The Bloodletting [Solo/Training]

As the blood and energy flowed into him, Grindal could feel power. It didn’t cause an effect similar to the blut vene he had experienced the last time. There was no surging of marks that danced across his skin. Instead, it was as if he could feel his father’s presence. It radiated through him similarly to as if he was standing right beside of him. While of course such was far from the truth as his father had passed on willingly without any attempt to stay and linger behind, the effects continued for quite some time. Even after he resupplied blood flow to his arm, his presence lingered for a good while before eventually fading away.

Curious by such a discovering, his research turned not towards finding out how to implant energy into blood but learning how to feel it through direct exposure. It was something that the male wasn’t truly able to explore until he had children. Like any young tyke, injury was quite common. While mending a bloody wound, some contact with the red substance got on his hand. Even after his daughter wandered off, the presence of her spiritual energy - no matter how small it may have been - still radiated outwards. As she navigated and walked through the house, he could “feel” her even without really trying. It was similar to normal sensory but different. To some degree, he almost compared it to clairvoyance.

It made a certainly valuable tool when watching his children. It was almost as if he had GPS tracking devices in them at all times. He knew when they were with their friends, when they were not, and whenever they tried to sneak out of their bedroom to go fight hollow. The power was great, but intrusive. It was not something that the male took pride in as it robbed people whose blood he made contact with of their privacy. Rarely could they hide their presence from him and his watchful eye was always present. There however was one thing that this sensory technique could not determine: their wellbeing.

After one night when his youngest daughter came home with a large cut across her chest from a bout with a hollow, Grindal knew that the flaw in his technique. What kind of father was he if he couldn’t even properly protect his children?

Brandishing a small knife, Grindal would make a small prick on each of their palms. Infusing reishi between them, the man would grab his daughter’s hand. The action sent energy through their both, causing their eyes to open wide. It was exactly what the man hoped for as it flooded sensations that were not his own through his mind. He could feel his daughter’s pain, the discomfort of stiffening wounds, and the thoughts that she had disappointed her father. One thing that Grindal didn’t expect from the technique was that the girl too began to feel these sensations. The pact was not an one-sided one. It literally bonded the two together.

Because of this, it became quite clear that this was not a technique that he could use freely due to the sheer intimacy to created. Though he eventually performed it on his other daughter to monitor her all the same, it was a trick he certainly would need to keep in his back pocket.

But, alas, even with the ability to sense whether or not his girls were in trouble, sometimes there wasn’t much that even a father could do even when situations went dire. After a year or so after making the pact, he was awoken in the middle of the night with a terrible pain that swept through his chest. Though he sprung out of bed as quickly as he could to make his way towards their location. Traveling as fast as his legs could take him, he knew it was too late even before he made it there. He could feel the life slipping away from his children until it eventually subsided and drifted away forever.

From his previous assault, the twenty hollow that littered the surrounding area had decreased to a more manageable seven. Most had fallen to his heilig pfeil while a couple died to the slashes of his seele dolch. The only problem is that he was getting tired while they were still quite fresh. The hollow that had teleported earlier released a slight cackle at the quincy’s efforts. “You’re quite the determined one little Quincy,” humored the large beast as it cracked each of his knuckles, revealing the sharp claws he held on each hand. “I am going to guess that you were those brat’s father? You know, they were weak. They only took out a couple of us before the first one died. The second one didn’t even have enough time to scream before I took a bite. Her soul was tasty. Plenty of spiritual energy in that one.”

This made Grindal grit his teeth. He knew what he was trying to do. He wanted him to become blinded by rage. Well, he wouldn’t fall victim to that. Adjusting the grip on his dagger, he would charge forward as six of the hollows darted around him. The first came directly at him with its teeth intended in a bite. Stopping in his tracks, the man would spin on his heel as his blade rose up in a nice arc that easily sliced through the beast’s face. It was not much to celebrate over as the next one attack. It quickly caught his weapon in its hand and moved to strike. A quick bullet to its torso pushed it back enough to land one on its hand. With his weapon freed, he slashed cleaning through its throat as it began to evaporate from this world.

The four that remained were now all around him. Cornered in all cardinal directions, he was able to parry the first two strikes against him but the third made a large gash across his back. Groaning in pain, he gathered reishi around his frame and shaped them into five individual orbs before spiraling them around his body. This struck two hollow he had parried while the one who harmed him backpedaled away. He wasn’t done yet though. Quickly spinning away, he would flick his dagger up in the air, catch its blade, before tossing it cleanly into the hollow’s head. He wasn’t even able to let out a curse before he two met the dust.

What was once twenty now dropped down to two.

The hollow bellowed out a curse as the last one of his group met the dust. “They were weak anyway. You just got lucky with them. But you won’t get that with me,” claimed the beast as the Quincy stepped out of the smokescreen. Without much energy left around him, his pistol slowly disappeared from his hand. He was just too drained to draw in any more. The pain from his back didn’t help either. Frankly, he was getting too old for this. “You got a name Hollow?” he called out as felt back for his last item. It was a couple ginto. He wasn’t quite sure what use they’d be against someone who could teleport. At least it gave him some time to think of a plan. “I’m Grindal of the Horist family of Quincy.”

The hollow arched a bony brow at the man’s question. But it amused him. “I am Wraith. Now, enough stallin’ boy. Its time for you to die.” Brandishing its claws once more, the creature would disappear in a plume of purple smoke only to appear just a few inches from him. Grin gasped as just how fast Wraith was. While he was able to dodge the first two strikes of its claws, the third required him to defend with his shield. In its compromised status, it shattered into many shards of soul synthesized silver. Releasing a curse, he watched with horror as those talons came right for his face. Taking a step backwards, his foot got caught on a root and knocked him off his balance. The strike only grazed across his face, forming a large cut that swept over his cheek and up the side of his nose. Tumbling onto the ground, he watched in horror as the next attack was brought down to finish him.

It was in that moment that his life flashed before his eyes. He saw his daughter’s faces, his father’s smile, and even his mother while she was still sane. But, what he also saw was the image of that disappearing hollow. What if… Surging whatever energy he had left within him, Grindal flooded the ambient energy within him throughout his body as he generated a red energy around his body. Just as the claws pierced the earth, he had vanished and reappeared right next to his daughters. Or rather what was left of them. “Ho-how did you do that?!” yelled out the hollow as he peered back behind him to look at the equally shocked Quincy.

Gripping a silver tube with one hand as he pushed himself up, he focused on the hollow’s position. If he did it once, he could do it again. “Pierce my enemy with godly rage…” he muttered as that energy flooded him against. In an instant he was right upon the creature, standing just millimeters from him. The smell of death flowed off him and almost made him want to gag. But he only had one word to say: “Verflog.” From the tube he clutched in his hand, a large spear jutted outwards and stabbed the hollow right through the chest. It coughed up blood as he collapsed atop of the human. In a shocking manner, it complemented him before disappearing like all the rest.

Grindal hardly had the time to smirk himself before the world around him went black, he collapsing from a combination of fatigue and blood loss. If he died, at least he avenged his daughters in the process…