210 Vampirism 101 V : Aura Figh

So I was falling, but this was not the first time, of course falling from such a height means I'll go splat like an over ripe tomato once I got to the ground, and I felt a little afraid. However I just learnt that vampire's had the startling ability of projecting the emotions outside their body, turning it into an aura that they use in affecting their surroundings. So why not use the fear I was feeling and save my ass.

The idea of pulling on your emotions and sending it outside your body was not simple, but neither was it hard. Like many things that had to do with magic, and abilities, the true constraint lied in a Vampire's ability to visualize and feel the process. Imagine and convince yourself it's happening, and without a doubt it will. I felt another pulse, and stretched my hand towards the wall. My body jerked to a stop as I dragged downwards for almost sixteen meters, my palms getting bruised and abrasions peeling the flesh off my skin.

My hair was hanging all over my face, and I could feel myself slipping off slowly, I dug my fingers into the tower wall and steadied myself. Then I took a deep breath and focused on the fear and the excitement I was feeling. I didn't want to feel it, so I let it out, letting it hang around my vicinity, shifting the world and area around my body to suit me. I've heard people insulting others saying that they acted like the world revolved around them, but right now, the world literally did revolve around me. My hair settled down, and even my clothes stopped hanging awkwardly off my body due to gravity.

Then my perception of the world change, sideways was upright, and upright was actually the top. And the tower wall beneath my feet, felt as normal to me as the ground. I looked up to see Queen staring at me with a glorified expression on her face, maybe not so much of a glorified expression, but rather a satisfied one. As if whatever it is she came to do, she had done it.I wasn't stupid, I knew she was just trying to get me angry, and being tied up, the only thing I could do was project my anger towards her. And in doing so, I learned to access my aura.

I was grateful she had helped me, though I'm not too happy about the method she used. However this was not enough to change my perception of her, as far as I was concerned, she was still a bitch. There was a flash of fire, and Baeki showed up in front of me. She didn't look too happy though, as she looked up at Queen with a rather nasty look. Seems Queen had helped me out on her own volition.

"She was just trying to help me out?" I said to her, in an attempt to diffuse whatever situation was about to blow up because of Queen's involvement in my training.

"If I wanted you to receive help, I would have held your hands and explained everything to you, like a mother would a child. I'll deal with Queen later, but for now prepare yourself."

I shook my head and asked her with a tired voice.

"Prepare myself for what?"

"A fight!"

A metallic staff came into existence in her hands, and she threw it towards me. I caught it, and swung it just in time to block an incoming strike from another staff she created. The hit pushed me back, and I lost concentration over my feelings for a moment, and I slipped, almost falling off the wall. I quickly focused my attention on making sure I didn't fall, whilst simultaneously being on guard against Baeki. Trust me, it's not as easy as it sounds.

"Your concentration is a bit sketchy and unrefined, so in the interest of survival, I'll have to beat control over your emotions into your body, until it becomes as natural as breathing to you."

As soon as she finished she moved in front of me, swinging her staff for me head. I moved the staff in my hand upwards to intercept, but the force behind the blow was so powerful, my hands shook, and I actually started falling. I quickly stabbed the staff into the tower wall to stop myself, but I had to pull the staff out again, almost immediately to defend against her next attack. Such a move made me start falling again, but I drew on my suddenly intense fear of dying by falling, to steady myself and latch onto the wall. Thankfully I had fallen down enough that beneath me was a wide balcony that stretched for almost fifty meters long and twenty wide. On it seemed to be a variety of plants, making me understand that this was Castle Sarang's garden, or one of them at least, and it was hanging thousands of feet in the air.

I dropped down into the garden, careful to not smash any of the trees, flowers or ornate looking giant vases I was seeing. But Baeki did not have such qualms, as she used her staff to smash one of the vase towards me. It approached with such speed that I barely had time to react, so all I could do was dodge, with the vase passing above me by a distance of five inches. However for some reason, it left a nasty cut on my face, and it surprised me because the vase never touched me.

"surprised your injured? You shouldn't be. I've seen recordings of you using your soul energy to attack, the same principle works for aura. And fun fact, unlike soul energy that could be blocked or deflected, unless of course you use a weave, aura can only be blocked by aura!" Baeki explained, as she twirled her staff rapidly with much skill and finesse.

"Shit!" was all I could say.

In response, she smiled and swung her staff at me, even while we were separated by a distance of almost seven to ten meters, her swing raised up an invisible wave of energy that tore up the earth, and headed straight for me. Now I knew what it meant to be on the other side of an attack such as this. I called on my soul energy, but shockingly I couldn't feel anything, I called on my ether energy, but even that too was not available to me. It was already too late by then, and the invisible wave of aura slammed into my chest, and sent me crashing through an apple tree. How could she have apples here?

"Do you think all those seals placed outside are for nothing. They keep me trapped here, but for others like you, it restricts access to any form of energy and abilities. Though there's always a loophole, like your bond with your wives, and aura, the energy of emotions. The one thing these idiots did not account for, when they trapped a vampire in here. If you hope to win, or even have a little chance of surviving, you have to learn to use your aura. Take this."

She twirled beautifully and brought her staff smashing down. Above my head a massive illusory shadow of her staff was formed out of the displaced air that was disturbed by her aura. I didn't wait to find out about how that would feel on my skin. I rolled quickly to the sides, pushing my face aside as the shadow smashed into the earth with a massive boom, causing an explosion as her garden was torn apart, and a two meter deep trench was formed from where she was standing, and past where I was lying among the pieces of a broken apple tree, all the way to the very edge of the balcony. Just like Moses, she literally split it in two.

I got back up to my feet, and almost immediately both halves of the garden balcony began to shake and rumble. After that, there was no warning or sign, both halves just spilt and fell from the sky. I would have fallen off, but I quickly used my aura to stick to one of the falling halves. I'm not sure if that was such a good idea, but I didn't have any choice at the moment. Baeki appeared close to me, and swept her staff towards me. I crossed my staff over my chest, blocking her strike, and even managing to reinforce it with aura. But she still pushed me to the edge of the broken balcony, having me dig furrows into the pristine and colorful flowers that once covered it.

I got to the edge, and was supposed to have fallen off, but suddenly it was as if gravity changed once again. I was standing solidly on the edge, ready for Baeki's next attack. And it came, she thrust her staff at my face, moving it in such an erratic and nimble manner, that I felt like I was fighting a snake, or at least some sort of really fast reptile, a lizard maybe. It was the wrong thought to be having at that moment, but I just realized that this new fighting style of hers, was actually a dragon style martial arts for either a spear or staff, and she was good at it. But I was no stranger to martial arts.

Her strength was subdued in other to test and train me. If not, it would only take a casual swing for her to blow me to pieces. I moved a step backwards, dodging her staff strikes, before turning around and shoving the staff backwards, making sure it went under my armpit. It was coated in aura in a very peculiar way as the aura gathered at the tip and formed into a swords edge. She quickly dodged to the side, and a clean cut appeared on her clothes. Then for the first time in quite a while, I received a message from the system.

[NINE GATES OF THE ETHER SWORDS SKILL HAS BEEN REMEMBERED AND REBRANDED. IT IS NOW THE NINE GATES OF AURA SWORD SKILL. CONGRATULATIONS!]

I couldn't help it, I turned and said to Baeki with a wide smile on my face, as memories, both muscle and mental assaulted me in a steady stream.

"Now you're going to be sorry."