faster than terminal velocity. But right before he makes contact with the ground the branch starts descending at an angle directly toward the goblin group.

  Up above he can see a branch as it slams down onto the top of the shield wall. This creates a flash of light that blinds the inhabitants for a moment. A second later the branch that he was riding strikes them from the side. Helo is already off the branch and rolling on the ground toward the group.

  Concealing his presence and positioning himself directly against one of the shields, they don’t even know he is there. Pushing his aura onto the barrier abilities, he really hopes that this part of his plan works. He wants to weaken the barrier enough that the next blow gives him a chance to slip in.

  The next branch comes racing from the other side. Ducking low Helo braces and with a “CRASH” the branch strikes the barrier and is stopped by the shield. This time the light was brighter and Helo assumes it means that the plan is working. He also assumes that the response form inside the barrier means it is working as well.

  He can hear arguing in a language that is extremely guttural. From the sounds someone is angry about something. With a shrug he stops trying to understand them. Bracing himself on the shield he moves with a group, being careful to always stay against the massive shield that is poking out. Whatever goblin is leading this group really cares about its own safety.

  The next branch comes rocketing down and strikes the top. As the branch hits the brightest flash yet, a moment later a resounding crack can be head. Giving a shaky smile Helo decides that he is no longer allowed to come up with plans. The idea to stand outside the shields as a massive tree strikes next to him was terrifying.