Malakai used the blade and dug through the creature's head until he found the vita core.
He cleaned off the ichor surrounding it, feeling the energy emanating from within. He quickly placed it inside his pouch.
'That's about three hundred points gain.'
Malakai smiled. The vita he was gaining from grade twos had increased from the earlier 250 to 300. It meant he was improving.
Malakai turned off his weapon to conserve the batteries and began sprinting back toward the clearing.
'Looks like I'm the first one back.'
He reached the clearing a few seconds later. Laila and Renlo still hadn't returned. His eyes locked onto the fight still raging.
Their clashes alone were enough to end him. The clearing was massive, the ground cracked with craters forming everywhere.
His gaze soon landed on the Blood Guardian lying on the ground, a pained expression was across his face.
His arm was missing, and crimson blood pooled beneath him.
'He can't fight anymore.'
Right now, Grunde was the only one holding off the two enemies.
Malakai's gaze narrowed. Grunde had grown a size larger and his skin had turned utterly black. His body looked harder than steel, yet moved with a speed that belied his size.
'A hybrid.' Malakai concluded. He'd heard of them.
People who didn't awaken a single body node but instead awakened parts from multiple. Some could manipulate parts of their blood and also nails. Some, bone and lungs. It could be anything.
They weren't rare, and made up most of the population. But it was rare to see one as powerful as Grunde.
As the fight went on, Malakai suddenly furrowed his eyebrows. He'd just noticed something odd.
Malakai had watched enough battles, played enough scenarios in his mind to recognize when someone was holding back.
He had identified numerous moments where Grunde was supposed to land a crushing blow, but didn't.
It didn't make any sense. Just as he was beginning to wonder, Laila burst out from the forest, shooting directly toward the ongoing battle.
Malakai's focus shifted to her instantly. Her hair danced behind her like it was alive, and her eyes purple.
A purple fog swirled around her, one Malakai could feel the threat of, even from a distance.
'Another hybrid.' He was sure of it.
As Laila arrived, the two opponents tensed. They glanced at one another, then suddenly backed off from Grunde.
Laila landed beside him. Both sides stood off, staring coldly at each other, as though weighing whether this confrontation was worth continuing.
Malakai heard the sharp, guttural sound of one of them speaking. It sounded beastly, like a creature that had just learned speech.
And without another word, all two turned and shot into the fog drenched forest at incredible speed.
From another direction, Malakai saw Renlo walking into the clearing. He looked mostly unharmed, except for the black ichor splattered all over his body.
Malakai began walking toward the others gathered at the center of the clearing.
"You let them go?" Malakai asked as he reached the group.
"It's not our problem," Laila responded. "The duty of the Blood Knight is to take care of darkness creatures, not living beings."
Malakai didn't press after that. Her words made perfect sense. "Do you know who they are? Or rather… what?"
Laila shook her head, her expression troubled. "It's the first time I've ever seen… them." She didn't even know what to call them.
"They have humanoid figures, and I noticed intelligence when I looked into their eyes. But…" she shook her head again, as if she couldn't make sense of it. "Some parts of them were beast parts."
A frown appeared on Malakai's face. It didn't help that he had noticed the same things Laila had just said. "What do you think it is? Secret experimentation or a new species entirely?"
"Both are unlikely," Laila responded, her expression turning thoughtful. "But neither can be ruled out."
Malakai silently agreed with her words. He had never heard of any experiment that involved fusing humans and beasts together, but there was a reason it had the prefix secret.
Just because he hadn't heard about it didn't mean it wasn't possible. And for the second, the people of the dome were still discovering the world.
They hadn't even gone through half of the changes vita brought. These could be a whole new species of people for all they knew.
Malakai turned towards the blood guardian on the ground. Grunde was currently treating him and trying to stop the bleeding. He was not gentle, and the man didn't hide his pain.
"Maybe we could find out from him?" Malakai said, gesturing towards the guardian. But Laila quickly shook her head.
"We'd be wasting our time. Whatever they were doing here is obviously top secret. He won't say anything, especially not to us."
Malakai understood she was referring to the fact that they were in Captain Rhett's squad and were well looked down upon by the city.
"Torture?" Malakai said, and Laila was a bit startled by how calmly he had said it.
She cleared her throat. "There's not enough time. I'm sure those other Adjudicators are on their way as we speak."
Malakai frowned. "I still want us to try and ask. Can we?"
Laila met his gaze and sighed. There was nothing but coldness in them, but it didn't change the fact that they reminded her of Valerian.
She reluctantly nodded. There was no way she could refuse those eyes.
They approached the blood guardian along with a confused Renlo. Malakai made sure he was out of view, hiding behind Grunde's massive crouched body. He allowed Laila to take the lead.
"How's he doing?" Laila asked.
"Hand was ripped out, but Grunde stopped the bleeding," Grunde replied, handing the man a vial filled with light green liquid.
As the man drank it, he felt the pain raging through him subside by a large margin, and the blood dripping from his torn arm began to slow.