The Black Necromancer

"Why the frown, blood sucker?" Richard asked his long time rival from his seat across the stone house that Kevin had built from scratch after their fight. It had ended in a draw, with both of them being badly injured. Even now, both of them were covered in bandages. The fight had been a week ago.

"Keep your words to yourself, mutt." Moses grunted and rolled his eyes. He focused on eating the food Dmitri had made. His close friend and companion was currently outside, having a private conversation with his counterpart, Kevin's companion.

No more words were spoken between the two as they focused on eating. When Richard was done, he got up and decided to get some fresh air outside.

Stepping outside, the first thing he saw was the bright moon hanging above the cliff where they had camped. Kevin and Dmitri were nowhere to be seen, as they had chosen to go far enough that neither Richard nor Moses would be able to listen in on their conversation. Sometimes, Richard felt as if those two were gossiping little girls.

Richard's ear twitched as he heard something move through the undergrowth of the bushes around them. Then silence. He immediately felt that something was wrong. There were no trees too close by, but bushes all around. Was someone sneaking up on them?

"Moses!" He called out just as a black arrow came flying at his throat.

Ding!

The arrow struck silver fur and was bounced off, like it had hit sturdy metal. Richard sneered in disdain as his eyes turned silver and his powerful senses picked up the people that had been trying to sneak up on them.

Behind him, the Vampire swaggered out of the stone house, his dark hair swaying behind him as he flicked his flute back into his sleeves. His hands shook again, and a different set of instruments came out of his sleeves.

A violin and violin bow were firmly grasped in Moses' fair arms, but he did not intend to play this time. His gaze was serious as he beheld the hidden enemies that only just started to reveal themselves. A bright wave of golden light erupted from the instruments in his hands, and when the light dies down, Moses was left standing in golden armor, with only the back of his head exposed so his hair flowed down. In his hands were a tall kite shield and an impressive long sword.

"Ready yourself, Silver Tooth. We have a battle to fight." He smoothly switched to his more formal mode with Richard, throwing their rivalry and distaste for each other under the boat and putting the battle before anything else. Both he and Richard were aware that their companions must be under attack as well for them to still be missing at this moment.

"Focus on the task at hand, Bard. We shall settle our differences later." Richard concurred as he transformed his body. He was confident in his strength as an A rank, but on a norm, he only reached Mid A rank at best. Only when he transformed did his strength rocket up to High A rank. And they were about to face half a dozen Mid A ranks, along with one High A rank. This fight was not cut out in their favor.

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Some distance away, a battle was already underway. A thick, transparent barrier blocked all the noise generated from the battle to prevent anything leaking out.

Two nimble shadows weaved and bobbed through the overwhelming amount of firepower that was being poured down upon their heads.

Dmitri's body was like a nimble staff, flexible when needed, but also sturdy when met with force. With the way he bent and swung around, using earth pillars and random growths to flip and spin around, he became the embodiment of elusive.

"These damn mages!" Kevin cursed as he held up a large tower shield in front of his domineering body. The short statured man had turned into an indomitable wall as he did his best to withstand the attack from the four Mid A rank fighters that had assaulted them. He had grown to almost seven feet in height, and was covered in gleaming silver armor. Fiery green eyes blazed from the holes in his helmet as he pushed forward step by step. Solid walls of earth rose up behind him to support his forward movement.

All of a sudden, a powerful sonic wave slammed into Kevin's brain, and he faltered in his movement. Luckily for him, his footing was already quite steady, so he was not thrown off his feet. Instead, he stopped moving until he was able to regain his wits. But by then, a shower of spells were already landing on his head.

He could only grit his teeth and direct his mana into reinforcing the integrity of his armor. By the time the bombardment had ended, his ears were ringing, and he could feel fresh blood trickling down the side of his face.

"Argh! Screw defense! I'm not going to turn into a punching bag for these idiots!" Kevin growled and pulled away his shield. As the spell that maintained the shield went off, he suddenly felt as if a burden had been lifted from his shoulders.

Thud. Thud. Thud!

All of a sudden, the distant attackers began to hear the steady thudding of something, but they had no idea what it was.

"It must be a stone golem or something. We can take it out easily!" The mage responsible for maintaining the sound barrier told his comrades to reassure them, but he could not be more wrong.

Smoke and dust gave way for the lumbering silver figure that did not lumber at all. Kevin dashed right at the enemy mages like a horse on two feet. In just a couple of seconds after they had seen him, he stopped right in front of them, fist cocked back, and body taut.

Boom!

A sonic boom was heard as he fist that was cocked back suddenly snapped forward, carrying a terrifying momentum behind it. Not even the eyes of the A rank mages could follow the fist as it flew by, and pulverized the head of the A rank sound mage that maintained the barrier. His entire head was destroyed, and the area behind him was also devastated, with a spreading path of destruction reaching far back.

"What? How?!" Before the others could properly react, a large, three meter tall figure appeared behind them, staff in hand. The lean figure waved his staff, and two heads were sent flying as the staff instantly destroyed the innate barrier that protected them from attacks.

Dmitri landed on his feet, with the orange fur on the sides of his face receding, making him return to his human look. His height also decreased until it was how it always was, and then he smiled, his eyes peering deviously at the last living mage among the four that had attacked them.

"Oh, hello. How nice it us to meet you properly. My name is Dmitri." He smiled, exposing pointy canines and a malevolent face.

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"Argh... Spare me-!" The pained voice was cut off as Moses mercilessly waved his sword. The narrow long sword flashed with gold, and it was stainless once again. He turned around and looked up, peering at the hunched figure that was standing atop the destroyed cliffside, holding a person in his grasp.

Richard's gleaming silver teeth caught the silver light of the moon as he grinned at the High A rank that had led the others to attack the two of them.

"Are you willing to tell me who sent you?" He tilted his head, his pink tongue flicking out to catch a drop of blood across his nose.

"Screw you... Silver Tooth..." The man gasped weakly, his breath seizing with Richard's tight grasp. Bright green eyes glared down at Richard as the silver of his body forcibly suppressed the man's Werewolf transformation and sapped all his strength.

"Aww, thanks for the offer, but I'm not interested. Are you telling me or now?" Richard replied in a sickly sweet voice.

"No need to bother yourself with that one. We already have the information we need." Kevin's voice rang in the distance, and Richard turned to face his companion. A bandage was wrapped around his head, and he dragged someone behind him. Beside him, Dmitri swaggered with his hands behind his head.

"Oh, that's good. Saves me a lot of time." Richard was just about to kill the Werewolf in his hands when Kevin stopped him.

"Wait, don't kill him. We should use him to send a message. I think Dmitri accidentally broke this one." Kevin tossed the broken man in his grasp forward. The man's eyes were red and panicked, and he looked as if he was being haunted by monsters all around him.

"Oh, okay." Richard nodded, but still decided to do something. He stuck one silver claw into the man's back, and a silver fluid flowed into the man's blood streams. "Now, you're ready." He grinned wolfishly.