The Final Countdown
Nikita was now three years and two months of age, though due to her accelerated aging kicking in since her second birthday the child looked more like six years old. Her schedule was abruptly changed three months ago, and now she she would have breakfast, then a three-hour lecture class with Ms. Valeri, then a two-hour block of free time which she often spent either with her momma and daddy or in her own training of her Necromancy ability, then another three-hour lecture class with Ms. Valeri; they would then break for lunch, then she would have a two-hour class in basic combat, then she would have a two-hour class in basic sorcery, then another two-hour block of free time until dinner. Today she had just finished lecture with Ms. Valeri who had told her about the elves of the Forest Kingdom of Noldor, and how the Noldori had gone remarkably silent with self-isolation tendency in the last thousand and some years. She had previously learned about the Kharaz Dwarves earlier this year, who preferred their mountain sanctuary-fortresses and mines rather than meddling in the affairs of Humans. Apparently the Noldori Elves lived several thousands of years and the Kharaz Dwarves lived roughly thrice the lifespan of the Humans from what she had been taught.
Nikita spent one of her four remaining free ability points to raise Fencing to rank three, remembering how her combat instructor had taken her through the wringer previously even the child was physically six and chronologically even younger. The vampiress child wanted to prove herself to the hard-as nails combat instructor which had been brought on by her uncle much like Ms. Valeri. Honestly Nikita thought that she might just be under threat of death from her uncle. She knew that her daddy Solomon had broken his oath to Uncle Marcus to sire no children, and she didn't blame Uncle Marcus either because he was only doing what he could to establish his family as the true Dragmir line of succession. Nikita pushed her thoughts away from the issue, instead focusing down on her own hand, assessing herself to see just how much she had grown. She was apalled to find that she had only gained five experience points in the last year and more.
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Name: Nikita Dragmir
Race: Elder Vampire (Growth*)
Age: 3 Years, 2 Months
Affiliation: Kingdom of Drakenhof (Royalty)
Level: 2
Experience: 125 / 300
Free Attribute Points: 0
Free Ability Points: 3
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Strength: 18 (36*)
Dexterity: 14
Constitution: N/A
Intelligence: 9
Willpower: 16
Charisma: 12
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Abilities:
Assess [Rank II]
Fencing [Rank III]
Stealth [Rank I]
Necromancy [Rank III]
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Inventory:
Artifact Rapier: Sieglinde (Soul-Bound)
100,000 Platinum Lira`
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Closing the status screen, Nikita walked down the stairs from the fourth floor where the lectures were held in a large conference room down to the third and then second floor to the Foyer where her mother Helena and father Solomon were sitting. This Foyer was much larger than the Den she remembered from two years earlier up on the Fourth Floor, pleasant memories still held by Nikita of the few memories she had spent with her father before then. During these two past years and some months however that had changed. Now her daddy Solomon had become an active part of her life, which was one of the happiest things to happen to Nikita. She felt like she was truly worth being loved whereas previously she hadn't. Reaching the second floor, Nikita moved down into the foyer and then into a hallway to it's left, eventually coming before her new bedroom and sliding the old bronze key into the door.
The doorway to Nikita's bedroom opened, revealing a room decorated in pinks and dark violets - pink carpet and wallpaper of pink and dark-violet stripes occupying the corner of the room. The furniture seems to be wrought of the same dark purple iron-like wood which part of her 'crib' had been made of; consisting of a night-stand, desk and chair, and bookshelf filled with books. Her daytime coffin was wrought of dark metal but had been upholstered with fine dark-violet velveteen. Finally, sitting at the foot of the coffin was a dog-bed for Duke. Stationed upon the desk was a letter, which piqued the interest of Nikita, stepping over to the desk and opening the letter with a sharp nail. The letter was written to her from her Uncle Marcus, and the gist was that he had been partly responsible for picking out the furniture of the room and was reminding his niece that she would need to prepare for her academy days. As she put the letter down, her 'lunch' was delivered in the form of an exquisite goblet of blood through the slit in her bedroom door.
Picking up the Goblet, Nikita revealed her fangs with a cheshire smile, then drank down the precious human blood. She left the remains where it had been placed, then ran off down to the first floor where the sparring hall was to be found; the location of her combat training course. She wanted to get a bit of an early start on her way there and maybe even surprise Master Lylith. Up until now, Nikita had been able to assess everyone she'd seen except for her Parents, Uncle Solomon, and now Master Lylith which meant they likely had an ability which blocked her ability to assess them. She'd need to have a higher rank in order to read them, Nikita theorized. Finally arriving, Nikita watched her combat master move through sword swings with flawless grace. The female was six feet high, bronzed skin with beautiful vivacious physical features and boobs that Nikita was clearly jealous of. The woman had a mixture of white and black in her hair, which were parted by a pair of arced horns and fell to her butt but was always tied into a tight ponytail.
"Oy brat, you're here way early. You shouldn't be here for another half-hour. Well then, why don't you and I clean up the dojo then get right to it hmm? Well, you asked for it after-all." spoke Lylith brazenly, then sheathed her sword and began to help Nikita clear the tatami mats and bamboo sheaf pieces which had been cleaved previously in exercise. Once these had been cleared, Nikita returned to the middle where a number of wooden weapons sat in an array of steel racks, picking her usual which was a rapier with a full basket hilt made of bronze while Lylith picked up an Arming Sword and Buckler. In an instant the action broke out with Lylith stepping out and whirling the edge of her sword towards Nikita's left torso, where Nikita instantly jaunted forward by a half-step and jutted out with her rapier in a thrust that struck the center of Lylith's sword and pushed forth towards the sternum of Lylith but unfortunately didn't have the reach to strike home.
Lylith's movements became faster, Nikita could barely keep track of them which meant Lylith was both holding back during their previous training and holding back an ability she hadn't revealed. Lylith lanced towards Nikita with arming sword brought into a close horizontal cut but was somehow intercepted by the rapier and stiletto. That wasn't to say that both of Nikita's arms were tired from the interception, which was why she didn't stop the edge of Lylith's shield to slam into her body and send the kid back several paces. Lylith, amused that Nikita hadn't been knocked flying by the attack, pushed the assault as her movements increased in quickness and her body began to exude lightning. Nikita, who had always felt the heft and grip of these training weapons didn't suit her, could do nothing but close her eyes. Yet nothing came, and upon opening her eyes the child witnessed the blade of pure flawless beauty which had impeded Lylith's momentum. The weapon was a rapier with a shining silver-white blade intoned with elven runes, lowering to the guard which was made to mimic the shape of an elegant snowflake, and then to the hilt made of drake-leather which when she reached out felt like it truly belonged.
"Woah kid, I knew you had it in you all this time. Glad that you were able to find yourself - but why don't we test out this new weapon of yours? In turn, I'll kick it up a notch oh and don't worry about hurting me, I'll just be dismissed from the world back to the demon realm. If you defeat me, your training in the combat basics is complete, after all. One of my people will inform your parents you're ready for advanced courses."
Both returned to their stances, though Lylith revealed a blunted longsword which she summoned suddenly from the nether. She had already told Nikita that one of her abilities was the ability to create/summon objects so this wasn't so much of a surprise to the child. With combat resumed, Nikita lunged outwards, her speed matching that of Lylith's previous state before she became suffused with lightning. Lylith grasped her longsword with two hands and tossed the shield to the rear, stepping forwards and attempting to strike at the shoulder muscle of the child. Nikita intercepted the attack with her rapier on the left side and whirled, bringing the sword away from her body while bringing her rapier's edge back into a thrust for the neck of Lylith just as she bounded up. Lylith channeled electricity into her blunt longsword, somehow bringing it to guard her neck then striking the leg of Nikita below the knee in a whirlwind maneuver.
Nikita suppressed the pain, bringing her blade into another thrust directly towards the chest of Lylith from low, though was warded by a low sweep from Lylith who managed to knock Nikita off her balance and attempted to bring the hit home on the sternum of the child. Nikita flipped up and broke away, taking the hit to the left side of her torso and then pushing forwards in a leaping thrust to the upper chest of Lylith but the demon had prepared for that with a massive knight-style overswing that she thought at-least would be the end of this spar. In the Adrenaline, just as the longsword lowered, black wings of energy formed behind the child as the rapier's blade released a gigantic swath of negative energy which Lylith had been caught in, resulting in the demon's defeat and a massive CRACK-OOM! echoing through the halls, overshadowing the child's own screams yelling 'Dark Calamity!'.